--------- I'd like to call the work session meeting to order. Roll call, please. Mayor Romanik, here. Commissioner Hwitt, here. Commissioner Suie, here. Vice Mayor Watson, here. Commissioner Kasabun, here. May we please stand to salute the flag. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the
United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. This meeting is being conducted in accordance with the open public meeting 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. Madam clerk, are there any changes to the agenda? There are none, mayor. Presentations. We have a presentation on the annual safety presentation by Hardenberg Insurance
Group. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Welcome, sir. Good evening. Thank you. Good evening everyone. Can you go to the microphone please? Yeah, you'll get picked up on the microphone. Joe Henry Harden Insurance. Am I on? Yes, sounds like it.
We are the risk manager for city of Milville and it's a requirement that every once a year topic every year will be the threshly. I would like to note that you
do have a very active safety committee with all department represent and the main focus is to discuss injuries that occur on the job and see if they don't occur again. So getting to this heat leading cause of death among all weather related
phenomen scenario death simply put when it gets excessively hot we have a heat wave your workers are at risk act 1970 states employees are required to provide a safe working environment hazards for
all employees since 2021 OSHA has working on a heat injury and prevention standard and that standard will be done any day as they say. So as you can see it's been working for a 4year period. The purpose of the heat stress policies
to recognize the dangers working in excessive heat assess that situation properly control the workplace so your employees are not at risk. Can be done two ways administratively and with your supervisors. Through an administrative way consider modified work which I'm
sure you already do. Most towns typically in a heat wave will start at 6 versus 8, finish up at 2 versus 4. That's already taken care self pacing and extra breaks if needed shall be encouraged and a corporate buddy system which is in my opinion the most
important thing look out for each other. We had an incident at Wayne County a couple years ago. Uh there was a longtime employee dedicated employee was not looking well according to of The other worker said something to his boss. Boss said,
"Charlie, go sit down. You're not looking good." He did not want to hear any of it. He wanted to continue working. They insisted he sit down. They got shade. He did not seem to get any better. They called 911. As a result, he had a mild heart attack. He
continer had not seen anybody not looking well it's a possibility could have been much worse so what he says is very important supervisor's responsibility will be scheduling as I mentioned most activities before after the hottest part of the day provide
water and shade monitor those break times and ensure that your employees are safe also periodically review your policy to ensure it meets regulatory standards you must have this policy in place which I'll touch on in a little bit. Sure the training is happening and
being documented and be aware monitor your local weather. If you do have a heat wave coming you want to get out ahead of it to be prepared. Employee responsibilities will be to attend and participate in any training and I mentioned training anything you can
imagine in a municipal government setting. Training is available through the gym. Follow the heat stress prevention measures. your teammates to follow that program and it's important that they monitor themselves as well and as previously mentioned take appropriate
action somebody is not feeling well designate your employees to schedule you want to designate employee supervisor DPW training make sure to stress policy and see that it's delivered hydration is
key most important thing employees must have access to drinking water for employee for ship should be made available. That will be in the policy. Moving on to page 12 illness. We have cramps. We've all
suffered from cramps. You go ahead, you get hydrated, take a rest. In all likelihood, you'll be better and ready to go back to work. Heat exhaustion is the first form of heat stroke. If it's not taken care of properly, you can see the symptoms there. We don't want that
to work with the heat stroke. at any time anybody feels serious enough by all means call 911. So in conclusion from safety committee standpoint the health and welfare of the employees is paramount objective is to see that each employee returns home safely the way
they came to work available for their standards are designed to make this happen and as a consult chief Montgomery who we work in conjunction with is your partner achieving this goal their safety team has already developed a template to
comply illness requirements. So Pam's aware of that. You simply go into the gym website, you look it up, it's thereable form. You just put in city, you print it, you have it available with your other policies, and if you do
have that, thank you, John. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Discussion of commissioners. Commissioner Huitt. I'll uh wait for the regular meeting.
Thank you. Commissioner Suie High Street parking. We want to do the public comment on agenda items. Yeah. Public comment on agenda items only. If anybody from the public would like to come to the podium, state your name. Lim your concerns. Five
minutes. Seeing no one, I will close public comment on agenda items. Commissioner Suie, go ahead. Thank you for the reminder. So, I put on here a discussion on High Street parking. So, you all received the email. It was forwarded from Mr. Cowsy uh for
benefit of the public. It says, uh, "Good day, Mr. Cowsy. I tried stopping by today. However, you were obviously not available. In previous years, the city of Milville leased the parking lot from Riggins Incorporated. However, a few years ago, the city opted not to
renew the lease as it was deemed not necessary. We took over the lease as a result of the city's decision. However, now that the parking lot behind the Old Bank of America and Shannon Funeral Home have been fenced in, nurses, staff, and
visitors of JC Plaza have begun to occupy our leased parking lot. I wanted to see if there were some options or shall I merely file a permit to put up a fence and tow notice/private property. I have attached the PDF
highlighted and attached the PDF highlighted the location in question. Now I will add this. So as I've been visiting various establishments on high street to see what problems are, needs are etc. Inadequate parking is up there. lack of
feeling, safe, police presence, and inadequate lighting. So, I will continue to go to center city and visit and see what they say. So, the city leasing the parking lot will not solve the parking problem. It It doesn't solve the
problem. It's going to be the same people parking there. And I understand Jim's lunch is concerned about parking for their patrons, but that doesn't solve a problem. The problem is lack of parking places. Now, the city owns 114 Smith Street, which is the dirt part of
the parking lot. The state also owns property on 24 East Oak Street. So, they owe back taxes on that. We're in the process of foreclosing. They wish to deed that to the city and tax collector's office is
doing their due diligence to make diligence to make sure that that's possible. And they the D contacted us as, you know, my departments were public property. So, if we do take that, there's room for seven parking places there. El Guacamole has requested a
parking space space be designated as short-term parking for the same reason because the bank the parking lot all around the bank is closing so that people can pick up takeout orders. The Levo Theater, you know, as you guys know, has problems with loading and unloading during shows and then dropping
off children for classes. Perhaps we should consider a drop off zone there. So, and in the back of the house parking lot, there's buses that park there that take up additional parking places. So, I had previously asked the
commission to consider turning Buck Street into oneway parking and without with adding while adding angle parking and you guys didn't want to do that. You might want to reconsider it. If so, great. If not, fine. It could be one way in either direction. So,
uh, I ask you guys to come up with a plan and I await your consideration and comments either today or at some future meeting. I know that the state is doing uh what they call bumpouts on most of the intersections on High Street from
the side streets. that is adding to additional pedestrian safety um at the cost of parking places while minimizing the loss of parking spots is per DOT's and our engineering department's goal of
that parking wise yes you know the buses I've hear from many people there's three I think yeah three they take up what's that at least six spots Um I mean parking garage would be
nice but because the but they take the buses home. Correct. The buses when I go there are sitting behind in the parking lot. The buses belong to the Kai Kao uh company on High Street. Really? And
from this looking into it that I've done, they actually have like a morning drop off daycare for younger kids and stuff and they use those buses to take the kids to the school. School. Okay. Uh but yeah, uh there's got to be something
we can do there because I know I just dealt with I just I just dealt with a situation that, you know, basically we have an ordinance in town that says nothing over 20 feet long can be parked on a city street uh that we're dealing with in a certain area of town because somebody's decided to park their 40 foot
motor home on the side of the street and naturally the residents have the right to complain about that. Uh so we're working on that. Uh there's got to be something we could probably do. I don't know. I I don't know. Do you think of I
mean I parking study like angled parking instead of perpendicular. I mean parallel parking. You don't have enough room for that. Especially with the trucks going through. Yeah. You don't have enough room for that. Why didn't it?
Who owns the property between Cavals and Roo? The chicken place. The old Firestone. The old Yeah, it burnt down, right? Yeah. So, they Yeah, they're lot there. They're the lot owners.
Yeah, that would have to be asked downstairs, but I think that's still owned by the family or descendant of the family after the fire happened decades ago when they cleared it out. Mhm. 225 227 North High Tire Street. Look that up on
there. If you were going to pay if you were going to pay taxes on now. Okay. Well, food for thought there from all of us. Vice Mayor Watson. Any input? Anything else? Commissioner Subie? It's all I have. Commissioner Cosman? No.
Vice Mayor Watson? for my discussion. Yep. Yep. Work session. Um well, welcome uh Emily Dylan as our municipal clerk. Uh I'll do like a little bit more of a formal introduction come discussion of commissioners with a regular session, but welcome and thank
you for coming. Thank you uh for still moving forward with union negotiations. Uh this week we already we met with S SOA already. Uh later this week we're'll be meeting with council 18. Um, also for I wanted to add this in work session for one of the agenda items, uh,
Pleasant Drive improvements. Um, engineering had an update and it's into in tonight's agenda. Like I said, um, the second six-month award extension is required to allow extending the project award deadline to November 22nd,
2025. This will be in line with the MA 2023 deadline of November 1st, 2025. In discussion with the New Jersey DOT, the second extension is required to allow completion of a water utility infrastructure improvement which could be um considered if the design package
is submitted along with the city uh resolution of support. Um but other than that, that's all I have. Yeah, I was talking with engineer about Pleasant Drive project. I got a directly from DOT uh paperwork side issued. So I
know that is uh funneling through on the engineering side that thank you mayor vice mayor Watson I have nothing for this time new business seeing none public comment portion we have now reached public comment portion of our meeting anyone from the public would
like to address the commission please go to the podium state your name address your concerns and please limit your comments to approximately five minutes to Davis In regards to the parking on High Street and your concerns about it, first off,
I'm sure you read the proposed or the draft master plan on page 37. There's a paragraph that the recommendation is to do a downtown parking study. I wouldn't necessarily, you know, want to pay for a parking study unless you could start
enforcing certain rules um to force people to park in public parking. So, if you start creating ordinances or using just general law regulations to have people
forced into public parking lots, then you could probably get a better assessment of who's parking lots. Um, one of the biggest problem is that there's a lot of residents that park the lots, some of them for a long time and the cars just sit there or they're abandoned there.
And apparently it takes a lot for our car to be to So if you start utilizing any laws that you haven't any rules, you know, to clear off any public parking and try to push people into parking into those areas, that might give you a better idea
of what's going on as far as who's parking where. Um, as far as the buses, you might want to go back as far as I think about 2019 or 2018 when the Taekwondo place to get their zoning permission. One of the things was they
were not to be operating as a has school buses. So what's the definition of a school? If you have school buses at a school um and that and those three buses take up to eight parking spots and some of them. So I mean you may be concerned
about parking but you need to look at what is going on in lots. There's no lines that are painted. Residents just leave their cars. There's abandoned cars and there's more public parking than you think. You mentioned the cabin. There's an entire parking lot behind cabin parking.
So before you go and changing traffic patterns, deciding that you need slant parking or this and that the other thing, start setting up ordinances. Start paying attention to some rules that you could follow. Start forcing people to park in those blocks so maybe you can
understand what's thank you. Go ahead, Watson. Um Tamara was speaking and I don't know why I didn't think of this before because it used to be my job. That was my first full-time job at high school. Um, you know, what about a part-time parking enforcement officer bringing that back? Um, you know, if you just throwing it
out there, I don't know if it's something that we're going to be doing or not, but you know, if the parking lot goes back to lease for the gym's lunch, you know, it's an area that a part-time parking enforcement officer can go over there and evaluate, you know, at a certain time, two hours used to be, I
think it was, but something to look into. Definitely. Yep. Good evening commissioners and I came tonight for a separate issue but it actually ties in to what Commissioner was saying. I wasn't sure
if you were all aware uh but the uh encampments on public property are growing exponentially over the last few months. greatly concerned because they may be approaching uh public property but right now it's I
mean on private property right now it's public property issue um the old walking trail right now is you'd be amazed to see what it looks like. Um my concern is god forbid there's a fire back there. I don't
know if our um fire department care of that fire if it's accessible. I'm asking you guys not to ignore this issue. Um I'm asking you to go check it out for yourselves. Take a
walk. I know one or two of you have taken a walk with me last year and it's doubled or tripled in size asking you to be proactive rather than reactive. Um, we have an ordinance for
this. Rather than enforce it on private property, it's time that we enforce it or at least examine how to take care of this and look for options with county. Um, but you really need to look at it in
person and see it for yourself because it's really you were talking about parking on High Street. Commissioner, you mentioned um lighting safety. I don't really think so much. It's a parking issue. I feel like we all live in the same town here and sometimes
I get confused because I feel like everybody's looking at something that I'm not. There's plenty of parking, but it's further away from the places like the Lavoy or El Guacamole. Nobody wants to walk in. Um you need to make it more walkable. Uh lighting is definitely
still an issue. You can drive by a buck park at any time. It's still pitch black in front. That makes me worried for all. Uh right now, 2,000 ft away, you have a car parked right outside of here that's been
there for 4 days. There's people living and they're hanging out on the docks at night. And I don't know how nobody sees this. Um so I'm asking you to look at this stuff with a lens and take a more proactive approach. Chicken verse egg. You can this town up and invite everybody here,
but unless you start cleaning it up, nobody's coming. If I may, mayor, so as part of the UE doing the sidewalks, we are adding additional lighting to certain parts to alleviate that problem. As for the
ordinance of keeping the homeless out of the parks, we really, we passed an ordinance that I don't know how you're going to enforce it. What are you going to do with them when you arrest them? You going to write them a ticket, tell them to go to court? you're going to take him to the county jail or whatever. They're not going to take him. They're not going to arrest them and
keep him, you know, for bail. So, you're right. It's a problem with the homeless. But I can't find anybody that has a solution for the homeless. Nobody. If anybody has it, I'm all
ears. I don't have it. If you guys have it, please tell me what it is. I've been looking for it. I've met with pastors, asked them what they thought. They didn't have a solution. The only thing that I read that worked was Miami stuck them on buses and sent them out. And we
have too much objection to do that here. Too many people are against that here. And I'm not saying that's kind and it's nice. And I'm not even saying we should do it. But it's the only thing I can find that worked. Other than that, I don't know what to tell you. We have people that invite them in to give them
food. We provide them with things. If you provide them with things, they will come. If you provide them with a park to stay in, guess what? They'll stay in the park. If you don't get them out of here, they're going to stay and more will come and the problem just compounds. I don't have the solution. I've been looking for
the solution for three and a half years. If anybody has a solution, please tell me. But don't tell me little houses because you won't be able to build enough of them. And the more that's the kind of stuff you do, the more homeless you will attract. So, I don't know if you guys have any
ideas, but No, I agree with you. If I if I may. Um, first one's a quick answer. Marissa, before you hold on, Commissioner. Uh, anybody else come to the podium on public comment? If not, I'll close public comment portion. Go ahead,
Commissioner Huitt. Uh, first one, forest fire. Luckily, we have four forest fire trucks in this city that residents are forest firefighters because anything along the river, no, we can't get to it with our equipment. So they come all the way along. Uh you and
I worked together on the ordinance, the homeless ordinance. Uh our population is growing down there on that river behind the old rescue squad and such and it is it's proof of how it
works. There was a decision made to clean the property out on the end of 8th Street going back towards the warehouses and the city participated in that. Guess where those folks
went? They're on the river now. Every time we move them, they find somewhere else to go. cuz uh I think we can all agree that we're that know about that that area at the end of 8th Street was cleaned up. All the pallet sheds were
removed and everything else. But now they built their pallet sheds over on the river from the back of the post office way past that one that you and I looked at that day. We worked we walked Yes, I agree. uh the ordinance we pretty
much knew there's nothing we can do because where do we put them? Where do we put them? I'm going to echo some I I don't even need to repeat it. I'll agree with Commissioner Suie on some that he said when you got places feeding them
seven days a week. It's a place to come. They come from Binland because they don't get fed seven days a week in Binland. But there's nothing we can do. We can't lock them up. We we can't lock them up. We could put them downstairs
and hold him cell for a couple hours usually till they sober up and such, but we can't lock them up. No judge is going to put them in jail. Uh and it's not just Milo. It's everywhere. Sadly, it's everywhere. I wish we had some meat in
that ordinance that you and I worked on with the chief, but there's nothing there. There's no way to enforce it unless a unless the law is allowed to enforce it. And unfortunately, I don't think it's just the city, it's the state level and it's now it's a national it's
everywhere. It has it has to go. But this is our city and I understand the concern. This is our However, I I did have a conversation with Marissa at one point and she had a very good valid point and she was turned down on it that a lot of these homeless will go home and
she had a suggestion of that we would provide the bus fair. But she was shot down. You know what? If my parents would take me back home, I'd go home if I was homeless. But where's home? Who shot that? Cuz I was going to say it wasn't shot down. We talked about this when we
ran. It wasn't shot down up through here. Yeah, it wasn't us. No, it wasn't us. It was not us, but she was told no. No, it's kind of like cruel. Can you help us there a little bit with that, Marissa? I I don't I this first I've heard it.
Yeah. No, it was just a private it was a conversation and it's a very good point that she brought up. I agree. A lot of them would go home, but where's home? How much does it cost us to send them home? Uh but I I I don't know. I don't have an answer. I don't have an answer.
The PD doesn't have an answer. The the judges don't have an answer. Correct. Nobody has an answer of what everybody will say just what we're saying up here. What do you want us to do with it? And I don't mean it to be mean, but if they want you back, then that's where
you should go to get the help. But again, I'd love to do something with 601. The call sign, the call address is 601 North High Street, right? I'd love to take that. We're talking about parking. That's our property. I was
going to visit this a little bit later down the road in another meeting because it was brought up to me by a resident. Why can't we make that into a parking lot, a city parking lot? There's not a lot down there. Granted, we need to do something about
that area. We're running this time of the year. We're running 8 10 calls there for the same three people. But the answer is what? What do we do? What can we do as a commission? I wish I knew.
That's all I got. Offiscate those three buses and send them home. Any closing comments from the commissioners? Thank you for the great good discussion. Seeing none resolutions. Yes, we have a resolution authorizing a close session for the following matters. Discussion of
conflict labor council, tower lease negotiation, and city of Milville solid waste collection agreement. Make motion. Second motion. Motion and second. Roll call, please. Commissioner Hwitt, yes. Vice Mayor Watson? Yes. Commissioner Kasabun? Yes. Commissioner
Suie? Yes. Mayor Roman? Yes. You open this one. She says microphone is not She sit back. Part: 2
I'd like to call the regular session meeting to order. Roll call, please. Mayor Roman, here. Commissioner Huitt, here. Commissioner Suie, here. Vice Mayor Watson, here. Commissioner Kasabun, here. May I please have Pastor Jonathan Murky come give the invocation.
And may we please rise. Let us pray. Father God, for all your many blessings, we give you thanks. Thank you for this amazingly beautiful day. Thank you for our great city. We ask for your wisdom and direction for our leadership as they
meet tonight as our commissioners and mayor uh make decisions and guide us. Bless them and lead them by your grace. Bless our city. Uh cause it to thrive. Thank you for all who invest in it and are involved in it. Thank you for tonight. Thank you that you listen to us
and answer us. For we ask it in your name. Amen. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty 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. Madame clerk,
are there any changes to the agenda? Yes, mayor. And we have an addition of resolution item number 16, a resolution appointing Angeline Bumal as a regular member of the zoning board of adjustment, and resolution item number 17, resolution appointing Vanessa James of Barker Galian James and Sarvis
Professional Corporation to serve as complac conflict labor council of the city of Melville. Thank you, Madam Clerk. 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, and please limit your comments to five minutes. Thank you. Then Perka Milvo, um, you're doing three presentations tonight. I didn't know if the public was going to be allowed to ask questions about them or not.
On the presentations, they're on the agenda. I'm sorry. Say that again. They're on the saying they're on the agenda. No, I understand that. But we don't know what they're going to say. So after they say what they're going to say, are we going to be able to ask them questions? Yes, I'll allow question to you. Thank
you. Seeing no one else, I will close public public comment on agenda items only. Presentations. Yes. Presentation item number one is a recognition of Reverend Jonathan Murphy. City of Milville, New Jersey, chartered
February 26, 1866 certificate. Well, as we may know or may have not known, what I've always termed Reverend Murky and on his going away party technically is that his term is when he is retired. So, he's always
been pastor except I've always called him Reverend and I would still call him Reverend Murky. But he is leaving our great city of Milville and he is going to a very cold and dismal place. It's called Florida, but it'll be probably much warmer and sunnier there. Um, we
will miss him and at the city we will miss him especially, you know, many times throughout the years giving the invocation of potentially difficult meetings that the city officials will have. But you know, your words and your prayers for us uh do go wholeheartedly
in all of our hearts and to all of the community's hearts. So, here's a certificate of recognition. The city of Milville does hereby affirm that Jonathan Murky is duly recognized and awarded the certificate of recognition for your support of our community. The
city of Milville applauds you. Signed by myself and all the commissioners. [Applause] And
furthermore, you have a key to the city of Melville presented to Jonathan Murky for your support once again of our [Applause] community. Speech
I'm extremely humbled um by your kindness. When I moved to Milville 33 years ago, I had no idea um that I would be here for the duration. Um, and I was told, you know, if you're not from the area, and I was
was really not from the area since I was born and raised in Africa, it takes a while to be received and accepted, but instantaneously this city embraced me. And I love Milville and have loved Milville for the journey that I've been
on. You welcome me in to do what I'm doing here. The police and the fire and the EMS invited me into relationship with our first responders. It's been amazing. The community churches, the community has been open uh to my
participation and um I am richer for it. Um you know, I am a Christian pastor. I'll tell you um and it won't surprise you that I am who I am by the grace of God and because of his presence in my
life and because what he has done for me because I know him in a personal relationship. It's always been my prayer that what what Jesus did for me on the cross and his grace and his spirit living in me would be a witness to the
world. I I've never believed in forceful uh uh communication or trying to coersse people. I just hope and pray that by my life, people will be drawn into a relationship with God because religion is not about keeping rules and
regulations. It's about having a relationship. And one of the blessings of that relationship is the interaction that I've had here and with the commission and the mayor and in the community. and I'm so deeply grateful. So, thank you very much. And I can tell
you this, my prayers remain with you. They will always be because I'm leaving part of my heart here. So, God bless you [Applause]
all. Thank you, Reverend Murphy, for all that you have done. Once again for the city of Milville. Presentation item number two, please. Presentation by Heather Santoro, executive director of the Holly City Development Corporation to discuss the shared services agreement with the
Cumberland County Sheriff's Office for funding of public safety services. Good evening, commissioners. Uh, thank you for asking me to give the presentation. Um, I know there was some confusion at the last commission meeting about um this being tabled and the reasons why.
So, I just wanted to go through it. At that point in time, I hadn't had a conversation with the chief of police regarding the shared services agreement and there were some questions um that our office received after a couple commission meetings ago. So, the public
safety project application, the draft is ready. Um the chief and the commissioners, both Commissioner Suie, Commissioner Hwitt, and I believe the other commissioners have seen it. It should have been attached to the agenda today, but basically the scope of services um for this project will be
four officers and a sergeant that are assigned to four new shifts uh that are 4 hours in length. Those shifts will take place on Fridays from 3 to 7, Fridays from 7 to 11, Saturdays from 3:00 to 7:00, and Saturday from 7 to
11:00. There will be uh two different patrols. So, two officers will will serve as walking patrol in the city's UEZ quarters. Two officers will serve as roving officers and police vehicles in the UE quarters. One sergeant will serve
as supervision during patrols of all the shifts. The police department will first look to cover the shifts with their offduty police officers. Um, if they are unable to cover a shift, they will work with the um Cumberland County Sheriff's Office to provide that personnel for the
for those shifts. Um the application will begin July the project begin July 1st uh through June 30th pending UEE authority approval and the pay rate per hour will be $75 per hour for each officer that's on the
shift. So couple things to note. Whenever we submit an application, it first has to be it has to be approved by both the city commission as well as the Milville Violin Zone Development Corporation and then it has to be
approved at the UEZ authority. So the application is ready to go um pending approval tonight. The Milville UEZ board also approved it a month ago at a meeting. Um, so it's just waiting for
approval here. I attach those resolutions to the application. Um, I have to have the sheriff's office, the sheriff's agreement attached to the application. I've already talked to the contacts at the our contacts at the state so they know the application is
pending. Public safety projects are one of the harder applications to get funded because they are very prescriptive in how it happens. you can't be funding regular routes or regular service. They
typically want to have um new officers hired, but because of the situation with the police department, they are aware that that is not we're a year out from having new officers at at best. So, it's
something that is eligible. It falls in line with the UEZ legislation and I'm here to answer any questions that anybody has. Well, I have a couple. Sure. So, first of all, your restriction that's with first generation funds, correct? Those restrictions wouldn't
apply to second generation funds. What restrictions won't apply as far as using for the police? I'm curious about that because I know we can use those. Can you talk commissioner? Can you talk to the microphone, please? Yeah. I didn't hear your question. So the first generation funds more restrictions are placed on
them than second generation funds. They still are supposed to follow the 10 correct and we can use up to 25% of the funding for the police. Yes. As I read that already. So I know there was some discussion of the year's allocation. Of the year's allocation.
Correct. So during the course of our discussions and and other uh things I heard it was that we're better off using second generation funds for large projects. So the first generation verse
second generation is the difference between a checking pretty much a checking account and a savings account. You have your savings account but you have uh $3.5 million sitting in your checking account right now. It is very hard to replace uh second generation
funds. Usually those are p paid back through um loans that are paid back through uee revolving loan funds. So you once they're gone, they're gone. And this legislation is 10ear legislation and we're in year four of that. Um so
yes, it it's smarter to use the second generation funds after you've used your checking account which is the first generation funds. Okay. So if um you look at the resolution tonight, you look at the certification of funds, it says using second generation funds until first generation funds are available,
which is the same thing that it said the last time. Okay. So the second thing I did is I took a history, the history printed out of all the second generation funds expended since the beginning in two in
1998. And I looked for big projects and I could find two downtown center improvements for 800,000 and it looked like the library improvements uh I forget how much it was
but about $45,000 in shared services payments to the CCIA. And you know, I know you're here to talk about the shared service agreement, but the UEE stuff in general, the stuff we used, the second generation funds for were $250,000 of seed money for the Milville
Urban Renewal Corporation, several loans, look like some were paid back, some weren't, hundreds of thousands of dollars for advertising for the Milville Development Corporation, Wheaten Arts Cultural Center, some payments for some airport co-generation system that Salmon
Ventures Limited on. Not sure what that was about. Tens of thousands of dollars for admin fees. It looks like wages to the Millville Development Corporation. Dental and Medicare payments and prescription payments for the Millville Development Corporation.
Well, all so well, I'm just I want the public to understand. So, if you don't mind, I'll continue. Go ahead. Forgivable loans to the Millville Library in 2021. Five loans from for something where we classified as for grants for 25,000. We pay the Holly City Development
Corporation for economic redevelopment. Other than that, I don't really see any big projects. I would say, yeah, it would be great to do some big projects, but I don't think if, and I'm not sure if you're saying this or not, but I don't think that we should
wait for the state to approve the first generation funds before starting this project. I mean, over the last 3 weeks, we had a stabbing, a person shot, and several other reports of shots. The police department needs help. They're overworked. They need the help. Our merchants don't want to wait when I talk
to them. I sure don't want to wait for somebody else to climb in my window. And I'm certain that the victims of crime don't want to wait. So, and I get it. I would much rather use first generation funds, but I
don't want to wait. I don't know if you guys want to wait. I don't think you'd want to wait. I mean, when are you expecting the first generation funds to be approved? the application will be submitted as soon as I receive the signed resolutions. That's the last thing waiting. So a month and it h it
had the way the applications have been going because we are one of very few UEZ zones that have a 5-year plan approved. If you have a 5-year plan approved, um you're able to submit project applications. Several UEZs do not. So the applications have been heard
earlier. If it's submitted before the 15th of this month, it should be heard at the June meeting. So worst comes to worst, it's probably a month or two. Probably a month. Okay. So probably a month. So even if you divided that whole
amount by 12, a month is not that big of an impact on the second generation funds. If you want to get started early, I don't see why you would want to wait. We're the ones that have to answer for the crime in the city. Nobody else, right?
So anyway, that's all I have about that. I do have another question though related to UEZ and I'm curious. I'm just curious because I know we, you know, we did some partnerships with the CCIA. It looks like we paid the CCIA some money out of UEZ for the library. I'm guessing that's
what it was for. It doesn't say exactly. I was not the UE coordinator at the time, so I can answer. I understand that. And this is not about then. This is about now. And I'm just saying we did that in the past which makes my mind start to wonder and I don't know if you're privy to any plans with
Woodschool. Do we have any plans with the CCIA with Woodschool to use any UE money with for that if that you know about? Well, first of all, any UE conversation that I've had since I've been the coordinator has gone through you. So unless you come to me and say, "Hey, I've gotten that question. So I'm
asking you that question." And I guess the answer is no. We've never had that conversation. So, okay, that's that's what I wanted to know. I report to you. I get it. I mean, I'm just asking because I've heard people ask me that are they going to use that for wood
school? And I said, not not that I know about, but I will ask you at the meeting. So, I'm asking you at the meeting. Okay. So, not that you know about, not that I know about. I don't have any other questions. One more thing I would like to point out since you um mentioned first generation
and second generation funds. If this is approved, we cannot you cannot backfill the second generation funds. So for example, if you choose to start now, you cannot once you get the new the new funding, you cannot backfill second generation with that first generation
funding. Just so you know. Well, that makes sense. And and you know, I appreciate all the work you do. It's been it's been pretty much enjoyable. I mean, I know we have a few differences here and there, but pretty much been enjoyable. And um as I said, if we can't
backfill 30 or $40,000, we have 1.4 something million in there. I don't think it's going to make that big of an impact. The only thing I can go by is the discussions I have had with the chief and I have fortunately been able to have some discussions with Heather and I appreciate you being here tonight,
Heather. Sure. Brock, can you explain the difference on the resolution for me, please? Yeah, I I think uh commissioner, you may have had the original version of the certificate of availability of funds because that was uh corrected and it uh
to remove the reference to the second generation funds. When was that corrected? Today. Well, I guess I would ask if it's today it was corrected. So, when I looked at the agenda yesterday, it wasn't corrected. Um, what I would ask
you guys to do, the CFO sitting right here, I would ask you to get that started. Now, I understand that, you know, you told me the chief didn't want to start this stuff till June. I don't know if the citizens of Milville want to wait till June. You either need cops or you don't need cops. So, I would ask you to do that. We
could have it amended. She's here if you want to do that. If you don't, then don't. But I don't understand why you wouldn't. Well, you have the executive director from Holly City Development Corp. You have the chief that we spoke to. I mean, we still have to wait on the process,
don't we? Yes. There's going to be a wait time, correct, Heather? About a month. This will be heard at the most likely. No, it I don't want to promise a month and it is two months, but it it wouldn't be more than two. Definitely. I'm pushing to have it heard in June.
and they've been hearing public safety projects from zones that have plans earlier because they understand that public safety is important in the UE zone. So, it will more than likely be heard in June, but I cannot promise that. I can push for it, which I will. And correct me if I'm wrong, this is not
a summertime gig. We're moving forward with this. Yeah, this is we're going to roll this right into next year. We're going to only if it gets approved next year, we're going to roll this right along. This is something we can keep renewing. This is something that can be renewed
yearly if if it's needed. Yes. Right. And I think we should account for that by waiting and doing it the correct way and doing it the first generation funds. So this way when second generation funds are no longer available, you made the decision to use the first generation funds. We could wait a month, month and a half, do it the right way, use the
first generation funds, and we have the second generations fund for later use. Well, I just so you guys know, somebody gets killed, hurt, stabbed during them hours. I guess you can explain it that we don't have extra cops on the street because you wanted to wait. So, as long
as you're willing to accept that, okay, I don't think you can guarantee the safety of anybody with just four police officers and a sergeant. Well, I think you can't, but that's probably better than six police officers. You're taking action and I think we're making decision that's best for the city. We are taking action as soon as we can. We're going to
do it the appropriate way by doing it and using the appropriate funding at the time we should. But, let me tell you this. She's not responsible for public safety. We are. You're right. And I appreciate her opinion. So, you have an opportunity to provide extra public safety. If you don't want to do that right now, it's okay with me. I'm not
arguing with you. Okay. That's what you don't want to do. You don't want to do it. Disagree. So, I guess right now I'll see if what you guys want to do. I'll make a motion to amend the certification of funds to use second generation funds until first generation funds are available. So, I'll
either get a second and a vote or I won't. Well, we're not in a you She wanted to ask a question, but there's a motion table and I think that takes precedence over a question. So, that needs to proceed. Yes.
Here a second. Nope. Okay. Now, you can take questions now. public comment on this. Thank you, Heather. State your name. Address your concerns. Please limit your concerns to five minutes if possible. Lyn Pereka Milville. Um I guess I just want to make
sure that I had it straight. First generation funds, you need state approval. Do you need state approval for second generation funds? No, but they they do. You have to follow the guidelines if you are going to use second generation funds, but they could immediately start using the second
generation funds. He Heather, if the public's going to ask you questions, can I ask you to please stand over here this mic so the public watching us on YouTube and TV can hear you? One moment, Mr. Compar. What?
So just so I have it straight in my head, if the city used the second generation funds, they could use them immediately. They would not have to wait for the state approval to go into June or however long it's going to take. Yes. And then the second question is if you did use second generation funds for the
June going maybe into July, how much would that cost out of those second generation funds? I don't have that breakdown for the monthly, but it would be $75 per hour per officer. There are four officers that are supposed to be on a shift and there are four shifts a
week. I interject something. If you take the total and divide it by 12 and what was the total? I'm sorry I didn't 315. Is that what it was? $312,000. So you divide that by 12 multiply it by two or whatever. That would give you two months. That be like $25,000. 312. Yes.
6,000 a week. 6,000 a week times four. be like $24,000 for the month. Out of the second generation fund with the second generation funds had how much in it? I don't have the answer to that. It was a million, wasn't it? I think over a million. Yeah. So, it's not that big of
a hit to the second generation about one. Let me let me look here. I have it right here. At least 1.459 100 1,459,757. So, you still have 95. You still have a million. And I'm assuming that's in an account that's getting interest, correct?
Or is it just sitting in an does that get interest in a bank account? A million dollar. According to this, it does. Yeah. Okay. And then my other question was, are there loans set up on those second generation funds? So, at least we are getting a repayback if someone takes a loan out. Some of them
look like they're in collections. I don't know. I I But I mean new loans cuz I know you were Yes, there there is a um there was an application that was done uh about a year and a half ago for first generation funds for a million dollars for revolving loan fund and there are
have two have been approved. So $300,000 has been approved two businesses. So when those businesses pay us back that'll go into second generation. Yes. But it goes it's through a an an organization called the Cumberland Empowerment Zone. They manage that and
yes they get they are the ones that receive the f the funds on behalf of they manage the fund but then they'll put it back into second generation funds. So you do have something for revolving loans. So you do have something that's replenishing the funds. So it should be relatively easy for you
to get the $25,000 back is the point. Well, no because the it it goes back into that revolving loan fund. It will it they will be revolving loans. So how do you replenish? How do you get second generation funds? my point. No, but you should be able to because didn't Violence set up their program that the
loans go into the second generation funds when they Well, first of all, Violin is in a different financial position. Understood. And and um the way that the new legislation reads that it's supposed to be used for the same I've had that
conversation with the representatives from the state and they it has to be used for what it was approved for. So, it would be a revolving loan fund. So money comes back in, gets lent back out. So how do you ever get money into the second generation then? It's very hard to do. Well, how I don't I don't have
the answer to that question because there not there's not a project that we've done yet that would do that. But you should know what potentially could do it because you're advising the program. The way that the state legislation works is they want you to
utilize the funding for the projects. They do not want they're not encouraging second generation funds which is part of the reason why second generation funds are important with the exception of revolving loans. So what okay I'm confused. So what would
you ever spend them on if there's no way to they're going to go away eventually anyhow when you spend them if there's no way to replenish it. You know the other thing I just thought about is inflation. How how much was
that money worth in 1998 compared to how much it's worth now? But I mean, $25,000 is worth it to have policemen on the street. That's been an ongoing problem in Millville. It's not like you're spending a million dollars and going to completely delete the fund. It's just a small drop in the bucket. It
would make the people, the citizens feel better, make people feel safer. You can patrol High Street. You could take care of the park. I mean, there's so many things you can do while they're patrolling High Street. It's just necessary with the way things are now in town and even delaying it a week seems
too long to me. Thank you. Okay, Tamar Davis, just a couple of um questions regarding the actual program, but I appreciate the explanation of the difference between the first and the second generation because that was one of my questions. Um it just seems to me the quicker you can get this done would
be the better. So that would be up for you to decide, but that's the way I look at it. But um so I have about three questions. One is rather long. So um how will the effectiveness of assigning the sheriff's officers to the
EUE be measured? So what um kind of performance evaluations or accountability indicators will be used to determine whether this use of EUZ funding is a is uh positively achieving its goals and making an impact in reducing crime and violence in the area.
Uh will the public have access to data that shows what is happening in the UEE separately from the rest of the city? Maybe in a monthly police report or another update. So basically if we get the monthly up uh reports on you know the police blotter like I call it will it be separate for uee for the uee zone
pertaining to these sheriff's officers per their shift? So that's my first question and I'm not sure if that's for Miss Santoro to answer or for the commission to answer. Um can you clarify what portion if any
of the 24 or 25 municipal budget is being allotted towards the shared services agreement for sher uh shares sheriff's officer or is this the full cost of the initiative um to be covered by the ueiz funds? So was there any kind of sharing because sometimes from what I
understood with the ueiz there needs to be some kind of sharing with the municipality but I could be wrong on that. Um, if the UEE funds covers the entire cost, what has happened to the amount originally budgeted for a fully staffed police force? So maybe that's a
question for the budgeting time, but additionally, is there any municipal fund matching required or planned with the UEE funds for this initiative? So will the will there be a shared cost? And then the last question is probably good for the public so they'll understand so if they see the sheriff's
officers, they'll understand the purpose. Um, can you clarify the current boundaries of the UEZ? Um, and how those boundaries are defined or updated? So, in addition, will the sheriff's officers
only be able to patrol the UEE area despite any emergencies in any other of the city? So, does that mean like they're blocked and prevented to go beyond this boundary? So, where is that boundary start and end? Um, and then that would be it. Thank you.
So, yes, they would have to stay within the UEZ boundaries. The boundary was part of the five-year plan that should be on the city's website. So, it's the map in there and that was updated per it it should have been. Okay. Yes, it was the plan is approved and the final draft
of it was submitted to the city. Okay. So, it's available for public. So, it's available. Yes. Um to answer let's go back to question one because you there was a lot. Yeah, there was. Um, so question one about the monthly reports on the shift. Well, I mean, basically,
how will you know if this is working? You know, how will you know that the fact that we're taking the uee funds and it's being used to I mean, I know we want it to work, don't get me wrong, but there needs to be some kind of measure. There needs to be some kind of accountability because we could h we
could put u the officers in there and they could nothing happens. But we need to know because that's isn't that part of trying to be accountable for the UE funds? I mean, you just can't get funds willy-nilly and say, "Oh, I don't know if it worked. Maybe worked. I don't know." You should know. The state could
ask, right, when they do audit? Yes. When they do the audit, they're going to check payroll records. That's as far as they're going to go with the with the payroll audit. I do think that it's a good idea to have a monthly report. That's not something that was discussed. Um, but the when the state audits, they
will audit payroll records to make sure that that hourly rate was there that they spent in the UEE that their time sheet says UEZ patrol. Um, both the Milville Police Department and the sheriff's department. As a matter of fact, once this is approved, there will
have to be a meeting to make sure that everybody understands that, right? Well, I guess that would be a question for public. Yeah. So the most successful outcome you could possibly have with the sheriff's department patrolling is nothing happens. That would be the ideal
situation. Nothing happens. Of course it would be. But and you can't measure that, right? But it's it do we honestly think that will happen? No. It does happen sometimes. But I can tell you the best day you have is when nothing happen. We would like to know the success. I mean, if something, you know,
well, if more people come downtown, if more people feel comfortable, if merchants are happy, I'd say that was how you'd be determining success, right? I mean, I'm not saying that, you know, but there I was thinking as part of the audit, there should be some kind of like, you know, basically we don't want to see police officers sitting around in
a car, you know what I mean? And I'm not saying that's going to happen. I am not going to say that that will happen. I'm just saying if if you could tell us, yeah, they they they stopped two robberies, they found someone breaking into a car, like that would be successful to me, I would think, other
than nothing. Well, we have a perfect scenario would be to get more police officers on the street, in this case, sheriff's officers, using the first generation funds. We've been this long without sheriff's office. I have full confidence in our police department that they're going to continue to do what they're going to do. This shouldn't be that big of a debate. We're going to
have more police officers this year than we did last year having the sheriff's officers here. We're going to have more presence. We're going to have relief from our officers now from working all the overtime. You know, this is going to be a success. But I do that I agree that
we should do it the right way. Do it how we are being advised to do it. Use first generation funds a month, two, okay, we're going to have to wait, but you know, we have help coming. That action is being taken. Yeah. But my question has nothing to do with first or second generation bonds or right or wrong. I
understand you're asking about the success. Well, you're talking about, you know, faster response times. You know, if those officers are closer to the crime, those sheriff's officers can respond faster to get there and help the victims or if there's police. You also have to understand this is public funds. We we have a right to know how to and
this is a great way to fund this extra help. See, let me grab. Let me grab a little. So, I'm hoping that maybe, you know, the the police department can help us out as far as I I can't guarantee this. Uh maybe someday when other people sit up here, they'll realize that we
don't control everything. But I can pretty much tell you that it will be no problem when I give my reports each month to have a line item put on there for you. Yeah. As simple as that. Not a big deal, right? Very simple. Yes. Very simple. Has nothing to do with first or second generation. Has nothing to do just as simple as that. I mean, it'd be
nice to know because it's a I'm going to base my decision. I'm pretty sure the chief is basing his decision. I think the commissioners are going to be basing their decision on the professional that is presenting this to us and telling us how to do it. And then the last question
had to do with the whether any portions is being funded by either the 24 25 budget, but I'll leave that I guess for the budget as far as I know. And and there is nothing the $312,000 is uee funds. It's not it's not
um part of the city's regular budget. There's no line item for it, but and there's no municipal money shared with this. None. Okay. Evening. Tennis. Uh Heather, question for you. Um how long has the second
generation funds been there? 1998. I can't I can't answer the question on the second generation funds. I don't have that information. Here it is. 1998 63098 and there's approximately what 1.2 million in there. Right now there's 1.4 something million 1.4 or whatever. Is
there a rule against using second generation funds for this? There is no rule against your opinion that it's it's the vice mayor's opinion that that's the right way to use first generation versus second generation. There is no set rule on how how it's implemented. I mean, if
you're asking, I would use the first generation funds before the second generation funds. Absolutely. So, it's your opinion. Yes. Okay. Okay. Next question is as far as what Tamar asked about accountability, police
encounters. You know, we have a report generated of of the police that are if they're sheriff's department and they're having encounters with citizens in Milo. That's how you go by whether the it's working or the money is not paying for somebody sitting a car doing nothing.
That's my opinion. But anyway, um we just had a discussion about parking and how people don't want to walk through downtown Milville in certain areas because of of the dangers at nighttime. And
also as we do develop different areas that homeless are living in now, we push them out. Where do you think they're going to go? downtown downtown. So, the longer we wait on this and you know, if it's four officers or 40 officers, if it stops one crime,
isn't it worth it? Why would you wait? You know, I had a discussion with one of the county commissioners over the weekend. They couldn't believe that we did that this was tabled because when it was presented them to the county first, they rushed it. They rush it through to
get the resolution done to get the share services agreement done and they couldn't believe that it was tabled. I just, you know, I'm just put putting my two cents in there. I mean I mean I I I mean I sit home I'm home at night every night my ring camera alerts go off that
there's shooting. Sometimes it's fireworks. Sometimes it's real gunfire every night. But we're going to wait two months because we have to do it the right way. Thanks. Well, yeah, you do have to do it the right way. And here's why. Ultimately, I'm going to answer your question.
Ultimately, my name is attached to these applications and I have to answer to the state. So, it is going to be done the right way the first time. Second of all, this has been an eligible project since the legislation was enacted. And we have had these conversations about public
safety and submitting an application prior to this. And for whatever reason, I was told previously not to do it. So, let me clarify that right there. First of all, the conversations we had were about paying our police officers. Nobody had thought of the idea of doing a
shared services with the county before this latest episode. Nobody thought of that. I thought of it. Don't. So, don't act like we never we, you know, never thought of doing a shared services agreement because we didn't. We talked about doing with our police officers. We didn't have done, right? But we didn't
have enough police. And you can ask Mr. Huitt why that didn't get done. Ask Mr. Hugh why that didn't get done. That would be a very nice answer. I'd love to hear it. It didn't get done with the one conversation dies in. I think I was there with Ross one time, Heather,
right? A couple years ago. Didn't get done because uh we didn't have the manpower for it. Uh now we are going to We still don't have the manpower, but now we're going to get the help from the sheriff's office. Uh you know, we're building the
manpower. We got threemmies we're looking to fill with the amount of people we can put in there. We have applicants. We got to move. We got to move right. I can't jeopardize this not being done correctly and failing. And that's what I am listening to Heather
with. What What part of using second generation funds makes you think it would fail? I don't know. Heather, can can we blow this by saying let's do this tomorrow? Miss Brew, go ahead. Yeah, thank you.
Um, Angelene Broom, uh, I understand why things were tabled because there was a funding question, not that we wanted to wait for the police. Right? So that was at least that's the way I understood it when I watched the last meeting that we were tableabling it because we were we had a
question about the funding and that the funding would be available right now. I um asked a lot of questions for the last three weeks as best as I could. Um what's the difference between first generation and second generation? What difference does it make? Let's just get
the cops, right? What difference does it make? Um so it was explained to me more second generation comes from loan payments coming back. this that and the third. Bless you. Personally, my personal opinion is do it now. Take the money out of second
generation. If I had money in my pocket, I would pull it out for you. Other than maybe Commissioner Suie, you guys aren't going home to listen to gunfire like I am. That's what I hear every single night. Don't believe me? Look up the
police records. Pictures of me walking out on my porch. Oh, look. There's the cops looking for bullets. I don't care where the money comes from. Please, I'm asking you from the bottom of my
heart today. Please. I'm talking real bullets. We have the money. We're not taking it from kids food. We're not taking it from anywhere than a savings
account we have for the rainy day and it's raining bullets. Thank you, Miss Burmal. Mary Messik here of Milville. I've stated many a times I've been to a lot of these
commission meetings. I've seen a lot of things. I myself, you want to talk about bullets? I have a Dodge Caliber SE. I still have the bullet hole in my tail light where
it entered. My house has been my block has been listed for over 15 years as the front line of a war zone. That is unheard. That's almost like me living
back in Newark where I was originally from. I vowed when I moved to Millville, I refused to allow this city to be like my
hometown was where if you picked up the phone and called the police, uh, they'll come out. We'll see what we can do if your house has been robbed. But if you've been turned around, you call because your neighbor's getting the
crap beat out of them, you basically have almost the whole police force. And if we're down various officers, I understand you need to do things the right way when you apply for grants and loans and
whatnot, but we're a year or more away from having boots on the ground. We need them now. Two days ago, I came home from the
store. Nothing on my block. I come out my house to get something out of my car. The very corner of Fourth and Oak. I've got a cop car with its lights
going in broad daylight. I have seen from my own porch looking down the street right at a stop sign shooting gun. I am one
resident that believes that should never occur. We need officers. If we can use money from this little pot over here or this piggy bank over here,
let's use it. And I thank you. Heather, can I ask you a question? Thank you, mayor. Go ahead. Is there a short time that we can use second gen funds like, you know, few months until we get the first gen approved? We can do that.
Yes. But I just want it to be clear that you cannot replace those. You just can't replace those funds with the first generation. Okay. So if we use small funds two months and then we could switch over to first gen after that. Yeah. And at worst you would do that two months.
But again I'm fully on board using firstg funds. That would be my first choice. Obviously in a perfect world that's would be the first thing we do. Use firstg funds to do it. But if we can use temporary second generation funds, hearing the residents and their
concerns, I maybe we can move forward with second funds until the first is approved. Thank you. And and and if I may, Heather, we've talked a couple times. I did not get invited to the UEE meeting last week. I think there were some people on High Street that were
questioning why it didn't happen, right? There was no UE meeting last week. Holly City Development Corp meeting. Oh, that that's a chat. It's an open meeting. You don't have to be invited. I got that there was some discussion about it. Yes. And they were kind of business owners and stuff were upset that it's really
they thought we had just tabled it and thrown it out the window of city hall. So if I got this correct because I'm listening to everybody out here. We can take two months maybe at the max of $25,000 of Gen Two and when it gets
approved go into Gen One where you we need it to be. Yes. And I think that's what the other commissioners are asking. I think that's what Commissioner Suie put forward. Okay, let's uh You have anything else for us? No. If there's no other questions. I really appreciate everything, Heather. Thank you so much.
Thank you. No problem. Thank you, Heather. Thank you. Well, what are you guys going to make a motion now? You didn't second mine. I expect if you want to do it, you better do it yourself. No, I'll uh I'm going to second the commissioner the commissioners because it still stands. I mean, we went in conversation and it
gives me reason to second. Right. Thank you for the residents that brought their concerns. Move. The motion didn't get second. So, you're going to have to make a new motion if you want it to happen. I'll make motion. Move to use second gen
to get started as fast as possible, which is still going to take us a little bit time. We got to get this scheduled in and everything else. Motion get us rolling. Move over to first gen as soon as it's available. Second. Motion to second on using Second generation funds. Generation funds first then moving then rolling
over to first generation. Roll call please. Commissioner Hwitt. Yes. Vice Mayor Watson. Yes. Commissioner Kasavoon. Yes. Commissioner Suie. Yes. Mayor Roman. Yes. And that stands corrected now.
That's that's the original one that allows second generation. Susan. Uh hold on. I I still have to give you certification funds. I need to give certification funds. Go ahead. With that, I have certification of funds in the amount of
$312,000 starting with UEZ second gen funds signed by Susan Konis, our chief financial officer. Thank you, Brock. Does this get away those resolutions then? Well, you you voted substantively to
approve the use of those funds and you're still going to have to approve the shared services agreement agreement. Okay, understood. Thank you. Yeah, that's on the agenda. That's on the agenda,
Miss Quinonus. Go ahead. Okay. Good evening. You know, I can't hear on the noise. May I have a question? Are we going to we're going to take questions as we go or do you want to wait till the end? Okay.
No, I just uh normally the you make the budget presentation and then you can have a public comment after that. Correct. That's what I want. Yeah. Okay. I'm trying to find the best way to make this work on this screen.
Okay. All right. So, what we're doing right now is historically it seems like there's a lot of questions on how the municipal budget works. And normally what we do is a budget presentation uh right before the actual public hearing
and adoption of a budget. So, I feel that a lot of people feel that everything is um rushed and they don't really understand what's in the budget, why things change, why things are set up the way they are. So, we're doing the actual budget presentation now so that everyone has a better understanding of
what's in the budget and how it works. I have a little bit of budget 101. I have a lot more detail within these slides that may have been certainly um from over last year um and some of the things that you might normally see. All right, reference sources. Now, this
presentation is on our city website under budget presentations. So, what you may see in blue are actual usable links. So, if you wanted to get any of this information yourself and do some of your own research and educate yourself on why
we do what we uh need need to do and what our requirements are, you're able to do that through these links. So for New Jersey government, the functionality of government and its basis of financial regulations in New Jersey is set by laws known as statutes
defined by administrative codes and further clarified by local finance notices. New Jersey is required by law to follow fund accounting. It is illegal to operate under GAAP accounting standards. I also mentioned that to our auditors who will be here for the next
meeting for the actual public hearing and they had some things that they wanted to say against GAP accounting for a municipal government especially in New Jersey. So if that's a question that's an ongoing issue they would be more than happy to answer that. So New Jersey statutes title 4A
governs all aspects of municipal municipalities and counties. It goes beyond just budgeting. It goes through capital of fiscal affairs, uh, purchasing law. It governs everything that we do in the finance office. New Jersey administrative codes, there are
such a multitude of codes. Um, you we can go on and on with that. Local finance notices. A lot of times a statute might get passed or things are changed, but we don't necessarily have the ways and means to be able to apply those laws or
make sure that we're in compliance with those laws. The local finance notices are issued by the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs and it really gives us the guidelines on how to adhere to the laws that may have been passed. Riker University Center for Government
Services offers New Jersey government specific courses in various program areas that are required to obtain professional licenses for certain local government roles. These are the courses that all of your licensed officials must attend and pass the state exam in order
to hold certain positions within a municipality or a county. These programs are free. Well, they're not free. They're available to anyone for a fee, but necessarily you in order to obtain a license, you would need a bachelor's degree or have experience in a certain
government role. Miscellaneous notes on municipal budgeting. The goal is to protect the taxpayers. That is the basis of the rules that regulate how we do business. Sustainability, equal benefit to all,
accountability, mitigated, detrimental impacts. A current year revenue cannot be anticipated in amounts greater than what was received in a prior budget year. There are some exceptions that apply, but must be proven in writing, which are signed agreements, payments
already received prior to the introduction of a budget, and things of that nature. Current year appropriations are generally limited to no more than a 2.5% increase over the prior budget year. That's what's called amounts within cap
within limits and a limit of 2% on the tax levy. Now, some appropriations may have a portion excluded from those cap limits, and that's normally by the state due to excessive increases in those costs statewide. So for this year's
local finance notice that allows for exceptions to the normal cap limits are excess and trash which is not applicable to us because we have the solid waste utility general liability and workers comp insurance that increased over
3.5%. So we're already at a max amount. The cap would be beyond those amounts. So due to these limits on increases over the prior year budget appropriations plus a balanced budget requirement which are revenues based on the prior year must equal our appropriations which is
the budget amount limits our options available to provide increases in various operating budgets. So even though inflation might be a certain dollar amount we are very limited in what we can work with. It's illegal to anticipate spending more money than we
are able to bring in during a calendar year. And money in the bank does not equal funds ready to be spent. When a budget is adopted, the dollar amount for each of those line items, salary wages, O and E, that is the limit for the year.
It's a fairly inflexible spending plan. Our budget intro summary. Our tax increase that's in the introduced budget is 3.62. A penny on the tax rate is approximately
$140,000. So a property valued at $200,000 would see a local tax increase of $72.40 for the year. That's on the local tax increase. Commission can amend a budget prior to adoption. Now, in light
of the fires and some of the expenses that may be incurred, we may need to do an amendment. Once we have those dollar amounts and have all the information together, we will put that information together. We would need that prior to our next meeting. Now, any amendments
will still require approval from the state. Even our introduced budget requires state approvals. We are under state exam. They approve, they review everything. We have not been assigned a budget examiner yet. That would be pending. They have so many budgets at
the same time. It takes a while and they usually do that closer to the actual public hearing and adoption date. Fund balance. If you've looked at our introduced budget, our fund balance we're looking to use is at $7 million. Now, actually the fund balance
that we're using is 5 million, which is the same as last budget year. The additional $2 million funds last year's ordinance 10-2024. That leaves us a remaining fund balance of just over $3.6
million. That $2 million of excess surplus that we're using is an offset. We wanted to be very clear in reflecting that the ordinance that we passed last year, which was in reference to replacing the 15th Street warehouse with
a new facility, was going to be funded by the sale of the 15th Street property. In order to do that, we included these items within this budget to show the taxpayers that yes, we are fulfilling what was in that ordinance and we are pulling the money received from that
sale to offset these expenses and to offset that actual ordinance itself. So you'll see an item that's of deferred to future taxation of 1 million $1.9 million and $100,000 of an increase in
capital improvement fund. These are those offsets of the 2 million. Some minor increases are in a few of the OE budget line items due to increase in cost of maintenance items. Therefore, fire, police, streets and
roads, buildings and grounds and parks. Salary and wage increases are based on re recently settled and pending settlement of collecting collective bargaining agreements. Our reserve for uncollected taxes is higher since our tax collection rate decreased last year
over the prior year. So our public hearing and adoption again is next meeting May 20th. Net valuation taxable total ratables. Now these are the amounts of net valuation taxable assessed values of
property certified to the county tax board. Now as you can see it's been steadily increasing. Now, one item of note, it seems that there's a dollar amount within the most recently um noted ratables that should be in the
decrease. It's actually tax exempt amount. Now, we had to include what was certified to the county tax board within this budget is something that's going to be adjusted through the year, but it may impact next budget year. Valuation changes per property
classification. It gives you an idea of where we had increases and decreases in the assessed values and the actual ratable values. Increased ratables are very important because like I've said previously, it mitigates the individual
impact on any increases in our budget. It's a shared expense. So as the ratables go up and that basis goes up, you actually tend to pay less, not more. And your property is valued more. table of equalized
valuations. Now, at this point in time, with all the cities in the county, the city of Milville has the lowest average ratio of assessed value to true value. Now, this is something that's been accelerated over the last few years, not
necessarily the fault of the city of Milville, but the fact that the actual um sale value of homes has exploded. So, this is something that goes back and forth. Well, what happens is is if it
maintains a low level, the county tax board could eventually say that we would need to complete either a citywide reassessment or a revaluation. The last time this was done was back in 2000. It cost extra money to do that. That was an actual bond
ordinance back in that time. And like I said, from 2019 to 2021, our assessed value ratio was 90%. In 2023, it went down to 65.82 and now it's 60.44. So, it's it's something that's
happened quite quickly due to the market value of homes. Property tax for supported the budget. This is estimated. This shows the change in the levies and the calendar year tax
rates. So, as you can see, a lot of it's been around the same amount, the 1.38. Now, we're back to the 2023 amount. Uh 2023 was 1.43, we're back to 1.42. Tax rate breakdown. Uh this is
estimated county and school but as you can see of your total tax bill the city gets a third of it. Percentage of tax collections like I said our collection rate is lower than it was in prior year. You can see where it's had increased for 21 and 22 and
it's declining at this point. This is an excerpt directly from the budget. It shows the net valuation taxable. It shows the increase on the local purpose tax. Um but most important is the column on your right hand side,
the local tax change. So of that 3.62 cent increase, it'll show your increase based on your property valuation, your property assessment. Another um budget excerpt which is of
note shows the cap calculation information. What's excluded from those cap limitations? We are not looking to use any cap bank from the prior years and we are underneath our appropriation caps. So if we had to increase anything, we
would be able to without having to cut anything else that was a central service. Budget revenues surplus, as I said, the extra $2 million over the prior year was 24 2024 revenue to fund the ordinance
10-2024. Total miscellaneous revenues looks like a $4.8 million decrease. that item. I'm not always a fan of including it all together because that includes prior year grants. Most of the time you don't get your grants until later in the year. You don't necessarily have it in the very beginning of a budget
year. Receipts from delinquent taxes. Uh that's increased by $200,000 because of that decrease in prior year tax collections. I'd like to put this in here now because it really gives you an idea of what the notable changes are instead of flipping through the entire budget document or if
you're looking at the revenue and seeing what increases or decreases. These are the the larger items and why we've done it. Interest on investments. We've included an additional $50,000 because the interest rates have rebounded. It's not always consistent, but we've
consistently have received a 2% interest rate return on our money with our bank at this point. EMS has been increased by $200,000. As the EMS department has grown, they continue to bring in uh income and revenue to offset their
expenses. local cannabis tax revenue, the amount of uh time and energy the city has put into allowing all the the cannabis ventures to come into the city and the revenue that we're just starting to receive. I felt it was worthwhile to add
it as new revenue into this budget to offset police for any other increases that we that we see. Now, the 38,000 is the actual prior year amount received and that was for two quarters. So, we're already almost at that with the first
two quarters of this calendar year. So, I felt comfortable with using that dollar amount. Decreases. The municipal relief fund. $444,000 is state budgeted funding that's been cut statewide. This is part
of what they call compra. It's a consolidated municipal relief tax act. Our energy receipt taxes are along with that. It's a large amount of money that the state has chosen not to continue to fund statewide. It's not a city of Milville issue, but that is a large
chunk of money considering uh a penny on the tax rates about 140,000. Uniform construction code had to decrease that by $115,000 because that is based on prior year revenue received. Construction is a
fickle market. Of course, um with the pandemic, everybody was working on their homes. We had a lot more revenue coming in. When things get tough, interest rates are high, a home, the cost of buying a new home has increased, you don't have as much construction revenue coming
in. American Rescue Plan, CARES Act, the COVID money, basically. Last budget year had the the last of $212,893. That was the final year and the final use of revenue replacement funds. And these are items to note because
these are one-offs. These are things that affect our budget and affect what we can spend on the appropriation side. New Jersey budgeting revenue revenue should be sustainable. Must be based on prior year revenue cannot be
anticipated more unless proof of additional funding will or has been received. More revenue received than anticipated equals next year's fund balance. Use of one-time revenues to support operating budgets can be detrimental to future budgets. The best
practice is to limit reliance on excessive use of fund balance. Do not anticipate all revenue received in the prior year unless fully certain that the same amount will be regenerated annually. You cannot spend new money received. It would be the next year fund
balance. For example, if a large item sold at a public auction, it does not equal money to be spent in the same year. We can only spend what is budgeted. 2025 budgeted revenues. As you can see, 54% is amount to be raised by
taxation. The rest of the budget is filled in with various items such as fund balance, local revenues, the state aid, public and private revenues, construction code, municipal services agreements, um, and receipts from delinquent taxes.
Generically, generally, this is the percentages that are normal for each budget year. Percentage of surplus utilized. We usually try to keep and best practices is to keep a certain percentage of fund balance left over to
be used in the next budget year if necessary. Now, in 2023, there was $3 million of uh CARES Act money that was used in the budget. In order to offset that, we had to dip a little heavier into fund balance to try
to keep everything moving forward. As you can see in calendar year 24, what was generated and what we're using, the 7 million, that 2 million extra is to offset that ordinance. But we still have 66% of fund balance left to go towards
the next budget year if necessary. Surplus utilized versus generated. I changed this chart a little bit versus what was done um previously. Um each section shows either the beginning balance, what was generated
that uh from year to year, what was available year to year used year-toear and the ending balance. So the end of last year we had 520 just under $28,000 of fund balance left but we generated
10,73,681 for this budget year. So there is some fund balance going forward but again fund balance is not guaranteed and only a portion of that is regenerated annually. Analysis of general operations operating expenses uh salary and wages increased
33 336,000 other expenses 476,000 of those other expenses that includes health insurance and the other insuranceances deferred charges and other appropriations has grant information in there. So that looks um
like it's a great decrease but it's not. capital improvements shows that $100,000 that we're replenishing that was taken for that same ordinance. Debt service has decreased. Um we should be going for um new debt going forward this year or
next year. Um but right now as long as we have cash flows, we don't need to incur new debt and new interest that we're paying out. And the reserve for uncollect uncollected taxes has increased based on the percent of collections. Notable changes in appropriations,
increases, insuranceances, general liability 58,000, workers comp 135,000, and health $28,000. Utilities um with the rates for the electricity and the percentages that it's projected to go up. We've increased
the electric by 58,800, natural gas by 8,000. Pensions, PERS went up 25,000 and police and fire 73,000. The total is $568,861 of increases with minimal ability to limit and control those
specific costs, but steps are actively and ongoingly taken to mitigate negative impacts. Decreases in appropriations. Uh construction on& was decreased $100,000 as an offset to the
decrease that we had to show on the revenue side. Telephones, we anticipate savings based on a new contract that decreased by $35,000. Gasoline decreased $25,000 based on historical usage and cost.
Facility lease. We purchased the new facility to replace the 15th Street warehouse as of April 9th. So, we were able to decrease that line by $40,000. And again, the debt service decreased. So, a total decrease of
$587,788. As you can see, our decreases somewhat offset those increases, but that's never a guarantee. If we didn't have ways to save money on the appropriation side, we would either have to increase taxes more or dip further into fund balance or cut appropriations.
New Jersey budgeting. You must budget enough to pay anticipated expenses and provide a buffer for unexpected expenses and or increases. You cannot transfer funds between accounts until November and December of the current year after adoption and January through March of
the next year to cover end of prior year expenses only. If there's not enough budgeted, it you would need an emergency appropriation. And that's only if the state decides that that type of emergency qualifies for emergency
appropriation. And even at that, it must be raised in future uh year's taxes. That's an increase. And that's in addition to any future budget year tax rate increase. Excess appropriations, which are budgeted funds not spent, lapse the
fund balance in a future year budget or the next year if done by resolution. So 2025 current year appropriations can only be used for 2025 expenses. 2024 at this point is considered our reserve year and can only be used for 2024
expenses. 2023 has been cancelled to fund balance and cannot be used. 2025 budget by commissioner. This shows certain increases and decreases and in line items. uh public affairs
shows a larger decrease but that is where construction is and of course that was the the larger decrease based on revenues general operations the pie chart of different aspects of the budget
and it's hard to to show because if you look at the pie chart you're looking at it just on how heavily weighted certain aspects are of municipal operations and public safety you see is 32%. Keep in mind each of these departments and each of these areas of
concentration within the municipality are very specific in nature and they all have their own expenses. So some are going to take up more parts of your budget than others. Budget analysis pension and other statutory expenditures.
As I stated before, um, PERS and police and fire retirement has increased. Uh, with the increase in salary wages, social security had had to go up. Unemployment compensation insurance and DCP, the city is required to match
certain contributions for the DCRP program. And the more part-time employees you have, the more likely that they won't qualify for enrollment in pensions. They would be enrolled in the DCRP program. At the bottom of the slide, I included the actual um PERS pension history and
police and fire pension history to show how those increases, the percentage that have impacted the city that had very little to no control over those increases. In 2021, it was just under a
12% increase. 2022 was five. 2023 was 19. 2024 was two. 2025 was a 3% increase over a prior year of just pension contribution costs to the city. 2025 budget analysis debt service,
like I said, that has decreased by $387,787. Uh that's because we've been paying off some old debt. There's some old Greenacre loans that have been paid in full. Uh we've prepaid some other bonds uh a couple years ago, and we haven't gone out for new debt.
I've included the utilities on these slides too to kind of give you an idea as well of what we've been trying to do within the utilities. Even though it's not applicable to the tax rate, it also it's definitely applicable to those other rates that you pay to the city.
What we've been trying to do is as debt service goes down and as we're able to increase some utilization of miscellaneous revenues, we've actually been trying to self-fund some capital as we're going forward. Um, so what you
might see is some of the increases are based on normal operations between the salary and wages and just the cost of doing business has increased. Um, but we're also trying to squirrel away some money in our capital, whether it's existing capital or ongoing capital, so that we can try to start self-funding,
self-paying for certain items that we might be able to buy outright. Same thing with the sewer utility. um capital it looks like only a $7,000 increase, but in prior budget years, we've already taken the steps to finance a truck straight through the the
sewer utility through their operating capital instead of going out for long-term or even short-term debt and in incurring extra in in interest. Solid waste utility that was newly created last budget year. Um we weren't exactly sure where we were going
to end up by the end of the year. We knew that not everyone was going to pay. Um, and we knew that we still had to figure out exactly how many billable units were they were going to be and what our true expenses were going to be. Uh, luckily what had happened at the end of the year and in order to maintain the
the rate that was set last year and maintain it for this year, I was able to cancel the 2024 capital amount that was previously budgeted and some extra money that was budgeted towards tipping fees. We cancelled by resolution directly to
fund balance that was able to be used to offset this budget year and to not increase the rates for residents for this year. Capital capital budget is required multi-year anticipated plan. It's not a spendable budget. It's used to represent
long-term financial planning for large-scale projects and assets that exceed a five-year life. Some examples are buildings and improvements, large equipment and vehicles, infrastructure improvements and repairs. Capital bond ordinances are required to adopt the
budget necessary for these items. Current budget capital must have 5% of total cost available in the capital improvement fund or capital fund balance in order to proceed. Utilities are not required to have a down payment, but utilities are required to be
self-liquidating. These ordinances will generally require long-term financing or funding. Debt service can be bonds, which is permanent financing, notes, short-term, they're renewed annually up to 10 years, and or state approved loans such as I bank or
green acres. Ideally, balances in capital improvement and capital surplus may be used to help self- finance these types of purchases. Basically, a fund balance for capital. That's it. I guess now we can ask questions.
They're very important questions that need to be asked. Yes. Governor. So with regard to our ratables, um first of all, if we have something that's a under a pilot program that gets entered in a different revenue line in
the ratable, correct? Mhm. Yes. And that impacts impacts the budget on which line that's entered on. Right. Yeah. So this year we had a mistake I will say about was about
$19 million which will will well should impact our tax rate. Correct. Yeah. And it will raise that tax rate to about 5.2 cents. It would it would um it's not going to impact this budget um because
this budget needs to be needs to use that certified dollar amount. Um, we can double check with the auditor at the public hearing, but all of that was vetted through our auditor prior to introduction of our budget. So, where do we make up that two cent tax rate? Next year. That would be next year. So, we're
going to leave it at 3.1% this week, this year, and we're going to add an additional 2 cents next year. Point whatever cents. It depends on whatever else goes on within next year. Well, I don't expect anything to go down with contracts going up.
Um, so I'm looking at that. So that's $19 million in ratables that don't really exist, but we still have to pay out on that $19 million to the county. Correct. Yes. That's about what $200 and some thousand check we're going to have to write. I don't have that information.
Well, I'm just figuring one point, you know, 19 million times 1.43 or whatever comes out to do for 100 comes out to $200 and some thousand I think. And the school budget, too. Correct. And the school budget, too. So, you know, when I looked at this budget, when
you you showed it to me, I said, "Where the hell did $19 million in raidables come from?" And you get the figures from another another office. You don't really develop those figures. You have to rely on those figures from another office. So, you sent me on a quest. So, on that
quest, I went to the tax collector's office. She says, "Hell, I don't know." So, I went to tax assessor's office and I was given another report and uh you know, I was told it was due to construction, due to this, due to that. It really didn't make any a whole lot of sense to me where that $19 million was
coming from. I figured some of it was coming from land sales, etc. So, I went to the tax collector's office again and then finally I got a phone call and they said, "Oops, somebody made a mistake." Now, I'm not going to divulge who made that mistake.
Um, as my shirt says, I'm the former vice mayor. I'm not no longer the director of revenue and finance. So, it'll be up to Mr. Watson to rectify that and take whatever action is necessary that occurred under his watch. So, that affects the tax rate. We're going to get whacked two cents.
And now I want to let's look at the fund balance for a minute. I don't want to get too complicated with all this right now. So, the fund balance going in last year, I think you said it was what, 5600,000? About just over 500,000. and land sales. We had $6 million for 15th Street
and $550,000 for Agerta, I believe. Yes. So, that gave us a positive $6.55 million. So, 2 million went to replace 15th Street, which would
leave us about $4.5 million. Now, as you saw in the paperwork, what what do we end up with? 3.9 3.6 3.6. So that money went into the budget. It didn't go into the fund balance. It went into the budget to pay for
expenses. Correct. And I'm guessing most of those expenses were contracts. That's where we had our big big thing. So, but that's a recurring expense. It's not a one-time expense. Right. Right. And in next year, it's
going to over double because other contracts will be settled. And I'm guessing it's probably going to be about another $1.4 $4 million. So, we're going to have to come up with $2 million more dollars there on top of the two cents for this
mistake. I mean, I know you do a lot of hard work with this and I know this mistake is not your fault. Um, and I know if I didn't start asking questions, we probably would have never found this mistake. And what would have happened is our rate of collections would have went down even
more. Correct? because nobody's going to pay taxes on that which does not exist. Correct. So, as those collections went down, I'm guessing that would have affected our bond rate, or at least it very well could have. Right now, we have a pretty
good bond rating. It's double A. When I was here last time, we got it up to double A. And the only reason we didn't get it up to AAA is because of the area we're in. So, that's why we were double A instead of AAA. So, now we're going to have this mess to deal with.
Um, is there no way to correct this before next year? I mean, to me, this is unacceptable. A $19 million mistake in a budget is absolutely unacceptable. And I'm not going to vote for it. And I'll tell you what, those that are running for reelection, boy, you guys that are here that I don't often see that are running
for election, you have some con cannon fodder to use this time. This budget passes with a $19 million mistake, you have some real cannon fodder to use. And I'll bet you're going to use it. I'll probably even see it on a TV commercial.
So, like I said, it'll be up to Mr. Watson to figure out how to fix it, what action to take for whoever made the mistake. And you know, I got this shirt as a gest actually, former vice mayor, because that meant former director of revenue and finance after I was called former vice mayor a couple times and I
told you guys I would do that. Right now, I'm kind of glad I'm wearing it. So, there's a mess and it's expensive mess and it's going to cost taxpayers a lot of
money and you guys are going to pay the price. So, uh you know, Mr. Watson, you sent me an email, stay in my lane. You sent me an email saying you're the guy that took me down. Well, congratulations. Here you
go. That's all I have for now. public comment. Susan, if you can please move the front mic. Before I speak on the correction, uh, I want to make sure I have my facts straight. So, we, uh, I'll probably bring that up to the next meeting. I've
already talked to the appropriate people. There was an extra line item in here for the 19,625,000. Um, proper action has been taken to the tax court of New Jersey and uh, we're working on seeing how we could fix this.
Lyn Paraka Melville. So, is the 19 million still in the budget or were we able to So, it's still there and then you can't remove it from the budget. Correct. Because that is the amount that was certified to the county tax board. So, we have to use that as our net
valuation. So, when you don't collect the money that that would generate, where do you make up for that in the budget? Because you're going to be short whatever the taxes would have been on $19 million. We already have a million dollars that was already built into the budget previously for reserve for tax
appeals. So, that will cover the lack of collections due to that. And then so in theory when you vote on this budget they will be voting on an incorrect budget knowing an error in it that they know
that is there right which at this point we cannot change what's in that budget. Okay that it just sounds so counterintuitive. It does. Yes. Um and I just didn't know to prevent something like this happening in the future. Is
there a way to set up a check and balance or a way to get the departments to work together or the different entities in the department to work together so that there's more than one set of eyes in it? There should be. So like I I don't know if it's as simple as setting up the program so if there's a
change like there was a $400,000 change in the construction, a big red bar goes on. It's so somebody can look at it and say, "Is that right?" And if ratables go up 19 million, there should have been a giant flashing neon sign or something that would make somebody go, "Hey, maybe I should overlook these facts because
potentially this could happen year after year if you don't set up some check and balance system." So, I hope that you would consider the commission considers setting that up in some manner. Um, and the other thing is I just didn't know if each of the departments are looking at
their sources of revenue within the departments because some of the departments there have been a substantial decrease in the revenues that are bringing in. I know construction can't do anything about, but you can do something about code enforcement. You can do something about maybe court collection, foreclosure
collection, and they're way off like 3 cents on the tax rate. So, I don't know if anything's being done like when um the tax collector sees it, if she goes to the department and says, "Hey, you're off. What's going on? Do you need help with something? Can we set up a system?"
Because that should really be done, too, because three cents on the tax. Then, in theory, you wouldn't have to raise taxes this year. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Mr. Perry. No. Thank you.
Thank you, Susan. Thank you. Thanks, Susan. Bills, please. Make a motion to pay the bills. Second. Motion. Second on bill payment. Roll call, please. Commissioner Huitt. Yes. My m Vice Mayor Watson. Yes.
Commissioner Kasaboon. Yes. Commissioner Suie. Yes. Mayor Roman. Yes. letter. Seeing none, reports of commissioners. Commissioner Huitt, go ahead. Thank you, M. Uh, first I want to welcome you to your new job. Thank you.
Uh, they don't all go like this. Uh, as you all know, we've had some, uh, big situations in public safety. Hopefully now uh with the move today,
we're going to move on with uh having more boots on the streets. Uh but I've got something that I need to read. Uh and we need to pay attention to this as a commission and as a commission that's going to be coming into
this position in January. This is an EMS statement on the situation of EMS. We have four ambulances in the fleet of the fire department. One of them is currently having fuel repairs
done that requires a removal of the cab of this cab. That leaves three available to respond to emergencies. Four hours ago, approximately another ambulance went out of service with a transmission problem. This commission already approved the
purchase of a refurbished ambulance and that has been ordered. Unfortunately, ambulances are like firet trucks. We don't just go get one from a dealer lot. It takes time to build them. We are hoping that one of the ambulance gets repaired and back in service sooner than
later. We are in negotiations with the city of Vineland and the city of Bridton to lease one of their ambulances. My statement to this commission and future
commissions is that funding needs to be put in place to purchase the needed equipment for the fire department. With that, mayor progress. Thank you, Commissioner Huitt.
Commissioner Suie. Well, first of all, I want to personally thank Pastor Murphy and on on behalf of the citizens of Milville, I want to give you my sincerest thanks. I first met you during a city commission meeting, I guess probably about 11 and a half years ago. So, your outstanding service,
police chaplain, being there for all our first responders for many years, selfless dedication, time away from your family to do that, it's truly inspirational. But, uh, your service in your own church is also amazing. I can't thank you enough. Your prayers prior to
the meeting, I'm always thankful for them. You asked for wisdom. Not sure how that happens. Not always, but at the end of your prayers, I always add to myself, may I not stay anything stupid. Now, that always doesn't work either, but and I
want to thank you for your personal influence over my life. And that almost 12 years, we've probably spoken less than four hours total. That time talking to you was very impactful, very productive to me, more than you will know. I'm grateful for
those conversations. You have uh led me to the discovery of the difference between belief and faith and there have been very very few people that have had that impact on me that you have
had. So thank you. Now I know the mayor gave you the key to the city but when you come back and visit I don't know if you want to stay in my neighborhood after somebody broke in but you can have key to the house too. So thank you. All right, onward. Last night, there was
some good news at the planning board. CRP received their uh general development plan approval. So, that's a big step in that. And, you know, Commissioner Cosbone and the mayor serve on that board. So, I'm glad that went through. On Friday, April 25th, we
held our Aber Arbor Day. Yeah, Aber day. Arbor Day celebration at Corson Park. We planted a holly tree. Now, we want to thank the ladies from the D for coming down to celebrate with us. And after the ceremony, I was able to speak with Tiffany Falconee from the D. And we had
a great conversation about D items, including funding to get the Mars River Trail open back up. We're going to be working with her over the next month or two to submit a proposal for funding. And that's a lot better than most conversations that I've ever had with D when it comes to city business. I'll
tell you that. The past Saturday, we held our first annual youth fair at Buck Park. We had 15 children participate in selling baked goods, crochet animals, lemonade, 3D art, bracelets, and even their own artwork. One kid made some pretty cool little swords, which I bought, and then I stabbed Sam in the
arm, and it was pretty pointy. I didn't realize how pointy it was. So, sorry about that. Um, we're looking forward to that next year. So are they. The old abilities playground at workman park was repaired last week. The pore in po pour
in place surface surfacing cracked and created holes over time. If any of you have a chance to look that it's it's but now we put the entire replacement of the surfacing in our capital projects. Our annual Phillies home run derby will be held on Thursday May 15th
at 5:00 p.m. which takes place at the Rob Shannon Sports Complex. Children ages 7 to 12 can participate. The annual senior citizens barbecue will be held Wednesday, May 21st this year. Please call the Milville Recreation Department to sign up. Spots are limited. Lastly,
the Memorial Day parade parade will take place Monday 26 at Yeah. on Monday, May 26th. The parade will kick off at 9:00 a.m. behind the American Legion. Proceed to Malberry Street to High Street High Street to Main Street. There will be
that brief naval memorial ceremony on Main Street Bridge and then we'll continue on down West Main Street ending with the ceremony at the Veterans Plot at Mount S Pleasant Cemetery. Oh boy. Okay. If there's any questions or
you want to register for the barbecue, phone number is 8568257000 extension 7394 progress. Thank you, Commissioner Suie. And that was about the senior citizen barbecue at
the Elks. Correct. Yes. Thank you. Just clarifying. Commissioner Kazoo. Just want to add though, Commissioner Suie, there was Blueie there at the entrepreneur thing. Did you get your picture taken with him? I did not get I
got a few pictures taken, but But where did I get my picture taken with Louis? The sword girl. The sword girl. That's right. I got the sword girl. Yeah, it was a very it's I like sword gone with the t. It was nice to see the entrepreneurs of future people of
Milville. So, that was a fun thing to do. Also, there was the ecoair at Weaten Village that I was there. Um Chris with his recycling coach. He was all there and a lot of gave away a lot of free things and how to recycle. And the
biggest highlight for me and the kids was the reusable straws. If you stick them in cold water, it turn color. So that that was a big hit. Um, welcome to Emily. Good to see you. Um, it's been nice working with you so far.
Pastor Murky, I can't even because you know I'll cry, but we go back 30ome years and you have been just a blessing and an asset to this community and your patience and your kindness just shows your love for the Lord. It just shows.
So, thank you so much and I will miss you and continue to pray for me. I told you we're going to need these. Thank you. And with that, uh, collection for streets and roads, 95 tires were
collected, 10 appliances, uh, 8,200 bags of loose leaves and grass clippings, 342 electronic waste was received, 282 street sweeping tickets were written.
235 tons of loose leaves were also collected. Um they did a permanent patch repair at Third and Mananico that's been completed. Permanent patch repair has been completed on Homestead Drive and the permanent patch at the end of South 15th Street has been completed also.
Loosely that collection's done until now November the 1st. Brush collection starts May the 1st. So make sure you get that out there because they have started. Any questions, contact roads department at extension 7388. That's all
I have. Thank you, Commissioner Kasaboon, Vice Mayor Watson. Reverend Murky, congratulations. Uh you best wishes to you and I hope you find all the happiest in the world in Florida. I'm a little jealous. Uh welcome Emily Dylan, our new
municipal clerk. Uh Emily has uh is coming to Millville with previous experience as a city clerk and deputy clerk. Emily has her bachelor degree and uh she's a registered municipal clerk um and a certified municipal registar. Uh welcome Emily. Thank you for joining us.
All righty. We just need a motion to receive and file annual report of taxes not collectible. Look at that. Perfect. I make that motion. Second motion. Motion to receive to file annual annual report of taxes not collectible. Roll call,
please. Commissioner Huitt, yes. Vice Mayor Watson, yes. Commissioner Kasabun, yes. Commissioner Suie, yes. Mayor Romick, yes. Uh, sorry, no. Engineering had a meeting with ACOM um to discuss the upgrade and performance of the Fern radio press. I
brought this up a couple meetings ago. Um, ACOM confirmed that the 24% uh solids cake uh was expected from these units. Uh, basically, the higher the solids, the more money that we would save in disposal costs. uh operations will visit a lower township minus
utility authority which they've already did um and they will look at the equipment to see the manufacturers um that basically we would be using uh ACOM is working on estimate of the expected cost to move uh to the bidding phase. Ireland Avenue forcemade project
is underway. Unfortunately, the crew had um discovered an old um 5ft in diameter pump station. This includes um the concrete wet well. Uh crews will route the new line through the old wet well. Well, 15 and 16 are still being um
exercised. Uh water sampling will occur this week. Based on the results, um the water and engineering department um will determine the best path forward for those wells. Uh if anybody is receiving messages or um mail from Meterche, it's
not a scam. Uh please go ahead and call to schedule your new meter install. This is only for part of the town. I believe it's um north of Broad Street, uh Union Lake, business near Lowe's, um Wheaten Avenue, uh those areas.
Engineering is completing the Gsinger well number 18 sigma perchlorate upgrade um upgrade drawings uh to submit to the DP. This is for the replacement of the on-site sigma chlorate generation four seasons phase uh 2D. The
developer was on site uh May 5th working on the punch list. The items were um determined through an on-site field meeting and a list was provided by engineering. Um part of that punch list did include the ADA accessible
ramps. Engineering is currently working with the developer on the TWWA application for the phase 3 of Four Seasons. And that's all I have except for I want to close with I want to thank um Susan and payroll um and all the bargaining
units for their patience as we're continuing to move forward uh with contract negotiations. Uh it's a lot into and it's a lot of work on those departments. Uh so thank you very much for all your patience and your hard work. That's all I have. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Reverend Murky, once again, thank
you. Thank you to as I said before but just as a closing while we give we start with the meat and potatoes of the agenda coming up. Uh thank you for everything that you have done here in this community throughout your tenure here and I hope you are able to impact just
as much as you have Milville there down there in Florida and the community is just almost to the best that Milville was as it as it accepting you. Um, but thank you for everything that you have done here in the city of Milville and I know you will continue to do um that God
has given you the great gift of spreading the joyous book of Christ. So, thank you once again, Madame Clerk. I appreciate you joining our city here in the city of Milville. Um, I know it won't be easy. I know it's a change in especially the form of government. Once again, if you
haven't noticed, uh, I don't like this form of government. I've complained once and twice before. Uh but so it's a a learning curve, but it's a it's going to be a helpful learning curve. There's a lot of uh tenure here in the city of Milville, throughout not just here in city hall, but throughout all departments um that will hopefully be
graciously helping you with, you know, maybe the lowest and simplest form of a question. Um, but we're a growing city and as you see, we grow and we have some sometimes difficulties here, but uh we're always uh pointing forward to grow this city and help this populace grow
and and uh accompany all of our citizens here in the city of Milville. So, I look forward to working with you in the future here in the city of Milville. So, thank you. Thank you. Planning board has master plan as Commissioner Suie has said. Yes. Uh, Commissioner Carol, uh, Commissioner
Jesus, Commissioner, I will always call you that. Um, Commissioner Kman and I do sit on the planning board and yes, uh, good news. CRP did their general development plan. Um, moving on, they would do individual site plans and come forth with those projects out
there. On May 14th, I will be tending the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. Since Commissioner Suie brought this up, figured I'd talk about this. Um, Environmental Protection invited you to the 2025 clean communities grant announcement ceremony. I get to go all the way up to North Jersey because
nothing happens here in South Jersey. Um to attend this uh which I perceive is going to be a a great time uh getting to see being be invited with the DAP and going to meet the DP handinand for this uh joyous uh well rewarding celebration
of the clean communities acts which we do uh graciously accept here in the city of Milville. In 2024, Milville will receive $73,718 in clean communities funding. to learn how much more you receive in your town. So going to that, I will be giving a uh a nice check and see what we will
be getting for 2025. So master plan uh planning board's next meeting will be on Monday, May 12th at 6:30 and that is only on master plan review. I would advise the public to please come. Uh it is only dedicated to
master plan review. Moving on with that, we had uh public affairs department. We had 106 violations notices issued in April with 176 violations cited. I thank you to all my C
commissioners so far during this discussion and your information given to the people of Milville. Ordinances in the second reading. An ordinance rescending ordinance number 7-2025 adopted April 15, 2025 to change the dates of a coin drop for the
Millville Police Athletic League to June 7th, 2025 and June 8th, 2025 at the intersections of Buck Shootum Road and Cedarville Road. Make a motion. Second. We have a motion second on ordinance in the second reading item number one. Here's a public hearing. I will now open
public hearing on this resol uh this ordinance in the second reading. If anybody would like to come to the podium, state your name and seeing nobody, I will close public hearing. Roll call, please. Commissioner Huitt, yes. Vice Mayor Watson, yes. Commissioner Kasaboon, yes. Commissioner Suie, yes. Mayor Roman, yes. Ordinance
in the first reading. Seeing none, resolutions, please. Resolution item number one, motion to remove resolution approving shared services agreement between the county of Cumberland and the Cumberland County Sheriff's Office and the city of Milbell for the provision of public safety services from the table.
Make a motion. Second. Have a motion a second to remove the re the table. Roll call, please. Commissioner Hwitt, yes. Vice Mayor Watson, yes. Commissioner Kasaboon, yes. Commissioner Suie, yes. Mayor Roman, yes. Resolution
approving shared services agreement between the county of Cumberland and the Cumberland County Sheriff's Office and the city of Milville for the provision of public safety services. Make a motion. Second. We have a motion to second on the shared services agreement. I'd already read the certification of funds. Have the correct one. Yes. Any
comments? Thank you, Heather, for everything. Thank you, Heather. Thank you, Heather. Thank you, Heather. Roll call, please. Commissioner Hwitt. Yes. Vice Mayor Watson, yes. Commissioner Kasaboon, yes. Commissioner
Suie, yes. Mayor Romanik, yes. Resolution item number two, resolution rescending letter of support for the suitability of a cannabis facility granted to Elite Business Management Services. Make a motion. Second. We have a motion to second on resolution item number two. Any comments? Roll call,
please. Commissioner Hwitt, yes. Vice Mayor Watson, yes. Commissioner Kasabun, yes. Commissioner Suie, yes. Mayor Rimick. Yep. Resolution item number three, resolution appointing Jennifer Hanley as a member of the Millville Housing Authority. Make a motion.
Second. We have a motion to second. Resolution item number three. Any comments? Roll call, please. Commissioner Huitt. Yes. Vice Mayor Watson? Yes. Commissioner Kasaboon? Yes. Commissioner Suie? Yes. Mayor Rumick? Yes. Resolution item number four, resolution
authorizing special assessment of municipal leans for certain properties due to expenses incurred by the city of Milville relating to board and secure plus administrative fees in accordance with chapter 11 article two of the municipal code. Make motion on resolution item number four. Second motion. We have motion to second on
resolution item number four. Any comments? Roll call, please. Commissioner Hwitt, yes. Vice Mayor Watson? Yes. Commissioner Casaboon? Yes. Commissioner Suie? Yes. Yes. Mayor Rumick. Yes. Resolution item number five, resolution authorizing adjustments to the tax and
utility records. Make motion on resolution item number five. Second motion. Roll call, please. Commissioner Hwitt, yes. Vice Mayor Watson, yes. Commissioner Kasaboon, yes. Commissioner Suie, yes. Mayor Romick, yes. Resolution item number six, resolution
authorizing the word of a state contract for NFPA accessories for the fire department. Make motion. With that, I have certification of funds in the amount of $23,547.75 signed by our chief financial officer, Susan Kenonis.
Second motion. Second motion. We have a motion and second on resolution item number six. Any comments? Roll call, please. Commissioner Huitt, yes. Vice Mayor Watson, yes. Commissioner Kasaboon, yes. Commissioner Suie, yes. Mayor Romick, yes. Resolution
item number seven, resolution authorizing approval to submit LAEX-2 grant award extension application on an on executed grant contract with the NJ DOT for the project entitled Pleasant Drive Roadway Improvements. I make a motion.
Second motion. We have a motion and second on resolution item number seven. Any comments? Pleasant Drive residents, your road is coming. Roll call, please. Commissioner Hwitt, yes. Vice Mayor Watson, abstain. Commissioner Kasabun, yes. Commissioner Suie, yes. Mayor
Roman, yes. Resolution item number eight, resolution authorizing the adback of property tax deductions as per NJSA 54.4-4 for the failure to return the annual post tax year statement or for exceeding the statutory income limit.
Make a motion. Second motion. We have a motion second on resolution item number eight. Any comments? Roll call, please. Commissioner Huitt. Yes. Vice Mayor Watson. Yes. Commissioner Kasabun. Yes. Commissioner Suie. Yes. Mayor Roman. Yes. Resolution
item number nine. Resolution authorizing water and sewer termination on May 19th, 2025 due to failure to comply with the utility ordinance pursuant to section 56-18 of the municipal code. Make motion on resolution number nine. Second motion. We have a motion. Second. Any
comments? Roll call, please. Commissioner Hwitt. Yes. Vice Mayor Watson? Yes. Commissioner Kasaboon? Yes. Commissioner Suie. Yes. Mayor Ruminet. Yes. Resolution item number 10. Resolution authorizing the city of Milville to to support the NJ DOT project Route 47 from Henderson AB to
High Street. Make a motion. Second. We have a motion to second on resolution 910. Any comments? Uh, yes. Incoming. We have a lot of projects in the city of Mobile involving road construction in the upcoming months. If you can't see already outside our windows, the bridge
replacement is imminent. Roll call, please. Commissioner Hwitt, yes. Vice Mayor Watson, yes. Commissioner Wasaboon, yes. Commissioner Suie, yes. Mayor Rumnick, yes. Resolution item 11, resolution
calling for the restoration of energy taxes to municipalities. Make a motion. Second motion. Roll call, please. Commissioner Huitt, yes. Vice Mayor Watson? Yes. Commissioner Kasaboon? Yes. Commissioner Suie. Yes. Mayor Rumick. Yes.
Resolution item number 12. Resolution authorizing an application to the New Jersey Enterprise Zone Authority for first generation enterprise zone assistant funds for the Millville Public Safety Project. Make a motion. Second. We have a motion. Second. Any comments? Roll call, please.
Commissioner Hwitt, yes. Vice Mayor Watson, yes. Commissioner Kasabun, yes. Commissioner Suie, yes. Mayor Rumick, yes. Resolution item number 13, resolution authorizing an application to the New Jersey Enterprise Zone Authority for First Generation Enterprise
Administration Funds for City of Milville fiscal year 2026. Make motion. Second. We have a motion second resolution item number 13. Any comments? Roll call, please. Commissioner Hwitt, yes. Vice Mayor Watson, yes. Commissioner Casabun, yes.
Commissioner Suie, yes. Mayor Reneick, yes. Resolution item number 14, resolution appointing Royce Shepard as a regular member of the zoning board of adjustment. I make a motion. Second motion. Motion in a second on
resolution item number 14. Any comments. I would thank Roy for reaching out and uh I know you continue to do a great job on the zoning board. Roll call, please. Commissioner Huitt, yes. Vice Mayor Watson, yes. Commissioner Kasabun, yes. Commissioner
Suie, yes. Mayor Romick. Yes. Resolution item number 15, resolution approving shared services agreement between the city of Bridton and the city of Milville for mutual aid. Make motion. Second motion. We have a motion to second. Any comments?
Yes. Ladies and gentlemen, my role as always has as the safety has been the safety of the public as my primary concern. My heartfelt condolences are still with the families affected by the two most recent major fires. The causes
of these fires are still ongoing and I cannot comment comment at this time until the investigations are completed. The fire department responds to almost 1,600 calls each year. The fire department operates with five trucks. In
the last month, one of the ladders was damaged by the extreme radiate heat at a fire and is out of service. One of the engines, which is over 25 years old, needs the motor rebuilt and is out of service. Another engine is also out of
service with motor related issues. This leaves us with only one engine and one ladder in the building. The fire department and fleet maintenance are diligent in performing
the required maintenance. Normal use and age of the apparatus cannot be overcome by regular maintenance alone. As we move forward, the fire department needs to replace one of the engines. This process, this entire process takes
almost three years before it would be delivered. Unfortunately, the funding for that is not in place. In the meantime, the city of Bridgton is loaning us a reserve piece of
apparatus. If you see a Bridgton fire truck in the city, it will still be staffed by Mobile Firefighters. Thank you, City of Bridgton Fire Department and Bridgton City Council for helping us in our time of
need. Speaking of staffing, I'll be brief, but the police and fire department can use additional staffing in order for them to properly do their jobs. We need to take steps to increase the staffing of both these departments.
I hope this commission and future commissions see the need for the action to increase the staffing as soon as possible. Thank you. Do we have a second? Yes. Uh, Commissioner Huitt, yes. Vice Mayor
Watson, yes. Commissioner Kasapun, yes. Commissioner Suie, yes. Mayor Roman, yes. Resolution item number 16, resolution. Resolution appointing Angeline Bumal as regular member of the zoning board of adjustment. Make motion. Second motion. We have a motion. Second
resolution item number 16. Uh who put this on the agenda? I did. Thank you. Uh just can you give me a heads up next time please? Um I look forward to uh filling now all the regular members of the zoning board.
Believe yes. Now there is two alternates remaining. So, if anybody else would like to join the zoning board, please step on forward. Not this meeting, but send an email right on over. Roll call, please. Yes. Oops. Commissioner Huitt, yes. Vice Mayor
Watson, yes. Commissioner Kasapun, yes. Commissioner Suie, no. Mayor Romick, yes. Resolution item number 17, resolution appointing Vanessa James of Barker Galan James and Sarvis Professional Corporation to serve as a conflict labor council of the city of
Milville. Make motion. And with that, I do have certification of availability of funds in the contracted amount of $5,000 signed by our chief financial chief financial officer Susan Quinnz. Second a motion. We have a motion second on
resolution item number 17. Any comments? Yes. So now talk about this confl conflict labor council. So this is for an attorney to do investigations. This particular investigation is against me. Again, big
surprise. So I'll tell you this. To be an effective commissioner, it's necessary to tell employees what to do. Keep the interest of the citizens at the pri top of the priority list, not the interest of the employees, although they do coincide.
Next, you know, you have to you have to hold your department people accountable. We saw a huge mistake with the budget. I hope that person that made that mistake is held accountable for that mistake. But when you do hold employees accountable, some of them are a little
devious and creative. And those devious and creative ones, they'll file complaints. They'll file all kind of complaints. And I'm confident I did nothing wrong. How do I know? Because I know I did nothing wrong. During my tenure as commissioner, I've been investigated by
labor attorneys, the prosecutor's office, the officer of public uh integrity, all at the behest of disgruntled employees. And you know what? I have never been found to do anything wrong. So, I'm not afraid of investigations. I'm not going to not do
my job because I get investigated. I expect to get investigated. And considering how many times I've been investigated, the people of the city ought to have a pretty be pretty confident that I'm not doing anything wrong because if I was, I've made plenty of enemies doing this job.
Believe me, they would have chopped my head off, thrown me in jail. I don't know what else they would have done. So, I I can welcome these investigations. Now, there are a few things that should be investigated. Certificates of occupancy, continuence
continuing certificates of occupancy and building permits missing out of construction files. That kind of stuff should be investigated. Let's see what else should be investigated. The financial relationship between a previous zoning officer and a developer. That should be investigated. That's a worthwhile
investigation. The operation of an illegal gun range on Dividing Creek Roads Road is evidenced by an email from a police officer to a prior zoning officer. That should be investigated. The statement of a sitting commissioner that a respected member of
the community had received a dishonorable discharge when in fact the individual's discharge was honorable. The harm that this can do to a business owner can be irreparable and is completely unacceptable. Those are the kind kind of things that we ought to spend money
investigating, not wasting money when we have so many other priorities, but employees will play their games. You know, as the saying goes, you play your game, I'll play mine. And round and round we'll go. So, you know, some people think just
because something keeps occurring that there's something there, but there's not. What what's there are a few disgruntled employees. In fact, one of them had just gotten a $10,000 pay raise and got upset because they didn't get another $10,000 pay raise in the same year. Now, I don't know what you guys
think, but when you have labor negotiations, labor contracts, I don't know. Why would you give somebody $20,000 pay raise and yet not give your fireman and police officer pay raise? I don't know. But that's the kind of stuff that happens. And then when it doesn't happen, certain people get mad and start
filing complaints. So, I welcome this investigation. It'll be over with soon enough. And when it is, I'll let you know the results. That's all I have. Thank you. Roll call, please. Commissioner Huitt, yes. Vice Mayor Watson, yes.
Commissioner Kasaboon, yes. Commissioner Suie, yes. Mayor Rumin, yes. New business. We have a motion to authorize the following special event on public lands application pending approvals. the Christian community event sponsored by Women's Ministry at the Captain Joseph
Buck Waterfront Park on Saturday, May 31st, 2025 from 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Make motion. Second motion. We have a motion second on new business item number one. Any comments? Roll call, please. Commissioner Huitt, yes. Vice Mayor Watson, yes. Commissioner
Kasaboon, yes. Commissioner Suie, yes. Mayor Rumick, 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 five
minutes. That was a yes, they passed. Hi, Cindy Cook. Uh, Valene. Uh, first of all, I would like to, even though he's left, I would like to congratulate the reverend on a welldeserved honor. He's
always there throughout the community when we need him. Um, I know I've called on him several times in the past and he's always been there to be of assistance. Um, next as uh the Millville's
representative on the homeless trust fund, uh, code blue is officially over and now we're ramping up for code red. Code red is called when the OE OEM decides that the temperatures are too
hot out or that the um, air quality is too poor for the people to be out there every single day. I have served on the homeless trust fund now for over seven years. Um, for those that do not know
what the homeless trust fund is, we're a group that is appointed by a mayor and then we're voted on by the county commissioners or, you know, for our positions. The money that is used is used for to
provide housing, rental assistance, and supported services to homeless individuals and families throughout our county. And this um we we have quarterly meetings where we vote on different um
agencies and all that will get the assistance and they they tell us how and what they're doing with the money. That said, now the next thing is um I also serve on the CAS which which
is the continuum of care throughout Cumberland County. Um, now just so everybody is aware, tomorrow you can anticipate almost a thousand teenagers on High Street and the area
there. It is the um Kate May County and Cumberland County joint teen arts festival which we have every year and there will be kids traveling up and down into the different um locations to attend classes and to
perform and to show their exhibits. So I hope um I guess they're going to start arriving around 8:304 to 9 and they'll probably start be go it'll be over with by 2:30. So just when you're in the area
of downtown please use a caution because sometimes kids get very excited and they might walk out or you know jaywalk or whatever. So we want to use a lot of this is something that's very very
important to us and the kids have done phenomenal. They're when they come to Milville they really really really use extreme manners um polite. They're so polite and courteous and so I hope that
our citizens will respect them as much as they respect us. Thank you. Thank you Cindy. Uh Tamara Davis, in regards to the water meters, um I know you mentioned that the first round of letters went out, but how will you follow up or how will the um
the company follow up on making sure that every house in that particular area does get um does respond to the letters. Um the city's spending a lot of money on this, so it will be in the best interest to get every house with the proper meters.
Um, also I had requested this before and I still haven't seen it, but there should probably be some kind of letter that is in on the um website indicating why this is happening and any laws that it's following. Most of the municipalities that I have done research on that are going through the same thing
had at least a letter on their web page explaining the process and explaining the reasoning. And also, I had requested this be before and I still have not seen it. Um, and again, this is something we're paying a lot of money for, so there should be some information on what neighborhoods and what areas of the city
are going to be done and in what order, so we can expect it. A lot of people don't watch these meetings. A lot of these letters are probably going to be ignored. People are going to consider them junk mail. So, um, and I might even do that myself if I'm not paying attention. So, um, there's needs to be
better communication. There needs to be better, um, information sent out in regards to replacing these water meters. Thanks. Thank you. Good evening. Patricia Clark here. I just wanted to know if the state has given a start date for the Main Street
Bridge yet. No. Okay. When it is when it happens, I'm sure plans are in place to make sure that first responders get priority to get to the west side of town. I will double check with engineering, but I'm sure you as you
Okay, I got a lot to say about it. And then my next comment is the sand trucks come up from the sand plants like near Laurel Lake and down below. Is there any way they can be diverted over the Morristown Bridge and go
up 47 to avoid town while the bridge is under construction to alleviate some of that big truck truck over Brandrift and Sharp? Thank you. Take it. I got the I got the first part.
L Pa Milvo, I just want to say thank you very much for voting for to use the uh the UEZ funds and to start that project. I really appreciate that you listen to the people that got up and talked and took care of it. So, thank you. Thank you.
Positive reinforcement. Seeing no one else, I will close public comment portion. Closing comments, commissioners. Good. Uh, thank you everybody for coming out. Reverend Pastor Matt Murky, he knows how I feel about him. It would
been a repeat of about five times I've been to activities for him. Uh, folks, we got to start looking. Budget is being done. I don't know what we're going to do. There's going to be different people sitting up here next year. You better
start looking at what you're going to do when you start talking to people about your campaign. I am not kidding. This city is not kidding. Public safety needs help. We've got slots in the police department that we're budgeted for and
we're doing all we can do to fill those slots with threemmies coming up. But we got to get people and everybody around us. Yeah, I know it's always money, but everybody around us is looking for
candidates for thosemies, too. State troopers looking. Everybody's looking. We got to progress. This city has sat on its hands for way too many years, afraid to raise taxes. You know the tax increase we're talking about
today. I looked at my evaluation. My tax increase for the city of Milville only. This is what we got to realize people. The board of education's a separate tax increase separate tax increase. My tax increase that was proposed today tonight
at 3.6 is $68.62 the year. Look at it that way folks. Look at it that way. That's a half carton of cigarettes for me a
week. Sorry, but that's the way I look at it. People don't look at this way. They look at us so we're the big meanies in the castle. We're just going to increase all this money. Take a look. Think about it. Think about public safety. Think about what the city needs. Not just city needs
to work on things. Uh, I just did a look at my city phone just out of curiosity since midnight last night. I have an app on here that shows me where fire and rescue are going and
when they're responding. And as of now, there's been 34 calls just to let you know how the ambulance is called on at times. up to while I'm speaking there's been 34 calls since midnight and we're down to two ambulances. Luckily, we can work with
the communities. We'll get this done just like we got the fire truck cut off done. And I got to thank my chiefs for doing that. Heather, sorry it got into such a blow up. I think we made headway. We're getting moving and I think everybody's
happy and thank you and thank you everybody for coming out. Commissioner Suie. Well, first of all, I received the email from the chief today about the fire equipment. I copied Susan and asked for additional funding. I know Mr. Hu, you
know that. Um, welcome Emily. And the only other thing I can possibly say is now I know why they put warning labels or not warning labels, directions on shampoo bottles. And with that progress, Commissioner Cosman,
nothing. Thanks, Mayor Watson. Hey, again, congrat congratulation to Reverend Murphy. Welcome, Emily. You know, I think it was a good thing. Um, you know, it kind of, you know, paused progression there for a little bit, but it was a good thing that, you know,
somebody wanted to go out and make sure that, you know, the eyes were dotted and tees were crossed to make sure that we could financially do this the right way. So, I think it was a good recommendation from you, Commissioner Huitt, uh, to look at the, uh, uee and the way we're going to spend first gen and second gen.
Thank you Heather for all the information provided and I think u you know a good thank you should go out to the residents for bringing their concerns uh forward. um you know kind of looking at the meeting you know few things frustrated me what was said but I think like all in
all you know there's just the team effort you know how city development corp you know commissioner with the fire truck uh commissioner suie you know putting together the uez and uh the sheriff's department shared service agreement you know I think it's very
it's very successful um thank you Susan for preparing the budget um I know nobody body wanted to hear a tax increase. Um, but unfortunately, as you could see, we need a fire truck, we need ambulance, we need police officers, we need firefighters,
and that's not including plow trucks for streets and roads, and paying city um employees good rates to keep it competitive, to keep good people here. You have to expect a tax increase, especially in this
world that we're in. Um, obviously I don't think anybody's going to be happy with it, but it's just necessary. But with that, that's all I have to say. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Not nothing like a three hour and 15 minute meeting to break in a brand new clerk to the city of Melville. But, uh, all in
good order. Um, we joked about it being long before the meeting started and I was like, I don't know, might be. But, uh, thank you for the public coming out. Um, before I forget, write it down. Um, water meter letter on website. Good. uh and progression on tracking it, making sure people get the upgrades.
I'll work with Vice Mayor Watson um and water department for and we're figuring all that out. Uh NJ do zero communication. Fun fact, when uh it was Monday, yes, you start or last
Monday. Last Monday, 28th was the f the start date of uh Madame Clerk and uh DOT was out there on where avenue doing construction. Guess what? They didn't tell us. That is being no email between
any of us. No email to any of the engineer. Nobody to the clerk's office to police department for public safety. And they just started doing their work. Engineering did talk to them. We did say can you please let us know? We get it. you're the contractor. Um, but your
directive is order from the state of New Jersey. A clearly marked irrigation line on the side of the embankment was nailed by them. It flooded immensely the whole entire area. Then they proceeded to pour concrete and flooded and muddied dirt.
Guess what? It sunk. Um, it's a rambling effect of inadequacies that are not acceptable. Um, and it just frustrates me because it's always I answer the question as to why Millville and why us? Why do we get the short end of the stick when the state wants to do good work
here in the city? But once again, I can say good work is when we wanted the new bridge replacement and we started this discussion four years ago. Um, we wanted the bridge to get raised so bigger, better boats can go down further down the river for fishing tournaments and they came down six inches lower. Uh, so
that was the start of this project. Uh so better communication uh Miss Kir uh will help that and I think that's what will happen. Um I'll check with your idea about the the they might just say no all the sand companies
like Uniman might just say you know sorry it's the shortest route. Um and then I know for the construction especially a 49 bridge um it will be by determinal birectional during what state of the project it is. Um, so that's just a FYI upcoming nightmare for every
resident that needs to get from the uh east east to west side of the city. Um, it will be a challenge, but that's in the future and all things good. April showers bring May flowers. I'm looking forward to the warmer weather. And with that, do I have an adjournment?
Second. All in favor? I. Nice.