This is meeting of the township committee April 28th, 2025. The notice requirements provided for in the open public meetings act have been satisfied. Notice of this meeting was properly given by transmission to the Asbury Park Press and the two of her times and by posting at the Middletown Township
Municipal Building and filing with the township clerk on March 19th, 2025. Committeeman Clark here. Committeewoman Kratz here. Committeeman Senino here. Deputy Mayor Hyel here. Mayor Perry here. Please rise for the pledge of allegiance.
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all. At this time I'd like to ask for a
moment of silence to honor the troops serving worldwide defending our constitutions, freedoms, and way of life. Thank you. Our first item on tonight's agenda, we have a certificate presented to Officer Nico Zampel for his active duty
service. if you'd like to come forward with police chief uh Craig Weber and Deputy Chiefs Paul Bailey and John Wernern Uh so obviously as many of you know in town we're we're police department full of
dedicated professional individuals that protect us each and every day. And um but what most people don't is that many of our police officers are uh are reservants or they're still active duty
that can take part in going out and securing not parts of Middletown, but going out and securing parts of our world. Um, and we've been certainly fortunate uh to have uh some of those officers uh come and and work
with grateful for the service and sacrifice. Um, you know, we we hold that moment of silence uh every every time committee meeting. brother. I just spoke to my brother for the first time since
he now in Japan and uh so I really but but I think about uh all the individuals in our our police officers that are protecting us here um and around the world. So, Chief Weber, uh, you want to
give a little bit of background on here on the reserve side. that were refugees. Thank you very much. Wow. But uh as a service member, a lot of other cops, a lot of other for
your um you know uh we we live in uh in a world that every single day unfortunately dangers and to know that we have an unbelievable brave courageous patriotic
officer that is willing to put his life, his family on hold uh to go over and protect uh others, people that he will never meet. Uh individual individuals that will go and into worst parts of
this world um and protect uh is what makes America and and you are a shining example of that. So uh we have we have this certificate which is Today we're here to uh recognize and and
salute uh officer on his active duty service. We proudly welcome you home and thank you for your service to the United States Army and to our nation. While deployed for nine months in Syria, you served as a captain and led a team of
soldiers to Defense of Alith crew and engaged in multiple drone attacks. We're going to talk about later. For the remainder of your time, you took command of the Blackfoot Troop one 102. A recipient of the C combat
action badge and the Bronze Star. You've set a strong example of of courage, patriotism, and selfless. And Middletown is honored to call you a member of our community, a police officer, and commend you for protecting people wherever you
go. Congratulations, that damn proud but you want to say a few words come down and I'm I'm gonna hold this bad ass.
It's getting too close to camera. It was All right, let's give another round of applause for Next screen. What? You got it. Ready, Tony? Okay. Our next item on tonight's agenda, we have a presentation
recognizing April 2025 as volunteer month in the township of Middletown. At this time, I'd like to invite the fire chiefs of the Middletown Township Fire Department, the chiefs of the emergency medical services department, and a office of emergency management to the
front of the room to join Mayor Perry. What's that? All right. All right. I'm going to slide down a little bit. We got plenty of room up here. All right. All right. Let's give a big uh round of appreciation for all of our volunteer emergency room service.
So obviously today for uh and this month for a lot of reasons is uh incredibly uh fitting that we have been working on our Middletown Volunteering Center program. And today um is the public hearing on phase two uh of that program. And I want
to thank all of you because a lot of you have provided feedback, input to myself, to Tony, Rick, uh the township committee, Colleen, um informing um that that program. And it was perfect for
April to be able to get this done to say thank you to all of our volunteers because as township committee members we know what the cost would be of fitting out a full-time fire department of EMS of OEM Charlie Eritt
here. I I don't even want to tell you I if you if you need to to start up a generator, I think Charlie starts about 30 every every week, right, Charlie? Uh testing them, getting them ready. Even though we hope to never have
to need them, we're ready to go. We we hope to never have to need them. We hope that we never have to talk call 911 and get uh get have our fire department respond to a fire. And yet a few times this year I I've gotten to see them in
action. Um pulling up to Tony Falsenetti here, Chief Falsenetti pulling a pulling a uh oven directly out of someone's house. Uh I rolled up and Jimmy, was it you that was there too with him? Okay. Yeah. And I roll and I see fire engine
lights, you know, hanging out right off of uh Cherry Tree Farm Road. And there's Tony Falsenetti laying down on the ground. I I don't even know what he was doing with this with this uh oven putting out a fire in in the back of this oven that they had pulled out of someone's house. Um but then we've had
th those those hard structure fires, the tough ones that that that certainly Rick and and Ryan know and members of the TC have have seen. To know the comfort and the action that is sprung at a moment's notice because of volunteers is
unbelievable. Danny and I were talking about just the other day about the just the the the focus that every single one of our chiefs and our volunteers have. All them that are sitting in the back are are here today, all of our OEM, our EMS that
are here. Um it's remarkable and for for we're sitting um up in the conference room and there springs uh one of our EMS rigs coming out ready to go to support
someone when we need them. Those volunteers are there leaving their households, missing soccer games, leaving their home in the middle of the night to go help a fellow resident. That's why we created the Middletown
Volunteer Incentive Program and that's why today we're here to recognize volunteers. But it's a absolutely fitting that we recognize the volunteers that are there for our neighbors that are saving tax dollars and making a real
impact. And for that, this township committee, these residents, and the 68,000 people that call this town home are indebted to you all forever and to all those that are here today. So, thank you all very much. So, while I know Chief Falsenetti will
certainly be getting up during the public comment period on the Middletown Volunteer and Center program. No, no, Tony. You know me, I'm You're a big talker guy. Yeah. Yeah. Um, we are we are very honored to have
you all up here as we designate uh this month, April 2025, as volunteer appreciation month in the township of Middletown. Um, it is vital for every resident to know what is saved and what
is done out of the spirit for your fellow resident. And that is obvious by the people here in this room and by all the hours, manh hours, dedication, phone calls, meetings, everything that happens in order to run your respective
operations. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Thank you. Thank you. I can't tell you enough how appreciative I am this governing body is for everything that you all do for this township. Let's give another round of applause for our volunteers.
So, uh, I I won't go through all the wherees. I'll be Tony Falsenetti for a minute here. Um, but whereas the mayor and township committee extend our deepest gratitude to the fine individuals who generously donate their time and energy to this community. So
now therefore, I, Mayor Tony Perry, and the Middletown Township Committee, do hereby proclaim April 2025 from the bottom of our hearts, thank you as volunteer month in the township of Middletown. Guys, God bless you all. Thank you for everything that you do.
Ready? Okay. All right. One, two, three. Thank you all. Let's give another round of applause. We lost a couple of our recruits because I know that they were uh there was a call right before we started it, right?
Donate life money. All right. It's the same. I'll see. Oh my gosh. All right. Our next item on tonight's agenda, we have a presentation
recognizing April 2025 as donate life month in the township of Middletown. At this time, I'd like to invite the Medronic representatives, Lisa Luisi and Michelle Napolitina Tani to the front of the room to join Mayor Perry. You don't have to be as shy as Chief
Falsinetti. Don't worry about it. How are you? Good to see you. So, I I literally turned just as a as a joke to the deputy mayor here. He's checking his right now, too. I said, I better make sure that I'm an organ donor on my license, which I am. Good. All
right. It's ver verified. And now for the ent um that watches this. Um, but you know, as as many of you know, the the the job and and the the role of a township committee member is uh
part-time and uh all of us have full-time jobs. I'm fortunate to work for a hospital network and I've gotten to see firsthand um what happens when someone is the the honor walk that you have for people who
are donating their organs um to save someone else. And it's it's obviously incredibly heartbreaking um for the family um to to see their loved ones that you know their organs are going to
go save others. Um but you know what's going to happen on the other side of that surgical door and when you see that flag get risen above uh the hospital you know that day that someone has made a difference. Um,
and a difference that many people are never going to be able to fully appreciate um because it's you don't see them and while they see the scars, they don't see them. And a friend of mine u very
publicly um Lauren Krooppy uh was the recipient of a donation. A teacher at St. Leo school um was the recipient was on Good Morning America and all this uh but a Linkraftoft resident and somebody that um with Mike Damon who's one of our
uh firefighters EMS um donated one of his kidneys to to Lauren um and they worked in the same school together. And you think about the impact that something that
big, but an effort so small when it comes to their decision- making to do it is something that I I've now gotten to see in my job. Um, but also from friends and residents of this town. So, um,
well, I took out my wallet and looked at my license and saw organ donor at the bottom, and I made Rick do the same thing, too. All right. Good. Good. I was going to publicly shame him if he was. Um,
but please take a a minute and then, you know, everybody's crazed with real IDs, you know, now because there's not enough appointments to get real IDs prior. Everybody should just calm down about that, too. You can you can use your passport. It's okay. Um,
but you do have that opportunity. And I know I'm probably taking some of your talking points right now, but I'm going to let you. I don't know if I need to say anything. Actually, don't worry. You The one thing that I do ask you to do because I look at my three kids and and
often I relate what I can to to my three children. Um, and you know, my daughter is starting kindergarten in the fall this year. and um and and I think about how fast she's grown up and nobody wants
to think about why someone needs an organ donation. But if the opportunity is there for my daughter's life to be saved by someone else's or if I my organs were able to save someone else's, I would
want that to happen. And um so I encourage you while you when you get that skip the trip um letter from the from Motor Vehicle Commission, just take a look, just go go the extra five seconds and just check to
see whether whether or not you're an organ donor because it it could mean the difference between life and death for somebody that you know or somebody that you don't. So, um, we're we're very honored to, uh, proclaim April, uh, 2025 as Donate Life Month. Um, please don't
let me steal all the talking points for you. Um, I'm just talking from my own experience, but I would love to hear from from all of yours. So, thank you. Thanks for being here today. Thank you. Um, Michelle and I work at Metronic in Eaton Town, and I'm the quality site lead there. I grew up in Middletown,
Michelle's promotion. Um, and we do this all over Mammoth County, um, all the different towns and actually Mammoth County and Freehold. So, um, there's about 4,000 people in New Jersey that are waiting for a donor, um, kidney or it could be liver, lungs, and one donor
can help eight people live. Um, and we have the honor of transforming the gift to um, orthopedic implants. So, um it can help people with spine surgery, um ACL replacements, um dental surgery, things like that. And, um one donor can
help over a hundred people, um with what we do on a daily basis. So, um we're really honored to be able to transform the gift and help as many people as we can on a daily basis. So, as Mayor Perry said, make sure you check the box. You can actually do it on your phone if you have an iPhone. It's really, really easy
now. Um yeah, so um sign up to be a donor and you'll help someone. We all are. Yeah. So there are lifesaving opportunities and life enhancing opportunities like she was saying with the muscular skeletal tissue and the the sports medicine type graphs and tendons.
And I'll leave you with one special story. Uh Lisa and I, we have the honor and privilege to work and and and and witness firsthand uh some of these donor families and and patients and recipients and and some of them have been donors
and patient recipients within the same family. So, we had the opportunity to um transform uh a gift from u a young boy, Christopher Persinger from Wisconsin, uh
age 17. Uh he had checked the box on that license and the family, you know, don't think much of it at the time, but he checked that box and unfortunately uh tragically passed in a in a in a car accident. Um, but the silver lining in
this is that several years later, uh, when his baby sister Caitlyn, uh, avid soccer player, had the accident on the field, you heard the knee pop and she needed the ACL repair. Uh, guess whose tissue was left
for her? one graph left out of the over 60 bone and soft tissue graphs that we were able to transform from Christopher's unselfish gifts. Um the one that was left was just the right size speck and need for her surgery and
we were able to carrier that out to Wisconsin and and reunite brother and sister and it was just an amazing opportunity. So these are real life stories. They happen and it's a silver lining in a very tragic situation. So I just wanted to share a little thank you
story. Um so uh realizing that the urgent need for organ donation and tissue donors across the country, the national donate life observance promotes a greater understanding about life sa saving benefits of donation and transplants. Moreover, the need is
increasing and New Jersey Sharing Network is committed to addressing that need through increased awareness and the transplant uh of donor of organs and tissue is a miracle of modern medicine made possible through the compassion of organ and tissue donors enabling surgeons to save thousands of lives each
year. One organ donor can save eight lives and one tissue donor can restore health to over 75 others. People of all ages, ethnic backgrounds, religions are touched by donation and by the serious shortage of organ donors that exists.
Currently, there are nearly 4,000 New Jersey residents and over 100,000 Americans awaiting life-saving transplant operations. And every capable person can support this vital effort by registering as an organ and tissue donor, making their family aware of their wishes, and being willing to give
the precious gift of life, sight, and life, uh, health, sight, and life to people in need. And registering at an organ and tissue donor at the motor vehicle agency or online at new jerseysharingetwork.org, njsharingetworketwork.org, signifies our
fundamental human responsibility to help others. Now therefore, I, Mayor Tony Perry, and the Middletown Township Committee do hereby proclaim April 2025 as Donate Life Month in the Township of Middletown, and I urge all residents to join me in promoting organ and tissue donor education. Thank you both for
everything. Sure. Whatever. Let's give a round of applause. At this time, we have a presentation recognizing Middletown South boys 9U travel basketball team for winning the 2025 Midmouth Championship. I'd like to
invite the team to the front of the room to join Mayor Perry. Let's give it up for Perry. Backto back champs. I like it. We're We got our swag on and everything. Coach, the memo and the swag. Yeah, you know,
it was my idea, but I figured I' I'd to be different. All right. Well, uh, how's it feel to be backto-back champions? Does it make you only hungry for more? Yeah. You gonna be back? Okay. All right. Well, let's work on the Yes. Uh,
uh, moving forward. Uh, real quick, I want you to do me a favor. Since you've heard my speeches about teamwork and all this before, do me a favor. Two two sets of people I want you to thank. Turn around and thank your coaches. Thank you. Louder. There you go. Yeah.
Yeah. Okay. Try for your parents. I'm going to tell them you're going to thank them. Just be a little bit louder for your parents. Okay. All right. Now, turn around and thank your parents for everything. All right. There we go. All right.
Folks, you want to say a few words before I get into the certificates? One, thank you, Mary Mayor Perry. Thank you the uh township council for having us. Raven for all the work to do to get the certificates and everything. But, uh, what I'll say is not only can these boys
play basketball, but they represent the town and the community really well. Uh, we're building great character with these boys. And, uh, on behalf of the coaches, uh, who do an amazing job uh, and like you said, the parents, uh, couldn't be more prouder than than these boys. And thanks for having us. This is
a really special thing for us. Something we look forward to every year. Of course. Well, we appreciate we appreciate you all representing Middletown so well, going out there each and every day, giving it your hardest, g leaving leaving everything on the court and ensuring that Middletown leaves once again as a champion. So, we're proud of
you. The town's proud of you. Committee's proud of you, and we'll see you back here uh next year, this time next year. All right, let's do it. Um, all right. Let's uh uh let me I'll read the the uh certificates for you and then if you got you guys got a chant, you got
like a huddle up ch. Yeah, sure. All right, good. Sort of. Yeah. All right. Well, think about it while I read this and tell me if you want to do it. The township of Middletown hereby congratulates Middletown South 9U travel
uh basketball team on winning the 2025 Midmouth Championship. Congratulations on winning back-to-back championships and dedicating your free time to to your team and the athletes that not only you are inspiring but you're playing with
today. Your leadership has given all the variability and opportunity to learn from each other as teammates because a basketball game is not won by one individual despite what LeBron James wants wants you to believe. But continue shooting for your goals and we'll see
you again next year for for the backto backto back championships. All right. You want to huddle up real quick? Bring it in, guys. Bring it in. Come on. Who said maybe on three, guys? One, two, three. All right. I know you're a
We're going to take on the count. Okay. Awesome. All right. Let's give it up for our fans. We're just going to take a minute and reconvene. I'm just going to read a few more for the record. Okay. Y
Okay. We just have a few more proclamations for uh the record. We have a proclamation recognizing April 22nd, 2025 as Earth Day in the Township of Middletown. We have a proclamation recognizing May 1st through uh May 7th, 2025 as the Elks
Youth Week in the Township of Middletown. A proclamation recognizing May 4th through 10th uh 2025 as National Small Business Week in the Township of Middletown. And proclaiming recognizing May 4th through 10th, 2025 as Municipal Clerks Week in the Township of
Middletown. Thank you very much everyone. And um our next item we have the um we have resolution 20. Never be able to do it without you Heidi. Oh, thanks Tony. Um Karen Karen's the you know the
Karen's doing the process. Absolutely. You can't make it with both of us. Exactly. Um thank you though. Um next we have the budget um category. We're going to uh do resolution 25-153, a resolution
authorizing the township clerk to read the budget by title. We have a may have a motion. Motion. Committ Clark. Yes. Committ Katz. Yes. Committeeman Senbrino. Yes. Deputy Mayor Hibbo. Yes. Mayor Perry. Yes. Motion
carries to adopt resolution 25-153. At this time, we have the uh 25-154 resolution authorizing the introduction of the municipal budget uh operating budget. We have a presentation by our CFO, Colleen Lab.
Colleen, um I am going to give you a summary of and excuse my voice, I'm sorry, allergies are killing me. Um our 2025 budget which we are introducing tonight. Um Joe, you can go to the next slide.
Next slide, Joe. Okay, so this first slide is going to be a pie chart with the breakdown of our expenses in the budget. What it's demonstrating here is exactly what it's supposed to, just showing you in pie form, the largest expenses down to the
smallest expenses in our budget. Um salary and wages are our largest um followed by operating expenses which generally cover everything that's not otherwise identified on this pie chart. Um
insuranceances are another large portion that's not only health insurance that's all of our insuranceances. And then you can see from there, I mean, I don't have to go through every single slice, but it, you know, that's what makes up the the budget and where we spend our funds
as we collect them in the 2025 budget year. Okay, next slide. Um, this is a breakdown of the 2024 tax levies. The only reason it's done for 2024 is the 2025 levies are not all approved yet. So
we do this just to show a demonstration of how every tax dollar that we collect how it gets distributed. So in this you can see the the largest portion 61% goes to the schools. Next comes to the municipality at
23%. Um and then we have the county at 11% 10% sorry. And then the other ones are all smaller ones. There are municipal open space, county open space, and our municipal library. And that
again, if you took $1 of taxes that we collect, you just apply that and 60, you know, 2 cents goes there, 22 cents goes there, and that's how it breaks down. Next slide, please. Um for 2024 versus
2025, our municipal levy is increasing by 2,524740. Um that is a 3.99% increase. um our tax rate is projected to decrease due to um the assessed values going up
um faster than our tax levy at a at a larger percentage. Um one of the things that I wanted to point out here was that our average assessed residential home this year is
728,000 and change. Um, our average assessed residential home has been increasing exponentially over the years. And I like to always do a look back and that average value was
447,000 and change for a 63% increase since 2020. Um again on that average assessed home of 728,000 this year's increase in
municipal taxes for only the municipal services would go up a little over $8 per month on that household. Um we have as we all know been in a period of inflation and while inflation has gone up um over the past five years
it's gone up over 23%. Um our budgets have gone up a little over 15%. So we do try although inflation hits our budgets as well. You know we we feel the same kind of cost risers. Everything that goes up in price
goes up in price for us. But we're always well aware that that's difficult for everybody. So we try our best in areas that we can to contain or reduce costs to try and offset things like that. Um and that's that slide. Can you go to
the next one, please, Joe? These are some cost drivers. I always like to point out some of the things that hit our budget this year that we had to deal with. Um the first one is in our planning department OE. um because we've been fighting
affordable housing housing um in in the courts, some of the the affordable housing litigation, we have to sustain those costs. So, this year we've seen an increase to our budget of 330,000 for that particular
uh sorry, for that litigation. I'm sorry, the next one is our health insurance. We have an increase of $835,000, which is is large. You know, it's a big number, but that's about a 7% increase. And again, this is something
that we control, we try, we do a lot with our health insurance. We're self-insured. Um although that seems like a very large increase something like the state health benefits plan that increase this year is what you know we always kind of compare against because
that would be an option. Their increase this year was 24%. and I have been on uh webinars and and other um meetings where we're hearing that the state health benefits increase
for other towns um is going to actually probably be somewhere in the high 30%s this year. So, you know, being self-insured and managing it the way we do isn't always easy, but it certainly helps to contain those costs for us.
fire hydrants. Um the rates just it seems like every year the rates on the fire hydrants are increased by New Jersey American Water. So we had to increase that line by 120,000 to bring that line to 1.2 million for the fire hydrants. Um storm water
management is um somewhat of a new mandate. It the legislation for it had come in a while ago but the actual requirements are hitting now. So this year we had to increase that line by almost 300,000 bringing it to
520,000. And the one thing I will note on that is that is not um going to to taper off anytime soon according to the regulations that are currently in place. That line will continue to increase. Fuel
um that was just you know fuel is what it is. It's we had to increase that. There's nothing amazing there. Street lights, another one where rates were increased. So, we had to increase this line by over $100,000 this year. And then another big cost driver
is on the revenue side. Um, one of the things that I'll talk about at the end that I do every year is I talk about our energy uh receipts tax and the that used to be collected locally. It's now collected at the state level. We've been
almost flat in that number for many many years now where that is really a local revenue that used to increase each year and would increase our revenues in our budget but it hasn't in like I said a very long time. Um the state had started
trying to put money in and getting us back to where we should be and then they didn't fund it. They didn't fund it last year. They're not funding it in the upcoming budget cycle. So we lost $630,000 of state aid and that is a
percentage on our levy almost. So that you know things like that drive the costs as well and in of itself is 1% correct almost nearly 1%. Mhm. Okay. Okay. Next Joe so this is my my slide I
do at the end of each year. Um, so what we should be at is 12,56596 in our energy tax receipts, but we're at 6,117. So, um, we should in this year alone just we should have another 6,479
um, which would have negated any kind of increase and actually would have lowered taxes. And the whole time, as you can see, I started this in 2001. So this is 23 years where we've, you know, it started. You can see where it started flat and then you can see our green line
where we start to drop down. And in that calculation, we are owed we we should have been paid over $89 million. And that that's just staggering to me because that's almost our entire budget. And it's just a matter of it it should
be local revenue. We're not the only town. We're not alone in this. And those funds should be returned to the local t the local um budgets so that we don't have to raise taxes for things. And that is it.
Okay. Any questions for Colleen? Um Colleen, I just want to say um first of all, thank you um yourself, Tony Merkante. Um now our former assistant administrator Jim Van Nest um uh all of
our department heads um you know this this budget process is is well basically you know September um through um uh through today um and it
really doesn't end until it is introduced um making changes u till the last minute. And um you know I think when you look at our operating expenses
have only uh increased in in this budget um 61% right 61% are we've we've been able to hold the line on salary and wages at
1.51%. Um uh it's very tough with with investments to ensure that we have a very healthy surplus. Um to ensure that we have investments in our uh health insurance trust fund which if we were to be hit with a a health insurance trust
claim uh we would be able to um ensure that the money is there to make those payments and that we aren't eating into our surplus to be able to do that. Um, we got hit with a couple of storms this year, as Ted can attest, that
unfortunately hit the, um, storm trust with these snowstorms that seemingly only come at 4:00 in the morning on a Sunday. Um, so, uh, yeah. Yeah, exactly. So bringing um that trust uh and the
rest of them up to uh where we all feel incredibly comfortable um while making investments. I don't know where if Craig is still here. He's not um uh making investments in our police department uh in in other areas. We know every
department head wants uh the world. Um but we also have to ensure that we're safeguarding the taxpayers. That's our fiduciary responsibility and um and this budget does that and I know it is um uh always a a whirlwind, Colleen. But uh on
behalf of the township committee um uh and and everyone uh up here, I want to thank you for for your efforts uh each and every year because I know a lot of departments uh department heads come uh with a lot of questions and a a lot of last minute requests. Um but uh but it
it does take a very organized and thoughtful and uh very professional effort um and that you display each and every year. So I want to thank you Colleen. Yeah. Um all right. Any So no other questions from any members of the
township committee. Okay. Um motion second. Yes. Committs. Yes. Committed. Yes. Deputy Mayor Hibbell. Yes. Mayor Perry. Yes. Motion carries to pass resolution 25-154.
So that uh that just puts our public um hearing on May 28th. Yes. Okay. May 28th. All right. Our next item, we have minutes for approval for March 17, 2025 regular meeting and April 7th, 2025 workshop
meeting. Motion to approve. Second. Committ Clark. Yes. Committeewoman Kratz. Yes. Committ Senino. Yes. Deputy Mayor Hibbell. Yes. Mayor Perry. Yes. Motion carries to approve minutes. This time we have public hearing of proposed ordinances. Our first ordinance is
2025-3458. An ordinance authorizing entry of agreement for the purchase and sale of real estate and grant of parking and access easements with St. Mary Mother of God Church for the acquisition of block 524 lot 84 and a portion of lot
101.01 modernday TBA block 524 lot 84.01 for recreation open space preservation purposes. Any member of the public wishing to speak on public ordinance number 2025-3458? Yeah, John, come on down. John Spinelli, middle um 91 Burlington
Avenue. Um I just wanted to thank uh you know the mayor and the township committee for um for this ordinance. Um it means a lot to me. uh you know in words of archival it's a win-win situation for the township and the church um but it means a lot being on
the open space committee you know I remember when modern day closed in 2022 uh it was already that discussion I remember Tony Merkante saying you know maybe sometime in the future the township might turn it into a park and it's it's really cool to see it um
almost come come into action now um but you know it also means a lot being a uh parishioner at St. Mary's uh an alumni from St. Mary's school and of course Mard Prep in 2018 when it was still an active
school. Um I just wanted to put for the public record I wanted to honor some of the the people that the some of the teachers and uh faculty at Mter that really made the school for what it was. Um the deceased uh faculty uh Martino
Okonnell, Kevin Atridge, Phil Masterson, Mary Barbara Cra, and Sandra Latimer. And I also want to honor some of the teachers so alive today that like I said they it made moderate a special place and it's it'll be cool to see it, you
know, be be a public park in the future. now Eileen Cahill, Jeannie Dickinson, Albert Rebuffo, Rick Simpson, and Mike Benelli. So, thanks again and I really uh really excited to see it
hopefully, you know, become a public park in the near future. Thank you. Thanks, John. Any other member of the public wishing to make a public comment? Seeing no other member of the Tara, come on. Yeah. Well, at the end we'll have
we'll have public comment um on the ordinance. Um see no other member of the public stepping forward move to close the public portion and approve. Second. Muse. Committeewoman Kratz. Yes. Committeeman Sedbrino. Yes. Deputy Mayor
Hibbell. Yes. Mayor Perry. Yes. Motion carries to adopt uh ordinance 2025-3458 with recusal noted. Our next ordinance for public hearing, we have 2025-3459, an ordinance amending and
supplementing chapter 105 of the code of the township of Middletown governing the property tax relief payment program for eligible volunteers under its volunteer incentive program. Any member of the public wishing to speak on public ordinance number 2025-3459? Chief Falssoni can't decide if he the
speaker or not. Kev, come on up. Chief Morrisy turned into a ventriloquist. Yeah. Kevin Morrisy, 634 Locus Point Road. On behalf of Chief Falsson and the other chiefs and the members of the Volunteer Fire Department, I'd really like to thank the committee for putting this together and delivering it. Um, it
will go a long way to strengthening our department and bringing up our members. Uh, we've seen some great success lateful lately of new members join the fire department. I really want to thank you guys for having it. It's it's very very much appreciated. Thank you. Thank
you, Chief. Thank you. Any other member of the public wish to make public comment? I do want to um thank thank all of our professionals certainly about this, but I also do want to thank the commissioner of the Department of Community Affairs, Jacqueline Suarez, who uh her team um we had a great
conversation. And uh the great part about this is that there's a lot of municipalities out there um currently uh doing pay-per call um which the department of uh community affairs wants
them to move away from as quickly as possible and the commissioner literally said that this was the uh program that they were going to be recommending to um to others. So, first in the state um and uh and more great stuff to come to, uh
support our volunteers. So, uh any other member of the public wish to make a public comment? Seeing no member of the public stepping forward, move to close the public portion and approve. Second. Committeeman Clark. Yes. Committ Katz. Yes. Committeeman Senino. Yes. Deputy
Mayor Hibbell. Yes. Mayor Perry, yes. Motion carries to adopt ordinance 2025-3459. We have 2025-3460, a bond ordinance providing an appropriation of $1,850,000 for the Kings Highway Safety
Improvement Project phase 1 by and for the township of Middletown in the county of Mammoth, New Jersey, and authorizing the issuance of $810,350 in bonds or notes of the township for financing part of the appropriation. Any member of the public wishing to speak on public ordinance
number 2025-3460. Seeing no member of the public stepping forward, move to close the public portion and approve. Second. Committ Clark. Yes. Committeewoman Kratz. Yes. Committeeman Senino. Yes. Deputy Mayor Hibbell. Yes. Mayor Perry. Yes. Motion
carries to adopt res uh ordinance 2025-3460. This time we have 20253461, a bond ordinance providing an appropriation of $3 million for acquisition of property by and for the township of Middletown in the county of Mammoth, New Jersey, and authorizing the
issuance of 2,850,000 in bonds or notes of the township for financing part of the appropriation. Any member of the public wishing to speak on public ordinance number 2025-3461? Yes. if I'm tall enough. Emily Donahue for Heronav Atlantic Islands. Um I spoke
last time and I asked the question, but I kind of sat with it and I wanted a little bit more clarification. Yep. Um you mentioned that it was for I think a sister sale of the St. Mary's property. Can you just go into a little bit more detail about what that $3 million bond is for? Sister sale. I think you said sister property. I don't know what the
notes from last time. Uh, this finances our portion of the acquisition of Modern Day to become a new township park. So, is that with the open space fund? Yes. Okay, perfect. So, it's the bond against the open space since we're using bond. Correct. The the the
uh purchase price is being financed 75% by the county, but will remain a municipal park. Um, so the township is responsible for uh paying for the 25%. So this will be bonded and paid for the debt service on that bond by our open
space trust fund which is dedicated to preserving and enhancing open space recreational facilities and historical sites in town. Perfect. Thank you. All right. You got it. Any other member of the public wish to make a public comment. Seeing no other member of the public stepping forward, move to close
public portion and approve. Second. Committeeman Clark. Recuse. Committeewoman Kratz. Yes. Committeeman Senino. Yes. Deputy Mayor Hibbo. Yes. Mayor Perry. Yes. Motion carries to adopt ordinance 2025-3461 with recusal noted.
Our next item on tonight's agenda, we have an introduction of proposed ordinance 2025-3462, an ordinance approving disposition of the township's real property interests in block 255, lot 2 and block 534, lot 7 to the county of
Mammoth and related actions. Motion to introduce. Second. Committeeman Clark. Yes. Committeewoman Katz. Yes. Committeeman Senroino. Yes. Deputy Mayor Hibbell. Yes. Mayor Perry. Yes. Motion carries to um pass this
ordinance on first reading with public hearing to be held May 12th. At this time, I'd like to ask the township committee to adopt a consent agenda, including resolutions 25-156 through
25-170, removing 25-15 and 25-169 for a separate vote. Motion to approve a consent agenda. Second. Committeeman Clark, yes. Committeewoman Kratz, yes. Committeeman Senino, yes.
Deputy Mayor Hibbell, yes. Mayor Perry. Yes. Motion carries to adopt consent agenda. At this time, we have resolution 25-155, resolution authorizing fireworks display for Riverview Foundation, July 3rd, 2025. Like to make make a motion.
Second. Minimum Clark. Yes. Committee Kratz. Yes. Committee Senino. Yes. Deputy Mayor Hibell. Yes. Mayor Perry Mccuse. Motion carries to adopt resolution 25-155. At this time, we have resolution
25-169, a resolution authorizing fireworks display, Beacon Hill Country Club, July 3rd, 2025. Motion to approve. Second. Committ Clark. Yes. Committeewoman Katz, yes. Committeeman Senro, yes. Deputy
Mayor Hibbo recuse. Mayor Perry. Yes. Motion carries to adopt resolution 25-169 with recusal noted. At this time we have discussion for fee ordinance. No. Yeah. Um I just want to bring to everyone's attention that we'll
be coming into the next meeting with adjustments to some fees. I just want to a quick summary of what what that that's all about. Um first if you you remember. Sorry. Thanks, Don. Thanks for waving.
Um, we were going to be coming in with a new uh fee amendment ordinance. It's going to cover a few different topics and I just wanted to give you a heads up. Um, first, as you know, we adopted a tree removal ordinance. Um, we we have we're establishing a $25 fee for each um
request to to look at somebody's tree um removal plan. And and this only applies if you meet the criteria for having to get a permit. If you don't need a permit, there is no fee. We still have to review it, but there's no fee. Um affordable housing, uh our staff spend a lot of time helping landlords find their
next tenants. Um so there's there's $150 fee that will be charged for each tenant uh search. It does not apply for uh developments that um hire an outside property management company who do who can do that. There aren't too many who do it, but there are some. So, it
doesn't apply to them, but anyone else we're finding the tenant for them and we have to maintain a waiting list. Um, they'll there'll be a fee for that. Um, planning and zoning development fees, subdivision site plan review fees haven't changed since 2009. Uh, we did a survey and bringing our our fees into
consistency with with uh other communities. We were we were kind of on the low side. And the the one um that's probably the best news, you know, fees almost always go up. Um uh we have a flood plane encroachment permit fee which actually reducing significantly
and I'll explain uh why. It's a $250 fee and flood plane encroachment permits if you're doing anything to on your property whether it's residential or commercial in a flood hazard area there's an encroachment permit process that you have to you have to follow and it's become more and more complicated I shouldn't say more and more complicated
become more and more applicable to more properties with the stricter regulations that the D are coming out with. Um, so the fee was was $250 for very many years. And the reason was because we had to have an outside consultant review those application because you have to be
what's called a certified flood plane manager to um review those permits. Um, we have a member of staff who became a certified flood plane management uh manager. And so we were able to uh reduce the fees uh significantly to uh
$100 for commercial and uh $50 for residential requests. So, it's going from 250 to a dramatically lower fee. So, I don't think we've ever had that happen before. But, but because we have somebody on staff who can do that, we don't have to farm it out to a consultant anymore. So, but they they should be ready for introduction at the next meeting.
Okay. All right. Any questions? Okay, Heidi. Yes. Committee comments. All right. Committee woman cracks. Oh, boy. Yeah. Oh, boy. First tonight. So, it is an evening of thank yous. We are so incredibly grateful to
all of our EMS. Our chiefs are here still tonight with us. Um many many thanks to all of you for your dedication um and your commitment to town and to to all of our residents. Um it doesn't go unnoticed and certainly doesn't go unappreciated. So we're really so
thankful to each and every one of you. Um, many thanks also to Heidi and Karen and on this on on this special day for you and and also Colleen to you and your team for all of your hard work. It it was it's an incredible effort and it
really um I I can't ever get over how much work really goes into it. So, thank you for being so diligent and and really examining and going through the budget the way that you know all of you do. So, thank you for that. Um, and also thank you and uh to our officer Zampel for his
service and his and his beautiful gift to the mayor that that the deputy mayor may steal. So he should keep tabs on that for sure. But um I have officer Zanel rest. There you go. There you go. So thank you. That's all for me for tonight. All right. Thank you. Uh
Committ Senator Brino. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I know Committeeman Clark was chomping at the bit there. He's ready to go, right? Um So, I want to echo Committee Woman Kratz's comments, it certainly is an evening of thanks for everyone here. Thank you to our chiefs with regard to
the fire department. Um, and um, this being volunteer month and donate life month, I I want to I want to make a distinction here. Um, my my uh my parents are 85, my father's 85, and he had said to me that he was drafted um to
serve in peace time Vietnam. And you don't think about that today. you don't think about um not being given a choice to serve in the military, but whether it's uh whether it's active duty service like Officer Zampel or volunteer month or even donate life month, these are
choices that people today make actively to improve improve the country, improve the township, and make it a better place to live. And um those are choices that they don't need to make. Very different than the than the draft. Um and luckily luckily today we don't need to
experience that but we have to thank everyone that volunteers their time and runs into danger to make the people uh that are not volunteering their time safe and make this nation safe and this township safe. So thank you very much
for your uh for your service and uh we appreciate that uh that very great distinction that happens only by choice today. Um so that's uh one item. Mayor, um the the other item is I I I need to point out that when uh John Spanelli,
did he leave already? He did. He left. You did you hear what I heard? He quoted Deputy Mayor Hyel. You heard that? I'm curious. Yeah. And he said he left. And he said he said, "I'm going to quote Deputy Mayor Hibbell and with regard to
the uh modern-day acquisition." And he said in the words of Deputy Mayor Hibbel, this is a win-win. Yeah. and it you can hear him saying too and it certainly is. So, um, Mr. Mayor, Mr. Deputy Mayor, I want to thank you for your help and leadership in acquiring
this property for the township and it is certainly is a is a win-win in that um, the majority of the funds are not being borne by the local taxpayers, but are being borne by the county. Uh, that the township is maintaining ownership of the property and all of the monies that are
used for acquisition of this property will stay in Middletown. They will not go to the county. They will not go to the state but will the state to help um improvements um at the school which is very very important and that current acquisition costs are made based on open space funds that have been acquired
through the um through that tax. And it's just uh so uh so I have to I have to thank Mr. Spinelli in uh in quoting deputy mayor for a win-win as well. Um, the only other thing I'll I'll bring up is a great thanks to Colleen and to uh
Mr. Merkante for the uh for the great budget and all the work that you've done. And um what I want to point out is that we actually have a uh we have a 7% lower tax rate. Um so the tax rate has gone down and that's very important to
understand. That means that the the um the values of the property in Middletown, the property in which we live, have gone up faster than the amount of money than the than the tax levy. And that's that's a really it's really important to point out. Um so 7%
the uh tax rate has gone down and the amount to be raised by taxation has gone up less than 4%. So when you have that ch when you have that change um in terms of the rate going the tax rate going down it just means that uh this uh
budget continues to be as tight as it can be um and we uh keep in mind all the tax waves of the township to make it as efficient as possible. So Colleen and Tony and uh Mr. Mayor, thank you for your leadership on this and I'm glad to be a part of this committee. That's all
I have for this evening. Thank you. Thank you Committ Clark. And you didn't think there'd be anything left for me to say? No. Um, I'd like to echo everybody else's comments to uh our CFO. Um, your your
work, your team's work is invaluable to uh our ability to make decisions for the town, for our community. Um and your interaction with department heads like the fire chiefs and the police chiefs and DPW and every other group that we
have in town um helps to keep our services at a level that most towns can't maintain uh in the current situations that we've been in for the last few years financially uh you know as a country and and uh as a state. So that work is unreal and I just uh I want
to be on record as saying thank you. Um, and then, uh, as in reference to volunteer month, uh, I've been fortunate to be a member of the fire service now for nearly 30 years. Uh, I got to sit in the same seat as these three gentlemen up here with the white hats. And, uh, it
was the honor of my life to do that. Uh, and we've been working really, really hard since, well, since I started in the fire department in the mid 90s to not only find new membership, but hold on to them. Right. So as as we grow in the
community, 16, 17, 18 years old, you come in as an explorer, you go through fire one, you go to college, or life takes over, and you have to move, right, for whatever reason or another. Middletown's always been polarizing in the sense that a lot of people don't leave. Kevin's been here a long time,
Dan's been here a long time, Tony's been here a long time. I've spent my whole life here. Uh, Deputy Mayor Hyel, the former uh, fire chief, has spent his entire life here. And um part of the reason that we decided to stay here was our commitment to the volunteer services. Um over the years it's been
difficult like I said to maintain that. Uh in 2016 we were very lucky to get a federal grant to start a process of um retention and recruitment. And at that time we were a model for the state as to how to kind of find creative ways to get
to the younger people uh through Instagram, through Facebook, through you know all these different means that the fire service were typically dinosaurs about um we had to get into. We started getting out in front of the community at fairs and um every community event we
could get in front of and you know that goes so far and it's it's 10 years ago. It doesn't seem like 10 years ago, Dan, that we were uh putting it putting up those tents for the first time and trying to get people to stop by and say hello, but it was um at the time, Chief Kelly was uh in charge of the Explorer
program, and they were an integral part of trying to raise the awareness for this retention and recruitment. And then uh the mayor and the deputy mayor came came to us with a proposal of the uh volunteer incentive program, which is the next step in that ability to retain,
right? So, we can recruit, but how do we keep them? And it's it's pro it's programs like this that the five of us were able to get behind um to try to retain this membership and hopefully incentivize people to stay in town the way that we've been fortunate enough to stay in town. So, um you know, it's
something I'll be grateful for being on the committee as we did this. Um and hopefully it it trickles down to the fire, EMS, OEM, and any other parts. And as Mayor Perry alluded to, we will be a model for the state again. uh as to how
how to continue to keep people in the community ranks volunteering and and offset the cost that would come along with having a paid fire department, EMS, OEM, and and so on and so forth. So, uh I just wanted to say thank you to the rest of the committee for uh supporting
it and moving it forward and Mayor Perry and Deputy Mayor Hyel for championing it to to different levels county and statewide. Um and that that'll be it. Thank you. Yeah. Well, I got a lot there because nobody had a lot. So, um it's I'm a
little scared to say N, but uh because there's a lot of people here in the crowd tonight. Win-win. Yeah. No. Uh we do a lot of things up here, this whole entire group, but tonight is a is a pretty special night. It's definitely for me. I know for the committee here um
it's not not so many times we always get to do good stuff but uh this volunteer incentive program for firemen EMS OEM is is a big deal like like the mayor said before um the the state looks at what we're doing it's kind of crazy that they
can't come up with these things before us I mean we're able to come up with these programs that are just so needed uh for our volunteers and and being a volunteer like like Ryan just said before an ex- chief um they get the guys just and the girls to stay stay with the program is a big deal. So, I hope this
helps. It's it's not a ton of money, but it's a step. You know, we we really appreciate what you all do for us and uh I can't thank you enough. Um again, I I got to bring up uh the modern day purchase. Uh John Spanelli, he he calls it, I would say, at least every couple weeks, hey, how's it going? What's going
on? Tell me about this tree. Tell me, you know, a lot of questions he and I appreciate that. I wish he was still here. I can't believe he's not. But uh this this was a this was a very tough transaction. I've been a part of a lot of real estate transactions in my life and uh this by far um was a tough one. I
think you can agree to that, mayor. A couple years ago, this was a dead topic for us. This was not happening. Um we had the ability to go back and uh and have a have a very good conversation with with the parish and and tell them we need to get this done. This needs to
be a park for this town. And uh we were able to do that and I'm very very proud of that uh that these um 23 plus acres are going to be preserved forever. It means a lot to me to the residents, the family. So um what are you saying now? 28. 28. So I'm counting I'm not counting
the easement portion. So 25. Yeah. Sorry. Okay. But uh it's very exciting. So uh I'm just uh hoping everyone's uh this is going to stay a positive night. I know there's a lot of people here. So uh that's all I have. Mayor, um I I'm not going to I'm not going to I
echo all your comments. Um so, uh I'll open up for public comment. Um yeah, I know I'm fine. Don't worry about me, Ricky. Thank you. Um All right. Uh I'll open up for public comment. Any members of the public wishing to make a public comment may do
so. We ask that you state your name for the record and that you keep your comments to five minutes to four minutes. I'll let you know that you have one minute remaining. With that being said, any member of the public wishing to make a public comment? Tara, you had your hand up first, so I'm gonna go to you first.
Um, Tara Fleming, 49, Brandy Wineway, Middletown. Um, first of all, thank you to Mayor Perry and the members of the committee for your service to our community and thank you um, all with the your careful and your respect that you have for the taxpayers of this town. You
guys do such a great job. Um, my question is a followup to something I brought up a couple of months ago about the fluoride in the water. Um, I I see we're still on the list on the NJA website of having fluoride and I think I did send you I don't know if you guys
got it all the studies um about the damage that it does. Uh, the state of Utah has now banned it statewide. So, I'm just wondering where where things stand with the removing the fluoride from Yeah. I mean, there has to be a conversation that we have kind of in depth about this in in its entirety
along with even engaging with the water company um because I'm not really certain what the legal metrics are and I haven't to be honest asked Brian to take a look into it um because it's obviously an incredibly complex issue. Um, so you
know, it needs a I think a very uh, you know, important and and constructive dialogue that needs to happen, but it's it's certainly on my list of things that I know you've reached out about and certainly appreciate that and appreciate your service to our OEM. Um, I I know
you sitting here with the with the team earlier. I came to support Charlie. He's the great Oh, Charlie's the best. Yeah. Charlie and Charlie. Yes. This is Charlie and Charlie. The other Charlie wasn't here. Thank you guys. Thank you, Tara. Any other member of the public wish to make it? Yep. Come on down.
My name is Susan Mckitis and I live at 63 Pape Drive in Navinc. I've been up here before. Um this is my fourth consecutive appearance at a council meeting. On my three previous visits, I requested that the council consider a resolution supporting the super fund
act. Once again, I see it's not on the agenda and Mayor Tony Mayor Mayor Tony rather has uh indicated that he has a meeting scheduled in May. Uh this is a particularly
next week. Okay, great. All right. Um as you may recall, the super fund act if passed would hold major polluters accountable to pay for the damage they have caused to our environment rather than taxpayers footing the bill. This is
particularly important at a time when taxes are expected to go up, not down in Middletown, and federal funding to address climate disasters is disappearing at an alarming rate. This should be an easy yes. As a Middletown
taxpayer, I'm respectfully asking why Middletown is reluctant to support a bill that would be beneficial to our town at no cost to taxpayers. Other Mammoth County towns that have already voted to support this bill include Asbury Park, Redbank, Atlantic
Highlands, and Long Ranch. So, I look forward to um the council coming back with an affirmative vote on supporting the super fund bill. Thank you very much. Thank you. Any other member of the public?
How are you? Hi, Kristen Rooney Oakdale Run. I wanted to start by also thanking all of you for your service to our town as residents. We really appreciate all you do and all that you do. Um, so I was here just because we all know all the things that
have been going on with our schools and we've had lots of conversations which I think was a silver lining of everything that's going on. We're kind of all paying attention now. Um, so I don't I know that our final budget isn't out and I don't I didn't see the details of
that. So safe to assume that we're sharing the class 3es in the interest of security being kind of a the first we interest of the the first we heard any the the school district get call us was
when they sent Tony an email on Wednesday. Okay. That was the first time that anyone had related to just deciding on how shared a shared service discussion zero conversations up until
that point. Okay. Maybe we can talk about I mean I don't our meeting is until Wednesday when we and our they didn't put out the final details of our budget until earlier today so I haven't seen it. Um I guess I was just more following up as a person. It has to go
through a shared services committee. Um, and quite frankly, the last time it went through a shared services, we had a discussion about this in a shared services meeting, it was described as a backroom deal. Um, all of the shared services between the town and the school
district have to go through a shared service committee. That's the beauty of it. All the other agreements that we've ever had goes through the shared services committee. Um, and it no one has reached out. We made an offer, that offer was rejected, and no one followed
up. So, so who you waiting for? I I'm I'm personally just a parent, so I don't know someone all these things. First time first time caller here. We This governing body sat in unison and and and gave what we felt was a very fair and
good proposal to have a conversation on. I've had multiple meetings since then. Okay. But not but I have had no discussions and no one has called my phone or seen. So a shared services meaning like from a board of ed
perspective the the board of ed would have to do whatever they do in terms of saying we want to approach the township about X. Okay. Until Wednesday, no one. It's an yeah, it's
it's an already existing agreement that's been approved twice by this governing body and twice by the board of education. And when I was informed that the that the board voted 7 to2
um at their last board meeting um it was apparent and clear by the conversations that were being had in public that that deal was not acceptable. I think that vote though was on whether or not they were going to apply to raise taxes. So I don't think that had anything to do with No, no. The the the shared service
agreement was called a backroom deal in public. No, no. I mean, at least what I understand is the vote that they did at the last meeting was whether or not they were going to apply to the state to raise taxes to whatever amount. Correct. But they didn't vote on anything else
there. So that's why I was asking is that it was more than something we're still talking about. It was more than clear in in the opinion of everyone sitting up here, okay, including our administrator who made it clear to the business administrator of the school
district that we made an offer, okay, to to it was completely eradicated and dismissed as a backroom deal and was not interested and no one has reached out since. Okay. So just from parent like when parents ask me
because I'm I'm part of the PTA at the school and you know everybody heard he heard everything that was going on and we talked about everyone working together and planning and I personally think that that's what we all want. Um speaking as a parent and a resident of
Middletown. So for me, I'm asking like what what do we need to do to continue to foster this because I think this governing body can do no more than it has already done. Talking more quite frankly all involved quite quite frankly
I I I I'm astonished that no one tried to have a conversation with us about it. Um that that's pretty mind-boggling to me. Okay. Yeah, it's good to know because it's something like I said that we don't know because obviously I'm not
involved. I mean, you and I had a conversation. Eric was there. You shared the we shared the shared horn. Your husband held it. My husband held held it for me. Um cute. No, but the but the uh there there should have been an
ongoing dialogue. It still should be though. That's what I'm saying. So that's why I was asking like where did that go? Because we don't know, right? We're waiting. It's in there. Oh, okay. It's it's in their hands. Then I'll ask Unfortunat Unfortunately, Amy Dhy can't come on Wednesday and say, "Hey, we need
to do this." And it's like, "Where have you been for weeks?" Silence. Radio silence. Nothing. Okay. For weeks. Not to mention that our budget's now introduced. We really can't change our budget at this point. Okay. So, I mean, the you got to have you have to have a dialogue. It has to be. But to be
described as a backroom deal is laughable because all the other services, all the other things that we're doing, investing millions of dollars into sprinkler systems and fields and all these different things and then to be said, well, that's okay
to be done in a shared service committee meeting. Um the all the the all the other costs associated. Thi this budget that was introduced today pays 100% of multiple things that the school district
benefits from and is related to the school district. Yeah. It it it's all got to come before the shared service. I remember my first shared service agreement with the with the board of education was removing administrative fees from the police officers who staff all of the sporting events and and games
that occur. And these are these are common sense things that can be done and they're good. So for it to be described as that that committee to be described as a backroom dealing um was I don't know who said I like I said I'm here as a parent so no no no I'm just I'm
telling you my thoughts I yeah I don't and I don't know where that comes from and I also don't know how the committees work so like I think for from parents perspective we're all trying to just be more aware Sure right of how all these things work and you know what does that part of the budget cover that's why
we're trying to be here and be present and it's app it's good to be in the know. I've always been involved at the school level, but it's obviously this is this is all affects us. So, um I just think yeah, parents are interested in all of us working together. So, in the
interest of that, I want to keep the conversation going. So, like if it didn't work this time, then what do we need to do to make it work next time? And like how do we move forward and work together? because that seems how that's that was the silver lining of there's a willing partner on this side of of the
the governance of Middletown and and Middletown's elective bodies there you you saw it I mean that all five of us were were there to to offer um assistance and so right now you guys are kind of well shared services meetings
can be called at any time to be discussed. Yeah. Um, and so, uh, that it's it's just a meeting. Okay. Um, so, so that's just something I'll ask about. I appreciate it. You got it. All right. Thank you. Any other member of the public wishing? Yes.
Hi. How are you? Good. How are you? Good, thank you. Uh, Laura Katsarus. I live at 415 Martin Court, Leonardo. Um, continuing on with the schools, not the shared service. I'm just curious because, you know, in the last what's
come out lately is the school board is $10 million in the hole. So, my question is what kind of oversight is going on between the township committee and the schools that because this obviously this
deficit has been building up for years. Well, you you were sitting right next to Joe Minuise who's I I have I know I know she she knows the answer to this question is uh the the the five members of this township committee do not have any authority over the school boards and
their budget. Right. So like because I'm sure through the years I mean you've done a good job writing up the township budget. You must have noticed the schools were in the red and now they're $10 million in the red.
And what's going to happen like going forward? I guess that's my question. Uh, that's a question I think that you need to ask on Wednesday night. Okay. All right. And I think my other questions then according to Joan are more answered by the um school board. But I trust
Joan. Yes. Me too. Position on that on on judging on judging those questions. All right. Because and and I'm just also a little confused because you're saying, "Oh, taxes aren't going up yet. The school board is going to ask for 10%
property tax increase." We don't I don't we don't control it. We control our 23%. Um so that's what we control. Property part of the property taxes aren't going up. But this the town the township committee only has authority on
our budget to approve our portion of that pie chart that you stole up there. In the pie chart we're funding as I mean I'm a taxpayer so a big chunk of my property taxes are going towards this 61%. Yeah. It's going towards the school
district which is fine. I'm all for it. all for education, but um I'm just a little confused because you're saying taxes aren't going up yet. We're we're speaking we're speaking from we can only
on this day speak from our budgeting process. No one else's because there there is one person at the end of this day is here that handles every single day the finances of this town of the
township. Right? There's no other person I want sitting at that at the end of this day is dealing with that because I could ask her tomorrow. I will ask her a question and she will know the answer. If I asked her what 1% of our budget is and you have to and she had to blink,
she wouldn't be doing her job. But I know she knows it down to the penny exactly what she what 1% on our budget. I can't say that for everybody else. And and I think quite frankly it's a little embarrassing if for that others can't do that right because the the school board
is going to ask for 10% property tax increase is that I know it was I know it was up to I don't know what the that's what I've read what it ended up at. Yeah. I mean the last thing that I read is that um they voted down the 5.8% in favor of the 10%. Up up up to
10.1%. Right. But but I I'm assuming on Wednesday Tuesday Wednesday I'm assuming on Wednesday they're going to have to put out an agenda pretty soon, right? What's that? It's out. Okay. So the
whatever that budget says, if it says 10.1 or it says something else, I I don't know. Um because we manage the the budget of the township. Okay. Although the school district is a big chunk of the township, the the biggest chunk.
Yeah. But it's the same thing applies for the county. We don't control the county's budget either, but they're 11% Colleen 11% of of that budget line. Okay. Of that pie chart. So you you don't like look over their budget and
say, "Why are you guys running in You know what? I I told somebody the other day, I said, you know, they they're they weren't from New Jersey originally. And they said, "You, well, you you had the meaning me, you have the the the oversight to be able to look at." I
said, "This isn't the city of New York, sir." Right? I said, "We do not have there are nine members that are dyed on the school board. That is their fiduciary responsibility. Our fiduciary responsibility up here is the 23% that
we have introduced tonight." Okay. Well, I hope at least you're pretty outraged that there's $10 million in the red. Can I Can I just add one thing? No one up here said taxes are going down. What was said was the tax rates going down, right? Tax rates going down. So, it depends on the individual value of your
property, how much it's increased or not increased, which will dictate whether your taxes go up or down or stay the same. So, the tax rate that we said going down. Gotcha. Okay. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Any other member of the public? Yes, ma'am.
Hi. How are you? Good. Emily Camelly, 42 Hamilton. Um, quick question. What can we expect from that $50,000 grant for the Dempsey property? So, so the as as you know, the the Dempsey property, we started getting rid
of some of the invasive trees that were all around there because some of them were compromising the the exterior of the building. And that is part of the his you know historic nature of the Dempsey house. We have applied to Shipo for certain um uh historical
designations. That's the state okay historic preservation office if you if you want but the the the grant um was so we need to bring utilities to that building right? There's no utilities. There's there's nothing in there. So, in order for us to be able to
utilize that building, really the long and short of it is we need to get power and water to that. What about the surrounding property? That looks terrible. For the 17 years I've lived there, it looks terrible.
Yeah. The forest area around it. I understand trees were cut down. Yep. But the area that that goes between Highland and Thompson and Hamilton Yeah. It's a mess. It's a mess. Okay, I'll take a look at it. I've lived there 17 years
and it's never been cleaned. I I was just over there the other day, but I'll take a look specifically about what I just worry about kids. Kids are biking. There's tree limbs. It's It's It needs to be cleaned. It is the woods though. It is the woods, but I would like to be
pro proactive instead of reactive. And if you could like I have to clean my property and keep everything. It's There's a lot of brush. There's a lot of dead tree limbs. I'm just worried about safety. The purpose of the grant is to do a a restoration plan for the building itself. Of the building. Yeah. Okay. Um
and once we decide uh when we have that plan done and we have to we'll probably have to go out to bid for somebody to do the work. Okay. Um we'll include site preparation as well. Oh, that would be great. It's a beautiful property. It would just look beautiful to be cleaned up. Yeah, definitely. I mean, we have
new signage that's going to come in and start explaining what the history of the Dempsey House is because there's none of that. So, there's a plaque that's going to be going um towards the the um front wall uh front peanut stone wall and then there's also going to be anformational
um uhformational kiosk placed there as well. So, the grant itself is for the building, correct? Okay. What about the $38,000 from 2024? from the New Jersey Historic
Preservation Fund. It said there was $38,000. There's there's that one and and the one previous in 2021 for 15,000. Is that the area or all of this? The previous one for $15,000 was spent to get it designated as historic building.
Okay. We did that part of it. The next two grants we got are for the restoration of the building itself. Okay. which is see we as residents get excited to see the grants and we think it's going to be cleaned up for our neighborhood. So it's it's a slow process. It's a process because you have to you have to go out and you have to
hire there's only a select group of architects you can hire to work on historic buildings. You have to select one and that's out to bid right now. Okay. So they'll somebody will be selected soon a plan but what we're going to do like the mayor said has no um usable
electricity right has no water has no gas. We have to we have to get all those into the building. Decide what we're going to do with the interior of the building. We got to make it handicap accessible, right? Um so we have an architectural plan that will do all that stuff. Then we can actually go out to
bid for the work. Okay. So maybe parks and maintenance can drive through and see if it I'll go I'll go out there myself and take a look. Okay. I'd appreciate that. I've just lived there 17 years enough. It's it's thumbs down. Got it. Any other member of the public
wishing to make a public comment? Yes, ma'am. Ma'am. Yes, Miss Tony. Mayor Perry, it's Katherryn Black, 46 Valley Drive. Going back to the shared services and going back to board of ed because obviously that is very critical with what we're dealing with right now. Can you confirm
for us who is on the shared services committee? It's it my it's always the mayor and deputy mayor and then the president and vice president. Okay. So if any other decisions or things in terms of the class three officers or the purchase of the property, those
conversations only happen in shared services or would you be able to have those conversations with other board of ed members? Um I mean I get I don't know there there might be rules that the board of ed has. Rick and I are always at these meetings.
I think that there the the shared services committee is not the four of us. It's those are the four elective members plus Tony uh Jess Alone. So that was my question. Who is in the shared services? And then there's a public member. Who's the public member because
that you've already just mentioned more members than what the original four were. The it's I thought you meant who are the who are the elected members of their No, no, no. It's so there's always the professionals. So, um, and then it depends on the subject matter. So, like
if it's Bayiew schools, which we're putting irrigation down on and soding all of Bayiew schools fields, right, at our costs. Um, we will have Janet Dellet in there and Ted Maloney in there as DPW and recreation. They'll they'll come in
and they'll be invited members. So, so it's a productive conversation and we're not just shooting from the hip. Okay. because I'm confused with the way that you originally just explained that a couple minutes ago with I know that there was another board of ed member that I believe said it was a backdoor deal and you know emotions were high but
I feel like because those emotions were high we're losing a benefit we're losing that opportunity to work together to be a true shared services and I feel like that communication or maybe the like you even said the technicality behind it or the rules or the regulations may have
been lost in the shuffle and because of that the town the school the students are going to suffer. I I I think that the the understanding that there are the the appearance that this is the only
shared service to ever occur, shared service meeting to ever occur is is you know it that was the perception that I think came out and I would like to point to a half a dozen other shared service agreements like Bay View School um that
are a direct result of a shared service agreement. Just like every other committee that occurs um for the board of ed or for the township, those things come out of those respective committees and whoever the head of those committees is for the
school board, for example, they get to come out and report on what was done and then that's recommended then to the the entire board and then the board gets to discuss it and then they get to decide whether or not to move forward. So, um you know, Joan and I, we got the one
done for the um uh for uh the police, getting rid of the administrative fees for the police back in what was that Joan 2021, something like that. So, when when Joan was the president, so we were able to do cost-saving measures, but it it takes two willing partners. And
unfortunately, the display of this is a backroom deal is is non-existent in in terms of reality. And you have to be able to have a conversation. You can't just point fingers. I completely understand and I I understand, like I said, where the
emotions were high, but this may be different than all those other shared services in the fact that there was so much publicity. There were so so much town involvement. There seems to be a lot that may have fallen by the wayside just because of one phrase and that's
unfortunate and I feel like that's unfortunate from everybody that's involved. That's why I wanted to know who was shared services because if it was supposed to come from shared services then they are the people that are in charge. They're the people there are parents that we would go to. They're the people that are are head of a group that should have put those emotions
aside and worked together. So I think that's unfortunate and I hope that in the future there's a way to kind of avoid that and to make it so that we are a unified middle town. It's not just the schools and the township committee. We are a unified middle town which you even I think wrote in a letter that you sent to us talking about this plan. You sent
us a letter instructing us to go to the board of ed meeting because there was this wonderful proposal on the on on the floor and I don't believe you were even at that board of ed meeting to then approach it or to speak to it. So you just understood what was happening at the board of ed meeting from secondhand
and that's unfortunate. I think people could have asked you some questions. It's but that's not my meeting like you sent you sent us a letter instructing us to go to the meeting stating that we had we had offered a proposal. Yes. And you said that it was a meeting that we should all attend. Sure. But how can
that not be your meeting or how can that not be something that to you? Of course, it's important, but it it's it's necessary for governing bodies to be able to operate. I I'm not going to sit there and and order or make the appearance that I am ordering anyone to
do anything. I we made a proposal what from our perspective a very fair and what we thought uh position that provided the school board the ability to take the proposal or at least have a conversation on the proposal and take it
to the next level. That was it was obvious from that meeting that that was not going to be the case. And that's okay. It's not it's not my job to say one way or the other what those board members should do, but the this township
committee offered to make a proposal. And if you look around at all the other municipalities, the the 53 the 53% of municipalities that all have the same ability and all in the same similar predicaments, the governing bodies are
not making overtures to um to the districts. It's up to the districts to figure it out for themselves. And if the district wants to figure it out for themselves, whether I agree or the rest of the governing body agrees with the mechanism is is each our own. But the I
my encouragement of people going out to the board of education meeting was for the pure fact that we did make an offer and we did offer to to do something that we felt was fair. But again, you you can you can sit there and say it's my
meeting. It's not It's not my meeting. No, it was an important meeting and I appreciated the offer and I think I can speak for a lot of town taxpayers and and parents and even students. We appreciated that offer and I think at the meeting it it wasn't turned down that specific proposal. I believe that
the other vote happened because the board of ed members found out that even with that proposal, it wasn't enough to be passed by the county superintendent. So, they had to revise that in order to open it up to find a budget that would be accepted by the county. I heard not
one cost-saving measure. I I have not been informed of one plan despite multiple board members telling me that they were going to share a plan. We're going to we're going to get you a plan. We're going to show you how we're going to save save money. We're we're going to show you how we're going to put you on a path of prosperity to get to get out of
this me again. Radio silence. No, nothing. Okay, that's okay. It's not my It's not my responsibility. But you can't then sit there and say that it's my responsibility to get you out of it. I made an offer. If you say it's a
backroom deal and that it's no good and that we're giving stuff away and all these these these antics, well, that's that's a pretty clear no. It's a pretty clear no. and someone could have picked up the phone and
called and said it it's been 24 days since that meeting. 24. So that goes back to my original question. Who do I contact? Who is part of that shared services that did not pick up the phone and call you? You said it was the two members that are on
the shared service did of the board of ad. Yes, they did. They they were were there to present it. Okay. They were there to present it whether or not and so then they didn't contact you being part of shared services following that board of ed meeting to go over what had
happened. I I don't know any of the conversations that the board of ed had in executive session or otherwise to discuss this. It's it's again not under our prerogative. So if the if the district wanted to have a conversation, Amy Doerty could have called, emailed,
or talked to somebody and said, "Hey, Tony, can you call for a for a shared services committee meeting?" That didn't happen until Wednesday. Wednesday at at what was it like 3:00? That's not that's not that's not a
serious conversation. That that's a we're we're just following up because we have to. So, so thank you. Thank you for being receptive to our questions because like we're new to this. We don't know how this happens. We want to make sure that it doesn't happen in the future. We
want to make sure that, you know, as a town, as parents, as as people, we want to make sure that we're united. I I'm thank you so much. Any other member of the public wish to make a public comment? Don, come on down. Would you drink my water?
What excitement? What's up, Don? Hi, my name is Don Watson living at one Collinsson Drive and that's in New Mammoth. Um, I've been coming to these meetings for about 25 years now and there are a few issues
that bring people out and this seems to be one of them. I'm glad that there was some publicity about about it, woke some people up, got more people involved in the workings of our town and getting things um, accomplished. Might be the
hard way to doing it, but it's getting done. um and thinking about getting things done. Um you know, we just had our brush picked up. You're talking about um storm
water management earlier and I believe we should be sweeping the streets after the brush is being picked up because there's a lot of debris left in the streets. Then it rains and it all washes into the storm basins.
very poor example of storm water management. Um, also if we're the increased costs have aren't related to things like that, though. Calculating calculating how much rain trickle trickles off of uh leaf
piles at the um at the fire academy is not my definition. I'm talking about the stuff in the street. No, no. I I hear you. But when you when you look at that those numbers that were up there that were up there during the budget presentation and you see Colleen, how much how much was it?
$520,000 that we're spending calculating how much rain water gets uh accumulated on leaf piles at the fire academy. If I'm sitting on the other side of this deis, I would be screaming at the fact
that we the state is requiring us to calculate how much rain water is is coming off of leaf piles. Well, be more a little proactive. It would be best to it's it's not about being proactive or or about calculating how much rain is falling on but that's how much we're
forced to pay. Yeah. Because of that, we're also paying by not sweeping the streets. But but my point and which I think you could understand is if you're spending $500,000 plus dollars, what are you not
spending that $500,000 on? Sweeping the streets, right? How how many more times will be will be be able to do that if I didn't have to spend $500,000 and I could turn to Ted and say, "Buy another street sweeper and hire two." You already have three. I believe you have we have two. We have two. We have two.
Let's use them. Well, they they are out there, but we got 375 miles worth of roadway that that they got to accomplish. And every time you spend a dollar on an unfunded mandate over over actual things that can benefit Well, you laugh, but it's I'm not laughing. It's
just a It's true. I've been here for 25 years. I hear the same thing. Just clear. Part of the increase was also to hire two. It should be incorporated as part of drivers collecting the brush for the street sweeping. It should be included as part of the brush pickup. Got and
leaf pickup. That's all I'm trying to say. All right. Right. Thank you. That's it. All right. Will Will it be done? Yes. Yes. One Collinsson Drive will have a truck going by it by Wednesday. Right, Ted? There you
go. It's taken It's taken my neighbor across the street over a week to get his garbage can replaced. He doesn't know because he doesn't answer the phone, but the girl down at the office does. Well, uh, respectfully, I got here today
and wasn't able to talk to Ted because he was on the phone. So, uh, he wasn't talking to me. You usually turn garbage cans around in a couple days. That's it. I I know because you replaced mine already and it was the next day, right? You know, Andy was out there to give me a new garbage can. Yeah, Don. I
shouldn't get special treatment. Well, I'm I'm calling for my neighbor across the street and I'm not getting special treatment for him. All right. You used it one time. Oh, there's only one time use. You got to turn it in at the end. Any other Oh, sorry, Don. Go ahead. That's all right. That's all I got.
Thank you very much. You got it. Thank you. One more thing. Yes. If you're going to sweep the street, don't come on a garbage or recycling collection day because it's like this down the street. So, you got Mondays, Fridays. You're really making You're
limiting us now, Don. All right, we got two two sweepers. Any other member of the public wish to make a public comment? Yes, ma'am. My name is Jessica Donahghue. I live at 61 Burlington Avenue in Leonardo. Um, sorry to bring up the shared services
question. What's that? Sorry to bring up the shared services question. Yeah. Um, I just as a resident, as a parent, I'm just trying to get clear on where things sort of fell apart. So, I know that the shared services committee, you met with the president,
vice president of the board of ed, you guys came up with a plan that was presented to the board of ed, and that was perhaps rejected, perhaps not. I know they voted just on the budget and tax increase and all that that night. Mhm. Usually when you're negotiating a contract back and forth and maybe the other party, the board of ed didn't want
to agree to the initial terms of the contract, you would maybe present a counter offer or an alternative proposition. Would that have come from the president and vice president of the board of ed? It would have come back from the board. The board would have reported back to those individuals and
they would have come back to the shared service committee. But it would go back to the president and vice president. the board would have to go back to when in that meeting the board could have given direction to those individuals to say let's let's have a conversation with
them about X and let's see if they'll do X. Okay. And then when Amy emailed you on Wednesday and it was 3:00 in the afternoon and it's been 20 something days since the last meeting. What was the response from your office or the township? Were you willing to work with her? Tony Tony said we're we're always
willing to meet but it's been radio silence. And it was very clear and abundant that there was no alternative proposed to the township. Okay. So if the board of ed has this meeting on Wednesday and they have an alternative proposition for you guys, are they able
to bring that to a shared services meeting at this point or your meeting is your budget closed for 2025 2026 and we can't have But but just because the budget is is is finalized or or you know has been introduced and and has a public hearing, the the shared services
meetings happen all throughout the year. Okay. Um so it it's always an ongoing conversation. It it has to be but it it can't happen at the speed at which one party chooses. Okay. So I think our question we delayed our budget
just for that and that is why we are here on on April 28th introducing the budget rather than two weeks ago. Okay. Correct. I'm sorry. Three weeks. It's been three weeks. So our question should really be directed to the board of ed on Wednesday
and say do they have an alternative to work with you guys the shared services to get that part of the cost covered? Okay. All right. Thank you. You got it. Any other member of the public wishes? Bruce, I got you next. Wow, I'm really short. I'll try to be quick. Do I need to say my name? You
have Emily Donahghue for her on Atlantic Highlands. Um, Colleen, I was also very impressed with your budget. I got the opportunity to see it on Friday. So, more of a question just moving forward. Um, I saw that it was on the agenda and then taken off the agenda for today. The full budget was the document went from
200 pages to 91. Um, so I don't know why that happened, but I was able to get it. So my question is though is um, it stated the fact that it would be available one week prior to this meeting, but the agenda wasn't put out till Friday. So I'm just wondering what to expect moving forward is I didn't even know I could ask for the budget.
One week. One week prior. The agenda has to come out 48 hours. Not not the agenda, the budget. It said that to go by title, the budget had to be out one week prior. That Oh, sorry. Available to view. I've never heard that rule ever. It's written. It's for the introduction.
Yeah. No, that's you're you're talking about for the public hearing. Hearing. The public hearing. It's available for four. We have it out for four weeks. It'll be advertised on Friday. On Friday in the newspaper and and it's available online as of tomorrow. And you will have
it all this time until May 28th. Perfect. When the public hearing is uh that day. Scheduled. Yeah. Because the proposal today does mention the fact that it would be one week prior. So, I'm just trying to get clarification since I'm since I was looking for it. Um, but it does mention I mean I don't I'm just reading what was in the that's just for
the for the public hearings perspective. We have to have it out available the the budget itself because there's not having public comment on the budget today that we hold the budget out for four weeks. It has to be 28 days. 28 days. Perfect. So, so it meets that. That's Well, I
just wanted to know because I was I was wondering what I saw on Friday. It it it Colleen and Heidi would never let us do the anything that would jeopardize the the uh passage and and introduction of the budget. 100%. I was actually very impressed with what I saw, Colleen, as well. But I did notice that the school
one went up to 180, which was an increase that I think that aligns to what the board was going to present. So, I thank you for the work that you did on that. I just wanted clarification moving forward. So, um thank you. And no, I just want to point out too, just so you know, for your own, I it wouldn't be it
wouldn't be prudent for us to put out before this meeting because this governing body, that budget document is their policy document. So to put it out to the public before they've had the opportunity to approve, but there's referring to one week before the
public hearing as the mayor is saying. The budget was released though on Friday, a 200page document that was I got from your website. Well, part of the agenda. Yes. Yeah. But then it was removed because like she said it was a policy document so it was a mistake if it was if it was I just wanted because I saw it
and then it went away so I was like was interesting but um thank you. Thank you, Bruce. Bruce Stafford, 39 Brainard, Poor Mammoth. Hopefully, this comment's going to help uh Don Watson's situation with sweeping the streets.
Correct me if I'm wrong. I believe quite a while back Tony Merante made mention that the state of New Jersey came out with a mandate that all the streets in Middletown have to be swept three times a year. Correct.
Dated it themselves a couple years. It's not It's not a legislative change. It's a regulatory change that the Department of Environmental Protection has instituted. They had since when we when we first started discussing this
last year delayed that they did delayed it for several years, the enforcement action of the Department of Environmental Protection. So, it does take effect this year, which is why part of the increase that you saw in the um in the uh storm water management portion
included, correct me if I'm wrong, it was two people, correct? two drivers of both vehicle street sweepers that we have. Okay. So, it goes into effect this year that the streets will be swept three times.
Correct. I I think I remember three. Well, Don, you didn't wave to me. That's fine. Um, it's I didn't mean to catch you off guard. No, it's okay. It's twice a year. He loves talking about it. Um, but also 48 hours after
snow is gone, you have to sweep also. So if you have five snowstorms in a given year, let's hope we don't. After every one of those, we have street sweep streets as well. I I understand. I know the rags. After a snowstorm, you're supposed to shovel your sidewalk within
24 hours, too. Well, people definitely don't do that. I know that. But we're going to have to see streets. Yeah, I live on a street where a lot of them don't get shovel. Uh, we do have two new sweepers currently and one old one. No, we have one new one. One new one. One
old one and one's on order. One's out of order, right? Well, we have we had a third that's that's essentially going to The metal has been manufactured though. Sorry. The metal for the new sweeper has been manufactured. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I hope so. Okay. Thank you. Thank you,
Bruce. Any other member of the public? Seeing no member of the public stepping forward, move to close the public portion and adjourn. Second. Yes. Minwoman Kratz. Yes. Mini Senino. Yes. Deputy Mayor Hibell. Yes. Mayor
Perry. Yes. Have a good night everybody. Thank you all.