##VIDEO ID:jS87mgSz8Xw## Council agenda Township precip Troy Hills regular Township council meeting of December 7th 2024 introduction posting of notice adequate notice of this meeting has been provided in accordance with the requirements of the open public meetings law by filing the notice in the office of the Township Clerk and by posting the meeting notice on the Bon board at the municipal building on January 4th 2024 where it has remained posted since that date a legal notice appeared on The Daily Record in the nework Star Ledger on January 8th 2024 can ask everyone to please rise for the flag Loop okay uh roll call Mr herandez here Mr McGrath here Mr Mella here Mr neglia here Mr kifi here also in attendance are mayor James Barbaro business administrator Jamie cryan Township attorney Michael Avery and municipal clerk CED Madden uh council president we have a quum you may again upcoming meetings January 7th 2025 at 6:30 p.m. that's the reorganization meeting followed by the agenda meeting and then January 21st 2024 at 7: p.m. which is the regular meeting moving on to ordinances second reading and public hearing ordinance 20249 an ordinance of the township council at the township prpic Detroit Hills Morris County New Jersey amending and supplementing chapter 420 water to increase water rates and charges the notice for ordinance 20249 was published in a daily record the official newspaper of the township proci Detroit Hills on December 6 2024 introduced at the November 26 2024 regular meeting motion to accept ordinance 20249 motion I second second motion made by Mr neglia seconded by Mr Hernandez roll call Mr Hernandez yes Mr McGrath yes Mr Mel yes Mr neglia Mr K yes okay I'm moving on to public hearing motion to open up the public hearing for ordinance 20249 motion second motion made by Mr neglia seconded by Mr Melo roll call Mr herandez yes Mr McGrath yes Mr Mella Mr neglia Mr K yes okay the floor is open to the public on this ordinance only you have 5 minutes to speak only on this ordinance okay seeing no one motion to close the public hearing for ordinance 20 2419 oh Nick come on up Nick of course why am I not surprised sir uh call me at Tai wat can we have an overall assessment of how this uh new raise will uh affect the average citizen in uhing what are you done CU I can answer that yeah it's uh for minimum quarterly quantity of 10,000 gallons the charge minimum quarterly Charges going from $364 to $37.79 so $364 to $37.79 for minimum quarterly gallons of 10,000 gallons the minimum that's it that's yeah I got I give you you can see him after the meeting all right I'll ask question again anyone else okay seeing no one motion to close the public hearing motion can I get a second second motion made by Mr neglia seconded by Mr Hernandez roll call Mr Hernandez yes Mr McGrath yes Mr Mel yes Mr neglia Mr kif yes whereas the above ordinance was read in title on second reading and a hearing held thereon now therefore be it resolved that said ordinance be passed on Final reading and that notice of final passage be said ordinance be published in newspaper according to law motion to approve motion motion motion made by Mr Hernandez seconded by Mr neglia roll call Mr Hernandez yes Mr McGrath yes Mr Mella yes Mr neglia yes Mr kifi yes motion passes ordinance 20 2420 an ordinance of the township Council of the Township PA Troy Hills moris County New Jersey amending and supplementing chapter 329 section 17 sewer rental fees of the code of the township Troy Hills the notice for ordinance 20420 was published in a daily record the official newspaper of the township rcip trit Hills on December 6 2024 and introduced at the November 26 2024 regular meeting motion to accept ordinance 202 2420 motion second motion made by Mr neglia seconded by Mr Hernandez roll call Mr Hernandez yes Mr McGrath yes Mr Mel yes Mr neglia yes Mr kifi yes okay a motion to open up the public hearing for ordinance 20242 motion second motion made by Mr neglia seconded by Mr McGrath roll call Mr nand yes Mr McGrath yes Mr Mella yes Mr neglia yes Mr Ki yes okay the floor is open to the public on this ordinance only you have 5 minutes to speak okay seeing no one can I please have a motion to close the public second motion made by Mr neglia seconded by Mr Hernandez roll call Mr Hernandez yes Mr McGrath yes Mr Mel yes Mr neglia yes Mr Ki yes okay the floor is closed whereas the above ordinance was right intitle on second reading and a hearing held thereon now therefore beat resolved that set ordinance be passed on Final reading and that notice the final passage of set ordinance be published in newspaper according to law motion to approve the resolution above for ordinance 2024 20249 motion second motion made by Mr negli as seconded by Mr Hernandez roll call Mr Hernandez yes Mr McGrath yes Mr neglia yes Mr kifi yes motion passes ordinance 2024 21 ordance of the township Council of Township ccip Troy Hills moris County New Jersey amending chapter 119 cannabis of the code of the township of parfan Troy Hills the notice for ordinance 20242 was published in Daily Record the official newspaper of the township forp Troy Hills on December 9th 2024 and introduced at the December 3rd 2024 agenda meeting motion to accept ordinance 2024 21 motion motion second motion made by Mr Hernandez seconded by Mr neglia roll call Mr Hernandez yes Mr McGrath yes Mr Mel Mr neg yes Mr Ki yes okay moving on to the public hearing could I please have a motion to open up the public hearing motion second motion made by Mr neglia seconded by Mr McGrath roll call Mr Hernandez yes Mr McGrath yes Mr Mella yes Mr neglia Mr K yes okay the floor is open to the public you have five minutes to speak on this ordinance only oh problem my name my name is um try no my name is Bob vedia I live in Pary um I think that the Council and the public need additional information to decide whether they can support or oppose this cannabis or tonight and some of the specific questions [Music] I questions that I have are as far follows um how much tax revenue is a retail cannabis dispensary expected to bring in each year what are the annual cost estimates to parcion to support a cannabis dispensary for example costs associated with issuing licenses and permits to The Dispensary costs associated with the enforcement of regulations and conducting inspections costs associated with the increased need for police in order to address potential increases in impaired driving illegal sales and cannabis related crime costs related to auditing the financial operation of the dispensary to ensure that parcion is receiving the tax revenue that is entitled to next question the license to operate a cannabis dispensary must be renewed annually can parp deny a license removal if any of the following condition occur if the net income in tax revenue generated by sales at dispensary does not meet expectations if traffic accidents in parip increased by an amount that exceeds statistical Norms if crime in parpy increases by an amount that exceeds statistical Norms if the usage of marijuana by school AG children increases by an amount that exceeds statistical norms and if medical condition conditions such as cannabis use disorder and marijuana addiction um reach unacceptable levels and the last question is what happens to the status of the dispensary if a new Administration and Council repeal the Cannabis ordinance or if precip voters reject cannabis sales in a future referendum if the administration and the council Cann answer these questions at this time then you too do not have sufficient information to vote on tonight's cannabis ordinance in this case I ask that you table the ordinance amend it if necessary and reschedule it for another time thank you you got any answers yeah I listen I'll just say all your questions if the tax revenue doesn't turn out to be what the town May believe it to be no you couldn't you couldn't deny a license if car accidents increase with no connection to a cannabis dispensary no you could not there's got to be some connection to the licensed business so if car accidents go up one year for something unrelated then no you couldn't if crime goes up if it's not if you can't tie it to the Cannabis business then no you couldn't turn them down if use of marijuana in children increases again you can't deny a license to somebody if you can't connect it whatever you think the ill is that it might create and and also remember that it's legal in New Jersey so other towns around us are legalizing it allowing dispensery so you know how do we know that somebody wasn't Under the Influence from some other facility and comes through I'm just that's basically the law is that you're not going to be able to deny somebody the renewal of their license unless you can have a direct connection and if it doesn't generate the type of Revenue that you expected that's also not a reason to reject it so um I'm just saying legally not whether I agree with it you all right council president good I um there is a renewal fee every year uh to add on to those uh questions answer those questions so every year it has to be renewed if uh an incoming Administration chooses to do things differently they can choose to do things differently any ordinance can be repealed by ordinance okay so there I I was concerned that there's there's a way out if things don't go the way they're supposed to so we do have a way out uh Nick comc again Lake Kaka uh I see here it's like we're creating a military prison uh video equipment tape recording uh private security guards or the precip uh uh police force is this a norm for uh operating a a boutique with marijuana in in the state this is well why isn't the same for liquor sales or vape products look at the degeneracy here it's all over the town they don't have cameras in in liquor stores and they allow these degenerate products how many accidents or uh you know drink drive and litter that that these products uh cost it makes no sense to be so Prejudice toward a ancient medicine that's been around for thousands of years and and it I don't know how anybody can even afford to open it up you might as well have a a a a detail from the Army Special Forces uh station at the boutique and the precip taxpayers money you we have to put the police there so it's a little little ridiculous and uh I give anybody credit who can operate any business under these circumstances but here's Here's the the the genery right here and it's all over the place and this is low this is a norm so it's a little little extreme good evening council members uh my name is Gina and I just have a couple questions um section 1197 on the license application requirements under d u just a question for the business administrator which is going to establish the application period whether that's rolling or whether there's a deadline um my question was when we can expect that um any news on that within the coming days or weeks um for when that period would be and then if denied an application um will the applicant be told a reason for that denial and if so would they be able to resubmit again and that's it that some questions um oh and if there's someone to point me towards um say a secretary or someone who knows more info on this um I'd be happy to ask them the same questions as well just repeat the questions one more time for me sure of course so um when might we know the timeline for when we can start applying for the Cannabis retail business application um and is it going to be uh like a deadline or is it going to be a rolling process so uh after the ordinance is passed there will be a 20-day stopple period okay once that period is over in the new year uh we will then put out on the bulletin when applications will be accepted they will be accepted on a rolling basis until the administration deems to stop that which they have a right to do so with regards to denials you may or may not be given a reason for denial okay that depends and would you be able to resubmit if you were denied you can resubmit assuming that the time period is still open okay thank you very much appreciate anyone else good evening first of all I want to wish everyone a happy holiday however you celebrate and a happy and healthy New Year if you got your health you've got everything I was wondering why the function to ask for oper request is not listed under the transparency header sir this says this is only on this ordinance oh it's only on it's only on this ordinance right now we didn't get to regular the public session is next sorry I got here late I apologize okay but anyway have a happy holiday [Music] good evening mayor and uh council members um as longtime residents of pany my husband Sean and I are fully in support of amending the Cannabis ordinance we would like to thank the mayor and his administration for the time and effort that they put into creating it as owners of Happy Days Boutique we''ve been public public L advocating for this change for the past 2 years throughout this time it has been our mission to make a positive and meaningful impact in our community we'd like to highlight some of the work that we've already accomplished through Happy Days Boutique we have held free educational programs on cannabis related topics including cannabis as a therapeutic medicine and destigmatizing cannabis we are co-founders of the precipi neighborhood watch a volunteer group established in July 2023 consisting of local residents that are dedicated to Public Safety through strategic Civic engagement we've developed and coordinated monthly watch meetings featuring presentations from organizations including the New Jersey bike and walk Coalition the FBI and we've also hosted a CPR and first aid course we are also active members Mission partners and sponsors of the quanas club a volunteer organization that improves children's lives through service projects that address critical issues like Education Health and poverty we've also connected with and established relationships with the chief of police and police department superintendent and members of the Board of Ed Town Council the economic development committee and many others who have a vested interest in this community we've done this to better understand what concerns exist and how we can work collaboratively to be a valuable asset to recipon public health and safety are a top priority for us as residents healthc Care Professionals and business owners and we believe in being public facing and transparent as you know the Cannabis industry is highly regulated it has strict compliance regulations to ensure public health and safety in addition to my experience working in the Cannabis industry my husband and I both own and operate businesses in healthcare which is also a highly regulated industry we understand what it takes to operate in this environment because we do it every day lastly as we continue to dedicate ourselves to service organizations that promote public health and safety and Youth Empowerment we hope to expand these efforts by opening Happy Days Boutique in pipany we are very eager to contribute even further for the benefit of our community thank you all for your time I would also like to thank the council for uh name's Tony foro for passing this ordinance uh I've had to go to other towns it's helping my wife's severe arthritis dramatically as compared to other creams thank you anyone else okay seeing no one I'd like to entertain a motion to close the public hearing motion second motion made by Mr Mr neglia seconded by Mr Mella roll call Mr Hernandez yes Mr McGrath yes Mr Mella yes Mr neglia yes Mr kifi yes he the floor is closed whereas the above ordinance was read entitled on second reading and a hearing held thereon now therefore be it resolved that set ordinance be passed on Final reading and that notice a final passage of set ordinance be published in a newspaper according to law may I please have a motion to approve the resolution for above ordinance 2024 21 motion second motion made by Mr seconded by M Hernandez roll call Mr Hernandez yes Mr McGrath yes Mr Mella yes Mr neglia yes Mr kifi yes okay motion passes uh moving along to the public session I'd like to entertain a motion to open up the public session motion second motion made by Mr neglia seconded by Mr muella roll call Mr Hernandez yes Mr McGrath yes Mr Mella yes Mr negia yes Mr kifi yes okay the floor is now open to the public you have five minutes to speak on any matter [Music] good evening sorry I had of surgery this weekend so I I really don't have much of a voice uh I see on the agenda that there is a an appointment you know for the zoning board position and you know I'd love the opportunity to serve this town and you know do more for it as I've lived here for close to 14 years I'd love to get more involved and you know with my experience in the Real Estate Field you know I feel that would be a great asset to the town [Music] than good evening kenowski forany I would like to talk to you tonight about the drought and uh resident awareness of the need to conserve water uh I was not here at the last meeting although I understand there was some discussion about this issue but I don't know if any action was discussed uh I do know that uh the need for water conservation was not part of the Weekly Newsletter that went out last Friday and there is still nothing on the town website about it I do know that the entire state is still under a drought warning with a d pushing water conservation me measures across the state Mr cryan sent me a message a couple of weeks ago in response to my email on this saying that the town was going to continue to monitor the drought and uh look for inclusion of future newsletters has the town decided that this is not an issue that warrants any attention or any action um I'm looking for you know in your input uh to me as to you know what your views are on this um but let me put this in perspective at least in terms of my views on this I noted a couple of days ago that there was also a notice on the website about drones now I don't know anything about the Drone situation um but in my view if I was to use that as a comparison of what's important to this town and compared drone situation versus water I'd say water is like 10 million times billion times more important than than the Drone situation I I did a quick back of the envelope analysis of the value of the residence residential units in this town and it was about $6 billion if we ran out of water that $6 billion valuation would instantly go to zero and so that's why I say water is significantly more important um than posting information about drones not that I have any problem with posting that information so my question is uh conserving water cost the town virtually nothing uh including this information in different media that you're already using cost us nothing why are we not doing something to educate people about this problem even you know they may have think that just because we got rain a couple of times and we have more in the forecast the problem is gone problem is as severe as it has been for months no one on the Town Council or Administration seems concerned enough about this to take even the slightest action to alert and remind residences and residents and businesses to conserve water my understanding is that no one really knows how much water is in the buried Valley aquifer from which we get most of our water given that we really don't know isn't it apprent to conserve this water haven't we had to replace some wells or at least dig some wells deeper due to the reduced water levels was that cost free did somebody come in and say you know I'll do it for you for nothing um whereas if we had conserved water maybe we wouldn't have had the some of those costs as the saying goes you can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink I have done what I can do on this issue it's up to you to decide if you want to drink thank you any answers to my questions about where you stand on this council president good Mr J I I I mentioned uh uh some of the issues that you brought up at the last meeting on on your behalf uh since you mentioned that you aren't going to be able to be here um we will uh uh we follow the D's guidance on this and we do do a lot of notification during the summer and during those times uh I think we will uh uh work on um our communication efforts on water on droughts and all of that uh during the other periods as well so we will uh work on that I haven't seen anything in months I mean it are we concerned about it I guess not okay thank you uh they call MEC again uh real quick the question was is the minimum usage diminished for the for the amount of uh water that's uh going to be used you have a minimum usage and it stays within a certain uh bound is that minimum usage reduced it stay the same the stays the same Y and I I and I can even give you a marked up is that your only question no okay sorry I have a a correspondence here from the uh Bureau of water allotment and well permitting from April of 2024 and uh in brief here a review of the most recent recent deficit Surplus evaluation from 2023 uh concerning precipi the water uh system has a system surplus of 1.51 million gallons of water per day 73.9 36 million gallons per month and 63068 million gallons of water for year now then he goes on uh Mr comar and he says uh the township State affordable housing requirements fall outside the pvy of the water allotment and we permitting and any comments or question about those responsibilities be directed to the township so this is the question what population number can this Surplus sustain that Mr Kar uh mentioned uh Mr Kar did not answer that and an example the average American uses 100 gallons of water per day the average resident uses 100,000 gallons during the year so I think this is important for the town to uh decipher and remember NJB has a lower standard than the highlands NJ DP does not consider how much water's going back into the ground only how much water you're pumping out but this might be uh helpful in the lawsuit against the affordable housing because how many numbers are we going to to uh be made to uh sustain so these numbers here might help us and and I think I sent you the one email with these numbers but I'd rather have somebody else do the math how much what population number does pcip water deficit evaluation how how much can that can that uh can what number population could that be sustained and I think that's important because then what's going to happen we're going to have to pay more money for diversions by more water from Jersey City and Mars County Municipal and who's going to share that bill everybody or just the developers and the residents of the new new housing and uh finally uh precipitate seems that it's okay with pilot deals for these rich developers 15 and 30 years but we need the political courage to it to not inflict but to administer a storm water utility tax which I talked about before on these large corporate impervious services and it's a good tax with a positive Loop loophole the money goes back to mitigate the impervious surface and and uh have it mitigated with green infrastructure but if you don't have the storm water utility tax and it only affects big impervious surf mostly corporate property you won't get the you won't get the money for that for that mitigation so I'd like you also to uh consider consider that and if you you need those numbers again for one of your uh Engineers or something to work out I think it's important and I think it's relevant to the law stre [Music] my name is Jack Ry I'm a member of the parity Trill Board of Education these comments are in my capacity as a private citizen and do not necessarily reflect the views of the parity Board of Education in listening to your comments at the last meeting I I want to point out that our differences are on policy and nothing else I respectivly respectfully disagree with a comment Mr cryan made at the last Town council meeting no one is worried about this audit especially since the board of education has its own audit that consistently earns an unqualified opinion that the financial statements represent barely the financial condition of the school district that it is completed on time unlike three quarters of the school districts in New Jersey and that finds no internal control weaknesses if anyone has any genuine concerns the public is welcome to attend Thursday school board meeting and listen to a present ation on the audit by the auditor of the school district of course in the long term the town's audit is beside the point the real issue is establishing a recurring shared Revenue agreement between the town and School District the mayor's correct that as of now there are no students from a pilot program in poran however that will change most likely at some point in 2025 as apartments at 1515 Route 10 come up for rent we have never said the students will all come once but is fair to say that there will be many more students in 10 years from Pilots than there are now demographic study suggests at least 600 more students than now assuming a lowball estimate of 20,000 per student cost that equates to a potential increase in costs of $12 million per year every year at a time when inflation and re Revenue caps have put a considerable strain on the budget of the school district as a result in my opinion a shared Revenue agreement on a per student basis would seem to be the only sustainable long-term solution for the town this issue has created uncertainty for the last year a signed agreement would eliminate that uncertainty Merry Christmas and happy New Year everybody Mr Rya just a quick question to uh follow up on what you said so you said this Thursday is the school board meeting and and your audit is going to the the auditor with um with the audit firm will present the results of the audit he'll talk about it the board members will will provide questions we'll ask questions that they have and uh and if there's any issue then during the public session anyone with the public can then raise any questions that they have as well and and for the public what time and what place will meting I believe at 6:00 on uh on U Thursday [Music] yeah on the 19th th thank you anyone else okay seeing no one i' like one more come on up Richard Suarez I apologize for getting here late and breaking the flow of the conversation before um I was wondering why the function to ask for an over request is not listed under the transparency header of the town website it seems like the logical place for it and would be easier for residents to find it I also hope that the town could post on its website reminding residents that foil wrapping paper is not recyclable and should not be co-mingled with other forms of paper destined to be recycled this time of year a lot of wrapping paper all gets mixed up it creates a mess at the murf units a new roof was installed on the Lake hawwa Library two weeks after the mayor said the town would not put another nickel into the building the roof has been leaking for years judging by the wet and molding ceiling tiles at the south end of the building tiles still have not be been replaced even though they are green and black mold on them why haven't they been replaced when you walk into the lobby there's lights out in the lobby it feels like you're walking into a cave and it's not a very inviting atmosphere for people using the buildings if the lights need tubes replace them if they need ballast to replace them I cannot understand why the building is treated as an orphan by this Administration perhaps if the mayor Barbaro had visited the site sooner the contract could have been modified to a roof repair and not a full replacement since the plan is to leave the structure for a new replace for new location why waste money for an entire roof replacement for those of you who may question my knowledge on Roofing I was the in-house CM overseeing Roofing projects in the $750,000 range at 2008 prices at my former position these included Ed EPDM roofs referred to as rubber roofs builtup roofs using hotar and coal process applications and slate roof repairs so exactly how much did the new roof cost perhaps in the range of $40,000 I I know put in an an over request for the price the Gish looking welcome to parcion sign on Route 46 which is something a used cot would normally advertise on should be replaced by a permanent dignified welcome to parcion sign with the city seal on it perhaps the state owned land in the area could be used for that purpose perhaps it it could in include the May the mayor's name as long as it was con conru ConEd with removal name plate when others are in office should this this should be done facing the eastbound traffic as well if land is available in that area lastly mayor barbaro's excuse for not attending the mayor's meeting about the mystery drones was one of the weakest excuses I've ever heard it may turn out to be an elaborate prank but no one knows for sure it may be something simil you passed on a meeting about a subject that the entire country is talking about to attend a holiday party with seniors your reasoning for skipping the Drone meeting was how the seniors looked forward to your attendance that of course is your opinion Mr Mayor I didn't know you could read mines you also stated you were briefed on the subject and did not need to attend the Statewide meeting exactly who briefed you on the drones Mr Mayor perhaps it was your radio talk show buddy Bill spia who you always seem to have time for to talk to no matter when it is and I left the page behind but I'd like to have some answers to at least some of those questions I come up here all the time I ask question and I get crickets for replies can someone please explain to me some of the questions why why why we spend money on on a building that the mayor himself said he wasn't going to put any money in into not a nickel was his exact quote I'm going to answer that real quick because I before you before you yeah let him let him finish yeah I'm done time's up done all right okay so up and I'll answer all the other questions later with regards to your drone comments and stuff like that the reason why we fixed the roof was because we don't have a location for a new uh library right now and the roof needed to be repaired so that's why we replaced it we weren't going to let it get more dilapitated so that's why and the director requested for for help from the township so what's that it it's been making for years you got your answer so all right it was kind of L sorry tell for again uh as a uh opposing mayor Jamie barberio 500 Mayors out of 600 towns did not attend that meeting also our assembly men Brian Bergen said it was a total waste of time and several others as far as the drones go the only people that can actually attack them or do anything or shoot them down is that been granted as the military they're looking into our County Sheriff's take taking action against the drones it's the same people who lied to us about CDC and what's going on today so we have to put up with it right for right now uh like I said but 500 additional Mayors did not show anyone else okay seeing no one I'd like to entertain a motion to close the public session motion second moot made by Mr Judy I got to say you've made so many motions today so motion made by Mr negrea seconded by Mr Hernandez roll call Mr Hernandez yes Mr McGrath yes Mr Mella yes Mr neglia yes and Mr Ki yes okay motion passes moving on to the consent agenda 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 requests in which case the item will be removed from the consent agenda and considered in its normal sequence on the agenda can I have a motion to approve the consent agenda motion second motion made by Mr neglia seconded by Mr nandez roll call Mr Hernandez yes Mr McGrath yes Mr Mella yes Mr neglia yes Mr Ki yes motion passes moving on to the approval of minutes we have uh minutes from the agenda meeting of November 12th 2024 minutes from the regular meeting of November 26 2024 may I please have a motion to approve the minutes motion second motion motion made by Mr neglia seconded by Mr Hernandez roll call Mr Hernandez yes Mr McGrath yes Mr Mella yes Mr neglia Mr Ki yes motion passes okay moving on to presentations and reports uh mayor thank you um CAD um I'll start off with uh December 6th uh there's an organization in Lake kwaa called the friends of lake kwaa and they're dedicated to the beautification of Lake kwaa especially after the streets gate gets done but every year they have Santa's arrival and that's run by Antoinette Simmons and John Pascarella and myself um Council vice president and councilman Mella were there to celebrate was actually a very nice event December 7th was a packed day uh pretty much I started at 8 in the morning with Applebees and these my BR this up it's toys fats with the US Marines and they um it was a really nice event nice uh to see a lot of our you know Township residents there those that are in need then also on December 7th uh serbo Nursery had trees for troops and um I attended that along the council vice president and Cal families an icon here in Paran they've been in par I think they're one of the first Italian American families I came in uh to Paran they've been a steadfast and committed to our troops I speak to the owner Tony serber who I played ball with siony hills U they make it a special day and a special event and then of course that night we had our um the township tree lighting which uh was a very eventful night for our our community a very eventful night for our children and um I want to thank uh the township employees that were uh dedicated for that day and also high school students from P Hills High School and pony High who um act as elves um then on the 9th uh we all all attended um the Crim Stoppers uh Sher gr is Crim Stoppers which is the a unit here in Morris County that was started I think Years Ago by uh Sheriff John Fox and and um at that time the chairman of the Republican committee um mois County uh John CI and it's been a steadfast it's been great for the um following you know following those that do crimes and get prosecuted for uh things that of course they shouldn't be doing I know uh councilman uh kify council president K is also involved in that as well um I want to take this opportunity to to commend um our P director um Nick bronzino once again uh we had a meeting this Thursday and I really appreciate the plans that you have coming up forward to partnership with the township of pany I and you you really seem to have a hold on it and and that makes me feel comfortable as a mayor I just want to make one thing clear since um this year actually we've spent less money at the P than we did previously we had a um director there who was being paid by the township and health benefits as well though that's no longer as of this year it was no longer and Nick is being paid by the uh P I just want to make won't understand that and make that clear because a lot of people like to make issues with regards to the township partner with the p and I can't figure out why that would even be an issue because the p is the parpan athletic league and we're the township parpan so you would figure that would be the best Avenue for the town to take not just that to also it helps both sides out our Recreation apartment as well as theirs okay Mr s I'm going to answer your questions with regards to number one the open not being on transparency page that's a simple fix we can put that on there that's I have no issue with that but I want to get to the signs CU you made several comments with regards to signs it started with the pumpkin pad sign and my name was on it I don't know how long you lived in parsipany I don't know how many years you lived here over three decades okay I'm here six decades so but that's beside the point mayor porori had a name on signs mayor Le had name on signs mayor uh Luther had name on sign I had my name on a sign and then mayor Sano had named on signs and now again I'm the mayor I have my name on the sign I'm not going to I'm going to be up front with you any signs I come out it's just my name's going to be on it there's no you know and you know it's nice I got call from residents who asked can we just pay for the sign I said no no this has been going on since pipes become a forner form of government and that's just how it is the mayor represents the township and I know you might not like that that's up to you I can't that's your opinion and and I respect your opinion but I'm not going to lie to you next time my name's going to be on it okay and that's not being arrogant that's just being the fact that that's how it's been but I have never seen you in any other meetings when I was when I took office in 2010 I was married 2010 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 never mention anything about sign Z I come back here nothing until about year before the election which I'm fine with now a sign on 46 I don't control that I was just as surprised as you when I saw my name on there but here's the thing if you go and you see because I had to call the individual up saying I don't know why my name is on there but it's your sign go to paramis go to all these areas and the maror signs up there promise mayor signs up there and you know what a lot of residents called me up and said that that looks pretty good up there thank you mayor for representing our town now I'm going to talk about the drones which has become a political issue not not so much you know I read all the statements with regards to the drones and stuff like that and yes I have been briefed I get briefed every single day about the Drone okay on December 3rd when I came out of a council meeting I saw 12 drones myself flying over Pony High School I contacted the chief I spoke to the business administrator let's talk about that meeting that everybody wants to make this big um Rift about uh about the drones that morning myself and all the Morris County Marys we get together regularly we talk to each other regular on a regular basis with regards so we had people going down there mayor's going down there and they were actually reporting back now for you to come up and say holiday party well here's what I'll tell you about our senior citizens I take them serious I love them I've known most of them since I'm a kid since I'm a little boy I went there and I talk to them about the drones we had a good discussion about it and then I find out that one woman was trying to get a picture of me to send to another political adversary to show that I was there could you imagine that I I I can't imagine who would do that on this Council I can't but that's that's that's why I'm going to take that so that being said I just kind of find it funny and also I'm going to let you know I'm going to be a regular on the bill spia show okay um that's I got to be candid with you I'm going to be very honest with you I am going to be a regular so that being said and there's a lot of other comments that were made by individuals in this room um that I'm just going to ignore them because they all want to say that you know I I I work for the federal government I did this I did that well you know what not for anything you don't any longer and I think the difference is this when I'm being told I'm not a leader you know why because I stand up to that person I don't take their garbage I don't take anything they say unless you want to have an open dialogue come to my office and what and have a really good conversation we don't have to agree on everything we that being said now I'm going to get to we can't have back and for Mr Sor you didn't so I apologize for that but it was meant for other people in the room as well um so let's get to this here yesterday we had a department homeless Curry FBI we had a I guess another one of those um what's it called Zo briefings again and we got no answers none whatsoever now I was on news nation and this is what I said on news Nation I said if the CIA doesn't know Secret Service doesn't know the FBI doesn't know and the federal government doesn't know how are we going to know and it kind of makes you wonder do they know I think they do know I think they're full of it I think they know and they're not telling us because when question was asked of me this what was asked of me mayor they say that these drones are nothing to be concern concerned about but they don't know where they're coming from well if you don't know where they're coming from how we not supposed to be concerned how are we not supposed to be concerned if you don't know where they're coming from or who's flying these um drones but there's nothing to worry about that tells me you know you know what's what's going on um I'm going to read into the record tonight uh we got this today if I can find it you have it on you which here it's got to be here my point is this so I can be transparent and I'm going to be transparent tonight yesterday during that briefing it kept cutting off I had our business ministrator on the briefing I had the chief on it okay so a whole bunch of us Mayors you know what we did we got tired of hearing nothing from the FBI from the CIA from the Secret Service we got tired of it so what we did is we went to gorab Medical Hospital for Children with cancer and I entered the a hospital where my brother was diagnosed with cancer a brain tumor and passed away I didn't want to go to that but I felt as a mayor to represent the township Pro TR Hills that was the right thing to do and if it wasn't for mayor Ace Gallagher I would not have went not because drones we have to live our lives first of all not because of drone drones or anything like that was because was the right thing to do and I am so happy that I went and I'll tell you why I was happy I got to speak to some of the kids there with cancer I know what my mother and father went through it was hell and what did we do we sung Christmas carols to them and you know what I'll miss any briefing long as I have backup which I do have which No One Believes I do but I do to go be with those kids and that was the greatest moment as a mayor for me that I got to speak to kids who had can answer and they felt they had hope that day that yesterday so I'm going to end it there but I also want to say this I want to wish everybody a Merry Christmas Happy New Year happy Hanukkah um kanano whatever you celebrate I'm a firm believer in all religions as long as they come from peace respect and love so thank you very much Township councel yes um I just want to Echo what uh mayor barberio said about Nick and the palal I happen to attend the meeting and as a uh longtime volunteer in this town of many different sports and activities I see the energy that Nick has and it's just amazing and uh you know reminds me of someone I knew many years ago but he just has so much energy and I just compliment uh the things that he wants to bring to the palal in partnership not only with the town but with the school district and uh I I commend you Nick and uh I'll be there to help has liaison and as councilman and as as just Frank Negley whatever you need from me and uh I appreciate all you're doing for the P I think you're going to do a great job um regarding the library I I did have a library meeting as well and um there's some things I'm going to you know I I'm going to talk to the business administrator about and the mayor regarding some of the other things uh in the building that are that are I think necessary to keep the building going for the time being uh that uh they're going to need in in the future just the next couple of years to keep the building moving forward and also on the agenda time is zoning Board of adjustment alternate 2 2-year Term 12 3125 violent unexpressed by a term and I'm going to uh nominate Betty Lou deos who handed in her her uh her resume uh Betty Lou has an amazing resume she's also a licensed municipal clerk in the state of New Jersey as we all know she's been an assembly woman um a real estate owner agent and uh she's just an amazing res May a Deputy Commissioner from the DCA president and co-owner of gallon deos for over 20 years uh it's just a person who knows this town so well and can do so much I think in that role and uh and really help the the zoning board so I make a motion to accept Betty Lou as the next candidate well before we we vote on that I have a motion on floor I'll second okay so we have a motion in a second uh yeah yeah we're going to get there a motion made by Mr neglia seconded by Mr K uh now we can have discussion yeah no I think it's it's great and all that she's been of service to the uh to the town uh don't dispute that she's got a stellar resume but why would we want somebody on the Zoning Board of Quasi judicial branch of our government who's currently embroiled in a $15 million lawsuit as we speak with a neighboring municipality and serious allegations have been made against this individual ranging from gross negligence and competence and Corruption from the current mayor of Dover so why would we want this person on our first all she has a civil suit against this town does not have anything she's suing she's suing the township of do thank you um so you know why why would we want her on our zoning board in the in light of this so are you saying that anyone that has a lawsuit throughout the country cannot put should not put in for anything because they have a lawsuit going on well no what look what I'm saying council president is that I think she can be of service to the township just not with an open legal matter I think that's incumbent upon us all we're putting somebody on a board like zoning board or planning board with actual power over our residents um you know this is a serious matter to not Overlook right but it's a civil matter it's not criminal matter yeah but would we want to you know be embroiled in this and what type of message does it send to people who are qualified like John rodick I don't think it would have anything to do with the town of pany it's between her in the to in the town of do has nothing to do with I I disagree I think it would be a bad look especially in light of qualified nominee like John who's been at this for a year who has a solid real estate background a new person who's interested in doing the work I think it is a is a better recommendation for us I mean I I would just looking at now I don't have anything against Mr Rodi but if you're looking at Mrs dcr's resume I mean this is a quite impressive resume no I don't dispute the resume I think it's a strong resume but I just think that it it is a serious thing to overlook active litigation maybe our our Township attorne nothing to do with our town Justin I honestly I don't think it has anything to do with the she's a plff in in litigation against her former employer so I don't think that if t or impairs or judgment on the Zoning Board of adjustment thank you personal opinion well I disagree with that opinion but we'll just put it to a vote okay no other discussion correct okay we have a motion by Mr neglia seconded by Mr kifi roll call M Hernandez yes Mr McGrath yes Mr Mella no Mr neglia yes Mr kifi yes so we have four yes votes one no vote motion passes and uh Mr croch is now the new um Zoning Board member of adjustment any other member from Council yes no I would definitely like to comment uh on a couple of things um you know I think you know first off uh you know I respect that the mayor did something that was very personally hard and going to uh a hospital to do carolling for for kids with cancer I think is is Comm commendable um I think that's a it's a really good act is something that you know I did this weekend um myself to people at care one with severe um severe uh diseases and and are in a living assisted facility I I think the the the question really is about you know when there are conflicting priorities especially in light of something that everybody is asking us about currently um to pick those prorities accordingly if we're in the middle of an issue that is of public concern the priority should be going to a briefing regardless of whether or not you know in advance um and I don't know how anybody could have known in advance that the meeting was not going to be of of good use um but that that is the the priority um and sometimes it's okay to say that you made a mistake and you would have done something differently um and in response to what Mr Suarez said uh I I don't have any issue with um the administration or the the mayor putting his name on things that you know previous Mayors have put their names of uh that that have been on before but I think what we're seeing here um particularly uh it it with uh the police department for instance has evolved where we have in the Paran Police Department a unit that is named the mayor James our barbaros community relations unit I don't believe and correct me if I'm wrong have any other previous Mayors named had their a community relations unit named after them I think that's a serious matter of politization and that's probably why uh residents are concerned by um stamping their name on taxpayer entities or or taxpayer uh signs and so forth um uh I think uh you know you know one issue that I uh I wanted to you know talk about is it possible business administrator crying that you know the documents like this are extremely helpful but is it possible that the public when we're making major Capital expenditures almost $2 million worth of vehicles that these be made in advance to the public so we're not just looking at an agenda and you know it's a considerable amount of vehicles that we're asking questions about uh yes it is possible it's it was also uh on the capital ordinance that went out earlier in in great detail I think the capital ORD was 17 or 18 pages long and each of those items were listed in there okay in detail and and I did also ask about r224 d220 authorizing the purchase of 1225 Ford Explorer active four-wheel drive vehicle with options uh which department is that for that is for recreation okay and is this a take-home vehicle or is this for only the department to have during Township uh business hours that is uh a vehicle for uh Recreation uh I don't not uh it's not listed as a take-home vehicle it's not something that's being talked about as a Tak home vehicle at this point do we know who the vehicle a 2012 it's for the recreation department okay yeah it's replacing a 2012 uh um I think it's a Jeep Cherokee some sort so who's currently driving this vehicle which um the the one in Recreation it's it's a recreation vehicle so so it's for multiple people it's for multiple people okay um yeah I mean I would definitely want to know if this is a a take-home vehicle uh that would definitely be important to know for me to vote on this okay I don't have that answer for you I'm sorry okay anybody else from Council good good yeah so economic development team alongside mayor James roberio welcome the following businesses to par siany with Riven celebrations Asian walk at 184 parci Road on Saturday November 16th Flor and Decor at 1159 Route 46 East on February November 22nd Flawless by Chris on 9 North beverick Road on Sunday December 1st and g y l Financial strategies at for Campus Drive Suite 304 on Tuesday December 10th the next meeting for economic development committee is Thursday January 16th at 6:30 uh it's at 90 East Hy Road Third Floor conference room public is invited please RSVP with chairman Frank kahill at well over a million and a half that they've applied for in Grants to help supplement their businesses so as you're starting your new business here in par syy please reach out to Frank give you more information about our grant program as well thank um I meant to just make one remark I want to recognize and I didn't do that with the p i want to recognize the generosity of the Kanas Club of Greater Pary for the contribution they gave to the P of $5,000 so that should be recognized yeah I just wanted to make a a comment in reference to the the drones and everything out there I can tell you for sure that the director of Public Safety at Maris County Scott D jalo the director of the office of emergency management Jeff Paul and Sheriff Ganon are working diligently those people work 70 80 hours I know personally they work 70 80 hours a week they are constantly constantly updating police Chiefs throughout Mars County Mayors on any information that comes in on these drones sometimes more than once a day if that information comes in so whatever they are getting is being funneled down to the local police department so you know there may be days where there's no new information but if something new does come in I can tell you for a fact that those three are advising every town in Mars County and keeping them AB breast as much as possible t on to uh the council president's point I yeah I've been in touch with uh Sheriff Ganon I I would agree with him um I've sent him things you know at all times of the night that I'm people are sending to me about the the chem trails and uh everything that you know people are hearing and seeing um and you know he's been fantastic absolutely great at debunking anything that might be qualified as misinformation um and I actually you know asked him he'll um he's going to see if it can be done um doing a a me misinformation session because according to the FBI uh when I spoke to the nework field office 80% of what is being reported um is actually you know perfectly legally um allowable aircraft that is permitted to fly in the air zone and they have over uh a million leads to to uh to go through um and I think one thing that could really um decrease what is falsely being reported as something along those lines but yeah the sheriff has been great can I just elaborate on the FBI part I really have to with regards to the FBI I know you you might have spoke to somebody down there and that's that's good I mean that's very good but I don't know when you yesterday if you were listening into what the mayor of um Floren Park said um and he questioned them with regards to drones and they pretty much said the same thing if I'm correct or incorrect let me know um that all these drones are flying legally but when we try to get one of our oems he said up in the air we have the the the federal what's I can't remember so FAA FAA says no you can't do it so they check on townships but these other these 880,000 other ones can just fly freely it just doesn't make sense makes no sense whatsoever and I'm not listen I'm not busting on the FBI or anything like that they might not know but that's what wait that's what all our information says call the FBI call the FBI call the FBI and we still have no answers thank you T patney uh no report this evening council president administrator thank you council president thank you mayor so uh a couple of things as far as the drones go in that meeting yesterday the meeting was was a briefing that was set up by the White House Office of intergovernmental Affairs um it included senior level representatives of the FBI Department of Homeland Security um Department of Defense and Federal Aviation Administration one of the things that they kept talking about in this meeting was this is chadam house rules don't let anything out what's said everything stays here and then the next morning they put a joint statement saying exactly everything that they said so it's you know there was an incredible amount of frustration in this meeting the good thing that they did this time as opposed to the state one was they gave a little bit of leeway they allowed for um staff to attend if uh um Mayors uh weren't able to or Mayors wanted uh other support to attend so uh with mayor I I was able to be on there I wasn't allowed to be on the state one as a business administrator was Mayors only and um uh our chief was on there as well and another smart thing that the federal government did was instead of dragging a whole bunch of Mayors uh and elected officials down to you know uh uh the backside of New Jersey I don't mean that disrespectfully but far down uh uh New Jersey to Ying Township nothing against Ying Township but it's far um instead of making everybody go down there to say nothing and frustrate uh the few mayors that actually attended and all of the um assembly people and Senators uh that attended frustrating them to no end uh the federal government at least had the decency to um make sure that if they weren't going to say anything they did it by Zoom so they could tell you at the comfort of your phone or computer and it was very helpful in that aspect um the key takeaways were local and state officials um have been calling for more transparency about the drones and greater action um Federal officials said that they understand why people are concerned um given the volume of reported drone sightings and are devoting significant resources to supporting New Jersey and all of the law enforcement Partners who are actively investigating reported sightings um the mayor's uh on the call um and the mayor's afterwards uh that uh uh mayor had talked to um and that have uh been in in news articles uh expressed a lot of frustration um and they were skeptical about the explanations The Joint statement that went out today pretty much said we assess that the sightings to date include a combination of lawful commercial drones hobbyist drones law enforcement drones as well as manned fixed wi aircraft helicopters and stars mistakenly reported as drones um they have no reason to believe the drones are dangerous or that they pose a risk to National Security and maybe they don't because if they did uh something probably would have happened but it's still annoying and they should say it if they uh can explain it um they downplayed the drones POS that the drones pose any kind of threat uh Nelson Delgado the assistant special agent in charge of the NK Office of the FBI said they have received 5,931 tips since beginning their investigation on November 26th um less than 198 of those generated any type of lead related to their investigation um they believe many of the sightings have been lawful Andor misidentified um then he turned his focus on needing to warn members of the public not to point lasers at Air at any aircraft or to try to shoot down drones uh and that's where he kind of focused on um what mayor uh Barbaro mentioned about mayor teller what he said was the point that he made was um Floren Park the burrow of Floren park has drones they're not allowed to to fly their Police Department or their zoning office uh drones uh without permission from the FAA and the morest uh uh County Airport tow ahead of time yet all of these lawful drones uh that are out there um none of them have had permission from the Tower or from the FAA so what's the difference so you know that's kind of the frustration with um uh this whole issue the consensus was that um more people need to know what's going on in order to calm our residents and calm uh uh uh the feelings out there and more transparency gets the conspiracy theories away this was you know it's it's it's an opportunity to let everybody know and I understand people's frustration we as a Township have been very frustrated as as officials have been very frustrated because right when this started happening we were the second place where they were discovered after uh uh Pik atini they were over the uh Reservoir we were told that any information to this it's not a local thing send it up to the Sheriff's office immediately it was taken from the Sheriff's Office and sent to the FBI so if you have information send it to the FBI and I don't know if anybody has reported any of these drones to the FBI I mean a lot of people have talked about uh oh there's a drone over my house oh there's a drone over the lake oh there's a drone I don't know if you've gone through the trouble of uh uh um reporting it to the FBI I have it's a 25 minute process yeah it's a nightmare I I you have I'm sorry to interrupt I just said I agree with you I mention that it should be streamlined you can't find it on the on the on the website it's it's really a nightmare and if you call um you're waiting on on on hold for over 20 minutes A lot of times so I'm not sure that they have realized or they even un a realization of the amount of drawings that are out there so it's frustrating again they're telling us don't handle this we will handle it and and but we're supposed to be taking the blame on this stuff so all we can really do is share your frustration and we're sorry that we don't have better answers we deserve better answers you deserve better answers so that's uh the Drone update uh from The Briefing from the federal government yesterday uh if you're as frustrated as uh I was after it uh I'm also sorry about that um this the last meeting of the year it's been a great year um a lot has been accomplished um I appreciate the opportunity to uh work with this Council and for our great residents here um so thank you for that hope everybody has a happy holiday the manora lighting is on the 26th please join us uh from 7: to 8:30 and um that's all I have thank you Township Clerk I have no report moving along to the non-con agenda R 2024 210 authorized transfers between budget appropriation number two motion to approve the resolution motion second motion made by Mr neglia seconded by Mr kifi roll call Mr Hernandez yes Mr McGrath Mr Mella Mr neglia Mr Ki motion passes r224 to11 authorizing the purchase of 2225 Ford Explorer active four-wheel drive vehicles with options from neelon for to Morristown motion to approve the resolution motion second second motion made by Mr neglia seconded by Mr McGrath roll call Mr herandez yes Mr McGrath Mr michella yes Mr neglia yes Mr kifi yes motion passes R 2024 uh 212 authorizing the purchase of three 2025 Ford police interceptor utility vehicles with options from Nielson for to Morristown motion to approve motion second motion made by Mr neglia seconded by Mr McGrath roll call Mr Hernandez yes Mr McGrath yes Mr Mella yes Mr neglia yes Mr K yes r224 213 authorizing the purchase of two 225 Ford police interceptor utility vehicles with options from neelson Ford motion to approve motion second motion made by Mr neglia seconded by Mr McGrath roll call Mr herandez yes Mr McGrath yes Mr Mel yes Mr neglia Mr kifi motion passes R 20242 14 authorizing the purchase of three proview 6x4 chassis from Allegiance trucks motion to approve motion second motion made by Mr neglia seconded by Mr Hernandez roll call Mr Hernandez yes Mr McGrath yes Mr Mela yes Mr neglia yes Mr kifi yes r224 215 authorizing the purchase of three leech model 2 r329 cubic yard rear load refused bodies with options motion to approve 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 motion passes r224 216 authorizing the appointment of three new police officers motion approve motion made by Mr neglia seconded by Mr McGrath roll call Mr Hernandez yes Mr McGrath Mr Mr neglia Mr Ki yes motion passes R 24217 authorizing the purchase of a western star 47 truck with options motion to approve motion second motion made by Mr herandez seconded by Mr neglia roll call Mr herandez yes Mr McGrath Mr Mella Mr neglia Mr Ki motion passes r224 218 authorizing the purchase of two Western Star 47 trucks with options motion to approve motion motion motion made by Mr McGrath seconded by Miss Hernandez roll call Mr Hernandez yes Mr McGrath Mr Mella Mr neglia Mr Ki yes motion passes r224 219 authorizing the purchase of two AOL al1 120 S14 hooklifts motion to approve motion second motion made by Mr neglia seconded by Mr McGrath roll call Mr Hernandez yes Mr Mella yes Mr McGrath yes Mr neglia Mr KY yes motion passes r224 220 authorizing the purchase of one 2025 Ford Explorer active four-wheel drive vehicle with options motion to approve motion second motion by Mr neglia seconded by Mr McGrath roll call Mr herandez yes Mr McGrath Mr Mr McGrath yes Mr Mel I'm just going to vote no I don't have enough information on this vehicle but if I get more happy to change my mind so no okay uh Mr michella Mr neglia yes and Mr Creepy yes okay four yeses one no motion passes moving along R 2024 2021 awarding a contract for stop loss insurance services for the townships limited self-insured health benefit insurance program motion to approve motion second motion made by Mr neglia seconded by Mr Hernandez roll call Mr Hernandez yes Mr McGrath Mr Mella yes Mr neglia yes Mr K yes moving along to approval of payroll and bills list CFO Angelica satini recommends authorization for payment number one authorizes payment of the December 20th 2024 regular miscellaneous payroll estimated at 1, 650,000 and number two payment of bills from voucher list of 12524 through 12724 which is 4,526 4333 cents M to approve motion motion to approve by Mr neglia seconded by Mr McGrath roll call Hernandez thank you Mr Mella yes Mr McGrath Mr neglia Mr kifi yes motion passes finally could I please have a motion to the meeting quick okay motion Mr Hernandez yes happy Holidays happy holidays thank you Mr Hernandez Mr M yes Mr Mella yes Mr neglia yes Mr K yes have a good night everyone you want to get our Christmas card I amet do you function also as the zoning official then for the town no