Good evening. Welcome to the March 25th, 2025 meeting of the Puquanic Township Council. Miss March, in accordance with the requirements of New Jerseys Open Public Meetings Act, notice that 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, publishes a legal notice in the suburban trends and daily record newspapers, and distributed to all persons requesting notice in accordance with township policy. Please join me in the pledge of allegiance followed by a prayer and a moment of thanks for an individual serving our nation. I aliance
to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. 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 Aquanic Township. Amen. Thank you. Clerk, please call the role. Mrs.
Florence Lynch, here. Mr. Cole, here. Mrs. Russell, here. Mr. Syracus here. Mayor Dy, I am here. Presentations. There are no no presentations scheduled for this evening. Uh, next in the agenda is reports from volunteers. At this time, are there any reports or comments from
any of the volunteers serving our community? Nope. All right. Public comment. Next one. Seeing none, public comment. The next item on the agenda is public comments. This comment period will be limited to a total of 30 minutes. Additional time is reserved later in the meeting. We welcome comments,
suggestions, and questions rather than dialogue. If you have a specific question, please feel free to pose it and then follow up with staff via telephone or email. Comments are limited to three minutes. If anyone wishes to address the council, please wait to be recognized to come to the microphone and provide your name for the record. And
there they are. Um, my legal name's Ameilia Chubowski, nickname's Leah. I live in town. Mine's easier. Ellen Brody Decker. Um, pleasure. Pleasure. Pleasure. And we're
here with the American Cancer Society Relay for Life of Greater Montville Township, which by the way includes the two Bootens, Lincoln Park, Montville Township, and Bquantronic Township. That's why we're here
today. Who here has not been touched by cancer? I think everybody has in one form or another. And on June 7th is the relay um at the Montville High School.
And we're here today to ask you to do something about helping to eliminate cancer. And that would be starting a team from the council, which we've had,
and we do have other townships that have done this, and form the team, donate um fund raise and then come out and celebrate, remember and fight back with us. Our theme this year is
um early detection, prevention and cure, but we need your help and we really want to as somebody had mentioned that we started Aquanic Township last year. Lee has done a fabulous job um getting some
of the town businesses involved. We want to do more and we really feel that by your starting a team and we can let people know that the township has done that. And I do have flyers for everybody
on what relay is about if you don't know. Um along with how to start a team and join a team. Sounds good. We'll start a team. Yes. Even if it's just me, we'll start a team. All right. No, we
will. AB, absolutely. It's a great cause. Thank you. It's a great event. Thank you for this time. There's a start. What's the date again? June 7th. And it's got all the details on June 7th. Saturday from 5 to
10. Okay. So, you can start the team as the team captain. Oh my god. only in do it and it'll take about 2 minutes.
We should do it. Sign up and uh I have directions there. I'll shoot you an email just um to see if you have any questions on your Sound. Thank you. What time does it start? It starts at 5
5 p.m. Y. And if you're a um survivor or caregiver, we will have a catered dinner at the relay that evening for them as well. So, thank you. Thank you.
Anybody else want to comment? Yes, Mr. Nick. Hey, Greenwood. Um um back again uh basically about the the uh tax reassessments and one of my big concerns
is we work so hard to make uh the elevations of the homes in the flood zone, you know, one of our very successful projects and it's brought in uh a lot of tax dollars and kept the
ratables. And my concern is that they they just keep raising the taxes by large amounts. And many of the houses in the flood zone have already had their taxes raised 40
50% some cases 62%. Now, I understand the way they kind of did it was, you know, if you had a a large percentage increase of what your property was worth, but I mean, I think
in this case where uh you have real estate prices that have been driven up so much and you have like a small house on Aquanic A that has taxes is of
$7,000. You have another house on Puanag 8 $8,129. And then you have houses on the boulevard that much nicer, not in the flood zone, $7,000,
$6,900. And I brought this up once before and I still feel whatever ratio they're using on the homes in the flood zone is not accurate cuz you have homes
that are basically let's say 385,000 and in the flood zone their taxes are considerably higher than a house not in the flood zone. And I brought this up
before and I don't understand why that's the case. Now, part of the reason why you buy a house in the flood zone is for it to be cheaper to live there. But now, if you're paying $8,000 for taxes, $6,000
for uh flood insurance, and another $2,000 for homeowners insurance, all this hard work that we did to make this happen where now people are going to have to start selling these houses cuz now and and every one of
these houses that uh I documented here, none of them are elevations. So, this is not even counting the elevations and the fact that they're now going to come around again. Forget about the fact that I s
you you successfully appeal it, you get it lowered and then 5 months later they just jack you right up. So, one of the things I would like to see is if somebody has a successful appeal or um
or they ne they negotiate the tax down that there's some sort of freeze that you know when they go reassess in October, they can't say, "Oh, okay. You're not only back to where you were,
we're jacking you up another $400 on top of it." which is what happened to me. So, like I said, uh you know, I'm going to bring this back up to him because I still feel this is insanity because you
have several houses on the boulevard with beautiful yards and they're paying less than a a house that's under 1,000 square ft in in the floodway. I mean,
it's, you know, like I said, Adam, Adam, you know, I, you know, sent all you guys emails about it, but it's getting worse. And if you even just go on Zillow, spend 10 minutes on Zillow, just pull up each
house, what the taxes was, how much it went over went up in the last 2 years, and you'll see almost everywhere like nobody, you know, nobody's, you know, taxes went up that much, you know, and like I guess if you
look at it this way, all right, if let's say 2011 2012 last time we were assessed none of these other houses didn't go up way more than value it or they were all you know overt
taxed it's it does not make sense you know unfortunately I've been so busy the last year and a half I haven't been able to but this is crazy and you know if you really just bend a little bit of time
and my my honest opinion because I noticed the south end of town is worse than the village but I don't know who did the south end section but I still feel you know it they made a mistake
besides the fact that the ratio is much higher than uh you know all all the other areas in town. So, I don't know what they did, but I really want you guys to look into it cuz I don't want to see in the next year or so all of a
sudden it's 9,000, it's 10,000, you know, and it's all these people that are driving up these, you know, these real estate prices. But like I said, if you're going to just do it by assessed value or, you know, whatever the Zillow
value is, I would get it. But because people in the flood area have to have flood insurance if you don't own it outright, it's it it makes no sense. And it and it really could backfire on us. You know, where
you know, it's worked out great. Listen, I worked so hard to get this off the ground 12 years ago to see it all blow up because a possible mistake, you know. Yeah. I mean, you could see if it was the first time, but
if it keeps happening. So, Right. Yeah. I mean, we'll we'll we'll talk and we'll we'll look into it. I mean, if it's if it's if it's based on value, it should be based on value and not anything else. So, well, it Well, not even that. Listen, if a house is valued at 500,000
or this one's at 500,000, but if we have a flood event, those people have to leave their home. Forget about the fact of what they're paying for flood insurance. This is where the rub is. Okay, I understand. Okay, people are paying
$599,000 for a house on Madison Avenue, which is insanity. That becomes the value. Unfortunately, I get that. But because of the added insurance that has to come into play,
that's where it shouldn't just be based on value, you know, because I mean, yeah, it it's costing you more to live there. If you bought if you bought that house, you know, over here, it's going
to cost you less to live here. Yeah. I I know you brought this before. I know we had looked into it, but I believe we got an answer. So we'll we'll do it again if we have to get Yeah, cuz that's the whole thing. I understand the value because you have three houses that people paid that much
for they're getting it, you know, and that's kind of, you know, you raise them to increase the value and then the taxes are going to go up, which which right value goes up. When I first when I first presented in front of council 12 years
ago, I said that was going to be one of the benefits, you know, for the town. Be careful what you wish. True. Yeah. True. But like I said, if I knew it would be, you know, raising 50%,
62%. You know, I mean, I just I just think where does it end? Well, we can get them in here to explain. So, I I would think so. Let's we'll we'll talk about that. All right. All right. Thank you. Anyone else for public comment? Come on
up. I'm Jim Vandai, commander of American Legion Post 242, mayor council. Um once again, this year we're doing the citizen of the year and we're requesting two council members. We had two council members last year. We met twice. We didn't really get a chance to meet as
much as we would have liked to, but we would like another two members this year just so um the whole process is transparent and the town is involved. So that's my request is two council members. Um please listen to your panel. I'll I'll volunteer. I'll do it again.
Volunteer, too. Do it too. Russell, what do you think? We'll pull out again. I mean, who was on it last year? I think I think two new people should be on it. I think Dave and I should be on it. But I didn't say
I mean if we pull names out of the hat and Melissa can do it. Okay. Oh, thank you. What a guy. Yeah. My pleasure. Thank you. I'll see you soon. Thanks. Thank you, Jim. Thank
you for coming. Anyone else for comment? Yes, you're behind the you're behind the pillar. The pillar. Uh Mary K. Schwarman. Um I just wanted to remind people that the First Reformed Church is um putting on the
second installment of The Price of Silence. Um, the forgotten story of New Jersey's enslaved people. It's a PBS New Jersey PBS documentary about um how slavery was
happening here in New Jersey. Um, it's the second installment. It's this Sunday, March 30th, between 2 and 4 p.m. at Friendship Hall. And, um, it's a really important thing for all of us to know. So when I was watching it actually
on PBS, it was like, wow. Um, all the different things that have happened in New Jersey. So I think it's a worthwhile project. And just a reminder that um the First Reformed Church has a food pantry. Um, and I know they're in need, I'm
sure, of many, many things. I don't know what the list would be, but it's certainly worthwhile to remember the food pantry. Thank you. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Anybody else? Public comment. Seeing
none, we shall move on to item number eight, which is the manager's report. Mr. Brewer. Uh, thank you, sir. Good evening, everyone. Three quick items, all of which are scheduled for potential action by the council later this evening. First is as a component of the Richwood Creek sewer project, a private
property owner, Virginia Plaza, constructed some sewer improvements prior to the project. Um the owner submitted several years ago a request for reimbursement for the work that was done that benefited the public project. Uh included in the council's packet is a
resolution authorizing uh reimbursement of $7,827.50 which is supported by a certification from the township's water and sewer engineer of the assistance of Mr. US. We also secure lease from the property owner should the council act
favorably on that reimbursement. Uh next also related to the route 23 sewer project we have a professional services agreement for the assessment as previously discussed the next phase of the route 23 sewer project is the confirmation of the special assessments. So this is the report that
establishes the value that ultimately will be acted on by the council when confirming the assessments. And last there is an ordinance scheduled for potential introduction for the sale of 11 Sheffield Drive. This was an affordable unit that was previously foreclosed upon. Uh staff and
contractors went in and did an amazing job of rehabilitating the unit. So it goes for maximum possible to appropriate eligible party parties and based upon the fact that it's public property the ordinance is the most prudent and
prudent authorization for uh supporting the sale of that to someone again who is eligible process. Unless there's any questions, that is my report this evening. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Any questions? No. Glad to see the unit stated with fair housing. Yes. Yes. Right. Number
nine are no public hearings um this evening. Ordinance for introduction. Miss Marsh. Ordinance number 253 is an ordinance authorizing the sale of certain property owners certain property owned by the town of local
1015 not required for public NJSA 48 123-13 and second. Uh any more comments Mr. Brewer? Not unless there's any questions. Okay. Any comments from council? No. Is there a motion to introduce this ordinance on a first reading? I'll make
a motion to introduce ordinance number 2025-03. I'll second. Roll call. Mrs. Lynch, yes. Mr. Cole, yes. Mrs. Russell, yes. Mr. Syracus, yes. Yes. Next on the agenda is the introduction
of ordinance number 2025-04. Miss Mark 2025 ordinance presenting chapter 152 or advising fees for certain parks and recreation activities and programs. Any comments, Mr. Miller? We typically
do this at the end of the year. However, these are new programs that were implemented and didn't really fit in any of the other buckets. The auditors are in the municipal building now conducting the 2024 municipal audit. So, we figured it would be prudent to have the appropriate fees established and not get ourselves in one. Okay. Any comments
from council? No. No. Is there a motion to introduce this ordinance on the first reading? I'll make a motion to introduce ordinance 2025-04. Second. Second. Roll call, please. Move. Mrs. Lawrence Lynch. Yes. Mr. Cole. Yes.
Mrs. Russell. Yes. Mr. Syracus. Yes. Mayor Tracy. Yes. The next agenda item is resolutions. Miss Marsh. Beginning with resol beginning with resolution R 202587 adopting temporary budget number two for 2025.
88. Authorizing inter an interlocal agreement between the township of Aquanic and the Board of Health of the Bureau of Floren Park for public health services. 89 accepting a release from Virginia Industries LLC and authorizing the remittance of $7,827.50
50 cents from privately completed sewer work that benefited the route 23 northbound and southbound sanitary sewer extension project 202590 authorizing a professional services agreement between the township and associated appraisal
group for the north route 23 northbound and southbound sanitary sewer extension 202591 authorizing release of deposits for construction in the rightway 92 authorizing tax office refunds overp payments or cancellations and R202593 approving payment of the
itemized claims is set forth on the March 20th, 2025 bill list and the March 21st, 2025, 2018 FEMA Elevation Explor. Good job. Any comments on the resolutions from council? No. Is there a
motion to adopt these resolutions? I'll make a motion to adopt resolutions R 2025-87 through R2025-93. Is there a second? Second. Roll call, please. Mrs. Lawrence Lynch, yes. Mr. Cole, yes. Mrs. Russell, yes.
Mr. Syracus, yes. Tracy, yes. Agenda item number 12, there's no items listed for discussion. Number 13 is reports and notices. We have Township Zoning Board of Adjustment annual report. What has the component use of the zoning
board of adjustment provided a tender report on government? Any any comments or questions from council? No, thank you. Thank you for that. Thank you. Thank you to the zoning board for that. Next item is council reports and announcements. Councilwoman Flur Lynch.
Uh yes. A couple of things on committees. The economic development committee will meet tomorrow night here at 7:00. um the historic district commission meeting. Their next meeting is April 2nd, but it will be held at the Martin Berry House because of the work um that
began at the Railroad Museum where they normally meet. Um the next planning board meeting is April 14th at 7. Um, our next senior citizen advisory committee is on Wednesday,
April 16th at 10:00 a.m. Uh, there is a senior bus trip on April 1st going to the Hunter Playhouse to see the musical swing. There may be a couple of tickets left, so if anybody wants more information on that, they can see Parks and
Rex. Um, couple other things. This Friday there's another fish and chips event. uh uh for the Bishop Nava Colombettes that will be held at St. Joseph's in Lincoln Park. Um and Pquanic Valley
Rotary is holding a comedy show this Saturday at the American Legion in Lincoln Park. They'll also have a tricky tray in a 50/50. There's still a couple of tickets to that. If anybody wants more information, you can contact me or
any Rotarian. It's also on Facebook. Uh May 8th is I'm going out there a little bit far, but May 8th is the Newbridge Gala. That's at the Legacy Castle. You can still get event tickets, do sponsorships or ads for that, and you
can contact uh Jennifer Tannis or Debbie King on that. And then I just wanted to mention a couple of past events that we just went to this past week. PBA had a great beef steak um at the castle and that was wonderful. I'm glad I got to
attend that. The women's auxiliary had a pop-up book bingo that was for fire company 2 women's auxiliary. Uh they raised money for the fire company too. That was this past Saturday. That was a nice event as well. Although I didn't win anything, but it was still a nice
event. And I also participated at the Grains of Hope food packing event that was held this past weekend. And I always enjoy doing that. Other than that, that's my report. Thank you, Melissa. Oh, I forgot to mention the river cleanup, but you can do that. River
cleanup. Thank you, uh, Councilman Cole. All right. I'd just like to thank uh all of the football players and the students that uh I was able to recruit for Saturday before the grains of hope. They actually set up all the tables and moved
a bunch of the um material that they packed on Sunday. So, just want to give them a shout out. A bunch bunch of football players were there. I was not able to attend. I had hernia surgery on the 14th. So, uh I stayed away from
that. Good to see you back. Yeah. Uh the fire department company 2 is having a their 13th annual fish and chip dinner. Uh it's dine in or uh takeout on Friday, April 11th from 4:30 to 7:30.
I have tickets if anyone is a uh interested $24 a ticket. Uh and as Councilwoman Florence Lynch said, the PBA fundraiser this past weekend was very well attended. I think there was 520 people there for their first uh beef
steak. So, congratulations to the entire police department for running a great event. And that's all I got. Thank you very much, Mayor. Thank you, Nate. Councilwoman Russell, thank you. You're welcome. Um, first aid squad. I don't have my numbers with me, but they are down to
one ambulance again. They had just got their other one down back and then now it's down. It should be back. The new one isn't coming until September. So hopefully they go by, but I know we had discussed it. We got to think about helping them out a little
bit. Um, the environmental um committee met. Um, they do a lot of good stuff and and you should come to that meeting. It's very good. They're going to work with the river cleanup. Saturday the 12th, they're going to do a mini bio blitz on the April 26th. May
3rd is going to be their rain barrel workshop where um we get the barrels from the soda companies. They fill it out and they show everybody how to make a rain barrel. It usually sells out right in advance online. So, that's a very cool thing that's going to be. Our next meeting for that is April 9th. Um
don't forget this Saturday there's a clothing drive at the high school. um which I thought was last Saturday. So my stuff went to the fire department instead and I'm going to have to get more stuff for the high school cuz it was in my car. Library fest April 5th. Come out. They're going to have a bunch of vendors. It's going to be a great
day. Hoping for good weather. When is that? April 5th. Yeah, that's going to be outside. Um opening day little league is April 26. and um preservation trust. We have one more meeting with the county um and they're going to
finalize the ballot initiative that's going to go on in November um using the county open space funds for stewardship. It's not for building anything new. It won't be allowed to do turf fields or lights or anything. It's basically um a
new initiative for people to apply for stewardship on their open space. So dredging, clean up, invasive species, uh bad trees, anything like that. Um and shred day is May 5th. A lot of people have been asking about that. They just
set up a shred day. So everybody come out for that. And thank you very much. That was my What was that? What was uh the 5th? You said May 5th shred day. No. Uh, April 5th, you had something on the library. April 5th is library fest. Oh, okay. And they're going to have it outside. They're going to have all
vendors. So, it's going to be fun. Thank you, Kyle. Councilman Sarah. Uh, so my two committees did not meet um since our last meeting. However, two things that um Rick is definitely still hiring for lifeguards and uh September 17th, just
to reiterate, is the senior Olympics. All right. So, drink water, get your physicals, do your calisthenics, and sign up. Um, that's all I have. Thank you, man. Um, all right. I'm off. Um, shade tree committee met for the first time in a little while. Um, there was
some concerns, I guess, about people clear cutting lots and cutting a lot of trees down. Um, spoke to Mr. Brewer about this and he says the the township there was some miscommunication, but the township basically um took care of it. Finds issued on one project, correct? So it's there are two examples where
there's clear-cut lots that were reported and one resulted in immediate enforcement action. Second there was a little bit of miscommunication but ultimately enforcement action and then either remediation or fines will be paid. So it's they're both being addressed and processed with on the phone. Okay. So just everybody knows
there is a there is an ordinance in town about how many trees you can cut down on your property. It's not to be invasive of your property but it's just trying to keep everything um correct. Um, I think it's uh five trees in a certain year year period. And also there are in order to cut down trees in town in in town
here, you have to be you really have to register with the town. And the reason we do that is to make sure that people have insurance, especially workers comp insurance. Um, there's a lot of big equipment. There's a lot of saws. Um, it's really for the public's protection that that we do this. So, just if you
want to hire somebody to take trees down, please make sure they're registered with the town and they have proper insurance. You know, same with a contractor, same with anybody. You have to come on your property. It's very important. Um, uh, river cleanup. Yes, we were going to get out there in a couple weeks. Looking forward to that.
Again, go walk around in the mud, pick up, pick up stuff. Pick up stuff. So, um, whoever comes back with the most bags wins, right, Carol? All right. PBA dinner was great. Um, food came out a little late. It was almost past past my bedtime, but it was but but it was good. I liked it. There was a there was a lot
of pe people there. So, uh, congrats to the PBA for that. Um, food pantry. I agree with Mrs. Mrs. Sherman that it's very important and we should all kind of focus on that. Sometimes we lose track cuz we're in puonic. We think people don't need it, but people need it. So,
so if you if you have the means, please help out. Please help out. Um, oh jeez, I can't read my notes. What else have I got here? Uh, grades of hope event was great. I know the high school boys were all the boxes in, but I had to
move pretty much half of them by myself. So, it was beat at the end of Sunday. So, we need to round up some more people to fill the bins and keep keep the groups going, but we got it done. We got it done. Um, nice. We got somebody um uh Floren Park signed on to the health
services. I like that. Um, you know, that's uh share sharing services. So, so that's good. And uh I just um I think that's about it. Just like to thank uh thank the police for what they do in town. Thank the fire departments for what they do and the first aid squad. Um, goes to
fire department and first aid squad. They are volunteers. They go through a lot of training. So, thank you. We definitely appreciate what you do for us. And that's it, I think. So, item number 15, next on the agenda is public comment. As a reminder, we welcome comments, suggestions, questions rather
than dialogue, and comments are limited to 3 minutes. Please, if anyone wishes to address the council, please wait to be recognized and come to the microphone and provide your name for the record. Sure. Come on. It's Karen Randolph. Um, just to go off of Kyle
with the Environmental Commission, which I'm a member of. Um, I was just reading an ANJ report that they are going to be, it looks like they're going to pass Senate Bill 1029 and Assembly Bill 4137 for Invasive Species Management
Act. and we have a lot of places in our town where the invasive species are just going crazy. So, just to bring your attention to it that um this might be coming down the pike and there might be some resources to handle some invasive
species. I know we have the um tree of heaven going crazy. Bamboo um the um pear trees that are invasive are all over the place. Not to mention the mug wart everywhere. So I just
wanted to bring that to your attention. Okay. Thank you. Yep. Thank you. Thank you. And thank you for being on the commission. Thank you for your service there. Um anybody else? Yes. Come on up. Good evening, Megan Dempsey. Um, fun note first. If you are going to the new
bridge gala, my daughter is singing with the group vocal from Shamrock that's going to be performing during cocktail hour. So, it was a light crowd in the room where they were singing for cocktail hour last year cuz all the food was in a different room. So, if you are there, I encourage you to get a big plate and then come on in cuz they're
really a treat to listen to. Um, I I I I apologize I was late for the budget meeting. I wish I had gotten to hear some more about, but I kind of got a sense of the tenor and what was and what was being discussed. Um, and Mary Kay kindly filled me in on some of the things that I missed. And I just had some comments about that that it's been
taking me a little while to put my thoughts together around. So, um, you know, definitely nobody wants to see their taxes go up. This is the this is the life of a New Jersey person, right? My taxes are too high. Um, having lived in many other parts of the state, we are
in a very good position here in Morris County compared. We moved from Essex County. I've lived in Middle Sex County and there's a reason we bought in Morris County and not in Wayne. Um so I think that's something that is easy to lose perspective of when you've grown up in this town or in this area, but if you
look around um still in a pretty good situation. The issues that Nick was raising are definitely concerning. And so I know this is a big struggle for people and yes, we do have a food pantry in town because we have people who are struggling with food costs. Um right now
I think everyone is struggling with the costs of everything. to be presented with a budget that um sounds like it was prepared fairly responsibly and historically has been prepared responsibly
um and say we need to get that down. at this point in time and in the current economy feels like going to a family and saying you need to cut your grocery bill by $100 and tell it try let anyone try to figure out how they're doing that
right now with the way things are cost what what things are costing um people are struggling across the board and as much as taxes will always be a concern I think if you ask people right now they're worried about what's happening to their social security money what is
going to happen into Medicare, Medicaid. What is happening with their student loans that they still owe money on or maybe we're hoping to get relief on? What's going to happen when their kids have to go to college in a few years and student loans are privatized and gouging
students out of their money and parents out of their money? What's happening to their veteran benefits? What's happening to our environment? There are a lot of concerns on people's mind besides half a percentage on their taxes in addition to
half a percentage on their taxes. Um, and I just wanted to say that with all of this going on, I think governing officials at all levels from local all the way up to Congress need to be standing up to what is happening in
Washington DC right now and taking a stand against reckless cuts to vital services. And and this is where I had to compose my thoughts and I still have not done a good job of doing so. Um, but any anyone
who put this person in office to destroy our economy, destroy our government, price of egg still hasn't gone down, still waiting for that promise to come through. Or responsible and you need to now stand up to it and it's okay to admit that you made a mistake and to
start fighting back against it because our economy is at stake, our livelihoods are at stake, our children's future are at stake, and our democracy is at stake right now. So, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Any other public comment? Sure. Come on
up. Good morning, Council Sharon Taylor. How are you doing? Good. How are you? How are you? Thank you. Um just uh two quick areas um that I just had a question on. uh PB park order and then Green View Park
order just seeing how we're doing um with the water content um if it's being tested if we're prepared to open up Ky Park. How is it looking? And I know there's been a lot of great work done at Green View Park. It it looks absolutely fabulous and I I'm glad that we put a
lot of money into that park uh for the community. So, I was just wondering to see um what the status is for that because usually there's like a short discussion before PB Park, you know, permits come out and and um you guys
talk a little bit about that and that's all I have. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Any other public comment? Yes, you're coming back. I'm coming back. All right. Uh,
sorry, Mary K. Schmurman. Um, I'd like to build on what Megan Dempsey said. Um, I totally agree with what she said at the end. Um, so I'd like to remind people that April 5th, uh, the country
has many, many protests going on starting now, but April 5th in Washington DC, there's a march going on called Hands Off um, action and um, but there protests with this
handsoff action throughout the country. In fact, there's one being organized right now in Montlair. There's one being organized right now in Glenn Ridge. And every day there are new protests organized in different parts of the
country, different parts of New Jersey. So, I just wanted to alert people that there are ways to protest and people are mobilizing um to um make our views known about what's happening in the government right now.
Um, also, um, in Monontlair on Sunday afternoons, um, from 3:00 to 4:00 p.m. if you want to protest what's going on in Washington DC, um, you can go to the corner of
Bloomfield Avenue and Church Street. I don't know if you know Monontlair, but it's a pretty well-known area. And I was there last Sunday. Lots of people out, lots of signs. And one of the important signs that was said was silence is not
an option. And so we're standing on Church Street and Bloomfield Avenue and lots of cars honking and everything which is really vital to what's going on. So, um I also wanted to put a shout out to to um Senator Andy Kim. um I saw
his um town hall that he gave in Brook Township and he's a wonderful representative, a wonderful senator for our state of New Jersey. So, thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Any other public
comments? Seeing none, we'll close that portion of the meeting. Um Mr. Ber, can you would uh just just speak to PV park testing and uh maybe the Green View ports when we're going to be wrapped up when you think we're going to be, you know, fenced up, all that kind of good stuff. Thank you, sir. Happy to. Uh PV park going well. Everything's on
schedule. New air raators were installed a couple years ago, which have done wonders for water quality. So hopefully we'll continue with that success there, but everything's on schedule. Uh with respect to Green View Park, we needed to be 50° or warmer at night to apply the surface. And although we've had some
beautiful afternoons, it's still like 38 in the morning. So the surface won't adhere at that. So once we uh hit the temperatures where it can be done, it will be done. And uh we look forward to continued improvements in those parks and additional areas which were funded through the 2020 financial budget. And
is it is it true that after the surface is installed, it needs to cure for 30 days? So how how I don't know if it's 30. I'll like check back to how soon we can get on it after it's done. Yeah, we'll need an army of people. I got to tell you, the kids are
loving it already. Been by it a couple times already. So, so um and then also I apologize I didn't do this before, but just Nick with the property taxes. Could we just get somebody here to speak on this? Um I know we we've done it already, but if it comes up I mean any
thoughts, comments? Well, the the basic comment I think he was making is he'd like to see a different standard applied in flood areas and that's just not legal. That's never going to be able to happen. So, um, but the the concern of affordability is one that's, you know, discussed frequently in the state and
yet housing prices have gone up with housing prices go assessments and certain neighborhoods are hit harder because that's where the market has really the flood area is has been, you know, the assessors explained to us in the flood areas that's happened probably
because it was so low after the last flood. You know, the values have really and it hasn't flooded in a while. So people forget and values go up again and that you know it's hard because the assessor is obligated to look at sales and the sales are coming in at a certain amount the sales are coming in at a
certain amount and I think it's hard too to justify you know if you have a house in the flood zone down in the village which is just such a beautiful area right so and then you have a house in the boulevard well they the guy in the boulevard is going to say well I got tractor trailers coming down and I live
on a busy street and you live on a dead end so Bottom line is they work hard to watch values in different neighborhoods and values in different neighborhoods adjust in different ways. And I I get the I understand the problem, but I don't think, you know, he's brought the problem to the county board of taxation
and he's really told the same thing. It's not about taxes. It's about value and assessment. And that's hard. That's hard for people to understand because one equates to the other. But that's where we that's where we end up. So, you know, I think the cons I think we we think is this is within the jurisdiction
of the tax assessor. If there's concerns or questions, we have a tax and we have a taxer who's very willing to sit down and talk to he really goes out of his way to try to train a question. I'm wondering is it worth it to bring the tax assessor in your question? Yes or no? I I think is that not I just think
those who have an issue should meet with the tax assessor. Not that I advocate for legal action against the quantity, but one of the benefits of the process is anyone who's dissatisfied with the answer regarding their assessment has the right to appeal. and and you don't need an attorney. I've
done it successfully myself. Um so there is an opportunity to say I don't think this is right and this is my evidence and you can bring a prosay to the court who does look favorably upon people to do a prosay. They they they give them pretty pretty wide latitude. So it's not a be all end all. If there's a
perspective of disagreement, there's a venue to take that disagreement. But there's no reason to bring somebody in to talk about the process and how it was done because there's nothing really. A lot of people aren't happy with it. Yeah, maybe we could do that. Just the
issue of the annual reassessment is a is a policy issue that we that gets made up here. So if that's the if that's the discussion, yeah, that would be more of the discussion I think. Right. Yeah, I agree. You know, the timing isn't exactly right now, but sure. in the
future and I know we've talked about it before. It might be good just to for a refresh and to educate people on how it's done. All right, so maybe we can set that up. So Nick, I apologize for not bringing this up before. Hopefully you watched the video.
Um, but I know you will be back so we'll get you the answer, but hopefully you watched the video. U moving on. Next on the agenda is minutes for approval. Yes, we're looking at February 11th, February 25th, March 11th regular meeting, and the February 25th budget workshop. Yep.
M. Russell needs to abstain from the February 11th minute. So, any comments on the minutes? Nope. No. I'll make I'll make a motion to approve the February 11th, February 25th special meeting, February 25th regular meeting,
and the March 11th regular meeting. And I'll second them. Okay. All in favor or accept? I will abstain on 211. I opposed. Done. Uh there are no items for close session this evening. So item number 18.
There be no further business. Is there a motion to I'll make that motion. Second. All in favor? Opposed. Meeting adjourned at 7:46 Six.