##VIDEO ID:49XOINxkcuE## e I don't know I think mat was supposed to come soon hold off for a little bit right yeah that way you can see I will get you more detailed information I I thought I understood we're good that year to day no sense we all set up got it on what's that we're all set up she's good okay so are we on y we're on all right May the clerk please read the statement of meeting adequate notice of this regular meeting was provided to the public and the Press on January 17th 2024 and was posted at the municipal building in accordance accordance with the open public meetings act njsa 104-7 thank you please stand with me and join our pledge to our flag I pledge aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible liy and justice for all here's mat council member buer here council member de benetto you won't be this here no council member Higgins here council member Sparta pres council president Roso here sorry I'm late I saw my first bear I'm super excited nice I know it's not a surprise up here but two in my yard yesterday I uh drive on the road there was the bear then of course I turned around then I had to stuck on the road so it's I apologize but saw my first bear I'm excited I think you didn't run into the bear yeah well I thought about that as I was in going a little F Sam out here was okay um discussion item uh our best practices inventory um all members have received a copy of this if you have any questions we try and concern I had a number of questions Pat and you answered most of them and uh let's see if there's any that would be interesting to the uh public here I guess uh one big topic which is number 04 number four affordable housing it's becoming a big Topic in the state it will become a big topic here the state is demanding certain percentage of of uh lower income housing and I guess currently we're at 37 units and the perspective need or obligation is 396 so I would assume that there'll be plans to build more and I also I'm under the impression that a town can buy the credits back is that uh a way that that could happen I don't has that changed can't buy him anymore can't buy him used to be able to essentially um up to a certain amount used to be able to say like okay hey you know say newor or some other town that wanted to build housing right you had you know 300 units you could say we'll give you money basically pay cash and you know give give another town money to to offset your units and we get the credit for it you get the credit but you're doing it somewhere along the way they stopped doing that it wasn't a court decision it was some legislative decision moved as an option now the the way the timing is going to work is that every every town who's subject to affordable housing which is not every town but every town that is subject to affordable housing um you know got their numbers from DCA you have until January 31st to uh either accept those numbers or to come up with your own calculation as to what you think the numbers are and then you certify to the state you know my number is not 300 and whatever it's you know 125 whatever you think the number is but you have to defend it you can't just pick a number so there's a formula based on form you have to use it based on their formula you can't say we don't like the formula we're going to use our own you have to use the same data inputs as they do calculate your number um and then uh there's a process set up right now whereby they could um somebody could you know question your number to see whether or not you assuming nobody questions the number either you accept the state's number your number is not questioned then you have until July 1 I believe or 31st but you have you have about five months to come up with a plan as to how you're going to meet that number and we're not Developers well that I mean I mean we're not developers so how does the how does the Trenton expect us to wow well the the other issue is too to build to build on what that I said is what about the highlands act yeah I mean we are very restricted by the highlands right so so there's um and sewer and water well so some of that stuff all comes into play okay there's there's factors in there now the states do always care about some of it you know some of it they do some of it they don't it's and it's not your job to build but it is your job to say like as an example uh if you have and state has these numbers but let's just say you have 50 developable acres in town where they classify as developable that would be not the highlands not water access to in the sewer service area yeah all those some degree because well they will make you extend the sewer if they need to Ton's gota do like I know so let's say you have 50 developable LR they'll look at what your zoning is for it and you might say hey well we need to change our zoning because our zoning is one acre lots and if you only have 50 developable acres you can't put 300 units on 50 acres with one acre zoning so they'll make you say okay we're going to change our zoning to allow you know higher density in some areas you can fight about some of those numbers about whether it's developable not developable there's a factor for but your that's something that your planner um you know will need to start working on it's a there's legal aspects to it but it's also um it's really a planner uh driven um kind of analysis uh and there's also just as an aside there's um you know my law my firm represents about 20 towns right now that are challenging the Oprah law so there's a group of towns that got together to say that they have you know various concerns over the opral law and over excuse me over the um for housing and um there's a law zo pending in Trenton right now over different aspects of law some of it's procedural in terms of how they set up the the challenges going forward that it's we're arguing that it's unconstitutional based off of the rules of the Judiciary in the legislature it's kind of a technical issue but it's um uh gets to how they enforce the law and then the second part of it is to say that the way that they're calculating these numbers is um inconsistent with the Constitutional requirement on affable housing in part because some towns are exempt the way they they break out Regional need um creates a disparity between if you're supposed to do your fair share right now you're doing more than your fair share because some towns are in some towns are out yeah and um and some challenges there so U so this number of 396 is figured out for our town the same formula as other towns correct so they are not taking into account some of the restrictions that may be we we may be falling under well the islands Act is that part of the formula it well it should be but um that doesn't mean you don't make a mistake or that there's different layers of analysis per town so what what you'll need to do is um you know if I don't know who your planner is off top of my Jessica calwell okay yeah so so um what you should do is I recommend that you have her come in probably to a close session to go over um you know how you might challenge uh or you know potentially bring issues or or or challenge those numbers or not um because obviously if you accept the numbers and she says if she comes in says no those numbers are they're right on that's that's the formula that's it um you accept them then you have your immunity from developers in terms of a you know Builder REM lawsuit but um uh you have to come up a plan to do it yeah right there's a there's a lot of aspects to it but that's that that should be your number that they've the what happens if we don't so let's just say you say don't it or we disree the number whatever it is we disree with the number yeah um if nobody wants to build then it doesn't really matter because the way that gets enforced usually is a builder comes in and they say you know those 50 acres that we just mentioned you say going to build 50 houses on there well I want to build 5,000 houses on there and you say well no and they go to the court and they say well they have an obligation to build 5 you know 300 houses I'm gonna I'll build a 300 houses but to do that I need a density of you know X more and if you don't have a plan for it the courts going to let them do it you have a plan you can say well no you can't build all those there you can build some of them there because you can also something up here here and there's different ways of making the numbers it's um it's interesting right now we have a number of projects projects underway the 55 plus and also the potential the project that is going to be getting underway um Ryan Holmes we're looking at a different mix right there uh both of those projects I believe have uh accommodations for uh for affordable housing the problem that we've seen is that if we wanted to take the amount of homes for that affordable housing and put it into an area to make it more affordable State won't let us do it because you know has to be with a project uh so yeah there's a lot of issues with it and the way they calculate it I mean there's a town it wasn't you guys but another town in this area who basically said we can't get people into our affordable housing units we have them but people they want to live in areas where there's you they so it's nice that they have this number but they said we can't we can't F not feasible we're not getting those numbers um yeah I was speaking to somebody who's pretty knowledgeable and he was referring to a more affluent and uh developed town in New Jersey where he's employed and he said it in their Town it will become building affordable housing in the downtown area and the and to replace some commercial properties that are there and it has to be within walking distance of the school because the affordable housing people right don't have the transportation so that it could change the whole demeanor of the downtown you can have certain restrictions in other words you can have some of them can be senior housing or certain but you can't meet your affordable housing obligation by let's say making it all senior right uh you can't you can't do that um you have to have some that are at least uh you know the lowest income rentals there's Provisions so you can't just say Okay affordable housing and we're going to do all owned units or you have to have a mix so that um everybody all income levels or all family types have an opportunity to to come in good yeah I'm glad this is on there this survey is a pretty good uh document let's see if there's anything else that was as important as that that's the mayor of Montville yes they've asked us to join in on that yeah the total number of towns that are in now but it could be about 20 most of the others were just uh referring to uh items in our town that uh I got my answers to so I'm good with that here good okay thank you mayor's comments thank you Council um tonight I like I was uh I'd like to start my comments off with uh with the bad and then with the good um last week we said goodbye to Captain Michael basso Michael was a 37 Man passed away peacefully is a longtime resident of Vernon he served his country starting with the National Guard join the the division Captain Michael was also a volunteer fireman who joined the Highland Lakes fire department and ultimately he ended up in the maery fire department um another fireman I want to recognize uh for his ultimate sacrifice griel Vasquez was the gentleman who just uh who was killed in the uh the fire uh in Lake Area recently 18-year-old man worked in the New York [Applause] State at age 18 my deepest cons condolences uh families another loss in our town is our senior citizen committee board president Marilyn tansky um I just got this information today but apparently she's she passed away I think just a few few weeks ago um so again condolences to to her family um as well and and to the senior citizen committee board um I know she is a pretty big part of of that board so and lastly I want to say um that myself and the rest of are keeping our friend our clerk Marcy in our thoughts and our prayers over the tragic loss of our husband Pete we're thinking about her and her family and uh again we we're here for her and uh anything we can do and again my deepest condolences our family and her her children as well so in in their honor in everyone's honor I just like to take a moment of silence thank you last uh two weeks our four fire departments have been assisting with the fires and the out of control fires in greenw Lake Area um last week um so that that's ongoing we don't have anybody right today but I believe tomorrow H Lakes is going up there to assist tomorrow morning uh so again please guys be safe uh and uh you prayers for you guys thank you again for that Full Sacrifice that our First Responders uh do each every day last week we began our departmental uh budget meetings and we hope to wrap them up next week um also I together on the calendar a Facebook live meeting on November 25th I believe it's at 6:30 p.m I'll be having this Q&A with our tax assessor on the tax reassessment program this is opportunity to ask those questions um I'm not a tax person so um please ask those questions get those answers from people who are licensed not going to be another presentation these are direct questions to our town also we just finished up today we finished our last Paving and Glenwood Mountain Road and we also last night we just received 24,28 from New Jersey DOT drive at Road um for the 2025 year so and uh so thank you to owner foring up that that application appreciate it so that's really gonna that's going to come in handy uh it's a pretty large PR project so but think that um last week we also stained our red brick that stain which match the planners the Earth Tones match the planners that we we are putting in starting tomorrow is our first phase we'll be putting them in uh tomorrow at 10: a.m. the first phase of those planners uh in the springtime the clock and then around that so uh just something look we're not going to be playing anything anything share obviously it's you know for coming into the winter so and that is all for my comments and my condolences to to all the family members and we than it a about you guys thank thank you mayor time we move to public comment may I have a motion to open the floor to public comment agenda items only I'll make that motion motion is made by Mrs berer second seconded by Mr Higgins all in favor signify by saying I I I opposed motion carries floor is open for comment if you have any comment please come forward and adjust the councel no coming forward I asked for the floor to be closed to the public moved moveed move by Mr spart seconded by Mrs bueri all in favor signify by saying I I opposed motion carries all members have received a copy of the bills list you have any questions on that uh I know there's been issue not an issue but a question that I don't have a clear answer for probably because I didn't understand the explanation or I forgot it uh and I think what I'll do is this is on the payroll summary uh I'll have H with Mrs Mrs bright and ask her to send out some type of a detailed explanation but basically it is when you start doing the extension they don't come out but which is what I explained to to her and she said they're not supposed to come out because there there are different amounts that are supposed that are taken from state employment for example the current 39 292 if extended out is not going to be equal to 12 times whatever that number is um it's an it seems to have a running running uh a running balance if you will but but as her explanation the only amount of money that's taken out for state employment is $167 as a maximum for every employee so um that becomes part of it but I will ask you to address that in a more detailed manner any other comments or questions yeah a couple small things here on uh 62 699 62 699 right that's for a uh ambulance equipment was that a budgeted item or is this something over and above no it was a budgeted item because it was in the okay we bonded for it yeah we bonded for it bonded for it yeah okay the next one is more of a comment or a question I guess say 6271 six yes on page four the last item so we've had people from the audience speak about their Jersey Central Power lights and with the digital meters versus the analog so here's here's our bill of $ 27,28 so I'm just making a suggestion maybe someone can go back over the last period of time that this was from last year see if there's a significant change for us you know if if it was 10,000 last year and it's 27 maybe we have the same problem if not then it's kind of proof that things are running okay okay so just uh to denell about that okay so one of the things we point point out to the council is that we are awaiting a uh date from uh some of the people who were inv involved in the initial presentation where they came in um we have a tentative we have an agreement with people from jcpnl to come to the uh municipal building and have a uh meeting with these people and kind of explain what's going on so I'm just we we are just waiting for a date certain to come back from the people who were here so I was at the Sussex County uh Chamber of Commerce event last night and uh I she uh the woman I forgot her name she was there right and U I reminded her again so she said that they all working on that date so okay they'll they'll get back okay good and I had one other question on 62721 which was the amount paid to a match company attorney and my question was of the 22598 how much of it was for normal services and how much was for litigation see how we're doing that I got an answer on it okay yeah so uh was monthly monthly retainer I didn't know I'm looking for I mostly regular I retainer times three yeah it was it was $6,250 for the amount for the retainer and the litigation charges were 3848 yeah should be mostly monthly retainer so it's just gives us an multiple months for the record multiple months not one month but but the concern here was are we are we in serious litigation on things we're doing improperly or causing ourselves the answer is no looks like our litigation charges are pretty low that's correct and most of your litigation you don't have a lot and it's uh it's um covered by you know your your GIF so even though like I handle one of your GIF cases that gets built through the GIF oh so it's um you have you know if you have a regulatory matter opra litigation those kind of things so uh you're you guys are in pretty good shape compared to a lot of my towns I don't make a lot of litigation money off you guys so uh you're doing a good job Rush bed for you yeah that's right you get to see a bear when you come I see a bear and I got to tell you my kids are super excited about it I was gonna get a picture but I think I you'd be looking for a new attorney if I got out and looked for the picture so don't get out rub his belly be all right they're fine that was it for me Mr Maud Mr Good Mr I'm good fine thank you consent agenda resolution do we have any you have any uh requests to separate any of these resolutions president can I can I pull uh 24280 certainly um which one found that so we're just going to take that back make an adjustment okay thank you discussion on so resolution any other one yeah I I got a quick question on 281 all right and not a question but more of a explanation on 284 okay so [Music] 281 284 all right consent agenda the resolution 24- 279 resolution of the township of Vernon County of Suk state of New Jersey authorizing the disposition or Salvage of obsolete equipment in possession of the township at auction on municip resolution 24282 author orising the mayor to continue the incentive to employees who enroll in an alternate health or prescription plan resolution 24283 a resolution authorizing the option for employes of the township of Vernon to wave health insurance benefits and resolution 24285 appointment of Vernon Township acting zoning officer may I have a mo to place those resolutions on the floor for consider for consideration I'll make that motion by Mr Higgins second seconded by Mrs bueri all in favor signify by saying I I'm sorry roll call please council member guer yes council member Higgins yes council member Sparta yes Council president rudo yes motion carries thank you resolution 24- 280 is being pulled so we will not vote on that um resolution 24281 transfer resolution balance transfers may I have a motion that on the floor discussion mve by Mr Higgins is there a second second seconded by Mr Sparta uh comments so questions on that where it's really for everybody's benefit because uh I guess I got the answer because you answer but my question had to do with uh did we under budget uh we we budgeted $80,000 when we beginning of the year when we had the volunteers move to a paid paid volunteer program Lo right so my question was did we under budget and now we're moving $40,000 and I think the answer is no we did not under budget P right and uh so there was a legal services transfer out to $40,000 in to cover health benefits and volunteer emergency services so I I I guess it's best to explain what the volunteer emergency services and health benefits are for volunteers right the money that came in that that I'm sorry the money that was transferred out uh from legal services to the uh uh volunteers uh let me be let me first clear for the public this is a procedure that can only take place uh one portion of the Year November December January and I think February at other times all the money must stay within the lines that the funds were designated when the budget was constructed and approved by the council at this point the CFO advised us that by virtue of the backup information that the money that was in the the uh in the budget uh to handle the uh requirements for the uh the the volunteers uh was not enough uh and hence a lot of these kids came in or people came in and uh we needed to have some additional funds and was taken from the funds that were transferred the second portion is the waving of uh insurance uh the uh we estimated uh a number of I'm sorry the CFO estimated a number of people who would be on the insurance plans and who would wave it because so many of the people within our working Community uh are young and they're still on their parents and U I guess we overestimated that and so we needed a few dollars more to handle the the amount for the waivers um which is uh which is what we're using the money for right so I would say that the conclusion of that is we've done some hiring well back filling I guess yeah yeah and uh the volunteer Emergency Services $225,000 we've added quite a few people to the emergency service Services as well do you have any idea yes they have been since loap and since the combining of both the ambulance squads they have had an increase of um volunteers signing up he hey that's good news good news I I just want to clarify that that $25,000 is not going towards lowb correct that's going towards training right and keeping of the houses and stuff like that correct okay so we had discussed at a previous meeting that near the end of the year being that losap have its first year anniversary the person heading it up was going to give us a report a summary report on the events that took place in the last year generating new members and uh we can get that on the agenda within the next couple months be a positive okay is that what was on the original that they would provide that yeah they came in they they came in like February March and they did like a little presentation yeah I remember that I remember they were here in the summertime B Bill had suggested maybe just a recap of of uh in a few months on losap and um recruiting speak with commissioner can yeah all right thank you okay um other questions on this particular item if not may I have a uh council member berer yes council member hiin yes council member Sparta yes council president rudo yes motion carries thank you and uh resolution 24- 284 resolution authorizing the water man extension and system Improvement agreement with aolia water New Jersey Incorporated I have a motion to place this on the floor move move by Mr Higgins second second by Mr Sparta question yes I requested this discussion this is a big deal it and to just have it as a resolution and no comments this is a major development in the town we have a company that we're authorizing to dig a new well uh put pipes in the ground improve the system and uh I guess with all that if anybody Mr rudo if just give an overview of what's taking place here legally who owns what we're hiring them to do work do we own the system and all the ramifications that could come with it right the essentially what's happening here and mayor please feel free to jump in the we voted on this on this previously and it was passed uh however what we are doing now is kind of uh tightening up on it with the uh move to eliminate uh one of the SES because uh we haven't the recipients of the water because we haven't heard anything from them to the extent of how much and when uh this water is going to be used uh along the Route 94 Corridor and the amount of money that is being separated from the area down in McAfee will be used in the area up by Church Street uh and by Main Street Main Street primarily now please understand that the township is not paying for all of this this is 2third is being paid for by the American Rescue plan and what we are doing is the funds here is to you know paying the the one-third requirement that is the respon responsibility of the township if I may right there on the statement you just made you said that the money's for the area down by m Firehouse so this is this would be very important to people living in a pvl because they were getting close to being told that they're next to have to tie into the sewer system right uh but this has nothing to do with the sewer this is water water right okay so it has nothing to do with that um but the water is necessary for the potential construction that is soon to be initiated by some developers people should be aware that a number of lots have been sold on the Main Street by by Guthrie uh Guthrie Road uh I believe three possibly four three or four buildings uh retail in one of the buildings but but it's so early on the layout I did speak with one key about it I'd like to have more retail um for uh you know on the first floor of these buildings um so uh this is supposed to come in soon we we'll have another discussion with them on the on the layout from Main Street but uh like I said I've been saying there's we are going to be building a Main Street uh we got the application back from the DP on the water uh Wetlands issue on Main Street it is a small piece that so we're going to be building around that small piece possibly uh adding kind of like what we have for the High Lakes Firehouse that have that little Pond we're going to have a water featured there as well um and with the buildings around that so so uh they uh yeah they they've purchased a karate school building they've purchased a lot of stuff right yeah they looking into affordable housing building we're working with Jessica on that um so there uh there's a lot of lot of things a lot of Wheels moving at the same time right now so if any of you down by Soldier Road and pamis right there's a major development down there that they've put together and it's what I understand very very well run it's uh very nice and I the issue that they're going not the issue the purpose that they're repurposing the or karate building that they purchased is for I believe their own offices so that they can have uh a facility in Vernon so they they are taking a position here and uh they have construction projects going on and ongoing in in the area of New York State down by uh by news uh also as I said down in paramis so they're very well known and uh anyone's invited to go down and take a look at them so I've driven by their their uh development on Soldier Hill very very nice development I I didn't go in just drove by on the road yeah and the feedback I I received from uh Paul our instruction officially he he said it's the work that they're doing over there is phenomenal and it's rare to hear that from from from the build department but he said there their work is just it's beautiful work they don't certainly don't try and cut any Corners no no absolutely not I mean they're working there six days a week we go and one of the questions I asked them was uh are we waiting for the 55 unit building to be done before you could do this and he said I could do them all one time so all capitalized said well I'm ready to go so we'll try to get that uh that stuff uh in front of the land use board as soon as possible and um hopefully get our Main Street buildt soon so the uh the arp that was used refresh my M 2.3 million was it believe some place yeah about that yeah I think the I think the sewer one was a little bit more a for chain yeah I think I think that's about the amount I don't know exactly yeah it was like 23 or 24 if I remember correctly y any other questions no that was uh good recap very important thing for the town and they can't have the edus go up if you don't have water we need water right on the head hopefully they get water wells deep enough to produce water in the drought here I believe that money needs to be spent yes by a certain it does has to be encumbered by 20 2026 is it yeah okay 2026 okay I just want to make a quick comment I do support the the project with violia but my son is an employee of violia so I'll I'll be abstaining okay I just don't want people to wonder why I'm from the vote understand no other comments I'll ask for a roll call please council member bler abstain council member Higgins yes council member Sparta yes council president rudo yes motion carries okay and moving to our ordinances introduction of an ordinance ordinance 24-16 an ordinance of the mayor and councel of the township of Vernon and the county of sus state of New Jersey providing for the municipal consent the township for violia water New Jersey Incorporated to provide water services to certain properties identified on exit an exhibit a annexed here to in the township of Vernon and for the laying of pipes and the installation of other utility facilities may be necessary I have a motion to introduce ordinance 24-16 moved moved by Mr spart is there a second second second by Mr Higgins uh roll call please council member buer abstain council member Higgins yes council member Sparta yes council president rosida yes motion carries adoption of ordinance 24-22 an ordinance of the township Council of the township of Vernon County of Sussex and the state of New Jersey amending certain portions of chapter 99 entitled vehicles and traffics uh I have a motion to open this uh portion of the hearing for public comment only on ordinance 24-22 moved by Mr Sparta is there a second second second by Mrs bueri all in favor signify by saying I I opposed motion carries uh anyone wishing to comment on ordinance 24-22 please come before the uh come before the council at the podium seeing no one wishing to come forward uh may I have a motion to close the floor to the public moved second by Mr Higgins seconded by Mr Sparta all in favor signify by saying I I I opposed motion carries may I have a motion to adopt uh ordinance 24-22 V moved moved by Mr spart is there a second second second by mrsi uh I'm going to give provide a brief discussion on this um I think Mr sparter brought it to our attention that when we had the recent mishap with trucks coming down 515 and they quickly and was there any way we could stop them I've seen a number of uh signs that have been lit uh reminding drivers that there are weight limitations of course there are those people who may not follow it or may not be aware of missed it uh any event for the the punishment by virtue of a traffic citation on this it was only the maximum fine of $100 and in I think the me mayor spoke with the chief and discussed this and felt that by bringing this up to 500 have a little more of an impact on those who are wishing to not go around uh uh so that's the purpose of this particular ordinance uh it does require those who are driving to approach the township along Route 94 rather than 515 but of course in doing so it might take a little bit longer but in doing so we we are concerned about the safety of uh our residents and other uh Vehicles waiting at the bottom of uh the hill at 5:15 so any uh any questions on no okay may I have a roll call please council member buer yes council member Higgins yes council member sta yes council president R yes motion carries thank you ordinance 24-23 Bond ordinance providing for the acquisition of new equipment for use by the department of Public Works of the township of Vern in the county of Sussex New Jersey appropriating 540,000 therefore and authorizing the issuance of 513,000 bonds or notes of the township for financing such appropriation may I have a motion to have the floor open for public hearing on this ordinance mov second second moved by Mr Higgins seconded by Mrs cheering uh all in favor I'm sorry roll call please you can do all favor you're open the floor right all in favor all in favor signify by saying I I I motion carries uh anyone wish to come before question this make any comments on this particular ordinance if not I'll ask for a motion to close the for of that motion motion made by Mrs bueri is there second seconded by Mr Higgins all in favor signify by saying I I I oppos motion carries uh may I have a motion to adopt ordinance 24-23 I'll make that motion motion is made by Mrs bueri is there a second second seconded by Mr Higgins um before we do that I'll ask if anyone has any questions call the rooll I uh my question was answered and it was my question was is this amount in the budget and the answer was yes so was a budgeted item it's not over and above but I'm glad you mentioned that because I I do want to mention one thing Bond ordinances is our ability to borrow money uh with the Public's asent to uh Council so that we will be able to pay it back at a later date and yet we were able to get money to put towards construction or other projects it's been frequently said I know frequent the right word but said at a number of Council meetings previously that we're borrowing too much Mr Higgins asked me that question and I pointed out that borrowing money is the way that a Township with uh limited commercial ratables Fon is able to move and grow uh we can measure this level of ability to borrow by our debt asset ratio and right now it's below one so I believe it's 995 to one and which means we are well within our ability to to you know borrow money on the on the uh open market uh the maximum that a town is normally permitted to to uh to go move to is about 3% so we are well under that because what we what you don't know at this point is that the budgets are being constructed and in in that budget are the amounts of money that are being used to pay off the some of the existing bonds so that number continually fluctuates so I just thought i' let people know that we are in no way uh putting ourselves in a situation that will hurt our uh our ratings with the financial institutions and uh we quite you know able to handle this debt uh as a matter of fact a good part of our debt was encumbered many few years quite a few years ago when it was literally you know cents on the dollar one 2% so wish it we that way now so uh anyone does anyone have any question on this no it's a good position to be in it absolutely yeah roll call please council member bouier yes council member Higgins yes council member Sparta yes council president Roso yes motion carries ordinance 24-24 ordinance addressing the clothing allowance for members of volunteer ambulance and first aid Squad serving Vern serving the township uh may I have a motion to open the floor for a hearing on ordinance 24-24 moved moved by Mr SPL seconded by Mrs all in favor signify by saying I I opposed motion carries anyone wishing to uh approach the council ask any have any comments on this again just as a reminder this is for a fulfillment of a commitment that the township has made to the volunteers of the township to provide a minimum uh am minimal amount of money about $300 person to provide uh clothing allowances uh in the performance of their duties uh so uh may I have a a motion to uh I'm sorry we do have the motion may have call the rooll please this we need to close the floor right we need to close we open the floor to close oh I make a motion to close Flor thank you second second by m Mr sparter all in favor signify by saying I iOS motion carries three in a row gets a little yeah I just got confused done that well they they run together yeah they do um may I have a motion to adopt ordinance 24-24 move second moved by Mr Higgins seconded by Mr Sparta uh there's no other comments or questions no no uh roll call please council member buer yes council member Higgins yes council member Sparta yes council president Roso yes motion carries thank you moving to public comment we have a motion to open the floor for public comment on any item comment period is limited to five minutes on the topic and may I have a motion mve Sparta seconded by Mrs bueri all in favor signify by saying I I I oos motion carries floor is open to the public public comment please feel free to come forward yeah this one up here this one over here oh there we go one doesn't work well first off hello good evening thank you to Mr zudo and the rest of the council for your time uh my deepest condolences to the clerk's office about the passing of the family member that's awful uh but I just wanted to approach the council uh we had spoken to the mayor earlier and we'd stopped in the clerk's office a few times we were interested in applying for a cannabis license in the township however we're looking for a micro license um most townships in their ordinances have separate stipulations between a standard commercial and a micro license uh the state already sets the parameters for what is a micro license essentially it's a micro version of a full commercial grow it's much smaller it's limited to 10 people the people have to live in this County it prevents outside funding it's essentially the small business startup version of a cannabis license state has a cap on how many commercial licenses they released but when they passed the law three years ago now they put no cap on micro licenses that was in an attempt to stir local businesses give a chance of smaller communities to enter into this Market uh unfortunately doesn't seem to be a lot of townships that are considering or improving these uh so we were just wondering since you guys had no stipulations a lot of the townships say how many are available how many are taking whether they have them or don't have them uh you guys have some open licenses however we don't want to take a million dollar investment I don't want to give half my business somebody who's going to dictate how we run it we would like to employ our friends and family and keep the money in the county uh so that's why we are trying to start small and affordable through micro license uh so I was just kind of wanted to speak to the council to see if this is something that you are aware of if this is something that you might want to look into or ask me any questions about before coming to a conclusion on whether or not you're interested in this like I said you already have a free commercial license eventually I'd love to take that but uh we prefer to grow as we as we expand I don't want to ow people money have the market adjust prices drop and have your chair pulled out from on you I've seen it a bunch of times and we talked to the mayor was gracious enough to give us his time and explain what you guys have going on we looked at all the zoning we found a property that we think is nice we've been through the whole process in several townships uh we thought we're going approved in Frankford until they changed their mind after a year-long application process because they were very upset about an illegal cannabis operation I tried explaining to them that legal businesses have nothing to do with illegal operations and the fastest way to starve out illegal operations is to have more local businesses unfortunately it is a very tight window to get into this Market uh for a small business there's already three massive companies from out of state that have million square foot facilities and are going to make it very difficult to compete on their price point however we still are in the goldilock zone so to speak before the market really races to the bottom uh so we're trying uh to do our due diligence and see where we can set Our Roots down so Veron was something we've been considering uh we didn't see anything in the ordinance so we originally shied more towards Frankfurt because they had more clear guidelines little did I know those guidelines were misleading and the application process wasn't exactly what we were told uh that's a move Point uh so I just wanted to bring to the council's attention to see if that was something they're aware of or we're considering or might be open to obviously I know we'd have to go through the application process but after already spending thousands of dollars and finding locations and real estate and going through application process is only to be told no we changed our mind not no you're denied no we're not going to accept any more applications uh I'm just trying to get a little foresight into the availability of this application process before I invest in the process I don't know if we got your name and your company's name oh sure sorry I'm Jason penm my partner Dylan young CLA our company is called all the flavors LLC um it's where a micro business just so you guys are aware um we would be looking for a micro cultivation and a microm manufacturing license those Footprints of the entire building for each of those licenses cannot be larger than 2 200 square feet uh we're not allowed to have more than 10 employees and they have to live either in the county or or sorry in the township or in an adjacent Township so it's very much an attempt to seed small businesses keep some type of Local Company like I said the irony is that the state put no cap on the micro and they even wrote in the law originally that there needs to be seconds oh sorry okay 10% micros for all commercials and we're not at those numbers yet uh so I just want to bring this to council's attention so that when I do come back approach asking for an application you all don't look at me like I'm thank you thank you you anyone else wishing to come for thank you all very much for your time um I'm here s your name please Johnny Johnny Espinosa so um we're sort of continuing what my wife has started she has spoken out last session she had a conversation with the mayor Anderson um we are having an issue at our property we write an can Ste and the way that our property is located it's sort of a funnel for for water from the street and right across the street from our property it's just a mountain and so water that flows from that mountain it comes into our property um into our driveway and down towards the back of our house our house is on a downhill now right at the edge of the other side of the road there's a drain and that drain carries a tube that leads into an easement into our problem um the problem with this easement we're not here to to fight we we're here simply pleading with you guys to hopefully help us the problem is not the easement is that it's the way that it was set up is a detriment to us meaning the tube that carries that water together with the water that doesn't make it into a drain it um is just basically being D in our property and he has three major problems for us it erods our land uh it brings a lot of debris from the mountain across the across from us so we just cleaned up the millions of leaves and then again in the next rain and the possibly biggest issue is that a lot of this water ends up in our septic system either in our tank which would ruin it or in our septic field which will ruin it maybe we'll take some of that water give it to violia or um my wife had a conversation which I actually thank you guys who whoever responded to it there has been a response and we very much appreciate it um gentleman from I believe the Department of Public Works reached out to my wife somebody has been there but the response was sort of look warm at best basically yeah there's an eement we know there's an eement and we're not fighting the eement just the way that it's set up and I'm not an engineer or anything of that sort but my simple vision is that if something like that Tobe continues Underground in a way that it doesn't get dumped into our property that will by your means you know we don't wish to create conflict with anybody uh or our neighbors I know it's for the betterment of the area um but this gentlemen said well there's an eement and he been there forever and that's what he's going to be and the previous owner never said anything and here I will have to be a little candid and I hope you guys don't really take offense but I don't really care that much about the previous owner uh the guy they didn't care that much about the property we had to clean up and invest a lot of money into make it liveable and so clearly he wasn't too concerned about it now we are to our limit as to how much we have done uh and we cannot take on a project like this especially knowing that it's not just the water that falls into our property from across the street so this is our plead really for help for all have you spoken to the mayor uh if you don't mind U well let finish up your your time and then I I'll answer I I think that summarizes it um yeah we're just hoping you can really help us because we we have reached our limit financially we we we're new in in town you know still we're going into our second year and as I hope you all do you know what buying a house me a lot it never ends so yes um try selling we know any Cas um yeah thank you thank you okay um your name again Johnny Johnny espinos esos we're on 617 can no no no no no no don't give out your address I don't mean to cut you off but no way that doesn't sound good either okay we did um uh DPW came out there and they put a burm at the top of the road um a large burm actually um they they just recently cleaned out the entire catch Basin I think they even said they dug out a little bit of it too um they did State they did tell you that when once we get rain they're gonna come once it's raining they're going to come and check on it we haven't had any rain so we can't we need to see the problem um another question should I just ask for you when was the last time that septic has been replaced it's been our we're going to our second year so I I don't know it's that we bought the house so we we don't you don't know how old it is I don't when it was originally replaced we can look up that information U just you know we can kind of gauge on how old that system is and you know has it been recently replaced um if you're talking about your septic tank problema your tank um you shouldn't get any water in the tank um they're they're usually sealed um but anyhow uh but it could hurt his field the field yes um so we did do a again we did the burm we did uh I think today I got pictures back that the uh the catch base um there's a whole trench I see that was dug out so it looks like they cleared out a water protection we haven't had any rain to so we can problem is so until then right now we're going to just hold off on anything not saying that we can even do anything but we're gonna wait for the rain to see what happens I understand your your frustration on that answer because you have to experience the problem that you want to resolve before you can come up with a way to resolve the problem but unfortunately I think the mayor is correct you know to go in there and just work on it right now without seeing the problem and the problem you know and what is and the and the issue that is being is being experienced might be the wrong way to handle it I do agree that what you're experiencing is is is is probably not something that uh you know any of us would like to have so uh I think the mayor will be you know right on top of this for you okay yeah like I said we have to wait for the rain I think next the rain okay hopefully hopefully we need it we need rain we'll help too so yeah this time of the year I guess it's wrong time for for us to bring up our case um now if I may ask on that note um if it rains H how do I get in touch with somebody who would I get in touch with with so that you have 30 seconds I would I would call right I would call the business ad administrator Mrs Krauss again or the DPW do a search on Google I can proba the number DPW call them directly um and uh let them know your address they're already aware of your address let them know that you know you're actually witnessing the problem um and they'll get some someone will run right up there but they are expecting to to visit your address once we do start getting that rain and as soon as you see the problem curring and if nobody's there please take an extensive video we have good you have many oh so you have the videos already okay thank you okay okay thank you very thank you very much hello night my name is Karina I'm here again um just to compliment um about everything that was said uh you guys are mentioned that you guys have to see the problem so my question now it is how you guys want to actually see the problem if I have I have videos I email I try to to send the videos by email unfortunately uh this is not go through the email because it's too too big too large uh I do have videos and mostly when rains is in the the heavy rains happens in the end of the days when the town is closed so what is this I'm coming to see really means because I don't think anybody going to go there if you start 6:00 and heavy rain and we walk in the rain to see that because if that's the case I really want the personal phone how I will reach out because videos I have and that's what I'm trying to avoid because first of all when I saw I start to collect all this because I saw there was a big issue before to come because of what I understand just talking will not resolve we have to collect I have to collect everyone that I'm talking I have to collect like the emails the phone calls because if I wait to the problem being solved then it would be a bigger giant to fight and I don't want to fight any giant I just want to you know maybe dig this eement because the eement is not done there it's just dumping literally and they did a good job there but this is like probably like seven if I'm being like very generous 10 ft and this doesn't really fix anything because the portion that affects us is in the backyard they just made the de in the front yard where we don't really have a problem the problem is when the portion of the water reach the mirror of the house to the backyard and that wasn't done anything wasn't the original problem the FL was coming into your garage comes everywhere from through the garage through the ement and then because my house is kind of slope side so once the water comes to the ement this doesn't go down straight so it slides to the side as is the landscape and comes to my set so if you dig over here and you just let the water look for its flow down here what happens is is go sideways so I need something deeper here I don't need rain anything to understand that any engineer that will look there will know so the water will goes down in the proper line and will not as slide as the landscape sends the water to my SE field into to my my side so the garage thing I can fix because it's a easy project I can just pay someone to make a train and send the water to the other side I made the the train things myself this is a brutal work especially because he has so many rocks but all all that is me that is a it's a giant the original point was the it was the water from the road from the street is the water that comes from the concrete pipes it's two concrete pipes it's a huge concrete pipes and that's it's a huge project he said well we have to take one step at a time this is the process DPW wants to do they want to wait for the rain so they can watch it themselves have have have you experienced any rain have we experienced any rain uh since the uh BMS were installed and in other words have you the work that was done by the DPW have you been able to determine whether or not it it's it's not going to change because my problem is not where they dug that was a a job that would work for the neighbor because was going all the way to the her driveway not for me because for me go sidways in my backyard and nothing was done in my backyard so for me it's just like nothing was done it's a nice work for her for my neighbor that is making me tired to to hear every time that I have to talk to you guys I have to talk to you guys but for me I still have the same issue because it's like they dug probably like seven fet where I don't have the problem where I have the problem that is going down sideways nothing was touched I put some logs to try to tover the water but I don't don't really think that's going to help because I did that last year as well and the water was so huge the amount that was going over the logs it's it's it's a brutal am you have 30 seconds how how big mayor how big is was the the con the pipes going under the roof how 12 in I don't know I don't okay I don't know all right I don't have that in me that information but um yeah we uh DPW is looking into it we haven't received we haven't gotten any RS understand I understand so we're aware of what's happened I mean to go ahead and I would think start on the blind in terms of trying to fix the problem I think if it just dig sideways and give the direction to the water that would be fine yeah doesn't need to be a big project but has too many rocks on this why don't you see if you can work with the mayor and the DPW and see what happens there no I'm waiting for them I I email I I stopped at the office two days ago they they your secretary by the way she's so sweet she's amazing I she's she's Angel okay thank you very much waiting for them good night thank [Applause] you um see anyone else here okay may have a they have a motion to close the for of the public yeah nobody online no more online online yeah okay um move move by Mr Spar second by Mr Higgins all in favor signify by saying I I opposed motion carries comments have one comment one question question is there were some people here couple months ago from Price Swit road with the people shooting uh weapons in the next yard and uh they were concerned is any is that straightened out or is that still going on does anybody know I haven't heard any more from that yeah okay and then the other comment that was a question the comment was in that survey that was handed out there was also some important information and this was really for the Public's benefit there was reference to a a a state mandate called chapter 78 which 78 is a I think was passed in 2012 and it dictated that public employees had to pay for a portion of their health insurance and up until that time they were paying 1.5% and I believe the statement was made tonight that a full family plan of medical insurance cost us $50,000 a year so whenever 2012 came along it was determined that fairness is fair and those in the public sector had to pay for a great portion of theirs from 1990 on so chapter 78 was put in at that time and it's a graduated scale depending on an employees income so on the low end you know they can pay as low as 3.5% of it if they're making under $25,000 or 35% of it going up to $100,000 and above so that was one of the questions on the survey does this town implement it do we police it is it in place and the answer is yes so it's really a statement for the public to know that uh fairness has been uh dictated over the last 10 years okay thank you I'm good good I'm good I'm sure all of you have seen the newscasts and the fires that have been taking place for the last I guess five six days just not longer and uh it's really terrible what we're seeing and not only is it destroying a lot of habitat Wildlife putting the uh homes of people and in danger we we've already seen the loss of life of one of the firefighters uh and I would hope that uh people are very very careful following the uh request actually the demand that there be no open Burns it's just uh too much of a chance uh and when this happens townships have you know accommodative agreements where they help each other and designate individuals from the fire Crews to go over and you know share equipment and services and Vernon with uh you know with its contiguous uh Township West Milford we've had individuals member of our fire team go over there and I just want to REM recognize some of them uh they were uh they were an engine crew and they were operating in Greenwood Lake um a few nights ago uh and they are Chris Schultz Kyle Taylor Kevin Gil Brian River rivers and Joey petruci um this was supplied to me from Chief Kos and now what's happening is because of the extensive nature of these fires we're beginning to have to send uh additional engine companies or individuals from um the houses in Vernon McAfee and poek to assist and it looks like uh as you know that Tim Davis and Matt Hayward Mike Taylor Joey cordiero uh Drew Van Gord Mike pasaro and Tom O'Brien Steve Meyers Jack Jack spite um Matt Sheridan Timmy palis John Kosh Mark Kosh Brian ening Tyler ening Terry vandery and Darren uh uh Darren they missed the tape missed the name over here and uh are going to be sent over to work in the uh Orange County area so we are the courtesies and the respect that these houses have for their brother firefighters is is well understood and they're going over there to to work with them so again I would like to express our thanks on behalf of the council and the people at Vernon for the uh the tremendous effort that these people these firefighters have undertaken to uh help stem these fires um and also the sorry the uh Mike basso uh funeral yes was uh that was incredible to see that the respect that uh the Warwick Fire Department police department has given one of our our lest brothers so just sorry I didn't mean to jump in no not at all you're right but I saw the video of the uh police and firefighters in warw standing at attention and saluting absolutely the Fallen firefighter from Vernon as he traveled to his uh place of determent so uh also uh we're moving into the holiday season and uh I just would like to remind you that Township does have a number of activities that it PL through our Recreation Department please make yourself available to take you know to to attend these uh programs and uh Thanksgiving is only a few few days away weeks away so uh it'll be here before our next meeting so on behalf of the council I'd like to wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving enjoy your turkey and don't eat too much pie uh that said thank you that said I'll ask for a motion to adjourn moved move by Mr seconded by Mrs bueri all in favor signify by saying I opposed motion carries thank you hey no Santa Claus is think so no CLA is that what he say you don't qualify anymore the only reason why I got the surgery