So moved. May I have a second, please? I'll second. All those in favor say I. I. I. All right. We are out of executive session. Uh and we'll begin our public session. Please take notice that action will be taken on the following items at the regular council meeting on Tuesday, May 27th, 2025 in council chambers,
Sparta Township Municipal Building, 65 Main Street, Sparta, New Jersey. Uh the time is 7:34. Um the regular meeting is now open and all council meetings are now live stream and can be viewed at the following link
www.youtube.com at spartatwpstreams. Adequate notice of this meeting was provided to the public and the press on January 10th, 2025 by delivering to the press and posting on the township website a copy of the notice. Um, Madame Clerk, may I please
have a roll call? Councilman Scott here. Councilman Blumemedi here. Deputy Mayor Murphy here. Mayor Clark here. I pledge 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. We have uh two proclamations tonight. Um one is for our 2025 senior of the year. Uh, and we also will be uh proclaiming
um about our Sparta Community Food Pantry. And for our senior of the year, uh, I'm going to turn it over to Deputy Mayor Murphy, who is our council liaison uh, for the senior committee and has done, you know, tireless work for our seniors in Sparta. And so I'll I'll turn
over her to read the proclamation. Thank you. And congratulations, Michael Zingaro. This is really really quite awesome. uh the proclamation 2025 senior of the year. Whereas older Americans are cherished and invaluable members of our
society, deserving our utmost respect, gratitude, and admiration. Older Americans have built our economy, defended our freedom, and shaped our nation's character. They have raised families and dedicated themselves to improving the quality of life for future generations. Older Americans have lived
lives of service and sacrifice bound by devotion to the sacred principles of our country. Although no one could begrudge them rests in respit during their retirement years, having worked decades to support and grow their families and nurture their communities, many older
Americans spend their time volunteering for those in need, mentoring young people, or learning new school new skills. And whereas Michael Zingaro is one of those Sparta Township most revered seniors who has consistently dedicated his time and efforts to our
community. He moved to Sparta in 1989 as a single parent with three young children. Michael began his volunteering career by getting involved in his children's activities, helping with Boy Scouts, and coaching little league and softball, which led to serving time on
the board of directors to Sparta Girls Sports, SGS. And after his children completed their time with Sparta Sports, Michael continued to give his time to Sparta as a softball empire for umpire for 20 years. And whereas Michael Zingaro
actively participated in the Kuanis Club International in 1998 that is dedicated to improving the lives of children and helping with their biggest programs, the scholarship program. Michael held various positions on the board of directors and from tw 2009 to 2010
holding the honor of being the president. Kuan has participated in road cleanups, food drives, parades, and other community services and projects. Now, therefore, be it resolved by the Township Council of the Township of
Sparta does hereby proclaim Michael Zingaro as Sparta Township's 2025 senior of the year. We also extend our sincere appreciation and gratitude to him for exemplifying the vital role that senior citizens play within their community and
commend him for his enduring spirit and steadfast dedic steadfast dedication to our town. Thank you, Michael. [Applause] I know his moment. Thank you. I know. Thank
you. But and I attended a fabulous dinner at the senior center in honor of Michael and all. Thank you very much. But I appreciate it. I appreciate being senior. Thank you very much. You're welcome.
Congratulations. I think we need to check Michael's uh birth certificate cuz you don't look like a senior. Whatever you're doing, you need to share with the rest of us cuz you look amazing. I said at the meeting, I'm glad they lowered the threshold to 45. When people say to me things like that,
I say, "You have to be on the inside looking out. It's a whole different perspective." There you go. And I apologize for being so late starting the meeting. And but I do appreciate everything you all do. You're welcome. Thank you.
Okay. Um, next up we have um a proclamation regarding our Sparta community food pantry. And I know that, you know, if you look around Sparta, you know, with the beautiful homes and the the nice cars, it's hard to think that there are um people who suffer from food
insecurity. Um, but they do. Um, they definitely do. And we are very thankful to have the food pantry who realizes that the reality that there are people in our township who are food insecure and they are an invaluable resource um
to help alleviate that problem. So it's really my honor um and just sincere gratitude that I get to read this proclamation for the Sparta um community food pantry. And we have uh Valerie Machio uh here. And um what's her
position at the She's the president. The president. We have the actual president here. Thank you for being here. Um so I will go forth and and read this proclamation for the Sparta Community Food Pantry. Whereas hunger and food insecurity continues to affect
individuals and families across our community with many relying on the support of charitable organizations to meet basic nutritional needs. And whereas the Sparta Community Food Pantry, established in 1995, is 100% volunteer-based and has served as a
beacon of hope and compassion, providing essential food resources, dignity, and support to thousands of residents in need through the dedicated efforts of its volunteers, staff, donors, and community partners. Sparta Community Food Pantry has exemplified the spirit of generosity, neighborly love, and
civic responsibility. And whereas the Sparta Community Food Pantry has developed extensive outreach with many agencies such as churches, schools, family promise, Karen and Quinland, compassionate care hospice, Daisy to name a few. Now working with numerous
police departments in Sussex County, they have launched a go bag program which holds two days of shelf stable foods for trauma related occurrences. Their goal is to have all police stations in Sussex County take take part in this program. And whereas this year marks the 40th anniversary of the Sparta
Community Food Pantry, recognizing 40 years of unwavering service, resilience, and commitment to fighting hunger in our community. Sparta Community Food Pantry now serves 4,000 people monthly. They are the referral pantry for the Atlantic Health System, including five hospitals.
The legacy of the Sparta Food Community Pantry reminds us all the power of community action and the importance of supporting one another in times of need. Now therefore, be it resolved that by the township council of the township of Sparta encourages all citizens of Sparta
Township honor the vital contributions of the Sparta Community Food Pantry by supporting and donating to their mission and resources and volunteering time to ensure that no one in our community goes hungry. On behalf of the township of Sparta, we extend our heartfelt gratitude to the Sparta Community Food
Pantry for all for your unwavering dedication to serving our community, your tireless efforts to fight hunger, provide support to families in need, and to uplift those facing difficult times. Thank you for being a cornerstone of kindness for our
town. So, Valerie, you want to come forward? share with the public, you know. Yeah. Well, I appreciate this very much. Thank you very much. And on behalf of the people that we serve, it's um it's very nice to be able to receive this from you and from the town. Um we serve
approximately 76 um counties um counts 76 counts in Sussex County. We serve Warren and Morris County these days. Uh we deliver to homebound people. We have a relationship to the family promise as you had mentioned regarding homeless people. We work with the displaced
people. from what started 40 40 years ago over here at the church uh First Presbyterian Church with a little small little room in front of the church serving about 50 people a month. We've now grown to find the people in need and to serve them with what they need to be
able to move forward in their lives. Um and that means food. So we're here for uh for them and for anybody who needs us whenever and however they need us. So we thank you And I want uh Deputy Mayor Marjorie
Murphy to join us because she donates a ton of time. And if you ever seen the back of Marjory's car, there's always food in there. And every time I'm talking to her on the phone, she's at some place picking up food, driving to the food pantry. And so she
really works tirelessly for the student. She's one of those volunteers that we refer to. Thank you, Marie. I think we all better volunteers of which Marjorie is a key essential and we always need more volunteers and I've never seen anybody work harder than Valerie. Thank
you for pulling me out of retirement time. All right. So, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Nice. Exactly. All right. All right. Uh, next up, we have to approve some minutes. Uh, may I have
a motion to approve the April 22nd, 2022 regular meeting minutes as presented? I make a motion to approve the minute minutes of April 22nd, 2025. May I have a second, please? Second. All those in
favor say I. I. I. I. The April 22nd, 2025 regular meeting minutes as presented, been approved. Uh, next up we have the manager's report. Uh, managers up, may I have the manager's report? Sure. Good evening. Good evening, mayor,
council members, Sparta residents, both here in person and joining us online. Staffing updates. We are currently seeking a full-time water and sewer laborer in the utility department. This position offers benefits and compensation will be based on the candidates's skills and experience.
Details are available on the township website under employment opportunities. The recreation department is still in need of certified lifeguards for both the day camp program and the senior pool at Null Heights. Applicants must be at least 16 years old and hold a valid
lifeguarding and waterfront certifications. Reimbursement for certification is available and the department can assist in locating appropriate training courses. Please contact the recreation office for more information. In community events, we have several upcoming events to share.
annual paper shred and e-waste cycling event. This Saturday, May 31st, from 9:00 am to 12 pm at Town Hall Rain or Shine. This year, we're expanding the event to include electronic waste recycling. More details are available on the township website under news and
announcement. 50th annual Sparta Day. Also on Saturday, May 31st from 11 to 5:00 pm at Station Park. Co-sponsored by the Sparta Junior Women's Club of Sparta in the Parks and Recreation Department. This event has been a community tradition
since 1975. We thank the Junior's Women's Club for their continued dedication to bringing our community together. The rainarrel workshop will uh occur on Thursday, June 12th from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Town Hall. The Sparta Township
Environmental Commission is holding a hands-on workshop to learn how to build your own rain barrel, which will reduce the impact of storm water runoff by collecting and conserving rain water. This event is being held just prior to their regularly scheduled meeting that evening. flyer has been placed on our
website and out in the front lobby of town hall with information on how to register for the event as supplies are limited. Annual trout derby recap held on Saturday, May 17th at Station Park. The event welcomed approximately 60
children and their families despite stormy weather. It was a great success. In our senior programs, the senior pool will open for the season on Monday, June 9th. The Sussex County Senior Olympics will take place on Tuesday, June 17th from 9:00 a.m. to 2
p.m. at the Sussex County Fairgrounds in Augusta. For registration and details, contact the recreation department at 973729-2383 or visit their office below the Sparta Library. Under reminders, I have portable sign permit renewal. Sparta
business owners must renew their portable advertisement sign permits by Sunday, June 15th. For more information, you can refer to sections 4-17.1 through 4-17.7 of the Sparta Township General Code or contact the
Planning and Zoning Office at 973-7298093. Hometown tow hero banners. 30 new banners were installed last week along Town Center Drive and Sparta Avenue in time for Memorial Day. These will remain up through Veterans Day on Tuesday, November 11th.
Road work. The milling and paving of roads in the Sussex Mills and Fox Hollow area continues without issue. This project started May 21st is anticipated to be completed on June 4th. Area residents patience and cooperation is greatly
appreciated. In memoriam, it is with sadness that we acknowledge the passing of Herb Sanki of Sparta resident of 48 years and a devoted member of the senior advisory committee since 2008. Herb was also a talented artist and instructor known for teaching easy art
at the Spar Senior Center. His artwork can be seen in the hallway of town hall. Our thoughts are with his family during this difficult time. Chief McCarrick will now present his portion of the manager's report. This concludes my report. Thank you.
Thank you, manager Zep. Thank you, mayor. Thank you, councel. Um, as a reminder, the New Jersey law enforcement special Olympics to run will be next Friday, June 6. And this event will lead up to the New Jersey Special Olympic Summer Games, which take place at the College of New Jersey on June 7th and
8th. Uh, please expect delays earlier in our township that morning between 8 and 9:00 a.m. And also look for a sign up link on our social media for anyone wishing to run with us. We should have that out this week. Um, and we'll there will be instructions for meeting times and um, what we're doing. Um, as many of
you know, a pretty hot topic that um, has been going around at these meetings. Um our department in collaboration with the prosecutor's office, Sus County prosecutor's office have announced the arrest of uh two defendants um for their um manufacturing and distribution of
marijuana in two stores in town, Green Remedies and Zenshine. Um we did do a press release. Um, the defendants were charged with uh secondderee possession with intent to distribute a controlled dangerous subject, first degree maintaining a controlled dangerous subject production facility, firstdegree
conspiracy to maintain a controlled dangerous subject production facility, and second degree money laundering. Um, this was a uh a lengthy investigation that our department has been on for uh about a year. Um, we owe a lot of that to tips that were put in uh from
residents and um I'd like to thank the uh the agencies that uh helped us out and and really put in a lot of effort. Um, obviously our our police department uh this investigation was led by Detective Matt Pletcher. uh very thorough and uh did a lot of work and
and brought everybody into collaboration to help out the Sussex County Prosecutor's Office, the Franklin Burough Police Department, West Milford Police Department, the New Jersey State Police Teams Unit, New Jersey State Police Special Investigations North Unit, Newton Police Department, New Jersey State Division of Taxation, the
New Jersey State Police Crime Scene Investigation Unit, the New Jersey State Police K9 unit, and the Sussex County Assistant Prosecutors, Jerry Ninhart, John McMeene, and Vanessa Henderson. And as you can see, there was a lot of people that were involved in this and that's why uh things work out the way they do. Most importantly, um everybody
involved in this uh went home safe that day. Um so, uh we ask if anybody has any further information on this to please contact us uh through our detective bureau or um if there is any other information out there of any kind of illegal activity, we always encourage
anybody to bring it to us and you can do that anonymously. And um that concludes my report. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you both. Thank you, Chief, for the you and the squad's fabulous fabulous
job of keeping us safe. Absolutely. Yeah. And and thank you for your patience and persistence with that. You know, you just rattled off I don't know 12 different sound like almost 12 different agencies that had to get involved and that's painstaking work. It took a lot of time and um again I thank
you personally and thank members of your staff um for seeing this through. Thank you chief. Thank you too for uh your disclo your patience and uh hearing a lot over the last few weeks or months from various people here elsewhere
criticizing uh why isn't anything happening and um you know just uh this is good to trust that things are happening in the background and that you and your team are all doing their job. So thank you. Thank you. Yeah. And may I have a motion to approve the manager's report? I'll make a motion to approve
the manager's report. Second. Uh all in favor say I. I. All right. The manager's report is approved. Um we are now up to our first public comment period for items that are not on the agenda. And so
it would be an item that is not on the agenda. Um, and what I will say is, uh, we're not there yet, but there are public comment periods that deal with items that are on the agenda. On the agenda tonight, we have two introductions, which is both, um, uh,
2511 and then also the introduction of the budget. Uh, please note, you are free to comment on those as much say what you want to say. what you will not have from the council is any type of engagement or answers to your questions because at the hearing stage um that's
not I mean that that that occurs at the hearing stage. It doesn't occur at the introduction and so we're trying to be very scrupulous about how we handle introductions and hearings and so we will address those questions at the hearing stage but not at the introduction. I just wanted to give you
that caveat so there's no surprises if you ask questions or seek engagement on introductions that you don't hear anything from the council members. So, and with that caveat, um, please state your name for the record. And, uh, Jim
Castmore. Um, a couple weeks ago I asked council in reference to the lawsuit of Diamond Chip Realy Corporation um, this $100 million lawsuit about whether the GIF fund was going to insure it. That's the joint insurance
fund. And uh, Tom Manager said it kind of looked that way. Um, but after digging into this a little bit, I come to find out that this might not be the truth. uh when you
reorganized January the 7th, you brought on a law firm, Kennedy's Law LLP, 120 Mountain View Boulevard in Basking Ring, New Jersey. It was a highly reputable company and so forth and so on. And we had it on
Dash. Well, I started digging into this the other day. I come to find out that uh the township council is going to be represented by a company called Murphy
Orlando. John Bartlett, Jason Orlando, Mallerie Oldwick, Tyler Newman. He's going to represent the town council not only as officials but personally. And then we have Salvo Schul
company which is Steve Warner, Matthew Flynn and uh Richer is going to represent from the same company the pling board folks and uh Mr. Dash is going to be represented officially and
personally by Warner and Flynn. Well, my question comes, where's all this money coming from to do this if the joint insurance fund is not going to pay for this? I mean, taxpayers, do you have any other questions? I'll
I'll I didn't want to suck up your three minutes. I mean, there three minutes remaining, so No, no, you know, it's it's taxpayers. Looks like they're going to end up and if and should you lose this lawsuit, you cannot bond for $100 million. It's
illegal. So, you know, and I don't get it. Here's a here's a law firm that you said January the 7th, highly reputable law firm. Why why are we paying for that law firm as residents of the town when I
would think of a law firm would have their own liability insurance I guess you would call it. So that's my questions because it's obviously this money's got to come from someplace and it's not coming from the joint insurance fund. That's all my questions.
Okay. So, I think the question is what happens if the the joint insurance fund doesn't pay for the defense? They're not going to pay for the defense. You've already hired your own attorneys. Well, so your question is what how does
the bill get paid? Yeah. Who's going to pay it? Well, that comes I mean I'm not a budget expert, but Jim, how does you know we're I mean we've had instances where the GIF there's all kinds of times the GIF doesn't cover comes out of our professional service line. Yeah. We have a budget for that and then when we
exhaust that budget, we do the transfers that you're familiar with and then when we don't have enough to transfer over, we do an emergency appropriation. Where's that money come from? The following year's budget. Oh, okay. Okay. That's that's all my questions because it looks like we're going to kind of be
on the hook because the way I see it and I'll be very honest about this. The master plan was written in 1984. It's never been updated. You're nobody's fault. And nobody Margie, you've lived
here in this town all your life. I have. Nobody in their wildest dreams would ever thought that somebody was going to come say, "Hey, I want to build this warehouse." I mean, hell, when I built my warehouse over there in the other side of town, everybody looked at me and
said, "You're building what?" There was no no variances required. And my planning board hearing start to finish was over in 15 minutes. And this should have happened the same
way. I'm sorry to say this. There's no variances and you can't ask for traffic studies or water quality. They have no water equality plan because they date back to 1956. They're not required to have one. They're grandfathered in. At least now
they have a a plan put in place that should be approved. Uh it's there. At least we'll have some water quality. How they can dump concrete on the ground over there right now. Nobody could do nothing about it. So, yeah, I realize my time is out.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else wishing to be heard about items not on the agenda? Hi, good evening. Ron Day, uh 22 Fox Road. Um question I have and I had some questions related to the budget so I'll
hold those to to the next meeting but just in general um at each meeting the town council approves the expenditures or can I ask are you speaking on your own behalf or on behalf of the planning board role on my own behalf. Thank you. Um approves the expenditures uh I guess for the for
the previous two weeks or whatever. Um, what I don't get from that and and I don't know if it's the way that that it could be incorporated into the statement when it gets read is is there anything unusual in the expenditures that are being approved that says it's outside of
what's been budgeted. So, I'm not talking about the preparation. This is an after the fact. It says, how do I know what's being approved is on track or it's going to throw the budget off. Does any I mean, how how is that looked at? What's the process there? And that that may be maybe more for Jim.
Yeah. How are you, Ron? Good. How you doing? So, we actually have a lot of oversight and I I'm looking at Councilman Blumemedi because he he's a very active participant when it comes to our expenditures. Um he he is very diligent at looking over uh the bills
list uh every two weeks. Uh but I also have a a qualified purchasing agent uh who is very well aware of how the budget is set up and that everything is done per public contract law and that uh she will alert me when things uh look a
little suspicious or dangerous or I have limits uh especially at the end of the year and that's actually how we end up uh evaluating potential transfers and whatnot. So we do have that. Um do you have a specific situation more what I'm
you know when we look at a bud budget whether we're doing you know town the business our homes you know when we get this unusual expense that we didn't anticipate we got to take some type of act of an action so the question is you really want to identify it up front as
soon as you can so you can determine you know do I need to curtail something do I need to go get additional money what you know what steps do I need to take so um I I see a lot of activity at the end of the year. So the question was you know is this process going throughout the
year and if we see something unusual are those steps being taken? I believe they are the department heads they're the ones who construct their budgets all right for their departments and they get to oversee exactly where the expenditures are and then they'll consult with finance and and
administration if there's something outside of what they had anticipated with their budget. there's always a certain level of contingency built into those budgets and there are miscellaneous lines because there are those unanticipated but if it's a large number uh usually we're we're all
consulted and we decide how best to address it. Uh some of them can be regulatory, some are mandatory, some of them can be put off. Um but to set yet a little bit of rest is because we're adopting this budget so late that the department heads are been on an
abbreviated budget. they're not allowed to spend uh their whole budget. They don't have it because we haven't approved it. So, there actually is an advantage to having an abbreviated budget for all for half the year. Uh that we should be able to get to the end of the year without too many surprises,
but when they occur, we we do address them. So, and maybe this has to wait till next week, but let me ask the question and see if you we can get an answer. So based on um what we've seen so far for 2025, pretty much the budget that that we'll see will have everything that we
anticipate reasonably anticipate should be covered in in that budget. It should be um I'm still correcting from last year and the prior years the way those expenditure habits were going on because like a home you base your
your budget on uh you know the prior year's expenses. um my finance team, we've done that very very uh uh with with a focus on that this year. And uh I'm gonna cut you off if I can't. I got 50 seconds. I have one more question. Um
so um you know, as a senior retired living in Sparta, I'm concerned with the tax rate. I I'm looking at try to understand it and trying to get a comparison of where we've been over the last couple years. when I go to the town website under the tax rates and ratios um the
data ends in 2021. So that would be good information to have when you bring forward the budget what was 22 23 24 if you can't put on the website could have put a page in in the budget sheet so we can understand how what we're going into compares with what's occurred over the
last you know three or four years. I agree with you, Ron. And um tomorrow once we uh uh introduce the budget, it'll be on the website and there are some extra pages great to address exactly what you're asking for. Okay. All right. Thank you. All right. Thank you. Thanks. Thank you. Thank you. I
think it was a good question and I think um so am I right that when we do the expenditures if there were an expenditure on there that would likely cause the line for that particular
agency. So, let's, for example, DPW says we want approval for an expense for, you know, a $300,000 um, you know, uh, dump truck. And if we approve that, that are only going to have very little left in their
budget that year. Would something like that get approved or how does that work? It it wouldn't get to you. Okay. I wouldn't let it get to you guys. Okay. It just wouldn't happen. So, there's oversight. I mean, because I think if I understand uh Mr. 's point which is look we're you know every week or every two
weeks you're approving expenditures and actually you know theoretically drawing down the budget for certain departments to which that expenditure applies right and I think his concern is that you know we're just you know we want to make sure that we're not approving expenditures
that are going to exceed the budget that's been assigned to that particular department and my understanding of what you said is there are safeguards in place to ensure that doesn't happen there there's many incl including the software that we use. It wouldn't let us do that. Okay. All right. Well, thank you and thank you for the question. I
think it it was a good point. Um, anyone else uh with uh comment on items that are not on the agenda? Jenny Derek happened to Sparta. This is an issue that I've been bringing up um on a fairly regular basis. This is the
closure of the landfill. It is uh even more relevant because we're talking about budget. We were expecting to have $450 approximately $450,000 being brought into the town as revenue from this
solar deal. Uh this has been going on since August of 2021. We're still not closed. My understanding we so far we've done a land a lot line adjustment and a land swap. I don't know if that's officially
been accepted. Where are we with uh the state uh in ter I know we have to get two approvals. We have to get DP and we have to get BPU. And we uh hired a company back in 2021 that was supposed
to take care of all of this. They were experts in Trenton and they were going to walk this through the halls of Trenton with no problem. But four years later, here we are. Still no finish. Do we have an update on that? Where are we? Unfortunately, Jenny, I don't have any
progressive news to give you since the last time you asked this. Um, I am pursuing this. I'm actually I worked on it today a little bit. Um, we are still waiting for the official GP5 permit from the DP that will allow us to officially close the landfill. Uh, we did finally
get approval. We're making small strides in that. Uh, our environmental consultant has uh, uh, reached out uh, almost every week to the D asking, you know, when are we going to see that permit? Who is the environmental consultant? It's uh, Laura Nugar of Eco
Science. And is she related to the CE? Is it I think it's CES or SEC, the company that was hired to do this? She's not related that I'm aware of. So why is she doing the work? Are we paying her? Uh no,
actually the the escrow from C renewables for the landfill. They're they're the ones responsible for helping close it. Uh it's that they're paying her on behalf of us. Okay. So Laura Nugart is in t in touch weekly
you're saying? Yes. With D? Uh yes. Yep. Looking for our permit that would allow us to to close it. Right. P5 to close. And what about the component the
C the BPU component? C has asked me to write a support letter for uh uh approving uh community solar again. We were denied the first time. So I'm in the middle of writing that letter for them. Uh and and this is all being done at conjointly
in in anticipation that we get the final permit and then they can get going on closing. So is there any indicate is there any component of this process where brownfield comes into play or or I should say where does that come into play? I don't believe it is. I I was
actually told that that the the the terminology was was used in error of the brownfield. So Brownfield in area need of re rehab rehabilitation I think it was right instead we're just we we're just putting solar on a
landfill of a cap landfill and this is an approved this is a um pro preferred program that the D likes or the BPU while the D is concerned about the wetlands it's the BPU that's concerned about the solar project and that honestly the onus is on the the
lease either C renewables so brownfield you're saying was used in inappropriately, right? Okay. That's not what we were sold there. So, there's nothing else. And this project is is is is a lot long
I mean, I've been in it since the beginning there. So, 2000, just earlier in 2000s that we've been trying to close the landfill and to me that's the objective. Um, and to do this in a in a way that raises money for the township. Is that
correct? Well, that would be beneficial. Yes. And um Okay, that's all I have for now. Thank you. Thanks, Jay. Thank you. Okay. Anyone else for uh items not on the agenda?
Okay. Um we're now up um to the expenditures. Deputy Mayor Murphy, would you please read the expenditures for May 27th, 2025? Yes. The expenditures for May 27th, 2025 are 6,593,71324.
Okay. May I have a motion to approve the expenditures as read? Make a motion to approve the expenditures as read. Uh may I have a second, please? All those in favor of the expenditures
for May 27th, 2025, say I. I. I. The expenditures of May 27th, 2025 has been approved. Uh, madame clerk, could you please read the title of ordinance 2511? Ordinance of the township of Sparta, County of Sussex, New Jersey, amending
the effective date dates of ordinance 25-07, Ordinance 25-08, and Ordinance 25-09 relating to cannabis zoning, licensing, and taxing regulations. Okay. May I have a motion to introduce
ordinance 2511? I'll make a motion to introduce 25-11 ordinance. May I have a second, please? Second. Um, Madame Clerk, may we have a roll call vote? Councilman Scott. Councilman Scott. Yes.
Councilman Bumemedi, yes. Deputy Mayor Murphy, yes. Mayor Clark, yes. Ordinance 2511 has been introduced and then um there will be a hearing on this. Um I will I was uh again our um we would
normally have a meeting on uh Tuesday, June 10th. Uh but Trenton and its infinite wisdom has decided to move the primary to that date. And so uh past practice is you don't have town council meetings on election day. So our next
meeting will be on June 24th. So that will be the hearing date uh for this particular ordinance 2511. Okay. We don't have any hearing of any ordinances. Uh we are now up to the uh second public comment period dealing with
resolutions. Um and so again your comments are limited to the resolutions. also with the caveat that I gave at the beginning. Um that I know there is a budget one on here, but that's going to be held at our uh that will be June 24th as well. Am I right? Okay. Um so that will be all your you know the questions
that you may have and all that. Um you know the budget is going to be on our website. Yes. Okay. Um and so people can study that and then come armed with uh their questions on June 24th. So, anyone wishing to be heard uh
members of the public on any of the resolutions? Okay, seeing no one, um we will take these one by one. Uh may I have a resolution to approve resolution 91, which is a resolution authorizing tax collector to refund tax overpayment.
I'll make a motion to approve resolution 9-1. Uh may I have a second, please? I'll second. All those in favor say I. I. I. Resolution 91 is approved. Uh may I have a motion to approve resolution 92
which introduction of municipal budget title only? I'll make I'll make a motion to approve introduction of municipal budget resolution 9-2. Uh may I have a second please? Second. Uh all those in favor
say I. I. I. I. and resolution 92 is approved. Uh, next up is a motion uh, sorry, may I have a motion to approve resolution 93, which is a resolution to accept a drainage easement regarding property identified as block
3023, lot 5 on the Sparta Township tax map. So, I need a motion to approve resolution 93. I'll make a motion to approve resolution 9-3. And may I have a second, please?
I have a second. All right. Um before we go to a uh vote, can uh town manager Zev, could you explain the purpose of this resolution? Sure. This is actually pretty straightforward, though it looks a little complicated. Um, basically, um,
there's a new house construction on this block and lot, and there's a, uh, municipal storm, uh, storm water drain pipe that traverses across the property, and there's no easement, uh, in the deed that recognizes it. So, if the township
needs to perform maintenance activities on that pipe, which is responsible for, um, it technically doesn't have right of access. So, what the town does is we consult with the town engineer and the town attorney and with our our GIF risk
manager and um we put together an easement that allows us access and uh it gets put into the deed. Um and unfortunately there there's a lot of uh these type of situations where we have uh municipal infrastructure traversing private properties without an easement
and that can have issues with it, you know, should things come up. So, we're doing the right thing here by doing this. Thank you. Any other council have questions on resolution 93? Okay. Seeing none, um may we have uh all
those in favor of resolution 93 say I. I. I. Resolution 93 has passed. We're now up to the council liaison updates and I'll start to my right and move over. Uh Councilman Blumemedi. Sure. Uh
first update is I had the honor of attending the senior volunteer appreciation dinner on uh May 14th that we just talked about earlier with the award. Uh so I want to congratulate uh again Michael Zangaro, our 2025 outstanding older American and also just
to thank the dinner itself is also to thank and I want to echo that all the seniors uh who were volunteering their time during last year. So, the ones that were there deserve our appreciation for everything they do um to help the township and their fellow citizens throughout the year. So, thank you to
them. And also a quick shout out to our recreation department and especially Emily Fischer uh who organized it, did it last year. She does a great job at all these events. So, I just wanted to had a chance to chat with her for a few minutes that day and she does a wonderful job. Uh second is just the
business development committee. We met again on May 22nd and uh just wanted to reiterate that we have several openings on the BDC. Um again, if you're a resident or you own a business based in Sparta and you're interested in volunteering, uh please apply on the
township website on the volunteer section and there's a check off box for business development committee. Um so looking for more people if you're interested. Meet once a month. Thank you. All right. Anything else? That's it. Okay. Um so first I will uh last week I
attended the New Jersey Mayor's Conference uh in Atlantic City. Um and this year's conference um they've you know usually do a state you know uh bills to be aware of and to um be
concerned about. Um there's quite a few. I mean, as when you go to these things, what they're primarily concerned about a lot of the time are sort of unfunded mandates that come down from the state that then require municipalities to incur some expense. Um there's a few
bills that are u you know pending right now that they are concerned about um you know involving you know as usual our D. Um some related to dealing with organic waste. Um there's a bill currently
pending and uh I think it's out of committee, but with that one, it would require uh townships to uh have composting. Um and other towns have attempted this. There's certain logistical issues with that. Um but
again, I I think they're trying to figure out what the cost would be to simply uh this bill has a whole bunch of other uh facets to it, but that's one that they're concerned about. Um, one issue that they are very concerned about and they they had asked the mayors to to
actually do a pledge, um, which I I didn't do because I wanted, you know, obviously check with my fellow council, but it has to do with the council adopting a resolution restoring the energy tax receipts. So what this is is back um that the state started to being
the repository for all the taxes related to like gasoline tax, energy tax and the idea was they were going to collect that and then distribute you know sort of on a prorata basis back to the municipalities the amount that they contributed. Well, um shocker that
hasn't happened. Um, and so, uh, we haven't gotten the full benefit of our energy tax, the receipts that funded back to the municipality. Um, and that's a substantial amount of money. And I know, uh, Jim, if you want to enlighten us about this, but I, when I heard this,
I said, Jim, hey, what did we before, you know, the state started monkeying around with this, what were we getting back from the state uh, with their energy tax credits, and what are we now getting as a result of them now holding on to the money and not giving it back? So fortunately my my finance department
keeps data on all of this and so I do have data dating back to 2001 and from 2001 to 2023 um the the total uh uh amount received was 27,616,000. All right. But what we
should have been receiving was was more than that. We were shorted $8,4926. Yeah. 8,492,667. So, um, then I fasttracked it to this year and so we are are scheduled to receive uh
1.2501 1,250,152 in total, but what we'll actually collect is $1,22,844, which means we're short $47,000 for this year. So, um, they've been withholding a little bit every the whole time since 2021. So, you're not
getting your full reimbursement of your energy tax receipts. U, and from what I've read is this has been a long-standing issue for a long time. Yeah. And it's not it's not particular to Sparta. It's all 562 municipalities have experienced it and hence that's why
the mayors have made that a big issue. So, expect to see uh a re, you know, they have the New Jersey League of Municipalities has a draft resolution um encouraging and uh Trenton to start refunding um the these funds back to the
municipalities. So, at our June 24th meeting, there will probably be a resolution about that, but it'll get circulated to the fellow council members to to look at. Um but I thought that was a significant issue. Um you know also uh covered during the uh the meeting uh was
also a presentation about technology and um I'll address that again in sort of our new or unfinished business. But, you know, there's a lot of technology available now to really assist municipalities to um deliver a better customer service um
and also free up our own staff to focus on tasks the most productive ones and to help deliver um you know, a great product to the consumer. Um and so I'll address that some when we get to new and unfinished business about something that I would like to do with respect to that.
Um, our trails committee has been uh very busy. Um, we are currently uh waiting for the New Jersey Lands Trust to pay us a visit uh because of the the the trail that we want to do from the
middle school to the high school involves property owned by the New Jersey Lands Trust. And so we've um we've already presented them in under their like public comment period. Hey, would you be interested in coming to Sparta and um you know doing a land swap
and you know we would give them some of the current swamp land that's there in exchange for the part that they own and so that we could actually build this trail in a way that makes sense to connect the middle school to the high school. And so, um, they should be
coming up hopefully within the next week or so, uh, to look at, you know, the land that we would be able to offer them, they require a 5:1 ratio. And so for every, you know, 1 acre that we want, um, you know, we had would have to give them five. But again, this is land
that we're, you know, this isn't valuable developable property. This is all that kind of swamp land that you see by the track and all that stuff. So, and that's what they're interested in receiving anyway because they're again the New Jersey land trust. So, um also,
uh another component uh of the trail is the you know the Ironbound Trail which is listed as in in kind of the inventory of trails that we have. The problem is is that it's it's not been maintained. Um and so I know that there was a
meeting with the Sussex County um trails group and we you know raised that issue with them and and they have agreed to help start clearing that. Um we do want to expand it and and part of it you know because as Jim will attest to when he
was at the DPW he would see bike riders and other people show up and ask where's the trail end? Where does it begin? And the idea here is to make this a very defined trail. Um and uh I think that one uh involves you know getting the
county involved and but that one um I think is is pretty straightforward in that uh you know we just need to clear it up and the county has been you know indicated that they would be willing to help us with that and so um that's moving along and then it would go kind
of to 15 and then the issue will be about crosswalks and so we have a meeting with the department of transportation on Friday and some of these issues will be brought up about hey if we want to extend this trail we're going to need some kind of you
know crosswalk for it so that uh we will obviously need you know because 15 is a is a state road and so we'll need help with that and um so that is occurring um there people recall that the environmental commission was able to
give the trails committee funds to purchase a sign um for um the Glenn and uh our you know we're lucky to have Doug Dyra who's a surveyor who is now formulating what the sign will look like and so we're just trying to get a final
approval of what that sign will look like so it actually will give folks a kind of reasonable understanding of where the trails are and where they begin and end. And so we're we're finishing uh up that. And so the the trails committee has been doing a lot of
work on that, but like I think first order of business is really dealing with the one that we can um right away, which is the the middle school, the high school. Um there's also uh another component of trails that we're working on, what I'm calling a punch list, which
is for each trail that we want to do, what are the items that we have to do? And as I've alluded to earlier, a lot of these trails intersect either private property or county property or state property. And so you have to get permission for the current land owner, whether that be a state agency or a
private property owner. And so I'm trying to get a handle on who each of the property owners are, what you have to do to perfect us getting it and being able to do the trail. Um, but we're we're pretty far along with that. uh with our uh film committee. I think
folks saw that we did get the the film ready designation and um my understanding right now is there are you know four uh projects that people were not at the application stage yet. These are people who have expressed interest but it's at the vetting stage to see if
uh Sparta makes sense for them and if it does then they'll fill out the application. Um but members of our film committee did attend a um a at the Metallands. There was a huge entertainment production in New Jersey.
Uh met a bunch of people. Um and again uh and people also saw that Netflix just broke ground in um in Mammoth County uh for a $954 million uh entertainment studio. So there will be more entertainment
production in New Jersey. and they're making a big push for that and Sparta will be poised to take advantage of that by virtue of being a film ready community. Um, with our Rev 250, I hope everyone will come to our booth at Sparta Day on Saturday. Um, you can
learn about the activities that we have planned. Also, I would encourage everyone if you have ideas, please tell them that, you know, that if you have good ideas about how we could celebrate the 250th anniversary with the Sparta Flare, that would be fantastic. And I I
know folks like Mr. Castmore who have a lot of history. Um, you would be an obvious candidate to um so I hope to see you there. Um, and uh so in any event, uh we will we will be there uh for for that. It's your
lucky day. I'm going on a three-month vacation. We will miss you, Mr. Castmore. You're going to watch us, I'm sure. Right. Um, and do I have any other committees that I need? No, I don't. And I will
pass the baton to uh Deputy Mayor Murphy. Well, thank you. Sure. So, thank you for You've covered Rev 250. Uh I wasn't able to attend but the uh Spartis senior was a fabulous dinner as Dean
said and they do need um lifeguards up there. They also are very very interested in finding a location and possible place for a senior center, one that expands to because they're pretty over full of where they are. So that's
something very big on their agenda and truly all the seniors that volunteer there are in every aspect of this community and it's tremendous. It's absolutely tremendous. So and I am thrilled to be able to give the the
proclamation tonight to Michael um for the environmental commission. There was a speaker Ailla Quino who is gave us an incredible talk on the New Jersey
climate super fund act municipal resolution which was is in the Senate and it's passed in many mun municipalities in New York and in Vermont and basically it's
uh it's helping to charge CL and to make a lot of companies that have soiled and that have damaged lands that clean them up and they're make them accountable for
remediation and all of the climate changes and the problems that we have had due to many of these storms, the hundred-year flooding, the uh the different things that that have happened over the past years. This is help this this is a a an act that they want
Congress to put forward. But there's I believe three municipalities so far in New Jersey that have passed it. And it's it's the effects of the climate change
on New Jersey municipalities include but are not limited to increases in the cost of property insurance. And this is to help make all those companies that are creating a lot of these problems responsible. In 1988, Shell Company was responsible and ended up having
to pay out millions of dollars to help remediate places that that have been contaminated. Also, in 1960 from the coal, the coal industry has had a lot of damage incurred in different lands. So they've given us a whole
uh resolution to read and to look at to see if it's something that we are interested in in uh adopting. And it would call for climate super fund act that would provide a source of funding to help offset the financial burdens of
climate change on all New Jersey towns, residents and businesses by making the largest fossil fuel corporations pay for the damages caused by climate change in New Jersey. So it was a very very interesting bill that she came and gave
us a talk. So I will pass that on for the rest of the council to see. Um, also there will be a booth from the environmental committee at Sparta Day and we hope you come and visit because they have always fabulous,
interesting displays and you can come see and come visit. And that is all I have from my committees right now. Thank you. Hi, Councilman Scott.
Yes. Uh the planning board, we uh saw and passed the technical school, Sussex County Charter School, addition of a cafeteria, and that'll be good for the students. Um and we had continued discussion and work
on streamlining and developing the application intake process uh to enhance our ability to work with businesses and planning board and zoning board applicants. And that's the end of my report.
You right now we have uh up to unfinished and new business. And I'll start again to my right. Councilman Bumemedi. None for me tonight. Okay. For me. Um so I did allude to it in my about the mayor's conference. So they had a presentation uh about artificial
intelligence. People can just turn on the news and that's all you hear a lot of the time about AI. Um but there's a lot of use of artificial intelligence that can be used by municipalities and and the technology is is advancing very
quickly. And so we at uh you know at one point had a technology committee um and you know for one reason or the other it kind of went dormant for a while. And so what I will be suggesting to my fellow council members is that we um bring this
uh back to life in light of I think this township could use um if to the extent we can some technology upgrades to make the work of our employees more productive um to save time so they can focus on tasks that are most uh that you
can't get a machine to do. Um, and there's some very interesting uses for um, artificial intelligence and and one that I that came to my mind while I was sitting there and then I got up and raised the issue which is, you know, we're in the we're in the midst of a
master plan review. Um, and so I asked is, you know, can you use artificial intelligence to inform a master plan? And what I mean by that is um you can feed into it you know what would be the best uses in certain zones based on the available land based on the ratables
generation and any external impacts like traffic and environmental degradation and so does that technology exist now um and the answer from you know people who are in the industry was yes it does they're actually doing this in Europe in some way um I'm not saying that's how we
would do our master plan but I think it's worth looking at because it could save a lot of time and effort um as you feed into the data all the all our ordinances all our available land all the data that we have right now this could you know really AI is simply a
decision-m tool right it's not the we're going to just whatever AI tells us we're going to do no we I think it could make our decision-m better and so there's applications for that um in land use there's other ones with respect to um
how our the public can gain information from our website. An example is if you were to right now go into our website, go on the search bar and say when is the next town council meeting because we use co, you know, um uh character recognition, it finds everything that
says meeting. And so you're going to have to scroll through 10 different things and you're not really going to get the answer directly with, you know, what what what is called a government assistant, which is AI simply goes in based on the data that we have and spits out the answers. So it would spit out if
you use government assist it would tell you that the next meeting um you know when I did this would be you know Tuesday May 27th just quick answers um and so there's use for this technology to really improve the customer
experience which means our taxpayers the residents of Sparta and I think it's worth looking at um and the you know one of the gentlemen who whose company was in municipal finance for 20 years and so he knows the constraints that municipalities face. And so he would be
an obvious person we could bring in to kind of talk to the committee about what is the technology available, how much does it cost, how do you budget for it, etc. So I think that's something that I would like to explore and probably bring back the technology committee and we'll
um address that probably hopefully at the June 24th meeting as I look further into it. and any other unfinished or new business. Um, yes, we did have um a a a meeting
with uh members of our business community um including um uh Tammy Horsefield um also uh members of our planning uh office uh and member member of our planning board um to address ways
that uh we can again expedite and improve the the the customer experience for people who have, you know, land use applications before the um before Sparta and um it was a very frank and good
discussion and you know we're working on ways that we can improve that and expedite it and and and and really so our business community uh knows that they can come to Sparta without undue obstacles or you know um and and and make it a more efficient one. And so it
was good to have people who frankly had complaints and we got to hear them and then we had people there you know to address them. And so it was um you know it was a very productive one. Uh also I know that um Miss Horsefield is is one
thing that she was kind of you know emphasizing was the need to allow potential people who want to you know file a land use application to have sort of concept hearings. And there are ordinances that other townships use to kind of set out the mets and bounds, the
parameters of what this would look like. And so she is going to give me that. That's something that I will share with my fellow council members and so that we can get direction on if you know that so people know before they spend tens of thousands of dollars um for a land use application. Um they at least know you
know what what are the difficulties that they will face. and so um and that they're not just sort of flying blind into uh an application. So that's something that we'll look at in the in the future. So that does it for me for new business or unfinished business.
Counciloman AI. That's great for new technology. We definitely need that. Uh no, I do not have any new or unfinished business. Councilman Scott. Yes, sir. Okay. All right. That does it for new or unfinished business. Um, we're now at
the final public comment period. Um, just please state your name and and uh for the record. Jim, mayor, I have to ask a question. When you hired these two companies,
um, Salvo Shul and Murphy Orlando, wouldn't you be required to do a um like a resolution hiring these companies on and stating how much money per hour it's
going to cost because we're kind of walking off to the abyss here. I mean, one company's got, I don't know, one, two, three, four, four attorneys. The other company's got three attorneys. And there's no numbers and
nobody knows what it's going to cost per hour. Is there is there a resolution? How did you how do we do this? Am I correct that didn't we handle this at reorganization? No, no, no, no. These attorneys weren't hired for this lawsuit for the reorganization.
My understand am I right that we did appoint uh Savo Schul and Morphe Orlando and then in that we did identify their billable rate. Am I right about that? Correct. So I mean if you pull the the reorganization which was what January
7th it should identify what their rates are and they were um so they were you know hired and I think we identified that but it it doesn't put um and you know it puts their billable hour rate which my understanding is consistent with what we would pay for um an
emissible attorneys. How much money have we spent on them so far Jim? How much money have they been given so far? to look that up. But there has been funds given to these two companies. Yes. Yes. Okay. It just goes through as general money spent. I don't have the number
right now. Yeah. Yeah. I wouldn't either. Yeah. Okay. I'm just kind of curious how we and I'll have to look at the reorganization because I don't remember seeing it in there. Yeah. I think Mr. Castmore, the the first firm on there you mentioned, uh, it was the conflict attorneys that were not that were
appointed in the first meeting of the year. So, the township boys has a conflict attorneys. That's who they are. Where did the second attorneys come from? They were also done I think in January. Okay. I'll look. Yes. Okay. If not the first meeting, I think it was the second
meeting perhaps. Oh, so it wasn't done at reorganization. I don't know about the second firm, but the second firm is also our affordable housing council. So, they've been involved with the township for our affordable housing. Yeah. But this is totally separate. affordable housing has nothing to do with the DCR lawsuit and each one of you being sued
individually and as council members and as the attorney and that part that part I still don't get because the attorney should represent works for a company I would think they'd have their own liability insurance I don't know maybe it's just me I mean I drive a truck down the road I have liability
insurance has nothing if I had a a truck wreck do I come into the town and say well I live in spar to pay for my my law fees I don't I don't get it thank you Okay, I'll see you all in about three months. All right, drive safely. Be careful. Oh, I drive it like I stole it.
Chief, you hear that? Oh, yeah. Don't worry. He knows me very well. Okay. Anyone else for uh public comment? Hi, Ronda Day again. Um I apologize. I I ran out of time on the last on the last one. So, so the last question I have and you may not be able to answer this
tonight, but maybe if you could think about it to help me help us understand when we get into it at the next hearing. Um, going through the budget, you know, most of it I could I could figure out, but there's one line called um reserve for uncollected taxes and it's like $3.1
million. What? And and what scares me about that is when I look at 2025, in order to hit the surplus, the remaining surplus of $360,000, I believe we have to collect the full 3.1 million, which is about a
million higher than we've ever used in prior years. And from what I understand, when they had the initial public hearing on the budget, typically we only collect around 800K of under that line. So that scares
me. So I just want to make sure that we're prepared to talk to that next week. You know, do do we need to collect that full point 3.1 million and what's the probability that we're going to do that? Okay, we'll get that answer, Ron. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you,
Ron. Okay. Any other public comment? I have an easy one. Um, Beth Broadick, North Shore when I can't read to you. I'm too short. Shut up. Gosh, this is embarrassing. No,
it's okay. I I'll stand on my toes. Um, when are you meeting with Lake? Can you put it down even further? Um, when are you meeting with Lake Mohawk? Um, so it was supposed to occur last week, uh, but someone forgot that they had a New Jersey Conference of Mayors. We don't
know who that someone is, but you're staring at them. And so we had to re uh we're we're picking a date, um, hopefully in the next two weeks uh, that we'll meet. I got to work with like Mohawk schedule, but we were we were all set to beat last week. Um, but someone
messed that up. They messed up. I always have a concern. But I I I will let you know uh Beth and then you know I'm happy to you know send me an email say I want you Neil to address this with Lake Bohawk and I will do so. Okay. Yeah. And my other question
is what's the next step with filling Dan spot? Um I don't know if I'm allowed to ask that question or I'm just Can you repeat the question? What's the next step with filling Dan's Oh spot. I don't know how any of that works or
is is it okay for me to answer that question? Okay. Um so we got what like 12 um obviously applications 12 applications. 10. Okay. 10. Um and so what we're going to do there is to have
each council person um convey who their you know top choices are. We're not going to interview all 10. We just don't have time to do that. Um, and then once we have narrowed it down to our, you know, top eight choices or, you know, top, you know, five, we'll then schedule
interviews. And we're doing that this week. So, um, hopefully by this week, we'll begin scheduling interviews by the following week. It's my my goal. I hope we can do that. Um, so that that's the plan so far, but obviously with that many people applying, it just wasn't
feasible to to do um that many interviews. Okay. Yeah, that's all I got. Sure. And I have extra time. Can I save that for next week or the next meeting? I have three I have three minutes left. Yeah. There's no banking of time, Beth.
But it's me. And we do appreciate your um conciseness and getting it done before five minutes. It's much appreciated. Okay. You're not the only one. Um, anyone else wishing to be heard on for public comment period?
You don't have standing to do so, but I I um I will take a queue from you. Uh uh may I have a motion to adjurnn? I'll make a motion to adjurnn. May I have a second, please? Second. All those in favor say I. I. I. We are adjourned.
Thank you all. Thank you everyone. Thank you. All right. All right.