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e e e a regularly scheduled public meeting of December 2nd 2024 of the township of Washington Township Council adequate notice of this meeting was given in accordance with the open public meeting meting act by the Township Clerk to at least two newspapers in January and this
Met 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 mayor and Council meetings the fire exits are located through the double doors to your right and through the door to your on
your left please silence all cell phones if you aren't aable to attend the council meetings in person and would like a topic to be addressed at a council meeting please send email to the town trip of Washington hyphen contact all council members at once TWP of washington. us can everyone
please stand for a salute to flag I pledge Al to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all roll call councilman Casio
councilman C here councilman Omen here councilwoman valz here council president to Here let the record reflect also in attendance mayor Peter Kari Township administrator Mark De Carlo Township attorney Siobhan Bailey and Township Clerk Susan wowski payment of bills
resolution number 24-36 authorized payment of bills November 13 2024 to November 26 2024 do I have a motion so move second any discussion I just had one question which
I forwarded earlier to uh Mr Dar Carlo regarding the uh State uh the police uh accreditation excuse me
y president thank you Mr this is in regards to the um cost associated with the Rogers Group and the New Jersey State Association of chiefs of police which is on this evening's Bill list um the question was can I explain the Cadence and amount of fees related to
police accreditation or both of these charges expected annually the simple answer is yes accreditation is a continuous ongoing uh program that will take place every year towards re accreditation which is every three years
the Rogers Group provides the mandatory training that's outlined and required by police accreditation and then the New Jersey State Association Chiefs of police actually Awards accreditation so every uh 3 years there is a fee uh
associated with the re accreditation the police department are paying it off in thirds that's why on the uh the bill I think it was like 1334 and then the Rogers Group um is approximately $155,000 annually and again that's to provide the mandatory training to all police department
members as well as the maintenance of the standards they assist them through the process they provide policy updates Etc um so yes that will be expected to be uh every year and there will not be a transfer
the second one is it seems we had just had the chief in acknowledge the accreditation now we are paying for reaccreditation fee explain that additionally and it's a line that's cited appears to have been planned for at a much lower value 3,000 versus 10,000 do we have adif funds in the line
uh or will we transfer so there is no transfer uh if you guys and girls remember back to the budget process the police department actually asked for $155,000 in the police accreditation line we funded it the current line with $
4,281 because I was able to offset it with the Bergen County GIF safety incentive program of 10,719 so that's why the charges were split between the two lines and hopefully that uh answers your question
so the do you have to look at both lines in aggregate yes it it won't be that way moving forward in 2025 because they won't have the safety incentive program to supplement the line so that line will
most likely be funded as just one line okay thank you you're welcome Mr call I had a one quick question the clay was broken out into six different light items I'm assuming for the six different field locations is that how the play was paid for six well
it was all from the same Capital but it was Bill to each individual field so every time there was a delivery we we were bu gotcha okay I just want to make sure how we encumbered it so we encumbered by delivery at each at each field yeah so we did what was called a blanket okay um purchase order and then
we make some payments through that and that's what you saw thank you welome any other questions roll call councilman Casio councilman seers yes councilman yes Council Wes yes council president the Senate
yes PSA for December 2nd 2024 psng is replacing existing electric and gas meters with new smart meters throughout the town as required by the BPU please be sure to respond to any letters requesting meter replacement the project will be completed at the end of this month oh wow finally in November please
visit our website for further information Town Hall elevator the modernization has been been completed the elevator is operational New Jersey is currently in a drought warning please visit New Jersey dr.org for drought and fire restriction updates the township
Washington has added the recycling coach app to our website on the Department of Public Works page please sign up for alerts and quickly learn how to properly dispose of different waste material there is no debris bul pickup for the remainder of the Year and no special
pickups the DPW Y is closed on Tuesday to allow for full weeks of leaf removal also the holiday recycling schedule Christmas Day pickup on the northwest South Zone will not occur on Christmas day it will be held on Saturday it will
be picked up on Saturday December 28th New Year's day Wednesday 1:1 on the northeast Zone the pickup day will change to Saturday January 1st 2025 please visit the township of washington. us for further information household recycling schedule
Christmas day um I just said that the township is seeking members for The Advisory Board of Health if you are interested please contact the mayor via email at Maya mayor atwp of washington. us the township Council of the township of Washington is hereby soliciting RS
Andor letters of Interest qualif qualifications from Township residents to be appointed to the zoning board for the vacancy of one year and Alternate and please visit the clerk section of the website under the fors page for the application the quanis club
meets once once a uh hold on once it meets on the second Wednesday of the month please contact Ralph Paul cardly at 516 581-8365 wrer is not here Mr Mayor so we'll put that off or you sir he's going to be a few minutes lat to hit traffic if you
don't mind I'll go jump to my report jum yeah that's fine that's okay yeah that's fine okay thank you all right good evening everyone uh this is my response from the township meeting of November 12th uh there was no follow-ups to provide to any residents concerns or
questions uh Council concerns and questions uh Council requested an update regarding the congressman gothen Heimer goheer fiscal year 2025 Congressional spending request from the maps in Brook in empate provided by Cole toi
legislative director for Congressman gimer indicated that the project has been approved for funding and inserted into the F fiscal year 2025 federal budget the township is awaiting official notification of the award along with additional instructions I did have you
know with councilman Casio is coming he is he's stuck in he's traveling today so he may be here depending on what it's okay I did have another update that came in uh since I I authored this letter however um if you remember at the last council meeting uh specifically Mr Casio
in regards to the project that we wanted to do on Carriage Court asked us to check if we can you know uh come up with a definitive determination if it's Township property or not so I was able to meet with Paul aelina uh engineer he
said that researching the deed wouldn't do us any good so he did provide us with the F map for the construction over there on the file map it has um I think it's five or six marble permanent marble indicators that give us um the markers
to measure from the right away for the township is 50 feet and moving in a western uh Direction it's 15 feet from the curve line the Western curb line on Carriage Court and that's where the proposed project would be U Mr Sears and
I drove by there again to make that measurement so it's outside the RightWay it's inside where we want to do the project is within the RightWay of the township so it's either our property via RightWay or it's uh the Turnpike Authority which you know the Turnpike Authority is not going to make any improvements so again just to remind
everybody what we wanted to do is remove the dangerous trees that uh were identified by Mr Amarosa as potentially falling and then put in just a few um trees to help help keep the soil intact over our
storm water drink so can we review that after the meeting like you absolutely so um as far as moving forward with that project how do we I mean I can certainly review it Mr Cassie councilman Cassie come yeah let's wait okay sure all right just to move uh
continue on with my updates uh Gardener field playground equipment project has been completed appraisal systems is is completing the necessary preparation work in order to begin the revaluation revaluation process as a reminder all
field inspectors will have a fresh background check an introduction letter from appraisal systems will be sent to the residents I will send a copy of the letter to the mayor and councel do we know what date that'll actually start Mr D I don't they're authoring the letter
and getting all the logistics um in place for that to happen but the mechanism moving forward to the inspection will be the letter I'm saying is it a month away is it like in January is it February that's just a fair guess but I'm saying but the home the physical
inspections of the homes will start it's going to start in January yeah okay all right are we doing it by voting districts or how are we doing it I don't know yet but I will I will make sure that mayor and Council gets those letters before the rest before they're sent out to the res and could you just let us know which zone they plan on
starting at you know please Y and I have additional uh information to go over uh basically requested information from uh councilman bman mayor if you could take one and uh pass it down please there's one for
everybody the first uh was a question regarding leaf pickup during the week of November 18th 2024 Administration communicated with our residents by providing brief information about the leaf pickup program and our struggles to keep up with this season's leaf
pickup the administration acknowledges the frustration of our residents over the last few weeks and understands that Resident were upset with the time it was taking for removal of the leaves I don't like to offer excuses however I would like to take some time to offer an explanation and some information on the
Township's leaf pickup program most importantly the delay in removing leaf piles has nothing to do with the lack of effort performance or dedication of our DPW employees they've been doing an excellent job in all tasks performed by them Leaf season basically runs from the
end of October to the end of December and then is followed up by a street sweeping during this time for DPW employees are not prented time off other than sick time usage the DPW employees are working overtime hours every workday
Saturday holidays and even some Sundays even though the overtime is not mandatory most employees are working almost every day of the week with no time off permitted during the week often times coming in early and working through breaks and lunch there are three zones in the township for leaf pickup
and fortunate unfortunately some residents are going to live on the streets that are last to be picked up during the Zone rotation even with Zone pickup DPW will do the areas immediately surrounding the schools and high volume roads more often in addition to leaf
pickup which is an all Hands-On deck approach DPW employees have other responsibilities to tend to such as the parks Park facilities holiday decorations Township buildings Saturday debris drop off the senior van Etc sometimes unexpected situation arise
that draw DPW Manpower as well this year due to the drought leaves fell at an accelerated rate causing larger leaf piles at the beginning of the leaf season obviously this was unexpected and contributed to falling behind additionally DPW employees dealt with
vehicle and Equipment failure du due during the first few weeks both situations led to DPW falling behind only one week with leaf pickup the township would periodically disseminate updates through social media on our progress however I should have taken a
more proactive approach in the beginning of Lea season to convey to the residents why we were falling behind the township has five garbage trucks and three front loaders that are used to perform leaf pickup in early fall one garbage truck needed engine service and the parts on
Backwater therefore still unavailable with an unknown return date during the last month DPW has been fluctuating between having three or four garbage trucks operating due to Mechanical failure of some some sort as I read this today we have and scratch out four three
garbage trucks operating as of this morning so at the time I authored this last week um we had four this morning um one of the funnel mechanisms on the back of the the uh truck is becoming unwelded so they'll use the the uh truck for the
for the debris um in the yard however it won't be able to use we're down now to three garbage trucks we're getting a quote to hopefully have that fixed immediately this is significant because once the garbage truck is full a driver takes the leaves to towa to environmental renewal
the township no longer uses Sherry field as a staging area for the leaves this stagnates a crew each time each pickup crew needs a garbage truck front loader and laborers during the first week a front loader needed repairs at this point we are back up to having three
operational loaders DPW has 10 full-time employees this includes the DPW superintendent there are currently five seasonal employees they are only permitted to work 29 hours per week when fully operational there are three leaf pickup Crews each crew requires two CDL
Drivers and one labor there's one leaf vac crew which consists of two DPW employees some reminders for the residents the last day to pile your leaves at the curb is December 8th for those residents that were waiting to put leaves out so the piles wouldn't become
extremely large some leeway will be given leaf pile pickup will continue till the leaves are picked up if residents see landscapers dumping leaves from a location other than your own property please notify the police this is prohibited please also remember not
to pile leaves on storm drains or in waterways thank you for your understanding and cooperation so Mr Dar Carlo thank you for your uh synopsis there appreciate it I had I had placed on the uh conference
agenda you know to discuss leaves tonight uh leave pickup tonight I know Council massio had asked to put it on there also is there any way we you know I think looking at it for next year can we figure out how to put the leaves back because I think we have two big issues
since we've stopped using cherry Fields we're putting thousands and thousands of miles on these garbage trucks that are unwarranted going back and forth to TOA which we never did before because we had another company picking all the leaves up at Cherry I know it beats the crap
out of the gravel parking a lot at Cherry but it things up when they could just pull up the Sherry dump and then get right back picking up our leaves so in the interim you know I'm kind of calling this uh Leaf again and um you know can we suspend going to Toto and
just dump them at Sherry just to get the streets cleared because you know they're talking about possible snow Wednesday and Thursday you know not a big Clipper but there is a clipper coming which is going to make it a disaster if we have to plow because all these leaves are going to get plowed you know onto people's Lawns and stuff so is it
possible that and then for next year can we look at what permits we need from D to dump the leaves at Cherry and go back to the old system because this system our town just we just don't have enough and the DPW is doing a great job when they do when they are able to pick up
the leads it's just adding that what two and a half hour round trip to tooa every time the truck is full kills us I mean because in the past they would just drive down to Sherry open up the back of the garbage truck dump it out in 15 minutes and be back up and running now it's You Know Each truck has gone for 2
and a half hours round trip and it's it's really hindering our pickups so if we look at you know putting it back at Cherry uh I I know I know there was you know was a great it was a great idea to get rid of it going to Sherry but I
think it's a dis it's it's I've gotten I know counil SE in the last since we since I asked you at the league of municipalities can we call an emergency and just dump at Sherry I I if I've gotten 50 that's I'm being I think I've gotten more than 50 calls emails texts
from people saying what is going on and you know I keep referring them to the mayor and you sorry about that but it's your department uh so but if we could figure out if we could go back to Sherry and maybe like just for the next few weeks just dump everything at Sherry and
then deal with it you know loading the garbage trucks up later and taking them to TOA because there's still a lot of streets that are in bad shape and and again this is not on the DPW they're doing as much as they can but when that truck is gone for 2 and a half hours there's nothing they could do cuz you
know they could make piles but it doesn't help the piles make it sometimes even more dangerous because now you instead of having all small pil you have this massive pile in front of somebody's house which you can't see forward or behind so I don't know Mr Mayor is that something we can look at maybe just dumping him at Cherry as an emergency
and then you know dealing with it later on because the streets are in bad shape um well from what I've been told um obviously the first pick up at the rate the leaves fell uh that slowed DPW down also but since a lot of them fell early
in the season uh what I'm being told is the piles that they're dealing with now are much less now that they've started the second pass throughout the town um okay and so they expect to be caught up um that's not something I want to do on a quick basis uh I understand the snow
but uh what I saw this evening before I came here they're expecting maybe uh two to three uh Point 2 to three inch okay I don't think I don't think that'll be so bad uh obviously Mother Nature throws us curve balls from time to time and um you
know we are working on things next year uh we we had a meeting last Monday to review things and uh you know there's always room for improvement on things so we have some things that uh you know we'd like to execute next year so uh yeah I would just ask the residents to be patient uh again as uh Mr Dar Carlo
said we are only a week behind uh I want to say happily we've spoiled our residents and prior years was very good that we were able to operate ahead of the schedule um and so considering the volume of leaves that fell and they're only a week behind with uh some of the
equipment failures uh you know I I think it's we're still doing good is is total of the closest Leaf drop off could we maybe investigate a closer location I I don't recall if it's the closest it's the one where we've been using for years
but that's certainly something we can look at for next year also is yeah and and also I'm sorry uh one of the things that came up we're also going to look into maybe uh other properties in the area to see if we can use them as staging areas uh instead of Sherry field
uh because that had its issues as you said Mike with the uh you know the parking lot and the uh you know the gravel nature of it so uh so it's but I think you know like the year the the last year we did Sherry and what the the company um the company did after that
year like replenishing the parking lot instead of leaving the the divots with all the that would fill up with water and I think that was that worked out great but that was you know I guess a cost to us to do that but you know just yeah is
um I don't know if it's actually Northvale uh I've passed it a number of times uh going up to Northvale uh and it appears they have a large yard where they dump
their leaves um would that be something we would consider uh seeing if another municipality could uh has the ability to take that on uh yeah that's what I meant when I said we'll look at other
properties other municipalities also and councilman Sears had mentioned to us that uh I once he mentioned it I vaguely recall that that Ridgewood has a machine that grinds the leaves yeah they grind yeah and so we're going to also reach out to them to see what we can do with them because obviously that's a much
better commute than even uh what you say northv yeah yeah would be so we're got to look into that also for next year to see if they want to put their machine to more use and maybe recoup some of their investment on it just uh one other question or two
really the five seasonals was that the um requested amount is that is that full or we have still having trouble hiring we generally shoot for around 5 but because of the limited amount of hours they can work it's not like you're always going to have them there'll be
some overlap you know we generally um advertise towards the end of May figuring we're going to get college kids and then we'll do it again at the end of the summer when the college kids go back you know so some you know during the summer uh we were lucky to maybe have
six or seven at a time but again they're only working 29 hours so right now I think I think it's great that we have five you know can we use another one sh but with the limited amount of Crews because of the garbage trucks you know okay and that's the second question
so I don't know if it was a police truck or or DPW vehicle but one of them was sideline for like a year was it sideline for year we couldn't pick it up the one that was at the dealer yeah so it was waiting our
parts although you know we have an unknown return date for one of the garbage trucks do we think it's like weeks away or is this going to be another well what's what's funny is it not that our
superintendent didn't believe what they were being told but they called another I guess contractor to confirm that yes similar parts are on back order so I don't have a date okay but they're were hounded and the pickup you know it was a pickup truck like a plower and plow and
a Salter that was you know that was we were waiting to come back for years but we do have that I I would agree with the mayor uh just that you know the last few years it seems leaves and snow nothing gets
people's uh their ability to speak up than issues with leaves and snow uh snow transp and the leaves have been the last few years have been you know excellent in my uh in my opinion and this is you know uh you know a small step back um
you know hopefully we can get these trucks going and maybe figure out something to cut that turn time but you know I think it's tends to be a successful program uh historically so mayor do you remember the name of the town that we spoke to superintendent
about it was closer in proximity but essentially the same amount of time because of traffic lights oh yeah yeah I yeah I don't recall the name of the town but yeah because anytime you're traveling local roads in Bon County you eat up that hour and a half that it takes to go to tooa anyway um if we're
okay to move on council president the next uh group in your packet should be regarding the repair to the ESB starts off Mr Carlo the question is at our recent council meeting a bill was presented for repair to the ESB you advise this was a repair to an overhead
door due to one of the truck doors opening and striking it the noted did not include the repair to the truck which went through insurance can you provide a copy of the quote for the truck repair as well as the final invoice additionally if the township went through insurance for the truck
repair why would we include the damage to the ESB I imagine that's probably a typo and you meant why wouldn't we uh to easb the claim lastly I assume we have a deductible on the repair claim has that been paid and were where on the bill
list has it been included as I don't recall if you flip the pages I provided pictures for you for the damage uh this is regarding ESB and firr Repair on July 29th 2024 a volunteer fireman was responding to an emergency while exiting
the garage Bay of the fire Firehouse in the fir trck the rear passenger side compartment door swung out striking the metal garage door track in garage Bay number two there was damage to the firet truck Department door and the garage door track as you can see in the
pictures the next page is the damage to the track the damage to the garage track was completed by Lombardi and cost $1,030 insurance paid for that expense see copies of both proposal and check from the insurance company which are the
following two pages the insurance company approved the expense of $843 3.36 for the repair to the fire truck Township's deductible is 2500 see copies of the insurance claim the insurance company paid to Valtech Inc
directly $593 36 purchase order number 24- 0092 was created to pay Valtech Inc our share of the deductible of $2,500 please see copies of the purchase
order this expense was on the November 12 2024 Bill list if you go through you'll see the proposal from Lombardi you'll see a copy of the check from qual links for 1,3 $30 you'll then have numerous pages of the insurance
claim you'll then have a copy of the purchase order Mr Man asked for as well as where it came from and also the bill list indicating on the
first line that beltech was paid $2,500 uh by the township just going back to the the image with the damaged um the track damage door track and the
comment below that insurance paid for that expense and I thought this came up because or the question came up because I thought we paid for the damage door or no
no I I don't remember but both expenses were on the same bill list so um I'm not sure why the question came up I don't remember but as you can see you know we
submitted the oil damage to the truck and the building to the insurance and uh we just had to pay the $2,500 of the total of the door repair and the truck repair Mr D Carlo on the on one of the
pages there's an invoice from a Insurance claim service group I'm I'm sorry hold on a second I I believe um what you saw was we probably paid Lombardi directly and that was I think that's what you saw Mr Al is the
township paid Lombardi directly and the copy of the check from quink is reimbursing us so the insurance company wrote it to us we couldn't just sign it over we had to go through the purchase order and then uh Mr the your question this there's a $350 invoice from
insurance claim service group that's paid by the insurance company okay that's not done by our JP adjuster it is but there we don't pay that our insurance company pays that no problem thank you any other questions on this Mr anybody else on the
day thank you uh the next one in line should be expenditures to date on the swim club yep U Mr question is good morning the property has been purchased and the township will be redeveloping it I believe it is important to track
expenditures to ensure complete cost transparency can you please provide the grant amounts received today for the swim club property and any grants that have been applied for but not approved to date I.E in progress note the in progress is more for County open space
type grants acquisition Redevelopment not grants from DP or other sources for potential cleanup additionally can you provide expenditures to date on property acquisition engineering testing ongoing maintenances go to the next page Swim
Club grants and expenses ordinance 22 dish 01 appropriated $800,000 $800,000 for the purchase of the swim club property the swim club was purchased for $750,000 approximate soft costs for the purchase were
$338,000 Township received a Bergen County open space Grant reimbursement after the purchase for $438,500 number two New Jersey Division Community Affairs local Recreation Improvement Grant 2023 in the amount of
$51,000 2023 Bergen County Park Improvement Grant the amount of $60,100 applied for in progress 2024 Bergen County Park Improvement Grant awaiting an award announcement and even though uh you wanted me to exclude I thought it
was important to mention we are applying for the New Jersey D hdrf Grant the amount unknown expenses extremely difficult to place an amount associated with DPW related maintenance over the years we do not pay for any outside contractors at
this time for maintenance I'm unsure what may have been paid to to our Municipal attorney for the work related to the acquisition of land but that was uh Municipal attorney Ken parul at the time engineer expenses C for Boswell engineering preliminary assessment and
Remediation investigation was currently happening 78,000 New Jersey DP HD srf Grant application 7500 pre-demolition environmental Study 13,650 swib Club boundary and topography
survey 19,000 approxim $43.75 in general Engineering Services for designs meetings presentations and environmental expenses for lisco environmental 15,980 there may be other expenses associated with this property that I'm
unaware of this list some Grant expenses is the best of my ability based on going back in time on a project I was not here when initiated does this include the work that the for the sort of the Great
Lawn um yes well when I put in there number five approximately $ 6,437 in general engineering designs meetings and presentations yes that's important okay thank you uh the next topic was utilization of arpa
funds good morning according to the 2023 audit report the township received 96,4 38 in arpa funds through 12312 can you please provide a detailed breakdown of how the funds were utilized to date please let me know if you have
any questions Township of Washington arpa monies received were $960,000 438 I'm sorry 96,4 3866 July 2nd 2021 Township re $
48,2 1933 first payment via wire on July 8th 2022 we received $48,990 second payment via wire utilization of arpa funds again this is the best of my ability going back in
time for when I before I was here but I'm pretty sure we accounted for uh right down at a penny with the expenses in 2021 there was no expenses in 2022 um we utilized $516,500
$226,000 was introduced into the budget through revenue and it was offset of uh police and salary wages $240,400 of arpa CCTV this was used for door access system and camera systems at
the parks uh also for accreditation in the police department for all their door access uh systems as well and and then $50,000 in arpa stormwater Boswell engineering the M squab syn Brook in 2023 we used
$3,000 $120,000 again was um introduced into revenue of the budget was to offset the salary and wages for police $180,000 in arpa general acquisition fire department
rescue boat office Emergency Management Message Board office Emergency Management Light Tower Prime Point payroll system Township roof fair housing litigation ambulance study Motorola and computers currently we have about
$3,500 uh left in arpa that has to be used by the end of the year and the intent is to uh to we are meeting with um our it authorin net tomorrow to identify how many and what computers will have to be replaced in
2025 so to get a head start on it and to save money in the 2025 budgeting process the mayor has approved uh the expenditure of $3,500 to get a head start on computers in 2024 uh the last segment of
$144,800 so be the the salary and rages for police um that those monies or that uh that expense base is going to
continue the police are going to continue to get paid I'm assuming yeah so when we use this as a revenue offset basically we're using this to pay current salary and wages
is that a fair statement yes okay um so that represents $144,000 shortfall for 2025 yes yes which I did advise uh council with as to many of the grants
that we utilize to offset and to supplement uh budgeting toward 2024 will not be there for 2025 just one question and not because I'm sure you don't have the answer now but when we did the we did an
entry we approved um a bill list back in sorry back in late September there was like a
$20,000 to move funds to Capital improve Improvement is that part of this one of these numbers or the it was offer General acquisition of equipment and programs was the account
description if I'm uh if I'm remembering correctly I had advised um Council that there was UN unspent monies for arpa that had to be spent by the end of the year correct and
what we were doing is I don't it was in a current line from last year that was unexpended so we had to create a general ledger and we had to um create a general ledger account so what you're referring to is we had to make a purchase order to
pay ourselves that $20,000 so we can get it from the 23 budget into a general ledger account so we can utilize it so that's what you were talking about and that 20,000 B was dedicated to the fair housing
litigation okay okay I mean um I mean the the only thing I would say is and I don't think we're gonna hopefully we won't get a another million dollar winfall because the reason we got it uh you know brought the world to its
knees but I would think that we would try to do it more for uh onetime expenses or Capital programs as opposed to using it applying
it to salary and wages or current funds only because at some point it runs out and you do have that Gap that you have to close so I don't know when we're going to get another a chunk of funds like that but if it's something we can
consider as we put together a plan for that uh final uh question I believe should be in regards to the $1 million proceeds from the sale of the school bond ordinance 1917 question from Mr Olman would it be
it would be appreciated if you or Mr Corr could walk me through the funds dedicated to the DPW building and bond ordinance 1917 briefly the township was the beneficiary when a board of education property Grade School located in Westwood was sold back in the 80s or 90s not aware of the actual amount
realized but the township maintained a Reserve balance of $1 million for number of years 2019 the council passed a bond ordinance for 4.3 million in that ordinance section three part D that 1 million was dedicated DPW rebuild 2019
audit reports report exhibits 8-23 and C-4 caption a move from Reserve to Capital fast forward to today in attempting to find the $1 billion in the cap Capital section of the audit report basically what account is it in where can I locate it in the audit
report sale of the Board of Education property Grade School located in Westwood sale of the school I did a brief search in the internet and could not find anything on the sale of the school at the date I did not check micr fish as it was stated it was back in the 80 or 80s or 90s so I don't know uh
where the school was or how much we sold it for I'm taking everybody's word for it that it was a million dollars the money was placed in a general ledger Reserve account acre interest unknown time again I don't know when it was created on December 13th of 2019 $1
million was used to create a capital account titled ordinance 19-17 DMF building ordinance 19-17 authorized $1.3 million to fund this capital account with $1 million funded
from this Reserve at the time of the $1 million transfer it left 67 $1,614 125 in the reserve account as of November 2024 the reserve account accured to 86339
6 Capital account at this time maintains uh I'm sorry the capital account at this time maintains 1, 47,5 N9 I provided a detailed report of expenditures information pertaining to ordinance 19-17 can be found on page 76
and 78 of the audit so assuming that the sale was $1 million with interest it grew to 1,676 1425 when the $1 million was transferred out leaving that 67 at
614 and then as of the DAT of this reported has grown to $86,000 and remains in the reserve account so if you go to the very next page this is the general ledger from 2019 if you go to December 13th on the
second page you'll see that a million dollar was moved out of that line on the following page you then see the same Reserve account but as of 2024 you see the balance of $863 39
and6 you then have the following Pages which is a copy of ordinance 1917 just accounts for the million dollars it was actually approved for 1.3 if you go to subsection D or paragraph d 1.3 of that was funded with uh a
million and then if you go to the following uh right after that you're going to see Capital ordinance and it's named 19-17 DMF building the amounts that it started with and the
expenses that have been charged to it and the balance of 1 million for $ 47,5 again most of those fees were environmental with lisco which was a significant amount for the soil testing uh which was I think if I
remember again don't quote me but I think the contract was $116,000 we're not gone done with that work that is ongoing at this time and the other expenses from DPW were before my time and then the foll two pages are
copies of the audit Pages or you'll see that so if you go to 1917 various improvements balance of December 31st 2022 and then if you go to the following page I believe this is uh
1917 various improvements it's reflected there so it categorizes them generally not specifically so it groups the ordinances together so even if so if 19-17 has
several Capital lines that were created under that ordinance the audit groups it as ordinance 1917 it doesn't list them specifically in individual the one question I have
then is the on page 78 uh we're showing it as unfunded the 1396 but isn't
that well remember the the ordinance 1917 was s of like $4 million right understood three [Music] four yeah but you have so the unfunded amount from that
Bond ordinance is that number you just read so it says Bond ordinance appropriating 4, 288,000 50 and authorizing the issuance of $3 million in bonds or notes so it accounts for that $1 million it probably also accounts for
the down payment that we have to do for Capital Improvement yeah but on the on the second to last page it's saying the unexpected unexpended improve Improvement authorization is 1,396 so do we have that money or do we not have that money well again that was
as of December 31st 2022 this was the 23 audit right and then if you go to the far column has amount so we have to look at the expenses in that ordinance P together so what I'm
telling you I can confirm sitting here is that we have a capital ordinance at the time I printed it out with $1,475 199 as of November 26 with money dedicated for the sole purpose of the DM
they call it the DMF building yeah there's actually a second capital line for the DMF building again don't quote me but I know it has over a million dollars in but this account is specific to what Mr Roman's question was in ordinance
197 so so first thanks for the extreme detail uh I'll take a look at it I guess Mike
Mike Mike Mike Mr Dupo my question is can we ask Mr corpin is there a billion dollars sitting in 1917 funded available to be spent on the DPW building yes there is it's sitting in the bank right now we have to borrow that amount we do not have to borrow
it's funded because money on hand yes okay all right any other questions does that end your report Mr dearo yes I'm going take a nap thank you
was very detailed thank you Mr Peter um well since David came do you want to jump to his or you want me to keep going just keep going okay Dave will have to sorry you have to sit here for a few seconds
[Music] good evening everyone I hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving Recreation news the basketball program has 400 sorry 345 registrants this year that is a 27 more participants than last year I'm glad
these programs continue their upward trend on enrollments the lacrosse program held a free clinic on Sunday November 10th they had a great turnout for the event the clinic attracted over 40 potential new registrants to the program
the 2024 introduction to cheer program wrapped up their program with an end of program Year party the children all had a great time again I would like to thank all the dedicated volunteers who step up to make these programs the success that they are
these and many other programs would not take place without them the burrow of Westwood and the township of Washington Recreation departments have pointed a joint venture to create a year- round program called Snap for children and young adults with special needs the goal is to provide positive recreational and
social experiences for all our participants the program is open to any child ages s through young adult who has a physical or learning disability please visit the town website for more details about this program please also follow
TWP of Washington New Jersey 07676 recreation parks and public affairs Facebook page for updates I communicate ated with mayor aroyo from Westwood regarding the sear charge to our residents participating in
their programs Unfortunately they are not going to remove the fee at this time they point to administrative and insurance costs that are funded by Westwood taxpayers even for the programs that take place in our shared school system they also point to the lack of
available fields in Washington Township compared to Westwood football has worked out a waiver of the search charge based on parody of field use by both towns Westwood covers the fee we can charge their participants for the lacrosse program run by the
township if we can do something to offer more field availability like what has been done with football they will consider revisiting the topic Police Department news officers participated in the readathon at Jesse F George School the department was on
standby for election day fortunately there were no issues that required their attention sorry did you want to say something no oh okay the Command Staff conducted both a Corporal promotion selection process and a special officer hiring selection
process fire department news for the month of November the department responded to multiple fire alarm calls a few odors of gas two smoke condition calls due to cooking and one reported car fire on the parkway which turned out to be false the department handled two
significant calls in November the first one on November 6th was a brush fire in the wooded area behind the high school pamis and Westwood fire departments were called in for Mutual Aid and the fire was quickly extinguished an approximate 100x 60t area burned the cause of the
fire is unknown at this time one firefighter was checked out by the Washington Township volunteer ambulance CP for a minor injury and was released the other call had the department dispatched around 4:00 a.m. on November 9th for a vehicle that came off the Garden State Parkway
exit 168 ramp Crossing Washington Avenue and crashed into the guard rail before falling into the Ravine below the vehicle was checked for any fluid leaks and the department remained on the scene until the vehicle was safely removed both occupants of the vehicle were
treated at the scene for minor scratches the department held its annual elections for the 2025 Board of fire officers they are chief Zach myos deputy chief Frank aello battalion chief Christopher Campo Captain Christopher
mayor first lieutenant Ty stutzer second Lieutenant Keith Mahoney third Lieutenant Scott Meyer and fourth Lieutenant Tim Meyer I thank these people for stepping up and taking on additional responsibilities by serving in these important
positions the department has received their delivery of Christmas trees and are now open for sales they appreciate the town allowing them to use the Pavilion at Memorial field and they want to thank everyone for supporting this fundraiser please give them your support finally the department will be
bringing Santa Claus to the tree lighting event on December 6th as well as around town Saturday and Sunday December 21st and 22nd starting approximately 4 p.m. DPW news Salters are being installed on the appropriate Vehicles
holiday banners have been placed on the telephone polls leaf collection officially began November 4th the department completed the first pass of all the zones last week one week behind schedule due to the unprecedented lack of rainfall that affected when leaves fell and Equipment issues the
members of the department spend a lot of time during October making sure the equipment is ready but failures inevitably occur in the field I would like to remind residents some of the details that are in the calendars that were mailed to everyone at the beginning of this year especially because they will only be printed in limited
quantities next year and will not be mailed avoid placing leaves on top of storm drains and keep piles clear of litter branches and other debris debris slows the process down for the crews and leads to equipment failures plastic bags are
not acceptable however biodegradable bags are permitted Crews work from west to east in each Zone a second pass of each Zone will begin after the completion of the first collection leaves another yard debris may be brought to the DPW Yard on Saturdays
from 9:00 a.m. to 1: p.m. however leaves being brought to the DPW Yard must be in barrels or biodegradable bags only again no plastic bags will be accepted the start dates for each zone are estimates only based on equipment
weather and volume you may find updates on where the leaf crews are working on the town website and Facebook page this process has been followed for the past few years and the collection has gone well during those years so the department attributes the delay this year due to the leaves falling
prematurely Mother Nature unfortunately throws us the occasional curveball zoning office there are a total of 25 zoning applications reviewed during the month of November signal at 168 of the Garden State Parkway after meetings between our
police department and the engineers for the Parkway and review of plans by both agencies it was decided to not place a signal at the end of the exit ramp at this time it could not be determined that doing so would reduce the number of incidents at the location without just
moving them from the ramp to Washington a library they are so thankful for the amazing patrons who brought their November events to new heights local children were treated to a variety of do November events crafts and story times
the adult dragons sorry Dungeons and Dragons group senior chair yoga classes coloring and stitching socials and stem programs all saw wonderful turnout they were thrilled to offer a special performance by the Thunderbirds an American Indian dance company and hope
all who attended were equally impressed with the talent displayed a big thank you to everyone who participated in their annual Carousel pie and cake fundraiser and they hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving I'm happy to report that the emails sent by me and administrator
De Carlo to the members of the council that were questioned by councilman Alman during the previous meetings were found not to be a violation I would also like to point out that while he questioned our emails he did not question the almost exact same one sent by the clerk on behalf of council president the sener
to the council members just like the administrator and I did asking the council members to respond to the council president instead of me I do not understand why that one had to be sent but councilman Alman had no trouble responding to that one I failed to see the difference except for who sent the
email public affairs during November the department purchased and DPW installed holiday banners to go up and down pasac Road on November 16th we hosted the first kids ornament decorating event residents joined us with their children
to create ornaments that will be added to our town Christmas tree hot chocolate and assorted treats were available for the families on November 30th volunteers decorated the township tree at vanon County Park the theme for our tree this
year is Bluey if the township wins for the best decorated tree which I think we have a good chance of we will be gifted a free Town day where all residents can attend the winter wonderland event free of charge on December 6th we will be hosting our annual Tree Lighting Event
this year tree was graciously donated by amaroso tree service we will have Inflatables pony rides crafts performances and much more available our Emergency Services will also be participating with food and drinks lastly on member 26th we will have the
lighting of the manora rabbis Dove dzen and yoseph orstein will join us for the service at 7 p.m. thank you that completes my report thank you just going to do the council's report very quickly and then we'll get to you
with just one second go ahead Miss BL okay thank you first off I hope everybody had a very nice uh Thanksgiving to all those who celebrated with their families and friends and neighbors um the holidays are upon us so just be mindful everybody's under there
all different types of stress so let's all be a little patient with one another um as the mayor I'm going to sound a little repetitive with the mayor's report on November 16th um I was you know happy to participate in the holiday ornament
decorating it was nice to see all the kids in full gear ready to take on the ornaments very cute to see it was a great idea by director Sasha Lopez um later on in the month I went down with a
few colleagues to the league of municipalities um it's a great opportunity to brainstorm with a lot of our Municipal leaders um far wide across New Jersey so that was a great opportunity for those of us who attended lots to learn and a whole bunch of
vendors to to make to make contacts with um the tree at vanson as the mayor said the town has decorated the tree at vanon in the bluey theme it came out very cute if you have not seen it make sure you
stop by um and let's hope that we win right who doesn't want a free ice skating um in January the ceremony will be on Saturday December 7th um I'm sorry they changed the date on that sorry
December 14th the lighting ceremony will be December 14th um and they judge that night uh for the town to win I will say that a whole bunch of people have reached out and have really applauded what was done at
our Township tree so we do have a really good chance hopefully we do win this year and then as U last but not least I will be at the tree lighting ceremony this Friday for Township here down by the library on ainer place there will be
bouncy houses ponies face painting and the PBA will be collecting new unwrapped toys for those who want to um bear the cold weather that is projected so make sure you bundle up a whole bunch of the kids from our community will be singing
that night so come and support our local vocalists and that is my report thank you thank you m West Mr sear thank you council president um I would like to start off with thanking EX coun woman Stacy feny for doing the Thanksgiving uh
food drive for seniors that were not available we delivered over 45 meals to seniors within the township and um she's been doing this for a couple of years now and I want to thank uh ex-councilman fi and the volunteers that came out to
do that um on the Green Team we uh basically completed Gardner field for this this year uh we removed all the dead trees within a 20 foot clearance we removed all of the uh uh
hazardous plants uh we grinded the stumps down and we placed 405 to 40 foot uh 40 trees 5 to six foot jolly green Giants along the fence line uh hopefully uh within a
couple of years that will give us a great wind barrier and and protect the field um I I'll cover Garder I mean carage Court in a second um I also down at the league and I met with uh Lisa cranny she
is the director for storm water compliance throughout the United States and we had a an hour and a half discussion on uh Carriage Court um the storm water problem that exists down there and I got word today that that uh
Lisa is going to send her team up to review the whole Waterway system along carrot court for us for free so uh I just responded back to her um we'll have that conference call tomorrow morning
and I'll uh lead the councel in on any other problems thank you also while down in uh the league I uh was talking to a Nathaniel retti Who is the director of clean energy for the state of New
Jersey uh after a lengthly discussion we uh he offered to do a free energy study to Washington Township so I will set up the date where they will come up and do a free energy study for all the buildings in Washington Township I know
Mr Mr C had that done already um I believe we're still paying some of those grants maybe just let Mr retti know that previously done it oh yeah yeah I already talk them that but this was what eight years ago I think we had five years ago
five hey it's free it's for me just let know that a lot of buildings we did do the improvements under the the grants that were available so we're still paying those grants I'm sure okay but uh like I said they're doing it for free then they're going to come in and do I they're coming letu us and you know he
did yeah he really did um so back on Carriage Court uh when they come in and they look at the Waterway system uh I I met with uh Mr Dalo this morning we went back down there the uh the pine trees that were
planted on the the BM were not the right place to put pine trees on a burm because they they grow erratically that's why we're losing so many trees down in Carriage Court okay uh the goal will be to remove all the dead trees out
of the Waterway now there is a a particular storm water bank that goes about 35 ft along Carriage Court now that there's two sewage drains in that it's cluttered with trees uh there's
trees falling down there if we can get that cleaned out that will allow the water flow to continue past Carriage Court down to where the uh the the drainage is towards um The Swim Club the goal will be to clean that area up
remove the dead trees flatten out the BMS to protect the uh the drainage system that's on the other side of the verm and we're going to plant uh 15 what they call is Manhattan um ionus trees they will grow
within the ground harden up the burm so the BM doesn't collapse into the Waterway system that will be the the goal for I mean court if we go through it and feel that you know it's something that we want to do thank you okay and on
the veterans um uh status the uh katar program is now up to 13 veterans um uh working with a state representative to try and get some grant money to continue this program into next year uh hopefully
we could do that it's a terrific program and uh a lot of vets like it thank you council president thank you Mr Al just one question to Mr Sears you mentioned they're gonna they're recommending Manhattan unanimous I'm sorry I couldn't hear
Manhattan Uranus the trees that they're going to place is that a recommended um or uh tree or bush to use because yeah it's from an arborus I I got the quote from an aror that came down with me as we
went through the property okay and he he figures that that is the proper tree that would be able to secure that base now the goal is I'm not going to put trees all the way down there that that's not what we're here for uh we're here to
support that burn area where the Waterway system is the only reason I ask is I had to remove remove them from my personal property because they were prone to disease so I don't you know if well that's good to know I'll I'll
verify that with all right absolutely all right thanks thank Council mman Mr Alman uh I really have nothing to report uh I did want to though uh Tom uh councilman Sears excuse me uh had
forwarded uh an announcement on the passing of one of the members of the BFW M Thompson and I just wanted to acknowledge that uh I only knew bill or Mr Thompson excuse me through uh site
you know and passing him him in a council meeting or at a public event uh but I will say that uh you know his story and the way he handed uh handled himself and presented himself uh you know really made a lasting impression on
me uh he was uh you know someone who I admired uh from a distance uh he is someone who you know when he entered a room you knew uh that he uh was
important or uh and I don't think he presented himself as important he just he looked important uh he did a lot of work with the veterans uh I believe he held state level State and National level State national level uh am I
remiss for not making that announcement uh so much was on my plate thank you you can only say so much for bringing that up but you know so uh I think you know the town lost someone that's uh you know an important residence uh and I just wanted to acknowledge
that thank you Mr Alman couple quick things on my report some of it's already been said um just want to wish everybody uh hope everybody had a great Happy Thanksgiving and hopefully I have an enjoyable holiday season as we kick off December um down at the leue of
municipality I met with a few towns um and they had a couple ideas about leaves Mr Mar I hope we can I know I've talked about this in the past but one of the things that a lot of towns are doing and I'm not proposing that we bag all our leaves but if residents would like to
bag their leaves they get a once a week pickup on a Saturday morning guaranteed if they bag them for us okay that's something to look into because a lot of towns have adopted that and I'm and before somebody says Desa wants everybody that bag there leaves that is
not what I'm saying I am saying if you don't want a leaf pile in front of your house bag the leaves and on a Saturday morning the DPW comes by and picks up all your bags of leaves that's just something that a lot of towns are doing to help to help with the pickups and to give people an
incentive to to keep the streets clean they also a lot of towns like I've talked about in past uh life on this Council about buying a tub grinder or getting in with somebody else's tub grinder um again what is something like that go for well we want it's a half a million dollar minimum investment and we
need somewhere to put it it's a big piece of equipment so um my condolences go out to the Thompson family um he was a very uh you know knowledgeable man he gave a lot of service to our country to
our town um to his family and I just want to wish my condolences to the Thompson family um that completes my report for tonight Mr buo is up next as I promised mayor council president members of the
council Mr Dar Carlo apologies I got CAU in traffic getting here this even of the parment was horrendous quick note before about those uh Leaf uh bag we have it in my town um you have the program if you bag them they get picked up once a week they
paper you have to specify paper in paper yes they have to be in paper bags you are correct but you have that option of if you bag them they get picked up if you don't then they just sit there on the street see okay uh my purpose here tonight is discuss uh two uh grants that were
hopefully applying for um the first one is the fiscal year 2025 Bergen County Community Development block grant uh for Ada improvements to Memorial Field I've discussed this
program on other occasions the only category that this Township is eligible for based upon HUD income guidelines is a r improvements um so what we are proposing
at Memorial Field is to put in Ada bleachers and an ADA parking spot uh that would uh which currently do not exist uh the estimated cost for well the parking spot does exist because it was put in on their previous Ada grants
sorry what was that the the Ada a parking does exist because we we've had previous it has to be it's going to be relocated oh okay because we we've gotten previous grants to put Ada parking at Memorial I know I wrote it that's well you said it doesn't exist I'm like wait a minute it does exist
okay my my mistake but there's going to be additional spot and they may relocate the existing spot okay uh the estimated cost is approximately $105,000 uh the good news as with other cdbg grants there's no matching funds
requirement it's a state Grant straight Grant uh the second uh resolution so Mr to start on the first one you're saying we're going to build another handicap spot and relocate the existing handicap
that's correct and and buy bleachers these portable bleachers or these in no they be permanently fixed to the ground where are they being permanently fixed to ground I don't have the location here but uh baseball field side on the hill yeah in that section
there 105,000 no there isn't there sidewalk there's side no I'm saying that's not enough money to build bleaches into that Hillside no there well there are two sections of bleaches correct yes be solely
for individuals that's with the bleachers site prep and the retaining wall that the estimated cost about 85,000 and then with the parking space the new space and relocating the additional
space is about another $12,000 what about the path to get you from that parking space to those bleachers that walkway there what's that it's going to be a walkway installed also for 85,000 that's with the other
yes okay that ties into the uh companion Grant as I indicate I like to leverage grants because you that's fine I'm just going to say you you're getting all that done for 85,000 but uh because if you are we got a bunch of fields that need it let's get it
done so that being the only category that we can apply for and it's an ADA project that was our recommendation meeting with uh uh business administrator and the engineer on this project the other part of this is a companion Grant again through New Jersey
Department of Community Affairs the local Recreation Improvement Grant uh which applying for about 150 $175,000 total there you go okay no I was looking at the base Cost
Plus the soft costs which are covered by DCA uh this would basically establish a uh walkways an additional Ada ramp landscaping and site work the proposed walkway would be go around Memorial
Field and actually link up at some point with the 450 pasac Road property uh again with this grant there are no matching funds it's just a straight Grant uh could be less than that
generally uh we always ask for the Cadillac if we get the share for La we doing pretty good on this okay and those are the two projects that uh we're seeking does anybody have any objection on the day as to having Mr boo continue getting his GR
so I I just just if you could just explain again so we have existing Ada spaces uh by the clubhouse or the Fieldhouse yeah one we have one existing Ada parking space okay and we're
proposing we're going to put bleachers on the west side of the field on the side of the first the first base correct Mr first are we doing anything with the third Baseline bleachers cuz those aren
on't Ada either either well I think we're going to I don't remember because I don't have the design in front of me but I think there was a plan to keep all of it yes I think and where's the uh where's the excuse me the uh space going to be
located the parking space itself I don't have that map with me but again this was based upon the engineers recommendation and the topography at the site I believe it was buting up to where the basketball court was so someone could get out of their spot and immediately go to the
sidewalk area that would bring it past the basketball court past the Pavilion past the playground up parallel to School Street and then back I'm sorry make a hard left turn towards the first Baseline of the baseball field okay so and then go all the way around but those
would just be a re a refurbishing of the existing path do that you remember what that looks like it's like yeah yeah but I'm saying that exists it just needs to be repaved well we want we're recommending concrete because the tree um uplifted
that as I guess so then with the with the pre with the existing spot that fcks up against the Fieldhouse if you got out of that and you were walking towards the property line of 450 pasc row which uh Mr buo was talking about I think there's a ramp
there but it really goes nowhere so we're the ramp yeah if we can bring the concrete around to the perimeter side of 450 Pass Road it would almost complete an entire Loop that's that's what we meant to say it wouldn't necessarily connect the 450 take the path to Nowhere
something we can we can make it a complete Loop okay it's a nice design would we be better off looking to leverage the existing spot and build out the infrastructure by the
clubhouse as a oos as opposed to just putting another spot by the basketball court and then creating a path all the way around to seating by the baseball field again I would defer to the engineer this was his evaluation and
design based upon the existing site conditions are we bound to what we put in the application no we we as long as we use the money for the intended purpose of creating the bleachers at an ADA spot we have latitude based upon
final site design and conditions to move it anywhere else we want okay yeah okay so quick question though are you looking to connect one whole circle around the park yes that's what we're hoping for how wide will that be the sidewalk just
a regular sidewalk three feet four feet no it's got to be wider than 5T to be a compliance so got to be a minimum 5T that would be a nice walking path for the memorial feel I like that I just I think with the application
we're not you're not necessarily advertising a dual purpose right it's supposed to be you're not we're not submitting a site plan for this it's the intended use of what we're going to do at the site so again based upon F final soil conditions and and whatever maybe public input as long as
we use the money for these purposes there's no issue correct correct all right any other comments from Mr thank you Mr V appreciate the one other thing I'll be back here in two weeks for the next meeting there's a third grant that I'm working on for the fire
department the assistance to fire fire grant program thank you thank thank a quick question Mr Mayor or Mr SE anybody that knows do we have Ada swings at that
playground no I've been working on that because that would the summit CL but don't forget the playground is not ABA accessible yet right yeah but I'm saying if we have that path now it opens us up to ultimately do an adaa playground there
I've been working with this company and U hopefully I can sit down with David and Mock and we can be uh getting down at clarfield that's my goal is get one down there the uh the ground is level
enough according to the engineers uh we can't have Ada coming down the hill but if we do it from Cleveland straight in it'll be a perfect shot you know we've been working on that for a couple years now I think last Mr VI know last year when this this
Grant application came up we submitted plans to do some Ada improvements at Clark Field but corre not that we were told to retract it but it was we pull out again the next round of funding that's a great project yeah the Ada
playround yeah yeah because like you said uh based on our Town's demographics that's really all we apply for or can apply for with these grants categories you know forun you
have municipality but in terms of the minimum and low income guidelines you don't meet that crer and so that's was my thinking Daisy was get the park Ada compatible so people can get to the playground and then do the playground equipment next year and then we'll be
we'll be eligible for more grants right correct there's even a playground Grant yeah thank you get it in there thank you thank you motion to open the public comment period of the meeting do I have a
motion Mr B conference agenda okay motion to open the public comment period of the meeting so move second all in favor would anybody like to come up and address the council yes
Mr David snide 91 Windsor Circle um want to wish everybody happy holidays and uh and good health in the new year that's the most important and that we all get along well that's the that's the
other part it is okay I just I want to I guess I I could address this to um councilman Sears one of the questions that I have on I as I was watching the film last week from the meeting um you mentioned
about the canopy in town because a lot of trees were cut down by residents that shouldn't have been cut down and not having a proper canopy in the town can
affect a lot of different scenarios my question is is are we able to get any monies from whoever um to be able to plant more than just a a small
tree can we get a tall trees or can we get some tall trees to be able to be implemented on the canopy uh I if I may go ahead oh I did have a meeting down at the league with uh Sustainable New
Jersey who gave me uh certain leads uh Farmers uh and uh planters that uh we can talk to about getting a reduced rate to buy uh certain four to five foot trees that might uh
help us to put a canopy back um I'll probably be working on that in the next couple of weeks right after I finish these other projects but Mr schneide one thing to remember is we don't plant trees along the public right away we off we can't we can we can we can offer
trees to Residents we can't force residents to plant trees right so when I was down I I spoke to I spoke to a bunch of gentlemen down at the league of municipalities about the tree copy also and uh so one of the problems Washington Township according to the the PSC and
arborists that have been you know cutting down the the trees you know on private property that are leaning over the power lines you know Washington Township has a has a a bit of an issue because when our town was developed we had the we had the forethought to keep the trees up as we developed the town so
a lot of our Oaks are 100 years old Oaks don't live past 110 to 115 years old so when you say people are taking down Oaks because they're taking them down well the trees are are are very you know they're they're they're
centenarians and you know they're they're at their Prime past their Prime you know they're they're at their real Prime and so when you say like people are just taking down trees for taking down trees it's not the case a lot of these Oaks are at the end of their lives and it's a problem because we don't have a mechanism to say Hey you took down
200y Old Oaks put something back up some people do like I put down I put I put back these beautiful birch trees my wife picked and I love them um but a lot of people cut them down and don't put anything back which because there's nothing that says we have to do that um I yeah serious so you know I know the
arbor probably told you the same oh multiple times that our tree canopy is old and that's one of the issues we we're facing it's a big problem because the when when the township was developed after World War II they had the foresight to say hey let's not just clear cut the land let's leave these
trees around the houses you know just cut down what we need to put our foundations in and our houses in and that's why these trees are so adults you know they're massive mature trees but it's also a problem because now they're at the end of their lives yeah so we do
have some um things to check some balance about people taking trees down um uh Mr I can't say his last name but his first name who's in the building department the official down there is on
top of uh every tree that's within the township I do get multiple calls from residents that I refer to him to go out and see uh we did Institute some ordinances that each company must register within the township I saw that
on the site which uh it it works 100% y um we we forced them to come and get a treat permit not everybody does it and I agree with you you can tell on a Saturday when all the trucks come in you know and you can hear the chain Shores going and luckily we have a lot of
residents now that will make a call and I will refer the call to the building official who is really on top of this but even if we put 10% back it would help the community a lot um again
working on the trees we can't we have a policy that you know we don't own any trees except on our property but to offer somebody a a a 4 foot or five foot uh type of tree that's recommended by the state that's not going to grow 40 50
fet it'll stay below the uh uh the electrical it it works just as good as a a big Oak corre and you're right we are at the end of our Oak uh as you know the ash trees They're All Dead they've been infested and there uh you don't see a
lot of ash trees alive anymore in the state of New Jersey we a lot of trees with the um what was that the bug Butterfly Japanese beetle oh the um the fly the the Ln we lot we lost a lot of Pines where
they got infested you know I mean you can tell pine trees when they're all black straight down that they're all infested you know and their life is is just about gone y you know well appreciate all the work you have done on
this I mean thank the council for passing the ordinances to you know we just got to get people to plan that's the most important thing well sir um um so in case you didn't know the
last last year I worked with Mr Dar car and the mayor to um have our holiday tree be a natural one donated by our by Amoroso and they planted it at clarkfield so this year the tree was
donated once again so we're working towards at least adding a couple of a tree every year so we are to get out about 50 years bar well Hey listen you got to start somewhere got to start somewhere here this year or no so no it
stays in the ball in we can we plant it here so we have a a real no because then how are we going to get one donated every year and keep adding right um so we are I mean listen you got to start somewhere it's not a three-footer it's what 14t about give or take so listen
take what you can get and keep adding to the trees we don't have a lot of room for the canopy because you're cutting so many down so many and the biggest part is within this section of the town is where we're losing and they were just saying
in Manhattan the other day every street is different the canopies are a problem because people have cut down certain trees and they got to replant them and it's a problem yeah that was that was my main thing I'm
just wishing everybody good holiday and hopefully we good health in the New Year I'm glad to see more than one person GL see back I'm back I'm back thank you have a good TR thank you would anybody else like seeing nobody here motion to
close the public portion of the meeting so moved second all in favor I ordinance introduction first reading ordinance number 24-20 an ordinance of the township of Washington County of Bergen state of New Jersey to amend the code of the township of Washington by
amending chapter 4 574 entitled storm water management in compliance with with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection njd Municipal storm water regulation program and the New Jersey storm water management rule NJ ac7
col8 motion to introduce and pass ordinance number 24-20 at first reading by title do I have a motion so move I'll second it roll call councilman Sears yes Council Omen yes Council valz yes council president
to sen yes resolution number 24-36 1 authorized publication of ordinance number 24-20 and schedule a public hearing do I have a motion so move okay roll call councilman Z yes councilman Omen
yes Council BL yes council president Des yes resolution number 24- 362 authorized 2024 transfer of Appropriations 35,700 do I have a motion so move second any discussion
roll call counc used yes councilman Alman yes Council bz yes council president the sener yes resolutions consent agenda the following items have been determined to have the unanimous consent of the 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 would anybody like anything removed at this time yes please what would that be Mr Alman 367
368 and 370 any others 367 368 37 Okay resolution 24- 363 author authorization to file 2025 Bergen County Community Development Block Grant
application for Ada improvements of the Memorial Field Complex in the amount of approximately 105,000 resolution number 24364 authorization to file fiscal year 25 local Recreation Improvement clant application for design and planning of recreational improvements at the
Memorial Field Complex in the amount of approximately 175,000 resolution number 24365 authorize refund of an overpayment of quarter 3 2024 property taxes to core logic block 3103 lot 251 and the amount
not to exceed 1,113 resolution number 24366 authorize refund of an overpayment of 2024 property taxes to core Logic for various properties in the amount not to exceed $2,396 resolution number
24369 authorized submission of njd hazardous discharge site remediation fund Grant application for investigation and Remediation of 464 Ridgewood Boulevard North block 2301 lot one that is the swim club correct Mr D car
resolution number 24371 authorized disposal of fire department Surplus property to the Bergen County Fire Academy motion to approve consent agenda resolutions as presented so move second roll
call Council yes councilman Omen yes Council yes council president to yes resolution 36 24367 authorized cancelling General Capital fund ordinances do I a motion some
move second discussion yeah just one question um at the last meeting I had inquired could we take these excess funds and understanding that they can't or the
canel fund understanding that they can't be applied as a prepayment because the bonds don't aren't structured in that manner can this be set up where we can reduce the amount we have to raise
through uh taxes uh by this amount by setting it up in a reserve yes I'm sorry Mr Alman could you repeat that I couldn't so the we're cancelling some of the funded ordinances okay and
rather than having the monies I don't know honestly where they would go I would guess to uh General fund Capital Surplus um can they be earmarked to pay down the
long-term debt that we have that it's being uh Source fund thank you and your answer to that Mr DLo yes we can yes if you look at the title of the column deserve for payment of debt that's the general ledger line that it would go to and it'll be used to offset what's
needed for 25 budget does that answer your question it does roll call councilman Sears yes councilman Alman yes Council valz yes council president to yes resolution number 36
24- 368 authorized Towing operator services for year 25 20 2025 do I have a motion some move I'll second it discussion yeah one question I had is do we still
require these operators to be to provide free Towing free Towing for Township Vehicles Town Vehicles yes yes we do right it's in the ordinance except for like the heavy duties obviously you know they're
not going to do a free heavy duty it's like a garbage truck or whatever but I forget the way it's written but yes it's in the ordinance so right um I don't know why we require this type of vendor to provide a
free service when we don't require any other vendors to provide a free service and you know I would propose that we amend the ordinance to eliminate that was
just wait you'd like to you'd like to amend the the the ordinance to say we don't get free services correct why is that I don't understand why we are forcing a vendor to provide because we're forcing the residents to use that vendor so they
have a no we're forcing we're requiring these are approved vendors yeah that if there is a need for a tow service M and the police call them out
they go through this list and they're called out yeah and I'm assuming there is a fee for that for if it's a non-municipal vehicle yeah so why if it's a municipal
vehicle are we being are we asking them to donate their services do we ask amaroso to cut down some of our trees for free do we ask you know XYZ to I see I see your I see but I
think most contracts are WR we had this conversation not with us I Mike and I weren't involved in the last resolution that was done on this but I is there any this is a specific statutory scheme where the New Jersey statutes authorize
municipalities to pass ordinances specifically for this purpose that allow for special types of Provisions like that as well as other it it's it's a unique service it's a unique circumstances circumstance authorized by Statute so I I don't know that you can
compare I don't think it's Apples to Apples talk about this service and any other this is a specific stator authorized it's statutorily authorized it doesn't mean that it's correct it doesn't mean that it's you know it
doesn't mean you can't compare this service to another service just because the state hasn't uh deemed it to be that way I think it's it is treated differently and there are different purposes I I can't answer that
specifically I can look at it and maybe give a better explanation of that but there are certain things within the New Jersey statutes that are treated differently uh you know and another example is um the New Jersey local public contracts law they treat the
supply of water service they permit that to be awarded without bitting to you know nonprofits can do that there are there are you know policy based reasons for for treating different types of uh you know Services events situations
differently and statute sometimes lays that out and the reasons for that and maybe I can take a look and give a better answer on that but I would think that is it statuto required or is it statutorily allowed I don't know that the way you're framing it is that specifically
authorized allowed or whatnot all I'm saying is this is the type of service that is treated a little differently uh for for for the purposes laid out in the statute and I don't know that you can compare it to different types of
services I I can take a look and give you a better explanation it's uh it's just the beginning of perhaps why you don't treat it the same way because otherwise we would have to pay as a municipality and I'm assuming that these
vendors are used to dealing like this with other municipalities so we're not any different and and I if I recall our expenses were so minimal when we reviewed this I I don't recall the numbers but I
remember yeah that wasn't other days for this discussion so something minimal hardly anything yeah well 22 to when he thought was an ordinance that amended for the fees and meths of payment for the heavy duty vehicle recovery that was the heavy duty part
okay but I think I think Mr Dar car gave us a total on that and it was something conversation about it yeah yeah yeah okay anything else mrman roll call councilman Sears uh yes councilman
Omen no council bz yes council president the sener yes resolution number 24-37 resolution supporting potential Brownfield remediation at the Washington Township Swim Club Township of Washington Bergen County do I have a motion
Sho second second discussion yeah just the um in the third paragraph uh for the purpose of open space and recreational purposes
specifically installation of athletic facilities including an athletic field Great Lawn pickle ball court dog park um and finds that realistic opportunity exists so I know we had a
presentation uh did not include any well I don't think there was consensus that this is that that initial presentation was the going to be the end so my question is by putting it in this
resolution are we committing are we binding to it yes no I specifically ask that question foreseeing that coming up this is just a commitment to develop it for recreational purposes put it blunt they're not going to give us State money
for us to fix the problem and just leave it Barren so it's just the focus is on the commitment that we're going to develop it SP Recreation the reason why that was put in there is because those were some of the uh ideas that were
essentially talked about with basil engineering okay can it be passive Recreation can we make yeah that that that was set by the open space grant that we received or the acquisition Grant so as long as it's
passive we're we're not bound by anything we put in there other than committing to Redevelopment for open space or recreational purposes okay thank you roll call councilman seers yes councilman yes
Council blz yes council president yes motion to adjourn to the conference agenda do I have a motion so move second all in favor I next meeting of the township Council will be on Monday December 16 2024 beginning at 7
P.M sign up for nixel text 07676 to 888777 key code TWP Bergen can we take a five minute recess I'm sorry Mr FG
Burgess we need to take a five minute recess please recording stopped e e e e e
e e e e e e e e e e
e e e e well housing the fourth round of affordable housing is upon us um you have a certain number of responsibilities that can you state that
number the incredible number that Washington Township you have a modest affordable housing need number of 184 units wow now the benefit is you previously did receive a vacant land
adjustment um you are obligated and that will carry forward for you and I'll explain why I say that in a moment um by January 31st you are the Council was obligated to file a resolution with the
affordable housing dispute resolution program from that one I'll just call that the program um you're obligated to file a resolution indicating whether you accept their number or are going to offer an
alternative to that number now there's two ways to go about offering an alternative because you are obviously going to want a reduction from the1 84 um one way is to Simply say we will
accept your number however your resolution will say uh we fully intend to file a vacant land adjustment and a realistic de development potential number up okay is that better that's
better okay um you're obligated to file this resolution by the end of January and you're office is preparing that resolution for well we will with your burrow Township attorney Mr Burgess I'm sorry just the accept it but uh
request a vacant land adjustment and what was the second a realistic development potential number to be determined um and you are seeking that vacant land adjustment consistent with prior rounds where you also received a
vacant land adjustment in Prior rounds pardon me we receiv received that yes yes now I am suggesting actually to all of our vacant land adjustment municipalities to take that route rather than try to go through the and I brought
the paperwork to one of our Mr plan subcommittee meetings two over 2,000 pages of background information on how to file a full complain complete
Readjustment of the 184 unit figure you're asking for a vacant land adjustment anyway so why bother going through the cost and time and effort to adjust the number that you're going to ask for a vacant land adjustment for anyway
now I have a I have an I have kind of a big question we have a vacant land adjustment right now right but that is based on the developments proceeding as they are are which haven't started yet right we have two major developments
that have not begun yet on Van Ember correct would they be able to go back now and ask the special Master for for an increase in their unit density at those developments because they have not started Construction in
the theoretical sense they could one can always ask um but those even though those are set in stone can the stone be Rewritten because that's what I'm nervous about is you know we go in say hey we don't intend to build our 184 units because we
have a you know we have our land adjustment we we we intend to build zero because we don't have any place to build them however we have these areas that were part of third round one of them even second round I believe but they haven't been built
yet one of the things we are going to have to do is part of the housing plan contract now you're getting farther down the the road um but when we do prepare the housing element in fail share plan one of the things we are obligated to do
is to reassess those projects that were part of your prior plan plan but have not yet been built and determine whether or not the the use itself or the density itself continues to be appropriate let's
assume for a moment we determine that they represent a viable development potential at the density that we calculated and we are going to maintain that as part of the overall planning of the
municipality let me talk a little bit about the schedule and then I'll tie that into what I'm okay you you touched upon you filed this resolution by January 31st now I will tell you you can file that resolution tomorrow if you
would like I was strongly advised against it and we've spoken about this because the way the legislation reads from the moment you file the document the resolution uh developers and fair share
housing center will have from that date until the end of February to file an objection why give everybody that additional amount of time so we I would suggest to you file it in late
January you have until January 31st can we apply on January 30 is it an electronic submission or is it a mail submission I believe it's electronic but I will double check that for you because if it's electronic why wouldn't we just do it on unless J 31st is a Sunday which
what I would suggest you do it around the low mid 20s because the 29 I forbid there should be a snowstorm and you don't meet you'll get you'll get to work come on huh get to work or you'll send one of your re Associates no if you have to come to
work you have to come here to vote on that yeah so that's why I'm suggesting let's uh what we have zoom for yeah Joe correct me if I'm wrong it has to be filed within like 48 Hours of the council adopting it and so that's why it's yes yeah 48 Hours council meeting
date yeah you have to file it within 48 hours and the way the legislation reads if you do not file it and put it on your website Within 48 Hours you lose all of your immunity that's just a punitive action
on the part of the legislature but that's what happens but in the month of Fe February any objector any interested party can file an objection to the your determination as to what your number so
we have a January 27th meeting that would be ideal to do it that night I if the council approves it tonight which I'm sure they will we will be meeting on January 27th which gives you 48 hours after we meet to file it which will be the 29th which is close to the 31st
which is a Friday do you agree with that sh I'd be more comfortable with an earlier meeting quite frankly why is that because it's so it's so absolute this 48 hour time period and it's January we'll lose special meeting yeah
we're telling most of our town even if they hold a special meeting we just put a special 20th just in case for the 28th like we or the 25th earlier yeah CU then you can file at the 27th well let's let Mr Burgess finish and then but I'm just saying
right now the tenative schedule was it we have a January 6th meeting and a January 27th meeting I'm telling six would give him a whole extra month which we do not want to do you don't want that um so the month of February an objector an
interested party fair share housing center anyone can file an objection to your plan Mark we have a 21st meeting well that's yeah that's that's up for discussion that's why this yeah we
probably do 21st but that's okay so at the end of February beginning March 1 through March 31 supposedly the program is going to resolve all the objections filed yeah in the state of New Jersey that's really going to happen
now I will tell you that for example uh with the pl plan for parpan in the third real we had close to 20 objections filed to the plan wow um in Alpine in on the other hand we
had one objection but that one objection took and your offic is involved close to eight years to settle real now given that the program is going to resolve all these disputes in at least they picked a
31 day month that's all I can say um my good feeling is that's where the process is going to slow down in that schedule that we submitted to you months ago we'll be out the window I think that's when thing might slow down a
little bit but we don't anticipate them extending the hearing the submission date for objection that's cor they've already came out and said that submission dates I set forth in the legislation will be will be held to that
keep that in mind I will also say the program has reached out to all of our special Masters uh because they would like us to assist them in the review of submissions now they don't defi they've never defined for us what that meant uh
all the special Masters we've talked about this we think they're going to use this primarily to review or help mediate disput after a housing plan is filed just the same way the courts have used us I don't think we're going to be used
for the purposes of the program just making this simple decision as to whether or not what you have selected as your number is reasonable or not so we might not be getting involved in that first
step the planning board has until the end of June June of 2025 to prepare a draft housing element and fair share plan again if we miss that date uh you lose your all your immunity
so they really set some very difficult benchmarks and then you have another basically a year to prepare all the ordinances and other documentation to meet that to actually it's to March the end of the end of March of 26
um to prepare all the documentation to implement the housing plan so that's the schedule and those are the critical benchmarks um for for January as I started to say
you know you pick your date that you're comfortable with I agree with the attorney that you don't want to pick too late a date if there's a snowstorm and things happen you don't want to be C short because they said you have to adhere to
these time this initial time line so we're suggesting that a reasonable date is anywhere from the 15th to the low 20s just to be safe all right okay
now um we are working we will be working with the planning board because the housing element in feris airplan is a planning board do doent not a council document we will be working with the planning board to
prepare what's called a vacant land adjustment actually as part of the master plan work we're doing we've prepared a lot of the base information for that the one complicating factor is
the fact that the 184 unit figure is really composed of three different components one is what they call a an income derivation Factor um there's a non-residential uh
development factor and then there's a what's called a um my mind just went blank a vacant land Factor now we have already started this work for some
municipalities um the mapping from DCA just came out oh a little over a week ago but in a couple instances that we've already looked at it's that third Factor that's where you could really the vacant
land Factor yeah fight the fight the other two factors are very sensus driven so unless they made a mathematical error it's hard to yeah it's hard to fight those you know those things but when
when the vacant land adjustment Factor if make an analysis Factor what they've done is used 2020 aial for some reason they're four-year-old Aerials and in a number of instance we have found that while there mapping
shows sites that are are vacant they're already developed they are now being developed in fact in in Saddle River as example there's a 110 unit afford 100% affordable project uh
East Allendale and rout 17 you might have seen it it's under construction now that shown on their Maps is vacant now what that means is that SLE River was hit with a affordable housing number
from vac in site for the third round and now it's being counted again for the fourth round so they're being you know they counting one site for two times for their Town's obligation we have found
that in that town we have found it in Allendale we found it in West Windsor a lot um and East Windsor as well so it seems to be a fairly common occurrence so one of the things we're going to have to do
immediately is look at your vacant land Aerials that they used to find out if any dis sites are being counted twice because that we would also put in the resolution to identify the fact that we're not fighting the
formula and how you but we're fighting the base information that they have used because it's incorrect oddly enough the legislation doesn't technically accounts for their errors in their
database but everybody's saying the same thing it's not that I'm the only one that's come up with this we're all arguing that same point if your base information is incorrect it deserves to be corrected uh you're in a better position than most when it comes to rehab because
there's also a rehabilitation component to your obligation your number is zero now Allendale under the third round their number was 21 and inexplicably that number now for the fourth round is
159 now I'm sure you know a little bit about Allen d right nearby I can't imagine what's taking place in Allen that would jump up that number so much Saddle River when from a 4unit rehab
under the Third Realm to a 78 unit wow rehab in the fourth realm why this this kind of veror needs correction is because the requirements in the legislation are that you have to set
aside the equivalent of $20,000 per unit for onethird of your OB rehab obligation up front so let's make the numbers easier for let see in SLE River if that let say there was a 90 unit obligation they would have to
provide $20,000 per unit for 30 units wow meaning they're setting aside $600,000 out of their budget for rehab that do for rehab that clearly doesn't exist Mike can some question yeah
U when can you get copy of the 2020 area view of the township is it relatively easy for us to look at we have it um yeah we have it for the whole state right now so we just have to pull out your mapping right and we've already
done the vacant land for the the master from the map for the that we did for the master plan already we have it easily uh you know easy to look at so I mean one of the just to put it into perspective it's
not 186 units no it's 900 80 units because 186 only represents 20% of what they expect us to build yeah so they want us to increase our ratables in this town by a thousand so they want
us to go from 3,300 units in town to 4300 units in town where are we fitting a thousand more structures in this town is unrealistic unimaginable and that's the real you so when you hear 186 it's not 186 that's only 20% of what they so in
order to get the 186 you got to build you know 800 800 something five per unit or something like that and all the children yeah that come so you need another school school taxes right now let's recognize that under the prior round your number was something like
259 and at the time it was determined I think you had an 11 unit or DP from the vacant land adjust realistic development potential is RDP um so presumably we'll have that same kind of
reduction it's scary yes but the components of the vacant land adjustment you look at vacant land you subtract out all environmentally constrained sections of a v of any vacant lot and you have to look at
Redevelopment potential now knowing Washington Township as we all know it there's not a heck of a lot of Redevelopment activity it's not like hacken sack where they're redeveloping everything in sight um so that's not going to add to much and you
only look at the difference that's occurred in vacant land from the end of the third round to today so there hasn't been much tear Downs on LEF is vacant lives in town either not left us the number the vacant land
adjustment number should really be very small for us here so so down at the league of municipality I I had a discussion what could we do to and and the planners down there didn't have an answer but you're a smarter planner than them I think Mr Burg
so I'm gonna two your horn a little bit I want that in the transcrip one one of the questions I asked and it I I was told it was a good question but they don't know how to solve it is let's just say how do we how do we take the new master plan that you're writing right now and fortify it to
stop let's just say the commercial districts from trying to rezone those commercial districts and redevelop them into something else other than commercial districts sort of like what's going like you just said hackensac is doing it every day right we take the commercial districts and we had five
stories on top of them and now we have five stores five stories of you know 20% being affordable housing the other being high rents but what happens then is that becomes you you know you could build a whole new town in one commercial development because you could put you know a thousand units in that commercial
so is there a way in our master plan to you know do it before it happens like kind of limit that somehow we have that type of discussion on for closed I think the the purpose of Mr bur just now is to just give us a schedule and okay think we should explore that in close thank
you all right thank you cuz these are my you know it's driving me it's keeping me up at night thinking of what this town our little small Township could become if it's an understandable question um I
will point out that you're under you're not under an obligation to do a to to do inclusionary R development as I just mentioned earlier Saddle River that that project of 110 units that's 100%
affordable project because Saddle River decided they did not want to see five times the number so they said we're going to cut out all the market rate units by doing one one large 100% project okay so you know that's an
option and you know that they're using a a a company that it does large scale 100% projects um they are few and far between most of them are doing smaller projects but your
number is going to be small okay so it's something for you to well so um we had submitted to you back in October I think a you know our
standard housing plan contract you're in a good position I must say because the price reflected the fact that we're doing a lot of the work that needs doing for the housing plan we're already doing it for the master plan so we're
not duplicating efforts for you we we recognize that um we haven't received it back yet but we should get that back soon so we can really begin getting to work for you Mr you know where that is I'm sorry do you know where that document is and
when we should get it on the agenda I could forward it back to you tomorrow what contract the housing element contract you got me I know we created a purchase order for you to do that work but I'm
I have no idea what you're talking about okay let me send that to you again it was back in early October that was first s cil's not seen it yet that I remember anybody on the D remember that I don't the yeah I'm pretty sure I think
that was the meeting that you came in yes you yeah but we approved it that night oh I'm glad to hear that we did somebody tell us that we approved it it's somebody's desk we just got to get it off somebody's
desk I think yeah after that meeting we approved the we approved the yeah council president I think we should be looking at a January date we should come up with a decision on having a special meeting but we will because there there there's a there's a
meeting schedule yeah I I do recall you know one of the the big factors was that if we miss any deadlines that was the last you weren't here Mr B you were in France your your associate was here associate
king that's what it was that's why we don't remember you be but your associate was here because you were in France okay don't say that as a negative no good thing I'm jealous of you that's why I'm saying it that way um council president can I ask yes Mr Mr burges are can you briefly tell
the um or explain to the council our need for the municipal housing liais on that we have to appoint by resolution you need to speak up Mr D please I'm sorry can you briefly explain to the council the need for the municipal housing liais in within the legislation
every municipality has to appoint someone it has to be a a burrow employee um who is going to stand watch over some of the like the day-today stuff in terms of who's going to defile
all the documents for you um they will do the reporting to the the program uh in terms of when an affordable housing project is proposed uh when a see when it gets site plan approval when it gets
a seat certificate of occupancy um they would also be responsible for filing the um there's not always quarterly report but various monitoring reports now we
typically work with the liaison in that regard but it's through that individual that has to file it with the program so council president will be bringing forth that resolution in the next meeting okay thanks you know who
that person is Mr D I do is it yourself no considering how uh Cote off guard I was with your last question I don't think it should be Mr Burgess just one one last question question and I don't know if it's should be directed to you or to miss Bal but at
the last planning board meeting uh it's something you mentioned earlier in response to one of the questions about the ability of uh sort of settled
applications and do they have the ability to come back and you know re uh litigate to review their um their numbers their numbers excuse me
so Franklin Court which is one of the developments they came to the planning board for an extension of their approval by a year and the uh we asked or I asked that specific question If by offering
this extension we open the door for retiga that and Mr Mr alond yes I would just I would can we hold off on your questioning till we're going to be discussing different rounds of fourth in close session
tonight and I would just advise that you hold your question till close please so it's closed for Council but it's open for planning that's fine that's what Mrs dely just advised
me so if you don't yeah I'm not aware what what's happening at the planning board but right now the township is involved in litigation involving this precise uh legislation we're also embarking upon getting into
what is a proposed transaction um you know in connection with this whole process so uh it's been these specific questions should be enclosed for this C okay so maybe Mr Mayor can we can we talk to the planning
board attorney and ADV maybe Miss Miss Bailey and him should talk just to make sure if we can coordinate that he he basically said that Miss Bal is the attorney representing the township
on this okay he gave a an opinion but it was not a 100% and which is why I'm bringing it up this evening so I'll wait for the close anything else Mr B at this time no I think that give you a pretty good sense
of what we have to do over the next few months you don't think Burgess has an issue with meeting the mandatory dates the January 31st date and the June date you don't have any issue based on the approvals we've given you and once you get back to the office where that contract is yeah I'll make sure Mark has
that tomorrow morning thank you all right um you're going to stick around you can just sit there if you don't mind unless you want to go make a call but you're going to be few minutes uh DPW building and site so uh in our packet
tonight uh we got some reference numbers from my guest Mr beckme Mr uh Dar Carlo the $816,000 additional plus another $75,000 for a total of almost $900,000 for the site work and the engineering
costs yes essentially so that would be added to Mr iino is 4.17 million so we're at back up to 5 million with a $400,000 contingency so we're at almost 5 a half million well
no I I don't want to age that but I also don't want to speak in front of the mayor if you were planning on no go right ahead okay yeah um to consider part of the $85,900 it's very important to note that
200,000 of it is for a salt shed so bringing us back down to 615900 um and even before we get any further I did not receive any questions from the council just to let you know on the design of the building I was we were also hoping that we could have a
decision on that tonight if you got if guys and girls agreed with the F twostory three Bay uh I'm sorry three garage Bay I was going to I was going to ask that since Dr Casio is not here tonight though I just want to have a
full Council here to make that decision I know it gives us an an extra week and a half but I just want to make sure we have a full Council vote on okay and uh and speaking uh with Glenn deck Meer Jr and and his Mark at the end of this I'd
like the council to take a straw poll so we know where the four of you stand on it um I'm I'm willing I'd like to do that as well all right this is you know I we understood the assignment from Council and it was
try and um come up with an all-encompassing um cost estimate for the site so in speaking with uh Mr Beck Meer and and Beck Meer Jr it would only get better from here so they tried to think of every everything that would
have a cost associated with it um you know if you look you know the the emergency exit and walkway that's a hope is that okay this um I'll use a different one is it okay for
example you know they retaining wall I know is going to be you know required regardless of what uh what design you guys and girls choose however you know the temporary fencing
might be provided by the contractor that wins the bid award for the actual building itself so you know we explained to him how we understood our assignment and to make sure they thought of everything and we went back to the uh drawing board a couple times so we
wanted to make sure that that number was all encompassing we thought the total estimated engineering costs was very reasonable and that's uh only considering if we want constant on-site observation estimated at 11we project
eight hours a day I don't know if something like that is is required or not so the actual Engineering Services for the site work plans the bid documents Etc were 30,000 if you go to page two in uh Mr I avino's uh site estimate
he allowed 300,000 so really the garage structure is coming in at 3.3 million round it up there's the contingency of 10% escalation is 6% so you'd have to back out that
300,000 so potentially yes a four 4 point you know four 4.0 or $4.1 million but again they thought we asked them to think of everything they could think of that would have a cost associated with we're hoping that's the worst case
number yes sir Mr Dalo could you please explain an oil water separator are we planning to store recyclable oil on premise or what is the purpose of vehicle garage that needs to have an oil water separated we can't flush oil down
into the sanitary system that's me we be storing oil doesn't matter if we're storing it or not even com the vehicles make sure it doesn't the water if you have an engine leak you know like that is dripping oil you wash the floor down it's got to be separated can't put it
into the sanitary or storm system thank you it's common practice you know for a garage with floor drains to have that it's a required not a yes it does it better
Mr Carlo I know you're going to you're going to you're going to want to shoot me on this but and I know you've asked me but I've had a lot of residents just say can can we reach out to you know what I'm going to say you're going to be very upet I don't can we get
a metal building price just for this building really very quickly before the next meeting for the three full two story yep from a metal building manufacturer just a cost opinion of what it would cost not a lot of you know I've
been getting a lot I've been Fielding calls and the emails and people are asking you know what is the cost differential and I know in in my past life it was usually about like a 25% 30% uh cost differential between a block and brick building versus a metal
building so just I know you asked me not to give you this assignment a couple months ago and I know I mean respectfully we did it two or three times before I can't imagine it's G to be any different of an answer but and Mike we'll be happy to do it but
from your experience what life expectancy does a steel building have versus of brick and water it's all depending on the maintenance of it okay I've seen them last 50 years I've seen them last 10 years yeah so but even brick and mortar no well again brick and
mortar would you know doped incorrectly at the beginning and leaking is just as bad as you okay thank you okay um let's uh leaf pickup was already discussed can you do the straw poll before you move on
to the from the topic um sure M wz yes Mr Sears um yes Mr yes I would probably vote yes thank you appreciate that just just to give us a
little Direction even though it's not official very quickly on miscellaneous we have leaf pickup which we discussed already the 2025 meeting schedule so very quickly uh I know I am not council president in 2025 but I worked with M wowski she put a lot of time into this
so really the only change we had versus this year's was we were trying not to be here on um January 21st because it is not a town holiday but it is a Federal holiday and what happened to my schedule what just
happened January 21st uh February yeah janary 20 January 20th Luther K not official holiday I don't know what happened yes yes I last year and it's been so under the circumstances I guess the only revision I would like to put
back I tried to avoid it we moved it to the 27th is to make the 20th meeting like we've always had on Martin Luther King Day so we can come in do Mr burgess's resolution and that'll give us plenty of time for him to submit it and be ahead of the 31st deadline why can't
we do it the 21st because there's a zoning board meeting that night so I'll I'll agree to that because the time frame yeah the problem is if we don't stay on our normal week somebody else has the room that night so that's why I moved it to the following you
we tried we made it to the 27th so if Mr burgus is okay leaving it at the 27th and Miss Bailey is okay leaving at the 27th I'm okay then you know like we did our job but they're saying no I hear a lot of knees rattling no I mean I don't have a problem in the 20th we're not going to
be here that yeah we won't be here that long so no it's going to be a regular meeting yeah but should be much on the agenda well listen we could do that too yeah we're not going to put much on the agenda that night that's all yeah we'll do most of it on the reor meeting so we look so B you just jinxed us I know I
did I never talk about time in a meeting I know so the only uh based on the the uh fourth round thing is to move the January 27th meeting back to January 20th all the other meetings we uh checked all the holidays which Sue
provided in the packet so we clear all the holidays the way it is right now except for Martin Luther King Day on the 20th everybody okay with that we still got time before the next meeting to adopt the calendar so if anybody sees something we're missing tonight um just
let us know all right well let's you know birthday all right stop uh and the syai meetings to that's on you well you know in the past we've done it at the same day as the reor meeting which is the sixth right right but you know what then it's you know it's always been well
that's the old business so I don't even know I mean I can work with the administration to find out if there is a need even to have even if it's a special meeting for for 5 minutes on a zoom call at the end of the month to pay anything outstanding you know if something comes up but you know in December you mean or
yeah well there no council change other than the president so it's not like we have different councils like this year where it was a problem because we're voting on stuff we had no any outstanding bills that absolutely have to be paid and cannot wait until the re be in January 6 but I can work with the
mayor and the administrator find out if something like that comes up okay is that right down at the other end hello that work this you know then we don't have to do I mean sometimes don't even do a sign die because there's no business that have to be taken care but if something does come up just 48 hour special meeting notice
and we do it okay two very quick things we had two residents reach out to us in the last few days one is about uh possibly limiting Sunday Leaf blowing To None only using a battery operated leaf blower which makes just as much noise
but if the council would like to um bring that up at the next meeting please advise Miss wowski um the second one is about overnight parking um I I guess Mr Mayor is it all right if I reach out to the chief to discuss the
emails I've gotten from a bunch of residents about overnight parking I I can include you on the on the poll also if you appreciate that all right but you don't have a problem if I reach out and set something up and make sure we're all available all right okay
motion to go into close session resolution number 24- 372 fourth round affordable housing proposed transaction of Memorial Field the township Council anticipates not coming back from closed session at this time do I have a motion to enter into close session so move
second all in favor I thank you got the sign for the door