former members. >> Who are you? Good evening. According to section five of the open public meeting act, be advised that a notice of this meeting was made by posting on the bulletin board and town hall forwarding the official designated newspapers that this meeting would take
place at the Milurn Education Center 7 p.m. through January 20th, 2026. Meeting details on the draft agenda are also posted on our town site. Please all stand als for all
>> Mr. Cohen >> here. >> Mr. Costro >> here. >> Mr. Stewart >> here. >> Mr. Stler. >> Mayor Secondandy >> here. >> Thank you. >> I have a motion to approve the agenda. >> Motion. >> Can I have a second?
>> Second. >> Those in favor? >> I opposed. All right. I have a motion to approve the December 16th, 2025 regular township committee minutes.
So move. >> May I have a second? >> Second. >> All those in favor? >> I opposed extension. Okay. May I have a motion to approve the December 16th, 2025 special township
committee minutes? >> So I have a second. >> Second. >> All those in favor? I. Any opposed? Any extensions? All right. Uh, Mr. Cohen is scheduled to present the proclamation and fire
department uh, rep scheduled or representatives are scheduled to perhaps Whereas the Milbourne Township Committee values the hard work, dedication, and courage of our Milbourne Township
firefighters and police and recognizes those who have performed outstanding service for our community. And whereas our Milbourne Township firefighters protect us from harm and keep our community safe every single day. and the township appreciates these noble individuals and acknowledges that others
like him will continue to make sacrifices to safeguard that which we hold dear unselfishly. And whereas on October 21st, 2025, the Milbourne Township Fire Department was dispatched to the South Mountain Reservation Campbell's Pond for a report of a
28-year-old female stuck in the mud almost waist deep. The caller reported that he was attempting to get her out, but he was getting pulled in as well. And whereas under the incident command orders of fire chief Robert Etchavaria, Milbour firefighters alongside Milbour
Police Department officers reached the victim, we found her and found her in critical condition. She was alert and coherent, but the initial signs of hypothermia were evident. She was tightly ins snared in the mud which flung to her legs with substantial suction and pressure making her
situation increasingly precarious. Noting the conditions around her, it was realized that the ground to the east was completely stable and dry, providing a suitable spot for the fire department and police teams to set up for the rescue effort. To ensure a secure
working environment, they laid down three long boards as makeshift ground protection mats, creating a safe area for the operation. Two of the firefighters began the painstaking process of excavating mud around the victim's legs using shovels, carefully
extracting the stubborn earth. As the situation progressed, some team members shifted to hand digging around her feet, striving to free her from the less relentless grip. To address the victim's hypothermia, they wrapped her in towels to initiate the rewarming process while
securing a rescue rope around the longboard to facilitate her extraction. Another rope was tied around her waist designed to provide a mechanical advantage during the pull. The victim demonstrating remarkable strength tightly grasped the longboard as they coordinated their efforts. With combined
force on the two ropes, they carefully pulled her free from the mud's clutches, a testament to their coordinated teamwork. Once extricated, they gently placed the victim onto their stork. They then proceeded to
carry her along a designated path to Brookside Drive where they awaited the arrival of the Milbourne EMS in further evaluation and care. Whereas with without regard for their own personal safety, the Milbourne Township Fire Department and Milbour Police Department assisted in the heroic and successful
rescue of a human stranded in mud from a perilous situation. And now therefore be it resolved that the township committee of the township of Milbourne and on behalf of the Milbourne Township residents on this 20th day of January 2026 recognize Battalion Chief Bey,
Captain Michael Persian, Captain Chris Bey, Captain Kevin Maguire, Captain Michael Adabato, firefighter William Alice, firefighter Edgar Etchavaria, firefighter Jonathan Fineberg, firefighter Joseph Infantini,
firefighter Joseph Mohler, firefighter Eva Rosales, fire officer Dennis Shanahan, Officer Michael Reed, and Chief of Department Robert Aaria, who all assisted in the successful rescue and and our appreciation that they so rightly deserve for their selfless and
heroic acts in the assistance of saving a life. Signed by Mayor Frank Sakami. Thank you, I don't know. Yeah. All right. Uh we now ask Chief to come
forward and present to introduce the fire department. >> Speak louder. >> Good evening, Mayor Sakamandi, Deputy Mayor Cosgirl, members of the township committee, colleagues, friends, and family. We are truly grateful for your recognition of our department with the
group A saving award. Your ongoing support inspires us and is a privilege to serve this remarkable community. On behalf of the Milber Fire Department, I extend heartfelt thanks to the detention committee and to every member of the community. It's a true honor to introduce tonight's candidate for appointment.
At this time, Emily Emily is being hired for the probationary firefighter position. Emily was born and raised in Edison, New Jersey. After graduating from Edison High School in 2018, Emily joined the United States Navy as an aviation structural mechanic working on FA18
jets. Emily was stationed in Naval Air Station Oceanana in Virginia Beach, Virginia, deploying one time to the Middle East aboard air carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, earning a handful of medals for her service. After honorably
discharging from the Navy, Emily attended the Middle Sex County Fire Academy where she served as a volunteer firefighter with the Clark Volunteer Fire Department for the past two years while she was a 911 dispatcher for the Plainsboro Township Police Department. Emily is accompanied by her family,
highlighting their unwavering pre presence, love, and support. Emily will be assigned to the training division and obtaining the emergency medical technician certification. Mayor, >> thank you. Um, may I have a motion to approve resolution 26-035
confirming the appointment of member to fire department? >> So moved. >> I have a second. >> Second. >> Roll call vote, please. >> Mr. Mr. Cohen. >> Yes. >> Mr. Costco. >> Yes. >> Mr. Cerudo. >> Yes. >> Mr. Stler. >> Mayor Secondandy. >> Yes.
>> Thank you. Can I ask you to repeat after me? I state your name. I am Lisa do solemnly swear >> do solemnly swear >> that I will support the Constitution >> that I will support the Constitution >> of the United States >> of the United States >> and the Constitution of the State of New
Jersey >> and the Constitution of the State of New Jersey >> and that I will bear true faith and allegiance >> and that I will bear true faith and allegiance >> to the same >> to the same >> and to the government established and to the government established >> in the United States >> in the United States
>> and in this state >> and in this state >> under the authority of the people under the authority of the people. >> I do further solemnly swear >> I do further solemnly swear >> that I will faithfully >> that I will faithfully >> impartially and justly >> impartially and justly >> perform all duties
>> perform all duties >> of the office of Milbourne Township Fire Department of >> of the office of the Milbourne Township Fire Department >> of the office of the Milbourne Fire Department. >> According to the best of my ability >> according to the best of my ability. >> So help me God. >> So help me God.
>> Congratulations. Sorry. Thank you. That'll take these Excuse my voice of course from drugs like uh recreation committee. We had our reorg meeting last week. Big shout out to Ted B who was honored for all those
years of recreation the community. Former mayor Ted hurt her. Uh special improvement district. Uh the Santa's mailbox receipt promotion was a huge hit. Served as a successful pilot for future efforts. Uh there were all there
were nearly 200 individual receipts submitted from 36 different stores. So just think about that that mass amount of people actually committing. Uh revenue for the receipts that we actually collected was about $46,000.
Um just the next promotion that the city's going to do is the um Super Bowl uh on February 8th. More to come on that. And then also too, if you want to mark your calendars, uh, Sunday, July 19th, the everything's confirmed for the
large viewing of the World Cup game, uh, with like a festival atmosphere in Taylor Park. Uh, no updates on the BOE right now besides Chase Radler's going for a,000 points in men's basketball tonight at the high school. So, if we get done here, we can jump over there.
Um other piece uh from the joint facilities uh there was a uh information meeting the last one last week that was well attended uh and they addressed all of the FAQs that were out there. Uh the
presentation FAQs have been posted. Uh it's pretty much it. Open space tax fund uh is going to meet on Monday evening. I think it's 8 o' 7 p.m. >> And then um a big shout out to Matt
Larry and and the finance team here were on the uh finance committee, but uh they actually uh uh got a AAA rating uh on the uh bond anticipation note that they brought to market after a full credit
rating review. Um the interest rate on the uh was assigned was 2.388 which is fantastic. Uh and it's very variable compared to our neighboring towns. Um and then um the uh other thing that was great by the finance committee
in Matt is that we're able to save about $400,000 over the period of the uh of the bond uh by strategically waiting and doing it into uh and bringing it out now. So just big kudos to everyone involved. Alex, great job.
And uh I'll defer as always to uh Council on Affordable Housing. Thank you very much. >> Good evening. >> Coach, >> I was just going to cover the joint fields meeting, you know, as I'm on that committee as well as the the finance. I mean, the finance we actually saved a
bunch of money. We were lucky. We were able to wait for about a year till the rates came down. And uh as Ben said, we've uh that actually ended up saving town a tremendous amount of money. So congratulations to uh to the finance team for for some smart planning.
>> Deputy Mayor Cosberg. >> Thank you, Mayor. Um a report on the HPC historic preservation. U they have an important meeting this Thursday regarding the selfd designation of a historic district woodfield estates. Um,
so I encourage people to if you're interested to attend that this Thursday night. Thank you. >> Where is that? I mean, where is that? >> Here. Here. I'm sorry. Here. >> Yes. Just want to start uh by thanking
the uh DPW and uh fire department and police department for their response uh through the storms. I know we have uh more coming our way, but you know, we have an amazing team that works around the clock. Um so, praise out to them. Um
I want to acknowledge uh Ted Burke as well. Um was not able to attend the rec commission meeting, but you know um from being a longtime coach and really contributing to putting putting up the uh original turf field here in town uh on the football field um and then of
course serving up on this day. um but in town hall uh really special guy so deserves all the praise there as well. flood mitigation committee met. Um they're organizing. They've got some great plans in place. Uh we're going to start advocacy up um you know through
the federal level as well. We need that funding. Um we need uh these projects come through and we've got an amazing team there. Joint meeting of Essex and Union. Uh we had our um January meeting and we're going to schedule a tour for the next uh couple of weeks to take a
look at what's going on. Um but um all things considered um our uh our wastewater sewage um is is going where it needs to go. Um 250 committee is meeting uh tomorrow. Um and so there's a ton of great events going on. Um I
encourage you to take a look at Milbour 250 on Facebook and Township website. The website itself is 2 milburn250.org org uh which has a a lot of great events going on um to celebrate our um our
country's uh independence. Uh and Mr. Fog will speak after the meeting. Well, um and that's that's it for me. Great. All right. So, uh, two weeks ago, the township
committee elected me to serve as mayor of Milbourne Township, and I am deeply honored by the trust my colleagues and our residents have placed it. I want to begin by thanking Deputy Mayor Dave Costro, and committee members Ben Stler, Michael Cohen, and Jamie Cerudo for their partnership and commitment to our
community. Preparing this speech for our prior meeting would have been presumptuous on my part. So, I will take this opportunity tonight to provide an update on the status of our township. The state of the Milbourne Township is strong and working alongside our residents, I am confident that the township committee and township
administration will make it even stronger. Let me start with what matters most to every family in our community, public safety. The safety of our residents is the fundamental responsibility of government. And I'm proud to report that crime in Milbour is at its lowest reported levels since the
inception of our local KPIs in 2021. In 2025, both car thefts and home burglaries were in the single digits, a record low that was in no small part due to our stellar police department. Of course, any car theft or home burglary is too many. And we look forward to
continuing to work with residents to raise awareness and increase vigilance. If you haven't yet signed up for our police department's home security assessment program, we encourage you all to do so. Our fire department maintains outstanding response times, averaging under six minutes. When you call 911 in
Milbour, help arrives quickly and professionally. While we have the Milbourne Short Hills Volunteer First Aid Squad, which has been providing more than 65 years of service to our community. Public safety is the foundation everything else is built on. Our children must be able to walk to
school safely. Our seniors must feel safe and secure in their homes. Our businesses must be able to operate without fear. This is something we must all actively work towards and never take for granted. Milbert Township maintains a AAA bond rating, the highest possible credit
rating a municipality can achieve. This distinction earned through years of disciplined financial management places us amongst an elite group of New Jersey communities and saves taxpayers real money through lower borrowing costs. I want to recognize business administrator Alice McDonald and chief financial
officer Matt Larissy for their exceptional work and unwavering commitment to fiscal responsibility. Their professionalism and expertise has been instrumental in maintaining our strong financial foundation. Here's a number that tells the story. From 2019
to 2025, Milbert's municipal tax rate increased just 8.9%. During that same period, inflation rose by 26%. Think about that. While costs went up precipitously, for almost everything else, our township was able to continue delivering the high level of services
our residents expect and deserve without overburdening our taxpayers runaway costs. Quality of life. What makes Milbour special? Milbourne is renowned for superb quality of life as a small server and we intend to keep it that way. Last
year, our building department issued more than 3,000 building permits. Each building permit represents a vote of confidence in the future of our community. It's families and businesses investing in their future here in Milbour. And that's the sort of confidence we need to maintain. Our recreation programs serve hundreds of
families. Our parks and open spaces provide places for neighbors to gather, for children to play, and for all of us to connect. And I'm excited about what's ahead. In the coming weeks, the township committee will vote on a transformational partnership with our board of education to increase the
number of athletic fields in town. The 7.5 million projects led equally between the township and board of education will dramatically increase playable hours for our children and families. And thanks to the open space trust fund voters approved, this investment would require
no additional tax increases if this funding source is utilized. I want to thank the recreation commission for their extensive planning and our board of education for their partnership. We held a public session just last week that generated excellent community
feedback. The project will also have potential phase 2 expansion in the future, possibly including cricket facilities. But we need the community's help. These fields are for our children. If you can contribute, whether it's through time, expertise, or financial support, please step forward. but show
Milbourne what we can do when we come together for our kids. Last year, we passed a seasonal restriction on gas powered leaf blowers after an exemplary process led by our environmental commission. Landscapers, residents, and environmental advocates
all had a seat at the table. Everyone was heard and we found common ground. We compromised and arrived at a solution that works. That's what responsive government looks like. Not top-down mandates, not special interests winning behind closed doors, but transparent,
inclusive processes that respect all perspectives and serve the common good. The same approach has guided our work on affordable housing. Our citizens affordable housing advisory committee has developed an excellent round four plan by working in coordination with the planning board. Our attorneys and
planners have worked diligently to ensure that all deadlines have been met. This matters because it means Milbourne, not Trenton, not courtappointed masters, will be able to determine our own development future. Three years ago, Ben and I ran on a promised address development to restore global control.
That work continues and it will remain a priority for this township committee. Last November, Milurn residents voted resoundingly in favor of the formation of a charter study commission to examine our form of government, voting two to one in favor. I encourage all residents to participate in this process to
understand where our current form of government is working well, where it could be improved, and whether there are any structural changes that could improve local governance. Your input is critical to the success of the commissioner's work. Sends tremendous tax dollars to Essex
County. In return, we deserve our fair share of services, investment, and support. Working constructively with county leadership to advance Milburn's priorities will be a focus of this administration. A perfect example of where we need that partnership is flooding. We have a flooding problem in
town that affects families and businesses, but we're blessed with worldclass engineers who have developed a solution to prevent flooding once and for all. Here's the reality. We can't fund it alone, and we shouldn't have to. Fixing flooding in our town also means fixing flooding in towns downstream of
us. This requires coordination and shared investment across multiple municipalities and Essex counties. We will work closely and diligently with all stakeholders to ensure that we put this problem behind us for good. But rest assured, we will stand up for Melbourne residents and ensure your
harders work for you. Just because we are on the periphery of Essex County doesn't mean that our priority should be set aside. So, looking ahead. So, what can you expect from this township committee in 2026? First, continued fiscal discipline. We will continue to keep an
eye on spending and deliver value. Second, collaborative leadership. Good ideas don't belong to one party or one person. We will work with anyone, Democrat or Republican, elected official or volunteer, who shares our commitment to putting Milburn first. Third,
accessible, responsive government. When you call, we will answer. When you have concerns, we will listen. When we make promises, we will keep them. Government exists to serve you, not the other way around. Fourth, strategic investment in our future. The
field's renovation is just the beginning, but we will continue to invest the infrastructure, recreation, public safety, and quality of life. But we will do so in a responsible way with discipline and always protect your hardworking tax dollars. And to that
end, I call upon my colleagues to support the formation of a strategic plan and operating board for our township. we'll discuss later tonight. And now, a call to service. Strength has never come from government alone. It comes from you, the residents, the volunteers on our boards and
commissions, the neighbors who look out for one another, the families who invest in our schools and our community, the business owners who create jobs and vitality. My ask tonight is simple. Stay engaged. Serve on a board commission and meetings. Share your ideas. Hold us
accountable. Help us make Melbourne even better. This community belongs to all of us. And when we work together, when we combine fiscal discipline with bold vision, when we balance respect for tradition with openness to innovation, when we demand excellence and hold
ourselves to the highest standards, there is nothing we cannot achieve. So, in closing, I am honored to serve as your mayor. I am optimistic about our future, and I am confident that by working together, we will preserve what makes special while building something even better for the next generation.
Thank you. and let's get to work. >> Great. With that, we have public comment. >> Oh, I'm sorry. Donald, do you have any reports? M. No reports unless there's any
questions from the committee. I I just have u one brief uh report uh to let the public know that still time to uh purchase your parking permits meter uh business uh shopper. Uh for those that aren't familiar, we have a
shopper permit that allows residents to uh park downtown without having to feed the pay stations or feed the meters. Uh it is growing in popularity. I think we've already sold over 100 uh in the first, you know, 20 days of the year uh so far, which is uh exceeds last year's
count. Um uh in addition, we are going to look at a few changes that um uh with parking just to incentivize the the parking deck. And I just want uh piloting a 1 hour free uh on the shopper portion of the parking deck. Right now
we are we have 103 spaces in the in the shopper portion of the deck and uh we are averaging 21 um people parking uh in the deck throughout the year. Um in addition uh we are looking at uh some 30 minute spaces at the on Chattam Road uh
for better in and out of uh Short Hills Pharmacy, Brooklyn Pizza, you know those businesses over there. Um but just wanted to bring that up uh under my reports and uh that's it for parking. Oh, one other thing is that we are also still in the process of um working on a
permitless permitting system um with LPRs for our parking violations officers. Uh we anticipate, you know, soft rolling that uh sometime in April. We have a lot of things coming through in April. Um but uh soft rolling that in April, but having it ready for the next
sort of permitting process, which will take place in December of this year, uh where people will be able to sign up online. You won't be issued a permit. um but that you will be able to park in those spaces and uh we will enforce through a a license plate reader system with the videos.
>> Thank you. >> Right. And now we will have public comment. When invited to speak to offer your comments, please come to the lect turn to clearly state your name and whether you are a Milbourne resident and or property or business owner. Please do not provide your full address seeing as our meetings are recorded and readily
available to the public. To help facilitate an orderly meeting, we permit all to be heard. Speakers shall limit their comments to one three minute session. Moving prompted when there is a 30 when there is 30 seconds remaining. A reminder, this is not a time for
dialogue or debate a matter. And this is time during our business meeting for the public to offer comments and I'll open the public commentary. >> Hello. Can you hear me? doesn't work. >> So, well, thank you. I'm My name is Petro.
the short hills president and I'm here I'm very happy to hear mayor about your plan for the long what's the name the long strategic plan committee I saw that on the agenda and I was happy
to see that because as a taxpayer is always frustrating to see how our money is spent on infrastructure without any vision um a few years ago we implemented complete street And then a few years later we teared down and again was with
over money because there was no vision and there was no input from the public. Um we two years ago in 2020 I think it was uh so it was six years ago we pay a lot of money for
this architectural farm to prepare this report for downtown vision and again we didn't do anything is sitting on a desk without doing any sitting. Uh we did a few also years ago the RDP Alex sent me
the copy of that RDP many many years ago which I think was a great proposal and again we didn't do anything and still there are other projects that we should be working like the um short hill train station that is we were talking for
years and it's there so having this um this long again longterm a strategic plan I think it's great h my suggestion is just to be consistent so
will not change every year with new councils when the seat click so we have something that a vision for our future it needs to be transparent so we need to have public input from the beginning and we need to be a future focused we have a
beautiful town and it has to be focusing on that. So I want to thank you everybody for recognize to to to recognize that this need this is a really need in our town and I hope that we can work together without party lines. So it's about our
town. It's not about party. So thank you so much. Um Jeffrey Phil in the poet section. We want to thank Frank for giving us a state of the municipality speech. That's the first of one I've heard in five years I've been attending these
meetings. Um if people get a chance, I recommend everyone read our governor's inauguration speech today. She talked about the sin of silence. She gave a shout out to former Governor Cody and she pledged transparency and fighting
retalatory representation of the legal process against the centers. Also, I recommend people look at the farewell addresses or comments and interviews of attorney general and state controller. Both of them highlighted and stated that
there is corruption in this state that we're not fighting. Um, as to the consent agenda, we heard about the rate interest rate. What's was the principal amount that we got? Uh, and I don't know there's a distinction between a bond and
a bond anticipation note. Bond anticipation note will be due next year where a bond is payable over time and it wasn't clear from the presentation what the principal amount was saw. As to the bill list, it always goes to the state.
You have a payment about $70,000. Um, there's some real questions I have and others about the perpetual funding of 100% of the SID executive director's salary, whether that was ever disclosed really
to the public in August of 2020 case law. There's also other payments being made uh for individuals and for work. Uh in 2020 when one party ran they promised the public as part of their campaign that no taxpayers trust fund
monies would be used to fund the SID. As to the rafter there's a raffle based on Oprah does not seem that the SID obtained a resolution from this board to hold this Santa Claus raffle that we heard how great it was. um we're
retaining a special environmental consultant is that because we we didn't have that expertise and we needed versus for some specific project as to the rec field uh fee ordinance. I don't see anything for cricket instruction because I know that's one of the things that
they emphasized and I don't know if that was just an oversight that needs to be added to the ordinance. Um as to Oprah use your legislative research parts. I may opra request I did not get a complete response. Um, tonight
we had special executive meeting. Um, I think the original agenda packet was not posted in time. You know, I guess my time's up and I'll come back later talk about some other things. Thank you. >> What else from the audience?
Do you have anyone on ahead? My name is Al 32 year resident by choice, not by birth and honestly and uh by choice. And I would say that uh I've been here for about
five and a half years and I am very very pleased to hear what I heard this evening from our new mayor and this is a step in the right direction. Uh safety is paramount to this community and I think we are going to go ahead uh in
that respect. what is happening in nearby towns with uh confrontations with ICE and so forth. It is a real thing. It could happen in any particular community and I'm sure that our
elected officials are very well aware of that. And that's all I have to say at this particular time. Thank you very much. Good evening, members of the trans committee. My name is Jerry Pong, Melbourne County President here today as the secretary of the Charter Study
Commission. I'm here tonight on behalf of the commission to provide an update on our work and our upcoming meetings. For those who may not be familiar, the Charter Study Commission was created after 65% of Milbourne voters supported forming this body in November 2025. Our commission consisting of chair Chris
Ducker, vice chair Cory Billard, treasurer Shauna, Donna Parker Lent, and myself was sworn in on November 25th of last year and is now actively engaged in our mandate. Let me be clear about what we are and what we're not. We have no authority to make any changes to our
government structure. Our job is to study Milurn's current township committee form of government, compare it with other alternatives permitted under state law, and issue a report on our findings. If we do recommend a change, it will go before voters in a referendum. Only Melbourne residents can
decide whether to change our form of government. This is significant because it's the first time since 1972 that Milbourne has formally examined its government structure. In the past 50 plus years, our town and the responsibilities of local government have changed draft dramatically. Our
study will consider whether structural reforms could provide better accountability, responsiveness, efficiency, and economy for our residents. Our work follows three phases. First, studying our current system through interviews with current and former officials and municipal
employees. Second, examining alternative government structures available under New Jersey law. And third, making our recommendation and filing our report. I want to emphasize that we welcome and need public participation. All of our meetings are public are open to the
public with opportunities for comment. Residents can submit questions or comments to charter study at milburntwp.org and we'll be holding public hearings as our work progresses. We've also posted extensive resources on the township website including explanations of all forms of municipal government available
in New Jersey. Our next meeting is this Thursday, January 22nd at 8:00 p.m. We'll be meeting at the Bower Center and a Zoom option for public comment will be available. Thank you for your time and we look forward to keeping both the committee and the public informed as our work.
>> Thank you. >> Richard Cyber res. I just want to acknowledge two things. One, goers. And two, Ben has been going to every Indiana game
throughout the whole playoffs. Was at the game last night, made it back for the meeting today, and here he is. Happy to see you. >> Anything else?
Okay, I will now close public comments. >> Sure. Uh, first J Mr. Con, thank you so much for that overview. Appreciate that giving clarity to everyone's calls. Very well done. Um,
all right, Alex, go a second to go. Hoosiers. So 16 and0. We're undefeated. So it was just a remarkable year. And uh uh but we take uh you know what we do up in this day we all take very seriously. Frank, thank you for the update. Uh and
you know what we really want to provide is the civility, the professionalism, and the intellectual capacity to understand these issues and where we're taking this this uh this township. We want to do it not just short term but medium-term and long term. So appreciate
it. Thank you. >> I don't have any reaction for public comment. I just saying that I'm looking forward to another year of rolling together what's right for Milber. >> Thank you, Mayor. >> Yes. Thank you, Mayor. Um, no, no
further comments, but I'm looking forward to to working with everybody this year, too. Thank you. pretty screwed up. >> Yeah, just want to say thank you to the public, to our loyals, and to our new uh folks who um you know, who speak up. Um I think you know to comments uh on um
you know, sticking to a plan. Um you know, there's a lot of things that unfortunately, you know, um the township is busy. Uh there's a lot of things that come up and so keeping um a plan in order of of some of our projects um is really critical. And um get out there,
go Hoosiers. Um you know, get out there to these information sessions and speak your mind. I look forward to working with all you. Thank you for the state of attraction. Um that is to appoint uh special environmental counsel which um you know
uh the township has had in some way shape or form whether it reached threshold or not. Uh but uh Archer Grer is our uh our environmental council and so uh met with them recently. I look forward to working with
>> K. Uh no comment mayor. Thank you. >> All right. Um we will now consider consent agenda resolutions. Are there any comments from the committee in regard to any of the items listed on the consent agenda? I have a motion to approve resolution
26-036 through resolution 26-043 which are listed on the consent agenda. >> So moved. >> I have a second. >> Second roll call, please. >> Mr. Colin, >> yes. >> Mr. Costro, >> yes.
>> Mr. Sero, >> yes. >> Mr. Stler, >> Mayor Secondandy, >> yes. >> Thank you. Hey, ordinance 2727-26 Stler is scheduled to sponsor. >> Thank you. Um, I would like to present
an ordinance entitled ordinance number 2727-26, ordinance amending recreation fees in chapter 8, parks and recreation areas of the revised general ordinances of the township of Milbour. Uh the purpose of this ordinance is for the township to revise fees for Milbour Township
Recreation Department programs of which I sit on the uh the rec committee. Uh just a little background for you. The last time um they were adjusted was 2022. Uh uh this the PE schedule has historically been reviewed every three years for any changes. Uh the recreation
committee at the December 10th, 2025 meeting recommended a new fee schedule ordinance as attached uh recognizing there has been a very high increase in costs as we've said and put so eloquently in terms of uh the spike inflation we've had over the last four or five years and trying to keep them to
a minimum, but we will have to take it up a bit. Um uh we're proposing 8% increase for non-resident golf memberships. Uh some new program activities have been added to ordinance and eliminate programs have been removed. Um
uh I'll find out about the cricket but I don't think we have any sponsored cricket programs programs in in town uh uh that are actually through the recreation center. Uh and then um for the high school fields uh we will have a
cricket field layout. Uh it's just it's going to be brought in terms of over the multi-purpose field etc. Uh so, uh any so, uh I move that this ordinance be taken up and passed on first reading and that the township clerk be authorized to have the ordinance published in
accordance with law and the item and for hearing and final passage on February 17, 2026. Please be advised that the public hearing of this ordinance will be held at the Milbour Education Center at located 434 Milbour Avenue, Milurn.
>> We have a second. Second roll call, please. >> Mr. Cohen, >> yes. >> Mr. Costco, >> yes. >> Mr. Sero, >> yes. >> Mr. Stler, >> Mayor Secondandy, >> yes. No
business, we'll move on to new business. Um, first up is the draft advisory committee resident uh required ordinance. McDonald. >> Uh yes. Um as was indicated uh by the
township committee um last year and I think that that flows into this year. Uh there was a desire to have an ordinance that established uh some um consistency in terms of residency for advisory committees. Uh we've provided a draft um
to the township committee that outlines that um members of the advisory committees uh will be a bonafide resident of the township. Uh change of residency prior to September 1st um would uh require resignation within 10 days. Change residency after September
1st would require a uh uh resignation at the end of the year on December by December 31st. Um and uh there's some other uh provisions about failure to notify um the resignation procedure that statutory boards and commissions
would not be effective. Uh and then of course that military service would be exempted um in the event that you know you could be deployed for over a year. Um but uh those were this is uh sort of the first draft of it. having to take any comments and questions from the time
committee and um what we can do to the president. >> I I would just you know I understand we we agreed to this. I would just suggest that instead of it being September being a cut off I would move that back to July because in the summer you know a lot not
much happens. We only have one meeting per month. So actually even having a resolution or to replace somebody is not, you know, there'll be there'll be a lag. Um and and in fact, a lot of committees don't even meet over the summer. So I would just suggest moving
that back up to July where then they could finish out the rest of the year. >> Yeah, I I would disagree with with that. I think September makes more sense. um you know if you have it at July that's letting a potential non-resident be there for what
five additional months um there are some committees that do meet more regularly than others uh you know if as you say the committees don't meet over the summer then shouldn't be such a big deal uh you know if the date were September I think when we have vacancies on
committees if we have a need to fill them we able to do so >> I I agree Frank or Harley or I would leave this member. It's uh that's uh more than fair. >> I'd like to see a split the difference
there. How about August? You know, there's there's been no there's been no indication that I've ever been aware of or that anybody's said to me that someone holding on from July or June to the end of the year if they've moved out
of town has caused any problem um caused any dysfunction in in you know or anything odd has happened because of that. So, you know, you are when you throw somebody off a I mean, they're moving out, so we're not throwing them off, but when someone's when someone's pushed off, um, you lose that
institutional knowledge, you lose a person who was certainly a valuable part of that. This has nothing to do with attendance. If someone decides they're not going to attend, there's procedures obviously for that. So, >> I don't I don't see the rush to to push people. >> Yeah, I think that's well noted.
However, it's a big, you know, you mentioned institutional knowledge. It's good for the new member to gain that knowledge during that period of time so they can provide the service. I mean moving out of town is a very big commitment to or for the entire family and I'm just not sure you know to make
that transition. I don't even know why you'd want to stay on a committee of people moving out of town. Uh but that is what it is. Uh but uh I'm still in September. >> I I think you know people that are moving out of town know well in advance that they're going to be moving out of
town. I don't think there's very many people that just abruptly decide I'm going to move out of town next week and and make it happen. So, um given that >> Yeah. And also to a point Dave you made
is that if we're proactive and we're being very uh transparent and professional uh and we're doing the work appropriately, then there should never be that opportunity for malfeasions or anything along those lines. I know that we haven't seen any or that I exempt no
one know what's going on but uh by keeping a very methodical we have a much better chance of stable anything and opportunity like that >> in my opinion. >> Yeah I um I I lean towards the September I think you know September is the start of the school year kind of the
reorganization you know it still enables uh people to kind of um you know hit the ground running um you know for the fall. Um, I also think uh it's really important that that summer planning time, right? You can get a lot done. Maybe people's work schedules are
looser, right? You can appoint somebody um you know uh and and uh I think the September period is uh it just kind of lends better to kind of the cadence of our township, the way that
events are done um and that activities are done. It's also tough in the summer though if someone were to move out of town, you know, in July to necessarily rouse up. You know, you'll have in volunteer
interest forms from people who were had put that in prior and didn't get chosen, but any additional people, that's not a time when people tend to be engaged to replace that person. Look, I I think that if someone knows they're moving out of town, they sit on a border committee,
the polite and respectful thing to do would be to let that be known uh as soon as you know feasible. Uh that way the township committee would have a heads up and could go and you know solicit uh volunteer interest forms. Um but again,
I mean if you look at the year, you break it up into quarters, September I I think makes the most sense. there's no reason that someone should stay a pretty year. It sounds like we have two others that agree with on that. So if that's the case, um then that's what we move
forward with. >> Are there any other comments regarding the ordinance? >> Uh next up is the draft flood mitigation advisory committee ordinance. I'm also going to refer this to >> um yes. So I think for a long time now
the flood advisory committee has been done by resolution uh since its inception but been done by resolution at the reorg meeting. Um and uh I think while I don't want to speak for the the committee I think we can uh agree that
this is probably going to be around for a long time and should probably be codified um in some way. So uh this is just a cotification of that uh advisory committee which have been done by resolution uh includes 11 members um or
no more than 11 members which provides the flexibility for the committee to appoint less than that. Um um and that one of the members may be a representative of the environmental commission which we currently have uh in June. um that the business administrator, township of engineer,
superintendent of public works and the uh OEM director uh would serve on that committee as well as well as a represent of the township committee as a liaison. Um terms would be staggered initially um uh of one and two years uh with the
terms going forward being two years on that uh particular committee and then just some other uh organizational structure and meeting uh information regarding the So, um I just have one comment uh that
wasn't included on here the um with regard to the chair. I would recommend that the tension committee choose the chair of this committee. >> Why not? >> Why you have to explain why? >> Well, yes, I do. Uh but uh the reason
why uh is um based on the uh judgment of who um uh who would be uh best suited uh for the for the role, who might have the best institutional knowledge, who might have the best uh background in what's
going on currently with projects going on. Um and uh you know it ensures that uh you know that maybe that an engineer is the chair of this group. Um but open to hearing everybody's thoughts.
>> I I actually disagree. Right. Um I believe across the board in all cases a committee should choose its own leader and those are the people that know more more than we do what what's going on in detail on all the projects and I've
certainly worked with worked with assuming people are reappointed or whatever else have a history a working a working relationship and history with someone and to impose a reader over them I don't think is a good idea. This is a situation where I could see
merits on both sides. Um, you know, this particular county committee for this year, um, we worked very collaboratively to figure out the boards and committees in instances where we had to pick uh the head of the order
committee. Um, you know, at least what I've done is I've sought uh the advice of the committee to see who they would recommend. Um, I I tend to agree that I think probably the safest thing long
term because you never know who's going to be up on the days would be for the committees to elect their own chair uh from from within. Um, you know, I would think that the, you know, we we put people on these committees. We put people on there that
we think are going to make good decisions, rational decisions, and make good choices. And, you know, I think we have to have faith in them to choose their own leadership on on that board. Um, I I do I do see you pretty point as
well. Um but I think you know in this case uh it's probably best uh you know and and there are some committees where maybe we have an exception to this. I know we have a few committees where you know either by statute or when we created them we decided would be up to
the township committee to appoint the chair but in absence of of of a specific reason for specific committee I think in this case for the committee we ought to uh choose >> okay that that's fine and this isn't a sticking point for me it's just not in
the draft of how the chair is chosen uh so that is an area >> that's good >> that needs to be that that's the reason why I brought it up because it wasn't um it was not necessarily in there. Um but I would potentially include um maybe a
provision on um the tenure of the chair just to ensure that there is a rotation um if it if it's so if it's so if there's a thought on that. >> I believe that the boards that elect their own chairs >> and this has nothing to do with the
incumbent chair. >> Yeah. Yeah. happen to be a huge fan of Jim McKenna. >> Yeah. >> Jim Pier. >> I I believe that every year um when the committees, you know, have their annual reorg meeting, that's when they would go
and elect the chair. So it could be the same from year to year, but that would be at the discretion of the members of the committee. Could also change every year. Um you know, I don't know. Do I don't know if we'd want to prescribe
a term limit of some kind of terms to one or the tier terms. >> Again, I I would rely on those, you know, we put good people in these. >> Yeah. And we have term limits on anyway. We do have one and twoear terms. The the
the key is in, you know, running businesses every day. It's the institutional knowledge that these guys picked up and I was sat on it for two years. And thank you, Jamie. leaving me of that that committee. uh but the institutional knowledge is so great and
there's such a uplift a ramp up and to uh to put a a term limit of you know a you know 10 years five years what whatever the case may be but they're picking up a lot of good information that institutional knowledge if you go through like the orange bypass through
uh Essex County through the state through the army corps of engineers it's very very important to keep that knowledge >> yeah I don't think that has to do with the role of the chair. However, >> we had moved on to the term limits >> term limits of the chair of the chair,
not not term limits to serve on this committee. Um, but it seems like, you know, there might be consensus to just leave it up to a yearly term. It's not in the draft. So, I would propose that we add to the draft. How the chair is chosen, it's chosen by the committee and
it's on a do we want to just say on an annual basis, the chair is chosen. That's That's for us. >> All right. Thank you. >> All right. Next up is the long-term strategic planning committee.
So, this is something that uh we've had folks come before us uh multiple times over over the years saying, you know, we really ought to have some sort of committee that is responsible for doing long-term strategic planning. uh and
this can you know overlap with many facets of you know existing committees um but the idea is to have an advisory board that's designed to provide continuity strategic alignment and discipline long long-term
thinking across administrations would integrate existing planning efforts support responsible growth improve efficiency and help the township to proactively address challenges whether they become urgent or costly so I Think what we've seen is, you know, any any
given year you could have potentially 40% of the TC turning over and that can create some discontinuity. So, as Mr. Master Pietro pointed out, you know, we had this downtown vision plan that was done back in 2020 and then COVID happened and TC changed over and you
know that wasn't brought back out. So, I think if we have a committee where you have fiveear terms and we'll have to stagger them initially, you're gonna have a board that's going to at least be able to provide advice uh and provide
guidance to the TC as it changes over the years and have a long-term strategic plan. I would imagine we would have the five, 10, 15 year plan. I think we had one of these committees in place. you know, our town hall renovation for instance, which we're finally doing,
which is great, but that probably should have happened 15 years prior at least, right? So, I think if we have a committee that's independent of a content committee that's there to also go out and find out from the community
what, you know, they'd like to see um you know, next 5, 10, 15 years to take all these things into account. I think that will be a true help. Um I had circulated a draft um sort of proposal to the other counter committee members.
I don't know if any of you had a chance to review it. Um but you know the basic structure that uh is being proposed is that you would have seven voting members uh to be appointed by the TC have
staggered terms. Um so everyone would have a five-year term except initially some people would have you know one two three year terms but when that seat turns over it would be a fiveyear term from there. Um up to two of the seats would be for township committee members
and the rest would be dozen volunteers. um the business administrator uh and or CFO serve as a non- voting except if you're a member they might even want to rotate you know uh I know a business administrator and
CFO are very busy uh and I don't want to add you know too much burden to them but you know maybe they rotate I think that helpful um and I you know the idea is emphasize members have relevant experience in municipal you know planning finance operation
etc. We've got so many talented people in this town that run businesses and organizations and um you know that that are involved in in planning and architecture etc. Uh so I think this would be a way to have those resources
uh and and you know get that collective brain power working for the good of the township uh and and they can then feed ideas from township committee. Um so you know that that's basically the idea. You know the proposal is obviously more
detailed than that but wanted to see if there was you know consensus to sort of move forward with this idea and then perhaps have attorney caner start putting together ordinance if we we have consensus. Um
>> I would just say it seems to be the night of term limits. I would say that the two TC members should have one-year terms because otherwise you could have if everybody if the TC members had a fiveyear term they could be off the TC and still be on this. >> Yes. Yes. Of course. So yeah. So just
like we do with the planning board, >> right? >> TC member. Yeah. They would have one-year terms. So the TC members might change year over year, but the idea is the other members would have uh you know longer terms to provide that continuity.
And additionally um what I had suggested is you have liaison from you know the planning board environmental commission HPC um and then you know another thought was that this strategic advisory board may
develop subcommittees of their own where they bring in relevant experts from town that don't necessarily want to work on the larger committee but want to work on a very specific focus. issue with uh fields for instance, right? If this
existed years ago, you might have had a a subcommittee that was looking at fields and figuring out how to raise money or fund them, etc. Um so, you know, I I think that uh you know that would give a lot of opportunities for
people in the community that wanted to get involved in particular aspects of it to do something. >> I know you mentioned that. I mean, I'm just curious what you see as the deliverables for this. I mean, I know you mentioned an annual report, but we, you know, that to me would be certainly
a bare minimum. I I would expect to, and maybe that's just something for us to work on as we flesh this out, have a a more structured set of deliverables from this committee. Yeah, I think you know um at least in the in the draft document
I said there'd be an annual report. There would also be um a certain number of public meetings that they would hold uh public forums to gather ideas. But yeah, I think we can um we get to think more as we go through this think more of
what that deliverable look like. I liken it to, you know, the planning board has master. Right. Right. So I would imagine this board would put together a sort of master plan for the town beyond what
planning board does and every year they would revisit that, revise it if necessary and then present it to the township committee and the public as well. Are you are you aware of any other towns that have a committee like this that we could we could you know communicate with and you know learn some
best practices from or is this you know unique to a unique idea here? >> Um it this sort of thing may potentially exist elsewhere. I uh I admittedly did not do a lot of research to see if other towns did it because just seemed like we had a lot of
great ideas. >> Yeah, we've been talking about it for a while. you know, we can definitely uh blaze the trail. >> And you know, honestly, um just because another town doesn't do it doesn't mean we should do it. We were trying to be,
you know, innovate and and keep our town on the on the forefront of us. >> I wasn't I wasn't suggesting that. I was just saying there would be some place else for us to talk to to get some, you know, help fleshing this out. >> Well, the board of education, you know, has has a process like this. you know,
one one thing that comes to mind is the whole exploration for um the uh and it's in a different light, but you know, start school start times. It was it was a certain issue, right? Looking at sleep studies and then on bus times and then
on on things like that. Um but you know, a lot of really steering uh I think they've been called different things, steering committees and such. But I think to Michael's point um you know I think I would like I'm fully on board first of all um but I also think u you
know the annual strategic planning operations report um you know uh is there a way for us to amplify that? So it's not just like the downtown visioning plan. So it's not just like um you know Alex you could probably name a number of reports that we've done over
the years >> what you know >> like shelfware. >> Yeah shelfware right? Um so some kind of metrics that it has to be um I don't know I like the idea of public meetings u but are there ways for example you know where um you know uh it's got to be
u it's got to be this report has to be reviewed a certain number of times during the year or you know it's like quarterly they have to report quarterly maybe maybe not annually but they have to report to the township committee quarterly so that it actually is a living document and it actually is
something that's read through. Um, you know, what do we think about something like that? >> Yeah, I mean, I think I don't know if quarterly would be too often, but um, maybe at least twice a year. Uh, they could come front of the township
committee, make a formal presentation, you know, we have DC does that from time to time, right? Um, make a formal presentation, say, "This is where we are. This is, you know, what we're thinking, how we're going." uh you know and you don't want the committee to you know usurp the role of the township
committee. So it is advisory in nature but if we have them come and present the report you know few times a year public well then the public will have to hold us accountable. We'll have to hold ourselves accountable to uh you know
either agreeing with things on the report and and you know putting those in motion uh or having a discussion about you know why what they came up with might not make sense or might need to be repriorated >> and more data points are always better. you have more data points of people who
are looking at it different uh from a uh different lens if you will and but you know bianual is probably right and there's four types of earth way too but uh either bianual or or a couple of or even one but you're going to work on
your hand with the committee and the professionals professionals to sure that we're making a right direction just as it's not overarching it provides a ton of work for their current professionals but uh in in their race.
>> I think it also could you know help the township professionals because you know I think we've seen over the years that these projects come up and then sometimes a township committee member will will grab it and champion it and then they either get it done or they don't and then they're gone. Um so you
know there's things that we know we're going to need to do. We know we're going to need a new firehouse at some point. We know we're going to need, you know, new pumps uh some point. There's a lot of things that I think are in the business administrator and CFO's head that have not been actually put out on
paper. And while I think it's at least in the back of their mind and they're thinking about it, I think having, you know, this long-term plan laid out for all to see is going to actually help keep it moving along and make sure that things don't >> Yeah. and eliminate some of the institutional risk of of uh blind spots,
things like that. I'd love to hear from Alex of what he thinks of it and and what the long-term benefits and if there are any disadvantages to the community or or to the township that that he could envision. Are we are we going to have this group though review what we're
planning on doing? You know, hypothetical the five of us tonight decide to spend some money on whatever project it is. Um and it's not in the plan they did project and we send it to them almost like the planning board says is this consistent or inconsistent. What
do you think about this money we're going to spend? >> I would think the five people sitting on this Dis or the newly elected folks representing the town this comm you know anything has to come in front of the township committee be put to a to a vote. >> Yeah. I don't think since it's an
advisory committee you know the planning board for instance that has statutory uh body and they have you know statutory role to find things either consistent or inconsistent or not consistent with the master plan
right because this is an advisory board I think if we have something that you know hopefully these ideas will come from many but we may have things that come up I would not suggest then referring it back to the committee for their approval because ultimately that
authority should be with the subject >> and it's not I think it's also I don't think you know I think it would be more a case of a difference in priorities right so coming out of that committee their priority number three could be the township committee's priority number one but in that case the township committee
would >> right exactly and that's why you would have two members of this board be township committee members and they could also help you know act as a bridge between the rest of the committee and the township committee uh and help you know make sure that
understand why priorities are some of that because we have access information that they would not have session. >> So sounds like we have some consensus to try and put together a an ordinance that we can take a look at. Is that fair
assessment? Yeah. >> Are you gonna speak or >> I'm sorry. >> Oh, sorry. Yeah. >> So, I think that one of the just just a few things as I as I had reviewed it was um you know and and and the mayor and I
had briefly discussed this and I think it's been talked about in terms of strategic plan which is which is great. Um, the thing that I'm curious about it is just like the operating board type part of it and and what that means and
how that how that will how that works. Um, and what I guess the intention of that was, but I think I think maybe it makes some sense to have a subcommittee look at this and and figure out exactly how this is structured. I I just I'm I'm
also a concern for the committee to a certain extent where you're potentially whether you feel like you're doing it or not, you're going to be adding another layer to it uh to how things move or don't move or or what. Um, so it just might be beneficial to internally review
this, make sure that you know you have um the um the sort of the path of how this gets done um solidified because obviously it'll be very helpful to have that community input and have um an an
idea of the where where the community wants to go, where the township committee wants to go, but understanding how how as David had just described things things can change quickly. um and and you know whether that's um you know how that's going to work with
this group. The only other like one suggestion I would have too is just you know a lot of our committees are now and and this is not a um a thing about the public but they're all operating under the open public meetings act right which is if it's an advisory board you know
you can establish that to say look we're we're going to op we're going to operate we're going to put this stuff together we're going to require them to have four public meetings a year but if every meeting is going to be under the public meetings act that means you have to notice it you have to you you have to do minutes for yet post those which is
again all fine but you may want to consider sort of how burdensome that can be not only to those that need to be involved in but also to yourselves in um in in in that. So um but I mean again I mean I I think I think uh it makes makes
sense. I think you just need to think about, you know, how how how it's going to work and whether is there going to be a point in time where, you know, this is I mean strategic plan is like you've got five years right out is and then evaluating each year as the pro as
different things come up. Are you going to, you know, be able to pull things off? Are you going to have to keep everything on? Um because there's a lot and it changes as you know like even the gateway the the Taylor Park gateway complete streets you know part of complete streets was
>> yeah we did that project and at that time everybody hated it and so then who's picking it up to to move forward with it but now there seems to be a little bit of the recognition that it was successful and what its intention
was in pedestrian crashes and a desire to continue to move forward with it perhaps I don't know, but I think that's part of this group that the the idea of this group, but but you know, how how do you how do you know that and and as you're going through this process? So,
>> well, I I think make a good point about the open public meetings act. Um, I think we should designate a certain number of public meetings they're required to have, but it would be better not to have to burden the committee with, you know, having to worry about
forum. Um there's a lot of work investigation that I think they're going to need to do, you know, as a group. Um and that might not make sense to always do in public just, you know, I know that can make it challenging to get things uh
done, uh to get aligned to the schedule, etc. So, um I think that's a good recommendation. Um, and I think, you know, the fact that this is going to be a living document that's revisited every year is going to help so that when you have something like clean streets, for example, you could have that as the
long-term plan and you see, okay, well, we tried it, the public didn't like it. Now, we adjust the long-term strategic plan. Uh, and and you know, they would make the necessary changes and and you know, I would also encourage this committee not to go overboard with
projects because things are going to come up. They should look at the big things. They should have a strategic vision and look at the big picture and figure out, okay, what are the general themes and where do we want to be? Uh, and I think that would help serve as, you know, a virtual guide as we do what
we do. >> Just make sure there's something on there for festival. >> I was unaware that all our committees meet under the open public meetings act. They can meet in public without following the open public meetings act criteria because they're not a governing body. the meetings can still be open to
the public reviewing, but they don't have to public comment at every meeting. I'm just making a suggestion like I didn't know that >> a lot of them do have that >> they're not required to be under no public meetings act because it's not technically a public it's not technically open public meetings. You don't have a forum of elected official
presence. So they can still be open to the public. They just might not have to follow all the procedures of an open public meeting. >> Okay. >> Yeah. I think that would be >> meaning meaning you know if they want a public comment they can. They don't have to. they don't have to say they don't have to have minutes or publish minutes.
Um those things they can do it if they like to but they're not required by statute to do that. >> You know I I'm sort of curious a little bit on the agenda setting here. Um because uh uh I think we could use this this could go a couple of different ways. I think so that there may be a
little bit of an aligning of the township committee in this board and correct me if I'm wrong because I'm thinking about this in two different ways. One way is that um or one function is that it's keeping record of all the studies. It's keeping record of all the
projects. It's doing sort of an audit of of the community needs. But number two, it will receive direction from the township committee. So the township committee, the five of us could say, "Hey, you know what? Honestly, you know,
we really we really need to do a townwide traffic study." this advisor not to say that because that involves engineering but something of that sense okay can this strategic group can they take a look at this can they spend some time can they spend some
brain power to take a look >> yeah I think if we come up with things that we think would be beneficial but aren't something that we necessarily want to act on right away um we could refer things to this committee and say hey where would you put the new
firehouse for example would put this where would we put this >> in the you know 5 10 whatever year plan. Uh and obviously that's where the you know township professionals would come in to help advise that board and say
look you know you could do it next year or you could wait four years and that helps you know get everyone on the same page of what the priority should be. So yeah we it could go both ways. Um we could refer stuff to them. Sometimes people will have uh you know during
public comment they might pump up with a good idea. Our plates might be full. That's something that we can say okay let's give that to this committee and they'll figure out does that make sense and on what time horizon that >> Yeah. I I think from a workflow standpoint that might that might uh just
my opinion that might work well for us to sort of go through that route as opposed to things necessarily and not to say things can't originate at that committee at that group level but just so we have an aligning of of of priorities. I think at the beginning we
certainly have to seed be with >> you firehouse there's a list Alex that you shared with me several months ago that was quite extensive but you know everybody's wish list of projects so there's no shortage
there's no shortage of items for to be you know put into some kind of timeline you know some of you know never but you know put into some kind of timeline to uh give some sense as to where where things are medium short-term, medium-term and long term.
>> Yeah, I would think it would be an a-olitical a-olitical board or committee that gives us good under fabric backbone continues doesn't let that will not let things just fall to the wayside as people come
in and out of the township committee and other people get really gone. you know, if you do it correctly, uh it should be a valuable resource for the township committee, not something that's been politicized or thrown around. And I think what you put here is a good start
to allow that to move forward. Uh and making sure we don't add on on an undue burden on the professionals, but also too professionals come and go. So, you like to have a group that's kind of isolated, understanding the big picture. I mean, the list you mentioned, you
know, I'm sure. So, and then it keeps all the I hate to say the speck room deals or whatever out of the out of the frame. Just my opinion. >> That's all right. So, where do we want to go
from? I I would think we continue to work on on getting to a point where you improving the uh what you put forward first as kind of a back work with Alex and uh Matt Lar and come up with a framework that looks something that they
can work with as well. >> Right. So one's moving along. So maybe we can set an objective that by the next meeting we all review this. >> Sure. add our input, have the professionals add their input, then we'll review that and then hopefully
we'll have something where we can decide on specific elements and get it turned into >> Yeah, next up, temporary sidewalk regulations. Um, so this actually stems from a
conversation that um deputy mayor and I were having. Um I had had a number of residents complain about lack of sidewalk in front of the NES property. Uh I know you know last year we had an issue in front of the Silverman
property. Um, so the idea was instead of having the planning board have to put provisions in for either keeping the sidewalk open or providing temporary sidewalk and having to do that as part of every single um, you application that comes before
them. We just have an ordinance that says if you're going to be disrupting or building, you either have to keep the sidewalk open. Uh maybe there's certain hours when you let trucks in and out or you have to provide a temporary sidewalk. That way uh anyone that's
going to be, you know, doing any development in town knows up front what the requirements are. It'll just help uh make sure we have consistency of those projects. >> I think that's a good idea. I I was going to go even a little further. We
have developer agreements that we use every time that seem to be a I'll call it a nuisance to negotiate. Um, and most of those terms look pretty generic to me. So, I love to see that put in an ordinance that says
sidewalks are kept open. Um, and and you're going to do these other, you know, 10 or 20 things. uh in which and then that saves a lot of I think saves a lot of headache potentially having to you know come up with a developers agreement you know I I know that seems
to take months and months and months you know to get a developer agreement in place >> if we still have the developer agreement the developer agreement would say per the regist >> and there might be specifics to it there might be something unusual about a different projects
uniform standard. >> Little surprised we don't have a uniform standard that keeps cons keep it consistent and uh uh provides a uh I mean every contract I've ever that we use is there's a consistent underlying you know theme of what what's what you
can do or not do. So every project has a different sidewalk regulation um >> potentially >> potentially. Yeah. So, um, you know, I just don't know if it's should be done at the TC level or just have it done at
the planning board and let them bring it to us. >> What I think we might want to do is uh give the idea to topology, have them come up with uh some language, then let's have the planning board take a
look at that. Uh, and then it can come back to us. >> All right. Next up, storm water regulations, special area standards, uh, RSIS projects. So, um, last year we
revised our storm water ordinances, uh, so that we doubled the amount of detention required. Um, but that could only apply to certain projects. Uh, residential projects are governed under a different statute. And the idea here
is to look at what we can do ordinance-wise to make those more stringent. Uh because flooding is a big problem and you know there's a lot of a lot of tear downs and rebuilds and if we can make sure that
you know everyone everyone that's doing the new project is doing their part to try and you know retain as much of that storm water as possible that's just going to benefit everyone. Uh so I think the idea here was for us to have you know topology and then perhaps we need
uh legal uh council as well. I definitely need legal counsel to figure out what we can do under New Jersey law to help strengthen these guidelines. >> It's a I mean I I can think of at least three cases where somebody built uh you
know built it was a tear down. They built something and then all of a sudden their neighbors started flooding and they never flooded before and so it happened. So to the extent that we can toughen up those standards that would be, you know, would be totally support that.
>> Yeah, I totally agree. >> All right. Consensus. Um, so uh Donald, we work with >> Yep. >> get working together. See what can be done.
>> And um I uh will also utilize our new environmental attorney as well as potentially an uh you know somebody that deals with storm water whether it's planning engineer um >> uh >> yeah or even the conflict >> I would say
>> the conflict engineer yeah >> they have a lot of storm water >> okay experience I would actually >> reach out to them Great. >> All right. Um, that is the end of business.
So, we will move on to final public comment period. This public comment period is to allow for final comments from the community. When invited to speak, offer your comments. Please come to the lectern. Clearly state your name, whether you're a Melbourne resident and a property or business owner. Please do
not provide your full address seeing where meetings are recorded and readily available to the public. A reminder that in order to help facilitate the quarterly meeting and permit all to be heard, speakers shall limit their comments to one minute session. >> Leah Cruz, Short Hills resident. Um, I
agree with uh what Poro Corge said earlier so eloquently and I'm glad you all seem to be on board with the long-term strategic plan committee. Um, it's been frustrating over the years to watch as some of you um were um pursuing
some projects like I remember Tara Pupus with the um wanting to make Essex Street two ways which I thought was interesting and maybe it should be pursued. and then as soon as she was um voted out, you know, where what happened to that, you
know, so it it's a little frustrating. Um so it would be nice to have some consensus so that um you know, moving forward. It's not like, oh well, what happened to that? What happened to that? Oh, well, he got voted out now this one's here and they want this pet
project. So I think it's a a great goal and I wholeheartedly support it. So thank you. Um Jeffrey Phil in the poet section based on your comments were some input I have some comments based on public notices that part published in the star
ledger um I think public should understand that on March 1st there's an expansive need of that notices will be post on a public website part of the town and I I think people should understand that uh as to your civil rights violation resolution, you did
adopt one on last meeting, but it was not did not match the proposed model template by u Jeffurers and I think you need to also consider whether you need to update the civil rights form that's
on the website to reflect that what changes it are. Um, also Senator Stack, who's I think the mayor of West New York. I might be wrong there. Um, I think he's proposing inspector general for his township because there's been
certain issues that have arisen. It's like a conflict of interest, special conflict of interest that they could be looking at. And I think that's something that we should be considering with what's happened over the years. Um, also Carney um wants to limit the number of virtual
meetings that elect officials can attend. That's something that they limit to only one because I know there are some boards where some members have never attended in person. They only attend virtually. Again, I propose a litigation library. I've raised that
because around 5:30 this evening, there was a public notice of of the judge deciding in the federal district court not to grant the temporary restraining um order in the coalition round coalition. I think the public should read what his reasoning was. Um as an
issue, I've been appointed to the CEDA committee. They meet every quarterly. I don't know when they're going to meet for their reorganization meeting. Um, also we have an extraordinary expense this year. We are having a special primary and we're having a special
election and I think the public should understand what that additional cost is that nothing been imposed upon us what we had to confront and also I hope you consider maybe a proclamation from Governor Cody. Um, I have a long time history with him. Goes back to the
Bardell Cooper versus Thomas Giblin to fight about who would be the executive director um, first commissioner. Goes back to September 2007 when he forced Limbs Hacket to resign from the assembly on a napkin at a diner in October 22nd,
2022 when he sp stood up here. They told this community that it was the law that we know the terms of the final July 30th 2021 round three uh declaratory judgement center before uh you approved it and and
I think we should recognize what he's done for mental health and also based on conversation. One second. >> No, Mr. Bel, I'm sorry. We have to >> Can I tell everyone have chocolate ice cream because that's what's his favorite flavor. >> Thank you, Mr. Bel. remember the sweetness of his life.
>> Pastor now, president, I just wanted to say that I think the progress on the committee volunteer process is like light years better than it's ever been. And I think you should give yourselves a pat on the back for um being so transparent in the selection process and
encouraging our residents uh to step forward to do the work on these committees to advance things for the good of the township for our residents and property owners. So uh replacement of people on committees or how chairs are selected are just refinements of a really much improved process. So I
commend you all on that. Um and I also commend the mayor and the state of the township. I think it's a welcome summary for our residents and I hope it becomes uh a regular feature for our mayors. I think it's really helpful. Um I also want to add my appreciation for the
progress on this long-term planning proposal. Uh the possibility of forming this committee. The ingredients have been there for a long time. They're a solid foundation to work with the master plan, the downtown visions and so forth. Uh but out of this committee, there
could be metrics and criteria um suggested by this committee to evaluate long-term projects that come before you. And um it gives the elected officials some parameters to consider when acting on long-term spending and infrastructure projects. Um it's also a good way for
newly elected people to come to know what's been discussed and uh put forward by past uh even present current u members. And I also think um you know just hearkening back to my time on the school board, I remember proposing strategic planning back in 2011 when I
served on the BOE. Took a couple years before it came to being, but now I think it's on its third iteration or something. And I think as Jamie pointed out, it actually does results in some really solid good things for the town. So I really um think it's unequivocally
a great opportunity to leverage our very talented people sitting up here as well as out there. And thank you for being unanimous in supporting us. >> Again, Richard Cyber, my resident. Um, last time I was here,
Mayor Sakamande became the mayor. I said, "You guys are a good team. and I approved it. I believe you are a good team. I totally believe in a strategic committee because it's always good to have extra sets of
eyes, especially a political ones to look at things because the reason Frank and Ben are sitting up there is because Maggie Miggins with the direction of Buzzac made a beautiful decision for the town
back then. I I don't want to sour anything, but it's good to have extra eyes on things because everybody has different perspectives. They come from different fields, and you'd be surprised how good ideas come from some people
that you would never expect. So, we're all here for the same reason, to have our town be the best. And we have a lot of good people in this town that would step up and be part of
strategic committee to look over future projects. Okay. >> Hi. Uh my name is uh Rob Freriedman, resident of the um uh I guess I call section but the call mountain top
section short hills. And I just want to echo this gentleman's comments and mayor Sacramento's um um prologues and comments regarding the uh the strate strategic
planning and operating board. I think it would be tremendous for the town. Um, to me, this board would be about innovation, how to innovate, how to make things better, how to make the town more
responsive to his residents and also the commercial community. And we need both those constituents as strong as possible. This town has a global reputation for excellence, academic excellence, for
aspiration, for quality of life. And this board in my opinion would augment the continuation and hopefully to continue that that um excellent reputation. And I want to particularly
commend Mayor Sacramento and team. I think I am very encouraged by this cohort. Um I personally have a gazillion projects, business projects, etc. going on. Um but because I'm so inspired by
this group spearheaded by Mayor Sakamandi, um I would love to participate in in getting this town even better than than the way it is now. And I'm sure that there'd be other residents who would love to give their input but
don't have the time or inclination to run for elective office. So again, from different perspectives, I think this would be a tremendous, tremendous idea. Thank you. Orland, our resident for two years. And
I would just like to reiterate that Mayor uh tonight you have run an incredibly professional meeting and I just say could not give you 100 an A+ today and
that's important. Uh secondly, we talk about sidewalks. Uh be uh it's really nice to be on the sidewalks, but if you get killed crossing the street under you, you don't get to the sidewalk and that is a real problem because the there are problems by this any area and I
think you people might have noticed that. Uh there are lots of illegal turns and that's part of the uh construction vehicles coming in and making illegal turns quickly. I don't know if you've seen it, but I see it quite often. Uh,
and that's not good. Eventually, someone could get hurt like dead and that's really bad. That's happened in other areas where they've had construction uh in other towns in Montclair. They've had problems in Caldwell and other areas
where people have been hurt. So, I believe that we should take a look at that seriously. I can see that when I walk down the up and down the streets of Milbour of Milbour Milurn Avenue. That's just a suggestion. Thank you very much.
And you've run a very professional meeting and you are able to think on your feet while you're sitting down which is at Louis. Thank you very much. Have a good evening. >> Yes. Thank you president for last five years.
I would like to thank the township committee for organizing this meetings. It's very refreshing to see all of you discuss these ideas and bring forth in front of the township residents as well as broadcasting it. Uh in terms of the
flood mitigation, I do live uh on the old short hills road. So we do have like lot of water especially during the spring talk that flows over to our property. So when I tried to contact the office prior to that it asked me to
refer to the SX county. So it would be helpful whom in the township office would be responsible because it's on county road. And uh in terms of the second aspects related to the subcommittee for the township council,
it's always good to have a road map of a fiveyear plan and a 10-year plan and what our strategic vision would be because we see that the township is undergoing lot of changes that have been made by the previous uh personnels who had been there and this has led to
almost like ad hoc development activities that has taken place without much input from the residents. So I would like to thank the mayor and the township council for organizing a strategic subcommittee for the township planning. Thank you.
>> First one is Rajasi. Hi, can you hear me? Just rejoined as a panelist. >> Great. Hi, I'm Raj Yasi. I'm uh a resident of Milbourne for the last 5 years in the upper Wyoming area. I have uh young kids who are in the school district. We love it here. Love the
school district. Love the community. getting more active. I'll be serving on the CEDA committee. So, I look forward to working with many of you going forward. Uh, just wanted to echo the support for the long-term planning committee. I think it's a great idea. Uh, just wanted to share I I actually moved to Melbourne from the neighboring
township of South Orange, South Orange and Maplewood. I guess they have a combined school district. And the main reason I moved here is because of the lack of strategic planning uh over there. uh you know they took on all kinds of spending commitments, capital improvement projects uh didn't account
for the growth in the number of students and this last year as many of you might know they really were under a lot of bud budget pressures cut 26 teaching positions. Uh I I'm just so glad I moved my kids to this district and uh I really think having a committee of technocrats
who can capture all the different factors, know how to run what if scenarios, sensitivities, that that would be really helpful to just safeguard our community, our township, and our schools. And um I I'd be happy to help. I happen to work in private equity doing strategic planning for the
portfolio companies of One Fund. So if you need my services, I'd be happy to volunteer as well. >> Thank you. And there's one more per Hello. Hi. Uh, good evening. My name is
Puja Periq. I'm a Short Hills resident. Um, firstly, I just want to begin by uh congratulating committeemen Jamie Zerudo and committeeman Michael Cohen on their election to the township committee and mayor Sakamandi and Deputy Mayor Dave Cosgrove on their appointments. I look
forward to working with all of you together uh to advance thoughtful collaborative decision-making that serves the best interests of our community. Um, also I'm speaking tonight in support of establishing this long-term strategic planning advisory board. Uh, based on a few of the
comments that I heard, it sounds like there is some support for this and interest in moving this forward. Um, so I'm happy to hear that. You know, many of the issues uh that I think our township is addressing such as infrastructure capacity, flooding, long-term capital planning, and fiscal
priorities, they're all connected and unfold over time. So you know when these issues are considered separately um or in silos as we we seem to we were doing currently um you know it becomes harder to see the full picture and anticipate how one decision is impacting another.
And so I think creating a structured um form or in this case our advisory board here I think is um a great thing to consider because they can look at the whole picture together and issues can be looked at together ahead of major decisions. And you know I think it's a
proactive step and a you know reflects uh best practices in municipal governance. It'll give people an opportunity to have more opportunities for structured um engagement with our civic process and also allows you guys to have uh more, you know, diverse
perspectives and thoughts on this as you guys make your decisions and it can help facilitate and support that process for you. Um just to create more connection which I think is needed and important for us to have in our governance models.
Um, and I know um, you know, as you consider and continue the discussions regarding the structure of the committee, I'd like to recommend that I think it'd be helpful to have, um, you know, residents appointed onto the committee that have some practical
experience uh, interacting with the township operations because I think that they can bring some lived experience um, which with those insights can help facilitate and the work of the advisory board and and have some strong starting points. Um and you know they know what
areas may need some help, what what's working, what's not working and they can also leverage where you know we have some strong um processes in place that could be used to also help other areas where we may may have some gaps. So all in all I think that it's a great idea
and if the township does move forward I would be glad to volunteer my time to support the effort. Thank you so much and I hope you all have a good evening. Stay warm. That's it. >> All right. Anyone in the audience? Last chance.
>> All right. Uh, in that case, do I have a motion to affirm the meeting? >> I'm sorry. to respond to any comments. >> I just find it refreshing that everybody's coming out and and putting forth their ideas. And as uh Mr. Freeman
said, uh, you know, we want to innovate. Just because our neighboring towns don't do it doesn't mean we're not going to do it. We lead by example. We have the best and brightest people in this community. We will put, you know, we will be the shining example of what to do. You know,
my guiding principle to why I ran is because that wasn't being followed. We, you know, and I go into letters from former mayors and talk about inside deals and this and that. I mean, forced to hire certain firms. I don't want to bring any of that negativity to this
day. It's what we're doing here is building a solid foundation to move it forward. U the gentleman on the on the call, it's actually a neighbor. Might haven't met him yet. Raj Rajasi. Yeah, Raj, if you're still watching,
give me a call. I'd love to catch up, grab a coffee, go for a run, whatever we want to do. I'm right there on Upper Wyoming as well. But this is what makes this community so special. We have people from everywhere with different skill sets and how we combine them and
make it positive for the future generations versus some I could use an expletive here, but I won't. some, you know, BS type of partisan, etc., etc. So, let's just keep doing the good work. I appreciate
everybody coming out. Thank you. >> Yeah, it certainly is encouraging to see the the support for more. We've talked about it for a long time. I I think this is a good start. You know, we'll flesh it out some more, but clearly, you know,
there's a ground swell of support for it. Uh nothing further in the end, but I agree. >> Yeah, I would say uh wow uh thank you for all the engagement uh we're seeing from around the community. um you know
uh I think it's something that's got to be done and I think um you know the idea that it's isolated you know just what just came to mind to me was Madison I think has a CEO council of some sort um and you know we have CEOs in this community right uh we also have CFOs we
also have chief marketers we have chief innovators astronomers you know anything you could think of the best artists so I think putting together um uh best politicians the best kind of groups and synthesizing um I think is really
important. So um I I love the encouragement and I think one thing to sort of really point out and I think we can all agree on is um what something Miss uh Cruz had mentioned is you know we we're not looking for pet projects and we're not looking for distractions. This is these this is a way to um you
know keep things on the agenda, keep things in focus. You know we're not just studying things. We're not just looking at things to do it just to look at it. We're not having meetings to have meetings, but really keeping us to task, keeping us to agenda because that's where things get uh to Mr. Cohen's book,
shelled, right? Because it's just put out there, you know, as a PR piece. So, um I'm very encouraged. I would like to see us move move on this. Um I just wanted to ask um Mr. McDonald uh with regard to
um the illegal terms um and construction vehicles if we could just take a look at that. Um you know at at in particular the NES says project um I think Mr. Carlin had referred to that. I don't know if we're familiar with um ex entrances and exits um but obviously the
sidewalks um we could take a look at that. Um and then also flooding on county roads. Um so what runoff from a county road like old short hills? Um you know what do the uh what does a resident do? They contact the town or they contact the county.
>> Well I think yeah you just have a conversation with me after the meeting and we'll see what the story is. I don't I don't have enough information to really be able to direct either situation one way or the other. >> Okay. Thank you and just great meeting. I would just add then I think uh look
forward just further great meetings. >> Well, thank you all for coming out for your remarks. It's uh really refreshing uh to have one come speak in support of something that's uh certainly be nice for a change.
Motion to >> say.