mayor I'm ready madame Mayor I'm ready to start whenever you No rush presentation will everything good okay thank you sir all right Madame Clerk the time is now 7 p.m
thank you Madam Mayor um the time is now 7 p.m i'd like to call the regular township council meeting to order may I do roll call councilwoman Peron present councilman Anderson is running a little late but he will be
here um Councilwoman Macintosh will be absent this evening deputy Mayor Dr worthy present and Mayor Whitfield present thank you please rise for the 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 indivisible with liberty and justice for all let us pray father God in heaven we thank you oh Lord for yet another day we thank you
for allowing us to join together just one more time to do the business of William Township god I ask that you touch each and every individual in this place right now touch the council as they make decisions on behalf of the township on behalf of the residents god give us grace give us peace give us direction give us guidance as we
continue through this meeting continue to bless Willing as only you can we love you and magnify you we pray in Jesus name amen amen thank you Deputy Manager Mr gary B lowry III and the compliance statement please
madam clerk notice was provided in compliance with chapter 231 of the public laws of 1975 to the Burlington County Times Trenton Times and Philadelphia Enquir 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 um good evening everyone thank you for being here this evening and um also to those who are joining us online um we
have a bit of an agenda today we have a few presentations um on some opportunities that are before us as well as the introduction of our budget this evening so um without further ado I will turn it over to Mr
harris our township manager to uh begin with his municipal updates good evening mayor and members of the the governing body and the ship um we're going to start our um meeting this evening with
an update from our engineer Mr russell Chupola after which Miss Jackson is going to come forth and bring some highlights of activities that are happening in the municipality mr chapola good evening good evening Mayor good
evening Deputy Mayor Madam Council and Mr solicitor i'd like to begin with a project that I'm working on there's two bathrooms in the JFK center i'm looking at as an alternate rather than going out to a consultant for there to do the
design i'm looking to do it possibly in house and I'm trying to work with I am working with the purchasing agent and also our building and grounds or buildings department to see if that can be done you know with my assistance in order to save the township quite a bit
of money we need to also get a proposal for what's called a watershed improvement plan in order to meet the new regulations imposed by the MS4 permits in New Jersey these regulations and plan
need to be done by January 2026 i was told that there are grants available to that which I will also look into uh we need to start also looking at NJ DOT local transportation project fund and local aid improvement infrastructure
fund projects which I haven't been able to decide which project we're going to do yet in addition to that that we have the municipal aid funds which you know we're going to be going after also this year and there is what's called a 2025
NJ dot set aside transportation alternative for things like bike lanes uh the uh caveat on that is we have a very short deadline that's April 11th and the projects have to be $2 million and over which could be an issue to try
to meet that um for Babbot Lane Remington and Verdict recently completed a recommendations for what they think will alleviate the flooding that area now they're going to submit me cost for the improvements i spoke with I bank
representatives this week and we were going to be applying for a clean water project storm water um grant for that project rather than trying to get other funding which would be more expensive
for the township and speaking of the I bank I had attended in person two seminars last week uh one for the I bank clean water program and one for the I bank transportation program and they were very informative to me as I've
never um you know been to one of their webinar or seminars before and got to learn a lot of things about what we can and can't do um Barnv submitted a proposal for a historical pesticide study that's
required for Mill Creek Park and Jake Place and we're in the process of going to recommend award for them to perform that work in order for that project to be completed and approved by Green Acres uh we're also looking to approve TNM
Associates for the design of Edge Lane after studying other three or four proposals um I finally got a meeting with um Rachel Stopper at the D remember last council meeting I discussed the
requirements for the Big D Marina for the um the permits that we're going to need to get that done and my meeting is April 22nd that is the earliest I can get that she is on out of country for the next three weeks so I
have that meeting set up with her and that will be an in-person meeting up in Trenton so we can go over all that uh we have two bridges in the county that are over 20 ft that are available to be on the federal aid system which means we can get federal funding for any repairs
and inspections uh those are on Penny Packer Drive and Van Skyber Parkway i'm going to be talking with Mr harris about meeting with the county engineer to see if they would take over these two bridges so that the township won't bear
the responsibility of cost for inspections and any repairs um Alignment Associates sent us two more concept plans number three and number four along with engineers
estimate for the US ATF track facility that came in this afternoon i have not gotten a chance to review them but I will discuss them with w with council at the next council meeting also last week I met with Jim Mullen from Pinoni
Associates at the JFK Performing Arts Center to go over uh the current phase of work being done to make sure that it's being done per plans and make sure that it's on schedule and also we we went over the proposed phase two improvements before that's going to be
going out the bid and Pinoni is is planning on submitting um the plans to council administrative administration prior to advertising and I think that is all I have tonight i hope I was brief enough any questions or
comments you glad to answer them no I don't okay um Mr chapola do we have are we still on track for the end of what second quarter for the performing arts studio or when is the proposed date for we are supposed to be
installing chairs in the middle of June okay so we're going to be you know early summer probably before we can get that from from what I gather and I came into this obviously after the fact there were a lot of change orders and things that
came up during the contract um that weren't unforeseen in the beginning so we're trying to get them incorporated as fast as possible i've been you know staying on top of Penoni to make sure that they're doing their due diligence to make sure that they're staying you
know on schedule make sure they're making the contractor stay on schedule okay also making timely pay applications so we can keep them moving forward okay we took some stuff out of I'm sorry out of their contract because the prices that we were getting for some of these
extras were uh from Levy Construction were so out of you know out of the in the stratosphere so we decided to move them into the phase two bid so we we'll be at competitive bids and we'll keep the prices down okay and then and I know the curtain was one of those things that
we move to phase two okay um like I said I'm not intimately familiar with every detail of this because I Hannah came in late on this but All right that's that's something that you need i'll make sure that you know that's taken care of too all right that is that is correct okay
thanks M um and then also on the Jake's Place project do we have a proposed or an estimated completion date on that project will it be ready for use this year i expect it to be um we have to get this historical pesticide analysis done
because they found evidence that there would be historic what they call historical pesticides because it was a former farm and orchard which is common in South Jersey so uh they have a proposal for us for them to do the work with R&V um with a consultant um that'll
take maybe a month you know then we have to submit the whole package back to Green Acres okay so we're then we're at the mercy of Green Acres as to when you know we can do that but I can have an answer for you you know yeah I think that would be great if we had a proposed timeline so that we can plan a grand
opening for that sure i can I can have that to Mr harris for you this week i'll try to get it all right any other questions for Mr chapola no mr harris and mayor just a a comment on your question one of the issues with the Jake's place in the pickup ball
courts that we're pressing up against now is the Jazz Fest so we have been talking we don't want to tear up that area and have it be a a a risk hazard during the Jazz Fest so we have been talking with um RMV about the length of
construction and we do believe that we will start construction on both of those immediately after and they're about 45 60day 90-day top construction so they should be completed by the end of this year okay so it would happen after the
JASS it wouldn't be ready for the JASS correct okay thank you all right thank you Mr you're welcome thank you council you can continue mr harris Mr jackson
good evening Mayor Deputy Mayor members of council and all assembled as we quickly approach the Easter season our annual egg stravagaza will be held on this Saturday April 5th from 11:00 a.m to 1:00 p.m that will be at the Kennedy Center and children between the ages of 7 and 12 are welcome
and then the following Saturday April 12th the younger children ages 3 through six um are invited to our Easter egg huntastic that will be held from 10:00 a.m until 11:00 and all children must be accompanied by an adult
on Saturday April 26 we will host our Earth Day and this year's event will accompany a community garden event from 10:00 am to noon and a collaboration with Go Grow as well as nature walks and photography sessions at Crystal Lake and then the month will conclude
with our annual phenomenal women awards event on Sunday April 27th at 3 p.m we're excited about the six phenomenal women who will be celebrated and who have excelled in various areas in the community the tickets are $60 and can be
purchased via willenber.com dr denise King will serve as our keynote speaker and the deadline to purchase tickets is April 11th so we're looking forward to another phenomenal event and just as a save the date Saturday May 30th 3rd saturday May 3rd is our clean community
spring cleanup event and more information will be shared about that thank you so much thank you Miss Jackson and um next we're going to have a presentation for the the council from Mr
adam with by Mr adam Bryan from Crossing Guard Services who is going to uh talk to you about potentially um shifting management of our crossing guards from the um or outsourcing the
management of our crossing guards from the police department to a uh a private organization so I'm going to bring forth uh Mr adam Um do you have the presentation or you want to Yes okay sean can you put the
put the presentation up on the screen sir can you give me a few minutes i just received it i'll download it and convert it to a PDF and it'll be up in in a few minutes okay thank you well while we wait if you can just introduce yourself that would be great
nice to meet you uh my name is Adam Bryan uh I started Crossing Guard Services back in uh 2022 um we started in Wayne New Jersey and uh Demer up in Bergen County in this area we're in uh Glouester City Haden
Township uh Woodbury City uh Westford National Park i think next year we'll be in Linen Wall um Winslow possibly Cherry Hill so it's kind of growing okay pretty rapidly yeah I see are you a former
crossing guard you know I'm not i um I started a company a lot of town townships are outsourcing the extra duty work for police officers so I I had a company that did that for about 10 years and I sold that and um a lot of them
would say "Hey I wish we had help with crossing guards." So it was kind of a easy decision to go into this oh nice all right yeah yes and we initially met Mr brian at the League of Municipalities conference and we were talking about um what he does and uh after those
conversations I was like hm there's potential in Willing Barrow so he did come in um my office uh the police department um Lieutenant Bankston and Sergeant Hanky we all sat down at the table and um Mr brian uh fill us in uh
what crossing guard services could do for Willing Burrow um I will tell you it is not really a cost savings mechanism uh because the dollar value would be about the same for the contract however it takes the management of the crossing
guards out of the police's hands which we have two higher level police officers that spend a lot of time managing crossing guards and puts it into the private organization and there are some benefits that come along with that so um
that's what Mr brian is going to be presenting to you this evening just for council's consideration i'm not asking for any decisions this evening um just so you can be aware and um and plan to see for further discussion all right
and if we have that presentation ready I I could just go through it it's um Go ahead you Yeah we the council members do have it in front of us um so we do have that and then once the presentation is up on the screen the public will be able
to follow along all right so yes so um I'll just kind of go through all the areas of of what we handle um basically the way it works we come in and um we'll manage the hiring the management the
scheduling the training the compliance all facets of the program um the big thing is since we directly manage the crossing guard staff the current crossing guards become employees of ours the one thing I assure everyone we'll put it in the contract and just
practically speaking everyone currently working would keep their positions so there'd be no changes uh we we go above and beyond we want everyone to stay it just it wouldn't work with with turnover
um so once there are employees now if there are openings um we do all the recruiting so um again anyone who lives in the township would always have the first right for any positions in the township so we're not looking to move
people from other towns here it's and again we'll put that in writing and and and you have my word on that um there's really no one path to recruiting we use local organizations we use uh the typical online we use Facebook we use
referrals we give $250 and it just um like I said there's really not one clear path it's it's little this little that to find the people um but once they they start the
job most absolutely love it so um the second area which is a big one is the compliance um and all this information will be provided to the township and the police department but that's just the background checks you know everyone's had um uh the sexual
abuse um checks uh children checks uh physicals to make sure they're up to the uh standards of the job these are all uh requirements by the state so it's you know and they're they're fairly extensive especially compared to other
states um and what we do is we put all this into a dashboard so um unfortunately there's been a a couple fatalities this year in New Jersey so there's been a lot of uh focus on compliance so if um you know the insurance companies come in and want to
see um just to make sure we're man being managed appropriately you'll have a dashboard where you could log in you'll see all where all the uh training stands where all the compliance check stands just to show we're on the up and up
um an extension of the compliance is um the training development again this is all statemandated and it's it's fairly extensive so we do um the classroom training uh the state requires two hours and then there's an annual retrainer
which I'm sure you do as well for all the current staff and we'll do that um we do all the um on the job training so it's 20 hours actually which is fairly extensive so anyone um who works once they're on their own they have to uh
actually pass three visual checks plus the 20 hours before they're allowed to work so um equipment that'll again that'll be on us so make sure everyone has um stop paddle jackets raincoats hats IDs
um again everything that's that meets uh New Jersey's compliance the management um since this is a large program there would be a dedicated manager who would be here every single day checking on every post um they wouldn't be in any other towns
um and then they're supported by a 24-hour call center so someone wakes up at 3:00 a.m they're not feeling well we answer and then uh we'll schedule appropriately and that person um we get a lot of uh feedback from residents from the schools
from all that and this person would um follow up with that that feedback and then work with the liaison from the township if if it needs to be escalated um accordingly the scheduling it's a big piece a lot of moving parts um for the
most part uh crossing guards are you know great great attendance records but you know everyone has vacations medical appointments medical procedures so it's a lot of moving pieces here um one of
the ways we protect against open posts we actually have extra people on post where we put them at the busiest post so if someone calls out sick or someone gets in a you know god forbid a car accident on the way in we can move them
internally um and that helps uh so we don't have any openings um again since there are employees they'll be under our payroll so um the paycheck will come from us
that and um where the the crossing guard needs to call if they need a day off for the current staff that's really the only thing that'll change if they need equipment they'll call us but most people will never know that uh they work for a private company so the insurance um this is a
big one so again since there are employees um if for some you know they get hurt on the job they're under our our insurance so it's instead of the townships it's our workers comp uh it's our general liability um we have a
sexual abuse and molestation policy it's under ours um and then we offer the township a waiver of subregation so um if it ever went to trial if you know our insurance company settles then they won't go seek uh funds from the township
after that so as far as a timeline um it's it's pretty much a month so the transition from a township employee to a crossing guard services employee is actually about an hour it's a lot of paperwork your typical tax forms your direct
deposit forms things like that so that that's fairly quick the three weeks or so is recruiting recruiting recruiting and then training training training to fill any gaps that we might have so um
and this is pretty much tried and true this is um usually there's a few gaps just people retire people uh look for full-time work so that's how we fill all those okay so as far as pricing
um we charge um an hourly fee and that's all inclusive so that includes uh the crossing guard's wage the all the different insuranceances all the equipment all the training um so you can
calculate every year you know if there's 60 positions two hours a day you know exactly what you'll be paying we charge on a two-eek basis um and the reason we do that is we give you the backup information where everyone works so if there's any discrepancies you know that
uh what we're charging matches um what actually happened um and there's a lot of reasons why uh municipalities choose this but the kind of the main reason is just it's our sole focus so this is all we do um like police department has a lot of other
responsibilities so this allows them to focus on the safety of the township uh human resources payroll and um you know focus on their core responsibilities so um but again we don't take the responsibility lightly we
for the most part people think our employees are township employees and and we like that and we take that seriously any questions any questions from council all right dr worthy thank you so much for the
presentation and you may have covered this earlier on and I may have missed it but I was curious with our existing workforce our cross guard crossing guards um how does your company work with existing personnel to try to ensure
that they still have uh employment or how how does that work because we have local dedicated people that uh live in Willenboro and take a lot of pride in their work so just curious about that transition absolutely so um we want everyone to stay we'll put it in the
agreement you have my word uh practically speaking just we want everyone to stay that being said the um as soon as we can we'll go to every post and talk to everyone answer the questions assure everyone please don't
go look for another job this is your post uh everyone wants you here and um and everyone it it's it's worked out like that everywhere so you know we have references you can call that we've we've
never ever turned over crossing guard staff that are current so thank you and my next question Mr harris you may be able to answer this can you speak to what would be different for a crossing guard if they're working through Carson Guard services like what looks different
for them is their pay different or benefits different or like what changes for them there really wouldn't be any difference other than them calling their persons instead of calling our persons in house so their pay is the same
okay thank you those they were respective of the contracts that we negotiated with the crossing guards and they would honor those contracts thank you any other questions um Mr harris one of the things that I'm
I'm curious about is the cost difference from the current system that we have now to crossing switching to crossing guard services is there an increase or a decrease in how much we are currently spending on crossing guards there is a
slight increase um and I forget what your proposal number was about 700 700,000 okay and I think our I think we were at 708,000 for for our crossing guard
services so it there really was not a big dollar variation um between the two but what it does it again transitions um the management and liabilities out of Willingboro and the police department freeing up those
officers to focus more on policing Willing Barrow and transitions uh the the and I don't the operations of the crossing guards to an outside service okay yeah I think it would be helpful
for council um to have those numbers you know those hard numbers so that we can see what the difference is in the cost of switching but other than that I don't have any other questions yep um I did want to say thank you um to you and the
administration and the police department for bringing this um proposal forward for consideration um because we do talk a lot about how we value our police officers and the work that we ask them to do to serve Willenboro is important and I think there are other ways we can
leverage their experience and training throughout the town um than managing the crossing guards which is also an important function but we've invested considerably in the training and opportunities for our police force and their equipment as well and I think that um being able to have them do other work
for Willen Burl is is a value ad even if we can't see cost savings specifically um in this contract uh the way that they're spending their time to support other initiatives in Wimber I think is really important so thank you for bringing this proposal forward welcome
we do yes and I also agree with the deputy mayor i think um as we've been on this journey of optimizing Willingboro's budget and staffing um I think this is a phenomenal idea and opportunity for
Willingboro um as we seek to create a better township for all of our um residents and also serve the community in the best way that we can um I think this will improve the operations
possibly um and as you said put some very highly trained police officers back in rotation um policing and ensuring the safety of our residents um in a in a different way but in uh still a much needed way so
thank you for this proposal and thank you oh thank you all right thanks Huh send it to me [Music] excuse me so it was my intention also to have a presentation for you this evening from a
company called Metronet who is a a an upand cominging major internet um internet service fiber optic internet service provider um in New Jersey they are or have been seeking
approvals and licensing throughout the state to make inroads into New Jersey and they have chosen Burlington County um to be their their entrance point particularly Willingboro Simmonson Burlington City u and I forget the two
others but unfortunately the gentleman had an e situation this evening and was not able to Did you get the email yes okay and was not able to u be here this evening so we will schedule that presentation uh for you as well but I do
believe you have that information for your review okay and then um my main purpose for you this evening was to introduce our 2025 municipal budget um I did send um digital copies a little
bit earlier and I did put printed copies um for your review on the deis so I would like to offer our IT staff a few moments to Well Mr harris while we're waiting for the presentation to come up maybe if you
can just start with your intro introductory uh piece yes so the 2020 this 2025 municipal budget um is the culmination of a lot of work that actually started back in
November of 2024 um you recall that um or under the statutes um under this former municipality um directors are required to come before the township manager and make their
request for the subsequent budget year back in November so we started having these discussions um way back then and we've been compiling numbers and putting together figures the the big time delay comes in with our actual wrapping up our
financials for 2020 for the prior year so we need to get our debt statements our annual financial statements and and see where we are at with uh information from our auditors and then we take all of those m those numbers and compile um
our budgets so this um municipal budget presentation is the comprehensive financial plan which outlines our revenue sources and our planned expenditures for the upcoming fiscal year um this budget reflects careful
planning uh with a focus on maintaining our essential services while being mindful of the impact on taxpayers and the slides that are getting loaded up for you will provide a detailed breakdown of our revenue and our
appropriations uh the budget approval timelines uh the impact that it would have and where we plan to go in 2026 so uh I do invite all of the residents to review this information
that will be on the websites um and then we will have a public hearing on May the 26th at 7:00 p.m and I would encourage you to participate in those public hearings as well so let's talk about a little bit about the timeline as I was
saying that we did start the the presentation hearings back in November by statute we are required to introduce our budget on May 31st or the next schedule meeting so um today is March 31st i'm sorry March 31st or the next
schedule meeting which is today um so we are in compliance with the statutory requirements for our budget introduced reduction after the budget is introduced to you this evening it will be put into your hands for you to massage it um in
any way that that you see fit uh after after approval or introduction or at least 10 days before the public hearing the budget has to be advertised in the papers and it will be advertised by the clerk's office there will be a public hearing that cannot
occur less than 28 days after tonight so 28 days from tonight we will have the public hearing which actually ends in April but the next subsequent meeting would be May the 6th unless you wanted to hold a special meeting prior to then but the next subsequent meeting after
then would be May the 6th and that's what we p plan for and then the potential budget adoption uh could occur on May the 6th or the next schedule meeting dependent on what happens at that hearing so at the at the budget
adoption hearing and if you will go to the end of your presentation there is an outline for the budget amendment process um the amendment process can occurs when there are directives that
are passed down from the state of New Jersey the division of of or the local finance board they may say that you need to make changes in your budget and if they tell us to make changes then we could go ahead and make those changes without any further process um and the
governing body also has the ability to make changes in the budget uh if there is a change in the budget by the governing body and it's considered to be a significant change then that change has to be also advertised and and and I
believe it's only a three-day window before you can have the the hearing the public hearing on the amendments and um and then the adoption so the requirements for a public amendment or a budget amendment process
done by the governing body is if if there were new appropriations added to the budget that exceeded 1% of the total if there was a change in any one item by more than 10% or if there was an increasing or
increasing taxes by more than 5% one of those three cautels would have to take place to require a h public hearing on any amendments made um by the budget so if you want to go to the third
page in your presentation that outlines the revenue and appropriations in a summary so our total general revenues there are two columns here there's 2025 which is on the left and there's 2024 what I want to
impress the difference between the two is 2024 are actual numbers that we received we spent we appropriated they are the final numbers so in 2024 we there was
53,6224,234 in actual revenues received into Willing Barrow in 2025 we are projecting 52,845,000 that's a little bit of of a of a of a difference and you may ask well why well one of the things is in
2024 um we received 12,791,351cent in total miscellaneous revenues that's on the second line um which included everything fees grants all of the monies that we received um
outside of our expected anticipated revenues um let me rephrase that they were expected but they included things like fees permits licenses and things miscellaneous revenues outside of the tax revenues because tax revenues are
our main source of funding in a municipality so in 2025 our total miscellaneous revenues is just about $4 million less because we do not have the dollar values to any potential grants that we may
receive and things like that and we can't add them into our expected revenues unless we have some prior history to validate that or some validation and if there was a letter from the state saying you're going to get 3 million for this then you could incorporate it into the budget but
that's at the end of the year or during the course of the year we do those chapter 159 resolutions that's when we are adding unanticipated revenues into our budget and those allow us to turn around and then also spend those revenues during
the same budget year so that's the big variation there so you will see um our receipt from delinquent taxes is the same in in 2024 2025 as it was in 2024 2.1 million
our local tax for municipal purposes is slightly down uh this year's 33,495 um last year was 30 33,610,000 the library tax that is the portion of person's tax bills that are directly
connected to the library and though we connect we collect it as part of our taxes we do separated on the tax bill and they see it as a separate percentage so we do count that money as revenues coming in um and then the big number on
the top line is the surplus the surplus is equated to the fund balance that's the money that we have in the bank so last year we used $4.2 million to offset the budget impact this year we used a
little bit more of our surplus 7.664 million to uh offset the impact of this budget so this 2025 budget does show a slight decrease in total G general revenues compared to 2024 while
utilizing the surplus to offset uh any increased costs to the taxpayers the amount to be raised by taxation remains virtually unchanged demonstrating our commitment to meaning stable tax rates for our
residents it makes no sense for us to have $20 million in the bank just continuing to pile up and pile up so we do use some of those monies to offset some of these increases um yeartoyear uh thank you for the presentation Sean we
are on page three um titled revenue appropriations and summaries and that is all the information that I just verbalized to you so the next slide is a breakdown of our revenues for 2024 and again the prior
year and you can see the the actual changes in dollar values and percentages so again in uh 2025 which is the budget year we're using 6 $7.6 million in surplus that's a change of $3.4 million
over last year or an 82% increase in our utilization of surplus and then there are the local fees um the permits interest those are what is considered um miscellaneous revenues and then we have the monies that we're receiving in state
aid our state and federal grants that we are aware of again the 2.1 in um in delinquent taxes the local purpose tax that those are the monies that we are expecting to collect from the residents
for municipal purposes and um and then the the minimum library tax at $1,ion37,729 which gives you a total budget for 2024 uh 2025 I'm sorry at 52,845,000 last year our budget actually
was 53,624,23457 that was the actual monies received and expended for 2024 so there is a difference by $779,23457 which is a 1.5% decrease in this year's budget in comparison to last
year's budget so if we go on to the next slide we get into the appropriations so last year our appropriations for salary and wages were
21,33,185.31 this year we are anticipating our re our salary and wages to be 21,761,49146 and this increase of 733,000 um is contributed to contractual obligations uh new positions that we're looking to
add on in in our restructuring so that's what comprises the salary and wages portion then there there are the other expenses in a municipal budget there are two main categories salary and wages and O and the O and covers every other
expense that the municipality expends so all of our total other expenses which we be gas and uniforms and uh educational purposes and vacations all come under OE and that is also uh an increase this
year um from 14 million to 16 million up 11.43% 43% uh our statutory and deferred charges these are obligations that we are required to pay they are about the same um as you as I explained earlier
our state and federal grant funding is down um our capital without the grants is um slightly down our debt service is up a little bit um by 16,000 and that's just the monies that we pay on our bonds
and and notes um Museia explained to me why that was up and I it just escapes me at the moment and then by law we are required to um have an unspendable appropriation so that's
monies that we that we account for as being paid out but not really and it's titled unreserved reserve for uncollected taxes so what this figure represents is saying that we anticipate
that 3,149,169.34 will not be received in tax payments in 2024 and 2025 however we have to consider that as an expense in our budget operations so we do not
overexpend um based on and our based on our revenues so our total appropriations um as you will see although some of these numbers are up uh our total appropriations in 2024 were just about
53,600,000 and in 2025 they're down to 52,845,000 so we are um aggressively trying to curb and monitor the spending as best as we can through our appropriations while still planning to restructure and meet our obligations to
our employees through our salary and wages obligations so the next slide is just a summary appropriation breakdown of those things that that I just shared with you 21.8 8 million salary and wages which is
up from last year 17.8 million in other expenses which is down from last year uh 4 million in debt services which is very similar to our 2024 levels and then 150,000 we are contributing into or
adding into our budget for capital improvements that's we are required um by law to include a 5% down payment on all of our capital expenditures so we plan on doing $3 million of capital expenditures so therefore we had to add
an additional $150,000 in the budget operations as the down payment for capital expenditures any questions so far none chugging right along yes please so the next slide Sean
please and again this is a graphical view of our itemized revenues and appropriations um and as you can see uh our surplus uh we use more surplus this year our total miscellaneous revenues
are slightly down but our receipts from delinquent taxes are flat our local tax for municipal purposes is flat our minimum library tax is up slightly and um the total generalized or the total
generated revenue is just about equal so that's a graphical vision of of us this year in comparison to last year and again I had talked about surplus the show on the next slide please so in our prior year uh last year
we had um 17,534 uh576.31 at the beginning of this year at the end of last year we added just about $1.3 million into our surplus so at the start of the year our surplus was
at 18,872,000 so even though we are going to utilize 7,664,000 in that budget you will see that number right below we will still maintain 11,28,668.112 in our surplus when you look at what we had last year the 13
million um after the budget season was utilized we ended up last year with am I saying that correctly after the budget year was utilized after we utilized the monies for a surplus that figure was 13 million
so we're just about down by $2 million however at the end of the year we also will roll monies unex monies back into surplus for monies that weren't expended uh monies that we have not yet calculated in our anticipated revenues
the MNA revenues unexpected so we do expect to roll some monies back into our surplus keeping hopefully keeping us pretty level so we were very fortunate that we did have um a sizable amount of
monies above and beyond to contribute into this budget however we'll talk about that later so let's talk about slow on the the next slide please our tax collection rate which is very important um was
96.24% that means 92 96.24% of all of the revenues that we projected through taxes were realized 96.24% of our residents paid their taxes last year and we received that money so
when you think about the total amount of dollars the cash required to operate Willingboroough Township on a local county and and and local county and school board the
total dollar equates to 80,795,216.15 that is what was realized through taxation however that's we didn't see all that money okay and the next slide Sean please which is a very important slide
this shows the breakdown of all of that money's received so if you look at this uh $9.2 million or 10.96% was sent to the county for county
taxes $34.5 million or 41.2% less than half here uh was utilized for municipal purposes and $40.1 million or
47.8% of the tax monies was forwarded off to the school district so this is uh a really good uh visual of the portions of the tax dollars that are actually utilized by the township and the
portions that are used by what I will call others which would be the county and the the school board and you will see that most of your tax dollars are not contributed to municipal operations they're contributed to county and schoolboard operations
sean the next slide please so what are we doing what is the township doing with the your hard-earned money that you bring into Willing Barrow um last year we were able to purchase um 15 new vehicles through um through
leases uh mostly for our police department public works um inspections department who requires utilization of vehicles a lot um we uh did some projects we located 12 new radar signs and these are just bullet points of some
of the things that we did we paved 25 roads last year and we replaced or rebuilt 16 roads that's 41 roads in Willingboro in 2024 that number is astounding because
municipalities just do not do that level of infrastructure work on top of all the other work that we did so and that was with a tax decrease and that was with a two penny tax decrease so on top of that show on the next slide
please we also did park reservations we developed the inclusive playground at Bro Park we're in the process of installing pickle ball courts at Mil Creek Park uh we did are doing work on the performing arts center which is scheduled to open in a few weeks we made
improvements to Fairmont Park which included leveling the surface applying stone for adequate draining and new mulching to finish the project we continue to strengthen Willingboro's infrastructure by addressing major sink holes and outfall repairs on Penny
Packer Vans Skyver and Charleston Road our partnership with PSCG transitions street lighting to brighter energy saving LED lights uh and enhancing safety and sustainability with the assistance of
the county DPW was able to address a clogged storm water pipe after discovering the issue during an inspection on Babbot and Bradford Lane in July of 2024 we launched a traffic safety unit aimed at improving roadway
conditions and reducing accidents within our township and from July to December this unit responded to over 406 incidents and 27 accidents we purchased a new emergency vehicle for the police department and we're we are in the
process of acquiring a new ambulance which we're waiting to take delivery on like I said in DPW we repaved the the DPW parking lot we installed new surveillance systems and time clocks for improved security and efficient
efficiency so we are working that tax dollar in improving the inf infrastructure um and services here in Willingboro um but there are some operational impacts that that has or this or this budget will will reveal um
in the salary and wages area the 2020 I'm sorry Sean the next slide please the salary and wages uh proposed budget reflects an increase in salary and wages like I said due to contractual agreements and ongoing negotiations this assures that we can attract and retain
qualified personnel to serve our community and effectively and our total allocations and uh is for 2025 is 21,766491 which is up from 20 million
418 385 3124 if you recall in 2024 we did set a minimum standard for hiring employees into Willing Barrow at 43,000 um before then we were having difficulty uh recruiting personnels especially in
DPW because what we were offering as starting wages were far lower or incomparable with what the market was was offering um so we really needed to do something and we have been able to uh increase our staffing there in other
areas as well uh our operational expenses for 2025 this budget shows allocations in operating expenses across various departments um on our total allocation uh is down is 17,807 down
from 20,38,2773 cents in 2024 so with these allocations the departments will continue to operate at maximum efficiency ensuring high quality service for all of our residents and and I do want to thank our directors from all of
our departments uh because when we met in November they had requests for additions to some of their uh expenses uh however we did look at those requests and we uh decided that we're going to
kind of hold the line with last year so um with very few exceptions everybody is pretty much receiving the same operating revenues that they received last year we are aware of the areas that we did need
to increase but we were also aware of areas that we could decrease and that's why we were able to kind of just the O and expenses down and still offer the same level of operations um for the township so what does all of this mean
to the average resident in Willingboro so show on the next slide please so in 2025 and if you shift to the far left column um these are the estimated costs per household so if you
look at our general government you can and I and I had the numbers from 2023 2024 2025 um all put in so you can actually see that the numbers are actually trending up however through efficient um
administration we have been able to have a flat year and a slight decrease and a flat year and then another decrease and we're looking at another flat year so although the numbers are trending up we
are still working very hard to utilize your tax dollars as efficiently as we can so if you looked at the total dollars per household for the general government
$152.14 of your tax dollars are going to general government and then we have our support services police $518.15 um emergency medical $35 and 32 cents your fire department your public
works these are all of the different breakdowns of of the the per household costs so when it comes to all of the salaries and wages for our employees $1,111.72 of your tax dollars are being
dedicated to our salaries and wages showing the next slide please from an operating expense category or or look then you can see again the same categories are here but if you go down to the bottom line
$30067 are going towards your operating expenses for each for the average household in Willingboro uh on that particular page then we have show on the next slide please then we have O and E other
expenses these are things that we have less control over like our insuranceances our utilities our solid waste disposal um garbage and trash contracts statutory expenses uh pension
costs um you know other things that we really don't have as much control over so out of that $2,7604 of your tax dollars are going to other operating expenses in support of the municipal
operations and I do just want to highlight there are no judgments since 2023 under my tenure so we've been good so uh and again I just want to highlight some of the positives
uh related to this budget uh there is a there is a tax rate there is not a tax rate reduction and again I apologize that that word is there it is a flat tax for 2025 so from last year's tax budget
providing relief to taxpayers while remaining essential services we are asking that you contribute to to the municipal purposes the same percentage as you contributed last year another positive is that we do have a strong
fund balance we have a healthy surplus funds of 7 million uh or we utilize healthy surplus funds a little over 7 million uh to support operations and increase uh which was an increase from
the previous year and again we still have a very strong solid collection rate uh demonstrating strong financial management and community compliance so the 2025 municipal budget includes several positive aspects that reflect
sound financial management most notably we achieved a flat tax rate compared to last year um providing some relief to our taxpayers while continuing to maintain essential services and this uh
achievement is supported by our strong like I said our strong fund balance and excellent tax collection rate sean the next slide please so again this next uh slide just kind of breaks down those totals in
regards to and then you can see on on the bottom line the increase is 0.0 and there is a six there but that 6 is really negligible in what you would see in your tax bill so what are the
challenges that this budget poses as our statutory costs increase things like our pension contributions PFP Pers PFRS Social Security um they increased uh and they continue to
increase um those are one of the challenges one of the major challenges is health care costs increase our health care costs are are re are bounding 13 14% um this year we uh have to go out to
rebid our uh trash management contract uh municipalities are realizing um increases in their their waste management contracts trending up some 30 40
50% in comparison to prior years um and then unemployment insuranceances are going up so we need to replenish our unemployment insurance rever reserves so despite our care careful planning we are faced with several financial challenges
in this 2025 budget um again as outlined um but many of those we will need to address in our subsequent budget 2026
so and and and I will say it very straight out and straightforward um we did what we could do in 2025 to offer relief and to the taxpayers um but there
will be a tax increase in our 2026 budget because we cannot continue to do what we do and uh sustain these levels if we keep tapping into our surplus we can until there is no surplus and that makes us vulnerable in case of e
situations uh we used a lot of our res um our cap bank so you know every year and we will do it again tonight we will do an ordinance that the state limit is 2.5% increase over the prior year but
you can introduce an ordinance to increase that to three and a half% but then you put the money in a cap bank and you use it to offset future budget expenditures we had monies in our cap bank and we were kind of getting some grief because they didn't want us to use
the cat bank so I'm like well why are we putting the money in the bank if we can't turn around and use it so we did use a substantial portion of our cap bank uh this year um but is essential um to remain financially stable that we
begin to replace those revenues so I'm not going to say that it's going to be a brutally um you know taxing year next year but realistically um I believe this governing body has been very good to the homeowners and
taxpayers in Willingboro in regards to um managing the monies and bringing down to a level that is we're trying to get to that sweet point um and and we're
just about there so you know just reviewing the numbers our total for unanticip our our revenues we're about 8 million a little bit over 8 million and we do not expect those numbers to fluctuate up and down over the next
years um so so the things that would will really help us are grants um fundings um and things like that and always try to reduce our operating expenses but you
can only reduce operating expenses so much and still continue your operations so um that's kind of the the outlook for 2026 so showing the next slide I we did go through the um through the budget
amendment processes earlier in the presentation so if anyone wants me to reh highlight any of that information when we get to the public hearing the governing body will have an opportunity to make adjustments to this budget that we are presenting to you um in any way that you see fit in the requirements
whether they require a public hearing and amendment are listed again so last slide is our question and answer are there any questions and answers or any questions that I can answer in relation to this particular budget
well I will open thank you Mr harris first of all for your um presentation i think the consideration for the taxpayers in trying to achieve another flat tax year is tremendously important
and I'm sure appreciated by our residents that live here um and with that said I will open it up to council for questions comments concerns deputy Mayor Worththingy thank you uh thank you Mr harris for the
presentation tonight um I I'm going to look through it once again i do appreciate you going through it um slide by slide and I also wanted to note that the slides look great i really appreciate the time um and the effort um to give us something visual visual that
represents the data um to make it easy to follow i think it helped with um the flow of the presentation and making it more succinct so I really appreciate the attention and effort i know each year I'm like these slides Mr harris so I really appreciate um the efforts that
were taken by um by your team to um give us a presentation that's easy to read um and I look forward to going back through it once again just to see if I have any other questions that come up but thank you for your presentation tonight and thank you for that comment in particular
Dr worthy because um my team my team Miss Diggs Mr li you know we spent literally almost the whole day crunching numbers and going through spreadsheets and scratching and colors and blues um but our communications department
literally I gave them to gave this to them on Thursday and they put everything on the side and spent hours and days and after hours putting together this presentation and it was completed this evening at
5:42 so Miss Marilyn Bell I give kudos to and Mr brianna Miss Brianna Palantony um they are the ones that produced this document and I agree with you 100% it was spectacular and I really appreciate
all the hard work and dedication that all of my team the directors the the commitment that they have to Willingboro is really high and you know what we're not perfect but we strive we really strive to do the best that we can so thank you very much thank you all right
councilman Anderson I too as much as this hurts me Mr harris go ahead no I I appreciate No the great job the presentation i mean it was all hands on deck which is greatly appreciated i know the directors you know wanted more but
was able to you know sustain themselves based off what they did last year so that sacrifice is indeed appreciated the hard work you guys put in the only thing I'm going to say is when you give your presentation can I get to see your pretty brown eyes
you kept them here on Dr worthy on down you didn't turn that neck all the way to make eye contact but other than that everything was great sir thank you okay just for just for the record I don't think it's appropriate for Councilman Anderson to be asking me to show him my
pretty brown eyes i don't know that judgment piece might be all right uh Counciloman Peron do you have anything just um the presentation definitely was excellent um it was thorough so I am looking um forward to just kind of crunching down and looking
and comparing to the numbers and what's what you're requesting but absolutely um excellent job um in your presentation so um thank you thank you all right so with that said um to the community I am proud
to introduce this 2025 um municipal budget i think the administration council all of the directors have done a tremendous job at being mindful of the residents finances
um it reflects our ongoing commitment to financial uh to fiscal responsibility and ensuring that we continue to deliver the services our community depends on without adding tremendous strain to our
taxpayers we also recognize the importance of planning ahead um we are not it is not lost on us that the political times are uncertain um that with the bond referendum additional
payments um that that will be an additional strain on taxpayers that community experience is not lost on us we are members of the community and we remain mindful of the finan the future
financial impacts that are coming to um resident residents trying to optimize every single dollar that we are given in our budget um over the last four years we have been doing our best to optimize the budget as much as we can we've done
two years of tax decreases we've done three years of with this year included with flat taxes um and we have still continued to improve services improve facilities and amenities um repave and
upgrade our infrastructure all without an increase we have optimized the budget I think to the max at this point um and thank you again to Mr harris his team all of the directors for doing everything that you can to really cut
the fat in the budget you know just in plain words we all felt that there were areas of the budget that were inflated things that weren't necessary um or monies that weren't being used appropriately and efficiently and we've
done our best to cut that spending um our focus is on efficiency sustainability and making strategic investments that will benefit Willingboro for years to come um the dedication of the staff and the administration Mr harris Mr lowry Miss
Diggs um and all of the directors I think to present this budget is a tremendous feat we appreciate your dedication your time and your thoughtfulness in our um budget this presentation this year willingboro's
future is bright and together we will continue to work on strengthening our community all right with that being said um we will go to our ordinances or our ordinances um for introduction we'll do
the um ordinances and resolutions overview okay so being presented to you this evening for your consideration is ordinance number 2025-5 which is the ordinance to exceed the municipal uh budget appropriation
limits and to establish a cap bank ordinance number 2025-6 is an ordinance to establish uh compensation benefits and other policies for non-UN employees
uh unclassified employees and elected officials of the township of Boing we present the the 2025 salary ordinance that formalizes compensation benefits and the related policies for those for those individuals
um those are the only ordinance being presented to you this evening for consideration we are presenting resolution number 2025-9 which is a resolution um introducing the 2025 municipal budget
which was just explained to everyone resolution number 2025-91 is a resolution rescending petty cashache for public works and recreation when pettyash was established way back when um there was one pettic that was
being utilized by public works and recreation um each pettic account has to have a custodian of that pettash so it was inappropriate for there to be a duality for recreation and public works so we
are rescending the one for recreation and public works and reestablishing one for public works and resolution number 92 uh is that resolution to reestablish the pettic for public works uh there will be a subsequent
resolution coming to reestablish the pettic for recreation but that will probably be the next meeting resolution number 93 is um is a resolution authorizing the township to place municipal charges on
certain properties for failing to address um property maintenance violations um and as I was looking through the list this year most of the maintenance violations were removal of trash and
debris from people's homes so I am really appreciative that our inspections department is actually going out and cracking down on people who are not maintaining their properties in a respectable fashion uh resolution number
94 is a resolution authorizing the deferred school tax this resolution seeks approval to defer liability up to a maximum of 50% of the school tax levy and and that's allowed by the division of local government services the
township works on a calendar year which is from January 1st to December 31st the the school works on a state fiscal year which is July 1st through June so half of their tax bill comes to us in 2025
and the other half comes to us in 2026 so we are just deferring the 2026 portion of the tax bill to the 2026 budget so we don't have to put those numbers full in our 2025 municipal budget so that's what that resolution does
uh the resolution number 95 is authorizing the uh uh let me see um certifying the compliance with the United States Equal Unemployment Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
um requirements enforcement guide on the consideration of arrest conviction and records employee decision under title four five six7 title seven of the civil rights act of 1964 that's a whole lot isn't it what this resolution the
purpose of this resolution is to ensure that the municipality is is utilizing hiring PRA hiring practices that comply with the commission's guidelines when we consider arrest and conviction records in employee decisions and um there is a
subsequent or additional resol or certification that each member of the governing body is going to have to sign off on um and this is a requirement for us to file this form prior to us submitting our budget to the state for
review resolution number 96 is uh the cancel cancel taxes for 2024 for exempt properties including disabled veterans um we are approving this resolution uh which needs to be submitted to the
county uh and then they will give us credits and debits and all that um or monies back for each property that is ex exempt there are 39 properties uh included on this list um who have received exemptions throughout the
course from our tax successor by meeting certain requirements that are established by local by law resolution number 97 is a resolution authorizing the refund of overpayment of taxes resolution number 98 is a
resolution authorizing the township of Willingboro to establish not to exceed amount for uh Abrooks roofing for the repairs at the JFK Center roof you remember a few meetings ago we've been talking about the the leaks at the JFK Center this is just uh giving the
contract to a a Brooks roofing uh to go ahead and fix those leaks in the amount of $19,730 resolution number uh 909 99 is a resolution authorizing the township of
Willingboro to award a contract for pre-seasonal prep and maintenance of baseball fields though I do have a question that I'm going to ask someone from my team the resolution says six fields but I can only identify five in
the bidspec being Vans Skyver Harrison Field Allan Parker Field there's two fields at Vans Skyver okay so then that's the six okay and then Sportsman Field so those are the six fields
okay yes thank you yes yes thank you um resolution number 90 100 is the resolution authorizing the approval of vouchers and payment and ratification of our
bills resolution 101 is a resolution authorizing Let me just make sure that I have the right agenda i know there were some additions resolution 101 is authorizing
uh an award of contract for grounds landscaping uh maintenance for Willingboroough Township Municipal Complex the parking lot the library and the firehouse so a few years ago we contracted out those services because they were cheaper for us to contract out
for then from then our in-house persons to perform those services and then uh resolution number 102 is a resolution extending the time period for the vault dispensary to receive all necessary uh
cannabis state permits and that goes uh in tandem with our licensing requirements established by local ordinance and then I do believe we are going to go in executive session at some point and those are all of the items that are being presented to you this
evening for your consideration all right thank you Mr harris um with that being said I will now open public comment for agenda items only this public comment is for agenda items only please come to the
podium or um raise your hand online you will have two minutes please state your name and address for the record public comment is now open for agenda items only is there for something on the agenda general public comment is that
later in the meeting okay seeing none um is there any online uh none at this time mayor at this time okay with that being
said public comment is now closed council are there any items that you would like to pull for discussion on the agenda yes um council thank you just one item um item number 102 mhm
okay any other items all right seeing none I'd like to make a motion or well I guess we should do the ordinances first so Madame Clerk we'll go to ordinance
2025-5 please all right so we have uh like Mr harris said we have two ordinances for introduction tonight um the first one is ordinance 2025-5 can I get a motion to introduce ordinance 2025-55 titled ordinance to exceed the
municipal budget appropriation limits and to establish a cap bank so moved second moved by Deputy Mayor Worthy seconded by Councilwoman Peron roll call councilwoman Peron yes
councilman Anderson yes deputy Mayor Dr worthy yes mayor Whitfield yes thank you um and the public hearing for this will be April 15th um okay and then our second ordinance is ordinance
2025-6 can I get a motion to introduce ordinance 2025-6 titled ordinance to establish compensation benefits and other policies for non-UN employees unclassified employees and elected officials of the township of Willingboro can I get a
motion so moved moved second moved by Councilwoman Peron seconded by Councilman Anderson discussion madame Clerk
yes uh I'm sorry Mr mayor uh section 3-153 subsection A of page five of the ordinance page 45 of your packet the last sentence in that section should
read um as follows medicare elig eligible retirees must enroll in Medicare to continue benefits which retiree may be eligible from the township consistent with resolution
2024-53 and the chapter 48 resolution addendum as accepted for the ected that's it okay anyone have any questions on that
part all right seeing none we'll go to roll call councilwoman Pone yes councilman Anderson yes deputy Mayor Dr worthy yes mayor Whitfield yes thank you
and um again this res or this ordinance public hearing and um final reading will be April 15th and you can contain um as we go to the resolutions I will make a motion for a
consent agenda for resolution [Music] 2025-90 through [Music] 2025-101 second it's been moved by Mayor Whitfield seconded by Councilwoman Per roll call councilwoman Peron yes
councilman Anderson yes deputy Mayor Dr worthy yes mayor Whitfield yes thank you i need a motion to accept the consent agend agenda so moved second moved by Councilman Anderson seconded by Councilwoman Peron
councilwoman Pone yes uh Councilman Anderson yes deputy Mayor Dr worthy yes mayor Whitfield yes madame clerk resolution 2025-101 or 102 all right so for separate discussion
tonight we have resolution um 2025-102 entitled resolution extending the time period for the vault dispensary to receive all necessary cannabis state permits um can I get a motion and second to discuss this so moved second moved by
Councilwoman Peron seconded by Deputy Mayor Worthy discussion counciloman Pur thank you so um I did see that this um this request is to extend the period of time for um
this company the uh vault dispensary to have more time in getting permits it seemed that they were extended 3 months which expired March 17 2025 however this resolution um it's an open-ended um it says whereas in
accordance with the terms and conditions ordinance 2021-11 the township council has the discretion to extend the time period for the applicant to receive all necessary state permits however it doesn't establish a time such as an
additional or we saying down here before the township that three months extension be granted so is that an additional 3 months giving them a total of six months yes it's giving them a total of six months they had three months with the initial passage um they requested an
extension and this resolution would extend that uh permit for an additional 3 months and so if we vote on this today then it would be starting um from March 3 months from then yes or from April it would be starting from the March date
okay any other questions right being none roll call uh Councilwoman Perome yes councilman Anderson yes deputy Mayor Dr worthy yes mayor Whitfield yes thank you
you can continue to the treasurer's report okay okay so um we have the treasures report for the month of um March the date uh it was dated March 24th 2025 can
I get a motion a second to approve the March treasures report so moved second moved by Councilman Anderson seconded by Dr or Deputy Mayor Worthy councilwoman Peron yes councilman
Anderson yes deputy Mayor Dr worthy yes mayor Whitfield yes um we do not have minutes to be approved at this meeting um I apologize for the delay but uh this meeting and last meetings will be on for the April 15th
meeting and if you are all right Madame Mayor I will go on with my report yes please Madam Clair okay so um my bimonthly reminder for important election dates I will be reading them until they are memorized into your brains our primary election is June 10th
not June 3rd June 10th from 6:00 a.m to 8:00 p.m the voter registration deadline is May 20th the deadline to apply for the vote by mail ballot by mail is June 3rd but you have up until June 9th to go to the county office um to apply for a
vote by mail ballot um and early voting will be on June 6th uh through June 8th uh or to circle back to budget hearings now that the budget's been introduced um I did hear back from a couple council members about um specific
dates um people liked April 4th April 11th and April 30th however I'm just going to finalize those with everyone but I would like to get those dates advertised by the end of this week just so we can
um you know get things rolling if we do the April 4th date I would need to get it done tomorrow so um the other thing I wanted to mention just to follow up I know I wanted to start making it more routine to let um the residents know what solicitors
actually have permits um around so we have the two allied expert um solicitors we have a solicitor from home solutions and a solicitor from Green Exterior Solutions they are the ones that have
been fully approved i've signed off on their card um and they are good to walk around they have updated lists of the no knock registration um where they're allowed to go where they're not allowed to go um and we also reached out to one
of the organizations that they're they're using their cards from last year even though the deadline was um December 31st we reached out to them and be like "Hey you need to get new ones or get new permits." Um so that was that and then
my final um happy happy uh municipal clerk is our new deputy clerk started on Friday she was kind of thrown into a crazy situation i wasn't here and she just jumped right into action um she's already relabeled all of our filing
cabinets it's very pretty um she's printed out meeting packets we're working on you know the It's the little things out there it's the little things okay um just working uh making the space overall
more efficient um so we've been going through and trying to figure out what our our new normal is um so that is really exciting and I appreciate that and I appreciate her so thank you all right thank you Madam Clerk any questions for Madame
Clerk all right seeing none uh anyone have any unfinished business yes Deputy Mayor Worthy thank you Madam Mayor um I just wanted to um update the council at our last meeting we talked
about having a roundt with the school district and other players um around Willenboroough Super Summer and we did have our roundt meeting yesterday was very well attended by uh three members of the school district school board the superintendent the BA was there the
mayor myself uh Mr williams from the library Miss Balden and Mr brunson from the recreation department Mr harris Mr lowry Miss Carmichael it was a whole crew um and we were able to talk about um some things that we could do to strengthen academic enrichment through
our recreation program and offering this summer um there will be follow-on meetings to really um isolate what will be done but there were several solutions that were suggested um that won't that will minimize the disruption to what we
already do um for the summer and so we do have some follow-up discussions but uh I think I'm accurate in saying that it looks like something we are going to be able to do is that accurate Mr harris it we can we can't I don't know stoneface but it looks like something
will be able um to do with minimum disruption but I do know that follow-up conversations would have to be have let me look at um Councilman Anderson look into your eyes because you already accused Mr mr harris um so we want to make sure that we are um having further
conversations to make sure that if this is something we're going to do uh we'll be able to reach that decision point really soon um the school board is is very committed to with the library we've got support from them recreation is open to further discussions to figure out how to really make this happen um there
would be a potential budget implication of about $20,000 um from the township to be able to make this happen um so I do believe additional conversations are needed but it sounds like things would line up really well for us to be able to
provide academic enrichment um this summer but I just wanted to provide the update thank you for your support to even have that roundt um and I'll continue to provide information to the council and if there decision points for the entire governing body I will certainly um relay those to the mayor um
to bring back to the body to make any decisions that may need to be voted up or voted down thank you Madame Mayor thank you Deputy Mayor councilwoman P yeah I just wanted to follow up um in addition to um the round table so will
we still be able to do the uh summer internship program if we were able if we bring this enrichment are we going to still be able to do that because I I like that we did that with the last year and I would like for us to continue offering that to our students yes and we do have some um applicants for summer
internships already okay and so that wouldn't interfere with that we'd be able to do it simultaneously councilman Anderson just want to give an update on the golf event uh registrations uh have begun uh folks are starting to register we just got an email from Pepsi saying they will be one
of our sponsors so we're waiting for that check to come in the check is in the mail we don't know the amount yet but uh and reaching out to the golf clubs they're circulating the information this is golf season this is when the folks start to uh sign up as it gets closer the weather gets warmer so
I'll continue the updates and I'll have the actual report once the checks come in with all the numbers thank you Councilman Anderson any other unfinished business all right being none any new business all right having none tonight
um we will now open up public comment this public comment is our general public comment you will have four minutes um please come up to the podium or raise your hand online once again this is our general public comment you'll have four minutes please state
your name and address um when you come to speak public comment is now open hello my name is Bolivar Rees i live in 46 BH Lane Borum i'm literally I just
got here and I already got problems my problems is not million dollars or anything it's like when I bought my property I was a rookie right and I was so excited to buy it and then I saw this
community i said "My kids love it." So I came and then I thought I was paying the water together with a mortgage again I was a rookie i was like just excited so I never receive a mail a bill or anything so everything was fine so it's
been a while and accumulate so much and one day my kids open the water there's no water they cut it off and then I went to check when they think maybe they fish in the street whatever they say "No you won like $6,000." And then I was like "How did
that happen?" And they accumulated the semi well make the story short they created a plan for me by paying $450 and then it add up to $492 every month I wasn't missing never I I was on
time and then guess what like after two or three months they say oh your water is going to be shut off anyway I was like but what was the the deal after you create a plan for me to succeed not to
fail so right now I'm here because I don't know where to go i look on Google i spoke to somebody from here loretta Anderson she somebody so nice i don't even know her but she she said to come
over here or whatever i have nowhere to go i I want to pay and I'm ready to pay but not that much and the I went like every week twice in the that place over there to look for answer they say "Oh
maybe come back on next Thursday." And then I just can't wait i can't not sleep because my kids is like they're going to shut off the water and then I think that's it okay yes we have your address as 42 Birkshshire Lane
correct 46 46 Birkshshire and what was your name one more time sir bolivar Reyes bolivar Reyes reyes okay reys all right thank you Mr reyes we will um address all of the public comments at the conclusion of public comment when
public comment closes okay okay all right thank you for coming tonight good evening honorable mayor and esteemed council uh my name is Esther Turner Threewood Haven Lane uh at the last council meeting I believe I
addressed this question to the township solicitor um and also to the council wasn't sure you know who would really be able to give me the appropriate answer and that was in reference to um whether or not the residents own the land here in
WMboro or not or whether it's owned by the township it's my understanding that the township owns the land so um I would like an answer to that at the appropriate time thank you so much thank you Miss
Turner any other public comment it is there any public comment online uh yes ma'am shirley Dillworth good evening Mr dworth good evening everyone okay uh thank you for well Shirley Dworth Newport Lane uh thank you
for recognizing me okay i was omitted at the last council meeting which was the uh second time that I was omitted you know during the public comment section so uh thanks again and it's very disheartening especially when you sit
through the entire council meeting and your hand is not recognized hopefully going forward it won't happen again but at any rate uh first of all I really appreciated the budget
presentation uh by Mr paris and at the appropriate time if you could uh repeat the date and time of the public budget hearing I'd appreciate that i I was I'm very pleased that my
response from the police department recently turned out to be positive especially after I saw how much money or what percentage of our budget okay is used by the police
department um okay um maybe about uh eight weeks ago there was a wrecked vehicle in the neighborhood and it took me several telephone calls okay to get that vehicle towed
away initially they gave me the runaround but finally uh one of the police officers uh came through and uh made sure that the ve the wrecked vehicle was taken out of the neighborhood also I'd like to uh you
know to thank the Department of Public Work for repairing two huge potholes at uh 75 Sunset Road okay that's a business establishment but it's
a business establishment that um I use frequently and there were two gigantic a tire car tire busting potholes located there so um thanks
again there's an issue at the uh public library perhaps Department of Public Works could investigate there's since last Saturday I noticed there's broken
glass on the cobblestone pathway that connects between the library and either rehab okay it is it really it is uh it really is a danger you know to have uh broken
glass on the street like that on the U walkway like that i did send an email okay to the um head of the uh Department of Public Works okay i'm not sure if that was the right place to put it uh but I'm just
letting you know that I did do that i think that is about it okay at this time so again okay uh thanks for everything and I'd like to thank all of you for all of the hard work that you do
for the community good evening and have a good night thank you Miss Worth anyone else online uh yes Maddie Mallerie good evening Miss
Mallalerie uh good evening Mattie Mallerie Hudson please uh I would just like to ask the uh clerk if she could talk a little louder or talk into her mic because um I always have difficulty
um hearing her and I wanted to get um a confirmation on the vote by mail uh date i think she said June the 3 but I'm not sure so um going forward if she
could either speak uh louder or closer to the microphone it would be easier to hear her because it's always difficult um for me to hear what she's actually saying so I need a a definite on the
date for a vote by mail because I'm not sure that I wrote the correct thing on my notes and that's all I have thank you Miss Mallerie is there any other public comment online
yes excuse me uh Tony Matthysse good evening if you're speaking I believe you're still muted we cannot hear you resident Matthysse if you are speaking we cannot hear you you're still muted all right if I see that you're
unmuted you can begin speaking now president Matis all right it seems that we're having some technical difficulties there yes we can see your hand we just can't hear you well if you have a comment um resident
Matthysse I'm sorry that we're not able to hear you this evening um please send your comment question or concern um both to our township clerk and to our township manager and we will do our best to help you with any comments questions
that you may have all right you're still on but we just can't hear you all right any other um public comment in the courtroom seeing none public comment is now closed to address the public comments um
Mr reyes uh thank you for sharing your story that is a terrible and uh very unfortunate situation um that is happening unfortunately the council does not um do the water service here in town
that is handled by our Willingboro Municipal Utilities Authority the WUA their building is um right next to the JFK Center and they do have a website and information i'll ask
um the clerk to share the MUA information with you so that you can get in contact with them um but they will be able to help you with your situation and give you any updates on that uh shut off notice yes ma'am yes deputy mayor and Mr
reyes I will also send an email to the executive director and the um the chairwoman at the WUA alerting them of this issue as well um so they will have your information so once you reach out to them they will be reaching out to you
also if you'd like to leave your phone number I will add your phone number to the email you can give it to the clerk just give her your phone number i will add the your phone number to the email that I'll send over to the WUA they are a different governing body but we can
you know help to facilitate that conversation i hate that's happening to your family and I'm hopeful it's something that's resolved soon um thank you so much for coming tonight to share that experience with us all right Miss uh Turner we had the
question that you asked last uh meeting and um presented again tonight do the residents own the land in town mr harris are you able to provide any Okay not yet we don't have an answer for you yet but we are still working on that and we'll
make sure that you receive the answer um as soon as we get it all right all right thank you Miss Dworth um I am so sorry that you weren't recognized at the last meeting we really do our best to recognize every resident that um raises
their hand and uh takes their time to come to our meetings and share their experiences comments concerns um suggestions with the council um I'm sorry that you weren't recognized and uh
we will continue to do our best to recognize every resident that um comes to the meeting um the public hearing for the budget Mr harris can you share that date one more time may 6th may 6th is
that date Miss Stillworth so that public hearing on the budget um will be on May 6th at uh 7:00 p.m at our regular council meeting um also she made a note about
some broken glass on the walkway near the library um Mr harris if you can make sure that that issue is taken care of that would be great um Miss Mallalerie um she had asked the clerk to share the vote by mail dates
again in in I hope I'm I hope that wasn't happening all night but um please let me know if this is a little better i will be more mindful but um the deadlines for vote by uh to apply for a vote by mail ballot is June 3rd if you
want to apply in the mail so that is if you want to put your application in the mail to get a vote by mail ballot however you can go to the county office as um late as June 9th the day before the election and apply for a vote by
mail ballot um but if you want to do it by mail it's that June 3rd date all right thank you Madam Clerk for that all right is there anything that I missed on public comment no all right
um we will move on to council comments any council yes just Councilman Anderson just want to thank everyone for coming out everyone who attended in person everyone who participated via Zoom also just want to share my sincere condolences with our clerk on the
passing of her mother um you and your family are in our prayers and anything you need we're here for you on a happy note we want to say happy birthday and then thanks again to Mr harris his team for the wonderful job
you did with the budget you know for all the work that you guys put in and once again it's just greatly appreciated you know the hard work you do make us look good and together we make the community look good thank you thank you Councilman Anderson council
Per um I just thank the community for coming out and participating in our meetings and these meetings they're your meetings um everything that you ask um are all helpful um and I don't speak just for myself for the council as well for us to make decisions for us to uh
live in a um a community that we all enjoy being in so thank you for participating this evening thank you Councilwoman Pon Deputy Mayor Worthy thank you Madame Mayor thank you again for everyone coming out um I also wanted to give a huge shout out to our very own
Senator Corey Booker who spoke on the floor uh for 25 hours um with the longest uh record for speech um because there is so much work to be done in Washington for our nation and while um some may look at it as just a speech and
an opportunity to just hold the floor he's really challenging everybody it's a clarion call that it's not business as usual anymore and we all need to find a way to come together to do what's best for our nation so I um my I salute Senator Booker i'm proud of the work
that he has done for New Jersey i feel like he represents us well and I just wanted to take a moment just to acknowledge that thank you Madame Mayor thank you Deputy Mayor um I would like to concur with all of the sentiments shared by council here tonight i'd also
like to say now that the weather is breaking here in in Willingboro and on the east coast happy spring to everyone um please take advantage of our beautiful parks we are putting a tremendous amount of effort to making
them safe fun places for the community to enjoy um we have the new accessessible playground at Brodo Park so if you have not had a chance yet to go visit that please do um also we'll have the community cleanup on May 3 um
that will be uh it's always a great event there will be giveaways sometimes there's food um but it's a great chance for the community to come together as we uh work to have a clean community for
everyone also um the school district and the youth the superintendent youth advisory council is doing a cleanup on April 29th um I encourage everyone to
participate in that cleanup as well that one will be held at Mil Creek Park starting I believe at 900 a.m so please uh help our support our youngsters as they make an effort to support having a
clean community um also I want to give a warm welcome to our new deputy clerk Miss Nikisha Scott um we appreciate you coming to Willingboro uh there are lots of work to do here as long as I'm sure
you have come to know so far but we are glad to have you as part of the team welcome and we look forward to you growing and strengthening the team here that we have in Willingboro also I just wanted to once again say happy happy birthday to our
municipal clerk uh Sam Cino she does so much work um holding council together making sure we're all on the same page and um we have all of the information that we need uh she schedules like nobody's business um and she always
makes sure that she addresses our residents and gives them the best quality of service that is possible so thank you Sam for all the work that you do here happy birthday um and we're looking forward to many more years with
you all right um now we will go to executive session resolution 2025-103 um I did want to uh bring up if you wanted to I didn't know how long we would be in executive session but so we
don't run into the same problem we did last time if you wanted to make a motion to extend the meeting it should not be longer than in I just wanted say it before we thank you that okay so um for our executive session tonight we it's a
resolution 2025-103 resolution authorizing a closed executive session in accordance with the New Jersey Open Public Meeting Act and this executive session will be um to discuss contact contract negotiations and um potential litigation can I get a
motion in a second so moved second moved by Deputy Mayor Worthy seconded by Councilman Anderson roll call councilwoman Peron present i mean yes councilman Anderson yes deputy Mayor Dr
worthy yes mayor Whitfield yes thank you very much thank you madam clerk can I get a motion a second to come out of executive session second moved by Councilman Anderson
seconded by Deputy Mayor Worley would you like roll roll call uh Councilwoman Peron yes councilman Anderson Deputy Mayor Dr worthy yes mayor Whitfield yes thank you um we are going to be coming out of executive
session for the record at 9:36 um and then can I have a motion second to adjurnn second all in favor i any opposed all right we are now close the time is now 9:36 thank you thank you Willen good
night night