handle letter I'm not on camera yet I call the meeting to order clerk please read the statement for the meeting adequate notice of this regular meeting was provided to the public in the Press on January 19 2025 J 104-7
thank you please all rise and join me in the pledge to our flag I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one
nation indivisible with liy and justice for allary here council member D Ben present council member Higgins council member sporta present council president rudo
here before I move into our agenda I'd like to bring to the Public's attention a a loss that I learned of one of our citizens following our last
meeting I didn't know this particular lady very well I met her uh few times uh I can tell you that uh this person was honored by the
community by the township and I'd like to make the public aware that passing of Mrs Ellen mixner who was a uh formerly a uh a
senior had you know a senior uh senior of the Year senior of the Year thank you in 19 in 2021 she honored us uh as a HomeTown hero in 2022
um the times that I encountered her and met her she was a very lovely lady very happy and I think the thing that I would treasure most if I were a member of her family was the way that
she was honored by her her friends um everybody seemed to gather around her uh they like to be in her company and
uh she was very very active in responding to uh these people in terms of uh providing uh services for the uh people
who were not able to uh get food coming around to their to their homes um and she seemed to be very active in any number of activities she uh made herself active
us with project elf with the Vernon Police Department and U as I said the church pantry and uh During the covid period She was uh very
active in getting food and services through her uh members of the community uh the fact that she was so honored by
the people who uh recognized her for her activities as I said speaks highly and I think should be considered very very strongly with Honor by the her own family so with that I would would like
to ask for a moment of silence and memory of mixer thank you this evening we will have a uh is there a presentation on loap yes the commissioner is here he wants to update um the council um how
VAP has been yes affecting them okay I've read over the report it seems quite extensive and I think quite quite promising the report that you received was actually from Kevin Duffy from uh the first he is out of the country was
um not available to make it so he wanted to make sure that you were all aware of How It's actually affecting them right council president uh it's not going to be much of a presentation it's just to give you more more stats as to how many people have joined
since just with the expectations are want to make sure that no PowerPoint then no you want yes please absolutely oh PowerPoint I didn't get to type it up we had a call this afternoon butn fire commissioner Deputy
Commissioner Jeff Anderson deputy chief James Roberto from company one um so it's a very fairly new program we just did our first 2024 was our first year but some of the stats that we have um from 23 to 24 we responded to
486 fire calls which was a 11% increase from 2023 um of the membership we had 59 members townwide qualify for the uh earn the points for qualification for 202 they range from members that were
from ages 18 to over 80 years old so we getting new members and we're getting the old members are coming back out to help support in 2024 we had 13 new members join the fire
department is that townwide John townwide correct all these stats are townwide between the four fire companies and put in perspective from 2020 2022 we had seven members join
townwide 2023 was our best year ever we had uh 20 new members joined and the loap is helping to encourage them we put 19 members through the fire academy uh two went to Bay the
remaining went to Sussex County uh they put in 290 hours of service that earn their certificates last year that made up 48% of the trained members of the suss County Fire Academy were members of the Vern Township fire
service and this year in 2025 we have MERS recruits in the fire one two class and we have seven members in that if the guys from last year and some older members are Barling their education in the Fire officer development and chief
officer we have seven members and according to the academy that's 64% of those development classes are members of the Vernon Town fire service so it's good these members are joining they're going through the education as they are the future of the
fire service and the growth of the fire service and of the calls that we responded uh the 486 the fire service answered every single one we didn't have to go no Mutual Aid one of the four fire companies respond to every
call from 23 to 24 we're getting about 50% more responding members out to every call when you read the hear those numbers of 20 members joining 13
and 59 qualified you can see in the past that we were really struggling prior to the the program being introduced one of the key things I see is other than the getting the older members that are out hting guys because
a lot of the applications come through the fire commissioner they're coming from other towns they're moving the Vernon what's the fire service need members what do we have to offer we're even getting um some retired career guys and some active career guys
joining to help serve the town of Vernon in the data that shows that we uh we have a program that tracks all of our hours because you have to earn the 100 points so we had about 500 hours a little over 500 hours of community service and mandatory training that the
members went to they included the car show Trunk or Treat the tree lighting multiple fireworks standbys um the community garden water tank down at on 517 we keep that filled once or twice a week especially this fall when
it was really dry it was quite often um like I said before we had the largest growth in the fire service within the county of Sussex which in turn we've actually been added different fire companies been added to help mutually a the surrounding
towns because F town is and getting trucks on the road especially during the day when it's a little lackluster for everyone and some of the surrounding towns are uh using the help once again a lot of it is uh has to
do with the administration and the councle supporting the fire service helps give a positive attitude back from the top through the membership the ranks through the membership it just gives the guys a positive attitude that want to come out and serve the
citizens than anyone has any questions it's pretty much they said it's only one year in so hard to get too good of data but it's drastically improving there used to be a time and I can only speak on behalf of Poa we get a
call and there three or four guys would be all that showed up right now the trucks are rolling out and there's not enough seats yeah that's great impressive numbers yeah yeah so it is working y amulance Squad the same thing they amulance Squad yeah they
Kevin yeah has it they're getting uh extra similar I think they added over close to 30 members this past 302 members he said today 32 members have enrolled they're definitely seeing an increase as well and we're seeing on the calls that were're running together normally they have two on a rig now
they're up to three or four and even getting two to three rigs out right during a night where sometimes they even struggle to get one yeah they're just works made it work you know yeah it's helping yeah and the other surrounding towns of noticing it to like he was saying we're getting added Mutual a onto
different box laws for surrounding towns because they're seeing that we're able to get trucks on the road we're able to go out and help out the other surrounding towns as well there's been a couple fires that we went Mutual Aid where % of the work and the command staff was not by far in Township right and we've been added to box alarms as
far away as Branchville we go mutually to Warick on a pretty regular basis Pine Island hard most of us are on the box alarm for Hardon Hamburg and Franklin what kind of response do you get from or High School
you would to say probably of those 13 members probably four to five of them were from high school that weren't generational they were just coming yeah either seeing friends or we've set recruitments up at the college fairs so I'd say probably in that last group of 13 was four four to five of them from the high school they usually come in a
group like one joins and what's their retention on it do they generally stay with it most of those have went through the fire the fire one and two is a combined class now 280 hours yeah and if they are moving on they're usually getting career jobs back we just had one that's going to
Bethlehem we've previously had some that went to South Carolina North Carolina or even farest Florida and we're getting feedback from those departments that they're getting hired from and saying well wherever you came from they did a really good job of teaching you so getting good feedback from yeah I one
of the lead instructors at the Academy like you hear the numbers like we're setting the most people to the fire academy like those numbers are constantly there like we had a big class of 42 and we made up almost 28% of it great so Improvement for sure good job guys that's awesome out of the
surrounding towns how many of them have low sap all but Hamburg I believe yes now have they seen the any type of impact similar to Vernon or not quite as much um a lot of them have had it for a couple came out as far back as 2000 yeah
was hardest in but they've seen it postco is when their numbers went up theyve seen a lot of people moving in the town that but they were probably 2 one year but they're down in like one or two per year and we're also getting people moving into town that are members as
well it's it's good because we're not training we're just trading how Veron works and we're uploading um some of are turning around in the week as long as it passes everything makes the background check they're running the rigs you said that's a lot to ask of a career guy sometimes don't want to volunteer do enough for work work with getting them
to join indor retired guys that not hang up their hats and want to come continue to help is huge because like Jimmy said they're trained go through the application process and we get them some gear and they're good to go thank you very much appr
questions thanks for getting that information together counil one of the things that I worked uh with the commissioner Anderson here uh doing a shared service with partisan those those conversations are happening
right now because it takes C I think 20 minutes to reach say like the Crystal Springs um and they don't have a lad truck so it's one of the things where be able to help a couple ofs in process on
conversation but my my comment to you guys thank you again for everything you guys do the sacrifice you give every day thanks benad you have any question no questions I said thank you for your support if you have any questions feel
free to reach out thank you thank you thank you mayor comment president uh I just learned about uh Alan Minner so about my condolences to to the family the only thing I have is the
Hometown Heroes program if we can try to get um we're looking to send in all the uh applications to the program so we can get that ordered so by the end of the week we're hoping to close that up for
now um and then so we get our order where we can get those B we talk about the Flags right now yeah I didn't I never filled mine out I have it on my desk I'm G to do it tell tell Michelle I'll do I have it on my desk I just haven't filled it out but I'll do
it that's it that's why thank you may I have a motion to open the floor for public comment I'll make that motion motion made by U our vice president Mrs bueri and is there a
second second second by uh Mr Higgins all in favor signify by saying I iOS motion carries floor is open to the public for items on the agenda
only and you're limited to three minutes hi very short way coming up here H at this time uh to see if you allow me to speak on Ellen mner since I brought it up even though it's not on the agenda thank you and thank you for the moment
of silence as well Ellen mner was a fixture in Vernon for over 40 years where she and her husband Bob raised their five Sons throughout that time Ellen's commitment to her family and Community was unwavering and she gave so much of herself to the town that she
loved passed away on January 30th after long and hardfought battle with cancer Ellen dedicated much of her life to serving others Ellen and Bob were the founding members one of the founding members of the lacrosse Foundation raising funds through car washes baked sales Raffles and more because of their
dedication and commitment to the Youth of Vernon thousands of children had had the opportunity to play lacrosse they were also involved in the soccer program in town as well she worked as an aen Rolling Hills volunteered with the beautification committee I would often
see her and speak almost daily um out in August with water buckets of water you know watering the Planters because that was her job um she was involved with the blue Elf
program and even when faced with her own health battle she continued to put others first during the covid pandemic she delivered meals to seniors every day despite the fact that she was a senior herself and battling cancer in recognition of her selfless
efforts Ellen was named Vernon Senior of the year in 2021 and in 2022 Congressman gimer on honored her as veron's Hometown hero Ellen was also a Sussex County Senior Olympian and regularly volunteered at the Veron United Methodist Church food pantry where her
kindness and humility were EV evident to everyone who knew her and came across her these accomplishments are just a glimpse of Ellen's many contributions but they don't capture the full extent of her impact Ellen's kindness and generos generosity touched countless
lives in ways both seen and unseen to honor Ellen and the Legacy of Love service and compassion she leaves behind in the Vernon Community and Beyond I offer my condolences to her friends and her family members and um thank you for
letting me speak on her behalf thank you you're welcome is there anyone else wishing to come for my name is Carl cantino and I am a student who Mrs mner left impact on during her time working at Rolling Hills
um I worked with Mrs mner when I was in the second grade when I had Mrs Sparta as my teacher and there were things that I struggled with I was a handful of a student and there were things that I was very good at and things that I was very
bad at and Mrs mner would pull me out and work oneon-one with me and I remember her warmth and her empathy and her ability to make those topics that I struggled
with and those things that I wasn't very good at enjoyable she made me feel like there wasn't anything wrong with me and there's a lot of teachers that you don't remember I can speak as a teacher
there's a lot of teachers who you see a lot of lessons that you learn and then they go into a filing cabinet your brain and you never think about them again but I will never forget Mrs mikar and the impact she left on me and she will definitely be missed thank you
welcome you need you need no introduction how you doing the record uh C president I uh would you please I'm Howard BR and I live in Glennwood I used to live right across from the
council president but he chose to move he was an excellent neighbor council president zudo I'd like like thank you for your very gracious comments uh and to you and other members of the council thank you very much for this opportunity to speak I come here
tonight as part of a group of citizens who desire as you did to recognize the kind and caring contribution of one of our own who did what I call completed her walk across the stage of
life I speak of course of Ellen mner during the years that I had the privilege of serving the people of Vernon as their mayor among the times that I enjoyed the most for those times when I would join in events with those
members of the Vernon Township family who had actually withstood the slangs and errors of life to the extent that they had earned the right of being called senior citizens and the most special of these times were those annual opportunities
that I had the honor of announcing the name of the unique individual that the Vernon group of senior citizens had elected as the town's senior of the year and while I had known Mrs mner for years it was in her capacity as veron's
2001 senior of the year that I began to greatly appreciate and actually admire her immensely m m senior of the Year award was well deserved she was a very special
person she was one of the first individuals to Jo join an energized group of volunteers that came to be known throughout our town as the Vernon cares organization this was a dynamic organization that put together a free
Food Network During the period of the mental the emotional and the physical burdens caused by the awful covid-19 pandemic that hit the world that hit our country that hit our state our County
and of course hit our town during the first year that I was mayor this organization that business marer was a part of providing free meals 7 days per week with the goal of ensuring that no one in our community
who was in need of food when hungry and Mrs mner was not simply an individual whose name was on the membership Road of this organization she was an active working serving member in fact during the very early days of the
shutdown created by this covid pandemic Mrs mik began delivering meals to those homebound Veron seniors on a daily basis she also supported our senior citizen Community by some of the seniors shopping and by
taking them to doctor visits she also served as a vital member of one of our Town's most highly recognized and highly praised committees the Veron beautification committee and volunteered weekly at the Veron United Methodist Church Pantry by shopping by
organizing and distributing food to the hundreds of people who were in need of these Services it was during the year 2021 that our town began the enhanced recognition practice of having the street side bearing the name of the senior of the year that is posted at the
driveway entr to the senior citizen Senior Center side of the municipal center and it was Mrs mner who was the first senior of the year to be awarded this special recognition let me close by sharing with
you three of the comments from the multiple individuals who nominated her for the 2020 senior year this come directly from her application one individual who nominated her said everyone who crosses her path
is greeted with kindness and generosity another individual who nominated her said she is always finding time for others and for Lending a helping hand and the third individual who nominated her said she carries a
happy giving spirit everywhere she goes you know why know firsthand that Vernon has a plethora of outstanding citizens this is a great town with great people I come here tonight to join with others in paying recognition to Mrs
Ellen mner for the unique and caring role that she played in making Vernon Township a more Kinder and a more caring place to live and to raise a family thank you very much for all you doing thank you for this opportunity thank you
welcome you is there any else anyone else who wishes to speak seeing no one else coming before the council I'll ask for a motion to close the for of the public to move move by Mr Spartan second seconded by Mrs
bueri all in favor signify by saying I I I I carries all members of the council have received copies of the list andone have any comments or questions
on no I do um I don't really have a question about this the particular bill but um I see the snow you know some snow plowing pents made here and I know Brad has mentioned it a few times um you're just getting a
comparison on you know before we we had this program I actually um had a conversation with mayor and Dell um a week and a half ago oh okay so when I was away I was actually down in North Carolina when I had it so um and
just to fill Publican as to what some of the hurdles are with trying to do that those reimbursements are made on annual basis so nothing came in at oh per storm per storm or anything that's oh okay the conversation that we had together
um I think going forward I think we need to start to analyze like how much this is costing us uh either on a per storm basis per inch basis or per mile basis or whatever yeah okay because I and and
Dell and and the mayor all feel that you can't you don't know if you make the right decisions unless you analyze it out and go exactly um you know it might be a situation where uh after a few years we have some good data that we can
look at saying hey maybe if we go ahead and and uh have the equipment and and the Manpower we could do it ourselves for cheaper than than what the bid process is so that's something that obviously is going to take a few years to kind of work itself out so we get enough data for it but um it was it was
a good conversation I appreciate the mayor putting that together where we could talk and uh I think the three of us I think were kind of on the same page at the end of the conversation so okay all right I didn't know that that's good to know it well you have to compare apples
apples okay thank you for that explanation thanks thanks for bringing it up I didn't have it on my list for this after comment so thanks mie moving on our consent
agenda members of the council may ask me to separate any particular resolution would like 2573 25 73 I was going to pull that one thank
you 2576 76 I didn't have any question on 2578 I just wanted to make a statement so I'll say 2578 just as a general statement okay 2578 right 25 83
2583 2585 2585 why don't I just we'll do the whole grou resolution 2572 authorizing change order number one contract for proposed improvements for Maple Grange Park lower
parking lot with Denville uh line painting Incorporated may have a motion to put that on the agenda I'm sorry on the floor for consideration moved by Mr Sparta is there a second second seconded by Mr
Higgins any comments or questions on this roll callary yeah council member to benedetto yes council member hi M yes president rudo yes carries resolution
2573 the resolution authorizing the hiring of an energy audit solar P power purchase agreement consultant through the competitive Contracting process may I have a motion to place uh
to place this on the floor move mve by Mr Higgins is there a second second second by by Mrs de benedetta she's delayed so she got before me okay we'll give you the three second delay Advantage nobody
say anything for three seconds [Music] um you have questions on this yeah so this is a resolution authorizing the hiring of an energy consultant agreement are we as a town
considering a purchase of solar are we considering just looking at all the options what are we exactly looking at this a will give us those options right but I do not want to purchase solar but there are companies that do offer you
know free solar all that other stuff no I mean I had one company just just one company came in and off to do you know you buy all the panels and you manage it yourself for probably a couple million dolls or they'll put the panels in and they'll manage it just you know we all
that stuff that's that's exactly the way I would want to go I don't want to manage Sol M but we have to do this going first I believe uh see what what our options are then we save and then we go from there good makes sense yeah
that's I was hoping to hear rather than already having a decision I asked but she didn't get the dollar amount cons at least for the three buildings here um so we'll see what what those
numbers look like have you reached out to jcpnl because as part of the BPU they should be doing an energy audit for nothing for us jcpnl keeps telling us that we um that they don't do that like are you looking like are you talking about all
the lighting and everything or just an actual audit itself an energy audit would come in and analyze what you have as far as lighting goes heat sources so on and so forth and we'll tell you you know like these are fluorescent lights you know you need to replace the ballots
with LEDs so on and so forth so as part of the BPU they they have to we've never had that yeah I that's I think that's the rather than paying some to do it I think the first step could
be and and the energy audit is essential uh before you do solar anyway because you have to have your energy uses down to acceptable before you could have your solar designed because you can't be producing more than what you use otherwise you're a
purveyor I have a quick question though so this this is to find someone to do the energy audit the person who's doing the energy audit also be the person who's selling us the solar no because that doesn't seem
legitimate right like it should be completely different people but it says for contract law for an energy audit and solar power purchase agreement consultant so they would just come back and tell us like if if we would benefit
from having Solar Company or not they not they're not employed by a Solar Company okay I just want to make sure sure we're not getting a consultant from somebody who's employed by a Solar Company well having gone through the mechanics and process of putting solar
on it's I wouldn't want to do it again I don't really think it's worth quite honestly I you know I mean I don't mind exploring it I just um I was I mine went down substantially it went down I mean it might go it might go down but I just
I think the the cost of the panels well you didn't pay for the panels PPA you don't have to worry about the cost the power purchasing agreement yeah so we're not paying for the panels paying for the panels you know so looking I got other issues with it I'll keep it to myself yeah St
no there is no charging stations in this area I think Middletown SP is the only ones are we obligated to provide charging stations no but why I'm thinking town so we have people come from
nice to have that charging station I look at that like a gas station right like if there's a need for it some business owner would at a gas station maybe add a charging station I mean new new construction I think there's a requirement
for build gonna have charging stations but I don't know if that's GNA be just open I don't think it's public no it's a pay for it though it's not yeah to pay on their property if it's going to be one of those those situations where it's just for it's just for the it might be I mean we have charging stations at my
office building but they're only for employees and guests at our you know I think the the new building though plus 55 is going to have charging used be the charge a station by Smokies I don't think it works anymore no they don't they don't work anymore and again that
was just for Smokies I think they ran out of power I think well I would think people could just pull in there and pay for it no I mean it doesn't work anymore so I don't know so if we can get the charging stations in if it doesn't cost us any much there's there's grants available for us
I'm just not a fan of like yeah well and then like there's maintenance and insurance and other things so I I'm just feel like that's a private Enterprise it's gas right like it's it's energy so Tesla's gone around on certain sites and they actually go to
a a strip mall and try to get in the strip mall you know some space and they put in they put in those um Chargers but they're as to your point they're making money off the electricity plus it's it brings people to those different locations AMC movie theater has a ton of
those and and Rockaway the am movie theater has a ton I just feel like that's a private business venture not a I don't feel like should be in the business of giving people energy for their cars Mr Sparta's point you there are there are um the state has given
grants out okay but it's for the construction and then you got you really have to look at the grant because in the future then you you may have buil of liability but it may be a good thing too okay but there are those OP can't hurt to look into it so sorry can I just ask
so because Brad mentioned uh that we can have jcpnl do a no cost audit right so then why would we hire someone all the options but not I mean this is just a uh just going out for bid
yeah this is just anything yet so but uh I I really thought we did long time ago but I don't know I don't remember prior to me yeah he just had two of them here
okay thanks any other questions roll call Cil member uh bueri yes council member D benedetto no council member Higgins uh yes council member Sparta yes
council president rudo yes motion carries resolution 2574 approving a solicitor's permit for Renewal by Anderson may I have this in the form of a motion pleas moved by Mr Spar is there a second second seconded
by Mrs bueri any questions or comments on this not roll call council member D benedetto yes council member bushier Ma sorry council member Higgin yes council
member Sparta yes council president rudo yes yes cares resolution 25-75 a resolution authorizing fireworks to be displayed within the township of
Vernon in 2025 may I have a motion to place this on the floor for consideration make second Mr Higgins is there a second second seconded by Mrs bueri believe this particular action was taken in
response to yeah that was guys Mr identified problem solved I like it very good it all be that way right I know it should all be that easy a one page or two like is there any questions everybody knows when the
fireworks are now I don't want to see people posted on Facebook asking when because it's right here please yes council member D benedettos yes yes council member spida yes council
president rudo yes carries resolution 25- 76 a resolution renewing life and accidental death and dismemberment policy for eligible employees through the Standard Insurance
Company may I have a motion to place this on the floor mve move by Mr Higgins is there a second second second by Mrs bueri any comments yeah the comments were uh this is probably a sizable contract and were
there other competitors other biders how was the processa how did it happen no this is our company that we have right now and the renewal to keep them on is not costing us anymore it's the same amount well it's not costing anymore
right but you don't know if it cost less if you went out to bed we did not go out to bed for this and that's that's your rational why because it was just a flat contract with no yes we have the contract for another year we need to renew our contract oh we
still have another year on our contract okay so we have that this contract period will take us from year to next year then after that do we go it's for the unions this is forlo you had the option of not renewing
though no we had a contract for the renewal year the contract's up oh okay gotcha I thought we had like one more year on the contract I misunderstood you okay any other
questions council member luary yes council member BTO yes yes council member Higgins no council member Sparta yes council president rudo yes motion carries resolution
2577 appointment of a municipal housing liaison may I have a motion to place this on the move move by uh Mrs buer is there a second second seconded by Mr Higgins uh
I believe this is the reference to the um the revised housing agreement for municipal housing uh and may I have a uh any comments
questions no it's a requirement right yes so there it just comes down to a matter of who who it is yeah who not doing this is Mrs uh just we were originally supposed to have
300 un this is roll please council member buer yes council member D benedetto yes council member yes council member Sparta yes Council presid rudo yes motion carries
resolution 25 -78 a refund for totally disabled veteran amended residence number 24- 297 block 73 Williams and I have a motion to place
this on the floor move by Mr Higgins is there a second second second by Mr spart any comments on this yeah comments weren't specifically about this gentleman whoever Mr Williams is was about a discussion
that we had with our attorney as as to the large number of uh veterans that are now being approved over the years of not paying taxes nothing to do with whether they deserve it or not they deserve it if they're disabled not a question really comes down with the state law was
my question so uh Mr King answered that that it is a state law but he's going to investigate what options we have as a town of giving a 100% 50% none how and also how it uh impacts our finances
there's a question that came up is the state going to reimburse this for any of this if it exists there's a there was just a bill introduced as part of that small town um M uh assembly Mike G and Gore um where that he's that's one of
the things he's asking is a reimbursement are are you yeah no that was what I was leading to just if you could also find out one other question because I know we actually do um a retroactive back to I believe when the application is in and I believe that is
a local decision and it's not part of the state decision um can we just verify which one that is yes I know there was an issue with some towns that were holding off approvals until after a quarterly tax bill was done so I'm not
sure if that is uh local or state I don't think there a local that one probably would be because it would be when they when they get it when they come to the town that's when it triggers they I don't think but I'll find that I remember you remember we went
down we went down to the league that that uh class class and I think there was like 14 bills that that went uh in regards to this what and it were all different like give some back a
little bit back and every single one of them just failed so that's anything back there is nothing on that there was 14 I I don't that number but there was there was a lot of attempts uh different
bills that went to try to you know back to the to the municipalities one of them at the conference that we attended Saturday the breakfast conference um it was brought up that what once again these bills are
being pushed forward because I kind of think that not only our voices are being raised but the voices of a lot of other communities that are feeling the pinch on this um right sizeable money now sizable money and it's I don't think
anybody really feels badly or not badly but is resistant to recognizing the the the uh what what these veterans gave uh to deserve this quite the contrary
but I I think this becomes an unfunded mandate as our attorney and Mr swart were talking about and having been on the board of education for a while and you guys were on the board uh
and um it's uh it is something that has to be addressed because they it's kind of like uh we're going to ask you to teach more of this and we also want you to teach a segment on what goes
on in in some particular other issue but they don't extend the day and they're complaining about why aren't we getting a uh the proper uh the proper results in math the proper results in reading the
proper you're you're deluding that day and I think is again one of the situations that needs to be addressed so uh hopefully somebody will do something about it and I know one of the things that I'm happy to hear is that since we
have a lot of wood um you know that's being we look at trees and everything that uh there's this bill that's uh being passed that's going to require uh a
uh uh permit to cut down trees in your own community on your own property and I I just I'm not about to go fight somebody on that I mean you know I don't have that anymore so um mayor if you could I believe last
January or so assembly in Gort told me how much are um taxes annualized were that had been forgiven for disabled vehicle uh disabled veterans I believe at that time was something like $584,000 I mean it was up there and
since then I know we've approved a lot more I think he has that number pretty readily available if you could possibly reach out to him and and ask him if he has an updated number for us thank you any other comments oh it was yeah just the last comment was uh I had a
question previously some of these questions are people residents to call me and their voice right so they were seeing a name or Logics come up often and the question was how can they own so many places well it turns out they don't it's a uh they're bank it's a compy
that's buying properties and they weren't being given total uh Amnesty on paying taxes they were given a refund if there was a difference between the cost when they bought it and they bought the lean so that was not an individual that was and uh the last thing is if if a
property is deemed to be owned by a veteran that have to pay taxes sold to another veteran sold to yet another person are they tracked properly do we know that once some it's on the role as not being
charged on taxes is a new buyer someone that uh automatically gets scrutinized or is there anything in process to make sure that we keep track of whenever property sold are we then back on the taxs I think they have to apply every
year um right I think I think it has to go through a process so even if it did um I think go back to the individual I don't much I don't one time I don't think so I think these I don't think we these have to be reapplied I think you probably just file a new deed and a new
mortgage so I I if if you're 100% disabled that's a determination that stays with you right um but when when that person when that veteran would sell their house then the tax assessor would then they would you know they would look at the property there would be new
owners the new deed and then they would send that to the exactly internally and that person would have to have to pay taxes pay taxes until they ex you know show their right for a uh right I'll use an example because the person who called
me and asked me that question said they have knowledge of a home that was exactly that situation I'm going to get the tax information find out who had it who sold it and if the current owner is actually paying we'll follow that one through it's a yeah follow it through
because they should but it was a sizable tax bill it was 129 for $110,000 so if you could send that to me okay yeah I'll get that thank you Lo call council member bueri yes council
member D benedetto yes council member Higgins yes council member Sparta yes council president rudo yes motion carries take resolutions 2-79 through 25- 82 and a block uh
refund for totally disabled veteran uh block 73 Lot 4 Williams resolution 25-80 refund for totally disa veteran block 120 lot three
resolution 25- 81 re refund for totally disabled veteran block 48 lot 13 Craig and resolution 25- 82 refund for totally
disabled lot 206 lot 14 and this particular individual is redacted uh may I have this in the form of a motion I'll make a motion second moov by Mrs gueri seconded by Mr
Sparta uh all in favor I'm sorry roll call council member bushier yes council member D benedetto yes council member Higgins yesc member SPO yes council president rudo yes motion
carries resolution 25- 83 a resolution of the township of Vernon County of s state of New Jersey amending the award of bid 12 r-
2024 buer suppression bid may I have this in a form of a motion moved moved by excuse me moved by Mrs buer is there a second second seconded by Mr Sparta uh comment on this yeah this was on the
list of what I so this was discussed at the last meeting where it was a single bid for fire suppression system the conversation was about why was a single bidder the answer was they the only ones a bid I guess so my my next question is
uh Tina as a VA are you the purchasing agent for the town or is a separate purchasing agent no I'm not okay so there's a separate person the reason I have some large towns have a separate agency or an agent that we pay separately because you need a license to actually purchase you know you have to
be trained in so whoever our purchasing agent is we pay them and apparently they made a mistake so the mistake was it wasn't $40 some th000 it was $79,000 I'm sorry the mistake was on the resolution that you approved the wrong
amount was on the resolution not the PPA didn't make a mistake it it was just put on that paperwork instead of saying 79 it was just a typo okay okay thanks for clarifying thank
you very well respected throughout the state of New Jersey right I think um just went out to well I know today there's a history love of that that provide I know there always been this
question about how many people this goes out to um and they actually have the audit trail of how many contractors or vendors that this stuff goes down to it's question someone just bidding on it's like eBay right can't force people to to so that so that the council knows
uh I ask the our clerk to send out to all members of the council a copy of the purchasing man M it's so you've all received it or should have received it it's sent by
uh online uh and if you want to you can review the process on it uh I don't know have you gone through anything with the state on purchasing I have personal experience for the last 20 years using purchasing contracts yeah and that's in
M my I I've done the same thing and it's this the craziest things are required they can invalidate uh a particular uh you know submission of a bid right and there is
no opportunity to cure it I mean if you happen to be there and forget or somebody doesn't know lie you or tell you that you can't be not you can't be doing business with a particular country in in the Persian
Gulf and you happen to forget about that too bad you can't right so I mean there any number of things that happened but I that was just one of them I just uh want to read the the one line in here because um says the resolution and preparation
by the qualified purchasing agent inadvertently inserted the incorrect number of bid so I didn't want the public to think that that uh was made by anybody in the municipal building but rather by the qualified purchasing agent so um just because when when Marcy said
it you know a lot of times Marcy's um does the the resolutions but in this case she did not do it it was done by the qualified purchasing agent so it wasn't an internal thing it was from somebody outside um no anybody else okay roll
call council member bushier yes counc benad yes council member Higgins yes council member Florida yes council president president rudo yes carries resolution 25- 84 resolution
adopting an establishing a police department rules and regulations policy may I have this in a form of a motion I'll make that motion move by Mrs bueri is there a second second seconded by Mr
Sparta roll call council member bueri yes council member benedetto yes council member Higgins yes council member s yes council president rudo yes carries resolution
25- 85 a resolution authorizing leasing of certain vehicles for the Department of Public Works through sourcewell National Cooperative number 060618 dfm through Enterprise Fleet
Management Services Incorporated quote number 8390 830 8 comma 839 09 0894 uh and
84 11 952 and 83 9827 and 86 33 373 may I have this in the form of a motion move moved by Mr spart is there a
second second second by Mr Higgins comments on this yes now that we on the subject of purchasing and uh soon as I saw a source well I on a personal basis I've used them so here's the way the system works we as a a municipality
decide we want to do business with Enterprise Rental card that's fine that's our choice and Enterprise as a large company can if they want to have their own contract they can go out go through all the efforts of writing a
acceptable contract spread it around the United States let everybody know that Enterprise renter car has a contract that makes it easy for a purchasing agent to use their over a competitor because they've already got the contract
into an approved number if you don't have a contract then the purchasing agent can use another source there are companies and sourcewell is one of those companies that is in the business of writing contracts going around to the
various towns municipalities in the United States saying here's a purchasing vehicle for you Mr purchasing agent to use they charge for that so we're using Source well and we're buying something or leasing something through Enterprise and Source wellth from my experience in
my business charges about 14% so if Enterprise had a contract of their own and we use their contract it would be 14% less we're paying Source well to use our contract I'm not saying it's right wrong I'm just explaining how the system
works that's what it's all about there's a cost to everything so Source well happens if you want of the larger ones um just looking through the the individual vehicles that are um being leased here there's a couple of uh F450
chassis uh I think there's three of them in here total and two are four-wheel drive or one is four-wheel drive in two or two wheel drives why would we not get or four-wheel drive I have noidea spok today um I
think said some of the f d weren necessary for what they're being used for um some of these these are just placements of what they have um so a lot of with the leasing program is they're replacing the same exact vehicle right
so those Vehicles not again four-wheel drive they could be just the on plowing maybe just going like for the parks and stuff but I don't know okay specifically which and and those ones that are being replaced will eventually show up on an
obsolete list that we're selling through munici bids or no not always they they just policing they turn them back gotcha okay and then it's put towards the next any other
questions council member brary yes counc benetta yes council member Higgins yes council member Sparta yes council president rudo yes motion carries
resolution 25- 86 approving a charitable charitable solicitors permit Vernon Emergency Medical Service Inc may I have this as a form of a motion mov moved by Mr Higgins is there
a I'll second seconded by Mr jury any comments questions roll call member Brer yes yes yes council member Sparta yes
council president rudo yes motion carries moving to our ordinances an ordinance this is the adoption of a an ordinance 25-4 an ordinance establishing the salaries for certain uh officers and
employees of the township of Vernon County of Sussex state of New Jersey may I have this in the form of a motion to uh open this up to the public I'll make a motion
second Mrs berer is there second Mr Sparta um floor is open to the public on the ordinance on the ordinance only yes oh okay I actually do have a question about
this ordinance because I was reading this ordinance establishing the salaries for certain officers and employees of the township of Vernon County suss state of New Jersey and just for the record your name car thank you Carl um in that salary range what um
are we using or data are we using to establish where someone's salary Falls within that range employee and who is determining where an employee sits within that range the mayor
uh some of it is through contracts and if they're not in a contract then the mayor is the one that sets the Sal is there anything used like I'm just thinking as a Public Employee myself teacher do we um look at someone's performance or how long
they've been there do they have um tenure things like that does that come into play and what determines their salary within that range what performance does abut performance and um we also look at what what the surrounding area is paying so we kind of
it's a it's a combination of a lot of things that go into it do we use like a rubric or metrics or anything like that no I don't think so I P that data last time so the legal
municipalities do they do surveys for communities and that information is available I think the last meeting um that survey was attached to the ordinance uh and it breaks down ranges in other other like towns and every town
is not the same Vernon is unique because you have the the ski you know the different um large um ski resorts here most towns don't have that so this is almost an Atlantic City of the north um so you you have different you can't
compare Vernon to a town in let's say Morris County chadam Township it's just different so but you tried to you look at that and as the mayor said it also should go by competency of um that person how much work they do and those
types of things so it's determined by a lot of external factors and then um performance But ultimately the decision is up to mayor right that's yes thank you appointing you he's the appointing um officer agent and and he determines
that okay thank you see with no one else coming before the council may have a motion to close the floor to the public moved by Mrs berer is there a second second by Mr Higgins I noticed that I may have missed the step here so
um I'll make a motion I'll ask for a motion to place this on the floor we have to for approval closing the public though the public is closed oh we didn't vote on it though oh I'm sorry in favor signify by saying I I I on the closing of this floor to the
public thank you POS motion carries uh may I have a motion to place this ordinance on the floor uh for uh passage I'll that motion motion made by Mrs bueri is there second second by Mr
Higgins can I just make one com um at the last meeting I asked uh the mayor uh or or Tina to forward us the 2024 salaries um no names just positions so
that way we can see where they fell so we did get that information I appreciate that I just wanted to put that out there that we did get that okay one other comment Mr Mayor last time I asked a question do the people that are on the list receive a
yearly written review and yes is it that's that's accurate they are so a person that does an outstanding job may be compensated more than somebody that doesn't is that accurate we try to stay with the the way the other uh employees
like the contractual one you know like 2 3% uh if if there's a need for someone feel maybe they're underpaid or they they Tak on abundance amount of work and then they can they can bring their case to me and you know they have to justify why
they feel they may need more get that two% again everything's Case by case if you had the in your year here that you've had to put someone on probation or a negative review
uh well this is my first year so um probation I think is always three months right three months when you first when you first hire now I haven't had to I guess not deny ra or anything
that I'm just trying to parallel it to Management in the Private Industry as opposed to the union contracts we voted on if you're in the union you're doing your job you're going to get the same as's a person next to you doing their job and I just wanted to know if it was
the same way here in town government watch every dollar so and things are Case by case and then the other comment is uh the the salaries thank you very much for the for the current salaries just
penciling those in we're we're not within earshot of the Max on any of the ones that I can see so I guess the question would be why would we change it it seems like we're doing a
pretty good job with the current minimum maximum and we're within the guidelines there may be there may be a couple that that are touching that where they will be so then that's why we just you know you do it across the board it doesn't mean they're you know they're they're
going to get know the H raise for that but it does allow again it's all done as you can see it's all done one shot here there could be a couple of them a few that that
maybe or none of them touch that that that Max at that point so yeah I see one person that's $1,000 below the minimum everybody else is like right in right in the
middle okay thank you any other comments questions R yes benedetto no council member Higgins no council member Sparta yes council
president rudo yes carries may I have a motion to open the floor for public comment on any item I'll make that motion motion made by Mr Keri is there a second seconded by Mr spart FL is open
for public comment on any any comment we didn't vote oh we oh I'm sorry yes I want to get out um roll call please buer yes council member D benedetto yes
council member Higgins yes council member Sparta yes president rudo yes FL is open to the public question about resolution 2576 a resolution renewing the group life and accidental death and
dismemberment policy for eligible employees through the Standard Insurance Company in concurrence with what Mr Higgins was saying I was listening to that conversation how come we didn't go out for bid that's it it's our life insurance that we've had and we just renewed
it so we didn't we just renewed what we had what we could have gone out to bid if we wanted to it's a service you're not necessarily required to go I know I know it's dist okay um and just in what we were talking about before about the salary
range I think in reflecting on what you guys said and I'm just because I'm here I figured why not um the mayor is elected by the public right we don't have any requirements for becoming mayor there's no professional
requirements for being mayor to be the one to determine performance and determine where someone Falls in a salary by someone who doesn't have those qualific I just think if I had my boss who had never worked in the job I'm
doing determining that just I understand why you guys voted no that's all I'm saying um and that's no disrespect to anyone just my reflection on what we talked about thank you welcome to this form of government I know I didn't vote for it me neither but that's the problem
with Public public yeah but with mayor counsel as it's the problem problem with same problem with public government well what there is no there is you don't have to go to a school to become noed an elected official were but you do
have to realize though that there are department heads yes working and reporting to the mayor and and to our business administrator who who probably did that job and I'm sure the mayor and Tina although maybe never did the tax assessor's job they take counsel from
the the head of that department in assessing the um you know the the work of their employees so they're not doing it without any any feedback you know what I mean there's yeah there's department heads that assist but as as with the Board of
Education where people have no experience they have no uh yes knowledge excuse me in in determining how to evaluate a superintendent which is always go down to and yet we did I know because they they do have and it's
a much bigger budget and those excuse me those same classes for evaluating personnel with by members of the council or within the the administrative offices you know are given for people who don't
have any experience including people who have just been elected to a uh an an elected position and have had no experience in evaluating any individuals you know in public government because
there is a difference yes I understand that completely and we obviously take training in evaluating our superintendent we're evaluating just the superintendent not Municipal Employees we hire the superintendent and evaluate him and doing that morein to what the
town manager would have done under a council manager form of government right not necessarily because we don't evaluate anybody with the exception of our Clerk all right because the clerk Works only for the
council however the when you go to any of these uh conferences the if you go to Let's evaluate our business administrator let's evaluate our incoming uh you know employees for you
know CFOs and whatever else they have the highest level of attendance because people have no had no experience in any so they look for that type of instruction when we were under um a council manager form of government we
the council evaluated the manager right and the manager would be the one evaluating Municipal Employees and they required certain a certain certification to be a town manager correct okay I'm I'm not trying to offend offend anybody
or I'm just this is my thought process based on what I've been listening to because if I'm going to come to a town council meeting I'm going to sit there and listen and digest what's being said so thank you for your answers just to touch I think just like any other like CEOs they don't they
don't really know exactly say what the Jor is doing yeah but just of thear banks the world this is this is not a your question is not a backg it's not a
debate thank you do Le on uh business administrator and and uh the department heads on on the evaluation employes Bas on those things thank you mayor um seeing no one else coming forward may
I have a motion closed the flo to the public moved by Mr f is there a second second second by Mr Higgins all in favor signify by saying I I I hi thank you motion car
um Council comments uh big topic Mr Mayor the budget when are we going to see a budget I just got a copy of it um Friday um I haven't so haven't had a chance
to evaluate everything with her yet so we'll get that I think there's certain days and deadlines we have to get yeah that's what's happening thank you what are those days do you know Mr I think they're by the I
think it's by the first meeting this second meeting I believe in March second meeting in March I'm not sure I have chance it's coming up it sure is please give us as much time as you can because it's uh most important thing we
do in the a always table you know sit in okay that was one of my campaign promises that you guys more than welcome to come in sit down uh anything else it was it for me
Mr spart just want to let Council public know next meeting I will not be here I'll be out of the state uh attending a conference so just didn't want anybody to think if all hell broke loose in the next two weeks I was avoiding a tough decision I'm on the record I'm not going to be here you taking your clubes no no
oh I'll be gone too so we're down to three right oh you'll be gone too okay when I probably can commit on the 10th right we're meeting on the 10th meeting on the 10th yeah and I I can't zoom I'll I'll be in a meeting that night so I I can't do
it oh I'll be here on the T Mr benetta yeah I have a few comments um regarding my Novo on 2573 the resolution the hiring of the audit solar power purchase agreement consultant my not vote on that is because I don't know
why we wouldn't just I understand we're not hiring Somebody by going out to bid and we're not spending money but on that person's audit but I don't see why we wouldn't go with the free option first um my second no vote on the salaries I got the information that we
asked for last week this morning at 8 I didn't have time to review it I worked up until the meeting today so not only that uh when I was not on Council I came to a council meeting and there was a similar vote and most folks were not
near the top of their range and they still voted to extend it and that uh that upset me as a member of the public so I remembered that tonight and the third thing I want to say on a more positive note is I wanted to thank our volunteer firefighters for their presentation and for the service to our
community each day um not only for the obvious you know firefighting that they do but for their continued training they take to keep our community commity safer the public events they attend um I live in Barry lakes and we have Santa who comes around every year and it's the best it's the best day of the year in
Barry leagues in my opinion and um you know and and for a thank you to them for continuing to show up even after difficult calls um they are truly our Local Heroes and I just wanted to say thank you to them that's it thank you
and I have no comment um nope no comments I'm good thanks so I ask for a motion to adjourn by Mr spart seconded by Mrs favor signifi by saying
I post motion carries bye Jessica byee are we uh it's actually a company dinner actually what they do on the every year we rotate who go but what
they do is they actually have like um an entertainment night they brought in u