##VIDEO ID:tXmhf81DiUY## right i' like to call to order the township Pon regular meeting uh for February 5th 2025 please bow your head for a moment of silence please stand for your pledge the United States of America Republic for which stands one nation God indivisible andice 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 on the Bolton board in the municipal building I have a roll call best please yes coun here councilman Marinelli here Council here council president here may here would you please summarize executive session yeah the uh Township Council met an executive session where it discussed privilege matters regarding contractual for the L pacan Athletic Association and contractual for the DPW minutes from the executive session will be released at such time as the council deems no public harm will come from it no official action was taken all right and next thing we're going to have a pilot discussion attorney Jeff wodinsky is um to discuss the cubes Redevelopment project pilot program Jeff please good evening everybody um so as everybody knows uh the filbur or former Phils BG Mall site has been the subject of much discussion debate and Redevelopment um so both L pong and po haton have been working with the same developer for literally years at this point to try to get that property redeveloped and a plan in place and ultimately the best way to do that economically and from a you know from a development perspective what has been decided as most people probably already know is it going to be a warehouse distribution center right there right there Route 22 it's actually a really good spot it's probably the best use of that land at the moment um and and what we've been tasked to do is to do two things really one to enter into a formal Redevelopment agreement with the redeveloper to make sure that we have a plan of action and a contract a written agreement between the town and the redeveloper to build the thing in the manner that we see fit and and if they don't do certain things we have redress against them right so that's one then the other is a pilot um for the property for those who are not as familiar as perhaps some on on on the committee might be or myself a pilot is essentially instead of the developer paying what would be regularly applicable taxes on the land and the improvements we negotiate a a what is called an annual service charge which is a set amount that they will pay instead of those taxes so you say why do you do that for a couple reasons one um the developer if they were to pay full taxes meaning whatever the county the school district you everybody else levies against them from a economic perspective it's just it's too much right it's too much for them to do so in the state we have a process by which we can negotiate a different amount to encourage development right there are minimums there are maximums Etc so our job my job is to get the best deal that we can for the township and what they're going to pay in Li of taxes so we have worked and I have worked very closely with the developer with with Beth dilts and with your tax assessor to make sure when we do that we have all of your best interests in mind of course and to make sure what's critically important is that we understand sort of not only what could be but what would be right so we have to look at two things we have to look at if we didn't do a pilot at all what would that mean economically to the township and if we did do a pilot what would that mean to the township right so it's dollars and cents so it's it gets a little complicated I won't sort of bore everybody but ultimately my job is to say I want to make sure that the township at a minimum is going to receive whatever it would have received had there not been a pilot in place and the goal is to get more than that right at the end of the day so what we have been able to do what we've been able to negotiate by virtue of this pilot is the township over the course of its existence will get roughly 10 million plus more than they would have gotten in regularly applicable taxes you say how is that so if you were to Levy regularly applicable tax you have to share right the township only retains 20 some per of what is collected under a pilot you you retain 95% of the pilot and you get 5% to the county so it stays in your pocket whereas before it be sort of it would be shared with everybody there is always and I'm sure folks on Council and otherwise say well what happens to the school district what happens to those who are not now receiving taxes the answer is nothing they still put their Levy in the levy is exactly the same as it always would be it just means it's a portioned a little bit differently right at the end of the day people go well we're nervous because won't this put an undue burden sometimes that is true but in the case of a warehouse there's new kids there's no you know there's no pressures on the school district Etc it's not adding anything that the school district would have to handle ultimately because it's trucks coming in and out every day very different in a residential context where you've got new kids and what are we going to do and there's not Revenue coming in for taxes to pay the school district none of that is in play here I mean it was a mall before now it's a warehouse distribution so those issues are sort of out of the way so we're very happy about that and I don't I don't know if there have been concerns about that but I just want to make sure that everybody understands no one's cutting anything out from the school district the school district is not losing any money it's just a portion a little bit differently right at the end of the day so so we not only did we help you guys in this particular Pilot We also help um po hat right because the idea as you probably know the warehouse sits not just in lat Kong but also sits and poad it's poad it's it's a very interesting sort of setup so we had to figure out a way to sort of sever that and What proportion would go to you guys and What proportion would go to them so the way that we did it was based on Square footed so how much was in low patcong which versus how much was in Po haton and in this case you guys have a little bit more than half of where this is going to be situated uh yeah which is it's it's it's a little over 800,000 Square ft and and there's 456,000 sare ft in in uh latcon so uh your deal is actually better than what po hat Kong got um for a variety of reasons they they were first so you know they sort of put themselves out there and I said well maybe we can do a little bit we'll push a little bit harder right for you guys so we were able to do that and one of the things that we were able to really concentrate on as well is when you do a pilot and for those who don't know um you're getting a tax exemption on the improvements and that's what your annual service charges pay but they're still paying land taxes right they're still going to do that and when they do that that acts as a credit against your total pilot so you have to be really cognizant of what you think the assessed value of the land is going to be over time if it's too high it cuts against your pilot if it's too low you know in theory that's that's against the the con the State Constitution that says it has to be assessed at a certain value so I work very closely with Jen Carabelli your tax assessor to make sure that number was unassailable right that anyone no one would say well you did it too low or was too high was right where needed to be we assumed increased value over time we include tax rates over time to come up with a number that we thought was fair right at the end of the day and I had shared with Beth and I think she had shared probably with all of you a summary of all this as well as sort of spreadsheets that show the dollars and cents to the entire pil I'm happy to get into the details of that I don't know I don't want to bore everybody here today but really really I'm here to give you sort of the broad strokes and answer any questions that you might have before we or before you excuse me not we before you decide whether or not to approve so that's said that's my quick Spiel but if you guys have specific questions I'm I'm happy to answer them you're talking 30-year pilot correct yes that's correct so I'm ask you this one question yeah most of us are not going to be here at the end of 30 years right how does a guarantee work in a pilot program and when you say guarantee what do you mean guarantee payments for the next 30 Years well so if they don't pay you are permitted to put a a lean on the property right so the idea is that in the same way that if somebody else wasn't paying their taxes in accordance whatever your tax rate may be we enter into a formal contract which is then recorded that says if they don't pay you can put a lean on the property in the same way that would do for anybody else right to get your money back right but you know to your point how do we know that this Warehouse is going to be operating 30 years from now how do we know it's going to be throwing off Revenue Etc to do so even 10 years from now we know it's going to be successful that warehouse could be if it fails it could sit there for years right Bon you and and we get nothing you're well there is a floor under the law that says no matter what you will get whatever the taxes were in the in the last year prior to the pilot starting which granted is not a whole lot there's nothing there right at the end of the day but that's the floor so the give and take here is that you are agreeing to enter into the pilot to incen iise something to go on that property because right now there's nothing right it's sitting you're really not collecting much in taxes anyway so this is sort of the you're partnering with this developer to say we believe that you're going to do this we believe that there's a net benefit to us and to you to do so and we're sort of we're going down this road together right at the end of the day so so there's no guarantee even in the first year of that warehouse being an operational second year followed suit 5 10 years well I mean it look there are no guarantees in life certainly there are no guarantees here that's the answer I'm looking for I'm looking for a real answer yeah so what there is no guarante so so here's what I will tell you to sort of hopefully help assuage your your concern so the developer would not be building this Warehouse unless they knew they had tenants unless they knew they had people who were going to be using this facility for some amount of time because they have to borrow a lot of money to build it right and they're not going to build it on spec and not going to go through all of this for it to fail they're not going to spend tens of millions of dollars to buy the property demolish them allall do all the other things that need to do if they know that there's no end user and they know there's no Revenue stream forget the pilot this is you know these are business people they're not going to take all this time money and effort to do so if they know there's not a payoff at the end of the day right so they have a team of investors who have looked at this who've decided that it is fiscally sound they is there are users there are tenants Etc that will be sufficient to make them money right just let let's cut right through it they're not going to do it just because they love the town and they want to see Economic Development sure that's that's a nice benefit but they're here to make money right so so right now they have a tenant they have several several tenants they have several exactly and they sign leases with those tenants yeah exactly so the idea is that and look I do am I privy to the details of those of leases no I don't represent the develop I represent you right at the end of the day but we have you know we have discussed we have not only with the developer but with their investors and everybody in between and by the way poad had the exact same concerns you know why are we doing this how do we know you're going to be successful how do we know there's a dollar in for us should we sit on this should we wait should we wait to see if there's another developer should we sort of Let It lay fallow and roll the dice later right which you're you could still do right I'm not I'm I represent you I don't represent so don't no misunderstandings I'm here for you guys and I'm only trying to get the absolute best deal that I can for the town right as was the case in poad but you know part of it is you know leap of faith right to say that that this is going to be successful but as I just said you know these guys aren't in the business of losing money they're not in the business of building a warehouse that no one's going to use right they do this all over the Eastern seab board and they they do their homework before they and I get that because no one goes into business is you know the intentions of of course not of course not yeah that so hopefully that I mean I don't know if that gives you the warm and fuzzies but that's you know the answer right exactly that's realistic answer that's what it is yeah okay precisely Rich no and we're just talking about the front not the back we're just talking about where the mall was exactly exactly just that there's a specific block block and lot it's block 102 Lots 901 and 903 that's the discreet portion we do and Next Step oh yeah next step so uh to actually memorialize this there's a couple things that you would need to do as a governing body one would be by resolution to approve the Redevelopment agreement which is as I described before two there's a resolution that you would do to approve their pilot application which I've seen and reviewed and they have amended it over time as we negotiate right to make sure that it reflects the deal that we have struck and they have done so and then there's a two- reading ordinance that will allow for the tax exemption and the financial agreement which is the document which sets forth the terms of the pilot itself so and I would prepare all of those for you but today was really just to give you the you know the full broad Strokes make sure you understand what's going on and you can deliberate decide what you want to do but I'm ready to to draft and prepare those for you I have one more question yeah when does um the township first received their say their payment yeah so is it after operational after the tenants are in well Tech technically no the way that it works is uh the pilot comes online in the first month after they receive their Co from you so whatever that is so when the co is issued then regular applicable taxes go away and then the pilot commences right so in I would hope for their sake right that as soon as they get their CEO their tenants are ready to start using the facility or else they'll be sitting on debt service that they can't pay So within the first year oh yeah yeah that so their construction timeline as I understand it as represented to us is that they expect the full Warehouse to be done by the end of 20 of this year and and pro if not done by the end of this year beginning of 2026 these things go up very quickly I'm sure you've seen them in town and locally right they go up fast they put those walls and put a roof on and they're ready to go so it's a pretty quick uh construction schedule yeah all right thank you okay apprciate it problem all right public comment on agenda items only come on wait one second yeah come on wait one second all right Pam Thomas six wordss worth laning um as always I do need to say that I am not speaking on behalf of the school board where I am a member um but I will say as a member I would just like to offer a second opinion um based on what just Mr uh winitzki just talked about tonight so you are commenting as a school I no I am not because so as an individual who has some information was not sitting on the school board I may not know that much about this um however um so I'm not we have not talked about it a school board and I'm not representing um I can tell you that school districts across the state are concerned about pilot projects pilot projects do take money out of our budgets out of Schoolboard budgets um municipalities so what I would like to maybe put here as as a seed is that some municipalities may choose to allocate a portion of the pilot funds to school districts it's not against the law it is something that could be considered um there's there's not any set information about it um the the fact that we you receive this money in a lump does reduce the uh taxes collected which then does reduce the amount of money that our school districts receive I just am not sure that a pilot project and I I know that they're popular since they became um allowable I'm not sure that we need to incentivize the building of another warehouse this is Prime Property on Route 22 um I'm not sure why we need to do that because I think that the developers want to build these anyway um obviously this developer um has been working we I don't know who um it sounds like Mr winiski works for us so um you know I I think it's probably going to happen but I would just like to plant the seed that perhaps this board would like to consider your local school district and maybe be open to the idea of possibly discussing the allocation of some of the funds that come from this development with your local school district um if that was the case I just want to plant that seed so I thank you for your um listening thank you Mr Bruce uh Bob Bruce 11 H root um some of the things that P said and and some of the things that you had said Mr whiski uh was it right you said $10 million more over the course of 30 years is what it's it's a performance estimate that that is oh and that's more than what sir than what the township would collect by way of regularly applicable taxes meaning if the pilot were not in place they were to L their own taxes so that's about roughly speaking $330,000 a year over uh 30 years almost 30 years uh and um uh again what what Pam had said uh uh you would had a addressed something about that as well um 56% is is what our school taxes are and the county is is 20 and a half% and uh you had said what sir as regards uh uh 95 and five I I I don't see where I have my notes there but you you had said something about 95% yeah so under a pilot the township will collect keep 95% of that which is collected okay 5% goes to the county unlike regular Capital Tax which are shared among the county the school district the town right open space all the different tax Lev okay so we they keep almost all of it so so out of the so the $10 million we could say is a windfall by going to the pile what would be the Baseline do we know what the basine would be if we didn't go pilot what would it what would we receive yeah so I have that um and so again this is proor assuming taxes are of a certain amount each year and they go up roughly It's All Pro for but based on that so the township without get around 15 million okay so 15 million quick mess that would be $500,000 a year 30 divid 15 million whatever that is I think that's right right five 500,000 so we're getting uh uh uh uh 500,000 and we're getting an additional 800,000 this one yes so with the file in place again proor assuming everything goes the way we expect it to go get a little less than 25 okay and and this is uh kind of quick back of the envelope B I'm not even doing on the back of an envelope but uh so uh the town would benefit again at at a 56 let's make it 50% going to the school board uh uh uh 500,000 it would receive a quarter of there's no effect on what the cas would collect whether or not the school district receives a dollar or it's full ly these are two different things right so when the cash collects its taxes it's separate Levy it has nothing to do with the school district levy the the jobs collect that Levy for the school district is that the $15 million over 30 how much is that number that that taxes yeah I I don't know I didn't do the math what the school district would or wouldn't get over the next 30 Years but okay well that's obviously x a a number that can be determined and um it sounds like 500 minutes I didn't think I was limited to three minutes on yeah that's not stated sir Bruce it's been three minutes there's yeah there's a a limit on all public yeah I well yeah I'm just going to say I thought I was having a productive dialogue here and it seems as if you're deciding to shut me down for you were but three minutes is a limit if I have to give it to you I have to give to everybody it was good I I appreciate it okay so I guess I'm going to have to sit with Mr bitki then sure okay yeah Mr BS don't know where this would fit in but just want make a statement when renting in 2000 in 1980 rents were probably around $250 rents are now um somewhere in the realm of anywhere from 2300 to 2500 uh that's what is that that's 10 times the amount so if you're going to get you're going to tax you got to get at least 10 times the amount that you would have gotten this year over that 30-year period of time actually uh what would be 80 or 45 years so you you got to remember that you're giving you may be giving up I don't know I don't have the figures but you may be giving up that expansion that it would gain to in the 35 years there's no saying it will stay at 2% and there's no and the 2% is that done with the SU notation of that 2% or is it a flat 2% those are just things considered the value of the taxes and then what my consideration is is that you know you put on the backs of the homeowners and and and attendants and you don't put in the back of some of an organization which could more likely afford it all right thank you than anyone else yes sir ear 245 Aurora street I'm also a member of the the pon board of education but I'm speaking for myself um I understand that whatever the school levy is that they get that and it doesn't change but what it does mean if the school isn't getting that money that means that the taxpayers are paying that difference the taxpayers will pay less if we're getting a the school districts getting a percentage of that the 56% okay so that 56% that the school is not getting that means that the taxpayers are paying that is that correct no no taxpayers aray ta aren't paying more it just means that specific property isn't paying the school issue your your taxes are unaffected it just means that specific taxpayer which is now a warehouse won't be paying speciic taxes but if that specific you know entity was paying taxes then the taxpayers would be paying less but it wasn't but there but the idea is that they're they're paying nothing now right so yeah if again this is why I addressed this earlier had there if this was a residential project this would be an absolute concern you have kids you have educational needs you got more kids in school you got to educate you got to pay for all those it's the warehouse so the idea here is that there should be and again again I don't know but there should be no burden on the school district to manage more because of a warehouse that is the Hope right so that your taxes should be completely unaffected by the but you're right would that entity normally pay taxes to the school district yes would that mean the school district lowers your taxes I have no idea yeah maybe I I I don't I don't know if it would be that impactful or not such that they would lower taxes because of a single Warehouse I I don't know that one way or the other I don't know I'm I don't sit on the school board I don't know what well you know what you you know for budgeting purposes I that I don't the budget would stay you that be developed the same way regardless so if somebody else is contributing that means that the individual taxpayers pay less unless you wanted to spend more right I mean you never know again I I I'm not the enemy right I am here with Town's best interest in my I I just want to make that fundly clear understand so I all of these things we think about right and we are cognizant of what we're going into this things and when we look at a commercial project versus a residential project those issues are hopefully less impactful right very reason our taxpayers that don't have children still pay school taxes they don't have any impact either but that that would be true regardless of this so should you treat somebody else different because they don't have an impact than our taxpayers that don't have children that are paying school taxes the law exists to allow for that I understand it doesn't matter what I do this is the law prevents it so and again it's supposed to be in mechanism and ultimately more money comes into the township right so that there's more Revenue the township to do all the things and perhaps the taxes of the township would go down right so I again I don't know what budgeting purpose that's the idea is that this decretive and it's a benefit to the township not if it were not we would not recommend that you enter into this agreement at all I would say this is a bad deal right but because it is a creative mean there's more money to be collected than if not that's why we recomend we wouldn't do it any other way so that's I represent the township here not specifically the school district so that is my my I still think anything comes in should be SP up the same way all right thank you all right any yeah hi my name is Glenn EPS I'm a reporter with The Express Times in Le Valley live uh I just had a few questions for Mr winitzki um the first question I wanted to know could you actually give us uh you said the full dollar amount would be1 $10 million above uh more than the uh the current amount what happens if the property is sold if the property is so yeah sold before the uh before the 30 years the pilot stays okay the pilot stay so who whatever would assume that property would also be the um and then I wanted to know are these documents going to be made available uh to the public to review in the same way that any other document would be available through an Opa request only okay um and if it's going to be included in the agenda is there going to be sort of any uh background information about what the pilot is so that folks in the community might be able to know more about what their town is agreeing to yes so I can tell you in in both the resolution and in the ordinance there's what we call Preamble that is exactly that it sort of explains what's happening what we're doing and the action should be taken by the government okay Beth would I have to file an OP request just to see that or would that maybe something that's available that will get put when it's on an agenda that will be made available the agenda items does the township have to act on this ordinance I mean on this uh project yeah is the township required to sign in on this agreement well it to whether to enter into a pilot is purely discretionary but to authorize and approve it yes you have to do resolution to do so okay um and besides the uh the monetary are there any other caveats for the township that are associated with signing this pilot agreement there's sort of the the grand overarching is that there will be more money to be had in the future but will there be any other things uh that the town can expect uh from the developer well you mean in terms of what the developer will provide to the township yes in lie of these taxes just any other supplemental things or just well no the pilot is really just straightforward just you can also insert certain Clauses into your pilot agreement no oh just straight okay it's called a financial agreement that has a very specific purpose that is what it is okay for payment in of taxes that's what it's okay um and then I wanted to know uh well I guess there's this cannabis Amendment here on the uh agenda if it's on the agenda is there any documentation that the public can review yeah there's a an ordinance that's prepared it's going to be on for first reading um that's available um I don't know if you have copies um you can provide copies if you want to contact it's all going to be available to be published uh like a normal ordinance would be and uh then there's going to be a second reading and public hearing okay when can we expect those uh like a timeline for that second read next month oh I meant a timeline for the ordinance to be visible for the public you can have it tonight all right awesome that's all I got thanks thank you all right anyone else all right seeing none we'll move on Old business minutes approve executive and regular sessions for December 30th 2024 January 7 January 15th January 29th of 2025 can I have a motion and a second please motion second roll call vote please yes counc yes Council Marin yes counc M council president yes right uh for December 30th I abstain 7th 15th and 29 yes okay new business ordinance number 20 25-01 establish a cap bank I need a motion in a second please motion second V call please yes coun yes counc Marinelli yes Council M yes council president yes yes number two ordinance number 20 25-2 amending chapter 219 of the code entitled trees I need a motion in a second please motion second roll call Vote Yes yes yes yes yes ordance number 20 2503 amending chapter 243 zoning and land use are Article 13 General regulation to remit as a principal permit to use certain cannabis establishments and designated Zone districts and create chapter 88 cannabis regulation Motion in the second I'll make that motion I'll second it roll call Vote Yes yes yes yes right yes uh consent agenda 1 through six I have a motion in second please motion second call Vote Yes couni yes coun yes yes yes Council reports rich I don't have anything for you mayor L I just want to remind um that a um a sewer agreement a lawsuit that we had against peber uh a few years back the fiveyear uh settlement that we agree with them has come to an end as this past the 31st was a 5year uh settlement with them uh and that's in uh I think was it was a million dollars U that um they're overcharged that we found the discrepancies you know some years back and also a reduced rate um and the reason what happened was at the time they were charging lakan uh residents a higher rate than their own residents so that's been settled it was correct Ed so now uh since the 5 years and the settlement has come to an end because as as as all of you know you Su rate has come down the past few years has not gone up so now they're in review they're uh they're doing a study and right now the rates are are the same as of now but we don't know yet what's going to come of the study so I could tell you this that whatever rates they do decide to raise it has to be uh distributed equally among all descending District including phsb BG residents so everybody's the same okay so that's the update I have now and we'll wait to hear as uh these months come by that's it thank you SC yeah I think the road Department's been a good job with the the snow and all I see the supervisor is not here tonight but I imagine he's trying to get us some sleep for the morning that's all I have uh Recreation are in the process of booking bands for our music in the park program this summer and we're also doing some preliminary discussions on some other activities in town uh laa Le pakong Athletic Association they have asked us if we would pay for lights that were used last fall the total amount is $328 34 yeah can I get a notion pay that I'll make that motion second yes yes yes yes yes that's all that's it I have one uh quick announcement um longtime Deputy OEM coordinator Pat roli has resigned from his position and uh as you can see in the consent agenda Sergeant Lula Ford has been appointed uh we wish to thank Pat for all his years of service to the town and the county and we really wish him the best of luck that's about all I have um so engineer report yes thank you Mr Mayor um as a followup to some of the conversations and some of the public comment that we received in January uh we are our office is working with uh Town Township attorney's office to investigate the Los Hollow Road and trck Lane rights aways questions there so we're going be doing some title research for that we'll also be looking at the pavement condition of Los Hollow Road as well as um which was also brought up Reservoir Road so we're going to give the the council a report uh with some information regarding the recommended repairs and the potential cost of those repairs to make those repairs to the pavement sections uh that we do know are sort of being actively used certainly of low Hollow with the resident Residential Properties that abut them so that we we should have that uh prior to the next meeting consideration by Council uh next project it's been a long long uh project that's long been in process with FEMA uh and certainly been involved with the police chief on this uh Fox Farm Road we've prepared a proposal to do some initial due diligence work work with d uh as well as some survey work so I'll be providing that to Beth this week for consideration by Council as well uh the sallyport project for the police department that project is currently out to bid uh the prid meeting will be here and I'll be with the certainly with the police chief and uh the uh architect structural engineer that designed the the sallyport Edition for the police department uh we'll be opening bids um on February 26th so we should be able to hopefully award that at the March meeting um as well as a pool demolition bids were received and and opened um we interviewed various demolition contractors that submitted bids and uh to sort of didn't make it onto the agenda this month but we will be awarding that contract speaking with Beth at the next meeting for the demolition of the pool and the cleanup of that area the former pool uh and uh We've also submitted uh actually last Friday we submitted a a second round of Grant the third DCA grant that we've requested for the park but a second this is the second grant for the playground area we submitted a Grant application requesting $100,000 towards the park Improvement specifically the playground uh at the Future Park um what else certainly we're still uh as I mentioned uh earlier uh or rather last month the park design is ongoing uh the 90% design is planned for the end of the month this month and uh as we previously discussed uh with council president pedo as well that at that point when we have our 90% design Milestone we'll be meeting with members of the LTE to go through the um the plans certainly and to work with them on coordinating construction when when we have a clear schedule for that um and that's all I had please report Chief thank you mayor councel so for the uh the month of January I do have a traffic report and during the month we had a total of 420 motor vehicle stops of those 420 4 37% of the drivers were issued traffic citations and 35% of those that were issued traffic citations went to overweight Motor Vehicle Enforcement and then during the month we're able to uh dedicate an additional 70 hours of enforcement towards that um that same um traffic enforcement for overweight vehicles and I also would like to uh thank uh Pat roli for his uh dedicated service to the township for many years in the fire department and as Deputy OEM coordinator and um his U his dedication to the town is much appreciated so um but I do welcome also Sergeant Sergeant Le for to uh step up in that role um as Deputy OEM coordinator I think he'll do a fantastic job for the township yeah thank so that's my report mayor thanks appreciate it uh no one from DPW here from oh oh oh I didn't see it sorry right Council good evening good evening uh some of you might know me already those who don't my name is Terry LA and the new fire chief pack Township so look forward to working with all of you just to go through still completing uh trying to tabulate all January's calls but for December I'll catch up at the end of the year we had 23 calls in December we had average response of seven members to those calls we had a Santa drive by Delaware CLK fire company they took Sant at to various locations throughout the township we also hosted at station two with councilman P I believe the rec committee um he had a his committee did a outstanding job uh was well attended with Santa with children could come we had music and um treats that was supplied by shoppr and we look forward to making that a yearly tradition so thank you for all your hard work on that meet it work out really well at Station 2 actually the entire Rec committee thank you thank you um I did really appreciate that we've been trying to get more uh participation and really helped so thank you to all of your committee um also we applied to assistance for firefighter grant program we applied for $366,900 that's to replace our current SCBA our breathing apparatus the reason we're looking to do that is we worked with our grant um uh grant writer our SCBA presently have I don't want to give anyone in the public or on the council that our SCBA are unsafe they are safe uh they are two additions beyond what is the new standard for SCBA U the 2018 addition of NFPA uh by uh excuse me 1981 addition of the NFPA so basically what the NFPA does is they regulates air packs and they come up with new safety features and our packs that we presently have are two addition behind so while these have a better uh safety enhancements to them which would keep our members safer so and speaking to the grant writer we have a very good possibility of being awarded a grant because every year when FEMA goes throughout and gives out these brants they always have a higher priority on certain things that they're targeting sebaa is what they're targeting and being that we're two additions behind we have a good opportunity to possibly awarded this grant uh so that's the grant that we applied for also like to thank our Council clerk M DS for all of our hard work getting signed up into the FEMA go site so I could uh do all that work it took a lot of her time answering calls while she was off and all so I did appreciate that and our CFO provided me all the financial St information I needed I asked for a lot and we were able to get that done and get the application submitted on time so thank you to both of them uh for the 2024 we responded as a department to 20 31 we had five uh building fires thankfully most of them were minor uh no major injuries with any of the members of the department we averaged about approximately nine firefighters to those calls uh and obviously with your support the public please I would like on the record that we're always looking for new members it's obviously the biggest need in the fire service right now and all volunteers so we're always looking for new applicants so I just like to put that out there like to thank you in the room tonight Chief Le for past Chief i' like to thank him for his 5 years of service to the fire department for all his hard work and dedication Lou I do appreciate working with him he's been a great help for me and in the transition and passing everything along along and getting me on just keeping to pave the road that he laid forward I also like to thank Chief Garcia and all of his supervisors and officers of the department for their assistance throughout the year helping us be safe out there on the roads and responding to calls they are usually the first ones on these calls so we do appreciate all their work also felsburg emergency Squad they do respond to us to emergency calls and they do stand by whether it be a qu of structure fire gas leaks they're there usually again they're there before we are and they have their ambulance standing by in case anything happens for to the fireman or to the public so thank you for their responses uh also real quick again this is the yearly thing not every month I promise uh DPW superintendent weeks for all this hard work and his crew and all of his members and health one keeping so far this year we've had few storms keeping the apparatus phase not the apparatus phase with the aprons in front of the firehouses clean he's thrown plenty of salt down so when we go to the Firehouse they're all melted and uh hopefully prevent any slips or Falls or any anything like that get into the firehouses so I do appreciate all their work and lastly thank you to all the am Council for your support look forward to working with all of you in the upcoming year uh one last big safety item that we got at the end of the year was thermal imaging cameras we have personal thermal Imaging cameras I remember Lou when you first started they're big bulky one of them was $166,000 just for one thankfully they've come down technology and we now have pretty much every member has their own personal imine camera so they'll be able to search for hidden fire search for possibly trapped occupants in homes looking for heat signatures and God forbid they ever find themselves trapped they could hopefully rescue themselves and get out of Harm's Way so thank you for all that so without your support we couldn't do all that thank you what a long way that's come huh yeah just the T big ones small ones small ones are y right like a camera just camera and it comes right tractable just keep it on your gear and it's literally like this big by this big and they're rechargeable they last forever you know so it's just been difference 20 years made yeah just a and I'll pass this over to be that has the thank you than NOS right Miss you have anything Springs coming around the corner what do you got thank you I was going to wait until the comments yeah um so I did want to actually give you guys an update on the shade tree commission as it's a new year spring is coming and it's time to take care of the trees um we have two big things that we're going to be doing this year with the shade tree commission the first is um Powder Horn um was working with Brian it's the it last last year we took down probably eight or nine trees on Powder Horn as a Lim fell branches are falling um they're really becoming very dangerous um so rather than reactively respond to these we're going to proactively address the trees on Powder Horn we will um be putting out to bid um in fact our meeting is tomorrow where we'll be talking about what we need to put out to bid but essentially we we need to remove those trees they're all Norway Maples are all aged out they're all rotting and um they're dangerous so we're going to remove them but in accordance with the new ordinance that you guys did a first reading of tonight um we do also have planned in our requested budget to replace those trees so when we um when we establish that plan we will bring it to you guys because I know that there are a lot of mixed opinions on how and where trees should be planted and um we want to make sure that we do it right but we also want to make sure that we keep the aesthetic pleasure on Powder Horn um and it's it's an important part of the the township having the trees along the road um so we really hope that we can continue doing that on that street so that's project number one and project number two is I'm really excited this year Arbor Day um we um have had a great response from the elementary and middle school and they want to have an Arbor Day celebration this year so we're going to have two celebrations one in the morning and one in the afternoon and we're going to be planting two trees on oror day so major Improvement for us really excited about that and hopefully we'll be able to have sapplings for the for the kids as well to take home um so those are our two big projects that we have planned so far for the year and then just a little note on the um on the ordinance that uh you guys read in this evening um there was a lot of public feedback on that and I certainly appreciate that because you know I'm I'm no expert on these things I'm just volunteering to help um and we did take all of that into consideration when we brought it back to you and I want to highlight um for the record that one of the big things that we did change was the cost of if if a resident doesn't want to replant a tree on their property and that cost you know Bill as you recall you know we talked about that earlier and it had been set at $500 to replace the tray because that's honestly how much it costs us to buy a tree and plant a tree um but that's now been reduced in the in the new ordinance I was reading over that Beth I'm sorry I didn't get back to you um but that that was reduced down and so what that means is if a resident doesn't replant a tree then it's it's going to have to come out of the shade tree commission budget so next year I'll be asking for a little bit more money so that I can put that aside to make sure that we can plant those trees but so that was one of the really big changes and one of the big miscommunications that I want to make sure that the town also knows is that this wasn't an ordinance and this is a state requirement but it wasn't an ordinance that said you take a tree down you have to replace a tree as a homeowner if you take down more than three trees on your property in four years the fourth tree you take down then you now have to start replacing trees so it wasn't a one for one and it never was um so I just wanted to clarify those two points for you guys um so that you understood kind of you know a the benefit of the public feedback back to me and the changes that we made approximately how many trees you plan are removing a there's a lot of trees there there are 20 trees on Powder Horn and they are all Norway Maples there's 20 left when I started there were 35 trees so you plan taking the rest of the 20 down they all have to come down and what are you what kind of tree you going to replace it with not Norway Maples um never a maple ever again in L pakong on Township property because over 5% of our trees are Maple and over 30% are Oaks so what we've been looking at is and you know I I tasked um the other um team members to go and look for trees that are Dee rooted and not broad so we want columnar type trees that have deep roots that will not interfere with sidewalks um those that are known to not interfere with um the underground you know the the pipes for the sewer and gas and all of those wonderful Comcast cables are you planning also removing the roots oh you have well you have to grind down you have to grind it down you can't remove all of the roots that are there okay you're going to grind down the stump you have to grind the stum yes and you can't you also cannot replant exactly where the tree is yeah so um ideally if I have a tree in front of this house I've got to move in front of the next house to plant the tree properly um and we would like to open the opportunity up to all of Powder Horn because all of Powder Horn has lost all of their trees um over the last 15 years um and it's a long road so we can kind of spread it out it makes a big mess in leaf season Fall In the Fall yes huge mess that is that is part of the benefit of trees that they drop their leaves so that they can go into the soil and add nutrients to them you're not going to tell me that trees are bad I'm the shade tree commission person but anyhow thank you thank you very much okay approval Department reports and a motion and second please motion second all in favor I I payment of bills and a motion second pay it motion second roll call vote Council yes Council yes yes yes yes okay uh public comment three minutes anyone Mr Betts well start with something there my name is John Betts I live break new Gardens uh 225 Red School Lane um our landlord just to give you information our landlord is intending on offering um a price for parking spaces um I don't know what price that would be but offering a price for parking spaces I don't know whe that should be considered as a rent or not a rent I'm going to talk to the tardy all right okay um so that's one of the issues um another thing is is when thinking about taxes uh consider what the Serv wall used to bring in for the for the township uh at the time it was in an operation and that was years ago and consider what the uh what this present pilot program will bring in and then think of over 30 years and then also remember that the township on with the tax situation when the new property owner came in uh the township had to pay him back nearly a million dollars so that those are things to consider um the the taxes that the property used to take in when it was a mall versus what this will take in as a pilot program and the period of time the collections will be made that $10 million over 30 years that's not a good deal so all right thank you but thank you next anyone else yes Harvey Harvey WS 325 South Third Street do you think you guys can use the microphones I have trouble hearing you in the back I got a few seats up front now sit and relax and hear everything I okay we try all right buddy anyone next Mr Mr Bruce sorry I'm not sure if you or Mr winiski had said that that property with the pilot is not for the space behind the mall and it was my understanding um I believe you yourself Mr Mayor had had said that you weren't uh taking advantage on behalf of the township 45 day window to revisit the highlands commission window to Su that that you had no intention to do it's my understanding that somebody has presumably the developer uh is there anything that we can be in is that your understanding at least I don't actually I don't have an understanding I do know that they were considering it um I mean I could I could see if they did but I I don't have any personal knowledge you got any official okay all right thank you thank anyone else see none motion for adjournment motion second second all in favor I thank you thanks for coming out [Music]