Call this meeting to order. Please rise for the pledge of allegiance. >> 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.
>> Please read the open public meeting statement. Adequate notice of this meeting of the township council of the township of Roxbury was given as required by the open public meeting act as follows. On December 31st, 2024, notice was emailed in fact to the daily record of the
Northstar ledger of the West Morris Reporter and published in the daily record. Notice shall also remain posted throughout the year on the bulletin board of the main hallway of the municipal building. >> Thank you. Roll call. >> Councilwoman Alrech >> here. >> Councilman Kerry >> here. >> Deputy Mayor Crowley
>> here. Councilman D. Philippo >> here. >> Councilman Hall >> here. >> Councilman Riley >> here. >> Mayor Pat >> here. Uh this brings us to presentations awarded. >> Hello. >> How are you? >> Nice to see you again. >> Likewise. Michael, how are you?
>> You want to start? >> Yes. Um so as you all know benefits program is going up another 36% this year and it's becoming unsustainable not only
but also for the employees who were having to contribute a portion of their salaries. So, we were tasked with going out to check what was out out there in the sector for us and um obviously we looked at and spoke to the New Jersey
which in your packet their proposal is included. Um and then we also spoke to Anthony from Nova and he gave us a very proposal. Uh we're very he's been very attentive. He's asked many question.
He's answered all the questions that we've asked. Um we have taken some of the information to our liability risk manager who has reviewed it. We've also had an outside risk manager who's reviewed it. We've gotten mostly positive feedback, but obviously, you
know, some things to look at. Um and we just we've also gone to our unions. We've had meet with all of our most favorable questions, but not anything that is standing out. As you
can see from the proposal what he'll present everything is equal to what we already have network which we've done before he shared with us the links to network
and able to you know check to see if there wanted bring Anthony to you so he can present his program to you. Um if you had any questions you could ask him questions now he's here for that. Um so
further ado I'd like to introduce Anthony and >> thank you. Um yeah it's been an interesting and I believe very productive last three months working with Valerie and the rest of the team to put together a proposal for you for the
health benefits. Um, what I usually like to do is start with a little bit of brief education on benefits because I know you all are not working with benefits every day like I am. It's a complicated subject and so I figure kind of laying out what our model is, how it's different than what you're currently in, how it's different than
the HIP, how it's different than other options. And then going into the details on the proposal is really the best way to go about this. Um, obviously ask me questions, interrupt me as I go through the proposal. Um what you have in front of you is a copy of uh several documents I've provided um to the township. Some
of it's a proposal, some of it's a stop loss proposal. A lot of um a lot of it just detailing the overall offering in our services as well. So it's kind of hard to see up there. It's a little bright. >> Oh, there we go. That's better. Before
getting into this, um the company I'm with is Novo Connection. We're headquartered in Denver, Colorado, but we have clients in 40 different states, members in all 50 states, including DC, um, including New Jersey, and we have about 300 clients. We specialize though
in public sector. So about a third of those clients are municipalities, counties, school boards, even higher education institutions, and uh, we even serve the Nebraska State Association of Law Enforcement, which is about 3,000 police officers. So we're very experienced locally.
>> Oh, locally. So public No one yet. But as far as nonprofits, we do serve um a very well-known charter school out of Newark. That would be Great Oaks. Then we also have some private business um you know in the mix of our clients.
Um now the model itself is if you look at this chart here, you're looking at basically what the industry is. On the left side, you're looking at fully insured, which is how you would describe the state health benefit plan in the H It's a fully integrated model. You're paying fixed
premiums. They don't change and you have very limited access to reporting. The issue with that is that you don't really know what's happening with your health plan. You might get monthly claims reports. You might get some uh some very broad pharmacy reports, but you don't know what the claims are. You don't know
what the specific drugs are. You don't know who is sick with what. And without knowing what's driving those claims, you really have absolutely no control. you're really at at the behest of whatever model you happen to be in uh whether it's a state plan or fully insured from a big carrier. And so with
the lack of flexibility and the lack of visibility, it's almost impossible to truly control your spend over time. This is why we're seeing uh especially in the public sector 30% increases, 20% increases. Um it just keeps piling on because there is no flexibility within
this current arrangements. We we sit on the total opposite end of that which is called the fully unbundled model. Now when you're fully insured all these different components the third party administrator which pays the claims, the pharmacy benefit manager which manages the pharmacy plan, the stop-loss
reinsurance and any other components of the plan that you might include are all packaged um into that single fully insured model. With us, we're able to customize every single component of the plan. So we can match you with the best TPA and the best network which in our
recommendation here is Etna. Um and we're using the fully owned Etna TPA which is Meritane Health. So you're getting access to a fully owned network direct access and then Meritane is able to mirror um you know everything with the state plan as they also are
currently in operating. Uh with the PBM we work with transparent pharmacy benefit managers. So we're able to drive savings in that sense. So, I'll get into more detail on that, but essentially, this is where you want to be. If you can get to the partially self-funded section, which is all the way to the
right, you're going to know what's happening with the plan, and you're going to have the ability to have a substantial impact on the spend, but more importantly, the healthcare outcomes for your members because, and this is critical to understand, it really isn't about you're not looking to cut coverages. You're not looking to try
to reduce anything for your members. The goal is to enhance what you're offering and to source drugs at a better price price to provide more access to healthcare for your members because that's how you're going to overall, you know, reduce spend by getting people healthier sooner.
Um, us as a company, couple important things to know. Fully transparent. So all our fees, all our vendor contracts, everything is available to you to review. Um, we are completely independent in the sense that we take no compensation from any of our partners. So we get paid a single program fee. we
get paid a percent uh rate off the stop loss that we procure. Everything else is a pass through cost from the TBA, the PBM or whatever other component that's included. Uh again, big difference compared to the state health benefit plan, compared to the HIPS, compared to the large insurance carriers and their
fully insured models. And then we're able to provide as far as service support, think of us really as a co-administrator. We're doing we're providing analytics, we're providing account management, and we're providing employee engagement services as needed um for all of our clients uh and their
employees. To give you a look at how we perform, uh what you're looking at here is and this is compared to the industry average, which is 10% increases, 7 to 10% we could say. Our average client runs at about a two 2.2% annual renewal
increase. Usually in that first year, we do see about an 8% reduction. Now, depending on the plan, depending on how inefficient your current arrangement is, um it can be more substantial like in this case, which you know, I'll show you the numbers that we have for you. Um but if you think about the state plan, if
you think about the HIPS, you think about public sector, it's not a 10% increase. You're basically at a hockey stick looking at 10 to 20 to 30% increases. So, those gray bars don't even really give you an idea of how substantial that difference is.
Um we have a commitment to transparency. This is just stating that and our commitment to supporting you. And then so you know, we're also an award-winning program manager. So, uh, Berkeley Accident is Health is owned by WR Berkeley and Co. They're a Fortune 100 company. They've been around for 100
years. A-rated carrier. Um, we consistently receive awards from them. And these, this is just a mention of three awards we won within the last year for our clients, but every year we're acknowledged for our outcomes and for our clients performance.
couple other things. So why we exist is because when you look when you peel behind fully insured and estate plan in all these fixed arrangements, what you see is a lot of conflicts of interest in the industry. You have um you know vendors making let's take pharmacy benefit managers for example making a
cut off of the manufacturers rebates that should be going 100% to the client in this case the township. Um they're also designing the formulary which is the list of approved drugs. They're uh doing the clinical review. So they're able to rubber stamp all these expensive
drugs to be approved and provided to the employees. And then in many cases they're also funneling um the actual fulfillment of the highest cost specialty drugs which might be as high as 100 200 300,000 a year through their own pharmacy where they're also taking a profit margin off of selling those
drugs. OPTIM does this. ESI does this. CVS does this. all of the big carriers that control about 80% of the market um essentially steer members toward drugs that are not necessarily fit for them because of the financial incentives in
place. It's the same thing. You see that uh in a number of different ways in other parts of the industry, but it's really bad on the PBM side. So, what we're doing is we're taking the data that we're going to get next year should you become a client. We're going to be doing automatic analysis in real time
and repricing of the claims. Um so we have a full technology platform which is going to be looking at our top programs and even at the most basic level if you think about the networks and the TBAs we have all the major networks loaded into this platform we're able to repric the
claims in real time so we can tell you as a matter of fact next year if Etna is the network you want to remain on or if United might be better signum might be better um if you might want to be adventurous and look at records based pricing all of that will uh will be able
to do for you with our system. And you're not able to do this now because again you're not getting the actual claims data from the state plan. If you were to consider I know Valerie mentioned the HIP, there's no data access there as well. I'm actually working with some groups that have been fighting for about 6 months to try to get their data and they won't provide
it. And with us, let's say if you wanted to leave after a year, you own that data. You take that data with you. You have full flexibility to shop around. Um other things. So, I mentioned the pharmacy. Our pharmacy program is cutting right to the core of what's
wrong with the system. Um, this is a lot of moving parts. If you're not an insurance person, this might be a little confusing. To put it simply, we're offering a broader formulary through a transparent TP uh PBM, which is prime therapeutics. Um, so your members are
going to have access to more drugs. They're still going to have access to the high cost specialty drugs if necessary, but they're also going to have more generic options and other lowerc cost brand name drugs so that prescribers, their doctors can actually have more flexibility to provide something that's really fit for them.
Because what you also find too is that if you're steered into a limited offering, you might be prescribed a drug that's covered by the plan, but that actually might not be fit for you genetically. So, you may have worse adverse effects. you might become it's
just a a poorer experience or you might not get the proper healthcare outcome uh that you could if you were matched up with the right drug. >> Yes. >> Proprietary generics. Is that is that what this is? Proprietary generics. >> Um I mean some of them are proprietary,
some of them are brand name. This is just I mean there's so many different manufacturers out there. So we're looking at everything. >> It's not just one manufacturers. >> Oh no, no. This is the entire market. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, we're expanding the formulary, which is just a list of drugs that are covered for more access.
Um, the rebate sub submission. So, I mentioned before how these PBMs are taking cut of the rebates. We actually are rebate aggregator for smaller PBMs, which means we have a direct relationship with the rebate call wholesale. So, with us, you are avoiding that cut. The PBM doesn't take any of
that money, which belongs to the township, and instead, we're sourcing it directly for you, which means we're also able to validate it more accurately. Um, and then we have independent clinical review. So it's not the PBM rubber stamping a drug. It is um a team that is
looking at you know the medical need and is focused more on what drugs are on the plan and what should actually be approved as opposed to what's going to drive s or not savings drive uh costs. So that's the overall program at a high
level. Now I'm going to simplify it and slow it down. What we did here was we matched all the same plan designs to make sure it's equal to or better. We are recommending the edit network in part because I know from personal experience I've seen with other clients that the edit network has
better discounts. There's more providers and hospitals covered and if you look at most of the public sector groups that have left the state plan um and I know Valerie mentioned the hip as well they tend to overwhelmingly go to the network. better network tried and and uh
and true tested merit health is the third party administrator which will be processing claims they're fully owned by Etna it's how you get access to the network front therapeutics I mentioned them um so you know they're also wholly owned by the 19 independent blue cross blue shield companies uh and then the
stop loss we are recommending exchange benefits which is the wholesaler and then US fire is the paper that is underwriting the actual proposal And then we have a uh United Healthcare Medicare Advantage quote for your Medicare qualified or Medicare eligible
employees and their spouses. To get into the financials, still a bit hard to see up there. The stop loss coverage is and you have a more detailed copy of this in front of you as I mentioned
exchange and US fire maritane nobo for the ad co-administrators your current cost if we break this down by active employees and non-Medicare employees is 5.6 6 million for that group. That's what Novo will cover with
our program. Um our quote on the maximum cost because it's selfunded you can actually run lower than the maximum is a 4.5 million total maximum liability. >> Yes. >> Where's that slide? >> Uh it's not the slide. It's going to be
Let me just uh pull it up. I got Okay. Sure. Yeah. The document you have is going to be more detailed. So this is the high level. So the uh the max cost for the activives and nonmedare retirees, you're looking at a 20% reduction.
Part of that is because you're moving from fully insured to self-funded. So there's what we call a claims lag. In the first 30 to 60 days, you're really not going to be paying a lot of claims. Um so it's going to look like a basically a little drop. By March, you'll start to be paying all the claims
because you'll be through the lag. That's about a 10% or so, we call it load, which is generally an increase you might see in the second year. Um, part of that depends on what your actual claims end up being. Part of it depends on what kind of steps you take the next
year. But that puts the 19.8% reduction, I think, in much better context. You've also got to consider with the state plan, it's extremely inefficient and they are trying to refill a fully depleted claims reserve. So you're talking about years and years of
spending that was never accounted for that a lot of this 36% increase is actually about. And to give you some anecdotal, you know, consideration, other towns I've been working with, the worst I've seen coming out of the state plan has been a 5% increase on max. So
that tells you right there that this 36% increase is totally unwarranted. Um it's part of I guess you could say New Jersey politics and where we're putting you is >> yeah it can't be right >> but yeah we're putting you on a much firmer and transparent footing. We're
driving a lot of the savings with that. Now the Medicare advantage we count about 104 members there. That's fully insured product from United Healthcare. Um that is a passive PO which means you can go to any doctor in the country. Every doctor that takes Medicare is essentially in network. We fully match
the plan design. Um, and that comes to with that enrollment about 720,000 for the year for a total cost of about 5.2 million. Now, this can vary depending on headcount. If you hire 20 people, numbers might change. Same thing if you fire 20 people. >> What can you do?
>> Yeah. >> So, so if you take the total current cost, which is about 6.4 million, you look at the total anticipated maximum cost, it's a savings of just under 1.3 million with our proposal
which is uh obviously substantial and this is a starting point. >> So where's the risk in the uh salt insurance? >> Well, since we have stop loss in there, there's very little risk. The most risk you'll run into is at renewal if if you
don't have a plan and you don't have options. And that's kind of the same as what you're in right now with the state plan or any other fully insured model where you don't have ways of enhancing the plan. And a lot of it's about plan enhancements like sourcing drugs at a lower cost. Um another example dealt
with recently uh ESRD so somebody with endstage renal it's $300,000 a year. If you are in the state plan, you do not have the ability to implement like a dialysis PO or Samaritan fund to offset that cost and help that market. Um, so
what we're going to do is we're going to make recommendations ongoing quarterly basis. We're going to look at all these high cost claimments. We're going to look at the drugs and then we're going to identify the opportunities where we can, like I said, source them better, provide better coverages, um, or somehow
offset the financial risk that you're facing. Generally, I mean, our groups usually run between two and 5% uh in annual increases. So you'll have some flexibility, but compared to other options, this is very simple. And then
more specifically to the stop loss, um the way it's set up is you have individual stop-loss, which is got a visual that should help. Great. Okay. So if you look up here, so the 75,000 is called the individual
uh specific deductible. So the stop individual stop loss in your case it's 100,000. So what we're saying there is any individual let's say that woman call her Jane is 110,000 in claims or 150,000 whichever any claims that are above that
$100,000 deductible is fully covered by the stop loss and that's unlimited for the policy period. That's unlimited for the lifetime of the member. >> Who carries that again? The >> uh it's US firearm. >> Yeah. So, >> so we're insured against against it.
Those kinds of extraordinary expenses. >> Yeah. You're insured against the worst possibilities that could happen >> forever. >> So, as long as you're in the policy, is that what you just said? >> Yeah. And renews, it's long as we're in the policy. >> Yeah. Yeah. So, if you're the policy is
one year. So if you're if you have somebody who's who's got a spec kit within that year, it's unlimited payout >> just for the year. >> For the year. Now it depends on the contract and how you structure it. Like if you wanted to put in a no new laser provision, which I mean you could do
that, then that would mean that there's no new I didn't explain lasers. I'm sorry. There's no risk of them saying, "Hey, we don't want to cover or we need to allow extra deductible for the individual." >> Yeah, >> it's an insurance policy. Then the premiums could change year to
year for that. >> Yes, >> that's max out of pocket. Is that another way of saying? >> No, no, max out of pocket has to do with plan design. So that's that's employed. >> The program is heavily dependent on administration, the analytics. You guys
do all that. How does that how does that work? >> Oh yeah. >> And how much does Valerie have to do? >> Hopefully as little as possible. Um but but To be more direct, yeah, we do essentially everything for the plan. And on the analytics side, we have a
proprietary platform. It is the only one in the industry that can do this where we're not only repricing the claims, but we are actually integrated with about 25 different stop-loss markets. We call them therap carriers. Um, and they're on the back end of it. So, when we're shopping stop-loss, they're able to get
all the data that we have, which is important because it means more efficient underwriting, more accurate underwriting. It also means quicker underwriting, so we can turn things around in a matter of days as opposed to months. Um, and so when we're working with them, let's say they have a concern
about a particular member. I used ESRD as an example before, we're going to immediately take that, negotiate, look for a program that works to offset that risk. Um, and then make the recommendation to Roxbury as to whether or not you want to move forward with that. Sometimes you want to take the risk, sometimes you want to implement a
program. All depends on the particular instance. >> Who's talking to our employees on a dayto-day basis? >> Uh that would be merit health. >> Okay. They have a call center. >> Oh yeah. Yeah. Full call center. So they'll be your day-to-day member
support. We'll be an additional support on top of that. So if there's anything that needs to be escalated, Roxbury, you know, Valerie and whoever else would come through us. We're more of the employee basing support and then Meritane is that that member base. Maritane's also processing the claims.
They're billing uh any retirees that have contributions and so they're doing all those those things that nobody wants to really get involved in. And then you also have a we call it aggregate coverage. So your claims that
don't apply to the spec deductible which would be in this bucket here. People have $100 in claims, $1,000, etc. They'd all come together so that you also max out additionally on that. These are just the current plan designs
which we matched exactly. Uh these are a look at the rates which you can see pretty dramatic difference compared to the current a massive difference compared to the uh 2026 rates. I think the best way to look at these would be also at the employee level. So
here's a few examples. Uh NJ Director 15 has the most enrollment. So I use that as the plan. You look at single coverage here with an employee making on average 60,000 a year. Um the current employee contribution is 4,700.
with our plan that would reduce. So you and these are approximate numbers reduce to about by about 850. So the employee would save $850 and their contribution would go down to about 3,800 based on percentage.
>> Oh yeah. Yeah, it's based on the percentage. So it's based off of obviously chapter 78. >> This is the average show. >> Yeah, this is the average because see we'll get the exact tier numbers after this. we just have to finalize the stop loss. Um, and then you'll have the exact tiers for all the offerings, but this is
based off of that. Uh, we I actually used 18% to be a little more conservative, but off of that reduction. So, there's a couple of examples here. You see for family coverage, $60,000 a year employee paying about 1,400 less
off the 17% contribution. And to look at police officers, use 95,000 as the average salary. NJ Direct 15 family coverage, you're paying about 1,900 dollars less annually with our proposal.
So that's essentially it in a nutshell. Could you say 1900? Just make me understand that. hospitalization doctor is also your prescription drug.
Where's that $1,900 coming up? Is it the combination of all that? Some of it? Where are you finding these reductions as compared to what we have today? >> Yeah, it's it's coming from the overall model. So I mentioned before the conflicts of interest with PBMs um the
lack of monitoring ability right now. So you won't be able to attack like the current rate you can't take proactive action on claims. So we'll be able to for one when you can see what's happening and because of the program that we're recommending EVM we'll be able to manage costs by sourcing drugs
at a lower price. will be able to provide better strategic advice. And then because you're moving to self-funded the first year, you do typically see that savings. Part of that's claims lag, but part of it is also more efficient model. So the $1,900
is the employees cut of that reduction in the premium, which is based off of the max cost of 4.5. So, it's my understanding that this is kind of this plan kind of plugs up all of the leaks that bring our premium so
high. So, we'll be able to monitor conditions without any of our employees being in danger of saying, "Well, you can't be covered anymore because of this condition." You're just going to monitor it to give them the best, most
effective, cost effective treatments. Is that what I'm kind of getting at? >> Yeah, that's a great way to describe it. I would also say what we're going to do on a quarterly basis, if we wanted to meet monthly toward the end of the year when things are ramping up, we're going to show Roxbury all of the options
available to you. And ultimately, we call it a most advanced yet acceptable approach. If you tell us, yes, we would like to do that because we think that's good for our employees and you know, we think they'll like it, respond to it, whatever, um, then you can implement that solution. We're never going to push
a solution on you, which is critical. Same thing with the employees because it's all about access to care. If you if you have access, proper access to care with the proper network and you have the additional solutions behind you, then you'll be able to manage costs and your people will be healthier.
>> Excellent. And again, um you'll be able to search out the most cost effective medication for for those employees because that That's also what I'm kind of getting at like the really expensive biologics that some
people do. Um, and you've mentioned dialysis and so >> I'm hearing you guys are going to find the best course for these people. >> That's exactly right. And I can give you a better example. Um, so if you look at the AON rate report for the state benefit plan, they don't mention a lot
of drugs in there. They really should because I know there's many more cost drivers than this. But they do call out stellar, they call out humumera, they call out I forget what the other >> again these are biologics that I'm thinking about. >> Exactly. So this is what we do. This is the most common program to address that. Those drugs usually have manufacturers
assistance programs, patient assistance programs. There are also federal and state level programs and then there you'd be surprised good Samaritan donor programs for people who are on those drugs. So we we we don't have this included in the current quote. We'll discuss it you know next year when we
can show up with the data but One option would be you you have the members go through this program. We we manage the application process for the different programs. It's based strictly off of the financial cost of the drug and the member, which unless you're making a million dollar a year, you're going to
get 80 for $150, $200,000 a year drug. The average savings is 54% of that cost. The max savings we see is 70%. And we do two things. We look at the savings for the program and we also look at the um the rebate because sometimes it really
is important >> very much. >> But think about it. Sometimes it's important if you are getting a higher rebate and it's offsetting you're looking at the lowest net cost the drug then maybe you want to stay on it. Most of the time I mean not stay on it maybe you want to keep going through the current funding arrangement but most of
the time we find that the alternative funding program is worth doing even. >> Thank you. I guess I'm a little confused when you say that you look at it and you evaluate. You're putting together for us a number of programs that are already
out there. You're not customizing the program. So, and tell me if I'm wrong, but Prime Therapeutics has a program. You're saying that's at some point in time. If you look at the list of drugs that that the employees are taking, not the right one. You're going to find another standard
program to replace therapeutics. You're not going to go in and make a brand new program. >> No. No. We're not. We're not going to Your goal is really take the UHC Medicare maritime and say putting these pieces together gets you
what you want. If we see later on that we want to add something else to it or one of them's not working, we're going to try to find a better program for that. Different from the state health is you don't have baggage of the last four or five years and all the other people.
That's the risk and the stop loss is what protects us in that loss. >> That's correct. That's that's pretty much spot on. >> Um I would say with us where we're very different and so you know most of the time I don't work directly with clients.
I work through I would say 95% of the time I'm working through brokers and consultants because we're so specialized. And then occasionally we do work like this with townships and so on. Um we have 170 pre-integrated vendor partners, TPA, EVMs, cost containment
solutions. Um and part of our company we have 75 employees. 10 employees are dedicated strictly to evaluating, re-evaluating and looking for new solutions on a constant ongoing basis. >> So you you picked Etna because you felt that from the data that you got from
Valerie that would be the This is programmed that would fit what we're looking for without having a whole lot of data because you don't have the data yet from the state. >> Yeah, that's correct. >> Yeah. And then next year when we have the data, we'll be able to show you specifically which network you want to
go. >> Excellent. We can fine tune it next year. >> Anthony, this is also for Valerie, too. Valer, you did say you you employees. I want to know what they said. >> Give us an idea of their reaction.
>> The feedback was all positive. Um most of them were just the biggest concern was the doctors. my doctor network, right? >> And then so that's why the next day after Anthony met with them, he provided us the link to the ETNA network which
had all the doctors >> um that that were there and they were able to go in and see if their doctors were there. Now, you have to remember too that our our plan which has is has um availability also. So if your doctor
is not in the ETNA network, you're still covered, you know, you're still covered for you have to pay a certain percent. >> So that's another even if your doctor even if your doctor's not in there, >> you're still covered. It's just depending on if you're 10 or 15, it's a
it's a 20 or 30% coverage. >> But there's another area where we get the same, >> right? I didn't get any negative feedback from any of the unions. Like I said, the only concern was >> Yeah, please specifically those areas of your
contracts require your union contracts require equal or comparable. So that was the reason we had meetings with the unions so that you don't have that issue. We don't have >> being somewhat familiar with insurance
funds >> and sat on three as a commissioner for three different funds and I was also a commissioner on the state. >> So much learning curve for a couple of decades of time. >> My eyes were already bleeding just thinking about that.
>> I did work for your staff. on top of that and I did recommend the third party was like a third party opinion >> to review the plan I did know and they came
>> exc very well another question the one the one issue for me mayor you know is the call center have you done any have you done any due diligence on call center >> I did a little bit of due diligence they're very wellknown company
>> um They I was I had the same concern. >> Yeah. >> Um they're they're very broadly known and um he mentioned that you know they do they owned by so it's not like it's you know third party coming in and doing it. It's
a it's a company owned by >> I would also add about half of our clients nationally using health. >> Okay. Yeah. So that that that's important. >> Yes. and and you're comfortable with that and and our retirees will then have to
transition to an advantage. >> The ones on Medicaid >> Medicare Medicare time >> the ones on Medicare transition. >> Yeah, it's already I'm already help. You have Medicare. Um so they're on
Medicare now. What do they have? They have choices now on Medicare. Right now they have Etna um through the New Jersey State Health Benefits Plan. >> Okay. >> So they're already in Etna. >> Yeah. Is that an advantage plan or is it >> It's the advantage plan. >> So they're in advantage plans now. Yes. They just have to transition.
>> They just have to transition to to that. Yes. >> And is that something we can do without >> they're in motion for this plan? They'll be notified to transition. >> Okay. complicated process.
>> Good. >> Any other questions? >> I'm good. >> Thank you for the uh very detailed and thank you Maller and Kim for coming here tonight making sure our staff is well taken care of thank you Anthony thanks for coming in personally make
sure you talk to a lot of >> 95% >> you don't talk to a lot of clients you said so >> I I know I was half thinking as I was saying that I really shouldn't say this just like you know the funny thing too I said this at a meeting recently um I
said you know I could be a much richer man if I were just like everybody we're kind of transparent to a fault, but that's I mean that's just the way I am. I mean to me like I think I may have mentioned to you at some point maybe you know in conversation others I come from
a public sector family. My father's a county retiree. My grandfather was a cop. Um so you know I see what they're paying now and honestly it kind of makes me sick. >> So whatever I can do to help I'm happy to do it. >> Plus you're the next town over. We know where to find you.
>> Yeah. To John Cork. Come get me. Believe me, I've asked him many many questions and he's answered every single one of them and I have a few things that I'll share with you also after this meeting as well. So
>> today Johns Yeah, do you need to review anything further with us? >> No, I don't think so. Unless >> Valerie, could you describe next steps >> for the township? >> Next steps for the township. >> Yeah. As far as like
>> should we move forward with I'm not asking. >> Yes. Um I think that the next step is first we have to give state health 60 days notice. So the next meeting we'll have a resolution moving out of state
they're going to come in and help us with the reinment fairly quickly. It is re it is open enrollment now. So, um, they would come in and transition that all over and help
us with that and we just I I do have to have I do have two contracts I have to have to review. Um, I do have to resolution awarding the contract for the healthare. I plan on doing it as a
as an exception to the bidding the proprietary So I I've looked at everything and I think we're at a point now where I will I provided you all proposal as
well as US >> but you'll see all So I think all of us do great. Unless someone else discussions or we just close session to discuss the options.
>> I stepped in this in September when I got here with your staff. I reviewed this proposal. Also, >> I can tell you normally I would not want to take this step after what the state plan's done over the last couple years and what their proposal for next year
37% just any way form of going through that. >> I believe we can give Valerie steps to move forward. >> Okay. >> This this
here to point toward put together a resolution that we consider Yes. >> Sure. This was the easiest meeting you had all day. >> Yeah. Second easiest.
>> All right. Any other discussion on this? I'm good. >> Uh, this brings us to approval of minutes September 30th, 2025. >> I'll move the September 30 minutes. >> Any discussion? >> Roll call.
>> Councilwoman, >> yes. >> Councilman Kerry, >> yes. >> Deputy Mayor Crowley, >> yes. >> Councilman Dalippo, >> yes. >> Councilman Hall, >> yes. >> Councilman Riley, >> yes. >> Mayor Patillo, >> yes. This brings us next to our first
public portion. Does anybody in the public wish to be heard on any topic? Please come to the microphone state name, address record. None that flows public report the council's leazison representative council committee new and old business. Um
I have a couple things. I'm going to light things. Um I had the uh privilege of attending the young service at Temple Shalom last week or two weeks ago now and deliver the message of of unity amongst our community. Um and on that
I'd like to uh you know just express how grateful I am that the last remaining 20 hostages have been released and returned to their homes. It's a it's a great step in the correct direction in that part of the world.
Absolutely. Um last night we have Lake Commission. Um tomorrow I have Lake Mack on regional planning board. So I'll report back on that. Um and then Fredd? >> Yes, I will. >> All right. And then the last thing I
have is uh clean communities. We do uh Roxbury does a great job twice a year. Um, our fall clean communities day is October 25th. If anybody's interested in helping out and uh continuing to clean up Roxbury Township, please reach out to
Kellyanne Keys and she will assign you a position. Thank you, Deputy Mayor. Thank you, Mayor. I'm just going to touch real quick on the Lake Back Commission. Uh they reported last night that they uh pulled 1,682 cubic yards of
wheat out uh which is double what they did last year. That took out about 760 pounds of phosphorus, 16,000 lbs of nitrogen. um in the discussion um what's going on is that the lake's getting cleaner, the water's getting clearer
because of the application of many things including alum. >> Um when it's clear it makes the weeds grow. So even though it sounds kind of strange so that we don't get the harmful habs we get weeds so we're getting more and
more weeds. So it's a good thing we get some more weeds. The other thing that came up that President Hyper talked about is the federal um funding that they're looking at um for dredging and the idea is to allow uh
that dredging to pull some of the phosphorous stuff out the federal government would support that may help us down the road with landing channel and that's what was very interesting last night is talking a little bit about landing channel um as you all know the
water's down low a lot of people getting stuck with their boat short this the constant rhetoric about always allowing the 12.5 CPM come across the u that's all I have
>> thank you council >> thank you mayor I was actually able to spend the weekend going to various libraries around county judging 4 window displays So that was a lot of fun in the rain.
It's amazing seeing what these 4ers can do. Um and also last Thursday, thank you to Bob Dupo, I was awarded and collected my Roxberry Distinguished Alumni Award.
Sorry to miss your fundraiser, but >> congrats. Congrats. Oh, another fun fact. I officiated wedding number 51 and 52. It was a double matter last week. One at two o'clock, one at three. And that's all I have. Thank you,
>> Councilman Hall. Couple things, mayor. Um, the township received the environmental achievement award at Ruckers University on Friday. I was happy to receive that.
>> Very, very nice. This is for the work that was done at the Black River Park. Big thanks to public works out there tonight Rotary and also to RHA and of course the
Roxberry Commission for getting a very nice uh very nice award given to the township. There was a lot a lot of applicants and we did receive it and so congratulations on that. We did have an environmental commission
meeting uh last Thursday. Um we're still in the process of receiving the RFQ responses for the forestry plant. So once we receive that, we'll be able to send that information over to the highlands. As I told you before, the Highlands has stated in the past.
Uh third thing I have is uh we had a recreation advisory meeting last Tuesday. Um we 200 2026 fee schedule. Um everything is pretty much in order for council's review. So you can expect to
see that you know next couple that works out pretty well. >> Okay. And as the mayor had mentioned we had a meeting today. Steve was there. Valerie was there, mayor, myself. Uh we
met with the D in regards to potentially receiving funding for Imagination Station. The purpose of the meeting is to see if there's any changes to our submission that would require for a successful bid. Um it was a very good
meeting. We learned a lot during that meeting and the the was extremely helpful. Um, one thing we learned is we need to obtain some public communication options. Uh, along with that bid,
the bid is due by I believe February of 20 26 and I know this question is going to be yes, so I'm just going to answer right now. If in fact we're awarded um would be awarded next summer and that award uh
would be good for two years. So if we were awarded July of 2026 that funding would still be available through July of 2020. So lots more to come on this. Um and this isn't the only um you know grant that we're looking at
there. There are several that we're going to be going after. So, lots of lots of good work in that area. Mayor, anything else you wanted to add on that? >> No, I think you covered most of it. We have more to come. Um, I'm sure somewhere along the line over the last
couple weeks, we had another affordable housing meeting. So, I'll let Bob and jump in on that. That's pretty much it. Thank you, Mayor Council. refused to talk about anymore.
Did you find out >> Avalon and uh is an objective. >> They consider themselves passive objectives of some kind. >> There's no distinction. >> Your attorney was on
The saga contin. >> Uh the only other thing I have is marching band >> playing twice this weekend. Once Friday night football game, it's the one time of the year that they do a football game. That's Friday night. Um,
so you go watch the amazing two questions. >> That's all you have. Disappointed. Um, we're going to talk a lot more about this in the coming weeks and months, but u
the safety of people who walk and ride bicycles and in a lot of cases use wheelchairs on the roads um need us to be more careful and and one of the things I think that we talked chief about a little bit is uh the
necessity of giving those people who use our roads that are not cars four feet of clearance um on each road. Uh there are so many people walking and riding on the roads right now because of the weather is it's beautiful and it's a beautiful
time to be out on the roads. I think it's just important that we get the word out that that it's not we're not asking it's actually a requirement that that cars give walkers and uh people in wheelchairs as well as bicycles 4 foot
clearance. Um which in some cases may mean you have to stop to let other car pass. So that's just the beginning though I think of what the town needs to be thinking about and we've talked about this before um in terms of making it
safer for people not using cars to use our roads and um to that end I I know that um we are taking into consideration a number of different proposals and and I think
now. So, but for the time being, it's uh I think very important that people slow down a little bit and and and remember that they're required to give 4 foot clearance uh to walkers, people in wheelchairs and bicycles. That's all I
have. Mayor, thank you. >> Is there state law for first responders on the side of the road, too? >> This is similar to what you you have to Move over. >> There's a move over law for for first
responders on this other road. >> Council car. >> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Board of Education had their meeting last night. Dr. Santoro presented the results of the um student learning assessment for 2025.
So, if you'd like to see the results from that, um the YouTube uh video is available. Um let's see. We have new principal for Lincoln Roosevelt High School, which would be Mr. Ryan Bartle.
Um, as well as a new board of education assistant business administrator, Vivian Williams, who started on September the 22nd. Uh, let's see. This Thursday we have
Roxbury High School doing Broadway nights and uh at that will be a preview of the play I believe is um Good Man Charlie Brown which will be October 31st,
November 1st and tickets are available online. Lastly, the coffee conversation with the superintendent will be October 29th. >> Do you know where? >> No, they did not. They did not state,
but I'm sure it'll be on the website. >> Anything else? >> That's it. >> Thank you. >> Um, classic the welcome sign to Roxberry Township. It's on hillside coming from Landers to
Roxberry. It's not there anymore. >> I believe it was just a sign that said Roxberry Township. Welcome to Roxberry Township or Roxberry Township establish. >> Yeah. Before you hit Nima.
>> But it wasn't a yard. No sign overlay down >> or in someone's backyard. >> Nothing. >> Sorry. Yeah, there's one thing I forgot to mention and then Steve, you can jump in, but I had a chance to go past park
the other day. It looks like it's been leveled and it looks like you're on target for the work you need to do prior to the winter. Correct. >> Yes. >> Yeah. The timeline that I gave in the memo about a month and a half ago, two months ago, we're still on there. We've
demoed the old materials. Uh we're working on the drainage portion now. We set up contractor briefly. I've managed to go through all your contracts saying I gone through the
pending files which were numerous in an effort to be able to go through them easier. put them on an Excel spreadsheet with the data was initiated whatever the issue is and and made the phone calls to farm heads vendors and some legal
council so we can move those projects for you. So an Excel spreadsheet be a lot easier to follow to make sure they don't get lost in >> obviously >> Joe you mentioned that that independent review could you talk a little bit more
about that? Yes, I I reached out for a firm that I had worked with before. I asked Val to reach out to them also. I reached out to the for lack of better terms the executive president of the firm and asked them to
do an independent review and they did do an independent review for me. There was no charge for it. Past history. Thank you. >> I think it was important >> value added. >> I think you needed that
second doctor's opinion. >> Yeah. No, no. I'm very interested in hearing about this and I I'm looking at Mr. Hall and I'm saying to myself, is there a written report of some sort that we can look at? >> I did too. I did do my We'll get the communication
>> between now and the time that we have. >> I'll send it to you. >> Would you mind? That would be great. I did do some additional due diligence through the international city managers association. >> Yeah. Anything you can do that >> and
obviously I didn't finish my prelude before but I would recommend >> you're recommending it as well. >> Yeah. Why don't you include that in the memo? I would love to see that that recommendation. Thank you. >> Thank you.
>> Matter requested referred by council members managers attorney and clerk. A second. >> All in favor? That brings uh introduction of proposed ordinance 13-25, an ordinance amending the revised general ordinance of the
township for Roxbury to revise land use application and review fees and procedures for manager managing escrow accounts for introduction. >> The second read. >> All right. So, we have a motion and a
second on the second reading of the 18th. Uh, any discussion on this? >> Seeing none, roll call. >> Counciloman, >> yes. >> Councilman Kerry, >> yes. >> Deputy Mayor Crowley, >> yes. >> Councilman D. Philippo,
>> yes. >> Councilman Hall, >> yes. >> Councilman Riley, >> yes. >> Mayor Patello, >> yes. Uh, hearing adoption of ordinances on second reading, there are none. Introduction and Adoption of resolutions 2025-29
include 2025 291 through 202 discussion. Seeing none, roll call. >> Councilwoman. >> Councilman Carrie. >> Yes. >> Deputy Mayor Crowley. >> Yes.
>> Councilman Dippo. >> Yes. >> Councilman Hall. >> Yes. >> Councilman Riley. >> Yes. >> Mayor Yes. That brings us personnel change. There are none. Uh 13 communications October 10th, 2025.
Uh number two on the list is the Dumont settlement with some provisions limiting our ability to sue later, which the MSA has taken a position against. Tony, where are we? What can we
do? >> How should we double down? >> I mean, the only thing you can do is, you know, potentially a resolution opposing it and sending it in, but the comment period is closed at this point. I mean, almost every organization has
objected to this. So, you know, adding another layer >> it was just disturbing that state think about that leaving it open closing the loophole for Dupont and leaving us liable for possible
>> comments tonight. >> I'll call you later. >> Any other comments? I have one on item one. So item one, correspondence from the DOT. I just wanted to give a little back story on
this. Um, back in July of 2023, council, we reached out to the DOT that asked them to re-evaluate the job handle at Drake's. Uh, we we asked them again in 2024. So in 2025, at the end of 2025, finally getting a letter saying that
they acknowledge it needs to be worked on um is a step in the right direction. Um, and uh I'm I'm happy that we were able to accomplish that after 26 months of asking. Um so drug handling cliffs
should be widened eventually. Um all right, that brings us to our second public portion. Anybody in the public wish to be on any topic, please come to the microphone, state name and address for the record. Seeing none, I close public. We have an
executive Um very quick >> litigation litigation litigation. Okay. Tax appeals. Litigation. How does that feel?
>> A resolution of the township of council of the township of Roxbury in the county of Morris, New Jersey at the authorizing conference of the town of council with the public excluded. Whereas it is deemed appropriate the township of council discuss the matters here and after mentioned without the presence of the public in accordance with the
provisions of RS104-2B being section B of the open public meetings act. Now therefore be it resolved by the township of council town for matters relating to litigation tax appeals shall be discussed by the town of council without the presence of the public.
>> All right folks we're going to go in executive. You're more than welcome to stay. Uh we will not be taking any action and executive. We should be back in a quick one according to council when we come back. We do not anticipate taking any further action.