how are brother thank you thank you you whatever you are good evening everyone welcome to the regular meeting of city council for the city of vland on Tuesday March 25th 2025
at 5:30 p.m. Dr Arthur here council member English here council member Gomez here council member Vargas here president Spinelli here this time we'll have the uh Winslow Elementary School fifth grade safety
patrol Kaden cologne KH Zimmerman Lauren gatier Ian nunz Kenley Heatherton Isabelle sieri Samantha Pito and Angelina Martin for our pledge
allegiance I to the flag of the United States of America and to the for it stands one nation under God indivisible great job great job all
right we got some right there going to get pictures take pictures EX we one more good [Applause]
once again we thank the kids for coming in and participating thank the parents for getting them out here we appreciate it thank the administration for coming and allowing it to happen public notice of this meeting pursuant to the open public meeting act has been given on December 11 2024 by
the city clerk in the following manner posting written notice on the official bulletin board in the lobby of City all providing written notice to the office of the Daily Journal and Press of Atlantic City and filing written notice in the office of the city clerk of the city of vland this time will open a general
public comment portion I'm sorry we got to got to do minutes I apologize CH motion that the minutes of the preeing conference and the regular meeting of March 11 2025 and the work session of March 18th 2025 be approved that's submitted so move thank you any
questions by councel none Dr Arthur yes councilor English yes Gomez yes Vargas yes president Spinelli yes also this time before public uh comment we will
have uh city mayor Anthony fucci and the Chief Financial Officer Susan Bal DeSaro present and address Council provide the presentation of the 2025 budget thank you council president spelli vice president Gomez m members of
council welcome to the 2025 presentation of the budget first a big Thanks goes out to sue Yolanda and Norma for all their hard work on this budget with us as usual this is an arduous task every single year you ladies endure a lot while we're going through it and thank
you for not just your patience but your expertise job well done welcome soon floor is yours here with this thing so we're going to go through our accomplishments of last year first so you can see a few highlights of course the completion of
station six the new Fire headquarters here downtown as you can see uh the picture of the ribbon cutting and of course the facility below if you have not toured the facility yet for any reason I certainly encourage it it is beautiful state-of-the-art and has really prepared vinand significantly for
uh probably at least the next 50 years in handling many matters in this city bur Mill Pond has had some significant improvements in the restoration of the bridge the walking path and of course the fishing pier and we are working on a set of improvements to come there are certain permitting factors that we are
working with with the D in order to um get the approvals to do some dredging and some cleaning up and some devegetation that has been a process beyond belief working with the state however DJ has been uh continually working on that and we hope that we're making some more progress this year
Senior Center activities as you know the senior center has truly been revitalized Trish is doing an amazing job over there right now in uh getting a ton of activities together as you could see there's just a number of things here uh for Father's Day was one of course the Christmas lunchin and the casino bus
trip brings back a lot of memories from when my grandparents used to take those Casino bus trips out of here and seeing it come back and just seeing how happy they are with it and with the progress is amazing mother's Garden uh which councilman Vargas um really spearheaded this on
behalf of the city with Mr Lewis who was here somewhere Mr Lewis thank you as always Al thank you this was really uh a y's job and one well done uh with working with that I know Bobby you're instrumental and helping get a lot of the work done with us there and Sue with some of the funding as well but this
really turned out to be a beautiful project in which we had the re unveiling um last year which just absolutely was fantastic and uh something that that Park definitely need a great job out so Road improvements as you know infrastructure is a constant theme that
we have in our Administration and again last year we paved nearly nine miles of roadway um we're either paved preserved and of course a number of par parking lots and our Parks if you're going by our Parks lately you'll see a lot of work happening there we did a number of
drainage projects and which consisted of about 15 extra miles of that roadway and you're going to see a lot more this year coming through much needed improvements to the city where that infrastructure was neglected um for a number of decades until we made it such a high priority in
the administration I want to thank Council very much for allowing me to have free reign to do that because the improvements are incredible and the city is truly noticing what we've done special events of course our
special events coordinator Sheena keeps us very busy with all kinds of things and she's come up with some amazing um ideas for the city uh the Barbie event which was great which was a huge hit as you can see the pictures here the things in the park with Ela of course
the flag raisings uh the Christmas uh stuff that gets worked on there and with a lot of help also from Josie who has done a lot and of course you see commissioner director Soro and Sue is our part of our crew over there every year to allow us to have a good time with Santa Claus who will remain
nameless and of course you know festivals downtown of course food truck and so many more but we've picked up so many new special events in the city and we've enhanced some of the old which is really giving back to the quality of life and noty for the city so into the meat and potatoes of
things right right into the numbers so our revenues and our Appropriations between last year and this year you could see here on the slide where we are currently and you'll notice some slight differences in there um from year to year one of the p pieces that you'll see
which is one of my favorite topics that I just get frosted with annually and there'll be another slide to come is um where the state aid is falling off again you know we've done more with less and probably done a lot more than any other community significantly because we are
so large and we've been able to do that with a lot of hard work a lot of good fiscal planning being Frugal at the right time but also knowing when to make the expenditures so we've done a very good job in balancing um that budget from year to year middle column obviously is what the budget year was
the far right column is what we we actually realized in those numbers and then what we're projecting in 25 some of the challenges obviously we Face here um state health benefits have gone up um you know which is obviously our medical benac card which is the prescription for our employees is going
up I know we said state health benefits was somewhere around 16% and then Benard is looking at 19% increases so it's year over year over year the increases here it's very difficult to maintain uh that pace it's it actually these things have
way outpaced salaries um in many cases so insurances have gone up obviously workers comp as you can tell everything moves with it because the higher the salary the bigger the risk the more that you're calculated on your comp pension costs have gone up and of course we've had to really modify some contracts
including the police department to stop the hemorrhaging we had where a lot of our men and women were being poached by other law enforcement agencies that have bigger budgets and and more spending power than we do we would train them we would have them and of course they are getting woed to go away we've slowed a
lot of that down so that attrition isn't not as significant as it once was but it's still taking place but it's getting a lot better and then of course this was a great little addition to the slide this year nice job ladies is we are dealing with an Appropriations cap that we have to stay in and when you see the
1977 that's not the number in the law that is the year that we are still dealing with in 2025 so when you talk about an Antiquated or an archaic calculation and a method and once in a while they allow you to pull these Little Gems out of the Appropriations cap so you can try to
help balance your budget and my commment of course is well why not just fix the Appropriations cap but that might make sense so hopefully one day soon we'll have a little more common sense of the state government level state aid right so here's one of my favorite slides uh where we come
through and you could see where we were in 2014 you can see we had a slight we had a dip down in 17 when I first took office as mayor and this Administration came with me we were flat all the way through we picked up a little stray covid money for a two-year cycle and
then of course that's fallen off and we're right back down again where we were and if you're looking at that slide correctly yeah we're back down to numbers pretty much from 14 and 15 so our state aid really really never increases for us we're constantly you know climbing out of a hole every budget
year uh with what's there and as we've all seen the inflation in this country uh has been significant in the last number of years the cost of doing anything has been just tremendously expensive including fuel procurement cost of goods construction materials as you name it um vehicles have just
skyrocketed and still the unavailability of the vehicles as you're trying to get them you have twoe threeyear lead times on them some things it's ridiculous but we are working with what we're working with you know 11 years later um we're still staying where we are and we're still
managing here's our history of our assess valuations and as you could see we really hit the appeal cycle pretty hard when we took office they were still settling appeals from that reevaluation from some years back H but I'm proud to say that with a lot of hard work and a
lot of effort some great marketing um a lot of help through Economic Development vment and sy's team we are just shy of4 billion dollar in ratables in the city of Island we're significantly above where we were a decade ago average residential
real estate assessment on a home as you can see during our time has risen risen risen risen and we've really hit the bell curve on the high end um for the city of Island which I'm proud of it's hard for the consumer a little bit but there that is a good sign that our property values are appreciating because
at one time they were flat to depreciating and this truly is my favorite slide of all this is what you have so when you have a a dollar we ask the finance department to break it out for us every single year and we'll start and show you obviously to the far right
you see the libraries assessment which is statutory and they have their amount the school tax is uh what we contribute to that role is about just shy 26% we're running the city on about 34 and A3 cents on a dollar and then just
under 39% of it goes right to the county right now which our number was probably how much so yeah just shy of $49 Million last year in our contribution to Cumberland County so when people wonder sometimes why we wear a chip on our shoulder and
have a smidge of an attitude when it comes to things this is why because imagine if you had almost $50 million back in your pocket what we can do every single year in this city so I tried making a deal to take the roads back and you know there was an agreement for us to take the roads but
the caveat was I want our contribution they they nicely declin that offer no surprise but so when people ask you where their tax dollars are going and they think that every penny floods right into the City and into our pockets it obviously does not this is the most
simplistic way to break it down to show it and you could see that we actually contribute more to the county than we actually run the city on our fund balance so as of year end calendar year end our fiscal year coincide you can see where We've Ended
up with our fund balance in 2024 and each category is broken out for you from the excess revenues uh receipts from current delinquent taxes miscellaneous Revenue that was not anticipated um unexpected unexpended balances that are canceled which are you know different things and appropriation reserves like
bonds that we don't use instead of leaving money laying out there we're canceling refunding them and putting them back in so that money can be recirculated and then of course excuse me subtracted from that are any refunds and Inter fund advances so to make a long story short we have a very healthy fund balance right now for the city
which is important because if something catastrophic happens and we need available funds for that we can continue to sustain our way of life here in the city of Island until we can get matters under control again here's a little slide to explain
ways that you can build a healthy fund balance and what is available to be done how you're collecting your revenues different different uh revenues that aren anticipated um cancellation of the unspent Appropriations which we just talked about etc etc etc and then what this really does is gives you the
stability of our operations moving forward in the future and then if there's an unanticipated emergency like we just talked about this is the overall Surplus and what we've used in um the budget to help balance the budget because as you know this sometimes expenses are way outpaced
and this is what we try to do and build these healthy fund balances so we don't have to really hit the taxpayer too hard year-over-year and if we do have to take increases they've always been nominal um where we're not taking anything ridiculous because we are using our balance and then replenishing at the end
of the year so this is being truly fiscally responsible a lot of people take the term Fiscal responsibility and assume it just means cutting cutting cutting it's not just a way to a true fiscal responsibility is spending wisely cutting where possible without affecting services to the residents and the
taxpayers in the city of Island and there businesses that might be here as you know just as employers that rent but also to balance it out every single year to know that when there's an issue we have money in reserve it's like having your savings account but also utilizing it to help you continue your your growth
and your progress and we've obviously proven that year-over-year that as we've used it we've been able to replenish it and not just replenish it but increase it and ask and you shall receive so here's the history of the fund balances from 2016 all the way forward we talked
about this a little bit today in 2016 I know Paul remembers this with me vividly that number was actually the 976 th000 the 1 million that got in front of it was after slash went wild in a council meeting took out some stuff and then the finance department found some cancellations to beef that number up to
get you that extra million that was sitting there but that is nothing for a city of this size and its operations especially in the times that we've been in now if we weren't prepared who knows what would have happened here but each year we have significantly increased that
amount and um in 24 we used a little extra to uh to get us through that budget year which was okay it was good we were able to do that without any any real increase to taxes at the time but you can see now we've been able to replenish that um but we were staring at
a different animal each and every single budget year it's never the same so but we've done a great job at that and we' really contributed to the overall significance of the city's Financial Health so here's our goals moving forward for this year don't you love the
fancy stuff they do with these power points I'm glad they know how to do it so future Road improvements as you know uh we're working on the ches Avenue project there are sidewalk projects um traffic signal upgrades the whole 2025 Road program that if anybody needs a copy of it we can um have DJ send it out
to everyone to take a look at but again the city has broken up in the quadrants we are attacking all sectors of the city not concentrating in just one area um which a lot of places a lot of times we get accused of only working in one place I tell people it's a big city drive around the other locations and trust me
you'll get behind the paving truck or The Detour sign somewhere else as well but a lot of work has gotten done a lot of work is on the table this year we're hoping for some good weather we weren't so lucky this year as we've been in years past we got beat up with some snow early on some very cold temperatures otherwise we would have been lucky in
December January getting some extra Paving done but that's okay they they planned out well and we're ready to go our Jake Park initiative is here we're getting a little bit closer still working with the Department of Community Affairs and the D on a couple issues um we have been able to also apply through
our grant writer uh with Triad to get some additional supplemental funding on this project which looks really good uh Mike Zino called me personally on it a couple weeks ago and we're very anxiously awaiting the day that we can really break ground on this this project
here is going to be so significant for the community it's just unbelievable you'll be a it's an all-inclusive park has a huge special needs component from sensory areas to those with severe disabilities to folks with all regular abilities and no issues that they can
come in and all you know mainstream together and be part of something that is super special here uh a lot of Thanks goes to Rick because he has tirelessly worked on this project with us from the very beginning and has pushed um and really gotten into uh it with our
engineering people our design people our grant people and with the state and it's been a lot Rick we wouldn't be this far without your help so thank you very much much I'm excited to get the first shovel in the ground the next is our Industrial Park West Campus uh the old almond Road Site
Scotty I know you're familiar with that from the old almond Road preschool area it's going to be a third Industrial Park here in the city um it's going to provide a number of sites that are going to be available for development there and the funny thing is is this thing isn't even ready to be ready to go yet
and people are chomping at the bit for it so our industrial land is is known all over the state because we sell at a very fair value that allows a business to build and succeed here where we're not looking the price scouch and start them off too big of a hole and um the industrial commission does a very good
job at setting those rates and working with um new businesses to come in so big thanks to them and again to the economic development under the leadership of Sandy um but the city you know has the other industrial parks as you know and this is a great addition because it's right there um near our current
Industrial Park it's very close to Route 55 it's strategically placed and this is another one that took forever to get a hold of but um state government works a lot slower than municip our violin Esports arena in the violent Public Library have have you all
had a chance to see it yet Scott doc yeah cruy did you go yeah PA so this was great this was a a unique idea um it was great colle collaboration with the library Dr Amber's his team is Tony Quigley and his team getting things
together and really designing this everything from the logo to the computers to and really I don't even think you can call these things computers they're like super everything um and I know they've recently undergone a stress test there Bobby you were there
for that yeah which was amazing to make sure the temperature stayed proper in the room and that the servers did what they were supposed to do um and I think Danny in the other room that's monitoring all the tech stuff for us tonight I think he may have been in there gaming too but the pictures I saw
in the videos these guys were having some fun just another element to add something different into the community uh for the kids you know their eorts is now part of a curriculum in some of the universities which is amazing um kids are coding and creating their own games
but this is something different it's another way for kids that aren't necessarily Superstar athletes but are able to build social skills have some team building because they have teams in a lot of these games um and then also you know think critically and
strategically you know it's funny because I remember being a kid and getting yelled at get off the game you're not going to learn anything there you're you can't do that you can't be successful and I'm looking at these 20s somethings and 30 somethings that are worth trillions of dollars from all the technology it's amazing so this is
incredible and another thing that we've added to the library to enhance the services that the library offers um a far cry from what some people thought that Library would be we're really taking it into you know the current century and beyond so big thanks to is
Big thanks to uh Dr Ambert and his team and and truly again Finance because you guys had to be creative and how we were able to get these um processors and get things together and something that we can offer our our kids here which is incredible and we know this will take
off and this will not be the only one of these rooms of its kind SE back to the senior center so not only are they having some fun over there but now they're getting ready to go undergo Renovations so this will be great um because it's long overdue something we've been trying to do since just prior
to covid and getting this building up and running into a better state of um activity because it was let go for a number of years it has a lot of repair that was needed but I'm I'm happy to say that we're right there and did we say
today that the bids were back okay so the balls in your court now Council it's up to you but you will most likely be awarding that to the uh responsible bidder and I'm excited to really see that start because this is something that has been needed for a
very long time uh council president I'll let you call Ernie marachi and give him the good news so we talk about what's next right and here we are again um trout National the golf course is really coming along the construction of the course itself is
mostly complete and now they're building out the um uh their like halfway house area their Clubhouse um the cottages for people to stay over and all you can see the list of things that'll be here this has been amazing and the economic impact
that it has had on the community has been incredible you know the construction trade jobs that have all worked there has been have been unreal and people are so excited to have had work there the amount of building materials that were purchased and delivered into the area for here and are going to continue for the next probably
year is amazing the supply houses are ever so grateful because this was in one of those hits that you didn't expect to come right then all of a sudden it's there and it's a giant windfall for everybody and I'm I'm very proud of the rugas and uh Mike TR and J family and
all of what they've invested in the city of island with the faith they have in us and our Administration and what we've been able to um do outside the box with so many things is why they put such a significant investment into this place um it's just unbelievable so we're super
excited for them and as I understand it probably around April or May of next year they will really be up and running and probably doing their full ribbon cutting but member play uh will be able to start probably a little bit lightly in the
fall so our Broadband utility um again big shout out to Tony Quigley and is for what we've been working on here we are getting uh a little bit closer each and every day and how we get ready to get this off the ground uh the design phases
have been significantly um uh upgraded again we are really looking at something that's going to be very special here and a legacy that will be leaving for the city which will help underserved areas will help um better reliability better speeds better price points all the right
things for the consumer that wants to purchase the Broadband from the city and the next thing again is operating the city like a business finding ways to drive additional revenues in here that we normally wouldn't see in creation of that to enhance the quality of life in
the city of Island if anyone hasn't noticed yet but we've become more self-sufficient now than we ever have upgrades to both utilities continue this becomes another utility so this would be really technically the fourth what we've been able to do between trash electric and water has been great um and this
will only allow it to get better and this is a main reason why this is this initiative was so important and we pushed this for so long because now you can see you have a state-of-the-art data center that's coming to the city of Island because they saw our love for technology and what the future would
hold so there's a lot of press releases going out all over the place in regards to that now and it's incredible and the investment that will be from something like that into the community between construction and purchases of the gpus and job impact and everything else is
into the billions billions of dollars it's insane but here again this was an idea and something we ran with and I'm very grateful and blessed to have such a team around us that has embraced it and really helped us get across the finish line the next portions here um especially for
our newest council members this is the process and these are the dates in which um we have to follow as we introduce the budget to everyone so obviously tonight's our introduction um which normally were a couple weeks earlier than this but it was a little bit of my fault was my daughter's birthday that
Tuesday so I was slightly selfish that night I couldn't leave her um so we moved it a little bit later and then public hearing obviously is uh April 22nd and then any amendments rich I don't wish you that on your first foray
into this but you know yeah he's he gets it so we hopefully we'll keep it uh nice and clean for him and then of course the adoption um you know at that public hearing so we're we're moving quickly into the season now and getting things
together so um that'll conclude the presentation I don't know if Council has any questions in regards to um anything we discussed tonight J down a couple things I'm sorry a couple things I know Jake Park
is when it gets up it's going to be at unbelievable what is the hold up with the DCA I I don't understand what the issue is and I don't know any if anybody does so part of the problem was city does not own the land the land is owned
by the state we C simply lease it was a long-term lease uh when we decided to put the Jake park at Romo Park um we had some glitches with the state allowing us to tie into their sewer system well
their the the sewer system that runs into the city um and so there was a couple hiccups with them one Department said yes this looks good green ACR says looks looks good DCA said we don't know and uh ultimately when we got everybody
together um we resolved all of those issues uh quite frankly we're ready to roll at this point because the is all in um we're just waiting for the spring to break ground and and have this thing concluded but I know it's going to be
one of the if not the more spectacular Jake Park in the state no other other Park that I know of at the time has the U the U different types of activities in this park specifically for uh children
with some disabilities um and it it will also include because there's adults with disabilities as well it'll include the ability for them to use this park as well um so it there was a couple hiccups that we had to go through with
engineering um and we finalized everything so it looks like we're we're good to go at this point thank you the other thing uh I don't know if it it's a reality or not but in talking uh Dr
Ambrose um I believe library is also adding the cafe yes they're working on that currently um Council vice president and I had met on that in regards so because uh he helped bring us something special here with that cafe and um they've been
working on U an idea and a concept there there's currently some um not grants but um specialized funding for that kind of stuff over there because it'll be in a public library but we're anxious to get that moved forward in the next direction
I've spoken to Christy de Leonardo about the incentive packages uh the other day she's ready to speak to us at will so I got to connect Dr Amber with her and with you vice president Gomez um to continue moving in that direction but this thing too once it's up and running
will be something spectacular to add to that Library you know funny considering you know the accusations for those years we were closing it we've done more for it than anybody else uh and the last thing with the data center and I know you that's a big
project bringing a ton of money in here in investment uh are they building with the possibility of expansion after correct so they're purchasing the whole property um that was out there it's 100 acres
roughly plus or minus um they are looking at um several buildings on site each building has a certain number of megawatts that's going to be available for it um committed to the first building already um at 50 they've uh are
also looking right now to commit at another building at another 50 U once power is available in that capacity and then moving forward the way I see it you'll probably see probably four maybe five buildings there the interesting thing is is this group from France that
is um that that is constructing this project their technology is more amazing than any of the ones that we've seen getting into this point their cooling systems are different um it's no drain on the U and Rick knows like at one point like some of these places we're talking about they needed a million
gallons of water a day this is like a radiator type of system like it's you're drawing with cooling levels that are in the ground and then running the water in there and it recycles and recirculates so the only time you'll have to really replenish as if there was a leak somewhere so it's self-contained at that
point which is great because you're you're not releasing any gray water back into sewer system you're not depleting any Wells or reserves that are there so we don't have to make anything special as far as accommodations for that we will be putting another Well online at that point just for regular expansion in
the city anyway and for backup reliability which the water utility is working on um Bobby D and I will be meeting with the water utility in regards to that but yeah they're going to look at expansion they also have some green green initiatives on that site as well um and they have some expansion
plans on the corner for some ancillary uses that are other business types to go there um as well which really was amazing so I was really glad that they happened to be the one that you know stepped forward to really make a deal over there with the property
owner and just to from my side of it I just uh appreciate you and your Administration and everybody that's involved uh for their foresight and making us uh become the big city we need to be that's great well you know what
keeping our our charm at the same time but really The Thanks goes a lot to council because I know I throw a lot at you all year long um but you know like good hitters you stay up there at the plate and you keep you keep knocking them out for us so thank you for your faith and your trust in us and what
we're trying to accomplish because this truly is gamechanging someday when we're all done serving here we're going to sit back and take a look and we're GNA people are going to be talking about it and we'll Snicker and say we did that so thank you very much guys I appreciate it anybody
else how much our taxes going up it's up to you it's council's budget now my question we um we're anticipating something very small if at all at this point it's still a matter of some things are in flux obviously you know if we see something
and if you're satisfied with something you might look at a couple sents if that so not really expecting anything major but just kind of keeping an eye out on the skyrocketing cost as we talked about with Health Care prescription benefits they're constantly changing the state health benefits model is um frankly and
you know I'm of the industry it's an embarrassment how they run it and it has crippled municipalities like ours fortunately the school district um is in a health insurance fund they qualified to be in there based on their loss ratio and that was the best thing for them
because their increases are capped they don't see increases like this they have a ceiling but they don't have a floor so a lot of times you know their Surplus is there and the dividends come back to the districts it's a better way of insuring for whatever reason Reon our claims have just always been too high with our
Workforce here and um the city has never really been able to be in it I think they were in it one time before I think when I was on the school board and then it just kind of imploded because of the the claims were just too too much and it's it's amazing just how it happens
but if we can keep Pace with that and stop seeing Blended increases in the 16 17 18 20% range it's unreal and as you may recall during the previous gubernatorial election they chose to not increase the State Health Benefit rate
at all and we've been paying dearly ever since so keep your fingers cross let's get a we get across the finish line but that's just the where we stand right now thanks doc thank you yeah I want to thank um Susan um for the hard work
right U and then I also want to thank I Yanda Norma I know what it is to work on the back end of things and um just know that your hard work is not going unnoticed all right so thank you thank you
anything true team effort showes um you know I'm new at this but uh from the Schoolboard side of it um it's good to see the mayor out in front of the budget and the support from the team is tremendous so I'm glad to be a part of this and it looks like some good things are on the
horizon really impressed with your gray water terminology your plumbing terminology I listen to you when you're doing work at the house it know enough to be dangerous exactly is there nothing you cannot do I mean come on man good stuff good stuff cilman Vargas thank you
mayor again thank you for what you do every day not just it's everyday thing we hear good things out there and the public actually talks to us w w Any Corner they they talk us hey man you guys are really doing a good job so you know make a phone call to the mayor thank him too thank you I appreciate
thank you for your team you always do a great job this is an every day this is my ninth year saying the same thing so we'll see it again hopefully next year thank you thank you that being said uh Sue Yanda Norma every year I say the same
thing can't can't do it without you you guys are great so I give you accolades every time I speak to somebody so uh and and I I appreciate all your hard work and I I do see it believe me I'm in here every day uh sometimes she's in a bad
mood because she's trying to figure these numbers out but that's all right uh we'll make we make her smile so uh we get our laughs in but great team work and we appreciate it okay yep we will move into the public general public comment session if
anybody would like to speak they can step to the podium and speak first up we have Georgette Shelton Georgette Shelton and then next Alan noblet Alan nobl hi good evening uh as you know my name
is Georgette Shelton I'm the CEO of the South Jersey AIDS Alliance and we are providing Common Sense practices that save money in Cumberland County I know that ordinance ordinances 27 and 28 are not on the agenda today but I just
wanted to say again that changing the zoning of future substance use treatment centers mental health agen gencies nonprofits and harm reduction centers from where they are currently located in the B2 zones where clients your
constituents who use our services are located may lead to more overdoses and higher rates of HIV and hepatitis C sorry I'm available if anybody wants to talk more about what we do as an agency
and would welcome you to come visit our location thank you thank you next up Allan how you doing my name is alen Noble my concern there's a project where on my side of town where I live over
there on a 2500 Old Farm Drive and the project was um what is it jez Brer Road Maple Road and when they put this put the what
you call pipe down now the roads are messed up now so when you go down there you got to go real slow because they all bumpy and everything what I was concerned about when is they going to you know are they going to resurface the road dig it
back dig them back up and redo them or I believe Spring Road is is due to be repaved uh I know that was done uh that's going to be done primarily by South Jersey gas because they ripped it up for the gas lines Brewster Road is a
County Road uh my thinking is that there's a project that has to be done over there first that'll probably get done sometime in July uh if that gets done then my guess is uh
it'll be up for Paving after that but you'd have to speak to the County Commission because we wouldn't know that okay my other concern is Maple Avenue between uh Main Road and um Brewster and Brewster Bobby is is Maple Avenue
ours yeah all right U I don't know we'd have to look at uh talk to the city engineer and find out if it's on the road project but you can call Mr Dickinson and he can get that information uh to you Mr Dickinson's right here he can give you his number
okay and my other road is Spring Road from um from Maple Maple Avenue to L um Lincoln where they put all the pipe down it's still like bumpy you know car that's all going to be redone so okay thank you all
right anyone else Rick is there anyone else in the public didn't sign up anyone in the public that didn't sign up like to speak see no one Richard all right I present ordinance number 2025-the Hospital site as amended by
ordinance 2018-27 permitting the construction of four-story building for seniors on block 4216 lot 1.01 and 1.02 so as to further allow a four-story building on block
4216 lots 1.03 and 1.05 which is ready for a public hearing chair rains motion and ordinance number 202- 19 be taken up for for public hearing and open to the public for discussion so move second Dr Arthur yes council member English yes
Gomez yes Vargas yes president pelli yes is there anyone in the audience would like to be heard on number 202- 19 see no one chair entertains a motion that the public hearing on ordinance number 202- 19 be
closed we move second Dr Arthur yes council member English yes Gomez yes Vargas yes president spelli yes chair rains a motion and ordinance number 202- 19alm adopted according to
law second discussion by Council none Dr Arthur yes council member English yes councilman Gomez yes council member Vargas yes president Spinelli yes ordinance number 20259 ordinance amending ordinance 2012
d8 entitled an ordinance adopting resolution number 5989 the violent planning board recommending the Redevelopment plan for the Nukem Hospital site as amended by ordinance 2018 27 permitting the construction of four-story buildings for seniors on
block 4216 lots 1.01 and 1.02 so as to further allow a four-story building on block 4216 lot 1.03 and 1.05 with a vote of five Ys ordinance is hereby adopted Mr franch ched please submit ordinance number 2025-the
[Music] 19- 57 and ordinance 20 22- 49 as amended chapter 687 part 4 article 18 of the code of the city of violent entitled water sewer utility rights reserved rates which is ready for a public
hearing CH rains a motion that ordinance number 202-20 be taken up for public hearing and open to the public for discussion move second Dr Arthur yes council member English yes council member Gomez yes council member Vargas yes president Spinelli yes is there anyone in the
audience should be heard on uh ordinance number 202-20 seeing no one chair Aline attain a motion that the public hearing on ordinance number 202-20 be closed still move second Dr Arthur yes council member English yes council member Gomez yes
council member Vargas yes president Spinelli yes chair retains a motion that ordinance number 2025 that's 20 be taken up a final reading and adopted according to law so move second in discussion by Council seeing none Dr Arthur yes council member
English yes council member Gomez yes council member Vargas yes president Spinelli yes ordinance number 202-20 ordinance amending ordinance 2019-57 and ordinance 222- 49 as amended chapter 687 part four article 18 of the
code of the city of Island entitled water sewer utility rights Reserve rates with a vote of five y this ordinance is hereby adopted Fran ched please submit number 202-20 to the mayor for his approval or disapproval yes thank
you present ordinance number 2025 21 ordinance amending ordinance 2011-5 as amended chapter 687 part 1 article 7A section 687-6875 D21 be taken up for public hearing open to the public for
discussion no move second Dr Arthur yes council member English yes council member Gomez yes council member Vargas yes president Spinelli yes anyone from the public like to be heard on ordinance number 202-21 see no one chair entertains a
motion that the public hearing on ordinance number 202-21 be closed who move second Dr Arthur yes council member English yes council member Gomez yes council member yes president spelli yes chair entertains a motion that ordinance number
202-21 be taken up a final reading and adopted according to law so move second in discussion by councel see none Dr Arthur yes council member English yes council member Gomez yes council member Vargas yes president Spinelli yes
ordinance 202-21 ordinance amending ordinance 2011-5 as amended chapter 687 part 1 article 7A section 687 - 68.4 the code of the city of Island entitled electric service discount to water utility
expiration with a vote of five y this ordinance is here by adopted granch cha please submit ordinance number 2025 21 to the mayor for his approval or disapproval yes thank you present ordinance number 20252 ordinance appropriating $1,800,000
even from the water utilities Capital Improvement fund for various improvements to the vinand Municipal Water Utility in and by the city of binland in the county of Cumberland New Jersey which is ready for a public hearing chair entertains a motion that ordinance number 202- 22 be taken up for
public hearing and open to the public for discussion we move second Dr Arthur yes council member English yes council member Gomez yes council member Vargas yes president spelli yes is there anyone in the public would like to be heard on ordinance number 2025
d22 being no one chair entertains a motion that the public hearing on ordinance number 20 25-22 be closed who move second Dr Arthur yes council member English yes council member Gomez yes Council M Vargas yes president Spinelli
yes chair entertains a motion that Rance number 202-2222 d22 ordance appropriating $1,800,000 even from the water utilities Capital Improvement fund for various improvements to the VIN Municipal Water Utility in and by the city of island in
the county of cumland New Jersey with a vote of five y this ordinance is hereby adopted Mr Fran Chada please submit ordinance number 22-22 to the mayor for his approval or disapproval yes thank you I present ordinance number 2025 d23 ordinance
appropriating $1,600,000 even from the electric utilities Capital Improvement fund for various improvements to the vland municipal electric utility in and by the city of Vinland in the county of Carland New Jersey which is ready for public hearing chair entertains a motion that ordinance number
chair entertains a motion public hearing on ordinance number 2025 that's 23 be closed move second Dr Arthur yes council member English yes council member Gomez yes council member Vargas yes president Spinelli yes chair entertains Motion in
ordinance number 20 25-23 be taken up for final reading and adopted according to law no move second any discussion by councel seeing none Dr Arthur yes council member English yes council member Gomez yes council member Vargas yes president Spinelli yes ordinance
number 2025 23 ordinance appropriating $1,600,000 even from the electric utilities Capital Improvement fund for various improvements to the violin Municipal electric utility in and by the city of violin at the county of kand with a vote of five y this ordinance is hereby adopted Mr Fran cheda please
submit ordinance number 20 25-23 to the mayor for his approval or disapproval yes thank you I present ordinance number 2025 24 Bond ordinance providing for improvements to various roads and related drainage and sidewalk
improvements in and by the city of island in the county of cumland New Jersey appropriating $6 million even therefore and authorizing the issuance of $5,700 th000 even bonds or notes of the city to finance part of the cost thereof which is ready for our first
reading excuse hearing motion that ordinance number 2025 that's 24 be taken up for public hearing open the public for disc discussion he move second Dr Arthur yes council member English yes council member Gomez yes council member Vargas
yes president spelli yes is there anyone in the public who would like to be heard on ordinance number 2025 d24 seeing none chair entertains a motion that the public hearing on ordinance number 2025 that's 24 be closed he move second Dr Arthur yes
council member English yes council member Gomez yes council member Vargas yes president spelli yes chair contains a motion that ordinance number 2025 -24 be taken up with final reading and adopted according to law so move second discussion by Council seeing none Dr
Arthur yes council member English yes council member Gomez yes council member Vargas yes president spelli yes ordinance 20254 Bond ordinance providing for improvements to various roads and related drainage and sidewalk improvements in and by the city of island in the county of carelin New
Jersey appropriating $6 million even there authorizing the issuance of $5,700 th000 even bonds or notes of the city to finance a part of the cost thereof with a vote of five y this ordinance is hereby adopted Mr franch CH please submit ordinance number 2025 that's 24
to the mayor for his approval of disapproval yes thank you present ordinance number 2025 d25 an ordinance approving the annual connection fee schedule established by the city of Island Water Utility for the year 2014 pursuant to ordinance number 89
105 which is ready for a public hearing CH obtains a motion in ordinance number 20 25-25 be taken up for public hearing not to the public for discussion so move second Dr Arthur yes council member English yes council member Gomez yes council member Bargas yes president
spelli yes there anyone in the public would like to be heard on ordinance number 202- 25 seeing none CH entertains a motion public hearing ordinance number 2025 that's 25 be closed to move second Dr
arther yes council member English yes council member Gomez yes council member Vargas yes president Spinelli yes chair rains a motion that ordinance number 2025 d25 be taken up for final reading and adopted according to law move second discussion by
Council seeing none Dr Arthur yes council member English yes council member Gomez yes council member Vargas yes president Spinelli yes ordinance number 2025 d25 ordinance approving the annual connection fee schedule established by the city of Island word
utility for the year 2014 pursuant to ordinance number 89-105 with a vote of five y this ordinance is hereby adopted Mr franchetta please submit ordinance number 20 25-25 to the mayor for his approval or disapproval yes thank you I present
ordinance number 2025-the appropriating $9 million $9,200 th000 even therefore and authorizing the issuance of 8,740 th000 even bonds or notes of the city to finance a part of the cost thereof which is ready for a public
hearing bonds has no way in it Mr thank you chairman rains a motion that ordinance number 2025 d26 be taking up for public hearing over the public for discussion move second Dr Arthur yes
Council English yes council member Gomez yes council member Vargas yes president Spinelli yes is there anyone in the audience who wish to be heard on ordinance number 20 25-26 Mr President because of the Daily Journal was unable to accommod at the
city clerk's office for timely uh publication this ordinance must be uh postponed until the next regular meeting okay go ahead and just read that entertain a motion the public hearing on the continued yeah just ch entertains a
motion that the public hearing onance number 20 25-26 be continued to Tuesday April 8th at 5:30 p.m. no move second Dr Arthur yes council member English yes council member GES yes council member Vargas yes president Spinelli yes
present ordinance number 20 25-29 which is ready for a first reading chair entertains motion that ordinance number 2025 29 be taken up for first reading move second Dr Arthur yes council member English yes council member Gomez yes council member Vargas yes president
Spinelli yes ordinance number 2025 d29 Bond ordinance providing a supplemental appropriation of $800,000 even for closure of the sanitary landfill in and by the city of island in the county of kland New Jersey and authorizing the issuance of
$76,000 even bonds or notes of the city to finance part of cost thereof chains a Mot and ordinance number 2025 29 be passed for first reading that a public hearing be held on Tuesday April 8 2025 at 5:30 p.m move second discussion by
councel seeing none Dr Arthur yes council member English yes council member Gomez yes council member Vargas yes president Spinelli yes I present resolution number 2025-the
2025 Municipal budget of the city of Isa j entertains a motion that the resolution number 2025-the council member English yes council member Gomez yes council member Vargas yes president Spinelli yes I like
the waffles FR that's nice city city council has approved that the following maners list in the consent agender are considered to be routine and non-controversial and will be adopted by one motion there will no be there will be no separate discussion by these items unless a council member so requests in
which a case the item will be removed and considered with an individual vote all matters on the consent agenda have been presented to city council during either a work session or the pre-meeting conference and appear on the consent agenda without objection their titles will not be individually read into the record but will be properly memorialized
in the meeting minutes entertains a motion to approve all items on the consent agenda so move second Dr Arthur yes council member English yes council member Gomez yes council member Vargas yes president Spinelli
yes this time council members your time to be heard if you'd like to say something Dr Arthur yes I want to thank the uh Winslow School the students the staff and parents for coming out tonight to lead the Pledge of Allegiance and
it's always good to see the the young people come they did not quite beat their last school they tried though they they they gave it a Young's job yes they were good um Saturday I did take time to go to the rabies clinic that the health department held and it was well attended
and well organized so if you ever get a chance or if you have an animal that needs to be um get the shot that's the place to go they did a great job over at the Cunningham field I got an animal and needs a shot but it's not that con
also thank the mayor and uh the finance team for their presentation of the budget this evening Council momez um also I also want to thank um Winslow Elementary School uh for coming out it's nice to see the students come out it's
refreshing um to see them out here um also thank you to the finance team um for a great job tonight um it's it's refreshing to be part of a a healthy organization right um financially um also want to thank uh Sheena who was
here tonight um for an amazing job in planning from last year I'm looking forward to all her events this year how M Vargas like to thank the kids for Winslow again for coming out and uh I also agree maybe they came in second place they're pretty high pitched though
they had I would have to agree little comp competition yeah I think Sab still got it so that's it that's it's been English I think time it's been said again it's always great to have the
kids thank you uh to all the people that were involved in getting the Winslow kids here uh again our finance team Second To None uh I see him every day working and uh almost most of our departments uh just
they work hard and they try to get it done and uh kudos to to all of them and again uh just to mention the four to this Administration to try to move irand forward uh in today's world it's
expensive to do that and yet we're doing it um without large expense so uh thank you very much mayor and administration Bobby Rick uh you guys you put in long days and crazy hours and sometimes too
many actually so that being said uh thank you very much I appreciate it CH t a motion to adjourn the meeting so move Dr Arthur yes council member English yes council member Gomez yes council member Vargas president Spinelli yes thank you everyone have a great
night