e it is now 7 P.M I'd like to call this regular Township council meeting to order rece Madam clerk roll call councilwoman Peron present councilman Anderson is absent tonight councilwoman Macintosh present Deputy Mayor Dr worthy
present mayor Whitfield present thank you all right good evening everyone um roll call and we will move on to our flag salute I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to
the Republic for which it stands one nation under God and divisible with liberty and justice for all rece Madam clerk um I'd like to invite Pastor Donald too from the will Willingboro 7th Day Adventist Church to
lead us in prayer who was there I back and I see someone at the was the one that was sitting behind yeah behind he was there there he is there he is
yeah good evening sir you can come on over I let us pray father God in heaven want thank you and you
father to meet together with the leaders and St members father know and we believe dear God that you are a god of or you are a god of UN you are father for
youring your guidance your direction TR you father whatever amen amen thank you Pastor too compliance statement notice was provided in compliance with chapter 231 of the public laws of 1975 to the
Burlington County Times Trenton Times and Philadelphia inquir seeing 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 and next on our
agenda is Mr Harris for the managers Municipal updates good morning mayor good evening body members Deputy Mayor good evening it's been a very long day but it's all good uh this evening I first
want to start off by introducing to some and presenting to others our new Township Clerk I mean um engineer Mr Russell Chipola uh who joined willing Barrow last Monday the
10th and um and he is going to come and introduce himself to uh willing Barrow and give you a synopsis of what has been happening with him since he has been here great Mr Chapa well good evening mayor
Whitfield Deputy Mayor Dr worthy solicitor Mr Hol councilwoman McIntosh and counc woman per thank you very much for having me here this evening it's U as Mr Harris said I've started um well 6 days ago I started on
February 10th and um I'm liking it very much here I feel very very at home here uh everybody's uh been more than helpful to make me comfortable and to give me what I need to do my job so I'm I'm grateful for that um I'd like to just go
over uh some things that I've been working on as you probably are aware I'm just scratching the surface on a lot of the projects you know know taking my time getting in getting entrenched in some of the work so um I don't have a whole lot to present tonight but I want
to give you some projects that I've been that I've been working on um first of all I met with Remington and Vernick today and they went over all their projects U projects that they recently completed their current
projects and some projects that that are upcoming tomorrow I will be meeting with a Lio and Associates and I'll expect to do the same with them go over with projects that they've completed and also current projects and possibly some future
projects and on Thursday of this week I'll be meeting with panonian Associates doing the same thing with them um I've actually been familiarizing myself with some of penon jobs I haven't gotten into Alo projects too much or Remington or
verx but some of these are are based on Pen's work okay first thing um is I received a quote from Fox fence for some repairs to the J
JFK Center uh I've been in contact with Mr Chapman Department of Public Works and also Kevin gains I've read the I read the proposal and I've requested two more quotes from qualified contractors that are on the
state list or uh companies that are on the state list that the townships worked before I think we should get um two other opinions from uh companies that specialize in Roofing this company does not specialize in Roofing they do it it
appears to be as a side a side entity so I've asked them to get me two more quotes so hopefully I'll have them within another couple of weeks and I can present what I find for the next council meeting tomorrow um the company Fox
fence is is going to come out and delineate um numerous areas on the roof that they will repair as part of their proposal for a total of 1,000 square feet I've asked Mr gains of the of Public Works to
provide me with markout locations and photographs of all the areas so that I have um a concise record of of what they proposed so that they're not just um kind of willy-nilly going out there and
and not measuring what they're supposed to be measuring so I want to make sure that we're getting the full 1,000 square feet um I've been and Mr Chapola you can just give us high level updates okay I'm sorry we have more I don't want to okay
I don't know what the protocol is so excuse me I'm trying to give you what you need okay I'll I'll be more brief I'm sorry I'm been looking at the payment number four request for the 2023 multilocation storm water
infrastructure project I reviewed the payment application payment number four it seems to be an order but I'm not going to be comfortable until I've reviewed the plans and gone out and personally inspected the areas of of
work and make sure that they they've been completed as as they should be I had uh reviewed um the assessment study for the penny Packer pool and splash pad um just briefly reviewed that
so if anybody has any questions about that you can ask me now or feel free to get back to me at any time I've U started the review of the wsp storm order utility feasibility
study for our Township as you can see it's a pretty comprehensive study so I'm just starting to get into that and hopefully I'll have more to report on well I will have more to report on at the next council meeting after um you know Mr Harris and I discuss some other
other things relating to the study um I reviewed the um Hazard mitigation plan in conjunction with Burlington County section nine jurisdictional annexes uh the hazard
mitigation plan um as I quote U this Annex concentrates on action to reduce or eliminate damage to property and people that can be implemented prior to a disaster so this is a a proactive approach for the township to to follow
in order to look at anything that can possibly act as a hazard to the township um in most cases for the township uh we're going to be dealing with floods although um you know there's going to be other things such as high winds uh
damage tornadoes I hope hopefully earthquake's not going to be an issue and they also discuss uh diseases I can go into more detail on this I don't know how much detail you want me to go into um you know there's qu there's quite a bit of information here but
there's the basically at the end of the report there's nine uh areas of interest that they are nine specific items that they want us to complete in order to get um
our 100% mitigation plan in full compliance I if you don't want me to go through all the nine items but um it's up to you I can just give you the highlights I don't I can just give you the titles of the nine items I think my my question is more around um Council has been requested to take action on the
document um so I'm wondering are there things in the document that rise to a level of concern for you in terms of us being able to respond to the what the requirements are or are there things that we need need to um discuss further
before moving forward with the action or so I think that would be helpful for us to know if there are concerns in the document i' I've looked at the uh the U the plan I I'll be honest with you I haven't you know had anything to compare to but as far as I'm concerned it looks
like it's a very comprehensive plan I think they've I think it's an exhaustive plan I think they've touched on just about everything you can possibly think of that could happen to this Township and other things that probably will never happen to the township so I feel
confident for Council to take action on this this evening and um I discussed with Mr Harris um that I have no problem being added to the hazard mitigation planning team for the township okay because I could I I want to be part of
it I want to uh meet with the township or the the county representative so I can learn more about you know the plans and you know help out in any way that I can for the township thank you thank you madam mayor and Mr Chapola I would just ask that if there are things that we
need to implement from the plan um to make sure you bring those to the council so that if there are funds needed or something that we need to consider in order to prepare ourselves ahead of time for any of these um disasters that may
happen it I want to make sure that we're being proactive about that sure yeah I mean I I can can just read the titles of all the nines if you want I don't have to go into detail yeah we have it we have have all that okay good um I don't have they didn't go into uh costs on
this so I'll have to I'll have to try to get you something for the next council meeting even if it's just a range of costs okay you know yes that would be good and then also um typically at these uh presentations it would be good for you
to give some updates on any of the projects from the engineers the engineering firms that we have in our pool okay um so that would be good for the next meeting I will do that I'm like I said I'm just
it's my first one so I'm kind of cutting my teeth so to speak but um I'll ask them for um an update you know you know the Monday before so I can have time to review them if I have any questions I'll be prepared for the you know for the meetings right because I haven't even
met them yet so okay so I'll I'll definitely have it for the next meeting well thank you mrsc and welcome to Willingboro all right yeah thank you thank you Mr Chapola so continue with um with updates
um our Revenue collected for the month of January total 3,547 78776 we did make an an appropriation to the Willingboro Board of Education and the amount of 3,278 th000 and um and our total
expenditures um outside of that were 2,777 16294 for our Police Department curently we have 72 officers that are sworn we have five that are in the Police Academy and one is been on active duty since February of
2022 on the 10th our our Canan offic Chris Kennedy and K9 Tyson did graduate from the police K9 Association and um they're un active duty yes sir talking to Mr
apologize sorry we'll just we'll just take that as a a yes active thank you they're on the road together thank you stop distracting on Thursday January 16th of
the Willing neighborhood watch held its first meeting of the year at the Reva Foster senior center located at um JFK way in Willingboro um they will be meeting I believe it's every third Thursday um so their next meeting should
be on February the 20th we do invite everyone to come out and participate in that at 6:30 p.m. um one of our officers Officer can col yeah that's it um he will be
resigning from our department effective February 28th and be relocating to Kentucky where he will be pursuing a career as a sheriff's officer and we want to thank officer for his short time of service here and willing Barrow and
we do wish him well in his future endeavors the Willingboro firefighters have been very busy over the last few weeks weeks responding to various fire incidents in and out of town um we had a a a house fire on January of the 21st on
Pine Lane uh on January 26 we had another house fire on merry Brook Circle and again on February 9th there was a third house fire on Goodwin Lane but they've also been responsive to our neighboring communities um offering
Mutual Aid to Mount Laurel Burlington City um Edgewater Park Del Ran and West Hampton uh mostly for commercial fires and building fires and Mr Harris there was also one additional fire on um
Rittenhouse Court yes thank you um mayor uh yes and also um you know with this recent weather there were 11 calls for yesterday for down trees and and
wire so they have also been very busy um responded to those instances um regarding yesterday's uh or Sunday's storms we did have two ambulances that were out of service um but fortunately uh they're all up and back in um one is
going to be sent out for a diagnostic um but we hope to have that returned to us relatively shortly our public works department has been very busy as well collecting uh debris After the Storm they have been um
conducting uh litter abatement and recycling abatement they removed 94 bags of trash from our streets and Roads and 63 bags of trash from our Parks they did make 135 pothole
repairs um inspected 309 catch basins uh cleaned 221 of them and they did collect of 47 loads of leaves totaling 1,15 cubic yards during the month of January uh they did remove nine trees
that fell as a result of the February 8th storm and uh utilize 81.6 tons of salt um utilizing the uh or during that storm um the roof that Mr Chapola was
talking about at the JFK Center um is is a leak it's been a consistent long-term leak over the gym a roofing company came in and applied some roof in tar to areas that we could identify leaks and as he
said he's going to be working with that uh to do a more comprehensive repair um installing a new EPDM Rubber main brain layer over the existing layer um the options would repair areas up to 1,000 square fet that
are experiencing leaks and um once this is done we expect the roof over the gy portion of the JFK Center to be leaked tight and uh have a warranty of 10 years so uh the estimated repair cost for that
right now is $18,900 and again he is going to look for additional quotes from U State contracted vendors to do those repairs our DPW was going to begin um doing a
survey of p and light poles that needed repairs and new bulbs which was delayed due to the weather and abouts of sickness um left several employees out but they're going to begin that Sur surveys as well our inspections
department has completed 635 inspections they have written 312 violations uh 200 uh I'm sorry 12 summonses were issued and collected revenues in the amount of $95,000 for the month of January our
code enforcement is PR proactive ly citing commercial vehicles that are being parked illegally vehicles have been cited for parking along Beverly ran cookus Road and Sunset Road if residents are experiencing commercial trucks parked in residential areas we are
asking that you report them using the Willingboro connect act and um and um the police and the code enforcement will um proactively uh enforce our policies regarding the Park Trucking illegal
truck parking uh code enforcement is also proactively combating commercial dumping uh around town if anyone sees potentially illegal dumping I ask also that you please report it uh during the month we did like I
stated we do have five police recruits that are in the um in the in the academy um we do have one new code enforcement officer traine um we have another one that transferred from Public Works into code enforcement and we do have one New
Mt in our fire department and at this time I'm going to ask Miss Jackson to come forward and share with you our um activities that are going on for the month of February all right good evening mayor
Deputy Mayor and all those assemble I do want to make a quick update um Mr Harris to a note reference to the uh Willingboro neighborhood watch they have advised that instead of having their February 20th meeting they are going to support
the um NAACP Art Exhibit at the library on the 20th so I just want to make sure that um our residents are aware of that so um also on Friday February 21st is the open mic
Black History Month Edition so that will be at the Kennedy Center in the bqu Hall at 7 p.m. and then we will close out Black History Month with the evening of the Arts that will be on the 27th at 7 pm and will'll be a celebration of
song dance and drum spoken word and more and we do encourage our residents to be a part of that and just as um just keeping everyone informed as we support the information sessions for the school district we just want to advise our
residents that they have um two more on the calendar that we're aware of and that's from February 26 from 6:30 to 8:30 at the James Cotton school and then on March 5th from 6:30 to 8:30 at the Willingboro high school and on Saturday
March 1st is the story time celebration which is at 10:00 a.m. and that is at the Kennedy Center and it's open for ages 3: to 10 and that is it thank you Jackson thank you Miss jacks
and just on a final note our Starbucks has open for business and we encourage you to go and support them um in their Endeavors here in Willingboro thank you mayor thank you Mr Harris any questions from Council for Mr
Harris All right so we will move right along um to public comment on agenda oh to the resolutions and agenda items Mr Harris
if you will go through those absolutely mayor we have no ordinances being presented to you this evening um for introduction or for public hearing so the resolution is being presented to you for consideration is um resolution number 35 which was tabled from a
previous meeting um a resolution of the Willingboro Township Council adopting the 2024 Burlington County Hazard mitigation plan that is the plan that Mr Chapola just spoke on as well resolution
number 20 uh I'm sorry 202- 53 is a resolution authorizing uh the correction of uh compilation numbers on two resolutions from the February 4th uh
2025 meeting and um if the clerk wants to expand on that a little bit more that would be um appropriate yes so this resolution is just to fix a boo boo on my part um
resolutions 36 and 37 um were actually numbered in correctly so to um I doubled up on numbers so this is just a resolution to um put that in writing and to make sure that it's fixed correctly
um and I'm going to make sure that I am a little more watchful so that's about thank you Mrs Savino our resolution number 54 is a resolution authorizing the approval of vouchers for payment and
ratification resolution number 55 is a resolution authorizing transfers between uh 2024 uh budget appropriation reserves resolution number 56 is a resolution appointing myself as the
municipal housing Lia on for the township of Willingboro as you recall we are moving forward with our round four COA uh obligations and part of that obligation is to have a designated
housing liaison who was responsible for making sure all of the reporting is completed and accurate and timely for our Co obligation resolution number 57 is a resolution authorizing a change order of the increasing the original
contract price for the Bro Park Improvement project um you recall we did a open hour um Park H you might help me I'm stuck on the word our accessible playground at
bro park over the summer and there was a reduction in the price I believe it was $850 Miss Balden so this is just authorizing um that reduction in the price for br for the broo park project uh resolution number 58 is a resolution
authorizing an amendment of resolution number in Monies to purchase trash carts so we are just uh reappropriate that line item and moving forward with acquiring those trash cards resolution number 59 is a resolution authorizing the submission of
of a grant to the uh New Jersey Department of Community Affairs for the construction of a fishing dock at Crystal Lake um this was something that we had kind of talked about a few years ago if and we did uh put together
together a plan from penon there is an opportunity to uh apply for a grant funding from the Department of Community Affairs uh which we would like to go ahead and submit an application for uh we do suspect that that Grant will cover
the uh actual cost of that Pier or the dock so this is just a resolution authorizing the submission of that Grant application to the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs resolution number 60 is a resolution authorizing the
funding of the Willingboro Township share of the max contract this is the program that um we are in party with Burlington County who did a a bid big a big a big bid for the collection of our
Municipal Recycling and trash collection at our apartment complexes um so this is our portion of that contract which I think in 2025 is going to come to just about 195
$15,750 and uh 95 uh resolution number 61 is a resolution authorizing the use of competiting competitive Contracting for the provision of Social Services Program
uh pursuant to njsa 48 col 114.1 um we are looking to go to an or outside service provider who provide us with um some Community Development programs and um this is just uh
resolution authorizing um going out to an RFP for those services and finally resolution number 62 is a resolution authorizing or appointing members to various boards and commissions all right thank you Mr
Harris now we will go to public comment this public comment is for 2 minutes please state your name and address um or raise your hand uh online if you are present public comment is now open is there anything
online uh not at this time here seeing no public comment public comment is now closed and I would like to make a motion for a consent agenda for
Resolutions 35 20 25-35 through 202- 54 and 202- 56 through 202-
61 second moved by mayor Whitfield seconded by councilwoman Macintosh roll call councilwoman Peron yes councilwoman Macintosh yes Deputy Mayor Dr worthy yes and mayor Whitfield
yesk you and we'll go to resolution 202- 55 yes can I get a motion to approve you have to approve the consent agenda can I get a motion to approve the consent agenda so moved
second moved by Dr worthy seconded by Council woman Pon roll call councilwoman perone yes councilwoman Macintosh yes Deputy Mayor Dr worthy yes mayor Whitfield yes thank
you and now we will go to resolution 2025-the to discuss resolution 2025 55 titled resolution authorizing transfers between 2024 budget appropriation reserves so move second moved by Council woman Peron
seconded by Deputy Mayor worthy discussion Council one thank you um so my my document is like kind of split into two two pages I do see it's transfers and transfers out um I wanted
to see if um maybe Mr Harris or um missia can just explain um of the transfer outs um I see here we have um Township Council special project of 22,000
out um I'm not sure if the transfer in I do see an identical number of transfer in for group health insurance um but then there are some areas where I see transfer outs but it doesn't necessarily mean it's going into that particular item so I just wanted to see if you if
somebody can just kind of like um explain uh why is what's happening with the transfer outs and where is it why is it being transferred into those areas evening Council the transfer in and out doesn't necessarily have to
match the in and out just the total has to equal the transfer in amount has to reconcile with the transfer out so if you're going to transfer 50,000 in various lines you should have 50,000 to
transfer out to cover where you transfer into if that makes sense it doesn't necessarily mean that this line 20,000 transfer out has to match a transfer in number it's just the overall the bottom line okay
um so like when it's I'm seeing like there are a few areas where it says transfer in for salaries and wages um so my only well my question regarding that is the salary and wages would have been um approved at the beginning of the 2020 24 budget year so were there new hires
or were people not paid like why would there be transfer in for salaries okay we're trying to uh cover um retro payments forting un regarding that situation yeah okay okay all right all right so that so
this is regarding that situation now with these transfer inss will that satisfy the um the mixup or the confusion with the salaries hopefully because those numbers are estimates I'm almost positive it should cover it if
nothing else pops up yeah okay so this bottom 157 300 to your um understanding it should satisfy the issue um and you will know when if it doesn't like when will you know like hopefully I would
know before um the end of March because after March we cannot transfer between uh reserves okay that's all that's all my questions thank you okay any other questions on this resolution
question all right roll call councilwoman Peron yes councilwoman Macintosh yes Deputy Mayor Dr worthy yes mayor Whitfield yes thank you um and then the other resolution
that you wanted to discuss further um was resolution 202562 um so this title is resolution uh this resolution is titled resolution of the township of Willingboro County of Burlington state of New Jersey appointing members to
various boards and commissions can I get a motion in a second moved second moved by Deputy Mayor worthy seconded by mayor Whitfield discussion discuss thank you Madame mayor um I just wanted to well first I appreciate the residents who put
in for boards and commissions um and I noticed um there was an applicant missing on um for the economic development committee and so I would like to add uh Marilyn Bell as business owner for economic development um she put in her form it was submitted to the
clerk's office February 13th and so just wanted um her to be included on this resolution thank you Dr worthy yes we did um receive that it came through um in an email I believe this afternoon so it's okay with everyone to add her
all right I just want to make sure just want to make sure um Miss Miss Banks I see that she put in but she's still on the committee on on that Advisory Board correct um or there I'll have to double check um I believe her
term was up oh um at the end of last year did we have any more openings no okay yes we did have a couple a few residents that put in for the shelter board but that committee is full so we won't be able to add any additional
members to that board so the residents for consideration are Marilyn Bell as a business own or as a business owner for the economic development committee Jamal Harris um for a business owner as on the
economic development committee as well as Amber rejoyce for as a resident member of the Green Team and environmental committee all right and we will go to roll call for
that that's prone yes councilwoman Macintosh yes Deputy Mayor Dr worthy yes mayor wh yes thank you thank you to those residents for coming in and also please come to see
the clerk to be sworn in no not my name you swear oh we can do swearing now if we have anyone here anyone present yeah Miss Bell is present she's gonna get that
you oh well if if you have to do that then we can do it after a little later we have some other business to take care of but we'll call you up to where you in tonight okay Madam clerk you can
continue so that was all our resolutions um we do not have a treasurer's report for today so our next order of business is the approval of the minutes can I get a motion a second to adopt the January 21st and February 4th 2025 regular
council meeting minutes please so moved second moved by Deputy Mayor worthy seconded by counc Macintosh any discussion roll call councilwoman Peron yes councilwoman Macintosh yes Deputy Mayor Dr worthy yes
mayor Whitfield yes thank you um and then if you are okay I'm G to jump right into my updates please proceed um so for my updates for 20 for January because um we ran out of time with
the board of ction um presentation um I'm just going to make it easy it was basically my statistics for January I sent you guys um a copy if you um if anyone wants a copy let me know and I will send it out to you um
and the other thing that I wanted to touch on in January was we had our rabies clinic January 22nd at the Willingboro Firehouse um for having it in January it was pretty good turnout we had 36 vaccines given thank you to the fire department and chief brunette for letting us use the firehouse for the
event um so that was January for this meeting um as I'm sure most of you are aware we have the special election for the board of education on March 11th 2025 that's three weeks from today um I've been
working diligently with the school district and the county um Board of Elections County Clerk and superintendent of Elections just to make sure we're on the same page um to try and have a smooth election we're utilizing all of our polling districts and locations so um there shouldn't be
any confusion with the polling locations you're just going to go to your normal location um like any other election if you're not sure on your polling locations let me know and I can um help you out um the deadline to register for this specific election is actually today
I talked to the county this morning um they said that if anyone here happens to not be registered to vote and you want to vote in this election specifically um I put out um applications in the back on the table if you as long as they're
stamped today by me I can bring them to the county tomorrow and you will be signed up to vote in this specific election um so that was register to vote and then also the other um thing I got from the county is the petitions to be
on the primary ballot they have changed um there's been some changes from the state so we finally got the new petitions in and there's also a new signature requirement so if anyone um is interested in a petition please let me
know we have them in our office um and I can give you some more information on that um other than that that's pretty much it if you have any questions for the special election or the primary election coming up there's a lot of
crazy deadlines um in the next couple months so just uh feel free to give us a call the local clerk's office is a really good resource resource to keep in touch with um all different types of Elections not just local elections but
um all the way up to the governor so um our extensions are 1029 1077 1028 that's all I got all right thank you madam clerk uh any questions councilwoman McIntosh all right I heard I just
listened to you with the um oh got the clinic yes and we just switched it this year yes um 36 people's okay you know consider January um as clerk do you think it's wise to maintain that clinic in the January months versus the summer
months which we usually have a pretty good turnout and I think people are used to that um I know the prior clerk had a reason for changing it but yeah so I do see both sides um I
think it's very beneficial to have a dog clinic earlier in the year because it gets a lot of people aligned with the state requirements for rabies licenses um however I I do get that it's not ideal for clinics um it's cold and um
dogs don't love being inside um however Burlington City actually just um did a drive-thru dog clinic and they had a pretty good success rate and the vets that did our Clinic were the vets for
them and they said it worked out really well and they had a really good turnout so I'm going to work with Burlington City to see how um that ran and see if we can kind of move in that direction next year um so we can kind of keep dogs
in the car and we can keep people warm and we can get more people so that's that's the goal for next year thank you madam mayor thank you councilman McIntosh any other questions for the clerk all
right yeah thank you madam clerk for your updates and now we will do the swearing in if Miss Bell will come up good evening Miss Bell evening thank you for volunteering to be a member of the economic development committee we look
forward to your continued service to willing Brown and if you would just raise your right hand and repeat after me abely I state your name I Marilyn Bell do solemnly swear do
solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of United States and the state of New Jersey and the state of New Jersey that I will bear true faith and Allegiance I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same to
the same and the governments established and the governments established in the united states in the United States in this state and in this state under the authority of the The People Under The Authority of the people and I will faithfully and I will faithfully
impartially impartially and justly perform and justly perform all of the duties all of the duties of Economic Development board member of Economic Development board member according to the best of my ability according to the best of my
ability so help me God so help me God thank you so much for and congratulations all right and now we will move on to some unfinished business that we have um the first topic of discussion is the
pools in Willingboro this has been a topic of uh consideration for a number of years now on how we manage how many tools we have in Willingboro that are open and functioning to their um optimal
capacity I guess um we do have a number of infrastructure problems with the pools some leaks that are continuing and persistent um some worsening um and the pools need prepare so as a council we need
to give some direction to the manager on the direction that we'd like to go with the pools um before we start that I do I would like Mr Harris if you can have Miss Bolton come up to give an update on Aquatics programming for this year and
maybe some of her insights um for the current operations of the pool and current status of the pools if you have any as well absolutely um Miss Balden and while miss Balden is is coming forth um I'll give you just a
brief um update you know we've had many years uh issues with the pools we know it's going to cost us a substantial amount of money to um to remediate the pool situations I did more recently have a
conversation with the wua uh regarding specifically Penny Packer pool although it is not as bad as it has been in the past we do anticipate that the water usage for the 75 days
that the pool would be inutil ization for 2025 would come to about 720,000 gallons which would equate to about $4,500 worth of uh excess water charges
and chemical charges so that is the the question we have spent about 50,000 um to try to Band-Aid Penny Packer pool um and I don't think that we can do anything further uh regarding that uh so
we're going to either have to make a decision to either abandon the pool or find some alternative solution um uh to remediate it but for this year I miss um Balden will highlight some of the
programming and then I'm going to ask the council to make a determination if they think that another $4,500 for another summer would be um a worthy ex expense Miss Balden good evening Council mayor Deputy Mayor
um in the public I'm going to just um so mayor as you said um we have been dealing with this um problem for um several years now and um I guess we're kind of at the point of no return the sheet that um I'm presenting to you is
just basically an overview of um pretty much the hours of the pool the different programming and lessons um that we have and then also incorporating um the amount of camps that we service pool parties and then the different um events
like we have our Aqua paloa dive and movie this year we're looking to have um theme days at the pool and also some teen events as well um so the biggest thing is we do have um most of our youth classes that that happened at the penny
Packer pool and if you look at the timing of some of those things they do overlap with some of the um events um swim classes that we have at Country Club um with that being said um I think it would just be a matter of if we
determine whether or not we're going to move forward of course in a perfect world having both pools open would be ideal we wouldn't have to really juggle schedules we'd be able to accommodate all of the pool parties we'd be able to accommodate all of the camps but now it gets to a point of is it really feasible
does it really make sense because we're kind of putting um good money behind bed and we've been doing that for years so if we do decide that we're going to move from um having um one pool to um from two pools to one um of course I think uh
Country Club is probably in the better condition than Penny Packer um and we would just kind of need to know that early so that when we roll out everything concerning our aquatic programs when we're rolling it out we're rolling it out at one time last year
Penny Packer opened 3 weeks late so we started the infant classes at Country Club um but the people when they registered in the system we had them slated for Penny Packer so then it was the confusion then when Penny Packer open oh now your your classes aren't at country club now you're over Penny Packer now we're starting this but if we
know exactly what we're doing moving forward when we put out the information then the information is seamless it matches what we have in our system when everybody are registered ER for the classes and then we just know going forward that's just what we're doing um and then we'll be able to um try to uh
figure out where we need to um switch the classes for example there's um some of the Saturday sessions that we have at Penny Packer for the infants and the toddlers but at the same time we do have something going on at Country Club with Adult Swim so we would just have to cancel out Adult Swim for that hour
because we do have people that register for the infant and toddler classes so we would need to you know make that happen um we also have family swim on particular days um in the evening but we would just cancel out family swim for a couple of those days because we do have
evening um classes for the Youth for those lessons and in that particular class we had close to 40 people so that's something that we want to um continue on so people do sign up for the classes so we want to make sure that we have the classes available it'll just be a matter of juggling the schedules um so
I think we can definitely make it work we would just need to you know know what direction the council wants to go into so that we can just make the preparations early on and as we move forward everybody's on the same page okay thank you Miss Balden any questions from the
council Deputy Mayor um thank you Miss B my question is for Miss yes thank you Miss Bon Mr Harris um so if we let's say we decide to close um one of the pools over the summer would we be a would it would we
be in a position to I think I can answer my question will we be making any progress over the summer towards the repair or construction or anything during the summer months or would it be that it
would just be out of use for the summer but it would be too early to actually if we're building or doing something we still wouldn't be doing that actively over this summer so the the answer to that question is the part two uh to decision
the governing B is going to need to make as to what are we going to do with the pool um do you want to investigate uh relocating another Pool location um in the township and possibly uh developing a new pool that would remediate the
issues both at Country Club and Penny Packer um Do You Want To possibly uh investigate uh revamping completely Penny Packer pool uh so the part two of that would be to uh authorize one of our
Engineers to maybe um spend some time during the summer months to develop a plan for the pool and then the governing body would determine if they're going to make the capital Investments uh required to do whatever it is that would be best
for the the township do that answer your question it does thank you okay I also know there's been some interest in yearound swimming um and I wanted to get some put some feelers out to the Council
on your level of interest in providing a year- round option because if we are considering developing a new slim facility um that could be something that can be incorporated in that plan that's I would like to see um year
round um but I think the original questions it's kind of hard to make a decision if we don't know the cost of um in the time frame of the build out for Penny Packer um you said the cost for that summer would be
4500 yes just to just to keep it open yes for the summer and I I think I asked Miss Balin this previously I think we would be overloaded right correct that um if we just if that's the one pool and we don't know if there's going to be any work
done during the summer anyway correct do we probably won't do any more remedia work on that pool during the summer right it would just be sting out of commission as Dr worthy said for that I would say keep it open because I do think it's one of the
highlights of Willingboro um but I do think we need to make it a priority to start the investment and understand what the investment is right I don't I don't know the investment so it's hard for me to say well just close it and we don't have a plan after but I do see the pool Country Club pool is when I drive out
there is full um as long as there's no safety hazards and we're not losing a th gallons of water you I don't know what we're really losing and what disrepair Penny Packer is in maybe I don't have the whole synopsis on
that so the total gallon usage um again was estimated at 720 ,000 and that's a comp a combination of regular filling and splashing and and evaporation um and conjunction with um
leaks the leakage as well and those were based on our numbers from last year prior to and after repairs were made um having have spoken with Mr Mackey uh he is very comfortable that is about what
we anticipate the usage to be and they charge $530 8 cents per thousand gallons of utilization so if you take 720 multip by 538 that comes out to $3,875 worth of water usage but then we
have to consider chlorine and things like that so that's where we came up with the rust estimate of $4,500 okay and then for Madame mayor's question I definitely do support um year round I think that's something that we do need in will and burrow um whether
it's that Country Club Penny packer and I would be interested in also looking I think you had mentioned Hawthorne at one point um even if there's a better um a better foundation for having a pool
somewhere else I'm open to that conversation but would you authorize the the engineer to speak or put together or speak to the engineer and get a proposal as to maybe designing or looking at further um doing something with our
pools in these areas so we did have an evaluation done um on how much it would cost to do a full evaluation of our pool infrastructure here in Willingboro the quotes came back at more than $100,000
for an evaluation of all the pools um and many of them are in worse condition than the one at Penny Packer so I don't know how beneficial that it would be to study all of the pools um for over
$100,000 when many we already know that many of them are not really reparable um I would be interested in um having our engineer maybe look at some other sites and put together a proposal for a new um
facility a new location for a pool um that is with the intention or the long-term plan to decommission Penny Packer pool and maybe do some uh larger revital or revamping of the Country Club
location Council one yes um so I um I am in favor of the idea of us looking into creating an indoor outdoor pool year round what we've been calling it um and looking at where does it make the most sense of course with the the plans um I
rather use the resources doing that rather than like mayor said looking at little pools um however I remember Penny Packer has a lot of um uh what it say it caters to the younger babies so if we do decide to
demolish or eliminate that and just create an indoor outdoor I think I would like to see some more development for the younger children at the Country Club you know to try to just keep that into the plans too um because Penny Packer
had like the one feet pool and they have the splash which was really um really nice and so I just didn't want to see that go away um so with our research I would like to see that incorporated you know as well for the outdoor Parts um I
like the idea okay so would I be correct in saying we'd like to oh one other thing and I agree with um councilman um Macintosh to keeping Penny Packer open for the summer while we do this because um it does get
pretty crowded over the summer and you know I think I would like to keep it open with that in mind as well okay so would I be correct in the direction for the manager being to uh keep Country Club and Penny Packer
pools open for the 2025 season um as well as explore a new site um for an indoor outdoor yearr round swimming facility um and also incorporate some
plans for younger children either as an addition to the country club site or in the new facility right okay understood thank you thank you Mr Harris okay the next topic on our
unfinished business is the change in form of government we had um there have been some discussions about um changing the form of government that we utilize here in Willingboro the current form of
government we are under the Faulkner act in a council manager form of government um that means the council people are elected and the mayor is selected from the elected um by the council from the
elected council members but the data day business is performed by the township manager um we did have a memo provided to us or done for us by malma and Associates last
year um with how the process um of changing the government could go as well as some options for um potential other forms of government um and I wanted to
open up for discussion on this topic um to the council any starting discussion on this topic all right well um if there's no discussion on this topic okay okay well if there's no topic or
discussion from this um we will table this conversation until um further notice and lastly we had a um there is slated for May 2025 a golf outing um
that the township is doing in partnership with the new New Foundation um we were supposed to be getting an update on that tonight Mr Harris is there any Representatives here to give that update or maybe
online or are there any representatives from the newno foundation online to give that update it did make uh the committee aware that you did want some type of report and I they were aware that you were expecting something but I was not
provided any information as to who would be coming and making a presentation to the body okay all right so if that is the case then we will also table that topic for right now and um we may discuss it a
little further in executive session all right any new business seeing none mayor if if I may yes Alpha F Alpha fraternity has submitted a request and move forward with the installation of um their bench
at the at the um mil Creek Park and um requiring as a requirement of the ordinance you need to give your blessing on the design and what the plaque would read so if you are fine with that I will go ahead and ask them for their
$750 installation fee and then they can move forward with installing uh their bench at mil Creek Park okay um so we would need a motion and second
moved all right second I'll second it I was going to say I make the motion that we approve the the plaques for Alpha fat Alpha for installation at mil Creek Park second all right moved by Deputy Mayor worthy seconded by councilwoman Peron
any discussion there be none roll call councilwoman Peron yes councilwoman Macintosh yes Deputy Mayor Dr worthy yes mayor Whitfield yes thank you all right and then otherwise in new
business I did have one update um we have started the interview process for the deputy clerk position um we had one interview today and we will be having three more um interviews tomorrow um
Miss saino Deputy Mayor and I are doing the first round of interviews as it is a council appointment and then anyone that makes it through the first round interviews will then be brought to a council meeting for um a full Council interview any questions on that or any
comments additions all right I have a question though Council regarding the um interviews for the reg position do we have any updates on that we do we need to pick a date as
a council just to do those interviews but they are ready to be scheduled okay okay so I'll ask Miss saino to send out um for availability so that we can schedule those interviews okay one other question I know we voted
to extend the um the current person that's there is that date approaching what what date did we choose I forget there's no end date to that um it they're in place until another a new judge is appointed okay so business is
still being conducted right okay got it thank you all right it is now time for public comment this public comment is for all topics you will have four minutes um if you wish to speak please raise your hand online or come up to the podium and
state your name and address public comment is now open good evening honorable mayor and to all the council here I'd like to read something um so that I can keep my thoughts and ideas organized for the
record my name is Esther Turner and I reside at Three Wood Haven Lane my mother mestine Brown who is 94 years old also resides at the home uh recently res solicited the services of GPS plumbing company which
is an approved plumber on townships uh plumber list for wenb bro it was determined that the Orangeburg piping system had rotted and collapsed causing the toilets to back up I replaced the sewer line from the home all the way to my property fin line
adjacent to my neighbor's property a good portion of my yard had to be completely torn apart as the ne as the workers needed to bring in a back ho to dig deep to replace the Orangeburg piping with PVC piping the job was
extensive totaling $9,800 the plumbing company was able to connect to what they thought was a good pipe leading to the main a week later the backup occurred again again and GPS Plumbing came out and determined that
the problem was located further down the line towards the main to clear the line it requires digging up hug trees fences Landscaping pools on my neighbor's properties and clearing any other obstruction in the path leading to the
main the plumbing company reviewed the maps provided by the MUA and it appears that our house is the only home that has this unusual triangle configuration to reach the main it is at least 118 ft
from my fence line to continue its Pathway to the Maine obviously my neighbors are not ha or are are not happy because to get to the main source it will require entry to their yards disorganizing and destroying their
property imagine the cost associated with such a job I was told by the MUA that it is the homeowners responsibility to replace or repair their own sewer line I've done that and I have the proof however it is very difficult to
comprehend how I'm to be responsible for a sewer line that reaches beyond my property line which is connected to other homes the configuration of the sewer line of this town and its methodology of connecting several homes
to se lines sharing the same Pathway to the main was a decision of the builders and the township approved it that's a Township problem not the homeowners problem furthermore most Pathways to get to the main involves entering the
neighbor's property it's not something the town inspectors tell you about when the property is inspected after buying the home nor is it a prerequisite for the township to inspect the line uh before issuing the certificate of
occupany due to the impact of how homeowners in this town could be affected it should be a requirement we pay taxes and we do not own the land which is more of a reason why the township and mua should take responsibility I'm told that corner
properties are more at risk for this type of a problem I have a corner house so uh my parents and I have been residents for 58 years in this town I raised two children um in the school system and we're one of the first
families 60 um s years ago when this was built when well 60 years or so ago when this these homes were built we're one of the first families um in this town it's heartbreaking to think that I may have to move from a community that I grew up in I have many expenses associated with
my mother's health who um has dementia your time is done okay thank you thank you Miss Turner we'll answer all questions um after public comment has concluded any other public
comment good evening Gary Johnson 54 gr Mercy Lan good evening Mr John I'm here tonight to speak on something that actually was brought up in a couple meetings ago about beautification of wenber I'm all in favor of ordinances and
regulations that will beautify the township but in particular the some of them are causing a bit of difficulty in particular the uh trash carts and the uh recycle carts uh this has been I've come across
it before but I bring it up again because of something recently our snowstorm if I were to take my carts and move them to the rear of the house then I would have to br bring them out through a Passage through myard is a Swale and every time there's any kind of
moisture that becomes a swamp so I neither only have a longer distance I have a horrific tour trying to get a can through there so I moved it to the side of horse because I got a no no notice saying well you can't have your cart there because it was out front
and behind some shrub that only partially hit it so I've done all right although it's a longer haul in a more difficult Hole uh as some of you may know I've gotten a little older and even though my body keeps
trying to tell me I'm old my mind doesn't want to accept it but anyhow we recently had a snowstorm wasn't really that much of a snowstorm but by the same token even that little snow trying to get trash card out through that snow
through the street was a hole so I'm I would ask you to kind of reconsider something this now my I didn't have my trash cans in front of the garage door where they're out in the open I had them in the front of the house they were behind some Shrubbery
that didn't quite cover them I thought about trying to find some kind of Shrubbery that would but as someone who's a little older in age it would certainly make it a great deal easier trying to get the recycle and the trash cans out to the street
because uh usually I shovel the driveway and that driveway is open and it makes it easy to get the carts out and back in so I would ask to give a little consideration especially considering that people put them on the side of the
house and have a side of the house that faces the street some people have them in the rear of the house but their rear of the house is open and faces out into a street so the current ordinance doesn't completely solve the problem so I would just ask you to give a little
more consideration of this problem I don't think it's quite as simple as it appeared so thank you thank you Mr Johnson any other public comment is there any public comment online uh yes mayor Torina
Williams good evening Miss Williams good evening Mrs Whitefield whatfield deputy mayor worthy councilman bint toas councilman Peron
absent councilman um Anderson Township manager worthy my apologies Township Clerk and fellow residents I want to um just in recognition of Black History Month want to say thank you for
everyone's dedication to our Township to make it a burer strong and make it a better place for people of all ages most likely you already know this especially you um mayor Whitfield as an active member of
NAACP that the theme for this year's Black History Month is African-Americans and labor and I constantly say we are the change we wish to see and what we want to do for ourselves we want to do for others and all of you make play a
significant role in the Willing Bor that has come when I was GR growing up in the church I me excuse me in the community all of these opportunities for children to be trained in different areas for them to learn so many different things throughout the course of their youth so
that they could stay on the straight and narrow being active in the community and helping to dis discover what their talents are it didn't exist the way it does so I want to say special thanks to all of you in addition the Parks and Recreation Department um congrats on all the great work that you're doing for
people of all ages um Mrs Foster of Senior Services community services and the list goes on thank you to the to her and the rest of the department and the list goes on I have four minutes two minutes now to extend thanks to everybody but so I'll
just say everyone thank you so much we all played an intricate part to make the community what it is today of course there's always Improvement for everybody we're not perfect we're not God but I just want to use this opportunity the last Tuesday to say thank you to everyone may God bless you physically
mentally emotionally and spiritually um in addition to that since I was signed on in the beginning I don't know if this was already advertised but willing borrow SDA Church will be having our annual Black History Month service
this coming Saturday where we'll be paying tribute um to different men and women of African-American descent and um we encourage everyone to please join us because don't care how many black history months there's been
there's always someone new to learn about and don't care how much we know about Dr King there's always something else to learn about that re that magnificent man Dr Martin Luther King Jr and those of us um of even if we're not of Adventist
Faith at the end of the day the each African-American 7th Day Adventist they did it for the same reason to love and care for one another so if you can please join us the service begins at 11: a.m. and then right after the service
there'll be a lunch service at 12:30 I believe I wish I could be there if we could have visited but we're away and then of course everyone by now knows the weather so may God richly bless everyone and take good care of yourself live love and serve and we'll
all have a legacy Left Behind not for the sake of us but for all the things that we did for the community thank you so much for your time and service blessings to you and your family and the township of willing bar thank you Miss Williams you're welcome a with you thank
you any other public comment um we'll take one in the courtroom and then we'll take the one online thank you you William Weston 44 Bor Lane I just want to mention that there is a wua meeting tomorrow at 6 pm
and the link will be online and also as a member of the NAACP there's currently an exhibit at the library it'll be there for the whole month uh through the 1st to the 28th and it's an African-American inventur exhibit displayed by the
African-American inventors museums and there will be a presentation an event on February 20th uh from 6:00 to 8:00 P.M at the library it's a free event and James Howard the executive director of the black invest inventors Hall of Fame
will present stories of African-American innovators who have invented groundbreaking techn technological advancements that have improved the quality of life worldwide and just wanted to advertise that thank you thank you Mr
Weston okay bua Williams good evening Mrs Williams good evening May Whitfield good evening Deputy Mayor Dr worthy good evening councilwoman
Peron um who did I miss I'm so nervous I'm I so nervous yeah anyway good evening um Township manager uh exmor um McIntosh
and everyone it's good to be on again I miss you people I miss I miss all of you um I think though I think you're still doing an awesome job I love all of you and I appreciate you and I'm saying
please keep up the good work um I see um Miss Bell is active in the community still and I'm glad to see her um Terina um invited all of you to attend
um black history months celebration at our church although we are in in Virginia but our heart is there with you all and they're serving a wonderful lunch so I hope um there will be some
visiting from you dear people we wanted to log on on time to hear Pastor pray but there was some difficulty logging on so I'm not even sure what happened I'm going to have to re listen to see what transpired but I hope that he was there
and he was able to pray for Willing bar Township meeting have I missed anything Terina I missed anything just say thanks again for all the memories that we were able to make when we were in will bar yes yes tell
people constantly I have many families my IM Med family my church family my Township family and then the new family that we have so may God richly bless you keep smiling because you make so many different people happy for the great work and service you do um in so many
different ways you may disagree at different points but you jointly agree to serve and do things collectively as a body and we just love our Township we love our Police Department we love our Fire Department EMS you're all doing a
wonderful job keep up the good job um Township manager Harris as well God bless you all thank you Mrs Williams you're welcome mayor and congratulations may yes
yes yes any other public comment hearing none uh yes mayor mallerie good evening Miss mallerie ah yes good evening um I noticed the protocol was not followed for the last two
speakers and uh that concerns me because we're always told that we have to give our name and our address so we're going to forego that for some then I think we need to um make an adjustment as as far
as that is concerned uh on another note um over the weekend there were quite a few trees and Limbs and those kinds of things that were brought down by the high
winds and um I think it would be a good idea to notify the residents as to a contct number uh that they can reach someone on the weekend uh is especially if this happens on their
property and they have to reach out to uh the Township in my case I back up to an easement and if um we had quite a few limbs that fell in our backyard and we're not sure as
to who we should contact if this happens um on the weekend so just you know wanted to point out that we had quite a few branches that fell from the trees in back of our property and um it would be good to know
who we could reach out to uh especially since it's Township it's on the Township's easement um as far as you know this kind of um damage that we had so that concludes
my comments for this evening thank you thank you miss m any other public comment this time here what was that I'm sorry not at this time here being none public comment is now
closed Mr Harris there were some issues for uh to be addressed first was um Esther Turner and the Orangeburg hype issue so um unaware M Turner specific
Sor uh issue with her her Plumbing but Mr tun who is our Inspection Department uh director of our inspections department did reach out and um who was listening to a meeting and he did state that Willingboro Township does require s
lateral inspections in order to provide a certificate of occupancy and that is the responsibility of the and they provide a certificate stating that one was done the Sewer Lateral inspection must pass before Co is issued
but obviously this is a newer requirement um that was recently put into place and would not apply to this particular individual who lived in the property for a number of of years um and she is correct however there are
multiple properties where the Sewer Lateral qu extends into other properties iny configuration and unfortunately um regarding sewer lines and Sewer laterals they are the responsibility of the
homeowner to replace however um Willingboro does participate in an insurance program that homeowners can uh purchase insurance to kind of guard themselves against these unexpected um events which she's
absolutely correct when it comes to sewer work we can be quite expensive so uh I am very uh sorry that she had to experience that um but unfortunately there's not really much that the township um can do but you
know Miss Turner wants to have any further discussions we'd be more than happy to put her in touch with uh Mr tunl and we can connect her with the wua as well thank you Mr Harris Deputy Mayor worthy yes thank you Madame mayor Miss Turner I'm sorry that that that you're
experiencing that Miss uh patland Z Harvey um contacted me and said to please contact Mr Jim Mackey directly uh tomorrow um so that he can talk through this issue with you she did receive email corresponden about it and has been
out of the office but Mr Mackey um she let him know that you will be reaching out to him tomorrow um I have his number if you don't have it handy if you'd like for me to give it to you I can you have it okay um so that they can work with you together on that issue and again I apologize you're going through that it's
very very difficult um with sewer lines and taking care of family commitments um so we do want to make sure you you know get the attention that you need on this matter thank you Council one M yeah and I and I just wanted to add to um Mr Harris's Point um
Willingboro Bloomberg orangg Orangeburg I always want to call them Bloomberg Orangeburg pipes they're they're approaching over um 50 years so it would be um Inc combing upon many of the residents to get that insurance because they are aging and it wasn't the best
material and I've had a couple of people it it happened to so I do I do Fe my heart goes out to you Miss Turner because um that's pretty bad um but I would encourage the residents to get the insurance doesn't have to be the one
that Willingboro is a part of there's plenty of insurance but are those pipes or those uh lines are aging we're over 50 years old so it's bound to happen to each house so I would just definitely encourage our residents to get that
insurance it it can be quite helpful um in the in the instance that it does happen so thank you um yeah so with this situation I think I'd like to hear more from the MUA once she speaks with them
um however with the part about the piping going across the neighbors homes you know as far as like our our laws our ordinances resolutions you know at what point and I get I recognize on
the owner's property you're you're responsible for your your the part that you are living on including your yard but once you start seeping into the neighbor's yard at what point is it no
longer your financial or responsibility whereby it's really on maybe either I'm not sure if it's the MUA or the township because it's underneath and it has to do with the land I'm not sure if that's a legal question or a solicitor but that
would be something I want to you know just to follow up on and see what does that look like he'll be hearing I'm sorry no go ah Mr Hol will hear about that as well as uh mua so maybe we'll get some more information on that yeah okay all right thank you thank you
Council for and Mr Turner I just want to say I understand and you know the issue that you're having it is permeating throughout the township that is one of the reasons why we partnered with that insurance company um to offer a lowcost
sewer line insurance for Willing bro residents because it's not covered under your regular homeowners insurance um if you have that information I would suggest sharing that with your neighbor as well um so that they will have that information and I'll ask Mr Harris um to
ALS also just um send out another notice to Residents just reminding them that the insurance is available um because this issue will continue to happen um as those pipes
age and we will ask Miss Jackson to add some information about that on the Willing B weekly okay thank you Mr Harris next we have Gary Johnson who talked about um the ordinance regarding
trash carts well that would be a larger discussion um whether what the body decides what they want to do in regards to um that particular of issue uh which
we have heard quite a bit from a lot of residents U so maybe it's time we consider maybe relaxing some of those requirements as far as trash hand placement or maybe offering other op opportunities or options um other than just leaving them if you could put them
direct decoratively I don't know but that's a a deeper conversation yeah I think there might be a possibility of doing some sort of sidey yard enclosure or something like that that's a little closer to the street um that would allow residents to
bring that down but um Mr Harris I'd ask you to work with your team and maybe come up with some recommendations um for that so uh for review by the council all right other questions thank you um Terina Williams and Miss uh buan
Williams for your thanks and um congratulations and acknowledgement of black history month thank you Mr Weston for um the reminder about the MUA meeting tomorrow
and the NAACP event at the Willingboro Library um I will be going to see the event along with the neighborhood watch on the 20th so I hope to see many of you there and lastly we had a comment from
uh Miss Maller I will um say that as an oversight on my behalf miss mallerie about the um address protocol um I ask for your uh patience and I appreciate your patience um as we move forward and
as I kind of grab get my footing on orchestrating the meetings but thank you for calling that out um and keeping me on my toes um also there was uh a comment on a question about trees being brought down
by winds over the weekend and who if anyone can be called um to help with those situations oh if it is an emergency situation where the tree falls and and it's an issue or a danger to to life um
then of course you would call um police fire and um and then it will be addressed um in a non-emergent situation um then please reach out to Department of Public Works um immediately after the
storm and uh we will work with the homeowners to kind of remediate um the situation as best that we we can okay and are there any immediate services on weekends or um with the best course of action
just to be to call send an email or go through the Willingboro Connect app to report the issue that is the the optimum Choice through the Willing perrow connect act um that is where um the information gets spread out the quickest
um but other than that um no okay all right any other comments on public comments seeing none um we will go to council
comment any council members have comments for this evening councilman McIntosh first I just want to say thank you to everyone for coming out tonight I might just have two shout outs um I know during the last snowstorm or the first
snowstorm we had a lot of complaints about the snow removal and it was very noisy a lot of static with the residents and it was kind of quiet this last time and I think y'all did a great job shoveling the like I think these streets were like wizard of eyes yes so I just
wanted to give them the shout out DPW give you a shout out um because there was a lot of crickets I you know not too many people say good job so um good job um my other shout out is just to Captain Perez I know he's not here but just want to let um Chief bucks know that I you
know ran into some people from the Department of Childhood Services and they are screaming his Praises for just helping them out um and I'm going to quote is that he's our hero um but I know that's a broader conversation that we need to have in
terms of our interaction with the um DCF um I would like to have that conversation how we interact with those situations um but I just wanted to let you know that they are screaming his Praises just for his concern and um
gentleness and handing handling the com um okay okay so yes so they um you know but the DCF contacted me was like uh I'm not no longer mayor but he did you know they were just very grateful for um you
know how he handled the situation um and I do want to thank the rest of the Departments I know you know there's some things that we don't see that are handled and so I do just want to say thank you to um all of our staff you know we don't we can't do this
without you and I'm you know I never want you to forget that we do see it so thank you council do you have any comments um I just briefly just wanted to um thank everyone for you know adding to our discussion
this evening it's always helpful um those that are online and also in person uh just giving us your feedback um and questions and concerns it it does help um when we have to make decisions so thank you for participating in this evening's
meeting thank you Council pero Deputy Mayor worthy thank you Madame mayor um just wanted to remind the community we do have this special election coming up on March 11th also want to remind you to if you have not participated in any of
their Town Halls to please participate if you go in person request a tour um to see what so that you can see some of the things that they're talking about I I went and I got a tour and it um certainly um was uh eye opening to see
some of the conditions of the buildings um so I invite you to please do that also um if you haven't downloaded the Willingboro app do that and if you haven't downloaded the school district's app they have an app which I didn't think I needed except for when I kept saying I never know what's happening in
the schools it was like duh they have an app so the app is very helpful if you're curious about different performances or when a spelling be is happening or their own Black History Month programs and things like that and so just as a reminder the township doesn't have jurisdiction over the school district
but they do have communication U mechanisms in place so that even if you don't have children in the district you can still follow what's happening um in the school district there Schoolboard meetings are published there updates to the community are there they have a social media presence and so I think in
the spirit of one willing burrow as we're all striving to work together more collaboratively we can all get a little uncomfortable and reach a little bit further out than our normal than our Norms to understand what's happening um in other parts of willing borrow so the
school district and also uh the w w mua um so just wanted to put those out as reminders um so that we can make sure we're supporting everyone throughout the entire Community thank you Madame mayor thank you Deputy Mayor and lastly I do want to stress the
importance of the election on May 11th that referendum will or March 11th sorry March 11th March 11th March 11th is the day of the election March 11th um the ref referendum for the
school board is a very important topic that will not only impact the students and the condition of our schools but it will attack or it will have an impact on every resident here in Willingboro so if you haven't found out information about
it the school board does have a ton of information about it on their website there are still chances for you to attend one of their Town Halls um and you can also contact them directly to get any pertinent questions answered so
that you can make an informed decision on um to whether or not to support the two referendum questions the one on the critical improvements that are needed to the school buildings and the second question on the indoor track facility or
proposed indoor track facility also I just want to um say again or stress or justess reaffirmed that Starbucks is open I know this has been something that a lot of residents have been excited about they had their soft opening and
they will be having a grand opening soon and we will um ensure that everyone gets that invitation um to participate in that our police were out at the soft opening um showing major face at
Starbucks um so we appreciate their involvement in the community and um that opportunity to interact with residents in a nonthreatening venue also as Mr Harris mentioned we
have had a number of um Home Fires here my heart goes out to all of the families that were affected by the Home Fires that happened here in Willingboro over the past two months um it causes tremendous stress on everyone in the
community not just the homeowner but um you know we need to lend a hand support our neighbors how we can but also ensure that we're checking and testing our our smoke alarms so that we can protect ourselves and prevent um some of these
fires from getting to the magnitude that they have been getting to also be um careful and pay attention mindful of your space heaters and candles um don't leave those things unattended because they can um you know create a fire
hazard um and cause some issues so I wanted um encourage everyone in Willingboro to practice good fire safety check your smoke alarms um and they also have some support at the fire station for those
things um and you can see Chief uh verette or um go to the Firehouse for any other information regarding fire safety um I also did want to give a shout out to the MUA and the school board for the signing of the pre
apprenticeship program the Willingboro school district has partnered with the wua in giving our youth opportunities to get involved in water centered careers um with the MUA it is a federally funded
program which I think um you know it's great that it was approved and that it will be going through this year the students have started their classes and by the time they finish um the course the program they will be able to sit for
um their license as a water professional so I think that's providing another Avenue and opportunity for our students to make some career decisions present them with opportunities and really um take a hold of their future early um if
they if they want to go that way so thank you for all the hard work that happened over the two years to bring this program to fruition and I look forward to um the sucess ESS of those students um and lastly I did want to
shout out all the folks that um helped out in the snowstorm that happened I know DPW did a great job but there were some residents that really um showed out and was very neighborly helped shovel
neighbors um yards and I think that's really what community is about it's about helping out one another um when we see there's a need so thank you to all the residents that um found it not robbery to help their their neighbor
shovel and um keep their properties clean and safe as well and that is all I have for for tonight um being none we will have executive session tonight um so Madam
clerk resolution 2025-the 63 titled resolution authorizing a closed executive session in accordance with the New Jersey open public meeting act so moved moved by Deputy Mayor worthy
seconded by councilwoman Macintosh Mr Hal would you be able to um give the disclaimer for that well it's actually in the resolution but executive session would be to allow me to address matters that fall within the attorney
client privilege and potential contract negotiation thank you Mr H and roll call councilwoman Peron yes councilwoman Macintosh yes Deputy Mayor Dr worthy yes mayor Whitfield yes thank you thank you
we will be back for approximately 20 minutes um and there may take there may be action after executive session e e e e
e e e e e e e e e e
e e e e e e e e e e e
I need a motion to come out of the executive session so moved moved by councilwoman Peron seconded by councilwoman Macintosh we will be taking no formal action tonight um so
call councilwoman Peron yes councilwoman Macintosh yes Deputy Mayor Dr worthy yes mayor withfield yes can I get a motion and second to adjourn so moved second hi hi
any thank you thank you