[0:00] People need to hear you. Welcome to the
Blairestown Township Committee meeting
[0:04] for March 26,
2025. We have an opening roll call,
[0:09] please. Kristen, Mrs. Mayber here. Mr.
Lman, here. Mrs. Lance here. Deputy
[0:14] Mayor Orcott. Mayor Morhead here. Can we
please rise to salute the flag?
[0:21] I pledge allegiance to the flag of the
United States of America and to the
[0:26] republic for which it stands. One nation
under God, indivisible, with liberty and
[0:31] justice for all.
Adequate notice of this meeting has been
[0:37] provided in accordance with the open
public meeting act 1975 chapter 231
[0:42] setting forth the time date place and
purpose of this public meeting for a
[0:46] legal notice published in the New Jersey
Herald andor the express times following
[0:51] the township's annual reorganization
meeting at which the 2025 meeting
[0:54] schedule was adopted. Good evening
everyone. We got a really full house
[0:59] here tonight. I mean this our budget
meeting we had Lorraine, right? She she
[1:06] was walking in and I said uh she goes,
"There aren't many cars here." I said,
[1:09] "You're in. You're in." You were, but
always good to have you. Uh we will uh
[1:15] we'll start our meeting tonight with the
uh our public comments. Any public
[1:19] comments? Tara, I kind of I well
expected this. But I bought a friend
[1:29] and I'll explain.
[1:33] Good evening. Good evening. Um, Tara,
um, I guess wearing the I8 to 611
[1:39] pendant NJOT hat, which is shifted a
little bit because we're taking
[1:44] advantage of an
opportunity because uh, granted us
[1:49] because the Explore Act was passed into
law in January. So, I'm going to um
[1:56] speak to the resolution you have on the
agenda uh for tonight and see if you
[2:02] have any questions about it. So, uh the
reason for this resolution is
[2:08] specifically to request support for
inclusion of the Delaware Watergap
[2:13] Recreation Area Local Communities as a
gateway community pilot program under
[2:18] the Explore Act. So, I do want to read
what the Explore Act is. The Explore
[2:24] Act, Expanding Public Lands Outdoor
Recreation Experience Act, Explore, was
[2:33] signed into law in January um of 2025.
It seeks in part to foster and encourage
[2:40] responsible recreation on federal and
state recreational lands and waters with
[2:45] an emphasis on enhancements to
recreation areas, long-distance bike and
[2:50] hiking trails, high volume nonfederal
public lands, and by mitigating negative
[2:55] visitor impacts on infrastructure and
local communities by quote providing
[3:01] financial or technical assistance to
gateway communities under an existing
[3:06] program or entering into public private
partnerships, cooperative agreements,
[3:11] memorandum of understandings and such um
in our
[3:16] communities. So that's in general what
the explore act is out to do. There's a
[3:23] provision in there rel regarding gateway
communities which is what we are just
[3:28] like Hardwick, just like Nolton, all of
us on both Jersey and Pennsylvania. Um
[3:33] we are communities where in order to get
to these places they have to travel
[3:39] through our our resources and we provide
resources to those visitors
[3:45] accommodations, hospitality and whatnot.
Um but we're also impacted by those
[3:51] visitors. So this is required by law is
they're going to identify 10 gateway
[4:00] communities to participate in a pilot
program that will
[4:04] be if nothing else quantifying how many
visitors actually visit. You know are we
[4:10] not the most
complicated conglomerate of access
[4:15] points to one of these? you know what's
really a visitor when who's traveling on
[4:20] 80 and traveling on 611 which of those
are really considered a visitor. So the
[4:24] quantify visitors um I do believe this
will quantify um the visitor quantify
[4:30] the visitor use impacts on our
communities and impacts in particular.
[4:34] You'll see Eric back there. You know I
was at Hardwick's meeting where Eric was
[4:39] up there talking about um ambulance
being up on the mountain 22 times last
[4:44] year. you know, when when our fire and
rescue who were really created for the
[4:50] to serve the communities are up on the
mountain, they're less available to the
[4:56] local communities for which they were
created. Um, so just one example of
[5:00] impacts um that hopefully will get
quantified. So, it looks like it's a
[5:06] 5-year program, looks like it's
federally funded. um it doesn't create
[5:12] exactly what does that all look like
because it's new. Um, so my the hope is
[5:18] that by participating in this program,
we have the seat at the table to be a
[5:22] part of creating this national program.
And by having that seat at the table, we
[5:26] can ensure hopefully that
our complicated jurisdictional situation
[5:34] um will also serve others as this
hopefully will roll out as a national
[5:39] program. So other people in our
situations, we can serve. We can take
[5:43] care of our needs. Um, for
example, in your resolution is the
[5:47] mention that um, you're you reaffirm
that the township's commitment to
[5:51] maintaining the long-standing
designation of the Delaware Watercap
[5:55] National Recreation Area as a national
recreation area. By having that seat at
[6:00] the table, you can ensure that that's
important to Blairestown. Um, that that
[6:04] designation doesn't change, that you can
put in a plug for that every step of the
[6:09] way. So, this is really calling on our
federal legislators to reach out to the
[6:14] Secretary of Interior and request that
our our Delaware Waterg area um
[6:19] communities are included in one of these
10. Uh Warren County took the initiative
[6:24] to set this off. Uh they did that into
February. Congressman Kane had a letter
[6:29] ready to go and that letter was sent
immediately. So, that letter is in the
[6:33] hands of the Secretary of Interior um
with our request. word is kind of
[6:37] catching up on the support that we
anticipated would be there. Um so before
[6:42] I um let you know why my friend
Christine is here, I want to ask what
[6:47] questions you might have about
this question I have is wouldn't they
[6:51] consider all of the towns that are that
surround that area as part of it anyway?
[6:58] No, because like um just like the Wild
and Scenic River project that we're
[7:04] involved in, in order for your segment
of the Palm Still to be cons to be
[7:10] designated, it requires local support.
Same thing with this. It sounds like
[7:15] they're using that similar model.
Whereas if a
[7:18] municipality doesn't want to be part
participate in that in that gateway
[7:23] community then their section or they
would not be included. So, it's not um
[7:30] they're not going to impose this on, for
example, the northern communities like
[7:34] the Sussex County and Pike Sussex Pike.
If they don't want this, if they're not
[7:38] on record um and their needs and their
their situation is unique to them, which
[7:43] is very different than what we have
going on in our Delaware Water Gap area.
[7:48] So, it's I don't um it's not
automatic from what I read. So, what are
[7:55] the positives and the negatives? I don't
see I don't I can't um Well, my glass is
[8:00] always perpetually 90% full, so it's
hard for me to see negatives, but I've
[8:04] worked hard on that. Um I I wouldn't be
here if I saw negatives. I I don't I
[8:11] don't see them. Um seat at the table.
The positives are what I explained seat
[8:15] at the table to be a part of of a
national program. Um why not?
[8:21] We're so positive. So fantasize. So the
the the fantasy I have with this is um
[8:28] they want to this is suggesting that
they might say okay we have overcrowding
[8:35] at Dunfield Creek and other fairly local
resources that are also state you know
[8:43] we're unique because we have um the
the what's the Warthingington excuse me
[8:52] we also have a as significant as as the
Del Watergap National Recreation Area
[8:57] that parking lot is really federal I
mean safe that's where part of
[9:01] Warthingington State Forest so when you
have overcrowding there for example I
[9:06] think we would all agree and this is
part of the reason I have Christine with
[9:10] us tonight um I think the Appalachian
Mountain Club um and Catfish Pond would
[9:15] appreciate visitors being diverted to
them and I think Blairtown with your
[9:19] interest in um ecoourism would
appreciate visitors coming through
[9:24] Blairestown and and and using the
services of your of our our our
[9:29] restaurants for example on their way up
uh to Moan Outdoor Center. Um so this
[9:35] act is uh looking to do that kind of
thing to to address overcrowding issues
[9:41] and whatever. So my fantasy is even our
fire and rescue, what happens if they do
[9:48] identify? How do you resolve our what I
call Horton here's the who situation?
[9:54] You know, the reason we can't get
attention on 80 and they can't get
[9:58] attention on 611 is our situation in the
gap is so watered down by being two
[10:03] states, three congressional districts,
three different counties. What if all of
[10:07] a sudden we become some kind of a
gateway community and that is recognized
[10:13] as some kind of an entity and they rec
they say okay maybe our fire and rescue
[10:18] services are taxed because of providing
services to the gap maybe maybe there's
[10:24] a way to compensate for that or maybe if
nothing else there's an opportunity for
[10:29] training for like ropes the the
technical rescue training because we
[10:33] have cliff climbers you know we have to
rely on Portland Um, we're not I I don't
[10:38] believe anybody in our area is certified
to do those kind of things. So, I see I
[10:44] see nothing but
opportunity. So, what would they do like
[10:48] put things together or or whether
whatever towns are incorporated into it,
[10:52] put package together or something so
that they can give the people that do
[10:55] come to the area and come and that would
be whatever the group decides to do. I
[11:01] think that is the open possibility.
Yeah. I I think um and by us having that
[11:08] seat, we get to hopefully craft be a
part of crafting. We are the ones with
[11:13] the problem. We are the ones that can
fantasize about solutions.
[11:19] Yeah, thank you. Anyone else? I let you
know why I have Chris with us. You teed
[11:27] it up very well. So, so I want to
introduce my friend Christine who is the
[11:33] senior hospitality manager of New York
and New Jersey for Appalachian Mountain
[11:37] Club and they on they run the Moheaggan
Outdoor Center and since it's in your
[11:42] resolution and we're friends, I thought
it would be only right to let her come
[11:47] here and just let you know the services
that they provide up there for our
[11:51] community, which I enjoy personally cuz
that's my Thanksgiving buffet and I go
[11:55] up there with my canoe and I love just
being able to pull up to their lake,
[11:59] catfish pond, and dump it in and and
paddle around and get my lake experience
[12:04] since Columbia Lake is no longer
available to us. That's another story.
[12:08] But so I wanted to let if you don't
mind, give Christine a moment to say
[12:12] what what she does up there. Sure. So my
name is Christine
[12:16] Molinsky. I work for Appalachia Mountain
Club. I've been there for just under
[12:21] three years. And one of the things that
I am so proud to say to people, anybody
[12:27] can afford it. You could have absolutely
nothing. Our town, this is a place where
[12:33] our town can go up there. You could swim
for free. You could bring your own
[12:38] kaying canoe. You could bring a lunch.
You could sit on the beach and you could
[12:42] enjoy that water. You could come up to
our free music on the mountain. We have
[12:47] different types of things where people
could come up and practice and try to
[12:52] figure out if they could be an artist or
not. We like to explore different
[12:55] things. We have fishing. Um we partnered
with the
[13:00] NJP. So it's free fishing. You come up
there on your on the the day that they
[13:06] do it and um we hand out the fishing
poles to the kid that gets the biggest
[13:12] fish, the most fish, the first fish, the
last fish. They give us all these neat
[13:16] things to give out to the kids. Then for
uh we have the Boy Scouts that come up.
[13:22] We comp them a cabin so they can come up
and they can, you know, explore. They
[13:27] can camp out. We have camping with a
buddy up there. We do all these neat
[13:31] little programs where people can come up
and and really enjoy it. It's it's slow.
[13:37] It's off the beaten path. We we're the
Appalachian Trail runs right through my
[13:42] camp. um where New York, my other camp,
they trip on the business and it
[13:48] obviously helps them. So Moheakin could
definitely use a lift to keep something
[13:55] like this going. We lease the property
from National Park Service. So um you
[14:00] know, we go into like these 10-year
leases or whatever. So I would love to
[14:04] keep that going. you know, when people
come through. We have a trail marshall
[14:10] that's going through Straburg right now
showing like how the hikers usually go
[14:15] through. He he might be doing more of a
pub crawl than most, but um but these
[14:20] hikers, they come through and you know,
they'll they'll call the the limo
[14:25] service to get a ride down to do their
laundry. They'll go over. We get groups
[14:29] that come up there and they do um they
they have reunions and uh the the other
[14:38] Blair I can't think of all the different
names of the different groups. We get
[14:42] different schools and stuff like that
and then um reunions and they'll go over
[14:46] to uh the the brewery and they'll go
down to Blaires Town and so they they
[14:53] are frequenting you know the the
different stores and everything. So, it
[14:57] is helping the community and we we just
want people to come up and enjoy it as
[15:02] much as we do. We're up there, you know,
living their life. And, you know, we get
[15:08] we get some kids that come in, you know,
from Philadelphia or from from New York
[15:14] and uh they come in a little bit, you
know, hardened. They because that's the
[15:20] life they live. And when they come up
there, they don't have to be tough. They
[15:25] don't have to be mean. They could just
There's a there's a porcupine, you know,
[15:31] and oh my god, like how cool is this?
So, we get to see another side and we
[15:36] offer something to people that it's it's
just
[15:41] unmatched. That's what we do up there.
So, I imagine
[15:46] and a Blair Town res. Yes, I am. And a
North Warren student.
[15:52] So that's fantastic. And
Mr. Mayor, may I ask a question? If
[16:00] there has flyers and stuff, would you
like to send them to me so maybe we can
[16:03] post them on our Facebook page?
Absolutely. I love that. Anything we can
[16:08] do to promote the cause? Thank you.
It's a It's a neat place. And I've seen
[16:15] your I've seen your your passion on
Facebook as well. A little bit
[16:19] everywhere.
So, it's it it's good stuff, you know. I
[16:23] So, I grew up in Bloomfield and we just
didn't have, you know, this beauty here,
[16:29] you know, that pond is is amazing, you
know, and people can go up there with
[16:33] their own boat. They can go for free and
and we rent them 15 bucks or four hours
[16:38] if they want to go up and pay, but you
don't have to. So, we get we get mom uh
[16:43] the stay home rooms that come up there
and they go up there and and we let them
[16:48] just use the space. We have a little
nature center and kids come up with the
[16:53] bones and the furs and stuff like that.
It's it's a cool little space and and it
[16:58] would be nice to keep it going. I think
we saw on Facebook or somewhere you have
[17:02] a lot of events, you know. Yes. And you
see the haunted trails that we had. That
[17:06] was a big thing. If you have We're not
crazy about that. It's It's really good.
[17:12] Interfere with our uh
That's okay.
[17:16] No, but there was a lot of cooperation
there. Well, yeah, we actually were
[17:21] advertising for each other.
Yeah, we were telling people at ours to
[17:26] go down to yours and we were telling
you stand. Yes. Yes. So, thank you.
[17:33] Thank you. Thank you. Very good.
Thanks for all your work. You're
[17:39] welcome. So, um I trust you'll let me
know if you needed anything else.
[17:46] Thank you.
[17:51] Any other public comment before we move
on? Seeing none, we will go to our
[17:58] department head reports for the month of
February. We got Claire'stown Ambulance
[18:02] Corp, Claire'stown uh Fire Department
Company number one, Department of Public
[18:06] Works, Police Department, Tax Collector,
Township Clerk, and vacant and abandoned
[18:10] properties. We have a motion to accept
the February department head reports. So
[18:15] moved. Second. All in favor? I. All
opposed. All right.
[18:21] Um have some minutes to approve February
26, 2025. Our public session meeting
[18:29] minutes. Any discussion?
I just wanted to make a comment that I
[18:34] would like you to put in the minutes
that the reason why I objected is
[18:38] because I wanted to wait until the
budget discussions. Could you please put
[18:42] that in advance for
[18:45] me on the uh on the open space?
[19:01] Do we have a motion to accept as
amended? I'll make that motion. Second.
[19:05] All in favor? I All opposed.
Okay. And uh we have a
[19:12] proclamation
tonight. May you see here? Can you see
[19:18] it? I I can see it. Yes, I wore my wor
my seeing glasses. Uh it's child abuse
[19:24] prevention month. It's April 2025.
Whereas children are our nation's most
[19:29] vulnerable members as well as our
nation's most valuable resources helping
[19:34] to shape the future of New Jersey. And
whereas positive childhood experiences
[19:39] like loving caregivers and safe, stable,
and nurturing relationships can help
[19:43] mitigate trauma and the negative impact
of adverse childhood experiences to
[19:48] promote the social, emotional, and
developmental well-being of children.
[19:52] And whereas childhood trauma can have
long-term psychological, emotional, and
[19:56] physical effects throughout individual's
lifetime and impact future generations
[20:01] of their family. And whereas childhood
trauma including abuse and neglect is a
[20:06] serious problem affecting every
community in the US and finding
[20:10] solutions requiring input and action
from everyone. And whereas children you
[20:15] live in families with I don't think
that's written correctly um with access
[20:20] to concrete econ economic and social
supports are less likely to experience
[20:26] abuse and neglect. And whereas
prevention is possible because of the
[20:30] partnerships created between families,
prevention advocates, child welfare
[20:34] professionals, education, health
community, and faith-based
[20:37] organizations, business, law enforcement
agencies, and local, state, and national
[20:41] governments. And whereas we acknowledge
that in order to solve the public health
[20:45] issue of abuse and neglect, we must work
together to change heres and mindsets
[20:50] through storytelling and sharing center
the needs of families, break down bias
[20:55] and barriers, and inspire action from
expected and unexpected partners in
[21:00] prevention. And whereas we are committed
we are committed to advancing equitable,
[21:05] responsive and effective systems that
ensure all children and families are
[21:10] health and health and thriving.
Whereas we recognize the need to
[21:16] prioritize kids and invest in more
prevention initiatives like home
[21:20] visiting and family strengthening
policies, economic supports and
[21:26] community-based child abuse prevention
programs at the national, state, and
[21:30] local levels. And now therefore, it be
resolved that the Township Committee of
[21:33] Blairestown Township hereby proclaim
April as National Child Abuse Prevention
[21:37] Month and urge all citizens to recognize
this month by holding a narrative of
[21:41] hope for children and families through
collaboration and the creation of an
[21:46] ecosystem of primary prevention that
does not currently exist in this
[21:50] country. Dated this 26th day of March,
2025. Mayor Rob
[21:56] Morehead, who should have proof read
this. Sorry,
[22:02] I thought if it was a national thing, I
would guess I did. Obviously, it's it's
[22:07] not reading is fundamental month.
[22:13] Um, all right. We've got a uh an
ordinance uh up for public hearing and
[22:18] adoption tonight. It's
[22:21] 202502, the ordinance to exceed the
municipal budget appropriation limits
[22:25] for the calendar year 2025 and establish
a cap
[22:31] bank and uh we are at that we're at that
limit. We are at that limit. Joan, would
[22:38] you like to
uh like to give us a little overview of
[22:42] why we have to do this every year? Yeah,
we do have a cap limit in in our town.
[22:46] We're only allowed to welcome up to a
certain percentage of our appropriations
[22:50] and currently we are at
[22:55] 3,874937. The cap tax is
3,8749 total. So we are about uh what is
[23:03] it 34 cents below our cap limit. So this
is just uh an ordinance letting us go up
[23:11] to that 3 and 10%.
Okay, we will uh this is a public
[23:16] hearing and adoption, so we'll open it
up to the public. Any questions,
[23:20] comments about uh
[23:24] 202502? Seeing none, do we have a motion
to adopt? I will make that motion. Roll
[23:31] call, please. Roll call, please.
Mrs. Van Werberg, yes. Mr. Lman, yes.
[23:37] Mrs. Lance, yes. Deputy Mayor Orcott,
yes. Mayor Morehead. Yes. An
[23:43] introduction of 202503 ordinance to
amend section
[23:48] 184-20 stop intersections of code of the
township of Blairestown.
[23:55] Where is this going to be? Is this going
to be inside No Road by right be right
[24:02] at the where you come in from North
when you come down from from uh we're
[24:10] opening road back up. So where road
meets the high school meets down below.
[24:15] Down below. Yeah. That it's going to be
a stop sign in there. Need a stop sign.
[24:18] There isn't one there already. Well
there there isn't one for that little
[24:23] parking lot that's right there. That's
the problem. There's a little lot there
[24:25] that needs a stop sign. There's two
there's there'll be two stop signs
[24:29] there. Eric, we needed it. So, yeah,
Eric
[24:33] Pizza put in the ordinance. Okay, we
have a motion to introduce. So moved.
[24:38] Second. All in favor? All
opposed. Move that one
[24:44] along. Our consent agenda tonight, six
items. Uh 202539 resolution releasing
[24:51] executive session minutes completely
unredacted. 202540
[24:58] uh the governor's council on substance
abuses disorder uh the alliance to
[25:03] prevent substance abuse disorder. 202541
a resolution authorizing the mayor to
[25:08] execute the agreement between
Blairestown TA Township and Celebration
[25:13] Fireworks. Um
202542 to 2024 tonnage grant application
[25:21] 202543 resolution requesting support for
inclusion of Deliver Water Gap
[25:25] Recreation Area Local Communities as a
gateway community pilot program under
[25:30] the Explore Act and
202544 approving vouchers and claims.
[25:37] Any uh discussion on consent item
consent agenda items 1 through six?
[25:43] Motion for approval.
Nope. I wanted to see if we could pull
[25:48] out
202541. Uh the fireworks.
[25:54] Okay. So, I would say I would be okay to
discuss everyone, but leave that one
[25:59] aside. You want to discuss that first? I
I would. Okay. Yeah. So, maybe we can
[26:04] lump it all together. Yeah. Yeah, that's
fine. that. So, u my question was um the
[26:11] contract I think in the past um has been
signed by the township but we've been
[26:16] provided with commitments of the
financial backing from other
[26:19] municipalities and whatever was the
fundraising that would be placed towards
[26:23] that by other businesses and other
sponsors and I don't think we have any
[26:27] of that in place at this point. We are
today I didn't receive any of it. Yeah.
[26:35] I emailed it to you when I got into the
office. Thank you. Um, so the question
[26:40] then becomes it's still half. No, we're
on the hook for three grand. Three
[26:45] grand. So if that's the case, uh, was
there any discussion with regard to the
[26:50] police overtime or any of the other
things? Are we are we committed for the
[26:53] three grand? We we comfortable with
that. Yeah. I mean, that's that's what
[26:57] we do every year. Okay. Whatever they
need from other towns or fundraising,
[27:01] they that's up to them. All right. Thank
you very much for providing it to me.
[27:05] I'm I'm okay combining all of them.
Okay.
[27:09] We have a motion. I emailed it. I just
made one copy just in case anyone had
[27:14] questions so I can make a copy for you.
Yeah. Go ahead. We're going to pass it
[27:19] down here. We're going to pass it down
[27:23] to No. No. I'm glad. I'm glad. No, it's
important though.
[27:30] Yeah.
Okay. So, um, Deputy Mayor Orcott made
[27:34] the motion
to combine them and discuss them as one.
[27:40] Vote on consent agenda items one through
six. So, I second that. Let's vote on
[27:45] one through six. All right. Roll call,
please. Kristen. Mrs. Van. Yes. Mr.
[27:50] Lman. Yes. Mrs. Lance. Yes. Deputy Mayor
Orpot. Yes.
[27:58] Caveat that I'm not voting on the PCFA.
Oh.
[28:04] Oh, right. Okay.
Mayor M. Yes.
[28:11] Two that need to
just little caveat.
[28:17] Well, then we Yeah, we're not going to
not vote on the bill. We're not going to
[28:21] not. We can go back and vote on it
individually. It's like a $100. Should
[28:27] have made a comment. But it's okay.
I don't want you in this four years from
[28:33] now.
Making a campaign issue out of some
[28:37] unfinished
business, our early voting date
[28:41] extension. Yes. So, at the last meeting,
I um stated that our early voting would
[28:46] be here in the municipal building. Um
and it was only going to be for two
[28:50] days. The next day, well, a few days
later, I got an email stating that they
[28:55] are extending early voting. So, it's now
going to be June 3rd um instead of June
[29:02] 6th. So, June 3rd until um Sunday before
the election day. That's all. Okay. No
[29:09] problem.
Um and uh GeoWorks just signed that
[29:14] today for the Walnut Valley Firehouse
Remediation. Um few more
[29:20] tests that's all included in that that
hopefully that last check we gave them
[29:24] and this No, I don't think so. I think
there'll be another there's going to be
[29:27] another bill. No. Yeah, there'll be one
another test.
[29:31] Yeah, they said there was two high
salinity in one and it's bad sample one
[29:36] sample. Yeah, they could pass that first
sample the second they had to do second.
[29:42] Don't ever let anyone test your soil
because it will take forever to make it
[29:46] right.
Um, okay.
[29:51] Yeah. Uh, new business. We've got uh
application for facility use uh
[29:56] celebration of life foundation for June
14th for Quint Bridge Park.
[30:01] Um, anyone get a chance to look at that?
I I have no issue with it. We've already
[30:07] received the check and the um insurance
agent approved their certificate of
[30:11] insurance. I mean, it's you're not going
to need the police or anything. No, it's
[30:14] like less than They do it every year.
They never ask police.
[30:18] Yeah. Um
uh the food shed alliance that's that's
[30:23] for the uh the use of the parking lot
for our farmers market and that is
[30:29] contingent on um a few certificate of
insurance from vendors. Okay. Uh and
[30:35] then uh Boy Scout Troop 140 using
Sycamore Park on the 19th of May.
[30:40] Everything's good with that with a
certificate of insurance. All right. And
[30:44] excuse me one second though. I was
thinking about this. The baseball games
[30:47] and still aren't going to live longer.
They already are um told about it. They
[30:51] do not have a games that day or soccer.
It happens. This is another thing that's
[30:56] every year. So they they're all aware of
it.
[31:07] The Boy Scout troop is for the uh
the retire flags. They retired flags
[31:13] that day. Yeah.
[31:23] You know what that is, right? I I can't
really read the
[31:28] It used to be London.
Yeah. Now it's
[31:34] It's kind of hard to read, is it? Yeah.
But what is that event? So again, they
[31:40] do it every year. Um this is the name of
the church that does on prayer day May
[31:47] 1st um Pastor Mark Eagle I think his
name is Eagle Conceal so sorry um comes
[31:53] to the municipal building with some
other locals um other churches and they
[31:58] do a prayer around the flag hole. Okay.
Again done it every year since I've been
[32:04] here with the exception of
CO. All right. Uh and uh then the the
[32:11] the Playerstown Youth Softball shed
maintenance request. So what do you have
[32:16] something on that Walter? You were just
they're they're going to do it all under
[32:20] your under your supervision. Sure. Okay.
And again, that's all um by the um
[32:27] insurance agent because they had to have
a certificate of insurance. Okay. Do we
[32:29] need can we vote on these all in their
entirety here? I mean really you don't
[32:33] you requested that I don't put repeats
on, right?
[32:38] However, um I do put it on only because
we need to make the public aware of
[32:42] things. Okay. We just do a That's fine.
Nice. All in favor for all of these.
[32:49] Well, uh celebration of life pays us.
So, we don't pay anybody out. So, we're
[32:53] good. We're good. All in favor. Okay.
I'll make the motion to approval.
[33:00] Fantastic. We have a second. I have a
second. All right. All in favor? I. All
[33:05] post. Great. All right. We love all that
stuff. Uh there's a lot of
[33:09] correspondence. Is there anything in
here of note that we need to pull out
[33:13] and talk about because a lot of it is
Mrs. Van or sorry woman van mockenberg
[33:18] has requested that we um ask Jose Ortiz
to come to one of our meetings to
[33:22] explain what the heck's going on. So
with the permission of the committee,
[33:25] I'll I'll reach out to him and see when
he come to the next meeting. Yeah. I'm
[33:30] sure he's sure he's not going to have
much to say. No, I think you'll have a
[33:34] pack. Yeah, they don't have a a canned
response that that's all that the
[33:39] communication guys do. They don't really
they're not the numbers guys, so they
[33:43] they can't speak too much on billing.
But,
[33:46] uh, it would be nice to hear because my
bill has doubled over the past year and
[33:53] then we have a 20% almost a 20% increase
coming up in June. Also, um I don't know
[33:59] if you want me to have Lisa Hibs come at
a different time cuz she's the one that
[34:04] does the um the IDT, the energy
um program. Yes. Did you see the email
[34:13] that they had said? Yeah, it's in your
correspondence.
[34:16] Yeah, it's it's it's a it's a grim
situation with we're all going to be
[34:20] eating candle light dinner come in
today. Walter was there too and uh her
[34:26] her bill which she said she really never
had to win $280 a month is 900 for two
[34:31] months in a row. Um actually you made a
comment to me about tagging the mayor.
[34:36] Jose responded. Yeah. Instantly you did
well I have to get the account number so
[34:42] so thank you. Yeah they couldn't find
her. I think we're going to look her up.
[34:46] Uh but yeah, it's it's really
a it it's going to get to the point
[34:52] where we're going to be paying more in
electric than in taxes. That's how I
[34:58] those things that must
I want to see electric.
[35:10] Let let us all know please be on that.
uh from the township attorney.
[35:17] Relatively quiet mayor, but I I did note
in in the package there's a couple
[35:22] letters that our zoning officer sent out
to property owners
[35:26] with pictures attached that show quite a
bit of junk and debris. Um, I've just
[35:32] recently been working on some ordinance
uh upgrades and amendments and some of
[35:37] the other municipalities because
uh, and I'll check with Dave on this,
[35:42] but um, a lot of zoning officers are
running into a lot of problems enforcing
[35:46] their summones in municipal court.
Municipal court can't issue bench bench
[35:51] warrants. They can't do trials by
absentee. and the word has kind of
[35:56] gotten out on the street that if you get
a zoning something, you can just ignore
[36:00] it at your leisure. Um, so it's become
quite frustrating for zoning officers.
[36:06] Um, so and I I know also he's citing a
an old privately operated dump
[36:13] ordinance, which is not really the best
way to go about this. It also doesn't
[36:17] make it sound really good for the
homeowner. I think a lot of them take
[36:19] offense to that. So, um I know but
they're we know they're not operating
[36:24] dumps obviously. Some some of the picks
are pretty bad, but um so I think for
[36:29] next month in advance of the meeting,
I'll circulate u perhaps a proposed
[36:34] revis ordinance for you guys to start
digesting. Maybe we can get a little
[36:37] little handle on these things. Process
of trying to implement in some way other
[36:42] municipalities. I think it's kind of
unique across the state, but I think
[36:46] it's enforceable. It's
basically there are statutes that say we
[36:50] can, you know, if somebody ignores the
zoning officer, we can actually do the
[36:54] cleanup and impose the cost as a lean,
but the problem is that can be several
[36:58] thousand dollar cost. You got to dig in
your pocket first and recover. Yeah. um
[37:03] we can add that permission to to a a
proper property maintenance ordinance.
[37:07] But I also want to go one step further
and and instead of having a summon issue
[37:12] potentially to have a a a notice of
hearing. If a notice of violation is
[37:16] ignored, the next notice would not be a
summon be a notice of hearing for
[37:21] here. And then this would be our due
process here for anybody who wants to
[37:25] contest the nature of the notice
violation that they've issued. if they
[37:29] don't show up, we can still drive them
an absence again. And at the end of the
[37:33] day, if we find that the violation is is
appropriate, um instead of cleaning it
[37:37] up ourselves, we would have our zing
offer get a couple quotes, we would
[37:42] select the lowest responsible quote and
certify
[37:45] that. And I think that I think that's uh
it's a bit creative, I think, but I
[37:51] think it will put some heat back in
zoning enforcement.
[37:56] um because it's not your judge's fault
or anything. This is a statewide problem
[38:00] ever since the municipal court reforms
um several years ago. Um but any I
[38:07] thought that maybe would looking at this
we take a look at that maybe get
[38:10] something to you for the next month on
that. Um and I think we also mentioned
[38:15] the dog the dogs u impound fee stuff. So
I think you'll be see I'm working on
[38:20] that as well and a couple nice with Rob.
So, I think you'll see something
[38:24] probably on that. Okay, very good. Thank
you. Other than that, I think we're
[38:28] pretty quiet.
Kristen, you have any reports? Um, just
[38:31] a reminder, May 16th there's shredding
event will be held here in the municipal
[38:35] parking lot from 8 to 11th and spring
cleanup will be May 27th through May
[38:40] 31st with vouchers being handed out
April 2. April 10th. April 10th. April
[38:46] 10th. Oh, April 10th. We're having Thank
you. We are having um a seminar here in
[38:52] the municipal building for seniors
regarding the new anchor program. Um it
[38:57] is going to be held um by members of the
state and they're also going to um I
[39:03] guess have a setup to log you on to the
program and help you with that.
[39:10] So now I'm done. Committee woman
Falconberg. Okay. All right. Uh, first,
[39:18] happy birthday, Lorraine. Lorraine's
birthday was a couple of days ago. Hey,
[39:21] Lorraine, happy birthday. Happy
birthday. She works really hard on on uh
[39:26] the seniors. And on March 5th, we had
the pre privilege of hosting assembling
[39:31] the mail uh to speak to our seniors. We
had uh seniors from more than our town.
[39:37] Other towns didn't come in uh for it.
Was well attended and they had asked a
[39:42] lot of questions. He was here over an
hour and a half answering answering
[39:46] questions. He got his money good. He got
our money's worried about. Yeah. So that
[39:51] that was a nice a nice program. On
finance, the committee met on March 22nd
[39:56] at 9:00 a.m. to discuss this year's
budget. We're limited to a 3.5 cent uh
[40:02] increase in appropriations. A 3 and a
half cent increase in not on taxes.
[40:08] Please don't think that that's taxes.
percent percentage on the cap on the cap
[40:13] percent right percent in appropriations
uh which became extremely difficult to
[40:19] maintain since the cost of living over
the last 3 years uh 2022 was 8% 2023 was
[40:25] 4.1 and 2024 was 2.9. So this uh
consumer price index was not reflected
[40:32] in our um ability to raise the cap to
bring our cost up as as the CPI had gone
[40:41] up. Um that affected everything from
labor to utilities to insurance and
[40:45] products. And just an example, our cost
this year for salt alone the um CFO is
[40:51] telling me is close to 100,000 already.
Is that more than we've ever paid for
[40:55] salt? That has to be an alltime high.
Yes. Well, you know, if you look at the
[40:58] weather this year, it was very little
snow and a lot of ice. Yeah. Lot of lot
[41:03] of a lot of ice. We went down to five
below. Yeah. So, and they were salty
[41:07] constantly. I think every single storm
they have a lot of salt going out. Um
[41:12] so, um we will be introducing the budget
on April 23rd and the public hearing
[41:16] will be May
28th. Uh as far as shared services are
[41:20] concerned, we've received three
different emails stating that the
[41:23] salaries from other municipalities are
pensionable. Now we just have to work up
[41:28] our numbers.
So yeah. Okay. Um uh the court we're
[41:35] just exploring possibly bringing the
court closer to home. Um all right. In
[41:42] speaking with our CFO, she had made a
couple of suggestions regarding um one
[41:47] of the things that we should really look
at in changing and this is a change in
[41:51] our employee benefits to the Omni
Healthcare only for any new employees.
[41:57] um the Omni there's a big difference
between the Omni Healthare and the other
[42:02] healthcare that we were providing and
she feels that the way things have been
[42:06] going we could you know everybody else
gets grandfathered but any new employees
[42:11] we would only permit under the Omni
Healthcare so I don't know if that would
[42:15] have to be a resolution as a change to
there's a there's a form for that from
[42:21] from the state the only thing I just to
offer the Omni Yeah. Yeah. And I'm not
[42:28] quite sure you're going to be able to do
that to check it then because my
[42:30] understanding is they have multiple
different categories about five. Yes.
[42:34] The last form I saw I just recently saw
this in our municipality they state was
[42:39] indicating you must provide one in each
category like there's an HSA there's a
[42:45] high level there's one where the omni
is. So I I think Chris Christine better
[42:49] check on that. All right. No I'll talk
about that to follow up on that. Uh the
[42:54] other suggestion that our CFO had made
was um increasing the dog fees that uh
[43:00] possibly going um to you know in order
to cover our acco rabies clinic our
[43:05] licensing uh maybe going 20 to 20 and 25
and 10 and 15 for seniors and and um
[43:13] federalists. So that's something else
and that would be an ordinance change
[43:16] because I believe that's on ordinance
the the values money that's there. So,
[43:21] that's another thing to think about.
But, um, we have a lot of dogs in this
[43:26] in this town and you know, we are paying
Well, when you say think about it, what
[43:30] what would what would spur any action to
do with that? I guess a vote to to
[43:36] change something back in the next year.
Yeah, I will. Yeah. I want to just
[43:40] reconfirm the numbers with Christine. We
did raise, you
[43:43] know, last year. No, last year to 10
to$10 from $6. I think we're still very
[43:50] much on a lot of other towns. Yeah. We
we kept the we kept the seniors and the
[43:54] veterans the same. We never changed
theirs, right? So, we're looking. It's
[44:00] not a big increase. It really isn't.
But, you know, as time goes on, between
[44:06] the the fees that the state is
collecting, right, the rabies clinic,
[44:10] the licensing, all these different
costs, if we can recoup a little bit,
[44:15] even uh you know, maintaining the dog
park and everything, um it may be it's
[44:20] something's got to happen because do
those like surprise vet bills also come
[44:25] out of that copper?
Well, you know what? Every now and then
[44:30] we'll have the
comes out of a dog, right?
[44:39] All right, that's it. Thank you. Give
the name of it. Uh just an update on uh
[44:46] Walnut Valley septic uh for the field.
Um all of the required uh permits were
[44:52] submitted to the health department. uh
they uh our engineers have received back
[44:58] their uh report. Uh they had some
comments that they're addressing. Uh
[45:02] they're going to check back with them
after they resubmit their comments, but
[45:07] they should have that next week.
Cool. Weather's getting warmer. It is.
[45:14] Um Committee Lance, thank you. Um well,
just a couple things. First, I was very
[45:21] happy to be able to uh work towards uh
the budget that's been uh discussed and
[45:27] will be presented shortly. Um I think
the whole thing for that is to
[45:31] understand that uh the basis of allowing
the cap bank to happen is not that
[45:36] anyone's raising your taxes. Um they
they will go up, but the whole point is
[45:41] to be able to bank the ability to um
work within our means. uh there's not
[45:46] any way that we can we can you know
raise more money but that's not the
[45:50] point. Point is there are so many things
that are just contractually obligated
[45:53] and we're limited to what uh how they're
handled and how they're allowed to be
[45:58] funded. So I was happy to see that we
were able to come to a good resolution
[46:01] for that. Um
for we have two grant applications that
[46:07] we're working on right now for
Blairestown Historic. Um, one of them is
[46:12] a renewal of uh the one from last year
for the county um historic uh u sorry
[46:18] municipal trust and how it's going to
work out hasn't been even announced yet
[46:23] but we're ready. Um the other uh one
that we're doing is something through
[46:27] the state and we're looking forward to
presenting some of the same information
[46:31] that we have towards uh receiving that.
Um, in addition to that, there is an
[46:37] upcoming recreation grant which will be
a renewal of the one that we got last
[46:40] year for the Walnut Valley Field. So,
we'll be working on that. Eric, I think
[46:46] we're going to have to spend some time
putting some more numbers together for
[46:49] our engineer for that. That was 70,000
if I'm not mistaken. Last year, last
[46:53] year. Um, but I think the the whole bit
for that there there's a there was a
[46:58] limitation. So, what we're really
waiting for is what is the number? What
[47:01] are we allowed to apply for up to? So uh
but it's nice to see that that's
[47:05] progressing. What would you do with that
grant? That's Walnut Valley, right? So
[47:10] it's a recreation grant. So the first
grant was there for the uh diagnostic
[47:14] and planning and some of the different
samples similar to the spot that it's
[47:19] adjacent to which they had all the
pollution there from the uh W Valley
[47:24] Firehouse. So it's immediately adjacent
to that. So the concern is that anything
[47:28] that's there is not going to have had
any spread. Uh we're confident so far
[47:32] that none of it has. The samples that
we're going are getting better and
[47:36] better. So I'm happy for that. The
problem is the location and proximity to
[47:41] the uh uh the body of water that's
there. I guess the tributary creek.
[47:46] Yeah. So that's that's a problem for
that. But um it'll be very very nice to
[47:50] be able to see a functioning uh um
septic in that building. That's I'm
[47:54] thinking I was thinking I'm looking at
that picture. I'm thinking of the Borak
[47:57] property. Oh no no no. Pat would be
happy. No, it is nice because the
[48:02] different facilities that we have should
be, you know, top-notch and to be able
[48:05] to offer uh our residents, uh, you know,
that is positive. That's all I have. All
[48:11] right. Very good. Deputy Mayor Cut, what
do you have for us? I have nothing
[48:16] tonight. Thank you.
Is it a full moon or something? Just
[48:22] keep going there. Are you sure? I'm
going to give you Should I get a cap?
[48:28] Wait, can I We're going to take your
time and give it back to me. Yeah,
[48:32] because Bob Herstat is in the room. Even
though I don't have my statistics here,
[48:36] he does and he has the story to tell.
Bob, I'd love to hear. Do you know them
[48:40] off the top of your head? I have nothing
to say. Okay,
[48:45] I don't
think that I
[48:51] I squad handles the about thousand about
100 calls this month. uh volunteer uh
[48:58] hours about 768 volunteer hours. We also
had most of our calls were grass
[49:04] town is not the amount. I'll let you ask
some questions in a minute when I'm
[49:08] done.
Um we entertain troop 140 on Monday.
[49:14] They came to our building. We gave them
a tour um for all our equipment and what
[49:18] it cost. For instance, a a
Lupus Lupus CPR machine was
[49:25] $17,000 kind to buy a car for that kind
of money and we have three of them that
[49:29] we need in our rigs. Uh it kind of make
them stop to think that what it cost to
[49:35] run. Uh we let them go in our rigs. We
show them how to refill oxygen tanks. Uh
[49:41] they may have gotten a uh American. I'm
not sure.
[49:46] Probably part of their first name. Yeah,
exactly. Um, and let's see. I know you
[49:52] want to ask my questions. So, if you're
not um if you don't ask me
[49:56] um okay uh regarding uh not SWAT not
having u an ambulance, we actually they
[50:03] still don't. But now Atlantic Health is
running a rig out of N. Uh it's not
[50:10] called 41, which is the township
designation number. It's called 1551. 51
[50:15] is the rig number. and they've been
answering some calls which is terrific.
[50:19] Um they're staffed which is great. Um
and uh we have been going west
[50:25] fortunately because we take a rig out of
town with manpower to go there and this
[50:30] leaves our county but no one on the call
is a second call with we just can't get
[50:35] it. Fortunately they've taken care of it
and let's see what else. Uh, do they
[50:41] come out of both house or do they keep
they come out over
[50:47] at Milton has an
[50:51] old need to be updated but everything?
Yeah. Uh, and u let me
[50:58] think. I think I ran out of stuff. Sorry
guys. Sorry. No, that's okay. That's
[51:03] okay. The other thing I wanted to
mention is that um we um we were able to
[51:08] understand uh this past Saturday when we
had our our finance uh um our budget uh
[51:13] discussion that um we're in the market
for a new rig um and we are looking for
[51:18] something in the neighborhood of 300,000
in order to fund that. That's about a
[51:23] new cost because there's a 19 it's a 20
it's 20 years old 30 years old as a
[51:28] matter of fact. Uh, it kind of sits
there. It has a small old week. We don't
[51:33] really want EMS calls on it. We put the
standbys. However, a new rig
[51:40] cost $300,000 fully fully equipped. I
mean, you can buy a rig for less, but
[51:46] then you have to have
[51:49] So, just so you know, we did get the
commitment of our u auditor to be able
[51:54] to sit with us and understand uh the
opportunities that we would be able to
[51:59] present. some of those fees or some cost
sharing to some of the neighboring
[52:02] communities as well since we do serve
them. Well, that's very nice. That's
[52:06] good to know. Speak to my accountant.
Excuse me. The squad's account. You
[52:10] don't want my account. Well, the squad's
account. Just the same. I didn't want it
[52:14] to pass and I apologize for having to
call back, but I appreciate No, no. I
[52:19] appreciate your insight. Thank you
everybody.
[52:23] Thank you everybody. I'll give you a
second chance, Debbie. Do you have any?
[52:27] All right. I just thought something.
Okay.
[52:34] All right. So, uh let's see. Um police
over the past month, a few uh few things
[52:41] occurred. Owner of Simply Day Spa,
uh Sun Chang was arrested and charged
[52:48] with one count of sexual assault, 12
counts of criminal sexual contact for
[52:52] illegal contact conduct during massages.
They're asking for anyone who feels they
[52:57] may have been a victim uh to contact our
police department. And at this time, we
[53:03] have an additional nine victims who have
come forward with more charges pending.
[53:09] Uh Warren County paving Facebook post
and Nixl announcements are forthcoming.
[53:14] They'll be paving 521 Stillwater Road
from Bridge Street to High Street
[53:18] starting the week of April 21st. Paving
will be two days during the elementary
[53:23] school spring break. One lane will be
open during that time. Pipe work and
[53:26] site prep will begin next week and there
will be lane closures. Veil Road and
[53:31] Mount Herman Road is scheduled to be
paved the following week of April 28th.
[53:36] They will have one lane open and
scheduled to take 4 days. And Officer
[53:40] Dylan completed defensive tactics
instructor training. It's a new
[53:44] requirement for police licensing and it
gives us the ability to stay compliant
[53:49] without sending officers to the police
academy every year. As far as uh
[53:55] Blairestown uh fire department host
company number one, they had fairly
[54:00] light month. They did uh they had 10
members participate in an ice rescue
[54:05] training exercise with Hope Fire
Department. They had 18 calls for
[54:09] service in February, which is pretty
it's on the light side. It's nice. Uh 11
[54:14] in Blairestown, three in Hardwick, and
four mutual aid. And uh I don't think I
[54:21] have anything else
to bring forth. You mentioned you were
[54:25] talking about the county. That's the
county. Yeah. Do they notify the
[54:29] schools? They do notify. Yeah, they
work. That's that's why they're working
[54:33] with the uh the spring break uh window
there. Uh open up the floor again. Any
[54:40] Joel, do you have anything for us
tonight? You just you just wanted us to
[54:44] I do have something I would like to say.
Come on up.
[54:55] I have to identify myself. I'd like
that. Okay. Joel Mc Green, Farm Valley
[54:59] Lane, Clartown, New
Jersey. You don't have many patrons here
[55:05] tonight. Um or cut or members of the
public. And I think one of the reasons
[55:11] is I would say half of you don't talk
into the
[55:16] microphone, including our esteemed
lawyer who I never hear at all. I wear
[55:22] hearing aids and I sit in the back and
most of the time I can't hear you and
[55:29] um be nice if I could. And uh please try
to do that and maybe I'll come back
[55:37] again. Can you hear me, Joel? I
absolutely am I okay? You're fine. And
[55:42] here I thought you were coming up to
thank the quick work of the road
[55:47] department for fixing the farm your sign
at your private
[55:52] road within hours. I believe it was
fixed. That was the second thing I was
[55:58] going to say. Oh, okay. Stole my
thunder. But thank you. Appreciate it.
[56:04] Thanks for all the work you guys do.
Appreciate it. Thank you. Do me a favor,
[56:08] gentlemen. If you come and and that
happens, we we asked Lorine and I asked
[56:13] somebody else one time that was sitting
in the back. Just raise your hand. Yeah,
[56:16] you can stop it. If you can't hear us,
stop us at any time. It's it's it's
[56:20] fine. There's also you turn towards
pinging. There's like a feedback kind of
[56:25] thing all night. Since you're asking, I
don't hear anything. No, I I actually
[56:30] hear it with my with my miracle ears. I
hear it. Bob, do you hear like like a
[56:35] feedback?
Unless it's the supernatural talking to
[56:40] anybody.
I think you have the youngest ears in
[56:43] the in the audience. So, I'll give you a
pass. The only thing we don't hear is
[56:48] when you actually turn your head to
speak to another country person, you
[56:52] knock us away from the microphone. We
don't want that. That's
[56:55] probably You did not go up to the
microphone and I heard nothing. You said
[57:00] maybe that's your intent. See? Yeah.
I'll tell you. I'll tell you now.
[57:07] Oh, I thought there I thought you guys
was going to fight us.
[57:12] I don't want to hurt.
I would love a motion to adjourn. So
[57:18] move in favor and all oppose. Thank you
everyone.
[57:29] [Music]