e meeting of February 18 2025 of the town Council of the township of Washington adequate notice of the meeting was given in accordance with the open public meetings act by the Township Clerk to at least two newspapers in December and this meeting has been posted on the township bulletin board electronic
Message Board WCTV and on the township website please notify the municipal clerk for any disability requirements necessary for attendance at township Council meetings the fire exits are located through the double doors to your right and through the door on your left please silence all cell phones if you are't aable to attend the council
meeting in person and would like a topic to be addressed addressed at a council meeting please send an email to the township of Washington hyen contact all council members at once recording in progress TWP of washington. us could everyone please stand for a salute to the
flag I to the flag of the United States of America and to the repu for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all roll call councilman Casio here councilman
Sears here councilman Omen here Council bz council president to Sena here let the record reflect also in attendance mayor Peter Camari Township administrator Mark D Carlo Township attorney Susan shoban Valley and Township Clerk Susan wowski payment of
bills resolution number 25-1 166 authorized payment of bills January 30th 2025 to February 12 2025 do I have a motion so move second any any questions or comments uh I just had one uh that I had
emailed to uh Mr Dar Carlo this morning about the salt expense and uh I'm assuming that the charge that was in the list of bills was for our local salt that we M yes so I I did
receive the question from mrman this morning the question is I understand we maintain a salt Supply locally in addition to the Salt obtained via the county can we purchase salt from the county supplier for local storage at the county rate under our shared service agreement I don't know our price nor the
County's price but assume they receive a volume discount so a company uh named Atlantic salt won the contract from October 1 24 through September 30th 2025 through the county of Bergen Administration and finance division of purchasing
it's a co-op and both the township and the county purchased the Sal from this supplier so we buy it at $75 a ton so that the county gets it at the same price as we do okay but we have it delivered here thank you and that was the only question roll
call councilman cassum yes Council SE yes councilman yes Council valz council president it's the center yes PSA for February 18 2025 the township of Washington has added the recycling coach app to our website on the Department of
Public Works page please visit the page to get more information property reassessment inspections have begun on January 29th please visit our website for further information primary election date change please note the primary election will now be held Tuesday June 10th all voting takes place at Town Hall
hours are 6:00 a. to 8:00 P.M 2025 animal license renewals are now due there is a late fee is currently $5 after March 1st the late fee will be $25 printed calendars are now available at town hall for anyone who wants a printed copy as a reminder an online
calendar is available on our website as well as a printable pdf version Township of Washington will be hosting its third annual familyfriendly spring into Wellness 5K run walk and health fair on Saturday May 3rd registration is now open please visit the township website
for more details BFW post 6192 of District 2 be holding a day to honor commemoration ceremony on National Vietnam War veterans day Saturday March 29 2025 from 10: a.m. to 12: p.m. at Bethany Community Center 605 pasac Road
please join us in honoring Bergen County Vietnam veterans and their families at this special ceremony the Kanas Club of the pasak Valley meets on the second Wednesday of each month at 6:30 p.m. at the Westwood Community Center if any would like if anyone would like more information please contact Ralph culi at
51 6581 8319 or pasag Valley kaanis gmail.com our next council meeting will be held on Monday March 3rd 2025 our next uh part of the meeting we have appointments to the fire department and we have a membership application from John R lari for the township of
Washington fire department do I have a motion to approve so move second all in favor I Mr Mayor are you administer the oath yes please thank you bring your Bible hold so left hand on the Bible right
hand in the air is that it sir y microphone I I John ler do solemnly swear or affirm do solemnly swear or affirm that I will support that I will support the Constitution of the United States Constitution of the United States and the Constitution and the constitution of
the state of New Jersey the state of New Jersey and that I will bear true faith and that I will bear true faith and Allegiance and allegiance to the same to the same and to the government's established and to the governments established in the united states in the United States and in this state and in this state under the authority of the
people under the authority of the people and that I do solemnly swear and that I do solemnly swear that I will Faithfully that I will faithfully impartially impartially and justly perform and justly perform all the duties all the duties as a volunteer member of as a volunteer member of
the township of Washington Fire Department in the township of Washington in the township of Washington in the county of Bergen in the county of Bergen in the state of New Jersey in the state of New Jersey according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability so help me God so help me God congratulations
[Applause] con happens signatur so thank you [Applause] thank you very much May May thank you thank have a good
night that's have a de next on our agenda is a presentation from the township of Washington volunteer ambulance Corps from president Eugene Greco and Treasurer Richard Myers okay how are you tonight all right how are you so you want to come up with you
or are you going to do the yeah good evening good evening's everybody doing um we're here with the U intention of talking about the uh Bering uh County contract that we've established
and U you guys help get um we believe that this is going to be a uh a big plus for us because they it's good to they'll be able to fill in where we can't fill in and um we'll we'll cover them they're
going to be using the building so you know we could share that kind that stuff um the uh and at this point with this makes it uh better for us in the sense that we are not ready to close and
go to a paid uh service we're not you know there's no need we have we have nine right now we have nine students two that are in the ENT school um and we're we're pretty much
covering we had a a lot of uh extra duty calls because of the snow and and the cold and stuff like that they got covered uh so this I just foresee it as a plus and everybody on the court believes that it's going to be a plus
for us so and we want to provide service for the town without any vacancies so we don't have to go to other any insurance can youur the um oh yeah the Bergen County
yeah the Bergen County is not going to put a u any stress on the town's people because they're not going to be charging extra they will accept whatever insurance covers for the service like if if we had a hospital ambulance they
would charge extra for that PO so this way they're not burdened with extra costs it's all going to be taken by the uh insurance companies of whatever they have you're using so it's a win-win for really for everybody for everybody so they going into one of is the Bergen
County am going to park inside the bay Back Back Bay if it's if it's bad yeah yeah they're going to be park inside we have plenty of room they're going to have their own equipment and everything else but they can use our facilities uh we're going to be priority for all calls any emergency calls are
we're going to be called first and then if every if there's no other ambulance available then they can fill in the space so it's really going to be a great winwin for everybody I believe so I agree can can you explain the coverage model
because uh and is this contract signed not yet not yet so this is a proposal it's on your consent agenda tonight to be sign we're working at the details sign so we don't we don't have
the details yet no they're they're in the contract we have the contract um it just just have to get sucked they've already been there helping so they've been stationed at at the the fire department parking lot and our
parking lot when are you when is Washington Township on duty and the primary okay let's go this way the county is going to be basically the morning which
is historically been a major issue with people uh volunteering you know and even more so now I mean than than it has been in the past with everybody working two you know having a two Sally two salary
home um then at we cover most of the nights so that starting at like 6m yes 7 7 o'clock 7 to 7 and 7 to 7 um and we have a um uh understanding with
Westwood that we alternate weekends because there is when we're on there's nobody else in the valley and then when they're on nobody else in the valley so we have of mut Mutual Aid is pretty good
yes so so the county would be here from 7 a to 7 pm and then Wasington Township volunteer would go on we cover during the day on Wednesdays in Fridays but if somebody's there yeah pretty much all
back and cover all evenings I mean excuse me all weekends no that we alternate with West West and what what metrics have we put in place to ensure
that this is functioning because I guess we we got to this point if I understand our closed sessions because there were issu issues with coverage there were issues with answering calls there were
issues where uh the Washington Township uh ambulance Corps wasn't able to provide uh the coverage that I guess
as part of your Mutual Aid agreement uh you were supposed to so we engaged the County and the hospitals for these types uh to supplement these coverages I
mean per I'm personally of the opinion that we should go fully towards uh the count a county solution um you know I don't know what the rest of the council will say uh but
what are what are we putting in place uh one to ensure that we are meeting our obligations under the contract and two you mentioned nine students um that are coming in they're members they're members so
they're right how uh what is our What's Your Capacity or what your um uh I'm sorry the word is the uh term is escaping me uh are you at full
compliment at this point no so and what's being done to uh engage the public to bring people in trying to recruit doing a recruiting and that's uh that's always a tough one U the sign
that the ectric bul board whatever from the police department stationed in front of our building and it's you know requesting people and EMTs needed and has the change in the lowp
that we did uh was it earlier this year or the end of last year has that had a positive impact has you seen any impact yet people are they they have to ride more and they are we have more
coverage um that we did prior to that they understand that they have to put in time writing meetings and things like that the various uh subjects like PO said the meetings uh be the
schedule training that's and we're getting that it has accomplish that okay so we keep the skills up 100% for everybody so and Mr Mayor this is your uh is would
this be your recommendation this sort of split model um I think based on my conversations with the Ambulance Corp members um that we should see it through this year at least to see how this option with the county goes and with our own volunteers and reevaluate it at the
end of this year to see if we want to if it's working or if we need to adjust something for next year and do we have any metrics in place to monitor the success that we're achieving um the
I've asked the police because uh the calls come in through the dispatch desk to now monitor um on each call who will be the responding agency can we get that reporting monthly um I I would say let's Let It build up for a month or two so maybe the end of
March started there okay we also uh keep track of the calls that we go on but according to the state and uh you know we have to fill out trip sheets and all that kind of stuff so more than once we've been asked you know if uh what our
totals were for the year how many we you know what what our weekends are like and so on so and the mut is involved with that also yes so it's there you know it can be accessed whenever you need
okay uh I wasn't aware of that uh when this first came up I had uh requested some information and uh was told that uh it wasn't available so it's good to know that it is yeah and uh
so we can you know certainly monitor going forward okay um question the the other model with um the priv the hospital service what don't you like about that they charge their
patients um on the call they charge them straight out and and then on top of that too it was uh it were going to charge us yeah town and a longer response we uh provide a quick response the county being right there on premises they can
provide a quick response also my understanding was that the county would be on the premises with one of the models that we talked about if I'm not mistaken but they could be somewhere else yeah they could be yes but they'll Bas themselves at our but is that still true like they
even though they're in our in our volunteer Ambulance Corp building they could be on a call in M or somewhere else if they're called if nothing's going on other Town that's what I'm saying but they could be yeah so it's not like they're not just staying in Wasing the township no but return to they're going
to return to our our our you know Emergency Services building but they're not just like if we were between us and them uh the county somebody will be there and then if not then it goes to the police to dispatch
the next the next one myc or you know the next ambulance sit around we have the system that they have all the towns they can tell who's on a call where they're going and everything else so they know who to call first for a quick response good I guess my other um when
we discussed this up here the other understanding was even though it's it's a paid service and we we would pay a a fee to them um that uh they would try and collect from the insured okay the patient and then if there was no no payment or there was no insurance there
would there would be no debt collected so is that your understanding or is that my misinterpretation or was your understanding that you would only collect with the insurance PID okay so there really would be no cost to the the claimant or the injured part exact so I
just want to get that you know because I think the public might have a misconception that oh we want to go with X because it's not going to cost it may cost us something when in essence it would not so I want to make sure you know could potentially cost them their
co-pay based on their policy whatever is of every policy is different correct so but um you know I just want to I don't know if you guys are aware that I I have medical background a little bit I'm a registered pharmacist and um whatever we build and
whether we were if we build and they were in network right they they take whatever in the network correct pays and then if not they cannot rebuild you to balance that's correct no balance billing no balance billing yes sure okay
that was that was my understanding so I just want to make sure that I didn't get it wrong um you know personally before I look at this I'd like to see the contract myself and see what it looks like um it was in the packet was in the
packet yeah Tom I should open should open ma it's a one and a half page it's very it's a memo of understanding oh is that the memo of understanding is is the whole contract a contract okay your
simple okay keep it simp anyway thank you any other questions from the days I just thank you Jas approval of minutes public meeting February 5th 2024 conference meeting February 5th 2024 do I have a motion
move second roll call councilman Casio yes councilman Sears yes councilman Omen yes council president to Senate yes approval of minutes public meeting February 20th 2024 conference meeting
February 2024 do I have a motion sh second roll call councilman Casio yes councilman sear yes councilman om man yes council president to Sena yes public meeting March 4th 2024 conference
meeting March 4th 2024 I have a motion move second roll call councilman Casio yes councilman Sears yes councilman Omen yes counc president recuse this time the report of the administrator Mr
darara good evening council president hello everyone uh there was no formal followup regarding uh any Council or for Resident questions however I did have a few updates for everyone um as you know appraisal systems has begun its Township inspections for our 2025 reassessment if
you go to our website or the ASI's homepage they have information on the inspectors pictures of the inspectors the anticipated date of uh some locations for inspections as far as uh the fourth round affordable housing the Department of Community Affairs division of local
planning surfaces has placed deadlines on municipalities to uh cooperate with uh there was a due date of February 15th for the reporting of detailed accounting of such fees uh that were collected and expended over the previous year
regarding um affordable housing we had met that deadline happy to say that was completed by our Municipal housing liaison and then mayor if you wouldn't mind passing uh this down I just got to find myself I was able to obtain a written update on the swim club um
progress for the testing and remedial isation um research that's currently going on there it'll be easier if I update by reading this this was authored by Mr Rossy from bosal engineering Dear Mr to Carlo pursuant to today's conversation regarding the estimated
time frame for the remediation of the above reference site once the polychlorinated bifel PCB delineation is complete we can begin preparing the Project's plans and specification ations since pcbs are regulated under the toxic
substances Control Act we must also prepare and submit a self- implementation plan to the US Environmental Protection Agency for review and approval it has been our experience that this has been a lengthly process and we have had to address several rounds of comments before
receiving the epa's final approval please note that we cannot finalize the Draft plans and specifications until we have Incorporated all EPA comments based on the based upon the aforementioned estimate that the on-site remediation will likely not begin until 2026 a copy
of this letter has also been placed in each of the council members uh budget binders under the tab miscellaneous because that reason the mayor and I did not ask for any funding uh in 2025 towards the remedial action of the swim club is that will not is not
expected to be known uh until 2026 or later based on uh my phone conversation with Mr Rossy and that concludes my update thank you thank you Mr general public comment limit to five minutes motion to open the public
comment period soov second all in favor I would anybody like to come up and address the council at this time president council members uh my name is Brian GL I'm team Su local 125 I represent the good guys of this uh DPW
you um good evening good evening I also represent 32 other dpws in northern New Jersey including your neighbors in Hillsdale Westwood Emerson uh they all have buildings to keep and maintain their equipment uh some are nicer than
others but they all have buildings for four long years this DPW has worked out of a tent and I uh strongly urge this government body to pass a resolution and give these guys a home that's it thank you thank you would anybody else like to come up
and address the council at this time good evening mayor council administrator I want to thank you for this opportunity I'm going on my 28 speak up please I'm going on my 28th year working for the road department and uh I really like to see a new building
like Brian said we're working out of a tent if we got to do plow blades and everything all that we're working out in the cold changing them you know got to take a little break cuz it's so cold to go in warm up a little bit then come back out and finish the job you know
we're doing in the snow some nights we're changing pal blades you know I think it's time for new building please thank you very much thank you would anybody else like to come up and address the council at this time seeing no one motion to close the
public comment period so move second all in favor I ordinances adoption second reading council president can I ask we call this until Council woman valz
um suspend the meeting until business we have counil I'll I'll second that so we'll move this to the until we before we go into conference please call councilman Casio yes councilman
Sears yes councilman om man yes council president to sen yes thank you very much introduction first reading ordinance number 2506 an ordinance amending chapter 212 of the ordinances of the township of Washington title fees motion to introduce and pass ordinance number
2506 at first reading by title so move second discussion what's uh driving this or what's what's what's the ask was I I Tred to it's a for the to update the
fees for the summer wre program but then we we put a Max on this last year Mr Mayor so we've exceeded the max already from last year well because we this year's program will exceed the current Max that's in the ordinance yes and what is and why are we why I don't understand
the reason for the 10% uh refund when it's always it was always $25 for a refund date so now we're going to do 10% of the of the the base amount why is why what is causing that um in in my meeting
with the summer wck uh director coordinator he brought to my attention that in quite a few cases he has people registering their children in the beginning and then they find something before the start of the program and
right now they're taking up spots where we have people weight listed um and so he believes that we should Institute a fee to discourage that that if you're in you're in like you don't take it and then back get the back out a week before the program starts without paying some
type of but we always had the $25 h no we we haven't remember we pulled that out a while ago so we did pull it yeah so right now there is no why can't we go back to the $25 fee I think 10% is a little harsh on it it's no was just something that was thrown out but if you
know if Council wants to change it you know as long as we put something in just so people can't abuse I would be I would be a because it's 600 it's almost $600 so we're asking for a $600 a $60 refund fee versus a $25 refund fee in the past
well the the in the in town rate is 525 uh so it would be yeah but by the time but but by the time you add all your stuff up it's going to be it would only be on the base program amount which is a 525 so on on all the excursions we just give them a full refund back with
no no no the excursions they don't um wait I have to take back what I was about to say yeah because we register you got to register for the excursions so excursions would have been full refund it was just the base amount so why don't we re have a refund for everything and then this way rather than
10% because again up to council's discretion they just wanted me to convey the idea that there should be some type of fee yeah I know when I registered it was like 800 something dollars with all the excursions and everything okay so yeah I imagine if you go on all the excursions that high still a good price
but it's what what do you what say you gentlemen $25 fee or 10% well so point two is refunds a full refund will be issued if
requested in writing within 14 days which is what they're trying to drop correct they don't want to hold yeah the 14 days was in case someone really registered by mistake or something they registered for the wrong program so that's from day one you're saying it it's from the date that the
people registered oh okay so you so I mean so somebody could registered two weeks before well usually it's been full long before two weeks before because again even at the 600 maximum uh we we weight listed I think
about 30 people last year who didn't and that that's what's driving and how many refunds did we get out um 10 I thought so yeah it could be in that range sorry I don't have that number handy I mean if PE I guess the question
is are are do we feel that people are abusing the the process or it's are they truly you know it's 10 people out of 600 it's they're using it as an insurance policy to say hey I'm
going to use it as a placeholder for my kid but if something better comes along I'm not going to get hit with any penalty I can pull them out literally the day before the program starts without a penalty and meanwhile we've had people weight listed who really wanted to use the program but couldn't
because of this situation so I think if we're trying to discourage that behavior then we leave the 10% we should make it more penal I don't know 10% or
instead of 25 it's 50 but you know if if it's if the behavior is that you know they're using it as insurance and at the last minute cancelling and screwing other people over then you want to try
to avoid that behavior so I would say if not 10% you know make it something they'll think about you know whether it's it's 50 or the 10% I think 25 you know that's cheap insurance yeah
I think the 10% if you remember we had a lot of Township residents that were here saying they were blocked out of it and uh then we decided no we went we had Township only registrations yeah and then we decided Township only at the beginning for what two weeks Mr may you
did right we did two weeks I I think we decided on 10 days not a well two full weeks yeah yeah pretty close and I think the 10% is more than fair all right everybody okay with the 10% then and that was the only change and
the and the rates they increased the rates again understood how much are the rates increased across the board they're all different or well these are the new maximums right Shan these are the new the maximum had the old ordinance the
old in your is in your packet okay that's yeah out out of town town for residents then second applicant and then out of town first applicant second app no all right here B here it is base
program the first participant in town residence is going from 500 to 5 and a quarter base program maximum free additional participant for in town residents 490 to 510 base program Mach for first participant for out of town residents from 600 to 630 and base
program Max for each additional participant for out of town 590 to 615 okay thank you and that's a m that's that are the new maximum that's the but that's but the budget I gave uh you that
will be the real number 525 will be the base yeah but you gave yourself the ability to go to 550 so we don't red yeah it's right here the maximum for is um 500 525 yeah no 525 okay
yeah there's 50s and T all over this thing yes so I mean that that's fine but if we're going to be in this situation next year again rather than having to change the ordinance should we make it high or
that's up to your fellow council members we don't mind coming every year yeah but we're we're doing it always at the last minute like we got if we don't pass this tonight you can't open registration so it is a problem every year we do this every year like
for the last forever yeah I say we pass it as it now and maybe look at it again in the fall to up them for the spring okay is that okay with everybody that sounds good so we're not doing it the you know the meeting before so we can open it it's it's hard
to narrow down the cost so early like in the fall for the next summer but yeah we'll give it a shot and estimated as best we can so I guess my only question is what's what's driving the increase to this point is it we're paying the rep directors and the people that work at
more we're offering more stuff um on campus I guess that's my that's my question it's uh it's it's a few things it's um you know just general costs going up uh for even the supplies uh Bethany's costs going up for the program
um so uh Bethany's obviously one of our larger parts of the program and they they ask for an increase this year um you know that's the biggest one I mean the people uh we did put in uh everyone across the board uh for a salary increase of 2 and a
half% um the transaction fees from a community pass one up some again everything okay roll call adopting as is correct as is yeah well this just first reading first
reading councilman yes councilman Sears yes councilman Omen yes councilman valz counc president the sen yes resolution number 25178 authorizing publication of ordinance number 2506 and schedule a public hearing D have a motion so move
second roll call counsilman Casio yes councilman tears yes councilman Omen yes council president Des senum yes resolutions consent agenda the following items have been determined to have the anonymous consent of council and will be enacted in one motion should any item require
independent consideration any council member may have such item removed from the consent agenda does anyone would anyone like any uh resolution removed at this time yes please what would you like to moove Mr 169
171 and 172 thank you resolution 25-1 168 authorized refund of overpayment of taxes various blocks and lots in the total amount not to exceed $847 resolution number 25-170 authorized
refund of engineering escrow funds block 4407 lot 50 and the amount of not to exceed 43775 resolution number 25173 support publish legal notices on official government websites resolution number
25174 appointments to Zoning Board of adjustment alternate number two member term expires 1231 2026 resolution number 25175 authorized memorandum of understanding with county of Bergen resolution number 25- 176 Municipal
resolution Township of Washington resolution number 25177 authorize Award of contract to Beck Meer engineering PC NJ do 2025 program coolage Avenue design and construction phases not to exceed $46,500 motion to approve consent adjust
consent agenda resolutions as is move second roll call councilman CIO yes councilman Sears yes councilman Omen yes council president Des yes resolution number 25169 authorized cancellation of any
current tax liability and all future property tax bill due to US veterans permanent disability block 4303 lot 3 and authorized refund of overpayment of of quarter 1 2025 property taxes to Loretta LLC in the amount of natic seed
$3,215 do I have a motion I'll second it question yeah so uh first you know uh I wanted to uh thank the gentleman uh you know he's being granted a uh exempt
due to his permanent disability so to recognize that I guess my question is Loretta LLC is is that is that a holding company of the property or is that the I'm sorry I I can't comment on
that just one of the ones that pay the taxes yeah if I had to guess it's either a service that pays or maybe that's their mortgage company who's paying the taxes on their behalf and so it's going to go back to their escrow account but that's all me guess okay
so I'll I'll vote Yes but is it possible just to confirm that because I guess my qu my question really is if it's held in a trust or the property is held in an LLC can the property gain or have an
exemption is it to the person or the I I I would think not I agree with you that's why I'm assuming that all the paperwork was looked at yes this is a tax payment service sort of like the first one the core logic 160 I'm familiar with that I've never seen this
so if we could just quantify that or uhid yeah yeah okay thank you thank you roll call councilman CIO yes councilman Sears yes councilman Olman yes council
president yes resolution number 25171 Award of Municipal advisor and continuing disclosure Services contract by Acacia Financial Group Inc do I have a motion some I'll second it
comments yes I have a question so do we know um on section two fees and expenses what are the um anticipated
expenses for this there's Bond financing note financing uh statement preps Consulting adfs Miss wowski I think we they provided us with a cost estimate
for each thing didn't they yeah I believe it's in there is it not maybe I missed it sorry B financing there minimum fee it's gated rate $1 to $1,000 per value with a minimum fee of, 1500 it's on page two
note financing is in there yeah so statement preparations in there I'm thinking we can't do Bond refinance or Bond financing and note refinancing we're doing one or the other and they have different rates uh and then there's a slew of
other fees that uh you know will potentially be uh on the hook for so I'm just wondering do we know what the max exposure is or do we have a any idea I
believe it's in there as well percentage of how how much money we borrow so we we have not incurred any fees yet all the information has been provided to them for us to for them to provide us with a plan and an estimate for what the borrowing rate will be as
well as their fees okay and then I'm assuming that this is going to be for permanent financing is that is that correct or incorrect well they're they're going to provide us with the recommendation as far as whether it's a band or a bond I would imagine if I'm
taking a guess it's going to start with the band okay and do we anticipate uh securitizing any other uh
expenses at this point in time or is it just 3 million well they were provided information with what our unfunded Capital ordinances are as well as the information on what our Capital proposed projects are but
they understand they're not approved by Council through the budget process and they've also been informed of the 2.85 in potential borrowing that may or may not be approved this evening okay so this is not then just
for this is not in response to to an actual proposal no no no this is we did this last year too except we did it for Acasia I think we did it for Phoenix we may have done for a third one but this is the company the mayor and I are
anticipating doing business with um they come highly recommended we've had meetings with them highly recommended by our bond Council and through Lurch Vincy and Bliss so they're all they're all components of the borrowing process okay
all right thank you wel counsman yes counsman seers yes councilman Omen yes council president D yes resolution number 255-1172 Award of contract to administrative agent
Community grants planning and housing LLC do I have a motion so Mo second any questions yes sorry it was a so on schedule a so these this organization manages our affordable
housing is that correct there're are Master agent so you know in this in this equation here is the township the master planner and then cgpn which is our um Master agent they
help us facilitate the reports the you know putting together the the information the documentation and helping us get through to the um you know down to the state so just on schedule a there
assuming no units are listed for sale I guess at this point we're not anticipating any uh activity on our affordable housing yeah I'm assuming we're going to
have a lot of activity but not that far not uh not in terms of actual items or actual units being available correct okay that was it Roa
councilman Casio yes councilman Sears yes councilman Omen yes councilman council president de yes any word back from Miss valz is she available to jump on or not yet I not seen her come on yet anything from you
Mr darara anything she had mentioned to me the earliest would be 8:00 uh CU that's when she was contracted through at work to say that so let's let's move on and then uh we'll come back after we'll have to come back after come back all right we not Clos we
got to still have yeah we still got to do the confence confence have to come back yeah all right motion to adjourn into the conference agenda some move second all in favor I next meeting of the township Council will be on March 3rd 2025
beginning at 7.m sign up for nixel text 07676 to 888777 key code TWP of Bergen conference agenda Administration 2025 budget yeah yes thank you council
president um happy to have the budget ready to present to the council this evening uh with your permission while Mark's doing that can I read my budget statement that ACC companies thank you good evening everyone council
members I'm pleased to present the township of Washington 2025 budget to the council for their review and approval I want to commend administrator Dar Carlo for his diligent work in preparing the budget with me as well as all the Departments for keeping their
requests well in line with expectations the proposed Municipal budget increase is a mod modest 1.5% over last year's budget equating to an annual $85 increase on the average assessed property value plus an
additional $19 for the library this was achieved while also reducing the amount of the Surplus contribution by 8% to 1.65 million from 1.8 million in addition money is no longer coming in from the American
Rescue plan fund or municipal Relief Fund Aid those two items account for a reduction of Revenue this year of over $200,000 the increase is also very reasonable considering that the Consumer
Price Index for 2024 was 2.9% four mandatory items account for more than the actual increase they are bcua sewer charges of 60,000 State Pension obligations of
75,000 Capital Improvement fund of 71,000 and the state formula for contribution to the library of 64,000 this is in the taking such a quick notes all right thank you yeah um some of this year's
capital projects include 887 th000 for the 2025 local Road program I hope the council will fund it this year unlike last year we do not want to go back to the days before 2014 when the program had not been funded for years and our local roads suffered
because of it 100,000 for stationary automatic license plate readers at some of the key intersections in town this investment is invaluable to law enforcement at all levels they help solve crimes and closed cases surrounding towns have had them in
place for many years 600,000 to replace two aging garbage trucks from 2006 and 2009 their age and needed repair frequency are partially what delayed the 2024 leaf collection program they're
also used for the weekly Garden debris and the bulk Goods pickup programs if we order them this year due to supply chain issues we will probably not take delivery of them until next year 250,000 to replace a front loader also dating
back to 2007 100,000 to replace a crew cab truck including a new plow and salting unit also from 2007 180,000 for two fully outfitted police vehicles 990,000 to replace a fire
department vehicle and 85,000 to replace fencing and back stops at Memorial Sherry and Clark Fields the cost for these capital projects represent investments in our town and its future continued and ongoing Investments ensure that our services and Facilities meet
and hopefully exceed the expectations of our residents as they continue to improve it reflects the pride we all take in this unique special and increasingly desirable place to live and raise our families during the budget process the Departments submit the amounts they need
to fund their operations they Supply realistic amounts that are confirmed by both me and the administrator requesting further reductions implies they build extra money into their budgets and I can assure the council that is simply not the case I understand and respect the
council's important oversight role in reviewing the budget I was a council person too and I can assure all Council persons that the budget submitted is fully vetted and necessary for the Departments to do their work and accomplish their objectives for the good of our residents and Community the
council should certainly ask questions like I did during the process to fully understand the needs of the departments at the end of the year if the budget has unspent money which is usually the case we use that amount to replenish the Surplus that amount can
then be used to offset future tax increases is no different than basic home budgeting in that regard when you budget money for your household and are fortunate to have money left over you know you accomplished what you set out to do budgeted close to the actual cost
save some money and then use the excess for something in the future it is not lost or double tax has been incorrectly referenced in the past please examine your tax bill when you receive it to see the different agencies your tax dollars support the municipal portion of the total tax bill
is quite reasonable given the level of services it provides administrator Dar Carlo and I look forward to collaborating with the council to answer their questions and work toward budget approval thank you that concludes my budget report thank you Mr council president can I just take 30 seconds
toate thanks uh Council M you just if you don't mind going to the um capital budget tab you look at that Excel spreadsheet um this is a true and accurate depiction there's no other projects that we're working on that
we're waiting for any type of information so we're not going to get one at midnight that we're going to have to cut the road program bar emergy okay okay so I did want to tell you that and there is a line to support the letter I wrote from Mr Rossy that there's no um no funding is requested this year for
the swim club ha this material remediation and then each department has its own tab with its supporting documentation behind it the only other thing to mention uh is you have audit Trails this year which is new for Grant trust and capital thank you last year you were only given the balances of the
account lines but you have the whole year audit Trail and then the miscellaneous tab if you go to that it has the building department well it has the Boswell letter that I read it also has the building department annual report so income versus expenses and you
also have the uh the health department dep's income versus expenses report and thank you that's all I got for you thank you um be and under Administration December council meeting date yes
uh unfortunately um the the the dates we had to choose from uh were narrow for this year's hopeful party um and so the only date they could accommodate was December 1st which happens to be a council meeting date um so I would just
ask the council if they would entertain moving that date to another date uh for the anticipated holiday party can we push it to later on to see if we need that meeting is it like or make it is this December 2nd I I
don't think there's a rush but I just want to let the council know since I know now that was December one is is the available okay we'll have to check and see what other dates boards are meeting right I do oh excuse me
Mr December 3rd is a planning board meeting zoning board only meets once on the 16th so want to just move it to the second that's okay with it that's that's a Tuesday night is that going to be a conflict for Council woman lill I don't know her how long her
conflict is on Tuesdays maybe we should wait until next meeting just to double check all right well she gets on when she gets on we'll move I don't think it'll be a problem can I interrupt you she's on her way about 25 minutes out but she's available for to phone in well
let's phone yeah please all right let's uh continue on parking and storage of boats and boats trailer followup any follow up on that yeah uh I went around and there are more boats than the original dirty I had listed um so uh
again just looking at the size of these uh Vehicles you know I think the planning board they discussed a verm of I believe Tom six foot high uh vegetation vegetation okay and a lot
of these uh Vehicles especially uh some of the larger boats and some of the uh going to cover it 6 foot will not cover it and again a lot of these um boats are basically right on people's property lines there is really no way you can put
the vitation there to hide those Vehicles so I think we really have to decide what we're going to do and then we talk about grandfathering people that already have them um so that's the only followup I really have again I went around again and you know when you
really start looking like a Peeping time at people's backyards and side yards you know there a lot of stuff that you normally don't see when driving by and there's a lot more than we anticipate so just wanted to bring that up film ready ordinance Mr Mayor so what you want to
do with this just keep it on keep keep it on there until and then we'll decide what we're going to do okay thank you thank you the film ready film ready ordinance so we had a scout for a film U maker come and meet with Miss wowski Miss
deleski and myself to kind of offer to us what they hope to do as far as you know creating the film in our town much uh very similar to what they did last year so um they gave us some information however we don't have a Township
ordinance to regulate government Etc so miss wowski reached out to her uh support group with any ordinances from surrounding towns that's what the council has in their paperwork this evening so we kind of just wanted to see if the council has a taste for creating
a Township ordinance and if so um if you could please take some time to review what do our adjoining town do any of the adjoining towns I know Ridgewood has one you remember has one one so why why don't we have Mrs
bile um review it and come up with one sure right if you're interested I know the police department was in support of having one I think we should have one so we not we're not at the last minute trying to get one done so we can have somebody film what's
the what are we looking to regulate or just control it like well I think you know I didn't get a chance to read them all too but I mean there's starts off with permitting fees you know what they can what they can't do approval and review by the police department by Administration you know you're looking
to see if there's inconveniences to the township what type of traffic problems or you know anything that it may create I mean this film one is is a lowbudget film that they wanted to come in they want to be on private property like last time film during the week during the day
shift nothing violent like you know so I think it's still good to have an Ord probably in case get a real you know maybe Happy Gilmore 3 will come to Township New Jersey do would this regulate on private property or is it
just it did it the one I started was the first one in the group and I think it addressed it in its first paragraph that it was Township property as well as private property and again it's there for you guys and girls to review and come up
with a recommendation I'd be I'd be happy with having M biley give us a recommendation on what she thinks everybody else okay with that sure sure Mr Sears yes positive Mr Casia sure Mr
Al uh yeah okay was there can I ask a question was there anything about any of these ordinances that people didn't like or specific Provisions that were objectionable I Mr on she is on and I'm not sure they've had council's had a
chance to read them all there's there's quite a few I did see a couple things I wanted I'll discuss with you in private okay sounds good can I be the noise control noise Control Ordinance Miss B you on with
us yeah we just got Miss Daisy we got one more thing and then we're going to go to to vote for the DPW ordinance okay perfect thank you so much I appreciate it on the noise control or so in response
to the council's request um Conn with the discussion with a member of the public who came forward I was asked to put together an ordinance that might incorporate some of the concerns that were raised um it turns out D actually
actually has a model uh noise ordinance that arguably should be implemented um as a matter of law in any case uh it's questionable whether something that is is not modeled after the D's ordinance could even be enforced in
municipal court so maybe this is a two uh birds with one stone situation so this is what I put together it's based upon the model DP ordinance which it can be stricter um than this so if you have anything you want to add that it's just
basically listing decimal levels at each hour of the day right I mean yes and it but it also has you know suggestions in here about uh you know Lawn Equipment having Mufflers on those um on those pieces of of personal equipment things
of that nature power tools and things like that certain hours of operation During certain periods of time those are issues that we were discussing or the council excuse me was discussing last time they're they're all treated in here in the way that DP has found they want
municipalities to treat these issues okay so again you can be more restricted than the state's you can why don't we all take a look at it for the next meeting and bring back uh any comments for Miss Bailey to incorporate or not to incorporate if we're happy with it I I
just have one question yes Mr um section 11 Motor Vehicles so they talk about ncos and NCIS which don't appear to be
uh police staff and so do they not enforce the so who you know I I don't see a NCO which I think is like someone
from the health department and an NCI which is someone who has some knowledge but is not a great a trained sort of sound person how do they
interact with motor vehicles uh I just couldn't reconcile that and I don't know if we're taking stuff away from the police or which I'm not sure we want to do or if they're you know maybe they're not
regulating it now or maybe they're not enforcing anything now but you know you hear these cars come by you know these modded cars with you know those F Cann Mufflers yeah he lives on beach you know it is yeah yes yes it is we know well
you know living on near the parkway you know on a Sunday morning which I know is not the jurisdiction we're covering but you could hear them you know a half a mile away so would that be sort of the buron county health or would that be the
police department well there you go there you go well first at the outside I'll say section section 11 is an optional provision is the only optional provision
okay so we can take a look at it and and and let me speak to the chief captain and see if we can how we can incorporate that is that okay Mr Mayor if we talk to the Chief and the captain see how we incorporate chapter 11 sure all right anything else on noise
ordinance okay now uh ordinance adoption second reading ordinance number 25-4 a bond ordinance providing for the construction of a new Department of Public Works facility in and by the township of Washington in the county of Bergen New Jersey appropriating $3
million therefore and authorizing issuance of 2.85 million in bonds or notes of the township for financing such appropriation resolution number 25-1 167 authorizing second reading and opening of public hearing for ordinance 2504 do
I have a motion so move I'll second it this um when do we get our questions or is this public this is our questions in public roll you got roll call no not yet can't roll call to we do questions we
did a motion in second you have to roll call to open to open up up Council C councilman councilman Sears yes councilman Alman yes counc president the Sena yes and can we add to the meeting that councilwoman valz has joined us via
Zoom yes should I'm going to yes thank you Council woman bless okay now we can discuss mrman or in the public can come up after you discuss or whoever on the day is wants to discuss defer to the public if would
anybody in the audience like to come up regarding this Bond ordinance no one in the audience mrman how about on the days I have a few questions go ahead mrman so um Following last
meeting uh I had reached out to mayor kalamari uh to uh with a request to speak to miss ba regarding the bonding ordinance uh specifically I wanted to ask about adding a time restriction on
the use of the proceeds uh and you know per uh the powers that are uh vested in the mayor uh he declined my request uh feeling that the fellow council
members and public would benefit from hearing my questions which I don't I don't think they're really that interested but you think so I find them interesting so my question is um do we have the ability to
insert a cancellation clause in the bonding uh coordinates so and the reason I'm asking that is if you can bear with me just one
moment we had uh earlier this year uh a ordinance or a uh excuse me a bill for Mr beckme uh for engineering 2024 New
Jersey DOT a DOT and that bill was paid for with an ordinance that was passed in 2013 so it is 10 years and 10 months
old um I doubt that uh Mr Beck Meer Casio derso gets or herck uh contemplated that and ordinance
that they passed in 2013 would still be paying bills in 2025 uh so my question is uh do we have the ability to put a restriction or
a uh you know cancellation on the ordinance if the funds are in drawn and not used that the uh ordinance cancels yes special councel bond councel prepares those ordinances I
would defer to his opinion on anything nuanced like that that can and can't go into those ordinances okay as a matter of law council president I interject some information sure an anticipation of Mr
Olman bringing up this question I did speak with uh Mr Bob binefeld our bond councel uh this evening and um not to present myself as argumentative with Mr Olman but you have um several times now focused on the fact
that we've used an old ordinance which we in fact did however it was with the prior knowledge and approval of the sitting Council because that information was provided to the council and had the opportunity at the time to disagree or
to advise Administration not to utilize that money so I I would respectfully ask you that you represent that information accurately and uh and completely in answering your question though well first of all if I may I
never said that this is about this was given a recap of why I'm raising the issue I didn't say we shouldn't be I just said that it it's 10 years and 10 months old and I felt
that these individuals likely did not approve that ordinance you know almost 11 years ago for this purpose I didn't say it was wrong or right I just was laying out a statement of fact
essentially okay uh respectfully I just completed your sentence by letting the public know uh that we did have approval to utilize that and administration wasn't just shooting from the hip with the decisions it made however uh I did speak to Mr binefeld and he said that
Council certainly uh can place any type of time limit uh within the ordinance or following up resolution and you can do it at any time you're not stuck to any type of time frame if you don't get that information into the ordinance this
evening he said as in support of what you said Mr rman he says that um on a periodic basis especially at the five-year mark this should automatically be undertaken uh which we did last year it
just took several months to get up to date so um the answer your question very simply is yes you can it can be placed in the ordinance this evening or you can follow up with a resolution or any time after afterwards he did though caution
on placing a restriction that would be too um what word I before too short rest too time restricted uh especially if God forbid we're in the middle of construction another covid epidemic happens um we
wouldn't want it to uh you know to be stuck and then have to go back to the drawing board but the answer to your question is yes okay thank you um I had another question on the
ordinance [Applause] um on page three section 4 point a uh the said purpose described in section three was Bond BS is not a current
expense um so again uh Mr Roman I'm sorry I don't know where you're at uh the ordinance that was prepared by uh Hawkins Delafield and wood we were provided with it last week excuse me
last meeting page three was a memo dated to you uh from Mr binefeld on January 27 it included a ordinance a blank not a blank
ordinance but a unnumbered ordinance the rough draft of his ordinance assuming I'm assuming okay page section 4 paragraph a paragraph a okay so how are we
defining um for the purpose of the ordinance current expense vers uh Capital expense I don't either I I again please take this you know that I'm not an attorney and I didn't draw this up that
it's kind of saying that we're not using this to pay any current expense or operating and it is part of a capital Improvement but please take it in the spirit I no try to answer your question
I agree I guess how how is that defined for the purpose of this ordinance or bonding ordinances in general because this uh sort of um statement uh appears in some flavor in
all in all of our ordinances so I'm just wondering you know how current expense versus the capex is defined uh for the expenses related to this I can't answer that other than what
I just said Miss belly I I've been looking for my copy of my ordinance I apologize just give me one second what is the question Mr Omen I was so section four okay a of the Hawkins letter of or yes the the first
the draft I guess ordinance or the shell of the ordinance page three okay said purpose described in section three of this Bond coordinance is not a current expense and is property or Improvement
Etc so I guess the question I have is how do we Define or how is the current expense defined versus the capex again I I would need to defer to bond Council on that I apologize I don't know what the topic my
had okay and then the is that something that we could ask them if not for the decision tonight just to understand that going short yeah abely of course I
mean he describes the project in section three yes I guess so yes uh the last question I have is
regarding the Appropriations that were passed for ordinance 1917 and 1704 so there's a couple of things one
is when we look at the the estimate that we've been given uh the estimate for the structure is 3.2 million the contingency is a built in of
10% which is 320,000 uh we have a contingency of 350 so you know where did that extra 30 come from uh the escalation is 6% which is
192 and we're showing an escalation of 210 so that's an additional 18 so we're starting out with a in addition to the contingency and the escalation of 16% another
50k rounding of uh additional funds and then the final amount of funding that we're asking for is a further depending on what number you start with uh
200k or 250k of cushion so you know it seems to me you know when I read the uh disclaimer about uh the attempt to
capture all encompassing reasonable expenses uh the effort put forth uh but you know you can't identify everything um but isn't that what the contingency is for so it seems we're have we have a contingency on a contingency well the cont those numbers
were provided to us by the architect and that contingency and escalation is pertaining to the building only so the other estimates that were given to us by Beck Meer engineering one with those estim given to us Mr P Mar I've given you've gotten several times no but I'm
saying when did we last receive was most recently it would have been with my written memorandum February 3rd meeting yeah okay we just got those costs I know people have been saying that you know we've been waiting a year up here we just got those costs I I don't know what you're talking about
well there's been been statements made that the council's delayed this ordinance vote for over a year now we just received the final plus opinions from back minor within I let's call it early January 2025 I know it's February but so we couldn't have put an ordinance
out there until we had those numbers which we just received just want to make that clear so should the 915 have a 10 16% escalation or 10% escalation and a six
uh 10% excuse me 10% contingency of a 6% escalation should the what repeat that again the site costs so you mention that well I I I do I do know your desire
is for us to capture every known expense we could and I think you even brought up was the generator on there and the generator wasn't so we made it perfectly clear to the engineers who are fabulous that we needed to try and capture everything and sitting down in the room
and with all of our professionals we left out the generate which is a pretty big component I think we estimated at $100,000 so it's it might be an unreasonable pressure for us to sit here and think of
every absolute thing even when we have the Architects and Engineers that are experienced the professional doing this so I think the estimate of 150,000 over to get to the 5 million is reasonable and just to clarify this Bond ordinance
is giving us or the township the authority to borrow up to $2,850 th000 it doesn't mean that's what we are borrowing so you wanted in all encompassing or you had asked which reasonable of an all-encompassing
expense expectation which we're trying to give you so now I it seems as though you're adding up what I gave you and it's not coming into 5 million which I explained in my memory random that I ran it up to the 5 million but we might not need to borrow on that so the architect is
anticipating having the um documents ready between January and March most likely March which will give us and then the public bid and award so we do have money on hand to get the project started
but we'll know better as we put the project out to bid as to a more specific probably specific cost for the project so right now it's it's tough to
put it down to the dime as to what the exact cost is going to be so for a $5 million project to estimate a little buffer of 150 I'm sorry I take for granted your number is correct I'm not sure if you said 250 or
150 again that's not what we're going to borrow it's what we're asking for authorization ation to Bor up to up to right I mean you know we we were throwing around ideas of Steel being cheaper and now there's the potential
tariff or is a tariff on steel which could be 25% more if we bought it out of the country it's just an example I don't so the reason I am asking these questions is because I don't know how many years ago
it was but uh probably like eight years ago or whatever it was uh I sat up here as a council person and approved a 58
million bond for the firehouse which was the number that was presented to us and we at 7.5 uh because
the site work was not presented to us uh we were not provided with a budget of that so we thought it was going to or I should speak for myself uh it was presented at 6 million and we're at
7.5 so one of the one of the things I'm trying to do is as you said uh get down to a realistic number um
and I feel if we have extra money in the ordinances we're going to spend it uh and again you have as you pointed out you've asked the council and no one pushed back but we used
every penny just about of the ordinances uh for the firehouse so even though the firehouse was built complete you know done and dusted we're still banging that ordinance uh so the fact that we can go
to that point doesn't mean uh you know that's the max we can borrow uh but Mr I would feel that we would get there but Mr rman I think the last time we asked Mr binefeld what we
could do is if we approv the 5 million number tonight like Mr Dar Carlo and M and 2. 2.8 but a funding for the project of up to $5 million with all the other anticipated money that's in other places
we could then once the bids come in reduce that amount so it's a it's not out there anymore I think that's what Mr Bine told us last time we just didn't do that so once we do receive the bids in June or whenever they come in when we have a final
number we could then make another you know amend the ordinance to reduce it to that new amount with some push in it I'm sure I want to see I like yeah okay so the last question I have
is um you know just for the public out there uh I think it's a matter of being fully informed uh that's all I'm trying to uh do at
this point to be fully informed and make an informed decision I don't disagree that the gentlemen that are sitting in the back row uh for the DPW deserve a building uh clearly they
do uh but I have a responsibility I have a personal responsibility as an elected official to understand what I'm putting my name to so I'm sorry that you find it uh humorous uh you know but uh I think it's
necessary at least for me to give uh the approval so B and ordinance uh 1917 we're pulling out a million dollar from which is essentially I believe the
school yes funds so I had sent an email prior to the last meeting and provided some numbers
uh about bar ordinance 1704 that the appropriation and estimated cost will 1 959 the maximum amount of bonds or notes is 1.7 and that we are currently using
873 and I guess I'm trying to understand when I look at the information that was passed in the ordinance vers the information that was provided with the the budget account
maintenance printouts yes how we reconcile those two because I assume and maybe incorrectly so that we've funded these
amounts or we these have been approved uh and I'm just wondering where if where the Gap is in these numbers in terms of what was approved
in the ordinance and what we're actually tracking so is there and I'm not saying it's missing money but it's money that's unaccounted for in these runs and the same could be said for
1704 we're using 285 I believe well if you remember from the conversation you you did didn't get these supporting documents until the following day right so we haven't gotten a chance to speak about what I sent to you however I did tell you that your
numbers were off a little bit because you're basing your numbers off of what was approved in the bond ordinance I don't was not here in 2017 nor 18 19 20 or 21 so I remember
telling you that and neither was the CFO so I have no idea why they ENT the mouth they did into the account line I don't like the word use of missing money I think you know I
understand you're prob using that hopefully for a lack of a better term that gives a different impression the budg the count was set up with 1, 660,000 5050 So based on what happens today
there may have been money taken refle soft costs if you could tell by reading bond ordan is they allow you to create a soft cost account but they don't tell you they don't identify in those paragraphs a b c d and e and FG
whatever the amount in the soft Bo so I can only speculate what they did in 2017 so out of the six the 1.6 60 and $50 I gave you proof of the spending of
$641,000 not what was actually created in our edmin system and that that's the same for Bond warant 1917 would our Auditors who I believe span that period would they
have information regarding that our Auditors don't create the account lines in admin but again an auditing facet would be to identify the your terms the missing money there's no
missing money that that's paper money that's Make Pretend Monopoly money essentially in that Bond ordinance it's it's allowing or allocating what the anticipated cost of each one of those projects are so that account line was
set up with the 1.6 blah blah blah rather than I think it was um 1704 so I understand why you think that looks it appears as if there's what is that $44,000 or missing money but
there's not anything else Mr rman no I I disagree uh I understand Mr caller's point or uh his
view but you know I don't again I don't understand how we have these ordinances uh and they don't correlate to uh you know books and
records and what that Gap is so rather than calling it missing money uh gap between the ordinance and the general L thank you because if if we could find if we could determine the Gap you know
is there a possibility that there's additional funds available to us that have already been bonded that we don't have to uh continue or go out for further bonding thank
you roll call oh excuse me motion to close the public hearing for ordinance 2504 do I have a motion Mike yes anyone else Speak oh I'm sorry go ahead go ahead okay I just have some very very brief and simple questions I have to the
administration what is the anticipated yearly payment for this this constructions project as uh as I think I we provided at a prior meeting um it was a term at what 4748 a year on the average assessed home mark do I remember that cor because
we provided a document that had um increments it was like whether it's a borrowing of 10 years 20 years 30 years based on estimated interest rate the average home what is the what is the yearly payment for the municipality for
the project and how many years are we talking are we doing 20 30 50 well we could do 30 and I believe that number was $47 on the average assessed home in the township okay for that was for this amount 2.8 for this for this only this
bonding that we have I think it was when you had the other the other bands in there it was there was a number in there also think it was like $79 or something I don't it was referencing this three okay so you're saying 30 years
47 home an average home right yeah and that it was at a 4% interest rate 4% thank you very much um and I understand that this is a project that needs to get done it should have been done uh a long time ago through many administrations and I do not disagree
with that and I do want to give the DPW at home and I thank them for their service um but here's my main concern my main concern we have two properties that may need major remediation and I right now I'm
uncomfortable of bonding for $3 million until I know what the cost of the remediation is going to be now it's convenient that we got a email from Boswell today saying that that remediation is not going to happen until 2026 um you know the wheels of
government can either turn slowly or quickly my concern is of the those unknown costs at this point again two properties could have major contamination and you know the cost of remediation contamination so that is
right now that's my major Hangouts with this um so I'm just going to leave it at that Mr seus no I'm comfortable what we got moving forward Mr Les um I understand
some of the reservations in regards to the other properties how ever that could be years down the road right there was dissatisfaction with a great lawn so by the time we finalize anything to do with
the swim club and other properties these gentlemen are still sitting in a tent and this is an investment in our community so while I understand your thought process I do recognize that we have needs that need to be met by the
town and an investment in our community spread across future generations to uh to Bear the burden I think is responsible spending so that's my opinion thank
you I I agree that the DPW does a great job with the um with the staff they have and the equipment they have and with the progress they've made in the past years with uh lot much better Services than years ago um I think they do need a home
it is right to give them somewhere where they can work in shelter and uh you know it's it's way overdue um and I think it's time to uh do something about it now I'd like a motion to close the public portion of the hearing
24 second roll call sry councilman Casio so councilman to Senate yeah don't do that councilman seers yeah yes councilman Alman no just closing the public hearing oh
yes thank you Council will valz we're cling closing the public just closing the public yeah that's what I made a motion for to close hearing for ordinance 254 we're not voting yet yes council president to Senate yes now we going to vote motion to adopt ordinance
number 2504 at second reading by title do I have a motion so move I'll second it roll call councilman Casio no councilman Sears
yes councilman man no council M valz yes council president desum yes you only have three yeses I know I'd like to make a motion to put it back up for discussion at the next
meeting please that's fine so move this needs to be resolved now it's been going on way too long sorry guys way too long
I we ask the other Council people please just look down deep in yourself look at the gentlemen that are here I I I know we all appreciate their work but we can't not have them do another winter or
another work on a truck in the yard um I just ask the council people if we could have another vote just to rethink what we need I'll make that motion I'll second it please gentlemen it's
overdue I see what they go through on a daily basis because I'm around town a lot it it's not that they're slacking off it's not that they're not doing their job my God I mean I see them in rain and snow and sleep and hail and and
they're doing outstanding work so Gentlemen please just all right we have a motion to revote on um excuse me I just got to get my paperwork to revote motion to revote on or adopting ordinance number 254 at
second reading by Mr sear second you had a motion had a second read do a roll call that's what that's why I wanted to put it in record council president you mind if I just clarify just a couple things for Mr Cassy it might might help change his mind or help him feel more comfortable but if you don't mind if I just
take um councilman Cassie if you remember we are we did apply for the grant for the remedial action for the swim club um if we're award that Grant it will pay up to 75% of the remedial
action and hopefully 100% of the investigation um it was not coincidental that you received it tonight I know that it was specifically your concern a couple meetings ago that you wanted to have an amount so when I prepared the
capital budget I did have a line in there which I pointed out tonight however I wanted something and writing from Boswell rather than just my work so that is exactly why it was received and read this evening um to let you know like there isn't a 1 a. um amount coming
after you've approved everything else so I think it's it's like best case scenario if we even get those numbers for 26 and and from speaking with Mr Rossy he explained you know a situation in another town it's Tak a long time it
takes a long time and D even though they're going to put timelines on us it's for us to get it done as opposed to never getting it done it's not they're going to say you got to do it next month or next year so he'd be surpris and I was flored when he said that because I was expecting it to be this year he said
it could be 26 27 before we're actually putting a shovel on the ground so we may not know sir that that amount for a long time and if we do please know that we're we hopefully going to get up to 75% recouped and as far as the other property again I know a lot of this was
discussed and closed so I don't want to reveal so much but you know the other property I'm talking about there's that uh agreement that was made at part of the purchase so the township shouldn't be um incurring that expense either so again that's a cost we we anticipate and
it could exceed that cost because again it's we have two properties with unknown variables could be high dollar unknown variables which may exceed the value of this building it's very Poss POS right and you I know you can't answer that I
understand right and I wouldn't want to um you know here's the thing when D tells you to do something it's got to be done there's no kicking it down the road right we can't do it and then if I'm putting a $5 million bond out right and
then I have to come up with another three four million where's that going to go to the taxpayer and we can't guarantee that we're going to get those grants so you know now we're talking potential of eight to10 million I can't ask the taxpayer to to Bear the burden of that for for an extended period of
time I can't and I sympathize with these workers they do a fantastic job how they do it I don't know okay and we appreciate them we really do and I've been on the counc for a long time and this is something that's been coming down the pike forever okay even before my time correct Peter for a very very
long time they they they have worked in adverse conditions we appreciate it but you have to understand even though they work for the town I represent the town people and they have to be able to pay their taxes and afford it okay right now
a lot of people at a crunch time okay it's crunch so I have to you can under you can understand my position right so again it's not they have anything against the DPW I just want to make sure that we have enough to cover everything
without overburdening the taxpayer with excessive costs okay and I know Peter and I know you work very hard on the budget and I appreciate it but I just can't at this at this time um you know put an exposure
of almost $10 million out there I just can't do it so that's that's my feeling and again I appreciate their hard work they do a fantastic job I think every res is very satisfied with their work and I wish there was another way but
right now I I just have have a problem thank you for I appreciate it I thank you for work go ahead Mr uh Mr administrator there's no time frame when we have to clean this property up right we're not being forced to clean any of
this property up right now what I was told is that D or the EPA will give the township time restrictions okay so we have we have a space between we have to clean up and what these gentlemen need
yes again in my mind when I because I've never experienced this before I was assuming it was something that was going to be boom boom boom in further understanding with Mr Rossy there'll be a time frame that has to be done but it could be 10 years that they're giving us it's not I don't know
that for a fact but based on the other there a date the clock's going to start after 2026 I'm sorry after Mr Ross's right after 2026 it could be like a month later he's they're going to say all right you got two years to remediate this or whatever me based on what he told me I don't think it's going to be
two years because he he has a town that's they're in the third fourth year of this and they haven't even put the shovel on the ground wow what I'm concerned is you know I understand councilman Cassio is concerned but what if I can't give you that number until 26 or 27 and that's your mechanism to make
a decision and I'm not arguing with you you know I'm just I know hammering it out with you um you know I understand and the cost of building is just going to go up so and and again we know we know the the
exposure at the other property is nothing compared to the PCD exposure at the swim fund and you know again I just based on what what we've both heard so thank you for listening again I appreciate it thank you Mark appreciate Mr you have any other questions no I'm
done may I make a statement oh oh I'm sorry I'm sorry no I was just gonna say so we're sitting here thinking far into the future but if we don't get any timeline so are they supposed to wait for the D EPA to give us a timeline we
have to make decisions for our community based on the information available to us now so what you're saying they benefit the residents but if these gentlemen are not here the Ben the residents aren't going
to benefit from anybody so we are potentially putting these gentlemen at risk so which way do we want to you know spend it in the front end or the back end we have to move forward so that they can properly serve our
community again we are this is over a period of time and yes we can throw 10 million 12 million but those aren't the numbers in front of us so we can be mindful and careful but we have to serve the needs now the
swim club 5 10 years down the road you know God willing that's not the case so they're just waiting that's not right to them or the residents we're not doing our job up here if we keep waiting for somebody to tell us oh now you can make a decision
we got to make decisions now the in my opinion this the swim puring Swim Club is a mistake okay I'm not going to put blame on anyone I did not vote for it okay because it was an unknown cost um that we were going
into uh again I'll tell you what I will I will vote for this I will Vote for This resolution tonight if we can cut out cut out uh significant amount of this budget that's here today in front of us present it to us I'll do it if you estimate
$47 per resident okay if we can cut our budget by $47 per household I'll vote for this tonight as I said in my statement the Departments presented the budgets they need to operate on um you know they
didn't build any fat in so I cannot make that that promise now um but mik Mike may I make a comment please yes thank you um as we all know the soil was contaminated at the uh location of DPW
in the80s we just remediated recently so that's 30 plus years that we were able to file for extensions and like that um I don't know if that would happen again but we do have that in the past to look at that it has happened um you know
we're looking to finish this financing $47 for the average assessed home even if you double that it's under $100 a year which means over 30 years if you double it you're looking at each home paying $3,000 if I the meth quickly and
correctly um you know over 30 years in my opinion you know I spend you I spend the taxpayers money as if it's my own but you know to give this department who works so hard for the town you know the locations location that they need to
operate out of you know one of the last snow storms you might remember the days afterward it was in the single digits I'm watching these guys out there trying to clean and maintain the equipment they just you know they make a best effort but they're suffering out there and you
know I think for the dollars involved yes 3 million is a lot of money but when you advertise it over the 30 years you know I think the the average uh household taxpayer can afford the $47 to $100 a year at this point you know had
we had we been here a couple years ago before we knew about the swim club and the soil contamination the council then probably would have voted for it so why can't we vote for it now because we would have had the same expense on the swim club now but this would have
already been done and uh so i' I'd like to leave it at that you know I just you know thank the the department the employees they deserve a a good working environment and right now you know we're not giving that to them and shame on us who you know for not doing that I do
have just one more CL one more up my sleeve coun c um just for clarity again I know $47 $47 but it wouldn't be a tax impact this year and most likely not next year either uh again I'm not the financial expert but the way it was explained to me is through combination
of bands and then bonds it might not be a tax impact on the residents until 2027 and possibly even 2028 by the way of borrowing but I I would have more information from that once I'm able to consult aasia but it definitely would not be this year and most likely not
next year either because a ban would be for one year you get a bond pay off the band and it would potentially be a tax impact in 2027 that's that's the last thing I okay that's that's that's my deal well here
Mr um councilman Casio I can't make any promises because that would be a bad politician but I will tell you that I will do my absolute best to help cut the budget as best possible if we can get your vote Yes
tonight make it a that's zero gain and I'm for I mean we still have to move the town forward but we can do that very responsibly so I will I would be more I haven't even looked at it right okay so I don't know if you were
taking a peek at it but I will do my absolute best to work with you if you can get these guys a yes vote I will work with you I will be the I'm going to be the township Doge Department that's what we're going to do we're going to cut as much fat as we can all right and we might have to cut stuff
that we need you know there's a lot of wants and a a lot of needs let's cut the wants get the needs get it down make this a zero net gain and I'm okay with it all right are you okay with that M Viss I'm not making promises but I will
guarantee I will do my best okay I'll give you my word also okay Mr sers okay let's do a roll roll call please okay okay Council Casio
yes councilman Sears yes councilman Alman no council bz absolutely yes councilman Des absolutely yes thank you thank you Mr cassia thank you gentleman for stay till
[Applause] L motion to go into close session for resolution number 25- 1791 Boulevard South update litigation the township Council will not come out of close session motion to enter move all in
favor let's take a five minute say second all in favor all 5 minut so uh Ricky can shut off the camer