##VIDEO ID:QhM9XlCzT4I## time e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e welcome to the reg scheduled public meeting of January 20th 2025 of the township Council of the township Washington adequate notice of the meeting was given in accordance with the open public meetings act by the Township Clerk to at least two newspapers in December and this meeting has been posted on the township bulletin board electronic Message Board WCTV on our Township website please notify the municipal clerk for any disability requirements necessary for attendance at township Council meetings the fire exits are located through the double doors to your right and through the door on your left please silence all cell phones if you unable to attend the council meeting in person and would like a topic to be addressed at a council meeting please send an email to the township of Washington I and contact all council members at once TWP of washington. us can everyone please stand for a salute to the flag to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all roll call councilman Casio here councilman SE here councilman here Council here here let the record reflect also in attendance mayor Peter calamari Township administrator Mark the Carlo Township attorney Siobhan Bailey and Township Clerk Susan wowski payment of bills resolution number 25-11 authorized payment of bills January 1st 2025 to January 16 2025 do have a motion so move second any discussion good roll call councilman CIO yes councilman sear yes councilman Omen yes Council bz yes council president yes PSA for January 20th 2025 happy uh Martin Luther King day and happy Inauguration Day the township of Washington has added the recycling coach app to our website on the Department of Public Works page please visit recycle coach based uh recycle coach is an address based app that educates residents on how to recycle materials appropriately for their area by downloading the recycle coach app you will be able to obtain your curbside collection schedule debris pick bulk pickup will resume the week of April 7th call for special pickups 201 664 444 option number four Friday was the last day for Christmas tree pickup recycling reminder Northwest South Zone will be January 22nd and the Northeast Zone will be January 29th quarter 1 property taxes are due February 1st with the grace period to February 10 2025 primary election date change please note that the primary election will now be held Tuesday June 10th all voting takes place at Town Halls hours are 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. the 2025 annual license renewals were mailed out in late December there is a $5 Le fee which begins on February 1st the township Council hereby soliciting resumés Andor letters of Interest qualifications from Township residents to be appointed to the zoning Board of adjustment for the following positions one regular member and two alternate positions please see ite under government tab section for more detail on the forms tab for application the township of Washington has entered into a shared service agreement with the Saddle River Municipal Court the township of Washington Municipal Court office is now located at the burrow of Saddle River 100 East Allandale Road Saddle River New Jersey all phone calls made to the township of Washington Municipal C Court excuse me will be forwarded directly to the sadle River Municipal Court office the quanas club of the pascap Valley meets on the second Wednesday wednes of each month at 6:30 p.m. at the Westwood Community Center please contact Ralph Paul Ralph culi at 516 581 8319 or pasak Valley kaanas gmail.com the township will be holding its third annual spring into Wellness family 5K run walk and health there on Saturday May 3rd registration is now open please visit the township website and social media for more information the Washington Township baseball softw registration is now open and can be found on the www.wtps.org website our next council meeting will be held on Monday February 3rd 2025 ordinance 25-2 under discussion an ordinance to relocate to regulate the parking and storage of boats Boat Trailers commercial vehicles and recreational vehicles in residential districts Chief John Kari and Mr Leiden from Burgess Associates will come up and present at this time you want to sit down at the table see vote not there's a copy of the ordinance that was placed in front of the council okay good evening good evening so we're here to discuss ordinance number 25-2 an ordinance to regulate the parking and storage of boats Boat Trailers commercial vehicles and recreational vehicles in residential districts maybe I'll go first if it's okay with the chiefer to he he has a gun I agree back in 2019 the planning board the reexamination report and adopted towards the end of the year and as recommendations uh in that reexamination report there were number of ordinances they uh recommended be changed you updated revised um then Co hit and nothing much happened um for about the last year or so I've been working uh well first David Novak from our office and then myself I've been working with the planning board on uh this this draft ordinance that's before you tonight one of the reasons it took as long it did was it kept getting a little bit larger uh first we were just looking at commercial vehicles then uh someone suggested and I don't remember if it came from this body or from the planning board that maybe we should be looking at RVs and Recreation trailers and then I think it came to this board and someone s this body and someone suggested we should look at harmonizing the ordinance with chapter 330 which is aook an Ord you have on the books and uh I think we've done that and then someone suggested you you know it's a good ordinance but we don't deal with boats so let's deal with boats so it has uh grown for a little bit I'm sure you thought this ordinance would have been before you beforehand um but anyway what it does is it uh it establishes and and and this took a a bit of time with the planning board uh instead of regulating trucks by weight it wanted to it seeks to regulate trucks by outside dimensions length height and width um it uh also uh keeps a very simple definition of commercial vehicle we were talking about lettering we were talking about number of Wheels it basically says if New Jersey DMV calls it a truck a commercial truck it's commercial truck and then we added that to neighboring states and we said what the heck if if any DMV counts it as a commercial vehicle it's a commercial vehicle um so basically what we wanted to do is allow trucks one of a certain size and it's Associated trailer um but this trailer had to be enclosed and I say we I'm really talking I'm on behalf of the planning board but I don't want to um misquote them um could be on a property but we didn't want it to be out in the street we didn't want to be blocking driveways so um there is some and we're talking about residential zones so there is some screening requirements either fencing or landscaping and and um as part of that we also allowed for RVs or trailer tra travel trailers with their Associated um trailer behind them the RVs because they seem to change a bit and there's quite a diversity of sizes we didn't regulate we don't propose to regulate sizes of RVs and if it's a trailer it's one size if it's a a vehicle with the engines another size so we just had one RV per property and the associated trailer that many of them now have um and again they had to be parked or stored in the same Drive paved driveway and they had to be screen either with vegetation or fencing similar to the commercial vehicles and then uh and we also said you can't live in a motor home no living in the motor home it's not it's not a dwelling it's simply a place to store at your dwelling and then lastly we added Vats um this is one that I will say the planing board didn't spend a lot of time discussing length the length was 18 ft quite frankly I came up with that it allows one boat to be stored on a property I mean we do have Washington Lake um it has to be in the rear yard um and and we allow trailers that would hold an 18 foot um Long Boat and then we Exempted from this from many regulations any human powerered uh boat such as as a uh a rowboat sailboat paddle boat so so things of that nature so um the plan board did spend quite a bit of time on it we did go back and forth on it I think they're fairly uh comfortable dis ordinance in fact they've endorsed it twice once without the commercial vehicles no excuse me once without the boats and once with the boats so I think that's my five minutes of thing and I don't if you want hear from the church the church Chief first we listen to Chief and then we'll ask questions of both if that's okay I take no position for or against the ordinance uh it's more of a uh property uh maintenance type ordinance which generally the police department does not enforce the code enforcement official uh handles those matters with regard to uh the number of complaints we receive directly and then forward uh I just received this this afternoon uh so I would have to do some research if the B you know if the governing body would like me do some research I'd like to know how many complaints you do get before we pass this absolutely if everybody's okay with that yeah and I'd like to know is is the chief correct is the property maintenance officer or the person that would enforce this ordinance he is correct yeah that's like to double check that is that in the ordinance or is that we have to Define that we can add that for sure well this is would be part of the zoning ordinance so it would be your Cod okay okay to thank you that's correct can we go back I mean chief how hard is it to go back we go back a couple years to see what the yes you let me easy to do or you let me know yeah yeah I can go back 10 or 15 years I don't need that far okay with five the last five on both complaints uh commercial vehicle complaints and all that all the yes recreational vehicle complaints that's very easy to do Mr Sears you have any oh yeah quick question you stated that the boat should be stored in the rear of the house rear the property cor rear the proper what happens if you don't have access to the rear it doesn't require that it be placed on a pav driveway as cards in your in your community have to be so um then uh someone would either um not be allowed to have a vat on the property or they would need to seek a board of approval for a variance and that might be that might be the a basis for a hardship but there's no access to the real of the property I imagine that's fairly rare in Township but I don't know that's not rare okay yes please okay uh yeah I have a couple questions with the boat ordinance itself and uh I you know I own a boat but it's not here okay so first of all I'd like to know where we came up with the uh length of 18 ft dis ordinance that was me that was you okay and how did you determine 18 ft was a good or proper length for enforcing first thing I did was I realized it was for storage in residential zones so uh that suggest should be on the relatively on the smaller side and then quite frankly I looked at different manufacturers and saw that an 18t boat in my estimation was a decent sized boat okay um and that it was small enough to fit into a resid Community as opposed to let's say a 45t cab okay well yeah a 45t boat would be difficult to definitely store um but you know an 18t boat is not as large as you think it is does that 18t boat in length uh include the motor the out motor it's the boat just the boat itself just the boat itself so if I had an 18t craft and it had a 3-ft extension and then an outboard motor which is another 3T it would exceed that 18 ft with that quality IFI or that eliminated from being parked on a particular piece of property I believe I'm not the the motor would not count towards the length I didn't know about an extension yeah they have bracket that extend the motor out past the actual boat itself it's not actually part of the boat oh then it wouldn't count then it wouldn't count okay registered Hall length I believe is what just the okay and I don't mean to jump in I just I'm familiar with it myself it's registered whole length Okay uh question number two uh where in the ordinance does it say about the backyard because I just briefly looked over this and I didn't see it if you change flip over page two large uh upper upper case C one boat with a length of 18 ft uh every boat parked in a residential district shall be screened with uh fencing or dense year around uh the rear yard is the top paragraph is the top paragraph last sentence Oh yes I do see of a residential um I don't know if anyone realize how difficult it might be in getting a boat navigating a boat parking a boat backing it into a re rear yard with our um setbacks in our sidey yards that's kind of a difficult task to accomplish and I don't see why there would be a problem putting on a side yard if it's going to be screened anyway can so that's can I just interrupt one second sure maybe I'm reading this wrong or maybe we need to clarify or uh write it clearer but is that specific so human powered boats without engines or Motors such as and including Robo paddle pedal Etc are permitted to be stored in the rear yard I don't think they're saying it the boat has to be in the rear yard the motorboat it I think they're saying you can store such as if you were on the lake you could put your canoe in the rear just going off what he said about rear yor so that's how maybe I Mis interpreting I don't think it says I don't think it says anything about the boat trailer being in the rear yard and we may have to look at that okay so I I hope that's not the case do he ever tried to back in a boat or you pull it out very difficult to do with limited space and then I guess the other issue is I have it seems like it's um you're penalizing a boat owner because you are allowing um uh what my TR thought uh the RV the RV okay you you're not limiting the RV by length but you're you're limiting the boat by length so you know to me you're both recreational vehicles I'd like to know why you're why that why that's that's not to me that's not equal if I choose to have a watercraft and I want to put it on and my joy is being uh on the water as opposed to driving to uh Arizona I wish I would had that same concession made and that's an issue I have I think the way this or first of all let me address your first point if if the mayor and counsel are the opinion that the uh side yards would be an appropriate place to store a boat I think the simplest thing to do would be put a clause in here saying they shall be stored um in a side or rear yard so that would no confusion about that so let me let me make that suggestion um but what if you only have a front just a front driveway because it needs to be paved I think they said Paving for the trailer right that's not required you mentioned something about no pavement for the trailer for The Boat trailing you would need waffle boards to put alongside of the house if I'm not correct I believe that's somewhere in a code has to be some type of uh surface other than grass yeah could be those waffle boards it could be clam shells or whatever uh maadam roeville Rockville yeah I don't want to speak for the entire planning board but my view is that all three of these whether it be commercial RV or both were allowed to be stored in the front yard on a paved surface as long as it fit within the parameters I think there was a question of side yard when we talked about how we're defining the sidey yard um does it start at the front corner or the back corner so like they're just talking you're the board is just contemplating side yard issues is that correct or front yard I don't even think they're contemplating side yard issues I mean if it's if it in my opinion my understanding if you have a paved side yard you could put the boat there or the RV or the commercial vehicle if you have a paved driveway double wide or however wide it is you could put those vehicles on that okay we're allowing for the vehicles we're regulating the size of the vehicles and then instructing where they can be placed so by this ordinance are we eliminating the front yard Mr Li for storage yes for Storage storage some people so commercial vehicles will no longer be allowed to park on the front yard or in the front driveway if yes if this is a do yes correct but we are going to amend it as for counil suggestion to to specific State CER rear yard would be allowed so what if it's a what if it's a a regular like say somebody just has a uh a Ford Fusion commercial vehicle for a regular pickup truck a regular pickup truck is is a pretty common vehicle it would not be regulated under this but it's got a commercial vehicle tag according to this so it would be reg it wouldn't have to have well if I own a business and the state of New Jersey right the the DMV does say if you own a business you need to have a commercial plate on it then it would I don't think it would meet the standard for length width and height well here it just says a commercial vehicle is a vehicle registered with New Jersey New York or any state Motor Vehicle Commission of sport similar agency as a commercial vehicle so if I have a Ford Fusion that I'm I'm making fun of the small Ford Fusion but and it's got commercial plates on it because it's got my company's letter on the side you know whatever it may be XYZ widgets I'm no longer allowed to park that in my front driveway now I have to park it on the side or if I have a regular size not in a not an obscenely large like box cargo van or anything but a regular pickup truck that's got my company XYZ widgets on the side of it but I have commercial plates but it's a normal pickup truck that everybody else has in their driveway just that mine happens to have lettering on the side I now have to put that on the side no and lettering doesn't affect this at all so if you have a your your example of an F150 let's say a for Fusion is identical to mine except you some lettering on it that would this ordinance would not see the lettering and under section three on page two uh under F uh a commercial vehicle shall not exceed 7 feet in width shall be no higher than 8 ft and shall not exceed 20 ft in overall length and I can assure you both a Ford Fusion and a F-150 are less than those Dimensions so you still be able to part your F-150 um or your if it's a it's a Ram uh you're comfortable Ram in the front yard on the driver okay I just want to make sure council president you mind if I on your question Council president's example but taking it the other way what if someone's taking could you could you speak up can hear you down here your microphone I guess ultimately what I'm going to or suggest or recommend is maybe the expansion of the definition on commercial vehicles because what if someone takes advantage of it in the opposite way they have all the lettering in the world essentially it's commercial vehicle but doesn't have the commercial registration is that going to lead to taking advantage of the ordinance well I think the planning and I don't want to talk for the planning board necessarily but my recollection the planers with size more than Aesthetics except when it came to the trailer uh and I don't know if you noticed it yet but the if you have a a truck and a trailer let's say for a gutter repair business the the trailer has to be enclosed as opposed to open body trailer but even that there was no they didn't want to put restrictions on lettering it was more size and with the utility trailer it was limited in size by having only one aent but what if what if the resident has two of the same exact vehicles but one is registered and one's not now they have two vehicles and they have a built-in exemption that's just the way I'm looking at just again it's just a just to think about need to exceed theight dimensions of thein and also need to have a commercial registration so someone had a the biggest Dodge Ram truck there is for theal use they would not have anything to do with this ordance this ordinance would have nothing to do with them because it doesn't affect private Vehicles privately own commercial vehicles well what I'm concerned with is people are using Sprinter vans now as personal vehicles right a sprinter van is 10t high by you know it's it's a it's massive right it's a it's a work truck that now we've made into a personal vehicle you be exempt from this ordinance but what if they yeah see that's the problem is what if they lettered it but used it as their personal vehicle then it's be a problem that's I agree with you Mr Dar car I think you're on the right I think you're you're on the right path would it hurt to expand the definition to include because what I'm thinking is if if someone is going to park a commercial vehicle and it has a commercial plates and it fits into this where it had they're allowed one on the property but then they go and duplicate that exact vehicle but don't just have personal license plates on it they have a built-in exception well no I only have a a registered vehicle but would that be would that be problem let's assume instead of going and getting the commercial vehicle first they had the private vehicle let's use the council president for H as an example no I want to go to spren V the chief shaking his head because he knows it's coming it's the new it's the new wave and we have in the past also had uh like Jets and Giants lettered up Sprinter vans personally owned you know parked in driveways and that goes back to when I was still on the road uh and they they were there were a number of those they used them on the weekends as you know tailgating vehicles and stuff and uh yeah they were they were not commercially registered they were personally owned they were former commercial vehicles that they converted there were a number of those in town for a while all right so what the so Jets and Giants or you know if you are a uh a car Enthusiast and you have you know you see uh sponsorship uh whether it's uh a parts company on the side um you know make what what prevents you or you know are we regulating taste at that point or are we regulating you know commercial vehicles the the intents to only have one right to not have more than one on the property correct so if I if I have a according to this coordinance if I have a commercial vehicle it's Mark the Carlos landscaping and it's a commercial vehicle I'm allowed one but that's only based on the fact that it has a commercial registration but I go out and buy two of these now but one has a commercial plate and one just does not have a commercial plate and the neighbors are upset about that now because essentially I really have a commercial vehicle just not one under defin because it's defined by a registration and size and size and size but I have the same exact thing except one has a commercial registration on it and one doesn't they all lettered it's just big it's that's what I'm asking does is this building in an exception for someone because well if I remember the council president said he suggested that once you have a business you have to get commercial PL so that doesn't mean everybody yeah exactly but arue to a DOT violation and not a local zoning violation I think the chief you know people do it all the time right we letter up our trucks and don't make them commercial even though the law says we have to but you can't do anything about it it's a motor vehicle Frac yeah they're stopped when they're driving on the road but not what's that they're stopped when they're driving on the road if that's observed because it goes both ways we have commercial vehicles that don't have any lettering and we have lettered vehicles that don't have commercial registration yes they're stopped as a matter of just general law enforcement so can I can I ask you a question um and Mr bur too as well you know we have a lot of of these issues right now in town and um is there going to be an exemption for things that pre-exist with this or are they going to have to go spend hundreds maybe thousands of dollars to go put in six foot shrubs 18 ft long that's the that's the issue again that's a zoning code enforcement thing yeah so you know have we considered that like a grandfather Yeah like a grandfather thing and and has it happened before and I think to Mike's Point many you do open up Pandora's box but again you know here's legislation and see let's see how many thank you very much for taking the words right out of mouth if it's not an issue if we don't have all these complaints over the years you know we're really again spinning wheels I do want to suggest you check with zoning also I can check with us sometimes zoning gets those direct Mr Mr Mayor can Mr Carlo check with the zoning officer to see how many complaints he's got on this I mean the thing is put in legislation with all good intent right we all want to have a nice community and be good to our neighbors but sometimes we you know over legislate and that's not our our business because we have to have someone enforce it which just adds a lot of uh issues and you know might not need more sometimes less is better let's wait for Mr Chief pal mari's response back and the zoning officer response back and we'll discuss it at the next meeting if that's okay with everybody does do residents need to register their bootes in town like that they own a boat I don't believe so no cuz how many people do we have that have a a vote over 18 ft I can I can tell you when I walk my dog there's four cuz now I'm counting see how long they are and there there's two on major roads two that are set back we have one on the side lawn and we have another one uh we have two in the backyard how they and they haven't moved in years so there's there's plenty of votes but I don't think there there are complaints so we'll see what we got and we'll go from there again we're not we're not like a sh Community I understand if it's a sh Community you know that's one issue because everyone has them but we we we have the mighty Lake scho and uh it's not really uh used often all right council president I don't want to send your me I know you got a big agenda if you don't mind Council if the 18 feet is too short and I don't want to put on the spot would you have a recommended number of Oakland you put me on the spot I mean but you no that's right that's why I'm asking is is there any do we have a count or people register their boats so we have an idea of what size boats are in count now they're only registered with the with the state is it possible to get that information in town probably I I don't think so that's almost impossible you'd have to go through every registered vat a DMV search it would have to be what's called an offline DMV search and uh those are as far as I know only done for criminal purposes not for general fact finding I am I don't own a boot but I imagine that if you were in the market for one you're going to base it on your where you store it right and if you only have X number of feet in your own home then that might determine what size boat you get I think anything over 18 ft you're going to store at a marina because it's a fairly l s fairly large size boat right uh it's 18t is not I'm saying over 18 foot you're going to store at a what's a ponon boat a ponon Bo's probably about 20 plus feet easy and you see them all over the place especially along the lake um I know there's one on uh uh Ridgewood Road I mean that's at least at least 25 easy right on the main dra it's there all the time talk know what I'm talking about on the bend I don't person's name but you know where it is can't miss it there's a big boat in from YK but um you know I I I wouldn't know I would know appropriate all right let's table it until we get the response from the chief and from the zoning officer how many complaints we've gotten in The Last 5 Years regarding the subject and we'll bring it back we'll talk about it again Mr lad thank you for your time Chief I should have that by tomorrow I'll get it to the mayor and the administrator and they can forward it thank you thank you very much have a great night thank you uh next on our agenda is mayor's appointments yes thank you um just like to um make a couple of quick comments before I get into the appointments um I hope everyone stayed safe in the snow uh fortunately it fell on a Sunday night when uh Monday was a holiday for many people um and DPW did uh their usual great job U you know especially operating in the tents that they're operating out of uh second is um it was disheartening I'll say that the uh the administrator's report got moved to the conference session as opposed to where the code says it should be uh without any warning or any reason given um with that uh yeah I do have a couple of appointments this evening um one is for The Advisory Board of Health member uh please be advised I'm appointing the following citizen for the position set forth below Advisory Board of Health Daisy valz term expiring December 31st 2027 and then office of emergency management Deputy coordinator to Clayton Kenny ter firing December 31st 2027 uh want me to go into the other one Mike that needs sent okay um and then Township planner Joe Burgess of Burgess Associates Inc term expiring December 31st 2025 thank you thank you Mr mayor council resolutions relating to certain appointments resolution number 25102 authorize Award of contractor Township planner Jo Burgess PP aicp Burgess Associates Inc do I have a motion shall move second roll call Council CIO yes councilman seers yes councilman Omen yes Council woman bz yes council president yes Mr Mayor quick question is there a reason we didn't uh do the same appointment like we just did for Mr Burgess for all our other professionals um because I know in the years past we've always adopt we've always done it for all yeah um it has been determined that those appointments uh do not need Council approval any made that determination uh myself and the attorney okay uh councelor I have a question for you and maybe you can answer this for me and uh this reflects no uh disrespect on on the member of the Board of Health but uh Miss FZ is on the council um when I was on the board of health uh and they asked me to be on the council I was told by the former uh counselor that I had to resign my position so again it's not the member it's the position um is that true and what's your comment on that I would have to look into that I don't know okay thank you very much just and just as a followup so understanding that others may not require it why does this one why does this particular one require um I'd rather let the attorney answer that CU she came up with yeah it's it's just in line with the administrative code there are certain other professionals that are appointed by the director with the approval of the mayor uh within certain budgetary constraints for example fond Council that's a special Council under our f f form of government and our Administrative Code any type of special C legal councel is appointed by the director of law with approval of the mayor within budgetary uh uh you know abilities um same thing I think it was um labor Council uh may have been another uh appointment again that's a special that's a lawyer so under our thought in a form of government administrative code that's how that goes so it's really bringing it more in line with real really how our form of government um is constructed so I was just I was I did just for funing games uh Rivervale which has the same form of f their government did all their appointments like we previously used to do yes it's actually just a belt and suspenders or maybe yeah because I know your predecessor would always you know they I I would believe he's the one that would put them on the agenda right Mr Mayor I don't know if it was you or him but we've always done them every year I've been on this day and now all sudden this year we didn't do them except for a few certain ones so it's a little different that's all um yes I I since we have a new attorney and attorneys can certainly see things differently I asked her opinion on many of the appointments and this is what was decided on okay and I I look at the cases too it's it's pretty important to follow what your administrative code says and I just curious because if you look at riverbell riverbell did a resolution for every one of their professionals like we used to previously up until this year so and they have the same exact forner for government are they pner mayor CS yeah exact they're exactly they're like our identical twin the two big the two fuers of of fergen County so all right uh general public comment motion to from the public comment period you I have a motion some get second all in favor would anybody like to come up at this time and address the Council good evening Mr scary good evening my name is Dan scary a 536 Colonial V good evening May Kari council members for those of you who don't know me my name is Dan scary I'm the director of DPW superintendent of recreation for the township of Washington most importantly I've been a resident for 25 years I am here this evening to express the necessity of a new DPW building as we all know the members of the DPW building DPW Department have been without a building for approximately four years now Council discussions at the January 6 2025 meeting left me to believe that the DPW building project may be delayed pending the unknown expense that will be associated with the Hazardous remediation cleanup at the old Swim Club property it's my opinion that delaying this project any longer will only lead to increased construction costs and may give way to another Township project taken priority a DPW building is extremely important to maintain efficient operations a secure structure which protects our employees and equipment from weather related adversities is not a luxury however it should be considered a bare minimum currently the DPW employees are working out of an open tent and a confined yard I am sure that all of us agree that DPW employees are hardworking and are deserving of a new building but I also understand that the council must be physically responsible to the residents as it pertains to property taxes however I am asking the council to make the decision to fully fund a new DPW building and a yard in order to support our DPW employees providing the best quality services to the residents let's give our DPW employees a new home thank you thank you Mr anybody else like to come up at this time good evening good evening keev Burns 415 Beach Street Washington Township good evening evening Mr mayor council and everyone in attendance uh I'd like to thank the DPW for the great job they did on the clean up last night regarding uh proposed ordinance 252 commercial vehicles who's going to enforce it I heard Chief calary said zoning so it would be the zoning of the police department I believe he said it was the zoning right Mr car right was the T of the chief Miss Bailey I think that's what we said it says yeah because it was a zoning violation rather than an enforcement by for the police department who's currently responsible for enforcing commercial vehicles zoning a police department I believe it's a zoning it's a zoning code it's 3:30 right so it's a zoning code 330 is not zoning so I'd have to look to see who is responsible to enforce that section of the ordinance Mr Burns are you referencing commercial vehicles parked on private property or in the street uh could be in the street as well town to Broadway so I think that's what we're differentiating between tonight so what was discussed in the ordiance tonight is regarding commercial vehicles and boats and trailers and RVs and motor homes parked on private property that's why the zoning officer would be the appropriate enforcement so commercial vehicles currently in roadways so I don't have that ordinance in front of me so I don't want to speak for it but public roadways would be different than the private property who's in charge of enforcing that well that's that's what I don't have but I would assume it would be the police department but I don't have that in front give us one second Mr Burns M Bailey's looking it up roadways public and private are police are by the police we have the two private police depart Police Department Mr car dep um commercial vehicle during prohibited hours who's in charge of enforcing that so any other Police Department police department police uh so hypothetically a commercial vehicle might have writing on it commercial tags uh either say too long over too high overweight who's responsible for forcing that and should that be allowed to park in the street at any time if it violates the ordinance that's that's I'm looking parking of commercial vehicles in residential areas right now I'll take a look and see I'm sorry what was the question sir who's responsible for enforcing commercial vehicles parking in the street that would be the police department all right 22 uh 23- 271 no commercial vehicle shall be at any time um in a public roadway unless it's actively engaged in providing that service who who's enforcing that 23- excuse me 223 d271 223 you said 271 I've been told by a council member that that's a neighbor dispute I don't have a result on that let me check 223-2712 D7 no any commercial vehicle parked in the residential Zone I think there is a 33- check this has to do with the fire department uh to be eligible for benefits I don't think that's if you scroll down a little bit you might uh I might have take the wrong thing but it say commercial vehicles in a residential Zone okay that's all in chapter 330 so let's go to that and see if I can find it for you there okay 3307 3308 these are all all all all violations and penalties yeah for commercial vehicles all 330- right any and they're all to be done by the police department correct yes interesting so if we come out with the the new ordinance is it to be worse the same way or again that goes to the Zone well 3307 and 3308 are are used m b are for vehicles parked in the public right away right not not public not private property well in in residential areas yeah that would be the right way right like the streets right not private property is it just I would have to double check just give me lands of other whether whether publicly or privately owned Al right now it's both right now the police department does both Mr if you look up the definitions that's correct so we'll have to talk to Mr lien about who would be responsible because right now our current ordinance the police department is responsible for both public and private property LLY under the radar I don't understand what you mean by that it's happening and I know and over again clearly it violates the laws there seems to be maybe some miscommunication about who's enforcing what or whether it's being enforced is that something we can look into Mr D Mr Mayor um since that's an Administration yeah what I'd like to do is maybe get the chief and the uh the code enforcement official in the same room for a meeting and pass this out right now being passed off I believe is neighborly a dispute when it's clearly not okay there's quality of life there's other things that go with it there's uh state laws diesel idling take to pick um it's all seems to be displaced somewhere along the line I thank you all for your time I really do appreciate it thank you Mr anybody else like to come up yes Mr stickle Bob stickle 191 walut Street Washington T um and I may be wrong because I couldn't get a copy of that 25-2 but there's a copy up here if you'd like I'm not going to waste time read just correct me if I'm wrong okay but something about planning bushes um 6 feet high so my driveway is 27 ft so if you had an 18t pickup truck do we really want people in a 27t driveway have 6ot high shrubs they go out e 18 ft and then now we're 9 ft from the street I think that's a real safety hazard um this ordinance is on the book for commercial vehicles I only thing it looks like they want to change is putting bushes on also you're not allowed to have anything within 3 feet of a RightWay um higher than 2 and A2 ft um if you live on a corner it's 23 feet um just to correct the gentleman you made a statement F-150 with a crew cab which is four doors is now 19 ft so you can even have a pickup truck in the driveway at 18 ft the regular length of a the small Ford van they don't make Min Vans anymore cargo vans nobody makes them they stop making that's 18.2 foot so that's your standard plumbers van if you have the long one it's 19.7 ft and if it's extra long it's 22.5 ft so basically if we keep this at 18 ft or put this bush thing in there's not a commercial vehicle that's going to fit this orance and I think that's what I was worried about and I think that's what they're trying to do meanwhile I could have an RV the size a bus Which I'll never own me because they probably about $600,000 but I could have that in my driveway and nobody has a problem with that so I I think we got to be very careful on this it's going to be very hard to enforce you know and I've lived in town 20 years and been parking the same size vehicle in my driveway for 20 years so it's kind of difficult when you got to be uh up in Massachusetts 8:00 in the morning leaving a for to drive a half hour to work or back or after finishing a little league CPR at 10:00 to drive to Fairfield to drop off my truck and you volunteered your time to come back home so um I think we put too many ordinances in this town on the books and they're impossible the size of this town to enforce I mean you have two or three police officers writing tickets all night long and not doing anything else so and there's probably a lot more things violations um for our code officer that's more important rund down homes in town and everything else goodness than a plumber having his pickup truck in the driveway trying to make a living so that's all I have to say on that um my wife asked me to say that the tanak the next tanak meeting is going to be in person they no longer can do a zoom meeting but that's January 22nd if anyone's interested down to mini Avenue in Teterboro um there was a thing that was just out on YouTube about two or three planes going into Peterboro um they were supposed to be coming in at 2,000 ft pilot was coming at 4,000 ft didn't even know the call letters on his plane and the tower norc asked him what he was doing um and probably just missed the Collision I don't know if it was over our town it was going into Runway 24 well it must have been one the other night this is getting to be serious the control tower norc actually said to the pilot why aren't you listening to me you're at 4,000 ft you're supposed to be at 2,000 ft so we need to take a little bit more look at this before we have a two planes Collide over our town over a school or something a lot of innocent people so it was a little scary listening to that pilot just didn't even know what the call letters were on this plane 686 instead of 636 and just was completely disregarding air traffic control that was all been put up on YouTube so that's all I have to say Thank you Mr s thank you would anybody else like to come up seeing no one motion to close the public portion of the meeting no questions it what's up no questions from the public no there is no public some move second all in favor I ordinances adoption second reading ordinance number 25-1 ordinance providing for the Improvement of coolage Avenue in and by the township of Washington in the county of Burgen New Jersey in appropriating $19,050 therefore constituting proceeds of a grant from the New Jersey Department of Transportation resolution number 25-13 authorized second reading and opening of public hearing for ordinance 25-1 I have a motion some of second any discussion just this is um is this a matching Grant or we money essentially yes it's a New Jersey do grant money it'll be a local aid grant correct Mr I'm sorry it's a local aid grant right yes any other question Mr anybody else roll call councilman Casio yes councilman Des yes councilman Sears yes councilman Omen yes yes motion to close public hearing for Ordinance 25-1 do I have a motion some second roll call Council CIO yes councilman Sears yes Council Elman yes Council will bz yes council president sen yes motion to adopt ordance number 25-1 at second reading by title do I have a motion some move second roll call councilman CIO yes councilman Sears yes councilman yes Council bz yes council president yes ordinance number 25-3 an ordinance correcting ordinance 24-15 implementing goals and objectives of the township of Washington 2019 master plan reexamination report resolution number 25-14 authorized second reading and opening of public hearing for ordinance 53 have a motion some move second anybody like to discuss this in the audience ear in the days seeing no one uh roll call CY CIO yes Council M yes councilman yes Council bz yes council president sen yes motion to close public hearing ordinance 25-3 so move second R call councilman C yes councilman sear yes councilman yes Council valz yes the president to s yes motion to adopt ordinance number 25-3 at second reading by title some move second R councilman Cassio yes councilman Sears yes councilman Omen yes Council bz yes council president yes introduction first reading none individual resolutions resolution number 25-1 146 authorized 2024 transfer Appropriations $3,000 do I have a motion so move second any discussion I just had one question I don't know if Mr de Cara had a chance to uh review my inquiry from earlier I don't know the balance yes sir yes I have a response U Mr Man uh emailed me this morning the following question and after accounting for the proposed transfer of $3,000 from account number blah blah blah health benefits how much remains in the account to support further transfers if needed uh the health benefits line after this reduction of 3,000 will have a balance of 14,846 64 additionally I can't promise but I'm not expecting any more um transfers there it's really just the utilities companies um that it was hard to estimate when doing the budget so I'm happy to say there was no discretionary spending or discretionary account lines that we overexpanded or had the need for a transfer it was really just the utilities uh but the answer to question 14,846 64 addition is account number blah blah blah health benefits the only budgeting line available to support shortfalls uh no there are a few more um that we are able able to use pull from if needed from the 2024 budget do any other accounts have an excess of $10,000 available to support transfers for shortfalls the answer is U is yes and then I think he may have as Mr may have asked me to identify them so these are just control lines these aren't individual account lines but the police salary and wages has more than $110,000 police dispatching salary wages has more than $10,000 APW other expenses uh has more than $10,000 and then State expenditures for uh police and fire retirement system has a little bit more than 10,000 there are a few additional account uh control accounts that have more than 10,000 but we haven't paid all of the outstanding invoices that are expected to come in for 2024 hopefully that answers your question sir thank you very much roll call counc cassum yes councilman Sears yes councilman yes councilwoman bz yes council president sen yes resolutions consent agenda the following items have been determined to have the unanimous consent of the council will be enacted in one motion should any item require independent consideration any council member may have such item removed from the consent agenda does anyone have any resolutions to be removed from the consent agenda for discussion uh yes 1 132 please you'd like 132 removed yeah just just a discuss anything else 147 147 excuse me 147 yes please thank you any others explanation 148 please you want to do 148 also Okay resolution 25-105 authorized refund of esro funds block 3304 Lot 25 and the amount not to exceed $140 resolution number 25-18 authorized refund of escro funds block 140401 lot 3 in the amount not to exceed $1,000 resolution number 25-19 authorized refund the esro funds block 1103 Lot 4 in the amount not to exceed $620 resolution number 25-49 authorize the police department to participate in the defense Logistics agency law enforcement Support Office 1033 program do I have a motion second roll councilman CIO yes councilman Sears yes councilman yes councilman valz yes council president to sen yes resolution number 25-32 authorize entry into a developers agreement with Cohen Development Group LLC do I have a motion Mo second discussion yeah I just wanted to ask Mr Dar Carlo and the attorney is this everything that we agreed on previously with this uh this agreement of t councils is there any add additions addendums Provisions that you are aware of um it is based upon Mr um Po's form developer agreement with my recommended add-ons based upon my experience in drafting developers agreements also consultation with um risk manager to check the insurance requirements um and obviously Mr aalen to establish the appropriate bonding requirements are there any major what were what were the major revisions that if you can rep I I wouldn't even say there's any major revisions stylistic adding adding additional language here in there that I believe beats up the topic that's already been there that type of stylistic thing it doesn't alter the hard data our risk man sorry sorry Dr it's okay I say hard the the agreements that we talked about PRI prior no no R manager agreed to the reduction in insurance or we kept it as the risk manager provided recommended coverage amounts and they're within those par thank you yes any other discussion on this I have no other problem that's all the US langage changes R call C Casio yes councilman seers yes councilman Omen yes Council bz yes council president yes resolution number 25-47 authorized cancellation of General Capital fund ordinances do I have a motion second discussion yes I just had uh a couple of questions um so first thank you uh in terms of just the strategy uh the reason why we're now canceling these I mean I think it's a good idea I know um La you know as recently as our last meeting there was a hesitancy to cancel these uh I think um they were viewed as a source of funds for certain uh expenses so just in general uh the change uh to approve these or to move forward with these uh second question is um and I knew the year end 2023 20 yeah 2023 audit uh won't have uh currents uh won't necessarily align with this but we haven't cancelled all balances in that in these ordinances is that correct yes essentially that is correct so once you know hopefully this is approved this evening we'll have the CFO make the changes this week and then I'll in preparation of the 2025 budget Council will receive reports similar to what you received last year during the budget so that will identify what capital lines are still open and have a balance um your first question it wasn't a decision to change our minds but what I want what I just want Council to understand is you know I inherited you know a lot of projects that need to be done a lot of projects um that need to be initiated and completed and I utilized the funding sources that we had available and that were appropriate and also notified or informed councils over the last few years during budget or capital discussions that I would be utilizing that and then as promised even before you had requested I was conducting reviews and overhauls of the capital lines to see what could be closed out this resolution this evening actually concludes and I'm happy to say concludes the review we've been able to pay all outstanding bills for our professionals so like in ordinance 1306 where we were paying um an engineer service for the resurfacing inspection and Engineering Services uh services for uh Calvin last year now I feel comfortable closing out that ordinance and its balance so a lot of time a lot of these ordinances had open purchase orders so I'm happy to say not only are we complete with our review and recommendations but we've now completed a lot of projects um sever some of them several years old some of them were funds that were vot to us from do and we had to utilize um funds to pay Engineers dating back to 2017 to do all the paperwork and documents that were needed to uh to get us our ultimate reimbursement so it's really not a change in mind it's just circumstances have now presented itself where we can close these out um so if you see that there's four different columns so um if we go down to say a 23 ordinance there is there is parts of that 2308 ordinance that will have to be funded because we were authorized to borrow but we didn't borrow yet but out of all the different projects that were funded or allowed to be bonded in ordinance 2308 some of these had balances so that's you know that's what we're we're closing off so you'll see in that column for deferred charges on funded just means we're lowering by 33,700 $13.85 how much we would have to borrow by cancelling those ordinance in the column for fund balance that's how I funded the resurfacing of Calvin Street last year so it was funded with some fund Capital found balance and it was also funded with a New Jersey DOT Grant the project wasn't as expensive as we thought so we'll be able to put $ 53,723 for payment of debt that means those ordinances that were closed were ordinances that we actually borrowed money for so $1 162,163 was money that was previously borrowed that's no longer needed that's going to go into our general ledger for reserve of for payment of debt and then the last column is capital grants receivable that really just takes a a grant receivable off of our grants receivable list of $ 47,7 4191 that really just means we anticipated utilizing that much more money in the project at 47,700 but we didn't so it's not really found money it's not lost money either it just cleans up our books a little bit so um progress it was it's good progress can I just ask one additional question sure on the reserve for payment of debt is that 162 two going to be available in the 2025 budget Year yes so the anticipated strategy is and again just using numbers these aren't exact numbers but we you know in the current budget we will have an account line for debt and an account line for interest so in the debt line if we need $500,000 to pay the bank this year I will ask for $5,000 in the budget I have to raise the 500,000 but on the revenue side I can introduce this is just a number $250,000 from the general ledger to offset that $ 500,000 so taxation's really 250 not 500 so the strategy will be to introduce a certain amount which I don't have off the top of my head as a revenue to offset the taxation for the payment of debt in the current budget okay so on the expense side it'll be gross the 500,000 on the revenue side we'll whatever the amount tax the net okay yes thank you you're welcome anything else on 147 roll call house uh yes councilman yes councilman Omen yes councilman BL yes council president to sen yes resolution number 25-48 authorizing support participation in the sustainable Jersey municipal certification program do I have a motion so move second discussion yes can you explain to me what this is I every year we put it on for you that's all oh this is the yearly certification for the Green Team thank you any other questions nope that's perfect thank you councilman coun yes councilman Sears yes councilman man yes Council valz yes council president to sen yes adjournment conference agenda do I have a motion I'll move second all in favor I next meeting of the township Council will be on February 3rd 2025 beginning at 700 p.m. sign up for nixel Tech 07676 to 888777 key code TWP Bergen okay conference agenda for tonight uh under current business we have the new DBW building Mr Mayor Mr Dar [Music] Carlo um Mark did we get the number yet the council president was looking for for the remediation of the swim FP I don't think so no sir we did not the update though on that I talked to Mr Rosie several times over the last couple weeks they're waiting for all the testing results to come back so know how expansive how reduced the uh the the contamination is and then that'll lead to anticipated project Mr Mayor during your uh mayor's breakes does the mayor all toan attend those meetings um I'll say he's invited I don't know if he will attend would you Mr Dar Carlo be able to discuss with him the six day uh DPW building that they're currently building that was uh brought to them by the menites um it's a beautiful building it's on the corner um it's six Bays I know we're not getting a six Bay building but it's a uh it's a pre-fabricated building that they had made um it looks beautiful I have some pictures here for after the meeting I can show you really quick but just to just discuss with him what the costs of that were and so forth just to get an idea cuz it's a it's a two-story building you know prefabricated by you know it's got the construction name from the the the I I don't want to insult the menites but I I don't know how they brought it here or anything but they built it and it looks beautiful so okay maybe we could talk to ultap pan and see how they got their six Bay buil and it went up very quickly it went up in weeks okay um yeah and if he's not at the the breakfast I can certainly reach out to him afterwards thank however you know I would just like to add we keep uh finding these things find have to draw a line of the sand at some point and say we're moving ahead with this project I'm not disag I just would like to get an update you know just to just to have an idea how quickly they got it done because it seems this building went up in the matter of two months like like I drove past it it was an empty lot and two months later they got a full building up and it's ready for garage doors so went up very quickly so if that's something we could expedite you know based on his knowledge I I'd like to get them their building as soon as possible also sorry go ahead can we just ask for clarity what this is going to come off wrong I don't mean it disrespectfully what would the end game be would it would it be a different you know like well if we can call them tomorrow in order a three-day building because we're getting three days now that would fit our requirements and they could put it up in but what do we do with the architect that we're under contract for for $160,000 if you can get them a building let's just say in months rather than year or whatever be with the same architectural design that's what I it's similar it's a similar looking build it's not a brick and block building but you can look at it when you get a chance to Mo I'm just I'm just curious for timeline because it literally was an empty site and two months later the building is completely up I don't know what I'd be asking no we're not asking the architect of anything no I understand we're just asking the mayor like how what was the what was the I would like to know the construction cost in the schedule like how quickly they got it sure maybe they maybe they've been you know building it for two years we don't know that that's that's what I'd like to find out can you send those pictures to council I could phot them tomorrow yes I'll phot them to Sue and she'll get them to council and uh also to keep the project moving along uh and to director scary's comments um you know they've been very patient but it's time so at the next meeting I will have a capital ordinance uh looking for Council to approve for the difference between what we already have uh for the DPW and the difference thank you ask a question or two I know you've as many as you like asked uh multiple times for questions and feedback but uh just two one the existing um emergency generator is it sized to support that building or would we need a new one um I believe we need a new one for that okay and is that part of the that Mark I know I can certainly find out I just recall oh this is something else no this is something else I don't remember if it was on the Mr Myers estimated but I don't remember the second question actually since you brought it up I'll ask a third but the second question is the um craple you made me forget it um you could email Mr D in the morning like if you think of it in a minute as the council president I'm sure he'll let you go back so the question this so what I uh I have is the documentation from the Emergency Services building and the question I had was there were at least the version I'm looking at there were 42 change orders from the initial uh oh salt was the question I'll get back to it the um there were 42 change orders uh at least as of the date of this report and I was just wondering um would the Architects or have you look at these change orders as they relate to that building to see if anything that was done or omitted or forgotten in the development of that building uh has it been uh captured in the design here so you know this is not ancient history this is a couple of years um you know the access control for instance there was a $20,000 line item we uh changed it out and we went out separately for a $50,000 uh bid for Access Control there were things like um painting uh that wasn't included or epoxy floors or things like that uh so I just was wondering if he has this list and or if anyone has this list and looked at it uh and overlaid it to what we know we're looking to do and then the last question is can I answer that one while FR on my mind um I will ask ask him if he has done that if he would be so kind as to if that's my copy yeah I'll forward it to you I don't but I don't know if it's this I don't knowall yeah okay and if he hasn't I'll certainly ask him to do so I mean some of it is very sight specific like the retaining wall and uh I think they took some trees down and so it's random but okay some may it apply and then the last one the salt shed is omitted from the designs at this point and the expense it's in the sight Improvement line yeah because it's not it's a separate structure than the building and so it fell into site as opposed to the building but that's going to be captured as as part of the gas oh yeah we we shared with you already the site Improvement cost roughly and that was on that was like 200,000 or so I think it was account for 250 250 okay all right but it's going to go out to bid as one as part of the project correct that was it thank you all right Mr Dar Carlo your administrator's report for January 6 2025 thank you [Applause] sir good evening this is my Council response from uh the township meeting on January 6th there was no resonant uh concerns or questions to follow up on there were several Council questions uh first one was councilman the senate had a question regarding resolution 25117 which was about the authorizing fixing authorizing fixing the rate of interest for delinquent taxes I spoke to our tax collector and informed that the interest rates are established by State Statute both both interest rates that were referenced in the um in that or in that resolution thank councilman Olman required about our cash management plan as it pertains to our banking institution which we have Valley Bank on January 7th 2025 I met with our finance team which consists of our CFO tax collector and our purchasing agent unanimously it was concluded that we do not recommend at this time changing our financial institution depository in early spring 20124 the finance team did meet with Representatives another banking institution the benefits provided to the township by Valley Bank Pro to be better than the other offer potential higher interest rates offered by another bank were for an introductory period at best currently the township receives a 4.1 interest rate additionally with Valley Bank there are no minimum balance fees account analyzing fees wire transfer fees check stop fees endorsement stop fees check scanner fees stop payment fees for non-sufficient fund fees the proximity of Valley Bank is beneficial as well considering is right next door to town hall it makes conducting business more convenient we have a wellestablished relationship with Valley Bank with an additional perk offered by Valley Bank the use of their back parking lot to town hall employees when needed lastly um it has been expressed by councilman om and his desire to uh for Township to conduct business with local establishments that being said um valy bank has proven to be a great partner that does donate uh to functions within the township so we're happy to continue um our business with Valley Bank lastly councilman Olman inquired as to why beckme engineer's proposal for service related to resurfacing of a New Jersey DOT Grant roadway is more costly than other roadways I confirm with Glen beckme that roads resurface by using NJ doot Grant funds require more work such as design specs inspections and documentation during the process updates a reminder to Residents regarding the property tax reassessment appraisal systems will be posting the locations of inspections on their website which is www.as NJ you may also visit the website for information pertaining to the assessment on February 12th 2025 our tax assessor will be visiting with our seniors in the senior center at their monthly meeting monthly meeting to answer questions pertaining to the reassessment appraisal systems inform me that fresh background checks were completed on all eight inspectors with passing results and additionally later this week uh the tax assessor will be uh meeting with myself the mayor and members of the police Police Department to discuss um the initiation of the inspections and I will get that out to council once that date has been uh established I gave you an update with the um the testing results we're waiting for for the swim club as far as the restabilization of the maping brook of course the New Jersey D Center application uh needed some more um information so BOS engineering is working on that and council president that includes my report thank you thank you ordinances yes M Mr it's okay with the mayor um I'm sure it might be in your notes already any Resident concerns for our next meeting can you ask add Mr Burns concerns in regards to the enforcement yes it's already on my list thank you thank you and can um first thank you Mr Carlo for responding um I guess my uh I I would say that asking about uh a lunch for aund or a lunch for $260 and a breakfast for $164 and suggesting that we try to keep that in town I think has a different order of magnitude keep things in town where it's appropriate however you know when we're looking at balances uh and the audit report doesn't have average daily balances so it's difficult to determine what that is but you know we open 22 and close 23 with approximately $6 million in uh cash uh and 47 million pass through in terms of tax that has been collected and expenses related to that among other it items so our average daily balance you know I would imagine is significantly above the 6 million uh we have uh General Capital cash and we also have uh trust uh trust funds or funds uh that are basically cash-based so we have a lot of free cash that is in the bank and you know getting five or 10 bips would make a significant difference uh you know I don't know if $25,000 in extra interest revenue is Meaningful to me it is uh which is why I asked that question so I appreciate that you know you've looked uh and I appreciate uh your response uh but you know that's why I'm asking or that's why I asked uh but I would like to distinguish the difference between suggesting that uh if we are doing a breakfast or a lunch that we use a Township uh business and you know for a couple hundred verse you know a cash management plan that covers literally tens of millions of dollars uh I I think they are at opposite ends of the spectrum and I would hope that we would use a different measure me then just that they're in town thank you Mr Mr G Carlo uh Mr Mayor can we add to the next current business the uh I'm getting a lot of complaints about uh zombie houses that we have on the books in town there's there's like three or four of them that are you know very uh talked about so if we can maybe discuss how we can get these you know get them on the on the violations uh list and get them taken care of yeah we'll discuss that with the code enforcement officer when we sit him and the chief down to discuss the other concerns I'm sure you've seen what I've seen and there's a bunch of them there's two by the lake there's a c you know so under ordinances and legislation tree ordinance 23-17 chapter 465 tree replacement alternative Fe per tree removal uh Mr Dar Carlo Mr Mayor U council president do you mind if I just go back to your request for the zombie houses if if you do know of any uh specific ones if you could privately email me yeah you're probably definitely talking the one on Chestnut yeah that's one of them there there's two others yeah our code enforcement officer has been working diligently to try and find who is responsible and you would think it would be an easy task and it's proving to be nothing uh but opposite of that the taxes are being paid and we're running into a total roadblock um so somebody's paying the taxes but no somebody's paying the taxes and we we consulted with the tax collector and because it's a third party we we cannot figure out who it is I saw that our code enforcement officer actually this morning emailed an additional person to try and figure it out as far as um I would probably would say it was in 23 when our code enforcement off handled like six or seven zombie hous some of which were the the ones at the intersection at 660 P that we got taken down um one of which is the property that the Township's trying to acquire on pasak road and there was a few other so um if there's any specific it's probably a good chance we're already addressing it but I can double check I'll get you a um an update on the ones that we are can we maybe just uh at the next meeting just I out the address of the ones we're looking into the ones who have violations so this way the residents know that nobody's saying nobody's saying nobody's not doing their job but you just look at the house for you know all these years and nothing's happening so you're like well how could it go on this long when we have all these ordinances on the book so maybe we just address it and say listen like you just did you said hey somebody's paying the taxes but that's not the person that's responsible I'll bring in a report and like I said in the meantime if you could send me something specifically we discuss offline tomorrow thank you thank you so for the tree removal ordinance uh 40 chapter 465 yes this this actually was identified because of something um Mr aelina was working on with the planning board and as many times as we've revised this ordinance or it's been read by council members myself whatever we never put in the actual amount so I I uh provided to council a copy and paste of the section of the ordinance for chapter ordinance 2317 chapter 465 trees it literally says pay a fee of parentheses amount to be set by municipality parentheses we never did that and based on my discussions um with councilman Sears part of the Green Team uh Mr Sabino and Paul aelina who dealt with um an applicant that needed to do some replacing uh the recommendation is 350 per Trace so if council's good with that we will prevent present to council at the next meeting a revised ordin have a 3 reflecting that we've gone through rers University we talked to some of the the town where we stole it from was 350 way back when so that's a good number so we worked with rors Mr scary and I have multiple classes down the and tree maintenance and tree cleaning we also talk to our arus and 350 is the minimum that you can get a tree right now y so if it's the minimum should we ask for more I mean I would like to but I don't want to push the envelope on Builders right now especially with the economy the way it is I think that that's a good start the economy is changing we heard it today oh thank you so you know things are going to be great I can go I can do 400 what does the council want to do 400 then well so my question it sounds like Tom did research with Mr Dar Carlo but you know do we have uh We've replaced I mean we I'm Moroso did work for us they're doing work for us on a regular basis you know what does it cost them on average when they plan for us 400 he gives us a break about person 400 with the with the mulch the digging the planting would do you want to go 375 do 400 just do 400 and call it a day I'm okay with straw pole for 400 for the next can I ask a couple questions yeah sure yeah um I guess the question is this is for someone that does not want to replace the tree goes into the bank into thee Bank goes into the tree bank and but if they replace a tree on their own that's that's nothing and this has nothing to do with the permit fee to because I know the permit fees are I know we put those in place somewhere with a thing but you know if this is um the alternative and a resident or a builder wishes to you know not replace you know I'm okay with it so i' rather I'd rather have a tree there instead of have the green on the proper than the Green in our bank but i' rather have this ordinance for it clear has added a lot of trees to this community okay and again that's specifically for oh my mic's not on that's terrible um that's specifically for trees that we are going to put another location that's where it's going towards right okay everybody from Sher Sherry um where did you put CL Sherry Sherry Sherry Gard Mr Sears you okay with yeah that would be fine CIO you okay with 400 mrman you okay with 400 yes I'm okay with 400 Mr Carlo can you have that for the next meeting yes thank you uh we did the parking we're going to wait for the chief and the zoning officer to give us more information on the parking and storage of both trailers and commercial vehicles Capital ordinance 23-16 land Improvement 464 Ridgewood Road okay uh please just give me a minute to explain this one but you know ultimately I have a little bit of yoke on my face when we received the reimbursement for the open States grant for the swim club I had believe and I had told Council that the funds to purchase the swim club was totally funded I recently discovered when reviewing our schedule of unfunded ordinances that 22-1 acquisition of land for $463,500 so when I had given that information to the council I told the council the options were that that money that we received a 438,000 I again I think that's off the top of my head from the county would either go into Capital fund balance or we could utilize that to fund a new ordinance which turned out to be 23-16 for land Improvement at 464 woodwood Road uh the council ultimately decided to fund the new capital ordinance 23-16 for land Improvement we technically do not have that money in hand when we received the reimbursement it should have took it should have reduced um the money that was future debt so of that ordinance that we um created I have about $65,000 of it encumbered to pay the $75 ,000 proposal for Boswell engineering that we're expecting to get back from that hazardous remediation so technically um and if we do not wish to borrow that money we should probably once I get that money close it out and return that money towards you know what to lower our future debt hopefully that makes sense or you can you know advise me to keep it the way it is but then we'd have to borrow that money so technically that money is not not there to um to utilize so we should have just paid it off like we origin like some people asked for not paid it off but it it should have when we got that money it should have just reduced it should have gone towards ordinance 22-1 reducing the amount of debt of debt that we would have to Future borrow so I I'm not sure what the difference is between the 438 and the 46 R off the top of my head but you know I certainly will not encumber any other funds on that 438 and I'm fully confident we can be able to return that back to the fullly 438 so I guess what I'm asking the council is do you want to leave it the way it is and eventually borrow that money when we do borrow or do not spend any more money on that Capital line and cancel that Capital line out just like I we did for those others and it would just reduce the amount that we will have to borrow in the future I would reduce it can we reduce it because this this was brought up and I was against doing what we did I wanted to just pay it and be done with it and the dice made a decision to proceed with creating a new ordinance to use it for the proposed yeah but it was in it was in 23 was before you were on the council that the council did that made that decision so I I'm sorry I I don't mean to no no know but I was but like there was I was but I was out in the DAT yeah I wasn't on the DAT but me and others wanted to go toward the purchase price and reduce it and we're you know the D voted to do what they did so can we change that well again you you voted probably based on what I told you Su you know the council has my apologies I I fully understood it as being funded and it is not it is not funded so um you know again the money is not spent I do have about 65,000 of the 438 encumbered um but you know if if your guidance is to cancel that out and restore it I'll figure out if I can restore it other than you know prior to waiting for the reimbursement of of the grant hopefully that will be awarded but you know those are those are would be the options when do you need a decision by Mark yeah I I like I you have my word I'm not going to spend it so you know I don't need it today yeah I I really gota kind of think about the way I want to go with this right now to be honest with you um you're you're the one I didn't want to face the most because I specifically told you it was fun Mark listen we'll have disagreements I give out some bad information too and you know we do make mistakes it's all right but I'd like a little time to think about this particular thing is that okay with everybody digest it a little bit now that we know the facts about I'm in the I'm in the mindset of if we have it just pay it off and get rid of it but um you know I just like to think about this one a little bit okay okay thank my apologies again no problem would it be okay um just to at a very high level put that down in sort of writing so it's like 2201 the 463 43 you know there's like 463 there's 438 and there's 2316 and then the 65 I'm not sure where all the numbers I can do that all tie back into probably read just as confusing as I said get to please if you wouldn't mind what you say get Sky to it because I you know confuses me I'd appreciate it I you know very simply if you tell me to cancel that ordinance 236 it will reduce what we have to borrow by $438,000 okay now can I ask a question which I sure just spend the rules can I just go back real quick I'm going to ask um you may the rules well not not really spend if you let me go back to just the the uh conference agenda or the consent agenda because I didn't turn the page and I didn't see that um the 1033 I know was a list of items that are available and I just want to ask the mayor or the administrator was there anything on that sheet that the police department's looking for in that 1033 did they mention anything to you I know we're probably not going to get the helicopter I understand that you know where we or or the nonlethal hand grenades it's out back oh I didn't see no I missed it I thought I saw something flying over there but I was unsure was there anything that they were interested in not that I know of off the top of my head okay how about tow trucks what's that for you can use them Midnight to to park in the street I should have known there was an angle okay I just want you have a responses all right what I would like to just add in is that that resolution not that particular one but the title was the incorrect title at the last meeting so we heard back from the state that they had to change the title and along with that this was a list that was provided by them the 103 program that must be attached to that resolution to be sent down I understand so it's not like they're looking and picking and from I understand picking and choosing not get this from Amazon okay just a question that's all thank you yes Mr s uh may I just tailor on uh councilwoman's Val's request about the overnight parking that we leave personal names out of this and uh we don't uh put particular citizens in a bad position that it will be a open generic discussion with data that could be brought forth oh absolutely understood should numbers yeah just numbers no that's what we ask for numbers no names yeah okay this is not addressing the extended noic no graduation under financials seeing none miscellaneous amend the 2025 council meeting schedule due to the change in the June primary date Mr wowy you have some suggestions no just go back to what we were going to do in the beginning go back to the first and the third Monday since it's now move to the second Tuesday just go to our normal routine then okay advertise it as such I have to then re advertise those dates you know that there's a change in the schedule so the primaries on the 10th correct and we would meet on the 2nd and the 16th yeah that believe that's what the dates are on that paper that I gave you so the yellow is the amended yes please okay M wowski can can you answer may maybe you can answer this question do you know why they Chang it I plead the fifth you plead the fifth they just felt like moving it to the No it's it's it's a Jewish holiday that's what that's what's been said that it's a Jewish holiday and the governor just wanted to change it yeah but that's all I know I know as much as what you read um I didn't read anything so I'm big on all right so we're moving to June 2nd and June 16th is there new meeting dates for J and you'll public yeah I will publish we'll publish that yes okay uh close session thank you resolution number 25-150 ambulance shared services shared service agreement 450 pass act affordable housing litigation the township Council anticipates that it will not come out a Clos session do I have a motion to enter into Clos session so move second all in favor I let's take a 5 minute recess go