all right like to call to order the uh regular meeting of the Lakon Township for April 2nd 2025 please bow your head for a moment of silence pledge [Music]
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 by advertising a notice in the star ledger and the express times and by posting a copy in a bulletin board of municipal building roll call back please yes councilman Delaro here councilman
Marinelli here councilman here council president here here wade would you summarize executive session please yeah the council met in executive session where it discussed the following priv privileged matters
contractual DPW negotiations personnel separation agreement litigation affordable housing update attorney client privilege alleyway ownership 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 there is going to be uh two resolutions uh following the executive session uh the first uh will be approval of a separation agreement for the zoning officer Andrew Melendez uh if you want
to take that motion sure can I have a motion and second for that one please i'll make that motion i'll second it okay councilman Valera yes councilman Marinelli yes councilman McQuade yes council President yes mayor Rick yes and
there's going to be a resolution uh authorizing uh a settlement with New Jersey Builders Association on the affordable housing litigation uh just by way of background uh there was uh a fourth round affordable housing the
DCA's number for the township was 87 the township uh disputed that number uh with a number of 71 based on our planner's recommendations uh according to the fourth round uh affordable housing uh settlement program
we met with retired judge Miller and a settlement of 81 units was reached and there is going to be a resolution authorizing that settlement all right can we have a u motion and second for that resolution please motion second all in favor i do a vote
yes councilman Marinelli yes council yes council President yes right yes okay uh we have a presentation by Wonder Power New Jersey Community for Solar Energy Program good evening good evening thank you my
name is Jake Fuller with Wonder Power and we are a solar developer planning to build a 48 kW rooftop community solar project on the prime self-s storage site that's just across from Kohl's um as um a first step of that the the board of public utilities in New
Jersey requires a letter of support from the mayor or council um so that we can join the community solar program um so we're here to introduce ourselves explain the project um and ask for your support to help us move forward um so this is um this will be on the
rooftop of the existing buildings there at Prime Storage right across from Kohl's um we're looking at about 700 of those panels um and this pro this project will generate over 508 kilowatt hours of uh power per year that's clean
energy production locally um and as part of the community solar program um none of that power generated on site is consumed on site it's actually exported to the grid and and we sign up subscribers to that program and through the program um residents are guaranteed at least 20% savings um on their current
bills um so and we we're committed to um subscribe at least half of low to moderate income subscribers so those benefits um energy burden reduction will go to those who need it the most um we are working with uh but we will be working with um all the authorities um
to make sure our our project is built to the highest standards of quality um and to the the um the wishes of the of the community as well do you have any questions for me or anything i have anything i have a quick question
matter procedure i guess Council Marinelli just pointed out that that lot we looked up the address that lot is in Greenwood Township it appears i think there's a small portion is there a small portion of the pack it's right on the line that's what we weren't sure neither
we don't want to make sure you're not at the wrong place absolutely it's happened before okay that's fine okay that was the only question i don't want to be in there no so so you mentioned that 20% savings for the low pad residents correct correct
well it goes to any of JCPNL customers but we um we will target um this this community first um because it's close by what about residents that have solar panels already uh that's that's um would be outside of this i think it would be it's a separate program that they they opt into so they have the chance to opt
into it um and and we'll go through the list we usually do join community events knock doors doortodoor but it's a completely separate program from what they'd have in terms of net metering at their own home because this summit there's an anticipation JCPNL is going to raise their rates I think from around
10 to 15% correct 19 19% so this this can be a wash for those who qualify correct yeah the way that we're able to provide savings is you know we we we only have to power the subscribers um of the system while
JCPNL has to p provide power to everybody so they have so many transmission and and distribution costs um we do not have those so we're able to offer 20% so yes we can be a great hedge against increasing um increasing prices but obviously this is completely separate from from their retail
structure um that that u in terms of pricing so if does if this uh does happen when are you in full operation so our plan is to start construction um sure that's a very good question it depends on the permitting and interconnection right now we have our preliminary designs we're working on our
inter interconnection application with JCPNL but we're hoping to start construction in the summer and we should be operational before the end of the year and you just need a letter from us correct this is very early days um just the first I can provide an example we've
gotten letters from um we're working with Prime across their portfolio and in in New Jersey we've gotten letters from Fairlon Bordontown Roxbury um I can provide you an example of one of these letters um but it's a general letter letter of support um both the BPU um uh
and we know like things may change slightly in terms of our design once we go through the permitting process but this is generally like LOAC is ready to support this project um and and have community solar in their in their township
do we vote on it now or we just uh Yeah I guess uh you should vote to authorize the letter all right you guys want to vote and let me know if you want it and we'll strictly on the roofs yes and it's flat right you don't see it it's
slightly um it's like those st those classic um self storage where there's a bit of a tilt um and you may see it from the road but it's very flush the mounting so it's not really an isore you want to take a roll call on that this is going to be the motion in a second i'll
do the motion second okay councilman Belaro yes councilman Marinelli yes councilman McCu yes council President yes yes right if you give her like a copy of one and then she I have one oh do you have You're good thank you all
very much all right all right thank you thank you okay public comment agenda items only seeing none old business uh minutes approve executive and regular sessions from March 5th 2025 i have a motion in a
second motion second roll call please yes councilman Marinelli yes councilman Mcuade yes council President yes yes okay number two ordinance number 2025-04 second reading and public hearing
authorizing and proving the application for a tax exemption and the execution and delivery of a financial agreement between the township of Leakon and the cubes at US22 sub1 urban renewal LLC for a redevelopment project on property
designated as block 102 lots 9.01 and 9.03 pursuant to a long-term tax exemption law can I have a motion and a second to hold public meeting motion i'll second that all in favor i
comment for the public mr bruce [Music] Bob Bruce Hallitch wrote I wanted to speak about the tax implications of the pilot programs payment in lie of taxes that you're considering it's important to understand that the bottom line is
this when it when you guys reach an agreement with a developer for a pilot program you don't fully fund the tax distribution formula that's outlined for our tax base you're basically raising our taxes
100% if you don't fully fund the tax distribution formula that you have on your website I have it in my bag 56% is the big red one when the town keeps 95% of the taxes collected from this pilot
you're considering and the business is not paying its fair share of taxes like everyone else in Lacon does the citizens of Lacong are losing we're losing out on tax revenue the municipality and this
council will alone alone get to determine where to spend the 95% of the pilot taxes you collect rather than following the tax distribution formula clearly outlined on your website which we all pay as stated at the last meeting
should the town enter into this pilot 5% goes to the county and then 95% goes to you according to the breakdown on your website 20% is local municipal 1% municipal open space 23% county library
open space and 56% school should this council adopt this pilot agreement all other areas that I just detailed are not going to receive their fair share of tax revenue the bottom line is the schools
are 56% of our tax pie collecting the pilot and then undercutting that 56% share to the schools leaves the schools without the tax revenue that could help to fund their budgets there's no reason for you guys to enter into a pilot
agreement this land is being developed it's desired and the purpose of pilot is to is being manipulated to the detriment of the taxpayers it's benefiting the developer if the town council decides to enter into a pilot they must at least
make sure that the tax distribution is fairly divided as outlined on your website giving the schools at least the 56% you are entitled to with that I ask that you vote this down thank you thank
you Mr bruce anyone else mr henderson [Music] john Ketcherson 38J Lane uh pilot as Bob said is often offered as an enticement for a developer to build on a lot that's otherwise not would not be developed however no enticement is needed to
redevelop the Peabberg Mall according to the testimony of the expert hired by the township to evaluate the property for pilot the developer already has multiple tenants lined up and is eager to build this warehouse but the council is considering pilot anyway a move that will hugely benefit the council but not
so much the taxpayer of Leakon under pilot the township will receive 95% of the negotiated payment while the schools get nothing the school tax accounts for 56% of our property tax bill yet the pilot will do nothing to alleviate this
burden on taxpayers during his presentation this expert stated the warehouse will not put a burden on the schools and therefore should not pay school taxes i point out there are many residents of Leakon who do not have children in the school district and many including myself who have never had
children in the school district and have never put a burden on the schools it sure would be nice to get that same consideration in past meetings this council has claimed people are leaving Lakhang because they can't afford the taxes and the council is willing to allow any industry into our area as long
as it helps hold down taxes the council blames the schools for high property taxes it's disingenuous to blame the schools for the high taxes the council claims ch are chasing people out of lack then pass an ordinance that would withhold money from this majority
portion of our tax bill you are not hurting the schools pilot or not they're going to be funded however you're not providing taxpayers with the relief you claim they need and I know they deserve the council invited via ordinance this warehouse into our township knowing full
well the negative impacts associated with it taxpayers have to deal with increased traffic crashes pollution garbage pee bottles that dot our roadways the council could at least provide taxpayers with some kind of tax relief pilot will enable the council to
gleefully say they've held down taxes squander money on things like an $18 million park while pointing at the school and blaming them for high taxes it's too bad the schools don't have the same any say in this matter i know how you're probably going to vote and I know it's going to be unanimous vote it
always is uh still I urge you to do the right thing vote no and make the property owner pay property taxes like everyone else so that taxpayers can get some relief from the t overall tax bill thank you thank you Mr betts
john Bettsley Gardens I agree in the affirmative Mr bruce and Sir John all right anyone else i also agree with what everyone else is saying it's Sure sorry donna Schneider 26 Meadow View um I think the schools should get
some share of that i know that this council has always said that blame the schools for your taxes blame the schools for your taxes and they shouldn't be blamed they should be helped and um that's the only way that I think you guys should go is to help them with their taxes and help all of us with our
taxes instead of giving the help to the pilot program and whoever is um moving into those buildings so thank you anyone else see question um I'll speak to the border bed people
uh what percentage of the 56% property taxes that goes to the school are salaries and pensions i don't think you can answer that now i don't know about I'm not sure who you're asking because I want to know how's how is this going to help the
school is it going to help the salaries and pensions because the way I understand it 80 to 90% of 56% is salaries and pensions so how much is really going to help the children as opposed to helping the teachers the
children and they have to be paid pensions are paid by the teachers this year this past year the school passed 5.5% in um increase in taxes correct was a 5.5% increase
i was at the last meeting right that's what that's what the school raised presentation is is coming up so you're welcome to come to Okay the point I'm getting to we spend the most money on education in the world and we're ranked
40th our kids from what I understand less than 50% of the students in Lat and it's even worse at the high school is proficient in reading absolutely and math lat performs very
well matter of fact that was written in the newspaper last year was the highest ranked school in this county in the county right compared to that because you're comparing not the the school I'm
speaking okay the point I'm making is I don't feel I have to should reward failure so if Lakhan did the best in the county what does this say for the rest of the county your point is isn't even significant
it is because you're asking you're asking us you're asking me to vote right for more funds for the school it's see the thing is it's never enough for the public schools it's never enough whether the state vote it down and let it be
taxed like every other property in the township so they wouldn't get more money they would alleviate the tax burden on the rest of the taxpayers but the schools still raise taxes even though taxes anyway and that's going to be even more of a burden on the taxpayers you guys are taking all this
money I don't believe that to be true i know I don't believe that i don't think it's really fair to ask the board right now because they're not they're not here as a group no representing and you know and I don't
think it's right all right well since you guys are here I figure you may have some you know some answers that you can enlighten you know enlighten me that maybe the public don't know you know so like basically it would be great I think if you wanted to invite our
superintendent to a meeting um that can answer that or or the president you know if the board gives him the right to come and speak for the board none of us as individuals can speak for the board of that okay that's fair enough motion that
we sign for that delay the vote have the meeting all right i have a motion and a second to close the public hearing motion second all in favor i need a motion and a second to adopt
this ordinance motion i'll second it councilman Delcara yes councilman Marinelli yes councilman McUade yes council President Fledo yes right yes uh new bit uh new business the uh municipal
budget for 2025 introduction john going to talk about it or yes sorry I was checking good evening everyone um tonight you have before you the
introduction of the 2025 budget the budget is uh compliant with both the appropriation cap and the tax levy cap so you are good to introduce the budget tonight uh as it stands the budget is a penny 1.2 cents higher than it was last
year to the local tax rate what that means to an average local home assessed at 231,000 is a $29 increase for the year or $2.39 per month um I see that you have later on in
your in your um consent agenda you have the um self-examination resolution it's important to pass this because two out of every three years you get to review your own budget which means your CFO is reviewing the budget your budget's already been through two partner reviews
at my firm and it's fine um so if you do that we'll we'll take care of that and upload everything tomorrow as long as we have the votes if you have the votes tonight to introduce uh adoption will be May 7th at which time the public can ask questions about the budget and we can
have the hearing on the budget then i don't have specific line item details so if you ask me anything now I'm going to defer to your CFO when she's back okay anybody have anything for John no no thank you thank you thank you
so we need a motion in a second to uh and then I'll make that motion second roll call vote yes councilman Delara yes council Marinelli yes councilman yes yes
yes and ordinance number two uh 2025-05 this will be the first reading bond ordinance approving providing a appropriation for $2,276,13 for acquisition of a ladder truck in and by the township of Packon
in the county of Warren New Jersey authorizing the issu issuance of 22 2,162,293 in bonds or notes um of the town of Packon for financing part of this appropriation um before we
uh take a motion and second you want to come up and give a few details on this all right uh so my name is Jim Marinelli i'm the assistant chief at Delaware Park Fire Company in La Pacon um so originally January 17th 2024 uh we
made the initial presentation for the uh needing to replace our current ladder truck with a which is a 2,400 ft rear mount ladder um we would be looking to replace this with a uh
206 Pierce uh midmount tower ladder which is at the uh price of uh the Sorry 2,276,13 um with the 20 at this time 21 year old truck we have had current issues with it
and we are using a lot of our budget right now to make these fixes and band-aids on the truck to try to make it last we've had u multiple electrical issues with it um ladder issues outrigger issues um there's a there's a
a long list of issues with the current ladder um in the township of Pacon we see the definite need for a ladder in the township of Pakon with the multiple now four-story buildings being built we have a four-story 55 and older built in
Autumn Ridge um we have multiple nursing homes multiple warehouses already in the town and more being constructed um so I mean if anyone has from the council has any questions for me I'd be happily to
answer anything I can um but um kind of if there is anything else in detail we need right now right now we're looking at with the um process of us getting a um stock a custom stock to build unit we
are looking at a 13 to 15month delivery time which is able to be a little bit different than the original 42 to 46-month delivery time and it will also save um the town a significant amount of money being able to get this this stock unit which we are still able to
customize to our needs in this town how much down deposit is required there is there is no money due until the date of delivery not a contract yes no not a dime is due to Pierce Manufacturing until the date
of delivery and that would be sometime in 2020 right now if we are able to get this stock custom to build 13 to 15 months so we're looking probably with the how production is and you never really know probably
sometime end of 2026 okay middle to the end of 2026 which could give or take you don't no one really knows how today's world is with delivery and stuff and we had to wait till we did the ordinance today
resolution today because we couldn't give them a purchase order prior to getting this approved this is here now that's what and we are I was able to we were able to talk with um them to kind of be able to lock in a
price that we have that is good until um May when it should have at the the price we had originally was good until April 30th may 1st it would have went up which would have increased significantly due to now there is metal tariffs the
2027 engines just came out which is a new whole new more emissions and the metal tariffs in the whole world which would have been a significant increase but we were able to they were able to extend the price for us until May 15th
given that that two weeks so they were able to save the town significant amount of money and work with us to be able to see us getting this done and I got to give it the government chief house chief of the Ford they really did a good job getting this they
cut corners they seen what we did roxbury brought a truck down last Saturday yeah last Saturday we had Roxberry put it in the bay made sure it fit and we used it we took it out to Sycamore Landing brought it up see how fast it was up saved people they did a
great job and um I'd recommend we make this motion yeah i would want to thank the uh township truck committee for working with us you guys have met with us multiple times be able to talk back and forth especially with Eric which is our salesman from fire and safety services in South
Planefield um and being able to work with us meet with us whenever we had to to be able to try to get this done all right thank you Jim yep appreciate it um so we need a motion to second i'll make the motion second roll call vote please councilman Vera yes councilman
Marinelli yes councilman Mcclay yes council President yes mayor yes number three ordinance number 20-25-06 first reading to adopt a revision and codification of the ordinance ordinance of the township of
Lakon i need a motion in a second motion i'll second that roll call please yes councilman Delaro yes councilman Marinelli yes councilman Mcuade yes council President Fleo yes right yes number four ordinance number
2025-07 first reading to amend chapter 243 entitled zoning and land use to amend definition of alley i need a motion and a second motion second roll call councilman Delaro yes
councilman Marinelli yes councilman yes council president yes yes consent agenda items 1 through 14 motion to second please approve them i'll make the motion second roll call
vote councilman Belcara yes council Marinelli yes councilman yes council President yes yes uh council reports uh Rich um I'm don't have anything to uh for reports i'm going to defer to um
Councilman Marinelli for something important that he's going to mention lou no report jim Miss Scott just this last week our longtime records clerk for the police department passed away Shirley Emmery just want everybody
to know that she did a great job and today she was laid to rest anybody else jim okay the town Easter egg hunt scheduled for April 12th rain date April
19th earth Day cleanup is April 26th and the Pacong Athletic Association i'd like to schedule a meeting with them to go over the agreement they their 501c3 status was reinstated
and that's all all right um the other thing I have we're still fielding a lot of interest on the um what we call the bowling alley the field there off of Belleview alongside um off of Bellev Road along side of
Belleview um people that want to put stuff in there is not that great my mind we've had anything from solar fields again to um a slaughter
house and a few other things and it just would not be good in between two pieces of property with houses on both sides so I'm praying it doesn't come to fruition and we don't have to worry about that but um again great job with the truck
guys and uh I want to thank everybody for all the hard work on that um and that's all I have um engineers report yes thank you Mr mayor um to give the
the council an update um the Fox Farm we have of course multiple things going on in the in the township uh the Fox Farm Road storm damage repairs has been ongoing uh coordination with FEMA and now with the D we'll be involved uh we'll be we currently completed our
survey of the project limits excuse me and we'll be working with the D to prepare a concept plan for the work so that we can pursue permits on the project uh ultimately for construction of repairs on the roadway uh next item
the Sallyport project uh as the council probably recalls the bids that we received uh were rejected uh and the project is currently out for rebid we'll be opening uh bids this month ahead of the May meeting so hopefully we can see
some more favorable bid results um certainly we'll be and we'll be meeting with the contractors again uh before the bid and the pre-bid meeting so hopefully we can clarify some questions they might have uh that resulted in the bids being high the last time
um uh next uh the pool demolition the demolition is well underway it's been going on for about a week now the kitty pool 50% of the main pool approximately a lot of the pool decking has been removed um already uh and the concrete
structure of the old pool is also being removed in its entirety um I have a meeting this Friday with the uh demolition contractor and some other staff members uh to review the demolition of the pool house which will be next once the pool itself is removed um next just to give an update on the
park improvement plan preparation uh we had a 90% design meeting uh on March 27th last week and we went through um the pool design there were some comments that we received related to the design of the pool and various uses that are being envisioned uh in the complex and
the facility so those plans are being now finalized and integrated uh into the design as well as uh the designs of the the all the other sort of improvements throughout the facility those are being finalized now as well and are on schedule uh the pickle ball courts um
there were some revisions that we needed to make we finished those plan revisions uh for the courts to incorporate uh some of the development in the park uh other park improvements including the pool so that's all been finalized uh sent over to the contractor so I hope we can have a pre-construction meeting i'll be
talking to him tomorrow uh setting up a pre-construction meeting so we can get started on the construction of the pickle ball courts uh in the next couple weeks here um so that'll sort of probably start up right as the pool demolition's wrapping up um on uh our DOT uh project the funded
project grant funded project this year is the Stonehenge Drive uh that design has been completed there's some minor revisions we need to make before we send it to DOT we expect that'll be going out to bid um certainly as long as DOT doesn't take a few months here to review it hopefully that construction can begin
in the summer and we can get that done before school opens um for the fall um the next project's been ongoing and it has taken a while the contractor last year did not um come out to do the work on Jade Lane we had
completed the sidewalk improvements and drainage and manhole improvements out there uh but the paving contractor sort of we kept falling down their schedule so now we have a meeting with them on Monday now that this year's construction season starting so we're hoping that Jade Lane gets done here early in the
construction season uh we'll have I'll have more details after our meeting on Monday with them um see and uh that's all I have for now thank you
okay please report chief thank you Mayor Council good evening so the uh traffic port report for the month of March I have um police department had a total of 263 motor vehicle stops during the month and of those stopped 43% of the drivers were
issued traffic citations of those issued a traffic citation 51% of those were overweight vehicles and again we were able to u dedicate an additional 68 hours of um patrols towards that effort um beginning
this month in April we will have a uh dedicated patrol um specifically for that task for traffic in in the township so hopefully we can keep uh chipping away at this and uh making a good dent in it um also for for this month we're
going to be using uh drunk driving enforcement funds to put extra patrols on our roadways for uh DUI enforcement um now the the weather's getting a little bit nicer and we're seeing more uh more traffic out in the roadways and um hopefully we can get make a dent in
keeping our roadways a little bit safer in that regard as well and then I would just like to uh reiterate the uh the passing of uh our longtime uh records clerk in the police department we're all saddened by her uh her passing she was a big part of the police department for uh
um I think 17 18 years uh during her employment here so she'll be uh sorely missed and uh that's my report Mr mayor thanks Chief thank you uh D uh Brian yeah I just want to give you a little bit of rundown on what's been going on
um all your roads have been swept probably three times i mean they're real nice we try to go back after every storm and hit every restoring a lot of stuff off the roads all right um the other thing is it's b ball tail field time and all that all right every field has been
turned over um in the park has been turned over uh for maintenance for everything for uh the back athletic association all right uh we will maintain the ones out u because of the equipment moving out here all right so they're responsible there or if they
need to help you know we'll help them all right um you know the kids will be playing as best we can um we finally got our infield mix we got about half of it today all right we just got to We can't get up on the equipment on the field yet the heavy equipment all right to carry
the infield mix in there's 58 ton of it coming all right so it'll be put over what is it seven fields whatever it is there right four nine fields there's nine nine baseball fields all right so it isn't really a lot when you really start
looking about it all right um and the other thing is uh we laid out that we the uh um automatic line maker all right layout for the soccer fields and the football fields and all that um we laid out every line from soccer to baseball
softball we laid out the uh um first two football fields we have to we have to literally lay them out and then once you're in the program you're done you'll just basically boom and and and you know what I mean or they have to be put in first so you're going to see some fields up there you're going to go
"Why are we painting football fields?" All right and that's why because they got to be custom made because of the size of our field and different things they don't meet the big playoff fields and stuff so um but it's going to save us a lot of time a lot of money all
right um just to give you an idea um it took us probably 4 hours to figure out the fields and all the measurements and all that stuff on the the first practice football field but it painted it in 12 minutes all right so right now that
means I can go up there now put that machine there in 12 minutes that field will be painted all right so it's not hours and it it's not cleaning a machine it takes about 3 4 minutes to clean that machine so that it's called a tiny tanks robot um runs itself off the the
satellites um so thank you for that it's been a it'll be a good blessing all the way around all right it'll save us a lot of paint because we're not going to have to paint the football field main football field um like let's say they had a game and then there was 2 three weeks down the road we have to paint that every week to maintain it before we
would have to line it all again with strings now I can go in there it can wipe it completely out go away and I can go in there and go paint it and it'll go paint it all right so that's a it's a little bit more money for the paint but because of the volume that you're not going to be painting you've saved a lot
of money so um that's a good thing um we're starting to work on our our curbings all right that's going to be happening in next week out on uh like pedallers and all that um the curving is is is starting to go bad the stone and all that so we're rebuilding that and
putting that back in place and um I think there's almost 80 80 yards of it all right that's going to be redone and uh you know put back in place all right so then I'll go figure some more out and we'll go on to that side of the fence so all the storm drains have been done for
the for the year meaning when I say that I'm talking about cleaning for the storm water all right because of the weather wasn't snow it was more ice and stuff so we had more time to get out and do that side of the fence of it so So we're ahead on that side a little bit so um so right now it's just basically we're
going to get ready for Easter all right um this week um we will be getting the pavilion all the boats are out of the pavilion everything's uh ready to go all right so uh that's where our future's going all right thanks Fire
Chief chief L you have anything yes [Music] sir council keep it brief for you uh so this is going back to February in February we had a total of 19 emergency calls for the fire department as I
mentioned last meeting two of those uh were those serious structure fires that we had um right now in the past month the department's been very busy we've been training uh a lot together which is
uh very beneficial to everybody so residents might see us around town they do see the fire department most of the you know a lot of act activity and might just be drilling like we did a master stream drill relay pumping at the middle school uh practicing stretching large
diameter hose lines it was a benefit to the entire department so you might see that not to get alarmed but uh a lot of times if there's you don't see any smoke or you don't see any fire it's probably just us drilling and training keeping proficient in our skills present time we're also working I spoke to the mayor
regarding this is a preliminarily with the surrounding departments we're looking to do a regional grant to replace our radios uh the county has upgra upgraded their radio system and we are required to upgrade those as well uh this is affects all the emergency
services uh in the county so we're at this time looking to do a regional grant uh Alpha is willing to host that grant and with the surrounding departments right now Harmony Greenwitch Poakong Alpha Flesburg and
ourselves are looking to share in the cost of that grant so we could apply to that and hopefully cost the full cost to replace all the radios that we need to replace and this comes out through the 800 meghertz and going digital uh this is the way the radios are going the radios we presently have Motorola all
Motorola radios that were previously purchased by a grant by the county uh those radios can no longer be updated motorola they've gone through the shelf life it's like when you have a computer that's running Windows XP mo Microsoft says "Sorry we're not you know doing any
more upgrades to those radios." So that's where we are at present time and we also have two recruits in the fire academy presently um I'm one of the instructors up there at the academy they've been doing a great job so they're approaching the end of the firefighter one so hopefully by the end of the month we'll have them fully
certified firefighters so thank you very much have a great chief just one question the county is not giving any money towards the radios no sir i know they're giving some towards the law enforcement side yeah nothing for as of right now they're doing the cost of the upgrades for the county side of it but
nothing the uh local side is going to have to be borne by the localities themselves so unfortunately that's what the last update was from the county that we got the last county chief's meeting okay great thanks ems anyone here from
EMS no uh one note for EMS uh we were after buying a squad building um there was an old squad in there i don't know what year do you guys know what year that was that was sitting there chief do you know Lou uh I believe
it was a 2003 2003 it ran and all that so we donated to the Philsburg squad and um they're going to do some work on it reign it and hopefully we'll see it on the road for
them so they're very happy with that um Rob and Chaitri you have anything thank you um the only thing actually I have to report this month is Arbor Day is coming and this year we're going to
be planting a ginko tree at the middle school so they're very excited about that and they say thank you very much so we're we're going to be doing it with the green team on Arbor Day which is the last Friday of April and of course we are working with Jim on the um on the uh
community cleanup day as well great okay thank you yeah I know okay uh approval of department uh reports a motion in second please motion second all in favor i payment of bills
motion second motion second roll call councilman Delaro yes council mayor yes council yes council president yes yes uh public comment 3 minutes
this is not something which I really want to say but you say it um you just um passed that passed that long-term taxes do the long-term tax exemption law for uh that ordinance pertaining to the
um that development the redevelopment project all right in the same breath you've taken taxes away in a way in the next breath you say you you're going to need a two thou two million plus U
ladder truck and they need the debt ladder truck payable by the by by the community taxpayers then you authorize the temporary capital budget before the second reading um at the same time it's state the county is going to bear bear
the brunt of some of these some of the expenditures the county gets all of its tax dollars most of its tax dollars most of its money that it deals with is from the from the towns to the 225% of town tax levies and um I think that the uh
businesses should have been bearing the brunt of this in taxes on their buildings and taxes on their properties to some greater extent um because they are the ones benefiting by lower insurance rates on their buildings because there are fire trucks
that will fight fires at their buildings which they have caused their buildings to be there um and that's enough of that negative stuff but in the same respects we'll take it over to public education you in in my estimation in the state of New Jersey have one of the best public
public education school systems in in the nation for our public schools here in Lacon Township and over in Philipsburg and the education that the kids get here is is is superb um and I think that uh this the people that work
in the schools should be respected and commended as such and uh it is it is important to realize what you have in your school system here and it is important to realize that it should be supported and it should be supported by
businesses also not just giving businesses all the breaks giving the insurance companies all the money that the businesses pay the insurance companies and so on and so forth so remember the power of your school system it's not one of the one of the worst 50 or whatever you were speaking of do it's
one of the top ones in the nation so thank you very much thanks anyone else bob Bruce Hawitch wrote uh I wanted to comment again on our share of the tractor trailer fines that are being levied i did that last month i want to
reiterate that we bear the entire cost of polluting all of the tractor trailers that come down Route 80 uh not the county i ask that this council which contributed to the warehouses that are built here that are causing this problem
to get ahead uh and share some of that traffic fine money uh from the county i suggest you form a subcommittee or just whatever it is that you guys do in whatever form you come to decisions uh pass a resolution and submit it to the
county request that they share more of the money that they receive with this township that they receive because of this township i believe we're the only township measuring incurring additional enforcement costs adding offices as we
learned and we deserve a fair share please go get it please do something about it uh I'd like to look forward to seeing a resolution in that respect next month uh I'm also I'm disappointed and not surprised at the unanimous approval of the pilot uh Mr bowen could this
council legally have put off this vote tonight uh it's their it's in their discretion to do what they want okay so I'll take that as a yes mr belcar I suggest you avail yourself of the suggestion made here tonight that you attend board of
education meetings and maybe more importantly liaison with the board of education president so that this information may be stopped before it spreads we the taxpayers need this council and our board of education both of which we fund to get on the same page
with the same facts john Betts kudos to what you said about New Jersey my son went to Lope my son went to Peabberg my son got a full college education as a result of that ed of that education that I received teachers are great mr bz just
uh I'm sorry Mr ruth just clarify the state gets most of that fine it's not the county and it's by law we don't have a choice in the matter okay well I wish we could i wish it all came here okay well I understand that the county if I'm not Well they get some too absolutely they get more than us too more than we
do yeah we can't do nothing about it okay but you can do something by passing the resolution and asking the county to give up some of the money that they're not paying to enforce they're receiving free money good luck with that one i'm asking you no I'm just saying good luck with us i'm saying excuse me sorry you
you spoke thank you anyone else donna those boys are here i just have to ask a question about the uh bowling alley property um can you explain to me how a slaughter house or any of that can go in there when it's
zoned residential and the only way for them to do that is to get a devariance with a unanimous decision from the zoning board they just that's what comes to some guy wanted to put a pot farm in there outside pot farm i mean that's what
we're getting that's the kind of stuff we're getting but it's presidential no what I'm saying that's coming at us we didn't say it was going in this is what was wrong that's what's coming at us yeah i was just wondering how they even try to apply when it's zoned residential i guess anybody can put an application
in for anything but um they haven't put an application in they're just inquiring yeah we don't have any application for it's just there's no applications before you so how are they how are you finding out that they're calling us and they're asking to sit down have meetings with me
and Okay it's they're just ideas where some people come up with but you know something could go in there nice but I don't know what because it's in between two it's a very weird um piece of property so yeah um we have some plans
and we're in negotiation trying to get stuff done but is it sold is it for sale no no that's the problem the farmer wants to sell it and everything i guess he's tried he' been told that town would probably say no right because it's zoned
residential um so you know but I'm hoping something good or Yeah me too buy some you know I don't know got a lot of Is it working on stuff okay i like to see it empty that's what I like to see exactly um is it an active
listing is he is Falconee uh I think so yeah it's an act it's on like an MLS that you can see that okay i guess it would have to be unless he's selling it on his own um okay all right thank you
anyone else John [Music] uh John Kerson 38 Jade Lane yeah I Donna kind of beat me too uh to the punch with the uh the slutter house thing but so they would need a complete variance or a
uh you guys to I don't know maybe another property in need of redevelopment or something like that but that's why we have you guys to protect us against stuff like that i mean that's why we have master plans and and zoning and everything else i mean if I wanted to build a gas station on my house I
couldn't do it right so I just don't put a trucking unit in we talk you we can't like that's what's coming at us yeah no I understand that but I mean it it just seemed like a weird thing to say because I mean that's like I don't know to me it just seems to be like an automatic You got to be kidding me no oh it is okay it
is thank you Judy judy Lipac for 7 Kyle Drive my statement this evening is solely my opinion and not that of any other organization tonight I'd like to speak to this council about public safety there seems to be an increasing amount
of solicitation occurring throughout town more and more people are going doortodoor to sell solar windows roofing roofing estimates asphalt this increased foot traffic within our neighborhood is becoming not only a burden but a safety concern when strangers are invading our neighborhoods where our children are
playing and seniors are living more of these solicitors are coming through neighborhoods during the day when people are working they should be ca they could be casing our neighborhoods to find patterns and to see who is an easy target recently in my neighborhood there
was a home breakin and it was during the day when everyone was at work in the past I have asked every solicitor who has come to my door for both an ID and a permit and every time they were unable to produce those documents for me after
that time I called the police each and every time to report it i have since stopped this practice as I've become increasingly concerned for my own safety when I'm asking for this documentation and calling the police because these solicitors are challenging me and I feel
unsafe because the police then come and they know I'm the one who called so I stopped um so I asked this council is there an ordinance against solicitation and if not I ask the council to please consider adopting one because in this
day and age with social media there's no need for anyone to have to go doortodoor to get their business it's not safe for anyone if we do not have an ordinance how can you I mean I'm sorry if we do have an ordinance how as council can you
do a better job informing the public on ways to deal with the solicitors and how to better prevent them from being in our neighborhoods often I see cars or vans dropping slew of young men into our neighborhoods they communicate via a phone or walkie-talkie i've seen them
use these devices to warn others when I have called the police at one time ironically one of these parks um one of these cars parked right in front of my house to disperse their sales force upon our street it is unnerving having strangers come to our door in the early
evening when it's getting dark it seems there is a wide range of times they have been coming weekends weekdays when people are at work in the evenings and early mornings i urge this council to consider a safety campaign to stop this unsafe practice and to inform the
citizens of Low Paccom how they best can protect themselves i got increasingly concerned when I recently was away on vacation and got a phone call that a house was broken into in my neighborhood so of course thinking great my house is you know yes I have cameras
unfortunately that home did not so you can't help but think they were cased someone was in the neighborhood noticed they're gone timed it watched it noticed they didn't have cameras so I hope this council can please do something about the solicitation thank you do we have anything for
soliciting they have an ordinance as long as they have a license they can do it but they don't that's what I'm saying well then the chief sends somebody out and they go "Right." So is there I guess what I'm asking then is if we don't if we do have warnings how can we kind of inform the public a little bit better because you see it posted all
the time on social media oh you know so and so was at our door it's listening d well maybe if there's some way we can communicate call the police call the police yeah Judy I think you bring up the ballot and um we can put u put uh some uh information out on social media
to inform the public on what to do if they feel somebody's unlicensed and at their house but we'll come out and investigate that and take care of it and every time I called everyone has been extremely accommodating asking me descriptions where what direction they were going and that's one I'll tell you
now that any solicitor that gets licensed in the township comes across my desk right now I don't believe that we have any active permits um for solicitation so I just had some this weekend you you are the eyes and ears
for police department as general public right the public so we appreciate the phone calls and letting us know when this is occurring so we can resolve it i think if we push a campaign like that on social media we get people we'll certainly push some information out there okay thank you thank you thank you
thanks Chief anyone else yes sir ernie Gant at 245 Aurora Street um I have a question about uh the ordinance number 202507 chapter 243 it says um you amended the definition of alley how exactly was that amended and my understanding of an alleyway is that
it's just like a street it's under the responsibility of the township has that changed at all i if you'd like me to yeah go ahead sure um yeah so the reason it's come to our attention is that you know basically the alleyways you know in Delaware Park and in other portions of
the of the township um you know some of the homes have a front yard and a rear yard that's that's faced by an alleyway yeah so the intention of the ordinance um I don't know if the text of the ordinance has been released it's probably public now um is to reclassify
a property frontage that either a sideyard or a rear yard that faces an alleyway is going to be considered a sideyard or rear yard for a set from a setback perspective okay so it's not changing the ownership of the alleyways that are you know publicly accessible
okay um as you know for Aurora Street um but it's going to sort of alleviate some of the difficulties with you know the historic development that's that's occurred prior to zoning so it'll help uh individuals that want to reconstruct a shed or a fence or a garage that might
be facing the alley you're not going to have to come before the planning board or the zoning board to get a variance to reconstruct something that's been there already for so long so this way it'll alleviate some some burden on on the public to get zoning permits when they need to okay but just you know I was just concerned it's still under control
the township yes treated as a public road okay correct thank you anyone else pam Thomas Wsworth Lane i do need to start to say that um anything that I say to you tonight is from me as an individual and I'm not representing the
school board um in any way here tonight for you i would like to remind the members of council that while some of us do sit on our local school board when we come to this meeting we are taxpaying citizens i'm not sitting here as a
school board member and none of the other people that sit on that school board with me are s are in this meeting as school board members the only people from the school board that are allowed to talk to you as a representative piece would be our president that's in our in
our school policies so I would just like to remind you of that and I understand that maybe it gets hard that you can kind of look and say "Oh that's a school board member." and think that what I'm saying to you represents that even with the
disclaimer that we all need to say if one of you were to come to our schoolboard me meeting unless you want to identify and say I'm the mayor and I am speaking to you on behalf of council if that's what you're permitted to do then we would listen to you on behalf of
council I would listen to you on behalf of counsel but if you just come and you say I'm I'm you know Mr mr wright and I have this concern i have to think that as an individual you have a right to say
that as I sit on that board and I just would like you to keep that all in mind it's a discussion that we are currently having and and trying to say do we have a right to come do any one of us have a right to come here and speak and as an
individual citizen that's my first amendment right i do just because I set up one board doesn't mean that I can't come and speak to you as a citizen we come here I think any one of us I think I come here because I am a
caring individual for my community i wouldn't sit on that board if I wasn't didn't feel that way i wouldn't come to this meeting if I didn't feel that way and I just wanted to remind you of that thank you anyone else
mayor I'd like to make a comment sure uh I'd like to respond to Mr bruce so Mr bruce you made a derogatory and negative comment i interpreted as when you said to grow a set you directed that i'd like to apologize for that i intended to
apologize for this you directed that comment to a council member here i'm sorry did you hear what I said yeah I did hear that but I'm Let me let You're going to hear me out too now how about and the um I'm sorry I didn't get your name ma'am you came up here and you
eloquently told us that you uh you care for your community pam well we're up here too and we care for our community too and I don't appreciate a comment that Mr bruce makes to a retired police chief in this town about growing a set that is derogatory so and I I just
wanted to put her on the record when I was I apologize yeah well you've apologized in the past too but you still make your comments the other thing I want to mention to you is like like uh Councilman Marinelli pointed out to you that is directed by state statute where that money goes just one other thing
Chief when your when your gentle when your police officers are writing these summones are they writing town ordinances or are they writing motor vehicle summones um if we're talking about the truck Yeah the truck vehicles yeah they're getting that written on township ordinance so correct me if I'm
wrong do we get that money get it all that that money come most of the money comes back to the township comes back to the township there's your answer that's all I have thanks my response is probably different than what I learned last month so I will
follow up i'm sure you will all right anyone else seeing none have a motion for adjournment please motion second all in favor i thank you for coming out everyone [Music]