I don't know what July 8th, 2025. Miss Brake, please call the role. Committee Bringing here. Committ H here. Committee Levani present. Deputy Mayor Bane here. Mayor Chelli here. Administrator Ferrer here. Attorney Bard here.
Okay. Please join me in a salute to the flag. To the flag of the standyice for all. So, 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 the meeting would take place at the Hillsboro Township Municipal Complex at 7:30 p.m. on July 8th, 2025. Executive
session is deemed necessary to begin at 6:30. There was no executive session. So let's move on to approval of minutes. May I have a motion then a second to approve the regular meeting minutes of May 27th. So moved. Second.
Second. Uh any comments? No. All right. Uh roll call. Committee Bing. Yes. Committee woman hand. Yes. Money. Yes. Deputy Mayor Payne. Abstain. Mayor Jelly.
Yes. Great. Um okay. So Before we get into the committee reports tonight of a few general announcements, um, hearts go out. First is about what's going on down in Texas. Our hearts go out to the people of Texas and all
who've been affected by the recent flash flooding in the Hill Country of of Texas, including more than well, now it's up to about 160 souls who lost their lives. Please keep the victims of this catastrophic flooding and their families in your prayers. Our condolences go out to all who were
impacted by this tragedy. Um so stand strong with Texas. Um family fun day uh fireworks recap. So our annual Hillsboro Township's annual family
funday and fireworks was a great success. The township committee had a great time interacting with community and making new friends. It was an entertaining and engaging day of music, food, and awesome fire and an awesome fireworks display. Special thanks to the recreation and public works department
and everyone else who worked hard to make this event so special for the Hillsboro community. Uh I think a shout out to whoever's responsible for the weather because it held off this year. We got a couple drops of rain, but uh if you want to call it that. So um everything went off smoothly, not like
last year where we had to cut the show short. So just a great day. Um, ribbon cutings. Hillsboro Township celebrated two exciting grand openings on June 27th. Um, we have Vein Aesthetics, which is on the right side there, owned by
Delilah Massud, and Hillsboro Hair Studio owned by Dana Kamacho. Uh, local officials, members of the Economic Business Development Commission, and community supporters joined in welcoming these two businesses business association members. Their openings uh
reflect both the township's ongoing growth and our strong support for local entrepreneurs. Both businesses uh fall under the cosmetic and personal care sector, one of the four key industries identified by Somerset County for its high local density and strong growth potential. In
fact, Somerset County ranks among the top 20 counties in the nation for employment in personal care. So, these two uh womenowned businesses are are, you know, keeping us keeping us in the front of that. Uh if you have a bis if you own a business in Hillsboro, make
sure you're registered with the uh our HBA to take advantage of the many valuable business resources that we offer. Uh and speaking of the HBA, we had a summer social on June 26th uh at the landing. It was great success with more than 60 attendees uh networking and
collaborating to support Hillsboro's local economy. Uh Deputy Mayor Payne and Committeeman Leani joined me as we mingled with members of the Hill Hills Hillsboro business community. Uh something we did this year a little different. We we kind of passed the mic to the various businesses, let them introduce each other rather than trying to find somebody. Uh we we had them go
and and say here's what my business is. So then people could then go directly to them if they had an interest. So it was a it was a good event. Actually, this event was outside at first. The rain came and it was a seamless transition to uh the inside at at the at Feeasants landing. So, where the landing so they
did a great job and uh so did the team. So, kudos to that and if you're a business, please sign up. Um so, let's go to reports from the committee liaison. Uh starting with committeeman Britting. Thank you, Mayor. Good evening, everybody. Welcome. All right, we have a
couple awesome proclamations. The mayor's going to be hand out a little bit, so we won't congratulate some of you guys yet, but congratulations up front. So, from administration standpoint, artwork. The last day to submit original artwork for the township calendar or planner is August 1st, a little less than a month away. Please see tomorrow's e-news or the township
website for guidelines and a link to the submission form. Now, the next is through New Jersey uh motor vehicle. Now, due to equipment issions, equipment issues, the NJVMC mobile uh uh unit event, originally scheduled for Wednesday, July 9th, has been
rescheduled for Monday uh July 14th, beginning at 9:00 a.m. So, that is moved from uh Wednesday to Monday of next week. Uh through uh though all the Real ID appointment spots are full, no appointment is necessary to apply for a handicap placard or drop off old license plates. We apologize for any inconvenience of those of you who didn't
have a chance to sign up for the Real ID appointments or or from the the date for tomorrow. Next is the economic and business development uh group within Hillsboro. Um we want to congratulate um uh the HBA member Ada Young, owner of the Little Gym. Now my uh my son Robbie
and Christian, my nine-year-old and then seven-year-old went to the Little Gym. I just want to just do a personal shout out for her, too. She's absolutely fantastic and the kids are uh in really good hands and they learn a ton from her. She's fantastic. I'm just so glad that she won this award. So, she won a award uh for the 2025 Ida Rosenthal
Rising Star Award at the New Jersey Immigrant Entrepreneur Awards. Uh it is work continues to bring local families together and help children thrive. That's absolutely true. Uh the HBA is proud to celebrate her success and the township will be recognizing her uh further at a future date. So, I just want to congratulate Ada on that. She's
just a really wonderful person. So, happy for her. Um human resources, Hillsboro was hiring uh for a variety of positions. Uh we have a really great township, fantastic administrator, great training program, leadership development program uh all the way around. Put a lot of effort into the employees. So see please please see tomorrow's e-news or
the Hillsboro Township website for more details if you are looking for a position with the town. Uh from a recreation standpoint, so we're going to stick with recreation here and youth. So first we'll start wreck. Um recreation is now open for the 2025 co-ed fall soccer leagues and girls fall soccer
leagues. Uh fall, excuse me, fall softball leagues. of soccer, co-ed fall soccer leagues, and girls fall softball leagues. The registration deadline is August 10th. Sign up early as some of the leagues will reach a maximum capacity before the deadline. Now, um before you go to the next picture, uh I just that we have some we're going to be
recognizing some baseball teams tonight. And I just wanted to just take a moment if you don't mind clicking the picture. I wanted to recognize um your uh your rising star 9u district champions two years in a row. Uh they were 8U champions last year, nine new champions this year. That's me and my son Robbie. I'm a proud dad moment. I wanted to put
that on there for all the kids. Uh they were featured in the newspaper earlier this week on Tap into and um just all the coaches down there. Just fantastic group of people and um I won't ever get a chance to do this again. I'm just proud of my son Robbie. He got the winning hit in the semi-final game and the championship game to get us through
and I'm just very proud of him. He's a little guy. He's 57. Thank you. Thank you. I'll show him this video later. He'll be he's a very humble kid so he'll he'll he'll appreciate this. And this team in the past two seasons are 12-0 in the district tournament and champions both years and they've scored 140 runs
in 12 games. So these kids are little juggernauts. They're fun to watch and they can really hit and now they can pitch and field. So now they're dangerous. All right. So yeah, they're good. Um true Raiders. True Raiders. Yeah. You got to teach them something. Yep. Absolutely. Uh absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. We we
don't the other groups they bring in all the club guys. We keep the town team together throughout the spring and summer and we're crushing them. So, we're doing really, really, really well. All right. So, I just want to recognize while we leave this up here, I just want to recognize some of our youth as well, too. But since you guys are here, I looked on the Hillsboro High School page on Facebook. And who here is going to be
a senior? Raise your hand. Anybody? All right. Parking tags. I want to make sure you heard this. Applications are open for parking tags because I know you guys are going to forget. I know my wife's going to have to to remind my son 600 times to do it. So, I'm going to do it in public for you guys. So, don't forget to get a parking tag. Um, just two other two other um things I would like to call
out. So the all state group four second team doubles tennis. Congratulations Nil Shankar and uh Suj Namarandi or Namarudi won the doubles tennis. Fantastic. Just wanted to recognize those two young gentlemen. And also the um the uh high school varsity volleyball player Manan
of Vadawan for the uh 10th most aces in New Jersey which is fantastic. So we have some really great athletes in this township. Um we have some special Olympics. um boys varsity swim athlete Tommy Mar uh uh is pronounced Mark Marquetta. Um he is uh just done a
really great job year after year and just want to recognize him as well too. So I think when the youth does well we should be recognizing them first first and foremost. Uh, last thing I'll talk about this evening is social services. And this is an area I'm going to challenge the baseball players here and the other youth here to give back to
because the bas the uh the uh um the social services department is a really strong department. Great leadership and really helps support people in need. So, the Hillsboro Township Social Services Department is pleased to announce it'll be hosting a property tax rebate filing event in partnership with the New Jersey Department of Taxation. This event is
designed to help residents complete the new PAS1 form which now combines the senior freeze stay New Jersey and the anchor property tax relief programs into one simplified application. You don't have to go out to other sources. You can come here to the social services department if you know someone who needs that to learn more about it. They're all about it. Uh this event will take place
on Saturday, July 12th from 10:00 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Hillsboro Township multi-purpose room. See details in tomorrow's e-news or on the township website. And for the youth in the room, if you want to give back to the township, visit the social services website and see the items that could be donated. And if you guys want to help them out, bring some stuff and some bags
in and help them out. All right. So, thank you very much, mayor. Appreciate it. Thank you, committeemen. Um, next committee hand. Yes. Thank you, mayor. Good evening. Hello. Hello. Um, just wanted to continue the shoutouts. So, Luke Sudall,
who I think we also gave an award to a little while ago for swimming, just wanting to congratulate Luke. He is the Hillsboro High School track and field um athlete and at the meet of champs. He was actually the top sophomore in all of
New Jersey for the 16 meter, which is absolutely incredible. It's funny because I think he swims long distance, too. So, apparently those are just some good good lungs. So, um he he is the sophomore in New Jersey and then he also finished 13th overall at the meet of
champs. Um he has also had the top 10 times across the 800, the 1600 and the 3200 for sophomores in the state um ending in this spring season. He was also named to the all state group for
third team for the 16 meter. So congrats to him. Um again, amazing athletes. I hope you're all taking care of yourselves. Um, moving along to wildlife. So, wildlife applications are due Wednesday, July 23rd. The lottery
will be on July 25th. And moving to pet licenses. And I know we just talked about the landing a couple minutes ago. So, following a recent event in which a groundhog in the area in that area tested positive for rabies and
unfortunately did um bite someone, they are okay. Um, it is essential to remember that any mammal can carry rabies. Um, rabies is commonly sped through a bite um of an infected animal. It is almost always fatal unless treated
before symptoms begin. If exposure is sus, excuse me, suspected um postexposure treatment is available through hospital emergency rooms. It is not fun and it involves lots of um shots. Uh so, you know, again, we can
all do our part. So, how do we do our part? So, it's a good time to remind everyone to license your dog. Um, the reason we want folks to license their dog is rabies. Vaccination is required. That way, we know that the pets in town
have been licensed and um and vaccinated for rabies. Uh primary reason here ensure dogs are up to date on the rabies and licensing fees are collected and reinvested in the community to help with funding animal control services sheltering stray animals and providing
veterinary care for those injured. Additionally, cats must also be vaccinated against rabies and we um have a mandatory cat vaccination ordinance. We also have a free roaming cat ordinance. So, um, we went through this
a couple months ago. If you're feeding stray cats, they are your cats. So, congratulations on those cats. Um, but they it is your responsibility to also make sure that they are cared for. Um, if you would like information on Fix the Cat program, uh, they offer spay and
neutering and vaccination services. Please visit the health department on the township website. And moving along to the Hillsboro library. So, couple topics here about creating a quieter space. So, with the increased number of visitors, there's been higher levels of
noise in the municipal building. To address this, the Hillsboro Library is in the um process of ordering decorative acoustic tiles. I think some of us wish we had those in our home, but these are decorative acoustic tiles in the shape of leaves uh to go with the decor. And
um they're working with DPW to get those installed now. So that should help for noise in the library. Additionally, if you are thinking about becoming a gardener, um the library has a free program where um it's a seed library. So
we have donations from regional seed companies and local gardeners. It could be vegetables, herbs, um pollinator friendly wild flowers, and these are available um to you in the library. So check that out. It helps the the biodiversity of our town. And last but
not least, we have a visit tomorrow night. Um, if you don't have plans, um, Senator Andrew Zwicker is going to be here in the library and, um, he maintains an office here in Hillsboro. He'll be touring the branch to see the recent renovations. He will also be
receiving the library champion award from the New Jersey Library Association. They are honored to host and um, provide that award. the public is welcome to attend and that's at 1:30 tomorrow and Wednesday. Thank you very much, Mayor. Back to you.
Okay. Thank you. Uh Committeeman Leani. Thank you, Mayor. Wake everybody. Okay. Make sure everybody paying attention. Um because it's really cool outside, your HVAC unit is probably struggling. Um, and if it does stop working, which it
always does in the heat, uh, not in the winter time, and it needs to be replaced, you are still required to notify the building department before starting work. The licensed contractor must submit the permit application within 72 hours of the initial notification. This procedure only
applies to like for like replacement of HVAC. So, just keep that in mind if you should be unfortunate to lose your air conditioning in the middle of summer. Uh the 2025 road page paving program has started. If you haven't noticed, the engine department received a schedule
from an awarded contractor, Stylo Contracting, that the concrete ADA ramp reconstruction will start on the week of June 30th. Um weather permitting. Obviously, weeks like this slows things down with milling and paving to follow. The plans are to have the section of
Falcon Road and Bloomingdale Drive completed during the summer months while school is in construction and and on the remaining roads will be shortly after in August. The roads all roads should be completed by October. Below is the this is the
full list of the 2025 roads to be repaved. I know we've announced this before, but I'll reiterate for those who didn't. Beverly Drive, Kilmer Drive, Fern Way, Gale Court, Brier Way, Scott Drive, Barbara Drive, Arlene Court, Matthew Road, Daniel Drive, Walnut Grove
Road, Falcon Crest Lane, as I mentioned, Falcon Road, the remaining portion that wasn't paved by the contractor last year to um Sunnyme and Bloomingdale Drive from the portion from Auton Road to Clubhouse Drive only. So, please be aware of when construction
starts in uh in area and make arrangements for that. Okay. So, the third quarter tax bills uh estimated tax bills um each July will be coming out. This estimate bill reflects the current year assessment value of your property
while calculating your total tax obligation. Do not simply multiply the third quarter amount by four. So, that's what a lot of people think that when they get that bill, it's times four. It's really a uh assessment value as this will not give an accurate estimate of your annual
taxes and will overestimate the true tax to be paid. Any adjustments to your total yearly taxes are reflected in the third and fourth quarter bills. So, they're kind of a catch-up. Please keep in mind that these assess that the assessed properties values may increase, decrease, or remain the same
from year to year based on the changes in the real estate market. Since 2018, as we know, property market values have steadily increased not only in Hillsbor, but throughout the state, uh, which has significantly increased assessed values. The tax rate per 100 of assessed value
has declined from 2.419 in 2018 to 2.413 in 2024 due to market trends and budget increases slightly, resulting in minimum increases. The overall tax rate typically does not increase while in an annual reassessment program unless
budgets have increased. There is a tax allocation note. It is important for property owners to understand how their tax dollars are distributed for those in the room. And there is a a pie chart on the wall to kind of explain it. For the 2025 tax
year, 14% of your tax is mun municipal services. So of every $1 you pay in taxes, 14 is directly related to the municipal um funds. 16% is for Somerset County, 3% is for local fire department
district and 1% is allocated to open space. As usual, the largest portion, a significant 66% is directed to the board of education. Now, we collect all the tax and distribute it to the uh different propri. So, you are writing a
check to Hillsboro Township, but just understand only 14% of that is what we keep. Um, as such, any substantial increases in your tax bill are primarily driven by the board of education's budgetary needs and decisions, not by the municipal government. There are
several tax deductions and state abatements programs available, which was highlighted earlier by U. Committee Britain. We encourage you to visit the assessor's web page to contact the office to learn whether you may qualify. The website is as follows.
hillsboroj.govdep departments backassessor or you may call directly to 908-3698077. Planning and zoning. Everyone wants to know we go from taxes to to planning and zoning. This is how we roll. Impervious coverage has always been a question and we have our planner sitting in front of
us with us today. Um what is impervious surface and how is it calculated? Well, impervious surface is anything that cannot cannot effectively absorb infiltrate rainfall such as driveways, patios, and walkways.
Water absorbs into soil and runoff is naturally filtered for impurities before it reaches creeks, streams, and rivers. As areas become more developed, our amount of impervious covers increases and natural filter systems are no longer placed to intercept the runoff, which has serious implications for water
quality and as we know, flood control. Please contact the planning and zoning office for more information. Um, just as a note, stone driveways are considered impervious in in Hillsboro Township, too. So, even though there is some filtration there, it is actually
calculated as 100% impervious. That's my PSA from my planning board for years. Deuces to you there, buddy. Um, now continuing on the work, the hurricane season is approaching, the public works department is is reminding residents of the importance of preparing their
properties for severe weather. Nothing protects your your property more than yourself. So, especially when it comes to hazardous trees, it is very it is every homeowner's responsibility to inspect their property for any trees that may pose a risk during high windstorms to their pro to their home,
their property, or even their neighbors property. Dead leaning or damaged trees can cause serious harm not only to your home, but as I said, also to neighboring properties. Taking action now can prevent costly damage and ensure everyone's safety and any inconvenience
of losing power by a tree falling on a on a on a power line and and and causing your own demise. We'd also like to make residents aware of the importance of inspecting their properties for promp prompt communication with the township. If a tree from a township owned property
falls onto a residential property and it was not previous reported or documented as hazardous, the homeowner will be responsible for the cleanup of any damage that result. However, we want to be proactive. If you believe a tree on township property near your home may be
hazardous, please report it. So, I'll report that if you feel there is a a property a tree on a township property you believe it could be hazardous to your property, i.e. dead or leaning or or a bad shape, please report it to the township. We will happy to assist and
address any concerns brought to our attention before an incident occurs. Let let's work together to stay safe and storm ready. Thank you for doing your part. Couple additional notes regarding trees coming from the tree guy.
Um, ordinance 202416 is now requires a township permit for any trees removed. Trees removed must be mitigated by planting new trees. This is an NJD mandate. This is not a township mandate. This is the NJD. There are exemptions for mitigation if
trees are dead or considered hazards to the home. Any land clearing for construction of new homes, pools, additions, or other purposes will now require a tree mitigation plan. If a project receives planning board or board of adjustment approval, the owner must
follow the approved tree clearing plan. The engineering department will require a clearing survey as an ASB build clearing s and an asbuild clearing certification. The township will also have the township tree expert review the clearing to verify only approved trees were cleared and required replacement of
trees planted. Last two, please keep an eye out for the township road crews working on various repairs in advance of the upcoming road preservation and paving programs. Everyone's safety is our primary concern while these jobs are taking place. We ask everyone to pay extra special attention and drive carefully through
the work zones. And lastly, um the cleanup drop off program. There are all still spots available to take part of the 2025 township cleanup drop off program. If you still need to get rid of old household items or yard brush, please visit the township website to get more information on how to sign up.
That's all. Mayor, thank you. Thank you. Next, Deputy Mayor Payne. That's all. Good lord. That's it. We all need water just watching you read. So, I just want on record I slashed mine immensely. There's only like a page and
a half. I swear I'll be fast. So, uh, MAD recognition, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, annual New Jersey Law Enforcement Recognition Event took place on June 13th. This annual event recognizes law enforcement officers for their life-saving efforts as each impaired driver taken off the road is a
potential life saved. Officer Jara won the Somerset County Top Cop award of excellence and recognition of excellence, I'm sorry, and the recognition of excellence award. Corporal Aoy won third place as top drug recognition expert in New Jersey. Officer Nazerich won the recognition of
excellence award. Also, in Hillsboro Township is proud of these outstanding officers and thanks them for their continued commitment and to our community. Tomorrow night, the ice cream social connected with the uh Hillsboro Police Department at Ice House just across the
street tomorrow from 6:00 to 9:00. In addition to meeting the local police, the first 100 kids get a free ice cream cone. You're included in that, guys. National Night Out. The Hillsboro PD is hosting the township's third annual National Night Out on August 5th from 5:30 to 8:00 at Mountain View Park. This
is a community policing at its finest and a great opportunity to get uh to spend some time with local law enforcement amongst many other nonprofits and local agencies. Sustainability. There's still time to dive into Hillsboro's municipal water story uh developed by the
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. Here you can provide insight into topics like water quality and hazards as well as
submit photos to illustrate your feedback. Visit the sustainable Hillsboro page on the township website to view the water story and take your short survey. Finally, the BFW of Hillsboro Post 8371 proudly
announces a grant from Starbucks Foundation to support local veterans and their families in Hillsboro, Montgomery, and Branchburg. This grant will also strengthen community outreach efforts, including partnerships with local food banks, scholarships for 6th through 12th graders and awards for Girl Scout uh
gold awards and Boy Scout Eagle Scout recipients. On behalf of all veterans and members of Hillsboro Memorial VFW Post 8371, we are thankful to receive this grant. We want to express our gratitude to our local Starbucks for nominating us for the Starbucks Foundation neighborhood grant.
And a special thanks to all the Hillsboro Starbucks employees for their positive interactions with all veterans, said Mike Schroaggel, post 8371 commander. And that is all, mayor. Great. That's how you do it. Uh so I have a couple of uh things to
report on. First is uh Route 206. Well, that's not Route 206, but uh on Route 206, there's not too much to report since the last meeting. Um, right before the 4th of July, we asked the DOT to repair a uh sunken patch in the uh
across from the Coptic Church. So, they did that. Uh, during the past couple of days, I've seen them a small crew out there weed whacking, taking down some of the jungle that's up along 206. So, um, you know, we'll see what kind of progress they make there, but they really haven't done much in the way of,
uh, productive construction. So, we've got, you know, continuing our calls out to the DOT and uh are looking for for some more updates on that. That picture is actually Brown A. Um it's not photoshopped. That's the new road and the old road. Um
uh that project was paved and striped as of this morning. Uh when officially opened, this extension will take truck traffic into the Hillsboro Logistics Center uh and ease some of the truck traffic circulation and traffic in in that
general area of 206. Uh there was a recent ask the mayor and uh the question was does this road go through to Roycefield Road and the answer is no it does not. We're working to um with various stakeholders and the properties to try and link this brown a brown a uh
extension to get to Roycefield Road. But right now, this is just to get trucks into that at the traffic light and into the center so they're not pulling out into traffic and hopefully taking some of the traffic off of uh Duke's Parkway. So, um we have some testing to get back,
some uh acceptance by the state. they have to do their final inspection. So, we probably have we have a couple more weeks, maybe six weeks. It may take that long to get it there. It's tempting, but uh the road is ready to go. We just need to get the final certifications. So,
we're happy about that. Um and so that's about all I have on on things related to 206 at this time. Uh today, right before this, I attended a ribbon cutting at a new basketball court at Village Green. The rehabilitation project included the
new a new surface, uh new backboards and rims. Uh this project was proposed in the 2023 uh budget approved in 2024 and and as as part of the capital plan and recently completed for the public's enjoyment. So, we cut the ribbon. is
officially open and um you know we make we promised that the that neighborhood we'd get this done and and it's been resurfaced so we kept that promise. Um we were there with the parks and parks and recck department today too. So appreciate all the work they did.
um bathing suit. Speaking of the parks and wreck, the the uh parks and wreck department and the Hillsboro Township Community Assistance Network or CAN are proud to partner with the 2025 bathing suit and goggle drive that's spearheaded each year by the New Jersey Parks and
Recreation Association, uh New Jersey Swim Safety Alliance, and Dolphin Swimwear. Drowning is a leading cause of accidental death among children ages 1 to four. And since swim lessons require proper bathing suit and and equipment, uh for many families, this has been one
of the major stumbling blocks to access uh any types of lessons, uh our community has proved many times that we can be counted on to assist those in need. And we're appealing to residents once again to help save lives and donate to this worth worthy cause. Please see the press release tomorrow and
tomorrow's e-news for more information on where to make these donations. Uh in addition, we uh had a meeting today with uh Somerset County's uh community outreach program and to discuss the the program that they have going on right
now. The Somerset County Board of Commissioners is introducing this new initiative to enhance support for residents in need of various services. The uh community outreach program is aimed at directly engaging individuals and families within our community. Uh this is a two-year program that will
include local canvasers who will be going doortodoor to connect with residents uh to connect residents with vital resources including behavioral health services, food insecurity support, and aging and disability services. So they have a targeted audience they know they where they're
where they're going to be knocking. The goal is to ensure that every resident in Somerset County has access to help they may need regardless of whether they're aware of the available services or how to access them. Uh through this outreach, they aim to provide a direct direct information and referrals to
individuals who may be facing challenges but are not yet connected to the appropriate services. Uh so they're really reaching out to those in need. Uh and and the meeting today was about the ongoing effort in Hillsboro. So the canvasers, you'll see them in green vests, green hats, uh are trained to
respect the privacy of residents while offering those resources in a compassionate and non-intrusive manner. They're clearly identified with vests and identification badges. And the goal again is to increase awareness uh and provide support to residents who might not otherwise reach out for assistance.
So, we applaud that effort and uh we'll be getting I'm assuming we'll be getting an update as they're working through the town in July. So, um, that's my final, uh, report and, um, as always, you can stay connected, uh, with all events 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 uh, Twitter and Instagram. Tune in to Hillsboro YouTube channel and sign up for Hillsboro alerts for traffic and
emergency notifications. So, thank you. We have four proclamations tonight. I know you've all been waiting for this. So, let me come down to the floor and we'll get started. So, first up is the city baseball team. So, here they are. Hillsboro High School
varsity baseball team. The 2025 high school Hillsboro High School varsity baseball team are the NJSIA Central Jersey Group Four State Sectional Champions. So, great job. The Hillsboro High School varsity
baseball team obtained the third sectional baseball title in Hillsboro High School's 54-year history with a 14 and 11 overall record and the first time finishing the season over 500 since 2019. The varsity baseball team consists of the following athletes and coaches.
Oh, Kyle Sonetis, Aiden Cooper, Gavin Kazooi, Shane Corana, Brian Qube, Alex Riley, David Kandell,
Tommy Kester, Sean Patel, Jason Williams, TJ Weslick, Coach Matt Moscow. Uh, in addition to the team championship,
TJ Weslake was named to the first team Skyland Conference All Delaware Division and TJ Westlake and Braden Fox were named to the first team Courier News All Area. So, congratulations. Now therefore, be it proclaimed that we, the mayor and Hillsboro Township
Committee, do hereby commend the 2025 Hillsboro High School varsity baseball team, coaches and parents, not only for their successful season, but for their hard work, dedication, and commitment to the sport, and to those principles of good sportsmanship, teamwork, and academic achievement, which the
organization endorses. So, we've now uh we have an related proclamation. So, uh want the team to stay up here, but let's give them a round of applause again. And we'll take a picture first. for the baseball coach of the year. So, yes, Matt.
for you. Also, uh Matt Matt Moscow was named Courier News 2025 baseball coach of the year. So, congrats. Matt, a 2009 Hillsboro High School graduate and a former catcher for the baseball team, has coached the team for the past four years. He's also a social
studies teacher at Autton Road Intermediate School. The varsity baseball team won six straight games, becoming the lowest seated team in the state to win a sectional title. Hillsboro won its third sectional title in the program's 54 history and first since 2012. It celebrated its first
winning season since 2019, finishing 14 and 11. Now therefore, be it proclaimed that we, the mayor, and the Hillsbor Township Committee do hereby congratulate Matt Moscow for being named Courier News 2025 Coach of the Year and New Jersey.com Skyland Conference Coach of the Year and thank him for his
dedication and support towards our athletic community. is that bridge. Do we have the uh girls track and field? Hillsware High School girls track and field. All right. Hillsboro High School girls track and field. The 2024 2025 Hillsboro
High School girls track and field team are the Skyland Conference Relay Champions, Somerset County Relay Champions, Skyland Conference Champions, Delaware Division Champions, and Somerset County Champions. That's incredible. The girls track and field team consists
of the following young athletes led by uh Coach Reefy. You might as well just step up and say your name. Nicole Ambrose, Alexa Bakowski, Rich Triy, Jason Rudik,
that was so hard. Right. Now therefore, be it proclaimed that we, the mayor and Hillsboro Township Committee, do hereby commend the 2024 2025 Hillsboro High School girls track and field team, coaches, and parents, not only for their successful season, but for their hard work, dedication, and
commitment to the sport, and to those principles of good sportsmanship, teamwork, and academic achievement, which the organization endorses. So, we uh we also have another related proclamation. So, I ask everybody to stay up here, but let's give him a round of applause. So, in a related matter,
we have uh we're going to honor Rich Reefy, who has been indicted in indicted, wrong team. Ah, that's awesome. Inducted into the Hillsboro High School Hall of Fame. So, congrats.
Rich Reefy was indi indicted inducted into the highsbor High School Hall of Fame for this this year as the head coach of the girls track and field team. He's led the team for the past 30 years. Rich is the longest tenure head coach at Hillsboro High School and started the
winter track and field program as the only paid coach. Every school record for the girls cross country and winter winter and spring track and field has been set during his tenure. Rich has been named New Jersey coach of the year eight times and was inducted into the
New Jersey state hall of fame in 2009. He has coached 80 all-ameans including national champions, 14 overall New Jersey state champions, and various other individual county and conference champions. Additional additionally, the girls cross country team was overall New
Jersey state champion two times and won group four championships seven times. Now, therefore, be it proclaimed that we, the mayor and the Hillsboro Township Committee, do hereby congratulate Rich Reefy for being inducted into the Hillsboro High School Hall of Fame. Thank him for his dedication and support
towards our athletic community and wish him continued success. Outstanding. Okay. Thank you, mayor, and to the township committee and congratulations to the baseball team and coach Moscow. Um, like I say, we had the biggest team in
the school, but probably the worst attendance. Thank Thankfully these two girls came. It just doesn't seem to work during the summer. I mean, it's a different sport. We were there a lot of us three seasons and also summer and once summer comes most of the time a lot of them are just checked out. So next
time if you get us during the school year. Okay. Thank you again. Let's take a picture of you folks on you. Nice. All right, that concludes our proclamations. We're going to take a fivem minute break and we'll be back uh at the meeting
soon. started. Welcome back. Moving on. The first order of business is tonight's uh consent agenda of items 1 through 14. Give me a second here. So, do we have uh well, first we're
going to hear all comments from the deis and from the floor. Can you close the bar, please? Yes. Thank you. Uh from the floor first on any and all items on consent agenda items 1 through 14. Uh after that, if any committee member would like to take any item from the
consent agenda separately for voting purposes, we'll give the opportunity to do so. Uh there's no need to take items separately for the purposes of commenting or questioning. So do we have any comments from the deis on the consent agenda
anybody? I have one. Okay. Or Anthony, did you want to go first? Go first. No, please. Thank you. Uh just on the on the new hires mayor uh consideration uh number nine uh for our clean communities
positions Matthew uh Bonjiovani and Christopher Vicopists easy for me to say. Um, also consideration number 10 on the three new police officers, uh, officers Anthony Santos, officer
Terrence Fox, and Officer Donald Alla. Consideration number 11 with the promotions of Sergeant Henry, Lieutenant, and Corporals Michael Aoy, and Brian Gorka to sergeant. And with us this evening, uh, the hiring
of Nina RmIrez and thanking, uh, director, uh, David Kois, our plan director, being here, uh, for the position of temporary part-time master planner comes a great experience and it's going to be a great addition to the planning board and our master plan as uh, we continue to move forward with
that. So, thank you. Great. Looking forward to working with you on the master plan subcommittee. So, first order of business, should Dave have her schedule a meeting? right into it. Uh let's see any other uh committ hand. You said you had some
comments on on resolution eight question eight. Yeah. So on that one is there this list of properties, you know, going going back five years.
So this is a fiveyear farm lease. Have any properties been added to this list is my first question. Mayor, or is this consistent with what was listed five years ago? I believe additional properties have
been added. Additional the list of properties that was attached to the addendum. Yeah, there there's a list of properties here, but but it's every five years, right? So, are there what's new? Are there Yeah. Are there new
properties? And then the other question was, um, I know these are going out to bid. Do we know approximately what we received, what, uh, income the town received from kind of the last batch five years ago and what we would
anticipate receiving this year because I it's been traditionally pretty nominal few thousand dollars. Yeah. Each or in total? Each in total each year? Y. Well, hold on. It's two Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Each each property each property is not each property. But but what I'm saying
Yeah. each property. Yeah. Um but each year Yeah. Like a thousand couple thousand. Uh it's not a lot property. It's not a lot of money. Yeah. Per property. Yeah. I just didn't know where that like came into the into the budget. It's a nominal. It's really just to take township owned properties or farmland
preserve properties and continue to farm them. Uh this actually is a change was recommended by the ad committee to move the bidding up to um June or July so that the um owners or the winners of the
properties would be able to uh assess and especially if you would lose a property not invest in a property that you might lose at the end of the year. Um also there is a provision um to have a rollover after five years and um if at
some point u at a nominal increase but uh this actually is the first time we're doing it this early. We used to do it at the end of the year uh but to the agreement or the recommendation from uh David Ko and the ad committee they decided to move it up and actually the
used to be sealed bids uh but uh this year they will be live bids so therefore um it may bring more money not but we'll see but I wouldn't expect a large revenue now. Is that going to be here? Yes do that. Yes. All right.
We can see that. So you have how's your how's your auctioneering skills there, mayor? I haven't got one on. All right. All right. Um any other comments from the day on any items? I had um if no one else had I had one on
12. All right. So this was interesting. I just want to make sure I understand because there was there was no backup to this. It was just the um just the resolution. So, the way I read it, I want to make sure I'm reading it correctly. So, each of the
lines in here, and there's, I don't know, like eight, I'm guessing, eight or nine lines. Each one says um needs, you know, needs to be increased by X amount. So, I'll I'll give an example. There was one
uh the first one as far as um the professional service contract with D. Franchesco, Baitman, Goodman, etc. blah blah blah. Um, for the for the position of township attorney, it needs to be increased by 75,000
original not to exceed amount 75,000. So, it's it's doubling, right? Okay. And then the second one, same thing. It was 75,000 and now we're increasing it 100%. The third one, we're increasing 400%.
the you know the next one down like each one it's just increasing. So were these all unforeseen attorney fees or professional fees? A majority of these are attorneys. There's also some architects and uh bond counsel
some other things on there. So mayors I I understand this because this has come up a number of years. The township has always taken the position where you guys you guys allocated you haven't only allocated 75,000 to the township turn. You allocate much more than that because you know you're going
to go through much more than that. Um but you guys don't enter the not to exceed amount the full amount in the beginning of the cycle because you want to keep track of it. So that's what has been prior practice in the municipality. Uh in order to keep track of it you've always entered a lower amount so when it comes up you kind of take a look at it
and adjust where you are and so you know where you are. So that's what's been the practice of the municipality. Some municipalities just go right out and we'll say in the beginning of the year 150 200,000 an amount not to seat 150 or 200,000. Uh your past practice has been
always to uh award a lower amount so you can adjust at the end of the year to find out and adjust where you're at. That's correct. And CFO knowledge the fees are available for this. So our budgeting process Yeah. You already budgeted for it. Yes. Yeah. So, it's uh we're just we're just
they've they've reached a threshold and in order to to bill to continue billing, we need to approve uh expanded uh budget allowance for each of those uh service providers. So, per the notes that we were given last week. Yeah. Um per the reorg that
was determined at the reorg these levels. Yeah. The original levels. I'm sorry. Reserve point. Yeah. You have the notes and it says as determined at the reorg and the reorg minutes also reflected that.
Yeah. And the Yeah. And now we're we're increasing them from the reorg amounts. So we're we're almost doubling all of them. So um mayor uh it did say on here that the um CFO has certified that funds are available in the 2025 budget for
said contract and services. Do we have are those coming from another line item or were those allocated under legal fees? I would hate to have to pull up the budget. I just want to make sure that we're we're clear that we're not we're not doubling them as as I think Mr. Willard
had pointed out as well. So halfway during the year. So even though it might be $150,000 to go back to the original uh invoice, we do this consistently in u June, July to make sure we see where we are. Um like Bill said, some of the the towns
just automatically up front say here's all the money. So we look at where we are in halfway during the year to see do we need more, do we need need less? So every year we do we look at where we are to make sure and actually in this year
with more of the fees on affordable housing and some of the litigation. So every year it's going to fluctuate. So it's not doubling. It's just might look like it's doubling. Basically authorizing it just authorizing the second half of That's correct, Mayor. We're authorizing the already predetermined budget.
Right. Yeah. the sort I was trying to I'm flipping through the budget which is a giant document trying to find um if we have allocated those amounts well to legal or is it coming from another line item if that's the question let's handle this
offline we're here to vote yes and if that's where you're going to go for this that's homework maybe you should have done beforehand if you wanted to find out if we're over budget or not the CFO's off has has confirmed that the funds are there we're here to approve
approve increase uh authorize the increased budgets not to exceed budgets for the all basically all the professional services. I think it was everyone down the line. Yeah. So, so is there another is there another question or another item?
I'll just add to the conversation here. I mean, a lot of it is generated by what what has been as I think Anthony said, you have McMahon and Scott bond council. So we're obviously going to talk about doing a bond. So that obviously added
some uh some cost but we had budgeted for that knowing it's coming. Obviously uh all our Leo Avarian is all the master for the for the planning and the affordable housing that had to be done. Um which was a lot of billing in a very short period of time. After this month I doubt
there's going to be as much but there was a lot of hours being buil by Mr. Bernstein and Avarian uh in the 90 days that we had to get this plan together. Um and so you know we kind of went through that first allocation. Um so I
think that that's pretty obvious and then our pen penoni is basically that's based on how applications come in and reviewing of applications of storm water mandates that we have. As those things come in they need to review them. As applications come in from construction
we need to review those. So those are driven by uh by need. So again it's all in was all budgeted beforehand. Um and this is just as I said just allowing us to exceed the first half that we we had
allocated at the um reorg which is what we've been doing for probably 15 20 years probably. Right. And I I so to my original question, I'm looking in the budget right now and the line item for legal services was 250,000.
We're now increasing that almost doubling. So I just I didn't know what line item where that money was coming from. So that's what I was asking. Okay. And I've not heard an answer to that. Well, engineering isn't legal. Um
isn't legal. That's talking about specifically the the legal cost. And it's, you know, each each department has its own legal. So you have general township legal and then you have the um planning board legal fees. So it's not necessarily all oneline item. So again,
I think we it is a large document. I think you need to maybe call our CFO and he can explain to you where where it is. I'm just and as as far as like the comment um as far as like doing my homework, I'm doing my homework, hence the questions. I'm
amazed that nobody else has questions on this. So for legal services, again, I'll take it up with the CFO for 2025. For legal services and costs, miscellaneous, 250,000 outside services, 83278, and that's for 2025.
That's that's what's in here. Again, when you look at all of these increases, that's way over that amount. Um, and I'm just talking about the the legal services. So, thank you all very much. Um, I'm I'm sorry nobody was able to
answer that one. Uh that was my only other question. I didn't know if anybody else had one. Any other comments from the days? If not, we will go to the public. Comments from the floor on items 1
through 14. Come on up. Good evening. Maria Janusk, 720 East Frick Avenue, Manville, New Jersey. I'm also a Hillsboro Township property owner, block 86, lot 3, 2155 Camplain Road. Um, and I do have some questions
and comments in regard to uh consent 12, the resolution authorizing adjustments to the not to exceed amount for various professional services contracts for the year 2025. Um in regard to the contract with D Franchesco Baitman Kunspin Davis
Lair and Flam uh for township attorney uh this is nothing new because it's I think it was the same last year. I it was 75,000 last year. I don't know if it was 75,000 the year prior. I know that previously used to be 50,000 and then
there was always a an additional 50,000 added. And now you've got also uh for D Franchesco Baitman Kinsman Davis Lair Flom position of labor attorney also a doubled increase. That's a lot of money.
I think if if if these things are going going to be done routinely, then it should be shown from the beginning of the year what what's being uh paid to these to these law firms because uh you know it's one thing to see at the
beginning of the year there's 75,000 and then halfway down the line it's increased uh halfway down the year it's increased uh uh double. Um also, um there is a not to exceed amount
for Eric Bernstein and Associates LLC for the position of special counsel for affordable housing also being increased from original 50,000 by another 50,000. Nothing is shown here. Uh Eric Bernstein
is also the planning board attorney. Um, is he also paid by by Hillsboro and what is his original um uh um payment and has it been increased for him as the uh
planning board attorney? That one it's not because it's not on the resolution. Yeah. So, it hasn't been Well, I think Mr. Burns, you've asked this question before in planning board. Um the a lot of the fees that Mr. Bernstein
gets paid are and planning boards are paid by the applicant escrow and escrow. The only thing that is build to the township or anything that's outside of the application if there's any consultation or work needs to be done. So those fees his his fee is
generated by the applicant. Um that's why he's not on that list for this. But the affordable housing is strictly built to the township because is strictly a township uh revenue that we have to pay to prepare for the affordable housing. Okay. But you said that there are some
fees that are paid by the township to nominal. Yeah. It just whatever he may have to bill outside that um the um the application, but not I'd say and I know Bill does some that probably 90% of it's paid for by by the applicant.
That's correct. Usually the that's exactly what happens. with planning boards and boards of adjustments. Uh those attorneys uh bill the developers escros. So is there is there a record of the um payments that are made to attorney Eric
Bernstein as uh planning board attorney for things that are not paid by uh applicants? Is there a record of that? There's records of all payments. They've got a bill. It would be in Yeah. the billings claims lists each month. So that would be available through an OPRO request. Sure.
Okay. Um, and as was stated, these are huge increases over what was uh the original amount. So, I think it should be shown next year what the what the higher rate is um instead of doing this,
you know, doubling in middle of the year when a lot of people don't see it. Also, um there's a lawsuit against the township, the uh uh the the the widow of Patrick Chin. That's huge um um
legal expense. How is that being handled? Who's getting paid? What? Through the joint insurance fund. Joint insurance. The insurance fund is covering that. Okay.
Consent number 11, resolution authorizing the promotions of Sergeant Henry Olshik to Lieutenant and Corporals Michael Laboy and Brian Gorka to sergeant in the Hillsboro Township Police Department. Um,
Are any of these um officers um detectives or is this strictly lieutenant corporal? Are any of these positions detectives? I I I Are you asking if they're currently detectives? Yeah,
they're being promoted to corporal and lieutenant. Is is Yeah. Um is there is there is there I said corporal. I'm sorry. Sergeant Lieutenant,
right? So, none of these are detectives. In the past, like would you looking for a resume history in in their positions in Hillsboro? I think the chief is indicating that they're not. I mean, right now, yeah,
but they're not currently, right? Two of them have been detectives in Hillsboro. Okay. Can you say who? Thank you. Um consent number 10, resolution authorizing the hiring of three new police officers in the
Hillsboro Township Police Department. Uh two of the officers are no one officer is being paid um an annual salary of 87 874 and the other two are getting an annual salary of
58,726. Um what is the discrepancy? Why are there differences in these salaries? Yeah. Tenure. Tenure. Okay. So uh Donald Allah who is
getting 87,874 he has uh how much tenure? How much experience does he have? He has prior experience from another PD from where? Another police department. And the other two officers, Terrence Fox and Anthony Santos, they're new. They
have they have no prior experience. Limited. It's some experience, but not as much. Yeah. So, this so so this is not like beginner. This is for for for uh individuals who have some experience.
Yeah. You're compensated based on your experience. just on like education and other factors. Thank you. Um consent number five, resolution approving items of revenue and appropriation.
And then it's showing that um 27,83.73 is uh uh hereby appropriated under the caption of general appropriations operations excluded from caps. So this
this amount this exact amount is being given to Hillsboro and Hillsboro is matching this. Is that what's going on here? No. How does what is how does this work? You receive a grant fund. They receive the grant fund for 27,83. So you receive a grant fund and we're
acknowledging the receipt of that and we're amending the budget to acknowledge that receipt and then we're appropriating it. We'll use it for um for the purposes. Okay. And so and so what exactly is uh
this recycling tonnage? Why why do why does extra money have to be given towards that? No, it's being appropriated under public and private programs. Yeah, we're inserting it as a revenue budget item. Um,
so public and private programs. So, we'll be we'll be running um let me see here because it's saying here CY 2025 recycling tonnage grant 27,8003. So, why is
that much money required for uh uh recycling tonnage. What's going to be done extra or with this money? Yeah. Yeah. Looking at the uh paperwork. That's the check. What?
Um Anthony, do you know uh recall? If not, we can get back to Yeah, I have to get back to her. I mean, we work with Mike Carr and our we handle all the recycling buckets and all the recycling tonnage and all the work that he goes out at 5:00 in the morning and checks on all the residents, make sure we're doing that right and partnering
with the county. So, I'm not sure exactly because Hillsboro Township receives more grants than any town in that I know of according to our grant company. So, there's hundreds of grants that we have. So, I'm not sure exactly this specific one on the tonnage grant
that we get every year. I don't know the specific answer to a recycling tonnage grant. Doesn't mean it's necessarily for recycling. So, we have to see what they're going to they may or may not define what it's what it's going to be used for. Okay. Consent number four, resolution
approving items of revenue and appropriation. And then this one is for a sum of $16,844.97. And this is for um drunk driving enforcement fund. And so the same question, what is being added to this uh
uh drunk driving enforcement, whatever is being done with this money? That one specifically is used for overtime on drunk driving. Um like uh drunk driving over. Yeah. Like there's specific campaigns for catching drunk drivers.
Campaign. Okay. about like what's involved in this campaign other than what's currently being done. Overtime. I just said overtime. Mostly overtime. So the police go out specifically with the intent of cleaning up the roads. Right. So then that overtime because
they're not on their normal shift. This is an overtime detail for drunk driving specifically. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. That was it. Correct. Okay. So,
any other comments from the floor? Seeing none, would anyone like to take any items separately? No, sir. Okay. Hearing none, may I have a motion and a second to approve consent agenda items 1 through 14. So moved.
Second. Roll call, please. Inverting. Yes. Command. Yes. Command. Yes. Mayor. Yes. Mayor. Yes. All right. Thank you. Um,
so now we have a public hearing or 20250 bond ordinance providing for various capital improvements in and by the township of Hillsboro in the county of Somerset, New Jersey, appropriating 17 million. Therefore, and authorizing the issuance of 16,150,000
bonds or notes of the township to finance part of the cost thereof. May I have a motion and a second to open the public hearing for ordinance 20258. So moved. Roll call. Committee member Bringing. Yes. Committee woman hand.
Yes. Committee. Yes. Deputy Mayor Payne. Yes. Mayor, yes. So on 20258 Do we have any comments from the deis regarding the bond ordinance? I I have questions. I was pausing for
for the rest of you. Um so first of all, can these items So this is the the public hearing. Um we introduced this last time. We're voting on this tonight, correct? Yes. Yes. So um are these items able to be
taken separately? the line items. I don't think so. No one ordinance. So, attorney Willard, just looking at you that you would have to it would be a complete amendment of the ordinance and you'd
have to uh reintroduce and read. So, no, we're here to we're here to vote on the ordinance tonight. Okay. So, um we had I know I had asked this last time. We did receive some backup on this. That being said, um
looking at the period of usefulness, you know, many of these items, you know, some are five years, some go up to to 20. As far as the bond, what happens? You know, we're we're bonding for items that have a fiveyear usefulness. Um we
don't want to obviously be paying for them longer than we are able to use the item. Can you speak to that, mayor? I can. I spoke with the bond council this week and two parts to that respon
two two two-part response. One, each of the life uh the durations that are in the bond ordinance are based on the bond law. So, we didn't arbitrarily make up the numbers. The if it's five years, it's what the bond law requires you to
put five years in. uh but in the bond uh towards the end they use a weighted average length uh which for this bond is 17.33 years. So that's that is how the
durations are calculated and or brought in and calculated. So, we're still paying for something over a 17-year period, but you're saying it's the average average uh period of usefulness for all the items.
Yes. Weighted average for for everything in the bond, right? And the weighted average, I mean, the largest item is 11 million of the 17 with a 20-year life. So, it's pulling it that direction. Is that what you're saying? Yes. All right. Yeah. For example,
the the salt truck for public works has a average useful life of five years which we know is completely false. We keep our trucks for mostly 10, 15, even 20 years. So just as a as a an example of of something that was put in there,
it is way beyond five years of average useful life in real world situations. Yeah, I thought that was wonky, too. But uh but it's it's bond law, right? Like the way it's brought in. Same thing. bucket truck five years way beyond five years in actual useful life
in real life and is this really a shift in strategy mayor just looking at this you know there's a ton of items again I'm thinking of like public works these things that um seem like they're you know the library things that are
really at a at a desperate state right they're they need to be replaced um this is a giant uh bond we have not done this before. There was really this pay as you go strategy over the past 20 years. This, you know, I feel like we're we're
signaling a change here. Um and and that maybe didn't work over the past 20 years. Now we need to go out um for bond for really a tremendous amount of items. Even public works, you know, they're saying that that was, you know,
a 40-year-old building that is leaking. We we know that there's a lot of issues there. Um, but these things weren't addressed over time and and now we're needing to address it. So, I feel like there's a an air of desperation. Adding 17 million to the debt, I think roughly
this brings us up to around 70 million. Um, from a township perspective, just looking at the at the debt, you might want to check that. So, I'm sorry. I was addressing the No, I'm going to talk too because I'm up here, too, because um I would check that
number before you publicly state that. I don't think you're anywhere near close. The difference between debt and bonds are two very different things. I mean, it's Are we not borrowing $17 million? Are we Is this not debt? It's a line of credit.
It's a line of credit. Yeah. We We don't start paying for it until We don't start paying for it until it understood. When we start paying for it, we're going to be up around 70. Uh well, not necessarily. As other things roll
off and that that nut will decrease. Uh but I would suggest for example u some of these projects especially some of the larger ones um are probably a good two to three years out uh before they're
even realized u the DPW garage in particular which is a large portion of that bet debt or as you place it bond is by time to design and build and everything else it's several years out.
Um there are without casting shadows there's work that needs to be done to the library that um quite honestly we are never reimbursed fairly by the county. It is all on our our shoulders to take
care of the building and the the roof which we've had meetings with the library and they're like well this is kind of what you get. So we get I don't know 1500 thou 15,000 a year if that. Um but we also have expanded our police
department over the years. So we also have a very diverse police department. We have increased women's uh police force. So we need to have adequate locker rooms for them. So that isn't anything that was pushed off. That's a matter of reality. Uh so we need to expand that. Um the building was built
in 1991. I know because I was here. Um, and that bond was was given to build this building uh back in the day. Uh, and it is now time to make the necessary improvements to a 35 year old building
to bring it back to snuff. We have adequately maintained it. But it is time to do some pretty substantial repairs. And to place all that burden on a single tax year would be unrealistic. and the pe the public the public as I believe
Joe Monzo said when doing bonds like this it gives all the people who will use this building over the next 30 years opportunity to pay for that um as it should be instead of putting it all in one year of bond. Um we also have an
emergency repair of a of a bridge of $300,000 which has to be done. That has no fault to anybody but it has to be done. to public safety. Um, and then we also have uh some other things there that are that are really relatively minute in in large numbers, but
replacement of a boiler, heat pump, rapid radios, um a senior bus to add services to our seniors. So most everything that you see here is to enhance the public safety and welfare of our community uh without overburdening
them on a single tax year. Um, so yes, are we adding some some credit or line of credit and some work? Um, I think it's actually a very fiscally responsible way to do it. There are other bonds that will be rolling off in the next three or four years possibly.
Uh, so that debt will run that will will go away as you like to lump sum it. But um even said, I believe there was a letter that I shared with you with our our $9 million ratable and our debt service is far
below most anybody else in the county. 067 was it mayor? Uh might be lower than that. Yeah. So, so mayor, unless we're rolling off, you know, 17 million over the years, um, this this
will, uh, add to the to our debt. So, um, thank you very much though for the for the explanation, Mr. Leandy. My pleasure. Anything else? I do take exception with the
characterizing this as an air of desperation. We've been talking about the projects that are in this bill for two years in this bond for for a couple years, at least most of them. Um, we needed to uh
move them forward. We needed to do work at the library. We needed to uh, you know, change the floors out here, which we started prior to CO, I think, uh, and remains unfinished. There's some floors that need to be replaced in this building. the DPW uh rich res has been
asking about uh you know some of the facilities over there where they need to expand to uh handle the more diverse workforce as well. The current building just won't do it. So the time is now to do it, to use our
significant financial strength and power to issue this bond to um make these improvements and get working to build some of build build back what what parts of Hillsboro need to be built and
upgraded and repaired. Um no air of desperation at all. It's just strong financial management and planning. Take great exception with saying it's an air of desperation and that I think that shines bad on
shines frowns on on all the the uh staff who've put in their time to come up with estimates, come up with plans and determine what they need. There's no air desperation at all. It's good financial planning. So, do we have comments from the floor? So, I'm sorry, mayor. I I would say that
um first of all my comments are not directed at the staff and we can go back in the minutes to where Mr. Lei Mr. Leani had had described this as the wish list from the department head. So I think that um a tremendous amount of scrutiny should go into this process. So
thank you very much. You you always say that you don't direct it at the staff but you do whether you know and I take exception whether you know it or not. the staff hear what you say. I take exception to you representing the
feelings of uh anyone besides yourself. Thank you. Okay. I don't think I'm representing feelings. Back to the floor. I don't have to. I opened it up. The floor is yours.
Steve Cohen 60 terrace. Um I think committee person Sean Penny stole some of my thunder. I was thinking of the word frugal after spending nearly 20 years on the day as with the planning
board reviewing capital planning requests and picking and choosing what we could afford, what we can't afford and doing our best to try to fit 10 pounds into five pound bags. It was difficult to say the least. I
think I spent most of the time fighting to make sure the police got what they needed uh because I always thought that was the most important priority even though it may have hurt Rich at DPW. So I think frugality has always
been our keystone. Physical conservative physical management has been our keystone. I like the that we're finally deciding that we're going to fix issues that
we've been discussing for well almost 20 years. Talking about this building, I can't remember when we weren't talking about this building. Do I have a time limit? Anyway, um
I think it's important that we fix, repair, catch up. It's a line of credit. There's not a lot of yearly costs on this. The bulk of a lot of the other bond issues that we have entered into in
recent history, a large chunk was open land we purchased a couple years ago, two or three years ago. All right, that was a large chunk, but that's open land. That's open. That's
unusable, never going to be developed property for the Hillsboro Township. Nobody was talking about spending $14 million. I think it was 14. Yep. Not bad. Not bad for 72, huh? Anyway, um, mayor, thank you. I think this is a
great opportunity for the town to get straight on a lot of things at one time. I understand it's going to take a few years. That's the shame of it. And having spent most of the last 15 years working for a government agency, I understand how these things take a long
time. So, thank you. Thank you. Any other comments on Joseph P. Maloney, 27 Stonewick Drive, Hillsboro, New Jersey. Mr. Mayor, um
just to clean up a few items. Uh review, advise and consent from our financial advisor saying that we can do this. Is that a question or Yes, it is a question. Um do we want to ask him? He's listening in.
Our uh our bond council has actually been listening into the meeting. Um but yes, yes, absolutely. Good. All right. So, um, just a few other cleanups here. Uh, the bonds will be callable
throughout the 17 years so that when the interest rates drop, we can refinance. Well, I don't Is that yet? Is that's a yes? Because I don't because I know we roll them over, right, until the until the rate is optimal, right?
Oh, why don't we ask Why don't we ask Mr. uh Jess? Mr. Matt Jessup, can you confirm that? Hello everyone. Matt Jessup here from McMad and Scotland. Can you hear me? Yep. Okay, great. So, um I having a little
trouble hearing the residents, but I think the question was whether the bonds that are ultimately issued pursuant to this bond ordinance will be callable. Is that correct? Yeah, correct. Okay. So, uh yes, as a general matter, uh general obligation bonds issued by New Jersey municipalities are typically
able in year 8 or later. That can vary by a year or so depending on what the market is looking for at the time that we actually sell these bonds. So for the first seven or eight years, no, but that interest rate will be locked in. We will not be able to
ultimately refinance it. But beginning in year eight through the remaining life of the bonds. Uh yes, we there will be a call provision that will allow us to pay off the remaining bonds and issue new bonds at a lower interest rate for debt service savings if that circumstances
arise arises. Right. Right now we are in a fairly low interest rate environment particularly on the long end. So, it's a hard scenario to envision, but certainly not impossible, which is why the uh redemption will be uh will be put in.
Thank you. Thank you. Very good answer. Um I think we all support the police and public works. We're a growing community. There's no question about it. I'm somewhat concerned about the police and the court still located in this
building. I think for future planning because of the number that we have recently increased. I remember we were stuck at 54 police officers. Now we're up to 75 since we're a growth community that we should consider long-term
planning a facility for them outside. Uh, I will also mention since I'm an old-timer, uh, Governor Whitman had a uh, efficiency team back in 1996, rolled through just about every
municipality, had recommendations to move the police department and the court out of this building as well as the library. So, um, just something to think about. Um, thank you. Thank you.
Thanks, Maria Janusk. Um these items aren't being taken separately. However, that um item O, the improvements in addition to the public works building, that's a huge
amount, almost $12 million. and to just say improvements in addition to the building including all work and materials. I think there should be a little more bit more information provided when you're talking about that kind of money. People need to know what
that money is being spent for. Uh so um I think that that more information should be given to to Hillsboro's uh taxpayers. Um and the debt the debt is huge. I don't know if you're calling it debt or
bonds or whatever, but it's a I think I think what is it right now? 50 million. Um, no, it's 37. 37773. 37 million is the amount of debt authorized.
37 million. What? 377 and change. Okay. So that's for the the the properties that were purchased and whatever else was involved. Um I thought it was higher than that. So we're talking a lot of money. So things need
to be looked at as far as where that money is going. Thank you. Thank you. Any other comments from the floor? Okay, seeing none, may I have a motion?
Hold on a second here. We uh motion and close or close and adopt. Close and adopt. May I have a motion in a second to close and adopt ordinance 20258? So moved. Second. Okay. Roll call, please.
Committing. Yes. And I just like to say I think this is a testament to the terrific financial position Hillsboro Township's in. And just want to make sure the residents understand that this is not a direct issue of debt. This is a this is a bond. This is different. It's very important
for people to understand that. Number one. Number two, it's also a testament to um our S&P short-term rating, which is the uh we have the SP1 rating, which is the highest rating, and I want to make sure people understand that from a short-term debt standpoint. We also have
a double A+ bond rating which is the second highest rating by the S&P as well too. So without that you won't be able to do what we are doing and this puts us in a very good position long term. So absolutely yes. Committee woman hand it' be great to
have all the comments during the comment section. Um I will be voting no. Thank you. Command is an investment in the future of Hillsboro for all residents for public safety. It's a yes, Debbie. Mayor Payne.
Yeah. So, a little bit of everything everyone else said. Uh, definitely an investment in our future, Joe. The expansion of the PD and putting them in a separate building is definitely not unnoticed. I think this expansion is going to be an immense help for their growth that they've sustained since 1991
when this building opened. Um, we can't always do everything at once, but this is a good start to relocating some of their space to open storage space that we had in the back. I don't know if you're familiar. So, we're doing what we
can. Again, thanks to our amazing um bond rating, we're able to bond and not increase our debt. And our debt is half of what was mentioned on the day. Uh so that's also very nice. Yes.
And yes, this bond um touches parks, DPW, IT, engineering, police, social services, OEM, our seniors, admin, the
library for use by all residents. So every one of those departments get to work. So you know, they've been I I know DPW's been talking for a long time and uh Rich has been very happy. Uh there's
a lot of work that can be done around here. So I know we have the tile already, right? Have uh start laying it laying it tonight. Um so thank you. Uh introduction of new ordinances 20259.
Um just going to introduce this ordinance. Ordinance authorizing a special emergency appropriation in the amount of $350,000 for the payment of contractually required severance liabilities resulting from the retirement or or termination of
employees in and by the township of Hillsboro in the county of Somerset, New Jersey. Further consideration and public hearing will be on August 12th, 2025. So, may I have a motion and a second to introduce ordinance 20250?
Some moved. Second. Roll call. Committing. Yes. Committee woman hand. Yes. Committee. Yes. Deputy Mayor Payne. Yes. Mayor. Yes. Uh claim before before you go. So, mayor, I would just like So, while this is being opened
and we've introduced this for public, um I think what the public needs to know is how many employees are we talking about? Um and and what this money is being used for. There was there was no backup provided. Uh, I know I had several questions around it. I'm asking them now
because I think the information needs to be provided. Um, you know, how many employees are we talking about? Um, how were we, you know, did we not predict this? How do we know this isn't going to happen again next year? So if um if that information could be provided in the
interim so um folks in the township can have an opportunity to look at the information prior to the August 12th uh hearing. That would be great. Thank you very much. At this time, I guess I'll recommend Sarah maybe go back and look at the meeting we had when we passed the budget
and discussed this matter. So, yeah. May and and mayor, we can look at obviously the amount of employ employees that retired this year. Um, but unless the employees tell us they're going to retire and some do and some don't, we can't Well, this ordinance is for the basically the police,
right? For this one. Yeah. But I'm just saying moving forward I stop retiring. Yeah, that'd be great. Um, that'd be great. Claims list. May I have a motion and a second to approve claims list 202512? So moved. Second. Uh, any comments from
the deis on the claims list? None. Any comments from the floor? Maria Janusk. Uh in regard in regard to the um account for the for the court, there are uh besides Hillsboro, you've got Montgomery,
um Manville, Ranchburg. Um any fines that are collected for the other courts? Um are those are those monies paid to those to those municipalities and is that
shown on on the claims list? probably I think Anthony you can track that. I think we talked about this before but Hillsboro any fines or any tickets from Hillsboro stay in Hillsboro the bridge the Branchburg Montgomery and
Manville those are contracts we have with those town town town townships so any and all tickets and violations in revenue go directly to the town. So whether they write one ticket or a million tickets, all that revenue from those three townships go directly back
to the townships. Those goes to each of those municipalities. Correct. We don't keep any of their tickets and revenue. We have a set fee to provide shared services with those three towns. Are those uh monies included in this
claims list or is that something separate? I'd have to check with the CFO. I'm sorry, what? I have to check with the CFO on that. It's a net zero either way. Whatever comes in will go out, right? If it's even on I don't think we don't even receive it. It goes
It's paid. We don't receive it. All right then. Well, that money comes here. So, but you're giving that money to the municipalities as part of their court fees. They're paying it directly to I'm sorry. What? as part of their court fees. They're paying it to that
township. Part of their part of who? Part of the court fees. Yeah. Of the townships. The townships are paying. If I get arrested in Branchburg, I'm paying my fee to Branchburg. I'm not paying it to Hillsboro even though it
was processed here. Right? Does that make sense? like you're writing the check to Branchburg. I don't know. I don't know what what you're what you're referring to. Can you restate your question then? I we tried to answer I think we answered
it if if if you have you have the the besides Hillsboro's Municipal Court, you also have Branchburg, Montgomery, and Manville courts here. So when they come and and someone is fined and someone pays fines, where does that money go?
To where? To whatever township they were they were convicted in or whatever whatever fine they committed the offense. So how does that work? How how how someone writes out a check to the the the the municipality?
Uh I think we answered it twice. They pay they pay the municipality. I'm sorry. They pay whatever municipality wrote the ticket. So if I got a speeding ticket in Branchburg and I had court here because this is the court that was held in, I
pay my fine to Branchburg. Does that make sense? Right. But you're not in Branchburg. You're here. So how are they working there? They're just send they're just taking those checks and sending and and sending them to us. Everything is done online and and in
person and however you pay it, you pay it. It does not get paid here. There's no checks cut to Hillsboro unless they were arrested and processed by Hillsboro. They're just here from a functional building. And to be fair, the the court is a
visage. It's an it's an adjunct separate to the township almost. They are, you know, in our building, but they're pretty much their own entity and they're and they're over seen by by the by the visage. Not to come complicate things, but
they're really not g not giving money to I can't get back there. Yeah. So there they can't even come to our parties. They're basically separate. Okay. What else you got? Who? No. Who is separate? the whole court system program here is separate.
So that's what I'm asking. Any money that's collected in the court is that's all that's all handled over there. Whether they're doing it by computer or whatever, there's nothing nothing connected with the claims list over here. No. That is correct.
All right. Thank you. Um okay. So, I just want to address committee woman for a second. So, you want to know how many like how much advanced notice do you want on the You want to know how many people are retiring this year?
What? I'm sorry. What's your question again? You want to know how many people are retiring this year? Um, it was a matter of the going back to the 350,000, right? If we are doing a special emergency appropriation.
Yeah. Um, this sounds like we had no idea this was happening. It had not been acred for, prepared for. So, we're not looking at names, but it's a matter of how many employees are we talking? Was this 20 employees? Was this 10? Was this
one? Just wanting to understand what the I'll pull the email for her. Um, but the So, there's Yeah. So there's as soon as we get noticed, it's the emails that come out from the PD or any other department saying that, you know, when we get the HR notices that people are retiring. This is that and then there is
appropriations. This specifically ran above the normal, but we'll document it. Deputy mayor, my point is if if we get escrow fees returned to us, I get six pages of backup for like $1,200 of a escrow fee being returned to somebody.
This is $350,000 and I do not have one page of backup. Just asking for some just asking for info. So since I'm the old man in the room, we've been just paying it outright in the budget when the when the police retire
and put it into the budget line item. U Joe Monzo brought to our attention that there is a program available to allow to break it out over five years so that you're not absorbing all that impact on a retirement. We could have used this program years ago. But to be fair, I
don't think the previous CFO brought to any of our attentions. Uh and Joe Monzo with his infinite knowledge of 40 plus years said, "You should do this. Why would you want to take a hit on all these retirements in one budget year? You have a you are allowed to do this by
state law. Makes sense. Why take a hit in one year on police retirements if we can bust it out over five? That's the whole that's the reason we're doing it. So, it's not that we're un uh we haven't in the past. We've just absorbed the
cost in the budget of that year. This program that was brought to our attention allows us to do it over five with no penalty. Sounds like a better fiscal plan for our residents. As as far as what who's retiring when. I mean, we have an idea who's retiring, but we
don't know exactly who's retiring until we actually get the the notice from uh from because we've had times where people said they're going to retire and said, "You know what? I'll stay a little longer." So, that's essentially why we're doing it. It's a it's a program to help alleviate a tax burden on a
one-year basis, which we've been taking over the past ever. I want to close the book on the claims list. Yes. So, roll call. Motion to close. Roll call. Thank you. Committee Bing. Yes. Committee woman hand. Yes. Committee.
Yes. Deputy Mayor P. Yes. Mayor Jelli. Yes. Um, new business. Uh, none. Public comments for matters not on the agenda. Miss Break, please read the statement regarding the public comments.
Township committee welcomes input from the public. Please state your name and address and spell your name for the record. You will give 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. Come on before we close. Maria Janusk. Um, as the owners of property on Camplain Road in Hillsboro, um, I and my husband received a letter dated June 2, 2025, via certified mail
with a return receipt requested from Environmental Technology, Inc., ETI regarding property on Camplain Road that is identified in that letter as block 86 lots 21.01 and 21.02
formerly lot 21. The letter states regarding application for freshwater wetlands letter of interpretation line verification extension and the applicant is Eminem at Camplain Road LLC and that letter includes an 11 by7 uh 11 in x
17inch wetlands mapping plan which states on it block 86 lot 21 and that's what's being shown as having freshwater wetlands. Um, block 86, lot 21 no longer exists. Um,
block 86, lot 21 was purchased by the governing body of Hillsboro Township back in I think it was 2016, 2017. That purchase was was uh facilitated by the the um planning board attorney Eric
Bernstein. And then there were meetings, planning board meetings to div subdivide that property and that was done. That property was owned by Hillsboro. It was purchased with uh affordable housing uh
funds and that property was subdivided and that became block 86 lot 21.01 and block 86 lot uh 21.02. block 86 uh lot 21.01
has uh a development built on it. That property was sold by uh Hillsboro's governing body for $1. Uh after that property was purchased with uh affordable housing funds uh in excess of $2 million. That one property was sold
for $1 to the developer. And now block 86 uh lot 21.02 02 is uh supposedly going to have affordable housing built on it by by uh
Eminem at Camplain Road. They had an they had an application before the planning board. That application was approved, but that property continues to be owned by Hillsboro. The property record card for uh block 86, lot 21.02
shown shows the owner as Township of Hillsboro and it has a valuation of $2,347,500. That is a separate lot. Yet I as a property owner adjacent to that was given a um wetlands uh uh freshwater
wetlands uh um diagram showing block 86, lot 21. It no longer exists. What is what is happening with that? In the meantime, this developer, Eminem, is uh working on a uh um application uh for a
development uh at the Glengary Quarry. And this this this uh um development or this this this this uh application for affordable housing is part of a um
settlement agreement that Eminem has with the township. So I'd like to know what's going on because this very very much impacts my property. Block 86 lot 21.02 has no frontage. I don't know what's being what's being
done there. I don't know what kind of permits are have have uh uh been applied for or gotten. I don't know what's going on. So, I this is something that needs to be uh dealt with. Um why is does Eminem at Camplain Road LLC have
anything to do with that property when it's owned owned by Hillsboro with a with a valuation of $2,347,500? I'd like to know. Thank you. Thank you. Any other comments from the
uh all I can say is suggest about that is come to the planning board or go to the planning department and ask them for details on progress of that uh developments. Um
all right, I have a motion and a second to adjurnn. So moved. Second. Roll call. Committee Bing. Yes. Committee woman hand. Yes. Committee. Yes. Deputy Mayor Bane. Yes. Please.
Mayor, yes. Uh, let's see. Fourth of July's gone by. Everybody have a good summer. We'll see you in August. And, uh, enjoy the heat.