the meeting to order. Uh requirements for the signal law have been met. The meeting was sent to be advertised in the Bros County Times. My time notice was given to the NJAC 539-1.5. We will now start with the pledge of allegiance
to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. [Music] We will now have a moment of silence.
Roll call. Committee woman Dr. Caldwell here. Committeewoman Maddox Campine, present. Committee Manur, here. Committeewoman stated that she would be absent this evening. Mayor Henley present. Also
present is the township solicitor, the township clerk, township administrator, township deputy administrator, the police chief, fire EMS chief, and the public works director, Chris Taylor. Full house. We will now go presentation swearing in
of police sergeant Tyler Morrison. Um, resolution 105-25, resolution appointing police sergeant. Do we have a motion? So moved. Second. Second. Cwell. Roll call.
Second. Dr. Fwell. Yes. Miss Maddox. Yes. Mr. Carr. Yes. Mayor Henley. Yes. Four. Yes. Motion passes. Mr. Morrison. Sergeant Morrison. I'm sorry. It's on the other side of the raise your leg.
So just repeat after me. I listen I slee swear solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of New Jersey and the Constitution of the State of New Jersey that Iare
and allegiance to the same and to the governments established in the United States and to the governments established in the United States and in this state and in this state under the under the authority of the people and that I'm faithful and that I'm faithful
and impartially impartial and just to perform and justly perform all duties of police all duties of the police according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability. So thank you [Applause]
That is your first [Music] Chief, do you guys have something set up for Sergeant outside? So, anyone who's here for Sergeant Morrison? If you guys want to go outside, you can. If you want to stick
around for the meeting, you can as well. It's totally up to you. But I don't want to hold you hostage to us getting ready to go on. So, if that's the case, Sergeant, you can take your friends and family um into
the lobby there. No harm, no foul. Thank you, sir. [Music] All right. Big S. So, we will now have a moment with uh Burlington County Board of Commissioners, our commissioner
director, Dr. Felicia Hopson who I have to say I know there hasn't been a lot of change. So I did reach out to her and say if you don't want to come you have to come and we'll peek a little bit down the road because there's not a lot of discuss. And she vehemently refused to
be able to be here to keep her word. So, you know, that means a lot to me as well as the other committee members that um she doesn't want to run from any questions that any residents will have, which we'll see. So,
my favorite deputy director, uh Felic Dr. Felic, I was just really here for any questions. I don't Do you have any questions, please? Sure. Let's go ahead. Don't lean on the gate. Let's go ahead. Stay seated. Stay seated, please. Let me
see. Got it. Thank you. I was just curious. You know, I live in the village of Ren Kogus and the county had bought the former Abco building and no one knows what the plans are. Do you have any idea what you could share with us about that?
Long time ago it was at on Main Street. It was had several different owners since the old the old in the last year. Excuse me. It's on Main Street near Will Street. It
used to be a bank a long time ago. Okay. All we knew was county. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. They going to use it for Well, I know that the prosecutor's office doesn't want to really serve us, but they're going to use it for for their protection.
Okay. Never hurts to ask. Thank you very much. That's all I have for you tonight. Thank you for coming. Easy in, easy out. Did you guys have any questions that any questions from residents regarding I
honestly I do not at the moment. Okay. I I just have a couple. Um I've taken a a chance to kind of ride by and I see the progress that the building is making. Uh in terms of timeline, are we pretty much on schedule or We're a little late.
We're thinking now maybe late 2026. So eventually summer project not so [Music] I think it's me
director I have a question um is Is there like is there now or will there be in the future a wait list for someone? Let's say January 2026 rolls around and someone's really in need. I heard about the shelter that's opening. Is there
going to be a wait list or is it hey, you know, we open July 1, 2026 and we're taking things that day forward. Yeah. So, when we open, we open. So, um I don't anticipate that we'll wrap on the day of but um you never know with with
everything that's happening in our in our nation there. So um but when and we will do everything that we can to make sure everyone gets what's needed even if we have to transport to other you know facilities emergency centers whatever
the case but I don't anticipate a waiting list and we don't typically wouldn't typically function that way right right so thank you so much services
right which is we transport. Director Dr. Hopson, um, one last question. I know when you were here last, you talked about the fact that, um, it's going to be, and if I'm using the incorrect term, correct me, outsourced. Have you guys started to
interview to see who's going to run it? No, the RV process is what we're working on now. Okay. So, that RFP process will start to happen for the beginning of next year. So that RFP will go out and we'll we'll follow our own RFP process
when we put out RFP service. Thank you. Any other questions? Thank you so much. Thank you. So I will see you guys in a couple months. A couple months. All right. Thank you so much. Enjoy your time. You too. Thank
you. So, approval of minutes January 3rd, 2025 regular meeting minutes. Do you have a motion? Motion. Second. Any discussion? Roll call. Dr. Caldwell. Yes. Miss Maddox Canteen. Yes. Mr. Carr. Yes.
Mayor Henley. Yes. Or yes. Motion passes. January 3rd, 2025, executive session. Do we have a motion? Motion. Any discussion? Roll call. Dr. Cwell. Yes. Miss Maddox.
Canteen. Yes. Mr. Carr. Yes. Mayor Henley. Yes. Yes. Motion passes. There's reports of police, public works, court, fire, EMS, and construction. We're now open meeting for public comments on agenda items only. Please remember the
state's name and address for the record. [Music] Nancy Berkeley Olus. I'm glad most people are gone. My comment has to do with the consensus
agenda of passing the budget. All of you, almost all of you have always run on transparency and when you run for an office and I was very disappointed that I saw no transparency lately. I was very disappointed that
there was a budget meeting on 17th of July at 300 p.m. It was not advertised on the calendar. It was not advertised on Facebook and it was not advertised the day of the
last meeting even though the next day it was put on the web page in a very obscure place. I don't know why. We've never had a meeting at 3:00 when people worked for the budget. [Music] I listened to the the video when we had
a presentation, but that was before the budget was settled and there really wasn't any budget information. If I had known that it was at 3:00, I would have gone. Jim and some of you know that I'm always interested in the budget. I don't know why it was 3:00. If it was because you
had to pay the CPA extra to come in at night. CPA. Who's the CPA? I'm sorry. C CFOs. Sorry. The worst. CFO come in at night, then you tell them to take off during the day and come at night. You're here for the public. I have no idea
what's in this budget. And Ashley, you were the one who made such a big deal when you ran about transparency and communication. and you kind of insulted me saying there wasn't any communication before you came but you never looked on Facebook to see
that almost every week every other day I was communicating with the public about what's going on at the township of the township committee and I took that as a personal insult so I'm asking you what have you done to communicate to the
people and what have you done I wrote you an email Miss Berkeley you should address the the council as a whole or through the chair I'll talk to you about my email again later, but I am just very disappointed and I want to know why there hasn't been
any real budget meetings except at 3:00 and it wasn't really advertised. I'm just really disappointed. I want to know when I can get a hold of the budget cuz it wasn't on the it wasn't on the web page. Thank you, M. Berkeley.
If I may, please. Uh-uh. I will. So, one, the budget was every 4th and I It was advertised on June the 4th through the newspaper and through was it Facebook? Not Facebook, but on our website on our website. It was
advertised for both. It's his birthday. So, are you positive about that? Because you haven't always been right. Let's be frank. Secondly, our CFO came here to answer personal questions for anybody in the public, which has never happened before. So, that's an additional step that we've done that hasn't been done, which does
focus on transparency. He came here on his own time at 3:00. Second of all, I understand that a lot of people work, but there's a lot of retired people, too, or something that we could have set up differently if people had a question.
They didn't. So we focused on transparency because we did put it out there and this gentleman put in extra time to come here and sit one on-one with anybody who came here. So that was an additional practice that's never been that's never happened before. We did that for transparency.
Right? So that's the step that we did. Now you can no and that's fine. That's your choice. That's your feelings etc. You have that right. But I would ask you this as a resident. Has your CFO ever set up a time to come
in and talk to the public about the budget? Because your CFO previously didn't do the budget. There's no butt, ma'am. What I'm saying is that this CFO came in at 3:00 to sit with any individual who wanted to understand the budget and go through it.
I ask you, has there ever been a CFO in the history of West Hampton that's done that? I can answer it and the answer is no because I've done the research and I know better. So I applaud him for setting that time separate to come sit with the public and discuss what our
budget is for transparency. And Dr. Cwell is someone who by the way everyone here has set separately with the CFO to discuss the bud the budget. Dr. Cwell, who and I don't need to defend her cuz she can defend herself,
who I sat meeting with, went through the budget line by line with the CFO and asked some questions about what was next and what we were doing and and what we were doing to be prepared for the future of the town. So, I understand that you could be a little
bit insulted by what she said, but I'm sure she's insulted by the steps that she's taken to make sure that she's put her imprint on that budget and discussed it with our CFO on additional time that we all came in here separately and sat down with them
to review. And I understand you have a lot of passion about the time about the town and I respect that. I respect the fact that you want the best for the town. But I don't want you to miss that you have four people up here right now, but five people in the in total along with an administration that we've worked
hard to put forward to be pro West Hampton and pro this town that feels the same as you. We're all on the same we're all on the same boat and I respect that you do bring up points that we miss sometimes that we want to add and do better. But there are times that there's
points brought up that are missing the point a little bit because we are trying to do the best that we absolutely can as a team. I accept your answer and that's your right to do so. This is
America and you're allowed to do that. Even in this meeting, we have a meeting right now and this gentleman is here to discuss the budget. agenda. It's on the agenda. Mayor, just to uh to recap, um by the way, it's a pleasure
working with you this year. I look forward to sticking around as long as you need me. Um the reason why we I personally love doing these budget information sessions cuz sometimes people are, I don't know, maybe embarrassed to speak in public or they might think they have a stupid question. I I was raised by a teacher in my dad
that was an attorney. So, there's never a stupid question at the dining room table. And uh this is not a statutory requirement that I do. Uh it's more to open up to the public for anybody to come. Uh the budget that was introduced and I don't recall all my comments at
the introduction, but it it was clear that this was somewhat and I hate to use the term a copycat budget, but when we have increases in pension, debt obligations, and other uh carrying costs, um this was nothing that uh was, you know, any kind of we're not pulling rabbits out of the hat. Uh this is kind
of a budget that's consistent with prior year spending. Um and as I said, I apologize that if things weren't advertised, uh sometimes we don't have people come to these, but it's also an opportunity for people to ask those questions that they might not want to ask in public. Um so if there's uh we
had a copy of the budget on our website uh certainly has been filed. In addition, we also had as I mentioned the first meeting was that our auditor Todd Sailor uh had reviewed uh and approved this budget to the level that he had to approve it as an auditor. Uh he felt it
was a sound budget and um I'm happy to report that that's the same budget that we're going to hold a public hearing on tonight. So thank you. Two questions. I can see the agenda. Micron is under consent agenda and instead to
name the title and approve the budget. Nowhere in the agenda say public hearing it doesn't have when it was first published it was only consent agenda. So, so now the the
format of the budget or format of the agenda, it was under resolutions as I think letter A uh 12A. Yeah, 12 A and 12B are the bud budget ones. They're not going to be handled on consent. There'll be a public
hearing before the adoption of uh 12B. Okay. I just know Friday and Saturday. You just know or you just think you just know or you just think. I stole it. Actually, I made the agenda. I typed the agenda. I printed the agenda. The agenda
never had a consent agenda resolution. Not one. They were all individual resolutions. I did it myself. I printed it and that is what was put out. That agenda, it says consent agenda under
number 11. There are none, no resolutions. And then under it, it says resolutions section 12. and all those resolutions were listed, all the the the two budgets and all of the the liquor licenses as well as the other issues.
That's what the agenda looked like when it was posted. That's what the agenda looks like right now. If I'm wrong, I apologize. I go back because I did print it out. So, we'll see in two weeks. Did it say in the agenda that there was a hearing, budget hearing or something?
That's the legalities of what goes on tonight. That's what the rules are. what goes on tonight that this is a public hearing. So, I will say this to NY's point, there was there was a time when we have
a reason to think like that we had we may have missed something, right? You you've been up here, right? And to your point, and there's a point that maybe the committee feel unsafe about what they stood by, what I could tell
you is this. I have 100% confidence in everybody who's running things right now. I have 100% confidence that they care about their work and they care about this town
and they care about what they present. So I apologize if I seem a little bit taken aback but these it's just a difference in is this very different than what it was last year if you could understand like they communicate strongly. They they meet before the
meetings they meet after the meetings to make sure that we're all on the same page and that we're doing the right thing. Um it's just a very very different structure and I think that for the people who haven't been here like
uh committeewoman Canteen and Committee woman uh Cwell this is just regular day for them but I could understand like for me and and committeeman Carr and yourself who's been up here like it's it would seem very different to you but
that's why I stand so strong on it because I see the work that they put into making sure we get things right the first time. So, I understand where you're coming from. I really, really do. But that's why I address it the way that I do because I literally
there was a point that I was here every day and that wasn't the job. And I'm here maybe once every two weeks and everybody has an answer to everything that they do and everything that they want to do going forward. Like it's a
very very different dynamic and I'm not putting that on one person or two people. I'm putting on a dynamic of a whole bunch of things, right? Like there's been new hires in the township. There's been people who really really care and really really put forth the work that they do. So
I understand where you're coming from and why you answered the question and everybody may not may not do that because they don't know any different or any better. But I understand why you're saying what you're saying. But I could tell you and I know that you you reach out to Jim. I know that you reach out to different people, but those people
really really care about what our town looks like and making sure we get it done right the first time. So, thank you, Mr. Ber. Um, with no other questions, uh, motion to close. Public comment. So
move. Second. All in favor? I. I. Ordinances second reading public hearing 7-2025 bond bond ordinance authorizing the acquisition of various capital equipment and completion of various capital improvement in and for the township of
West Hampton County of Burlington, New Jersey appropriating the sum of 1,400,000 therefore authorizing the issuance of general obligation bonds and bond anticipation notes of the township of West Hampton County of Burlington, New
Jersey and the aggregate principal amount of up to 1,300,000 330,000 making certain determinations denomination determinations of covenants and authorizing certain rel related
actions in connection with the foregoing. Do we have a motion? I make a motion for 7-2025. Second. Second. We now open the meeting for public comment. We now close the meeting for public comment. Roll call. Dr. Caldwell. Yes.
Miss Maddox Canteen. Yes. Mr. Clark. Yes. Mayor Henley. Yes. Yes. Your motion passes. Consent agenda resolution resolution notes. Consent agenda items are considered to be routine and will be enacted with a single motion. Any items
requiring expenditure are supported by a certification of availability of funds. Any items requiring discussion will be removed from the consent agenda. Um, we're including 91-
2000 91-24 resolution authorizing the 2025 municipal budget to be ready by title only and resolution authorizing adoption of the 2025 budget
for the Let's break it down for the 90. So, we'll vote on the 91-24 first, right? Do we have a motion? I make a motion for 9124. Second. Caldwell. Second. Any discussion? Excuse me, mayor. I think that's a typo. And the
resolution number should be 91-25. 91-25. Resolution authorizing the 2025 municipal budget to be ready by title only. Do we have a motion? That was by Mr. I make a motion for 91-25.
Second. Second. Calwell. Any discussion? Roll call. Dr. Caldwell. Yes. Miss Maddox. Canteen. Yes. Mr. Carr. Yes. Mayor Henley. Yes. Or yes. Motion passes. So 92-24 resolution authorizing the adoption of the 2025 municipal budget.
The public 92-25. 92-25. Resolution authorizing the adoption of the 2025 municipal budget. The public hearing is now open on adoption of the 2025 minister budget. Do you have any questions, Mr. Berkeley?
Nancy Berkeley. Officer Hokus, how much will the taxes go up? Sure. Mayor of I apologize. So, uh, let me just get back to First of all, it's all dependent upon, uh, what your assessed value is. As you know, uh, it's
based on, uh, in this case, our local, uh, purpose levy. If your house is assessed at $100,000 with the local expected rate increase would be a total of $1921. Your house was assessed at $200,000. The
increase would be 38.42. These are estimates based on the net the net valuation taxable and they're found in the budget document that's both online and hard cop. So how many cents is that of the rate? Oh, sure. So that that's what I was asking. Sorry. I'm sorry if that was your question. Uh so
last year's rate uh was 79.1 cent. This year's rate is 81 uh cents that we expect it to be which would be an increase of 1.9 cent increase. Thank you. You're welcome. Question. How will
the 1.4 um bonds affect how much interest we're going to have to pay from now on in this budget? Okay. So specific to this budget um right now as far as our if I could refer you to uh our annual debt
statement that was filed on 1230 or for period 123124 uh we have a debt ratio of.52%. Um if the yeah.52% the maximum you can go up is 3.5%. So we have certainly a
lot of room. Direct answer to your question. Um if we do not go out uh in fact if we do go out and borrow that money uh any type of interest or principal payment will happen in the uh succeeding year's budgets. Uh if you're
asking me uh you know so the answer would be have zero impact on this year's budget the 25 budget. Uh but depending on the amount that we would borrow. Now, part of our U annual debt statement would reveal that while we have a little bit under $8 million of authorized and
issued, uh we've only issued about $4.8 million. Uh we have unauthorized I'm sorry, not unauthorized, authorized but not issued about uh 3.9 million. Uh so this number will go the amount of debt that's being authorized by this
authorization uh will go into our uh figures and assuming that we don't borrow that money uh this year then I'll have a zero impact. It it's always been my philosophy when we look at capital projects we have to take a look at the cash flow associated with those projects. For instance, if I'm building
a road uh and it's a million dollars of of road money and I'm only going to do a half million dollars this year, then I'm not going to borrow or author or suggest to the governing body to authorize issuing a million dollars worth of debt. I do a cash flow statement uh which is a workpaper of mine in it to basically
take a look at what the administrative uh prerogative is on pulling the trigger on certain capital assets and improvements. So, I hope I've answered your question. Yes. Are you concerned that every year we borrow more than a million dollars? 1.1 1.23
and we're usually only paying about $800,000 off on the principal. So, uh I can't um uh how how do we get over that? So, we're Well, I can't validate the points that you just made as far as the amount of principal and interest that we're paying. Uh we do have conforming
debt schedule which I'm sure you were made aware of when you were on council. Um so when we take a look at right now infrastructure improvements uh an aging fleet of uh say public works vehicles or police cars or equipment that has its useful life that's basically getting
near the end uh unless we want to increase our uh budgetary appropriations uh for vehicle maintenance and repair then it's always a concern for the governing body to make sure that they are giving the uh assets to the employees that they can utilize. Uh so
when we take a look at uh you know if if that is the case where we're authorizing a million dollars I'm just going to use that as a round number uh in that we are in your words or your stats saying that we're paying back $800,000 then I think that's a little high um for that in this
case of a million dollars. Uh but uh certainly uh that would leave us with $200,000 in your math that we would have to pay in future years. I think that uh your map may be a little skewed and uh certainly if you were to uh That's fine. Have you I didn't say screwed. I said
skewed. I I know. I know. I You have to remember I I'm just coming off three years off the township committee. Yeah. No, I I I've heard a lot about you in a good way for sure. Um last question. What is the a Now, I know you just did a new contract with a
with a fire, but what is the average salary increases? uh that that you have to budget for. That would be your question. Jim, generally we're unless we have contract in place, you go with 2%.
Okay. And then uh if there is a contract in place, it's the exact number. Still true. Two still sorry 2% general rule, but you know it it again it depends on you know when the budget's done and
where you are in your negotiations. If you're in negotiations and the budget is in still in a draft form and you kind of feel that your negotiations are going the way that you're maybe close to 3%. It would be logical to you know um
increase your your salary wage for that particular by 3%. Sorry I lied. One more question. Last year uh we had taken money from the open oh open fund what's that called open
space money for some administrative salaries are we doing that this year not I know it's it goes to the public works but we have taken money and applied it to the administrative salaries are we doing that this year so right now the budget that we've introduced um
appropriates on sheet 43 uh 350,000 and for salaries and wages down from $450. So that's a $100,000 decrease. Um generally and and I don't know what happened in prior years. Uh we've had a few CFOs in this period of time. Uh but
uh based on the decrease of $100,000, I would not uh think that administrative salaries are going to be uh taken from there. But truly the public work costs associated with the maintenance of open space which obviously when you we have to mow it and trim it and do other
things. Uh so that's uh that's the amount of money that we're uh appropriating out of the Could you check on that? Can I check on what later to see if any open space money came out for salaries besides public? I I would have to uh take that direction from the mayor
or the administrator. Uh but once again, uh we're in the here we're in the here and now. Um and certainly um uh I I will be happy if they ask to uh ask and I I can open the budget now. You can just go online and take a copy of it. Great. Thank you. You don't don't don't bother
the clerks. Okay. Don't you don't have to bother the clerks for it's all on it's all online. Thank you. You're welcome. [Music] [Music] So, do we now have a motion to approve
hearing? Motion Calwell. Second. All in favor? I I. So, a motion to adopt is uh Do we have a motion? Some move. Second. Call second. Any
discussion? It sounds like from our CFO's comments that people may have a problem with some debt or people may have a problem with the tax going up, but the debt is a tool to help minimize that tax going up. I just wanted to clarify that in your
Yeah. Truly. Uh sir, the the problem that you have in the need to raise your levy um uh by the amount that we had to, which translates to one penny on tax is about $122,000 being raised. Um had to deal with over $242,000
of additional cost. Um the most notable was 164,000 in pension costs for PERS and PFRS. In addition, we had to uh in order to maintain our capital fund, we had to appropriate $65,000 more uh to provide that seed money for future bond
ordinances. So, it is a uh we did everything we could. I can tell you having worked with the administrator, uh you know, he I asked him not to smack me around as much every time I came with a higher budget and he said, "Make it lower." And I I want a fresh one. it was it was very hard up in the back office
but um ultimately in working with the administrator his numbers were very tight uh there was no fluff in the budget there was no you know padding of things and that's one of the reasons when I do that public information session it's like a bit of honeycom commercial it's like page by page by page and generally after people go
through that a they don't never want to come back and secondly they realize that you know there's really no uh hidden gems in a budget like this thank you sir and just there was another point so the fringe costs are separate apart from the salary and wages Correct. So yes, the uh
salaries and wages in the fringe would be in two separate categories. Uh any type whether it's public works, public uh police department, clerk's office, we have a SNW line, an OE line for other expense and then things as social security, uh health care, uh and insuranceances, workers comp and things
of that nature are also included separately uh in the budget document. Thank you, sir. You're welcome. Any other discussion? Yes. Um, I just wanted to say good evening to both of you and also to thank you for honoring my request. Um, I'm not sure if it was last month or March, but I reached out to you
personally and I said to you, listen, although I have years of experience um, creating, maintaining, and overseeing budgets on the school budget side, I don't know a whole lot about municipal. And you gave me the opportunity for an hour to sit down page by page, line by line, and go over everything that was
going to be in this budget until I got comfortable with it. So, I don't have a whole lot more questions tonight because you already went through that with me. So, thank you for presenting this budget to us again. Having been a schoolboard auditor, I love my little budgets better than school board audits, sir. So, thank you. Dr. Carlo, did you want to come
back after you went one by one? I had enough. Thank you. Any other discussion? So, I will say um you know, I appreciate and I've said this years before and I and I'll say it again. So, you know, we
made a lot of changes in January as far as, you know, our administration goes. And so, it wasn't very easy, right, to feed off a previous administration and to continue that and kind of do a sound job and and being fair to our
residents at the same time, making sure that we're able to explain exactly what's going on. And I know that there's been a lot of hours by administration and very few hours, not as many hours as the administration's put in, but also the hours put in by the by the I won't
say commissioners, but by the uh by the committee people. Um so I thank you for that. I thank you for helping us to understand exactly what's going to be put in place and I thank you for taking responsibility to make sure that we're doing the right thing by our town and
and by our residents and that we don't miss a beat going forward. So with that being said, do we have a motion? So second call. Roll call. Dr. Caldwell. Yes. Miss Maddoxine. Yes.
Mr. Clark. Yes. Mayor Henley. Yes. Four yes. Motion passes. Um consent agenda. So we will do a consent agenda. Motion to vote for C through not C through O. Um with the
exception of I uh payment of vouchers. We'll do that separately. So we have a motion for consent agenda C through I. C through I C through H. No, C through O
with the exception of L. There we go. L. I make a motion for C through K and M and N. What about O? I take O L.
O separate. Remove separate. Okay. Okay. Motion. Okay. Then I'll second. I'll call. Roll call. Dr. Pogwell. Yes. Yes. Miss Maddoxine. Yes. Mr. Carr. Yes. Mayor Henley. Yes.
For yes. Motion passes. Uh motion for O. Uh. Resolution imposing a tax lean on property at 445 Pennington Drive, 106-25.
I make the first motion. Second call. Roll call. Dr. Caldwell. Yes. Miss Maddox Canteen. Yes. Mr. Cartain. Ah, got it. Now it makes sense. Mayor Henley. Yes. Three. Yes. On L102-25,
payment of vouchers. This resolution approves the payment of bills through 624 2005. Do we have a motion? A motion to pay the bills. Second. Call. Roll call. Dr. Colog, yes. Miss Maddox, team. Mr. Clark, yes. Mayor Henley, yes.
Three, yes. Motion passes. We're now open the meeting for public comment. Please remember to state your name and address for the record. With no public comment, we have a motion to close. So move. Second. All in favor? I to remember township meeting July 8th
at 7 p.m. Recreation meetings July 9th at 7:00 p.m. Land development board meeting July 9th at 7 p.m. Do we have any committee liaison reports or comments? I can go first. Um just a few thank yous
and congratulations. Um thank you to um Commissioner Director Dr. Hopson for coming and giving us another update. While it was short, we did learn some new information. I'm looking forward to her returning back in September so we can get even more information. Um, congratulations to our West Hampton
Middle School Giants. Um, they graduated on June 16th. I was able to attend the graduation. It was beautiful. I'm very excited about what our students are going to do next. Uh, whether it's DCIT, RB, um, or whatever their next steps are. So, congratulations to everyone in
the class of 2025. Congratulations to Sergeant Tyler Morris on his promotion. Looking forward to um seeing what he'll continue to do for the township of West Hampton. And on June 15th, I believe it was a Saturday. I was able to attend the
Junth celebration. Um this was my second time going. The second time was just as just as well put together as the first. Um and I'm also grateful that the rain held out for us so we're able to enjoy it. Um such rich culture. Um me and my family were um able to meet people um
just talk, listen to the music, the stories, um and just sit back and really reflect and think about uh where we've come and how much further we still have to go. Um former committeewoman Berkeley, you made a few comments
tonight about my character, myself, and the budget. Um I'll start with your email. You sent an email to me. I believe it was Friday evening. As soon as I got it, I forwarded to the proper administration and gave them a call to go line by line um and address your
concerns. Um I believe that was the right thing to do and I stand on that. Also, um I've been sitting here since January. Um but I've been asking about the budget since February. I've been asking questions. When are you going to do it? When? I wanted to make sure that my schedule would align with when we
would be talking um about the budget. Um it was me who asked to get the budget posted online. So to question transparency um I just find it a little disrespectful when I've done everything that I could do to get the information out um and learn what information was being put
out. Um I come in on my days off um to talk about the budget to ask questions to go line by line until I feel good enough about it what we're voting on. Um the budget is now on the website. Um, a
resident asked for the budget um, at the last meeting and again I immediately asked administration, hey, where can we find it? You know, let me take the load off from you. I can send her the link. Um, so I will continue to do that and ask questions about the budget. Um, and
I have been transparent and I'll continue to do that. Uh, thank you everyone for listening. That concludes my comments. Good evening everyone and thank you so much for uh coming and thank you for your support in terms of
uh being here for team Westampton. Your commitment is an acknowledged um effort uh to help Westampton go even further and we appreciate you. Congratulations
to Sergeant Tyler Morrison. West Hampton will be better because of you. Uh, all of the reports and their content are appreciated. Police, public works, fire, courts, uh, EMS, construction,
um, a plethora of information that, um, you can look through and it helps learn more about the town and the efforts that are being made. Um, work is being done. work continues to be done whether it's
uh crosswalks being painted, trees being taken care of, parks being taken care of, streets being paved, work is being done and continues to be done and we appreciate each and one every one of you and your efforts. Thank you so much. Uh
I want to say thank you to uh these two gentlemen to my right. Um, I'm new to the township committee and because of your efforts and you sitting down with Dr. Cwell and I bringing us up to speed in terms of budgets and numbers and uh,
the two of us are very, very, very inquisitive and we want to know. We are residents of West Hampton and we care and we are concerned and we continue to email and ask questions and email and ask questions and show up and each and every time you meet us with the
information that we need to feel comfortable so we can sit up here and vote and do what we're supposed to do on behalf of the township of Westampton. So, thank you very much and and I sincerely appreciate that. and you've made me comfortable when looking through
a budget that contains every um possible number for this particular township and being able to uh be conscious about every penny that's being spent. I'm a resident and I care and I'm concerned about my taxes as well. Thank you. I
appreciate that. Um I want to go back to the police and and fire and public works and construction. Um, I've I I I call Chris all the time. Hey, can you help me with this playground? Can you do this? Can you do that? And you're always there. Um, the fire department, uh, the
police department. You guys are always so gracious and always willing to help and assist the residents, whether it's playing basketball, helping the kids. Uh, Chief was out there playing uh, basketball for the community, just
doing all kinds of things. you know, the kids come to look at the fire truck. Just that's that's appreciated and and we know we're safe and and we're uh happy that you're there. Um I'd like to piggy back on what Dr. Hopson said um uh
what do Dr. Paulo said and thank to um uh Commissioner Hobson for her commitment to continue to come out and want to give the information that our residents uh are looking for in terms of what's going on not only in Burlington County but in particular with the
shelter. So, thank you so much for that, Dr. Hopson, for continuing to be committed to not only the county but to West Hampton Township. In terms of some committee meetings that I attended, um the recreation committee, our last meeting was on the 11th at which time we
discussed all of the current and future recreation activities, softball, basketball, soccer, so forth and so on, summer camps, and we're going to be working in conjunction with the recreation department in terms of uh the senior uh bingo and one thing that we're
looking to uh have for September 2025. Um, Timbbook 2 advisory committee. Thank you, uh, Dr. Paul and your family coming out to volunteer. Uh, kudos to the Underground Railroad Museum of Burlington County and Debbie uh, Price
and the Spectacular event that took place for Junth. We're looking forward to doing more of those every year. And we're looking forward to September 27th, 2025 where we will have a buck 2 day. Um, there's going to be a lot of dignitaries. there's going to be new signage and things that are going to be
put out uh in that particular area. So, we're looking forward to that. And I just want to um thank my fellow committee members. Um being new to the committee, you know, there's a lot that we have to learn, but I think what we
all have in common is our love of West and our care concern. And we continue to challenge one another. Uh just because one of us said something that doesn't mean anything for an answer. Um and we hold each other up and we hold each
other account. And I thank each and every one of you for that because because of our community, we're going to help make West Hampton a better place. And thank you for continuing to challenge me. I'll continue to challenge you and that's going to make us better. Thank you to West.
Thank you. I uh I'd like to piggy back a lot of what you said I on the question of the professionalism and the team over here. Everyone in this room works very hard on West. I think in the last year West has undergone transformational change under the leadership of Mr.
Brady. I you walk in the building it's different and I appreciate that and I just I think part of the team here um they hit the ground running. They started governing right away. took me a while to kind of beat under me, but uh you know, I'm super impressed. I'm super proud of what you guys told me. I'd like
to also call attention to the grant funded that um Mr. Brady, Mr. Jones are seeking from the county. They came up with aggressive application to so we could update some of our parks and I look forward to that. I appreciate you
putting in that hard work as well, Mr. Mayor. higher than I appreciate it. Congratulations, Sergeant Morrison. I don't really have too much new at one. Thank you. Congratulations to our daughter.
Thank you. close enough to drive far enough to for you keep you away. Um, I like to thank Dr. Hopson who came today and probably didn't have to come today who just wanted to keep her word.
Um, you know, too many times we base things on elections and it's kind of like petty like to me like you have presidential elections and government come the governor coming up and you know sometimes it's missed when
you have like township and commissioner elections but you know for her you know a lot of us have full-time jobs and we do a lot of full-time things, right? To come even, you know, when she probably doesn't have to come
is, you know, that shows great character for her. So, better if I could read my own handwriting. But, um, congratulations to the gra the middle school graduates. Um, I remember going from middle school to high school and thinking I had all the answers and
realizing I didn't have many. So, um, no, I wish them the best. I wish them more preparation than I had. And you know, obviously they're going to a better school. Not better school, they're going to a bigger school, maybe a better school, but you know, I know
that they're prepared because we made sure that our kids be would be prepared. We have a great administration over there and I wish them nothing but success. Um, our Junth event, I won't take much credit for it, but you know, Debbie Price is tireless in what she
wants to do for our Juneenth event. um tireless enough that you sometimes look at your phone, you're like, "Not now, Debbie." But that just goes to show like the passion that she has about that event. And listen, not for nothing, and I'll
say this to an empty room with one person here. You know, we talked about Yeah, they don't they don't count. They're getting paid to be here, but um you know, we talk about like the things that we want to have within our town.
This is an event that is fantastic. And far too many times the people who say that we don't have many things in town, I don't see there. Change church lent their parking lot to
all the people who came here. We had a shuttle that shuttle people from the parking lot to the event. They have a walkth through through the woods where they demonstrate like a freedom walk that if you've never
done it is fantastic. At the end they have the trees that separated looks like a path, right? Then they have they had a violinist there. They had people who spoke. They had food trucks. They had a bunch of things. So I feel sorry for the
people who missed it. But you know, for the people who are crying that we never have anything, maybe we never have anything that they think that they're going to learn something from. And maybe they need to take the chance to learn something from it because Miss
Price put a lot into it. And not just Miss Price, but this township put a lot into it. Our professionals put a lot into it. And you know this again NY's here and I and I respect the fact that she comes to the meeting but for the people who are going to watch it on
YouTube like hear this. This is something that your town is doing that you may want to get involved in right because this is the things that brings this is the thing that brings the people together as a community. Um I thank our professionals
um for everything that they've done. I mean, far too often that, you know, and this is not the best phrase to use, but people, you know, drag a dead dog in here and they want to tell you everything that you're not doing. Um,
I know that it's not easy, right? Um, but you do, everyone here tries their best and at the end of the day, that's really all you can ask. Um, including the committee members. What I would say about
our com our comments about you know whether we put things on Facebook or or where we we post things. We like to post many things on Facebook. Too often it seems to me that Facebook
gets weaponized like there's no accountability for the language that people use on Facebook. And this is not just you, uh, Miss Berkeley, but this is many people. And and there is no there's not only not a lot of accountability, but it's not always accurate. And then
there's no takes backs. There's no I've never seen a post that somebody goes on there and say, "Hey, listen. I was wrong. They did do this or they did do that." And what's tough is is that there's no one up here who's not
the neighbor of somebody who's doing all that posting. And I always say this, and I mean this in no way, but one day I'm going to quit. And maybe a lot of other people will quit, too. And then we'll have a real
conversation about what I've done or what everyone else has done or what other people haven't done or what has been said and what hasn't been said because for 4,300 bucks or 4,200 bucks sometimes it it tends to be a bit much
of you know the weaponizing of words and what's said and you know this all too well. That's why it's hard to get people to run. There's quality people in this town who could really, really help this town move
forward. And it's hard to get them to make a commitment because they know that at some point someone's going to say something about them that may be true or may not be true. And you have to have broad shoulders to be able to do that.
So what I would say is is that going forward people need to remember that when people want to get people to run and they can't find anybody and they wondering why. Maybe that's why. Right? Because I could tell you as someone who's asked people
to run, it ain't easy. Cuz people want to know what they're going to go through, what it looks like. And I'm sure if you pull committeewoman Canteen and Committee woman Cwell to the side, they can tell you about how many conversations they had. And I'm not just talking about with me. I'm talking about
with people in town to tell them what their expectations are and what they should do. And they lived up to every single piece of that. In fact, I would say this. I said to Committeeoman Canteen, I thanked her because last year
I was the one taking all the calls for the Junth event, but everything else that I had to do, I was the one that had to go and make calls and connect people and get everything done. This year didn't have to do that. She did everything. She's not going to take the credit for it, but she was the
connection because she's a Timbuktu liaison who worked with Debbie Price to be able to put the township in place to be helpful for that event. I didn't have to do anything. So, I appreciate that. Or, you know, committee committee card
deputy mayor car everything that he's done for his liaison. Everyone up here has taken responsibility for their own being for their own liaison part and making sure they do the best that they can do. And I'm not saying that other people haven't done that. I'm saying as
a collective group they've done that which has taken a lot of the pressure off of listen yours truly and some of the administration. So, I say that to say for once, and I'm not directing this at any one person, but for once,
let's make it something positive because this is how you get people to quit or you get people to walk away and then you get other people up here who don't want to do the job. Collectively, this is an outstanding group. I'm not just talking about on the committee. I'm
talking about when you walk through that building. This is an outstanding group. Maybe as good or working to be as good as the people who were here prior to them. And that matters to the group that's
here. They want to live up to the people who were prior to them and be better. And that's important. So with that being said, we have a motion to adjurnn. Motion. Second. All in favor? I. Thank you. Good night. Good night.