Good evening. I hereby announce that pursuant to section five of the open public meetings act that adequate notice of this meeting has been provided in the notice which was sent to the Asbury Park Press the Two River Times and posted on the Bolton board in township hall and filed in the township clerk's office on
January 3rd 2025. Mayor Foster here. Miss Lamount here. Mr. Imprevadudo here. Mr. Lucarelli is not here this evening. Mr. Romano here. Mayor, you have a quorum. Excellent. Thank you. Andy, can we all please stand for the pledge of allegiance?
I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all. You all please remain standing for a moment of silence for our troops who
service tirelessly at home and abroad. Thank you. All right. Good evening everyone. Wendy, you got a bunch of reading again tonight, huh? The first order of business would be the approval of the minutes for May 27th,
2025 executive and public sessions and June 13, 2025 executive and public sessions. Can we get a motion? Motion. Second. Mr. Prevaduda? Yes. Miss Lamount? Yes. Mr. Romano? Yes. Mayor Foster?
Yes. Abstain for the one I missed. Thank you. The minutes have been successfully approved. Thank you. All right. Thank you. Anybody have uh public comment on agenda items only at this time? Come on up, Ralph. Absolutely.
Thank you, sir. Anyone else? Everybody's going to save it. All right, Wendy. Okay. So, next would be um resolutions 2025205 to 2025 215. All that are on the consent agenda. Can we get a motion?
Motion. Second. Mr. Prevadutoo? Yes. Miss Lamount? Yes. Mr. Romano? Yes. Mayor Foster? Yes. Okay. Resolutions 2025205 to 2025 215 have been successfully
passed. Thank you. Next is hearings on ordinances. First one is ordinance 202514 which is authorizing the leasing of certain capital equipment by the township of Homedale, New Jersey from the Mammoth County Improvement Authority and the execution of a lease and
agreement relating thereof. Any public comments? Come on up, Ralph. Good evening. Uh I've got two categories of questions or comments with regard to this. First with regard to this specific
ordinance and then the other is capital. First of all, this is you're using the Mammoth County Improvement Authority as a mechanism of obtaining these what are capital goods. So this is a different way of funding as
opposed to using the bond ordinance. Uh, I'll get back to that in a moment. Let me first ask a couple of questions about the items on this item. There's a schedule A of an equipment list. It lists replacement of packer
trucks for $680,000. What is a packer truck and how many are there? Okay. So there are two. Okay. So they're
$340,000 a piece. How old are they again, Chris? Okay, then. It also says they're inspection vehicles. What's that and how many?
I'm sorry, Ralph. Can you just both of Sorry, both of you guys, please. There's two that we're looking at. Okay. Both those vehicles are um the one will go to community development. Actually, one's going to go into our ID IT department. Our IT department um travels
throughout the town, different buildings and stuff. They need stuff to carry their equipment. Um actually uh I was just uh talking to our green team and um we're actually looking to make that an electric vehicle. So SUV. Yes, small SUVs, tiny ones. So
Okay, uh thank you. Then the bigger question is that you've got a lot of bond issues on the agenda for tonight. To my mind, I consider this budgetwise similar to a bond issue, but it's
separate. This is a different method of financing. If I add all the items up, and I'm not including the swim utility or the sewer utility because those are financed separately.
We got over $8 million in capital funding for this year. That's a lot. My recollection is that in recent years it's been typically in the range of two to three million
and you know so spending eight in one year or intending to spend eight in one year is a lot and that will increase our debt service. We it's money we have to we're borrowing but we have to pay it back. Is this consistent with what's
been said and I know Rocky you said it. are under tight spending controls. So this is an awful lot of money being committed to in one year and that's across the total package of these things, not just this one.
Yeah, Chris, can you speak to that as far as the it's it's also across several several different areas, Ralph, to be fair, right? There's land, there's a whole bunch of things going on, but I'll let I'll let Chris explain because there's a lot of things going on that haven't happened in the other years as well to be fair.
So, so ultimately, yes, you're you're you're correct. It is it is about 8 million, but again, some of the stuff's being paid in paid out over a much longer period of time. Some of the stuff's 20 years, like like the roads. So, they that those bonds are that's why they're done differently than the
leases. Okay. Um I don't believe that we were two to I I wasn't here last year, but we did over $2 million in roads last year, just roads alone. So, that couldn't have been the only capital project we did last year. I don't have that in front of me, but it had to be way more than just $2 million. Um, but
yes, this is a lot of stuff that's goes throughout the town and it's it's spread throughout the town. Um, and and again, the lease program that we're doing, the reason we're going after that is because we're we're pooling our money. We're pooling and getting really good rates on those. Uh, we can't put everything under that. Only certain things can be put on
there, which is equipment and vehicles. Um, we're not allowed to put roads or anything under there. So, that's why there's there's more than one. And maybe that's why it looks like there's a lot more, but I don't think we're far off than what we've done. And roads wise, we're about the same. And let me just just So typically,
Ralph, you're right. We were in the 28 to 32 range, give or take, the past several years. Nowhere near eight. Nowhere near eight. But what you also have to look at is we had the storm water study conducted and the remediation of our storm water facilities is massive. The the expense tied to it. And
right. So, so if you look at so if you you know to your point about the total number being north of six or 8 million whatever it may be three and a half is that alone right so you know what I mean and that's and that's and I will comment question to that one fair enough so this one
right no I understood but you know my my the reason I bring it up is to the mayor's point you know there's things that just haven't been tackled in decades that we're that we have to we have to handle you know and it just is what it is right thank Thank you. Thank you, Ralph. Any other public
comments on this ordinance? All right, Wendy. The motion would be to adopt on final reading and publish in the Asbury Park Press according to law. Can we get a motion? Motion. Second. Mr. Prevadudo? Yes. Miss Lountton? Yes.
Mr. Romano? Yes. Mayor Foster? Yes. Okay. Ordinance 202514 has been successfully passed. Thank you. Next is hearing for ordinance 202515, which is an ordinance authorizing the guarantee by the township of Homedale in
the county of Mammoth, state of New Jersey of payment of principal and interest on the capital equipment lease revenue bond series 2025 Homedale Board of Education product project of the Mammoth County Improvement Authority.
Any public comments on this ordinance? Seeing none, Wendy. Motion is to adopt on final reading and publish in the Asbury Park Press according to law. Can we get a motion? Motion. Second. Mr. Emperudo. Yes. Miss Lamount. Yes.
Mr. Romano. Yes. Mayor Foster. Yes. Okay. Ordinance 202515 has been successfully passed. Thank you. Next is for hearing for ordinance 202516, which is an ordinance amending section 2-5.10 10 entitled duties and
responsibilities. Any public comments on this ordinance? Seeing none, Wendy. Motion is to adopt on final reading and publish in the Asbury Park Press according to law. Can we get a motion? Motion. Second.
Mr. Pravadudo? Yes. Miss Lam Mountain? Yes. Mr. Romano? Yes. Mayor Foster? Yes. Ordinance 202516 has been successfully passed. Thank you. Next is hearing for ordinance 202517
which is an ordinance amending section 2-4.1 titled department chairpersons. Any public comments on this ordinance? Seeing none. Wendy motion is to adopt on final reading and publish in the Asbury Park Press
according to law. Can I get a motion? Motion. Second. Mr. Imprevadudo. Yes. Miss Lamount. Yes. Mr. Romano. Yes. Mayor Foster. Yes. Ordinance 2025-17 has been successfully passed. Thank you.
Next is the hearing for bond ordinance 202518 which is providing for improvements to Bethany Road in cooperation with the township of HLlett by and in the township of Homedale in the county of Mammoth state of New Jersey appropriating
750,000 therefore including a $244,638 grant from the New Jersey Department of Transportation and authorizing the issuance of 5053 362,000 bonds or notes of the township to finance part of the cost thereof.
Any public comments on this ordinance? Come on up, Ralph. Ralph Blumenthal, 41 Stony Book Road. Again, uh just a question that I presume that this is a it's mentioned that it's a project together with Hasllett and is Hlett contributing the same amount? I
believe we're contributing 55 because we own 55% of the road. We went by who who owns which portion. So we felt that was fair. Yeah. So these numbers are 100% of the part that Homedale is responsible for
and there's a comparable number 40 5545 that that Hassel is paying. And I'm guessing they're also getting a a federal grant to partly So both. Yeah. Fine. Because and I guess
this is separate from the regular road budget because of the complexity of two towns being involved. So you're doing it with separate bond as a consequence. Good. Thank you. You're welcome, Ralph.
Can we get a motion? Do you need to read again before I ask for a motion? All right. Can we get a motion? Motion. Second. Mr. Inravadoodle? Yes. Miss Lamount? Yes. Mr. Romano? Yes. Mayor Foster? Yes. Okay. Ordinance 202518 has been
successfully passed. Thank you. Next for public hearing is ordinance 202519, which is an ordinance approving lease agreement with Patrick Dealama for lease of farm property block 50.19, lots 48
and 51, commonly known as 32 Centerville Road. Any public comments on this ordinance? Come on up, Mr. Tasha. Patrick Tuskita, 56 Line Road. I fully support the um the ordinance to approve
the the Palma lease. I think $1,500 a month um is uh a very good market price on this over clearly over the poultry $500 a month they were paying previously. Uh, I also want to commend
the uh township attorney for all the work that they've done on the frivolous lawsuit, which I just want to know the frivolous lawsuit was supposed to be um um dismissed with prejudice, uh, but
looking at the New Jersey Superior Court website, it's still as an active case. So, will you approve this uh this ordinance with the uh frivolous lawsuit still active? We believe we have everything in place.
Uh Pat, for that to be uh removed and taken care of. Uh Nick, do you want to comment on that? I know you're not you're filling in for Michael, but if you if you feel comfortable, you can certainly comment on that. Yes, I can confirm we're working with uh Mr. Dalma's council to get the lawsuit
dismissed. We feel very good about it, Pat. Thank you for your comments. Any other comments on the ordinance? Seeing none, Wendy, the motion would be to adopt on final reading and publish in the Asbury Press according to law. Can we get a motion? Motion.
Second. Mr. Invado, yes. Miss Lamount, yes. Mr. Romano, yes. Mayor Foster, yes. Okay. Ordinance 202519 has been successfully passed. Next is bond ordinance 202520 which is
providing for various swim utility improvements by and in the township of Homedale in the county of Mammoth state of New Jersey appropriating $250,000 therefore and authorizing the issuance of $220,000 bonds or notes of the township to
finance part of the cost thereof. Any public comments on this ordinance? Seeing none, Wendy. Motion is to adopt on final reading and publish in the Asbury Park Press according to law. Can we get a motion? Motion. Second. Mr. Prevadudo.
Yes. Miss Lam Mountain? Yes. Mr. Romano? Yes. Mayor Foster? Yes. Okay. Ordinance 202520 has been successfully passed. Thank you. Next ordinance for for public hearing is bond ordinance 202521
which is providing for v various sewer utility improvements by and in the township of Homedale in the county of Mammoth State of New Jersey appropriating $2 million therefore and authorizing the issuance of $1,947,000 bonds or notes of the township to
finance part of the cost thereof. Any public comments? Come on up, Ralph. Hello again, Ralph Blumenthal, 41 Stony Brook Road. Uh, this is for the sewer utility.
I don't have records of all prior years, but my recollection as I remember it is that I haven't seen something that's this high in recent years. Is there something special going on? I know you talked about last time
about having to do the pressure line in Crawford's Corner Road. Is that part of this or what is leading to 2 million and that gets repaid out of the sewer utility which is out of the fees the sewer users pay? Correct. Chris, if you could answer
them, answer them when you get a second. Ralph, do you recall when the last time anything was done with the sew sewer utility? Just out of curiosity. I mean, you come to a lot of meetings, you're very informed and educated. Really long time. There have been
smaller projects done periodically. I know, for example, uh the pump and the sewer line on Mount Drive had to be replaced. That was a million-doll project and that may have been bonded, but that was at this point like three or
four years ago. There have been a couple of other pump stations that, you know, a pump had to get replaced. That's $50,000. It's not two million. So, there been other projects that have been done that have been charged to the sewer
utility, but I don't recall seeing another $2 million one. Please. When was the first time that happened, Chris? I think that The utility fund.
Yeah, unfortunately failures when they happen too often are sudden. Yes, exactly. Something like this, you've got to react and deal with it and you can't wait six months. Exactly. And that's our concern. So, you know, we're this is really a lot of it's
planning, especially when it comes to sewer and we're trying to plan ahead, but it's sometimes hard to keep up with, but it's an old system, so we're going to have to do some work with it. And Chris, what was the length of the pipe that was just replaced? 400 ft of pipe. just under 400 ft of
pipe and it was just a straight pipe and it was $350,000 for a plastic pipe. Oh yeah, it was plastic too. Yeah. Unfortunately, inflation is real and costs have been going up for everybody. And obviously our thought there was the
road was being torn up. It was there. It was open. We knew we had issues. They were rusted up and and different connector parts. So the time was there to do it. And I think I think Ralph the macro point too is the the the underpinnings the infrastructure of the
town could be in better shape. Right. This and this ties both to the sewer system and I and I say this is also a reflection of the storm water issues that we have whether it's through the massive expansion of population of our town over time neglect you know because
it wasn't a priority in certain areas. um you know the these are things it's all the above right you know so um and that's not not not at fault of anybody before us by the way it's just you know there are things you prioritize as best you can and I think we're just hitting an an inflection point so to speak I think it's also a reflection that
there was a lot of growth in the town 20 to 30 years ago so that a bunch of the infrastructure is 20 30 40 years old and it doesn't necessarily last forever excellent Ralph. Thank you. Any other
comments on the ordinance? Seeing none, can we get a motion? Motion. Second. Mr. Invadudo? Yes. Miss Lamount? Yes. Mr. Romano? Yes. Mayor Foster? Yes. Okay. Ordinance 202521 has been
successfully passed. Thank you. Next is bond ordinance 202522 which is providing for general capital improvements by and in the township of homedale in the county of Mammoth state of New Jersey appropriating 6,34400,000
there therefore and authorizing the issuance of 6 million4190,000 million bonds or notes of the township in to finance part of the cost there. Any public comments? Come on up, Ralph.
I try to keep the comments specific to the ordinance being considered. This relates to the big item here is the as you've already mentioned is the three and a half million for storm water improvements. I'm very familiar with the KER's report which had a total depending
on which set of numbers you read of about three and a half million. Ralph, I I I hate to interrupt you. Those numbers are a farce. It is far greater than that. That is the numbers they gave us. You're accurate. They're a farce.
Okay. I mean, there are a couple of things that go into that. There were two appendices with two different sets of numbers. They only added them up in one of them and that came to the three and a half. In the other one, they didn't add it up,
but the numbers were higher. And I asked them, "Hey, wait a minute. Which number is you supposed to follow?" And I I never got an answer back. So I suspect the answer is that the higher set of numbers is the one should have used. What did that add up to? I believe it
was over 12 million if I'm going off top of my head. But I also will add the first one that we bid out and started to work on came back at about 40% higher than they projected and we had to send it back out to bid again. Okay? because
at the time that that there was a hearing on that study and I asked okay what are you going to do about it and the answer from I may have been at that time it wasn't this year uh we haven't had a chance to talk about it yet so I
take it Chris that this is one of the things that's got tossed in your lap and other than the fact that you're putting in three and a half million uh my question really is what are the plans hands because that pro that list from Kyers was like a hundred items long. You
can't do a hundred items all at once. So, so what are your thoughts and plans about how to implement this and h how to go forward? So, to to your point, we've been speaking about this is probably the main issue that we've spoken about outside of property acquisitions and and things
like that to prevent development to kind of stop these issues we're having infrastructure-wise. We figured we need to tackle the most important ones at first, which we we have some of them on here. We've identified them. I personally drove around with the administrator as well as our engineer from TNM and our one of our
heads of DPW to just take a look. It's awful. It it's some of the erosion and the issues we have are significant. So, we are trying to identify those in most need and try to tackle them, pick them off one at a time or or maybe more and
move forward. The report, as you mentioned, had more than a hundred items. That's impossible to tackle in one year. How many questions would you have to ask us on ordinances, Ralph, if we were to tackle all of them? And I'm not trying to be sarcastic. It is a tall order for
any town, especially a town of our size. We're trying to identify and handle it as best we can, but we are handling it, which it has not been for because these are going back years. A lot of these issues are going back a long time ago. A long time ago. Yeah. I I mean I I have
looked most closely at a couple that in our immediate neighborhood and it just things fall apart and hasn't been repaired in years. Uh in part some of them fall onto private property
and that's going to create other confusions and procedures that you'll have to deal with. But yeah, I'm happy to see that you're trying to do something about it. I'm unfortunately unhappy to hear the 12 number. So were we.
And it's uh cost keep going up like it or not. And that KA report is now two years old I believe. Two or three. No. No. It's got released last year but it was like two years in the making or something. It took us over two years to get it back
and we cons continued to ask him non-stop and we finally got it last year. Yeah. Did you want to add anything, Chris? So, you know, so if I could have asked the committee for more money, I would have at this point. Um, a lot of this money is probably dedicated already to
repairs that we have to make. And um the just so you know, as an administrator, the mayor and myself were well, the mayor wasn't able to make it, but he's been at past meetings. We have been working with Hasllett and Union Beach
with our state officials and D and we had them on a conference call with all the stakeholders involved and they basically sat there and just stared at me like they were lost. When I asked them, well, who's supposed to pay for this? They wanted to blame the
homeowners who had property who had tributaries on them. I'm I'm going to tell you, most homeowners don't even know they have tributaries on them and what their responsibilities are for. So, um, we had that one issue where we, um, we part of this is paying back ourselves back because we had to do an emergency
for a home in town. Well, unfortunately, we haven't even started that project because D held us up four weeks because that's how long it took to get an emergency permit from them. And they still today actually they have they're tomorrow they're picking the TNM's
picking up a check for $11,000 for this emergency permit. So for the permit. So that's what we're dealing with, right? Pretty safe to say that the state and the D haven't offered any assistance or suggestions as far as guidance to zero, mayor. Zero. So we need to act on
our own. And it's sad that we have to do this, but we're going to have to do it. Um and we're going to have to take the worst stuff first. And that's what we're going to do. Yeah. I mean I I been involved with this for some time including with Kyers and also as a member of the environmental
commission which happens to have a meeting tomorrow night. So I'm going to mention these thoughts tomorrow night to the environmental commission. I'm sure they'll be happy to hear that you're taking steps to work on these issues.
Uh the environmental commission has been working as part of a collaboration with representatives from more of the towns than you just mentioned because of concerns not just about the physical infrastructure for storm water but all
the streams some of which have been blocked and have been causing and it's a slow process to get the other towns involved but we've had representatives from other the Bayhore towns from Middletown at these ongoing
meetings and we're going to be trying to inspect possibly the Morris and the Flat Creek in the fall just to get a feel for what are the problems and what needs to be done and that's could potenti
and and get and getting the uh different towns together because the the flow doesn't stop at the town boundary and no and Ralph that's a huge issue as well. I don't want to get too off topic because you and I have spoken about that as
well. That is something we are all acutely aware of and we'll probably be speaking with the environmental group to see how we can try to put some pressure to get somebody to answer us from Trenton. Well, and it's a big deal and it affects too many
people and we're concerned that it might affect more and and how to make the whole thing. So, I'm glad to see in this particular item that you're including it something in the budget and Chris that you're taking a look at it and going to
start trying to do something and if I or the environmental commission can help you try to look at some of these prioritize them which see which ones we've heard about and there I'm sure there other ones that are important that we haven't heard about. Indeed. Indeed. Thank you, Ralph. Any
other public comments? Come on up, Ron. Uh Ron, I'm a 32 Ladwood Drive. Uh just another question on the vehicles and equipment. You talked about two packer. Ron, we're we're on this ordinance. Is it is this part of this? Okay.
Part of that six million ordinance. $412,500 is vehicles and equipment. Just Um, so we had a ordinance earlier for $2 million for packer trucks. And then
here's another one for 412500. Just says vehicles. Wait. Right. So So my thing is, I've mentioned this a couple of times before. I understand from complaining about vehicles in the past that there's a state mandate as far as police vehicles
are concerned. There's a whatever it gets to certain mileage, you got to and I see that we're buying a police vehicle for $45,000 and next month there'll be an item on there for $17,000 for a light package for the police vehicle. So, I understand
that's unavoidable. But the other vehicles, you just mentioned inspection vehicles under the other $2 million. So, what vehicles is that $412,000? We have a handful of little Jeep
compasses out there, construction department, recreation department, on and on and on and on. And yet you're buying two more small electric vehicles for inspection vehicles, whatever the heck that is. I Is there an ordinance, state ordinance, that those have to be
replaced? Why don't you run those things to the ground? Why are we spending another half million dollars on additional vehicles? It just I I'm not I'm just It fe It just feels like we have the best
equipment around. We have the best DPW trucks. We have the best fire trucks, which is great. We have the best ambulances. We have the best police vehicles. And now we're getting support vehicles. It It's just a feeling I get that maybe we don't have to maybe that
can be next year's expenditure. It's just a feeling I get. I'm not I'm just It's an observation. So, if we could list those vehicles and maybe again I've asked for benchmarks when we have to approve or replace the vehicles other than the police cars. That's that was my
discussion. Could we get a list of the vehicles and the mileage just so that we can kind of show, hey, here's here's the fleet, here's the age, here's the mileage, this is what we're doing. Kind of like we did with the packer trucks over 20 years old. And by the way, last time I asked the question, the previous administrator
gave me a list of uh of of just what you just said and it was like 20 years old. Okay, that's great. 20 years old, that's justified. But if you got those little Jeeps out there, we'll get you. Yeah, we'll get you that same list. Well, actually, I think I think if you look at those Jeeps, those compasses, they're about 20 years old.
Okay, that's what you're looking at. Those those truck those are old. So, but uh this is only one of those vehicles are being replaced right now. So that it's not like we're doing and we can't buy them all at once. So if we don't start to slowly rotate them out, but that has nothing to do with this one. This is these are
What vehicle is that? 412. Well, that's not the other equipment. Yeah, it's a lot of other equipment. Like just about portable radio iss $8,000, right? So and we're buying radios for the police. There's that's a lot of computer equipment. That's just one. I know. I know it's not all vehicles. I very few vehicles. Those are small
utility vehicles. That's not what's pumping. Ron, just to add, the ask from each of the departments was much greater than what they're receiving. So, it's there was a fire truck on there, for example, and we spoke with Dave Darcy and he said, "No, I I I think we can move this another year. I think we're okay." And
that kind of stuff. So, we do watch and look at every every single option that we have, but your your comments are appreciated. Thank you. Any other public comments? Can I get a motion? Motion. Second. Mr. Imprevadudo,
yes. Miss Lam Mountain, yes. Mr. Romano, yes. Mayor Foster, yes. Ordinance 2020 522 has been successfully passed. Thank you, Wendy. Great job again. A lot of reading there. Thank you. Thank you, sir. All right, we will move on to department
reports. Chris, do you want to add anything? Uh, thank you, mayor. Real quick, uh, Crawford's quarter project, as you can see, is moving uh along smoothly. Uh, we are on target to complete before school starts. Um the sewer pipe again replacement was done ahead of schedule
overnight. Uh they actually had logged it for I think it was five nights. They did it in three and a half I think it's all it took them to do it. Um with the passive of capital ordinance we can move forward on several of these projects that we're talking about with storm water. Um that's real important at this point. Um also part of that program that
the capital tank was paying ourselves back for again the project we already approved. Uh we we look to do our start our road program this year. We're probably going to split it into two different road programs. Uh 1 A, 1B, basically. And by doing that, it will make sure that we
get a contractor in here who's willing to meet a uh deadline. Uh I think we went too far into this year. Um we haven't even closed out 24 yet. So my goal is to get them and put a uh a time on it so we can uh get half the town done by one. If if we get a large
contractor, then they're going to have to say they can get it done by by March uh the end of March next year. That's what my goal is. So, um, we'll we'll go from there and see how we work out with that. Uh, one thing I did want to bring up and and we'll we'll get into this more during budget time. Everybody's
aware, state health benefits, uh, the, uh, the number of the actuaries came up was 36%. That's, um, over, so if you add it all up over the years, it's 50% higher than it was four years ago. Um, we are waiting. I there was some
legislation pushed out to try to prevent or help some of this. I don't know how that's going to help. Um, we have a couple of um of plans that are in the hopper that we can tackle once we know what those final numbers are. Um, and
we're going to try to roll those out with the unions and try to save the town money and the employees money. Um, but until we know of the final numbers, we had to put a hold on that because again, there was a threat to even raise that plan to a point where it wouldn't be worth it. So, we're we're working on it. Uh, we're waiting. It should have been
done two weeks ago. Of course, it's not. Open enrollment is in October, so I'm not sure what they're waiting on. And I know you and I spoke about that when it first came out and you started kicking some some different ideas around and stuff. And now you just see there's an I don't want to call it an uproar, but everybody, all the other townships,
board of educations, all have this significant increase coming yet again after all the issues we had this year. Thank you. No problem. Mayor Nick, would you like to add anything this evening? Nothing at this time, mayor. Thank you. All right. Thank you very much, Joe.
Thank you, Mayor. Homedale Library. Uh Homedale book club. September's book club is The Taster by VS Alexander. The club will meet on Tuesday, September 9th at 10 a.m. to discuss uh the September wellness program with Hackinac Meridian memory loss and aging program. We're
going to learn about the differences between normal and abnormal memory loss and how to keep your mind sharp as you age. That's Wednesday, September 10th at 1:30. Future wellness program topics will include breast cancer detection and screening, pre-diabetes, eating well with diabetes at the holidays. Summer
reading challenge ends August 15th. The summer reading challenge will wrap up this Friday, August 15th. Please have all your books and reading activity logged by that date. From the board of ed, Homedale High School students performed exceptionally well at the NJGPA, a statewide graduation exam.
Their scores in both English language arts and math were significantly higher than state average. English scores were particularly impressive with 96.5% of students meeting or exceeding the required benchmark. Students showed strong skills in literary analysis, reading
comprehension, and writing. In math, 89% of students met the proficiency benchmark. While their scores were well above the state average, the district plans to focus on improving mathematical reasoning skills. Construction on the new village school playground is progressing and is expected to be finished before the school year starts.
The project is being funded by a combination of a DCA grant, a donation from the parent school association, and district funds. The old playground has been removed and the area is being prepared for new inclusive and age appropriate equipment. Uh, Indian Hill hosted a summer program
called Camp Invention for students in grades 1 through six focusing on STEM education. The camp encouraged create creativity and pro problem solving through hands-on activities. Students participated in challenges created by National Inventors Hall of Fame inductees where they built prototypes
and designed eco-friendly inventions. A highlight of the camp was a visit from Dr. Victor Lawrence, a local Homell resident and National Inventors Hall of Fame inductee. He spoke to the students about his career and inspired them to pursue their curiosity and science. When there's nothing to report from the veterans committee as they are still on
their summer hiatus. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you very much, Joe Roco. Thank you, mayor. From the Homeell Police Department, July's Goal Zero high visibility enforcement was postponed due to storms and the declared state of emergency. Our upcoming Goal Zero detail
will take place Thursday, August 28th from 3:00 to 7:00 p.m. focusing on Highway 34. As a reminder, those specialized and highly visible enforcement details are aimed at lowering traffic deaths and injuries on New Jersey roadways. The Homeell Township Police Department thanks all of
our residents who came out for National Night Out last week. It was a huge success. We look forward to seeing you again at next year's event. From the Homedale Fire Department, on July 30th, the fire department responded to a reported fire on the roof of the Arnold Walter Nursing Home on Laurel Avenue.
The fire was extinguished quickly and contained to the roof. The cause of the fire is still under investigation. On August 8th, two members attended their first day of firefighter one training at the Mammoth County Police Academy. They will graduate from the academy in early January. Our annual
fund drive is underway. If you should have received a letter from us and we ask that you please consider making a donation. Your support helps us continue to serve and protect the community. A reminder, please call 911 to report a fire or fire related emergencies rather
than calling the fire station directly. And now from the Department of Public Works, the final four large item dropoff events for 2025 are scheduled for September 13th and 27th, October 11th, and 25th. DPW has also had several residents bring hazardous materials to
the recycling center. Unfortunately, we are not able to accept them. Materials such as paint, paint thinner, stain, pool chemicals, waste, waste oil, and gasoline must be disposed of through the Mammoth County household hazardous waste facility. Thank you, mayor.
Thank you, Rock. Deputy mayor. Thank you, mayor. From the community development department, we have a new law regarding fire safety standards. There was a new law recently signed by the governor. Fire extinguishers are no
longer required in one and two family homes during inspections for sale or new tenants. The change prioritizes quick evacu evacuation over attempting to put out a fire. A new law requires homes with backup power sources like
generators or solar panels to have a warning label. The label must be placed near the main electrical panel. This new labeling mandate is a safety measure for firefighters and other emergency responders, alerting them to potential electrical hazards from secondary power
sources. from our Homeell 250th committee. On August 14th, there will be another meeting. They'll be meeting at 11 a.m. to start planning our signature events for the upcoming year. The Home Del
America 250 committee is actively seeking volunteers for a variety of roles. Everything from event planning and logistics to historical research and outreach. In order to make the event successful, we need your help. So, if
you have any interest in volunteering, please email info@homedell township.com. And our fun fact this month regarding Homeell history, the Penelopestout
Historical Marker. Homedale Township is partnering with the Mammoth County Park System and local historian Jean Volant Voluntease to install a historical marker at the site of Penelopey Stout's
home and likely burial site on Crawford's Corner Road in Homeo. Penelope Stout was a European settler who was shipwrecked off Sandy Hook in the 1640s and survived a Native American attack. She later married a man named
Richard Stout and settled in what is now Homeell Township. Penelope is often considered the first European woman to have arrived in Mammoth County and is referred to as mother of Middletown. Our Homeell Green team, the team met
with the township administration to review their community energy planning status. Green Team member Karen Fabanani has a wrote a guide to backyard composting which was printed in the
August edition of the community magazine and posted on their blog. The team submitted our final application for bronze certification to sustainable Jersey. were awaiting their response and we connected the public works department
with helps which is an organization that recycles used clothing regarding obtaining a textile recycling bin which would allow residents to recycle clothing and other materials that are no longer wearable. Anyone interested? Our
next green team meeting is Monday, September 8th at Bell Works and is open to anyone that would love to join us. Our Homeell Heritage Committee met earlier this month to finalize plans for all of the vendors, restaurants, shops,
and presenters who will participate in this year's Homeell Heritage Day. Thank you, mayor. Thank you, Kim. All right, I'm going to try to make this quick, but we have a a few things uh on my pages, which normally isn't the case. So on behalf of the Homedale Township
Committee, colleagues and all the residents of Homedale, I would like to extend our congratulations to Mega Gan on her victory at the US Women Amateur Championship. Mega is a Homedale native and a graduate of Homeell High School where she played on the golf team. We are all proud of your achievement and
look forward to what you accomplish next. Last week, Deputy Mayor Lamount, Committeeman in Imprevo, and I officially unveiled two road signs designating the Homeell portion of the Garden State Parkway access road as Billy Deo Boulevard. The dedication was
established earlier this year by the township committee through ordinance 2005, excuse me, 2025-1 in memory of Homedale resident Billy Deo, who was tragically killed in the New Year's terrorist attack in New Orleans. Billy was a graduate of Homedale High School and a noted player on their lacrosse team. After
graduating, Billy returned and volunteered his time as a coach for the team. I'd also like to thank our internal team for the design they come up with. I I think it's amazing. If you haven't seen the sign, it's uh it's beautiful. It's right at the entrance on both sides. In partnership with the PNC
Bank Arts Center, we have procured a limited number of discounted $30 tickets just for Homeell residents. You can use code homeell at ticketmaster.com for the following shows. the 8:17 Beatstock with Boy George. September 8th with Pantara.
September 16th Falling in Reverse and September 26th Judas Priest. I'd like to say a special thank you to general manager Jurel who worked with us on this. I'm not thrilled that they got rid of the lawn passes. I I myself and my wife had them as well as other family members and a lot of other people I know
in town. We're hoping maybe they bring them back next year if they haven't had enough revenue from some of the shows. But we'll we'll see how that goes. A special thank you to Jorel. On Thursday, September 4th, I've invited representatives from the New Jersey Division of Taxation to come to Homeell and assist our senior residents with
filling out the pass one form, which is a combined application for the anchor, the senior freeze, and the stay NJ tax relief programs. The staff from the Division of Taxation will be set up at the senior community center from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. You do not need an
appointment. You can drop in at any time during that period. In order to be assisted, you must bring the following with you. Your photo identification, your complete address, including block, lot, and municipal code. We'll help you with that if you need. All of your 2023
and 2024 income documentation, the total amount build in your 2023 and 2024 property taxes. This township committee is committed to cutting through the red tape and helping our residents get the tax relief that they are entitled to. JCPNL is starting its project resilience
in Homeell soon and we want to share the information we've received about it with you. Project Resilience is part of a large multi-year investment program which is aimed at modernizing the electric grid to improve reliability and prepare for future energy demands. This
project involves a variety of upgrades to the power infrastructure in different parts of New Jersey, including Homeell. We will share with you more information as it comes out with us. We're constantly speaking with them. We're actually having a meeting with them hopefully next week to go through some
of these items. So, we should have a lot more details at the next meeting. And then last, I just wanted to comment on on what Rock brought up about National Night Out. And just say a huge thank you to all of our our teams internally, right? Our administration, our recck department, our DPW, our police, our fire, our EMS. Everybody was out last
week, last Tuesday. Great night, great weather. Unfortunately, it was canceled last year. So, I think we had a much much better showing this year and it was great to see all of our our employees there and representing the township and uh a great job that they all do. So, that is all the comments I have tonight. We're going to open it up to public
comments before we wrap up. I don't see any Well, thank you, Jay. I almost had a call on somebody like I did last meeting. By the way, if I'm shivering, it's because you keep it a lot cooler in here than my house for God's sakes. Yeah, we What is it in the 60s, 70s?
I think it's probably up to 80. It's not 80 in here, trust me. I know. Um I'm curious any body language on the lawn passes. That was a controversial decision. Sorry, I had some margaritas beforehand. Taco Tuesday. Yeah, that was uh this may be rough up here, but go ahead.
It was from Live Nation down. So Jerel was bummed about it as well and she said it was made on a national level. It affected 50 other facilities. 50 other facilities as well. So I've been talking to her probably once a month. I was over there for a couple shows. So hopefully something gets back to them and then
they say, "You know what? Maybe we have a blackouts for certain number of soldout shows but still get the pass for all the other shows." Hopefully. All right. Um uh I'm curious with all of the spending the debt. I'm not questioning the debt being taken on and everything, but and I
know you're probably not going to want to answer this, but is there any sort of feeling or body language on the outlook of Bell Works revenues over the next 18 24 months? Are things look stable? Are there any big I probably should know this, but there are there any big lease
expiring or things like that? Like how do how is your feeling as the mayor? How is your feeling on the outlook of Bell Works? Uh, at the moment it's strong. Uh we meet with Ralph I would say quarterly if not more. Um Ralph from Somerset, not
um he's indicated everything seems to be going extremely well there. If you've been to the building you could see it it is extremely vibrant. The parking lot is always full. I don't know of any issues that they're having. Um so we feel good about it. I know the last time uh our CFO Bill Antonity spoke about it. We anticipate
the numbers to continue to be strong. Okay. And Jay, I I will add that's a big part of what helps us fix these problems that have been lingering. Yeah, definitely. Lingering is a polite word. I'm I'm gonna ask it again, but I know the answer is going to be it's it's on
the schedule. Homedale Road is supposed to be paved this fall, correctly, by the county. It help us. I I was asking uh I saw I see you in your blue car a lot up and down that road. You know, and I I am assured that it's on the schedule now. whether not good for that
Acura. Hey, you're right. You're right. Okay. He got it blue just because he was going to be mayor. That's he wanted to make sure it was home blue. He's very easy to be spotted in that. Obviously, um speaking of roads, I was on North Beer Street today, which is atrocious. Is that on our schedule in
the next 18 months? Maybe it should be. I don't know. As you as you make that curve around heading toward the hospital, it's really bad. So, I I don't have the list in front of me because it does it's still in flux. You know, it depends on how much roads end up coming in at. Um, but
knowing that, I'm going to take a look at it. Um, one of the pieces of equipment that we're getting actually allows us to do better uh repairs in between road programs. Okay. So, we're not going to be like filling little potholes anymore. We're actually going to mill it and mill sections out so that it'll be smooth.
That's our goal. That's what we're we're purchasing that little skid steer for is actually to help with our our in between paving. Okay. You should have led with that earlier. Um I've I've commented about this before. I think some work was done, but it needs
to be looked at again. And I take this very seriously and I think you all should. Um Middletown Road, which I'm on sometimes six times a day, um continues to have dead branches over it. There's actually one branch now or vine that's hanging vertically just ready to fall on
a bad day into someone's sunroof, god forbid, or at the top down, possibly killing a resident or someone nearby. Do you know the section, Jay? So, we could have DPW take a look. It's uh I don't I know there's a pothole, too, that needs to be addressed between St. Cathine's and the two new houses that were built there. So, I
would say anywhere from St. Catherine's to the two new houses or maybe a little further. Someone needs to go slow and say, I mean, one of them's a vertical. I mean, we really can't have that hanging. And I know it's easy for a resident to say, well, that needs to be addressed, but this is not good. This is going to
be a bad setup. Listen, and I have said this before. We appreciate you bringing these to attention. We will take a look at it and we we'll move on it. Okay. Um, and it's nice to be updated by JCPNL. I think I was here about a month ago saying, you know, these polls are an abomination. Um
uh now we have a paralam pole or two on um 34, you know, where they they fuse. And by the way, when the sun hits it, it's like a it's like a gold po pole shining in the in the dis. I mean, they
clearly have no regard for what this looks like, for the impact on the town and the county. I mean, have we at least voiced that to them? Are we we're concerned about what it's going to be like in Homeell? Yes, that has been voiced in it many times. As I just mentioned, we're having that meeting next week. Yeah. Where I can continue to
voice our concerns because it's our look, right? And it's our field that's being impacted. We do have the new ordinance which if they start taking down trees, we're going to have them obviously kick in and replace and do whatever we can. It's unfortunate, Jay, because we just kind of finished up that lawsuit that went on for 5 years with the BPU.
Yeah. We ultimately lost. We are looking at this very harshly because they're not giving us the answers we want and we're, you know, we're going to look at what we what our options are. And and Mr. Foster, Mr. Sherban, and some of others, I I know you're close to
the county people, as I voiced my opinion to some of the other people I know that are close with county people. And unfortunately, like I've complained before, I can't do this all this time and go to the county. I blame the county people for not being on top of this for
not getting involved and not saying, "Hey, do they really need to be that high? Are they really needed?" And the county should be pushing back at the BPU because unfortunately I think the BPU, oh yeah, we connect the solar, connect the you know, you know, I really think
the county should be involved and step up here. And do you see the support wires on some of these polls? I I don't know if they're all going to be permanent. And someone told me the term is double wood. Are they going to keep the old poles for the tele? They're not. That's a good thing. Yeah. Once they finish the stretch, then
they come back and they have Verizon and the cable companies move theirs and then they remove the old poles. That's good. I hope some of these support wires are going to go too once it's all up and running. I would assume that they're saying it's supposed to be for to carry more power and stuff like that. So, I'm hoping they can consolidate a bunch of the wires. That's what we're really trying to discover and find out because it's not
like they've given us a ton of information, Jay. No, they're not going to. That's No, they're not. And I just want to review because again I follow the industry. They've wildly underinvested in the polls over the years which comes out of their bottom line. We know by the data
they've wildly underinvested in maintaining street lights. We know that. That's a fact. All that comes out of their bottom line. So now they haven't invested in any of this stuff that would have come out of the bottom line. But conveniently, they're packaging whatever that plan is called. I think it's it
could be tens or hundred million. I forgot. It's could be like a hundred million dollars statewide. And that's going to be a guaranteed rate of return on investment from the utility rateayers for 50 years. So where it should have kind of hurt them a little, they've spent virtually nothing, but now they're
going to be guaranteed this by the BPU. And and what's most infuriating is they don't care what it looks like. And what kind of company does that? One that one that as you pointed out, I don't mean to cut you off. One that as you pointed out has I don't want to say the support of the state, but the state isn't cracking
down or doing anything. No, I mean I don't want to get political, but look at the BPU closely. So Jay, I'll point out you you almost got into a fist fight with a guy in the parking lot from physically assaulted for the record. Yeah. Yeah. No, that's the kind of company we're dealing with. I know. And I've Yeah.
Um, now I'm I'm gonna apologize up front. I might cut off here. Time's real quick. Real quick, please. I'm going to apologize upfront to all of you. You're all Many of us don't want to do your job. We respect the time you do. We respect the decisions you make. We
respect all the hard things you have to do and a lot of the garbage you have to deal with. But there's something I think it was a bad decision by you guys. I've bounced it off of other people and they think not the best decision. And this is probably going to offend you, but I'm going to say it and
I hope you will consider reconsidering the decision. and that is putting a sign up saying we all of you preserve this piece of land. I appreciate that you preserve the land. I appreciate the decisions you make, the money that was
allocated, but this money, while you're all taxpayers, too, came from all the taxpayers in Homeell. It also came from the benefits of the Bell Works program. I think the sign makes you all look small. I think it makes the town look small. I've seen it in other towns. this
plot of land preserved by the blank comm. I would suggest we take down that sign with your names on it that we preserve this land and either don't put up a sign or say I think it's tacky preserved by the home taxpayers. Why don't we just say preserve land or
something like that? I would again I appreciate all you do. I think these signs are a bad idea. I appreciate your comments and as we all know there a lot of that hasn't happened and I'm not looking to tip anybody's hats or or anything like that. I I've personally asked for some of the signs just to have respectfully the
entire committee and nobody singled out and I I think it's important that we take pride in in the things we've accomplished. So I'm going to politely dis disagree with you. Okay. I I bounce maybe bounce it off others. Thank you. Any other comments?
Come on up, Bill. Bill Little 8 Coventry Square. Um, following up on the June 13th TC meeting when you passed a couple of ordinances about the RASI, the recreation and open space inventory.
Um, I think 2025 161 was to get the township engineer to kind of do an inventory and maybe update candidate properties or or whatever it was. 162 uh I think authorized the township
administrator attorney and engineer to do whatever was needed to be done to get I think it was one one lot of the diploma of farm was in Rosie and the other one wasn't or something like that to get the whole
thing on that list so that um so that it would never be developed. So, I'm just wondering what the status is of that. That was a couple months ago. Sure. And and it's it's not a completed process yet, Bill. I promise you it will be completed this year. I I will make certain of that. Obviously, we were
dealing with some other issues that we wanted to make sure got handled and resolved accordingly. Yeah. Okay. Just checking. Thank you, Bill. Any other comments? How about a motion? Motion. Second. On favor.