--------- I'd like to call this work session meeting to order roll call please uh mayor romic here commissioner hwit here commissioner suie here vice mayor Watson here commissioner kasoon here may we please stand to salute the
flag I pledge alance to the FL flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all this meeting is being conducted in accordance with the open public meetings
Act of 1975 was advertised posted and made available to the public as required by Statute the municipal clerk is directed to include a statement in the minutes of this meeting clerk Madam clerk are there any changes to the agenda no mayor any presentations seeing none public
comment on agenda items only anybody from the public would like to comment on the agenda items please come to the podium state your name address your concerns for approximately five minutes thank you Mr Smithson everyone dou SMI to Thunderbolt drive
in past 27 years my wife and I have oper owned an operated Sky Aviation at the airport and I've come here tonight to express my concern regarding the no non s drba in October of 2024 airport yeah during the mayor state of
the city address the Chamber of Commerce last month this was not even mentioned I watched it with with great attention and I notic it was never even brought up in this state of the city address I'm concerned that the city the citizens of noville are unaware of the ramifications and financial Peril that may be facing
them as a result of this notice you're okay I can see um now the city has issued the notice of nonrenewal it's important to note a few things first the city's going to have to pay roughly $20 million to the drba to take the airport back by
2029 and this doesn't include um a lot of the operational expenses that go along with after the 2029 over the past 5 years the airport has been losing and I got these numbers direct from the delber Bay Authority approximately on average
$375,000 a year and that that number does not include ongoing Improvement we were here in business prior to drb taking over the airport in 1999 and since then roughly $61 million of drba and FAA money has been invested at the
airport $61 million in the last 25 years from drba and the FAA under the stewardship of the drba the airport has been elevated to the next level with their management team and skill set they know how to effectively the airport which has become known as one of the
best in the region City needs to be prepared to match this level sponsorship even the city takes the airport back all money generated the airport must be reinvested there per FAA Grant insurances a couple of meetings ago freeer Doug Al spoke and I think he spoke incorrectly when he talked about
the city of Wilmington taking back their airport and taking it away from the drba they tried to do that four years ago but couldn't find the viable sponsor and now they are back with the having them run the airport down in Newcastle also during that fouryear
period development was pretty much halted at the airport the FAA is certainly not going to continue to fund projects if they believe that the city's going to take those airports back right now my opinion is there's just no plan this makes no sense to try
to take this airport back the city done it due diligence they realized what a good thing they had and would have left well enough I spoke with several local leaders Jo s Senator Mike Tess and Congressman Jeff Andrew and all recognize the economic driver that the airport is and
they share my concerns the city issuing this notice of non-renewal is uninformed and has the potential to hurt not only the city but will certainly be a significant burden for the taxpayers of milville this is happening quietly and the citizens of milville need to be made aware of the impact they will have on
them financially I urge you to right here renegotiate with the drba and let them air thank you thank you Mr Smithson seeing no one else I will close the public comment on agenda items
discussion of Commissioners commissioner hwit nothing at this time mayor thank you commissioner zoie yeah I received several calls about ordinance number 17-2 adding two additional lieutenants taking us up to six
lieutenants so members of the public were concerned that we'll be over supervised you know the the email we got from the chief said we have 52 active officers for various other reasons so if you take six
lieutenants 15 sergeants a captain and a chief will be up to 23 supervisors for 52 active officers that's almost a 2 to1 margin rather than new whatever it is 3.64 to1 that's recommended um I could understand
doing this perhaps if you had a fully Man force but you don't so when you do promote you're going to take sergeants and make them lieutenants you're going to take officers and make them sergeants and now you're going to have less Patrol men so there are the questions I'm
getting the other the other comments I got um is is this going to help with the four-wheelers and motorcycles driving down the street is that's going to help with the homeless living in the parks that set two fires couple couple weeks ago um is this going to help with our
crime rate is this going to help with Recruitment and Retention there're the questions I got from about seven or eight different people I got various questions now I know the prosecutor has recommended in a report that we do this the last copy of that report I saw was
dated 2009 so I emailed the chief to find out if there were any new ones and uh and sir he responded sir the prosecutor has not issued any additional recommendations since her previous letters in which she request the department increase
supervision if asked I'm sure she would listen issue a letter of support so you know this this has come before Public Safety directors for over a decade and what I'm concerned about
myself when you guys see the budget and you see the increase in taxes we all be wearing diapers uh so this is all about allocation resources as well as those questions that I've gotten that I've passed on to you to see what you
guys if you guys have an answer for them to follow up I've gotten plenty of calls I've gotten emails about this exact thing uh we sat in a closed session about this and the chief spoke
uh so I think that we pretty much know uh what the situation is uh right right now that's all I'm going to say about that uh I imagine there'll be lots of comments both ways come the regular meeting tonight and then I'll
speak to that at that time for meeting with the chief um the chief had uh certain ideas um you know a lot of it was based on you know what you said uh retention right
now there's no special um there's there are no special units squads in this city right now so for retention purposes you mean this gives you know the patrolman um you the officers uh you know some hope of you know progressing you know
something to look forward to um as of right now this is just an ordinance this isn't saying that we're going to hire two lieutenants right away um I a lot of this is a plan um you know with the lack of officers that we have we're going to have a lot of new ones coming on potentially this year uh we're trying to figure out a way to try to send as many
officers as we can obviously that comes within experience how do we counter that uh we need supervision to oversee those new officers uh if we're looking at hiring maybe 15 to 20 officers within the next year or so y um you know they're going to need the appropriate personnel that has the experience to
lead them to guide them uh right now one of the issues that we have is our sergeants aren't uh out in the street Street um you know being with uh the officers um and this is an attempt to do so lieutenants can uh you know do what they do inside the building sergeants are out in the streets boots on the
ground um you know trying to guide those new officers that need that experience uh I believe this is just a planning you know from what I understood this was just planning and getting it into motion um you know we do have a new commission coming up this year and uh we hope that we can you know put that next Commission
on the right foot and you know have them prepared for you know the new officers coming in so are you saying it's uh going to Aid with recruitment is that what you're telling me well if we have positions that uh may be available um you know as you know for
promotion are reasons it might draw you know new officers to us you know if they think that they could come here and maybe get a Lieutenant's position or you know Sergeant's position yeah I would suggest you guys read the uh police Chiefs magazine for December 2024 and it talks about the recruitment issues and
it may give you a little bit better Insight on those subjects we had that in the close session last week did you read the issue we I've gone over it there's a lot of police off there's a lot of police departments that are going through the same thing that we are um you know obviously you know we need help
you know so being active with Public Safety uh you know the addition of the new dispatchers uh trying to settle contract negotiations uh maybe given a little bit of Hope to those officers to stay here so they can you progress and get the promotions um or all actions to
try to keep officers here and let the public safety know that they're supported let the residents know that we're concerned about their safety thank you thank you Mr Cosman nothing at this
time vice mayor Watson thank you for letting me finish my drink you're welcome Jo thank you so much uh for you and your department putting us together tonight a lot of hard work I know you're under a lot of pressure uh so kudos to you and your your assistance thank you very
welcome um I'm not going to bring it up on regular session but last night um we had an issue uh with the remediation site next to South Jersey Gas I just want to thank the engineering department our water department for responding quickly um and thank you garison for you know
coming out and trying to get that repair done I was able to stop out and it was was uh was not a not a good site um so I think that's all I really have for that um thank you very much he's not here um
he left yeah just sharing your opinion uh it's you know it's good to hear from you know people that are dealing with the drba on everyday basis uh and and obviously their business so thank you for coming out all I thank you vce man there yeah I would
like to thank Doug Smithson for making his comments um Brock would you care to elaborate why you know why we're still in close session discussing this matter just so the public is informed or do you not want to probably should just the
reasoning it's a discussion topic of sensitive information well I think that it really uh there are uh there's a decision that you're going to have to make uh as to what dire we go in and I think there's two options the reason for
the uh matter going into close session is you know to discuss contract negotiations with either the drba or k May County and I think a decision is going to have to be made as to which way we're going to go uh it is a Clos
session item because it's not just attorney client but it's also deliberative process and contract negotiations thank you other than that anything else I do not think
so see you no new business we have now reached the public comment portion of our meeting anyone who would like to address the commission please go to the podium state your name address your concerns please limit your concerns to approximately 5 minutes I was over agenda just you need to propose on them to get
them back on tax R so if you're just leaving them and the building up bu up M I think that's accurate knower it if you canose on that expense
would be because you get tax someone buys the uh the lean and then they foreclose on the or either the city or the lean holder or lean holder can buy it and then they can foreclose after a period of time as
well a whole page of there so that you can look into but that's something that some ofal that the city has money be used because be used in problem I'm of hous to
be and you can use from CS to just asking free legal advice while I'm here um the other that answer now but that's something that I look into and
take care I think that's important to the city and you're ping the budget now that can be put into the budget you're going to have to take something else you don't have to increase taxes even more than you're going to have to but that's something in I didn't understand thein that's on
the agenda I'm assuming that means that you already know your ta which ordinance are you talking about hold on Lyn we're still having a problem with your mic I to have Joanna come in all right did you hear me about the C I didn't understand the cola um I'm
assuming it means you want to do a 3.5% tax increase before the budget's brought up answer that now or no wait till just write it keep on keep on going then we we're ask we answer your questions the rest of bity want you finish the uh NPP
Grant which stands for neighborhood preservation program you're voting on that tonight I wanted to know what you're using it for and then and I wanted to know if the commission's deciding on what it's being used for if the Holly City Development Corporation is making those decisions for the commission because that money
can be used for things such as educational self neighborhood organization that's the library so the library needs money you can potentially use some of that grant money for the library you can do demolitions with it you can do housing rehab you can do code
enforcement they're all things that can be taken out of the budget taxpayer budget money and be taken off the back of the taxpayer and use the grant to pay for it so I just want to know if the commission's deciding and looking at all those factors are just leaving in the
hands of a consultant pleasure voting on both those things tonight so hopefully you know that and then um I just wanted to mention you have a lot of uee funds I'm hoping that they're also being used to decrease
taxes yeah I'm looking at the ordinances and uh are you referring to the cap Bank ordinance yes I think says called that every town I've ever been involved with uh in Acts that ordinance every year that's not true because because we voted
no well maybe you voted no but and it did not go through so I know it didn't pass so you don't have to something that your auditor recommends that you do because it gives you wiggle room that you're not otherwise going to have which hopefully you don't need and hopefully you won't increase taxes substantially
it doesn't require you to increase taxes what it does is but it gives you the open door and you Bank them and then down the road it enables a commission down the road to potentially increase taxes like 6% 6 cents I spoke to the CFO about that today she said it's for next
year so it's so that gives them the door to to increase taxes caps you know col caps for this year it's so so if by some miracle you don't use it all the bank then all that will be in there for the future commissions that they can then increase taxes it will be a miracle if
we don't use most of it I'm hoping for a miracle and it's been done every year except the year that you're talking about or the years that you're talking about didn't hurt anything it didn't hurt anything so I'm probably not the best one to explain it CFO can explain it a lot better than I
can but from my understanding we were like we're restricted on how much we can raise our budget every year from what I get out of it is the cap Bank allows us to take an accountability in a in a way something that we can't account for uh
gas pric is going up uh electric bill going up whatever that case may be so if we have to exceed budgetary costs we do have some kind of cap that we can rely on um that's the best that I can explain it other
than if we don't meet that criteria that say for this year if we don't go over the budget this year that goes into the cap for next year I mean that's the best that I can explain it I I understand I I guess my problem is it's safety net that if everyone was looking at the budget in
their departments and really making hard decisions it's too easy to say oh we have the extra money let's just go ahead and raise the taxes everybody should be looking at their budget seeing what they can decrease looking for alternative revenues being creative with the grants working together in a work session
discussing the grants what you need what do we think can be covered by the Grant and then if you don't have that safety net it forces you to do that more and I didn't see it being done with the last budget and the budget before unfortunately and the taxes have gone up every time in the past seven years every
year on paper it looks like maybe it didn't go up last year with the um trash because of the trash but in reality you raised taxes six or seven cents seven cents 7 cents last year because you didn't give it all back from what the
the cost was and um times are tough and people are having a hard time and you really need to think about that when you're looking at the budget and just going well we have to do it there's ways to do things there's different departments that could be making more money if the hard work is done to look
at that which I hope will happen we are and we are looking after the meeting the other night we're looking on my side at where we can use it downtown with the PD and stuff like that yeah because because there's Revenue sources too that can be done without taxing the taxpayer more so
hopefully I guess you'll just explain the only question that I have that hopefully will be answered is that about the NPP Grant thank you so for the uh for the police department I talked to for the U money I asked Ross how much he could use for strictly patrolled in the
U zone so he said $70,000 so that's coming up in a future application and for Community placing said he doesn't have the officers but we're putting money in there anyway I don't really expect you guys to fill 20 positions I think you'd be lucky if you fill for well but uh we're putting the money
there so that it's available if you can use it exactly good we have already talked about it see you no one else I will close the public comment portion of the meeting closing comments of Commissioners commissioner H nothing for
now commissioner Sue nothing for now commissioner casab nothing for now Vice May Watson nothing for now do I resolutions uh we have a resolution authorizing to close session for the following matter a contract negotiations
with Kate May County and or the drba concerning the continued operation of the milville Executive Airport make a motion second motion we have Motion in a second can I have roll call please oh sorry I'm learning commissioner hwit yes
vice mayor Watson yes commissioner kpoon yes commissioner suie yes mayor Ramic yes okay sorry I'm slow back done far nice and loud e
e e e e e e e e e e
e e e e Part: 2
[Laughter] mom micophone we can get going like to resume this meeting can I have a roll call please mayor Ramic here commissioner hwit here commissioner suie here vice
mayor Watson here commissioner kasoon here thank you you're welcome we will now have public comment on agenda items only if anybody from the public would like to comment on the agenda please come to the podium state your name address your concerns and please limit your concerns to
approximately 5 minutes thank you good evening Patricia Clark KS um I have a question on the uh resolution 18.4 and I'm wondering what that will be used for or
what the plans are and who will administer it and the same questions on resolution 20.3 and 20 4 my additional question would
be um the exterior Improvement Grants would that have to be applied for by the landlord or the owner of the building or the business itself we got it you have any more Mr I just have one
other question or one other curiosity um can you explain to me what IOP e ticket is I'll start off with that one okay uh it's an easy one well it's my department uh hold on commissioner H let's wa answer her questions after she's
completely finished and all the residents after everybody else all right there are my questions right now unless I have additional ones after the responses and if I sit that means I can't get up to ask anymore is that how that
works in just accordance of time said you know the back and forth uh okay it's I'll respect that thank you thank you Miss K then Pera milville um I had been at the work session and asked a question
about MPP mayor you had said that you would give me answer when I was done talking but I never got an answer so I wondered if you were going to give the answer before you voted on that tonight I will give that direction to any of my Commissioners that wish what was the question n uh the NPP was it's
on the agenda what it's going to be used for and whose idea was it what is the um consultant Holly City Development Corporation in charge of that or did the commission decide on what to spend those monies on uh myself and well I can
probably just better answer these as we go through them on the agenda but I have the stuff that this stuff is for the stuff that the EZ stuff is for is is the MPP your department though yes yes it is under yeah okay evening Tim spania
uh two two or three questions one uh vice mayor you you mentioned during the uh work session as far as the two lieutenants um that you were going to hire them right away do you when do you foresee a need to hire them when
would you think you would hire them just ask a question and then we'll answer it that's one of them uh for streets and Roads am I reading this word this right are we now going to be paid charged for trash cans that are damaged by the company by ACA or can we call and
say hey they they I have a cracked trash can and it needs to be replaced who's responsible for that they will they will replace if it's broken by the acua Yeah call City call my department and they let them know they they'll come pick it up and bring you a new one I don't doubt
it uh one other question why what is the reason for the 3.8% % increase in trash fees from April to December we that's you know it really doesn't explain why that was the causation was it that we didn't take out enough last
year or tipping fees went up or ACA said okay we want to charge it more I mean what so can we get an answer on that too I think their their costs have gone up and everyone's costs that is in that business have gone up because of workers
compensation because of uh diesel fuel uh because of the what it costs to hire drivers with CDL licenses and basically that's what the uh aca's uh position was that we will
extend this agreement for one year and this is you know this is what our terms would be and they had that cost it's not like you can go out and just find somebody else cont cont if they're under contract they're not under contract it's an extension of the contracts expired Brock commissioner Kasin will answer
that in further detail in her report is that okay thanks thank you Mr spna uh Sherman Taylor Isabel Avenue um 172 the uh sergeants and uh lieutenants that that's for future planning right
more or less yeah I'll go into this because that's like really important I mean it might not seem that way now but if you know how the police department works it takes a a long time to get that and if the uh you know the
guys that are up for that promotion at some point in time to tell them that they can't being they've stayed it's important to them so if they've stayed I think it's deserving thank you good evening angelene Broomall milville I also would like to speak on
17.2 um and I want to remind everyone watching or listening that I also stood at this Podium several months ago uh pushing advocating for uh a fair compensation for our police and for them
to get their contract um so I am by no means a cop hater or no don't report the police or whatnot but from what I understand uh it was mentioned during the work session we have 52
police if we add these lieutenants and uh sergeants that makes 72 rather 17 leaders supervisors for 52 total and that's 17
is part of that as I understand the math doesn't matter for me um as a person who advocated for fair compensation I thought that the intention for that was to
attract uh more police uh young uh new um police uh to expand and get up to the 80 or so that we are budgeting for um
creating another topheavy department and and I know some people are going to be upset with what I say and it's really hard to stand at this Podium and say something against the department that it's not the department it's not that I don't respect and and need so desperately what
they do but we don't need 17 bosses when there's only 50 people total we need new and we need to provide fair fair compensation and we need way
more to protect them I live in an area where we literally listen to gunfire quite regularly where my heart stops several times a week and have to take a breath
okay where's the people that I love instant instant where's the people that I love listen for fire for Sirens was somebody shot was a police officer shot do they need an ambulance I turn on
the scanner thing to see for an ambulance this is and I'm not the one having to run to it we don't I think it's almost insulting if I were a supervisor I would think that I'm doing I would hope that I'm doing a good enough
job to supervise the men and women underneath me I wouldn't think I need more people I just I'm opposed to it I I think it's it's not the time um I don't believe this is
something far out in the future and and I think you guys know this too this isn't something for a year or two away because if it was something for a year or two away we can focus on that next year or two years away we need 30 police officers minimum just to get what we're
budgeting for that needs to be our focus it has to be our focus and we need to be competitive and not constantly the bottom of the barrel for the entire County these are the
things I thought I was advocating for when I stood here before asking for a contract these are the things I'm asking you guys to focus on to protect me the people I love and for them to be able to protect each
other thank you for considering what I say thank you Mr BR seeing no one else I would close public comment on agenda items only bills make a motion to pay the bills second motion welcome we have a motion
in second paying the bills roll call please commissioner hwit yes vice mayor Watson yes commissioner casabon yes commissioner suie yes mayor Ramic yes petitions and letters no mayor reports
of Commissioners commissioner huitt uh not really much of report we have had uh a lot of uh calls for fires uh natur luckily it hasn't been anything
big in this past since the last commission meeting uh I do want to thank on the record the folks that showed out tonight for the swearing in of the new Chief the captain and the new
firefighter and uh right now that is all mayor that's it for now commissioner Sue sure so on Saturday March 1st we held around manual snowflake plunge was a nice sunny day the water was a little cold there's
about a dozen people that went into the water and a lot of Spectators we want to thank waas for donating the hot chocolate and coffee Shephard bus service for donating the thermal warming unit at milville and downtown ship fire departments for being on standby for any emergencies we still have funds coming
in for this fundraiser and we will formally announce the totals at a later date I want to thank everyone that participated and donated to the big dog project in Fox Chase Cancer Research Center we also held a pet photo contest during the months of January and
February the winners winners were Tony klop best cat photo naren orndorf best dog photo Madison stadnik best farm animal photo and Emma user Williams overall best photo all entries will be displayed
at the river Riv yeah River Renaissance Center for the Arts located at 22 North High Street until Saturday March 29th thank thank you for everyone that entered and congratulations to all the winners upcoming events we're holding our St our annual St Patty's Day
coloring contest if you would like to enter you can obtain a coloring sheet off our website or by visiting the recreation office all coloring sheets must be turned in by March 13th the eggtastic Easter celebration will take place on January on Saturday April 12th
at the Tim Shannon Sports Complex located at two North sharp Street behind Lakeside Middle School the event will take place at 10 from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and the Egg Hunt will be at 11:00 a.m. sharp there will be plenty of fun for your children 12 years old and under
make sure to bring a bag or basket to collect your eggs as always if you have any up uh questions about the upcoming events contact the mville recreation office at 856 825-7000 extension
7394 so I'll get into some of the uee stuff the neighborhood preservation program and this some of the cdgb stuff and if you have questions after that feel free to see me or email me so uee funding for events 55,000 will
go towards the 4th of July Holly City fest car show Mystery on high and winter wonderland U funding for exterior Improvement Grants it's going to be $500,000 available for U certified businesses to apply for a Max $20,000
Grant to make exterior improvements to their property so that goes to the business to answer your question um you can we we changed that from facade to exterior improvements because you can see when you go down High Street and and
parts of the U Zone they're not exactly easy on the eye so hopefully this will alleviate some of that and there are other there's we $4 million in uee funding and we are applying for other things and as they
become available we'll keep you informed neighborhood preservation program Grant the funding for this is $125,000 and that provides funding for center city streets uh Center City events such as play streets and Fourth of July other projects that are covered
the annual gift card program that we hold each year around Christmas commercial rehab project for downtown businesses community garden and mural projects our air quality program I'm going to move on to that so we had a complaint by an employee concerning the
air quality and the state health inspector was called the state came down they went through every bill every room of this building and the air quality was fine so what we didn't have in place
that we're supposed to have and actually if you look at one it's originally dated 200 7even but apparently I don't know I guess it was never passed an actual air quality program for ourselves so that's available if the public would like to see it as
well now there was complaints about the leaks and ceiling tiles so that those leaks have gone on for years in fact here's an article from 1997 talking about the leaks in milville City Hall and saying how it wasn't the
fault of the as a contractor when they did the addition here um when we put the new roof on last time I was in office on the sixth and third floor that alleviated a lot of leaks but we still have window wall issues which it' probably be cheaper to build a
new building that's all I have for now progress I'm right back to uh commissioner he you has some other things to say yeah uh I want to answer some of the questions I can answer from the residents at the beginning of the meeting
uh Mrs kier's the E ticket where are you there you are uh EET is already basically in process with uh the vehicle follows the street sweeper and stuff this is going to bring us into
nowadays with police ticketing and everything that's going to just it's going to sharpen up the courts it's going to take away mistakes with the ink pen with writing and stuff uh
it's not a big investment it's shared with the courts and the police department and uh it is it's going to work out to be a very good investment and a very big time saer with uh bad addresses and such uh people not being
showing being able to show up at court because the great ones aren't summoned uh that's the E ticket and that will be coming out of our uh budget uh Tim you asked uh Stephen but I'll I'll answer it if you don't mind uh
Lieutenant hires uh we are going we the lieutenant a lieutenant will be hire will be put into position uh at the chief and my decision uh this is not something we just started that we looked
at you know last week and said we're going to do uh this has been uh put forward to the police department for years now uh and and uh that's I'll leave that at that for right now till we get to the
resolution trash can uh 30 shm uh basically the same uh the time frame we do not know the exact time frame yet but we will be moving forward with it angel
Angel uh about the same thing I understand what you're saying I understand we need police uh we are working on a situation that will help us very well it's been presented to us uh I'm hoping to have it on the next agenda it will be a Statewide
application for uh applications job openings and such that we will be putting in to use here in milville that plenty of other police departments use also in this state uh as we all know everybody is
even the big departments are short on man power and we're all our all is going into it as hard as we can go so I hope that helps you uh that will do it for me now mayor
thank you commissioner hu commissioner cin okay um Mr fagna to let you know did we had negotiations with or not negotiations talking with the acua because we have to extend the pickup trash from April until the end of
December and unfortunately the Tipping fees have increased so that's why there is the increase here because we can't put tipping fees according to my notes in the contract because they change all the time so for that's for that um in February we replaced 25 damaged
carts eight missing or stolen ones they also delivered four carts to four residential units that previously did not have them they exchanged one set of carts for smaller ones exchanged on carts for residents who wanted larger ones 12 were purchased by residents if
you want extras you pay for them uh 88 notices of violation were issued in February zero tickets were issued in February county has started a reusable shopping bag recycling program the bags are sent out to be clean and sanitized and donated to local food banks bags may
be dropped off at streets and roads on South 15 Street please remove any tags receipts Etc from the bag before you pick them up or drop them all the acua has been instructed not to pick up recycle carts that have contaminated trash in them the residents can get a
list of these items that are acceptable curbside on our website or go to streets and roads on 15th Street residents can bring TVs computers and other small electronic devices to the 15th Street along with used motor oil antifreeze that are uncontaminated items may be
dropped off between 7 and three uh streets and rs 88 tires were collected 10 appliances were collected 318 sweep street sweeping tickets were written 2750 bags of loose leaves were collected
329 electronic waste were received 40t of storm drain pipe replaced at third manano that's been completed potholes are being filled as they are being made aware of if you come across any potholes give us a call and they will send someone out these four trucks uh the
storm the snowstorm event on the 11th was challenging to this department with only three emergency route trucks to handle four emergency routs these four trucks are vital part to our snow removal observation the truck that was
Tak out of service is in 1993 with engine compartment issues in serious Frame and Body not body rot and it is rot it that is unrepairable a new replacement is in the works March 17th through the 31st
residents May Place loose leaves to the curb for April collection we will make one pass through the city loose brush can be placed on the curb the last two weeks in April for May collection again we will make one pass through the city if you have any other questions give us
a call at 825 7000 extension 7388 yes it was a cold day at the lake I will say that my toes didn't even go in the water no thank you good that's it thank you m uh
commissioner KAS vice mayor Watson this is going to be all over the place as questions came in and so just bear with with me uh to answer the question for the two lieutenants obviously commissioner huitt and the chief they would be ones to decide that um but I do ask the
residents you know as they bring their concerns where do you think more supervision is needed to 30 brand new employees or 30 experienced new employees uh you know there is a shortage of police officers and with bringing in a bunch of new police officers they obviously need
supervision um you know so again trying to establish a plan trying to account for this um you know it's not an easy um it's not an easy world that police officers work in you know everything's being recorded everybody has their cameras out um police officers need to be able to make a decision and you know
a lot of things um you know would be very helpful if they had experienced sergeants out there patrolling with them um you know and in doing so there has to be some type of plan for succession uh hence the two Lieutenant positions and we're not replacing two
yes one second um if commissioner C doesn't mind um we did set down with the ACA yes last week a lot of things were brought up uh including the um reasons for um the increases the increases for next
year yes the ACA is a shared service agreement therefore it's not like if we were to go out to bid for somebody like a regular business um I'm not going to say any names cuz I don't know if I get in trouble for that or not but anyway uh shared service agreement with the ACA being a public entity it's probably the cheapest way that we're going to be able
to do trash disposal unfortunately they're dealing with the same things that we are retaining people to pick up the trash maintaining their vehicles purchasing new vehicles to replace old ones um things that were brought up in the meeting were the Tipping fees because there it's not controlled by the
ACA uh things were brought up like um they operate under natural gas um which they have no control over that would be the Authority um and personnel and health insurance you know all those things are associated with why we're seeing a hike on
everything follow up with CM oh that was not I do have to follow up with CM maybe that's separate we had the opportunity to meet with Fleet um and how I'm going to tie this in um the new forpost list with the
alignment has previously been installed it is installed yep up and running M um but unfortunately now we have another lift that just went down because of the cylinder leak correct so where I'm trying to tie this into um I've got to
sit down with our CFO business administrator um but we are going to be reaching out to every department head to try to get a sit down and review budgets and capital list items and this way we could actually prioritize and try to pick out you know the best way to go um and try to meet the department needs
that's no problem promises if anybody talks to me the department heads I talk to I don't make promises but at least we can sit down and review them and actually hear like the department head for Fleet the concerns on what he has and the trouble that's going to put him behind on working on vehicles
um what else do we have phase two environmentals for the 202 South uh South Wade Boulevard property uh has came back everything is good there's no more need to proceed with any kind of environmental work or [Music]
um sorry lost train thought due diligence yes we are working with the title company um to try to get the title company um make sure the title's clear uh after that then we set up for closing also with the phase two environmental coming back clear uh the
parks department is now able to utilize all the property including the back portion where the soil samples took place water and Engineering uh they're converting well 18 uh there they have a sodium hypochloride uh on-site
generation um there is an issue uh the equipment is very old it's original to the well and uh parts are becoming obsolete uh water engineering are working on uh trying to put together a
system um for bulk deliveries for hypochloride we went over the shared services first phase of meter upgrades should be starting April 12th I said just a couple meetings ago um some residents should be receiving letters uh to schedule their appointment for the
water meter upgrade uh if they haven't already [Music] and agenda yes do you have a report yes I do I would like to make a motion to receive and file the tax collector's annual
report for 2024 second motion I have a motion in second on vice mayor Watson's item number one any comments roll call please commissioner huitt yes vice mayor Watson yes commissioner casabon yes commissioner suie yes mayor raminick
yes I'd like to make a motion to receive and file Memo from an annual or reorg I ation report of the planning and zoning boards and the Zoning Board of adjustment 2024 annual report second motion I have motion second on my item on the mayor's romic
item number one any comments yes this is just a collect you can see all the reports from the zoning boards annual of 2024 uh reviewing these I remember the some of these meetings very clearly and vividly I would like to
thank uh the the current new uh zoning board chairperson Tamar Davis and vice chairperson Tim Cardy I know they're going to I said this before but I know they're going to continue to do the Excellence that is needed for the zoning
board and thank you for continuing to serve a reminder just a reminder to any Social Service organizations seeking program year 2025 cdbg grant funding applications are due Friday March 7 11 by 4:30 applications are available on
Housing and Community Development page on the city website or in person on the fifth floor of City Hall month of February there were 126 code violations were cited resulting in 71 violations noticed issued and 145 rental
inspections were conducted that's all I have ordinances in the second reading should we do a roll call on that no no we did roll call on for your item oh that was comments sorry roll
call on my uh item thank you commissioner hwit yes vice mayor Watson yes commissioner casabon yes commissioner sui yes mayor raminick yes now ordinance in the second reading
okay ordinance on the second reading the first item is ordinance approving and authorizing an application to hold a coin drop for the dividing Creek Fire and Rescue on August 23rd 2025 at the intersections of buck shum Road and Cedarville Road move the ordinance on second
reading make a motion I have a motion second on ordinance in the second reading item number one there is a public hearing I will open that up for anybody would like to come give public hearing on this ordinance seeing none I will close any
comments roll call please commissioner hwit yes vice mayor Watson yes commissioner CER Boon yes commissioner suie yes mayor romic yes uh the ordinance on second reading is an ordinance amending milville code
chapter 62 Solid Waste and Recycling other waste article 3 solid waste collection section 62- 9 approved containers so as to allow the director of Public Works to offer replacement or additional approved containers at a price to be fixed by him or her make a
motion second motion we have a motion the second on ordinance in the second reading item number two I'll open public hearing on this if anybody would like to come to the podium to discuss this ordinance seeing no one I will close public hearing any comments Commissioners yeah uh this isn't for
broken cans it's if you want an extra one uh the reason why we have to um amend this ordinance is because of the can prices change uh and it also depends on the quantity that we order so if we're in need of 100 cans it's a little bit cheaper to buy them at 100 cans
rather than 50 cans but because of the price differences we can't have a specific price on the ordinance correct and we don't know the shipping in handling until then so we what we basically do we'll take the price say it's
$82.99 we round it up to $93 or $83 we make no money on this we just round it up we just want to recoup our cost and shipping and handling thank you roll call please commissioner huitt yes vice mayor Watson
yes commissioner casabon yes commissioner sui yes mayor raminick yes motion carries ordinance on second reading uh number three ordinance amending the salary ordinance to add the following new Council 18 part-time title
in compensation um they're going to add the title Public Safety telecommunicator part-time with a minimum of 17 an hour and a maximum of 30 an hour make motion second motion we have a motion in second on ordinance and second
reading item number three I'll now open public hearing on this anybody would like to come to the podium address this ordinance seeing NN I close public hearing any comments of Commissioners yes this is uh as it says a
part-time position that we're making it's also going to help us with uh keeping patrols on the road uh get a couple more dispatchers we've had a re retirement and dispatch and uh this is all towards the goal of
keeping Personnel on the road we don't have to have them in dispatch thank you roko please commissioner hwit yes vice mayor Watson yes commissioner casabon yes commissioner suie yes mayor raminick yes
motion carries ordinances in the first reading item number one is an ordinance to exceed the municipal budget appropriation limits and to establish a cap Bank in accordance with njsa 40a colon 4- 4514 for calendar year 2025 make a
motion on ordinance on the first reading item number one second motion we have a motion on the second on ordinance on first reading item number one any comments roll call please commissioner hwit yes vice mayor Watson yes
commissioner cabon yes commissioner sui noain mayor Ram yes okay item number two is ordinance amending chapter 50 Section 1 creation contained in Article 1 milville Police
Department established in order to add two additional lieutenants make a motion second we have a motion second on ordinance and the first reading item number two any comments yes uh this is what a
lot of people spoke about uh no this is not not been just created and thought about this is actually been in the eye of Prior commission and prior Chief as you all know here except for uh
commissioner suie he was absent that night uh the Chief came to our Clos session and explained the reason wise uh and answered all of our questions to the four of us uh
and with that moving on that's all mayor goe so first of all during the work session we were told that these two positions were for the future now we're being told that one's going to be filled I don't know as soon as you guys can
fill it I guess that concerns me uh if you look at the cost for lieutenant I'm estimating it's about $150,000 a year by the time you put in salary benefits and all the asso cost I don't know why you're doing this
now before you have the budget numbers that doesn't make sense to me uh I've received several questions from members of the public which I iterated at the work session and I'll just you know repeat a couple of them first was a
ratio of supervisor to your available cops so you have six six lieutenants you want to go up to 15 sergeants captain and a chief for an I don't know if you have more available officers now or not but you had 52 available officers the last email I got so that's basically a
2:1 ratio which is overkill I understand you need supervisors I understand you're planning for the future we have been it's been extremely difficult to recuit recuit recruit police officers not just here anywhere and no matter how much
money we pay police officers unfortunately somebody's going to pay them more there are many more towns that they can work in that they're not as difficult to work in they pay more money and and that Exodus I'm afraid will still continue to some
extent to think that we're going to hire 30 police officers in a year I think is pretty unrealistic um I will support this on first reading pending further input from the public whether that be directly to me or through a meeting several people
have told me they're afraid to come to the microphone and kudos to Angel for doing so because they're afraid of being perceived as anti- police so it's not a matter of being anti-p it's a matter of an entire city you're going to get a budget that's going to have a tax raise
in it that is the worst tax raise this city has ever seen and that's without this $150,000 so be prepared and I'll get into my closing statement some things that are being done that aren't conducive to keeping the tax raise the
tax increase as low as as possible and with that progress if I if I may mayor we got a little bit messed up here in the beginning of the evening uh first off we're not backfilling uh the sergeant that would because the move
would be a sergeant coming up to a lieutenant spot we're not going to backfill that Sergeant spot by taking an officer off the street and making him a sergeant uh so we're not
adding a position we're adding a slight increase in salary from the sergeant position to a lieutenant position and as I say we're not going to backfill that uh the key here is this has been kicked down the road for
almost well we're at seven years now the kicking's got to stop sooner or later something's going to happen in this town and we don't have proper supervision out there somebody's going to get hung up and the city uh you know we talk about tax raises I don't want tax raises
either I pay taxes here people don't believe that us Commissioners pay taxes but part of the police department problem is nobody has ever wanted to sit in these seats and raise taxes to an amount where we could keep up uh that's
all I'm going to say about that uh we got a little messed up in the in the beginning some people didn't get to comment if they wanted to or whatever but that's all I'm going to say about that it is only first reason might have another comment nobody else has one so it's my understanding that the lieutenants don't do Patrol the
sergeants do corre Sergeant so you are taking a police officer off the street in the form of a sergeant to make him a lieutenant no right now if we don't have Lieutenant supervision the Sergeant's in the house working super we added we added a another Lieutenant either a year or two
ago I can't remember if it was last year or a year before right so here we go again but as I said I will reserve my final judgment after getting more in input from the public it's up to you guys if you want to pay for it y so let me know I'll agree with that that way we'll have a second reading and we will
have uh hopefully we keep the order of business and we'll have comments okay roll call please commissioner huitt yes vice mayor Watson yes commissioner kpoon yes commissioner suie yes mayor Ramic
yes consent agenda items you read this yep thank you all mass uh all matters listed under the consent agenda are considered to be routine and non-controversial by the Board of Commissioners and will be approved by one motion there will be no
separate discussion of these items unless the governing body member so requests in which case the item will be removed from the consent agenda and considered in its normal sequence on the agenda resolution item number one is a resolution authorizing the tax collector to issue a duplicate certificate of sale
as per njsa 54 colon 5211 one resolution item number two is a resolution approving a discharge of mortgage executed by Diane Negron etaria for property located at 2 nor6 street block 433 Lot
10 resolution item number three is a resolution cancelling expired Grant balances resolution item number four is a resolution authorizing the city to apply for and obtain a grant from the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs for approximately 125,00 000 to
carry out a project to provide assistance for neighborhood revitalization activities in the center city neighborhood with neighborhood preservation program funding resolution number five is a resolution authorizing adjustments to the tax and utility records make
motion second motion then we have a motion in second to approve all consent agenda items roll call please commissioner hwit yes commissioner suie yes vice mayor Watson
yes I made a mistake uh commissioner kasamon yes and mayor romanic yes all good I am not perfect resolution got the same answer resolution item number one is a
resolution approving person-to person transfer for consumption license from Larry shoemate Inc to Larry's Milo LLC make motion second motion we have Motion in second on resolution item number one any comments roll call please
commissioner hwit yes vice mayor Watson yes commissioner casabon yes commissioner Sue yes mayor romic yes resolution item number two is a resolution appointing John F wetstein III as Fire official effective March 1st 2025 to the city of mville fire
department make motion second motion we have a motion second item number two any comments yes this goes right along with being fire chief uh fire chief is the uh Fire official in city of Moville just
closing new send do you have something just congratulating new Chief yes congratulations Chief weststein look forward to working with you roll call please commissioner huitt yes vice mayor Watson yes commissioner
casabon yes commissioner suie yes mayor ROM yes carries resolution number three is a resolution authorizing an application to the New Jersey Urban Enterprise Zone Authority for first generation Enterprise Zone assistance assistance funds in the amount of 55,000 for
special events in the U zone for 2025 move the resolution second motion we have Motion in second on resolution item number three any comments yes without uee money we would not be able to afford to do this we are somewhat
Limited we are exploring further uses of uee money such as what Vinland does for some of our funding that we don't have encumbered for this year so in that list are several things some I've been told that we can't do some I've been told we
can do so I have to get clarification on some of that but these items you see tonight would not be happening without uee funding so therefore they're not affecting your local property tax rate they're coming from your sales tax within the U Zone I want to make sure
body um understands that and I will get into some more of that in my closing comments correct and this is a joint understanding you know this the milville vinin uez board that we operate with roll call please commissioner huitt yes
vice mayor Watson yes commissioner casabon yes commissioner sui yes mayor Ramic yes resolution item number four is a resolution authorizing an application to the New Jersey Urban Enterprise Zone Authority for first generation
Enterprise Zone assistant funds in the amount of $500,000 for exterior Improvement Grants move the resolution second motion we have Motion in second on resolution item number four any comments roll call please commissioner
huitt yes vice mayor Watson yes commissioner cabon yes commissioner sui yes mayor Ramic yes resolution item number five is a resolution certifying the list of volunteer firefighters who who have qualified for the length of service
award program loap benefits for the year 2024 make motion second motion we have Motion in second on resolution item number five any comments roll call please commissioner huitt yes vice mayor Watson yes commissioner casabon yes
commissioner suie yes mayor Ramic yes resolution item number six is a resolution authorizing a purchase order of a state contract for IOP e ticket for the police department to Gold type business machines in an amount not to exceed $463,000 make motion and with that I
have certification of funds in the amount of $ 46,50 signed by our Chief Financial Officer Susan canones second motion we have a motion in a second any comments yes um I'd like
to know if you guys just went out for state contract for this or you salt bids or quotes for the it's already in process we're already using in this city for I understand that but I want you're you're you're getting authorized to buy it m so there's different ways to buy things you
can go out for bid you can go out for quotes or you can use State contract do you know I'm just curious if you know if you don't know it's fine I'm still going to support it but I'm just curious right now contract it is State contract and in most cases State contracts and co-ops are usually the cheaper the same that's
not necessarily true most of the time follows public purchasing laws not in my experience roll call please commissioner hwit yes vice mayor Watson yes commissioner casabon yes commissioner sui yes mayor raminick
yes resolution resolution item number seven is a resolution authorized in the city to enter into a Professional Services contract with Holly City Development Corporation in connection with the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs neighborhood preservation program Grant application in an amount not to exceed $25,000
beginning January 1st 2025 and ending December 31st 2025 move the resolution I have certification of funds in the amount of $25,000 signed by CFO Susan pones second motion we have a motion in second on resolution item number seven any
comments roll call please commissioner huitt yes vice mayor Watson yes commissioner casabon yes commissioner sui yes mayor raminick yes resolution item number eight is a resolution approving indoor air quality program for the city of
milville Mo the resolution second motion there you go VI it okay we have motion and second on resolution under 8 any comments roll call please commissioner hwit yes vice mayor Watson yes
commissioner C yes commissioner suie yes mayor renck yes Okay resolution item number nine is a resolution authorizing an extension of the shared services agreement with the Atlanta County Utilities Authority for an additional one-year term through to
December 31st 2025 with the exception of an increase for solid waste collection based on the October CPI of 3.38% which will take effect on April 1st 2025 make a motion and with that I have certifications of funds from Susan corz
our Chief Financial Officer in the amount of $86,900 second motion we have motion second on resolution item number nine any comments roll call please commissioner hwit yes vice mayor Watson yes commissioner
casabon yes commissioner suie yes mayor raminick yes resolution item number 10 is a resolution authorizing a shared services agreement with the kland county Improvement Authority and Landis sewage Authority for the joint funding of a household hazardous waste day with a
contribution amount of $88,000 per agency make a motion and with that I have certification of funds from Susan corz in the amount of $8,000 second motion Motion in second
resolution item number 10 any comments yes this is something that we do yearly three times a year and I believe the first one is April the 12th this is free to the city you take your stuff that you can't get rid of and take it out there yep no thank you roll call
please commissioner hwit yes vice mayor Watson with the mention of L start I'm still allowed the vote correct you probably should you probably should abstain commissioner casabon yes
commissioner sui yes mayor Ramic yes new business oh new business item number one is a motion to authorize the following special event and public lands application pending approvals uh first it's Laurel Lake Triathlon sponsored by
distinguished quality LLC events at 2011 Southwest Lakeshore Drive on Saturday July 26 2025 at 88 a.m. the second event is a festival sponsored by the Le boy theater on Wednesday May 7th 2025 on High Street from 9:00 a.m. to 2: p.m.
make motion second motion we have a motion second on business item number one any comments roll call please commissioner huitt yes vice mayor Watson yes commissioner cabon yes commissioner suie yes mayor romic yes new business item number two is a
motion to authorize the deputy municipal clerk to advertise for bids for the following project HVAC Maintenance and Service contract for sewer utility water utility and public properties so move second we have Motion in second on new
business item number two any comments roll call please commissioner hwit yes vice mayor Watson yes commissioner casabon yes commissioner suie yes mayor raminick yes we have now reached the public comment portion of our meeting anyone who would like to address the commission
please go to the podium state your name address your concerns and please limit your comments to approximately 5 minutes thank you good evening my name is jida Morales and my address is 801 North A Street in mville I'm want to I'm here for a concern that I'm going to be on my third
week on Friday I had dealt with a lot of employees in this building for the past 3 weeks I'm not getting no response um I did email the mayor but I was told that he was on vacation and that's why I have not got a respond from you um I have a
problem back on 2018 in the street my sewer line kind of like burst um I was single mom making a long story short I got one of the grants from you guys that helped me fix the problem the contractors came open the road and I have a lean against my house 6 months
later the same issue came back 2019 now supposedly he's not the sewer but it is in the same SE line I have videos and pictures now I had another lean against my house to get a new Plumbing completely in my property years pass Valentine of this year I hear a pring issue in my house I
have the same sewer line B burst again with every feces everything you can name all over my body called the city the city respond was like it's my responsibility they can't do nothing about it I don't think it's fair it's the same issue from back 2018 the only thing I'm getting back it was it was a
one-year contract in between that year the same line got burst I have documentation that they had to put new pipes completely on this road and they never did because of the sewer line they they put a camera in the sewer line they noticed that was those those pipes were
never replaced completely they only had certain patches was replaced so not only the city of milville put against my house $155,000 they want me again to get another lean to get this fixed I have a daughter in my house we barely can't even take showers I can barely take good
washing dishes I had to go to my mom to wash clothes or to the laundry mat I think my I would like this to be resolved I know it's not a major thing to of a one day I know it takes time but how long it's going to take for me to get a response from somebody from the municipality that this is going to be
resolved the only thing I'm getting back is you need to get another lean you getting another lean no I'm not the job was not done right on 2018 or 2019 it's the same sewer line in front of my home being birthed I have videos pictures and I have not yet got an answer so I'm
sorry this is my first time here but I feel like I have to speak because I this is for me is an an emergency I need my water I'm scared to even use the bathroom and flush it because I'm getting all the water back inside my property and I'm only getting response saying I'm doing
my best I can I'm doing my best I can and I understand they are doing their best they can but it's not an answer for me as a single mom with a child in my house I need my water to be resolved and I don't think it's fair that it has to be from my pocket the job was done it was paid why
didn't I calling these contractors and say come back and fix the job that you did back in 2018 that's my my concern I just want like an answer cuz I'm not getting anything it's going to be three weeks on Friday that I am not utilizing my hour my water properly I'm
buying food outside cuz I'm scared to wash dishes cuz I'm afraid this water is going to come back up thank you thank you ma'am hello Bob fry 14 North Third Street um I'm here to address a problem
that's occurring almost in my backyard um it has to do with homeless people at the uh Christ Evangelical Church um it's gotten way way out of hand um there's all kinds of drug activity going on it's
becoming a health hazard um a true health hazard I brought pictures if anyone would like to see them um it it's uh there's a dumpsters worth of trash on the church property now um feces needles dope bags um and this is
literally 30 feet away from my property my house um in the morning we get to watch while we have our morning coffee guys smoking crack on the porch of the church now I've been to the the police and they are all aware of it they know
the uh characters by name but a woman from the church who I spoke to and wouldn't give me her name um because she didn't know who I was um she informed the police that she didn't have a problem with these people living
on her porch because and and starting a fire because the porch is made out of a concrete the roof isn't but the porch is um this is this has been ongoing now for at least a month it can't go on any
longer um something something has to be done the from what I understand the police can't even trespass these people because this knucklehead gave permission to build fires it's ridiculous I'm I'm hoping
that you guys somebody on the commission can do something about this um if you want to see pictures I'll take them I got them you might even see somebody in know all right your phone number on back
phone number no guar uh well I'll guarantee that something's going to get done I mean it just seems uh I don't know I don't understand there has to be something done um whether it's
me if I had to hire an attorney something will get done um I've been over there to talk to these people um they don't they don't care you know I mean you get a place to get high and it's it's out of the weather I get it I know people homeless people it's a huge
problem here in town huge problem um just really frustrated thanks for your time this trash on the property maybe code enforcement Patricia Clark KS when you have a circumstance like that doesn't it fall under nuisance property
where code enforcement can go out and deal with this yeah there would be a couple departments involved um that's why I want pi and my other comment is I appreciate the time constraints for
questions but I feel um it's not fair to the taxpayers who for the most part are up here not to cause a problem they're up here because they care and they want answers and they want to understand um all of my questions weren't answered
so I will submit them in writing to in EMA by email and uh hopefully I'll get a response that way so I really don't think it's fair to the citizens thank you good evening Tamara Davis um I just
have a uh some prepared comments and then I have a couple questions and this pertains to and I know there will be a second reading on this at the next meeting pertaining to the Lieutenant's positions fiscal responsibility and Public Safety
are not mutually exclusive they must work together to ensure the best use of taxpayer dollars investing in Frontline officers and other essential City departments and services should take priority over expanding management roles
unless a clearly defined and absolute need is demonstrated simply adding more supervisory positions does not necessarily lead to safer Community nor does it ensure retaining officers what it does is create animosity and a decrease in morale
amongst other city employees and departments especially those that remain understaffed and underfunded a balanced and Common Sense approach ensures that financial resources are allocated effectively addressing both immediate Public Safety
Staffing concerns and other Department's long-term improvements responsible spending strengthens public trust and ensures all departments have the support they need to serve of the community if you're going to do this for the police department you're going to have to do it across the board it is not fair to
choose one department and expand management and other employment opportunities of this if you're not doing it for the rest of them there's other departments that are just as desperate for management and other positions and if your thought process is that this will retain employees then you
should be doing ordinance for every other department so they could retain employees as well and that I know is not very f phally fiscally responsible cuz that's going to take a lot of money and it just seems like and I
I I respect deeply what the police do I see it every day I see him zooming all up and down Second Street they've helped me a lot being where I live I have no disrespect or ill will towards uh the previous Chief and the current chief and
any other officer but it seems like the Police Department is getting more and more and more without consideration what's going on with the rest of departments we could use more coding enforcements we could use more zoning we could use more housing inspectors and these are things that could directly
support the safety and and the and the um the way the with quality of life in this city and if the quality of life improves crime does tend to go down so I hope you consider that I will probably be adding more um comments on
the second reading next meeting um probably more detail once I do a little asking around and and discussion I'm also hoping that there could be a compromise perhaps reducing the amount of Sergeants just
saying now the other um questions I have and this has to do with the water meter replacement I know you me U Mr Watson you mentioned that there will be uh letters going out but is there somewhere there's going to be um on this website City website or somewhere a schedule of
which sections of town will be worked on I could work on that okay I mean then and something displayed on the um on that uh particular you know uh issue now the other thing I want to say there actually two other things that I want to say that's a little more
personal um Mr Watson um you mentioned during the work session regarding this police uh the lieutenants I'm a teacher I work at bridon High School there's one thing that I've noticed in my 20 years of teaching the more people
I have over us teachers the more micromanaged we are I've experienced it many many many many times okay when you have a superintendent four assistant superintendent directors
supervisors it's very similar to having an extreme amount of Sergeants and lieutenants you could look at it that way there's a shortage of teachers no shortage no shortage of Administrators okay so it's very difficult for a teacher to move up and get an
administrative position so I think you're thinking slightly flawed in respectfully take it that way because I it's no guarantee that it will retain police officers because one of the biggest reasons why teachers leave
other than money is working conditions and a lot of that working conditions has to be how the management comes from above and yes the state is included in that as well and the school boards um and the other thing I would like to do and I would like to give you
guys some respect and um no disrespect to miss kier's but of of all the commissions that I have witnessed You by far are the best as far as keeping Communications with the taxpayers you at least answer questions and you don't ignore or belittle or
condescend nobody in the city does that we have had previous commissions up here specifically the most recent that would just stare at you and all you would hear is crickets so although um I agree with the question back and forth it can get a little
lengthy your uh desire to connect with us and communicate with us I do truly appreciate so thank you thank you M Davis Tim again commissioner kasibu want to thank your department for
um my mother-in-law got a new couch the old one went to the street they missed it my wife called and they came out and got it thank you thank you very much commissioner Hood what do you define as not much going on because didn't we just have
three shootings with three different victims in one day last week am I Am I Wrong tell me I'm wrong no you're not wrong and I'm not going to sit here and debate them with a resident no matter who you are okay I don't care I'm I'm a res like everybody else
commissioner and we deserve the truth and we've been lying to this city for 3 years thank you I've been doing it pretty good dinner I guess huh thank you Mr singan thank you commissioner H Mary mess here of milville yes I
agree we do need more boots on the street but the major problem that I can see why we don't seem to be getting a lot of people that want to be police officers and I'm speaking for the fact
that I know I've got two officers within my family they're State boys but nonetheless it all comes down to pay and the fact
that they can sit there arrest them for what they're doing wrong by the time they've got all the eyes and the te's and the dots dotted crossed and put where they belong the Ink's not even dry and
they're back out on the street again there seems to be no consequences yes I understand you guys don't make the rules our judges don't really make the rules they have to follow the law so we
keep writing and we keep hollering but we need to have consequences when you were disciplined as a child your parent told you not to do something you did it anyhow you had a consequence we need to be a little more
stricter and give this I myself I stand not behind the police officers I stand with them I know what it's like I've seen the things that these guys go through as well as these women
they're putting their life on the line to protect us we need to do something to help them and that's possibly a very good reason why we're losing officers left and right I can remember when I first came to this town we had more
officers we had different departments we had Community police officers we had bicycle patrols I barely see that now but I'm not here to knock what we're what we do have what I'm asking for is
think hard and long before you make a decision on getting more people to supervise apparently the supervision we have seems to be doing fairly well so
why keep adding it unless you want to put a notation in your say about future when we have more officers on the street and we have a full force to add these people and I
thank you thank you Miss mzik Lyn Pera milville your job as Commissioners is to improve the city of mville in the most coste effective way for the past seven years taxes have gone up substantially and yet the city is still in financial trouble and again
you're about to to raise taxes you're raising taxes at a time of uncertainty and increasing cost you should be concerned how a tax increase will affect the citizens lives homeowners and renters both will be affected the citizens in milville have to decide what they will give up to pay for this tax
increase it is time for the Commissioners to decide what they will give up in their departments so taxes will not be increased continuing to raise taxes will only result in more foreclosures more empty and abandoned homes and businesses you need to start looking at other sources of income that
do not affect the taxpayers and these funds to avoid a tax increase there's uez money there's cdbg money there's home money there's MPP money you just hired a consultant for this coming year for the MPP Grant to put in an application you should all be meeting
with her to discuss how she can help your department instead of letting her come up with how the money is spent you can do that at a work session then the public can be informed the first meeting discussing the cdbg money has happened last week every year the city's received this Grant from the federal government
the money in the grant is substantial it's over $500,000 this money can be used by every Department in the city every commissioner should look at how a portion of this money can be used in their department for example it can be used for policemen it can be used for
Parks roads sewer water and code enforcement mayor romic this is your department you should be educating all the Commissioners about this grant you should be working working together and discussing uses for this grant this can be done again at a work session mayor romik decided a committee should
determine how to use the grant money and determine the plan for the next five years you as a commission should be doing this it's time for all the Commissioners to look at your departments think how you can offset your budgets it's your job to research and decide what are the priorities for
your department and work together across the Departments to run the city each department cannot get everything at once it's time to make tough decisions and make some budget cuts this is done by open honest discussions at the work session and commission meetings and by
looking at alternative means to get the funds thank you thank you Miss Pera seeing no one further I will close public comment portion of the meeting closing comments of Commissioners commissioner Hu yes I'm going to be a little careful
here I do really enjoy the people like to come up to that microphone and take off without you know getting an answer to them uh so be it I'm the director of Public Safety I'm here to uh take care of making sure that the
Departments have what they need to the best of our ability our ability does not include just the department and myself as public safety director it includes this whole this whole commission it will include a whole new commission starting
January uh I am not here to answer residents and give them a police report on ongoing investigations and such I don't do that I'm not going to do that I realize I'm talking to all you folks the one that asked is go
normal play you know how you find out what goes on in public safety when I ran for off office it took me 3 months 364 signatures to get this seat and the people put me here folks
there ought to be three dozen four dozen people running an election in November it takes 50 signatures to get these seats to get up here and run for these seats but everything we got out there fix this between Facebook and everything else there should be four dozen people
running for these seats everybody seems to have the answers we're trying everybody's up here working but we are not a news reporting system I especially in my position I am not sorry I'm talking to you guys that way uh it's meant for somebody else
who'll look at the video of this tomorrow or something when he wakes up with that that's all mayor thank you commissioner Hu commissioner suie sure so first to address not
answering all the questions at this time so you know I only have so much information in front of me uh that one meeting I gave out information that wasn't entirely correct it was off a little bit the next week all I heard about was
how I gave out the wrong information so if I don't have the information in front of me you're going to have to wait for an email response or you can emailemail me before the meeting and I'll attempt to have it at that time uh no I'm watching
[Music] and you know it's it's a little difficult because uh you know I know one of our commissioners up here freezes his taxes he mentioned it before he's not going to pay any increase in taxes I don't know if there's more than one or
not but I'm convinced that some Commissioners must hate the taxpayers because this tax raise is going to be horrendous now I hope Mr Watson has some kind of estimate now I have my own estimate from talking to people I don't
know if he has one or not if you're going to add a lieutenant you should be waiting till after you get the budget numbers to see where the tax raise is see what the tax increase is people may have a different opinion if they they want to do it then or not now there are there are several
things that we're not doing and it's not from my lack of trying I've been told to stay in my own lane so we're not coordinating the use of cdb and uee funds to offset items included in
the ordinary budget it's almost like you read my piece of paper here we we have combined contracts and that makes it easy easier for the professional staff but it may increase the cost of to the taxpayers if we can
save $2,000 a month that's $240,000 a year that's a over a penny and a half on the tax rate now that may not seem like much but when you start adding it up and it comes out to 89 10 11 cents you're going to think otherwise we also have been purchasing
new equipment rather than repair of older equipment when possible we've also been using now more State cont contracts than going out for bid and getting quotations which is not always cheaper we could always go out for bid and reject bids if they're
higher than the state contract we can't do it the other way and that really needs to be done more again it's easier and faster for for for the professional staff but it's not necessarily saving you guys any money soon we're going to have that
budget to vote on and that tax increase is probably going to be the L one presented in the history of our city I'm convinced of that I hope I am wrong but I am convinced of that and the actions over the last four months particularly are going to be a cause of that now we have to pay the
police more money there's no doubt about that absolutely I support the police but they do not exist in a vacuum the entire city has to be taken care of many of you here are running for office and I hope you're paying
attention now I'm going to invite you guys to use your resources very wisely because tonight's vote's kind of reflect that knowledge and expertise of my fellow Commissioners and I don't think some of you consider the long-term
implications of what you're doing so you you really need really really need to think about that I'm very concerned about the tax rate um now just for a little rumor control a couple things I heard that
are one of them's a little ridiculous that there's a team silly running for the next election there's not anybody it tells you that is either a fool or a liar so take that for what it's worth second as we approach a new election
you're going to be approached by probably American order company all the candidates are to buy our water and sewer system they do it every time there's an election it's my understanding that some are planning to sell it when I was told about this the second time I got in office I
immediately sent an email to the department heads of the Water and Sewer Department saying I am not doing this I am not for this if you're going to do that be very careful you'll get a nice big chunk of change up front and then you're going to have a problem and with that Mr Mayor
progress thank you commissioner suie commissioner casabon I don't really have much to say um other than commissioner su's long-term implications of what we are doing yes and that's why I believe firmly and I
continue to work this is my goal for this year is communication is the key to success of this city thank you that's all I have to say thank you commissioner kasab VI May Watson y away
uh for the resident of 801 North A Street um would you like me to answer your concern publicly or talk to you aside after the meeting okay sounds good um do you mind joining me because that involves both of
our departments problem perfect which one you two I'll Stand in with him because I I do know I think it's going to be better for better for him yeah fine uh I want to start off with good things
I guess um I want to thank Chief liping cot uh you know for his extended years of service to the fire department um I want to congratulate uh Chief wetstein Captain Scott Haley and new firefighter I know I'm going to mess
this up Nicholas vadana V did it I got close congratulations I I wasn't going to [Laughter] try bonad Don we already touched base um we're
going to go to Second ordinance or second reading um for the new lieutenant um maybe I can get with the chief with your permission you don't you don't you don't need my permission to talk to any of my departments no commissioner here does see if we can get
like a little breakdown to make it um understandable for the residents and how important this is um you know everybody keeps saying supervision supervision well lieutenant and Sergeant they're not there just for supervisions they also have other tasks and responsibilities that they need to take care of all footage from police officers for example
needs to be reviewed and monitored well that's being held up by a sergeant right now that Sergeant should be out with boots on the ground with the Department well if we have a new lieutenant that oversees that they're going to stay back at the station they can review the cameras and I'm sure there's a long list
of uh other responsibilities uh this just the only one that's coming to my mind right now uh uh I like sewer and water uh it's just been my background um I've been in public service ever since I was 18 years old um but for some reason I kind of
like this field probably because I'm comfortable with it with the experience I have so working with the superintendent and this has been a discussion probably for the past three years um because when I used to work for the sewer department uh you know six or seven years ago whatever it was now um
there was a pilot study for the watering um dewatering equipment um I remember Comm line Sanderson I can't remember how many years but I would probably tell you they're probably 30 to 35 years old and I don't remember off the top of my head but I could tell you that there was one instance in the past two years that we
paid $100,000 to get backup parts for the equipment that to sold the tww was approved some while ago I think we only have like one or two more years left on that tww and uh I was you know as I became a commissioner it was something I was pushing for because
was kind of an instant savings once this project was complete um and basically the idea behind it and the goal is to save more money associated with the cost of sludge disposal uh we're already doing so as the sewer department um is now disposing
waste instead of incineration ACA they're going to syro um but there is further savings because we could reach a higher percent solid um it's already in the works with the superintendent with sewer and engineering trying to create a um not a
proposal but maybe a presentation to the commission to try to push for this this year um commissioner commissioner kasb and I like I stated we had a a meeting down at streets and Roads and uh just to give you an example the department heads are coming forward you know the
department head of streets and Roads uh you know they need equipment uh not only did he say that he needed equipment but he also had somewhat of an idea on how we're going to do it and he presented a sit down and this Friday we're going to have a sit down with the salesperson of the vehicle because I believe there's some kind of Grant I don't know which
what it is possible trade in yes we're going to evaluate it evaluate it uh just one example uh just that as I thought up here um I was voted in position in
December for vice mayor revenue and finance so basically I don't like the change of narratives or the narratives that fits a certain commissioner the decisions that I've made or the department that I've ever seen for the past 3 months in that time
frame isn't going to raise your taxes and if somebody wants to put that on me I could bear that weight because I think us as a city not receiving Municipal tax increases has put us in a situation that we are in now not saying that I want my my tax is raised I have all my family
that live in milville my best friends living in milville I don't want to put that burden on them by no means and that's why I'm here trying to sit in a seat and try to make decisions that I feel is best for the city I have not made any decision to be up here that helped
myself for the Departments I oversee now I could tell you that just like any other departments that I worked with in milville they're underst staffed they're stripped we can't afford to pertain people that are experienced we have a reputation here
that it's hard to draw vital positions to make the city work and it's frustrating and trying to S change that perception and try to explain to these people that were interviewing it's just so disheartening for example you mean
there's going to be mistakes um you know one of the things that just coming on top of my head and just might be put me in a bad position or whatever but you know we have a part-time qpa you know a city of this size should not have a part-time qpa we should have a full-time qpa here to work with all the
Departments and that position just for example ties into so many other departments all the Departments including K Clerk's floor and it puts strenuous more strain on them because they're correcting mistakes there's no suc no succession
plans in some of the Departments I oversee now which obviously just like with a municipal clerk leaving put this in a hardship we basically have two clerks running that floor that's why it was important for me to thank Joan and her
team for putting this meeting together working hard to support PBA and fmba negoti negotiations how to be settled but you know it goes a lot further than that uh you know Council 18 Parks streets and roads sewer water everybody in the city
building you know they're all in the same situation where all the Departments have been stripped and Lal Manpower I could say that there was four people here that showed up for the PBA and fmba negotiations because I feel that they support that calls and going back to the police
department I had a couple side notes uh you know comparing them to other departments I I think that's you can't you can't compare the police department and the pressure that they're under that constant camera inyour face mentality and what this world has put them
under you know it it might not bring in new boots on the ground but if we do fill these Lieutenant positions right away at least that's two experienced police officers or two sergeants that stay with the police department and can guide
newcomers at least with that experience as we have the turnover new police officers come in five or six at a time and three or four of them leave at least we have experienced police officers being the sergeants and lieutenants in the office guiding them the right
way if an inexperienced officer makes a mistake who's paying for it city right so that's all I have thank you vice mayor
Watson talk with her Robert I see your pictures I will get these pictures to my code enforcement and we'll start with that trash cleanup it's always uh the when The Who and the hell and the what comes
afterwards but there's at least five or six people on that back porch every single I know they don't have any place to go and I hate to be a a n person but I don't want
thatly don't want to while understood sir we get thank [Music] you Miss Davis thank you thank you mayor if I can go ahead something
just came to mind I put a little side note I just seen it here the talks of selling the sewer and water I've been in this field for a long time I remember when we were in contract negotiations when somebody was sit on his commission you know there was a threat of them selling us uh I don't know if that was a you know negotiations tactic or what it
was uh working in this field that I understand that there's going to be a huge increase if anybody like American Water takes us over so to stop that rumor and all the Facebook blasting and everything else I'm going to tell you right now there is
no talk no talk with me or my department heads or engineering about me trying to push to sell water and sewer that's that's all I if anybody else is then ain't me see we said president can I for the record I wasn't speaking to you Mr well
just to be clear I want to make sure then I'm verify it's on the record see we said the president could I have just a moment I mean we said it go ahead I'm G clear up one thing my property taxes are not
frozen I have a PTR it's called a property tax rebate I pay my taxes just like everybody else does in this town at the end of the year I'll get my increase back not from this city I pay my city taxes anybody
over 65 can get this you get it back when you do your income taxes yes I pay my taxes thank you former vice mayor L thank you excuse me since you started the president we so if you're getting your
taxes back I don't know addition and subtraction comes out you don't have to pay an increase anyway that's all I'm going thank thank you thank no okay no more precedence thank you Miss Pera thank you for your comments yes I did set up a cdgb
committee with a Public Employee a City Commissioner and a other City member that's well involved in our community it's also underneath Sean fry the business manager for the fifth floor which directly receives all this supervision of managing the fifth
floor but I do agree we could work better and have more involvement with the rest of us including the commission and working and using our work sessions other than just to debate a future you know argue about a topic upcoming that
you get my point but thank you for your words um and I will leave the good things to the congratulations to the new fire chief congratulations to Michael lipincott Captain Scott Haley and one of
Nick B There You Go Nicholas Mr Nick um I will be participating with re Across America tomara at the child family center with superintendent uh matone so I look forward to that I appreciate each and every one of of you coming here tonight
uh giving your concerns your comments those watching um everybody in audience that were was here earlier to see the wonderful uh promotions and this sad retirement of Chief lipcott but it's progress made it's progress that will continue to be made
here in our city the city of Melville New Jersey so I thank each and every one of you motion for adjournment makeig motion all in favor