##VIDEO ID:F3cRiA2hPBg## good evening I call the order of this regular meeting of the r of C of council for Monday the 16 December 2024 Madam clerk would you please read the public meetings out compliance statements the Don requirements for the open public meetings act have been satisfied with respect to this meeting of the township Council the meeting time and date were included in the public meeting notice along with the public internet link and telephone Callin information said notice in the meeting agenda was posted in the municipal building and sent to the official newspapers of the township the Verona C Grove times and the Star Ledger at least 48 Hours preceding the start time of this meeting the agenda and handouts can be view online at Verona nj.org counil meetings the public comment period will be held in the order it is listed on the meeting agenda and instructions on how to comment will be provided at the appropriate time thank you mad clerk would you call the rooll please councilwoman Holland here Council here councilman Roman here Deputy Mayor makoy present mayor tamboro here mayor also present tonight is um Rosemary I'm sorry Rosemary Fiera from the Eloy Law Firm Township manager Joseph diarco Deputy Township manager Kevin salivan myself municipal clerk Jennifer Kier thank you madam clerk would everybody please stand for I pledge allegiance to the United States of America and to the Republic for one nation God indivisible with libery and justice for all good evening everyone let we start our last meeting before the new year couple items on my report uh thank you to everybody who participated in the fair and square we had a a great number of attendees and a record number of vendors this year um it was a cold day but still well populated people had good times and it was of course a pleasure as always to introduce big man himself Santa Claus um and my approval rating for the you know the zero to you know niney old age racket significant increases during that time um but it was lovely and thank you to the r of fire department for their assistance our public works department buildings and grounds Department our public information officer at Lea northr the Bron Rescue Squad the police department um and all of our vendors restaurants and everybody who helped as well as our performing arts groups um and uh it was really just a lovely day as always um the BR environmental commission had its Junior commissioner presentations last week in the council chambers uh the junior Commissioners presented on topics that they had pretty extensively researched this year the presentations were were excellent um they were the the two young ladies who did it one being a a junior in high school one being a sophomore in high school um Nia and CC respectively um did presentations with such professionalism on such interesting topics they're so knowledgeable uh employees which with they with which they presented was really outstanding and it was just a pleasure to be here they also took questions which is always my favorite part of engaging our students as well so thank you to everybody who being interest work those what they are doing the environmental commission met this week um to establish some goals for the next year to do site plan review and various other items and to also review applications for the new junior members uh so the two new Junior Commissioners will start in January and we're excited to see what they do there as well the environmental commission also sent the council their annual report and I've asked them to come in January to present the highlights of that report as this is a um as a great it's a great very working uh board that we have there um before this meeting I was on a a zoom call with the the White House Department of intergovernmental Affairs intergovernmental Affairs about the the Drone issue in New Jersey uh there were representatives from the FAA and the FBI um and various other government departments uh talking about what is happening and the big Takeaway on this um the the meeting was held by chat house rules so I can't say who said anything in particular but I can share some details is I don't see an imminent threat right now um they're also concerned that um the search for drones has resulted in more drones being flown and that's why sightings have gone up uh the biggest issue right now is people shooting lasers into the air in their drone searching and um potentially blinding pilots and causing severe eye damage so um I'm sure nobody that is on this call is doing that but if you see anybody doing that or shining lasers into the sky please call the police immediately so we can stop that as we are in a PL path for nework airport uh and if I have any updates I will get them out we are having our Hanukkah manora Lighting on the 26th of December I hope to see everybody there at 6:00 here at the Civic Center and finally a Merry Christmas to all who celebrate and the happiest of New Year's and at this time I will call Mr C or good evening mayor and counsel and hopefully on December 25th Santa does not get hit with laser or that being said um I only have two things this coming week on the 19th which is Thursday we will have our food distribution again at the CH Blossom Center in North which is on the border of bille we will be giving out a th000 boxes of food and turkeys the other thing that's going on in our county is we have our fabulous holiday lights and they will be open until the end of the year except for December 24th and 25th that being said I have a light agenda I'm wishing everyone a happy holiday myself and the county executive wishes you all very good holiday good Christmas Hanukkah and whatever else you celebrate that being said but be careful Santa I anything from the council any question thank you have a great holiday right and finally I have two appointments on the agenda this evening uh is the reappointment of two members of our committees the versus arjin backer from the library Board of Trustees so I'm reappointing arjin to that role and then Ira Jacobs to the shry commission both of the terms will expire 1231 of 2029 and that is my report Mr diaro thank you mayor um wrapping up since it's December my Agenda Report has no new items on it I did want to advise you that the trans transition to the uh Bloomfield and County Health Department will be effective January 1st all our staffs have met uh and they've coordinated the exchange of files and information and we'll pick up on January 1 and uh in this morning was a communication from the engineers for the country club uh drainage plans that they uh to mitigate the flooding in Verona um will be reviewed by Bosell engineering and reports will come to in the near future and that's all I have for you and then the uh we do have the public hearing for Community Development block brand application will we ever feel walk would you like to do that down Mr yes okay all right let me just okay um at this time I need a motion to um approve the resolution labeled as uh EA in the the meeting finder and then we will have our public hearing on that application this is the motion is made by the councilman Roman is there a second second second made by Council woman Holland at this time I will open for the public hearing on resolution EA Madam Clark would you please read the public participation statements yes so I'm just going to have the deputy man an overview if that's okay yeah no so I'm not opening yet sure the uh the magic is required to hold this public hearing for our upcoming cdbg Grant application uh there was a Grant application there were uh two Grant applications submitted in the prior year which were both awarded uh money for those projects the Evert field was included in our Grant application last year for ada8 compliant walkways around the site the township was awarded $60,000 towards that project this would be a second application for the exact same project for the same intention of providing 8 compliant walkways around the ever field site that is currently in final design so this is the mandatory requir public hearing for that Mr Sol um at this time I will open for a public hearing on this cler if you please read the public participation statement thank you anyone from the public wishing to speak on this particular matter please raise your hand if you're visiting by Zoom by pressing the raise hand button on your monitor if you're dialing in by phone please press star nine if you're attending in person please raise your hand before approaching elect turn once you're recognized clearly state only your name and Township of residents for record you're not required to provide your street address however if you do please note that these meetings will be posted on the Township's YouTube channel and addresses will not be redacted for any purpose you'll have four minutes to address the council there could be no cross dialogue during this public portion and after everyone wishing to speak has been heard the council or Administration May address your comments and or questions thank M rep anybody in the audience want to chime in on the sidewalk anybody at home hearing none I close the public hearing is there any Council discussion fin only the item is thank you once again to our Administration for agressively pursuing the cdbg applications uh this does help us pay for a you know part of a large project and 'll WR that so thank you for your forethought in designing that um and I'm obviously to receive this right mad Clark which call Ro please councilwoman Holland yes councilwoman McGrath yes councilman Roman yes Deputy Mayor maoy yes mayor tamboro yes mayor EA will be numbered resolution 241 passes 5 to zero thank you madam clerk Mr Ro suvan you're still up yesk you I I know we do have two present ation so I will try to move through my report quickly um the pool Improvement project that was awarded at the last meeting we are currently scheduling a preconstruction meeting so we do not have a specific construction schedule yet uh similarly for the primary clarifier pumping station project uh we are coordinating with the nji bank so we will schedule that preconstruction meeting as well in the coming weeks once we have um the final approvals from the ibank um uh we are still underway with a number of other Wastewater projects we are also uh actively addressing an emergency repair on the collection system uh which runs parallel to Derwent Avenue that is currently underway a Lind Drive well is still under construction the contractor working through the final uh components of that project uh which includes pressure testing chlorination well flushing back washing and training up all the new equipment with with uh Verona sta that project remains on schedule and Fairview Avenue is still pending the Green Acres and D approvals clar Drive pump station is is out to bid with bids to be received on January 22nd uh jumping ahead on my report the Evert field design project which we just talked about um we are expecting to receive the 70% design drop drawings by the end of the month we will look to schedule a final Public Presentation with the council in January or February uh depending upon uh the the amount of other items on the agendas during those meetings um pickle ball and Tennis Courts we've scheduled a pre-construction meeting for Wednesday of this week we'll get a construction schedule at that meeting or shortly therea uh we did receive our final energy audit for the Wastewater Plant that was the last report we were awaiting so we are working with that audit team to schedule a presentation for the mayor council um Lakeside Avenue parking lot is still under design uh we will uh be hopefully closing on that property within the uhin the month or next month uh and we have the design plan ready for bidding this winter uh um for the town hall windows and repointing project we've also scheduled that pre-construction meeting for Thursday of this week uh that work will begin through the winter uh but we'll get a more formal construction schedule from the contractor on Thursday uh and then uh the one of the items that was on the agenda which we have deferred it will be scheduled for the January 6th mayor and council meeting is the uh presentation of the Emergency Services building uh we will look to have a final presentation circulated to the mayor and Council prior to that and uh ready for the public on that January 6th meeting I'll end my report on that unless there's any questions coun um thank you so that's January 6 it's not J the 20th J the 6 correct we were coordinating with the architect on his availability and and January 6 is okay great just going back to the wells um this hold up with the Green Acres property is now really stretching is um is the administration thinking through plan on how to so we've get that approval so we've been in touch on uh almost on a weekly basis with Green Acres um again the difficulty remains that there was uh an exception process that was um it was provided to municipalities or public water systems that have wells and need uh posos treatment um but if those Wells are situated on open space properties there was this exception process that was introduced uh the process for how those applications are handled was was not as thoroughly flush flushed out on uh on that planning from the state but we have been working Verona was first at the table for that Green Acres has completed their review and recommendation to have this approved um their most recent recommendation to us was to start advancing uh calls and and um more discussions with uh the commissioner to see if if there is a more specific time frame understanding that the Township's desire is to get clean healthy public water to public Advance with the D commissioner yes thank you any other questions from Mr Sol thank you Sol we appreciate the highlights thank you and what is next we have our SL presentation first we doing New Gen first all right Mr Jordan you just introduce yourself to the public yes name is Walter Jordan vice president with DJ and Energy Partners joined here today um with two of my colleagues um Austin Williams um and then Adam from mantis who is our strategic partner in this project here as well so thank you'all for allowing us to come back and visit with y'all again and follow up on the previous conversation that we had um through those discussions y'all provided great feedback um narrowing down this project and and dialing in on the information that yall are looking for uh work pretty heavily with staff um and trying to um really narrow down those last few details that we needed to get so got a few things here for y'all to look at today um as we consider to uh push this project along and um I know we have short on time you have got a busy agenda tonight so shouldn't take up a whole lot of your time here so we'll get right into it uh this is the first one so this is the Lakeside um lot that is there was a lot of question about with the array being as big as it was covering it Corner to Corner in the parking lot so we went back and um drilled down on that a little bit um split it up into three separate canopies here um wanted to be able to give you a pretty good idea from a size perspective um we put some school buses underneath them on this so you can see that uh from that perspective and uh came back off the lot lines um on each side of the property as well so um as previous in my last presentation again yall questions do yall have feedback knock me off my axes more than happy to um engage so so that's the design that we came up with that we think would be um would be ideal based on the the criteria that you guys put forth um any questions surrounding the Lakeside lot at all that was there was a lot of questions with that particular property last time just general question do you require any kind of equipment enclosures ground mounted anything like that or is this all integrated into the canopies you have to you know plant it it's all integrated into the canopies okay yeah how high will these panels be panels yeah so how how high up um so they're on a slant so they'll be from um we can really kind of make them as high as you want to but reality is you know usually they're slanted from 9 to 14 ft yeah I mean we say as high as we want to I would try to be as B we want to yeah this is in near residential neighborhoods so just trying to keep that character the the biggest challenge that you guys are faced with um that we've got to be you know aware of is snow plot um is is probably your biggest biggest concern there so yeah 9 to 14 feet is pretty standard so all right so this is Municipal lot one um not a lot of change on this particular um property we feel like we've got this one dialed in for what the need is here thisal lot two and on if you see in some of these slides where you've got the blue squares those are the actual panels and the software that we use to lay this out and then we come back and put it into a 3D image I have a yeah of question on this one so the property line with the White House which is um a veterinarian Center so it looks like it's really close is there there's no setback on that one at all I on the lot to here yeah there's a driveway there's a driveway there a driveway there yeah that in the building okay so but still it's right the panel on its is right up on our property line or it'll be close to it yes it will okay on this one right so it's not like you're seeing panels on a flat roof that are sticking up it'll look like it's part of the structure it it's not it's not the viewing the veneer of its look at fir Tru access through here turning radius Etc obviously we're putting structures up that don't exist now um if someone needs to fight a a car fire in one of these Lots or a building fire it might to you know run the apparatus radius on this yeah Fire official should and the fire chief should timee in and that would go back I would think to height yeah we could raise it in certain areas especially this one here because coming into the driveway at the the ladder truck because obviously we have commercial right on the looking going in the parking lot to the right side on Bluefield Avenue and we just just had a fire in one of those buildings recently so it's a very good concern yeah that those those nitty-gritty details are things that we get into in a due diligence process for sure all right um next one is the wastewater treatment plant so the big highlight on this one was what were we going to do with the old panels and the condition of those panels um we have secured a source to completely recycle them so they'll be reused um and then we've added in the new the new panels and the new roof over the building on the right and on the uh using the coding system on the building on the left and then adding the panels um as well any questions here all right um which one is this this is the community center correct yes yeah so not a lot of changes here um we've added we've got the parking lot um with the canopies on it we've got the rooftop um there is there is a change to this um that has happened since like literally this week so we expect this roof to go back with gf's cool series shingles um however cool Series has been discontinued um as of this week and so we would have to change it to the reflector series which is a the specific shingle that you've got to use in order to capture the direct payback um for the roof piece being tied into it as well comes out of California um we've already secured sourcing and the ability to bring that product in um and from a look standpoint it's going to look just like the shingle that's that we had spec before and the one that you know that's up here on the screen so it uh in order for it to work it's got to be part the cool roof ratings Council it's also going to be tile 24 UV reflection rate has to be high so um it checks all those boxes and it's it's it's comparable um still got the hdz technology in it wind speeds unlimited wind warranty Etc so it's a it's like ordering a Coke and they don't have Coke and you get Pepsi instead so it works all right quick question on this one yeah of course is there a reason I don't know if I asked this before is a reason why we did not uh utilize the Annex Building in the back in the background of this top left picture yeah um there is a reason you've got a 100 foot tall cell tower there um the one in the way in the back correct yes um that cell tower in the afternoons put shade on that particular building we can add panels there if we wanted to um but it's almost counterproductive got it okay all right so the the property that we had talked about previously that youall brought to the attention is the pool gets a couple months use out of the year um pretty good site we've got canopy set up here on this one and as into our cash flows um we did not feel there was enough bang for the buck to do anything with the roof on this one so we went straight to the canopy option here instead so this one is new from the last time before we visited last time on any of these projects um well how how many spots are you giving up per project to install these none many 10% maybe one okay maybe one I mean it's no it's no different than lighting a parking lot and putting um you know light poles in a parking lot so you should have the same parking that you had before have the ability to add any charging as well so all right one question now that you've gone through all of the looking at all the lots have you run into any problems with because obviously they're all angled with snow rolling off of them as I'm looking at even the one in the center of town not angled away from it it's angled into the center of the property or center of the driveway rather have you ever had any issues with snow sliding off of them so the snow is going to have is is going to slide off of it in some way form um so let's talk about snow for a second there's a couple different ways that it works so you get a light dusting right yeah we obviously we're talking about solar is the transfer electricity there's going to be heat there it's going to be above freezing it's going to have some melting components to it right now when you guys get snow that's ear hole deep to a tall giraffe that's that's that's not going to do us any good at all so um long story short is yes there's going to be some snow that's going to accumulate underneath the canopies um which I think is probably a pretty good reason why you got get snowplow people MH so um just more on that so I think the council I don't want to speak for you but um if snow piles up on top though I think the question is like if we get a lot of snow that piles on top and then that melting process it could slide off and kind of hurt somebody it could slide off at unexpected times like almost like how snows on an SUV roof sure then like if you're driving like it just flies off so how do if there's a lot of snow on these units I understand they run hotter but like is there something we should be doing to remove the snow proactively or we just let it melt and then the question is does it is it then sliding off yeah so that's a good question so a couple different things on the glass itself um it's it's got a slick component to it almost like wax to a car right so um we do that to help get you know bird feces or leaves or whatever else can accumulate onto the panels right so the panels are going to have a slick nature to them where the snow can fall off right now if we wanted to explore into a deeper version we do have the ability um we have a product that's basically like a Sprinkle system works like a Di and it's got diem in it like you use on a plane um we're using those in Minnesota right now because of snow drifts where they build up on walls on roofs how to collapse you know things of that nature so those are things that can be explored if that is a if that is a big concern that is something that we can absolutely add into the equation if needed follow up on that do we get any icicle formation around the perimeter of these icicle formation around the perimeters like around my house when I iy get snow load I get icicles swarming around you know oh sure yes there it's metal right the canopies are metal it's going to freeze it's gonna it's G to have that drip effect that you're talking about yes sir all right so what we did is we took and y'all have it in your packets that we gave you as well for each individual site um that's got a breakdown of each individual location how much power going to be produced and the offset from the electricity but in this slide we took and we simplified it we brought it all into one um so we've got everything that's included in here um also you brought up last time about the New Jersey the numbers that we had used were correct we just had it labeled wrong okay on the presentation so um well thank you for remembering me absolutely so couple different things here to add we've got the om&m um which is the operations and maintenance expenses included into the cost so that's part of it as well with the guaranteed production rates that come with it along with um you're seeing about a 25% um cutout of your electric usage by going with this program here so um we can always add more take some away however you all want to work it but these are the numbers for all sites in their totality uh for how this comes together also we went back we got the bond rate that was included in there your financials are calculated with a 4% um bond rate that's included in there as part of the functionality of the cash flows for each individual site as well any yes ma'am um if I may I I just find it particularly interesting that when we consider that we we PID hundreds of thousands of dollars in our PSG bills that we're only offsetting 25% like that's I think that's the part that gives me the most pause with the amount of solar we'd be putting on these different facilities so is it just that that we is it the aggregated net metering program is there another opportunity that we have that we could maybe offset more it just seems that we'd be installing a lot of solar and then 25% I would just love to see a greater benefit than yeah so you've got a couple factors there that weigh in on that we've looked at a lot of different locations um for putting this project together so one of the challenges is is your land lock pretty well here so we don't have the space that we would need to build giant solar array fields to you know take down 10 12 megaw of worth of power so that's the that's the first part the second part is some of these buildings are rather old there's some challenges that are faced there from a structural component by adding to the weight with the solar um also with the shading and and where we can put the solar so and then to your point I say this a lot sometimes bigger is not better um when you talk about solar and you're trying to find the ROI and you're trying to find The Sweet Spot and so in this circumstance and how we've calculated this project I personally from my perspective it's really kind of at the sweet spot where you don't have so much of it that you're driving your Roi into 25 and 30 years and there's not so little of it that doesn't make a difference yeah that's helpful EXC yes ma'am can you just explain this graphic with the yellow line and the yeah and the shading like so what's happening in the beginning the middle and then over the length yeah so what it's calculating for here um with the probably you're particularly asking about the black and gray color and shading correct yeah so that that's the account for the bond package the 15year bond package is it there to pay for correct yes and then the and then the yellow represents um the solar protction itself and so at one point this um in around year what six it kind of crosses over can you explain the like the different parts of the yeah so there's a couple things one there's some limitations with our software based on how your the functionality of your bond package right so we've got some challenges that are there from that perspective um number two is um so that that's part of it and then number two on that front to answer your question here when we we talk about year six that's kind of the pivotal Point um so there's a couple different pieces of the puzzle that play in there one of them is um I'm G say this right one m up hold on here um so we have to there's we talk about the degreg to the panels okay so that's part of it and it's usually somewhere between year and five between year five and year six that they really level off um the degreg basically I don't say it stops but the majority of your degreg starts in the first five years starts and ends in the first five years so we have to account for that as well okay so you make the most electricity in the beginning then it kind of Fades off a little bit Yeah and we see degradation less than traditionally in all of our case studies less than 5% over the lifetime we've got panels we've installed in 90s that are okay three and 4% aggregation total 30 years ago so this doesn't mean that what is the lifespan like is it 15 year well the Lo term is 15 years correct so the lifespan of the panels is 30 years okay well let me back up we don't know the answer to that question okay um we think they're going to go 70 or 80 years um but we don't have the data to support that is is you know how it goes but the panels have a 30-year warranty on them and then a 12E labor warranty that comes with as well okay thank you and there's also some which will be covered by the O andm inverters wear out like a set of tires do on a car so the inverter is the transfer of um the DC to AC power making it a usable power they just they wear out after somewhere between 10 and 15 years so any other questions um the bottom right graph here is that are those basically my months I'm looking at the the solar production so why it's peaking in the middle is that January through December as 1 through 12 there yes yeah that's not yearly and then obviously we're going to make more power in the Summers because we have longer days so explain U just again going into the left side graph there you know where the bonded rate dips negative is that the proceeds of the bond coming to the township and then the repayment beginning after I'm trying to understand what exactly that you know the avoided utility cost is the cumulative production of the solar panels and the um the energy that we otherwise would have had to pay for I'm assuming but what actually is the sh the shading area referring to our payments back into the bond or before you answer just introduce yourself yeah my name is Austin Williams I'm here on behalf of d as well I put together a lot of these financing so the reason it dips um is the initial incentive um so you get a substantial portion back as tax benefits traditionally um but the municipality gets it as a direct pay um check so that will uh dip you into the negative you're essentially way ahead so that's reducing the principal the bond of the debt well the limitation you talk to you could reduce the principal and that would you know fundamentally look a little bit different but correct that that lowers your um Roi and then it goes back above zero as we pay off the the uh interest on the loan and we pay off the principal on the loan so that initial dip is essentially 30% of the project cost coming back in year one and then it's the savings as well throughout the the term I'm sorry I said 30 40 um and then the savings over the term is also what's going to um drive that below zero where you're saving money on the uh energy the payment of the principal and the interest on the loan is what brings it back above and you can see more clearly on this is just a representation of the last page with the cash flow chart so you can see the um uh cumulative cash flow where it actually uh dips into the red as opposed to the uh year cash flow and uh the different incentives are driving it down um and then the interest in principle on the B are driving it back up so you can see where the break even Point actually is on that cash flow it's broken down by each comp does anybody else say a c flow chart oh sorry that's in the packet the the detailed cash flow charges in the packet provided we're looking at what we got sent is there another packet we yeah we only have a 11 page we have this yeah we [Music] so basically there's a lot of detail uh going into those slides and so we provided a larger um explanation so we're looking at this um that's the it okay right we go so the big dip down is direct pay um incentive that comes with go holding so that's the main incentive uh and then your electric bill savings are are the black members here um then your cost operation maintenance which we just so what essentially drive it down the payments on interest and bonded so in the summary forecast that we have here that I'm looking at where you show um total payments 10.6 million total incentive 6.7 million net payments 3.9 million electric bill savings 7.9 million so we got and this is over 15-year term so we've got net 3.9 million of cash going out and we save 7.9 million in electric so over 15 years our cash flow should be $4 million positive correct over that term yep um and then after the 15 years obviously we don't have you know we don't have any more payments on on this we have o andm right um you're saying the lifespan of the panel should be longer than that 15 years correct the warranteed life is 30 30 okay and we should still get the electric bill savings at that point in time so we'll we see so we'll see basically better cash flow year 15 plus yes it will be pure savings and uh also just one note on the warranteed life of the panels the warranty is that they'll be operating at 80% capacity at the end of 30 years so they still have plenty of capacity um and still be producing power with proper maintenance does the warranty only cover the panel itself does it cover the replacement labor does it cover the inverters the labor warranty is 12 years okay and then what's the inverter warranty that's 15 years on conver warranty as okay so at that point in time basically it's on you know we're done with the payments but it's on us if does the pick up yeah so there there is a uh anticipated cost in the omm in year 15 likely won't happen like that if it happens before it's under warranty if it happens after it will happen gradually so um those costs are included okay so we'll basically assume that you know some panels here and there some inverters here and there correct will need to be changed out and so referring back to that chart the black line then shows your payments and and your savings and then the green line is your avoided cost um from the utility purchases so did you assume constant electric rates or did you assume no that's increasing over time uh 5% um this one is zero I believe oh is it [Music] yeah no we did use we did use yeah we did a 5% increase okay how frequently is the 5% increase it's annual so I know that's not how it typically happens but you know we'll go three or four years with no adjustment and maybe a you know 20% or something like that increase um so happy to show whatever makes sense for you guys to see um that's kind of the eia.gov for the region uh estimate but yes it's in so listening to everything you're saying and seeing we're getting the incentives up front and looking at the chart you're saying we are basically no cash outlay until year seven roundabout going by this chart where those lines interet correct I mean it it totally comes down to how you money and so we could take the incentive and and pay down your principal I think there's a lot of ways to deal with that that's not reflected in this chart but yes essentially what we're showing is that TR us thank you it would be almost like anything my biggest concern is using our own bonding capacity in this large of an expend so the only way you know to consider going into this would be if any incentive went on principal reduction um if I may there yes we'll be applying to the ECI so we'll be on your bonding capacity will'll be on the count well that is certainly helpful okay thank you very much thank you thank you again questions where do we go from here well I think we need to we need to have a discussion I don't know maybe tonight is the right have a discussion we we just got that second document so umhs schedule for new business on January 6 has the finance department had an opportunity to we've had pre meetings with CFO and firm going over all the financing that's Bond Council Bond council is involved in that also but we'll be going to the CIA if the council project so it won't be on your bonding capacity it will be tied to the county on the agenda for Ben risks yes um can I I'm curious why well what kind of projects can we bring to them for bonding and why this one I've been bring because your bonding capacity I've been bringing your G one projects some of these larger ones to the county the ecia program and the ibank is only infrastructure projects um which wouldn't go to the ecia but this one would be elig with their consideration okay um and I think for me I think the safety piece of this about emergency vehicle access is actually a really key point so before we discuss it would be nice to know for each one especially the parking lot ones if we do our safety concerns going to disqualify some of these locations in particular by you know Middle School we want to make sure that our First Responders are comfortable typically the the planning board any time we have an application we get a exhibit there's a piece of software that they model our fire apparatus and they show the actual turning paths within it as to make sure it can access every part of of a building I think that actually would need to be run with these obstructions in there for each of these sites yeah we we did uh snowplow dump trucks we modeled through there but we'll have details done by fireal and so and and [Music] yeah all right I think overall when we talk about those parking lots it's really going to depend on as I'm looking at parking lot number one the way they're angled because obviously if they're angled towards the center and the truck's coming closer to the school that's the higher side because of they're facing uh South that way so I think that is also obviously work with these gentlemen uh they can tell us which side is going to be 15 14 15 fet which side is going to be nine I do think we also have to account for uh higher costs for snow removal just for the fact that these will have to be monitored for icicles or there's going to be times we're going have to clear snow off of them uh and a process to do that uh hopefully not often we don't get as much snow as we used to but that is a safety issue because I know people that have them there's a house right behind me and when that snow comes off of them it's all at once and it's it's pretty dangerous so it's something we have to consider as far as an extra cost involved this over the year we put like we heat taper around the perimeter of the canop or something like that that would be their question yeah I would go back to um listening to the concern here I would go back to using the the deicing system that we use in these these parallels so if that's something that wants to be considered we can absolutely dive into that and make that part of the equation where it's not an extra cost and an ongoing maintenance issue for for the council yeah because my concern is Community Center most of all because that's a very high building and that one side that's going to be on faces the front door that's it thank you all right mran we now have our full presentation e thank you Mr mayor council again my name is Eric CIA from New Gen strategies and solutions I'm here to uh do a follow-up presentation to the material we discussed uh the last meeting I was here about the pool pool utility study um and some of the developments that have occurred since that time my agenda is is brief again I know we're we're short on time uh tonight um just going to do a very high level review of the key elements of our study um what has happened happened since we last uh discussed the pool utility uh you sent out a membership survey uh we'll discuss some of the key results from that survey relative to the um Alternatives we were discussing uh we have slightly revised cash flow flow forecast based on the um recommended um alternative based on the survey and then some specific membership fee forecasts into that scenario the key studying elements of course um the pool um utility operates as an Enterprise fund our goal is to have it to be self-liquidating uh self-funding no outside um revenues or anything supporting the fund in the current budget year the pool utility needed a $200,000 um injection of revenue from arpa funds that are no longer going to be available in future years our job in most basic sense was to figure out alternatives to fund the utility um through the membership fees and any other Alternatives that we can um either gener additional revenue or reduce expenses again consistent with any policy updates and um maintaining appropriate reserves so last time we were here um was on the 21st and that was after a meeting with the um Recreation advisory committee to present some uh initial results um after that discussion the direction was essentially um there were too many unknowns we need to narrow our focus on some of those unknowns and get some feedback from the membership and that's what occurred uh a membership uh survey went out that had some specifics about um two key issues of course um outside resident memberships how much should they cost uh how many would be available and what the impact would be on the um resident membership fees under those scenarios that survey went out and was closed on December 8th the recreation advisory committee met on the 10th saw those results and provided um a recommendation based on the the three scenarios that were developed um after our initial meeting and that we're out in the survey involved um two key elements uh we discussed a lot about cash flow forecasting what happens if we sort of rip the Band-Aid we do a one-time increase to get membership fees to the level they need to be to not use any reserve funds to support the utility beginning in year one that was our scenario one we would do so without any outs out of town memberships over the three years be slightly over 30% increase it would happen the first year and we would continue those rates Ming forward the second scenario um again did not have any outside memberships but we would use fund balance over a two to threee period to phase in that 30% increase in rates therefore sort of um incrementing those rates year by year using some fund balance to balance the fund and then being cash flow positive in in years three to five the third scenario and based on discussions with the advisory committee we revised our our forecast of the number of out of town memberships from 50 up to 75 and we reduced that cost from the initial $2,400 that we were discussing at the previous meeting to $1,600 per those outside me uh family memberships what that did we still had to use some fund balance over the course of the scenario 3 forecast uh it reduced it down to about $90,000 but the inside member family um increase was reduced to 11% and you can see the the membership forecast there increasing to about $674 over the three-year period so those were the three scenarios that were um presented in the membership survey it's always good to know who you're getting responses from from the survey the survey was very well responded to these two tables show the number of respondents by their type of membership again these were all existing 2024 pool members um most of them um of course the family memberships over 80% of your existing family memberships responded to the survey um in total about 60% of the total membership of all membership types responded to the survey a very very well uh responded to survey on the bottom uh there was a question about how long these people have been uh members so of the respondents just over 60% of them had been members for four or more years so these are longtime members um a vast majority of them family memberships responding to the survey this slide shows two pie charts the one on the left shows the response of the um survey um respondents what is their preferred funding option again given those three scenario one uh increase rates immediately no cash to use scenario two use cash with no outside memberships scenario three include outside memberships and reduce the need to increase inside rates you can see here the least preferred by far was to increase rates immediately uh and not allow the outside members and there's um slightly balanced response to the other two options with slightly more favoring the phased in increase um without allowing the outside memberships an interesting response um to a question regarding given these scenarios um if you were to not become a pool member under any of these scenarios which one would influence that decision that's the pie chart on the right a vast majority of respondents um for the 58% that blw um Slice on the right that is that one time large increase so if you were to increase those rates by 30% in one year uh a vast majority of the responds to this question and say that would make me reconsider consider my membership for the 2025 year the second largest response in the gray there is the out of town membership option keep hour rates low but allow 75 out of town memberships at $1,600 a piece so our key takeaways from this is that option one is clearly the least preferred the the onetime increase um to maintain cash balance options two and three have have similar but not exact same preference but uh options one and three both create a large risk of reducing membership even from its current Level under those two scenarios again people responding a one time large increase or um including outside memberships would seriously make them reconsider uh joining the PO so given those responses what we did was continue to model at scenario two again minimizing the risk of increasing rates too F uh and and disincentivizing membership so what we included in this cash flow forecast was a 15% increase in members across the board for 2025 and no um pilot program to allow outside family memberships there were several other recommendations that were discussed none of which um are included in our 2025 numbers for various reasons uh mostly it's the uncertainty of the financial impact of some of these and the fact that if you were to adopt some of these policies it really wouldn't move the needle as much as the membership increase to generate funds how do you support the poal of 15% membership is that 15% number of members increase I'm sorry membership fee inre Fe increase um our model assumes a consistent uh number of members I think we included a slight increase uh in in the consistent with our original um recommendations okay uh the one item I I like I would like to discuss very briefly uh because it was um it came as a a recommendation from the advisory committee is that first bullet point about the firefighter ref you Squad you'll see in our um forecast um we're keeping those at no cost to those members however currently embedded in our forecast the assumption that the other membership fees would generate the revenue to cover those members to to maintain cash flow neutrality uh recommendation from the advisory committee is that those um memberships will be covered from other Town revenues ESS um injecting those reeven revenues into the fund to simultaneously support those U firefighter and rescue squad members but not burden the other um members with those costs would be absorbed from an outside resource within the town we didn't include that in our in our um forecast what that would do was essentially take pressure off of those um rate increases in scenario 2 particularly in the outer years some of the five and 3% in our 3 to 5e forecast um it would take pressure off of those and reduce those would that um should that outside Revenue come in I have a couple more slides the first you've seen these before we wanted to show them again into the scenario 2 forecast the chart on the left shows the Stacked bars of the um expenses of the pool given their various um assumptions on labor costs and and capital projects and everything consistent with our initial recommendation the two lines show the revenues under the no um membership fee inre scenario and the scenario two you can see that in the first two years of that forecast we're not quite getting to cash flow positive um revenue in years three to five we are a couple of key takeaways from this um there are going to be increases needed uh beyond the initial threeyear forecast I believe we have 3% increases uh in years beyond that um we use approximately $140,000 of existing pool utility Reserves to sustain the pool over this threeyear period as we phase in these rates this does protect somewhat against decrease in membership again we're keeping membership flat in the scenario and you can see in those um out years we are generating positive cash flow so if there were to be a slight membership decrease in those years this model is still sustainable the last slide I have here is the scenario 2 Fe forecast again a 15% increase across the board in 2025 10% in 26 and 3% thereafter and you can see again the firefighter um Rescue Squad membership maintained at zero uh but the um funding for those memberships um is coming from the other membership um increases that were shown here to maintain to maintain the cash flow of the utility that is all I have I'm happy to take more questions I just with the 50% increase and you're forecasting a a debt positive get members I know that based on this model based on the folks that were surveyed only 3% of them said that they would potentially drop with this item or this would be the item I think that would most cause them to drop in that question so I'm just wondering if it would have been more wise perhaps to to forecast maybe a a larger decline I think what's going to happen is as the as the fees go up under this model um some people who may have held family memberships for longer as like children are getting older might step off maybe a little earlier there'll be some decisions that are being made as a result of these you know increases coming up um and I'm just a little nervous that when we you know when we forecast that green line which is you know the uh the revenue over the expense that we may not exactly be in you know building a fund balance there right uh certainly as a result so I I'm cautious about these numbers and taking them as a best guess um but there may be a couple parts of this that the public should be aware of that may may not give us where we are and I I don't want people to assume that these that were passing an ordinance from the next three years right because we're going to have to reevaluate this based on the membership fluctuations and right now it's forecast to be 15% this year and then 10% the next year but it could be 50% this year and 15% next year um and people were opposed to a 32% increase in one year which I would understand I wouldn't want to do it either but that's basically two 15% increases with compound to be a 32% increase and you're just holding off one year or another and I start to wonder if that might change people's decision making um as everything else is more expensive of course so I just want to throw out there for the public edification that these this the out-year numbers are not in stone we're not agreeing to to those in this point the only rate we can set right now what we put in ordinance will be the rate and it'll be the rate until we set a new rate but the fair we may have to recalibrate on the other piece I just want to I appreciate your analysis and I I like your presentations I wanted to thank the the rec committee members for their work in this I know that um comme chair Cory Shore is in the room and there are several members either on coming on Zoom or in person and so on um but they were working very closely with t Administration I know you worked with them as well um and this is what our boards and committee should be doing and this is a very good example of getting a a decent recommendation how airports the commit is doing a lot of the um the front work and then providing us recommendations which is what we have these groups for so I really thank you all for for your work on that especially um and you know especially as you move forward on a on a recommendation so those are just my comments and I I appreciate you recalibrating my last comment is the that final option with the out of town members I think you know there were many people you know that were opposed to that there are some people who are clearly not opposed to it um but at the same time I think charging $1600 for our pool we were going to get zero out of 10 numbers so that's the other the other piece of it this and I made this and I brought this point up before once again for transparency for the public I'm not convinced that we would have got anyy members from that at $1,600 and if we were really aggressive toward trying to reduce rates by adding out of town members that the rate would be lower um so I really need to consider that an option anyway just at that number it's something we have think about because our pool is lovely I'm not sure $1,600 lovely uh for people that have other options so including private swim clubs and country clubs and things like that he would be able to pay $1600 for um so just some things out there and I do appreciate recommendations Council ROM so I when I look at this you know the numbers that are modeled obviously make sense but there's always the question of what are the risks what if we're wrong um you know the the the issue that you run into is that if you are wrong and we do cross that point where we start you know where the pricing starts to cause a downturn in memberships you know that's re you end up with that sort of downward spiral because now you have to increase membership rates more to bring that up or you have to subsidize the pool otherwise or you have to cut costs um the other way around this I I feel like this needs to pair with a pretty strong effort at driving memberships up driving Revenue up I think that's sort of the insurance policy here is okay how do we generate more new memberships which is through you know a lot of marketing especially as we have a lot of new families moving into the town um we do need to make sure that people are aware that we have this asset available um and then non-membership Revenue whether it be parties whether it be sponsorships Etc um I feel like that's we have to do both at the same time really we can't like we can't just raise the membership rates and not simultaneously be doing um non-membership Revenue enhancement that we can't wait a year on that so be kind of my my thought process on this is that has to start early Agate 100% I think part of it is in the past we've dealt our rates later right right and having these on now will certainly get an idea and ideally I would like to see registration start sooner as well this year right so we can get an idea of numbers and and be a little bit more aggressive our public information officer can get information out there as well um but you know I'd like to see things like pamphlets and pictures and you know what does our pool look like and you know getting things out there because I agree that we do need to that we do need to sell them right yeah I mean if we started in the spring of of basically doing a marketing campaign of some sort or another just for you know even to see if it comes one time I'd love to see the actual membership numbers go up and I think that would be the kind of the best success was their best chance yeah as people are making decisions on what they're doing the summer which they're already starting to do right be able to get that out other questions for well thank you sir you're the lucky one tonight thank you very much um mran anything else no I can please uh Mr sh since we were talking about the pool in your committee is or anything that you wanted add you're under an obligation sorry I kind of put you on the spot that's why thank you Mr Mayor so Administration um the rec committee has been working uh very very hard um on this topic probably not just the last couple months probably about a year and a half where uh we knew that there was some Financial stress on the pool um I think it's important for the council to consider the some type of um leeway to where the firefighter and the rescue squad um memberships be funded by within the budget or sponsorship as um I've done the numbers left and right and it would seriously help uh the health of the uh community pool um membership I think did increase this year uh we have uh under one of the scenarios um um I put current membership is 828 that's family members if you got it up to a th um not sure we got something we discussed with the administration and I hope you the administration looks at that parking piece again and says that we can get more Bing there because that's what's going to help us or help the community pool going forward um someone said it um one of our committee members said it very nicely that the community pool is about numbers with the splash pad with all the new attractors that we have there cost the maintenance numbers is is the bottom line and we have to be able to get that up if we're able to do that with multiple fronts which would be membership increase uh better marketing sponsorship events this year hopefully you try to get within 30,000 20,000 of maybe some debt and then the fund can cover that but then going forward if you're able to if you're not able to do that and also educating the membership about what our financial situation is we sent out a letter with the survey beforehand but I feel it wasn't enough we have to be very honest with our membership about it's not paid for by the taxes it's by the membership and these are the financial stresses that have to be assumed in the next couple years so if we're able to do that and educate a public market then next year if we're still in problem area then you look at the non-residential um option uh I put on one of scenarios I put at $88.99 trying to look at the um at the marketplace then maybe next year you look at it but making sure that the the membership knows exactly what we're doing how we're doing it and then this might be potential for next year because we have such a really great pool and we're investing in our pool so that we have more and more members coming in so I just like to thank um Council members that have been working with me also with the the the subcommittee has done a great job and I I thank the two ladies that are working with me and the community itself who's done a great job in administration for working with me and answering questions as fast as possible but uh we still have some work to do and I wish you guys luck and hope we come to a decision very quickly because the sooner we have those rates we have a plan then everybody can get get started so thank you very much yes that's um I have a follow question for the administration so we also ask besides and thank you so much to our partners with new genen it's really great work I um we did ask some questions there's been a lot of you know ideas floating out there but also we asked about how to reduce labor costs or some of the costs associated with the pool has that been worked on and in addition to what we got today in addition to the Committees um because I think it was both the mayor and myself asked about really looking at the Staffing model and we don't have that piece um and also with all of these recommendations can we see a draft plan on what the administration is committing to before we commit to any rate increases a fa request yes thank you we could do that okay but one of my things since I joined the council is looking at the actual operation that mayor uh Mr Shore thank you very much and the rest of the rec committee I know this is one piece of the puzzle that you guys deal with with many other things in town but thank you for your time uh and you touched on something I didn't think of before but uh we've asked in the past uh I know we have uh firefighters and rescue squad members that sign up and I know obviously for many years now we've been doing the swipes can we get numbers on exactly how many people actually use their membership compared to how many people sign up and accept the membership yeah we got because I know we swipe to go in so if you that could be provided that would be very helpful I in conjunction with getting a little numbers together we also um gained information on the training that the volunteer fire department is doing for the only employees at the pool which needs to be taken into consideration and I haven't dug into what the rescue squad may be doing at the pool and training the the staff that's at the pool they're relatively young um that we've had those discussions uh is as recent as today uh to get that information so we need to get you a companion report on the services training that we would have to pay outside companies to do that are fire and rescue or doing on the staff also minimum wage keeps going up I know that uh getting that analysis on the employees that are pool but minimum wage keeps going up we don't have the choice about that the minimum Staffing of Life CS is a requirement uh we can't drop the number of lifeguards based on the size of your pool and the anticipated volume of people that may be there at the pool the difficulty I think that pool management is running into is the St you can't cut staff by the day um but he he is looking at so we have a rainy day and the Fool's not is going to be closed and he's addressing staff that way but you're really stuck with the minimum Personnel that you need at the PO which is a problem I think the the point from counil M this we want to know what that is you know we want writing what is the minimum Staffing from the the life C are one piece but they're they many office staff they they non DPW maintenance staff that are there um so you know that's another piece of this that there may be some places to consider economies as well um and you know it would be helpful to see what a lifeguard rotation looks like you know other times that we simply you know that we can fill doing something else or could people take a job you know one of the other responsibilities that we have people do in an off time whatever it is C thank you um I want to thank new Jen um for your work on this and for incorporating some of the recommendations from the recreation advisory committee in particular some of the ones that you referenced on your final slide um with regard to the marketing plan and others so while I am mindful that we did receive the documentation regarding the volunteer fire and rescue membership rate there was a robust discussion as Mr Shore referenced at the recreation advisory committee about the different things that need to be done to really Drive membership so one of the things that I've said at prior meetings either regarding the pool utility or other utilities that we have in this town is that you can't just increase rates because you know of infrastructure Investments you also have to ensure that quality of service so we really need to make sure that we are delivering that quality of service so if rates are going up people need to really understand and see the value of that and that's where that marketing plan that's where the activities at the pool the amenities at the pool the cleanliness of the pool the other aspects of the pool and how this is a tremendous asset and where summer memories are made for your family is really made clear to the residents of this community so that they can really appreciate that and feel that they are investing in something that's very worthwhile that also makes it incumbent on this Administration to be delivering on those promises right so delivering on the cleanliness of the bathrooms and really providing that quality of service so that you know our programs are run timely so that you know parties are done appropriately and the like and that marketing piece is really integral as as well as the sponsorship and I just want to acknowledge that there's been a tremendous amount of work from the recreation committee this year last year there was a subcommittee as well and some of those recommendations were there at that time too and they weren't adopted so I think it's really incumbent on the administration to like consider those and to councilwoman McGrath's Point like we really need to see a comprehensive package so if we are coming back to a subsequent council meeting to vote on rates I would want to see that comprehensive package that's including the marketing plan that's including the other aspects of how we're going to really make this worthwhile for the members and also getting an input getting input on whether or not there is going to be a budget line item for those pool fees because I know that we do have budgets and I know that we have budget season coming up we're not there yet but it would be very helpful for us to understand whether or not that budget line item is going to be there thank you all right we're going to move on to council member report to Mayor you're up thank you Mr Mayor if it's possible uh I will Echo the uh comments about fair in the Square thank you to all our vendors who Brave the cold weather uh was very very well attended uh a big thank you to every I mean it's I think it's every Department in Verona uh buildings of grounds DPW even our Rescue Squad police our public information officer setting everything up our clerk great idea bringing the uh football teams in and giving them awards at that it's a great public event and obviously fire department Whoever has the connection with Santa is doing a great job getting them in town twice in one week this time of year uh so hats off to all them uh and it was really really a a very uh I think one of our best ever so after 27 years it's going very very strong uh I will briefly touch on a public safety meeting I attended with uh our Senator curado and assembly people def Phillips and baras uh the mayor couldn't attend and asked me to uh show up I went with our police chief it's all on uh it focused mainly on safety of uh electric vehicles uh scooters and bikes and whatnot uh really focused on the speed of some of these bicycles uh how people are adjusting them to go uh one of the police Chiefs said they cost clot someone at 62 mph on a bike uh which is pretty dangerous uh it was focusing also on using them uh on sidewalks uh and the police chief and I spoke on the way home uh and he does think that it's already covered in some of our uh ordinances around town and we can we can look further into that but there there was one town that actually said they they will be they were confiscating already uh and I know that gets into other issues on where do you store them if they've been adjusted uh obviously we know there's problems with some fires with all them so uh I will address this and talk further uh on it but it was a very interesting and well attended uh but there was a very small room so it couldn't have more people involved uh I also did uh attend the Veron environmental commission's Junior uh commission members presentation uh congratulations to both Nia and uh Nia and uh C CC uh they did a very very good job uh CC did water quality in Verona Lake and the uh did uh invasive versus native species uh and it was just very very informative and I think everybody in the room even other commissioner members uh did learn something from it so congratulations to to both those women uh that's pretty much I want to congratulate uh we do will be having a new fire chief Nick Pino come January 1 but I more so want to uh recognize Chief to for uh his Service as Chief over the last couple years he's been very busy uh Verona's had quite a few emergency calls and fires so uh our Emergency Services all around do a great job but uh hats off to the fire department for their work over the last couple years uh and over that past uh so happy New Year to everybody and have a happy holiday to everyone that's all I have thank you Deputy Mayor councilman Roman thank you um I will reiterate the the comments were made about fair and the square um a lot of people were commenting on how heavily it was attended especially given the very cold weather so that was a great sign of what an event it was um thank you to everyone that participated all of our Township departments that were involved in putting this together all renders um the music programs that performed for us and all the other performers were wonderful as always um I just thought it was a great event and again thank you to the fire department as well for uh making sure that Santa made a appearance it was just a great event very glad to be there and since it is our last meeting of the year just thank you to all my fellow council members the professionals that we work with um all of the dedicated staff of Verona Township and all of our volunteers um just amazing things happen in this community every year and it's just a privilege to be a part of it and to live here so thank you to everyone for their work throughout the year I hope everybody enjoys the rest of the holiday season get some time off with friends and family and uh remember that uh we never close here at Verona so there's going to be people that are working on all the holidays and our appreciation to them for uh for doing that thank you very much thank you councilman councilwoman McGrath thank you um I echo my colleagues comments about fair and the square um in addition to thanking all the individuals and departments involved I want to thank the Multicultural inclusion accessibility advisory committee for helping with the sensitive Santa event which is a new tradition that has been added for the last few years where um children who really can't um or don't or parents who don't want to handle the overstimulation of the outside activities can have their children interact with Santa in a calm environment and it's really a very touching event to to see for because for a lot of these children they really just camping in environments with a lot of people um and it gives them some one-on-one time with the big guy so thank you to the Multicultural um committee for helping with that event also congratulations to the Friends of the Verona Public Library on their very successful book sale um I also attended another heartwarming event called aly's elves um held um and organized by a young woman named Alana Dro um it was at the community center uh literally over a hundred individuals come to make cards that are delivered by Ally and her eles to local nursing homes and Veteran Center ERS it's really a lot of fun uh to make these cards and it's a great inclusive environment um I also attended congresswoman L Monica MacGyver's uh virtual listening session that she had for Verona residents um she held a series of uh sessions over the last two weeks I spoke with her staff afterward they were really a a success and they're learning a lot from them uh they are building an email list so you can go to the congresswoman's uh website to sign up for that um and then finally um I was able to attend with the uh Verona neighborhood traffic and Safety Committee um a casual meet and greet event in Montclair um with uh traffic and safety and bike Advocates it was really a lot of fun um and um it was sponsored by bike and walk Monclair it included uh members of the Monclair Vision zero task force uh the West Orange vision zero girls in gear which is a group uh promoting biking amongst um young women um which and they do have uh classes out of Verona the monair bike bus and others it overlapped unfortunately with the Verona environmental commission uh presentation which is why I was not there uh but it was a great event and it was some great networking and to meet people from other communities and I met two new members of the Monclair Town Council uh which was great because I had not yet met them um and I just do want to end with happy holidays everyone who celebrates I'm really looking forward to our manora lighting which is going to be on the 26th um but I just want to thank everyone um for having a great year and um I hope you have a healthy and um happy uh holidays with your family and New Year celebration thank you that's my thank you Council woman Hall thank you um I too was an intendance up there in the Square um I just want to congratulate um so many that were involved in putting on that event it was very very successful I only heard good reports from vendors and participants um and I would just also on a personal note congratulate the hbw chamber group because it was incredibly cold but they played very very well um I also attended the Ali's elves event with um my family and if you haven't attended that event it's incredibly heartwarming and very therapeutic to be spending some time on a Saturday afternoon crafting um when otherwise you might get caught up in the hustle and bustle of the holiday season so it was really nice to be doing that community service and to listen to Ali's announcements and really see all the different community members there to support that endeavor um I as I mentioned earlier participated in the recreation advisory committee meeting on December 10th um so I believe I've already given an up update on some of the discussion there but there's obviously a lot of work being done um and we will be having more meetings um and I will provide further reports as appropriate um I attended the junior commissioner presentation as well and I'm very very impressed with Mia and CC and I just think personally it is so impressive to see young women being so articulate and so confident at such a young age and capable of making such presentations um so I complimented both of them I expect they will go very far in life um so it was really wonderful to see that um I do want to compliment the Women's Club I know that it was a bit of a change uh this year for share your light night but it was um celebrated on December 14th so I appreciate their ability to Pivot when we have this drought although perhaps with the recent rain it doesn't feel like we're still in a drought but we are um and I know that that was a big shift for them and it required a lot of work so I was just really grateful for them continuing tradition this year speaking of light I do want to just remind residents as I often do during the winter time of the winter termination program obviously it's not a particularly cold night this evening but as the temperatures drop it's important for residents to understand that if you're having difficulty paying your utility bills there is the winter termination program where your utility cannot shut you off for um lack of timely bill um payment so whether it's if it's your psng bill they have an obligation to work with you um and they do have that moratorium where they cannot shut off your power during the winter months so please Avail yourself of the winter termination program if you are in need this holiday season with that I just want to wish everybody um I guess a happy and healthy New Year and happy holidays thank you thank you this time I'll will open the muting for public comment on any item any member of the public wishes to bring for the attention of the council Madam clerk would you please read the public participation statements we've had some people come in that we're not here anyone from the public wishing to speak on any matter if you're attending by Zoom please raise your hand by pressing the raise hand button on your monitor if you're dialing in by phone please press star n if you're attending in person please raise your hand before approaching the Le turn once recognized clearly state only your name and Township of residents for the record you're not required to provide your street address however if you do please note that these meetings will be posted on the Township's YouTube channel and addresses will not be redacted for purpose you'll have four minutes to address the council there'll be no cross dialogue during this public portion after everyone wishing to speak has been heard the council May address your comments and your questions thank FL is open sir good evening mayor council folks my name is Joseph Pano I live in Essex FS I'm here in behalf of Weare New Jersey we are the obors in 500 unit development on the border of AR Essex Bell Verona northwest corner of West Orange and I came here to read into the record and if anybody would like it to give you a copy of something that I think should be aware of the developer submitted an application permits to the D were approved for flood Hazard area freshwater wetlands repairing zones we have objected we will object and continue to object to the issu of that permit but there are are a few things that are deficient in the application among them all of the interconnections for sanitary sewer pable water storb store etc etc prior developments have included all those engineering designs and and implcations impation the planning board however there is a 1984 sanitary sewage agreement with the town of Barona which handles and it's treatment facilities sewage from 300 existing condos at the bottom of the hill that runs along and easement through the mountain uphill with a pump that goes across into wherever you take it now there is a settlement agreement with the township the developer and the condo association that provides for and I have a copy of the settlement and an exhibit to it and the specific specificity to Verona which is not named but refer here section 23 of exhibit d West Essex Highlands does not intend to utilize the association sewage pump station in connection with the proposed development however if engineering concerns Andor Township require the use of Association Pump Station the developer shall at its own cost upgrade that station so that sewer services to the association are not adversely affected by the development in that event developer will enter an agreement pursuant to which it will split the cost of B for the pump station on a proportionate basis if they need to if the developer needs to utilize the station no upgrad to the station may be performed until developer Association enter into separate agreement regarding use of and upgrades to that station which the parties will negotiate in good faith what's lacking in that Clause is any reference to this 1984 agreement in the township Verona the notion of the township of Verona the sanitary suage that Township takes now in lines which I believe are full and there is no capacity estimation or disclosure to where the sanitary sewage for 500 units is going to go we've asked for it it's not on the record it's not included nothing to date that we're aware of has been presented to the Joint meeting which is in the service area but they knew that when they submitted this document and agreed to this that question remains unknown the Overflow goes down as anybody knows the Storm owners permit is deficient we'll argue that but water goes down both sides of the mountain East and West we have many examples of the Overflow where that's all going to go how it's going to affect Corona where that se is going to go I don't know we will urge I will urge Verona to at minimum consider appealing that decision at least and as much as it relates to your sanitary sewage handling this agreement the absence of disclosure of that agreement in this document or anybody's awareness here that that's even under consideration before the town ship and the developer or the D so if it's okay with anybody I did tag the what I just read into the record for you here it is publicly available and I appreciate your time and and thank you for any consideration the January 3rd is the bar date there's no lit on that to file an appeal for a judicatory hearing and this municipality do have a uh particular property interest and a non speculative concern about this proposal in this per thank you thank you Mr I appreciate it happy holiday chras thank you next up Kevin Ryan yes good evening Uh Kevin Ryan Verona New Jersey um I have a question about the uh recent affordable housing uh um issuance given by the state uh regarding our affordable housing obligations uh currently and going forward uh a number of towns I've noted have uh uh decided to protest the allocation and to file a a lawsuit I recall that uh Verona a while back did hire an outside Consultant Group to come in and review our numbers and I was wondering if uh we could be provided with an update as to what our position is regarding these allocations if not tonight at a at a at an upcoming meeting that we much appreciate it thanks Brian next up uh uh Jess Pearson good evening Council and administrator sorry your your volume is very very low and Kevin wasn't so sorry can you hear me we can hear you now go ahead okay um good evening everybody and thank you so much for that solar uh presentation this evening I thought you guys asked excellent questions and to the point of the snow on the panels I just would like the council to to be very careful about any sort of chemical treatment that may be added to the panels please ensure that there are no posos in those treatments because that just will be runoff that will drain right into our aquafers and we're already paying a lot of money for posos for mediation as it is obviously some of those panels will be right next to one of our pumps or right right next to one of our wells rather so I'm just asking for care and concern when it comes to whatever type of treatment might be put on the panels and I thank you for your consideration of that thank youbody else in the room Mr Lily good evening um Jesse Lily Verona New Jersey uh first off want to wish everyone a happy holiday and uh thank you for all the hard work you've done this year um my specific question to the council is regarding the uh property um that was purchased by the town the 11 acres um uh in between Commerce Court and uh Brookside Terrace um it was my understanding that the 11 acres were submitted for Green Acres funding um which makes it exempt from um U development of housing or commercial use and um you know I may have missed it but I just wanted to get an update um you know has that application uh been fully completed um have the greenacre funds been received and um you know if this is not the case um um can you please tell me the current status of the issue and what challenges um the council is facing regarding that um thank you very much and I look forward to your answers thank Mr anybody else Mr patang well patang Verona New Jersey be quick today um I just had a question on the uh solar panels since we're designing Everett uh were they involved in parking lot there or anything I just wanted to know because that would be an extra just spot for them and then uh is there lighting underneath the panels and then uh the pitch of the panels would uh if you could change the pitch it would stop the snow obviously you know solar panels on the roof you can't change that pitch they come off hard they make uh things that break up the ice in the snow as they fall they make heater wires that you can put around so you don't have to do the chemicals there's a lot of things uh I install them a lot of times uh these solar panels and the base of them is literally a column it's about one and a half foot in diameter with a steel beam going up and the only issue that really is ever an issue is people hitting them so the ballards putting them on either side but with the parking and everything you never lose spaces and it's a great thing for the town see no further public comment I will close public comment um I thank Mr pulo who's no longer here for providing that information there's a lot of history there and thank you the count Administration and our legal council for reviewing that um to Mr Ryan's question about the affordable housing numbers that presentation will be on the January 20th meeting in public session when we passed our resolution related to what we believe our affordable housing M to be um and we'll provide more details at that point um to miss Pearson thank you for your comment on the the chemicals I I agree with you um and that point as well take in about any chemicals near the wells um and you know I hope that there are some nonchemical mechanisms that we can use uh to Mr pang's point on that based on it looks like the the bottom of the one side of the panel is about 5T lower than the other so there is a pretty significant grade there for that that should help with the snow removal um but I agree that some some probably low expense things can be added um to that as well which will let the design Engineers deal with uh to Mr Lily the this was actually a topic at our open space committee meeting not too long ago um and we're discussing that property the our consultant that has sted us with um Green Acres was on there a couple just a couple pieces left in the um in that reimbursement plan that have to be done um but it is on its way I can't give you the exact specifics as to what those pieces are because I honestly can't they're just not on the top of my head if I look back at my notes and stuff like that but um we can go back to that meeting do you know off top your head uh there sorry two encroachments from private properties that need to be removed from the um the township acquired property those had been removed the survey was updated and then resubmitted to Green Acres so it has been submitted back down to Green Acres and and for inclusion on the brona r excellent thank you and um really to every it we did not have in this presentation anything related to effort field I think the issue would be baseballs hitting this so we tended to stay away from uh from that as um another piece there and I think that um that is it for everybody uh um regarding lighting underneath the panels uh the drawings that we saw did show light coming from underneath them but I would agree with you that should be a design concern to make sure that there's adequate Lighting in those parking lots after the installation get to that as we get to the specifics if we move forward we certainly have the power any other responses to any public comment okaying none moving on we have one uh ordinance on for adoption this evening the next item on the agenda is ordinance number 2024 d41 on second reading B clerk would you please read the title of this ordinance into the record moving the Municipal elections from May to November thank you madam cler would somebody move the ordinance nove motion is made by councilman Roman is there a second second second is made by councilwoman Holland now is the time for the public hearing on ordinance number 20 2441 same public comment statement applies however you are limited to this ordinance heing N I hereby close public comment on this item is there any Council discussion that was not brought off last meeting hearing none Madam cler to call the RO please councilwoman Holland yes councilwoman McGrath yes councilman Roman yes Deputy Mayor maoy yes mayor Toro yes mayor resol ordinance 202 4-41 passes 5 to Z will be published according to law thank you that I would hope that we could do a lot of PR on this just so people are aware yeah call the county tomorrow okay yeah no just just so people are aware I know you are what are you gonna do what you gonna do that first week in May you know uh but the uh no but if we could get our Pio out just to explain what has happened in the ordinance and so people know not to expect an election and so potential candidates know that they don't need to start putting campaigns together you know next month as is the custom all right um moving on the um this time we have our consent agenda we have one set of minutes from December seconds as well as 12 resolutions um was to move the consent agenda fact I'm going to move the consent as I can is there a second what's that just item number two no I don't think I need to okay um at this time I'll open for public comment on the consent agenda and we have Mr Ryan who's raised his hand in Kevin yes good evening again Kevin Ryan Veron new Jersey uh Mr Mayor and and Council I would strongly urge you to remove item K3 from the consent agenda authorizing the appointment of Mr O Sullivan as the next Township manager uh simply for the reason that I don't think something as significant as this should be buried in a consent agenda I think it should be voted on uh as a separate resolution this has a very uh impactful impact a very important impact I should say on the town going forward there's no reflection on Mr O Sullivan but it would be helpful if you could educate the public as to uh what what your thought process was in doing this and also what other Alternatives they may have been just to outright making an appointment uh in past history we have had some uh V rigorous debates over performances of uh of of town managers so I think it would be helpful for the public for you to take this as an opportunity to educate them as to how the how a process like this proceeds and uh as it's often been mentioned uh by members of this Council we have a lot of new residents who have come in and I think it would be very helpful if they knew your thought process going forward in in making this appointment thank you other comments heing on I close public comment to Mr Ryan's comment that's exactly what I was going to do so um that's why we did not pull it from the from the consent agenda um because I was going to provide that context um and uh nobody requested a poll but I had to go through the process um that was also outlined in the resolution um I just also want to know for K2 the appoint the OEM coordinator that is a manager's appointment um technically so we're just really validating that you're you're acknowledging they're acknowledging it the manager was already appointed um l Mar that position by our Co um so going to the K3 which is the authorizing our contract with Mr O Sullivan as s a manager we'll give a little procedural background um on that as you as the public may or may not be aware our Township manager Mr diarco after 56 years of service in local government and service to his country prior to that has opted to re and uh we hired Mr um uh Mr diarco three years ago um with an understanding that this would be a three-year contract uh presumably due to his intentions and we hired Mr diarco not only based on on great interviews but also his experience that we so desperately needed in a time that we were working on so many different projects um when the previous L we had a director of administration and um Economic Development which was a a position created by the previous Township manager to fill some needs like not only the economic development piece but also overseeing certain departments in municipality um and that evolved uh about a year and a half ago into a deputy manager role um and the table organization was shifted to have a a real Deputy a real number two and that area um Mr diarco hired Mr Sullivan for that position as is his right as the T of manager Mr solent was previously the tent administrator the bur administrator in North cwell so was came to Verona with a um an excellent background in was actually the chief officer of another municipality in addition he was the executive director of the uh Public Utilities Authority in Carney and uh is a licensed professional engineer um has was a municipal engineer prior to that so brings a wealth of knowledge uh Mr diarco very wisely made that appointment uh knowing the the sheer amount of infrastructure projects and various other things we were going into not sure Mr O solivan knew what was going to hit him when he when he started but um but he has risen to the challenge over the past about year and a half um the the township Council has had the opportunity to work very closely with uh Mr O solivan and as the public who looks at our meetings and and watches our meetings notes a lot of the uh the day-to-day reporting Mr diaro very deliberately transitioned to Mr O Sullivan um and he had FaceTime throughout his experience directly with the council and attended every council meeting uh which is new for that uh as far as the deputy um manager position um and in doing so Mr diarco established a um a succession plan for himself which is very needed during the the time that we have so many projects and you can hear these updates and uh Mr O solivan gives us the the highlights of his report but his week biweekly reports to the uh Council are five to six pages of text um so very very detailed on that area um so Mr diaro uh indicated to us last month or maybe in October right at the end of October yes sir um that he did intend to not ask for renewal of his contract in February which expires on the 6th of February uh and at that time Mr diarco made a recommendation to the township Council based on the succession planning and Mr O Sullivan's performance that the township Count Council strong consider Mr wasan as his replacement the township council at that point um determined that we would want to interview Mr bivan for that role um and ask Mr Sullivan to create an entry plan and a transition plan um with several questions and objectives that we provided including short-term and long-term goals during his time request of professional development a strength weaknesses opportunities and threat assessment um of issues facing the town and positive pieces facing the town uh and major initiatives and projects needed to be done right away uh Mr O solivan provided a very detailed and uh very intelligent report to the council which we we all vetted and then further interviewed Mr um Al Sullivan based not only on that document but um based on PR interactions and questions that we anticipated would face the council we provided scenarios on a variety of different items uh and Mr O suvan provided uh good answers on all of those uh which brought the council to the point of wishing to take Mr varco's recommendation of continuing with our succession plan um and which is beneficial to this Township um as we have so many major projects in the works and Mr solivan has proved that he is a dedicated and valued employee um and an excellent leader in this municipality um so thus our recommendation well our uh the council met to uh an executive session to discuss terms and conditions of Mr ass Solan employment to discuss the interview and and all those things and we offer Mr Ulan the the role after that um and we are very grateful that Mr oan has accepted that position um is there anything I missed council members Su um and I I'm just going to say uh personally um Kevin I look forward to voting on this uh in the consent agenda um and I'm going to speak to you at this point you have proven yourself to be a uh an excellent member of this Township staff and I'm honestly not sure what we have done without you over these years um and uh I thank Mr diaro profusely for creating a very intelligent and very well bought out transition plan for himself Mr Dio fulfilled a need that we had um for a highly experienced and highly versatile leader and Mr Deo provided that um and was so committed to this Township that he ensured that his position would be well filled after so uh gentlemen of worked so well together as a team to the benefit of this community in so many ways um and I'm just excited to see um how we continue that so you have big shoes to fill sir and uh and I look forward to to voting on this um any other I don't think I have any other comments on anything else with the consent agenda any other comments from the council I will Deputy Mayor I will Echo uh everything the mayor just stated and to keep it simple uh I've I was asked by a couple people about uh did we go through an interview process uh and my answer to them was for the last year we've been going through an interview process uh since Mr Garo hired Mr O salivan uh and I think you performed over and above what we what I thought you would do uh and and I thank you for it I think Verona is in a better place and I again look forward to working with you over the next three years plus counc r jumping as well here um so yeah you know having been here and watching this Township evolve over the nine plus years I've been serving on this Council um having kind of gone through the township manager transition hire process a few times um we put a lot of work into this this is you know probably one of the most solemn responsibilities of this council is to choose the executive um that is going to be leading the town going forward um it's someone who handles everything daytoday uh someone that we work very closely with someone that provides strategic leaders ership for the council or for the township uh someone that handles a very large Workforce um a lot of money a lot of large projects so we are very very um deliberate in how we in how we pursue these processes um I think if you look over the last couple of years this town has gone through a very elegant process of um work managing leadership and Leadership transitions as the mayor said we found ourselves in a in a position where we needed something very specific out of leadership which was a very experienced leader who knew how to handle very large projects um because we had a lot of them that needed to be done and Mr Varco we were very lucky to find um at the time when we were looking um we had someone who had an absolute wealth of experience in working in New Jersey government and who also loved small towns um and bl s yes he was uh extraordinarily excited to join Veron a Township we warned him in advance that we were going to keep him busy and I think that we have kept up to that um and he's just you know performed admirably you know the amount of work that we've gotten done um but he's also a very good people leader and he knows how to position an organization as such that it succeeds um succession planning was a very big part of his role because we have a lot of leader we have some leaders that have only been here a little while we have some leaders that have been here a long time but the organization didn't have the formal level of succession planning that it really needed in in every single Department to make sure we were successful he put a lot of this in place one of the most important things was a succession plan for his own role um we agreed that we needed the position of Deputy Township manager uh but it was very important that it be filled with the right person and we were very lucky again to find Mr O solvin who um in addition to having had those responsibilities of leading municipalities has the experience in as a professional engineer understanding how Utility Systems work work understanding how to do construction management while also understanding Municipal law administration employment matters uh running Public Safety Services Etc everything else that goes into running the municipality so again we were very lucky and and you know it shows how attractive Verona is as a workplace that we were able to attract such talent um we did go through as the mayor mentioned a very formal process with Mr O solva in addition to having watched his performance over over his time here and you've heard me comment a number of times that I've been very impressed at his project management skills as we've been going through these major major projects our past remediation all the work on wastewater treatment road paving projects Building Systems projects um he's been juggling a lot of this and he's steadily been given more and more responsibility so he did have an ongoing interview but he also did have to go through that formal interview process um we asked him for documentation we asked him to detail what his own transition would look like entering into the role and I was very impressed with what we got back from him it was very detailed he had obviously spent a lot of time considering what it would take to have a successful entry into this position and what his initial term would look like um and then we did go through a formal interview with him where we presented him with a large number of questions on the documentation he had presented us as well as some open-ended questions that he was U not prepped for basically and we wanted to see how he respond to them and react and we were very impressed so we made we put a lot of work into this decision I'm very satisfied with the process um I'm very supportive of Mr oen as our next Township manager I'm just you have I'm 100% behind you um thank you for everything that you've done for the township uh to this point and we look forward to just ongoing success uh and as you help position this town for its future we're lucky to have you I'm very proud to be voting on this and uh look forward to your tenure here this role so thank you coun this is our opportunity to talk about the manager contract I just wanted I don't want to miss my opportunity for please okay so I just want to say thank you Joe um I will say for myself that when I ran for office um my platform was about all the different water and wastewater and storm water related matters that we had to address in this municipality and while knocking on doors people people would ask me like oh what are you even talking about but they now they now all know about it um I want to say thank you for taking on those challenges and thank you for bringing in Kevin to assist in in really running those like running those projects because I think it has made a tremendous um or it has been tremendously beneficial to the community for us to be addressing our water quality our wastewater treatment plant and our storm water management um program so thank you Kevin for your leadership there thank you Joe for bringing in Kevin and having that leadership um I think that's something that is really necessary for us as local government to address to manage well and to have somebody that is willing to undertake that because it was a lot of work it has been a lot of work and it's not even done yet right so the work will continue there will always be more work but it is you know getting us brought back up to speed has been a lot of effort and I really want to compliment you for what you've done in these last three years here and for bringing in Kevin and Kevin all of your leadership and and all the work that is to come on these utilities and storm water management facilities I mean obviously there's much more work to be done in other areas um and so we did hear this evening about our pool utility and the recreation program so I do think that that is an area that you know perspective that we need to be addressing going forward so I do look forward to your Solutions and your leadership ship in our community um and thank you for everything and in particular thank you Joe so councilman mcgr do you have anything to add yes I was happy to go last on this one um first of all I do want to thank um Joe diaro for all of the incredible three years we did um we were really in a pinch when we hired you we were very lucky that it worked out that you were able to come to Verona we did have some very specific needs um and I think when we we had those interview conversations you understood what you're getting involved in and we understood what we were uh receiving in return and it's really been a great relationship and thank you so much for everything that you have been able to do and I think you know as we evolved we it was clear we need a deputy Township manager we are a very lean government but we really need talented staff to solve these very complicated problems and you found that in Mr O Sullivan there was some gentle ripping when I've met some of his previous Council people that he worked with that we took him and um you know they were very upset to uh lose him and I knew that was for our gain I think it's a great asset um um Kevin that you live in the town that you have a family with young children um our paths overlap at concerts often um and I think that's really important because there's a lot of uh things that we need to address in the town to make sure that it continues to be attractive place for people to settle and live um and really a town that works for everyone so I really appreciate that I appreciate your technical background I think there will be some wonderful new challenges which I think you are going to enjoy um that will you know uh fa that we will face in the next year or two um and I know that you're a good listener you know we while often we're in agreement I think you hear the differences at times and that's a good thing that'll make our uh work products stronger um and I know there's more um you know there's more unfinished business I know you know we had some things that didn't get done in three years government moves very slowly as much as we want to move fast so you have some nice challenging projects ahead of you and uh we are really excited um obviously all five of us um to um on this transition but we're going to miss you a lot Joe so I don't want to think about what feary is we'll run into like side Del it sounds often thank you gentlemen and one final thing on K2 the word detective should be stricken every time okay from that resolution please right uh heing no further comment on the the the consent agenda Madam clerk call the please councilwoman Holland yes councilwoman McGrath yes councilman Roman yes Deputy Mayor makoy yes mayor tamboro yes may resolutions K1 through K12 will be numbered 242 through and including 253 thank you madam clerk moving on we have no addim this evening there is a line in our and finished business for a rent control board appointment without a name do we have oh I'm sorry Sean Sean burn I'm sorry okay he's a current sitting member okay um sorry to move that appointment so motion is made by the deputy mayor is there a second second second is made by councilman Roman uh any discussion on that item he none all those in favor I I anybody opposed MO carries any other newer unfinished business before the council real quick Mr May uh thank you I just want to know if we could add to the agenda since we've been doing this for quite a while now uh on the agenda itself putting in public uh comment we we have to change the ordinance or okay the after Council reports yeah so I like week after week correct before meetings I do receive yeah I I add in so what can we add that on for our work to change the amend the ordinance yeah amend the ordinance to include app I think we had piloted that under mayor Roman's Administration we've continued it and I think that uh it is a reasonable place but especially if you have a long new business discussion um put it there so does anybody opposed to no no so the public appreciates it yeah absolutely so if we can add that to the agenda um for January to change the code start off with a bang jary all right any other business okay um I will open for public comment on any item anybody wishes to bring forth to the council we have very few people left but Kevin Mr Ryan you're out I'm just here to thank you for the work that you've done this year uh having been there for many years myself I know it takes a lot of dedication on your part so I want to thank you for your your uh willingness to serve and also have a Merry Christmas a happy New Year and a happy holidays thank you very much you too mayor Ryan thank you seeing no further public comments I public comments at this time sorry are we going to an executive session this evening yes yes will we be taking any official action no all right well folks we'll see everybody in the new year on January 6th