Township of Precipity, Troy Hills Township Council special meeting, April 29th, 2025. This meeting was called to order by Council President Karifi at 5:33 p.m. Uh the agenda of this special meeting to the extent known is as follows. Review and discussion of the
mayor's 2025 budget recommendations. Formal action may or may not be taken. Uh, adequate notice of this meeting has been provided in accordance with the requirements of the open public meetings law by following notice in the office of the township clerk and by posting the meeting notice on the bulletin board at the municipal municipal building on April 16th, 2025 where it's remained
posted since that date. Copy of this notice appeared in the daily record on April 21st, 2025. Can I ask everybody to please stand for the flag salute 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. Roll call. Miss Hernandez here. Mr. McGrath here, Mr. Mella here, Mr. Neglia here, Mr. Kipi here. Also in attendance are Mayor Barbario.
Uh, business administrator Jamie Cryan, uh, Tach attorney Michael Levery, Ked Madden Tach Clerk, and Angelica Sabatini, the CFO. Uh, Council President, we have a quorum. Can we begin? Yes, please. Okay. Um, we're going to go right into the uh budget
summary uh initially. I'll turn that over to administration and finance. Thank you. Thank you, Council President. Council, uh we're not going to take too much time uh from our standpoint. Um we're going to let uh the departments do
most of the talking here. Uh what you see is an overall increase on this budget u tax rate is 2.13. The municipal portion increase is 2.22. It's a $4.95 per month uh effect to the average
residential home or $5941. Um this budget protects the services our residents depend on and continues investing in Paran's future. it uh with all of the issues that you that you see out there that every
resident and every other municipality deals with. Um whether it's something as simple as the uh insane increase on eggs uh and how that affects everything else. Um you know, the supply chain has has
gone crazy and there's a lot of issues that we've been dealing with. This is a really good budget. Um, first up, we're going to hear from uh the police department, uh, Chief Pantina, uh, Deputy Chief Dow, and, uh, Captain
Carney. Um, there's, uh, they can go into the detail of their budget. Your microphone work. Thank you. Uh, I'd like to thank the council for having us here tonight to talk about uh, the budget that was prepared. Um, I'd like to thank uh Jamie Cryan for his
assistance with the budget. Um, we've been doing this a long time, the three of the four of us actually, uh, preparing budgets and they they're never they're never easy. Um, our our, uh, opinion is a little different than other people sometimes. Uh, and the mayor, uh,
you know, thank the mayor, too. Um, I've been around, we've been around a long time, the four of us combined. And, uh, we really do get a lot of support from the council, but most importantly, the mayor. Uh, he's always willing to listen to to our issues and, uh, give us
opinions on what he thinks and to listen us out when, uh, we have issues that we need to address. So, I'd like to thank thank him on that. Um, I think I've been, like I said, we've been doing this a long time and I don't think we've ever read our mission statement into uh record. So, if you
just give me a second, I want to read that. Uh, the mission of the Precipany Police Department is to provide an exemplary level of service and protection to the residents and all who may visit, work in, or travel through our community. We will serve the community with a commitment to cultivating the public trust through
professional conduct while aggressively enforcing criminal and traffic laws without prejudice or bias with respect for the rights of all people to safely enjoy life and liberty. I thought that was important to read. Um because a lot of our budget
uh is and the presentation that I uh put in front of your uh chairs there uh is based on the community and also production from our officers. Um I won't go through all of the uh
community aspects that we go that we do during the year. Um but there's a list of them in here. Right now, we have two officers that are doing community on a full-time basis. Um, our goal is to have departmentwide
uh have more people in that specialized unit, but to to have our officers be more cognizant of the community, stop and talk to people. We want to be more open to the community. And I know I said this last year, and I said it the year before, that's our goal every year is to
be a community-based uh department. um with the production part of it, calls for service, uh just to go over it briefly, um in the past year from 23 to 24, our calls for
service went up 15,000 calls. Um, our summones increased uh roughly 6,000 7,000 for summones and uh arrests are up by about 100. Motor
vehicle stops are up about 8,000. Um, and on the opposite end, our residential burglaries have gone down from 51 to 29. So, these are major improvements. I um I think a big part of it is that there's visibility. Our
officers are out there. We've done some tweaking with our schedule. Uh the last time we were here, uh I know Captain Weiners and uh Deputy Chief Dowed, we had changed the schedule last year when we had a presentation. It didn't quite work the way we wanted. So, we changed
it again and we're getting better results from it. Both on the production side and also for overtime. Uh we realized and I know if you look at the budget overtime is high at points. Um we from changing our
schedule the last uh comparison from last year we're down 50% in overtime um for patrolman. Um now supervisors we anticipate we're going to make some promotions in the next week. When we do that um our overtime should
come down with that. I'm almost guaranteeing that it's going to come down. And uh our dispatcher overtime right now is down 75%. Because we filled some spots that we needed to fill. So we're making strides um to keeping it efficient. Our department um we're
constantly seeking to improve uh and and do different things. If we see something that doesn't work, we're going to change it. Uh you know, if we get advice from somebody else, you know, that's what we do. you know, we'll change our our plan. But, um, I think right now the the way
we're working it, um, we have a lot of young officers. Um, they're very aggressive and they're driving around and that's what we want. We want visibility. Um, that that's a very good preventative measure for us.
Um, the the one main thing that our budget entails is uh hiring. Um, we're having a difficult time with retention like all other police departments. We're just coming up on a cycle where we're getting a lot of people retiring. We
have uh probably 11 that could are eligible to retire this year going on. We just lost about three or four in the past 3 months. Um, and uh we definitely have three leaving. one
of them being my deputy chief who's uh leaving me hanging in uh in June, but but that's going to be a big loss to the department. So, um that's part of our our budget is hiring more people so that
we can move move people to the spots that we need to build up our detective bureau, build up our traffic unit, um you know, and do things that are so-called luxuries. Um, but uh, so I don't know if you have
any questions. I know we're on a short time period. Um, we're we're going in the right direction. Our our our officers are very motivated. They're, like I said, they're very aggressive. We're trying to change the culture of the police department.
We're trying to make this, you know, I'm proud of them and I want them to be proud of the police department because this is a fantastic township to work for. Um, we don't have a high crime rate. The community supports us. You really can't ask for more. So, we're
trying to build up their confidence, both giving confidence to them and them feeling the confidence back. So, I don't know if anybody has any. No, you first I want to uh take this opportunity to thank you chief cuz when
we came back in here in 22 as you know the police department was decimated down to 81 deployable police officers and I knew the mission was at that time to bring it back to the standards that we're used to here on Paripany. Um as you know at that time we really didn't
have much of a traffic division. Um the detective bureau was struggling as you know pre postcoid you there was a lot of you know burglaries going on catalytic converters being stolen. We knew what we had to do and we beefed that that part
of it up and it has paid off. I can tell you right now that the residents in Paripany are very happy with your department. They're very happy what's going on. and they're very happy that you're involved that the your the police is more community um outreach as well as
I am. So, it doesn't happen just by me coming as mayor. It comes in the fact that you guys are committed and I and I appreciate that. And I think this your budget uh you know is a very good budget. It it not only did it take care
of the past, it takes care of the future as well. So, thank you. Thank you, mayor. Um, you know, and I could I could speak for the four of us here, and we try to instill that into the uh manpower that we have working for us. Uh, we enjoy dealing with the community. You
know, we don't we don't get upset when they call or, you know, we love going to the different coffees with the cop or going to the PAL and and that really is a big part of what we do. So, um, we're going to continue that and that's that's not a hard thing to do.
So, hey Chief, just a couple quick questions. The 95 that's referenced here, does that include the three or four that are already left or was that with them included at the time that this was created? Do you know? No, that's the actual people that are here now. So, we're losing a few before the on top of
that as well. Yeah. And then in the budget, I think we had five. Is that correct, DA Cryan? Five additional officers on top. So, we're going to get to 100. It's uh Yes, five. Okay. We we for we do have um I think two more police officers
that will be retiring uh by the end of the year. Yeah. With three three. Okay. Total of three before the end of the year. We're to get to 106. Yeah. We we would be at 106 on the books is what we're with the amount that we're going to get. Yeah. Okay. Is there any
concerns about attracting or retaining talent? Are people leaving because they're like, "Hey man, it's time to retire. I'm done." or is it retaining talent as well? Well, that's a good question. All guys retiring, right? They're just eligible
for retirement. Um, you know, the days where guys stay a real like I've been around a long time. That's very unusual to be, you know, as long I know, uh, Tom Carney's been around. We've all been around a while, but to stay past that 30 point is a
little unusual in this time. You know, uh guys put their time in, especially the younger group, they're starting very young and they get out young. And a lot of the guys that we have leaving at military time, so they buy that time back and then they go on to do something else. We had just had an officer leave
um with 20 years and, you know, he he wanted to spend time with his family. Makes sense. he took the cut, you know, and and he, you know, I try to anybody that comes to me and says they're leaving, I try to persuade them to stay because I do care for the people that
work for us. Um, but everybody has their own issues, uh, you know, and why they're leaving and what they want to do, you know. So, is there any opportunity to partner either with the schools or with the community college? I know they have a two-year degree program for criminal justice that we can create a feeder system of Morris County.
Obviously, I love Paripany kids, but Morris County kids that can become a feeder into that cuz that's again, you're growing by 10% almost. Do we have that set up? We do deal with the schools. Remo, you know, is in contact with the schools. Um I don't know if it's so much a feeder. Uh but the way we
run the program now, the way we run the hiring process now, um is really a good opportunity for people to apply um because we're we're dealing with the county. We're just staying strictly in the county and um they're not going
through the traditional process of civil service. So I have, you know, I know you guys are aware of it. we signed um some ordinances or whatever you want to call them uh about nepotism and all and all of that stuff with the hiring. So there
are opportunities now to go through if you're not a good test taker or you have other qualities you can apply which we're we have people applying now um through the app through the police app and it's a a lot easier than going through the whole process with civil
service where you're dealing maybe with thousands of people. Now you're dealing with maybe tens of people or hundred. Perfect. Last question. So, so obviously you've gone through this budget. I'm sure you asked for a lot of other stuff and they said no way. What else if we had unlimited funds? What else would you
have projected for this year or for next year that you think you need to be we need to be as council aware of what you're asking and be? Manpower. Manpower number one. That's what it comes down to. What do you want to get to in manpower? Okay.
Um so just looking at the way the township is growing um what we at roughly 60,000 people now in township in the daytime it probably swells up. I think we are going to get to it as a department and as you you guys as the council and the mayor where that uh
ordinance that states that our max is 113 is going to have to go away. Okay. So, um, I mean, right now 110 is a is a good number to start with, but coming in the next couple of years with all the growth, I would have to say that that number is not going to be a realistic
number. So, um, we don't ask for a lot of toys. Yeah, we ask for cars just to keep us going and only you'll see in the budget when you look through it, um, most of the stuff is needed, you know, updates on programs, computers, and stuff like that. We don't really ask for
a whole lot of extra stuff other than mandality. What What about from your perspective? You have the police station. Is there a need for like a substation? If we were to build, say, too many houses in one area, should we be considering a substation in that area or built into one of these developments,
things like that? Um, well, substations are good, but you have to man, right? Uh, you know, they've tal they talked about that years ago, having a substation up in Powder Mill. Um, I don't quite see the need for it right now. Okay. Um, because there's not a whole lot of walking traffic and that's
what basically a substation would be. Yep. Our guys are on the road so they they can get if they're assigned to that area, they're going to get to where they need to get to. Um, you know, you know, substation's good for community, you know, community issues when people want to walk in, but you
don't really get that kind of foot traffic up there. the other spot maybe, you know, North Bever Road if once we get that built up the way, you know, like the township wants, that might not be a bad idea, but Yeah. Thank you. We
actually um in 17 we almost had a substation up in Powder Mill. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I'm thinking, you know, as we look at affordable and the options for affordable, right? And I know obviously we've tossed around a bunch of different theories on how to deal with it. You know, one of the things I've sort of commented on is does it make
sense to put a police substation if we're going to have, you know, sort of a community where we want to make sure everyone stays safe and happy and we're building a lot of developments in certain areas. I didn't know if it made sense to to consider it. So, appreciate your feedback. Anybody else questions? Um, thank you,
Chief, for being here. Uh, first I want to deliver some feedback. You know, it's been a year since we've done this. Uh, and I think in the and then I'll ask you some questions. Um, I think in the year that's gone by, definitely uh agree with your statement. I think that uh the
police is much more visible. I hear that from residents and uh they see police utilizing the spaghetti pattern, you know, going into their neighborhoods um you know, all times of the day, which I think is really important as a as a way
for deterrence. Um, you know, certainly with a growing workforce, uh, a growing growing manpower that'll enable you to do more. Um, and I do agree with you with, you know, the increase in our population, we're going to have to look
at, uh, continuing to hire. Um, so we can also bring overtime down because it's still a very high number. Would you agree? Yeah, I would say overtime was high. Like I said, this year it's substantially lower.
Um if you look at from 25 to uh the 24 the same time period from January to April uh this year last year we're at 14,000 this year we're at six. Mhm. So that's a substantial drop. Yeah. And if you drag that out over the year um it'll
be a big difference. Uh overtime for dispatchers is down um from 14,000 of last year to 2,000. Yeah. 2,800. So that's that's a big difference. Now, supervisors are a little high right now. Um, it's only 3,000 on here, but when we
make those promotions and we fill those spots, that should bring that down substantially. So, and um, you know, some of I guess some of the improvements and I deliver these to the BA uh, you know, throughout the year. Um, you know, I think from a cultural perspective, uh,
I do hear from residents from time to time that they tend to notice, um, police officers are on their phones on on road jobs looking down, you know, not really engaged with the public as they come by or that the windows might be up. Uh, so that could be some, you know,
specific feedback just to deliver to people to ensure that, you know, they're friendly, that, you know, they're trying to engage residents as as they come by. Um, and then uh when it comes to the the coffee with the cop events, I find
hardly if ever I am able to or you know people that work are able to make those events because they're held at a during working hours. Is there any way that we can start doing these events in the evening or would that be, you know, a
higher cost due to your your schedule? No, I mean we could do stuff like that in the evenings. It has to be planned ahead of time. Yeah. So, you know, we'd have to change schedules and and uh the problem with doing it at in the evening hours is things aren't open that late.
And, you know, the it's it's easier for the uh like the banks and the different uh places that we go to to be open in the daytime. They're not as busy or they're or they're open. Um so, but yeah, we could always look into something like that. And again that that would add to when we start to add more
people into these uh different uh divisions and sections you know and I'm and I'm trying to understand I think that um for the public's education I think earlier um this in in March um the mayor's
office released figures for motor vehicle stops and summones issued uh which was 3,937 and it's on it's on your your sheet. 3,937 stops in 2022,
7,244 stops in 2023, and then 18,600 stops in 2024. So, I'm just trying to understand the staggering increase, how there was such a large increase in
11,356 stops in a single year. It's good, right? Well, I mean, it sounds good, but um our you know, help me understand how it increased so much. Would you like to talk on that? Manpower as well. It's manpower. It is manpower.
It is manpower. And the reason why I'm I'm asking the deputy chief to talk on that is because he was he's a big proponent of the way those numbers are real. There's nothing funny about those numbers. They're not I just those are those are legitimate numbers. um for many years um leading up to CO and
throughout CO uh the chief spoke to culture before the culture started to lag in terms of the culture of doing police work. uh officers and through no fault of their own started to feel as though um they didn't want to engage the public for obvious reasons because we
came through some tough years and it to be honest it felt like police officers should stay out of the way cuz they were finding themselves in a lot of trouble and uh false allegations and so they they cowarded a little bit. Um, but we changed that culture and we talked to them if you know what you're doing and
you stick to your values as a police officer and you stick to them uh in terms of knowing your job, having technical knowledge and and the confidence, you'll be fine. It's okay to stop a car and it's okay to tell the people what the violation is for and
it's okay to write the ticket. If you're doing the job the right way, there'll be no blowback. And over time we taught them that um we held them accountable. Uh we started making them document their own everything were computerized. So for
many years it was very easy to do a shift and not realize what you did throughout the night. We determined that it was a good idea that they documented everything they did on paperwork like the old days. So at the end of a shift they can look and say wow uh maybe I didn't do so much. They can see their
numbers. By doing that last year, they started producing a lot more motor vehicle stops, a lot more arrests, a lot more residential 10 sixes, the spaghetti that you speak of, and a lot more summones. They became aware of what they're doing or not doing on a nightly
basis. Couple that with the confidence of doing the job, the numbers shot up tremendously. Um, also to add to that was increasing the traffic unit as well. So what we have is a traffic division of uh six police officers now and an entire
patrol division that's acting like traffic officers also not just being reactive and going to the calls that they're being sent to. They're partaking in stopping cars and writing tickets. So that's why you're seeing a huge huge number. Remember we got a lot of police
officers. if each of them do you know just five stops uh extra a shift you're going to see numbers inflate like that. So when we say we're changing the culture, we are we did uh it's only getting better and we are very very very
I can't say enough how proud we are of the police officers in Paripity and I say that from the bottom of my heart and I'm very happy you know I'm I'm approaching I' I've only got about seven and a half weeks left and uh nothing makes me happier to see a police
department that I loved to work for my entire career. I this is where I always wanted to be. Um I got the job. It was a dream come true. Um the town's treated me well. Um mayor been very very good to the police department. Uh and and and to
me personally and I want to say thank you mayor for that. I really appreciate it and uh credit a lot of what we've done in the police department to your support. So we're very proud and um I can get emotional about it. I'm very happy and proud of the authorities that we uh that we're producing here in
Paripony. But if if if and that's good to hear. Um but but if somebody were to say to you that the reason these numbers went up substantially is because you're now including instances where officers are simply dispatched to disabled
vehicles or other non-inforcement situations. What would you say to that person? They're wrong. Okay. Just to a motor vehicle stops a a motor vehicle stop. Just to add a note to what you guys said too is you know we've hired a lot of officers in the last two three
years and I know firsthand I've taught all of them at the academy and you and I can tell you that Precipity you guys have hired some high quality very proactive fantastic proactive young men and so I know that's got to be adding to
your numbers as well. So, you guys have done a really good job at hiring. Yeah, the um there's there's like the deputy chief said, and I'm glad he got a opportunity to speak because he is passionate about the police department and that's what we want from our officers. We try to portray that to
them, right? When we're talking to them, you know, there's uh council president could tell you there's always storytelling. Um our stories are positive. It's about good experiences that we've had in the police department. And when they listen, they're sucking all of that in. they're they're grabbing
it and that's what we want and they and and that lends to being productive because they're not ashamed of working. They want to work and that's what we want from them. Um like the deputy chief said and Brian said, it's a fantastic police department. Quality quality
officers. Listen, do we make mistakes sometimes? Sure. But we correct them. We fix them. And if it's a policy issue, we change it. So yeah, there's no there's no uh flubbing of numbers. Okay. And and I guess the for the um the summons in
data uh it was 2005 in 2022, 3,397 in 2023 and then it jumps to 10,949 in 2024. Um there was an increase in
7,552 summones. Okay, the summons one in front of me. So, I have 22 2300 um 23 4200 and then 13,000 in 24. Yeah. It's almost like an 8,000 summones
increase in a single year. Um but does this data now include warnings and things that you weren't including before? Well, no. Warnings are separate. Okay. So, the warnings are 1,200 and 7,400. Okay. So, those are
separate. So total there's 20,000 police actions taken on those motor vehicle stops. And uh my final question as we look ahead, what are you doing to impose controls that will continue to move overtime down?
Uh well the our schedule is a big a big factor. So the changing of the schedule which I I don't remember when we actually made the change but uh October. So, in October. So, in October, we'll have a full year to see. We had a full year with the old one. It didn't quite
work the way we wanted. So, we moved some hours around with the increase of officers that we're bringing in. Um, you know, listen, we're constantly, like I said at the beginning, we're constantly looking for different ways to save money and to give the best product to the
community. Um, right now we're doing really well with that. Um, I'm happy to say we're going to make some promotions on next Friday, which is great. Um, and that will hopefully solve the problem with the supervisors. Um, and you know, we we looked at the supervisor
situation. We looked to see maybe we didn't need as many or maybe we needed more. So, we came up with a good number that we think is going to work and uh and we're going to go from there. But, yeah, we're constantly almost on a daily basis, we're looking where to save money and where to uh have the best product.
Chief, also if you could touch on mandatory training. I know overtime I know some of that overtime is put towards that statemandated training. So a lot of these officers cannot attend mandatory state training on their shift.
So they have to go in their off shift and that's that's there's nothing you can do about that. Statemandated. They have to be there and the state keeps adding more and more mandatory training. So, I know that has to be a part of the overtime. Yeah. So, so um I know
somebody mentioned a while ago about active shooter, which we do active shooter training and we're actually doing another one coming up in May. Um and that was part of the reason why at points people were saying, well, we have this group that we can go to and we have this group to go to. Um we're willing to
take as much training as we can, but training costs money when especially when you're doing a departmentwide. So we have 95 officers that have to be slotted into different trainings at different times, you know, because they can't do it while they're working. So we have them on off time. So there is a
cost to training. Training is fantastic. We try to do a lot inhouse and we space it out to where we could have them uh staggered. Um but with the mandatory training, you know, domestic violence training, active shooter training, like all of that training is mandated by the
state and the county. So, we have to fit it in and there's a cost to it, you know, uh, and that does add to the overtime like you like you were saying. Council President, just real quickly, I think one of the things that has been great, you know, manpower has definitely helped those numbers increase and
there's no doubt about it. Um, I also uh when I uh introduced the panel, I was I'm sorry I did not introduce Captain Weiners. I didn't see you back there. Sorry. Um but the other part of it is uh this leadership team. Um they really uh
take great pride in their work. Uh all four of them and they do an incredible job at making sure that the next level is doing what they're supposed to do and then that level of uh make sure that the the lower level uh make sure that they're doing what they're supposed to
do. So there's they take great pride in their jobs and we talk about these numbers a lot with mayor uh and this upper management team here and um there's definitely a sense of pride for for uh uh their commitment to this town and it's refreshing to see.
And do you know uh crime ba crime? Do you know um there's like a $660,000 uh communications and other maintenance under in the police budget. Do you know what that's about? That new expense? Yes. I'm I'm glad I introduced Captain Weiners for that one. Uh that's that has
to do with our Motorola. Do you would you like to talk about that? Yes. Sean's. Yes. So the um you know we have a very robust communication system. It's um state-of-the-art, interoperable with both county, state, and federal
levels of government and emergency response agencies. Um and also what's new about this system as compared to our previous system is it encompasses every township entity. Um not just the police department, but fire, rescue, EMS, OEM,
DPW, water, parks, um sewer. Um trying to think if I'm forgetting anybody. We have a lot more people on the system now and the core requires um system maintenance. The first three years of the system we were on a
warranty so we weren't getting charged that. Now the warranty is up. We have to pay a maintenance fee. Will this have any impact on response time or communications? Yeah. if they don't pick the emergency
response, they don't respond and there there is no response time at that point. So, um it also, you know, fixed some holes that we had in our coverage within the township. Um the previous radio system, there was areas of the township that a patrol officer could be driving
through and not realize that they were out of radio coverage, so they could miss the call for somebody having a heart attack literally around the block. Um we fixed those gaps. Um, our system is also designed for inbuilding portable radio coverage and what that means is
the portable radios are the ones that we carry on our belts as opposed to the one that's in the vehicle. Um, so we have a n I want to say it's like 99.8% in building coverage in within the township from our portable radio. So we go into some of these larger uh building complexes, we're not losing radio
coverage. So if they have to call for backup or additional assistance, that call is is being answered. Any other uh any other questions? Okay. Thank you guys for the presentation. That was very good. Thank you. Good job, Chief. Good luck, guys.
Uh Captain Muners is here. Are you doing OEM or is that No, no, that's not on the uh that's not on the agenda. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Uh next up is our public works, parks, engineering department.
[Music] [Music] Council President, we have a a a good and interesting situation here. Um Jimmy uh Walsh retired after about 30 years uh on the job and he did a great
job for the township. Um luckily we had some great people already here to be able to uh pick up the slack uh where he's you know from him leaving. Um so we have Justin Liza who is our township
engineer. He's also uh our acting DBW director and acting superintendent. Um uh working in Jimmy's place. Uh Marge Wal who is our assistant DBW director and and now supervisor of sanit or or
superintendent of sanitation. Uh Kenny Moro is our superintendent of roads. Uh and Billy Sanford who is our superintendent of parks and forestry. Um, all three of the individuals uh below Justin have at least 20 years experience in town, have been in the
positions. They know exactly every one of the players, every one of the issues that come up. So, it's a seamless transition to um make sure that the township is uh uh covered. Now, we we talk about the services that are offered
and Marge and I were talking today about um a survey that one of the other administrators in the county asked for among uh you know county um uh municipalities. We are far and above uh offering much
more uh comprehensive comprehensive and extensive services to our residents in the sanitation and and uh uh uh DPW uh arena. So with that, I'll uh turn it over to Justin Ma. Thank you, BA Cryan. Thanks. Uh mayor,
council members, it's a honor to be here tonight. Um and as um VA Cryan said, it's a unique uh unique situation that I've uh recently been put in. Um it's, you know, great honor to work with um
individuals like uh Kenny Merl and Marge Wal and um Billy Samford. Um you know, we've worked very closely together over the years in my tenure here. Um and now just to really be working side by side with them and and more of a managerial
uh level is is uh an honor. We're we're really looking forward to it. Um you know, the engineering division, streets and roads, parks and forestry, and sanitation um have a lot of individuals that take great pride in what they do
and and I believe it shows. and um the leadership that's um here now is going to just carry that forward and it's going to be an exciting um uh year and years to come to see how uh it progresses. Uh so I'm going to start um
with the engineering budget. Um I'll go through that and then I'll pass uh it off to uh Marge to talk about sanitation and uh and then Ken and and Billy will take care of their divisions as well. Um so I I'll get into the engineering um
with the operating budget. It's you know to my my operating budget is pretty small. It's you know mostly just your normal operating stuff. What you will see in that though there is just uh one significant change and uh really that's
under building maintenance. Um you know as many of you know we're not in town hall. We're in a um actually it's an old house um right up the road and we've moved in in 1990 and to be honest there really hasn't been much improvement that's been done over the years. Um
recently we've uh we we put some money into the basement. We have uh files and and offices down there and uh we we have water leaks and we have put French drains in and whatnot. So, finally got that uh corrected. And now really these
improvements uh what we're asking for is really just for the first floor. Uh you know, the carpeting's ripped and stained. We have wallpaper literally peeling off the wall. Uh the horizontal blinds are broken. So, it's really more cosmetic stuff just to kind of give it a
a little freshen up, some paint and whatnot. So, that's really what um we're asking for for that increase with the uh building maintenance. It's not something that's over the top. Um um the only structural stuff we'll be doing is um for our conference room. Um you know, if
you could picture, if anyone's been there, you walk in the front door, to the left is the old living room and it's just a wide open space. And you know what we've been finding over the years is there's just not a place to have a private meeting. So, you know, we'll have building maintenance come in and
put a door in and just be able to, you know, close the door and have a private meeting in there without other residents coming in and um, you know, looking to get a permit and opening conversation. So, nothing of any significance, just some cosmetics and functionality uh, changes that we're looking to make
there. Um, I mean, if anyone has questions or comments with the O and I, I can answer now. And if not, I'll move on to really what the bulk of my budget is is capital. Um and um you know, every year we request, you know, $67 million
uh for capital improvements. And you know, you know, most of what we do, a lot of it is road work. Um we do um uh about $2 to3 million of road paving every year. And that's just your
resurfacing. That's just the milling and resurfacing. Um uh but then we also have the the larger projects where we're going in like the areas up in um and putting Stone Heights now where we're putting in curb, we're putting in drainage, um widening some roads to make
them a little bit more uh um easily accessible for vehicles and and emergency services. Um and with that, we've been working very closely with water and sewer departments uh when we do projects like this. So, the Pudding Stone Heights project, uh, we're in the
second phase now, and a big component of that is to put in sanitary sewers. All the houses up there are right now on septic. U, we're trying to get them to uh get off the septic. So, they there will be a means uh for them to now connect into the a public sanitary sewer
system. Um so whenever we embark on a project like like these we we always try to incorporate uh improvements from the other departments. Um even uh as far as uh North Bework Road we have two phases of the streetscape project which is in
construction now. Uh another big component of that is water man replacement. Um the the water department has had uh numerous breaks in the Lake Hayawa area over the years and u the ones on North Bever Road which is a larger transmission line has been
problematic. So part of the streetscape projects was also incorporate water main uh installation so that we can have water a new main put in we can abandon the old main and you know we'll have you know 40 50 60 years of uh you know uh
trouble free service uh going forward. So you know we we are very uh aware of um what we're doing uh as far as uh the inconvenience. So we try to limit that by um incorporating as much as we can
into projects and yeah it may delay the construction a little bit um but it's better than ripping a road up and you know having um residents and businesses being uh disrupted for uh another three four five months at you know a later day
or two or three down the road. So, um, you know, that's what we have. And it the the bulk of, um, the capital, like I said, is for road improvements, but we do have a couple, um, uh, other types of projects, uh, on Silven Way. There's a
large culvert that goes underneath Silven Way. Um, in the area where Windham and Tiffany is. Um and what we're we found is during our inspections the a part of the culvert the center structure is deteriorated. So you know
we do uh covert projects like that where we have to replace them. Uh over in the hills of Troy right now we have a corrugated metal cover that's been in place for probably 60 70 years where the bottom is completely rotted out. Um, you
know, the public works guys have done a great job just trying to patch it, but there's no way to um really do much more than a patch and a band-aid right now. Uh, part of what we're looking for is um a a capital improvement to replace that
cover, which, you know, it's going to be, you know, about $1.7 million. It's not cheap. It's an extremely large covert. takes a lot of drainage that comes off of uh Route 80 uh and passes through the hills of Troy through that concrete channel and into the Troy
Brook. Um so, you know, we we have a variety of different uh projects um were requesting funding for. Um and and one of the things you you'll see in there and in some of the descriptions, there's always a drainage component to it. uh the storm water management requirements
that the state puts on municipalities now um has been ratcheted up year after year. Uh this year we've had uh a uh or coming into 2025 there were a lot of requirements for um mapping infrastructure and um street sweeping
and um inspecting and maintaining catch basins. Well, now it's going a a step further where we're looking at outfalls. We're looking at full mapping of systems. Um there the um uh inspection of detention bases
which is going to be a a huge issue for um not just engineering because we're we're going to be the gatekeepers of all the detention basins, but for businesses where they need to maintain their basins, inspect them, and report to us
every year. There's over 277 of them in town. So just trying to manage that is going to be an issue and uh you know it's something we're looking forward to but you know it the state keeps giving these uh mandates to us and we just have
to make sure that we have the resources in place to be able to do that. Uh and and that that's really what's being represented here. Thank you. Thank you for what you do. You have a lot of work ahead of you. So, with those ratcheted up things that you
have to do for the storm water, eventually though, hopefully it'll maybe make life a little easier. You think? Yeah. You know, it's like anything else, you know, it's the initial uh setup. It's the initial sending out notices to
the property owners and getting a program in place. And once it does get going, and it's going to take a couple years, um, but once it does go, I think it'll move uh, a lot better, but it's just that initial, you know, uh, you know, embarking on these initiatives to
try to get a program in place. What do what do individual homeowners have to do that need that kind of do they do their own or do you have to come out for that, too? No. Well, um, a lot of these, uh, storm water requirements really don't affect individual, uh, homeowners. Yeah.
Well, I mean, sometimes they have to mitigate the storm water on their property, but that's not your responsibility. No, that is ours. So, anytime that they um are actually increasing impervious coverage by more than 500 square ft, they have to do some type of mitigation. And what they do
goes through uh my my office. So, we have ways to, you know, suggest what they could do. Um, we review their plans and then we, you know, follow up through construction. Now, D does have some grants and stuff still, I hope. Um, are
you able to use some of them or apply for some of those? Uh, kinds of things. Any any grants that we can apply for, we are trying to get uh to do. you know, we are working right now when we have um uh we have about $15,000 of a $25,000 grant
um that municipalities uh were eligible for which we're working off of the to help with these initial um programs. Um and and then once you get to certain milestones, you'll be able to apply for um the additional $10,000. So, uh there are grants and we do look to do that uh
not just with storm water but even with um you know some of the road improvements you know we've been very successful um with some of our our grants. So do you have to go out or does our or does Millennium help with that with the grants? Yeah. Uh Millennium
helps uh definitely but really most are doing a lot of the work. Every year we we apply for a DOT grant every single year. I know you you get a specific road or a specific area and we apply and then you most of the times we get approved. We do. Yeah, we we uh apply for
municipal aid grants every year for road improvements. Uh we can get anywhere from $200 to $400,000 uh depending on the year. Um we've even been thinking outside the box. As a matter of fact, you know, we'll be starting the Jefferson Road project um
probably in about a month. And that was actually a DOT funded uh grant, but it was um it was actually for local uh freight. Um so it really for roadways that have a lot of truck traffic uh high
truck volumes. And fortunately with UPS there, we met the criteria. So I applied a couple years ago. We didn't get the grant. uh two years ago I applied again and we received uh $760,000. So, you know, we try to apply for grants even if it's a little bit of
a stretch because you never know. So, um we look at all these opportunities. Yeah, I know you do some of that. That's why I was asking about Millennium because it's a lot of work to get go for the grants, too. So, thank you, Justin. with um the
uh massive amount of building that's going on in Paripony right now. Um you know, where would you say, you know, the state of Paripin's infrastructure is and and where do we stand in being ready for all of the new residents, the new cars
on the road? Um can you comment on, you know, how we're getting prepared for it or if we are prepared for it? Well, you know, um, everyone knows it's going to be a, uh, a draw on all the infrastructure, not just, you know, the, you know, water
store, but, you know, the roadways and, uh, excuse me, schools and whatnot. So, um, yeah, it the the more people you bring in, it's going to be a drain. Um, I can't really speak for some of the other utilities, but from a roadway
standpoint, we're trying to do what we can to make sure that the roads are in the best condition they're in. Um, you know, it's we're we're it's not just us, it's every town that's dealing with this. We're really stuck because we're trying
to put developments in areas that are already developed and trying to widen roadways um is virtually impossible to to increase traffic by um you know any road you go on now in in town and it's
been like that for years. Yeah, we're at capacity and you know, the only thing we really could do is try to put infrastructure in place that is uh in good shape so that cars aren't being slowed down and that you know, traffic signals are coordinated and um we can
move vehicles efficiently. Um but as far as trying to make drastic improvements, we're really bound by, you know, um the right ofways that that exist now without really taking large areas of property
and and uh um easements and whatnot. You know, we're kind of stuck, but it's it's not a unique thing to Parcy. Every town in the state that that's dealing with this, you know, is faced with those problems. But, you know, we we're aware of it. We're trying to do what we can to
um you know minimize the impact as best as we can. Okay. Anyone else? Well, just one thing I'd like to add. Um it's it's mandated building, not massive building. It's going to be massive, but it's mandated by the state. The Mount Laurel doctrine.
If anybody wants to go online and read about it, that's really what it is. But usually when these applications come in, Justin, you're you'll get notified when applications come in. They coordinate uh these uh the builders that have to coordinate with our engineer department
to make sure they meet our requirements as well. Also, um you talk about the roads here in Paripony, talking about six-year plan. You can't if you want your budget to go way out of whack, you
tried to fix every street in this town, your capital budget would be $30 million. So that's why we have a six-year plan. I just want everybody to know that and understand cuz there are some complaints out there about some of the streets and the roads. And I've been on some of them and they're pretty bad,
but I've been on the ones that are on our list and are even worse. So, I know you do a great job trying to determine what roads need to be done over that six-year plan. So, thank you. Thank you, mayor. Okay. Um, I guess we're going on to public works next.
[Music] You don't need to hold it. You just speak. Council members, thank you for having me here tonight. uh the past three years worked very closely with Jim Alasha. Um Justin was right to we have a
really uh the best I think sanitation and recycling crew that I've had in years. Hey March, I'm sorry to interrupt. Can you try to speak more? Is it on now? I don't know. I don't think it's on. But Justin, I think Justin messed it
up. There you go. It's on. Okay, now good. Yep. Yeah. Okay. Um, they're a great crew. They take pride in their work. They go over and above. Every time I ask them for something,
it's done. Um, it's the first time we haven't had a lot of people either going to other departments or just resigning. So, we've got a pretty good bike full crew, which enables us to get a lot of training done on different equipment
such as the front loaders, the rolloffs, the crane truck, which we weren't be a, you know, able to do uh previously. We got two new um well actually three new frontend loaders which um enable us to pick up some of the apartments uh null
gardens up in Powder Mill and we will start Troy Hills Village in July this year which was a lawsuit sorry that we lost and we had to take care of them now. Yeah. So um everything's really going great with them and I'm proud of them as far as the budget. everything
pretty much. Uh, we went up in our building maintenance because we were told we need to get a new furnace. So, how to account for that? Everything else is pretty much the same. We went down in our we actually went up a little bit in
postage for the increase in the calendars that go out and the increase in the postage cost. And we also um put some postage on the uh meter in the at town hall. And then the only thing we went down was the sanitation contract
line item which we uh pay for getting rid of our recycling, our concrete, our tires, that type of stuff. But otherwise, everything is pretty good. Any questions? Any questions?
Okay, seeing none. Thank you for everything you guys do. Thank you, Marge. Thank you. And then now we're going on to parks and forestry. [Music] Mayor Barbario and BA, thank you for the appointment to uh parks and forestry
superintendent and council. Thank you for uh having me tonight. Some of uh some of the things that I' I'd just like to bring up are as far as like we're going to probably need to get some more people and fill some a couple
of positions. Some of the replacements are going to need to be skilled skilled people that are hopefully already trained and we can put right out on the street to work. Uh, one of the one of our biggest struggles right now is our our tree
section, which we really want to build up. Uh, we want to put a a safety program and and trained people. So, this way we could we could get more people out on the road to to take care of some of these things.
um some of the things that we we want to do throughout this next year and with this budget that Jim really did submit this budget. So, I didn't have a lot to do with it, but he did go over a lot of the things with me and he
explained to me why things were cut, why things are put in, and certain improvements that like you really need to do and certain things, you know, you can wait until next year. So with with that being said,
um we we need to do some building improvements on our building. So we put in for the uh the capital budget, we put in about $100,000 for our parks and forestry building. Uh the building is 30
30 years old approximately uh with very minimal problems and and we just basically bandated the building as we've been going along. Uh so he did put in some some money for the repairs for
our building. We're going to need some new garage doors. We're going to need, you know, new regular doors. We need to to really beef that home base up. Uh the roof repairs that you see in the capital budget are for our our away
buildings, parks, and and other things that, you know, we really need to get on top of so we don't have any any problems later on in in life. And our Musco lighting systems in some of our fields
are aging out. So, we need to do some upgrades and some replacements. uh we could potentially have some pretty hefty electrical repair bills in some of our parks because of the age of some of our systems. So that was with our our
capital. Um our parks building maintenance went up because we did put some band-aids on the building so we could keep things rolling. Uh we did add like like I said, we did
add money in the capital budget to try and not make this number go up in the O and E, but uh we do anticipate that we're going to need the $3,500 for for building improvements and building
maintenance. Uh our computer expenses for computer hardware and software, we increased a little bit. Um, we do have a Windows 10 upgrade situation that we got to do. Some of our computers have aged out and
they needed need to be upgraded in order to be compliant with IT department and and laws or whatever that may be. So, we did add increase that a little bit. Um, our our dues journals and stuff like that, we added a little bit to it.
That's for our licensing and certifications. And we're going to we're going to certify some of our new hires as well as some of the people who are not certified in uh spraying and uh some other the other stuff fertilizing and stuff that we do in our
department irrigation supplies and and that went up quite a bit. And the reason that went up is because we do have an aging system. uh we weren't able to do some of the repairs during COVID. I hate to keep
bringing CO up as an excuse, but we were week on week off with people. So, we didn't really have enough qualified people to go out there and do the repairs that were necessary and the price of some of the some of the materials skyrocketed. So, we kind of
pushed some of it off. Hopefully, we can get that money and get some of these fields back up and running and fixed. Um, one of them being Park Road Park. We need a new pump for that. And that's that's a a costly repair. That's not something that is easily done either.
Uh, one of our expenses for $55,000 is for they they call it for gypsy moth uh control ashbor trees. As you all know, we had a an issue with the emerald ashbor that killed pretty much all the ash trees in
town. Uh we are responsible for the right of ways and taking those trees down that are dead and eventually replacing them. Once again that is that number is for outside contractors to come in and
help us to free us up. A lot of times we use the contractors for jobs that we specifically cannot do. Whether you need special equipment, cranes, or you have to rent equipment. Instead of doing that, we'll use the outside contractor to go ahead and do these jobs, which
works out much better for us because we can turn around and do our simple jobs or like more of our less tedious work to get that done and out of the way. Um, one thing that you will see that
that we don't use often, and I I think it was just because it could potentially be because I miscatategorized it, is there's a safety category on here that's asking for $3,000. Well, I I think what happened there is
now that I know we lowered our parks maintenance in red green acres by about $10,000, but we asked for $3,000 in that that we want to leave that $3,000 in the safety. So, those products will be
properly categorized. And you'll see tree stock is at $15,000. That's to replace trees that we take down. And that's that's pretty much what our budget reads. Thank you. Any
questions from council or administration? Okay, seeing none. I actually have a quick question. You mentioned some of the building stuff. Is is what you're reading from the requested or the actuals? The Yeah, what you have there?
Uh the actual reading on on this sheet is a field replace Musco light system. I think it was like $3 million, something like that you mentioned. No, nowhere near. Okay. It's It's 350,000. 350K. That's a capital uh That's a capital project. Capital project. So yeah,
you'll get a list of those soon. So they're not in here. No, sir. Got it. Thanks. Okay. Thank you guys. Uh very nice job. Thank you. I do have another question for you. So you have $50,000 in for tree removal, which that seems to be a hot button item. Should that number be
higher? It it could very well be higher. You know, I we could use a lot of money because right now we're in a in a very in a low. Like I said, we want to try and get some more trained tree guys so we can say, "Here's your keys to the truck. You know what you're doing. You
know, evaluate them and get them out on the road." But until we get that, you know, we it could actually be higher. Yes. Okay. Yeah. No, and I'm just I'm kind of thinking through what you're saying, right? So if we have to hire people, train them, get specialized vehicles as well. In in certain cases,
we do have to replace vehicles. Okay. For tree removal, I'm just talking about solely. Okay. Certain vehicles, it doesn't make sense for the township to purchase because they're not an everyday use. Sure. Understood. Is there an opportunity to offer that as a shared service out to other municipalities in
the county that are I'm really too familiar with that, so I don't I don't want to answer that. Okay. All good. Thank you guys. You guys uh did a great job. Thank you. Next is uh building. No. Uh roads. Oh, sorry. Roads. Tried to
get you out of it, man. But you know, you could thank the BA for that. I uh first off, I'd like to thank Mayor Barbario and BA Crime and the council for giving me the opportunity to be here tonight.
Um as far as our budget, um I'd like to start with the capital. Um, I like we're going to be replacing some trucks. Um, we have a uh a few pickups and mason
dumps. Um, we're looking to get a a hook lift. It's a It's a It's got a big um box on the back so we could do more potholes. It holds more material. Um, we're looking to get that. Um, we're
looking to get a new loader to replace our old John Deere and um, uh, another trailer to haul our CAT excavator. Um, as far as
[Music] operations, there's been a few changes um, for our automotive equipment plows. the the plows are purchased with the trucks and um so it's down
$2,000 because we're not purchasing the plows after the trucks. We're getting them together. Um our our drainage is up um because as
Justin was he mentioned earlier, we're trying to be more compliant as far as with storm water operations. Um, so we're getting more face plates and we're changing the grates on our on our storm drains. So, you know, the the
plastic bottles and cans can't go down the drains. So, we're looking to do as especially when we do improvements um on the roads, we have to put these on. So, and that some of that comes out of Justin's budget, too, out of his
capital. But um you know our storm water our stormwater um stuff it's it's really like like Justin mentioned it's getting um more and more for there's more and more for us to do. So we're trying to go
above and beyond because we realize that the town is getting bigger and we want to do what's right. So, um, um, line painting, we're doing more painting as far as with the crosswalks so people, you know, can see
them. We, you know, we're trying to do, uh, the stop lines, more stop lines. Um, we're doing, um, town township buildings, parking lots like PLA. We're we're doing this, you know, we're trying to save money. Um, and last year we did
a lot of painting. Um, actually Jimmy Walsh was the one that wanted us to start painting more. Um, so we got two machines so we could do two or three different colors. And now we're pretty
much painting the whole town and it's it's looking really great. But more importantly, we want to keep the streets safe. We want people to see the crosswalks. We don't want anybody, god forbid, getting hit. Um, and they definitely stand out more. So, that's
something that, um, we've been taking a lot of pride in doing. And, um, so, um, there's, uh, our street signs as far as our, uh, our sign
budget. That's up. that went up because we're replacing our street signs. Um we're updating them. Um some of our signs have been up for for a long time and we're we have to be compliant and we're trying to get them. Um especially
in Lake Paripany, there's there's some signs that quite a few signs that need to be replaced. So, and that's a big expense. Um, going back to the storm water, um, we purchased another jetback last
year. Um, we're going to be, our goal is to have two jetbacks cleaning the drains in the town. We always start with Lake Paripony first. Um, and we do the lake area and then we move to other parts of
the town. Um, and that's, you know, now that we have two jetbacks, um, we'll have another crew working from one end to the other, meeting the other one in in the middle. Um, cuz, you know, that's the town's got over 6,000 catch
basins. So, we felt the need to order another jetack. And that's to suck out the basins and rod the pipes. So, I think that's it. Anybody have any questions? Do you replace the the signs on on parks in town? In the parks? Yeah.
Um like signs that are so um I sent this to BA Cryan. I don't know if it's made your way, but uh Lake Hayawa Park, the signs are covered in graffiti right off Lakes Shore. if you could put that on if
you said you're replacing signs. Okay. Okay. All right. Just I've noticed that. Okay. I think we talked more. I'm sorry, Council. I think I thought we talked more about the um the flag and the street lights. Yeah, I think I also included I don't remember the signs. I
If it's my fault, I'm It's all right. No, it was a while ago. Oh, I'd like to add one more thing. um our ashvault crew. Um right now we have five guys um that go out daily. Um we do
a lot of work for the water department cuz you know whenever they have a water main break, we put it on our list and we patch them. Um perfect example, yesterday there was two water main breaks and they needed to get patched
right away. So, I had to pull my guys off the road to do it. They were doing potholes yesterday. Um, I had to stop them from doing that and I had to have them do two order patches. So, I would like to
um get at least a few more guys for the road department. Um, we I think we already have to replace five. Um, you know, I'd like to get the numbers up since the town is growing and we have been having a lot of water mane
breaks. Um, I would like to have our own a separate pothole crew just to go out and do potholes because I do realize the roads are bad. Um, I mean, especially after the winter we had, it was it was really it was tough. Um, so that's
something that, you know, now that I'm superintendent, I would really like to focus on our roads to make the roads better. And I we have we have a great ashalt crew. The guys do a great job. Would this budget help you accomplish
that goal? As long as I get five or six more guys. Yeah. Well, just realize we don't have the breakdown of the individuals. So, we only see your department. I did ask BA Cran for that. and he said he will provide that. I think you know um a few
of us wanted that. So we don't see your vacancies and and whatnot. Um but so that's a very important priority is filling potholes and having people pulled off to go do other competing assignments throughout town uh
is important. Happens often, not just on the asphalt crew, it happens on the drainage crew, too. So is the budget as it stands though is my question. Would that help you? Is there is it able to f hire for five people in this current budget or no? Um I don't believe so.
Across the department uh across the whole department uh there's a potential for it but uh in his particular division now um we didn't uh budget four or five. So but we're going to work on that. One of the things I asked the police when
they were here and it's probably appropriate to all of you and I mentioned this last year. The high schools we have partnership with community college of Morris and Betac. You have kids that are coming out that are skilled welders, plumbers, electricians that are looking for roles
and jobs. You have kids that are not going to be going to college potentially. Maybe they're going to go work at a, you know, restaurant or something like that. And you all have an opportunity to to kind of come to them and say, "Hey, would you think about a career in the town you grew up in?" You
have benefits. you have a pension system that you're building into. Has anyone considered or have you guys partnered with the schools or the bow techch? And I keep going back to community college because my my kid graduated with criminal justice degree, but the kids that were in there were literally
welders, plumbers, HVAC people that are going to go out and look for jobs. If they can't find one, they're going to go wait tables in our town. I heard you say we need talented people to come in. These are 18-year-old kids who probably would take $15 an hour with pension and
benefits. You're giving them a career path. Have we done that? Um, we have not, but we do have a clean communities program. I was going to say and we have actually hired some of our employees are from
clean communities and um the older the older kids have a chance to go on a crew and get some experience on a crew whether it be asphalt, whether it be drainage and um I'm talking kids over 18. Yeah. Okay. And some of them pick it
up like quick and they want to they like it, you know, and they're doing, you know, it's hands-on every day and some of them want to have a career here and we've gotten quite a few really good kids from clean communities.
Um, not just in our department, they've gone to other departments. Do you offer internships? Uh, the clean communities. I don't I don't So So the school though will allow kids to leave early to start careers. So they our schools allow that. Both behind the hills have a program that become
your internship that they get credit for going to school because again they don't want to be a physicist at NASA. They want to go and start a career. Yeah. I more than happy to introduce you to two folks I spoke to. I know we've made that connection here internally but more than happy to connect you folks with them
too. Okay. So I think that would be handled by the mayor's office though. No. Yeah, it is. I'll reconnect you, mayor, with the counselors do reach out to us on on that specific and the clean community program is also a grant that we get from um we
get a grant for the clean communities and we and like you said, we've gotten many great workers from the clean communities, but I I understand what your councilman McGrath is saying. So we can partner. speak to the counselors that handle um both high schools.
Also, Councilman, uh the SW department um specifically Craig and the SW department has had a lot of uh contact with the uh VOTE and uh trying to bring uh employees on board. Great. Have a comment? Sure.
The you when I first got here, I thought that would be a great idea. Also I went over visited with the people went to school with the met with the carpenters and electrician teachers and so on. I offered I said you know we have the treatment plant we have electricians with bring back.
So uh you know after a while you say I'll work with the mayor on that cuz cuz they were looking to have the town participate in their school job fairs all sorts of things. Well, I'm telling you the thing because I saw it as an opportunity and it just never
nothing came of it. All right. Okay, guys. Thank you very much for the presentation. [Music] Next, we have our uh building department. Thanks, guys. Council President, we have uh Terry
Kleta. He's our construction official. Um he's the head of the department. Uh as you know, uh it's probably our busiest department in a lot of ways. Uh rarely are there people going there on a hot streak and happy. They're there looking for something very immediate and
uh uh on a time frame that is not always um in conjunction with the uh workload. They deal with well over 3,000 applications received each year. Um they've uh uh last year they did over 15,000 inspections, over 13,000 plan
reviews completed. Uh and that's including re-reviews. A lot of times there are uh developers that uh put plans in and uh they're not uh completely done or they're not done the way that the code tells them they need
to be done. So uh they need to be resubmitted at times. So Terry is a a a town resident who cares about this town and has done a great job for us here. Terry Cla. So, as you know, we're
regulatory. Yeah. Just All right. Did you speak into the mic? Is it on? Should be on, right? Say hello. Testing. Testing. No. Tell you man, it's not Justin. Just tapped it.
What's the engineering department? How about putting that in the budget? All right. So, as you know, we enforce the uh the state of New Jersey Uniform Construction Code, which so makes us a regulatory uh division. So, uh as
uh Mr. Cryan said, it uh not everybody's always happy, but we have a large office, probably one of the largest ones around, which is befitting the largest town in Morris County, right? So, uh we're big, so it's it can be cumbersome
at times. Uh we're larger than probably all the other towns that surround us. Uh so it's a lot. You you talk about uh the construction going on and you're absolutely right. If I was to show you the list here of all the major projects
um from January, there's a lot of them. I have three pages of projects. Uh while most towns have one of these big housing units going that the mayor talked about, Mount Boral, right? We have six or seven.
and more coming warehouses all kinds of things. So we are super super busy. So uh moving forward we were here last year and we had this uh same discussion and we talked about the things we were trying to do to move forward and some of
those have come to fruition. Uh we have moved forward with our uh our uh software. uh all inspections to comply with state law are being requested online because they have to be in writing. We are just about ready to
start doing some permitting online. Uh there are some things on the state level with other agencies that hold this back. Uh most of my operating expense, but it doesn't really change that much. It fluctuates a little bit. Uh you'll see when you look at it, we tweak things
here or there. There are things in there that uh you'll say, "Well, you know, you didn't spend any money in that last year." Well, you have to have it because you don't know when you need it. If I need a consultant, there's got to be money for it. Most years I don't need a consultant. So, legal uh went up a
little bit because we're trying to prepare for the future cuz there's just times when you don't use a lot. There's other times uh when you're at the board of appeals or whatever, need to move to collect and it is what it is. So there's not a lot there that changes, right? Uh
our uh capital and again, you know, we're not buying big machinery or anything. Obviously, the the big money is in salaries and and we can talk about that if you want to. Uh the capital we cars, any vehicles, we're hiring more inspectors. Any vehicles, I have
vehicles that are 11, 12 years old now. my and I like to get rid of vehicles after 10 years so we get rid of them before we have problems either hand them down or get rid of them if they're non viable. So I'm already borrowing a vehicle from fire prevention and a
vehicle from zoning because you know and it takes so long to get a vehicle. I got one I have one on order and it takes 8 n months to get a vehicle and it's I'm sure you heard from the police department, right? Uh it is what it is. So, uh, the other big capital for us
would be, uh, software upgrades with, uh, moving forward to try to do permitting online and plan review and, uh, getting, uh, plan review screens that are touchcreens. You know, the goal is eventually to go paperless, right?
We're we're running out of room and we, if anybody goes downstairs, you'll see we have carts filled with plans in the lunchroom. It's a lot. So, the goal is eventually to get rid of all that. I'll probably be retired before it happened.
That's that's what we're moving towards. So, those are the big expenditures. And it's we're in the same place we were last year. We're just moving forward. We've accomplished a lot. This administration has been really, really good in the 25 years I've been here. We
have uh more staff than we've ever had. And that might sound like, oh, well, you know, a lot of staff we should be cutting. We are so busy. And in in the decades I've been here, the state, the DCA has come in several times, at least
two that I remember, and they've done audits. They say they need more staff. And, you know, administrations would hire one or two. It was never enough. We needed 10, and they hired two. Right. So the I had to actually thank uh uh the BA
um several months back last year. I said, you know, the first time in as 10 years as a construction official, the first time we could say we're adequately staffed. That's the first time. So that was huge. Uh there was no way people did try but there was no way they were
ruining my week because I said no adequately staff. Then we have retirees people retired. Could I use more people? Absolutely. But it's always a balance because we don't want so many people that if we slow down that we have to lay people off, right? You want to lose
people to attrition. So it seems like we're big. We are. We don't have a lot of a lot of fluff. Uh I could use some more people. We have two open positions that we're trying to fill. And it's hard to find people, right? Because all all my people, you know, we they're licensed
professionals basically. And uh the economy seems to be doing okay. People are building. They don't want to come work, you know, cuz they're making good money as contractors. So, uh that's where we're at. Uh I'm here for anything you want to talk about or any questions
you have. Any questions from council or administration? You said you wanted to get some inspectors though. Yes. So, I I have one uh building. So, we we just one build my building subcut official retired. So, we're promoting to one of
the inspectors to sub code. I would like to replace that inspector uh because I one, we're super super busy. A lot of stuff going on. I could use him, but I have another inspector, a senior inspector who's been here the longest,
30 32 years, I think. And so, he's I know he's going to retire at some point. And uh I like to get because we're such a big town, there's a lot going on. We like to try to get people in and have an overlap and get them up to speed with
how we do things, you know, cuz there's there's a lot there's a lot of pieces to the puzzle. So, we want to train them, let them uh train with some of the best people we have before they retire. So, that way when he does retire, I don't need to look to hire people. So, that's
one. I have a part-time electrical inspector. It's the only area where we're really suffering where we're delayed and and it's we we did we were trying to get somebody. We actually had an interview scheduled um was it Monday? I don't know. We had an interview and
the guy never showed up. Oh my goodness. So, but we had a guy who who who left and we just want to replace him. So electric Terry, do you have any numbers to share like on permits issued, how long it takes to get a permit in
town, you know, average time? It's it's hard to to give you a number, you know, I could throw out there, you know, 8 weeks, 16 weeks. Some permits, you know, are going to be out in a couple days. Other
permits have been there for a year. So it all depends. It varies. So, we're we're actually pretty good. I would say the the average permit is getting out in, you know, four or five weeks, maybe less, uh, depending on how complicated
it is. We have some projects where they come in and, you know, let's say it takes a couple weeks to get their review just cuz we're busy, vacations, whatever. Let's say it takes two, three weeks to get the you get to the review, you do it, you they all need
corrections. very few I don't know what the percentage is, but I would say it's not even double digits. Probably very few um permits or applications come in where they don't need corrections. And it's interesting you say that because some municipalities have set up like a
business committee whereby people from the construction department sit on it and before an applicant actually submits their plans, it gives them that ability to, you know, level with the local official um and remove, you know, them
submitting it only to hear back in a week that it's incorrect then for them to revise it so they're able to submit it up front. Is there any thought in in trying to do something like that in part? So part of that we do pre-construction pre-construction
meetings with other divisions in town when they have those meetings and we work together on that and we try to head off a lot of things. As far as reviewing those in advance, no, because I review it then or I review when you submit it. I still got
to review it. So now I'm going to review it twice. I might as well just review when you when you bring it in. U we're not we're not equipped to do I don't have the staff to do extra reviews. It's it's hard enough to go to those pre-construction meetings because that
takes a lot of time because when an inspector or a sub code official is at that meeting, they're not inspecting. They're not doing plan review. They're really educating. And that's a great thing if you have people in time to do it, but it's not our job. It's not it's not that's not the state mandate.
for us to do that. So, yeah, you could do that, but I would need extra staff to do that. Is there any thought on maybe shifting the schedule to allow for people to do it on the weekends or to come in early or to stay late? Um, so applicants, you know, will have greater
flexibility and, you know, not burden you guys if you have a, you know, so there there's absolutely So, there's a couple things here that's that's kind of a complicated issue. So the state requires us to be open certain hours. So we're already
mandated basically 9 to5, right? So now if you want to go outside those hours, which is not a bad idea. I mean if you want to provide customer service, but then again, how do you do that? So I would love to be open early when the contractors are working. I'd love to
be open early and late so homeowners can drop things off uh before they go to work or pick them up be right. But then the cashier's got to be open. Then you have to have extra hours or extra staff to So you're talking about an
expense. You know, I'm open to it, but the administration, it would be huge under But you're talking about overtime on the weekend. The problem with overtime, as the mayor knows, is it's great and we're doing a lot of it now, which is helping us get stay caught up,
but you burn people out. So, you know, it's it's tough. You know, overtime is a good stop gap, but if you're doing overtime all the time, and we've been doing a lot of overtime, um, as a whole, right, we're limiting it to 5 hours a week, so we keep the budget constraints
down, right? We're not paying time and a half cuz they're not doing over 40 hours, but it's still a huge expense. And again, not everybody wants to do it, right? And then you burn people out. So, yeah, I could have people come in every Saturday, but who wants to do it, you
know? So, do you do you think making a transition to a fully digital permitting system would help us? Absolutely. It's huge. It's huge. And and that's what we want to do. And and I'll tell you some of the living fact, it's not us. We want to do it. We want to be
there. We wanted to be there for the last 5 years. But, uh, part of the problem is the DCA does not talk to, uh, who does the plumbers and the electricians for it? I mean, it's, uh, consumer consumer affairs. Consumer affairs. So, there's two pieces of paper
that need a crimp on it. Plumbing and electrical. They they they don't have a digital signature. So, the architects and the engineers have digital signatures. The DCA said you could take digital signatures. Okay. How do I take in a plumbing application that needs to be
sealed if they don't have digital signatures? Yeah. So, you know, it's just a slow process, but that's the direction we're heading in. We're about ready. I think uh we got the idea from New York because they were trying to
they were starting with a limited permit application online tank removals. We do a lot of tank removals in town. So, we're about ready to start doing tank removals and see how that works and get our feet wet. Um, but eventually, I mean, that's how it's
going to go eventually. Right now, if you send plans to the DCA, you send them electronically. They don't want paper plans and they have a digital that they put on here. So, you print them out, you have them. So, we are very close to that because I mean all the architects, they all everything's done digitally. It's
all CAD. So, why can't we take it in that way? So, uh, a number of years you you've approved we put in the the capital to get big plan review screens, touch screens to do that and we just haven't been able to purchase them because we're not there yet. We do have
one one, right? Yes, we did. So, we got one. It's a test case um that our director of zoning officer is using because we use uh blue bean and we have it already. So, she's been trying that out and that's been very successful. So, uh, if the capital gets approved this year, we're going to get some more of
those and that we're heading in that direction. I think that's going to be huge. We're already just doing the inspection requests online. My office used to answer the phone like it would tell us easily 250
calls a day. Uh, that has already been cut down. I don't have numbers how far, but the phone would ring off the hook. Now, that's already eased up. Yes, we still have one person that has to schedule all those inspections, but it's one person doing from online instead of
two, three people answering the phone to schedule inspection and now can service somebody at the county or answer a phone call about something else. So, that's already been a huge plus of starting that. Yeah, I think it's uh you know separate
from probably the infrastructure which you know I hear the most about from from residents is the the permitting process. When when we bought our home uh in October and I needed a contractor to do some work and uh I called this
contractor and the woman asked for my address. I said I'm on High Ridge Road Randolph. She goes, "Oh, thank God you're not from Parcipony." And uh I was like why is that? She goes, "Oh, because it's impossible to get anything done there." So, it's still a very real
reputation. Unfairly, you know, um or or fairly. I know you guys are working hard. You're you're inundated, but it's definitely I think a really big area of opportunity when we close that gap. Reputations die hard. Yeah. But we we've
been the administration, we've been moving forward to try to make it better, better customer service. I would love to be able to have extended hours. Um, I'd love to have more staff, but again, you know, we have to I think we have to balance that because I don't want to be in that position where, you know, the
mayor or the VA comes to me and says, "Hey, you know, building is slowed down and, you know, we either got to raise fees or lay people off and, you know, so we we I would just like to add one thing. Um, cuz I've spoken to you with
regards to this. It's not always the con construction or building permit's fault. Sometimes these contractors get stuff sent back to them to meet requirements and they never get back to our department and they like to use that
excuse as a way to say, "Well, we're not getting permits." Well, if you just listen to when we send back information to you to make sure the architects are done right, everything's done right. Now, we experienced that. I and I saw it for the first time and then I went
through the emails and you sent them information and they never got back. So, sometimes that's that's actually probably a lot of times that's what happens. Yeah. People's professionals just Right. So, yeah. And they're blaming us. Yeah. And unfortunately, you
get caught in trap. So, the the professional or the contractor doesn't want to tell the homeowner. Right. So, the homeowner just knows, well, they, you know, I haven't got my permit yet. And and the homeowner, a lot of times the home homeowners get an epiphany when
they call and they'll call and say, "Well, why is it taking?" And and we'll go down the list and say, "Well, we talked to your contractor. We talked to your architect." And they haven't got back to us. Unfortunately, it's just the nature of it. Any other uh questions from council
administration? Okay, Terry. Uh, fantastic job. Thank you, sir. Thank you. Thank you. Oh, you did a fantastic job. There you go. That's what I'm That's what I'm here for. You know, I got I got to make this part of the team, man. This is team. You
know what I mean? You got it. Uh water department up next. Council President. Thanks. So we have uh Sean Andre's Kevin Bousant um and uh Greg Shyman here from the water department. you have seen them and heard from them uh many times, a couple of
times this year. In fact, um they deal with uh uh a very important issue and that's our water and making sure that it's of good quality and uh they're really doing a lot of good work for the township and a lot of busy work and they're really on the front lines with a
lot of big issues because uh we're dealing with the um these unfunded mandates that we've received from the uh state and the federal government to deal with uh PAS and uh le uh uh replacement
and uh they're working hard at it. Thank you, Jamie. Just got done telling Terry if you messed up the mic. Good evening, members of the township council, residents and colleagues. The township of Precipany Troy Hills owns
and operates what is considered a large public community water system. Public utilities such as this water department are regulated by the federal EPA and state department of environmental protection. This department is in charge of and is responsible for the supply,
chemical treatment, and distribution of safe drinking water throughout the township. Approval of this budget will ensure that the utility is appropriately staffed and equipped to maintain water quality, adequate fire protection, and the uninterrupted delivery of water to the
township's residents and rateayers, which speaks directly to this year's budget statement requesting $3.6 million in operating and $9.1 million in capital appropriation for this fiscal year. As a township and utility, we have
accomplished a lot over the past calendar year, investing over $14.6 million in capital appropriations. Number one, firm capacity. Firm capacity refers to the water supply available even when the largest source of supply is out of
service, ensuring reliable water delivery during peak demands. The township's firm capacity in December of 2024 was at 9.2 million gallons of water per day. Due to the aggressive capital improvement approach we have taken in
conjunction with this council's support, approval of public funds, and the township's borrowing capacity, we were able to successfully increase our own source supplies, resulting in a total firm capacity of 11.6 billion gallons of water per day. This is an increase of
supply of 2.4 4 million gallons or 26% securing our resources for future development and our growing population. The increase in firm capacity is a direct result of the replacement and redevelopment of underproducing wells as well as
mechanical and process improvements made to our treatment facilities and booster pumping stations throughout the water system. Infrastructure improvements and distribution system resiliency. Our infrastructure is aging and well past its service life. Last
year, we successfully replaced 6,000 linear feet of water mane and some of the more vulnerable areas in our system, adding to the resiliency of the distribution network. Lead and galvanized service line replacements. To remain in compliance with the state's revised lead
and copper rule, we completed phase one of the township's lead and galvanized service line replacement program, keeping us on track to get the lead out by 2031. This utility requires significant investment in building and maintaining infrastructure such as the ones
previously discussed. To cover the cost of providing a safe and reliable supply of water, our billing and tax collections office must be able to bring in revenue, which relies heavily on accurate metering. Accurate metering
reduces unaccounted for water and drives utility revenue. Phase one of the township's meter replacement program was completed last year with phase two just around the corner. Storage capacity. The water department operates and maintains 10
steel water storage tanks at a total capacity of 10 12 million gallons. The township stores its water strategically by gradient zones and at higher elevations in order for gravity to push the water downward, generating the necessary pressure to flow through pipes
and into homes. We invest over $2 million per year towards the maintenance of these tanks in an effort to reduce total costs incurred to the township, help stabilize our budget by spreading costs over time without new debt, and eliminate the risk of a coding system
failure such as our 287 storage tank. In coordination with the finance and purchasing departments, we plan to enter into a public private partnership with a water quality and tank maintenance consultant through a competitive RFP process.
POS as demonstrated in our POS feasibility master planning study. POS is present in our water supply currently at levels that meet the safe drink water act standards. Compliance to the new PAS MCL is 2029. To date, we have
successfully commissioned two PAS treatment plants with construction for an additional plant anticipated to start later this year. Planning and design of a 1.7 MGD plant is in progress with an anticipated construction start date in
2026. Precipion remains a leader in the drinking water industry. We are in compliance with the Safe Drinking Water Act and are proactive towards the operation and maintenance of the township supplies, treatment facilities, and infrastructure. $14.5 million in
capital spends last year brought us to where we are today. $9.1 million in capital investments this year will achieve our goals. By working closely with our CFO and business administrator, we have already made the strategic cuts to not only keep this utility self-liquidating and sustainable, but to
reliably deliver safe drink of water to our customers. We are a department of only 30 employees. We operate 34 remote facilities throughout the township and maintain over 280 mi of water mane, 2,000 fire hydrants, 4,000 inline gate valves, all of which are required to be
inspected, operated, and maintained annually with certification to the NJ D. We maintain, read, and bill over 15,000 water meters and routinely accommodate and attend to a variety of customer requests. These requests include water
quality concerns, leaking service lines, meter failures, high bill inquiries, new construction inspections, and so on. Outside of the routine maintenance of the system, staff also responds to water supply and distribution related emergencies 24/7, 365. At this time,
we're happy to address any questions you may have regarding our 2025 budget statement request. Thank you. [Music] Okay, no questions, huh? Okay, you guys did a fantastic job. Very nice job. Very thorough. Very thorough. Thank you,
guys. Okay. Thank you, Sean. Sean, fantastic. Thank you. Thank you. Have a great night, guys. I'm impressed. Okay. Uh, next up is our um sewer
department, Mr. Beckmire. I know half hour early. I don't quite ready. But yeah, it's all right. Got to be ready. Got to be ready at all times. So, council president, we have Joe Beckmire who uh does not need a microphone. So, it doesn't matter if
it's working or not. Every calibers are supposed to be here, but he was I guess he was in here. Uh well, it's good to be here this year in person as opposed to last year when I was Oh, that's right. Yeah.
over the phone. Uh but um a few things though if I just can comment on. One is we talked before about the uh the training. It is difficult to get Harley people. We went that route trying to do that uh to try
to build some sort of relationship with the Votech. Uh we have had a few uh interns come in um from the Votech or we find out we have better luck where we have someone
that already has a a year or two of college under them and they into biology or something like that. Uh I've also in the past uh and how many superintendents we've been through where I after we bring in other towns come to us for
tours of the crema plant. Uh I said that's a good idea. Let me talk I forget which how many years ago it was and uh never hear it answer. So it's like I'm offering other people are doing it. We have tours set up with a little you know
science club or something like that. Nothing. So, uh, if anybody knows anybody, we're always, uh, anxious to tell everybody what a great job we're doing. I love to talk. So, it gives me the opportunity. But even I don't need the tools because I have other people
that have been doing it and know it the actual ins and outs uh, in a way that's, I guess, more uh, user than the night I would be. Um, I know somebody from Flushing, Queens.
Flushing. get it. The uh the the uh in the budget here uh it's basically a flat operational budget. Uh the biggest number increase in there is health insurance which is about 1.5
million. Uh everything else is sort of sort of calm. uh and fer things like that and uh the other one chemicals about 150,000 higher uh as we go into treatment with removal and so on and
removal 200,000 we lowered our electrical charges uh and part of it was the capital improvement we had a couple years ago pump station number four uh I don't know how much water we were dumping down the drain every day so
we've eliminated that use of water which helps us and also helps the township for using it in other places. Uh also manpower, we don't have to go to inspect it around the weekends, all the headaches we had because the equipment was so old. Uh the electric cost associated with that uh pumps ran, you
know, we had a 50 horsepower pump at least one running 24/7. So those things build up and now we've gotten rid of those so that we reduce the cost. And if I can uh there's many times where uh developers like to put in uh pump stations because they're cheaper than
digging a deep trench to put a pipe down. So you don't need a pump station. Uh and any place I can eliminate a pump station. I'll try to because it's just another another headache. Uh you don't need to call Saturday night at at 3:00 in the morning power went out. What's
going on at the pump station? Cuz we send someone out to check it to make sure it goes back to normal operation. I would hate to have it that, you know, all of the sudden uh somebody calls me the next morning, you know, we got a a flood of sewage running down the street because the pump didn't work. So, we're on try to be on top of that all the
time, but it's important we provide that level of service. Uh, one of the questions before about contractors, we had a I know Justin brought up today, there was a contractor putting a sewer in that never called for a permit, never
called for a mark out, never called and then all of a sudden he tells the inspector out there, "Oh yeah, I went to this department to get it and you check." Oh, no, he never did. Daniel, oh no, I went to the he so sometimes you have contractors tell stories. Uh, and I think that's more often than uh anyone
here in the township not trying to do the best job possible. So, you know, that's it's it's just one of those challenges that are out there. Uh, but as someone once told me, this will be easy if you didn't deal with people. You know, sometimes they get in the way.
Um, one of this past year, some of the things we did was we replaced the rose pump number six. Uh, and we're proceeding with one and four. uh a few years ago when they redid the treatment plant uh spent 2030 $40 million and they
put new energy efficient motors on uh the pumps but they never change the pumps. So you had pumps that were 20 30 years old and so in order to get an efficient operation you have to have both parts of the uh the process the motor and the pump operating uh good. Uh
we had one pump where all of a sudden the impella which actually pushes the water sheared off of the shaft. My god. Now we looked, we didn't find anything in here. No cobblestones, no timbers or anything else. But it happens sometimes when the equipment gets old. Um, we've been working with the we couple years
ago, we already got a an EPA grant for about 34 million for compensation 4. But what happened was uh we were too quick and the EPA wouldn't give us the money because we had to most of it constructed before the EPA could review and appeal it. Uh, review and approve it.
Uh sometimes we have these projects down in in what New York and in uh Trenton and it's like well you know we submitted this like 6 months ago. What happened? Well this guy was on sick, this one was on leave and this one's here. Uh we apologize and we'll get to it and I
guess we just got forgotten about or whatever. Um, but we were able to now through uh discussion with the EPA to not lose that money, but we've uh got money. It could be spent for a couple change orders for that project, which
what about 400,000 or something like that. Uh, Angelique already submitted that. So, we're trying to get that money in. And, uh, uh, the replacement of the Lake Hayawaka pump station, replacement of the new road pump station. So, we're not going to lose the grant money. and
we'd be able to use it in some other spaces. Um the uh Taiwan pump station again everything takes much longer than you would hope. Uh we started that about 3 or 4 years ago and we're ready to go
to good now. Uh so there's all these challenges. Again, getting the grant money didn't help because then we switched to go to the infrastructure trust and so on. So there's other obstacles you you have to get over. But I thought if we can save a couple million dollars, bring in any grant
money, we should make whatever changes we need to to roll with the uh the punches we have. Uh we began high voltage testing at the plant. Uh I don't know who was here in 2014 or so, 2013 when they had the fire
down at the treatment plant because the high voltage test equipment was never tested. Uh we've gotten a little behind with that with the um I don't want to say co but things like that along the way. Uh so we're in the point now of uh getting that back. We've done certain
repairs already, but there will be something uh in the transformer. I thought by now there'll be no PCBs left in the uh oil in the transformers, but we had that replaced uh even though I thought that was out, you know, 40 years
ago. Um, so these two guys here need to kick me in case I'm talking too long or I forget to say something. So, uh, we got extra time because the water Somebody kick them. You're on the clock. Somebody kick them. Huh? Yeah, we're doing the high voltages
testing. Uh, Pudding Stone Heights, uh, phase two is just about completed. Uh, and we have a sewer system going in line there. So, uh, hopefully we'll have is available now for phase one and pretty soon phase two. So, that'll be anybody
with with septic tanks up there and I know there few that are failing, getting old and so on. Uh, they'll be able to hook hook up. Um, southeast south interceptor. Uh, that's a pipe that's been in the ground for over 50 years. Many manholes we've not get gotten to
see yet. We've never inspected. We don't know what condition they're in in the in the St. to the wildlife reserves and along Route 80. Uh so now we split up the project. We're doing half of it on Route 80 uh and the other half in the wildlife reserves. It seems like the DOT
is is easy to deal with to get get some of these things done. Working with legal counsel to uh try to jump through some more hoops. You know there's so there are so many challenges and the issue is that if we don't you know bite
on and hope and keep going being diligent and get these things done you know all of a sudden it'll be 60 70 years and then all of a sudden something will collapse and say how come you guys never did anything and you know well we're trying to get ahead of that because there are many issues as I mentioned before with the old pumps we
change the motor we don't change the pump well if you're spending you know 25 million why I spend 26 and get the thing done. I mean, that's my, you know, in trying to get things in government completed is difficult. So, you know, I
I always like to say we'll run like a a private company. You can't run like a private company. Got too many hoops you got to jump through. There's too many rules and regulations we have to follow. So, the we have to keep going. And like I said, some of these pump station number
four, that was like an 8-year project. It just takes so long to get things done. Um, we're ready ventilation improvements in the raw sewage pump building and wet well. Uh, again requirement uh all the equipment is old failed wasn't never
replaced and that's required by the D uh standards uh all also safety safety standards. Uh the aeration improvement should begin soon. uh one of the things you have is that you know nowadays there's many things to make operations
more efficient electrical usage more efficient whether it be BFDs uh in our process we have uh special uh diffusers so you get fine bubbles you get better oxygen transfer the bacteria well that's all well and good but then they only
have a use for life so with the other ones if you had a stainless steel one that might last for 50 years these you know you look at on the original O andM manual it said it last for 15 years or 18 years. Now you look at the the uh manufacturers
warranty they said maybe 12 years. So we're in a process before they all fail to have that all replacement upgrade some of the bullets and so on. And uh the long-term bioolids project is still under design. I think everybody at one time or another got a uh presentation of
that one. Uh again taking a long time. hopefully by next year we'll be able to get that rather than sending our sludge to uh right now it's going to Ohio to Orlando. Uh we will be able to generate we'll break the sludge down uh probably
half the amount of trucks leaving the plant every day and we'll be generating uh generating methane uh for heating and generating electricity. Uh also discussions with others in the area in the neighborhood to bring food waste to
the plant if possible to generate more uh more methane and also discussion with uh the gas company to possibly uh sell some of the gas to them. So these are the things we're trying to do sort of
pie in the sky compared to what we you know what more core function is but if there's an opportunity we'll take a look at it. Um I think the biggest thing in my capital budget is uh we pay for half the water meters. I give uh water department
we put in a million dollars a year because they using water uh water meters also generate sew and they collect cost and so on. Uh another sewage replacement
um let's see I think that's about it. Okay. Nice job. No, no, no. Good job, Joe. That's very good job. Jean is kicking you. Do Do you know why the uh health expense went up about $200,000?
Yep. About 1.5 million, I think. Oh, actually more. Sorry. Yeah, more than that. A lot more. Yeah. Uh Justin, that is the sewers portion of our health insurance for the like the overall township as
well as their employees and retirees. So, our health insurance went up about 6% between all four budgets. The state is seeing double digit increases, so we are benefiting from that. Um but those are costs that
are just going to continue to rise. kind of out of our control. Yep. So, can I ask you a question, too? So, and I should have asked Sean this same question. When you think about the parts, think about the chemicals you're acquiring, how many are here in America and how many are outside America. Are
you taking into account what could be additional costs from shipping out of country into country? The basically the uh all the chemicals we use right now are parasitic acid inspection and uh they will generate uh
uh manufactured here in this country and parts as well. So motors, everything everything's built in the US. We have a few a few uh in the nixes with Euro drive. Uh I don't know how much of that was manufactured uh outside. Okay. Uh
but a lot of the most of the equipment is manufactured here. I haven't really heard of any issues that anyone has just asking maybe you read the news there might be some cost coming. So Canada might be Yeah. One of when he
would ra sewage pumps to get many as many other industries rather than have the materials constructed items constructed here they would ship it out to another country. Uh a big manufacturer of gross food a replacement part was a company in Canada. Okay. But
uh I haven't heard of anything recently or how that would affect them. Okay. Now just curious in your budget and Sean maybe the same question for you. Is that a concern at all? You could just say yes or no. We can catch up later. I I don't I haven't heard of any issues that's
going to be a problem. Uh I know over the past uh 10 years a lot of things have gone up. Yeah. And a lot of it was with co and we saw big jumps in the equipment cost around then and so on. Yep. Uh but other recently we've been
having so if I'm guess if I'm hearing you right Matt because this is a question I had overall about mechanical budgets water wastewater is there's a lot of
uncertainty in and in and how things regulations tariffs taxes federal cuts are coming down and have we thought about that in these budgets or we're just going to wait and see. Well, unfortunately, I don't know what they
are. Yeah. Uh originally, we were told that our electricity was going to go up and I thought I was going to have to raise my electric bill 20%. You know, put in for these things. And since we've done things and we underspent the electric so much last year, I said, "How
can I ask for 20% of top?" I was so far. I leave it where it is. And hopefully unfortunately, you know, everybody acts like this is an exact science, but a lot of this is an educated guessing game. Sure. You know, where are we? We if someone call no one's going to call you up and I'm going to raise your prices,
you know, 20% so if you buy a new pump, be ready cuz I don't even know if I have to if I'm going to buy a new pump. No, I understand that about operation. um the long-term bioolid contract that's been years is don't I don't want to say co but it's that's part of the problem
because it was before co that you started talking about it right oh yeah yeah uh the a little history the your township had an agreement with a company called and Synagro was going to take all
of uh going to rebuild the sludge incinerators at the treatment plant was going to take all of sludge out price and also was going to bring in additional funds from other municipal power for incineration and they were going to make I guess a lot of money. Uh
well before they got too far off the ground I don't know if it was the pollution regulations or what happened uh and they pulled out of the contract and you know at the time we decided trying to force a contractor to do something they don't want to be there is that it's just headaches over and over
again. So they pulled out and the talent for about a year and a half got a good price on disposal. Uh however with co we went through the process of uh doing an RFP to hire a consultant that should go through uh what we should be doing with
our bioolids long term. Uh and that went anywhere from nothing uh keep sending or send trucks to uh Pank Valley, you know, or so a lot of different things. uh we came up with a plan to rebuild it and digest it. We have the structures there
uh and hopefully from a a financial uh standpoint and also from a environmental standpoint uh not having trucks going up and down the road because of that uh generating natural gas that we can then use and maybe sell
you know it's an advantage and if we can partner with someone else that has food. So when is that predicted to be complete? I'm hoping next year we go to bid on it. Okay. I'm hoping you know uh there were just like I said there are many many
issues uh we face and we do it and and you know one of the I guess one of I I don't know the fault or maybe a a fe a good point I have is that some engineers you start a project and you
run into the wall well they're going to keep going because oh I don't want to tell anybody I ran into a wall. My thing is, uh oh, we ran it. Let's go this way and maybe we can have a better product. So, that's what I always try to do is how do we what's best for the township long term? Not just so much uh you know,
it makes it easier for us because it's not an easy business. I know no one wants to be in this business. Nobody goes to college. I remember when I was in uh in in college walking down the halls and I said, "What are those guys? Oh, they're sanitary engineers." Sanitary engineers. Why would you ever want to do that? And here I am over my
head in it. So, you know, life takes. That's right. Literally, you just don't look to usually don't look to be in it. No, but to be in it, so I get it. You understand? Any other questions? Joe, fantastic job. Thank you, sir. Thank you, Joe. Thank you,
Joe. Anybody else want to say anything? No. That was a joke. No, we don't we don't need the mic. Believe it or not, the mic catches you. Thank you guys. That's okay. No, you're not late. We're
really relax there, buddy. Take it easy. You would have been right on time, actually. Don't worry, Joe did a good job. Okay, up next we have uh the Nola Utility. Council President, we have Joe Janaron who's uh doing a lot of good work up
there at the N changing things around and he's here to tell you about it. Thank you. Just turn it on. Keep it keeps going off for some reason. No, there you go. Hi. Can you hear me or no? Yes. Uh Joe
General Jr., maintenance superintendent, ADA compliance officer, and in my part-time I had I'm a general manager of the null country club. Not really part time, but Uh when the mayor asked me to take over in 2022 in the fall, uh he expressed
concern because they were in the red for the past few years and I'm I'm happy to say we've been in the black ever since. And I checked with uh Angelica today and yes, we are. So we're doing good. Our team is doing good. We have 773 members.
We have 508 on a waiting list. Uh that's to show that the golf course is in great shape and everybody wants to play there. So uh our revenue has been steady up and we're of course we depend on the weather and if the weather's good then we're making money.
Um what else do I want to say here? Um I think that's it. Unless you have any questions. Oh good. We're done. Any questions for Mr. General? I just want to say uh the members. Yeah, me I'm just trying
to think if I have everything else. The members uh the waiting list um nobody wants to give up their membership. That's the problem. Our waiting list is building and building and building and uh nobody wants to stop playing there. So it's a good problem to have. Like I
said, it's a team effort. Any questions from council? I just want to make a comment uh tonight. Um, last night at approximately, excuse me, how at 12:30, there was a fire in the kitchen of the
null of the null at night. Yeah, 12:30 at night. So, I was there with Joe and um they got on it right away. Had um rapid recovery come out. There was more water damage. the actual fire, the sprinklers put out the fire immediately,
but there is some damage done, but I don't know if they reopened the um grill room yet. I just want to make the council aware. Was the cater cooking or was No, it was it was closed. There was electrical receptacle uh near the appliances in the kitchen in in the grill room kitchen. Uh the fire was put
out right away. Um like I said, the sprinkler put out the fire and uh yeah, you can't shut the background. That's okay. Um, so basically what happened was most of the water went down the drain in the kitchen, thank God. But some of the
water went into the grill room into the carpeting and then went downstairs into the pro shop. Got some ceiling tiles wet. So there's fans running now. Uh, they cleaned up everything. So now we're just waiting for that to dry out. Uh, the grill room should be open probably by tomorrow. Uh, nothing's closed.
Everything is fine except the grill room until tomorrow. But thank God uh with between the fire department and um actually system Joe Beckmire still here. No. Uh you know and we talk about different departments uh you know sewer
between uh the plumber uh Chris and their electrician John. And uh we always we utilize each other. I do anyway. You know if I need help with the water department I call him right away. Sean's there. Um so we all work together on that. So, uh, I want to thank, uh, uh,
Joe for sending his guys over last night. They were over last night helping out and shutting things off. So, it worked out great. Thank you. It did. It was, it was a good team effort. I mean, all the fire districts and, uh, like you said, Sue department was there. Everything was taken care of immediately
because we don't want the place to be closed down, of course. And thank God for the sprinkler system. Yes. Because it extingu extinguish it pretty quick. Sure. Joe, what what else do you think we can be doing uh at the null
utility to to increase revenues? Uh we talked about the miniature golf. Now, uh that's the other thing I wanted to say was uh we're we're almost done with the uh removal of the pool. So, as soon as we get that done, which I hope within the next week, um we we have
plans on some type of miniature golf andor I get a lot of people that want to play pickle ball. I mean, outdoor pickle ball court. a new thing now. I'm thinking about that over there maybe too in that spot where the pool was. It's some outdoor kickball. You know, I don't know what that I never played it before,
but apparently it's very popular. Something like that. Uh revenue to increase it. Uh we could increase membership. Uh but you can only get certain amount of people playing golf. I can I can increase it to 8 900 people, but then you're going to have the members go on to not be happy because
not going to take six hours to play golf. So, we don't want to do that. Uh but that's what we're thinking about doing for next year. We had a plan for a um miniature golf my in 201617 which is part of the driving
range and I think there were drawings that were done and yeah I have we had a study done that how much profit the township would make on it and it never went anywhere. Yeah. I lost the election. Any uh on that note any other questions?
Do do you know what the status of our golf pro is? Uh I actually we cannot discuss that. Yeah. Okay. Next question. It's a personnel matter. Yeah, it's a personal matter. It's not that we don't want to discuss
it. Good. Any other questions from council members? Okay. Uh Mr. General Joe, you want questions? We can come up with more if you'd like. I mean I don't I don't I mean we have 45 minutes. Yeah. I mean, I'm just trying to help you out, but you're like, you want We have 500 people looking to
become members, so we're doing good. Yes. Thank you, Joe. Thank you. Great job. Thank you, Joe. All right. Uh, if you one more, I guess you lost your opportunity to speak, Mr. Homeiac. No, I'm just kidding. All right. Uh, now we're going into the
public session. May I please have a motion to open up the public session, please? Motion. Second. Motion made by Mr. Neglia. Seconded by Mr. Hernandez. Uh, roll call. Mr. Hernandez. Yes. Mr. McGrath. Yes. Mr. Mella. Yes. Mr. Neglia. Yes. Mr. Kuri. Yes. The floor is open to the public to speak on any
matter. You have 5 minutes to speak. Come on up, Nick. [Music] If I could see without my glasses. um when they clean these coverts uh and these different uh uh places out
that collect the trash, who pays for the disposal of uh you know like those pictures I showed you, all that storm water, all that plastic. So if they actually clean like the Svin way u he
said it uh empties out at Troy Metals but if they clean that who pays for it? Does that do all the taxpayers collectively pay for the disposal of that or does the do uh pick up the uh
the bill for the uh tipping fees and the landfill for all that waste? Is is that your only question? Um, and the other thing if the wh why why why would it be so hard to for the sore plant to get
food waste with all the restaurants and the homes in this in this town. Uh, you know, compost. I don't know how many people have compost. I have a compost barrel, so I never have any any food waste, but I, you know, I throw it
around and uh, you know, on the on the property for the grass or whatever. But, uh, that seems like it it could could be encouraged and actually have a an outcome. It will be it will be encouraged. That's what they're talking
about in the future. And uh the thing that disturbed me a little bit with the parks when they that with the money they said sprays and fertilizers. So there they have
pollutants right there and sprays. I I actually saw them spraying in the high park one time and it and the barrel on the truck actually said herbicide and I I don't think that that's necessary
u uh to be used in our park systems like he's putting down weeds and cracks. That's human human uh labor. And if they can consider uh like trash abatements like on South Frederick
and historic district instead of like maybe cutting the grass too much, you know, because uh the grass is going to grow anyway. So uh you have an employees that were paying for that to
to cut the grass somewhere where where the town looks uh degraded by the uh you know by by litter. But is it really that important to cut cut the grass that often, you know, all the leaf blower
stuff like that? So, I I guess that's about the only uh uh thing there. And uh I would have to say we do have a great water and sewer department. Those I love hearing them guys. So, I'll leave it at that.
Thank you, Nick. Any other member from the public wish to speak? Mr. Heler, I just dropped something. Hank, your dropped phone. Your phone was on your lap. Yeah. If it was money, just leave it behind.
Thank you for being so sharp and seeing what I'm losing as I'm walking. I just want to say thank you for the budget presentation. I think you all did a very fine job and I think that the various departments did a very fine job. It was informative and helpful and I was glad to hear it. So, thank you all. Thank
you. Thank you. Any other member? Okay. Seeing no one, I'd like to entertain a motion to close the public. I just want to answer one question for Nick. If you don't mind, you can close it first. Yeah, let's close it first. Close it. Second. Okay. A motion made by uh Mr.
Neglia, seconded by Mr. Hernandez. Roll call. Mr. Hernandez, Mr. McGrath, Mr. Recella, Mr. Neglia, Mr. Karif. Yes. Floor is closed. Go ahead, man. So, Nick, when you talked about compost and and we actually met with a company that would be willing to
do something like that here in Porcipany from leaves to all that that you talked about. Um, now that we have a new superintendent, parks and forestry, we're going to re-evaluate that and meet with our parks and forestry superintendent. um a sewer area over
there by the sewer treatment plant sharkies and all that where we can actually do the compost. So, thank you ma'am. I did have just one comment uh maybe directed towards the CFO or uh or BA when I was
looking through the budget um you know I see that some of our contracts have been finalized but with the bluecollar workers union it it hasn't been. Um, is there any line item there for that or is that not a part of this budget? The blue collar uh unit has been finalized. Yeah,
the blue collar workers union has been Okay. All right. Well, that's all I have. Okay. Um, may I please have a motion to adjourn the meeting? Motion. Second. Motion made by Mr. Neglia, seconded by Mr. Hernandez. Roll call. Mr. Hernandez. Mr. McGrath. Yes. Mr.
Mella, yes. Mr. Neglia, yes. Mr. Karifi, yes. Thank you everyone. Have a great night. All right.