Good evening. I call voter this regular meeting the town of council Monday the 23rd of June 2025. Madam clerk, could you please read the open public meeting? The notice requirements of 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 call-in information. Said notice and agenda was posted in the municipal building and sent to the official newspapers of the township, the Verona City Grove Times in the Star
Ledger at least 48 hours preceding the start time of this meeting. The agenda and handouts can be viewed online at veronenj.org/countsil meetings. A public comment period will be held in the order it's listed on the meeting agenda and instructions on how to comment will be provided at the appropriate time. Thank you.
Councilwoman Holland here. Councilwoman McGrath here. Councilman Roman here. Deputy Mayor Mackoy present. Mayor Tambborough here. Mayor also present tonight's township manager Kevin O. Sullivan. Deputy Township Manager Michael Krauss. Township attorney Brian
Aoya. Myself municipal clerk Jennifer Kieran. Thank you. Please stand. Pledge of allegiance. Algiance for all. Thank you. Few items for the mayor's report this evening. The first is the
opportunity to attack the opening for Rose and Bloom uh which is a salon that's taken over by new ownership over by the Ara dealership and it was a nice evening and everybody will check that out. Um on last Monday
we had the Arch ceremony and flag raising which moved inside due to the rain. So thank you to the HBW principal Mr. for being able to pivot on that so we could have the sixth grade American history students there with us. Uh it
was a really nice brief ceremony and thank you to Bill Brown who's the executive vice president of the NAACP of the Oranges for joining us as representatives from office.
Um I did want to address one item related to the the u flag raising. There had been a very interesting story going around on social media um that resulted in some interactions public. Um and the
story was that the township took down the American flag in order to fly the flag. Um anybody who's familiar with Verona would know that we have nine flags in the civic center. Um the ninth of which is a
for ceremonial flags and that is the one that the flag goes on. The American flag has never been on that. Um, and all it takes is a simple walk over to the civic center to know that the American flag is in fact flying higher than all of the other flags in accordance with the New
Jersey flag. So, um, I I hope everybody before they spread disparaging things about town on social media actually, you know, like walks down to the center to count flags. Uh and I appreciate the residents who had the uh
the wherewithal to actually reach out and ask questions. So thank you for that and you are free to do that anytime the honor of attending the swearing in ceremony for officer Benny Purcell who is transferring from another police
department to Vona and I look forward to seeing him get on boarded on the road. I'm a little biased department and state. I'm not just saying that because room I I say that when nobody's listening. So
uh I anxiously await that and some more uh promotional ceremonies and swearing in the coming month. Uh congratulations to all the graduates of Bona High School. I attended the VHS graduation as my double duty as a
teacher but also as the mayor in that uh area and it was a pleasure to attend that nice ceremony despite having to public university. Uh this was a particularly great class from a high school. I think they're all great, but this was a class that uh really stood
out for their leadership and academics u and kindness to one another. I thank them all for that. Uh congratulations also to everybody promoted from HPW and the elementary schools. I understand throughout the schools uh for those
milestones as well. We had a planning board meeting last Thursday. board meeting. We have our hearing on the fourth round fair share plan. Uh the plan was adopted uh unanimously by the members present at the
hearing as the council. I want to thank the master plan. Okay. that I can't really change that doesn't go through. Um the I want to thank the master plan
subcommittee who worked diligently as well. We're professional planners and our time manager who who sat on that plan committee uh that did a lot of work and especially our chairman Jessica Pearson who um was working diligently behind the scenes as well to get that
done. Um the environmental commission met and approved the resolution to go to the town of West Orange to request that they do not develop the property that is adjacent to how drive. It's a great statement and resolution and I'm glad
that they sent it because that would be a development to town. The open space committee met to review some uh potential um open space areas and to look at our uh trust fund and decide
start thinking about when and how those monies would be best allocated. There are a number of competing potential projects and meeting again in the next couple weeks to um provide feedback on that and council will get a report. This past weekend I attended the opening
for the home sweet home furniture refinishing store on Avenue in the old aluminum building uh is a great store at 50 with some cast iron furniture. Um, and uh, I hope that you allize that and
see them over there. And finally, I'd like to thank all of our seasonal employees in our rec department and our pool uh, and public works and anybody else who jumps in the summer to make all our programs successful. Today was a really hot start to the official summer
season. Um, but I'm sure that's not and that is my report. I'd like to invite Mr. offer. Good evening and thank you for the exe. Everyone should have received or summer music festival. Uh hopefully you
received in the mail. If not, I have some clerk and I will go through just a few things here. Um June 27th, which is Friday at Clark, we're having New Jersey. fireworks
and uh Tuesday, July 1st, we break park our fireworks and the internals on Wednesday, July 2nd at Brookdale Park. They all start at the dusk and the fireflies will be here on Wednesday of
this week in the park to do the dooop classic. And I know the last thing I'm going to present is in the next two weeks you will the chief will not like this but his traffic will be very very difficult on
local Avenue and we'll be starting some concrete work and then two or three weeks later they'll be paving the roadway and on one end it's very very nice on the other end traffic is very very hectic like I stayed away from.
Any questions there? Thank you very much. Enjoy your evening. Okay, at this point we'll move on to manage report. Thank you, mayor. Uh I will highlight a couple of the brief items because there are some presentations going.
Uh just to update the council, we are continuing to move forward on the primary clarifier pump station project and we are still moving forward with the design on the wastewater UV disinfection system projects. Uh we received bids for the Fair View Avenue well on June 19th
there were six bids. They were competitive. Uh they are within the I don't I don't know what the problem is. Looks like it may be better. may not be. Okay. Is this better? Yeah.
Uh the the township received bids for the Fairview Avenue. Well, there were six bids that were received. They were competitive and within the engineers estimate. Uh they are being reviewed and we'll have recommendation to award at the next meeting. We're also having a kickoff meeting with uh Monair
administration regarding the connection on the water system and our Clare Ridge Drive pump station is is starting to kick off on the submittals and we should expect construction to pick up later this summer or early fall. Um in the interest of time, I'll just
jump ahead. The Everfield project is out to bid. We are expecting to receive bids this Friday, June 27th. Um and then we have a handful of projects where Basel will be coming in to present uh updated designs in our
July meeting. Uh they will be coming in to present the Lakeside Avenue parking lot. Uh the Pecman River uh bank stabilization project and uh review of a few others probably currently working on. Um
we are also uh working continue to move forward on the window replacement project. We're nearly complete with window replacements. Repointing is continuing to move forward and we are advancing all of the additional um the additional abatement issues that are
necessary in town hall from the water damage. Um, and aside from that, if there's unless questions on our report from the council, I will um turn the presentation over to Dan Halvin.
Questions for this. Welcome Dan. Good to see you. You as well. Thank you for being here. We should both hear you. You should be okay. I'm sorry. Um, good evening
everybody. Uh, for those who may last couple weeks in the public, I'm Dan Alvin Architects, the housing responsible housing plan here tonight to talk about
three items that are responsibility of council to complete as far goes. There's three resolutions that are required tonight. is resolution endorsing the affordable housing plan that was adopted by the planning board last week's
one and a half within that resolution that there's a statement approving the spending plan that is appending plan and second resolution is a resolution of
intent to fund any shortfalls trust fund affordable housing and I'll explain a little bit more about what that means and how that would so as I mentioned uh last week on June 19th
adopted the housing plan that manager your master subs for about a year to uh to get us to the stage. And by adopting that plan prior to the state's June 30th deadline, the town should have preserved it immunity
from builder remedy lawsuits. What that really means is that builder camp lawsuit in order to develop it beyond zoning
protect you from 18 months where attempt to allege that your housing plan is not compern what that housing plan uh did was it provided a mechanisms by which the township will comply with
housing operation which was to create an opportunity for 155 affordable housing units over the next 10 years. However, 155 units is actually adjusted down to 82 units due to the
lack of available land. And that plan meets that obligation with 59 uh units identified from existing and uh and potential developments and zones as well
as another 27 or more potential affordable units that may come from the removal of the TC that any mixed use building has to have a 50% split between residential and non-residential uses.
It is. Yeah. We tested everything at home. Oh, wait. He just turned it off. Yeah.
There's no light on now. It's red. Red is not good. Red's dead. Thank you. Usually what it isn't. Uh we'll try and speak more directly. Well, maybe I'm wrong, but try both ways. Okay. Um so that's that's what the
plan uh contain that was adopted by your your planning board. Uh so what's we have to do tonight uh is the next thing I should sorry getting ahead of my presentation. Uh within that plan in appendix one is something called
the spending plan and that's something that every municipality is required to include in their housing plan. regardless of whether there are any projects within the plan that need housing or need spending on. So, uh the
spending plan projects how much money is coming into and out of or will come into and out of the affordable housing trust funding in the next 10 years um and to commit funds that are necessary to implement the plan as well as to commit some minimum amount of money that's
required for uh something called affordability assistance. essentially have a lot of money set aside for these qualified households to uh better afford these affordable units. Um, every dollar that comes into the housing
trust fund has to be spent within or committed to be spent within four years. Is that better? You hit it. It's the hit the octagon. Yeah. I don't know. Red off maybe. um has to be committed to be spent within four years, which I think this
does. And and typically we try to end uh the 10 years of the projected balance of zero dollars. Uh it's just kind of that's seems to be what the board likes to see. So um the uh balance when uh as
of July or January 1st of this year was in the out trust fund was $127,000. uh 28. Uh and that was uh consisted of development fee revenues that were acquired through uh development fees
levied on residential and non-residential development in the township. Um we are still expecting to receive $3.5 million from the Sunset Avenue development which will be used toward paying down the debt um to uh to
build the FL project. Um So, uh, I'm sorry, $3.25 million. And then, uh, what we're projecting is the $3.25 million of painting from the Sunset Avenue site plus another, uh, was
250,000 or so of revenues from development fees over the next 10 years. So in addition to paying down the debt on broad flats, uh you're required to spend uh a minimum of 30% of all revenues to date and projected on the
affordability systems thing that I mentioned uh which comes out to about $125,000. There's a cap amount of how much money you can spend on administrative costs which are really uh uh my fees, Jamie's fees, the cost of administering and
making sure these affordable units are um given to the correct people. Uh and that cap minus how much money has been already spent from that uh pool is uh gives you about $26,000 that you can spend. And then we had $23,000
that we project that we uh specifically accounted for yet, but we're um we're keeping it aside in order to either create more units um on one of these sites to assist with a one of the sites under already that is uh to assist
a group home provider to uh find space for a special needs facility for housing for adults with developmental disabilities. Uh or if none of those are necessary or relevant to the plan, potentially voluntarily
continue to operate the the housing rehabilitation program you're required to u create in your in your third round. Um but I think we'll have some use some valuable uh uses for that money.
So that leaves us with tonight is the adoption or a resolution endorsing the affordable housing plan. This is something that is required by the courts uh basically in order to show that uh the council is committing to um
uh doing its part in implementing the housing plan which really means passing the ordinances that are already allocating the funds that are that are required in order to make the uh projects in the plan realistic. Um, included in that resolution is a
acknowledgement that you're approving the spending plan. And then there's a a resolution of intent to fund. Uh, what that is is basically stating that if um you have a shortfall in the affordable housing trust funds over the next 10 years, uh, less than we're projecting or
less than you need for you will bond or use others funding sources in order to meet that shortfall. The good news is for a town like Verona where you don't have a re rehab program that you have to operate and you already have a $200 that $3,000 cushion that
we're projecting. I don't foresee a need for that. It's really just a matter of the only uh funding uh the only component of your uh obligation that isn't going to be covered by your trust fund is whatever is in excess of that 266,000
of administrative cost to uh create and implement your plan. Um it's really that is required as part of the package that we are sending to the courts to show that we are being uh so after tonight after these resolutions are uh pass we've already
uploaded your plan to the court system I guess we'll upload the rest of these resolutions to the court just to know so they know that we've done our part uh so as I mentioned there's a a twomon uh window where a potential developer or
party can allege that the township's plan is not compant which we're not particularly concerned about. And if they were to be successful on such an allegation, we would have until the end of the year to resolve that uh non-compiance.
Uh we do anticipate that some amendments to the plan may be necessary um uh which require us to come board one more time, maybe come back here for updated endorsement just to uh update the plan
to account for some of the we didn't have at the time of the adoption like finalizing negotiations with developers to identify how many units we're looking at uh and determining where that $23,000 or whatever it may be uh will go to
the next 10 years. Then finally after we're past this hump of finalizing the plan and and you know counting down to August 31st the uh council is going to have to adopt whatever ordinances redevelopment are necessary for those
projects in the plan to be realistic by March 15, 2026. Uh so that's all I've got for you tonight. Uh mayor, I'm happy to say that is not a repeat of the presentation you thought about you.
Um speaking of that, I think maybe help address some of the questions that briefly that came up. I think one of them is there was some confusion about the items listed in
the plan. Uh simply listing an item there does not authorize this. That's correct. Thank you for uh that's a very good point. Yes. So um it the the plan is just identifying for the state or really proposing to the
state what uh projects are going to be used to meet your A2 or so unit obligation that uh I mentioned before and any developer uh that or any project that is identified in this list has to still go through the standard process of
being approved. They still require in most cases a redevelopment plan be crafted in in partnership with the township and if they are successful in negotiating a redevelopment plan uh come
board the public would have time to comment review the plans they're not just going to show up tomorrow can't just start break ground just uh the next one there were some questions and we got as well. Why not do
a market to affordable conversion program? Yes. So the market to affordable program that is where the municipality commits funds to acquire um homes or apartments in the town that are uh for sale at a market rate and then
they would resell or reent those homes at an affordable rate. And um of course in order to do that uh you would have to the town would have to commit millions of dollars. I think the number of units that were discussed at the meeting was
four. So you see that you know the cheapest house you can get on sale for audit is 500,000 which I'm sure is a low ball. you're committing at least $200,000 or 200 $2 million
for units uh that are in trust fund just as an example and just provided summary on how these properties were selected. Sure. Uh so a couple of the properties were zones that had previously been
created. For example, TCM was created as condition of the third round set agreement with fair housing center in addition to the pieces that were actually needed to meet your plan obligation. Um the C2 zone was
previously amended to allow for assisted living on street. Um so that's in the plan and the rest of these were uh property owners uh or developers who had um
interest in properties that come to come to the township experience to I expressed interest in redeveloping the property. So they entered into negotiations that are still ongoing in most cases um to come to accountable
about how large these projects in order to make sure that we're not only meeting our uh June 30th obligation and plan but also interest rates until this plan.
Uh so we didn't adopt the plan in time uh for June 30th or endorsed tonight showing commitments plan is a developer who uh initiated a builder lawsuit or resolutionary zoning lawsuit which uh
would allow for them to have a court uh order you to allow them to develop their property above and beyond what zoning allows. Essentially, if they acquire enough land in a single family zone, for example, uh they tell that they want to
uh put there's war as long as they question. Yes. Um so question about the spending snap. My understanding is the final rules have not been adopted yet for the
spending plan. So why are we approving something too many? Isn't that premature? It's because the uh the directives from the state as I understand them are and the the statute required to be part of the plan.
But we I believe we actually in the spending plan itself practices that uh we recognize that the rules that there's rules that had the adoption by the DCA and the HFA that would
that may compel us or require us or benefit us to to amend spending. So uh it is much of what we're doing and what really a lot of towns have sort of been forced to do due to rain
legislature has given us is to really do these things in order to protect ourselves to comply with the administrative directive with the understanding that amendments are going to be necessary and
appropriate later on when we have these rules as you have a question. I don't have question but um I want to thank you. I I think that there is some level of disagreement
about what it means to adopt um the fair share housing plan and what it means to endorse And so my understanding is that the plan was adopted by the planning board as the mayor indicated earlier. Correct. So what we're doing here tonight is just the municipal endorsement. That's right. Okay. And so
I you know I I had some exchange earlier today and and I've been looking into this further and so I do think that there is a level of disagreement. I'm happy to get into that further if that there's need for that, but I understand that we will have a resolution pending before us. So I can save my comments for
that time. Yeah, I just want to thank everybody involved. Dan, I know you did a lot of work on this before the times. Uh, planning board planning board stuff for me and and Sam planner. Uh, it's it's a difficult thing. I I went through
sitting on the council the last round and the town in order to stop over 450 units in this town. We spent a lot of money spent $18 million on some way and in my mind I'm thinking the things we
had to push down the road because of it and one of those things is why we're sitting here tonight what we're going to go through in a little bit. So, uh, unfortunately, we have to make these decisions and we as a council spend a lot of time doing this. I get comments
from friends of mine, "Oh, you're on the Yeah. Two meetings a month that lasts four hours on a Monday night and many, many hours after that." Uh, and I know you guys spend a lot of time on this also. But I just want to thank you and we'll pick it. This is not a plan that's
set in stone. and it is subject to change based on how we we thank you. Thank you. I'm going to reserve some general comments on this until we hear the resolution just back to you. Thank you, mayor. Uh the
next presentation will be from Frankio from Solutions Architecture. I'm gonna Mayor I'm gonna turn to Zoom. So it faces him because that's like that cone. Yeah. It's on it.
Okay. I am getting a lot of feedback that Yeah, you can you can just kind of barely hear things. I can hear Mr. O' Sullivan pretty well. Well, I can hear Councilwoman Holland pretty well. That's about it.
So, we're speakingly. I don't think so because that like is it connected to Zoom? That is the Zoom. Good evening everyone may council. Um my name is Frank Cino. I'm the solutions
architecture and uh the purpose of coming here tonight is to present to you uh the Verona emergency services building and the modifications that have been made uh in the last many months uh based upon uh some changes that were
made. It was originally uh police fire and uh rescue. We presented that uh to the public. We back to the council. Uh it is now police and fire department company number two. Uh so we're going to present the changes. Um while the
presentation does have some of the history, I'm going to kind of go quickly through the beginning of this just to make sure everybody's got a refresher in terms of what we're proposing. Um the township would be requesting uh that we take um action to resolve long-standing
issues uh that have been affecting the police and fire facilities uh for some time now. Uh over the years uh several alternative and we can just go to the presentation bunch of people here aware
at What page is that? Uh 28 of Got it. All right. So, the new uh the new building is significantly smaller than the previous building. We've taken out an entire emergency services uh spot.
The site however is pretty much still the same uh amount of work that was being done previously. Um as you can see Pton Avenue on your left. Um you can see Pton A on your left. Our property line adjacent property line uh on the top of
the page. There's another adjacent property line on the bottom of the page. And then we've got uh you know a rear green area within within the site. Uh the site is composed of uh several parking areas. We've got uh parking for
police, including a sally porch. Um we've got a proposed two-story police and fire facility. We've got a fire bay. Uh there's some ADA handicapped accessible parking in the front and on the rear of the building. Uh there are basically three or four essential
parking spaces. The first level or first area has 25 spaces. The second level has 25 spaces. There is a rear parking area with an additional 20. Uh there is a front area with 12 uh spaces. A total of
seven 107 total parking spaces for the property. As we get into the building, uh I will point out that not much on the police side has changed on the first floor. Uh we did revise the sally port uh to
provide greater space for the larger vehicles being uh you know procured by the police department. However, most of the the same areas exist. Uh we've got our storage our secure vestibule uh from the outside of the building. We've got
our our cell block uh and uh processing area. We've got a separate alpha test room, an interview and monitoring room. Uh there is a toilet so that that hardened area is secure. Nobody has to leave that area and come back and forth. As we come into the building, we still
have our patrol captain's office as well as temporary evidence storage. Uh we've got a large evidence room for enough storage for the amount of evidence evidentary information that's being brought in. Uh we have an armory lockup and and munitions room. And then we have
a police ready room where everyone can come in. they can uh exit directly to the Sally Park, exit to their cars and do what needs to be, you know, get on on the road. Uh there is a school resource and patrol reporting area for sergeants to come in and do their reports. We have
a uh patrol division lieutenants room and we have a dispatch room. The dispatch room is designed uh with the intent of a potential future shared dispatch. Um there's soft interview room and some guest waiting areas, a coffee
area, general toilet and janitor's closets facilities. We have a new main entrance to the building uh with a a lobby, a records room, public toilets. Uh in this facility, uh the courtyard has remained. That courtyard is open to
above and uh you know allows natural light into the facility. And then uh off of off of the lobby, we have another police bay. This is for either evidence processing or m vehicle maintenance. Uh but that's all tied in. Anything that
you see in blue is the police uh is a police function. Uh anything in yellow is a common area or common function such as the corridors, the elevator. We do have an elevator as you come in through the building to the second floor. There are common toilets for the public. Uh
and and as we get into the red, you'll see the fire department uh vehicles. Now, the fire department has a a large bay area for the vehicles that they have. The ladder truck, uh the utility vehicles, the pumpers. So, the the the
vehicles that are currently in the in the fleet are accounted for. There is a shared decontamination and laundry room uh that can be shared by both police and fire. This currently doesn't exist in any of the plans. So, it is a safety feature. Uh there is a fire department
ready room. Uh there are various spaces around the plan for mechanical areas. There's a fire department quiet room. And then we have a stair that takes us upstairs to the second floor. There is fire department locker rooms, a men's locker and a female locker. There's also
again mechanical spaces. We've created a secure vestigle off the back of the building so that anyone coming to the facility gets checked in that that doesn't can't just walk into an open door. So there's geared storage and hose storage and there's a work area for
vehicles. There's a mechanical room and equipment room for fire as well. So the first floor plan, the program changes that were made when we basically removed um the rescue squad from the plan and then tightened up all the other spaces.
We eliminated some spaces that were shared between the three and then consolidated those to be shared only between the two. As we move to the second floor, as we come up to the second floor, you'll see that uh oh, let me just go back real
quick. So square footage wise the the space is uh police is is encompassing 13,000 square feet fires about 7,000 square feet on this floor. There is about 1,200 ft of shared space and 2700 square ft of common space for a first
floor footprint of 24,000 square ft. Um, as we get to the second floor, we can either come up through the second floor through this exterior stair or through the elevator from the lobby. Um, everything that you see in blue is also
uh police related. And the upstairs, second floor upstairs, the majority of it has not changed from a police perspective with a couple of exceptions and that has to do with a lot of the shared facilities that were previously. So, our emergency operations center remains, our detective bureau remains,
detective storage. Our chief's admin and office area remains, captain's offices, storage, our technology and communications room remains. We have our record storage room that got modified from what it was previously. Our
gymnasium or fitness area got significantly smaller than what it was in the previous plan. We basically consolidated the close quarter training area and the fitness center uh to be able to be in the same space which is this center area here. Uh so we were
able to pick up probably a thousand square feet in in terms of reduction of the building from just that alone. Uh we have our kitchen copy area, we have our police resiliency room. Uh there is a locker room and um toilet rooms and
shower facilities for both men and women. Uh we have our armory virtual firing range uh and our elevator from that area. The courtyard is visible from the second floor. So again, natural light gets brought into the center of the building. And then at the end of the
building, uh the training room changed. It was there was a significant amount more square footage on the outside of the building. Right now, the training room has been reduced to about 1,500 square feet. It does have dividing partitions, so it is flexible and can be
used as a full-size space or two smaller spaces. Uh, but the intent here is that it's a revenue generator and it also saves the town operational expenses in being able to have training. If you host, you get training for free. Uh, so
those are things that were we looked at when we came to came to look at this plan. On the second level, police has been reduced to about 8,790 square ft. There is no longer fire on the second floor. Uh nor is there, you know, obviously rescue on the second
floor, but we do have about 5,400 square ft in shared space and about 2700 ft common area, which is about 16,900 square ft total for the building itself. some views. Again, these views haven't
really changed with the exception of the rear of the building where the second floor has been cut back significantly, but uh as you can see from Pmpton Avenue, the largest height of the building is around 32 feet. The building averages about 28 feet across the site.
Uh the lowest level is 1820 ft. Uh but the building will now just be listed as we're on emergency services. The lease sally port is in the front and as we come around the side of the facility you'll be able to see more about you know the entrance. Again another view
looking down uh pump as we get you know in front of this perspective you're seeing this height of the trees versus the height of the building um and you know the height of a person. So scale-wise the building is is not in this grandio or over overly broad
structure. Um, again, as we we come down into the parking lot, you can see a view of the overview of the parking lot. So, additional parking spaces for police here, a main entrance here, uh, and then the parking the building.
Another shot of our flag pole area, another view of the facility from the corner. And this is as we start to get towards the building. There's an eress from the stair here. This is again the police department uh Sally Fort. This is
the police department's uh evidence bay or carb bay. This is our fire department bay uh for the for their vehicles. Our main entrance is here. Uh we have EV charging and ADA accessible parking. So here's our main entrance.
On the rear of the building, we do have an entrance into the firehouse, but we do have our secure vest, which is behind that vehicle. And again, you can see the layout of the parking uh the ability to try and give us more parking uh within the facility.
And that accommodates, you know, the the cars that are being brought in uh personal personal vehicles as well as police vehicles and fire vehicles. Again, a view from that rear parking area back towards the building.
Another view back towards the building. This is just a view along that property line of what you know you would see. There's a significant amount of tree cover plus our goal is to provide a green screen on the back side of the building which will make it more
palatable from a neighbor's perspective. Should point out that this building is actually 5T lower than the adjacent property. So it even reduces that 32 foot height in what neighbors are going to see. So it's not this again big monstrosity. It's been very designed to
be very sensitive with the neighborhood. Just some recaps. Again, a lot of this hasn't changed, but lobby dispatch area being able to come into that main lobby. A view of the courtyard port is is uh obscured, but it does allow light to
come into the space. Another view of that lobby. This is a view of what that courtyard could look like. I do want to point out that these designs and concepts that you're looking at, they are conceptual. They have not been fully vetted. They have not been fully designed. So things
can change when you're looking at the plans once we get into the design and sit new departments. There are things that could shift. Walls could shift. We could add more lockers on one side, less lockers on another. There is the ability to when we design this right now, this
is concept and that's how we establish budget. to be able to come up with program size and allow the to work. But everything here is subject to some slight minor change. So just wanted to make sure that that's um uh police dispatch operations. Again,
the space is designed with the potential shared dispatch area in mind. Um again, our police ready room, the ability for officers to come in, grab their stuff, be debriefed or briefed, and then go out on the road. Uh it's adjacent to our our
our armory so they can clean their weapons or pick up their cleaned weapons as they go out the door. Plenty of storage uh within the space for any of the things that are needed for vehicles. Um our emergency operation center. Again, not every police department in
the state has an emergency operation center, but given the the the density of the area and the ability to be able to to get everyone together in one place, we've included an in this design. It's on the second floor and this is what it
could look like. Again, monitors tied into traffic cameras, monitors driving into drone footage, you know, emerging events, things occurring, everybody has a place to to go. And again, something that's not in any
of the current plans that we have. Uh again, outside the emergency operations center, an administrative area, a small uh you know uh copy area, a small kitchenet, uh just something for when things are going on on that second floor. There's the ability to
serve that area. Our police staff cafeteria, um you know, enough to to fit the shifts that are on. Uh that's an idea of what that can look like. Another of what that could look like. As we get into detainee processing, you'll notice that the design is a lot
less uh fancy. It's a little bit more um a little bit more industrial. So again, this is where prisoners are or detainees are brought in. They'll be fingerprinted, photographed, they'll be put into into holding uh or go into interview rooms. And all of that is done
in this area. Again, holding cell, typical holding cell. This is what it would look like. our men's locker room upstairs and and women's locker room would look very similar. Uh but this is, you know,
lockers for enough of their gear, uh power in them so they can charge their radios, um and you know, everything that needs to be done within that space. Uh this is uh our fire department ready room. Um it's just an idea of what that space could be looked like. People are coming in, they're waiting on a call, uh
and this is a place for them to be our shared multipurpose and training room. So again another idea of what it could look like. There is a dividing wall which you can see here. That wall can be opened up. The space can be made larger or it can be two smaller uh you know one
really small room at one mid size room. Another view. Uh again Sallyport. We've modified the Sallyport to be able to fit the larger vehicles. uh which meant less parking spaces within the Sallyport, but it gives them more ability to load the
vehicles and maneuver. Um and we've also provided screening around the perimeter uh so that on the lower level it's not all open as for the screening. Uh just another view of what that could look like. And then our fire department bays uh
with all of the proper equipment, gear racks, uh you know, on the walls adjacent, not anything like what we currently have. Uh our shared fitness center, the ability for you know the it's a departmental requirement that they train, that they take care of
themselves. So uh this area is part of part of the plan and that opens up to that close quarter uh training area as well. So that's uh pretty much it when it comes to the the design of the facility. Uh in addition to the renovations uh
that were or the revisions that were made to the plan, we've also revised cost projections for the building. So based on the reduced size of the building and the reduced program of the building, uh the cost has been reduced uh as well. So building construction,
the largest uh pie that you see is 25.1 million. 25.2 million rather. Uh there's specialized furniture and and equipment which is about 1.5 million. Uh there's about 3 million in contingency. There's about 5.2 million in soft costs. And
there's uh about 4.2 million in site or in site acquisition. So total of the project costs is about 39 uh 39.3 million. So this is just a further breakdown of
those costs. Uh right now you can see that the budgeted construction costs only are about 30 $31 million. There's about 5.2 million in total soft costs. There's 3 million 31 33.1 million in
contingency. Uh and there's that total construction cost of about 39.2 million. Uh what that comes out to square footage in 26 7 is about $745 per square foot. You're talking about a total cost for a
facility, including specialty equipment. It's not just the construction of the bricks and mortar. I want to make sure that's clear. It's equipment. It's furniture. It's all of the things that need to make this this facility run. So $74562
is what we're looking at in terms of square foot cost. the contingencies and escalators that we put on these numbers take it out into 26 27 because obviously this is not being constructed tomorrow. It's going to have to be bid. There's going to have to be additional you know
uh elements put into place in order for this to go out to bid. Um you know again this takes into consideration uh and assumes 4.75 interest rate over 30 years through BCIA funding uh and that obviously rates may vary but right now
bonds haven't been selling note sales have been under 4%. So there's good signs here for us provided that this go you know this this moving obviously we don't know the future will bring um there's also some potential offsets for the project. Uh obviously, you know,
there are ways to reduce costs and take advantage of other available items, but some of the offsets that we discussed were donation of fitness uh room equipment, uh the sale of 209 Bloomfield A, uh the annual net reclaim tax
revenues, income opportunities from the virtual firing range or the shared dispatch services or the self-posted training. So, there's savings to be had uh with a facility like this. Uh and just in talking about the square footage of the building and the facility itself.
So the the facility for a average police facility, you're looking at anywhere from 450 to 900 450 to $600 uh per square foot uh per square foot per 450 to 600 square feet per person uh for
the for the facility. for a fire a fire department, you're looking at 300 to 400 square feet per person. So those numbers come into where we would fall as in a facility. They align with what we're looking at uh per capita. Those numbers
are anywhere from, you know, 1.8 to to 3.15. And again, we are in line with design regulations or design guidelines for police facilities in New Jersey based on square footage. Now, one of the things
to add is that the additional spaces, the EO, the um training room, and the virtual firing range. These are all, you know, necessary spaces, but they do add to that that number of being, you know,
square footage of making it a little bit larger. But the idea here was in in our discussions was to make this facility the last the last step handle the future growth. The last thing that we wanted to be include the building and then need another 10 spaces for additional
officers or additional fire And what we did here to try to give you an idea of, you know, where this building evolution came from was we kind of looked at square footages and trying to show you. So originally our police
department's about 4,000 square ft. Our fire department 5,500 square ft and at the time the rescue squad was 4600 square ft. So, but we're looking at two two buildings 4,5500 square feet that do not have the necessary program
requirements. So, grossly undersized for a facility and can't provide the services they need to. When we looked at these designs and came sat with the chiefs and the fire and the police and fire, we came up with individual program spaces. We also compared that against
the New Jersey uh chiefs of police planning guidelines for police facilities as well as planning guidelines for fire facilities and we came up with an individual needed program square feet for police of about 33,000 square ft. We had about 17,000
square ft for fire. Our design concept in 2024 with police, fire, and and rescue was about 26,000 square foot for police, 12,000 for fire, and 16,000 for rescue. That building at the time is
55,400 square ft. our revised 2020 uh 2025 concept just removing uh rescue dropped that building uh to about 87.
Uh so we were at 473 and then we looked into this and said how can we tighten up the building? What can we do to reduce the building? And we were able to get the building to 419 to our 39 million $39.2 million price. So, the
building's been through some iterations in terms of tightening, and we wanted to show you where it started and how it's how it's wound up. From an estimated tax impact standpoint, based upon the numbers we received on the $39.251
million, it's you're looking at 39 $349 per year on the average assessed home and or 28 29 $298 per month. Frank, uh, just not to interrupt, but we
do have, uh, we have Britney Whan from Acasia Financial to provide some additional context and explanation on the financial impacts. Sure. Um, so this estimate is assuming that the township issues the bonds through
the county authority. Um, it assumes a structure level debt which is very conservative conservative estimate on interest rates. Um assumes that the township finance work together through um and you
know open questions assumes the current readables and the average and this assumption is based on no funding. Correct. Correct. Right. And the the funding occur after the project
would be approved through the state. Um we've been in discussions with Essex County authority but no board um but the total cost um would be updated once you receive bids and then the funding would be
fund or bond. So can you just expand on the local finance board approval? So is that because 2% cap and this is such a large project. No, it's anytime that gate township goes to um finance a project through the authority um they have to
get approval for but um you know most residents know that we have a 2% you know cap on the the ability to raise taxes. How does this debt service?
Okay. the service. Yes. Thank you. If you stand by Frank, could you go back to the uh the timeline slides? They were right before where you started. I guess we could go through these because I'm sure we could a couple questions on these as well. Yeah,
absolutely. So, as far as um you know, once we get approval, so the council mayor and council public meetings, we you know, we've done a lot of that. So the hope is that once we get approved right away um and once we approval we need about a month to continue
discussions develop this designs and expand program requirements create a detailed project uh timeline. We also need to seek to engage a construction manager for projects of this size it's required. So we would need to bring on a construction management firm to be able
to uh you know guide you know work with us through the design and the budgeting of this project. Those numbers are included in the budget as well for construction management. Uh then you know you're looking at you know depending upon how quickly things move
and for a project this size one of the things that in order to keep things moving quickly we might break the project up into two packages. We might have a site package that goes out first because there's a lot of site work that needs to be done, retaining walls, preparation, drainage, things like that.
So, we break it out into a site package. We can start that work simultaneously while design of the building is concluded. So, you're looking six to eight months on a full schedule. If we can accelerate that by splitting the packages, then that's what we'll look to do. Um, you know, then obviously we need
about a month of CM final review, reviewing the plans, alternate suggestions, council approval, and then determining the packaging for bidding that one or two package bid as well as the submission of the ad bids. Um, you know, at some point, you know, and
again, we have to be very systematic and very timely when we put a project like this out. Obviously, it doesn't affect any other building. There's nothing else on the property. So, we do have park launch from that perspective. we're not disturbing things from that perspective. But the idea is we have to be strategic
about when this goes out to bid. We want to get contractors when they're hungry. There's not a whole lot of guys that can do a project or contractor firms that can do a project this size. So the pool is limited and that's why we want to make sure we get as much as many people
to the table as possible. Uh we need to provide enough time for bidding. So six to eight weeks for a project this size would be a fair amount of time to give guys a chance to get pricing in and talk to vendors. It's very difficult to be able to get pricing now. If you squeeze
that time frame, they're going to throw numbers at it as opposed to getting valid qualified numbers. Uh and then the intent here is that construction schedule still looking at about 20 months. It really hasn't dropped off what we originally said because the site work is still a big component of this.
Um You know, given the hilly terrain, there's a lot of sight work. The greatest disturbance will be in the beginning of the job when heavy equipment is required for sight clearing. You know, the luck is that we don't hit any rock in what we're doing. Uh there's substantial amount of retaining wall work involving
excavation, grading, exporting of soil, excavators, trucks, and rollers. That mean that's at least two months time. Uh utilities, water, domestic fire, sewer and gas. Uh it may invol will involve road closures. uh probably one week per
utility storm water management and then the building pad needs to be prepped and put into place. So you know this schedule for construction is going to take some time. Uh site work and heavy machinery was probably take about six to eight months. Uh contractors are going
to be staging parking material and storage on site or coordinate other off offsite locations with the township. Uh once the walls are up and the roof is on, all the work will be contained in the in the interior of the building and proceed from there. Um and then that as
I mentioned previously, the construction management contingent contingent here so that protocols for safety and ocean compliance and all of those things are handled by them. So that uh any questions? At this time, I'll invite you to turn up
to evening everyone. Um, I just like to do a couple thank yous uh for getting to this point. First, for Mr. Minia, I want to I think at this point I'll be blocking my number and email. uh we put him through a lot of contortions and uh thank you for
being so responsive to our many alterations. I'd like to thank the police officers who are in the room uh who made up the building for me. Uh we first met almost three years ago to look at this site into headquarters. Uh they worked very
hard and they looked at it from very judicious minds forging what you see today. I thank the residents of Verona uh many of whom have reached out. They've shared concerns. They've fostered ideas with me and uh they've
always been so supportive to this department in this endeavor. I'll thank the council for understanding the dire need of public safety buildings and the inadequate conditions that we've been operating for quite some time as we all know and
it was first noted again not to re repeat everything but 47 years ago master plan uh it was front page news in the 80s 90s and 2000s we know that the current police headquarters is outdated and it no longer meets the operational
technological or safety needs of modern law enforcement. Space limitations hinder efficiency. Aging infrastructures increase maintenance costs and outdated program space compromise both officer readiness and public service delivery. This
proposed new facility will provide adequate space, updated technology and enhanced security enabling the department to better serve the community and support future growth. Moreover, we would meet the requirements from the attorney general guidelines, department
of correction mandates and be compliant with police police facilities planning guidelines from the international association of chiefs of police. So again, I thank you for making this process a priority and as Verona's public safety is what is at stake here.
Thank you very much. Thank you. polic you're also wearing your white shirts today at least here can wear the white shirt when you want something we're following his lead um so we'd like
to thank everyone for allowing us to be here tonight thank you again for great presentation uh Frank spent a lot of hours on this as have member of the fire department police department. And one of the things I think is most important to keep in mind with this project, which we talked about last year as well, is
you've got different organizations, police and fire, last year, obviously rescue was involved, too. You've got different personalities, different feelings, and we all managed to get together with township administration. We got together with Frank staff, and there was minimal disagreements uh
because we're all working towards common goal. We all knew that our facilities were in need of repair. We all knew that we had to get this project off the ground. So we really did organizationally put our egos to the side and work together for a common good. There were sacrifices from each
organization. There were compromises from each organization and there was really a general understanding of we know we can work together. We have to work together. Let's work together to get this push through and get this done. Um fire department police department have obviously a very long history. They shared this building for many decades
when fire department station one was stationed outside and you know since the beginning of this year police department has been dispatching out of firehouse number one while the repair were being done to police dispatch center downstairs. So there's a mutual respect between the two organizations. We've worked well in the past. We've worked
well together and we'll continue in the future to work well. Um there's a couple things I just want to bring up. Um the I don't really want to rehash everything that I spoke about last year, but as of today, the Baron Fire Department has 67 members. There are 33 members assigned
to station number one. There are 34 members assigned to station number two. Uh we talk a lot about space and lack thereof at firehouse number two. So, um in the presentation of the new building, you see that there's gear racks mounted on the walls which give ample space for storage for members to get their
equipment safely on and off before and after calls. Right now, we only have space for 25 gear racks in station number two, which means there's nine sets of gear that are on the floor. They're on top of cabinets. They're thrown all over the place. You know, we just came to the council two months ago
and asked for money with the white shirts on for capital to buy more equipment. And we want to be able to take better care of it. We want to be able to put it on racks and get it off the floor and make it last longer. Um, you know, in the presentation when we talk about the old buildings, you know,
we've got members that have to lean up against the fire truck to get their boots on as the fire truck is pulling out the door. We have, uh, in our age range right now, we allow 16, 17 year olds come in as minors to serve to start their careers as auxiliary members. We have a responsibility to keep them safe.
We have a responsibility to keep every one of our six and seven members safe. So, obviously leaning on fire trucks as you're getting dressed, you know, that just it doesn't fly anymore. It's not like the old days where the guys hung off the back of the rigs and did crazy things. You know, everyone is seat belted in. Everyone is seated on a fire
rig. So, we really do follow all local and state protocols. And, you know, safety is a huge thing for us. Um, one thing I want to talk about, I think it was a perfect leadin to this meeting tonight that you had the presentation on the housing development and what the next 10 years of Verona will look like.
So, Verona is changing. I'm here 40 years. There's quite a bit of people here that are here a lot longer than I am. Verona is changing. Verona has probably changed more in the last five years than it has in the 30 years before that. And the next 5, 10, 15 years, it will continue to change, continue to
evolve. So, we really need this space and these resources to keep up with how Verona is changing. I just want to share with you a 13-day period that the Verona Fire Department experienced in October of last year. I'll leave out the addresses. Uh October 17th, we responded
to a brush fire um in a wooded area in Verona. On October 10th, we were dis dispatched to a house for a part of a kitchen fire. On October 23rd, we were dispatched for another brush fire. On October 21st, we were dispatched for an attic fire. On
October 18th, we were dispatched for a kitchen fire. On October 17th, we responded into Callow for a working fire and air tank. That's a 13-day window for us. that doesn't encapsulate 16 other alarms the fire department responded to within that two-week window. So things
are definitely changing the landscape of this town. When I first joined the fire department, he did 125 calls a year. Now we're up in that 365 average per year. It's a call per day. You know, it's it's very well publicized the police activity in the last year or two in this town.
We're responding to different types of calls for help, more numerous calls for help. Um, you know, with the dispatchers up at station one, whether I go there to my office at 10:00 a.m. or 10 p.m., the dispatchers are constantly fielding phone calls, the phone rings off the hub. There's a lot more going on in this
town. So, this building allows us the opportunities and capabilities to keep up with that. The reason I mentioned all the different alarms that we responded to and the types of fires that we responded to, every time we have a large scale incident, it requires large amounts of equipment. When that equipment comes back to the firehouse,
it has to be stretched out. It has to be dried. It has to be cleaned. It has to be made safe to go back into service for the next call. If you walk into station one tonight, you will smell remnants of the large for house fire in Irvington from this past Saturday night. We took the smell back with us, but the hose is
stretched out. It's cleaned. We'll go back into service. Station 2 doesn't have that capability to stretch hose out. They're literally, you know, you've seen the presentation. And when the two doors from the opposing rages open, they slam into each other. So there is no space on floor to stretch out holes and do those types of things. So really,
that's what we're looking for is just a comfortable space to be able to keep up with the changing landscape of Verona, the changing incidents that we're responding to. And the last thing I want to touch on, when station one in the community center opened in 1997 and station one moved up there, the Verona
fire department experience experienced its largest recruitment uh surge that it's ever experienced in our 110 plus year resistance. We brought on 15 members in 1999. A big part of that were people coming from Lind Drive and it was
and we have one of our ex- chiefs here tonight who came to Verona via Lind Drive and join fire department because hey I didn't even know you guys had a fire department or that they were volunteer the residents get to know us when we get into a neighborhood. You know when we sit outside the firehouses at night people walking Avenue stop by
they talk to us they engage with us and we hope to have the same relationship up on Pontton Avenue with the residents there. You know we want to engage with them. We want them to have interest in us and want to come and be a part of our organizations. So, you know, we're really looking forward to the opportunity to to build up there and to
move in up there and get to know the residents up there and really form good relationships with them. PBA president. No, you're at this time any council questions, comments.
I mean, I just want to thank everybody for coming out tonight. Um, I do understand the need for this investment in infrastructure. However, I do want to express some reservations um that still linger. We
had a $4 million plan for Everett Field that was repeatedly questioned for being too costly. And this is a $40 million project. That same field renovation included
um retaining wall structures that were repeatedly questioned for its compliance and its cost. and we were repeatedly told this evening about the substantial retaining wall work that this development will require. So I do have
reservations about the costs and the construction footprint associated here with I do think there are continued opportunities for efficiencies but I am not opposed to an investment in our emergency services. I do just think that
we need to be reasonable and prudent in what that investment is. I appreciate the clarification that the $40 million is an all-in that's inclusive of like furniture and etc. But I do think that we really need to explore opportunities
for efficiencies. Um and we owe that to the taxpayers because if we're going to have this level of scrutiny on ball fields for children even when we get grant funding we should do the same for this type of capital investment for
emergency services. Thank you. Thank you, mayor. Um I want to say that every time I drive past the firehouse and I think about the situation that we're currently in with our police station, I really um have a
level of um emotion um and almost nausea over it. Um, you know, obviously the previous councils let this go for too long and we are committed to fixing it. With that said, um, I feel like we lost valuable time in
the last year and a half with when we were first presented with a very substantial building that we, the council, didn't take a quicker and stronger role on voicing some of the concerns that we had on weak sides. I did voice them to the township
administration at the time, but they we were wrapped up for reasons that I still don't understand into a a lengthy, you know, uh show and tell process with um elected officials and then with the public. Um but what we heard loud and
clear since uh a year ago when this was sent to the public was that that $50 million price tag is just too much. Um, and now we've taken out the rescue squad. And I look at this as only going down 10 million. Now, I recognize
economics have changed a lot in the last few months, but this is still a very costly building. Um, and we need to get it smaller and it needs the price tag needs to come down even more. We have to get our creative hats on uh to do that.
Now, I don't think we need to be so creative. I will be very direct. Um, I don't think we can afford a training center. I, as much as I would love to do it, I don't think we can afford a fitness center, even if the equipment is donated. I don't know if we can afford
the square footage even of an open courtyard, which I love the concept of. We have a lot of bathrooms and shower facilities in this building that could be reconceptualized to be consolidated, made gender neutral. Um, in that
consolidation, I was even looking at locker room count. We we want to build something where we can grow, but at the same time, I I am going to be the voice tonight that says we cannot afford this.
This is a 10% tax increase. Now, if if it if it's the will of the council to really go forward with this expensive plan, we may need to consider voter referendum, which does not meet this very aggressive timeline that we represented tonight. But we really may
need to get approval from the voters. But if we want to do this with a simple council uh vote, we need to really bring this cost down. Um, I it's great that we can tap into the financing and I love the fact that the administration went after that. Uh, but
I am not ready to move forward and I just need to be direct that there's a lot of there's there's there is just still too much building. Um, and so we need to we need to make this smaller and consequently cheaper. Um, you know, the
training center alone I added up to be 1740 square ft given uh the price per square foot. That's a $1.3 million, you know, addition to this building. Well, the taxpayer is looking for this building even cheaper. Um, so I don't
think 40 million is is is a price tag that we can do. Uh, unless we get a vote to rep. Um, I had some other thoughts that I'm going to email to Mr. in the interest of time, Mr. Mino, but again, I I I think we we do need to make this
building smaller and and I want to be direct in that because a year and a half ago, we saw this building and then we were told the price in close session and then we never got another opportunity to say anything in public again. And so I learned, you know, from that experience that I it's best at this point just to
be direct. I want this building built. that we need to fix the current situation, but personally I think uh this is still outside of my comfort zone in terms of size and policy. Thank you. Thank you, Council Roman. Thank you
much. Um first off, would just like to thank our design professionals and our emergency services uh leaders u from police and fire and everyone in the township administration for their work on this. Um having been through some fairly large architecture and engineering projects um I do know how
much effort it is to go through this uh schematic design and space planning and conceptual design phase and how much it um sets the tone for the process going forward. So thank you to everybody who's been uh working together collaboratively. Um I also am you know
very much committed to solving the issue of our uh of our outdated emergency services facilities. Um, we do want to build something that is appropriately, you know, prepped for the future and for where Verona is going. Um, I do agree that we still have work to do here. Uh,
design is an iterative process. Uh, it is continually refined as you go through the phases of the project. Uh, certainly from what we've seen there, you know, there is some council input that we can still put in. um we do need to work on value engineering and make sure that we deliver a good value to the taxpayer,
but we also do need to make sure that we build a facility that is appropriate for the needs. So, same sort of thing. I'm going to communicate directly with the uh township administration with my thoughts on this facility and what else we can do. Uh but I just want to thank everyone for their continued work on
this uh this process. And uh we will get there, but uh it does need to be the right project and scoped appropriately for the need. and I'm certain through everyone's input uh we'll come up with something that uh we can all agree on. So further comments as we move along. Thank you much.
Thank you. Uh I too want to echo a couple of moments. Thank you for everybody involved in our time. Uh, I've had some reservations on this that I've voiced in public in the past and I want to start off by saying I absolutely know
that the school needs a new building. Uh, and as does seeing the firehouse uh, next fall. Uh, I I'm extending his invitation to every one of our officers
after what I say. If you would like to reach out to me, I would love to reach out to you and talk to you. Uh I I'm not I'm concerned that Toronto afford this, but I don't want to put money into it.
Uh I don't want to make money a factor. Uh what's the price of someone's life? And you the men and women of our police department and our fire department and our rescue squad save lives every day. And for that they should have the public facility.
to be a reason. Uh since it came up that excavation site work uh and I have a background in construction is a major component of this. My thought in the past was we should
revisit other properties that we visited in the past that were higher up on the list to build these facilities. And my number one is that we own the lot on Lakeside Avenue. I think we should keep our police department closer to the
center of town. It's a level lot. It's 1.7 acres, 1.8 acres. I know we have a grant for that. There's a money factor there, but I think we can resell part of this other property. Uh I
think the police department there on Lakeside Avenue would be a perfect fit and we can still get a municipal parking lot there. Al the property is big enough for that. This footprint of this building is 24,000 square foot. If you
double it for parking, it's still half the size of Lakesid's lot. And we're we're taking out fire department park. And my thought is leave the fire department on Henry and utilize a smaller portion of that property and
we can make the backyard green acres, recoup some money there and sell the other part of the property next to it. Uh I think that would be a good plan. Our architect knows what these departments need. They He have it written down already. I don't think it
would be a a long process to design something for Lakeside Avenue for our police department and keep them toward the center of town. And I hope I hope no one leaves this room thinking I'm against any one of them. I want to get them done yesterday. Uh I just I've been
in that basement and it's just it's horrible. Uh, and and I do want to get this done as soon as possible. I don't want to delay this any longer, but I just think we we we should have rethought this six months ago when we started redoing this. And I voiced my opinion then. Uh, and I just felt
compelled to stand up here today and voice it again. It's not too late. This is going to be a 75 to 100year building. And I think now is the time if we have to add a little bit more money to it or spend the money. Now, as we keep saying on all of our other projects, the longer
we put them off, the more they cost us. I just think that this project, we need to spend this money now so we get it done. We're talking about $40 million reapproved 10%.
We're ever here. And and that's a facility that we kind of knew we had to do, but Where's our value here? Where where I think obviously the schools department is more important uh than a field and hopefully we can get them all done. I
just think we need to sit back down ASAP and redesign new building on Saturday. That's my thought. Now, the reason I preface this with I'd like to talk to every officer. If they want to call me, meet me anytime. If you're okay with the building on Hton Avenue and you feel
like let's just get this done, I I'll be okay with this. Thank you. We have waited uh so long to update these facilities that are currently dangerous um and are not functional and at this point are operating out of
another facility in the town that is fairly functional for that purpose. Uh I appreciate the comments of my fellow council members and I too am obviously concerned about cost. This will be the most expensive project that has ever
engaged. At the same point, what I'm also hearing is we need to push this back. Push this back. Um the the lesson that I think this council has learned maybe more than the other council might be forgetting at this point is that part of the reason
why the cost of this building is so high is because we waited until now to build. Building is much more expensive now than it was years ago. Um and We we have to remember that that's not
going down and put ourselves in a position where the cost just keeps getting higher and higher. Um I would like to note a couple things that were necessarily brought up in the uh in this presentation. The
first is the hearing resident concerns. The the cost is one part of it, but a couple a lot of the other items the res brought up were the footprint of the building which has significantly decreased the rest of squad hall. Um the uh second was the number of lights and
sirens emergency responses that would happen by the building without the rest of squad in that building that goes down by you know 75% you know something like that because that is the most prolific that would have responded from this facility our police are out on patrol uh
and that is that as well u so I do just want to point that out as as couple of items. I think it's important to note that we have repeatedly put in for congressional direct spending for this. Um we had from
the offices of our senators to uh to get this project done. Um and you know hope that the federal government is able to offset some of that cost. Um if you look at the if we're actually able to meet the revenue goals put in
the nation it's about $300,000 a year offsets over 30 years um so I think that works as well as we consider that um to go on a couple items
just in general when you do construction like this the And we talk about what are we cutting from Boeing. Um, you have to plan a building that isn't just for living now, but also for the
future. There are some spaces that potentially be in this building. At the same point, um, in 20 years, are we going to have police department come back to the town council and be like, I'm sorry, we have to put an addition on this structure. And the
way this building is designed, you can't just add a lease addition on the back of the building because the fire department is there, right? We have to be able to build now what we can grow into, as the deputy mayor pointed out, for 75 to 100
years. And is that uncomfortable? Absolutely. But it's something that we have to do as part of our planning process. Um, I I heard some comments. I'm just going to just press a couple on um opportunities for efficiencies. I want
to hear this, right? Um I I think that this concept and maybe why we're in the place we are and we're hearing from council members now that they have these concerns. Um this building concept plans have been out for a while. Um this is a
revised concept plan, but a lot of it's very similar to what we had originally. Um, a few things I haven't heard from council members to talk about the cost is what do you want to so I think there's a obviously I I may
be you know we don't have a consensus council at this point forward with a specific building but if cost is a factor every council member needs to decide what they feel is an appropriate cost for this building and before we
start the council can't redesign this That's not really our role. We are not the ones that are the experts in programmatic needs. I don't it's not my job to necessarily tell you how many cells the police department needs. Okay. Now, there's some things that we all
maybe know a little bit more about. Sure. My one comment is I think the dispatch center should actually be bigger because that has the highest propensity to bring us in significant additional income. I communicated with the chief already. uh and I communicated that on the original concept plans as
well. So I think a number needs to come forward because the reality of it is buildings are expensive especially not only with the actual construction cost but with the specialized equipment. We could easily spend $25 million on a building and have it empty, right? We
have to fill it with desks and lockers and training equipment and uh and all of that. So I would like to hear from my fellow council members what they think a number we can upward is and we then need to really make a
determination from that point sort of what this building is going to look like. Uh and I think some of our council members will be surprised at um how tight this project is on some of the items. You know, one comment I heard
from council was we need a training center. The uh the police department has some of the lowest um instances of use of force in the state. Uh the his part
is very well versed at deescalating situations. Um, and one of the things that the the patch is doing is spending overtime money to ensure that every officer can get to all of these trainings and we have one of the best training
departments in in the state. Um, I actually had a conversation with our uh uh the executive director of insurance the other day to see if they could start thinking about places that have training if every officer trained and giving us a
break on insurance. Right. But part of the the issue that we have is if we cut this training center out, where's the training center? We have two rooms at the at the uh community center, right? One being the fireman's room, one being
the ballroom. The ballroom is very hard to secure the programming for recreation, senior citizens. This is also a rental income producing um venue as well. So if you start to say, okay, well, we have to reserve one of
those facilities for training, uh, because that's really the only way we can do that, then we're going to be in a situation where our costs will increase on all of those items as well. Uh the training center also and this is something that I want to bring up as
well. the training center provides isn't just necessarily for training but if you have a large scale incident you have that activate your emergency management system that one emergency operations center isn't going to be the extent of
everybody that would have to be there for large scale right the police officer resiliency induces a breakout uh from having taken the emergency 911 class which is extensive credential u we actually designed emergency operations
center and that training room also provides us an opportunity to have those additional individuals from TSMG from the Red Cross on scene that aren't necessarily in a tactical command staff role within their emergency operations
center. So a lot of these spaces provide for additional uses. uh when we talked when council Molland talked about efficiencies we have seen efficiencies in those areas uh I think you've seen
the the fire department and police departments um make some accommodations and to share some sc some areas um that being said this is a project that has to be done I think that having individual council members go back to the
administration and share their individual thoughts well there's a Um there's a phrase that you know camel is a horse built by a committee. uh and if we're not having all of that communication among us, we're going to
be in the same situation that you're so proposal and is to have a special meeting council with all of participants with the building design committee where the council can hear from the building design committee and open conversation
um and bring up concerns about specific rooms or facilities or structures and let's hear from the participants and engage in a dialue At this point, the council has not been involved in the design process. Um, and I think it would be valuable for council
to participate in that in that area. Um, I have a little I'm very wary, I think, of soliciting individual comments from members of fire department, police department. I'm always happy to hear them. But the fire department, the police department
chose representatives for these committees to represent the needs and to fully understand the project and that is part of what we're going through. So I would like to see that special meeting happen where everybody that has been on that committee is involved or architect
is there. Let's have a conversation about this. Let's have it in public. The public has a right to see this process at this point. Now this is design is out. We need to have that conversation and we need to do it soon. This is not something we can push off until the end of the summer. Uh this is something that
has to be done, has to be scheduled out of recognize their thoughts and processes. As those off those conversations, maybe get a little bit more context. Let's bring everybody in when we get to that point and find a reasonable time to do this.
Uh I I have to say that throughout the process, I know I've mentioned things about former potential manager, friendship manager, and our police chief and uh and I know some of those items were acted upon and some were not acted upon.
Um and the the reality of it is though we keep doing this individually, we're just not going to get anywhere. Um what I'm hearing from my fellow council members, everybody agrees we need to do this. It's a It's a 100% need. So we have no choice but to build facilities for the police department of Harvard
have to do it. So the question is how do we get there? Uh that's what we need to do. As far as splitting the buildings, I respectfully disagree with the deputy mayor on that process because one of the economies that we have is having that building put together and splitting
those buildings would be significantly higher expense. So imagine Mr. is is nodding his head because part of task presentation on what three buildings were cost and it was included in here. Do I want the police station on P Avenue? But at the same point, if the
police department says that we can have that police station on Pan Avenue and that the town will be safe because we have officers out on patrol and this is something that we're doing, I'm going to trust the police department. Uh so I think we need to get everybody on the same page. everybody's come up with
a number as far as what they're willing to spend and then have these very targeted conversations on how we get to that number. Um, and then really understand what that number looks like in the future. So, I appreciate everybody hearing my comments on that.
Um, but we must report uh mayor. Thank you. Um just to the deputy mayor's um suggestion, we are getting very substantial first of its kind grant from the state of New Jersey. We committed to that process. We we had an
evaluation period on whether or not to move the police station to Lakeside. We chose not to do that. We have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars designing on Compton, getting to EP approval. um if we forego that grant, the repercussions of us being able to
get future grants on anything because our reputation will be soiled is that reputational risk is very significant. I have serious concerns about backing out of that project um and foregoing won't bring it. Um the number for me um really
is to try to get this project under 30 million. Um I would be comfortable at that point approving it without a voter referendum. I actually this like what like you were saying mayor I don't substantially disagree like about you
know um wanting to be able to fund and build a best-in-class facility but I think there is a line of wants and needs. I feel that this building is a bit out of character for Verona and that's what I've heard from residents.
um they expected us not to build a really basic building but just to do something one or two steps above this field and the way it was um conceptualized is all of the departments put in everything that they needed and then it was cut down and I think there's
still a gap and that's what I'm asking respectfully to close. Um I don't know if I can make a special meeting at the end of July. have some you know things that are already set in stone but you know we can certainly have another meeting but I think we need to also
understand you know a process by which we do engage the public um and really try to get something that meets um find that compromise on what will be acceptable to the taxpayer. I don't think a $350 tax increase per year that
is like really substantial and people are that that is going to move us into a whole different tax situation which is maybe a follow-up question that I had with the administration. So I would love for us to get creative and figure out how to get this under $30 million. So I
I have that number in here. I just want to add a comment that I was well aware of the branching up lake side and that's why I mentioned it. Uh my my reason for trying to switch it over there. There's a cost involved in
excavation as I said it's a big component of it. So I thought there would be a cost savings there that would I know it's putting two buildings up is going to be a lot more money. Uh not a lot more money but more money. I just thought that centralized location police
department is imperative and it's just something I feel uh I don't think the reputation as far as getting your grants is current if you go back to them and say hey we have to build a police department uh can reapply for it or or
find one somewhere else uh we would be selling property that we could recruit that money that's my thought on that and as far as special meeting goes uh I would definitely attend it. But, uh, I absolutely 100% just leave it up to the
experts. Uh, I don't think I've ever questioned what rooms go where or, you know, where where to locate things in there. It's people that do that and they specialize in it. Uh, you know, I'll leave it to them to decide where how they want
to talk. Thank you. Um, I think we did discuss some of the efficiencies that I was signaling in my comments, but I'm happy to discuss them further at a special meeting. I would just ask that we do consider schedules. Um, the end of July is not necessarily convenient for
all parties on this council, nor is it necessarily convenient for the public. So, I would just want us to make sure that we're doing it at a time where we can ensure adequate council engagement as well as public engagement. I would also ask that we be informed of who is
who are the appropriate council members to engage in that discussion because I think there may be recusals even this evening you indicated your engagement in emergency services and if some of those efficiencies are for example eliminating the square footage associated with the
EO which Mr. Msino even said isn't necessarily a feature that's incorporated in other police stations and other buildings in other municipalities. Is there a limitation on your ability to engage in that or Mr. Romans who is the neighbor to the proper
question? I appreciate that this is legal advice that you can seek from Mr. I would just want to make sure that whatever the discussion is that we have the appropriate people at the table. Okay. Clerk, would you please schedule a special meeting
or get out some dates? Mayor, can I just Yes. Can I just to temper expectations of the council on the efficiencies to be found? I just want to by reference point out when when Frank put together a revision to his design from earlier this year to the middle of uh to this
presentation tonight was a reduction in 5,400 square feet which was a reduction in about $3.3 million. So uh the the hope to try to uh reduce square footage
of the building doesn't necessarily provide savings in all the soft costs or the site costs. So, it may not be a straight translation. It may not be a even a feasible project to get a police fire building below 30 million. Um, but
that said, I think efficiencies and seeking them is is a good practice. Um, but realistically, we might not be able to get down to that number because you're probably looking at 20,000 square feet blocked off the building, which is
cutting building half. So I just wanted to put that out there just a temper expectations as you're thinking through what the efficiencies might be and what a reasonable number might look like. So in that scenario so if we're at this level of stems like what are our options
if we wanted to go to a non-binding reference to see the public I mean normally there's a process that would have to be solidified fairly quickly right? Yeah, there's a process all days.
It just takes while I think we've had a lot of public process meetings are the council and the uh the people in the room the deal with this inception
as well which is that we have And I appreciate that. So I you know we put a public referendum then the public says no bullying.
So what happens then? I just want to throw a number out there. I mean $349 a year and that's at a $40 million cost. to 30 million. $88 a year savings to make
that point approve this if this is what everybody and I'll close out by saying that I understand the tax impact by literally going to assess house in Birmingham um and
a member of the middle class um but I also look at it this way is that I don't want to spend more on the future if they can avoid it. Um, and I don't want to have to potentially spend twice as much over the same period of time
that this would last on revise the building or the only way really to expand this firehouse to build another firehouse. Right. So I as a tax I definitely not want to engage in so I
think we have to be smart about this look forward to the uh clerk putting our special meeting together and I look forward to everybody coming with their number and coming with ideas and really I think that meeting should be more asking questions. The
council should be making statements. needs to ask the players why this is so what can we do without this and where are we going to go from there what does look like in 50 years
I'm sure studies on that how are evolving uh research as well those experts are saying understand uncomfortable, but sometimes change is uncomfortable and sometimes doing the right thing means that you're
not everybody and I know for certain that I'm not. Uh, and that's something that I think we all as council members have to realize that we have to be accountable for our decisions
and certainly to public services and to All right. Um, Mr. Sullivan, any other items for the manager's report? I'm wondering file. That's fine. Uh,
at this time, I'm going to ask the council to um change the order of business to zero resolutions L12 at this time, which is the Housing doesn't motion to change the order of business
to move. Motion is made by council second by the deputy mayor. All those in favor. I I question hearing no concisions. Um is there a motion to approve
one motion? Is there a motion? I'll make that motion. Motion's made by the deputy mayor council. Would you like to second that? I'll second it. This time I'll open for public comment
on resolutions L1 and L2 holding it. Could you please read before changes? Anyone from the public wishing to speak on any matter, please raise your ver your hand by pressing the raise hand button on your monitor. If you're attending by Zoom, if you're dialing in
by phone, press star 9. If you're attending in person, please raise your hand and be recognized before you approach the lecture. Once recognized, clearly state only your name and township of residence. 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 any 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 or questions.
Thank you. Anybody in the room wish to come 012? You're up. State your name president, please. My name is Michelle. I live in Verona, New Jersey. Dear members of the Verona Township
Council, I recognize the June 30th deadline leaves no time for changes to Verona's current fourth round housing element and fair share plan and that you must vote to endorse it today. However, I urge the township to revisit one
critical item as soon as possible, the inclusion of 885 Bloomfield Avenue, block 2205, lot 6 as a housing development site. This site is not only physically and environmentally constrained, but has been the subject of significant public
opposition and development hesitation over many years. The site is across the street from a newly built highdensity affordable housing development that has already just added 95 units to the intersection and is already affecting traffic
congestion. I question why other centrally located properties weren't considered enough to be in the planned such as the vacant bank across from tent the town hall the empty lot a block away or the pilgrim shopping center. I do appreciate the
reference to fully accessible units in the plan and urge the township to treat this not as a rare feature but a fundamental standard. I am advocating for a generous increase in public engagement to discuss more modern
approaches to inclusive housing design and common sense site locations. Looking ahead to the March 2026 amendment deadline, I urge the township to plan with greater transparency and inclusivity.
Verona has the opportunity to model smart growth that respects both equity and community context. I am also here to express my concern and deep disappointment regarding the treatment I received from a member of
the while delivering public comment at the June 19th planning board meeting. As a resident who cares deeply about the future of our town, I came to the meeting in good faith, prepared to exercise my right to speak on a matter
that affects our community. Unfortunately, instead of being met with the respect and professionalism that should characterize public service, I was subjected to an unnecessarily aggressive
response from a planning board member. Their tone was confrontational and their remarks veered into the personal. I was made to feel not only unwelcome but intimidated for simply offering my perspective.
This behavior is unacceptable in any public forum, especially one that exists to engage with and serve the public. Regardless of the topic or point of view, every resident deserves to be treated with dignity and respect when
participating in local government. The planning board should be a model of decorum and impartiality, not a place where residents fear speaking out because they might be attacked or embarrassed. I respectfully ask the township council
to take this matter seriously. I urge you to reaffirm the standards of conduct expected of all board and committee members, especially when engaging with the public. Residents should never be discouraged from participating in our
local democracy. Thank you for your attention to this matter. I trust you will do what is necessary to ensure our public meetings remain a space for open, respectful dialogue. Thank you. Thank you. Anybody
else in the room? Anybody else? Anybody on Zoom wish? At this point, I'll close public comment on L1 two council discussions. Thank you. Um I'm going to read from a prepared statement, but I do want to say
thank you, Mr. for your uh statements and uh certainly I'm very troubled by what I just heard and I will seek to follow up with you later. Uh I want to begin by expressing my gratitude to our professionals for their diligent work on
this plan specifically Dan Dan um Halen and of DMR and son Savon from H2M. We've been assured that this plan adheres to the requirements mandated by the New Jersey State Legislature and Fairshare Housing and I wish to acknowledge the
extensive hours that they dedicated in executive session with the council discussing the elements of the plan. On July 1st, I will mark my sixth anniversary as an local elected official. When I was first elected, the council was facing significant
challenges in complying with the third round of affordable housing obligations and my campaign focused on transparency and strategic planning with a commitment that for the fourth round of affordable housing plans, I would advocate for a more open and transparent process that
involves residents and decisions regarding development. The legislature enacted a law for the fourth round of affordable housing regulations with a very aggressive timeline, but one that did allow for public participation. Additionally, it empowered local
municipalities to determine suitable areas of development to meet affordable housing requirements. Municipalities like Verona were not obligated to accept every proposal presented by developers. The legislature granted us the authority
to determine for ourselves sites that were optimal for developing. Regrettably, this plan formulated by the majority members of this council and passed by the planning board relinquished much of that authority and did not sufficiently engage the public.
The council majority which is led by our our mayor, our deputy mayor and councilman Roman adopted an approach where developers situated on Bloomfield Avenue determine the projects in the plan. The planning board master plan subcommittee on this affordable housing
plan which includes the mayor and planning board chairwoman Jessica Pearson the deputy mayor's life did not design a process allowing adequate time for public understanding of its plan and its projects in time residents are going
to come to realize that there was alternative strategic approaches available to Verona to meet our affordable housing requirement we could have implemented strategies to preserve certain areas and direct development where we wanted it. My vote today on
this plan is and this resolution is very challenging. While I fully support the development of affordable housing and acknowledge that this plan does comply with legal and regulatory requirements that are set forth by the affordable housing legislation, I believe it does
not represent an optimal outcome from our community. And I am disappointed that we did not capitalize on the strategic opportunity that we had in front of us. Many residents have been asking me what do we do now? I encourage residents to ask questions, to voice
concerns, to get involved in our local government so that we can add more voices to evolve the township's planning approach to achieve something, something that works better for our community. It was already mentioned that this plan may
be amended. Don't give up for pushing for better outcomes and demanding transparency and excellence from your local leaders. Corona can do better. Thank you. Any other comments? Yes,
I have to address that comment. Uh, and I just find it kind of ridiculous that any one of the five council people up here would try to re remove themselves from the decisions that were made to put this together. Uh, as you see, there's
another thing at the beginning thanking uh, Mr. Hal and M miss San that we spent many many hours in close session talking about this and you were one of those people in close session. Uh I I find it it's kind of appalling and you're
talking about other alternatives and other properties are always brought up. If those people who own those properties don't want to develop them then we can't do anything about it. They're they're property in the center of town. Every time development comes up. I can't tell
you how many times in the past I've heard, "What about the IHOP property in the center of town? She's going to get lost." If that owner doesn't want to develop his property and he was bringing forth a plan until the overlay went into effect and it reduced the plan that he wanted, so he bold his plan. Someone who
has a lot of money that doesn't have to develop or doesn't have to touch their property, they don't do it. So that's the all those other properties that are mentioned, no one's come forward. that if we deny this plan and the person at 885 decides they're going to file a
lawsuit against the town, they can go in there and put 60 70 80 units on Epcot and and that's the fact you know it. Councilwoman uh any deputy mayor like to ask that you address I'm sorry I'm sorry the chair please council breath she
mention always the best mention myself and it that's why I'm addressing her and I'm asking her question but I would like to know what other alternatives there are uh were there any other developments any other property owners that came forward that offered a development uh to
the township of Verona to add to our need for affordable housing That's it. Thank you. Holl were you? She We're not going to back and forth. So I want you to Sure.
So I I indicated earlier that that I would have comments as well and I had provided some feedback to the administration um over the weekend when I was reviewing materials and um I just want to also I guess start by saying
thank you to our professionals in this process. Um I don't think there's any dispute that the council was made aware of this process. Um but certainly disclosures in executive session are not public and so where individuals that
have concerns about transparency uh their right to raise them. I would say that the obligation to provide a realistic opportunity for affordable housing has been the law in the state of New Jersey for nearly 50 years. Like my
entire lifespan it it's not a new expectation placed on communities. it fits within the law. There's a clear role for the planning board in this. What is new is that we have new legislation that established a new
process for the towns to meet that obligation. Um we've been benefited by our professionals um in that process and providing that guidance, but certainly decisions were made throughout that process. Um and it's important for those
in the seats with decision-making authority to have accountability for that. I do want to thank you for your presentation and thank everyone that has been involved in this process thus far. Um, and as an initial matter, I do understand that most municipalities
will try to submit their plans with an accompanied governing body endorsement by June 30th. But that's not all municipalities in this state. They're not all doing council endorsements like we are being asked to do tonight. And so
I do understand that it is our professional recommendation here this evening that this council endorse the plan, but that plan was adopted for the community by the planning board and it was adopted on June 19th. So I do
understand that that recommendation is the most riskadverse force of action. I don't dispute as an attorney myself, I don't dispute the practical sense in recommending the least risk the least risky option. But at the same time, I do
think it's important for there to be an understanding that the planning board is in the driver's seat for this process as they are for the master plan process and this is a portion of the master plan. And so I think when my colleague references that there are some that are
more engaged in this process, I think it's important to understand those who have been actively engaged in the planning board throughout this process. So again, I want to thank you for your advice and council, but I do um want to respectfully express my personal
disagreement because as I said already, not all towns are endorsing plans and it's not necessary to do so. Um, in response to my inquiries, I was pointed to the second round regulations for COA. As we know, KA no longer exists, the
legislation and applicable materials associated there with, you know, where they are referencing endorsements. They aren't elsewhere. So, I think here both the legislature and others were aware of the prior municipal endorsement requirement and chose only to explicitly
incorporate it as an alternative. Um, I don't see the color regulations as applicable here and I'll I'll spare everybody like Latin legal terms, but you know there's there's justification behind that as a legal represent as a legal interpretation. I also recognize
that the directive or I was told that the directive requires it, but I don't see anything in that section that specifically mentions resolution by a governing body to endorse the plan. Um, we know that the housing element can really only be adopted by the municipality by the planning board,
which is why we had that process. And even earlier tonight when there was discussion about amendments, it was those amendments would go to the planning board, not even necessarily come back to the council for further enforcement. So, it's really not the council's obligation here. It is the
planning board that leads. So, the planning board includes members of this council. They've been actively engaged in it for some over a decade, right? Some of us have never had the privilege or honor to serve on the planning board. However, I am very happy and pleased
with the committees that I actively engage with regularly and I'm grateful for those residents that are also on those boards. Your presentation this evening has recognized the planning board vote. Um, and that material was included in all of our packets as well.
We have the resolution and those who voted for it. In fact, I think the mayor laid the motion or seconded the motion. So, while I understand the guidance of our professionals and I really do sincerely thank you for your advice and council, um it is within my right, it is
a matter of opinion to respectfully disagree with that because I don't necessarily see a requirement for council endorsement here where we've had that playing. So, thank you, Council Roman.
Yep. Uh just a similar thank you to our professionals for their hard work on this plan. Um as the deputy mayor, I believe mentioned, uh this is a lot of late nights uh by the council. We probably spend more time on affordable housing issues than anything else that
comes before us. Um it's a challenge that every single municipality in New Jersey is facing. Um and it's very difficult to, you know, to come up with compliant plans to meet these requirements. Uh while also considering
what you want for the future of your community. Um we try very very hard to minimize the impact of uh higher density development on residents. Uh the only real way to do that is to target it at
uh principal commercial corridors uh to try and do redevelopment projects as much as possible uh to try and do transit oriented development and to try and pull in as many bonus credits as we possibly can. We work very very hard um to try and and balance all of these
interests and it does pain us when we have to approve developments that are larger and bulkier than we otherwise would like to see. Uh but we've also taken a lot of units off the table over the years through very smart moves and through a lot of difficult decisions that we've had to make. So I just want
everyone to kind of understand that perspective that within the framework of these rules in New Jersey that the community is that we are working as hard as we possibly can uh try and get the best outcome for Verona. Would also like to express my appreciation to the planning board for all of their work on
this effort. Um thank you very much to everybody who worked on this. I have for this evening. Thank you, Councilman. Council want to make a comment today. Uh yes. Um I do I want to address something
that Councilman Deputy 91 said it is uh not accurate to say that we only uh could put properties in the plan that approached us for um the possibility to develop. And it when residents meet through the plan, you'll see that not
all developers who approached us are in this plan. And there's a map that indicates that um there there were other options available to us. It was the strategy that we employed that was determined again by the planning board,
the planning board subcommittee and the council majority and all these discussions was that that was we were going to we had enough units on the developers who were approaching us from a venue. There were things that were raised in close session. I raised things
in close session. I raised things privately. They didn't get acted on. That's why this is again I'm not on the planning board as the council woman already stated. I'm not on the planning board either. So um ultimately this is this is just there were different
opportunities in other towns. They have put in properties that again are currently supermarkets or a big retail store. And no, it's not that those property owners want to redevelop into affordable housing, but these are the
most appropriate sites over 10 years. Other towns did mathematical analyses looking at valuations of assess land value. Um, other towns also formed citizen advisory boards. Um, and at the end of the day, we did not deploy those
tactics. Um and it's been a frustrating process for me and certainly um you know certainly a month ago we I realized where this plan was heading and I was my concern at the time. So
um ultimately it's this is um compliant and I thank planning board for their service is a compliant plan just in my opinion it we could have done a lot better as a community. Thank you. Um
can I make a comment? Yeah. uh my understanding and I know this is that this plan has to have a realistic development and that's the number one thing and again you know I asked what other
options did we have what other properties uh not getting an answer uh we we could we could have solved this problem on one property uh dead center of town wanted to put a lot of units on one piece of land and that's our
decision as a council. We try to give put realistic development on properties and keep the density to a certain level uh 35 40 units per acre uh sometimes less depending on the
topography. Uh if we wanted to we could solve it but one property but we don't want to do that. You don't want a fivetory, six story, sevenstory building in the center of town. And oh, there great, now we're done. There's our affordable obligation and we're all set.
That's that's what we talk about and that's what we went through. And again, I just it's it's it's unbelievable that I'm sitting up here hearing people saying, talking as if they have no decision- making in what
we're about to to put forth here. It it just really blows my mind. These properties, these plans, this council made the decision on and we present it to the planning board for their review when they're to to to overlook it.
So, it's not it's seems like blame is going to a planning board of volunteers in town that are just doing their job. uh we're the ones that initiate this and then I'm also going to share my significant disappointing council
statements. I normally am very quiet when other council said outrageous things on the basis of fact but I think on this one actually this one um the first item is council graph stated that the that this um plan was driven by the
council authority I find very interesting because there were no votes on this one prior to going to the plan the planning board plan developed this plan that is expired.
What the council does is we negotiate with developers and they bring properties forward and we determine whether there might be an area needed or not. Uh so I I would there was no vote uh to say at this point in time but the
council majority has somehow uh blocked council that even council Holland out from uh participation is outrageous. In fact, I the same way the council majority is all outrageous. Uh and the reason being
is this council votes the same way 99% of the time. We have 50 votes. The only time that we had a significant vote was when the council elected me as mayor and not councilor.
There's the only time really significantly was respected. There are a couple other examples of a 3-2 vote, but I have voted not with Councilman Roman and uh everybody votes differently. Sometimes
you have four and one and Council Holland by vote or Council McGrath says no, but Council Holland votes yes. So I think there's it's just a fallacy um that is driven in order to avoid having
to take responsibility for a necessary budget. Um so we have a lot of ideas that council breth brought up just now. I would have loved to hear these ideas in the last eight months.
I would have loved to hear them. I did not. Not once. and to say that we could have done X, Y, and Z and we could have had a citizen advisory board um and uh various other things that the council suggested.
Those might be great ideas. It would have been great if the council was rather actually brought those up uh in a private or public meeting. U any council member that was concerned about the process should have brought up any concern about the process in public at a
council meeting. There was no question on procedure or policy. The town council got its judicial order saying how many units we actually got to build when April 4th, second, something
like that. Okay. Two and a half months the uh we had our final number and we're able to act on it. Uh, so the question I just really want to know is where was Council McGrath because I swear she was sitting at this desk the entire time and
was not nearly as vocal um as as she is now. Furthermore, to to speak at the planning board or the subcommittee in such a matter, I am the council's representative on the subcommittee as is the township manager.
Council McGrath did not call me and offer me her comments on anything related to those policies and procedures. Not once. In fact, I don't hear a lot from Council
McGrath ever about anything private. So, and my phone number is kind of the worst kept secret of Verona, right? And I know Council McGrath has it. So, I would have loved to hear those um items
and to be able to potentially act on the solutions that the council woman is offering at this point. Um, and to specifically call out, you can call me Lee out, but uh the the planning board chairwoman who literally is almost a a
full-time unseen employee of the township. I mean, not that she gets into this uh without identifying other members on the committee who helped to make those decisions on the subcommittee. Um, and without an appreciation for the fact that there's an incredibly diverse group of people on the planning board who
unanimously includes this project, this uh this plan, do I think it's perfect? No. Is it the best that we're going to be able to do? 100%. At this point, um, but even after the document was published to the public, I did not hear
from council. I can't speak for the other members of the uh the subcommittee, but I certainly did not hear from her and I certainly would have loved to do that as well. Um, so
folks, if you know me, um, you know, I'm not a scorekeeper. That's not something I do, and it makes me sick when politicians do that. Um, and that's one thing, but I'm also going to take responsibility for I am
responsible for something and I'm not there was no conspiracy or plan to push anybody out. In fact, we have open public meetings for Miss Music. Our council members all have a time to comment on anything they
want to comment on without restrictions to bring any items in your business. You can look back at the videos of every council meeting and see that that did not happen. What I think the council McGrath's
statements, the only thing that it offered is evidence of a lack of understanding land use in um and I I am concerned by this. I do not want the public misled and I know
that on the the council's you know social media or update page she'll have a you know a statement or a concept about this that includes none of the other discussions or feedback from any of the other council members told us we don't exist sometimes right um but it's
strange that we start existing when somebody wants to shift blame on something that they know has to be done and frankly it is not productive. It serves only to waste time, resources,
and energy to go through these items. Um, and I I hope for the sake of the township of that we never see content like this again. And at this point, I close the debate.
Madam clerk, hold. Wait, mayor, will you please give me a chance to respond? I made it very clear before that I was supposed to debate. Do you have a substantive item that I do? Okay. Go ahead. Okay. Um, mayor, we kicked off this planning process two years ago when
we interviewed planners, not our affordable housing uh planner that's here today. But when we interview planners, we had a very substantial disagreement and opinion on how to move forward that was agreed to vote. Um, and
I do agree. We agree on many things but not everything's been a five zero vote. And when we decided the direction to go with planning by hiring um the uh technical help, that was really the beginning of a difference in philosophy.
Okay. Um second, I brought up in public several times my concerns about the schedule and how public comics going to be incorporated and I brought that up privately um in executive session. I have brought up lots of ideas about properties that we should purchase as
open space, other sites we could develop. There were differences of opinion behind closed doors and that's what I really feel like misrepresented. You mentioned that I never call you. Well, you never call us. You don't call u me to check in to see how things are
going on major votes like this. So, communication is a two-way street and real leadership is about kind of managing that is what you were elected to do, which you reminded everyone on. Um, and um, in terms of, you know,
whatever I my statements put out to the public, they understand that they're my opinions. Everyone on this council is free to set up their own communication methods. I work really hard to go. Mine, you're both yours. But um and you know
at the end of the day there was I'm not going to um go as far and as aggressive as what you just did to me but there is obviously a difference of the ability to really listen to each other in close session. So that as a council the five
of us that is something that we need to work on in the future because I did raise a lot of concerns and I was bulldozed over. So at the end of the day, this is the plan. Uh this is the plan and I do understand this law really well. So
I'm going to make a final comment and close. Um to say that all those over in close session is that's another ridiculous statement because session is a informal uh procedure. Anybody can say
what they want to say. Eventually recommendations have to go forward. But once again, it's very difficult for me to respond to these ludicrous allegations because we can't talk about what we'll talk about in those second. What I can tell you is that on
that I have been as as a councilman, as a mayor, very in favor of smart development and a lot of the ways that we have mitigated disastrous developments is through compromises. I have recommended that have gone to our
professionals and are being done as with my negotiations experience and understanding or listen to others to say that people have bold is once again is just just not true. Uh and I think that once again this is ridiculous history um
that uh that has gone forward and uh you know and I think that it's it's once again we have council member that is trying to advocate for personal responsibility for being part of this process. Um, and I
expected honestly something better about somebody who should be a champion for housing. um and in the sound buildings that should be all done. Lastly, I do want to point out as my final comment that the reason why we are in
the process we are is because people who are on the state level in our legislature exam legislation mainly our Senate President and our assembly speaker
and Mike Cofflin uh and Governor Mercy, they created legislation that did not take into account the needs of municipalities and we are our legislative uh district representatives did not agree with this. I thank them
for their advocacy as part of that process but we had a short timeline because that's what the state told us to do. And by the way, if you don't meet this timeline, builders remedy lawsuits galore. So I I think there's a a place for saying, okay, you know, have a
citizen advisor. We actually do have a citizen advisory that needs to kind of work are all citizens of the mountain. Um and secondly, we were constrained by this process
saying that in the end that somehow council majority is just that there is a council authority and that the that there's somehow a a conspiracy to want to get out. Not true. And my confidence
is in the voters and the public of Arona that can see through to this attempt to advocate and to try to stay away from responsibility for what is a difficult decision that we want to give. And finally going to Captain Holland's
comment. Um I have not received a legal opinion on whether or not we need to um whether or not we need to uh endorse the plan, but we also have to pass resolution to fund the plan. So, if we pass resolution to fund the plan, it's a
passive endorsement of the plan any. So, we're talking about semantics instead of doing the business in the township. We're just getting behind. Madam clerk, would you please hold Councilwoman Holland? No.
Councilwoman McGrath, no. Councilman Roman, yes. Deputy Mayor Mackoy, yes. Mayor Tambor, I would love to vote no, but somebody asked the business of the township, so yes.
Okay. Um, resolutions both pass 32. Um, the number L1 will be numbered 127. L2 will be number 128. Thank you, Madam Cler. It's time open for uh sorry we have council member
comments wondering if the council members might wave their comments this evening so we can go to public comment. Any objections? No objections. U we'll go on to public comments. Madam the same public comment statement applies but people can comment on
whatever they like to com. Anybody in the room? Did you just bring the lect turn to mute? I don't think I've seen you without a hat. So, I actually just tell I got a haircut recently. All right. Paul Petrangeli Verona. Um, I would just like
to state uh one thing about the police and fire building. Uh, I know it's a tough decision. Uh, we need it right now. I know. I think the women are using like closet or something and the men just it's it's not fit for what we're doing. I had my heart broken in twice
and the Rona police have saved basically all my tools and everything. They brought me back luckily. But for me to file a police report is very hard and people move to this town for schools and safety and that's the biggest point.
It's not for baseball field. It's not for anything else. So, our money, we do care about being spent on schools and safety. We will spend it on that. Um, yeah, $40 million is a lot, but like you say, over 30 years, you know, what's $9
million? People got to $88. So, uh, basically, we need to make the hard decisions and we need to build police and fire. Uh now on the other thing that it's just going crazy tonight it seems like uh I work in uh developing and for
developers and builder's remedy uh there are developers waiting for that date and when that date hits they are going to come into your municipality if you are not following by that plan and they will put an eight to 10 story building up wherever they can as long as it passes
state guidelines. So passing this plan even though it's not great I think is smart. So thank you for all the hard work all five of you do on all of your boards and up here tonight. Thank you. Thank you Mr. Lee. Anybody else in the
audience? Carol Thomas. Um, first of all, let me say that was that was embarrassing as a 30 year plus. We're better than not. It shouldn't happen. These conversations should have
happened in the back. I know the dream. I know strong personalities. These things shouldn't have happened. I've had strong conversations with all three of you at different times. We disagreed on subjects. This list uh let me say I know that everybody
talks about transparency and it wasn't until the planning board um plan came up with these six properties that I know about these six homes. If I didn't know about it, then the rest of the public didn't know about it
because I the only way lately to see for is to try and read the agenda and read the books. With no count paper and no publishing, it's it's difficult for the public to get to know, you know, what some of the plans are. So, yes, from your perspectives, I I'm sure you think
things are transparent. The problem is how does it get to so we can I would like um Maybe the mayor will explain why the rescue squad has succeeded from the plan. Uh just quick, you know what? I
know some of that public needs to know why they're no longer in the future. The public doesn't know how we talk. I know this is talked about, but we're looking at the future. have talked about police departments and I know I
half of the police department now are students I have I know yes they need a police yes we need a rest yes we need but another couple months maybe that's what you need and lastly I'll just say if any of this came to I
was an advocate for a long time worked a lot of talking about a lot of work if they have to they write a bond for $100,000 they have to get that so I and I don't know this is not active
they do but the public likes and I understand what happens if they still need public these are just Thank you. Thank you, Miss Thomas.
Anybody else? President, um I don't want to come up here and talk about our current recommendations. the chief has gone over that many times. But I want what I want to do is really urge the council to provide the committee
that's working on the building with what you guys can really do. There seems to be a lot of back and forth. I saw when the number 30 million was thrown out with the current footprint, Frank's employee looked at him like, "You guys were crazy. Like it's just not achieving." Maybe I'm putting words in
her mouth, but that's what I saw. So I think as the committee we're just really looking for an answer that's also on Zoom.
Um I will respond to one item uh as far as the transparency pieces. I think the the planning board heard an initial conversation of this u public a month ago. Uh so this was the so that was out
there. I know the plan but not everybody has the uh uh is on social media. So our newsletter get those items in
the past four years. toain council especially by explaining things public um one of the M this is Thomas brought up and I think it's a great point that the town didn't know about some properties and the reason being some of
them is that those properties we were as council members not really allowed to talk about them individually because they're close section identities because they're negotiation over certain things. So we are not able to discuss them in substance while a negotiation is going
on. So what they do this plan says okay these could be part of our our portal housing program but we're still in negotiations over the actual sites and things that be happen uh and I can say that you know I am working very hard to
reduce those units of these properties. professionals free uh leadership on that and so just that as far as why the rescue squad pulled out I was not part of that decision at the resend
I can't I can't uh oh sorry u but I'll let uh Mr. Sullivan responds to why the rescue squad's not in sure. Uh the rescue squad um made a decision uh they wanted to
withdraw from the planning process. Uh there was a consideration for a nearby property that arose. Um the final outcome of that property was not in the final um
final favor of where the rescue squad was hoping. There was a hope that we could acquire additional property but that that did not happen. Uh the rescue squad did d uh provide feedback that they wanted to be withdrawn from the planning process and they were withdrawn withdrawn from the planning process and
uh there there were follow-ups to see if if there was a desire to uh return into the planning process but they did not voice that desire. I just want to take a minute to respond to one item from earlier. Uh Mr. way. I
at the planning board meeting um the chairperson let you speak for almost fact that the courtesies that were extended to you as far as any to say about that piece but um I think
part of the concern concern that brought up is because uh individual members were targeted for conversation and that may have been some concerns. Um but I think I think
that is concerning to bring that to the council now that half an hour and uh chairperson also uh did not did actually allow you to make some
comments which just want to point that out just to be fair tobody um and may felt that you were treated appropriately on that I think a good example
for everybody that might procedures council. Um that being said, um we will be moving on to caring adoption on new dental ordinances. We have a bit of a
complicated one on page one. The way that we are going to do this is we are going to move it for um second reading. Then we are going to amend. We're going to have our public hearing. Then we are going to then the
ordinance amendment will be on for adoption at uh on July 7. If it's approved we are we'll vote on that. We'll vote on that first. So uh the next item on the agenda madam clerk is ordinance number 2025-10
on second reading. Not in please read all of the ordinances bond ordinance providing for the various capital improvements in and by the township of Verona and the county of Essex New Jersey appropriating 9 million 96,500
therefore including a $332,656 New Jersey Department of Transportation grant a $750,000 Jake Law grant $100,000 community development block grant and a uh 38 sorry $318,712
community development block grant and authorizing the issuance of $9,675,000 bonds or notes of the township to finance part of the cost thereof. Thank you madam clerk please second
now it's time to public hearing along this 5-10 the same comment statement applies comments to this no short comments public comments um an amendment ordinance 2025-10 that's been presented to this council by the
administration Sol please explain amenities to the public. Yes, mayor. The amendment is the inclusion of two projects were which were inadvertently omitted. They were discussed during public meetings and
presented to the council. Uh and they were inadvertently omitted in the original bond ordinance uh that was introduced. Those projects are for uh the improvements to town hall that are necessary for some of the
remediation that is ongoing and still uh to be scheduled. And then there's also facility audit for all the township facilities uh which was to be included and discussed in prior public meetings but uh permitted in the original bond.
Thank you. I have a motion to amend ordinance 2025-10. So moved. Motion made by counciloman council. Is there a second? All second. Okay. Madam clerk, could you call the
role please 10? Councilwoman Holland. Sorry. Before I vote, can I get clarity? So I'm voting at this time to amend the prior ordinance to include the missing language. Is that correct? This is the
first meeting on it. Yes. So this is to introduce. Yes. Councilwoman McGrath. Yes. Councilman Roman. Yes. Deputy Mayor Mackoy. Yes. Mayor Tambboro. Yes.
mayor. Um so ordinance 202510 amended um is passed 50 and a public hear it will be published accordingly and the public hearing will be held on July 7th 2025. Thank you madam clerk. The next item on
the agenda is ordinance number five on second reading by all a bond ordinance providing for various improvements and purposes for the water sewer utility in and by the township of Verona and the county of Essex New
Jersey appropriating $950,000 therefore and authorizing the issuance of $92,500 bonds and notes of the township to finance part of the cost thereof. So motion is made by Councilwoman
Holland. Is there a second? I'll second it. Council woman. Now it's time to public hearing 112-1. Same comments. Seeing no public comments, is there any council comments?
None. Councilwoman Holland, yes. Councilwoman McGrath, yes. Councilman Roman, yes. Deputy Mayor Mackoy, yes. Mayor Chaboro, yes. Mayor, ordinance 202511
um is adopted. Vote 5 to zero. Thank you, Madam Clerk. The next item on the agenda is 2025- uh 12 on second reading. Please read the title of this ordinance.
A capital ordinance appropriating $20,000 from capital improvement fund for the various improvements by the township of Verona County of Essex, New Jersey. Motion by council. Second
second time public hearing 2025-12 same comments hearing none any council discussion there none please councilwoman Holland yes councilwoman McGrath yes counciloman
Roman yes deputy mayor Makavoy yes Mayor Tambboro. Yes. Mayor ordinance 2025-12 is adopted 50 be published according to law. Madam clerk on the agenda is only 25-3
on second meeting with title. The capital ordinance appropriating $27,500 from pool capital improvement fund for the improvements by the township of Verona and the county of Essex, New Jersey. Thank you for
second. made by council. Now it's time for public hearing on ordinance 2025-13 say public comments council discussions public comment council discussions
yes thank you um first of all you know I'm in favor of the furniture replacement um certainly there are several tables that you know have seen a lot of decay a lot of rust. Um so
the replacement of the furniture with the new um plastic tables is an improvement. Hopefully it al also creates a benefit in terms of heat. I I haven't actually sat on the new tables in the extreme weather that we're dealing with now. Certainly also the
renovation of the basketball courts is a need and not necessarily a want. They are um significantly in need of improvement. Um it has been something that was probably on the list for several years now and I know that we've done band-aid fixes, but um this is a
necessary improvement for the pool. That being said, there was recently a recreation advisory committee meeting where there was extensive conversations about the pool and its financing as well as more broadly fees um which I can go
into um on another day when I have an opportunity for my council report. Um, but I do want to just stress that the rec committee agreed that these improvements are necessary and did support them in the conversation at the meeting, but there is continued concern
about the finances at the pool and um and the ability to keep the pool going um with you know its finances at this time. So, I urge my colleagues on the council to review the correspondence
from the rec committee and to really um engage in that process and think very thoughtfully about um the pool finances going forward. Thank you. Thank you. Please. Councilwoman Holland, yes.
Councilwoman McGrath, yes. Councilman Roman, yes. Deputy Mayor Mackoy, yes. Mayor Tambbor, yes. Mayor Ordinance 2025-13 passes 5 to zero. Um, and it will be published according to law. Sorry. Thank
you from the clerk. The next item on the agenda being ordinance number five. On second reading, please hear the final ordinance. Water and sewer utility capital ordinance appropriating $132,200
from the water sewer utility capital improvement fund for various improvements by the township of Veron in the county of Essex, New Jersey. Thank you madam cler by Holland second. Um now it's time for public hearing on 2025
comments. Seeing no public comments, I will close public comments. The council comments. Thank you. I'd also like to comment on this ordinance. Um, and as I did upon introduction, I believe as well, just to
acknowledge, um, the, you know, improvements that we've made in my time on council. When I was first running for office and I was inquiring with the township administration, which has since changed, so it's no reflection of new, but nonetheless, when I was asking about
asset management plans, I was given um responses that clearly indicated a lack of awareness of what that is. We embarked on a comprehensive asset management planning process with uh former township manager Joe Dearco when he took over. we have that and I'm very
pleased to see that we are going to be initiating the updating process because this is a living document and it does need to be maintained just like our infrastructure needs to be maintained. Um so I I do significantly appreciate
that and I'm very supportive of that as well as the other meaningful um capital improvements that are listed here as well including the water interconnection with Montlair. Um, so I do think that these are very positive improvements. Um, and I'm very grateful for the
administration's leadership on this issue. Thank you. No further council comments. Councilwoman Holland, yes. Councilwoman McGrath, yes. Councilman Roman, yes.
Deputy Mayor Makavoy. Mayor Tambbor, yes. Mayor Ordinance 2025-14 passes 50 and it will be published according to law. All right. Uh now we are moving on to our consent agenda. We are pulling K2.
Yes, please. Yes. And we also already voted on L1 L2. Yes. Please move those. Thank you, Deputy Mayor. I will second them for the sake of time. At this time, we're open for public comment on
any of the u items. I think you see none other public comments any council discussion council Holl so I had asked a question earlier in the
day so in my packet it may just be because of the way it's presented we have exhibit exhibit A to the resolution. And then we have the exhibit B. Is the exhibit B an exhibit to this first amendment or is it meant to be an exhibit B to the resolution
on L3? On L3. Sorry, I should have identified that resolution, but yes, it's it's a little confusing. Um, I just wanted to note that if we are in fact having an exhibit B to the resolution, we should probably
make reference to it in the actual resolution. There's only reference to I do appreciate the clarification that I received about the changes and the implications associated there with um but I just wanted to note that
that challenge with the way the resolution's presented. I have other comments on other items. Is it helpful for me to take them all at once? Look at that. Mr. Um okay. So, thank you for the responses regarding
the DNS group um as well as the LG event productions. Um I would like to continue a dialogue about how these things are being paid for out of the budget. Um so, but I can do that offline.
Um, I also just wanted to acknowledge um the substantial grants that were included um in these resolutions. Um like the $70,000 grant is very significant. Um the grant from the is it
the Department of Disability Services or the Division of Disability Services? Human Services. Well, there that's for the 70,000, but then the the separate DDS grant as well. Division of it's a divisionity. Well, nonetheless, I think
it's wonderful and it's a great um it's a great contribution to our community to receive that grant funding as well. Um so, I did just want to compliment the administration on that as well. It's something that um I found very charling
when I first took office that we didn't avail ourselves of as much state funding and federal funding, but certainly there's less federal funding available these days, but certainly the state grant opportunities um are very uh helpful to municipalities
and mitigate some of the um costs that our residents have to pay. So those two grants in particular, but that's not to say that I didn't think that the other grants were also significant or meaningful, including the or uh national opioid settlement um which is
significant as well and I appreciate that particularly given my work on VMAP. Um so I can stop there. I appreciate if you're still looking into that exhibit B question. It was a matter I had raised earlier in the day. Um but I think there may have been some confusion about my
intent on that. I just want to make sure that the resolution is clear when it's on. Thank you. Comments. Thank you. Um the um
contract with Ben card was what caught my eye and earlier today I reached out to our township manager. Um, specifically I was intrigued with the concept of an overage dependent
and uh that would be an individual who is between the age 26 and 31 who is allowed to be covered under the plan. So I ask for some additional information to council on what if there's any overage dependent that are on our current plan.
Um, and I don't know if there I don't know if there are current overage dependents on the plan, but it's one of those that's DU31. It's a coverage continuation option similar to COBRA. Okay. Oh, so that's So it's like So it's
it's not like um if my kid turns 26 and I just keep them on it's a supplemental fee that I would pay to um the administrator of the plan and they go into their own subgroup. They're tracked that way. They can stay on
through their 31st birthday. And I believe it applies to medical, dental, and prescription. Um if you if you is that um a state is that a benefit that is negotiate state level that we have to replicate or is that a government specific benefit?
If I remember it's a state law that requires that it's offered. Okay. I know that it was something we had people into the um the plans that are offered under the corporal care act. they created this additional benefit to allow people to
stay on. Okay, that's difficult to understand. Um, well, I support the administration's efforts to bid out the prescription drug coverage. Um, as everyone knows, Detroit causing so much. It's unfortunate it
wasn't available for this year's contract renewal, but these things do take time, and I do applaud uh Mr. the administration's efforts to really get a handle on this and try to find the best options. And obviously when you read through this, you see all of those hot button
things that we found in the meetings are all, you know, detailed in the standard agreement. Um, but if we have any opportunities to I think any opportunities to look for best service with medical and dental and pharmacy
benefits, uh, some clarification on the question almost positive that the uh exhibit B of the original development agreement with sunset was this project schedule that's attached to this
right here redevelopment that's exhibit B on resolution is actually an exhibit attached to the resolution which replaces original exhibit B so is
um with some great ability to be confusing. Yes, because there is no exhibit A to the resolution and you're talking about an exhibit B attached here too. I just wanted to confirm I I thought it was the exhibit B to the agreement, but I did want to confirm
that the exhibit called exhibit B is attached to the resolution which also is replacing the exhibit B the original lead. Okay. So long as we are satisfied that there are not further amendments that need to be made to that resolution, then
we're willing to accept that. Please. Councilwoman Holland, yes. Councilwoman McGrath, yes. Councilman Roman, yes. Yes. Deputy Mayor Mackoy. Yes. Mayor Tambbor, yes. Mayor L3
through and including L20 will be numbered 129 through and including 146. There's no agenda this evening for northeast business. Anybody have any business?
So I'm open for one final public comment session. Anybody wishes to discuss any comments? None. I closed public comments. We passed a resolution to go to executive session. Mr. Sullivan, will any official action? No, there's nothing.
Okay. So, because we have nothing for executive session, I'll give a motion to actually I'm going to make the motion. Is there a second? Second. Second. Thank you, Deputy Mayor, for that second. All those in favor may stand up and exit. All
may stay here. I'll see you all on the wise.