Good. Okay. Like to call to order the uh township of Lakon regular meeting for November 5th, 2025. Please bow your head for a moment of silence. 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. 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 1975 and advertising a notice in the star ledger and the express time by posting a copy on the bulletin board in the municipal building. Roll call desk, please. Yes. Councilman Carolinelli >> here.
>> Councilman here. >> Council President >> here. >> Uh first thing we're going to do is swear in um Louis Ford Jr. as lieutenant for the police department. >> Do you want me to summarize executive first?
>> Oh yes. I'm sorry. Yeah. One one second. Sorry guys. >> Sorry about that. Uh so the township council met in executive session where it uh discussed the following privilege matters. Personnel DPW interviews, attorney client privilege PBA grievance, attorney client privilege lawsuit update
110 South Sip Street, and contractual LAA contract. Uh minutes from the executive session will be released at such time as the council deems no public harm will come from it and no official action was taken. Uh we do need a motion to deny the PDA grievance as discussed
in executive. I'll make that motion. Second. Second. All in favor? Or do you want to roll? >> I'll roll call that. >> All right. Council Marinelli. >> Yes. >> Council McQue. >> Yes. >> Council President. >> Yes. >> Mayor. >> Yes. Now we're going to swear in L for
attendant. here. >> Can he go? >> Yeah. I want you to be able to see this. >> Okay. I, Lewis Lefor Jr. >> I, Louisis Lefor Jr. do solemnly swear >> do solemnly swear >> that I will support the Constitution of
the United States >> that I will >> that I will support the Constitution of the United States >> and the Constitution of the State of New Jersey >> and the Constitution of the State of New Jersey. >> I will bear true, faith, and allegiance to the same.
>> That I will bear true, faith, and allegiance to the same >> and to the governments established in the United States. and to the governments established in the United States >> and in this state >> and in this state >> under the authority of the people >> under the authority of the people
>> and that I will faithfully >> and that I will faithfully >> impartially >> impartially >> and justly perform >> and justly perform >> all the duties of lieutenant >> all the duties of lieutenant >> of the police department >> of the police department >> according to the best of my ability
>> according to the best of my ability. >> So help me God. >> So help me God. Oh, maybe. Thank you, Luke. Congratulations. Okay, we got a presentation by Lakan School District Superintendent. Amazing. >> Just give me a moment. I have to get my
projector started. My apologies. >> Hey Never. Okay. So, first, uh, hello. I'm Israel Monos. I'm the superintendent go back in the township school district. Uh, I've been there for going on to the middle of middle middle of my third year now. Um,
wonderful school district. So, I'm here to present just some information on the district just to share with the community where we are and what we're doing as a district for the community and for our kids. Okay. So, here we have our mission and vision statement. I'm not going to sit
here and read you the whole thing, but in essence, we want our students when they leave our building, when they go on to high school, we want them to be productive members of society. We want them to uh appreciate diversity and really be heavy critical thinkers in everything that they do. Um, you know,
fact check things. Make sure that when you go into something, you know exactly what you're doing because what every parent wants for their child is when they're no longer here. You want them to be self-sufficient, to be able to support themselves. And that's what we want for our kids, for them to live a very fruitful and successful life,
however you measure that success. So, the reason I'm here today is is for several uh reasons. Um, one, it's part of our board goal. It's also part of our district goals. One of our board goals is to develop and implement plans to
increase the community involvement so you guys are aware of what's going on in the district so you can be a partner with us in the district as we make decisions and move forward. Um that's also one of my goals to increase community awareness, participation. We want parents, we want the community to come out to our princip our principal
forums, superintendent forums to be involved in our uh parental advisory committee groups because we do have two of them. Um, so it's important for the public to be a part of that because it's not my school, it's not the board of ed school, it's the township school. So the decisions we make impact everyone. So we
certainly want everyone to be a part of that as we move forward. So right now I'm going to give you a little bit about our students. Uh, this is going to be um where they are academically. Um, some of the information is going to be school level data. Some of it's going to be district
level data. And it in the bar graph I'm showing you, it also tells you where the state is at as well. So, it gives you a a nice broad picture of where we are in comparison to the state as well. Some things to consider when you're looking at this graph. The first thing is we're
we're not a big district. We only have about 740 to 750 students. Um, if you look at each grade level, um, we're anywhere from 90 to 66 students. So if you have five or six students do exceptionally well, that moves the
percentages a nice a nice amount. Same thing if they don't do so well, those percentages sway very easily because we're so small. Um would it be the same thing for a district that had 2,000 kids? Um you know, five kids don't do so well. That's not going to move the the bar very much. Um the state is always
the baseline. You always want to reach where the state's at. That's a given. But our target is meeting the standard. Um we always want to make sure that our students are where they belong in every tested grade from third all the way to eighth. And one thing to consider when you're looking at this, there are two
measures. First is student performance. Second is student growth percentiles. That's what they use to measure the student growth and that translates back to the teachers in terms of how they're doing uh as a teacher in instructing students. So here we go. And I apologize
for the audience if you can't see this too well for those at home as well. Um, right now we're looking at ELA and math. This is the growth, the SGP, student growth percentile. If you look where we're at right here for ELA, we're definitely not where we want to be. We want to be in that green area. Um,
that's meeting the standard. Uh, for mathematics, for grades three and four, we did meet the standard. Um, so now we just want to push that over. So we're in the blue, exceeding the standard. Um so that's where we are for growth rates three and four looking at their performance not growth not how much they
grew but how they performed on the test itself. Um certainly some work to do in ELA. We're definitely not where we want to be. And for mathematics we did meet the mark for the state. So we met the state. Um we certainly want to exceed that. So there is uh some things that we
have to look at some work that we have to do. However, when you look at grades 5 through 8, and if you look at it on a continuum, you know, we're laying the foundation for our third graders, this the first time they test. They've never tested before online the way that the
fourth grade, fifth grade, and all the way up until 11th grade does. But once you get to fifth grade, sixth grade, seventh grade, you really see those numbers skyrocket. Um, we're in the blue. We are exceeding the standard for growth in both ELA and mathematics. Um,
I don't know if you guys watch MJ.com often, but for three years in a row in June, Lacong was named the best middle school in Warren County because of student growth. Our kids are growing phenomenally, phenomenally. So, when you look at this chart, this is their
performance. Although they're not exceeding the standard, they are meeting the state, but you can't ask too much more of our students and our teachers because their rate of growth is in that blue. they are exceeding what the state's expectation is. So that's outstanding. Um so outstanding job for
our students and our staff when you look at those combined for the district for ELA student growth we are in the blue. So we are exceeding the standard for mathematics the same thing as a district. So when you combine everything together this tells you a
nice summary of how we're doing which is excellent for uh you know the task that we have at hand. looking at district performance in the green. We are meeting the state. That's uh where we want to be at minimum. We certainly want to move that over to the blue. So although we are doing well, there's always room for
improvement and that's what we look to do with all of the uh support clubs that we have, all the basic skills instruction programs that we have and just our general uh our general routine of what we do with our students day in and day out.
District goals and strategic goals. So, right now I'm going to go over very briefly some of the things that we're doing as a district. Um, our first strategic goal is to promote a safe and secure learning environment. Some of the things that we've done, we've secured the school resource officer. That was last year. We have a something called
stop it report module. So, if someone suspects something going on, they could go online, fill out a report, and that goes right to my cell phone, to Mr. Bonnie's cell phone, to the principal, to all the administrator's cell phone. um that is on our website. So if you
ever had a suspicion with everything, go right on our website, fill out stop it. If it's after hours, during the day, please call the school um because we'll get that report right away. We won't have to wait for a cell phone to meet or an email to come. Um we also have lighting upgrades going on at the elementary school. Um we have revised
emergency protocols for our students. Um additional security cameras with AI embedded technology that tells you if it's a person or just motion. and uh ongoing training with staff so that way when emergency situations arise, we're prepared and we know our students are safe.
Um the other goal we have is expanding our enrichment opportunities for our students. There is a lot that goes on at Pathf. Um some of the more recent ones are academic support clubs for mathematics, ELA. We just added science for this year. Um that's one of the
means that we're going to help to increase our scores by giving students more time on task um through an extended date. We are starting a chess club and a Lego club. The chess club is going to be at the middle school. The Lego club is going to be at the elementary school. So all of our students have something new
to look forward to. Um we have Good Morning Lack broadcast going on at the elementary. A Friday broadcast at the middle school. So it's kind of like they're being news reporters. The kids really enjoy that. Um, a lot of student leadership going on with National Junior Honor Society and our student council
right now during the holidays. One of the big initiatives, just food drives. There's a a lot of families in need. Um, so they're putting, you know, the team together to really try to fund raise as much as possible so that way we could provide meals to families in need.
Extremely important all the time, especially during the holidays. Um, there are some clubs that uh really, really encourage healthy living, healthy lifestyles. Uh the 599 club's one of them. Um promotes a lot of anti- tobacco, anti-smoking campaigns, anti-drug. Um our drama club, over a 100
students in both schools um are part of the drama club. So that's one of our most attended clubs. And then we have our Panther Press, Panther Partners, a lot of things for our kids to do. So that way they're getting that very well-rounded atmosphere, really experiencing a lot of different things. So by the time they go to high school,
they have a little bit of an idea of the path they want to choose as they move on to life. Um, prioritize student well-being and mental health. This is one where we did an extensive amount of work with uh Ruters as we uh secured a grant with Ruters University and it's
pretty much the comprehensive schoolbased mental health program. Um, forced us to really take a a bird's eye view of everything that we have going on. We put a school mental health team together. Um we really look at what we do with social emotional learning with
our response when there's a student in crisis and that really helped to drive a lot of the things that we have going on on a daily basis like our social emotional learning that happens frequently. Um there are no interruptions. Previously if something happened and it involved a counselor
counselor would be pulled away so pretty much stopped. So we fixed that. Right now it's teacher le but the counselor is the one that's really telling them how to proceed and what the topics are so that if there's a crisis doesn't have to stop the teachers can still deliver it.
Um once again stop it module which I already spoke about and one thing that we implemented this year at the middle school is a universal screener. That way we're able to tell what the students are coming into us with. So if that student has a crisis, we're better armed to deal
with that versus going in blind and guessing as to, you know, what what the issue is. Um that gives us a lot of information. One of our goals is to have 50% of our students complete that screener from grades 5 to 8. Um elementary is a little bit too young to do that, but hopefully we get uh more
and more students to do that. And if there's something that's going on or crisis, as I said, we're better armed to deal with that. Um technology integration. It's another one of our strategic goals to expand our technology integration. So what we've been doing since the strategic plan started, we
have uh some coding going on at the elementary level as well as the middle school level. Um pretty much computer programming um through 3D design. Um they're using Tinkercad, uh 3D printers, and there's some teacher professional development that goes on with uh
artificial intelligence just to get them more efficient and more effective with using AI because it is a useful tool if used the right way. And in time, we're going to transfer that to our students as far as grade six. We're not going to go lower than that for now. Um but if
that happens, we do make parents aware of because it is a new technology. who want parents to have a say whether their child's able to use that or not. And finally, we are we are partnering with Pikatini Arsenal. They're delivering um state-of-the-art professional development in 3D printing for our steam
teacher. Um it started in June that goes all the way to June 2026. So, that's a year-long program and uh she's very excited about it and it's bringing a lot of really cool ideas and and programs for our students that we're going to be
able to uh have them engaged in. improve our infrastructure and facilities. I don't know how many of you guys drive by the middle school or elementary school, but we have new digital signs. There was a lot of work done on the exterior of the middle school. We have a new logo. We uh
professionally cleaned the exterior of the middle school. It had this dreary black staining that was going on. Um so that was phase one. Phase two is going to be uh in June of 2026. um something we're going to have to work into our regular maintenance budget because it does come back. Uh but it was
never professionally cleaned. So I imagine we have some time before we have to do it again. We did get uh the middle school roof replaced, elementary school vent unit replacement, so the air quality in the elementary school is much better. With that, we also discovered we had a little bit of a radon issue which
we we mitigated within a week. Um which is pretty impressive. Um and then any other necessary repairs that come about, you may have to replace a water tank, a compression tank with that. And there's more um facility upgrades to come. Some dealing with security, uh some dealing
with just your general maintenance issues. Some of the other goals we have. Um these are these are my district goals. The one is staff professional development to support all of our learners. um whether you're a gened student, you have a 504, an IEP, it
doesn't matter. You want teachers to be able to teach to all learning styles. So, we are going to have a professional development and differentiated instruction, which is already scheduled. Just have to wait for it to happen. And then, uh another professional development for teaching to all learners. That way, we're hitting all
learners learning styles. It doesn't matter if you come into class with an IEP, if you're a gened student, you should be able to reach all of our students. Um, the other one is to increase community awareness and participation. That's part of what this is about. We want you to be aware, as I said, um, want you to come to the
superintendent forums. I'm actually posting those on the town website as well, so if folks from the community see that, they know they are invited to attend that meeting. Um, we have parent workshops that we started this year. We're going to train the parents on our math and the LA program. We're using
Sabas Learning. Um, so I figure if the parents know what we're teaching, how we're teaching it, then we can team up together and when they're struggling at home, parents know how to help versus kind of guessing, you know, emailing the teacher, try to find out what's going on. And finally, we have our parental
advisory groups. We have a special education parental advisory group that meets uh three times a year and then I have a parental advisory committee that meets four times a year and we talk about our title one funding um and anything going on in the school. Communication, that's a big one because
I know we send a lot of messages, a lot of emails. We're trying to hone that in so it's more efficient and people aren't digging through 5,000 messages by the end of the year. Um so something we need to uh work on. This right here I think is important. Um
it's expensive to educate a child. It is. Um schools aren't cheap. Costs are going up everywhere. We have electric going up. The cost of transportation is going up. And with that being the number one in Warren County when you look at student growth, we are still doing
pretty good. That's where Lope is. The annual average tax tax uh rate for a home in Locat County is $6,992 based on 2024 numbers. This is from the state website. If you look at some of
the other districts comparable to us in Warren County, I mean, you have some up at $10,800. That's quite a difference. So doing what we're doing um and and being coste effective I think is important um for the board for the
community. So that's something that I want folks to know. We will always try to do it at the least expensive cost without sacrificing sacrificing quality and the education we're giving our young kids. So I think we're doing a fairly good job there as well.
some of the highlights that uh I want to point out. Um we have extremely active and involved parents and there are things going on with students. Parents are there. Um I was at trunk retreat, very well attended. Parents were excited and that's every event that we have. Um
breakfast with Santa, we're doing a dinner with Santa this year. Very well attended. Um so we're thankful for that because without parents participating and being involved, it's that much more difficult. So to the parents that are involved, thank you. um keep up the great work. Um we have outstanding
staff. Um our our test results alone indicate that. But I'm in the building every day. I see how they are with the students. I see when there are students in need, how quick they are to react. Um when there's a crisis, everyone's involved. Um so that's one thing that is
always a pleasure to be around. Staff that care. Um staff that are vested and we have a lot of staff members that live in Lopecom. So they are truly vested. It's a good thing. Um, highest SGP in Warren County, three years in a row, not just one year, three years in a row. Um,
outstanding job to all those folks involved. And once again, although the elementary scores aren't in the green or blue for ELA, and you know, there's some work to do for math as well. I look at it as they're laying the foundation. Our kids in fifth, sixth, seventh, and eth would not be able to get where they are
without the work being done at the elementary school. um fifth lowest average household tax in Warren County of 23 townships and we do have a certified BOE. The folks on board are very invested. They are very involved. Um they keep us active. They
keep us engaged. So I always see great things coming for some of the challenges that we have uh you know some things we have to figure out academically. We have to look at our kids progress in the elementary specifically grade three and four and see okay what can we do different? teachers are working hard.
They're doing the best that they can. So, there's something that we as a district might be able to change to help them along the way. Um there are rising costs. Uh healthcare is going up, electric is going up. That impacts our budget. Um if we left our budget alone
and we face those increases, then we have to look at okay, what do we lose? It's important to remember as well because we try not to lose what we already have. Um we are we are looking at changing demographics. We did have a demographic study done two years ago. It
didn't show that we were growing, but what we're seeing every day, you know, our class numbers and size were going up. Um, kindergarten, we had about four or five kindergarten registrations, uh, you know, two weeks in a row. So, it's something that we have to keep a very close eye on to make sure that we have
enough capacity for both of our buildings. And, uh, you know, the question is based on a demographic study, are we growing or not? So something we're keeping a very close eye on and uh hopefully we don't see that skyrocket too soon too fast. Um that is
my presentation at this time. If you have any questions I'd be happy to answer them. I don't know if I can question >> any questions. >> Yes sir. >> I do have one question. You had used a figure of $6,600 to educate a child.
>> No. No. That's the average household tax income. Okay. Um in in low pack I mean 69 6800 $6900 >> not not what it cost to get a >> child about twice a lot more than that it's a lot more
>> guys anybody have anything >> thank you so much for allowing do this I appreciate that >> will thank you for uh watch the presentation >> thank you All right, moving on. Public comment on agenda items only.
Donna, >> Donna Schneider, 26 Meadow View. Um, I just want to thank um, superintendent for coming here. And it's unfortunate that there's not a certain councilman here tonight um because he would hear that we are not the failing district
that he has claimed it to be. We are indeed progressing and we are indeed prospering and that um we are not uh paying their salaries and their um benefits and everything through the
taxes. So thank you. >> Anyone else? Mr. Bruce, you good? No. Okay. All right. Seeing none, moving on. Old business number one, minutes, approve executive and regular session minutes
for October 7th. If anybody's has any um emissions or anything you want fixed, I can have a motion or a second. >> Motion. >> Second. >> Roll call. >> Yes. >> Councilman Marinelli. >> Yes. >> Councilman McCl.
>> Yes. Council President. >> Yes. >> Right. >> Yes. Resolution to award Sallyport project in the amount of 400 $421,000 to Walill Group. I have a motion and a second.
>> Motion. >> I'll second that. Roll call vote. >> Councilman Marinelli. >> Yes. >> Councilman McUade. >> Yes. >> Council President Fledo. >> Yes. >> Yes. New business. Um, number one, best practice inventory. Have a public uh
discussion on that. Anybody want to just want to tell us what that is, Ben? I'm >> Well, every every year, um, the division of local government services puts out, they call it an inventory. It's really a
survey. Some questions are scored, some are not scored depending what information they want to gather. Um, if you score low, it can affect your final stating pay attention, which would never have that in jeopardy. Um, so out of a
potential 43.5 available points, Laccon is third scored a 37.5. So, we're good. Um, and some of the questions like they focus on different
subjects yeartoear. Um, this year they did focus more on the lead paint inspections. A lot of questions on that. Last year was affordable housing. There's some there, but it just a mixture of everything, but it needs to
be discussed at a public meeting. So, here we are. >> Oh, okay. >> Yep. >> Does anybody have any questions for Kim? >> Yeah. >> Kim, when um when will the report be available to the residents? Um,
we could actually put that out there um after this meeting. >> Okay. So, the answers to all the questions and everything. >> Yep. Yep. No problem. I'll have uh they post it on the website. >> Okay. Thank you. >> All right. Okay. No action necessary. Okay. Number
two, New Jersey Solutions Insurance Fund. Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield New Jersey Health Benefits cost to employees. >> Guess we're back to you on that. >> Yes. Um, I gave you two sheets. We're looking at this first sheet. Um,
as we know the state health benefits, uh, to put it money, it it it's tanking and they're so far in debt these last several years increases like this year coming up for 2026 was like a 36%
increase. Um, a lot of mis municipalities have failed. So the the pool is smaller so the cost is more. Um we were lucky though because we went out
with our experience rating and um I think the last meeting we you approved uh joining a half uh a health insurance fund because of our experience rating. Um, so
on your first sheet here, the middle column, if we stayed with state health benefits, the total premium would be $843,000 for the year. The column to the right is the HIP, the
proposed, which is uh a savings of over 200,000. That cost would be 633,000. we knew we had to do something for the employees and for low pack.
So your second sheet which is really um important to all the employees um you see the total cost with the HIP would be 718,000. There's two plans. There would be your
normal NJ10 and then the 2035 which is some of us switched to that this year and it's involves the difference card. It was even additional savings. So those plans will be offered. Um if we stayed
in there I showed you the cost what that would be 843,000. So moving to that it's a savings for next year of 125,000. Now your your next two columns is the
percentage which we need a vote on the council on the percentage to the employees. So the column 15 18 and 20%. To pay toward the the cost which this
year with the HIF is like three 3%. But prior years it's been 20%. It's been exorbitant. Some of the employees are paying 134,000. Yeah. Yeah. To contribute to the cost.
Um so we're hoping that the council would entertain the 15%. Uh with the savings moving, switching, um it would not be that much of an increase to the township.
Right. Um, anybody have any questions for Kim? >> It would be an increase. Huh? >> But what? >> It would be a slight increase. >> Now, where did the savings you say come? 125 or something.
>> That's it with us making the move out of state health benefits to the new hit. >> Oh, I see. >> Mhm. And if we didn't, it would cost us 800. >> Yes. Yes. >> 843,000. >> Mhm. >> And some too um we've we have cost
savings where employees have opted out and because of the high cost some of those especially this year I think we had three or four. So um additional >> Mhm. >> So >> and did you say you had a number for
what it would cost us about estimate? >> Um if >> we took to 15 >> it would be 610,000 and then with the offset for the sewer utility it would be 575. So I
tell you and tell you what we budgeted this year. believe well our actual our cost is going to be 676,000 so it's even a savings even with entertaining the 15%.
>> Mhm. >> Okay. And we can fund this. We could do it. >> Yes. >> Guys, any questions? Rich? >> No. I just feel that the and the employees would really appreciate this since they've been paying quite a bit.
>> Um, and making this move saves the township money and the employees money. >> So, it's a win-win. >> It's no longer based off their salary anymore. >> No, it's based off the premium. And as we age out, we move from family
to married or whatever, which some of us are doing now, the old-timers anyway. >> Yeah. All right. So, we need a motion from this. Oh, yeah. >> All right. I'll make a motion that we move to this at the 15% premium. >> Uhhuh.
>> Second. >> All right. Thank you. >> Councilman Marinelli. >> Yes. >> Councilman Mccle. >> Yes. >> Council President. >> Yes. >> Mayor Right. >> Yes. Thank you. >> Make sure that the employees know. >> Thank you.
Crazy. Um, okay. Cassette agenda. Have a motion. Second for items 1 through 10. >> I'll make the first motion. >> Motion. Roll call vote, please.
>> Councilman Marinelli. >> Yes. >> Councilman Mccle. >> Yes. >> President. >> Yes. >> Yes. Okay. Announcement. Tenative leaf pickup schedule. Check the website and for more details and I'll let you know what's going on and council reports.
Rich, >> Scott, yeah, I just wanted to thank the fellow councilman help us with the elections to go out there and put up signs and help things, especially Jim Cleo who did a lot of work on his own walking around
the township and my wife obviously. >> Okay, Jim. I would like to thank the residents of Lake Paccom for their support. I look forward to serving the community for another three years and working with you gentlemen. Um I'm glad I took the opportunity. So
is my podiatrist with all the bills he sent me for walking. No, I'm just kidding. Um got to meet a lot of people and hear their concerns. Um, one concern that really brought to my attention is the vehicle speeding on streets such at
across streets like Stonehenge, uh, Charles, and also Liberty Road. Um, I'd like to look into the possibility of putting stop signs there to control the speeding and, um, more patrol. Okay. >> Work with Jason on that.
>> Um, that's all for now. Thank you. >> Okay. uh want to congratulate you guys for uh winning the election. It's an honor to work with you. Um only thing I have is last after last month's meeting a week later or
something, we did hear that we lost the NFI lawsuit uh for the warehouse on strikers. um this council to contact the the attorneys and we immediately are putting in I don't know if Mike told you
immediately putting in um an appeal on that and uh we'll try to fight that. I don't know if you have any information. >> I don't have any rich I did speak with Mike and uh we're uh sending to the litigation department to appeal. >> So we're going to fight that uh
non-stop. Um and uh I think that's about all I have. So, engineers report. >> Yes. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh, to give everyone an update, um, this evening we discussed or, um, on the
old business, there was the award of the Sallyport project, which has been in in progress since probably 2018, um, if not before that. Um but certainly uh you know it's been awarded this evening and I will be working with the contractor to process the award and uh
they've in they've indicated they intend to you know as soon as we get all the contract contractual paperwork processed you know mid to late this month begin the work uh with the hope of getting the you know the the majority of the work done before the end of the year. Um and
then we'll be working with them to finalize the the project to get that up and running for the police department. Um the park improvement plan, park improvements uh project uh that has gone out to bid uh bids are will be opened on Tuesday,
December 2nd. Uh so looking forward to that uh with the new new pool and the other park facilities that are going to be constructed. Uh the pickle ball courts construction is now complete. Uh the contractors left the courts closed uh the last time I spoke spoken with him. uh he was concerned about the lawn
areas around, you know, not having been fully grown in and preventing tracking of soil onto the fresh quartz surface that was just installed. Um the walkways that are intended for that project are going to be installed for the facility are going to be installed as part of the pool project. So I'll be confirming with
the contractor whether we can we can open it, if he's comfortable opening it up. Um and then you know the courts will be will be open um here at the end end of the year. uh Stonehenge Drive improvements. Uh the project, you know, has been awarded. We've had the pre-construction meeting, done all the
required NG DOT um approvals and um the contractor is planning to start that work in the next week or two uh with the goal of completing the project before the Thanksgiving holiday. Um so we should have some some movement on that in the next week or two and we'll provide notice to all the residents
certainly. Um, sorry. The the other project that's coming up here at the end of the year, uh, is the completion of the South Fifth Street curb improvements. We had a pre-construction meeting with the contractor a few weeks ago. Uh, and they are also looking sort of one of their
end of the year projects. Um, sort of closer to the end of the month getting that done. It's like a couple day job for them. It's a quick job for them to complete. Um, and then finally, the Fox Farm um, road storm damage repairs. Uh we're scoping the work for permitting
and design uh and getting that before the council for approval so that we can get the D permits filed and get that uh scheduled uh you know in into D for approval and then for construction hopefully in the spring. Uh that's all I have right now.
>> Question on Baltimore all the work they're doing there. Are they going to repay that for us or >> Yes, they are going. Yeah, it's going to be a half width repave for the the main work >> and any of the tie-ins that they did to the uh to the other streets in Morris Park to do a half width mill and pave
>> which is what is part of the ordinance. >> Jim, do you have a question? >> Um just about while I was campaigning a lot of people asked about paving and I'd like to get some more streets on the list. I'll talk to you. >> Oh, sure. Of course. >> Okay. Police report Chief.
Thank you, mayor, council. First, I'd like to uh thank your uh mayor and council for your persistence in um pushing for the Sallyport and um we finally finally made the final push and it looks like it's going to happen. So, I appreciate that. It's going to be
beneficial to the safety of uh all the officers downstairs. So, thank you very much, Adam. Thank you for your work as well. So, we look forward to uh getting the project going and completed. Um our traffic report for the month of October, we had a total of 347 motor
vehicle stops with uh 52% of drivers that were stopped uh issued citations and 31 of those 31% of those issued citations went to uh commercial motor vehicles, overweight motor vehicles. So, the effort still continues.
Um just an announcement. The uh the police department will be uh participating in No Shave November this coming uh this coming month. Guys always look forward to it to grow out their facial hair a little bit, but it's uh most beneficial to uh one of our uh
local families, the Marino family. Um we just lost um Detective Sergeant Brett Marino to uh to cancer and um this benefit will be uh to his family. So, we we look forward to helping them out. And um lastly, uh I'd just like to uh
congratulate Lieutenant Lefford. Um we look forward to uh your continued work in the police department and um congratulations. It's u u welld deserved. We look forward to uh your leadership >> and that is my report.
>> Thank you, ma'am. Chief, want to thank you um part of the sheriff's department. been working with your guys. What, two Saturdays ago? >> Yeah, >> I believe it was. We did a truck detail um on 519 Bel Road. Um stopped a few
trucks one Saturday morning. So, sheriff's department down here helping out and we were we got six or seven, but they were stopped on a Saturday. So, yeah, we're glad to partner up with them. >> Yeah, it was a good day. >> It was a good day. Thank you very much. And I guess I I will uh speak to uh
council present and u we'll we'll get that figured out. >> Okay. >> Do you know if any of the re traffic uh tickets that the citations were on Liberty Road? >> Um I that's something I'd have to research and um let you know. >> Okay. >> So we can talk about it though. >> Yeah. >> Right. Thank you.
>> Thank you. >> Okay. Fire chief's not here, but he did give a report. Uh year to date there was 206 incidents that the department was dispatched for. Top category of incidents with 54 alarm activations.
Um this time last year they had 187. So they are up. Um so that's what he had left us. Uh EMS report. Anybody from EMS here? See none shade tree. Robin, you have
anything? >> Hi, good evening. Um, first of all, I apologize for not being here the last few meetings as I I've been traveling for work. Um, thank you very much for one of the consent agenda items was to approve the purchase order for planting
trees on Powder Horn. So, we worked hard at canvasing the residents on Powder Horn to get approval to replant trees in front of their home. Of the 20ome houses that um that were impacted, we got um 11
responses and three people that would were eligible essentially for two trees to be planted because we took down at least two trees in front of their home. So, that's going to proceed now. Um, and we're going to be able to start putting the trees down. Um, we allowed the residents to choose from,
um, half a dozen different tree species. People asked, "Where's the maples?" I said, "There are no maples because we're not planting maples anymore on low pack streets." Um, and u, so that's going to start proceeding. We've already put in the call before you dig order. So hopefully you'll see trees again on
Powder Horn before Thanksgiving. and um going to start working with the green team over at the middle school. Um we're going to start working yay. We're going to start working together on um several years ago we had a rain garden put in
with drug support and um last year I completed my uh green infrastructure champion training on rain gardens. So, I'd like to bring that into the community and the Shade Tree Commission is going to work with the middle school um green team to um rehabitate it and
bring it back and hopefully we can do the same in the park when that happens. We'll prove our good work. >> So, that's what we're working on. >> Thank you, Robert. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Approve department reports. Motion second. >> Motion. >> Second.
>> All in favor? >> I. >> Payment of bills. The motion in second, please. >> Motion. >> Second. >> Roll call vote. >> Councilman Marinelli. >> Yes. >> Councilman. >> Yes. >> Council President. >> Yes.
>> Yes. Okay. Public comment. >> Bye. >> Needed to come up earlier. Skipp them. Oh. Oh, I skipped before. Sorry. and Brian. >> I did. I did. >> Yeah. Just real quick, the report
basically is is, you know, leaves and we paved the alley that we talked about last time. That's all paved. All right. Um, we did our upper parking lot. The parking lot was paved and then we came in and um we did all the other stuff around and made it and safe. All right. Different things in that fashion. So,
really what amounts to is everybody put the leaves out. All right. And we'll get to them as soon as we can. So, that's kind of what's going on there. Um, the other thing that I need to talk about is uh we're having a hard time
with the the companies that do the HVAC work uh for buildings. All right. There's uh more units in this building than you think. All right. There's somewhere in the vicinity of like 12 13 units that we
take care of. All right. Um, so when you call company up, they don't just jump. We are not at a commercial level of units. We are at a residential level of units. So the big boys don't want to bother with us. All right. Um, Theater
Brothers has been there for us. Um, every every tech out there, every company out there to the best of my ability and ones I've talked to and I've talked to seven different companies, all right, are struggling for texts right now. They cannot find them. And what I got told was, "Do not walk away from the guy you have. You might not find another
one." All right. I personally went up to uh Suburban cuz I worked there and uh they told me the exact same thing right through my face. All right. So, that being said, um Deer Brothers gave me a quote and
they're the only one that gave me a quote. All right? They take care of it now. But uh to take care of the squad building here, the firehouse is and you know our side and everything is $5,144. I do have the money in the budget for that. So it's not it just needs to be a
contract signed. All right. By by the mayor, all right, and different things. Um the way this it works is uh it pays by uh installment. It's $1,286 every quarter. All right? And then they're on call. They come out, they fix things, they do whatever we need to do.
And we get a difference from uh 10% off for parts and right around in that fashion. They get paid for a double time, you know, time and a half, all that stuff. All right. at their level. Um the agreement is for one year, but it has it has a thing in here that uh um
the annual agreement shall continue in effect for uh year after year unless either party gives written notice to the other of intention not to review uh not to renew 30 days before the annual date. Um I looked at that. I studied that for
a little bit and that's why I I made my calls around and and talked to the right people. I think that's a good thing because they can't walk away from us unless they give us 30 days. All right. Um I talked to uh Kim, she said it meets standard to talk
to you, Beth. That meets standard. Um little bit of different things with with deer brothers. Um but overall they're pretty good for us. All right. So, I'd like to like you, mayor, to take this um and and if it's your wishes to sign off on it. All right. I'll give it to to
Beth or whatever. All right. But I wanted to present it in front of the the board. So, all right. All right. >> Okay. >> What's that? >> Well, yeah. I would just say uh if you want to approve it, just approve it subject to attorney review. >> Yeah.
>> I'll make that motion to do that. >> A second. >> Second. >> Councilman Marinelli. Yes. Councilman McQuade. >> Yes. >> Council President Leo. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> I'll give it to >> Sorry for getting
>> all right. Public comment. >> Yes, sir. >> Good evening and congratulations to party elected back. I'm here to request >> Can you give your name and your address, please? >> Yes. I'm Sam Joseph. um >> 378
>> correct correct >> yeah I I have uh presented myself last time for a relief for my fencing >> and Mr. Adam the engineer had been in my property and has made this recommendation just I want to um talk on
this council meeting to see if I can get the relief >> okay sure >> so I can get I can give some background we didn't really talk about it last month I didn't get the background I didn't visit Mr. Joseph's property, but now I have. So, just to give give the
council some background on it, um back in June of uh this year, Mr. Joseph had filed an application for a fence for his backyard on uh his property at 37 Hayes Way uh with the intention of fencing in the backyard with a 6-ft high privacy
fence. Um Paul Sturbins, you know, was uh serving as the zoning officer at the time and reviewing the the zoning permit against the ordinance. Uh it happens that there's a 20 foot wide drainage easement uh on Mr. Joseph's property uh
that includes some storm water infrastructure, a catch basin, and some piping. And strictly, you know, per the ordinance, uh, you're not permitted to construct a fence in a drainage easement if there is storm water infrastructure underground. And in this case, there is.
So, the zoning permit that was filed in June was denied uh at the time uh with the potential for Mr. Joseph to come before the council for relief from that. Um and so I visited the site uh last week uh the property last week, met with
Mr. Joseph, reviewed the back his backyard and the adjoining you know neighbors backyards and also spoke to uh Brian Weekes about the conditions on the property and you know strictly speaking with strict interpretation of the ordinance would indicate that the fence
wouldn't be installed which is why the zoning permit was denied. Uh however, you know, surrounding properties on Hazeway um and generally in the vicinity of the of this neighborhood, there are a lot of properties that have fencing that have sheds that have other facilities in
the backyard in the drainage easements. Uh and the primary concern is that, you know, there wouldn't be access to to to either clean or maintain the pipes that are there or replace the pipes that are there should there be some some issue that would impede, you know, storm water getting into the the basins. So, I did
explain that to Mr. Joseph and that, you know, in initially that was why the zoning permit was denied. Um, speaking with Brian, um, you know, in terms of his concerns about access for maintenance, um, certainly he can speak to that. He's here tonight. Um, you
know, and explaining to Mr. Joseph that, you know, should the council be willing to to grant sort of relief from this denial and allow him to construct a fence in his backyard, um, you know, certainly for his family's use. um that you know maintenance would have
to be maintenance access would have to be maintained. you know there would be um you know he would have to plan the work installation of the fence not to impede runoff through the property and ensure that um you know should Brian need to go back there something gets
clogged something gets obstructed or you know it's concrete pipe and we would hope concrete pipe wouldn't collapse but you know in 20 years maybe something needs to be replaced you know access would have to be maintained and certainly as part of any um appeal or
relief from this zoning denial. You know, he would have to agree that, you know, any any work that the town would do, sort of the repair or the replacement of the fence that's might impede work would be on, you know, the property owner himself and his family to replace the fence should that happen.
And then just as an aside, it wasn't initially shown in the zoning permit, but certainly saw that, you know, the prior homeowner, you know, prior to to Mr. Joseph had installed a a shed in the drainage ement as well just off of the catch basin that's there. There's a shed there now that's been there for many
years. Um and I don't believe there's been any issue. Certainly Brian could speak to it as well if there has been any issues uh in that you know in that area in that training. I don't believe there have been speaking with Brian previously on this issue. So that's sort of some background. Certainly if you
have questions for myself or Mr. Joseph or Brian you know we welcome any questions. What do you do you recommending? >> I can't see uh I can't see a negative uh you know certainly if Mr. Joseph understands the conditions that are
being that I've sort of outlined and he and I have discussed um I can't see a negative uh from it being you know allows him full use of of his backyard uh with young children. Certainly I understand his his concern coming from the same place and you know in terms of
the drainage many times drainage ements are split down the middle between two property owners. >> In this case along Hayes way the drainage ement is fully on his property. So should should he install the fence outside of the drainage ement he'd have a 5-ft basically backyard behind his
deck which isn't really anything you could. So instead of a 25 foot backyard, which also which already is not a very deep backyard uh space fenced space, he'd have a five foot fence space, which is really not functional at that point.
Um it's not it's not ideal. Uh we could certainly work with uh drafting an agreement where uh there's consent for the township to uh if needed remove the fence. And as Adam said at his cost, he'd have to reinstall
>> but that's an an e situation. >> Right. Right. >> You have a problem with this issue? >> No, I was completely in acceptance with because I'm also making the fence in such a way that it should be able to be removed at any time if needs to be. >> Okay. So, could we approve it tonight
and then with your >> Exactly. Uh same thing. You can approve it subject to uh an agreement and need to with the resident. >> Sound good? Thank you. >> Ryan, you have any problems? >> Yeah, not a problem. Just need to know one thing. Um, I need to know how open
your gate is, how big it is. >> I don't have a measurement, but I can share it with you. >> Okay. Um, I'll share it through, you know, wherever you want to do that. Um, and with because I got to be able to get >> Yeah, I have a big machine that I have to ride through. So, it has that big space.
>> Okay. Okay. Yeah. But I was okay with it. I was out there with >> Yeah. sort of talked about like probably eight or 10 foot opening. >> Yeah, that's what I'm looking for. Yeah, that's that's what I'm asking for. >> Right. >> All right. >> And Brian, if you want to send that information over to me, I can put it in the agreement. >> Okay.
>> Okay. >> All right. Sounds good. >> I'll make a motion that we take care of this. >> Second vocal. >> Council Marinelli. >> Yes. >> Council M. >> Yes. President. >> Yes. Mayor, >> yes.
>> Thank you. We'll take care of you. Thank you. >> All right. Anyone else? Don >> Judy, would you have a matter >> lip tac 47 Kyle? Good evening. The views and experience I'm about to share are solely my own and do not represent any
organization or any other person. My comments this evening concern two recent public safety issues and related directly to the vital see something, say something principle. a solicitation within our neighborhoods continued to be problematic. I'm raising concern about
two separate incidents of solicitation at my residence where permits were requested but not produced. Police were notified in both cases. In both in incidences, individuals failed to produce a valid permit. My husband and I immediately contacted the police department. In the most recent incident,
police did stop the individuals. However, there was no follow-up provided regarding whether or not these sales were legitimate or if there was a valid permit eventually produced. Another concern involves individuals taking photographs of homes and properties in
my neighborhood on two separate occasions. One on a Sunday evening and another during the workday um during the week. Several residents called the police. We were reportedly told that the individual was a gas company subcontractor,
not the Elizabeth Town one that's working now. He was photographing the area. Each individual house going on properties. Um he said planned to do uh the gas company was planning to rip up all of Laccon. His words he was going to
rip up all the streets in Laccon and he was there taking photographs. The only identification he had was a yellow um you know shirt. This information was never publicly confirmed by the township. So we assumed it was not legitimate. So we ask are the gas line
replacement projects in subsequent road digging throughout Lacon confirmed. Is the town aware of this gas company contracts that involve individuals photographing our homes and our properties? Are these two incidents legitimate contractors? Does the burrow
know this? If this project and the associated photography are confirmed, I respectfully ask the town to issue a public statement to all residents. Confirm the scope and timing of these gas line replacement projects. Inform residents that contractors are indeed
authorized to be on our or near our properties and permitted to photograph our homes. Can the council address what follow-up protocols are in place for confirmed reports of unpermitted solicitation and how residents residents can be informed of the outcomes to
ensure our public safety? Thank you for your time and attention in these important neighborhood safety and communication issues. >> Chief, do we know anything about this, Chief, or >> I hate to put you on the spot, but >> the solicitation call, but um I can certainly look into it.
>> Right. There was two recently. Um I called one and my husband called. The second one my husband called. Um they asked he asked for the permit and the guy kind of swore on him and said we don't need that. We did see the police come and they did have them pulled over. We just never know if it's legit or you
know and how do we like alert the public? >> I know there was at least two uh two people that were issued citations for solicitation. >> Okay. >> In the past week or two. So, I'm not sure when was, but um I can pro the second one is probably about 2, 3 weeks ago. Yes,
>> I can get that information from you and look into it. >> Sure. I know exactly what happened. >> Most alarmingly though is the guy with the uh vest going through taking pictures of properties. It's very disturbing and unnerving when you have a stranger in your neighborhood stopping and taking pictures of people's
properties and then going up, you know, almost onto their properties. I think one occasion they did and one was like a Sunday evening at like 7:30 at night. >> It's very weird, very unnerving. Um and then the other and the police did come. We did see the police come. The second
one the gentleman um it was like while everyone was at work and you know that's alarming. Are they casing the neighborhoods? I don't know. Um taking again photographs of our homes that it's and we called but we just we haven't heard anything. So that's why I'm
asking, is there a project going on? Are we going to be digging up all the roads in Lowac? Cuz if we're paving >> Stone Edge, I hope to God that's not the case, you know. >> So, >> well, Chief, if you would get back to her, I'd really appreciate it. So, we know what's going on. >> Whatever you need. >> Okay.
>> Great. All right. Thank you, Donna. >> Donna Schneider, 26 Meadow View. Um, I just want to also comment on that. There's a there's a couple of guys that come around in like um blue shirts and a hat and they do the sametick
every time they come. They point to another person's house from my neighborhood and they use their name and say, "Oh, the so- and so's I'm doing work on their house and you know, trying to uh get an in." I do ask for a permit. He shows me something. I'm like, "That's not a permit." And uh he said, "Oh, it's
in my uh boss's car. I'll go get it." Um, but the last time I did call the police cuz it's like the third time this guy's been at my house and they did come. So, I don't know if you know who that guy is, but he's all over. People are posting on social media the same guys in the same blue um jackets and
hats. >> So, um yeah, but they did come. So, thank you for that. Um, another issue is, um, you know, I know it's been brought up a lot in meetings and we never really, um, get any resolution to
it. Um, do we know how much money the town takes in from pilot >> for for the one warehouse on 22? >> Anything that's pilot, I don't even know what's pilot and what's not. Uh we have three pilots. Uh climate
village, >> the warehouse on 22, and the mall, which hasn't even uh started yet, >> right? >> Um I don't have a figure off the top of my head. >> Okay. >> Um is there can get that for us? Okay.
Um, I'm I'm just wondering because, you know, going over and then the last time with the whole school issue and telling everyone that the taxes in the town are so high because the school tax is um causing everyone's taxes to be high. It's just kind of um it's it's unnerving
because it's not just the school and the school is educating our children and if we are taking in money, we are not passing any of it to the schools. Is that correct? Are we giving them >> any pilot money? >> No,
>> we're not giving them any pilot money. Um and when we asked um Councilman Belc Caro said because the schools aren't doing that well, why should we reward them with money? Um, so I don't know where you stand and where this council stands on trying to share the wealth um
and give the schools some of that money to offset all the things the the great things that um Israel said are happening in the school because without money they can't have that. >> We understand that. >> Um so I'm just wondering if this council will look into possibly giving some
pilot money to the schools. >> All right. Thank you. >> Okay. And one more question. How come the strawberry plant never puts a sign on there? They painted it and they never advertise who they are. It's just a blank sign. I know it's not in ordinance. You don't have to have a sign. Correct.
>> Yeah, there's nothing. >> Okay. Just wondering why that's like the only business that doesn't have a sign. It's kind of strange. >> Yeah. >> No reasons. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Give them a give them a call. I don't know. >> All right. Anyone else?
Okay. Seeing none, motion for adjournment. >> Motion. >> Second. All in favor? >> Thank you for coming out, everyone.