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Good evening everybody. Welcome to the Long Hill Township May 27th Township Committee meeting. Megan, would you please read the statement of presiding officer >> in compliance with the open public meetings act of New Jersey. Adequate notice of this meeting. Specifically, the time date and public call and

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information were included in the meeting that was electronically sent to the Echo Sentinel Morris daily record and posted on the township website. The agenda and public handouts for this meeting can be viewed online at www.longhillenj.gov. A public comment period will be held in the order it is listed on the meeting agenda. Failure of the governing body to

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provide a live broadcast of this meeting or technological problems encountered during this meeting that affect remote viewing and/or participation will not invalidate the meeting or any actions taken including but not limited to the adoption of any ordinance, resolution, or motion.

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>> Thank you, Megan. Would everybody please rise and join me in the pledge of allegiance? I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

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>> Megan, please kindly take. >> Committeewoman Fettis, >> sorry. >> Committeeman Liberado will not be joining us tonight. Committee Verza, >> present. Deputy Mayor Dorsey here. >> Mayor Peria

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>> present. >> Okay. I was wondering I didn't realize everyone was here already. >> Okay. So, at this point, item number four on your agenda, uh, we're going to have the Walnill Township School District budget presentation. Um, Miss Robin Boehner, Bamer, Bamer, Balmer,

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sorry about that. Nice to see you. >> All right. How are you? >> Thank you. I'm George Alexis. >> Sorry, George. You weren't listen. He's not listed on the scorecard. >> That's That's okay. Um, thank you for having us again this year. Uh, it's always a pleasure to be here and it's

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nice to see everyone. And let me begin by saying the um Memorial Day ceremony at Central Middle School on Monday was uh dignified and well executed. Thank you for continuing to do that and support that in this town. >> And we thank you because it was

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beautifully set up and and landscaped. So, thank you for doing that. >> It looked nice. It did. >> So, but we we're here to talk about the budget. Um it's been a long budget season for us. Uh you know, we usually start this in earnest in October and uh gather input and move through the

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process, work with our board members throughout the year. Uh this year it was uh I'll say a little challenging and maybe that's an understatement. There's been certain economic conditions that have created challenges uh for everyone in the state. Whenever I get together

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with my Morris County colleagues or I'm out of state conference, the talk is always about the rising costs of school operations. Um transportation always comes up. Special education costs continue to increase.

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But the biggest driver uh this year has been the the health benefit increases um as you probably know, you've read it, it's been all over, you know, the news outlets that the state health benefits plan rose um just under 32% this year.

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Nearly every district in the state, I believe, had doubledigit increases, many of them in the 20 to 25% range. Uh plenty of boards of education to raise taxes well above the 2% tax levy cap.

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But in addition to that, a lot of districts had to also cut staff, um increase class sizes, and just trying to do something to balance the budget. The good news in Longill is that we were able to prioritize our staffing levels

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and our class sizes. Um we've you know experienced a serious uh spike in healthcare and Mrs. Bulmer will talk more about that with the details but we were able to uh maintain the staffing levels and that's been very important to

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us and to our board of education and to our faculty and staff ultimately to our kids. We strategically aligned the um the budget with our new strategic plan that we worked on last year. It's a fiveyear strategic plan and also with our newly

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adopted mission and vision uh which calls on us to engage and inspire every learner every day to explore, inquire and contribute. Um we remain focused on high academic expectations

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on datadriven decision making and on um attention to individual student needs. So our budget then is student focused, learning centered, strategically aligned, and we believe

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fiscally responsible. Mrs. Bulmer has been the architect of this budget. She's the one who pulls it all together. But I want to acknowledge and thank our faculty and staff for their input and their patience and their support. Uh but also our board of education members whose

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support has been crucial, especially in a year where we had these economic challenges. So, I'm going to turn it over to Mrs. Bulmer and let her talk about uh the financial details. Thank you very much. >> Mrs. Bulmer, apologies for mispronouncing your name.

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>> So, I want to thank all of you for inviting us here and I'm happy to present the budget of 2026 27 for the Longill School District. budget is designed to maintain our academic standards while responsibly navigating our fiscal environment and

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long-term financial commitments. Megan, can you put the budget up? I'd like to begin by recognizing our board of education led by President Kim Casease and Vice President Anne Butler. And I also want to recognize our superintendent, Mr. Alexis, our finance

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committee, and our administrative team. The final budget is a direct result of their leadership and shared commitment to the district's fiscal health and educational services. To provide context on our process, this budget has been successfully moved through all preliminary stages and

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public review. The tenative budget was approved by the county superintendent in March and following the public hearing, it was officially voted upon and formally approved by the board of education at the May 4th board meeting. Tonight I am presenting the completed financial roadap for the upcoming school

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year. Our strategic approach continues to treat this budget as a living document. We focus heavily on cons conservative revenue estimation and sustainable expenditure planning to support and protect the district's long-term

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financial stability. Enrollment remains a primary driver of our operational planning. We are currently seeing continued stability across all grade levels of Gillette, Millington, and Central Middle School. This consistency allows us to maintain efficient, optimal class sizes and

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steady staffing levels across the entire district. This final approved budget incorporates $47,318 increase in state aid as per the governor's budget address on March 10th. While an additional aid is welcome, it

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represents a relatively small piece of our district's total operating framework. This slide shows the big picture of our district's funding for the upcoming year. Our total approved revenue stands at just over $24 million. This number represents our entire financial

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footprint, combining our day-to-day operating fund, state and federal grants, and our debt service. By looking at this total figure, we can clearly see every funding stream that keeps our schools running and supports our students. To understand the composition of our

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funding, we Whoops. We display the approved revenue distribution on this slide. The total tax levy remains our primary funding source, accounting for 88% of our budget. To support and balance the levy, we utilize alternative revenue areas

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including tuition from our integrated preschool, interest on investments, revenue from subscription busing, and strategic withdrawals from our restricted reserves. This diversified approach ensures we are maximizing all available fiscal levers while remaining

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mindful of the district direct local tax impact. Like all school districts and municipalities, we are facing intense external price pressures. While our statutory tax levy is generally capped at 2%, our mandatory operational costs

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are not. For instance, health healthare costs increased by a staggering 23.5% this year. While other fixed contractual costs are also rising, these unavoidable external inflation factors place significant pressure on

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the operating budget and will continue to impact long-term financial planning. to look closer at the healthare impact. This chart demonstrates the growing gap between total district cost and employee contributions. Over the last five years, health

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insurance premiums have consistently escalated. Because employee contributions are largely tied by state law to a percentage of their salary rather than a percentage of insurance premium, the district must absorb the overwhelming weight of these annual

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premium increases. The ongoing financial impact of chapter 44, which ties employee health care contributions to a percentage of salary rather than the premium, continues to be highly significant since its statewide imple implementation in 2021. This

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statutory framework has structurally shifted the vast majority of the b premium burden directly onto the local operating budget. As premiums continue to spike, the cost of the district escalates while then restricts our flexibility to fund other instructional

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areas. It is important to note that chapter 44 was designated as a temporary legislation and is set to sunset on December 31st of 2027. So, it's going to be a major topic of conversation among school districts in the upcoming months.

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Our total general fund operating budget for the upcoming year is approximately $22.9 million. It is critical to recognize that the vast majority of our costs such as salaries, healthcare benefits, out of district student placements, and mandated transportation

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are entirely fixed. These represent our non-discretionary expenditures that are required in running a public school district in New Jersey. While the majority of our budget is committed to fixed costs, the remaining discretionary portion is what directly

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funds the classroom resources, supplies, and tools used in our buildings every day. We manage these lines with tight administrative oversight to ensure our schools remain fully equipped while keeping our overall discretionary spending lean and efficient.

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In addition to the general fund, we maximize our federal funding to stretch our local dollars. This year, we hope to have $188,000 under the Individuals with Disability Act, commonly known as IDA, which directly supports our special education

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programming. We're also utilizing roughly $40,000 from the Elementary and Secondary Education Act or ESA, which is distributed across titles 1 through four. These targeted federal grants are leveraged for supplemental academic instruction, student support services,

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and professional development for our teaching staff. They also directly support our STEAM activities, providing our students with hands-on learning opportunities across science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics. Our approved budget includes several

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enhancements to support our students and staff. We are expanding our indistrict specialized programs by adding a new language learning disabled section at Millington and we are increasing our BCBA services to four days a week to provide more consistent targeted

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behavioral support. Furthermore, we are continuing to pri prioritize investment in our technology infrastructure and are successfully completing a one-to-one computer initiative. Finally, I want to provide a quick update on our summer institute. While the budget originally planned to

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transition to a self-sufficient tuition based revenue model to help offset operational costs, that specific initiative has been temporarily shelved for this summer due to low enrollment. We will continue to evaluate our summer program options to ensure any future

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models remain both structurally sustainable for the district and supportive for our community. This slide looks directly at sustainability of our reserves. Each year, our target is to close the year with a modest operating surplus, which

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we immediately leverage to replace the district's reserves. Rather than letting these funds sit idle, we strate strategically use these balances to absorb the impact of facilities improvements, major maintenance projects, equipment updates, and

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security upgrades. Essentially, these reserves act as our financial safety net, allowing us to manage capital expenditures without needing to ask the public for additional funding. By consistently practicing this responsible reserve cycle, we are actively protecting the safety, security, and

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baseline functionality of all three school buildings. It allows us to keep our learning environments environments modern and safe for our students and staff while safeguarding the community's long-term capital investment in our schools. Regarding facilities, we are

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strategically utilizing our reserved capital, our restricted capital reserve for critical infrastructure improvements. This year's focus includes an essential HVAC project at Central Middle School. And at Jellet School, we're expanding playground equipment and updating the athletic back stop

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utilizing both a New Jersey Department of Community Affairs grant that was recently received and capital reserve funds. These improvements are vital for safety and are a response to the high volume of traffic at Gillette, where more than 125 students and community

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members utilize the recreational facilities daily. We will also be replacing interior doors at both Gillette and Millington, keeping physical safety and security as a cornerstone of our planning. By utilizing these restricted capital funds, we are keeping 100% of these

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projects with a zero impact on the local tax levy. This slide provides a look at our capital reserve balance. Our long-term fiscal goal is to continually replenish reserves through responsible year-end surplus surplus management. This

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disciplined cycle of consistently saving and reinvesting ensures that our school buildings remain safe, modern, and functional without causing volatile spikes in in the operating budget. And it also protects the community's investment in our schools.

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We are also drawing down $354,000 from the maintenance reserve. These restricted funds are specifically earmarked for building preservation and high priority repairs that fall outside of daily custodial or maintenance work. A major focus of the maintenance

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spending this cycle is the targeted replacement of aging classroom casework and cabinetry at Mill and Gillette, much of which is decades old. By replacing these war worn units, we improve our student storage, enhance classroom functionality, and eliminate aging worn

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fixtures to main a safe, modern, and secure learning environment. We work in close continuous alignment with our facilities director and building principles to identify and aggressively address at risk areas of our infrastructure. This proactive

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approach allows us to preserve the long-term integrity of our buildings and guarantee consistent environments for students and staff throughout the year. If you notice in the bottom picture, this teacher can't doesn't even have a place for the children to put their coats. So, she has the milk crates lined up against the front of the class. The

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kids dump their that every day. To summarize, these targeted maintenance withdrawals allow us to uphold our commitment to safe and functional learning spaces. By utilizing these preunded restricted accounts, we are actively protecting the community substantial investment in school

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buildings. And I again want to emphasize these are completed with zero effect on the tax levy. Safety remains an ultimate priority. We are also utilizing emergency reserve for targeted security upgrades, including the installation of new security cameras

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across all three schools to eliminate blind spots and substantially improve our real-time monitoring capabilities. In addition to camera upgrades, we are allocating a portion of these emergency funds to in to enhance our overall emergency preparedness. This includes

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equipping equipping our staff with specialized backup lighting and other critical hardware for use during unexpected power outages or crisis events. Funding through these existing revenue reserves ensures our teams are immediately equipped without waiting for future budget cycles or impacting

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current operations. The total school tax levy is comprised of two parts. The general fund levy and the debt service levy for the 627 school year, the general fund tax levy increase is approximately $1.1 million. This increase is mathematically

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comprised of the 2% statutory increase, a minor enrollment adjustment, and an allowed 661,000 healthare cost adjustment provided by the state. This healthcare adjustment is a statutory mechanism specifically designed to help local districts manage the

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extraordinary, unavoidable premium increases seen across New Jersey. cutting vital academic programs. In addition to the current year's T levy adjustments, the district has bank cap available from prior years where we

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taxed below our legal limit. This authority allows the district to exceed the 2% cap in future years. For this approved budget, we are not utilizing any of our bank cap. Instead, we are relying strictly on the state allowed enrollment and healthcare adjustments to

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meet our obligations, thereby preserving 100% of 100% of our remaining bank cap to protect against future fiscal shifts. To understand how these figures translate to individual tax impact, we look at the total certified assessed

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value of all property in Long as provided by our township administrator. The school tax rate is determined by dividing the total approved tax levy operating and debt by the township's total assessment base.

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For the average longill homeowner with a property assessed at approximately $682,000, the net impact of this approved budget is an increase of $360 per year, which breaks down to approximately $30 per month. This figure is all inclusive.

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combining the total impact of both the operating and debt service. This slide provides the year-over-year comparison of the total general fund tax levy. While the percentage increase is higher than in previous historical years, it is a direct reflection of our

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rising mandated health insurance obligations and the strict funding formulas of the state. We will continue to seek alternative revenue streams and operational efficiencies to offset these external cost drivers. Finally, it is essential to emphasize

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that the Longill Township School District continues to operate with financial efficiency. Our per pupil expenditures remain consistently lower than many of our immediate neighbors in Morris County and our fellow Watch Hill sending districts. We are proud to

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continually deliver a high quality education while maintaining efficient cost structures within the district. Thank you for your time tonight and for your continued partnership and for your shared commitment to our community's children. I welcome any questions,

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comments or feedback. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> So any member of the township committee question? >> No wonderful. >> Thank you. Look like there's going to be some nice improvements, too. >> No shock here. So, when it comes to

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numbers, I kind of focus on it. Thank you. This is wonderful presentation. I do appreciate it. I appreciate you guys coming. >> Happy to come. Thank you so much. >> Just so over the years, I think over the last number of years,

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number has remained relatively 267. So this budget >> it's approximately the same >> we are we're not seeing any big increases >> and the anticipated number and trust trust us uh we know the pain

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of the Unfortunately, that was a that was a problem that was long time coming for >> not by you. I'm talking about >> probably best slide in the presentation, right? The one that shows the healthare

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cost versus can you do you can't do much about it. >> Ourselves and this is a generic question I would ask of any industry catches. is the school board. Are you guys

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administration discussing ways where you can rationalize some services that are currently handled by individuals every figuring out if you can reduce cost by capitalizing on

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advancements and again this is just for schools. I would ask it if you were, you know, industry. >> I will tell you in the business office, we use AI a lot. Okay. We haven't replaced anything because of AI, but

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what it has allowed us to do is make better decisions based upon what it is saying. So, I have I have found a lot of savings because I have been able to to negotiate better based upon things that I find with AI. So, I've gotten better

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health insurance. I've gotten better premium percentages I've gotten. I've got I've I've received a lot of different things. Nothing huge, nothing that, but enough that, you know, it's a few thousand dollars every week. >> I appreciate where you come from. It's helped you do your job.

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>> And is asking that very question is asking that question. How do you provide a better product as well? So this is a societal question. It's not specific. So I'm good as committee is fine. Again,

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thank you for coming out on the school night. >> Thank you and we really do appreciate you hosting us for Memorial Day. Thank you. Can I also thank Randy because I have talked to Randy pretty frequently and I'm telling you, every time I talk to him, it's it's wonderful

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and he he gets me an answer so quickly that um it's nice not to have something constantly on my to-do list. >> This is my this is my third question. How much you >> That's a joke for anybody. Thank you so much. >> Thank you.

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Okay, now on to boring. No, Randy, it's you. Oh, I forgot item number five. Meeting is open to the public. Remarks and statements pertaining to anything on the agenda this evening. And let me just say

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I'm sorry. >> Charlesitz Millington, I have two comments on tonight's agenda. One, ordinance 58926, reestablishment of open space committee.

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At the last meeting when chairman Dennis Yando was speaking on behalf of open space and beautifification, you pointed out to him that we were going back to two committees, open space and beautifification.

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In tonight's agenda, there's only a discussion of open space. The question for you tonight, where's beautifification? Okay, I think that's on me. This whole thing is on me. It was an idea that came up and it looked good or sounded good in

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my head. I've uh thrown myself on a sword to the committee. This was not their idea. It was mine. So, we want to go back to the Open Space Committee. And for the moment I I don't think we're going to I'm perfectly willing to discuss it. Uh but I'm not proposing we

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uh reinstitute the beautifification committee. So it's just the open space committee. >> So the town is beautified. We're done. >> Well, I wouldn't go that far. >> Oh, okay. >> We'll still work on it, but I don't know that we need a committee to do it. >> Second comment.

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Resolution 26149, appraisal of the thermoplastics south. It's my understanding number of years back we've gone to current market value reassessment every year. If that's the case, why do we need to

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spend money on an appraisal? We reassess every year, do we not? >> We the state law, Mr. which requires us to get an appraisal and to give the property owner the opportunity to uh accompany the appraiser on his

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inspection of the property. So, it's just a procedural requirement that we have to follow. >> So, it should match up to what the assessed value is. >> It should. >> I hope so, too. >> Thank you, Chuck. Appreciate it. >> Any other member of the public in the

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courtroom? Seeing none, Megan at home. If anybody online would like to make a public comment in regards to agenda items only, please raise your hand now. >> I don't see anyone, mayor. >> I appreciate it, Megan. So, item number six on the agenda. Uh, I'll read it.

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This is where Rand the town is blessed. We have Randy who uh is the administrator as everybody knows, but he also moonlights as the CFO. So, he is an expert uh in this area as well. So, ordinance 588-26,

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this is first reading introduction capital ordinance providing for various improvements in and by the township of Longill in the county of Morris, New Jersey, and appropriating $1,43,800 therefore from capital improvement improvement fund of the township. So,

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I'll turn it over to Randy. >> Hey, thank you, M. This is a introduction of the ordinance uh or capital improvement ordinance that we do every year uh around the same time as the budget uh adoption. Uh this capital improvement will uh call for uh reilling

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and resurfacing of various roads. It will uh get us DPW equipment. It will get us public safety um equipment and some recreational um

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items for uh Lisa Scanland and also does some uh senior building improvements and some municipal building improvements. >> That's okay. So questions for Randy from the township committee. Seeing none, this is first reading. So

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we will discuss this >> June 17th. >> So June 17th. Uh that will be second reading. At that point the public can comment, ask questions, etc. Uh can I have a motion to introduce ordinance 588-26.

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>> So moved. Second. >> Committeewoman Fettis. >> Yes. >> Committee Verza. >> Yes. >> Deputy Mayor Dorsy. >> Yes. >> Mayor Pergia. >> Yes. So, next on the agenda, ordinance 589-26, first reading, introduction and

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ordinance repealing resolution 26-25, ordinance 580-26 and readdopting and codifying former section 2-37 of the township code to reestablish the open space advisory committee. Again, this is a followup uh

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to what Mr. Rawitz had brought up. The open space committee has existed, I don't know, for probably a few decades. Um, and it it it did a phenomenal job over the years. Uh, over the last few years, I think there

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hasn't been much discussion about open space p purchases, but um it's come to my attention that there are several spots in in town that might be available. Particular property owner in Marsville reached out. Uh, so there are other

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properties in town that I think should be considered and so we want to reestablish the open space committee and I think what Megan we we put out anybody who would like to be on it just submit the form that we typically use uh apologies that we went through this

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little uh exercise uh but we'll come out better for it. So, whoever wants to be on the open space committee, please uh just reach out to Megan, fill out the form so we go through the record. Many of them are just going to be people who have done this for years, but the

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township committee, I think over the last few years had not tasked the open space committee with looking at open space purchases. Uh we focused on the the property across the way uh commonly called Central Park, and that's still

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going to be in motion, but I think we need to start looking at other properties in town. So that's the reason for it. Questions from the committee? >> None. So can I have a motion to introduce ordinance 589-26?

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>> So moved. >> Second. >> Committee Fetis. Yes. >> Committee Verza. >> Yes. >> Deputy Mayor Dorsy. >> Yes. Mayor Peria. Yes. So, ordinance 590-26 again first reading introduction amending section 17-17 entitled fees in

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chapter 17 entitled entitled fire prevention of the township code. Who takes that? >> It's just making some changes in nomenclature and things like that. It's not making any substantive. Okay. >> As we talked about last week, right? >> Yes.

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>> All right. So, this will be carried to June 17th as well. Uh looking for a motion to introduce ordinance 590-26. >> Second. >> Committeewoman Fettis. >> Committee. Uh Committeeman Verza. >> Yes. >> Deputy Mayor Dorsy. Mayor Pergia.

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>> Yes. Next ordinance. Again, first reading. Ordinance 591-26. First reading. introduction moving the regulations concerning the keeping of chickens on residential properties from the land use ordinance to the police regulation regulations section of the township code and amending several

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sections of the township code. Now we discussed this at length at the last meeting. Yes, but it was we did not introduce it. We wanted to carry it to this evening. >> Um so Jack fire away. >> I've also received some questions from Mr. Sandow that want a brief discussion.

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Uh his first is that since there's no permit, there's no applicant. So, applicant should be changed to the subject property. We can make that this evening before introduction. Uh then he goes into uh

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the language eliminates chickens from all corner lots. I I don't think that's really the case. They can still have it in their backyards, but I don't think you want maybe you do chicken coops on sideyards that run on a

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street. So, you know, that's a policy question. It's my understanding that was that was your intent. Then he said a corner lot has no rear lot line. Uh so, but I disagree with

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that because this ordinance I put in the police regulation section rather than in the zoning section uh and it uses the term backyard whereas the zoning ordinance uses the term rear yard and this ordinance defines the term backyard. So I think the intent is that

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you could have a chicken coupe in your backyard on the corner just not in the side. >> Understood. >> Um his other question was uh no I think that covered all his questions. Uh I did then get an email

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from this evening saying that the way this is written somebody could have a chicken coupe 10 ft from the side property line and I thought that was the intent of the town committee to allow the chicken coop to be have the same setback requirements as

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any accessory building in the zone. So all this ordinance does is applies the same setback requirements to any other successive accessory building regardless of the zone. >> That was my question. I know it changes that basically the way it was is if you wanted I mean not some of these small

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lots right you could even have it at all >> right in many cases you could have it at all so those are the questions raised by Mr. We can change applicants to subject property if you want to change anything

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else. >> Questions for Jack. >> So why don't we change that tonight? So >> yeah, we'll change it. >> So whoever introduces it, introduce it with the understanding that you're going to >> that revision is correct. >> No time at the present time. So whoever's going to make the introduction

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make the uh As recommended by Jack, please. >> So moved. >> As we move it, >> yeah, >> you moved it. >> Yes. >> As recommended by Jack. >> Vic isn't usually quiet, right? So we

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weren't sure. So a little bit more exuberance. >> I wasn't sure if that's what motion. >> So moved. >> There you go. >> I'll second. >> Committeewoman Fettis. >> Yes. Committee member Verza. >> Yes.

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>> Deputy Mayor Dorsy. >> Yes. >> Mayor Burgersia. >> Yes. And again, that's June 17th. Uh >> Megan, you were very busy. Oh my goodness. So, ordinance 590-26, first reading, introduction amending section 17-17 entitled fees in chapter 17

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entitled entitled fire prevention of the township code. >> No, this is 584. >> Trees. >> Trees. >> 584. Did I skip one? >> How did I skip it? >> 58426

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regulating the removal of trees. Oh, you know, for some reason it's on the bottom of the agenda. Did you want to do that one first? I I have no Let's Okay, we'll do that one first >> next time. >> Well, you know why? I think I think Megan the way you did it you had first

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readings first and then second readings. So I think I did it in the right order. Yeah. I want it recognized >> that the mayor was correct. >> The mayor was correct. >> Can we have a motion >> that the mayor was correct?

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>> If I can just interject that the last meeting uh by motion the cash committee amended this ordinance. I discussed it with county committee woman fetus tonight. She had some minor points we discussed and we think it'd be better to adopt it and then if we have to make any changes as we go to implement it, we can

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make them at that at that time. >> But as first reading now, >> no, this is second reading. >> Oh, right. I apologize. You we did that. >> But this is >> okay. I got you. Okay. Then the mayor was not correct. >> We did that last I motion. All right. So

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then why why don't we read amend ordinance 584-26 second reading adoption ordinance regulating the removal of trees and providing for the preservation of trees throughout Longill Township and amending chapter 23 of the township code in its entirety and supplementing

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section 150 of the township land use ordinance entitled development design standards. So committee woman uh Fettison, you did have a discussion. >> Yes. and and we're going to we're going to adopt it this evening as amended last

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meeting and as we implement it we may have to make some changes as time goes by >> but it's a living breathing document it can be done relatively uh simply and since since this is an ordinance that's 15 years in the making >> yes >> there's no time like tonight >> yes I want to move it

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>> right so uh any questions comments >> no >> Teresa you're good thank you for working with Jack on this at this point I'd like to open open up the meeting to the public on this ordinance. Uh, currently I don't see anybody in the courtroom.

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Megan at home. >> If anybody on Zoom would like to make a public comment regarding ordinance 584-26, please raise your hand now. Don't see anyone. Mayor, >> thank you, Megan. So, looking for a motion ordinance 58426

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uh to adopt on second reading as written with the possibility of amending it in the future. So moved. >> Second. >> Committeewoman Fettis. >> Yes. >> Committee Verlesa. >> Yes. >> Deputy Mayor Dorsy. >> Yes. >> Mayor Peria.

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>> Yes. Thank you, Megan. Ordinance 586-26. Salaries and wages ordinance. This is second reading adoption. Um, questions, comments from the committee. I'll open it up to the public for those

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in the audience. Seeing none, Megan home. >> Anybody on Zoom would like to make a public comment regarding 586-26, please raise your hand now. >> I don't see anyone. Mayor, >> looking for a motion. Vic,

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>> so moved. >> Second. >> Committeewoman Fettis, >> yes. >> Committeeman Verlesa, >> yes. >> Deputy Mayor Dorsy, yes. >> Mayor Peria, >> yes. Uh, next on the agenda, also second reading, Ordinance 587-26, calendar year 2026, model ordinance to

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exceed the municipal budget appropriations limit and to establish a cap bank. I know we go over this every year. It's a little bit confusing. The state does this kind of thing, but Randy, did you want to just very >> Yeah, this is to set the appropriations cap at 3 and a half% for 2026. Anything

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we don't utilize uh to that extent would be uh put into a cap that be able to be used in following years. I believe uh the appropriations cap is two years three years. >> It's a rolling three. >> Yeah, rolling three. And the other one,

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the uh 2% tax cap is a four-year rolling. >> Perfect. Thank you for that. And for those who were listening earlier, Mrs. Bulmer went over this as well. She referenced the cap bank. You saw a couple of times the cap bank was used. Sometimes it wasn't. Uh but that's what this establishes.

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Uh did I I open it for public open? Yeah, I didn't open it yet. So uh open this uh for this ordinance to the public in the audience. Seeing none, Megan out of home, please. >> Anybody on Zoom would like to make a

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public comment regarding 587-26, please raise your hand now. >> I don't see anyone. Mayor, >> looking for a motion. Second. >> Committeewoman Fettis. >> Committee Verlesa. >> Yes. >> Deputy Mayor Dorsy. >> Yes.

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>> Mayor Bertia. >> Yes. So item number seven on the agenda, consent agenda resolutions. Uh we're going to pull 26-14. >> Yep. Understood. Uh so are there any uh resolutions that a member of the town

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committee would like to pull for further discussion or needs to recuse themselves? >> I don't see any. So looking for a motion to approve 26143 through 26-154 while pulling uh 148. So moved.

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>> Second. >> Committed. Committee. >> Yes. >> Deputy Mayor Dorsy. Yes, >> Mayor Peria. >> Yes. Batter up, Randy. Oh, no. No. We're going to go to the committee first. I'm sorry. Look, I'm so excited for the

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administrator report, I skipped over the committee. Uh, Victor, let's do it. The May 27th recreation update is as follows. May is mental health awareness month. Beginning

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May 1st, 14 communities across Union, Morris, and Essex counties will unite to launch the second annual Paint the Town Green campaign in recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month. Coordinated by New Jersey Cross Town Mental Health Coalition, participating towns including

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New Providence, Berkeley Heights, Chattam, Fanwood, Floren Park, Longill, Livingston, Madison, Mendum Barrow, Mendum Township, Mountainside, Summit, Scotch Plains, and Westfield are coming together with a shared mission to raise

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awareness, expand access to resources, and reinforce that mental health matters. So when you see those green ribbons around town, know that we are trying to bring attention to the cause and emphasize the importance of prioritizing mental well-being.

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So can I I apologize for interrupting. So I I was on a call call last night almost like a debrief to how it went. It went phenomenally well. That committee or that group of towns has increased over the years. Uh shout out to New Providence of Berkeley Heights. They started this a number of years back,

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five or six years. And last night, uh, Warren and Wong are looking to join next year and a number of counts throughout Morris County. So, this has caught fire, so to speak. Um, and it's it's a critical critical issue, especially with our younger uh younger generation. It's

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a serious issue, and I applaud the towns that have uh joined, and we'll have more towns next year, which means we might have to get a bigger like we need a bigger We may have to get a bigger pattern. All right, fire away. >> All right. Thank you to everyone who

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came out to the Memorial Day parade and rode the weather roller coaster with us. Rain or shine, Memorial Day reminds us to honor those who fought and died so that we may enjoy the freedoms we have today. And thank you for everybody uh

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who participated in the parade. I think this year's parade was excellent. Everybody did a great job. Uh the C always great to see the Caner family there. Um Daniel Rogers blew me away. >> Unbelievable.

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>> I mean, big shout out to Lisa Scallan. I mean, she's the >> Lisa, great job >> and and the entire recreation department. Thank you to Central School. They were here earlier. We thank them. Uh thank you to the public. Uh I don't know the number of years I should have asked that. Uh I think it's 50 straight

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years and what is it? >> They said 50 the other day. >> Yep. >> 50 straight years. Long hill has done this. It's critically important uh that we do this. And uh and look, the public is the one that came out. Uh and I think

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there was there was a military truck from Pikatin Arsenal. Yep. >> I thought I thought it was, you know, military parade somewhere, but that was kind of a a nice addition. Anyway, thank you. >> Agreed. May 31st is a very important deadline.

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It's the deadline to register for membership at Sterling Lake at the early bird pricing. It's the deadline to register for summer rec camp grades K through 8, which will start on June 22nd. It's the deadline for Long Hill

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residents to register for Little Explorers PreK Camp, which starts on June 29th. On June 1st, any available spots will be open for neighboring towns to register. So, don't procrastinate.

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Register now. Sunday is just around the corner. For parents whose children are registered in the camps, our parent meeting will be held on Wednesday, June 3rd at 5:30 p.m. at the library community room. Parents can come in and

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hear all about our camp plans, our procedures at our camps, and ask any questions they may have they may have before the camp begins. There's still room in our Red Cross first aid class to register. Thursday,

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May 28th from 6 PM to 9:00 p.m. Longill first aid squad. Upon completion, participants will receive a certificate good for two years from the Red Cross. This class will not run again until the

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fall. Our spring lake dance will be held on Friday, June 5th from 7:30 p.m. through 9:30 p.m. This is open to all Longill

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STU students in grades 5 through 7. Entrance fee is $5 per student. Permission slip must be signed by both parents and student and present. I'm sorry. The permission slip must be signed by both parents and the student

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and pres presented at the gate. Chaperoons are still needed. Please contact us us in the parks and recreation office if you can help. Mark your calendars for our dog days of summer concert series. Nine concerts

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will be held on Thursday evenings beginning on June 18th and ending on August 13th. All concerts are free and they start at 700 p.m. The Scream Truck will also have ice cream available to

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purchase. Looking to give back to your community and get involved in something fun? Consider joining the Recreation Advisory Committee. Check out the website for more information and complete the volunteer form.

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And last but not least, reminder to show your park some love and keep the garbage in its place. And that concludes my wreck update. Thank you. >> Can I just add one thing to the rec? I saw it on Facebook and it was quite

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disturbing apparently and I don't know, maybe it's been uncovered and it was done accident. the uh plexiglass uh bulletin board in the back here which was uh put in by the girl scouts >> was vandalized. >> It was vandalized. >> Yes. >> Really?

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>> We had quite a bit of vandalism in the park uh recently. Um we do have cameras. We did catch some of the vandalism. Unfortunately, we did not uh catch the um where that is is a little far away from

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the camera. So, we didn't catch a good uh glimpse of of the problem, but police reports were made um and they will follow through uh if they find out who the individuals are and uh the

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individuals and the parents will have to answer. >> Yeah. And committeewoman Fetis uh was able to attend it when it was I mean it's not it's not it hasn't been there like two weeks. >> I know the girls I was out there also. Yeah,

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>> I mean I I I don't maybe I don't know. I I don't want to go any further than that. And you know, >> there's been some reports of other uh youths. You two youths as uh what movie was that? >> My cousin Vinnie.

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>> Yeah, my cousin Vinnie. Don't pick on my Italian uh accent, but I mean we have ch kids, young kids on Main Avenue yelling at as they're driving by. Uh the ice cream uh area.

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I mean, I'm respectfully asking the the the the young kids in this town, please uh be respectful. Be respectful of township property. Uh understand these girls uh put a lot of effort into that and to have it destroyed within two weeks is

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mindboggling. You shouldn't be yelling at cars as they're driving down the road. That's a safety issue. There are other ways to have fun. Okay. Sorry. >> Thank you, Mayor. >> Thank you, >> Teresa. >> No. Uh, the Shade Tree Commission's

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meeting that would have typically been Monday was Memorial Day, so we're going to have it next week. So, nothing new to report, but they will be very happy that we adopted for first reading this ordinance. >> I'm sure they will. >> Yeah. >> Uh, Matt, I spoke to uh Donna Fucci from

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12 Baskets the other day and She said they need juice boxes. So if you're shopping, you pick up some juice boxes or Capri Suns or something like that. They're a little short on that as opposed to they still need other things. She said that's the one item that popped in her head immediately. And I was talking to her again, they service a lot

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of people that we don't even realize they do and that's the purpose of it. But there's a lot more people that use the food pantry than you think. So everything you donate or give to them makes a big difference. So thank you everybody that does donate and most importantly thank to all the volunteers that help out. Um, then we have, just to

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go back to recycling, we have a I just noticed the other day they had to put a new a second dumpster in for recycling down at DPW. And I asked Al, he said, "Because we've been getting so much." So, thank you everybody that's recycling. We had to get a second fullsize dumpster down there from the county. And don't forget, we still

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recycle odd things such as we talked about the mattresses the other day. There was one sitting on Valley Road over across from the towels for a couple days. Thankfully, I didn't know about the program that it got wet, so that's another story. Um, we took a cooking oil and cooking grease, bring that down. The cooking oil to recycle that. Batteries,

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car batteries and other fluorescent lights. So, and electronics. So, if you want to get rid of old electronics, please bring them down. They take them for free. And um styrofoam. Actually, the mayor of Warren, now Mayor Dan Crosen from Warren contacting us the other day because Warren's been doing so

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much the uh recycling for they want to get their own bin so it's easier to collect and then bring it over to us. So, great job with the styrofoam. Keep it going. Thank you. >> Thank you, Matt. Just a couple quick things. So, the conference of mayors and the lead municipalities, there are several bills and Jack, we we don't have

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to go down the rabbit hole of discussing them here. Uh but there are a number of bills working their way through Trenton, uh which would further dictate what towns can do or must do regarding affordable housing. Uh nobody's against affordable housing. It is an issue and

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it's being addressed. What the towns from a bipartisan perspective uh don't like is being told what to do without any understanding of the individual towns involved. So the conference of mayors and the leading municipality are crafting some resolutions and letters and that kind of

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thing will probably make it to us. Uh, I've received, you know, it's funny when you get a compliment. Some residents have said, "You guys and gals do a great job, but you don't do a great job at uh uh uh reaching out to the public and letting

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them know we have these public meetings. Not everybody can uh make them. Uh the Echo Sentinels a little bit behind lately in terms of getting uh stories out there. Uh so the digital engagement committee uh Scott Lavender and team uh

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will be getting back to us shortly on some recommendations of what we can do to better engage in public. It's great job here. We televised live. Uh we we allow public uh interaction uh virtually. Uh I don't know of any other

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town that does it. If anybody knows, please let me know. Uh so we try, but I think we need to do a better job and embrace uh you know current technology, whether we put out digital uh videos or you know more actively

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update the township uh Facebook page etc. Uh but that's what uh former committeeman Lavender and the team on the digital engagement committee are working on and they should get back to us by the next meeting I think with recommendations. I'm going to turn it

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over to Randy. Ry's >> we're gonna see you you set the bar high in the last Yeah, I don't know if it's going to be as much as that last meeting, but uh we'll work we'll work on it. Um so public works, they did five days of styrofoam processing as as uh deputy

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mayor said. Uh they put down 14 tons of asphalt repairs, 17 days of basin cleanings, which uh brings it to 557 clean to date. Uh obviously that's very important for uh keeping the storm water

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uh and water flowing properly so uh it doesn't flood. Um they worked on the street fair little league opening setup. Uh they did metal pickup uh turtle park plantings uh planted six trees for the challenge grant planting town hall and

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main avenue flowers and world day parade setup and u they worked with the veterans along Main Street for planting flowers. They put up the veterans uh banners, uh delivered nine loads of mulch, uh five tree removals, one

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trimmed, and they did uh complete lawn maintenance uh throughout the town. Um last week we had a a very difficult week with um our garbage company um our regular driver got injured and and was out. Uh we also had bulk pickup last

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week and they were missing garbage cans. they were missing bulk cleanup and and so forth. Uh we are told that everything uh they caught up today on all the bulk pickup and missed garbage cans. Uh we will be

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working with them on a very close basis to make sure they continue to do the job that they were contracted to do. Um, so if anybody if uh please if anybody does have any um concerns with the garbage or if the garbage has been

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missed, a quick email or a phone call of public works or my office would be very helpful. We are uh start to uh well we we always record the errors and mishaps but uh it's very important that we get information like that so we can correct

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the issues. Um some of the things that uh on on for uh bids and and meetings, uh we currently have a bid out there for cell tower. Um those bids would be open

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June 10th at 10:00 a.m. Um just wanted to let people know that uh the Longill Road phase one, they started milling milling yesterday. uh yesterday with the Meyersville road work and long hill

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work. It it was uh very difficult if you will. Um uh Chief Chambrell and her staff did an excellent job. The officers out there did an excellent job of trying to uh get people through the detour. As we all

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know know and knew long road was going to be a very difficult uh project uh but very needed. obviously. Um, so the police were able to talk to the contractors of Myersville and they

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relocated for this week to help the traffic in that area. So Myersville Road will be open both ways uh and and helping the um the detours. The second phase of Longill Road will be done after

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school gets out. Uh so that'll help a little more and again that's going to be a difficult four or five days uh when that gets mil and and overlay. Uh they are planning uh chief I don't know if you have an update. They were planning on paving

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tomorrow and Friday long road. I don't know if they finished milling today or not. They said milling was done. Okay. So uh milling is done. So they're going to be paving uh tomorrow and Friday and then just bunch list items after that. So the

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first phase will be done after I know long a lot of people have been waiting a long time for that and by the end of the month hopefully uh the final phase will be done. Longill done our section and the county um I know is working with New Jersey American Water and uh their

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section is is scheduled to be paid later this year. Uh we had a precon meeting for Central Park trails. Um as people may or may not know, we got a substantial grant from the county of Morris to uh construct these trails and

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also do the design which we had done. Um it's going to be a um a tough project because it's it's it's got to be done with small equipment and it's uh obviously in um environmentally sensitive areas. Uh so you know we'll

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have a strong presence of our engineers out there. Um, but the the construction project looks to be about a six to seven uh I'm sorry about um I was going to say six to seven weeks about a four to five

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month project uh because of the uniqueness of the small equipment and having to do the trail and then continue and and having one stage point at one point of the uh trail. So, but it's it's moving forward. Um, I'll give you more

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updates as we know when they're going to get out there. Uh, they didn't have a start date yet for us. Uh, but, um, they're very eager to get it done. >> So, I have a question. So, for those, we commonly call it Central Park. perhaps the 75 acres or so directly across from

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town hall which attaches to another 40 acres uh that stretches over to Railroad Avenue uh behind um Sterling Hotel. Of that 11520 acres only about eight can be developed. We will be focusing on that.

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The other is D restricted wetland etc. The trails are going through the wetland area. >> Some of the wetland area. Yes. Is there a place to see where the Is there a map of the proposed trails? >> Yeah. Um >> so >> I I'm not sure if it's on our website,

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but if it's not, I we'll get it on. >> Yeah. Yeah. I think that would be helpful for the public to see. Yeah. >> And and start imagining what this is your park. You paid for the you paid for the property. You're you're going to pay along with the county helping us out along the way. Uh so this is that's

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going to be the center center point of the town. >> It's it's >> that also has been a long time in coming. >> That began as a conversation back in 2010 through several iterations of township committee and it's starting

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to come to fruition. >> Yeah. And uh the good thing about this this trail, there's a if you will a starting point or a connect point uh out by Walgreens up behind there, but it also comes out to this corner where you be able to cross the road and come into

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Caner Park or vice versa go from Caner Park across to the trail and do that whole trail and come back. So it's we're starting to tie things together with trails and everything. So it's exciting. Thank you. >> That's it. That's it.

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story. Who can I'm a dead man? That's a quote from a movie that nobody even knows what I'm talking about. All right. Where are we up to? Discussion. >> Discussion items. Yes, we are. So, the first one,

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who's this HR bill 2289? This is um a bill at the federal level that will um limit even more so of what the municipalities can do as far as cable companies uh communications uh

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cell towers uh and so forth. It would basically take away um any kind of communications negotiations or anything that we currently have uh with with our um cable TV companies, how we can

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negotiate when the contracts are up and so forth. It's it'll it basically takes away um our um home rule if I don't know how else to say it. uh it takes away our home rule

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and uh you know our um are we're members of the JAG which is um our TV uh areas and we're they are focused on on you know first amendment rights and so forth that this is this uh

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we want to keep that moving forward and part of our um cable franchise fees and and cable companies and contracts help negotiate for our local channels, a lot of uh public information channels and so forth. So, they're very concerned that

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all that will go away and not only that, but possibly income to the town from these cable companies, Verizon and Comcast in our in our case. >> Okay. So, I know why we like home rule on this issue and many issues. What what say do we have?

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>> Well, they they're encouraging all encouraging all towns to uh pass a resolution. Okay. Fighting against the the um HR bill 2289 the contact federal uh federal and state um representatives

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and and tell them that this this is >> is there resolution that we >> Yes, we uh we have sent it uh okay around there's also videos attached um >> and and an interesting thing is a former summit committee woman or council woman

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I'm sorry is is in that video describe uh paraphrasing the bill and what it what it does and everything else. You get a chance. It's only a five minute video, but I think it's very powerful. >> Thank you. So, are we going to present

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this? >> We'll present at the next meeting. >> Perfect. If you guys are >> something else for June 17th, Megan >> trash can ordinance with possible introduction. Um I don't we we discussed this at length. Uh

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what brought this to our attention is one particular property that is not being cooperative in removing their trash cans from the street. They've been leaving it for weeks on end. Matt, I'll let you speak for yourself, but I know your your concern is if I can

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paraphrase is why should we write legislation or an ordinance to address one person? >> I know the person is >> right. counted to that is a lot of laws exist simply because of the exception,

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not because of the rule. 99.9% of the residents in the town bring that trash cans in on a timely basis. They might go away on vacation for a couple of days and it stays out there, but generally speaking, then you ask your neighbor to bring it up. In this particular case,

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trash cans are being left out. Why? I don't know. Because it's a long driveway. Why would you want to carry your garbage all the way down instead of having garbage can? So, the proposal is this. Uh, and maybe Jack can speak to that.

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>> Yeah, it sets time limits. You can't put your can out before 1:00 the day before collection, but you have to put it out no later than 6 in the morning on the day of collection, and you have to put it away no later than 10 o'clock at

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night on the day of the collection. and then I'll turn it over to the committee. I I really don't like the idea of having to write an ordinance and pass an ordinance because of one person. I I don't think an ordinance should be necessary to teach common courtesy and

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common common sense, but but that's the issue. I I mean, I'll turn it over. I support the ordinance reluctantly, but I understand >> I don't want to punish 8,000 people in town for 180. the Facebook trolls are

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and the local neighbors to take care of this, but they should take care of it. Unfortunately, they might have to take care of themselves because unless we can find some way, but if it's on the street, it's abandoned property. If it disappears, it disappears. I don't know what to tell you. >> I I think the the spirit of the ordinance is to kind of give the zoning

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officer the ability to punish egregious offenders. Not somebody that's a half an hour late on 10:30 or or you know once in a while misses but people that because if you think about a town that everybody leaves their garbage cans for days on end or you have a hand it's not

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neighborly it's not a great look. So I think that unfortunately something like this needs to be passed. >> Sad, right? And all the time I've been on committee is the first garbage can scandal. It's whatever.

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>> Um the only thing that comes to mind is when residents like go on vacation and they might be putting out their garbage cans outside of these time frames. But like Vic said, I don't think our code enforcement officer is going to be nitpicking this. I would hope not. I

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don't know if that I'm just trying to think through like how to even solve for that. But I think just not being aggressive with it. I know there's times where I put it out ahead of time knowing that I'm going away for work or something like that. Just keep that in mind

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because otherwise >> All right. So, you want to introduce it tonight? >> Um, did you talk about this last uh meeting? >> Yes, >> we did. But you know what? We can Why don't we carry it to June 17th? Not not that that meeting isn't already

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jam-packed, but that'll give uh uh Committeeman Libero a chance to be here. We can have a more wholesome >> uh discussion there. As I said, I can go either way and I would support it reluctantly. Uh, with the very very

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thing that Vic and Teresa just pointed out, you know, oh my god, somebody had to put it out at 10:00 a.m. because they weren't going to be around for the next 48 hours. I don't think I was I'm saying I haven't received a complaint in all this time

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about garbage cans except for this one. That That's the So, I don't think anybody's going to call in somebody that lives on uh beer path and say >> no and the the purpose of this ordinance is is to give the code enforcement

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officer the tools that for the people that do not comply >> that's what it is >> and members of the public you're welcome to you know support oppose uh you know but let's just carry it so when uh Frank

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is back okay uh >> Jack Um, >> did you like take any do water channels have anything? >> Yes. A number of >> All right. So, it's not like we're like creating Okay. All right. Thank you. I I agree with Carrie.

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>> Okay. So, land use ordinance updating terms and removing invalid and redundant terms. Did this recommendation come to you from the planning board or >> both of these came from the planning board and we just did it this way to follow the process that it would be on for discussion before the next meeting

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when it's introduced. >> Okay. >> So the next one too places of assembly etc. >> All right. So we any questions for Jack or this will also be everybody should bring a C for the June

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17th meeting. It may go late. Sorry. I got the side eye from Teresa and Megan. All right, let's carry everything to June 17th. Old new business. >> So, just to clarify, you're going to introduce both of those land use

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ordinances at the next meeting. >> Right. >> So, all new business. Seeing none. Announcements. Megan. No announcements. Matt, you usually have an announcement. >> No blood drive.

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>> Oh, yeah. Well, we can congratulate while we're >> announc school softball team for winning the conference championship in the last week and a half the high school baseball and softball team both won the county championships. I don't know if they both won the same year ever. So, good job to

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all the all the athletes at the high school and the girls over at Central School. >> Absolutely. >> I think you invited but So we'll we'll we'll try to get them all. We send out the invite for the next June 17th. >> A lot of long hill kids on those high school team >> everything. So that's the first time in

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16 years I think Washington watching won the um the baseball championship. >> Yeah, something like that. We avenged the loss from 20 to 1994. It took us 32 years. >> Was it against >> There you go. Congratulations. Congratulations to all of them. Uh and

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we'll try to get get them here on June 17th. >> All right. Uh meeting open to the >> just another announcement. Uh sure. June 2nd is primary. >> What's happening? What's happen? >> Five day election. >> All right. So June >> my anniversary also if that's >> happy appropriate

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>> happy anniversary. >> So June 2nd is the uh primary uh throughout the state of New Jersey. So >> early when does early voting start? uh yesterday. >> Yesterday. >> Thank you. I did not realize that.

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>> Okay, Randy, thanks for the reminder. Uh meetings open. Item number 13, meetings open to the public. Remark statements pertaining to any matter. Comments if you could uh please three minutes out of respect for your fellow residents.

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>> It's a little dance we play. Could you state your name and your >> I understand. Thank you. Uh my name is Donna Ganji. I live at 60 Overlook Road. Um you might recognize my name. I emailed you last week. >> Yes, you did. >> Um but you don't need to reply. I'm here

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so you can reply in person. >> Um I recently I'm just going to read because all my thoughts are here so >> I don't ramble. I recently heard the unfortunate news that you have a request for builds for

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bids for a cell tower. Do I have to talk into that? Is that good? >> Yeah, we can hear. >> Uh you have a request for bids for a cell tower to be built on municipal land next to the Millington train station. Correct. >> There's a request for bids. That's what

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you mentioned before. >> That's exactly what >> Yeah. Um my first question is why did you the committee and the mayor invite a cell tower um into our town

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especially after the uproar of the residence when it when it was in front of the zoning board for a variance. That's my first question. for years had connectivity in two locations in

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particular one Millington I can speak to the one because I live with it all the time so this isn't a new tal about putting small >> boosters

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Anyway, they were going to put it in two locations. One was one, but they wanted a township overlay where they chose. We said, "No, we'll suggest the location." I know in your email you said there is

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no connectivity. That's we get there all the time. Now, Verizon, I'm not an engineer. >> Can I Can I address that? Can I Am I allowed to >> No, no, I I'll definitely turn the mic over to you.

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>> No, I mean, I just So, I don't Well, I could write it down and I'll remember to go back, but I went on the Verizon and AT&T coverage maps today and Millington is like redder than this cup uh carpet

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as far as having 5G wide ultraand or like that like the best. >> You know more than I do >> you can have. It's all over Mill and then and AT&T is also 5G all over Millington. >> The gap the the where it goes to and

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it's not even a gap. It's 4G LTE. So it's still coverage but that is over by um rel I'm relatively new to the area. So New Vernon Road, Gillette, like that area. where I am.

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>> Okay. New road. But I went on to like there's some sports uh center court or something like that >> that and you literally can go to an address and see what the coverage is and it's 4G LTE. So there's coverage there.

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So So um but Millington is like the best coverage you can have. Um and and there is only um I guess it's 5 And then 4G. I'm not a telecommunications expert.

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>> And AT&T, AT&T has even better 5G coverage over in that area. Theirs is more 5G coverage than 4G. >> For years, we we we received complaints. It's not ours to resolve, but complaints

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on the River Road area where the fire company is. As you know, that was where the original proposal was for cell tower. Uh, so I have to believe that Verizon's not going to go through the enormous expense of putting in a cell tower if it wasn't

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necessary. >> Well, AT&T is doing a great job of coverage over there. So, I'm thinking, do they wanna like But also though, why can't they just use There is a cell tower over by the fireworks on Carlton.

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So, why can't they just use that? >> I think it's a I mean, I'm not an engineer either, but I think that's that's down the bottom by the fireworks, but it could be blocked by the landscape or it might not be able signal might not be able to get up and over the hill. That's the problem. Like, they say it's got good coverage in in Myersville and

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guy drives through all the time. I go through the swamp all the time and the calls I'm on drop constantly >> when you're heading down >> and then you just pick them up. >> Yeah, I know. But I'm saying I know that >> I go all over the country. I drop call you a big. >> I'm hoping they didn't hang up on me and

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then I find out it was a drop call. But it happens everywhere. Everywhere. >> I completely understand that. But I'm just saying just because their map says so in practice it doesn't happen once or twice. This is constant. Like if you can go through like from Myersville baseball field even maybe two miles towards Harding and not have the call drop.

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That's pretty impressive. >> Okay. So there is an issue in that area >> of dropped calls. >> Absolutely. >> That's we have established. Okay. So, um, and Randy, that's consistent. Thank you for what you told me. Um, and we

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went over the coverage maps. So, here's my question. Um, the proposed area is right next to the and I have never been back there, but it's next to the Millington train station. There's municipal land. Is that

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where the you're asking for a >> cell tower to be built? 104t the southwest corner of the parking lot near the industrial. >> Okay. And that will help Myersville, >> Gillette, and Sterling. >> Not Myersville.

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>> No, this is specific for that part of town. >> For that part of town, but um but there's coverage there. >> Let me let me ask this question for you. >> I can mail it to you. It's it's 5G wide ultra in that. >> No. So, let me ask Jack a question for

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you and for all of us. when you go out to bid and you receive a bid, what happens at that point? I mean, do do you have to accept that bid? No, we specifically reserve the right to reject all bits. That that's the key. So, in

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and and and so I'm I'm not disagreeing with you. I'm I'm kind of siding with you because I'm not an engineer. As we said, I don't know about the coverage. So, what would happen at that point? Say there was a bid. Would he have whoever the winning bid is to come in and

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explain exactly why it's necessary? You could do that. So I I agree with you. I would want to know why would they want to go through the expense >> can I ask? >> Sure. No far away.

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>> So why did you ask for bids? Why are you inviting if you're just going to say no to the bids? Well, no, I didn't say we're going to say no. I just want to understand it better. And this has been going on for

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years. We we we have received reports of those two locations. You are correct. The Myersville area going into New Vernon and unfortunately got worse also from Myersville Circle to Chattam dropped calls what you just described in New Vernon road. >> So every so

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>> so they'll they'll need a tower. They'll need a tower over there over there. Wherever >> I don't know. I I don't know. We have a tower already there, so I don't know why that exists >> because I'm just really perplexed because

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the um outpouring of people like people were angry about >> that was in the middle of a residential neighborhood. This is not >> but this can be seen from the from and it's not that far from houses. It's not that far from houses. And another thing,

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there is some gap in coverage in Basking Ridge. Now, I heard, I can't back this up, but I heard from several people that Basking Ridge was like, "No way. You're not putting it over here." And they said, "No." Basking Ridge said no. So,

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>> I don't know. But but I but that even the gaps the gaps are not it's hard to see because Verizon doesn't put the town boundaries on >> Payic River is that is that Millington or Basking Ridge or does it meander?

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>> Matt, you've been here. >> Your family's been here since Lincoln. Where does the uh >> say river is that the dividing? >> What's the what's the boundary on that side? It is >> river. So there are gaps on the other side. I don't know. I >> No, I know. I know. I saw them. I

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studied it today. Trust me, >> I'm better than you. >> A little too much time today studying these maps. >> But so, um, so here's why everyone is so perplexed, angry, confused. You're

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supposed to protect us. You're supposed to help maintain our house values, right? Trails. That's a great thing to do for us. that will do wonders for our house values, right? So many people have their life savings tied up in their

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homes. >> Um, so, um, and oh, this is what I put in the email. So, did you know that the National Association of Realtors states that house values plummet when a cell

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tower is placed in a residential area or close to homes? Um, and this is why cell towers, I mentioned in the email, um, line our highways and why other towns have um, not banned them because I

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realize your a town is not allowed to ban them, but has um, really strict zoning laws to protect the residents from these cell towers ruining their house values. So that is a fact and it

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will be visible 104 feet. We're up on the hill. A lot of people are up on the hill. It'll be visible. My husband and I, we moved here four years ago from Summit. If there was a cell tower there that we saw, we never would have moved here. Never. And and other people say the same thing.

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And they're worried about the health effects, whether they're perceived or actual. It doesn't matter. perceived health effects um are enough to keep a young family away. >> So, and we can debate this all night. If

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and when we receive bids, there will be a public discussion. Anybody who wants to come in and express their opinions. >> Okay. I have a couple of things about that. You let the horse out of the gate, whatever it's called, the horse has been

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right. The bid is there. So, so to residents that means you're going down this path. You're getting the bids in. You want that cell tower, which is perplex. It's just mindboggling. >> I don't think that that's But here's my other here's my other

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>> It's not like we want it, ma'am. I'm sorry to cut you off, but let let's operate under the pretense that for whatever reason Verizon engineers feel as if a cell tower is necessary to significantly improve service in that

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area. Let's just say that's correct. If that's >> in that area by the Millington train station, >> correct? Let's just assume that's correct. It's that >> teeny tiny area and >> for whatever reason they think it's necessary, they want to go they they they they're going to go through their the expense

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If that's correct, what we want to do, of course, is minimize the impact on the neighborhood. We want to minimize the impact. If, listen, if we don't need it, I don't think anybody here would want it. But if for some reason we do, our job is to minimize that impact on the neighborhood

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and on property values. If we could avoid it, of course, we would. I I think that everybody would want to. So, >> if it becomes necessary and it has to go somewhere, then we're going to want to put it in a place that would minimize the impact that you're impacts that you're speaking of, which by the way, I

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agree with you. Um, as a chiropractic physician, you know, God forbid, you know, there may be uh those studies show differently. There may be, god forbid, >> American Cancer Society say it's inconclusive. There there may be.

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>> Yes. And I agree. So, of course, we would want to minimize and put it tucked away as far away as we can, but to say we want it, I don't think that's a I don't I certainly don't feel that way. >> So, um then I'm confused. So, the RFP is

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for things like filling potholes. You want to fill the potholes, right? You want an RFP is to cut the trees down. You want to cut the dangerous trees down, right? Those are RFPs to help the community for safety, right? This isn't This is something you an RFP the town

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puts out there for things they need or want. So just so you're saying that Verizon said we need this, therefore we're putting the RFP out because Verizon said to >> I think we believe there's a need.

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There's a need. >> Can we do the Okay, fair enough. You believe there's a need. There might be a need. Can we do that before the RFP goes out? >> Can we do that? >> But can we can we shut down the RFP

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right now and do the research and really get the facts and really like datadriven >> facts before we put the RFP out because the RFP comes in. You have to spend time and money on looking into that and then doing the re but

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>> I think there's I think there is some confusion here. Uh Verizon has an application before the board of adjustment. >> Correct. The fire department. >> Correct. Okay. That hasn't got has not gone away. >> Okay. So, I just want to put that out

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there. Uh you know, I think uh >> it's been postponed from a conversation tonight. It seemed like, you know, people were were angry. Well, >> the application is still there. They they just postponed it until July. So,

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um, you know, like I said, they've already spent, I think, 1520,000 on on just professional fees, um, and our professional fees, not to mention their professional fees. So, uh, the

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application I I believe is is valid in their mind. And I don't want to, uh, say, you know, we have a bid out, we have a bid out there. We may get no bids. We there are multiple cellular companies out there. We we keep saying

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Verizon and I know why, Mer. Verizon had approached us a couple years ago. Um but it could be any mobile company that that would could bid on it. >> Um another another point on this RFP. Um

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Randy, we discussed this. Um, was there anything about because the RFP is behind that on the homepage it says new uh bids or what's the wording? >> It's a bid and yes, you click on it and you open a bid.

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>> Okay. And in the in in the spirit of um transparency, um I'm requesting that that that this RFP because it's such a hot button with the fire department. I am respectfully requesting that that be a push out to

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the residents in an email, Facebook forums. Let people know that this RFP is out there. It will affect their home values if this gets built. It's it's the only I feel it's the right thing to do

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to be fully transparent with your residents. And so could it be I know you I heard you talk before about communications. Scott Lavender is on a committee or something. Get it out there right away because I've

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talked to people and some have heard of it. Most haven't. And I didn't even know until Randy told me about that button. And I I felt really like wow what are you trying to hide from me? You know, you know, we're all really

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heated about the fire department. Let us know that it's an RFP now. So, could you do that, please? these days. How to pay for gas, how to pay for groceries, taking on a second job. Things are a bit um

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hard for people these days and um I think it's just an easy thing to do and the fair thing to do and the right thing to do. >> Anyway, thank you. Thank you very much. >> Is that possible to do? >> Anything's possible. Anything's

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possible, but will you do it is my question. >> Yeah, it's on it's already on the website. So, >> no, but take it out of that button and what what >> and and push it out because this has been a hot this is a hot topic in the in

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the town. People think the fire department is done. They think that's over with. >> There not going to be two. >> There's not going to be two towers. >> No, I know. But they don't know that now that that you put out an RF to have a cell tower built in Millington

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right next to the train station. They don't know that. People don't know that. >> I don't know how many cell towers there are in town. There's one behind St. Josephine. There's one >> there's one by one by DPW. There's one road quite frankly closer to my house

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than that one. >> So towers. >> No, all I'm asking is let people know, put it out there. Let people know. >> All right. that this RFP is there, not be not hiding behind a button. That's not transparent government. You know,

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this is a hot topic in Millington. >> By the way, thank you for your research. Thank you for the points you brought to our attention. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thought provoking and thank you. >> I I just thank you for letting me stay up here longer than my No,

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>> I didn't I forgot my watch. That's my excuse. >> No, thank you. Really? Thank you. >> Well, thank Megan because Megan normally has the uh buzzer. Thank you, Megan. Appreciate it. >> Okay, so

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anyone else in the audience? No. Going once, twice. >> If anybody on Zoom would like to make a public comment, please raise your hand now. >> I don't see anyone, mayor.

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>> All right. Thank you everybody. Thank you for your participation. >> I think we have a motion. Anybody have a second? >> Second. >> All in favor? >> Good evening everybody and thank you. >> Thank you.