wor there's no chocolate tonight I'm not sure what you're doing here said there's no chocolate tonight I'm not sure what you're doing you we you both you just you all right anything exciting going on I signed up for my Meer oh
good although e e e e e e e e
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e e e e e e e good evening I'd like to call the February 24th 2025 burough council meeting to order will the clerk please
read the open public meeting statement adequate notice of this meeting has been provided as required under chapter 231 Public Law 1975 specifying the time date and location by posting a copy of the notice on the municipal building Municipal website providing a copy of the annual notice to the official newspapers of the
bur and is on file in the clerk's office will the clerk please call the role council president Zam Brana here councilman Collins councilman moo here councilwoman Pay Here councilman pansy here councilman Potter here mayor Murray pres Peter burrow Attorney Peter venol
president burrow engineer Mike mclen president B engineer L Panka president B admin oh not here bur clerk Monica Orlando present okay will everyone please stand for a moment of silence which will be followed by slop the flag IED to the flag of the United
States of America the repic for stands Nation God indivisible with liy and justice for all [Music] now is the time for public comment limited to the resolutions on on the agenda only if you wish to speak please
step up to the microphone state your name and address for the record again this is the public portion is limited to the comments on the resolutions listed on the agenda at this time there'll be a 5-minute time limit set forth by the rules of council if someone raises their hand please come up to their microphone
and state your name for the record Charles arinc 322 South Main Street um the approving placeo Place liquor license transfer um are we making more or issuing more uh liquor licenses or is this for
existing um Li licenses would you like me to answer that you the clerk has the information on okay so by State Statute we can't issue any more this is a transfer a place to place transfer it says in their extension of premises the uh owner is
just making the space a little bit bigger so when you do that you do have to apply for a place topl transfer okay thank you um with resolution 20251 123 establishing subcommittee for bur maintenance development use of randomman Homestead
I'm I'm glad this is on here um that that definitely needs to be done um and Preserve um I am curious where the subcommittee to assist the buau in the maintenance development and use of the firehouses is
because um the mayor brought that up at a previous uh meeting along with this one and I I was interested in doing that one but it's not on here I was just wondering if there's going to be a subcommittee for that we're still discussing that whether that needs to be a subcommittee or not okay all right
because I I did have a petition with 1,500 89 signatures uh signaling that that they the firehouses should be saved and preserved so I I can print that print that out again so digitally what can you send it
digitally I'm sure I can yeah yep so thank you D all right thank you seeing no further comments I'll close public comment portion of the meeting we have a couple of ordinances to
introduce this is uh ordinance introduction first reading this is a introduction of ordinance 25556 to be no public input on this ordinance tonight this is uh introductory summary will be published as required by law and a second reading
public hearing and final adoption would be cons considered on March 10th 2025 full copies of the ordinance will be posted on the burrow website on the bulletin board at the municipal building and available at no cost in the office
of the municipal clerk between the hours of 8:30 and 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday will the clerk please read ordinance 25556 by title ordinance to amend chapter 4 General licensing and business regulation section 4-38 records of the
revised General ordinances of the borrow of Town subsection 4- 38.2 Service rates may I have a motion in a second to adopt ordinance 25556 please so moved
second I have a motion made by councilman Potter seconded by councilman council president zbr um is there any comments yes Mr Mayor uh is this uh who put this forward is it public safety or is it yeah uh CS
this was a request at the end of last year from Public Safety um the chief uh worked with your Public Safety Committee regarding it and then sent it over to me uh to take a look at the uh I guess the fees charged by Sanic communities and it is consistent and frankly the rates
haven't been increased in a number of years so this will allow your uh towing companies to get a number that's that's fair given the fact that everything else in the world has gone up in cost okay I was just wondered you know if this is in line with insurance payments too so that the people don't get I don't know if
that counts or not so they don't get stuck for I don't know that anybody did that analysis they did an analysis of but it's in line with the other towns I whether it was consistent with the market thanks thanks Peter you got it all right seeing no more will the clerk please call the RO council
president Zam Brana hi councilman Collins hi councilman M hi councilwoman Payne I councilman P nany councilman Potter I uh this is an introduction to ordinance
25557 there will be no public input on this ordinance tonight this is an introduction summary and will be published as required by law in a uh second reading public hearing and final adoption will be considered on March 10th 2025 full copies of the ordinance
will be posted in the B website the uh on the board bulletin board at the municipal building and available at no cost in the clerk's uh in the office of the municipal clerk between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Monday through
Friday will the clerk please read ordinance 25557 by title ordinance amending chapter 7 traffic section 7-20 stop intersections to install stop signs on paron Avenue as intersection with North Brook Drive as intersection with Carney
carne carne may I have a motion a second to adopt or orance 25557 please so moved second second I have a motion made by uh councilman Collins seconded by uh
councilman panski uh is there any comments yes uh Peter um I don't believe this came from the Public Safety Committee can you uh let us know how this came about so it did not come from the Public Safety Committee this was actually if I can hand it off to Mr Panka it came uh from
his office uh I believe after some interaction with the NJ do yeah so as you know northb dve is being done with a grant through the do local aid program as a um requirement of that funding all the traffic control devices need to be
supported by ordinance so we found that these two intersections the stop control was not supported by ordinance so this would formalize that excellent thank you so seeing no more will the clerk please call the role council president Brana I
councilman con councilman moo I councilwoman Payne I councilman posnanski I councilman Potter I authorizing payment of Municipal obligations next on the agenda we have authorizing payment of Municipal obligations will the clerk please read
resolution 2025 1113 by title yes I just want to also say for those two ordinances the public hearing and final adoption will be held on March 10th 2025 meeting res resolution 20251 13 authorizing the payment of bills claims and statements against the burough of
miltown in the total amount of 3,333 1846 38 you have heard the reading in this resolution are there any questions yes um I'm going to address them to uh council president um one thing I see uh as far
as um the attorney's fees they they seem a little high this month I wonder if you can explain I see over $30,000 in attorneys fees so lots of these attorney fees or have to do with uh Personnel related matters and because of the privacy of that I'm not going to get into personel related matters in an open
public meeting okay all right um and other questions only because I I don't know and I I need to ask I see green um it's 25- 00277 green space self storage for two I guess two units MH uh 9,454 25 MH can you tell me what that is
that is the property over on Ryder's Lane um that from what I understand uh if I may uh Mr mclen that is going to be um actually a thing soon from what I understand yes there's a active application at the planning board was
approved some time ago they're trying to meet their conditions of approval what that's going to be is a four or five six story uh stored building six story yeah so that uh this was approved by the planning board and what they're doing is
moving through the demolition process also the constru we see those three houses those two houses between Wendy's and um the pizza place that that area right there so so six stories is that
something new here that they have to change it was approved by the plan probably two years ago okay Michael Mike um it was before that I don't think it's six stories though it may be three three and a half I was on planning board at the time so it was in it was in line
with our current ordance there's no there was no highight wordss yeah long Riders Lane okay that would be from what like where the old 71 was all the way to the corner up there by Rees uh I think it's between yeah well
it's between blueberry Drive I believe and and p&v Plaza PV Plaza yeah thank you okay thank you thanks okay may I have a motion in a second so moved second I have a motion made by
councilman Potter seconded by council president Zam bran will the clerk please call the role council president Zam BR I councilman Collins councilman Mano hi councilwoman Payne hi councilman pansky hi councilman Potter
hi a consent resolution has been prepared for Resolutions listed on the agenda all matters listed under the consent agenda are considered to be routine in nature and having been reviewed by burrow Council will be enacted on by one motion any item may be
removed from the consent agenda at the request of any council member and if so removed will be treated on as a separate matter any items requiring expenditures are supported by a certification of funds if any member of council wants any resolutions acted on individually please
give me the resolution number and I will pull it from the consent resolution yes could you pull 20 25124 I'd like to pull 2025 1
two3 would you say one two3 one two3 um i' i' like to make a statement if I can when when when I have the time after when when we do each resolution you can is that
it okay um will the clerk please read the consent agenda resolution minus 123 and 124 whereas pursuant to the rules of council the council May establish a consense agenda for any regular or special meetings upon certain conditions and whereas each of the following
resolutions to be presented before the burrow council at its February 24th 2025 meeting appear to have the unanimous approval of all members of the burrow Council 2025 1115 through 202-10 now therefore be it resolved by the burough Council of the burough of
miltown that each of the above listed resolutions be approved and adopted by the Bur council with the same legal effect as though each was read its entirety at the February 24th 2025 meeting and adopted by separate vote you have heard the reading of the consent resolution what your pleasure I
make a motion that these resolutions be adopted second I have a motion made by councilman Potter seconded by council president zbr um will a clerk please uh I'm sorry um is there any comments yes um no
that's for when we speak about the PED ones not this one consent agenda only saying none will the clerk please call the rooll council president Zam BR I councilman Collins councilman moo councilwoman pay I councilman posnanski councilman Potter
I will the clerk please read resolution 2025-the to assist the burrow and the maintenance development and use of the schwendeman homestead what's pleasure Council thanks Mike um we need a motion
in a second first discuss it move the resolution be adopted second I have a motion made by councilman Collins second by councilman Potter is there any comments uh for 2020 123 yes I'm going to start here I I have a question for
our attorney Mr vinola why is the word Homestead used in this because I'm a history person like you you are and I like to know why it's called the homestead because that's how it was positive to me when I was asked to prepare the resolution but but if I look up the
definition of Homestead uh it it it it means something quite different than what it's over there I don't know that I was really paying so much attention to what we were calling it but is there is there a special purpose for it to be called a homestead because uh every house is a home but not every home is a
homestead and that's why I'm asking that question no no it was just I believe a word that was chosen by the individual who asked me to prepare the resolution okay I don't know that it had any special meaning uh I think it was indicative of the fact that it was a
special property within the burrow okay uh I'm going to start now this is this is in relating to to the project which will uh at some points be using um taxpayer money so I'm going to start here um the water rates have jumped 90% this year which I think people are aware
of uh drastically impacting our citizens Municipal Taxes had a significant rise last year and necessarily rise again this year the electric rates will drastically rise this year we're looking for ways to lessen the pain for the future uh yet it will not not help us this year um the
Board of Education receives uh 60% of your tax dollars over $18 million nor almost $2 million in busing midtown's budget of approximately 20% covers everything else in the burough from DPW clerical staff the Police Department fire department rescue
squad needs we pay out the burough professionals expenses outstanding amounts of bills expected and unexpected we cover insurance payments pensions and emergencies as they arise we cannot fully staff most departments we can barely cover their needs lists and the
want lists do not get fulfilled we've lost over 20 High highly qualified people this year unreplaceable and this cannot continue we also have a property owner who disrespects and thumbs his nose at you miltown taxpayers he and his associ
over $6 million in taxes that are overburdening miltown you and I are paying for when you pass by the formal Miss imp plant and the rubble that is that that is left along with unabated contamination let it make you angry this is your town I just detailed for you taxpayers
and citizens why we should not be taking your tax dollars for the sake of a few small special interest groups the special interest group that matters primar here are the other 7,000 forgotten men women and children who believe they have no voice and they do have a voice thank
you any more comments no will the clerk um please call the RO council president zamb Brana I councilman Collins I councilman moo hi
councilwoman pay hi councilman posnansky no counc councilman Potter I will the clerk plead read please read resolution 2025-the the hiring of a computer it consultant vendor through the competitive Contracting
process um what's pleasure of council move the resolution be adopted second I have a motion made by councilman Collins second by councilman Potter is there any comments yes Mr Mayor I'm a little U concerned it can we
does it doesn't detail you know what this company's going to do is this the one that we got with TK was it tk1 or so um our current it vendor has been without a contract since the January
2024 um we have to go out to Bid And so this is just the bid process this is not awarding it to anybody anything like that so in order to go out to bid you have to authorize it okay uh now that we have a qpa he is prepared um the bid so once this is authorized
it'll be advertised you know our current it providers able to put in for it it's just something that as a professional service we should or we should be uh going out so there'll be more details in the later on yes when the yeah so the you know I actually just got um what the
bid looks like today I had a zoom call with the qpa earlier today uh the CFO the ba and I and the qpa to have a a little meet and greet and talk about things so he did send it over um so I can forward that to everybody um so that way you know what's going out okay
thanks Monica absolutely okay seeing no further discussion will the clerk please call the role council president Zam Brana hi councilman Collins councilman Mano hi councilwoman Payne hi councilman posnansky hi councilman Potter
hi okay reports from elected officials council president Zen Brana thank you Mr Mayor the only report I have tonight is that uh last week uh last Thursday we finished our first round of budget meetings with all the Departments uh as we head into this week uh this coming
Thursday we'll be meeting with the uh finance committee our CFO RBA uh to go through round two uh with the uh again the intention of presenting a budget at the second meeting in March and adopting a budget at the second meeting in April and that concludes my report thank you
councilman Collins uh uh I have just have the library notes Here uh February 25th drop in play at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday February 25th library book club 6 p.m. Wednesday February 26th
2 p.m. movie My Darling Clementine Thursday February 27th after school game on on at 300 p.m. Monday March 3rd adult yoga at 9:15 a.m. please register Monday March 3rd stuffed animals sleepover and
pizza party for children's K through three grade registration required grade oh sorry K children in K through three grades regist registration required Wednesday March 5th 2 p.m. movie to be
announced Thursday March 6th after school craft book Mark craft at 3 p.m. and that concludes my report Mr Mayor thank you councilman Mano um so uh with Dorian in regarding the Green Team uh and trying to set up
some perspective uh things to do for this year the green team is looking for volunteers um and their their mission statement just down in notes um they educate as well as uh practice and perform upgrades to certain places all
around town and all around the county in truth um that is pretty much the end of our report for tonight thank you C Warman pay uh thank you Mr Mayor um in my role as the liaison to
the board of vet I attended a meeting on February 12th um um on behalf of the miltown Board of Education and it was one of the district discussion series um that the superintendent um presented and
in attendance at that meeting was um Stephanie Brown also with the dean of students um the Pres principal secretary Board of Ed members as well as Community Relations Committee members um Stephanie discussed residency and enrollment um
and looked at the issues regarding establishing residency residency verification homelessness school choice and registration process um it was a lively discussion I learned a lot and I think these meetings are really really critical and crucial uh and I encourage
others to attend and to become involved in these discussions and that concludes my my report thank you Council panski sure um unfortunately I have a lot to report so don't hold your breath it's the uh first I'm going to start with the uh historic preservation report uh the
committee meeting commenced at 7:36 p.m. via Zoom Randy Ruth was elected as chair Barbara r as co-chair Liz Marquez as the secretary the committee's proposal for a timeline for Green Acres funding has not received a response from the county their proposal was sent to commissioner
Rios in November after the election we seem to be competing with the county regarding greenacre grants we're happy to report that the MHS received a grant for marketing the train project Printing and mailing cost of the pamphlet that John Wen created will be covered a grant to continue the archiving project that
the museum was also received the warp wooden panel on the museum Annex is still not repaired purchasing replacement board was discussed the committee will host or the committee actually hosted uh division of history and historic preservation for Roundtable discussion at at the senior center uh
Saturday February 8th it was from 10: to 12:30 and there will be another meeting uh March 8th from 10: a.m. to 12:30 p.m. they will also participate in history day at East Jersey Oldtown Village May 17th at uh from 10: to 4: uh it's it's a
great event if you've never been it's it's U it's very interesting the county is interested in expanding access to GSI data a service agreement proposal was sent to Monica and to Fred car the status of the proposal is unknown we continue to discuss criteria for determination of historic sites within
the burough including but not limited to the age of the structure the architectural nature of the structure and the historic significance of the structure those criteria would be an element of the preservation master plan which would allow for the creation of a list of historic sites within the buau the meeting was adjourned at 8:53 p.m.
next meeting will be this Thursday February 27th via Zoom now to the senior center uh I've been working with Debbie cudy and Ralph chowski from DPW to address the needs at the senior center such as but not limited to the new windows a shed Etc
the seniors do not ask for much other groups do but I do not want the seniors to be ignored they're very concerned about the smart meters which I have I've been studying they're also worried about the water rates the taxes and upcoming electric rates I speak to them at their monthly meetings about all these related
items as for the DPW they've been doing their uh Stellar work as usual last week another small snowfall ice conditions the men were called in early did their jobs to make miltown as safe as possible this past Saturday another water main break Ian and John doing the repairs in the hole
and Tom digging the trench they deserve the recognition I give them um also by the way some people drop off candy and cookies for the guys take this as a hint miltown we are fortunate to have these men they really do care and also thank you uh Beth for putting out the alerts
and that concludes my report thank you thank you councilman power thank you Mr mayor uh highlights and updates from the miltown recreation department we're halfway through the youth basketball season and the kids are having a great time with their friends while learning from our excellent coaches the season
will conclude on March 22nd there are a few days left to get your tickets from miltown night with the new New Jersey Devils the game is on Monday March 24th please visit Community pass to purchase tickets and contact the recreation office with any questions registration
for the winter soccer Clinic closes on Saturday March 1st this 4-we program will be at the Parkview gym spring res spring res uh res uh registrations for our adult and youth programs will begin
on Friday February 28th we B we began accepting seasonal employment applications this week with a deadline of April 1st all applicants must be 15 years old as of June 1st to work the gate guard or team counselor and 16
years old to become a lifeguard nine children have signed up for our new and thriving chess program which started on February 10th and runs until March 17th the winter musical theater program is well underway with the final performance of High School
Musical scheduled for Tuesday March 25th at Joyce Kilmer school we begun planning for the spring and the new musical theater program will be Annie classes will begin on April 22nd with the final performance on June 10th registration
will open within a week and finally we had a productive Recreation advisory committee meeting on February 20th from the planning board our next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday March 5th and from the miltown 4th of July organization join us for a d to donate
the a d to donate event at dusal's in miltown this Wednesday and Thursday a percentage of the proceeds will go toward this year's Fourth of July event and the annual celebrity bartender event is happening on Saturday March 22nd at the American Legion tickets are now
available for purchase at the following locations Bagel Express Mike's Country Market Maria's miltown convenience Kelly and Company and rescued by Lacy and Mr Mayor that concludes my report thank you reports from burrow professionals burrow
Attorney Peter venol no report tonight Mr Mayor burrow engineer CME blue or Mike yeah thank you Mr Mayor um first thing we'd like to report on is the water meter project um we had a status meeting today with the contractor um they've indicated they're
continuing to work in Billing Cycles 1 2 and six um thus far they've completed 161 meter Replacements uh 29 of which they're going through their final validation process two Replacements are incomplete
due to inoperable valve issues um 372 Replacements are currently scheduled and that leaves 276 Replacements that are yet to be scheduled um finally on that matter the
um training for the installation portal is going to be scheduled um sometime in the 1 or second week of March um jumping to the f Avenue improvements um the field survey work has been completed um and the base
mapping is being prepared based on those field surveys and as we reported last meeting once that's done we will request a meeting with committee to go over the improvements and lastly um the Green Space Project was talked about earlier
in the meeting we understand that um they're going through the uh demolition permit process in the in the burrow um the work on that is going to start with the utility disconnects for the homes and they're trying to uh schedule that this week we understand through the uh
Construction office and that's all we have tonight thank you um do you want to talk about the map um yeah we prepared a um map of the billing Cycles um I think we've forwarded that out to everyone to take a look at um we're going to share that
with the uh contractor so they can use that in guiding their um Replacements through the various Cycles um so um we do have to do a couple edits on that we want to add some street names and things to it to finish it off okay
thank you yeah Lou I just want to add I was one of the 161 residents that got my water meter replaced on Friday I have to tell you it was a great experience I got a text message the night before saying that the time that they were coming right before the person was coming I got
a text message with actually a picture of the person so I was I greeted Nick at the door showed him where it was I was in a meeting at the time and he was in and out of my house in 8 minutes uh there in house for a little bit and then they go outside of your house to put
something on meter or something on the side of your house 20 minutes they were done so I just want to tell you it was very successful I just wanted to thank you for that great to hear yeah and I like to Echo those same comments I was right before councilman Potter in my water replacement my and it was a great
experience so the messaging was like spoton and the young man was a pleasure and in and out three minutes I think yeah great yes I I'd like to say too that one of my neighbors said that was it was a good experience getting it done it wasn't any problems at all and he was
very happy with it so council president did you have a comment oh sorry uh Luke to uh the Riders Lane project at Green Space yes any idea when you know demolition is going to start and that project will start I hear July but I'm not sure about
that so the um we understand that they want to do these disconnects this Thursday oh okay um the demolition sometime in March um they're shooting for um starting as soon
as they can on the actual facility however they do have some compliance issues with their planning board approval they need to address so that's still ongoing so that's going to guide when they can start that thank you okay bar CL thank you Mr Mayor uh
I'll start by saying I'm sure a few of you are surprised to see me here after I announced my resignation at the last meeting um last week I was appointed as a part-time clerk while they can while the burough continues to search for my replacement I'm very happy to still be here serving everybody so make sure you
come and visit uh we are conducting interviews for the deputy clerk clerk one and burrow clerk position if you're interested or know anybody who might be interested in the position have them send their application and resume to miltown jobs miltown bor.com uh as far as my hours I will be working uh mostly
remote I will um have my office staffed by a secretary handling phone calls and in the window I will have office hours at least one night a week uh I plan on posting those hours on the window at the clerk's office and it'll also be in my autor response in my email uh if for
some reason those hours don't work for you you need a different day or a different time email me and I will do my best to accommodate everybody uh so they can get what they need done let's see what else here uh we had our blood drive on February 11th it was
a great success a steady flow of people in all day so thank you to everybody who came in donated we really appreciate it as of today we have licensed 281 dogs and seven cats as a reminder you must license your animal annually by January 31st starting February 1st there's a $5
late fee and the first of every month there's another $5 added on so if you come to me or to my office after March 1st then you will be paying a $10 Le fe uh election day uh starting uh preparation for that the primary
election is Tuesday June 10th this year so a couple deadlines for you to know March 24th at 400 p.m. is the deadline for you to file a petition to be on the on the primary April 16th is the deadline for voters to file a change of
party affiliation May 20th is the deadline to register to vote if you've never registered before June 3rd is the deadline to apply for a mailing ballot if you're not able to be here uh the day of the election ction you can apply for a mail and ballot all these forms are available here at Burrow Hall on the
wall across from my office they're also available online on the Bor website Clerk's page election early voting will be held June 6th through June 8th we don't have a location here um but if you go to the clerk my Clerk's page I list all the locations you can vote anywhere
within middle sex County early voting and as I said before Tuesday June 10th is the primary election voting will be from 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. and that concludes my support thank you uh does any member of council have any old business to bring before
Council no um I just had one I I just uh Mr arinc brought up a a point about the uh Firehouse subcommittee so I just wanted to have just brief conversation about that so uh I did request that Mr
Veno um create the resolution because just the need of figuring a direction of where the two firehouses are going um and I just was curious if any council member had any comments as to why we couldn't
move that forward um because this is something that's been stagnant for quite some time now and we just I was trying to get some movement on it just to figure out what what we can to do with those two firehouses so um just a comment that's
all um like to close Old business does any member of council have any new business to bring forth Council no um I had actually I had one quick one I had
emailed uh couple of proposals out one from the primary engineer CME one from the secondary engineer h2m about the uh Southbrook Drive flooding uh just hopefully we can get some
movement on that because that's been flooding for quite some time um number of years uh just so those residents can uh see some um alleviation from the flood every time we get some rain so
just hopefully that will um start moving forward soon uh I would like to close old uh new business uh open to public the public comment portion of our meeting is to allow the public to bring to the
council's attention or concerns or comments the council will respect the Public's Time by refraining from any comment until the speaker has finished it should be further noted that this that the public comment portion of our meeting is not structured as a question
and answer session please state your name and address for the record when you come to the podium just as a reminder under the rules of council individuals wishing to speak during the public input portion of the meeting is limited to 5 minute five minutes and may after other
speakers have finished may be allowed to speak for a second five minute period does anybody have any I know there's a lot of concerns with the uh prices of our uh Water and Electric going up name and name and address I'm sorry Charles Ren 322 South
Main Street I know there's a uh a lot of uh worry about the prices of our um uh utilities I just want to let you know that uh my wife applied for some help through the state um it's not necessarily available to everybody it's it's more um uh low income help uh one
of the websites to go to was www.yelp.com shares NJ s.org um and they can help with uh people who might need help with uh paying their utilities my wife and I got
uh 200 to go towards our electric and 400 to go to our water and sewer um I think that's annually so I don't know if it's all taken off in one bill or if they spread it out but it's a a program worth uh worth looking into for those who might need help so thanks all I have
thank you I'm sorry one more thing March 8th I hope everybody likes spaghetti because at the American Legion Boy Scout Troop 33 will be having their annual spaghetti dinner so please come on out and support the Boy Scouts thank you Steve nowicki 83 1 Street uh I was
here in November and I'm confused about the water bill because when I went to that meeting I heard that it was going to be a one time 90% or
$150 one shot deal and that the rates would have to be settled upon before the end of the year for the new rates to take
effect so is this % this is something that we're going to live with now it's done if I may uh so I'm on the one of utility so I'm a little uh but we all are so the intention was when that was
first uh brought on was to close a gap that was created in that earlier now there was a presentation of a new water rate that didn't pass in roughly September I'll say and with with
that that other Bill continued when it did pass uh finally in the new watery was created in December and passed uh it basically just the way the town is built it starts in the next billing term so
the new rates that were passed in December will start on April April 1st I believe April 4th one of those days uh because it is you're basically you're still in the billing cycle when it passed in December that billing cycle
was still in process and then the continuing of uh the rest of the town that is still in that billing cycle till that billing cycle closes so that's why it but it will be it will be adjusted to the new rate that was passed in December
which is less than what that is we we were told in the meeting last week that there'll be two more billing Cycles at the $150 range and then it will drop off and that'll and that will be it satisfied for now so by April yes your new billing will kick in
April 4th as I was told it it was for consumption as of January 1st so the new rates went into effect on January 1st but it's for consumption as of January 1st because you Bill for consumption so you one quarter of of the bur was build
um uh I guess each month so it's January February March is the consumption will start in April so April 1 billing will be when that new rate goes in okay and that's not how it was explained to us yeah that is well the I mean as I have
it directly from directly from from theart from the billing department we build the town in quarterly Cycles after the entire town has been built for the second quarter the new rates will take effect so the building for the new rates will commence on April
1st so because some people I guess um were was still in that quarter because it's not all done in one shot so all that building has to catch up so if they started to get buildt in December that January 1st of the new
rate that doesn't apply to them that is correct your new rate will be starting in April that's kind of confusing no it starts January 1 but you get bu for it in April yes your first bill under the new rate will be
April 1st so the bill the bill that you just saw is still last is is for consumption prior to January 1 okay so whatever in December was that old rate but then from January 1st to when you get your bill so there going to be put
that consumption will be built at the new rate which starts getting buil out in April and then all the tiers have been lowered that much I don't know I just know the bilding that's there um I don't have it in front of me but there was a change to the tiers and there definitely was a uh on the first
tier that was reduced back down simar 7500 I think to 5500 correct that does sound okay yes that's the only one I know about I don't know what the next one is I I mean if you if you have an email address I can get you a copy of it just
so you know I don't have it in front of me tonight the ordinance is that what you're looking for well I guess the entire the structure of yeah the ordinance and the a cop if you want to wait after the meeting I can get you a copy okay I can pick it up tomorrow yeah that's
fine I guess that's it all right thanks thank you hi my name is Alicia Tomkins my address is 42 Reva AV so I did some research online and I saw that um New Brunswick they went up on some things and I'm thinking perhaps this is why our
water rates R up $450 $450,000 allocated for water and sore $800,000 put aside for other water expenses out of that capital outlayer of
$50,000 with no clear expl explanation of where is the $50,000 going to in regards of the water issue here in miltown we are getting notices constantly that we need to boil our water some of those notices came late so my question to the council is out of all
this money that we are now putting forth towards New Brunswick again $450,000 another $800,000 and out of that only 50,000 put aside for miltown to use for some seemingly mysterious uses does article
2025 1221 speak to what is miltown going to do about the water issue and where is the $50,000 going to be used to fix the water issue here in miltown excuse me ma'am you said 2025 d121 yes that that's just a temporary
that's just a temporary budget hold it's a placeholder so we have to keep doing that as a temporary until we we adopt and uh until we submit and adopt a budget in 2025 which again is probably going to be submitted presented second second uh
meeting in March uh which is the 24th and then going to be adopted second meeting in April you won't see appropriations of any kind there unless as you get further down in the year you have transfers so something that you may have budgeted higher you'll need some money in another account and you'll
you'll transfer that that's what that resolution is about nothing to do with water and seur okay okay and to my other part as far as the $50,000 roughly that has been put aside as a looks like a capital outlayer for miltown will any of
that money or the money that we are extra money that new Browns is asking for going to be put aside to remedy the or at least start to remedy the issue with the water uh issue here in miltown the 50,000 where you where where you getting that from yeah so there's a
uh reports and articles put out by New Brunswick of about money that has been about their increases and the roughly amounts of what basically their increases were and based off of those reports it was roughly about 450,000 for water and sore 800,000 for
just um water and again it looks like miltown was given at least set aside for Capital out layers about 50,000 so again just looking about what is at least being done because we're talk about a little little bit over like a million dollars here but are you talking
about New Brunswick's utilities budget yes yeah yeah okay so that that's that's New Brun utilities budget that's not miltown but we get water we get our water from them and we we pay them money to get water from them so that $50,000 could be something that they need to do
in order to supply miltown with water under their agreement with the bur that so that milt's budget for water and sore is its own separate budget and so then I guess the question is my last question I don't want to take up too much time sure no no problem I just want to make sure we all where is then the
money that we're pumping out going as far as remedying where's the where's a little bit of transparency of the increase in the bills that we were paying going towards to at least start to remedy this issue I don't is this supposed to be something that is something that miltown is supposed to
live with constantly increased bills and the letters coming to mail about boiling or water so just what is miltown doing about that as far as we're giving the money where is the expectation on the other end to start to start working on these issues well what I what I think was a good start last year right is when
we finally pass the water and sewer rates the the new rates is that we put into the ordinance which had never been in the ordinance before that you must always look at what New Brunswick Water and Sewer is charging you and you make the determination there to raise the rates whatever you need it to be one 1%
2% 3% whatever it is hopefully 0% you know um but that's how you remedy that going forward okay um we pay new Bron for water for water and for sewer we we we already know that um we have an outflow of water that we're paying for
that isn't metered whether it's the pool whether it's infrastructure that's that's decaying and broken um we're charged for sewer on what we on what our water is fair not fair that's what the agreement is so I would think that moving forward
um you're never going to get hit with that sort of um minimum again that that the the minimums that were raised back in June um because we're going to be taking a look that every year before we pass the budget as opposed to to just passing the budget and then having to hit everybody for like 25 or 30% a year
or two later so okay all right thank you so much hello um a lot of my questions were answered name and address please previously I'm sorry charl Christensen 52 reev Avenue thank you
thank you um the only thing that I have left on here basically is a lot of times I get a smell like rotten eggs I have talked to a few people that have had the same problem and they tell
me there's a problem with the pump station with the filtering system is this something that's that's being worked on or isn't it a problem I mean this is hearsay so I don't know what I'd like to say is that pump station Works a hell of a lot and
um it is repaired maintained repaired maintained it's an old pumping system um so to do like what we do with the electric eventually replace it right um you know um for those Folks at home who don't understand that the our sewer line is about 105 years old and probably
needs to be replaced sooner rather than later um you know that will happen uh with some help from the county the state the federal government um we sort of like on track to get something a couple years ago and that that fell apart well
I've been here 35 years I've never had this problem yeah yeah so I wasn't sure what was going on uh one other um is New Brunswick water and middlex water one and the same no no they're separate separate companies and do we take bids
when we you know when we go out for bid for water I mean do we take bids or anything like that we've had a historical uh agreement with new brunic for the longest um should we um accept bids and go with another water uh
provider going forward it's been discussed uh it's also been discussed whether we should sell the entire system um I think that's all those are all great questions um the problem is and again maybe folks here don't know is that the water utility has a debt load
of about $20 million so if you're going to sell the water and the utility um Services make sure you get more than $20 million wow you can't sell it for 15 CU then 5 million is going to be taken care of by somebody else I know that East
Brunswick has middle sex water MH and their sewer is $80 mhm and their their water is $583 cents for a thousand so it seemed like a lot cheaper to me y yep but I
didn't know what was involved as far as comp you know changing I don't know what I've never been involved in that so I had no idea but it just seemed to me that they were so much cheaper why aren't we taking bids and doing
something like that but something that can happen move forward moving forward not not out of the question but it's got it's got to be something to looked at and um on the other hand that's about it um one thing I have a two family home okay
and now for years we've had two meters I finally applied for a permit to have one meter removed and just use one meter for the house there's two people in the house the last two two quarters we paid over $600 for our water and
sewer so now I'm having one meter taken out we're just going to split it but I didn't know you could do that previously so I didn't know you could do that either I got my permit make sure you talk to your tax
assessor too well why what would that have to do with it one to two two family if you're going from one family to uh two family to one you may want to talk to your tax assessor you're not paying on it okay I shall do that thank you for
putting up with me anyone else can I ask M make a question see me this lady said do we don't have a inline filter in Elkin's Lane do we there are no filters at Elkin Lane no okay so there is no break between us and
New Brunswick we just whatever they whatever they put in we get out that's right okay Kevin hall7 Washington M can you just say that to the microphone sorry Kevin Hall 157 Washington F so is it my
understanding that the two bills that I previously paid to two quarters upwards of 600 some OD the minimum payment is 600 plus which is ridiculous now the bill is going to be lowered yep now when we talked in
November which I was here for they said it was going to be a one-time payment for that last quarter now how do I get two bills out of that am I not hearing it right or understanding correctly well in November the the new
water rates weren't passed yet the new water rates weren't passed until the second meeting in December which I think it was like the 23rd of December December I received a bill for $319 which was the minimum yes and feu depends depends on where you are what cycle you're in so what I want to say is
everyone should get two bills not three only two because the way you catch up around you're talking about two bills two big bills with this new rate with the higher minimums the so if you've gotten two you should be fine because then your next bill wherever you are in
the cycle M will be the new rates that go into effect April 1st all right now how much of the difference is the new rate in comparison to this I couldn't tell you that off the top of my head but lower much lower much lower yeah we talking 100% 50% no no not 100% no
obviously not no I wish I wish but not but you've run the numbers before so you have looked at them I we all ran the numbers last year and that's why it took so long to come to an agreement I wasn't a fan of breathing minimums I understood that we had a fill a budget Gap well now that I hear you have a $20 million
deficit in the water department kind of adds up it's debt it's not deficit it's debt oh excuse me well that's all I have thank you would you like a copy of the ordinance also tonight was that would you like a copy of the ordinance with the rates on okay Rosa Taris 100 Reva Avenue so I'd
like to just clarify it's a $20 million debt not deficit debt debt so what's okay so how did we get to that many many years of so I mean what is the debt con consist of is it property that
we own is it again just just debt that's been built up over the last 35 40 years um this didn't happen like five years ago this is this is going back 35 40 years ago so um there's always been discussions about selling the water in the sewer utility I would imagine that
that's I think something that makes it difficult to sell who wants to take on 20 million it's not it's not even that it's a difficult thing to do if you're going to do it right um just make sure that whatever debt you have gets cleared because if again if
you have $20 million of debt and you only get $15 million for that debt 5 million's got to come from somewhere guess who those guess where that 5 million is coming from us right and then and then you don't own the utility anymore but you still have to pay that you'll be you'll be great for like a year or two and then the rates will go
up um so there's a there's a pro and a con there's there's a a good reason to do it there's not a good reason to do it one you're not going to have any control over it right anybody that works in this B on the Water and Sewer utility probably won't have a job on the plus side is any of the infrastructure
projects that need to be taken care of you know within the next seven years right by you know the EP on the state that says you got to replace your water lining your main you do this all that they could probably take care of that they'll charge you for it down the road at some point but they could
probably take care of that yes so I don't want to speak for anyone here but I know my frustration and perhaps a lot of people's frustration is not just the increase in the water rates but also the quality of
water that's another issue but so I think we can safely expect that our water bills will go up at least 3% every year because that's what uh New Brunswick is going to increase our rates by right so the
question then becomes okay you know inflation is here to stay we see it everywhere when we go to the grocery store it's there okay so we're going to get hit with it in water and sore as well but if our bill next year increases by 15% or 20% Then the question
becomes what are we the residents paying for other than the increase in the water rates right because when this whole debate started to happen a lot of the things I heard here was salaries have gone up rightfully so um health benefits
for employees have gone up rightfully so so I think the bigger question is if we the residents are willing to pay for the increase in the rates because that's what you guys are all being charged what is the town doing about the
additional 10 or 15% like are there Cuts being made are there other ways of getting funds so that those increases of 10 15% don't all rest on the backs of the residents I mean I think it's fair
you know we're burdened with taxes with water increase uh water rate increases so I mean that would be something that I would ask for the council to look at is sort of you know as this time goes on until the next year next year we're going to have another 3% increase at at
least that's the minimum okay but if it becomes a 10 a 15% increase why because then that means that there aren't other sources of income coming in and then why cuz then we're really in trouble right like how did we get to $20
million in debt that didn't happen overnight that didn't happen in The Last 5 Years it probably didn't happen in the last 10 years no so who's who's watching like let me TR it's a good question let me try to explain we're under a six-year contract with New Brunswick till I think
like what is it 2029 Phil they were the rates won't go beyond 3 % per year after that you know we don't know what's going to happen no I understand but I'm saying like I'm okay with paying an additional 3% next year but if my rate goes up by 15 20% I'm going to be asking questions
CU then right what what am I paying for the rates hadn't risen in what 5 years six years microphone please which is which is why there was that huge jump and we're not in that position right now so if it goes up 3% it should only be 3% per year for the rest of that's what I'm
hoping for because if it's 10% or 15% I'll be ask ask questions it should happen as I as I mentioned earlier so the fact that it's in the ordinance now it never was in the ordinance before okay it's in the ordinance now so as we're going through the budget right now we're looking we're looking at all the
water and sewer right if it has to go up 3% it'll go up 3% before that wasn't in the ordinance they say you know what we want to make sure that we take care of the residents in town we don't want to burden them with any additional expenses so guess what it didn't go up two or three years later if you don't do it it
goes up 10 or 12 or 15 yep 3% smart to put smart to put it in the ordinance 3% I think everyone can live with 3% they can't live with 10 or 15 3% is much more palatable than 10% the other question I have is about the lead water M um
situation do we have a map or an idea of how many homes that impacts or is that part of what's being identified in the process of so Luke that's that's a second part this isn't just a smart meter replacement
it's a yeah so as they replace the meters they're checking the piping to look for lead or galvanized piping in the homes I know that that's what's happening I think it would have been very wise to be very transparent
with the residents about that because I believe that part of the reason that many people were not signing up to have their meters replaced is because they were afraid of what would happen if somebody came in and said oh by the way
now you have this other problem that you need to pay for so I've had this conversation with is it Tom from the water department um and he was very honest when I said you know when you were on my
street changing all the pipes on the street that would have been the time to identify which homes had led service pipes and to do it then wasn't a thing then it wasn't a thing then because we didn't have a safe water drinking act in
the state of New Jersey yet now we do that's why this is an issue so I think it's wonderful that all these lead pipe lead service pipes will be changed but it really should not be again on the back of residence I understand that
something that goes from the street to the house maybe is the responsibility of the homeowner but is it really so I'm responsible for making sure that my sidewalks are free of snow and ice why because that's a public safety issue
somebody can fall and hurt themselves if I have a tree in front of my home that buckles the sidewalk I'm responsible for fixing that why that's a public safety issue if I have a lead service line that is water that that is going into my home
that is not a public safety issue and with all due respect it if I choose to to drink lead water that's on me now all of a sudden the state has said oh that's an issue we have to fix it and then in turn municipalities say oh we have to
fix this and then municipalities who can't afford it say no the homeowners have to pay for it it's not it's not fair you know it's it's too much like where does it end this is clearly an infrastructure issue what's the next thing there's a pothole
in front of my house and I'm gonna be responsible for fixing that well no but this is an infrastructure issue it is not a homeowner issue it is has nothing to do with Public Safety that's my opinion and I know it's been said here that there aren't public funds available
because we don't meet the median requirement I'm on it I've made calls to the state I will get as much information as I can and I'll pass it along because I just don't think that this should be something that residents are going to be forced to have to do that's all I have to say thank you
thank you thank you all right I'm going to close Council comments or uh public comments does any council member have anything they'd like to bring up at this time sure uh this has been a long time but
I'm going to bring this up it's um regarding St Paul's the term Justice delayed is Justice denied describes a situation long forgotten here but not by me residents came forward early last year asking for our help repeatedly for an intolerable disrespectful situation
occurring in town There's been no resolution I I expect none I do not expect the will of the patient people to be upheld now I have a question for uh Mr vinola do you have any updates on the St Paul situation I asked many months ago and I hadn't heard anything and you'd be
aware because I'm not my understanding is that that matter is still pending before the Municipal Court um as you may or may not know uh the municipal prosecutor for the buau uh has been has taken a position as a municipal court judge in New Brunswick and
therefore we did need to obtain new prosecutorial Services I believe that that led to some delay in the ultimate uh I guess consideration of the matter I also know that the church did retain Council and they were undergoing discovery of some information regarding
the underlying violations as well as a historic use of the property that that you know uh last I heard there was a hearing date set I I I am not monitoring it uh but I can find out answers to questions you want answers to all right thank you very much of course I'd just like to thank Monica for
bailing us out and coming back and helping us out so we really need you Monica you're very welcome Mr Mayor just let you know no I will not be physically present here at the next meeting so I'll just put on Rec uh not at all right not by phone either
not physically we'll see what happens I may have to call in okay I won't physically be here unless you put a cardboard car I mean I can get one of those I I can put the skon there you go put the skeleton is that it okay uh close Council comments um my comments I only
had uh one comment um I wanted to just um uh reiterate on the selling of the water uh one thing we have to keep in mind because of the agreement with new brunwick uh because we do have our sewer
going there uh we the agreement is we can't purchase water from say American water or tap into East brunwick or north brunwick of our uh sewer goes to New br brunwick uh that's part of the
agreements that are in place that were put long before any of us were here um so that's one thing that is kind of has has us tied up with we have no place for the uh sewer to go so um we're kind of
stuck right now until we figure out um how to address that issue um i' like to entertain a motion to adjourn motion to adjourn next second I have a motion made by councilman Collin seconded by councilman Potter all
in favor I any opposed okay thank you