you Noti gray gray gray on Gray you me one of these oh here yeah you Steve and I can share yeah we can share exactly stay for the whole night I stay for the whole day but you stay for as long as you want yeah can't it can't be a long night depending on like playing board go 10:30 tonight so you get late get late yeah hereby announc State the adequate notice of this meeting was provided by a virtu of a resolution scheduling a time date and place the meeting the bur Council of the bur moris plans for the year 2024 which resolution was adopted by the B Council on January 4th 2024 published in the Morris news being a daily record and by the posting of such resolution on the bulletin board in the burrow Hall all the above actions be in accordance with NJ sa 10 4-6 at SEC roll call please mayor pres m b pres Mr br Mr Cortez present Miss present Miss Kelly present Mr Wagner present thank you uh Kathy anything short for conference no I already you answered my question already thank you okay Dennis no short what short we have a personel issue that we have to address B so there are a couple things the a community challenge Grant I want to ask anyone any recommendations for what we could apply for this year I know one thing was the um the playgrounds are going in that we have grants for but there's I don't believe any all abilities equipment uh son will have But whichever so there's something already included in that plan okay great so if there's anything else you guys that we've got the sidewalk for that crosswalk crosswalk on Mountain Way in Franklin on the sidewalk was all part of that gr something along those lines that uh kind of helps everybody more so sometimes the seniors these gr it's a good one anybody takes anything um Community uh energy plan implementation Grant we've been talking about the next stage and the next phase of that Grant the first phase we're completing now and it's on the agenda to be voted on tonight to submit the plan but second second phase of that would be to actually apply for implementation grant money that's available to the 44 municipalities who who submitted a plan already um that number is going to increase the number of cwns who are submitting that Grant so it's a great opportunity for us to get in on think there's $3.4 million out there and we can um receive up to $250,000 per project for that um and they told us to submit multiple projects so one of the things that we're looking at is um with the council's uh for consideration by the council is uh additional EV charging stations at community park at the burrow Hall um and uh we have a local resident who's been sort of helping us kind of craft that you know if we're going to Ally he's got the expertise to help us do that to make sure that we enumerate the costs effectively this time make sure we have power to the Chargers and all the things that we need to be included in the cost so does anybody have any um other feedback on that other things in the plan that you think we also thought we could apply for some um vehicles that if we're going to be purchasing hybrid vehicles or electric vehicles that we could put that another request in we I don't think the police department wants to hear about electrical Vehicles well that's what the state wants to hear so that's what the police department's going to end up hearing they went to chase somebody the car didn't move he did he did weigh in on it and said that they have a GL you got his have vehicle that they need to get you know around it and that might be an appropriate use anything else good with that I think the additional charging stations and is there any way that the the two that we have by the freight station is there any way that we can increase the I think the power I think we're locked into those though those oh to work on those for these new ones we're looking at level two so they'll be much faster um what is the speed on that like average 80 bikes per hour how long does it take to get charged before a couple of hours oh couple hours it's not bad if you had a baseball game you know oh yeah not while you're working you can go and join a meal at the diner right yeah oh the ones downtown I don't know I don't know how how long um breakfast and lch and then uh the other thing that we had to continue discussion on making the uh fire prevention official position full time we discussed it I think the prior two meetings I think I have memos that were submitted from the fire department going back to 2017 asking for this discussion to take place and uh we're gonna hold up on that first for now well we don't want to hold up because there a lot of people here to hear about that and if we hold off we're going to be doing it at midnight and no one will get to hear about it I have a pertinent person this that has to be addressed that Mr trol is here to address tonight okay well I it came up if you look at our byog the executive session actually occurs after the uh the meeting so I don't know why we would preempt our conference uh Mr trol had somewhere else to be this evening so hopefully he could get in early and he has a long drive down a short so we ask whether we could accomp his well I don't think we have a lot of discussion on this anymore I mean the information I i' I've gotten now is that we have um in Mars County we have 14 towns that have a full-time fire prevention official of these eight municipalities are volunteer fire departments there are 19 departments with a part-time official some may have full-time inspectors so it's misleading to to think that they're part-time fire prevention bureaus because they may not be uh and at least 14 of these municipalities have passed the apartment inspection ordinance which will allow us to inspect Apartments as well as single family homes upon change of occupancy n you're going to continue this book we can get the Personnel issue done we may have time to come back and discuss this when we don't have to stop so we're going to have the public leave the meeting correct well I just want to finish I it would be five minutes you're going to end up having to say it all again nobody's going to be able to rebut or talk or ask questions of what you're saying so why don't you say no I want to make a motion for a vote in five minutes so I'm going to no you're not going to make a motion for a vote I can make a motion for a vote whenever I want I can make a motion for a vote Yes I run the meetings I will I will tell people when we can make a motion for a vote in terms of the well that's an interesting question but in terms of a legislative act like that this is a this is a strong burrow could you speak up please speak up okay so so so to answer that question hear you answer so I'll answer that question the question becomes whether or not burrow Council has the right to make a legislative motion here under this particular form of government which is a council form of government it's just you know it's a weak mayor strong counsil form of government it's it's an interesting question and under the burrow form of government the the mayor is the the chief administrator to the burrow he runs the meetings um you know generally speaking there's a body of law out there that that deems that to be administrative in nature um accordingly based upon the fact that it is a u a council form of government um and I wasn't prepared to answer this question per se with any research but uh I mean I do think that the appropriate answer is is that a motion can be made by Council I was asked at the last meeting to look into shared service so this discussion took place I um the concerns that the fire department has about a shared service for this position is Communications about what is in these buildings if somebody from outside of their organization is doing these is is overseeing the inspections they don't always get the information they need to know what's what they're going into um they don't see the reports that go to the state for the life Hazard units either um the other issue with this is that we have a volunteer fire department so when the fire if there is a fire and it's in the middle of the night they have to wait until the Fire official comes and inspects the scene and does the whatever the Fire official has to do at the end of the uh the fire to investigate and write a report um and so if this person is from out of town There's you know our our uh our volunteers are out there um after some probably you know experience so so that was the second reason that they were not in favor of a shared service um mostly it's the information that they want to make sure they have and so that was the question remaining at the last meeting and um I feel comfortable with the information that we have that this is not a financial burden for the buau because this is a position that brings in income also that the position is needed based on uh the demands that have grown in the burrow in the last several years we've been getting by because our our current fire prevention official was unfortunately unemployed for a couple of years so we were we had the advantage of having a parttime worker that was basically here fulltime we don't have that anymore the work that needs to get done can't get done in after hours many times there are businesses that need to be consulted with and um they need to you know meet with the Realtors during business hours and and an after hours capacity that is not not really possible so you would um for the for the person that the our fire our fire Association elected for this position and appointed and and we and the mayor appointed and we approved um the the full-time job is something needed we want to expand their role to to do these apartment inspections some of some apartments have never been inspected in a burrow by the state um so the need is there and does anybody else have anything to the meeting because I know there's people here who didn't hear the first discussion but it's been I don't want to reiterate everything in the interest of time i' just like to something real quick um I wrote this last time we discussed it the moris planes Volunteer Fire 100% volunteer for 116 years in all those years not once that we asked I uh for anything that wasn't needed to keep our firefighters or resident safe it's getting harder and harder to find people to volunteer on any thing let alone a potential life-threatening fire department guys my age have served 25 years uh or more cannot continue forever the guys that you saw in the room tonight in the last few meetings um they're the active firefighters and they support they have their full support for a full-time uh position they're also ones looking up to the governing body and asking us to listen to what they believe is needed to keep everyone safe the town is growing which puts more demands on all emeres Services when our police chief asks for additional officers uh to keep up with the demand of the additional and existing residents the current governing body did not hesitate to hire three new officers uh the fire department doesn't always get the same respect they had had to beg the mayor and counsel um to get the fire prevention Bureau a used police car with over 100,000 miles the bureau was very grateful to get that um there's there's no reason should have been such a battle uh the governing body should appreciate the years of dedication experience and almost cost free uh what the mor Plaines volunteer fire department provides the town and when the fire department asks for something the council should recognize this as something necessary uh to the life-saving services that we provide the daytime response is the most challenging time and the majority of our calls having a full-time fire prevention person would help keep our business owners new and existing residents and our visitors safe that come to moris Plains to work shop and eat uh I think we're being a little Penny wise and a dollar foolish and keep the rooll part-time some of our other part-time positions like our janitors recycling coordinators and name a few uh make more than our current part-time fire prevention Chief uh the work load is there to support the position full-time the fees collected will will offset more than half his salary I don't think this is a difficult decision uh hiring Chris as a full-time fire prevention Chief is not turning the fire department into a full-time paid Department fire prevention has its own budget and it's separate from the fire department uh if we don't act now it's the potential of having a paid department for for Boris ples or having another town cover our calls which would cost more than what this position would hold Chief Kevin Rango has 35 years of active volunteer firefighting experience I've served alongside Kevin for 27 years I know Kevin as a dedicated honest trustworthy Frugal and truly loves and cares for the residents and the town overall Kevin is a resident an employee and a volunteer fireman I ask that the mayor and Council hold them up to the same standard that we do with Chief Kowski who when he asks for Manpower or Vehicles the governor governing body does not hesitate to supply most of us on the council when we ran for reelection we all said that we support our First Responders I would say that please support our Fire Department chief Rango and our fire prevention Bureau thank you ort um I think everyone up here is would would be able to vote um I had asked at the last meeting if we could um have in close session a salary discussion before we I I just feel like voting now is putting cart before the horse like are do do we agree or I'm asking I would just like to have a salary discussion and protocol would be to notice uh the employee um so I'm I'm suggesting about a position it's not an employee at this about an individual it's about establishing the RO position councilman wagon that that is correct I don't I don't know the substance of the motion that's that's going to be made shortly here but what it does sound to me like and what it's been suggested is that this is solely for purposes determining whether they make what's now a part-time job a full-time job it doesn't also include parameters as to salary as to individuals as to candidates and whatnot I think it's just it's just a position and a position only um quite frankly it raises other issues if we were to go beyond that at the moment in any event um so so you really you don't have that luxury of going much farther than determining whether or not to make a part-time position a full-time position right now you can't you can't then discuss salaries can't discuss candidates and things along those ones because it's a process there so we could have those discussions correct at some point but but assuming that you were to make it a full-time position one of the things You' also have to do is amend your code because your code currently doesn't provide that so before you you know code doesn't specify though it's well it says it's a onee appointment if I when I don't so you have to you would have to put in there somewhere that it it's a full-time position and you can't really have in a code I don't think a full-time position that's a oneyear appointment you know that runs continues so you would have to update the code but that's you know it doesn't stop or you know it doesn't hold up or stay or or what not the action of councel but that has to be done in the future to La lay the PID work for for salaries and positions and individuals and whatnot I thought I thought the fire Association had to appoint a fire prevention official every year regardless of full they do that yeah but so why do we have to amend the code it still has to be appointed not a legal the association recommends a person just you know stand i' have to work so would it be fair then to make a motion then to agree that if we can come to a agreement on a person and a and a salary that we want to make this role fulltime is that a fair motion I'm not well they should just be a position full time I can you say it again everybody should asked these questions prior to the meeting we wouldn't be in this predicament what what what what's the motion to make a motion to extend the position to fulltime with the understanding that we're going to come to an agreement on salary for this for this role an executive session and discuss Personnel we can't discuss those now but we still need to amend the way it was going with the onee position to make it a full time but we're not sorry we may not have to because I think they have to appoint every year so I don't think that well once we have a fulltime position there's no more appointed anymore they're done oh they they okay so even though we have someone so how can we say we're hiring someone full time subject to Association person is that that legal so we have a fulltime employee but wait a minute come December we got see the association want is that what we're talking about I just want to no I I imagine I just want to be clear on that councilman Coria imagine what happens there is if you make the position a full-time position assuming that the fire codee does provide for this annual appointment that it would become a full-time position that at the end of every calendar year the the the the uh Association would make that appointment presumably they would make the same the same individual appointment every year but uh but but that I think that answers your question so the mayor appoints they El and then the mayor appoints and then the council votes it's a 12 month position with a fulltime position well every position's at will right it all determin it I think points with Council but but the association plays a part they I I just don't have the code in front of me but but I recall the last time I looked at it was several weeks ago it's appointed by the mayor confirmed by Council but but with the recommendation or or whatnot probably similar to your position the engineer all you know we have right similar not the same professional agement I don't think this discussion could have not happened here because we all have questions and we have to have it in public because they're we're all together this discussion we all have to understand what the ground rules are here so I'm going to make a motion to extend the position to fulltime um I know there are further discussions that have to happen about Personnel that we can't have in public but separating motions out into the position and then the person out to be okay I I think we just need to clarify that motion a little bit is is is the motion as I understand it to make the position of of the Fire Marshall s full is that the motion it's you're moving on the table yes am I able to say anything before this gets seconded yeah yeah you can talk you don't you don't have power i u I'm utterly disappointed in this Council pushing this through like this there were two meetings that were that there was discussion on two meetings after seven years or five years which I thought the discussions were going well one council person said two meetings ago make a motion that we vote on it definitely at the next meeting you're making a motion now to we vote on it in five minutes I don't understand what giving me time you didn't give me the time I wanted so I said give me at least five minutes this kind of decision takes a lot longer than five minutes with everybody's discussion two discussion at a council meeting is Never Enough for something like this just a couple things I remember when Chris Shay came in here 2021 I believe it was maybe something like that sat down here in his in his chair and talked about the job and the position and I think and I've talked to Chris Shay about this as well so this is nothing that's not that hasn't been said by anybody or to him or anybody else and the chief that he sat here and petitioned for a job for himself how the bur owed him a job because he had lost his job which is a terrible thing I'm sorry that that happened to him Chris is a professional knows this business inside and out I don't know the particulars but that shouldn't have happened and when he left that day I remember the whole council's jaw was a little little bit on the floor every person on this Council their jaw was on the floor saying I cannot believe that what we just heard he's petitioning for a job fir there was nothing about safety there was nothing about the fire department there was nothing about any of that it was about one person one individual how this town deserved to give him or had the right to give him a job because he was laid off everybody on this on this de was shocked and don't tell me that that didn't happen because everybody talked about it afterwards have you looked have you talked to anybody else outside of this town about uh the position yes I talked to the county I like reported that at the last meeting no that came from Kevin R I spoke to the person who firefighters at the county about this what's his position and role up there I'll that up I mean the data on this has been going back since 2017 so that's not the question but you make it seem like not the question that I asked it's been discussed it's just nobody brought it to the floor so I'm doing that so you you brought it to the what was what was his name and what and his position his name Wason Leo I'm looking it up Steve what time you have I got a lot of questions from everybody and instead of going to the professionals they went to me instead of going to to the people who are in the job Lou his name is Lou Pepe head of training at Mars County Fire Academy is he a fire inspector what's his credential he's the head of training at the mors County Fire acad any other credentials that you have I did not ask him I you speak to any other municipality or any other directly has any other council person reached out to any other municipality or anything the county S have you um through through Anna yes art have you talk to Jim Davidson um he's said there's no way be able to cover another pound inspection Jo I didn't denn at the last meeting I asked a question from your report you said you were talking about inspections I said are all the inspections getting done now your answer to me or to the whole Council was yes they did get done last year because the person was unemployed for of the year so a lot of the work got done in the first part of the year you also said that uh part-time is Not Practical is that correct well what's the context I explain being a part-time inspector is Not Practical I said there's a lot of work that has to be done during their business day so if somebody's doing it part-time after hours it's difficult to conduct this position as as an official inspector maybe official I don't understand you had the information from Signature Place that they do those these inspections is that correct yes I I did I also have information from the highlands that their fire alarms are going off and they have you know they're doing them you know they're all doing them themselves inspections and somebody that I know is leaving the because of debris and things like that that needs to be taken care of and we need someone in there doing that for us we need someone from our departments from our inside we have we have 2100 homes in in in the bur how often are those homes looked at are they looked at the homes are looked at when they change occupancy the single family some may have not been looked up for 35 years nobody M up when they change occupancy they get a chance to go in there by law we can't just go into somebody's house that's not legal right so we're trying to make it fair so that when Apartments change hands which is 30% of Apartments turn over every year that they're inspected and that they're safe for the other residents in the building and for the family that but that inspection does go on with the building