good evening everybody Welcome to the April 23rd 202 24th meeting of banic Township Council this Marsh in accordance with the requirements of New Jersey's open public meetings act notice of this meeting was included in the annual meeting notice which was filed in the office of the Township Clerk posted on the bulletin board in the municipal building published as a legal notice in the Suburban Trends and Daily Record newspapers and dist distributed to all persons requesting notice in accordance with Township policy thank you please join me in Pledge of Allegiance followed by a prayer and a moment of thanks for individuals serving our nation to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all most gracious Providence we ask that you bless this governing body with an abundance of wisdom and understanding so that every deliberation will result in actions which will promote the common good and the general welfare for all of the people of banic Township amen amen thank you councilwoman Miss Marsh please call the roll Mr Dy present Mrs Florence Lynch here Mr Cole here Mrs Russell here mayor herd I am here excellent there are no presentations scheduled for this evening at this time are there reports or comments from any of the volunteers serving our community I'm guessing no seeing none seeing none next on the agenda is public comments public comment period will be limited to a total of 30 minutes an additional period for public comment is reserved later in the meeting individuals are requested to limit their questions and comments to 3 minutes if anybody wishes to address the council please wait to be recognized to come to the microphone and provide your name for the record anybody okay seeing none we will continue with the agenda okay welcome to the public hearing for the 2024 Municipal budget before the hearing is open resolution r224 109 which provides for the budget to be read by title will be will need to be adopted is there a motion to adopt this resolution I'll make a motion to adopt resolution r224 d109 I'll second roll call please Mr Dy yes Mrs Florence Lynch yes Mr Cole yes Mrs Russell yes may heard yes uh Mr Brewer do you have any comments before the opening of the hearing uh there was a presentation made on March 12th um on the budget when it was introduced and technically uh initially approved by the governing body total current fund appropriations of 21, 8437900576 the average assessed home which is [Music] $549,450 20 24 budget to this point Thank you Mr bur appreciate that are there any comments from Council questions comments anything on the budget no just everybody worked hard to get the budget to where it is so good job yes it was a lot of things all right is there a motion to open the public hearing of the 2024 Municipal budget so moved can I get a second I'll second all in favor if anyone in the audience has questions or comments on this budget please come to the microphone and identify yourself for the record nobody's excited about the budget come on up hi good evening uh Megan Dempsey pumped in Plains so um one question I had um and it it was partially addressed in um the kind of narrative comments that I saw were in the agenda um but there was a substantial increase as far as I could tell uh in 2020 3 from what was anticipated the anticipated revenues and then the realized revenues and I noticed that there were comments that a lot of it like over $400,000 was because of interest on deposits so increased interest rates which is a good thing we're making more money off of that and the recommendation was to continue to be conservative um on the revenue from interest on investments and deposits so I see that this year or going into 2024 was budet conservatively at 140,000 compared to the over 400,000 he thinks it was that was realized in 2023 so my question though is what what happens to that Surplus that was realized over what was anticipated um does that get moved into like a reserve account is it put into capital is it already allotted to expenditures in the current year is it was realized as it was accumulated is it is it like a retirement account where it stays there in case things fluctuate and then you lose it again I was just curious about that cuz it looked like it was about a $384,000 difference in interest earned and I'm curious if if that's being then put towards something in the current year future years um and then I just noticed I was looking through the six year and the three-year Capital Improvement recommendations um and I see that kind of projecting out is um T are turf fields for green view so I was just I was curious this is the first I'm hearing of that I was curious if that was a request coming from organizations that we have those available maybe to allevia use on other fields or something like that where that coming where that's coming from um and I see that I don't think it's budgeted for until at least 2025 or possibly not until 2026 um as well as the artificial turf infield at Washington Park 1 so I just hope that we're going to see a lot of um research and discussion with the flood commission the environmental commission regarding those that that plan CU that's a big that's a big move and a big change for our Parks um and I would like to see a lot of community input um in that and research done into it because there is a very sort of Shifting landscape in terms of public sentiment around Turf and and sides that feel very strongly one way or the other and I think it's really important to get a lot of input um and make sure that a lot of research is done on that issue and then my last comment was just regarding the revenue realized from uh return back funds from the library so my understanding is that what is in this budget is the previous return back or from a previous year not the amount that has been under discussion at current Library meetings um I'm very concerned about that because it seems like this is now a trend of the council seeking to take funding back from the library given the recent roadblocks that have been thrown up on any sort of capital uh advance ments or innovation that the library is trying to do I'm really concerned about this what appears to be a trend of let's take money back from the library so you've obviously been hearing a lot of public comments about that and speaking about that and um I hope we're not going to see that this becomes an annual Trend in the budget thank you question are there any other questions okay so Mr Mayor if I may respond to the questions that were posed so an under anticipated revenue or a revenue that's realized Beyond which is anticipated to balance the budget lapses to fund balance so if you look toward the top of the uh Revenue page and the exhibits that are included on the packet you will see that the township is utilizing uh $22.26 five million of fund balance to support the 2024 budget so it just essentially goes into a savings account that can be used for future budgets thank you um if you review the slide presentation from the 12th of March you also note that the Township's fund balance trajectory is going in a positive direction supporting the rate in the uh credit rating increase that we received to be stable and and supportive and and have rainy day funds if you will uh with respect to the turf we have a very ambitious Public Works director that has an extraordinarily long wish list uh 7.14 million of requests were made just for 2024 Appropriations so that is something that that he has kicked around along with a number of different areas um it's a wish list for planning purposes uh at each year there's significant discussion given to it and often times things of that magnitude are pushed off uh because of additional priorities so that is that is a wish list that I will attribute it to a very ambitious uh director of Public Works so that's a staff generated 7.4 million 7.14 million just for the VIS one year and we did 1.4 correct in capital um and then lastly with respect to the library return fund balance that was uh returned in 2023 and is being utilized as required to support the 2024 Municipal budget all right thank you thank you okay is there a motion to close the public hearing on the 2024 Municipal budget so moved second I'll second roll call please Mr JY yes Mrs Florence Lynch yes Mr Cole yes Mrs Russell yes may heard yes next on agenda is the adoption of 2024 municipal budget there any further comments Mr Brewer unless there are questions I have nothing any other questions from Council no no all right is there a motion to adopt resolution r 224-1106 [Music] so first thing in my written report is the budget so thank you very much it is a woohoo moment for me um it's always a big event when we get to to this stage in the budget process so again I thank everybody for for their participation and their efforts uh with respect to the balance of the items covered in my written report they pertain to legislative action that is scheduled for the council's consideration I'll just take them in order uh we have a public hearing and fential Adoption of a new policy in dealing with mailboxes that are damaged during snow plowing operations we have Orin 20241 for potential introduction which is the Gen cap ordinance which correlates to the plan that was identified for items of expenditure in 20124 this creates the appropriation which then can be spent following adoption uh we have ordinance 20242 which is the water utility Capital uh budget again that corresponds to the plan that was identified during you know within the budget documents um we have two salary ordinances as we do annually this is the legislative Authority and the legislative action for the salaries to be paid for non-represented employees uh for ordinance 20243 and those anything that is changed is identified in bold right and then with respect to ordinance 20244 it is a salary ordinance for those individuals covered by the PBA SOA agreement it's debatable whether we need to do this because it's subject to a collective negotiating agreement but I like to do it because it just covers everything and buttons it up tightly uh and it articulates the ranges for the police officers for the duration of the current contract thank you sir any questions that concludes my report Council any questions no seeing none all right next on the agenda is public hearing on ordinance number 202 24-10 Miss Marsh ordinance number 20241 is an ordinance amending chapter 312 of the code of the township of panic and establishing estabish establishing a policy for reimbursement for mail boxes damaged by Township vehicles are there any comments from the council that we didn't talk about before yeah we spoke about that L is there a motion to open to public hearing I'll make that motion I get a second second all in favor I uh if anyone in the audience has questions or comments on this ordinance please come to the microphone and identify yourself for the record nobody interested in mailboxes all right um is there a motion to close the public hearing I'll make that motion can I get a second second all in favor I is there a motion to adopt this order I'll make a motion to adopt ordinance number 20 24-11 10 oh I'm sorry I'm looking at the WR 20 24-10 excellent can I get a second I'll second roll call please Mr Dy no Mrs Florence Lynch yes Mr Cole yes Mrs Russell no mayor heard yes oh I broke a time all right next on the agenda is the introduction of ordinances Mrs Marsh ordinance 20241 is an ordinance providing for various Capital Improvements ined by the township of panic in the county of Mars state of New Jersey and appropriating the sum of $1,379 350 for financing thereof thank you Mr Brewer any comments as has been the tradition for a long time this is an ordinance that includes fully funded cash Capital include borrowing thereby saving residents the additional cost associated with interest thank you are there any comments from Council questions none is there a motion to introduce this ordinance on first reading I'll make that motion I'll second roll call Mr Dy yes Mrs Florence Lynch yes Mr Cole yes Mrs Russell yes mayor her yes all right next on the agenda introduction of ordinance number 20242 Miss Marsh ordinance 20242 is an ordinance providing for various Capital Improvements in by the township of panic water utility in the county of Mars state of New Jersey and appropriating the sum of 232,000 financing thereof thank you Mr Mo Mr Brewer nothingless there's questions are there any comments from Council no any questions nothing is there a motion to introduce his ordinance on first reading I'll make a motion to introduce ordinance number 20 24-12 can I get a second John's got it John's got it roll call Mr Dy yes Mrs Lawrence Lynch yes Mr Cole yes Mrs Russell yes they're heard yes all right next on the agenda is Introduction of ordinance number 20 24-13 Miss Marsh ordinance 20243 is an ordinance establish establishing minimum and maximum salaries and pay rates for designated officials and employees of the township ofan excellent Mr Brewer are there any comments nothing further unless there are questions are there any comments from Council no seeing none is there a motion to introduce this ordinance on first reading I'll make that motion I get a second I all call he got it I know thank you um Mr Dy yes Mrs lawence Lynch yes Mr Cole yes M Russell yes may herd yes this is as exciting as watching paint drrive next on the agenda is Introduction of ordinance number 20244 Miss Mar I found that exciting ordinance 20244 is an ordinance fixing the salaries and compensation of the paid police officers of the township of aonic for the period January 1st 2024 to December 31st 2027 excellent Mr Brewer any comments paychecks are important yes they are especially for our boys in Blue uh is there any comments from Council none is there a motion to introduce this ordinance on first reading I'll make a motion to introduce ordinance number 20 24-14 I'll second roll call Mr try yes Mrs Florence Lynch yes Mr Cole no I mean I'll obstain I'll obstain yep yep yep hold on Mrs Russell yes mayor herd yes all right next on the agenda is resolutions Mrs Mar council's consideration we have resolution r224 1111 authorizing tax office refunds over payments or cancellations and r224 1112 approving payment of the itemized claims is set forth on the April 18th 2024 Bill list and 2018 fem elevation escrow list thank you are there any comments on the resolutions from Council seeing none is there a motion to adopt these resolutions I'll make a motion to adopt resolutions 2024 d111 and 2024 d112 there a second second roll call Mr Dy can I say yes to one and no to the other sure yes but yes to 112 no to 111 okay hold on a minute no yes um Mrs Florence Lynch uh yes Mr Cole yes Mrs Russell yes mayor herd yes uh there are no items for discussion there are no reports or notices so now next on the agenda is Council reports and announcements councilman grei how ho thank you mayor um the one committee that met was the shade Street committee um haven't met in a couple of months but I guess the one question that weren't clear on cuz um one of the members wasn't there is what is the latest Mr Brew with the um with the tree Grant and planting the trees ordering the trees good question I know we were think trying to do that this spring but I haven't heard if I understanding was happening this spring I'll have to check that okay can you check and find out cuz we don't know and there's been questions so sure um I just like to just congratulate all the members of the Town especially Miss Julie and about the whole budget setup it was uh oh she left a big job um Mr Brewer eh but no no thank you thank you for for get getting through it a lot of uh tough decisions to make with not a lot of funds um Saturday was a little week parade I'm glad the rain held out but the highlight of the parade was the young lady that sang the national anthem she was awesome she did it last year too yeah I know un unbelievable she's got she got an awesome voice so thank you thank you very much for doing that and um that's about it for me thank you sir appreciate it uh councilwoman Florence Lynch um a couple things well uh I'll also say that the little league opening day was great and and uh the singer was phenomenal she did she hit every note perfectly um and also kudos to everyone on the budget it was a tough one this year but we got through it um economic development that committee will be meeting here tomorrow night at 7:00 and I also got word there will be a ribbon cutting on Saturday May 4th at 11:00 a.m. at M shaml photography located at 29 Newark Pompton Turnpike May the 4th be with you and that'll be at 11:00 a.m. um let's see what else then I'm sorry I put all this stuff together let's see what else is here um we are working on a new date for rescheduling the mors County Senior and Veterans ID event it had to be cancelled and postponed because of a glitch in in the county system um but it is now up and running and we will or something with the software or something but we are coming up with a new date that we'll get it going as soon as uh possible and get the word out um let see what else couple things I said I would mention the um our dis 55 Senior Activity group they are host Ing and running a country dinner dance on Saturday May 18th they asked me if I would just mention it um it is on Facebook and there's Flyers around um it's Saturday May 18th at the Nights of Columbus in panic but it's open to all ages so it's not just a senior event uh Panic Valley rotary is hosting a uh spring luncheon also for Township seniors and that'll be May 88th uh but you do have to register sign up um ahead of time either at the senior house or call the number on the flyer um Dial A Ride will also uh give you know uh do Transportation if if seniors need it but you have to call in reserve that's going to be at French Paul May 8th from 12: to 2: um and I told PD rotary I mentioned this other fundraiser sat this is this this Satur no it's not this Saturday Saturday May 18th there is a garage um I guess it's a yard sale happening at the Lincoln Park palal Building um and there's Flyers around for that if people would like to attend that uh what else do I have um and I know the pathways banic Township historical society the pathways that they do every year um it's a tour of all the museum mums there's a a road map to visit all these museums that'll be open on Sunday May 5th and I believe the Martin Berry house is supposed to be open that day all right as an open house from 12: to 5: so that would be a great day to get out and uh and and see what the Martin Berry house has to offer these days they did a lot of work um it's a Morris countywide event from May 4th and 5th from 12: to 5: and I believe I know I had the open house say May 5th so I don't know if it's open I don't know if you guys know if that's open both days are just May 5th but the Martin Berry house um what else do I have anything else I think that is it for me right now thank you very much councilwoman uh councilman Cole uh thank you uh Company 2 met on Thursday April 11th I handed out the uh awards for the number of firemen that received a certain level of uh years of service they were very appreciative the council for doing that uh on April 18th I attended a ribbon cutting at shilton um there for their new C uh cardiac uh Cath and Radiology lab um it was a great presentation by the the head of that department there's only one other Hospital in Texas that has the equipment that that uh new lab has um they pretty much had to do it uh you know by the equipment via Zoom because it's so new um but it sounds like it looks like a great uh new facility a new room for chilon uh the one doctor said you know that if they were doing a procedure and they found out that they needed to do a stint he would have to stop doing what he would doing Stitch the patient up move the patient to Marist toown later in the afternoon he'd go go to marown to take care of the procedure now he said I can do that right in this room at chilon so kudos to everyone involved at that for Chilton uh the Little League parade was a huge success I just want to say thank you to all the coaches the Little League board for all they do and to all the players uh softball and baseball have a great season and most of most important is have fun uh and then on April 17th um I was recognized by the friends of Education Mars County um an award uh and I was honored to accept that award it was uh very well attended and you hear there were seven other people you hear some of these other things that some of these people do and you're like wow you know I'm not even doing that much so um but it was a a great event and that's all I have congratulations thank you me Council woman Rell please first of all congratulations Dave and I also have to add in at Little League somebody else was honored okay because of John's devotion um he's going to be etched in stone here it's going to be etched he's going to have his name on um a lot of people John sits here very quietly the amount of stuff that John does that he does not tout his own horn is unbelievable and I'll tout it for you he is a very selfless individual that gives to so many people okay you're done now I know I know you're going to get mad at me but it's true um Library roof uh is just about done we're just waiting on the gunters and leaders yeah they've been hammering away I've been watching them from the back of my house doing a great job and I I know somebody came in and said that there was leaks in another roof and I confirmed that that is not true okay so that was good I also confirmed that nothing was cut as to what projects or or things they wanted to do that was also another not true thing that was done um next meeting is May 15th come on out Saturday is the Environmental commission bioblitz it's fun so session one starts at 8: a.m. sharp you're going to follow a naturalist around wooded Lake and identify and log Birds other animals and plants and then there's a second session at 9:30 which is more kid oriented kids and adults are going to discover macro invertebr living in Meers Brook and also you're going to have a casual version of Session One um all is going to be met in PV Park parking lot on Marvin Road all ages are welcome but a minor must be with an adult walk-ins are accepted but if you're going and you know you're going please email the environmental commission at PTEC pqu peqtwp dog um had a Morris County preservation meeting our next one is going to be May 7th um um a lot of different towns a lot of different um ideas on how to best take care of the money that you bought with the open space so um we don't meet again here till the 14th so I want to wish everybody a Happy Mother's Day in advance yes it's like three weeks till we meet again Kyle I I wrote by the library and I would think if there is anything going on with that small section of roof the AC unit sits right on top of that well yeah and that you know that AC unit could be leaking following the duck work in and of course it's going to appear to be a roof leak but nothing's leaking I would check the AC before I check the roof if there is any problems in the future but there is not I I asked the the uh director and she said no it's not leaking at all excellent thank you well thank you very much okay uh again opening day at Little League that was phenomenal I mean I love little league I love the opening you know that's kind of spring you hear the the crack of the bats I have uh a couple of ball fields behind me so it's phenomenal I just love that and of course you you watch the little kids and as we stand there and you know we're looking at the little ones you know they're like the size of a Tic Tac and uh we're remembering when our kids were in it you know and now they're all older but I I love little league I want to thank all the volunteers all the coaches you know everybody that puts this thing together is a volunteer and it's amazing we've got 4 I think they said 60 or 470 kids this year so great numbers I really I really appreciate everything that they do and I Know It Ain't Easy John you were on the board you also did your time in Little League I did my time and it's fun it's enjoyable but congratulations sir um I want to give a pre-out out because this Sunday we have another Eagle Scout uh from Troop 144 Dominic giosi uh congratulations he's going to officially uh become Eagle Scout this Sunday at 3:00 it's very exciting I mean our town The Troop 144 has produced more Eagle Scouts per capita than any other group in the United States it it is amazing you've got to see the literature it's double-sided names all over the place it's great they're doing something good and uh I really appreciate it again another group that's off volunteers uh cool music and bands we have a bunch of stuff coming up which is very exciting if you want the spring concert is Wednesday May 23rd at 700 p.m. of course they're going to be performing in the Memorial Day Parade which is Monday May 27th uh the marching band is per performing at the New York Yankees Stadium Tuesday June 4th are you going to be there I'm going to be there you going um hopefully that's yes I'm always I spend a lot of my time at y I know but that's one I can't wait to see the marching band our own marching band Panic High School marching band on the field of uh the Yankee Stadium this weekend is the spring musical it's Beauty and the Beast I'm sure you've seen the signs all over town uh April 25 25th and 26th starts at 700 p.m. Saturday the 27th starts at 300 p.m. Sunday Sunday Sunday no Saturday right 25 26 I think it's Friday and Saturday night and then Sunday isn't it no Thursday Friday so Thursday and Friday at 7:00 p.m. Saturday it's 3 p oh jeez uh Beauty and the Beast that's excellent again I want to thank everybody Mr Brewer and everybody on staff that has put together everything for our budget you know it takes months like literally 6 months you have 6 months that you have to get all this information together and then you have 6 months off I believe you're already planning for it so that's couple months off we start the Sumit and thank you for everybody on Council you know we we have to make hard decisions sometime but uh we do what we have to do so there we go next on the agenda is public comment if anybody wishes to address the council please wait to be recognized to come to the microphone and provide your name for the record anyone nobody all right you we have the first stand up sorry come on up I'm Tom B AIA a 30-year plus resident of the quic township ladies and gentlemen spell your last name a b a z i a z thank you I like many of our residents of of the township have have experienced an unprecedented amount of rainfall over the past 5 months and before I go on thank you Mr Brewer for replying to my email of the same theme with regard to uh the situation I'm just curious what if any planning or thought has gone into the way we manage rainwater in the township I know on Hopper Avenue and the surrounding areas most of the catch basins just go into a pit and intuitively what I see is you have rain coming in you have War water that we drink coming from outside it all ends up back in the same ground and some of us experience it as water in our basements for now I've been pumping now for 5 months it's just starting to diminish so the question is what if anything has is being thought about rainwater management or sewering the rest of the town I did investigate the plan I think it was from two 2020 for that that sewering plan I don't know what that's going so that's for sanitary sewers only that's not that's not for pain am I correct by saying that Mr yes super okay so there is a plan will it be up there's a plan for sanitary sewer that's great um is there a timeline on that or does it just oh we're going to get through all the questions first and then we're going to answer all the questions after we close the open okay fair enough thank you very much no problem I saw the young lady in the back you had a question come on up I do um Mary K schurman Pompton Plains um I have a question about you know we've always had this back and forth about the library and the parking lot and the roof so the roof is starting to be taken care of which is great but at the last meeting I was at the last meeting and as I recall and I take notes at meetings the new library board lawyer Mr Zucker uh he was asked pointedly or he volunteered that the municipality is responsible for taking care of the parking lot now Kyle I don't know if you remember him saying that or not but that wasn't part of your report so I was just wondering if you know you would heard that also okay thank you thank you anybody else once twice okay seeing none uh we're closing the Open Session with that said a couple of great questions actually Mr Brewer would you be able to when we talk about storm water water flood mitigation that gets really complex as well so in the township of panic the storm water system which conveys rainwater is separate from the sanitary system um the city of New York by famous example has an integrated system so when it rains a lot guess what happens um the sanitary uh master plan was put in place to address expansion of the sanitary system so that's kind of a separate issue from the rainwater system with respect to storm water uh public works department is doing constant work in ditches and drainage uh ditches and and streams where they can because there's significant permitting required but there's there's regular ongoing projects they just replace a number of pipes over by growrite they working in an area called five pipes over in the southern section of town um to upgrade and expand the ability to move water away because topographically as everyone knows we're a riverbed where we have a gravity problem um luckily we have really sandy soil which moves water well uh and and recently we've experienced something that's never been recorded before um approximately 27 Ines of rain have fallen more at this point since December 1st that's compared to 12 in from January 1st to November 31st of last year so we've more than doubled the rain in a time period where there's been nothing on the trees to drink the water so the sponge is just getting getting Fuller and Fuller and and it's it's impacting people that have never been impacted before and I recall the email now that the gentleman who spoke said before and the question that I get periodically is could there be a water main break could there be something else and and we always check and look into it but it's really a significant groundwater so as of this point the only thing I can say definitively is we continue to try to manage the areas that move the water which as was reported at prior meetings when we've had riverine events has helped because we have floods that don't expand and have as much damage as they used to so there's a positive impact there um with respect to the groundwater other than managing the infrastructure we have we haven't done any specific planning or put anything in in place um for anyone that's familiar with the region uh there was a plan I think in the 70s or 80s to put a multi-billion dollar tunnel into Port Newark yeah um I was killed uh yeah and there were specific amendments that it's not even allowed to be discussed by members of Congress because congresswoman Cheryl has has brought it up uh so it's it's it's a challenge there there's there's no question it's a challenge and we continue to deal with it but you know please feel free to reach out and if there's anything we can specifically do or you see something in your neighborhood Public Works can can can take a look um with respect to the uh opinion of the library board attorney I respect and appreciate his opinion and it's an interesting subject for discussion okay thank you sir next on the agenda is approval of minutes we've got February 27th budget and regular we have March 12th budget and regular March 26th regular meeting uh Mr Dari you weren't here April 9th regular meeting so are there any comments on these minutes nope none is there a motion to approve these minutes I'll make that motion can I get a second I'll second all in favor I I opposed okie dokie there are no items for close session there being no further business is there a motion to adjourn I'll make a motion to adjourn can I get a second I'll second all in favor meeting adjourned at 7:37 p.m. thank you everybody [Music]