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Okay. Like to call the order the uh regular meeting of the township below Pacon for August 5th, 20126. Please bow your heads for a moment of prayer. >> Pledge to the flag of the United States of

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America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. [clears throat] Adequate notice of this meeting has been provided indicating the time and place of the meeting in accordance with

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chapter 72 of the public laws of 2025 by advertising a notice on town the township website by posting a copy on the bulletin board in the municipal building and is accessible by direct hyperlink placed on the New Jersey

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Secretary of State portal. Roll call please. Beth. >> Yes. Councilman Delaro >> here. >> Councilman Marinelli >> here. >> Councilman McUade >> here. >> Council President Fleo >> here. Mayor Wright >> here. >> Uh Wayne, would you summarize the executive session please? Uh township

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council met in executive session where it discussed the following privileged matters. Attorney client privilege of Pacong Park project contractual LAA contract update personnel le paint inspector contractual green light networks and attorney client privilege sewer rate study. Minutes from the

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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. >> Great. Thank you. All right. First thing we have is a presentation from Green Light Networks. >> Is yours

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good evening? I'm Martin Rothfelder from the firm Norris in Bridgewater, New Jersey. I'm here tonight on behalf of Green Lake Networks uh regarding its request of March 31 uh this year for consent to install fiber optic cable and

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related facilities on existing utility poles and in conduits located in the public right away. With me tonight from Greenway Networks is Christina Grath. This point I'd like to turn over to her because she has a really more interesting stuff. >> Thanks.

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>> Good evening everyone. And um I do have copies, printed copies of our presentation this evening um for everyone. >> Thank you. >> As Marty said, we appreciate the opportunity to uh connect with you all tonight and share a little bit of

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Greenlight Networks. Marty, may I have you advance some slides as we go through? >> Uh um so as you said, my name is Christina Gra. and our director of public relations and community engagement working with Greenlight Networks. Um,

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our company was founded in uh 2011. So, just last week we celebrated our 15th anniversary in business. Our CEO Mark Murphy started the uh company in by himself uh in uh in Rochester, New York [clears throat] uh alongside his dog in

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his garage. Um so, it was really that wonderful growth story as we reflect back over the the past 15 years. um he saw the need and the demand for better uh internet service and fiber optic was able to provide that. Today we focus on serving residential

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homes, small to medium businesses, um multi-dwelling units, HOA uh environments and we are rapidly expanding across the northeast. So we uh still have a presence across the state of New York um through strategic acquisitions and disciplined

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acquisitions. Recently, we had acquired um and continued to expand on our own across the state of Pennsylvania. And uh just recently um and you'll see on a future slide uh announced our plan to serve uh communities across the greater [clears throat] Lehigh Valley.

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Head to the next slide. Um wanted to share this with the group as we move forward. Um this is something our teams and really across the company we're very proud of this uh component and something our teams work hard every day day in and day out to maintain. Uh out of the level

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of service that we provide uh value, reliability, our speed, our technical support and most important to us our customer experience. Um we are top rated by Consumer Reports out of all of the uh internet service providers across the nation. So, I'd like to call that out in

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the ways that we work together closely with our the communities that we serve. Go ahead. I wanted to share a little bit about um our community benefits overall. So, for those that may not be uh as familiar with fiber optic internet

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infrastructure, we are 100% fiber. Uh so, what that means is symmetrical upload and download speeds. We run on fiber. So speed of light runs along the fiber strands uh versus traditional copper coax cable and the future ready fiber

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infrastructure. The way in which that benefits the the local economy um we see that increase property values whether residents become a customer of ours or not. Of course in the long term if we're fortunate to be located here um we hope that they do. Uh but whether or not

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local residents uh become a customer of ours, their property values can go up on average by 4.9% at least. Uh we like to continue to be a partner with all of our local um local municipalities and townships and burrows that we connect with. Um really having this

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infrastructure in a community supports any local uh economic development initiatives, local placemaking initiatives. And we saw throughout the COVID pandemic um the critical need for reliable internet infrastructure and fiber optic provides that. It's it's a

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superior product overall. Um and I'll touch on a future slide but um it really is a core part of our mission at Greenlight Networks to be not just a local internet service provider but truly a partner alongside local communities. So you can go ahead. So, I wanted to

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share um some of our local plans and on the the next slide, we'll get to a map. Um but as part of our proposal this evening, um our anticipated plan uh in initial phases would provide access to approximately a thousand little more than a thousand mobile homes and small

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businesses. Um when we look at the overall timelines, obviously many variables there. Uh but anticipating our first areas could potentially be ready for service as early as Q1 of 2027. Um again, obviously depending on uh

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permitting and uh requirements and as we move forward different construction timelines. As I mentioned earlier, um it was just a handful of months ago, April 2026, we announced our commitment to serve the greater Lehigh Valley of both Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Um starting

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with the city of Bethlehem. So we have active construction underway. We have customers already installed in areas in the city of Bethlehem um and already connected there. So that's continuing to progress. Uh locally, we do also have plans uh that I can share publicly to uh

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serve uh Eastston and Philipsburg as well. Um and as we progress, we'll continue to announce additional plans and communicate with with everyone. So initial phases, um wanted to share [clears throat] a map and the printed copy is there for all of your review as

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well. So those uh areas that you see in the green um are what we'd like to build and provide access to initially and continue, you know, to be able to to look for opportunities [clears throat] to expand across the township.

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The names that you see on there um really are just our internal names, our district names um for the nomenclature that we use internally to carve out and identify um certain build areas. Okay. Yep. Go ahead.

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um as I mentioned really strive to be more than an internet provider. Um it's important to us to come alongside and be a community partner. I'll share a little bit of my background before coming to Greenlight Networks. Uh I spent nearly a decade in community and economic development work,

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ran a local chamber of commerce and a local development corporation um in New York. And now it's a wonderful opportunity for me to be on the the side of it working handinhand with Greenlight Networks as we expand um to be able to look at what is important to the

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communities that we're serving and seek and identify opportunities not just through the infrastructure but in all of the ways that we could continue to partner as we move forward. Um couple of examples I shared. Um first step we always join our local chamber of commerce. The Greater Lehigh Valley

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Chamber has been a tremendous partner uh since we [clears throat] joined last year. Uh we've sponsored local concert series uh with working with them, local mayors and municipal reception. So, it's really been a wonderful way for us to uh get an understanding of the the broader

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community and the initiatives that are important. Uh you can go back one real quick. >> I know we'll get to the exciting stuff. I promise. Uh and just highlighting um we every step of our process from

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pre-construction all the way throughout the process when we are identifying areas to build um we ensure that we have our team boots on the ground locally with the ability to answer questions. We like to host get to know greenlight events um and just be very open to

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ensure that as residents have questions um we'll we're able to answer them along the way. Um, we partner with local community centers to uh house our network equipment. We call it our our point of presence sites and we'll often be seeking uh anchor institutions to uh

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partner with to house our network equipment and then complete the buildout uh to the neighborhoods um from there. Okay. Um again I just wanted to highlight um you know part of our uh construction processes and the communication that

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takes place. Um, I mentioned boots on the ground. We want to make sure that we're here, have a direct point of contact that not just all of you, um, representing the township, but all residents can go to, uh, to be able to answer questions and navigate along the way. Um, regular construction notices,

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uh, on every single impacted door um, in areas that we would be seeking to build. uh in addition to signage. Uh then as we move forward through restoration pro uh processes where there is potential for underground um if there's underground

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work that needs to take place um very communicative along the way and ensuring that Greenlight will always comply with uh any municipal ordinances and really be a partner with the municipality to ensure that things are put back to into place. um we know that that can

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sometimes be a painful process and uh it should be put back into place um better than it was when we left it and that's something that we strive for uh every step of the way. Um another piece on this front, we do have a website available uh that has a video explaining

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our construction processes and um just informative to ensure that residents uh know what to expect. Another thing I wanted to call out that I think is a bit different um than what we see other providers but is an FCC requirement. Uh on any of our fiber optic lines um you

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see this tag right here um bright green very visible indicating what um what lines are ours uh with our phone number on it as well. So just making sure that every step of the way that's um that's transparent.

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Okay. So, so the next one, uh, just wanted to lay out a bit of how the the system works. Once we have an opportunity to build in a local area, um, [clears throat] I mentioned our point of presence sites. Um, we are always looking for additional areas to

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locate our network equipment um, and often seek uh, to work collaboratively with the local municipality to identify those anchor institutions. our initial build FLA phases uh planning to uh we we'll be able to run that off of the point of presence site that's been

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identified and confirmed in Philipsburg. Um and then as the lines are run uh again I mentioned you know primarily aerial um along the utility poles uh when it comes time for resident connection um those that choose to

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become a green light customer our technicians come out and do a drop installation. So you can see a photo of the box that goes on the exterior of the home. Uh and then run the uh line from that box to what we call an similar to

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what some may have as a modem. Um but it's an optical network terminal inside the house. Um we can also provide a wireless router. Uh seamless end to end. The biggest difference and we we really like to stress um and why we see the difference in reliability and service is

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because it is 100% fiber optic end to end. So um you get that symmetrical upload and download speed. Um we do offer speeds from 350 megabits of service all the way up to 8 gigabits. Um which is more than most folks need. Um

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our most popular uh plan is the the 1 gigabit plan. And I believe that may be my very last slide outside of my contact information. Um I'm happy to answer any questions that any of you may have. I also um you know we'll be able if I don't have an

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answer for you today, we'll be able to take your questions back and ensure uh we're working with our team and uh be able to answer any questions. >> Anybody have anything? You said earlier that you'll be using the current uh utility poles and

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underground uh conduits. So you're not adding a new conduit. You're going to use the same conduit say exfinity just laid lines. You'd be using their conduit or you going to lay your own conduit? >> I don't I believe it'd be our own

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conduit or our own in areas that need to be underground, but I will have to um I can verify that with our team um exactly where that would be [clears throat] impacted. >> Okay. And to my knowledge, it's primarily aerial um in what we're looking to do.

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We can verify the specifics street by street um in the plans as we move forward once you know >> well in the area I live in for example everything's on the ground. >> The area that you had highlight in green >> is uh I think utility poles.

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>> So that'll be easier for you guys. >> Exactly. Yeah. And that's that's typically our goal when we can go aerial without um doing the underground disruption. Um there are occasions where that may come into play um depending on the the network design. Um but again, you know,

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communication along the way. Um I know that we anticipate and given the the tenative timeline that I shared um likely 90 days um to where we'd be able to to hang the line. So don't anticipate heavy uh underground anything.

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>> Do you ask? >> Sure. >> No, I I I don't have anything. I I spoke with your attorney on the phone. There's uh I think we'll have a a rightaway agreement uh that we'll negotiate. Just laying out that you guys will put everything back the way that you found

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it, everything like that. Everything that you would do anyway. But just uh I'll work with your attorney. And I think that's the next step at the uh our September meeting. >> And then there'd be a resolution that's a meeting authorizing >> authorizing consent and the execution of the agreement.

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>> Happy to y >> Thank you very much for coming. >> Just a quick question. I guess once that once that step is is done with the rightaway agreement is how quickly do you think you guys would be >> prepared to file road opening permits and be able to come in and meet with us uh to to kick off the construction

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process? What do you think the timeline would be for >> really right away? Um I know we have teams, especially um since we're doing active work across the Lehigh Valley area, we've got teams that um you may also be seeing potentially some permitting uh requests come through from uh some of our consultants in

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preparation for potential um full application. So we'd really we're eager to start that discussion um to that point and happy to have our our team sit down directly with with the team here. >> Sure. Yeah, certainly. Once you know, Beth, Beth and Terry receive the the applications for installation, then you

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know, our office will review and we'll have we can have a pre-construction meeting, get you guys started. >> That would be wonderful. >> Great. >> I have one more. >> Sure. >> I'm sure you guys did a study why you want to come to this area, right? >> We did. We did. Yes. because I know the past years when Piper first started

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coming on the scene um you know coming out here was something that it was a no-go zone because it didn't have the volume of uh you know potential customers for it. >> So what's the difference? >> Yeah, that's a great question. I mean we see the continued demand and the growth

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there. Um you see a lot of local fiber providers um start beginning to expand here across the greater Lehigh Valley. It was important for us here because we saw the other the lack of options for folks and know that by providing additional

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especially fiber optic options for local residents. It's going to ensure that the um other providers in the area, it levels the playing field a bit. Everybody does better by their customers. Um but we did we saw a clear demand for the fiber optics specifically here um locally.

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>> It is an investment on your part. >> Sure is. Yeah. [clears throat] >> Yeah. But we're we're excited to do it. And um you know, I think as you can see from some of the work that we've laid out, it's continually important for us that we're not just here to be a provider, an

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internet provider. We want to engage in discussions around continuing to help the growth and the the uh local economy continue to thrive. >> Is Lacon your first stop >> in in Warren County? Uh we've been having uh several different

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conversations um so simultaneously uh east Philsburg um specifically >> okay >> thank you. >> We do we do have plans I'll share so we haven't publicly announced okay >> our [clears throat] entry into um the market to serve New Jersey but we do

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have plans um obviously across the greater Lehigh Valley and then um southern New Jersey as well. So, a lot of conversations happening across the state. >> Someone who's done telecom work in the state for the last 30 years. You know, 20 years ago, people didn't want to go into areas where someone else is

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serving. And I know the cost of the revenues are both, but there's not a business model that supports it. That's why they're here and others as well. >> Not just because you're there. [laughter] >> Thank you. Great.

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>> Thank you for stopping in. I appreciate it. >> Thank you. >> I'm sure we'll be in touch. >> All right. Old business. Oh, first then we move on. Public comment on agenda items only. Bruce. >> Thank you, sir.

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[clears throat] >> Uh, Robert Bruce 11 Road. Um, all business item number three, resolution to designate redeveloper for the the pool effectively. Uh, are you guys designating a redeveloper tonight?

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>> Yeah, just to, uh, lay out what's going on with that. So, uh, I'm sure you've you've been in every meeting. Uh, we've had a bunch of bids come in for the pool throughout the, uh, the months going back to the end of last year. They've all been way over budget and way more than the township's been expecting to

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spend on the project. Uh we've been approached by a redeveloper that uh indicates they can do it for cheaper. [clears throat] So part of that process uh for them to give us their estimates >> uh give us the estimates are uh by

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designating them a redeveloper so that they can come in and actually give us the proposal. So nothing's being set in stone right now. This is just allowing us to have that conversation. >> Okay. So, you don't that you're not designating somebody tonight, but somebody had approached you and you Okay.

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>> We are designating someone and they require that to work with the financing. >> Okay. So, you got So, you are >> allow that conversation to happen. >> No, I understand. I I I I understand that as part of that you we're going to

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be we the town is going to be entering into a redevelopment agreement in RDA with that developer which is a negotiation um >> there's no redevelopment agreement >> there will be as part of that I understand >> and if after the conversation that we

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have >> yeah if you proceed there you will negotiate with it with that developer in a re redevelopment a agreement so uh for formal planning board meeting where they announced that they were um uh compliant

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with the master plan. Um our town engineer Adam seemed to have used a a New Jersey state police barracks in Hunterdan as an example of of this which I believe is understood to be a public

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lease leaseback means of building. Um I from what I've learned about this means uh it seems really dangerous to the town potentially uh and the future of the pool if we don't ensure that the RDA

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that we sign with the developer has protections for the town built in. So, Mike, I I wanted to know what what professional help uh that has experience with this financing method uh is the township going to line up to protect us

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by ensuring that the contract has the necessary protections so that it doesn't come back and bite us in the ASX. >> Yeah. I mean, we do redevelopment work in a bunch of our municipalities. We've had that >> public lease, private. >> Yes, we we've done lease backs before.

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>> You as a law firm? >> Yeah. Okay. So, you're representing that you have the the necessary experience to do that. >> Okay. And nothing I've said surprises you and you know you have to get all of that built in. >> Thank you. If I don't mind, will we

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probably see the RDA when it's negotiated or is that not going to be available? >> Uh, it'll be a deliberative document while it's being negotiated going back and forth, but on when the council goes to execute it, it will be a public document. >> Thank you. Right.

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Anyone else? All right. Moving on. Old business. Approve executive and regular session minutes for July 1st, 2026. I'm a motion and a second, please. >> Motion. >> Second. >> Roll call vote.

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>> Councilman [snorts] Carol. >> Yes. >> Councilman Marinelli. >> Yes. >> Councilman Mccle. >> Yes. >> Council President. >> Yes. Am I right? >> Yes. [clears throat] Ordinance number 26-09, second reading and public hearing to

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adopt the redevelopment plan for the property referred to as the Lakon Park redevelopment area, commonly known as block 2, lots 30.07, 30.08, and 30.09 on the tax map of the

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township of Lacon. [clears throat] I have a motion second to hold a public hearing, please. motion. >> I'll second that. All in favor? I >> I >> comment from the public on that. >> Uh John Kersonen, 38 J Lane. Um I'm

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probably still as confused about this whole thing as the planning board was when it was discussed with them. Um, so it it would be good as uh the council's discussing this and voting on this if they could just uh comment on uh what

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this means as far as um leasing back and stuff like that. Uh one of the questions that was asked at the planning board from one of the members was what's what's in it for the redeveloper? I mean, they're coming in, they're financing stuff, then they're leasing

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stuff, and at the end it goes back to to the township. It was it was just kind of confusing. Um, so, and the other thing that was kind of mentioned is that there's not going to be anything new going in, I think, were the words that were used, uh, and that some buildings

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were being, uh, spruced up. The pool obviously is going to be new. if the council can comment. Has the scope of the pool changed at all? Um, you know, there were an awful lot of things that were were outlined when the uh when the

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pool was proposed or when I I should say when the park was proposed, including a year-round pavilion, uh the lazy river, um places that residents could rent out and stuff like that. Has any of that changed? Um is or is the scope of the

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park still the same? So uh going back to your first question um so this is it's very initial uh so we were approached by a red developer as I said and they needed to be uh designated a redeveloper to go to their financing and get numbers for us. Part of the [clears throat]

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discussion is going to be the scope and what it like changing things to make things cost more money. So there there isn't a known scope at this point. uh they're going to sit down, say like, "Hey, if we want to do this, how much this is?" And they're going to get uh numbers for the township. Um that's

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that's my understanding of that. As for what makes sense for them, uh they have less strings attached on how they can uh procure things. We don't they don't have uh the local public contract law. They have their own uh contractors that are

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working for Whether or not it does make financial sense, we won't know until we get those numbers. Uh that's what they're they're indicating to us. >> So that's going to be a plan that's reviewed at a future time. Then >> yeah, there'll be um uh a subcommittee.

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Uh the mayor and any available council member is going to meet with them, go over those and then uh at public meetings as things proceed, uh it'll be discussed. >> Okay. So going back to the scope, we don't know really if the scope has

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changed then for the park. Um, I mean that might be a question for you guys. Um, >> well, we know we got to lower our prices. We can't afford it. >> Sure. Yeah, that's understood. >> What they can get their prices for, we don't know yet. You know, I mean, maybe they can get a pavilion a lot less than we can for. And they don't have to worry

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about change fees, all this other stuff that could be sprung on us when we get caught and get wrapped into it. We have to pay. So, >> so when that when that picture is finally decided upon, will the council present that to the public at any point

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before we actually >> Yeah. Oh, yeah. >> Okay. All right. Thank you. >> We'll have them do it probably. You know what I mean? We'll have them come in and put on a presentation. >> Okay. Anyone else? >> Seeing none, motion second to close the public hearing.

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>> Motion. >> Second. >> All in favor? I >> motion and a second to adopt this ordinance. >> I'll make a motion. Second. >> Roll call vote. >> Yes. >> Councilman Delh Har. >> Yes. >> Councilman Marinelli. >> Yes. >> Councilman McQuade.

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>> Yes. >> Council President Toledo. >> Yes. >> Right. >> Yes. Resolution to designate redeveloper for block 2 lots 30.7, 30.8, and 30.9. I have a motion and a second, please. >> Motion.

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>> I'll second that. Roll call vote. >> Councilman Delcaro, >> yes. >> Councilman Marinelli, >> yes. >> Councilman McClade, >> yes. >> Council President Fledo, >> yes. >> Mayor, >> yes. New business ordinance number 26-10, first rate reading to establish

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adjust retainers and wage ranges of certain employees. Motion second, please. >> I'll make a motion. >> Second. >> Roll call vote, please. >> Yes. Councilman Delaro. >> Yes. >> Councilman Marinelli. Yes. >> Councilman McUade. >> Yes. >> Council President Fledo.

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>> Yes. >> Yes. >> Number two. Ordinance number 26-11. First reading amending chapter 93 con construction codes uniform section 93-3 fees to establish mechanical subcode

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permit fees. Have a motion and a second. Please. >> Motion. >> Second. >> Roll call vote, please. >> Councilman Daro. >> Yes. >> Councilman Marinelli. Yes. >> Councilman McUade. >> Yes. >> Council President Fledo. >> Yes.

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>> Yes. Ordinance number 26-12. First reading to amend chapter 119 entitled fire prevention to section 119-9 permit fees amending certificate of smoke alarm, carbon monoxide alarm, and portable fire extinguisher compliance

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fees. Have a motion in a second. Please. I'll make a motion. >> Second. >> Roll call vote. Councilman Delcara, >> yes. >> Council Marinelli, >> yes. >> Council Muade, >> yes. >> Council President, >> yes. >> Mayor,

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>> yes. Consent agenda. Uh, I need a motion in a second for items 1 through 11. If everybody has no you want to change, >> I'll make that motion. >> Second. >> Roll call vote, please. >> Councilman Delcara, >> yes. >> Councilman Marinelli, yes. >> Council Main, yes.

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>> Council President, >> yes. [clears throat and cough] >> Yes. Few announcements. Council meeting is rescheduled from Wednesday, September 2nd, 2026 to Tuesday, September 1st, 2026. Community day scheduled for August 29th,

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2026. And rain date is September 12th, 2026 at the Lakon Park from 2:00 p.m. to dusk. We have a shred event scheduled for September 12th, 2026 at the pool parking lot from 9:00 a.m. till 12:00 p.m. Uh, the community yard sale

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scheduled for September 19th, 2026 from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. And our fall cleanup is scheduled October 3rd, 2026 at the pool parking lot and the Striker Road Firehouse number two from 7:00 a.m.

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to noon. So you can also check the website for more details on that council reports. >> Rich, >> mayor, I don't have any reports for you. >> Lou, >> yeah, just um uh the sewer rate is going to be going in effect starting January

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1st. So I expect 20% increase. Anything else? That's it. >> That's it. Scott, >> nothing. Mayor again. >> Um I'd like to thank the police department for a great job on national night out last night and also the

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recreation committee is looking to do a 5K walk run. We call it the 5K your way for October 10th benefiting American Cancer Society. This will be done for cancer awareness month. And that's all for now. Thank you.

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>> Um myself um I want to thank everybody. Last night was a great night. Police Department was out there in Forest, Fire Department, Psburg squad and a lot of little tables were out there in the community. It was nice to see so many people out there. They had great food. It was a really fun night. So, I thank

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everybody who showed up. Uh that's all I have. Engineers report. Adam. >> Yes. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh to give everyone an update. Uh our Sallyport project is continuing uh to progress. Uh the site improvements out front of the Sallyport here uh next to our meeting

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room. The site improvements were completed last week, paving and some drainage repairs that were needed. Uh we're currently waiting on the bricks to be delivered. The bricks were on a long lead time, four to five month lead time. We're expecting those will be delivered to finish out [clears throat] the front of the Sally Port. They were projecting

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the end of August to September. So I'm hoping in the next two months we have a completed exterior on the building. Uh and I believe they're waiting on some railing and some other items to be delivered as well. I know those were on order a few weeks ago. Um, so we're getting close on that. It's been a

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while. Uh, next, the Stonehenge Drive improvements that that was finished in the paving was finished in the springtime, but we are now filing the uh grant reimbursement request with the NJ DOT so we can get uh the township's grant funds from the state for that project. Uh, our next road improvement

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project is Striker Road phase one. As I mentioned previously, it's the northern sort of limits uh of Striker Road. Uh, we've completed the design. We filed those documents with NJ DOT uh in the last uh week or so. Uh once we receive DOT approval, we'll be going out in a

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position to bid the project with the hope that we can do that construction uh in the fall. As long as, you know, the DOT gets us back uh uh an approval to go out to bid. So, we're really just waiting on the DOT now for that project. That'll move along. Uh our next road

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project that we're we have on our radar that we're working on is the reservoir road resurfacing and drainage repairs. uh we worked to to scope the repairs last month and and I'm in the process of preparing the survey and design proposal for that work. So we'll have that uh for the council's approval at the September

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meeting. Um so then once we have that we can start the design effort on that uh on that work to get reservoir road prepared. Uh another long longunning project which has a lot of uh do appro uh approval and involvement is the Fox Farm road storm

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damage repairs. We've completed our environmental investigations and survey work and currently we're designing and uh preparing the permit plan so we can go to D and get permits for that work uh along the creek there uh and along Fox Farm Road. Uh then finally uh the

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Pudding Stone Way and Brier Place uh that'll be our next DOT funded uh project. Uh we filed the grant application and uh we're currently just waiting on uh on the award notification. Typically those come out uh in early early November. where we usually find

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out how much money that we might be uh allocated from the state's uh state's funds for for roadway improvements. So that's all I have right now. >> Thank you very much. >> All right. Please report Chief.

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>> Thank you, Mayor Council. I'd like to uh just continue my thank you for um a wonderful night out last night, national night out when um fantastic beautiful weather. Um and thank you for all your support um there and especially to our

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organizers that organized the the entire event and then our businesses who donated and uh our volunteers who uh spent spent their time and evening out there with us um supporting the night. So I thank you. And then um our traffic

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report for um the month of July, we had a total of 206 [clears throat] 265 motor vehicle stops with 46% of those being stopped issued traffic citations. And then of those uh issued traffic citations, 29% of those were commercial

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motor vehicles. That's my report, Mr. Mayor. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you. DPW Bri. >> Yeah, just a quick report a little bit. Um, normal stuff, cutting grass. Uh, we had a sink hole in the middle building

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parking lot here. Um, we fixed that. Um, you know, may see a square patch, some different things in there. Um, we are cutting along the side of roads. All right. just let the township residents know. They'll see us out there. Be careful. All right. The motor does throw things. All right. So, um that is

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happening. We lined the practice football fields. Um we did uh not have Zach this year. Um so, we're learning again. All right. Um we're doing okay. All right. Um so, it's just great for us.

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Um, we did do all the electrical, made everything like Jason was saying for National Night Out and we got it prepped for you and did everything before, you know, everybody came in and then we helped them when they hit. Um, just be careful. There's uh we're having a bunch of deer that are running around now and

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people are hitting them. All right, which he's aware of, but we have to get, you know, pay to have them picked up. So, just be careful as a resident. Uh, we will be going out. Um we've been going out and doing potholes and um you know we made a list of things. So that is coming. We we did a bunch of them

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already. Um and uh I've been working with uh uh K&A down below here uh Adam with uh the Sallyport to get that you know settled. I'm pretty happy with it at this point. All right, that's kind of the report. Um I would like to make one

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statement if I may work related. Um, if you guys get a chance, I really think that uh um North Second Street between Aurora and Baltimore Street really needs to be addressed. All right. It's it's getting

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to the points above our level. It needs to be milled and done some things a short period of short spot, but it should be on that list somewhere. All right. So, >> get paved. >> It needs to be milled and paved. It was the only spot in >> the whole street.

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>> You might remember it. Um, when Doug Steinhardt did everything except for that little section. All right. Um, so that's never been paid for >> 40 years probably. All right. And uh, it's just it's ready. All right. >> It's on the list.

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>> It's on the list. >> We'll put it on the list. >> Put it on the list. Yeah. Please. >> Thanks, bud. Put on the wish list. Uh, >> fire chief report. Chief, give me Thank you, council. Uh, so report for July uh, 2026, we answered 23 calls for

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service, bringing our year total to 151 calls for service. Um, not too much else going on, just uh, we attended, helped out at National Night Out. Um, couple other community events. Uh, we did finalize and submit two large grant

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applications. Um so hopefully we will hear back from them if we will receive them or not sometime in late September. They're hoping to announce the AFG grant recipients. Um but those grants were submitted to hopefully assist us in

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replacing um the air packs or SCBAs that are um much needed time for uh replacement. And then uh we have we're in a uh grant a mutual grant with Alpha,

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Poakon, uh Harmony, Philipsburg, Stewartsville, and ourselves for uh portable radios uh to bring us up when the county updates their radio system, which they are in the process of doing.

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We um as the departments are going to be responsible for replacing the radios um on our own, right? As of right now, the county will be not provide will not provide any funding for that. So, we are being put on our own to replace all of

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our portable and mobile radios in all the trucks. So, >> how many radios you have? Um 32 portables and 13 mobile radios. Um >> how about pages? Any new pagers?

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>> Pagers will still work. Okay. >> With that, um it's just the radios themselves. Right now we operate on uh VHF uh frequency. The county switching to P25 digital. um the PDS are going to be transitioning

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first and then eventually rolling over to fire and EMS side. So the grant we have in with the five other departments is just for portable radios. Uh it would give each department 30 radios. So, we'd

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get 30 radios and three bank chargers um at a price of I believe it was like $98,000 worth of radios for each department. Um, it puts it right around a million dollar, I think it was $980,000 grant

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for this five departments to be able to uh get portable radios because you're like each portable radio we purchase nowadays is I think the last quote I got was $4,700 per radio. So, we're trying our best to

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get the assistance from grants. um >> they need a date when they were going to change come over to >> the their goal is by the end of 2027, but they can't switch until the entire county is on the same page and without the county providing any

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funding. I'm not sure when that would happen because there's some it's going to be a lot of >> funding for each department. We have to talk to Kim, make sure we get maybe we have to kick up that radio, >> you know, >> because I mean, at the end of the day,

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we're still, just so we're all on the same page, we're still going to have to when they switch purchase the mobile radios because FEMA, which is the AFG grant that we're going through, FEMA only provides portable radios. They won't in their grants pay for mobile

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radios. So we will still have to fund >> all the mobile radios which are 13 mobile radios for the department >> and your base station >> and the yeah the yeah 13 mobile I didn't even count and the a base station in two base stations in each station. So, >> okay.

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>> So, but uh and then on the other hand, the UC SCBAs, we're going for that also. >> And that's how >> um that's >> if we don't get a grant, >> if we don't get a grant, the last quote we got for everything we need, packs, masks, RIP packs, uh high

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300s, almost 400. >> But it's one of those things that you can't we can't we can't live without. Um, our current SCBAs are three generations old now. Um, they were purchased in 2009, I think we got them,

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the MSA packs we have now, but they're getting harder and harder to get parts in because MSA stops providing parts for their stuff once they get two generations old. >> So, Right. >> So, so this is the fire department, correct? Because you're saying 911 is

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updating their uh system. Yeah. >> Would that also uh equate to the police department radios >> and the DPW? >> Yeah, that's something we're already working on. Um our projects in place and we're currently working on >> Yeah, they're switching over a lot sooner, I guess, than >> they were actually scheduled to switch

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everything over by July of this year. Again, just like the chief said, they can't move until every department in Warren County is ready to move on. >> So, everyone needs radios. >> Well, the chief is full ahead. He's actually You're good, right, with your portables? >> Yep. I just have to update my licensing

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and uh we'll we'll >> Yeah, they were the PDS were planned to be the >> switch over a lot sooner than the fire and EMS side as to test out the new system. >> Right now the new system's up and running. You can use both right now. You can use the >> Yeah, they're simal cast right now until

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I guess um at our la at our last county chief's meeting it was said that they're still waiting on a few parts from Motorola to come in place, but I guess it's simal cast right now before they officially switch over. >> Most of the sheriff panels on the new radios. We do have some of the old ones yet, but >> but yeah, everything right now on the PD

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side, I guess, is simal cast where it's you can still operate with the old >> until it's fully switched over. >> No better. [laughter] >> That's what's that's what's that's what's been said. So, >> but I guess they're adding three more towers in the county. So, I guess that'll fix stuff. But, let's hope.

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>> Thank you. >> All right. Thanks, Chief. Appreciate it. EMS. Nobody from EMS. Shade tree board of education. [clears throat] >> Good evening, mayor and council. Thank

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you so much. Um, [clears throat] so for August uh 5th, our students, our first day back to school is on Thursday, August the 27th. So, the summer is slowly but surely ending. Our teachers are returning on Monday the 24th for 3 days of preparation and personal

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development. As I said last month, our administrative staff and our other 12-month employees have been busy preparing for the new school year. And even though our board of education did not have an official meeting scheduled for July, we did hold a special meeting

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on Wednesday, July the 29th to finalize some important items. As our board returned to a committee system rather than the board of a whole that we had triled, our committees have started meeting um this week and next in preparation for our August business

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meeting which will be the 20th of this month. The district's extended school year program which ran through the month of July saw our students growing tomatoes, basil, and flowers in addition to working on their academic goals. Our

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kindergarten jumpstart program was in full swing for incoming students to acclimate what to expect in their kindergarten year. 59 students attended four days where they explored the elementary school building, rotating through classrooms, making new friends

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and learning about different animals. The teachers were also able to conduct baseline assessments um knowledge about numbers, colors, letters, speaking skills that help to tailor instruction for the upcoming school year. This program has proven to be a great success

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and indeed a true jump start for those families who choose to attend. Our supply lists for our students have already been sent out through the virtual backpack to our middle school students and then also in direct emails to the families from our elementary

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school principal, Dr. Wayne. Um there's also information for healthy kids enrollment information for those families who need before and after care at our elementary school. Um that was included in the elementary school email.

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Our students in our fifth through 8th grade received summer reading project reminders. This is not the first time they've seen it. They need each all needed to read um a non-fiction uh work. Um so that was in the virtual backpack. There is a 12page uh book report guide

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that offered clear and a less stressful way for students to complete the assignment and to share what they had learned from their reading. And I as I looked at it, it's been a long time obviously since I've been in middle school and even my own children, you know, they're long past that date, but I

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just thought it was really interesting um to make how it made it easier for our students to be able to report what they had been. You know, book reports can get to be like scary and especially something you had to read over the summer, but these these were really

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every page just had and it's digital that they fill it in. And it's asking about the character identification and what the personality traits are, what the spec what the physical traits were, what um those characters might have as beliefs or values specific to them. And

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then there were there was a whole page of like name words that they could use to describe it. So, it it made it easy for them to think about how the story went um for the characters, for the setting, for the plot, what the um end results were, and then what their own

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feelings were about the book. So, I just thought um as I looked at that, I'm like, what a great way to to educate our students and to help them to be successful. Um, at our August 20th board meeting this month, we will be interviewing

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candidates who express their desire to fill our one open board seat. Anyone who is still interested may still submit an application by next week, August the 12th. We do have three candidates that we will be interviewing, but if anybody

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else is still interested, we're we're open for that. Um, so we look forward to the start of another school year and as always we appreciate this opportunity to share some of what is happening in the district. Thank you all very much. >> Thank you very much. Thank you.

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>> Okay. LAA report marks on here. All right. Approve of uh department reports. Motion to second, please. >> Motion. Second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> Payment of bills. Motion second. If everybody agrees with the bills,

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>> motion. >> I'll second that. Roll call vote, please. >> Councilman Delcaro, >> yes. >> Councilman Marinelli, >> yes. >> Councilman Mcuade, >> yes. >> President Bledo, >> yes. >> Yes. Okay. Public comment.

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>> Mr. Bruce, >> Bob Bruce, Call. [snorts] Um, as I mentioned before, the the planning board uh when I was there, they had a lot of questions on the on the redevelopment plan. I just wanted to note that uh our planner and uh our engineer Adam as

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always uh were very very helpful in uh presenting to the planning board uh and answering the questions that they had. Um uh Mr. Baldwin, I want to apologize if I overlooked you as an experienced professional in my questioning. Uh, I

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thought your explanation tonight was top notch. I'm relieved to learn that you are well experienced and how we need to protect ourselves in these agreements. Uh, one question in regard to that. The biggest fear I had was a bond. Are we getting 100% bond? We going to have 100%

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bond in case these guys go bail? So like as insurance >> as kind of what I would hope would be boilerplate in the agreement that they have to post some bond in order to protect us in case >> um yeah there'll be some sort of uh like

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if they don't perform under the contract and we'll either get a performance bond that'll finish the project for them right >> or uh have some sort of uh >> that was the biggest thing that I had a whole bunch of other things but >> thank you.

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>> Yep. Okay, thank you M and thank Mr. Below for marking up the show business. >> All public jobs have contractors have to be bonded.

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>> You know, and usually to whatever the cost of the project is. >> Well, I'll refer to the sewer. So, thank you. Okay. All right. Anyone else? Seeing none, motion for adjournment. >> I'll make a motion. Second.

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>> All in favor? >> Thank you for coming out, everyone.

