##VIDEO ID:cghh8bR647U## e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e you listen I'm not on the DDC so you have to get all the recycling and garbage cans moving let the record reflect we have reconvened with all members present for those who are able please rise for pledge of allegiance I and I ask you to remain standing after the pledge I pledge to the flag of the United States of America and to the for it stands one nation godible liy and Justice want to take a moment to remember some members of Madison extended burough extended family and the long time Madison residence we lost over the past few weeks andly has been a tough couple weeks for Madison bear with me Frank Sena lifelong Madison resident passed away on January 18th at age of 90 leaves behind his wife for 54 years Katherine his daughters Sue and Katie and one grandchild born in 1934 was raised in Madison attended St vincon martyr school and Madison High School after graduating high school Frank Enlisted the United States Army when he returned from service he apprenticed with Master Carpenters before joining the Madison police department he serve our town proudly as an officer for 25 years until his retirement and has been often mentioned Frank was a by the book officer in the quick story because I got to do it firsthand one time many years ago is right after right on red became a a real thing and couldn't take right on red Waverly I was there about 11 o'cl at night going to the na was middle of a snowstorm I said who who would pull you over for right on red in in the middle of a snowstorm so I took a right and all through pull over and there's Frank seta but he didn't give me a ticket just gave me a lecture saying you know there's no right on red there I said Thank You Frank I appreciate it so um after retiring Frank went back into carpentry and mentored a younger police officers and I saw would see him every time when a police officer retired he would be there to wish him well in their retirement kept himself busy as an active volunteer in retirement member of the parish council and Cemetery committee for St Vincent volunteered fry Dickinson to restore the Italian Gardens worked with the Millennium committee to create a Time Capsule that's buried right in front here on the Plaza and made wine at Villa rose wine school we also remember Maryann McConnell who died January 18th age 82 he's behind her children Lisa and Mark and four grandchildren born in 42 she was raised in Stan hope learned DSN or earned her BSN and nursing from rud Cruz in 83 worked as a visiting nurse for Mars County Visiting Nurse Association while attending law school as a single mother he learned her JD from Sean hall went on to become assistant VP of government relations for beneficial served as a public defender established her own Law Firm worked as a state attorney for the victims of crime compensation board in New Jersey Department of Health he certainly had an amazing life and anyone knows her she had strong political views especially towards anything fighting for justice and equality president of New Jersey League of Women Voters vice president Morris County Democratic committee president of women's political caucus commissioner on the Mars County ta Board of Taxation and a member of our Board of Health here Madison and she was a fun fundraiser for local Democrats and for many of us around here were many time in her backyard and then Joan Huffine of East Hover born in 1953 passed away on January 20th while she grew up in East Hover she does have a strong Madison connection second graduated from Trenton State married the lover of life philli in 1981 predecesor in 2014 worked to 18t and TM Forum and then went into uh her big passion was tutoring her memory will live on with her only child uh Rachel and her siblings P Jack and our Deputy zoning officer Dan Buckaloo whose office is right down the hall here um Janet and Jimmy and she's also survived by her mother an Jak Lockett lifelong Madison resident died on January 16th born in 52 graduated Madison schools graduated 1971 enlisted in United States National Guard and he earned the title of high honor sharp shooter while enlisted love going fishing playing uh e brother songs and driving his 67 Chevy Camaro he leaves behind Three Sons Michael Marcus and Mars two granddaughters and one great-grandson and luretta strich a lifelong Madison resident died January 17th age of 86 survived by her three sons Joseph Robert and uh Robert's wife Jill is our office assistant in the tax assessor's office then right down the hallway um also Andrew and his wife Lynn and one daughter Jacqueline and her husband James eight grandchildren seven great-grandchildren she was born to the late Ralph and Rose sandel her brother is uh Ralph sandel uh and her um nephew uh was on work for DPW many years also um she's lifelong parishioner of St pin martyr school she met her husband Joseph at the F Park rink which I think this is at least the third one I've done that met at Farm Park rink they were married in 55 and settled right here in Union Avenue um in her childhood home where they raised their family they were married for 68 years Laur Eder was also a crossing guard for the burrow at Union Avenue Kings Road for many years and then we also remember Eileen Richards res longtime resident of Prospect Street passed away on January 19th survived by her husband Bob two sons Matthew and Ryan four grandchildren we loved her many years singing with with the St Vincent uh choir serving the ministry for the sick and homebound at St vincon and she had a big love for the Madison Garden Club and all its members and she loved floral arrangements for which she won several national and local Awards PRI prior to moving to Madison she had a successful career ranging from a executive assistant office president of US rubber Uniroyal clothing and this was a very interesting one to Footwear model for Uniroyal at the 64 65 World's Fair and I I was there as a child so I might have seen her feet and uh she also established a national retail reputation working with Talbots um in New York City and Short Hills and we remember Lynn gkin aged 77 died on January 14th he grew up in Floren park with her sister Taren brother Michael and um also during her years of B Eller she was active in community with her family and friends in her 30s she met to love her life Jeffrey they settled right here in Madison and she truly enjoyed uh her her two sons lives uh serving as a cup Scout Den Leader cheering them on through Bowling soccer and baseball amongst other sports I remember her at the sidelines when I coached her her children at the Y back in my coach Bob days she survived by her husband and her two sons Matthew and Benjamin so let us take a moment to remember member Frank Senna Maryann McConnell Joan huffin Jake Lockett Loretta strol alen Richards and Lynn gon let us pass our thoughts on to the families and friends that thank [Music] you motion for the executive minutes of November 25th 202 four second already discussed all in favor I I welcome all last two days it's been feeling like spring with uh pushing 40 into the 4S and should curse ourselves coming winter yet um so a couple things over the last couple of weeks uh last Monday on the 20th I was at Pine Acres healthare and rehabilitation center for um the 108th birthday for inz Elliott she was originally from East Orange uh has been at Pine Acres for the last three years but uh since it with her East Orange connection uh also attending the celebration with East Orange mayor Ted green so it's not too often a birthday gets two Mayors to show up but certainly at 108 so she resed received two proclamations for that amazing birthday she is uh was not really known as inz she was known as Rose through her most of her life so I uh told her was certainly appropriate to celebrate her 100 days in the Rose City and just to put her birth year of 1917 in perspective the president was wood woodro Wilson and that was the year the United States entered World World War I so a life and last Tuesday I attended the ribbon cutting of Madison's newest restaurant the heartley heartley continues the iosa restaurant family tradition under the ownership of Roco iosa Jr the steakhouse is attached to the Madison wine and tap and uh then this past Wednesday I did a webinar for the New Jersey Sierra Club smart growth program and the topic was our affordable housing project which they uh was brought to their attention and they really thought it should be shared with other municipalities and others that might be wanting to uh follow this what we have set as the um a model for affordable housing and so there was quite a bit of interest in that webinar on the passive house Net Zero project so hopefully others will follow our lead that is all I have for today and so let's get to U reports from committees uh Finance clerk council president ear thank you mayor the tax collector's office reminds everyone that first quarter property taxes are due in a couple days on February 1st property owners are reminded to mail their payment or use the online portal which can be found on rosenet.org also the mayor and burough officials recently met with the Morris County Tax Board the board has ordered the burrow to perform a revaluation of all property in the burrow in 2027 that will go into effect in 2028 the last revaluation we had was in 2013 and property values have changed significantly since then the administration will be working with the tax assessor's office to prepare for the reevaluation in the coming months more information will be posted on roset and issued to the public explaining the process and the steps involved residents with questions should contact the tax assessor from the finance department Council has already had multiple Financial presentations over the last few months but tonight we are starting the budget process in Earnest this evening we will hear from the electric utility superintendent Vince Patty and the Public Works director Bob Duffy we are extremely fortunate in Madison to have excellent reliable and safe electric and water service tonight you will hear about what steps our utility staff are taking to maintain and improve our Distribution Systems we will also hear about the financial performance of our water and electric utility our utilities build over $24.9 million in 2024 and our single largest budget line in the entire budget document is for the procurement of electricity which we purchase and then distribute to our residents and businesses you will hear this evening that the utilities performed well last year but that there are significant issues coming up the most important issue being the increase in costs for electricity and related expenses and I'll conclude by saying that voting on the budget is one of the most important actions that the council takes we work hard as a governing body to be transparent and to make information available to Residents tonight we will have the first of four scheduled budget presentations on February 10th we will discuss the municipal Budget on February 26th we will meet with department heads and then on March 24th we will have one final discussion on the budget including the strategic planning guidelines immediately after that discussion and that evening Administration will ask Council to introduce the official state budget document as per state statute we take a four-week break so that all residents have the opportunity to review the budget document and then on April 28th we are scheduled to have a hearing and vote to adopt the budget this year the buau is under State review which happens once every 3 years as such the schedule may change based on the process as a reminder all budget information is available on the annual budget process page on roset thank you mayor very much and just to re reinforce in case you didn't catch that our bigest of taste of Madison being on Monday February 24th our second meeting in Feb February will be a Wednesday 26 now we'll go on to Public Safety Mr landri thank you mayor from the police department Madison police the Madison police Command Staff met on Thursday January 23rd with public school officials as part of their quarterly District security meeting topics included ongoing security improvement with with the district and best practices Sergeant Ken Shannon and school resource officer Peter Frank headlined an assembly at the Madison Junior School on January 22nd to discuss gun safety for parents both offices are either current and or former Range Masters and Firearms instructors the assembly was very well attended Chief Misha attended a wear on January 22nd hosted by Sustainable New Jersey entitled all about EVS for police fleets which address EVs and hybrid vehicles for Police use the department currently has one EV utilized for parking enforcement and over half of the fleet are hybrid vehicles the police department will be conducting their firearms qualification refresher next month during the week of February 24th this is their first of four qu qualifications in 2025 okay from the fire department Atlantic Health notified the fire department that four EMTs are being awarded their stroke pins for quick actions on saving two different stroke patient lives chimney and fireplace fires are on the rise it's always good to have it's a a good idea to have a professional cleaning inspector chimney on January 17th the fire department ordered Central Avenue School shut down until the non-operating fire alarm was fixed the department is continuing to work with the Board of Education during the ongoing construction and finally from the uh joint Municipal Court When comparing Revenue Madison's Revenue increased by approximately 90% % in December 2024 compared to last year throughout 2024 Madison's overall Revenue increased by approximately 62% and they anticipate Madison's Revenue to continue increasing in 2025 the Madison joint Municipal Court including all four towns police departments had an increase in Revenue in 2024 as well thank you mayor thank you Public Works and Engineering Mr range thank you mayor from DPW tonight a reminder that Christmas trees can be put at the curb for pickup by DBW for the remainder of this week they should be free of tinsel lights and other ornaments uh they are not collected by our garbage uh provider uh but they are recycled by T DPW pickup will continue through the end of the week January 31st which is Friday uh residents can also bring Christmas trees and other yard Wass to the recycling center uh this Saturday February 1st from 8:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. note that uh due to the recent snow and freeze Cycles the Rosedale Pond is currently closed for skating uh be sure to only use the pond when the open flag is raised uh and of course you can always see the current status of the pond by visiting rosenet.org last Sunday January 19th DPW crws responded to a snow event in town clearing and salting roads parking lots and sidewalks DPW Crews have also assed Ed the water utility uh with two water main breaks over the last couple of weeks that's all tonight mayor thank you mayor welcome everybody from the community uh from the water department what Eric just mentioned there was a water main break on Madison Avenue 119 that was addressed and resolved quickly and also one on Rosedale Avenue on January 22nd very fortunate that was all that we had considering the Deep Frost that hit us for the last 10 days uh the Water Department assisted the DPW in snow removal on January 19th and January 20th they responded to multiple calls for frozen pipes due to the extreme cold weather very accommodating to our residents they uh the Water dep Department dug and repaired four valves that were leaking in Rosedale section of town four curb boxes were dug and repaired in different areas of the town that had been damaged maybe from plowing uh irons service was replaced on Rose Avenue on January 13th upcoming events so meter Tech has is nearing the completion of the uh installation of new meters around the burough uh the Madison water department will now be working through meters with plumbing and valve issues to complete the initiative going forward from the electric utility uh the standby was called out three times for issues in the community the cruise assisted the um engineering firm asplund electrical with their testing of 2025 annual substations at James Park substation and a burnt up secondary connection was found and repaired at 40 40 Highland which was the cause of half of a power outage the relay upgrade of the circuits at Kings Road sub station is close to be completed and uh within the course of maybe the next month there will be EV fast Chargers installed in lot three behind the police and fire department this is a aesco these are aesco 360 Kow EV superchargers that are compatible with most electric vehicles on the road and that's all I have mayor very much Min FIS Miss Hanahan thank you mayor uh the Downtown Development commission will meet on February 19th in Harley Dodge planning is underway for Madison Green and clean uh for April 26 a Saturday in 2025 and vendor contracts for the 2025 Madison farm and Artisan Market will be sent out before the end of this week a ro the Chamber of Commerce has got a couple of big events The Rose City chocolate walk scheduled for Saturday February 8th and the taste of Madison Monday February 24th at the Madison Hotel uh the Madison Community Art Center continues to be busy uh the rosum gallery is featuring paintings by Madison resident Dennis mcke and there's a Red Cross Drive blood drive on the 29th more information can be found on the website thank you very much and Mr Forte thank you mayor it's not too late to license your dog or cat licensing your dog provides protection if they get lost in his local law information on how to license can be found at www.r.org we're seeing neurovirol and Child Care Centers to protect yourself please wash your hands thoroughly after using the restroom before eating and after touching High touch surfaces hand San hand sanitizer does not protect against norovirus making proper handwashing especially important if you become sick and have symptoms please stay home until 48 hours after symptoms have stopped January is cervical cancer awareness month Atlantic health is offering free breast and cervical cancer screening for any individual who is not insured to schedule an appointment please call 973 971-5953 and while Avan flu or bird flu has not been identified in humans in New Jersey uh it has been in some other plac around the country some migratory birds have tested positive the health department would like to remind residents not to touch any birds that appear sick or dead and to please call 877 warn D to report thank you mayor very much we now move on to Communications and petitions uh yes mayor mayor and Council received an email dated January the 24th from uh resident David stcy regarding law enforcement policies thank you very much we now move on to our first of two invitations for public comment this is limited to the our agenda discussions and our uh resolutions um if you want to comment on any other topic we will come up to that uh discussion uh or comment period after the uh ordinance hearings these are the items you can comment on during this session um the round four affordable housing obligations which will be resolution 54 uh we will do that separate from the consent agenda you also will have the budget hearing as already mentioned on electric utility water utility and public works and the resolutions you may comment on I've already mentioned 54 resolution 55 is authorizing continuation of electric utility rebate program for the year 2025 this is a uh rebate of $200 as a one-time credit for electric utility um charges for those income eligible residents resolution 56 is approving raffle license um for Madison Historical Society resolution 57 is awarding a Professional Services contract to ewma environmental Consulting and Remediation for environmental resource inventory in the amount not to exceed $12,000 this is funded through the 2025 operating budget resolution 58 is authorized in a shared service agreement with the town ship of Berkeley Heights to provide so we're the provider of IT services resolution 59 is also a uh IT services uh shared service with the buau of chadam resolution 60 is approving use of the community pool parking lot for the adult school for various dates uh in March April and May resolution 61 is supporting the adoption of the environmental prefer preferable purchasing policy which is a green Pur purchasing policy to guide on department heads okay that's a this is a long resolution resolution 62 is authorizing the award of certain non-fair open contracts over the bid thres threshold uh this includes uh bym Labs of uh branch Branchburg for um monthly Aid Ami um reading fees for electric and water for approximately $60,000 also for invoice Cloud utility uh Payment Processing 8 60,000 um spatial data logic known as stdl which is uh for the engineering and building departments and that's 95,000 resolution 63 is extending the contract to melard cleaning of Services of Floren park for janitoral services this is for a few of the buildings in the buau uh resolution 64 is a annual maintenance contract for trunked municipal radio system this is through the New Jersey state Cooperative pricing uh funded through the police operating budget for this year and um ranges from an amount not to exceed 65,000 for um this year up to uh year three which is um not to exceed 92,000 resolution 65 resolution B of Madison appointing Nicole 2E to the position of perdm Public Safety tele telecommunication officer for 2250 an hour res resolution 66 authorizing shared service contract for the county of Mars for near map services and this uh is not to exceed uh 2,800 for 25 26 and 5600 for 2627 and resolution 67 is approving Raffa license for St Vincent Martyr Church and resolution 68 is uh pointing Ryan Fury to position of project manager salary of $135,000 so those are the resolutions you may comment on or the two uh budget or discussion items wish to comment any of those please step forward State the resolution or this item agenda item and try to keep your comments to four minutes or we'll try we'll stop the at FL as the official um CLA whitcom 12 Fairwood Road I'd like to comment on um well I'd like to um support the resolution for green purchasing I think it's um it was introduced in 2022 is is that right Rachel and it's um in for second round and it's a highly important concept uh if you can cut waste you're just and purchase responsibly you're so ahead of the game um the I'd also like to comment on the resolution to to fund um an outside consultant to work on the environmental resource in inventory and um this um is an environmental commission responsibility to survey our resources and write about hyd ology soil uh open space Melissa's reviewed that chapter Forest trees um it was last done in 2011 and um honestly it's interesting so much has changed between here and there you know you can't just talk about recycling you have to talk about reducing we our tree canopy is quite different and um we've been doing a lot of it in house Kathy kav Valley and I have been working very hard on it and Lisa Jordan asked her students to do a good deal of mapping we are trying to you know reduce the impact of an outside consultant um we are really lucky um that Brett cheel is is going to work on this and he is one of Lisa Jordan's students who did some amazing uh projects as an intern for the environmental commission he mapped our impervious coverage and found that it had increased uh from 2001 to6 by 480 Acres which is twice the amount of the open space we have in Madison and he found out also during that same time period that our tree coverage had been reduced by 276 Acres which is the third am the size of the Monica Brook reservation so we have two competing things happening um and so I I happened to post about the forest on on LinkedIn and he messaged me and I'm like Brett do you freelance and so so his company has all the the equipment to do this and I have a high degree of confidence that he knows Madison so I think we're going to be very lucky and thank you all for your support on this thank you thanks for your comments and the work on that anyone else wishing to comment and any of the items I mentioned Michael Martinez five Independence Court I might come back later on resolution 54 the uh affordable housing I want to hear the presentation on it but just on resolution 61 I haven't had a chance to go through it's a pretty long resolution much longer than usual for you guys so again I'm looking forward to the uh to the discussion but to the extent that you adopt you know a far-reaching you know burrow wide um you know purchasing policy I think it's reasonable for you to produce data through the budget and audit process um that will transparently quantify the incremental impact of um of of this new purchasing thank you very much much anyone else wishing to comment on the those agenda items seeing that I close close this part of the meeting we move on to agenda discussions and the first one is the round for affordable housing obligations presentation mayor if it's okay I'm GNA do it from here Michael's going to advance the slides all right we've talked about this before but it Bears repeating Madison is a very positive long-term history and we view affordable housing not just a legal obligation but a moral obligation and to that end over time we've developed 247 affordable housing units throughout the burrow we're one of only three towns in Mars County that have a public housing authority the other two are marown and Dover more urban than uh Madison and our Housing Authority has been in existence for 55 years and we also at the same time had a Madison affordable housing Corporation that's now been renamed but still doing wonderful work and that's been around for 35 plus years so we have a long I think positive history of addressing uh affordable housing way before Mount Laurel was a court case not just a town in South Jersey uh in the last round which ended uh which currently ends on June 30th of 2025 was the third round we met Our obligation we had a 147 unit obligation for RDP which is the realistic development um obligation and uh we met that obligation and then we had an unmet need of 343 and we satisfied that uh aspirational obligation as well uh and as a result uh the court awarded us immunity from Builder remedy litigation for that round and we currently still enjoy uh immunity from Builders remedy litigation uh the photos to the right are showing uh the first multif family affordable family housing project to that be certified as a passive house in New in New Jersey uh it's currently under construction should open this July it's 44 units it's on Walnut Street in community place and we're very proud of that and the uh design features that have been embedded in that um and we're going to have 44 families having a wonderful uh new home hopefully this summer uh next slide Michael please the new process uh came about the the the the third round process was actually a court proceeding very complicated um as an example we're still uh going through that process it started in 2015 team with our first filing in court the new process uh there was a new law adopted in January by Governor Murphy on the legislature for the fourth round that's now get you out of the courts and it's much more administrative in nature and that's the way it used to be when Co was a functioning entity so the Department of Community Affairs has been uh charged with the responsibility to develop a allocation of affordable housing obligations for all towns in New Jersey that's a test there's actually 564 towns not 546 I nobody caught that obvious uh and they had to do that by by October under the statute they had to do it by October 20th in fact they met that deadline and and issued their numbers on October 18th and the towns then had two choices they could accept the State numbers and if you accepted the State numbers the state became your partner in defending that number and it was a presumption of validity to those numbers or you could not accept those numbers and you would have to develop your own numbers and have them in place by January 31st which is 4 days from now um the State numbers for Madison were for present need and present need means Rehabilitation so they were looking at existing Housing in Madison they felt need substantial Rehabilitation to bring it up to code and they felt our housing stock was in good shape and they assigned an obligation of zero so we can't do better than that in terms of our housing stock for rehab for the perspective of need which is new construction they're suggesting an obligation of 206 and as we go further we'll start to explain what that means for Madison next slide please Michael so tonight on the agenda the governing body is being asked after consultation with our planners and our special legal councel for affordable housing they have recommended and the governing body will consider tonight resolution 54 which is accepting the State numbers of zero for the rehab obligation and 20 six for the new construction or prospective need obligation uh the new legislation at the state level requires after that is adopted tonight our attorney has to file within 48 Hours a legal action called the declaratory judgment action in Morris County Superior Court so if this gets approved this evening mayor Conley will be signing it tonight it will be emailed by the clerk to our attorney and tomorrow morning when ecourts opens our attorney will be filing the declaratory judgment action in Mars County Superior Court EX accepting the state figures uh the resolution that's pending before the council tonight still reserves the right to pursue what's known as a vacant land adjustment and due due to the lack of available land in Madison to develop housing and if approve that vacant land adjustment will reduce the 206 unit new construction obligation and I would note that in the last round we received a vacant land adjustment the original numbers in the third round for Madison was 1 ,000 units and that number was lowered in the third round from 1,000 to 147 so we think starting at 206 rather than a th000 we can get the number down significantly in terms of Our obligation because we don't have the land available and we also have a long track of doing this before there was a legal requirement to do it we did it because it the right thing to do next slide so after we file that plan um tomorrow uh objectors and anyone can object the anybody has standing to file they have 30 days basically so the moment we file that declaratory judgment action interveners objectors can have 30 days until February 28th to file objections to the plan and if uh that is challenged the numbers would be reviewed by the State Department of Community Affairs not the court and there would have to be a resolution between March 1st and April 1st if if we're not challenged then our while this is going on our planners are working what's known as a housing element and fair share plan and that is due by June 30th and that's basically the plan to implement how you're going to address whatever your number is going to be if it was 206 or lower we need a plan to show how demonstrate to the state how we are going to meet that obligation within the next 10year period between July 1st of 20125 and June 30th of 2035 and we'll continue uh to immunity throughout this entire process provided we meet and we intend to meet all of those deadlines and then next slide Michael and the last is just how are we going to satisfy those requirements a couple ways uh first is which we just talked about the vacant land adjustment that you know there's a scarcity of land that can be developed in Madison and that hopefully will reduce our our prospective need obligation for new construction we were successful the last round we intend to be successful this round uh we currently have an ordinance which is an inclusionary zoning ordinance any new construction in Madison that's going to build market rate housing of five units or more anywhere in town has an obligation to provide 20% of those units of that project have to be affordable to low moderate and very low-income families we also have the legal ability to create what are known as overlay zones existing zoning will stay in place for the projects uh and the land that's in question but on top of that zoning there's an enhanced density allowed if people promote uh the ability to put mixed use and higher density housing on their sites so we're not taking away anybody zoning you can still do exactly the way it's currently zoned but if you want to take advantage of some increased density by including uh affordable housing in your project you can get a benefit by the in in these overlaying tools will be designated areas throughout Town there's also the ability to get what are known as bonus credits under this new legislation if you adaptively look at uh vacant commercial office buildings that have been vacant for 2 years or more there are bonuses for putting them back into productive use we have some of our commercial buildings that are all that meet that category and we'll be actively pursuing that to restore the rable to the ratable base um and also to put those that land and those buildings back into productive use and create housing for families and the last is subor of housing credits uh normally when you get a credit when you build an affordable housing unit you get one credit per apartment that you create when you create Supportive Housing the credits are per bed rather than per unit so for a much smaller project you can get the equivalent number of credits um that apply to your obligation plus it's a community that we're not currently serving in Madison and we'd like to serve that community so we think by making that a priority we can without uh impacting the school district or Municipal Services get the equivalent number of uh co- accredits while at the same time addressing a need in the community for Supportive Housing and then the last point is as new approaches come up that other towns may be doing that we haven't considered or our residents share with us we'll open to those as the process continues and that's it if anybody has any questions presentation any questions or comments right so this is um very well covered and we'll have these slides uh on the website for those that want to take a look at it can I have a motion for resolution 54225 resolution of the Bureau of Madison County of Mars state of New Jersey committing to comply with round four 725 to 735 affordable housing obligations so moved second any further discussion roll call vote please M erlick yes Mr landrian yes Mr range yes Mr harm pis yes M Hanahan yes Mr Forte yes Now we move on to the budget hearing Jim uh thank you mayor um next SL Michael will'll be reviewing uh a little bit of the budget process and talking to both uh our electric superintendent our director of Public Works um next slide Michael um there's a slide here about transparency which councilwoman Erick mentioned and then the next slide has the proposed hearing schedule which is on Ros net and has been mentioned multiple times including councilwoman erick's uh report earlier this evening the next slide shows our tax breakdown which you've seen many times so we're not don't need to go over it I don't want to belabor that and next I would like to invite up uh Bob Duffy to come talk about the water utility and Public Works operation my glasses or I won't be able to read any of this uh first I want to start out with the accomplishments for 2024 uh we completed the repair of the D DPW garage we had problems with the truss roof which is the structure is 60 70 years old and they had some cracks in it so we had to get that fixed we worked with the environmental groups with installing rain Gardens this is the rain Garden at the library and this is a planting natural uh plants uh Garden up at um the corner of Shunpike or excuse me wanka and Woodland also as you can see we purchased a green that is a batter battery powered uh electric um lawnmower we purchased the salt spreader that's smaller that can fit on a Mason dump or a smaller dump truck for the parking lots rather than try to drive big dump trucks into those lots we also assisted the uh engineering department with the cook Avenue parking lot and hopefully we'll have that all complete in the very near future couple little things that need to be touched up and the Dodge field playground which if you've been there it's packed every day goals for 2025 uh we'd like to finish replacing the windows at the DPW garage the garage has Windows that were installed in the building when it was built we've installed some new energy efficient windows and we'd like to finish that in the big garage at the uh building because they they're not very energy efficient at all we'd like to get that done we also want to continue looking at how we can reduce our carbon footprint we uh started last year looking at replacing the boiler with a more energy efficient boiler uh unfortunately some of the contractors we've contacted and there's also uh some incentives from uh the state and uh public service but uh not everyone is followed through with their work so we're trying to get that done we're looking at purchasing battery powered tools that would be backpack blowers we uh trimmers and such so that we could use those for our Parks and Recreation areas the wellb Water Project the the well is being refurbished this the picture in the middle is the uh well uh it has new siding new roof new pump and motor in it uh and we're trying to get that up finished it's up and running but we just want to finish the the punch list items and get it completed and last it was already brought up but we're going to try to finish the well we are going to finish the water meter replacement project this year there's we're up to probably a couple hundred or more that need to be replaced that our guys are going to do inhouse after the outside company finishes their their project next as far as the uh budget uh the Public Works building the building Renovations uh we're looking to get some masonary work done on the outside of the building and to paint the building it hasn't been painted probably in 40 years and get a base uh radio station so that the radio system that the police fire and DPW water electric and Sewer all can communicate with we have to update the radios in the garage so we can talk from the garage out next Michael uh we're also looking at replacing the a few Vehicles the two uh 20 ton dump truck is a 2 model dump truck it is not energy efficient it's an older diesel uh burning unit we'll looking to replace that with a more energy efficient fuel cons as far as Fu fuel consumption um we have looked at electric vehicles and we are continuing to look at that but as of right now for the size of that vehicle that's a big dump truck uh it can't we can't find electric that'll power the snow plowing and the continuous use for salting but we are continuing to look at that the dump truck the two-ton dump truck is a 2007 again it's an older truck that is had some body issues so we're looking to replace it with a new uh truck the uh Zero Turn Mower and Equipment uh we're looking to replace an 30-year-old lawn mower that will have more uh attachments that we can use it to cut grass clear sidewalks of snow you can use it as a machine that can clear the ice at the uh the uh rosale Ice Pond the miscellaneous equipment also that would be a ball field groomer a wood chipper um and also attachments for equipment we already have just to add more versatility to those equipment that we can use them year round rather than just during certain Seasons last slide um this is water utility we're looking to do some water valve Replacements we already started doing that and water main Replacements we're going to look at doing a small few small projects and along with that water mains replacing uh fire hydrants with newer fire fire hydrants same style but newer so that we don't have make sure we don't have any problems with that and down the bottom you see the Nord Street well and pump generator uh we did have a electric fail and we had at the same time had a failure of the generator which caused many issues in that area we're looking to replace that generator with a newer generator and also install a backup to the backup have the capacity where we could bring in a mobile generator and plug it into that station so that's what that is excellent job for your first uh presentation well very well done any uh questions or comments from the council Rachel thank you Bob for the update I see that we have a significant um down payment coming up this year for new signage which is exciting we've been talking about signage for a couple years and have been through many rounds of design review um and yet I don't think we've actually installed new signs according to the great designs that we've seen so for the 175,000 that's under signage for this year which uh I'm just wondering if you or Jim could talk a little bit about what is included in that sure that's a that's a placeholder number um we're planning on uh upgrading signage in the Parks and then upgrading signage in downtown we have some Capital already appropriated this will be some additional capital and then there's some other lines in other budgets where we're hoping to um to have signage and then I believe that um Lisa Ellis will come to you and talk about the signage program in totality the design and then a phasing approach that she plans on taking because it's a a significant sign it's a very significant project needed but very significant financially thanks any other questions or comments Tom yeah B great job thank you very much for this big presentation uh how is the new lawn mower working the electric lawn mower it's working very well well right now we're not using it time of year but uh while while while it is in service during the summer it has been working very well as as with anything new some people like it and some people don't but it does do a very good job okay so we had the we had the rechargeable batteries ready so we never were not able to use it we we never had a problem with it not being able to use it the batteries in that lawn mower that we purchased are in the machine themselves so we can't take them out and charge them but our guys mainly Chris the my assistant Chris McDougall they uh wired up the trailer so that the machine could be put in the trailer plugged in in the trailer and then the trailer gets plugged in so you the guys put it in the trailer and drive it around when they bring it back they just plug in the the trailer rather than have to unload it right and then plug it in somewhere else wow very efficient so the new piece of equipment that you said is a zero turn radius multi-purpose piece ofip for cutting grass and know what is that EXA um well we currently have a machine it's called The Steiner this and we also have a lawn mower that's a Toro so this would replace the Toro and it could also do some of the jobs that the Steiner does which is what goes out it was in the picture on the ice uh rosale uh Ice Pond it goes out and it can clean the ice off so it'll be able to do that cut grass and it also can clear sidewalks during storms so if we didn't get that and we just opted for another electric lawn mower do we have other equipment to do the skating Rank and to clear some sidewalks we have a newer machine that can be used to clear the sidewalks but it's we only have one of those this would be the second one that could be used to cut grass and also clear snow and use it at the ice rink so be be able to use it during more times of the year okay but you know we we still have this whole climate initiative where when we place so if there's still some consideration to have two instead of just having one and one of them electrics interested the other one was perform pretty well uh the van the senior van didn't we have that in last year's budget Mr senior that is an ongoing project is that the electric b y that's an ongoing thing we do have major we have a major Grant and uh we there's a company we've been looking at different models and to be honest with you we're concerned about reliability and making sure it's a company that that is local that can service and is something that the seniors want we found a great van that was a major a major manufacturer produced it and we brought it over to the seniors and they almost chased us off they didn't like it it was it for fair for fair reason the way that you stepped on it the railings and things like that it couldn't be retrofitted properly for them so in a few weeks um Peter freed and myself and Chris and others are going to be heading down to Wood Bridge there's a company down there or a town that has implemented EV shuttles down there and we're going to take a look at them and um do that so but that that shuttle's getting the senior Van's getting pretty old Chris so we need yeah we get off the one that's parked in front of the ambulance courp correct yes and this is less expensive the grant over because of the grant because of the grant the Grant's significant dollars is it yes ah okay W so the dump truck that we're going to replace this year uh Bob yes or that you want to replace we didn't actually decide that correct must be a massive P it's a 20 ton uh D it's a big it's a big dump truck yeah but it's the one we have the one it would be replacing is the year 2000 it's an old dump truck but you have a Master Mechanic perect anything correct but at this point the Body and Frame are starting to rust apart and okay you get into safety issues okay I don't know what you know what the appropriation should be so I guess we'll hear from Jim to where this all falls in line with what we can spend but thanks for keeping the the that whole department running so effici that water good job oh we have we have great did a good job clearing the leaves this year we we have great employees leaves were really good this year the leaf clearing was great thank you just a quick thank you to you and your team for all the partnership that you provide during the digging out of the rain garden and and all of that um it's an impressive place over near the libraries and uh it's really appreciated so thank you you're welcome thank you any other questions or comments thank you well done we'll have Vince Patty from the electric uh Department come on up I'm going to start with the accomplishments for uh 2024 so we reconstructed cooka and ridge Dale a tie points installed new Riser pole Transformer at 318 Main Street Rosewood Condominiums upgraded rid jail AB Walnut Street tie points upgraded Cav parking lot by putting underground electric installing new pad Mount Transformer and we installed uh 14 new post lights repl 10 sets of electromagnetical uh relays be being used for overcurrent protection on the 124 distribution ring bus at Kings Road substation with new micr processor based 721 relays and I got compare them to the old cell phone which was the bag to the new iPhone 17 so all new technology working to do a lot more things uh new fiber line that we ran between Kings Road and James Park substation uh we're going to be upgrading the pilot wire and a skada system installed new pad Mount Transformers new poles underground primary wire at wellb Station Road replac Old Poles Transformers as needed new roof at the water and light plant and we did an arc flash study uh James Park and Kings Ro substation next slide now moving on to the 25 goals and objectives upgrading relays on the 34,000 KVA side of James Park substation upgrading pilot wire relays James Park Kings Road substation installing skat system at both substations installing the fast EV Chargers in arking lot Public Safety and we just ran the wires today for one of the sets of them install new primary underground switch for Public Safety complex replace poles lights at the train station install new tide point on the Rain Road install 12 new capacitor Banks continue replacing Old Poles upgrading Transformers and continuing upgrading I next slide like these are some ongoing activities uh just touch on a couple of them uh substation testing that we do uh every year at all substations uh meeting contractors discussing upcoming uh construction projects cable installation removal uh of old streets when we're upgrading bger services new service installations approximately 95 anticipated pole transfers installations approximately 20 anticipated that's when we have Old Poles that we notice are get bad and we replace them Transformer Replacements approximately 10 anticipated markouts approximately 13,000 street light traffic light repairs line clearance uh we will be overseeing townwide line clearance once uh the contract gets award emergency work work that requires immediate tension down wire storm car pole accidents biannual station maintenance uh batteries filters leaf removal from substations annual inventory materials um installation of the burrow Christmas tree and lights special assignments with the bottle Hill day and testing our rubber good safety equipment uh two times a year slide this is for our budget coming up we're looking at replacing one of our Digger DK trucks it's uh 1990 so it's an old truck looking to replace that our pickup truck we're looking to replace that that's a 2005 we're looking to go to a utility body so there's extra storage space for all our equipment on the trucks underground distribution Union Hill Independence primary voltage cable Kings Road and Water and Light plant we're looking to upgrade there we're doing repairs traffic signals Dodge field lights uh our reverse funding for substation repairs that we keeping money there for upgrades and repairs skada substation monitoring and we have our GIS upgrade and arc flash safety slide all right any a lot of stuff going on so well done Vince and again first time pres presenting the electric department so very well done just want to point out the um cook Avenue parking lot work which um people remember originally when we went out to bid the underground utility was in the contract the bids came back too high so we redesigned everything was going to be pole mounted and then decided to go back to uh a um pad mounted Transformer and burying the utility the lines coming out from uh cook which we done did all inh housee and so that was a major saving for that project that might not have been Poss or certainly would not have been as good if we had to stick with the pole mounted so well yep well done Bob yeah I'm just going to say you got your hands full I mean that's a lot of work what I'm really focusing on is the emergency work um with a lot of people working from home nowadays I being one of them you know when the power goes out I'm down uh what in terms of what I can remember trees going down ripped down power lines even a branch going down can take out a power line we can't uh remedy Public Services issue you know or JCP the when the electric comes in I mean that's their feet aligns that that's them what are you doing in terms of the trees and the branches in town at least that's under our control is there anything special that you doing there we have our line clearance so every year the crew comes in and we will go around looking what is overgrown and they they maintain that for us and drive around if we see something on our own our crew will if it's on if it's a private property let's say if it's a tree on somebody's property do you go to that homeowner and say hey guy you got to get this trimmed or would you do it for them it it depends if it's touching our primary wire uh we will address that even the secondary if it's a service on there we'll trim it back for them a little bit just look it safe that good stuff thank you any other questions or comments Tom so so Vince just so that the community knows how many people work for the electric utility eight guys eight guys not 100 amazing so we have two guys on standby around the clock so any issues our guys are out there right so when we have one of these overnight power outages if those two guys need help a couple of you other guys show we all come in you know so when I I just got promoted back in November so I was one of the guys out there there all the time all the storm so group good group of guys we all come in help each other out yeah yeah that's fantastic so I I remember speaking to Jim uh before he retired about your building and the um the issues we have with the roof that was ruining some of the uh infrastructure inside the building and he said there may be some opportunity where and I don't know if we can if we allow this anymore in the RO where you guys can do some of the work because there's a big line item there for renovation let talk about Russ Brown saying that he possibly help us out yeah because that's a pretty big line item on your budget I don't know exactly what you're renovating but I know you you need to have a nice space that's comfortable and and stable in there also so some of these big budget items in 2025 maybe can be pushed back or we can talk about it because the next four years after that fortunately for us you don't have a lot of projected expenses yeah so just getting in now you know trying to focus on this year pretty much get my feet wet oh yeah they're wet you're up you better have rubber boots so you don't get electrified that's a great so the the photo that you have on the utility poll is that everybody that was all of us uh for Jim when he retired oh pole got him up there too strong pole was he up there he's probably he's probably down low yeah he was he was holding on to the pole that's great thanks so much vce thank you any other questions or comments all right Vince thank you very much we'll jump into the uh budget side of the utilities um and the financial report um Michael if you go to the next slide um I have in my office the annual report of the burough of Madison from 1944 it's really cool it actually shows us transferring utility um fund balance um over uh for the municipal budget so it's just an interesting document um all this stuff is available on roset if you go to the next slide um this is a slide I presented a few months ago talking about capacity prices and um very expensive energy changes that are coming Michael if you go to the next slide Governor uh Murphy and Governor Shapiro and others that are affected by pjm pjm Pennsylvania Jersey Maryland but it's also Virginia and other states um out in Ohio as well um all were uh concerned about the impact of the changes that pjm made to the capacity auctions that um increased our cost significantly if you go to the next slide Michael there's just a couple of articles that talk about um rate hikes that are coming for other utilities we do not anticipate seeing a rate hike here but there's Bill West Hoven um reporting out of moristown um about uh rate hikes as well as Atlantic City Electric so it's all over the state the next slide um I'm not going to read the entire item but it's just interesting we buy electricity you all know that our electricity in the past was always the the contract was tied to um natural gas prices Brian V here talks about a decoupling or it no longer is connected to natural gas it's a supply and demand issue that's going on and with pjm and uh Rachel mentioned this at the councilwoman erck mentioned this at a prior meeting pjm is not moving quickly enough to get some of the generation online and with the um data centers and the AI boom and EV charging and everything else there's there's an increase in demand and we're not keeping up with Supply so Brian's last line we need more utility scale generation is what he said but it's an interesting read if people want to get a little more involved in understanding the market if you go to the next slide this is from June 2024 um it shows the rates all the red rates all the red ones are ones that have gone up um we went down from 2026 to 2024 we did have the removal of the um electric uh dividend um at the end of 24 so our rate went back up to 17259 so we're we are at zero we're not red we're not green we didn't go up we didn't go down it's the same rate this year that we had in 2016 and we will be able to hold that rate this year um and uh if you go to the next slide this is our um portfolio of block contracts that we've purchased and prices have significantly changed um due to the market as Brian mentioned we're fortunate to have all those brown um BP uh British Petroleum contracts that we purchased that go all the way out to the end of 2029 and uh at at excellent prices $26 $27 now we're looking at the current pricing down here 43 to 53 that's per megawatt hour um and uh but fortunately 50% of our of our consumption needs um block contract needs are locked in so it's only the other 50% that um that's reflected there and we locked in um in December 23 and October 24 um at 37 and 40 at 41 um it looks as though I'm going to take the approach that there could be changes at pjm and hopefully the prices will will modulate and and come down a bit um so we're going to buy uh 25% of our need in the spring another 25% in the fall the price now is $43 that's not bad we're paying 41 on the Block contract that we bought um in December or in October so um but but I would not see us buying out long term just yet unless we saw some serious um concerns in the market my if you go to the next slide so uh this is a whole lot of numbers that are thrown at you and I I show three different slides to highlight things but um cash collections you can see E1 from uh 2018 to 2024 are actually down um significantly 23.2 million to 21.8 um I also want to highlight that um the dividend um has been reduced this year that's basically to make us somewhat uh whole if you look at um E15 um which is total fund balance generated we're expecting a lot less fund balance to be generated this year because of the significant increases in um the costs of block energy capacity and transmission um we did also reduce a sustainable Project funding line um that's back to Prior years if you go to the next slide Michael um that highlights the um uh cash collections $1.5 million off and it highlights the increase and our um block contracts capacity and transmission cost $3.8 million increase last year to this year that's that's huge um and that's what we're going to be grappling with and we're hoping that or it's possible that pjm will make some changes to improve that but we we can't assume that um fortunately we're in a fairly strong um financial position Michael if you go to the next slide um just highlighting that um e E6 um our block contracts if we take um the prices that were uh reflected a couple of slides ago you can see that costs will be will potent would potentially go up a million dollars more in a couple of years um I'm hopeful that uh that um we hold off and that prices come down a little bit um E7 is the capacity uh Mar uh costs and capacity is expected to go up another million next year that auction happen later on in the year so we'll have a better understanding of that there might be a little more Panic going on right now but um that is a a significant concern and then um the good news is that E20 is our fund balance that's basically how we doing what's our what's our financial strength right now and we haven't we're in the strongest financial position we've been in since 2018 so we have um the ability to not have to increase our rates where other utilities are going to have to increase their rates 10 15 20% over the next year or so um and um we're able to um to manage that because of our strong fund balance we go to the next slide real quickly the MRC solar carport this is a summary of it um we had talked about multiple funding sources helping us to pay off the $2.2 million project um one of them is srex from New Jersey and we're tentatively approved to receive those so once we're online we're anticipating getting $1.5 million in srex um we're also anticipated to save about $100,000 a year in electricity the solar car port will generate electricity and we'll be able to use it instead of having to buy it at those higher prices so we'll save $100,000 there so over 30 years um there'll be $3 million in electric savings and 1.5 million ASX it's $4.5 million for a $2.2 million project we anticipated it um paying off in 12 years we had anticipated it paying off in less than 10 years because we were anticipating uh what's called the direct payment from the federal government it was something that was part of um the last administration's programs to promote uh green energy and infrastructure investment um and we don't know whether we're going to get that or not we've been talking to attorneys right now an executive order has been issued to kind of put everything on hold we're not stopping building the carport we have all the money in place we have the project in place been a few bumps in the roads in terms of the uh engineering but that project will be starting to be constructed soon but just whether we get that Federal payment or not the notion was that that Federal payment would go back into the sustainability pot for the next project so um we're going to be a little slow in um being able to build that pot back up couple more slides here you've seen us before what an e charging profile looks like in a residential electric consumption uh customer and then the next one is what an EV Charger looks like along with solar production the blue is solar production the yellow is consumption so uh then we'll flip and we'll go to the water utility which is a pretty quick presentation and then I'll take questions um so our water meter Replacements um and increased rates resulted um in increased revenues collected which is exactly what we thought was going to happen but you never know until you know but we actually collected um 3 Mill $3.1 million in tariff collections this year and uh for the most part the water utility um generated the fund balance that we thought and um performed the way we thought it was going to perform financially and fund balance was deteriorating significantly that's the bottom number here w14 had been deteriorating significantly over a number of years but with with um the financial stewardship of this and last year's Council we've been able to stabilize that and we're now back on um we're no longer underwater we're back on nope back on Solid Ground so um and Bob Duffy reported I think we're down to about less than 400 water meters that need to be replaced they're the trickiest ones and Jim Finelli and his crew are going out and replacing them so that's the end of the financial side of the presentation I'm happy to take any question questions information questions or comments Rachel and then uh Eric uh Jim it's interesting to see how our electric utility revenues are going down which kind of goes against intuition as people add EVs and more electrification can you venture a theory as to why we're selling less electricity in town I do think we're getting more efficient part of Theory it's exactly that two things um more efficient and um some of our office buildings are empty there are some of our largest consumers we're even getting more efficient we're one of the top 20 largest consumers of electricity with all of our wells and when Bob Duffy replaces The Pump and Well be it's a more efficient pump so uh efficiencies across the board and then a few um office spaces that aren't fully um filled and then also of course you know there was um you know I think less people are just in the offices in general that we have so um for those reasons it's it's down um we don't anticipate it staying that way we're seeing more and more people applying for the electric rebate incentives we have I think we're getting five or six a month seven or five six seven a month most of them are of the electric vehicle ones because it's uh it's it's an easy one $300 if you just proved us installed an EV charger with your construction permits um uh in uh between September and and next August so uh that would be what my um that would be what I would venture why the load is off and just one other thing I know that um with this um executive order uh I can understand why there would be a at least temporary chilling effect on wanting to pursue um planning for our next energy generation project our next carport um but we see the dire warnings from Brian beta that we are we have this big supply and demand Gap that is bearing down on us if anyone read the you know the whole text of his blurb there there's going to be a big gap as soon as next year in terms of demand continuing to to climb to new highs and supply dropping as older generation assets are retired so I know things like our solar car ports are just a fraction of that need but to me it just underscores the need to uh continue to invest in uh energy Independence generate as much of our electricity as we can uh in in town through burrow projects through encouraging the schools to install solar through continuing to encourage residents to install solar because uh we can decentralize that and you know have homegrown power here as uh pjm continues to um uh flail around trying to meet the the demand so I uh I hope that we continue to focus on that despite the what I call the chilling effect of this executive order to discourage energy Independence through local Generation Um it's it's purely a situation that would slow us down we're not slowing down the planning parts of it we're climate action committee and uh and we're talking to the consultants and working on a geotechnical and learning from our current current MRC solar carport what we need to do differently with with the next one but um it'll just be a matter of once we have a good handle on the on the cost how we would fund it and we'll know later on in the year what the capacity Market's going to look like what the transmission Market's going to look like is are the are the and so we'll have a better sense of where we are and um I'll come back to council with some Solutions on how to fund it thanks Eric um just before I get to my questions you know Echo uh Rachel sediments on um you know generation whether that's um you know additional solar generation or other Solutions here in town to help shave those Peaks and and deal with um and combat the the capacity charges that that we have so I think we should be looking at at all of those options um the presentation goes pretty uh talks pretty boldly about our financial position um and the fact that we haven't had to adjust rates and yet we remain in a strong financial position um how does that fund balance help us kind of weather this um whether this storm if you will that's that's coming with the higher rates sure Michael's going to go back a couple of slides to um one of one that shows the uh our financials on the uh any one of those Michael so um fund balance at the end of the year is the strongest has ever been this is the strongest that's ever been um 15 million we generated 8.6 million that's line E15 total fund balance generated we used 6.9 million in the municipal budget which is why these num increase it's going to be different next year we're we're thinking we're probably going to use 6.9 million in our Municipal budget next year but we're only we've only generated six million so the bathtub was filling up now the bathtub will slowly drain and that's going to be the question how quickly does it drain being in this position of $15 million allows us to kind of take a little bit of a wait and see approach to what's going to happen with the market ultimately um Council could choose to uh take um mild rate action um sooner and that would then give the electric utility the financial wherewithal to do other sustainable projects which then would turn around and help the utility financially down the road so there's some decisions there I mean the notion that really our rates haven't changed since 2016 I could make an AR how about we just do a cost of living adjustment of a couple of percent a year going forward like we've done with the water utility not not saying to do that this year since we lost the dividend but it's something to think about down the road that um would be very small amounts that people would um I I dare say not you know be very small amounts on their budget but would have on their bill but would have an impact on our budget so there's decisions like that but this this $15 million number here will immediately use seven of it so it'll half of it'll be gone um in the beginning of this year but that gives us the strength to and the ability to think you know sit back a little bit and determine next steps so so just to clarify we're going to generate the anticipated generation of new fund balance for 2025 is a little over 6 million but we're going to take 6.9 almost 7 million out of the existing fund balance so we should be down about a million net net over the course of this year that's the that's the message there perfect yeah Tom thanks Jim you really put a lot of effort into this it's fantastic it's confusing too but it's fantastic so so the fact that you have this great fund balance and you're going to have a million dollars last next year you still had a record at least as far back as I can see which is fantastic what I want you to notice is so at the last day of the year it's 13.6 million and then it immediately drops to 6.7 million because we drew that amount down so I really should have put 15.3 here 16.9 and shown this dollar amount here yeah you didn't do your estimate your budget estimate in that I should have stuck it in that so I would like us to to do a look forward because you're pretty astute at this to look at 26 27 28 we have the ratables coming in probably we're talking about all this expansion in the burrow so we could have more generation you know to Rachel's Point why are we flat or going down and things have gotten more efficient even inside the burough facilities we've gotten more efficient so maybe if we do a look forward we don't have to be as scared as you're saying possibly if the generation uh the transfer cost is that what it's that's what you're referring transmission cost capacity costs and sure yeah we'll see I mean we're we're fortunate I can tell you right now other municipal electric utilities and the other investor utilities have to take rate action this year and the articles that bill woven's article and other articles are reflecting that they already took a rate action last year they're going to have to do it again this year right so we're fortunate that we don't have to do that we can kind of keep our powder dry so to say for a little bit and see what happens with the market that that's one strategy another strategy is let's you know take these dollars and not wait and look to do some more sustainable projects but um it could be batteries it could be that knock down our capacity it could be other generation that knocks down our capacity and transmission costs there's other there's a lot of things to consider sure and I like those ideas because it's an investment in the future and we can calculate the payback so let's say you don't get as Federal money because of that I love that little uh addition you have to one of your slides with the president's statement for 2025 about how he's holding back because that makes a big impact to some people don't realize how long I'm going to ask you a question I never asked questions how long have you had the solar panels on Lan sales oh we put them in in 2009 so we are in year 15 now year 15 we haven't had an electric bill we paid back in seven years but that's when the srex were $600 so it's still very efficient but the notion is they're going to be there for another 10 or 15 years easy hopefully you know maybe they'll have to be replaced but the infrastructure is still there so the burrow will have the same benefits so if you do the math oh my computer Clos if you do the math and you say without the funding from the federal government uh you know it's still a almost a break even to go to the next phase two that Rachel refer to in the phas three that we looked at 12 years it's paid off 12 years 12 years it's paid for itself keep in mind we already paid for it we paid for it with the uh E11 sustainable programs all that money two 200,000 100,000 1099 all that money was comingled together and is being used to pay for the Sol carport so the srex the $100,000 a year that we're going to be getting let put it right back in the can and and some of that's going to be subsidized with grants too right you didn't get all your grants until you finish your project oh no we're not getting it the only we're not getting any grants the only thing would be that Federal doll oh that was the that was the Federal that was the Federal fund correct so just one point I want to make Jim I know you're not taking rates up and I'm not a fan of increasing the cost of living right now considering what we say is the struggles of the American uh uh people but we did take away the dividend so that is $1.9 million that we're bringing back but it's the offset I I understand that but that is the first change that you've made in the last seven years yes since 2016 yes so if you just sustain that for a while and again do your forward projections when when you have a chance to show it'll be helpful to see what happens in the capacity Market is it be helpful to see what happens you know in do we still have this kind of upward sloping costs um for um buying block energy wasn't that way our block energy we're buying block energy for $26 a megawatt out in 2028 we were buying that two years ago now it's not that way so the market could change um but we're fortunate that we are in a position to really sit back for the next six months nine months and and then we'll come back and have more discussion well you know what we're going to drill baby drill and then fossil fuels are going to get cheaper it'll be cheaper to make electricity what do you think that I don't think everybody feels the way you do about it no but still a fact drilling okay anyway I'm being forys I know you are all right Jim you and I both served on the environmental commission together I know you have geothermal I did for a long time two NRI two Eris so I didn't thank you go to Bob and then back to Eric yeah Jim um uh you know I'm very conservative and I like the approach you're taking you you know I don't think it's too I don't think it's wise to project too far out right now and to get overly ambitious because a you don't know what's going to happen with the energy Market given what's going on with the current Administration you just don't know you also don't know what's going to happen with the housing market you know um the the rental market could be overblown the new Home Market could be overblown so where are the people going to you know may not have the people to buy the electric so I think the way you're working it right now is the appropriate way to do it and I truthfully the way I would do a budget I wouldn't go out more than a year or two at this point which you just don't know there's too many variables right now so I like the approach on this budget thank you I agree with the projecting you can only project so far Eric just another comment on the capacity thing and you know the other projects that are coming in potentially that you know you know may increase the the tariffs that we get may also um ultimately increase our capacity charge because we're drawing more electricity at our Peaks then so all of this is it there's not a single lever here that oh well all we have to do is look at this number and project against this one thing it is a very complex and you know you tug on this string over here and these five things move over here um so yes no doubt um there will be you know new homes and bigger homes and multif family uh projects coming to Madison in the future um that will be drawing electricity but that may also add to our capacity here and end up pushing what we think is going to be a two or three million capacity charge to a$ three and a half million doll capacity charge and some of that new rateable for the electric utility will just be chewed up in a pass through to pjm to pay for uh capacity charges so um Tom totally get what you're saying but there's kind of this tension there against all of all of those things and and it's hard to it's hard to understand given or project given the fact that we've simply got one year of PGM going we don't know what the heck's going on and the next year it's going to be even worse I mean that's what they're telling us right um and we have no longtail Market to look back and say oh this is this is what we can do and and and this is what we can expect it's all Uncharted Territory at this point so I think a conservative approach um isn't necessarily A Bad Thing saying in this particular case so one more comment so we already have obviously the very conservative approach because we have the biggest you know fund balance that we've had that you've seen since you've been on Council and even before which is which is fantastic and Jim's doing the right job for sure but if we don't even think about what we're doing with the cost of egm you can't you can't really predict that obviously but we can predict to a certain extent what we are going to be permitting for addition in housing in the bur right we I mean un unless we're talking about this constantly and we're not really going to let it happen we are talking about that so we're adding hundreds of living units there's going to be some additional usage from all those places I'm hoping right and people staying home still using energy people converting to hot water pumps and other things to use more electricity or hot water so I'm I'm I like to look at the uh you know the glass uh half full and say it's going to get better and just at least not scare people in the burrow saying it's going to get more expensive and you know that's the only direction we're going to be able to take that's I'm just positive that Jim's going to do the right thing for the bur and keep everybody's electricity cost stable just like to add one thing that um the next council meeting we'll be coming forward with a Time use rates for Council the vote on so the pilot program can launch um right immediately thereafter just throw in a I think I assume some madisonian received this I'm not too sure why they spent money to uh send this to Madison it says your electric bills are going up again Ace and pjm are to blame Ace is Atlantic City Electric so but it it it does reinforce the volatility of the market outside of Madison so uh you know again good management any other comments and we're a little ahead of inflation from 1944 to today with amount the amount of fund balance we're transferring but we're we're we're not bad thanks for the math on that all right well done thank you we now move on to ordinance for hearing will the clerk please read the statement uh the ordinance scheduled for hearing was introduced by title and passed on a first reading at the regular meeting of the council held January 13 2025 it was posted and filed according to law and copies were made available to the general public requesting sa I call up ordinance 1- 2025 for second reading and ask the clerk to read set ordinance by title ordinance 1-22 ordinance of the Bureau of Madison adopting amended development plan for certain property located at block 3303 Lot 2 is shown on the official tax map of the burough of Madison pursuant to the local Redevelopment and Housing law njsa 482 A- 1 to 89 I open the hearing to the public anyone wishing to comment on ordinance one- 2025 please step forward and usual guidelines apply try to keep your comments at three minutes but we'll stop you four seeing none I close the hearing mayor I move ordinance 1-22 second Council discussion as we discussed at the introduction Minor Adjustments to the um original Redevelopment plan and is consistent with the um Redevelopment plan it's also went to the planning board in between meetings and has um been uh approved with by them that it's consistent with the master plan any any further discussion roll call vote please M ear yes Mr landan yes Mr range yes Mr harm pis yes M Hanahan yes Mr Forte yes I declare ordinance 1-22 adopted and finally passed and ask the clerk to publish notice the a of newspaper and file the ordinance in accordance with the law and now we're on to the second of uh public comment this is when you may comment on any topic anyone wishing to comment please step forward state your name and address write the same on the clipboard try to keep your comments three minutes but we'll give you that one minute grace anyone wish to comment please step forward um CLA whitcom 12 Fairwood Road I'm now here for the Drew fars um but I do want to say that I have solar panels and heat pumps so um I'm shaving off our Peak Peak energy and I've I've I've paid for them uh the the solar panels already they've paid back um so I also there was um a very nice comment about the DPW and how obliging they are in planting things and helping and uh when we asked for this anjac grant um to replace invasive Barber shs at Gib Pines Kenna Bryan said yes I'll help you and and he watered the plants because it was like big drought season um by then it was Bob Duffy but still um the reason why we got that Grant came out of the Drew farest work because we started to realize how many plants that people had in their yards that were invasive that were not a problem in their yards your Japanese Barberry Bush makes a really nice hedge you can trim it back but the seeds go into the Drew farest they go into um the conservation Forest at dmrc they're a big problem in um summerh Hill Park um to make the community garden people had to dig out 200 barberry bushes people own these these plants that you buy at Garden Center so we are doing an event on Wednesday at the Madison Art Center at 7 p.m with wildad the uh native plant and Landscaping firm in East Hover and they're very car carismatic they have a lot of ideas about what to plant and um we picked the five top five that Sarah Webb told us were in the forest burning bush Barberry Ivy Asian wisteria and and Asian Honeysuckle and we added some that are um common Chinese Silver Grass um one of the people on the Eco house tour was surprised that he to find out his Chinese Silver Grass was invasive uh butterfly bush is a commonly loved plant that is um swarming with butterflies but actually it's junk food for butterflies and it's it's a prolific Cedar I finally took mine out uh calorie paars which Grace um Main Street are highly invasive and a problem in the um Meadow at the MRC Norway Maples are likewise and I was sad to find out that privet is in this category so come to the art center at um 7 PM um it's going to be a great talk and if you own any of these plants um you'll find out what to do about it thank you thank you very much Claire anyone anyone else wishing to comment please step forward seeing none I close this part of the meeting we now move on to introduction of ordinances will the clerk please read the statement the Ord is scheduled for first reading have a hearing date set for February the 10th 2025 all will be published in the Madison Eagle post on the bulletin board and made available to members of the public requesting copies I call up ordinances for first reading to ask the bur clerk to read s ordinance by title ordinance 2-22 ordinance of the burrow of Madison appropriating $65,000 from the general Capital Improvement fund to purchase and install 12 solar radar signs and other pedestrian safety equipment at various locations mayor I move ordinance to- 2025 second Council discussion and this is um as we talked about the budget capital budget in particular we want we talked about the concept of eventually having a separate line for um complete street street safety initiatives these would be things that are not incorporated into a road reconstruction but our Standalone so this is one of these Standalone things that um you know have these uh solar panels around town as I um you know we talked about Frank Senate doing a great job of enforcing speeding but there's uh people that I would say drivers fall in three categories those that are going to be bad drivers no matter what uh those that will probably go to the speed limit no matter what all the time and then there's the majority which are they want to do the right thing and sometimes just need a little reminder and so this serves as a great reminder of those drivers you know speed limit is 20 slow down so any other C Tommy I was just going to just reinforce what you said mayor and I was speaking with our Public Safety Officer dco about this not too long ago and how I was a little envious that chadam has a lot of these I brought that up to some of you guys too and I I like that that you said you know sometimes we're just not paying attention and I realizing we're going that fast and sign send a little message and and we have we're walking Town walking biking so we want to just bring some more safety the pedestrians like Rachel who rides your bike all over town and you I haven't seen you on your bike in a while but I use my feet more I don't know I can't get my li thanks a lot M for getting that that move forward though and and uh whoever organized it on the complete streets and some of these radar signs I like the positive thing when you you're doing the speed limit and it say thank you yeah great any other comments okay roll call vote please mck yes Mr landrian yes Mr range yes Mr har Fus yes onahan Mr Forte yes ordinance 3-22 ordinance the burrow of Madison amending chapter 18 of the burrow code entitled fire department regarding the disciplinary process mayor I move ordinance 3-22 second Council discussion and this is just cleaning up uh bring bringing the policy up to date hadn't been updated in quite a while F discussion call Vote Yes Mr landrian yes Mr rain yes Mr harm pis yes M Hanahan yes Mr Forte yes move on to the consent agenda resolutions will the clerk please read the statement consent agenda resolutions will be enacted with a single motion any resol resolution requiring expenditure is supported by a certific a of availability of funds any resolution requiring discussion will be removed from the consent agenda all resolutions will be reflected in full in the minute mayor I move resolution 55202 through resolution 682025 second any of that need to be pulled or discussion I just want to comment on uh r57 2025 which CLA Wickham came up to talk about the uh um the natural resources inventory that they're going to be doing is I hope we can get a copy of it or buy a copy of it when it's done when it's time okay you you might well get on Amazon yeah I remember when we did them before we gave them out to to Realtors or sold them to Realtors because they use that also to present to incoming residents what the burrow has in all the different aspects of our nature oh is it done oh okay I I can I'd love to see it I've only seen it two times when I was on the environmental commission and we gave it to the schools the schools actually participated and Drew University was uh was it um Professor Zak what's the lady's name who helped us a lot you said Jordan no not when I was there was somebody else don't remember anyway thanks thanks a lot Claire for getting that done any other uh call vote vote please M erck yes Mr landri yes Mr range yes Mr harus yesah yes Mr for yes there's no unfinished business um now move on to the approval of vouchers whether cler please or voucher totals from the current fund 5,300 uh 5, 32871 67 from the general Capital fund $ 8,515 79 on the electric operating fund 565,000 $842 45 from the Electric Capital fund $19,99 32 even from the water operating fund $667 4174 and from the trust $496 2210 the total is 5,743 5257589 Miss erlick yes Mr landan yes Mr range yes Mr harn pus yes Miss Hanahan yes Mr Forte yes there is no new business Forte Mary I move to adjourn all in favor thank you very much