##VIDEO ID:TM0oZNtqtnM## [Music] F all rise for the pledge to the flag to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all and as always if we will maintain a moment of silence to observe those who are serving us here and abroad notice requirements of the open public will have been satisfied concerning this meeting the home Min being published a notice on August 1st 2024 the St publish a notice on August 8 2024 was posted on the municipal bulletin board and should be so noted in the minutes of this meeting councilman bow here councilwoman de councilman Sakara here councilwoman M here councilwoman May councilman Patel councilman small here vice president Spiller here and president Anders here this time Mr President can I get a motion to open the public comment portion of this meeting motion second any questions or comments comments from Council all in favor I I opposed eyes have it the public comment portion is now open hear no comment from the public can I get a motion that the public comment portion be closed motion second any questions or comments from Council all in favor I I oppose eyes have it Mr President you have before you a number of ordinances and resolutions with regards to ordinances I've got in front of you letters A and B the first is an ordinance to exceed the municipal budget Appropriations limit and to establish a cap bank and letter B is an ordinance setting the salary gu can I get a motion that these two ordinance be taken uh passed on first reading published in the home distribut on August 19th 2024 with notice of public hearing to be held on September 10th 2024 at 6: p.m. second any questions or comments from Council all in favor I I opposed eyes have it Mr President you have six resolutions before you 1 through six the computation the threee average method the cancellation of a line item the introduction of the fiscal year 25 Municipal budget and the introduction of both the Main Street and the Oak Tree Road s budget I get a motion of these six resolutions motion second any questions or comments all in favor I oppos eyes have it and then Mr President we're going to go right into the budget hearing with the municipal departments and first up is the Department of police which will cover Police impound yard office of emergency management and Emergency Medical Services starting with Pages 34 through 39 salary and wage and 87 to 94 p question man yes um directors I I know I I tried to send in some of my questions and answered them all but I I think some of them deserve to be to be heard so please forgive me if I'm redundant um but uh to the police department directors um page 90 uh line 4316 is the uh body and incar camera equipment and U had a history going back to um 20122 of spending some fair amount of money and there's no request for 2025 could could you explain why that that is sure um looking at the uh budget if you notice the line right below at 4320 copy or lease uh that is actually the number that was supposed to be input it was a clerical error and put in the wrong line uh the line below it copy release uh is zeroed out and has been for many years that was supposed to be under inquire camera and body uh camera equipment perfect thank you and and if I may if I may continue also on on page 90 uh line 4355 um again the history and I'm sorry the category of signs there's a history there of of requests and expenditures nothing uh nothing meets the request of 20 2025 of 100K what is that a new program what is that for no it's the same program but uh we've taken on uh getting the signs for all of the township now whereas in the past Municipal engineer might have had some money in his budget he doesn't for that the police department has taken that on so for any of the uh signage that the municipal engineer feels we need need it comes through the police department we've also as you know opened a lot of Municipal Lots uh we put the signage there um and also uh we've done a uh inventory of the signs along our roadways and found that many of them are aged and should be replaced or not as reflective and some of them don't meet meet the required stand standards great great well I I think that that's extremely important thank you for that explanation I could go on but I'll I'll let it go director um I'd just like to ask question on page 91 uh regarding vehicle leases um we've uh over the last few years I'm sorry over the last few years uh we've asked for a similar amount um and we've had a expenditure of about three or four $400,000 underneath that uh we're asking for that same amount again are we anticipating uh addition to the fleet or um is this uh is there some reason that the public want to know about well the addition to the fleet and the fact that uh we don't normally pay our leas until we receive the cars over the last several years it's been extremely difficult to get cars in so sometimes uh money is left that should have been spent we ear Mark for at leas so in anticipation of all of a sudden getting uh buil more billing for the cars uh that's why it's remaining there thank you director I have a question on page 93 for milees and TOS it's um substantial increase here from 500 to 10,500 why the increase in mileage and TOS is not so much sure so um with the Easy Pass in the past we didn't have a surplus of money in the account and what would happen is uh some violations would occur where somebody forgot to put the Easy Pass in we get a violation that started to add up what we found is if we keep around $110,000 in the account we don't have those violations it's just subtracted so it it's almost like a SE safety net thank you along that same line of the E pass will um uh that um nowadays when uh a civilian drives through and gets their Easy Pass uh it it can track it by the license plate is that the same for municipal government as well it is council president our license plates all the municipal license plates are tracked within our uh Easy Pass account and they can track the cars they go through it by the so we don't get the violations to the director's point director one question regarding the dbrt program uh there was no expenses last year uh but we're we are asking for what we requested last year right um we reminded them that the money was there and available to them uh they never requested it we reminded them a second time there was never a request for that money but uh of course we want to continue to be able to fund them whenever they need something director act director we got a request this morning oh you got yeah so we be cutting the check for money last year they just they were on top little late they're voluntary group all right we work with them all right they do good things yes they do [Music] any other questions can can we move into can we slide right into emergency medical services or we we just say we can slide right into it okay let me get my let me get my facts here all right so I am looking on page 99 and 100 line four 4125 5259 these are first time requests um can you explain to me director nki what yes councilman so this is a new budget so so I'd just like to uh read from my Note sure uh with an average of 1100 calls for service each month are required standbys of Township at township and school events and being primary Mutual aid for Carter at South Amboy we must staff and have available for dispatch no less than five ambulances each day concerned that one of our first aid squads has been either unwilling or unable to provide coverage and so that we can create a safety net for the remaining three first aid squads we deemed it necessary for the Woodbridge Police Department to become a New Jersey state licensed emergency medical services provider our immediate intentions are to staff and have available one ambulance dispatching from Ford's fire department and to reevaluate our position at the end of the calendar year so so we're building a budget to be able to uh supplement the coverage we have that makes sense certainly don't want to mess around with Emergency Services thank you assistant director uh um Missy sorry um around uh councilman ficara's uh questions um uh where do we um uh get those numbers from uh were they from uh surrounding um facilities or um were they based on some of our other unit uh the numbers that we're using to build the budget well we we've had you know like I said we've relied on four first aid squads to provide the service uh those four first aid squats provide us with five ambulances each day so it's just a matter of breaking out um one or two ambulances and and applying those costs to the new budget and our our residents in Woodbridge would be able to expect the same services that we we um received there on that side of town uh in fors as we would on the other side uh anything as far as the billing um that goes out for that that they can count on so uh we have an ambulance at uh Ford's fire department now um we intend on replacing the ambulance that is there with with our own ambulance um that service is generally fors hopel casby and South Amboy um but we do operate our service off a live map so we always dispatch closest to the call and we remain well under the NFPA guidelin on response time so yes we are going to continue to provide the same quality service that we've always provided thank you what is the response time on that do you know that so so we we work off of a chart that our EMS manager checks every day um we try to stay within uh from from the time that dispatch receives the call uh we ask that they get it out to the ambulance within 990 seconds we ask the ambulance to be in motion within 90 seconds have to receiving the call and we ask that they be on location within 8 minutes director do you sleep this stuff like you're just rattling that all well it's it's it well this is this goes back to 2008 um when we first started overseeing EMS and then uh when the director and I took over the police department we put a lot more effort into it we hired our first uh EMS manager so so yeah we've been doing this for a while ready this signs good what pages are we up to now 105 10 um direct uh page 104 line 49.95 other outside Services pretty low the last few years last year up up 40 up another 20,000 just explain the other outside Services page 104 line 4995 that's for EMS okay so outside services for the EMS budget are going to cover things like EMS charts you have to contract with EMS charts to be able to bill for your services um another outside service would be paying our insurance premium through the JF so it's those types of things that we have to be sure we have enough money for thank you we had a $100 meal allowance that is no longer a part of the budget for these Earth Services um for the last two years is there [Music] um maybe a a dog or something that we don't have in the uh in the firehouse or um it was a $100 meal allowance for 2020 and 2021 and 2022 but uh 2023 and 2024 we don't have anything there was a meal allowance on line 5140 just curious is to know why we we had such a low budget for that and then we don't allow that anymore bottom of the page o o o um that's something right I I took over OEM uh on April 1st of this year and uh restructured the budget and and uh got rid of the things that I didn't think were necessary and kept the things that were so that's certainly something that I had the same question about and couldn't find the answer so it's no longer there okay yeah it looked like we never really used it right you know but uh um well thanks every little bit counts any other questions not from this side I think this side is good too Mr thank you very much for your patience and your answers thank you dor appreciate it thank you Mr President we're going to go into the division of assessment Mr Duda what is the O and on that Mr so o and will be 38 through 39 so again beginning with the Assessors Office Pages 38 through 39 on Oe nobody wants to mess around with the tax guys I have question just uh on page 38 line 4895 Professional Services others just interested to know what that the we had we request requested 35,000 for a number of years and we're either right at it a little bit under it so on and so forth we've requested the same amount again can you just explain to me what type of services that would need that's for tax uh in case we need to go to Tax Court in case there's a uh we need uh if you go to Tax Court you usually need a professional appraise appraiser to uh defend defend the town so that means that cost mean appraisals can cost un large like work center with do an appraisal prob plus 10 or 15,000 for him to defend that so it's pretty much there to just in case we need to you know uh in case we need it uh you know right now the Market's pretty pretty good so we're not you know if we're not using all the money now but I mean if something we ever have a downturn in the market we probably going to need that money that makes sense and it explains the fluctuation in the actual so thank you you're welcome that clears that up pretty good on side thank you very much okay thank you coun have a good night to the tax collector's budget OE is 35 and 36 and also we'll be looking at sewer uh Administration with Mr lenson as well was under year Pages 1 through [Music] five uh mron around telephone expenses on page 34 that's is that no that's that's a fire district got okay sorry about that 35 through 36 and it under utility 1 through 5 some of this is on the stuff that we just recently got right the use yeah the new section the new section that was sent out right P right yeah on page four um 7 7520 expain that's and dou fin Employee Retirement System so I don't know why it's allocated yeah it's allocated for the pension that's done in the finance office we got this pack yeah Council we just did an analysis of our our pension number and just analyzed it via employees and just allocated it a little different this year all of us we have a question I do I have a question on page three item 4995 other outside STS it's always the same number requested but we never get anywh half of the amount requested can you just explain why we keep requesting the same number periodically we do sewer rate studies we don't know what year exactly we're going to do them and then we had some bound issues with some other municipalities where we had to do some preliminary legal work so it's there in the event that we have to do any kind of study regarding the the rates in general thank you thank you gentlemen thank you have a good night thank just leave your shirts at the door we have to get to the next VI we'll take purchasing and utilities and both purchases next again page 18 through 22 purchasing and utility and both purchases on page 18 Mr Burns um our maintenance contracts we seem to uh have declined as far as our usage over the last few years uh but we are asking for the same amount um um is there uh there something that we might be anticipating or there like unexpected big years uh with that I would say the decline for that is the past few years we've gone paperless so I think that's why the maintenance on our copier has been less and less and same thing with all departments I would say that the copy machines are probably going less and less because we're trying to go paperless um that's really the only maintenance I think I have in my department is the cop machine okay it's like one in the principal's office right it is in the future did we anticipate the ask on that going down I have no problem with that yeah I think we're good on this side just sir good over there thank you so much thank you thank you nice work we'll go into Human Resources next Pages 27 through 29 on OE Deputy Administrator Casey Wagner is going to sit in for uh Darren Crocker who's uh not feeling well he's been out a couple of days would you like me to move up coun president yes please sit up front you got to ask something then if I move the temperature on that seat is a little [Music] hot I got a question council president sure page 28 line it 4995 other outside Services a significant jump from last year U and the years before were very low just explain other outside Services wi that increase thank you thank you Council bar so that's for our 8 System we've used ADP for at least my whole 10 year at least 10 years plus we pretty much used them for their basic service over the year they processed our payroll checks and they submitted what we've since done is they offer a lot more services that we weren't using and over the last year plus both finance and HR been working actively to use them the main ones are onboarding is the big one and that's the most of the increase you see there so now all of our job postings go up via ADP applicants apply via ADP and we onboard them all through the ADP system system so that's the big change we did we're also doing internal time and attendance which is another big piece so now all employees and we're still rolling out going through the process working The Kinks out if I want a day off you go into ADP you request off through there we track time we track payouts everything through ADP now another smaller portion increase you'll see on the finance side is the general ledger aspect of it now so instead of Finance going in doing manual journal entries once payroll is processed and all that it's going to be able to automatically communicate with them with themselves so it takes a little more takes a little bit of the risk out while you're processing takes a little ease off and it's a it's a big roll out they've been working hard doing it but that's what the increase is thank you very much and following up on that same thing case if we're if we're doing a little bit more using technology in those areas you just explained will it be there be a reduction somewhere else in some other L we remove some open positions on the finance side and all that yes we did the back end of it yes and they were unfilled position for yeah for a little while it's time to move away from that correct okay we like to carry them for a little bit you never know yeah yeah that makes I mean I'm all for improvements with technology you know it's just it's always sad to see somebody lose their job but that wasn't the case here no it was not this is just to streamline the process for both internally and people looking to be on board it gotcha question Mr wer um regarding uh continuing education i' seen those the last four years uh the ask has been steady but the demand um we've not uh gotten up to that um is there something else that they getting education somewhere else HR is a little different there like if you see all use Finance example or purchasing there are more steady classes here's your certification here's what you go for the HR when we kind to keep open because it's more of a conference type thing so as it comes available they say oh this is a good one we should go to and they apply for it and they're not yearly they sometimes in work out based off the schedule so that's kind of why we keep it that flat number should something come up and they wish to use it okay uh you also um perhaps this might be a similar response to Miss Burns regarding printing um the uh printing costs seem to have gone down over the last few years this is line 4920 um would uh we anticipate the ask going down we do we've been looking to redo our employee handbooks and we kind of been get into it some of the Law changes some of our own internal policies updated so we just finalize that and they might have one open item remaining and this year we're looking to roll out a new employee handbook okay and that's that's what we didit there council president sometimes we just do supplements where we'll we'll do a page change page changer two but this this time we need a revamp is redoing the employee hand of a service is providing for you also no that's all internal we work with legal and roll it out good thank you very much for sitting in ch we're going to drop to Information Systems which is also under utility Pages Pages 5 through n and that will be Scott kisma the director kma that's on what we just received right what page should be the first SE n under the sil utility Pages got okay oh please yes councilman car thank you Scott um page seven and I'm sorry I didn't get this to you in advance because I don't like to pop these up but um line 4304 electrical equipment so we were going along since 2020 budgeting a fairly low amount and then last year we budgeted that same amount spent considerably more and now we're requesting even a little bit more I'm assuming that's something new the electrical equipment so this last year was the electrical for wiring the temporary air conditioning units cuz we replaced the air conditioners in the data center next year is going to be the UPS replacement gotcha perfect councilwoman De Jesus on page seven item 4515 there is a signific on the maintenance contracts can you just um talk a little bit about the significant increase requested P 745 15 maintenance right so last year a big chunk of what's in maintenance contracts for this year was in equipment licensing and was in software maintenance the licensing model is different now for some of the equipment that they're actually allow causing us to do a maintenance contract instead of the software license so it's effectively the same number just in a different line thank you Scott page nine now at the top telephone expense 5330 we're cruising along at a quar million but we were never well early on we spent a little bit but now we're jumping up what what is that for telephone expense so we're installing a new telephone system a new mitel system in town the spectrotel service for the lines themselves were on a separate bill in Prior years and they're now included in just so again it's a cost savings it's actually AOW lower number a lower number but the number's in this line up you know I I think from from my perspective and I'm an old-timer I don't think I really understood the magnitude of what your department does I imagine it was just messing around with the computer I have a much better respect for what you do so thank you thank you more rotary phones yeah I I was wondering I don't even have a home phone any and should we expect this uh Mr Sima should we expect an increase of the telephone expense in uh like that is every is everyone so payment okay uh monthly and we'll pay that monthly actually quarterly uh the uh we're doing away with the old pots lines which is the plain old telephone lines uh for layman's terms like for guys like me uh and that's why we went to voice over internet uh much cheaper much easier to maintain and our entire staff has been trained on how to repair them all good just one quick question Scott on page eight line 4895 Professional Services other uh significant increase from past few years to 2025 question that increase is because we need to do a uh penetration test for cyber security this year and that's in that line thank you and two questions regarding a reduction uh we on page uh seven uh we have a reduction in computer equipment at line 4305 third one down where we've gone down from $775,000 ask to $10,000 um is there a um an explanation that we can let the public know so so in the past we had to deploy physical servers in order to accomplish whatever we were going to do we're able to build a virtual machine now which is building multiple machines in one virtual server it's a big cost very good and also along that line a few lines down to uh 4315 our software cost uh we had a uh we had a lower ask last year but we spent a little bit more but we're going back to um only requesting um $5,000 on that line are we not anticipating upgrades in the software we're not because in the past Adobe you had to buy the license and now the cost is down and it's an annual recurring fee but it's it's lower price and again we went to that option thank you for the explanation everybody good on this side good on this side thank you we're good thank you very much thank you Scott nice work good jobot thank you we're going to drop to uh Planning and Development start with Pages 74 on OE through 84 we'll capture U Miss ley's commission starting with Pages 74 through 84 depart can we hold one second please I need to make the mic shift sure all right so we're back to to planish the microphone has been changed are there any questions regarding I just have one question okay1 the salary increases do we add people to our what page are youing page 81 number that's that's zoning so you're talking about 35 10 salaries regular 2050 is housing and Property Maintenance yes we have added inspectors multiple actually in the last 18 month yeah sure there's more uh housing inspections to be performed but also um that covers zoning and Property Maintenance so all of that is in included in 20 in uh 2050 under [Music] 35 question um AG 80 item 4825 Professional Services legal um we are doubling the amount requested in the previous years um can you just let us yeah sure that is um that is planning board and uh we uh try to budget for when we know that there's an outstanding uh action that is being taken against the board and there is one that we know of so that would be why thank you and by the way we've never lost a case or planning board attorney has never lost a case in the last 30 plus years that he has been the attorney and I don't believe he will now but there there is an action thank you thank you here thank you good thank you very much director thank you we now go to the library board there's a separate tab in your books for the library okay and you have Mrs rep you tonight Mr Council councilman car Monica um I I know that I sent these questions to you but your answers were so thorough I thought it was important for public to hear uh page number three in your budget line um 317 -10 um is a miscellane uh exp I'm sorry uh electric um resources and 198k is requested but prior to that we were over that so was something settled in that we requesting last than what we spent last year No in fact um in your in the budget you were given today we did adjust those numbers because we have raised the um the the amount we spend gradually um we do spend $250,000 on electronic resources out of the 600,000 that we have that number has gradually gone up because um we're able to see that people want to borrow electron they want to borrow ebooks audio books online they want to stream things they want to take classes online so those resources are we're buying those instead of the print so we haven't asked for an increase to the budget but the online resources are more into minut signs of the time right we serve the schools as well the databases we have um a lot of our databases are part of the school resources and we serve a lot of students after school so that works out well for us great progress thank you very much thank you thank you so much we will now go to the Municipal Court Pages 160 through 162 we before we get to that can I just say um Casey I think you might have answered this going back to the general o and there was a line on page 163 it just simply said Public Library line 5295 miscellaneous expense it was a very big number 5.7 um can you just give me an explanation of what that was what page you looking at Council I am looking at uh page 163 line 5295 miscellaneous expense it was under free public library and it was 6020 was the town that's the town that's a contribution over library to right right so that's okay gotcha okay again we're going to go through the municipal Court's budget Pages 160 through 162 you have your active director Gary Taylor how's it going everybody to see you very good I don't are you okay sh we're good on this side no questions thank you very much thank you thank you we will go to the Department of Health various divisions starting with Pages 10 page6 going through 147 Mr Bowski here this evening so we'll start with the Department of Health and then we'll go over to Senior Services afterwards can can we just jump in to anywhere in those areas Mr Mitch um Phil can we can we take a look at page 111 all the way at the bottom it actually I think it goes in 112 um but it is uh a line 4895 Professional Services other the history there for the last since 2023 2024 we've requested 25k and never spent anything and we're resp we're questioning it again can you tell me what that preserve what is a true thank you councilman so that re that uh subject matter is our community outreach and specifically are a health mobile um to that end we we budgeted in anticipation of receiving the health mobile and its conception and we wanted to cover that if we ever needed a doctor on board to perform any of the the screening services that we were formulating um as it turned out um the screening services that we that we have been doing that have been wildly successful do not require of the service Services of the doctor uh but to that end the reason we're continuing to ask for it is as the health mobile and the services and the success of it evolved we may elect to do something that would possibly require a doctor's presence that makes perfect sense nothing I I'm sure anybody on the council will tell you any reports we get about the mobile health unit is is absolutely positive so and it's everywhere seems like well it is literally every day or somewhere right so and thank you for that again as I mentioned at the Board of Health meeting uh thanks to uh Carol nerick the chief of staff and the mayor who's whose idea this was and getting this thing from a uh donated to us we've conducted now over 3500 screenings uh many of them resulted in in situations where people did didn't even know that they they were in excess or or uh that that got followup and got treatment we had a couple of circumstances where there was literally with uh blood glucose people were not feeling well came onto the unit and they were literally in emergency situations where they got sent to the hospital and and so this thing has done so much good for so many people it's it's a it's just just great and thanks to all of you for obviously none of this happens with without the mayor and the chief of staff and your support So this thing is just done so much good for so many people we have a question from Council the um page 113 uh drugs and pharmaceuticals item 4118 it's almost double the amount requested last year which I'm going to make an assumption and think that it's along the same line maybe something to do with the health mobile uh so that's uh drugs and pharmaceuticals yes so that's actually with respect to um our our nursing Division and through um now that we are thankfully out of the co realm uh we don't get grants anymore to get vaccines for free and so we are transitioning out of that and so the and we are back to doing non-id uh programs and vaccinations child could uh vaccinations and so forth and of course the cost for just about everything is going up including vaccines so excellent I I think your department does a phenomenal job and I wish and it's the time to inform our residents I don't think they really utilize the health department um like they should and it's a good resource to have in town so I appreciate you and your staff do an amazing job thank you we appreciate you can Mr Mitch can we go to animal services or all under the Department of Health yes sir okay Mr President yes it um fill page 117 once again all the way at the bottom line 4895 Professional Service other we have been looks like going back to 2020 and 2021 we sign close to 60,000 in this area and then um we went up we spiked up and then we've been down and then we've requested 75k for 2025 what like kind of services would that be obviously if it's an animal control it's got related to animals so thank you councilman so like like the previous question fees for cost of everything has has been going up and certainly for veterinary and ser Veterinary Services some our Animal Control division will sometimes come upon a straight uh dog or cat that's injured and so forth and we we bring that animal uh to to a a vet to get treatment and uh that cost has has gone up and as as well as we we have expanded as we do uh shared service agreements with several of town so so that driver that need is is has gone up as well great thank you as as the father of a veterinarian I appreciate that answer director uh under drug addiction Services page 141 L item 4895 profal Services other huge increase from 2024 I years before we flat across the board at 30,000 uh can you explain the increase in that line item please yes so as you know uh thanks to our Administration yourself and and our Behavioral Health Services we are taking uh uh anre ever increasing uh effort with behavioral health related drug addiction mental health and we uh collaborate with the service as needed with in this in this case the Consulting fees for the Nolan Center that work collaboratively with thank you very much all right one question ccil thank you Phil and um let's see page 120 uh and the lines go from page 120 to 121 it's under Municipal Alliance 4128 um my only working knowledge of the municipal Alliance was when they were connected with the Heroes and Cool Kids program going all the way back to Shirley Genty but uh now what what is that program for Phil thank you I first I remember and recall what you me referred to specifically in the past uh this is uh for a what's known as a strengthening families program that we work cooperatively with uh the schools and each school that participates uh receives a a spe a specific amount of money for a facilitator and and what this is about is for to helping the communication between school Personnel parents children uh uh any kind of issues they may have is just a for for strengthening families and there's a professional that we collaborate with that that goes to these programs and works with the uh the the parents and the children and and the school Personnel to uh just develop better communication and obviously pulling and things like that Nationwide situation they just want to uh do what they can to to have a uh a healthier and just a problem free environment for anyone who cares to participate with that it's an education really I I think the the the issues I'm so much in favor of that I think the issues and and council president Anderson knows this with our children post the pandemic uh that area is so important so I'm glad to see that we're following help and put some dollars behind our programs I actually had the opportunity to go to a graduation for one of the schools with this program it was amazing U there was five families that participated in it and it was very enlightening to talk to them and how they really enjoyed the program and it really helped the when the parents talked to me they said that really helped them communicate with their children on different levels and what issues they were having at that time with them so I didn't realize actually that we provided those funds so I think it's great thank you anything well also look at Mr pelski the department of senior services and starting with Pages 132 and going through 137 Office of Aging and Senior transportation between Mr Mr s tell this is Morgan also again Pages 132 through 137 I want to make sure that we're not asking this question every year but we have a uh I have a question regarding uh page 132 um line 30 6:30 where there's a continuous salary reimbursement we receive a grant from the older Americans act which is funnel through the middle County Office on Aging and that Grant is for the counseling and case management that our social workers provide great thank you thank you very much than thank you Jo I had some questions but being a senior citizen I forgot them know what I mean we'll talk later it's gonna have to up our budget you know shall leave your card for the C Department of Public Work 18 starting with page 45 actually I'm sorry starting with page 44 and you have various divisions and including utilities as well utility 44 what's the numbers again I'm sorry starting with 44 if you want to go down his list starting with the director the director's office 44 and 45 right and he's also sitting with Mr G so maybe we can take engineering which is 46 through 49 at the same time okay I got it Mr BR yes line 3510 on page 45 we've had a significant reduction in salaries were they due to retirements or are we doing something more efficiently um George we few positions yeah C few positions but there's two people that we took out here out of the engineering department and moved to the office of stability and that would that would account for the differences there they moved to which department offic of stability tons of Dem May so we move those we move those positions out so that would that would reflect that that decrease [Music] thank good Sor sorry car uh engineering Michael page 49 at the top uh other outside Services $ 49.95 we've been um cruising along there at a half a million or so last year we spent a little bit more than we budgeted for and this year we're uping that a little bit can you just enlighten me as to what those Ser outside services are right these are for sanitary sewer improvements uh we do annual our preventive maintenance Township wide for S so we maintain our pipes so does it collapse overnight that's a good thing yeah okay so just on that uh councilman the we also um the reason you'll see a small increase there was the um when they're camera and cleaning the TV in the lines if they find an area that needs a spot repair uh they do that as well as well as part of the service rather than us have to go back with our equipment or excavate if they can do a spot repair that's where we put that in but I think we're comfortable with the number we have I I can see the the fluctuation because sometimes you can't predict this it could be a bad year or a good year right so I appreciate that it just caught my eye because it's a large number are we Mr Mitch are we going up page 53 I right now to 49 but I think Mr bro Mr G's done if you want to pull up your division heads and we'll start picking them off that way okay thank you so much so so our next one will be uh streets and Roads that's Kevin tan so beginning with Pages 51- 54 correct yes may I please okay um page 53 down in the middle other repairs line 4595 other repairs um it's been fluctuating and I could imagine what it is but we're requesting 38,000 can you give me an example of what repairs that might be y they're for they're for repairs for DPW complex and uh repairs to are like scissor lifts that we use there to make repairs to get us that where you know up those High ceilings oh yeah and uh and my I charge my chipper my tri crew chipper repairs out of there also okay so there my three major gotcha expenses out there very good thank you good down there good we're good we're good okay thank thanks Kevin on Rose oh all right but keev Kevin oversees the next few budgets we have got you okay so the next one we have for Cav uh uh road department and there is uh snow calamities at 1632 that's on page 54 this is a question uh page 55 uh vehicle replace Parts L 423 5 uh but you know up again this year which I understand we're a very aggressive public works department which is great uh is that is we keeping Vehicles longer or maintaining or why why the increase Council it it really is just the the price of uh the parts and materials to uh and and labor costs as well if we have to send something out for repairs okay thank you it really is just the cost of across the board with all our vehicle Banks but um you know especially that type of equipment plow equipment sander equipment stain it's a lot of stainless steel so it's it is very pricey thank you Mr team you doing any other divisions yeah so we'll go into next to be street cleaning that's 1633 on page 56 down here we're good in that department okay anything else from Mr T no the utility Pages oh that's you know we're going to go back to that all the way at the end thank you Mr Rudy then put repair Rudy can I just ask a quick question just category wise George we have the we have 1632 snow removal calamities and then we have under street cleaning emergency snow removal like what's the difference between in theory so it it's a combination of you know if snowstorm but it's also any storm emergency we have doesn't necessarily need to be it doesn't necessarily means need to be slow got if we get an emergency through the governor's office that's where we book that's where we create the line okay or if we run out of uh snow cost we can do an emergency then it's just a yeah yeah that makes sense the governor has to declare a state of emergency and then we're allowed to book there and pay for it in the next year cool the last time we had it was 2015 thank you just didn't put the repair starting with Pages 59 through 62 on OE thank you else on side good Mr Rudy under sanitation thank you Jo so Jo sanitation newsy and that starts Pages 63 through 65 Qui question so um page 64 other materials line 4295 we've been cruising going all the way back to 12 uh to 2020 requesting 125k one year we we hit that Mark but other than that we've been considerably under it but we're still there can can you tell me what that sure we rotated with recycling for buying the leaf bags for the town oh and when we do it's it's 75,000 80,000 a pop right okay that makes sense and those bags are great appreciate in the last few years we've had some Surplus but we're getting low we're hitting at this budget cycle for uh after some of these storms that blow through even in the summertime leaves and stuff are coming down so appreciate that thank you Mr newy taking anything else just sanit Sanitation good thank you we going to Mr Burke public buildings and grounds starting with 68 through 70 [Music] you're good we're all right we're good Mr B thank you Brian thank you Parks maintenance beginning with page 125 through 127 Mr Higgins good one question Mr Higgins are are on line 126 um 4520 at the bottom of this page our motor vehicle repairs uh have been kept pretty low for the last few years is there anything that you can attribute to that good maintenance um so that's more for outside repairs we have equipment that needs to be serviced outside of our shop you know specially piece of equipment um most of our our line item comes from our vehicle replacement parts up top and that's something we use if we need to have something it has to go to a specific vendor for you know specialized repairs thank you we good thanks Bobby than SCH custodian Mr Patton sorry my bad uh 70 through 72 I have one car page 71 second item other supplies 4195 is the line we've been cruising along at 15K request last year we we requested 3,000 actual was 805 or back up to 15 what would that other supplies example um yes part of the shared services with the board of V it's not only custodial Services it's also snow removal and field maintenance okay so we kind of use that for the field maintenance got you for broken sprinkler heads things of that nature or a lot of it's mostly sprinklers like CU we're open and closing for the seasons but it's it's there to for like emergency repairs and do do we have is this the line don't we have a regular contract to do the turf like uh freshen it up and that kind of stuff do we do we do that we do we have a maintenance contract to to maintain th those turf fields okay this more for like baseball fields more got like non Fields gotcha and just on Su of that um the parks department does a lot of does all that uh field maintenance okay some of this was being charged to their line item so we're we're putting it back on to uh Tommy's side because his responsibility they do the work but it's his grounds that it's uh budgeted for thank you question 71 item 4295 of materials so you've um we spent a significant amount but never requested anything in 23 or 24 and now we're requesting 30,000 can you just explain that 4295 4295 other materials on page 71 yep that changed [Music] some of that we use as well for field maintenance for clay for pictur mounds and Speedy dry get P to that I know they they switch my line also the um the mop rentals and um just some cleaning supplies in school with the addition with all the uh added School improvements it's just going to require more you know the waxes the strippers and things like that so we're going to just add into this line item any other questions thank you Mr P thank you we're going to go over to uh the sewer utility that's all your utility pages [Music] Joe Figaro from Wastewater starting with page nine under the utility we will take 9 through through 20 all those pages George yep one second so okay so starting on page nine actually uh L I'm 8530 that's um comes under uh streets and sewers but uh any questions I should be able to answer if anyone has any questions it's in it's in with the waste word department but it's really grows I have a question uh Arrow uh page 11 light item 45 95 other repairs uh increase of 100,000 from last year can you just explain that increase please so that's all the um emergency sewer repairs you know if we have a a break and and as I said earlier with uh the company use it does our our lining and TV if we have a a sink hole it results in a sanitary break um that's the line atem we charges this at of it's really an emergency fund for any type of um sewer emergencies thank you we doing good can go right into waste order if you want Mr F page 16 under other outside Services 4995 yeah that's on page 16 to page the top item 49.95 so similar to what we just have with the um in the 8530 account the road department uh this this is going to cover this is a something we just introduced to cover any repairs major repairs we have with our pump stations um we have 22 pump stations so any issues we have those repairs also are are expense very expensive some of them were using Capital funding to do improvements but now the improvements that were done at of Capital we're seeing are requiring a lot of Maintenance so this is for any unforeseen uh Pump Station uh emergency thank you I have this general question I see it all over budgets like uh utilities which you know I'm a utility guy uh which are you're governed by the you know Board of Public Utilities we're using more utility expenses because we're just using we own more buildings uh seems like throughout the budget is been increased through our utilities on the bulk side the increas are you're talking on the bulk side for like heating gas electricity we do own more buildings and they have gone up across the board thank you so councilman in in the Waste Water Division that's you know oh yeah a lot of a lot of utility oh yeah so between the diesel fuel and the and the electric that number is staggering did you get a uh expense like a higher expense in the summer months because it's it's demand Peak month or are we regulated um we get a higher expense when it storms yeah you know more water goes into the sanitary through infiltration and inflow and uh just we pump I mean yeah you know that storm last week we were running three pumps for like two days so that's triple the normal amount of electricity and the way you get built on that is what you use for a certain number of hours you get built for for the month that's how PS does it by demand thank you so councilman I just want to take off on on what Mr far said so that goes back to the mayor's uh program on uh infiltration into our sewer system and replacing some of our old sewers where that storm water from the rains going into our storm sewers which we wind to paying for and treating so we're doing that on a continual basis year over years we've done a lot of itre a lot better we probably should look at the CP site the mcua and the rvsa at the same time that okay Pages Pages I'm sorry 17 through 20 on the utility pages questions on the good on we good CP to also yes CP was under thank you Mr Brew anything else no if I I could just thank the council the administration the mayor I mean um our budgets are extensive here in public works uh we cover a lot of ground deal with a lot of different aspects and the support we get from the council and the administration the mayor is incredible um I think all of you understand what we need the equipment we need the manpower to do the job and it really goes a long way um with the residents as well as our our workers they appreciate the equipment they get the support they get um you know when they need something for receptive to making sure they have the tools they need to do the job and it really does go a long way but it doesn't happen without the support we have so thank you oh it's mutual we feel the same about you guys thank you thank you council president if if you don't mind I I'd like to on behalf of the mayor I'd like to thank these gentlemen here you know for the most part we always thank our First Responders and rightfully so but these folks are unsung heroes that no one ever gets to see but they touch our lives every day uh Mr Higgins parks department takes care of the parks and and uh buildings around town Mr FG make sure your toilet flushes and and you never have to never have to worry about anything Mr new make sure the sanitation's picked up and you don't have to worry about what's in front of your house uh Mr pachowski works for the parks department he does the same thing as Mr Higgins uh Mr Patton takes care of the schools and the schools are clean and our children have a A Fine Place to go see uh Mr Burke takes care of our public buildings so they're clean for people to come visit uh Mr Tan takes care of our our uh build our streets and Roads to make sure they're salted sanded clean and there's no bumps and they're paved and and Mr Rudy takes care of the equipment to make sure all of these gentlemen could do their job so and Mr Brew leads that crew so I want to thank these gentlemen I've worked with them for many years and they're consument professionals and they do their job without any thanks so thank [Applause] you we'll go into the department of recreation good [Music] job thank you get Mr [Music] Higgins Council can I get a motion to take a f minute recess no second okay take a recess go back into our session it's 5:30 p.m. with the recreation department Mr molar Mr Muller Mr losk starting with Pages 24 through 26 Department of recreation you have under the first category Baron Arts Recreation and celebration of public events okay I just have a question on page 25 but we getting new furniture item 3330 because there was never anything requested and there's a request P it's for the baron Art Center I think it falls under the baron Art Center on page 25 yes so councilwoman that's um we're going to order new display cases for them so that's what that's for thank you we'll also look at Recreation which is Pages 128 through 131 question on page 130 uh other outside Services 4595 over the past 5 year seems to fluctuate a lot in the numbers um big increase from last year can you explain the increase and what the other outside services are so the other outside Services that's buddy ball like the sewor library it's groups like that okay thank you murals we've done a lot of uh murals throughout the township that's the line that you know that that H that line okay thank you those murals over by the train station parking lot on the opposite side of the street are absolutely beautiful yeah the way we put them up instead of painting them right on the walls excellent yeah that's according to New Jersey Transit we have to do with that way it's it's okay I think they'll last longer that way looks very nice thank you thank you could also look at Celebration of public events which are Pages 154 through 156 on page 155 again other outside Services $49.95 yes so that's uh stuff like our fireworks our um holiday parade the stroll the all that kind of stuff concerts Hispanic Cultural [Music] day we'll go into the rec utility going over to your utility portion of the book starting with page 23 we'll go 23 through 7 one that'll cover the community center Springwood Highland Grove recreation centers and the club at Woodbridge [Music] [Music] okay good good there thank you we'll look at the Evergreen Highland Grove Acacia uh 86 green uh green the museum and 127 avanel Street the office of for APAC and they'll begin with Pages 138 through 154 on your regular budget Mr Mull will you we also be taking the marina utility uh yeah anybody while we're in the utility Pages that'll also go up to page 74 71 74 what can I you want to go back to that I just want to ask a question about um about Highland Grove page 149 um mine 530 Bri water we since 2022 we've been asking for 10,000 there one year we spent 22 23 we spent 11,000 last year we budgeted 10 spent zero and we're asking for 10 again could you explain that yeah so councilman P Cara that's kind of the way in the summertime while the pool's open the utilities get charged to the pool and then the rest of the year they get charged to the youth center so it kind of depends when we get our utility bills and that's at the site until they come into us where they get charged to truly an accounting issue right very good that explains it thank you I almost answered that question answer just come second okay we're good there anything else you have to cover I think you're you're done right yeah I think Mr Sima maybe before we go back since we're on that last page do you have anything under the parking utility for Council on pages 21 through 23 under the utility budget thank you John thank you thank you guys just before you go I we have we're very fond of saying what which is the best town around and I think your department certainly all departments but you're because you're so visible is prob one of the reasons so thank you good job thank you thank you very much and thank you to the council for all your support um we had an exciting year in Recreation and so we can only do it because of the support from the administration and the support from the council so thank you so much thank you very [Music] much if nothing under the parking utility then Mr President if we can we'll go back to the beginning of the binder the Office of the business administrator Pages 14- 16 and if Mr s you can also take uh the office of the mayor and the Law Department we'll go through the first three listed so 14 through 16 are the first one my question on page 15 Professional Services other line 4895 U significant increase from last I see other years it fluctuates a lot can you explain that please what was the what was the line I'm sorry 4895 Professional Service other page 15 what's that that's that's outside service or a service for for um uh law so uh and uh departments thank you let's take a look at the office of the mayor Pages 2 through 4 I'm sorry I just have a question on page 16 on miscellaneous expenses 5295 free on 16 page 16 miscellaneous expenses 5295 come so miscellaneous expenses hits all our our um our uh contracts for outside contractors so uh prices have gone up so we we bumped it if you see we hit it for 607 last year y thank you Office of the mayor Pages 2 through 4 good good Mr President if we can look at the law Department that's the law and the prosecutor's offices Pages 41- 43 [Music] good good good on side we could jump to the controller's office page 32 through 34 on page 32 we have a new line item for 4815 Professional Services auditor we never had anything budget and now we have $100,000 this year uh yes councilwoman the administration want to undertake a revenue study and also a forecast looking at Debt Service um so the Auditors will be working on that I don't think it's going to be that high but we had to put down a number and we think that it will be in that ball so just study thank you jump to the uh Council which is Page 4 through 5 on OE i' let you know that the president I worked on the budget and he kept it the same as it was last year there's no change if no questions we'll go into the office of the municipal clerk I just want to thank Council for specifically because while I reduced the budget by about $166,000 a lot of the cost of the last couple years we've supported the restoration of our Vital statistic books back to the 1800s and we are in a very good place right now so uh that was a significant reduction for that but again thank you for that anybody has any questions questions I believe Mr President that's all we have on the list no great iead I just had a few closing remarks anyone else for any closing remarks before uh we pass it over to our business administrator I just want like to thank uh Mr Fernandez Mr Club Administration everybody for putting this together you know it takes a lot of work thank you yeah Mr President I'd like to Echo that I I think this is a you know very very clean budget very uh easy to understand and the questions that we ask were answered in the you know just very enlightening when you look when you go down this thing the way we do with the ruler and look and then you you see some of these departments and what they do and what they accomplish um it's a real education so thank you to everyone please extend our thanks to anyone we didn't catch that was here and we thank all the department heads for answering our questions in advance and um of course we would like to thank Mr Mitch for his preparation for for this meeting and um and all of the council people uh for for being here today uh to represent our uh stakeholders in the community Mr Sima thank you council president I I first of all I'd like to thank the council for understanding this is this is a lot to ingest in a short period of time we live with this uh kind of every day uh the mayor is the architect uh and gives us the leadership that we had a few years ago he tasked us when I say us and I'll mention those folks in just a few minutes he tasked us with keeping this budget flat and for the last three years we have um so I thank you councilman for Cara for noticing that and and it is a task so I'd like to thank the mayor for his efforts but also there's there's a lot of people that put in a lot of effort uh in this process one is Manny Fernandez our CFO uh Michael klep our Deputy CFO K Katie meller Mull and our our other CFO fantastic group Casey Wagner who's our Deputy ba that does a great job along with that um Carol and arck sits with us in all of these meetings as we sit with all the directors so um I'd like to thank them for for an outstanding effort in in putting this budget together uh it's a it's a fantastic job and Mr Hagerty for for placing us all in the right places at the right time so he he gets it all done so I'd like to thank those folks again thank you to the count for your understanding uh and for your patience as we as we get through this thank you thank you very much that any further questions can we get a motion to adjourn motion second Miss