of compliance, please. >> This meeting is being held in accordance with the open public meeting board duly announced, advertised to posted in the municipal building. The meeting will adjourn no later than 10 p.m. unless a majority of the council members that are present vote to extend the time. >> Can we all rise for the pledge of
allegiance and a moment of silence? I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
Please be seated. I'll be right back. >> Okay, >> I'm going to go get a pill. >> Okay. Uh, can I get a motion to excuse the mayor? >> So move. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I.
>> And uh, can we get a motion to open to the public? >> First, we got to do roll. >> Oh, sorry. Uh, roll call. >> Mayor Kamala is absent. Council President Talamini >> here. >> Councilman Eert >> here. >> Councilman Pigmentatelli,
>> he's here. Yes. Councilwoman Rose >> here. Councilman Saliani >> here. >> Can Can we get a motion to Excuse Councilman I mean Mayor Kamala? >> So moved. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> All right. Can we get a motion to open
to the public? >> So moved. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> Any members of the public wish to speak? >> Seeing none, can I >> early? Can I get a motion to close?
>> Second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> All right. And then just a quick shout out to my son. It's his birthday today >> and I'm here instead. >> Sorry, Russell. >> You're setting a good example of doing your duty. >> All right. Uh so uh here we go.
>> Okay. Uh thank you and thank you Russell for being here this evening. >> Yes. Um so tonight uh we have uh kind of as a followup to the first presentation uh four presentations with departments uh the senior center department of public works fire department and the
police. we go through operating. Uh this is going to be an opportunity to hear a little bit about the programs and services and various functions of these departments as they affect um a wide area of what does and uh and affects
residents. Uh so we're going to start uh with Ariel Presci who's seated across from me. And with that, I'll just turn it over to her. >> Great. Thank you. Thank you so much for having me everyone this evening. Um happy to be here represent the senior
center uh and share a little bit about our budget what and what we've got planned for this year. Uh I just want to talk a little bit on the senior center. So the senior center itself it's not just a service. It's an asset that most towns don't have. Uh
while some municipalities do have senior programming, it's nothing like the extent that opens a communicant providing comprehensive welcoming and active environment for our older adults. Uh what we built here, it's not the norm. It is something exceptional. It
reflects Oakland's values and priorities. And it also plays a critical role in allowing our residents to age in place. It gives them the ability to remain in their homes, stay connected, and maintain their independence, which is increasingly important as our
population continues to grow and change. By the end of this decade, so that's four years from now, all baby boomers will be over the age of 65. At the end of this year, our oldest baby boomer will be 80. And within the next 20 years, all individuals um the people
over 80 will double in the next 20 years. And for the first time in history, seniors will outpace children by the year 2030. It's a huge change and shift in demographics, which is really important to communities uh and how they plan
their programs, how they plan their facilities. And Oakland is ahead of most. You have a facility, a senior center, which like I said, most municipalities do not have, and you've laid a strong foundation to continue to meet those needs of the changing
population for years to come. So, uh, as I go through my budget, uh, I will go through what our programs look like, what we are looking to do to change, grow, uh, and meet those needs. Uh, as you see in my budget, there are two main areas that I'm going to be touching on.
Uh, so I'll be touching largely on salary and wages and then our operating expenses, which encompasses our programming and all the different pieces that are involved with that. I'm going to start with our operating expenses and our programs uh and then I'll move on to
transportation which is what the largest part of our uh budget change for this coming year. And while this percentage increase that you have seen may seem high uh they reflect the adjustments within a relatively small overall budget. the
actual term dollar terms increases are modest but are necessary to maintain and enhance. So I'm going to just go over a few statistics about the senior center and where we're at right now. So right now the when I pulled the numbers last this
is a few weeks ago we had 95 total members and 350 of those approximately are active participants. When I say active participants that means they're coming out at least once a month for a program. They could be coming just for a once a month book club meeting or they'd be coming weekly every day for exercise
programs. It varies amongst individuals. And our membership continues to grow. 2023 we had 79 uh new members, 2485, 2025 106 and 26 is already on trend higher. To give you an idea of what that
I mean by that, between January 1st and March 18th, I pulled these numbers today. In 2024, we had 12 new members. The beginning of the year is always our smallest um new registering time in the year. Uh 2025 we had nine. This year we've already had 30 new members. >> Gez.
>> So it's big grow. And you know if we maintain that we're going to see record numbers, record high numbers. >> So active members of 350 by age. Again it's really important and I will go into this further as to why you need to know
what the age ranges look like. So 55 to 69 we have 75 of those members 7079 105 80 84 is 51 but our highest number of 85 plus is 119 members we have our to give
you an example our oldest resident who comes out very actively she's 96 years old she's here minimum three times a week playing majong taking exercise coming to special events >> so we have a very active elder adult community I like to I tend to talk in our younger senior seniors versus older
seniors, but our older seniors are very active and it is amazing and it's what we want to see in a community. So, program participation. Uh, last year we offered,446 programs. These programs are our
exercise classes. We offer exercise every single day. Um, we're open Monday through Friday 9 to 4. Uh, art programs, events, clubs, educational sessions. Uh last year we had 9,94 building visits recorded. So that's based on membership
card swipes. Every member is given a little key tag. We have a little kiosk when you first enter the building. You swipe in, you record what you're here for by pressing a button and you hit finish. I can tell you without a doubt that that number is lower than actual numbers. There are definitely people who
are not either swiping in because they forgot their card. they don't want to council um or they don't complete it. If you don't hit finish at the end, it's not going to record your I pass by at least once a day and I have to hit finish for somebody. So, that number I would
definitely say is closer to maybe 9,500, maybe even higher than that. Services provided, I just want to give you a little idea of what our programs look like. Uh we offer fitness programs twice a day. We offer a variety of different level programs. We offer
transportation services which I will go into more depth in a moment. Uh educational programs, book clubs, art classes, trips. We go on spe we have special events. We have medical based programs. So the county nurse comes twice a month. We have a podiatrist that
comes on site. We act as a social service resource center. What I mean by that is we help with navigating government programs. So, senior tax freeze, real it chore, which is a volunteer program through the county to help get services around your house. Um,
financial assistance. We offer um SHIP. So, that's a state health insurance program. That's Medicare assist um Medicare help prep services. We assist persons experiencing homelessness. We have some great volunteer programs. So,
I'm sure you've seen with all of the snow that we had this past year, we um acted as the liaison to help set up volunteer snow shoveling for our senior residents who could not uh do it themselves or afford to hire someone
else out. Uh we offer scam awareness programs throughout the year, bringing in a variety of guest speakers. We offer tech help. What I mean by that is I sit one-on-one with our seniors and I will help them learn how to use technology. Their cell phones, their iPads, whatever they can bring to me, I can teach them
how to use and I will set aside time in my day to work with them. It is even more important for individuals to learn how to use technology. Everything relies on technology today. New this year, we've always acted as a
support system for caregivers, but this year we are really trying to expand upon that. It's actually starting next week. We are offering support groups. We're having a memory caregiver support group uh which is we're pairing with the Alzheimer's Association to assist
individuals caregivers which could be spouses uh adult children, neighbors, friends with navigating complexities of diseases of brain. So as individuals continue to age, we're seeing more and more often the diagnosises of uh the
dementias, Alzheimer, strokes and things that are affecting memory. Uh so it is a very important and very needed uh support system that we are doing our best to try to assist with. So we are expanding into that this year.
We I'm going to go into in a moment where the budget is going in regards to this, but I just I wanted to touch on we offer a huge variety of programs. Uh we are serving two, even three generations of individuals in our one facility. Different age groups have different
wants, different needs. I use this all the time as an example. You're not going to put a 5-year-old in a basketball league against a 25-year-old. It's the same thing here. physical ability, the limitations of someone who's 55 is not the same as someone who's 95. And we need to be able
to provide a variety of services to meet the needs of everyone as many as well, as many as possible. We're not going to meet the needs of everyone, but we will try to meet the needs of as many as possible. And these programs are more than just fun. And the center is more than just a place. It's a lifeline for many members of our community. It provides
connection, purpose, access to essential resources that support both the physical and mental well-being for older adults, especially those who live alone or face mobility challenges. It becomes a vital hub that helps prevent isolation, keeps them engaged, active, and independent.
And I also want to point out in case I'm sure you all know, but for those who are watching, the senior center is free. There is no cost to join. We may charge a small fee at times for different programs. We try to limit that as often
as possible um by offsetting the cost with we have sponsor we have fantastic community partners who assist us with sponsoring our events to help help keep costs low. Uh but we do not want the inability to
pay to inhibit somebody from joining the facility and participating and accessing those services and engagement and maintaining that activity and independence. The com the community has changed so
significantly in the last six years. I hear it all the time from our residents. the when they moved into this community, when they helped build this town, they could have never anticipated the financial realities that they're facing now, rely many relying now only
on social security and limited savings. People are living longer than ever before. They have run through their savings. I can give you an example of somebody who recently wrote me a check for $5 and asked me to hold on to that check because it would have bounced if
they if they I cashed it that day. We needed to wait for their social security to come in. That is reality that individuals are facing in our community. So the importance of maintaining an affordable facility, affordable programming is of the utmost importance. So where that brings to me to our
program. So, uh, I in within what we asked in the operating expenses, it goes to cover a few different areas. Uh, and I just want to go into a little bit of detail. So, uh, in programs, so when you break it down into the different line items, it
breaks down to programs. So, programs can mean the cost of goods have gone up overall across the board. cost of supplies that we need to pro do our programs, our art classes, those art supplies, our instructors, their fees have all gone up across the board. Uh
our food costs, so we offer coffee program, which is just a coffee and chat, a great social experience for our uh residents. Some will just come out, have a cup of coffee, and it'll be the only time they come out during the week to see other people. Those costs have
gone up. uh we go on trips, we want to again keep them as affordable as possible. It is a fun extra, but we do want to make it as accessible as we can. So, we offset the cost of those trips by helping cover the cost of the bus. Gas has gone up. So, part part of the costs
go to or go into transportation. Uh at the end of last year, at the end of every year, we do an evaluation of our programs to see if there are any areas where we need to fill gaps. One of the things that came back to me for example is our art program.
Huge huge desire to expand our art program. Individuals were coming to us. They wanted to participate. Art is so great for a multitude of reasons. Uh uh tactile health uh brain memory health. You're using your brain in so
many different ways when you're participating in art programs. Uh and our we had a very small but fantastic art program. If you've never had the opportunity to come in the senior center and see the art on the walls, I please welcome you to come see it. We are our own museum
uh and even coming this June, we'll be seeing an art show at the library. So I also encourage you to go see that. Uh so our art program is fantastic and we want to expand it. So part of that uh funding would go toward expand our art program and adding an additional class. We did a
test this January just to see how it would do. Uh in the 8 years that I've been here, I've never seen a class built so quickly. And not only that, our weight list was double of what the actual class could take. So the want is
there, the need is there. Uh so that is the area where we'd like to expand. Uh we also uh are just doing a little bit more especially for this year with the 250 America. We're offering some extra special programs uh extra guest
speakers. Tomorrow is actually our first program for America 250. Excuse me, I said that in the wrong order. Uh we're doing an entire series, educational series on immigration to America, talking about the uh different groups and why they came. We'll be offering lunch with that. And so some of that
program cost goes to additional uh fun educational sessions. Um so that is generally where the operating expense uh increase would go towards our different programs or different uh
uh different trips, refreshments. A lot of it is just due to the increased cost of goods overall across the memory. >> Did you mention that some of our neighbors um like the care center who will have a lunch in for people or
different uh medical group in town will pay for pizza? >> Yes. So we have I mentioned we do have some great community partners who will come in and sponsor. It does help offset the cost of a lot of our programs. Uh like you said the different facilities, care centers, rehabilitation centers.
with uh banks. They all come in, they've many have come in, they will pay for a meal, they'll pay for a presenter. And again, that will help keep our costs low and our programs low be able to offer more and more variety.
Okay. Sorry. So uh now moving into transportation which would be the other large area where you would see the increase uh requests in the budget. So our transportation program has grown significantly since last year or last
year after you gave us the additional funding to be able to expand an extra day we added in that third day. So we run now three days a week Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Tuesdays and Thursdays are fixed route um systems. We run on Tuesdays roughly 9 to 1. We go to
shop right with accessing food is our priority for that day as well as coming to the senior center for exercise programs. Wednesdays we run approximately 10:30 to 4 with the priority being medical appointments out of county as well as local rides and we
do run upwards anywhere between 56 miles outside of town uh burough's limits. And then Thursdays 9:30 to 3 uh primarily coming to the senior center. That's when we offer our main special programs. Uh senior club meets that day. We h and it
is our busiest day in terms of actual riders. And then in between that program, we try to utilize the driver as often as possible. So he'll do more local rides for individuals not ending attending programs. So our current bus operations is approximately 15 to 16
hours a week. Um, I wanted to add in that one new fun additional use of the bus that we found this year is laundry service. Um, I mentioned that because as I mentioned, we the goal here is to keep people aging in place as long as
possible safely. We want to maintain people's independence and one of those small things that you don't think about that is a huge necessity is access to being able to do their laundry. A lot of the houses are built with laundry on the lower level or in the basement that there right there you're
adding in stairs and for an individual who's already no long not steady adding in stairs and then having to add holding a basket just makes it that more dangerous. Uh we got a call earlier this year uh about assistance trying to find
help at doing their laundry. We called dozens of laundromats, uh, dry cleaners, and nobody would service Oakland. So, we did what we could to come up with the next best solution. We are now taking in
our individuals on the bus with their laundry to the local laundromat, dropping it off at the wash fold, bringing them home, uh, and then going back for it a couple days later. >> Where is that located? >> Pontton Lakes. Uh it's affordable and it is something
that's making it so that these individuals can stay in their homes longer. It's one of those small things. Laundry, uh being able to do your laundry, being able to food shop, being able to mow your lawn or shovel your snow. These are
the little things that most people don't think about when it comes to aging that are absolute necessities uh and they don't plan for. So thankfully we've been able to utilize the resources we have to be able to make it so individuals can once again remain
in their homes as long as possible. >> Ariel, is that enough hours for the bus? I know we expended a day. >> Do we need more hours? >> We need more hours and that's where you saw the budget increase. I'm coming to that next. >> Don't worry, I'm getting there.
>> So transportation demand, we've seen a big increase in one year. So between 24 and 25, we saw an 89% increase. Um 752 rides in 2024, 1,420 and 25 medical rides. So we did
increase that access to take individuals for medical rides. Uh and we had 102 medical rides. Medical rides are doctor's appointments, blood work, and physical therapy. Uh, and I can tell you that without a doubt,
we do not have enough time to meet the needs of our residents. So, our routes are full. I cannot take an additional person on Tuesday or Thursday runs unless they are uh next living next to or on the same street as somebody who
is currently riding on our bus. Since January, I have had to any person who has called on Tuesday or th for a Tuesday or Thursday run, I have had to say no to. And it's not because the seats aren't full. It's because I don't have the time to run to another part of town to pick them up. The 15 minutes in
another part each way would put me over budget. Um, Wednesdays, they have their own limitations while because it is uh not a fixed route and it varies day to week to week.
Um, there are days where I am very limited and I do have to say no to rides because if I am taking somebody for a medical ride, for example, that could take up an hour or a half in one direction out into Wayne. It's an absolute necessity. I would not change
it, but I would like to ask for additional funding to be able to expand that. Wheelchair accessible transportation options are limited. There are so few. If you don't have a if you cannot drive and you do not have access to someone to drive you in a wheelchair accessible
van, your options are us and Burn County. Our numbers are going up significantly and there's a few different reasons behind that. Part of which is and I've recently been made aware of Bergen
County. If someone would call Bergen County Community Transportation, they'll actually call if they person says that they live in Oakland, they will tell them to call us first, see if we can take them before they'll even consider taking them or adding them to the ride.
We sometimes can, but there are many times where either we're not running the day that they need it or we're just full and I will send them back to Bergen County. Uh so that limits that uh continues to limit individuals who are
um who do need access to um accessible transportation. Um so what I'm going to ask of you, what our budget asks, what I'd like to do is expand our program from 15 hours to 29
hours per week. With that, our schedule would be going running Monday through Friday. We're gonna add on Monday and Friday mornings uh for five hours a day and then expand our Wednesday and Thursday to run for a full day. Adding these days, these two would help
bridge that gap in coverage. It would address our current capacity limitations. It would allow me to start earlier so we can pick up more people to go to ShopRite, to come to the senior center. would allow us for um it would allow us to increase
flexibility to accommodate those longer distance medical appointments. It would improve schedule efficiency for those time-sensitive trips. And it would the additional days would allow for allow for more multi-day weekly appointments. So physical therapy, if you've ever had made use of physical therapy, usually
need to go two to three times a week. Usually need a day in between those two to three days a week. Right now we cannot accommodate that. It is challenging especially B. It is challenging with Bergen County's transportation program. They are limited. Part of the main reason why we
expanded into these um adding in medical appointments is because of our location in the county. We are the furthest western community in Bergen County and therefore we are largely surrounded by Pay County. They will not cross counties. So, they will pick somebody up
and they'll happily take them out to Pamis, but they will not take them down the road to Pompton Lakes. Um, I understand they do have to put limits at some point as to where they're going to go, but for the needs of our residents, uh, for many, they need to be able to
access those appointments in another county. it is many other doctors it's closer it's easier and to ask them to switch to another doctor's office so they can get transportation there is very challenging so our long-term vision with this build
a scalable transportation model that can adapt to future demand we'll continue evaluating our ridership to guide our service expansion funding needs so if we're finding that we're adding on Mondays but we really don't need that many hours we need additional hours on Tuesdays we'll adjust It's an
everchanging cycle. We're still learning uh with having these Wednesdays where it's not a fixed route. We are we are learning how to do none of I am not an experienced um transportation manager. We are all learning this. We are making
adjustments as we go. We are using AI. We're using the tools that are in front of us. I've used AI for route optimization to ensure that we are making the best use of the time, the audit time that I have. making sure that we're picking people up in the best route to minimize gaps.
And potentially this will allow us to build out and potentially in the future we could build out our program to include other towns that were already going through and add them in through a shared service agreement should that be a desire of another town or our uh burrow in the future.
>> So my question is >> yes, >> in other words, you want to provide service to another town also. >> I don't I'm at this time no. It's just a long-term vision of what we could potentially do through a shared service agreement. So, if you take a look at, for example, there's the five towns of transportation, which I want to say is
like Kennel, Puquanic, Butler, don't quote me on this, um, Pomp, maybe Pompton, I'm sorry, I don't remember exactly which towns, but they've got five towns. They have a shared service agreement. Uh with that they are able to get funding from the county which I have
absolutely looked into but unfortunately our program at this time is just too small to be eligible for county funding. Um we're already going through some of these towns. So if another town recognizes it as a need and they request us and want to look into sharing I'm
open to it. I'm open to expanding our program through a shared service agreement. >> So they would come here and you would go there. >> Correct. >> Okay. Yes. >> Thank you. Thank you for that. So the long-term vision I get, but back to practicality. Yes.
>> So you want to you want to increase the number of hours basically double >> which is I I think most people at this table before I speak for them, but I've been for supporting community. >> Sure. >> Do we have a driver? >> We do. We have a driver and I'm actually and I'm hiring a substitute driver. I
finished my I finished interviews yesterday actually and we'll hopefully be bringing someone to you within the next two meetings to approve >> and Rich that's not an impact on benefits or anything right there's no >> no the way we for now >> uh there you know person would still be
considered part-time um I think part of this is sort of a >> little bit of an incrementalist approach I mean obviously we expanded the program last year we saw that the demand is there uh you're hearing from people that uh you know have needs that we're not able to meet with the current 15 hours a
week. So we know that we can expand it. So we'll we'll go to this. We'll see if there's still an unmet need there uh that we need to address in the future whether you know this will be proved to be sufficient. >> Is there anything you mentioned this presentation that isn't nice to have that you didn't that you didn't want to
present? Is there is there if you had a wish list there something you want to bring to us to consider? >> My wish list want to hear that. Don't start talking wish list. >> I told Rich if we could find a couple million dollars, I'll build a new facility, but that's a wait list.
>> You know, I'm very happy with the program we have. Down the road, would I like to potentially have some additional hours for some more staff support? Absolutely. But again, I'm realistic in what I'm asking for and I'm asking an incremental approach. So for
right now, my focus is really meeting those needs of the seniors in the community and right now that need is transportation. >> I know in the past we've talked about renting the senior renting it out, you know, the the senior building. Have we
done it? Have we tried or we you know it >> it's used by a number of uh burough boards and commissioning >> as you know um there are some nonprofit groups that use it as well. uh if you'd like us to you know we we had had some I
think some fairly in-depth discussions at the use of the facility for for rentals for birthday parties and receptions and things like that probably now going back to the pandemic the eve of the pandemic uh it's probably that long ago if that's something that the
governing body is interested in exploring again um you know we can sort of you know resurrect that uh but the decision at the time was to you know not to to not rent that. >> I'd rather not have personally I'd rather not have more wear and tear on
our present facility. Whatever additional wear and tear we have should be for the benefit of the seniors. Uh uh not for for my personal and not for outside groups but that's just me. I don't think we need I don't think we need an incomebased senior citizen
center. That's me. Okay. >> So, for the transportation, is it just the two two buses that we have right now? >> So, we have one bus that we're using. We do have a backup van that we don't use cuz it is not an accessible vehicle. Um,
but should we need it, it is there. >> And that's a brand new van. We only got it a year. >> Yeah. >> But I mean, if you're I mean, is that where you're finding the need that you need something more for transportation wise? >> I have the seats. What I need is the
hours to be able to run longer. >> Okay, >> that's it. >> Okay. >> Okay. Any other questions for Erin? >> I appreciate it. >> Thank you very very much. >> Thank you for having >> and please come visit. I know that none
of you are quite yet 55, but when you keep up, I will make the exception. >> I believe in this table and regularly one person's not. Thank you. Have a good evening. >> Doing a great job.
>> Appreciate your work. >> Thank you. >> Appreciate your work. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Now batting uh uh Department of Public Works. Uh so we will turn it over to Anthony uh and our
assistant superintendent uh Craig Overheim, Kevin Cucerio uh and they will tell you about their operation and uh their budget request. So with that Anthony, >> yes. >> Okay. As Rich said, my name is Anthony
Marcuselli. I'm the superintendent uh of the Department of Public Works. I'm the licensed water and wastewater operator for the state of New Jersey and the burrow's certified public works manager. With me, um I have Kevin
Cerero. Um he is also a licensed water wastewater operator certified recycling professional and certified public works repair. Craig Oberheim is uh his title
is assistant superintendent. He's certified vehicle maintenance specialist. Uh also a certified public works manager. And before we get going, I want to thank both of these guys for putting together um what I think is a
fantastic budget. >> Of course you do. Um and uh I'm going to start by just going through um some of the programs and and my team and any of anyone here can interrupt anytime um they want. I'll
just give you a little um I'll just go through uh our responsibilities and and what we are. Um, collectively we have 24 men and women that report to the public works service building daily on Oak Street.
Uh, there the public works is broken broken down into seven divisions. Uh, we have streets and roads. The purpose of that division is uh to maintain uh the the borrowed properties uh well
the roads streets and roads road size road uh sides. There's actually 115 out properties, little flag lots and things that members of the the streets and road division are out there cutting,
cleaning, uh litter patrol and uh you know, we'll we'll do pothole repairs. Everything from you know, guard roll guard rail, sign installation, uh uh line painting on the roads. And I
just realized looking at Russ, he he asked me a question last year and I couldn't answer the the t the title of that division is streets and roads. I told him I didn't answer. So what it is is um streets are generally
um it uh you know like connective streets and roads are usually county um you know larger roads point A to B and the connectives in between are the streets. So it took me a year but I got your answer.
>> Thank you. >> I knew you'd come through. >> So you live on a street? >> Can you tell? I live on the road, >> right? Um, another division we have uh is storm water management. The the state
of New Jersey has put together a list of requirements and with Scott Sarella, who's not here, he's the road supervisor. uh we maintain and all the burough storm water ordinances and the
pollution prevention plan within you know just to give you an idea storm water there's more than 2,000 catch basins that are clean and inspected annually uh cleaned as needed inspected annually.
Uh there's four detention ponds. Uh those are the roadside larger areas that collect water. Um there's a couple in the reserve. There's uh one by Chapel Hill, the the booster station for the uh
for the wastewater and another one by the behind Copper Tree. Um and it collects uh rip storm water off of that hill. Gives it time to perk into the ground till it enters the storm water system. uh buildings and grounds. There's and
I'll I'll go take a step backwards of the 24 employees. There's two office uh people that answer phones. And it could be there's, you know, more than 100 phone calls a day on a typical day.
everything from garbage to um you know uh you know water issues and and you know questions on the water system and and they'll dispatch those to the to the departments. >> Tree permits.
>> Yeah. Tree per Yeah. tree permits. Uh and um yeah, that that's now that it's spring is where that's that's taking up a lot of their time. uh um buildings and grounds. So there's 10 there's 10 men that generally are working within
streets and roads on a daily basis. Um Stormwater has Scott runs the program and I I consider hour-wise one full-time employee, but there's days where there's three men, you know, working working
storm storm water uh buildings and grounds. That's there's um that's a three-man division that maintain all the fields, the ball fields, the outer fields, there's nine baseball
fields. Um and again, that's that's a three-man department. two soccer fields, um, football fields, and with that, these are the same three men that m do all the maintenance and repairs in all of our our borrow buildings. And in
addition to the the larger buildings, there's also, you know, out buildings, pump houses, storage sheds that are that are all over town. And um we use a service a uh service request system and
uh they'll put in requests but a lot of times people you know there is emerent issues and they'll call Jimmy and and say we have an issue with could be a sink or anything. Uh so and and I think I think buildings and grounds be a good
time to just mention a program that um through Kevin's um veteran association and and Craig and and public works employees. Um why don't you tell them about >> Yeah. So, I don't know if you guys haven't noticed down at Veterans Park,
um it's kind of bare right now and uh it's because last week we um pulled all of the around the horseshoe. There's a lot of say David plants. Um >> I've been working here a long time and
they're they're >> old. Yeah. So, um, and you know, during the certain season changes, there wasn't much color either down there. Um, what we've noticed too is that even though they were in blind spots, some of those
bushes were actually getting killed from the inside because there were sprinkler system heads in there that the bushes grown so much it was literally chipping away at at these bushes. So, what Craig
and I went over was, how about let's plant something new, plant different things that will bloom at different times of year, get some color in there, something more modern. Um, upgrade the sprinkler system as well. Um, again, due
to the fact that it the the heads were kind of pointing the wrong directions, this and that. So, right now, um, the plants are gone. We um we do have a rough sketch. So if anybody I don't have it on me, but if anybody wants to see it and you know down the line, let us know
and uh we can send that to you. So um what me personally as a vet and growing up in Oakland and living in Oakland now and working for Oakland, um you know what I would wanted to do to obviously and get the uh the Legion involved as well is that once we get all of these
plants, right now it's currently still getting a little too cold at night to plant these. when it comes down to there to reach out to, you know, the American Legion, other veterans around to have them come down and be involved,
help us put these plants in. Obviously, DPW will have equipment there, you know, maybe the the bigger ones have holes maybe already dug. Um, you know, take some pictures and and get it out there so uh the local veterans, you know, have a sense of being involved, especially
with that park. And uh I just think it'd be, you know, a great thing to do. Now that you mentioned that about about Veterans Park, it's been brought to my attention that um a suggestion would be to separate the uh memorial part from
the public celebration part so that uh a public celebration isn't being done in front of a memorial to a to a veteran or to a um a um a a uh veteran that lived here in Oakland. So we would like the
suggestion would be to separate the two have the public event in the upper part of that of the park and the lower part would be just for reserve for uh veteran services. So maybe that the other thing I want to point out now that I have the floor
uh as you know I I was an public employee myself for for 36 years I have to say in support of the DPW every department depends on the DPW. every single one will call the DPW either monthly, weekly, daily and and and and
need their support. So, it's a vital department and I appreciate all you do for all the departments. Thank you. Spread yourself thin, but thank you. >> Thank you. >> Um, okay. Uh, moving along, I'm going to save garbage and recycling and uh and
and water and waste water and and just talk about vehicle maintenance. U Craig, I'm sure, can do it better um than I than I can. Um it's it's two men. Why don't you why don't you tell just give some of your responsibilities and
>> two men divisions, myself and Mike Faulk. We cover police department, some of the fire vehicles, building the building department, building the ground, all of our DVDW stuff. There's
all the plows and everything blowers and everything's close to 250 pieces of equipment that we maintain just the two of us. More than what more than probably 70 vehicles. >> 70 vehicles. Yeah, almost. Yes, just
about 75. Wow. Okay. Um, we can, um, move forward if you want to hit. Great. Slides up. I'll go through,
um, the important stuff, the the budget. I'll start with streets and roads. Uh, >> now that now that we know what they are. >> Yeah. You want to talk about roads first? >> Um, streets and roads. Uh, one in the
numbers the numbers are there. Uh, I lately we've been getting um calls and I'm sure people have been reaching out to mayor and council regarding potholes. Just to just so you're aware, we've uh been out for probably three weeks now
since the the plant opened that makes asphalt. And we've um laid down more than 10 ton of material and filled well over 100 potholes. And so we're out there. We're going section by section.
We we've replaced this. This winter was particularly hard on uh on the roads, the the the thaw and the and the continued frost and then the plows riding over it. So, we we have the town
broken down into seven sectors and we've been through everything once and as things thaw, we're going through them again. So, we're going to be out there um continuing to paint pave potholes daily when the weather permits. So, we
are out there um and for the residents, if you have a known area that u is a particular problem, Rich, let me know about when he hits daily coming into work. >> Um >> well, it's not actually your responsibility. So, um, they could they could fill out a
service request online or simply call, uh, the Department of Public Works. And we have a a list that's growing every day. We're chipping away at it. Um, >> what's the number for public works? >> Uh, 20134. >> Thank you.
>> And, um, if one one interesting thing, the numbers are there. the the you know we're going to come in um I I think you know and and I didn't thank David and Rich while we were going through this stuff. We agreed on almost
everything and uh but uh you know we we're following trends and we're seeing what we're actually spending and a winter the winter could change a lot of things but uh the the request and and the budget that we had last year I I
feel is appropriate. uh we can we can live within that. And just you know I have a sheet here that goes back to 2021 and in the actual budget for 2021 and now we're in 2026 there's only a $2,500
difference. >> Wow. So, and and you know, we're um you know, we're we're I think we're doing a a good job on the maintenance and um so I'm I'm okay if if if that number works
for everyone. Um any questions with road you know most of you knows know our responsibilities and all right I'm going to move down to storm water management. I mentioned earlier uh 2500 storm drains
that are inspected and cleaned every year. Uh we have a uh one thing I'd like to mention is it it it used to show up in the streets and roads and but we recently few years ago moved street
sweeping into storm water management and again uh steep uh street sweeping isn't a uh you know a like to do it. It's a requirement through the state of New Jersey as part of the uh storm water regulations and the state
managed to change regul they like to evolve and move things as you go. So, and part of their regulations for street sweeping that falls under storm water is every road in town has to be swept uh
three times annually. It was twice a year requirement and we would we would do a little extra um for the downtown and for school routes. You know, they were on a monthly basis and so the the we have a shared service with
um with Bloomingdale and we're in in the last year I believe of our contract or maybe yeah might be the last year of our shared service contract. um I've been in constant contact with them. So what we
did was that they there was no change in the dollar amount to the contract. Uh we just took some of our monthly things and traded off. So we still are um operating within the requirements and um
I think this if it's not next year uh 2027 maybe the next year of the contract but I I haven't heard where you know I think it's worth it and it's an arrangement that's working for both of us and you know so in storm water management we have um the disposal of
the street sweepings we we pay for the street sweeping contract um any cleaning we do any repairs of catch basins. We typically um do close to 200 repairs and it's it's not glamorous. It's nothing
you can see, but um you know, we'll we'll have to do repairs on approximately 200 um storm drains a year. That buys all the the material. Uh there's one employees salary that uh and
he's our our certified mason so it makes sense to charge him off there and um you know storm water storm water management. There's enough money in there for um we'll always have a a drain pipe or an issue that we can't see and we'll see
we'll notice a sink hole in the ground and and uh we so we have a another shared service agreement. We have um jetting with um Northwest Bergen for jetting and and videoing our sewer lines, our storm sewer lines and um
that's what uh that's things that are covered in that budget line. Um questions. >> No, I don't think people understand appreciate what you do in the rest of your team managing, right? You're managing a vendor when in the shared service agreement. You're actually managing someone to do work. That's a
whole different skill set. That's something you bring to the table doing that. I don't think people realize that that can be hard at times. Very good. After some tough conversations, appreciate everything you do there. >> Our our partners have been have been great. You know, um we have some great people in in our surrounding towns and
we'll get to another big one shortly that's coming. Uh buildings and grounds. I spoke a lot. >> If I can just imagine couple of points. One, you see a $5,000 increase there. you see a $5,000 decrease in vehicle
maintenance. Um that was simply because we did a budget amendment late last year. Uh the requests and what you're seeing recommended are actually the same what we'll call the original amounts that were approved in the 2025 budget. Um they didn't actually come in looking
for any more than or anything different than what they had in 2025. The other thing with storm water management in particular is it's it's very easy and I can be guilty of this too to focus on what you can see. >> Yeah. >> Right. You you you drive roads or you
know when you hit a pothole uh you play in the ball field, you know the the condition of that. A lot of what we maintain either it's things not trees >> uh or storm water systems which are are actually more tightly regulated than
just about any other type of infrastructure that we have maybe with the exception of of the water some of the water and sewer stuff. So uh there's very you know tight regulations in terms of inspections and maintenance and and upkeep of those things. So, um, and
having worked in places prior to coming here that you really didn't focus on that coming here, uh, and really been something constant and the the rags have been around now for 20 a little over 20 years. >> Yeah. 22 years. >> Uh, that, you know, Anthony, uh, I think it's taken seriously from the get-go.
And um I think our our system overall even though we have some challenges with corroded metal pipe that we're addressing um when it comes to meeting those requirements um I think we we really do an excellent job. >> Well, it does it also by maintaining it also helps us
uh and with that flood word uh that you know helps helps prevent flooding of streets >> and uh clear passage from the storm sore to the to the river >> so it doesn't back up. Yeah, DP is out every year and we're never missed and um
they do thorough inspections and our GIF and you know they they make sure you know through through a series of inspections and everything. It it it helps you stay sharp. >> So, you know, we we've never um never had an issue and I and I don't see I
don't see that we will um where are we next? Um buildings buildings and grounds uh just a little bit about buildings and grounds. Um buildings and grounds I said it's a threemen man department within the the
number that you see there is also our custodial contract. uh you know, we have a we have a contractor to come in and and maintain um maintain the buildings as far as you know, the daily cleaning. So, that that
comes out of there. I think it it's still under $40,000 and um annually and it's uh we we haven't had an increase within I think it's 38,000 rich around right around 36 38
>> maybe a little bit higher now not significantly more. and there hasn't been a dramatic increase in that and this company's been with us for for a long time. And uh so that that's that is in the buildings and grounds line. And also there's
uh about $60,000 appropriated within that line to need specifically for recreation and and the you know everything from clay for the ball field to seed um fertilizer and and
any maintenance contracts that we may need. Uh there there's things that for uh like our fuel pump needs to be have have a certified inspections and maintenance every year. The underground storage tanks have to be
inspected and it's it's a an item also items that are charged annually to buildings and grounds. Uh any any questions? Uh okay.
Solid waste. Um, we have, as you know, and and you guys have have accepted a deal with um with Compton Lakes. But before we get into get into that and and
um speak about that, within the solid um waste budget, it also includes uh the operation and maintenance of our compost facility on Skyline Drive. We're fortunate enough to be able to have our yard waste collected, brought up to
Skyline Drive, and it's composted there. Uh, and we have one of our employees that um maintain maintain the um the the compost and and the waste that that goes up there. It's a permitted site and we
are running at capacity. A lot of people, you know, ask if um we can accept um contractors um yard waste or or even some of our neighboring towns. And uh we're we're
just under under a permit and we're we're um running at running a full facility based on what we generate alone in town. Um so for for the residents uh we we've had
we've accepted um contract a shared service agreement with Pomp and Lakes and um looking at that annually should bring the cost down um approximately 200 205,000 >> uh net for this for this budget year.
>> Yeah, >> that's six months. It's so you have six months at the current rate which is the 2025 contractor rate uh and then half of the year at the 2026 rate with PPA Lakes.
When you take that and then you consider the increase that we needed to put in the budget for garbage disposal due to a contractual increase in the per ton rate for disposal. Um it overall when you put all of that together it nets out to a $24,000 reduction in that budget.
>> Yeah. and a little bit about um waste. Kevin, I don't know if you want to speak on it, but I have some just some some things that um you know, I I know it's it's a scary thing, people's people's garbage, but but Kevin's been working
with um with Pmpton Lakes sharing routes and um they asked if we wanted to be involved in the hiring process uh for for their employees that they're going to need. Um, but I think um this is something that that can work and and
when you think about it and in Oakland in as a resident, I feel a little spoiled because um I can have and I say this to Rich and Kevin all the time. I can have Monday yard waste collection. Tuesday garbage. Wednesday I can throw out on a given week computers or
electronic equipment. Thursdays I can get rid of white goods on old refrigerator or washing machines. Friday, I have garbage again. So, the services um compared to a lot of our neighbors are outstanding. And to see a reduction like this, I I I I know of
towns and Kevin could speak on it that are seeing 8% increases on their and more on higher on I don't think that's unheard of. And we we don't know where our numbers were going to be for the next contract, but they certainly were going to go down.
>> Yeah. No, absolutely. So, you know, like Anthony said, um you know, prior to uh the adoption for, you know, having the shared service with Pmpton, we did go down. I met with uh their superintendent and also uh a couple of their sanitation
foremen kind of went over cuz it it technically is new to us. um you know the the operation aspect of it but just to understand what they needed from me to make their life easier but also us and
and just the >> the overall process. So I explained to them how how we've been working with a north side southside town. Asked them if that would work with for them. They said
absolutely. So pretty much what once we start getting closer I'm going to get with them. I already sent them a map of exactly where the north side and south side are. We are going to physically drive around just so because there are some roads that are tight. Uh we told
them about the um the trestle down over there so they don't hit it. Um you know there's going to be those things that I want them to be with me in a pickup to show them okay watch out for this this
back down this road things like that. Um so and and and with cost as well. I just wanted to go over the um the recycling aspect of it uh with with mandatory recycling for the state of New Jersey is
obviously paper and then co-mingle bottles and cans. Um just to kind of give you a a heads up, last year paper right now we were making $15 a ton. Coming we were paying $62 a ton the same
time last year. Now we're getting paid $11 a ton for paper. Comingle we're paying $80. Okay. So now that can change um it probably very small increments but
it it can change but just want to throw it out there that recycling is a market. It's a supply and demand. Um it's not that we can you shop it? Sure. But the odds of getting an extremely great price compared to the next person, it's not
going to happen. Uh sadly, I think those days are numbered. Um maybe paper, not so much because we are still making money, bottles and cans, nobody wants it. Um so unless somebody decides to start making something real cool with that, we're we're going to be paying
money sadly. So yeah, thanks. >> Thank you for that. No problem. I'm sure. >> So, with all you're doing, I'm sorry, Anthony, apologetic, you're doing all that. Is there anything we need to do to help you? >> You know what? You the
you guys I I I think everyone here um the hard part's probably probably over. There's going to be some hiccups and things once, but but the the the team in Pompton's fantastic. Um, and they they know a lot more about the collection end
of it than than we do. Uh, like I and Kevin said, um, Greg was involved with us with the meetings and, uh, they they asked a lot of great questions and and you guys answered the hard ones. So, I
think I think um you know there's going to be probably a learning curve and and but we we receive complaints now, you know, but you know that you know there's things that are missed and a lot of times it's uh you know stuff that was
put out late and we're going to still respond the same way. if we get a call, even though, you know, they forgot and they put it out and they didn't call, they weren't on the the electronics list, we'll go get we, you know, we have guys that are out um doing road inspections. They see an item, even if
it's not called in, you know, Kevin will go out and and we'll grab the material that's missed. So, no, nothing's going to change. I I don't want the the residents to think um you know we've been fortunate enough to have Angel and a great crew from Suburban and I I reached out to Suburban uh to Angel and
his crew and seeing if uh if they needed if they needed work and Pompton said they'd be happy to have any of them any you know any of the crews from from Suburban. So, uh, whether or not, you know, they're they're, you know, they're
going to be willing to work in Pompton Lakes or they're not already committed somewhere with Suburban, that's that's up to them. But, uh, uh, it's it's something that it's it's a big step. But, uh, you know, just from the mayor and council end and and David and Rich,
uh, I'd hate to go back to the residents and say we had a chance to save $200,000 and and we were afraid to do it. So, you know, I I think it's I think it's an easy an easy easy decision and it's and and it's something if it doesn't work,
they'll be which I which I doubt there'll be an opportunity to go out to bid again and and but I I don't I don't don't feel we have great numbers testing those waters right now. >> Thank you for that.
>> Yeah. Okay. Uh we snow removal. Uh little information about snow. Uh you looked outside this year, you know, it was a lot of it was it was there was a lot of it, right? And
the an interesting thing is that the snows, you know, we had years where it was Saturday, Wednesday. We had a lot of Sunday storms >> this year. Um, so it's, you know, some of the guys look at it as a chance to make money, some of them look at look at
it as a ruined weekend. But, uh, just to give you an idea, when we're out snow plowing, it's it's everybody. Um, and when needed, you know, we get 6 in or so, we'll bring in some contractors. But with the exception of the office help,
there's usually 24 uh men out there divided into eight, seven. Well, eight counts, >> eight sections. Uh, and to put those trucks out on the street on just the
typical once we go once it goes to to past 3:30, it's overtime and we're running aboutund uh 18 $1,080 an hour just in salaries for straight time. And it could go up to um 2,00 1,800 an hour
on a Sunday. With that, we can bring in uh between three and $400 an hour back because we are maintaining the county roads um with our personnel. Um within the snow removal budget, there's um
equipment uh equipment maintenance, there's material on the salaries and wages end. There's it's it's overtime that if a snow storm during the day would come out of the the regular whatever uh department that employee is
charged to. Once it's goes to overtime, all of that is charged to salaries and wages and snow removal. Um, this year we've collected I I think about $8,000 already from the county and I think I'm waiting uh I
think they're about half halfway uh I think >> they've only paid us through December. So, January and February. >> So, yeah, we have we have um I I thought Okay. Yeah. Then we have about 16,000 I should be should be getting in from the
county and that goes um back into the the um reimbured overtime to line to in salaries and wages to set off to offset some of our costs. uh you know uh
recently we've we've been because of the the we we all saw you want me to talk about snowplow the storm trust now. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. There's a there's a storm trust that um that we use, you know, any
unused portion. There it is. Any unused portion of the the operating budget and and salaries and wages, any unexpended funds goes back into the storm response trust. and
we've we've built up um you know a nice a number that I was more comfortable with uh >> three months ago >> years yeah >> years ago and um but we recently we've
charged we've had to and and we can use we can use that money on on a year like we've had this year for if we go over in salaries, you know, speak to Rich and David, we can pull some pull some money for there from there to make up for the
a real winter, let's call it, or or what we had this year. Um, but we've also been able to purchase items. Um, we purchased a snow raider and that's a machine for sidewalks through builtup trust to with with that we didn't incur
any any more debt. the snow snow raider. How many? >> Uh 33 >> 33,000. And um we've had two dump trucks refurbished uh that are used for uh snow and ice control at 25,000 each. years back, I
think in 17, we purchased a dump truck or um through the snowplow trust, uh we've had our our bucket loader refurbished rather than go out and get a new one for for $30,000.
Um and Craig can speak more on that when we get into vehicle maintenance, but um there is an increase in in snow removal. Um, but I just hopefully we're going to give some money back and it's and it's kind of get salt's getting more
expensive and it's just getting us putting us more in line. We we've had a couple light winters and and the increase I think is appropriate for um you know what we've what we've had we still have half a winter left when you think about it. We still have November
and December on this year's budget cycle and um you know an increase there uh would would unused would support um the storm response trust fund and it's it's um like I said it's money in the bank
for for the winter and the unknown. My equipment we have it's large equipment and when it breaks it's some of >> expensive. >> Yeah it's expensive. So, all right. Um, vehicle maintenance.
Okay. Um, vehicle maintenance. Again, Craig, you want to speak on the equipment? Well, it kind of did already. um that we we purchased through the vehicle maintenance line. Everything from
equipment um that we need to make repairs, tires for all the vehicles um you know and and vehicle maintenance is becoming more expensive. Um just parts alone of brake
brake could cost over $1,000 >> for you know brakes brakes and tires. So, um, vehicle maintenance again, there's there's 75 vehicles and, you know, another every lawn mower, every
weed whacker. I mean, there's small equipment, there's large equipment, and it's funded through the vehicle maintenance OE and the salaries and wages is for the as far for the two. >> It also covers all the police cars as well, >> right? >> So, not every town does it like this,
right? Send this out to the county. So this is we're doing this in house take a lot more money. >> Yes. I'm sure it's clear. >> I mean do we do all of it in house or some some of it gets sent out? >> Some of it gets sent out. I mean some of the bigger stuff that you know
>> with with it being a twoman shop if there's something that's a big job cuz you know engine or something like that. We don't have I shouldn't the time to do that with the amount of equipment that we have. >> Yeah. Police can't have we can't have
one of their vehicles tied up. >> I can't have a lift tied up for 4 days to do an engine job, >> right? >> Cuz there's there'll be 13 oil changes waiting to come come in. You know, the police cars get an oil change every 5 weeks, >> you know? So, it's
the tires are every 12,000 miles. There's you know, it's just a constant rotation of cars coming through. >> So, yeah. So that that um there's a lot there's a lot of you know and Craig is is support for for
snow and and and most of the road items and stuff and um he's um he he he's he runs he's he's um go to the capital the Sure. All right.
Uh the Great Oak Park um basketball courts, that's really a wreck thing, but I believe is it wasn't there grant money as well that >> Yeah. >> was received. Okay. Um DPW equipment, uh
two pickup trucks. Greg was explaining the light would ask what what you are replacing. Uh the two pickup trucks that we're replacing are 12 years old now. They're, you know, we went through a long time
where we got it from 04 to 12 where we got no vehicles at all. So now that most of them have been replaced, now we're on the second cycle of replacing them again. And I spoke to Rich and I put
down what our replacement schedule would be. And we need to keep doing two a year for the life of them because if we stop doing it or do one the newest truck now when it gets
replaced will be clo like 25 to 28 years old. And that we're not going to work. So >> good. Thank you. The um Toro workman truckster, that's a piece of equipment used by buildings and grounds. >> Well, I'm sorry. Can I just interrupt?
>> Yes. >> The uh the pickup trucks um we typically buy those as we do a lot of our equipment like the police vehicles off of co-op contracts. Uh with the pickup trucks that includes new plows, right? So, we cycle the plows every time we So, the plows that we're replacing are 12
years old. >> Yeah. >> As well. Didn't we didn't we buy trucks with plows and then we sold the plows to somebody or we >> deal we bought their >> Yeah. Yeah.
>> Yeah. And and anything um basically worth more than scrap can turn it into a into a a functioning plow. So when you know they during a storm um you hit a manhole cover sometimes pistons, springs, those things break.
>> Those plows we got from Bloomingdale were used this year. >> Couple of pistons blow out and >> it's just one off and put the other one on and then >> you know so we're always on the road instead of being in the shop trying to
fix something. the um the trucks there. That piece of equipment is uh used by recreation uh by our buildings and grounds people for recreation and it's replacing a a piece of equipment that um
is is old uh basically beyond repair and and they don't make that piece of equipment anymore. So we they stopped making it. Yeah. So we've had it a while. Um, the dump truck replacement. Craig, you want to speak about that
because we may have >> So, the dump truck replacement and salt spreader. We have two 2004 dump trucks. So, you know, we're about eight nine years ago,
we took the dump body off it and mounted spreaders on the back of them. They were frames were refurbished and all the hosing was done. And that was what you said 25,000 a piece I think we could >> 25 to 30. Yeah. >> Those trucks now are I want to send them
out and get them looked at and have them at for like an international dealer so they can refurbish them again. So that may we may not need to do this truck. I wanted to keep it on there just
in case because I can't get any numbers on it until the winter's over because the trucks are still in use. >> Yeah. >> You know, and even if they say, you know, the trucks are done, you know, whatever it is salt spreader that's on
the back of them now, they're still good. So, we can in turn take that spreader and put it on the new on the new dump truck. So >> that was I remember when we bought the tricks, they were supposed to like you could you could change them like quickly. >> Yeah, those are those are newer ones.
>> That's okay. >> The ones that we have now that this one would replace is they're 2004s. They're and they're great trucks. They are. >> Mhm. >> The guys love them. They're, you know,
>> they're just, you know, >> Yeah. We just got to make sure they're they're safe and hopefully we come back and you know the last time we were we were asking for uh for two trucks and you know they're $200,000 a piece and Craig said why don't we look at these
and see if we can you know throw a little money at them and keep them and and it's probably eight years now right eight or nine years and so I think we promised I think we promised Five right there. >> Five.
>> We're right there. >> So, yeah. So, we're gonna we may have some good news, better news there. Uh streets and roads. We have our annual road resurfacing program. Uh we we
that much that much funding should get us about uh you know a mile of of road maybe a little more in in similar spending in 25. We spent a little more uh we got 1.4 miles of of new road done.
Going back to 2023, we had three miles. Uh but that was when we paved some of the roads that had sewer main. So some of that was charged off to that project. But we'd like to keep the project um about,
you know, uh depending on the numbers, who knows where they're going to be, but uh that that money that money we could probably do a similar program to last year. Last year we had a lot of um lots and and outer areas done. This year
we're going to um focus on on roads and uh streets on roads streets streets and um so we're we have the info. Our request uh our our plan is with Boswell.
We're waiting on I know you guys thank you just awarded uh a contract for them for the design and bid and uh hopefully we get that shortly and we can pave when you know we're trying to line up our schedule for resurfacing when the school is out
>> one day we'll get it done by April for you. So, the total cost for the um repaving is 960,000. Well, I'm not reading it right, I don't think. >> No, that's right. >> No, you're right. 960,000 uh 800 con,
you know, uh expected construction uh about 160. It's just sort of a formula. We put in 20,000 or 20% for soft costs. Anything that we're not using for soft cost, that's design and construction inspection. Um actually some um bond
council costs with this one um would then be available in a future alle in a future year for construction. We also have a little over $100,000 uh as a balance from the 2025 program that we'll be able to use this year as
well. >> Good. Thank you. >> Okay. Um downtown improvements, that's um what you see going that going on. Um, y co was done. Part of that was um grant money I believe and um you know we're
going to move uh the program south this year. >> Uh basically from UFO trying to get down to um Maple and Tur. Um we'll be focusing on one side of the street um and we'll see how much else we can get
depending on the cost that you know the latest cost estimate that Basel's working on. Okay, we have um storm sewer repairs. Next, I have um several known areas and that um need need some I would call
minor repairs and then we're wi with drainage. We've we've received um grant money, additional funds to continue uh drainage work in the Pleasureand area. I have uh we have outfalls that we
have to uh after inspections um and by with D and our own inspections we realized uh about 20 some odd areas that need some work on outfalls. Uh a lot of it is nondiscretionary. These are this
these are things that we have to do. So we're we're um looking to move forward with some of those projects. um buildings and grounds. We have uh mini split um cooling unit for the IT
room in um >> I'm going to call >> and um an HVAC replacement on borrow wall on the roof. And there's um uh I don't know the what's this the the
>> uh it's the BPU clean energy program, >> right? Um it's for energy efficient units and that cost that you see there is if if we receive funding is likely to come down. We've been successful in with other buildings and been able to um to
get that work done under you know we we've got lighting done. We have other HVAC units done. Uh the these units that we're uh going to be replacing at Burough Hall were last replaced under sort of the first version of the clean
energy program back in 2010 2011 or so. So they've reached the end of their lifespan now. >> Uh the uh the consultant that works through the program with uh Margin Rockland I think was just
in the uh there's a required energy audit as part of the process. I think they were in to do their fieldwork in preparation for the audit results. Um, and then I think they take that and sort of put it against the program parameters and they'll let you know what you qualify for.
>> Great. And uh, the last item on this page is uh, overhead garage door replacement for company 2 firehouse. There's a if if you look at the the facility facility, there's two doors
that are newer and um this this older door, it it's uh it it's about at the end of its useful life and we're looking for a door to that'll match the current two that they have. It's kind of, you
know, there's there's two beautiful functioning nice looking doors and then we have the third one. It's the third the third one. So, and that's to change out the rails for the door and everything. Um,
okay. Moving to to water um water capital. Uh Kevin, do you want to talk about some of the why don't you talk about first some of the things we've done? Uh because we I said we'd speak about water later.
just the daily operating end of it things you've done last year and then we can talk about the capital. >> Yeah, sure. So, um >> and and I think David can just give a you know we we talked about most of the numbers behind the water utility budgets in the fall uh you know when you had to
do rate setting for this year. Um but I think it would be helpful that um once we talk sort of about the operations and some of the the needs there uh that David can just give a brief recap um on what the changes are in the uh you know the budgets themselves and you know
what's going on there with the capital. >> Okay. So um just to get a little recap of 2025 um there was 586 hydrant uh fire hydrants flushed and inspected. Uh, out of those three
hydrants were repaired. Excuse me. 11 hydrants were replaced. Um, that also includes one that was actually dated 1934. Um, so we got our money's worth on that one. Um, 1,800 approximately 1,800 ft of
new water man. 31 curb stops, which is your your uh curb valve, your shut off valve were repaired. Uh, three water mane brakes repaired. numerous high fill and leak responses. Uh we do valve
checks, so street valve checks, um and leak detention, uh excuse me, detection program that's always ongoing. Uh some of these are uh state regulated now with the water quality accountability act. Uh essentially the state is making you do
preventive maintenance because a lot of places weren't doing it. Um we again out of the 586 and we had to replace 11 hydrants for me that's pretty good because we do have valves original valves from you know 50s
to 31 was kind of crazy but uh 56 57 you see them all over the place and they still work. Uh they still work because every year we go and we work them they sit for a long time that's that's when it goes down downhill. So, in 2026,
we're obviously going to continue our leak and valve inspections. We are going to flush every single hydrant once again and inspect all of them, either repair or replace them as needed. On a daily aspect, um we do we check every single
station every single day. We test water quality for uh free chlorine residual, pH, and temperature. Um we do preventive maintenance in our booster stations, our wellhouses. Um
we have quarterly samples, regulatory regulatory samples from the state, um monthly samples, yearly samples. So just for instance we do bacteria samples disinfectant byproducts POS um uh VOCC's
sodium nitrate iron and maganesees all these things and um you know it's from last year every single result was met the New Jersey D and the federal EPA standards so we are um complying with
all that you So a few years ago we seemed to have a it seemed like we were having a lot of breaks in pipes and um so I mean like how much how how much are we doing
preventative you know? >> So there is a drastic change of how many water main breaks we've had even from let's say 5 years ago to this. Could it be luck? Sure. But we did attack the
vulnerable areas that we knew regardless if we were springing a small leak to a catastrophic failure of a water mane. You you sometimes see that pattern and we replaced it, you know, with with um even two years ago with River Road, that
was our problem child, right? >> And we said instead of putting band-aids on this, let's get it done. And you know, >> we did we did Lakeside. That was an area, >> right? And and Russell, you may be thinking of there were some breaks related to >> the sewer line.
>> That's true. But but yes, we've done River, we've done Lakeside Boulevard, uh we've done >> West Oakland, >> West Oakland, >> uh West Oakland, which was a big one because there were previously a couple of large breaks there. >> Uh and the entire Pleasure neighborhood. >> Yes. >> Yeah.
>> As well. And that's and a point I want to make is we're we're trying to tie the the water replacements with the storm >> replacements or or the sewer project and and and
mashing it all together and coming up with a schedule that also doesn't interfere with our road resurfacing. So if we know we have an area that's a problem, you know, we'll get together water committee, we'll come up with a list and and we can depending on um on
funding, we have we have target areas that we know, you know, we with everything in capital, we set up a five-year uh plan and and Kevin and Craig even go beyond that. And so uh we're trying to stay ahead of it. We're
working, you know, PSEG asks every year for, you know, things our fiveyear schedule and sometimes, you know, they don't >> but um so yeah, we're that's great
question and and the long and short of it is we have we're we have a we're on a great program and this the state's water quality accountability act is a lot of what we were doing anyway, but it's easier to come to you guys and say, "Well, we have to >> we have to now
>> we have to dance off." >> So, um yeah, we have we have a great program and a and a tight water system and and these guys do a great job at taking care of um David, did you want
>> uh on on the finance side? Uh you see a significant change year-over-year of 18%. Uh that's all really sitting in on the revenue side and operating surplus, we're anticipating a lot more of our reserves. Uh so that on the appropriation side, we can spend that in
capital. Um Anthony, do you remember when we first put in the IBEC request for meters? >> I mean, it was 2013 when I probably had hair golden lock. It's in all seriousness, it's probably
been close to 10 years. >> So, so we're not going to wait on that anymore. Uh so, a large part of that funding and we'll we'll iron out the specifics, but we we really need to replace the meters. Um they are really very very old. We have to do a lot of manual reading. They're not
communicating anymore. Um we lose revenue um if the meter is not working correctly. They don't they don't go faster, they go slower. Um, so this is a long-term gonna help us in terms of labor u reduction with not having to have somebody go out and and collect a
read. We'll be going to a system that is cellular for the most part. Um, and you know, we have a lot of benefits as we as we roll that out. So, that's a big change on the finance side. If you look at the the rent side, it's up 3%. That's based upon the ordinance. Uh that's just
making sure we continue to stay current with inflation, continue to be able to fund and expand to meet the main replacements. Um and eventually we'll have probably more PA stuff that we have to remediate down the road. Um so just trying to make sure we stay current with
with all those. >> Yeah. The um another thing um Kevin, you want to speak about the water storage tank uh maintenance? >> Yeah. So, um, doing some research and and talking to
other municipalities in the area, um, at least that that deal with the water side. Um, there there's programs out there that, um, companies will have certified, whether they're certified inspectors, certified uh, divers that
will come and inspect your water tanks. Um what this company that that we've been talking to does is essentially that and kind of plus. So what they have is a a set cost. Um they
essentially take over the responsibility of those storage tanks like it's theirs even though it's ours. Um, the reason that we would go this route is because, let's be real, we
don't have licensed divers here. I'm not jumping in. Um, I don't know. Not climbing. >> Yeah, he's not climbing up there. Um, so to to get a qualified again certified team um that again multiple mun
surrounding municipalities use and they and they like they've never had a problem. we decided to uh to look in into that program and um have had been in talks with them. >> Yeah, we're still waiting on final numbers. David's um waiting on some
information and what what a company like this could do instead of visual visually from the outside and okay, I know it needs to be painted. I can see there's some pitting. The paint system is starting to fail. They and they put you on a regular schedule of maintenance
items. So, I mean to to refurbish a tank could could be $5 $600,000 and they put you on a on a maintenance schedule where they spot problems before they happen. And and it's a it's a solid number that you can build into the budget rather
than me saying coming to David or or Kevin saying to David, uh, I think six or seven years I'm going to need a million dollars to paint two tanks. This is a an annual maintenance cost that's built in. And uh once we go through some
of the larger items, it'll be a a a constant run out and certainly get David and I out of here. And >> it's the the way they're looking at it and what they're proposing to do this over time with the six tanks that we
have. We think we should be able to do that without, you know, doing any long-term debt. We should be able to fit it into the operating. We've got debt rolling off the books in five or six years. So, we should be able to manage this program
switching over, you know, without a significant increase to the rate and without incurring any debt. So, long-term it'll it'll get us in a much much better better place in terms of maintaining those assets. >> Good.
>> Okay. >> Water in, water out. Yeah. Yeah. The the wastewater end. Um again, uh within within those those costs, the appropriation, there's an
operating there's uh money that uh we we have three new uh pump facilities, a new collection system, but there's an annual cost associated with um running those facilities and treating the waste at its
final destination. uh uh at Northwest Birdie Utilities uh the sewer authority and I believe that cost this year is um about 80 85,000 85
>> 85,000 uh and you know the debt and and areas listed here that's that's a a David um >> yeah on the on this one here you a 20% decrease. Again, that's again in capital
and and surplus utilization. Um we we used a lot of funding last year to try to do some INI work um to make sure we don't have groundwater getting into the sewer system that we're then paying somebody to treat. I think we've got to continue to do some of that so we've
left some capital money in there for that as well. uh the debt service. Um next year will be when we see the big big change when we do the long-term financing. Uh the uh long-term financing will be beginning through this May. Um
and then we'll start to see the the changes to the to the budget longterm and know exactly what that's going to be. Uh but this year relatively relatively flat >> questions. >> Thank you everybody. >> Thank you. >> Thank you very much.
>> By the way, >> it's nice to know when you leave Oakland how good you you look at your how good you were doing store rules. People love you real. >> Oh yeah. For sure. It's like the commercial Ajax was here.
It's really it's it's really it's amazing. >> Thank you everyone. >> Craig appropri. >> Does anybody need to take a break or do you want to keep keep going? >> I said we keep going. >> All right. Uh, next up uh is the fire
department. >> Have a good night everyone. >> Good night, guys. Thank you. Thanks so much. >> He does. >> Yeah. Yeah. Good evening. >> So, uh, with us this evening are representatives of fire chief, uh, fire
department, uh, fire chief, uh, Vinnie and Kbaya, company 2 assistant chief Chris Hoitzma, company one assistant chief Vinnie Dodson, and that Vinnie here. It's all yours. >> Good evening. Even um, just going to go over what we do. Uh, open fire
department, we consist of 50 51 volunteers, 16 life members. It's funny. I was reading something this afternoon. Back in 2013, we had 61 members. We counted 51. Um, we serve the B of
Oakland out of two firehouses. Company one 29 members. Company 22 members. We respond to all different types of calls. Structure fires, car fire, thrust fire, vehicle accidents, hazardous
material, lost high cares, usually to other towns. We also work in conjunction with uh support the police department, first aid squad, OEM, and DPW. We provide these services 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. In 2025, the
department responded to 371 calls totaling 2,888 hours. That's only on calls. In addition to fire calls, the volunteers spent time conducting weekly drills and attending training classes.
In 25 we drilled 37 times and outside training nine times totaling 1,941 hours. As volunteers work closely with our community to provide education through events such as Safety Town and hold open
house in October for National Prevention Week. During the National Prevention Week, the volunteers are visiting schools in our towns, private schools, talking to kids about fire safety. Um that's all week. We also participate
in the junior police academy where we uh assist in one day the police department bring the junior the kids over and we explained um life of a volunteer firefighter. We spend many additional hours offering tours of the firehouse also to local clubs and the CTC school educating about
points of fire safety. We work with our recreation department support the children at supporting events as well as Indian Hills High School. We also during the holidays drive Santa around town Halloween we hand out hot
dogs and we help out the Easter egg. 2025 department has 714 events over 8,000 man hours. And of course we're always looking for new members. As I said earlier, the
volunteer we're down to 51 members right now, which is not too bad, but still we're always using the members. That's all I have right now. Did you want to go through um uh talk a little bit about the changes
in your OE budget which we were able to reduce a little bit? Get the paper out of the album. >> Yeah. >> You need a copy? >> Yeah. >> So, we brought the boys down to the seat.
This is your capital. Do >> you have the budget line item? >> Uh, we just have the uh summary up. You want to go to the specific line item? >> Yeah. So, we reduced um our line item
6.4%. We're able to cut some stuff out. Uh, of course we have training in there. Um, we are purchasing at the end of the year a new apparatus which hopefully maintenance will go down on the older apparatus cuz we're going to get a new
one. Um, that >> uh salary and wage. Uh, we did uh talk about the increases that you're proposing for >> Yes. Um we the officers receive a stipen
every year. We haven't gotten um the stipen has been the same for the last 10 years. So I asked for an increase in stipen pay and also the firefighters get um holding allowance. I've asked for an increase in clothing allowance. You know it's been over 10
years. So right yeah in the OE there were just reviewing it again here. There were a lot of particular line item adjustments um and some cost savings in the area of uh what we needed to spend on equipment testing
um equipment itself uh and some contracted services. So, we're basically just kind of taking a multi-year view and what uh you know the department's been able to do just to economize a little bit. We're able to reduce the
>> capital >> capital standpipe high-rise packs. What that is, you know, with um all the new buildings going up, buildings at the industrial park, standby pipe, um stand stand pipe, high-rise pack, it's hose with the appliances, it's a kit all
together. Right now we have a big shift, you know, we just grab a bunch of stuff, we put it together. There's a brand new pack for all three apparatus. That's what that is. So you go into a building, one of the bigger buildings in the industrial park, you have to wait up. Uh sprinkler system, sprinkles in the middle, everything's right there for
you. You have your whole pack. Rescue tools. Last year we got some rescue tools. Um battery operated. Obvious everything's going to battery nowadays. Um, lighter weight, cutting force is much heavier, better cutting
force. That's right. Rescue tunes for the rescue truck. Uh, fire hose and nozzles. That's for the new engine hoses need to be replaced. We have u every year we gets tested. We have few that fail every year. So, we're
down. We're getting low on supply. So, I figured we get a new apparatus. Let's get all brand new fires. So, we know everything is brand new for maintenance. And then the police fire apparatus, the funding every year. Rich, you want to talk about that? The 2000 bring up the
250s. >> Uh yeah, and I I hit on this the other night somewhat too, but just to recap, uh for probably the better part of a decade or more now, we've been putting aside uh $200,000 a year. Uh with the idea there
is that we we try to preund the purchases so that we don't need to incur debt. uh you know several years ago, several probably 2019 now that we ordered the ladder truck uh and that was 1.2 million. We were able to pay cash for that because we have this mechanism
here. Um but with the increases in the fire apparatus industry with consolidation with, you know, cost increases that for years now uh are outstripping inflation. Uh we don't think that $200,000 is sufficient
anymore as an annual allocation. Um, and we just spoke with Vinnie about updating sort of a cost projection uh on the current apparatus replacement schedule so we can sort of hone in on that number. Um, but we know that the $200,000 will not be sufficient long
term. So, this is sort of a step towards getting to a new level of funding. >> That's a 20-year replacement schedule. >> Uh, depends on the vehicle. Uh because the this fund is really meant uh the big ticket items are your fire engines, your your ladder truck. Those have at least a
20-year lifespan. Uh I think if you look back, we've probably been extending that out 2 3 years before we're replacing. Um certain other vehicles, uh like the fire chief's vehicles and the smaller pieces of equipment, um don't have a 20-year lifespan. We're replacing them more
frequently than that. >> Rescue truck has rescue has 25 years. 25 years. >> Yeah. And your vehicle is about 10. >> Yes. And with the two two assistant chief vehicles, they're about 10 years old. They be 10 years old. 20 years old.
>> We can't get the Kia the Kia fire engines. We can't >> the electric one. >> And when you give them new trucks, they're outfitted with everything to to have a command center at the at a scene, right? They come with all other computers or is there any upgrades
there? Usually, I mean, Chief Dies could probably when you go for a new chief's car, usually outfitted with radios. It's got a command center in the back. So, we pretty much each chief's vehicle is set up identical. So, if >> one of us is there and all three of us
is there, you know, we have the capability to run the fire scene from either one of them. So, when we do the chief's cars, they'll be done that way. >> Okay. Good. >> Any any questions? >> No.
>> Okay. Thank you very much. >> Thank you guys for everything you do. >> Appreciate everything you did. Thank you. >> I told you I did it by heart. I told you Don't you coach baseball? >> Very nervous about that. >> Oh, that's
the first base coach. I'm just sending everybody going. >> All right. Uh, last but certainly not least, uh, we have the police department here. Uh, so let me make some introductions. Uh, Chief Tim Keenan, make sure I get the the titles right
here. Uh, acting captain Stephen Brock, acting Lieutenant Michael Griffin. Uh, and IT Coordinator wearing a different hat for this presentation. Uh, our IT coordinator Vincent Dy. And with that, Chief, let me turn it over to you.
>> Right. Thank you. Um, so the first thing I want to touch on is just the makeup of the police department. Currently, we have 23 officers effective manpower. What that means is that we have 23 officers that are road ready can respond
to calls. We have two more officers that are currently in training. Um, one is finishing up FTO. He should be done in about a month. So, he'll count. So, he'll be up to 24. And then the other one won't be ready probably until February or March of next year. Um
that's the gentleman that was just hired that's going to go to the academy in May in Paya County. So currently our effective manpower is 23 but our actual number is 25 on the books. Now ideally uh to be fully staffed we should be around 27. Currently with our number of
23 that gives us um four squads. Each squad has four officers and then it's at 16. Then above that would be the command staff, two in the traffic bureau, I'm sorry, two in the tech bureau and one in traffic. Now this year we also have three
officers retiring. Um we have a lieutenant that's going to leave. Uh that includes myself and a senior patrol officer. So we're going to lose three more effective. Now I know we've discussed in the past um the lag time with hiring. when you hire somebody,
it's roughly nine months before they actually count towards manpower by the time they go to the police academy and complete our FTO program. So that's something that um we should certainly discuss for the you know for the rest of the year um for the summer academy coming up in Bergen County. Now the the
makeup of the department is we have the chief, the captain, two lieutenants, we have the four squads each with a sergeant and three patrol officers. Uh there's a traffic officer and then we have the detective bureau which is just two officers. It's a detective sergeant
and a detective. Now I'll just touch on some of their responsibilities. Um the captain primarily I'm just kind of little cliff notes here. The captain does scheduling. He oversees all uh
training scheduling training classes. He also oversees the PTC licensing. Um last year was the first year the police officers had to be licensed in the state of New Jersey similar to doctors and nurses. So there's training involved in that. You have to go for reertification
every 3 years. Um background checks have to be done on us every 3 years internally um to to maintain our licensing. Uh he's also the public information officer and he oversees the six officers we have in the schools. the
uh five for open public schools and then the one up at the high school. The uh the two lieutenants, the admin lieutenant, he oversees records and Oprah oversees the tech bureau and communications, which is the dispatch
center. The patrol lieutenant, he's the patrol commander. He's the lucky one who gets to read every single report that comes in. Um has to review it. He's also the IIA supervisor and he oversees the traffic bureau and he's also our accreditation manager. As
you guys know, we're accredited. There's a lot of policies and procedures involved. You have to um maintain accreditation every 3 years. That involves uh pulling what we call proofs that we're following all these different guidelines. An example would be um if you respond to a fire call and we put
out flares and cones and all this other stuff, we pull that report. He uploads it into the system to show we're doing what we're supposed to be doing and following our procedures. Um things that we're prioritizing for 2026
is we want to intr um improve the pedestrian safety within the downtown section of Oakland. Uh what we're planning on doing is increasing the safety details, also trying to improve signage and the infrastructure itself. Um
early or late last year, we sent our traffic officer to special class to do uh crosswalk enforcement. That's something that we can do now that the weather's picking up and more people are out. We're going to do it during like the afternoon rush uh with school that's out. Um we also need to continue hiring
new officers uh anticipation of the of retirements and also any kind of potential increase in population in the burough, we want to be able to respond accordingly to it. Right now we're towards the end of where we should be. So we do need to consider hiring more
for the future. Um one of the things that we started working on last year and that I think Lieutenant Griffin has kind of taken over is uh he also oversees the FTO program. He's coming up with a regimen for newer newer officers. Just because
you graduate the academy and you make it through FTO, there's still a lot to learn in this job. So, what we're doing is we're kind of making our own internal curriculum of classes we want to send them to. Um, which I'll touch on later when I hit you up for an increased budget for training and costs associated
with that. Um, and the last thing is we've been trying to increase the social media presence for the police department with faster realtime updates as far as road closures go. Um, anything the public needs to know. I know last night
we put out the uh that Newark Corp scam that was going around and apparently everybody has been hit with that in New Jersey. >> Apparently. >> Yeah, it's a it's a good one. It looks legit when you first get it. Um so those are things we're trying to work on. Now, there's always going to be a lag with
these social media posts because we have to have scene safety take care of what's going on first before someone can go ahead and type something up. Um, but with that, what I'm going to do is I'm going to turn it over to acting captain Brock. He's going to talk about
uh what we actually do, calls for service, and kind of break it down for you. You know, I know it's a late night, so not to spend too much time on it, and we discussed a lot of it already. Um, but I just want to take a few minutes to summarize um and highlight the Oakland Police Department. We are a full service, obviously, 247 agency, which is
responsible for protecting our residents, businesses, and visitors. Um, our role extends well beyond traditional law enforcement. We provide emergency response, investigation, school safety, community outreach, and a wide range of administrative and regulatory functions.
Um, at its core, we ensure public safety through continuous patrol and rapid response to all calls for service. Our officers enforce criminal traffic and local burden laws and conduct investigations from initial initial response through case closure which uh
Lieutenant Griffin will speak about very soon. This includes handling serious incidents such as domestic violence, missing persons, and emergencies involving vulnerable individuals. We also work closely with Burton County Prosecutor's Office and other neighboring towns uh providing mutual
aid and supporting regional public safety efforts. In addition, our officers handle port security, warrant service, and prisoner processing. Go to the next one. Uh key part of our mission is prevention and community engagement. We maintain strong partnership with our schools
where we oversee crossing guards and supervise class 3 officers. Like the chief discussed, we assist with school safety planning and emergency preparedness. We meet, we have a great report with Indian Hills High School and the elementary schools while also supporting the youth programs that we do
like the Junior Police Academy. And we're involved with Safety Town. Beyond enforcement, the department plays a critical role in emergency services. We coordinate the dispatch of police, fire, EMS, and emergency management resources and support the bureau during storms,
power outages, and other critical incidents. Our officers also provide day-to-day assistance to all residents, including welfare checks, crisis intervention, and safety services. Community policing remains our priority, uh, which the chief went into right away. Uh, we're
trying to use outreach programs, public events, and education initiatives so we can continue to build a strong relationship with the community, which is important to us going into 2026. Uh we also address ongoing public health concerns including overdose response and
referrals to many available resources and we've also just started uh tied in with the county with arrive together program where we're in contract with CBH care who provide continued resources to individ individuals post our interaction with them. So basically we refer them to
this service. They're trying to do follow-up so that we're not continuously going to these same calls. And it's not necessarily just emotionally disturbed individuals. It's people who are elderly um can't take care of themselves. And this service provides a ton of resources
and they continue to follow up after the fact. And then just that last slide. And then beyond the scenes which is the admin and inside work. The department manages a significant number of administrative and compliance responsibilities. These include background investigations, regulatory
enforcement and strict reporting requirements mandated by the state and county. Uh we obviously maintain internal affairs function, policy compliance and ongoing off officer training to meet evolving professional standards and we also manage with the help of IT
dies. We do a lot with the body warn cameras, redactions, department technology and with the help of Craig and the DPW, all our fleet and equipment maintenance which were involved in purchasing, ordering and helping them with assistance of maintaining them. Uh
lastly, all these responsibilities require appropriate staffing, training, and investment in equipment and technology. As policing continues to evolve, so do the demands related to transparency, accountability, and operational readiness. And then just the next slide. So I just wanted to highlight real quick some of the calls
that we went on uh in 2025. Just to highlight statistics in total in 2025 we went on 19,070 or had 19,070 calls for service. We handled
572 911 calls. We assisted with the fire department on 374 calls, 128 welfare checks, 845 medical assists, which is us responding there first for the most part. Uh 335 total alarms. We logged in
1,470 property checks throughout the town, whether you know it's buildings, any other, you know, enforcement areas we need to check on. 765 school checks. We arrested we had 97 adult arrests including 21 DUIs.
We we basically tagged 62 public educa education type uh services as well as as well as had 205 assist other agency calls. And then my last thing I want to talk about real quick was just a little
bit about traffic statistics which I I didn't touch on the last one. in 2025 was 3,1998 motor vehicle stops alone. We had 237 motor vehicle complaints that we handle, 152 parking complaints, 390 motor
vehicle crashes, which involved doing the entire crash investigation on our end, 199 disabled vehicles, and then we conducted 323 self-initiated traffic enforcement details and 347 radar enforcement details. And then just on
the right there, just dealing with traffic officer Burns, Joe Burns, who does a great job. Uh we just had some goals that we spoke with together and he touched a few of them which is enhance traffic enforcement, reduce motor vehicle crashes by being proactive,
expand uh traffic safety education to the community and the schools and participate in state and national traffic safety campaigns, strengthen community engagement, maintain equipment and training, and remain involved and proactive in Oakland development plans to ensure traffic flow, roadway safety,
and pedestrian considerations are addressed during planning an approval process, which you guys are obviously in the midst of dealing with with these new projects coming into town. Our traffic officer works diligently with Boswell, all the developers to find out what is good and what is bad about these
developments. And then lastly, I'm just going to turn it over to active. Um, I'll just talk briefly about the detective bureau and what they do behind the scenes. Um, currently the detective bureau is staffed by only two officers.
Like Chief Keenan said, we have a detective and a detective sergeant and a lieutenant is assigned to oversee and manage them. Despite its small size, the bureau is responsible for a wide range of investigations and administrative functions that require a significant
amount of time and followup. Last year in 2025, I acted as the detective sergeant. Now, as patrol lieutenant in this temporary time of turnover that we have, I'm also overseeing the detective bureau. In 2025, the bureau handled 53
financial crime investigations along with 82 other detective type investigations outside of financial crimes. Financial investigations in particular are often timeintensive. These cases regularly involve subpoenas,
bank records, video review, interviews, surveillance, evidence collection, case preparation, and coordination with outside agencies. Based on our estimates, financial crime investigations alone accounted for 10 to
33 hours on average per week. In addition to criminal investigations, the detective bureau is also responsible for firearms application processing. In 2025, that included 200 firearms applications,
64 concealed carry applications, and 201 executed pistol permits. That workload required an estimated 9 to 18 hours per week. Even tasks that may appear routine, such as permit execution,
require time for review, processing, contact with applicants, and final documentation. The bureau also conducts police applicant background investigations. In 2025, we conducted two background investigation processes for academy
hiring involving multiple applicants. That process included interviews, database research, home visits, neighborhood surveys, reference checks, and employment verification. Those investigations typically average
between 100 and 200 hours. More importantly, that work is usually compressed into a 1 to two month period, which means a substantial amount of bureau time is redirected away from other investigations during those windows.
All of this is of course in addition to the other responsibilities of the detective bureau not specifically mentioned here tonight. My goal is just to share this with the community so that everyone can see what happens behind the scenes in the bureau.
>> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right. Um would you like me to go through like each line item or how do you want to >> I I think talk about I mean we hit on the the salary and wage uh stuff >> last meeting
>> at the last meeting in terms of it um you know accounting for all contractual increases step movements uh you know longevity uh and any other adjustments that needed to be made to implement the terms of the labor agreement. Um it takes into account the projected
retirements and replacements of those of those officers for partial year. Um I think Tim if you could focus on the OE and what's basically the change behind those numbers right because >> I was just sort of looking at it again there's a lot that are changing 500 year
$1,000 a year but talk about some of the main themes which I know you know we're talking about training we're talking a lot about um >> uh IT related items. So I I think it' probably be best to focus on that cuz that's what's really driving the increases here. >> Okay. Could you go to the slide that has
the on breakdown? >> I cannot. >> That's it. >> Um All right. >> I'm sorry. >> How good's your memory? >> Had it too. >> Yeah. Um Okay. So I know the the largest
increase was the training. um that is mainly tied to having younger officers. All the classes we send them to cost money. Now even the so Bourbon County does offer some free classes.
Um they fill up quick. We have more officers that we get into the classes. So a lot of times we have to pay to send them to different classes. Um so that was a driving factor with that. We also have online training that we do through Power DMS to maintain our
accreditation standards. Those modules for the year are roughly $9,000. That was pulled from contracted services, correct? >> And put into our training budget. So that's why our training budget went and we were originally asking for about
15,000. It jumped up to 24,000 and change and that was the driving cost. We moved it. It's more appropriate in training than it would be in contracted services. Um, Ryan, those training modules I think were about $8,500 or so with the Rogers
Group and through PowerVMS. >> Also, PTC questions are coming out. >> Yeah. So, now also when an officer graduates the police academy, we have to pay a onetime fee to the PTC of $500 for them to get their license. So, that's also coming out of the training budget.
Um, so we anticipated how many new hires we would have roughly and added that in. So that's why that line item jumped from about 12,000 to 24,000. >> So if I understand, you're doing the same amount of training you did this year. The budget changes, you just move stuff,
>> right? >> Um >> well, what we were we were adding into basically part of what he's referring to is an internal discussion over where those extra training costs should be reflected in the individual line items. Uh and a lot of that was pulled out of where it would because it's computer related items. We pulled it out of
contracted services. is we're showing it more directly internally uh within the training lineup for this department because it's a training expense. I think that's really what he's getting at. Overall training costs when you sort of take that into account um are up rather
substantially uh to invest in the officers uh development. >> And one of the the uh influences also is we have our own armors for each weapon platform. So for the handgun, for the rifle, for the
carbines, for the shotguns, um you can't have just anybody take them apart. And we can all do basic cleaning, but you have to do like an armor cleaning on them. If something goes wrong, uh if a part on a gun needs replacement, has to be done by a certified armor. And those courses, they
have to get renewed every two to three years, and they're five to six, $700 each course um per weapon platform. So, that's also getting rolled into this now, too. Um, there weren't any other major
increases in O and E. Uh, it was either plus or minus $500 for the most of them. I know the, uh, guns and ammo increased $1,000 up to$10,000. That's the cost of ammunition. Um, there's nothing we can do about that. Uh, we have to qualify
twice a year. At a minimum, each officer is going to fire um 200 rounds just for the handgun alone. So, multiply that times each officer twice a year. Um and that's not even counting duty ammo.
So, those are really the only uh big jumps in OE um contracted services. Ben, you want to touch on that a little bit because I know that's a large item. >> Sure. that um it's really all about
compliancy. We get audited from the state police every two years to be uh sieges compliant and they called out a couple things that had to change and uh that is reflected in this in services that we had to purchase. Um you can't
buy any service today and uh once you buy it you're paying for it for the rest of your life. So, it's it's pretty much a a service that once we uh started it, it's every year it's the same money. They always go up. It's a big business
in the computer world. >> Do you have any questions about OE or any line items or we go to capital? >> I think does council have any questions? Okay. I just want >> just just a reminder on the CLOS every dime they spend we get reimbured by the
school you know so that's a that's a wash those budgets goes up and down based upon what we negotiate what we spend and try to kind of get those numbers to be in line with what we're doing in terms of revenue so we don't have excess on either either side but they're they're a wash for us and
>> and I just want to point out in sort of talking about the technology that's used to support the police department I mean it's everything from, you know, your your CAD system software uh to specialized software for evidence maintenance, right? I mean, it it runs
the gamut. It's hard to think of probably an aspect of modern policing where there isn't some level of technology and technology support and related cost for that. uh whether it's internal uh security protections uh and
base operations to everything that you need in the car, both the hardware and the software for the camera systems and the computer systems and everything like that. Um so it's something that's you know fundamentally different than what some people may still think of as as policing uh and how they go about doing
their jobs. Uh and and likewise you heard about the financial crimes 20 years ago. Tim, how much time is spent by the detective bureau on financial crimes? >> 20 minutes. >> Didn't exist. >> Now, now it's a major driver of your
workload, right? So, um the goal of policing is the same. How do you do it? Uh and what you what your task for continues to evolve. So, one one of the things that uh I would like to touch on, since we put the firewall in service
here, which was about a year and a half ago, we've had 1.7 million attempts to gain access into this building that it has uh successfully stopped. We've had uh 48,000 botnet attacks into
the building that it has successfully stopped. So, all of this stuff is a constant 24-hour, 7-day a week, just, you know, getting rid of the uh the intrusions that come in. And it's more than just that. It's every officer has
email. We get thousands of spam emails. Just this week, I was spearfished for the first time ever on my personal cell phone um trying to gain access with credentials. So, it's a it's a it's constantly evolving. It's constantly changing and unfortunately it's
constantly costing more money to to continue moving forward. >> Tim, you want to move on to uh address the capital? >> Sure. Uh the first item on the capital is to replace the um replace two patrol vehicles. Um what our plan is this year
is to obtain two vehicles, one fully outfitted patrol vehicle, um and then an admin car. And we have flexibility to do that. Um we're looking way looking at ways to try to keep the budget down and cut costs. Um we have the Charger, which
is 6 years old, but only has about 30,000 miles on it. It's a great opportunity that we can make that vehicle an unmarked enforcement car. Um that will also help us with pedestrian issues in town. Um some of the hot spots we can sit on. You're not sitting in a marked unit where people aren't going to
see you um as obviously. So what we can do is we can buy one fully outfitted patrol car and then one admin vehicle and only have to buy some equipment to I would even say retrofit, but to add to the charger um to make that road ready
for patrol work. So that's a way we can kind of keep the cost down. Also, um, also, um, Vinnie did some leg work and found another outfitter that's cheaper, or I shouldn't say cheaper, less expensive than who we were using before.
Much faster turnaround time. We were having issues with vehicles not coming back for 10 months, I think, right? >> Yeah, they had one for a year. >> Um, which we can't have a new car sitting at the outfitter for a year. The turnaround time at this other location is a matter of weeks. and they're also
less expensive and the equipment is about the same cost as the other place. So when you factor those two in, we're actually asking for less than we did last year for the vehicles. Um the other the next item is the mobile data terminal replacements. Those are the
laptops that go into cars. Um, you would think laptops aren't all that expensive, but for the um the technology horsepower I guess they need, >> I'm not a tech guy, so >> yeah, it it's it's a very specialized tablet that sits in that vehicle that's
ruggedized. It can ex, you know, go through extremes in temperature. It has uh scanners on it for licenses. So, those things, you know, tend to jack up the price. >> So, we can swipe the driver's license and start issuing those tickets out. Um,
the next item is replacing some of the exterior cameras on the building for security purposes. Um, I'd rather not go into too much detail in public setting, but it's due for them to get replaced. Uh, they're motion activated. We'd like something that's going to be a little
bit more reliable, uh, with a better picture quality. And then the last item is a replacement. Uh, two years ago, our speed trailer was parked on the side of a road in town and it got struck by a vehicle and totally demolished.
The I know the insurance company gave a little bit of money, not that much, but we're looking to replace it uh with a new speed sign. It allows us to deploy it wherever we get the speeding complaints. It'll show the driver their speed in real time, but it also logs all the data. Logs the amount of cars, date,
time, average speeds, all that kind of stuff. so we can determine if there is an actual speeding issue in that location or if it's just perceived um at that point. So those are the only four things that we're asking for. We spent the last few months kind of going over
internally needs versus wants and kind of cutting out things that we didn't really feel were absolutely necessary at this point. So that is where we're at. >> Okay. >> The body count. This is a second replacement. didn't replace the body cam.
>> We we they went in service in 22 and we had one replacement of that entire line with a new model. >> We didn't like the old ones. >> They were atrocious. >> It It was every day multiple officers. >> They turned into paper weights.
>> That was >> Okay. Uh any other questions for representatives from the police department? Okay. Um, guys, thank you very very much. Appreciate your time. Thank you guys. Thank you for hanging in there and watching another department
presentation. >> Next time we do this, you can go first. >> I You know, >> he said that to everybody. You were to make sure I'm here on time. See, I never was you were worried about being late. Yeah.
I'll see you on the rec field. >> Thank you so much. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. I got to do it online Wednesday night or something. >> Yeah. >> A safety course. >> Yeah. >> And that's a full two hours. Full three hours. Just so you know. >> It's on It's online now, but I cuz I had
to I had to go on purpose. >> You can do it in person, but they have an online one, which >> works much better for my schedule. It's like 6:30, 8:30 at night. So, >> I'll get that done. >> All right. >> All right. Okay. >> Thank you, Chief. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Uh so that concludes the uh
departmental presentations. Um so the question we have is the the um statutoily the budget needs to be introduced by uh the meeting after the first meeting after the end of March. uh we would like to be able to introduce
next week which would put us in a position to adopt at the second meeting in April. Um is everybody comfortable proceeding with introduction uh next week? >> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. Yeah. Okay. I think this is
nice budget. >> Also, I think the departments are extremely responsible in their assets. >> They and I'd mentioned this the the other night. They they really are. Um, you know, I think we we we know we've done this long enough now. I think they know what I'm looking for. I'm not
looking for them to um short change themselves coming into the process. Um, because I don't think the public winds up being well served by that. Um, but you know, we have these discussions in our 101 where we really get into the line items and what's happening. Uh,
justify your increase. you know, hey, last five years you've only spent half of your your your budget line. We're going to have to, you know, economize somewhat here or there's an opportunity to. So, we get into those um you know, very sort of honest discussion. Um but
so if everybody's comfortable, uh we will prepare the budget introduction for next week. There'll be a whole section on the budget. We sent out the um draft agenda earlier today. There's a whole section on the budget uh on that agenda. So it'll be the cap rate ordinance
introduction uh reading the budget by title. Uh we're self-examined this year. >> We are >> right. So uh there's a resolution be uh let me examinable >> uh for for that. And there's also a
required EEOC compliance resolution >> uh which you may say what does that have to do with the budget? Absolutely nothing. Um, but it is a requirement that the state puts on that, hey, you certify that you're EOCC compliant. Wendy and I spoke. I think what we're going to do from now on is just do that
at the reorg meeting as one of the uh policy consent agenda items. Um, but you'll see that as well and then you'll have the resolution actually to introduce uh and that would put us in a position again have the public hearing at the end of April. In the meantime, um
depending on everybody's schedule, we can have continued discussion on capital, continued discussion on anything else you'd like to talk about, um you know, in that in that interim period. >> Good, Russ.
>> All right. Um what we got? I just uh this is this is it. And our next meeting is going to be on the 24th. Can I get a motion to adjurnn? >> So moved. Second. >> All in favor? I
>> thank you everybody.