##VIDEO ID:RELjDCraxuM## yes Council agenda Township ppy Troy Hills Township Council agenda meeting of November 12th 20124 introduction posting a notice adequate notice of this meeting has been provided in accordance with the requirements of the open public meetings law by following the notice in the office of the Township Clerk and by posting the meor notice on the bulletin board at the municipal building on December 20th 2023 where it has remained posted since that date a legal notice appeared in the daily record of the New York Star Ledger on December 26 2023 may ask everyone to please rise for the flag salute flag United States of America stands Nation God indivisible lice for all roll call Mr herandez here Mr McGrath here Mr Mella here Mr neglia here Mr KY here also in attendance are mayor James Barbaro business administrator Jamie cry Township attorney Michael lver municipal clerk CED Madden council president we have a quarum may I begin yes please okay upcoming meetings November 26 2024 at 7:00 p.m. is the regular meeting December 3rd 2024 at 7:00 p.m. is the agenda meeting ordinance and second reading there are none at this time uh moving along to the public session I'd like to entertain a motion to open a public session make a motion second motion made by Mr Milla seconded by Mr negli a roll call Mr herandez yes Mr McGrath yes Mr Mella yes Mr neglia yes Mr kifi yes floor is open to the public at this time you have five minutes to speak on any matter please prior to speaking uh sign in thank you [Music] you good evening kenowski pipany I have several things to to bring up tonight uh first I'm looking to see if the town has posted the result of the 2023 audit on its website I've been told that it's not happened you can correct me if I'm wrong uh M CC president you want to wait till he done with all sure okay um if it has not been posted then you know when is it expected uh second as some of you know I uh uh looked at the actions that the highlands Council took recently to provide the towns with a GIS tool and training to help determine their fair share housing obligations uh I found out today finally after a lot of effort that uh the town indeed had uh received notice of this and that two people uh Ed Snus and Dustin glass from Samano and Barney had both participated in the training so I very happy to hear that orany is on top of this um we look forward to hearing their report in terms of whe what what kind of a you know how this could affect our uh fure housing obligations so that could have been a whole issue but it turned out uh people were on top of it uh the third thing that I was wanted to bring up at the previous meeting we were informed that the Redevelopment attorney had submitted applications uh requesting that the council start the process to determine the need for two L uh for redevelopment on two lots four gate Hill Drive and two silven way uh my question is do these applications provide any information on the planned usage for those sites and if so can we access this information second is that your understanding that if these sites are developed for nonresidential applications that this will likely reduce paran's fair share housing number because these properties were used in the calculations to determine the available land for fair share housing if you want me to repeat that I can do that I'd love it if you repeat that one that's sorry okay well let's can you answer my first question about the the audit and then it's online yeah I'll send you a link okay very good so the two questions I had about that application was one was there anything in the application that would tell us what was planned for those sites no uh the there's there's not full applications I I believe what we have is um and may correct me if I'm wrong we I don't think we have full applications with the resolutions we had talk about uh what they want to do and it was mainly about getting the escrow uh it wasn't a financial agreement it was about um allowing our professionals to uh do regular work for these potential applications and make sure that the town is not paying for them that the applicant is would be PID that's the the main Crux so so there's no information on what they planning to you know build a gym um open a library create senior house there's no evidence as to what they're trying to do with those sit so one of the things I we want to proba hit on is in the planning board this then goes from there to the planning board in the planning board it's determined by the planning board is this should we look at this if the planning board determines yes it goes to the planner the planner comes back with hey here's what I found here's what's going on so we just did this I want to say it was on 610 lawana Avenue so June 10th we voted on moving lacana Avenue to a Redevelopment to see was it in need of Redevelopment that one was just in the last planning board so you can actually go back and watch it listen to our planner talk about here's why it does require Redevelopment there's mold there's things going on blah blah blah so that's kind of the next phase of this Ken is is going to the planning board and inside there we talk about is this worthy of of a Redevelopment or not okay so the second question is maybe a little bit more hypothetical but uh just my my own understanding of how things work uh if if it's if the pl for these locations are non-residential you know a gym uh a warehouse anything non-residential is it likely that this would reduce the fair share housing obligation numbers because those sites were probably included initially in whatever determination was made as potent to as far as potential sites for fare housing I yeah I don't think it reduces you know cuz you're going to get that number it there will be less land to build those on but it's not going to change so if I understand your question correctly is like look if we went out and buildt like commercial uses on all the vacant land in parsipany would that relieve us or reduce our number the answer is no uh because you still have an obligation to build X number of units yeah I thought that obligation though was built to some extent on available area correct but but think about what you're saying right so if any Town wanted to avoid doing that what they would do is Zone all their remaining land conservation or and listen I'm not justifying it I have the same misgivings about the affordable housing mandates I'm just telling what the law is so okay so a lot of people have tried to do things similar to what you're talking about so you know we'll see what the highlands number comes back because I think that number is going to be a lot more realistic than what the uh DCA initially came out with so we'll see fingers crossed there you go all right thank you very much thank here first I sign in then I tell you who I am right yes and all you got to do is just state your name nothing else okay my name is Dorothy Aller no he didn't sign I'm a who didn't sign Ken Ken hey Ken you never signed I did you sure I in the first class okay where his name [Music] don't three meeting speaking penalty ratting you out that was a girl scout okay my name is Dorothy allerin and the reason I'm here today is certain things have been happening I live on Foxhill Road um the town refused to um parti participate in the discussions on these virtuals with where only Denville was talking about the awise um Fiasco where they wanted to build on the wetlands it affected the people on the outskirts of parsipany Fox Hill Road residents were affected as well as I don't know if that's Fox Run Fox whatever it is up that way and I went to some of the virtuals was very disconcerning at one point even um the mayor Andy near the end said um maybe Paran should be involved in this um this they have some land in Paran that b Weiss wants to build this Fiasco uh metal stamping um medical situation which would affect Fox Hill and the um bound other boundaries so the parimon residents who were um involved in listening to these virtuals during covid we got together and we typed a little I typed a little letter and brought down to the town you were not involved at that point it was s an I think and I hand delivered it saying here's the group of us we would like you to participate we're going to be negatively affected we need your support till today I I'd even called I think I know if her name was Joan the secretary whatever it was she's very nice I said did he get that yeah he got it and we got it I think it's something like a nut a bolt and what's that other one that you do oh yeah you all know which one it is right nothing no representation by the town of parcion horrible things happen happen parsipany did um recently Mr Justin lucella you know came over talked to US helped a little bit um but pipany did nothing so now I happen to after this I realized myself I said you know I never noticed that 8 ton sign on Fox Hill Road as you enter from Route 46 I think I noticed it right around the time that they were doing this off wise uh building and whatever so I've lived here I I'm even older than I look but I've been here over 50 years as a a property owner and when I moved into Fox Hill Road it was Rainbow Lakes up at the top it was a beautiful little place a community then I see um recently there's an 8 ton sign as you enter Fox Hill Road 8 tons and I'm thinking to myself how much is 8 tons let me see I've been out of gram School 50 60 years possibly 70 um not 70 50 we'll leave it at that anyway I look it up and I see that's a very large vehicle 8 tons it's uh 16,000 lb and I'm wondering why did did parcion decide which I didn't never notice the sign till last year to let that large of a truck have to be a truck go down our street if you know Fox Hill Road you attempted to do a little widening but not much because there wasn't much to play with on the road it's up and downhill it's around um there aren't sidewalks except for about four or five little tiny sections where there's maybe one block it's narrow if you let an 8 ton truck go down that street which for some reason I connect this with this or wise stuff because Fox Hill Road goes to 46 and 53 it's a shortcut for these work Vehicles why are you doing this to us there's a firehouse with a 20 to 40,000 lb truck safety issues you got Wawa you got the gas station you got all the stuff that you've added on school at the end gas station WWA no sidewalks narrow streets winding roads up and down Hills kids and baby carriages ma'am time up ma' and two other streets intersecting we are in a terrible situation and this is not fair it's just not fair it's taking advantage of helpless taxpayers ruining their environment ruining we have to cut you off I apologize cuz everybody gets everybody gets the same amount of time I do apologize if there's anything else you'd like to say you could tell them after the meeting I do apologize man I you don't have to apologize I know the rules you'll get yours when I get mine I think the a time I think the A on sign he put that up in the no more than at the request of the president because attorney cut good evening um I live on Fox Chase Road which is off of Fox Hill Road and the awise construction which is a metal stamping come warehousing has been trying to build on those wet lands since 1992 I have papers here to show you that they've been trying the uh EPA of New Jersey put a stop to it in '92 they Denville Mo 90 97% of the property is in Denville but there is a a little bit that is is for siony they decided to have cut all the trees of from the Wetland they have built to the point where we have no security we have no privacy we have noise pollution light pollution and once the the construction fence comes down there's going to be people from luga road walking through our backyards there so there's a safety issue there and we already have people throwing trash over this construction fence onto our property we see people taking their bio breakes facing us and it it is it is beyond ridiculous we had a a letter signed and sent to and sent to the mayor in parip there was no response no interest when mayor Barbaro came into the picture we did the same thing again with that same letter saying that we have had nobody come to our Aid there was no interest because we were not we are not Denville residents we were not represented by Denville we were not supported by uh pipany we are almost like taxpayers who don't count our property values have gone down we we are at severe risk of having all kinds of issues happening the wetlands have been uh decimated completely there there have been studies that were done earlier which which we tried to pull up and and tell them about flooding and and you know water pollution that's going to happen didn't make a difference did not make a difference because they did it with virtual meetings during covid and they passed it well Justin happened to uh meet us uh at at a at a at a gathering and he showed some interest in helping us and the way he helped us was to get us uh discounted uh uh Trees and Landscaping people to come and plant four Maples on our property now the property length goes probably like 300 yards from you know from one end to another if not more four trees are going to do nothing right they they'll they'll give us some kind of a shield 15 years from now when they grow but right now zero and when we keep asking for help we don't understand why paron treats us like non-citizens yes we are on the edge of parpan we're not in the center of parip but we still parip taxpayers what I mean are you going to give us a some kind of a tax rebate because our property values have gone down heck no I don't think so because if if we were to petition for that you'd say no no no you're you were valued at this or that get a lawyer for everything it's like get a lawyer like we are all rolling with money to get lawyers anyway I'm I'm done thank you Justin for your help much appreciated [Music] my name is Amit Mitra uh I live on six Fox Chase Drive and uh sign my name and and then show you what I think uh in 2008 I walked into the that house I walked through the house and I looked at the woods at the back and I said this is going to be my home I paid a premium for it quite frankly uh the there were Wet Woods in Wetland uh they were protected there were uh wild turkey Fox Cubs even an occasional bear used to walk through our backyard uh coyotes it it it was beautiful and I love nature so I used to spend time there uh we got a notice saying that the woods were going to be replaced by a warehouse and a metal stamping Factory so we there it had been denied before uh the former mayor of Denville told me that he'd been approached and he denied it but they were pushing for it the present Council and Denville was pushing for it nobody wanted people up and down Denville residents parip residents we went to town halls uh no no use uh they finally there was a uh a report uh that on flooding on the damage that would be caused by done by the state and the FEDS uh they refused to enter it into the records in the town but anyway uh that's passed uh they they cut the trees down the woods were totally decimated the building of a factory there the our we we have no security they cut the trees every commercial establishment I've seen uh leaves a little line of trees between them themselves and any residential areas they cut the trees right down to my lawn in the backyard there's nothing and uh we approached actually uh two of us my other neighbor is not here we came to anarie uh we described our homes were shaking with the construction my laughters were rattling pictures were falling off walls his chimney cracked we came to Anar and we said this is what's happening weo we had approach the Tom Andy Tom Andy said go get a lawyer so we came to you because you are supposed to protect our interest we pay a lot in taxes I can tell you that I pay a shitload in taxes and I'm getting nothing and and then uh nothing happened and like she said all the bad things are happening light pollution no security uh where there were Woods we have a monstrosity at the back Justin was the only person who took an interest out of the whole town he helped us plant some trees hopefully they will provide some screening but our problems are still not solved I mean the problem of security uh the pro homes have been devalued U you know are you going to take less taxes from us to that uh what would we my I would have never bought that home if I knew I'd have a factory in my back so I'd like to know I you know I'd like to be represented I'm a taxpayer I think I deserve that so that's all I have to [Music] say and thank you Justin for taking an interest and at this late stage there's not much more we could do with you help us at least scream some of that thank you thank you me and and I truly wish I knew sooner and I could have done more I I like to respond to Mr MRA if I may council president with regards to being ignored by the township which is false which isn't true with all um you were sent an email with regards to we've been talking with multiple people in our own construction and zoning department regarding a distressor issue to see how it would be handled had the construction taking place within our own Township and we've we've sent our own um construction individuals down there to monitor it and all that kind of stuff with regards to that area so when you you know I read in the in these areas that nobody we were ignored you aren't ignored we were sent down to our construction department and like Dorothy said it's not in our purview this is not Township property this is denville's property and although I agree with you with regards to taking the trees down uh if there was a followup and you know after you got an email from us I see most of your correspondence were with um mayor Andy I will speak to Mayor Andy tomorrow I will definitely speak with him with regard guards and see if we can replace trees first and foremost I know you had the um followup with the trees being placed in there I don't know if it's Township property or is it your property those okay so it's being is it okay then that's fine if it's your property with regards to that so I'll ask uh mayor Andy cuz I don't know who's doing the construction on that site and if they can put a buffer in that's even a lot better than what you have right now with regards to those trees that were put in there um and I'm only saying that it's I'm glad it's on your property because you can't plant trees on Town property because we have a parks and Forestry Department and we we plant certain types of trees in certain areas and there's a reason for that uh so that being said but I will speak to and U the mayor tomorrow to see if there's anything we can further do to create the buffer that you really would want and uh the individuals on the PX Chase mode I I would appreciate that and we never got to follow up I S no I'm just saying I I saw on the thing you know we plant a lot of trees I don't going to take pictures in front of them that's all that's all I'm saying all right there's and and listen we can talk offline um you want to stop an appointment in my office store and you know Mr demitra and you as well ma'am um with regards to that because um what I don't really want to happen there is just become a political issue because it seems that's what happens down during that time but I will tell you this I will definitely reach out to the mayor of Denville and I'll speak with him in regards to see we can get that buffer the way it is I also have our parks and FL director look at the area as well have him come monitor it and see what type of trees we can put there if that buffer is our property I don't know if it's our property or Denver's property obviously if it's on your if it's on your property we have a right away that we could probably plant trees there as well may I request one ma'am you could you could talk to the May if you want to talk to the May offline they'll talk to you over there individually yeah what I would in response to that I mean I've already spoken to Mayor Andes um and uh what he uh will do for the residents is make sure that any tree that dies on uh Aug Weiss's property will be replaced but uh additionally mayor Andy's requested that um the the the chain lick fence that they put up during the conu construction uh will stay in place so you know this um I know that it it's it's not a lot but at least we were able to do that for you um so I've already had that conversation with mayor Andy so I think that would be redundant to have another one well I will say this um coming from the mayor we'll have a lot more um to be totally honest with you sir yeah but you you didn't have it with them when they I'm G to have it with him so I just explain that [Music] soent I go ahead sure go ahead and um I mayor Andy has done this with other properties in the past as well so in good faith I'm hoping that when par talks with them that maybe even if it is their property that they put it a buffer it's happened near Glen mon Commons the same thing go right up to the line and I've tried to investigate their commission their environmental commission and there's no transparency in finding how these things were voted on so I think a conversation between the two towns is is good yeah good point hi um my name is Anita Shotwell I'm the managing Trustee of wildlife preserves which is a private nonprofit land preservation organization with our most active Sanctuary the Troy Meadows Preserve here in pipany in reviewing the recording of the October 22nd Township council meeting I was disheartened to hear mayor barbaria raise the issue of possible litigation with with Wildlife preserves I subsequently learned that this relates to a precip sewer line that was installed on Wildlife preserves Troy Meadows property more than 50 years ago with some unresolved easement and access issues for the record wildlife has been in contact with ppines sewer utility since 2020 consistently expressing our willingness to support and cooperate with the township for a fee I'm sorry for a large fee well I'll I'll let leave yeah sure yeah um let's see we would like to point out that while Wildlife preserves is not to blame for the current access issues it also does not appear to be the fault of the current mayor or councel it seems that some issues may have been unresolved 50 years ago and we thank the mayor and Council for working to resolve this long-standing concern rather than kicking the can down the line to become someone else his problem our respective legal council are now in communication and we are hopeful that we can find some resolution working together as most of the council is aware Wildlife preserves is the Township's largest private land owner and we are stewards of the Troy Meadow preserve with more than 1500 acres in pipany and several hundred in East Hanover this preserve was cobbled together starting in 1951 using private funds to purchase and maintain open space and Marshland including several housing subdivisions that were saved from development and preserved as open space while Troy Meadows has enjoyed a loyal constituency of bird watchers and naturalists it has remained somewhat of a hidden Jewel because of wildlife's focus on the flora and fauna and passive recreational youth over the last 10 years Wildlife preserves has expanded its Outreach with members of the community many of whom have been surprised to learn about this treasure in their backyards each day we are meeting more neighbors who would visit and share our desire to protect the wildlife habitat and incredible biodiversity right here in precip we have enjoyed meeting hundreds of guests at our Firefly and moth nights and we've had the honor of working with recors the precip environmental advisory committee and the precip green team on our popular batw walks and educational research this year Wildlife hosted our first block party open house at Troy Meadows and we had the great pleasure of participating at the precion fallfest handing out seeds and Troy Meadows Preserve Maps we hope to introduce a trail map by the end of the year Wildlife is also finalizing plans for an Environmental Education Center hoping to break ground in 2025 the Environmental Center will serve as a gateway to the Troy Meadows Preserve and provide better facilities and access to precip residents at no cost to taxpayers and in accordance with the goals of pran's 2020 master plan to develop an environmental center improve trails and improve Public Access as a charitable organization whose lands and programs are of Great Value and benefit to the residents of precip and neighboring communities Wildlife ask the council and mayor to consider all possible Avenues to resolve the current sewer line issues we are hopeful that a solution can be found which will minimize unnecessary legal fees for both parties which in our case takes away from funding that can be spent on future public programs and Facilities Wildlife stands ready to work with the mayor in Council we are happy to meet at any time not for a fee for discussion and to build a more positive relationship with the township of pping thank you yeah Council can you respond first for before you respond um I know you're a little upset and that's okay but I have to make it known that there's possible litigation that's my obligation to the council as well okay so all the wonderful things you do that doesn't that doesn't change any of that for the town and vice verse but if there's going to be possible litigation then I I I think I'm obligated to say something it wasn't against Wildlife preserved itself but something has to be resolved before we can move forward so I'm going to let our Township attorney I respond yes so I I don't want to litigate this in the public but the mayor made that comment based on advice that I had given him because uh what had happened was there's a project that our sewer utility wants to do with regard to this SE line which has been there since the 60s I think 1967 so we had title work done title work had been done uh by the previous Township attorney we found that the easan is recorded on all the properties on either side of two lots owned by life preserves um there's also a Liz pendant that was filed in Morris County Court Unfortunately they don't retain the record so there was a Liz pendant filed showing that there was litigation to I guess condemn that section of the sore line um but that they destroyed the records for whatever reason they don't have them anymore so what what happened was Wildlife preserves actually started this because Mr fella I think is your executive director or the president wrote a letter to our seur utility that said just to take a look at whether or not we have a sewer easement they were going to charge 15,000 or 50,000 well I have the letter so I'll be happy to provide it to you it's a public record they also said that for an easement like this that it was going to cost somewhere between 750,000 and I think a million two and again this is all that may not be true but that is in the letter that Wildlife Reserve sent to the town that's absolutely true another Reas no no no no no no no no it wasn't it was these lots and blocks so we actually I actually checked with the um because I couldn't believe that there's any way that this existed because I checked with alonquin the alanin gas line company they knew about our easement they could see that it was plainly visible there's manholes there's everything else so they said we've known about your rean forever now I could probably get their documents but you'd have to find you know they weren't going to give them to me willingly so um then we find that in 2020 or 20 recently Wildlife preserves wild for I guess you're there was going to be a center there and they delineated the SE easement through those two lots that are the subject of our discussion so they can't say that they I mean they filed the Landes application that showed that the sore Line's there so um I contacted you're actually the attorney for Wildlife Reserve called me because somebody after the meeting said oh there might be some litigation and I said well yeah that's right because we got this letter from your again I don't remember the gentleman's title but it said that just to talk to you guys about this was going to cost us $15,000 so I said if they're going to hang you up for $750 to $1.2 million you're not going to have much of a choice if that's the position they take so I sent a letter to your Council and then he just responded back so hopefully we can resolve it but it's I mean nobody wants to end up in litigation but the fact of the matter is that's a massive sore main that serves the residents of parpan it's been there since the 60s there's from from the documents that I've reviewed it's clear that we've had that and it's clear that Wildlife knew about it and again Wildlife filed an application for subdivision either subdivision or site plan it doesn't matter that delineated the very easement so they know they knew it was there um and and and again there might be some confusion because we wanted to do some work in that I'm hoping that turns out to be the case but at the time you know was just that no we're not even going to talk to you about it and this is what you're going to pay us to do that and if in fact we do talk to you you're going to end up paying us a million dollars for that easement that we already have I think you may want we can't we can't have any back and forth ma'am I'm sorry if I can ask some questions uh Town attorney ly uh we well first of all I don't want to you can ask the questions but if we do end up in litigation and this doesn't get worked out because it's we the sewer Line's been there for 60 years so me it's a very a very simple question can we just arrange a meeting councilwoman Hernandez and I met with Anita and Len for a tour uh they were very gracious very accommodating and willing to work with the township can we just meet with them and sit down well like I said their attorney just responded so hopefully the facts are as they are represented and then maybe we can resolve it but at this point um I you I don't want to say too much in the public comment coun president if if I may counc I I think this is definitely definitely best handled by the lawyers um and that's the way that the organization set this up um there's really no choice but to have the lawyers handle this um it's it's I mean astronomical fees to fix sewer pipes uh it blows my mind but I think it's best to have the lawyers handle this really and not even talk about it because it's it doesn't serve any uh uh body it there's no need to embarrass uh Wildlife preserves there's no need to litigate something in public I think it's best if we just have the conversation uh offline between the lawyers and hopefully come to a nice easy resolution and if I may add um I was contacted but I I I made the statement that if there's possible litigation that I will not meet with anybody when possible litigation [Music] my name is Jack Rea I'm a member of the parity tral Board of Education these comments are in my capacity as a private citizen and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Pary Board of Education in the September 10 Town council meeting a vote was taken to hire D Maria and D Maria to audit the Board of Education the vote to hire them pass three to two some questions what is the current status of the audit was an engagement letter sent by The Firm agreed to and signed by the firm and the town was the scope of the engagement provided in the engagement letter what was the written scope of the engagement at that town council meeting the implied audit scope was changed to the demographic forecast can the public receive a copy of the engagement letter has the engagement started has any work been performed who has been contacted to commence the audit was the fee agreed to at 17,500 has it subsequently changed has the accounting firm been paid its fee or any portion of its fee if it was so important prior to the agreement between the town and the Board of Education why is it a priority after the announcement of the agreement the entire episode was disconcerning because it was a slander of the administration the Redundant audit implied wrongdoing but there was no but there was no indications through analytical review of any wrongdoing the Board of Education met its filing deadline of December 12 2023 with an unqualified opinion on its audit with no internal control weaknesses indicated that December deadline has subsequently been moved to January starting this year because 75% of the towns in the state could not meet the deadline that is a testament to the Pari School District administration on a separate note state senator pachio has been a longtime critic of pilots in an interview from 2011 he referred to a 2010 report by New Jersey state controller Matthew boxer titled A programmatic examination of Municipal tax payments sounds like a a quick reader but here are some highlights from the executive summary of the report payments to municipalities by businesses and developers in L of taxes known as pilot payments just stort Municipal incentives in using and structuring abatements at the expense of counties school districts and other taxpayers information concerning a batement agreements is not published in a transparent manner or centralized location making it difficult to impossible for the public to compare calculate the effect of or be fully aware of those agreements directly affected stakeholders are not involved adequately in the abatement decision-making process Redevelopment are in which abatements may be granted typically are not periodically reviewed to account for neighborhood changes or improvements tax abatements and this is still from the report should be used carefully and sparingly given the multitude of pitfalls their far reaching impact and the reality that exemption from taxation is a departure from the normal allocation of tax obligations we meaning the New Jersey Controllers Office recommend County School District and public should assume greater roles in the abatement process pilot Arrangements should be structured in a way that encompasses the interest of counties and school districts a thorough cost-benefit analysis of community impact should be undertaken before awarding a tax abatement from reading this and given our experience over the last year it looks like no reforms have been implemented in the last 14 years In fairness these tax abatements did not foresee the co pandemic and the resulting change to corporate office needs however I welcome I welcome you to discuss tonight any reforms that have been implemented that which the public may not be aware of thank you if if I could just I'll respond and I'm going to respond later in my report uh first of all any type of amendments to these uh the pilot comes from the legislators they don't come from the township this is legislation that was passed by the state I forget when what time and on whatever so and and when when you bring that up with regards what's the town doing the town doesn't legislate the state government the state government legislates your assembly legislates your state senators legislate your state senators had many opportunities and your state assem many opportunities that change the process um so you're going to have to petition your state legislators uh District 26 legislators since brought Mr ponacho up Senator ponacho um Jay Weber San and uh Brian Bergen assemblyman those are the ones that can make the difference and change in the legislation I agree with you would probably make things a lot easier uh but the bottom line is that the town doesn't doesn't legislate that mayor what about the most important point you brought up what is the status of your audit of the Board of Education well I don't know how that's the most important but I I'll say this the status is is still being reviewed and when you when you mentioned 17,500 now Jack I I know if you know how the procurement process works I don't know if you know that it do yeah I know you come up and you sp out all these numbers but there's a procurement process and there's a way things that work during the P procurement we have to pass resolutions when we hire individuals so when we hire somebody it's up to 17,500 cuz you make it sounds like we spent 17,500 that's I don't know what we spent yet I spoke to the auditor today I'm going to find out but you may that's it might not be nowhere near that and if you you did an audit and you're confident in your audit then there's nothing really to worry about [Music] good evening everyone my name is Richard Suarez resident of par sippy uh before I speak about what I wanted to speak about I find it strange that council members who are part-time had the time to reach out to the mayor of Denville and find out what was going on with with the property of of these people and yet we have a full-time mayor who didn't re re reach out to him yet I mean these people are are part-time the mayor in theory is is a care careful the mic so my question is why did the part-time people have time to do it and our full-time mayor didn't now for what I wanted to speak about um we recently had a uh a Halloween festival and there was a banner across it that said mayor bar barbaros pumpkin patch my question is did the mayor pay pay for that sign or did the city pay for that sign that's OB obviously a a subliminal message telling people that the mayor did did this in anticipation of his run for re reelection so my question is and I do expect an answer who paid for it and how much was it now we get to the pilot issue which is an ongoing Fiasco once again mayor Barbaro is moving forward with plans to Grant more pilot pro programs in Paran as usual he is short details I guess John engino didn't tell him what he had to say yet engo is the puppet master in this town we all know it during the last election mayor barbaro's name was on the ballot but in truth be told someone else is pulling the strings during barbaro's previous term in office he lost election because of his friendship with John ingino whatever John wanted was good enough for mayor barbaria the mayor often claims how he was born and raised in Pary and how much he loves the town he certainly has an odd way of showing it he consistently goes against the overwhelming majority of the public on most issues such as Pilots school funding and the replacement or renovation of the Lake haata Library just to name three we must also remember this would not be possible without the help of the Town Council which is merely a rubber stamp for whatever Coors Barbaro and engo want two of barbaro's loyal council members did not run in the last election one of them was replaced by someone who will not follow the mayor blindly AKA councilwoman Judy Hernandez come the next election the residents of parci must complete the job and elect a new mayor and replace council members that have been loyal to Mr bar Barbaro and not doing the job that they were sent to do which is represent the citizens of Paran now I'd like to know a who who paid for for for the banner b if the city paid for it why wasn't it just called the parip pumpkin patch why did the mayor's name have to be attached to it pardon me 30 seconds thank you and lastly um to we have an update on what if anything the DT is doing regarding the intersections where we've had numerous people lose their lives in the last year thank you answer counc president I I can answer some of those questions good uh first of all I I think that um uh having a sign that says mayor barbaros pumpkin patch is quite normal um and quite regular and I think that it's less political than your statement there your statement is very more political than having a sign for the mayor who's a sitting mayor you know if there was something that said uh reelect or elect or something like that that makes it political um otherwise it's within the bounds of uh excuse me excuse me excuse me back and forth excuse me it's within the bounds of accepted uh and normal um actions in any municipality um as far as the dot goes uh they're ongoing you see them working on some of the uh um intersections now and they're continuing to do that and um we met with uh them they came up the commissioner came up and they're going to be dedicated to uh doing their best to fixing some of these issues on their roads and we appreciate that uh from them um and I think uh that's about it yeah and then with regards to the lake High wa the library I know you keep coming up here Mr sorz with regards to but we visited the lake High W um library and I made a recommendation to the council um I wouldn't put a nickel into it right now it is in bad shape it's in really really bad shape and I and we have what $6 million for I think 3 million from the they get funding we have 3 million we' be putting money into something that needs a lot more than than than 6 million so we made some recommendations to the library and possibly to see if this property that we have of course in Lake kwaa because you want to keep calling the Lake kwaa Library that possibly it might be actually more efficient um financially more sound to build a new one um because this one when I went in there it it was and and and the director and I you know I said I get it now it it was in bad shape 1948 it was built um there's you're never going to have enough parking over there ever and the fact of the matter is that it's the whole entire building I mean from mold you name it I mean they say there's no mold there but when I went down there I could smell so that was the recommendation we made and we're looking at properties in the lake highwa area that we own that we can hit like like I the library there we're not we're not going to have any if you want the price banners you can do like any other resident do you got to put an open request in cuz I don't know the price but you're going to have to and I'll save you a pumpkin I'll make sure I get you one good evening everybody pun Agarwal I'm the resident of clenon Commons uh some of my friends have been here for the last few months so I'm looking for three things an update one is is the update on the lawsuit that was filed against the Builder uh the second is the engineer was I think so sent to look at the cross-section between old over and Mountain B and third one is is there any update on repairing the mountain B section which leads into the Denville uh the road conditions are horrible we have been coming for quite some time so I really hope that we get some positive from all of you thank you yeah so the uh as you know the well you may not know your friends probably told you that we had filed a complaint against the developer uh the developer filed an answer and a uh thirdparty claim against the homeowners association so now the homeowners association is involved the homeowners association has not answered yet but I'm sure they'll be answering shortly they may name other parties in that lawsuit I I don't know you know I don't represent them so I don't know so I I would think that you know shortly we'll have everybody into the litigation that needs to be there and then we'll go from there then it starts a discovery process and then you know you know maybe we can get into mediation or arbitration and see if we can resolve it early on that would be a good thing but right now everybody hasn't answered so what about the single own well again this is in litigation so I could talk to you afterwards but the problem is there was a case about 10 years ago that says that even if you're not in the HOA if you're getting a benefit from the roads and and again I think the developer has some responsibility the HOA has some responsibility one or both of those may have full responsibility but that's going to be determined by the court so and then on Mountain way I did uh email Justin lizza the engineer about that because there were some complaints about it and I guess there is work that's being done there um and I can give you a copy of this email that just Liz sent back to me so there is work that is going to be done there um Mike I highlighted the Mountain Way Improvement area because on the last agenda the council had approved um a contract for improvements there so uh the township engineer sent me an email with a copy of the picture of where that work's going to be done and I don't mind giving you this after the meeting so you can just take it look at it okay seeing no other member oh just wait no I'm sorry I apologize I did not see you uh good evening everyone my name is John Rod uh County Community Manor District 2 actually where my my neighbor is right here um I was made aware that there's a zoning board position available I have placed an application with you know I've sent it to every member of the council also to the town clerk I'm just seeing if there's you know been any thought about it or any resolution so your application like all other ations were distributed uh amongst the governing body and uh will be considered and discussed among them and then once the decision is made they'll go ahead and vote on whichever member they they decide should be on the next meeting's agenda thank you both yeah I think John's experience his background will add a lot to the board of um adjustment so I I strongly support his application any other member of the public okay seeing no one i' like to entertain a mo to close the public session make a motion second motion made by Mr uh Mella seconded by M Hernandez roll call Mr Hernandez yes Mr McGrath yes Mr Mella yes Mr negia yes Mr kifi yes the floor is closed um you guys can we we should be done shortly and you can address the the governing body right right after okay um soon as we're done we should be finished very shortly and you can just address it to them I apologize um so I'd ask the governing members and the administration to quickly review the consent agenda to be voted on at the next meeting seeing that there are no questions from the governing body or the administration moving along to the approval of minutes also to be approved on at the next meeting moving along to the presentations and reports at this time um mayor uh thank you um C so um on Saturday November 2nd I was I walk in Laona from s right Leon atlon restaurant to our community with a vibrant ribbon cutting ceremony um I have to tell you this jam it was was delightful I had breakfast for coffee there I know most some of the council members there as well um and it's nice to have them in town they're located at 44 North pepck Road throughout Monday to Thursday from 6:30 to 2:00 p.m. and let's show our support November 4th I was joined by the paron township department heads and member of the paron police department for coffee with a mayor I'm sorry I put mayor on there but I am the mayor for St Peter's Golden Age club meeting and they will provided an opportunity to engage in a question and answer session with myself and Township employees and it went very well we stated a lot of facts of them a lot of things that are happening in town they asked a lot of great questions uh with regards to roadways Pilots all that and they were answered in a fair Manner and um uh was very receptive on November 8th I had the prose of attending the senior prom at the pan senior community cent center where I had the delightful task of crowning Vicky rice and Peter Gillespie as the prom queen and king the atmosphere was the live way and the seniors really enjoyed every moment of it it was actually great also on Friday November 8th I graciously received a $2,000 contribution for the P food pantry from the El Lodge 2078 the donation was presented by exalted ruler Joe Shia along with members Bill karco Kim pelli and sha rice also our Council vice president Frank negler with me because he's also a member of the El slads yesterday was a special occasion for all Americans to pay tribute to our veterans both who have served in the past and those who are currently in service and I I I say this so hard what I'm about to say thisly I wanted take a moment to remember the remarkable veteran my father Gregory Michael Baro he b b for in World War II in the Army he made significant sacrifices that have shaped the life I lead today and many individuals lead today because our wrw en forces also following that I went to All Saints Academy to commemorate viran day with a help a help s me heartfelt ceremony celebrating Local Heroes and like I said a son of a World War II veteran who served in the Army I am ESS and grateful to All Saints Academy and its students for acknowledging the sacrifices made by military men and women pilots so um I have had several opportunities to meet with the Board of Education president uh Andy Cher with regards to the pilots and we've had some really really great discussions and all you you all you're ever going to hear from some of the board members who come up here and saying I'm here as a resident not a um Board of Education member I I can never say I'm here as a resident uh not as the mayor you either elected official 24/7 or you're not your views are your views and there nothing wrong with having views even if you're an elected official um when it comes to education funding for educational Pilots so the revenues generated from Pilot agreements can be allocated various educational programs facility improvements and resources that schools need to enhance the quality of Education this can include funding for technology extracurricular activities and infrastructure upgrades now when we met with the school board uh superintendent Bob Suter and Andy Chao and myself and um Jamie cryan we went out through the school and we saw a lot of things at possibly the town can help them out when it comes to our Pilots but I also want to make it clear that these Pilots aren't going to be on board for maybe 3 to five years um there's a whole process that goes on when you get a pilot and and the final process is getting the co and once you get the certificate of um you know occupancy that's when the pilot kick in so it's going to be a long plan you know term and and we're going to really work things out I feel very confident work with Andy um um he's been actually great and you you know we we just went through the schools and I have to tell you there's a lot of situations in our schools that have to be addressed there's no doubt about it and if the council can help out in any way we want to do that um so that being said council president that's all I have to say today oh I do want to say this I'm sorry I'm scrolling because this is important because as you know baldman Road repair update baldman Road project is finally complete so if you go on baldon road you have a nice smooth Road you have very nice lines all painted and um so I want to thank uh you know our superintendent of s who has been very patient and all of us are try to be as patient as we can with regards to that so thank you council president thank you count you councel um I just have one thing um I was glad to see that the highlands Council reported that you guys did the open space and Trail report yay getting some money for our Highland conformance so thank you yeah um for my report I'm I'm glad that Revolution NJ uh is on here resolution number 11 we have some members of our historic advisory committee uh so kudos to them for you know their hard work and and keeping that moving forward um you know one of the items that that did come up it's been a persistent issue is the matter of the conduit house I understand that Hunting Ridge owns the property that the uh the building is located but it is designated as a as a historical uh site and um you know I think an in an update on where things stand I understand there was maybe some conversations a while ago between the HOA and us um but would like to bring that to the the top of um of the list um I would like to thank all the you know people our neighbors in puddingstone that welcomed Courtney and I into the community uh people brought us chocolates brownies cookies and uh you know we're really excited to uh to set up shop there and maybe by the next council meeting you know our our son will be here so uh definitely you know some really exciting personal news um and then I also want to thank um you know serbo and uh and wall Landscaping uh for coming together uh and helping the the residents of uh Fox Fox Hill and Fox Chase in light of the circumstances that they experienc with their uh the development um and I did go on a visit with uh councilwoman Hernandez of Troy me Meadows um I I'm going to park aside the talk between the loyers but uh it was a it was a good visit I saw how the town um could potentially help with to Paving Troy Meadows Road road that we own um and also maybe investigating a trash net uh which is a very small expense but it could capture a lot of the the Plastics pollutants that go into the uh to the meadow that that we all drink so that's my report and and also you know happy Veterans Day I thought the town did a great ceremony yesterday honoring all of our veterans any other member of council okay Township attorney yeah the only thing I have council president is that as you know uh Glenmont Common's developers had sued the township uh because we denied they had submitted an Oprah request for a copy of a sewer report that the township commission to see if our sewer utility would be able to handle additional uh waste that was going to come from a proposed development in Denville um as that was predecisional the open request was denied Glenmont com sued we won Glenmont Commons then filed a motion for reconsideration with the judge and the judge ruled in our favor again so hopefully that is the end of that that's the end of my report thank you Mr Lavery business administrator uh thank you thank you council president thank you Council and mayor uh just a couple of things but first I want to congratulate and thank um all the residents who uh get out and voted last Tuesday and did their civic duty that's whether you're happy or unhappy with the results it's um it's great to have a day where your voice is heard and uh for us it was a a great opportunity because um it went off with that incident and everything was status quo here and thank you to the clerk's office uh CED and your team for um putting the work in starting before the sun rose and uh finishing right before the next sunrose uh it's a long day for you guys and we really appreciate uh all the hard work that you did uh the 2024 Municipal best practices inventories in uh has been submitted and um so each year the uh uh local government services requires all municipalities to answer serious qu questions regarding local government practices um the inventory evaluates a municipalities compliance with various laws and assesses the implementation of fiscal and operational best practices uh questions are designed to encourage municipalities to embrace practices that promote sound management Financial accountability and transparency 69 questions um in a number of different categories uh CFO Leno and I uh dedicated a significant amount of time to this to answering the questions and we uh got a lot of support from the department heads and we appreciate that um we uh so they have been submitted we're in good shape uh we achieved a score of uh 40.5 out of 46.5 it's good score surpasses the threshold to ensure full state aid and uh uh performing better than and we performed better than recent years so it was a good thing for us um we're very happy with that those uh the questions and answers will be posted online in uh the next coming days um the njde held a drought warning public hearing today that our water superintendent um uh participated in and this was in response to the unprecedented dry spell and declining water storage supplies order uh the NJ DP held a drought warning public hearing this morning which uh we took part in while no emergency exists at this time in relation to the Township's water supply the NDP May begin urging the public to voluntarily use water sparingly and may order us to manage our supply if this situation continues which it looks like it may um so that's uh uh very important so this water superintendent uh mayor and I will be meeting on this in the coming days to see if there's any changes from uh uh the D but it's really unprecedented times that uh you go a whole month without rain it's really strange um so please make sure you conserve water and be careful out there no fireworks no uh fires uh of any kind and be as careful as you can uh on the agenda is uh up for your consideration is um a resolution for CFO appointment um authorizing the appointment of Angelica satini for Director of Finance and the CFO position very excited about this we have done uh we did an extensive search um and uh received a large number of resumés uh interviewed uh the best candidates that we thought and Angelica really uh stood out uh uh from the pack um she'll be a great asset to this town um she is she's had her cmfo license since 2019 currently she's a tax collector qpa and uh CFO uh she started in municipal government as an account clerk in a water department so she worked her way up and is held just about every position possible and um I'm really excited uh uh for the possibility of working with her and I think that you'll uh um uh be excited as well um with that um I've had the opportunity for the last you know almost two years to work with Len ho our current CFO um and uh it's been a a great opportunity to work with him he uh was very dedicated cared about uh his job and cared about the residents and took his role as the custodian of funds for the township of parcion very uh seriously um and we appreciate uh all that he has done and all that he will continue to do I I'd like to add something to that when I was the township administrator in uh tberry I was fortunate enough to work with Len and I told Len you know if I become mayor of Paran again I would love to have you on board he took our Ro and he did a great job in it but he has different plans for his future so um I know how dedicated he is how smart he is how loyal he is to the township uh but um Angelica when we interviewed Angelica so literally knocked my socks off uh very well educated knows the position well and highly recommend it uh by um John Reinhardt and if anybody knows who John Reinhardt is he's probably one of the better best CFOs out there um and highly he's highly regarded so he gave her a really great recommendation yeah and just to add on to that John Reinhard uh teaches uh all of the CFOs the the classes um to get certified so he has a a better understanding than just about anybody of who's doing well um and who will do well um and he's also a current CFO of Bergen County too so he lives it as well um the uh 2025 uh requests for qualifications request for proposals are out and on the website uh they're du back uh November 15th uh hopefully we'll get a robust um uh collection of proposals and qualifications uh met this week with uh Morris County um mors county is developing the local Safety Action Plan uh it takes a look at safety concerns on roads in the County's 39 municipalities uh we had a meeting this week it was group meeting number two uh it was online um the NJ uh uh TPA is uh putting together uh the study for them so if you it's it's really important for prity residents to get involved and uh go to the site it's morris. safety plans nj.com morris. safety plans nj.com uh to participate in a survey and there web mapping activity excuse me so you can take a ser survey of what you think the biggest issues are and you can map uh areas of concern that you've seen um the during this last meeting they talked about all of the um uh uh uh pins that were dropped in Floren Park and Morristown pretty much saying that people residents of Morristown and Floren Park had done the most uh uh participated the most so it's really important that part do that too because our roads are are uh dangerous and it's really important to uh have the opportunity to have some uh grant funding brought back here uh to fix some of the problems that we are experiencing and um that's all I have thank you council president moving along to ordinances uh the ordinances will be voted on at the next meeting with the exception of ordinance 20248 which is the ordinance of the township proy Troy Hills in the county of moris state of New Jersey providing for a special emergency appropriation in the amount of 1, 255,000 to fund contractually required Severance liabilities resulting from the layoff or retirement of employees of the township be it resolved that the above ordinance be introduced read by title and P on first reading at a meeting of the township council at township reci Troy Hills held on November 12th and that said ordinance be further considered for second reading and final passage at a meeting to be held on December 3rd 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 sness with a notice of introduction thereof being published in the official newspaper according to the law motion to approve the above resolution make a motion second motion made by Mr Mella seconded by Mr neglia roll call Mr Hernandez yes Mr McGrath yes Mr Mel yes Mr neglia Mr kifi yes motion passes moving along to non-consent agenda r224 178 granting a so moving permit to onx properties block 202 lot 3.10 motion to approve resolution above make a motion motion made by Mr Mella seconded by Mr neglia roll call Mr Hernandez yes Mr McGrath Mr Mella Mr neglia Mr Ki yes motion passes R2 24179 authorizing the purchase of open gov Asset Management soptware motion to approve the resolution above make a motion motion made by Mr Mella seconded by Mr um that Mr megia somebody spoke up I spoke the same we spoke said the yeah I'll second it um Mr neglia roll call um Mr herandez yes Mr McGrath yes Mr Mella yes Mr neglia Mr Ki yes R22 4180 awarding contracts for the Furnishing and delivering of water and wastewater treatment chemicals motion to approve the above resolution motion second motion made by Mr neglia seconded by Mr Hernandez roll call Mr uh Mr Hernandez yes Mr McGrath Mr Mel yes Mr neg Mr Ki yes r224 181 contending to the appointment of the Director of Finance and Chief Financial Officer of the township Troy Hills motion to approve the resolution above motion second motion made by Mr neglia seconded by Mr Hernandez roll call Mr Hernandez yes Mr McGrath yes Mr Mella yes Mr neglia yes Mr kifi yes motion passes okay moving along to approval of payroll and bills list um CFO Leonard ho recommends authorization for payment all one number one authorizes payment of the November 8 2024 regular miscellaneous payroll estimated at 1, 650,000 and number two payment of Bill from voucher list of 11124 through 11324 which is 1,815 81551 18.20 motion to approve the authorization for payment above motion second motion made by Mr neglia seconded by Mr Hernandez roll call Mr herandez yes Mr McGrath yes Mr Mella yes Mr Nea Mr Ki yes motion to adour the meeting motion make a second motion made by Mr neglia seconded by Mr Mella roll Mr Mr Hernandez yes Mr McGrath yes Mr Mel Mr neglia Mr K we're adjourned have a good night everybody Sur when does she you know know she