It's a question. It's a quick follow. Will the township clerk please read the statement for a regularly open meeting that's taking place today that was scheduled for Monday due to the snow? Adequate notice of this regular meeting was provided to the public and the press on
January 22nd, 2026 hosted at the municipal NJ-7. >> Next up, salute the flag. Pledge allegiance to the flag of Americ call.
>> Here >> council member Rudo >> here. >> Pres >> here. Next was the mayor comments. The mayor in notified us based on the agenda and other uh priorities that uh he was not
planning on being here this evening. I did see him last night the land use board and he said he'll do his best to be here all out. So at this time there's no mayor comments. So we'll open that up to public comments. They're limited at three
minutes per person on the current agenda items only. Anyone wishing to speak must state their name and address for the records. May I have a motion to open the floor to public comment? Move. >> Second.
>> Second. >> Second. >> All in favor? I I >> Anyone from the public care to speak on anything on the agenda? Seeing no one, we'll close the floor to
the public. Make a motion. >> Motion to uh >> close the floor to the public. >> Close for the public. Do I have a motion? A second. All in favor? >> I.
>> Okay. Next is the review of the bill list. Any comments on these bills list? >> I'll make a comment. Looking at the bills list, I see >> Oh, I'm sorry. Pardon me. Sorry. Looking
at the bills list, I see the attorney looks like his payments are delayed. He's waiting six months to get paid. Did anybody pick that up? >> Commented before that they're not very good at billing us.
[laughter] >> Yeah, I I'll look into that. Yeah, it's they gave you six months worth. I don't know what your contract is like. >> It's a 12-month contract. >> Did you set a pay quarterly? >> Usually we do a quarterly bill.
>> Yeah. Speaking of >> I'm sorry. Usually we will do a quarterly bill. >> Okay. All right. Thank you. >> Any other comments? Hearing none, we'll close the review of the
bills list. And uh the next is the consent agenda. There's a number of items on this list. If anybody cares to pull any of them out for further discussion, let me know. Now,
>> I'd like to pull out 2613. No further discussion on 2679. There was a carryover. Anybody satisfied with uh just that 12613. >> So we'll move forward with a uh
>> consent >> consent agenda for the balance of all the other resolutions. We need the resolution number or no? >> Uh you can so it would be a um motion to approve resolution 2644 through 2680.
Okay, we have a motion for 2624 through 2680. >> I'll make the motion for resolution 2644 through 2680 >> through 20 680 >> 680
>> a second >> second. All in favor? >> I >> I call on it. >> Yes. >> Okay. >> Yes. Council member, >> yes. >> Council member,
>> yes. >> Council member Sparta, >> yes. >> Council Higgins, >> yes. >> Motion carries. >> So, resolution 2613. There were comments. >> I'll make a motion for resolution 2613.
>> Okay. And second, second. Discussion. Discussion. And yeah, discussion item on 2613 >> which Yes, >> Carl. >> Yeah. So, I just wanted to ask the
because my understanding the main reason this was tabled was because of the 53,000 >> Speaking of your mic so I can hear >> Oh yeah, one second. My understanding is that this was tabled largely because of the $53,000 threshold. Um, and I know that that's something people have been
talking about. this resolution does that does this resolution just cite the resolution that was done in July that established that $53,000 threshold or is this resolution establishing that threshold again? >> Well, I I don't know what in in July
usually uh this resolution is done in the beginning of the year. >> Yeah. To >> to give the um purchasing agent the right to contract at that level. >> Yeah. I I from 17. Uh the the governor through legislation sets
that. It started out at I think um like 25. It's it's worked >> every five years. >> Yeah. They they they raise it with because the cost of living, you know, the cost and inflation. >> And the town has the authority to not set that higher than 53, but you could
set it lower if you wanted to. Well, so yes, anything under 175 you don't need to go out to bid on. So anything between 175 and that 53, this would allow >> the purchasing agent to be able to purchase off of um the resolution that
was passed off that cooperative um you know pricing that's done through a co-op. >> Yeah. But this resolution here that grants the QPA authority, it's not establishing that threshold. It's citing it. Right. Well, it's establishing it's giving him the authority to to to
because he's qualified. He's entitled, you know, through this resolution for you to allow him to um go through uh you know, contract for things that the town needs. Again, the the he can't just go
out and buy, you know, some crazy thing. It has to be approved through the budget, which the budget process is >> going to be taking place shortly. Yeah. >> Next few months where that money is going to be allocated. So you can't spend more than is allocated
and and these are things that are usually consumables. Um if you look at you know they're for the office or for gas or for asphalt or for you know for their for more construction public safety. >> I totally understand what the QPA does and what the threshold establishes. If
you wanted to change that threshold though it wouldn't be through this resolution. you'd have to do it separately or could you amend this resolution? >> Well, you're giving him theor the authority to to bid at at that number. >> Yeah. >> For those things,
>> I think it needs to be changed then. >> So, if were to say, "Hey, let's make it arbitrarily $42,000." And the and it was put up for a vote. Mhm. Is that something that >> theoretically you could,
>> but then once that once you reach once you reach that that number, then you're going to have to then every time pass another resolution to give them more authority to go up to you're going to be it's going to be more more work and then you're going to have to go out to start going out to bid. >> Mhm. >> I don't think you're recommending doing
that right now. You're just asking >> question about the process. Theoretic theoretic theoretically you could you could you could actually say that anything over 175 you you >> you could set the threat but we have to look at whether or not that would make sense at
>> more so just wondering because that's the the reason that this was tabled was because of that threshold. I don't think anyone had the intention of stopping this [clears throat] from being able to do his job. I think people have concerns with that threshold and possibly a
discussion about making it lower, but this >> Are you saying that we could change the threshold through amending this resolution? >> I mean, theoretically you could, but would you want to? Then you it's it's what you're doing is anything whatever that threshold you said, anything over
that now you have to go back you have to you're going to have to go out to bid on everything. It's going to delay, you know, to to go to go out to bid. You go up with you have to get a bid package together. You have to have meetings. You have to it's paperwork internally.
>> Then it has to go out to vendors. Some you hopefully you get vendors back. Sometimes you don't get it. Then you have to go out again. >> I'm only asking questions for discussion. >> I'm not really trying to speak to your
>> I'm sorry. Actually, the probably the best person to do is Sean Canning is the um >> the QPI. >> Talk to him. He's done this >> and he was a he was a chief police was a town administrator. So, he's very qualified.
>> Um he's the best one to ask these questions and you can ask him how it affects him. Yeah. >> Uh in doing his job for the town. >> Um and again, at the end of the day, the legislative body which you are, you guys hold the purse strings. do allocate the
money. It's up to the administrative uh body, which is the mayor, how he he spends it. >> Yeah. We legislate that he ex. And quite frankly, you know, it's a double-edged sword for both of you, right? Because if he doesn't wisely spend the money and it and it becomes a problem, there's a
shortfall, there's mismanagement, all the the people in the town are going to be very upset at him. So, he makes sure he doesn't do that. >> Same thing with you. You you're not going to just give a blank check. And that's why there's the budget process where both the mayor and the council
should work together and will work together to answer these questions because at the the ultimate end is do what's best for the taxpayer and you have to provide services to them. They want them, they need them and unfortunately that comes with a cost.
Mhm. I think the main reason that if there were an argument to lower the bid threshold, it would be to provide more oversight of that spending, but we have to weigh that with whether or not that would create more problems than it would solve. And that's just why I want to have this discussion because that's the
main reason that this was tabled was because of that threshold. It's not I just want to be clear that in my seconding of this, it was not to stop the QPA from being able to do his job. >> But but but I wouldn't >> I give you the advice. Call call Mr. Kenning up, talk to him. He'll give you
He knows this stuff. >> I I've heard he's very good. And again, the way that the way that you can >> control the spending is through the budget process. >> That's really the main process. And then when when when there's a a contract that's over the bid threshold that has
to go out to bid, you have to look at that contract. You have to approve the contract. So there's there's other steps that go through uh the process. Well, also with regard to capital, you're, you know, a bond comes, >> that's a whole another process. >> Yeah, >> there are checks and balances.
>> I think it's something worth talking about more, but it seems like this is not the time to do it. Um, but I'm glad you answered my questions. >> Thank you. >> Okay, any other comments on that resolution, Sandy? Thank you. No, everybody's good.
So, we should then vote on that uh resolution. Have a motion to move resolution 2613 of a vote. >> Moved. >> Second. >> We have we have a motion as for just
>> roll call on 2613. >> Council member Cantino. >> Yes. >> Council member Ols. >> Yes. >> Council member Zudo. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Council President Higgins. >> Yes. Motion carries.
I see that the mayor is here and let's uh go back to uh number five, mayor's comments. >> No comments. >> No, I was I was lucky I even got here, but uh yeah, no comments. >> Okay, you welcome. Appreciate you
coming. I saw you last night sports and uh >> pretty generic agenda here. Um I I I will just that we're we're going to put together some kind of communication discussion maybe about a little bit
about the pilot. >> If I get your mic closer, >> some reason nothing's carrying here. >> Um so I I think it's um it's I know there's been a lot of u stuff that's been uh conversation about
the pilot. Um, and and I think there's there's some I think this has to be a little bit more uh clarity on on and maybe what we'll talk with some of the council members about maybe just uh
putting together something just to to make sure that we properly uh effectively because I've I've heard a lot of different things and I just want to make sure that we're we're all clear on
[clears throat] what this was about and you know, etc., etc. So, I just that's pretty much it. So, working on that, we'll get something out soon um to to pensions. >> Okay. >> That we're is that everything that we do
here is is is for the betterment of the town. Um and all 23,000. That's it. That's a laugh. >> Okay. We'll move to u public comment. Please note that limit to five minutes
on a topic. Anyone wishing to speak will state their name, address, have a motion to open it to public comment. >> Moved. Second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> Seeing no one opposed to open to public.
Anyone care to speak? Mr. Fury >> over here. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> What up, council? My name is Mike Fury, 44 Sand Hill Road. I also own some property on Five Church Street. Um, I'm
glad that the mayor mentioned about the pilot. One of my there's been a lot of discussion and and debate over over the pilot and I we we come to find out that um there was a state statute that uh
limited this this is my to my understanding it limited the um [clears throat] the money from the pilot to go to any kind of educational uh you know any kind of educational funding and it was that was in state statute. Now, the question I have is I'm
not an attorney, you know, and we had a, you know, township attorney and the township um hired a special attorney um to to review this entire pilot program and to come to find out that the this
there was a state statute that was limited to uh residential properties. If if you get a pilot for residential properties, this was mainly pilots are used for commercial properties and historically, but this was used for residential property and and the money
that that came in from the pilot could not be used to go to the go to the board of ed. So I think what some of the things that happened well that was like my main concern and I was like that's that's gonna most likely if it's not
going to go to the board of ed and and then there's going to be children coming into the school system there was going to be increased cost and then the taxpayers would have to eventually pay for that. Now, the question I have, and this these are for the the members that
were that were on the council um and the mayor, is why wasn't that communicated well to the public? And I guess I maybe if you could >> Yeah, if you can address me, that's fine. And we can answer that question. Mr. Rudo was the council president at
the time. We had special meeting for the public on Zoom with our attorney, uh Mr. Jessup and we also had him here live answering questions and it so it was planned out. It was done properly. There
was a lot of information exchanged and u Mr. King our attorney has also given some opinions on it before the vote. So there was quite a bit and even as a council member we all had our opportunity to say our interpretation
and what uh what the details were that may have been missed. And uh >> and I admit I I was not at that meeting where the special attorney spoke and and maybe [clears throat] this did did come up >> and maybe this was discussed and I just
wasn't I I didn't hear it but there was obviously there's a lot of discussion in town about this >> and and this that never came up and then when over 2,300 people signed a petition to you know force a referendum on the on
the pilot it it like I understand like we're not attorneys. We we wouldn't have known that, >> right? >> And so I mean was it discussed at that meeting at at the meeting that they said that this the the money coming in from the pilot can't be used for the for the board of ed
the the discussion was broken down into how much money would go to the town, how much normally would go to the board of ed, how much money would normally go to the county, and the result was in this case the town would benefit greatly. >> Correct. in in a big way because we
inherit the liability whenever tonight's agenda has 30ome people who are getting grants on tax abatements, right? >> And uh not and getting money back. That all comes out of the town, >> right?
>> We collect the money for the schools, they get their 60%. >> Correct. >> They get we get we eat this entire amount. It's kind of a way of saying, hey, for a change, maybe the town can even out even though we didn't set the rules. It's a state mandate and now it's a state mandate on this other law that
Mr. King will refer to that. >> But you can't go to a referendum and then reverse reverse the ordinance. >> Right. If you want to comment on that. >> Pretty much it's it's a so referendums
can go out to referendums in this form of government. However, if in a statute that you're that the ordinance is based on has language that says that it is exempt from referendum, you can't. >> Right. >> And in this case, the uh property was
part of a redevelopment in the redevelopment um or statute, the law, um it says that you cannot go out and referendum for that, >> right? >> As a result, >> you cut the petition failed. >> There's other things too, a budget, tax
levy. you can't go out on. There's some other ones, but the majority of them you could go out. Uh for instance, um a non um statutory uh or an ordinance to
change um the time that you can put your garbage out. Technically, you could go out to refer on them. >> Referendum, but the state statute limited. >> Yeah. The theory is is the the state has put together a process to do something and in that statute there's a lot of
pieces to it. They put an exemption that it cannot go out to referendum. You can't go out to referend. >> So let me go back to the question. Was it explained to the public clearly that this money could not go to the board of ed under under the state? >> Very very I I might have missed it and
I'm just you know I wasn't at that meeting. I admit I was not at that meeting but was it explained pretty clearly that that was the case? >> Very very clearly. In fact, even on a personal basis at the end of the comments, I summarized our thoughts, >> right? >> Spoke for myself and went through a
detail of exactly that and even went so far as to say the state says on their determination there could be between four and six students in the 27 department. >> Right? >> I said let's take it up to 14 or 16. >> Right? There's still no extra cost to
the to the board of education. They're averaging less than 11 students per per teacher currently. >> They have the buses, they have the schools, they have the teachers, they have the aids. And if you take 14 extra students and you put them in different grades and different classes, where's
the extra cost? >> Right? >> There really isn't any, >> right? But you got to understand the the right I guess, you know, 20 over 2,300. I've been here for a long period of time and I don't recall uh 2,300 people ever, you know, within
20 days signed a petition here in Vernon. They were pretty united and whatever they felt, you know, was and I thought about signing the petition and I signed it and it because I because because I thought it wasn't wasn't the right thing for Vernon, but but I also
wasn't I I missed that meeting so I understand that. But I had listened to a lot of other meetings and I missed it. And I think a lot of other people did it. And what what it ends up happening is that people get very upset and that's how they respond. >> And it was very clear to me that, you
know, it was that's how the response she got. And and and that's why over 2,300 people signed that petition. I've been here for a long time. Yeah. I've never seen this happen in in in in the town of Vernon. >> Not since the radon. >> Not since the radon. Exactly. and and
and listen at the same time what was very positive about everything is that a lot of people from all different sides got together and and and stood up and said we don't think this is right and I think in the future and it's not easy it's not easy
communicating to the public and it's not easy to it's not the it's it's a challenge for everybody but if you could do that in a better way in the future I I would appreciate that the other person I spoke to at least 20 people who signed Right. Right. >> Different and some of them are friends of mine and they usually support some of
my ideas. On this one they didn't. And I went on to explain that please don't mix up the 99 unit proposal that has not come. It's not through the land use board. >> Right. a less than acre property behind this building that's going to be out of sight, out of mind, and it's going to
generate over the course of 30 years $3.7 million instead of 900,000 that the town is getting yearly now for a vacant piece of property. >> It's it's not it's not that other development. >> I and I understand that people mix up on
>> Yeah. Right. You have to treat every single project differently and and it has to, you know, has to go through the process. >> So, the one of the other things, the other comments I wanted to make and I and I went to the MUA meeting the other the other night and it was particularly
for for um I I was under the impression that they were going to come for for hardship. I was on the MUA for for a couple years and I wanted to hear you know what what the process was going to be and I one of the things that I really and I it's a credit to Pat and the MUA
they did a fantastic job they answered everyone's questions they I think people went away thinking that you know I we want to get answers to our questions are and it was it was a great healthy discussion there was a lot of people speaking they were concerned I think
that if you know and I give the credit to the MUA, they they do a great job answering people's questions and and they so if you can follow that model that what they did, I think people I think that you can tone tone things down and and make so people can really
understand what's what's going on. So, and and if you could do that, that would that'd be very much appreciated. I have one last question. The uh it was for the water and sewer expansion. My understanding some of the water projects were going to be uh some of the funding
was coming from pandemic money. Uh you know is that been fully exhausted and what's the status of the of all the water projects if you don't do you happen to know may or >> I personally don't have any answer on that. >> Do you happen to know? There were two
types of funding. >> One was from the art, >> right? >> And the other one was from the state. >> Right. >> All right. And there was both of these have been accounted for in
terms of amount of money and where it's being used. Mhm. >> And one of the problems that we ran into, and if you recall, uh Paul Carney, who is the chairman of the MUA committee, um did an excellent
job in recognizing the um misinformation, if you want to call it that, because it had been passed around that when um
the decision to put the what was Gary's, you know, Vernon in uh that the mayor had given somebody a gift.
The only gift that the mayor gave them was the knowledge that >> right that >> it had happened. >> It it had been addressed. Okay. Right. Because the township had every intention of using the money that had been set
aside for um you know from the funding uh uh from funding the uh either the state or >> the state one was they had to spend it by a certain time.
>> Right. Yeah. And that money had to be uh earmarked and spent by a certain time. Right. And it was the intent, it was the intention of the MUA to always kind of jump the
creek, if you want to call it that. >> And move to the other properties that were on the other side. >> Correct. By bringing those properties into play, now the property that is the Vernon in or was the Vernon
>> connect >> will now be able to uh to tie into that. >> Right. So it wasn't any special u proper you know legislative act that moved that
piece of property to u be to be uh set set up on on the mu on the uh >> sewer system >> sewer system >> it's a whole area it's the entire area >> you couldn't get from here to there without bringing a person in
>> right >> and because there were a lot of properties on the other side that really needed to go to go on. >> Right. Correct. I mean, >> it's true. There was a lot of misinformation out there and I'd read the same thing and I was on the MUA and
I know we this these the plans to do this have been going on for a long time, right? >> I I I was on the MUA three years ago and I was on for two years and things take a long time for these big projects to to actually happen. But there's there is a lot of money. There was a lot of money
from the state and there was a lot of money from the federal government and and and you really need to take advantage of that. Y >> because because if you don't I mean because I know I work with a lot of other towns that depend the the state money you have a certain time it's 2026 or you're going to lose it right don't
spend that money you just you just got >> I think also for the art money for the federal >> I think the federal money Dell was saying there's not a time limit on it >> but there but you're gonna you know as gracious as Josh Gotenhammer was to get the money he he can he can take it back
and then give it to another town. So, it's that's how it works. And and that does happen and and it'd be it'd be a shame if that that actually happened. >> It's a once in a lifetime of, you know, opportunity to have all this money to build infrastructure to to really
develop the town center and and get something happening, >> right? >> So, just focus on that for this year if you if you know, I hope you do that. And I I appreciate everybody's time. Thank you. Thank you. >> I think Denell confirmed that that money we we wouldn't lose that money, but um
>> we wouldn't. No, but but we are federal money. Yeah, we are. Um I know they just recently had a meeting um but I I've asked to be part of those meetings so we can really uh we fit with the D before
but we aggressively met with them but at the end of every meeting I would tell tell the the D okay same time next week and they were like >> okay you know that's we just kept driving pushing pushing push and uh and that's what we will have to continue to do. I did make a uh a call to the the
governor's office uh because I do want to have that conversation and and see about pushing forward because we do have other large projects here that we we [clears throat] that will be very beneficial to state. So, >> good news is it I I work for the city of
Perth Amboy and I had a meeting today with the governor's office and it's a it's a different D. I It's hard to believe. It might be hard to believe, but if you have get in right contact with the right person, they're going to do something. >> Yes. >> It's not going to be the same.
>> LD24. >> You give us the name. >> I I'll get you. [laughter] Yeah. It it's it's it's I the tone I got is completely different and I all I could do is hope. So if if you get the get the right people and then that and
keep the pressure on them, they're going to do the right thing. >> Thank you. >> You can tell that we've waved the five minute rule here because of importance of the subject and a summary of many things. So Ann, feel free. >> Sorry I talked a lot. >> Thank you. No, you was good.
>> Good evening. I'm Ann Larson from the Bloodwood section of town and obviously I came to speak about the petition. Um when we Mr. King was here, he was discussing that our petition was denied. However, we did file a response to that. So, I don't know that it's denied and
it's not dead yet as far as I've learned because we haven't received another letter back. So, that's one thing I want to discuss. Secondly, it was interesting that the the townships that all filed the the low against the low-inccome housing were apparently done by King Mench. That was the attorneys
representing the plaintiffs. I found that very curious. So, one of the things I wanted to mention was the townships that are having trouble with the board of education where they're having gigantic shortfalls are all blaming it on the pilot program system, including Westfield, Scotch Plains, Paripony,
Jersey City, Home Delt, uh, Hackinack. Hackinac is repealing their pilots, as I'm sure you've seen, Mars Plains, Montlair, East Orange, Wayne, and a place called Bonage Township. I don't know where that is. So, this is not a one, you know, one and done thing. This is something that is affecting
townships. And if we just continue ignoring what's happening to the rest of the state due to these pilot programs, we're going to be very, very sorry down the road. I I implore you, there's 2353 signatures here. People that came out in
the freezing cold. We got signatures at the Acme. We got signatures at the hardware store. We got signatures at the uh recycling center. all over the place. And had I been quick enough to think to remember how many votes you received when you were smart when you won the election, I would have had that many
votes. I would had that many petitions signed. I would have made it my job to make sure that was done to make a point. We cannot ignore the votes of all these people. There's a way around this. If the if the process was, as we were told, Mr. King initially that you could choose to to put this on the ballot and and and
repeal the referendum that was passed or the ordinance, whatever it's called, that was passed. You can do that before they go through their all their dog and pony show with all the laws. If you can do that for us and put it on the referendum and let people decide, do they want this? They don't want it. Nobody wants this. You know how much
taxes the acne center pays annually? $476,000 for the Acme Plaza. Guess what? No children come from the Acne Plaza. It's all goes straight to the town. And and this is just so upside down. And and by the way, mentioning how other how it's
illegal to charge for uh for school tax. Kelan is getting dollar for dollar for their students generated from the development. So I don't know how they're managing to do it, but it's illegal for us. I think that we need to look more closely at this. It's a disaster from the get-go. I'm sorry your friends have
disagreed with you, but this is the people have told us to ignore all these people that came out in in in freezing weather to sign the petition. They're telling you we don't want it. It's not fair to them. And it's not fair to the Acme Plaza who's paying he paid $19
million for that project, for that property. $19 million. He's paying $400 and something thousand per year. Okay, you add up his total by the end of 30 years. What does that compare to? Compared to this little 27 plaza, 27 units, you know, putting kids through
our schools. It's all wrong. It's all wrong. I ask you to reconsider. >> Anyone else? >> Uh, good evening. Uh, Kirk Stevens. Uh, some people know me as Farmer Kirk. Uh I don't often emerge from my uh property. Usually takes something significant to
to pull me out of it. And uh been a bit of a crash course in civics for me the last uh month and a half or so. Uh I appeared before the the previous council on December the 9th. Um, and really the
my experience in that session sort of galvanized me to to become involved in this because I sort of felt like my voice wasn't heard and I was sort of cut off in the middle of giving a heartfelt sort of speech that I spent a lot of time writing. So, it sort of was a bit
upsetting. And then I was a participant in the December 29th session. Um, I'd actually reached out to the clerk's office uh via phone to say, "Hey, I'm I'm on my, you know, once a year family vacation and I'd like to
participate remotely if possible. Can you please post a Zoom meeting?" I didn't realize at the time that remote participation isn't allowed via Zoom that the council at a point in time had disallowed remote participation and what appeared to sort of be a
a split board. You know, some people wanted to keep remote participation, some didn't. So, I would ask that you consider bringing that back. You know, over the last month or so, I've spoken to hundreds of individuals and some of them can arrange for child care. Some of them aren't comfortable driving at night
and it's maybe not enough just to be able to listen on Zoom, but maybe they'd be able to participate, you know, with ground rules, of course, etc. Um, when I was attending the MUA meeting recently, they do allow remote participation in the meetings and it I don't understand why
we wouldn't allow that here. So, I would just ask for that. Maybe that can be new business that's brought before the board in the future or the council to uh consider remote participation. Um, I was one of the petitioners involved in, you know, the pilot petition and,
uh, you know, I know this is a is it's a two-way street and I've I've tried to really educate myself on this and listen to opposing viewpoints and many of you here have been generous with your time and helping me to think through the issue and talk through
um, I do think that the pilot came from a place of good intentions. I don't I don't want to villainize the whole thing. Um, I just truly feel that on a riskreward spectrum, the reward isn't worth the risk. It's not it's not, you know, a
clear money maker here for us. It could go either way. Um, and you know, I've really I've slept on this and I'm I'm trying to figure out what is the way forward, right? You you've clearly seen a big uh outpouring of
comments from the public on this and so what what is the best way forward? Um interest interestingly a large percentage of the lane use board signed the petition and you know in private a lot of them have expressed that
potentially it's time to update the master plan and the the town center redevelopment plan and excuse me if I'm using the wrong verbiage but you know just interpret what I'm saying. Um I think it was last done in roughly 21 2021 or so. You know the world has
changed a lot in that time. Um, I'd say the town isn't quite as rundown as it as it was then. And, um, it might be worthwhile doing some sort of listening sessions and opening up, you know, having special meetings with the town's
planner and hearing from the residents what they want and what they what their vision is and what do they think should be. Um the current superintendent of the board of ed recently did a nice post on social media saying you know uh one meeting we're going to sort of hear from
the public and you know determine what the priorities are for the upcoming year what are the goals for the upcoming year and then we'll have another session for determining you know how how do we get there and then you know another follow-up session to see where we're at. So, you know, I would really hope that
you all would consider that to revisit the vision of the town, get the input from the community, um, and and go through the motions and and see where we get to, you know, yeah, is one, you know, to Mr. for Higgins point is is is
one building set back from the road that you know no one can really see the end of the world you know probably not but I think people are starting to sort of catch wind that there's there's a there's a a pipeline of projects that are in various states of consideration and people are starting to get nervous
that you know how is that going to change the character of the town and I think Mr. Mr. Rudo, you said you you evaluate in previous interaction, you evaluate the merits of something based on financial outcome, but also there's a lifestyle component, you know, to
whether something can be considered good for the town or not. And overwhelmingly, what I heard from people through this petition process, the thousands of people, was that, you know, they don't care about going
from $800 to $70,000 a year. You know, for them the lifestyle piece is important. You know, they it's not that they want Warwick. It's that they they do want Vernon. They want a place where it's quiet and there's not a lot of traffic and you can close your eyes and hear the birds chirping and it's it's
not real busy. You know, that's why people choose to live here. And so, I think that sort of needs to be weighed in in all this. Now, I know for the longest time, Vernon was protected by economics because, you know, rents were so low, property values
were so low, you know, developers were just turned off in general. So, you didn't really need very much in terms of defensive measures to kind of keep it pristine. But now that you know you have all this inflation and sort of gentrification happening in surrounding communities, there's sort of this void
here that's just starting to infill and it is increasingly attractive to developers. And so it feels like the game has changed a bit. >> Be a bit more proactive in how we can still be, you know, business friendly
and reasonable, but also weigh that against, you know, how some of the other more, you know, prestigious communities might conduct themselves where, you know, they're a little bit more selective about who they they let in and the aesthetic to which the buildings must be built, etc. So, it just feels
like we can't just say petition denied, move on, business as usual. It feels like there needs to be some sort of reckoning, some sort of um olive branch extended to to bring the community into the process. So, I just ask that you all
consider that. >> Thank you. >> Anyone else? Seeing no one else, we'll close the uh meeting to the public. >> I'll make that motion. >> Second. >> Second.
>> All in favor? >> I for comments open the council comments. Start with move on. I have none. No. None. Okay. Pat, no.
Okay, Sandy. >> Oh, I have comments. >> Okay, you got [clears throat] the floor. >> Thank you. Thank you. Well, I gotta say the DPW did a great job in this storm. The county as well. I thought the roads got cleared
quickly the next morning. And I'm sure they're out there working hard. And I even think some of the um delies stayed open for them. So, everybody pulled together. So, thank you for taking such good care of the town. And then I'm also has have a request
from the mayor. Um, I would like to get a report. I would like to have a employee census developed and sent to everybody on the council. meaning the
employee, the year of hire, the name, part-time, full-time, salary, they take a benefit or not, all in a nice Excel spreadsheet. >> They take they take a what? >> Health benefits. they have benefits
their position or their title. >> I think that report is very necessary when we do um salary increases and ranges. So I think that would be a great supporting document. So if I could get that, I'd appreciate it and I'll send
you email um as well. I'm done. >> Anything else? No, but thank you, Brad. Anything? I >> I just want to uh echo Sy's comments about the DPW. Um very long and tough storm to deal with and uh frigid
temperatures on top of it. And uh I had to out I had to go out and do some running around on uh Sunday when it was snowing. and um they were out there doing I know they had to take their their break after their 16 hours of being on the road, but um they did a
great job and I think the community did a very nice job and staying home except for me who had to run out uh and leaving the leaving the roads open for the for the town to clear. So I know that's important to them as well. So kudos to them and um and the county as well as Sandy said. Um I actually think the town
roads were in better shape than the county roads right after the storm. So, um, they did a great job. Thank you. That's >> I think that was, uh, we had a, uh, I had a conference call with JCPNL, uh, and they they contribute a lot of power out, you know, power outages. They
contributed the fact that a lot of the roads were closed down, shut down. So, uh, I I was concerned about all that snow, but uh, happy that nothing uh nothing was uh no outages occurred. So, that was that was good to hear.
Yeah, and I agree. Fantastic job. And sometimes that snow comes down hard fast. It's hard to keep up sometimes and contractors that that
they're out there in force as well. So, >> okay. >> And emergency service teams who are on standby all the time. So, >> yeah. My comments have to do with most important thing going on right now, which is the budget. So, Peter just gave us a copy of the budget uh schedule,
statutory dates, revised things, and uh we're facing pretty quick uh pretty quick deadline on a lot of the things have to be done. And the whole goal is to give us all enough time to make
reasonable choices and to uh not only meet these dates, but uh make them and uh we can ask your cooperation. There was a meeting in December that was for the department heads that was done on like 10:00 in the morning on a Monday or
whatever and no council people were there. So, uh I'll be talking to you and I'd like to reschedu that meeting so we can actually there's two new members on the board now and uh you know we'd like to hear more than what we heard on just
the audio recording. So, it's something that hopefully we can reschedule, get them here, and uh see what their plans are, fit that into the budget process. And uh I know there's concern that it's going to be a tight budget, and uh
faster we can get to it, better choice we can make. And it should be noted that the there's been a change in the um penalty for violating
the the appropriate dates that was raised. And these are these penalties are indemnifications are not they're personal and they can't be paid by the township individually. and they were raised from
a $100 a day, $50 a day to $100 a day. So, >> yeah, with our big paycheck, that's going to be a tough one to swallow. So, uh want to avoid that. >> And lastly, the CFO, new CFO will be starting soon, Monday.
>> Um I uh I think it's Monday. >> Monday. Yeah. >> So, she'll be coming right in on the budget process. So, we'll do our best to prepare questions up front so that she has an opportunity to answer them and uh
get the process moving. >> Right. And that's yeah, like I said, I made the request to you guys to again try to get us all of your questions, you know, prior to the meeting so we can really give you guys uh a well-informed um written answer so you guys can make
those, >> you know, those decisions um based on all the information we get. Just again, allow us some time to to get you that information. I in some things pop up. Um, like I said, it's it's beneficial that we we provide you with the right
the right correct answers. I know the board of ed has changed that as well, right? They've I don't think they they don't do any uh public, you know, uh uh answers to anything. I guess they they take it back, they review it, especially with their attorneys, you know, they
make sure their their the eyes are dotted, tees are crossed, and then then [clears throat] I think at the next meeting they they talk about what they answer those questions that were there. I'm not saying we're doing that, but >> we want to make sure that we we have all the all your questions answered before
you take a >> Yeah, if we can get the public involved as early as possible, let them know what's going on, some of the concerns, that's always always important. And the uh and the uh vote we took last time was to have the leison on work with you.
That would be Pat Rudo and any other member of the council concerning legends. I'm sure as things move forward there, you'll keep keep us posted on that one. >> Yep. Um we'll uh I think it's in I think before the next the next
meeting. I know. Well, I'll talk about it with Matt. Um I I did get uh give Paris just a um a quick uh update on some of the things that we're waiting in on. So, um,
>> but once we once we have which you guys got a copy of those questions, I guess we we wanted to ask legends once we we have that uh we get that information back which we're hoping we get it back very soon and then we'll we'll have that discussion about you know steps going
forward. So, >> good. >> Yeah, it's a big decision. So, >> thank you. Yep. >> Anybody else? Any other questions? Have a motion to adjurnn. Motion.
Second. Second. And all in favor? I post. We're ajourned.