Madam clerk, the time is now 7 p.m. The time is now 7 p.m. and I'd like to call the regular township council meeting to order. Councilwoman Peron, >> present. >> Councilman Anderson, not present at this time.
Councilwoman Macintosh. Deputy Mayor Dr. Worthy present. >> Mayor Whitfield, present. I'd like to invite Pastor Vincent Russ of Delaware Valley Baptist Church to lead us in tonight's prayer. Let's bow our heads.
Oh Lord, oh Lord, how excellent is your name in all the earth. Father God, we come to you as humbly as we know how, Lord God, because we dare not move forward with any order of business, Lord, without seeking your face first. So we thank you for this opportunity, Lord God, to bow before your very
throne. Lord, we come to you, Father God, on behalf of the town of Willenboro, Lord God. And we pray, Father God, for this meeting that's about to take place, Father God. We ask you that you don't allow us to lean into our own understanding, Lord God, but you would direct our every path, Lord God.
We are here tonight, Father God, on behalf of this township and the residents that live therein, Lord God. So, I pray for everyone on the council. I pray for everybody that's in this room, Lord God. That you would meet them right where they are as we go forward with this meeting, Lord God. I pray that
you would lead, guide, and direct in the way that you see fit, Lord God. Father God, there is so much going on today, Lord God, that we need you, Lord. There is so many things going on, Lord God, that we need your your your love and your kindness, Father God. We need your
heart to be upon our hearts, Lord God. It is so easy for us to do what it is that we desire to do and not do what is needed for the township. Lord God, we know, Father God, that there's evil amongst us, Lord God. We know that there is things amongst us, Father God, that
is not in the best favor of this township, Lord God. I pray in the name of Jesus, Father God, that you would touch every heart, that you would touch every mind, Lord God, that everything that is said, Lord God, would be saturated, Father God, in the love for one another, Lord God, and not for
selfish ambition, Lord. I pray, Lord God, that you would continue, Father God, to move in a way, Father God, that would be the best for for this township. that you would move in a way, Lord God, that would bring us together, that we would unite us together, that would join
us together in one, Lord God, so that we could be the strongest that we could be for what it is that we have to do, Father God, there's much order of business that needs to take care of, Lord God. So I pray, Lord God, that when we begin this meeting, that you would superintend this meeting, lead, guide,
and direct. And we ask this in the precious name of your of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, we pray and say amen. Thank you, Pastor R. May we please rise for the flag salute to the flag
of the stands one nationisible. Notice was provided in compliance with chapter 231 of the public laws of 1975 to the Burlington County Times, Trenton Times, and Philadelphia Inquirer stating
the date, time, place, and the agenda to the extent it was known. Additionally, notice was filed in the office of the township clerk. >> Thank you, Madam Clerk. >> Good evening, everyone. >> Good evening. >> Thank you for joining us this evening
for our August Township Council meeting. We'll start uh tonight's meeting with a swearing in of one of our police officers. >> Good evening, mayor, deputy mayor of Willingboro Council, Willingboro residents. Uh thank you again for giving
us the opportunity for for you to swear in our our newest uh addition to our police force. Our our newest addition is Officer Brandon Rivera. He graduated from the Mercer County Police Academy on July 16th. He's currently in the report writing phase of our FTO program and
once he finishes that he will continue on to our 14week FTO program. So if I could have officer Rivera step Rivera step forward along with his family members please step forward. >> Good evening officer Rivera. >> Good evening.
So, as you have done, raise your right hand and you'll repeat after me, please. I state your name. >> I, Brandon Rivera, >> do solemnly swear >> do 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 New Jersey. Sorry. >> And that I will bear true faith >> And that I will bear true faith >> and allegiance to the same. and allegiance to the same >> and to the governments established
>> and to the governments established >> in the United States and in this state >> in the United States and in this state >> county and township >> county and township >> under the authority of the people >> under the authority of the people >> and that I will faithfully >> and I would faithfully
>> impartially >> impartially >> and justly perform >> and justly perform >> all the duties of >> all the duties of >> the office of police officer in Willing Township. the office of police officer in Willingboro Township. >> According to the best of my ability. >> According to the best of my ability.
>> So help me God. >> So help me God. >> Congratulations. >> Thank you. >> So at this point, I'm going to ask uh Officer Rivera's mother if she's going to pin her his badge on his chest. [laughter] Congratulations, Officer River.
>> Thank you. >> Welcome to Willingboro. >> Oh, officer Rivera, could you come up for a minute just to take a picture with council? One more. One more. One, two, three. Thank you. Congratulations once again to Officer
Rivera and welcome to Willing Brow. Our next item of business, we'll have our township manager, Mr. Dwayne Harris, um go through the manager's municipal updates. Good evening, mayor and governing body members, members of the
public. Uh we have quite a bit to go through uh this evening. Um Mayor F report for the month of June is in your box. So I'll just give a brief summary of some of the things that have transpired uh in the township uh since we last met. uh our township departments
provide are continuing to provide critical municipal service and progressed on numerous infrastructure, public safety, recreation, and community service projects throughout June of 2026. The township generated $829,961 in revenue for the month. Property tax
collections accounted for just over 74% of the monthly revenues. Our total spending reached 3.63 million for the month of June. Expenditures included 1.77 million for salaries and wages, 1.18 million for other operating costs,
and 542,791 for employee healthcare contributions. Our public safety departments remain busy. The police department is staffed uh by 71. Is that 72 now, Chief? Uh however, one officer is deployed with
the Air National Guard, one is on administrative duty, and one officer is suspended without pay. Investigative cases went down from 227 in May to 202 in June. Calls for service decreased
from 4,500 in May to 4,10 in June. and community pleasing activities consisted of special Olympics, Kona with a cop, neighborhood watch meetings, school outreach, and food deliveries to close to 30 willing burough families.
Our fire and EMS services responded to 157 fires, 445 EMS calls for the month of June. EMS build 62,548 for June services, and a total of 401,000 for the year to date. Highlights
for the department include a motorcycle fire, a structure fire on Sherwood Lane, uh that took firefighters approximately 30 minutes to bring under control. And the department has also provided extensive mutual aid to our Burlington County neighbors.
Public works continues to deliver basic services with limited personnel. Currently, the department is staffed by 35 employees. One employee is on medical leave, two employees are suspended, and there are currently no clean communities ambassadors assigned. The department
repaired 34 potholes, inspected 110 cage based 110 catch basins, and cleaned 53 uh additional catch basins. They picked up 575 bags of litter, distributed uh replacement trash and recycling carts,
and collected 52.5 cubic yards of street we street sweeping debris for the month of June. Uh several ongoing issues require further management oversight. They include the township's uh electric
vehicle charging stations that were not energized at Mil Creek Park. There is a sinkhole located at Babbot and Brooklyn Lane that is being addressed. Um the re the recurring road issues at 78 Tidewater Drive. Uh potential mode
located in the HVA unit in the library and needed HVAC repairs at the JFK uh senior center. Supporting uh reports, engineering estimates, vendor proposals, and plans for corrective actions will be followed up. Our recreation department
is experiencing another successful month for summer attendance and revenue. Approximately 700 people attended the country club pool celebration or the opening celebration. Close to 44 people attended the fishing derby summer in motion as a new initiative this summer
was launched and is doing very well. Recreation programs brought in over $87,000 from programs, pool passes, and camp memberships, facility rentals, sponsorships, vendors fees, and and product sales. Our human resources
department uh processed 22 seasonal recreation employees and one seasonal part-time ENT. The inspections department performed 1,169 inspections and either closed or brought 620 matters into compliance. They issued
58 summones and 233 construction permits or updates were issued by inspections and the department generated uh $87,446 in revenue. And a more detailed report is in your box and is available on the
township's website for any of the residents who would like to visit that. Um we will have Miss Jackson come and present the ongoings that are happening in Willing Barrow. And just last week, we unveiled our new township website and she will give a presentation on that
with Mr. Lowry as well. >> Good evening, mayor, deputy mayor, members of council, and all assembled. I hope you are well. So, there is a lot going on, but I'll try to just do the highlights this evening. Um, in the interest of time, we will be kicking off
our Jazzfest weekend this Friday at Friday Night Live with the Wise Touch at the Amphitheater and that will be um from 6:00 to 8 at the amphitheater. We've been having a great time at the amphitheater uh this summer. So, we are pleased to welcome the Wise Touch. So,
in addition to great music, food trucks, and community fellowship, we will also be offering our Jazzfest t-shirts. Um kind of a early bird special for those. So you can get them early and wear them to the festival. So we want to make that bring that to your attention. There is a
schedule available in the back table as well as the carousel for those interested regarding the remaining um concerts and entertainment at the amphitheater for the duration of the summer. And then of course on Sunday our 43rd annual jazz fest will occur from 12
to 8. We want to invite everyone to join us for another unforgettable celebration filled with live music and community fellowship. Uh the lineup includes Karen Briggs, Gerald Beasley, Mike Phillips, and Eric Roersonson who is this year's headliners. In addition, we will are
pleased to host Mary Cross, the Funtastic Voyage and Spur of the Moment at this year's event. The park opens at 11:00, the festival begins at noon, and all of is happening at Mil Creek Park. We do want to bring to your attention
that um if you are planning to park at the event, the parking is $30 for cars and $40 for RVs. So, we ask that you plan accordingly. And also, there will be parking restrictions in place this year in Penny Packer and Windsor parks.
So, they'll be restricted to one-sided parking. In addition to this information being posted on our social media pages, website, there will also be signs uh in in the areas where there is one restricted parking to one side of the
street. So, we want to make sure that our residents are aware. We are preparing for the grand opening of our Willenboro Performing Arts Center on October 3rd. We will be posting link to the grand opening concert and celebration. And the first act on the
stage is Atlantic Star. So, we are very excited about that. More information will be shared at our jazz festival, but um we're excited about our grand opening and upcoming performances. So, as was shared last uh week, we launched our new
website and I believe that we're going to take a moment just to take a look at it. The domain remains the same, which is willing.gov. Um, this is the recreation and wellness page, but if we go to the homepage, you
will see what you see when you click on the Willingboro website, willingj.gov. If you could just change the domain for us. I think this is more Mr. L's presentation than mine, but um, we'll
just move forward and just let you know that. Yes, there we go. So, our website is basically the same. The information is available to you, but it's, as you can see, it's a little bit more lively and we have um more vivid color and information. We have more quick links to
you. You'll see right here on the front page. If you can slow down just a minute, we have um the vital statistics, a link, the link to our budget, our library. We have a link to no knock registry oper request. Um if you have information about our property taxes
direct links to our RFQ and bids there um the township code and upcoming event special events form that's also available and if you um lower later on in the site you have our events and meetings that we have and then on the
corner you see that we'll be able to highlight uh different events that are coming. So, this allows us an opportunity to do a carousel of not only flyers and posters, but also a video. Um, the new website is ADA ADA
compliant. So, we are excited about that. And we just believe that it'll be um a little bit easier to navigate and access information. And we hope that our residents are pleased with the new um site and the new visibility that our new
site believes. And again, you don't have to do anything different, but click on willenj.gov and all of this information is available to you. And if there are no other questions, I believe that concludes my report. Thank you so much.
>> Thank you, Miss Jackson. Any questions for Miss Jackson? >> All right. Thank you. >> Going to come at at this time and present the Willingboro rec portion of the site. Good evening, council, mayor, deputy mayor, members of the public. Um,
so as you can see, we do have a department header page for our Willing Brow Recreation and Wellness uh department. Um, here you'll find an about us page across the global navigation uh portion. Right at the top of the screen, there's an about us that tells you more about the department. If
you click recreational programs, that'll take you to right now, it'll take you to my wreck. Uh, but at the end of the month, that will redirect to our current um our civic plus recreation management platform. We also have a tab up there for our community pools to share more information about the pools regarding
the uh the times the pools are open. Um yeah, the times the pools are open. Um and then other pertinent information in terms of pricing uh information about camp summon fund and then also information about the Riva Foster Senior Center. That's also at the top of the global uh navigation. As you remember,
on July 7th, the council approved, adopted an ordinance that formally brought the uh senior center under the recreation department. So, you'll be able to find more information about that uh center there. Um, as Miss Jackson said, we also have that calendar for community events. That's the first uh
icon uh tab on our screen. If you click fitness and wellness or sports and recreations, that'll take you to our new platform um civic wreck where uh residents will be able to register for classes and programs there as well as the rental facilities. Um while rental
facilities does not fall under our department, we understand that a lot of residents look towards the recreation department for those features. So, we made sure that it was there as well. as well as the event vendor application for our various um events uh that happen in the township whether it's Jazzfest Junth
or Friday Night Live series. Um those vendors have the opportunity to apply for those applications. We're putting those interest forms there. If you scroll down, you'll see stay connected. That'll redirect you to our Facebook page calendar, of course. That'll show you the calendar and then the park
locations will tell you exactly where our parks are in our community. Um, and then again, upcoming recreation events. We'll make sure that this calendar is updated. So, the events tab will mirror what's on our homepage to show you what current events are happening in the
township. And then the programs tab will show you what programs are currently running um in the township and the recreation department. those that tab is a bit inactive right now because all our current programs that are running through August are still taking registration through my wreck until the
end of the until the end of this month. And then you also see the feed directly to our uh Willingboro recreation and wellness department Facebook page. And then at the bottom of the page, um, you'll just have that information, um, where our department is located at the
Kennedy Center, our phone number, and then email us takes you right to the recreation info at willingj.gov. Um, we are looking for everyone. There's a bit of a change. Again, like I said, my wreck will be discontinued at the end
of this month. All registration uh rental rentals for the bank hall for any of the parks will go through our new civic w platform. You will have to create new accounts uh to complete those
functions. If you look at the top right of the screen, it says website sign in. Once you sign in, create a membership there or registration there. um you're not only signing up for the Willingboro Township website, but you're also signing up for that civic wreck
platform. So that platform will that login will be extended throughout the website uh globally from so from willingj.gov to our uh department header page. Um as noted in the past, willing wreck.com
typically takes you to the myerec platform. We have um requested that MA myre transfer that um that link for lack of a better term I can't think of the actual term of it the domain we've asked for them to
transition that domain to us for our ownership um so once it completes their process willre.com will bring you right to this page any questions >> um any questions from council I have one
question Mr. Lowry. Um, are the recreation events also included on the main calendar or is it just on the separate recreation website? >> Uh, they they should be included on that calendar as well. Um, but specifically, that's why we have the two tabs. We have events. So, that'll be township events.
Our events again, we look at all township events as township events. Whether recreation department is hosting it or not, they're all township events. Programs specifically will be recreation programs. So that's from our line dancing program to our mentality
program. Those specific things and also the senior center programs and activities will be under programs. >> Okay. >> All right. >> All right. Thank you, Mr. Larry. >> No problem. >> Mr. Harris, before you continue, I did have one other one for um Miss Jackson.
the um signups for the notification, text message and um email as well as the app is that also on the main page of the website. >> So we are going to be looking into transitioning from gov delivery to civic
send but we are going to upload the information that is currently in gov delivery to our current website and database so that we can utilize. There is a notation on the website that says notify me that allow us to build a new
um database, but we're hoping to retrieve the information from our old site to our new site so we can continue to build on that information. >> Okay. We just make sure that it's um visible for residents that want to be included that there is a spot one of those breakout.
>> Yeah, there is a little notify me, but we'll try to bring attention to it. It's on every page on every website, but we would do so. >> Great. Thank you, Miss Jackson. Council on prayer. Thank you. My question is really more towards um Mr.
Harris or Dr. Harris and um council pertaining to the jazz festival um with regards to parking. Um you've so far have expensed over $200,000 closer to $300,000 for the jazz festival. Basically, the taxpayers already paid.
So, what I'd like for us to do, if we could all agree on this, is those that are residents that are interested in attending, perhaps we can give them a parking pass for their car if they were interested in attending. I know we get visitors from nearby towns, but I wanted
to know um did you think about possibly um waving parking fees for those who've already paid for the jazz festival, the taxpayers? So that was not a consideration. Um parking >> parking is for the the parking fees for
anyone that drives a vehicle into Mil Creek Park. There are a lot of residents who attend the jazz festival from Willingboro who are not charged a parking fee because they don't drive. So there was no consideration as waving um a fee for Willingboro residences.
Well, what about um council? Um we initiate that now because the jazz festival is in a couple of weeks. Um something where um >> couple of days >> it's on Sunday. >> I don't know. >> So I mean we're talking about like the piece of paper that we get when we go to the high school graduations. I know you
don't typically attend high school graduation, Mr. Harris. Um but we get a parking pass uh when we attend because there's a lot of people. So something very similar to that literally printed on a piece of paper. Um, you can probably get a few out of this side
here. Um, VIP for those who come up to the council um to get a copy of it or something like that. Um, for those who are everybody's not in one is not going to go to the jazz festival, but those who are interested
that's just even though you didn't think about it before, what about now? Madame Mayor, I know Mr. I was eating board council. >> Um, council Peron, uh, thank you for bringing that. Uh, the JSUS is this Sunday and I think it's something that
we could have considered if this was brought up earlier. Parking at the JSUS has never been free. Um, so I think at this late hour it would be hard logistically to make it equitable for all residents that even wanted to
participate to one be aware that this benefit was available um and to be able to partake in it. >> It often takes it often takes months for or even one month for residents to get
the message about anything. um around town and it's already Tuesday, the jazz session is on Sunday. So that would leave a large part of residents that may not even know about it to be able to access the benefit, >> right? I mean, our social media pages,
our website, our Facebook, Tanya around town, there's a lot of different ways to let people know that we're offering it and just at least to offer it and literally can have it at the um the clerk's office or something. of course notable residents their state ID showing
that they are taxpayers here um just per one household >> I've given my position on it any other council member deputy mayor thank you madame mayor um thank you pon for the people we appreciate that presentation I think um
the challenge is that it's coming up now I'm not saying that It's not a good idea. It's just we've been talking about the Jazz Fest almost a year now and this consideration wasn't brought forward. Neither was it brought up um at the last
meeting or in between the meeting or anything. Do you have any do you have any suggestions on how we can make sure it's equitable? Um get do you have any suggestions of how we can make it equitable? I know you said with the flyers or is there a number you had in
mind in terms of the number of slots we could allocate for the residents? >> Well, the thought was it would be at the clerk's office and they can come in present their state ID. They can look up um that they are taxpayers in Willingboro, one per household. So,
literally a piece of paper that you could just cut and it says VIP parking will resident. That's it. And they would just take it. >> Okay. And then the administration would also need to figure out the capacity in terms of the number of spaces that that could be made available because I know
there's also um a cap on the number of spaces that are out there. It's I don't have an issue with considering the idea. I think we need to look at um >> how the logistics of how to abs how to do it, how to make it equitable if we're going to do it in time for Sunday or if
you're raising it now for the municipality to be able to do it for Jazzfest 2027. I know what the residents are reacting to is this wonderful idea that you've presented, but it's for the first time on Tuesday before the Jazzfest and we just want to be able to
deliver it in a way that's equitable. Not that it's not a good idea. Just trying to make it equitable. >> Well, I think I heard you say your concern is that the parking lot may become too full. >> I don't know what the capacity. >> Is that what you were stating? I'm >> saying I just don't know what the number is. >> In the event that that happens, whether they were paying or not, there would
still be a capacity of it's too full. >> That's right. And they would turn them away. But I would not want to hand out 10,000 parking passes if we can't hold 10,000 cars. That's that's what I'm saying. I don't >> I mean with that when it comes to that piece, I would I would um expect that
the police department, the fire department would manage the people count in that park period. >> We'll figure it out. I'm just saying trying to provide time to be able to do as you know since you've been on the council for several years much longer than myself that when the municipality does events and they have things that
happen it just it's just the logistics and thinking through that the administrative burden on the clerk's office and all those things. It's not that they can't do it. It's just they it's just a matter of doing the planning. And so I'm open to being able
to understand how to do it. We're just we're just figuring it out in real time. That's all. >> If we can have quiet in the courtroom, please. >> Mr. Lowry, do you have any >> input on this? >> Or Chief Bucks, I know you also assist
in managing. >> There's 11,000 residences in Willing B. There's no way we would be able to park 11,000 vehicles by giving one per household in Mil Creek Park. >> It's not one per household. It's those who come to the building because they're interested in attending. Every household
is not attending. >> Correct. But >> it's just a service that we're offering on our Facebook advertising. If you're interested, you're a taxpayer here, come get a VIP pass. We appreciate you for putting this event on for us, helping us, you know, just some sort of
appreciation. Just if you want, come to the municipal building. We'll have we'll give you a yellow piece of paper. Please present your ID so we know that you are the taxpayer here. Something very simple like it's not And it's not going to be all 11,000. Cancel on Macintosh.
>> Thank you again. Are you saying free or discounted? What did you say? >> Um free. >> Free. I was asking. >> Okay. >> And and as you've been like as Dr. Worthy said, you've been on council previous and you and um it's always been
it's always been the cost. I'm okay with that idea honestly but just I mean but when you present it it is it's you can bring it up so we can consider that init you know pre prior to three days before the before the jazz festival. So, I'm okay. I'm okay. If you want my real I'm
okay with doing that, >> but I think the logistics I think it's it's just um ill presented at this point in >> um personally I think it will be difficult to execute equitably to
residents um at this late hour. Um Mr. Harris, do you have any other inputs on this? No, I I would agree with you 100%. You know, trying to prepare and execute that by Sunday um is very
>> by Friday. >> Yeah. Yeah. By Friday because municipal offices closed on Friday would be very difficult and the parking revenue is a very large u revenue source to offset some of the expenses up for the jazz festival.
So those are all of the things that that you know we need to take into consideration. I mean, I do understand it's a revenue source, but for those who are neighboring townships, it should be a revenue for them, not for us because we already paid. >> But we don't have any statistic to determine what the percentage of that is. Is there 10%? Is it 80%, I don't
know. >> I don't know. I'm just I don't know either. I'm just saying that. And another thing is we meet once a month in the summertimes. So, we did not have our regularly scheduled meetings. When you advertise that it was $30 for parking, that came out much after I'm well into
July, at least as far as my knowledge. I did not see a flyer that we voted on. Did the council vote on a flyer for the jazz festival? >> No, but that information was released in May. >> No, the answer is no. So, we did not >> But that information was released in May and we don't vote on every flyer that
comes out. >> What I'm What I'm saying is we don't normally charge $30 for parking. >> We do normally charge for >> $30. Right. So, what I'm saying, >> but we do normally charge for parking. >> Madam Mayor, I'm not saying that you don't. What I'm saying is that can we
just start this initiative even it's late at the end of the game something very simple advertise it on our Facebook Tanya around town can speak about it on Facebook letting the community know the council has agreed to open up this for those willing well taxpayer residents if
you're interested you get to to attend VIP >> well if it is the directive of the council to do that we are bound to do that but that would that would not be my recommendation I would suggest that if it's possible to allow Willingboro residents to park at
last year's parking cost um and charge Excuse me. Come on. >> So, it's it's not it's not practical to do any of it. Um it's um so one >> quiet in the courtroom.
>> We had this conversation back in I want to say November and in early January when we had our budget um discussions and the council asked for us to find ways to offset the cost of the jazz festival. Um, one of those ways, um, was through increased, uh, sponsorship
opportunities. And then we also thought it necessary to increase parking because typically we get about 15,000 people to attend the jazz festival. A lot of those people are coming out of Exactly. So, a lot of those people are coming out of town. Um, a lot of our residents either
walk or carpool or find some other mean or mode to attend the jazz festival. Um we have 10 parking attendants in total. Um there's five parking lanes um that you drive through to get into the jazz festival. Um most of the traffic for
most of the day is backed up into Beverly Rang Kokus Road. Um if we decide that we want to then say, "Hey, we're going to check IDs at the gate." Um now you have >> right. But if you're if you're looking
to validate parking whether it's at the gate or leading up to the jazz fest again it's Tuesday now to so so public works is already setting up the jazz festival now um then we have to figure out how many again like you guys were already talking about what's the capacity how many people are going to be
coming in how many residents are going to be coming in that's a that's a huge ask on not just the recreation staff or the count the clerk staff but [clears throat] the the public works department who's already out there setting up the park. Um, I get it. I understand. Um, but in terms of from a
practical standpoint, I don't think that's a practical request. So, going back to Mr. Harris's point, if the directive from the council is to reduce the price, then that's something that we have to follow. But in terms of adding the it's the same thing with the pool, right? We decided to make the pool free
on Friday for the kids. We now have those extra steps where we have to then validate the residency. So initially we tried to do the IDs and see if the students were but the students don't get IDs from the school district. Um so we spoke with the school district and they said you know what just verify their
report cards. But I think to have um an influx of people come into the municipal complex or to um the Kennedy Center to validate residency uh for parking. I don't think that that's a reasonable ask. um we would be much more
respondent or infavorable to just reducing the price. >> They do come in to pay taxes. I mean like they come at different times, right? So I'm not saying that we have to have designated VIP parking spaces. So the police don't have to say you can park here long as they have
>> some sort of piece of paper format where maybe you can have a special stamp on it so nobody can make a duplicate of it, right? um something that's in the office of the clerk that stamps it. One household, you've received it and that's it. And everybody is not coming to get a VIP pass. Everybody's not going to go.
>> Understood. And and to your point, taxes were due on the 1st and I believe they have a grace period of the 15th, the 12th, the 10th. Jazz Fest is on the 9th. What I'm saying is however when they come in to pay their taxes similar fashion they will come in and get a VIP pass if they
wanted to to come in and get a VIP pass to park that day. What what I'm trying to say is it's not going to be extend anything extra on the you mentioned public works the police department literally somebody's driving in they have the the past clearly labeled
clearly identified on their dashboard and it's on their dashboard. So there's nothing for the police to do additional other than to observe that they have been they have that pass. So they don't need to see their state ID. The state ID is when they come in to the building to
collect the VIP. >> And how will we track that there's only one given to >> the clerk because that household would be or some sort of format of the office administration that this person received a pass. They
received one for that household. >> Madame Deputy Clerk, do you have a listing of each address? >> Oh, can I make I'll make a motion to >> Can I was talking? >> Thank you. >> I don't have a full listing of all the
addresses. I'm sorry. I don't have a full listing. I believe I would have to get that from maybe the tax office or something. Okay. So, we have access to a full listing of every address. >> Everybody gets a tax bill. So, I know we have their addresses.
Make the motion, council. >> Okay. I'll make a motion for VIP parking for Willingboro residents. Do we have a second? Second. >> Moved by Council Pon, seconded by Deputy Mayor Worthy.
Madame Clerk. Yes. Yes. Yes. >> Well, um, Mr. Harris and Miss Scott, you have quite a bit of work
to do, um, by tomorrow. you need helpunt >> Mr. Harris if you will continue. >> So there has been quite a conversation about the municipal taxes lately. So tonight we have a trifold presentation from our tax assessor, our chief financial officer and our tax collector
um on the taxing processes in in Willing Barrel so residents get a little bit clearer understanding of how the whole uh process and system works. So I'm going to call first to the floor Mr. Justin Lameella who is our tax assessor here in Willingboro Township.
>> Good evening. uh mayor and uh council as well as the uh uh township as well. Um first I'm going to start uh and I'll answer any questions uh anybody has uh and give an explanation, but but first I'm going to go ahead and start as I
typically do. Uh I got a paper here as far as our office procedures and and what we've done uh this year uh like we did last year as well. Um so I'm just going to hand out a uh some uh paper here. I think there's one each. It's basically what I'm reading from, but if you like to see it in front of
you, uh you can you can take a look and and and follow as well. Um yeah, that's fine. It It's pretty short number-wise here. I'm really good with numbers. Uh if you have any thoughts on it, you can ask me and and I'll I'll share it or break it down for you. But
this is at least so they have a visual gist on some things that our office uh does and perform uh as a tax assessor. Number one, I think uh that >> we're gonna order. Um do you have the the handout on this for the screen so that the residents can follow along or handouts for the audience?
>> Uh they're here. >> I I don't unless unless we could shoot it there. It's just numbers on our on our office. It's it's not like any calculation. >> They're here specifically for your presentation. Many of the residents are here specifically for this. >> Yeah. So I don't have any problem with
it um as well or I can produce copies to to shoot out later on. Uh it's just it's just our procedures that we do. Um >> we'll have copies coming um for the resident. >> Okay. Yeah, that's fine. >> Can we go to the next person while we wait for the copies?
>> Yeah. Yeah, sure. That's fine. >> Thank you, Mr. Lamol. >> Huh? Wow. Oh, >> good evening um mayor, deputy mayor and council and residents of wedding borrow township.
My name is Uceia Digs. I'm the chief financial officer director of fit wedding borrow township. So the objective of this uh presentation is to give residents
um a error picture how the property taxes are determined in the state of New Jersey. What are the you know the major components of the property tax rates? How the rates are calculated and the factors that influence our property tax
changes. So we want to understand what when you say property tax what is it? Property tax is a local tax assess on real property to fund essential public services. In New Jersey the
property tax are primarily um uh the primary funds of the uh property taxes to the public schools, the municipal government and the county government. So we have uh three primary
sources that formulate the property taxes. So you say okay how do I come about with the formula? So Mr. Lama seller going to explain about the property value. So once you understand what your
excess property value is, you take you times it by the local rate and then um usually divide it by 100. So, for example, over there I did a house that is assessed at $100,000
and at a tax rate of $4.97. So, you take your assessed value of your home, total valuation of your home, you times it by that tax rate up there and divide by 100. So for someone who had a
um $400,000 home, you your property tax would be roughly 4,792. But you'll see that impact during the third quarter of that year. So you start seeing it from August to February.
That's it. August, September, October, November, December, January. So you see, you see it during the third and fourth quarter of the tax year. So the next slide we're going to talk about the different components of the
tax rate. So as I mentioned earlier the tax rate we have the school tax rate which funds the local uh education in the town. We have the municipal tax rate which fund uh police fire rules ad
infrastructure all the good stuff that's in the town. Then we have the county tax that uh uh that fund the county services and infrastructure wherever the county and we live in Bernina County. So then we
have the open space tax which is connected to the county tax rate and we have a the library tax because we have a local public library in the town that forms part of the municipal tax rate.
So I'm going to um I put together an analysis a fivey year an analysis from 2022 to now so you know residents can see the trend of
the different uh um tax rate components. So at um so for the fiveyear period Sean not sure oh sorry mouse the next one okay so yeah if you look at this
fiveyear analysis I need everyone to look at it keenly so in the year 2022 if you look at the municipal tax rate at the time was 1.816 816.
We went to 2023, a slight 0.00001 increase at 2023. 2024 a significant decrease. 2025 uh kept it stable. [snorts]
I will call that stable. and 2026 is when you see the 1.9 the current rate which is at 1.95. So if you do the same thing with the school um 2022 we had a school rate at 1.79
2023 2.054 24 and to the rest of the to the current year the same thing with the county. So the current tax rate between 2022 and 26 you see at 2020 2022 the overall tax
rate was 3.989 and currently is at 4.972 actually received the certified county tax rate um today
mouse so the 26 total for um the county is is actually based on the final numbers now. So the total uh tax rate increase from 3.98 that's from 2022 to 2023. I'm
trying to explain year by year until we get to the current um year which is 2026. You see where the municipal increase was 01. If you know actually it remain unchanged
between 22 and 23 unchanged the school district increase between 22 and 23 was it went from 1.794 to 2.05 that's a 260
increase. the county increase from 3.79 to 414 and that's a 035 uh increase. So I'm going to explain what all these increases means once we get to the other
sheet. So, if you look at 2023 to 2024, um you're going to see those increases and I want you to take keen attention because that's my focus point, the municipal rate. And you look at the school district rate and the county rate
in from between 2023, no, from 2023 to 2024. So, you go from 2024 to 2025, the same thing. And now so both during that time both
the school district and the county tax rate contributed almost equally to the increase to the increase while the municipal rates remain virtually unchanged. You can see that. So that's between 24 and 25.
So we get between 25 last year to this year. the tax rate increase. Last year we had a overall total tax rate of 4.405. This year is approximately 4.972
round up 4.973 and that represents a 12.875 increase over our previous rate of uh 2025. So
the municipal um rate last year was 1.799. This year we have it at 1.915 and that's with this rate it has been the largest increase over the five year
period. You saw 22 a um it remain a slight decrease. 0.1 it rem and then it would have this increase at
this present time. The school district increased significant significantly from 2.087 087 to 2507 and that's the largest single increase from the data. The county the county
itself increase from 0.51 to 0.553. That's a 6% increase the county um has. >> It says >> it says decrease. >> Oh no that's increase. I'm sorry about
that. Increased from 0.519 to 0.553. Increased. Increased. I'm sorry about that. I don't know why it's showing increase. Okay. Oh, no. The numbers are mashing up. I
just um a typo. It should have been increased. So, the municipal tax rate. So I would say that over the five year period during the analysis period the municipal tax uh rate increase from
1.816 almost like a repeat and that was um zero I can give you a copy um 0.099% points and that equates to like 5.45 45
increase relative to the original rate compared with other components of the property tax structure. The municipal rate experience relative mod very little increase on uh um and that increase
actually happened this year. So if you look at all the other uh components which is a county the school you notice that the municipal reflects it was a gradual growth nothing you know that was shar you know a
gradual growth that was shared you know with the propertics properties property tax payers. So we go to the county. So over the five years the county has
increased and this reflect of um so the the county even though it remains the smallest component of the overall tax uh propert uh property tax structure. It has experienced significant proportional increase over the five years. economy. You know the
growth in the county tax rate also has contributed to the overall increase in the property tax bing and as indicated to the county related levy as a you know rose at a faster pace during this period
during the five year period the school district over the um five year analysis the school district has increased from 1.7 794 to 250 2504.
And as you saw in prior slides, the the the school district components experience the most significant growth among the major property tax categories, which is the um county and municipal,
making it the primary contributor to the overall increase in the property tax rate. Because the school levy the school tax levy gener generally represents the largest portion of a New Jersey property
tax bill. This increase has a substantial impact on the overall tax burden for property owners over the five years. So if you want to say okay my house is excess miles say oh my house is assessed oh
it's tiny it's assessed at um let's say $100,000 and the rate is at 4 n 4 um 972 what would be my local tax increase and the overall total tax increase that's
the calculation I did over there so uh for house let's That's 100,000. Uh the total tax rate as I mentioned earlier would be the four $4,972.38. >> Point of order. Just one second. >> Miles, would you be able to make this
bigger? Just the right side of the chart. >> Yes. Okay. Excellent. >> Okay. So, let's say for $250,000. I mean, I heard the resident say no one lives in a $100,000 house. Okay. Let go.
It doesn't change anything. So you go to for a $250,000 house. Yes, your increase will be your total tax increase will be uh $12,430.96 but your local tax which is the
municipal portion will be at $4,640.83. So you see that increase effective third and fourth quarter of this year 2026. So, I have um a a home assess from 100,000 to almost
$1.25 million just to make it as clear as possible to just so you can have an idea what your house you put the excess value of your home and see roughly what your increase will look like. So, if you need to see um the exact
amount your increase is, you can always call the tax office. We put pulled your um your address or your black and lot. We put in the tax rate that has been certified by the county. Going to be able to tell you exactly what your
increase is. those uh uh letters or tax bills that you receive in the mail couple of weeks ago, they were based on estimates. We had not receive the county certified tax rate at that time. So,
this is this this year is pretty much close to the actual. So, uh I'm going to conclude. So overall mouse overall the data indicates that
increases in a school district tax rate have been a dominant factor affecting property taxes in winning borrow township between 2022 to 2026. While the municipal tax rates remain relatively stable until this year. The county tax
shows moderate growth through the years from 2022 to 202526. I thank you. I will take questions when um I'm instructed to. Thank you.
>> Any questions from council for Mr. D? >> Okay. Thank you, Mr. We will call Mr. Lamechella back up to the podium. All right. Um I guess you let me know whenever we feel it's appropriate to to start going and I will uh jump into my
>> presentation here. >> Okay. Uh excellent. So Oh, great. We got it on the screen. Um yeah, so this here is uh some things I went over last year. This is what our office does. Um I remember some council members like to
see some things uh kind of in front and see the numbers as I know when you start saying numbers uh it kind of starts flying. It might be hard to keep up with. So uh I wanted to write that down so so we can actually see. Um and also while we're into it I think to kind of
explain this here is is what our office does. Um, as uh Eczeia just explained, um, you have two components when it comes down to the taxation process. I deal with the assessment uh, piece to that. Um, the assumption, and we're
receiving a lot of calls, which I'll get into that when I when I hit the calls spot. Now, this is a busy time of year because we get the call and it's happening. What happened to my taxes? What happened to my taxes? Well, this is the time of year when we have those changes that just occurred in those different budget pieces. Um, we're
actually doing the first thing I'll go into uh to explain because we had uh the same thing last year. A lot of questions are maybe not so understanding of the process uh with a reassessment that's going on that we're doing inspections right now. Um we're not changing any
values. So our component uh that is involved into the assessment process, I'm the value person. If the values in the assessment changes, your taxes would change. That's one component. And then you have the variables that are involved in the tax rate uh that Miss Diggs just
explained. We have these components that change from various budgets. Um right now our assessment as an assessor, we're under an equalization ratio. So, our average assessment on that sheet that Miss Diggs just had uh was about
165,000. That's not your value because our ratio uh is about 60% roughly. So, uh for round numbers, your assessment is should be somewhere near around 50% of what your market value is. So on that sheet
she had if you went across and saw the total at about 161,000 there was probably somewhere about if I recall uh maybe about an $8500 annual tax bill. That's based off the average assessment in the town. Um so that's where we are
and our assessments haven't changed uh right now. what we're doing in the reassessment proc process as we're ordered uh uh from the state and uh and the county to perform uh we're doing a 20 uh% inspection process over a 5-year
period. Uh so this is telling us right here uh that we are uh right now we have a total properties of 6,000 uh 102 have been inspected. Um we have uh 3,783 remaining. Um uh which this is in the
residential category. Um we are about um 62% uh completion and also uh an inspection ratio. Uh we must be we're right about 61% as well. We must be within a 50% uh of all properties uh to
comply uh with the division of taxation. Uh that's where we sit uh right now and that's where our program is which is in addition uh to the tax assessor's typical workload. Um so we have this that's going on. Uh again um we get a
lot of calls and and we'll see that coming up shortly. The assessments right now in the municipality has not changed. Nobody's assessment has changed that directly impact the taxes. uh we're getting a ton of those calls and uh and it's good to explain this here and and
it was actually very helpful that uh Miss Diggs went first because that explained the variable where there's changes um and also throughout the state New Jersey just to piggyback why I'm here and as we're scrolling down um there was changes at the state and I'm sure everybody probably has heard or is
aware of it and they changed the calculations for school aid that has changed um those changes changed budgets and maybe monies for certain educational systems in different municipalities. I don't know about uh specifically in municipality here. I'm not speaking for
that. Um but historically over the last few years uh there is that's where there was a larger change that was done in the school budget system and that's been felt uh not only here as Miss Diggs explained um it is a larger percentage but it's been felt throughout the state of New Jersey. Uh and it and there was a
large jump last year if it wasn't felt. I'm not sure how it was here. Uh, and there was one here. Um, and some municipalities have had much larger spikes due to this new school aid formula that was introduced by the state that changed some of the distributions. Um, and now there's also various
components of that budget. So, we're one as far as a municipality and there's several other components and they all change. Um, and that variable was where the change was. So when you get to our office a lot of times is my taxes changed and you know I get on the phone and and why did they change or or what's
the jump and the the reality is unless there was a change and you did some type of an improvement or property change uh then that would be assessed appropriately which we'll get to that in our assessments and you would have a change that was directly impacted from the assessor's office valuation to your
new uh to the assessment. Um so a lot of them that we're looking at uh there there was no changes. A lot of calls we get it says it's the reevaluation or you know reassessment. What happened? My numbers changed this. It's the reassessment. Um it's not no numbers
have changed yet. Uh if they uh the changing where they go would be in 2029. Uh as were ordered. There's things now at the state and other statutes that are legislation that are there. So we're following protocol and we're doing the inspections only. Um but if scheduled and it were to go on, changes wouldn't
be effect until the 2029 tax year. So we're still years away when you would there would be a change in uh for me again it wouldn't change taxes would change and redistribute but what's going to change is going to be the aggregate assessed value of the municipality. So
what that does is when that changes and that goes up they divide that by the budget that gives you your tax rate. Um, so if there's large change and it goes up, then that tax rate may go down, but there's going to be different types of changes depending on possibly what areas changed value more rapidly and possibly
areas have changed. Uh, over time in real estate, markets change wildly uh throughout different neighborhoods and different uh in in municipalities depending of the economic, you know, uh, makeup. Um some neighborhoods at that time 15 years ago may have been uh the
most valuable uh and 15 years later uh it's not the number one neighborhood in town. Well, those neighborhoods are possible that they would see that type of change. They may see some relief if overall because this equalization ratio they didn't balance exactly with the ratio. They could see a downward change.
Uh and that uh in the inverse a municipal uh a neighborhood that maybe had a change and became more valuable would see the opposite and possibly see an increase. But that budget process is the same and the valuation is now
different because now we go up to 100% and everybody goes at market value and that's where you get some changes from that could occur from neighborhood to neighborhood. But we are we are still years um from that process. Right now we are just doing the uh inspection
process. Uh with that being said, um that's the main involvement uh as far as from the assessor's office on what our function is and uh and and what we do. Uh as far as when it comes to to calcul tax calculation again um that's just
part of a uh the collection process, which is a calculation that's derived from your assessment and the various budgets uh that make up the tax rate. Um so again simply that's where we are as
far as the inspection process. Uh that's where we are. We still have numbers that we're collecting. Um we're on target. Uh the numbers are within line. Uh we have to be uh above 50%. Uh we are we are at 62% and we're moving accordingly. Um
below that is our typical uh workload. Our typical workload is uh I have down here and and it is up on the board uh the last 12 months uh on on what we do daily. Um so number one is is the phone calls. Uh you know we we receive annually estimated around like 2900 uh
calls per year. Um a lot of those phone calls, believe it or not, probably a thousand of them, I would say a third come this time a year. Our phone rings off the hook. We have a budget change and why my taxes change? Well, while your tax is changing now, if you didn't
do an improvement and get something which is called an added assessment or evaluation change, um then we have nothing to do with that. We can say we're not sure there's this time of year the budgets change. Whatever pieces of those budget changed is what would make your annual taxes change. Um the rest of
the calls are maybe typical calls that go with name changes. Um uh maybe records you want different things in in ownership style. uh maybe reviews or wanting to look at an assessment. Um those type of things. Uh the next thing we do is we go down in deeds. We review
deeds and we process them. Uh we did about 492 this year. Um so those 492 properties that we review uh and we look at they come in, review the sale price, the deeds we have to analyze. Uh and then below that we have a property
owners uh list as well. Um, so we process staff for 200 feet for any engineering issues. Uh, we do about 18 of those annually since last time we had this meeting. Uh, the next line we have tax searches that are completed as well. Uh, we do about 250 of those uh,
annually. And then we review the building permits. Uh, there's about 4,300 building permits that uh, we have to go through and review a year and determine which ones, as I just previously stated, uh, have improvement changes. And those improvement changes will then directly affect an assessment
that can implicate a tax change. So some of those calls again we do get as soon as I pull it up and say, "Okay, hey, I can see your assessment changed from last year to this year." Well, that's a reason why your change can be a little bit greater plus the change with with any uh tax rate changes from those various entities. Um the edited
assessments that we process uh from those deeds that we review, uh we got about 216 of those uh that we did. Um you can see those there. And uh below that we also do resale inspections additionally that are performed. Every property goes through as far as sales.
Uh we review those properties as well. So we can review prior to if there is a change they're aware. A change can be calculated. So a new buyer or a new resident moving in is aware of what a tax implication will be. if there was improvements done uh prior to or with or
without a permit uh from a previous owner uh that allows them to knowledgeably uh understand what their tax implications are and we do about 705 of those annually. Um below that uh we have uh some exemptions and various
applications that we review. Um this here we have uh most of these are the majority is uh we have a lot of veterans. uh we do 50 uh we this number here shows about 65 and 52 uh are approved on average uh yearly or over
the last 12 months. Uh that pretty much sums up what I have for you. Um I will gladly take any questions if directed. >> Thank you, Mr. Lamella. Any questions from council? >> Thank you, Mr. Lisella. All right, you can continue, Mr. Harris.
And last but not least, our uh tax collector, Miss Lamar Arnold. >> Yes. Good. Good evening, council, mayor, deputy mayor. Um, okay. My name is Lamar Arnold. I'm the tax collector for Wenboro Township, and
I'm going to go over some programs that's offered through the township and through the state of New Jersey. >> [cough and clears throat] >> So, the deductions offered through Bowling Bro Township, Bullenboro Township exemptions, state tax relief
programs. Um, so for the exemptions, okay, I'll go over the the deductions offered through Bowling Bro Township, we have [clears throat] um the senior citizen deduction. That's 250
off for the year. you have to make 10,000 or less, not including social security. They have the um the veterans deduction as well. That's $250 off. Um for this veteran deduction, you don't have to be
100% disabled, just long as you were um enlisted in the military at some point. Um, so for the disabled person, that's also 250 off for the year, but you also have to make the $10,000 or less, not
including your social security. Um, also, um, the surviving spouse, um, of a senior previously receiving the deduction is also entitled. um a disabled veteran um the surviving spouse of a veteran previously receiving
the deduction considered um well it's also known as a widow of a vet they also can receive the deduction after the vet has passed away. the exemptions. Um
th this is uh like a disabled veteran that's 100% disabled. Um you have to provide your DD214. Um, there's some other things you have to have like your military discharge
papers or service time during the peacekeeping mission, your New Jersey driver's license, and [clears throat] proof of legal title as October 1st of the pre-tax year. So some of the exemptions
they have the 100% disabled veterans but also entitled to the exemption is a nonprofit organization, churches, government agencies. And the eligible requirements for the
exemptions also too are active duty service in the United States people that are serving now. Um if you own the property or hold a legal title to the property for which the deduction is claimed and you have to be a legal
domiceller resident of New Jersey. So the state programs that are offered are um the senior freeze um now they have included um all the programs together is called the PAS1.
So the property tax reimbursement senior freeze the anchor and the state New Jersey programs are all included now and you have to file this by November 2nd. The one for this year is for 2025. So, please make sure you fill this the
2025 out so for next year they'll have a base rate and it'll be based on your age and income and you'll be able to get the one for 2026 next year and and and when you first fill it out when you
first fill the program out for the PAS, you have to have the 2024 and 2025 for the one this year. But if this is your if you did it in the past, they just ask for the one year and they have your base rate already based on your age and income.
So, um if for any of these programs, you can um come to our office and we will um well, the ones through the township, you have to go to the tax assessor's office, but the state program, we have a copy of it as well, or we can um give you the
program. I mean, you can fill it out through the state website as well. And that's that's it. >> Miss Arnold, you still had a couple more slides. >> Oh, I forgot about that one. Hold up. This
right here. I'm sorry. Yes. So, the county um the state is going to have um different um they're going to come and speak and explain the um property tax relief application assistant events. That'll be um that
they'll have one at Mount Laurel, Palmyra, Bordontown, Wenboro will be um September 10th at 3:30 to 6:30 p.m. at the Rever Foster C senior center. Um they had one in Roling, Burlington, and
Del Rand. Um all the uh times I can um actually if you've come to our office, I can give you a copy of it as well. And um and we also help too. Like if you need help
assistant filling out the paperwork, we will help you in our office as well. But these these are like the state will be at these locations to explain everything and you can bring your documents with you, your um your
license, your um your income for the you know the the years for 2024 and 2025 because that's what it is for this year. And um they will help you um fill out the forms as well at these events.
And that's the end. [clears throat] >> All right. Thank you, Miss Arnold. Any questions for Miss Arnold? >> All right. >> Don't have a question for Miss Arnold, but the information that was shown especially for the state, especially for the state stuff, is that available on
our website also? Okay. Thank you. >> All of this information will be posted on the website. >> All right. Thank you, Mr. Harris. All right, Mr. Harris, you can continue. Uh, >> next we have a presentation from Edu Sports Academy,
um, Miss Pat Lindseay Harvey, who wants to make a presentation about a golf facility at JFK. >> Good evening, mayor. Good evening, deputy mayor, council, administration, and Willingber residents. Uh my name is Pat Lindy Harvey and I'm
founder and CEO of Educ Sports Academy which is a nonprofit and I'm a a certified golf instructor. With me I have uh Michael Thompson is one of our instructors and Frederick um Baxter who's also one of our certified instructors. And what we're talking
about is uh creating a golf discovery and learning center which is going to be something very different. Um something that you won't see anywhere in New Jersey and probably not in the country uh from the research we've done so far. It will have uh youth education, career
development about golf and environmental stewardship. Next slide please. And I don't know how many of you know much about golf, but it is a very um diversity challenged industry. And if you look at the first part of
this talks about scholarships, there are between 15 and $30 million worth of scholarships. It goes unused for uh black and brown children because there's not many of them that play golf. Number two, we talk about the PGA. That's the professional golf association
and the live tour. And there's also another tour called the corn ferry tour. There are currently no black males playing regularly on the PGA tour. The last one was Tiger Woods. There is only one on the live tour and that's Harold
Barner and there are currently only three on the corn ferry tour. So, at the LPGA, uh, that's even worse. There's only been eight women in the history of the LPGA that has had a status card. That means
you get to you get to play on the tour. And there's only currently one black female, and that's Mariah Stack House, who is currently playing. As far as golf professionals, that's usually those who are who are coaches or teach. They there are only out of
30,000, there are about 150 um black PGA professionals. Now, back in the day, the only job that we could get on a golf course was a caddy. And today, those jobs are six-f figureure jobs.
There are only 25 black caddies on all the professional tours. There are 14,000 golf facilities. There are no blackowned. There are 16,000 golf courses. There's only one blackowned and
that's in Ohio by Renee Pow. Interesting enough, um, in back in 1921, the very first blackowned and operated golf course was here in New Jersey, that Shady, uh, Shady Rest, and that's in Scotch Plains, but today it's not blackowned anymore. Is owned by the
township. That was a nine-hole course. The second um there was another course in South Jersey that was freeway and that was the first uh 18hole blackowned and operated course in the country that's also closed.
Um black course architects. So there are maybe 10 in the entire country and when it comes to black um owned equipment and apparel companies there may be only 10. Next slide please.
So the problem that we want to solve is that there are four barriers for under uh served and upper under under reppresented youth in golf and that's access. It's expensive. The plan of course rank Cocus right now is charging $72 to play golf and that's it's very
expensive if you want to play a couple times through the week. There's relevance. So most um programs there's no bridge between uh careers. It's just about possibly learning how to play the
golf game of golf. Uh belonging. If you go to We've had the opportunity to go to the LPGA, you don't see women that look like you. There's now a brand new tour. It's called the Sapphire Tour and it's all black and brown women. And we've taken our students to it and it was a
game changer for them. and then sustain costs. Next slide, please. So, we're proposing a new category and what they say what we're proposing does not exist. Zixing programs usually serve families who already have have the the
means to pay. Um, it's recreational only. Uh, there's no career connection, no steam or STEM curriculum, no environmental component, and no workforce training. And what we're proposing is what we do already with our swing to te golf is that we provide
instruction and mentorship. When our students get 16, um we teach them how to be junior instructors. So they're mentoring all the younger younger golfers. When we talk about career pathways, there's six parts of this industry that we talk to our students about and that's one of the thing one of
the other things that we bring to this program. We integrate uh steam into our program. Um environmental science will be on site and there will be paid insure internships at the facility. Next slide please.
So what we're building is there will be two par 3es. One will be elevated and one will be L-shaped. There will be uh a number of sand traps and a um water bunker so that when when they go out to play they'll have experiences. There's
there's a number of different types of of sand. So, they'll have opportunity to play and learn how to get their ball out of different types of sand and to get over the sand bunker, which is something we have difficulty doing now because it's very difficult to teach golf on at our golf course because you have other
people that are playing and you cannot slow up the what they call the course of play. The ranger will come either get you off the course or tell you have to move. So, it's difficult. We'll have five days of portable. So we'll be able to take them up if we need more room for for classes. So we'll be able to take
them up. There will be a bofiltration uh pond and bunker. So that's where all the storm water will go. There's going to be green infra infrastructure. Um it'll actually be a science classroom because you'll be able to take water samples um in the pond. There's going to be a
putting green and a community space where parents can sit um to watch their children or or watch members playing. There'll be LED sports lights, so they'll be at the play after dark. Next slide, please. You
>> All right, I'll turn over to Mike. >> Good evening all. So, as Pat mentioned, this is a unique experience that uh we're presenting and this is not a recreation program, which is what what most people would think about. This is really a workforce pipeline and golf acts as the vehicle
where careers are the destination. And so if you look at the chart that we've put together for you, we start with care golf instruction. We weave in steam. And when we say steam, we're talking about science, technology, engineering, athletics or arts. It depends on who you talk to about that. Our our colleague
Fred tends to talk about athletics here. And we also include mathematics. It's part of the curriculum that we'll be moving forward. Another key component of that is the mentorship and the internship. So, we'll be working with community uh leaders and business uh leaders to ensure that they open their
doors and invite our students in to take on those internships uh which will lead ultimately to a variety of different career pathways which we've outlined for you at the bottom of the screen. So, you're talking about careers that involve such areas as sports management uh turf and land management which our
students would gain from having worked on the facility that we're describing. We talked about STEM so you can see that engineering and design would also be a part of that. Next slide please. A a key component of this initiative is metrics. We thought about that. We knew that that would be coming up. And the
metrics that we're presenting to you now are not activity metrics. These are metrics that are really based on outcomes. I know some of you may be able to see it in the back. So I'll just give you an example of a couple of the ones that we're looking at. Um so youth reach is one of the results that we're um
including in the process and that is enrolled youth from households uh which is less than or equal to 200% of poverty. Right? And our year one target is 75 youth per cycle. So that's the way we've thought about this process. It's not just a matter of uh who attends or just
having checklist but we want to provide a gauge and a way to to really be able to track this whole environment uh as we move forward so that is as is as as uh sponsors for example are looking at the program trying to figure out exactly what we're accomplishing and what we're measuring. We've figured that out and we
put it in this program so it's easy to follow. Next slide. So this is public land that we're talking about and a maximum investment in efficiency and impact is where our focus is. The land is already there. You know it's not like we have to go and secure it from other places and we also
recognize the importance of economic development is part of this. Now the key point that I really want to u drive home here is the very uh component on the right which is community assets in any scenario. So if the program for whatever reason ever ends, the building and the
improvements remain as community assets. I want to make sure that folks understand that because part of what I've heard and part of what we continue to hear is they somehow think that we're going to be asking for the council for those funds. That's not the case. Um so it's a win-win situation for it.
>> I'm sorry. um >> continue there. >> Uh so our project investment as we've anticipated uh understanding some of the fluctuations associated with this on the low end we're looking at roughly 1.3 million on the high end uh we're
estimating roughly 2 million. uh we have a 20% contingency and as I noted there's a 0% expectation from the township associated with this and the land will be owned um or is owned and will continue to be owned by the m municipality and some of the components that you see
listed here are the ones that uh Pat highlighted earlier and the ranges you'll see um are also taken into account with a lot of the fluctu fluctuations associated with the resources and components that we have to consider when we think about what needs to be included in the process.
So, what's our proven delivery? Part of it is the fact that uh leading this whole initiative is Pat. She's been around in Willing uh for many years. She's a staple in the community and she's been able to drive a program that many students and I've many of them I've talked to and I'm not from the area really enjoy the fact that they've not
only been able to um be a part of a a sports program, but also that she um has given them life skills and she's given them a reason to really feel part of the process. not just was not just about the sport but it's about the whole education and what they could do with their lives going forward which is why this
organization can deliver. It focuses on the community trust that she's established. um she's missiondriven um in the process and I talked a little bit about the metrics and we really have 10 key performance indicators that are really driving results associated with this culture which ultimately drives us
to the last point where we have operational clarity because Edu Sports Academy operates and maintains everything and the township does not carry any overhead. So this is a partnership opportunity. Uh, it's not a request for charity. Um,
it's an invitation to co-create something that has never existed in New Jersey. I emphasize never. So, what does that look like? It involves capital grants, uh, named sponsorships. So, organizations and individuals who are looking to place their name on some of
the key components or key some of the key areas of the facility can do that. We'll be looking for inind contribution in the form of equipment, materials, uh, professional services. Uh thankfully we have a colleague uh as part of our whole network who is going to be driving that
whole initiative for us. I talked a bit about mentorship but internships are particularly important and the kinds of relationships that we're establishing with businesses will allow for those interns uh to be serviced within not only the Willingberry area but the greater um South Jersey community. And
we're also interested in connectors. So as you look at this and you think about the impact that it could have and you know of individuals who may be interested in participating, we ask that you reach for us because this is something that we really believe is a game changer. >> We'd like to thank you for the opportunity to make this presentation
and I I just want to emphasize to you that we had our students involved in this from the very beginning. The first two um renderings that were done were done by two of our students who took drafting in high school. So we wanted them to be a part of this and then the uh artist rendering was also done by a
willing resident. So what we need is a partner willing to believe as we do that a golf club in the hands of an underserved unrepresented child paired with a real education and a real career pathway is one of the most
powerful investments a community can make. Thank you very much. Any questions? Thank you Miss Lindsay Harvey. Are there any c questions from council? Dr. Worthy. >> Thank you, Madam Mayor. Miss Lindsay
Harvey, I was wondering what other locations are you considering um for this type of project. There wasn't this is the only one that that was brought to us that we were that we looked at. We did look at where we nor where we currently um practice, but the fact that
it's going to have uh netting around it wasn't going to make it very appealing for the for the front of the JFK center. So further back um would be you know more desirable that was brought to us. >> Were there other places in Willingboro at all? I know you said not.
>> No. Hadn't looked at any place else. >> Okay. And what is the construction timeline for something like this? >> Uh probably would take a year to be finished from start to finish. >> Okay. Thank you. >> All right. And Miss Lindsy Harvey, the
only contribution you're looking for from the council is the land. >> That's it. >> So the operation >> raising all the funds. >> Oh, you'll raise all the funds for the operations and maintenance of the facility. >> Yes.
>> Okay. And that's in perpetuity of the facility. >> Yep. We didn't want any impact on on taxpayers at all. >> Okay. >> That being mayor. >> Okay. in terms of um programmatically is that something that um how would that or
what is your vision in terms of how that works with Willing Brow Recreation and Wellness um and Swing to Tea like how does that how do you envision something like that? >> Swing to Tea would continue exactly the way it does except now it would be in in a different space where we'll be able to teach a lot more.
>> Okay. So the T and who does the reg like the >> township does the registration the U uh rec department does the registration. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Um, any other questions from from council? >> Thank you.
>> All right. Thank you. Thank you for your presentation. All right. Um, we'll go on to I think that concludes the presentations, Mr. Harris, for today. All right. So we'll go on to the
explanation of the agenda items >> being presented to you this evening for your consideration is ordinance number 2026-2020 or 22 which is an ordinance to establish compensation benefits and other policies
for non-union employees unclassified employees elected officials of the township of Willingboro. The said this what we're proposing is just essentially adding some titles that were not uh previously uh in the ordinance like the director or like the human resource
manager, the senior center manager and the performing arts utility manager and removing some titles that are being considered under the ask me contract that were previously under the ordinance. Ordinance number 20 2026-23
is a bond ordinance providing for the replacement of the storm water outfall pipe at Plum Tree Lane um by the township of Willing Barrow in appropriating $195,000 uh for that and authorizing the issuance
of $185,000 in bonds and notes to finance part of the cost thereof Ordinance number 20 26-20 or 24 is a bond ordinance providing for
the improvement of various municipal buildings in the township of willing. This was the ESIP program that we uh implemented a few years ago and appropriated 300 or 3,925,000 therefore and authorizing the issuance
of 3,73,738,000 in bonds or notes. When we had addition initially um authorized this project um we were supposed to go to the local finance board and get uh author authorization to provide um refunding
bonds um uh because of a discrepancy in the procedure uh that was not done. So we needed to go ahead and reissue the bonds again for that particular project. Uh, resolution number 2026-147
is a resolution authorizing the approval of vouchers for payment and ratification. Resolution number 148 is a resolution cancelling bold outstanding checks and uh reconciling those items back into um our finances.
Resolution 20 or 2026-149 is a resolution authorizing a refund for the overpayment of taxes. Resolution number 150 is to amend the adopted budget for additional items of
revenue and offsetting appropriations, which is called a chapter 159 to include a um local improvement uh grant uh from 2026 in the amount of $550,000
for uh work to improve Shawont Shetland and Sheffield lanes. Um so this project uh will begin in 2026 and we are just incorporating those grant revenues into our budget.
Resolution number 151 is a resolution uh to amend the adopted budget adding additional items of revenue and offsetting appropriations. that is for a uh 2026 capital grant in the amount of $122,000
which was given to us to purchase um equipment for our EMS services. We did purchase two stretchers and two uh Lucas devices which are automatic chest compression devices for persons who uh
may need them in emergency situations. and we are still on track to buy one more of those and those those $122,000 funds will have been expended. Resolution number 151 is another
resolution to amend the adopted budget to include um we did we just did 151 I'm sorry 152 uh for the creation of the of the utility fund 2026 budget. This establishes the budget for the
performing arts utility fund um to for the remainder of 2026 um to uh appropriate $148,863 in revenue and to appropriate $148,863
in expenses. It is designed to be a self-funding utility where there should be no capital or no um impact on the residents as long as our revenue meets our expenses. If we by chance we go over
any additional revenues would be um filtered into MNA for the municipality as unreceived um or unplanned for um revenue. But the reverse of that is if we do not meet our
revenue projections then we would be required to make up the shortfall in subsequent budgets. Resolution number 153 is a resolution to renew our membership in the professional municipal management joint insurance fund. that is
the fund that covers all of our municipal uh property insurance um vehicle insurance and those types of um insuranceances for the township. We are due to renew in December of 2026 and
uh I don't think we have a bill yet for uh 2027. Resolution number 154 is a resolution authorizing the township to execute an agreement to procure staging and related services uh at the 2026 uh jazz
festival. We are going to be contracting with the Zia Group for um the stage and um other equipment in an amount not to exceed $19,539. Resolution number 155 is a resolution
authorizing the township to enter an agreement with Commercial Interiors Direct, also known as CI. They are a contracted participant in the New Jersey state approved purchasing cop cooperative and we are going to be acquiring uh the flooring and carpeting
for installation at the Willingboro Public Library. Resolution number 156 is a resolution authorizing the township of Willingboro to enter into a contract with MRC Incorporated, which also was the contract participant
in the uh ESCJ cooperative system for the acquisition of of bathroom services at the J at Jake's Place. This was the last component that was required um by Green Acres that we make provisions for
bathrooms at Jake's Place. uh before we can finalize those plans and move towards construction and um after considerations we'll be acquiring self-cleaning bathrooms where we um sit this infrastructure and then they will
come in place like a prefab type but the bathrooms will lock down periodically throughout the day and perform a self-cleaning process. we have visualized or went down to go see them work there, installed at a couple of parks in Camden County and uh it was a
wonderful operation and from a cost perspective it was um less expensive than building a brickandmortar building from the ground up. So we went with the prefab um self-cleing bathroom model. Resolution number 157 is a resolution
authorizing the township to enter into a contract with Lumar Roofing Incor Company Incorporated. We are contracting with them to repair the roof of the tennis court pavilions in Mil Creek Park which are in really bad shape. Resolution
158 is a resolution authorizing uh to amend I'm sorry uh resolution number 2026-56 to update the proposal pricing from SHI which is a contract participant also in the New Jersey Cooperative Purchasing
Alliance. That's to um provide some um upgrades to the township server room um switches, cables, connections and and things of that nature. Resolution number 159 is authorizing change order number
two and final uh increasing the original contract price and authorizing um uh the acceptance of the project and final payment to Paving Plus LLC for the completion of the roadway improvements to Edge Lane.
uh that contract price will be uh increasing by $16,4621 cents. However, this is the second change order. The first change order we approved decreased that price by $17,410.
So even with this increase into that contract price, we're still slightly by a couple of hundred bucks below the original contract costs. Uh resolution number 160 is a resolution
authorizing a uh a contract to Gentile Motors, which is a participant in the New Jersey state approved purchasing cooperative to purchase two 2026 Chevy Taho for the police department, which were included in our capital budget for this year.
Resolution number 161 is a resolution authorizing the township to increase the approved 2026 contract value amount for the multi-tempanle incorporated which is a contract participant in the New Jersey state approved purchasing uh purchasing
cooperative for representative services and maintenance of our township's HVAC units. you did allow us to enter into a a service contract with Multi-Tent Mechanical. We went and did extensive uh
valuation or evaluation of our um HVA systems on all of our um buildings which have not been uh adequately uh maintained over the years. And we are proposing some major uh repairs and
modifications to those systems. um most of which or some of which will be funded through our capital expenditures and some of them will be funded through our OE um expenditures. Resolution number 161 is a resolution
to uh authorizing the extension of a a contract for social services uh program to the Beloved Project who um began operating in Willing Barrow uh last year. Um I did provide um
her report and um the updated for your review and consideration. Resolution number 162 is a resolution I'm sorry that was 162. 163 is a resolution um appointing members to various boards and commissions.
Resolution 164 is a resolution uh granting uh the township manager a permanent residency waiver. Resolution 165 is a resolution determining that the absence of council members from the July 7th, 2026
um township council meeting shall be deemed shall not be deemed excused. Resolution 2026-166 is a resolution determining that the this is seems to be oh no I'm sorry
absence of the council member from the August 4th 2026 township council meeting shall not be deemed excused resolution 2026-167 is a resolution granting the approval to submit and execute a grant um with the
NJ do for the fiscal year 2027 7 municipal improvement uh to Evergreen Drive. That is just authorization to submit um the grant application and if it is approved and to execute.
And resolution number 168 is a resolution authorizing the settlement of disputed professional service claims with Benoni Associates Incorporated really into phase two of the Kennedy Center performing arts uh improvement
project. we had um or Pinoni had uh performed work in preparation of moving that project forward um that we did not uh officially contract with them and in alignment with
that. There was about $90,000 of of change orders associated with that project, which we did not necessarily agree with because we believe that most of those requests were included in their contract or were changes that they made
without our prior authorization or approval. Um, and there was a major discrepancy regarding the sound system. our legal counsel in the township met with their legal t council and their uh their uh representatives and Penoni has
uh determined that they will give Willingboro a $100,000 credit to that project. their claim of 338,000 was reduced to 228,000 uh if you will authorize the settlement of that agreement and then we will uh
prepare settlement agreements with Penoni and those are all the items being presented to you for your consideration this evening. >> All right, thank you Mr. Harris. At this time, we'll go into public comment for agenda items only. This is
the first public comment. You'll have two minutes to discuss any item um just explained by Mr. Harris or present on the agenda. Public comment is now open. Also, there are comment cards in the
back. Um, if we should need to get back to you after uh after the meeting, please provide your contact information to the clerk so that we are able to get in contact with you. >> Um, madame mayor border.
>> Yes. I wanted to bring to your attention, I did receive a few um concerned phone calls from the public, from the community of Bowling Brow, that once they have to come to the podium and give their full address and name, they feel that um it's dangerous for them.
And so I did explain to them that you do have the cards and that also initially um the addresses and your names was literally to get back to you if we needed to contact you. Um, however, for your own safety, I'm recommending that they do not have to give their door
number of their house, but they could recommend they can say their street um name or their park if they so choose to. I think it's optional, right? They don't have to give their full address. >> Well, I only have been asking for um their name since we put the cards into
um into process. >> Okay. So, we agree that they don't have to pull their whole address when they come. >> Yes, they just have to give their name. Thank you. >> Thank you. All right, ready. Sarah Holly, N Ty Lane. And just for everyone [clears throat] to know, I
don't fill out that card anyway because we give our address. See, I don't know why we have to do that unless you guys are tracking us. Okay. First of all, having on [laughter] regarding um the the percentage that you gave for the county taxes, that's an
overall percentage, but I know the percentage here as it relates to county taxes is much lower because we don't pay a library uh tax here in Willingboro. So, the overall percentage that you gave, ours lower than that. And uh Miss
um Whitfield is always telling us that our taxes have remained the same. So we learned tonight that that's not true. As it relates to the golf program, if we're giving free land to a nonprofit and salaries are being paid out of that uh
nonprofit, that's a problem. And to hear that the presentation was not presented at any of the other municipalities that can afford golf program. Why in the heck was it just bought here for Willingboro tax payers to consider it? My taxes just
went up for the third quarter is $43. I don't want to supplement any more nonprofits in town. Get a job. Okay. [clears throat] Uh the other part is I want to question uh resolution 2026
165 and 166. Um, this says that uh this council person is not uh excused. The question with that is is he still getting paid or is he still just sitting in Fort Dick's jail
getting paid? Prison. Thank you. Getting paid with the taxpayers's money. If that's the case, something needs to be done about it. In addition to that, you council people waited until August to deal with a situation where this council
person was sentenced, okay, was convicted January 27th and was also uh sentenced in second. I know my time is always up. June 2nd, you all need I do
share responsibility and take care of the taxpayer situation like that. Thank you, Miss >> Time's always up, but I'll be back for four minutes. It's ridiculous in here. >> Good evening. My name is Gloria Williams
and I reside at 170 Clubhouse Drive. I've been there for 31 years. My concern here and contention here is about the $600 increase. I understand that for those who have their homes
already paid off, they get the $600. My husband is retired and I am also seeing my retire. I'm doing my master's program at the library where you can find a seat. The homeless people have all the
seats in the in the library. They are there. We are all two or three paychecks away from being homeless. So I am not saying that I'm better than them, but there is something we need to do to make accommodation for these people. They
practically live there. I spent my all my day in the library doing my master's program. One, I know I have two minutes. The second thing is that I was arrested in Willing 1996 when Marie Bell was Josh. That woman had
a relationship with the high school. Mr. T will make sure that any leness common date more than three or 12 they the parents will be arrested. I was arrested a thousand out of five because my daughter didn't go to school one time.
Whatever mean >> agenda is agenda the school because the school prices went up. So it is connected. Let me finish. Because of that I was detained at memorial school for six weeks consecutive with other
parents. Now I taught within William school and BCIT for nine years as a long-term substitute teacher. So I know the school system the students we voted for the students to wear uniform. Today they go to school with pajamas. If you want to carry the prices up then they
need to get the judge to be involved with the school system. So the children to wear uniform and look like student not pajamas going to school. That's the main point I have. I live in country club. We do not have a sign. We do not
have a sign up. We do not have a sign. >> I know we do not have a sign in clubs. Listen public comment where you will able to have. >> Let me just finish this last point. I'm sorry William.
Okay. tax. >> Just hold. Okay. >> Just a reminder that this public comment is for agenda items only. We will have a second public comment. Well, you'll get four minutes for general item.
>> Hey, uh uh good evening. >> Good evening. >> My name is uh Robert Jackson. I live at 60 Marshall Lane. I got two two issues. The first one is uh since since 2016, I've been trying to
get my apron and sidewalk replaced. I stepped to Barry. Barry was the the township manager. When Barry left, I stepped to that young lady that that took his spot. Before Vogle retired, I saw Vogle two or three times.
Now, beginning of last year, I called public works, the young lady that answers the phone. She put me on and she gave me an extension to call. I left a message. This is 2025.
This year, January this year, I did the same thing. I left a message. Nobody ever got back to me. You understand? Now, >> Mr. Jackson, is this considering a agenda item
>> or is this a general complaint? >> Oh, no. No, this a general complaint, but uh I I I do have I do have an agenda item. >> Can you do the agenda item first and come back to the general complaint after? Well,
this concerns the taxes. >> Okay, go ahead. >> Number one, a question. Does the council, the board of uh the board of education, and the municipal people, do you guys get together and bump heads?
>> Yes. Well, evidently you need to bump more heads with the with with the board of education because the simple fact the people that are striving especially this this new complex they wanted to build, they didn't do their homework, you and
plus the fact the people that were really striving to try to get this thing done, they ain't there. >> That's your time, Mr. >> You know, it's like a revolving door of in in in the upper echelon of the board of education. Thank you, Mr. Jackson.
Your time is up. >> Good evening, council. My name is Julie Van and I live at 32 Glover Lane in Willenboro, New Jersey. And I have two comments. I heard the young lady talk about the taxes.
My taxes went up 23.3%. And I was not notified that this was going to happen. And I don't think it's fair to the people who live in Willenboro. I'm a senior citizen. I've been here 48 years.
And I don't think it's fair how the taxes went up and we weren't notified. That's number one. Number two on this agenda, it says that you're going to the resolution granting township manager a
permanent resentment waiver. In the past, how waiver was done was it came to y'all, then it went to the 33,000 members of Willenboro Township to see
what they had to say about it, then a vote was taken. So why is this on here? Like once you decide, that's just what it's going to be. when this town was built on people who live in this town
was supposed to get the employment. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Vena. >> Good evening, mayor, deputy mayor. Marcus King 135 turn to lane. I want to speak on resolution 164. I do know that
um from the previous meeting there was some decisions made about the the residency of the township manager and it's my understanding that council um helped in the matter of of seeking a resident and put some money in place um
to help um with that end um in this uh resolution. I don't know if those monies were paid back whe whether um whether um he is obligated to pay them back but
moreover I'm more concerned that if we do this then what stops any other resident in town that has an issue come before you and you say yes. I think sometimes we just have to why why why whether council or residents disagree I
think sometimes we have to make a stand on what what is the right thing to do. So I'm asking that you table this matter and revisit it and also um give us some indication of whether those monies will repaid. Thank you.
>> Thank you Mr. King. Good evening. >> Can you state your name, please? >> Respectfully, I'm a concerned citizen, resident in Willenboro and I reside on taxpayer rent. >> You have to state your name, ma'am. I
I'll provide my card. Go ahead and information. So, as a Wenboroough resident for more than 40 years, I am here this evening to express several concerns about the township's governance, public meetings, allocations of resources, and delivery
of essential services. Recent discussions and decisions have created the appearance that rising taxes are not being appropriated properly while services are showing at an all-time decline. I respectfully request clear
public responses to each of my concerns. I know I'm not going to get through it all in the short period of time that I'm here, but I do want to speak on the agenda item regarding the township manager. And I want to let you know that I oppose to you revising the ordinance
that requires the township manager and council members to reside in the community they serve. Those who make decisions affecting Wenboro should experience the same consequences from those decisions as residents and taxpayers.
Will uh would this change, if passed, affect residency requirements for other township officials? How do you vote on proposals you make at meetings that just move directly to
council for a vote? Where is our say? Please share whether the resident's opinions count. Now, I I'll leave it at that and I'll come back for my four minutes. >> Thank you. Kadina and Miss Mallalerie. Um, I just
wanted to address the um tax increase. My increase is $471.92. So my question is, is this for the remainder of the year each quarter? Is this what the increase is going to
be? And also the gentleman spoke about assessments have not changed. So I'm assuming that the reason the taxes went up is because the rates change. So, I appreciate the presentation that we got,
but it's a concern, especially for those of us who are on fixed uh incomes and having to have an increase without an explanation. So going forward, I think it would be a great idea if um we are
informed that this is going to happen and why this is going to happen because part of the presentation and I have my tax paper with me for 2025 and the rates that were given are not
the rates that are on this sheet. So it is a concern. >> Thank you, Miss Mallerie. Is there any other public comment? >> Good evening. >> My name is Margaret Jackson. I live on
Country Club Road. My concern is also about the tax increase. A big portion is for the school. My question is this. There are many of these group homes or how whatever you
call them, okay, that are being um allowed into Willingboro. I understand that we cannot discriminate. I am not discriminating because I believe every person deserves a decent
place to live. Now my question is this. Those children that are attending Willingboro schools, are they being subsidized tax-wise by the state of New Jersey or is it by the
residents of Willingboro? And if that's the case, why is that allowed to happen? I'll be back. Thank you, Mir. >> If that is all, public comment is now closed. We'll address these uh first public
comment um issues that were brought to um brought to the podium. First, we'll talk about um the taxes. There were a number of questions and concerns about the taxes. So, um Mr.
Harris, if you could just have Miss Dixs come to the podium so that we can discuss um some of those issues. So, Miss Digs, some of the um issues that were brought to light is that the um tax rate that you presented in your
uh presentation was not the same as the tax rate that appears on some people's tax bills. Can you explain that? Um, respectfully, Madame Mayor, I don't know which tax bill um is being looked at because we don't the estimated tax bill
bills are sent out don't have rates on there. >> Can you speak? >> Oh, I'm sorry. They don't in Yeah, the estimated tax bills don't have the rates because they are not finalized. So, um I don't know what's being looked at, but
what I presented here is exactly what the rates were from 2022 to present. >> Okay. So, if residents have questions about their specific tax rate, they can contact you. Can you >> extension extension >> 6098772200
extension 101? >> All right. And there was another question about the county taxes and how we don't pay the library portion of the county tax because we have our own library tax.
>> Okay. So the municipal the local rate which the local rate is comprised of the municipal and library. We have a library within our town. So when you see the local tax rate that includes the library
portion but we don't pay whatever the county gives is the county but our local portion includes municipal and the local public libraries in the town. >> Okay. They're saying, "Does the tax rate that
you explained on your presentation include the library tax portion for the county?" >> Oh, so that we don't pay. >> Yeah. No, we don't pay the the >> what wasn't included in the numbers in >> No, what the county send us is what we
put in there. So, is the county has the open open uh space open? That's it. Yeah. >> Okay. note that the numbers and the figures that you presented do not include the county library tax. >> No,
>> it's open space in county. >> Um there was also a question about um the timing of the notification that tax rates are going up. I know we
do have some discussion about the proposed tax rate during the budget introduction. Um but are residents notified before the anticipated tax bills that there'll be a increase in taxes? >> I know statutoily um there's a time
frame that the estimated tax bills are sent out. So Mr. Um so that's a statuto time frame that the um estimated tax bills are sent out
until you have the final uh rate from the county. Once the u municipality has adopted the budget and we're aware of what the tax going to be, we allow statuto then send out estimated tax bill
but you can do it prior to them. >> Okay. So it's 25 days that they have >> Yes. >> Um that their notice before their taxes. >> Yes, ma'am. >> Okay. And and but it also is the proposed changes are discussed at least on the municipal side during the budget
>> during the budget process. Yes, ma'am. I think that might be it. Council, is that all on taxes? All right. Thank you, Mr. Six, for your comments. You're welcome. Um, the last thing I will say on on
comments, um, Mr. Jackson, you asked, "Do the school district and the council bump heads on um the tax rates?" I will say yes, we do quite often. Um we discuss very thoroughly what our
opinions on are some of the proposed projects that they are doing. Um but some of the ones that are um put through namely the bond referendum are also supported by the residents um through a
vote. So that particular tax rate or tax increase was endorsed by the residents in a special election. But overall the increases we do discuss um their increases um and I know many of
you are um upset about the tax rate changes um as you saw in the presentation we are now at 1.9. Um 5 years ago we were at 1.8 8, which we
have tried very diligently to keep the tax rate stable, even lowered it for a year. Um, and then slowly increase um, back up to the rate that we started at. And then this is the first year in the
past 5 years that we've had an increase since five since the tax rate five years ago. Um the school board as you saw it does not have the same story. Um and I encourage
you I encourage you and I implore you to please please go to their meeting and express your concerns at their meetings. Um here in Willingboro, our elected officials also include the school board members. Those are members that are
elected by you, the people, to steward over our school district and to manage the school budget. So, I understand and we welcome the complaints here at the municipal coun uh council meeting, but
the school budget comes from the school board who is also elected. All right. We also had um some questions about the uh 165 and 66. The council person um
that we have two resolutions for unexcused absences. As you can see, one of our council members is not present tonight. Um it is media news that there's some legal issues that are going
on. Um unfortunately um council's hands are very limited in the steps that we can take in removing this council person because he is a duly elected council person by the people. Um
we just had elections last year. This case has been going on for two years and this council person was reelected and receded January 1st or January 1st of this year to continue serving in this seat. The sentence did come down
afterwards um but he was just reelected um to serve in this seat as he was duly elected by the people. the council unless there are is an abundance of absences which is why
we are recording absences. We cannot remove a council person um for that reason unless there is a petition from the residence or um or there is an absence uh he meets
the absence requirements from missing of duty. um because of the conviction, the forefeer or the ordinance of or the order of forfeite would have to come from the Burlington County Prosecutor's
Office or the Attorney General's Office. Um and I'll have our solicitor um talk a little bit more about the process that is happening currently. >> Well, thank you, Madam Mayor. Just uh to note that at this point last week, the
county prosecutor filed a verified complaint and order to show cause, meaning that the defendant would have an opportunity to come back in on a date certain set by
the court. So the judge set a return date of 911 and he gave an opportunity for the council person to file a response to the brief that's pending and complaint
that's pending through the county prosecutor's office and he has to respond by August 28th. The county prosecutor then has an opportunity to respond by September 4th
and a hearing is set down for 911 for the court to determine whether the office will be forfeit or not. >> Thank you, Mr. Hull. I'll say that I too am frustrated by this issue. um we have
limited levers that we can pull as the council and we are taking those actions um in in the way that we can. Um I I personally believe that uh the county prosecutor's office should have started
this process when the when the conviction happened um and not have waited until the sentencing. But that is not the case. Um, and as long we only have currently, um, we're taking all the
steps necessary on our end. Um, and we are delayed because of the prosecutor's office. There were some questions about the school system um about the students being subsidized um in the school system with our tax
dollars. And once again, I'll direct those questions to the school board um because they oversee the school budget. Uh we also had a question about um resolution 164 about the residency
waiver. Um we had some extensive discussion about this issue and some uh guidance from labor council. Uh Mr. a halt. How much of that can be shared in
public? >> Okay. Can you share what we can share? >> Yes, there was discussion uh with labor council who indicated that based on a state statute there was the opportunity or ability for the governing body if it
so choose to wave the residency for the manager. Okay. And there was also a question about or a direct question about the monies um the incentive that was given
for moving into town. So the discussion centered on the ability uh for the manager to move into town at the point that he was initially employed and there was incentive given to him and labor council
indicated that the way the incentive was drafted that at this point um the manager had satisfied the requirement. >> Okay. Um
um also there was a question about the process and um whether the residents are um required to vote on a change of uh that that change. that was not noted at the time as a
mandatory item. >> Madame Mayor, >> Councilwoman, um, regarding this topic, uh, with regards to Mr. Harris, I do want to bring, um, back to your attention that Mr. Harris had, um, elected to have this
matter heard before the public. And um we then discussed in the public. We had a takeaway. We appointed committee people which in consisted of two people, myself and Madam Macintosh, excuse me,
uh Councilman Macintosh. Um we presented reports as you noted here. Um I'm going to pause right there real quick. My report should be attached to this and so should um Councilman Macintosh's report. I know you said that we submitted a report, but it's not here. no different
than when we attach other things with resolutions such as this. Now, with that said, um we did have two opposing decisions. Um I was not in favor and I will discuss it later when we get to the
agenda item, but I want to um speak to the matters um of township manager salary and wages, which is I'm reading from the budget. Okay. According to the resolution that's in
this packet, it says he was hired December 2021. You can see here I'm looking at township manager salaries and wages which consist of the entire department. Okay. He in
2021 it was at $249,000. Then in 2022 is $433,000. Then in 2023 is $493,000. Then in 2024 is $646,000.
Then in 2025 is $612,000. And what was requested for 2026 is $730,000. That is just for one man's department. So what I'm saying is, and we we'll go discuss it when we get to the item. How
is it that he says it's too expensive to live in Willingboro, but yet we pay his salary? That's unethical. And yes, it should go before the people. Absolutely. That is a major decision. And um I don't believe that the four of us should make
that decision on whether or not we continue to pay his salary. And he says it's too expensive for him to live here, but yet he's building he built a whole building in his office. He built another room in his office which cost the township money. Didn't ask the council.
You remember that whole all construction who paid for it? We did. We did. Okay. Um so it's things like that where this is not something and we'll talk about it when we get this. I'm going to pause there because I know it's on the agenda item, but I did want to bring that to the floor and I feel like we can talk
about this um um because it was his decision to bring it before the public and we started off in the public. So we should continue in the public. That's it. All right. Um I do I do just want to clarify the figures that were um expressed did not
just contain the township manager salary. They include all of the office all of the employees within that office. And over the time we did have um a restructuring of some of the departments
in the township and employees were added under the township manager's office um that were floating in other places. So that is why there were sharp increases um in the salary. The township manager
salary did not in increase >> it. The township manager salary didn't increase at that rate. It included the entire department. All right. >> Um, I think that was
it for the ones that concerned agenda items. So, we will move on to the approval of our ordinances. Deputy clerk, >> I'd like to open up the public hearing
for ordinance 26-22, an ordinance to establish compensation, benefits, and other policies for non-union employees, unclassified employees, and elected officials of the township of Willing. Anyone wishing to come forward to speak on this ordinance,
please do so. >> Here I go again. Um when you three Macintosh [clears throat] Whitfield and Worthy when you were first elected, the second meeting you voted on was to give yourself a salary. And every
time the township workers who work 40 hours a week get an increase in their salary. You get the same increase. Yeah, you do. Because that's why it says elected officials. Read the ordinance. It says elected officials. It doesn't
separate. It does not separate. And you know the people of Willingber, we're really not stupid. That's what the ordinance says. If it's not true, then let's just separate separate separate you you elected officials out and everything will be just fine.
Thank you. Any other >> any other public comment on this uh agenda item? >> Seeing none, I'd like public comment or the public hearing on ordinance 2026-22
is now closed. Yes. Uh Can I get a motion to adopt ordinance 26-2022? >> Second. Moved by Councilwoman Macintosh, seconded by Deputy Mayor Worthy. Discussion. I have a point in discussion. Um, I do
just want to point out that in this ordinance, it is separated um in the ordinance that the township council does not receive the increases as the um as the employees do. So,
>> Mr. Harris, would you be able to point that part portion out? So the township sal the township council salary is a a number that is established by ordinance where our salaries will increase by a percentage upon approval.
Um the township council's salary is a stated figure in the ordinance and that figure has not changed for two years. On page two, established and fixed salaries for elected officials. Mayor
$19,6794. Deputy mayor $18,94140. Council persons $18,2572. on page two of the ordinance right at the top of page two section B and also in um under 3-151
salary gym wages A2 it also um states that the governing body may authorize increases that are lower than the COLA or that exceed the COLA. Um, and for the
increases to take effect, a resolution setting the percentage each increase would have to be adopted by the governing body. Adjustments for fixed salaries shall be increased by ordinance at the discretion of the governing body. So it it is not automatic an automatic
3% increase. >> All right. Call the Councilwoman Peron. >> Yes. >> Councilwoman Mintosh. Deputy Mayor Dr. Worthy. >> Yes. >> Mayor Whitfield. >> Yes. I'd like to open up the public comment
for ordinance 26-23 titled a bond ordinance providing for the replacement of the storm water outfall pipe at Plum Tree Lane in and by the township of Willing in the county of Burlington, New Jersey appropriating $195,000
therefore and authorizing the issuance of $185,400 bonds or note of the township to finance part of the cost thereof. Anyone wish wishing to speak on this ordinance, please do so.
>> This is on ordinance 2026-23. >> Deputy clerk. >> Okay. Seeing no public comment, I'd like to close the public comment. >> Public hearing. >> Can I get a motion to finally adopt ordinance 26-23? Second.
>> Moved by Council Mintosh, seconded by Deputy Mayor Worthy. Um, any discussion? >> Roll call. >> Councilwoman Peron? >> Yes. >> Councilwoman Mintosh? >> Yes. >> Deputy Mayor Dr. Worthy? >> Yes. >> Mayor Whitfield? >> Yes.
I'd look to open up the public hearing for ordinance 26-24, a bond ordinance providing for the improvements of various municipal buildings in and by the township of Willingboro and the county of Burlington, New Jersey, appropriating 3,925,000,
therefore, and authorizing the issuance of 3,738,000 bonds or notes of the township to finance part of the cost thereof. Anyone wishing to speak on this ordinance, please do so. Good evening, uh, mayor and
councilwoman. Um, in regards to the ordinance, >> Can you state your name, please? >> Wanda Green. >> Thank you. >> You need my address, too, or no? Okay. uh in uh regards to ordinance 2026 24 uh for the 3,925,000 and then they authorizing the issuance
of 3,730. Are we able to get a complete breakdown of what that will be contributed to and what it's for before it's approved? >> Miss for the financing of the EIP program um which was approved by uh the council in
2024 I believe. >> Is there a list of the breakdown? >> I would have to bring out the whole EIP program. um that involved um um some uh RTU roof unit uh replacements.
Um I believe it was 14 units at the JFK Center. It involved um weatherizing um all of our municipal buildings. It included a $700,000 uh heating and air conditioning replacement um in the library. Um some works at the Department
of Public Works installation of um LED lighting and and other types of components along the that nature. >> Miss Green, if you contact the manager's office, he'll be able to get you. >> And what's the phone number for the township manager here? >> And what's the number I need to call, sir?
>> 29 uh extension 1035. >> And what's the phone number? >> Uh 6609 8772200. >> Do I ask for you directly or leave a message? >> 1035 is the extension. Okay. Thank you.
You're welcome. I'm not a public speaker and you normally don't see me here. I, as you see, I walk with a cane. So, I have a disability. I'm one of those residents who bring up and complain about the
absence of the virtual accessibility. It's very disheartening to hear you all talking about these expenditures that are going out, but you can't address that. I think this is the only meeting that does not have virtual accessibility.
And for people like me and people who are worse off than me who are paying these taxes, we deserve to have that accessibility. So, I I I would like to hopefully hear you all amend some of this to include
that because it was spoken about before and seems to have just dropped off. So, please address that. >> Thank you. >> There's no other public coming this public. Madame Deputy Clerk, you can close the public hearing. Seeing no
other comments, the public hearing is closed. Can I get a motion to finally adopt ordinance 26-24? >> So moved. Second. >> Moved by Councilwoman Prong, seconded by Councilwoman Mintosh.
Roll call. >> Well, discussion. Are we going to >> discussion? >> Yes. >> Discussion. >> Um because um my question was similar to um one of the residents. I find that we should have had the breakdown of this figures a part of this packet. So for me, I'm not going to vote and move
forward with this at this time. You mentioned some pretty important things that seem that need to be done, but I'd like for it to be a part of this before I vote yay or nay on it. So for me, um, I'd like to table this until we have all of the material that speaks to the
information that Mr. Harris just rolled off of his memory. >> All right, Mr. Harris, can you explain one more time? Um, >> Madame Mayor, I was asking, can we table it? >> I I understand I understand what your question was. Mr. Harris, can you just
explain one more time the origins of um and the reasons why this ordinance is um back on the agenda? >> This ordinance is back on the agenda. When we approved or when the governing body approved the EIP program for
Willingboro Township, it com it it comprised of a lot of improvements to our municipal facilities. >> And what year was that, Miss? >> I believe it was in 2024. Uh, at the time that the ordinance was adopted, it was a refunding bond
ordinance that was approved and was supposed to be submitted to the local finance board. at the time our bond company or or organization for whatever reason I don't understand the latter portion was not finalized and it never
got approval from the local finance board to generate a refunding bond ordinance. So therefore, we were required to replace the bond ordinance back on the agenda so it can be fully passed so that the monies can be provided for the work in Willingboro
that has already been completed that was approved by the governing body back in 2024. >> I heard you the refunding because this is a refunding bond ordinance. The work had already been approved in 2024
um in that bond ordinance. This is there was a issue with the filing um and the refunding portion can't go out because the paperwork wasn't filed properly. So that's why this ordinance is on um on
back on the agenda. >> But if you'd like to table it, we do. >> Yeah, I understand. I would like to dis table it so this he can provide the documents that he's speaking of. I mean >> Okay. >> It's three years. >> I just wanted to make sure that you understood where this >> I understood. I understood. I just think we should have all the information, you
know, um before we vote um on this. That's fair. That's all. All right. Um so, is is council interested in tableing this ordinance?
>> Yeah. Okay. Okay. So, um will you retract your motion and second, please? check my motion and I retract my second. All right, the motion and second is
retracted. Can I please have a motion to table ordinance 2026-24 until the September? What's the first meeting? >> First, the September 1st meeting. >> So moved.
It's been moved by council Pon, seconded by Councilwoman McIntosh. Any discussion on the tableling? Seeing none, roll call. >> Councilwoman Peron, >> yes. >> Councilwoman Macintosh, >> yes. >> Deputy Mayor Dr. Worthy, >> yes. >> Mayor Whitfield, >> yes.
All right, moving on to the resolutions. Are there any resolutions that council would like to pull from um consent agenda? At this point, I have 163, 165,
166. Um, are there any others that >> 164? All right. 152. Did you call that number already? >> No. >> Okay. 152. Can we just pull 1682
question? Those are my three. Okay. So, can I have a motion for a consent agenda for items 2026-147 through 151, item 2026-1
153 through 162 as well as 2026-167. Can I have a motion, please? >> Second. Moved by Councilwoman Macintosh,
seconded by Deputy Mayor Worthy. Uh, roll call. Councilwoman Peron, >> yes. >> Councilwoman Macintosh, >> yes. >> Deputy Mayor Dr. Worthy, >> yes. >> Mayor Whitfield, >> yes.
Can I have a motion to approve the same? >> Second. Moved by Councilwoman Mintosh, seconded by Deputy Mayor Rosley. Roll call. Councilwoman Peron, >> yes. >> Councilwoman Macintosh, >> yes. >> Deputy Mayor Dr. Worthy, >> yes.
>> Mayor Whitfield, >> yes. >> Um, I'd like to propose a motion to extend tonight's meeting until 11 p.m. Um, can I have a second, please?
Second. Been moved by Mayor Whitfield, seconded by Council Peron. Uh, roll call. Councilwoman Peron, >> yes. >> Councilwoman Macintosh, >> yes. >> Deputy Mayor Dr. Worthy, >> yes. >> Mayor Whitfield,
>> yes. >> Uh, Madame Clerk, can we go into resolution 2026-152 for separate discussion? >> Yes. Can I get a motion to discuss resolution 26-152, a resolution to amend the adopted budget for additional items of revenue and
offsetting appropriations, chapter 159 for the creation of the utility fund 2026 budget. Second moved by Councilwoman Mintosh, seconded by Mayor Whitfield. Discussion
Council P. Right. Thank you. So this um resolution um which we've identifying as um this is the utility for the performing arts center. Yes, that correct. So um you've
prepared this to um pull finances of $146,000.6 I'm just speaking at a a whole number $147,000. um in ticket sales. It says dedicated
revenues from the utility ticket sales. Can you explain to me why is it written that way? >> Because that would be the primary revenue source for the performing arts center is the sale of tickets. >> So this is what people are supposed to
purchase and give to us. Sell of tickets like I'm Yes. >> Correct. >> Okay. So you're not asking for some of money to come from a different budget or anywhere because it says salary and wage is
55,000 other expenses $93,000 and then when you total it it comes up to $146,000. >> That's correct. There's 550 seats in the performing arts center and the average ticket sale is $85 per seat over three performances totals 8 $146,363.
>> But that's not what this says, sir. because it says here salary and wages 55,000, right? And that is salary and wages. Like we're going to be paying someone a salary wage um in total of $55,000. That's not a ticket sale.
>> I'm sorry. I thought you were asking me about ticket sales. >> I am, but those two Okay. When you add up both of the figures, you get the ticket sale figure, the $146,000. That's what I'm seeing. >> Those two figures add up to $146
um,000. >> So the ticket sales at 146363 plus rental revenue of 2500 equals 148,863. >> I know that, sir, but I'm saying
this is not ticket sales. Okay, this is it's this is a sum of appropriated, right? Appropriated means what? They were going to put money aside >> taking money from somewhere. >> Correct. >> And where is the money coming from? >> From ticket sales and rentals. >> So, how can we vote on something that we
did not sell yet? >> We were setting the budget. >> Um, expectations I understand. But what you're saying is you're going to sell this amount of tickets. So, you want to pull money from somewhere when you do
decide to sell it. Let's just put it like this. So there's no line item that this money is coming out of. Is that right? >> We are setting the appropriations, the revenues and appropriations for the for the performing arts budget. Just like a municipal budget, we start the year setting the anticipated revenues and
expenses. >> Okay. Um this is establishing the budget, but the budget we're Okay. We're taking money out of our budget, $148,000 of it. >> No, we're not. We are anticipating our revenue sales for for tickets will be
$146,363. We are anticipating $2,500 in rentals for a total of 148863. And the reverse of that is because New Jersey requires a balanced budget. Our revenues have to equal our expenditures.
So that 55783 plus the 93080 equals 148863. It's a balanced budget, >> right? All right. So, how are you going to pay the employees if who's going to sell the tickets if you didn't pay the employees yet? How are you going to pay them to sell
the tickets for us? >> So, councilwoman, just like every year we established our municipal budget, it's based on our tax revenues. We don't receive tax revenues. We receive tax revenues throughout the year. That's how we pay our expenditures. >> I understand that, sir. I'm saying that
it says salary and wages and you're saying you're not going to take the money from any line item in this budget and this is the budget, right? So, we have line items there are not they're by numbers. So, you're saying $148,000 is not coming out from any of these line
items or is it? >> No, it is not. >> All right. Um, so it's it doesn't that the way it's written it's it's very confusing. It seems very tricky. confusing. It's a It's a standard operating minute, but
>> I maybe I'll just >> This resolution establishes the budget for the performing arts center. >> All right. So, now with regards to the performing arts center, um we hired Ducket Entertainment. >> We haven't hired anybody. >> No, no. What I'm saying is he I have his
contract here. Um, he was hired to sell tickets and he did not sell anything and we gave him $456,000, Mr. Harris. And then you sent him a letter on July 20th. Please accept this letter as a formal confirmation that the
amended and restated township theater management agreement between the township of Bullingboro and the Dugen Entertainment Group expired at the conclusion of the contractual term on June 30 of 2026. I'm going to pause
there because he didn't do anything. Okay. So, how is it he his term is expired? He he owes us services because then you said in the end the township thanks Doug Entertainment for the
services he provided during the term of the agreement and appreciates his contributions and I don't know because I know I pay taxes here and I know a lot of the people in this room pay taxes here and he did not comply with the
contractual agreement which I have here that's right front house operation ticket sales. We'll set up ticket sales through the ticketing service company, ticket master. The account will be managed by Ducket Entertainment with the township
having access to the account to review the ticket sales. So, back to this item that you want to tell me is salaries and so forth when you already paid him $456,000 and now you're saying goodbye. Thank you for your service. I'm saying what did he
do? He didn't sell any tickets yet. So where is he going exactly? Cuz he needs to leave us the money. He needs to leave us our money and he can go. >> This particular resolution is establishing the budget for the performing arts center. Mr. Harris Duckets Mr. Ducket's contract which was
approved by the council has expired as of December as of June. So we are no longer in a contractual agreement with Mr. Ducket. >> No Mr. Harris, I do understand that my concern is then I have this. I have the checks that were written to him. Okay.
Uh July 5th, 2024, he received $10,000. Okay. Uh I can go down the whole thing. Uh July 5th, um he also received another 10,ou he received, let's see, on July 5th, he got few texts from us. Okay. Then you have here now that one says
jazz festival. So here you go. June June 2026, theater management, he received $8,749.66. In February, he received $8,749.66. In March, he received $8,700. And you get you get what I'm saying, right? So, he didn't do anything. His contract,
he's supposed to sell the tickets and bring us revenue. And then we get that revenue and we decide what we're going to do with it. But you're telling me you have this item here that you're I'm sure all prepared to vote on it right now and telling me we're preparing a budget. Preparing the budget as if I don't know
what a budget is. And we have his contract here which he is binded by. He did not do anything in this contract. And Mr. Harris, I need you. And you are the chief. So you signed off on this. You know that he
didn't do anything that he that says in here. That's my issue. My issue is where is he going? He if he wants to leave, if you want to say his goodbyes to him, he needs to leave us our money because he did not comply. And if and I'm telling you right now with the rest of council, this is a federal crime. It's unethical.
And I will be reporting it to um the um ethics board of finances, okay? Because I'm tired of the of the the trickery, okay? It's it's enough. Any anybody can file a complaint and I don't want to do that to Willing B. But I'm going tell you right now, this is very half a million dollars and you tell him thank
you for your service. This is what he's supposed to do. Mr. Harris, can I pass it to so you can tell me what did he do in here? >> I don't need it. Councilwoman, >> what did he do? So you you agree that he didn't do anything in his contract? >> I am very aware of the contract. I am very aware the billing that Mr. Doug has
submitted. I am very aware that every council meeting the council approves the billing and the payment of of bills. So if if there if there were an issue and as you know we have uh had many issues with the performing arts center and you
want to say that Mr. Doug did not perform or provide services to Willenboro. I believe he provided great services to the township. It may not be because of his efforts in and in and his work does the performing arts center is complete today. No, Miss Harris. Okay.
Then the the performing arts counciloman from point border. Um I know that we have discussed Mr. Ducket's contracts at several of our previous meetings. Um went through the items that um and the
work that he had completed under that contract. Went through as you just stated again all of the payments. Um, we've discussed this at nauseium at several of the other meetings. That is not the issue on the agenda for tonight. The issue is establishing a budget for
the performing arts center. If you'd like to table this and not discuss it or if you'd like to not pass the budget for the performing arts center, you're welcome to vote no. But that is the agenda that we're that is the agenda item that we're voting on tonight. We're not discussing Mr. Ducket's contract.
>> Okay. Well, Mr. Ducket is supposed to sell tickets. This item is talking about ticket sales, right? This item you're saying >> it is establishing the budget. >> No, it's establishing a figure for ticket sales and it also says salaries.
Mr. Ducket, out of his $7,000, $8,000 they received, he's supposed to pay his employees. It says that in his contract. I mean, are you Nobody even wants to say Rebecca, let me see the contract. You're just sitting over here like unless you just just councilwoman Coron, I've already reviewed the contract. >> Okay. >> Multiple times. We've discussed this at
the brass three. >> My issue is where's he going? Okay. You're saying goodbye. Thank you for your service, but he didn't do the service because we have changed the structure of the performing arts center. We established the utility and as you as
we discussed at prior meetings that we will no longer be renewing Mr. Ducket's contract as we establish a public a utility. >> And do you understand that, Madame Mayor? What I'm saying is where is he going with our money? That's like if you
buy a couch and they say thank you but they never deliver it. You going to say thank you for your service? Where's my couch? Where's the ticket sales? Where's the revenue? We gave him close to half a million dollars and you say thank you for your service. That's what you said to him in this and I read the letter,
Mr. Harris. Right. Then I and I also asked Mr. Harris for the invoices for the for the the construction the building of the performing arts center. Not going to read all of them. Here's one. Electrical distribution system, $24,000. I understand that. Audio system, $276,000.
It's broken down. Mr. Ducket um invoice theater management pro program services $7,000. Where's the service? Why isn't he written here? You painted for us. You bought us an artist. You know, this is why this is why I have to report this
because it's not like you're not intelligent people. you know for a fact he didn't do anything in this contract but collect a check multiple checks since 2024 and nobody here is even sitting here saying you know what you're right your letter should have said to
Mr. bucket. Okay, you've been paid in full. Now give us what we what we agreed on. Bring us these artists. Not setting out a budget for another $48,000. Telling me as if I'm not intelligent enough to know what a budget is. We're setting the budget. We're setting the
budget. You paid out the budget $456,000 to a man who did not do anything in the contract. So either something's going on under the table that needs to be investigated >> because I'm I'm I'm the only one asking these questions. This is not the first meeting I asked about it. The last meeting both of you used the same word.
He was very influential. Mr. Harris, what did he do? He's very influential. Madame Mayor, what did he do? He was very influential. So, something's trickery going on here. And I and I'm bringing this because yes, this is about the performing arts center. This utility
what we're calling it's like you keep changing. It's adopting the budget for additional. No. So, I'm saying not only table this, he needs to come back with our money and get us some artists for what we agreed on or we need to sue him. That's what I'm saying.
>> Councilwoman Prawn, as previously stated, I I explained in detail the experience that I had with Mr. ucket and um the work that he did on behalf of Willingboro Township as it pertained to um the performing arts center. Mr.
Harris, would you be able to explain some of those other things that Mr. uh Ducket did within the contract? So when ex Thank you. So when we entered into a contract with Ducket Entertainment,
we were very can't talk over the crowd. Okay. We were very close to the finalization of the performing arts center. That's when we entered into a contract with Mr. Duck at the perform theater management services
because there was a delay with Penoni. the contractor that was building the performing arts center. We did not open as scheduled. The the work stopped for almost almost a year, but we had entered into a contractual agreement. And during
that time, Mr. Ducket aided us in in making some adjustments to the design flaws that were presented by Penoni. Well, Councilwoman Peron, you want you want to shake your head? No, but these were the things that he >> I'm read all the invoices. Yeah, every
single things that these were the things that he did that helped us bring the performing arts center to con to confu to conclusion today in a manner that is far better than than originally outlin says here concession bars he will sell
liquor sales we're going to receive um money um back I'll read this actually uh duck will oversee the sales of liquor and light snacks on all events >> council p we understand that the performing arts center wasn't open. So, some of those items that are described
in the contract did not happen because we did not have the public the heire company. >> He will hire a sec. It says it right here. We'll hire a security company and provide security for all events and then you included you amended his contract to
include the jazz festival. Who paid the police department? The taxpayers. We gave him half a million dollars. He's supposed to pay the police department. That's what security is. He didn't do anything in his contract. >> Incorrect. The police department are entities of the township, not of Ducket
Entertainment. His him paying his employees were his employees, not the township employees. >> No, no, no, no. That's not what it says. It's very It says security. We will hire a security company to provide security for all our events.
>> Correct. And the police department is not a security company. That's that's who that's who we have. We have security department. We have security officers. >> Thank you, Councilwoman Pra. Do any other council members have anything to say? Councilwoman Mintosh, >> I support you doing an ethics
investigation. Not because I think there's any more wrongdoing, but since we keep circling around with this, why don't we just get a judgment outside judgment on um actually what happened? >> I like that idea. Yes. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Ch. I do like that idea. Yes,
I second that. that robust. >> All right. So, um the issue at hand is establishing the budget for 2026 for the performing arts center. We are scheduled to open October 9th. Is that correct? >> We paid somebody already. So, he has the
money to open it. >> We already paid We still need to set a budget whether whether contracts have been signed or what have you. We still need to set a bubble a budget as per state statute.
We have to set a budget for the utility. >> No, >> I would say then we we >> if you don't support it, you can vote no. >> I need Yeah, >> you already paid. >> Call the vote, please. >> Councilwoman Peroon, >> no. >> Councilwoman Macintosh,
>> yes. >> Deputy Mayor Dr. Worthy, >> yes. >> Mayor Wickfield, >> yes. We may know what we're doing. >> Madam Deputy Clerk, you can go on to uh resolution 163. >> May I give a motion to discuss
resolution 26-163? Resolution of the township of Willenboro, County of Burlington, state of New Jersey, appointing members to the various boards and commission. Can I have a motion, please? So move.
>> Moved by Deputy Mayor Worthy, seconded by Councilwoman Mintosh. Um discussion. We have uh some vacancies on the shelter board. Um we do have some applications that are included in your
packet of folks that have applied. Um madame deputy clerk, can you talk about that a little bit, please? Yes, we have um currently we have actually five vacancies on the shelter board right now. We received two
applications um from two residents of Willingboro interested in serving. Um it's beneficial that we do appoint someone because the current board is having difficulty making some decisions if they don't have quorum if someone doesn't show up. Um
do you need me to say who the names are? >> Yes. Can you please state the name? Second, we have uh Denise Love of Willing Bro. And one second, let me get the other person. Apologize. I should
>> Julia Julia Taborn. >> Julia Taborn. Yes, Miss Taborn, we currently have um a se an expired term that expires December 31st, 2026 and one that expires 2027.
Do any council members have um a preference on which uh resident sits in either seat? One ends 26. One term ends 26. One ends one term ends 27. Okay. So, we'll have uh Julia Tabour
do the 26 and Denise Love do the 27th. So, this would approve, this uh vote would approve Denise Love and Julia Taborn to the respective seats on the shelter board.
Any other discussion? Seeing none, roll call. Councilwoman Peron, >> yes. >> Councilwoman Macintosh, yes. >> Deputy Mayor Dr. Worthy, yes. And Mayor Whitfield, >> yes. Can I get a motion to discuss resolution 26-164,
a resolution granting township manager permanent residue waiver pursuant to NJSA? So moved. >> Moved by Councilwoman M uh Counciloman Poron, seconded by Counciloman Macintosh.
Discussion Council. >> Thank you. So, um, as I stated earlier, um, pertaining to this topic, uh, Mr. Harris was hired in 2021,
uh, during the interview, we, um, asked if he would be interested in moving and living in Willingboro. He said yes. We further agreed that upon his moving into Willingboro, he would receive an additional $10,000 as a part of his
salary. not a $10,000 just one track increase in his salary. We held up our end of the bargain. He left. And the reasons he said he cannot live here is because it's too expensive. That's a
slap in my face. Because the reason why it's too expensive is because of things like I just talked about. Half a million dollars to somebody who didn't do anything to build a performing arts center. um when it talks to and I know madame mayor you mentioned when I mentioned these figures that I'm reading
right out of the budget. Okay, this is just township manager salary and wages that department. Okay, $249,000 in 2021. That's when you first got here.
Next year it jumped to $450,000. The next the very next year it jumped to $51,000. In 2024 it jumped to $731,000. And then in 2025
we're still at $730,000 not 31. How is it that the same department even if you added some other people? That's a lot. That's over that's close to a million dollars. You see, and it's
different positions. It's different, you know, of course it's salary and it's salary and wages. So even if you added another department or other people to that to that budget list, how does it start changing drastically every year? If if you added the new department,
whatever um group that was going to be placed underneath there, it would only be that one year that you would see an increase. Now, every year another 200,000, another 200,000 because see next year, now that you don't have to to live here, that's what they're trying to do, right? Then it'll be 800,000, then a
million, and it's still too expensive for you to live here. That's wrong. That's absolutely wrong. And I can't believe that the three council women here are going to allow that and actually fix this document here to say he doesn't have to live here.
He should if if he was able to suffer the same burden that we have to suffer, right? Figure out how to put gas in our car in our cars, pay the taxes, right, with our little bit of salary. See, he takes his salary and goes to live where
where it's not so expensive, right? Where's that? Right? So, that's an unacceptable excuse. And as far as I'm concerned, yes, this should go before the people. It absolutely should. It should be on the ballot this November
because we have time to submit it on the ballot. The deadline to put any person on the ballot or item is August 22nd. >> We have time. >> So, it needs to be on the November ballot.
>> Absolutely. So, um yeah, that's I wanted to add that to this discussion. Um and I don't um I don't feel that um this is fair to the people. Um it's we and the reckless spending all of this and no
accountability for how much we're spending justing ching like a credit ching ching. It's it's reckless. So, how can I sit here also and say, "Oh, but you don't have to live here, Mr. Harris. I'll just offer the burden. we'll just all figure it out. That's not fair.
>> Not at all. So, for me, it's going to be a no. And um as far as I'm concerned, um I feel like all of you should support me on that. And whereby it does go on the ballot for the people to decide. Mr. Harris, thank you.
>> Mr. Harris, do you have any response? I do have a a response and I and I think it is egregious that Councilwoman Corron sitting here uh making implications and his innuendos that are are absolutely uh incorrect.
It was explained that we did a restructuring in my department. So we included underneath the township manager's office security communications some other departments as well. So when you talk about the salaries of the the
whole department, yes they have gone up because we have contractual increases that we are bound to by by contract every year. So yes the numbers are growing going up but this resolution is related to me in particular not the
department. So when I came to work for Willingboro, you hired me at $140,000. My salary now is 150. What is it, Miss Digs? So if you calculate that into percentages, I am not receiving
egregious increases above and beyond what than what other than what all the other employees are receiving in Willing Barrow. So you're you're innuendo that I am breaking the township for monies. I think that's unfair. I think that is
unfair that you are using me as a political pawn. And when I when Exactly. Exactly. Mr. Harris, you're not a pawn. Mr. Harris, when I said that I could not afford to live in Willingboro, there
were a lot of personal situations in my life that were going on. And at the time, I understand that. I understand that. And I was living in Willing Barrow for for three years. I lived in Willing Barrow. And you gave me permission to
relocate. You gave me permission to move out. >> No, no, I voted. No, remember I was outvoted. Remember that. When I say you, I mean the council. I mean the council collectively gave me permission. When I was relocating back into Willingboro, I
was not able to find a a a a reasonable rated apartment. There were a lot of single family homes that were available for rent that were outside of my financial means. So, yes, I could not afford to rent a $4,000 three-bedroom
home in Willing Barrow. >> But Mr. Harris, well, first of all, you're not a pawn, Mr. Harris. I want to correct certain things, Madame Mayor, in response to him. >> No, you're the chief officer of the township. So, that means there's people who report to you that make less than
you that pay your salary. You see how it's unethical? and they make less than you and they're trying to figure out how to pay these the taxes and report to you what's too expensive for you but not too expensive for them. You see what I'm saying? Like that you can't put all of
those together and actually make make it sound like it makes sense. >> Councilwoman, with all due respect, with all due respect, I came to I came to the council and I explained my scenario. I came to the council and I explained my scenario and the council made a
decision. >> I know. I hear you. And they voted yes for that. I'm just >> I'm not trying to hide anything. I'm not being >> You were hiding anything. You don't live here and you don't suffer our burden. And then and then all of these expenses here that I can't get a clear answer on what services this person provide and
you give beautiful thank you letter. I'm like running off with our money. Right. So anyway, the point is Mr. Harris, I don't feel that it's it would be a it would be first of all, it would be a disservice to the people for me to vote yes for that. Okay. Um it's unethical.
The people who who uh there's quite a few employees that live here and work here and report to you. So, you should be the example. You live here and I think you probably start changing on these things that you're expending on, too. I bet you if you lived here, you
wouldn't want to spend $200, $300,000 on a jazz festival. You wouldn't want to give a man $500 million, $500,000 and say, "Thank you for your service." Because then it affects you and it affects you even now. And you know that you're causing us all of these expenses
to go up. But you don't want to suffer our burden. It's too It's too expensive for you. So why why spending all of this money? Why spend so much money on the things that you've spent on? You built, Mr. Harris, you built another room in
your office. >> I didn't build another room. >> Build a wall. >> That's Mr. Harris. You built another wall for your employee to be You didn't ask us for approval for that. And it wasn't $50. It was in the thousands. You just spent. Why? Because we're the ones
working our butts off to to pay you. It's unethical. I I cannot support that. >> Thank you, Councilwoman Peron. And and one thing I will say is that you keep um saying the expenses like it has
ballooned the tax rate. The municipal tax rate has not gone over what it was in 2022 until this year. >> So all of the improvements, the road work, the lighting project, the new
trash company, all of those things, all of those things have happened. the the the Bro Park improvements, the performing arts center that we're talking about, other improvements at JFK, the track, all of those things have
happened in the time between 2022 and now and this year is the first year that we've seen a tax increase. >> No, that's not true. >> It is true. Over over the year 20, if you look back at the years in 2022, the
tax rate was 1.8. This year the tax rate is 1.9. The tax rate did not go over that 1.8 since 2022. Taxes the taxes have gone up and I and I'm just only pulling out one item in this budget and the item is because the item of
discussion is the township manager salary and wages. Okay. So you cannot tell me that in less than four years this figure jumps. I don't care how many in the restructuring every single department's underneath you which is not you you mentioned communications what's
that two people >> three people >> three whoa three people okay that's this is I know I know >> those are three salaries the IT salaries all of the security guards all of those salaries have gone >> no the manager's office >> here's the thing and I with the IT
department you hired a third party company because two people that were here doing the job there was a disagreement right see so let's not get into those weeds of those other topics because those those people are not here right now. However, the yes the IT department that that budget woo
skyrocketed and we can't even get the Zoom to work. We can't even get people to talk to us, right? We don't know how to fix that problem. But that figure increased tremendously. There was two people managing that department and now those two people left because of their
because of how they were treated. We're gonna leave it that at that. the business the business aspect of it whatever the reason right because see when you when you're um when you're in this type of position it is a position of power and you feel more powerful when
the people who serve you make less than you so you tend to treat them different ways so they left the IT department quit that's what happened and they were here for years okay you just got here
Councilwoman Pum. Thank you. >> Yeah. >> So, at we also have um I'll say this is a this was a hard decision um to make. There are a number of factors that um
went into the creation and the waiver granting the waiver. Um >> this issue was already discussed at the last meeting. This is essentially um ratifying a decision. Um but do any
other council members have any comments on this? >> What about the ballot piece? >> I ask can we hear from the other council members first, please? Is that okay? >> Can you spoke already? >> Is it Can we hear from other council members? Is that okay? Would you like to
speak about the ballot piece? That's something I was just reminding you about. What is your thoughts? because you just spoke about if you went into um extensive to think about it and you didn't mention the ballot part. I wanted to I'm just reminding you what about what's your thoughts about the ballot? >> If if we'd like to explore putting the issue on the ballot then I think we need
to table this and um explore that issue. Is council in favor of that? >> I make a motion to table this. >> We can't make a motion inside of a motion. We're having discussion right now. >> No in discussion. Thank you.
I will say my um my opinion on this right now um while I don't uh disagree that the residency portion is very important and you know I did say that to you um but as I've got gotten on council
the practicality to me is not it doesn't balance out. I need we need somebody in charge that can do what he needs for the township manager. Even when we did the interviews two people Nobody came from Willingboro and we had an open we had an
open um open interview for everyone. We tried to get um Willingboro residents. We didn't get any Willingboro residents. We lost a couple of people because they weren't going to move here, which is fine. I'm fine with them not wanting to move here and not being considered at
the time. Um I do think there's some things with Mr. Harris that I do think warrant a um waiver and that's my opinion on this. I'm a Willboro resident through and through and been here 45 years. So you it's not a it's not an
issue of not loving Willenboro and not caring about Willen Pearl and I do see the importance of a residency issue, a residency requirement. However, we need a township manager and the practicality to me is it's
we don't ever we didn't get anybody from Willenboro, we got one person >> to apply, but they weren't qualified. So, that requirement to me is a little, you know, maybe overkill. I think as I
put in my statement, I think the we should really um make it a priority to get a um a resident, but if it doesn't happen, we still have to make adjustments and we still have to have a township manager. Um while you were in the school, but I
know we pick on the township manager and I do think again I'm not saying that we shouldn't that we shouldn't um go for residency. However, we've had uh superintendent that were not part of this uh this town. We've had um we've
had >> Yes, exactly. But it's the same pos it's the same. Yes, it's definitely a different entity, but it's the same caliber. We're paying superintendent $250,000. So that there was never a consideration and I need the people in the school
board. There was never consideration for that. So to me, I'm just saying and the water with the water um the water department that that that's a high paying job. I think they get even paid more than Shannon Township Manager.
>> Okay. Okay. But it I mean we paid I've I've seen the salaries of the um of the head over there and it was I don't know if it's always been less but >> superintendent and I'm just saying I still think that the residency should be sought and I you know but I do think Mr.
Harris did make the attempt to live here. I think we have to dis we agree to disagree on that. You know I hear your statements. I'm not in full disagreement against statement, but I think we can agree to I can I can disagree with that and I think the waiver is warranted for
Mr. Harris and I didn't say we changed the ordinance that there shouldn't be um the residency um thing intact. However, that that ordinance also does offer the council to make waiverss that's still embedded in the or in the in our
statute. So I think you know sometimes we can execute or we can you know make our use our discretion to allow it or not allow it. But I'm not saying I'm in total disagree with you. I'm just saying I you know I just see this particular situation a little bit.
>> Stephanie Mayworthy. >> Thank you Madam Mayor. Um I too believe that residency is really important for our township manager. Um as the chief executive officer for our town um and the reason why Mr. Harris was selected was because he committed to moving to
Willingboro, which he did. Um, during the process of him being employed, he encountered some life situations and circumstances where he was no longer able to reside in Willingboro. And if we were hiring a township manager today, I would be I would want a township manager
who lives in Willingboro. we would tighten up the contract to make it very clear that they have to stay in Willenboro, not move into Willenboro, you know, collect the additional funds and then they can move out. Um that's something we've learned through the process. So the contract would have to be tightened up. Um but I do believe
that um to have some stability in our government, stability in our administration, um that we would I'm I'm in favor of granting this waiver. Um, going forward, I do want to do all that we can to make sure we have a township manager who lives in town. Um, and I
still would be open to the discussion about putting this on the ballot um, for future use because Mr. Harris isn't going to live forever. He could hit the lottery and be out of here tomorrow. Um, and so I think that we could still explore what that means um, for future hires for the township manager position.
But that's how I got to um supporting this because it happened um while we were in the midst of um of him serving. >> Madam Mayor, >> um can I respond to their comments briefly?
>> So I've heard both of um Deputy Mayor and Councilman Mintosh. I just want to also bring to your attention that um the five of us are elected by the people. the people pay his salary. So
why would you not put it on the ballot for the people to decide if he shouldn't live here? >> That's at the end of the day that's that's that's ultimately what I'm saying. This is not this is not about if a person is nice or not nice. This is a
business. This is about the a money factor here and the fact that he moved out and yes you granted we granted extensions. He never came back. And the reason why he moved out is because he
kept spending all the money and making everything expensive for us. The taxes went up, so he left. That's why he doesn't live here anymore. Okay, that's that's that's he said he went he's going through something. So am I. I have a whole family I'm trying to provide for
and now the taxes are going up. Okay, I can't just run out of town, right? Because it got too hard for me here. It's too expensive. That's that's if you think about what he's saying. He came in 2021, raised the taxes, said it's too
expensive for him, and then left. >> Thank you, Councilman P. >> Um, for for this part, I'll say I've lived here in Bowlingboro since I was four years old. Um,
I do think that there is a value in having a township manager that lives here, that understands the climate here in Willingboro, that um participates in um the sharing of the burden, also is
able to see the events that go on in town and is impacted by the decisions that are made in that seat. Um, I think we can all agree that times have changed. Um, since Mr. Harris has been brought on in 2021, things are much more
expensive. Even in the last year, things have gone up. And and that's for everybody. That's for the municipality. That's for everyone. Um, Mr. Harris, as was stated, had some issues. Um its
but but some of our issues caused us to um make hard decisions and the council unanimously granted him a temporary residency waiver so that um he can take care of some uh personal issues. Um,
I will say that although this is a value, I did um take to heart Councilwoman Macintosh's evaluation of the situation and um we do need to tighten up our ordinances on the
requirements um m and the contract language so that this doesn't happen in the future. Um but in this in this setting in and for this time um I am support in support of giving Mr. Harris
a residency waiver. I understand um some of the frustration but also I'd like to just point out a couple things. If this was the case and we don't uh allow Mr. Harris a residency waiver, we have to go
out for a new um search. That's fine. will go out for a new manager search, but there are some cost implications in terms of salary that we'd have to um take into consideration as we're seeking a new township manager.
As we said, at the last time we went out, we had three applications. Two of them didn't live here. One of them um Mr. Harris was willing to move here. One was and one was unqualified. the other was not willing to move into Willingboro
for the salary that we were offering. This is an at will position. If the person has a family, they would have to um consider relocating their entire family. Um also um this is an at will
employment job. So there is no job security. You can be let go at any time. And I think it would be it it's a hard sell to get someone to move to Willingboro to move here for a position that is an at well at will
position at this point. If that's something that we want to make permanent and make it a a ballot vote, we can explore how um to put it on the ballot. Um, but would council like to move forward with this residency or this uh
waiver tonight and then also put it on the ballot or um table it? >> I say table it. >> I'd say table it and get it placed on a ballot for August 22nd to be on the November election. It's coming up just
right around the corner. saying that what does that look >> what if he's a w what if his waiver is till the the election what if that's is extended till people vote and when the people speak then we'll know what do we have time to get it on the
November ballot miss it should be I would need to reach out to the um the clerk county clerk board of commissions to just verify >> it should be all did the deadline because with Councilman Anderson
situation, wasn't that the 22nd to advertise like we have a vacancy all of that and then we had to get everything reviewed by the 22nd and sent over to the the county um board of elections. Right. So that's why I was saying that that should be the same timeline to put
the question on there. All right. All right. So, um, Madame Deputy Clerk, what was Just go down to Okay. So, um we did take some action in
regard to this at the last meeting. Um, would anybody be in support of moving forward with this resolution but also placing it on the ballot for further review? >> No, I think it should be tabled. Um, >> yeah. >> Okay. And then Thank you, council.
We we did already take action at the last meeting. >> No, but the last meeting we had came out of executive session and we said we were going to look into changing the ordinance which is that's what's happening this meeting to change >> that wasn't that wasn't the vote that was taken after executive session at the
>> I think we have the minutes with us. the last meeting. It says here that the council um decided to um revise change the ordinance to to make a permanent um I don't have it in front of me, but a
permanent um waiver for his residency. And so we needed to hype it up, do everything, and then come to this meeting and vote for it. So we didn't have a resolution at the last meeting. It was in preparation that that was the idea to do what we're doing now. We didn't have a resolution, but we did
take a motion to grant him um the permanent residency waiver. I remember >> Do you have that um portion of the minutes? >> I read it. Actually, I just read the minutes page now. >> Our minutes. >> The minutes state mayor Whitfield made a motion to grant a permanent waiver for
the township manager. Deputy Mayor Dr. Worthy seconding. After discussion, the deputy clerk called the role. Roll call. Um it was a yes for Macintosh Worthy Whitfield. A no from Peron absent was Anderson with all three A's and one Nay the permanent residency waiver was
granted that's the waiver and we did do two other waiverss before remember we wavered 365 days so he can settle his his family situation then we gave another waiver of 30 days so all we did
on the last meeting was give a waiver uh for permanent waiver but we never changed the ordinance any of those we never changed the resolution >> and that's what I'm saying I'm saying we ratified the v the vote that was taken at the last meeting and also place it on the ballot to change the ordinance. >> Oh, ratify the last vote, right?
>> Like retract our votes. Ratify it in what kind of way? >> Solidify in a resolution the vote that was taken at the last meeting >> and still put it on the >> and still put it on the ballot. >> That's what I'm suggesting. >> That's what you're saying. I think I see you're saying that. So, we're not voting yes for this. What we're going to do is
ratify last meeting minutes meeting. We did we approve the minutes yet? didn't approve. >> We didn't approve the minutes yet, but there was a motion taken at the last meeting >> that was but we didn't have a official resolution and this is the resolution
that solidifies the vote that was taken at the last meeting. >> So what do you how do how do we go about doing it? >> So I I suggest that we move forward with this resolution, ratify it as we did with that. If you voted no, which is
okay and you can still vote no. And then we'll also um explore the and putting it on the ballot um for November. >> But voting yes for this means you're in agreement to changing the resolution. So why would you vote yes for this? >> This is not an agreement to changing the
ordinance. This is granting the waiver. >> But this is a resolution first. >> It is a resolution granting a waiver from Mr. Harris. A residency waiver. But this says a vote that we took at the last meeting out when we came out of executive session.
It ratifies that vote. It does not change the ordinance. Madame mayor, I just want to say the permanent waiver is specific to Mr. Harris, not for the township manager position going forward. And so um the
what the mayor is saying ratifying is just approving the resolution here but not changing our ordinance going to the ballot let the people vote on that and that would drive the change to the ordinance. So if this were if this were all voted three nos or four nos then
what happens then it would just be dead >> right? still would be dead and it would still we could still get it on the ballot before we decide this amongst our four of ourselves. >> Miss M >> Mr. Paul, if this resolution was voted
noses, even though the motion passed at the last meeting, what are the implications of that? >> The microphone speak. >> You voted affirmatively at the last meeting to grant a waiver. this
resolution basically uh uh codifies what you voted on and now you're taking a second vote on the same on the same topic. And if you recall there were some additional items that
were included in the resolution directing labor council to look at the residency issues etc. In terms of what would be on the on the ballot, we would have to figure out a
valid question that could be placed on the ballot and >> and double check to find out the time frames that are appropriate for a question that would be on the ballot. >> So, this codifies the vote. We
understand that this codifies the vote or in the motion that was made at the last meeting. But if this was voted down, what would what would happen? >> It would fail. >> It would fail. >> All right. Um then
um I will say for this resolution um and before we close discussion, I'll ask um Miss Scott if you would call the county clerk's office um and explore the
timeline um for putting placing this issue on the ballot. Also, Mr. Paul, would you um please explore the question um as we could present it on the ballot for November?
>> Um but this uh resolution is on the agenda for tonight. So I'll ask the clerk to call the vote. >> Councilwoman Peron, >> no. >> Councilwoman Macintosh, >> yes. >> Deputy Mayor Dr. Worthy, yes. >> Mayor Whitfield, >> yes.
Can I get a motion to discuss resolution 26-165? A resolution determining the absence of council member from the July 7th town town township council meeting shall not be deemed excused. Um and mad Miss
Scott, I will ask that we hold 165 and 166 for after executive session. Yes. Would you like to go? Would you like to do 168? 168.
>> Can I get a motion to discuss resolution 26- 168? A resolution authorizing the settlement of disputed professional service claims with Penoni Associates relating to phase two of the Kennedy Center Performing
Arts Center improvement project. Can I have a motion, please? So moved. Moved by Councilwoman Pone, seconded by Deputy Mayor Worthy. Discussion. Um, this resolution is a settlement of a
dispute. We had a long-standing dispute dispute with Penoni um Associates about the performing arts center. Um, there were some mistakes that were made in the construction. Um and
uh the township was seeking uh compensation for some of the mistakes that were made. Um we had discussions. Mr. Harris, would you be able to explain some of the
process that went behind this process regarding the settlement? >> Um yes. Yes. >> Okay. So we had the disagreements with Penoni. Um at the advice of Mr. Halt, we
convened a meeting with his uh with them and their legal counsel and our administration and our legal counsel. We discussed some of the issues at hand and um and came to a settlement agreement
that Penoni would um reimburse or credit the township $100,000 towards the the towards the project. Most of the the discrepancy was around a sound system that um Penoni um ordered
on behalf of the township. It was not did not meet the the standards that the township was looking for. Penoni had made certain u commitments to have the equipment returned which they failed to do over several months and we got stuck with the equipment um and were compelled
to essentially pay for something that that we did not want. Um those are part of the these are all part of the the the terms of the settlement. >> Okay. So they are compensating us for that equipment. We do still have that
sound system. Correct. And it'll be installed in another location at the township. Um but Penoni has agreed to credit us for the purchase of that because they failed to return it in the time um that was allotted.
Okay. Any other questions? All right. Okay. Um, we'll call the vote, please. >> Councilwoman Peron, >> yes. >> Councilwoman Macintosh, >> yes. >> Deputy Mayor Dr. Worthy, >> yes. >> Mayor Whitfield, >> yes. >> Treasures report.
>> May I get a motion to approve the July 27th treasury report? Some move. Second. >> Moved by Deputy Mayor Worthy. Seconded by Councilwoman Macintosh. Any discussion? Roll call. Councilwoman Peron. >> No.
>> Councilwoman Macintosh. >> Yes. >> Deputy Mayor Dr. Worthy. >> And Mayor Whitfield. >> Oh, I'm sorry. >> Hearing apologize. >> And Mayor Whitfield. >> Yes.
May I get a motion to approve the July 7th regular and executive meeting minutes? So moved. Can I have a second, please? For the minutes. Second. Moved by Deputy Mayor Worthy, seconded by uh Mayor Whitfield.
Any discussion? Roll call. Councilwoman Peron. >> Yes. >> Councilwoman Macintosh. Yes. >> Deputy Mayor Dr. Worthy. Yes. Mayor Whitfield. >> Yes. Um, madame clerk, your report, please. Yes. From the clerk's office, just a reminder of the approved pedaller and
solicitors in town, Allied Experts, Advanced Green Home, Sunun, and Topline Line Roofing. While these vendors are approved, they are still not prohibited to knock on anyone who has a no knock sticker. If you're interested in obtaining a no knock sticker, you can go to the website under the government tab
and select the registration for no knock. Also upcoming is our community shred event which will be taking place September 12th from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon in Willingboro library in the rear. Um each household is allowed up to two
banker box or equivalent. Um please make sure there's no staples or any clips or anything like that in there. We do have um the flyers available in the clerk's office and they will be um distributed on social media coming up soon. They haven't been yet. Um and just if it's
okay if I just mention that um I know that they've, you know, we're going ahead with the jazz fest. Um please allow us. We will not have that ready for tomorrow. So, we'll make every attempt by Thursday to get it in place, but we still need to meet with the manager's office and everyone to decide
how we will move forward with that. So, please just be patient with us, but it will not be ready tomorrow. And well, I guess it'll be circulated on social media um on when it'll be available and what the procedures are. And that's all I have for this evening.
All right. Um, we have some unfinished business and new business. Um, from our extended time, we have 15 minutes left until 11 p.m. Um, and we also have executive session as
well as public comment to get through. Um, will council be interested in ex extending the meeting another hour until midnight or we can extend it for a half hour? or just go through and try and get through it in 15 minutes.
30 minutes. All right. Um I'd like to make a motion to extend the meeting for 30 minutes um until 11:30. So move. >> All right. Moved by Mayor Whitfield, seconded by Councilwoman Macintosh. Uh,
roll call. Councilwoman Prone, not present at this time. Councilwoman Macintosh, >> yes. >> Deputy Mayor Dr. Worthy, >> yes. >> Mayor Whitfield, >> yes. Um,
the Dina Bench, do you have >> Okay, that's all I have. >> Okay. Um Um, Mr. Do you have anything? Did that come through you? The D9 bench unfinished business. >> They were in the packet. >> No, they were just in the packet.
>> Okay. >> From Yes. >> Okay. So, there are two organizations that are seeking um the D9 benches in Mil Creek Park. The information is in the packet. Um we would have to approve
uh the design and the bench purchasing. Um it is in the back of your packet. Is council um ready and available to take action on that tonight? >> Yes.
All right. Um the two organizations are Kappa Alphasai as well as five Beta Sigma. Um yes, those are the two. And can I have a motion to approve
uh the D9 auto benches in uh Mil Creek Park for these two organizations? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Moved by Councilwoman Peron, seconded by Deputy Mayor Worthy. Any discussion? Seeing none, roll call. Councilwoman
Peron, >> yes. >> Councilwoman Macintosh, yes. Deputy Mayor Dr. Worthy, yes. Mayor Woodfield, >> yes. All right. Um, there were some youth advisory board update. >> Yes. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Uh, the youth advisory board has been meeting in
preparation for the fall. Miss Nahhemia Applaude um is the chairperson and some of the things they wanted to share with the council were some updates. um they want to use student ambassadors in the different schools across um the township and also reach out to BCIT because we
have uh willing students represented in the in that those schools as well. Um those student ambassadors would be students who help to share flyers and announcements and to um better connect the township with the school district with events that the students um would
enjoy to increase their awareness of what's happening in the town um that the township is doing, different programs with recreation and wellness. um when they have grade level assemblies um the the idea is that those ambassadors would be able to share um during those grade
level assemblies um some of the things that are happening in the town to help increase the engagement of the youth. Um Miss Claude and the co-chair are interested in serving as adult adviserss um so that the students can participate in more events in the evening. um
they're interested in t-shirts. Willing, we have Willboro Township t-shirts. They'd like some township t-shirts so that when they come out to different events, they can be represented and identified. Um and they also are looking to the council for consideration to increase the number of student representatives on the youth advisory
board as they're looking to grow that board. They'll be putting together a letter um with some of the recommendations to the council and they would like to present their recommendations to the school board as well um just to make them aware of what they're looking to do in the school year
to be able to um enhance the youth advisory board. So, I was just sharing those ideas from the board and they will be following up with um a write up and I'll distribute that to the entire council. Thank you, Madame Mayor. >> All right. Thank you, Deputy Mayor.
uh we will be talking about uh the performance evaluation process and timeline in executive session. So at this time we will have uh public comment. Uh residents will have
four minutes for public comment. Unfortunately because of time constraints please ensure that the clerk um has your information so that we'll be able to get back to you with any information. but I'd rather hear all of
the um concerns. Um but we won't be able to respond to all of them this evening. Public comment is now open. Um my name is Robert Jackson. I live at uh 60 Marshall Lane.
Look, I've been trying to get my apron and sidewalk done since 16. As as I stated before, I talked to Barry when he was here. When he left, that young lady that followed him, I talked to her. I talked to Vogle a couple different
times, right? I called uh public works the beginning of last year, they gave me an extension. I called the extension, left a message said nobody
ever returned it. Same thing happened this year. So, I mean, I've been working on this thing since 16. You understand what I'm saying? Now, nobody has even approached me on this thing. That's number one. Now, going back to the school system,
uh they got so much of a turnover at top level. They're top the structured top level heavy, right? and and uh you're talking about people living in the in in the community.
I don't know what their their living status is, but all of these top dogs are leaving and they just did something really foolish. Either it's a frat brother or or or or nepotism. They hired a dude that had one foot out the door
when he come in. And it's not the first. It's not the first time. That's why I asked you before, do you guys bump heads with with these people? And I mean, at least question them because that's where most of this tax stuff is coming from. They got all these brilliant ideas, but
the people pushing the ideas aren't even here. They they push them and then they're gone. And you know, next run on the ladder. You stress a little crazy. We need we need to communicate a little better cuz this this involves all of us.
It ain't just a me thing. It's everybody. >> Thank you, Mr. Jackson. >> I repeat again, uh, Gloria Williams reside at 170 Clubhouse Drive in Country Club. Uh it is an honor to be here
tonight and at this time my class is on and I'm actually missing my class online. So but it is the purpose of why I'm here. So let me state it quick before you set me down. One country club does not have a
sign. I spoke to you on that. The sign if you could make a sign I would assume you will do it alphabetical order. So if he did the contract club will be the first but Penny Packer got it. They have two GI has two contract club state does
not have a sign. So if you ask me where the sign should go when someone is coming off 295 and tell about four lights you will see the sign country club. We don't have it. If you go on JFK way where the school is country club again clubhouse drive there's another sign. Instead they have a sign at the
end of clubhouse drive which is man street. That is not the beginning of country club. That sound needed to be put there. I spoke with you. I came here. I spoke to the people. They said I don't know what's the reason. Secondly, my husband is 678. I'm 66 years old.
Both of us are retire. I retire. This our taxes went up $600. I agree you need to increase the taxes, but $600 every quarter. Where we going to get that money from? We can't afford it. And then we have 10
group home on clubhouse drive one street and then you have the the the or the employees refuse to park in the driveway. I have worked in group home before that's why I got my experience. So when I work in group home when I graduate
from women university I saw that it's only four people working four. So you have the van in and you have one the nurse and you have two other employees. So three. So the cars can fit in on my street. The man was reversing. He had to
hit one of the the the employees car. They just should enforce that they should not park on the street. They need to go in the driveway. That is not right. We live there. We clean up our street. They want to do the interior part. They don't do anything outside. We
invest in our place. That's it. The third one. In order to get investment investors to come in, we need to do a feasibility study. We need to instead of uh the the bank of old Wells Fargo, they
have smokehouse. The other place smokehouse. This is all drugs. Smoke houses. Smoke houses. We praying. I'm a praying woman. We praying that they will make a U-turn not to go. But they bringing more drugs in a line smoke houses instead of bringing investors so
we can offset our taxes. We have the building sitting down obtain street in most the people have coffee shop people sitting there eating doing something. Let us do something bring some investors into into women in rice
synis for people that don't have their kids in school. All my kids very fortunate they graduated. They went to college. I thank God for that. But when I came here 1995 from New York, they broke the the Josh was in connection
with the school. As I told you, I was arrested. I thought school. I thought DC had four years. I thought I thought I taugh years the students don't wear uniform anymore. We voted for uniform. They
going to school in pajamas. And then we going to raise the in the school for people going to school in pajamas. We don't ask the student without the student with the parents. We make the rules. They don't make the rules. So I will appreciate going to the school
board. But I need for you to talk to the church to have a relationship. One minute. Relationship with the school. I'm out. I'm on my way up. >> Your time is up. >> Yes. My time is up. Thank you. I play you everything I have to say. Excuse my back. A good I wouldn't say
good evening. I guess it's good night, but good evening, mayor, deputy mayor, and council women. Um, my name is Kesha Pedro. I'm 20 Bolton Lane. I've been a resident of Willenboro since 1974.
I've been a taxpayer since 1994. As long as I've owned my home. I'm not a renter. I'm not a transient. I'm an owner. So, my concern, I know everyone has mentioned taxes, but it's
my turn. The taxes are a concern for me. I have a lot of friends that are senior citizens and some of these sen senior citizens on fixed income. How are they going to pay the taxes when they're constantly increased like this? This was
a really gut punch. My mother is a senior citizen. $500 increase. It's just her. That's a lot to ask people to pay. It's just it's too much. Um, my concern along with the taxes are our properties
are going to be reassessed. We're going to get this assessment and it's going to increase the taxes again. That's how it works. I know. So, the next concern will be the increase of the taxes is going to result in foreclosures.
Not long ago, we were here. So my concern is do we have something in place a plan in place so when this revisit us that we can do something that's going to help these residents that live here. Okay. So that was the one thing
recreation the presentation was nice but I would like to really advocate for us to have a variety of activities for the students that can so students can do things of their interest. Everyone's not interested in in basketball, football,
soccer, golf. I mean, let's be creative. Some people might want to they might want to sew. I don't know. I'm just throwing things out here. But if we can bring that, that would be nice. A pet peeve of mine is this trash.
It really truly bothers me that I have to call every week to ask when are they going to pick my trash up. I put my trash out when I'm supposed to. I recycle like I'm supposed to. I know people that don't recycle. No, but I
recycle. I do my trash and everything. I have to constantly call every week and and that it's exhausting and I shouldn't have to do that because again I said I' I've lived here since 1974. I know the evolution. I know when the trash how we
had trash collection and how that changed. I don't remember having a voice when it came down to the trash collection. I know I didn't because I vote I come out and I do what I need to do as a resident here in Willen Bro. So,
I would really like somebody to really focus on making sure these people that are getting paid my tax dollars for this trash pick my trash up as they're supposed to. So, I want to mention this, too. I know no
one really talked too much about it, but I want to mention it. Um, as a resident of Willen Bro, I'm a little embarrassed. I'm a little embarrassed because we have we have an official that is convicted and you know years ago when you hear
about Willen Bro, you hear about all the great people that come from Willen Bro. But right now that's like a little stain. There's a stain on the carpet that we cannot get up and I really really need to know what we can do about that because it's embarrassing and it
should be embarrassing to all the taxpayers here because he's still in place and that means he's still getting a check. We're paying this commissary and that's my time. Thank you so much. Wanda Green, Written House Drive number
132. Uh, first and foremost, uh, greetings again, Mayor, Councilwoman, Township Manager. Um, first off there, I'm not saying that your jobs are easy, right? And I don't take it lightly at all, right?
I am a African-American woman who was raised off of integrity and respect. Right? So when you're elected in these positions, I think these positions should be taken very seriously. But the way that everyone just says yes, yes, yes, people, you're going to take it, you know, how you want to take it. But it seems like Councilwoman Peron is the
only one fighting for us. Attorney Halt just sits here. He blinks. He doesn't speak. Township manager, he does not live here. He does not reside here. So why are we paying him a check to live somewhere else? Right? We pay taxes constantly. We have to fight for garbage pickup, right? They didn't slam my car
so many times, it's ridiculous. We asked for speed bumps. Nothing is done. The entertainment company, they got 500,000. This gentleman makes 151,000. Every time we turn around and talk about something, now we're asking for another 146,000 to accommodate the budget for ticket sales that we haven't even sold yet. So, at
some point, we must understand we just give out money on top of money on top of money. You have senior citizens suffering constantly. You have this gentleman back here. No offense to you, sir. You're coming here giving us the tax assessment. You don't even live here. How can you tell us our problems when you don't reside here? We have
school systems that are failing. We have teachers who are underpaid. We have people in these particular seats. We're paying for a security system. Why you can't drive yourself to work? We do it. We have to pay for water, electric, gas like everyone else. We have problems substantially like everyone else. No
one's problem is exhausted. No one's problem is exempt. Everyone on this seat can be replaced. Right? Because you're elected in these positions. It doesn't matter what it is. I don't care what the system is, but it is broken. It is damaged. It needs to be fixed. I'm not
giving anyone a pardon who does not live here. I don't know if people's palms are being greased. I don't care. My soul sleeps well at night because my conscience is clear. You better take heed to those same notions. Be aware. Every time you say something, stop
coming across like you're angry black people. learn how to work together in the organization so that we can all move forward. That's my time. >> Thank you, Miss Gra. >> Hi, good evening council and community. My name is Chloe Williams and I'd just
like to present a few issues that I've came across in my short time in Willingboro. As for road maintenance, our streets are deteriorating, which is causing a plethora of dirt, cracking, rocks, I've personally removed over 150
pounds of rocks in front of my home and disposed of them. So, there needs to be some type of maintenance protocol that can be in place to ensure that the community is being upkept well. As for police response, I also had an incident in front of my home where I contacted
the police to come out and pretty much situate the problem and it took over 30 minutes for them to come and that was even after a second phone call was placed to them. So, highly unacceptable. And as for public works, there are allegible street signs in the community.
I've called about it three different times where literally the street signs are missing letters, multiple letters out of their names, which is illegal because they need to be conducted to where emergency personnel can properly and accurately depict and identify a
street to get down there. So that is state law and also federal law. And also I've also reported sidewalks being unleveled. One in particular in my area is like raised by approximately like three inches, which is a safety concern.
None of these things have been dealt with. No one has been out to conduct any type of investigation to implement some type of resolve. So those are the issues that I'm facing. Thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Lines. Good long night, mayor, deputy mayor,
council members, and everyone in the township. I wasn't going to say anything. I was just like, I'm just listening. >> But I have a whole um Dr. Please. Um I have a whole long list of things um
and and and and a few that have gone before me have have mentioned uh most of them uh we live a written house uh potholes and the roads are cracking uh it it's
just it's getting worse and I don't see any development with it but that street on Sunset uh where the Catholic school used to be the that way the Catholic church used to be. They get their roads fixed all the time. I don't know what's happening over there. They just uh redid
that road and it it's like every few years they that section gets done, but the rest of us in Willimbo takes forever to to get done. That's just my observation from driving through that neighborhood. Um I do believe that the
township manager should live in the town. And I do understand the challenges of finding someone that um is up to par to do the job, but I do agree that if you are heading the township, you should
live in the township and experience what other people experience. Um police don't answer their phones all the time. I had incidents where there's this guy that shows up at around midnight in front of my house between my house and neighbor's
house and a group of us are concerned. He walks up and down smoking. We call the police several times. Nobody answer the phone, no call back, nothing. And that's very concerning to me. uh the trash. We have a new company and there
were days that go by and still trash is still on the road uh in front of people's homes and it's not picked up uh up to two days before someone shows up um to to with this trash. Um
we talked about money and lack thereof or misdirection of spending money. I don't know how we want to put it. But have we looked into grants? you're the CEO looked into alternative sources of funding. You know, there are a lot of grants out there. I work for the state
and we my division we write a lot of grants. There's not a lot of state funding to fund all of the department of health that I work for and twothirds of the department of health is grant funded. So, we don't generate enough
revenue to to um to take care of all the needs. We have to add other ways or look at other ways of how we can get money in and not just keep passing it on to the taxpayers. Um, Sunset and Vans, there's a construction going on over there at
that corner. I don't know why that is. It looks like there's a house being built. Uh, so and I'm thinking it's just too close to the corner. Um, that's of concern to me. Uh that's a very busy intersection and someone should explain
to us what happened and why that land was granted to build a home so near to the street. We didn't get any notice about the tax increase. Unfortunately fortunately I knew from coming to these meetings, but a lot of people I know didn't get any notice about it. I would
like to know how contracts are being paid for services for these contractors. It seems like we pay them upfront or increments before the work is completed. Um maybe we need to reook at the way we pay them uh upon after the services are
done then they get 100% full. But we can't just pay them upfront and keep paying them until and then there's nothing done or partially done and then we sit down and then we're out of that money. Every penny counts. And I still talk about those flower beds by the
streets. That was a waste of money. I know you said the seniors want it. It was a waste of taxpayers money because the uh public health doesn't have enough staff to even maintain what we have. And then now time is up. >> Yeah, I know. And then we still have to
sit down and pay extra time to cut around it, which is extra hours. I still have more bring back next month. >> Thank you. Uh, Miss Mallalerie again. Um, yesterday made 54 years that I lived in Willingboro
and I've seen the good, the bad, then the ugly. Unfortunately, we're in the ugly times right now and hopefully we can find a resolution uh to our situation with our council person. Um
I want to speak on excessive speeding, which is something that I've spoken on before, especially on Charleston Road between Kennedy Way and Van Skyber. Um, we have
it's a highly populated residential area. We have a lot of children that live in houses along that stretch. And the speed monitors for whatever reason um have not been working now for I'm
going to say for almost a year. and all of a sudden it appears that um all you know it's like a speed uh trap or whatever and even around town
uh Veterans Parkway I had the experience a couple of weeks ago where um I was driving in the left lane and there were maybe two or three cars behind me and this person decided that he was going to pass all of us on the right. And when we
got to Kennedy Way and Veterans, he came all the way over in the left lane, made a U-turn, and started back the other direction. So, um, Chief Bucks, I don't know what your plan is, um, for
excessive speeding around town, but it seems to be, um, an issue right now with, um, a lot of especially on Veterans Parkway. Um the other thing is I noticed that um I wanted to ask the
question is Will Weston an employee of the town? And the reason I'm asking that question is because I noticed lately that he has been posting um information um that I think should come from our
communications person. uh to be specific, he posted the information about the new director at the River Reva Foster Center. So just curious as to why he would post this information before it
came out from the township. I'm glad to hear that the HVAC system at the library is being fixed because I was there for a meeting two weeks ago and we had to actually use a fan and I think we've
spent thousands of dollars on the uh HVAC system at the library and for whatever reason it's not working and glad to hear that we're going to get carpet because what we have there now is
ugly. And as far as the performing arts center, I think the uh residents of the township should be given a discount for tickets, especially for the opening um of this and maybe consideration
going forward. Thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Valerie. William Weston. Um, first and foremost, it's a blessing to see the turnout that's here tonight. I really believe that the constituent should be part of the local government.
Uh, I want to shout out my man Harry Walker. Rest in peace, because he was a galvanizer and he was somebody that brought people to local government and and interact. In fact, he he introduced me to this. So I do like that that to see uh people here interacting even if
we don't agree. Uh myself I do want the town manager to live in the town but I do understand cuz I've been here when that was in flux and there wasn't a consistency. So for me I like the stability and the performance. I'm even going to add that because it's not about
liking somebody but is that from what I see. Uh, also speaking on that, uh, and this is a side note, my social I post on social media to get people more engaged to understand what's going on in the government. And I might have a view, but I hope you have a view, too. And I hope
you understand what's happening because just like the town manager vote was last last month, last meeting, more people could have been here to to um impart uh their opinion on it. You know, me personally, it could have been uh
approved for just a year and then go to um then go to the the the residents, but just for for the time being, you know, have him here. Maybe his situation will change and o overall the cons constituents can have a have a word. Uh
my my question though is for the home assessments um in 2029, will our tax rate change to adjust? I don't understand that part so much. I know uh our home values will change. I don't know how that impacts the tax rate or if it does. I do want to shout out Swing to
T for the workforce pipeline because I can respect that. Um trying to get more black youth into the golfing industry. I I of course I would like to see uh I I'm sure the council will communicate and see if it's manageable and and will it
impact the taxpayers but overall and my my specific question also with that is 10 years to 20 years from now how can we ensure that the demographics will stay the same that the people we're helping they they'll look the same like if we're trying to get these people that look a
certain way or that demographic into the golfing industry will that continue on or on but I could reach out to to Miss Pat, what what I will say is my my taxes did increase $400 a quarter, over $400 a quarter myself and I and I understand the the uh the outrage or the the
questions that are have. What I do and I ask for the engagement. I want us to continually engage with our local government, but also September, I mean in August 24th is a schoolboard meeting and I hope to see the same energy there. uh the school boards meaning aren't
accessible online and the the township did and the township did vote for the referendum one and two but I do think that seeing this if the if the school board saw this energy maybe they at least there can be understanding of why uh the tax raised so much and and also
the MUA August 19th um 2026 at 6 p.m. if you want to engage there because I'm all about more people understanding what's going on about their government. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Russ. >> I'm Marcus Hog. Good evening again,
Mayor Deputy Mayor Marcus King 135 turn to Lane. Um I just want to say that um I thank you all for what you do. Um and I think it's important to say. Uh, however, I am a little troubled because as I come to these meetings and I see folks who come in, they pound their
chest. They want to tell you what they're going to do, but yet there's no involvement in our town. So, what I'm asking for is that if we could do a town hall where we don't have the clock and we could have real conversation, real conversation. Because what I see is you
all deal with issues at every meeting and when you come time for the final vote then somebody says well what about this and they didn't talk about it the whole time that that issue as you were dealing with that issue and it doesn't
make sense that we get uh folks cheering from the from the crowd to to change what you do. I think sometimes we just have to make a decision and we live with the decision we make and then we can change that as we move forward. But to
come in and grab the lowhanging fruit, the pat on your chest to say, "Look what I did." I think it's not fair to you for the hard work that you put in and the little pay that you get for anybody that wants to argue about how much money you get. It ain't a whole lot of money for
the time that you put in. But my thing is I'm hoping that everybody puts their time in so we can have real discussions about real issues because it's not fair. It's not fair to any of you that have to take the the the abuse of it and I give
you a good one. Uh I hear a lot about the trash pickup and and I think here lately uh those folks do a great job, right? But I think it's up to us as citizens to get more involved to make our community better because if we don't do it and we just leave it on on the on
the four of you or the five of you um is not going to change. So again, I thank you for what you do. Um and whatever I can do to help uh uh to make it a little easier, I'm willing to do that. But we have to have real meaningful
conversation to take the sting out of people want to pound their chest to tell you about who you are and what you do. So again, I thank you for what you do and I really would like to have the town hall because I think the town hall would take the clock away and then we could have some real meaningful conversation
because if people really understood how municipal government works, if they really understood how it works, they would then have a different idea of what they think. And because they don't know how it works and when they get bad information,
when they get bad information and that bad information goes out, that's all people hear. We have a very beautiful community. And how I know it because I've walked it many times and I've knocked on a whole lot of doors. And I do know that that if we want to keep our
willing burl the way we want it to be, then it's going to take all of us to get involved, the good and the bad. and we can change some minds through uh productive conversation. So I'm asking you while it may not be popular to have a town hall, let's have a town hall. And
even if it takes a little longer to go about the conversation, I think the longer that conversation goes on, we'll get more people involved. So again, thank you for what you do. >> Thank you, Mr. K. >> Good evening. Good evening. My name is
Gail Maresy. I live in Written House Park. I'm the vice president there. During this time um as vice president, I'm living in Willenboro almost 49 years. When I first moved into Written House, it was beautiful and I'm trying
to get it back that way. But it's been a little difficult because of a lot of the situations that go on in Written House and May you know that you live there. We have problems with the streets, the trucks, the cars. People can't get out of their courts. It's dangerous. I've
called the township several times and asked about why the fire hydrants in the streets, the township owns the streets in Written House. Why are they're not painted with yellow? Or they should be painted so many feet from the
intersections and from the courts so that people don't park there so people can get around the community without causing accidents. And it's been a major concern of mine. I drive around putting uh violation notices out and tow
stickers in courts, but I cannot tow cars in the streets. That's up to the police and the township to do. And we have so much of that going on. And then I'm on the phone all day again calling the uh DPW because of the trash not
being picked up. I get phone calls all day long on my phone. The trash is not picked up. There's stuff in the streets. Um when are they coming back out? Um I'm constantly trying to deal with that issue with the trash. And also we're
missing street signs. I've called a year now. Street signs are missing. Some signs you can't even read them asking for that to be done. Some people call me up and say, I mean, they're calling on my personal phone. I'm lost. And um
you're the you're you're the vice president. Well, where's this where's this court? Because I can't find it. Well, there's no streets on there. So, this is something that I've asked to be addressed. Hasn't been addressed. I met with Mr. Provocal. I met with Mr. Harris. Mr. Paris. I gave him a list of
everything in written house when I first became the vice president. He said his exact words to me were get in line with everybody else in Willingboro. Now that's an answer from the DPW superintendent when I have potholes in
the street. Potholes in the street. The streets are haven't been tred in years and you're responsible for that. I have handicap spot on the corner of Beverly Rancokers Road and Rockland Drive. Now, I know that the township got grant to
fix and put in the handicap areas so people can cross. There's some that are broken. They're cracked. I've asked for that to be repaired. Nothing's been taken care of. Every time I speak to someone, it's always um I'll get back to
you. Nothing happens. And I'm really concerned because I want to work with Willboro. I want to work get the community back to where it is, but I need the township to to also help with me. There are so many times I even send stuff to Chief Ruff. I send stuff to the
inspection department. I even stuff to Mr. Harris because I found some New Jersey grants for infrastructure. We have lots of infrastructure problems and written outs. I was trying to apply for the grant thinking that I could do that as a nonprofit, but unfortunately they
told me you would need the township to help you. I didn't get an answer. I even had my attorney and I even had my engineering company contact the township to help me. They never got back to me. And I'm really trying to do the best for
written house and mayor as you live there. You can see it's been such a big improvement between the snow removal and the grass and the pool open which was never opened and I'm really trying to do the best for the community and I work a full-time job. >> Thank you.
>> Thank you, Miss Marquez. Before we start, Miss Holly, I know you have four minutes and we have two minutes left in our meeting, so I don't want to have to cut you off. >> No, I'm going to get my four minutes. >> I know that's why we're trying to do the motion to extend the meeting once again.
>> Okay, go ahead. >> All right. Can I have a motion to extend the meeting until midnight? Second. Moved by Councilwoman Macintosh. Seconded by Deputy Mayor Worthy. Roll call. Councilwoman Peron. >> Yes.
>> Councilwoman Mintosh. Deputy Mayor Dr. Worthy. Yes. >> Mayor Woodfield. >> Yes. >> Even go ahead. >> Thank you so much. My name is Sarah Holly. I reside at 9 Tahoe Lane. Before I get started on my concerns, I want to thank M. Lamar. I believe I called her
office about the taxes yesterday and she walked me through everything. That's probably why I understood the tax situation, didn't have any questions or comments about them. Now to my concerns. [clears throat] Miss Worthy, Chief Bucks, I just want you to know it does
not matter if a donation is from an employee, if it's public or private. If it gives uh it's if it's given to support a business of a council person and a non-b business nonprofit is a business because there's a salary increase it could give the appearance of
a conflict of interest according to NJSA 48 semicolon 9-22.5. Okay. Are there any truths to the rumors circulating around town that Miss Whitfield contacted a reporter relative
to an article about Miss Peron's statement about the Mexican population? And when that same reporter contacted uh Miss uh Whitfield and Miss Worthy about the [clears throat] situation involving Mr. Anderson, they refused to comment
about that article. William is a paying place. Don't look like that. I want to commend Miss Peron about her comments tonight and all all of her due diligence because she was really good. Also want to comment I want to commend you, Miss
Macintosh, because one thing about you and I've been knowing you since you were a teenager, your family, you have a very calm demeanor when you're talking to the public and I appreciate that. But the other two, that's another story. Okay.
So, let me just tell you this information. Oh, and the other thing is I've been an advocate in Willingber for 50 years. So, I get the right to stand here and speak. Okay. Whoever made a comment about people in
the audience, so that's who I'm talking to. On [clears throat] June, on June 2nd, 3 right after Mr. Anderson's conviction. I wrote a letter to the county prosecutor's office. The
county prosecutor got back to me and I'm sure you know this on June 20th. Had a conversation with him. He did his due diligence and he called me back uh July 3rd. During that whole time, council
people never contacted the county superintendent. I don't know whether or not Mr. Solicitor didn't advise you that you should contact the county superintendent, but if I, a resident, could contact the county superintendent, you all should have done it. Also, you
waited until it was too late to put a person's name on the on the ballot. You contacted the county superintendent last week. Now, that's ridiculous. The man was sentenced on June, was it Janu? No, he he was
convicted on January the 27th. Okay. Convicted. So, you had eight months that you should have done something about it. And I don't want to hear this nonsense that you're telling about, well, we didn't know. We didn't know. We didn't know. Yes, you did know. You should have
sent that letter way before now. And then the other thing I'm my time's going to run out as it relates to the situation regarding uh Mr. Harris. Where's my thoughts? I'm I'm probably my time's going to run around. So, is it true that after Mr. Anderson was
convicted, Mr. Harris locked him out of the system and that the three of you ladies directed Mr. Harris to let Mr. Anderson back into the system. That's ridiculous. And that's the rumor on the
street. And in Willingboro, if the rumor on the street is out there, it's 99.99% correct. Oh, the other lady you gave 4 seconds extra. Now I got one second extra. You need to watch your clicker and watch the time. You What's your name?
>> Thank you, Miss Har. >> Donald. >> Donald Brantley, Wood Haven Lane. I wasn't going to say anything. Of course, council, they know me well because uh I'm not going to uh make it personal. I want to deal with a few
issues which first of all is the uh permanent waiver for Mr. Harris. I completely disagree. Um a few years back there was only like two people on council that even own homes or paid taxes in William Burrow.
And it was like to me it was like this is crazy. How can a manager, director, and and people on counsel that don't even own homes make decisions for me? You know, it just it's just it's just ludicrous. And and if he has personal
problems, which I feel for any man or any woman who's going through financial experience. I've raised five kids. I got 13 grandkids, three great grandkids, and I put the work in and I wasn't making 150,000. And I bought four homes in
Wenboro. 14 Hinsdale Lane, 42 Barker Lane, 29 Heeper Lane, and now I live at 44 Wood Lane. And I'm saying that because it can be done. And I I have no excuses for a man who can't do what he needs to do. This
waiver thing, this parental waiver, it's unacceptable for me. And to touch on Mr. Anderson and I seen the mayor in one of the stores. We talked and and and it's personal. I'm a man of God. I
prayed for him. I spoke to him. I called him up and said, "You know, I'm going to keep you in prayer because I wish nothing harm on the next man." But you know what? A veteran who's in Fort Dicks right now that had a disability rating, his check is cut. And from what I
understand, there's council members who voted for his check to continue. That's crazy. When was the last time he paid taxes over there in country club? If you can't afford to be there, you shouldn't be there. If you can't afford to live in Well, bro, you should go somewhere else.
That's what I did. I came from Philadelphia many, many years ago to better my family. My kids went to William High. They went on to get master's degrees and different things. Went to school with Miss Holly's uh uh uh child, same year. So, it's no excuse.
So why we got a offset for for this man? You mean to tell me with 30,000 residents we can't with AI we can't run this town based on a template?
I'm I'm I'm the uh uh chairman of the trustee board of my church. We got a few million dollars in building. We don't do that. Next man up. If you can't handle the job, I'm sorry. I feel for you. Whatever your personal thing is, divorce, marriage, whatever,
that's not our problem. You should be a homeowner, let alone living here. So, you know what these taxes feel like over there in Windsor where I live? I talked to my neighbors. You know what? 20,000. Try that.
See how that feels. But yet this council ran me and my wife who is both retired, both veterans in a court to fight a case was something they could have rectified. But I'm listening to all these change orders, hundreds of thousands of
dollars, people being paid $400,000 for work, not perform, but y'all wanted to do that to me and my wife. Why? If if we were your parents, you wouldn't do that. You know, it wasn't right. You don't know it. Y'all know it. And there's
people in the audience that know me, know my situation, and I know behind the scenes they say, "Yeah, we got them." But you know what? I'm a man of God. Karma is for real. Karma is for real. And I'm good. I ain't mad.
Ask Nate when you talk to him. I called him up and I prayed with him because that's who I am. >> Thank you, Mr. Brley. >> Yeah. So, calmer. Remember that. >> Thank you, Mr. Brley. I'm so disappointed. Could have been counsel again.
>> I'm up here so much because I don't come to these meetings. I said I don't I don't come to these meetings. So that's why I'm staying I'm coming back and forth tonight to try to get all my concerns out while I can. But
it is an issue about the virtual access and um I would like to know if the IT person ever came back with a report to for a resolve for that. I remember
you asking for that, Mayor Whitfield. Um, I already told you my feelings about the township uh manager. I think that he should definitely live in town just like anyone else who serves for this community. Uh, Councilman Anderson,
Councilman Anderson, you all should do everything to show integrity for your positions and us to have him removed. You know, this is ridiculous. The state won't pay benefits for anyone incarcerated. Why should we
public works? Public works, I think, is is very essential to the maintenance and appearance of Willenboro. You know, um I pre previously had a conversation with Mr. Chapman about my
sidewalks. Um public works came out there and they called themselves, I guess, filing down a lip. It looks horrible. They did it on in the front of my property and on the
side of my property. When Mr. Chapman first came came on board, oh, he was so excited to be here. He was going to do this. He was going to do that. He was going to do everything until he came up here wobbling, talking
about, "Oh, we can't do nothing. I don't have a to-do list. I It's not on my to-do list anymore." I think he's very unprofessional. I don't think he takes his job seriously. I I called up to public works and when
whoever answered the phone, the music in the background was so loud, I definitely didn't think I was talking to a municipal or into a municipal office. It was very embarrassing. Though the person I spoke to was very nice and I left a message
for Mr. Chapman and he hasn't responded as of yet. It's been about three weeks and I don't see him here tonight either, you know. But I think that that's really it it it really speaks to his character and and and a lot to to you all to
accept all the excuses that he provides. you know, with these taxes. You talk about these taxes getting higher and higher and our services are are getting poorer and sadder and sadder and it just doesn't make sense. It doesn't um I
wanted to also speak to the voting, the municipal voting for the 16 and 17 years olds. So, even though that may be an okay idea, I don't think that's something that should be pushed through. I think
that um you can explain the immediate need for the proposal, the process taken for this to be adopted and the timeline being considered and how residents and young people will be consulted before
a final decision is made. you know, um I I believe in the youth being they're our future, so they should participate, but not in voting. We're we're where We're where We're where We're where We're where We're where We're where We're where We're where We're where We're where We're where We're where We're where We're where We're where We're where We're where We're where We're where We're the taxpayers. And
even if a kid is working at McDonald's or something, living at home, he's not paying them type of taxes to make those type of decisions. Uh the Jazz Fest, I love the Jazz Fest. >> I'm sorry, ma'am. You're talking about >> the Jazz Fest has been here. I've been
here since since it was in Groto Park. Now it's over $200,000. >> Thank you, ma'am. >> Your time is up. >> You had it after the time, huh? >> No, I didn't. >> Go ahead. Take it for a second. >> Thank you so much. I don't get in here.
I'm here and I did want to especially about the virtual I think that you should address I I would also like Mr. Chapman I wanted
a year I should be able to get a response and I should be able to get my Thank you, man. With that, if there's no more public comment, >> good evening, council. >> I'm W.
I've lived in Wellingboro for the past 37 years and I still love it here. Okay, things aren't always perfect, but the better than living in some other places. I'd like to first apologize for my
outburst last week, but I do understand what was done. It's called the ad for men attack. In politics, it's blameshifting. It's manipulative tactic used to escape accountability by redirecting fault for
one's own mistakes or bad behavior onto someone else which was done to me. Okay? It means attacking the person instead of their argument. And an example for you that weren't here
last week. What was done to me was the council woman attacked the mayor's mother, which is me, to make the mayor look bad rather than talking about city laws. It allows the offender to maintain control, protect
their ego, and avoid the consequences of their action. It's deeply corrosive and toxic because it distorts reality over time. Okay, I'm no stranger to politics. I did get upset and I would again like to
apologize apologize. But I feel we should all be aware of things in the community that are happening. We should keep our eyes open. Like who controls all the negative stuff on Facebook? Who controls all that? Anybody ever
notice the names of the people that control all that? Okay, remember the big lie that was used by Adolf Hitler. Okay, the big lie what it means it's if it's a
gross distortion of misre misre misrepresentation. Yes, that most manipulative individuals use a variety of deceptive techniques to exert control or avoid accountability.
As I previously stated, I've been in this township for a long time. I watched, I listened, I come to these meetings. I was watching them on Zoom. And finally, I'm speaking on the things that I've observed. Hopefully, others
won't try to twist this and take it out of context and create their own narrative. This is just how I feel. It bothered me last month that I let somebody upset me that bad, but again, I sincerely apologize.
So, Willing, thank you for your time and remember, united we stand. Thank you. >> There's no other public comment. Public comment is now full.
As I said before, public comment, we won't have time to respond to all the comments that we had tonight. We have very lively um and and numerous responses. um some of them do require a response. So, please ensure that the clerk has your information um so that we
will be able to contact you with the responses um to your question uh or statements. Um the time is now 11:47. We do have
executive session. Um we can I I don't think there's some things that are pressing. So, we will have to go into executive session. Um, >> so we will um go into executive session
um for the remainder of we may need to extend my information. >> Is council okay with extending a third time? We still need because I don't know it's 10 minutes.
>> Oh, okay. All right. So, we'll extend the meeting until 12:15 a.m. and there will be a vote after we um come out of executive session. Can I have a motion to extend the meeting until 12:15?
>> Motion to extend. >> Moved by Councilwoman Peron, seconded by Councilwoman Macintosh. Roll call. >> Councilwoman Peron, >> yes. >> Councilwoman Macintosh, >> Deputy Mayor Dr. Worthy, >> yes. >> Mayor Whitfield, >> yes. >> Resolution for executive session. Yes.
Can I get a a motion to approve resolution 169 authorizing close executive session in accordance with the New Jersey Open Public Meetings Act um for personnel matters and attorney client privileges.
>> So moved by Deputy Mayor Worthy, seconded by Councilwoman Macintosh. All in favor? >> I. >> Any oppose? Any abstensions? We'll be in executive session for
approximately 15 minutes and we will have uh action when we um come Now, Yes. The time is 12:17. Can I get a motion to come out of executive session? >> So move. >> Second. Moved by Deputy Mayor Worthy,
seconded by Councilwoman Boro. All in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? Any abstension? All right, we are now back in public session. We do have uh two resolutions to
vote on after our discussions. They will be resolutions 2026-165 and 2026-166. Um deeming the absences not excused for the absent council member for July 7th
and August 4th. Can I have a motion for a consent agenda for 2026 165 and 166? So moved. >> Moved by Deputy Mayor Worthy, seconded by Councilwoman Macintosh. Any
discussion? Seeing none, uh, >> Councilwoman Peron, >> yes. >> Councilwoman Macintosh, >> yes. >> Deputy Mayor Dr. Worthy, >> yes. >> Mayor Whitfield, >> yes. Can I have a motion to approve the
consent agenda for resolutions 2026-165 and 2026-166? >> Second. >> Moved by Councilwoman Macintosh. Seconded by Deputy Mayor Worthy. >> Welcome. >> Councilwoman Peron. >> Yes. >> Councilwoman Macintosh. Yes. >> Deputy Mayor Dr. Worthy.
>> Yes. >> Mayor Whitfield. >> Yes. Also, I'd like to make a motion to suspend um the electronics access for um Councilman Anderson effective
immediately. >> I'd like to make a motion. >> So, move. >> I just need a second. >> Second that includes um cell phone, email, and building access. So, it's been moved by Mayor Woodfield, seconded by council.
Not just email also um admins all softwares accessible to us. You said emails and um cell phone email cell phone all soft programs. Yeah. >> Also that includes all software building access and um email and access to any
devices. Councilwoman Per Councilwoman Peron. >> Yes. >> Councilwoman Macintosh. >> Yes. >> Deputy Mayor Dr. Worthy. Yes. Mayor Woodfield. >> Yes. All right, that concludes the businesses the business that we have tonight. Is
there any council? Seeing none, I'd like to thank the Willingboro community for coming out and being very uh spirited participants tonight. We appreciate your involvement and look forward to engaging um continuing to engage with you in the future.
>> Madame Deputy Clerk, please uh call off for a journ. >> The time is now 12:20. Can I get a a motion to adjourn the meeting? >> So move. >> Moved by Deputy Mayor Worthy, seconded by Councilwoman Macintosh. All in favor? I >> I.
>> Any opposed? Any abstensions? Good night, Will and Girl.