Tuesday, August 12th, 2025 in Council Chambers, Sparta Township Municipal Building, 65 Main Street, Sparta, New Jersey. The time is 7:15. Um, the regular meeting is now open. All council meetings are now live stream and can be viewed at the following link,
www.youtube.comwpstreams. Adequate notice of this meeting was provided to the public and press on January 10th, 2025 by delivering to the press and posting on the township website a copy of the notice. Uh, Madame Clerk, may we have a roll call, please? Councilman Scott here.
Deputy Mayor Murphy here. Mayor Clark here. All right. Uh, may we stand and salute the flagg 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. Okay, good evening everyone. Thank you for coming out on this sweltering August day. Um, we have uh no minutes tonight, so we'll move right into the manager's
report. So, uh, manager Zep, may we have your report, please? Good evening, mayor, council members, and Sparta residents, both here in person and joining us online. Sparta Township Water Utility Department would like to remind all public water
users that the odd even lawn watering schedule remains in effect. Due to recent drought conditions, these restrictions are more important than ever to help maintain adequate levels of drinking water throughout the community. For full details and updates, please visit the water restrictions page under
the water utility section on the township website. Thank you for your continued cooperation. Our public works department is actively working on the waterline replacement project along Westshore Trail. Since beginning the work on Monday, the team has successfully installed 260 ft of an
estimated 1,200 ft of new piping required. Progress continues steadily despite occasional challenges such as encountering rock ledge formations. The crew is aiming to install approximately 80 ft of pipe per day and so far they are on track.
This is a substantial undertaking by our DPW team and represents a significant cost savings for taxpayers compared to hiring an outside contractor. We appreciate your patience and support as this important infrastructure improvement moves forward. The fall recreation brochure is now
available on the township website featuring a wide range of seasonal programs, sports, and special events. Registration for Sparta residents begins tomorrow, Wednesday, October August 13th, and opens to non-residents on Wednesday, August 20th. New offerings
this season include literacy workshops, flag football, sound bath, meditation, along with a special haunted ghost walk event exclusively for Sparta residents. To explore all available programs, visit spartanj.org, parks and recreation department, and
select recreation brochure. Our parks department are working diligently to prepare all fields for football, soccer, and fall baseball softball, as well as getting ready for upcoming fall special events. The paving project at Station Park has been completed, and parking
space pavement markings will follow shortly. In our senior citizen division, Sparta seniors are actively training for the Tri County Senior Olympics scheduled for September 17th in Quanic. Seniors interested in participating should contact the recreation office and ask
for Emily, our senior coordinator. Please note, the senior pool at Null Heights will close after Labor Day weekend for those who purchased summer badges or enrolled in water exercise classes. For our entertainment, this Friday,
August 15th, and every Friday up to and including August 29th, the Cultural Affairs Committee hosts the township's free summer concert series at Dyster Park. starting at 7:00. In case of rain, the concert will move indoors to Mohawk AB School. The lineup includes August
15th, South Ball, August 22nd, Peter Karp, August 29th, Skyla Burrell. For conscious schedule, please visit spartaarts.org. Check the township calendar or visit the cultural affairs committee web page. You can also sign up for rave alerts to stay
informed. At this time, I will turn it over to Chief McCarrick for his report. This concludes my report. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, manager Zep. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, council. This past week, we hosted our annual Junior Police Academy. We had an all-time high of 77
recruits that graduated. It's quite an experience for both the recruits and and our officers who participated. Uh, I'd like to thank publicly the individuals uh and uh that helped us out and and provided um instruction, demonstrations. uh New Jersey State Police teams unit,
their polygraph unit, their aviation unit who actually even showed up uh with their helicopter on uh graduation day. Their bomb squad, Maywood K9 officer came out, did a nice demonstration. Nekcon police motorcycle unit. Um Morris County Sheriff James Ganon, he was uh
allowed us to go to the uh sheriff's department there and tour the police academy where uh recruits are actually actively in there for a real police training class. uh their communication center, their youth detention center, and their Morris County Jail and OEM uh
office of emergency management center. The center for prevention and counseling came out did some instruction. Our Sparta volunteer ambulance squad and volunteer fire department always helped us out. Superintendent Mck with the board of ed and the Mohawk A school staff. Uh parks and wreck for helping us
out with things that we need for the graduation. Um, let's see. Obviously, our mayor and council and our manager for your support for this program and, uh, many sponsors. Uh, we had three recruits, uh, I'm sorry, recruits that had graduated came
back as junior instructors to assist with, uh, the daily operations, Anthony Reyes, Jake Dinger, and Zack Eller. Um, and obviously, thank you to the parents, our officers, and obviously all the recruits who went through the program. It was a it was a great week for
everybody. Um, there's an upcoming free ebike training for teens on Thursday, August 21st from 12:00 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. and then another 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. This is a virtual training uh that's being
facilitate facilitated by uh uh an individual who's part of a uh who's a program manager for cycling. Uh these students will learn the skills needed for safe and responsible biking skills which will carry on to safe driving. So the content includes understanding ebike
features and safety systems, battery care and charging for best practices, pre-ride check and basic maintenance, proper helmet fitting and safety gear, traffic rules and regulations, understanding lines, signs and signals, safe navigating of roads and bike paths, understanding how crashes happen and how
to avoid them and speed management and stopping distance. You can find this information on how to register. We have it posted on our social media and if you do not have our social media uh we will put it on the website or you can email paul p a lic
njbwc.org. Last thing I have uh with students returning to school in just over two weeks. We would like to put out a reminder to be cognizant of children walking to and from bus stops within our community. patrols will be in these areas um during school bus times, pickup and departures um and will enforce
traffic violations as always. Additionally, our officers have been meeting with all schools in Sparta Township for both public and private schools to update each other on the multitude of areas to help keep our children and our school staff safe. And that concludes my report. Thank you. Great. Thank you.
Thank you. Um you have a question? Yes, I do. um with the I have to tell you that the watching that program the other day and the graduation from the Junior Police Academy was really really moving and to
see the kids that they were just so thrilled to be up there that they said they said on the side after you've all left and they're walking off the stage, boy that was really hard. It was hard, but they were each beaming
and so proud marching off the stage. And the gentleman, the young man that you picked to speak was amazing for his age. I It was just It was overwhelming to see them and how they with 72. You said 77.
77. 77. That is amazing. I didn't know that they were going to be that young to be honest. I didn't Yeah. Fourth through eighth grade we have. So you have a lot of younger younger ones in there. And it made quite an impression. Quite an impression on them. You could see them. You could see it on their face, on
their demeanor, and the way they walked and and spoke. It was really they enjoyed marching on the boardwalk. They really did. They had a good time. No, it was great. And the and the helicopter and going to see I think to to get to see the actual classes and
going to Marstown really made quite an impression. They ever had thoughts of doing anything wrong. I think that cured them quite good. So, there is an age cap on that because Mayor uh deputy mayor Murphy suggested that I enroll.
We'll have to start a uh adult a senior division junior senior police academy. Oh, thank you. But thank you. Um and I had a question. The ebikes. Yes. And the people that are riding ebikes and the like scooters
up and down the street. scooters are okay or not. Uh so it depends that there's a lot of different types of scooters. Um we have a lot of information on our website and on our social media on the rules of operation. And if you're riding just like a bicycle, it's the same. You have
to abide by all the rules of the roadway, the rightways and everything. And I think that this this came out to us uh today, this training, and we wanted to post it because we're seeing more and more ebikes out there. And you know, it's an hour and a half. You know, I'm probably going to have my my uh
children just go on and listen so they know they're not getting an ebike. Um but uh just so they know like there's there's certain things that come along with having that responsibility. But I'm seeing a lot more kids on scooters. Yep. You're see you are seeing them out there. They should be on helmets. Yeah. So
yeah, and that I was concerned about that. But I also wanted to mention that your daughter who s her voice is unbelievable. She is tremendous. Tremendous. It was I got goosebumps. Thank you. That's the second time I've seen her sing and it's it's beautiful. Don't let
her stop. Thanks. Um and one of the things with I just wanted to make sure that the because the Lake Mohawk we get emails about Westshore Trail and I just want to make sure everybody knew that it's on the website as well. The daily updates and
the closures, right? They they are we actually really push for proper notification because we also do through rave alerts the social media sites the the police will also assist on stuff like that and so far it's been working out pretty well
because I've asked about traffic and notification and the residents have been very patient because they understand the project. It ultimately it's improving the roadway and and the purpose that it serves. So and the weather doesn't hurt either. So, no, it's I've forgotten a
few times and have to turn around, but we have a good laugh when I get there. Hopefully, if it all goes smoothly, it'll be and and sooner than later then. Yes. And did you I just wanted to say something about Dystra Park. Um because there's been a lot of Do you know who
that's named after? I'm sure you do, but the Nicholson stage. No, no. Dystra Park, right? Dystra Park is named after George Dystra who was an ex-meor years and years ago. Uncle G is we all knew him as kids and he also owned a uh
a dry cleaner down right by Angererman Field. And there's none of them living in Sparta anymore, unfortunately. But uh they that's who that's named after and his picture's downstairs on the wall.
Thanks. So, and up there probably, but that's that's the dystra. No relation to Yeah, there you go. So, thank you. Thank you both. Thank you. Um Jim, with respect to the uh water man improvements uh on West
Shore, um do you know if people's water supply or water pressure uh is affected by that in any way or not at this time as they're installing because this is an alternate pipe to an existing pipe. Okay. So right now they haven't impeded the
the the regular water flow. There will be a period when they do the change over to the new pipe where there'll be some some interruption and we'll have full notification out to the resident so they're aware of that. But uh while they're installing it now there isn't any any interruption.
Got you. So at the time when they actually install the new one there may be some interruption but we'll notify folks Yes. about it so they can plan accordingly and hopefully it won't be a significant interruption to their water supply or water pressure.
Yep. Okay. Correct. Fantastic. Um, anyone else with questions? Jim, can we push that water restriction memo out to the public? Sure. We actually have there was we had a you guys may have seen it. We had a
mandated restriction at the Sussex Mills area because uh the tank levels were critical and we had blasted out through a rave alert and it was on the website. In fact, it's still on the website because it expires tomorrow that restriction which was a mandated
restriction and we can blast that out. The website though is not as strong as it used to be because we have all the social media outlets now with with the social media apps and sites. Uh PD helps a lot with that. And then we have the rave alert system which we always encourage all the residents to sign up
for and check the boxes of the categories that you feel would be most interesting for you like water restrictions. Yeah. I was not aware and neither multiple of my neighbors. Yeah. It's it's public service. We try our
best to get get the word out. Uh people should know that. and and just recently because of the drought uh we we really see it in the tank levels the water levels that are monitored uh 24/7. Um okay I will
I just gave a a notice out there too. So for our audience watching yeah I I probably did whether I was aware of it but just for those participating at home uh there is a water restriction. So, um, look on the website,
please, please abide by it. Um, you know, I think it's very important that, you know, we do live in a community. Um, and that we all are sort of interdependent and responsible for one another. And one of the ways that we display that is obeying these restrictions. It's not because we want
you to have a brown yard. It's because if you violate that and other people do it, too, we um that affects our water supply. So, we we hope that people will abide by that and um don't worry about it. You'll have a brown yard and so will your neighbor. Um so, it's okay. Um it's
better than running out of water or significantly diminishing our water supply. So, again, we are underwater restriction. Please abide by the restriction. Um and if you don't know what that is, you know, you go on the website or you can, you know, ask us and we'll we'll odd evening watering. It's fundamental.
I'm sure many folks, you know, your address or your PO box, whatever number it is, the odd even days, if you have an odd number house, you can water on odd number days, even number house on even number days. So, it would alternate. Uh,
it's actually a better watering practice anyway. So, great. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Um, may I have a motion to approve the manager's report? I'll make a motion to approve the
managers and police chief's report. Uh may I have a second, please? Second. All those in favor say I. I. The manager report is approved. Uh we are now at our very first uh public comment uh session. Uh this is for items that are not on the agenda. So if you
see an item on the agenda that you want to talk about, now is not the time. Uh now is the time to talk about items that are not on the agenda. And please be mindful of our five minute limit. So if you have any public comment um please do so.
Derek's tap into Sparta. Oops. Sorry. Tap into Sparta. Um I missed most of your report but just came in on the tail end. you're always able to send me and sometimes the different departments do send me their press their releases their
information sheets instead of just relying on the rave or the um the website you can send it to me and I always publish them. So and the many of the department heads make use of that. Um
where are we with the brownfield got our permit? Okay. What permit is that? This is a general GP5 permit allowing us to fill in the wetlands that we've been waiting 23 years for. However, it comes with a bunch of conditions and I'm working on getting
those conditions met. One of them is the parcel transfer that enables us to get this uh that you're familiar with. Mhm. We have to formally process the the parcel transfer and the D is very difficult to communicate with uh in getting that transaction done and that's
just one of the conditions. A bunch of the other ones are uh mapping the plan and and fulfilling the uh landfill closure plan that we have. Uh and the leasey C renewables uh who was awarded the solar field uh award a lot
of the onus is on them to perform this. So, uh, I'm working with them to meet the criteria of the conditions of their permit, which would then allow us to fill it in. But, uh, I consider this the biggest hurdle. Like I said, we've waited for this for years and years. Yeah.
And it didn't cost us a million dollars. I'm going to get your picture doing that. Um, okay. So, C has the responsibility to of what? So the township has to deal with the land transfers. Is that
correct? Correct. And anything else mapping and executing the plan that's on C as as as it's termed out in our lease agreement. Yes. Okay. Um well, that's good news. It is. It's excellent news. Um I I'm
hoping that I'm going to be able to report that the landfill is officially closed. Okay. Soon enough. And so once it's closed, that's when we can begin the installation of the solar or do we have to get the brownfield? Does that give us brownfield status? What is the uh they could apply for it and they
should get it then. I I can't once it's closed, right? Because there was a lot of conditions that were contingent on a closed landfill that we were being denied. Brownfield status, I believe, is one of them. Um C will also be presenting to the planning board their proposal for the
the solar field layout. Okay. So there's there there is still a bunch of work that needs to be done ahead of time, but again the the hardest part is over. Okay. So the um C also has to they have to execute the ne some of the
conditions. the township has some of the conditions at that point once the landfill is closed then we can apply for brownfield status for that parcel and that's needed so that we can have access to the estre market or can we get into the esrex without the brownfield
you're all over this J working as I understand that the lease itself all right um the township will not benefit from srex the lease will right they're the ones putting the solar panels on and and technically the township won't be a part of that solar
pro program other than possible community solar that they they're also applying for. Okay. All right. Uh what the township will benefit from is they will be collecting a lease uh for the the the site on the landfill. Okay. Um I'm just envisioning that the
lease really isn't worth much to C if they don't have the solar. Correct. Okay. And so, um, how much are they locked in to the approve the, um, lease program? How much of the are they required to follow through on the lease
regardless of whether or not they get brownfield status and the estro market utility approval and all that? Yes. Okay. And that is um approximately $450,000 a year based on the size of of of the the solar
field. Um, originally it was a 7 megawatt system. I think they try to maximize every square foot of the landfill, uh, making it close to 10 megawatt, which would equate to 450,000 a year in lease. Okay.
All right. Thank you. Isn't a bad use for your landfill. No, I agree. Thank you. What would it take to get them to step it up? Oh, they're profit. I'm sure they're motivated to get going. So, it's in their book. Yes, it is.
Good evening everybody. Uh Ron Day, T- Ay, uh resident of Sparta. Um first of all, I just want to thank everyone for what you do up there. I know it's a lot of lot of work and uh you know, there's a lot going on in this town today. Um Chief McCerrick, what you just went through with the police academy for the
kids, that was just be beautiful to see. So, thank you for that. Uh Jenny had some pictures posted I thought were just terrific and you know makes makes you proud to be part of Sparta. And Roxan, I want to leave you out. I always do. Thank you for everything you're doing. You're you're you're exemplary to what you know someone could expect for for
someone working for the town. Um the reason I'm here tonight, um before the budget was passed, the 2025 budget was passed, um I had some questions that never really got resolved and I'm trying to understand that. And the reason I'm trying to understand it is in my head I'm trying to think, okay,
where where are we going to end up in at the end of 2025 and what's 2026 going to look like? Um, and the two things that concern me the most back then and still do are number one, the diminishing cash reserves, which seem to be necessary in
order for us to have the revenues needed to meet the projected expenditures. Um the second the second item that that really you know has my attention is something called unplanned budget revenues. So when I look at those um the
concern is I think we need about $31 million in revenues to meet the municipal expenses each year. And if we fall short um in the unplanned budget revenues or um and the cash reserves they're just they're they're they seem to be gone. I think we have like 700k
left or something like that. So, so you know, I'm just trying to get a feel for your view and maybe Jim, this is more directed to you as the town manager. How are we looking for 2025? If you had a forecast, we're going to be there at the end of 2025. We have the expenditures
that the revenues that we need or are there things that we maybe need to start looking at to defer until we know we have those revenues in hand? Well, I wish my CFO was here. That's where I lean on her to help do a lot of
this. I don't have huge concerns because I work closely with my financial team and that is my CFO and our financial consultant, our our former CFO, Mike Reno. Um the financial uh reserves that you're talking about, yes, they are a
concern. That's your surplus. Right. Right. You you want a surplus uh of significant size to bail you out of situations that basically are unforeseen. Um this year what we've done a lot differently was we boosted up the uh um
uncollected taxes rate and what that's going to do is that will ensure that we'll have a better chance of replenishing our reserves. All right. And but you you do there's a lot of assumptions that your collection rate is right that there's a lot that goes into the the the municipal budget. Um
if I can just because you I want to watch No, I appreciate the feedback. You know, when I look, you mentioned the reserves. When I look at the reserves um that were available for the following year, you know, if I look at 2022, it was $6 million that and we used I think probably about four or five of it to to
meet the expenses. In 2023, there was two and a half million. We're down to now going into 2025, we've got 700K. Now, when I look at what I believe is the collection rate against that, the number is much, much less than that. And I think we talked about that at the
budget meeting, the pre-budget meeting. I think the collection rate is probably, you know, looking again prior years, there was one really good year. In 2023, we collected about 800. Still far short, but every other year, every year other than that, we've we've collected less
than 200k. So, we've got we're counting our revenues at 3.1 million knowing that in the past we've never collected it. So, so I again I I'd ask that you look at that and and maybe as part of your manager's report um maybe at the next meeting or something just let us know
from your perspective as town manager are we on track to end 2025 successfully. There was some talk we're going to we had things in place to grow the reserves. How we doing? That would be helpful. I know we always approve the the expenditures, but the problem with the expenditures, I think
that's always assuming that the revenue is being collected, and it may not be. And if it doesn't, that's just going to kick the problem down the road. So, so I still remain very concerned and and looking to use the time manager to help alleviate those concerns. No problem.
Okay. Thanks. Hi, Mike Divine at Oak Parkway. I wanted to mention two things that came to my attention about a month or two ago that you could all be well be aware of and I'm not sure of all the implications of it. I was at a meeting of the uh master
plan subcommittee and we had a phone conversation with the fellow who's the head of uh the planning group that I can't Lindsay Lindsay Knight I guess she's works for them and he off handle he kind of mentioned two things that really caught my attention and the first
one was and I may not get the wording exactly right he said it's common for other municipalities in New Jersey if a developer comes and and approval of his devel or her development significantly impacts level of service
in any way such as an intersection timing or whatever the approval is made contingent upon they need to return a level of service to what it was prior to their development. You know, if that's common practice, I'm kind of surprised. I never heard of it.
it's if it is something that's that's doable, it would seem to me we'd want to explore it and incorporate it maybe in an ordinance or something if in fact it's correct. The other one that surprised me is offhand he mentioned that in the in a state budget somewhere
there's something in the order of $12 million dedicated to improvements of Route 15. And that's always been a concern of mine and many other people where where we're going with Route 15 recognizing it's a regional problem, not just a town
problem. And he didn't really have any details on what the intent of for the money was and it might be or be in our interest or not in our interest, but either way, if it's true, I'd be nice to be aware of what it's intended for and if we can influence or whatever, it
might be something worth pursuing. So just bring those two things to your attention. The other kind of funny thing is I'm old enough to have been on the council with George Dystra. I know if you know him Margie personally who is what a character. Oh my god.
Uh sometime I'll tell you some stories of George. He was a beauty. Tell you some too. Can imagine. I actually was there when we decided to name it after d named Dyster Park. It was welld deserved. He was a beautiful guy. Thank you. Thanks. Yeah. Thank you Mike for pointing those
out. I think um on on your first issue may um you know whether sounds part of that is a municipal land use law issue right which is you know planning board is within their right and you know to attach conditions to approval. So that may be a function of municipal land use
law, not one that's required by ordinance where I understand where you're going, which is, hey, if you're going to any development that's going to have a significant impairment upon the level of service, then the applicant is required to put it up into a condition. Um, that's probably more of a planning
issue, but you know, that's something that probably definitely should be raised with our planning board. when there's an application that people think will affect a level of service, that's something that the public should should bring out. As to your second issue, um I did uh a few meetings ago, um I I shared
about a meeting that I did have with uh state officials and the Department of Transportation about Route 15. Um I will let folks know I think I shared that uh overpass was not discussed, not not part of the planning. Um you know, that was
one that was, you know, gosh, decades ago. you were probably on council when when it was um what they are looking at really are um signage also some maybe expand some of the lanage a little bit not an overpass but in a way to improve
traffic flow um and you know there's a bridge I think and Lafayette or somewhere that they're working on but as far as expanding Route 15 um a lot of it is trying to improve traffic flow um and I think that you know they when talking
with the DOT officials. Um, you know, I had pointed out to them that at least along that corridor, Route 15 that goes, um, you know, by North Village, there's certain intersections that run perpendicular that that we're at a level of service of C or below. Um, and that
whatever improvements that they need to make, they need to keep that into account. Look, we need to improve the level of service for some of these intersections. And they have particular models that they use. um you know where they can say if we do this change this is what we forecast the level of service
will improve at and so that I said you know it would be helpful if you could share that which is you know when you're articulating to the public what changes you want to make to route 15 why how will that change help the flow of traffic how will it help the level of
service in certain areas and they can do that that type of of modeling um and and I think that's going to drive a lot of it but I was able point out to them the issues that we particularly have in Sparta with with Route 15. Um, and they're obviously particularly acute
this time of year. Um, particularly if you're trying to turn and make a left turn off of Primrose uh onto Route 15. Um, so again, I think they're they're aware of it, but as far as the, you know, the people's concern that somehow
there Route 15 was going to be a four-lane highway or something like that. Um there doesn't doesn't seem to be any appetite for that or any planning for that. At least it didn't come up at the meeting. So um I hope that helps a little bit, but you know, stay on top of us about it and as as we learn things
about the Route 15 improvements that affect Sparta, we'll be sure to share it. Seems like you're much very much into it. So thank you. Sure, Mayor. I'm sorry. They're the DOT is actually coming in September. for a date I don't have offh hand but they're meeting again to go over the concerns
that were expressed at the last meeting. So I'll let you know that date. Okay. So if everyone heard that the chief said that the DOT is coming back to uh Sussex County uh in September and then when they do uh mayors from all the
affected municipalities and and um are invited to show up and express their concerns. And so, um, again, I encourage people, um, you know, let me know, let the council know what your concerns are at Woo 15, what and we can be sure to share those and articulate those.
That'll be a public meeting or No, these are I'm not sure. So, so from what I gather for the individual that reached out to us, this was just a meeting um with our police department and anybody else from the township that we wanted to invite. It was just strictly for Sparta for the concerns that we put forth. Okay.
Yeah. Got you. like our number one traffic accident area. And so, yeah, and and I think that um just to to commend uh Chief McCarrick, I think that, you know, in his annual reports and other things that he's done
uh with respect to try has been very helpful because I was able to allude to that and and cite to that in our meetings. And so, you know, I want to thank you for giving, you know, the council the, you know, the the data and information we need um so that we can
come to them with facts and figures um and I think that it resonates more than just showing up and complaining. Um so, thank you. Okay. Um anyone else with public comment for items that are not on the agenda?
Okay, let's pay some bills. Um, we are now at the expenditure portion of the evening. Uh, Deputy Mayor Murphy, would you please read the expenditures for July 22nd, 20125? The expenditures for July 22nd, 2025
are in the amount of 1,114,356.35. Okay. May I have a motion to approve the expenditures for July 22nd, 2025? I make a motion that we accept the expenditures for July. And may I have a second? Second. All those in favor say I.
I. The July 22nd, 2025 expenditures have been approved. Uh next, Deputy Mayor Murphy, would you please read the expenditures for August 12th, 2025? Expenditures for August 12th, 2025 are
in the amount of 6,900 6,974.39. Thank you. Uh may I have a motion to approve the expenditures for August 12th, 2025. I make a motion that we
uh accept and pay the uh expenditures for August 12th, 2025. Uh may I have a second, please? Yes, I will second it. All those in favor say I. I. All right. The uh expenditures for
August 12th, 2025 have been approved. Um we do not have an an ordinance to be introduced or to have a hearing on it. So that gets us to our um uh second um public comment period. And this one is
limited to the resolutions, which we do have quite a few tonight. Um, so if you have questions about any of the 20 resolutions that you see before you, um, please step up to the mic and and fire away. Jenny Derek's tapping to Sparta. Uh,
starting with 911. Uh, can you tell me what this is? I have I'll let you know. I have questions on 911, 13, 14, 15, and 16. So starting with 911, can you explain what this is?
This is a professional service agreement with uh associate appraisal group. This is the individual that we employ to go and do added assessments. When residents do improvements to their houses and uh we do the additional assessments, he
will enter the the premises, do the proper evaluation and um bring it back to town hall and it gets worked into their tax and that's what that is. And u is it typical that we hire somebody or is this
it's an it's a professional service agreement. So we hire usually outside we usually do that. Yeah. Um, our tax assessor department does. Okay. So, this is but I'm saying we usually have to contract out. We don't have someone in house that does this. Correct.
Thank you. So, for 913, uh, where is this signal going? This is the crosswalk at Votech. Okay. Thank you. It's an upgrade to the existing device that's there.
Okay. um 914. Um are we selling or otherwise de uh getting rid of the decommissioned vehicles or are they staying in the fleet or how is this working? I take it.
No, we we we do it's a it's a fluid dynamic operation when it comes to PD vehicles. All right. And when we do buy new vehicles, we inver we will rid ourselves out to auction. Uh you would see it when I do a deem for surplus uh
where we put the vehicles out for auction. Um it's a constant evaluation uh between the chief and myself and the fleet department on what vehicles get um put out the auction. And do we take any of the equipment? So, does the cost that
is noted in the this um and also for 9:15, does that include all of the gear, all of the tech, all of the um emblems and all of that? We get the car and they're ready to go on the road. Yeah. So 9 9 9 9:15 reflects all the
emergency lights um all the things that that go in to hold our weapons um uh everything that would be able to upfit that vehicle and make it roadw worthy and safe and so so for three vehicles. So 15 is supporting the vehicles being
purchased in correct and the ones that we do auction we recycle whatever equipment we can such as radios, radar, cameras, so on and so forth and implement them into the new vehicles. Thank you. Um, thank you for that information. And then
9:16, um, we're purchasing salt. Um this just brings me back to the conversation that was used to um justify the new salt shed that we have and that was that there is an expectation or anticipation that
other municipalities in the county would want to make use of our uh large capacity to purchase or store or in other ways um broker salt for for other municipalities. How is that going? Are we Do we have anybody signed up to do
that? No. Well, I I don't. And I'll be honest with you, it's because you haven't had hard winners. It's been soft winners. And what's nice about soft winners is the price of salt will go down. Okay. And the nice thing about this county co-op here is I I look at all the
co-ops, Mars County, Sussex County, Somerset County, state contract, and then I look for the best price for the town. And when we see a low number, that's when if space provided, you you invest in the low price of the salt and and you inventory it so you don't have
to buy it at a higher price. That was one of my selling points on on building that shed. This allows us to do that by entering in the Sussex County co-op. Yes, they have the lowest price right now, but I am always surveying the co-ops for the lowest price of soul.
Have we done any outreach to the other municipalities to see if they want to take advantage of? I haven't, but approach. I I I haven't reached out to towns um but uh you know it would be up to the council if they wanted to entertain uh services for other other
municipalities we we could. All right. Thank you. Okay. Um any other questions regarding resolution? Just one question, mayor, about the 95 and it's maybe broader than this specific resolution.
I don't know what how much of the uh the funding relates to litigation and I'm not sure what the 3% means. I guess apparently you can allocate 3% of the overall budget towards litigation. Is that what that means? Not necessarily litigation, but for the
appropriation as a whole. Okay. All right. I have a statement prepared for that resolution when when it comes up. Yeah, we're going to handle that one separately. And so, you know, because I have some questions on it as well, Mike. Um, and I know that uh Jim has prepared,
you know, to fully explain what this resolution is, what it involves. Um, suffice it to say, it goes beyond professional expenses needed for litigation. There's other Can let me just make I'm not sure I can stay, but let me make a just one short point if I can. It'll actually be the
first one that we'll do because we're going to do 91 through 94 al together because they're standard ones. We'll take 95 will be the first one. You want me to wait then? If it's up to you. I mean, we'll I I guess my general sense is no surprise to any of you that it's kind of a hot
point in town. Are we expending a lot of litigation? Are we anticipating a lot more litigation? And along the lines of what Mr. Day said, "Are we confident that revenues are going to be uh consistent with expenditures? Are we going to put ourselves in a difficult
circumstance at the end of this year, which could then fall into the following years? I if people are concerned about the degree of legis of litigation we're going to be dragged into, are you confident that we're in a position to be able to to cover it?" That's my general
question. And I'll be happy to wait for what Jim has to say if you want. Sure. Okay. Thanks, Mike. Thank you. Thank you. Ronda again. Um I got a question on 99 which is the new uh street sweeper. Um
you know kind of tying back to what we were talking about before is just you know are there things that we can defer. It doesn't have to be deferred till next year, but at least defer defer it till we know we've got the proper revenues we need in place to avoid another problem. So when I look at this street sweeper, I
think it was like 450k or something like that. Is that an urgent need that we have to go do that now or would it be prudent to maybe say, okay, as we as the revenues solidify and we know we got that 30 million, approve it then. How urgent is the need for that one that
street sweeper? So when we establish the budget with the department heads, I sit down with each and every department head and we go through their budget. Then we go through their capital improvement budget in their capital improvement budget. I ask for a six-year schedule of equipment
that they would need that's that's uh you know eligible for capital improvement funds. All right. I have the benefit of being the public works director for so many years here. I know what what's going on on on the situation of our equipment. This particular sweeper is in need of replacement. It is
the one vacuum sweeper we own. It's also utilized to clean out catch basins. It's got the snorkel tube on the back and that's what we use to do that. Our current sweeper we've has been problematic. It's had a lot of problems and I've I've known about it for a couple years now. We would usually
allocate almost $500,000 a year to the public works department for equipment. All right. The DPW director then would would work with me, talk to me, and tell me what he felt was the most important need for the for the services that he needed to provide the residents. And we
put out that plan. This year, it was the sweeper that he felt he needed most. And this is the only piece of equipment that is allocated in the capital improvement plan because as you know I did shorten the capital improvement plan this year by almost $900,000
and parks department and public works took a a lesser amount for capital improvement. So they did need this so much that it's the only piece of equipment they're buying this year. The other thing is is in order uh uh in in getting the the the the the quotes for
the sweeper um I was told that we would be waiting 15 to 18 months on delivery. So you're waiting already over a year just to get something that you're purchasing now. So So if I can just again watching the clock. So from what I heard it it is
operational. It it has issues but it is operational. We're still we're still using it. um it's going to be an 18-month lead time. So, if we were just again, and I'm not saying not to do it, and and I'm not I don't really care about the budget last year and what
they've had in the past. My concern is are there going to be enough revenues this year to sustain the expenses that we're bringing forward, the appropriations we're bringing forward, or if we fall, if we make all these appropriations, which supposedly the money's there, if the revenues fall, or
are we digging a hole? So all I'm suggesting is, you know, should there be a discussion that says we want to defer it till we know we've got the revenues we have or are there other things that maybe we'll need to defer? You know, is it is there a cut
line somewhere that says, well, if if I don't get 30 million revenues, um I I get 28 million revenues, but we've appropriated 30, that's a problem. So I'm just saying have the discussion, make sure this is that important. And then again, how do we how do we get
ahead of that problem of having more appropriations than revenue so we don't kick the can to the next year? I understand. I understand, Ron. And the other good point is is this was all included in your existing budget. None of this was new bonded debt, which is which is a plus. So
I'm really I'm keeping it real simple. Revenues, expenditures. You know, you can't have more pro we shouldn't have more appropriations than revenues. I think you would agree with that. I agree. Thanks. I'm with you. Yeah. And I think the the current budget contemplates that. I think you know um maybe embedded in an assumption that you
may have or in your question I kind of infer an assumption that somehow we pass a budget and the expenditures that are on that have no contemplation of the actual revenues that are going to be generated in a year. And my understanding is that's not how we do
budgets. that any expenditures that's on there, it's contemplated that we have sufficient revenue um to meet those expenditures. And so where you see sort of peel back, the reason why you took a $900,000 hit and drawback on that is
just to be extra careful. So that tells me that we are contemplating that the appropriations that you see here have now been we we've assured ourselves that we are going to have sufficient revenue in them and that we're not just having a rosy picture of you know we want you
know a wish list of expenditures and then we cross our fingers about whether we're going to get the revenue like the expenditures that we have been approving are ones that we are fairly confident and very confident that we'll have sufficient revenues during the year to pay for. But I, you know, I think your point is well taken. Um, but I know
that, you know, this is a particular issue with a lot of, you know, we we ran into this with our fire truck. I think took an inordinate amount of time to get and and part of that has to do with the, you know, the suppliers um for certain municipal products like fire
trucks, like street sweepers. Unfortunately, that market has gotten way too consolidated and the level of service has then gone down. Um and so you wait a long time. I know with firet trucks there, you know, we waited how many years?
Yeah. To get that five years. Yeah. And there, you know, in other towns are experiencing the same thing. I know in Los Angeles they had, you know, a number of fire trucks that they were having to repurpose and reuse even though they'd had orders for years. Um these companies have not um as they've
consolidated, their level of service has gone down. And a lot of that our hands are tied in that situation. uh because we can simply tell yell at them, get our fire truck, get it done, but you know, we're not the ones making the truck. So, um we're kind of at their mercy in that.
But again, I I appreciate your point. Um and I think our our finance office and and Jim has taken a very critical look. I know um in dealing with Jim, he you know, he is uh he's has an eye on the finances and an eye on what we can do
and what we can't do. Um, you know, no one wants to cut back their capital expenditures, but I think the ones that we're doing, look at the water man that we're improving in West Shore. Those are the type of things that a township has to do. Um, if they don't do, um, that's, you know, that's pennywise and pound
foolish, right? That, you know, you end up having to pay a lot more if that water man breaks and, uh, you have an emergency repair because the costs just go astronomical there. So again, all right, we'll move directly to the resolutions unless anyone else has some
further public comment. Um, so we have a fair number of them. Um, I'd like to make a motion to approve resolutions 91, 92, 93, and 94. So can I have a motion to approve resolutions 91, 92, 93, and
94? I'll make a motion to approve resolutions 91, 92, 93, and 94. And may I have a second, please? Second. All those in favor say I. I. I. And we'll do the rest of them um because they're not usual ones. Um we'll
do each of one of those separately. Um and so I'll make a motion. There'll be a second and then the council will bring back to discussion and then we can go to vote if there are any questions about it. So may I have a motion to approve resolution 95, which is a resolution of the township of Sparta for emergency
appropriation, professional services, and litigation. uh under 3% limitation. So, a motion to approve resolution 95 as read. I'll approve I'll make a motion to approve resolution 95 is read. And may I have a second, please?
Second. Okay. Before we go to vote, just wanted a question from me. Is um this is entitled both professional services and litigation. And so is this um appropriation just for litigation or is it for other professional services that
might be needed for other aspects that don't involve a litigation whatsoever? Yes, the answer the quick answer is yes, but I had prepared a statement because I know that this is a a sensitive topic and it means a lot to me especially with
with Ron echoing the the concern. All right, and with that I'm just going to read what I put together here. Tonight, we are presenting an emergency resolution requested by our finance department to address a critical funding need within several township departments. Due to an unusually active
year, the professional service accounts for the manager's office, clerk's office, planning and zoning office are running low. These services include legal reviews for municipal transactions such as Oprah requests, ordinance and resolution drafting, support for
litigation, engineering services for planning applications, dam renovations, quarry permitting, and planning services related to affordable housing, and Sparta's role in the state development redevelopment plan, to name a few. Our
annual budgets are typically based on prior year usage and anticipated expenses. However, the volume and complexity of work this year have exceeded expectations. To maintain operations and meet our obligations, we are requesting an emergency appropriation of $250,000
for professional services. This appropriation falls within the statutory 3% limitation. And with the total operating appropriations for 2025 set at 948,000, this resolution ensures that the emergency funding will be fully
accounted for in the 2025 budget and excluded from caps as permitted by law. We appreciate your understanding and support as we take this necessary step to ensure the continued efficiency and integrity of our municipal operations. So that's my statement. Yes, is the
quick answer to what you were asking, Mayor. Okay. Thank you. And just so the public understands, I know they see the $250,000. They see the word litigation and an assumption is made is that $250,000 is solely for matters that are under litigation. I think what you
articulated in your response is there's a whole host of things are not in uh litigation whatsoever that a township has to engage professionals on. um transactions that we uh deal with uh issues regarding uh dam improvements,
other things that we have professional services that are needed. And so um I just want the public to understand this isn't just for matters that are under litigation. This has a whole host of other issu professional services that are required.
That also have to do with our affordable housing. the I I thought we put together a very good affordable housing uh program with the helps of our planner and our other legal counsel. We got our number down.
We didn't have a whole lot of contest against it. I I thought that went very well, but I have to admit it was a process that was absorbed in a budget that wasn't really anticipating all that work. So, correct. Correct. Thank you,
Jim. Um in a previous meeting we discussed uh we discussed the fact that when some some of the expenses some of the professional expenses whether it be a planner whether it be a engineer some of those expenses are not being directly
charged to the developer into the developer's deposit bucket and that has been slipping through and that it's been happening that the town has been literally paying for that. Has that been corrected? This is the first I heard of it, Mark. I haven't heard of that situation.
Okay. All right. We'll discuss it later. Thanks. Yeah, please. Any other questions with 95? Okay. Uh, all those in favor of 95 say I. I. I. I. Uh, resolution 95 has passed. Uh,
next is may I have a motion to approve resolution 96, which is an amended resolution to appoint Sparta Township Tax Assessor for an un for an an unexpired term and new 4-year term.
Yes. I will make a motion to approve resolution 96 as stated. Uh, may I have a second, please? Second. Okay. And um before we go to vote. Yes. Do um just question I have this we are
appointing uh someone who's already been in uh in this position at least as a assistant for quite some time. Is that right? This is an amendment to a resolution we passed at the last council meeting. We had to make some language change in order to satisfy the state um with help
of council and advice from the clerk. We we're just making the amendment so it satisfies the state for the language of the appointment. Okay. And it's always a four-year term. Yes. But she she's finishing out the previous assessor's term right now.
Okay. So, okay. Any other questions? All right. We've had a first and a second. All those in favor of resolution 96 say I. I. I. Resolution 96 has passed. Um, next, may I have a motion to approve resolution
97, which is a resolution amending the authorization of a petty cash account for the township of Sparta for the year 2025. So, I make a motion we pass 9-7. Uh, may I have a second, please? I'll second.
Um, uh, any questions regarding 97? It's just a change of custodians who have the authorization to basically monitor the the the petty cash accounts. We usually carry a balance in those departments of $250. It's usually a max
of $50 that uh an employee uh rather than processing a requisition, they can pay their own money out and we'll reimburse them, you know, $50 or less through the petty cash fund. Okay. Got you. And I I noticed that um it does
that the resolution does require that the the custodians have to maintain records for this fund in a manner conducive to proper accounting and auditing procedures. Yes. There there's always a a receipt on everything. Okay. Okay. Got you. Okay. Um all those
just changing the names department heads change etc. Right. Okay. Right. All those in favor of approving resolution 97 say I. I. Resolution 97 has been approved. Next up is resolution 98. May I have a motion
to approve resolution 98, which is a resolution of the township of Sparta authorizing the mayor and township clerk to sign the agreement for animal pound shelter services with the burrow of hpacong. I make a motion to approve resolution 98
as stated. Second. And um again, Jim, this is uh a inner services agreement that we've entered into in previous years with the Pacong. We share their shelter. Uh they provide shelter services for our
animals that we collect. Yes. Thank you. Okay. Um just wanted to make sure that that this has been something we've done in previous years. All those in favor of resolution 98 say I. I. I. All right. Resolution 98 has been
approved. Next up is resolution 99, uh, resolution of the township of Sparta to purchase a 2025 Elgen whirlwind series MV Street Sweeper utilizing the National Sourcewell Cooperative Contract. So, may
I have a motion to approve resolution 99? I make a res I make a a motion to approve resolution 99. I will second. Thank you. And I think we did have a little explanation about the the
necessity of the street sweeper. My understanding that this was an item but that our DPW um said that they were in need of um and given the substantial lead time that it takes to actually get a street sweeper. Um it was thought
prudent to purchase it now or get authorization to purchase it now. Um whereas if you wait, you could be delaying it even more. Is that accurate? Okay. But it's still the one we have is still able to clean out the catch basins. Yes. It it we we keep it going. We we
limp it along. But the sooner I I can change this out, the more money we'll get in return when we auction it off, too. And that money goes back into general surplus and we can cycle it back. So there is a method down. Yes. So how does this work? because
we're we take and we it's a $465,000 I I believe half a million dollars. So we take that half a million dollars, it's already in our budget, it's already in the tax revenues. And so then we take what 10% and we put that down as a
deposit. And then the rest of the 4.5, you know, 400. Actually, the township, what it does is it issues a purchase order. Okay. Basically, which is guaranteed payment to the vendor who's selling us. All right. In full. Okay. We do not pay in full until we actually receive the product as it was described.
Perfect. Okay. Okay. And so that money is really sitting in in Sparta's coffers earning interest. Yeah. I'm not sure exactly how much, but yes. Right. Right. How much interest or Right. Okay. But it is. Yes.
Okay. Any other questions with respect to 99? Okay. Um all those in favor of resolution 99 say I. I. I. Resolution 99 has passed. Next up we have resolution 910. a resolution of the
township of Sparta authorizing a contract with Infor's Police Systems Incorporated to provide annual CAD RMS system maintenance pursuant to local public contracts law NJSA4A uh col1 required disclosure contract.
So, may I have a motion to approve resolution 910? I'll make a motion to approve resolution 910 as stated. Uh, may I have a second, please? Second. Okay. Uh just a question I have is um very simple. What is this and why do we
need explain it? So as an attorney you can appreciate this. Um everything that you get for discovery. Not I'm sorry, not everything. All the reports from police is through the system. This system starts with our dispatch. You call police. They enter
information into this CAD system. This software system. It says uh route 15 disabled motor vehicle timestamps everything. Who is dispatched? so on and so forth. And then the officer comes back and updates the report with all the traffic studies and all the things that we did with the uh the analytics. All
that data is pulled from this system. This system that uh we've had for uh since I've been here in 2005. Um I think there was a point we went to a county system. It didn't work out and we came back to this. Um so everything
that we have in there um is uh is accounted for. all the reports, all the and there's a multitude of different reports in there. This is like part of the brain of the uh the operations of of what we're what we have with our police department reporting system. So, it's a renewal of the one we've been
using for several years. Correct. And I believe it's actually $1,000 less than it was last year. Wow. That's awesome. We also this this is used by our partners who we um dispatch for for the police, fire, and EMS in the in the all
the those jurisdictions. So they're using it too. Okay, great. Thank you. You're welcome. And the does the maintenance for this also include like updates that they may have to the system like software updates or how Yeah, there's constant software updates.
It's all cloud-based system now which uh they changed the past couple years which is incorporated into that. Mandatory uh reporting uploads through our NJTR1 which is the uh crash reports to the state is all done through the system. Great. Thank you. You're welcome.
Any other questions with respect to 910? Okay. All those in favor of resolution 910 say I. I. I. Uh resolution I. Uh resolution 910 has passed. We're now up to uh resolution 911. May I have a motion to approve
resolution 911? Resolution of the Township Council of the Township of Sparta authorizing the award of a required disclosure professional service agreement with Associated Appraisal Group Incorporated August 12th, 2025 through December 31st, 2025.
So, I just need a motion to approve resolution 911. I make a motion to approve resolution 911 as read. And may I have a second, please? Second. Okay. Uh, just one question I had. Um, again, this isn't contemplating a
reassessment for the entire township of Sparta. Not at all. This is this is the result of of me installing a QPA, a qualified purchasing agent, right? And she's a stickler to doing everything per the
book and um doing resolutions on professional service agreements is part of that regulation that uh is good that we're doing. So, I hate to say it, but you you're going to see a lot of resolutions coming out of this council because whenever we expend the residents
money, especially when it's significant value, or we assign contracts, we we we need to formalize it through resolution and we formalize it through discussion and the public gets to see this. So, this is actually just a simple basic service for six months where we're going
to employ an individual who's going to work on behalf of the assessor's office to look at all the improvements that residents do to their houses through the construction department. And when you get an added assessment, it'll be evaluated by this individual. All right? And it's it's as simple as that. It's
that contract. Um, your assessment will change if you did an improvement and it applies so on your in a point. Yes, it is. It will affect your assessment. So, but not for an overall that usually comes from the county individual, right?
Individual applications, right? And improvements. And who um I understand, you know, if you look at the resolution, there's looks like a fee schedule. Exactly. Um that's the fee schedule that the uh associate appraisal group will assess to
whom, us or to the person? That's the fee that we pay them for the assessment. So, okay, if you look and let's say someone did a deck improvement, you're going to pay him $50 to assess that deck improvement. And do we try to build in, so the the
the family that wants to improve their deck, um, they get permission from the township. Do we try to build into our cost the cost that the appraiser is going to charge us? How do we or we just eat the cost? Uh, I think it's part of the process.
So, I'll have to look exactly how the fees are are worked out like that. Um, if these are, you know, this is the service agreement that they work with when they propose their services to us and we agree to these fees. Um, how they get them? Well, we do have a permit fee
and is it worked into the permit fee? I believe is what I'm trying is there a way we can recoup some of these expenditures? Uh, I'd have to see exactly how the permit fee is broken down. I would work through my construction department on that. Okay. Um I would believe though that once it
starts costing us a significant amount of money, we would be coming to you guys to uh do a fee increase. Okay. Oh, good. You'll let us know. Yes. Thank you. Thank you. Right. All those in favor of
resolution 911 say I. I. Uh Resolution 911 has passed. Next up, may I have a motion to approve resolution 912, which is a resolution authorizing the sale of solar renewable certificates, SREx, no longer needed for
public use uh on an online auction website. So, I may have a motion to approve resolution 912. I'll make a motion to approve to approve resolution 912 is read. May I have a second? Second.
All right. Now's probably a good time to explain to us what you have before, but may the What are SREs? Well, solar renewable energy credits, okay, that the township uh earns because it owns its solar panels on town hall
public works department and the Germany flats uh field array that they have, right? We run those uh um facilities and as they generate energy, they also generate SREX credits that we use. Every year we'll budget that we're
anticipating an SRE value on that and it floats around 100,000 120,000. So we are due for our sale this year on roughly 800 and something credits I think it said in there. Um, and we do that uh in
public auction where we sell the the the the credit uh market the credits on market and um we generate revenue through through owning the solar panels as well as generate the electricity and use the electricity that they they bring
into the buildings on site. Okay. Do we know how many SREs were selling at this time? I thought it was 800. Um got to go through all these 681 that refers to so the first whereas clause says whereas township as far as
term the property described below as so the property they mean the srex there's 681 of those right okay and so then we'll be cashing those out okay got you and that and that's being an auction so we don't know what the price will be because it's whatever the auction price is times the the number of
units. When we do it, I will report it. Okay. So, you know. Thank you. Fantastic. Thank you. Uh, any other questions with respect to 912? Is that the field on Limerest Road?
No. Wish it was. That's a beautiful big pillar. Ours is. This is uh Germany Flats is right off of uh Park Road there by Aaron Way off of White Lake Road in there. Yes. Yes. If you visit the water at the facility, you'll see a a field ray. It's a small one. That one, right?
Okay. And that feeds the big water pumps that Germany Flats pumps out. So, Oh, okay. We use electricity on those. Oh, great. Okay. Thank you. Any other questions with respect to 912?
Okay. So is there a T I'm sorry is there a state auctioner or a how do we how do we pick the auction? Um we've used uh uh this site it it is kind of government regulated site um
because we don't get charged a whole lot of fees to to go and put the auction on there and as our IT director had recently retired um this is who he had used with good success. So, uh, I didn't see a whole reason to change a lot. Um,
finance also supported the using the same exchange. Um, because one of the things is we're not charged a fee to to sell our SREx. So, that's a big plus. Okay. Councilman Councilman was also advertised and the uh auction is going
to be on August 20th. Thank you. Okay. Thank you, Roxan. So, bid the price up as high as you can. Um, all right. Any other questions on 912? No. Okay. Uh, all those in favor of uh
resolution 912 say I. I. Resolution 912 is passed. Next up, may I have a motion to approve resolution 913 entitled resolution of the township of Sparta to award a contract to Signal Control Products LLC for rectangular
rapid flashing beacon solar powered crosswalk signage as part of the New Jersey state contract #24-food-71858 for a total about not to exceed $18,44710. So, may I have a motion to approve
resolution 913? I'll make a motion to approve resolution 913 as read. Uh, may I have a second, please? Second. Okay. I have ahead question. Um, this
this flashing light, does this have any it's any no um audio or is it simply a flashing? It does. So, do you know? So these um with with VOTE, if if you know the area, White Lake Road and Votech, it's a very heavily
trafficked area off of State Highway Route 94. Uh obviously during the school year, the students use both sides of the roadway for classrooms. So there was a lot of traffic going back and forth between them. In discussion with the school and some of the needs that they had for some of the students, we
evaluated and and spoke about upgrading these signage. So these signage will kind of almost be like what they are right now. They will have a audio and visual uh portion of it. There will always be like a slow chirp uh to it. They are solar powered. Um and then
there will also be two signs up to excuse me. I I believe it's 100 ft from the actual crosswalk uh on both right uh right side of the roadway that will also have a visual portion to it. Um when that button is pressed, those lights
will also go off on those warning signs. Okay. All right. Great. All right. I travel that quite a bit. Yeah, it's a it's a busy area. It's very busy and to where cars are even all the way on 94 waiting for
Yeah, absolutely. But is there any kind of time limit on that or strictly every time you they press the button? There is a a not a time limit, but there's a set time that it will be flashing for. Uh once that goes out, I'm
not sure if there's um you know uh a higher audio notification that it's going to stop. Um but if so, you could simply press the button again. Um it does also have the ability for um people with disabilities uh who may have a
visual disability to have an app on their phone, Bluetooth to the device, so they could actually press the button when in the area uh from their phone rather than the actual device. Great. Thank you. Welcome. Yeah. I just I want to um commend you,
Chief McCarrick and and Township Manager Deb. I recall this was a concern of our Sussex Tech community. They had raised it uh with us about this and I think the turnaround was rather quick um on getting this uh authorized and approved.
Um so thank you uh for that and I think that you know we have to listen to particularly the safety in that area is paramount right I mean we have students there it's a very busy area but I think that you know it allowed us to be responsive to our Sussex Tech
community uh and and listen to their concerns and act on it. So thank you. Yep. Absolutely. I I have another question. Did the school contribute any? So, we have been in in contact with uh representatives from the county uh who do support the project. We haven't heard
back as far as if they are going to uh reimburse us uh reimburse the township for any of the of the the costs, but um it looks like a possibility. Good. Thank you. Not a promise, but a possibility.
Thank you. And if you need someone to show up at a county commissioner and ask them to kick in, I'm sure one of the five of us will be very happy to do so. Um, okay. So, thank you. Any other questions with respect to 913?
Right. All those in favor of resolution 913 say I. I. Resolution 913 has passed. Next up, we have uh may I have a motion to approve resolution 914 entitled resolution of the township of Sparta to award a
contract to Gentilli Chevrolet LLC for three new 2026 Chevy Taho as part of the New Jersey state contract number T2776-21-01485 for a total amount not to exceed $166,683.15.
cents. So, may I have a motion to approve resolution 914? I'll make a motion to approve resolution 914 as read. And may I have a second, please? Second. Okay. Just one question is um why do we
need new Taho and are we getting a good price? So, it is a state contract price. Okay. Um, and I believe uh with these Taho uh to or when we ordered the three or order the three, they gave us a $1,500 discount on each one. It it was
actually uh hard to find. We dealt with this uh dealer in the past uh where we purchased our other Taho from. Um it seems like nobody else has any kind of police vehicles and that's kind of the case like you're saying for the firetruck police vehicles 6 months a
year they're out. Um, and so we were lucky enough to to get these. Why do we need three police vehicles? Um, I think you all know Sparta is a pretty big town. A lot of people don't understand how big it is. There are certain areas of Sparta where people don't even know that it's still Sparta. So, our officers
run 24/7. Um, the vehicles that they use, uh, an average, uh, patrolman on the road, uh, for a 12-h hour shift drives anywhere between 100 and 200 miles per shift. So that's between 200 and 400 miles per day. Um wear and tear
on vehicle as the miles get up there. It's obviously a safety concern for our officers. You want us to help you. We have to make sure and ensure that our officers are able to get there in a safe manner with a safe vehicle. Um we in the past have gotten three vehicles per year
and we want to continue to do that. Once we rotate the fleet, um as you know, manager Zep had said, we'll auction off vehicles um still at a and get a good price for them. Last year in November, we auctioned off four vehicles. Um, so we're replacing and and rotating our
fleet in a safe manner for our officers. How many miles do we do we get on the vehicles before we auction them off? Depends on the vehicle, depends on the wear and tear, depends if they've been involved in any crashes themselves, anything like that. Um, you know, it
varies. It varies. You know, it could be 200,000. It could be some less. Um, we have repurposed the police department vehicles to other departments in the township such as the uh the zoning department, uh the construction department, DPW. Um, you know, so
sometimes they're good enough to strip down and and get a few more years use that they're not driving as many miles per day as, you know, our officers would be. So 200, that's pretty good. But there is a lot of miles that that go on. Like I said, between 100 and 200 per
12-h hour shift. Yeah, it is. You think of Route 15, it's about a eight mile stretch in our township. So, you go up and down Route 15 twice, that's 16 miles. That's great. Thank you. You're welcome. And all these vehicles, all township
vehicles are serviced within the town. Yes, they are. Okay. And uh the warranty that comes with the the tiles has been very good. We had some things that needed to go back for warranty. We took it to uh Magguire Chevrolet and and they they treat us like gold over there and get us back up and running as soon as possible.
Great. Great. Thanks. Keep it in town. Yeah. It's always dangerous for me to start doing math, but I did just as you were talking. So, so each shift is 200 miles. There's two shifts in a day.
That's 400 m a day times 7 days a week, that's 2,800 times 52 weeks in a year, you're looking at 145,600 miles on one vehicle in one year. Um, if I get 145,000 miles out of my vehicle, I'm
actually pretty thrilled about it. But, and there are times that the vehicles have, you know, downtime where, you know, one of the officers on the patrol is is out um, you know, on a on leave and it's not getting used. But a lot of times they're just continuously getting used. Yeah.
Um and so that's it. And you know we are responding to emergencies. Yeah. I see why now we we buy three a year. Yeah. Top shape all the time. God bless you. Yeah. Thank you. All right. All um all
those in favor of resolution 914 say I. I. I. Resolution 914 has passed. Um, next up is resolution 915. May I have a motion to approve resolution 915, which is a resolution of the township of Sparta to award a contract to Municipal Equipment
Enterprises LLC for upfit equipment for new police vehicle as part of the New Jersey state contract number 17-fleet-58 for a total amount not to exceed $79,7184. So, may I have a motion to approve
resolution 915? I'll make a motion to approve resolution 915 is read. Second. Okay. Um, and you alluded to this uh Chief McCarrick and I think earlier this is to get the Taho so that we can
actually use them as police vehicles. Correct. So, this is the upfitting which is done through a company that's also under state contract. This is all your lights, your sirens, um any uh cameras, radios, computers, you know, the install radars, uh radar units, uh weapons
mounts, cargo storage, um and uh you know, transport safety dividers as we call um you know, to to transport people um who either under arrest or or we're giving a ride to. Um so this is for the three vehicles. Um we do
obviously try to recycle as much equipment as possible um such as the radars, you know, uh computers, cameras with the help of either our DPW who helps install some things. If they can install, they will be installed by um
this company. Yeah. Okay. And um are there certain standards that we look to that say, you know, hey, if you're going to take a a regular Chevy Tahoe and upfit it for a law enforcement vehicle, certain things that
it has to have. Yeah. Obviously, you know, the emergency lights to a certain extent. Um you know, we have adjusted some things over over the past couple years to save some cost on that. Um and also, uh sirens, radios, you're going to need all that stuff. all
the antennas, the wiring, there's a large amount of wiring that goes into this. It's very every, you know, all these vehicles are very computer oriented now. And so there's a lot that goes into it. And this company has done work force before and has done a great job. And so all all the upfitting has a
particular law enforcement purpose, but correct. Yep. Got you. I just have one question. Sure. Can I drive one? Uh, you can take a ride in one. We'll give you a ride. That's what those
uh transport safety dividers are for. Oh, come on. All right. Uh, any other questions with respect to 9:15? Okay. All those in favor of resolution 9:15, uh, say I. I. I. Resolution 9:15 has passed. Next is um
resolution 916 uh which is entitled resolution of the township of Sparta authorizing the use of the Sussex County Cooperative Person for the purchase of bulk rock salt. Um so I have may I have a motion to approve resolution 916.
I'll make a motion to approve resolution 916 is read. And may I have a second please? Second. Okay. Just one question I had is um this isn't an actual resolution to purchase a specified amount,
correct? Of It's simply if we do purchase it, the price that we're entitled to is this $79.84 a ton. It It's to maintain our membership in the Sussex County Co-op Cooperative that would allow us to purchase rock salt
at that price. Got you. And if you know uh 4 months from now um we have to buy rock salt there will be a separate resolution identifying the amount that we're buying. Yes. Okay. Got you. So this
you'll also see it in the bills list. You you'll see it. Okay. And it got you. And this is simply to lock in the price that we want. Yes. Okay. Got it. Uh any other questions with respect to 916?
Yes. We discussed this earlier and you mentioned um are we how are we going to market and and are we going to market ourselves because dur when this when this uh shed was passed at at a at a large
number it was said that we were going to become a broker as it may be in terms of salt. So have and and we discussed this earlier. Are we going to can we can we make part of this resolution that we
make an effort to contact every town in in Sussex County and make our make them aware that we're brokers or that we're selling it or that we have. I don't I don't see how the township benefits in any of this other than we can be a good
neighbor and if a township needs help with salt, they call us like we would any other town if we were in a similar position by having the capacity that we have. We're in that position to do that. All right. There was I recall you may
not recall but there were years when there was a real shortage of salt and some towns were sending their trucks down to the ports to pick it up or they didn't have the salt at all because it wasn't available and a lot of you know towns scrambled. Uh you recall when the
state was hoarding all the salt and and the towns couldn't get it. um we're insulating us from that being in that position and then we could also help our neighbors if they want to reach out to us but I don't see any reason to reach
out to to them and and offer uh services to them. They have their own abilities to to get their salt. It just comes down to the ability to get the quantities if you have a really hard winter. All right. and the storage. As you remember, we used to lease space out at at the
Randazzo plant in the county, right? That public works guy, he hated us because he always had to leave some salt there for us because we had this agreement. It it was very difficult for them to continue to do that. So, I was very pleased to get the support of the council and we were able to build the facility. I urge you to go up there and
look at it because it also houses our chemical tank in there and we have space in there and uh we have a lot of investment in there. I also use it as a leanto on side. We store a lot of equipment on the side of it. We really maximize the use of it. Oh, I've seen it.
However, with um uh going out to towns, I I I don't see the benefit for it. Well, I mean to make them aware that if they do need if this is larger, they know they're they're aware. They're aware. All right. The only reason I'm bringing this up because I was sitting in the
audience when that discussion took place and the pitch was, well, we're building this massive shed and spending all this money so that we can broker salt, which I I wasn't there, but okay, I'll take you to pitch.
Yeah, I'm happy to to tell you how I think the town would be served best with it right now. Okay. And am I right that the salt shed also serves uh and hopefully it doesn't ever have to happen but as an emergency uh
Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Could you expound on that a little bit? Um so it could uh for purposes of an emergency storm shelter most likely would be employees out there and I'm not
sure of the size of the walls concrete walls. They're 14 feet high, solid concrete reinforcer rebar, right? They're very strong. They're very high. Uh it serves as as a very good storm shelter should it be needed. Uh and it's
been uh pointed out that way and it's included in our has this mitigation plan. Okay. Yeah. So I knew it had other utility beyond the ones that you've described. That was one of them. Okay. Um, any other questions with
respect to 916? All those in favor of uh resolution 916 say I. I. I. I. Um, resolution 916 has passed. Next up, uh, resolution 917, uh, resolution for
the township of Sparta to award a contract to Dan Sees and Sun for roadway line striping for the project known as proposed improvements to Main Street as part of the Morris County contract number 36 for a total amount not to
exceed $11,54520. And so, we have a motion to approve resolution 917. I'll make a motion to approve resolution 917 is read. Uh may I have a second, please? Second. Okay. Um my question is where are these
proposed improvements to Main Street going to occur? Right out front. Okay. Well, how much of out front? Well, from the corner of Glenn Road to the post office. Okay.
And this was a DOT uh grant project. All right. So, we are getting not full funding, but we're getting some partial help from the DOT. I believe it's $150,000 towards it, and we have to document everything we do for this project in order to be eligible to to
receive our reimbursement from the state. Um, this particular resolution is regarding the line striping out there. Uh, you're going to see another resolution here regarding the concrete curb work and sidewalk work. And then we're using Mars County Co-op for the
actual paving. So, this is an excellent project that uh will really benefit the the residents. Uh and uh we're getting financial help from the state on this and this resolution helps to uh formalize it all.
Streetscapes is different than state. Yes. Funding, right? Yes. This is different. Okay. Different grant that is and so am I right? So almost 17, 18, and 19 are a package um involving the improvements to Main Street. Um and so
when you said $150,000 grant, that's part of what will offset the cost for 17, 18, and 19. Correct. Okay. Correct. and and uh I had stated earlier in my other my weekly report, I was really pleased to see that when we went
out to bid, we got six bids uh uh on well it was on on the concrete work. Um so it was it was competitively bidded out and whenever you get that the town benefits because it's a competitive bid and we did we got excellent pricing and
these are well-known good contractors. I've worked with them in the past. So, I I was really pleased with the award and I think this project will go will come out real well. Okay. So, you heard that we had a competitive bid for concrete in New Jersey.
Um, which is hasn't always been the case in the history of New Jersey, mayor. Um, sorry, that's my antitrust background speaking right now. Um, but anyway, thank you for that. Um, anyone else with questions with respect to 917?
Is this including the the paving blocks out front? That's a separate bid. That's not this one. Okay, that's coming up. Okay. Okay. Any further questions with respect to 917? All those in favor of resolution 917, say I.
I. I. Uh, resolution 917 has passed. Uh, next up, may I have a motion to approve resolution 918, uh, which is entitled resolution of the township of Sparta to award a contract to Tilcon, New York, Incorporated for milling and paving to
be part of the project known as proposed improvements to Main Street as part of the Morris County contract number six for a total amount not to exceed $116,000, $646.50. So, may I have a motion to approve resolution 918? I make a motion to
approve 9-18. May I have a second, please? A second. I don't have any questions with Greg. I don't either. Uh, do you, Councilman Scott? So, the $116,000 that comes from the intersection down here.
Mhm. How far? Glenn Road. Okay. So, there's not a lot because the bridge work was just done and they just did a whole bunch of paving under the bridge. So, there's not a whole lot there. Okay.
For that. This is just the milling to take off the top coat to repave it and pave it, right? And pave it. Y. Okay. Thanks. I said milling paving. And this is off the Mars County Co-op. So, we didn't have to bid that part out. We got a
That's a good number. Yeah. I I think you know and and I remember looking um I think New Jersey I think the average uh cost to redo a road to repave it for a mile is like $2
million in New Jersey. If you want to do an entire mile and do everything that you have to do with that it's close to 2 million. So obviously not a mile but the fact that it's I know wage drives a lot of that you know. Yes. Okay. Um, any further questions with
respect to 918? Nope. All right. All those in favor of resolution 918 say I. I. I. All right. Resolution 918 is passed. Next up, we have uh resolution 9/19, which is a resolution of the township of Sparta to award a contract to Cedar
Contracting Incorporated for the project known as proposed improvements to Main Street-Curb and Sidewalks bid award CN number 25-03 for a total amount not to exceed $98,473.93. I make a motion that we approve 9-9.
Uh may I have a second? I'll second. Uh, any questions with respect to 9/119? Okay. All those in favor of resolution 9/119 say I. I. I. Resolution 919 is passed. Next up we have resolution 920. Is this
uh which is a resolution of the township of Sparta to award a contract to Tony's Concrete Construction Company Incorporated for the project known as Municipal Building Sidewalk Patio and Stair Improvements bid award CN number 25-04
for a total amount not to exceed $86,000 uh10. So may I have a motion to approve resolution 920? I make a motion we approve 9-20. Uh may I have a second, please? I'll second.
Okay. Um, so this is for directly outside the municipal building. Correct. Okay. Correct. It's it's to renovate the the plaza. Um, you have trip hazards out there. We're we're proposing to make it all one level so you don't have the trip hazards. Clean it all up, make it
aesthetically pleasing. Uh, some new vegetation, uh, concrete work. We repoint the, uh, the blue stone steps as you come up. Um, it's just it's due for maintenance and I I never like the trip hazard. You see, we've got warning signs
out there and you just cringe with foul weather and potential slip and falls. You really don't want that. So, this one also garnered six bids as well. So, we did we did well with that. And and I wanted to give a shout out to my QPA and my
engineer who orchestrated the bid work on this. Um, I was very very pleased again that that the process really worked in our favor. Great. Thank you. Thank you. And so the brick is going to be removed or the brick is going to be the paver stones that you see. PA stones, I'm sorry.
Yeah, you'll see them. And then I'm going to the two lower levels. They they're going to be raised up. You're going to have one level plaza out there. The stairway will be extended. I'll put a new railing there. Uh and then uh the border some of the the broken blocks. I
And honestly, you could go crazy out there, but I I wanted to keep it focused to just the plaza. You could hold events out there now, like the Earth Day thing, right? Well, we already hold events out there. No, I know, but I mean, it would be any more impervious coverage like the cement will be further. No, no,
no. If anything, I'll be like I'll be shortening it. But like Earth Day or something like that, you could hold like we did that one time if you approve it. And um will will access to the municipal
building uh via the front be uh will people still be able to access it while the improvements are going on or will we don't know yet? Uh we don't know yet, but that will be a concern that'll get addressed and I believe uh because we have the ADA walkway that has an access
that may become the alternative. Okay. Thank you. All right. All those in favor of resolution 920 say I. I. I. Resolution 920 has passed and we have gotten through all 20 resolutions uh at
this time. So thank you everyone. Thanks for the explanation uh Chief McCarrick and Mr. Zep and thank you everyone for their questions. Okay, we are now up to the council liaison updates. Uh and I'll start to my far left with Councilman Scott. Uh any
liaison updates? Um the planning board uh met met just once this past month and uh uh we didn't have any applications at the meeting, but we did get some uh get some items
done and we're uh I'm going to be making a motion uh later that applies to that. um the zoning board, of which I'm not on the liaison, but I know there's a lot of action tomorrow night um at the zoning board.
Um, we have the trucking terminal or trucking truck tire facility at acting apart as well as uh several other several other uh big big uh zoning
issues. Um the uh the uh business development did not meet this month because of the summer. Um and uh but we are working on bringing in some members of the public or or let's call it developers to speak to us to
figure out how we can help them navigate the planning and zoning uh departments here in in the town. Um that's it for me. Um, I have uh
let me see. The Rev 250 has not met since last time and the um environmental committee is meeting on Thursday and we have a uh resolution
that is been given to everybody to discuss about super fund. Um so we will be looking at that correct in the future in September I believe the beginning of September
and the um senior advisory committee has will resume again on September beginning of September. So, we have not met. And
the Lake Mohawk um LMCC meeting is still what um manager Zep has given us information on with the current Westshore Trail
Reoing. It's going to be fabulous once that gets done. They're redoing the wall as well. And the gate house will also be redone in hopefully in unison with the wall and the once the pipe gets put
through the underneath the the road. um that is in the I guess the Westshore bridge has been delayed until September
and that's I haven't heard anything new on that. So um that is all I have to address once because of summer once we get back into the swing of things in September. Um thank you for the update. Um, first
on um, Revolution 250, um, we do have an appointment uh, that I will get to um, uh, during unfinished business uh, for Kathleen Riley. Um and um so we that we've also gotten um
interest from a uh company that does banners for Rev 250 for free um and they've reached out to us um that we've been selected uh as a um one of the townships um to uh that they
would offer sort of this these free banners a featured community in New Jersey for this initiative. So really um yes and um I've uh sent that email to members of the Rev 250 committee um and then you know they'll join us for a
phone call in the next week or so with this person to get the details. So, um that is good. And then again, we will be cranking up um once the summer has ended because we're that it's fast approaching. Um and I know we've done a
lot of work to identify the things that we want to do. Um next step is really the execution phase on on some of these um getting the logistics down. And again, we do encourage people um to attend the meetings. Um you don't even have to join the committee to attend.
You can attend. we'll take ideas and we'll um notify the public when our meetings occur. Um so that is Rev 250. Uh with respect to the um uh Sparta Film
Committee, I'm happy to report uh that we got and our very first uh application for a film permit. Um and uh that has been and it went through. I I want to really thank our members of that
committee who did the the leg work and vetting for it. And so um they were able to, you know, run down, you know, when when it was going to be, what resources were needed. Um they interfaced with Mr. Zep. They interfaced with our police department and were able to get it so
that the um gentleman uh can film um I think it's a August 15th through 20th, right? U through various sites. And I I appreciate uh you know want to say thank you to our chairperson Frank Dolce and another um Justin Karpawich who really
did a lot of the leg work behind trying to find that out. So again, there are volunteers who are doing this. So, you know, none of our members of township got taken away from other work to have to vet this. And so by the time the application came in, it was pretty well vetted. Um, and we were able to give
that approval. And so we we hope that that will just be the start of additional ones. Like I said, we do have a production that was already filmed uh last summer. Uh it's in postp production right now. And um hopefully that will be they'll be released uh we'll have like a
public release to it um sometime this fall um that will invite members of the community and you'll be able to see a short film that was done exclusively in Sparta primarily by Sparta residents and other members in in Sussex County.
Um, next is uh I did have a meeting with our board of ed uh last week. Um, primarily um it was discussed about what they were doing with respect to the referendum and we were competing tonight with I think the they had their first
Zoom meeting about the referendum um was tonight. I think there's going to be other ones. Um again, this township really council doesn't have really any say whatsoever in the in the referendum. we can just bring it to your attention. Um, I know that they have a website, um,
I think it's sparta.org/vote where folks can find out about what the referendum entails and there's some functionality to it. I think that, um, you can actually use it to determine, okay, you know, based on the assessed value of my house, what is my expected
tax increase that may cause? So, there's some things that people can get their questions answered with that. But again, the questions with respect to that referendum, uh, what's it it's for those are better directed to the board of ed and and not to us. Um, so that that was
primarily what our meeting I did, uh, present to them information about um, and this will blend into my trails committee meeting about the trail from the middle school to the high school. Um, you know, we have uh what that trail would would look like, where it would
intersect. um and they they don't foresee uh really any issues with it. I mean, we we're now at the point where we have to start doing the execution on some of that. Um and we we're not there yet, but I know that um you know, one
issue is, you know, because the trail will intersect with the school, um obviously you have to be mindful of, you know, people walking around the school during business hours, things like that. But they they're already dealing with that now with Station Park. But uh in
any event, we are um with respect to the trails committee, we're putting a lot of the focus right now on that particular trail because that seems the most needed um one and it's one that we can execute on. I think as I mentioned before um there's various
uh constituencies that own part of the land uh including the New Jersey Land Trust, but we have um had preliminary discussions with them about what part of their property that they own that we want and like you went through with the
uh landfill. Obviously there's a you have to exchange if we want property of theirs, they want property of ours uh usually on a like a 5:1 ratio. Um, so it would be property that we or use probably back there in like swamp land.
Um, basically so it's not really developable property that we'd ever have any utility for. Um, but again, we're working that out and and once we get closer, we will meet with um township officials including Mr. Zeb, uh, probably Corey Stoner. Um, but we're just not there yet. But I hope to get
there um this fall and that we can start working on it. Um, I know that we've had um I know this is a particular project of uh Mr. Nicholson who's uh been a big supporter of trails for years and so my promise to him was by his 98th birthday.
Maybe we can we can break ground on this thing. 90 no almost. Yeah, he he's 97 now. So, um you know, I thank him for his attention to it and interest in it. Um so that's the trails committee. Um, I did have the
opportunity and I have been participating in um the county's uh opioid recovery fund meetings. Um, and and so is Chief McCarrick. Um, and we had our meeting on July 30th. And there
we went over um, you know, a lot of the the programs that are available. Um, how townships are using the money. Um, you know, it breaks up into a lot of different buckets. And I really I want to um applaud Chief McCarrick for really
being on top of this. Um and you know explaining to me how some of the funds are being used. I mean for us it's not just prevention, it's not just outreach. Um there's other things that we do uh with that money, including what they call harm reduction. You know, Narcan is
a form of harm reduction. Um it it saves lives and um so we we we've spent money on that. Um, and I'm also pleased to think that there's going to be a survey that the county is going to put out
probably in September, October asking folks, you know, ideas about how um, they would like to see the money spent. And there's, you know, an issue that I had raised at one of the meetings was, well, can we figure out what the rec, you know, the recovery community wants?
Um, and that what services do they need? because we have to remember that you know the we we need to keep people who are in recovery staying in recovery and there's certain issues like respect to transportation um we don't have a robust transportation
system in Sussex County that's a function of you know where we live um but resources can be available to improve transportation that people in recovery so they can get to meetings they can get to their outpatient programs um that can have a huge impact on whether a person stays sober or not
um and so there's um and that's something that's that's been discussed. Um but I think there's a lot of uh well-intentioned hardworking folks uh on that and I just want to you know again thank um Chief McCarrick for for explain
to me and and that leads to my next um not really a council less on update but today I was able to participate I was asked to join a podcast um uh called Connor with honor who's out of LA and Dr. Sarah Levy and they I met
them at the mayor's conference and they do a lot of the training with municipalities and law enforcement about how to handle situations involving folks under opioid use um disorder. And so I got to talk to them and really it it
ended up mainly being singing the praises of of what we do here in Sparta and in the county uh to deescalate situations. um how we have a real cooperative relationship with the Center for Prevention and Counseling. Um how you know we we treat this and uh
holistically um looking at this isn't just a you know uh you know we're trying to just impose criminal sanctions on someone. We don't even do that. And under um we try to work with them and and get them the resources that they need. And this is an approach that has
really um is really at the forefront of how you deal with this crisis. And I know that SPAR should be really proud of how they're doing it because they're really at at the vanguard of this and they're they're following the best practices. And so, um, thank you, Chief
McCarrick, and all your, you know, for all the training that you guys do, um, and all the the help that you're rendering, uh, to people, um, who suffer from this, uh, malady. So, thanks. Thanks again. Sure. And um again, but look for, you
know, when that survey comes out, I'll I'll announce it and I hope PO folks, particularly in our recovery community, will will fill that out because that will help determine what what programs uh they can direct the resources to.
Um and with that, I think that is all my council liaison updates. I I will say I did go to um you know like I said the benefit of having being married to the president of the New Jersey Psychological Association is I get to sometimes go to her
conferences. I went to their national conference in um Denver and there were uh certain uh topics that were I thought important. one that I attended was by um about the polarization that we have in
America both politically and um it was put on by a lot of uh subject matter experts particularly one that sort of struck out to me was a professor Tom Coleman from Colombia who's dealing with um you know all the crisises that
they've had at Colombia uh the past year or so and strategies that you know folks and um not just psychologists but anyone in a public facing position like we are, how to how to stop and help mediate some of the the polarization uh that exists.
And um there's also a program called Braver Angels. Um, and this is a a project um that tries to get people from desperate positions to sit down and try to work on collaboration and try to um
figure out ways to uh end the the attacking that we see, but to work on cooperative solutions. So, that's another got to hear the president of that. So, there was a lot of um helpful information that I got. So, I just thought I would share that.
And with that, um, just know that there will be for the, um, the referendum is September for the school board is September 16th, 2025 and mail-in ballots were sent out yesterday. Is that right, Roxan? Correct.
Okay. Correct. Got you. And with that, that is ends my council leazison updates. Can you what is that website again? Or the uh to learn information about I found it on sparta.org vote.
We have it on our website on the homepage. Yeah. No, the um the information that you were saying that about the school board. Yeah, there's a link on our on our township website or on the homepage we had put up there a link that'll take you to the board of ed so you can find all
that information that you need. Oh, okay. Okay. And who decides when they have the the voting in September instead of it being in November to have a they do I believe board of ed did.
Okay. Okay. Okay. Um, next we have are up to unfinished and new business. Um, I will, as I alluded to, I'd like to make a motion to appoint Kathleen Riley to the
Revolutionary 250 uh committee. I think she's actually here tonight. So, thank you very much for sitting through this and and thank you. Um, my understand you have a history background. Is that right? have some family that's been here since
the revolution, but um no, I don't have a I'm very interested in history and American history and stuff. That's why I wanted to be a part of this because fantastic. Very exciting. Well, thank you very much and we look forward to um we're going to put you on the email um so you'll get notices of
the meetings and you know, thank you so much for contributing and um look forward to your participation. I know Margie does too. We can help. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. So, uh, may I have a motion to appoint Kathleen Riley to the Revolutionary 250 committee? I make a motion. May I have a second?
I make a motion to appoint Kathleen Riley to the Revol Revolution 250 committee. May I have a second, please? I'll second. All those in favor say I. I. I. Welcome. And thank you. Congratulations. Thank you very much.
And I don't have any unfinished or new business other than that. I'd like to make a motion to nominate Beth Broadick and Adrien Mirman to the zoning board. They've put in applications. They're very interested long-term residents and
they're very active in the community and I think that they would be tremendous assets to the zoning board. Second. I'll second that. We have two positions open.
Yeah, I think that um listen, I I think Beth and Adrian are fantastic. Um I've had interactions with both of them. Um I do know that we are down a committee, a a member of council who will be back September 9th and so I would prefer that
we do this and so Dean has an opportunity uh to vote on this uh making appointments without the other council present. to me, I think we owe him some degree of of of deference and some degree of respect so that he can have an opportunity to vote on it. So, my
preference would be that um we revisit this motion on on September 9th with an opportunity for uh Councilman Blue Medi um to uh to weigh in. Have we had any other We have two
positions open, correct? Correct. And we have a lot of a lot of stuff tomorrow night. Lot lot lot going on. I make a motion to nominate Beth Broadick and Adrien Mirman to the zoning board.
I second. I think Dean would agree. I don't know. Well, I think I I think it I think not giving him the opportunity to do that and doing it while he's absent is is is frankly poor form. Um, not nothing against Beth and and Adrian. Um, but I
think, you know, appointing people to our respective boards is is a, you know, very big function of what we do. And to do this while he's not there, not here. I think it's just it's it's probably not appropriate. And I think out of
deference to him and out of respect for the position, I think that we should table this to September 9th. All right. I'd like to amend my motion. And I'd like to nominate Michael Dorado to the Environmental Commission, Beth Broadick to the zoning board, and Adrien
Mirman to the zoning board. I will second it. So, have I'm just not understanding that that the necessity to do this right now. I haven't heard from uh the zoning board chairman that they are unable to process applications due to the vacancies on
there. So, I'm I'm trying to understand why why we why do why are we need to do this right now at this moment when we have a council person who's not even here? Well, we have a big meeting coming up Thursday night with the environmental commission um and a pre
a meeting ahead of time for the uh about the master plan um and we have one person that is not going to be there. So, I just think with everything coming up on the zoning board, I think we need
we need people to be there. I think we need the vote. I think we need to have continuation, get things moving. Councilman Scott, I just make a suggestion that you break up the motion per the individual members so it's clear
on who on if there is a vote, who is voting for whom. Okay. I nominate Beth Brick to the zoning board. I will second it. I think we need to get these things going. Okay. I mean, we we can take it to vote.
I will say again um that without having a council person present to appoint someone without information from our actual zoning chairman who says we could we're unable to function unless you appoint someone immediately, which I haven't heard. Um, I think that it's
premature and I I I don't think we should do it, but you you have a first and a second. We can go to vote. So, have you heard anything from the zoning chair? I have not. Okay, let's have a roll call vote. Councilman Scott, yes. Deputy Mayor Murphy,
yes. Mayor Clark, uh, no for the reasons that I explained. Nothing personal against the applicants, just out of um deference to our council members so he can have an opportunity Congratulations, Beth.
Congratulations. Welcome. I'd like to make a motion that Adrien Mirren be appointed to the zoning board. I second it. Councilman Scott, yes. Deputy Mayor Murphy,
yes. Mayor Clark, no. I'd like to make a motion that Nicholas Dorado be nominated to the Environmental Commission. I second it. Councilman Scott,
yes. Deputy Mayor Murphy, yes. Mayor Clark, no. We need majority rules to be able to have it accepted. There's only three of you. It's a majority and
Even with Dan not being here. Yeah, we have a quorum and a majority of a quorum. Congratulations to Adrian and Nicholas. Thank you very much for your service. Thank you, Beth. I'd like to make a motion that we reintroduce a vote to let the planning
board update the ordinance design standards. recently. Uh that was brought up several meetings ago and the uh planning board does need does need to
work on the work on the ordinances because we have uh a bit of confusion with the existing ordinances. For example, uh recently a a company came came and appeared before the planning
board uh uh planning board three times or subcommittee of the planning board three times and just still did not could not understand clearly the the regulations that we have regards to signage. So, I would just uh ask that we
I'd like to make a motion that we you know have a vote that we allow the planning board and to update the ordinance design standards. Would that be to prior to the master plan just to get it to get it so that it's more
understandable that it that we can use it now? Well, it has has a lot to do with the fact that we just want to make it clear clearer and easier for for companies and and new new companies
coming to town to get through the plan the planning process, whether it be the planning department or the planning board. The existing ordinances need some work and that's all we're asking to do. Councilman Scott, if can I ask a
question? What are design What are the design standards in the ordinance that the that were that you would charge the bet planning board to review? All and any which need to be addressed. Okay. So sign so design standards with
respect to whether it be signage whether it be a the exteriors of buildings whether it be the interior of buildings. So the planning board would undertake a comprehensive review of the entire township code to review all design
standard any and all design standards. That's is that the charge? Yeah, that's a rather general. I'm not going to be that specific, but I'm going to say that I'd like to introduce a ordinance to for the planning board to update the ordinance design standards as
they see fit. Okay. So, it's a recommendation under the council's powers charging. You're asking for a recommendation to update the ordinances for the for the for any and all design standards. Yes, sir.
Okay. Okay. We just have to we would have to reduce that to a memorandum to the planning board. So, I'm just trying to understand the scope of the request. Excuse me. We the council has to under the m under the mul if it makes a
recommendation to the planning board it has to clearly delineate what the request is. So I just want to understand it's it seems that um if there's going to be clarification from the planning board I guess they can ask. I'm just trying to understand the municipal code
has many many references to design standards and just wondering if we if we fully understand what the charge to the planning board is and I understand the planning board had a memorandum to the
council and maybe that's what we're relying upon. I'd like to go back to my original motion make the planning board update the ordinance design standards. Okay. Um, I'm not going to participate in this railroading uh and to try to
take advantage of an absent council member. So, um, I'll be leaving. And you're going to let you're going to just end the meeting? No, there's no quorum now. We're not finished. But I'm not going to participate. I'd like to make a motion to
I'd like I'd like to make a motion to approve Molly Wildsmith for town council seat until the November election to help us all get prepared for the next one. May I have second? Okay. Well, we
roll call. With all the respect, we don't have a quorum. This meeting should be adjourned under the open public meetings act. There's no quorum of this. There's no lawful meeting. We have it open to the public.
Well, we don't have it. This meeting is not being held pursuant to Okay, we can't open it to the public. We can't. We need a motion to So, this meeting is Well, there's no motion. This meeting is adjourned. It's adjourned. This meeting is adjourned by operational law.
Thank you. We're going to