Borough Council - Regular Meeting

I was like, I put this in So I'm like at least 9 to 12. But I'm like I saw that just little things like Please let the record reflect that the council's reconvening with all members present with the exception of Councilman Harlandis who is excused this evening. Please rise for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Please remain standing uh while we have a moment of silence for a member of our community who we lost recently. We pause to remember Richard Lewis Dibbyzi, a lifelong resident of Madison who passed away peacefully on

January 24th, 2026 at the age of 91. Born and raised in Madison, New Jersey, Richard was known to many as Dick or Dicki and remained deeply connected to the community throughout his life. He he cut quite a figure with his cowboy hat, boots, and belt buckle. Many of you might remember seeing him around town. He had a true passion for machinery and equipment, always seeking out tools and technology that would enhance his ability to rebuild engines of all kinds, a craft he took great pride in and mastered over decades. Tomorrow would have been his 92nd birthday. As we begin our meeting, let us take a moment to honor his memory and reflect on the lasting impact he made on his family, friends, and the Madison community. Let us honor Richard Dicki Deiazi with a moment of silence. Thank you. So, good evening everyone. February is Black History Month, a time to recognize and honor the achievements, contributions, and lasting impact of the of Black Americans throughout our nation's history. Oh, I'm sorry. I skipped our our minutes. So, you could see this is my first time up here. I am not the mayor. I am the acting mayor and I'm not an actor. So, I'm going to do my best to be the mayor this evening. So, just jumped right into that. Uh minutes for approval. Uh, we have the executive minutes of June 9th, 2025, the regular minutes of June 9th, 2025, the executive minutes of January 26, 2026, and regular minutes of January 26, 2026. Do I have a motion to approve the minutes?

I'll move it. Second. Roll call vote, please. Microphone is on. Mr. Landeran, here. Mr. Range, yes. Mr. Monahan, yes. Mr. Forte. Yes. Miss Cole. Yes.

Okay. So, now the greeting to the public. So, February is Black History Month, a time to recognize and honor the achievements, contributions, and lasting impact of Black Americans throughout our nation's history. This evening will we be we will be presenting a proclamation recognizing Black History Month here in Madison. Before we get to proclamations, over the past several weeks, we have experienced extreme cold and multiple winter weather events. And as we all heard, Huxatonyi Phil saw his shadow, which means we will have several more weeks of winter ahead of us. I want to extend a sincere thank you to our Department of Public Works for their outstanding efforts during the during and after recent snowstorms. From pre-treating roadways to plowing and clearing snow and ensuring downtown parking spaces and municipal lots remained accessible, their work has been essential in keeping Madison safe and operational. We are grateful for their professionalism and dedication. As temperatures continue to fluctuate, please use caution on roadways and sidewalks as refreezing can occur. And if you or someone you know is in need of a warming center or heating assistance, resources are available by calling 211. Also this month, the employee of the month is Lieutenant Sha Plumstead. He was recognized for his work coordinating with local, state, and federal agencies in order to provide security on Bottle Hill Day, the Christmas parade, and other community events. I'll also leave this info uh in the um this info is also um available uh online. Okay. So, reports from committees. Oh, I'm sorry. We're going to do proclamations next. First proclamation is for the uh Grove Project uh youth volunteer programs. [laughter]

Yeah,

block us. Feel free. Okay. So the proclamation states, "Whereas after the pandemic, the Grove Project was created by two Madison therapists and mothers to help youth feel more connected to their peers and humanitarian causes. The organization's mission is to support the social emotional development of local youth ages 5 to 18 by connecting them with meaningful age appropriate volunteer experiences. And whereas as they explore real community needs and ways to help the participants develop empathy, resilience, leadership, and a sense of belonging. And whereas the leadership council of this group is a mentorship-based program for high school students seeking deeper civic engagement. These students are matched with nonprofit mentors working in either in with food insecurity, homelessness, grief, or animal welfare. And whereas the leadership council co-designs and leads service projects for the Grove's townwide annual day of service in April, which engages more than 400 participants ages 5 to 95 in four large-scale projects addressing critical community needs. And whereas the April 26th event will unite families, schools, and organizations across Northern New Jersey for Madison's first annual communitywide day of service. And whereas the event will feature volunteer activities suitable for all ages and will serve as an inspiring opportunity for participants to see themselves as capable agents of positive change. And whereas in collaboration with good grief, good grief, help for all nourish new jersey, the Seeing Eye and St. Hubert's the event will address grief, homelessness, food insecurity, and animal welfare. and whereas leadership council members and adult volunteers

will lead attendees in issue specific education and a service project to support each nonprofit. Now therefore, I, John J. Forte, acting mayor of the Burough of Madison on behalf of the governing body, do hereby recognize and commend the Grove Project and their high school leadership council on their day of service, which will not only improve our physical environment, but also strengthen the bonds that unite us as neighbors. [applause] [applause]

your picture. All right. Um, so we have our high school leadership council here minus one student Cal who wasn't able to attend. Um, before I have them all go around and say their names and then we have two students who are going to give a little speech. Um I just wanted to commend this group for their incredible effort. Everyone brings a unique perspective. We have six different schools represented here coming from different towns in the area um different ages and together you guys are collaborating to bring uh what I think is going to be an incredible event uh for the town of Madison and all the surrounding towns and hopefully the first of many to come. So, congratulations to you guys. [applause]

Hi, I'm Trip Hagerty. Hi, I'm Lily Basley. Hi, I'm Claire Palumba. Hi, I'm Ellie Jessen. Hi, I'm Lucia Dwaldo. Hi, I'm Kayen Almond. Hi, I'm Sara Gupta. Hi, I'm Stephen Cros. Hi, I'm Bennett Schwarz. Hi, I'm Alina George. Hi, I'm Grace Alorn. Hi, I'm Ben Alcorn.

And I'm Trisha Jessen, the co-founder of The Grove. And I'm gonna introduce Are we starting with Grace or Okay, Grace is gonna say a few words. Hi, like I said, I'm Grace Alorn. A lot of this has been said, but I'll repeat it anyway. Um, I've been doing volunteer work with The Grove for like three years now. The Grove is a project. The Grove Project is a youth service learning organization, founded in 2021, that founded in 2021 that helps youth ages 5 to 18 build social emotional skills and civic engagement through meaningful volunteer experiences. By partnering with local nonprofits, The Grove offers hands-on opportunities that address real community needs such as food insecurity, disability inclusion, and homelessness. Through things like single day events, youth councils, leadership programs, and customized school partnerships, students learn to give back, develop leadership skills, and make lasting make a lasting positive impact on their communities. We're a part of the Groves Leadership Council, which is a year-long mentorship based experience for high schoolers. This year it consists of 14 high schoolers that span across six six different schools around here and are split into four small groups. Animal welfare which is supporting the seeing eye and St. Hubert's food insecurity which is working with Nourish NJ andJ grief which is supporting good grief and homelessness which is supporting help for all. These groups then work together with mentors from each of the nonprofit organizations to design and lead a project that will be included in Madison's portion of the National Youth Service Day.

[applause] [cheering]

Hi, good evening everyone. I'm Alina George and I'm a student at Madison High School and also a member of the Grow Project Leadership Council. Um, I want to start by sharing why I engage in service because for me service isn't just something I do for school or for resume. It's something I genuinely care about. I engage in service because I've seen how much impact even small actions can have. Helping someone doesn't always mean fixing a huge problem. Sometimes it's just making someone feel noticed, supported, or less alone. Through my experiences with the Grove Project, I've learned that service is really about connection. It's about realizing the needs of our community aren't distant. They're right here, and we all play a role in addressing them. One of the biggest ways we put this into action is through our day of service. This year, the day of service will take place on April 26th at the Hartley Dodge Memorial Building. We'll kick off the morning at 8:30 with opening remarks and the official proclamation of the day of service. From there, students will head out to four different locations around Madison to work on service projects throughout the town. After the projects are finished, everyone will return to the Hartley Dodge building between 12 and 1 to celebrate with food and ice cream. It's a fun way to wrap up a meaningful morning and bring everyone back together. During the day of service, we don't just show up to volunteer. The Leadership Council has actually been designing and implementing hands-on service projects during this dedicated time. The leadership council um which is made up of high school students like Grace had said um works directly with local nonprofits to understand real community needs and create projects that respond to them. A big focus of the day of service is leadership. Students in the leadership council develop leadership skills by planning these initiatives from start to finish. Whether that's organizing supplies, coordinating volunteers, or figuring out how to make the biggest impact possible. It's not just about helping for one day, but about how to lead with purpose. We're really excited for the day of service because it offers a wide range of projects. These include creating shelf stable shelf stable soup meals for families in need, making crafts to

support good grief, raising awareness for the seeing eye like making toys and cleanup kits, and putting together snack bags and hygiene kits for people experiencing homelessness. These projects may seem simple, but they make a real difference and help students understand the power of taking action. The day of service re really represents what the Grove Project is all about. It brings people together, empowers students, and shows how much can be accomplished when we care about our community and work together. Thank you for your time. [applause]

Thank you. Thank you very much. You guys are very inspiring. I mean, I think there's probably going to be a time when if you guys stick around Madison long enough, you might be sitting up here one day on the Burough Council. We're going to do a photo.

[applause]

Okay. Uh, Pastor Perry from the Bethl AM Church. Okay. So, this proclamation is in honor of uh proclaiming mat proclaiming black history month in Madison uh the month of February 2026. Whereas 2026 marks the 100th anniversary of the federal recognition of black for black Americans, an observance that began on a week as a week-long celebration and has grown into an observance of black history throughout the month of February. And whereas February was chosen to honor the birthdays of Frederick Douglas and Abraham Lincoln as symbols and reminders that freedom is won through courage and collective action. And whereas this year's theme, a century of black history commemorations, highlights the legacy of organized efforts to preserve the study, preserve and study black history. And whereas Black History Month pays tribute to the contributions that African-Americans have made to American history in their struggles for freedom and equality and deepens understanding of our shared history. And whereas by celebrating Black History Month, we acknowledge the vital role that black Americans have played in shaping our nation, contributing immensely to arts, sciences, culture, government, and education. Whereas knowledge of black history is beneficial for current and future generations. Now, therefore, I, John J. Forte, acting mayor of the Burough Madison, on behalf of the governing body, do hereby proclaim February 2026 as Black History Month and ask all to acknowledge that Black History is American history.

[applause]

We want to thank the council. Uh greetings to you all. Uh it is important. This is a huge year for us. It's 100 years um since Carter G. Woodson um birth uh Black History Week, the second week in February for the very reasons that are written. Uh research well done. Uh but we're excited. Uh we do invite all at 1:00 on the last Sunday in this month. Uh part of our Bethl celebration will be honoring the legacy of Richard Allen, the founder of the AM church. Um and so our young people in the church and young adults will reenact some of the things that happened almost 200 years ago. Um, so we invite you, but we thank you. We thank you. We thank you. And our representative Bethl that's here. Oops. As well as um those that uh are logged in. I sent them the link [laughter] to be here. But thank you so much. We well appreciate it. And my husband and my armor bearer who's present. Let me acknowledge Robert Perry and Desiree Smith. Thank you so much. [applause]

Okay, we have reports from committees and we'll start with the downtown development commission community affairs. The next meeting of the downtown development commission will be held on February 19th at 7:15 p.m. in the second floor committee room in the Hartley Dodge Memorial Building. The public is invited to attend. Applications for the 2026 season of the Madison Farm and Artisan Market are going out this week. New vendors can request the information by emailing Lisa Ellis at ddc.roset.org. From the Chamber of Commerce, Easter Funfest is scheduled for Saturday, March 28th. from the Madison Community Arts Center. Every Tuesday from 1 to 4 pm, seniors play ma jang and canasta. Wednesday, February 11th at 7 pm is a music open mic. Every second Wednesday, local musicians perform two songs each. All are welcome to perform or attend. Friday through Sunday, February 13th to 15th, Cafe Theater is back with eight short romantic comedies fe served with coffee and pastries from Baba's Bakery. Wednesday, February 18th at 7 PM is the comedy open mic. Every third Wednesday, all are welcome to perform and attend. Uh Saturday, February 21st at 7 p.m. Come original showcases featuring local bands and vendors. And Monday, February 23rd at 7 p.m. the Madison Environmental Commission and The Nature of Reading present: How Birding Can Change the World. And Wednesday, February 25th at 7 p.m. Show us your shorts. Every fourth Wednesday, local film me makers submit and show their short films. Public safety Councilman Landan.

Thank you, sir. On February 5th, Chief Misha had the opportunity to sit with the Hanova Township Mental Health Symposium where they discussed the arrive program and its positive impact on the communities of Madison and Mars County. It was insightful to see how collaborative efforts in mental health and public safety are making real difference locally. On January 27th and 28th, the officers completed their law enforcement against drug and violence program. This prepares them to bring this impactful program directly to fifth grade students across the burrow, helping to educate and empower our youth to make safe and healthy choices. The training provides effective programs to prevent drugs, bullying, and violence. On March 6th, the Madison Community Policing Unit will be at Men and Arena for Law Enforcement Night starting at 7 p.m. This event highlights the role of law enforcement and provides an opportunity to connect with youth and families from across the county. Attendees can also see Madison Police Department equipment and vehicles on display. On February 19th, the Madison officers will be attending bagels and brainstorming at the Madison YMCA. This quarterly event is hosted by Project Community Pride. Officers use this opportunity to connect with the community, share ideas, and strengthen local partnerships. Police officers from Floren Park and Cadam will also be present. Okay. from the fire department. The fire department responded to 214 calls in January. 101 police, 101 people were transported to the hospital. On February 1st, the fire department responded to a second alarm structure fire on Route

10 in Whippony. The fire department has also been responding to several broken and frozen pipe calls. Fire Prevention conducted 72 inspections last month. Fire prevention also submitted the 200 the 2025 state inspection report which was approved by the state. And finally, they want to thank everyone who was able to help keep with keep up with shoveling and also keeping the fire hydrants clear. Thank you. Thank you. The council uh is well into uh budget season and we've had multiple financial presentations over the last few months and tonight we'll continue the budget process. This evening we'll have a presentation from uh the fire chief about his budget and about the uh ambulance services. Then we'll get our first look at the draft municipal budget developed by Burough administration and uh in particular Jim Bernett the CFO. It is an important to note that the draft that this is a draft budget and that the final numbers will likely be uh refined and changed as the budget process continues. Voting on the budget is one of the most important actions that the council takes and we work hard as a governing body to be transparent and make information available to residents uh through these meetings and also on uh Rosenet. Tonight we have the third of six scheduled bud budget presentations. On July 26th, which was our last meeting, we discussed the water and electric utilities. And at our next meeting uh on the 23rd, we'll meet with the other department

heads. On March 23rd, we'll discuss the municipal budget in its final form and review the strategic planning guidelines and have one final discussion on the budget along with the introduction of the official state budget document. as per state statute. Uh we'll then take a four-week hiatus uh so that all residents have the opportunity to review the budget document that will be posted uh on Rosenet and made available in other ways. Then finally on April 27th, we're scheduled to have our final hearing and vote to adopt the budget. As a reminder, all budget information is available on the annual budget process page on Rosenet. In other news, uh the chief financial officer has filed the annual debt statement with the state of New Jersey division of local government services. Special thanks to the tax collector Chrissy Muller for her help with this important initiative. The annual debt statement summarizes the total debt for both the bureau and the school board and compares it to the average of the last three years of our equalized assessed values. The annual debt statement or ADS is available on Rosenet along with many other financial documents. The ADS is yet another tool used to help to ensure towns are being financially responsible and transparent. That's all tonight, John. Thank you.

Thank you, Councilman Range. Um, public works and engineering and utilities. Councilwoman Hahan.

Thank you, acting mayor. uh from the Department of Public Works. Uh they have removed snow from downtown around schools and burrow parking lots. It's very clear. Thank you to all their hard work. Uh they also have removed snow from the ice at Rosedale Ice Pond. They scraped and applied coating of butter several times to try to smooth the surface. Um the surface was damaged by people shoveling and walking on partially frozen uh water. Yes. Uh, so to keep the ice enjoyable for all, we ask that no one throw or leave anything on the skating pond. If you do clear ice or shovel snow, shovel it to the sides and do not leave piles on the ice. The DPW also assisted water utility with many with a couple of water main breaks over the last month. And I know this is hard to believe, but curdside yard waste collection scheduled to resume the week of March 2nd. Hopefully the know him well by then. Uh from the shade tree management board. First uh thank you to the mayor and council for the purchase of the Drew forest. It is the blueprint of how to reestablish a healthy native woodland. The board is planning stages for the purchasing of new spring tree street or street trees. If a resident would like a new street tree in the burrow right away by their home, please contact the department of public works. Arbor Day will be celebrated on Saturday, May 2nd in conjunction with Madison's Green and Clean Day. More information will be coming for will be forthcoming. And the board has initiated planning to apply for a $5,000 green communities grant from the NJ Forest Service to develop a new 5-year Madison Community Forestry Management Plan from the Madison Environmental Commission. Uh there are two events that they would like you to be aware of.

February 23rd, 26 at 7 pm, how birding can change the world, a panel discussion at the Madison Community Center. And April 14th at 7 p.m., plant this, not that author talk with Elise Howard at the Chase Room at the Madison Library. These discussions are in partnership with the nature of reading bookshop. All right, so the water department Contractors have evaluated our chlorine sensors and alarm systems at the wells and are sending quotes. Um, the extreme cold weather and extended low temperatures have kept them very busy securing heat and controlling draft induction at the well stations and it is a 247 responsibility. The department uh the water department assisted um and repaired two water man brakes on Way and Treadwell and the department responded to numerous no water calls due to frozen pipes. In some cases, they were able to help unfreeze lines that were exposed, but many were frozen in remote or closed bays. During extreme cold weather, it's advisable to leave a very small stream of water flowing from a faucet when you're aware of or feel freezing as possible. From the electric department, we had uh they've been taking advantage of the cold weather and completing annual compliance classes. So instead of climbing up things, they are um looking at computers. So the personal personal protective equipment training, ladder safety, walking and working service surfaces, hazard communication, um shop and tool safety, all keeping them safe and making sure that they have

the correct training. Uh the electric department had standby in place for the snowstorm and they plowed two substations and the yard multiple times. Uh there was an accident of a vehicle hitting a pole on Wood Cliff Drive. Minimum damage to the pole and no loss of electricity. Thank you. Councilwoman Hanahan Health. Councilwoman Cohen.

Thank you. Uh during the month of January, the health department completed the following activities. They inspected nine retail food establishments, investigated 20 complaints uh from residents, investigated and provided guidance for one community outbreak of COVID, provided five vaccinations for non-insured residents, investigated seven reports of communicable diseases, received a 100% incompliance score from recent federal audit of the vaccine for children's program, and are continuing to work on the health and all policies initiative to ensure that safety and environment are continuing to be looked at in any policies that are passed burrowwide. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Communications and petitions. Uh yes, mayor and council received um emails dated February the 5th and February 9th from Mark McBride of Prospect Street regarding um three draws redevelopment plan.

Thank you. So now we come to an invitation for public comment. This is the first of two invitations for public comment. This is where you may come up and uh comment about anything that's on the agenda this evening. If you do decide to come up, please leave your name and address on the sheet of paper provided at the lectern. We will limit your statement to three minutes. Um on the agenda this evening is the community pool presentation budget hearing for the fire department and the preliminary budget as well as ordinances for hearing uh ordinance 4 2025 uh sorry 4 2026 of the burough of Madison or uh ordinance of the Burough Madison appropriating $500,000 from the general capital reserves for renovations and restoration of the east wing of the Hartley Dodge Memorial. Oh, yeah. Okay, perfect. So, we'll skip to the resolutions. All right. So, for the for comment on the agenda, resolution of the Bureau of Madison authorizing the use of the EOCC room at the public safety complex by Modern Patrol Methods LLC. Resolution of the Bureau of Madison authorizing renewal of an agreement for the health services with the town of Westfield. R 682026. Resolution of the Burough of Madison awarding a professional services contract to Square Acre Studios for design of Summer Hill Park Trail Improvements. R 692026 Resolution of the Burough of Madison approving promotion of Fred Rivera to lead man parks in the Department of Public Works. R2026 resolution of the Burough of Madison approving renewal of a confined space rescue agreement with the town of Berkeley Heights. R712026, resolution of the Bureau of Madison approving raffles license application submitted by the Madison Historical Society. Uh resolution R72 2026, resolution of the Bureau of Madison authorizing a sustainable grant

application for $2,000 to the Sustainable New Jersey Small Grants Program. R 73206 resolution of the Bureau of Madison authorizing submission of a grant application to the county of Mars for community development block grant for sanitary sore rehabilitation within the eligible census tract neighborhoods in the bureau. R74 2026 resolution of the Burough of Madison supporting the Madison Environmental Commission 2026 events. R752026, a resolution of the Bureau of Madison authorizing the submission of a grant application to the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs for the Madison Community Pool. Resolution uh R76 2026, resolution of the Bureau of Madison authorizing appointment of Steven Ferrara to the position of truck driver in the public works department. R77 2026, resolution of the Bureau of Madison authorizing appointment of Vincent Oronado to the position of truck driver in the public works department. our 78 2026 resolution of the Burough of Madison authorizing a special event to permit event permit to allow the use of public parking lot number one by the Rotary Club of Madison for a public shredding event on May 30th, 2026. Those are the resolutions on the agenda this evening. If if you have any comments uh on any of those, please step forward. Good evening, Kirsten Wenstein for Westerly. Tonight I am going to be speaking on behalf of the friends of the Drew Forest not speaking right at the same um so it's great to be out here especially with the cold weather and I know that

the winter cold has kept uh many of us inside um but as we stay inside the forest continues to do its quiet work and last week when we had a little break in the weather and it got a little bit maybe to freezing. I headed out to the forest um and it was actually quite therapeutic and I um heard a number of birds. I took out this Merlin bird app which is fantastic um and heard a red tailed um hawk, a downy woodpecker, tufted tit mouse, like eight or nine different birds. Um so the forest continues to be a habitat for those birds. Um shelter for overwintering pollinators while protecting all our natural resources. Um so friends of the Drew Forest is grateful. We're grateful for the ordinance that's on the agenda today and for all the work of the council and supporters and the folks that are listening tonight. Um, we are preparing for our next phase of preservation. Uh, looking at fundraising to secure $5 million in private funding, which is part of the terms of the purchase agreement. And this effort will invite participation at every level of the community. Um, every supporter, foundations, leadership, donors. Um, so we're excited to get out there to talk to people. Um, because you know, community and together is how uh we ensure that the Drew forest is saved, that our aquifer is protected, that we have this amazing biodiversity hotspot, that an essential outdoor classroom is there for all students, um that we have climate resilience. It's hard to think that in this cold weather we're actually going to need those big trees to keep us cool, but it's around

the corner. Um and that the forest protected for our community today and future generations. So, thank you all. Thank you.

Claire Wickham, 12 Fairwood Road. Um, I just wanted to talk about two resolutions. One is the environment events. Um, and we're doing this this event on February 23rd that everybody really should come to. It's going to be great. It's uh called Birding to Save the World. And it's based on this book, Birding to Change the World. It's based on a book called Birding to Change the World. And uh the professor um this woman became a ornithology enthusiast after Hurricane Katrina and the birds like were her solace and her way back. from the grief of everything that happened here in Louisiana. She dove into ornithology at the University of Madison and she used all those nature skills to save a park. It's a town it's a town called Madison and I'm reading this book and we're trying to save the Drew forest and some people are like really interested in the birds and I want to get to the the next zoning board hearing because she gets all these people to come and she has it's just a great book. So, we're using that as inspiration on how you can connect birds and your environment. And we've got Bridget Daly talking about how to turn your backyard into a bird feeder. We've got uh Tater Whitman who's um executive director of the core heart arbory and bird sanctuary in short hills and he's going to talk about the habitat that migratory birds need because they need to forage a lot and and like chopped up little suburban yards don't do it. So, we all have to help on that. And then, um, Franc is especially excited because R.J. Curtio, who's a 2017 Drew grad, was one of the, uh, original cohort of kids who restored the forest. And this changed his life entirely. He's now uh,

working in college in Monmouth County. He's an amazing wildlife photographer. And so, they'll all be there and we you will too. And then on um April 14th, we're doing plant this, not that. And it's related to the grant that is mentioned here, which is a swap out of barberry bushes. Like if you have Barbie bushes are one of the top 10 invasives, and birds take their seeds and drop them in the conservation forest at the MRC. They drop them everywhere. Barbber's got 10 times more ticks than other plants. nonative plants and um it's just a terrible invader. So if you take out your barberry bush, this grant will pay for new shrubs that are native and support the environment. So we're hoping we get that grant and um the plant this not that event in April 14th is along those lines of like how to how to get what you want with native plants. And I think that's enough. Thank you. Thank you. Any other comments?

Mary Ellen Lahan on 84 Greenwood Avenue. I had two things. Uh one on the resolution 69 2026 Fred Rivera to the lead man parks. Is that could we change that to woman or person? Okay. And the other one on the um resolution 75 uh going to apply for a grant. Do you know how much the grant or do we know how much the grant would be? 250,000.

Thank you. Thank you, Marion. Any other comments? Seeing none, I'll close this portion of the hearing or this portion of the uh meeting. Um time for our agenda discussions. Uh the Madison Community Pool. Welcome.

Thank you. It's so good to be here. Good evening. My name is Katie Zurich and on behalf of Anna Devakales, Caitlyn Gabriel, Steven Lafiieri, Jay Musafhori, Bill O'Connell, Peter Reeri, Adam Reits, Julie Snyder, and Paul Trupia. We are your Madison Community Pool Advisory Committee. Next slide. Okay. Um, at the close of last pool season, steps were taken to stabilize operations, including addressing compensation for previous pool employees and ensuring the pool was properly closed for the season. On behalf of the pool advisory committee, we cannot thank the burough council enough. Um, our gratitude is beyond measure because it allowed for this mayoralapp appointed advisory committee to begin getting tasked with evaluating the costs, the operations, and the community needs of our pool moving forward. And we want to thank everyone in the community for that contribution of feedback and support. Our journey here began with what we called love letters to the burrow. Expressions of care and desire to be active partners in ensuring that our pool thrives. Throughout this week, we will be delivering letters to burrow employees who have helped us learn, grow, and understand pool operations and public service, but also most importantly to our community, our pool members, past, present, and future. And before I leave, I'll be delivering our love letters to the council as well. Um, as pool committee members, we have each written to you um to just reinstate not only how much it matters to us to have this pool and be tasked with being responsible for its continued sustainability, but what it means to us and our families as we work towards this goal of a collaborative community space. So, this is how we got here and this is where our next chapter begins. Next slide.

Tonight, we're really excited to unveil our ultimate love letter to the community, our 2026 membership rates, which come to us after careful research, extensive public feedback, and a commitment to reflecting our greatest pride to date, programming that serves all members. We are working alongside champions of change with this burrow. Jim Bernett, longtime pool member and mayor Bob Connley, committee councilman and tireless promoter of positivity and all things pool, acting mayor John Forte, and together we represent Madison and span generations. On our committee, we have longtime seniors who have spent decades at the pool and young families with children using the baby pool for the first time. We bring our different perspectives, but our shared pride and the collective belief that the Madison Community Pool is more than a facility. It is a cornerstone of our community. And so, registration opens on Valentine's Day. What better to celebrate the place we love with the people we love than on February 14th. This is our love letter to Madison. In response to community feedback, we are introducing several updates. We will have early bird registration at a cost less than last year, an Auguston membership for late summer schedules, a direct response to the community, a new teen membership option, and guest passes and updated guest policies that balance affordability with equitable access. And as always, financial assistance for those who need it remains a top priority. And directions to apply will be posted soon on our pool website. We want to strategically make programming possible and maximize value through expanded programming. So, thanks to the burrow, we have upgraded our internet and we'll be offering a wei work space for working families to join at the pool daytime. We will also have created a wonderful space for a

volleyball court, community games, and lawn games of sorts. Um, a continuation of our award-winning Barracuda swim team. In addition to a kids triathlon, the reintroduction of a senior swim hour, free chair yoga, and especially um a passion project of a community senior potluck for people to gather multigenerational space and offer um the opportunity to network and get to know neighbors to neighbors. We are very excited to offer a transparent decision-making conversation on March 3rd from 6:30 to 8:30 in the chase room of the Madison Public Library. This is where we will review rates, programming, policies, and address questions, comments, and concerns from the community. As the pool begins this next chapter, we ask for patience, but also invite feedback. Before we wade into the deep end, we want to encourage everyone to join us on March 3rd because this is our pool and your ideas, your updates, they help shape the future of the medicine community pool. We are very much indebted to the council for this opportunity. We are passionate and we hope our passion is palpable in all that we do and who we are. And our next slide is our newly redone website which where members of the public and um also members from neighboring community will be able to access our pool rates a comprehensive Q&A a robust pro programming calendar that really does celebrate not just our community but our small business community. We've partnered with Crafted CrossFit 377. We hope to have something for everyone, but most of all, we hope to have a memorable, magical summer. So, thank you for this opportunity and we can't wait to see you poolside and on the deck. Thank you, Katie. And I can attest that this passion is real. [applause and cheering]

I'll open this to the council. Any questions for for Katie?

No. I think you did an excellent job. [laughter] Thank you. Okay. Uh, budget hearing. Uh, Madison Fire Department. Chief Wickman. I was waiting for you to sit down. Thank you so much, J. Ty, you're going to go first. Okay.

I go first. I thought Yeah. Yeah. You're going first. Okay. All right. Guess you get you home. No, I'm going to hang out for the the entire meeting.

Um, thank you for having me. Uh, it's good to see you all again. It's It's been a whole year since I've been up here uh asking for money again, but it's uh good to be here. So, the uh the Madison Fire Department, I actually like to call it now the Madison Fire Department and EMS division. Um we've had a very successful year uh full year with the EMS. Um something that we're very proud of. Um it's going very smoothly. Next slide. Um this is a breakdown of our call volume. As you could see the fire um back in 20 2013 about 762 calls we've only gone up a few hundred but as you see the EMS calls at 438 is now about a thousand more um a year that we're having now in 2020 uh 2025. Uh it was last year I said it was our busiest year ever. This is the second year in a row. We're already like screaming I mean 214 calls in January whatever it is I think we had was 200 something that that's it's just it's crazy. It's non-stop and with these broken uh we're getting a ton of broken pipes all over town. Um it's not just us, it's all the surrounding towns. And interesting enough, u cold weather puts a lot of wear and tear on the fire engines. Why? Because the fire engines have water in them. So when they go to any call or we park them, we have to engage the pump so that the pump is circulating the water so that the water doesn't freeze in the pumps, the hoses or the uh or any of the piping, the plumbing and the fire engines. So, next call on next uh page. Sorry, Michael. Um fire prevention. Uh we've really ramped up the commercial inspections. Uh Captain Blair has been doing a great job with fire prevention, getting into all the life hazards and every uh business that he can. Uh making up for somes that haven't been done for a few years. Uh safe housing inspections. Whenever we're called for anybody that wants an inspection of their house, we'll go and do a safety inspection. We have to do by state state law. We do if you're selling your home in Madison, you have to have

or in New Jersey, you have to have a carbon monoxide and smoke detector inspection that we perform. Um, we visited all the schools and in the school presentations for grade one and two and with huge uptick in food trucks and we all seen food trucks everywhere now. Every time one sets up shop even for a day or half a day in Madison, it has to be inspected by the fire code by the fire official. Uh, next uh slide. Uh we have we were on the cutting edge of we knew that the federal government was changing over their we used to call it niffers but they're switching over to the nearest which we have to report every single one of our fire incidents. Every call goes to the federal government and we knew that there was going to be a mad dash for every department in the country to get on board. Uh we we right away jumped into this and as we did it, we got this program called First Do we found that it could take several different software um vendors that we're using and we literally mash it into one and it's it's so robust and it's we're able to carry it on our phones. So everything that we used to have all these different softwares now is all in in one. It saved it's saved us quite a bit of money too. Um, and another thing that it's been great for is work orders. As things break, we're able to in real time send out pictures, paperwork, and everything. It automatically emails everyone that needs to know. And then there's actually a board where we can move things across to see where it is on the status. Um, we added the Polaris Ranger utility vehicle, which we we're we're trying to come up with a good name for it, Ranger One, but you can see we've already used it. Um, it's got a plow on it. We have ordered the the EMS and the fire package for it. This is going to be used for a lot of events, anything that could happen in the Drew Forest, anything that could happen in the forest off Rosedale. It'll have the ability to uh carry a stretcher and a litter with a patient and also have a fire pump on it. Uh it

has been ordered. Um they're these are very popular right now. So it's it's about a 16week delivery, but the plow was a nice added feature for it. We didn't realize how how good it was going to be at plowing. And it's uh it's been a lot of fun. A lot of people fight over who gets to drive it. [laughter] I might be the guiltiest of that party there. Um one of the things that we did last year um with capital, I brought a little display of it. Uh we upgraded our Knox box program um which those are the little boxes that we have outside every school, every church or most churches um all the businesses. So if it has a fire alarm system, it definitely has to have these. So, we have the ability to get into these boxes and and we there's keys to the building in there. And the way we used to have it was we used to have residential kind of like a realer lock box that we all only 14 of us had the secret code to get that magic key that go out and open that box. Well, it just it wasn't that secure. So, what we did is we upgraded it to the the there actually vaults in every vehicle. there's an actual vault that has um what this this fob and this fob once you pull the fob out you have to access another code just to use it and this is actually the mechanical key that opens those boxes and the other thing that we liked about this too is if this box gets opened it leaves a digital footprint or fingerprint of who took that key out and where they used it and then where that key went back. So the liability just plummeted for us. Like even if I lose this key in 10 minutes, it deprograms itself and it won't reprogram itself again until it goes back into the vault where it gets reprogrammed. So this was huge for us and we are actually act um actively asking businesses that have the mechanical key to uh let's try to let's try to replace your cylinder with the electronic one just so we have more and more um like like liability go down and

and more accountability of where these keys go. You the old keys if you you've lost it it's terrifying. You have to replace every single cylinder all through the burrow. Um, we received multiple awards from Atlantic Health last year. Over 20 firefighters and EMTs were reward awarded by Atlantic Health a stroke pen for their fast ability to identify a stroke, provide the necessary [snorts] uh the necessary care and get into the hospital as fast as possible. uh they notified the stroke team and over um 15 times several of them got this award twice but over 15 times they the the Atlantic Atlantic Health notified us that those people are alive today with very little damage done to their bodies because of this the fast the fast acting of of our firefighters and EMTs. Uh we performed joint drills with Morristown Pikatini Arsenal and Confined Space and Trench Rescue. We also went up to the fire academy a few times uh one time with Chattam Burough to do live fire train training. That's one of the things that we really want to start working on more is is more and more of this training. We have a worldclass facility in Morris County for fire training and every year the county has been very good about updating it. So we're going to start trying to use that more and more. Uh we participated in a day of service in 2025 that every 15 minutes that the police department ran this year which was fantastic at the high school. uh Bottle Hill Day and the FD every year we're asked by the United States Army to they have a sendoff to anyone that's graduating high school and going into the military. They have a ceremony for them at FDU. We go there with our ladder truck with Floren Park and put up a big flag which is a it's beautiful and then a touch a truck which that all the kids seem to really like the touch a truck event that we have at the that they have at the library. Next slide please. So, our goals is EMS3 is the third ambulance that we've kind of

mothballled. We don't really use it. We use by state law, we have to have two operating ambulances as a state licensed agency. Uh EMS3, which is a 2002, we're not using. We want to replace it with a four-wheel drive ambulance. We don't have a four-wheel drive ambulance, so we have to put chains on them. and uh it it doesn't work nearly as good as if we had one that was four-wheel drive and something that was also a much more modern than 2002. Uh we need to upgrade our confined space equipment. Some of our rope that we have for for confined space is 25 years old. Uh again continue training structure fire confined space and trench rescue. We just entered into another agreement, the extension with with Berkeley Heights for confined space and also soon we're going to have to sign an agreement with Foreign Park and any other towns that want to we're very fortunate that we have a confined space team that especially with the sewer departments and the water departments so that we can uh god forbid there's any of a problem that we're able to go get them. Uh we've been increasing our EMS protocols. Again, this is another awesome thing that the the men and women of the Madison Fire Department EMS have been doing is we have advanced into being able to add these protocols which it took a lot of training for every single person to go through. And our doctor Letes who is our our medical director will not would not sign off in any of it until he was convinced that everybody was properly trained where I think we might be the first in Morris County to be able to offer this training. Maybe may maybe top at least top three. Next, please. Capital. Um I understand that the the budget for uh this year is going to be tough. Uh we we did not go crazy for any capital expenditures. Um the big thing is every year we need to replace turnout gear. Uh turnout gear is getting more and more expensive. It cost almost $5,000 to outfit one firefighter from from head to toe, from helmet to jacket

to gloves to boots to pants. Uh, and the gear only lasts 10 years. After 10 years, we have to we have it's we have to abandon it. Um, uh, down the road, we going to have to replace the SCBA cylinders. Those are the air cylinders that we wear on our back. They they have a shelf life. Uh, we have, uh, and then you could see on here, it says replace tower 1 in 2030, which is our 2018 or sorry, 2008 ladder truck. And at the bottom here also engine engine one and tower one were were purchased in 2008 and it is firet trucks right now are running anywhere between a threeyear to four to almost five years for assembly. Uh there is a a massive backlog on on firet trucks. They're in high demand and they're not increasing production at all. So it's it's been very difficult to get firet trucks and ambulances across across the country right now. Uh we did order a a fire engine uh last year. Uh engine two was a 1998 that we have which a year after I started here I got hired in 1997. I remember the next year we got a brand new fire engine. Um it's expected arrival hopefully hopefully at the end of this year but most likely it's going to be first quarter of 2027. It kind of flip-flops. the I've been talking to the the plant down in Florida, one of the salesmen, and he said that it it's on the list like it's in in in the line to get get uh in production. Uh next slide. Oh, yeah. Any questions? All right. So, I think we're missing a slide, but that's okay. That just talked real about the fire department is is we are we have 14 career firefighters, about 10 or 16 volunteers. 10 of them are suppression, which means they're fully capable firefighters, and about four support members. And we have at any given time anywhere between 24 and 26 uh part-time or perdm EMTs. Um volunteer

firefighters, we're always welcome. We're always looking for them. Hopefully the next council meeting, I think I might have three for you to approve. Um it's it's very difficult to attract them, but even harder to get them to stay, but we're doing everything we can. and we've made a great environment over there and hopefully we continue the trend of of adding more and more as as we go along. Any questions? Questions for the chief? Councilman Landeran. Hey Chief, um years ago at the Platypus tournament that they used to have at the high school, the county used to give us what was equivalent, I guess, to that uh Polaris vehicle. Remember? Yep. Is this going to replace that?

100%. So, this will be able to go to every football game. It'll go be able to go to every event that's at the high school that requires an ambulance. This has uh the the Ranger has a turf mode so that you hit a button so it won't damage any any grass or turf. And that's exactly what it was made for. And this is going to be perfect for even like the lacrosse tournament where it's all over the place. And it's just a a it's going to be it's going to be good for us. I drove it years ago and it was very very agile and very safe. When you have a lot of people around, it's an ideal vehicle.

Yeah, they're they're not they're not cheap. But as I was asking the salesman, I said, you know, I think this thing is more money than some new cars. He goes, yeah, but you can't do 65 miles an hour through the woods in your car. I'm like, okay, but we're not going to do that. Yeah. Any other questions? Thank you very much, Chief. All right. Very welcome. Thank you. Okay,

Michael, if you would advance to the goals and important questions slide of the uh budget presentation. As is always the case, we really have four items that we're looking at. What's the tax increase going to be? We're trying to limit it to 2% which is very challenging in a world where we have three, four, 5% um increases in certain prices. Um we want to maintain the services and not reduce any services in any way. want to maintain um funding for capital programs and ensure the long-term sustainability uh financial s stability um and not cause any systemic issues. So uh if we go to the next slide um important points about this particular document, it is a draft document. Um embedded within it is um the pool. It's a unique situation but the state has allowed us to insert both the revenue and appropriations of the pool um in in a unique way. We allow this appreciate the state um allowing us to do that. Um fund balance is always something that we're looking at and it was it was soft this year. Um and uh so it's it's making things a little more challenging. The other thing that's making things more challenging we discussed during the affordable housing presentation which is the office building ratable base um is deteriorating and we'll go into that in a minute. All this resulted in a drop in the amount in the municipal budget that's reserved for capital funding, but we'll talk more about that later. Michael, if you could advance two slides. This is a schedule showing our fund balance and fund balance is the single best indicator of the fiscal strength of the burrow. Um later slide in the appendex actually explains how fund balance is generated and what it is in detail. um you know we have different labels on different lines so we can kind of easily point to certain numbers. S7 shows in 2025 that fund balance um was generated of 6 million22,000

that's more in line with prior years. Last year we had an aberration for various reasons. S10 is the amount of fund balance cushion that we have after we have used um or appropriated funds for the municipal budget. Both of these numbers along with S um 12 are um basically the important numbers that the rating agencies look at to make sure that we're stable that we're not dropping in any precipitous way. Yes, we are dropping um from 24 to 25, but that's because we had a one-year aberration driven um almost entirely by um interest rate revenue being much higher than than we appropriated in 2023. So, we go to the next slide, you'll um and then the slide after that, Michael, thank you. This is Gerald Farms. Um uh Lanica Way runs kind of diagonally from we'll say 7 o'clock to 2 o'clock. Um, I think that large triangle building on the corner of Lanica Way and Woodland Road in the bottom left corner is kind of the most visibly obvious building to any resident in town. But it shows all of the different buildings. That triangular building, Gerald the 7 is fully rented. Gerald the two is going to be a new corporate headquarters. But um, uh, Gerald the five, Gerald the three and draw the one are all either partially or fully empty. If we flip to the next slide, um, Gerald 3 has seen a significant deterioration in its value. In 2007, it sold for 53 million. In 2020, it sold for 7 million. So, think of housing prices during that time. What a house sold for in Madison in 20 um in 2007 versus uh what a house sold for in 2020. Completely different. Um going in opposite directions. That is the old um Quest Diagnostics building. If you go to the next slide, this is um uh the Fiser building and in 2007 again $52 million

valuation. In 2020 it sold for $16 million. And if we go to the next slide, Gerald 7 is that that V-shaped building that we talked about and in 2007 it sold for 78 million and in 2021 it sold for 29 million. huge decreases in these values and those decreases in values result in a reduction in the taxes that they're paying. So if we go to the last one, Michael um Gerald the two um used to be um Mercal Health and Marisk the shipping company um that was sold in 2014 again for 53 million and it just sold recently at the end of last year for 8.5 million. A new corporate headquarters is coming. So what ends up happening if we go to the next slide is every year in a municipal budget almost every year since 2018 we've had two lines for revenue. Revenue that is taxes on the existing homes everyone's existing homes that live here and then taxes on new ratables. Maybe someone put an addition on their house or maybe um uh a new building was built like um the movie theater being um renovated and a new building there. So, um, every year we have revenue from the net new ratables. The challenge this year is that all of the office parks had tax appeals and their taxes went down and in essence, they completely wiped out all of the new ratables. I'm sure we could go around here and find houses that were built over the last six months to a year, additions and stuff like that. They're all going to pay more money, but that is completely all that new money is completely wiped out by the office buildings. So if we go two more slides, u Michael, we talk about appropriations. The largest departments, um, police department, public works, fire, garbage, library, and sewage processing, they're all going up. In fact, they're going up by over $2 million in total. The

challenge is that in our budget, when we raise property taxes, we only raise about $340,000. So we have this huge gap. $2 million in this appropriations going up and only 400 340,000 in revenues coming up. So it is um a big challenge and if we go to the next slide you'll just see graphically all the different departments support services. What's that? That's project community pride. We used to have a lot more in different support services. That's why it's like this tiny little sliver. But the other um departments make sense. Court, legal, construction, utilities, sewage treatment. But you can see the relative magnitude of the various departments. Um I do have to point out that uh the fire department and the police department are 247 operations. We have staff here all the time. We don't have staff here all the time in the finance department. So um though we're here whenever you need us. Um if we go to the next slide, this shows 2026 cost. I'm going to change that number um for the pension for the police and fire and for the public employees. We have 41 police and fire employees that are in this pension system and they're paying one about we have to pay $1.5 million um in a bill to cover that cost $36,000 per employee for a regular I want to say regular but for an employee that's um not police and fire um the um the benefits are much different and therefore much um less costly and so we have 93 employees more than twice the number of employees But the bill is actually less at $1.2 million. There's some um greater description below for people who want to read as to understanding why that bill is so different. So if we go two more slides to the draft budget, this document should look familiar. This is the budget and brief document. What's great about this is this document is available on Rosenet for um for a number of years. So you can really do some

analysis and go backwards a number of years and there are some major uh changes to it. Um line 32 which is the capital improvement fund had to be reduced significantly in order to make everything else balance out. um the amount from the electric utility that we're transferring over um to support municipal operations um is the same and um but uh the amount that's being used for operations jumped up um but the total amount that we're using from the electric utility is the same. If we go to the next slide, we'll just talk for a minute about revenues. Fund balance is um as we talked about it's revenue um that uh came in above and beyond uh appropriate what we had appropriated or budgeted for and it's expenses that came in under expenses um under what we had budgeted for. And so every year we use um prior year fund balance um as tax relief. And it had to reduce this year, but we had that odd year last year where we had a lot of money. And actually what we did is if you look at um B1, you see fund balance, but then you see the amount that was used for capital B12 at $4.5 million. That's the reason we bumped up capital last year. So um fund balance is back in line in previous years. Line B1, $6.2 million. Um B2 is municipal revenue sources and that's been kind of that's been this interesting rebound postcoid. If we sat there and tracked out seven or eight years, you'd see that we had a real bad blip in after COVID um where revenues didn't happen. No one was going to the to um uh to New York City, so parking revenues were down. We weren't writing tickets. There was just almost a a lockdown or a shutdown in many respects. in revenues that were coming in. It rebounded up. Now we're kind of

on the way back down. If you look at municipal revenues, you go, "Well, wait, wait, wait a minute, Jim. B2 is up by a million dollars." Almost all that is that pool revenue that we have slipped in there. So, in essence, municipal revenues are flat. So, we have a situation where I told you before that those five or six major line items, police, fire, DPW, sewage treatment, library, um, are going up by $2 million. property taxes, we don't want to go more than 2% and uh municipal revenues aren't going up. So, how are we going to balance this out? And um we're going to balance it out by reducing the amount of capital that we appropriate. So, if you um go to the next line uh or next slide, I Michael to appropriations, you'll see the increases in B16, 17, and 19 are significant. Um those are for police, fire and DPW. Pool expenses are primarily buried as part of department operating. Um so you see a pretty significant jump from 24 25 to 26. Um that's all the pool appropriations um or the budgeted expenses. And then B28 is sewage processing. That's the Madison Chattam joint meeting. Um that's gone up significantly. And then the library, which is driven by a it's a state calculated number. Here you go. This is what you have to pay for for the library. Um that um went up $245,000. And so all these lines increased. And so we ended up reducing the amount that's going into the capital improvement fund. But we're okay. We have some major projects going on like the renovation of Hartley Dodge for $8 million. We have funds in other locations that we're going to be using. We'll probably be talking to Kyle and the um Madison Volunteer Ambulance Corps funds to be able to purchase that ambulance that Kyle's looking to purchase. And we have money already in the capital improvement

fund because we put a little extra last year and because of a lot of grant money that's coming back when we do roads or um other projects. Um lots of times we have to preund it out of the capital improvement fund, but then the money comes back and so we have significant amount of dollars coming back. So, I don't anticipate any issues with capital, but this is a systemic issue that we're going to have to resolve. And what's going to happen in resolving, I was talking to Councilman Range about this a little bit, is there are a couple of things that are going to happen. We're going to have debt come off of the budget in a couple of years. The debt for the renovation of this building 20 years ago and the creation of the public safety building and the purchase of a firetr, that debt's coming off at the end of 28. So, that's going to be an immediate um $1.5 million off the budget, which will allow us to immediately say, great, we can uh start funding capital improvement more. The other is as some of the development that has been talked about that is involved in affordable housing at Geralda and Drew University. As those developments come online, we anticipate millions of dollars in um revenue coming to the bureau in the form of pilot payments. So those two situations will um basically completely resolve this slight aberration that we're going to have for a couple of years of low capital funding. Um going to the next slide, we just want to kind of remind everybody of what the tax bill looks like. Um this was put out last year. This is 2024 taxes versus 2025 taxes for the average home. Adam that was that was here before for the pool doesn't know but his home is actually the average home in the entire town if you took all the houses and said what's the one in the middle it's probably shouldn't embarrass him by saying it but his his home on Green Village Road and so we use that every year and look at his taxes every year to

understand the relative changes between municipal county and school and this past year you can see from 24 to 25 the school portion went up significantly because that is the referendum that the school floated. So, um, uh, you know, burough taxes only went up $60. Um, you know, which over the course of, uh, 12 months is like one latte at a Starbucks. So, um, many of my friends who maybe are are pro- finance, pro budget, think that that's a tremendous value. And if we go to the next slide, this is something that you've seen many times before. All the different services you get um for the municipal portion of your budget and that um or your property taxes. In the um the prior uh slide we talked about it was three a little over $3,000. You get all of these services. Um the library, sewage, treatment, yard waste, things you don't get in other towns. You don't get garbage pickup. You don't get yard waste. Um you don't get a lot of these services in other towns that you get here in Madison. So, um, the budget has baked into it a 2% tax increase. Um, and it's, uh, uh, going to be administration's recommendation that we keep at that. There's really no way, uh, for if we, if we were to deviate from that, it would make things even more challenging down the road. So, um, as I remind you, this is a draft budget. Things will change, more grants will be added, more numbers will be refined, but I wanted to give this you a first look at it. So you had a chance to kind of cogitate on it as my father would say and meditate and um and look at it and if you have any questions we're available either now or over the next month.

Thank you Jim. Questions for Jim Councilman Range.

Not so much a question but just really want to reframe something that that Jim said because I think it's really important. Um and a reminder of the last couple of years of the budget process. We've the last few years um have not always done a 2% increase. We were able to hold back and off the top of my head I can't remember what those numbers were. 175 I think one year 18 something like that. Um, and one of the ways we were able to do that is to kind of hold Jim hostage and tell him to go shop sharpen his pencil and take a little bit out of each line and and decrease some of the conservative numbers that were baked into some of these numbers. And all of that um has gotten us here and those were the right choices then. Um, but there's no more sharpening the pencil. We've sharpened the pencil as far as we can sharpen it. And in a year where health care is going up by almost 9% and you know thanks to good choices we made, it's only 9% and it's not the state fund which what was that 20% this year and 20% last year. Um garbage is going up 4 and a.5%. Sewage processing is going up by $350,000. That's the whole 2%. That's the whole 2% traffic uh tax increase is just going to the joint meeting this year is is one way of kind of thinking about this plus the library up 13%. So I I think when you frame it in sort of that way is we've kind of taken I don't want to say the fluff, but we've taken all of the the extra out of the budget over the last few years and this is still a sustainable budget. We're still in

really good shape um to move forward. Uh but between all of those things going up, the office and commercial market, those chickens coming home to roost, and Jim, since I joined the council four or five years ago, you were telling us tax appeals are coming for these properties. It's only a matter of time. And you know, unfortunately, they all hit last year, right? we didn't have to come out of pocket for those appeals, but it wiped out basically all of our net new ratables. So, I think on total and with all those facts, um, this is a really good budget and I know you spent a lot of time kind of playing the 3D chess on it and, you know, I I appreciate all the work that you put into it and uh, I I think it's a strong budget moving forward. Thank you,

Councilwoman Cohen. Um, first of all, thank you as always because the numbers actually make sense, which they don't always in budgets, having dealt with school budgets. Um, just for people to know how long the reimbursement on the grants, it's longer than what people would think because like have we been fully reimbursed from the Dodge playground which we finished? We haven't gotten the money yet. No. So, just so that people realize, it's not like you you hand in the receipts and three weeks later you have the money back. It can be Am I right to say years? Years. It's years. Absolutely. It's years. Yes. So, we're always chasing that money. Thank you for pointing that one out,

Councilman.

Okay. You know, my specialty is always tax appeals. Always has been. Yeah. Do we anticipate any other large appeals or any other significant appeals coming forward going forward in the next year or two because it looks like we have about a two-year gap before we kind of start to level off a bit. So, a couple things are going to happen. We're going to have a revaluation in a couple years which will hopefully realign a few things. But, um I think we've weathered most of that storm. I don't want to say we've weathered all of it. We had a significant tax appeal where we actually pay out money and we really don't like to do that. We'd rather do what's called a Bob knows this because this was his business. You do a step down where you say we're not going to pay you any cash but we'll step your your future um assessments down so you'll save money going forward. um we often take that approach which doesn't have um a cash impact on us but has that wipes out the net new ratables as Councilman Range was pointing out. Um but we actually had big checks that we had to write over the last two years. Um and in our budget every year we're putting money into the tax appeal reserve. Um but um to answer your question, I think we've survived most of it and actually we're going to see a reversal as we have um new developments coming on. We have buildings that fill up the new Geralda 2 which was the Marisque Merc very hard little building to see. You can only see it on Woodland Road and in one little spot. Um but it's a nice building that's a new corporate office. a a building that has tenants in it or that is occupied um has a strong ratable or so strong property assessment or value. A building that's empty, they come to us and say, "I'm not making any money." So, it's completely different. A house could be empty. Oh, well, the house is empty. We don't care. It's based on the value

of the house. In a commercial setting, it's based on the value of the revenue. So when you have an empty building um which is what we have had there for a number of years as you know Bob um the ratables drop. Just one last quick question. Uh years ago when we had hurricane Sandy the borrow was able to get a lot of the money spent back from FEMA. Well FEMA's effectively been gutted by the federal government. Should something like that happen again? Are we in a position to pay for the I mean we got back $2 million.

Yes. So um the FEMA money became fund balance which helped us in the long term. We do still have a strong fund balance position number one. We do still have a strong capital budget and actually baked into this and we're going to go into it in more detail at another budget. um the utilities fund balance numbers which we discussed at the last meeting um have already been updated. we um and have increased. And so we're looking to on the water utility side put um set aside an extra $500,000 for capital over there for the two big issues that we talked about at that last meeting which were the water tank the water tanks and the treatment of the forever chemicals the PFAS. So, there's good news in other parts of the budget, but to answer your question, um, we still have the resources to deal with a big situation, but I hope it doesn't happen.

God forbid it happens. Yeah. All right. Thank you, Jim. Councilwoman Hanahan, thank you. Um, just a a note about the work that the administration and volunteers put into bringing in gr grant money in in Madison. It is pretty phenomenal and and we've been very lucky to have team that works here very hard on that. So, um I think sometimes yes, it is a reimbursement issue. Uh but but that money does come back and we count on that quite a bit and you can see that reflected in our agenda today. Thank you for that work.

Yeah. as as an example, we're buying the Drew Forest for over $20 million, but it's going to be less than less than $10 million that we actually pay in pro in municipal dollars. We're going to be getting other dollars and other from other sources, including state green acres dollars. The uh MRC property, the 49 acres over there, we pay just a few million dollars for 50 acres. I mean, it's it's fabulous. It takes a long time to get that money back, but it really is um tremendous. And um kudos to Michael Plesier who's helping us submit a grant for um the municipal pool this year for a $250,000 grant for the municipal pool um which will help in terms of some of the engineering and some of the capital work that needs to happen there.

Thank you, Jim. No further questions, I assume for Jim. Thank you. Ordinances for hearing. Okay. The ordinances scheduled for hearing were introduced by title and passed on the first reading at the regular meeting of council, held on January the 26, 2026. They were posted and filed according to law and copies were made available to members of the general public requesting scene.

I call up ordinances for second reading reading and ask the clerk to read said ordinance by title. Ordinance 4, 2026, Ordinance of the Bureau of Madison, appropriating $500,000 from the General Capital Reserve for renovations and restorations of the east wing of the Hartley Dodge Memorial. I open this portion of the hearing. Anyone wishing to comment? Seeing none, I close this close the hearing. I move uh ordinance 4-2025. Second. Any council discussion? Roll call vote, please. Mr. Landrian, yes. Mr. Range, yes. Miss Hanahan, yes.

Mr. Forte, yes. Cohen, yes. I declare the ordinance adopted and finally passed and ask the clerk to publish notice thereof in the newspaper and file the ordinance in accordance with the law. Ordinance 5, 2026, Ordinance of the Bureau of Madison, appropriating $180,000 from the Open Space Recreation and Historic Preservation Trust Fund for the $20,000 in matching funds to be appropriated hereafter from the General Capital Improvement Fund for improvements to Rosedale Field. I open the hearing. Anyone wishing to comment? Seeing none, I close the hearing. Mayor, I move ordinance 5-2026. Second.

Any council discussion? Seeing none, roll call vote, please. Mr. Landrian, yes. Mr. Range, yes. Miss Hanahan, yes. Mr. Forte, yes. Miss Cohen, yes. I declare the ordinance adopted and finally passed and ask the clerk to publish notice thereof in the newspaper and file the ordinance in accordance with the law. Ordinance 6, 2026, ordinance of the Burrow of Madison, authorizing the purchase of the Drew Forest and Madison House. I open the hearing. Anyone wishing to comment? Seeing none, I close the hearing. Um, I move ordinance 6-2026. Second.

Any council discussion? Seeing none, roll call vote, please. Mr. Landeran, yes. Mr. R. Yes. M. Hon. Yes, Mr. Forte. Yes, Mr. Cohen, I need to recuse myself.

I declare the aforementioned uh ordinance adopted and finally passed and ask the clerk to publish notice thereof in the newspaper and file the ordinance in accordance with the law. Uh so now we come to our second invitation for public comment. Uh the rules are the same as the first time. Um you may come up and speak. Uh please leave your name and address at the lect turn and you have uh 3 minutes or less to comment. Um Claire Wickcom 12 Farad Road. Um I think that this was the memorial field um allocation was at the past council meeting or is this the first uh introduction of it?

Yeah. Yeah. What was

Okay. So, I think I don't know that much about it, but Brian Monahan was talking about it at the um MEC meeting, but it's basically is it repurposing a a grass field so that um what's really cool about this is that they're getting a company in who can um revitalize this field. And and and it's so much cheaper to do this than to put in a turf field. So Brian was just talking to someone in um Milbour who's on open space and staring down a turf field and she just wrote back to me and said he's amazing. So we all know that. But um congratulations to the council for for doing this um thoughtful thing. No, I mean money saving thing. And um the other thing I wanted to mention in terms of cutting saving is that um a side effect uh that towns have found that have passed uh gas leaf blower um restrictions is um less leaves put on the curb for pickup. And it's a cost-saving and a DPW staffing saving. And what happens is that um you you when you have electric equipment, you use it differently. You don't just leaf blow the whole yard. You mulch mow the leaves and then you blow. So there's far fewer leaves being blown and you and it's incentive really to leave the leaves in the bed. All of this is healthier for the environment, but Maplewood has figures on it and Mayor Adams is willing to talk to any council people here and I encourage you all to reach out to her. But you could save money. Thank you.

Thank you, Claire. Anyone else wishing to comment? Mary Alan Lahan again. Um, two things. Uh, Jim, that's a fabulous job. Thank you very much. I wanted to know. Yeah. Um, in one of the pool things you had the 200,000 grant that you're applying for, but then there was like a million dollars somehow attached to that. What is that for? Yeah. Yeah. We can get you the answer after Marilyn.

Okay. Okay. And a second thing is our um head of the fire department left but uh two times last year the ambulance came to my house took me to the hospital and they were absolutely great. So I'm sorry he's not here to hear that. Thank you Mariel.

I can just answer that quickly. embedded within the budget is um a about 200,000 more in appropriations than in anticipated revenues for the pool. Um we don't really know what's going to happen with the sale of the memberships of the pools. Um and as we always have to be a little more conservative on the appropriation side, um there is a $200,000 funding gap there. So was one a$ 1.1 million in appropriations, 900,000 in revenues. That may change slightly, but um the hope is that we'll spend much less than $1.1 million in the pool budget.

Thank you. Anyone else wishing to comment? Okay, seeing none, I close this portion of the meeting. Uh uh introduction of ordinances. Ordinances scheduled for first reading have a hearing date set for February the 23rd, 2026. All will be published in the Madison Eagle, posted on the bulletin board, and made available to members of the public requesting copies. I call up ordinances for first reading and ask the burough clerk to read said ordinances by title. Ordinance 7, 2026, ordinance of the Burrow of Madison appropriating $20,000 from the general capital improvement fund as a matching fund for improvements to Rosedale soccer field.

Mayor, I move ordinance 7-2026. Second. Any council discussion? Seeing none, roll call vote, please. Mr. Landrean, yes. Mr. Range, yes. Miss Hanahan, yes. Mr. Forte, yes. M. Cohen, yes. And ordinance 8, 2026, ordinance of the Bureau of Madison establishing chapter 137 of the Burough Code entitled recreation establishing mun the municipal pool membership fees. Mayor, I move ordinance 8-2026. Second.

Any council discussion? Seeing none, roll call vote, please. Mr. Landeran, yes. Mr. Range, yes. Miss Conahan, yes. Mr. Forte, yes. M. Cohen, yes. Consent agenda resolutions. Consent agenda resolutions will be enacted with a single motion. Any resolution requiring expenditure is supported by a certification of availability of funds. Any resolution requiring discussion will be removed from the consent agenda. All resolutions will be reflected in full in the minutes. I move consent agenda R66 2026 through R78 2026. Second.

Any council discussion? Seeing none, roll call vote, please. Mr. Landrian, yes. Mr. range. Yes, Miss Hanahan. Yes, Mr. Forte. Yes, Miss Cohen. Yes, there is no unfinished business. Approval of the vouchers

from the current fund, $787,5747 from the electric operating fund, $158,55762 from the electric capital fund, $7,949. Steven from the water operating fund $8,3.37 and from the trust $24,84321. The total is $986,8607. I'll move the approval of the vouchers. Second. Any council discussion? Roll call. Mr. Landan. Yes. Mr. Range. Yes. M. Hon.

Yes. Mr. Forte. Yes. Owen. Yes. There is no new business. Uh just uh one follow-up message. Just want people to stay warm and safe in the days ahead. And to those who celebrate, we wish you a joyous and prosperous Lunar New Year next Tuesday. Uh, Councilman, Councilwoman Cole, I move that we adjourn the