Township Committee - Regular Meeting

Pledge 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. Thank everybody. You may be seated. All attendees and participants agreed to conduct themselves in a manner appropriate for public gathering. Individual speaker should be advised that no right of privacy protects a person's public comments made in a public forum. Accordingly, all participants bear responsibility for their own statements and commentary. Correspondence. Resignation received from Sarah Lenick from the Open Space Preservation Council effective January 1st, 2026. Thank you. Note received from Maryanne Hesy acknowledging her retirement after 49 years of service with Milstone Township. Letter received dated January 15, 2026 from the New Jersey Historical Commission State Historical Marker Program that Milstone has been approved to receive a historical marker for the March to the Battle of Mammoth and Clarksburg encampment. Ordinances. Second reading. Ordinance 26-01 calendar year 2026. Ordinance to exceed the municipal budget appropriations limit and to establish a cap bank NJSA48 4-45-14. Thank you. Explanatory statement. This ordinance authorizes an increase to 3 and a half% over the previous year's final appropriations at the date of the publication presented. I'd like to open it up to the public at

8:16. Thank you. Seeing that nobody's coming up, I'd like to close it for the public at 8:16. Thank you. Motion to adopt the table, please. I'll make the motion to adopt. Thank you. Have a second. Second. Thank you. Roll call, please. Deputy Mayor Morris. Yes. Committee person Zoski. Yes. And Mayor Farah.

Yes. First reading, Ordinance 26-02, an ordinance amending chapter 5 fees section 5-2 fees for chapter 2 administration. Paragraph C, recreation registration of the revised general ordinances of the township of Milstone County of Mammoth and state of New Jersey. Explanatory statement. This ordinance amends the recreation registration fees contained in chapter 5 section 5-2 paragraph C of the revised general ordinances of the township of Milstone. Motion to adopt the table, please. I'll make the motion to adopt. Thank you. Second. I'll second. Thank you. Roll call. Deputy Mayor Morris. Yes. Committee person Zoski. Yes. Mayor Pharaoh.

Yes. Second reading and public hearing to be held on February 4, 2026 at 8:00 p.m. at the Milstone Township meeting room, 215 Milstone Road, Pineville, New Jersey. Consent resolutions. All matters listed under item consent agenda are considered routine by the township committee and will be enacted by one motion in the form listed below. There will be no separate discussion on these items. If discussion is desired of any item, that item will be considered separately. 26-56 payment of vouchers January 21st 2026 26-57 Resolution authorizing participation in the Asip Pink wershed group organized by the watershed institute 26-58 Resolution authorizing project completion closing statement to Mammoth County Municipal Open Space Grant Program for the Clarksburg Cultural Center grant 3 phases one and two 26-59 resolution authorizing Governor's Council on substance use disorder GCSUD fiscal grant cycle July 2026 to June 2027 26-60 Resolution denying request for release of performance guarantees for Red Valley Road resurfacing one Ren Haven Drive block 53 lot 4.07 to Ren Haven Drive block 53 lot 4.09 and three Ren Haven Drive block 53 lot 4.04 04 in connection with application number PB17-10 for 106 Trenton Milstone LLC. 26-61 resolution directing tax collector to cancel real estate taxes on block 11. 26-62 resolution hiring temporary snow plow laborer for the 2026 winter season. 26-63 resolution amending resolution number 25-224 which designated official newspapers which will receive public notices for 2026 and designating the official

internet website of the township of Milstone for the publication of public notices 26-64 resolution authorizing execution of state historical marker agreement with the New Jersey historical commission for the march to the battle of Mammoth and Clarksburg encampment marker. Kathleen, thank you for that. I'd like a motion to remove uh resolution number 2658 and table it to the February 4th uh meeting. So, the motion is to remove 2658 from the consent agenda. From the consent agenda. Yes. And then table it to the February 4th. February 4th. Correct. Do I have a motion, please? I'll make it. Thank you. Do I have a second? Second. Thank you. I'm going to do roll call. Deputy Mayor Morris.

Yes. Committeewoman Zabroski. Yes. And Mayor Farah. Yes. Okay. So, now we're going back to the consent agenda. Yes. For items 6, excuse me, 26-56 26-57. Then we're going to go to 26-59- 2664. Correct. Thank you. Have a motion to adopt the table. I'll make the motion to adopt. Thank you. Second. Second. Thank you. Roll call. Deputy Mayor Morris. Yes. Committee person Zabroski. Yes. Mayor Pharaoh. Yes. Township committee minutes. Regular meeting minutes December 17, 2025. Motion to adopt the table, please. I'll make a motion to adopt. Thank you.

I'll second. Thank you. Good. Do roll call. Deputy Mayor Morris. Yes. Committee person Zoski. Yes.

Mayor Pharaoh. Reports from various departments for December 2025. Tax collector $545,39.90. Clerk report $524. Dog license $63. Municipal court $8,955. Recreation $5,738.83. Construction $33,850. COA $8,926. The 2025 interest revenue and the 2025 tax annual report are also included. I see a motion to file. I'll make a motion. Thank you. Second. I'll second. Thank you. All in favor?

I. Okay. Applications for raffle license standard bread retirement foundation RA number 338 casino night raffle to be held on March 7th, 2026 at Elks Club 22 Burnt Tavern Road, Milstone Township. Motion to approve the table. I I'll move it. You want a second? I'll second. Thank you. Oh, I guess I forgot. Roll call. Yeah, roll call. Um, Deputy Mayor Morris. Yes. Committeewoman Zabroski. Yes. And Mayor Pharaoh. Yes.

Okay. Ladies of St. Joseph's Church of Pineville off premise 50/50 raffle RA number 337 to be held on June 14, 2026 at St. Joseph's Church, 91 Stillhouse Road. Motion to approve a table. I'll move it. Do I have a second? I'll second. Roll call. Deputy Mayor Morris. Yes. Committ Zabroski. Yes. And Mayor Pharaoh? Yes. Okay. Reports. You have anything?

Uh, the only thing I have is last Tuesday the Milstone seniors had their reorg meeting and then tomorrow evening open space has their reorg meeting. Okay.

So, recreation had their uh reorg meeting. Um, programs that are running now. Everything's running smooth. One one issue that I want to address and really ask uh the the residents to to help and understand is that uh last year we had a large group of uh uh participants in basketball have to cancel because there wasn't enough coaching. Um and I always make the joke that the kids can't drive themselves to the game. The parents are going to be there. Um, and it was it was it was a shame that um there was just not enough volunteer base uh to do that. It's the first time and I've been the commissioner of wreck for nine years, president of little league for two years and I don't think we've ever had to cancel anything because of of of lack of volunteers to to run the program that their children are actively involved in. So, um I don't know if it's a uh because of um a lack of understanding of maybe the sport. So, what we're going to try to do is we're going to do a bigger reach out um to try to get and make sure that we don't have to cancel any program at any level for any kid. Um but in in included in that, we're going to offer maybe some training on uh um uh like a workshop of um here's the program, here's basic coaching philosophy, here's what we recommend, you know, and just remind everyone it is recreation, it's not the World Series, it's not uh uh the end the the Super Bowl, right? And it's really about bonding, being together, learning how to be a teammate, and less about winning every single time. So, I'm just encouraging um you know, everyone to just be mindful that, you know, it makes a big impact if you can just volunteer that two hours that week to make sure that these these these programs stay up and running. It's becoming very difficult getting the

numbers in the town, number one, and number two, being able to put these programs on. Um, and we just hate to see that happen. I would love to that not to happen again this year. So maybe we could do a concerted effort to try to recruit more parents to become Yeah. So we're trying to do it through the school drop and and all these things. And you know um you know every year I just see it getting harder and harder and harder uh to get the volunteer base to to keep these programs running.

That's a shame. All right. Uh on Thursday, the veterans council had met uh I met with them and uh we already started talking about Memorial Day and and putting the pieces in motion to uh to have the best Memorial Day uh ceremony uh to date. Hopefully uh everything will fall into place and we'll have a nice big procession and and a uh you know the march and and the ceremony hopefully will will top last year's. Uh, and we're always looking for veterans that that are willing to come on to the Veterans Council and and help out and just keep uh the momentum going to make sure that, you know, their sacrifices and all of their their time that they invested to protect us does not go away. Uh so if you know any veterans out there that would like to join the veterans council, you know, please please reach out to uh to Frank Frank the manek and uh and you know fill out the application and hopefully you could join and uh and be part of the uh the process.

Yes. Excuse me, mayor. Um one of the members of the council dropped off a flyer which will get posted on the website tomorrow for recruitment. Perfect. I believe they actually did get two new recruits in the last couple weeks. Perfect. Can we email that to all developers? Oh, I don't Do we have like Yeah, it'll be a website and and eblast. No, I'm saying do we have do we have a list of veterans? I No, I'm saying it's going to go out to residents to who else wants to join. No, no, that's great. But do we have not an updated one cuz I noticed at least two new ones. So, maybe in next week or so. We'll send out we'll send out the eblast. Try to get the numbers increased and then we'll

That's fine. Ju just in the verbiage that you put in the email uh if you could ask if you are a veteran, you know, please reach out and join us. That's basically what it is. But if you know any friends or family that are veterans, please inform them that that we're looking to That's kind of what their flyer says. It came directly from the veterans. All right. Great. Thank you. Uh also, OEM met on Monday and uh and everything is fine. Our uh EOP plan, I believe, has been approved, so we we're good with that and uh we're just on top of things. All right. Any new business, any old business? Any comments from the deis?

Just one quick thing. So, obviously, you know, if you're seeing the news or your phone, it looks like there's a pretty significant potential storm coming this Sunday um into Monday. So, just be mindful of that. If you don't need to be on the roads, if it's snowing, please don't. You know, the DPW crews are going to be out there. This looks like the the highest potential snowfall that we would have uh this year. So, you know, they need the room and the time to get things done. Um, and it seems like it's could be a slow lingering storm. So, um, you know, if we don't get to your areas as soon as you think there may be a reason behind that, um, and just, you know, check the website for any, uh, critical details that we may know and if they are, we'll put that out there to the community.

Yeah, right now it's estimated about 6 in to 12 in is kind of the range. We have a better idea tomorrow. Well, also Kevin, you just want to let everybody know that if they're not registered to get emails or Nixon uh to please sign up because that will be the best way to receive information as we disseminate it. So, if there are roads that are closed due to the storm or trees down or whatever, uh we we'll send out an eblast as well as a NIXLE or text blast. So to keep you informed and to let you know what roads are closed and what to stay away from, dangerous situations or anything else that we just want to keep the, you know, the the residents informed about. Yeah. Go to a website. It's right there at the top.

Right up on the top. Both of them. Eblast or Nixon. Perfect. All right. So, at this point of the meeting, I'd like to open it up to the public at 8:29. Thank you. So, if you could come up if you could stay. Hold on. I want to put the microphone on. Okay. Now, state your name as soon as I sit down and your address. Okay. Hello, I'm Jolen Maloney. I actually don't have an address in Milstone. Can you say your name slowly? Yes. Jolen Maloney. I can even spell it for you.

J O J O L Y N. Mhm. And then Maloney spelled M O L O U G H N E Y. Okay, got it. Um I am actually with the Watershed Institute. Um I'm just here on behalf of the Watershed Institute to give thanks to Milstone Township uh for their commitment to the participation in the Asen Pink wershed. So thank you. And then we'll go. That's it.

Well, not not that quick. So, I'm Kevin Abernathy. Hi. So, so they have an event coming up and they want to inform about dam removals and things like that. Um, I have reached out to the watershed looking for uh advice on best practices for streams and whatnot. So, I was glad to finally get a chance to meet you as well because we've had correspondence going back as well as uh the the natural conservatory is another group that I've been trying to work with. So, uh, we have a lot of streams that go into the asip into the watersheds. Um, so we want to obviously do the best practices. So, hopefully we'll be able to partner up and and as we, you know, these guys voted on today that that looks like we and other towns are going that direction.

Yeah. Also, do we know when the spring cleanup is? Yes, it's on the website. A tentative date. I believe it's the April 18th. Sounds right. There's two weekends for it, but the first weekend, I know, is the weekend of April 18th, and then next weekend there's also stream cleanup, but I believe for Milstone, it's April 18th. Our 20th anniversary stream cleanup will take place on April 18th. Yep. And you guys are always great. You guys come out and you help us out and it's it's a nice day. So So thank you for all that you do to protect our water. Thank you for participating with us. We will always Yes. Thank you very much. All right, Julie. Pleasure to be here. Nice meeting you.

How you guys doing? Ryan Walker, 11 Pinehill Road. Uh just a couple quick questions. First, um 20 resolution 2661. What's uh can you just uh kind of inform me about that? what what property that is and why the why they're why they cancel the real estate taxes. Just curious. It's in here. It's due to a veteran status, but let me just confirm that, please. It's in it's hanging up on a bulletin board. Oh, yeah. It's statutory because he gets they get a tax exemption for a disabled veteran or surviving spouse. That's by state statute.

Gotcha. So, all these all these resolutions are up on that board. More details. Yep. And it's actually says that in the first paragraph of the resolution. I I didn't know I didn't know you printed them on. Okay. I I Okay. I've I've come to a lot of meetings. It's the first time I'm told that they're printed on the back board. They're always posted on the back. Oh, I I don't doubt it. I don't doubt it. This is the first I'm hearing about it. I don't I don't I don't read boards usually unless you tell me though. Um maybe 2660. Can you uh can you since I'm already up here and I don't have time to read it, can you give me a brief overview on that? That's denying uh performance

right because the developer has not satisfied all the obligations to the engineer Red Valley Road are they require because that is they're required to do repaving on Red Valley. Is that what it is? No, this is the that industrial though some of it was on Red Valley outside. Oh, right outside. Right outside of Red Valley Road. You know where Ren it? It's only their little corner. Correct. Oh, okay. All right. All right. That's I was curious about But they haven't they haven't satisfied the engineer that they've met all the conditions they're required to. So, it's not being released yet. Gotcha. Gotcha. Thank you. Easy enough. Nice and easy, man. Thanks.

You're more than welcome to take uh one of those down. Do you know where are the they on the website? No. That's crazy. How could you how could the the members of the public go to these before? No, I haven't I haven't ordinances are the agenda's on the website. The agenda is on the website, but not I have the agenda, but it's not it's doesn't have detail on it. So then, you know, I might come up and ask a dumb question that's in there. No questions are dumb. Nope. We'll we'll we'll be working on that, but it's not at this moment.

I don't want to have to ask Google what's on block 11, lot 12. You know, it's crazy. You don't even list the address on there. But thank you though. But it wouldn't you do it by blocked. Yeah. Yeah. No, I know. But then, you know, it's a The whole idea is like public accessibility. Yeah. But but now you're calling somebody out that's saying you're disabled and and you know there's other one thing police it's public information right seems to be all the information around here public what's all the resolution it's public you got to spell my name right though when you do the opus you know it's public

yeah but if it was on the Daniels list it probably would just have listed not his name just L his street address in the LLC, right? They have to be on the Daniel's list. Correct. In order to to receive that. Otherwise, it's public. All right. At this point, I'd like to close it to the public at 8:35. Thank you. Do I have a motion? Uh, I'm sorry. All in favor? No, you are correct. You have a motion. I'll make the motion to adjurnn, mayor. Sorry, I was looking at the wrong page. Do I have a second? I'll make the Oh, sorry. I mean, I think you now all in favor. I I time out at 8:35.