okay um can you just we're now live okay so do just we don't we don't have to do it again just indicate that we we've already done the inspiration and we just completed the roll call where Mr bobbit yourself Mr kaki are present mr ryan and
the mayor are not present today okay good afternoon we have just completed the statement of notice and also our inspiration and pledge and the roll call unfortunately Mayor Palmer excuse me Mayor Farmer
will sorry wrong district uh Mayor Farmer will not be able to join us neither is Councilman Ryan uh we are here to discuss the resolutions for before us number 161 authorizing the
appointment of Henry J nornberg Jr as municipal tax assessor for the fourth ter for 4-year term commencing on July 1st 2025 and ending June 30th 2029 as per ordinance
NJSA489-14 excuse me 148 does anyone have an objection of us going through the resolutions in the block or would you like to vote on them individually councilman I prefer to go individually okay
um the first resolution any discussion or questions oh um this is for appointing Henry John Nutenberg um as tax assessor correct yes and
that's so what's happening is is that um Mr nonberg will uh complete the remaining appointment um of our retiring assessor Ken Pacera and he's starting uh
employment with Lawrence Township effective April 14th 2025 so he'll complete the term Mr pera's term and then um he will start his own four-year term effective July 1st correct
thank you for the clarification so we need somebody to move it and somebody to second it i would like to move for the appointment of resolution 161 do I have a second i'll second
all in favor can we please take the call the roll call mr bobby yes mr kaki yes miss Perry yes second resolution number 162 authorizing professional service agreement with
Mason Griffin and Pearson as tax attorney for 3131 Princeton Pike at a fee of $5,000 um Mr manager can you explain that please this
is supposed to be a professional services contract to act as a conflict tax attorney for the pending and future tax appeals is not as a tax attorney for 3131
Princeton Pipe right that's an um let's just see we would need to amend that so the the resolution itself is correct is completely correct yeah so it's just just the agenda the the agenda itself so
um just for council's benefit we um we have a a tax attorney firm that handles our tax appeals however um there comes from time to time a conflict of interest that exists and we have tax
appeals where there is a conflict with the our present firm so it makes it necessary for us to have a conflict firm available to represent the township in tax appeals where there is a conflict if it if if it even arises right if it
arises and are they currently the tax attorneys for 3131 no no they have nothing to do with nothing to do with Okay i would like to make a motion do I have a second
chair could we u do we need to modify the language of the resolution to reflect that this isn't for 3131 right well for the record yes wait wait no it should be tax so the body tax appeal attorney it should say appeal
attorney yes so you are correct Mr about it that resolution 161-25 needs to strike um the second line under whereas under
the first whereas where it says for 3131 Princeton fight that's it so so for a tax appeal attorney all right so if if I may I'll make a motion to amend uh resolution 162 to now
read authorizing profession professional services agreement for Mason Griffin Pearson as tax appeal attorney in the amount of $5,000 and then within the resolution itself of 162-25 striking uh
reference to 31 reference to do I have a second madam clerk can you please yes yes Yes thank you for the
correction um resolution number 163 authorizing professional service agreement with BRB valuation and consulting services yes can we uh can I move by 162 to be
uh um voted on we amended it but we didn't vote on the actual Oh correct correct so I move uh resolution 162 to be voted on correct madam clerk can you call the role for the vote
did we Who moved it i'm sorry i moved you moved and on Jim second for the amend for the amendment now we're voting okay mr bobin yes mr kaki yes m
yes okay so uh number three resolution number 163 authorizing professional service agreement with BRB valuation and consulting services as a tax evaluation consultant for the fee of $10,000
so move one moment um can you explain this Mr manager and Kate yeah so so this is a this is an expert that we um must retain um to
assist us in tax appeals um the the um we've we've not had to do this before because our tax assessor always acted as our own expert because of the years of experience um but um with the current
appointment um through discussions with the county tax um board and you know to provide the prop proper uh support to our tax assessor we feel it's important to have um this uh expert on retainer to
assist us through tax appeals in particular commercial tax appeals so this would provide the support that we need so that we're making sure that the assessments are done correctly and that um the the township is adequately represented in tax appeals before the
various courts great chair if I could ask a question of the manager um how long do you from your sense from uh and and those who have interviewed uh our our new tax assessor how long do you First of all do you think this $10,000 will cover this year
or is it you you mentioned a retainer well so um I just I went back to my attorney's retain this question this is encumbering $10,000 as a as a a forecasting of what we what we may need through this year we
may need more we have um we have uh I think a little under 20 tax appeals pending at this point in time um and depending on the level of involvement of this particular expert it could be it could be more um or we could be fine but
this just gets us through the next you know five or six months definitely um but thereafter we may have to come in and do an amendment as we do you know because there's no way to know right um it's not a flat fee you know this is a
fee based upon work performed and we can't really forecast how much work is involved involved understood and then do you do you get a sense that we will be needing to retain the the services of BRB evaluation and consulting services as a tax evaluation consultant in in
future years as well absolutely okay for for for a while for a while it it should be noted um that nine out of 10 tax appeals settle so it's it's a rare one that actually goes for a full hearing or
whatever but you have to prepare for a full hearing or trial if if you take it up to tax court etc so the the groundwork has to be there uh even though majority do settle once you hit the steps of 640 South
Broad County i just know from from experience that we we have some we have some uh we have some businesses in the community who will will fight without a doubt without a doubt multiple ones so thank you well we're putting ourselves
in the best position in case we have um um I would like to make a motion to move on that resolution 163 i'll second madame clerk can you take the vote mr bogin yes mr kaki yes
yes resolution number 164 authorizing professional service agreement with David J levy as a tax assessor consultant for 2025 at the rate of $250 per [Music]
hour is there any discussion or need for I I just have a question with the manager so we have the tax evaluation consultant for tax appeals that to act as an expert to act as an expert mr levy
now is the tax assessor consultant um what does that mean this is for this is to provide our appointed tax assessor with the ability to have someone there
um to assist when necessary um to get through um commercial appraisals and and issues that may arise um where uh he may need or want to have
somebody provide assistance mr levy is an extremely wellrespected very seasoned uh tax assessor that that his name came at the recommendation of the Mercer County Board of Tax Assessors um so um
and he's agreed to do it so we're fortunate to to have his um presence depending on you know we don't know the level at this point in time on an as needed basis basically that's that's great to hear because I know Mr
levy is you know has lots of experience in Mercer County has led that that tax assessor community in Mercer County so it's I'm glad to see that he's Yeah and he worked here for 17 years before going to uh East Windsor so he's very familiar with our town as well so we're fortunate
to be able to get I'm glad I'm glad he signed up thanks question do we feel there may be a conflict here where having Mr griby in this position what's the I'm sorry what's the conflict
past history oh no no i mean he he's working for us he'd be working for us just as he worked before for us so there's no adversarial he's on the same side we're all on the
same side here okay [Music] madam clerk can you please take the role mr bob yes mr can yes yes resolution 165 authorizing professional
service agreement with Jennifer Caravali as the tax assessor consultant for 2025 at a rate of $250 per hour and this is simply she's just on deck when m Mr levy is unavailable takes time
off goes on vacation or is otherwise uh not able to uh be of assistance to the town uh Miss Caribelli will step in she's also a former employee of Lawrence Township we're lucky to have
any discussions any questions i just want to ask Amanda how are we missing all these good people right she used to work for us she did yeah she was a deputy tax assessor she didn't put in her Yeah I think she didn't apply
she's interested in this role though so that's fine it just struck me that we have two former employees now being hired as tax assessor well is in many situations when someone is new to a position they need a little bit of backup we were fortunate to have
Peter um for so long our former tax assessor Ken Ken for so long um any other discussion or questions madam clerk can you please take the vote may I make a motion second yes i would
like Sorry can someone make a motion for us to move forward so second second madam clerk can you please take the role mr b yes mr kaki yes miss Perry
yes resolution or number six um authorizing a close session for council immediately following the regular meeting um there is it is necessary no I've decided to that's not necessary we we'll talk okay
you sure yep okay um at this point we'll open up public participation ken here Kevin Kieran from Gaines Railroad and I'm just trying to understand what happened last month versus now
um there was a recommendation for Mr nenburgg by Councilman Ryan for a position that was seconded and voted on with a question from our township manager stating there should be further
communication about this and specifically in quotes you fully understand the position of what a tax assessor does and the nature of the work and all that then that is fine i just wanted to offer my experience and understanding of the position if you wanted it if you don't it's fine three
council people shook their head in understanding so now and of course Mr levy was recommended by a minority and then that did not pass so now we're hiring somebody that is a real estate assessor for the next four years and to
fulfill this team with no experience on appeals and now the township has to pay more to cover him because he's not experienced on appeals um I just don't understand the logic of
why it wasn't heard it wasn't discussed to best benefit the township now we have to cover ourselves because this person is not has zero experience in appeals but we hired him thank you
and so the person that we hired we felt again it's a personnel issue we will not discuss further but we are hiring for backup and support which is not an uncommon
practice going forward based on the experience and how he develops in the position we may not need to continue and this is not at any additional cost to the
township and again just think about entrylevel positions salaries versus experienced level position salaries so we're net neutral anyone else seeing no other um persons for part
public participation I would like to make a motion to adjurnn second all in favor thank you very much well wouldn't it be me if I didn't have a question
um