Borough Council - Regular Meeting

Okay, we are, oh, we're on.

All right. I will call the meeting to order. Roll call, please.

Mayor Knuth?

Here.

Mr. Ribeiro? Here. Mr. Root is absent. Mr. Zahram? Here. Mr. Traynor is absent. This is the mayor. Here. Mr. Zazzarino? Here.

Notice of this meeting was provided to the Burnsville News and Courier News, filed with the municipal clerk, and posted on the municipal bulletin board on December 4th, 2025. Please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance.

I pledge allegiance to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Welcome to the July 13th, 2026 meeting of the Barnesville Borough Council. Members of the public will be allowed to speak during the open sessions and during formal public hearings on the agenda. Comments will be limited to three minutes per speaker, which will be monitored and enforced by the borough clerk. Failure of the governing body to provide a live broadcast of this meeting or technological problems encountered during including but not limited to the adoption of any ordinance resolution or motion. We have no presentations. We do have minutes to approve. We have May 18th and May 26th. Do I have a motion?

I move to approve the May 18th, May 26th minutes. I'll second.

All in favor?

Aye.

Opposed? That's it. Okay. Now we now have an open session for any items that are not listed for a public hearing. So I cannot, I can't, it's like, it's natural to say stand on the X. I don't have to say that anymore. Okay. So come up to the podium. Please make sure you give us your name and address.

Ready? I'm Mary Fran Daly. I'm your

For the reading of the declaration, everybody had a really good time and enjoyed it. And the schools did a beautiful job saying, I gave Anthony print out of the reports from the last 2 library meetings and of our upcoming calendar seats are filling up for and the, I don't know if it's the top of dance party or the babysitting club party. But we have a lot of fun things planned for July and even more in August. So we hope you'll join our summer reading program and come see us for all our special events. And thank you to everybody for your help with all of the arranging for the cooling to be fixed because of the power outages and the extreme gratitude from the community to use the library to cool and to charge and to connect. So thank you.

Thank you, Fran.

Great job, Fran. Everything's always packed and so well done. Thanks, Fran.

And really, you know, you did probably more than your program.

I think people really enjoyed it. And actually, reading the Declaration was quite an experience. I think everybody should read it. It really was moving, you know? A lot of people have never heard it read aloud, so thank you for that. Anyone else? Yes, Henry, come up to the podium, please. I don't have to do that. Just give us your name and address.

Thank you for bringing me here. Brazil, 1943. The future is in the present. And in 43. And I grew up next door on a farm. My father came over in 1926. He was an inventor who always wanted a farm. I was raised on a farm and always wanted to be an inventor. And it happened perfectly. This town made it all possible. They had a wonderful government. Their police force helped us out in so many instances. When a cow broke out in the middle of the night, they told us and we were able to get it in. That was when I took care of the cows. And the same with, we've tried to keep a good colic way coming into Bernardsville to keep the estate looking pretty good. weather and floodplains kind of have their way with it. But still, I couldn't ask God for a better place to grow up. And they permitted us or me to invent different kinds of glitter. Now it's holographic. It doesn't get all over the place. And I just enjoy every day living here in Bernersville. And I think it's become a bucolic gateway into town. People driving along see that and they all like it. Everybody comments to me about, because I spent a lot of time at the Red Horse and I meet wonderful people there. Now comes a little bit of a blurb that I'm going to mention and then I'm going to get back to the story. At 4.48 this morning, I call it a terrible experience that I have most every day at 4.48 and then again at 6.48. And what happens is they have a couple of rogue engineers driving their diesels and they are just relentless and blow the horn like 25 times. And it's not the gentle horn that the MUs wear. the MU trains have. It's a really crazy loud thing that, well, we're pretty close to the Meeker Road, but all 24 times you can hear it clearly when you're in bed with two rows of bricks between you and everything else. So I think maybe it's time to say it again that the beautiful town, and I heard this from a lot of people, suffers through these two rogue engineers to do this in the morning and then they do it again at night. And I think it's the ALP-46s and the ALP-45s. I think they just do it deliberately because they can and they're union people and they can't get fired because they're technically following the law, but you could go, boop, or you go, Four times. And so I think there's a middle ground. I was here a few years ago as the pigeon remembered me. And you wrote a letter and it did good for a while. Yeah. Well, we'll try it again. Maybe you could do another letter.

We will. We'll try it again. Sometimes they need reminders.

Maybe the same thing again at night between 6 and 8 p.m. I think we need. Big trains that come from Manhattan. I'm not sure. And this should be addressed by the council. So let's go back to the present.

Actually, your three minutes are up, Henry. How much longer? You had your three minutes. You have another issue. Okay. Let's start a second three minutes for the next issue. Okay. That was his trains.

Can you comment on that?

Yeah.

Have we recorded it? Because it might be good to record it and then prove it, like how disturbing it is to NJ Transit.

Record the sound about how long they hold on to it.

Yeah.

In the decibel level. Yeah. In the middle of the night. You're not getting your pajamas. Yeah.

But maybe the evening ones, if you had an opportunity on, anybody could really do it. It doesn't have to be you.

Catch it on the phone and just to prove it to them. Yeah. There's even a group of people that go to the train station and their whole job there is to limit the train noise. With them once, And they were really good, but I don't see them there anymore.

Anyway. We will send another letter. So thank you, Henry.

Now comes the big part. My mother passed away in 2009. Her will was to divide the property of 240 acres into three parts. From the lay of the land and the way the houses are situated, basically what it means that next to my subdivided lot on there, there's about 85 acres that I think should stay as open land. And I'm lucky enough to have the time to join with Ms. Knoss, Mayor Knoss, maybe on Thursday to talk further if the town of Bernersville was interested, I'm willing to play. And that will do two basic things for me. It will give me an appraisal because land is only worth what somebody is going to pay for it. So why spend hundreds of thousands on an appraisal, which I'm not going to do? I was thinking if there was a value there, that's fine with me. And so I was hoping to find a way that it can be done in the way that it should be done according to the law. Right now, I'm in a lawsuit with my siblings because I have one sibling that thinks that because my mother, she took care of my mother, she deserves all of it, basically. And the will says one-third, one-third, one-third. So I've made a settlement proposal, which I want to share with Mrs. Mayor when I meet with her maybe on Thursday. And I want to thank Bernadette for always allowing me to have a stage for my successes. Thank you very much. Thank you.

Thank you, Henry. And we do have a meeting on Thursday, and I've invited also Frank Pinto, who is our open space consultant, to be there as well.

That would be perfect.

Yeah, and our administrator.

Thank you for your time. I know it was longer than three minutes. It's okay. Two issues.

It's not like they're lining up to come up here. Thank you. Thanks, Henry.

Henry, thank you so much. And, you know, just obviously continues to be a priority of the borough to preserve that property. So we'd love to work with you and your family in any way that we can do that, make that happen. And we'll write that letter again.

Okay. Anyone else? I can't see if anybody's... Nobody on there?

Person...

Oh, okay. So then I will close the public session and we'll move on to discussion items. We had Main Street is hosting Garlicsville, which I think will be a lot of fun on October 25th at the train station. So they want permission to use the train station. I believe that's a Sunday. Which, you know, it's pretty quiet there anyway. They also are asking permission to do the winter holiday celebration. So they're going to be combining the tree lighting with the parade. And they are working with the Rossi family because Joe's health has been a little shaky lately. And so they're willing to have us work with them and do it together. So yeah. The only thing I think they asked for information on how to close that one little strip there. So we'll get more information. It's just, you know, the overall concept of the date, the date, the times. So but we will get from the police a route where the parade is going to go and more details. But this is just kind of the general concept. um they look good i they said three up to three thousand people at the garlicsville yeah yeah i was very impressed uh the person who runs it came and did a presentation and he does all kinds of different street fair type things all over um not just new jersey i think they do one in um allen not allentown what's easton easton does a garlicsville yeah

I was almost dead.

Yeah. And it's a big hit. So we have resolutions for those later or we need a motion now for, well, let's finish them. Okay, and then also just keeping the events together, the Library Foundation wants to do, and I think they've done this a couple years now, they do a gratitude event for all the volunteers and donors, and they need permission to apply to ABC so they can serve wine. So let's do those three as one motion for the events.

I move. to have all the fun events, Garlicsville, with your holiday and gratitude at the library.

All in favor? Aye. Okay, so then we'll just make it official in August. Okay, then we have the GIF renewal, which is a three-year contract. So when is that due? Do we have to do it tonight or?

I think we can do that in August.

So we're just doing it as a resolution. But yeah, and we want to stay with the GIF because they have been great to us. They've really served us well. The additions to Claremont Playground, I will turn it over to Nancy.

yes um so we notified the vendor uh after the last uh meeting that we wanted to order the items that you approved in yellow and blue with uh blue you asked him what would look best he thought the blue flooring would look best um or the rubber bottom um so this is so anthony has a 3d uh rendering of what it will look like that's not it what is that oh one So can you make those bigger? And is this the game time? So this is game time, which is also MRC. So if you go down, because that's the overview, and then that's what it would look like from the side. And I think there's a couple more, kind of the same thing. You see the shaded benches. There are two of them. The big shade on the top of the... playground unit that you'd ask for.

Yeah, I wish we had all that land around it.

Yeah. Exactly.

But so the cost for that is what you approved, which is $264,400. But I heard from you some questions and concerns about ages and you know, that, that big structure is rated five to 12. I mean, younger kids can use it, but it's rated five to 12. So you'd asked about younger kids. Um, those little, the duck and the bunny are for the younger kids, but I looked into something for, uh, much younger kids, which would be, um, Can you put up the other one? This little activity set is for ages 6 to 23 months.

You can't really see. It's not an outdoor activity set.

And we could add that if you wanted to. That's for 6 to 23 months. Even older kids could use it. And then I wanted to add two more swings. because we had room and we could have four altogether. So one would be the adaptive swing, two would be the sling swings which are the traditional ones and then one would be the like infant or toddler swing so Anthony if you could bring up the I asked him to put a rendition together second one of what that would look like so you see on this one there's four swings instead of two down at the bottom you see the two the duck and the bunny and then that If you wanted the, so if you see that, yeah, that in the next to the, looks like the duck is the, would be the six to 23 month. And then the swings, I think if you go down one more, I think there's, maybe not, maybe one more. You can see the swings in the back.

Yeah. Now we did, you did have, there we go. Oh, there's a picture. Yeah. And a closer view of the, you did have Ben Schaefer also.

To get to that, but I want to give you this cost. So to add the, the, the baby thing and the two extra swings would be an additional $7,300, um, which would make the total, uh, 172,198 plus 99 for it. So it basically makes it, um, to, I don't know why I don't have any total on here. 264. So, about $272,000 if you wanted to do that. So I wanted to let you know that we had asked for a second quote from another vendor, but we actually didn't think that they would reply. That's why I didn't bring it up at the last meeting. But we finally did get a quote, and it was about $7,000 or $8,000 less than this one. It's a little hard to compare apples to apples. Like, they had demolition. This one doesn't have demolition. We took all the differences out and we made them as close to each other as could be. And that one was about $7,000 or $8,000 less. However, the main playground structure, like the big one, the center of it, had less activities. So Theirs has four. This one has 12 climbers. Theirs has two slides. This one has three. Theirs has three platforms. This one has eight. So in comparing the two, it seems like you've got a better deal with this one. And they're pretty much, when you're talking this much money, $7,000 or $8,000 isn't that much to begin with, but you're getting more for your money for this one. And these were this vendor and the vendor that we got are two of the biggest playground vendors in New Jersey. It was Ben Schaefer was the other one. And this one is Game Time, which is MRC, Martirano Recreation. So if you choose to do these two extra things, I feel like this... is good for all ages. And I think that it's a good deal for the money that you're paying and would be a great addition to the park. And I feel like these two things, well, definitely the swings, the additional two swings, I think are really good to have. We didn't think we'd have enough room previously. And I kind of like the baby thing because if you have a little kid there, you have something for them to do. So, and again, for an additional about $73,000, I'm sorry, $7,300 for those two things. The activity set is five and the additional swings are about three.

Does this include installation?

Yes.

But not demolition?

Not demolition. So DPW is going to do the demolition. Okay. The installation is... If you went with the second one, the installation is $63,000. The big unit, the main unit, is $115,000. I'm rounding these. The swings, if you did the bigger ones with the four, is $5,400. Okay. The shade over the unit itself is a thousand. The Two shades over the benches are 12,000.

I don't know how they come up with these numbers.

The bunny and the duck are 1,550 each. The baby activity center is five. And the two benches are 2,260. But it's all included in the 272.

Well, that's the 172. Not the demolition. We're doing that. DPW is doing demolition.

Okay, got it.

The installations.

Yeah. And that way, you know, a lot of times they used to ask DPW to install, and we don't want that liability. So it's great that they're doing it.

So if you went with that, it's 172, and then the 99 for the rubber coating and the curbing.

Oh, they do curbing, too. Around the edge of the rubber. Oh, good. And there's a fence around it besides.

There's a fence and there's actually wooden, I would call it kind of a retaining wall because to hold back the dirt in at least two sides, I think.

And you still think they can get it in by Labor Day if we order it tomorrow? No. I'm not making any promises. No, we always get in trouble.

I know, I know. He would starve by then, for sure. I mean, honestly, everything that we do, and later in my report, you'll see, you know, Wes and Boyle and everything we do is delayed because of supplies.

Yeah.

You know, it started during COVID. And it never got better. It never stopped. So it's all, I guess it's all about the time it takes to get the equipment.

Right.

Equipment.

Yeah. Well, I think what it is is people don't stock anymore. They manufacture once they get the order, and that's what takes so long.

Yeah. So I think the question for you is if you want to add those two things that I talked about.

Yeah. Definitely the swings. Do people feel good about the baby part? That was $5,500?

The baby part is $5,005. Yeah.

Yeah, I'm probably inclined if we don't currently have in the current design a piece of equipment for that age group. Nancy, I assume you don't have a render of the other one. Basically, this one gets us more platforms. I think you said eight versus three. Similar number of other pieces of equipment. Is that right? But basically, a lot more play space up front. Up top. Yeah, it's got a lot more to it.

Yeah. You're comparing the main play structure for the one vendor to the other?

Yeah, just to make an informed decision there.

Yeah. It has, I have to get back to that page. This one has 12 climbers. The other one has four. This one has three slides. The other one has two. This one has eight platforms. And the other one has three.

Got it. So higher quantity really across the board. Okay. Yeah, I think in that case it's worth going with this current design. And with the baby. Yeah.

You guys are good? Okay. I think we're good. Let's do it.

Thank you.

Thanks for doing the research on that. What's the, you need a resolution. Well, it's all on, it's all on the state.

I guess you can, you did a. Off the cuff resolution at this last meeting. So I could just amend it to add these 2 things. To not exceed, say, 7,500, because I think I just put down some. I could tell you exactly.

Yeah, there's always contingencies.

Improve it, baby. Swing.

Okay, so then to add approximately, that's 5,005. I was about to say not to exceed 8,000. Yeah, I think that's safe.

Okay, who wants to move it?

I'll move to approve the additions to Claremont playground.

Okay. Not to exceed 8,000.

An amount not to exceed 8,000. Second.

Did you second? No, he did. Oh, whatever. All in favor? Aye.

Aye.

Okay. All right. engineering projects? Do we have an update on any of those?

It's just a quick update. The pavilion, we received the survey a couple weeks ago. I sent that over to the consultant who's doing the design work to try and make sure that everything fits based on the constraints of the property. I'm setting up a meeting for next week for our engineer and the designer so we can make sure that we have everything that we should, then Well, I will. The one thing is, so because this is in a co-op, what they do is they also do the construction. We would need a separate electrician and plumber to install the toilets and sinks and the electric. So I'd like our engineer, because our engineer didn't really like the pitch of the roof when he looked at it. So I'd like them to talk to each other so everybody's comfortable. And then once we have something done, you know, that we think is complete, then it would go to the rec committee and then come to you.

Yeah. Did we get a price on the pavilion?

I didn't get a price on the installation yet. I asked him again today. I don't, I don't.

But what about the actual, the actual building?

Um, I had it. I don't remember. I think of the last meeting. I said, well, I'll give you a hint. I think it costs less than the playground. So unless the installation is outrageous, I mean, I think we'd be able to do this for under five, which is what you wanted to do. And then there's just, we would probably ask REC to meet with the different groups that use that field. attached to the turf field. I know they practice there. There is a, I call it a dugout. It's basically just a fenced in area. I think occasionally put a bench in there when they want to use it. We measured and there's room to move that to the other side because it really is in the line of sight from where the pavilion would be to the turf field. So we would let them know about that as well. And yeah, if you get any-

Just on that point, can we, is that decided in terms of moving that dugout or can we build a pavilion without moving that dugout?

We could build the pavilion. I mean, nothing's decided. It's our decision.

Sorry, it just cut out, Nancy. I'm sorry, I'm going to have to ask you to repeat that.

I hope it's not our new system. I said it's all subject to what the engineer comes up with according to the topography of like which way it can turn, things like that. So, I mean, if we can avoid it, we'd love to avoid it. But it sits right there in the line of sight to the turf field. And like there's an exact spot for it on the other side right next to the other dugout. And it's not a highly used field, so we thought that would be an easy concession. I mean, again, it's something we have to talk to all the groups about, but...

I think it would be great to get input there. It's a little odd to see a baseball field that has dugouts on one side and not both sides. If there's a way we can accommodate that, I think that would be wonderful.

The information that I got from recreation is that that field is almost primarily used for practice. So I don't know if it's, you know.

If that matters. If they really use the dugout, yeah. Right. I mean, how much you use the dugout for practice. Well, I think just getting input from the groups that are there will help make that decision. And we don't have to make it tonight.

Well, no. And I just wanted you to know that we measured and we could move it. But... You know, it all depends, like I said, the topography and when the engineer looks at it and which way it could face, how much room there is. Yeah. You know, like there's just so many factors that still have to be taken. So nothing's final. Right. In answer to your question. Okay.

Thank you.

Contractors waiting for supplies, you know, the catch basins or whatever the different things is that he needs to do the job. Dayton Crescent, the DOT final inspection is supposed to be the week of July 27th. And then any striping modifications will be scheduled after that, after any changes that they require. The engineer is aware of the fact that it doesn't look great. I made that very clear. You can still see yellow in a lot of spots. And so now it just will come down to how they're going to fix it, make it look better. Okay.

I have two questions. What are our status for sidewalks, childs, and train station right now? Yes. Same August?

No. No. That is a point of discussion. Enormous frustration because DOT just will not respond to us on that. You know, you awarded that bid in December. Right. And the contractor's not happy either because they were supposed to be done by now. They won't. DOT approval? We're waiting for, so DOT approved the modification. If you recall, this was the Burners Avenue sidewalk grant. Right. And it was supposed to expire in August, I believe. And next month, earlier this year, we asked for a modification and said, can we use it for the train station and child's road sidewalks instead? They approved the modification. And then the engineer did the plans and sent them to them. And they haven't approved those plans yet. And Every week, every week we ask them. So I might ask for some help with that, you know, with our representatives. Yes. Because this because I you know, I can't blame the contractor for being upset. You know, we we've been waiting. Yeah.

Well, he has to plan out his schedule.

Yeah. So I unfortunately don't have anything new on that one.

Yeah, the train station, New Jersey Transit said they were doing the asbestos. Yeah, they're still not there, right? No. So that was part of my report.

Oh, sorry. So New Jersey Transit let me know that. They were starting to do the asbestos work and it would take, I think it was four to six weeks.

Yeah.

And they were going to start July 1st, but we haven't seen any evidence of them starting yet.

No. And they had told me they were doing it in May and they never did it in May. So, yeah. Very frustrating. Yeah.

Yeah, that is frustrating. That's something we can raise with some of our assembly people soon.

Yes.

I think there's an upcoming... Is there a town representation?

I'm just curious. Actually, I...

I take that back. It was the assemblyman's office who called and told me that. I don't think it was New Jersey transit. I think it was them because they've been trying to keep on top of it.

We think both our assembly people stay on top of it as well as our senator. Yeah. Yeah. They tell them and then they tell us, but they don't do it.

Yeah.

Oh, you're talking about child. No, I mean, that's again, that's state. It's the safety. Okay. And I will say this, that this is not a typical, that wasn't a typical grant. It was what they're calling a paper grant, right? It wasn't electronic. Everything got mailed snail mail back and forth. And so now when we submitted our modification, they were supposed to upload that into the electronic system and they never did. And they said, we can't do anything about it until they do. And they just never.

Yep.

So just I have one question about the Weston boiling. He said mid August.

No, that's our engineer said mid August for start. The engineers, the engineer said that, which is. Again, very frustrating because that will lead into when school starts.

So.

No, we're waiting for contract wise. Yeah. Yeah. And the contractor is completing another job, which happens when you delay. Like, we delayed it. Because we thought that the water, you know, for the neighborhood, we delayed, let them do the water main extension first. And so then he took another job. And so he's finishing his other job, plus the delay in supplies. So we're told middle of August. Again, it's frustrating. But not a lot we can do.

This is the one the resident was here last meeting about.

Yes. Yeah. And I all but promised. The summer. August still counts as summer.

Actually, about until September 21st is still summer. That's right. But, yeah, we don't want to do it while the school buses are out. It's just frustrating. Any other good news? That's all I have. All right. Thank you. Moving on to ordinances. I will open the public hearing on ordinance 2026, 2053, an ordinance providing for the improvement of Laurelwood Road. in and by the Borough of Burnsville and the County of Somerset, New Jersey and appropriating $259,208, therefore constituting proceeds of grants from the New Jersey Department of Transportation. Anyone like to be heard on this ordinance? Seeing none, I will close the public hearing. Go Ross.

I move to pass ordinance 2026-2053 on final reading and adopt as published.

Second. Roll call, please.

Mr. Ribeiro? Yes. Mr. Srom? Yes. Ms. Zamara? Yes. Mr. Tazerino? Yes.

The next one we were pulling is?

Looks more like a note. It's already been covered.

Oh, right.

We don't have to do anything. It's just to put it in the public record, right?

Yeah. So we just let it go away. Okay. Yeah, it was already, it was in the capital ordinance.

i can ask on this topic though i think we discussed maybe a slightly lower amount or i mean i mentioned to be clear um do we know what the actual amount will be i know it was 200 in the capital but i was hoping we could spend less than that yeah it should be less um nancy had said they they're in the middle of um renewing the um

What do you call it? The co-op contract? The co-op contract, yes. For the co-op that they're in. And so they couldn't give us the, but we're only doing zoning for the first part. Right.

Well, so the, I'm giving rough numbers right now. The construction documents alone. Was about 113,000 and then I asked them to add in the zoning. Planning and zoning and that's I think where we're waiting. It's it's not it's I think it's going to be like, probably around an additional 50 to 60,000 for that. So it's going to be close to the 2, but. Um, that's what it is. So I was going to bring that back to you when we actually finalize that. And then you can decide if that's what you want to do.

Yeah. A good idea to do, you know, a whole department at once.

So, and by the way, just one caveat, just so you know, uh, So that we're completely transparent. There will still be multiple filing cabinets over there that will not be scanned because they're current. You can't, they don't want to scan them because they need the actual physical files. So just so you know, if you go over there, they're like, what are all the evidence? Yeah. All the current ones. Cause there are multiple file cabinets, a current, there's so many unclosed permits, you know, over the years. So.

Nancy, on that topic, I guess, once we do transition to having more of those scanned and maybe transition to improve some of our technology, we'll move off of paper for some of the current. Is that right? And then we can eventually have a more electronic system for that?

I think for as much as we can, but I believe that the state still requires paper tech cards and the sheets that go with them. So I heard that the state is exploring or maybe close to doing something electronic so um hopefully that will happen soon right all right we have resolutions um i'd love to discuss 164 and 172 right some questions

64 was the traffic.

Oh, the left turn.

I just didn't know when that were that.

That's the garden center.

Oh, okay. So coming out of that no left turn from the garden center, they have to go right. Perfect.

Yes. Makes sense. That's part of their applications in the state.

And that would be exiting the property? Yes. Because that was approved a year ago.

Why is that here versus... approval of it municipal consent to it yes did the planning board approve that too yeah but i mean i'm sorry just local point board passed it probably here and then because they're

New Jersey Transit, and back in and also Gate Road and frontage of the property, you know, that's another level they have to go through. And just like with the Claremont 5-Way, where, you know, they said, okay, well, for us, we'll require a stop sign. They're just saying, they said a council endorsed the stop sign.

I mean, I would... And the board usually makes approval subject to approvals of other entities. you know, soil conservation.

And this is what they plan to do. Well, they exit onto a state highway. That's right. They have to apply to DOT to have that driveway approved. Yep. So, and they take 18 months sometimes to give that approval. They do. So, and then if you read that whole contract that they're requiring us to okay it before it's, you know, to agree to it, which is fine with me. Left turns are a nightmare there anyway. That's right.

Very helpful. Thank you. What was the other one? I want to talk about the audit.

Oh, the audit, yes. No recommendations.

Yeah, I thought that was great. I just wanted maybe a quick overview of the audit findings. It wasn't exactly the clearest language, too. So like when you read that thing.

And the thing is, you know, municipal and school audits are nothing like corporate audits.

Corporate audits, yeah.

They're very hard to understand.

So if you could just, I wrote down a few notes if you needed me to, Nancy, but if there's any comments, if you don't have it in front of you, it's fine. I'll give you my comments then. Is that helpful? Okay, good. I thought, listen, I appreciate it. It was nice to see. Actually, I think there were recommendations in last year's audit, and there were no recommendations in this year's audit, so I thought it was great. They had three, I would say, where they had findings, so these weren't necessarily moving to recommendations. It said they couldn't lick the bid thresholds for the pool manager and West and Boylan to specific... outlays and these aren't like, um, these, these didn't exist. It was sort of like, they didn't necessarily track it. Um, they had like some comments in there about tracking delinquent taxes and something about inner fund, which I didn't fully follow.

So I didn't know if you could clarify any of that, but I thought it was good that the audit came through. I don't think our financial matters.

Okay, so I have the notes from when Leslie and I did our, it's called like an exit interview. It said the internal controls and compliance were clean. They had no recommendations or comments. They said financially we were doing very well. The current fund is up 14%, which is very good. Utilities statewide are not doing well, but ours is okay. Our records are in very good shape. There was a UCC report that had an error, which was fixed. There was affordable housing overpayment of $200, which was repaid.

I can find out more about it. It sounds bad and it's not.

It didn't even say bad. It basically said that they saw something along the lines of they saw council approvals for certain amounts related to the pool manager in West and Boylan, but didn't necessarily see outlays, which we know about West and Boylan wouldn't necessarily have it. right now. So I think it was just how they were tracking the information was more questions that they raised, but they didn't have any recommendations. And I forgot what the recommended single recommendation last year, which I forget what it was. But it was nice to see that.

So last year was about getting checks from construction in within 48 hours. That's right. Yeah. Yeah.

So overall, seems to be in good financial health.

And they didn't mention it. So they know, I mean, we did go out to bid for both of those things. So.

Okay. Otherwise I'm good.

Any, any other resolutions? We did finally, we now have a fully staffed zoning office.

Oh, can I make a comment about that? Yeah. Construction and planning and zoning, we will. So we got more than 30 resumes for those two positions. One is the technical assistant to construction official and then the administrative coordinator job for the zoning office. We conducted... 14 interviews between the two. It was myself, the zoning officer and the construction code official. And So we chose these two people, and one starts on Wednesday, the administrative coordinator for zoning, and the new technical assistant starts on the 27th. She just gave notice to her employer today. Okay, great.

I was going to ask for $161,000, $800,000 rent, transit village related for $161,000. Sidewalks do we have any, I mean, no, obviously.

You already talked about this, so this is the formality, right? This is just the formality of actually. Actually, your approval to submit the grant. So we talked about it the last. I think couple of meetings there is there is something. Of note, the amount that we're applying for, we didn't have that last time. Right? So it is 805,681 dollars and 50 cents. And it is not a matching grant. So. If we get it, that'd be great.

Yeah. And this is part of. Having the designation as a transit village that makes these funds available. If you're not a transit village, you can't apply for these grants. I don't believe it. There's only 37, I think, transit villages. So the odds are good that we may not get all of it, but we should get something.

I'm hoping we'll get some. We talked about this. We talked about doing it in sections. We talked about the downtown corridor. You asked for that. Yeah. this is to for to jog everybody's memory this is to replace all the sidewalks um and the well the current pavers with solid um sidewalks and the one of the main reasons is because it is 20 something years old and it's no longer in compliance um there's not ada compliance in multiple places they're falling apart in a lot of places And the engineer went out and measured and took pictures. And there's a lot more cracked sidewalk than you would think. And so an added benefit is no weeds, because if it's solid, there's no cracks for weeds to come up. So that is an added benefit.

And then part of the way, you know, they're persistent. Yeah.

Part of part of what we put in for is to improve the pedestrian crossings. I know you had mentioned a recent meeting about. changing the you know how when you press the pedestrian button right it all stopped and i asked the engineer to look at it and they said that because of just it's the line of sight i think she said yes the line of sight for a vary of various corners that it would be it's difficult and you've got people coming from all different ways it's a very unusual intersection there And you've got people coming from all different ways, and that's really the safest way to do it, to keep them all stopped at once. That's part of it, yeah. Yeah, eventually. Eventually will be. And then we could change that. I also... Yeah. And I also emailed DOT and asked them to look at the timing of that light again, because I believe that was brought up at a recent meeting. I haven't heard back, but I asked, I told them it had been adjusted, then it went back to the way it was. So now if they could readjust it.

Well, and I think because there's some kind of construction going on in 287, we've had a lot of traffic on 202 in the last week. It backs up way far down because they're all getting off 287 and coming through town. Yeah.

Yeah.

I think they're working on that exit ramp.

Yeah. And part of this grant is also to replace those pedestrian ramps. If you if you look particularly the corner by, I think Rebecca collection, and the 1 across the street from there, they're right in the middle of the sidewalk. So you couldn't get a wheelchair or baby carriage through there. I can try the buttons. Right? And then part of the grant is also. To. uh for to accessorize the train stations um new benches uh bike racks bike racks a bike repair station i don't know if anybody's ever seen them but they have them yeah um and uh water bottle filling station okay yeah yeah and i don't know if you've noticed um

main street started the ed english park so there's all new pavers there and so you know we're hoping we'll we'll get the benches that will go there so that and the table and a table yeah game table so that's shaping up nicely

All right. Thank you for your work.

So I need, I guess it's your turn, Christy. Resolutions?

That resolution 26-159 to 26-173 be adopted.

I'll second.

I'll call, please.

Mr. Gazzarino? Yes. Ms. Samara? Yes. Mr. Strom? Yes. Mr. Rivera? Yes.

All right. We are up to, where? New.

New.

It's me. All right. Not a lot since our last meeting because it wasn't that long ago. I did attend. Senator Bramnick had a town hall in Summit, which he's been doing kind of around his district, which was very well attended. And I also attended the annual meeting for Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, which they invite me to every year and just get an update on everything. that unfortunately most of our people go to Marstown, but they're pretty impressive. And they show up for a lot of our health fairs. And so we kind of want to get people heading that way too. I did my 38th wedding. Yay. Up to 38. I also had a dinner meeting with our new assemblyman, Vinnie Carney. who invited me to meet with him, which I thought was great. He's a very regular guy, and I gave him a lot of our issues, the train station, for one. And if you have anything else, he was more than willing to be open to whatever help we need. So I think that was encouraging. And McCurdy is equally as responsive. So happy to have them. On the 8th, we had this Sharing the Spirit of America, which was um actually it started in hawaii and spread across the country where the declaration of independence was signed on july 4th but it wasn't actually read publicly until july 8th so we and there started in hawaii they wanted organizations, libraries, museums to read it at six o'clock on July 8th. And we listed, you know, they listed all the people who had signed on to do that, all the different organizations. And so that's why we did that on July 8th. And thank you to Fran and the library staff who did a wonderful job of providing surrounding activities. And Nancy and Kevin for getting the food there and ordering it and having everything ready. So there were crafty things for the kids to do. We had the Bedwell kids. You were there. They sing and they sign, which I thought was amazing.

That was good.

That the new music teacher teaches them to sign a lot of their songs. And then we had, what was his name? He was great. Yeah, he was there. He did a lot of patriotic.

He performed at the Kennedy Center, it said, right?

Yeah, he's been all over the place. And he did a lot of patriotic songs and tap dance and played all kinds of different instruments and did a lot of George Cohen stuff. And yeah, it was kind of like what you do, Charlie, with your DJing. So thank you for that. More to come from the 250th committee. We're working on some more activities. And I just, I saw, and I don't know if anybody else noticed it. I did post it on Facebook. There is a video on our website of the parade, the Memorial Day parade that is outstanding that the high school kids did. It is. Yeah. Thank you for posting it because it really I just hit it by, you know, I was looking at the website. It's a great video. Of course, I'm on it, but no, it's really well done. The kids did interviews and they added music and it was just really well done.

Get that in the time capsule.

Yeah, we should. Yeah. A couple other things. I wanted to take some time to talk about Quimby because it's been on our minds lately and where we're going from here. I think at this point we need to kind of take a step back and look at the progress that we've made over the past few years. We've done a lot to move downtown forward, helping the businesses, Main Street's done a lot. We met our affordable housing obligations. The third round is in progress now, and we did it without having a builder's remedy by building it ourselves. And we got our fourth round approved. So we've completed all that. Hopefully, we have the old Audi, which will be the new car showroom about to start. I think they're ready to go to the planning board. And Palmer, we hear, is going to get started fairly soon. So there's a lot going on.

The bakery as well.

Oh, at the garden center, yep. So I think at this point now, we've got all those projects behind us. We can start looking towards, go back to look at Quimby. The reality is Quimby's been around for a long time. It was a very ambitious vision when we first looked at it. And at that time, we had no other projects on the horizon. So we kind of had a lot of focus on that block. But obviously a lot is different now. We approved other projects around town. We've got some new businesses and I think we've heard very loud and clear from our residents about what they care about and which is that they want the character of the town preserved. including our movie theater, which we all love. And I think in the original design of Quimby, the movie theater was going to be gone. And for me, that would be a nightmare. And what Chris is doing at that theater is phenomenal.

Totally agree, Mayor. He's an asset to our community.

He has been doing so much there for the veterans. You know, we want whatever happens at Quimby to complement the rest of the town and support the rest of the town. So it's not about looking back. We want to look forward. And rather than trying to make an old plan fit into today's circumstances, I think we have a chance now to develop a new vision. you know, that reflects where we are today and where we want to be in the future. So I think what I'd like to suggest is that at our August meeting, we start talking about the next steps, including how we engage the community. I think for this project, we should definitely reach out to the community for input. I think they deserve to have a voice in what happens on that property. And also for the businesses on that block, they need to So my hope is that we can come up with a clear direction and move this Quimby project forward in a way that benefits the residents and the businesses. I think it's too important to remain stalled. So, you know, it's an important section, whether it's more parking, I think we still have a affordable requirement there from our 3rd round. It just doesn't need to be. What it originally was, because we have made up made up some of those. Apartments in other places, so. I'd like to start that conversation in August and see how we want to open it up to the community. So what do you think?

I agree. No, couldn't have said it better.

Yeah, thanks.

You outlaid it very nicely about the opportunity that exists in Quimby, but also why that program was envisioned by this community years ago, but also how we can sort of take that area, which is still an important, maybe vital part of our downtown community. And we envision it to really fit the needs of the way that we want the character of our community to look. And so definitely have my support in engaging that discussion. It'd be great to get some momentum in August and then talk about how we can engage the community this fall. Yeah, certainly support.

Thank you. Yeah. And sorry, I cut out once or twice. But I think I heard the mayor say, you know, give the downtown business some clarity. So I think that's one of the best things we can do with this is provide clarity so folks can plan, keep their businesses there for the long term and know what's around the next corner. And with a revised scaled down project that's in line with the character of our community that has the support of our residents has the input of our residents, I think we'll do a lot to move with jewel of what could be the jewel of our downtown for with a revised community project so. Really looking forward to this discussion with the Community and getting something that's you know both smaller in a lot of ways, as, as the mayor mentioned. Maybe I'll mention too, you know, we've had a lot more of developments in town that have brought more, both more residents, more residential units and more commercial development to town. So this will, we don't need as much as we needed before, and we can do something that is more achievable, more manageable, more deliverable. So totally in support, Mayor, and looking forward to the discussion with the community.

Thanks, Charlie. Okay, good.

Actually, when is our meeting in August?

You have anything more? You gave us a lot already, Nancy.

I do. Well, first, unfortunately, no news on the post office, and Jack could elaborate if he wants to. They continue to ignore emails, and they have not started paying the increased rent, so

I keep writing to them. It's like dealing with the Wizard of Oz. I'm not sure who I'm dealing with or where they are or anything else. So maybe next meeting we can discuss where we want to go from here.

Yeah, and we do have Congressman Kane's office also was trying to help us with that, and they were getting frustrated as well.

Yeah, I'll reach out to them again.

Yeah. since it is a federal organization.

We were just notified actually right before the meeting started that our website will be down tomorrow at some point, up to one hour. Anytime after 9.30 tomorrow morning for security work. This is because our website is run by the company that owns SDL. If you recall a month ago or so, they had a major security breach. So I guess they're upgrading security all around. So because they currently run our website um uh they notified us we'll be down so um anthony maybe in the morning we put something up that says the website well i guess if you're looking the website's down you won't see that so anybody's listening the website might be down for an hour until not

Not until 930. No, I'm saying if you put it out tonight through. Yeah. Yeah.

So up until it goes down. Okay. So as you see, we have our new audio, uh, yeah. And video, um, system. Uh, there's a couple things Kings that need to be worked out. Um, that microphone at the podium is going to be actually attached to the podium. Uh, the people that sit here will have, um, stands. So we don't have to hold these. Um, and, uh, What else? There's a couple of things to make that look better that we'll be able to do. We'll be able to do close-ups when people are talking for an extended amount of time. But overall, we tested it out on YouTube today. The sound is amazing. And that was one of the main reasons to do it was so that when people watch reruns of meetings, they could actually hear what's going on. And it hopefully helps people on Zoom. I don't know. Charlie can tell us if that was. How is it?

The sound is much clearer. Yeah, as you heard me say once or twice, there was a little bit of audio cutout, so just tweaks on mics. And the images are all clear. So, you know, definitely an improvement and just minor tweaks going forward I think will make it really an all-star system.

Yeah, very nice.

Thank you.

Great job.

Thanks. And then we're ready to talk about New Jersey Transit. August 4th is National Night Out. Oh, right. And they're going back to the pool this year after three years of not being in the pool. So it'll be within the pool grounds and people can swim if they would like, even if they're not members, open to the public. And that will be from five to eight of face painters and food and organizations giving out things. And then all of the police cars, fire trucks, DPW trucks, they'll all be there in the parking lot for everyone to see. So it'll be, it's closer like the last couple of years when it's been at the polo grounds, it's spread out a bit. So this is kind of more of a, you know, all in one place and it lets people see the pool who haven't seen it before.

Yeah.

Right. Kind of like an open house.

And then who's in charge of it this year?

It's always the police department. No, I mean, which officer is it?

What usually takes the lead?

You know, I don't know. I talked to the chief about it. He didn't mention. Probably Tim. It's usually Tim.

No, I think it was Jeff.

I think it was Jeff. I thought it was Chris Laporta. Maybe it was both of them. I don't know. I could find out. And then the last thing I have in my report is an update on the dam project. Removal? Yeah. So we were notified last week that we need to renew a trail and bridge permit with the DEP because it expired in 2023. And nobody even knew that we had it. So no less than expired. So Mary Pace Goldman is meeting tomorrow with DEP to tell them this needs to be done by the end of the month. Like you can't like we file in 22. You didn't even tell us like they filed for all these other permits, damn safety and everything in 22. Didn't let us know that the 23 permit, you know, that the permit taken out in 2018, apparently

expired in 2023 um and was never approved in all that time i it was approved it expired oh and what was it for the trails oh we were gonna do yes we were gonna do a walkway around until we got into the fact that we had to remove the dam so we put well we're still doing that though yeah yeah we had put it off until i think we had already appropriated the funds Had we? For the trail? It was something we had done, some planning on that. And then stopped because we realized we had to remove the dam.

Okay.

Yeah. So I don't know who was in charge of it at the time. It was Ferraro Engineering at the time. They're the ones who applied for it. I actually thought that it had to do with the dam. No, we were planning a walking path around it. Oh, okay.

There still is going to be kind of a...

There still will be a path. There will be, yeah. There still will be a path. And the bridge came down in 21. Right. And that will go back as well. Yeah. So then the rest of the timeline is... At your August 10th meeting, we will have hopefully, well, we will have reviewed the bid. Everyone will have been able to review the bid package. And on August 10th, you'll formally authorize approving going out to bid. And that would be for the dam removal and for the park development. Oh, the whole project. It's all in one. And then the... Bid opening would be October 6th. The award would be October 19th. And then the construction would begin in November. And she anticipates that the construction will take from November till the end of March.

So we can play the next year. Or by early next year, Nancy.

I'm sorry?

It would be completed by early next year.

Completed by the end of March, hopefully. And weather pending. I mean, she said they could work through the snow. She said maybe it would go into April, but she anticipates this would be the time. So we can have the park for next summer? We could do concerts in the boathouse. That would be so cool. Again, no promises, but I'm going to say that it's a pretty good chance.

Nancy, that's wonderful. On the park itself, are there opportunities for us to make further improvements once the sort of bones, so to speak, have been laid out? There's some cool parks. I went to one yesterday. It's just on top of my head in the Midwest where you can do just different things that speak to local flora, fauna, plants, water features, things like that. I assume once we lay out the basic park, we can always improve if we want to do more environmental kind of things. features of some of the local water features, things like that. Highlight plants and things like that. If folks wanted to donate bricks, we could still make improvements even after the phase one of the park is complete. Is that right?

I think you can always make improvements. I don't know what the permitting process would be or whatever. I would think that the park itself... would be ours, right, to figure out what we wanted to put there. I know the plan is in place, like the landscaping plan and all that apparently has been in place for several years. And I think that's the plan that was submitted to DEP. So I don't know how much wiggle room there is there. But I think afterwards to add things, I cannot imagine would be a problem.

Yeah, let's be adding. There are two rain gardens there right now. Yeah. Which are really nice. And I think, you know, I assume we're keeping the boathouse. I don't know why they call it a boathouse. We always called it the boathouse.

Is it the gazebo?

Yeah, the gazebo. Yeah. Pavilion.

Yeah, that's not a fire. I don't think.

I think. Is that the fire? I think it's the fire department. I don't know.

I like I think the border is really close there. And it's not clear. Nobody. I keep asking.

And some people say that's what I've always you know, people always ask, why don't why can't we have concerts there? Which would be great, except that, you know, the bridge is out there. Yeah, you could do weddings there. And yeah. Yeah.

That sounds like a revenue opportunity, Nancy.

Yeah, and there's, you know, so much goose poop that you can't even get over there. Well, that's the good thing. And that's when you don't have a pond, you don't get geese.

They don't like, yeah, they don't like streams. So, no.

Chairs and it would just be great.

And when it's a river, not, you know, it's a stream. Yeah. Space there.

Yeah, of course, there is no parking. Somebody brought that up. Yeah, we're going to work on parking if we have events. Or a sidewalk, yeah. Okay, do I have a motion to accept the department monthly reports?

Motion to accept.

Go ahead. A second.

Can I say I love the new reports because they're separate? Yes. Instead of a hundred.

And I believe that was Amanda's contribution. They're much easier to read, too. Save my life. Oh, no, they're very clear and easy to read.

one PDF, but it makes it way easier to have them separate from mine.

Well, and just the way that it was laid out. It was, you know, instead of these big long, it would go like this on one column, you know, now it, yeah. Yeah. It was much easier to read. So yes, I accept them. Second. All in favor. Aye. Aye. Other reports, do we have any committee?

Corrected not me health is next week next Monday, which is nice because for once I don't have to run. Yeah. Charlie, did you have any.

yeah environmental met last week um you know actually one of the questions was on the timeline for the dam um so uh and i said next year which is uh you know actually uh sounds like even a a little longer than uh will eventually be the outcome uh so that's uh great to hear um i think there's also some discussion the rec master plan um that's being drafted i guess originally by the planning board this time I believe in consultation with rec committee, but it'd be good to check. And then seeking comments from EC on that. So they're reviewing that. Yeah. There was one request for another anti-dumping sign for the Moraine Crest Park, but on the Mount Airy Road side. So that might be something to look at. Apparently one resident mentioned, or one member of the AC mentioned there's been more dumping there. So I think that would be worth looking into. You know, may Public Works, you know, have brought that appropriately. And then there was one resolution that on landscaping equipment that the EC chair brought up that he might or potential resolution they might want to eventually bring to council. I mentioned my thoughts and concerns on, but he's not quite ready to bring it yet. So I think we'll look for that on a future date.

Potential resolution they want us to consider, but it's not ready yet.

So in a future council. Oh, sorry. Am I cutting out?

Towards the end, you started to trail off almost like you weren't close to the microphone.

Oh, same AirPods, so that's weird. Yeah, exactly. So that's EC. Hopefully, the main action thing that I think was the anti-dumping sign that I would take away there.

Okay, thank you. Anybody else have community meetings at all? Nope.

Shade Tree, I think, was today, and they're still waiting for the feedback on their ordinance.

Does Jack have that? Do you have that?

Kevin and I met to go over it one time, and then he had to go back and make some more edits, and then he was going to come back to me again. I would like our new code enforcement officer to look at it.

Yeah.

Since he's the actual shade tree enforcement person. And then Jack, and then you guys. I told her we didn't forget about it. It just takes a long time. It's in the pipeline. Yeah.

Okay. Correspondence. We did have a letter from Vincent Paragano who was very complimentary to our police for he had got caught in some kind of a fraud scam and they were extremely helpful. So it's nice when people take time to compliment the work.

Yeah.

Yep.

That was great.

Yeah. Unfinished business? Anything still hanging out? No. New business. You know, it's a silly little thing I noticed today. Who's in charge of fire hydrants?

I had an issue with mine and I emailed you.

In charge of what?

We pay for them. Well, there's one on Olcott Square that is just a solid rust. It's ugly. And, you know, I've been seeing these things where people paint them red, white and blue.

Well, I mean, who does that? New Jersey American Water owns them. So, I mean, I guess we could ask them if.

Even just to get the rust off. I mean, it's really an ulcer there.

I'll contact New Jersey American Water and see what we can do.

Yeah, it's just it's right on Bolcott Square. Just noticed it today. I don't know if I just suddenly got rusty or I never noticed it before. Yeah. Yeah. Silly little things.

Yeah, just a minute on the storm response from a couple weeks ago. First of all, just compliments to OEM and all of our first responders, Tim Richards, and like everyone who worked, right, all the first responders, fire department, police, like across the board. I think they did a great job on just a It's a crazy storm. The you know, and I know that talk about JCPOA broadly, but like I know that there was the technicians on the field worked really hard to restore power. Thank you to the mayor again for your leadership and keeping people up to date minute by minute about outages and. um everything happening there um i i think that we probably should at some point have our gcp and l liaison back to council we had them a few years ago um where they were talking about upgrades they're making to the borough there are a lot of concerns in the community about how long it took to restore power and uh sort of just the you know maybe some confusion around the response in general i think that would be a really good thing to have them here it was a really productive discussion when we had them like two years ago they provided um updates on like almost the order of call, talking about hospitals and areas that they try to take care of first. They provided information to residents. I thought that would be good, too. One other quick thought. I was talking with Fran actually at one of the events and John. I know that we left the police department open for residents. I think we should consider the library as well. I do think that there is a threshold where we open the library, right? But I just wasn't sure what that is in our emergency response plan. I know the police department probably accommodated most needs in this case, but the difficulty with the police department versus the library is it's not walkable and accessible for everybody right so and you may have um people may not even necessarily know it potentially could be a location that you go to if they have out they have power outages whereas the library is really walkable for a lot of people um you know there's restrooms, men and women's restrooms there. There's a lot of facilities. I know that probably is something that requires a lot of steps. I could think through staffing it and providing budget in case that happens, but I just would think that whether it's public safety or some other type of one of our committees, you should consider that at some point too.

I agree with you. It's our community center and it's centrally located.

Overall, I just want to say thanks and that we probably should have GCPNL here and consider that. Go ahead.

No, go ahead. I'll second the ask for JCP and L to appear. We'll also second, really, I drove home, I think it was a Friday night, we came home from a Patriots game and we came into town and managed to get to our house. But it was amazing to see how many first responders were on the road at probably 9.30, 10 o'clock at night on what is what was a long weekend right before July 4th. So it was really impressive to see, just a testament to the quality of our police force. Obviously, Sergeant Richards being the public face of a lot of that deserves a ton of credit. Our public works teams for clearing, and obviously, as the mayor had mentioned, the utility folks that came in from as far away as Oklahoma, I think, which is quite impressive. So really want to commend everyone who did a great job keeping us safe. And I think that should be our first thought in all of this is what an amazing job they did to keep us safe and to eventually get power back. On the point of JCP and all, I think it would be great And I would invite members of the public to attend when we can get JCP and L to attend. So I think we want to talk clearly about some folks have brought up potentially burying lines in town. I think we want to be very clear eyed about the cost of doing something like that. And I think it would be great to have JCP and L answer the exact costs of that when they when they attend because when they I believe they repaired something here in Burnsville in 2024 and just for really a few thousand feet of line it was a relatively expensive, a couple million dollar project. So we can imagine the costs will spiral quite high, well beyond the constraints of our municipal budget if we were to bury any substantial portion of line around town. But we should have a discussion with the facts with JCP&L um so that i think would be great to have the second point is when we have that discussion with jcpnl it'd be great to talk about how we can leverage new developments we have fewer of these than many other towns do um hence we do have more overhead lines but we do have a little bit more flexibility when it comes to new developments to request that lines being buried and how we can work with jcpnl uh in requesting um that those lines do be buried when we have the opportunity to do so um And last point, I think it'd be wonderful when the folks from JCBell get a second to breathe and rest, if we can request any sort of extra safety checks around town, have them drive around and look for particularly egregious branches and trees that are near lines. If we can't bury lines, at the very least, could we eliminate more dangerous situations and encourage more regular maintenance of dead and dying branches around the tendon to limit as much as possible the power disruption short of going to bury lines across town? So just a few thoughts.

Thank you, Charlie. Can I just address the cooling station for a minute?

The what?

So the library is one of our own cooling stations. Um, this was 4th of July weekend though, and library was closed. And so it's more difficult to staff or people and the people that staff, the calling stations would be cert volunteers. And again, it was 4th of July weekend. So while we did use the police department for some of it, we were able to open upstairs here in this room. Um, and we had to staff it with police and, um, DPW employees. There was one woman, her name is Louise Dixon. She's a CERT member. She was here on the 4th of July in the afternoon to staff it. So I want to thank her. But we do use the library mostly when it's open because it's easier Um, but they have used it when it is closed as well, a community room. Right. And we use this room as well. There were not as many takers as you would think. Um, there were only a couple of families who came and it was mostly to charge phone guards.

Yeah.

Um, but, uh, uh, we did, you know, we did manage to cobble the other people. I know Greg Skinner, who's one of our, um, uh, SROs. And our, you know, police, obviously police and DPW, we have to pay overtime, but they, you know, they were able to staff it when they needed to.

Thanks for the update. Just one comment in response to Charlie's comment about underground lines. We already required for all major subdivisions that the ground utility lines be underground.

That's good to know. And again, Fran, when you did open on Monday, you know, we were available because power was off till Friday for some people. So it was great that the library was there.

Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Thank you.

Well, I mean, you know, because people a lot of people work from home and if they did not have Internet, you know, they were going to work at the library because you guys were there. So thank you for handling all that. I did get a email from JCP and L that was, you know, kind of a general to everybody that. Thank you for your patience and that kind of thing. They did say they just told what the restoration effort was. They restored power to more than 400,000 affected customers. Hundreds of contractors already on site for the heat wave were joined by thousands of additional contractors. Approximately 5,700 workers worked around the clock to restore power. hazard responders, damage assessors, dispatchers, and support personnel. In all, the crews replaced more than 500 broken poles, over 600 transformers, and then ran 163,000 feet of wire. And that's even if the wires, the cables are underground, if a transformer blows, you still don't have power. So That's, you know, they said for many customers, this was the longest outage since a tropical storm, which I could never say Isaiah. So what they plan to do here, it says there were continues post storm patrols and inspections are underway across thousands of miles to identify any new potential hazards. They plan to invest. ability and enhance your customer experience. So that's it was.

Yeah, it's good. Yeah, that's a great update, Mary. And I'd encourage anyone to check out the mayor's regular updates that were posted throughout the storm and close roads called JCP and obviously we had 18 roads closed total. Yeah, you did a great job updating everyone.

Yeah, the last one got opened on Friday. I think the biggest complaint I heard from people is that JCP&L would say your power's back on and it wasn't. So that was, you know, like... I think they'd rather get a real date than get told, you know, it's Tuesday and it ends up being Friday or yes, it's on when it's not, you know, it's the communication piece that got people the most upset, I think. So if they can work on how they notify people. all right i don't think we have uh oh we have another open session if anyone in the public would like to speak no one on zoom nobody no takers okay i will close the public session um we do not have anything for executive tonight we don't no okay It's summer, Charlie.

I have a question for Jack, then, that I'll raise later.

Do I have a motion to adjourn? To adjourn. Second. All in favor?

Aye.

Wow, 830. There we go.