okay Council agenda Township precipi Troy Hills regular Township council meeting of April 16th introduction posting of notice adequate notice of this meeting has been provided in accordance with the requirements at open public meetings law by following the notice in the office of the Township Clerk and by posting the meeting notice on the bulletin board at the municipal building on January 4th 2024 where it has remained posted since that date a legal notice appeared in the Daily Record and the nework Star Ledger on January 8th 2024 I'd like to ask everybody to please rise for the flag salute pled aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the for it stands one nation God indivisible with liy and justice for [Music] all okay um roll call Mr herandez here Mr McGrath here Mr Mella here Mr negli here Mr Ki here also in attendance our business administrator Jamie cry mayor James Barbaro um Township attorney Michael Lavery we have the CFO Len ho and the Township Clerk Ked Madden council president we have a quorum can we begin thank you yes at this time I'd like to ask the mayor to talk about his budget um I go on before I give my presentation I do want to thank the department heads that are here today with us um so raise your hands thank you and thank you for all you do for the community parpy all your hard work um doesn't go unnotice it really doesn't by me and I know how hard it is and I know how hard it can be and I'm glad you don't get involved in a politics cuz that's important so I appreciate that that being said want to thank you council president kifu Jr tonight we are introducing a fiscally prudent structurally balanced budget that corrects the course of the the past and puts Barony back on a sound financial footing which you will see shortly I'm excited about this budget not only because it is the lowest increase in years and much lower than the rate of inflation and the cost of living also because is an excellent reflection of the fiscal acronym and responsibility we have demonstrated for you over the past 2 and a half years the overall increase in the tax rate is 2.29% the municipal portion increase is 2.78% that's roughly a $6 per month $75 a year impact on the average res residential homeowner I want to thank the Chief Financial Officer Len hoe business administrator Jamie cryan our Auditors the finance committee council president Paul kipi Jr and Council vice president Frank nagley nalia our department heads and most importantly all of the residents who either attend our budget Workshop are reached out with thoughtful comments the proposed budget is the outcome of the strategic planning and choices my Administration has made over the past three years to fix M the mistakes of the past and invest in our people the benefits of which are now being fully realized fixing our financial position has been my main goal since winning election in November of 2021 P budgets were undef funded overly tight and not realistic for Trails of what was necessary to run the day-to-day operations of the township of par Troy Hills fixing our financial position allows us the flexibility to not only make significant and strategic investments in the areas most requested by residents one Public Safety Public Works Paving in Parks and Recreation water sewer but also offers us the opportunity to throw vacant positions to provide our employees with the backing to support enhanced customer service efforts for our residents now and in the future for roughly $6 per month the residents will continue to experience all of the services they have grown accustomed to and will also see our commitment to their safety with funding of three additional police officers in this budget first of all this budget doesn't have one shot tricks and does not use any utility Surplus together with the finance committee and our professionals we have worked hard to provide the residents with responsible budget that is responsive to their needs we are turning over a balanced budget to the council that protects the great services our community deserves the services our residents depend on and continues investing in paran's future all while shouldering the burden of external influences like unfunded mandates from the state the significant impact on uncertainty of the national economic issues like all of our residents the township feels the impact of Uncertain pricing supply chain issues continued inflation and cost of living increases this budget does not Kick the Can down the road like some have done in the past and like some would want us to do budget decisions must make parpy a stronger Community today as well as five plus years from now and I am proud that our budget reflects these values I thank everyone up here particularly those who join me in focusing in finding Solutions instead accentuating the pro problem for political gain I thank everyone in deos and in the audience who are prioritized working together and joined us on this journey correct in the course of the past and finally getting posivity back on sound financial footing this budget is not just numbers on paper and you gave me the honor of returning as your mayor in 2022 I spoke frankly about the dire stats the town finances were in the 202 for municipal budget is our demonstrated commitment to fixing the Township's finances and stopping the kick down the can lo mentality our finances are position very well not only for 2024 but for years to come I thank you for your support hard work and partnership in making this happen I want to thank you the residents that are here tonight and the department heads once again I do I do want to pick out some things that we kept in the budget um one is refund the P TR Hill Library $400,000 which we don't have to do uh for health benefits um we met with the library and and they had a shortfall so I I felt I did not want to take out that $400,000 as you know they needed some help from the township which we did the mount tab Library which we keep open which is $80,000 um the pal um I made a commitment to the P the vice president here today Nick monzino thank you for coming Nick that I would keep the $175,000 in the budget for recreation and for the kids uh with that being said they are now they are fully funding their own uh director uh pil director on their own and I and and that was part of the compromise and I thank you Nick and the P for working with me over the last two weeks actually three weeks to resolve some of the issues and that that's exactly what was done and that's what you're supposed to do [Music] also last week I had a um well I didn't have it it was a town hall meeting which was held by the Indian Community and everybody's trying to make issues about it uh there's no issue here when somebody runs something privately there's no issue whatsoever people make it an issue for a reason they want to make it an issue to make a political point which doesn't belong here in pipany I want to thank jasa for setting up that meeting because I got a lot of great emails back a lot of great feedback from the Indian Community um with regards to the meeting um I saw a letter to the Eder and tap into Pary which kind of su me off because I know the person I really don't think the person wrote that letter to the editor but that's beside the point the point I'm trying to make here tonight we're one Community right so after that meeting was over with the president of the lake bu Sion Association asked me if I would do one very similar to the one we had on last Thursday I said absolutely I would do it for the whole entire Community as well and here's why it was well organized and I appreciate the way you organize it nobody came up to scream and yell at anybody quest one question was hard the person sat down and we got to explain ourselves that's common sense government and that worked very well so I want to take the time to thank you for that and all the other Indians that were there uh for that night and it really went well I am looking forward to doing more of these I've been contact with many associations but I'm looking forward to the one in Lake par siany I spoke to the president like I said and we can have we can agree to disagree that there's nothing wrong with that that's just part of what not everybody's always going to agree with it if I go into a room everybody's agree with me I'm in the wrong room so it's or if I own room I'm the smartest person I'm in the wrong room uh with that being said though that kicked the whole that's going to kick off um mayor going around town because that was really great the way it was organized and um also today um I just wanted to let everybody know as you saw going you saw some of the articles in the Pary focus and the tap in the Pary with regards to the school board the comments that were made at the at the last meeting about me um let me tell you something I love this town and when I got to read stuff like that it's very frustrating cuz it's not true but what I did do today is I reached out to the president of the Board of Education we had a really really nice talk a very good talk and we're going to be meeting to discuss the perimeters of things that we can share services on about the pilot program and stuff like that we don't need to be fighting anymore it's not worth it because it doesn't hurt me doesn't hurt the Board of Ed who's it hurt hurts all of us hurts the residents um because I got a lot of text messages uh between yesterday and today with regards some of the comments that were made on a um Facebook site and stuff I tell them I just you got Le go off your shoulder that's that's the bottom line you got to Lear because you know they're not all com from certain from the person that's actually writing it and I've learned that a long time ago uh social media can be used as a tool uh for negative it and that's what it's being used for now so with that being said you know what we have to still still got to run the town still got to do the things that we need to do here in the town now I'm going to tell you now and you can ask our tax assessor as of April 1st when all the tax appeals came in that it's not it's not a good site for parpan um we got about what it a billion dollars in tax appeals for a billion a billion dollars in tax appeals that is astronomical okay okay so we have a lot of work to do we are we can't lose businesses but we might because of the climate the way it is postco what's happened with postco no one is going into office spaces anymore so there's going to be a need of Redevelopment in this Township and basically it's been forced on us with the new affordable housing rules um the new affordable housing rules and I and I discussed this with the the Board of Education president today it gives power to like one group a significant amount of power to decide where things can go where they can't go and Par is going to be in the flux of it right in the middle of it um I feel bad for the other towns as well but I I can't worry about the other towns right now I got to worry about taking businesses away from them and bringing them here that's about it but that being said that that's one thing that is going to really really shape the future of parip and how we're going to deal with it now as of January 31st of 2025 we need to have our housing plant in place okay and this has nothing to do with Pilots this has to be in place the Court's mandated saying you need to have your plan in place January 31st of 2025 or you might end up like Milburn where they stripped them of their immunity uh we don't want to be stripped of our immunity because what happens with that if they strip you of your immunity what happens is they'll say they can determine where affordable housing will go so a lot of it going to be negotiating back and forth and stuff like that so we have our award cut out but we have a lot of positive things and that is parpan I got to tell you it's a great town to live in I've been here all my life I love it it's um and I'm I'm really proud of this budget because when I came back and you probably know the whole story I don't know if I've ever said it before uh but when I came back in when I left in 2017 but 7y was in such Financial great shape it was you couldn't ask for a better position all our office spaces were full um when I came in 2010 I filled 4.7 million s ft of office space now what's that why is that significant I'll tell you why take paron take the county the county has 26 million square F feet of office space out of that 26 million1 14 million line parpy that's a lot so the county doesn't want to see us lose any business we don't want to see us lose any business but when you have a a billion dollars in tax appeals that's going to be uh that's going to be but something that you know we're going to have to deal with but I got to tell you we got a great tax assessor a great tax assessor and I'm sure he's going to fight a tooth andoun that being said council president I I thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight and uh we can shift it over to I guess Jamie cryan to do the presentation of the budget thank you thank you thank you mayor thank you uh president Council [Music] it's working okay one of the most critical responsibilities of Municipal elected officials and professional staff serving uh the town is to create a balanced budget each year this is a significant task which is done with careful consideration and strategic decision-making the budget process for us is year-long activity there's a lot of behind the scenes work that goes into the process of developing a very responsible and responsive budget for our residents I want to thank our great department heads uh who worked all year and are diligent and do their best to make sure that they are uh uh keeping their budgets in line and uh more uh importantly uh I want to thank Leno our CFO who lives in breathes these numbers and does everything possible to make sure that uh uh we are serving our residents as or we're that we're funding how to serve our residents the 2024 Municipal budget makes pran a stronger Community today and as mayor said five years over five years from now and it continues providing the services our residents deserve it ensures we are providing a fiscal responsible framework in the present and for years to come we are putting forward a responsible balanced budget that provides the services our community deserves and we have worked hard to minimize the amount of the increase while dealing with significant na Nationwide economic impacts and external influences these decisions are made through a year-long process of analyzing and prioritizing Public Safety and public services which make parcion a great place to live and work the administration and staff partners with the township Council we all work together to anticipate the needs of the residents while exercising responsible spending on behalf of the taxpayer we believe that this budget does that hope you find this information in this presentation informative uh you may view more detailed uh budget information on the town website tomorrow when we'll have the introduced budget up there we'll have the uh uh uh most current userfriendly budget and this presentation will be up there too so just want to go over a couple of things uh real quickly and this won't be a long presentation for you we have uh the budget calls that helped us formulate how uh we strategize doing this budget um there was really there was nine of them but the basic tenant was you know strong fiscal management and maintaining exceptional fiscal oversight and that's really where our department heads come in um this budget the goal of it is to correct the course of the past finally put Pary back on sound financial footing to minimize tax burden on residents it prioritizes public safety because parity residents should be safe where they live learn work and play and anything else is anything less is unacceptable one of the biggest goals and you hear it is it's a cliche but cliches become cliches because they're true is do more with less we want to get the best value for each Dax dollar we want to prioritize resident services and deliver more deliver them more efficiently maintaining outstanding services and providing tangible visible results for our residents we offer more services than any other municipality in the county and that is beyond question in my opinion uh proactively managed responsible development this is mayor uh alluded to this with the affordable housing aspects that are coming up there's going to be development happening we're going to have to manage how it happens and try to make it as responsible as possible we you know in doing so we have to advance our court ordered affordable housing obligations while revitalizing our local economy adding ratables while balancing overdevelopment it's a it's really going to be a difficult task but um Everybody working together is up for it continue to aggressively seek new recurring revenue streams one of the things that has come up and one of the things that will be talked about uh in the next few months is uh marijuana and cannabis and that that will be uh brought to you uh soon will this action and and everything that we are are dealing with from a budget perspective but the question that we asked was will this action compound a tax rate increase in 2025 or NE affect future budgets and we want to make sure that we're continuing to Foster resident engagement some of the challenges we were up against were Nationwide econ economic impacts and external influences right now there's a 4.1 rate of inflation in 2023 that's following the 8% average inflation rate from 2022 in the first quarter of 2024 new leasing volume in north northern New Jersey declined by 99.5% as mayor told you we are very heavily reliant on office space um and this from previous year reaching that's the lowest total since the third quarter of 2021 it's scary stuff and this is from kushman and Wakefield Market beat report uh on Northern New Jersey so it's very specific it's not just a nationwide thing that's specific to this Corridor uh the Consumer Price Index uh increased 3.5% over the last 12 months prices are going up sizes are going down you feel it we're feeling it too uh the trouble continue in the in the office sector office vacancy rates reached a new record high last month leasing activity has dropped office availability and delinquencies have increased there are more than twice as many more unoccupied office square feet than occupied compared to a year ago again that's not a national thing we're talking about New Jersey and this Corridor specifically so reduction in office based use Office use means a reduction in annual property taxes pay by the office buildings and a reallocation of the tax burden to Residents so it either means that we have to cut Services drastically if we lose multiple buildings or we have to or the the burden falls on the residents which is something we want to uh avoid as much as we possibly can some of the other challenges we Face are the unfunded mandates that we experience um from the state like the uh updated affordable housing mandated obligation um the new law is potentially it you know could potentially have a negative impact it could you know I don't even think that's potentially it will negatively impact our community it's a basically who it helps is developers uh it doesn't help uh affordable housing uh folks or in need affordable housing it doesn't help the environment it doesn't help uh uh municipalities who have to deal with all the services that go along with these new developments um it's uh you know and obviously doesn't help the school or the infrastructures either it jams more development down every community's throat that's pretty much what it does makes a lot it makes it a lot easier for developments to bypass the normal processes so they can move forward with their development regardless of how it affects the municipality galvaniz pipe new debt to cover the lead galvanized uh uh pipe um mandate um May cost approximately $5 million to the town That's not including what it will cost residents themselves uh pfas we heard from uh our water Superintendent at the budget hearing Sean Andre the other night that prelimin preliminary estimates to comply with new regulations will probably cost about $27.5 million and that's preliminary so it could be more um it's also the ever increasing cost of residential services that we provide and uh the appropriation pressures and increasing cost we do not control like health healthare and and uh debt and and those utility bills and those sort of things the budget process that we have in place is put in place to make sure that residents have the opportunity to multiple opportunities to have a say in how things go um the process starts uh the year prior in 20 for for this year it started in 23 when uh the CFO and myself met with department heads and devel to help develop their Department budgets um at that time we also closed the book on on 2023 and prepped for the annual financial statements which is one of the requirements that municipality has to dip um Fe between February and March uh budgets were prepped for presentation to Mayor continue to be worked on and developed then we presented the budget after it came uh uh to a better place to the finance committee where our mayor ba myself CFO our Auditors presented draft budget to the finance committee which is made up of council president creepy and Council vice president negle um after they uh made some suggestions they were implemented um their input was included and that process is important because it excuse me it links the administration and mayor's Township budget to what council wants to achieve for the community so the finance committee is made up of members selected from this Council to represent this counc Council so it's coming together of the two bodies um and that's when uh the council president and Council vice president asked us to schedule administrative departmental budget hearings we did that and that happened last week where multiple uh department heads came and presented their budget uh were open to questions and uh showed you what was going on uh in their departments and uh talked about the need for uh uh the items that they're requesting in their budget tonight we're introducing the budget tonight it gets turned over to the uh uh Council and um it's not the administration's budget anymore it becomes the council's budget and this is where budget uh gets introduced budget publicize the newspaper and on the web um you're listening to the municipal budget presentation the 28th day period between that's required between the introduction and the public meeting uh and formal adoption which is scheduled for May 2 first um and uh at that point there during the public hearing any member of the public can come up and ask questions and get more uh uh answers before the vote if any member of the public has any questions prior to that point they're welcome to send them into me and I'll get them answered to uh as quickly as I possibly can the property tax levy breakdown is pretty much as it is in most municipalities the municipal portion of your tax bill is 25% so for 25 cents of the tax dollar funds all of the services that you experience from the municipality whether it's your water whether it's DBW cleaning up your you know Road and filling a pill and or uh the police uh protecting you um all of the services are done with just 25s it's pretty much amazing uh if you ask me and it's a real uh um feather in the cap to our department heads and our our workers in each department who really care about what they do and care about serving you um to the best of their ability the uh so that's 25% of it Morris County taxes are right around 10% with the uh County open space too 10.2% the municipal open space is 0.5% it says 1% here because it rounds up library is about 1.3% and the largest is the school district tax which is 63% what you'll see is it's a you know big pink area right there um that's generally how it is in every municipality there's not one municipality where the school budget is lower than all of the others it's they have mandates that they have to deal with too so I wanted to talk about some of the good news that we have going uh that we experienced this year so Moody's came in twice Moody is a rating agency um and uh standards and poor Global ratings came in once um there some really good news for the municipality because not only is it uh an independent voice telling us that we're doing things well and we're moving in the right direction it saves us millions and millions and millions and millions of dollars because when you have a better Bond rating it's like your credit score uh and going for a mortgage or a car loan if you have a better credit score you get a better loan lower rate with the rising rate environment that we're in right now having a a good Bond rating is really important for us so some of the things that Moody said to us you know um they they pointed to the town's conservative budgeting practices cost saving measures and our strong strong financial management team and you know the um rating reflects the township strong economic strong economy and recently improving finances offsetting its elevated leverage and fixed costs from a financial position the township has seen a strong recovery after some declines several years ago and modest impact from the pandemic the Mig one reflects that's one of the ratings reflects the Township's strength strong underlying credit quality evidenced by its aa2 issuer rating and its reliable history of Market access and healthy liquidity standards and poor which came in in 2021 and downgraded us came back uh a few months ago and uh upgraded us which is really like I said before it's an incredible uh uh uh good thing for us not only from an ego standpoint but from a dollars and cense standpoint it saves you money they said S&B Global ratings Revis the Outlook of its a rating on proy Troy Hills Township New Jersey General obligation bonds to stable from negative at the same time S&P Global ratings affirmed its AA rating on the Township's go debt the Outlook revision reflects our view of the township significantly improved finances during the past two fiscal years after experience and material Reserve draw down so these are things that are really important to us you know the next slide is something that you know popped up too which is also important because it you know this is we all talk about how high our taxes are and how much we pay and we do pay way too much all over this there was an article done by uh nj.com that puts things in perspective and and rided us against the other municipalities in our County we came in 23rd out of 39 meaning that there are 22 municipalities in the county with higher property taxes now just because they're H doesn't make us happy about paying our taxes but it I hope it provides a little bit of perspective it it illustrates how much value our residents experien with lower than average taxes when compared to all of the other municipalities in the county and we have by far the most comprehensive Services provided for our residents so this screen was a lot of data basically the most important things to pick out are the 2024 projected tax local tax levy is 2.78 the total Municipal tax increase as mayor said earlier is $758 a year or $631 per month with that you're getting all the services that uh are provided we're adding three additional uh police officers for your safety um we one of the other things that we talked about is uh um we put in uh the budget uh uh the ability to look for a a new uh cricket field for our users a permanent Cricket field so that's in there um so there's a lot of items in here the total projected overall increase is 2.29 right now we believe that's probably going to be lower than that uh that's our conservative estimate on here you can see the uh fire tax fire districts and uh uh their rate um since there's six different districts it's hard to uh quantify them all together so that's separated out and um you can see uh uh where we stand with uh um our total tax levy and uh the total tax impact our total budget this year is $62 million 228 um 1,625 [Music] this budget to summarize what we're doing here is it's a fiscally prudent structurally balanced budget it sets the foundation for continued Improvement investment in public safety infrastructure roads technology while adhering to a sound fiscal plan the overall tax increase is 2.29 uh local taxes 2.78 7583 annual Municipal tax impact 631 uh per month doing more with less as we discussed is roughly 25 cents of the total tax funds all of the township Services one of the best things and it's been talked about here you know it's it's responsible there can be responsible use of utility surplus of surplus as long as it's generated uh and regenerated uh fully and um more and you you bring in more than you use well that's a a tool for us the great part about this bu is there's no utility Surplus utilized in so this is our dollars utilizing the whole budget it's great um provides a fiscally responsible framework for today and for years to come corrects the course of the past and puts parity back on S Financial Funding we hired nine police officers this year we're going to add three more the increase in uh LPR uh leg plate recognition um cameras providing real time alerts for stolen vehicles stuff is working um we our police answered over 60,000 calls for service cadal converters which we hear about a lot residential and Commercial burglaries which we hear about a lot stolen Solen Motor Vehicles which we hear about a lot all 23 was lower than 22 in all of them 103 and 22 Cadillac convertors uh 64 and 23 uh burglaries 81 and 22 78 and 23 stolen vehicles 43 and 22 32 and 23 now this isn't something to these numbers are fluid so they they constantly change um but it's uh an indication that your town is working for you and I hope you feel that um this budget M there's the maintenance of approximately 210 miles of Road in 23 5.3 million 5.3 miles of road was resurfaced 1.6 Mi reconstructed 24 we're planning for 6.4 miles resurfaced and 3.4 mil is reconstructed we've had labor piece pretty much contracts settled with three out of the four bargaining units and I I I do believe that we're fairly close with the uh fourth unit right now um the township gain 12 million in new ratables uh through assessments this slide shows what you get for your 25 cents it's just goes over some of the services you feel them you get your bulk pickup you get your garberson recycling pickup uh weekly bulk pickup you get yard waste um plowing and maintenance of 400 plus Lane miles of Road in 26 Parks uh water we maintain over 220 miles of water main uh 34 remote facilities 18 well stations six booster pumping stations it's all on here and and this can be accessed but uh police department crossing guard student resource officers uh Senior Citizen Services there's for $631 cents more Municipal Taxes with a 2.78 uh uh local tax increase of 2020 for the are there are outstanding Services provided and we're happy to do so um there's no more kicking the can down the road uh this is you know we're maintaining except exceptional fiscal oversight and that's going to continue in 24 and 25 and that's something that we're looking to make sure is you know written in stone for moving forward for here in Parian uh this budget would continue to enhance Town parks and recreational offerings continue to Foster residential engagement more services than any other municipality in the in the county it's a budget with no Reliance on utility Surplus it's a budget running off of our own dollars sorry to repeat that but it's really important to say and parity is an excellent Financial condition resulting from adhering to a sound fiscal plan over the past two and a half years and that's all we have thank you for your time I just want to add one thing with regards to the budgets when I came back in 21 and I'm going to keep repeating this because one thing I've heard from the residents uh over the last three years is Public Safety they they wanted us they came to a council meeting we don't care we want more cops and and they're in the back some of them right now and I want to thank them for all they do for the community parcion but that being said we have we W from 81 Deployable up to now 99 I think it's 99 or 97 98 and that's why we have three more on right now and we're looking at three retire three retirees so we'll add another three but that's just pressing to retire we made a commitment for Public Safety um you know we didn't have when I came back we didn't have a Traffic Unit we didn't have a very the the DB the detective beer was um you know suffering now we're we're running on full force here in the town which is very important it's very important for Public Safety um and that's what the residents really really are wanted from the township and we gave it to them and it it took a little time and you know it's going to take some more time to get it to the numbers I we all feel comfortable with but we're going to get there so I want to just make that clear since they just came into the room you guys do an excellent job every Township employee here does an excellent job um you know the committed they're public servants um and they do an excellent job for the community par siony and um I thank them for that so and I and I feel the same way our business administrator feels council president Council vice president because we worked on the budget together this is approv fiscally responsible budget there's a difference between cutting a budget and being fiscally responsible this is fiscally responsible thank you okay um upcoming meetings May 7th 2024 at 700 p.m. is the agenda meeting May 21st 2024 at 7 p.m. is the regular meeting ordinances uh for second reading and public hearing there are none moving into to the public session portion I'd like to entertain a motion to open up the public session motion second motion made by Mr neglia seconded by Mr McGrath roll call Mr Hernandez yes Mr McGrath yes Mr Mella yes Mr neia yes Mr kifi yes okay so the public portion is open to the public you can speak on any matter you wish you have five minutes to speak okay no one wants to speak we're going to going once okay we see people come on up Mr fan probably should [Music] [Music] sorry about the handout coming late um Tony V 41 Robin Hood Road Mars Plains New Jersey I've been a pacify resident for over 30 years made a handout because I wanted to run through some facts uh and stop uh what the rumors going around budget's finished did you just speak it to the mic budget's finished uh senior citizen senior citizen facility is intact and transportation will not be cut Town employees will not be laid off so far in order to keep Services there there will be no privatization as of yet contract negotiations with the town will continue with employees the town has increased commercial uh needs to increase commercial tax revenue with the pilot program it this takes off the uh takes the property you know off the state list and for affordable housing uh we are short approximately 400 units that are being worked on and are not on the pilot program the governor Murphy just published the thing that a court order and it's included in there that no bur murn lost its immunity and it's fact from asex County judge the cause of affordable housing will increase as Jamie and everybody else has discussed that everybody gets their way shared services between other towns Jamie's uh tried it between 20 20 years I know Paul has Frank has some of the towns reject it some of the towns like it uh and want it we tried to have uh you know some of it's been a waste of time void claims that there Board of Education claims there a separate entity and don't want to cooperate with reducing oil costs now the town budget is finished Board of Education should be next audit of the budget converted to a standard profit and loss statement instead of having 160 pages of uh pfds would help the accountant accountant is a genius this figur is buried all over the place business inter business lines in turn of uh expenses uh quarter yeah versus year and last year and differences explained in your pfds I'll ask the town lawyer uh how to produce and correct so I can correct the forms do we get ex ex an Excel database of residents last names of children and the address to compare to building codes to ensure they're all being taken care of uh this if we find out of compliance be built back to the uh landlord or the owner I ask the uh this week I emailed uh our political parties and from a year round turle orbit the governor signed the all the urban schools will be fully funded for the year they're not going to have a regular school year so that's going to increase our tax rates in the state of New Jersey it may come here so this is going to be a major issue uh we need to get our uh politicians in Trenton emailed we've uh fought this thing and it's a political suicide for anybody that's running in the councils is to have equal funding per child and a voucher system if you decided you want to go to a private school let them go to a private school I did a comparison between private schools are approximately running $5 to $10,000 under ours cost per student their average grades in the SATs are about 18850 out of 2,000 ours are ranging 1050 so something's wrong so there's other handouts that I have in tonight uh also they have complain about overcrowding my son graduated in 20 uh 2005 we didn't have Mount tab school back then we had 12,000 students today we have Mount Taber school with 7300 students so population's gone down drastically I don't know where everybody's expecting unless we get a massive surge in the next couple years that we have to have affordable housing also like uh Cassandra with our uh safety meetings uh my request for a uh speed limit sign be put up because we've had several in instances in fille of people blowing through and not caring so I took a picture it's in it's located in the packet uh what's there and while I was taking the picture uh people left tread marks 30 seconds they're all hit thank you very much have a good evening thank you thank you thank you good evening Vijay panchamia from Glenmont Commons we've been here few times it's almost 6 months since we raised the issue with our roads uh I know the council or the mayor had a meeting with the builder maybe over a month back so we are looking for some update if there's any progress made in resolving our road issue and it is becoming again you know little acute because of all the rain we have been getting in last you know 3 4 weeks and some of the patches are coming off that that were done uh about a month back or two months back so really looking for some positive feedback that you know we are making some progress and resolving this issue isue so do we have any update council president so uh the attorney for the developers had some health issues as of late I spoke to them about a week ago they're still compiling their data to get a response to us in the meantime I think as I reported before uh the sewer department was there checking the sewer system to make sure that if we're going to accept it that it's in working order the same is being done with the water and there there are some issues out there but you know I think I think we're making progress it's not moving quick enough for anybody you know the Town Council doesn't like it the mayor doesn't like it I know sore Department doesn't like it uh nor does the water so but I I still think things are moving in the right direction we'll just have to say we and we're just waiting for the response from the developer right thank you you got it thank you [Music] good evening members of the Town Council I am a concerned citizen oh I'm sorry Tim baros 24 Farmstead Drive I am a concerned citizen who wish es to address recent events that have taken place within our community before I begin I would like to clarify that the views I have expressed here are solely my own and do not represent the opinions of the Board of Education or its matters firstly I wanted to bring attention to the divisive town hall meeting organized by Mr jigaw on April 11 2024 while I was relieved to attend without interference I was deeply troubled by the organizer's decision to limit participation to certain segments of the population it is discouraging to witness elected Township Representatives failing to challenge this especially in a Democratic Society where every voice should be heard and valued additionally I was dismayed by the disparaging remarks made by our Township leader towards the over 900 taxpaying citizens who exercise their first amendment rights during the December 28th 2023 Town council meeting many of us took time away from our families or work during the holiday season to speak about a common cause such remarks and core values demonstrated by our leader undermines the principle of free speech and Civic engagement secondly I want to address the issues of the promised discussions regarding the allocation of pilot funds for our school district despite multiple insurances made from November 9th 2023 up until this afternoon it is evident that no progress has been achieved the lack of funding allocated in Township's 2024 budget raises doubt about the sincerity of these promises and highlights a concerning gap between rhetoric and action finally I urge each of you to reflect on your oath of office and consider whether all stakeholders have been given a seat at the table in this pilot funding decision ision making progress it is a cumbent upon us to ensure transparency accountability and inclusivity in our governance I beg you to withhold approval of this budget and to all voices have been heard and all concerns addressed failure to do so will signal a disregard for the Democratic the Democratic principles upon which our community is founded in conclusions I call upon the to I call upon the Town Council to honor their commitment to the people of Paran and uphold the higher standards of integrity and account and accountability in their actions let us work together to build a community where every voice is valued and every citizen can participate in sharpening or shaping our Collective Futures and also as it was announced today that there is a promise of an another conversation to be had uh with the administration that came today about 3:00 30 not unlike all other promises these words are pie crust promises easily made easily br thank you um just two questions one you had men sir please state your name oh sure Gonzalo Meo uh 24 Barbera Street uh two questions one you had mentioned of a Cricut field being planmed with in the budget uh there was some issues a while back that they were trying to do it on the other side of Smithfield which is the other side of 46 I want to make sure it's not there because there's been a promise of a wall sound bar wall that's never been put up so that would be taken down trees so I want to make sure that's addressed before you move forward and then two do this increase supply to the pilots as well or just the residents have to absorb it that's it we'll answer I can are are those your those are your two gent no those are your two questions yeah so I you just now no now you get your answers okay perfect yeah yeah I'm done that's it I'm going to wait till after everyone I wait till everyone's done speaking then he going to get the answers okay so so why don't I get the other gentleman for the roads got an answer yeah I didn't know I can just I mean I was going to wait till the very end after everybody speaks but I'll I'll respond to the cricket field okay we we even we haven't found a location yet okay so for that but there's also in the budget a cricket pitch for one of the fields that we use now that that's that's what's in the budget okay um we're we have looked um in certain areas but we're trying to stay away from residential we can yeah um so that's where we are right now with the cricket field but we the cricket pitch is definite yeah I'm okay with one being instituted it's not a problem I think just affecting the taking down of trees especially that there's no sound barrier on 880 which was promised and approved by the state but what was your other question the other question was just trying to understand if there is no there is no pilot money there's no pilot money that's um it won't increase right this what well there's none right now cuz the the the ones that would just passed haven't been built yet so there's no pilot money there 15 15's not even done yet so there's no pilot money there so um and I didn't negotiate that um 1515 that was you know I I started the negotiation 17 and then one to uh 201 18 but there's no pilot money so when you keep hearing that they you want pilot money well there's nothing to give no I'm just I'm not saying I'm asking for increase and the pilots as well well the pilot doesn't increase nothing on the residents in that sense you get revenues when you get that's fine you're circling president uh we generally said the pilots increase every year anyway you know there's a schedule that's set up uh in a financial agreement that sets for uh increases uh good evening mayor Town Council Members I'm Andy chafo uh parity resident also the president of the parip school board um I am here tonight speaking uh as an individual Citizen and not on behalf of the Board of Education uh however I would like to extend a thank you to the mayor for the conversation today uh I do believe that through communication uh Mutual understanding uh of our shared issues and you alluded to it in your opening remarks mayor we work for the residents of the town and together we have to service them um in whatever way is the most beneficial to them so I look forward to the conversation with with you next week and thank you for extending invitation thank you uh I have excuse me three questions I think they're uh barely easy to answer what is the Township's fiscal year um January it doesn't is it January January through December okay so it's calendar here calendar right um there was meent I'm about to do there was mentioned of about a million dollars of tax appeal um approximately what percentage of those are coming from a corporate uh um office space is that the majority of wait till the end after question uh and and I think you you answer this excluding UPS uh how much pilot revenue does the town anticipate uh receiving in 2024 thank you thanks council president it was a billion dollars uh not a million a billion one billion um the uh the other question was um is it commercial yeah is it commercial I don't have those numbers I can get them for you the Maj the majority is commercial I'm sure it is the majority is commercial good evening uh my name is jagar sha as I was just announced uh 50 P Road more SP New Jersey it's unfortunate I heard some few people wants to play politics in this town I represent Indian Community Indian Community is the fastest growing Comm community in this town people come to me for several issues even in December when I was in India people kept calling me J what is this J what's going on with this there's burglary going on there's crime going on everybody questions me so I feel that the best way to do is to bring in the indian-american community even in a poing rain so many people came out to ask questions to the mayor I'm grateful for the mayor the councel the ba police chief and others panel who showed up and I appreciate it they answered question now so many people came up to me saying job this was the most informative and organized and disciplined Town counil Town town hall meeting that they ever appointed or came to and things were explained as mayor say even mayor claims that he got so many compliments we were there so many people say it I wish people stop playing politics this was my functions I organized it it's my decision who comes and who goes if people have issues May does own town of meetings people can go there I'm representing the community as long as I represent the community and Community comes to me for help I'll be doing it and I probably do more I wish people will respect that of what I have done and what I will do in future thank you for B Vania parsipany I've been a homeowner in Pary for 46 years and until a few months ago I never gave the slightest thought that one day I might return home from vacation only to discover that my home had been taken over by squatters so far I've not heard of any squatting incidents in New Jersey but squatting is a real and growing problem I've seen multiple TV news items were squatting incidents have been reported in New York Florida and Texas one squatter was Brazen enough to describe a step-by-step blueprint on how he successfully squatted a home to a half a million of his Tik Tock followers with the rapid spreading of news on social media it seems only a matter of time before squatting catches on in New Jersey getting rid of squatters can be expensive time consuming ordeal for a homeowner in New Jersey the first step is to provide the squatters with a written notice that they're trespassing and must vacate the property the squatters then have up to 30 days to respond if they refuse to leave the next step step is to file an eviction notice with the court maybe months before the court case is heard and a court order for the removal of the squatters is issued meanwhile the homeowner may have to find somewhere else to live for several months at a considerable expense and there's also the added expense of hiring a lawyer Florida and Texas have already addressed their squatting Problem by passing anti squatting laws that protect their residents I would like New Jersey to pass a similar law to that end I would like our Administration and our Council to use its influence to urge our state representatives to pass an anti- Squad in law modeled on the Florida law which which will protect New Jersey residents and if at this time next year no action has been taken by the state excuse me then parpi may need to pass its own Municipal anti- squatting ordinance itself and uh you know I would like to hear any comments that you may have on this issue um um it's funny to say that I was speaking with a gentleman today with regards to anti- squatting ordinance here in town um I think you're talking about I know the state senate has a bill 725 right now uh with regards to an anti- squading bill but I was going to um ask the Council on our Township attorney to draft an ordinance for anti squatting here in P syphony um I just had a conversation about two hours ago so it's it's nice that you bring it up because you know it could happen here yeah so um I will present I'll speak to the township attorney with regard how we can go forward with it but I think Mike it's Bill 7 um Senate number 725 yeah that was uh Senator steinhardt and Senator stack up that I think it was referred out the committee last Thursday make sure it's at least as tough as Florida okay they got some good stuff I just want to I could not agree with you more and before the mayor said that I was going to immediately ask Mr Lavery to start drawing something up because we're not putting up with that here yeah I think there's a zero tolerance policy for that it's your home if somebody's there and you don't want them there get rid of them thank you you got me nervous when you said you came home yeah that's what I thought you that's what I thought you like oh my god I didn't even know about that uh nick hak uh Lake Kyle Watson uh when we hear what the 25 cent a dollar will do with the municipal tax when we see the cumulative effect of taxes and something in return we should relieve ourselves because if we we don't need these tax ratables as much as we believe we do and these tax ratables just overdevelopment has degraded our quality of life in many many ways except maybe financially but for example uh we oh we're not using the water and Source Surplus anymore well guess why why not we had two raises and a water and sort increase so there shouldn't be any need to use it anymore and then when we talk about plain politics well in the last Administration when mayor Sorano attempted a meager tax increase even lower than this to take care of the water infrastructures and everything he was shot down now if that's not politics and to this day The Telltale of it all remains former councilwoman Janice McCarthy's letter of explanation of why precipi was in a a crisis with their tax and why they needed some kind of an increase read her letter could probably still be found in uh uh in the focus or online now this is from a u a a a message alone but welcome victory in the affordable housing reform legislation we're in the conformance now and affordable housing has always had environmental rules that this uh town uh conveniently forgot in the past and actually worked against this we lost a couple of Landscapes that actually could have been open space uh forever but the uh I'm going to uh the uh the it's all about affordable housing numbers because the thing was getting out of control again and they forgot about environmentally sensitive lands and how these lands protect our water supply the highlands is 70 14% of the state 70% of the state gets their drinking water so it's important to save the Landscapes and here's what happened for conform municipalities which we are in the highlands planning area environmentally sensitive areas as provided in the regional master plan and as determined by the Highland Council will be excluded from the vacant land analysis good uh that Municipal fair share housing obligations for conform municipalities in the highlands planning area the number of units both market rate and affordable will not exceed the number of units determined by the highlands council's Municipal last buildout report the bill with our amended language passed in their respective Chambers on Monday March 18th is expected the governor will sign the bill the only thing I didn't do was to follow up to see whether the governor did in fact sign the bill and I don't see any reason why why he wouldn't so maybe somebody here knows so please don't tell me that that's not good news and thanks again again for mayor Sorano for finally getting us in Highland's conformance which we should have been in in 2010 until Mr engino showed up and know and if you want to see a copy of the letter I could email you uh this letter if you haven't seen it already all right thank you could I add something yes please so thank you Nick for that and he's right and I think it might be prudent for us to maybe get Mary Jew from the highlands Council to come in and maybe elaborate on that maybe do a presentation or just tell us what those what that actually means to us because and I think I sent everyone those words from the highlands if if there's any way we can mitigate some of that development I know not when we were going through that yeah the first round or the last round years ago I asked that can we use that to help us block yeah some of this and we were told no but if something's changed that would be great it changed with this new bill not that this bill is great but that's the one thing that that would be great we can hope for Judy did we ever get back to that report on what the the buildout number is no I haven't been able to contact Mary Jew so I will again and somebody else to see they're probably getting asked by lots of municipalities sure okay thank you mhm any other member of the public okay it's a small question Anthony Longo Pary 46 West and beverick Road why was the U-turn sign taken down is that your only question that's it well it was taken down I just don't know when I know there was an outcry that that that you you turned one up so members of the public um I guess must have called down at the state because that's a state road and um they adhere to What the residents wanted that's I also I mean I don't I don't I mean listen um as the mayor of the township I I I can only tell you this that if a U-turn is put in for Public Safety purposes I would never request for it to be taken down because because and the reason why I say that is because if the state would say it's for Public Safety and the town would said we want it removed then we become responsible for anything going and there's no way I want the town to be responsible for what because you know that's a bad area I also believe just add to what the mayor said Anthony the dot put up that sign without our knowledge and they were doing it to mitigate traffic friction because down the way they were doing a project but now that the project is completed the sign's been removed hello good evening my name is Hank K and I live in poran for 54 years and I'm just asking I'd like to ask why we are not doing anything about the stacking ordinances pardon me that that we already have established uh in town I have spoken to various parts of of the administration I've spoken to each of you uh not not each of you almost each of you uh over over the past few years and and I and I always get a response that well we we can't go into those locations we can't we can't prove anything we can't go to the school the school can't give us information and and it it just sounds like like like you're being convenienc and and and I think that you need to get beyond that in order to to to do the services that you need to for the town I I don't think that it's an in anyone's benefit or at at Le at least this the most of the citizens benefit to have to allow stacking I don't think it's healthy for those families that are shoved into many rooms in in in houses with with eight seven or eight and 10 cars outside and I don't think it's it's good for our school finances and I don't think it's good for us okay i' I'd like you guys to think about how to solve this problem rather than finding excuses as to why it's not addressed okay thank you thank you [Music] Nancy smer 226 North B Road um I'm relieved about I guess the level of increase but I still think it's it's too much and Mr cryan I understand the challenges that a man in your position faces when trying to me all needs and balance a budget um I want to um Echo a lot of what Mr heler said because I too agree that the township as a whole and the Board of Education really needs to dig in further in regarding to the stacking laws and and the housing department needs to enforce already existing laws instead of just throwing budgets at us and saying this is all we can do I do think that we should be able to dig dig dig more into more um cuts I don't want to say Cuts more like saving measures uh to relieve the taxpayers because a lot of us taxpayers are not getting annual raises all right this is tough and this is in succession every year is another increase another increase and then in that is a subset for other fees and other increases and so we're strapped we're broke um I can't imagine how it is to be a sener here so as I read the headlines in the county where they say we 0% tax increase on the county level I really hope and pray that we could start achieving that level of fiscal restraint because we need it we're stuck on you know I'm planning my exit and I never thought I would say that secondly Mr Jer Shaw you're not the only person that our cherished Indian Community comes to and asks about information on this and information on that we are one Community we are not categories or subsections your needs are our needs as well Casey Peri has been a a stellar planning leader in this Township for many years he's my planning leader for many years not just yours I'm sick of hearing from your mouth your people your people your people as long as Township resources are at meetings and every person attending the meeting should be able to speak I attend meetings all over por siany late por sipy not so much Mount tab although I'll you know I'll go if it fits my calendar but regardless I'm all over and at each and every meeting every attendee who wants to speak gets to speak regardless of who they are and what your background is there's no half Italian half Irish Club around here that I can attend so I will attend every meeting I can attend We Are One community and get it through your head thank you [Music] forget any other member of the public would like to speak going once going twice may I please I have a motion to close the public meeting motion to close second motion made by Mr seconded by Mr muella roll call Mr Hernandez yes Mr McGrath Mr Mella yes Mr neglia yes Mr Ki yes floor is closed moving on to the budget introduction ordinance 20249 ordinance to exceed the municipal budget appropriation limits and to establish a c bank for calendar year 2024 pursuant to njsa 48 colon 4- 4514 be resolved that the above ordinance be introduced read by title and passed on first reading at a meeting of the township Council of the township of pcip Troy Hills held on April ail 16 2024 and that set must be further considered for second reading and final passage at a meeting to be held on May 21st 2024 at 7:00 p.m. prevailing time or soon thereafter as the matter may be reached at the municipal building in set Township at which time all persons interested shall be given an opportunity to be heard concerning said ordinance be forther resolve that the clerk be authorized and directed to advertise set ordinance with the notice of introduction thereof being published in the official newspaper according to law motion to approve the above resolution motion motion made by Mr neglia is there a second or is there questions or anything I have a question absolutely because again I I have two things that I want to kind of call back into my question and again apologies I don't understand the full process looking at the budget and understanding where there's opportunities to maybe change some of those pieces of the budget if we put this into ordinance can we have those conversations or does this push us forward yeah you absolutely can so this is just the uh yeah this is just the introduction uh absolutely okay but also go ahead yeah if we vote for this ordinance essentially what we're doing is we're enabling anybody to use this cap bank that will enable more spending in future years so that is also an important part of this ordinance correct but the but the ordinance will not um you could still make cuts and still have those conversations just to address uh Mr McGrath's question you are correct Mr Mella but nothing can be done until the final adoption of the budget so in between the introduction and the adoption which will be at the second meeting of next month where a public meeting will be held you can have those conversations and talk about cuts and talk about any other matter of concern that the council may have go ahead Mr nandes so what if we don't think we should vote for a 2% increase over go ahead Mr Le here's what this does you or do we not no no I'm just going to explain what the purpose of the the purpose of the ordinance is if you didn't allow cap banking then a lot of municipalities would raise their budget up to the permitted amount each year so what it does is it's good for fiscal responsibility because what it allows you to do is you can reduce your budget you know within those percentages but you don't lose it so you can Bank it in case you have some cataclysmic thing that happens next year that you didn't anticipate so the the reason they allow it is because they wanted to encourage good fiscal planning uh so the towns didn't just say we know we don't know what's going to happen down the road so let's just go to the maximum amount so but a lot of municipalities don't do that don't we have a Big Sur do we have a Big Sur I'm not aware of any municipality they all exceed the cap so we no no no no no they don't all exceed the cap it's let's say if the Cap's 2% and you were only going up to 1% in a particular year you get the bank the 1% that you didn't use so that you don't towns don't automatically feel compelled to go up to the max so you don't have to use it what it allows you to do is Bank Bank whatever you don't use in subsequent years that's all because I do have some questions after we did the review because we only had a short time and I dug down a little bit so I do have questions on maybe how we could reduce so I'm kind of at a loss what to do with this war so so if I understand it that we this goes in we take a look at it and we don't need to approve the final budget correct this is our ability to negotiate through and say I see these lines they look too high this introduces it if for some reason there things that changed you'd have to reintroduce you know the new budget you know because if there's substantial changes when you have the second reading in public hearing obviously correct the changes yes so there there are certain uh rules so for example if the changes exceed I believe it's 10% right if your cost exceed 10% then you would have to reintroduce the entire budget right um so yes to answer your question Mr McGrath if between now and the adoption you guys feel that um the budget should not be adopted then you vote no on the second reading uh but in between that I mean essentially the introduction of this budget allows for these conversations to happen right prior to the introduction you really couldn't and correct me if I'm wrong that you couldn't make any Cuts or propose these changes uh for the introduction of the budget but again that is completely a council decision we can I get it we can approve introducing the budget I'm talking about the ordinance for the cap oh the cap Bank the cap Bank yes that if you don't want to exceed the cap then then you don't vote on the that that is correct Mr fand you are correct so do I make my statement why uh you what what we can do is uh prior to your vote you're more than welcome to make a statement absolutely any other questions from Council Members okay so what we'll do is uh we have a motion in a second prior to your vote uh please give your explanation as to why you're voting the way you are so I appreciate the 2024 budget summary the goals the budget goals and yes we did have a few big increases in the last couple of years adding this to it it's almost 21% and as Nancy Snyder mentioned it's just a lot people feel beat up they're just getting nickel and dime everywhere and I'm not saying that we don't have great Services we do but talking with the Department last week for water and for sewer those are things that we can change and so we're going to have or unfunded mandates whatever you want to call it we will be bonding and I've seen a lot of The Debt Service in this budget that we go to to bonding um I also know we're not doing the utility Surplus but white collar C the white collar salaries have allocations that are from the utilties at almost 47% which doesn't get included in the cap and then the other thing is we have like 500 employees and 65 vacancies with about $3 million that get carried from year to to year to year and we get tax from year to year to year so I think we could shave a little bit off our budget and that's why I was talking about the cap you know I understand there's all these difficulties and there's been difficulties for years and Co but I just think we need to get back to the people a little bit because they're just burdened and we can still give them the services that they desire and they're used to in foran because it's a great place to be so uh the vote is a no the vote is a no yeah thank thank you Mr herandez Mr Mel yeah I'm also going to vote no on the Appropriations cap bank because I can't support this because I think that uh a cap bank will enable enable more spending in future years and we need to be looking at ways we can do more with less and set limits on this government when it comes to spending thank you Mr melum uh Mr McGrath so and again I'll go back to what Sean Andre has talked about in the last session $27 million required for pasas places to to help support our water I believe you said there was 220 miles so at 5,280 foot per mile at $400 per linear foot of pipe that's about $464 million in upgrades that'll be required over a period of time um this seems to me like a good idea that we need to support because there are projects coming if you go back and listen to the last recording there's some major projects coming and we need to figure out how we're going to pay for those if there's an opportunity to do something that can help support it I I'm in favor of so yes so you're voting yes on the cat Bank okay so Mr Negan I sat through the budget meetings with the mayor the lead the uh directors Mr kifi and um we looked at every single thing we could cut uh our main goal was to try to keep it as low as possible and not to use the Surplus um I don't think people want us to use Surplus and I don't think people want to lose Services I also don't think uh people want to lose police officers and adding three police officers I think is a bonus um I'm very much in favor of this budget and I vote yes thank you Mr negia Mr kifi this is just on this cap vo I just want to point out one important note that Mr Lavery stated that this cap Bank this allows you that money that you do not use in case God forbid there's ever a catastrophe in the town where we get you know whether it's a ton of snow we get another Flo whatever it is this now enables you to have that money in reserve God forbid you need it if this c bank doesn't get ped then that money you don't use it you could never have it available to you so that could be very harmful to the town it's just an insurance policy in case you need it in the future God forbid something happens I vote Yes okay so we have uh three yes votes or two no votes so the motion passes uh moving along to resolutions R 2023 57 of the 2024 Municipal budget introduction can I have a motion approve this is now just to introduce the budget make a motion motion I'd also like to read a statement before we vote oh no we're only allowed for the previous one now I'm just kidding go ahead no before you do make a motion we need a second Mr NE V okay so uh Mr Mella please uh please go ahead with your statement yeah I I'm supporting the introduction of this proposed budget only as a mechanism to enable the council to immediately engage in the critical cost-saving eff efforts necessary to bring down this tax increase this is the third budget in a row that has been over the 2% cap it is unacceptable that this Administration has not found a way to balance its spending by now residents have been pleading with us for affordability and 20% worth of tax increases is hurting our seniors Working Families the disabled residents on fixed income and Legacy residents the most neighboring large towns this year like Rockaway Township the second largest town in Mars County have come in with a 0% increase and Randol Township at a 9% increase in 2024 I plan to come to the table with Solutions and realistic cost-saving measures for the benefit of our Bel leaguered taxpayers just as I did last year M herandez so I'll repeat what I said before I think there's areas that we can reduce they're not going to cut hurt Services there's some areas that are that have not utiliz the budget from the previous years and they just keep getting increased 23% lots of lots of areas that we can look at without hampering the Departments or cutting services to the people and yes I vote vote for introducing the budget okay thank you Mr Hernandez Mr McGrath yes okay Mr N I vote Yes and um you know I'm excited to see some of the recommendations on the cutbacks from our council members because like I said myself and president kifi along with the administration really went through this budget very very stringent on things you w't by and the things we we saw that needed cutting so I'm I'm I'm excited to see the recommendations that are made that won't Impact Services won't lay off 120 Union employees and service people won't cut the senior center won't cut busing for the senior so they have to take Uber to dialysis and to to shopping I want to see those those recommended Cuts because our our people in town are the most important things to me and not I don't want to see anything taken away from them and this budget being as little increase as it is without using the Surplus I think is very good for the people and very good for the town so yes I do vote Yes Mr Creepy um I'd also like to make the statement in the last week or so I haven't no one's approached me no one has I don't know if anyone's contacted Mr cryan or Mr hoe about any kind of ideas for budget cuts um like it's been stated by Mr negle this budget basically for six a little over $6 you're getting three more police officers you're not getting any Services cut um it was brought up about open positions in town these are positions that have been filled let's say you have two openings they might be filled but then a month or two later someone quits or retires so now they're back open again okay so it may be said that that it's not impacting your services but it is Mr Walsh was here last week and said there's a 2-year waiting list right now for the amount of trees tree work that they need to do now if he had his full complement of people that list would not be as long as it is I'm just using that as an an example last year it was brought up Mr Mel you you said it to me that you wanted to privatize the garbage sanitation which means laying off everyone okay which means if you're a town like Rockaway town I contacted the mayor up there back then contacted other officials up there they pay between $75 a month and $100 a month for their garbage pickup and that only includes one large pickup maybe every six months in precip you could throw out the kitchen sink to take everything okay so think about that you look at the this presentation here Rockaway Township their taxes are higher than ours and and that doesn't include garbage pickup which can run anywhere from $900 to $1,200 a year in addition and they're not getting the services that we get and we're just going to toss away our sanitation workers our senior busing we're going to get rid of that make seniors take Uber are you kidding me no way not going to happen it's not going to happen so I look forward to to hearing these proposed Cuts I I'm I'm open to it um I think again for $6 a month three additional police officers no Cuts in service no Surplus used whatsoever I I think right now it stands as a good budget but I I'm interested to hear these Cuts in in in our future meetings before the the final vote uh I vote Yes so we have five yes votes so the motion pass can I council president you mind if I can make one comment with regards to the introduction first of all we are under the 2% cap we're not over it we can't be over it but I guess Council themselves that understand there's things outside the cap that aren't included in the% cap okay um and we'll talk I want to go back to the C Bank it is an emergency type of a fund for the township you get to use it later if you have an emergency if not you got to go to emergency appropriation you got to send that down to the local Board of Finance to get that now let's compare Rockaway Township to pcip Troy Hills band off to pcip Troy Hills you can't it's not Apples to Apples nowhere near it in fact their budget increased I think it was O was 2.78 I think it was uh Randolph 3.87 even though they had no tax increase the budget still increased 3.87 they have 126 Township employees you heard uh what somebody come out we have 500 close to 500 there's no Apples to Apples here no orangest T it's you're not comparing if you're going to compare a town to Pony you got to compare a town like a sister town like Wayne or something like that great maror over there I like the Randolph Maro I like the Rockway Township mayor but it's a lot different we have a like like the council president said the services that we offer here in the township s Hills is bar bar on I was a Township administrator in tesb Township and Lebanon Township guess what they got for both pickup once a year once a year so if you have V pick up you had to wait a whole entire year but for senior citizens they gave it twice a year we give it every Friday every single Friday you get bulk pick up and yes there was comments made with regards to privatizing garbage I was not in favor of it I was a controller of a Sanitation Company I know how San sanitation works I understand it wholeheartedly and I do know this I know it's probably probably and this is now nothing to anybody else's jobs one of the hardest jobs in the township sanitation and I can tell you that firsthand sanitation and I believe they do a great job and I know they do when I have a resident may be upset I'll say to them and I'll up front with them Hey listen you know you got one guy in the back of a truck one driving when they dump that truck that's 18 tons that means that guy in the back Prett much lifted 18 tons during the course of the day so I do not want to get rid of our sanitation department because you're never going to get Services the way you get them here in pan no other Town gets them like that uh and I'm and I'm proud and I'm proud of that um with that being said though this is just an introduction the C Bank is an emergency type of a thing if if you don't want to do a cat Bank like the councilman uh McGrath said no not only do we have a lot of coming on we got we're going to probably have to build well more Wells when the supportable housing kicks in where's that money going to come from well it comes from the emergency typ things that we're going to be doing in town so thank you council president yeah I just like to clear up two things first to to the mayor um I appreciate you've presented the best budget possible and and we're going to take it from here but uh I want to respond to the council president because um I guess he must have some Amnesia that he thinks I said we needed to privatize our trash pickup because last year at the budget hearings the ones that we held that you didn't want to do so let's just remember that want to do I voted to do it well I'll respond when you're done but um the the plan that I put forth was very similar to the plan that you council president Theo and Greg Nani put forward in 2019 it was almost identical and there was no privatizing of our DPW in that plan so it's a lie it's not true I didn't discuss it last year and most of the people who were at those budget hearings last year know the same thing right now I'm going to respond I'll put you on a lie detector test right now because you know you had those conversations with me you had those conversations individually with other council members you wanted to lay off you wanted to privatize sanitation you wanted to close the senior center because you wanted to lay off 130 people and your exact quote to me is I don't care if they get pink slips it's not my job to find them another job which to me there's no way I'm going to allow that to happen you wanted to you wanted to get rid of senior busing the free busing for the seniors because you said you staked out bus stops and didn't see more than three seniors get on a bus at a time so you said we don't need that and your quote was I said to you how are they going to get there and you said they get there with an Uber that's a fact put you on a lie detector test right now now I know they're not Court admissible but that is a fact and you know it well the only person that wouldn't pass a lie detector test is you so uh when yeah so yeah so when it comes to the budget you're going to you're going to you're going to say the other council members that you all had that in you wouldn't say it in public you wouldn't say it in public because you're not going to want the sanitation guys to know that you're talking about laying them off you're not going to want the seniors that live in town to know that you're talking about closing stuff down like that you wouldn't say it in public but behind closed doors he would say it yeah well you you can make up here saying things that that is a Justin that that was the truth I was in the room when you said it that was the truth you did say that I mean maybe you were inexperienced at the time but you did say that okay any um anything else before I move on okay consent agenda moving on beat resolved all items listed with an asri are considered routine and noncontroversial by the township Council will be approved by one motion there will be no separate discussion of these items unless a council member so request in which case the item will be removed from the consent agenda and considered in its normal sequence on the agenda may I please have a motion to approve the agenda motion made by Mr neglia seconded by Mr Hernandez motion made by Mr neglia seconded by Mr Hernandez roll call Mr Hernandez yep Mr McGrath yes Mr Mella yes Mr neglia yes Mr kifi yes okay motion passes moving along to approval of minutes agenda meeting 35 2024 regular meeting 319 2024 may I please have a motion to approve the minutes motion motion made by Mr legia seconded by Mr McGrath roll call Mr Hernandez yes Mr Mella yes Mr NE U Mr McGrath yes Mr neglia Mr kifi yes motion passes moving on to presentations and reports mayor well you got my report tonight pretty much I thought we were going to have um Kanis members here to do a proclamation they are oh you are here oh you are here okay are you ready next time we'll put you on First and any the township you want [Music] so department heads um you guys can leave if you'd like or you're more than welcome to stay except for uh I'm just kidding great job on this really did [Music] thanks oh council members want to come down oh it's all all right for the Quan organizations yeah I know you know what I got one new [Music] SCS the New York Lottery I'm good I know okay the township of Pon tro Hill's [Music] Proclamation whereas we all have responsibility as individuals neighbors community members and citizens of the township parro HS to help create healthy nurturing and safe experiences for children and whereas healthy and safe childhoods help produce confident and successful adults and there as child abuse and neglect of in occur when people find themselves in stressful situations Community Resources and don't know how to cope and whereas incidents of child abuse and neglect can be reduced by making sure all families have the support they need and deserve to raise their children in a healthy environment and whereas it is recognized that no person can do everything but that everyone can do something and together we can create change for the better and whereas effective prevention programs succeed because of Partnerships among nonprofit organizations government agencies volunteer organizations schools service clubs houses of worship law enforcement agencies and the business community and whereas Kanas Club of Greater poony strives to promote awareness by planting a pille garden at Pon Town Hall in April to serve as a positive reminder that all children deserve great childhoods happy healthy and safe now therefore I James R barbar the mayor of the township shro HS to he by claim April 2024 a side Abuse Prevention month in the township of p t Halls and I urge all citizens to engage in the activity I strengthen families and communities to provide the optimal environment for children to learn grow and fve so that all children have the benefit of happy healthy and safe childhoods dated this 16th day of April 2024 I'd like to just add one more thing you want to hold that Frank um since I've been mared well back in 2010 until now the the coris club has been so significant in the community of parpy they're Staple in the community they've done so much um especially during Hurricane Irene um you partners with sons of Italy um Hurricane Sandy you all the Children's Miracle Network you know now when I come from the family we lost my brother to um uh brain cancer but you have been a stable in the community I can't thank you enough all of you and colas for all you do for the community cuz we can't do it by ourselves we have to be a team and partners so thank you you want to say anything Frank all right okay [Music] so huh one more [Music] we got I think we're do that okay [Music] okay um anything else mayor that's fine I'm done okay moving on to uh Township Council any member of the township Council yep so I got a few so couple things coming up Chamber of Commerce is going to be this Tuesday on 423 at 8:30 a.m. it's going to be at the uh the Chamber of Commerce office at 90 East Hy Road third floor I mentioned this last time great opportunity to come and engage with your peer businesses here in par siany additionally transpar the transparency advisory committee uh we are tentatively going to be on for Thursday the 25th at 6:00 here at Town Hall I'm going to verify with all the members uh Ked and I were just confirming dates and times I had available here again highly recommend that we have everybody uh within the community attend especially now that the budgets are uh being presented and the last one is economic development the economic development team alongside mayor James Barbaro will host a ribbon cutting ceremony to officially welcome wash and Wags on Saturday April 20th at 11:30 a.m. washing wag is located at 87 North beverick Road public is cordially invited to join the celebration the next meeting of the economic development committee is Wednesday May 1st at 6:30 p.m. at 90 East Hy Road Third Floor conference room please note this is a change of date public is invited please RSVP with chairman Frank Cahill at 973-559-6787 we've talked about one is a provision of 5,000 to 50,000 to reimburse business Proprietors for expenses linked to interior exterior enhancements and acquisition and installation of new fixtures furniture and equipment so far what about three months to date Frank we're over 600 thou $600,000 applied for by different businesses in Pary so pretty incredible when you think about what the opportunity for folks are and as we know the bever Wick streetcape um project is coming up so we're going to also work with the mayor and with uh Justin Lisa and the people that are going to be doing that work to put together a a meeting for those folks as well to make sure that there's an opportunity for them to understand what's going to happen and know that these grants are become available that's it thank you Mr McGrath any other member of Town Council I was just going to ask if we could get the latest crime report I always hate to keep asking you but if there's a way we could just maybe have an auto set to to be emailed or presented that would be great sure sure okay moving along um C patney uh no report this evening council president business administrator yeah real quickly thank you council president Council uh resolution 20124 064 on the consent agenda is a resolution uh appointing qualified purchasing agent setting the bid threshold we have Suzanne Taylor here uh with us and I want to uh welcome her aboard um Suzanne has brings to the town over 25 years of experience um in her spare time she teaches purchasing at uh Ruckers um I that's where I first met her I took three classes with her and I made sure after the first class that I got the second class with her and the third class because I learned so much um she's an incredible asset to this team um you'll see your agenda is packed a lot of that stuff is her fault and it's going to be her fault for the next few meetings she's doing a lot to uh make sure that we're compliant and make sure that uh uh the every dollar that goes out is watched okay I have no report moving along to ordinance's first reading 20246 an ordinance of the township Council of the township pacif Troy Hills Morris countyy New Jersey establishing chapter 298 entitled privately owned salt storage beat resolved at the above ordinance being introduced read by title and passed on first reading at a meeting of the township council at the township precip Troy Hills held on April 16th 2024 and that sett be further considered for second reading and final passage at a meeting to be held on May 22nd 2024 at 7 p.m. prevailing time or as soon thereafter as the matter may be reached at the municipal building in set Township at which time all persons interested shall be given an opportunity to be heard concerning set ordinance be it resolved that the clerk be authorized and directed to advertise set ordinance with notice of introduction thereof being published in the official newspaper according to law motion to approve the above resolution make a motion second motion made by Mr Mella seconded by Mr McGrath roll call Mr Hernandez yes Mr Mella yes Mr McGrath yes Mr Nea yes and Mr Ki yes motion passes ordinance 20247 ordinance of the township Council of Township PRP Troy Hills Morris County New Jersey amending chapter 225 land use subdivision and site plan to create article uh 16 related to storm order management controls be it resolved that the above ordinance being introduced read by title and pass on first reading at a meeting of the township Council of Township cfany Troy Hills held on April 16th 2024 and that settledness be further considered for second reading and final passage at a meeting to be held on May 21st 2024 at 7:00 p.m. prevailing time or soon thereafter as the matter may be reached at the municipal building in set Township at which time all persons interested shall be given an opportunity to be heard concerning set ordinance be further resolved that the clerk be authorized and directed to advertise set ordin with a notice of introduction thereof being published in the official newspaper according to law motion to approve above resolution motion second motion made by Mr neglia seconded by Mr Hernandez roll Mr herandez yes Mr michella yes Mr McGrath yes Mr neglia yes and Mr Ki motion passes ordinance 20 2408 Bond ordinance providing for various water utility Capital Improvements in and by the township pacif Troy Hills and the county of moris state of New Jersey appropriating 5,300,000 therefore and authorizing the issuance of 5,300,000 bonds or notes to finance the cost thereof be a resol that the above ORD has being introduced read by title and pass on first reading at a meeting of the township council at a Township with syney Troy Hills held on April 16th 2024 and that settled be further considered for second reading and final passage at a meeting to be held on May 21st 2024 at 7 p.m. prevailing time or soon thereafter as the matter may be reached at the municipal building in set Township at which time all persons interested shall be given the opportunity to be heard concerning set ordinance be further resolved that the clerk be authorized and directed to advertise set ordinance with the notice of introduction thereof being published in the official newspaper according to law motion to approve motion second motion made by Mr neglia seconded by Mr Hernandez roll call Mr Hernandez Mr Mel Mr McGrath yes Mr neglia yes and Mr yes motion passes ordinance 20241 ordinance of the township Council of the township prci Troy Hills authorizing the payment of claims without the claim claiming certification pursuant to njsa 40 col 15-16 C and njac 5 col 30-9 A6 be resolved that the above ordinance being introduced read by title and pass on the first reading of the meeting of the township council at the township pacif Troy Hills held on April 16th 2024 and that sness be further considered for second reading and final passage at a meeting to be held on May 21st 2024 at 7:00 p.m. m. prevailing times or soon thereafter as the matter may be reached at the municipal municipal building in set Township at which time all persons interested shall be given an opportunity to be heard concerning set ordinance be further resolved that the clerk be authorized and directed to advertise set ordinance with the notice of introduction thereof being published in the official newspaper according to law now please have a motion to approve motion motion made by Mr neglia seconded by Mr Mella roll call Mr herandez yes Mr Mella yes Mr McGrath yes Mr neglia Mr yes motion passes moving along to the non-consent agenda R 2024 61 authorizing participation in National P purchasing Cooperative known as the source purchasing Cooperative motion to approve make a motion second motion made by Mr Mella seconded by Mr neglia roll call Mr Hernandez yes Mr Mella Mr McGrath yes Mr neglia yes Mr Ki yes motion passes uh R 202462 uh Grant fee exemption in connection with permits for construction zoning zoning engineering fire prevention Health parks and Forestry and Recreation Department to the Women's Club of precipi Troy Hills motion to approve motion second motion made by Mr neglia seconded by Mr Hernandez roll call Mr Hernandez Mr Mella Mr McGrath Mr neglia Mr Kiki motion passes R 2024 63 authorizing award contract the Berto construction for North beverick Road Road streetcap Phase 2 motion to approve motion mtion by Mr Hernandez seconded by Mr neglia roll call Mr Hernandez Mr Mella yes Mr McGrath Mr neglia yes Mr kifi yes motion passes r224 064 appointing a qualified purchasing agent and setting bid threshold motion to approve motion second second second okay so motion made by Mr um neglia seconded by Mr Mella roll call Mr herandez yes Mr Mella yes Mr McGrath yes Mr neglia yes Mr kifi yes congratulations uh R 22465 authorizing the purchase of a multipro 1750 sprayer and accessories from store tractor utilizing the burden County cooperative purchasing system contract motion to approve resolution motion second motion made by Mr neglia seconded by Mr muella roll call Mr Hernandez Mr Mel Mr McGrath Mr neglia Mr motion passes r24 67 superseding resolution of the township Council of the township Troy Hills authorizing the award of contracts for professional Financial engineering environmental architectural appraisal archaeological housing and planning services for the 2024 year motion to approve motion second second motion made by Mr neglia seconded by Mr muel roll call Mr nandz Mr Mella Mr M Mr neglia Mr Ki motion passes r224 68 awarding contract for on-site wellness coach motion second second okay motion to approve by Mr neglia seconded by Mr Hernandez roll call Mr Hernandez yes Mr Mella Mr yes Mr McGrath yes Mr neglia Mr kifi yes motion passes moving along to the approval of payroll and bills list the CFO Leonard ho recommends authorization for payment number one authorized payment of the April 26 2024 regular and miscellaneous payroll estimated at $1,650,000 and number two pay the bills from voucher list of April 15th through April 17th which is 96,4 7896 motion to approve the authorization for payment please motion motion made by Mr Nea seconded by Mr Hernandez roll call Mr Hernandez yes Mr Mella yes Mr McGrath yes Mr neglia Mr K yes okay motion passes okay uh we're going to go into executive session uh for the public uh we do not anticipate being there more than 5 10 minutes maximum and we do anticipate that action be taken after the executive session with that being said executive session where resolution whereas the open public meetings act P 1975 chapter 231 permits the exclusion of the public from meeting in certain circumstances and whereas the township council is of the opinion that such circum such circumstances presently exist and whereas the township Council wishes to discuss attorney client privilege settlement recommendation and whereas minutes will be kept in once the matter involving the confidentiality of the above no longer requires confidentiality the minutes can be made public now therefore be it resolved by the township Council the township Troy Hills that the public be excluded from the meeting motion to adjourn into close session please motion second motion made by Mr neglia seconded by uh Mr Mella roll call Mr herandez yes Mr Mella Mr McGrath Mr neglia Mr kifi yes okay we're adjourned at close session that we shall be back out shortly thank you Mr K yes we are uh now back into Open session at this time we're going to move on to resolution uh before we do that uh may I have the um Township attorney just provide a brief report sure uh we emerged from executive session at 9:01 p.m where we discussed one matter uh which was a pending litigation matter uh K versus Keegan at Al uh no official action was taken copy of these minutes will be available at such time as the committee Council determines there is no harm to the public interest thank you Mr Ley uh R 202 2466 approving settlement of litigation caption can versus ke Keegan at L docket number mrss l 85420 in the New Jersey Superior Court law division of Morris County motion to approve resolution motion second motion made by Mr neglia seconded by Mr Hernandez roll call Mr Mella yes Mr Hernandez yes sorry I went out of order there Mr McGrath yes Mr uh Mr neglia yes and uh Mr kifi yes okay a motion passes uh can I please have a motion to adjourn motion second Mot which are made by Mr neglia seconded by Mr Mella roll call Mr Hernandez Mr Mella Mr McGrath yes uh Mr neglia and Mr kifi yes we're adjourned thank you everyone have a great night