council agenda Township precipitate Troy Hills Township Council Agenda meeting of April 1st 2025 Introduction posting of 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 meeting notice on the bulletin board at the municipal building
on December 2nd 2024 which remained posted since that date A legal notice appeared in the daily record of the New York Star ledger on December 6th 2024 May I ask everybody to please rise for the plax salute Algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic
for which it stands One nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all [Music] Roll call Mr Hernandez here Mr McGrath here Mr Mella here Mr Negria here Mr Kipi here All in attendance are Mayor
James Barbario business administrator Jamie Cryan uh Township Attorney Michael Avery Municipal Clerk Colette Madden Council President we have a quorum Can we begin yes please Okay Uh upcoming meetings April 15th 2025 at 7:00 p.m is the regular meeting Uh May 6 at 7 p.m is
the agenda meeting At this time we're going to go ahead and go into executive session for just a few minutes Uh I don't think we anticipate any action to be taken but we'll have the township attorney uh do a quick report when we come back Uh executive session resolution Whereas open public meeting is well appeal 1975 chapter 31 permits the exclusion of the public from a
meeting in certain circumstances And whereas the town of council is of the opinion that such circumstances presently exist And whereas the township council wishes to discuss attorney client privilege affordable housing and whereas the minutes will be kept and once the matter uh involving the confidentiality of the above no of the above no longer requires confidentiality The minutes can be made public Now
therefore be resolved that town of council town Troy Hills uh that the public be excluded from the meeting Could I please have a motion motion Second Motion made by Mr Hernandez seconded by Mr Mucella Roll call Mr Hernandez here I mean yes that's that
works too Um Mr McGrath yes Mr Mella yes Mr Neglia Mr Karifi Yes Okay We're going to adjourn just for a few minutes Okay Could I please have a motion to reconvene into open session please
motion Second Motion made by Mr Neglia seconded by Mr Hernandez Roll call Mr Hernandez Yes Mr Mr McGrath Yes Mr Misella Yes Mr Neglia Yes Mr Karifi Yes We are back into open session I will very quickly have our township attorney
give a brief report about the closed session Sure We emerge from executive session at 7:22 p.m where we discussed one uh pending litigation matter which was affordable housing litigation No official action was taken Copies of the minutes will be available at such time as the council determines there is no harm to the public interest Thank you uh
Mr Levery Uh moving along into the public session I'd like to entertain a motion to open up to public session Motion second Motion made by Mr Neglia seconded by Mr Nucella Roll call Mr Hernandez Yes Mr McGrath Yes Mr Mella
yes Mr Neglia yes And Mr Karif yes Okay The floor is open to the public You have 5 minutes to speak Please state your name and where you're from prior to speaking and sign in please Okay Seeing no one Oh Nick Come on up Nick
Uh Nick Homeak from Lake Hayawata One brief question on the uh the withdrawing of the Lacawana Avenue uh ordinance and it was mentioned that uh you wanted to make sure that uh there was something
with the trees or is that a tree protection for the present trees that exist there or is it just to make sure the developer replaces trees that he's No So so my request was to remain the tree
line that's in place today and then have the drive base facing away from the houses so that there's no there's no noise coming to the houses Do they know the age of the trees and the species and all that uh I I have no clue
but it was to protect the existing trees Yeah So yeah that uh yeah there's homes there with a good boundary of mature trees probably 30 plus 40 plus years old We just don't want to tear them down and just plant new ones I think All right I just uh Thank you If you knew the answer
to that question you can come on up ma'am If anyone that ma'am if you'd like to speak you can come to the mic Yes Hi everybody Uh Susan Milvich I've been a resident of Pipany for 25 years because I usually work in Manhattan and
it's such a great place so homey and welcoming and wonderful wonderful community-minded people here Um so I just want to say I am humbled by the reason and the heart that I saw in the
center um hearing and the the final conclusion It's just wonderful It just reinforces for me why Pipany is superb and still a force in this day and age of
heart and reason and really community coming together among among differences and disagreements still higher standards remain here which is why I feel it's a
safe place for me as a single woman to live in a bit of a shelter while working in Manhattan honestly So thank you very much Um that being said um I believe everybody on this council
seems wonderful I also believe after volunteering and after getting to know Justin and his wife a bit I believe that he will make Pipanyan great again And um I just want to put my
support you know behind Justin And I also want to say that um I think that everybody on the council must continue to be supported as well because you guys are doing great work Thank you so much
Try to stay away from politics Anyone else okay seeing no one I'd like to entertain a motion to close the public session please Motion second Motion made by Mr Neglia Wait who made the motion i'm sorry Mr Neglia And who second it mr
Hernandez Hernandez So motion made by Mr Neglia seconded by Mr Hernandez Roll call Mr Hernandez Yes Mr McGrath yes Mr Mela yes Mr Neglia yes And Mr Karif yes Okay At this time I'd like you to quickly review the consent agenda
Okay seeing that there's no questions please go on and review the approval of minutes Seeing there's no questions we're moving on to presentations and reports at this time Uh Mayor it's nice to hear a little Goomba I mean a little political but it's okay Um
yeah I I'll start with um the budget Um so council president I'd like to set up a meeting between the uh administration and the um finance committee So if we can do that either later this week or next week that would be
great Well I'm sure people are going to be excited about what I'm about to say next April 5th the Easter Bunny's coming You'll be here at town hall between 10:00 to 12:00 So if you didn't get your fix of candy that's a good that's a good time to come Actually it's
a lot of fun It's nice to see the community come together Um I remember when I was a boy here I come and see the Easter Bunny I didn't get as big as candy as we get now but it was good and it was a lot of fun Um on March 26th I
was invited to the Lake Barcipany Elementary School PTA to speak to the children about how local government functions And the neat thing about that was when I was growing up here in Pipony we didn't have East Lake Elementary School So what happened that one year I
went to three schools I went to the annex I'm sure you remember the annex Frank right yeah Presbyterian annex That's right And I went to Lake Par and I finished up at East Lake uh elementary school But it was really nice to be back Nice to speak to the kids I had a lot of
great questions to ask Um a lot you know a lot nicer than the ones in the last meeting But it was a lot of fun still Um so that you know that's the great thing about you know coming around being here in the town and you get to see those same kids
I got to see grow up for over the years and you know some of them Olivia So so on um April 17th um this is to our senior citizens It's maximize your tax benefits It'll be held at the Pacony Senior Center 1130 Null Road And this is
actually a pretty good program for our senior citizens It comes we you know we show them how to fill out their tax exempts exemptions they get on an annual basis And then um there's something else here as we we you know I can't really
talk too much on it but I'm a little disappointed in the fact that we're being sued by the New Jersey Builders Association or in litigation with them Um I feel that we've met requirements that we need to meet when it comes to affordable housing And affordable housing is better known as the Mount
Laurel doctrine And the Mount Laurel doctrine specifically says that you're going to have to build housing in your township And that's throughout the whole entire state And um you know when when you know you hear a lot of residents on up arms and they're saying it's
overdevelopment It's not overdevelopment It's redevelopment These sites already been developed but now they're redeveloping them because they get one major push from state legislators and that's the affordable housing element which is 20% set aside
on any type of units that you put in with regards to that And all the towns are struggling We're fighting We we're trying to reduce those numbers cuz you know it's not really affordable housing It's high density housing And that's what it's become over the past who knows
how many years It's the high density house It's the high density part It's the um what they put on our infrastructure So when you hear that there's overdevelopment and we want to build build No we we don't We're obligated We're mandated There's a
difference Once the state mandates something and you lose your ability to function like and what I mean by that is if we were to challenge certain uh things to go further we can lose our immunity and and the immunity is very important to keep because you get to
negotiate a number of units with the developer but if you lose your immunity you have no powers whatsoever all the power wise within the developers so they get to build what they want how they want no zoning they have zoning requirements but they they can bypass That's our planning and zoning board So
that's just a little something I wanted to say here tonight because um you know going around town talking to residents that was a big concern uh affordable housing and and housing in general So that's the law So when someone says you know the mayor is doing no the mayor's not The mayor's following the law and
the mandates That's what the mayor's doing That's what the council's doing Following the laws and the mandates that are that we're required to meet When I came back in 2022 we were at a scarce resource order Now what that means is the scarce
resource order means that all water to be directed to only affordable housing units Well we had to try to get that lifted And why did we want to get that lifted was because we had Top Golf coming which wouldn't have happened if we didn't get it lifted Chick-fil-A wouldn't have happened if we didn't get
that uh scarce order uh lifted So there was a lot of um going back and forth Uh I think it was the special masters I can't remember his name And in the end he pretty much agreed with us that we can lift the scarce resource order which gave us the ability to bring in
companies like Lifetime Fitness um and I said uh Top Golf Chick-fil-A Wonder and all these companies had the ability to come in because those properties are already zoned and they have water qualifications already But it didn't matter Once the courts tell you all the
water has to be directed to those units that's who we have to follow And it's just a little educational thing here that I think the residents want to know uh going forward And that can happen again Um cuz sometimes our wells fail So when I came back we had two wells that
were failed right they cost $2 million total And once we got them on board that's how we were able to lift the scarce resource order So that's a little what's going on with the affordable housing end of it So I thank you council president for your time Thank you
Um I'll go next Go ahead Okay So I just have a report from the parcipony environmental advisory committee The committee is going to present at the high school for the the Parcipony Hills High School for Earth Day on
recycling on why and how because when they go the STEM students are going away to college next year they can know what to do So we have a group of people doing that and I'm sure you're welcome to come And on April 26th between 12 and 4 at the library we're having a some of the
young people from the Paripony Hills High School that were part of the the green team they've presented here before are doing a conscious consumer fair because a lot of the they're trying to teach people about a lot of the clothes
that they buy and they are maybe cheap and they just keep buying new things and and and how much waste it is So it's an educational form and also if you have an old accessory that you want to bring you can swap out with with what other people
bring So it's 12 to 4 We will be there and there'll be some little presentations during that time That's what I have for today Any other member if I I'll get a flyer if maybe we can post that Sure Okay Any
other member from council yeah Um I'll go Uh this past weekend I uh had the privilege of attending a free vision screening by the Parcipony Lions Club Um and it was offered to Parciponyany residents and um they
brought up they'd be interested in you know working with the town to do programs that uh have no cost to residents that are health and wellness oriented So I did tell them that they can contact the administration and if
it's something that we think um could be you know beneficial we'll we'll consider it Um I did want to find out if the flag at Lake Hayawa Park was put up Uh BA crime Do you know if that was done uh I
reached out to our uh parks superintendent who's just back from vacation today and tomorrow I will I will make sure that gets put up Okay Um and then and I'm not casting stones but I continue to get complaints about out street lights on uh specifically this
time it was Continental and Patriots Is is there any way that we could maybe issue a reminder to the relevant township personnel that you know to be proactive about reporting out street lights so uh who um are they uh JCPNL
lights or Yes So we have to follow up with JCPNL on that If you give me the light bulb numbers I can do that Okay All right No I report them when it comes to me so we don't have to uh you know make the resident continue to uh to to
do something But um that was just one thing that that I've heard Um with with respect to wildlife preserves do you know what the status is of wildlife preserves yes that we've uh drafted they
have agreed uh to well they've agreed in principle to review an easement which I've already drafted Joe Beckmeer has reviewed it he's got it back to me with some changes so we're going to send that over to him so there'll be another step because the first step is it looks like they're going to acknowledge the
easement but the second thing is there's uh improvements to that easement that uh the sewer utility wants to have done so that'll be the second shoe to drop so things are progressing I have a question what What does Joe Beckmire need to do is it replace the manholes or the
straightaways of the lines i I think I don't know that he has to replace anything there I think it's they just need to improve it so they can get in there and do repairs in the future So okay Yeah cuz I mean some of the manholes were in that specific area do look cracked and might be getting storm
water in them but and I I don't need I don't mean to speak for Joe I just think that there is a plan to do work in there but we need to have permission to do that So right now as you know there was two lots Our easement ran through there since the 60s The county destroyed their records There was a Liz pendants filed I
reported before So there's no question in my mind that we had permission to run through those two properties because we have them on either side you know the length of them But they fought hard against that Excuse me They fought pretty hard against that Uh yes And I
think they wanted a 30 foot thing So Well no no no They wanted like a million dollars just so to be clear So uh in any event I think things are moving in the right direction So good And and my uh my last question I was with a group of
residents who are uh skilled trades men and women Um and they wanted to know if we have any plans for upcoming public projects that will put them to work So I said I would ask and and see if there's any plans for something like that
like like what kind of work do they want to do i mean if if there's a project that goes out they can they're more than welcome to bid on it but I can or if you give me their contact information I can make sure that they are sent whatever information is is involved Um but if they check the website uh under the
announcements page that's generally where we do our bidding stuff Okay Thank you Any other member from council yes Um this weekend um the mayor and I attended the uh Lake Precipany fish stocking It was a pretty uh unique event and uh there's some big fish in Lake Precipany
I can assure you uh the mayor was getting splashed by him He was uh at least 2 ft long One of the biggest ones and uh it's pretty cool to watch the fish stocking It was uh it happened on Saturday Any uh any other six feet it was one
of those No I know fishing to get to the end But you could have made steaks out of this one It was unbelievable how big it was Every year I I I sponsor a fish and whoever catches the trout gets a gets a prize But guess who always catches it the eagles So So I have to go
with the heaviest fish next Okay Seeing no other member from council moving along Um non-consent agenda So R 202587 awarding contracts for golf professional shop merchandise catalog percent discount pricing Motion to
approve the resolution 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 Kuri Yes R
2025 88 approving the stipulation of settlement Motion to approve the resolution above Motion Second Motion made by Mr Neglia Seconded by Mr Mucella Roll call Mr Hernandez Yes Mr
McGrath Yes Mr Mucella Yes Mr Neglia Yes Mr Karifi Yes Approval of payroll and bills list CFO Angelica Sabatini recommends authorization for payment Number one authorizes payment of the April 11th 2025 regular miscellaneous payroll estimated at 1,650,000 And number two payment of
bills from voucher list of April 1st 2025 which is 1,894,67641 Could I please have a motion to approve the authorization for payment second Motion made by Mr Neglia seconded by Mr
Hernandez Roll call Mr Hernandez Yes Mr McGrath Yes Mr Michello yes Mr Neglia yes Mr Karifi yes Motion passes May I please have a motion to adjourn the meeting motion Second Is everything okay
second by Mr Second by Mr Mea Roll call Mrs Hernandez Yes Mr McGrath Yes Mr Mela yes Mr Neglia yes Mr Karipi yes Have a great night everyone Yeah that's how it
was when I first started