usual Monday. So glad that we have some people coming out. I'm going to read the statement of compliance that is mandatory. Uh statement of compliance with the sunshine law. This meeting is being held in accordance with the open public's meeting act. An adequate notice of this meeting has been provided as
required by law. Specifically, the annual notice was emailed to the west tribun and star ledger on January 3rd, 2025. The agenda and resolutions for the meeting are available at livingstonj.org. Certain portions of this meeting may be closed to the public for the purpose of
personnel and/or matters outlined in the sunshine laws. Decisions made and or discussed in closed sessions will be made known to the public at a later time. Notice to the members of the governing body and township staff. Any use of electronic devices during this meeting shall be used solely for the purpose of township business and any
communications are subject to the open public's record act. To the extent possible, this evening's Township of Livingston Township of Livingston Council meeting will be livereamed via Facebook at www.fas.com/livingston township. Questions and or comments will be accepted by emailing live comments at
livingstonj.org by 4 p.m. on the day of the meeting and shared with the township council before the meeting. Each speaker should follow the rules of order in Livingston code 2-15.3. Roll call, please. Council member Anthony, here. Batani here. Vieiera present. W Mayor Klene here.
Mayor Minhardt I am here. We're going to rise um for a moment of silence followed by the pledge of allegiance. Um we think about uh all the veterans since we just had Memorial Day, all the veterans who served with us and all the veterans uh who gave their life for the ultimate
sacrifice so all of us can be here in a free country and have meetings like this where people can speak up freely. Um so we think about all those and their families at this time. Thank you for it stands nationy for all.
councelor. All right, we have a uh Essex County updates. Uh Eileen Fishman. No, we don't see Eileen. All right. Uh moving on, we have a couple of proclamations and presentations this evening. First up is my friend. So, you're first up. Uh where is the mic? Is
there a microphone? Okay. somebody. Um, Adam, can you maybe just help her with the mic, please? And so, I had the interview I had the honor of being interviewed interviewed a few months ago. Um, who was a fourth grade, correct?
Fourth grader. Yeah, fourth grader at the Riker Hill School who wrote an article uh in the Riker Hill newspaper about our interview. She also interviewed um the chief of police as well as anybody else or anybody else. Um
yes, Miss Matalto and Miss Benitas. Okay. I think you have some copies of what you wrote as well. Maybe you want to pass them out to the town council before you uh you want to pass them out before you read them. Sure. All right. I'm happy I'm happy to autograph any copies for you guys afterwards.
the the uh the floor and the meeting is all yours. All right. So, introduce yourself, tell us a little about yourself, and uh anything else you want to say about yourself, and you can go ahead and read the article. Good evening, everyone. I'm absolutely thrilled to be standing here tonight. My name is Savia Utam, and I'm a fourth
grader at Riker Hill Elementary School. I am part of a program called Gifted and Talented Enrichment. As part of this program, my fellow classmates and I published a newspaper put together by GT teachers, Miss Kesler and Miss Zambrio.
We also cleverly titled it Read the Ram after a school's mascot, as you can guess, a RAM. I wrote an article about our community leaders commitment to our community. I decided to write write this article because I wanted people to understand the vital roles that people
play to make Livingston a better place to live in. After I wrote this article, many people liked it. So I was invited here to present my article. For this project, I interviewed our wonderful mayor, Mr. Ed Minhar, our brave police chief, Mr. Gary Marshettes, Ry Girl's
educator of the year, Miss Montalto, and my very own principal, Miss Benitas. By the way, Miss Montalto is my home room teacher. She cares about each and every student, and she even if they're not in her class, she totally deserves this
award. It was truly fascinating to learn about their fundamental roles. My article describes each and every interviews in great details. My article is also chosen to be in front page. I'm now delighted to distribute copies of
the entire newspaper for you to read at your own leisure. Thank you so much. [Applause] So that was that was absolutely beautiful. Thank you so much. I loved being interviewed by you. I loved seeing
you a few weeks ago. uh at the uh art show. I think I saw you as well. I love doing that. Um just as an FYI, one of your teachers, Miss Zambrio, who is a gifted and talented teacher, was actually my daughter's fourth and fifth grade teacher many, many years ago at
Mount Pleasant. So, it just goes to show the uh value that the teachers have. And congratulations also in the back as well for being named teacher of the year. you know, what what the teachers do for this community u makes it a better world and and you know, we have students like this
who learn from these teachers and and present from these teachers and we're very very fortunate uh that we have teachers like that. So, thank you very much. Do you mind coming up? We can take a picture with the whole council. Come on up. We'll take a picture. We all go downstairs. We'll take a picture with the whole council. All right.
Everything. Thank you so much. Let me do real quick. Yeah. Any comments by any of the um council? Yeah, I just wanted to jump in. So, first of all, it's incredible that was 21 pages long, right? I mean that's a that's a really meaty newspaper but
also it reminds me the New York Times over the this past weekend just wrote a story about a bunch of kids who are writing who are putting out a newspaper in montalk every week over the course of the summer and it's two things first of all it's you know local news is having a
very hard time right now so it's very hard to have a business model where local news is able to support itself especially in New Jersey right because New Jersey everything's about New York and Philadelphia so local coverage of news is really important in New Jersey. So, I applaud you for, you know, going out and interviewing the mayor and I hope you gave him a hard time. I haven't
had a chance to read the article yet. Um, but also, um, it's it's, uh, it's great that you did this and and I hope you keep up with it. Thank you. Anybody else? Yeah. I'll just I'll just say that this was just amazing to see you speak so clearly with your ideas,
with your thoughts, write so clearly. I don't know who picked the pictures, but the pictures came out also very good. Mr. here. Uh but anyways, I mean this was this was very nicely done. Kudos to mom and dad. I'm sure a very very proud moment for you all. Uh amazing.
Congratulations. Yeah. Anybody else? Uh same. Congratulations. Congratulations, mom and dad. This is terrific. I've known Ed about 20 years, 15 years, and I'm learning a few things right now from your great journalism here. Um,
congratulations and it just makes me uh feel so good about the future with uh young students like you. So, congratulations. I also want to say congratulations and uh you're fourth grade. I I I can't wait to see your writing when when you graduate college
and become a professional uh uh writer. So, congratulations again. Thank you again. It was great. Nice great to see you. We're gonna go a little bit out of order just for a second. Uh we're going to do uh number three uh next, the National Gun Violence Awareness Day. We have a proclamation to
read, Lori. So why don't we read the pro Okay, whoever wants to come. We're going to read the proclamation first and then you have a couple words to say after that. Okay, so we're going to read the proclamation first. You can come up though as we read it. We we have it's pretty long, but it's pretty long. So we're Okay, no problem. All right, we're going to read this and and then we have we have a hard copy to give to you as
well. All right. Sure. All right. So why don't we start, please? Uh Michael, you're the first three. Whereas every day approximately 120 Americans are killed by gun violence and hundreds more sustain non-fatal firearm industry uh injuries. Whereas since 2020, firearms
are the number one cause of death for American children and adolesccents. Whereas Americans are 26 times more likely to be killed through gun violence than persons in other developed countries. Whereas the US has a ratio of 121 firearms owned by owned per 100
residents, up from 88 per 100 in 2011, far surpassing that of other countries around the world and making the US the only country with more civil civilian owned firearms than people. Whereas the US gun suicide rate is 10 times that of other highincome countries and access to
a gun increases the risk of death by suicide by three times. Whereas protecting the Second Amendment rights of law- abiding citizens is consistent with keeping firearms away from people who are at risk of harming themselves or harming others. Whereas in states where
elected officials have taken action to pass common sense gun safety legislation and policy consistent with the Second Amendment, fewer people die or are injured by gun violence. Whereas protecting public safety in the communities they serve is a mayor's
highest responsibility. Whereas mayors and law law enforcement officers know their communities best, are most familiar with local criminal activity and how to address it and are best positioned to understand how to keep their citizens safe. Whereas June 6th,
2025 would have been the 27th birthday of Adia Pendleton, the teenager who marched in President Obama's second inaugural parade and was tragically shot and killed just weeks later in her hometown of Chicago. Whereas the idea of National Gun Violence Awareness Day was
inspired by a group of Hadia's friends who asked her classmates to commemorate her life by wearing orange, the color hunters wear to announce themselves to other hunters when in the wilderness. And orange is a color that symbolizes the value of human life. And by wearing orange on June 6, 2025, and by
acknowledging June as National Gun Violence Awareness Month, Americans will help raise awareness about gun violence by honoring the lives lost and human hardship endured due to gun violence. Whereas to honor Hadia and the thousands of other Americans whose lives are
tragically cut short every year and the countless survivors who are injured by shootings every day, a national coalition of organizations has designated June 6th, 2025 as the 11th annual National Gun Violence Awareness Day. Now therefore, it be it resolved
that the Township of Livingston affirms its commitment to reduce gun violence, to pledge to pledge to all it can do to keep firearms out of the wrong people, to encourage responsible gun ownership, including self safe storage of firearms, and to support common sense gun violence
prevention legislation consistent with the Second Amendment. And now it be therefore resolved that I, Mayor Minhartt, Mayor of the Township of Livingston, do hereby affirm the township of Livingston's commitment to remember all the victims and survivors of gun violence and do declare that we
as a country must do more to reduce gun violence and do hereby proclaim June 6, 2025 as National Gun Violence Awareness Day in the Township of Livingston. Okay. Great job. That's not fair. Right.
So, I'm Diane Dresdell. I am the gun violence prevention chairwoman for National Council of Jewish Women Essex. I also am representing Monsuman Action which I am also a leader of. Um as we heard, thank you first of all. Thank you mayor and thank you council. Um this
proclamation makes clear that gun violence in the United States is a public health crisis, a crisis not found in other highincome countries. The crisis is expected to worsen as the current federal leadership in Washington has taken action to reverse common sense
policies that reduce gun violence. Just this month, the Trump administr administration decided to permit the sale of devices that enable standard firearms to fire like machine guns, reversing its position from the president's first term in office. Still,
we are fortunate that New Jersey has one of the lowest rates of firearm deaths and injury in the country. This is no coincidence. For example, we have a comprehensive concealed carry permitting process. A process that needs to be protected from the threat of a bill
introduced in Congress that would allow national concealed carry. We have a permit and background check requirements for all gun purchases. We have an extreme risk protection law, a law that lowers the risk of someone in distress from hurting themselves or others with a
gun. We have strong ghost gun laws and an an assault weapons ban. And in New Jersey, we have prioritized community violence intervention and hospital-based intervention programs. Community violence intervention or CVI programs
such as that of North Community Street Team and Patterson Healing Collective address gun violence were encouraged every day in underserved communities where simply walking to school poses a danger from guns where children are have to be escorted to school to avoid being
shot. Notably, since 2022, the federal bipartisan safer communities act funded CVI programs. And as a result, gun violence in inner city communities has gone down. And we can attribute this funding and these programs to why gun violence went down dramat fairly
significantly in the past year or so. Unfortunately, in April, the United States Department of Justice notified CVI funding recipients that these grants were being cut immediately. This sudden funding, while arguably illegal, has caused CVI programs to drastically
reduce their staff and services. I raise this now as an ask to those here to consider contacting your member of Congress and senators and request that the CVI funding be reinstated. In addition, please contact your state legislators to request that they include
further funding for CVI in an upcoming budget. If enough of us across the country raise awareness about the devastating impact of gun violence and the policies and legislation proven effective in reducing gun violence and possibly specifically about losing CBI
programs, we will do our part in saving lives. To that end, we invite all to attend the Northern New Jersey wear orange to end gun violence rally being held on June 7th at 11:00 a.m. on the steps of the Morristown Municipal Building. We have we will have lawmakers
speaking, gun violence survivors, and importantly speakers from community violence intervention programs such as New York Community Street Team who will speak to their dangerous work on the ground that save lives every day. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Anybody else I just
Anybody else stay here for a second? Anybody else speak? Lori, anybody else want to say a few words or no? Are you all good? Okay, listen. I listen I'll just I'll start off. I'm sure other people have a few words, but Dan, thank you and everybody for bringing this to our attention. We do this every year as you know. Um, and it's something that we
all feel strong about and we we're appreciative of your efforts that you do not only to make it known here in Livingston, but throughout the county and through the whole state as well. So, we really appreciate that on behalf of of all of us. Represent. You're from Mom's Man Action, correct? You guys? Yes. So, I'm here with other people from
Moms as well. We appreciate we appreciate everything that that you all do. Um, and it's it's important work that you're doing and thank you. Thank you very much. Yeah, we're gonna get a Look at this. Look at this. She should have done Oh, thank you. I hope we can get some
people at our rally. I hope we get some people at our Come in the middle. Yellow edition of the newspaper. Happy Saturday. All right, moving on. Uh, next is the Sounds of Hope. I'm going to introduce uh not that needs introduction,
Councilman Patani to uh introduce this group. Thank you, mayor. Um, so this is this is one of those uh moments which uh really I can say that I got so inspired
uh by our own students and of course we have uh the littlest ones start today. So, thank you for that, AA. But I think the the the the next group um it's an inspiring group of Livingston High School students. Um Arav, Brandon,
Risha, Ethan, Andrew, and Corey. Um now, these are these are some of the names. Let me give you what what that group does. Uh Sound of Hope is the name. Uh beautiful name. Um but what it is is that uh let's take a step back. Music
really inspires, right? We all know that music has incredible ability to heal emotionally, mentally, and even physically. Um, and I've seen firsthand how these students have approached this, their
talents, use that to heal term terminally ill seniors. And these are folks in the hospice care in senior centers. And I was I was in awe when I attended one of those sessions um when they effortlessly and this is a fun part
effortlessly sang60s and 70s classics. These are the these are kids. I mean of course you don't want to call yourselves kids because you are high school students but for all of us sitting here and parents you are such a a model here and you can sing such effortlessly 60s
and 70s classics and those seniors tap on their you know uh on their wrists and tap on their eyes and move and really so see such happiness coming out of their joy coming out of their um from them. It's just amazing. Um so again this is
sound of hope group such aptly named. Thank you for all you do. Thank you for for giving that uh moments of joy to all of those seniors. Um you have started back in Vipony I think a few few uh months back or an year back or something
but I would love to hear your story. Um I guess one of you can come up here and talk about it but I want to congratulate all of you and your parents. uh proud parents because I see amazing amount of uh you know joy and pr pride come out
when you perform when those seniors you know tap at your at your music um it's just amazing so why don't you come over here take a couple minutes and and give us your story and I think as mayor said we had some some recognition for you
guys so is that of Hello. Hello. All right. Uh, good evening everyone. Um, I promise I know uh what time of day it is. I pretty sure it's the evening. Um, you know, I'd like to start off by
saying thank you so much to Mayor Minehart and the entire town council for this incredible opportunity. Uh, we are incredibly honored to be receiving this award and a special thanks to Councilman Kathan Bhutani. Um, he not only
represents the youth and just us, but the Livingston community and its heart entirely. Um, the sound of hope started off as something very, very small. It was just me playing sack solos for seniors at
Care One during my freshman year. I didn't have a very big plan, just a simple and basic idea that music in all of its little joys could bring a little hope to the people that needed it the most. And it did. The smiles, the toe
taps, the clapping of people that may not have stood in years was all of the proof that I needed to keep going. But the thing is, I knew I couldn't do this alone. One man can't just do it by himself. And so I started to build the
band. We started off with Ethan, our incredible keyboard player. Brandon, our amazing drummer, Risha, our amazing lead guitarist, Andrew, one of the most reliable rhythm guitarists I've ever seen, and Bre and Corey, our incredible
bass player. Each of them bring their own unique spirit and unique talents to each and every rehearsal and each and every performance. Without them, none of this would be possible. And we together
became the sound of hope. a band, a rock band with a mission. We perform for seniors, for adults with mental health disabilities, and at food kitchens and soup kitchens. Some of these people can't
speak. Some of these people can't stand. But when the music plays, something magical happens. They begin to feel. They begin to move. And that to me is the power of what we do. I want to thank my bandmates from the
bottom of my heart. Thank you for believing in this vision. Thank you for your commitment to hour and a half rehearsals every Sunday. Yes, even that snowy Sunday this December when nobody thought it was going to
happen. Without your dedication, none of this would be possible and we couldn't be where we are today. And this award is for all of us. For all of us that make music, for all of us that bring joy to all of those
around us, and for all of us that walk into every room bringing hope to those around us. Thank you so much for the award. Do you want to We have some uh so we have some citations for all the members. I'm just going to read one and then we're going to call the names and we'll come down and we'll and we'll give
the names individually. It says, "The mayor, members of Livingston Township Council are pleased to honor for and then individual names for sharing your gift of music through the sound of hope band, which provides therapy, connection, and hope to individuals in senior senior centers, veteran homes,
and soup kitchens. For creating uplifting moments and motivational experiences through melodies that get hands clapping and feet and feet moving, bestowing smiles, laughter, and tears of joy. Sound of hope impact on our community is immeasurable. So, congratulations. We're going to hand out. We'll call out everyone names.
We'll come down and then there's also one other plaque as well. So, we'll go down there and we'll give we'll give out the plaques to everybody. All right. [Music] Congratulate afterwards. hours, guys. I think we're going to have pictures at the end. First, let's let's
have the citations, right? So, Andrew White, Brendan Zo, and we have Ethan Yan, Corey Scalar, Risha Savant, and the founder and the
CEO, R of George Mayor. There you go. Now my hands are free. Congrats. Thank you. [Applause]
All right. some great uh great presentations and great having the youth here this evening. So, it's wonderful. Um moving on, can I have an approval of the minutes for the May 13, 2025 regular and conference meeting as well as the close session meetings of the same date?
I'll make a motion. Second. All those in favor? I. All right. Uh motion to open public comment. I'll make the motion. All those in favor? I Okay. The meeting is open for public comments on agenda items only with a fourm minute time limit. Okay. Seeing none, I'll I'll make
a motion to close. Second. Second. All those in favor? Okay. All right. Mayor, can I can I uh do a quick recognition? Sure. Uh if you don't mind. Um we have in audience um someone who is uh you know in India there is the biggest city
in India is uh is Mumbai. uh if you if you know the geography and off that uh we have uh Mr. Kam Sha here uh thank you for being here. He is a former uh member of Mumbai Municipal Corporation. Thank you for being here. He connected with me
and he said I said come on take a look uh see how we do business here and uh you know whether it's it's exactly same as Mumbai or or slightly different but thank you for being here. Uh yeah and and he is yeah and he is out of ma major initiatives that he has ran as part of
his council or corporation responsibilities. One of them Sean might interest you is uh he was a member of tree authority uh which is really overseas a lot of green spaces and all of that in Mumbai. So so thank you again for being here. Yeah. Yeah. Welcome and
thank you for joining us evening and we're welcome to pleased to welcome you this evening. Thank you. Okay. Uh we did that. Okay. So now it is time for the uh 2025 municipal budget hearing. Mayor, this is the time fixed for the
public hearing on the municipal budget for 2025 as approved by the governing body on April 28th, 2025. Was advertised as required by law on May 15, 2025 together with notice of hearing for this time. Okay. Anyone anyone who has not
secured a copy of the budget may now do so. Sean Sean no mayor I have a resolution 25-194A regarding the reading of the budget by title only and make a motion to move the resolution for adoption. I'll second a motion. A roll call,
please. Council member Anthony, yes. Baptani, yes. Vieira, yes. Deputy Mayor Klene, yes. Mayor Minhardt, yes. The resolution is adopted. Uh is now the town manager manager for the uh for the budget hearing.
Thank you, Mayor. Um again, this year, as we do every year, we try and give a brief overview and a presentation of the budget. Uh a little bit about how we got to where we are. Before I get into the presentation, I just want to uh again thank Ann Coochie, our CFO, all the
department heads. Um Ann has been a great partner since she came on board uh five years ago and and we've really done some great work together and uh certainly under the direction of the mayor and council who are uh constantly reminding us of our the importance of being uh vigilant and looking for
money-saving opportunities trying to minimize the tax impact. So, that being said, uh this is the Township of Livingston 2025 budget presentation. First slide we always pull up and and bring to everyone's attention is um to make sure and and hopefully over after
all these years of doing this, people are starting to understand that when you get your tax bill, um it actually although we send the bill, the bill represents uh taxes from different taxing entities besides the township. So, while we send the bills and we collect the monies, we don't get to keep
the monies, nor do we have a a role, nor do the mayor and council have a role in determining how much uh the school taxes or the county taxes should be. So, for every dollar of of taxes paid, 60.4% goes to the school, 18.3 goes to the
county. Uh the township is 17.9% which we're we're we're slowly going down. We were 18.3. Um the library which is a statutory formula based on the total assessed value in the property represents 1.8%. And the reserve for uncollected taxes that's a non-spending
appropriation. And what I mean by that is we we have to include that in our budget but it's not money that we get to spend. That's just to cover the fact that not everybody pays their taxes. And because the school and the county have to get a 100% of their money if people don't pay us but we have to pay them. We
have to have a cushion there. Um so as noted the board of education approves the school taxes in their budget representing 60.4% of the total tax bill. The Essex County Board of Commissioners approves the county taxes 18.3% uh library taxes set by the state um
based on a formula.33 mil uh based on the overall assessed value. Um the reserve front collected taxes I just touched upon. So again, to conclude, the township council and what we're voting, they're voting on tonight uh only represents 17.9% of your total tax bill.
So when we look at our operations, uh we try and look and see how are we doing. And one of the things we do is compare ourselves to our our neighboring towns and communities in Essex County. Um in Livingston, uh the average assessed home uh was
$721,238. There's obviously many houses higher value than that. A house is lower value. Uh but that's the average assessed home. The last year's uh municipal tax rate, and I cite last year's because this is the one I can compare to other towns because not everybody has their budgets done, u was
44.3 cents per $100 of valuation. So, uh you take your property value, divide it by 100, and multiply by uh 44 cents. Um, another way to look at it on solely on the municipal side, and this is only the municipal taxes, would be $443 for every
$100,000 worth of of value of your home. Um, so in 2024, the municipal taxes on that average $721,000 assessed home was $3,195. Again, that's just the municipal taxes. Obviously, your tax bill is probably five times that or a little
higher because we're only 17.9% of the total. Um, importantly, when we look around the county, uh, again, proud to say that our municipal tax rate, the rate that the mayor and council control, uh, continues to be the second lowest of all 22 municipalities in the county, and
the overall tax rate in Livingston is the seventh lowest, uh, when you add in the county and school taxes. Um, so what this chart shows is, uh, North Caldwell, and I'm I'm happy to say we closed the gap on a little bit since last year, so we're coming for them. we're hopefully
going to be number one here. Uh but only North Caldwell has a lower municipal tax rate per $100 of valuation uh in within the entire county and every other town has a higher tax rate than us. Um so if you look down this column, it shows you what their rate per per $100 of
valuation is. um and what the the taxes in that town would be if you had the same average assessed home in um any one of these towns, that's how much your taxes would be. And then the far right would show you, yeah, not picking on
anyone, but say number five, Fairfield, their rates 50.7 cents. The municipal taxes there on the same house would be 3657, $462 higher. uh if you had the exact same value house and and you go down the line, um I will say some of the
more urban communities down at the very end, they're a little skewed because they probably haven't done revaluations in a long time. And I won't bore you with the details of what that means, but uh um so it's something I think that the mayor and council uh I'm certainly proud of. uh that we continue to to be
vigilant and and really um I think uh make an effort to to control and and minimize the tax impact on our residents and and again second lowest rate uh of all municipalities in the county. Um the next slide which is also something I
think that we can all be proud of which is where do the revenues come from to fund all our operations. Obviously we have a pretty sizable operation police department, fire department, public works, capital engineering, everything. Um, in 2024 or 2025 in this year's
budget, real property taxes come account for 60.2% of our total revenues. Uh, with a number of other sources listed um our our capital fund balance, grants, delinquent taxes, state aid, pilots. Uh, I won't read the whole list, but later
on I'll tie in the importance of that. Um, and so then how do we spend your money? And and this is a breakdown of our major departments and where our money your money goes. And what you'll see is uh public safety which constitutes police, fire, first aid, uh emergency dispatch, that's fully a third
of every dollar you pay goes to just those core functions. Um our debt service and capital projects for all the roads, buildings, etc. that we do uh is the next biggest percentage at 16%. uh public works which is maintaining all the fields, maintaining all the
properties, plowing snow, um collecting leaves, all those things represents the next biggest. So those um just those three core functions alone which are really indispensable and non-discretionary and I think everybody agrees you have to have represent 60% of of every dollar we take in. Uh as you go
down the list uh you can see the other functions all of which are critical and and I think provide good services to the residents. So um in 2025 then what the is an overall summary. Uh our goal is always to maintain or improve our levels of
service and staffing levels. Uh covers union contracts that we may have in place. Um this year we had some challenges. Seems like every year we have certain challenges and certain things many of which are outside of our control um that that give us increases. Um so we had for example increased pension insurance and statutory costs
which come directly from the state or from the insurance company that we had to accommodate for in the budget. Uh we also have increased capital and debt service. Part of that is the result of our converting short-term notes into long-term debt and locking in historically low interest rates. But it
with that comes the obligation to repay principal that we did not have to do with notes. Um the tax rate increase this year is 2.12% which is below the uh cost of living increase. Uh and on the average assessed home of 721,000 that
equates to an increase for the entire year on the municipal tax side of $67.80 uh which equates to $5.65 a month. So, um, we we feel like we've we've limited the burden on the residents, uh, to to a great extent to where you're really talking about a cup
of coffee a month in increase. Um, as with every year, as I mentioned, it does seem that we there always seems to be a handful of things that cause all the increase. Um, this chart is just a quick summary of that. Um, our IT budget is is going up uh by not insignificant amount.
Part of that is Google, Adobe, and everything. They've all kind of wised up and gone to a subscription service where now we have to pay for every seat that we have where you used to just buy it once or it was free. And um our planning budget is up significantly. A lot of that relates to the considerable efforts
and ongoing efforts uh particularly as it relates to Livingston Mall. Uh we had the Cherret process which generated a lot of public participation, a lot of input uh and other other processes. Uh our police salary and wage line is up uh fairly significantly. Part of that is
because there was a customary contractual increase, but that increases two and a half percent. Uh but importantly, we're adding and and increasing the size of the department. Uh recognizing the growth of the community. Uh we added four more officers. We're now up to 75 uniform
officers. Uh will allow for additional uh manpower on the road and patrol uh to help improve and increase public safety. Um our health insurance um is is up in in part because of just rates that increases that we got from the health insurance carrier uh but also that is
partially uh increased due to the four new officers and full-time employees that that get insurance have also contributed that um I would note that this number is mitigated by the employee contributions each employee is required based on income level and coverage level to contribute anywhere from 25 to 35% of
their their uh health insurance cost. Um our trash collection contract is expiring um in September and so we had to forecast that the we just recently received new bids and um are reviewing those currently but we had to budget for some additional anticipated increase. Uh
police and fire pension which is a bill that we get from the state that non-negotiable they their actuaries do a calculation and send us a bill. It's up 189,000. Uh I referenced earlier our capital improvement fund and our debt service is up but again that's due to the conversion of long-term bonds plus
major capital projects we're undertaken including the DPW garage and finally the reserve for uncollected taxes which is a statutory formula. it's mandatory um non-discretionary but also non-spending and ultimately at the end of the year um our tax collector and her staff do such
a great job they usually collect much higher than that figure is based on and ultimately that regenerates back into fund balance and surplus. So the summary of in in total of those those eight items alone um account for um
3,571,000 of an overall increase of 3.78. So you can see that u those items are going up 11% where the rest of the entire budget goes up 6.9. So everything else in the budget is only going up.9% um which are largely the things that we have control over.
Um so the um fiscally though we're in very very good position and again this a credit to to Ann Coochie and our whole team um our bond council our auditors our financial advisors it's it's really been a team effort to to put us on such
sound fiscal standing. Um our fund balance or surplus increased by over $5 million or 43% year-over-year. Uh it grew from the end at year end 23 at 11 million to year end 24 at 16.7 million which is the highest fund balance the
township has ever had. Um as noted it's more than tripled since 2018. Uh when I got here it was 4.9 million. It's now 16.7. Uh and really in the last 11 years it's gone up 15fold from only 1.1 million in 2013. And the importance of
that, it it shows that you're in very solid uh financial standing, which improves your credit rating, which is the Moody's and other bond rating companies. That's how they base uh the interest rates that they give us. So the better shape that we're in, the lower interest rates we get and ultimately we
benefit. So we are very close to becoming AAA uh which is a goal that we've had for for a number of years and we hope to get there. Um the other important part and that's what this last one is and I I touched on that earlier on the slide of where do our revenues
come from. Um we've now gotten to the point through our emphasis on alternative funding sources um whether it be grants or pilots or um improved uh you know efficiencies in the office generating additional revenues. Our
reliance on property taxes is now only 60.2% of our total appropriations. whereas in 2018 it was 79%. So we relied very heavily on taxes and and we've reduced that as a percentage. So again something I think that that we're all proud of and and certainly consistent
with the direction from the mayor and council. Um overall capital budget uh we we've continued to provide funding for uh the new TPW facilities, streets, roads, vehicles and equipment. Um the water capital continues to work on the
POS water remediation that project and we're going to have a a more uh robust report in in the coming weeks but um we are really on track. Those projects are underway. We anticipate the first uh well remediation projects come online this calendar year uh with some more to
follow and then there is a final phase that'll be done. But we'll be in uh we are way ahead. A big shout out to Nathan Kurikoff our utility engineer and Mont McDonald are consulting engineers for all their hard work on that project. It's been a challenge. Uh sewer, we continue to to upgrade the plants and
the collection system from the capital. Uh the water, sewer, and pool operate as self-liquidating utilities, which means they each have their own independent budget. They each raise revenues through fees and costs and are supposed to be self-liquidating in the sense that they bring in enough revenue to cover their
costs. Uh with each of those budgets, again, we we look to maintain our service levels, fund the necessary improvements and upgrades, fund capital funding and debt service. Um one of the things we did know and and it was had been building, but given CO and some other things, we we were aware of it,
but the uh water and sewer, we did have to uh uh adopt some rate increases recently, but they were uh the only, you know, the amounts necessary uh to cover those expenses. and and we're happy to say that even after those increases, we are still below uh most of the rates of
our surrounding communities. Um and then finally, the uh the swimming pool has been a challenge. It's actually uh in an operating deficit position this year where the current fund we are in the process and have been uh working with a consultant to identify solution uh to
either renovate or replace uh the pool uh and hopefully put it on on more sound standing. So that's the overall uh picture. I think all in all very good. Again, a major thanks um to Anne Cushi, our CFO, who's here tonight and and her staff, all the department heads, not
only for their input and and and being sensitive to putting in responsible budgets and being good stewards of public funds, but also for all their hard work uh throughout the year. Um and the only other thing I would note is later on in the agenda, uh we're under state review, which every town every two
years you have to send your state to the budget. Um, after the state review, there's two minor amendments to the budget. One is, uh, impacts this. It's a $17,000 differential in the water utility debt service. Um, so that's going to impact the I'm not sorry, the
pool utility that's going to impact requires a modest amendment to the pool budget as well as has the same impact then on the operating deficit anticipated in the current fund. And lastly is that reserve for uncollected taxes. It's a statutory formula and the based on the formula and the percentage
that we had to use u three-year averaging versus current year there's a change there but again that's a non-spending appropriation and and we anticipate most of that money to get regenerated as surplus. So that's the overall summary and happy to answer any questions. Oh hold on one sec. We'll get
to that. We'll get to the questions in a second. Uh so Barry, thank you very much for all your hard work and to CFO and Coochie as well. Thank you very much for getting this done. um as well as it looks and also on time this year. So, we very much appreciate it. Uh before opening this hearing, I wish to outline the procedure. Each person desiring to
be heard will rise and give his or her name and address before speaking. I will recognize one speaker at a time in order of rising, addressing all questions to the chair where necessary. They will be referred to individual members of the township council or municipal officials. Questions must be confined solely to
admissible budget before us. The introduced budget, school or county matters are not proper subjects of this hearing and will not be discussed or answered here tonight. So mayor, I now make a motion to open the public hearing on the municipal budget for 2025.
I second the motion. All those in favor? I Okay. The meeting is now open for comments. Observing no further questions from the floor, I will entertain a motion to close the hearing. Mayor, I move uh the hearing be closed.
I second a motion. All those in favor? I I Okay. Mayor, I have uh resolution 25194B regarding the computing uh the 2025 reserve for uncollected taxes and make a motion to move the resolution for
adoption. I second the motion. Roll call, please. Council member Anthony, yes. Pupani, yes. Vieiraa, yes. Deputy Mayor Klene, yes. Mayor Minhardt, yes. The resolution is adopted. Mayor, I have a resolution to present at this time amending the municipal budget for the
year 2025. I request the clerk read the amended 2025 budget resolution. This is resolution 25-194 C to amend the budget. Where is the local municipal budget for the year 2025 was approved on the 20th day of April, 2025? And whereas the public
hearing on said budget has been held as advertised and whereas it is desired to amend said approved budget. Now the general renov sheet for total surplus anticipated goes from
5,900,000 to 6,397,000. On sheet four, number three, interest in costs on taxes goes from 700,000 to 700,7514. The total general general revenues goes from
68,757,919.80 to 69,255,670.85. The deferred charges on the pool deficit goes from $225,568 to $242,868. The reserve for uncollected taxes goes from $2,970,60.99 to $3,450,512.3.
The ten total general appropriation goes from 68,757,91980 to 69,255,670.85. The dedicated pool utility budget, the deficit goes from $225,568 to $242,686. The total pole utility revenues goes
from $717,868 to $735,168. The payment on bond anticipation notes and capital notes goes from $6,400 to $26,835.99. And the total pulled utility
appropriations goes from $717,868 even to $735,168. I offer the foregoing resolution and move for its adoption. I second the motion. Roll call, please. Council member Anthony, yes. Buptani, yes. Mira, yes. Deputy Mayor Klene, yes.
Mayor Minhart, yes. The resolution is adopted. Mayor, I move that the adoption of this budget be postponed as the amendment has to be advertised in the newspaper on May 29th, 2025 and the hearing on the amendment
will be on June 4th, 2025. I second the motion. Roll call, please. Council member Anthony, yes. Batani, yes. Vieiraa, yes. Deputy Mayor Klene, yes. Mayor Minhart, yes. The hearing on the amended budget will be will be postponed to June 4th, 2025. Thank you all. So,
um, just to reiterate, the advertisement will be in the West Sussex Tribune this Thursday, the 29th, and the hearing on the amendment is next, um, meeting on the 4th. Great. And Carolyn, thank you very much for all your help for this with this evening. All right. Uh, moving on, the passage of ordinances. There are
none. Uh, we don't have any introduction, so we're now on the consent agenda resolutions. All matters listed with an asterric are considered to be routine and non-controversial by the council and will be approved by one motion. And there will be no separate discussion of these items unless a member of the governing body so requests
in which case the item will be removed from the consent agenda and considered in its normal sequence on the agenda as part of the general orders. Anybody like to pull any of the um consent agenda resolutions out hearing none. Caroline, would you please read them all? Resolution
25-196 authorizing a contract with S. Ratandi and Sons LLC. Resolution 25-197 authorizing a one-year extension of existing contract with Beayshore Recycling Corp. Resolution 25-198 authorizing disposition of
surplus which is a vehicle. Resolution 25-199 authorizing disposition of surplus property to vehicles. Resolution 25-200 authorizing approval of change order number one with M McDonald LLC. Resolution 25-201 authorizing a
developers agreement with RODAC MF1 LLC relative to 457 to 461 South Livingston Avenue and resolution 25-202 authorized in a developers agreement Esplanade LLC relative to 550
to 570 West Plazen Avenue. I'll make a motion to approve the resolutions. I'll second it. Um discussion. Okay. Read the roll call, please. Council member Anthony, yes. Baptani, yes. Vieiraa, yes. Deputy Mayor
Klene, yes. Mayor Minhart, yes. Do I have a motion to open the public portion? I'll move uh to open the public portion. Second. All those in favor? I I Okay. The meeting is now open to public portion on any subject with a threeminut time limit.
Seeing none. Just please uh state your name and not your address, please. Okay, Jesse. It's been over a year since the Bottle King project at 45 South Livingston Avenue was passed. Since then, the development has continued to move forward. Construction timelines are
in place and confirmed tax breaks have been granted. But for those of us near the site, essential questions remain unanswered. We still don't know how this will affect us and that needs to change. To our knowledge, no updated traffic studies have been shared
publicly. There are no plans for how increased congestion will be managed or how schools already operating at capacity will handle additional enrollment. Communication about the long-term impact on nearby neighborhoods has been minimal. The silence is part of
the problem. Meanwhile, the effects are already being felt. Traffic has increased. Intersections are more crowded. Families are concerned about school space and everyday space safety. Speaking of which, our volunteer fire department and first aid squad are being
strained even before this development started. I have experienced firsthand how many schools are being filled to the brim. These are not projections. They're already happening. We're not waiting for this to start. It already has. On November 27th, 2023, I made an onrecord
request for the town to explore trafficcoming measures on the streets directly affected by this project. This was a reasonable ask raised by many residents such as myself. Solutions like stop signs, speed enforcement, or safer sidewalks should make a difference. That
request still has received no followup. Once again, this is on record. A simple safety request deserves a real response. This isn't about stopping a project that's already underway. It's about making sure that as it moves forward, the town meets its responsibility to plan for the real
impacts. This community should not be an afterthought. I'm asking for timely public updates. I'm asking for transparency around traffic and school planning. I'm asking that the concerns of residents should be acknowledged and reflected in the decisions being made.
We need clear answers, not after the fact, but now. This development is no longer just a concept. It's underway. The community deserves to know how the town is preparing for its impact. We want to move forward, but we want to do it in a way that's responsible and real.
We're not against change. We're against the radio silence shown when change is present. We're not asking for perfection. We're asking to be taken seriously. We're asking for fair decisions and representation when it comes to decisions that affect our
quality of life. We're asking for better and more transparent communication. This is not unreasonable by any means. This is what good leadership looks like. This development may be moving forward, but communication should move with it as residents deserve to be and stay
informed. Thank you. So, thank you very much, Jess. I appreciate it. As we mentioned to you back in November of 2023, the the next time when this will be uh discussed will be at the planning board. The planning board, has it been set, Barry, the actual date? It's June, I don't know, but I know so that the um
developer has now filed an application with the planning board. Uh there will be public hearings noticed. There should be one, I think, fairly soon. I don't know the date. Um any property within 200 ft will receive certified mail notice if they've not already of that hearing. It will also be published on
the township's website. Uh would encourage any interested resident and anyone who may be impacted that to attend those hearings. Um at that point, the not only will the developer be obligated to present traffic studies and traffic testimony that you kind of addressed, uh but the board also retains
and has already retained its own traffic expert and planner and other consultants. and there will that's the the most public and best opportunity for the public to get involved, get more information, ask questions, express their concerns. Um, so I I certainly appreciate you coming here, but I would
uh encourage you to share that with uh your neighbors or anyone else to to keep an eye out and as I noted, anyone within 200 feet of that property will get certified mail notice. This is an application for Sir, I'm sorry, sir. When he's finished, you're allowed you're certainly allowed to come up when
he's done. Yes. So, um, the way in in New Jersey, uh, it works either with zoning or in this particular case was a redevelopment plan, which is the legislation that authorizes a a particular project. But to actually then build, you have to get what's called a site plan, and you have to go to the
planning board with actual full-blown drawings, landscaping plans, lighting plans, traffic consultants, it a whole host of things. Um, and that is the opportunity for the public to come. In some instances they may it may ask for what's called a variance which would be a deviation from something that was
already approved. I don't know whether this particular application will be requesting any variances or not. Um but the applications for what's called site plan um there in some instances can be a preliminary site plan followed as many as two years later by a final site plan. My understanding is this developers
requesting preliminary and final in the same process which is is more often uh than not the case. Um but that's the opportunity where they will present the the vision. The planning board members will ask them questions. Our professionals will ask questions. The public is entitled to ask questions.
Public's entitled to present their own evidence. Uh and and we try and work to and and um I know we have a very involved planning board who take resident concerns very seriously and I sit on the planning board and so um they take these concerns very seriously. We
work with developers. to get concessions in terms of lighting, in terms of traffic, in terms of things and and so that it's it's called a site plan is is what the application is. And just one more thing, I you can come up. Just one more thing about the about the schools. So, just so we've mentioned
this a hundred times, I'll say it again because I'm happy to talk about it. The projects that we've approved, uh there have been four or five projects that we approved, none of them are, uh open to this date. Not one of the residents have come to that date. The the schools are if if the schools are overcrowded, I'm not here to say they are or they're not. That's not our thing. But if they are
overcrowded, you really should bring those concerns to the board of education meetings and discuss why they're overcrowded and what they've been doing to discuss that for the last few years because the projects that we've approved are not open yet. But if there are, as I said, so if there are been if they are overcrowded, I would really think that
you know the board of education would like to hear that and like to hear what you have to say as well at their meetings. Mayor, if I can just add, there has been uh we've made a deliberate and constant effort to uh make sure that uh Barry is talking to the superintendent with whatever latest projections there are for units that are
coming on board so we can try to let them know how many kids might be if coming into the school system because of the projects that are coming on. So, as these uh projects go through different phases of development, we're constantly updating and making sure that they're aware of what how many kids we expect them to generate. So, the schools will
have years to plan forward. I know that the schools are working on a long-term um facilities plan. I don't know when they're going to release that, but I know they're hard at work on it. And uh you know, hopefully uh that kind of communication between the town council and the board of ed is going to allow
everyone to work in a coordinated way uh that make sure the schools get taken care of because we all understand how important they are here in this town. And I if I could just add to that as it relates particularly to the school impact. Um first and and we've said it a million times, we'll say it again. Um we didn't ask for any of these projects.
These are forced upon us by this affordable housing uh court legislation and we had to do it. And we have gone to great lengths and the mayor and council should be commended to a plan proactively um a to try and manage the development. We have uh maxed out in the
third round and plan to max out in the fourth round. there's a certain percentage that can be allowed to be 55 and over with no school kids. So we're we're maxing out our aotment of that. Uh importantly as well um the affordable units which typically are 20% of the project of that 20% 20% have to be
threebedroom with that exception of those we virtually approved no threebedrooms. This particular project is all studios onebedrooms and two bedrooms. Uh and so we and and that's because we're obligated to have certain number but um we we we are certainly sensitive to the school issue and and
doing everything that we can I think within our power to to try and mitigate the impact again with 55 and over units, one-bedroom units, studios and things. But but we're we're certainly aware of concerns and I would echo the mayor's sentiments that um uh to share those concerns with the board of ed and and
also the deputy mayor. We work very closely with them and we're keeping them involved and we're we're hearing from them as to what would help their situation. I just got to say one more thing tack on what Bar said because it's really the important one of the important things is that we didn't approve and we didn't vote on uh A3 from
the general assembly in Trenton which is a third round housing nor A4 which was passed um in January of 2024. Okay. None of us approved it. None of us voted on it. These are these are amendments. These are laws that came to us from Trenton, New Jersey. So I would
advise if you want to take it one one step further, you might want to talk to the assembly people as well in Trenton and feel and also give them your feelings as well. Okay. Thank you. Howard Agres, 42 Sherbrook Parkway. Um I know that this is not the forum for
dialogue back and forth, but that was my son. I'm sure you know that he didn't mention anything about the affordable housing. Not once. So he there's no question about he talked he talked about the overcrowdings in the school. But we didn't mention he didn't mention anything about the affordable housing or
the laws. But that's but that's part of the reason why these got built. The reason why these why these buildings got built. Hold on. This is not the environment. But if you'd like to have a calm conversation about it, I'm all for it. The development back there is going to have a very minuscule to what we know of right now amount of low to moderate
income housing there. The the application that you speak of is for an increase in density in another floor. From what we understand, we are not questioning the low or moderate income housing whatsoever or where it's going to be. Last time we spoke, it wasn't
going to be there. So that is not any part of our conversation. We were told last time we were here, all hundred of us plus, that there was not going to be any there. And that's not our concern. He didn't
mention anything about that. the overcrowding of the schools, the cafeteria where kids eat on the floor, the traffic, the accidents, the lack of fire staff, no sidewalks on Sherbrook Parkway, none on Ardan, the racetrack, the
cutthrough, more concern about the traffic where we we need to see it. We don't know anything about it. We're not concerned about the housing. Everybody deserves a nice place to live. Okay, we're watching. We're not We see what's happening, but it's kind
of not in front of us. So, we want to know where we can get these questions answered. Where is the safety concerns and when is it being addressed? These buildings are going everywhere. We see them. What are we doing? When are we going to be safe? Where where can we
talk about it? Tell me where and when. I I think I think we mentioned uh for the building that you're talking about, it's already been approved, sir. This is another application that Barry's speaking of for an increase in density. No, the and if I misspoke or you misunderstood me, there's no increase in
density that the process is there has to be zoning laws or in this case a redevelopment plan in place that just authorizes a project, but then to actually build a specific project, you have to file an application for site plan and the site plan gets into the details and the nitty-gritty. So to your
point in terms of um that's the opportunity to hear about traffic. I will uh kind of let the the project has already been approved. Why are we speaking about traffic after? Well, the the site has already been approved with hundreds of units that's going to generate a ton of cars. How do we
approve a site prior to a traffic study? Well, that doesn't sound approved. traffic studies were done um they were done during co well they they were based on industry standards and and it was done during co obviously this this particular situation is unique in the sense that that's that shopping center
um has sort of deteriorated to where it generates that was allowed to happen um but it certainly the the alternative would have been to create a better performing or newer shopping center uh which the traffic study suggested would
have more traffic for that. But we want these you we can't have approvals of huge projects without plans in place. Where can we get the I encourage you to come to the come to the planning board meeting. The town the town manager just told said it to your son a few minutes
ago that at the planning board that's for another application. It's not it's for the application that you're talking about. It's already been approved but the project has already been approved. But that's where that's where tra the way state law works is that that's how it works. So when you come to the planning board, there will be the everything will be mentioned that you and your son just discuss. You guys
approved the project. Time is up. Thank you. Thank you. Time is up. Where can we talk about it, guys? Tell us. Planning board. Planning board. Radio, but it was approved by this council. Okay, sir. Your time's up.
Thank you. It was approved by you guys. Hi, Jim Develin, 41 Sherbet Parkway. I think I just have some questions because I think there might have been some some misinformation too because we had heard that um there was an application for a pilot for for the Bottle King property.
Um and that passed. Correct. Correct. That passed. Correct. And then we had heard that there was also an application for them to add more units into that into the Bottle King property and um and go higher than was approved. That's incor that's incorrect. Okay. Yeah, that that's what I think. Um, and then I
guess my other question is when we talk about the traffic studies and things like that, it would be the township though that would have to then put into place things like the decision to put in sidewalks or speed bumps, right? Because that wouldn't be the developer. So, at that conversation when we when you have
that meeting and we talk about concerns about traffic study, that's when the town council might say, "These are some these are some things that we can do to to rectify if it looks like it's going to be a a tough tough area. Wonder where that comes from. Certainly any remedial actions on Sherbrook
Parkway, whether it be sidewalk, speed bumps, there at one point discussion making it one way. There was discussion of closing the end of it. That would all be the town's prerogative with or without the development. So that's when that's because that's right because it has been approved to stuff. And then the last thing I guess I would say is I think some of the misunderstanding came
from the ordinance that's on now for the um the other prop the additional property near Shopight. There was like 30 units maybe approved there. That was a red that was just that was developers agreement that was just passed this know and I just would say I would say simply it looks like it's a it's a little bit more modest approach and I saw that it
was like a limit to 40 feet in height which is something that we were asking for and I would actually you know I don't know if that came from you or that was initially from the developer but we appreciate that it looks like there's there's a spot there's development but it wasn't you know an enormous amount of
units. it looked like you kind of were kind of sticking with what would be on Livingston Avenue. So, actually I thank you for that um and for keeping with that. Our other concerns, you know, we shared before. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. You guys are putting the cart
before the horse. You're out of order, sir. Thank you. Anybody want to Anybody want to Anybody want to make a motion? She's not speaking. Anybody? He's He's not speaking. Uh, may I need to close the public motion to close public uh comment? Second. All those in
favor? I I Okay. All right. I am going to uh I actually have a public comment that I'd like to make now that we've closed public comment. Uh last meeting, this council passed the resolutions with the council endeavors to examine any approved pilots and the potential of sharing those funds generated from the
pilot with the board of education. I'm very proud that the council took this step recognizing the importance of the school district to our township. I was asked by several residents if pilots previously approved, specifically the former Bottle King site, would be evaluated for potential sharing with the
board of education, and the answer is yes. This council is committed to the resolution it passed and supporting the board of education when appropriate. Okay. reports of township officials and town members. An uh thank you very much, mayor. Um I just wanted
to thank the council and of course Barry for um working with us with the budget and especially the finance committee we put together. I think it's made a huge difference. We were on time this year and I just wanted to thank everyone. Thank you very much and and thank you
very much for all your hard work this I know there's a lot of work that you've put in a lot of Friday meetings. Uh the finance committee, uh Councilman Bhutani and myself, thank you very much for the time that you put in as well. Uh very happy to see this budget in the form that it is and on time as well. So, thank you,
Adam. Uh as mentioned at our last meeting, uh we have put together a Livingston uh hometown heroes program. It's a banner program. We were going to be uh putting banners along South Livingston Avenue, uh honoring our veterans. Um, this application will be
going up online uh this week and so just uh look for it on our website. Uh, there will be an application and kind of instructions on what to do. Uh, but look for that. We're we're very proud of our veterans and we do want to honor them and so we're getting this up and ready. Thank you very much. Um, just echoing
sort of adding on to for anyone who's out there not sure what we mean. uh you may have seen them in other towns or individual banners attached to individual street posts that have the picture of a particular veteran. So if you have a veteran in your family or anybody you'd like to honor, we certainly encourage you to to fill out the application. Uh beyond that, other
than just thanks to the mayor and council, the finance committee uh for for getting the budget done and and certainly to an other than that's all I have. Thank you very much, Russ. Uh nothing tonight, mayor. Thank you, counselor. Uh nothing tonight, mayor. Thank you. Okay, we're going into close,
I believe. Yeah, we'll be going to close to discuss uh litigation um the Melany case, the Melania matter. Thank you, Carolyn. Nothing for me, mayor. Thank you. Okay, so I am I get to read uh the notes for the week and what we've
done the last couple weeks. So, uh the last few weeks have been very busy. We had an ice cream party with the uh police and many of the residents. All of us were there. It was a lot of fun and we took a really good picture together all eating some ice cream. Uh we honored Leia Becker who is retiring from Temple
Best Shalom. Um the Hebrew school director from there after 30 somewhat years there. Uh lovely evening. We passed a resolution. Councilman Batani joined me. Passed a resolution making it Leia Becker Day. Always fun. Uh we all went uh to see the artwork that was put up at the um community center for all
the AP art classes from all the schools Mount Pleas elementary all the way through high school. some great stuff. Um, the Quanas Carnival took place. Um, I know it wasn't the most successful week or was it because of the rain, but I know that uh, everybody had a lot of fun and whatever money that was raised, I know goes to the right causes. So,
thanking everyone who's on the Kuanas uh, for everything that they do uh, every year. It's a great event. Uh, yoga TV was launched. Uh, we all got a little chance to get on TV. I know Councilman Klein, you'll get a chance to show up to do yoga uh, with um, F yourself because
you missed that one. But I know Paul's looking forward to show to having yoga with you. So that was a lot of fun. Uh we had the fire inspection dinner uh last Thursday night. Uh so we thank uh the fire uh volunteer fire for everything that they do every day keeping us all safe. Uh and yesterday
was um the Memorial Day parade. All of us marched. It was probably at least I the best weather that I remember in the last 10 Memorial Day parades. Best turnout we've ever had. It was great to see so many different groups, different diverse groups there. And what I thought, what I really loved was almost
all of the elementary schools were represented and those kids were chanting the names of the school with a lot of school spirit which we have not seen in a while. So that was really a lot of fun to see as well. So it was great spending a few hours uh marching getting some steps in as well. Um I know there's one thing uh Councilman Batani wants to talk
about, but I'll give one second. A couple other events coming up tomorrow from 10:30 to 12:30. 1 o'clock is a YMCA senior event right next door. Uh 5:30 on Saturday is a day of games at the gazebo from 128. Um June 1st on Sunday, a very
busy day. 8:30 to 12:00 a pancake breakfast uh by the first aid squad. Um 12 everybody will come and donate the money and have some yummy breakfast. Uh at 12 o'clock is um the GBTQ flag raising event right outside here at town
hall. 12:30 is the Shiv's third eye picnic. The arts council has a um art show from 1 to 5 at its new home. And um what else do we have on June 2nd? We're all looking forward to be a lovely a great event, the groundbreaking of the
new YMCA right across the street at 1:00. um something that this council uh looks forward to and uh be great for the town. Uh we have a bid forum that will take place at 6:30 um 6:45 right here in this room with all of uh with the bid as
well as all of the commercial property owners as well, commercial store owners as well. Our next meeting will take place on Wednesday, June is it June 3rd or June 4th? June June 4th uh at 6:30. We moved it around a little bit for
election day as well. Um I know Kton wants to talk about the API. Sean, you have your hand. You want to say something first real quick. I just It's a little bit early, but just to plug electronic recycling on June 8th, so everyone should just plan ahead on that the morning of June 8th. Okay. Councilman Batani, you want to talk about the AAPI 8? Thank you, Mary. Yeah,
absolutely. I think it was a fun fun event. Um AsianAmericans Pacific Islanders is the full form of AAPI and all of us were there. It was another one of those beautiful days um where a lot of uh residents turn up uh good cultural
activities, food and different stalls, vendors uh a lot of fun, a good good way to integrate uh a lot of uh parts of our community into the larger community. I just want to extend uh LCDI uh did a
terrific job again uh and two co-chairs of the event uh they did a lot of hard work Krishna Majittia and Shoshan he so congratulations to those uh le co-leads and all the volunteers who took part in it so so thanks mayor it was it was a
fun event okay we are going to be going back into the conference room we will be continuing and open for a few minutes before closed