basically just >> and there's a charge for >> set when you're set though. >> You set. She's set when you're set. >> Okay. >> Yep. >> Hold order. Will the township clerk
please read this the uh statement? But notice of this regular meeting was provided to the public in the press on January 22nd, 2026 and was posted at the municipal building in accordance with the open public meetings act NJA 104-
>> Very good. So the flag pledge >> allegiance to the flag of the United States of the forisible and justice for all. Roll call on the members of the council. >> Member >> here.
>> Council member Ols >> here. Council member Rudo >> here. >> Council member Sparta >> present. >> Council President Hig >> here. >> First item on the agenda is the mayor's date of the township presentation. Mr.
>> Mayor you present. >> Good evening everyone. Members of town council department heads business leaders and most of the residents of our township. Thank you for being here tonight. We're on Zoom.
Appreciate it. Um it's a great honor to stand before you and to deliver this year's state of the township address. Tonight is about more than reporting accomplishments about accountability. It's about transparency
and it's about where we are headed as a community. Over the past year, our township has continued to move forward despite economic uncertainty, rising cost, state mandates, and the many challenges facing municipalities facing municipalities throughout the state of New Jersey.
Through it all, our focus has been has remained clear. Protecting taxpayers, improving services, investing in infrastructure, supporting public safety, and building a stronger future for our residents. The administration has remained committed to
responsible financial financial management. At a time again when affliction continues to impact municipalities across the state, we have worked diligently to control spending while maintaining essential services. Every budget decision that we make
carries carries the one simple question. How does that impact our residents and our taxpayers? We continue to pursue grants aggressively, seek shared service uh opportunities where appropriate and evaluate every expenditure carefully to
ensure taxpayer dollars are being used responsibly. Our goal is not simply to balance budgets yeartoear. It is to position the township in a long-term financial stability. That is the pilot programs. Those two
pilots will help municipal spending and to to help lower taxes for for the rest. Infrastructure we continue to invest in infrastructure remains and infrastructure remains one of the most important responsibilities in local government. This year we continue
roadway improvements, facility upgrades, capital planning efforts throughout the township, which I will further explain shortly. For too long, many many commuters, even our own across New Jersey, delayed infrastructure investments and passed
the burden to future generations. We are working to reverse that trend by making practical improvements. Now, we understand residents affect residents expect safe roads, reliable services, and
well-maintained public facilities. And we will continue to priorit those investments. We will continue advancing critical utility and sewer infrastructure initiatives that are essential for both
environmental protection and responsible economic development. These projects require coordination with the county, state, and federal agencies. And while timelines are often outside direct municipal control, we remain committed to moving these projects
forward responsibly and transparently. Infrastructure investment is not only about today's needs. It is about preparing our township for the future. Public safety to our police officers, firefighters, EMS personnel, and all other emergency
responders. Thank you. Your professionalism and dedication dedication protect to protect this community every single day. Whether responding to emergencies, severe weather events, accidents, or public safety concerns, our first responders continue to demonstrate the
extraordinary commitment to serving others. Public ser public safety will always remain a priority for this administration. Will continue supporting the men and women who put themselves in harm's way to keep our community safe.
Economic development is is serious in Vernon Township. To me, it's I think it's been lacking for many years. Strong local businesses are critical to a strong township. We continue to work. We continue working to support reasonable economic development that strengthens
our tax base while preserving the character of our community. Our administration has worked to improve communication with business owners, streamline processes as best as we could within within the law where possible and encourage investment that benefits
residents and taxpayers alike. The comm community this communication has opened the door to new developers. One who is investing over $120 million in building our main street. We have legends um that's coming to fruition and minerals.
There was just a a a deal done over there. My vision and my goal has always been the same. We will always again we need to be friendly. Um when especially when it comes to businesses these days treating
businesses as adversaries are over. My message is clear and must we must treat our business owners as partners not adversaries. So I ask those we still need some more work but those
who are not on board with this objective like I said as always you can look elsewhere because Vernon cannot afford to not be business friendly. Every successful business helps create jobs, generates economic activity and contributes to the long-term
sustainability for our township. So to the business community, thank you to your continued investment in our town and we look forward to working together and to build on this new relationship. One of the commitments I made was to
improve transparency and communication with residents. Government works best when residents are informed and engaged. People that may not always agree on every issue and that's part of democracy but residents deserve openness openness honest honesty and access to
information from their local government political reasons and harassment. However, that will not that will not not stop us from providing updates, communication, communicating directly with the public and most importantly ensuring residents understanding that
this affecting their community. Please remember we are all taxpayers and the decisions today affects myself, our children, and the future of Vernon. So, we take this very seriously. To the municipal employees and volunteers, I seriously want to thank
you. I want to recognize them because without them, we cannot we cannot achieve the we cannot achieve or move this town forward. The work performed every day by our municipal staff often happens behind the scenes and often goes unnoticed,
which is why the state of township address is very important to me and the staff to talk about all they have done in the past year. Before I before I go to each department, I also again want to thank our volunteers, boards, committees, and community groups who
contribute countless hours to to improving our township. Let me just bear with me a bit. I'm just going to run through some of the things that we have done in Vernon Township. Um I'm not going to read everything um like I did last year, but I will just
highlight some of the areas. We'll just start with So because we're we're um hopefully adopting the budget today, uh I refer you to look at the budget notes and for all the financial information. Um, so I'll start with the recreation department, new senior center exercise
programs and arts programs, uh, tech classes and and how-to classes. They coordinate with Sussex County Division of Senior Services to purchase a new stove which we got downstairs. Uh new dining room tables and bookshelves for the library. adult. Some of the the
events they have is adult field day, science programs, astronomy events, a public puzzle events, car show, educational group hikes, um void grant for therapeutic horseback riding,
successful coordination for township events, u which is coordination with the chamber of commerce, vms, fire department, VTA, uh beautifification committee, rec board, EDAC, Vernon police, anal control youth sports sports
Vernon uh VFW and local businesses. 70 hometown hero banners uh are proudly hung throughout the center of town. So again, recreation, thank you for uh for managing that and it's a great way to
showcase that we support our veterans. We expand all we expand and reach all sections of the community and programs for senior citizens, adults under fi under age five under five age group and people with special needs. Themed
monthly lunches and enhance this is for 20 to 26 coming forward. So themed monthly lunches and enhanced daily meals in the senior center. Additional activities for all interests. update senior center libraries for better accessibility and uh efficient use of
space. Additionally, a lot of these these programs are at low to no cost programs uh services for all ages interested in focus on inclusion, arts and family activities revitalization. So this year we're going
to revitalize our uh veterans memorial. Um, one of the things that we are going to do down there, we have a um, uh, Boy Scouts is what we have a gentleman who's going to be doing the uh, scout project. Um, and a fire pit. That fire pit is
going to be used to burn American flags. Um, we've cleared out the area. Uh, uh, the, uh, Valley Mason has donated fire pit. Um, so so I'm looking forward to that project. Um, that's just one
section of that. uh of that area that's going to be done and the rest of it I'll have plans and we'll post it in the progress and things like that. So, we were uh this year awarded this uh last year we awarded the $75,000 grant
um which we purchased and well we just did the bidding on a gazebo uh those that is um I think we we ordered it I think Tina that's that's in the process right now that uh for the gazebo and plans about doing the the concrete work
um as well. a part of that part of that grant. Um we received a $599,000 New Jersey DOT grant for connecting trail to Canal Road. Mus uh we uh Musco relamp project uh to complete the upper
turf fields community garden wooden pit replacement complete new perimeter fence install tax assessor's office um finds full and fair value of nearly 14,000 plus parcels within Vernon Township.
There's a lot of things that she she does here. I'm just going to highlight just a couple. um reviews, investigates, and analyzes each transfer of property within a township. Deeds are received and reviewed on a weekly basis. Township records are updated accordingly. 833
deeds uh were reviewed and investigated in 2025. Gez, our tax assessor is also the the president of the Sussex County Assessors Association. So that stands don't uh in 2025 the Vernon Township tax maps were
updated and reviewed and report. So we had several projects. It was for 14 applications uh all from uh accessory structures to uh the 55 unit building the 27 unit building. We
got the three other three other buildings that the O'Neal group uh put before the lanyard. Uh and this there'll be other things like Legends is is is slated is going to be coming before them as well. So on so they're going to be pretty busy uh for
2026. Fire prevention. brought my glasses. 860 smoke and carbon monoxide detector uh inspections, 117 life hazard inspections, and 19
non-lifehazard inspections, 743 smoke certificates totaling 10,414. I'm not going to go through all the numbers here. 66 type 1 permits, 17 type two, three type three, 14 type 4, 239
business insurance registration totaling uh 18,000 275 non nonlife hazard use registrations totaling 18,000. So, total of $136,000
um that that department has brought in our fire department, $482 calls. That's a pretty remarkable that the numbers are up. Um that's the record high. Uh end of 2025, the township took
delivery of uh both new tankers for McAfee and Hiron Lakes. We did return the uh MAWA tanker. Um we are going to uh when when the fire commission has time, we're going to be we we had a
plaque that was uh an appreciation for what they've done for us to to help ease that burden while our order. So we're going to present that down in Mawa as soon as the time we can get down there. our building department.
Another another very busy year. 1,580 permits issued, 219 permit updates issued, 5,15 inspections per fall,
1,6 Yeah. 670 issued for closing permits, 450 construction record clearance. You see, they're pretty busy. Planning
and zoning, 38. There was 214 complaints. Um, there are there were 126 violations. 19 of them resulted in court summon violations. Roads DPW I'm just going to highlight some of these things and also uh explain
where where we're going next. Uh we are transitioning to using they're trans transitioning to using uh salt only during operations to help reduce help reduce cost associate associated
with grit including material pickup cost additional labor hours for the application street sweeping which as you know that there was a state mandate that came um expenses hauling and disposal cost to schuma uh they'll
Continue. We'll continue with the shared services with with the board of ed. Continue crack sealing and previously paved roads. Update lighting at the recycling center and the weather stations were installed at three locations which one is over here at DPW.
Uh one is at Pchuk um firehouse and one up at High Lakes. This weather system can it it it gives you um it gives you actual video. It it determines it can tell you what the temperature of the pavement. It it gives a a tremendous
amount of data. It was was saves a lot of time on labor cost and also helps us uh to predict what that weather's going to be and and the needs of it. So what are the some of the things that we're planning? improvements to various roadways that were in township. Uh this
year, uh Lounsbury Hollow Road, uh that'll be phase two, Church Street, Black Creek Drive, Winding Hill Drive, um and improvements to Storm Estates. Um I'm going to say this, this is we are
looking to come into Lake Wanda. Uh we're going to see what we can get done. Lake Wander isn't really I mean I've seen super across that some of the parking lots are are are smoother than than uh than some of these. I mean it's
horrible some of these road conditions. Um so there is a list. We do have them here but again we're going to try to get to as many as we can but like I said Lake Wanda we are coming out there u and trying to get that into our program.
our police department. This is quite extensive. Even though we are named um we we have been named the the the safest town in the city in the safest city in New Jersey. This is for the third year in a
row. I mean, how awesome is that? I think we were number nine in in the country. Vernon Township Police uh calls from 2025 24,079 calls versus 2024 we had 20,620 calls. An increase of 3,459
calls for service. Bren Township Police Motor Vehicle Stops 2025 3,369 traffic stops verse 2024 2860 traffic stops. An increase of 509 more
vehicle stops. Firearms uh New Jersey far commit to carry purchase and firearms identification um cards. So very happy that people are exercising their second amendment right. Total uh 996 investigations. Please take
advantage of the concealed carry reimbursement. Uh that's something I I want to thank the council for for helping uh getting that through. Okay. Because you should not have to pay for your constitutional right. There's a tremendous amount of I mean I
I do urge you there's uploaded onto the website tomorrow. Um please get there's a ton of training everything from firearms qualifications to alcohol testing. It's extensive the amount of training that our offices must
go through. Uh some of the other things too, bulletproof vest replacement rotation completed utilizing grant funding. Rotation is five years per vest. Uh grant funding. So some of these other grant funding, safe and secure grant, federal bullet approved vest
grant, uh state bullet approved vest grant, statewide insurance fund grant awarded 11,689 towards the cost of the uh accreditation project which that's something that we passed here. Uh so I am happy that that accreditation program which as you know
that that that's like the kind of the gold star for for uh our police department sets a higher standard um with with that accreditation program. So it's great that we actually got some money um because of it from our insurance company. Uh the le uh lead
program for all fifth graders 190 student follow. So it's great to see the students graduation was was awesome. will uh share the keys. All students who drive or will drive to Vernon Township
High School sophomores and juniors and community involvement. These they're involved with every community involvement from the Easter egg hunt, rabies clinics, bulky waste egg. The list really is just extensive. They they are 70 square miles we're
everywhere. So kudos to those guys. Um they we had the drug we have the drug take uh takeback initiative collected and destroyed 288 pounds of drugs jail cells at department of corrections municipal facilities
inspection which is approved for for the next 5 years. Um that's part of one of the accreditation um uh rules that that your your jail has to be uh up to date uh and approved. Oprah request uh
completed year to date is 182 by the police department and the OPER requests are a little bit more detailed with police department because it's body cam footage. So there's a lot of a lot of editing and blurring out and you know there's a lot of
plus for those guys. Um they completed uh they completed their 2025 within the budget um uh for police dispatch of Adam control. Again they completed all the state mandated reporting on time and compliance with the New Jersey office of
attorney general. Again from professional standards reports human tracking. It just goes on and on and on. our detective bureau um conducted 197 reportable investigations. We don't have many detectives and that's
a lot of that's a lot of investigations um these guys. Um the total does not include numerous additional cases in which detectives involved but would not require formal reporting by the bureau including instances where detectives assisted
patrol offices while patrol maintained primary responsibility in the case types of investigations. So these are types of investigations that happen in our police department. Everything from theft, theft by deception, fraud, assault, sexual assault, burglary, harassment, bias
incident, stalking, possession of child pornography, missing persons, uh endangering welfare of a child, illegal dumping, narcotics investigations, prescription fraud, cold case, and various other crimes in the state of New Jersey. So, um this year that that that
murder case um is before courts. So there's another thing that our police department has been uh taking part of as well. Uh during these investigations, detectives executed search warrants and communication data warrants. The the detective bureau made 11 arrests
directly related to de related to detective bureau investigations with additional arrest anticipated in 2026 due to the length and ongoing nature of several thesis. There a couple other things for these guys. uh Wanishage Township shared
service agreement um for the Lake Panorama Tower. That's $15,000 a year. Um that's a five-year agreement we have from 2023 to 2027. And that's a shared service. Uh our school res officer, 658
calls for service, um 60 investigations. Uh again, I'm just going to pop down through here. There's a lot more here. Police chief accreditation continued in 2025. all forces completed. Uh we are on target to I don't know when that's
actually going to be completed. Um but the chief will let us know on that one. Uh our police chief res um resiliency police chief. He's a police chief for the state of New Jersey. Chief Dan Young is one of the 14 chiefs in New Jersey who are available to provide this
service for uh New Jersey SAC. um two police chiefs in crisis. He is also the vice president of the Sussex County Police Chiefs Association uh and executive board of the New Jersey State Association Chiefs of Police
Sergeant and Arms. So kudos to those guys and thank you guys for your service. Uh Chief Young, thank you again for for your leadership um and the quality service that you guys do provide for our town each year. And again, congratulations. Three years, guys. Come on, let's give a little hand of applause
for three years of of town and hear everything. Okay, our clerk's office. She's very busy. So, for 2025, 7, I should have put my
glasses. 778 OPER requests. That's a lot. uh 1,344 certified copies uh issued for death certificates and marriages. I'm not going to go through all the stuff that
they do. Uh I have uh 2025 I officiated 30 34 U weddings. So that's that's a lot. 34. So, uh, cannibal, uh, cannabis applications six,
um, which was $60,000 and, uh, liquor licenses was 13 at 15,000 change. Work's office. Uh, so thank you Marcy and girls too again for Lauren and Donna for I think you guys are are juggling every day trying to
provide that transparency to to our taxpayers. Uh, municipal court. Um, I had a lot more information on this, but I will try I will have this updated and and put out there, but uh it we have it where you
can actually see how many DUIs, um, how many court cases came before the the judge and then money that was collected, how much was was was dismissed, and so on and so forth. So, I'm going to just leave that for you guys to to check that on the website. Burn it down to TMS.
So fully integrated CPV uh CPVAC and VATS into again our newly formed agency VEMS we we um uh integrated the the the all the EMS into the one VEMS which again provides better coverage um
there's one leadership there's standardization there's cost that that we save money on cost because again we those shared services are shared and and and again there's leadership for all. So recruitment comes from one. So people
don't pick and choose exactly what uh ambulance squad they want to serve at. So it's it's been a lot better than than what it was. Um they responded to 838 911 calls. Uh attended and participated
in 54 special events within our community and local communities on board 16 new members. um their main goal in 2026 is to initiate our EMT training program as a key strategy for growth.
So, thank you for those guys again for um for answering that call. I I always said that the EMS to me is godscent because when you're in a crisis and and your loved one or someone's hurt, what when you see that ambulance, right, what was the first thing we always say? Thank God, right? I always say they're
godsense. So again, thank you to those guys. Uh so some of the 2026 for what we are forecasting. Um we are looking to upgrade the lighting uh to LED for the municipal center buildings. Um uh I know
we did at the recycling center. I think we're going we're going to do it at at uh DPW. They really need some lighting in that garage. The lighting here, as you can see, it's pretty bad. Um we are looking into solar panel project for municipal centers. Uh we did an energy
audit. Uh that was the first step we had to do. Unfortunately by the time that got done a lot of those uh incentives um seems to have went to the wayside. I I don't know what we are going to I guess find out from from maybe um uh MarQua on
what what there is out there for us. Maybe Mr. Spotter can help us. Maybe maybe you know something about I know you're an electric but I know this is if that's what you guys want to do but I I don't know but I guess about saving tax payer dollars right so um so again uh we
are looking to upgrade uh the part on video as you know is pretty so um we we we had some people come in um I think we're still waiting on a quote um so and then we'll see from that whether whether it's state contracted or
going out for bid we we'll make that determination soon. Um, again, Veterans Memorial Park, uh, we're going to do that township. So, we are looking to, you know, communicate. One of the things Facebook is very limited on how communication gets out there. There's
things that I don't see for days. Uh, and I think everyone can agree it's how those algorithms are. Um, and I think I think it's time we really get up to date. Um and and we do put a township app out there um that you can actually
punch in, say for example, I want to know when there's council meetings. I want to know when there's a fishing derby. You put those things in there and you'll get those alerts to your phone. So you're always being reminded of what's going on, what activities are happening in the town. I think this is something. And then you could access,
you know, the government in uh information, but also we want to we want to tie in our businesses. So, we want to be able to um I I think the app that we're looking at, it's going to be called like my Vernon. So, you'd be able to go to that app and and uh say, you
know what, where where's there to eat in Vernon? You'd be able to click on that and be able to tie you to our local businesses. We got to get with the times again. Our website, I don't I I get frustrated looking at it because I think it's that needs to be I
think it needs to be deleted and and rewritten um in my opinion. but it's a project that I don't have the time to to work on. So, I think an app is really uh the way to go at at this point. Um the Cazebo Great Lawn at Maple Graange.
Um Wi-Fi, we'll look again, we'll look to once we start dig up the ground there, uh we're going to look to put Wi-Fi uh down there as well. Um and I'm going to say this, um I know this data center thing is is like the big hot topic. I will tell you nobody has come
to my office or even a rumor that data centers somebody wants to build a data center here. Okay, there's a lot of misinformation about data centers and and I we really wish people really do their research. I worked in data centers. I' I've been in bad data
centers. I've been in very good data centers, you know, data centers that don't utilize the water um as as some older ones. I I know like I was in my in-laws were down in the Bronx and they there's like an a building. It looks like an office building. It's like six stories high and it's all waterfalls,
right? So those those are are are cooling towers, right? That's really for for the city buildilities, but I think that's what a lot of people think when you see those things. But um nobody has come to me looking to put a data center here. I'm not interested in a data
center much as that's that's my background. There's not once you build them. Yeah, there's jobs that that are remotely, you know, but data centers are not something where a lot of people come. I was a systems administrator and and we were at
one point they even had us out of there and we were able to remote in. So So all the the jobs, local jobs, I don't I don't see a data center producing local jobs. I don't have an interest in it. But I do ask this council, we must
review it in a way that like I said, I'm happy that uh uh Carl, you me that u statement about the networks um like say plan network. We want to make sure we're not doing anything that that can affect
our our residents, you know, in a negative way. We want to do it the right way, right? So I think we should really I would love to have it more of a discussion item. Um maybe we could bring in some some of the people um who really know a lot about data centers and just
just have that conversation. Like I said I'm not on board with data centers. I I want to make that clear. Okay. But again we like the last ordinance the way it was originally written. I mean that would have taken all of our network providers out of here. Would have taken them out of here and
I don't think anybody would have wanted that. Right. So anyhow, so um so some of the things Main Street I'm just about so one of the the pieces of property on Main Street here is uh is in is actually there's two of them but one's very small
and the other we're not building on one of them but one of them there's a piece of wetland that's there. Um, we were trying to work with the D on trying to build over it because it's not one of, don't hold me to it. I don't know that there's a lot of differences in different wetlands.
The one on Main Street, I've never even seen water there. Um, I think it's just the way the property is rated. We we tried to make that fight. Um, but what we decided to do was extend the building as far as we can to the buffer line, which is still good. We'll still be able
to have an actual main street. So, uh, I should have those renderings. I have building layout, but that's changed so many times. But we we we should have those renderings soon. I think in the next couple of weeks. Um, I I have made it clear to this developer. It must main
street must be done right. You want to attract people to it. It has to be done right. Um, I'm going to be a stickler about it. So, looking forward to that. Uh, the pickable court. I want to I want to bring this uh so just this change in this paperwork. It's not at Maple Ridge
Park. It'll be down by the pump truck. But understand, there's like $48,000 sitting in an account that is for that area for recreation. You can't take that money and put it into maple range. We
can't It's slated just for that for that area. Um, pickle ball seems to be like the biggest thing. I I do want to have this discussion with the council before I go ahead and and there's a there's a picture of of kind of where the locations are going to be. It's in the
maps. Uh it's in the back of the the booklet here. Um again, these are just simple pictures of of of slightly where they're going to go. Um I don't I've never even played pickle ball, so this is not something that that I I want. It's what I listen to the people, what
they want, what they they come to me, and um I don't care if you this. So right now it's it's for four pickable courts. Okay. You want to do three multi courts or someone else has another idea. More than happy to entertain that. Um
additional parking at Maple Range. That's that's on the map too. Uh this the people we're seeing far too many times we're seeing kids and families walking on the side of the road on Maple Graange. It's it's dangerous. It's been dangerous. Uh this this parking lot area
which is already cleared out anyway. It's, you know, it's always been that way. I I think it's 51 parking spots in addition. Um, so we will keep the tree lines disturbing, but everything else is pretty much it's already flat, almost
looks like gravel to begin with. So, um, I I I think that's that's needed. Um, okay, we are working still working on a sewer expansion um area. We've uh met with the MUA. Uh we we kind of have a
plan together on trying to get that moving along with the the water um the water expansion as well. Seems to be moving forward. We we do need to I see Mr. Fury's here too. So again, we've been working together on trying to
trying to move that uh grass. Now's the time. Uh we're at the final stretch. Uh applications are are with the D way. Um, so again, a lot of that work has already been done. Uh, it open soon. We go out to bid and start breaking ground. Um,
one of the things I went down to the mayor's uh, conference a couple weeks ago. Um, and I happened to spend a lot of time with the West Milford mayor and uh, one of the things we talked about garbage pickup. Uh so I asked her about
you know one of the things that we never explored here and one of the things that again guys you've been on the campaign trail you've heard it all right you've heard it you pay all these taxes we don't get garbage right we we've all heard this so after speaking
with her West Milford is 80 square miles um they have like 25,000 residents but how many homes right so it's like a little over they're like 10 105 on homes we have 82 200 give or take homes we
have here. Um we have 70 square miles. I will tell you the the price that they're paying 300. So 37 it comes out to $377 a year for the taxpayer which is far
cheaper to have the townwide do it than to have now I know there's there's companies out there that are offering it for $30. And believe me that stuff is changing. that ain't going to last there for long. Um, I know some people prefer to take it to the dump, but you always
got to say to yourself, too, at a certain point, I don't know about you, I have better things to do on the weekend or you may get to the point where you get too old and you can't take it anymore. So, I think garbage pickup, I think it's long overdue. Um, I I talked to council president about it. Um, we're
going to talk more about about that uh initiative. I I think it's best that we put the bid package together. We put it out there. Let's see what those numbers look like. We don't have to the council will have to sign off on it, but we Let's go out there. Let's see what these numbers are.
Um I think it's long overdue. And um so that's that's an option I'm going to explore in 2026. And just a little quick update on Legends, guys. Um we we're we've been working on a redevelopers agreement. Um we've met with the
attorneys, we've met with devel uh the engineers, the architects, everyone seems to be working well needs to happen. Um we are work once we finalize again we're we're doing the attorneys on on on some
of the uh the items on this redevelopers agreement. We will again we'll we'll I we'll have the the council I guess get they'll weigh in on it and then we'll um and then we'll we'll see about moving that forward. But we are very close
and that's that's something that going to be huge town. So many of you may or may not know there's a film studio that's looking to come in here. Um that film studio will definitely bring jobs. It puts it back on the tax roles. Uh there's a lot of
great This is a new opportunity for Vernon Township. The film industry is new in New Jersey. It's up and coming. Um these guys are ready to go now. They're over there. They are fixing things. Understand they are fixing
things in the building. They are allowed to fix things. Um however, we met with with our construction officials. Certain things would require permits. So nobody's trying to do anything without permits. So, we are um again working
with them. It's just like your home. You're allowed to fix things. You don't need a permit, right? When you start replacing certain things, you will need that permit. Uh they are well aware um and we will have a lot of oversight on that project. >> Yes, we do have challenges. Uh this
budget was one of them. uh municipal governments throughout again New Jersey again they face the rising costs of uh operational costs, unfunded mandates and infrastructure demand but challenges do not define our community. What how we
respond does this township has always demonstrated resilience, demonstration uh determination and pride which is the reason why we are considered Vernon strong for a reason. Uh and again I will continue to moving
this town forward. Again as mayor I remain committed to leading on what is in the best interests of our residents. Our work is not about politics right. Uh it's about progress which we have made tremendous amount of progress in the first two years um of this
administration. It is about ensuring our township remains safe, financially stable and desirable place to live or I think there is still more work to be done. No question about it. And we will continue working every day forward.
Thank you again for everyone contributes to our community. Thank you for everyone who continues believing in the future of Vernon Township and God bless you Township. Thank you. Yes.
>> Next uh subject will be public comment. These are limited to three minutes each and there are items that are on the agenda. May I have a uh motion to open the floor to public comments? >> Motion. >> Second. >> Second. >> All in favor?
>> I post. >> No. >> Bill, aren't we skipping the item for discussion? >> I'm sorry. Isn't there an item for discussion number six before we go to public comment? >> Uh not on this latest uh agenda unless
there was one on mayor's comments number seven, public comment number eight. >> No, he had stateed his township then >> item for discussion employee list. Sorry. Okay. Yeah. Number six. So after the mayor's presentation, we've had a
long lengthy discussion on the employee list and four different meetings. So we're going to finalize that discussion. We've been handed a uh a list of all employees, their salaries, and we're open for discussion if there's any
comments on that subject. >> I'm glad we got it. >> Really all I have to say. >> Yeah, there's no I know they said it was the 26th. Is this before raises are given out? >> Microphone >> the microphone.
>> Oh, is it working? >> Yeah, Patty, are these current salaries or >> I believe these are the budget. >> No, I printed it. >> Um I believe again I did put 26 salaries. So that should be the 26 hours salaries.
So this is after they get their increase. >> That's right. That would be after the increases. That and again the broke down the increases on that other sheet that I gave you. >> Okay. So this is current as of >> I think as except of one I think I did correct. Um
so the um rec director I couldn't think of it. Um I'm sorry. The rec director one I gave >> an updated list. >> Yes. But I think though when I gave that updated list I think that what's 20 that's the only one that's a 2025 salary. So that's but otherwise the rest
of them are 2026 >> with increases >> with that are not given yet >> or that are not given yet. >> Okay. So going forward just maybe a date on these that says current as of the date because I've seen that we've gotten several without dates on them. So that
would be helpful >> going forward. >> Not a problem. >> Yep. Thanks. Hey, everybody satisfied with the list for working list update. >> All right, thank you very much. Next time for discussion, we did the mayor's comments. Now we'll go to public
comment. Three minutes per person. We had a motion and a second. And all in favor? >> I I >> open to public. Any questions? Agenda items only. >> We're going to spin the podium around. Can you slant it this way? No.
>> Yes. She's going to be speaking to the >> Yeah. If you want to turn it around, slant it towards them. >> Yeah. The opposite. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. Gota get one of those rolling ones.
>> Hopefully somebody's going to say something here after all this. >> I hope so. >> First up, anybody any comments? >> Sally Rinko Vernon I'd like to uh speak to the state of the township from a taxpayers's viewpoint.
Biggest impact to our municipal budget are the num numbers of employees, whether they be full-time or part-time and the part- timerrs that step up to full-time. This has never been more evident than a review of our 2024 budget showing we had 100 full-timers and 11
part- timerrs, which grew in numbers shown in the 2025 budget to 104 full-timers and 24 part- timerrs. And I gave you uh copies of that, an increase of four full and 13 part- timerrs.
It's simple math, but not so simple are the struggles taxpayers are living with making it harder and harder to make ends meet. This administration has raised our taxes a whopping 13% in just two years since 20 budget passed tonight. The
council was prevented from voting on a resolution for a hiring freeze, something done this year by other towns with the same bills. Lists have exposed numerous repetitive invoices that warrant
scrutiny and should be voted on before purchases are made like other towns do, not a meaningless review on an agenda. This council requested that the CFO sign all checks. The mayor fought vehemently
against that. Prevailed, thank goodness, and only to find it was in our code all along and not being followed. The township's policy and procedures manual has not been updated since October 2021.
When policies and procedures are not current, they tend to be forgotten or ignored. This council has tried to install best practices and introduce legislation for accountability only to be stonewalled and prevented from doing their jobs. The council is given
incorrect ordinances as we saw with the proposed ver vacating of Burger Road. That ordinance called Burger Road a paper road. It is not. There was no map available in time for the council to know that it had public access to
lakefront until the last minute and the ordinance called for vacating the road, thus adjoining it to private property for free and blocking public access to the lake. The mayor never included information that the property owners
offered money for Burger Road. That's also evident in the papers I gave you tonight. He also likely never told you the council after your no vote is still pursuing this. As evidenced in an email dated only a few weeks ago,
April 23rd to Corey Stoner mentioning he's asking Matt Jessup to do a title search. This issue has become very curious indeed and a clear misappropriation of taxpayers money, I might add. This is
but one of many curious actions and defiances of our council legislation. Why is he spending unauthorized money after your no vote? The council appointed a leaison to accompany the mayor to developers meetings. That is not being done in all
cases. The township has been bismerched by the behaviors of this mayor in ways that will take years to correct. Bottom line, we care about affordability here and our quality of life. The state of our town is not good, yet taxpayers
are paying for that dearly. Thank you. >> Thank you. Anyone else? Peg. >> Good evening. Thank you. Peg Dassi, former council person. My name is Peg Dassasi and I am here as a resident of Vernon. I am standing here tonight
because the proposed 2026 municipal budget exposes a deeply concerning unsustainable pattern and how our township is being managed. While I appreciate the council's work to whittle
away whittle away the initial staggering 13.3% levy increased down to 6%. Let's be perfectly clear. A 6% tax hike coming right on the
heels of last year's 7% increase is still a massive burden on the Vernon taxpayer, many of whom are seniors and working families. The budget is a reflection of structural failures in
four main areas. First is skyrocketing personnel costs and high salary raises. While we value our township employees, municipal raises cannot
consistently outpace the private sector wages of the taxpayer who funds them. combined with rising health care costs that are mandated, our internal overhead is eating this budget alive and the
administration has failed to present a long-term plan to curb these personnel costs. Second is a glaring failure in revenue generation. For years, we have been told that new
commercial development and pilot agreements will diversify our tax base and offer relief to residential property owners. Yet, year after year, those anticipated revenues fail to materialize
on the books in any meaningful way. We cannot continue to treat the residential taxpayer as an endless ATM waiting for development promises to come true. The third is the lack of active grant
acquisition. Vernon is leaving state and federal money on the table rather than aggressively pursuing grant funding for infrastructure and environmental projects. This administration
consist consistently defaults to property taxes for capital improvements. Which brings me to my final point, out of control vehicle and capital expenses. Our capital spending, particularly
rewarding DPW and emergency service fleets, is facing severe scrutiny when we are forced to discuss dipping into critical vehicle reserves
to mask a tax hike. It proves that our capital planning is reactive, not proactive. We are buying on credit and burning through savings instead of securing
competitive grants. We are told that previous years of the three of the 0% increases has caused a hangover problem that requires catchup now. But the answer is past budgeting
errors is not to slam the taxpayer with back-to-back compounding increases. I urge this council to reject the narrative that a 6% increase is a win-win.
Hold the administrative accountable accountable. Demand an aggressive grant strategy. demand real enforcement on revenue generation and stop balancing structural inefficiency
on the backs of Vernon taxpayers. Thank you. >> Thank you. Any other comments? >> Seeing no one else make motion to close public comments. motion. >> So move a second. >> Second. All in favor? >> I
>> Okay. Does uh >> Council President, can Patty Can I have Patty just make a comment about the hiring? There's some um information that uh we we caught those that we hired all these part-
timers. Just Just >> Do you mind if I make Yeah, >> go ahead. Yeah, I'm making I was going to make it part of the budget presentation, but it's a separate question. Yeah, it's just into response. So, I mayor had asked me to look into it and it looks like um they found it
online. So, I I did see I believe what they're um the residents have looked at in the 2024 userfriendly budget um there is a sheet that states that there was 16 part- timerrs, but in that same budget,
two pages ahead of time, the count is really 26. I don't know why there's a discrepancy in the 2024 user friendly budget on the UV uh sheet three where they break down by each department how many full-timers and how many
part-timers in the 2024 budget it is 26 but when they go to the page seven of the user friendly budget when you break it down by categories somehow 10 part- timerrs were dropped so I don't know why I I don't know if that's where the
numbers are coming from but That's what I did. Um, >> right. >> And I don't know if that answers your question or clarifies something for anyone. >> Yeah. Like I said, I think we I think we hired like four or five maybe it was four uh part- timerrs, I think, since
since I've taken office. >> Okay. So, that would change the numbers that Mr. Rinkers had versus what what you were saying. And >> basically, it's about a five part-timer increase. and we had guy um the mayor had I don't remember exactly but we explained what each of the five were. we
sent you a copy of that and um said we we we actually saved a lot of money because we didn't hire we didn't replace I think one of them with full-timer um so so there are again we we take that seriously again on hiring but understand
too with the part- timerrs you know I think the max is like uh 28 hours or 26 hours for for for a part-timer but and some of those part- timerrs were down in the uh the senior center in the kitchen area uh you know when you're part-time it It's, you know, obviously they're
limited. So you may have one part- timerr working 8 to 10 hours. That's it. It's not like they're all working is 20 hours, but because they're part- timerrs, sometimes it's hard to actually, you know, uh, staff it. So
that's what may have an additional part but they're not none of them especially down the senior center are are working um at least to the best of my knowledge uh are working those 28 hours that that's for sure but it's very limited like 8 10 I think one of 100 so it's
very very small amount um >> okay so maybe we can keep a positive trend going so Patty as a CFO it appears that there were 10 people working that we don't know much about right >> so this budget like I said If you look at the 2024 userfriendly budget, it on
page three, it does say 26 part- timerrs, >> right? >> So, it was 26, but then you have to in this user friendly budget, you have to like break it down in different categories. And when they got carried over, I don't know why the 10 was missed. I don't know what happened, but
it was 26. So, if you go from that to now, we have 31. We have a difference of five. >> Okay. Well, possibly for the next meeting if you just make a note. If you continue to research that, find out what happened, how it could have been, >> find an answer. Maybe you'll ask the
former CFO, maybe she made a mistake. I don't know. We don't know. Right. But you you >> put it this way. The number should be equal. So, I'm just going to say it's an error. >> Yeah, >> it's an error. I mean, it's not there's no reason why this should have changed. >> Okay. And I would like to ask a
question. Was it intentional not to put the dates higher on these? >> So >> that was me just give that sheet there was just for the salaries. >> Okay. So we are we did request that the
dates of hires all be on okay >> these lists as well. So again, uh, council president, I believe, um, as we spoke about, I thought Bill, >> yeah, the the last meeting you gave us
the dates of hire, >> right? So every month, my understanding it's every month you're going to get the ones with the dates of hire and all that. This I'm giving you for the salaries. Then if there's anybody new when we give you this report, we will put the new salary on that. Otherwise,
everybody's salary is going to stay the same. It's not going to be and again that was my understanding how you discussed it. >> There was four columns we would show every time. So we have a separate salaries. The previous one you gave us last time had date of hire. >> When did we give you that report to just give you the date to hire and who's on
there if we did hire somebody new for some reason. Their name would be on it and we'll put their salary on it so you have it for that. But then moving forward it's more just for the employee count than having it every since the salaries aren't constantly changing. We're talking again. That was my understanding.
>> Could we get a list of the dates to start off with so we have something to start with? >> We did give you one last month. >> We got it last >> and that'll be provided. >> I think first of the month we were going to do it. >> Yeah, it was given up.
>> The only two department of fire title and >> four columns. >> All right. So this is just with the dates of the >> So this is just for the salaries that were in the budget except for the one that I did note to you that I um what you call it. And then moving forward
you'll get a monthly report of the department the um >> the person and uh what you call it fulltime I think part I forget what was on that exact or data hire. >> Right. >> So I have a question. So when we're thinking about since there's a question
about how many people were hired when we went through the list. So say there was four people hired in the list in January of 26th. So that was four people hired and on the list it said January. So I'm assuming those people were hired.
>> So those people were the one that we were just talking about they were hired over the last two years because um the report that they were talking about was 24. We're in 26. So it would have been five people we hired in the last two years. >> But it's confusing like the date that
they were hired. So when I went through to look how many employees were hired, I just counted how many people were hired in, you know, 25 >> 24 and came up with a very big number. But you're saying those aren't correct numbers then? >> I would have to say
>> because when I got the email it sounded like only you hired four people. you know, spoken >> that are hired, but they're also replacing people who >> but I would think that the hire date would remain the same. So if people are moving around the building or going time
to building and I give you a perfect example since I've been here and I've been here a couple of months now, dispatch has two people have left, we hired somebody and that person's leaving already. So all those people would have a higher date of this year. So of what
I'm saying is in the last fi two years we hired five new part-time positions but to say that you can go by hire date to say that that's how new people they're not all new people. >> Yeah. So it's very um convoluted. I mean
right I think that they're hired on this date four people. I think I counted nine people last year and 25. But you're saying that's not true. But those dates coordinated with 25. >> Yeah. But they're not necessarily new
positions. Like perfect example, I got hired this year and I'm not a new >> 24 on your hire date. >> No, but my point is is I'm not in I'm not a new position. But if you now look back, if you think I I'm not a new position. I just replaced somebody.
>> Yeah. But your higher date is still in 26. >> Right. But it's not a new person. Not a new position. It's a new person, right? We didn't add a new position. >> Looking at how many people >> No, we're position is what we're saying. >> In addition to position, >> right? So if you have 10 people leave
and 10 people replace them, those positions are the same. They're different names. >> Are they needed to be replaced? >> Okay. That's a different question. Yeah. >> So to paint the whole picture, got to look at everything, >> right? >> Very confusing.
>> Okay. So that that was a request to have that discussion. We had it. >> Can I Can I ask the audience uh if you're going to talk, Mr. Ranker, could you could you please take it in the back or in the lobby, please? >> What's happening? >> I couldn't understand what was just >> Yeah. I I can't hear either because
they're they're talking out loud up here. >> Okay. So, we discuss discussion on the employee list is done, mayor's comments, public comment, and we're up to review of the bills list. Any comments on the
short bills list for this month? Seeing none hearing none, no comments. I just I have a comment, not this bill's list, but on the last meeting there were four action items that we agreed to. One
was our counselor here, Peter. He was the one who was going to and did give us the case law for uh hiring freeze and wage freezes and it was very clear that under this form of government, it's not allowed. Second thing were were bills
list items and uh by the time I got home at night, I guess our DPW director, Howie Laser, was listening to the uh to the meeting and he gave answers to the three items. One was use of the bucket truck. Why are we using it when and what's an emergency? And he said an
emergency is an emergency. If it's a tree going to fall on a power line, a house, a car, that's an emergency. That was on the bills list as a real cost. And we had to go out and get a tree company rather than use the bucket truck. The second thing he responded to
had to do with uh with elevator and you have to have a operational elevator in a building and there was an emergency call and it happened twice and he gave the definition of where the elevator got caught between floors. Dangerous
situation. He took the proper action. And the third thing was a service contract that we had for the air conditioners. And there is a service contract which meant that yes that company comes here under their agreement but that's not the cost of fixing it.
That's in addition to it if we care to and then his opinion it's an old system should be looked at and should be considered in the future. So those are the four action items. We got answers on all them and uh that was much appreciated. That was last year or last
bills list from last time. There was another comment on uh why are we approving a bills list after it's paid. So there were some time there were times when we probably should see the bill before it's paid instead of just approving it because these bills have
all been paid. So I'll work with the CFO on larger items that might be on the bills list that we have to approve first. I know you have vendors that want to get paid, but if there's items that we can actually determine we're going to need a quote on or we're going to take
some action, it's almost like when Brad brought up fireworks, yeah, we're voting on a fireworks amendment or resolution after the fireworks were already done. Now, we vote on a fireworks approval before just because we put it on the agenda in a proper manner. So, there
could be some bills list items that fall under that. Well, I don't know if that would fall under bill's list and maybe um the attorney can help me with this. Those would fall under like when we're getting quotes for them because at the point of us paying them, the services are already rendered. So, I think we're
it's got to be caught is before the actual purchase because again, when it's at the bills list level, it's done. It's the services are done. We've got the goods and services. So, I don't know how we would say unless it's something that they're illegally charging us for, but
if we had gone out for our quotes and we've gone out for whatever necessarily we have to do to purchase that correctly and the QPA deems it that we did go out legally with three quotes or it's on state contract or a contract, um I don't
know how we would be able to stop a bill's list from being paid >> right now. We're just talking about larger items that might appear that can be discussed. >> I think we'd have to come to you guys before they're even like resolution, right? Don't you usually do a resolution
on anything of the bigger purchases. >> You are having a say on that. >> There would be a contract. There would be the >> anything over the dress. You guys do see. >> So you guys are already seeing that. >> Unless it's through a co-op. >> Unless it's what? >> Unless it's through a co-op.
>> Co-op. We have to as well. Yep. threshold to threshold. >> Yep. And like I said, so at this point to say to stop it at the bills list, it's gone through all the process of whether it needed a resolution, whether it needed three quotes, whether you know, god forbid.
>> First, first the money was put in the budget. >> What? >> First the money was approved and put in the budget. >> Correct. >> Then once the money's in the budget, then you would go out for quotes, >> right? >> Depending on the threshold, competitive, sometimes you go competitive. There's things. >> It's true. you approved your capital
budget and you they know you're you know they're going to be buying these items. So you have an idea that these items are coming up. So it's not like they're saying they're putting in for a truck and next thing you know they're buying a building. You know what I mean? Like so the the concepts already approved in the budget and then it has to go through and
again larger items if they either hit a quote threshold or a bid threshold that all um gets approved by the QPA. again, but before it even goes there, a contract uh resolution comes to you, the council, >> right? >> So, the bigger items you guys are seeing.
>> Okay. >> Okay. >> There's one question, Marcy. I see our auditors here. We got our audit. Is that to be included on the agenda or at some point or >> audit? >> Yes. >> Will be on the next >> next one. Correct. Okay. But I saw you
in the audience. Want to make sure >> is here tonight for the budget. >> Okay. Excellent. Next item is a consent agenda. There are three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine resolutions. Refund of carrying permits. Authorizing
insurance of estimated property tax bill. Refund overpayment. Certification compliance with equal employment opportunity. Approving a solicitor's permit. Another solicitor's a third and a fourth and a fifth solicitor's permit.
May I if there's is may have a motion to open this discussion and a second. You wanted to one >> want to move on consent or does anyone want to pull off any? >> Do anybody care to pull any of these
items out? >> No. No. Okay. >> All right. May I have a motion to approve the consent agenda? >> Moved. >> Second. >> Roll call. >> Member Cino. >> Yes. >> Oops.
>> Yes. >> Member. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> President. >> Yes. Carries. Next subject is public hearing 2026 municipal budget and uh
>> we're removing um resolution 26189 of the budget repeating that off the agenda >> right that was on the original agenda has been removed 26189 the state will not us not allow us to examine ourselves have a resolution to read the 2026
municipal budget by title only. May I have a motion to approve resolution 26-190? >> Moved. >> And a second. >> Second. >> Roll call vote. >> Council member Canino?
>> Yes. >> Council member Ols. the adoption or just the title >> to read the budget by title. >> Yes. >> Council council member Rudo. >> Yes. >> Council members Florida. >> Yes. >> Council President.
>> Yes. >> May I have a motion to open the floor? No, it's not the public hearing for the 2026 municipal budget. May I have a motion? Moved. >> Second. >> Second. All in favor?
>> I I >> seeing no members. Okay. And the resolution to adopt the municipal budget. >> The is open to for the public hearing of the um so um if anybody wants to come up
to anybody from the public wants to come up with the budget, the floor is open. Seeing none. >> Seeing no members have a resolution or a motion to close to the public. >> Moved. >> Second. >> All in favor?
>> I I >> resolution 26191 adoption of the 2026 municipal budget. >> Um the highlighted has to be um red. >> Okay. As I continue the brief today, council president
>> be it resolved by the council members of the township of Vernon County of Sussex that the budget forth set forth is thereby adopted and shall constitute an appropriation for the purposes stated of the sums therein set forth as appropriations and authorization of the
amount of $21,318,51.33 for municipal purposes and the amount be raised by taxation for municipal proposed item 6A sheet 11 21,318,51.33. I have a motion to approve 26191.
>> Moved >> and a second. >> Second. >> Roll call. >> Council member Canino. >> This is to adopt the budget, right, sir? >> No. >> Council member Ols. >> No. And I do want to make a comment. Um I believe we could have gotten it
lowered. This was given to us quite late, but this is no reflection on our new CFO. She was outstanding with helping us as much as she was possibly allowed to help us. Um we got a lot of information late
push back and I do believe this is the time to start talking about next year's budget and I don't see like I have any buy in on that. We need to be discussing some strategies and changes because this is going to happen again and we're going to have
maybe even a bigger budget increase next year. So, this is the time to get started. So, but that is the reason I'm voting no. I think we could have got this down a lot lower. >> Okay, carry on. >> Council member Rudo, >> yes.
>> Council member Sparta, >> yes. >> Council President Higgins, >> yes. >> Motion carries. Next item, public hearing, adoption of ordinance. Ordinance 2608, an ordinance of township of Vernon, County of Sussex, New Jersey, adopting a redevelopment
plan for block 405, lot 8, the official tax map of the township. May I have a motion to open the public hearing for ordinance 2608? >> So moved. and a second. >> Second.
>> All in favor? >> Any oppos? Public. Any members of the public wishing to come forward may have a motion. Well, anybody in the public who wants to come
forward, please do so to comment on >> 2608. Seeing no members of the public wish to come forward. May I have a motion to close the public hearing on 2608? >> Motion. >> Second. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I.
>> May I have a motion to adopt 2608? >> Moved. >> Second. >> Uh, roll call. >> Council member Canino? >> Yes. >> Member Ols? >> Yes. >> Member Rudo? Yes. >> Member Sparta. >> Yes. >> Council President Higgins. >> Yes.
>> Motion carries. >> Next. 26. Ordinance 2609, an ordinance amending chapter 330, land use and development regulation, which is article 11, zoning, section 330-160,
schedule permitted, conditional, and accessory uses and structures of the revised general ordinance the township of Vernon to permit food trucks as an accessory used to wineries, breweries, and distilleries in accordance with the
New Jersey law. I have a motion to open public hearing 2609. >> So moved. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> Any members of the public wish to comment? >> Seeing no members of the public wishing
to come forward. May I have a motion to close the public hearing on 2609? >> Moved. Second. >> All in favor? >> May I have a motion to adopt 2609? >> Motion. Second. >> Roll call.
>> Council member Canino? >> Yes. >> Council member Ols. >> Yes. >> Council member Zudo. >> Yes. >> Council member Sparta. >> Yes. >> Council President Higgins. >> Yes. >> Motion carries. >> Ordinance 26-10, an ordinance amending the Vernon Township Administrative Code.
Chapter 350, long-term rentals. >> Chapter 263, Fire Prevention. Chapter 167, Business Insurance Registration. Chapter 476, short-term rentals. May I have a motion to open a public hearing
for ordinance 26-10? >> Motion. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> Members of public wishing to come forward comment in 2610, please do so. No. >> Seeing no members of the public wish to
come forward. May I have a motion to close the public hearing for 2610? >> Moved. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> May I have a motion to adopt 26-10? >> Moved. >> Second. >> Roll call. >> Council member Canino?
>> Yes. >> Holmes? >> Yes. >> Council member Rudo? >> Yes. >> Council member Sparta? >> Yes. Council President Higgins. >> Yes. >> Motion carries. >> Public comment limited to five minutes. Any topic.
>> Anyone wishing to speak must state their name and address for the record. May I have a motion to open to the public? >> Motion. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> Anyone in the audience care speak? Peg.
Thanks again, Heg Sassy. Members of the council and administration, I'm standing before you. Forgot to put my glasses. Can't read that small print
tonight to talk about fiscal responsibility, protecting our bottom line, and making sure our township is leveraging every single state dollar that's available to us. We can achieve great relief for our
taxpayers not through cutting essential services but through smarter partnerships and aggressive grant seeking. First we need to address the immediate municipal infrastructure obligations
specifically making our public facility fully ADA accessible. Our municipal built building operator needs crit crucial ADA update and replacement.
It isn't just a legal compliance matter. It is a fundamental issue of accessibility for seniors, veterans, and residents mo with mobility challenges. We do not have the shoulder of heavy
capital costs. We do not have to shoulder the heavy capital cost of these updates. The New Jersey Department of Community Affairs offer special funding channels through the small cities community
development block grants. I urge the administration to immediately target and apply for these state capital improvement grants so we can fix our elevator using state funding rather than
local capital resources. But we can't stop at updating our building. I want to aggress speak to an aggressive pursuit of statebacked shared service
agreements. The state of New Jersey actively rewards towns for cooperating to lower operational costs through the state leap grant program. The local efficiency
achievement program. The DCA will fully fund independent feasible studies. That means we can bring in professionals at zero cost to our local
taxpayer to analyze potential partnerships. Whether that sharing a statutory official, pooling expenses, public work equipment, or coordinating joint administrative surf.
The state then offers implementation grants to cover the cost these services. Furthermore, state law explicitly protects towns that do this by exempting
expenditures from the 2% municipal cap. Many towns across New Jersey have successfully leveraged their needs. I respectfully urge the council to direct the administrator to
do th two things immediately. First, submit a grant application to fund our municipal elevator ADA upgrade. And second, identify two or three operational areas that we can cooperate
with new new neighboring towns and apply for the leap feasibility study. Thank you for your time. >> Any other members of the public wish to comment? Sally Rinker Vernon.
In 2010, the Vernon taxpayers association sponsored a petition for a ballot question change Vernon's form of government from council manager to mayor counsel. The voters voted for the change. In brief, in the council manager
form, a five member council hires the attorney and all professionals, including a manager, to run the town's day-to-day operations. The manager works at the pleasure and direction of the council. The manager can be fired if performance is subpar. In the mayor
council form, which we have now, that control, authority, and power is in the hands of only one person, the mayor. If the mayor's performance is subpar, it takes four years to get a new mayor. To inform the public of the differences of the two forms of government with the
proposed change back in 2010, anformational symposium was held. It was led by Bob Casey, an expert in municipal government and their forms from Ruckers University. He said, "If you change your form of government to mayor council, you
will know in three election cycles if it was good for your town." It has become abundantly clear to many after four election cycles that this mayor council form has not served Vernon well.
The power shift from a governing body of five to a single person, a mayor, who wins a popular vote election is too risky as he may not have any managerial and supervisory skills, knowledge of government, or any business acumen. A
hired manager must follow our codes, enforce our ordinances, and cooperate with the council. The manager's incentive, job security. It's unfortunate for Vernon if the elected mayor has no respect for the council and the authority that they have to
legislate or our codes or our ordinances due to no fear of consequences. He can just thumb his nose at the council and as a result disrespect the office he holds and the residents he serves. And isn't that what
we have been witnessing? If we ask, are we better off for the change to mayor council? Many say a resounding no. We have seen our taxes go up exponentially, our revenue decrease year after year, misappropriation of
funds, an exodus of longtime key employees, pet projects wasting our money, sweetheart deals to out of town developers, and the efforts of a council working on our behalf negated and crushed.
All delivered to us by a mayor who does not put Vernon first, but instead has dragged our town's image into the gutter. There has been no clearer example for the need for a change back to council manager than this current 2026 budget process.
The mayor gave the council the budget to approve later in the legal time frame and with the highest tax hike of close to 14% than any other ever in our town's history. He witnessed we witnessed request we witnessed
request after request from this council for access to information for the mayor to address the costs and concerns in this budget. Time after time they receive push back, double speak, belligerance and no answers at all.
Followed by the mayor's fallback excuse citing this form of government. The mantra he uses as this form of government entitles him to do or not do whatever he chooses is really just an abuse of power. Power in the hands of
one instead of five is more easily abused. It's past time for change back to council manager. And for those who may try to undermine the justification for a petition to change our form of government as a personal effort on my part, I say this. My long history of
business, volunteerism, donations, and political involvement in Vernon only demonstrate this is about the town and my commitment to the town that gave me and my children a good life here. I have been involved in every successful
petition process and including a successful legal action against a former elected mayor who was misappropriating taxpayers money by the hundreds of thousands of dollars. And so as many inquiries and requests came to me and
the members of our VTA group to recall this current mayor, we contemplated the big picture. This form of government, mayor council, has failed our town, never never made more obvious than by this current mayor. It is time for the
change to council manager, a safer, more productive form. The petition to do so is underway and gives the voters of Vernon the right to make the decision at the ballot box. Information will be available next week
regarding this effort and signing the petition in the press on our website and on Facebook. Thank you. >> Thank you. Any other comments? Seeing no other members of the public wishing to come forward. May I have a
motion to close the meeting to the public? >> Moved. >> Second. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> I. >> Next council comments. We'll start with Carl. Move this direction. >> So, I just want to make sure everyone
understands. Um, and I voted no to the budget. Put your microphone up. >> Everyone hear me now. Is it the correct mic or is it this one? Is it this one? >> Either one. >> At least they work. I want to make sure
everyone knows um my voting no to the budget is not a critique of anyone who works for our town. It's not a critique of anyone like our CFO or any of the people who I reached out to asking
questions and they were beyond helpful, beyond cooperative. But it was hard to ask the questions. And when I'm sending questions to the clerk um and we get a response that I have to
CC the mayor or that you know the question I'm asking is so problematic or whatever. I'm asking for information that's public to the secretary to the council. And when I asked for that information, every
time I got a response, it was beyond cooperative and helpful. But it was like asking the question was discouraged. And I understand that it's inappropriate for a council member to direct employees. Would never direct an employee. I have no interest in directing an employee.
When I'm asking for information that I need in order to feel comfortable voting for the budget, that's a really important part of the budget process. And every professional who worked in the town understood that I was asking that was beyond cooperative and helpful. But
when it's almost blocked to ask questions, it's discouraged to ask questions during a process where you have to collaborate and I have to feel comfortable with what I'm voting on. I just feel like that whole process was inappropriate and it
was not productive. and know that this council worked really hard to create as much collaboration as possible. There were two work sessions with the CFO who was beyond helpful, beyond professional, but the end product is not something
that I feel comfortable with as a matter of process because of that discouragement of asking questions. And I just want to make sure that everyone knows I have full confidence in the people who work for our town and in the
professionals who spend tons and tons of time on this product. At the end of the day, I have to feel comfortable with what I'm saying yes to. And if when I'm asking questions, it's discouraged, I
can't feel comfortable with it. So, I just want to make sure everyone understands where I'm coming from with that vote. Um, and also I want to shout out the BFW for the incredible parade that they did for Memorial Day. That was a really, really incredible event and it
was awesome to see everyone come together like that. Um, and that's pretty much everything I have to say for now. >> Council President, can I just say something? Council member um Canino, you sent me your questions and I immediately
sent them to the proper person. >> Absolutely. >> And that um person, department head, employee was then >> always, >> you know, so I I just wanted to make that clear >> and that that was beyond helpful. I want to like that is something I'm saying
thank you for. But then to get the response of I'm asking for information and I have to CC the mayor and that wasn't coming from you. that was coming from the mayor. That was something that really discouraged me from asking those questions. And I'm asking for things
that are public record. I never asked for anything that was not something that could be Oprah requested and did not require the mayor's approval. The mayor states a statute that he is in charge of all employees. Absolutely. But the
information that those employees hold is public. And as a council member, I can ask for that information and I shouldn't have to CC you on it because at the end of the day, these are professionals who work for you. You should feel confident that they will give the information the
way that it should be given. For me to have to CCU on everything, it signals distrust and it just made me very uncomfortable. But again, I don't really have anything else to say. So >> I'm gonna just comment quick. So you >> Is this something allowed?
>> No, it's not. >> You're not blocked. >> No, it's this is council comments. Mr. Mayor, >> not your that >> dictate out order. Please. >> Yes. Perhaps on a lighter note, we are
coming to our nation's 250th birthday. And as I sit here and uh I reflect on time that I moved
into this community back in 1968. So much has changed. I think mostly for the better. Uh I remember when I moved in and I moved in from Bergen County which is
slightly more uh moved here in in Vernon. Um, it was necessary to reflect and and to to adjust on a township where you had to
stop to let the cows go a pair across the hall the the road in before you could proceed because uh the farmer was changing fields during the day. I think going into this uh
this period of time and reflecting on our nation, I'm I'm sure the same thing carries. Uh we're going into a time when uh our communities are much different
and uh hopefully better. And I think that as our youth become uh more involved and I think that's a good thing uh I think
that the uh the uh the actions of our community in in terms of working uh with the various governing uh the various bodies within the government
uh make this a situation where we become much more uh in involved and look at what's happening in our community. I don't know. I would imagine that the
uh the fireworks display this coming 4th of July will be substantial and I look forward to u hearing some good things about it. Unfortunately, uh I will not be able to attend. Uh I'm
going to be out of town. Uh but I uh hope to hear some good things about it. Uh my apologies for not having been able to attend the uh parade for Memorial
Day, but uh again a uh earlier commitment had uh taken place and unfortunately I was not able to to be there. Uh, as for the budget,
I can understand the the the reticence on part of some of our members for not wanting to vote for the budget, certainly because of the increase uh that we experienced.
But I can only tell you that what we're looking at is a rising cost of government that is reflected on the basis of uh
cooperative agreements between our employees and the township. And many of these uh agreements reflect the uh increases
on basic necessities such as insurance um such as cost of living increases um and medical insurance
uh as beyond fund uh for personal needs. And I don't know if the people of the community actually know how much these increases have
gone up over the past three to four, five years. It's been a rising trend that refuses to be constrained by any actions of the uh
state government. I don't even know if they want to do it. But yet we experience the increases and more than that we experience the dissatisfaction on the part of our community, our residents
because find it we find ourselves being unable to find a way of reducing those costs because those costs were brought about uh by issues that we have no
control over to ask our employees to take less simply because the costs are going up is something that uh I think is is is not proper. Uh to ask them to take uh
less or to contribute more, they're they're contributing a substantial amount right now. I I think it's something that we're going to have to look at, but this is not going to be
something that can be solved by the township. It's just not going to work. It's not going to work here. It's not going to work with our board of educations. Not going to work in in any of the uh smaller communities. We simply
have to be uh uh aware of the fact that much of this emanates from Trenton and they are unwilling to recognize what needs to be done and continue to to
move uh what I would consider uh unfunded mandates to the backs of our township. We're looking at a situation where perhaps
the second largest portion of the increase in our taxes come from an unfunded mandate to the people of our community by virtue of the uh
is the uh of the matters of taxation and on veterans benefits. the elimination of those. And I don't think anybody on this council rec, you know, refuses to recognize uh what our
veterans have done. But to simply say it's nice and then pass that increase on to the township and let the township find a way of handling it, you're the only way you can do it is either
increase your revenues or uh increase your taxes. And I think this council has done an an excellent job of recognizing and moving to find a way of increasing
new revenue streams. And that's what we're going to have to do as far as um the the uh increasing taxes. We took a percentage reduction of almost
8% from the budget that was introduced and brought it down to just under six. I think that was something that we can uh live with and we should be uh uh
not necessarily proud of, but I think it's workable. Thank you, Council President. >> Thank you, Mr. Holmes. >> Um Pat, you forgot to add reduced spending. You forgot that little portion that we must take a look at because
that's where it's going to make a difference. >> The only the only areas Miss in is the for reduced spending >> would be to begin looking at the reduction of services. The amount of
money that this township commits towards uh safety and towards road road improvement and road uh care uh is substantial. And those numbers
are not going to be realized on the backs of savings and uh minimizing certain types of uh losses or reductions in uh the remaining
departments. uh where we have looked at uh the uh changes in of individual uh
individual uh you know payments for salaries and wages is not going to be enough to offset those increases. It's just not. uh what we're what I do hope is that we have a number of people who are
substantially along in their careers and uh at in time uh they may be uh re you know retiring and God bless them they earn it and uh we as uh the township should be looking at to start careers
for men and women who uh will not be uh able to command the higher increases and the higher salaries. >> Well, when I say reduce spending, it's not only on services to the employees, but it is something we need to look at.
Um but at any rate, uh many towns were less than 3% this year. I saw many towns that were four and and 3%. Um many towns came back with a 9% and the taxpayers would not accept it. they had to go back
and come with lower numbers. So that's my comment. >> Okay. Thank you, Mr. Sparta. >> Um I want to thank Patty for digging into this because before you gave your response, I was trying to figure out how we added
17 employees in one year, but the base pay and overtime and other compensation actually went down by $634. So there there was something to miss. I appreciate you looking into it. And uh hope
uh secondly, based on Miss Rinker's comments about the form of government, I couldn't agree more. Uh it doesn't matter, but for me, it doesn't matter who the mayor is in this form of government. It's just not meant for a town of our size. I said it when I first got on the council with
Mayor Burrell. There were some unilateral actions that were taken without council input that I didn't agree with. and we as a council had no other recourse for from hiring to budget process. Uh the council has very little input in this form of government. And
frankly, I I think I said it when I was on the when Mary Bell wasn't that this this form of government just sucks. It really does. as a council member, it's frustrating to sit here and um uh not have input on things where for
many of us who were on the board of education, we had extreme amount of input on things and um it just it's just not a very good form of government regardless of who's mayor. Um I'll just leave my comments at that. Thank you.
>> You're here. Thank you. I'd like to also agree with what Miss Rinker said. Not a fan of this form of government. Not a reflection on the mayor, this mayor, former mayors. I've said it before. I'll sign the petition. Yeah. I I think it should uh should be
overturned and we go back to the other former governor. Whether it passes or not, I don't know. I think the town people, this is their opportunity to stand up and let them speak by signing their name. So, uh, in terms of the budget, this is the first budget I voted
for. First one, I never voted for one on the board of education and this first one here. And last year it was a 7%. This year is at three. >> You should say voted positively. You voted on the other one. They're all no. >> Yes, I voted.
>> Not three, it's five something, right? >> Well, it's 5.9. This is a 6%. So, just to follow up on what Mr. Rudo said, in my mind, this is a 3% increase. It says six. Half of this increase is the veterans benefits, disabled vets. We now
have 130 that are adding to reduction of taxes, givebacks of $1.1 million. That's three points on the tax bill. So, if you take that out, we're really increasing our spending by three points. That we can't do anything about. It's a state
law. It's an unfunded funded mandate as Mr. Razudo said and uh it is what it is. So I think we did pretty good with the other three and of most of that three they are health care benefit increases
and uh you know some of the health care benefit programs that are offered to civil service uh employees is unbelievable compared to the private sector cost us $50,000 for a family plan which is unbelievable. If someone is
earning $100,000 or more they pay 35% of the health care benefits. So they are paying their share. That all happened under Christy when he was governor back in 2015. Since then with the Democratic governorship, the the teachers union owns the state is
really the bottom line to it. So we have to do what we can do here to fight Trent. That's that's the bottom line. And uh >> there are a couple things that I I spoke to uh the mayor about to the new CFO.
for example, raises, non-union raises for our department heads and and those people that are eligible. Well, I asked how it was determined and it was determined that there there is one person who was given some goals to hit did hit them turn this department
profitable. That one person got a higher raise than the rest. I said, okay, so what was the spread? Everybody got the same raise. That doesn't mean in my mind, not everybody did the same job. Somebody did a better job than the others. And so my statement to the mayor
and to everybody next year, do an evaluation and you have a pot of money. Use that pot to reward those that do a better job and less for those that don't perform and give them the evaluation based upon what they should do. So hopefully that that does place and if it
does it may result in less money in the pot because some people will make less money. Performance equals a higher raise. There was also former uh comments made from a former mayor who posted items who was very knowledgeable about use of surplus. Well, the reason we were
able to afford no tax increase for those three consecutive years and then uh the last two years because we used some of the surplus that we were sitting on that we accumulated from COVID days and uh we we asked the auditor who was in the audience today and she'll be back again
last year, you know, what her percentage of surplus of the entire budget would be as an accountant. She said 30%. Um and the state runs at 10%. and we're around 19%. So, we're okay. And everybody says we're using all the surplus. We still
have 4.3 million. And if I'm correct, CFO, we build in another million for this year. As by law, you have to build in a surplus. Correct. >> So, we were at the beginning of the year, we were just over 6 million and we used the 1.3
>> 1.6, but it's a 4.3 and we build in a surplus this year. So, anybody that says we're running out of money and we don't have anything for emergencies is wrong. And we did have enough money for gypsy bot spraying and we did have it for mosquito spraying. As some people said,
we used all the surplus and and blamed the mayor on having mosquitoes. Those things just aren't true. So, we are doing what we can. And then the other thing that I made mention and our CFO has said she's going to start working on next year's budget in September. and uh
and thank thank for that and we'll see what reaction we get. So that's my comments. >> I just make one comment about the budget. >> Yes, >> very brief one. I just want to make a clarification on the self-exam why it was pulled. Um the reason why we got pulled from self- exam this year, I did
a little more research. It's because if any town has a um a time frame when they're during that year they're using a not a CFO and a service they are automatically put under review and because in January you had Phoenix doing
it till I got here. That's why we got pulled for self- exam not for anything that we did wrong. It's just that's the rule. If the town has a u uses it they automatically get put under review. So that's why we got pulled from self-exam not for any other purposes except for the fact that we because we had a
service due the first month of the year. >> Good. And then lastly, the ones who really get hurt by tax increases are the working families in town mostly who have kids in the schools. You take 19% of our population are seniors. I'm one of them. And the seniors don't do too bad. The
state does take care of us in some cases. There's three rebate programs, the save program, the anchor program, and uh and there's one other >> the freeze >> and the freeze. And uh this last year was considerable. It was 30% of my taxes
were rebated back to me as most seniors have also gotten. And uh that doesn't happen to the working families who are paying the the tab for most most of the bills here. So we get that back. They don't. And then when you have uh you know like the veterans benefits and the
rest that gets dumped on our working families very difficult for them. The cost of food and everything else and they're the ones that really really do hurt and they pay the bulk of this. So uh I'm hoping that we can continue to do our part. I hope that the schools and
the county do their part and uh come up with some new revenue generation. So with that being stated, I uh would like a motion to adjurnn. >> Motion move. >> All in favor? >> I
>> meeting. >> Yeah, he's got Brad. You got the email of the agreement. Listen up resolution.