##VIDEO ID:S8XIXIag5lQ## I call the order of this regular meeting of the V Council for Monday the 20th of January 2025 mam clerk would you please read the open public meetings act compliance statement the notice requirements of the open public meeting de 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 call in information said notice meeting agenda was posted in the municipal buildings and sent to the official newspapers of the township the Verona City Ro times and the Star Ledger at least 48 Hours proceeding the thir time of this meeting the agenda and public handouts can be viewed online at Veron nj.org meetings public comment period will be held any Works listed on the meeting agenda and instructions on have a comment will be provided at the appropriate time thank you madam clerk you please call councilwoman Holland councilman Roman here Deputy Mayor maoy present mayor tamboro here we also present tonight's Township attorney Bri Township manager Joseph dioro Deputy Township manager Kevin oin myself municipal clerk Jennifer K thank you please stand the United States of America stand na good evening we start with the mayor's report tonight I've s a few quick items it was my honor and pleasure to swear in our reelected members of the Board of Education p prisco and Chris waa um and congratulations to Denise brazel for being chosen to be the president of the Board of Education Mrs prisco for he chosen to the vice president um and that was a wonderful know there two very committed uh elected officials um happy Martin Luther King Day to everybody um I hope that everybody took Le a moment to reflect today on the legacy of of Dr King um and how we can use that Legacy moving forward um this Saturday is the junior Women's Club Spelling Fe it is my pleasure again to serve as a judge which is probably the most difficult thing that I have to do as mayor um it is uh it's tough I give those kids a lot of credit so if anybody's around on Saturday please stop in and uh and come to the SP round like to thank the Department of Public Works for their uh excellent work in getting the no clear from the storm um the uh you can really tell driving inex County when you enter Le Verona because our roads are just that much better and finally I just wanted to thank all the public um for the tremendous outpouring of support show to one of our Township staff members going through a very difficult time uh there has been just immense uh public response and I was uh telling one of my family members this weekend that um you know only in Verona could that response happened so quickly so generously um and that's just not a reason I love living in this town that's my report Mr Dio on agenda there's some appointments as a transation out CH appointment this we class year member of the planning board Kevin suan and the appointment to the New Jersey intergovernmental Insurance Fund Kevin the signed there and the bur cter Municipal Employees benefit fund C Jennifer and I apologize for the voice and then the deputy manager report update I think start my report with the presentation fromr or make sure light not that noise thank you very much um so uh Dan hin uh the boardable hous planner for the Township from DMR architect tonight we're talking about the uh resolution to declare the Township's fourth round affordable housing obligation which it is required to do by state law in order to protect itself from uh exclusionary zoning lawsuits also known as Builders remedy lawsuits over the next 10 years that didn't do anything here we go all right so I hope that there's folks out there on Zoom who were uh uh this is specifically targeted to uh so just so um because Council has heard me talking about this about 7,000 times already so um the reason we're having this conversation tonight is that the uh the governor and the state legislature uh passed a uh bill in March of 2024 which established the rules for uh municipalities uh to estimate and uh meet their affordable housing obligations for the next 10 years and Beyond um specifically the reason we're talking tonight is because that bill requires municipalities to uh declare what their affordable housing needs are prior to January 31st uh which is in 10 11 days um uh the uh numbers declared uh in this meeting will be the basis of a affordable housing plan that has to be adopted by June 30th of this year and the basis of ordinance is intended to implement that plan by uh to be adopted by March 15 of 2026 um the uh uh context in which we're having this discussion is affordable housing uh obligation calculations uh published by the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs on October 18th 2024 the uh DCA uh as it's called Uh was a uh prescri a methodology to use for the purpose of these calculations by that law um adopted earlier last year and it's determined that the township has a prospective need of 173 units which means that it uh has to uh zone for or allow for the creation of 173 affordable housing units uh by 2035 it has a zero unit present need which is the term for uh the need that a municipality would other would have to participate in or fund a program to uh rehabilitate rehabilitate existing uh deteriorated homes in their locality um the uh Township is required to uh accept or declare the uh their affordable housing numbers uh by binding resolution um they can either accept the dca's calculations or propose an alternative number based upon uh the methodology endorsed and prescribed by the law uh usually by identifying flaws in the data um that was used by the DCA uh if uh they were to deviate from the methodology uh they would the township and other municipalities would face risk of legal challenges um which could risk their immunity from the exclusionary zoning litigation which is why we are advising to uh propose alternative numbers that are consistent with the methodology based upon flaws and the data used by DCA just for some history uh for those who haven't heard from me before uh affordable housing has been the uh state law since 1975 uh when uh the Supreme Court in a case commonly known as Mount Laurel one uh stated that every municipality has a constitutional obligation to create an opportunity for the creation of affordable housing and a subsequent uh ruling in 1983 called Matt Laurel 2 uh which said that uh all municipalities are growing and required to accommodate the growth needed to create uh affordable housing opportunities the Fair Housing Act of New Jersey adopted in 1985 codified those Supreme Court rulings and created the Council on affordable housing also known as COA uh which was uh required to um estimate and and create rules for uh local uh housing obligations and meeting those obligations uh the uh um Fair Housing Act uh created something called the exclusionary zoning or Builders remedy lawsuit uh route wherein a municipality that did not comply with the fair housing act or with code's rules uh could be subject to a lawsuit from a developer uh which would uh uh remove the municipality zoning Powers um in an event where a developer would promise to create affordable housing had um uh effectively made and enforced affordable housing rules from 1987 to 1999 you might hear the term prior rounds or first and second affordable housing rounds of rules and enforcement uh it failed to effectively adopt and enforce rules from 2000 to 2014 when it uh three times attempted to uh adopt rules and uh faced uh obstacles in each uh instance in maintaining those rules in place in uh 2015 Mount Laurel 4 uh Supreme New Jersey Supreme Court case uh determined that COA was defun and it DET determined that every municipality must go through the court process in order to meet uh estimate and meet their affordable housing obligations um Verona Township settled with fair share housing center which was the uh main litigant bringing the uh uh state to the Mount Laurel 4 um to the Supreme Court in Mount Laurel 4 uh settling with with fair share hous Center determine each municipality's affordable housing obligations and the project need those obligations um the uh Township adopted a plan in 2023 that was consistent with and implemented uh the settlement and also adopted ordinances consistent with that plan the perspective need um as stated before is the obligation that municipality is required to meet through zoning or through construction or uh approval of projects um by 2020 through uh 2035 I'm sorry in order to um uh create affordable housing units the prospective need is calculated at the regional level uh uh as determined by the state which is consist of four counties Union Essex Morris and Warren counties um it's the need is calculated at the regional level and then allocated to each Town um based on three factors the non-residential uh property value Factor the uh household income factor and the available land factor and each of these determine uh how uh those land values income or available land acreage in each municipality compared to the rest of the region based on those factors the DCA has estimated that uh the tax townships um present prospective need obligation is 173 units uh the township is still required to uh to uh approve and uh maintain the projects out lined in its third round plan and any plans that adopted prior to the third round uh and uh it also should be noted that the prospective need uh accumulates over time so just because one round ends doesn't mean that the need from that round is expired uh a town like Verona that is largely built out is eligible to seek a vacant land adjustment and what that does is allows the municipality to adjust its prospective need to reflect um uh constraints on its available land um it's uh required to determine how much uh land each uh uh uh how much affordable housing a vacant parcel or farm land in town uh could accommodate based on some factors outlined by the state um those lands cannot be legally or environmentally constrained um and the resulting number of units from an analysis of the vacant land capacity uh is typically called the RDP or realistic development potential in the fourth round the state law says that a municipality has to uh plan for a minimum of 25% of its prospective need um so if the RDP is less than 25% of the prospective need which uh uh for 173 units would be 44 units um you were supposed to round up and if your RDP is higher than the 25% perc then you would use the so how do you create affordable housing uh typically it's done through um inclusionary development uh and Zoning for redevelopment plans in which a uh generally market rate uh development consists of 15 to 20% uh affordable units so uh roughly one out of five uh housing units a new housing project would be available to low and moderate income households um some portion of the need can also be met through group homes and Supportive Housing uh or the township can use uh development fees or other funds to create uh to create housing or incentivize higher set azees in these inclusionary projects up to 25% of the perspective need or the RDP can be met through uh what's called bonus credits essentially certain number of housing of affordable housing units can be counted as more than one affordable housing unit uh in the fourth round we're looking at one and a half to two two units for each one unit depending on uh the uh C the character of that unit and some of the other criteria outlined in the law um you can only get bonus credits for actual projects not just for um for units that are potential from zones or Redevelopment plans um so uh bringing us back to uh the uh uh next steps which is uh tonight our our step is to uh adopt a resolution declaring our housing obligation we can either accept the dca's 173 units or we can offer uh an alternative um I spoke with the uh Council and indicated that um it is our belief that the DCA had uh included uh counted in um the vacant land Factor contributing to the the determination of the township having to create 173 units and it accounted for 18 and a half units that are 18 and a half acres of uh public Parkland that is actually deed restricted and should be should have been included in the state level data um that the DCA had considered in uh its analysis but since that data was not up to dat uh the DCA overestimated how much available land is available in the township um and after removing that excess de restricted land the uh uh townships uh obligation would be reduced from 173 units to 149 uh units um the resolution uh may also acknowledge the uh the vacant land adjustment opportunity and other adjustments that may be available um after adopting this resolution essentially through from February through May the township will uh be engaged in preparing its plan determining uh what projects uh and z zones it will use to meet that plan uh and refining uh its vacant land adjustment uh and uh it it will be required to adopt its plan by June uh fourth round plan by June 30th which will state what its obligation is what its adjustment uh is based on the vacant land analysis uh and how will it will meet those obligations the plan must include a spending plan which states how much revenue the township expects to take into its uh affordable housing trust fund over the next 10 years and how that money will be used as well as drafts of any ordinances needed to implement the plan and some resolutions that are just administrative uh for effectuating the plan um any uh developer or uh interested affordable housing advocacy group will have uh until August 31st to challenge that plan and if uh the um the affordable housing dispute resolution program uh that created by the state determines that a change needed to the plan the township will have until December 31st to make those changes of course we're that's way far ahead in the future so not our Focus tonight uh I know I just threw a lot at everybody in the public if anybody was listening I'm sorry um but I will now open this up to questions comments and discussion questions from the council I know we're going to be passing a resolution shortly um do you want to give a brief summary of what's in our resolution because the public has not yeah sure so um the uh the the uh resolution is uh that we've discussed is going to uh state that um the township um the township planner us DMR Architects myself uh did an analysis of the dca's methodology for calculating the Township's fourth round respective need of 173 units and we determined that uh the uh the the DCA had used state level data that considered or caused the DCA to consider um 18 and a half uh acres in three uh parks that were recently deed restricted uh they considered that to be developable land whereas we know that that land is De restricted uh and should have been included in the state data at this stage but for various reasons may not have been um so the resolution is going to state that uh that specific uh issue state that the township is uh proposing that its obligation is 149 units rather than 173 units um uh and uh that where the state the the township is accepting the zero unit present need obligation uh there's no uh reason based on any uh data that I've seen to to challenge that as well obviously it's the lowest it could possibly go um and uh I believe that the resolution is going to state that DMR has conducted a vacant land analysis or an analysis of the uh land in town that uh is has a realistic development potential to create affordable housing units and as of the most recent iteration of that analysis we believe that the realistic development potential is going to be 66 units uh which is greater than 25% of uh 149 which would have been 38 so the township would be required in his plan should the 66 units uh stick over the next three months while we continue to revisit and refine that analysis uh the townships plan will uh be planning for 66 rather than 173 affordable housing units for the next 10 years and that number could potentially be a little lower it could potentially be a little lower it could be uh definitely other questions commentsin on thank Mr thank you yeah I didn't know if they there we go Mr CL do you have anything to add thank you okay we appreciate your presentation um at this point I will call the uh the motion on resolution that is labeled in the council packet is e2b V2 make resolution motion the motion that's made by councilman Roman is there a second I'll second thank you Deputy Mayor any discussion on the resolution this time will open for public comment on the resolution Adam clerk would you please read St anyone from the public wishing to speak on this matter please raise your hand by pressing the raise hand button on your monitor dialing in by phone press star I once recognized clearly state only your name and C residence for the record provide your stre address however if you didn't please 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 and everyone after everyone wishing to speak has been heard the council May address your questions and your comment than no members of the public wishing to be heard oh we have one uh Mr Ryan goe Kevin get give s you're muted you're permitted to talk you need to unmute can you hear me now we can yeah hi Kevin Ryan Verona New Jersey um according to uh recent news articles a number of towns have baned together to challenge the overall methodology as to how these numbers were derived I just was curious if uh the council ever considered uh the possibility of joining the lawsuit thank you ran the other comments okay n oh clst public comments sorry mik is still active Okay uh to answer Mr Ryan your your question on that um we are aware of what some other towns are doing uh there there's a li to that as well um and the council has not made any action to participate in that lawsuit right um clerk would you call R Council Holland yes Council MTH yes councilman Roman yes Deputy Mayor makoy yes mayor tamboro yes mayor resolution e e2v will be number 20 25-26 passes 5 to Z thank you madam clerk back to you mran thank you than you thank you mayor um the first item on my report is actually regarding the pool utility I know it also comes up in new business I was hoping we can entertain that discussion at this point uh that now we have our director of community services also in attendance of meeting to help provide additional context to some of the materials that were distributed to the council and answer questions uh the uh prior recommendation discussion centered on uh a recommendation from our consultant who did a rate study on the pool utility the recommendation was uh for 15% rate increases uh across Ross all membership pipes uh that was um a recommendation that was rooted in the fact that there were um a number of other smaller considerations to to work through efficiencies at the pool to be explored uh some additional potential revenues or the um the attempts to grow membership bases uh ultimately uh new Jen when they studied the rates of the pool they did feel that those uh while they were worthwhile Endeavors they also did acknowledge that those were not the ultimate and final solution for making the pool financially whole in the coming season however uh the administration and uh Community Services Department also did continue to explore a number of those comments and uh a lot of the questions that came up over the past several meetings uh We've explored a lot of those recommendations and and discussions with the recreation advisory committee's pool subcommittee uh there was some communication back and forth with the pool sub committee over the past week and a half to two weeks uh the recreation advisory committee is meeting again tomorrow night however the pool subcommittee did uh band together pretty quickly to provide some some quick feedback on the other open items that were discussed uh there was uh some review and recommendations according uh associated with the Staffing I'll go through a number of the recommendations that Mr robman had prepared he is here to provide some additional context on that to answer any specific questions at the end but uh there were there was a full analysis on the uh lifeguarding rotation the front desk Staffing the rec Staffing and there was um a potential Savings of um approximately $2800 based upon some some minor modifications um again that that was not necessarily recommended there were some concerns from the pool uh Recreation subcommittee about the um the potential impacts to Service uh the potential opportunity for some of the Staffing that would be losing it may prohibit us from uh pursuing some of those additional revenue streams in the 2025 full year they felt that the pursuit of those additional revenue streams was more valuable than the the savings could offer um again these are uh some some of the inter uh interactions between the administration and the cool subcommittee again to be formalized a little bit more uh in detail with the entirety of the recreation advisory committee tomorrow night um there was uh a consideration of the the management Staffing I think there was uh an an ability to offer some of the high performing managers and and to to review the manager levels from 2024 to 2025 and uh potentially provide some efficiency in savings there uh there uh is a potential $6,800 in savings uh at the management level there's also some discussions regarding um the potential for um being a little bit more um quick in responding to poor weather days when in which there are little to to know attendance at the pool uh typically the pool's closed based upon lightning only uh there have been several Ines in in Prior seasons in which uh the the weather uh and the uh the temperature uh yielded very very low turnout of pool so there's uh or there's pending storms which are coming later on in the afternoon and it usually chases patrons out from the pool so there is some savings to uh uh to be had at the pool utility if we were a little bit more reactive in uh those types of situations there was a few additional uh considerations that were discussed previously which are no longer being recommended um that was uh primarily surrounding the reduction of hours at the splash pad that is is not recommended at this time uh there was also a review of a few of the programs at the pool which were um were not bringing in the revenue to uh support the uh the cost of those programs so there is a recommendation that was provided to slowly increase those rates over the next several years to bring them to where those programs are um supporting themselves uh additionally there is uh a fee being recommended for uh the attendance at a few other additional events whether it's U from playground trips to family night and the uh preseason concert that's been discussed there are some additional thieves that are recommended to again provide the uh Revenue to the pool that those particular events or programs would actually cost the pool um there is also a um a plan in place for um how to manage uh and support uh requests for memberships from low-income families throughout the township that was circulated uh throughout the uh to the council and that was a recommendation which was worked on with uh Administration and Community Services um again that is Reliant upon um some partial offsets which again it would not result in a loss of Revenue to the pool but it would be uh some offsets which would be provided to the pool through the uh Children's Fund um and again there uh the last consideration uh was also the idea of increasing membership base and membership revenues uh there was a consideration and a recommendation to open up pool membership to all fulltime countship of Verona employees to purchase membership at the same price as Verona residents uh and there was also a consideration discussion amongst the firefighters and rescue squad whereby the uh those members of those uh departments uh currently receive memberships um they currently receive courtesy memberships the uh discussion that was had on on that element uh surrounded uh additional um Services training and equipment that would be provided by each of those departments to the pool uh in exchange uh it would be it would need to be uh um completed through a shared service arrangement in which would ultimately become a four party agreement between the Township School utility and the fire fire uh fire department and the rescue squad in which uh the township would offset portion of the memberships uh and uh over that would be the the subsidy to the pool in exchange for the free memberships being uh provided to those departments and the services and the goods being uh offered to the pool in exchange for uh that consideration uh there is also circulated a a summary a final summary of the rules and regulations for the 2025 pool season and then there was a final summary sheet with the pool fee recommendations for 2025 uh again the the majority of the pool solvency is based upon the proposed membership rates a number of the other members a number of the other fees that are proposed in here are um efficiencies that can be had at pool there are some additional revenue streams but the the solution for uh correcting the revenue requirements at the pool this year are uh largely backed upon the memberships at this time there's also a salary or um recommendation for all the staff that which is circulating that's the very very quick brief summary of everything that's been circulated to the council at this point if there's any questions on that uh be happy or I'd be happy to have Dave up and answer as well some of the graph um I don't have a question just an observation that um you know part of this is the cost that we um charge to Verona nonprofits who use the pool for pool parties or special events most of them pre-season but not all um and I just want to point out so if I'm reading this correctly with your new proposed um cost going forward they the average pool party still cost $3,200 the fee we're proposing would would be 2100 this is in the sample that you provided us um so we're still losing money but it gets it close this is a substantial increase to those nonprofits but it's we're still losing a lot of money on those pool parties so right there is a discussion that um the cost of a lot of the programs that are run at the pool and a lot of the offerings at the pool are are running out a loss to try to year comes a little bit difficult to try to do that in just one year so the intention would be to slowly build those up to what the where they are running at a great even cost yeah so we build up a little bit of revenue from all these other little poets and then that um hopefully with the increases in the membership which is the majority of the revenue that comes in that kind of comes together to create a stronger Financial picture correct so we're not as Reliant upon the revenue through the memberships and we're slowly building a little bit more Reliance on those other revenue streams okay that's the B okay I just wanted to highlight that one thank you questions comments uh I do go through going through here I do agree with a lot of what uh was proposed uh I want to point out the potential savings on page three for the maintenance worker uh I do disagree uh I agree with your not recommending that because obviously we all know a lot of the complaints that we got up there with the cleanliness of bathrooms and all I think that should stay uh and for that amount of money I think it's well wor keeping staff on to do it uh I noticed on the first page impact on the patron uh number four independent schol entrance begins at 14 years old not 12 years old is is there a way we can put like a little highlight there that 14 or uh fresman entering high school so I know there's some 13 year olds and I know someone going into high school is a big CH big year they want to be able to go to pool by himself rather than have their parents bring them along yeah a little kind of Aster there absolutely that wasn't that a September birthday I'm appreci other comments that was it for me for now I um I have a couple comments on the the office staffing I brought up previously that this is an area I thought that reduction and I was surprised that there was not a more there to maybe rethink how we deploy those staff um and in most of the times I've been at the pool for to check in there has been abundance of of Staff in those areas um and I'm wondering if that is another area potentially that we could look at um and try this year to reduce when having one person for sports and life jacket and deal tray collection seems to be there are significant downtimes there are times when people generally enter the pool that we could deploy more office staff you know I think we need to look at dynamically scheduling office staff so maybe at times like having five staff members is valuable but other times maybe it's not as valuable um and you know the real TR collection that could be something potentially that we put in our contract with our stack bar vendor that they have to collect for their own trays and things like that because they deliver them they can pick them up when they're delivering other ones um but it seems like having five staff members all the time um and even when we look at the uh the on the page about the the splash pad when you're talking about the the cost of the hour um on Saturday and Sunday the extended hour for the the splash pad um that the office staff cost is $565 for those two hours while the life card cost is 3276 and we don't seem to have many people that actually use that extra hour on the Flash Pad so I was actually surprised to see it in the recommendation but the same point it seems like having 50 $600 worth of office staff when we have very few people that actually use that hour doesn't seem to make much sense so I see that it's my opinion that yeah maybe we can't you know dramatically reduce the staff but at the same point I think we need to try with some scheduling this year to more dynamically schedule and maybe have five staff on at peak times and four or three staff on at other times and start looking at when people are checking in and like you know if we don't have a lot of people checking in after 6 o'clock in the in the evening we start reducing staff because we don't need as many office staff to go get checks out right so we need start looking at those things and really measuring that because it is expense that is not you know directly related to lifeguarding those things we can't really change um and I would even be more inclined to reallocate some of that office staff to have more maintenance staff because that seems to be one of the um you know bigger concerns about from the tool members was the condition of the facility so at peak times maybe we could have more maintenance St at peak times and you know and then redeploy for taking some hours away from the office here it could still potentially be a cost savings depending on how many hours we we redeploy but start looking at that as a way of even increasing because if we're charging people now more for the same service that they've been getting actually potentially a little less with some of the hours being cut we really need to make sure that the quality of the service that is being provided is good um and one of those things is the is the upkeep and we did you know hear from a couple residents that reached out to the council that were like you know that brought up the office staff as like maybe maybe this isn't a thing and you know and I did I want as many of our teenagers to have jobs as possible right in the summer but at the same point we're also expecting people to pay for that um so that's one of those things that I think we we need to start or maybe have some hybrid maintenance office people that can do both of those jobs um and start to just use them as we need them um and that way you know there there's a necessarily A you know there's there's not a huge skill set training piece that's required right for these positions so we can there's no certification that's necessary there few barriers for those positions and potentially instead of separating those positions have some crossover people that do both of those jobs and I think you could use your staff better that way um but I'd like to see at the at the end of the summer a evidence that there was some thoughtful um into what I just brought up uh and the reason being is we're going to have to have this conversation the next year and if doing this stops us from having to raise our rates as much we still have three more years where we're talking at you're looking at considerable rate increases we need to do everything we can to see what savings we can have for the next year but I can tell you that I visiting the pool quite a bit more this year um to you know check in and and see how things are going and and ask about these things I'll be asking you to come with me Mr roboam and start looking at these items um because I think we have to look out for our rate payers I as I said previously I am worried that raising rates may potentially lower membership and some of the assumptions we operated on may or may not be true um but this is Year One so people might stick around in year one we're talking about years two and three of potential rate increases based on the New Gen study you know that could be issue as well so we need to be very thoughtful in that um and I'm also you know I think we need to I'm G want a lot of data now that we've had some thoughtful um deliberation into like the rect tent I want to see what tournaments are being run I want all of this like and how much we're using this because I looked at the rate increases said we are we're putting the same percentage rate increase for lotted for membership levels and some of them would never use the rect 10 right senior citizens don't you know play in basketball tournaments so I think we need to start thinking about that and then potentially have that be one of those items in the future that we lower we keep everybody's rates lower and we start looking at some uh pay for additional benefit to make things like try to keep the the family rate lower but like if you want access to the splash pad pay a little bit more right if you want access to the rec tent because I know a lot of pool users do not use the rec tent like they're there to swim if the kids want to do Rec programs they go to the ones that we offer town or they play with their friends on you know in their backyards or whatever um but there are some opportunities to maybe not have every rate payer uh paying for the the same service and I and I think we're getting a little weight to do that now but as we move forward and we look at those numbers uh I think that'll give us some good data and I'd like to have this discussion in September right and start looking at how that's going to work councilman thank you um first of all I want to thank you both for going through this process um I know it's been a lot and it's definitely been an iterative process um I will say over the course of this engagement I appreciate the effort that's been put into both being responsive to council members but also to the rec committee and the sub committee I know it's been a lot and I can see from your latest documents like an effort was made to accommodate the different feedback that you've received both from the community from this Council and from the rec committee so I do appreciate that um and again I know it's been just kind of this chip chip chip chipping process but um and that that was challenge challenging but I think you know we are making progress and moving in the right direction and um I just wanted to acknowledge that at the top of my remarks with that in mind um I did want to say that you know in your um Solutions summary document I for one did appreciate the change of course on the recent um I will offer a Counterpoint that I do think that the recent offers a lot of um inclusive activities for um in particular families um where you may have members of the family that are very interested in being there for the swimming aspect but you may have children with special needs or other uh reasons why for example having that Rec programming is very important so it makes it a very inclusive space um if you are going to be using that Staffing for tournaments um which was a recommendation from the rec committee um as a marketing Endeavor as well I would just ask that you make sure that that you know when people are signing up they know that have the availability if as members of the pool to be engaged in beach volleyball tournaments and you know if they have teenagers or something like that that might encourage them more toward the family memberships uh the the basketball tournaments and hearing the the mayor's remarks I challenge the wreck um the wreck department to really consider inclusive tournaments that could involve seniors you do have Aqua aerobics like are there any things that may be appealing to the senior community or to the very younger like younger communities or something that can incorporate the splash pad to actually encourage people to use the early time and really make them aware of that early time as a benefit to them as pool members I think there may not have been a robust awareness that we were allowing that early opening for younger families um so I do think a lot of this is going to be driven by communication and you know to my earlier point on the Communications plan that we saw last uh or at our last meeting I was going to say last week um two weeks ago um I do think it may need to be more than just social media campaigns it may need to it may need to be multiple channels of communication to make sure that you're hitting as many people as possible because you really want to drive that membership so thank you for you know reconsidering the rect tent and considering you know some of the recommendations that were received from um the recreation advisory committee Splash Pad changes um with regard to family night I just wanted to clarify my understanding it's not clear to me are we doing are you proposing family nights to a return to the every Tuesday night model because last year I believe there were only four family nights it's not clear because rule 45 says family nights are on Tuesdays from 4: to 8 between Memorial Day and Labor Day it includes the $10 per person that's now been introduced so for my family of four it would be $40 it's just to I I'm just not clear is it going to be every Tuesday night or is it going to be select Tuesday nights so I think could we me and now will definitely be this reason office excuse me okay so to answer my question on the family night you are proposing every Tuesday night um for the fee and your basis for that is because without the fee when you did it on the select nights the me the amount of attendance exceed ceeded your expectations and therefore you needed additional staff and it actually ends up still costing you more all right I mean it'll be interesting to get the metrics to see if it becomes more balanced by doing it on the Tuesday nights but my understanding also was that there were residents that would come every Tuesday night anyway expecting there to be family night when we did the um select dates so I think um the residents will will appreciate the return to that family night and but again it comes down to communication um because people are going to expect it to be free and you're going to need to educate them on the fact that it now is not free it is a nominal fee but it is still a fee so that comes down to communication and not everybody looks at social media um so we we do need to make that really clear um I saw the increases in the aerobics um there was question from the Rex subcommittee about that consistency with the price of recreation department fees but my understanding separate from the pool is that Recreation is GNA kind of do an entire fee analysis to start right sizing some of your fees is that accurate we're in the process of that um water Ro I think we need e okay but again I think it's so my concern there is that you haven't had at least to my knowledge like a whole lot of um utilization of those programs I don't are they over subscribed or are they for which for like the water aerobics is or the Twilight aerobics like are they filled to capacity or they kind of lighter on they the aerobic what we should yeah I would just want to make sure that you're not going to price people out of that program but at the same time if if we're not even making you know the cost of running the program like if we're if we're running at such a significant deficit then you know there needs to be a balancing and perhaps again some of these programs needed to be need to be more effectively communicated so that more people can enroll in them if they want to but then I guess we'll have to make a decision if you don't have the enrollment as to whether or not to continue to bre the programs um so I I had two more topics that I just wanted to quickly address um similar to my question about family night I just wanted to clarify so the recommendation as Mr O Sullivan um identified was that for fire and rescue there would be a shared services agreement where um by the township would cover the cost of the memberships but I saw on the fee schedule there's a $50 with two asteris next to it is that like the request would be that they would pay the $50 and then the remainder would be covered by the township pursuant to the shared service or is that no longer applicable no that was just because it had an a explanation at the bottom of the page seven uh the Double asters if that was not correctly addressed then I apologize we don't the intention on that is to quantify the training and the goods that would be provided by Recreation uh provided to the pool by the fire and rescue squad and have there be some balancing where there is a fee where the township covers that fee and pays that to the pool makes change for those Services uh the it will not be a full uh a full coverage there won't there um the Cy memberships will still exist they'll be offer to those departments in exchange for those uh that Quantified amount of of goods and training that's provided by them okay I guess I'm not entirely following so you're going to quantify the services that are being provided to the pool that will then offset the cost of a membership and then the Township's going to pay some smaller portion so I'm trying to understand training is going to be provided by the uh resew Squad and the fire department um for CPR training first aid um and we're going to look at the cost of what that training would cost with the compare what they would charge regularly and that's going to offset the $50 fee that we want to introduce for the rescue squad firefighter membership that would be the fee it would still be no charge to the member okay so the township isn't covering the remainder cost of like so for example a family membership the Township's covering $50 correct okay so that is distinct from what the recreation advisory committee recommended so I do just want to make that note um but they are having their meeting tomorrow um but that was helpful clarification because that was not clear to me based on the documentation for that falls into the similar category of we can correct that over time and I think that there can be a better balancing where the township covers a greater portion of that over several years um sure that it can be accomplished in a single year though and the Children's Fund um the contributions there the expectation is that the Children's Fund would be providing a certain number of free pool memberships but like is their contribution going to be the membership fee amount from the Children's Fund correct okay thank you that was helpful clarification I I again I just want to reiterate um I do have some outstanding questions as you are aware of um that so I do hope to have my email responded to um but with regard to um the questions for public session tonight I do really appreciate the effort that was put into this um and uh yeah thank you just for clarification to the council um this Verona community pool fees recommendation 2025 there's a backside of it that's missing it's in the PDF that was sent today so that two asterisk is is it's the second page of that PDF so that points you to the executive yeah summary for page seven I apologize MRA um I was GNA point that out too um I think these documents are really great so if we can post them um for the public under this meeting that would be great because I think that was the purpose of getting everything in one place so that when if we get to the point where we're introducing in two weeks of an ordinance that really is you know fees and salaries is I'm assuming that's what we're going to be and adopting the pool rules right that's right so um they see all the backup we we do have a document that is for the public that we want to uh disperse that's it's almost like a cliffnotes of what was given to uh Administration mayor and counsel but there are some things that obviously might change so when we are uh in a position to stand firmly on um each policy Andor fee then that will be updated uh and distributed and just for the public edification so um my son joined the rescue squad which is really wonderful so I will have to recuse myself from any votes pertaining to rescue squad so you're going to prepare final documents yes so that that vote is separate yes okay thank you just for clarification the as far as Rescue Squad and fire you're saying that we're going to say the town will let's say their fee is going to be $50 and whatever their training is let's say it's $33,000 that you would normally pay if you brought someone them from the outside and they do it so you had 92 memberships from fire and rescue so we're talking $4,600 so whatever the training would cost is going to be that taken away from 4600 in the town pay the balance today I think it's it's it's all baked into that General agreement in which township or the pool and the pool employees will be receiving all that training yes there will be no charge but the the payment will be made by the township to the pool for value of $50 per membership without any balance $50 less what said what it would normally cost to train these lifeguards and staff it it would be in exchange for and uh the amount of employees that we have at the pool and also some of the more senior staff uh at the playgrounds um they currently get first aid training CPR uh some of the staff at the pool aside from the lifeguards do not um based on a couple instances last year we think it's uh a good idea to have more staff trained in CPR first aid response uh and an emerc action plan and based on some numbers that we have communicated with uh some members of the rescue squad and fire department based on what trainings would cost um I think to cover the $50 per membership I think the township it would be I think it would serve everyone uh well to uh enter into that agreement I think it would be well do you have a number on what we've spent in the past for outside people to come in and train or have they done that uh we had a manager last year who did it and then in years past we had the rescue squad and the fire department performed various trainings prior to 2024 I don't believe there was a charge for that and there was not a charge last year because he was a manager he was certified in WSI first aid CPR so he did all of those trainings that's one of the managers we are most likely going to lose this summer so my point is the maximum amount that is going to cost all the residents of Verona is $4,600 if we're going on the 92 memberships correct correct okay and then we're going to take off of that what we normally would have paid for this training meaning if it exceeds $4,600 or the way I'm interpreting is is that you're saying that if you were going to pay $3,000 to train these lifeguards and train the staff then you're going to deduct from the $4,600 so then the town would pay $1600 we can establish the the agreement in with or without my point is this if if that's what we're doing then is it even worth going through all this for $2,000 I think a lot of back and forth I'm just saying this because we've talked about this to I'm turning blue already uh it's on and on and on and I think we just beat this and beat this and there's a certain value as you just said to having the entire staff if we can get trained and the rescue squad and the fire department can do that and have done that in the past maybe not the entire staff but I just think it's it's worth it it's 92 members now maybe if we do this they're G to say you know what half people might say we're not going to go and how many of those those people actually go we want those people at the pool when there's an emergency and I know in the past that there's been emergencies and you have have someone on someone Falls hits their head you have a trained professional there and I know the lifeguards are trained and as you said a manager but they're there they're immediately they're on it and I think there's a there's no number you can put on that value of having those individuals present on a regular basis at I think we all agree yeah I'm not sure if it necessarily disincentivizes rescue re fire from from attending I think this was actually in discussion with them in almost uh offered by them to say that they would expand their training of all the staff because they they find Value in in that additional training I think if that was just the agreement I don't think there's a reason why we should go back that's going to far exceed $4,600 Council I I think there maybe I might be offering some clarity here it kind of sounds like you're basically just to establish that there is that we're putting on the table that there's something of value here being received by the pool operation in exchange for this the concept I mean I didn't this concept of deducting a dollar amount I didn't hear any it sounds like merely we're saying that the township will subsidize $50 of membership to the pool correct to the pool from Township funds to the pool utility in exchange for fire and rescue offering these trainings to All Pool staff is that that that's correct without the without a deduct of a of a correct implied value yes so it's just basically a simp that we are we are establishing that there is a that there is a valuable tradeoff here in doing this yes okay um that's all that's kind of more what my understanding of of this was uh and then I still kind of like the idea if if someone is willing to sponsor this in general this is still something you know it doesn't have to happen but it would be nice I mean there's there's plenty of vendors that we you know work with that are in the fire and rescue if there's an opportunity to sponsor this somehow I'm certain that somebody would still like to do it so it's not a burden on taxpayer um I'd still like us to try and seek that that is something that we're looking to explore further that was one of the recommendations from the pool subcommittee to explore the idea of sponsorships whether it's sponsorships offset memberships for fire and rescue or if it is sponsorships through the Children's Fund right uh but there are a good deal of opportunities that we need to pursue a little bit further this year right I the opportunities we can to bring in non rate payer non taxpayer funds into the pool would be fantastic I just I do want to say this I recognize this is an enormously complex undertaking that you're going through here starting with all the work with new genen and interpreting their recommendations and trying to develop this into a fee schedule so I just really appreciate all of the analytics that are going into this it's um it's a lot of work and it's very helpful I appreciate seeing supp thank you um if I may did just have one last minute I I give myself the floor but I get you I'm done um a on the rules document um there'll need to be a couple updates presuming that we allow um the uh top employees to be in there so this is referencing ordinance 20 2411 in number one we'll just need to update that good thing with the rule document this is a a pretty extensive list of like 52 rules my suggestion is to break this down maybe in categories before it goes out to the public and you know category cool operations membership fees Etc so that way you can refer to more easily to a specific section um and it would be helpful I think just for organizational purposes people tend to read more when they you know have these things BR and down um it's just just as a uh a stylistic point um but I it's it's a comprehensive list um and I appreciate your taking the time to to make it and to have everybody on the same page and I appreciate all the work that both the administration and the the pool sub committee have put into this process and hopefully you know we'll have to do a little less next year on this but um you know it's as always a work in progress Council Holland yes um on page two of your fees um which I didn't have in the hard copy I do just want to knowe if this is going to become in part of the ordinance um that you amend preseason pool party to just say pool party because you do have some one season pool parties um and we want to just make sure that all of the pool parties are being charged a similar rate so I don't mean the Gazebo rental I mean like things like you know when you have the nonprofit School organizations that that have parties whether they be preseason or during the season got thank you thank Mr robam mran you saw more things tell us right I'll Highlights Highlights yes uh primary clarifier Pump Station we had our preconstruction meeting uh that project will be kicking off shortly uh the Wastewater Plant disinfection micr screen project still under design and the durwent trunk line uh the final repairs or some supplemental work that still needs to be done the the sewer line is stabilized but we're waiting for better weather to complete those final items i l Drive well the contractor is just finishing up his uh integration with the existing ska system that well should be online by the first week of February uh clar Drive Pump Station there were some last minute requests for clarifications from contractors we'll be issuing a final addendum uh tomorrow that will require us to postpone the bid opening to the first week of February um jumping ahead Evert field uh we did receive 50 to 70% design drawings uh we provided some high level comments back to neglia their updating plans and we expect them back in early February each of the stakeholder groups uh was notified that they should be expecting plans for their comments in early February uh pickleball and tennis courts are currently on hold for the winter we expect them to to mobilize as soon as the weather breaks um we are gearing up to schedule our local government energy audit team to come in and provide presentation to the Council on the findings of that uh that analysis and that audit for all of our facilities um jumping ahead um Communications tower building those uh that work uh is was completed it was approved by the structural engineer we're just finishing uh and scheduling the um scheduling and finishing the building envelope repairs and then uh the town hall windows and repointing project uh we had another progress meeting January 14th the contractor is finalizing those shop drawings they are working with the architect uh from when they get approved shop drawings it is approximately uh four months to receive the windows uh from manufacturing and delivery uh that puts us at installation of Windows probably sometime in uh the May June time frame uh in the interm we do anticipate that the contractor will start with repointing uh the brick as soon as the weather breaks um and that [Music] concludes my report unless questions from Council thank you Council c um so on the clarage pump situation there were some roadblocks identified at our last meeting have they been resolved or is that a conversation we need to have we'll be discussing okay thank M council member reports sty mayor than you mayor uh want to recognize Martin Luther dror Martin Luther King day today the reserver an American deserving of a holiday it is Dr Martin Luther King hope everybody enjoy day uh in the future I hope we don't have a meeting on this holiday we can push it off to a Tuesday uh I too I actually did attend the swearing in of the Board of Education the two new member not new members but reelected Miss Chrisco and Mr waa so congratulations again and congratulations to Mrs Vella for being nominated as president and Miss prisco for vice president we do as a Township appreciate your your commitment to the children and the rest of the uh Board of Education of ir uh and lastly uh Public Works has been very active with water main breaks uh my hats off to them for the last week between the water main break and the snowstorm uh I'm sure they're all resting tonight hopefully there any problems uh but I thank them for their their work they do for Verona and uh how they keep us safe as the mayor said you know when you leave Verona after us no and that's all I have for this evening thank you deputy mayor council and ronning U I can be very brief this evening because uh mayor and Deputy Mayor have touched on anything I'd want to speak about so I will just join them in uh congratulating the school board members and thanking DBW for all their recent work that wave the remainder of my thank you councilman Council woman McGrath thank you um I uh had the pleasure of attending um and unfortunately it overlapped with the board of of had uh swearing in I attended the swearing in of our new Essex County Sheriff Amir Jones um and um the um register of deeds and mortgages um Juan Rivera um it was a very poignant uh ceremony uh there were some family members who were having some health issues so it was it was um an emotional um ceremony as one that was also historic as uh Mr Jones or Sheriff Jones is uh the first African-American sheriff in EIC County um so it was um wonderful to celebrate um their swearing in um I want to thank public works for their hard work with this sow removal um they did obviously a fantastic job um I had two committee meetings in the last week the Shay tree committee met where they talked about uh Civic Center uh planning and planting um and the neighborhood traffic and Safety Committee met um where they updated um us on an Essex County initiative on Safe Streets um and went over problematic areas in town since that meeting they had a meeting with um our uh soon to be Town manager Kevin o elivan for uh the complete streets policy which they're working toward uh getting a draft to the council um in this either this quarter or next quarter um the Multicultural inclusion accessibility advisory committee is meeting on Wednesday on Zoom at 7 pm I did notice that nominations for the women of impact event are once again open I was thrilled to be an Honore last year um and along with um incredible women who um have been honored over the last two years of this event so those nominations are open you can go to the Verona Public Library website um to submit a nomination and that's my report thank you thank you Council woman Holland thank you um my remarks will be brief um I do want to thank DPW for the effort that's been put in to address waterm breaks and to clear our streets um during this very snowy weather um and snowy and cold weather um I want to also just acknowledge that we will be having some very extreme cold weather during the coming days um and so uh residents should Avail themselves of any information regarding warming centers um but also be aware of the winter termination program if you are having difficulty paying your bills um psng cannot turn you off during this extreme weather time and so please make sure that you know you keep your heat on during um this extreme cold thank you thank you this time I'll open for public comment on any matter the public wishes to bring to the attention of the council Adam clerk we did have a couple people come in that were not on before so pleas read the public participation statement again anyone from the public wishing to speak on any matter Your Hand by pressing the raise hand button on your monitor if you're dialing in by phone press St n once you're recognized clearly state only your name and Township of residents for the record your 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 will be no cross dialogue during this public portion after everyone speak has been heard the council May address your comments and or questions thank CL s mom post public a comment at this time do another opportunity later uh we are moving on to hearing adoption or amendment of ordinances Madam clerk the next item on the agenda is ordinance number 2025 d01 on second reading with somebody uh could you read the title of the ordinance the record please mam sir Bond ordinance providing for the acquisition of two salt trucks with equipment in and by the township ofon of esic New Jersey appropriating $200,000 therefore and all authorizing the issuance of $190,000 bonds or notes of the township to finance part of the cost thereof clerk with the motion is made by the deputy mayor is there a second second second is made by council mcrath at this point I will open for the public hearing of ordance 2025 one the same public participation statement applies however members public may only comment on this particular post ordinance hearing none I close public comment any Council discussion hearing none Madam clerk would you call the RO councilwoman Holland yes Council woman McGrath yes councilman Roman yes Deputy Mayor makoy yes mayor tamboro yes mayor ordinance um 20 25-01 passes 5 will be published according to law thank you madam clerk the next item on the agenda is ordinance H1 on first reading Madam clerk would you please read the title of this chapter five administration of government article two Township Council sections 14 16 and 22 of the code of the township of Verona like Madam clerk would somebody move the ordinance please so Move Motion made by Council Mor Roman is there a second second second is made by Council Holland any Council discussion um it see where it say the DAT of theual organization oh Sor yes I think it's a techic thank you it's GNA be one picture not be outside um was I don't think so that actually brings up an interesting question um for Mr Voya that item had spoken about the fact that I think it was state law that said that the reorganization meeting had to be at the normal place of a meeting so we couldn't do it in the community center so has to be done here can we write something into the ordinance that says that could be done at the I think we write that that's done at the community center so it's an advertising it's a notice thing soed to be done so we're completely different to the public off so so I think we're fine with that what can we put that into the ordinance then that it can be done either here at the normal place or at the r Community Center or another appropriate location maybe just put those in that way we don't have an issue we have to it does get a little tighten here for organizational meeting sure considered in and it'll be in um your next meeting like you're making the amendment now the council agrees if you want to make objections this is where we've had it before when it's rain M but we kind of weren't supposed to have it there apparently so all right um okay Madam clerk councilwoman Holland yes councilwoman McGrath yes councilman Roman yes Deputy Mayor makoy mayor Toro yes their ordinance H1 will be number 202-02 it will be published according to law and a public hearing will be held on February 3rd thank you moving on to the consent agenda which consists of one set of and 15 resolutions do one consent agenda may may I'm sorry I um resolution K9 I did not actually did not put in the packet so has not been reviewed by the council I can put it on the next meeting right so we're down to moving J1 K1 through K8 K10 through K15 yes um I have a followup question for our municipal clerk I think you gave us a k9 but there were two obsolete equipment ordinances in the packet the K9 that's listed on the agenda which is the rent board attorney was not in the packet so there is a k9 it just the agenda title is wrong sorry I understand there are two obsolete equipments though okay but one is for the fire dep one is just for OBS equipment but I understand your point and there's no rent board attorney resolution okay so we have 14 plus the executive session but it's just what's listed on the agenda for rent board is not we don't have that one correct this time sorry I need somebody to move those second okay uh the Motions made by the deputy mayor the second is by the councilwoman this time we open for public comment on the consent agenda only same public comment statement applies no comments are limited to items hearing no public comments I will close public this time any Council discussion just Council clarification on the SCH off to the cedar growth fire department um I didn't understand exactly it doesn't really matter in the long run but the way this is structured are we scrapping the equipment or are we returning get to the Cedar Fire Department okay all right that's what I thought the mechanics of the resolution I wasn't 100% clear as to where it was going Madam clerk would councilwoman Holland yes councilwoman McGrath yes councilman Roman yes Deputy Mayor M yes mayor Toro yes mayor resolutions would be number 2025 d26 through 2025 D 38 we have no addendum this evening sorry with the number of the resolutions I was incorrect 57 through 25-39 first we have no addendum uh we have completed our discussion of the full rates in the deputy mayor report any other new or business n i open for public comments on any item anybody wishes to address the Council on last call for [Music] tonight okay very none I close public comment we have passed resolution to go into executive session will any official action be taken no no all right everybody we'll see you inek