[Music] all right everybody here we go good evening welcome to the January 23rd 2024 meeting of the panic Town Council Miss 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 bulle board in the municipal building published as a legal notice in the Suburban Trends and Daily Record newspapers and distributed to all persons requesting notice in accordance with Township policy excellent please join me in the pledge allegiance followed by a prayer and a moment of thanks for individuals serving our nation I to the flag of the United States of America and to the repic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty 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 promotee the common good and the general welfare for all of the people of panic Township amen amen will the clerk please call the rooll Mr Drey is absent Mrs Florence Lynch here Mr Cole here Mrs Russell here mayor herd here excellent next on the agenda is presentations all right but first first I'm going to call former mayor Mr call please come to the front we're going to put him on the spot Council would you like to come down [Music] too you want to go we retreat they taking pictures I guess there so mayor Cole who's been on counsil for what 12 years 12 years 12 years he doesn't look at day over two huh he's been doing great that was your third time as mayor right correct third time as mayor you know it's really important to get back to the community but then when you go above and beyond he's got 12 years of that hat in the ring three times being there I think that's phenomenal and you know from my heart and council's heart we want to thank you we've got a wonderful gift for you thank you something that' be interesting you put on your papers hopefully not the bills paper weight it's a special paper weight what of my kids it doesn't go on bill so I really want to as Council we are just a small part of what makes this town GRE you know you all the volunteers everyone here tonight uh really is what makes this town such a special place to live uh raise their family um you know I've lived here my whole life 59 years my parents grew up in town uh it's just a general uh beautiful place to live and I'm happy to be here so thank you very much you guys want to stay down here for the proclamation it's up to you there you go I got him back so I I want to tell you a little bit uh beforehand on this uh project so you should probably chair you want me to get you some chairs you can sit while just kidding so this is something that I don't know if you have had a chance to read my mayor's message which is on the town website please go and do basically I talk about faith family and freedom and then I talk about community and culture and when we talk about culture it comes down to everything that Dave said as well as volunteers the thing is is I was talking with some other people and we were talking about our volunteers and usually when you say volunteers the first thing that comes to mind is always you know Fire Company 1 Fire Company 2 first aid Squad all the big ones but then you start realizing how many other ones and I I start looking at what I've been involved in everything from blood committee Economic Development Little League Soccer Cub Scouts I mean the whole N9 yards and then you start really thinking wow here's a lot and then working with Melissa and Kyle we start brainstorming how many I forgot and I'm sure there's more that I forgot I'm going to apologize to anybody that I possibly left off I swear I will get you on that list but we went back and forth and we started realizing wow you know again we are 7 miles 15,500 people and I must have a list of close to 50 different organizations just in our town all seven mon so the first thing I want to do is acknowledge everything that you guys do because you don't have to nobody has to put their hat in the ring but yet look look at how many people just in this room and there's 10 times the amount outside that weren't able to make it so I really appreciate you that's why it was very very important to me as well as rest of counsel to acknowledge everybody but in a more appropriate way so with that said are you ready we're ready we're ready okay wait I'm so I can't see or hear anything okay now you ready this is for you guys this is what it's all about so celebrating the heart of community a tribute to panic volunteer organizations and that's all of you guys whereas volunteer service represents the best of the spirit of the United States enabling people to solve problems by working together to find Community Solutions and whereas volunteerism is one of the most vital mechanisms for social good ensuring a lasting impact with its ability to provide assistance to the elderly infirm and needy it boosts Community morale lifts up the community members affirms Faith to God and generally makes a community a better place and whereas volunteering enriches the community of quic protects its environment and restores public lands it helps ensure an adequate response to natural and man-made disasters contributes to Public Safety strengthens the public educational system addresses Feud food insecurity and other needs list morale improves the lives of the most vulnerable people of theic and does in fact make Panic a better place and whereas the township of panic recognizes and appreciates the shared Universal values underpinning volunteerism fre will commitment engagement compassion sacrifice empathy and respect for others and whereas the township of aquan wishes to promote encourage and expand opportunities for volunteer service and strengthen the capacity of organizations and communities to solve problems now therefore be a Proclaim that the township the township Council and the township of pin does hear hereby commend celebrate and express its great appreciation for the volunteer missions efforts and contribut contribut I mess that up of the following volunteer organization does give me an idea wow and got on one page and I'm sure I'm missing so to anybody out there I I do apologize I will add you to the list but I do want to go through this really quick when I P off your group if you could just raise your hand I'd really appreciate it Panic Township first first aid and rescue squad H PLS engine company one anybody here from company one how about Company 2 okay not a problem Panic Valley rotary anybody here from them and a a a side point right every time we get a new police officer you guys donate the first V that's what I mean the quic the Quantic Regional Chamber of Commerce I saw you here Public Library Board of Trustees anybody here from the board and of course friends of Pana Township Library anybody here from that American Legion Post 450 and 242 Township historical society Boy Scout Troop 79 and 144 Scout 144 Cub Scout is 79 144 and then Boy Scout or Boy Scout Girl Scouts to panic anybody here from Girl Scouts all right we're what about the Panic planning board thean Zoning Board of AD justment anybody from zoning how about dollar Five Town Regional do Municipal Alliance committee anybody hear from that no okay shade tree commission Name by shade tree how about environmental commission I can see there we go colle just a couple weeks ago did you see this pictur of how much stuff we had great okay Economic Development anybody here from Economic Development flood control anybody from flood flood committee well you are historic district anybody historic district excent thank you for coming of course he's also part of the panic High School Marching Band number one pick crew thank you very much uh open space anybody here from open space yes Open Hearts and W hearts and wck yes senior citizen advisory and by senior citizen advisory we right here how about Uno Unico we got have here okay community community of Hope yes come on in Iron Man that there is an Iron Man ladies and gentlemen he is one of the hardest working people in little leag thank you very much uh Suburban Women's Club we have them yes how about the Panic Township food can than you so much so important every organization is important but wow I mean there's nothing like putting food on somebody's table so I really appreciate that kns of Columbus can we have kns of Columbus here say this Panic Columbia Panic columbet col okay anybody there okay about Panic disc 55 Senior Activity Quan theic adop the Quantic adopter pet anybody here no okay to do animal shelter anybody from the animal shelter together how about filing for Applause and then this list starts getting really really big but everybody from all Panic Club teams baseball softball cheer lacrosse soccer we also have Panic little leaf thank you very much guys but it's not just that because then when you start looking at the schools where it's all the parents at the homeschool associations for Hill North Boulevard Jas uh Panic valley middle and high school of course back to marching B and everybody else associated with that and then on top of that it's all the churches in town and everything that comes off of those churches again this is a huge list and it's even bigger when you start thinking about everything from the churches thank you very much I appreciate everything that you do the schol to the teams and then you start realizing how big this is and you start realizing how important this is to our community and this is where the culture for our community is and that's what makes the Quan great so from my heart to you guys this is all about you I appreciate it thank you very much for coming in this is the best thing in the world all right I'd like to get a great picture with everybody so let's figure out how to get a good picture sure maybe everybody can stand up kind of come together and we'll do the selfie thing and then number two if anybody wants a copy of this I'm going to make a ton of copies and I can drop it off to everybody all the different organizations uh give us about a week or two something like that so we'll take care of not a problem so everybody else come on all I gentlemen me take picture get turn around Melissa everybody three two one Scot all right wait we got to do a good picture and a fun one 3 2 one everybody's hands in the air this is a celebration right ready 3 2 1 here we go volun how are you Happy New Year all right let's get buiness like five hopefully one of them comes out all right I still can't believe I can't get on here Nobody Knows the Wi-Fi piw they they we read all kinds of points and put secure password I don't I said we didn't don't know IED know it's May don't know whye no she's having sh I know you said when is she going so I should have been able to con huh connect your computer that yeah they're not same well it's got to you got to be able to find appreciate how do that wasn't like was nice weie one at this stage over and not as much as you all right we ready to move on yes ready right you ready all right ladies and gentlemen we have to get back to our regular scheduled programming oh my glasses ask at this time are there any reports or comments from any of the volunteers serving our community I think they all ran out anybody want to come up volunteers please I'll come up on up yes state your name and what you're doing uh Bob Freeman with the Historical Society how are you um so we do have a uh historical speaker uh we originally had it that would have conflicted with your reorg meeting but we rescheduled it it's Wednesday January 31st at 7:00 p.m. at the library it's going to be a talk about the JFK assassination so everybody is welcome it's actually uh the library has a web page to sign up but come either way where is it going to be is it going to be in that back room at the library or um you don't know yet I don't know yet typically it's in the room just to the right of the door oh as you but they'll they'll pick okay thank you I appreciate it what time 700 p.m. Wednesday the 31st 700 p.m. thank you any volunteers okay seeing none moving on public comment next item on our agenda is public comments this 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 come to the microphone and provide your name for the record come on up it's kind of like open mik night public comment what are you saying hey um so mayor uh thank you very much for the proclamation tonight great job uh councilman thank you very much for all your service oh I need your name for the oh sorry Vinnie syracusa right how do you spell that last name s i r AC USA common spelling time um so I just want to thank you guys cuz you know you weren't recognized for everything that you all do uh Board of Education and everything else too um so you know it's great to be part of many of these groups growing up in town uh from the Boy Scouts that9 144 the little league and everything else is great um but one one thing I want to recognize is um the New Jersey Army National Guard the 44th INF infantry Brigade combat team is uh deploying this week I saw that on Facebook yep so um I'm actually the rear deade Commander uh for all the soldiers who are staying behind um we have about 1,800 1900 soldiers going forward uh from the state of New Jersey a few of them actually do live in town I was going to ask do you have any how many are from town I know one for sure but there may be maybe two to three uh depending on their deployment status I can just tell you that right now but mayor I can absolutely get you those names if you like um you know as soon as we validate that this week okay all right so I just wanted to say you know maybe we just keep them in our prayers and uh maybe we can recognize them going forward because um you know they are volunteers they're volunteering you know not only for our state our town but our country um you know things have gotten pretty over in Iraq and Syria the last few last few months um you everybody sees it on the news um so these ladies and gentlemen they're going into Harm's Way so if we can just keep them in our prayers um I'm sure that their families would absolutely appreciate that is that where they're all going Syria or we're going to Iraq Syria and Kuwait okay and maybe somewhere else Vinnie I just wanted to thank you you personally reached out to one of my friends Kevin sty who is uh being deployed and you offered a lot of help he was very excited that you were there as a source that's and the family thank you well um you know one thing I believe as a commander is you have to take care of the family yeah you know um whether it's you know the soldier's family your family but um those are your subordinates that are underneath you you know um that's the family you know and uh you can only build this family you make the family stronger you don't embarrass the family and uh you build them up so that's that's how we do it in the 44th uh that's how I do it on my command and uh but I just wanted to just make sure we recognize them going forward absolutely thank you I appreciate that our prayers are definitely with would anybody else like to come up and say anything you're going toite me come on up uh Matt ringan Panic little leag uh first off thank you all for uh your recognition tonight um and to all the volunteers Sirus what you just said it's tough act to follow um praying for those soldiers but um I'd be remiss if I didn't come up and and ask this question just based on some things that I learned of late um so qu Lally we are extremely fortunate to have the DPW in town and all the work that they do uh for our Fields maintaining our Fields they do a fantastic job and at times probably more than they care to care to do but we're we're truly appreciative of that so I I just want to make that point first so you know everyone understands kind of where we're coming from but uh recently I was told uh and I did some research that Wayne Township uh was able to put in a turf field at one of the facilities and now I don't know what this process entails but I know this has been an agenda item on our budget that's gotten pushed out a couple times with respect I understand that there's prior other priorities in town we do have nice facilities so I I don't wanted to you know downgrade that um but they was also told that they applied for and received a grant and it was paid for the field any idea what that Grant was I don't know um I was I didn't they didn't tell me what the grant title was I mean I could try and find out yeah um but I know just from our own research there are there are programs out there granted we are a higher economic town so I don't know what you can and can't qualify for so I'm not naive to that um can't much different than Wayne right exactly that's the reason why I'm up here cuz I've seen some other towns get them but uh and listen when at the end of the day it comes down to there's some cost savings for the DPW where they wouldn't have to cut they cut less grass less to maintain uh and some of the things yeah I mean some of the things that we would be looking to do you know the little league itself would be willing to financially contribute as well um Grant could you I know you're familiar with grants and stuff like that we go about doing that yeah thank you Mr ringan and this has been a question in the past of how this happens and the big issue is the county open space tax in Essex I know and I believe in Pay can be used for the development and Improvement of fields Mars counties cannot okay that's interesting it's what the allowable uses are based upon the referendum that created the tax so if my recollection is accurate the county of Mars is actually going to be studying this um we may have a member of our governing body who was recommended to participate in that volunteer group to review what the County's open space tax can be used for but right now we can't apply for the development or Improvement of a park through the county open space tax where as Wayne I believe can might I don't know my gut is it's happened before where they've gotten it I I when I worked in Essex County I I secured a million dollar Grant to turfer field from the county open space tax and that's the the principal difference well that would be nice I got to tell you imagine if that Washington Park well and listen I'm not even necessarily I mean I don't know how it works with fields and whatnot and what's owned by the board of EDS I mean Hill viws Field for soccer I mean you could Turf that whole field soccer baseball I mean everyone benefits uh but my hope is the county through their investigatory process determines that that's a wise thing to do and goes back to the voters for that approval we'll definitely look into thank you you see the question vote Yes yeah you got it and if you could find out just do a little digging if it's something that we don't know of be great thank thanks let me piggy back on that Jean Spain 18 Cooper wrot hey Jean how's it going Ryan oh Mr Mayor Liv in the dream grants.gov so it's grants.gov or federal grants that would be under the presidential physical fitness Grant and you will find it there interesting it is federal money and it would be to support school systems looking for athletic equipment and Facilities I think our so that's what under which sub item presidential physical fitness yes grants scgov is you know there's a little search engine in there and you can say physical you know physical fitness or and there are grants in there now I don't know if it'll pay for the whole thing no but but you know that's some federal Che any we we work very well with other people's money so one of our things and true it's it's one of the big things that we believe in panic is if we can get more of those federal funds we've been very successful doing that with the FEMA elevations yes but you know these are your tax dollars that are going out to state and federal and the more of those tax dollars we can get back the better it is for the community exactly state federal and County yes that's true made segue to the veterans organization ab and then oh a there you go how do I get blind when I'm up on it the New Jersey Veterans Network you're familiar with us right good friends of Michael there you go all right you were yes I was there we go well I don't want to exhaust my 3 minutes here but totally you know rolling with pole on making sure the Brigade taken care of as a matter of fact you and I are going to be talking a lot about that um and we can segue right now to the uh Memorial Day Parade we have asked uh Colonel uh Chilton is Forest Chilton Junior's no I'm sorry Forest jilton III's uh son Forest jilton died at the age of 23 crashed in the English Channel in 1944 shortly after D-Day in his p47 his son has continued on the Family's uh tradition of service he has graciously agreed to be our Master of Ceremonies our keynote speaker excellent uh and you know Native Son yeah I'm excited about that thank you very happy about that you've brought some amazing speakers so I really appreciate that I'm not inviting any more generals but there you go and that is it thank you very much thank you you anybody else come on up Sandy Lort for PTI Place ppon Plains um I would just like to get a little bit of help I've been writing as has Jackie stala regarding 60 Sunset and the fire code we have asked very specific questions we have asked them on the record we have put them in writing Adam is aware and the only response we get is I think it looks okay that that's the the correspondence now that's on the website and I think that is an inadequate answer to questions that are referencing very specific fire codes and concerns that this community has and this has been asked on the record multiple times the other way so I'm reaching out to you because I just don't know what to do to get a clear answer I know what to do what's that I'm going to ask the lawyer what do you think I have no idea have not even looked at it not even aware of it um can I forward you my letter and Jack's letter assist as we discussed in the past unfortunately it's an ongoing application before the board of adjustments so it really wouldn't be appropriate for this body to weigh in or any official to weigh in on an application or something that's before the board of adjustment so I'm not going to comment on it I I'm not going to ask you to give me the answer what I'm asking is for you to encourage the people who you have empowered and hired in these roles to actually answer the questions that are being answered to them at that meeting I don't know if that would go under the building department or it was that would be for the board I'm not I'm not I'm not going to weigh comment on on the application as it is before the board when is when is the next meeting tomorrow night at 7:00 and where is it at pth yes at the high school in the auditorium and I believe we're up on traffic they had to do another traffic study um thank goodness Kim quiggly finally asked for more clarity and more information which the board has the Zoning Board of adjustments is allowed to do that at any time and she finally did then they did a traffic study on a half day of school so thank goodness our community members reported that and they were um forced to actually perform one on a more typical day of school uh I haven't even I got to I have to unfortunately as official body we can't comment on that it's it's kind of like two different SB they have their responsibility and they they had it just has to go through the process so yes and Adam has told me that but out of frustration I want it on the record I want you to know what's been happening and if your hands are tied I do understand that however I I think it needs to be on the record that this is unacceptable answers that we're getting and and when we try to go through proper channels we're still not getting the answers so thank on the record again everybody's a breast def thank you very much Sandy thank you anybody else no no come on up uh and then I got to move on just so everybody knows Bob fredman um first I wanted to say how um happy I was to see old the toown volunteers and Proclamation about it um I grew up in Brooklyn and I was aware of uh you know community events only related to schools and uh religious institutions the the you know city of Brooklyn was so large that I was never involved in the you know under or knew much about the government of the city itself so it's great to be in a little town where everyone could be involved in things that are kind of Under the Umbrella of the government and I I talk about this all the time when I I uh in work meetings I you know meet people all over the world and talk about how great it is to be in a little town that being being said uh I'm concerned about the library budget and uh in a recent Library meeting it looked as though the capital budget was not approved uh I'm concerned specifically that if there's roof repair or roof replacement that it gets done expeditiously yeah yeah okay thank you thank you I appreciate that anybody else oh unfortunately we got to get moving but there is another section for comment afterwards okay next on our agenda is the manager's report Mr Brewer you're up thank you mayor uh three quick items of business the first is in the council's packet the schedule or proposed schedule for meetings associated with the 2024 Municipal budget is laid out I know I have heard from one member already that there is some concern over the meeting on Saturday February 24th oh right so I just wanted to check in with Council to see is this okay or would you like to move some of the dates how do you want us to proceed how is everybody good with the 24th of February well unfortunately I forwarded to Adam and to yourself I don't know if you got to say it I just did it so I was already committed to a strategic planning session through um my full-time job oh okay you mean you have a day job and I have to go to Monclair for Friday into Saturday and the session goes until 12 1:00 on Saturday yeah so about Friday the 23rd Saturday and Saturday it's an overnight thing um and so I'm asking I forwarded the email uh to both of you so you could see what it was I was going to we push the March so I'm wondering if we can move it if we push forward it throws off the entire schedule toward adoption can you do it early so we could move it up uh chall is the normal uh this is the normal schedule if we move it from uh the 2 4th to the 17th that's the Saturday of uh holiday weekend President's Day weekend is anybody going away that a problem it's it's done I mean it's whatever the council wants the staff will make it happen I can do any other day can you guys do the 17 if not the 17th the 10th and then we just have to put everything together as quickly as possible so whatever the pleasure we'll make I can do the 17th I can do the 17th or the 24th Dave I can do the 17th or the 10th uh I can't do the 10th okay how about the 17th 1 I can't do the 10th I don't think I can do the 17th either I I'll have to check the 24th I have opened uh but I know that Melissa's got a conflict so I mean I'm I'm good for March 2nd too and we don't know about John what about lat Saturday huh we got push later in the day I can do it after 1:00 I can make sure I leave uh the 24th at 2:00 I can't do it on the 24th till after 3 then or at 3:00 but then we're talking like 3 to six if you guys are okay with that I'm okay with that I'd rather not do it later in the day me neither but March 2nd is not an option then it throws off the whole moving forward oh March 2 is setting up for grains of Hope and then the third is grains of hope so you were going to look at uh the 17th or the 10th was it um Dave that you said just the 10th I'm out I'm at I'm in the bo know on the 10th I I might be able to do it on the 17th I can text the boss and find out all right so why why don't we put as a placeholder on the 17th I'll also reach out to uh John John to see how that works for him and we'll kind of take I appreciate it all right so how about the other days does the other days work for everybody the other days are fine for me I noticed one though you had I think you meant an hour and you had um 2 hours which would go into our council meeting utilities budget yeah would be correct yeah be six to S okay I was fine with every other date I don't know about everybody else I'm double checking right now yeah I I'm good with all the other ones what about you guys you guys good with everything else well the the other ones are all meeting days so right they're just an hour earlier correct okay all right so so we want to check on the 7 February yeah I have to check on the 17th and I will uh you just have to check with and just to confirm I'll I'll pencil that in for now and Carol can provide the corresponding notice if something needs to change we can always change it yeah I'll reach out to John uh okay next item uh we have a couple of grand opportunities I just want to run past the council uh it was shared with me councilman Cole through the assemblyman's office who no longer represents us but it's time enough to share information which is always good uh there's an ARP Community challenge grant that may be appropriate for the senior house MH we've had on our Target list for a little while the senior house bathrooms SOC work together Grant if for some reason we're not successful with arp we can move that to cdbg and if not then obviously we can consider local funds and then last year we submitted a DCA local Recreation Improvement grant for the green View Park Pond lining project which is still proceeding we're just doing it differently we're doing a lot of stuff inh housee that's been the the project that just keeps giving and yes it gets deeper and deeper um so this year we were contemplating a project that hadn't been funded in the past the controls for Washington Park uh the fact that that that that has that's been requested for a long time and has never been funded but getting the remote control so we're not flipping a breaker have remote stuff um cuz I mean we got to go in every time they got to go in every time and flip Breakers and it's one thing that the uh the knowledgeable guys know know how to do that but you know as we're aging out anybody new and it's just you don't want to control lights with Breakers exactly there's a better way to do it so yeah so we'd like to have the Next Generation so nobody sizzles um all right so then we will prepare the corresponding grants accordingly there will be legislative action for the DCA local Improvement Grant I don't believe there is any for the ARP Grant but I'll Circle back if there is a need for uh resolution approval so you're going to call your AARP representative I'm going to fill out the application and see what we get so are we going to do two or we only going to do one for the DCA one for DCA okay the Little League likes the I know part's in the pickle ball court but from a funding perspective and just everyone knows it says provide quality outdoor recreational space to underserved communities M so we may or may not get it we were successful last year I don't know if we'd be successful again but I'm going to ask and you'll notice I forwarded you and 11% get a chance to through it was just about some other possible grant opportunities but again it's all based on to repeat the mayor's comment we like to work with other people's money to do improvements in cor Township uh next next item we have the Parks and Recreation fees consistent with Direction and discussion at a prior Meeting those fees for the group user rate and the nonprofit groups uh have been uh increased slightly for the 2024 season provided the ordinance is introduced public he be on February 13th uh with potential adoption on that date and the rates would become effective March 1st okay have we notified the for-profit organizations that there's potentially a change all information that goes out has included this with an asress based upon the last Council meeting's Direction okay thank Youk you um and then lastly it's not in the written report I apologize to the Omission we also have an ordinance for the council's consideration of introduction this evening to establish and preserve a c bank uh as the Council has heard this every year for the last probably 15 years the last five for me uh this is not an ordinance that authorizes any additional spending this is a ordinance that will allow for an insurance policy to preserve a cap bank which is a mechanism in Municipal Finance if something should become necessary we would have the ability to do it but any additional spending would require legislative action through the budget process all right any questions any question no all right thank you Mr bur there are no public hearings ordes for introduction uh Miss Marsh begin with ordinance number 20241 an ordinance amending chapter 152 of the code of the township of panic and revising fees for certain parks and recreation activities and programs Mr Brewer any comments not unless there's any questions Council any comments no no no all right is there a motion to introduce this ordinance on first reading I'll make that motion to introduce ordinance 20241 I'll second roll call Mrs Florence Lynch yes Mr Cole yes Mrs Russell yes mayor herd yes all right next on the agenda is Introduction of ordinance number 202 24-02 Miss Marsh 20242 is an ordinance to establish and preserve a cap Bank in accordance with njsa 48 col 44514 very well done Mr Brewer only if you want me to torture you all righty any comments from Council no all right is there a motion to int introduce this ordinance on first reading I'll make a motion to introduce ordinance number 20 24-02 can I get a second I'll second roll call Mrs Florence Lynch yes Mr Cole yes Mrs Russell yes mayor herd yes next on agenda is resolutions Miss Marsh you ready for the long list oh boy resolution R 20246 approving payment of the itemized claims is set forth on the January 19th 2024 Bill list that's all you got that's all I got all right the seon are there any comments on the resolution from Council no okay is there a motion to adopt these resolutions I'll make a motion to adopt resolution 20246 can I get a second second roll call Mrs lence Lynch yes Mr Cole yes Mrs Russell yes a herd yes there is no items for discussion no reports or notices next on the agenda is Council reports and announcements Council m thei is not here councilwoman Florence Lynch what you got uh just a couple things um I actually did the report right before I got here and printed it out and then left it in the printer all right but that's all right we'll we'll uh wing it this this I'm just going to pass out I'll send it to electronically when I when I get it this is from uh the flood committee the flood resilience Officer Jennifer puts this together um excellent you know pretty much right before we had at least quarterly are these all the same yeah one to everyone so you can have that so the committee met um that's the report that Jennifer went over at the meeting we reviewed the last two flood events um and reviewed um lessons learned and um went over the uh we reviewed the communication from the town everyone felt that the communication was really good this time from the town trying to keep everybody appr prised of what was happening uh the flood committee as you know last year talked about going to quarterly meeting but now they want to go back to monthly meetings so um I'll keep you informed um when the next if they go back to the regular scheduled meeting it would be Thursday February 8th at 7:00 but I'll keep you informed if um that changes flows what um now I was just looking at this and home elevation projects you know we talked about using other people's money so there's 42 elevations that were completed correct 32 in progress Y and then we have 10 more applications so that's a total of 84 so we were at 20 million coming in any idea how much money we've gotten from FEMA to do this uh the total numbers I'd have to look I don't know do you know what they I don't want a ballpark at all I want ballark a lot it's it's a lot though accessive 20 million Millions it's excellent and the one thing that was uh really good too you know we have the storm alerts that residents can sign up for whether they live in the flood area or not and um it's now increased after those two flood events by 35% so we have um another like 415 people you know from going around telling people get on the you know um make sure you get on the alert system we might have even more what you say it was about it's over, 1600 1,600 in total but another 400 plus where we started correct so we have we have about 1,600 plus residents that have signed up for those alert so that's great um so let's hope that it's a long time before we see another flood but you know the flood committee really wants to get out there and improve the communications you know there's been a lot of new residents in town that are just they don't know if they weren't here in 2011 they were surprised just don't um that was very good yeah yeah um let's see what else the senior citizen advisory committee uh they because of the uh storm they had to cancel their January meeting but they'll be meeting um in February on February 21st at 9:30 in the morning in the senior center um Economic Development they're having their first meeting uh tomorrow evening in this room so they'll welcome any new members and go through their um uh rework okay um we all had a chance to go to the fire installation dinner this last weekend it was great so congratulations to everyone I'm sure you're going to touch on that congratulations to um all the officers um Bobby van rer also got an award for all his years of service he's now retired and we're going to miss him uh what else um and then just a couple of events you know talking about volunteers lanic Valley rotary is holding their comedy night um which is a fundraiser for our departments so Panic Valley rotary May which you may or may not know encompasses Panic Lincoln Park and Riverdale and in those three towns there's five firehouses and we are doing a fundraiser um the r rotarians are doing a fundraiser it's a comedy night it's being held on Saturday March 2nd it's going to be held in Lincoln Park at the American Legion there and 50% of the proceeds you know we're going to also have a Tricky Tray and a raffle 50/50 and 50% of those proceeds will go to those five firehouses um split evenly across the board um because they are the backbone of our community the great volunteers and we wanted to you know find a good um you know a good organization to get behind and we thought why not the fire department so what time does that start Melissa um doors open at 7:00 show starts at 8:00 and tickets are also available at a door or you have to pre no you have to buy the tickets ahead of time I believe they're $60 a ticket and um it's all over Facebook and because uh you can call any of us in in rotary to get the um tickets they are selling out fast though all right um and then the other one I was just going to mention speaking of volunteers is our columbiettes are holding a baked potato Nate on Saturday January 21st 27th I'm sorry I'm sorry and um you can find that stuff on online as well I think I saw that on Facebook and there was one more I was going to mention it was the kns of Columbus holds a um uh St Patty's Day dinner dance and that's going to be in do I have that date down that's going I don't have the date here that's going to be [Music] March 1st I believe oh that's uh no I got my date wrong anybody know the date what is March 9th thank you I knew somebody in the audence that so and then uh we're already sold up at the Suburban Women's Club they're doing a Tricky Tray that's on but I think the tickets are sold out sold out and then don't forget our grains of Hope um grains of Hope is the third right and setups on the second setups on the second setups on the second so I don't know uh those are the ones I had written down I'm sure sure there's other ones going on but I just wanted to mention those so you can find all that information on um Facebook I I've seen Facebook uh the ar aonic ar aonic app as well I mean everything is out there so on our site yes yeah yeah some's well Township stuff is on our side yeah yeah we'll have to talk about that moving forward do you see that digital board in Lincoln Park on the lake they put everything on there we need a bigger digital board all right that's anything else no that's it all right uh councilman Cole all right um I sit on the two Bridges Sewer Authority uh Adam I'm sure you know but we'll be getting roughly a $92,000 credit for the first quarter of 2024 yes sir I guess that's the money that we pay for sewage that we didn't actually have to treat so they estimate flow yes it's an interesting process I'm fixing all those things that we fixed last year uh I don't know yeah maybe at this point it's been a few years since we dealt with the inii issue this is more hopefully just based upon an estimate return circumstance I attended uh the coach Spencer induction into the high school wrestling hall of fame uh welld deserved for Coach Spencer many many years of uh great high school wrestling coaching uh it was very well attended um so congratulations to coach Spencer uh congratulations to the high school music program for a successful fun pancake uh breakfast I attended that this last Saturday and congratulations as Melissa said company one and Company two the fire department installation dinner congratulations to all the department officers officials and thank you both to to both fire departments for all you do for our residents of aquantic Township I have a scanner at home and uh it's eye opening to sit there and listen to some of these calls that they go out on so all of our First Responders first aid Squad fire departments the police departments so it's a it's eye opening sometimes I wish I don't I didn't have it on so but that's all I have thank you thank you uh councilwoman Russell um thank you um just as everybody else said the fire department's reorganization dinner was very lovely held at the castle it was a good time had by all congratulations to all of those and to hear the amount of years that people put in just volunt in is amazing and wonderful Library had our meeting um yes we are working on the the roof I believe we're very close to the roof I think at the last meeting we discussed that we just wanted to check because the prices are so different so we and they got really good references so we're just checking to make sure that everybody's doing the same thing and then we can hopefully do the go-ahead at next month's meeting are you going to get on the roof and help them no not at all um so hope hopefully they'll get that done uh they're also going to be interviewing and they're going to hire their own Library board attorney so that we can have answers to questions right then and there at our meetings which will be nice um that committee that um Adam spoke about with the county checking to see if we can use open F uh space funds um I've been asked to be on that committee Betty I think you're on that committee also too right so yeah just yes yeah I think I saw your name on that so so it's just a research to just see and that'll really help if we can get that the environmental the styrofoam collection as Ryan spoke about went well um you know that's such a little known group that does so much behind the scenes um they do a really really wonderful job helping the environment you know they they all help out with the river cleanup they all help out styrofoam collection they do the rain barrels and um hopefully this year they can do even more rain balls cuz that the minute we mention they teach you how to make a rain barrel with some old Coca-Cola cans and it's just it's really good and really good for the environment so they're a great fruit too and that's it thank you very much I can Echo everything that everybody said you know company 1 company two it was fabulous uh pancake uh breakfast was amazing I think uh we calculated out we made about 1,200 pancakes overall so and I probably ate I don't know 200 um we also have the Panic music department Tricky Tray unfortunately it's sold out but they might be releasing some uh seats so we're we're trying to work with that to get some more people in there because that went really well last year other than that I think everybody touched on everything I want to thank all the volunteers again I mean you are the reason why we have such a fabulous community so I want to thank you and anybody that I forgot let us know let us know Board of Ed thank you that that's one that I did not have on there but that's another volunteer job right absolutely ran there was one more thing that I just wanted to mention um we started it last year the year before where we recognize first aid Squad and fire department uh members that have significant number of years uh so I was approached and asked if this tonight was taking the place of that and I said no so I did send the an email to uh Miss Marsh uh I'd like to maybe you know for her to get uh names of people she and email the chiefs of the three and get names of people that have significant uh years of service for this year that we can set up a date I think I thought there was two months two different times of the year that we agreed that we would do that so I'd like to get that on our calendar yeah we did talk definitely absolutely mayor can I say something real quick speaking of volunteers um something we used to have and I brought this up before I don't know if it's something we can work on but our Township website before we revamped it did have links to all our volunteer organizations and the reason it fell behind by the wayside is because the volunteer organizations whoever was in charge the names change the the main contact person would change like it used to be very helpful when the legion was putting together their list for the parade and and we used to have links to that I don't know if that's something we can work on we'd have to put a lot of the onus on the volunteer groups to have a contact here whether it be Carol or somebody else and say okay here's the the contact for this year or that year I don't know just a thought and just a suggestion is I think we would need to explore a policy to determine exactly who and how so I think there's I think there's a little more to it than just there needs to be defined and figure out what would be included and not included that was some of the issue too was the different organizations what's in town what's not in town what's comprised of of groups with different missions and and it got a little bit of a challenge in addition to just the lack of updated information there were some other factors in play when when those decisions were made and there's also well remember there's there's a couple of panic Town pages that also have that there is the AL Quantic app there is so I mean at least there is stuff out there so anything else no okay um also based on that we we touched on it really quick about the sign up I want of make sure everybody knows about this sign up it's on our website and uh This Way whenever the township sends information out that's your best source of information and you'll get it right on your phone especially since we just went through a little bit of flooding you know that was an issue uh also if you want to pick up my card on the back of it it has a QR code that literally goes right to that signup page so all you have to do is snap it with your uh with your phone and you'll go right there it's right on the back of my card I have a whole bunch up here and please do me a favor uh spread the word CU it's really important to make sure everybody knows all your neighbors um in case anything happens it said everything from you know picking up leaves to a flooding event and everything in between so it's really important to make sure everybody knows okay we got that all right next on the agenda is public comment if anybody wishes to address the council please wait to be recognize come to the microphone and provide your name for the record I'm just kidding come on up how are you doing good excellent Rob Museo 41 popular Avenue PL I have you could actually give them to Carol and if you could just do me another favor just speak into the mic I couldn't hear you I'm sorry Museo 41 popular pumping ples hi Barbara how are you good excellent over the past 30 years I have been intimately involved with the Panic free public library first as an active and Avid support order of building the new library then as a library trustee and as president of the board for 19 years congratulations thank you I have worked closely with many fine board members and two remarkably dedicated Library directors together we have succeeded in creating a well-used well-funded and well-loved local library by comparison Our Town Council has shown its lack of appreciation by not reappointing board members who were involved in those successes including Nancy re and Joyce Ford Mulla whose sister bequeathed the money that built the extension to the children's Library Instead This Town Council has systematically replaced them with people had no involvement or attachment to the library at the last trustee meeting there was a large outpouring from the community who want to make sure that the state mandated Library funds will be used for the library they urged the board to in the words of the township master plan support local public knowledge by ensuring the Public Library is well funded and meets the needs of Township residents the now four3 majority and the least experienced trustees voted against the resolution to place funds in our capital budget despite the strong recommendation from the board's former auditor and current bookkeeper M Russell has even suggested that we put off replacing the 27-year-old leaking roof until 2025 2026 to instead use the library money for pickle B s why what is the motive behind this while far too many delay tactic dominated our meetings through 2023 the roof still leaks and the parking lot remains unpaved and at times dangerous with the danger now on record here and at several trusty meetings the town-owned municipal parking lot needs not just repaving but a complete redesign for safety and This Town Council thinks the library should pay for it why in addition community members have complained including to councilman Russell about the rude and dismissive way she speaks to our professional and dedicated Library director there were many M witnesses to this abuse at our last meeting last year and at our our current meeting this past meeting in fact Miss Russell's tone was was the impetus for one of our longest standing board members to become so upset she threatened to resign this would never be allowed in any workplace and should not be tolerated here it is unacceptable at the January 17th Library meeting the newly constit con constituted board removed me from the presidency no cause given no discussion had Miss Russell's power play to unseat me as president and D me deny me the vice presidency had made me many people angry many was stunned by such mean-spirited and unprofessional behavior Township residents have the right to expect expect better thank thank you for your time thank you anybody else good evening Paul mailor 29 Arundle Road Pompton Plains I have uh handouts for you I have some good news for you about the library oh a good that way just so the rest of the residents know all you have to do now is give your name name there's a new law that has passed that you do not give your address okay so following up on on uh uh uh our library situation I did some research using the statistics from the New Jersey State Library they actually put out statistics on every library in the in the community um I'm sorry every library in the state so what what you see in front of you is some uh comparison of our library to six other libraries that that are that surround Panic Township so our population rank among those seven it we rank second total staff hours for the year ranks third so we don't use quite as many staff hours as maybe we should uh because we ranked third but our total hours open per week ranks number one so our library staff even though they're understaffed Works harder than any any other library in the area we're open to to the public more than any library in the area attendance in our library actually walking through the door we ranked number one even though the largest uh uh Township in comparison mville has a population half again as big as ours we rank number one in total people attending our library that's the great work that our former trustees have done that the friends of the library especially which is a remarkable organization as well as our current uh Library director and then uh uh also attendance at library programs again we rank number one and there's a lot of people that will tell you how much they enjoy those programs for the kids for adults and uh and so on uh fantastic work uh done by those folks on the opposite side of of what I put out some information again comparing the same uh seven libraries in total tax support we rank number two seems appropriate our population ranks number two our total tax support to the library ranks number two our total operating expenditures also rank number two and you think that that's the way that it should be you might note however that if you look at Montville total tax support 1.7 million total money spent $1.7 million in panic total tax money $998 total spent 890 so we need to be spending that money on staff and services and so on and we're not quite getting that done and you'll also notice that capital B uh capital budget expenditures and this is for 2022 the 2023 numbers are not out yet but we ranked dead last we spent zero uh by comparison Lincoln Park spent $1.3 million they uh did an incredible uh job uh increasing the size of their library and Prov providing for uh study areas which I know that when we did our long-term study for the library that was one of the things that was requested by businesses and uh residents alike these private uh study areas that we really don't have in our library but that we have in our long-term plan uh to do cost is about $250,000 maybe sounds like a lot of money but when you think that Lincoln Park smaller Community than ours just spent 1. 3 million 250 to upgrade the inside of the library for things that the township really wants and town businesses really want pretty important thing so thank you for your time great news about our library thank you thank you Paul thank oh wait Sandy he had his hand up there a minute ago but then you're next uh Matt ring with the little league and I'm the only reason why I'm back up here is uh you talked about the grant for the lights um so couple questions on that is that that Grant would that be for both Lighting systems because one operates on a separate system than two and three and so do you know that we're going to ask for whatever we can afford within the budget that's there okay so so do I have an answer to that exactly right now no no and I didn't expect it to but uh I would make a request because the structur is outside for two and three where the breakers are a lot more dangerous than the structure that is inside for one so I would make the suggestion if it could go anywhere it goes there not to mention that one is typically locked with a master key that I know DPW and only certain individuals in town have a key for so if we can make that note and two uh if if you do get that cost um if you could bring it to the league to the Little League cuz we would be willing to listen at least maybe if it is a lower cost that we can afford uh maybe we can look at helping with that cost cuz it would benefit everybody not just the Little League I mean obviously the town as well um and lastly uh little Le opening day is April 20th uh oh no that's right at 8 8:15 starting to walk from the middle school so as always so now we can get this formally on record so we don't forget because we have done that in the past so my apologies um we will leave from PV Middle School uh walk down to Washington 1 uh mayor if your arm is up to it we'd love to have you throw brought the first pitch can have son catch I know he just exited the league so he can catch if he'd like to attend as well that's it thank you guys thank you Sandy and just a knowe I got to tell you little league is such a phenomenal group in town all the town all the groups in town are are good but I I have personal experience with them and all three of my boys have gone through it it's just awesome great memory Sandy Lort pumpt and Plains New Jersey um I think it's actually very appropriate that I'm here tonight when you did the recognition of all the volunteer organizations because this letter that I've written actually kind of um ties together a a lot of things we are a community where everything is very intermeshed um I wrote this to Dr poris our superintendent um I hope all is well and look forward to a great 2024 I attended my first panic Township Library T trustees meeting last week to learn more about the status of our library and a calculated strategic effort to change leadership upon listening asking questions and observing the group by Dynamics I was disturbed by what I saw your Panic Township School District trustee representative deette McBain was clearly a dedicated knowledgeable team member who was proud to serve until just recently I observed a who believed in the mission and vision of the library board who was appalled by this new Direction and divisiveness to the point of resignation twice during that meeting I W witnessed an educator I have known though not closely arise and admonished the behavior and actions of this new board in two impassioned speeches from PR previous experience the fact she was moved to this point was was out of character she was visibly upset almost to tears years it was clear vet has been a dedicated trusted valuable representative of of the district and a member of this board her reasons for resignation are understandable based upon what I saw from a woman who only wants to help serve contribute and not be thrust into a political conflict on a board that should not be political I would like to thank her for her service to our district and our community as a member of the panic Township Library Board of Trustees I hope there will be an opportunity to honor and thank her that is a meeting I would like to attend when I consider all of this in the context of the recent bashing of pths librarian Leanne bringer and the false accusations regarding our Panic Township Board of Education during the recent Schoolboard elections it is all starting to create a disturbing Trend and picture I am not supportive of por pornographic materials in our schools and understand different people draw that line at different points as we have previously disced discussed I trust our district Librarians and the Board of Education to make and monitor these decisions I understand if I or anyone else has concerns about materials there is a well foed out and research policy in place to address such concerns I do believe what is inappropriate in school libraries is essential in our Public Library not only for freedom of speech but also so but also so a rich selection of reading materials on a variety of topics ICS representing a variety of beliefs are available to our residents and Library patrons as you consider evets replacement based upon what I observed the next District representative will need to be able to tolerate this environment and have the strength and passion to not only serve as the liaison but also an advocate for the underserved populations and the necessity for public libraries to serve all I have recently learned the mission and role of of a library trustee as per Quantic Township master plan is to support local knowledge by ensuring the public library is well funded and there are and there are specific State funds set aside for this and meets the future needs of Township residents um I then looked up liaison and I understand we have a liaison from the mayor to that um trustee board uh liaison is supposed to for communication or cooperation which facilitates a close working relationship between people or organizations if and it says if someone acts as a liaison with a particular group or between two or three or more groups their job is to encourage cooperation and the exchange of information a trustee which I have been um on an other situations is an individual person or member of a board given control or powers of administration of property in trust with a legal obligation to ad administer it solely for the purpose specified which is what I mentioned before in the master plan the responsibilities of a trustee are to take legal ownership of the assets held by a trust the library and assume fiduciary responsibility for managing those assets and carrying out the purpose of the trust a trustee is a person who takes responsibility for managing money or assets that have been set aside in a trust for the benefit of someone else and that's that's what I did not see and I'm very disappointed by what I saw I have participated in wonderful library programs from vintage tray decoupage to Holiday wreath making I was able to bring my mom we did watercol painting we made homemade soaps on a different occasion for wreath activity gardening presentations Fred of stay music um our library has created an opportunity for Library patients to learn new skills interact with other community members and participate in new and enriching activities imagine what else they could do if they were able to use more of their budget thank you thank you Sandy appreciate that at this point we're at that 30 minutes so unfortunately I can't I'm at 30 minutes already I don't want to interrupt all right one more last one 13 minutes point of order thank you very good thank you guys little leag I appreciate you coming thank you very much thank you done I also have a hand out for and uh my name is um Ed Hoffman and I'm a citizen who lives in pumpt and plains Ed do you want to give them to Carol so [Music] you'll excuse me if I'm just a little nervous because this is not my usual I don't mean it's fine but I was drawn because of some of the things that I've heard about what's going on with the library I'm just an hon I'm just a citizen I'm I have no no political interest or financial interest or anything else just that I love I have affection and and respect with the library and what it does I've sat in that library in the afternoons and watched the kids coming in from school I talk to people who were in there to do research for for papers to advance their education or to advance research that they want to do uh and things that I heard were disturbing one that uh there was a proposal or there was uh attempts to take funds capital funds which were designated for the library and take those funds away from the library and put them into the financing of a a pickle ball field my first question is is what's so important about a pickle ball field that it would be above the interest of the library the second thing I heard was that one of the trustees of the library was uh pushing to have the funds Capital funds taken out now in that uh handout it's that um funds restricted for capital projects as well as grants and any bequests Etc are made to establish or maintain the free public library are to be maintained as a surplus so that would allow somebody perhaps to try to manipulate that for the purposes of taking funds away from the library as I understand it now the there on the second on the back of the second of the first page it says return of excess funds require State librarian approval once the Board of Trustees has adopted a resolution to return excess funds it shall be fored to the the resolution to the State library for approval which I don't know is actually been proposed as I say my first thing is what is so good about a pickle ball field that it transends the needs of the hbrary the second thing is that I understand that one of the people proposing this move is a trustee at the library now I com from an organization that I'm very proud of and the idea is there when you're when you're a member you fight for that that organization and as I say I'm not getting me in here listening to all of this very new to me and very unusual but I was just drawn by this particular concern and all I can say is if you are a member of the team in a library how do you proposed to do something that deducts from the value of the library and I as I understand it it's not something novel it is the roof of the library how long has this been in in in hold now it's proposed to be kept out until 2 20 2025 what do damage does that do to the library I leave you know the answers are with you people but I I raised the question and I rais it with very deep sincerity and quite frankly when I heard it I was quite angry I don't think that's fair or ethical I'll leave it at that thank you s thank you up Ryan I I I saw her first I got to let her no please Meg okay okay you here to talk about the library you would make the eth resident here tonight talking about the library you guys are all dear friends I have so much respect for you but this thing starting to look like a third rail about to happen absolutely um forgive me I stood up before talking about federal funds I found a bunch of federal funds for the library uh we're a town that's beautiful and improving and we want to keep that Library going and I'm coming from the business World obviously for the SBA where I work the library is a tremendous business resource uh for the business owners the small business owners particularly in our community there are Publications which very very expensive that small business owner can get at the library uh you know when it comes down to even WiFi when I was a banker I used to pull in the library parking lot to do my reports and then pull right back out again you can even rent a hotspot from the library rent a Hotpot exactly from our library so our library is is a town resource and we want to keep it you know and this thing's just looking like a third rail and I I think we there's a little dis and misinformation out there but I totally agree with I want to cut through this information and stuff but you know let's take a look at our library and make sure that it's okay moving forward I 100% AG agree and Adam I found a bunch of federal funds available for libraries and we should talk keep them coming absolutely thank you okay Megan Megan Dy so um to your point about misinformation potentially being out there I think it I think more of it is a misunderstanding of the way that um budgets work and capital budgets versus operating funds which I'm sure all of you are are fairly well versed in um so so what I heard and I support all of the comments that have been made about the library so far my experience of the most recent meeting which was the first one I have attended um after hearing concerns from many friends about the direction the library was going in um and people who have formerly worked in the library and what is happening there um and and what's happening with the trustees I attended this meeting and it was it was pretty much spoton what former president um Barbara muo described in terms of the uh the attitudes and what was happening there what I heard tonight at this meeting was this body approve resolution 20242 for a cap bank which as Mr Brewer described is not an approval of excess spending but is an insurance policy it's an opportunity for you to put away some funds for things that arise that are unexpected what I heard at last week's Library board meeting was exactly the same rationale and to Mr mailer's point that not all of the operating budget has been expended or had previously been expended when you have extra funds in an operating budget they can be moved into your capital budget you can't roll them over into operating for the next year you can't hire somebody new at them you can move them into capital in the case of some other you might if you have an emergency fund you can probably move it into that what I heard being explained at that meeting and it wasn't explained in budgetary terms because I think the accountant was trying to explain it in layman's terms for people but what I heard is that there is an excess of funds that sounds like it is over the 20% that is the state mandated that the library wants to move into their capital budget and they have at least a 5 to sevene plan of Capital Improvements that have been informed by their resarch strategic planning process that have been asked for by the community and that include things like the re leaking roof now yes there was dispute and there was no decision made on the vendor for the roof but the action that happened at that meeting was councilwoman Russell and three other trustees voting no twice on an operating budget that had previously been approved I'm understanding in November until the president was told that was a straw vote which I think is something very questionable and you need to look into further and then you were able to get one of your appointees to change her vote to no after you appointed another member that you knew would vote no on all of the things that either this Council or your liaison has decided they want to roadblock for the library for reasons that are unbeknownst to anybody in this room so I am extremely concerned about that I think everyone who has spoken here and the people who were at the meeting last week were very concerned about that um and I think this body needs to have a discussion about what the role of your liaison to the library board is because in my interpretation and everyone else's it is to serve not be a roadblock thank you thank you Megan at this point we have hit the 30 minutes I do want to clear a couple of things we're at 30 minutes thank you so I'm going to say first off library is great the written word there's something about it it's so much better than reading off of these things you know it's something that we do with our children matter of fact all three of my boys have been through different programs at the library so I 100% support the library I think what isn't understood and I don't know where this pickle ball thing comes from I that there is we're not trying to take money away from the library for pickable that's absurd no no that's that's misinformation disinformation no that has a pickle Court a pickle court has nothing to do with the library woman a pickable court has nothing to do with the library now with that said there are state laws that are in play here so the state mandates how much money we collect for the library when I started on Council this is my eighth year on Council when I started on Council 7 years ago it was about 700,000 that was collected for the library this year we're at 1.1 $1 million the library has roughly $500,000 in their savings so if there's a leaky roof fix the Leaky Roof if we need a new you know driveway or or additions yeah and and as we see with these numbers there's $200,000 plus that go into that savings so I I don't want the fighting it can be figured out if the library needs things that that's why they're getting 1.1 million this year next year it's going to be higher do it you know put the addition on put put the the the quiet rooms in I know there's talk that about that if the if the roof is such a priority and it's leaking why did the past trustees take this long the money is there spend the money get it fixed so that's all I have to say moving on can't do it if you keep uh there are no prison excuse me thank you uh approval of minutes there are no uh minutes to be presented uh next on the agenda is closed session discussion is there a motion to approve resolution r224 61 authorizing the township Council to meet an executive session to discuss matters of attorney client privilege still move can I get a second I'll second all in favor I opposed okay at this time the public court