ready give me one second pleas okay I just want to get on it's I am ready whatever you want do it before make a mo second yeah okay I'm good we're good yes good evening
everyone today is the mayor and Council work session for Wednesday February 12th at on 2025 7 p.m. this meeting is also being conducted telephonically the dialon number is 425
436 6365 and the access code is 213 563 Ash sign the meeting may also be viewed on the Ramsey YouTube channel and that is available by going to the Ramsey website
and it will be listed on the front page you can simply click on it and get it here we have roll call for bendan mayor Dylan here councilwoman cusk councilman gutwetter here
councilman kilman here councilman Papo here councilwoman poppy here councilwoman Woods here stand Flex I pledge aliance to the flag United States of America the for it stands
na indivisible the New Jersey open public meetings law was enacted to ensure the right of all citizens to have advanced notice of and to attend all meetings of public bodies at which any business affecting the public is discussed or
acted upon in accordance with the provisions of this act notice of this meeting in the mayor councel was published in the Bergen Record and the Suburban news on Wednesday January 12th 2025 do we have approval of minutes I
would like to make a a motion to approve approve the minutes from the January 22nd 2025 meeting and I second any comments on those minutes not hearing any may we have a roll call please councilman gutwetter
yes councilman kilman yes councilman Papo yes councilwoman poppy yes councilwoman Woods yes thank you may we have a motion to um review and receive the communications yes I'd like to make
a motion to review and receive the communications as listed on the agenda and I second that are there any comments on the communications received not hearing any do we have a roll call please miss bendan councilman
gut wer yes councilman kilman yes councilman Papo yes councilwoman poy yes councilwoman wood yes at this time I would like to make a motion to go out of order so that the mayor can do um the special appointments you have a second
I'll second that thank you thank you I'll do the swearing in officer Bur [Applause] breti and partially unly perform unly perform all the duties all the duties of the office of of the office of police
department department off officer do further do further will support theti will support the constition of the state of New Jersey of the state of New Jersey and I will be TR faith and algi and that I will bear TR faith and allegiance to the same to the same to the establish to
the government established in the united states in the United States and in the St and in the state under the authority of people under the authority of the people congratulations [Applause]
PR [Applause] than you very you want to say anything Chief yeah just um I apologize usually we do this before they start the academy but we wanted to make sure get thrown
out we give him about a month but um just a credit we uh we left to hire two police officers who he took our our test and um we just don't take anyone and so aen was the only officer that we hired
even though we needed to speaks to his character we're looking for intelligent people that can make decisions that will we think will handle themselves well under pressure and keep F to B for us so we expect good things
out of him we told he gets out of the academy to expect work and that's that's what we expect out of all our officers I want to thank the council and especially the mayor for the support and uh welcome board than we have exra
um we have to do I can't swear them in until we can resolutions they're not on consent I can't swear them until after the consent they're not on they're not on I'll swear you and after the consent resolution approving the appointments okay dear yes they're not on cons just may oral oh
they're not oh perfect I thought they were on the consent resolutions well let's do it right now then while we're at it we'll continue staying out of order for the appointment
fure for the foreseeable future okay okay is that all right thank you thank you have a good night take care thank you guys yeah we're going to make a motion to
return back into the regular order I make that motion I second thank you very much all in favor I I yeah we're going back in okay okay let me find the public
com we go to public comment yeah no but I'm looking for the uh oh never mind never mind me anyone wishing to address the governing body please give your name spelling the last name and address please speak in an audible tone and
address your comments to the chair there will be a 5em minute time limit for speaker and let reduce because of the volume of business on the agenda please note public comment is your time out of respect and fairness to all there will be no interruptions or questions
answered during your time no time shall be seated to anyone else and no time shall be say for later use any responses may be given during the governing body's comments later in the meeting or as directed by the chair the B clerk is the
official time this will be the first call of anyone on the line or anyone in the room today if they have any kind of public comment not hearing anyone we'll do a second call for public comment on the
telephone line or in the room today not hearing anyone we will make a third and final call for public comment on the telephone or in the room not hearing anyone we will close public
comment um and since there is no ad Iz public hearing for final consideration of or ordinances I turn it over to Mayor Dolan thank you I hereby make the following appointments Colin gurny Ramsey Municipal Alliance Jessica gurnie Ramsey Municipal Alliance and bullan
scanland Ramsey Municipal Alliance want to come up and get sworn in I [Music] f thank you thanks for doing this I really do appreciate stepping up to help
did the kids want to come up and take a picture with you I think the kids want to take a picture with them with the family with with you you want me to take it for you
how are you so didn't scare they didn't scare you off on the fourth the last meting we didn't scare you up fell through kept continu inst it yes thank you thank you thanks for
coming it's G to get boring you appreciate you good night you're safe out there thank you me pass this down to councilman gut thank you Madame mayor thank you we will now move to consent resolutions
councilman Michael Goin thank you councilman uh be resolve that resolutions 041 2025 through and including 048 2025 having been considered by the governing body of the burough of Ramsey B and are hereby passed and
approved uh we have a couple of special permit request this evening the Knights of Columbus is requesting commmission to hold their annual fundraiser April 4th through April 6th in front of various Ramsey businesses for permission of from the old store owners and the Ramsey
Farmers Market on April 6 uh the women's public Ramsey is requesting commission to hold their annual tomato and vegetable plant sale on Saturday May 17th 2025 the Masonic Lodge parking lot from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and I can guarantee the councilman gutwetter will
be in attendance that I'll second it block party requests are inone this evening I'll second that too all right since we have completed the special presentations we will move
now you need Bru Bru roll call please councilman gutwetter yes councilman kilman yes councilman Papo yes Council woman poy yes councilwoman W
yes all right we have special presentations and I don't see Brewer so administrator Bruce fose
budget presentation uh thank you council president kilman um I would just like to go through kind of a annual Municipal budget presentation for the 2025 budget before I'll just talk a little bit about a timeline tonight we're doing our
budget presentation uh the plan schedule is to introduce the budget at the next mayor and council meeting of February 26th and then hold the public advertise the budget hold the public hearing adoption of the budget on the at the March 26th
meeting every three years uh each municipality in the state on a rotating basis has to go through a um submitting their budget for not just a cursory but a formal exam from the state so those date the date
for the public hearing could potentially move based on the state's review and how but that's why we like to try to file early so the state review is timely before a lot of towns have actually filed their budget so hopefully we'll be able to hold to those timelines moving into the budget
presentation for this year the 2025 budget we have the same challenges that um everyone's facing in the economy with between health insurance and some of the escalating expenses in just general purchasing and other essential Services
the buau provide but this budget's focused on the delicate balance between minimizing the tax burden and also investing in the Burrow's vital services and aging infrastructure for 2025 our appropriation lines for salaries and
operating costs which make up collectively are increasing by 2.04% uh up from 2024 levels and these make up about two-thirds of the total Appropriations budget for the 2025 year
and we are compliant with all the state appropriation caps and in fact well below the Caps FS debt levels uh the 2025 includes principal pay down on debt of about 2.22 million which is an increase of a million dollar from
2024 approximately 20% of the pr that principal pay Down is from Grants the burough sought out received for the much needed improvements mitigating the cost to Residents Ramsay's Municipal debt level remains one of the lowest among the 13 Northwest Berg municipalities and under 10% of what the state allows for a
community of our size this increase in Pay down will maintain the Burrow's strong low-leverage financial position leaving Ramsey in position to utilize the long-term debt markets for large Capital infrastructure projects in the upcoming years the property tax reassessment and
revaluation uh we've discussed previously last year when we started this uh it'll be detailed a little more in the upcoming slides but the burrow wide County mandated property tax revaluation uh will take effect in 2025 with final certified property taxes in
the third quarter of this year the municipal tax rate as indicated uh we've had some inflationary costs and operating expenses which have impacted the budget as noted we're more aggressively paying down debt in 2025 to position ourselves for necessary
Investments upcoming and long-term projects which will benefit the town for years to come the combination of these items the 2025 budget with a collective Collective Municipal tax rate increase of 3.9 95% and we are also in compliance with
the New Jersey ta state tax levy cap and well below that Levy cap in circling back to the 2025 property tax revaluation again last year the burden County Board of Taxation ordered Ramsey to perform the burrow Wide Property
revaluation or reassessment the order was given as Ramsey's burough wide valuation had dropped below the county threshold to current market conditions which mandated the revaluation the burough hire hired appraisal systems to perform the revaluation and the process is in its final steps now and
ultimately come become approved and certified by the County Board of Taxation as I said in the third quarter of this year property tax revaluation is net neutral to the burrow the property tax revaluation is net neutral overall tax impact to the burrow the new
property valuations will create a new net value taxable for the burrow as a whole and the property tax rate will be adjusted down by the same percentage as the new net value taxable goes up for example the total sum in Ramsey's case of all new property assessed values are
about 42% higher than the total net value taxable prior to the revaluation therefore the tax rate will decrease accordingly this produces the same tax dollars to the burrow when multiplying the new higher net value taxable times the new lower tax
rate uh while this is neutral as a whole for the burrow individual properties will see different impacts to their property tax amounts depending upon their individual properties change compared to the burrow average appraisal systems mailed out customized individual letters to property owners in an early
January of this year illustrating the impact to that specific property and instructions for any property owner who wanted further information or to set up an appointment to review their assessment so as mentioned uh the the
tax rate last year in 2024 was uh collectively between Municipal School library and County $2.8 22 per $100 of assess value that
rate will now the equivalent rate for 2024 with the new assessed value for uh townwide which has gone up as I mentioned 42% will now be instead of $282 2 per $100 of assess value it would now
be a doll .986 per $100 of assess value so again to make everything neutral the rate will go down break down of your property tax bill approximately a little over 2third or about 68% goes to the schools 20% to
municipality roughly 10% to the county and a little over uh 1% to the library historically looking at the property tax rates and the components that go into uh the cumulative tax rate for the burrow
uh with the four components uh over the last eight years the overall tax rate uh inclusive of all the components is 2.67% on average uh the municipal portion is 2.66 so basically right on
the average of the whole rate the school is 2.75% component again right along with the average County a little lower 2.24 Library a little higher 2.84 so basically all four components of your tax rates over the last eight years have
kind of moved very similarly and again been collectively u under 3% in total uh breakdown looking at again where your the dollars go we talked about percentages but just to last year
the average residential assessment was about $535,000 so for a home that would have been assessed at that uh amount last year a little over $10,000 in the
$115,000 that of total property taxes that that home would pay a little over 10,000 went to schools about 3,000 to Municipal 1500 to the county and 200 to the library uh so again the looking at the
breakdown of the budget this year uh it will be as I mentioned just under a 4% increase in 3.9 uh and we will have some of the things that we highlighted earlier uh in terms of that there will be a larger
Debt Pay down a little less in capital this year uh in the budget as we had a lot higher capital investment last year that is still uh some of that is still in reserve uh for this year so those are the changes um in looking at Revenue as a
whole uh 74% of the revenue in the budget comes from property taxes there's some utilization of our Surplus which we'll talk about a little later in the presentation there's some local Revenue that uh we collect from different things building fees that kind of stuff when
you're doing uh improvements um there's a little bit of state aid our state aid actually this year the final numbers have not been out but um there was an additional 150,000 about in the budget last year
that the state had um done across Statewide where they gave a little more in Aid last year we don't think that's to be anticipated this year so we have left it out of the budget but the uh Governor's budget address uh is the end of this month so
we'll see if anything changes on that that's on the revenue on the appropriation side I talked about the uh changes uh where the salary wages line and the operating costs are only moved about 2% and that makes up you know
basically 2third of the budget um health insurance is up um across the board consistent with uh the health insurance Market Nationwide um and we've talked about the debt and
capit for in terms of the tax change uh with the tax rate change this year uh last year as we said the uh before the revaluation was around 535,000 was the average assessment on a home this year uh the with the after the
revaluation that number will go up uh to about 736 th000 again the rate will be lower uh so the average increase uh for the municipal portion of the tax uh increase is about just under $10 a month
$984 a month for the that home that would be assessed at 736 th000 or about $118 uh annually just in taking a look a little bit at uh the municipal tax rates Ramsey
compared countywide uh Ramsey's Municipal portion of the tax rate is the 133 lowest of the 70 towns in Bergen County it's approximately 25% below the county average for the municipal portion of the 12 towns with lower Municipal rates 10 of them have higher average
residential assessments and Two Towns ma East Rutherford have significantly larger commercial areas while Ramsey is the 13th lowest for the municipal portion the overall rate for total property taxes is the 46th lowest and about 10% above the county average this
is due to the fact that while the municipal portion is about 25% lower than County average the School portion is about 31% above the school County average in terms of the 13 towns in Northwest Bergen County that we kind of
associate and kind of do uh relative comparison and metrics on you know how we rank with them and we have similar things uh Ramsay's effective Municipal tax rate in Northwest buron county is seventh of the 13 towns again six of
those seven either have higher average residential assessments or Ma is one of those towns which again has significantly higher commercial area so since property tax revenue is calculated as the rate times of property is assessed value a town with higher
assessed values can generate the same revenue from a property even with a lower rate um couple more comparisons countywide and Northwest Bergen wide uh Ramsey's Municipal tax component of total property taxes is the seventh
lowest of 70 towns in Bur County the ranking I discussed earlier just looks at a comparison of rates this ranking illustrates how much of a resident's property tax D dollars actually go to Municipal Services versus the other tax components of school County and Library
as shown in the graph Ramsey or chart has shown Ramsey has one of the lowest tax levies for municipal Services relative to the total property tax levy of any community in Bergen County with 90% of towns sending a higher percentage of their tax dollars to Municipal
Services than they than Ramsey does in terms of percentage of a resident's tax dollars going to schools Ramsey's in the highest 10% of Bergen County municipalities 65th out of 70 towns with 68% of property tax dollars going into the Board of
Education turning to the Burrow's debt position historical comparisons uh Ramsay in 201819 did some significant cap capit investment so our debt uh kind of took was about at its peak in those years uh
those were projects with long life useful assets this borrowing allowed the cost to be more accurately repaid over an asset's useful life in 2024 the burrow paid down 1.2 million of debt but borrowed 1.95 for a net increase last
year's borrowing included funding for Road resurfacing generally our general program Municipal Aid road project on Grove and East and West Oak as well as funding for building improvements this year 2.6 million of principal will be paid down by March the burrow will be
utilizing approximately 425,000 in revenue from Grants the burrow actively sought out apply for receive mitigating taxpayer cost of paying down this debt in looking at debt uh versus the other towns in Northwest
Bergen uh I have mostly 2023 uh information was the last available for many towns a few of them Ramsey Frankl link sadle River and wof have been updated to year end 2024 as those are publicly posted now Ramsey is the fifth lowest of the 13 towns in
Northwest Bergen in total amount of Municipal debt as a percentage of its equalized valuation basis uh the state allows up to 3.5% net debt as a percentage of a Town's equalized valuation Ramsey year end
2024 is at 0.296 or less than oneth of the amount that we could borrow under the state limit one of the factors in the budget um and that goes into the revenue side
of the budget and also stays uh is our fund balance or Surplus balance uh that we start the year with and regenerate throughout the year Surplus utilized in the municipal budget is an additional Revenue line item adding to other local Revenue items in reducing the amount
needed to be raised from property taxes this us usage then reduces the burrow Surplus bounds regeneration or replenishment of surplus occurs through the actual Financial results during the year with any Revenue that exceeds that budgeted in addition under spending of
budgeted amounts replenished Surplus after a year of being reserved in case there are any unspent uh bills or that hadn't been uh processed by year end so in 2024 the buau was able to through the results of the
operations regenerate about $300,000 more than it uh utilized in the budget so our Surplus balance at the end of the year increased uh through the positive Financial results uh for
2024 so at the end of the 2024 uh the total Surplus balance was a little over 4 and A5 million of which a number that will be portion of that will be utilized in the 2025 budget to again
offset taxes in terms of looking again uh to our Northwest Berg and other towns uh to kind of get a check on where we stand with them of surplus utilization uh
implied to the revenue side of the budget we're kind of right in the middle of the 13 towns in line with everybody uh in utilizing the percentage of surplus in the budget um I I will post this uh presentation but just a couple final
points uh to reiterate before I conclude here Ramsey ranks in the lowest tier of Municipal tax rates in Bergen County with the 13th lowest of 70 municipalities Municipal tax rate and the seventh lowest share of tax dollars going to Municipal services for
2024 both of these figures are more than 25% below countywide average Ramsey maintain fa favorable ranking for municipal tax rates debt and surplus levels with other Northwest Burg and municipalities the 20125 budget
continues to pay down Municipal debt while addressing necessary Capital infrastructure Investments and positions ramsy well for future use of long-term debt markets for large infrastructure projects the 2025 budget complies with both the New Jersey state Appropriations
cap as well as the New Jersey state tax levy cap and it meets the objective of adopting a responsible budget in today's inflationary economy while continuing to provide a high level of service to taxpayers and incorporating capital investment and increased Debt Pay down
for necessary projects with long-term Community benefits that would conclude my presentation there any questions thank you great job thank you thank you Mr M uh now it's time for committee and Le
on reports and I will turn it over to councilman Michael GW for finance and administration thank you uh counc president kilman I just want to start off by thanking um B ministrator Jose for his um excellent presentation on the
municipal budget uh something that we will work towards getting uh completed in the timeline that was uh indicated in this budget presentation uh for my report for this evening uh for the library board uh January highlights include various
events for children teens and adults that were well attended in all groups uh the staff training day was held earlier this month uh homebound delivery service for those who can't get out of the house to get to the library had a soft La launch and appears to be working out well just working out some
Kinks uh this Saturday February 15th from 1: to 400 p.m. is the Lunar New Year event which will include a number of cultural performances along with refreshments scrafts and a scavenger hunt uh the annual winter fresh event will be held on March 1st another
Saturday uh at 12: from 12: to 300 p.m. and will take place in the rear parking lot of the library uh library is offering Yodo cards that are loaded with books and stories uh friends of the Ramsey Library have provided their donations for the museum path lending
program and a library is working on a project to replace flooring and repainting of the meeting room the Recreation Commission the winter sports fastball and wrestling are in progress uh spring Sports registration for Gul soft Bowl leagues will begin shortly and the rbsa and Ramsey Jr will across
registration through their own organizations the rec commission will start utilizing team staff for team man scheduling to avoid conflicts with the pool accounts and the Easter egg hunt in partnership with the Ramsey fire department will be held on Saturday April 12 in the morning with more
information to follow the ram Farmers Market is open from 10: a.m. to 1: p.m and continuing this schedule through April there are still upwards of 50 dedicated farmers and food purveyors each and every Sunday the director is planning many interesting events in 2025
once the weather gets warmer and there is an ability to have of food or U produce delivered to your house just check the uh Farmers barers website for more information on that one uh Sly I did not attend on Sunday due to the inclement
weather well there was no for Mar on Sunday because there the inclement weather yeah they cancel why I didn't go I guess I guess was sensed it you knew it that's all I have for the thank you councilman
um for my Public Safety report for first I want to um thank you congratulate Aiden Brewer on his appointment appointment as probationary police officer and to the appointments of Colin gurny Jessica gurny and Bine scanland uh
to the Ramsey Municipal Alliance um currently the Ramsay emergency service complex project is being reassessed the challenge given to those design professionals involved is to accommodate both the present and future needs of the Ramsey volunteer
fire department Ramsey rescue squad and the Ramsey office of emergency management as well as to stay within the feasible budget parameters initially estimated regardless of the current rise in inflation and construction costs once this process is completed select burough
officials will review the new plan its functionality and cost before presenting it to the full mayor and Council and the public there'll be more to come on this as things develop and at this time I don't have any BFW
report thank you and we will move on to building Planning and Zoning councilwoman Jane Woods thank you council president uh congratulations again to probationary officer aen Brewer and also to Colin gurnie and Jessica gurnie and Bin
scanland for their service on the municipal Alliance um I would also like to thank Pro administrator Bose CFO bada and um councilman gotw and everyone else who worked so hard on this year's budget presentation I think it's so impressive
How We Lay everything out so thank you uh design review board last um met on January 28th and had one application for the Manny Lounge on island AV the next design review board meeting is Tuesday February 25th the senior trustees will meet
tomorrow February 13th and the Zoning Board of adjustment will meet February 19th um I have two updates I just want to say that I joined the eagle scout board of review and had the pleasure of seeing Dylan Hunt be approved for full rank of Eagle Scout so that is very
exciting um the adult so um I have a a paragraph on adult daycare at the last Leisure club meeting a resident asked the mayor if the burough would consider adult daycare this would be for able adults that need socialization not memory care I spoke to Professionals in
the industry and there is a reason there are not many of these types of facilities even though there are many diena care locations these facilities are also highly regulated and require licensed caregivers and there is also an enormous liability component uh we do
not have the ability to run this type of facility and it is really a business it's an expensive business that we are not able to take on so I just wanted to provide an update on that thank you thank you councilwoman uh not uh does
anyone have a report for utilities buildings and grounds from councilwoman Judy cusa no okay we'll move on public and governmental relations councilwoman Sarah Fisher py thank you council president
kilman first I would like to congratulate Aiden Brewer uh as a probationary police officer his appointment today as well as Colin and Jessica gurnie and Bin scanland uh Belin has actually offered to take on the role
of coordinator which the municipal Alliance really needs um so I'm grateful to all of them especially bin for stepping up into a leadership role right off the bat um on February 3rd there was a stigma free meeting Glenn will speak
about this further um the ramsy journal will be coming out sometime between the 7th and 21st of April I have a note out to the printer just to get their timeline um and uh I will confirm that in the next couple of days on February 19th
there will be a pool commission meeting um here at Burrow Hall this is a big meeting where they talk about the budget so I'd encourage anyone who's interested in attending on March 9th there Willer if you do not
okay on March 9th there will be a new Resident mixer from 10 to 12 um at the community center this is open to anyone who's moved to town and since the start of 2024 through now um come and meet the
mayor and Council and the Ramsey police department and have bagel and coffee with us um also thank you to Bruce Jose for his wonderful presentation on the budget and uh to Denise um berola for
her work and Mike gutwetter for his work on the budget as well good job thank you council president I do have a report from councilwoman houon okay you want me to read it oh yes yes are you're done councilwoman's poppy or do you want to
Glen first okay Glenn why don't councilman I'm sorry why don't you do yours thank you coun president kilman um congratulations to Aiden on his new uh position when probationary police officer and congratulations also Colin
Jessica B their appointments for municipal Alliance and as well thank you to for administrator Bose and his staff uh for the budget work and presentation very much appreciated and know the hard work that's G into it uh for re they had
a successful Winter Dance um a couple of weeks ago and it was well attended basketball continues uh as as it will will be off this Saturday due to the holiday but then we'll pick up again on the 22nd so the schools will be open uh
as Sarah mentioned I did attend the um Ramy stigma free uh meeting that we had and it was well attended we had about 15 individuals in attendance um representative from all across from the
schools uh as well as uh Municipal Alliance as well as you know myself from the council and and kind of going through we did um agree upon having uh One Main Event in May which will be the uh free walk and the tathan kind of that
they did I believe last year with it too or maybe the year before but will be at the high school they're just solidifying the date uh for that uh we did have like I said representation uh from the school they did go through the different elements of
Ambassador um the task force members and volunteers and we had three individuals you know come tonight which was great to see we didn't scare them off so uh it was good that uh we have that uh they did talk about different things that they would do with stigma free and kind
of break off a little bit from Municipal Alliance and get into more how do we um start getting on our own for for that uh that group and do things around donations sponsors and different events that we kind of have so it was a really really good meeting um and the next SEC
uh meeting will be the uh March 3rd at 7:30 for that so A very very good U good meeting to to kick off and go environmental committee uh we met yesterday and uh we beginning the stages of sustainable Jersey so we'll go for
the bronze um for that one uh this Saturday Ramsey is hosting styrofoam recycling uh from 10: to 12 weather permitting uh with connection with um upper Shadle River in Allandale and then the next styrofoam recycle will be in May so we'll rotate
uh for all those towns in there at least once a quarter to kind of do that um and that's really the basic it for the uh environmental board ofed the next meeting is 225 the report thank you counc
Papa and we will do you want to pass this down yes please to M bendian who has um a report from councilwoman Judy cusin okay um the Ramsay planning board meeting they uh at the February 4th
meeting they had five waivers which were approved there was a hearing for the Ramsey Board of Public Public Works monopole where the planning board recommended the project to the mayor and councel at our next mayor and council meeting I will provide a report and be available for questions the hearing for
663 Cresent Plaza has been carried to March 18th the next meeting is scheduled for February 18th the shade tree commission met on January 16th the next meeting is scheduled for February 20th
Board of Public Works the they last met on on January 27th the next meeting is February 24th the last Monday of the month on account of the President's Day holiday water conservation plan h2m
completed the update to Ramsay's water conservation plan for submission to the njde h2m worked with Ramsey to include the updated data needed to prepare the plan the revised water conservation plan was uploaded online to the njde
portal by deblock environmental on December 30th per and poly fluorinated substances posos are a group of chemicals used to make FL polymer Coatings and products that resist heat oil stains excuse me oil stains grease
and water there are usepa and posos water quality limits which impact our water supply h2m our architectural and engineering firm is working with the Ramsey water department regarding regarding treatment approaches
lead service line replacement the Board of Public Works continues planning and implementing regarding the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protections lead service line replacement leg legislation this project requires that all lead service lines served by the
water system be replaced by the year 2031 and once again I give great thanks to our Department of Public Works as it works so hard with snow and ice removal on our burrow streets including the counties and
sidewalks thank you Miss bendy now we pass it over to our mayor dear Jord thank you very much council president thank you and congratulations to oin Scallan Colin Jessica gy for joining the RMA especially to bln for
stepping up as the coordinator that's a big big job very important I'd like to thank Mr Kelly at Smith School um he invited me to a seventh grade science class to talk about alternate forms of energy and they talked about CH Thermo
wind solar title all kinds of stuff so it was very very interesting not sure we can really Implement much of that here in Ramsey but nonetheless it was very thought-provoking um congratulations to Aiden Breer being appointed a prary police officer and thank you to burough
administrator Bose CFO Balada and Council M gutter for the budget you did a great job as usual and I remember when we first joined the council many many moons ago we would still be talking about the budget in July so I find it absolutely amazing that we were able to pass it in March in the first quarter
that's quite the Improvement um the DPW did do a great job on this last couple of storms so thank you I know they've do a lot of long hours those guys um unfortunately there was a structural fire on Sunday evening and so I want to thank all the emergency
services that were there fire rescue OEM ambulance and we got a lot of Municipal Mutual aid from MAA wof Allandale I think Midland Park um so that was really nice of everybody to come out and help us out on you know the evening of the
Super Bowl and um the family's been displaced um unfortunately fortunately they have family in the area that they can stay with um and one last thing want to thank St Paul's um officer cardas Chief linman and I went to the Spanish
speaking Mass on Sunday and um officer cardus and I spoke to the parishioners that were there um just letting them know that they're safe to come to the Ramsey police department they will not be reported to ice if they do come to the Ramsey Police Department for help because I was told by members of the
Spanish speaking community that that is's a real concern and so it needed to be addressed um so we did that on Su suay I imagine will probably go again in March or April because the mass wasn't well attended due to various factors that's all I have thank you
thank you madam mayor uh burough administrator Mr Bruce Roos uh thank you council president I'll just comment on a couple items that are on the agenda tonight resolution 43 uh this last May the governing body adopted its resolution 167 of
2024 to authorize the planning board to prepare a Redevelopment plan in accordance with the Redevelopment law and transmit the proposed Redevelopment plan to the mayor and councel for its consideration uh given the time from last May to today we're proposing and updating that approval with the same
resolution so that timely notice is called for in the resolution may be sent out prior to consideration of the Redevelopment plan resolution 44 on the agenda is a proor a resolution the state provides municipalities the flexibility of extending deadlines for filing of
annual financial statements in the introduction and Adoption of Municipal budget the burough has already filed our financial annual financial statements in complying with the statutory date with no extension needed and we plan to do the same with the budget timeline with no extension but the ORD suggest just to
do this to adopt and preserve flexibility since there's no downside so we pass that resolution tonight our resolution 46 Awards a contract to Garden State Fire fireworks for our Independence Day celebration which this
year will be on the evening of Thursday July 3rd and a rain date of Sunday July 6th um the reason there's a gap between the rain date and the original date is the fourth and fifth it's impossible to schedule as a rain date so we're not
able to do that so we will uh hopefully with Thursday July 3rd the weather will cooperate and everybody will be off the next day uh we do have an ordinance on for introduction tonight uh this again is a an ordinance to exceed the municipal cap
appropriation limits and to establish a c bank it's a pro former standard ordinance again that municipalities across New Jersey adopt each year as the state allows you to ahead of adopting your budget it allows the municipality if they adopt this ordinance to potentially increase their budget
Appropriations within cap by up to 3.5% from the prior years budgeted Appropriations this does not impact the tax levy cap of 2% it deals with appropriation line items under the state Municipal cap and allows flexibility if in a given year certain line items need
to be increased above the cap you can use things that uh funds that were appropri uh room that was appropriated and reserved from the prior year while Ramsey may not utilize this flexibility again there's no harm in adopting the ordinance and any amount under that as I
mentioned the allowable level that a time has can be banged for potential use in future years and that would conclude my comments thank you Mr Vose counselor nothing thank you m bendan I have
nothing thank you well let's move to introduction of ordinances and I will turn it over to councilman Mike G uh thank you council president this is the introduction of 03
2025 be it resolved an ordinance entitled ordinance to exceed the municipal budget appropriation limits and to establish a cap Bank pass the first reading by title and that second ordinance be further considered for final passage and adoption at the regular meeting of the mayor and Council
to be held on the 26th day of February 2025 7 p.m. prevailing time or as soon after as the matter can be reached at a municipal building in set burrow and be it further resolved that the burrow clerk SE and she hereby is instructed to published an official newspaper of the
burrow in the matter provided by law a copy of set ordinance together with notice of introduction thereof a notice going the same will be considered for final passage and adoption I'll second that thank you are there any further comments on that uh no
uh council president kilman U fireal administrator Jose G A explanation in his report okay thank you can we have a roll call please councilman gutwetter yes councilman kilman yes councilman
Papo yes councilwoman poppy yes councilwoman Woods yes thank you do we have any unfinished business is there any new business not hearing any may have a motion to adjourn motion to adjourn
second second second thank you very much good night everyone stfe home you started this right I did