we're live hello we will now call the regular meeting order it is now 7:00 requirements of the sun sh law have been met they were advertised in Bron County Times on January 7th 2024 electronic notice was given to the njc 5 39- 1.5 we will now start with the Pledge of Allegiance United States of America for na God indivisible andice for all we will now have a moment of silence roll call committee woman Berkeley committee man car present committee woman committee woman right present mayor Henley present also present Township solicitor town of administrator clerk assistant administrator fire and police uh Chiefs so now we will have a presentation of a leave vacuum truck I think what you guys using this P said that last year resident said that he would like a touch uh was it touch a truck or something yeah so we're going to kindly ask that the committee members and audience members take a step out the front door um we're going to have a short presentation about the leaf truck yep not huh get so what go ahead how you doing so we shall continue um want to present a proclamation from Miss Misha Hill for her courage so the proclamation the pro the proclamation reads whereas the Westampton toship police would like to recognize Miss Maisha Hill for providing critical information which led to the arrest of an individual who was attempting to lure a juvenile whereas in a world where where individuals often hesitate to get involved Misha's courage and determination to make a difference are truly praiseworthy whereas Misha's actions have not only led to the apprehension of the individual who may have posed a threat to our community but they have also sent a powerful message about the importance of collect collective responsibility whereas my's dedication to the well-being of others sets a high standard for Community involvement and intelligence for safeguarding our neighborhoods whereas Maisha Hill is hereby recognized for her cooperation with multiple law enforcement agencies now therefore be it proclaimed that I Sandy Henley mayor of Westampton Township on behalf of the township committee and the citizens of Westampton honor and celebrate my M Maisha Hill for her exceptional commitment to the Safety and Security of West hton Town thank you [Applause] Michelle black would have been nice black Black's got nice uh mayor if I could just speak uh briefly sure so um this was an investigation um was about a year ago now yes okay about a year ago uh detective Redfield uh was contacted um and this subject was traveling uh from Florida working at our Academy Bus as a traveling employee and he um made some alarming statements to miss Hill who was working at the comfort in um front desk about possibly trying to meet a child for inappropriate conduct um so right away we we got involved in investigation um we recorded some information from um he was eventually taken into custody um he had just has been sentenced I believe just in the last like few weeks wow um they did find him guilty he's going to be a registered sex offender for the rest of his life and hopefully out of our state and back to where he lived in Florida so thank thank her normally normal people really don't want to get involved sometimes or they may call 911 they say I let the police hand handle it but M was involved in the investigation from the beginning all the way to the end and I know detective redel wanted her um recognized for her job well done [Music] [Music] that's wonderful thank you so much [Laughter] thank you mayor thank you guys apprciate [Music] approval of minutes April 2nd 2024 regular meeting minutes do we have a motion mayor I would like to make a motion to uh table these and I'll tell you why uh the minutes are legal document there are some things here that are not right for example we did not have 600 p.m. uh budget Workshop meeting at the last meeting um so that's WR in the minutes um unless you had one and I didn't know about it um on another page it says Miss Berkeley stated she emailed the administrator about suggestions for personnel specifically in the administration and Court departments I never ever emailed the administrator about these two people and then mayor Henley you continued with talking about we can't fire people which insinuated that I wanted people fired and that is not true that is far from the truth um and the last thing uh we talked about the um how much it cost for the truck for the fire department and um we were talking about interest i c i calculate the interest over five years what the total number of Interest would be over the five years not per year the Mr Wright R attorney uh figured the interest per year so we came up with two different numbers I came up with 20 something he came up with five something and so it says solicitor Bob Wright confirmed that Miss Berkeley's math was incorrect my math was not incorrect we were talking about two different things and it is quite of an insult to have in the minutes that I did something incorrectly when I did not and so I would like to send this back and have these things fixed thank you so one quick question the question is will we table it can we can we adjust the the 6 p.m part like do we have to table it to adjust the time the minutes upon adoption can just all you can delete that portion of the minutes that has the 6 p.m budget Workshop reference if that was incorrect and they can be adopted as amended so we can correct that I mean whatever the committee wants I'm wrong person make a motion to amend to strike the 6m workshop you'd have to vote down to table at first she's correct mayor there's a pending there's pending motion to table the uh the minutes uh there needs to be a second but if we don't motion to table it then we don't have to table it correct right and we can just if there's no second then the motion to table fails and you go on with whatever the next Mo but we can make a motion to strike the six after the the table doesn't T do we have a motion to strike to 6: p.m. time from the minutes second any further discussion roll call no car yes St right yes mayor Henley yes motion carries 311 April 2nd 2024 executive session minutes we have a motion yes second any discussion roll call Berkeley yes car M right yes mayor Henley yes motion carries 401 Department reports of the Court tax collector instruction Fire EMS Public Works and police we now open the public we will now open the meeting for public comment on agenda items only please remember to state your name and address for the record remember this portion is for common only hi good evening uh John mow 29 Lancaster Drive West Anton uh this is a record uh in accordance excuse me in reference to the bond ordinance um one for the truck and also for the I think the same ones for the trash cans for the uh the $200,000 trash cans um first with the trash cans I know it's not a a lot of money $200,000 doesn't seem like a lot you know um we look at a huge Township budget Etc but my concern with these cans are you get one can um and everything's got to fit into that and if you're driv around this Township you know you got you people from all different you know aspects of their life they got small children or seniors or whatever different things going on there's going to be a lot of things are not going to be able to fit ins a trash can and that's my concern is that what's going to happen now um if you can't fit into that trash can or even if you can if it seems to be oversized say if you got a carpet you got to cut it up or something like that put it in there you can't fit anything else in it are they're going to take the trash away so that's not so much the the price of it but I think it's going to limit you know the the residence as far as what they can put out that's my concern um and then I guess going back to the truck uh you know just you know um being outside um I understand it's going to be over $500,000 to include the uh I guess the leaf acum to go with it um and I understand it that you know equipment degrades you know I see the corrosion on the other truck Etc um but one thing you know that combined with everything else that's rolled into this over million dollar Bond you know I think about right now we're sitting already on a 6% um property tax increase 6 Cent not 6% I'm sorry no just wanted to make okay okay okay okay so all right and I know that that the local school budget's going up we haven't heard anything from the county we haven't heard anything from the the high school the Regional High School County's not going up okay well that's good then um but that was my concern um as far as the the money for the bond um and I know like you know as as Citizens as residents you know we're all try you know hey I would love to have another vehicle but I'm driving around in a you know a 15-year-old vehicle you know um so uh I I just think that whether this Bond passes or not that you know those who are empowered um to make these financial decisions really stop and think about the residents and think about you know what we go through on a daily Bas basis you know just trying to make ends meet and how we can't afford to get some things that we need I understand these things are for a service to the residents I get that but if there's a way that you know whether it's this Bond or or future Financial considerations um that we really consider the residents and say to ourselves can they afford it so thank you can you hang around at the end and I'll answer your question about the the trash can thank you you're welcome um Dr Ashley cwell uh 1109 Lambert Drive um thanks for uh the show and tell about the truck cuz it really helped me to understand what we're going to be purchasing and also showing uh the current truck uh my only question is about um 11b mentioned there was going to be like an attachment on the truck and I just want to know if we already have that or if we still have to purchase that in addition to the truck it's my only question fair question mayor can I just say something real quick sure so just for everybody's information uh the ordinances that are being introduced tonight are on first reading in order for them to be adopted at the next meeting there will be a public hearing um during the public hearing there'll be presentation depending on uh the comments uh on the more substantively that'll be part of the permanent record as far as the adoption uh you are free to make any comments tonight on um on the ordinance as it's being introduced uh but there will be another hearing it's not going to be finally adopted today appreciate that clarification Chris Hamilton 16 St Andrews Court um I I have concerns about the truck too I I understand that there is a need for it um but I I would like to know that the decision- making Pro process my concern more is the trash can thing um we I I hope we're not committing to the company that's doing our trash right now because okay thank you thank you for that that's why we're getting a trash okay but I'll explain later but and there have been towns around us that have gotten this trash can we're looking at spending $200,000 on trash on a trash can process I guess is what it is um it it seems to have been a miserable failure in other towns um and just as Mr mumbar said there are people that don't want to have one trash can and when we're looking at a tax increase and adding a lot of money to our debt I just think that maybe we should reconsider what we're doing could it be something we do down the road maybe but because of our debt and our tax increase maybe this is something that we can take on in another year thank you David fiser 227 Main Street trash is the this bond to the trash stuff I know people that are in Ean I know people in Marlton and they hate it they really do because they can't put out other trash that they need to put out that they've generated from their house and it doesn't matter I have a family of sex okay when my kids were young we've had two three four fans out there at different times because we generated that much trash and it's just household trash Home Project had to occur where do you want what am I going to do I run up to the dump all the time I have trusts I can do that okay ra all residents can't either they're older and they can't yeah they might hire a contractor but that's contractor's responsibility I get that but if a family member is doing it for them they going to put it out at the curb they're going to run it up to the dump cuz they just aren't going out unless somebody tells them that's what's going to make it difficult I'll need two trash cans at minimum for my house because I know yeah my kids are getting older but I'm still going to need them so that's where I'm at with it's not worth it you know if you guys I know sometimes the schedule gets messed up with Waste Management I get it I've seen Waste Management too but it's better than not having only limited just one or two cans so I can put out as much trash as I need to and they take it it's done so I'd rather not have the bond ordinance for trash cans new ones it's not working to me thank you um Allan Force life 17 Steely drive and much like everyone else I'm here to talk about the trash can situation um family of five we do generate a lot of trash especially around um birthdays Christmas things like that one trash can really isn't enough for us to come out um just once a week for that um and honestly like one of the selling points that people ask me cuz like I'll sell real estate houses and then I talk about W s's trash they'll say how was the trash CH I'll say I'll literally throw out the toilet and they'll pick it up with this new system I don't have that luxury if I want to replace so do some home repairs around my house um the other thing that I wanted to talk about was the the um the new Leaf truck I do recognize that the other one is old and is definitely probably could use replacing but are there more needs for that $560,000 that could be addressed um I know like the police vehicles I saw in the bond that there's two of them I believe that are getting replaced are there more that need to be replaced that that money can go towards and my other question was the current Bond when does that one expire so we can answer questions at the end okay it's yeah all right no problem it's not that we don't care we do care no that's okay that's I used to answer questions and people were kicking me underneath the we have any other comments with that being said uh motion to close public comment second ordinance first reading ordinance by the township committee amending the Westampton code of ordinance to repeat the ordinance 13-20 2017 to adopt the new ordinance of 32024 to adopt flood Hazard maps to designate a flood plan administrator and providing for severe ability and an effective dee do we have a motion Berkeley SM move second any discussion yes um this is excellent my my concern is it seems like our construction official is going to be the administrator and I just see that a lot of extra work I don't know how we could have him do that with what he does now unless we can get someone else to help him going along with that our ordinances require that we have an environmental committee and this is all environmental and I think the environmental committee could be a big help to the Land Development board when they have projects and they say look we've looked into this this Warehouse is going to cause a lot of flooding I know that there are people in I think it's Rolling Hills through their backyards already already flood because some of the warehouses have drainage into their yards and I think this could prevent it and this is great do we have a a way of of telling the residents who is in the flood plane so we say to them Mr Mrs Smith on so on so Boulevard your property is in the flood vein so you are able to get special Insurance are we going to contact the uh residents who are in the flood the flood thing you asking a question yeah well there's one well when you're when you end up in a flood zone insurance company or your mortgage company your insurance company is going to contact you once the once the flood zone is updated because they want to have insurance for that property and if youve ever had flood insurance it is amazingly expensive so they'll make sure that they collect that so I guess my question are we updating the flood flood areas that's what it is here okay yeah I do suggest that we open up the environmental committee to help support this I know there are people that are interested next thank you no worries roll call berley yes yes right yes mayley yes carries 7- 2024 B ordinance authorizing the acquisition of various Capital Equipment and completion of various Capital Improvements in and for the township of Westampton County of burington New Jersey appropriating a sum of 1,900 $1,941 34 therefore authorizing the issuance of General obligation bonds and bond anticipation notes of the township of Westampton County of Burlington New Jersey and the aggregate principle amount of up to $1,394 27 making certain determinations and Covenants and authorizing certain related actions in connection with the foregoing do we have a motion uh second discussion so I do have a discussion like just so everyone knows this is the introduction this isn't the final part of it and there will be more discussion about um the leaf truck I think that one of the things to be fair are um Chris our department had for Public Works wanted everyone to see you know the difference of you know what we have currently and what those people work with so what I would say is this right and what I would say is this everyone here Works somewhere right I mean if you didn't have the equipment to perform the job that you needed to perform at work how would you you know how would you Faire at your job I'm not saying that we need the $560,000 truck I'm saying that that's some of the things that the committee members have to think about when when they're making a vote when they're up here right so the cost is what the cost of the truck is if you if you go buy a new car that's you know you can negotiate probably $2 or $3,000 but the cost is the cost right um we have a million calls about picking up leaves believe it or not when it's fall and we have a million calls about doing some of the the other things that that truck can do to I think that when Chris made his presentation one of the things he was saying is and you got to remember that we're also a small Township that right now you may have two or three people who have to be on the one truck versus having one person or a second person that can do that job by themselves and you can designate that other person to do something else so it's also about utilizing the Manpower and how much money is that going to take right if you have someone who has a salary of XYZ amount of dollars but you have them sitting on the truck up instead of I mean there's a million things that the the American Legion building down there was getting water in it that had to wait right until somebody could get there or when we helped the schools get the get the uh get the the rank down there was two or three guys out there doing that so there's as many guys taken down that rank as there was riding on that that rid on that truck so just these are the things that we have to think about again we're tonight we're just voting on introducing it so I don't want you know anyone to think that it's a done but it is something that deserves you know a little bit more conversation so I appreciate your comments anyone else with any other discussion yes obviously the new truck is twice the size of the old truck and the old truck does look old I agree with that the question is do we need to replace it with something twice as big and twice as expensive or if we've been using the old truck we also just bought a $250,000 dump truck last year which can do some of those things like dumping uh things and carrying branches and cutting down trees do we need something this big and you talk about it only needs one person I would never want one public worker to be on that huge monster by themselves s Henley said two people what heading said two yeah but Chris originally said it only needed one person direct that and and I would but you really wouldn't want one person there alone in case there's problems or someone got hurt so you're going from three maybe to two um I just think that we could look for something that is maybe a little bit bigger than the old one not $560,000 and I think I've heard from a lot of other people about the trash cans they're not thrilled about it they do not want it because oh the trash cans are here not enough can I talk about the trash cans now I didn't even cut you off go ahead you finish I mean that that's my theory and but the other thing is it seems every year we take out more bonds then we pay off this coming year a budget says we're going to pay off about $800,000 in bonds and we're taking over a million dollar in bonds and it keeps getting bigger and bigger our budget's going to be about 14,000 and our debt is going to be $7,000 if you made $80,000 in your job would you want a credit card that has $440,000 due on it you're spending so much on interest we're spending $235,000 on interest we could pay for two policemen with that it just seems like what are we really doing that we need or is it a Christmas list or we're doing what we need for everyone and I just have problems with that thank you no worries so real quick our Township debt in comparison to where a Township debt should be if I'm not mistaken is extremely low is that not accurate that is accurate what's the like our Township debt is what in comparison like I know that we've talked about this before and there's a range of where townships hold carry a debt and to be fair Nancy no one buys a house in cash very few people buy cars in cash so there are people who work every day who do carry some form of debt because it's necessary now I'm not saying that this is necessary I'm only giv that that two cents now about the trash cans let me talk about this now so we had an upward because trash went up by I don't know something crazy like 70% right so we were paying $3.7 million if I'm not mistaken between 3.5 $3.7 million for trash collection which at some point was you know a little closer to $2 million we only had two bids one was 3.5 and was 3.7 something like that don't hold me to the numbers it was you know couple years ago I look a little younger than I am so just bear with me but what I'm saying is is that even though these other towns don't like it they get more opportunity because they have more people bidding because a lot of trash collectors now want to send out one person on one truck use the same machine he's talking about pick up the one trash can and dump it into the trash so maybe it's not the same people who are here that was complaining but a lot of the people who were complaining were also complaining about the $3.7 million and the fact that they're not in love with the trash company I understand that there's some people who are okay with the trash company but they literally get calls about the trash at least bi-weekly how they hate that company right but we only had two options because most townships are going to this platform so we went to the platform to we were talking about going to the platform to increase our options when our contract is up to get us better Trash Services than the trash services that we have now now also I do agree if you have a carpet or you do Home Improvements but we still have both trash pick up now so you still have bulk track pickup they have a schedule for bulk pickup you enter into that you enter into that schedule I think it's every other week they do bulk pickup and they come around and they pick up the bulk outside of the trash cans and my understanding is that the trash cans are twice the size of one hand now Mr Fisher I agree I I know other townships that don't like the other residents in other towns that don't like the TR the one trash can I'm not saying don't agree with that but they also probably don't realize that they had way more options of who to pick to get their trash than we have we don't have the options we only have the 3.7 or the 3.5 and it just seems like either one of those companies weren't great companies because we get complaints about them all the time so we're just looking at a way to increase our options to have better trash reduction better trash people come and get and get our trash that's really what what it's all about um anybody have any other discussion roll call Berkeley no Carr yes yes right yes mayor Henley yes motion carries 410 an ordinance amending chapter 82 of the Westampton Township Code entitled alcohol beverages do we have a motion make a motion chap second any discussion mayor how did this come about I was shocked to see this on FR my my understanding is if I may that they they looked at having some um some different things in the community that our residents asked for and some of the local businesses can serve like beer or something like that so so that's my understanding of what it's about like uh if we have like any festivals if we have any um uh food truck events different events that we can elect to incorporate that so we wouldn't be providing the out no no no no no no we're not we're not boot leggers can't provide alcohol but we still need to get an alcohol permit from the by what by bootlegging we'll talk afterwards but um who who would we have liability if someone got drunk and ran over someone with their car I don't think the idea is for someone to come and get drunk I think that one of the things that we'd have to put in place is to be able to monitor if someone does that so I'll give you a perfect example and so to mention they have a carnival over here held at a church and at that church they have a beer Garden at the church so I don't think that people walk out every every year you know Under the Influence or heavily Under the Influence they have a way to police that at the church so I'm sure that us at Westampton Township with the police fine police officers we have that will will police that but it's you know again it's about you know you have a bunch of towns that hold these festivals and they have options to be to do things that we don't have options to do so so at some point and people have complained about this like you're going to have second rate things that are happening because we handcuff everybody and what they can do so would we need more police to to work those events you have to ask our fine Chief over there I speak there you asked of course speak discussion with the neighboring Chief my neighbor IED about the ordinance same ordinance we have um it's not a heavy police dep a lot of these events don't attct thousands of people like Carnival I've been there many times these are very low key sometime events you know people are coming there to get high anything like that purchase food maybe one or twoes from RE Garden we provide outside security we can't be directly sales they would check out some some of the things too I was looking at the handbook last night um cuz we had said something about parks in here and New Jersey said you can only have beer and wine in parks and you can't have it on the street so if we were to have have a food truck like we had it near in TNS Hill on the street we couldn't have alcohol because people would be walking on the street and I I'd be interested to see if parking lots would be under that same thing as streets I mean what I would think is and this is just off the top of my head like BCIT is a nice location that we the same place we have our National Night Out right like we can have something there like I said I don't know what they're Point yeah we can't we not going to we not going to and be move beer on the street you can't do that like we're going to we're going to they're going to I mean obviously we're not going to and I haven't been as involved it's not really my project but I I would assume that the chief is looking this up he's not going to he's going to make sure that we don't have no beer on the street I don't think that we're that type of community but we are a type of community that have asked to do things as a community and when we do do those things a lot of people do come out and support so it's an opportunity for us to get back to all knowing each other and being amongst each other doing different things hey if you don't want a beer Don't drink don't drink it um because it will cost they're not giving away for free and you know if but if there's other things there that you like to do then you're able to do that and people get an opportunity to meet you and people get an opportunity to talk to everyone and and engage and I think that that's something that we' talked about doing for a long time we talked about West Hampton days we've talked about um a bunch of different things to kind of get back to bringing the community out so I think that this is a is a step in the right direction roll call Berkeley yes Carr yes yes right yes mayor Henley yes motion carries 5 Z ordinance 6- 2024 calendar year 2024 ordinance to exceed the municipal budget appropriation limit and to establish a cap Bank do we have a motion berly move second is open for public hearings anyone have anything so I will say something um I know that we've T well N I know you sent an email right about in order to reduce right the 6.7 cents increase which is about $120 to $150 average for the year not for the quarter for the year um maybe looking at everyone cutting back 5% against their budget so first before I have you followed up on any of those things look have you talk to anyone I I was interesting I was curious about this the school because they had a $25 million Bond two years ago and their increase is 2% but their pennies is 8/10 of a cent increase on their budget which is about $12 a year I'm talking about the 5% I I know but I'm saying they are they're working through the same difficult Pro absolutely it's a West hon issue it's not so what I'm asking is have you talked to any Department about it no cuz I don't want to be redundant okay so I'm glad there are people here so what we what I did was I did talk to a few of our department heads right I talked to our fire department if they cut back 5% they won't be able to have any prum right so I want you this is what we want to consider like when we're talking about the tax is going 6 and half% they won't have any PM what does that mean PM means if somebody calls out the fire department they won't be able to call anybody in that's them cutting back 5% I talked to the police department is likely they want to hire an additional police officer at the end of the year it's likely that that could affect that that's 5% um I talked to our Administration we'd have to lay off someone if we cut back 5% so why I'm saying this is is that I know that we see the truck outside I know we talking trash cans right but that's about that's a bond we bonding for that but when we're talking about the budget 85% of the budget is salaries of the approximately 100 people who work here that's 85% of it if you if we cut start cutting areas then residents are going to Residents will go without which is I mean it's up to it's up to what what whatever you know the committee the committee has but I will share this if if I may cuz the chief actually was able to walk me through this so I live in Spring Meadows um and there were some kids playing out and I rued by and there were some kids there's some other kids out there smoking and I thought you know about what we say like well you know it's it's always somebody's else's problem right so I called the chief and I'm like I really don't I really think it's Overkill to have to have a police officer come out there like and I don't want to waste them being somewhere else and he's like well you know say something to him like just talk to him if it gets out of hand then you know then we'll then we'll handle another way so I me and urn came pulled into the park got out the car you don't even know the rest of the story cuz I didn't call you back but you see me here so I'm unharmed um so you know I talked to the guys I said listen I mean we were all kids I'm not going to you know I'm not here to judge but here's the thing like you got little kids over there on the swing like I said I just you know do what you're going to do as long as you don't hurt other people but I think that this isn't really the right place to do it and I told him I said you can say to yourself oh man this is none of your business but I'm the mayor of the town so it is my business and I said I'm not going to call the police I'm not going to do any of those things but I need you to police yourself like if that was your little sister over there or if that was your little cousin like would you want to be out here people smoking and they didn't say anything they were like all right we he you and they packed up in love look I say that to say when we're talking about cutting back 5% and we're talking about losing a police officer and we're talking about losing these are General things that are about general safety and we're talking about $150 a year here like unless and I've said this a million times unless we build or unless we do something else to bring in some other type of income then you're always going to be in this position because Chiefs always going to get raises every year they're going to get a raise just like all of us here the stats are going to get raises every year not cuz we're giving them a lot of them are contractual so they have a contract that they get a raise of a certain point every year and if 85% of your budget is salary then that number increases if you don't have a tax increase or if you don't bring in more Revenue now we have a new Housing Development over there that's going to bring in a revenue of approximately $400,000 next year that will help but that's kicking the can down the road if we don't continue to do something right we have to continue to to to have some type of Revenue coming in or we're always going to be looking at an increase now if we take a look at our taxes and compared to local towns I mean we still stand really strong I know people who live in town houses and their taxes are $3,000 a year more than mind so we do have a lot on what we currently manage and what we currently PID for and and our budget has been really responsible but understanding like just speaking in lay in terms if you know that 85% of the budget is salary right then this is a situ we we just tried to hire CFO at for uh part-time CFO right we've done shared service we've done a bunch of things to responsibly make sure we're handling our budget and there are some people that like why are we doing shared service we need to hire somebody full time understand then we're going to pay for that person right you're not only paying for them fulltime but you're going to pay for them in the pension system you're going to pay for their health care you're going to pay for everything that comes along with that when we talking about Shar service remember we're taking a flat fee we're not paying for healthcare we're not paying for the pension we're not paying for any of those things when we hire a part-time CFO but CFOs are what the running rates $100,000 to $150,000 we are going to hire a part-time CFO for way less than half of that so we are attempting to be extremely responsible with the finances but some of it is uncontrollable so I mean obviously you guys can look up a lot of what I'm saying but it's just some food for thought you have anything to me uh yes I just want want to put on the record that I had absolute confidence in the police and the fire department actually before the last meeting I did call them and ask them about things that had increased and most of those that had increased are because the people that service them had increased what they charge and I didn't see anything that I thought was um overspending and I thought they did a great job trying to keep it down and and still work and meet the needs I'm not being shy and I'm being honest about that but I think that we could cut Public Works by 5% without any problem so if we cut Public Works by 5% I don't believe that that even that doesn't cut it by a cent that doesn't reduce it by a cent right I think that's putting a bandaid on a bullet hole that's just that's just bad right I I would say this fairly and you know I always say this to you N I have no problem doing whatever we need to do if we bring up a problem then we need to have a solution right and all I'm searching for is if we're going to cut Everybody by 5% or whoever we're going to cut by 5% we're obviously saying that the residents don't need it so we're not going to do it right then what is the solution it can't be if we just do this then we'll do that like what's the solution and and by no means I'm not I'm just asking a question like what's the solution what should we do told you I think Public Works can be cut 5% where'd you go oh he's moving the truck so if we cut Public Works by 5% how much was that approximately what's the Public Works budget and what are we cutting and what are we missing what will the residents go without if we cut Public Works by 5% now the Lea truck no the Le truck is a bond it's not it has nothing to do with that I I'll give you an example mayor mayor this is not uh open for comment if anybody in the public wants to make a comment that she comes in the bills we're approving tonight one of the things we're approving is a lot of money for something that will balance Wheels we bought one two years ago do we need another one now how much is a lot $600 or $700 I forget but I don't have it in front of it but why do we you know I mean it's a $13 million budget that's all I try to say like man and you know you listen again I'll go with you if if it's worth going and I've done that before I it with you but $6 or700 on a $13 million budget even if you go $600 to $700 a week on a $13 million budget is a drop in the bucket like we need to figure out a way either to bring more money into this Township or then you then you have to reduce staff there's no other way around it if the staff is 85% of the budget I was just giving one example mayor sure oh no I thought you I'm sorry but I appreciate it um you want to ask com's back no I'll ask him Chris later if you cut 5% of your budget what are we going to go without uh Manpower 85% of our budget is are people who work here with that being said so mayor before this goes to a vote uh nor nor the cap Bank ordinance is handled with the budget and all the advertisements for it go out at the same time um so I would ask that the uh the committee table this and have a public hearing continue the public hearing and a final vote on the capb back C Bank ordinance uh simultaneous with the the approval of the budget I don't have an issue with that you want to have an issue of table on it that's fine Motion in favor I see nothing wrong with p it it doesn't mean we have to go you did a motion to table I second okay roll call Berkeley yes Carr yes yes right yes mayor Henley yes motion carries 5 Z 63- 24 payment of vouchers this resolution approves the payment of bills through 416 2024 do we have a motion kley move second any discussion roll call parley yes car yes yes right yes mayor Henley 64-4 resy what yes motion carries zero 64-4 resolution authorizing the 2024 Municipal budget to be read by title only you have a motion motion second any discussion yeah mayor this says that when we have our hearing we're only going to read the budget by title only usually when we do that in uh ordinances that means the public doesn't get any information because it's just reading are we saying that we are agreeing that when we have the hearing we're not going to give a budget overview to the people we're just going to have a budget title and and vote and listen to what they have to say I I think I don't understand this Miss Berkeley what it means to read by budget title only is that we're not reading the 95 page budget Page by page to the audience it's a resolution that allows us to just read the title of the budget so that we don't have to go Page by page it has nothing it has nothing to do with the ordinance it has nothing to it's the actual Municipal budget documents I'm just comparing it to when we have ordinances we read them by title only so are we planning on giving information to the people when we have a hearing or just say here's the title and we're voting on it in May so miss Berkeley as a condition of adopting this ordinance generally speaking the state law requires the budget to be read in entirety the exception to that is if the governing body passes this ordinance allowing it to be read by title only and that the uh committee certifies that certain conditions have been met including making the budget publicly available at least one week in advance of the uh public hearing on on the uh on the adoption of the budget so the the budget has been made available in the clerk's office for anyone to see anybody who has requested a copy of the budget has been provided a budget uh at this time which is more than two weeks before the uh final adoption of the budget the adoption is in May correct it's the first meeting in may7 yeah I I don't know it's maybe three weeks okay well I had a question about that about at least one week prior to the date of the hearing because I believe that once we introduce it it has to be available to the public correct um that's not correct I just read that last night uh maybe I'm mistaken um what's required under to have it read by title only is that it's available to the public for inspection in the clerk's office and provided to anyone at least one week prior to the public heing but after the last meeting we introduced it right yes and I I believe that the clerk made it publicly available shortly thereafter so that someone opers it they can get the budget If somebody walks in the cler's office and ask for it um submits a letter an email they get a copy of it okay thank you just wanted to check that out roll call Berkeley yes Carr yes  yes right yes mayor Henley yes motion carries 5 Z 65-24 resolution resolution authorized in the local examination of the 200 to 2024 Municipal budget motion make a motion authorize the local examination of the budget second any discussion the way this just reads it looks like we've already we're approving the budget we can't approve we wouldn't approve the budget the amounts have been we've approved the amounts have been calculated we approved that it's uh all ordinances items Appropriations are proper I mean it seems like we are approving everything in the budget is that not correct Bob sorry I had to P the glasses this isn't adopting the budget obviously because uh public hearing on the budget is required and there's no no public hearing this is uh authorizing authorizing that the process has been followed properly uh and it really just that the the process has been F followed properly the business administrators has worked on the uh preparation of the budget with our Auditors and has represented to the committee that everything has been followed with the uh introduction of the budget so it's not saying I agree the items of appropriation are proper no not the individual that's what it says here where does it say that on B on 4B also it allows us to internally examine the budget rather than having to send it to the state and wait for the state's Examination for them to approve it for us so once every 3 years we go through a cycle where the state tells us that we may mandatorily have to send them our budget for examination and it holds up the process a little bit longer this resolution which is passed across many municipalities allows the municipality to examine their own budget and certify that we are following all of the budgetary rules and regulations as per the state of New Jersey so that we can pass it on a more timely fashion thank you roll call Berkeley no Carr yes yes Wright yes mayor Henley yes carries 410 resolution for a member participation in The Cooperative Cooperative pricing system to enter into a Cooperative pricing agreement motion motion to enter the co second any discussion roll call berley yes Carr yes  yes R yes mayor Henley yes motion car 5 Z Now open the meeting for public comment please remember to state your name and address for the record remember this is for comment only it's not question an answer mayor where is this in agenda hold on this is Republic can you second hold up well they got to have you on the record like to record you want to make a statement you know listen you people don't understand let me tell you something I sp150 that was that was 50 years I'm making is I he people complain all the time about decision I'm not here to people I talk today they don't understand they think that you know if keep going up they want to this so they want to that what you need to go you [Music] something old I want to say this to you those who know me for a long time my in the of the yard here 50 years my wife was going to pass away years Tru 156,000 new 18 today 200 Grand what people don't understand it's not that you're trying to one off you have to go somewhere and get what you have to get for this down you go back everybody pday they Ain no getting around and going back Cas when I started $21 a case $9 now I mean it just going stop just people going and going and I don't know I just sit back now I people talk about the Clos things and really it's not a Township that's your you realiz the is you got to go to some get stuff to make work and today it a't listen I ain't no politicians what go for ever since ever since the virus came and now the virus is G up going the virus did that the virus and still that and guess what they I just l because it me every day every day and people talk about the sto you know what get keeps going up so we got to turn around do at the store I'm just saying to you it ain't my and to keep going like that some stop I [Music] don't thank you I don't you guys I don't you I'm Sho too I people I don't like it I don't like a lot of things that I see going on I also know I can't do nothing about I just want to one said was I had a SM you see I running chch lot my wife used to be my wife told you stay business C you got keepy that's why way Sy [Music] thanks Mr Harper uh motion to close public comment move second all in favor all than to remember next T committee meeting will be May 7th at 7:00 p.m. Land Development board meeting will be May 1st at 7: p.m. historic Work Commission is April 24th at 7:00 p.m. Recreation committee meeting is May 8th at 7: p.m. and take your child to workday is April 25th uh do we have any committee leaz reports or comments yeah Mr Mayor I'd just like to thank all of our neighbors residents for coming out today and voicing their opinions and concerns um reasonably it makes sense I understand I think I'd just like to mention I think the mayor did a great job in this discussion with committee wom Berkeley about highlighting the holistic approach that we have to take to the budgeting process and the forward-looking solutions that we have to implement and and explore you know to balance all these these concerns and and coming items um for example you know we know we're getting $400,000 in revenues next year but we also know that we're up for bid for the trash trucks um we know we need more manpower for public works so we need this Leaf truck to for as a force multiplier um all these things it's a balancing act and we're trying our best I really appreciate everyone's concerns that's all I have sir thank you anyone else I agree I'm glad to see lots of people coming out uh we agree and disagree on things and that's fine cuz each person has their own opinion um I do want there was three Board of Education members here tonight and I would like to give kudos to the board they had a lot of of money they had to cut they really were they were in a real bind they got together they worked together as a committee and they did it like I said their budget's going up 2% and their their tax increas is less than a penny and so that certainly makes it easier for us but I want to give them Kudos unfortunately I'm disappointed in my my fellow committee women and Men um obviously there were there were things in the budget I mean in the minutes that were not true about me who painted a negative picture of me I did not want people fired and I did not do bad and I do not do bad on my math and you would not support me and I'm very embarrassed and disappointed in you thank you I'd also like to thank the residents for coming out and voicing your concerns and you know bringing them to us as residents ourselves we have similar concerns I know that I have probably emptied out my house and so much trash on that curb more than the Bol pick up and they were still picking it up so that was definitely a concern I had um asked myself but I want to thank you for coming out and I also just wanted to publicly thank Misha Hill um for her courageous efforts um in working with the police I'd like to thank everyone for coming out I I think that's always been you know factual especially with me and the rest of this committee like these are people who genuinely do care about the community now we may all not disagree but that's not why you know you have people who are elected up here so that we don't all have to disagree as long as we all care about you know the town and we're trying to do the best we can what I will say lastly is when I talk about when I talk about our shared service and I talk about our part-time CFO and I talked about those different things these aren't things that we worked on from last year to this year these are things we've been working on for 3 or 4 years because we seen that there was no way we're going to be able be able to sustain without an increase so that was our answer to the issue the whole time and I and I've seen people listen I've seen people online say well I'd rather have I want to have a full-time person there I want to I want to have a full-time person do this or I want and I and those things I respect but by doing what we did and being and being responsible we gave ourselves an opportunity to look forward to the $400,000 that we that we're going to get from the community that was built there that hey let's be frank most people didn't even want built so where would we be without that right and to be honest when we're talking about we're talking about cutting 5% you're talking about we increased by what 500 homes this is no time to go backwards this is a time to go forward so we've done a lot of those things in my tenor here we've had two different police Chiefs right we have fire truck that we bought we listen you guys would even take account that you're going to need a new Firehouse that we met with Craig and and listen that I to throw numbers out if I can they want $17 million and guess what what do we talk about Craig Craig said I like the one in Lumberton that was eight I said you know what you do call them back and tell them we want with lumbert to got right so we're always trying to find ways to cut money we're not spending FR frivolously but listen Craig's going to have a meeting and I would love for us all to go to the Firehouse cuz when I was there there was puddles of water in different rooms and there were you know water running down his wall right we were talking because it was a rainy day these are the work conditions you're asking the people to work here in right and that's not fair that's not fair to them CU I know when I go to work and my computer comes on and you know what I mean and whatever I'm doing I don't have any water running down the wall or anything like that so these are just some of the things that we try to do responsibly and we have to go forward we can't go backwards and you know I'm willing to pay the 120 or 150 a month believe me I don't want to but there's you know there's not a lot of opportunities around it and you know so I I think that this this committee and this administrator Administration has done a nice job Wendy's doing the budget when you go to different townships ask how many administrators are doing the budget not many not the municipal budget so you know she's been doing that for the last couple years right so these are just different things that we tried to do to to to be better and to to to agree with what Jamie said I recently had my my basement flooded you know how many how much of the problem that would have been with one trash can I'm not disagreeing I'm saying that but but on the same hand 3 years ago was it 3 years ago we had a room full of people complaining that we're paying $3.7 million for trash collection and they didn't like the the the company that we were choosing what are we supposed to do all we want is more options and sometimes like we may have to sacrifice as a community to get more options I know we don't want to sacrifice anything but I rather sacrifice that to sacrifice Manpower so with that being said executive session resolution number 46 2024 resolution authorizing the Tas committee and support staff to meet in private session and authorize the exclusion of the public from the portion of the meeting dealing with specific issues requiring non-public discussion attorney client privilege Personnel do we have a motion brly move second any discussion no roll call Berkeley yes Carr yes yes right yes mayor Henley yes motion carries 5 Z