##VIDEO ID:17vD7P88bGs## okay I'd like to call to order the regular session of the township of lakon meeting for November 6 2024 um prayer will be led today by the Boy [Music] Scouts may all bow heads and remove caps according to face dear Lord we are here to discuss topics that will benefit the people in our community and our country we want to think how we can make life easier for everyone come and give us the wisdom to make right decisions let us not make biased decisions but decisions based on solving the problems of your children be our leader during this meeting show us the way because you have chosen us to be here give us Direction and let us not think with our own selfish in interests open our eyes to spiritual Solutions and help us make our country great amen thank you okay the oath of Legion will also be led by the bo all rise I pr Ali to the flag of the United States of America and to the repic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible liy and Justice all two thank you guys adequate notice of this meeting has been provided indicating the time and place of the meeting in accordance with chapter 231 of the public laws of the 1975 by advertising a notice in the Star Ledger The Express Times Warren County Zone and by posting a copy of the copy on the bulletin board in Municipal Building roll call please best Council here councilman Marinelli here councilman MC here council president PLO here mayor right here all right wait would you summarize the executive session please yeah the township Council met an itive session where it discussed the following privilege matters uh Personnel matter regard regarding a perk matter Personnel for winter seasonal employes Contra contractual for an EMS update for the 100 in paramedic lease agreement Personnel for a plumbing inspector attorney client privilege for vacation of Alleyway blck 77 lot 7 8 9 and 10 attorney client privilege Healthcare benefits Police Department local 56 uh contractual Hill Crest Racket Club and attorney client privilege for Su pay payment plan request uh such minutes from executive session will be released at such time as the Town Council deemed no public har will come from it thank you all right we have a proclamation U from Dominic Nichi Senator steinhardt presenting it thought be appropriate aide nobody [Laughter] off so Mr Nichol honestly it's it's my honor to to be able to do this I apologize Tre and I were away at our son's last family weekend at Jacksonville when you had your 60th anniversary on on September 7th so uh this is a resolution to you from 120 members of the New Jersey legis is a joint resolution by all 120 members signed by the Senate President and the speaker of the assembly uh on behalf of assembly Deo Peterson and myself uh if you all indulge me for a minute I'd like to read whereas nicolon nicholos Pizzeria highly esteemed In the Garden State marked its 60th anniversary with a special Community celebration on September 7th 2024 and whereas the Senate and general assembly of the state of New Jersey are pleased to honor the Nicolosi family in recognition of this felicitous occasion and commend their immeasurable contribution to the community throughout six Decades of success and whereas the lake Angela niosi originally founded the pizzer in bookland then relocated to L pacon Shopping Center in September of 1964 and now it's expertly operated by his son Dominic Nicolosi who began working in the restaurant as a boy still Faithfully continues to use his father's delicious recipes whereas the festive anniversary event which attracted local dignitaries and more than 1,000 Pizza Lovers included a special meal deal and t-shirts mugs and other commemorative merchandise the proceeds being donated generously to St Jude's Children's Research Hospital and whereas to strength and prosperity of New Jersey and the Vitality of our American society depend greatly on exceptional small businesses exemplified by nichos Pizzeria that provide employment opportunities enhance the local economy and improve the quality of life for area residents and whereas it is altogether proper and fitting for the members of this legislature the pause and their deliberations to acknowledge ni's Pizzeria and to affirm its importance to the people of waren County and the state now therefore being resolved by the Senate and general assembly of the state of New Jersey that this legislature here by laws Nicholas East Pizzeria pays tribute to the exemp record of service demonstrated by all those who have contributed to its 60 years of excellence and his extend sixer best wishes for continuing biger be there further resolve that a duly authenticated copy of this resolution will be signed by the Senate President and the assembly speaker and ATT tested by the Senate secretary and assembly clerk will be transmitted to user on behalf of n so truly my pleasure to be here with you today but thank you for all you've done for our community thank you very much like to say that you this couldn't be done without family okay I mean just family is everything okay my wife putting up with me for all these years okay my kids always helping me out okay my parents looking down at me from where they're at I just want to tell one quick story not just about us but the barber shop was there before us okay the very first day my dad said to me go out and put these flyers under people's windes and it said get a slice of pizza and a small sod for 2 so like some some old lady came in started yelling at me because she start was breaking her wi away so I went in I told my dad and said you said what are you cry for I said because you know she start yelling oh no don't worry about her he's going and get a haircut okay so going to get a haircut okay we're good friends with The Barbers not have been there but longer than us right they wouldn't let me out they tell me hostage because I didn't pay my bill so that's my that's my story thank you again everybody who's here tonight okay [Music] [Music] come on we'll take it and send it along thank you okay thank you thank you Senator Shar for stopping in and doing that I appreciate that all right we public comment on agenda items only you have three minutes just to talk about agenda items anyone all right seeing none old business number one minutes approve executive and regular session minutes from the October 2nd 2024 meeting I have a motion in a second motion second roll call please yesin yesc yes yes mayor yes yes if you guys want to leave if you you're more welcome no I I know if you want to stick around or not but it'll be a fast meeting uh number two uh ordinance number 24-22 second reading and public hearing authorizing the hire of an entrylevel police officer pursuant a New Jersey state statute 11 a413 a motion second to hold a public hearing please motion second all in favor I I anyone seeing none motion to in a second to close the public hearing motion second all in favor I motion second to adopt this ordinance motion second roll call please councilman V yes councilman Marinelli yes Council M yes council president yes mayor yes ordinance number 2423 second reading and public hearing to amend revise and supplement chapter 27 fire department Article 2 election of officers of the code to change section 27-5 D that department line officers reside within a three mile radius of the fire station within the state of New Jersey need a motion to second to hold a public hearing motion second all in favor I comments for the public on that matter seeing none motion second to close the public hearing motion second all in favor I I any a motion and second to adopt this ordinance motion second roll call please yes yes M yes yes mayor yes uh new business best practice this inventory yes every year we are tasked to fill out a best practices inventory by the state depending on your score your less state aid pay payment could be affected we've never had that happen in lowack um out of a possible 4650 we scored 40 which is pretty good uh their emphasis this year they they do a lot of unscored questions and their their concentration this year was on affordable housing and also on lead paint inspections okay other than that uh it was business as usual and it's already been submitted and one of the requirements is we need to discuss it at a public meeting so here we are discussing it okay does anybody have any questions on any question by anybody for this no okay thank you thank you uh ordinance number 24-24 first reading to amend chapter 219 en titled trees Motion in a second motion second you want to talk about first um our engineer Adam can give a brief explanation sure of course Mr Mayer uh thank you so this ordinance is be is an existing ordinance that's on the books in the township um specifically related to trees tree protection tree removal and the requirements associated with that this is an amendment to that ordinance uh which is required as part of the Township's ngd storm water permit basically extends the protections of trees uh not only uh Street trees rway trees and park trees on public lands but also extends those tree protections and permit requirements to private properties in the township that's required Statewide and has to be adopted um this year basically under the storm water permit that uh the D enacted um so we we worked with um your shat Tre commission to update the existing ordinance to incorporate again that protection of trees there are some exemptions from that require from the requirements uh of the permit specifically addressing you know the removal of a hazardous tree which is a dead or disease tree um something that that might obstruct traffic or be a hazard to the public health or safety essentially um otherwise any trees that are removed in the township again on private or public lands will have to be uh required to be uh file a permit will have to be filed uh the tree will be reviewed by the township tree inspector and the sheet tree commission and then uh if that removal is approved uh for whatever reason the trees will have to be replaced uh in accordance with the replacement schedule that's also going in the ordinance so that's sort of what's being put forward here for introduction okay Robin you good with that everything yes thank you very much for your assistance in doing that as he indicated it is required by the state for our storm water certification and essentially it requires residents to have permits every town is adopting this ordinance it's not that we're going to say no you can't take the tree down um but you need to get a permit to remove the tree if it's dead or dying there's no questions asked if it's not the tree needs to be replaced because it has a significant impact on our storm water system um if the resident prefers to not plant another Tree on their property the state has allowed us to have a fund that the resident can contribute to to plant another tree somewhere else in the township not on their property great all right thank you uh we'll go back to motion and second please you have a motion in a second roll call please coun yes coun Marinelli yesc yes president yes mayor yes number three fire department to address the lat truck Chief [Music] Martin good evening Council and mayor Wright uh I'm here to give you an update on the ladder truck it's been out of service since uh September 2 9 it went out for uh its annual premen uh PM service and at that time 14 items were identified by our vendor that are in need of repair uh those 14 items uh total uh $339,100 63 um some of those items are minor items that we can take care in-house light bulbs and such we eliminate those items off the list you're still looking at a $ 36,43 n63 uh repair bill which was not anticipated uh the biggest item is engine work uh to the truck which is 20 roughly 25,000 uh dollars uh I'm here to update you and see what direction you want to go with the ladder truck at this point the current one uh we're going to repair it if we're not going to repair it if we're going to move forward with a new one uh pretty much that's what I'm here for even the new one was once you play the order was still far away right uh over a year brand new uh not a demo it's 41 months out uh if a demo comes uh available in production it'd be a six-month uh availability right now demos are starting to come more available since uh there is a need for the truck and production is so long demos are starting to come out a little bit more uh on the production line so the demo would not have uh everything that we would need but it would suit our needs uh there would be some concessions on our part uh with the truck is uh this including the electronic problem you guys were talking about there is still some electronic problems still on top of this stuff right correct we're at the point where we have to uh make a decision right uh currently Phils spurg has been covering us uh for any structure fires or uh calls with confirmed smoke in a structure since the 29th their truck is due to go out of service for its yearly service and repairs uh so the next close closest aerial device is harmony 3 miles away Stewartsville 4 miles away and Alpha 4 miles away uh Stewartsville just came back from being out and it's it came back and went back out of service so we're looking at 3 miles four miles closest aerial device and they're both shorter than what we have and what uh fburg has if we repairing it it's a turnaround time absolute fire uh did not give me a turnaround time in completing all the work yet they just gave me a price so we can present it to you guys Nick anything how we set for you you're asking if I could find $36,000 well I mean no matter what we if we let it sit for a couple months and we going to have other towns we have to rep you have to repair do you have the monies I could probably try to find some did you spend all your operating money I can't do Capital did you spend all your operating money no I did not but there's still stuff that was budgeted for if you can help me out a little bit with that I I'll I'll look at it tomorrow yes and meet with you tomorrow that's fine I mean if you cover what I'll meet with you in the afternoon yeah maybe 5 to 10 I'll find the rest okay okay we got to get fixed because it's going to be the way has to has to be prepared regardless whether or not you order something the truck still needs to be repaired for the in ter okay so and electric that's not goodle so the electrical problem correct there are still electrical problems that they can't seem Define what the issue is how long does this extend the life flue you don't know this is just really putting a Band-Aid on a open wound the new one comes in right yeah well that's what yeah yeah and you're looking at you know next year with the capital budget and everything if that's what the direction is to purchase a new well yeah we definitely want to order as soon as we can but we have to wait yeah you get the blessing they did yeah right because they didn't want to we can't do a purchase order and they want a letter to commit uh a letter of intent will not suffice to need a purchase order yes so that will not be able to happen until next year yeah okay yeah all right so you'll work with her all right get you squired away very all Chief thank you thank you Chief thank you than you all right consent agenda items 1 through 14 a motion and second please motion second roll call vote councilman yes Council marinell yes Council M yes council president yes mayor yes Council reports Rich uh the only thing I'd like to say is um i' like to congratulate um Lou and Scott on their successful campaigns and just wanted to let the the audience members know that uh the camping we did we encountered a lot of our residents and uh the the overarching theme was their inquiry about the park most people were very enthusiastic about that and questions always were when is that Park going to open so um I I'm very encouraged by that and looking forward to uh you know moving along with the with the park next year thank you L yeah I'd like to thank uh the public for their support uh another three-year term congratulations to V and Scott uh as a council members here we work well together as a team and uh you know the promises to continue making the best decisions for this Township as a whole and more importantly for the taxpayers to use the why use the monies wisely so again thanks to to everyone that supported us thank you Scott again without repeating everything all time I also like to congratulate rich and Lou also like to thank the people that helped us along the way whether be family members or volunteers that were out there also helping us that's why Jim um congratulations Rich L Scott look forward to working with you um one other item the laa has a new president and secretary and they would like to meet with us to discuss the plans for the park project so to coincide with practice schedules for outdoor sports next year okay cool that's it thank you all right two things I have um once again same thing congratulations blue rip Scott well- ran election happy to see that the residents approve of our work in the direction the town is moving uh we need we need to help the residents and give them a safe and affordable town to live in so congratulations gentlemen you're doing a great job uh waade I got one question I know last week or week before there was a Highlands had a decision about the mall project and it's need the consequences of the decision what does it mean and where do we stand and you think anybody will appeal it yeah so uh I think two uh two Thursday ago Council met um on the application to name the up Mall Highlands area need Redevelopment they denied it so as of now now uh there's no path forward on uh the highlands uh development on that property uh it's an agency decision so um Whoever has a right to appeal it has 45 days to appeal it um and until uh any other future steps are taken um it there's really no action moving forward right now all right um that's great all right thank you um and Engineers report yes thank you Mr Mayor um just looking at my list here um so just to give an update on the park project we had a meeting two weeks ago I believe with yourself Mr Mayor and with Beth and the project team from my firm um reviewing the sort of 30% progress set on the project for the pool as well as the uh you know various uh amenities and structures that are going to be constructed as part of the project um you we received your comments and they are currently working on incorporating those comments to the next phase of the project which we're kicking off on Monday a meeting for that on Monday um to answer the question uh that councilman poo had asked council president poo I asked uh earlier um last month just to give an update on the demolition of the pool um last month we had completed the environmental testing for ASB bestus and lead and other sort of contaminants that might affect the demolition of of the facility so we're currently waiting on the results for the of that testing and once we receive those results we'll be able to put the demolition plans together put that into action pretty quickly so we can get the pool demolished early next year um and we believe we're on schedule for that uh right now um a foll along project uh the pickle ball court improvements project a contract was awarded last month I've spoken with the contractor there was a element that came up during our meeting um that there might be a slight design change to the pickle ball courts uh just to provide some additional space for walking uh incorporating it to the pool plant so uh you know we would expect that in the next few months we'll figure that out and then the pickle ball courts will begin construction with the hope that those would open for the spring uh season so people can use those um there's another project the Jade Lane improvements project we had done the drainage improvements curb repair sidewalks and uh um manhole repairs on the project few earlier in the year really in May um we're still waiting on coordination with the co-op contractor uh now we understood that they needed a resolution as well as a purchase order which which we we will have following this meeting so I'll be coordinating with them again to see if we can get them out there you know if if the weather if their schedule allows and the weather allows you we could potentially do that Paving work in no November if not it likely would have to wait till the spring um before they could do that work um I think that's all I had on my list great thank you police report Chief thank you mayor good evening [Music] Council so for the uh the month of October I have a traffic report so we were able to uh dedicate 54 extra hours this month to um overweight Vehicle Enforcement um so throughout the month of October we had a total of 245 motor vehicle stops and 46% of those were issued a summons and 45% of those that were issued a summons were overweight vehicles on our roadways so we saw about a 21% increase in um violations that we wrote for the month of October um that's my my report for um the traffic I do have two announcements that I'd like to bring attention to um officers in the low pakong Philipsburg green witch and pakong townships will be participating in the No Shave of November so you might see some of the officers walking around with some well trimmed beards I don't know if they're going to be as nice as Adams but um we're going to we're going to give it a shot but it's uh it's it's for a good cause um 100 100% of the proceeds will be going to um the family of ARA a six a six-year-old diagnosed with leukemia on April 23rd 23 so it's great cause and we're glad to be a part of it is it just Chief is it just a facial or the whole head just the facial hair yeah and um lastly uh we we did partner with uh Warren County Health Department and uh Norwest cap to uh get involved with the Warren County food drive and I know the the Township's also collecting is that accurate so um if if there's uh people that want to participate in that and donate some food feel free to drop it off at headquarters or right here at the um Municipal Building upstairs um I do have a a uh a flyer that I could leave up here if anybody's interested could grab a copy on your way out and um you'll specifically talk about the items that being that you can donate and uh it's my report for October thank you Chief thank you appreciate DPW report Bri joh um it's Leaf season and we're uh just letting you know that if your guys look around the public looks around you'll see the building's changing all all right all the furniture is being moved is being moved by that DPW all right and um so we're struggling with our our leave piles out there you just going to have to deal with it a little bit um but it is open to the public that they can bring them down um it's open 7 days a week as long as the sun's out uh just don't leave any plastic bags you can leave uh paper bags um and that would help us out greatly all right if you feel you'd like to do that um and uh you know different things I do recommend that you don't put them so big and in one pile that you're not letting them go out into the road and creating an unsafe condition for that and then uh the other thing is we've been working on your spat house um 90% of the garage doors are pretty bad um on the Morton Building they don't make them anymore all right when something goes bad it is what it is you replace the whole door um but uh right now we have to put batteries in there and different things and the other ones in cable and all that um I had all the uh um there's six Heating units in those buildings I had them all serviced so that we can uh um Kevin our fire inspector has to be able to pass everything all right just like we do in this building and all that all right so we've been we've been doing that which you can see we took a lot of bushes down that's good all right we found the property line um and I just I need to talk to somebody here later on but what you want me to do with all those bushes yeah they got be cut all right so just uh that's kind of what's been going on and and all moving all right great thank fire chief report L all right for the month of October we had 22 incidents uh our average response time was up a little bit from last month of our average response time was about eight minutes but we had uh eight people on uh average on each call with three apparatus that's even with the uh ladder truck being out of service we were able to uh fortunate enough to have uh enough apparatus to still get out for the year uh we're at 189 calls our average response time is 7 Minutes uh nine responders with an average of uh four apparatus responding that is a increase of 3% from last year um then uh lastly this is my uh second to last meeting with you guys um my term as Chief I've run it out as far as I could go uh five years so it's been a pleasure I don't know if I'll be able to make the next meeting so I would like to thank you guys for your hard work and uh your support to the fire department thank you thank you L thank you l yes EMS report anybody here from SC no all right approved Department reports get a motion a second please motion second all in favor I I uh approve payment of bills motion second please motion second roll call vote please yes yes yes yes mayor yes okay public comment anybody three [Music] minutes I have trouble you listening to you guys in the back of the room do you think you could use the microphones that are in front of you to make that a little better we'll take care of her all right thank you anyone else Mr mangi Pam Thomas six Wordsworth Ling um I need to first of all state that while I am on the school board I am here tonight as a private individual and so not speaking for the school board um I have two questions um first of all the um ordinance that you just read for a first reading about the trees and needing a permit is there a cost to that permit yes and do we know what that cost would be okay thank you um and secondly as you read your adequate notice um I do notice that you are advertising in the Star Ledger and the Star Ledger is um scheduled to stop publication in February and I wondered who you are going to use at that point because many of them are going to be stopping in February so I don't know if the legislator J if the state is going to be changing the law you know or or what but we're still trying to figure that out so I I can tell you though and it's public knowledge because we did discuss it at um our board meeting that um M Patong school board has put a resolution to our delegate assembly at the state asking for New Jersey school boards their bylaws to be changed um to allow for publication in other media other than newspaper print which is what the law says so that doesn't do anything to change the law but it does allow School boards to advocate for that change in the legislature and so I just wanted to bring that to you and maybe Council would like to do something in low Pat Kong to also address that newspapers are dying and and to ask us to advertise in print is just outdated crazy thank you for that information sure M manuchi manuchi 801 beler Road uh my congratulations to Rick Lou and Scott Scott you get to wind it up and do it all over again next year so uh just a a couple things I had talked to the mayor probably a week ago on Sunday out in front of your mother's uh now that you've acquired that building U the old Squad building which makes all sense in the world that's a great acquisition for the township especially for the price that you paid uh but I mentioned to you about a message for yes up there so uh if you need any information I'm in the process of putting one out the tech school uh we've done it down in fburg I think it would be a great thing uh for messages to roll uh in there about your meetings about music in the park any sporting events that are going on in there so uh to me that that just makes all sense in the world one question I had for Adam uh 653 beler Road okay any idea why there was no new sidewalk put there is that the one where it has the jog in sidewalk yeah oh there was uh extensive discussion with Paul sturban the you know prior engineer and he met with the home owners and they insisted that their new they reconstructed That Sidewalk I guess when they purchased the home or renovated the home and they insisted that that sidewalk not be touched and that was through the entire 8 year eight-year life of that project before it was finally built so yeah I was just wondering because it just it is it is funny you did that mile stretcher I'm like why was this I thought was a line or something no it was they they refused to sign the approval to do the work so did I didn't stop didn't stop in front of my house we won't get into that I yeah I understand I understand I understand okay that's it anyone else seeing none motion for adjournment motion motion second second all in favor thank you thank you come out [Music]