##VIDEO ID:BAaaZuslu78## council is tell me where I will the clerk please read the statement of yes notice of this was provided public in the Press on January 17 20 2024 and was posted at the municipal building in accordance with open public meeting act njs 104-7 thank you would you please rise with me to the flag pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all yes m d benetto present council member Higgins council member rudo present council member Sparta pres before we move into any part of the agenda uh you'll see that the mayor is sitting on the deis this is a situation which had been under discussion and with previous contact in previous uh occasions we have not had the mayor up here at least not during the time that I've had uh been council president uh consultation with attorney and with also with uh members of the council uh he's here at our suffer uh I've expressed this to him I've told him that this is a council chamber this is a council meeting his presence is not even required and rather than this become an issue where it carries on I'm going to from the floor to put it on the agenda at right now and we can discuss it or vote on it as the case may be may I have a motion moved moved by Mr Higgins is there a second second second by Mrs bueri is there an expansion on any of my comments you're welcome to do so well it just seems to be a history and a uh acceptable history of the mayor either sitting on that side of it or that side and if there was an adjustment needed for cameras so that they're visible during the time they're speaking and not having their back to the audience that's been accomplished in the back I am a believer in Tradition there is a reason for this I didn't said it no one up here said it it's been going on forever and arbitrarily just to decide I want to change it doesn't fly with me so I'll vote against it thank you anyone else wishing to comment so can we ask why the mayor wants to sit he feels it's being oh I meant from if he want no I I will tell you his comments has given given to me sorry and he felt that this was being disrespectful to the to the mayor now if he wants to add anything to that what well this form of government uh requires it it it it also excuse they unplugg my mic you want to go tradition you will know that every municipality across New Jersey the mayor is seated with the council this is the only Township that the mayor is sitting in a Timeout chair because if you want to go back tradition history you will know that Howard bar started here yes council president rudo did not like what he didn't agree with Howard and therefore he ordered him or told him to go sit down there he first told me that Brian Lynch had him sit there come to find out that was a lie no that here excuse me point of order if you're going to comment then comment correct I explained to you that I thought Mr Lynch was the previous council president I corrected my marks but I remarks also stating that at that point if Mr Lynch had made the rec agreed with me and that if I had no way of asking him I didn't ask him and if he did uh he he was his own man and I'm sure he would have made his own decision thank you for your comments let me I'm not let me ask com yes please thank you [Music] um I was surprised when you called me and and expressed mayor Rosy's request to sit at the council table I thought about it I thought about last year too I have respect for mayor Rossi he's done a lot of great things this past year we are aligned on a lot of issues and I support and agree with him on many issues for logistical reasons and historical reasons and process reasons I don't feel it's appropriate or necessary for the mayor to sit at the council table during a council meeting he cannot vote he cannot make a motion he cannot make a second he is not part of the council discussion it is a council meeting with the utmost respect to the office of the mayor and the job that he has done in the past and the job that he's continuing to do he is not part of the council business he's got enough to do on his plate quite honestly he's very busy he's doing a great job managing multiple departments many employees several department heads a large budget a police department volunteers a DPW a recycling center Animal Control we have contracts with other townships the mayor has a lot of responsibilities and I respect and applaud him for that his comments just now indicate it's simply a matter of try to sit here and I want to a assure him we respect you we respect the office of Mayor and we respect the job you're doing this is just not appropriate it wouldn't be appropriate for any one of us to sit with you during your day-to-day every every time you interact with a department head or um you know follow you around all day as you as you talk to people come in oh and I appreciate that but it wouldn't be appropriate for me to to push myself in that manner into your realm the day you know the day-to-day operations is your realm so it's not not out of disrespect it's not out of indic diven it's just not appropriate and I I find that um you your lack of respect to the council's um thoughts on this is is troubling to me I I you know I'm trying to explain our thought and and it was you know each council member expressed their thoughts and you didn't respect that and that's I don't I don't think let me ask one more council president why did you tell Howard to go sit there I don't think that I don't think we need it back and forth right now why did I why did you have Howard sit there for the same reasons I've told you what's that that he didn't belong there he's not a member of the council he was the mayor but he started his his his his D there no he didn't he he ran from May and run and won he had been a previous council person so you're saying as mayor he was never on the council I don't back 90s he was on oh he was oh okay that was before mayor he never sat here but that was the previous form of government it was not in this form of government form of change of government this is what Howard was not the change of government no that's right he was he sat here under the old form of government Council manager he did not how would barell sat there when Harry shortway was yes that was how excuse me you you're out of order you're out of order then why' you answer me because you know what my mother taught me that I should to keep about wellar this move the question I comment first answer the question I'm I'm putting things the way not Mr Mr Mayor Mr Mayor Mr Mayor and Mr Higgins it's my floor right now yes um mayor Rossy called me a few days about this and I express my my opinions to him at that point in time um as well and I I think you know with this form of Club government there is a clear distinction between the council and mayor and and that distinction follows responsibilities as well the mayor is in charge of the day-to-day operations of the town the council is more of a legislative branch of the town we set recommendations ordinances that for the town as a whole and the mayor carries them out through the day-to-day operations of the town for that reason and I I express this to to Mayor Rossi for that reason I I don't think it's appropriate for him to be up here on on the desk with all that being said I find it very troubling that were sitting here at a rework meeting our first meeting of the year coming off of I think I think it was a tremendous year for all involved here and I find it very embarrassing that all of our firemen just had to walk out because this is how we're starting the year we have somebody sitting in the audience who's going to be acknowledged for 50 years of service to our EMS thankfully she didn't get up and leave the room I think there was a better way to handle this than how it was handled and I would hope moving forward everybody involved would have a little bit more respect for the business that takes place at the council meeting and the public that's involved in it that's all I got to say thank you thank you well said so can I just want to yes clarify I didn't have a conversation with Anthony before like hey I'm gonna ask you why you want to sit I genuinely wanted to know like because this seems to be very important to everybody I don't care either way to be honest um I understand it's important to you all and you all have been here longer and um but I agree with Brad's comments just now I don't think this is the way we should start the new year if we could just figure out a way to move on and forward for tonight and figure it out V and what are we voting on whether or not the mayor should be seated at the days the the the uh the motion has to be not whether or not the motion has to be one or the other so we know that's what I'm saying whether or mayor shall sit at the so the resolution should be should the mayor be sitting on the Das with Das with the other council members that's the yes vote allows him to stay no vote means he should leave right call the RO please buer no council member D benetto yes council member Higgins no member rudo nocil member Sparta no Carri thank you let's move on presentation every once in a while you run into a situation where you meet somebody who's been involved in government or service to the community and when you find out that that person has served uh this community in any capacity for 50 years but certainly in a capacity of that of an EMT or ambulance squad or something like that it makes you makes you wonder that type of commitment having lived in this community for over 55 years I think it's going on 57 uh that's a long time and when I began to to uh put that against uh the time that Andrea bunny kakula has spent as uh part of our first responder team and aan Squad I think it's a uh something that needs to be recognized not that it should but it needs to be recognized because she gives an example to the people who are wondering should I do it should I not it can be done and she's made the township better for it and I think she's happier for it knowing her she she likes to get in there and and become involved so with that the township like to present Andrea with a plaque and if uh the plaque simply States presented to Andrea bunny Cula thank you for 50 years of service and dedication to Vernon Township if you would please join us over here the mayor and the council vice president over here and let's go Place fine see you Mar would you be able to take a picture congratulations so much yeah thank you so much for it was my pleasure I enjoyed it I really did we're still going I was GNA say are you done or you no you're you're still are we gonna go for 51 no no maybe 55 couple more weeks couple more weeks okay okay one more one more one more thank you thank you congrats bunny yeah congratulations thank you thanks thank you everybody I really appreciate the kind words and it's my pleasure to serve Veron Township and I'm gonna continue till the ambulance Squad is completely closed down which is probably another couple of months then I'll continue with Vernon Valley Lake which I've been doing for 55 years congratulations thanks next we'll have the sing in of our buron Township Fire commissioner Chief and Deputy fire commissioner Jeff Anderson will be members of the fire department are they here fight's over you guys can come back excuse me swearing in of our fire department Chiefs and deputies for our Fire Department fire commissioner and chief John Kosh Deputy fire commissioner Jeff Anderson Highland Lakes Fire Department chief Scott subzin and Highland Lakes fire department assistant chief Karen Thomas and McAfee Fire Department chief Jeff Anderson McAfee fire department assistant Chief Mike pasara huk Valley Fire Department chief John Kos huk Valley Fire Department assistant chief Brian enery Vernon Fire Department chief Kevin Cook deputy chief James rerto the mayor will perform the uh swearing in ceremonies uh mayor if you would yeah I I'd like to just add to this um I just I have a little uh bio on each of the men and women that that are standing before us uh John Kos is uh Sean Kos is a a lifetime resident of Vern began service at truck Valley Fire Department went through all the ranks as Lieutenant captain and assistant chief serving as Chief in 2007 to 2010 and 20123 to president elected to uh elected to Township Fire Commission 2024 2025 Jeff Anderson lifelong resent of began his service aty fire department served as the aligned officer Department president and Township Association president spent the last four years as Chief elected to duty uh to Deputy uh Township Fire Commission for 2025 Scott S I messed that one up I apologize lifelong president Vernon began his his service at high lak fire department served as Lieutenant captain and assistant chief serving as Chief uh for 2025 Taran Thomas began her service at high leak fire department served as Lieutenant assistant chief for 20124 2025 Mike bizo bazaro began his service at served as Lieutenant Captain transferred to Vernon fire depk in 1997 sered as liutenant there transferred to magy fire department in 2014 served as lieutenant and Captain serving as deputy chief in 2025 have cook began his service at high fire department 1996 2002 moved to bade and became a PID fireman in the city of B 2013 he joined the Vernon Township party Department served as Chief in 2022 and 2023 serving as Chief again in 2025 James Roberto began his service in Franklin joined Mar Township Fire Department in 2010 elected officer in 2018 served as level one instructor in 2020 served as level two instructor 2024 serving as deputy chief since 2024 I before you I just want to point out that you are looking at over 188 years of experience between all of them thank you guys again for your service your commitment your dedication sacrifice and thank your families because you know they suffer as well right they they you know they you're eating dinner and you get a call and you got to leave that dinner table you got to leave that room in the middle of night and uh and and sacrifice again uh my hats off to you guys if I was wearing one but again thank you again for your for all everything that you do and and sacrifice what I will do ladies and gentlemen what I will do is um I'll ask you to state your name um and then at one point I'll ask you to State your title and you guys could just all state your title at the same time as I to solemnly affirm affir that I will support the Constitution I will support the Constitution of the United States United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey of the state of New Jersey and that I will bear true Faith true Fai and allegiance to the same to and to the governments established in the united states in the United States and in this state in St under the authority of the people I do further Solly affirm that I will Faithfully faithfully impartially and justly perform all the duties perform all the duties as a of the Vernon Township Fire Department dep according to the best of my ability so help me God me God thank you congratulations next you what I I have a um I do apologize because we were bringing them in the next council meeting but I'd like to bring in some of our new uh new members of the fire department they just graduated what they was that uh mon Monday th Thursday Thursday Thursday they just graduated from from theem want to just P them up you have the text all yeah read them all off um sorry guys I don't I don't B with names here um Justin po just here Mike K read that Cado want come up you want to come up Mike Timmy Palace Matt Shar D good Lakes Ty Muller Z Thompson D vanor Eric vanor Luke vanor Ock Valley and their dad was our fire inspector for years yeah oh the gentleman uh Tyler Nick styles Lance kale Alex I got so uh it was a great honor to watch graduate um so uh thank you again for put the sacrifice and and the mission ahead of you um appreciate it and stay safe um you guys there anything that I could ever do for you guys by all means you know we fine okay congratulations again thank you very much thank you again thank you you thanks guys apprciate your service congratulations thank you congratulations thank you thank hey thank Youk you congrat thank you congratulations conratulations welcome thank you walking out the door the reason why we can all sleep at night yep without worry because these gentlemen have our backs and they certainly have our lives in their hands and we thank them for it the community short recess thank you make a motion motion for a short recess make it move by Mrs berer is second second all in favor signify by saying I Clos comments I'm gonna hold on my comments for today um and really put some serious comments into my next my next meeting but I do I do want to uh for the sake of continuing uh reorganization meeting um I do need to put in U into record several board members and commission excuse me that'll come later on the agenda on the agenda oh okay number 16 mayor it's a mayor roal appointments to the boards commissions and committees this going to be my this is my outgoing comment May Council comments uh I want to apologize to the fire department amend of people in the fire department members of the public for the what took place I was hoping this would not come to this but uh I I think it's necessary for people to understand that this was not of my doing and as a matter of fact this took place once before and I thought we had had resolution to that question apparently resurfaced but this has been a I think a difficult year um the sense that we've had a number of issues confront the council some of them have been of our not of our doing and we had to help resolve them and as far as um probably one of the two of the biggest things were the issue regarding the uh uh the approval of the 2024 budget uh that budget was approved and now we may is well underway and trying to put together a budget for 2025 M during that time uh we've had a number of occasions to uh see some progress certainly in the areas of uh the uh the Theta 55 project for the these are luxury apartments for the uh plus 55 people in age and I think this is going to be an a great uh great positive for the community not only because of what it brings in terms of the commercial ratables but more than that it's opening up a particular area of our community which here to for have been kind of quiet this dates back quite a few years when it was conceived by a number other individuals uh and uh now with u the Theta 55 people continuing on this we see a progression and I think that's be this building is going to be beautiful along with that the same people who are involved with this particular building have also taken ownership of at least three uh Lots along Main Street um this is is something which I believe I'm very happy about and uh I think the council members are all very happy about because here to for we've seen number of comments made or heard a number of comments made saying that there is no movement in that area and I think the fact that this uh this company um is looking now to begin development in this area and along with that we are going to be uh continuing with the Prov provision of um water and sewers in those areas so I think this is something that's going to be a great positive as we move forward um there are a number of smaller projects on uh ongoing and hopefully these projects will um blossom into something that's going to be a little greater the the homes which were three to four Co Ryan Holmes and we're waiting for the uh finalization of the mix on the on the homes for that uh that's currently underway as far as the uh situation regarding Legends um that continues to be a a project under discussion with the owners and uh hopefully we can bring closure to to this particular um project within the next two to three months um other than that uh I I want to thank the council for their support and for their help and uh look forward to working with them um this coming year thank you as far as the council president nominations and selections I ask the clerk to take undertake yes please may I have nominations for council president I nominate Pat rudo I second that nomination have any other nominations not I will take a roll call council member bueri yes council member D benedetto yes council member Higgins yes Council M rudo yes council member Sparta yes motion carries thank you Tom I'd like to ask for motions for the uh Council position of council vice president I nomin oh I'm sorry I nominate Natalie buer I'll second it Natalie bueri is nominated and second second by uh Mr Sparta the nomination made by Mrs de benedetto are there any other nominations declare the nominations closed and I ask for a roll call please council member bueri yes council member D benedetto yes council member Higgins yes council member Sparta yes council president rudo yes motion carries thank you thank you congratulations incoming my comments going forward uh I think my comments going forward are just a probably a repetition of what I spoke about the last time I was nominated last year for council president I think the single biggest challenge we have this community is to bring uh our revenues increase our revenues into to bring our taxes on some way of reducing our taxes we've been we were able to do it the last three years by a combination of reducing uh our fund balance and also reducing our spending in certain areas I think though with the fact that we've been able to do this for three years and utilizing our fund balance on all of those occasions we probably have done as much as we can or should do and that we are going to have to rely upon possibly having to increase uh some taxes to begin to rebuild our fund balance uh the tax increases brought about by our members of the by the board of education for our school system have yet to be U given to us if there are going to be any and uh we're waiting for of course the numbers from the county and and from the library so hopefully they'll be moderate or very very small and we'll be have able to uh cap capitalize on those uh minimal increases um I will ask for the council's help and support as we move forward to that end I'm going to be asking the uh clerk to look at a date between now and our next meeting which is the 27th to see if we can't uh get together for an executive session to uh work and discuss the progress with our re uh development attorney on the Legends property and see where we go from there as I have indicated my comments we are at a point now where we need to begin to take some firmer stands on this project and in order to make sure that we don't lose lose time on this because the fact that we have uh such a large tax deficit because of this building we we have to find a way of beginning to handle that deficit and quickest you know and the quickest way of doing that we've had one year with the people going on one year it'll be March 9th that'll be a year where we've been able to work with these people and uh Mr arber har and Mr Ed duy and they've been very nice to work with but we just keep getting a push back on it and I think we need to be able to get something that finalizes uh actions and places the Township in a position where it does have the ability to demand some movement in that regard so and that's what we want to discuss in nights between now and then that available um because we have uh Martin Luther King Day right we're closed so we only have Tuesday Wednesday th you still need to have adequate notice cor right that's why I'm asking the council to take care of that council president unless you want to do it before the the um January 27th uh January 27th meeting then we won't need to advertise or why don't let's do that thr an executive session at 6 and but before that though uh before we confirm that please contact the have mayor contact the Redevelopment attorney and see if he can't be here person if not uh we'll have a we can have a virtual meeting yes okay like open the floor to public comments and have a motion to open the floor make a motion motion made second Mrs berer seconded by Mrs benedetto all in favor signify by saying I oos motion carries motion the floor is open to the public good evening everybody Alan Henderson Lafia Township up to this Mr Henderson Alan Henderson Lafia Township I'm just here to introduce myself to all of you I was just appointed to Sussex County Commission board I'm your liaison I don't know how often you've ever had a liaison come to your meetings I can tell you might not make all of them but you'll see me here quite often I congratulate all of you guys sitting there it takes a lot to sit there believe me I just spent 13 years sitting and Lafayette so I know exactly what it's like to sit there I wish you best of luck Happy New Year I want you be able to put a face to the name of who your liaison is working with you thank you anyone else wishing to address the council may I have a motion to close the meeting to the public move by Mrs is there a second second second by Mr Sparta all in favor signify by saying I I motion carries council president yes would it be all right if um M Lee now so she doesn't have to certainly yes okay for the public m is our with uh Miss vaia and uh I guess she's our contact person and handles our wordss yes well Happy New Year everybody thank you yours is coming up soon I said yours is coming up soon soon yes um in about two weeks yes um so I was asked here tonight because um understand that you are trying to introduce the cola ordinance tonight so I'm going to give you a little bit of my Spiel I'm sure you've heard this before for me so apologize but uh if any point in time you have any questions please still restop me so the state has two uh cap laws rela the budget one is the 1997 appropriation cap law and the other is the 2010 tax levy cap law so as the name itself indicates right the 2010 um tax levy cap law plays a limit on how much your local tax Lobby can increase and then the 1997 appropriation cap law place the limit on how much your inside cap appropriation can increase and what I mean by inside cap appropriation that generally includes your normal operating expenses so your your salaries your um OE Insurance Etc it does not include capital or death service rants or any deferred charges or the reserve or uncollected taxes so the cola ordinance is authorized under the 1997 a probation cap so what it does is the state comes out with a a what they call a cost of living adjustment percentage every year so for 2025 it's 2 and a half% so by Statue you're allowed to increase that up to three and a half% if you adopt the col orance now I just want to stress that the Poland ordinance is not an authorization for you to spend any money it just allows you the flexibility I sometimes I like to call it almost like an insurance policy that if for your current budget year or and also for the next two budget cycle it allows you to flexibility if you need to go up to three and a half percent you have the flexibility to do so and also the state requires you to adapt this polar ordinance so that you can Bank uh what you don't use so let's say you adopt the ordinance and you're allowed to go up three and a half% but when you adopt the budget your inside capit appropriation is only going up 2% so it allows you to bank that difference the one and a half percent to be utilized if you choose to the following year or or the following two years so it just gives you the more flexibility to do so especially it's important nowadays with inflation going kind of off the chart I mean I was just in the grocery store the other day and it it just seems a carton of eggs now cost twice as much as I used to so that's why I think um excuse me important so what you're saying then is the inside cap increase 2% yes and but what we can do is we have the ability to take the difference the one and a half% because it's three and normally you could go up to three and a half so we could take that one and a half and Bank it yes which means just put it in reserve that's not a commitment to spending exactly it's only if when we look at the next budget if that budget should be inordinately high we have a way of covering that portion that that portion of the budget where it's higher than we expected it to be without having to go and uh I guess raise more taxes on it yeah so in the last few years pension has been way above the three and a half% insur you have you know you have some contractual application that's outside above the three and a half percent and you're G to also have um if you know you might have garbage contracts that might be we don't some other stuff Insurance yes may I ask a question certainly so uh just out of curiosity we we approve this every year have we gone into that bank ever I think so but I would have to look into like I don't I don't recall I don't think it's something we regularly do every year I mean we we approve it I don't recall doing it since I've sat on the council I will have to look yeah okay yeah the history is because uh um even in the 2024 budget cycle you were able to bank what you didn't use because we didn't use it yeah because we we passed the ordinance we didn't use it and we banked it okay another question sure if in fact it is banked and at some time is going to be used that will cost the taxpayers that money it doesn't come from nowhere comes from somewhere it's either gonna have to come from it's gonna have to come from a some sort of Revenue Source whether it's the tax ly or your fund balance or different Revenue Source or if you have if we had back taxes paid if we had back taxes paid or something I've seen situation where your tax rate might not be going up the let's say three and a half percent it might be only going with 2% because you have some outside Capital appropriation that's dropping but then you have inside capitation that's increasing for example A Garbage Contract that comes up so by adapting the three and a half the col ordinance allows you to increase your inside cap appropriation even though tax rate might not go up the three and a half per. and the appropriation is just the inside you need to have the money in the budget in order to pay the appropriation right there yeah but if you don't have the money in a budget it allows you to raise the taxes or or some other Revenue Source right well that's our main Revenue source so this is and the other thing you said at the beginning was this is a state mandated so why are we talking about it's a state mandated rule well each the state just requires each municipality individually to introduce and adopt the budget so if we say no and it's a state regulation we we're saying no she she's just talking about the budget portion of it not not the cap I'm just talking specifically about the co orance okay the cola ordinance is a state mandate if you if you would like to bank whatever you don't use have to pass it have to pass it but has to come up to a vote let's say if you you okay so it's it's it comes up to a vote it's up the individual board to accept or okay and as the council president said it you you're not forced to use it it it'ss there in case there's a emergency that comes in and every two years one year falls off so you can only only bank that one and a half% every two years we were going to use it we'd have to have another resolution or ordinance and a vote in order to use it it's not just a blank check to the administration it's it would have to come before the council again yes also it's not just the extra one 1% you're banking it's also if you don't pass the call ordinance let's say the state Cola adjustment is for 2025 is to 2 and a half% the approved um percentage and when you adapt your budget your inside Capital Corporation I'm just making it up it's only going 1% you don't pass the ordinance you're not even allowed to bank that difference okay and the Proviso is if you don't pass this and you do find yourself short in some way then the for the remedy on that is to you're going to have to to the Department of Community Affairs and leads your case or you cut some expenses or emergency appropriation or emergency appropriation I have a question if you do have to use the cap Bank you said you have to pass an ordinance does the ordinance specifically call out that you're using money from the cap Bank yeah okay you have to vote on it okay yeah okay thank you there anything else thank you thank you very much welcome have you too are there any other residents wishing to just the council if not I'll ask for a motion to close the meeting to the public moved moved by Mr Higgins is there a second second second by Mrs bueri all in favor signify by saying i i i oos motion count carries all members of the council have received the minutes of our meeting of November 14th regular meeting May I have a motion to approve the November 14th regular meeting minutes moved by Mr Higgins is there a second second second by Mrs bueri any question is there any additions deletions changes to those minutes if not I'll ask for a roll call V yes council member nin yes counc member Spa yes council president bzo yes carries thank you for the meeting the executive session of December 8th may have uh placed these minutes on the floor for consideration moved moved by Mr Sparta is there a second second second by Mr Higgins uh are there any additions deletions or Corrections on the executive session minutes if none then um we have a roll call on that please council member buer yes yes member Higgin yes memb Florida yes yes and Carries and for our regular meeting December 8th 2024 may I have a motion have these minutes on the floor for consideration move move by Mr spart is there a second by Mr Higgins uh are there any corrections or additions or deletions to of our regular meeting not all in favor signify by saying I I iOS motion carries go through the consent agenda like to have any of the or items pulled as separated you know let me know and we will separate them from the total resolution 25-1 designating of official newspaper for 2025 resolution 25-2 appointments of special police officers resolution 25-3 you authorize cash funds for calendar year 2025 25-4 authorizing the contract unid to maintain the Township's vital statistic software the 2021 resolution 25-5 resolution of the township Council of the township Vernon County of Sussex and state of New Jersey appointing Deputy custodians of record 25-06 authorizing a memorandum of agreement with signature Information Solutions a access to certain tax collector tax and or utility records via admins and Associates resolution 25-7 author izing a memorandum of agreement with accurate abstracts for inquiry only access certain Tax Collectors tax and or utility records via Edmond and associ 25-8 authorizing a memorandum of agreement with Valtech research for inquiry only uh access to certain Tax Collectors tax Andor utility records via Edmunds and Associates resolution 25-9 authorizing a memorandum of agreement with action title research in for query only access to certain Tax Collectors tax Andor utility records via ebans and Associates resolution 25-10 authorizing a memorandum of under agreement with priority search Services LLC for inquiry only access to certain tax collector tax Andor utility records via ebans and Associates resolution 25-11 authorizing the award of the contract for 2025 between a and e Clothing and the township of Veron to locate uh clothing donation bin at the municipal recycling center resolution 25-12 authorizing a change order for contract for proposed improvements through Glenwood Mountain Road with Riverview Paving incorporate resolution 25-13 authorizing a change order number one for a contract for proposed improvements of Glenwood Mountain Road with Road Safety Systems LLC resolution 25-14 resolution authorizing fireworks to be displayed on February 3rd 2025 within the township of Vernon for Special Olympics resolution 25-15 a resolution authorizing fireworks to be displayed on December 31st 2024 within the township of Vernon resolution 25-16 authorizing the municipal tax assessor and the special Municipal attorney to defend the township before the Sussex County Board of Taxation for tax appeals resolution number 25-17 authorizing the award of a required disclosure contract with spal data Logic for permitting licensing software resolution 25-18 res an approval to submit a Grant application and exe execute a grant contract within New Jersey Department of Transportation for MC Peak Road improvements project resolution 25-19 resolution authorizing the cancellation of outstanding checks over 6 months old to Municipal cash balances resolution 25-20 refund overpayment blocks 571 Lot 8 Loretta resolution 25-21 refund overpayment or logic D VAR block and lots resolution 25-22 resolution of the township of Vernon County of Sussex state of New Jersey awarding bid 12r d224 fire suppression resolution 25-23 a resolution amending R number 24-19 for Award of contracts to vendor with national cooperative of contracts HG C bu y resolution 25-24 the resolution accepting the completion of Ro improvements project to various streets within Vernon Township resolution 25-25 resolution accepting the completion of maple grain project lower parking lot resurfacing project resolution 25-26 resolution authorizing the award of a required disclosure contract with law soft for police records management system firad software resolution 25-27 resolution of the township of Vernon County of Sussex state of New Jersey awarding 14-24 Collision Repair B resolution 25-28 and resolution appointing fund commissioner resolution 25-29 resolution appointing Risk Management Consultant resolution 25-30 appointing AB coordinator resolution 25-31 appointing of public agency compliance officer resolution 25-32 establishing interest rates for delinquent property taxes and assessments resolution 25-33 designating meeting dates of the township Council the 2025 calendar Year resolution 25-34 a resolution of the township of Vernon appointing a municipal prosecutor resol olution 25-35 the resolution of the township of Vernon appointing an alternate municipal prosecutor resolution 25-36 resolution of the township of Vernon appointing a municipal public defender resolution 25-37 appointments to the luse sport resolution 25-38 continuation of the beautification committee resolution 25-39 continuation of the economic development advisory committee one second okay 25 resolution 25-39 continuation of the economic development advisory Comm resolution 25-40 authorizing the mayor municipal clerk to sign an agreement with the county of Sussex for nutrition site premises for senior citizens resolution 25-41 resolution regarding duel en rolling by Township employees in the New Jersey principal employee benefits fund MJ mbf I'm going to ask that that's that that resolution be separated resolution 25-42 a resolution authorizing a Grant application to the Jersey Department of Community Affairs the FY 2025 local Recreation grant program and in resolution 25- 43 a resolution to adopt a cash management uh plan 2025 uh resolution 25-24 authorizing signatures on Township checks pursuant to njsa 40 a colon 5-16 resolution 25-45 adoption of the 2025 temporary Municipal budget resolution 25- 46 authorizing a change order number one the Vernon Township Pump Station number two replacement resolution 25-47 authorizing the award of contract of Professional Services as listed may I have a motion to approve the consent agenda having that placing that on the floor exception of the exception of those stated there's other exception I have I'll get to that it's going to be you have to pull up before I make a motion yes yes the exception of 25-37 7 the appointments to the luse sport 25-38 continuation of the beautification committee 25-39 for the continuation of the economic development advisory committee and uh is there any other going forward yes you also had mentioned 2541 yeah 25 I'm sorry 2541 thank you yeah I'd like to discuss 2521 20 hold on let me get okay some of these are quick questions there's a number of them here but hold on make note on this uh go ahead 22 25 21 25 22 25 26 mhm 29 okay 32 37 right 38 39 right 41 you have right 45 46 47 okay I would like uh 25-06 through 25 and uh the others are have already been mentioned 256 through 25-10 oh sorry you know what I don't think was mentioned 25-33 the council meeting dates yeah thank you there anyone else 2515 15 all right yes I have it motion to include to include resolution 25-1 to 25-5 for approval don't move move by Mr Higgins is there a second what about the rest of them I'm only will okay sorry second seconded by m benetto please that was um council member Higgins right and Mrs de benedetto has a second okay this one through five right okay resolution 2501 2505 counc yes counc yes council member Higgins yes Council me council member Sparta yes council president rudo yes resolution 25-6 may I have a motion to place that on the floor for consideration can you group them because they're all oh I don't know what they are so six through 10 are all the same thing it's providing data to okay records put those on they're free websites that they use to look up tax these are we provide our data to them correct we can't talk about it until we have a motion sorry go ahead second second thank you now we can talk about it thank you okay so um because I had questions on this yet uh last year but I'm wondering if maybe I didn't understand we give these folks access to our database to scrape data based on Public Information it's our tax department yes they they use these um these websites to look up information about we access we access them okay not for the public no no I know that but when I asked about this yet last year they said it was public information yeah I don't know who said that but it's for our taxes okay then I think that actually okay can we group them okay anyone other questions on this five five five yeah may have a motion 25-06 through 25-1 we already had a motion in a second on the floor for we already have a motion I'm sorry may have a roll call please yes council member yes yes yes council president rudo yes resolution 1 one through resolution 25-14 may I have a motion to place these motions on the resolutions on the council second on the a by Mr million people by Mr spart have a roll call please council member bushier yes Council yes yes spida yes council president yes motion carries resolution 25-15 resolution authorizing the fireworks displayed on December 31st 2024 within the township of Von may I have a motion to place second thank you Mr spart there a second second second by Mrs bueri uh any question on I'm just wondering why we're voting on something that's 15 days after it already happened to make it legal I can but then then I mean honestly they shouldn't be granted the permit well council member that they we haven't had a meeting since then they shouldn't no we had one the 14th didn't we we can that we had minutes from the 14th didn't we think those were not okay so I whoever's Marcy whoever's putting on the fireworks should know what our calendar is I don't I don't think they make the commitment to the supplier until a later date until they pretty much assured of attending some weather I think that becomes one of the concerning issues this is something we've run into before I agree with you I know it's ludicrous it's not and this isn't the only thing it happens with so you guys can go ahead and vote however you want I'm going to vote no because I'm tired of voting on things after they already happen I don't think I don't think that's the proper way to do things so have have at it thank you are there any other comments no I'll vote Yes but I i' hope that some improvement and some change that that I do agree that it's it's repetitive I'd like to know what forecast that you're using to be able to forecast the weather know if they're going to make arrangements or not um I have a quick question though so you have to pay for a permit well they go to they go to the fire department and they pay for permit office yes once they pay for a permit it comes to you and you have to put a resolution together that's my only job I know I'm not saying it's your fault I wonder if a way to to avoid this is to can you proactively put a resolution on there like oh you know if they decide to do it we do approve it so in in other towns usually there's a 4th of July or Memorial they they the fire department will come in or the entities come in fire department knows which they are and they pre approve these through through the coun we do like one resolution like you could if you had those daysin this week yeah if within this week will you prove that would be something that um the mayor or Tina would have to speak to the fire marshal about because like I said I oh no I know it's not you Marcy I'm just asking that if that's a possibility then we avoid it Brad we say hey we know that this week this week this week and this week we usually do fireworks we pre-approve them and then they get their permit whenever the weather permits yeah usually there's a a day and then a rain day yeah a rain day exactly so they provide two dates so maybe that's something we could um mention to the fire chief I know the of the reasoning for this also was because we had the fire ban no one was allowed to do any fires or anything they were also waiting on that yeah exactly they weren well they could always cancel it just because there's a resolution doesn't mean you have to do it you can always cancel them sure so right like it's just we just put a resolution out they're not under any obligation to actually have the fir the applicants well the permit cost them money this doesn't cost them anything right no so if we're able to do that like at the beginning of the year like we do all these other ones you know at some point then but it is a requirement that resolution before they have before they have them yeah they have here we are 15 days later voting on already happened so maybe going forward that that could be a recommendation and uh you know before July like maybe sometime in and I know Mountain Creek does it you know a handful of times a year resolution 25- 16 we didn't vote sorry sorry I want to put my no vote on the record council member brary yes council member canetto yes council member Higgins yes council member Sparta no council president Ruda yes motion carries I'm on the record at all on the record duly noted Mr Sparta Okay resolution 255 I believe was included in that resolution 256 through 2520 I have a motion to have those placed on I'll make that motion consideration motion made by Mr jury is there a second second seconded by Mr Higgins um roll call please Council yes benedetto yes council member Higgins yes council member yes council president yes resolution car thank you resolution 25- 21 and 22 may have a motion to place two resolutions on the floor for consideration move on Mr Higgins is there a second second second by Mrs the benetto uh questions or comments my question on 21 I don't know if this say what's on a core line it's come up that I can remember at least a half dozen times where there's been a payback on overpaid taxes is this a corporation is this a person's name how can somebody own all these different properties I believe it's a corporation a corporation would they qualify as a uh overpayment or did they qualify as a veteran's allowance or this is an overpayment they probably they're a company that pays somebody's taxes foreclosed house or oh yeah it could be a foreclosed house it could be a bank it could be more company foreclosed house so they're paying taxes on it okay that was really my question I just couldn't understand how that always came up it's a good question yeah well thank you and the resolution uh 2020 252 22 simple there's a fire suppression bit what is a fire suppression system what is this a actual physical fire suppression system has to be replaced every year serviced there one bidder it's from Rhode Islands it was um it's downstairs in the Senor Center in the police department their fire suppression um is not working and we failed we had a inspection on it it failed and we need to replace it so we went out to bid for it because of the amount of the money and it was only this one company that oh okay answer that thank you you're welc R council member yes council member D vetto yes council member Higgins yes counc yes council president yes motion carries resolution 25-23 excuse me to 25-25 may I have a motion that on the floor move Mr Sparta second second by Mrs that was 25 23 through 25 through 25 roll call please can I ask a question on 2525 well yeah once once it's on the oh it's on sorry I'm confused what are we doing so I know that we have our like our DPW does Paving right so how do we decide what they are going to pave and what we go out the engineers reports it okay cost and recommendations that comes to size of the job size of the job okay that was my question whether or not we have the the equipment that's big enough to do the job so if we do they do it if we don't we see these resolutions and some grants that are received require to be a profession well that's shady but okay thank you okay roll call pleas New Jersey council member bushier yes council member D benedetto yes council member Higgins yes yesc pres yes resolution 25-26 resolution authorizing reward of required disclosure contract with law soft Incorporated for police records management system fire CAD soft may I have motion item on moved mov by m second second about Mr Higgins yeah my questions had to do with two items were on here one was uh the is the threshold Tina still 175 or has that been increased to around $20,000 before you have to go out to bed if if you're not sure I believe it was increased if they woft um might be on if it's on a um State contract or anything then it's we don't have to worry about that right and law soft um he went out to bid they've been using this for this company for a while I don't know how long because it's before my time so I don't know if this is just the contract that they're continuing with or it's you know that it was under the um the thres the threshold yeah but so my initial question what I circled was the 175 I think the threshold has been increased well that's the pay to place threshold is there you have a qpa here correct SE yeah it would be over the 20 so we would have if they were not on State contract we would have went out to bid and this company would have we would have you would be passing this only because we went out to bid and we got that right it is under State contract which I don't know I would have into we wouldn't need to go okay so it's something to check on the other statement on here it on this written uh piece of paper it says now there for is resolved and there's a figure of $26,000 there but in the Box where it says certification of funds it's 28,000 probably just a typo between those two that's 28 on mine no it's what he's saying he's saying one says 26 the other says 28 oh it says 28 up here though oh geez you're right may be resol I think that's probably a type out because in the two other spots it's saying 28 but I can check into that for you okay yeah it's probably a type out but it should be the same I prefer 26 yeah council member yes council member D yes council member Higgins Yesa yes yes cares resolution 25-27 resolution of the township of Vernon County of sus state of New Jersey awarding 14-24 auto collision repair bid resolution 25-28 resolution appointing a fund commissioner may I have a motion to place those two items on the floor for consideration moved moved by Mr benad there a second second by Mr Higgins uh roll call please council member bueri yes council member D bened yes council member Higgins yes Council Sparta yes mudo yes carries resolution 25-29 a resolution appointing a Risk Management Consultant I have a motion to place this item under the floor for consideration move move by Mr Higgin second second by Mrs bueri there comments on question yes this this subject comes up later on as well when we went to the State Health Plan apparently required to have a Risk Management Consultant as part of our contract using the State Health Plan not just that the risk management uh consultant also deals with any of our um Insurance like claims um any kind of a um if like workman's comp any of liability yeah liability all of that so they're just not dealing with our insurance right which they are but they're also dealing with all the other aspects of our you know any kind of like said like all the liability and stuff so we have to have risk management that deals with all of this the other things that they also do they provide training to the staff for items such as uh discrimination policies or you know to avoid any problem in that area we had training right yeah we had training we had a training with the with them remember bill but yeah Gent so they have it's kind of a all-encompassing situation yeah the reason I asked because it came up here and then later on it's it's listed under one of the other resolutions and it says in one of the other resolutions that the Risk Management Consultant is a must if you use the State Health Plan up to $135,000 so it's uh whoever gets appointed for those jobs has some pretty good inside track it's uh so we're required to have a Risk Management Consultant yes required not an opt okay that's come well the also the risk manag will look at your potential liabilities and and risks of being sued and they make sure that you have the proper insurances in place both statutory and if you may have a know strange ice hockey rink or the skateboard type things they they would look at that they make sure that they're covering under your policies and if not then they would get Riders so that that's they just don't get the insurance they look to the Future to see if there's anything that's going to happen that you could have a potential problem so you're Cod okay because if you combine him in with the other attorneys all of our attorneys and that he's the highest paid and uh the all the attorneys we have add up to about 280,000 this brings the total to about 340 70 expensive person yeah he's not an an attorney he'll get I think he or risk manager would get gets a percentage of what the insurance is it's a commission I think right yes yeah and for that commission he does all those Services I.E making sure that you have the right training making sure that you have the right policies when there's a claim he will handle it you know he'll interface with the administrator they'll advise him of of certain things and they'll make sure again all the policies and procedures are and he just happens to be the same you know he's also our health benefits consultant that's why you're seeing the second amount on him so they're also our risk management but they're also the health benefits Consultants so they're the company that deals with any of our problems with our health insurance uh and making sure that everything is in line with all of that also getting you're seeing the second amount on they get paid separately for the uh so they're getting double double PID well they're doing more than two jobs but there's other like our consultant is one person underneath that company the for the actual um for all of this for the risk management there's there's a few of them um few employees that we deal with that deal with some of them deal with the safety issue some deal with the training issue they deal with a lot of the training with the DPW and the municipality um so there's there's different roles and we've been sorry goad goad we've been using the same risk manager for how long since I've been here yes so there's no competition and no other person bidding for that position or that service that anybody's aware of you you don't you don't have to advertise for Professional Services I think the that's but you do evaluate you do evaluate other other applicants but it's it's uh it's not something that you don't go out to bid for it go out to bid do they hold any liability based on their recommendations like if they recommend something question and okay they do the company does yes okay usually professional liability insurance excellent question thank you yeah yeah the whole area could be a potential savings for us if we go out to bid on some of these things and look for other resources because I've noticed a lot of the other names of uh Consultants that are on our list are ones well before our time here it's like a annual rubber stamp you've got the job again for another year and and move on it's a funny way of doing business that's it's the way it's done yes Council membera yes counc member yesc member Sparta yes yes she carries resolution 25-30 appointing the Ada cour orator 25-31 appointment of the public agency compliance officer may I have a motion place these two items on the floor motion motion made by Miss Fury is there a second second second by C benedetto uh roll call please council member buer yes council member yes council member Higgins yes council member Sparta yes president reso yes motion carries resolution 25-32 establishing interest rates for delinquent property tax and assessment may I have a motion to place this on make that motion motion made by Mrs bueri is there a second second second by Mr Higgins questions or comments yes I was reading through this and it's it's a general comment if somebody gets behind in their taxes they're not coming out of this very easily this is It's the penalties are so severe that you we forcing foreclosures in my opinion or if somebody in a lower income area Gets behind they're going to they're going to have a 6% uh delinquency on $110,000 and then they're going to have a 18% on the first $1,500 then they're going to have a year end penalty of 6% this is like uh Usery it's it's it's really unbelievable and the our goal would be to get people to have the chance if they get behind to come out of it not to uh give up and and just walk away those are statutory so when someone falls behind in taxes you know they given notice but what happens is it'll go to a foreclosure and these companies will bid on purchasing those um those those leans those monies and the person who owns that house can always buy them back from them at a certain time if they don't then there's a process where then those entities can foreclose and take those properties it's a very that's a very difficult process are are those entities Bound by these same interest rates or no uh yes they yes yes so so it makes no difference if if the town holds those Le I say hold the leans but um if those leans are not sold the town charges the same interest rates as these other companies and they acrew yes so and it's up to the tax assessor um they not here but they would uh they go out every so many years and and put these up up for sale yeah tax sales so the interest rate is the same whether it's levied against the homeowner or a commercial yeah someone who bought it out and these interest rates because I agree they are high bill I don't agree with you at all but I there's they're statutory like these rates are established by the state legislature yes so you you couldn't go you know 50% we can't change so we can't go lower sh then why would we vote on it yeah we have to vote on stuff all the time that the state legislature tells us to vote on so what happens if we vote no and it doesn't pass then it gives then then it's an issue with regard to your tax assessor and and what they can can can't do to get the taxes and collect the taxes so this is you you you you what you're doing is you're putting a a penalty for for people who don't pay their taxes because if there is no interest then it's a free loan I get it it's just the penalty and it's a free just forcing people into foreclosure and that's really unfortunate on the other side of it that it's a free loan on the back of everybody else who has paid their taxes yeah but 18% it's high oh it's crazy it's it's like a credit card I would assume this has been applied to some of our most large delinquent taxpayers in town I'm sure yes but this could be extraordinary the owed over the real taxes and you can't negotiate it and hopefully it's uh positioned fairly to all no you can't negotiate it it is what it is you can't you can't wave it then number six on there it says the Chief Financial Officer is hereby authorized to make investments for the township of so the CFO invests the money that we collect is that is that the interpretation of that line I believe so yes so we know where that money goes yes generally there's very few places that you can place Township funds you certainly can't put it in a stock market however you can put it in CDs you can put it in savings accounts money market and you know those types of things anything that's guaranteed and covered by FDIC okay just as a like Brad said I'm going to go on record saying no on this and uh it's just unfair but it's the way it is so yeah are looking at I think that was 25 20 2532 call please yes council member D benedetto no council member Higgins no council member Sparta yes president rudo yes motion carries resolution 2533 designating meeting dates of the township Council for the 2025 calendar year may I have a motion to place this on the floor for consideration moved second benedetto is there second second second second by Mrs buer comments on this so we don't usually have the second meetings in November and December should we just strike them off now and I think it's better the other way adver to advertise it we can always cancel it but then if we ever get into a problem then we have to read vertise it got it and you okay the time element um any other questions are I just have a couple conflict that's all on that yeah on a couple dates I'm going to be at at a state yeah I've got a couple too all right um see we're giving you adequate time to prepare your or you giving me adequate time to figure out when I want to go away I've already got something but okay roll yes yes yes yes president yes um resolution 25-34 resolution of the township of Vernon appointing municipal prosecutor resolution 25-35 resolution 25-36 a resolution of tach for verer appointing a municipal public defended I have a motion to place I'll make that motion move by Mr if there a second second second by Mr Sparta all in favor signify by saying I I oos motion carries so president can we do a roll call certainly should have done should have done that original roll call please council member buer yes council member D benedetto yes council member Higgins yes council member Sparta yes yes council president rudo yes motion carries resolution 25-37 appointments to the luse board I have a roll call I'm sorry a motion to place the sign make that motion motion made by Mrs gueri there a second second second by Mrs de benedetta reason I asked this one be separated is I believe the mayor was going to list the people who were being uh placed on the LAN board I'd like to know if the uh business administrator can list those individual they're also listed in resolution all right so um for the land for William Higgins uh class three froming 116 2026 John auberger class one term expiring 11426 Martin theal class 4 term expiring 1142 29 Andrea Cula class five four term expir 114 2029 PA alternate two term expiring 114 2027 Craig Williams alternate three term expiring 114 2026 thank you why does Bill get an extra two days don't know that iy think he is does it have to do because of the reord 114 of I'm sorry you WR it 16 oh no that's okay I could I thought it was okay that was I'm not giving them two extra days he's good thank you uh roll yes M yesin Alain council member Sparta yes council president rudo with pleasure yes motion carries uh continuation of the beautification committee [Music] um and continuation of the economic development advisory committee may I ask whoever has the is to address this are they for the same reason I didn't I didn't I think it was you yeah I think you probably because the mayor was gonna read them oh okay yes we thank you reading my mind I information thank you uh may I have a motion to place resolution 25-38 and 25-39 on the floor for consideration I'll make that motion motion made by Mrs bueri is there a second second second by Mr Sparta and that was exactly for the beautification committee they have seven to nine open spots um we only have Heidi La one term expiring January 14 2026 all he has on um do you want me to go on to please um the economic development uh advisory committee all onee terms expiring January 14 2026 Bruce Campbell Evan Kovach L and then it says James J okay okay thank you any other question a roll call please council member yes council member D benedetto yes council member Higgins yes council member Sparta yes council president R yes motion carries resolution 25-40 authorizing the mayor and municipal clerk to sign an agreement susex for nutrition site premises for senior citizen um I make a motion I'll make make a motion second second second amendment Sparta roll call council member bueri yes council member D benedetto yes council member Higgin yes council member Sparta yes council president rudo yes motion carries um resolution 25-41 resolution regarding dual enrollment by the township employees in New Jersey municipal employee benefits fund NJ mebf may have a motion to place this item on the floor for consideration moved moved by Mr second seconded by Mr Mrs leri I mentioned uh I'm I would like to have a motion to table this because I think this is an item that requires the input of the mayor uh or unless the uh business administrator is able to uh resolve this but I think there's some cons concern over one of the uh one situation shows a uh substantial payment for waiver and then another one has no waiver uh for payment on that uh and I kind of I'm I'm at pill at ease we're discussing this in public I would like to if you can't this okay I'm make a motion to table Mr is there a second second second by Mr Higgins uh all in favor signify by saying I or call roll call certainly yes Ao no uh no no council president Ruda yes motion does not carry okay so the resolution 25-41 um my table and I will bring we can bring it up again 25-41 a resolution regarding dual enrollment by Township employees in New Jersey Municipal Employee benefits fund uh are there any questions on this comments we need another motion to put it back on the table yes yes because this is previous one was was table okay so we need you need a first and a second yes okay is there for I'll I'll make the motion motion made by Mr Sparta to motion this second second second by Mr piggins all in favor signif byby we have sorry roll call please we have discussion first so sir so um there's no number here what the what the waiver sipen or know bonus is so what's what's the number if they wave the insurance um I believe in November you guys um approved a resolution for the waiver for certain individuals so that would be the number oh the the question with this resolution is because certain employees are to like opt out because they're they're they're married or they're yes I understand that it's part of the New Jersey yes so if they have the same Insurance when we were under State Health the State Health Plan before we switched over it was the state law yeah I understand that okay so this now that we switched over to the H the new insurance this is just saying that we're following the same way that we did with the state that doesn't make any that doesn't answer my question what's the amount the money would be the same amount of money okay what is it we were to if you guys were if we didn't have this and we decided to pay those employees that opted out they would be getting paid the same amount of money as the waiver what what is w though I don't remember go up to like $5,000 or they have 2% of I think part of a deduction of their like health insurance and the employees like up here would have up to like $5,000 is what they can get is that what you're asking yeah I don't it is confusing so I understand I I just want to back it up a second there's a couple a handful of of employees in our Township that were not eligible for the waiver because they had a spouse that was in the state plan yes so now that that's changed and they're still waving Insurance because they're still going to be on their spouses they are eligible to get the waiver that everybody else was was getting if they had a spouse that gave them that had gave them coverage that was not state plan because this has been happening for a while right like right well that was Prior yes that was Prior and then when they we went to the state plan you couldn't do that so when we switched over to this no wait I I'm I'm confused when we went to the state plan if I'm a ver Township employee and my spouse is not a state employee they have another job with benefits that's what I'm saying yes I know about this is talking about employees like say you were here that's what I just said I don't think you're listening to me Tina so my spouse was a state employee and I had coverage through them when we were state plan I could not get the waiver right that's what I said yes so now we don't have state plan anymore I am still covered by my spouse it doesn't matter if it's a state plan it doesn't matter if it's a private plan I'm now eligible to get that waiver because we don't have the state plan anymore even though my spouse might cover me with the state plan yes but okay this is what we're when we switched over to state plan we were following suit with the the same plan so our the purpose of this was that if if you had like the same thing like say because now your husband has a state plan and you have something different you could do it yeah but if your husband also switched over and you both were on the same plan then you couldn't so what I'm saying is is we have two employees that are married in this Township okay and they have this same plan okay then they then they cannot be included for the waiver am I the only person that this is not making sense if we passed it if you pass if we pass it if you pass am I only understanding this it's an open open I'm confus are you confused I'm confused Tina I'm sorry I don't think you're no ter I don't want to get in trouble for speaking um it it doesn't makes sense to me I mean if if we you know if we if we owe our our employee a waiver I that's fine it's just this isn't it's just not making sense so you're saying what I thought you said Tina was I have AB so Vernon has ABC Insurance now and oh lo and behold my spouse has ABC Insurance too so I still wouldn't be eligible for the waiver because it's the same insurance plan even though it's not State yes that if you pass this if I pass this they're not eligible for the waiver or they yes correct so here's my understanding you have you have plan a both people are on plan a yeah and and one of the two did not take a waiver because they were not eligible to take away wasn't allowed we went to it you're shaking your head no I'm wrong doesn't is so Marc is it okay president if I Okay so my husband had a health plan at his job and I have one here if we took my husband's Health Plan and not mine from here I would have gotten a waiver okay right because you're not both in employed by the same would have gotten a waiver not taking the health insurance from here right we have um employees here at it at Vernon Township that are married that both work at Vernon Township so this would not allow one person to take to get the waiver because one of them is taking the insurance from here the second person is covered under their spous policy by us be eligible for a waiver like any other married employee that doesn't have a spouse that works in the town so this would stop that waiver for the married people that work together in Vernon Township that would be covered regardless yes and it say it saves the town money yes and that's what usually these waivers meant to do to kind of give them an in those people from getting the waiver gotcha so now I'm confused I'm sorry so I was all settled and now I'm conf so if one spouse works in the town and one does not you get the waiver you get the waiver oh okay you could choose which if you're both employed here this part I understand I didn't know that everybody's getting a waiver if their spouse works of not everybody you op you don't choose the ins that's what I mean yeah so like I have a husband who works in the private sector and I take his insurance I get a waiver yes can we just stop all the waivers well you stop because I mean I took I when my husband was alive I took the insurance from here and he got a waver from his job so a lot of a lot of companies do that because it's less expensive than giving employe the insurance here's here's my argument on that right here's my and this has been my argument now for 15 years when employees had to start when public employees had to start paying for their benefits what's their recourse if they don't get the waiver to take the benefits and have to pay the premium out of their pocket that they have to pay that's that all the waiver if the waivers in my mind should stop because the employees have no recourse to quote unquote get back at that their employer I won't say the town their employer because now they have to pay a portion of their premium through their paycheck so their only recourse is now say well you know what then I'm going to take the benefits I'm going to cost a town 20 or 30,000 bucks but in the meantime they have to spend eight or $10,000 in premium to get it right so I I mean I went through this for years on another board and I people can't get it through their heads I'm I'm J said it in Jess sorry that all waiver should stop I do believe all waiver should stop get for a private company we don't have waivers yeah we don't have them yeah okay now I understand it thank you Tina I'm sorry I just was it was not sinking in to but it's getting late again the waiver is to take someone out of the insurance plan to reduce the town's cost of that insurance yeah so if it but it doesn't apply to you if your SP not gonna take it because they have to pay out of their pocket they can they could who in their right mind is gonna pay $8,000 out of their pocket to prove a point I'm not gonna I'm not going to say who someone who was an eled official and his wife was was on the school board a teacher he was taking insurance and she also had a play so people would do that so for cover let him do it out a spite I mean but but get divorced yeah you give you if you're paying for a policy of 30,000 and you you in incentivize them here's a few thousand do not to take that you're it's countering to but you're saving money off your premium right think we should I think that's what that's what this this would do what happens if both parties are on the same policy for the same employer and the party could request a separate policy or is there a is there a mechanism where the employee that one of the employees can request a some type of an incentive uh to not request the policy their own policy mared that's what this is that's that would be the waiver yeah that's waiver yeah that's what this is or not so so what we're saying then just to be clear person says I have a right to that policy if you pay me X number number of dollars and I signed this waiver then uh it's cost the township less because I've taken the I I have the waiver but and you've given me a small modum of money whatever it is whatever is agreed upon is that amount of money that's paid to that employee on an annual basis or a one-time basis annual that I I just don't see how that because they're still but they're on the policy all the time right cost us 30 grand they're going to cost themselves 10 grand because they're going to pay 35% of that premium I that's why I wanted this table because it's to me it's confusing it what well that's why I was asking it's not clear so but you've helped I understand it to the as as best I can yes it makes sense now and Suppose there isn't a a payment but that payment is basically a deferment supposed now does this money go into your pension benefits no what's outside no this is incorporated into their their salary they get it so it's pensionable I don't I don't think a waiver is pensionable oh it's not because I know that they divide it within their salary for but I don't think it's pable it's not yeah it's not no they don't get one lump sum it's divided over it's not part of your salary the way so it can't be pensionable yeah but there is a monetary yeah but it's like a stien it's like a stien C maybe the risk manager should come and explain it that's quick yeah that was kind of the reason why I wanted to have this separated well we can vote on it on we don't want to table it if someone wants to make another motion table they can make another motion you guys gonna shoot it down I'm not I'm not asking you out twice to get shot down I'll do it make a motion to the table I'll second it stop all further discussion exact council member busher yes council member benetto no council member Higgins no council member Sparta no you're like I don't know if they Chang their mind or not I know I didn't and we're Charlie Brown exactly what that was what the heck nice guys folks nice guys write all that down okay so let's I know have a vote let's have the vote no call please another oh we have to okay make a motion that we put it back on the floor seeu 241 2541 resolution regarding dual enrollment by Township employees and the New Jersey Municipal Employees benefits fund njm BF I have a motion moved moved by Mrs de benedetto is there a second second Mr Higgins roll call please council member yes council member yes council member Higgins yes no council president rudo no uh resolution 25-42 resolution 20 uh resolution authorizing Grant application New Jersey Department of Community Affairs for 2025 loc resolution 25- 43 resolution to adopt the cash management plan 2025 resolution 25-44 authorizing sign on checks pursuant to njsa 40a col 5-16 I have a motion to place these on the floor for consideration I'll make that motion motion made by Miss is there a second second second by Mr benetto roll call yes member dto yes member Sparta yes council president yes resolution 25-45 a resolution to the adoption of a 25 2025 temporary Municipal budget can I have a motion to I'll make that motion motion made by Mrs bueri is there a second second second by Mr Sparta um this is for the adoption of our temporary budget I I have a uh any questions or comments of the budget the uh this is the first quarter budget right right so if if you take the cost or the estimated cost the first quarter budget compared to the budget that we have now we have a $31.6 million budget 25% of that compared to what we're asking for is a 4 million increase right I I how can we vote for a temporary budget that's that much higher first the budget is just that a temporary budget when it's when the final budget is approved it it's applied to that number okay but secondly what you're looking at are uh the continuation of payments uh to uh people that rely on our fun for example the Board of Education that number is has to be satisfied out of the temporary budget uh and any of the uh other numbers that I believe the the the uh the uh that Dell has uh requested because you know in reviewing her needs he finds that those numbers are going to be greater than it's going to be available if we were just to take a numerical uh you know 25% it it just doesn't work you have salary and wages and stuff that are increasing because of contracts no matter what so they're increasing so that could be the possibility of the why the funds is more than what it normally is and you're also paying things upfront like for gas you know consumables up front you the blank check is what it is and could cost us uh million dollar because it's $4 million on the year million dollars on the quarter but we're going to approve a budget like that will over you know what I mean like it'll will Shore it up Bill actually you know like on the resolution it explains like where all the money are going these are all things that need to be paid I asked Al to give me a breakdown uh December 23rd she did on the two uh contracts that were approved this board voted for the uh afcme and the UAE contracts right and uh the questions were never asked what's the cost for those contracts so we broke it down so it turns out that uh the total of the afscme will be uh $277,000 and that's 21% over the course of the 5year contract or 4.34 per year perc so it's a combined cost of those contracts is 4 . 34% the cost of the UAW was 4.08% that's the increase in salaries and benefits and so they were passed but the consideration of where the money's coming from to pay for this is never discussed and uh so now it's done and now we're being asked to find a way to pay for these and actually you know as my review for the first year of being on the council that's the single biggest thing that I find that we have to improve in uh the the facts that don't come out come out later and now these two contracts were passed now we got to find a way to pay for it it should be find a way to pay for it as part of the increase and uh so that's that's what we're faced with right now so they're combined together is a cost of $600,000 for these two contracts and where's it going to fit and we're being asked to go ahead and and say yes to an extra billion dollars in the first quarter and with a line line listing of all of the various temporary Appropriations without knowing what the current Appropriations are so you know if if you go by this it could be everyone's exactly the same as last year except for maybe one line could be a million dollars higher there's no explanation of where the increases are here here they are but what do they compareed to I can't vote on something with this much information it's just not right I think the information given with that money that we're we're appropriating right now for this for the first quarter budget is is simply an estimate based upon what the business the uh Finance administrator you know the chief Finance has determined is necessary when she be when the township presents its budget to the council and we look at it the total amounts will be in that for the next for the first quarter and the next three succeeding quarters and that's when you you can look at the whole but at some but the contracts which were approved you know do need to be funded and you know that it's it's just the way the dates lie buil uh you know we have I believe we have to have our cont our uh our uh budget approved by before the end of March is that correct team yes so so we're looking at probably getting our first look at budgets in the early part of February um you know I haven't had a discussion with the mayor about that yet and to see what you know where it goes but uh it I know it seems like we're kind of putting the cart before the horse but it's only because of the dates well the dates yeah you have a fiscal year and you got a calendar year and they're not matching up exactly but but it's the assumption is there's an increase I'll tell you what you can ask more questions than anybody I and I'd stop if I got answers but I don't always get them we'll keep plug it okay that's my statement that's it yeah okay and anybody else uh roll call yes m d benetto yes council member no council member s yes council president rudo yes carries thank you authorized change order number one for uh uh resolution 2546 for authorizing change order uh number one for Vernon Township Pump Station number two replacement and you have a motion to place this on the on the floor for consideration by Mr spart is there a second second second by Mrs benedetta [Music] um is there a question on this yes uh yes I believe my question I'm trying to find it yes did uh Mountain Creek offer to pay for this up front I remember from a council meeting that I took some notes on not this was not not in the last year not this station I believe it was the another the other station yeah there's one that they did it's a different one okay I thought I thought I heard them say this the one that there was some question as to who's it was because of where it was located but the uh the new one that's just been put up I don't this is not it I thought this was the one that was down by black R Pump Station to that Mountain Creek paid for station two is down there is this is this being paid for by m this is I guess this is another part of the amount that when they were working on something they they were short a difference in the size of the pump yeah so that's the money that they're looking well I I have a couple of questions then one up on the top says authorizing change order number one but now it says now therefore be resolved by the council in Township r that hereby approves and authorized a mayor to execute s said change order number three because I remember doing another change work because they thought the tiin point was going to be at one location and once they got into the project because I asked a question about it how how did not how did somebody not know where the tiin location was was in another location which calls for more pipe being uh having to be installed engineered and installed so I know there's been one other change order so I don't know why this would be change order number one and then down below it says change order number three I to let Natalie want to hold this off until we get answer from this the and plus there's nothing that says this is for the uh the alarm we're still on it okay for this is for the additional alarm and monitoring conditions or the pump station SE um I'll make a motion to table this motion made table second seconded by Mr Higgins call please I will vote yes no yes even though you guys council member dto yes member Higgin yes yesc president I'll go along with my vice president we're not going to hold the grage right Pat um resolution 2537 authorizing the award of a contract for Professional Services may I have a motion I'll make that motion motion made Byer is is there a second second by Mr Higgins any questions on this yeah questions were some of the same ones I had on the previous one with the gentleman who was going to be paid 70,000 so here we have a laundry list of uh Consultants Defenders you name it and uh it just seems to be a rubber stamp of everybody's approved year after year with no change it's like a annuity contract for them so my my point is I think we should pay attention to possibly getting some competition for some of these people and uh we might get better service and lower rates that's the way it works will you look into that D yes okay any any other questions no is I mean I don't know if you can answer this question is is there a reason why we don't do an RFP every once in a while for Professional Services I mean it doesn't have to be an RFQ at least in RFP people can put in proposals for things and we have a chance to and forgive me if I'm I'm wrong Mr King but we have through an RFP we can at least we don't we're not tied into the lowest bidder we can go ahead and and choose what what proposal fits our situation best is that correct yes you can pre-qualify so why why would we not do an RFP for for some of these Professional Services maybe not all of them every single year but why not take there's um how many are here 10 some of them are like 13 of them it's public defender I don't think we have I think that comes from the Visage right like when we no that's the judge oh that's the judge okay public defender there's there's a new Municipal prosecut year yeah um but I I just don't I can tell you that on those four ran to find yeah yeah yeah no doubt I I get that but there's um you know I don't want to harp on the auditor but I I I did when they were here last year and nobody can ever remember the last time someone other than nisaia did our auditing and anything that I've ever been involved with I tried fighting this fight at another location you know every five to seven years you should be at least looking at another auditing firm uh or having partners rotate I asked our auditor here when she was La last year and I think she's she's been involved with our audit for a very very very long time I just don't know why we would not go out for an RFP on on four of them and rotate them uh every year and agree with Mr Higgins maybe look at have some fresh eyes and and maybe save some money I mean there is a considerable amount of money that is tied in it's not totaled up to these things but it's got to be it's got to be half a million dollars in in Professional Services that AR red it is not to exceed but still my two cents any other questions roll yes council member dto yes member Higgins yes fla yes yes carries and moving now to our ordinance introduction of ordinance 25 d01 cend the year 2025 in ordinance to exceed the municipal budget appropriation limits and to establish a cap njsa 48 colon 4-44 5.14 may I have a motion to introduce this ordinance I'll make that motion motion made by Mrs bueri is there a second second second by Mr Sparta member buer yes council member D benedetto no council member Higgins no council member Sparta yes council president rudo yes 16 mayor oyal appointments the boards commissions and committees I I believe uh do you have those yes all right so we already went through the landing board for the senior citizen committee Veronica rler to an unexpired term ending 1:14 2026 um the board of recreation all threeyear terms expiring uh January 14 [Music] 2028 Carolyn coase ebony Erikson Tammy Peak Denise banac and Patricia Vance cus sorry if I screwed up anyone's name um the environmental commission Barbara jagie appointed to a three-year term expiring January 14th 2028 and then the historic cation comme Janet redy appointed to a 4-year term expiring January 14 2029 thank you um public comment in the floor uh may I have a motion motion motion made by Mr spart second by Mrs bueri floor is open for public comment for five minutes on any cpic anybody wishes to come make a comment you're welcome to not may I have a motion to close the Florida public com move by Mr spart is there second second by Mrs gueri all in favor signify by saying I Caris uh the mayor leave his comments that's that all right ccel comments Mr Higgins yeah a couple comments as usual but uh it's ended my first year and I thought it was a very good experience hopefully for everybody and I I I really appreciate the way the meetings are run set up the preparation time and the work that the president vice president and the court put together to put the agendas together and uh the just as a video cameras I think still consider repositioning the video cameras so that the audience can see more of who's speaking and not sitting I know the mayor used to sit over on this side and he was visible to everybody and things have changed but there have been the public has made comments that when people are speaking they can't see what they're saying and there could be some repositioning to improve some of the sites that the people see that we're at and uh just a comment the the uh the ba is always here at the meeting I think the CFO should be here as well because a lot of the questions are are Financial you're not expected to know all the answers Tina and it would be nice to get the meetings going so we don't have to wait another month for some of the answers that the CFO answer and uh that'll do it thank M dead yeah so um I just want to again apologize for asking the question I asked earlier tonight I didn't mean to create um all that chaos I genuinely was curious because I hadn't had that conversation I'll leave it there but I wanted to apologize to everybody um also the second thing I wanted to mention was about the resolution with the vouchers I wasn't here in the for the November meeting where we voted for those I would have voted no I'm sorry but I would have um I just wanted to mention that and that's all I have sport just look forward to another year of progress I think last year I said it before I thought we had a very good year last year uh between the council and the mayor and um business administrator and CFO I thought the budget process last year went very very well uh this year I think it's going to be a little bit more difficult to carry on um some of the things that that we hope would carry on a little bit further but um I'll say also my patients are starting to wear very thin with the uh Legends deal and uh that's why I hope there's some progress made in u the next couple weeks otherwise I'm going to be making a suggestion at the next meeting uh for board support on something so or Council support on something so I hope there's progress Rich um just want to uh just recognize all the volunteers um we had a large group of our firefighters here we have a a lifetime volunteer who's been a trooper and stayed through the meeting it's probably much worse than going on ambulance calls staying here this mon um and uh and all the volunteers that Tina highlighted and in our committee so we have a just a great I think Community here with a lot of um people that care about their Community whether it's um getting you know up in the middle of the night for a fire or making sure our town looks um you know pretty with flowers and decorations um economic issues land use Bo uh just a lot of of people it takes a lot of people um volunteers unpaid positions to do that so I just want to acknowledge all those that are willing to step up and um let them know that we appreciate that looking forward to a good year I I agreed with Mr spart I think we had um a lot of progress last year I think um the mayor and the council accomplished some great things and we need to moving forward in that vein I also um am uncomfortable with the lack of progress with Legends and I uh look forward to talking about that in the future thank you thank you uh I would like to thank the council for once again expressing their support for me and appointing me their their electing me their president for another year um and as far as trying to move some these projects along I think we are going to be looking at a changing macroeconomic environment I I believe that might hold some promise in terms of making funding more available uh in the the discussions that I'm hoping that we can bring forward uh with the Redevelopment attorney I believe he's going to be preparing some documents that that the council will be able to review and make some decisions off of that because there are timelines included in those unfortunately they're not as fast as my friend Mr Sparta would like him to be but he's he's much younger I'm getting greater though Pat listen talking to Mr over here and yes but I thank you for your you know keeping this thing moving to me I I look at this because it's probably one of the single biggest problems that we have I can tell you that there are some Alternatives already being discussed and that uh and these again we'll talk about uh and that the issues that are uh acting somewhat of an impediment are things that are certainly out of our control and uh supposedly out of control of the of the buyer so we'll see what happens but we can talk about it but I thank you and I'm I'm being very very I'm being very very cautious AB totally understand absolutely because you know my my understanding is there is no sale okay and I don't think we all I think we all agree on that right if there was a sale we wouldn't be having this discussion yeah right so what's happened now we've got to kind of make sure that the time that's been invested basically this started March 9th of last this past year that as we move into this current year um you know we're we we spent a lot of time and I hate to see that time go to waste you know because you really can't recapture time so and we have to start all over again so thank you very very much uh um I will get back to you and Marcy will get back to you on the any dates that come up for discussion on the budget uh we'll have those included either in a special session meeting or a uh we'll have it as part of our regular meeting I don't like to do it as regular because otherwise we'd be here until one o'clock in the morning no and I know you know you guys have to work yeah go to work tomorrow okay thank you may I have a motion to adjourn mve second moved by Mr Higgins second by Mr SC all in favor signify by saying I I motion opposed motion car thank you good night everybody good night have a good night and are we off no no