--------- I'd like to call the work session of April 1st 2025 to order please roll call please mayor romic here commissioner hwit here commissioner suie here vice mayor Watson present commissioner casabon here may we please rise 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 justice for all this meeting is being conducted in accordance with the opland 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 Madam clerk are there any changes to the agenda no mayor presentation seing none public comment on agenda items only if
anybody from the public would like to comment on the multitude of agenda items that we have on the work session please come to Podium say your name seeing nobody I will close public comment on agenda items only discussion of Commissioners commissioner hu go ahead uh nothing at this time mayor
thank you commissioner Sue yeah I have couple items to discuss on tonight's agenda so the first one was resolution item six the deputy Emergency Management coordinator so when I read that you know we can have an unlimited number of
Deputy Emergency Management coordinators but uh it is a paid position in the amount of roughly $2,600 a year so since we already have one I guess uh I'm just asking to justify the other one before I support it if there's justification I
mean I don't know how often we need to we ever used to uh 99% of the time Sergeant statnik is there he is the OEM uh he's the boss right looking for the
word uh this is a replace for basically second in charge uh which was Chief lipot uh Larry is a uh tenured uh volunteer he was the deputy
chief uh on the volunteer side and uh we have two others which uh they do uh show up but there are times especially when we need to close down the road and stuff we do need and I
have all the confidence in the world uh that Larry will be responding uh without a phone call from either myself or the chief to ask for him what I'm saying is we already have one Deputy this will make two correct not counting Li and C we'll have the the
coordinator and two deputies yes and you're telling me we need both of them y yeah we do I'm looking at confidence in in having somebody at each uh big fire okay I don't think it would be right to name name the other Deputy no that's fine I mean it's public record but you don't have to name them yeah but
I I do I do back this and uh I am totally confident in his qualifications and that he will be there uh to help coordinate until we get County Fire which County fire police there are a bunch of uh and I give them credit all the credit in the world when
we call them it takes them a while to get there because they're not from this area they're from outside boundaries they're all really retired firefighters and stuff and you know but that's what the OEM coordinators do okay um another thing I wanted to discuss is the last
meeting we talked about negotiations with the drba uh I responded to Mr Russell's email about when negotiations were going to start so I don't know are we starting them anytime soon I believe you said we should start them as soon as possible which was after we passed that we uh
we're waiting for the resolution no we're waiting for the drba to get back to us with a response if they accepted our notice of uh not yeah well it seems to me if they accept it or they don't accept it we still have to negotiate either way so kind of like wondering why we're
waiting can you Brock can you reach out on I did and uh Susan Basco said she would get back to me soon as she uh had some information I was just looking up their uh meetings it looks like their next board meeting is April
15th okay and the last thing I want to discuss is the resolution appointing a municipal clerk as required so the resolution says by njac 532-538 D 5.3 it doesn't say it's required yeah but you have to look at the statute and if I'm not I'm not done
yet please let me finish okay so it says we may so seeing how this kind of touches on employment I called the our employment attorney and if we plan on hiring someone for a work position that this
may muck up the works and he advised me against doing it so it seems a little odd that we would do it now when I'm not going to get into particulars but we do have somebody we're looking at hiring I don't think it' hurt the wait one we meeting to do this if we're going to do
it so I'm going to make a motion to uh table this pending till for the next meeting from my understanding we needed to appoint an active municipal clerk for the time being that we didn't have a registered CL well we don't have to that's what I'm telling you right we haven't yet and nothing's happened yeah
you're you're looking at the uh you're looking at the rag that has the word may but you have to look at the statute the statute says that every town has to have a registered municipal clerk so the point is is that uh if you don't appoint
a uh acting clerk in the absence of the registered municipal clerk remember we don't have a Deputy clerk that's an RMC now some towns do we don't so we have no RMC if we don't appoint her as the
acting clerk then she's not a clerk and so what she does could be questioned because she is an officer has certain official functions and we have to have a registered municipal clerk what the labor attorney said is this may mon up the works for hiring somebody he said we
did this is what he told me today when I he hasn't talked to me okay well I called him because it's a labor issue yeah so that's what he told me obviously we haven't had one for the last month and a half so I don't think another two weeks is going to make any difference so all I'm asking you to do is making a
motion to table it for two weeks and then if we don't have one we proceed and and I I hoping and this is nothing against anybody I see what Joan is doing uh I'm hoping that within two weeks we're going to have a clerk
uh so with with what I've been told with what I where I reached out and stuff also uh table it for 2 weeks is not going to hurt anything uh as far as I'm concerned this is nothing against you Joan I see what you do uh so I I would second that
motion because of advice and hoping where we stand right now so we got a motion in a second so I will I'll second that motion and well my question would be what about the business that we've already conducted you know why we're trying to put this in effect is for all
the business that has been conducted without a registered Clerk and we want to make sure that so all without a registered cerk it was already done we we can go I've checked into it I I've checked into it we can go up to a year no well no that's that's not correct the
uh excuse me mayor in point in order we have a motion in a second which requires a vote before any further discussion for tabling resolution correct we have a motion in a second on tabling resolution item number 10 in the regular session roll call
please commissioner hwit yes vice mayor Watson no commissioner kpoon no commissioner suie yes mayor raminick yes that's all I have commissioner C
nothing at this time than mayor Watson tenative closing for the 202 South Wade Boulevard is looking uh April 15 uh closing documents are complete uh the bulk sale was submitted uh we're just waiting 10day grace period to get us to the closing uh we are pending a response
from the drba regarding the uh resentment of notice of non-renewal um see if I had anything else we could put in work session instead of regular session I think that's all I have for this time can I uh that for regarding the de they
Brock they don't have any more meetings I mean we're having our second meeting of the month that same day on the 15th I I just did a quick look and it looks like their next meeting is the 15th maybe they have another one but that's the one that I saw and if I may uh I made it pretty clear I can I can be
available for anything it needs to be for the drba yes we uh are this is just my thought process here the clock is ticking correct me if I'm wrong but we've got the month of May uh
of May and we're done well if we don't sit down and make a decision with the drba am I correct Brock no the what we were told by the FAA is that if there's not a new sponsor that's uh suitable and approved by the FAA by May 1st that they
would suspend their funding for FAA grants so when I communicated to Susan Basco I said we need to know what your response is uh because of that and I did mention that she said she would get back to me as soon as she knew something so
that's very St so then if we put a couple of us together along with uh you and our business administrator I I would really hope that the drba is willing to uh take acception to their schedule or whatever and sit down and
accept our recision that we did in order to keep moving on here because we're we're up against it we're up against it big now we're talking about April 15th uh what happens if they can't get enough people together for a meeting we'll have the people together
but we go past April 15th we're in trouble because the FAA pulls their authorization for uh grants for funding for things that are ongoing and everything else out there uh I don't like it we're cutting time way short I I really like for somebody
to reach out to the drba and see if we can get something maybe if the FAA knew that we were trying to get with the drba again they would extend that may 1 deadline for the fund maybe that maybe that's something our FAA attorney can help us with I'm just looking at we're
we are up against the wall here well you well if you're going to tell the FAA you're going to get back with them then why would the drba negotiate well no it's telling the FAA we're trying to work with the drba to try to give us the drba some time so we don't l the funding that's already been granted that makes sense yeah I I just don't I I don't like
this wall we're on this is not like something that we can hand off and say you know we'll deal with it next month we'll deal with it whatever we'll hand it off to whoever uh we're there we we've been put on notice we're there um if I could go back to 202
Southway Boulevard for a minute so I called the title company today and they're still a waiting paperwork from the other party's attorney to prepare the deed um they don't know when they're going to get it they told me it probably be closer to the end of the month if we were lucky so we may end up paying
another month rent and why this aggravates me so much and it should aggravate every taxpayer in Mobile if you think about it we're paying $8,500 a month rent now we've been this is the fourth month but let's just call January okay we needed time so let's say three
months at $88,500 plus a quarter's taxes which is roughly 3,000 takes us to roughly what $28,000 285 so if you take the average tax bill for somebody in mville and I'm going to estimate it high that's going to be say
$6,000 about a third of that or $2,000 comes to the city so that $28,000 means 14 homeowners to probably work their butts off to get their home and to keep their home are going to pay taxes this year for absolutely nothing
other than when you get paperwork done on time and that that sickens me and anyway that's all I got to say about that well the sale of the 15th street where the replacement of the 15th Street Warehouse should have had a better plan you know we were stuck with one building and it was publicly put on two Commissioners up here that looked at
several different facilities different places to try to find the parks department and our uh other department some storage uh ideas were presented including using uh city-owned property so it didn't affect the revenue or the uh money received from property that
would come come from a business um neither of those options none of the options that me and the other commissioner went out commissioner huitt and uh at the time commissioner rello uh you didn't agree with any of them and you also didn't agree with the plan to use City own property to build new
buildings unfortunately we were stuck with two two places and we chose the best one and unfortunately it cost a little bit more on the front end but with the time restraints and uh the poor planning and basically was the only choice that I feel that we had all right well two things with that first all he
had over a year second of all I'm not complaining about even the building get bald at this point what I'm saying is I believe we went to closing in what December January so we went to closing on 15th Street the beginning of January right so it shouldn't take us four months to
close on another building is what I'm getting at that shouldn't happen now I know we didn't order environmentals at the right time we waited to order environmentals we should have done that right away we didn't do that either my point is this is un necessary cost to the taxpayer and I just want to make sure that we don't make a mistake like
this again that's all uh commissioner huitt is the fire hose equipment or is that replacing old hose what's the deal with the $1,555 hose on the old engine that we didn't replace that needed to be replaced and we are refurbing it because
due to lack of our fire hose uh we have t we had taken everything off of that to send it away whenever we get the word to make sure we have sufficient quantity on the trucks now that we're serving the city with so
yes it is going to be buying hoses for engine 36 when it goes back and service after uh refurbishing gotcha thank you other than that is nothing at this time um looking forward to all the great events we have upcoming in the month of
April here in the city I definitely will touch on a few um that are sure commissioner sui will talk about later on uh other than that I have nothing further public comment portion 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 and address your concerns please limit your concerns to approximately 5 minutes Patricia kier's 409 Peach drive I have a question is uh Miss Webster working out of title currently you want me to answer that
sure actually not because we created a title so that she could work in that job so what she's doing now is exactly what a city clerk would do she would be equivalent to basically though I forget the name of the title we put her in but people can work up into another title
for a period of time that's correct I think it's 30 days no it's actually long it's a year it's a year it's a year am I correct Joe am I am I correct business Minister I I have checked on it but I W am not the right person to actually Joanna as a taxpayer I would like to
offer my apologies you are not being treated fairly thank you see no one further I will close public comment portion of the work session meeting on April 1st 2025 any closing comments of Commissioners during the work
session motion any resolution seeing none motion for adjournment please make motion second all in favor I y Part: 2
i'd like to call the regular session meeting to order roll call please mayor Romik here commissioner Huitt here commissioner Silly here vice Mayor Watson here commissioner Cosmoon here may we please have Reverend Jonathan
Murky come up and all stand for the invocation followed by the salute of the flag let us pray for your goodness and grace we give you thanks for the beauty of this season we are grateful for our city we give you thanks also and pray your blessing on
our leadership be with our commissioners and our mayor as they lead us tonight give them wisdom and direction bless this meeting bless our town in every way receive honor and glory for we ask it in your name amen 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 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 madame clerk are there any changes to the agenda no mayor public comment on agenda items only anybody from the public would like to comment on the agenda items for this
regular session meeting on April 1st please come to the podium state your name address your concerns and please limit your concerns to five minutes thank you excuse me point we removed the resolution during the work session didn't we correct it should just be
crossed off someone not a change oh deputy clerk there is a correction we removed i have the wrong agenda we tabled a resolution 18x 1810 where did
all we table a resolution correct yes and well that that's where you say changes to the agenda that Oh okay so what do you want me to say well it should be removed correction to the changes to the agenda okay it was it wasn't removed it was tabled i thought
it was tabled but the item on the agenda needs to be removed okay you want me to say that resolution resolution 10 was tabled so we're going to remove it from the agenda
till the next meeting go ahead Miss Kier okay Patricia Kes um I have a question um resolution 183 a non-fair and open contract why are we not doing these as
fair and open contracts this is for the fencing yes because of the amount we generally get when it's under a certain amount we generally get two to three quotes and this was the cheapest quote did you get out rather than going out through a whole bidding process so you got two to
three quotes for this yeah they got at least two quotes for this and what's the amount it has to be under i don't recall off the top of my head okay and uh 184 oh wait a minute this this may be we may have used the
uh let me let me correct this we may have I don't know if we used the You know what i'm going to get an answer for you right now so just put on hold what I just said okay is this for the fence was it this a capital item yeah it was a capital item but I don't remember if we
got two quotes or we used a vendor state contracted vendor so I'm going to find that out right now okay then my next question is on 184 um and additional equipment for $68,000 um was this expected
answer i was going to say I'm I'm scheduled to move it but I think you probably have the right answers go ahead answer since we're waiting on the question so um the reason that we put the uh additional um amount on there was to increase the amount of equipment needed to complete
phase one um there was x amount of meters that were ordered and for billing purposes we have to there's try how to explain it there's different zones that we bill for well in order to complete one zone we needed more equipment
and these are for the uh smart meters yes for the water meters yep okay and then um on petitions and letters 91 um when was this when was Mr smith hired
for the city was it like in the last couple of weeks can you say that again mr smith who resigned from the zoning board when was he hired for the city and was he hired in code
enforcement or inspections this is just clerical uh he was never this is just clerical mistakes that were being corrected right now for So he was never on the zoning board he was on the zoning board as an alternate
as an alternate I Was he he was a vice chair he had to resign when he took a position in the city when did he take lettering he took position in code enforcement he couldn't do both right when did he become code enforcement i don't remember the date but he submitted
after we had a conversation with Mr russell he submitted a letter email i guess I don't know which way he did it okay correct clerical okay and um that's it you're going to get the answer i already have the answer okay
thank you two quotes okay two quotes and um is there a certain amount it has to be under well not certain amount we have to go out for good so I don't remember recall exactly what that number is and I don't want to guess because last No you don't
want to guess that's correct okay all right thank you i was going to take a guess but I think it's 44,000 yeah it's a QPA it's like 40ome,000 where's the QPA it's 44,000 Mrs kier mrs kes I know you walked away
from the mic from from the podium that's okay i just want to let you know uh the letter was written March 5th good due diligence seeing no one else I will close public comment on agenda items only
presentations seeing none bills make a motion to pay the bills second motion we have a motion second on bill payment roll call please commissioner Hwitt yes vice Mayor Watson yes commissioner Cospoon yes commissioner Suie yes mayor
Romnick yes additions and letters oh this is where you read we have a motion to receive and file letter from William Smith resigning from the zoning board of adjustment make a motion second there you go uh we have a motion and second on petition's
letter item number one roll call please commissioner Hwitt yes vice Mayor Watson yes commissioner Cospoon yes commissioner Suie yes mayor Romick yes petitions and letters the second item is a motion to receive and file a letter from Mayor Ramenik reappointing John
Romik and Veronica Cheney as members of the Shade Tree Commission with a term expiring December 31st 2029 make a motion second motion we have a motion and second on petition letters item number two roll call please commissioner Hwitt yes vice Mayor Watson yes commissioner
Cospoon yes commissioner Suie yes mayor Ramen abstain we have a motion to receive and file a letter from Mayor Romick appointing Commissioner Carol Kaspoon as a member of the board of directors of the urban enterprise zone move the resolution second motion and second on petition's
letter to number three comments yes welcome Carol to the mobile board and thank you for for joining Miss Kasaboon roll call please commissioner Hwitt yes vice Mayor Watson yes commissioner
Cosboon abstain commissioner Suie yes mayor Ramenik yes i know reports of commissioners commissioner you Yes first I'd like to make a motion to receive and file the fire and EMS
department reports for the month of February 2025 second motion we have a motion second for Commissioner Hulet to receive and file fire and EMS reports of the month of February of this year roll call please commissioner Hwitt yes vice Mayor Watson yes commissioner Cosmoon yes
commissioner Suie yes mayor Ramnick yes uh comment wise first most important uh I would like to thank and recognize officers Mike Phillips and
officer Tony Delphanado yesterday they was was their last day of serving this city a full career as police officers on the streets of the city of Mobile they have both
resigned best regards to them everybody knows I know the people in my departments uh they did a great job they served the city for a long time kudos
enjoy go on with your life thank you fellas uh with that said Brandiff Avenue Bridge we all know is out it was supposed to be a short term right now we're stretched out till Friday of this week was the last
uh word who knows what that's going to be i'm not going to say it's not going to open Friday or it is going to open Friday it's a mess folks so try and just uh plan ahead a little bit usually not even a 10-minute ride
for me to get here tonight i forgot about it and it was almost 20 minutes to get here uh hopefully it's a bump in the road that happens quick and gets done look at it this way we'll call it a fire drill for when they start working on the main
street bridge with that mayor that's it thank you Commissioner Huitt and yes I forgot about it as well coming here to city hall i gave myself time uh Commissioner Suie go ahead sure so we're getting ready for the spring and summer season so in the last two weeks the parks department has mulched the
playgrounds at Union Lake and Corson Park and uh last week the department changed we changed our prog process on how we hold our toolbox talks so it worked out really good the assistant maintenance supervisor at Gandandy did a great job
and the way they did it and all the employees were engaged they were all talking together trading ideas exchanging methods the way they did do things and it was a great thing to see them do that upcoming events this Saturday April 5th at 11:00 a.m we're holding our grand opening of the new
playground equipment at Union Lake Park we hope you can join us as we celebrate the new equipment and all those that helped make it happen there were many many donations for that equipment it was a great thing the ecttastic Easter celebration will take place on Saturday April 12th at the Tim Shannon Sports
Complex located at two North High Sharp Street behind Lakeside Middle School the event will take place from 10:00 a.m to 12:00 p.m and the egg hunt will be at 11:00 a.m sharp there'll be plenty of fun for for your children 12 years old and under make sure you bring a bag or
basket to collect your eggs if you have any questions about the events please contact the recreation office at 8568257000 extension 7394 so I'm extremely happy to say that the Milvo Vinyl and UEZ board has approved
approximately $312,000 to pay the sheriff's department to patrol our UEZ zone now the next step for this is to take it to the state to get the state approval before we work out all the details right so we're waiting a shared services agreement that
the county is presently working on and we'll need that so that we can exchange the money and I want to thank Sheriff Mike Donado the Holly City Development Corporation especially Heather Santoro for their expeditious work on this as well as Ross Hoffman Kirk Huitt for
their import input as well as Susan Cornones for making the the nuts and bolts of the finances possible now you know the this commission and the public should keep in mind how this is being
paid for it's through uee money that means money that is obtained through the UE zone uh and not our local property taxes keep in mind that a lack of p police presence and the perception in the Urban Enterprise Zone is a high crime area
come up in surveys when the Holly City Development Corporation does these surveys that perception exists and it exists that there's not enough police presence and this should go a long way to remedy that now you should you should also be able to think critically about
how the city is available is able to afford this even through uee it's fairly simple the first year uez available funds were approximately a million dollars this year they were approximately $4 million allowing us to do more projects and revitalize our
urban urban enterprise zone so you should ask yourself how did we go from 1 million to4 million smart spending programs in the zone and marketing most of that marketing came through our web pages Facebook pages and
the many videos that were produced by Bill Horn so soon a proposal using uee funds for marketing will come before you for a vote rather than the use of taxpayers which we did not approve i hope you consider the f the positive effect that
our expenditures on marketing have had so far and not just in the UE zone unfortunately we won't be able to market other areas with UEE funding but the positive effect on economic development and that we don't make a another mistake of discontinuing the
program we had in place so this time the funds will come from the UEZ so hopefully we collectively will make a better decision i think that's all I have for now thank you thank you Commissioner Suie commissioner Kasaboon go ahead
hey streets and roads lot of tires out there collected 18 appliances uh street sweeping tickets were written 289 potholes are being filled i know right now there's a lot of them um you can go on the website and there is a
form you can fill out am I correct Mr sutherland yes wear it yeah or call 8258 thou 7000 extension 7388 they did uh the center concrete island on 15th Street gate has been
removed entrance to Canal Street boat ramp has been stoned and graded um leaves are being collected they're going to make one pass through the city residents can bag their loose leaves all year around and put them out with their trash and you can start putting out your
brush beginning April the 15th through the 30th and they're going to start collecting that brush on May the 1st recycling 21 damaged carts 17 missing or stolen residents purchase 17 there's 28
notices of violation were issued in March let's see we also have the audit of the recycling routes have started and the amount of contamination is way too much please be careful about how you put things in the trash because we that
tipping fee will go up if they have to take care of that uh the ACUA has been instructed not to pick up recycling carts that have contaminated trash in them you can get a list that are acceptable curbside on our website or at our streets and roads office at 4 South
15th Street uh let's see recycling you can bring your your batteries your old TVs etc you can bring them down if you don't know what is recyclable and what is not please go for
recycle coach it's an app that you can put on your phone and details are on the city website and just a reminder the recycling and clean community department we're going to have a boo booth at the eco fair on Saturday May the 3rd at Wheaten Arts that's it for me thank you
Commissioner Costa Boon vice Mayor Watson as Commissioner Hwitt touched on uh the Brandish Avenue Bridge required emergency repair thank you to our engineering team getting a hold of the county and the contractor to get out there and get that underway um as you
stated looks like maybe Friday or Saturday if all goes well hopefully yep uh well 15 and 16 testing are underway uh those wells are located south of us on Wear Avenue um AC Schulties are is still working on well 2A with the
oversight of our engineering department engineering is drafting a New Jersey DP permit modification uh for monitoring well 18 for the sodium hypocchlorite uh bulk liquid storage tank that will remain on site for the pleasant drive improvements
plan inspects were finalized and bid and award by May 2025 uh construction is estimated for the summer of 2025 at the pre-construction meeting for the 49 bridge um a date a start date was
not provided uh I'll keep you updated on that i think I had one more thing i wanted to highlight that's all I got thank you Vice Mayor Watson um just heard briefly uh from the public uh
Brand Avenue is a county road um just like everything not every city road in the city of Milville is a city road but uh yes a little emergency affairs I do think I'm still on board with uh project updates from the county and they said
Friday as far as my knowledge as well fifth floor has been very busy with construction zoning housing and code enforcement many as well as multiple items dealing with CBDG matters there was 102 violation notices issued with 212 violations
cited 271 rental unit inspections were performed the next zoning board meeting will be happening on April 3rd at 6 p.m located here in the chambers and the next planning board meeting will happen on April 14th at 6:30 p.m here in the
chambers on April 16th at 7 p.m Vinland and Milville men's baseball teams will be playing under the lights at the Millville Babe Ruth League announcements announcements to begin at 6:15 free entry the snack shaft and smokehouse will be open um thank you to
the Millville board of education environment board of education for putting this together i am looking forward to that great event and I hope we have a great support for Milville's high school boys and our city always succeeding against the city of Vin Island
other than that I look forward to the many multiple events that we do have coming this uh month in of April along with the events that Commissioner Suie has read we also have the startup of uh American Little League and girls mobile girls softball which will be happening
uh later this month ordinances in the second reading we have an ordinance approving an and authorizing an application to hold a coin drop for the Millville Police Athletic League on June 15 2025 and June 16 2025 at the intersections of Buck
Shoot Road and Cedarville Road move the ordinance on second reading i'll second it we have a motion and second on ordinance second reading item number one there's a public hearing we now open the public hearing up if anybody from
the public would like to comment on this good bad indifferent seeing nobody I will close public hearing on this ordinance any comments on commissioners roll call please commissioner Hwitt yes vice Mayor Watson yes commissioner Cospoon yes commissioner Suie yes mayor
Romick yes we have an ordinance amending code chapter 52 police regulations article 4 disorderly conduct section 52-13 enumeration of actions constituting disorderly conduct to prohibit the use of videotaping or audio taping equipment
in certain city offices and workspaces designated as non-public forums or limited public forums make motion second motion we have a motion and second on ordinance in the second reading item number two i'll open up
public comment on this if anybody from the public would like to comment on ordinance in the second reading item number two please come to the podium seeing none I will close public hearing comments of commissioners yeah I have one so I've I've thought a lot about this
ordinance and I've also thought about how difficult it is for people to come in here and get things done as it is so you know I'm looking at it and I really don't think it's going to accomplish a whole lot i don't think it'll be effectively
enforced quite frankly we we can lock doors and keep people out of areas without the ordinance which is what we have attempted to do now and we have even addressed some of this the employee security concerns which when you walk on the floor and the doors propped open and unlocked it's supposed to be locked you
put in Dutch doors so that people can't walk down the hall and they just leave the doors open it really doesn't do anything for that either and quite frankly we need to balance that you know open government works best at least in my opinion and quite frankly we need to
balance that there's always going to be uh I don't even know what the proper term is for the people to come in here and raise hell for no good reason other than to get attention on YouTube so they're always going to be here and they'll probably be back even
if we pass this ordinance in fact the issue would pretty much die down again until we brought the ordinance up then the emails started again the phone calls started again and I'm sure whatever way we do tonight they'll get the emails and the phone calls again tomorrow so you know we act like a bunch of
neutered sheep by while those that want to disrupt act like a bunch of rabbit raccoons so that's just the way it is that's the way the world is that's how it is we've already passed one uninforced apparently useless ordinance about camping in our parks it does nothing we don't enforce it quite
frankly we've had fires lit there and it's just senseless so it doesn't make any sense to add ordinances if we know they're not going to be enforced it only builds contempt for the law it irritates the public when we don't enforce them it irritates the police officers when there
are senseless ordinances and you know what you know a prime example would be that unregistered cycles and four-wheelers on the road so I just think about this for a minute ask yourself when when you see that if you get mad at the governor and the attorney
general that don't let us take care of that problem or you say "Hey the cops aren't doing nothing about it." Most of the time you think the cops aren't doing anything about it that's what I will wager which is wrong it's an unnecessary burden upon them and I don't think we should make that burden any bigger for
the police or for the people that work here that's my opinion on that i would like to comment the two ordinance that you spoke of you know their attempts you know to make the situation better you know it's to do nothing doesn't fix anything but at least we made an attempt
to try to make it better um you know this this ordinance isn't to keep people out in my opinion this ordinance is you know to be put in place to protect the privacy of those trying to conduct business within the city you know people coming here you know dealing vital vital
statist Oh man statistics thank you sir appreciate it i got it too yeah so basically what we're doing is we're putting reasonable limitations on access points of the building uh this way when a phone call comes in nobody's getting recorded um when people are here trying
to talk to a clerk about you know regular business they're not being recorded um I think having a camera shoved in my face would probably deter me from talking and trying to get what I'm trying to get done um I don't this isn't to you know stop people from coming it's just basically to have
something in place to prevent again protect those trying to do business within the city roll call please hold on mayor cancel roll call uh you know when we first got in when this commission first got in office granted
it was very different than it is now one of my first concerns where I used to have to come in and out of here a lot was uh the security of the building one of the first things I tried to do as public safety director
uh was somewhat go back to COVID protocol now we're there down on the first floor people can't just walk in and access this building now we're there
uh I realize that right now we are down and we are hurting in on the third floor with the clerks uh and I thank them for what they're doing i had a meeting with the clerks when we first got in office second month I think it
was and every one of the clerks know where to go if something goes wrong in this building on that third floor am I right Joanna you know where to go everybody knows where to go on that floor just left when we talked i'm going to the vault going to the vault
uh I'm not going to tell them tell everybody exactly what we decided but the girls on the third floor know where to go should it be that they have to worry about that no no it shouldn't be is there an easy fix without
possibly getting this city into a legal situation because these auditors and stuff they live for cities to do something wrong they live for employees to what they consider the auditors get out of control so that they
can sue the city because they know that municipalities are sitting ducks for lawsuits and things like this i spent a couple hours up on the fifth sixth floor the other day because I had
gotten a phone call from a concerned resident uh as far as I'm concerned the sixth floor is is pretty safe they the girls up there can get into secure offices and the doors don't even have windows on them after the time
I spent out there the other day those girls and the engineer everybody up there knows what I want them to do if something goes down don't interact with these people these people look to analyze
employees they look to to challenge them and get them to challenge uh first floor is secure with what I call COVID protocol third floor can very easily be secured
and I tried it and it didn't happen with one thing and I keep saying it go back to CO protocol now I know that the girls that are on the third floor now the clerks are busy doing jobs that are not
theirs they're carrying the weight it's as simple as a telephone secure that second set of doors with a buzzer i came in here plenty times during CO protocol i picked up the telephone somebody answered i told them where I needed to go what I needed to do and I
was buzzed through into this building uh I know that we've reached out to our labor attorney and uh it's not really recommended that we uh give these people that make a living
by doing what they do with these audits and stuff and YouTube uh I'm troubled with this i I'm troubled with the fact that we can't make a simple little investment and secure that front door that you all walk through today that's the easiest way out
uh that's all I'm going to say and uh I guess we will vote roll call please commissioner Hwitt no vice Mayor Watson yes commissioner Cospoon yes commissioner Suie no mayor Romick yes
we have an ordinance approving a utility easement agreement with a Linux city electric company pertaining to city-owned property designated as block 489 lot 4 make a motion second motion we have a motion and a second on ordinance and second reading item number
three there's a public hearing on this anybody would like to come to the podium please state your name concerns see no one on the public i will close public hearing comments of commissioners roll call please commissioner Hwitt yes vice Mayor Watson
yes commissioner Cosboon yes commissioner Suie yes mayor Romik yes ordinance four is an ordinance to approve the application and agreement submitted by Leavone RE Management Corp for a 5-year exemption or abatement from
taxation pursuant to article one of chapter 65 of the municipal code for the project known as Leavone meat slicing facility located at 650 Bogdan Boulevard make motion on ordinance on the second reading item number four second a motion we have motion and second on ordinance
in the second reading of item number four i will now open public hearing on item number four anybody from the public seeing nobody I will close public hearing comments of the commissioners roll call please commissioner Huitt yes
vice Mayor Watson yes commissioner Kasabun yes commissioner Suie yes mayor Ramenick yes ordinance on the first reading seeing none resolutions please resolution authorizing the sub submission of the recycling tonnage grant application to
the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection with the monies received from the recycling tonnage grant being uh deposited in in a dedicated recycling trust fund to be used solely for the purpose of recycling make a motion
second a motion got a motion and a second on resolution item number one any comments roll call please commissioner Huitt yes vice Mayor Watson yes commissioner Kasabun yes commissioner Suie yes mayor Romik yes
resolution item number two is a resolution cancelling tax sale certificate 25-00138 for 105 River Drive make motion second motion we have motion in a second resolution item number two any comments roll call please commissioner Hwitt yes
vice Mayor Watson yes commissioner Caspoon yes commissioner Suie yes mayor Romanic yes resolution three is a resolution awarding a non-fair and open contract purchase order to Martinez Contractors LLC to repair the fence at the Mills
soccer field in an amount not to exceed $19,63647 move the resolution second it and got certification of funds there oh yeah right certification of funds in the amount of $19,63647 signed by the CFO Susan Quinones
thank you any comments roll call please commissioner Hwitt yes vice Mayor Watson yes commissioner Kasaboon yes commissioner Suie yes mayor Ramick yes resolution four is a resolution authorizing a first amendment to a non-fair and open contract/purchase
order with core and main LP for additional equipment for phase one invoices for $68,000 with a new not to exceed total amount of 1,738,70 make motion and with that I have certification of funds in the amount
of $68,000 with a new not to exceed of 1,738,70 signed by our chief financial officer Susan Kenyon second motion we have a motion and second resolution item number four any
comments again this is to increase the equipment for the first phase of the meter upgrade um we need enough meters to complete the uh billing cycle for the zoom thank you roll call please commissioner Huitt yes vice Mayor Watson yes commissioner
Kasabun yes commissioner Suie yes mayor Ramick yes resolution five is a resolution authorizing a purchase order contract for fire hose and equipment from MEES Service Company LLC and amount not to exceed $19,55
make motion and with that I have certification of funds in the amount of $19,55 signed by Susan Kenyon second a motion we have a motion to second on resolution item number five roll call please commissioner Hwitt yes vice Mayor Watson yes commissioner
Kasabun yes commissioner Suie yes mayor Ramenik yes resolution six is a resolution appointing Lawrence Faucet as deputy emergency management coordinator to fill Michael Liincott's unexpired term
expiring on July 31st 2025 make a motion second a motion one of the zoo tie we got a motion second resolution item number six any comments roll call please commissioner Hwitt yes vice Mayor Watson yes
commissioner Costoon yes yes commissioner Suie yes mayor Romik yes resolution seven is a resolution authorizing the resident of block 236 lot 134 at 1328 Canal Street to construct a 1,000galon concrete septic
closer to the rightway of line than NJAC 79A-4.3 specifies as 10 ft make a motion second motion we have a motion and second on resolution item number seven any comments yes yes I would just like to thank Miss Garton for the engineering
department working with this gentleman i've uh this gentleman has reached out to me and gave her uh wonderful kudos on assisting him with this project um because as you can see it's a little complicated roll call please commissioner Hwitt yes vice Mayor Watson
yes commissioner Kasun yes commissioner Suie yes mayor Ramick yes resolution 8 is a resolution authorizing adjustments to the tax and utility records make motion second motion we have a motion in second roll call please commissioner Hwitt yes vice
Mayor Watson yes commissioner Kasabun yes commissioner Suie yes mayor Ramenick yes resolution nine is a 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 six of the municipal code make a motion second a motion and second on resolution item number nine any comments roll call please commissioner Huitt yes vice Mayor
Watson yes commissioner Kasaboon yes commissioner Suie yes mayor Ramenik yes okay resolution 10 was tabled new business we have a motion to authorize the mayor to sign letters of support to Equals
Energy LLC to participate in the community solar energy program at the following locations 101 North 10th Street 92 Reese Road and 401 South 3rd Street make a motion on new business item number one second motion we have a
motion second any comments yes i know we've done this several times before so I started doing a little digging so if you're one of the ones that participate with the community solar energy program you make out pretty good with this if you're not one of the ones that
participate you see these rates are going to go lower and the people that don't participate they're going to make up for this somewhere and guess where they're going to make up with it for the people that don't participate and that was my interpretation when I started reading into that i could be wrong but
I'm not supporting any more of these until I find out for sure if I'm right or wrong so you guys do what you want i mean you could support this one and then do the research because I'm sure more will pop up but uh you might want to check into that because I know I supported them in
the past i don't believe I fully understood them in the past and as I read more and more it just doesn't look right to me i get it you want to be green you want to do this you want to do that but I don't know i basically just
seen it as a way to you know assist those that are paying taxes to the city you know big places you know yeah well it it it assists people that participate but the people doesn't participate right then it doesn't assist them so I don't know well I mean if you guys want to do it this time okay but we
better have a better answer next time we vote on this uh I'm going to agree and uh actually I think it's time we start looking at a couple of these ones that we've approved are they going or they I mean we're everybody that's
sitting here everybody's watching this or even looking on Facebook knows what's happened with electric it's going to happen with gas too folks there are two major players that control our utilities in this
state and they're connected to the BPU and the and the BPU is connected to politicians do not believe that you're in electric and stuff is going to go down buckle up people going to be a bumpy ride i I I'm very thankful that I made
the investment in a solar situation that is mine uh because it's going to get rough i I feel it for for the folks that I feel it for everybody this is this is going to be terrible the the delivery fees that
I'm seeing for natural gas and such but there's a there's only one game in town and town is the entire state folks it's not like we get to choose uh I I want to see things like this because they add to
an already taxed utility service that's that's why I'm uh with that you know there's not much more I can say i'm hoping that it does do a little bit of damage control mr mayor I will look into
that further for the next time this comes up so that way I can hand out yeah as far as I when I got this uh come across me as far as I teamed it as you know these properties wanted to contribute to this program and this program needed this to happen so on that
we vote roll call please commissioner Huitt yes vice Mayor Watson yes commissioner Cosmoon yes commissioner Suie yes mayor Ramick yes public comment portion 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 and address your concerns please limit your concerns to approximately five minutes huge buildings good evening mayor and commission uh my name is Steve Vulkar and I am the director of solar development for Equals
Energy and I thank you for taking the time and discussing that um and the the uh motion for the letters of recommendation i should have spoken earlier i should have jumped up and I should know that i was a councilman for 10 years and a school board member for
10 years and I do appreciate everything that you do um because it's it's it's an around the clock job nonetheless um to answer your question Mr m Mr soy if you don't mind no I I would like sure the the community solar program i'm sure
you've you've looked into it and we are very excited about coming to to Millville Equals Energy and and its companies have developed landfills throughout the state uh and in South Jersey and we are now part of the and that's all part of the community solar
program that with this program and I'll just give a little elevator pitch on it or explanation is the power that's generated we are leasing three rooftops here in um at the three addresses here in in Millville and between those three
properties we're generating five megawws of power okay calculated we we've done preliminary designs and in order for us to put our application June 1st to the uh Bureau of Public Utilities we need to
have the letter among other things uh need to have this letter of support um and I do appreciate you again taking the time and I know you've you've um done this in the past that this power does go
back to Atlantic City Electric okay not to the property not these three warehouses that we're talking about with what's on the agenda um what that power what that does it's it's we're in year four of Governor Murphy's uh uh
community solar energy program and that power goes to we've all been paying as long as I've been paying electric billers that communal benefits charge okay and they've been kind of collecting it the utility companies and basically
what happened is the the the BPU now says this that some of those monies have to go towards community solar and what that what this what the community solar program does is it allows people within
the community or or that power company or the county uh that they can get a 20 somewhere between 20 and 30% discount i don't know if you read that m Mr suy or not uh so each just to give you a
ballpark you know one megawatt of power that's generated through the consult through the community solar program equals about 200 homes that we can provide that for and those are those are homes are if if it's if when I say home I mean you have an electric meter okay
uh for low low and moderate income okay that those u for people that a can't afford solar and They want to participate in it and I think Mr huitt you you you you have solar panels on your property right so yours is a what
they call a net metering to run yours and I'm sure you see how much you save and how much is I have a field i don't have them on my roof and I'm not rent good for you okay exactly and you I'm sure you look to see it's a game to see how much goes goes back to the utility company and all i would I'd be doing
that too on my phone watching that u right here there you go like I said so you know when to turn the TV off and all that so uh so uh as as I was saying so that so it's part of the the program for
people that rent or people that have homes that are surrounded by trees and can't put the solar panels or their homes face the wrong way you know Mr who you got to be faced the right way if it's fa if you're facing north right so so it takes all those all those
um into account so I don't know if I hopefully I answered your questions and we as as mentioned we are looking forward we're going to come through with the permits because we this is one of those things that we need for the BPU from the
municipality uh this letter of support so so I do have one question you said it'll service basically 200 homes right at a reduced rate correct correct so Exelon or Atlantic City Electric is buying power from you I would correct correct so for the people that don't
have it you know Atlantic City Electric's still going to need the money to make their infrastructure generate their power sure so what about everybody else it you I mean you can say it doesn't negatively affect their rates but if Exelon or Atlantic City Electric isn't getting the same amount of money
they're going to make it up somewhere so you any idea how that I can't I can't speak for the utility companies i know they're going to make it up you know they're going to make up that like I said this the cost doesn't the seed money for this comes from that societal benefits charge that we've been charged
i heard my father asking about this in 70s so they you know whatever whatever that amount is based so that's where that's where this goes and it is funded by the state so it is it is protected it's not to then pass it on to and one
other question for those that may want to participate how do they apply to be part of the community solar project well as you said we're we're not like what Mr hwitt had done and gone for for his home we are we'll say a commercial grade larger grade so we do the landfills which you cannot build anything on uh
this is this is a great alternative to it because they rest on top we don't we're not going to put piles into it because you're not allowed to uh or or brown fields or historic fills uh or large warehouses and just to to tell you
yeah I my criteria starts at at warehouses that are around 60,000 square feet i'm talking about the consumer though how does the consumer participate in the sir can you wrap it up in a minute absolutely yeah so so so so that part this there's a subscriber uh entity to that which will come about where
folks cit ordinary citizens can sign up for that and there's no credit check there's no I don't even think you need a driver's license you just need to come in with your bill that you are a rateayer to that so that that's how you qualify that's that and you're right that's that's the great part about that could you just I don't know maybe I know
you only have a couple seconds so if you could get the information of like say I wanted to apply for it how I would do that we can give it to the community correct yeah well no right and and that will happen on a smaller scale here within within within Millville but you can access that through the the
website the the community solar program okay again folks I I appreciate it and I'll stick around if you have any further questions and I I apologize for for going you're fine thank you Steve hey man uh Joe Southern and I'm here as the coordinator of the Milville
Municipal Alliance Committee yeah uh the uh the ball teams are starting back up and we'll be supporting them uh we're supporting some programs in the school and uh we had uh the most students we've been able to
take up to the New Jersey State Elks Peer Leadership Conference was this year and Joe I'd like to thank you for that because if you hadn't uh told us how to get the funds to be able to take those students there we wouldn't have been able to do it and uh glad I could help
myself i appreciate it and I'm sure the students that went up appreciated it uh Curtain Steve uh I uh I want to thank you for uh and Susan for working with us to get the grant to bring speakers into
the the school uh that again it's another prevention program and you know we appreciate all that because our our governor decided that he needed 68% of our money for something besides our youth and uh without these programs we
wouldn't be able to do it so uh thank you very much thank you Mr sutherland rick Cobillo how you doing um the the grant the 312,000 uh grant we're getting for the sheriff's department i don't know how you're
planning on doing are they doing nighttime because they can't do there's going to be hours set up and certain periods of time because just breaking it down real quickly if we had four officers a day seven days a week that would cover 202 weeks when we broke it
down we broke it all down and it would be for a period of one year i was going to say I don't want to get into the details of where and when the coverage is going to be in a public forum and uh Heather Santoro actually has all the information that she presented to the
Melville Vinland UE board so you can certainly call her and get that information directly from her if there is any excess funds where do they go do you know well we also have we have 70,000 we put aside for mobile police officers to actually patrol in the uh
mobile UE so 70 something right but because of the shortage of officers right and lack of personnel we figure this is the stop gap matter until we get people through the academy and then then we can you know go back to having a
fully staffed police department um there probably isn't going to be any excess is probably all going to get used up if if you talk to Heather she broke it all down okay because uh you're talking about security right for four years and hate to say nothing but nothing was
really done in security in four years right um security guards right and the metal detectors just to use another city for example $25 an hour for two people for 52 weeks is
$13,000 it that's it and we can't afford 13,000 in the four years you've been trying to get security for this building that's a problem to me right cuz you knew about the problem unfortunately how much did you say how much did you say $13,000 right well you
said eight $25 eight and a half hours a day i said eight but yeah eight and a half give him a lunch break that's closer to $50,000 how much is it it might be big $25 an hour 40 hours a
week that's is that $50,000 per person 50,000 i'm sorry but still 50 thou big big well that's big right that's big for the department you know the department Rick uh I'm talking about city hall i know right no it's big for the department to fund that so you haven't
found $50,000 anywhere besides that we actually have police in this building one in the internal affairs office and downstairs on the first floor there's police in the building already and that's what we're using to help the people coming in when something happens but you know we did we did do uh in security improvements and I'll give you
an example i'll name the floor i don't care so the fifth floor we built a wall we put in Dutch doors we made a glass door we put a lock on it you know what happens you go up there the doors propped open the employees don't lock the door there are other security measures we put in place the employees
really don't follow them and I did security for a long time you know that unless you're going to put an armed guard outside this door you are not going to stop a determined individual from getting in here and doing which is a great idea though right oh yeah it'd be great if we did absolutely but I don't see it happen i don't see us
spending the money to do it but as the budget comes out you'll see why second of all to go to the co protocols pick up the phone call come inside well nobody knows who's calling if I say I'm John Smith and I'm here to go to the construction department you're going to
let me in absolutely and then what yep and that well I know from personal experience that first floor shutting the door they per they unlocked it every single time it was locked when I was down there yeah it that has changed now that Right yeah because you
your office is right there so yes you I know and I locked it and then they would unlock it so I'm just saying they're the same people that are complaining about the security are the same people violating the security procedures i just feel like the money isn't as big as it seems when
we say it that's just my concern uh the only thing I see and I say and I I'm pretty frank uh in January there's going to be somebody else sitting here with that label their job and they're going to know what's available yep and right
that's priorities right priority is priorities right priority is the streets and the residents okay uh I'm I'm just saying everything can be done if it's if it's a priority all has a level yep if you want to you know and I will point out if you go into uh Ocean First Bank we have more security here than they
have there just in case you're you know want to rob a bank or something no no thank you thanks Rick seeing no one else I post closed public comment portion closing comments of commissioners commissioner Hwitt
uh lot of conversation today good conversation from the residents that spoke thank you all uh without getting too far back on my heels like or forward on my skis there are limits believe me I have taken my beatings when trying to figure out
things uh in my departments there are limits folks you know how we fix those limits you don't want to hear it taxes got to increase we are working on getting
patrol officers into the academy uh we're working on it hard we're going to get as many as we can into themies that are coming but then it's up to them once we get them in there it's all on the
candidates yeah i I've seen us do domies and the average is half of whatever the number is that we put in to make it through i'm glad to get that half we got three more coming out pretty soon but like today I mentioned we lost two but we didn't lose them like we lose
them to other communities they served the city they served their time and they've earned their retirement i cannot do anything but wish them well just like any of the rest of my department's fire or rescue it comes time to
retire it's time to retire get on out of here you deserve it i wish that we had an open bank account you know I come in here thinking we had an open bank account i spent so many times at that microphone many years when you get here and you get the
key even employees think they know to that there's that pot of gold that I referred to to the prior commission in the middle of High Street it's not there when you get the keys to the place and you get to see what's going on then you really know i wish I had the answer i do have
the answer but nobody that's listening to this right now or watching that wants to hear that answer takes money to provide services uh with that hopefully everybody can adjust to this detour around the bridge
like I say it's in preparation for this bridge it's in preparation for Schooner Landing Bridge coming out to go south on Second Street they're going to take that whole entire bridge out it's going to be out for a while i just found that out when the EMS meeting that's in the near future other than that thank you
everybody and we'll see you in two weeks thank you Commissioner Huitt commissioner Kasabin no I just want to tell the PL two officers that are retiring good luck and also third floor keep up the good work i know how hard
they're working thanks Carol thank you Commissioner Kasaboon commissioner Suie okay so because I have a sense of humor and and I have been referred to as the Do we need to buckle up well we're going to find out if you guys have one
so so I appreciate nobody referring to me as the former vice mayor tonight so I have ordered a shirt that says Joe Sue former vice mayor on it which I I will wear in the future to the meetings because you know two meetings ago one
person referred to me as a former vice mayor and I figured I was going to start referring to him as Rosco Pold Train if any of you guys know who that is and the other guy that did it I was gonna refer to him as Saul Goodman so you can figure out who that was and with that April
Fools i do want him shirt i do want him shirt i thought long and hard through that one too much thinking that was a lot of thinking thank you Commissioner Sie vice Mayor Watson go ahead follow up that one i
probably have a good one but I leave that one alone no it's okay uh I actually have another funny story and it's rel relative to one of the officers that are retiring so I started off the city of Milville as my first full-time gig uh I was parking
enforcement i used to have to mark the tires on High Street and uh I used to sit at the front office and you know um welcome people and direct them to whatever floor they needed to go to and also log traffic tickets so
Delphanado his nickname to me was crayon because I used to carry around that chalk stick but where I was going with it I just want to congratulate Officer Phillips and um Delvonado on the retirement thank you for your service appreciate it um and I'd rather close
with that thank you we are fishing but thank thank you Vice Mayor Watson uh equals-energy.com i'm sorry if you'd like to make a presentation I'm more than welcome to have you pre make a presentation at the beginning instead of when we all want to go home uh you're
fine um and I'll just read the quick right on their website quote "Equals Energy strives to provide all individuals and communities access to the benefits of renewable energy regardless of household type income level or other historical barriers that have existed." End quote so quick look
on their link they are state funded talk about all the Governor Murphy's wonderful initiatives that is sarcasm um I thank those that came uh Steve Joe Rick Miss Kier's talking during the
regular meeting um and towards the end thank you for the public for engaging uh us up here we are we are the community here together and we are the city of Milville so let's keep on making the city of Mobile better each and every single day we all literally figuratively
we got some roadblocks set up um but that'll soon be away and then there'll be another roadblock probably setting up somewhere else but uh all for improvements and for the safety and security of the residents here in the city of Milville so I thank each and every one of you here i thank each and every one of you watching online and on
TV you all have a great and wonderful evening and a good night motion for adjournment make a motion second