All right. Good evening everyone. This is the Maple Shade Township Council regular session agenda meeting on April 16th, 2026 at 6:30 p.m. Please stand for the pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the stands. One nation
under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Right. Public notice of this meeting pursuant to the open public meetings act has been given by the township council in the following manner. Notifying the township clerk December 23rd, 2025. Posting notice on the municipal website,
and posting notice on the official municipal bulletin board on December 23rd, 2025. Anyone from the public wishing to speak tonight will be permitted to address comments to council during the public portion only. Those wishing to speak will have one opportunity and up to five minutes. A draft agenda has been posted on the
township webpage and bulletin board in the municipal building. Roll call, please. Terry. >> Mr. Kaufman >> here. >> Miss Nunes >> here. >> Mr. Simonson >> here. >> Mr. Zadnik >> here. >> Mayor Telerico >> here. This is the open board of health meeting. Susan, >> thank you. This evening's board of health meeting includes uh reports about
one animal dog bite, one case for mold. We had one which was for insects and then we had one miscellaneous case and then we had a lack of heat case as well. Everything has been remediated through either our code enforcement office or through the county board of health. Also
for the board of health meeting, we want to make a reminder that now as the weather is getting warmer, mosquitoes become an issue with standing water. to those that have pools and still have water on their covers to please make sure that they drain those covers. Also, grass cutting season, so is getting into
full swing. Grass clipping should not be blown into the street. It's both a violation of township code along with health and safety issues. So, and that is the end of my board of health report unless anybody has any questions. >> Okay. Thank you. This is the public portion for the board of health meeting. Does anybody from the audience like to
come up? No. Seeing none, motion to close. So made >> second comments. >> All in favor? >> I. >> Motion to adjurnn. >> So made. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I I >> Okay, we're going to move over to the presentation and dedication of Joseph P.
Dugan. Yes. You have a copy of it. >> I have bigger on. Okay. All right. Honoring Joseph P. Dugan and designating a portion of the municipal
complex as the Joseph P. Dugan Community Center. Whereas the Honorable Joseph Dugan has determined to rest from his more than half century of unselfish service to the township of Maple Shape. And whereas during the mid 1970s, Mr. Dugan and a handful of like-minded
citizens saw that their growing community was missing important services which could only be provided by an effective municipal government. And whereas began a thorough search for that form of government best suited to serve Maple Shake as well as a campaign to spread the word to each and every family
and every voter. And whereas this new form of government was accepted by way of a referendum and subsequent election held on January 1st, 1975, wherein Mr. Dugan took his place along with honorable Johny, Charles McDonald, George Bieber, and Janine Gender on the
first Maple Shade Township Council. And whereas for the first time, Maple Shade residents were offered a government with a full-time manager and staff. And whereas during his several terms as mayor and councilman, Mr. Dugan oversaw significant improvements to the town, including a new wastewater treatment
plant, a comprehensive road repair program, a successful council manager system, and the purchase of the spacious spacious municipal complex, which replaced the ancient cranes and hard to access town hall. And whereas Joe will tell you that the
years have not been without worry. A smidgen of pain in times of absolute joy. Like the time he and John man the wheel of a snowplow for eight hours during one of our town's frequent blizzards or the time his colleagues gifted him with an energizer bunny
because the man simply could not run down. He even attended the night it tooth a tooth procedure went and was crosseyed with pink. All right. Cho even sacrificed the final
moments of his favorite TV show in order to gabble in council sessions on time. >> Listen on the radio. >> Whereas Joe wife gay and the Dugan family have given unselfish service to their community all this time. Now therefore be it resolved by the township
council of the township of Maple Shade in the county of Burlington and state of New Jersey that Mayor Joseph P. Dugan be recognized for his decades of unselfish service and it be it noted that all those who served after are standing upon his gallant sold shoulders. Be it further resolved that a portion of the
municipal complex be and the same will be titled the Joseph P. Dukean Community Center and the designation will remain infertility adopted the 16th day of April. Okay. We also we also have one other one. >> Thank you so much, >> Mr. Dugan. We also would like to present
you with a last award that says Joseph P. Jugan celebrating 50 plus years of service to the township of Maple Shade. Your dedication has shaped our community and inspired all who have served. >> Thank you so much. Thank you.
>> First of all, thank you for everybody for coming out tonight. I hope I'm not going to get bills from you, but I hope it was all done in good spirit. As many of you know, I was born three blocks from this
building on Libert Avenue. My entire life has been spent in Maple Shade, and I can assure you, I have loved every single minute of it. Over the past 50 years, I've had the
honor of working with literally hundreds of the most dedicated and hardworking people I have ever known. And our only goal was to make Maple Shade a better place to live and to raise a family.
They are not forgotten by me tonight. And one of those dedicated and hardworking people was our own Jackie McVey. Jack Jackie has been a counselor,
a confidant, but more important, she's been a faithful and true friend to me. And I'm eternally grateful for that. I would be remiss tonight if I didn't thank my very patient wife,
my children, and my grandchildren for allowing me the time to be a part of something I absolutely love to do. And last but not least, I want to thank our mayor and council people, our township manager, our township clerk,
and anyone else who helped to make this wonderful evening a reality. I am tr I am truly gratit all of you, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Mayor, just for a moment, you'll see um we just did a mockup of what it will
look like once we get the lettering done. So, that will be put on that wall as you go into the senior center and into our recreation center. It'll be the Joseph P. Dugan Community Wing. And also while we are going to be doing that one, we figured we might as well go ahead and
also look at John Doert's side and we're going to replace that sign and that too will be looking like that. So we'll make it consistent with both but we will make both that should be done in the next 90 days. Thank you. >> Do you want something for refreshments?
>> So if they Yeah, that's totally up to you and to them. If everybody wants to, we do have some refreshments for you and your family and anyone that would like to join if you would rather do that and not go through. >> Are we going to be sneaking out? >> No. And everything is going to be in the room out by the manager. >> Two offices out here. We have several
events that are going on the other side. So, we set up tables. >> You're welcome. You got that. >> We do have people over there right now. There's tables. There's chairs over there. Um, can we just take Can we get a couple things? Can we take like a three minute? We'll take like a threem minute break, get everybody situated, and we'll
come right back. John's not back. >> Oh, John's not back yet. >> Yeah. All right, we are back. We are moving over to the proclamation for Arbor Day. So I will read the official proclamation. Whereas in 1872, the
Nebraska Board of Agriculture established a special day to be set aside for the planting of trees. And whereas this holiday called Arbor Day was first observed and the plan with the planting of more than a million trees in Nebraska. And whereas Arbor Day is now observed throughout the nation and the world. And whereas trees can be a
solution to combating climate change by reducing the erosion of our precious top soil by wind and water, cutting heating and cooling cost, moderating the temperature, cleaning the air, producing lifegiving oxygen, and prohibiting habitat for wildlife. And whereas trees are renewable resource, giving us paper,
wood for our homes, fuel for our fires, and countless other wood products. And whereas trees in our city increase property values, enhance the economic fatality of business areas, and beautify our community. And whereas trees wherever they are planted are a source
of joy and spiritual renewal. Now, therefore, I, Heather Telerico, mayor of the township of Maple Shade, New Jersey, do hereby proclaim Friday, April 24th, 2026 as Arbor Day in the township of Maple Shade. And I urge all citizens to celebrate Arbor Day and to support efforts to protect our trees and woodlands. And further, I urge all
citizens to plant trees to gladden the heart and promote the well-being of this and future generations dated the 16th day of April. Okay, moving over to the 2026 budget presentation. Susan, you're up. >> Thank you.
>> Thank you. So, I'm going to do it a little differently this evening. Um, as you know, back on March 2018, we introduced the budget. Um the budget this year, as everybody knows, in New Jersey, every municipality is required
by law to prepare and present an annual budget that clearly has shows how taxpayer dollars will be collected and spent for the year ahead. The process follows strict state guidelines to ensure transparency, accuracy, and fiscal responsibility under our Faulner
active council manager form of government government. My role as the township manager is to work with Jess and with all the departments to build in the budget reviewing needs, evaluating revenues and expenses and developing a balanced responsible budget and
financial plan. I'm then required to present the budget to all of you and to present the proposed numbers and answer questions, provide recommendations, and then ultimately council reviews. They make changes and adopt the budget after a public hearing ensuring the process remains open and accountable to our
residents. Tonight's presentation is designed to walk each of you through our 2026 municipal budget in a clear and straightforward way. As you'll see throughout much like a household budget, we focus on what we bring in and then how we can responsibly spend it to keep
services running. Everything from public safety to public works. This year's budget reflects a balanced approach that maintains steady services, plans responsibly for expenses, and continues our commitment to financial stability all while recognizing that we collect your tax dollars but direct control
directly control only a portion of them. So, this presentation will be put up online as well. But I just want to go through the budget where we've been, our process, and give the residents a true understanding of what our numbers really mean. So, first, the municipal budget.
What is it? Much like your household budget, it shows what we expect we will bring in and how we plan on spending it. Why does it matter? Because ultimately it's your money. It's the taxpayers's money. The budget decides whether the lights stay on, we fill a pothole or if
we plow if we decide what streets we're going to plow. That's what the budget does for us. Plain and simple. So this is the big question everybody always comes up to our tax office and asks, "Well, where does my money go?" You know, I'm paying all this money. Where does it go? There's the breakdown.
62% of your tax dollars go directly to the school district. Another 25% comes here to the municipality and then 13% of your money goes to the county and that includes the open space and our library. Also, just so you know, in the agreement that we have with the library, your tax
dollars while it is funding most of those programs, the space here in the municipality, the municipality pays for that. So, your tax dollars are paying for that building. That's for those services down there as well. responsible with our agreement to make sure that we pay their electric, we do their phones,
we also do all of their internet services, if there is any sort of repairs that they need to do, capital improvement projects. That all comes from our municipal budget. So, we collect it all, but we only control a very small portion of it. We have a lot of residents that come up and say, "Oh,
the taxes are so high and it's the school district." And I'm not, you know, harping on the school, but we don't control the school. Council does not control what happens with the school budget. just like we don't control what happens with the county's budget. So, our 2026 budget this year, we're proposing
21,642,719. Of that, the amount that we're going to be raised by property taxes through taxations is 13,28,245. So, you're probably sitting there and saying, well, wait a minute, that doesn't like that doesn't where do we find the rest of the money? So, of that,
61% of that does come from direct taxation. It comes from your property taxes um and what the residents and our businesses pay. 23% is surplus. It's money that we've saved over the years from prior years working our way
basically like a savings account. 8% is state aid. Then 14.34% of our uh tax money goes towards debt payment. And then 2% of our budget comes from federal, state, and county money that we
like to help and support and offset different line items. Our revenues revenues are very important just like they would be in any business. So the revenues that we rely on our building and permit fees which this year we were able to um appropriate or to anticipate
$236,500 in shared services. That's the shared service that we have with our school district with our able to anticipate $398,974. We bring in hotel and franchise fees. So the motel that you see along 73 and
Route 38, they pay a fee to the state and then the state winds up giving us what our portion is. That's $198,500. Pass due taxes, we have to we have to appropriate for past due taxes. We have to say that we we can cover that money,
but then at the same time, we can we bring it in as a revenue. So that we we appropriated 500,000. We anticipated $500,000 for that. Then there's other fees, licenses, permits, our courts, $154,500. And then interest of taxes and
investments is $170,000. So when you're looking at all this, you're probably asking where does the money go for real and not just what we hear on Facebook and what we read on social media. So 37.4% of your tax dollars, which equates to $8,98,40.19
are employees salaries and benefits. That's every employee from part-time to full-time, from anybody that's in public works up all straight through through my office. 9.4% of your money or $2 million is a little over $2 million goes to
pension and social security. Those two line items are required. We have to pay that. There's nothing that we can do to get out of those. 8.8% 1.9 million is insurance. That's our health liability workers comp. We've had a lot of discussions council about our health insuranceances this year. For the
residents that don't know, we were originally in the state health benefit system. The state health benefit program uh introduced a 36% increase this year on us. We counteracted that. We immediately took action. We were able to go back into what's a hip. It's a consortium of health insurance
providers. Our employees were excellent. They are we got with our unions. We spoke with them and we were able to reduce that 36% increase to 18%. Um, so we really were proactive there. 2.3% of where your money goes goes to utilities.
It's our electric, our gas, our internet, and building operations. 5.9% goes back to that uncollected reserve or reserve for uncollected taxes. We have to have that in the budget. We have to make sure that we are um budgeting for that. Then we have solid waste and
recycling. That's 10%. This year alone, we saw a 26% increase in our solid waste. Again, that's across the board. Everyone in the state of New Jersey is dealing with it. I feel that we were very lucky. We There were towns and people that I spoke to that were getting 42% increases, 54% increases in
increases in solid waste. I know two down two towns down in Camden County, uh, both Winslow Township and right outside of them in Tulsa. They're currently looking at going to an in-house process. They have a very large community down there, but their increase when they went out to bid was 64%. It's
unsustainable. unsustainable um operating expenses, things that keep the town running daily. 8.2% of the b of your tax dollars go there. Our budget goes there. 14.4% is debt service and capital improvements. 2 and a.5% professional service contract. That's
going to be people, our professionals, our engineers, our um our attorneys. And then just a little less than 1% is what we call miscellaneous expenses. It's the things that we think of and the things that we really don't have a line item for. It's the everyday things that we
definitely still need though. So, why do we budget for unpaid taxes? And I know I've said I've touched based on this, but we anticipated $600,000 this year or in 20 I'm sorry, in 2025 we collected $521,000. So, there was a gap there of $79,000.
Um, so you definitely have to anticipate and prepare for the worst. Not all payments are received on time, but our expenses still have to get paid. We still have to find a way to make those those dollars work. We have a We have to plan as though 100% of our revenues will be collected in order to maintain our
balance position. So surplus, there's been a lot of discussion about surplus and where we've been with surplus and what surplus should be used for. And honestly, you'll get a different answer to whatever community you go to. Surplus is is designed to be a buffer your rainy day
fund. Um surplus here in the municipality and why we feel that it matters. It provides financial stability. It helps avoid sudden tax increases or service cuts. It demonstrates strong fiscal management. And how should it be used? Again, you go to different communities, they might tell you that they're using it
differently than how we do it here in Maple Shade. What the state says, the state has a guide that they use, and they say that it should be applied strategically to offset tax levy to ease burden on residents, reserved for emergencies or unforeseen needs, and maintained at a healthy level to ensure
ongoing financial flexibility. So, what does this all mean for Maple Street? A strong surplus supports our double A minus bond rating. It positions us to secure favorable interest rates for borrowing and then it also reflects commitment to responsible budgets and protecting taxpayers dollars. But you
might be wondering, so what is our surplus? So here's the breakdown of our surplus from 2014 to 2025. You'll see in 2014, we were under $2 million. In fact, we were probably closer to around $500,000 at that time is what we had in
the surplus. 2015 we had a small little increase. 16 17 you can see that surplus starting to grow. 18 it's growing. In 19 so the beginning balance is that bright green or the bright blue color there for you.
2020 21 you see that we're raising up there. We're just under $9 million. 22 23 24 25 we have taken a little dip there. But let me explain the reason for that. In 2020, you know that we were all hit with co at that time that present council decided that that year it was
very important that the tax pay that the taxpayers receive a 0% increase. So we tapped into our surplus a little bit and we use that to help offset the taxes because prices were still going up at that time. In 2021 they decided the same thing that we wanted to make sure that
we kept it because we were coming out of CO at that time and we needed to ensure that our residents didn't have to worry about a large tax increase. But we were still collecting. We I will tell you that Maple Shade had one of the best tax collection rates in South Jersey. Our residents paid their taxes. So we were
good. And then we started hitting 22, 23, 24, and 25. And as you all know, just as you have in your homes, everything raised. Again, our philosophy was let's use the surplus that we have because we were sitting on a nine about a nine between an eight and $9 million
surplus and use that to offset. That doesn't mean that when we put it into the budget it was gone. It's not because we have revenues that we collect against it. So we make sure that we maintain. So you'll see we have maintained a very solid surplus throughout. So our surplus
is not in is not in jeopardy. This year what we've done is we're using 4.9 uh 4.9 billion of that surplus to help offset rising costs. Why is the cost of operations gas, electric, solid waste? Again, we have contracts that we have to
pay out, but those we're going to be then we adjust those when we bring in our revenues. So, even though yes, we are using 4.9 million in our budget. It's not that we don't have it, we do have that money and we're still sitting on a healthy $3 million of surplus even
after putting the 4.9 into our budget. So, how is each dollar of an average an average? And let me make sure that I clarify that the average tax bill $6,618.33 is the average home in Maple Shape. I understand that some of your taxes may not be $6,000, but that's the average
and that's what we have to have to go on. So, how is that broken down of an average tax bill? So, if the average $6,600, $4,66 of it go to the Maple Shade School District. $11 come here directly to the
municipality. $940 go to the county. So we broke it down even further for you of that breakdown of the $16125 cents that comes here to the municipality. How do we spend that money? Well, $62 of it go to employee salaries. $151 go to pensions and
retirement. Again, two items have to happen. We have to have this. We have to make those payments. $141 goes towards insuranceances. $232 to debt service, 161 to solid waste collection, 132 to our operational expenses, $37 to
utilities, $93 to uncollected taxes, $40 to professional service, and then that measly other expenses, $19. So, your tax dollars at work. We really are spending smartly and we are still providing steady services. We've increased our services. We've increased
our programs every year. But I really wanted to take and break this down and show you that for every dollar that we have, 25 cents of it is the municipalities. 61 cents of it goes to your school district. But then how did I break down that 25 cents? Well, 7 cents
goes to public safety. 2 cents goes to municipal administration. That would be the offices up here. Less than a penny goes to recreation. Another 12 cents is for the remaining budget, municipal budget. Again, 61 cents goes to the school district. 2 cents goes to solid
waste, one cent goes to the DPW, and 14 cents of every dollar goes to your town. So, bringing it all together, it really is your money, your town. I like to say it's our money, our town. I'm part of that, too. I take it very seriously.
Jess takes it very seriously. Our department heads take it very seriously. Police department, everybody knows, they will tell you, we are all on board when it comes to spending. We all listen. We all know. They do everything they can to make sure that your dollars are being spent wisely. But we plan responsibly so
services remain steady and reliable. We budget conservatively to ensure financial stability even when revenues vary. And if you were at our meeting back in March, we were able to get that budget down to a 1.9 cent increase. It was a lot tighter than what anybody was
really comfortable with. And I'll be the first to tell you, I don't want to see a raise in taxes, but I did I asked We said you need to consider so that we have that buffer. We don't want to be in a position where we're so tight that we're doing emergency appropriations. So this year's increase is a 2.5 cent
increase. We prioritize our essential services that impact your daily life. We maintain a strong surplus to protect against the unexpected and we remain transparent and accountable every step. The budget is up on our website. It'll be there as soon as soon as it gets
adopted or really tomorrow. Sorry, not as soon as it gets adopted. If it gets adopted this evening, but we do take a balanced approach that protects taxpayers while continuing to deliver services our community depends on. So, council, if you have any questions, that is the end. I want to thank Jess very, very much. This was her first go round
with the budget. She uh she was thrown into the fire with the budget, but she's done an awesome job. And I do want to thank our department heads. They really have they've embraced everything that we've asked. We've been very fortunate over the last I guess six and a half years now where um you know we we've
been building our departments. We've been getting the two a year for the police department. We've been applying we've been getting new equipment for our departments. We've made sure that all of our staff has the tools that they need to do the job, but we're still staying in a very decent tax position. Uh
they're very responsible with their spending. This year I asked them in the beginning of the year, please let's just tighten our b our belts just a little bit more. Um so that we really can get out of 2025 or 2026 with a uh you know with a real strong position.
>> Okay, >> that's it. >> Thank you. >> Thank you for that very detailed presentation. Moving over to the ordinance introduction and first reading. Ordinance number 2026-07 is an ordinance of the township of Maple Shade accepting
a deed of dedication for PSEG for land and improvements to be utilized as the right of way on property identified as portions of block 18903 lap 5 and located at intersection of Willow Road and Rotary Way. Can I have a motion for introduction, please? >> I'll make that motion. >> Second. >> Comments?
Roll call. >> Mr. Kaufman. >> Yes. >> Miss News? >> Yes. >> Mr. Simon? >> Yes. >> Mr. Znick? >> Yes. >> Mayor Taller? >> Yes. Publication date April 20, 2026 and the public hearing is May 14, 2026. Ordinance second reading and public hearing. This is ordinance number
2026-06 is a 2026 ordinance to exceed the municipal budget appropriation limits and to establish a cap bank NJSA4A 4-4514. This is now open to the public if anybody from the public would like to
come up and comment on this ordinance. Seeing none, can I have a motion to close? So made >> second >> comments. All in favor? >> I. >> Can I have a motion to adopt? >> I'll make that motion. >> Second. >> Comments. >> Roll call, please. Terry. >> Mr. Kaufman. >> Yes. >> Miss News?
>> Yes. >> Mr. Simons? >> No. >> Mr. Znick? >> Yes. >> Mayor Terrier? >> Yes. Resolution number 2026-R75 is a resolution to read the budget by title only. Whereas NJSA4A4-8 as amended by L 2015 C9514 2015 provides
that the budget may be read by title only at the time of the public hearing if a resolution is passed by not less than a majority of the full governing body providing that at least one week prior to the date of hearing a complete copy of the budget has been made available for public inspection and has been available to each person upon request. And whereas these two
conditions have been met. Now therefore, be it resolved that the budget shall be read by title only. Can I have a motion to approve? >> Second comments. >> Roll call. >> Mr. Kaufman. >> Yes. >> Miss Nunes. >> Yes. >> Mr. Simon. >> Yes. >> Mr. Radnik. >> Yes. >> Mayor Talico.
>> Yes. This is the the budget presentation resolution number 2026-R69 approved 2026 municipal budget. Open public hearing on the 2026 municipal budget. So I just start reading right where okay
summary of revenues surplus $4,993,500 total miscellaneous revenue is $2,941,194.95 receipts from delinquent taxes 500,000 even local tax for municipal purposes is $13,28,245. Addition to local district school tax is
zero. Total amount to be raised by taxes for support of municipal budget is 13,28,245. Total general revenues is 21,642,719. Summary of appropriations, operating expense, salary and wages, $8,98,40.19.
Other expenses $7,126,85746. Deferred charges and other appropriations $2,32,936. Capital improvement $75,000. Debt service including school purpose 3,31,196. reserved for uncollected taxes
1,278,689.35. Tonal general appropriations $21,642,719. Can I have a motion to close the public hearing? >> Oh, sorry. Open again, I guess. Anybody from the public? Okay. Can I have a motion to close the public hearing?
>> So move. I'll second >> comments on the motion. >> All in favor? >> I have a motion to adopt. So >> second comments on the motion. >> Roll call, please. Terry. >> Mr. Coffin. >> Yes. >> Miss Nes. >> Yes. >> Mr. Simon.
>> No. >> Mr. Zerik. >> Yes. >> Mayor Terico. >> Yes. All right. This is the public portion for the consent agenda. If anybody from the public would like to come up on the consent agenda items. All right. Seeing none, can I have a motion to close? >> So made.
>> Second. >> All in favor? >> I. Okay. Before I start, I would like to ask council to please table resolution number 2026-R77. >> I'll make that motion. >> I'll second. >> Roll call, please. Terry. >> Mr. Kaufman. >> Yes. >> Miss News?
>> Yes. >> Mr. Simon? >> Yes. >> Mr. Zerick? >> Yes. >> Mayor Telerico? >> Yes. >> Okay. So, we will approve resolution number 2026-R76 and then 2026-R78
through 80, I'm sorry, through 83. >> Can I have a motion to approve? >> So, make that motion. >> Second >> comments. Roll call, please. Terry. >> Mr. Kaufman. >> Yes. >> Miss New? >> Yes. >> Mr. Simon? >> Yes. >> Mr. Ric?
>> Yes. >> Mayor Telerico? >> Yes. Approval of the expenditure list, please. Susan, >> thank you. Current fund bill is 3,19,228. Utility fund 367,2520. Our capital fund is $7,676.67. Utility capital is $41,369.51.
Trust fund is $7,46342. And our grant fund bill list is $24,115.64. I have had the opportunity to review the bill list as submitted and recommend payment when funds are available. >> Thank you. Can I have a motion to approve, please? >> So, I'll second. >> Comments. Roll call, please. Terry.
>> Mr. Coffman. >> Yes. >> Miss Nunes? >> Yes. >> Mr. Simon? >> Yes. >> Mr. Radnick? >> Yes. >> Mayor Ter? >> Yes. Approval of the March 2026 minutes. Motion to approve, please. >> I'll make the motion. >> I'll second. >> Comments. Roll call, please. Terry. >> Mr. Coffman. >> Yes. >> Miss News? >> Yes.
>> Mr. Simon? >> Yes. >> Mr. Zick? >> Yes. >> Mayor Tri? >> Yes. This is the public portion. Anybody from the public would like to come up and address council, please do so. State your name and address for the record. >> Mike Stevens, 47 Cherry Avenue. I just want to say
congratulations to Chief Fletcher. Congratulations to Chief Ree. And I think it both is well welld deserved. I mean seriously these are good people and dedicated people. I want
to congratulate the township manager assistant. >> Beautiful. >> She's the boss. >> Her boss and council. You are doing a fantastic job.
And I just wish the conflicts the arguments and the abuse would stop because I think if everybody got along
and pushed the personal issues out of their minds and their hearts, this room would have more people in it. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Anybody else from the public? Uh Joanne Mortimer, 39 Lancancy Row.
Um last evening I attended the uh land board use meeting. Um and as you know previously I had been on the zoning board. Now, some of you were at that meeting. I have a genuine concern.
All right. My first question that I presented to the attorney at the meeting was, is it important at these land board meetings to have an attorney as well as an engineer?
And he totally agreed. It's very important. My next question was, well, why don't we have an attorney here? Well, there was like a little bit of a pause
because of course there was a person at the meeting sitting behind a sign that said engineer. All right. Now, I've been at a few of these meetings,
so I kind of witnessed previous things from this person, and I just didn't feel right. Something was wrong. So, I went online and looked up the credentials of this
particular person and found out that he is not an engineer. He is a planner. Okay. So, we shouldn't have a planner sitting behind a sign that says engineer.
Number one. Number two, we shouldn't have an agenda for that Lamborgh citing his name next to the word engineer. That should not be the case.
I also went in line to educate myself on the difference between an engineer and a planner. They are not the same. Okay. More or less a planner is someone who you would work with for a master
plan of the township. It is a visionary person like if you're developing perhaps a section of the town. But the engineer is the person who zeros in on structural things and integrity of
buildings. This is what we need at the meeting. I mean, I was astounded. I've never been to a zoning board meeting where we did not have an official engineer. Well,
of course, the attorney that was present at the meeting said, "Well, I know, Mr. Jones and we work well together and he does good work. I said, I'm not faulting Mr. Jones
because he was put in that seat in a location where he doesn't belong. I'm sure he is a wonderful planner, but he doesn't belong at the land use board meeting. I mean,
also an engineer and well, of course, the attorney said, "Well, in the background, we have an engineer at the office who studies everything and recommends everything." Well, in my
mind, that's like my general heart doctor going in to do heart surgery. You know, there's a difference there. An engineer has to be present in order to evaluate
people that come with their professional people what they are presenting. He has to evaluate, digest it, analyze it and then of course speak directly from it. I mean, the person sitting in that seat
can't do this, and I think it's detrimental to our township to have a person like that there. So, I would strongly suggest that you correct that situation. >> Thank you. >> Thank you.
>> Anybody else in the public? I'm Jeffrey Nace, 103 South Maple Avenue. Um, I'm asking for a I see you had a proclamation for Arbor Day. Can you do a proclamation for Memorial Day?
And uh if your proclamation writer needs help, I would provide assistance in that. Is that possible? >> Do we sure >> if you if what do we have? What do we have? I mean, >> we've never done one before, but if council, if that's council wishes, then we certainly can do one for Memorial Day.
>> Sure. I have any problem with that. >> See, why not? >> Yeah, >> absolutely. >> Yes, absolutely. >> Thank you. And um 4th of July will be 250 years of the Declaration of Independence. Is the township doing anything for that? So we do we have our parade that we're doing
our parade and our fireworks. >> Uh I was looking back in 1987 that's that was my era before I got into the time capsule. We had the 200 years of the constitution and they made a faximile of the
constitution and everybody signed it and I was wondering if for um 250 years if we couldn't have like a big declaration of independence and a big piece of paper and everybody can sign it. Now the government's doing that online
place you can go online and sign your name to a digital declaration. I'm wondering what happened to our constitution. Did that get put away somewhere? >> There is a constitution. >> We had a plaque with the constitution that people signed. Is that put away in the attic somewhere?
>> I don't recall one of those. No, we do have the constitution hanging in the main office area. So, >> okay. I was just asking. And Memorial Day, we you were going to do a proclamation on that? >> Yes. Yes. >> Okay. Um, thank you very much. >> Thank you.
>> Anybody else from the public? Hi again. John Sullivan, Sharon Sullivan, 478 West Country Street, Maple Shade. Uh we're wondering if we can get a sewer line extended down our street. >> Right now it doesn't come all the way to
our house. >> Um Are you currently with the septic system? >> Yeah. >> And do you know how old that system is? >> We moved in in ' 84. >> We're the last house down. I I know we're here. You're the only house
without access to a sewer. >> Recently, um I think it should be something the township should look into. In today's standards, I don't think if your septic system fails that it's going to meet the criteria where you're at. I would assume that you're an impartial flood plane.
Correct. Yes. So, >> and they just did a water pipe down the road and if you were going to maybe get put in before the repaving happens. >> I know a couple residents have come up before my time on council. I don't know.
Chuck, do you have anything on that? I think 22 a resident came up. >> Yes. >> Yeah. And before that, is there something you want to speak to on that or >> Adams came up and asked for the same thing >> and we turned it down >> also? Rob Wells Rob >> also and uh it was too costly
considering what our professionals are saying the amount of money it would cost taxpayers to do one hookup for a house just doesn't make any any sense fiscally for us. So >> and Susan you contacted the water department and >> yeah when Mr. Sullivan had come up. Um
we had spoken about it. He had sent they had given the letter. I immediately sent it out, you know, to all of you. Uh did reach out to the water company. Also reached out to Dennis Yoder um and asked if it would be feasible. Um you know, it's anything is feasible if you're going to pay for it. There obviously when you're putting sewer and and
utilities in, there's normally the township's getting something back for that uh by the way of fees and and the charges and whatnot. So I did ask Dennis, you know, just to give me a rough estimate. I wasn't asking for a full proposal. and he said for the line just to be put in it would probably be anywhere between 40 and $50,000. Um that
did not include connection fees or anything. So >> So we would have to pay for the township. >> The line would be the 40 to 50,000. If you recall too we did have um a resident there that did put his own line in. He had put something in and then deeded it over to the township turned it over to the township to maintain. Right.
>> But all the costs were put on him. He had did he did install everything. So there's other areas of the town that have septic and it's going to become a public safety issue because if those systems fail and they can't be replaced because the standards today are a lot stringent than they were when they were
put in originally. I understand it's going to be costly, but it's a part of the infrastructure as far as I'm concerned. and he's paying taxes like everybody else. And I get all of it, but I think the township should evaluate all the areas there's where they're septic
and come up with a plan to get them hooked in so that we don't have to have an emergency when their system fails and then they can't get approved to get a new system in there. Um, the rules are way, way different than they were years ago. And personally, I don't think
anybody that's on a septic, they don't have the space in their yard or the ability to to uh put it in with the amount of space they have. So, I think it's something that the township should look into and evaluate for all the septic uh fields or the the places that
don't have it and see about having it put in for the residents. They're they're paying the same amount of taxes on there as everyone else is. and infrastructure is a big thing for me everywhere. If those streets are are not slated, maybe we need to evaluate all
those streets and come up with a plan to put the infrastructure in so that we don't have a problem in the future, especially if it's going to be a health issue problem and get the people hooked into the system or at least have the pipe there for them to make the decision. >> Okay. Did you have anything?
>> Yeah, I do. Mr. Mr. Simick, you made a comment that those systems cannot be replaced. That's >> think that they would meet today's standards. No, >> there's a new septic. >> So if his system fails, it's it's gone. >> I'm just I'm saying for clarification,
>> they have to get county approvals on things. There's a whole stringent I mean Paul sitting out there. He can probably speak better to >> I I don't want to bring Mr. B into this, but >> understanding of the systems are is it's very it's very stringent. You have to have a amount of space for leech fields.
Now, if they're in flood planes and they don't pass the perk test, then you you can't put the system in because it's not going to pull the water in. You know, uh I don't know what the regulations are. If it's in a flood plane, if they would even be allowed to put a new system in,
they're all things that we need to look at and evaluate as a township. >> Right. Well, I was just commenting that it it could not you made a comment that it could not be replaced. >> I said I don't think it can be replaced in today's standards. >> That's fine. I just want to be clear. So we cuz we need to take Mr. S. >> There's a lot of things in this area
being in a flood plane. You know, the county's involved in it. There's there's a million moving parts to those things. >> 100% no argument. I'm not a plumber, not a septic guy. I just trying to educate myself on this whole situation. >> For us to invest, let's say 20,000 for a
new SE 30,000 for a new sector. I'd rather invest that to a sewer line to pump it out to your sewer system because to me it's a better selling point for our house if we do go to sell for one. For two, we're only looking at 225 ft of a sewer
line coming down because it's 3/4 way down the street. I can't imagine 40,000 for 225 ft of sewer line. But >> that is where it is. No one's come out to give any prices. No, I haven't seen anybody. >> What the township would do. Now, if it's something I don't know if council and again, what we've done with other
residents is that they've incurred that cost and then turned the system over to us. Is that something that if you all installed it? >> I don't have 40,000 that dig up the street. >> And I I understand it's it's a lot of money. >> How many other houses are on that section? >> I believe there's two that would be
potentially would be affected by that. two houses on that portion >> at that portion would be two homes >> on west front or is there other >> on at his section of >> no I mean from Koh's Avenue to the end >> I don't know the exact number >> it's eight houses >> I don't okay >> how many are tied into our sewer system
>> on the sewer system >> how many are tied in are tied >> I would have to get that information I don't have that >> how many are tied into the system >> how many are tied into the sewer system right now >> there's three >> so out of the eight there's only three correct what do the other do they all
septic septic. >> Yes. >> All right. Well, when I built my house on Fernwood Avenue, >> not only did they not put a sewer line in for me, I had to run my own sewer line up to Beachwood Avenue, put in a pump to pump it up, all at my own
expense, which I had to do. So, uh, just FYI, >> you said three are not tied in. >> Three are three. >> Three are okay. >> Out of eight. Three out of eight. >> And we have a lot also that would be another tie in. It would help to know how those folks
feel about having a sewer line in front of their home. >> The situation >> can I finish real quick? >> Yeah, go ahead. I'm sorry. is that there there is a legal issue which for you know provides that once a municipality
whether it's the town itself or an MUA makes the investment to run something like sewer infrastructure the law provides that once the line is in front of your house you must connect to it >> say that again I'm sorry >> once the line's in front of your house you must connect to it that's the what
the law provides so that generally these kinds of discussions involve getting a consensus of your neighbors just how they You know, there's other neighborhoods and I' I've experienced this in other towns where some folks think it's a great idea. The whole neighborhood is
septic and they actually took a poll, you know, asked folks, "How do you feel about this?" Most of them said, "No, they want to do it. >> We're going to go home tonight. They're not going to like us." >> You're dealing Well, because you're dealing with I mean, the reality is once the town makes the investment, the folks must connect to it. That's the law. And
then once so the town will make the outlay for the for the pipe if that's the situation we're talking about. But then the folks who are nearby they must connect which means they must pay the connection fee and also install the ladder to their home. So that's just the
reality of what towns have to deal with. It doesn't mean that you shouldn't be connected to a sewer system. Not saying that at all. I think you're hearing from some other folks that they've run into similar situations and it's it's it can be challenging sometimes for that reason. So, it's something in other
words, now I'm speaking in a vacuum on this. I have your letter. I have some other backup that Susan's provided. This is something that needs to be, you know, looked at very carefully as far as the entire is concerned because that's the reality. Once they make the investment, the folks who live, if you live within
so many feet of a sewer line, you must connect. That's the law. >> The investment was not the township. The investment wasn't a private person put that sewer line in. >> Okay. >> It's available to all the other houses except us. Like it it stops before it gets to us. >> Okay. >> The line's already most of the way down.
>> Okay. >> How can you make people sign into or tie into it if the township didn't put the line in? >> Well, they did they the town didn't incur the cost to run the line, but now it's town property, right? You said it's it is now municipal property. It was dedicated to the town. So it's the same
thing. Someone else developers do that all the time. In fact, that's how a lot of infrastructure in a lot of newer communities is built. It's paid for by developers initially and then the the folks connect to it. So I'm what I'm saying is if you want
sewer will the town certainly is going to look into it, certainly understands your situation. Absolutely. But it comes down to a cost issue. And then unfortunately it's not just for you, it's for everybody else who's in the vicinity of the line. That's the reality of what everybody has to deal with. So I
I'm sure folks here would love to tell you fine, let's let's get going. Let's do it tomorrow. But it is something that has to be looked into. >> Maybe you could look at what the cost is to maintain it right now, what the cost of a replacement would be if it was possible. >> Yeah.
>> And do the numbers so that it it's justified. I mean, I think long term, even if you have to tie into it, it's peace of mind. And I think maintenance-wise, you're paying the bill to the township on a regular basis versus, you know, maintaining the
system. So, there's trade-offs to everything, but I think if you look at the financial aspect of it and you can talk to the neighbors and and see, I mean, I think the town should evaluate all the areas that don't have it because
it's not just that area, it's other areas. But, um, you know, long term, it's probably financially feasible to do it. >> All right. >> Good. Thanks for your time. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. We're not coming up tomorrow night.
>> We won't be here. >> We won't be here any but we'll look for you. >> Anybody else from the public? >> Okay, seeing none, can I have a motion to close? >> So, >> second. All in favor? >> I >> I
>> Okay, moving over to staff and professional comments. Sandy, do you want to start? I just want to congratulate uh Joe Dugan for the fantastic job that he's done for for this township for all the years and I haven't gotten a chance to see the chief. Uh Chief Fletcher, thank you for
all your your service and good luck moving up. Uh I have the utmost respect for all of you. So just and thank you. Thank you for everything you've done. >> Chuck. >> No, ma'am. Thank you. Okay, Andrew.
>> Um, I'd just like to say congratulations to the Dugan family. I know Joe has spent a lot of time uh throughout all the years, you know, doing uh, you know, on selfish uh, things for the township and being a part of it. I think tonight
was uh, a great thing for him, his family for the time he put in to have something permanently named after him. So, I think it was a nice thing for their family. Okay, John. >> Yeah, I'd also like to congratulate Mr. Dugan and the chief on
his retirement. God bless you, Sandy and Chuck. I'm not happy with that, but whatever. Um, also, I'd like to for people to keep the Calamaris family in their prayers. Um, Tom passed away uh a week or so ago. Um, the funeral was
very, very moving and just please keep his family in in prayers. That's all, mayor. Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you. I believe you're with us in May, too. No. Is this your last one? >> I'll be here in May and I'll come to June. I'll be done June 30th. Be my last
day. Walk out that day. >> Okay. >> I'm just here. >> I'll congratulate you now and then again in the in May and June. And congratulations to Mr. Dugan for his years of service. Also wanted to let everybody know the library spring book sale is going to be Saturday, April 25th from 11 to 4. The youth football
carnival starts Tuesday, April 28th, runs till May 2nd. And then the Maple Shade Girls softball opening day is going to be Saturday at noon if anybody wants to stop out to any of those events. I also asked our director of community development and zoning off officer to give us an update since we're
four months into our new housing inspection ordinance. And I just wanted to read real quick where we are. Inspections conducted is 411 residential units. Past CCOs's issued were 335. Failed or pending are 76. CCO breakdown
homes inspected is 32, 27 passed and five are pending. Condos and town houses, four were inspected and four passed. Apartments with multiple dwellings, 375 were inspected, 304 passed, and 71 have failed. All
inspections have passed on the first or second inspection. Inspections are scheduled approximately within less than a week. No settlements or closing have been postponed to date. Multiple dwellings are obtaining their required permits now and understand the process. Most common things that are failing are
the home smoke detectors, carbon monoxide detectors, railings and guardrails, electrical hazards, and installations that require zoning or UCC permits. Just thought that would be interesting for everybody to know. And that's all I have. Susan, Terry, do you
have anything? >> Okay, moving over to old business operations. >> Thank you. So we continue with Roman ENG Corp, the contractor who has been identifying and replacing the lead service lines throughout town and they are asking for our assistance. If we are
asking residents that if you have received a notice on your door or in the mail from Roman EG Corp, please do not ignore it. To date, we have 177 known replacements with customer side needed. Um we have only 77 right of uh entries.
So that's less than 50% of the people that we've um notified have gotten back to us. We need those residents to please please please reach out to Roman Eg. Um right now the service is free. The municipality is covering the entire
cost. There's no cost to the homeowner. It equates to about an added $15,000 value to their home. If they decline or refuse, sorry, if they decline or refuse, the resident is most likely going to be responsible for that cost at some point. It will not
be something that the municipality will continue to to fund forever. So, we really do need uh these residents that have received a notice from Roman EG or if they got our doornocker to please reach out to the contractor. This replacement is a requirement under the
D. It's a mandated uh replacement. uh and the township were simply just adhering to the regulations. I can't stress enough again residents please if you received the notice please reach out to Rome >> and we did get grant money for that. >> We did. Yeah. So we're using an ibank which also principal forgiveness. Um
>> did we put that in a newsletter from us? >> It has been it's been in the newsletter. It's we're going to do a nickle out on it. It's been in our on our social media pages. Um, so, uh, in recognition of Arbor Day, we'd like to thank our friends and partners at Columbia Bank here in Maple Shade. On Monday, April 20th at 1 PM, they're going to be
planting a tree at Collins Lane Park. So, council, if you're available, please feel free to come out. If any residents are available, you can come and uh, Columbia does all the digging, so we sit and we watch. >> It was windy last time. >> It was very windy. Yes. So, we have scheduled our annual shredding event for
May 9th here at the municipal building. The drainage project at Buttonwood Park. There has been a delay due to equipment deliveries. There is equipment that is out there, but of course it's not the equipment that we need to do the drainage. Um, so I am waiting for an a follow-up from Alimo engineers to give me that final date of when that will get
started. Thomas Avenue, we hope to have wording on the applied uh for funding that we did. That should hopefully be sometime next month. And then hopefully by next month's meeting as well, um, Alimo will have uh the final proposal to us so we can get that project started.
Approval for East Woodlon Avenue drainage and the roadway improvements has been given to RVE. These improvements will address road deterioration and drainage there. We're continuing our process for the Windsor Avenue improvements. There's going to be a two, it's going to be listed as a two-phase project that will include
infrastructure replacement and full pavement reclamation. That's going to be over a $2 million project. Um, definitely necessary. We've asked the engineers to come back and phase that out for us so we can break that up. Additional roadways that uh have been identified by public works and and our
engineers uh for this year uh will be as part of our miscellaneous mill and overlay program. That will be South Popular A from Main Street to West Center A with four inlets. The inlets that have to be updated that is too also a D requirement. North Holly Avenue from Main Street to East Front Street.
There's fortunately no inlets there that need to be updated. And then North Chestnut from Main Street to West Front Street. Again, we have no inlets there that need to be updated. And then our capital projects that we'll be presenting to you council within the next month are the 300 block of South Maple Avenue, Mila County, 200, and 300
block of Bailey, 200, and 300 block of South Cedar, and 20300 block of Crawford Avenue. That would probably also to do that street in two phases is that's fairly large. So, those are in addition to the other roads that we're already looking at that we already have. Wasn't
Windsor on wasn't Wasn't Windsor on one of previous >> Windsor was on a Yep, Windsor's on a previous one that's already in the works. We're still obviously terrorists we're waiting on that we're going to be doing as well. So, we have a lot of road projects that are happening. Um, and also in front of you, you all received a
thank you note that came from the Muse and that was for the assistance that uh we give them through our affordable housing and color funds. And that's all I have for this evening. >> Thank you. Question. >> Sure. Any questions? Did you look, excuse me, did you look into the
business that's operating there on Beachwood and the landscaping business that I brought to your attention? >> Yes. >> Are they are they appropriately >> that's being worked on? >> Okay. >> So, that's a no. >> Anybody else? >> Okay.
>> All right. Moving over to the police report. >> Thank you, mayor. Uh before I get into my report, um you know, for anyone who doesn't know, uh I'm sure you've heard it said here tonight, Chief Fletcher is retiring at the end of June. And uh part of me being up here is just part of the transition that him and I had planned
for, uh the agency. Um I'd like to think that I was the second person to know that he was retiring. His wife was probably the first. Uh I'd like to think that I was the second. Um so the transition between him and I have has been going on a lot longer than people probably publicly publicly realized. Um,
and one of the things right out of the gate that we decided was, you know, we wanted it to be a seamless transition, not only for our agency, but for the township, for the council, and everybody involved in it. So, we've been working diligently um to make that happen behind the scenes. Um, you know, I I don't know
whether I've ever had the chance in a public setting to say this, but the chief has been an incredible mentor to me over the years, an incredible friend. He was one of my training officers when I first started here almost 30 years ago. And certainly some of the things that he taught me back then have carried me through to why I'm sitting in this
seat here tonight. Um so if I've never said it, you know, I appreciate everything that you've done and your friendship both personally personally and professionally. Um with that said, uh and the chief did mention earlier his uh retirement got approved by PFRS. So if we had any hopes of him staying, it's
not going to happen. >> 30 days notice. That's all I have. >> So, uh, let me get into, uh, the report here I have prepared for you guys. Um, we've recently learned that Corporal Rob Bennett, our school resource officer, and Sergeant Scott Pacheco, both filed
for retirement for July 1st, 2026. This means we'll be losing three senior officers, Rob Scott, and the chief who are planning to retire on the same date. In addition to these three retirements, patrolman Dan O' Conor just informed us that he has accepted a position with the St. Petersburg Police Department in
Florida and will be relocating there. We're waiting to nail down the exact date of his departure, but we expect him to be with us until sometime in mid August. Uh in relation to that, we recently held a recruiting event for a few weeks ago, and we've already identified four viable candidates who we
believe can fill at least a few of the vacancies. They are currently under a background process and would attend Gloucester County Police Academy beginning in August. Uh on a side note to that, I'm happy to report that one of our most recent academy graduates, Dominic Dour, successfully completed the FTO program and has been assigned to a
patrol shift. Uh he hasn't wasted any time getting down to business. He already made a sizable drug arrest. Um so he's out there and he's trying to be proactive and uh looks like he's going to be a really reliable officer. Um just that timeline though does kind of illustrate to you he went to the academy
starting last August and just a week ago is when he got cut loose on his own. So, it's it's it's a nine-month process from the time they enter the academy to the time that they're useful to us in a capacity as far as being on their own and being able to work by themselves. >> Uh, at the last council meeting, the
chief mentioned our desire to start a dedicated and standalone traffic unit in the police department to tackle issues such as speeding, traffic control enforcement, school zone enforcement, investigation of serious and fatal crashes, as well as non-moving violations such as abandoned and unregistered vehicles. Uh, mayor, you
had asked him to uh check with some of the similarsized agencies and see if they had any traffic units. Um, we researched the topic and the findings are as follows. There are three departments in the county roughly our size that have dedicated traffic units.
One is Morstown PDA. They have two dedicated officers which includes a supervisor. Medford PD who has three dedicated officers which includes a supervisor. And soon, Cineson PD is reporting that they expect to have at least two dedicated officers and probably more depending on what their
final budget numbers come out to be. Our call volume contains many more serious calls with greater frequency and repetition than these agencies, which is another reason to consider our proposal. As the chief stated that night, larger departments such as Mount Laurel and Esham both have dedicated large and
separate traffic units to address these traffic related issues. Um, when I spoke with you and Councilman Zeratnik a while back after you were first elected, uh, you'd indicated your interest in growing the police department, and I believe this would be an excellent way to channel that those resources and address complaints we receive from the taxpayers
with a more directed, consistent, and targeted approach. Uh, next, the attorney general has issued a new directive calling for the change in the way police departments prepare and respond to active threats. Um, and has brought it in line with the incident command system that's used
throughout the state. This is on the heels of another directive for barricaded subjects which did the same thing and now includes a response of a mental health professionals to assist law enforcement in resolving these situations with forces of last resort. The active threat directive was pushed
out by the county prosecutor's office in conjunction with the county chief's association and introduces a new concept known as which stands for active shooter incident management system. The directive calls for all officers in New Jersey to receive ASIM training within starting with certain percentages over
the next five years. And it also mandate mandates that every department complete active shooter or threat scenario training every five years. Our agency already conducts active shooter and threat scenarios every year and we have some of the best trained instructors in the county teaching our officers these important and critical response
techniques. technology will be leveraged in these training sessions to make certain everyone is fully prepared for a comprehensive response. Uh if you're not aware, our agency received statewide law enforcement accreditation through the New Jersey State Association of Chiefs of Police
accreditation commission back in October 2023. It was the first time our agency had ever achieved this accomplishment. Accreditation means that our policies and procedures were reviewed, inspected, and tested to fulfill 112 best practices and industry standards, which has now
been raised to 117. Currently, I am the accreditation manager overseeing the project, and I'm happy to announce that we will be up for our first reacredititation evaluation in October of 2026. This is an enormous undertaking, but I'm confident we will hit the mark like we did back in 2023 and further prove that
our agency is meeting and exceeding the best practices for policing in the state of New Jersey. Lastly, I'd just like to report that the Bron County Prosecutor's Office submitted an award of recommendation for Chief Fletcher, Detective Sergeant Wallace, and Lieutenant Cunningham, who
works for the Prosecutor's Office, for their persistent, dedicated, and outstanding work on the narrow murder investigation to the 200 Club of Burlington County. On Friday, March 20th, these officers were awarded the meritorious award by the 200 Club in recognition of these efforts and their
unwavering drive to seek justice for Sassy and Anish. I would like to congratulate these officers for their outstanding work on this case. I would also just in closing like to thank Mr. Stevens for coming up and saying such kind words about myself and Chief Fletcher. Uh we truly appreciate his
sentiment and that's my report. >> Thank you. >> Uh just FYI for you guys. Um the active shooter program obviously we're all involved in that but um I don't know if you two realize this or not. You can tell rank and file that on the fire
side. They were amazed that our town was doing that because when they called to inquire if we were interested in it and I told them what we were doing already, they were blown away. So, it's it's the standard user setting for
all the other towns around here. So, I know how hard you guys work on it. So, pass it along to everyone. Let them know. >> Thank you. I appreciate that. It is it is a feather in our cap. It's it's the premier training that we do >> and it's very unusual that the fire department gives you guys credit. So
that that in itself alone >> dearly. >> Okay. Thank you. Anybody else? All right. Moving over to sustainable. Um the meeting is next week. So we did not have a meeting this month yet, but the community cleanup and the green fair is going to be on May 17th.
Moving over to marketing and social media consultant RFP. So, uh, I don't think I put it in front of you, but you've all received the, um, proposal. You know that we went out for an RFP for a marketing and social media consultant. We did receive one, uh,
viable proposal back and my question would just be would be how would council like to proceed? The proposal that was placed for us or given to us is based on an as needed basis. So we wouldn't be appointing someone and saying okay we
have these number we have this dollar amount that we have to pay out. It would be as we needed. Um is very well known throughout uh South Jersey. They do they do a lot of towns. They do a lot of school districts as well. Um as I had spoken with you I personally feel that
it would be good for the municipality. It helps especially as we are working towards our downtown and we want to we really want to get our name out there. Um, so if it's something that you've had an opportunity to look through their proposal and you would like to go forward with it, then I can send them a
letter and tell them that we would like to engage their services on an as needed basis. >> I think it would be good to have it on an as needed basis. >> Yeah, that works for me as is, you know, as basis. >> Did they, excuse me, did they indicate there was a hourly rate or anything at all?
>> There is an hourly rate when they're working for it. And so what it comes down to, I believe it was 165 an hour for just general communications that they would do. And then they also do crisis communications. So if there would ever be something and that would be I believe that's the 250 or 205, one of those numbers.
>> So um it's good to have especially for a growing community. It really helps us to get we do well. Um, our Facebook page currently has close to 4,000 uh followers on it, which when I got here, we didn't have any on on that one
because it was a brand new page. Our newsletter is constantly getting additional um residents that are on there. We're just over a thousand people, but we really want to we really want to get the word out. We've been discussing about how do we get, you know, the word out to our residents. Um,
and they might just think of it differently, something that we're not thinking of. Well, they're professionals and they know how to market us >> and uh they'll know things that we don't know how to proceed. Correct. >> So, they have all the inside line and how to get that word out in a in a positive in a positive way. So, I think
we have to do it. >> Okay. >> How does all the council feel? >> I agree. John, you good? >> I agree. >> Andrew, >> I don't think that we need a marketing company to spend money tax dollars for a company like that. I think if we're
transparent and we're doing what we need to do, I don't think you're going to reach any more people out there with a marketing company than we're already reaching. And I I think a lot of people maybe disgust it with the things that have happened in the past. So I think it
needs to come from us, not from a marketing company, but that's my opinion. >> Okay. >> Who would identify what uh they would be doing? So, they wouldn't send anything out that wasn't approved by council or the municipality. What it is is that they would they would put together
pieces that catch people's eyes. Again, it's a marketing company. It's how do you how do you target? How do you get the word out to our young people? How do you get the word out to our older people? What are the things that we're missing? >> Um these are things that they do Yeah. day in and day out. Um you know, we
would be able to bounce, you know, questions off them. Ask them, hey, this is what we have. you know, they'll they'll take it upon themselves in the beginning to look at our social media pages to see what we're doing with our nixels to see what that response is um and then be able to um you know, really really tell us how to get it out in
front of the people in front of our residents as well. >> Okay. Do you need a motion on that? >> No. Okay. >> So, you're okay and I will just move forward with a letter to them that it'll be on an as needed basis. >> Okay. Anything else under old business? Moving over to new business, request to wave local fees, raffle fees for Maple
Shade Youth Football Carnival. >> Yep, that's our carnival. Um, this year they're asking for the local fees to be waved. Um, $200,1 180 for the carnival games and 20 for the 50/50 that they're holding >> because that's something we normally get
>> every year. >> I'll make that motion. >> That's fine. >> Everybody's good. >> Yep. >> Okay. Thank you. >> We don't need a motion. >> No. All right. Moving over to in the enforcement policies and procedures. >> Yes. So, uh, as you're aware, you were all included in on an email from a
resident, uh, who was questioning some of our enforcement procedures and whether or not we are enforcing the consistently across the board. Um, and I just wanted to bring it up because I think that there's some confusion that when our code enforcement officer goes out that just because he goes out means
that there's automatically a ticket that's written a summon. And that's not the case. Um, our approach to code enforcement and inspections really is focused on fairness, consistency, and then obviously protecting the health and safety of our community. We don't look to penalize our residents, but we want to educate and we want to work with them
with property owners to address issues. Our code enforcement office has been um has been >> up in front. He's been very very busy. He's a oneman uh that does it, but you know, he's also we had six vacant properties. You know, we can talk about there was one on Ruth Avenue. There's
been one on um Collins Lane that was he was instrumental in finding and getting those properties up and getting them back on the tax roles for us. They've all been p we no longer have those vacant properties there. Um so, you know, the inspections help to identify
concerns, you know, early on before they become larger and more costly problems. All of our codes are standard. We follow obviously our code book and they're applied uniformly. Uh and then again our our goal is really to provide strong neighborhoods. So any questions as to
whether or not you know we're using certain ordinances or you know certain policies and procedures that we have on to pick and basically the word is cherrypick is just is false. So when code enforcement goes out there when our inspectors go out there they're using the codes they're using their training
but code enforcement specifically goes out he you know he assesses the situation and then from there it's working with the resident. It's not an immediate fine. We normally give 10 days. They have 10 days to abate. If after those 10 days they don't abate, he goes back out again and he's, you know,
he talks with the resident and and advises this is what you need to do. A lot of times too, the the complaints that we're getting are neighborly complaints. It's a neighbor complaining against a neighbor because the tree limbs over, you know, fallen over or the fence is fallen over or um, you know, it
it's things that you knock on the door and you say, "Hey, neighbor, can you do a favor? You know, can you cut that limb or I'm going to cut that limb down." So, we've been trying to do a lot of education as well with it. Um, but I just wanted to put that out there that, you know, our our enforcement policies
and procedures, they are lock, stock, and barrel. Like, we are finding them. they are fair for everybody. Um, you know, sometimes it it gets frustrating and we understand that. We try to work with everybody and we're not just out there issuing tickets, but across the
board, uh, our approach is is very consistent. >> So, thank you. >> Yeah. Thank you. Anybody else? >> Okay. Anybody else have anything under new business? >> No. Andrew, you sure?
>> Yep. >> Okay. Can I have a motion to adjurnn until our regular township council meeting scheduled for May 14th, 2026 at 6:30? >> I'll make that motion. Second. All >> in favor? I I