##VIDEO ID:gic8QPmPrkU## how e e e e e we lost the Sirah let me know we're good back all right good evening and welcome to the township committee meeting of December SE uh December 10th 2024 Miss break please call the role committee woman hand here committee Pani present committee woman Pay Here Deputy Mayor tarelli here mayor bring here administrator Herrera here attorney Willard here please join me to and a salute to the flag pled to the flag of the United States of America to theic for it stands One Nation God indiv andice please be advised 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 Township municipal complex at 7:30 p.m on December 10th 2024 approval of minutes may have a motion to approve the November 12th 2024 regular meeting minutes so noted second please second roll call please committee woman hand yes committee man Le Pon yes committee woman Payne yes Deputy Mayor trickell yes mayor bring yes may I have a motion to approve the May 14th 2024 executive session minutes so noted second second roll call please committee woman hand yes committee man leani yes committee woman pay yes Deputy Mayor tarelli yes mayor Bing yes may I have a motion to approve the July 16th 2024 executive uh session minutes so moved second second all right roll call please got one more woman hand a child yes committee man the P yes committee woman pay no no I'm joking yes Deputy Mayor Chelli yes mayor buring yes last one uh may I have a motion to approve the September 10th 2024 executive session minutes so moved second roll call please committee woman hand yes committee man Leon yes committee woman pay yes deputy mayor Al yes mayor bring yes all right now reports from committee liaison receipt of reports petitions and Communications we're going to start with committee woman hand all right thank you mayor all right Health Department rabies clinic for those of you with dogs and cats January 11th there will be a rabies clinic from 10: to noon it will be held at the Hillsboro Department Public Works facility on 21 East Mountain Road please see the health department for more information from the wreck department the house decorating contest is back if you've driven around town it's looking absolutely fabulous and festive so um please know that on the wreck website there's a map of all the participants in a link to the voting form please vote for your favorite house now through next Tuesday the 17th we don't have a stake in it so please uh just vote um 2025 winter programs so the winter program guide is out it's full of things for all different ages there's stem there there's theater there's pilat there's bad mitt anything you can almost anything you can think of um so please check it out and also I realize we are going into winter but we are going to talk about spring just for a second so Spring soccer and softball registration is now open um these programs have a tendency to fill up so please uh act early um you know even though the deadline is not until March uh you you know you want your your little one to be able to uh participate so please do that social services the senior citizens had a craft sponsored by All-American Assisted Living so they spent an afternoon creating their own body scrubs um so please if you're a Hillsboro resident who is 60 or over and interested in different programs please reach out to soci Social Services and the phone number is on there ending in 3880 additionally for the seniors they had Fitness with an Olympian so this was a retired Olympian Joetta Clark Diggs who came to speak about healthy living and guided the seniors who participated in different games and friendly competitions again if you're sixth year over and interested in this type of thing um please reach out to Social Services the Hillsboro can the Community Action Network would like to thank the Primrose School for their generous donations of items for the food pantry the donation was part of the school's caring and giving unit in addition into collecting food donations from the Primrose Community the students helped with a bake sale that raised $400 um which was used to purchase donations for the the can and then last but not least um Social Services helped worked with communities in crisis which is a Somerset based um Community Coalition dedicated to community wellness and fostering Healthy Lifestyles to combat the opioid crisis um they've partnered with services to offer a series of seven workshops this is beginning um January 7th on healthy aging tips and techniques again reach out to Social Services with more questions thank you mayor all right committee men uh leani good evening everybody some exciting news coming they're riveted man see if I can keep keep I keep them awake for another 10 minutes dog licensing for those who live in Hillsboro a reminder to Hillsboro residents that with the New Year comes the time to renew your dog license Township Code chapter 17 requires that all dogs are licensed renewal notices will be mailed or emailed to all residents who licensed their dogs in 2024 please note the rabies vaccine must be valid through October 31st in order for to renew your dog license dog license renewal and new dog licenses are handled in this clerk's office the deadline to register your dog without paying a late fee is March 1st uh from Economic and Development we did have a ribbon cutting GG's Playhouse uh on November 22nd GG's Playhouse Hillsboro proudly unveiled its newly renovated space during a heartfelt ribbon cutting ceremony the event brought together community members supporters families to celebrate the exciting milestone for an organization dedicated to empowering individual individuals excuse me with Down Syndrome thank you to everyone who joined in making the day so special the new space is a testament to the power of community and GG's mission to promote acceptance and belonging I almost feel wrong reading this community woman pain but Community woman pain is active with this group so I almost feel like she should be reading this so I will I will sympathetically say I'm sorry um the fall issue experience Hillsboro the fall show have experienced Hillsboro's digital magazine is now live this Ed Edition highlights the local spots to enjoy All Things fall from Autumn activities to seasonal treats to read this issue and past additions visit The Economic and Business Development website the economic business development office is hiring a full-time Administrative Assistant this is a 40-hour per per week class one afscme Union position that focuses on all aspects of day-to-day administrative task community outreach and event coordination so if you want to look into that please visit our website where you can apply and read all about it um dog and cat drive one of our hlp teams is hosting a dog and cat Supply drive to benefit the clients of the Hillsboro can a collection boxes located outside the library entrance missile building donations will be accepted now through January 11th so please support our furry little friends and lastly Project Graduation prom dress Drive uh in collaboration with the Hillsboro High School's Project Graduation one of the Hillsboro's leadership programs new managers is hosting a prom dress Drive dress donations are being accepted now through January 31st your donations to to the Dress Drive will provide Hillsboro High School students with inexpensive options for prom while at the same time raising money to support Project Graduation the donation bin is located in the main hallway of the missal building near the entrance to the library the dress sale will be open to the public and is scheduled for Saturday February 1st at the Williamsburg Square Clubhouse located 802 marel common in Hillsboro from 10 to 2 p 10:00 a.m. to 2 p.m. I'll read that again the dress sale will be open to the public and is scheduled for Saturday February 1st at the williamsberg square Clubhouse located at 802 marbor common in Hillsboro from 10:00 a.m. to 2 p.m. so it's obviously a very good way to have a nice dress for less money that's all mayor and happy holidays to everybody good stuff thank you sir committee women Payne good evening everybody I hope everybody is still recovering from your Thanksgiving and looking forward to all the goodies to come for the Municipal Court what is a plea agreement a plea agreement is a way to settle a case plea agreements in Municipal Court are negotiated with the prosecutor and attorney who represents the state in court you will be given the opportunity to speak to the prosecutor to try and settle your case you are not required to speak to the prosecutor all plea agreements must be approved by the judge just a little FYI out there for the police on behalf of Chief uh Mike McMahon I would like to remind Hillsboro residents to protect themselves from becoming a victim of theft keep your vehicles locked at all times your Teslas are known to have their keys in the car when the handles are popped out remove all your valuables especially personal identity items you must leave if you must leave valuables in your vehicle lock them in your trunk or glove box don't leave holiday gifts in your car and the best and safest recourse is not to leave any valuables in your car from the fire District Hillsboro fire district is also sharing some important holiday safety information water your tree often make sure all lights are operating properly make sure your space heaters are plugged directly into an outlet not an extension cord keep pets and children out of the kitchen while cooking test your smoke alarms and have a fire extinguisher handy and finally for the veterans um our fourth quarterly veteran information session will be held on December 14th from 10: to 12: across the hall in the municipal um multi-purpose room there will be tables for veterans and their families to receive information on programs goods and services available to all of our veterans and your families please reach out to me um my address will be um it's on the website and also in the ews if you would like to have a table to offer your services to or four veterans including salable Goods reach out to me before Wednesday so we can get you down the tables are free and that's all I have mayor thank you committee woman Deputy Mayor Cher thank you mayor um the first item on the agenda is uh always fun ha of puppy yoga so burough safe hosted another puppy yoga day uh p puppy yoga event a couple Thursdays ago and uh I think there was five or six obviously from the same litter just different colors so it's always a great event uh bur safe does a nice a good job putting this on so uh if you see it come up again uh sign up for it it's always fun um I don't think the puppies know what the yoga pads are for exactly but it's always it it's always a fun event confusion it was a little accident but they were prepared so puppy yoga uh on on Saturday December 7th uh we recognized the more than 2400 civilians and and service members who sat who who perished on uh Pearl Harbor day uh in 1941 um I I wish I could say I hosted it I I kicked it off but the VFW Commander uh Mike schruff Nagel who's here tonight uh really had some nice words and and discussed the sacrifice that uh that all veterans make and and have made so uh it was a nice nice uh service and uh it was a little cold that day but we managed to get through it and um you know we encourage everybody to remember that day of infamy uh on December 7th every year um the HSS South New Jersey uh celebrates SE deali with a donation to our can uh members of HSS a Hindu group from South New Jersey is a cultural and philanthropic organization that coordinated this food drive and the group collected more than 400 pounds of non-p perishable food for the clients of the Hillsboro Township can and in in celebration of uh SE deali and uh these donations came in last week and it was a nice event I think four or five carts of food there so um so we we the can network uh took that in and and was very happy with uh with the amount of food they brought in um so from the building department the building department is warning about holiday light safety uh the holiday season's coming fast and now is the time when families begin decorating their homes I actually think it was three or four weeks ago before Halloween but anyway the festive lights although pretty have some Associated risks you should be mindful of when purchasing Holiday Lights check the packaging for the UL listing and use only only use lights in the conditions that they're rated for indoor versus outdoor uh use GFCI protected outlets for all outdoor lights but be careful not to overload any Outlets I should practice what I read um the building department is also hiring uh for three positions an electrical inspector plumbing inspector and a multi-licensed IC fire inspector and electrical inspector combination so please see the township website for uh full details on on any of those positions uh the engineering department the wants to announce that Hillsboro received a 2025 New Jersey Department of Transportation local Aid Grant in the amount of $356,000 for the Paving of Duke's Parkway West so that'll pay for probably half of the job we'll have to uh pay for the rest out of our Capital uh Paving Bond but um the state has after several years of pursuing them finally uh uh given us his local grade ant uh great great aid grant to uh pave that road uh so it'll be about half of the half of the price of repaving and the balance will be from our repaving program our engineering uh consultant is now preparing plans and specs for the dot to review and approve prior to going out to bid for the project and we hope to have this road repaved in in 2025 uh probably in concert with brown a so that hold that will fix a lot of the area uh a lot of the traffic and truck problems that are experienced on on Duke's Parkway and and other roads uh when we also get the the brown a uh extension completed so uh hopefully that'll that'll alleviate some of the pain over there uh and lastly public work some quick notes from them um the Aon Road Site will remain open on Saturdays from 7:00 to 3:00 p.m. 7:00 a.m. to 3 p p.m. until December 21st to drop off leaves uh so if you haven't had the leaf pickup program come by or you've got some extra leaves uh uh drop them off at at the site uh the C the crews are on their second and final pickup throughout the town and uh winter is here so we're asking residents to make sure pay attention to the snow covered roadway ordinance as it pertains to Vehicles parked in the roadway this is for everyone's benefit as faster better and safer plowing service can be performed when the roads are free of obstacles uh the DPW is also hiring um they're hiring a public works worker class one sorry she changed the slide on you yeah SL yeah sorry well all right anyway it's a full-time Teamster Union position if anybody's interested please see the township website for that and uh that's all I have mayor thank you sir all right so I'll talk about roads next but let's let's address the uh if you don't mind go to the next slide please yep yeah yeah sorry so um we yep so we know that the um the Drone situation is in the news now in the national news and um if you've seen the press release uh that the Hillsboro Township's put out along with assemblyman Roy Fryman uh Roy fman and I had a assemblyman and I had a conversation a few days back I had spoken to the governor as well and his people um and I've been reassured and and been told that there is no known threat to the public and that's been made very clear to me at the moment um and they still ask us to please reach out to the um the FBI as they've asked a 1 1800 call FBI or go online tips.fbi.gov um for any sightings or any uh videos that you'd like to submit um there but they're actively investigating that and they will let us know if uh uh if and when there is more information to give out so I know as much as you do um so the end result is when I find out information and I will share that with you I promise like we have all year all right as soon as I know you'll know okay all right um as it relates to uh roads deputy mayor chiarelli has challenged us a little bit more to do even more roads we did a ton of roads this year a ton an absolute ton I'll read off a couple of what what we've done this year um but um he's challenged us to do some more uh next year and one of the roads that we had done this year was Falcon Road and um that is uh intersects with State Road 206 now for most people know that 206 is a state road we don't control that road but we could do everything we kind of influence it moving forward the way it works the state road runs through different counties County Roads go from within the county and Town Road stay in the town it's very simple simple concept but um not everybody knows that the 206 project is only a state funded project and right now they have put in some challenges for us in the area of Falcon Road area and closed down from four lanes to one um the police department we have our whole crew and blue in the back um their leadership team has reached out to the dot and asked them to um please do a little bit of a better job in um making sure that that road is accessible on a regular basis so they're working with them now um we needed a few days to see how it was going so it's been a challenge I used it myself a few times to test it out it's not going so well now we have enough data to share with them so thank you to the police department for following up on that and making the road is easily accessible as possible all right next slide please uh League of municipalities uh so uh Hillsboro Township won a significant amount of Awards this year um and we've won Wards year-over-year this was a great year um Hillsboro Township staff attended so this is really about the staff attended New Jersey League of municipality conference about a week ago a few weeks back while there it was our pleasure and honor to accept several Awards including the 24 New Jersey municipal managers elected officials of the Year award recognition from the New Jersey Tuesday group local government leadership certification sustainable Jersey um uh sustainable Champion sustainable Jersey silver certification sustainable Jersey gold star and health awarded to Hillsboro Township and we will um we'll talk a little bit more about some of these Awards in the presentations before you go to the next slide I just want to thank the Hillsboro Township uh residents uh excuse me the uh the uh the staff and residents as always but the staff we have uh Mr far how many people do we have here working approximately 100 how many not including our yeah not including our uh our part time probably about 150 180 something like that yeah so we have about about 180 uh staff and they do an absolutely fantastic job and they earned all these Awards and we just want you to know we we really do appreciate you we love you and we have your back so thank you so much for for for working so hard and making Hillsboro a great place so it's about you not about us next next slide please so this is about residence and culture and just a wonderful night for those who attended we had a fantastic Christmas tree lighting Santa Claus came thank you to all the fire stations station 38 being one of them um also flagtown all the others as well too they always do such a wonderful wonderful job I know committee woman hand's daughter was she on the truck or was she part of that no that was um that was Somerville right at the sorry that was flagtown 36 my my family's with 38 but thank you 36 for coming it's great that they have that relationship with Santa yeah it's great and I think last year we had the the Grinch taken our tree and put it back and we had a chance to light our tree up so we're really really happy about that so um just great to keep the culture going in Hillsboro all right Hillsboro Cub scat uh pack 89 all right had a a chance to uh allow our little Cub Scouts to come on in fourth grade the we uh uh the we the Webelos Den visit to the office had a chance to ask about municipal government I met with probably seven or eight different groups this year on the Boy Scouts even more with the Girl Scouts and um allow them to be a mayor for a moment ask any questions they want um they actually asked a lot of really tough questions not just what favorite color or or pizza and all that good stuff what kind of pizza it was really pretty heavy duty questions about government it was really good so very educated young little guys so I'm really proud of those guys um next we have the Hillsboro High School Robo Raiders burrow blast that was on Saturday right before Thanksgiving myself Deputy Mayor John Chelli and also we had state senator wicker as well too had a chance to address the crowd and kick off burrow blast which uh is something I don't know if Deputy Mayor wants to say something about that you're the engineer in the group and this is uh uh these these young students are just incredibly smart and and just very well thought out their their projects and it was just pretty cool to see them compete is there anything you want to mention about that sir yeah it's uh it's also it's not just science and engineering they really develop teamwork and they learn fundraising and kind of how their own their own little company runs to to implement what the uh the project was I think this one was about the ocean and seas so they had all kinds of they use Legos to build their robots and so this is really run by our high school team but it's the it's like the JV it's the minor leagues it's uh all local clubs and middle school teams that the older kids run the run the event so they kind of know what they're in for when they you know they they it just it's all leadership and a pretty impressive organization and event tons of future doctors lawyers and all the others there yeah mayor so I had the uh pleasure of being a judge for the third grade team that day and it was really neat to see you know third graders coming in I'm talking about the depths of the ocean they got to create a creature and then they had to explain the depth of the ocean that it would live at and why and it was just really incredible to see both um you know boys girls from uh various schools working together to build something to create something and then to stand up and have a presentation in front of judges so it was myself and some high school students and it was just it was an incredible opportunity and it was also neat to see the high school kids running it and just the leadership that they were able to uh to demonstrate so very good thank you very much very nice all right so as it relates to roads NE more roads so the so I just want to oh so we have a d oh the daisy troops you I thought I had the daisy troop oh here we go Daisy troops absolutely Daisy troops 6716 and 60526 we had a meet and greet they asked some really funny questions they were really cute just like the Boy Scouts they asked really good questions about government they're learning about elections they're learning about all different types of government and um it was just really great to spend time with the kids and give them a chance to be mayor for a moment each of them had a chance to sit in the mayor here and and and hit the gavel and get a picture so it was pretty nice same thing with the Boy Scouts Girl Scouts all right now year of Roads I'm going to read off a number of roads that we did this year because I think it's important to read off because this list that I asked for is pretty significant and uh uh after I read this off just want you to know Deputy Mayor chiarelli challenged us even next year to do even more so uh game on so that's good we have a we really really important to make sure our infrastructure is up to date so we uh this year we uh completed valer Road Fe Fairfield Stone Wayne Hunt Club Club white Meadow Spring Valley auton Road uh Pleasant View Road Amsterdam phase three now we're waiting just for the end of Amsterdam the county runs that piece I think they're going to be doing that in the spring of this year or the summertime um that they had to make sure the dot was allowing for that to happen so the county would be finalizing that there are a few other roads that were uh on for this year but because the weather dropped so quickly you have to make sure that the weather and Deputy Mayor chiarelli can correct me on this one but I think I'm probably be right it's 40° on the surface of the ground or or higher typically right we can get down to the exact number but yes it got a little cold so right in the Spring auton Road between the railroad tracks and triangle Road will be completed Camden Road and Starview Drive Starview has a number of um side uh uh curbing that needs to be done it's pretty windy so that needed some time to make sure that the concrete can cure in the in the springtime we also have Murray Drive ski drive and Dogwood Drive which will be completed next year from this year's budget um also from uh uh next year actually what we also did for Cape ceiling so Cape ceiling we did uh Cedar Hill ter Terrace Wilson Cove Stone Wayne and Theodore Drive micro ceiling on all house uh allei Anka Craig raker Heights D bush and cope the whole point for reading this out is this was a pretty significant decision by the township committee this year to make sure we put our infrastructure at the Forefront along with Public Safety as you all know and it was very very proud of that this year looking ahead the 25 the following roads these are tedly scheduled free Paving or Surface treatment uh Township Line Road which is a 50% agreement between us and Montgomery Township they pay for the other 50% we were going to do it this year but they asked us to push it back to next year for their purposes and that's what we did uh Dukes Parkway East that which is partly uh paid through a local aid grant award Falcon Road between sunay meet and Gateway we're going to finish that off Farm Road sto Varn and woods and Van Bolton Road so these are the ones that we have tend tedly scheduled for next year um pretty big deal for roads it's very important and the last thing I'm going to say is I just want to um I just want to wish everybody incredibly happy holiday Merry Christmas Happy Hanukkah it's incredibly important that we spend time with family and I just ask you I said this in Thanksgiving too and I I really mean the spot of my heart take as many moments as you can to try to slow down life because this year went incredibly fast and I see my little kids I see no and his family up there I coach no and his and his family and uh baseball and um you just see my nine-year-old seven-year-old three-year-old and they're growing up so darn fast it just needs to slow down so try to take some time this holiday season and enjoy the simple things all right and uh just so to note Christmas and Hanukkah fall on the same day this year December 25th which is rare pretty cool all right so now let's um we're going to swear in some police officers you guys ready you done hear in the politicians talk you ready to get sworn in all here we go may I have a motion to approve the resolution authorizing the hiring of police officers in the Hillsboro Township Police Department so moved second second comments from the deis I'll make my comments down there comments from the floor roll call please committee woman hand yes Committee in the pony yes committee woman pay congratulations and yes Deputy Mayor Chelli yes congratulations mayor bring congratulations all right now let's um I'm going to bring this all down here because there's a lot going on here Captain McCarthy will you mind joining me yes that's a yes I know you say congratulations all right someone's at the hiring before we go anywhere would you like to say something as the captain go for uh thank you for coming every uh everybody um it's always an exciting day that we get to swear in some new officers um it's a growing Department it's a young Department uh so we're getting a great group of officers that went through a long tedious uh process and they were our top candidates for for hire at this uh point but they bring a lot of uh experience and uh you know different uh backgrounds and and areas that they're going to be great assets to our department um we always like to thank the families for giving you the opp giving us the opportunity to bring uh your loved ones into our department um we're going to take care of them but they also are here because of your support um they're not going to get any further in career without the support at home um so that's very important we always like to recognize that it's a big department it's a young department they they're not going to calls by themselves there's always going to be backup there's always going to be somebody there to to watch their back and there you go good clapping right that was perfect timing um and I know I speak for uh Chief McMahon uh welcome them to the to the department he couldn't be here today and also uh just want to thank also the Town Council for keeping us uh at the Manpower we should be constantly support that that we beting so thank you very much and uh welcome and congratulations to our candidates very nice very [Applause] nice all right so one thing I'll just say too and I think Captain did terrific job and I don't want to Trump anything he said but if you don't have a safe town you don't have a town and we believe that in Hillsboro Township and this team is operating incredibly at at the highest performing team that I've frankly ever seen so you guys are your crew is is joining a really strong crew of people who take care of each other and they truly care about the town and and Captain's doing a great job as well too so you're joining a great crew all right okay so you like to call [Applause] [Music] Omar over here B right B right you doing sir in the middle here all right put your right hand you want to uh you want to read off the pledge you want me to do it I'll deal for all right okay you hold the form all right here so can hear you I Omar Basu I Omar B do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States and that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and to the governments established in the United States and to the governments established in the United States and in this state and in this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people so help me God so help me God I do further solemnly swear I do further solemnly swear that I will impartially that I will impartially and justly perform and justly perform all the duties all the duties of Officer of Officer according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability so help me God so help me God congratulations thank you you want a family to come up Family come on up it is right hand up did wrong last [Applause] year two [Applause] congratulations well done [Applause] [Music] he's an Entourage from back in the 90s all right all right oh boy this is I got to get on like telephone book all right here we go binn right binn serious sir all right you got it put your hand on I Brandon Bakin I Brandon Bodin Bodin do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and to the governments established and to the governments established in the united states in the United States and in this state and in this state under the authority of people under the authority of the people so help me God so help me God I do further solemnly swear I do further solemnly swear that I will impartially that I will impartially and justly perform and justly perform all the duties of the officer all the duties of the officer according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability so help me God so help me God congrats brother than than [Applause] who's going to pin you all right go yeah good it's harder than prom it is [Applause] do a picture sure you two first and then and then you can bring up the whole family to no boy no one can hit good family want to take a big photo no get the picture buddy oh my goodness oh my Bob want to switch with Dad switch with Dad he wants switch with Dad oh let the little guy in front We Will We Will judge for the biggest crowd so far next all right Justin C man thank you don't be nervous your hands all I've done this before all right I Justin male I Justin male do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and that I will bear true faith and I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and allegiance to the same and to the governments established to the governments established in the United States in the United States and in this state and in the state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people so help me God so help me God I do further solemnly swear I do further solemnly swear that I will impartially that I will impartially and justly perform and justly perform all the duties of the officer all the duties of the officer according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability so help me God so help me God congrats brother thank you sir [Applause] on that way yeah come on come on get out sorry I had to forget you didn't listen first come on conratulations [Music] [Applause] Travis warno [Applause] [Music] all right I Travis warno I Travis warno do Solly swear to solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and that I will bear true faith and that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the Saints and allegiance to the same and to the governments established and to the governments established in the united states in the United States and in this state and in this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people so help me God so help me God I do further solemnly swear I do further solemnly swear I will impartially that I will impartially and justly perform and justly perform all the duties of Officer all the duties of Officer according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability so help me God so help me God GRS man [Music] [Music] to you have any other family members like come come on up everybody congratulations all right one two [Applause] congratulations we need sign you right you got sign sure yeah whatever you want to do all four offic want to come up here yep sorry yep one two three there we go very [Applause] good all right there we go you want to pict him one more boys one more one more got it okay you got it yeah for I have a lot of friends and family out there that came by to support me go for it can everybody come up please that came from me please oh he wants to win the award I I think he just I think he just stormed award nobody likes over all right it's previous co-workers yeah his previous awes these guys he's a good dude we got good people we have a lot of good hey guys what's up bud she was worried when you weren't calling her in the beginning sorry she's like yes call me that's good that's good guys done right good good I remember we're going to come up in a minute okay you got stand still thank you so [Applause] much all right thank you congratulations to newest members of our own Hillsboro Township Police Department we're going to move on to proclamations and a few presentations You' like to say stay just to see a few of our proclamations first as everybody uh let everybody kind of filter out if they're going move on but we have Sage blanks come on up stage we we'll wait a moment don't good to see you brother this just for you we're going to hold that we'll give everybody a second but as everybody as as as the some of the police officers are stepping out we have a a very special young man here tonight who went through basic training as a marine and now he's a private right you got it right he's very proud young man his family's here as well too family like to come up as well would you like to come on up y takes a lot of courage to serve uh your fellow your fellow people and um You' gone through a lot so I'm proud of you man thank you sir all right so private Sage blanks Sage blanks Hillsboro High School graduate earned the Marine cor uh graduating on December 6th 2024 Sage made a pack with his cousin Liam merine that they would enter the Marine corpse together when was this when you were younger when you little kids yeah Sage earned the highest Badge of expert shooter and was and was part of first baton uh Delta company platoon 1086 this platoon was awarded the honor of platoon Sage will be going to Camp Geer North Carolina next to complete his combat training and then will attend his military occupational specialty school in 29 Palms California for training as a ground maintenance electrician his favorite part of basic training was the camaraderie and lifelong relationships that he made now therefore be a proclaimed that we the mayor hillsb Township committee to hereby extend our sincere congratulations to private Sage blanks for graduating from the Marine Court's basic training and wish him the absolute best of luck as he serves our country God bless you brother thank you would you like to say anything I know your man a few words but if you want to say something you can Mom can say something too if she want hello everyone uh coming here I did not know I was going to be in front of a bunch of people but just want to say that I'm glad to be serving you all it's what I've always wanted to do I've always wanted to make a difference and do something important and you know I'm glad I'm finally making that come true thank you that's you [Music] man a picture are you proud of them yeah good all right let's bring it oh let's bring it in come ony bring it in here come on think we got smile the camera okay got it run one more for Mr [Applause] all right this is for uh David Lee hman veteran of the year do we have any representation that will be coming on up yeah who would like to hold God bless if you'd like to say something after I read this off that be great okay David Lee Coleman veteran of the Year David Lee Coleman was the lieutenant commander of the US Naval reserve and was the founder and first post commander of VFW Post 8731 he served in this role from 19 1976 to 1977 and then again from 2009 to 2010 Lieutenant Commander Coleman held every elected or appointed position in the organization David Coleman enlisted in the US Navy on August 1st uh and served through uh 1953 and served through 1962 he was decommissioned in September 1962 David Coleman lived in Hillsboro for decades working as a mechanical engineer at research cartrell and was a member of nanic United Methodist Church and and a member of the Hillsboro seniors Club chapter a David Coleman was married to his wife Ena for 62 years and raised a family in Hillsboro he passed away earlier this year this plaque of recognition will be mounted on the township veterans wall in honor of David Lee Coleman's contributions and service to Hillsboro and our great nation God [Applause] bless thank you on behalf of my father uh David Coleman we were very proud of him and we were very proud to be his daughters thank [Applause] you all right she's got it I was looking for the award and she's holding it Samantha ball all right and and Mr Co all right cool David KO all right they didn't want to put down their Awards we have so many awards once you guys let let's hear let's book end in here so you guys can you can show all right assistant planner and sustainability program manager Samantha ball a received the sustainable Jersey sustainability Champion award on behalf of Hillsboro Township at the NJ Municipal Managers Association animal meeting in Atlantic City last month Samantha also received the sustainable Jersey silver certification award on behalf of Hillsboro Township at the NJ MMA same association meeting in a large part due to her efforts spearheading sustainability efforts by the township this is the 10th straight silver certification that's awesome finally Santa Samantha accepted the sustainability Jersey gold star and health Award presented I'm sorry I need glass of water presented to Hillsboro Township at the NJ MMA meeting Hill Hillsboro has given this award for its outstanding efforts to improve the health and well-being of our residents particularly Hillsboro's local Health assessment and action plan I'm going to hand the mic to Samantha to share a little bit you want me to hold that for you here you gos all right there you go here we go here we go I just want to say thank you to the hills Ro Township committee especially our Lea zon committeeman leani and committeeman chiarelli um as well as the mayor thank you and administrator Ferrera everybody is so so so so supportive of sustainability here in the township and they could not be more encouraging for all of the different programs and policies we're coming up with every day all the Departments here we have some parks and wreck we have Administration the clerks Planning and Zoning Finance everybody um they are so helpful everybody goes out of their way daily to come up with new ways to incorporate sustainability and create a more resilient Community for Hills and all of our residents so thank you to the mayor and everybody for this recognition and um we got the 10th grade certification and our 13th straight certification and then we also got the large group Champion award the health gold star and we were recognized by safe RS to school as a bronze certificate so overi a lot of overachievement over here sorry but uh thank you for the recognition and we're going to do even better next year yay he all right you hold this yes and then we'll take the picture that one I'll turn that we'll get this out of the way we'll go over here my goodness [Applause] Mr Dunn Mr [Music] Dunn we talked earlier about some of the people we talked about our employees in Hillsboro Township and Griffin's just another person who won another award and this is a big deal so Griffin was just um he was recognized was it 2 days ago I think it was at for at Somerset County a big a big meeting that we had so uh Griffin Dunn has just been recognized the 40 under 40 award that's a pretty big deal that's a big deal so Griffin Dunn is the assistant director of recreation and he has the honor of being awarded Somerset County Business Partnerships 40 under 40 professionals 40 IND 40 individuals under the age of 40 ranging from professionals philanthropists entrepreneurs and Community leaders are chosen that have gone above and beyond the Call of Duty in their chosen field we are just so darn proud of you man you're doing a great job we're really proud of you keep it up would you like to say something thank you mayor uh thank you committee for this nomination Anthony thank you you've been a big factor in this um I've always been a team player so I know well enough to know that I couldn't do this without my team much of which are here today um we strive to provide quality programs events park infrastructure in town that's something that's going to continue and uh we're looking forward to what the future holds so thank you very much congrats thank you take a picture take a [Music] picture we did picture family how about W family how about Township Family come on now come on there's mom come on Momom and dad mom and dad are more important than anybody that's right good [Applause] job all right good stuff man congrat thank you very much thank you yeah can all the T committee members please come down all right something drink I need something where's the award somebody needs to get the award all right since the uh the township committee is all down there very proud of them uh it's been a year of Awards as as the mayor has mentioned uh for the township committee as well at the league of uh municipalities uh the deputy mayor chiarelli was recognized for achieving the level of Municipal leader in local government leadership program congratulations to the deputy mayor uh Mayor Bob bring received the recognition by the New Jersey State Senate and general assembly for his service to Hillsboro Township which was marked by his efforts to preserve open space support law enforcement officers spearhead new social programs for children seniors and senior citizens congratulations to the mayor and to all of the township committee standing here before you uh the Hillsboro Township committee was awarded the elected officials award uh by the New Jersey municipal Managers Association NJ MMA goes to one Township Committee in the entire state so we are uh super proud of them um the award recognizes the elected officials who have consistently supported professional government management and who support the municipal staff's Career Development with programs such as the Hillsboro leadership program supervisor of day programs for parks and Public Works departments Hillsboro employee activities recognition team Hart and employee month and high five Pier recognition programs congratul congratulations to the entire Hillsboro Township committee on award well reserved and what I what I'll just say before we we close this part out I just want to thank again the employees this this this award also goes it come comes to the township committee but it it really also it really um identifies just terrific work by our Township employees and I've said that earlier today I'm going to keep saying it we really have the best staff on the planet so we just thank you guys for what you're doing all right so [Applause] thanks all right all right all right all right so we are going to take a um just a a moment break but this concludes our Pro proclamations and presentations congrats to everybody stay connected as always you can stay connected with all events and more via the Wednesday mayor e newss and Thursday experience Hillsboro bulletin if you're watching this online please sign up for it it's great uh please be sure to follow and like the official Hillsboro Township Facebook page ex and Instagram turn to tv29 and the Hillsboro YouTube channel and sign up for Hillsboro alerts for traffic and emergency notifications that's really important too if you're listening codee red is a big deal um it's a really good uh way of for us to communicate with residents thank you for joining us this evening we will take a brief pause and we will reconvene in about 90 seconds we'll get the we'll get the night moving thank you e e business everybody all right we have uh consent agenda items 1 through 34 before we have a motion um going to Alicia is sitting on the de who is our CFO um and she will provide some background information on a couple of the financial resolutions Alicia the floor is yours so I just wanted to point out consent agenda number one cancelling Capital Improvement authorization balances from um various capital projects um looking for approval to cancel about nine old capital ordinances that were previously funded that have not been spent and we cannot spend them under the um descriptions as they are so we're going to close them out and put them over into all but one of them are going to go into Capital fund balance which can be used to offset some um other unfunded capital projects that have already been spent I just wanted to point that out okay that's okay all right that's uh $479,000 about yep that's good uh 47741 and 90 I round it up okay all right all right so uh first uh may I have a motion to approve the consent agenda items 1 through 34 oh yes but that's oh oh is anybody would like to take them separate well I would I have questions on one and three so whether I can ask my questions or if you want to take have a we're going to have uh so we motion and then there's a second and there's comments from the de and then comments from the floor and then we vote it didn't if we wanted to take one and three separately would you like would you like to it's fine I'll ask my questions later you're okay you're like to proceed okay may I have a motion to approve the consent agenda items 1 through 34 so moved a second second all right comments from the de commit one mayor I have a question sure all right so on the um on ordinance number one or resolution number one the nine you know the almost half a million dollars that half a million we are you know bringing back into Capital my question is these date all the way back to 2007 so why is this coming to light now why is this happening right now in 2024 when it's 2007 2009 2011 2015 2016 2017 2018 and 2019 okay anybody from the finance committee would like to address that first well I'll say that most of this is before our time my time when I'm the oldest man here um no pun intended um it's not uncommon that stuff gets put into Capital that can't be finished and then rolled over now I can't explain to you why what happened 2009 2007 2011 um now 2017 18 19 we had some road work that was put on there that we didn't do that we um but the um bottom line is it was essentially money earmarked for projects that for whatever reason weren't done uh so you have to leave them there in case we ever want to get those projects done um talking with Alicia she decided it' be easier to take those completely out so that we could take that and put it into road or projects that are that need to be funded so that is that is truly the answer it was just that was projects that were not finished or um put on the back burner or couldn't be completed for whatever reason uh then they also have the 2008 Bond ordinance of $2 million4 which is for the GSA Depot uh General funds that can't be used so um that is just going to roll off our our debt service which essentially is just a number there though we don't own it don't owe it but it's there on the ledger so that would reduce our debt serves that $2 million so mayor I guess my my question is this feels like a cleanup um you know we we go over the budget I'm assuming you know you been uh committee M leany you guys have been doing this year over year over year over year looking at the budget we were looking under rocks to find money we had to again have a you know the 1.6 million additional but yet this half a million was was sitting there so help I just help me understand like where's the oversight um and did we collect tax money that we didn't need to collect I see where you're going with this uh Miss Miss noon can you can you clarify whether or not taxes had to be taken in in order to make up a difference here as Comm any woman hand the stating or because this is part of The Debt Service it's not even in the same these are capital ordinances um I'd have to look back at the budget years but we do raise Capital um in our budget um you mean during those time frames back in 2009 2007 I would have to confirm sure but I I know since I've been here we some of it we do raise it in cap or raise that capital in our budget okay Mrs noon this is more like a leftover of capital budget so capital projects were done they're either under budget or had some kind of tail pieces that were allotted for that were not completed more likely under budget and then these small fractions of leftover budgets get rolled into the next and the next the next and now it's all of that has accumulated to this half a million is that more fair yes thank you and that's capital some some are very small some are are larger but to to miss payp L is U work that was proposed in B in budget for it it came in under budget then it had stay there because of we didn't they didn't cancel the capital back in 2007 or 2009 or whatever but um there weren't any tax funds raised to create the difference here this is basically money that's encumbered that would now is going to be used for for other purposes that that we can use that are unfunded so it's not taxes it is capital capital correct and it can only be used for Capital correct so that is allotted it does not go into Surplus it does not go into any other account and that is why we need eventually to pull them together when there's a significant amount and they have to stay in a capital allotment so mayor sure just point point of information I believe we have oversight from an audit firm my thought is if this has been on the books 2007 2009 2 like if these have been on the books forever um and we we have an audit firm my suggestion is we may consider using a different audit firm next year um for a year to to have somebody else look at our information to ensure that we are getting advised and we have proper oversight okay I me good suggestion I'm look at it the whole team would have to make that decision there's been proper oversight I know this is I know what's going on here this is like a fun little campaign thing you're trying to create um you know as well as we do I think it was just it was just explained incredibly well mayor point of personal privilege I don't appreciate so I'm may I don't appreciate well I don't appreciate you playing the games you've been playing the last two meetings so let's just call what it is Mayor all right point of information we are looking at things from 2007 I have kids you know this age my goodness I got involved three years ago yeah and we're and we're we're and we're looking at these things and they rolled over it was just explained to you these are the kinds of this is the Chan so miss noon did committee woman Han come to you prior to this meeting asking any questions with regards to this budget for this meeting specifically prior to tonight I didn't get questions from okay so you're doing it in public versus doing it asking our CFO prior to the meeting to inform yourself and coming to the meeting informed should I should I call her on Saturday or Sunday because we get this package on Friday I did speak with Mrs noon today thank you very much um you had Monday why don't if if this information could be shared with me prior so I don't know if if folks are aware but we get this package on Friday afternoon been for how many years and that's how I spend my weekend is is reading this information and seeking to understand it listen the town doesn't S if you don't have time to do this excuse me my question to you is if we could consider using a different audit firm that's all that's my own question I said the team will consider that so yes or no thank you very much great any other questions not on that one okay any other questions with regards to 1 through 34 I had a question on um three number three does anyone else have I'm letting you go so my question on number three was just around um just needing to understand like I know on the from I'm looking at the from column I know there was some on from construction for instance a 100,000 from construction I just needed to understand about the fees con you know for construction if those have to be used for that department or if they're able to be transferred to the other departments the second part of that question was actually there's there's nothing coming from construction it's going to construction there's 100,000 coming from construction no you're on the wrong side going to construction I'm looking right at it mayor Group Insurance there's 100,000 there is going the less inside the column is going from to so 100,000 is going to the Construction office not from that's that's two side is that not correct Miss noon no other way around I I apologize but you would I would typically look at from to I apologize drafted to sorry I think it was the other way last time my apologies clarify is that correct that it's yes it is I stand corrected I assumed two was on the left and okay our from too okay so the question mayor was for 100,000 was going from construction to other groups I just needed to understand are those fees able to be used for other departments the second part of that question was in the two um 100,000 for Group insurance and 50,000 for Social Security I thought those would be no numbers I was just surprised that those were underfunded and wanted to understand Miss n can you elaborate further as you executed on this so on the construction salary and wages um the the the fees that come in offset the construction salary and wages operating sometimes their fees that they bring in are more than um what they spend sometimes they are less and it balances out over um a couple of years but also there's a lot of empty seats where we're short people so the money allotted for salaries is not there because we don't have the people and then the group insurance is something that I am looking into and social as well as the Social Security yes I'm sorry both of those are something that I'm looking into any other questions no all right anybody else comments from the floor roll call please committee woman hand yes committee leani yes committee woman Payne yes Deputy Mayor Chelli yes mayor Bing yes public hearings uh first is 202 24-14 in ordance amending chap uh chapter 232 Property Maintenance to create article for privately owned salt storage to the code of Township of Hillsboro sua County New Jersey to address private salt and de icing material storage within the township further consideration and a public hearing will be held on December 10th we have that sorry that's January today right that's January correct it's no this is the public hearing as I'm reading it doesn't make sense so this is happening right now so the the further consideration public hearing is not as stricted from the record I may have a motion to open the public hearing for ordinance 202 24-14 so second second all in favor I any comments from theis I'll just make a comment um all these actually the next two are basically based on uh requirements from the D to bring up our ordinances to the new standards uh they're for the most part a um guidance that's provided to all the municipalities that we're following to update our own policies uh there's nothing really extensively overreaching here it's it's it's pretty uh pretty benign information but it is bringing us current to the standards okay I may have a motion or so any comments from the floor actually open to public but it's okay public nobody all right um roll call please oh I may have a motion to close the public hearing to adopt ordinance 202 24-14 so moved second second roll call please committee woman hand yes committee M leani yep committee woman pay yes deput mayor trelli yes everybody yes all right 202 24-5 ordance for amending chapter 262 storm water control article one surface R runoff on the code of Hillsboro Township somerson County New Jersey to address storm water management requirements in the municipality may I have a motion to open the public hearing for ordinance 202 24-15 Mo have a second one and two right all in favor I I all right any comments from the de any restated yep restated yep any comments from the public all I may have a motion to close the public hearing adopt ordinance 202 24-15 don't moved have a second cool roll call please committee woman hand yes committee V the Pani yes committee woman pay yes Deputy Mayor Chelli yes mayoring yes 202 24-6 in ordinance amending chapter 188 land use and development article was uh article 9 tree preservation of the code of Hillsboro town uh Township of Hillsboro Su County New Jersey uh to address the New Jersey Department Environmental Protection njd tree removal requirements may have a motion to open the public hearing for ordinance 202 24-16 so moved I have a second okay all in favor I I all right um any comments from the D no from the floor no may have a motion to close the public hearing and adopt ordinance 202 24-16 move second all right roll call please committee woman hand yes committee man the p yes committee B pay yes Deputy Mayor Chelli yes mayor yes introduction of new ordinances I see none claims list may have a motion to approve claims list 202 24-16 so moved second second comments from the days comments from the floor roll call please committee woman hand yes committee man Le Pon yes comme boomman Payne yes Deputy Mayor chck Ry yes mayor Bing yes public comments for matter new business I see none so public comments for matters not 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 please spell your name for the record you will be given one three minute allotment for your comments please understand that this public forum is not construct 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 all right all right all right may I don't see any public com all right uh may have a motion to adjourn so moved a second second roll call committee woman hand yes committee M Pani yes and merry Christmas happy Hanukkah that's right yes committee woman pay second that and um yes Deputy Mayor Chelli yes happy holidays mayor Bing yes happy holidays Merry Christmas Happy hanuka have a wonderful time with your families everybody it is a little before 9:00 it is 8:49 have a great night all