##VIDEO ID:zuRz4rabjLY## will the clerk please read a statement meeting adequate notice ofe wased to the public and the Press on January 17 2024 and was posted at the municipal building in accordance with the open public meetings Act njsa 10 thank you roll call please council member bushier here council member D benedetto council member Higgins here council member sorta presid council president rudo here okay you over he's going please rise and join me in a 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 under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all mayor is here now here do we have a written statement that he wishes to enter not that I'm aware of may I have a motion to open the floor for public comments moveed by Mr Sparta is there a second second second by Mr Higgins all in favor please signify by saying I I I Mo opposed motion carries floor is open to the public for agenda item only for three minutes yes please M when you say agenda items only I assume that means executive session as well I don't know the there well you can talk about the executive session but there's an executive session we haven't chosen to make the contents of that session public yet so I that's not really an agenda item of course you can make it any comments you'd like at the end of the meeting wait so you are telling me that I cannot address executive session that was on the agenda 10 minutes ago yes is that what you're telling me right that's interesting okay all right um I guess I'll come back and ask later thank you is there anyone else wishing to address the council good night my name is Karina I'm very new to this I guess I clearly have no much idea what I'm doing here but uh I'm just trying to be hard I have a issu with the town um tell us what the agenda item is it needs to be related to an agenda item um also can you move your microphone uplifted oh yeah sorry ma'am excuse me forward to this that way you'll be heard and if it's not an agenda item you can speak later it's just they do public session on agenda items first then they'll handle the agenda items and then they'll handle other other whatever else y okay so I think I'm the other issues I come back okay but you know the benefit of that you get two minutes more okay thank you anyone else seeing no one coming forward may I have a motion to close the floor to the public moved moved by Mr Higgins is there a second second second by Mrs bueri all in favor signify by saying I I oppos motion cares uh we have their bills list review is there any uh questions on on theist not a question on Billa I don't know if it's for you Orel for example on the payroll summary which is page one we have a current expenditure of $42,000 for state unemployment right that's a monthly fee and then cumulative year today is 4,533 th000 is that an error should that 45,000 or that 4.5 million be 455,000 I don't know that would like month it's the same amount times 10 would be 455 instead of 4.5 so that's my question yeah that's a question for denell I can find out and let you know okay that would be a good number are there any other questions thank you we'll move on all members Council I received the minutes of the meeting executive session of October 17 2024 may I have a motion to place it on the floor for consideration moved moved by Mr spart is there a second seconded by Mrs buer um there any questions comments or deletions additions on that if not may I have a roll call vote please yes member Higgins AB stand counc yes council president rudo yes motion cares and for the minutes of the meeting of October 17 our regular session may I have a motion to place that those minutes on the floor for consideration I'll make that motion motion made by Mrs is there second second second by Mr Mr Higgins okay um is there any addition questions or dele on it not may I have a all in favor signify by saying I no iOS can can I do a roll call you want a roll call on that okay roll call please council member bueri yes council member Higgins uh council member Sparta yes council president Ruda yes motion carries thank you moving to our consent agenda if at the end you have any items that you wish to be separated please let me know when I'll do so resolution 24- 274 the approval of a Cooperative purchasing contract uniform Cleaning Supply uh Omnia Cooperative contract 01299 - centas Incorporated resolution 24- 275 the resolution accepting bid of Country Classic Auto Body for 13 for a bid for 13- 20-24 tanker repair services uh resolution 24- 276 refund for totally disabled veteran uh block 124 D lot one Dolan uh resolution 24- 277 block 124 lot one- Dolan cancelling taxes for disabled total disabled veteran resolution 24- 278 block 124 lot one- Dolan cancelling taxes for total disabled veteran uh H can I have two uh 24 275 24 275 did I miss one nope uh bill is that the one you wanted uh are you good no I thought you wanted one no no I have a motion to place resolution 24- 274 through resolution 24- 278 on the floor for passage council members I ask for 2427 yes yeah with the exception of separating resolution 24- 275 there a motion I'll make that motion motion made by Mrs buer second seconded by Mr Higgins uh all in favor signify by saying I I I opposed motion carries resolution 24- 275 a resolution accepting bid of Country Classic Auto Body LLC for bid number 13-22 4 tanker repair services I'll make a motion motion made by Mrs bueri is there a second second seconded by Mr Higgins any questions or comments on from my understanding Tina this was a tanker that was involved in an accident correct yes okay um is insurance covering this yes but the problem is is um Insurance used to send the money directly to the auto body shop they're not doing that anymore so now gets sent to the township and we're the ones actually cutting the check so since we're cutting the check we still have to go out to bid to get um you know to see if who would be the lowest bidder to actually do the repairs on this so now that this company came in as the lowest bid they could do the the work and then the money is actually coming from the insurance payment that we already received but we couldn't disperse it until after because of the amount of it and uh was there any other biders or no no okay okay thank you question yeah yeah um roll call please council member Brer yes council member Higgins yes yes yeses introduction of ordinance 24- 23 a bond ordinance providing for the acquisition of new equipment for use by the Department of Public Works of the township of ver in the county of Sussex New Jersey appropriating 540,000 therefore authorizing the issuance of $513,000 bonds or notes the for financing such appropriation may I have a motion to introduce this ordinance I'll make that motion motion made by Mrs bueri is there a second second seconded by Mr Higgins um all in favor signify by saying I I I oos motion carries roll call please council member bu yes council member Higgins yesc member SCA yes council president oh yes motion carries excuse my uh haste I'm trying to get everybody out of here for is the football game double header tonight oh is there game ordinance 24-24 an ordinance addressing clothing allowance for members of volunteer ambulance and first aid squads for serving the township may I have a motion to introduce ordinance 24-25 moved by Mr seconded by Mrs bueri um V call please council member BR Sherry yes council member hiin yes council member Sparta yes council president Ludo yes carries okay to open up the meeting for public comment may I have a motion Mr Higgins a second second second I Mrs all in favor please signify by staying long I I oppos motion carries the floor is open to the public for any comment on any issue um the limit of five minutes please would you like a chair Mrs paladini would you like hi my name is Jesse paladini I have a question Mr paladini what was um what was the contract you discussed in executive session was a contract for the reassessment property so you have a contract no we don't have a contract a contract is when something is offered and something is you know well we were look we were looking at the terms and conditions okay what was the anticipated litigation that the anticip litigation in a contract that's part of the deal when we're setting a contract you have to consider what possible items within a contract may may promote litigation no that's not what um matters for executive session mean you have to actually have a contract that you're discussing so okay okay so you did not have a contract no we don't okay we had to discuss the items that may be gerine to being put into the contract that's not an executive session matter say it is remind everybody this is public comment not question answer so you can give your comments to the public whatever topic or concerns you can raise concerns executive session is that's perfectly valid but it's back my comment is that you cannot go in into executive session for a maybe contract or a maybe negotiation or a maybe litigation the open public meetings Act is very clear for what you can and cannot go into executive session for frankly I'm shocked that you went into executive session on that I'm shocked that your attorney allegedly told you that you could and the mayor announced on Facebook today that the purpose of the executive session was to have a conversation a discussion with the tax successor concerning a tax assessor Assessment program I'm sorry sorry not executive session matters and there is a remedy for this type of thing and that is the County prosecutor's Z office or the State Attorney General's office now the fine for going into executive session unlawfully is $100 so you probably couldn't care less about $100 but the real punishment is the complete lack of public trust and that is what you will be garnering for having done what you did and I'm really just appointed Mr Ruda you've been on this Council maybe some 12 years you've been on the board of education for a long time you've been on the board of ed you've been on the board of ed you've been on the board of ed the open public meetings Act is very specific for what you can go into executive session for and this was not one of them my second comment but the CFO is not here I would like to know why this Council or the CFO did not think it was necessary for you to adopt a resolution of approval pursuant to chapter 159 proceedings of the state statut to amend your budget for the 9,860 that the historical Society donated to this Township ironically the same night that we thought you were going to adopt such a resolution you had a chapter 159 proceeding resolution on the agenda and you have had several over the last few years so now King mench is saying that you don't have to answer questions so where do I get the answer to that question if I can't call the CFO and I can't ask you why did you feel that you do not have to adopt that resolution to amend your budget can you answer that question no so you can't call the CFO because the mayor directs her not to answer questions you can't come to a council meeting and ask the CFO and you won't answer either good job real transparency thank you anyone else wishing to address the councel M come up M some wants to go first umw uh I have a couple of things I was to speak about I was I thought I was angry enough when I found out about um I guess the modification of building permit fees and so on some time ago and now our homeowners instead of looking at the portal for free on our Township website have to pay $40 or more to the uh building department to find out if there are open permits okay it just seems like the taxpayers are being pecked to death with ridiculous you know if it's not feather signs it's silliness like this we're having a CO done and now today I got the I got the gist of this wonderful ordinance uh 24-14 where the penalty for committing the crime of omitting that little paper from a closing mind you I guess nobody ever figured out that you could negotiate these issues during the closing the fine is uh not to exceed $1,000 imprisonment for a period not exceeding 90 days Andor a period of community service not exceeding 90 days I don't know maybe we should just go for the death penalty what the heck kind of nonsense is this to do to our taxpayers the people leaving a home are forced to endure these ridiculous fees they're already paying a smoke Sur why on Earth would we have to pay $100 in some cases if it's less than 10 days because closings don't happen like they used to anymore it's a quick hurry up now we're gonna close it this afternoon or maybe we won't and to expect someone to just keep writing check after check for useless service is just absurd it's exhausting and like I said we are pecking the taxpayers to death with silliness then this talk about the annual re valuations we have a gentleman running for president who's looking to cut regulations I think this is the exact garbage he's looking to get rid of silly stuff like this okay annual evaluations are setting the table for us to have unrealized capital gains taxes every year they're after us if the wrong party gets in they're after us for gains on our properties who wants does anybody want to pay that the goal of that is to have to end home ownership and to have people ending to pay you know large sums of money every year on unrealized gains let Al their 401ks and so forth on property taxes we're just setting this all up for them are do we have any thought for the taxpayers that are being subjected to this craziness I mean I'm just I'm fuming I'm so mad at that just we just keep going one after another after another it doesn't stop and it's also heavy-handed it's just I feel like we're being ruled by tyrants and I'm sorry you're all very nice people very kind people and I'm sure you have our best interest but this is chanical I'm sorry it's too much thank you have a good day really I don't know what I'm do here it's okay so good night my name is Terina um I'm been calling the town uh especially the Department of Public Work I have a city pipe that is pushing the water from across the street to my house and is dumping all the water from the rain at right on the beginning of my driveway and it's pushing out all my landscape it's bringing all the leaves and the dirty and the garbage that has in the streets to my to my property Dage my property the acccess of water is coming to my my to my septic field so it's being a nightmare uh it's going off to my neighbor's house is damaging the side of my neighbor's house I'm not having any answers people are making fun when I call they don't show any respect you called the to I called the to I have a couple of emails but uh uh I just I just thought I was very disrespectful the way that they replied to me they don't even bother to look the pictures I attach one video I'm been collecting the things and it's just like it's it's it's just overwhelming and I need some help and looks like nobody's really trying to help who who did you talk to um I talked to the mayor uh I emailed the department of uh work yes I have a few emails the last one that I sent was last Friday I still not reply for that email I do uh hope they will uh look the way that they reply was like I was being crazy uh I just said oh maybe you misunderstand my message uh just please look at the picture and I had no response but uh I'm new in town like about like 18 months or so and uh it's a huge issue and I don't want to come here because know how hard it is to to get something so I'm just I'm just begging for help basically can I ask Tina if you could meet with her after the meeting and perhaps you can put together some type of a contact relate this with the mayor's contact and see if we can't bring closure to this yes it's not the type of uh start we would like to have with a new Resident okay uh about the foot ball game if you guys um appear in M life my you guys may see me as a guest service uh met I work at MetLife uh doing Gest services so you guys are talking about fot gball game on Thursday make sure everybody appears with the you know the tickets on the phone and that's all thank you very much okay there anyone else wishing to address the counsil Mr Castle how are you good how are you guys doing so Scott CLE from Glenwood um just a follow up um on the uh you know reassessment that everybody else was talking about too I I don't claim to have the knowledge that uh Mrs paladini and Mrs Larson have but just my two Sense on it um I'd like to say that I think handling any of it behind closed doors to me is is uh extremely concerning um heartening mainly because I had been seeing you know with the addition additional couple of council members and Mr Sparta and everything a little bit more I felt transparency that was coming through and you know this is um taxpayer money it's not you know town-owned money that we're trying to grab a hold of or something so it's taxpayer money which we have a big concern on and I think uh well I don't think I know a lot of the election was based the election that were going on were based on this specific issue because it's super concerning to to taxpayers to just have this continuing without at least some kind of input on it so you know maybe the Clos door was a Prelude to a future public meeting that you're going to have um if that is the case I hope that the public meeting that does come you know if it does come is not just formality and that the public can actually weigh in and that's going to be taken into account by by the council um it's just to me I I can say just for me personally I'm not speaking for anybody else but it seems like it's taken I I really felt good about the Town Council I felt good about the meetings that I was coming to I was more concentrating on the board of ed which is a whole whole another subject that that I won't get into but I thought that was the concern so I hate to see steps back from what I did see as progress happening on the council now so um I'm hoping there's more info that's going to come on this and why some of it's being held uh you know as close session as opposed to at least letting people see what's being discussed and what's happening so that's it that was just two set before you sit down be assured that no contract signed approved is voted on when in Clos session it's against the law I've been involved in a number of different contracts for a long period of time over a number of years and contrary to what anybody else says there are reasons why we go into close session because the items being discovered are dis and I speak in Discovery as brought up before the council uh are such that you know we we it's not good for the township to have that information brought out prematurely so in in fact the items that we are going to discuss or any item that we discuss in Clos session will always be uh discussed completely and openly in regular session the issue that we were discussing that we've had two previous discussions on it and will have another discussion prior to any contract signing uh for uh public uh you know for public uh consideration so okay yeah I mean again as long as the public can weigh in and it's not you know already discussed in the closed session and pretty much settled on and then the public gets in there and everybody comes up here and Rants and raides but it just is already pretty much a done deal so again it may just be to me the Optics don't look well by by doing it the way that it's done you know maybe us not understanding why there was a close session on it and you know maybe it's my own well I think one of the things you might want to consider you know understand is that you know before we go into close session we have two professionals we have our constitutional professional the our clerk who places her license on the line of something like that determining what's you know can be discussed in close session and it's also uh discussed with our attorney who would also make sure that what we do is uh is correct so you know simply I I think I've done this before I don't take the advice of people whose name doesn't have letters after it in determining whether or not there's a valid legal situation so forth so yep okay thanks for the thank you is there anyone else wishing to address the council hello hello Stephanie from Glenwood I just want Stephanie beell from Glennwood I'm sorry I just want to ask why is it that sometimes we have people coming up here and asking questions and there is a back and forth with the council and clearly Mrs paladini wasn't allowed to to answer to answer back and back and forth why is it okay for this gentleman to go ahead and do that is anyone going to answer me you know I try to make the you know remind folks all the time um but I'm not the boss of people so I I understand it's very frustrating as someone in the community when you have a question and it's valid and you're truly not trying to cause problems really just so we know I Tred to try to educate myself as much as I can on things that I don't know or understand and how am I going to get that answer if I can't come to you who we elected to help us and run our town so I just wanted to get that off my chest thank you very much all right thank you there anyone else wishing to address the councel if not I'll ask for a motion to close the floor public moved by Mr Higgins is there a second second seconded by Mrs bueri roll call please council member B yes council member Higgins yes council member Spa yes council president yes Mo carries coun comments I noticed there's a couple candidates for the Board of Education in the room and I'd like to uh wish you the best of luck we need you and the taxes that uh are being charged are much more higher than what we can uh establish from this bench so uh please do your best and good luck on your election no comment M any comment um no comment no comment may I have a motion to adjourn I'll make that motion made by Mrs bueri to a second second seconded by Mr Sparta all in favor signify by saying I I closed motion carries the meeting ised trying to go to Jet Blue my credit cards really trying to go to somewhere somewhere that's kind of cheap though right like they should have tried I had a credit card one long time ago they went card but and it was before like even like did things online it was