making the left on right it's like on that corner the we're gonna go in compliance with the open public meeting law I wish to state that on February 21st 2025 the notice of this meeting the Upper Township committee was
posted on the official Township bulletin board in the Upper Township website emailed to the Atlantic City Press the ocean senel Ledger The Herald times in food the township KK tonight's meeting is being video recorded up to until the
Clos session portion of the meeting and will be available on the Upper Township website I hereby direct this announcement to be made part of the minutes of this meeting would everyone please stand for the flag salute good
job United States of America stands na indivisible andice all you make that announc call Mr Casio here Mr na present
Mr Sam Palumbo here Mr Zach Palumbo here mayor Corson present members present okay we're going to move to uh ministers every everybody had a chance to review the February 10th 2025
regular en close session minutes would you like to make I'll make that motion I'll second the motion please call the rooll Mr caceo yes Mr nain abstain Mr s Palumbo yes Mr Zack Palumbo yes M coron yes motion
Carri okay we're going to move right then and we're going to start with uh we'll start with you Zach all right well you know I just uh want to say we dodged the bullet last week because initially we were told to have 18 inches of snow and then we had nothing but a dusting if
that on that Wednesday the Thursday um you know Craig and I have been texting back and forth so it's good to keep it that way uh I'm also happy to hear that we do a lot of In-House repairs as opposed to setting stuff out that's an important thing for people to
know that you know we try to take care of everything in house and then if we do have to send send something out it's beyond the capabilities of of our members but I mean I've been very impressed you know talking with Craig back and forth like I said um and yeah
hopefully April will be here soon enough we don't have a random March snowstorm although I probably just jinxed ourselves for that actually our guys do a great job and actually I do have a picture of April 12n in Upper Township I do remember that March is now it be the
April school for that so that's right blame the grandma sh yeah Tyler do you have any tonight yeah uh Saturday we held posted our free rabies clinic down at shvets there and uh that time there we had vaccinated 53 dogs and 23 cats
total 76 animals and 22 Upper Township dog licenses were issued as well that's all I have that's good all Sam you have ton I do um so uh last meeting I had announced that the uppertown CH Easter
egg hunt was going to be cancel due to budget cuts that the township has sustained um obviously these events are incredibly important for our community as well as our young people and their parents um including myself as father of a one-year-old events like this matter a
lot to me uh luckily the past week I've had very positive conversations with small business owners uh potential sponsors for the event uh and looks like we're going to be able to have funding to continue that event so I'm very excited to announce that on April 6 we
will be having the Upper Township Easter egg hunt and in the future I'm hoping to be more proactive in meeting with these businesses uh before kind of making the decision to cancel that event and right after Easter kind of gets planned we're going to be turning our attention to
July 4th so U very excited to be announcing that we'll be having the Easter egg on again April 6 you April 6th all right yes sir is that it sir that's all I got all right thank you Victor do you have anything question I do um good evening everybody thank you so so much for uh coming out as always
um I want to first start out by congratulating Mr amuser on his baby you've been steadfast and responsive and I heard you were doing a zoom meeting with somebody out at the hospital parking lot so you're incredibly hard worker great dad and we're happy to have
you and congratulations to your family uh on the EMS front uh I was um very excited to have two great hires uh Pamela Jones and Timothy Leeds believe approved last week the meeting um it was a testament to how great our
Township is in the talent that we had uh I SED on those interviews Curtis was in the interviews with me and it was uh it was a tough decision to make because of how great all the candidates were so uh thank you to everybody that participated in that
process uh I want to make uh a a correction on sort of a correction on the last time I spoke on EMS uh in 2024 they responded to a total of 1, uh over 1,700 calls um I was attempting
that day to equate that to how many ambulance trips they have to the hospital per day which John if I'm right it's like two to three people on average right get actually transported to uh the hospitals that's that's based on that it was like a the number was like it was
over 800 right so that was what I was trying to say and I I said call calls so I wanted to clarify that um and then also EMS is doing some great things offering public CPR classes 53 certifications have been given out uh there's a unbelievable youth summer camp
that they that they do it's going to be the fourth annual one it's going to be going on June 23rd through 27th applications are going to be available electronically this year which is great you can also follow our social media for updates there and over this past weekend
um I was not at the the middle school wrestling tournament but the EMS crew was standing by to keep all of the wrestlers there safe so uh this department continues to do a wonderful job and uh with with the whole Easter thing I have been working with EMS we
want to try to put uh something together as well with Easter uh we're still working out the details on that and hopefully I'll have something for you by either the next meeting or the meeting after that but something that will piggy back Easter because um I the family too and it's extremely important for our
community to still have these wonderful events also real quick too I didn't get to speak the last meeting um in my absence but I just want to talk about this board and what a great job everybody's been doing so far um from what I've seen Curtis is in the building
countless hours um these other three have hit the ground sprinting not running in their departments and are doing a great job and we're all here for you and we're accessible for you if you have any questions or concerns don't hesitate to reach directly out to us if you have a question or concern about an
event or how we're handling things we're very responsive and and we're here for the township and that's all I have tonight thank you sure uh the one thing I have at our last meeting we were announced we were going to introduce our budget tonight we are not introducing
our budget tonight we're going to wait until we hear what the governor has to say I believe that's Thursday tomorrow tomorrow after our budget will be introduced March 10th we're we're anticipating it be introduced on March 10th yes we're that's our anticipated
date is the introduced a budget March 10th so at this time that's all I have I do have one thing for close session I asked John to add so we're going to move on Joe as administrator sure mayor commit uh yes as the mayor said uh tomorrow at 3 o'cl the governor is
giving his uh budget address um I guess we're optimistic that uh nothing will be taken and hopefully there'll even be uh perhaps a bonus uh but I think uh Barbara and the Auditors Miss ly and the Auditors wanted to wait to just make
sure we didn't have to make any other adjustments uh so so it'll be postponed till the 10th um also on tonight's agenda you're talking of community Project funding gr application that's available uh through
through the state um and um Ryan's going to talk a little bit about that as part of his report but uh determination would be made by the by uh the township committee whether in fact going to change years from what was proposed in
the past and go towards a uh First Responders and in an EMS building or or or say the current course but we do need to have that uh in place pretty soon the decision uh just to be eligible for the grant funding so so that'll be an
important conversation um also on tonight is uh a resolution authorizing to go out to bid for the uh Roofing at the uh uh at the trade station um it was postponed for a little bit for funding reasons and you went with the uh your other historic building and that was
completed uh so the funding is in place we believe the barber tells me it's in place um and I've asked Ryan to to give us a proposal as well to see uh uh if we can either do it inous or or if we need a Ryan's in doing that for the train
station um you mean the bits PS the bits yeah okay yes sir yeah well I was G to say we're no that's for sure um and one of the last meetings or or in the correspondents we brought to our attention and you all know mayor you've
taken me there Cedar Square shopping center uh is kind of a a a real fixer uper it's in need of uh of a lot of repairs and we've gotten a couple complaints from the public um Rich karki has agreed to go through it with me and we're going to we'll meet
on Wednesday and talk a little bit about if there's any way we can try to have have it brought up to some sort of uh level without the pockes and everything in the in the parking it's Rich has been on it aggressively since October and
it's just we need to probably take it to the next step it's probably time to S them and get him in front of the judge we'll meet on Wednesday on that uh and uh just the status of the recruitment that we spoke about last uh uh two weeks ago at our last meeting
it's ongoing the ads have been put in place uh in the number of the industry uh um um magazines and periodicals League of municipalities Pennsylvania municipal managers International City Managers Association uh resumes are
coming in uh Tom know spoke with Tom cherneski the president of JPM spoke with all of you uh over the last week or two a lot of our department heads he's not done yet uh and I know uh the mayor and and Tom had a nice conversation over the O over the weekend and regard to
that and how it's coming along uh the virtual meetings have taken place and uh uh as I said the resumés are coming in I think we're still on schedule that I provided you at the last meeting we're going to have to uh I'll try to stick to that schedule and uh and hopefully we'll
have uh bring that to a conclusion in the next 30 or 60 days thank you Joan do you have I have nothing thank you all right John you have any nothing sir thank youber you have nothing thank you all right no Rhymes thanks Mr Mayor
uh first one as discussed previous meetings athletic Court resurfacing I received all updated quotes from our Co-op contractors as well as our local contractors um one item being the fencing improvements our local contractors are about $70,000
cheaper than Co-op contractors so with that we are obviously going out to bid for the fencing improvements so that will delay the construction start date um I would say until summer uh if all goes well with the bidding process so next up now by the next meeting I'll
have updated bid specifications for the township internally to review before scheduling our bid date we also the township committee also has to authorize to go out to bid again um I had asked Ryan um that we reauthorize it again
because it's virtually a a new committee um so at the next meeting We'll be asking you to authorize to go out to bid and then Ryan will have the bid specs ready okay exactly yeah as Barbara indicated we did authorize under the previous committee but just uh to make
sure there's no issues you want to reauthorize under this new committee um so yeah once we have that then I would expect bidding process will will short up up to about 3 weeks um and then ultimately be able to sign our Co-op
contracts as well as award the fencing contract and if all goes well again hopefully by May uh of this year we'll be ready for construction thank you uh the next one up living Shoreline uh so we did have a great meeting today um
where it we it was tely agreed that trir fish and environmental Club has about $930,000 to fund the construction of the living Shoreline process uh project uh the next steps for the project will be uh
obtaining the grant award through shmir fish and environmental Club as well as sending the project out to Bid And if ideally if all goes well on this project we're hoping or pushing for construction in July of or August of this
year uh the last one I have is just an update from the last meeting U about butter Road improvements so the county got back to me and essentially unfortunately uh the project on butter Road has been pushed back uh
they had to deal with some RightWay Acquisitions so they're hoping that from a year from now the project will be done designed and bided out so you're looking at early 2026 for construction on butter Road at at the earliest more likely it's
going to be spring 2026 right that that's all I have for today okay I guess uh moving right along there move to open session we're have
a lost my place here there let me my glasses on um just we're going to open it up to the public is there anyone in the public that would like to comment on any item that is on the agenda for tonight items on the agenda
only yes please come up state your name for uh Natalie M uh 759 Ro 50 um I'm inquiring about uh resolution um listed as number two in
support of Ro way improvements and a reduction of the speed limit along Highway Route 50 in Petersburg um I'd like to hear what you have to say but I'm assuming that it has to do with
Kevin Grub's concern and um I would like to request that you um start at Mile coost 3.5 um I like or engineer if you elaborate on the details the Orin or resolution so n
this was based off request at our last meeting from the residents uh really to there's two items that are included in this resolution reducing the speed from those mile posts to 50 uh ranges from 50 to 45 down to 35 miles per hour as well
as requesting a center turn lane uh from those mile posts uh so you're I guess you're commenting that you want those from that area extended well from 3.5 so then that would take in um the
610 County Road and Highway 50 intersection which is a really bad intersection and there's a double Yow blinking light there and it's my understanding that um the speed limit is 45 going towards takaho but it's 40 if
you're going um towards SEO Ocean View and um yeah there have been an awful lot of accidents there my daughter was on was killed out there and I've had a lot of property damage there were at least five accidents that I know of um so I as
well would like to see a lower speed limit I don't know if the state's going to reduce it much below 40 or 45 I mean they're not going to make it to 25 because it's too it's a very rural area well I don't know what's well it's not rural in my opinion anymore and there
are houses there um where people back out I mean their driveways are such that they back out on to Highway 50 and um it's it's a problem and I also um I'm concerned about the um site line um the
thousand foot from the um from the traffic light we'll take that under consideration but we're going to move forward with this resolution tonight and I think Ryan will take some notes and we'll take a look at what you have okay thank you and I I was just going to ask more
about number 16 the Taho train station um um I heard something about it um I was wondering if you were doing architectural shingles or if you were going for Cedar Shakes it's a historic building I
believe it's got cedar shakes on it now we're going to put Cedar Shakes back it's the idea okay well I have some cedar shakes on my house and um they take a good bit of thank you I thank you thank you yeah good good evening everyone uh
my name is Lou Barbo uh I live on Francis Drive in Petersburg and my concern piggybacks on uh what was just discussed about the um Route 50 issue uh I talked to uh our
mayor um a couple of weeks ago about uh possibly getting those bumps on the tuo bridge or I'm sorry on the Petersburg bridge that uh runs parallel with the railroad tracks and I was wondering if
uh our mayor uh said he was going to take it under discussion and if he thought about it and if there's anything that could at temporary fix I know you mentioned that they were going to build a new bridge it's a Cedar
Swamp brick Bridge it's not the Petersburg Bridge okay I'm sorry I it is a state highway the state highway is doing some repairs and it's scheduled I don't know what the itinerary is there but that's yeah so it is scheduled currently
um sorry give me one second it's they repair for the bumps in the road which yeah caused an accident d d is currently uh in preliminary design for replacing that bridge uh right but I'm saying that
that would take years to replace I mean so construction right now I believe is slated for 2026 I yeah but is there anything I mean we're gonna have to deal with those bumps until 2026 isn't there a fix that could be
uh yeah so I mean done to to at least smooth them out a little bit you're you're not uh you're not wrong in that we would have to go through the state so do would yeah determine whether those Pooles should be filled at this time or
uh wait for the project to be completed okay we can we can reach out to the state about the PS okay I was just wondering since I talked to you three weeks ago if there's if you had thought about it or given it any consideration to get here I well aware of it yes okay
thank you thank you thank you is there anyone else would like to comment on our agenda hearing no more public comment we'll close the public portion okay we have the consent agenda all consent agenda items listed below are ring in nature and will be enacted
by one motion if the mayor or any Committee Member wishes a particular agenda item to be considered separately it will be removed from the consent agenda and acted on separately make a motion we approve the consent agenda second please call the RO Mr caceo yes Mr nappin yes Mr Sam Palumbo yes Mr Zach
Palumbo yes Corson yes motion Carri under new business we have special events not sure if Sam already spoke about that did you have more to add no I I
pretty much gave all I had about special events I got excited sorry about that jum jumping that number 18 we have the fiscal year 2026 Community Project funding Grant okay this is a grant that last year was applied for and we did not
receive and uh last year I believe the asked was seven or 8 million for a project that uh manages to field to include a community center
um I don't know what the committee's wish is I did have information passed on to the grant about this to everyone and uh we do have the evaluation and assessment for a facility for our
EMS in my opinion I think that would be a better use for the grant versus the community center because we did have all this work done in July was done and it's about a 50 page ask or right
so it is a Federal grant Mr van Drew's office has made us aware of it and we would have to move fairly quick if we wanted to apply for this so I basically it's the pleasure of the committee if we would like to apply for a community
center or for uh in EMS building doesn't mean we're going to get it I mean we don't have to apply for anything um is is there any way that you can split this this or it has to be one or the other well I guess it would it would have to be one project one project
yeah so it would come down in my opinion to which which building is more in need uh we just recently renovated the community center correct spend a solid amount of money I've Tor EMS certainly has deficiencies um so that would be my
leaning but I mean I'm certainly wide open to discussion um perhaps even but if if the public had thoughts on what we did better or if that's not something we're doing basically we have a week to get this GR in um last yeah the deadline
I believe is March 14th and we need resolutions to be passed at the next uh March 10th meeting I believe I mean we can mirror the grant that was done last year for the community center or we can actually use this study that we money for and actually do a resolution and
supported the study and and I think no matter whether you're two years old or 100 years old the EMS service is something everyone in the township uses at some point in their life whether they plan for it or not and uh I think one of the benefits here in Upper Township is having our own
Township EMS uh Leed group I uh my grandfather Saturday night heed the ambulance at his house and uh guys were there within couple minutes of calling 911 uh Mr Brittain was down the road at a restaurant came up to make
sure everything was okay um I don't think you're going to get that type of service with a private privatized type EMS service and I think investing in something like this for our community would only further guarantee a Township sponsored Township
based uh EMS service going forward so I would be strongly in favor of moving towards an EMS there especially after observing and reading the study well yeah the study obviously there's a whole list of efficiencies that our facility has and it's just it yeah for me just
thinking Common Sense we we directly fix deficiencies related to the community center and there are out under not that it's perfect nothing's perfect but there's outlying deficiencies what's that 30 pages deep on that so again that is my
leaning so I guess it well then you know this would come as just you know be more of an oem type style building would just strictly for EMS my understanding as well well it would be yeah completely across the board through oen what it was
going to do we've studied there was a lot of talk about it where we stored a rescue squads ambulances now that whole Barn behind the building would be actually utilized for lifeguard and lifeguard equipment we would move the radio room and equipment we have here
over to that building this proposed building which free up space here so it would have multi long reaching nors and also say like this I I don't think a grant like that's the finish line for us I think if we did uh push it towards EMS it's not going to stop us from fighting
to continue to make all of our facilities better including the community center which does have deficiencies especially you know how it gets overcrowded on the the Friday nights on wrestling and things like that but um you know well Sam and I are working on a solution for that and have actually admed set up Friday so we might
have that some come out of that good so so I guess at this point do we want to direct our engineer and our clerk to have a resolution in our next meeting to move this forward or if you could do a motion also alsoo to authorize Tria to
start going moving on the Grant application and then we can formalize it at the next meeting okay well I would like to make that in form of a motion second that we a yeah you don't yeah please call a roll Mr Casio Mr nappin Mr
s Palo yes Mr Zach bbo yes M Corson yes motion carried okay that was a new business what is everyone's pleasure on the bills um right I hearby move all claim submitted by payment at this meeting be
approved and then Incorporated in full in the minutes at this meeting second please call a r Mr caceo yes Mr napin yes Mr Sam Palumbo yes Mr Zach Palumbo yes yes yes motion carried do that now you guys have to do that now
okay um got the script I think that the two of them had to refuse themselves d284 do you want me to repeat that as well yes uh I will approve the bill list but I'd like to recuse myself from purchase order number
25-284 at this time we'll open it to the public is there anyone would like to address the T committee from the public yes sir good evening mayor members of the committee my name is Fred Banner my wife wife and I have called Upper Township our home for over 35 years and uh I want
to Echo what I heard about the road departments you know it's easy to take these kinds of services for granted uh because they're done so well each and every day and uh you know we're we're very blessed we're very fortunate I'd like to then uh make a brief comment on the EMS um longtime family associate of
the Britains and uh I have sadly been a user of those services and uh anything that you can do to recognize and continue to sponsor and support them is a testament to your commitment to the community but it's also a testament to the leadership of that group and I believe that you'll be able to continue
to attract Talent should you make those Investments I'd also like to recognize the volunteer fire department but what brings me here this evening is um my uh my connection with Shore Medical Center as you're keenly aware there's a lot of Dynamics and a lot of things that are happening in our local communities as it
relates to healthcare and um uh sh Med I have the privilege of serving in sh Medical Center for 35 years I'm a member of the senior leadership team um and U I'm here representing David Hughes our newly appointed president CEO uh David Ron Johnson um my previous boss uh was a
staunch advocate for Community relationships Dave Hughes takes that to another level and he believes that Shore as a as the last Community Hospital in our communities really needs to put a face in a name to Sher Medical Center so at his request I am here to introduce
myself to each of you offer to each of you to be a conduit to sh Medical Center for the interests of our community for the care needs that we might need for the programs that we may lack or we need to develop for the opportunities that we have here in Upper Township and all
communities so uh it's my pleasure to introduce myself to you I am I do serve as the Vice President Chief Information officer uh which makes me responsible for all things technology at tour Medical Center I have a long tenure there as I've shared with you and um I'm
reachable on the inter on the Internet site or uh I can share my personal contact information with you but thank you for your time and the opportunity to introduce myself representing sh Fred what was your last name banner b a n n r thank you
yes is there anyone else in public Natalie n 759 Route 50 in Petersburg um I want to thank Mr uh verucci and Liz Oaks for taking the time to hear um my property deed concerns
this past week and um I'm looking forward to um some kind of resolution um regarding uh the business administrator um I'm advised to request
the committee board um to meet with me to discuss this and um the third thing I is about the um affordable housing um there was an article in Herold on 219
2025 talking about um our need at 47 and um it states I believe that um you uh that Upper Township didn't respond so um
we respond we we there was only there was one municipality that did not respond Upper Township did respond well this article says um that the um DCA calculated the need at 47 and that um you are supposed to
respond before January 20 or 31st 20 affordable housing Council filed a declaratory judgment action by that deadline date it was filed it was filed so it's available at the clerk's office it's it's public record was a file complaint with the Judiciary okay because it doesn't say
that in the article but it goes on to well how are we going to um meet the obligation well that's almost impossible to answer this meeting I mean it's a it's not something that that that's ongoing over the course of the next 10 years that's an obligation that this
Township has so that's ever revolving it's not something that's got to be determinative today it has been going on for more than 10 years already it's been going on since 72 or 74 when the law was put into place it's been multiple rounds of negotiation
negotiation with fair share a number of you know prior the now def Funk state agencies that's a number that was given to us that we adopted and accept it the fin any new projects in the township are required to have a 20% uh set away there to help us fulfill
Our obligation going forward so um there's nothing you can say at this point about how we are going to meet the obligation Mr coron no there would be nothing at this point there's I mean Township's not going to start building
houses no we're not in house building business how about um uh Mr Clayton and Mr kashio um you have a project that you started back 14 years ago correct uh and we have Under Our
obligation of that project we are required 25 co- homes units in that project and by by the law that's required by us and they'll have them in our community there so what does the law say that it's been held up for 14 years already we build a project John is he
has he been quied to talk about you can you can ask questions they're not required to respond to them Tyler I'm just to let you know a private business It's Our obligation we have no timeline required to start or end a project uh so we built a project in a haror
Township that devoted a lot of our time resources and employees and that project will be finishing up very soon as we'll be starting here in Upper Township in uh the next year and I understand there there's a pond there that's um involved
with the environmental the um we we have all necessary permits approved and required we'll take comments into consideration if they'd like to ask but it's not going to be a Q&A I know I've said this before but it's a public comment session not the public question and answer session if you'd like to ask a question they can
answer it if they choose it but they're not going to be obligated to I just want to make that it's not an interrogation if you have something to do with Township well it's just my opinion that you know the Project's been going on for 14 years and you know there's probably a filing cabinet down there full of
projects that were approved and never built or ongoing and that's just one of that there's people in this community that are concerned about the housing needs for the young people and elderly I mean there are people that have a need
and um yes and he has approvals for something does not mean he has to build it there's no timeline obligation for a private citizen in that regard well okay maybe he can sell it maybe he will that's his
option is there any other public comments hearing no more public comment we'll uh move to close the public portion and entertain a motion to go into close session I hereby move a resolution be incorporated in the minutes authorizing the township committee to enter into
executive session for the following matters pursuing to up to the open public meetings Act One Personnel two contract negotiation right to know inventory uh Services three contract negotiation special legal counsel tax appeals I also include my motion that
estimated time and circumstances under which the discussion conducted in Clos session can be disclosed to the public as follows one or a it is anticipated that the matters discussed in Clos session may be disclosed to the public upon determination of the township committee that the public interest will
no longer be served in such confidentiality B with the respect to the employment and Personnel matters such discussions will be made public if and when formal action is taken or when individuals involved consent that is made made to can be made public see with
respect to contract negotiations such matters will be made public when negotiations have ceased and there is no longer a reason to work sorry confidentiality no second so if I can I'm just going to add a fourth item to that we talked about this earlier uh the
fourth item would be anticipated contract negotiation for property located at 2200 Route 50 yes so we'll add that as well second please call a roll Mr caceo yes Mr nappin yes Mr s Palumbo yes Mr Zack Palumbo yes M Corson
yes motion car and we're going to take a intervention here