[0:03] I call this uh meeting to order can we please stand and salute the

[0:09] flag I pledge Ali to flag of the United States of America

[0:15] and stands one nation God indivisible andice for

[0:23] all Jamie could you read the sunshine statement please be advised that prop

[0:30] notice has been given by Township Council in accordance with the Sunshine

[0:33] Law in the following manner notice advertised in the buring county times

[0:36] and Camden carrier post on January 8th 2025 and post it on the bulletin board

[0:40] on the same date would you uh call the roll call

[0:45] please Mr Morrow here here Mr here mrny here

[0:53] here uh first up is ordinance on first reading ordinance 202

[1:00] 5-1 calendar year 2025 ordinance to exceed the municipal budget

[1:05] appropriation limits and to establish a cap Bank njsa

[1:12] 4.4 4514 may I have a motion please

[1:18] motion have a second second roll call Mr Morrow yes mrso I Mr

[1:26] Smith I Mr Jenny I Mr lion H all right next up

[1:33] resolution uh resolution 2025 d25 appointment of environmental

[1:40] resolution Inc as Township engineer can I have a motion

[1:51] please seeing no motion resolution is failed Okay resolution fails as of a a

[2:00] no motion uh next the consent agenda uh Council you've had a chance to look at

[2:06] the consent agenda agenda any questions on the consent

[2:14] agenda call um can we get a motion on the consent agenda please

[2:20] motion I'll second roll call Mr marrow yes mrsu hi

[2:27] Mr Smith I Mr Jenny I Mr all right all right next up we have public

[2:34] comment um rules of the Quorum if you uh wish to speak please raise your hand and

[2:40] you will be recognize at that time you may approach the podium and state your

[2:44] name and address for the record all remarks shall be through the council

[2:48] president an individual speaker shall be allotted five minutes all statements are

[2:52] a part of the public record both written and video recorded and cannot be

[2:58] redacted any anybody wish to speak please raise your hand oh I need a

[3:03] motion to go into public I'm sorry I'll make that motion I'll second

[3:08] all all in

[3:14] favor yes sir yes sir thank you sir

[3:19] [Music]

[3:38] yeah

[3:44] maybe where's the uh I person how you going all

[3:49] right don't don't touch what whenever you're when I'm

[3:57] ready all right we on Mr Morrow oh I'm sorry spech williamj

[4:04] 518 Brown Street Del New Jersey the Cambridge

[4:08] section starting from uh let's see we're going

[4:14] from left to right Mr Morrow how many projects are now in progress with

[4:21] CME as of this moment as of right now as of the beginning of this year I

[4:28] would questions through the council president please council

[4:32] president what are the current jobs in progress with CME I do not have a list

[4:38] of every single project that's in how many are to the best of your knowledge

[4:42] how many are in progress um Joe would you like to feel that I do have some

[4:47] list here but Joe would have a more comprehensive list I think it it would

[4:50] be safe to say we have at least 20 uh projects either ongoing or in the design

[4:55] stage or nearing completion and U Mr Bina what has the projected time frame

[5:01] on these in the year 2025 going forward for the next four years for the next

[5:07] four years for the next four years yes with the for what projects with CM CME

[5:11] yes sir uh I would venture gu with everything that's currently been for

[5:16] which they've been engaged um that probably be see many of them done within

[5:22] the next 18 months uh there are few that will probably go on for three and four

[5:26] years very few though all right most project will that list be made available

[5:31] on your site yes it will all right sure it's public

[5:36] yes say yes or no answer thank you sir carry on do so you don't know Mr Morrow

[5:43] you said you don't know how many projects are actually in progress that's

[5:48] correct Mrs uh what is that address to the council oh I have to go to you first

[5:54] yeah that's just the rules okay Mr Council may I speak basically

[6:00] you're trying to grill the Council on I'm not grilling anybody I'm asking a

[6:04] question a yes or no question sir okay all right may I proceed now sure Mrs

[6:12] appid all right how many projects do you know are you aware of I would defer to

[6:16] the uh admin you're deferring to the administrator okay so you have no

[6:20] knowledge of you're deferring to Mr bolina he's the

[6:25] expert yes ma'am he's the expert right all right moving down that M back to you

[6:30] sir may I approach Mr Smith now you can ask a general question yes all right

[6:35] same question sir do you know how many projects are in currently in action yeah

[6:39] believe what Mr Bina has stated is most accurate I didn't quite get that could

[6:43] you speak up sir yes I said that what Mr Bina stated whatever Mr bolina stated 20

[6:48] projects that are either in progress or um but you personally do not know how

[6:53] many projects are currently in progress uh I just just gave you a response I'm

[6:58] not sure okay thank you sir Mr Jenny Mr spitch Mr Jenny I I

[7:05] don't count the number of projects we're working on uh it's up to our engineer

[7:09] and our business administrator to manage those and that's what they do I so I

[7:13] concur with Mr bina's answer okay all right and you represent our district

[7:19] what what district I'm councilman ofar I represent the whole Township thank you

[7:24] sir how about you 15 pages 15 there's 15 pages and on those 15 pages that

[7:30] contains how many projects roughly somewhere around 20 20 all right but to

[7:35] me to say exactly how many I okay very well 15 all right thank you for your

[7:42] time I appreciate that I have a minute and 15 thank you very much thank you

[7:47] have a nice night you bet

[7:51] you anyone else um like to uh reach the podium yes ma'am

[8:06] good evening everybody uh Chris Adrien 55 Spring Crest Drive in summerh Hill um

[8:13] I have a couple questions my first is a procedural question what does it mean

[8:18] that you nobody chose to vote on this change what does that mean uh basically

[8:25] the council didn't want to move that resolution so you're keep the status quo

[8:31] um I will defer to our attorney but my understanding is that if that resolution

[8:37] goes down then C would stay in place cor okay now um my understanding is these

[8:45] positions are under the purview of the mayor with advice and consent of the

[8:51] council however from all of your responses that you just made it appears

[8:55] that all of you are saying you really don't know what CME is doing that you're

[9:01] leaving all that under Mr bina's guidance now it is common common when

[9:08] there is a change in Administration in Corporate America for Consultants to be

[9:14] changed to the new Administration we have a change here in

[9:19] our leadership as mayor and it is his prerogative to choose the

[9:25] engineer and by deferring to Mr bolina you are not doing your job so the

[9:32] question is why are you not willing to bring this to discussion and vote if

[9:39] you're going to say well cm is in progress on this everything they have

[9:44] done is work product that belongs to this community it's our work product

[9:48] we've paid for it if we have not paid for it that's problematic and that is a

[9:55] question for Mr bolina if we have not it is our work product we have a right to

[10:01] change and it is common to do so now we have issues such as storm water issues

[10:09] that have been going on for years decades that have not been

[10:14] addressed I have stood up here and mentioned things that I know for a fact

[10:19] were not done appropriately environmentally by CMA which puts us at

[10:26] risk so they have shown us that they are either not advising us properly or we as

[10:33] a Town Council and an administrator are not listening to them which means they

[10:38] are not being forceful enough I think this is doing a disservice to both the

[10:44] voters in this town the residents in this town and our newly elected mayor

[10:50] not to consider his choice or to have open debate about why you're not

[10:56] considering his choice what happen here was not fair to the voters nor was it

[11:03] fair to our mayor nor was it fair to the recommended

[11:10] engineer I'm disappointed very disappointed I could

[11:15] sit here again and list other things that I have seen that this engineering

[11:21] firm has not done appropriately I'm a constituent I am not a professional

[11:26] engineer and yet I have this knowledge that can say this to you so I certainly

[11:32] hope you will go back and reconsider and vote for who our mayor

[11:38] recommends thank you thank [Applause]

[11:46] you do we have anyone else um I'll go lady in

[11:53] I yes yes

[12:02] [Music] pth pomerance 21 Alden

[12:06] Avenue may I ask why no one wanted to put that resolution

[12:13] out why well it did get red it just didn't get moved

[12:17] why the council the council I have listen you

[12:22] ask me something if you your minutes I apologize no you don't have to apologize

[12:27] I just um we've had discussions over this and I

[12:34] have a statement I'm going to read in my report that goes through why I believe

[12:39] we should keep saying me the rest of the council will have that opportunity and

[12:43] their reports to do as the same but we have discussed the fact that we do

[12:48] believe at this time CMA is the right option and we want that them to work

[12:55] with the new mayor and get a year under the belt with the new mayor okay and

[13:00] I'll elaborate elaborate more on that in my

[13:04] report but while we appreciate the mayor wanting to invoke a change right it's

[13:11] his prerogative we also represent the whole town all 177,000 people and at the

[13:19] end of the day we have an obligation to all of them and and I'll expand on more

[13:25] of the track record of CME and everything like that and that's just I'm

[13:30] not going to speak for the rest of the council but when we put it out nobody

[13:35] wanted to move on that resolution that's a simplest way I could put it and you

[13:38] know what whenever there's these issues there's going to be some people that are

[13:42] disappointed some people that are happy some people are in bibl all right but

[13:48] that's just the nature of the of what's going on here right now and it's no

[13:52] knock on ER penon Alo or anyone else

[14:00] so just to add to what the previous lady said you know she talked about the storm

[14:06] water um we can talk about we won't but we could talk

[14:11] about the uh flooding down in Riverside Park that CME has been working on with a

[14:18] variety of council people for over 13 years okay um if I had the time I would

[14:28] go back through through all the minutes for the last 14 or 15 years and we could

[14:35] add up what we've paid CME to date which has got to be millions of

[14:41] dollars I think it's time to allow the new mayor the opportunity to

[14:48] succeed in what he campaigned on he promised this town certain things

[14:56] in order for him to get those done he needs to have the people who are going

[15:00] to support him and you five don't look like the

[15:04] five who are going to support [Applause]

[15:16] [Music] him oh anyone else yeah uh I'm going to

[15:21] go over here um I jumped over her last night I'll go to do next

[15:27] [Music] hi Jen reer from Daran um so I'm just

[15:33] here in support of the mayor and um him being able to hire another engineering

[15:39] firm I just wanted to remind you all I sat here when you all sworn in or Mr

[15:44] Maro and Mr Jenny that you promised you would all work for it with together and

[15:49] that was a big thing that all went on at the last meeting so I don't see that

[15:53] right now that you're working with him if if anything you're putting walls up

[15:57] to to stop what we the people voted again so for me and I've say this when I

[16:02] speak to you people it ain't about you it's We the People it's our town you

[16:05] work for us you do what we say that's how this works and again the whole

[16:10] country is tired of all this like to me CMA is part of your swamp that you have

[16:14] they you go to dinners with them oh yes listen I'm kind of I know I kind of know

[16:19] what goes on myself I'm not that stupid so you you sit there and laugh on my

[16:22] face I I I understand how you people work so again you don't don't bite the

[16:27] hand to feeds that's what this is about so again the people wanted a new

[16:31] engineer firm I go around to the town I talk to many people myself also and the

[16:36] people are fed up with the crap in this town they feel as so the infrastructure

[16:39] this town is like going down the tubes I've said this many times the

[16:43] infrastructure is falling apart you have these people down at the river the

[16:46] nightmares and also the the roads the people on Bentwood I've watched Time and

[16:51] Time and Time Again people calling up here crying about the floods on Hanes

[16:55] Mill the Bentwood that the the the streets all the problems there nothing

[16:59] gets done again this man is coming up with a Bonafide solution for the town

[17:04] and you're not you're you're not even going to vote on it or anything just

[17:07] because again don't brep the hand that feeds thank you thank

[17:12] [Applause]

[17:20] you good evening I'll be a little more calm could

[17:25] you just uh state your name and yes my name is Carolyn Seuss I am the current

[17:29] mayor of Delano Township um here tonight dis to discuss your uh engineering

[17:34] appointment for 2025 um I understand obviously that mayor hutkins would like

[17:38] to appoint ER as your new engineer but does not have the support of the council

[17:43] I just wanted to speak a little bit about uh ER and how they've been our

[17:46] Township engineer since 2013 um The Firm was appointed actually

[17:50] by a democratic majority back then and has served our town for the last 12

[17:54] years um going back and forth between both parties uh to me this is not a

[17:58] political appointment and the town's need should be uh the first priority and

[18:02] what the firm has the experience to handle the immediate project needs we've

[18:07] never really looked to change our professionals based on what their party

[18:12] is um obviously your flooding issues are a major concern and the residents have

[18:18] echoed that as well Eli has involved in several projects in Delano that included

[18:22] the Army core of engineers and the D both of these agencies are who you would

[18:27] need to work with to address these concerns this past summer our Township

[18:31] was able to install a 500t um vinyl sheep pile seaw wall along Delaware

[18:36] Avenue along the Delaware River uh ER designed and oversaw this construction

[18:41] project it was a very large project almost $700,000 and it went on for

[18:45] several years uh because of the issues um and E was was excellent in working

[18:52] with them to ensure that the project moves along

[18:54] smoothly the seaw wall will uh protect the historic Zerg mansion along the

[18:59] river and to ensure that all the homes in the area are protected from the river

[19:02] flooding we were losing feet of land every year due to the erosion because of

[19:06] the river and the Water Rising um it was a very difficult project and we were

[19:10] actually really happy with the in with the outcome and how er worked with all

[19:14] of our professionals they were also involved in check valve installations of

[19:18] various storm water Outlets uh to leviate Backwater flooding that's when

[19:22] the water comes up through the storm drains um they designed an oversaw

[19:26] construction at several Street ends uh V sheep pile sea walls at several our

[19:30] street ends along the river um they obtained the permits from d and Army

[19:33] Corps worked excellent along with them um some some other project they've

[19:38] worked with in our town the dunes they assisted in litigation with d and army

[19:42] Corp to preserve the dunes if you don't know what that is it's a beautiful

[19:45] nature preserve along the Delaware River near the border of Beverly Township uh

[19:49] they worked with uh our um planners with the Field of Dreams uh Sports Complex

[19:55] they helped with the design of the soccer fields installation of the

[19:58] parking lot they oversaw the construction of subsequent phases of the

[20:01] parks um you know different things that included the park design they also were

[20:06] involved in uh one of our development storm water outfalls they oversaw the

[20:10] Reconstruction of a failing outfall structure to the ranus creek um our town

[20:14] borders the creek and the river they oversaw some construction at our fields

[20:20] that are along the river as well um they were involved in demolition of a huge

[20:24] property along the creek uh five story a five-story industrial building now

[20:28] they're working with us to ensure with the planners that we have a u a a park

[20:34] design that makes sense to ensure that there's no flooding there that a seaw

[20:37] wall will be installed so you obviously see the theme here they're involved with

[20:41] flooding they're involved with with storm water management um and they also

[20:46] prepared our our storm water mapping and our ms4 permitting system which is a

[20:50] comprehensive map that the state mandated and they prepare our annual

[20:54] permits as well they're also involved in our lead based pain inspections which

[20:58] you know is now a requirement and uh our road programs they've they've done over

[21:03] 20 dot grants uh CBD Grants County and state grants for the roads and did over

[21:09] 35 Road programs over the years they're professional they do they have timely

[21:14] responses which is really important to me um I kind of took on the role of the

[21:17] project manager our uh administrator is part-time and we didn't have someone to

[21:22] to manage the professionals on a project level so I kind of took that over and I

[21:25] worked closely with them for the past two years um specifically Mr Fox and I

[21:29] was really happy with that relationship he was an excellent Communicator um just

[21:34] on a financial aspect they're really fair with their billing um I know a lot

[21:38] of times you know you get these these crazy bills that are inflated but I

[21:41] always thought they were really fair with that and there are the firm that is

[21:45] the engineer along a lot of these Riverfront towns they are the the

[21:49] engineers of choice and I think it's important that all these towns come

[21:52] together and work as one because we all have the same issues and if we all have

[21:55] the same engineering firm we can all kind of work together to help alleviate

[21:59] these flooding problems that are only going to continue because obviously of

[22:02] global warming and Rising water levels so thank you for the opportunity to

[22:05] speak than good [Applause]

[22:14] luck uh

[22:21] sir yeah Jone uh 306 High Street Jim f a z z o n e 306 High Street Burlington New

[22:27] Jersey uh I'm actually the former mayor of the City of Burlington uh and uh

[22:31] again I see went through was elected official for 30 years one thing you may

[22:36] consider uh and I know that you have your engineered record and I I think

[22:39] that's a good thing uh sometimes what we used to do uh in the city of

[22:43] burlingtonon was give someone else maybe a chance to get involved in certain

[22:47] projects just because someone's an engineer of record uh doesn't mean some

[22:50] other folks can't get some work also gives a chance for uh maybe the the new

[22:56] mayor and Council to work together uh agree on some things uh and and and uh

[23:02] see if uh we don't like several you went through the who's who of Engineers or

[23:08] when you when you mentioned all of them and you know could could be a situation

[23:11] where you might want to just give someone a chance on a particular project

[23:14] develop relationships uh not only with some other Engineers but with each other

[23:18] you well and if I could interject yeah yeah you running the show I'm

[23:22] just I'd like to give everybody their five minutes without me taking it up but

[23:26] we did offer up um a a res a solution um to the new mayor

[23:34] where um er would get involved with a piece of our work and um he and I listen

[23:41] I commend him he wants ER for everything and he's steadfast on that so it's not

[23:47] personal it's just business it's not Republican Democrat but he didn't want

[23:51] to go in that direction which that's fine he's the mayor right but we did

[23:55] what you are saying we have offered up and I think that's a good thing what was

[23:59] tip O'Neal's quote was politics is an energetic Clash of conflicting ideas so

[24:03] uh sometimes there's a there's there's a happy medium there somewhere and uh

[24:07] maybe next week uh mayor thinks a little bit different you guys think a little

[24:10] bit different uh but good luck r i i I've always been impressed I like your

[24:14] town like your restaurants uh like driving down 130 always seems safe to me

[24:18] but uh uh thanks that's all I had to say thank you

[24:23] [Applause] sir uh yes ma'am

[24:36] my name is Samantha I live on Chester Avenue um you just mentioned that you

[24:41] guys offered up um something for uh the mayor's appointment ER what was that um

[24:48] what when we were having discussions um that um what we could do is we would

[24:53] keep CME as our Municipal engineer and er would get all the the sewage

[24:59] Authority work and that way they could start working in town on the sewage

[25:04] Authority work and obviously our sewage Authority is down by the river and

[25:07] whatnot and I thought that's okay soth that was a compromise sewards Authority

[25:13] okay um so I'm sorry sewer theart SE okay either way sewer um you said the

[25:20] mayor wanted um er for everything question uh who is

[25:25] the engineer for the planning board uh turret Consulting and who is the

[25:32] engineer for the zoning board that I'm not I'm I'm not on the zoning board so I

[25:36] I'd have to defer to somebody that knows who's on the zoning board they haven't

[25:41] done their re you said it's CME Mr Pina it's been it's been CME that they

[25:45] haven't done their reorder Thursday Jamie and who is the tree

[25:50] expert C okay so then only okay so CM or um CME wouldn't be out of the town uh

[25:59] Eli wouldn't get everything um and then also who is our special

[26:05] projects we don't have special projects okay so it's my understanding that the

[26:10] appointment belongs to the mayor um was there another

[26:15] company that the mayor could have proposed other than CME that the council

[26:20] would have voted yes to um he could have but um we were

[26:26] pretty steadfast I will do that in my report why we were wanted to stay with

[26:31] CMA but we were offering up then the Sewer Authority I heard the Sewer

[26:35] Authority so but it is the mayor's appointment with cons what is the word

[26:40] advice and consent of council with cause so without cause and only the council

[26:47] coming together and saying well we heard you but we want CME that falls under the

[26:52] definition of coercion that's not offering up the appointment that's not

[26:57] saying that the mayor actually has the right that's saying this is a formality

[27:02] and the appointment's not a formality the appointment belongs to the mayor if

[27:06] there's a reason that ER should not be the engineer then that can be discussed

[27:12] um can and I address Mr bolina is that okay yeah sure uh how what was the RFP

[27:19] submitted for ER the the uh hourly ver versus

[27:23] CME ma'am I I don't know all the hourly rates off the top of okay and that's

[27:29] there's hundreds of rates that are submitted over through that process so

[27:34] it would be hard could you say off the top of your head if if one was less than

[27:37] the other no no recollection that's and without me knowing the exact amounts

[27:44] they were except for a limo they were all kind of in the same B so then then

[27:50] that's fine so that goes to the things right so I mean not it wouldn't cost

[27:54] necessarily more or anything else so I'm not particularly seeing

[27:58] a causal reason which in then that takes this again to a formality and the

[28:04] appointment isn't a formality the appointment belongs to the mayor and by

[28:08] saying no but this is where we want to stay that's not really how it works

[28:13] that's taking from the people which as you can see I've been to these meetings

[28:17] and our our mayor said he was going to give the town a

[28:20] voice our town is here our town is here to support the mayor and I will say one

[28:25] other thing that has nothing to do with the El already anything else but I've

[28:29] been it's not very long I've been coming to these meetings but if you guys could

[28:34] look a little bit like you care about the people I mean just a little bit I

[28:38] mean M ran I've seen you something check you're looking at something every now

[28:43] like every couple seconds just pretend like you care at least okay that's all I

[28:48] can say thank you very [Applause]

[28:56] much any one else yes

[29:06] ma Joan kter 10 River Drive uh thank you for coming out the

[29:13] lanko and Burlington and letting us know exactly that there is hope maybe if we

[29:19] could get new people in they built that wall over there work with the arm Court

[29:25] of Engineers we've been being told for since 20 11 that you know government

[29:29] takes a long time so you know we we're 13 years into this and call me selfish

[29:36] and I know the uh Engineers do other things in the town besides flooding but

[29:41] I'm going to say uh yes call is selfish because we have to fight for the riv

[29:45] residence in Riverside Park because that's where we live we've been there

[29:50] over 60 plus years and not much is happening and as far as CM goes um I

[29:58] have a couple little things that we could uh look at uh when we built that

[30:06] they built that bike path was Samy the engineer in involved with that with the

[30:12] county I I couldn't because that's a county project I don't know if the CME

[30:20] was yeah I I I believe I believe they were look at the records and and like

[30:25] them being experienced with the riverbank down there they probably

[30:28] should have let them know that you know eventually it's fallen into the river

[30:31] because we lose foot feet of the burm every year and now all the any of the

[30:38] Landscaping they put down there the new trees they put down there the new

[30:40] flowers they put down there they're gone they're washed away that uh little fence

[30:46] down there well there's the water so like CME should have been a little bit

[30:51] you know better advice on on that so again uh in J in July of 2020 the

[30:58] emergency stream bank erosion study was done uh CME provided pictures for the

[31:04] study according to the the paperwork that I have the problem is the pictures

[31:09] were from 2012 well that was nine

[31:14] years between the 2012 and

[31:19] 2021 the landscape has changed drastically in 9 years no updated

[31:25] pictures like didn't quite understand understand that one uh the St Avenue

[31:31] project uh we went back to one of the sidewalk panels was damaged in the very

[31:36] beginning it took me coming to the Town Council to add to ask can they fix it

[31:42] because originally the I went up to the CME guy and I said uh hey you know uh

[31:49] they ran over my sidewalk smashed my sidewalk don't worry all the sidewalks

[31:54] all the curves are going to be replaced on both sides of the street

[31:58] no problem fast forward a year and a half

[32:01] when they finally get to the sidewalks and the curves I go to the different CME

[32:07] guy and I said uh you know don't forget over here we got they ran over they

[32:13] damaged my panel oh I I'll have to ask about that I

[32:19] said well I was told that they're do they're going to replace all curbs and

[32:22] sidewalks no we're only replacing the curbs and sidewalks of where we removed

[32:26] the trees and there was damage well that's on the other side of the tree the

[32:30] other side of the street so we weren't getting anything so I had to come here

[32:34] and bring it to the attention of the council which yeah it got done my

[32:39] neighbors there's uh handicap woman her panel broke well she had to go through

[32:45] this that and the other to get it taken care of well they replaced it and broke

[32:50] the one next to it when they replaced it like does anybody walk up and you know

[32:55] these Engineers are walking up and down the street in this project nobody saw

[32:59] any of this was happening my other neighbor the uh it's a water box uh the

[33:05] water meter box cover is that far above grade here's here's

[33:10] your the uh the grass and here's this metal cover that wasn't like that you

[33:17] wouldn't want that in front of your house again did CME did it those guys

[33:22] are there every day most of them were Watchers uh I I didn't uh you know

[33:28] we we when we ask questions you know the one kid says well I'm going back to

[33:32] college in two days so I don't really know and the other guys like well I got

[33:36] pulled off of a a job in Mount Laurel but you know I like your dog and you

[33:41] know open your eyes peeps uh you know and it just little frustrating things

[33:47] like that um the the the best one was when don't quote me on measurements but

[33:55] we're guessing approximately 200 to 300 ft yeah I'm I'm going to talk fast 2 to

[34:01] 300 ft of the U storm drain piping was installed we're like they they're that

[34:09] much further down the street we can get out our driveway now we're moving on

[34:13] well guess what they came back a couple days later and they dug it

[34:16] up what happened um CME right I shouldn't say C

[34:23] but I'm going to say C the prins were wrong um the pitch and and and your

[34:28] time's up but if I have your email yeah right and that email just hang on a

[34:33] second and that email has already been addressed with all your concerns yeah me

[34:40] and and and I said I'm going to need a response and we're going to need you

[34:44] know all these things what how they transpire so I I do appreciate your

[34:50] email because I got it yeah no I sent it everybody except the ones that weren't

[34:54] working so it's already been sent to the CMA yeah so we do appreciate okay but

[34:59] that wasn't on there this this one because this was a

[35:03] major cluster you know when they had to come

[35:07] back and dig it up and and that contractor we said what happened well

[35:11] the specs were wrong the the prints were wrong how were the prince wrong who went

[35:15] over the blueprints see I mean okay they're going to have to address I know

[35:18] but that you didn't know about that because I'm just telling you now but

[35:21] man' right your your five minutes is can I have somebody else's five minutes here

[35:26] can I get can I borrow please because we have okay the other question who paid

[35:32] for that to get redone excuse me but um we have other people that do want to

[35:37] speak okay yeah oh here comes the cops I got to

[35:44] [Applause] go she's coming up to speak for me no it

[35:54] doesn't work that way um

[36:01] thank thank you very much though for your comments uh is there anyone

[36:13] else hi my name is Nancy Evans I live on Art Street in Delan and I'm going to

[36:18] keep this pretty simple because everybody really gave you all the

[36:20] information that you guys should be considering and needing to know but none

[36:24] of you do um first of all you talked about this is a thing that the committee

[36:29] has agreed on but nobody here on the committee knew what the hell is going on

[36:33] in as far as CME is concerned they don't know how many projects or how or what

[36:38] the what they're working on so how can a committee make a reasonable and

[36:42] acceptable decision they cannot number two number two is you said

[36:49] you're working for the residents of the town but you are not working for the

[36:52] residents of the town you aren't doing a damn thing for residents of the town and

[36:57] number three why do you have a five minute ruling when people want to come

[37:01] up and speak that is absolutely ridiculous that's one of the first

[37:04] things if I were the mayor I would [ __ ] get rid of thank

[37:09] [Applause]

[37:20] you any other before we go out of public yes ma'am

[37:32] Diane sealer 128 Jaclyn Avenue I just have a general question about your

[37:40] parliamentary procedure because when I look at this

[37:45] motion and nothing was said it should have as far as I know

[37:50] from my experience it should have been moved and seconded and you should have

[37:55] had a discussion so everyone here tonight could know how you feel about

[38:02] what this resolution is and the only reason we found out about what's

[38:07] happening is because of the people that came to this meeting tonight so that's

[38:13] all I have to say you should have discussion down with a motion like this

[38:19] and it and then we know how you feel instead of having all these people have

[38:24] to find out by questioning you how you feel about this cuz we don't really know

[38:30] why you didn't want to move on this motion so you should have been open to a

[38:35] discussion thank [Applause]

[38:42] you sir sure I stepped into a hornet mess here I

[38:49] think but um hang on one second and your name

[38:54] how you doing I'm Joe samaro um I actually live at 633rd Street in

[38:58] Riverside but I am on Chester Avenue I'm on the corner

[39:04] um is it my understanding now that Delan Township Now controls Chester

[39:11] Avenue it's no longer a County Road it's now Doan correct yes up to St Mill and

[39:18] it comes northchester and then it's Riverside okay um many years ago I spoke

[39:23] here when Simon and Schuster was building and there was plenty of issues

[39:26] along with that I had issues at my house um obviously with Chester Avenue that

[39:32] was a mess um it's still rather bumpy um are you guys planning on doing anything

[39:40] about the tractor trailers going up Chester Avenue I mean it's there there

[39:46] they speed horribly and I feel every one of them that goes by my house like my

[39:51] house vibrates I I know that that issue has been brought up and that something

[39:57] the police are going to have to monitor yeah but um because if they're they're

[40:01] they're not supposed to be on that road or they're speeding that becomes a

[40:05] police issue and the chief of police is here what do you mean they're not

[40:09] supposed to be allowed on that road if if if there's a weight restriction on

[40:13] the road well there's not at the moment well but I'm just saying if there were

[40:18] they weren't supposed to be on that road but if they're not violating the weight

[40:21] restriction and they're allowed to be on that road they do have to conform to the

[40:26] speed no I understand um are you open to considering maybe putting a weight limit

[40:30] on that road I mean tayor Lane is obviously a County Road and more of a

[40:35] truck route it's no it's not residential and they could come in that way um like

[40:40] I said they don't stop I mean it would also help with the congestion at tayor

[40:44] or at uh at Route 130 as well on both ways uh the traffic um but as I'm not

[40:51] opposed to looking at that's for sure um because like I said I get the vibrations

[40:55] in my house when they built that Simon and Shuster Warehouse uh I brought this

[40:59] stuff up and I guess the engineers came out and I imagine it was CM CM me or

[41:07] whatever but they absolutely whoever it was absolutely dismissed my concerns

[41:13] they dismissed that my house may have been uh impacted uh oh it was my

[41:18] 70-year-old house or well it's older than that now but oh it was settling

[41:22] well my house had long settled by then but anyway that was my concern thank you

[41:26] very much thank thank you

[41:30] [Applause]

[41:35] sir uh yes

[41:39] [Music] ma'am hi ien blin I live in camenson New

[41:44] Jersey um again with the formality of or the rules that you're supposed to follow

[41:50] to to bring up a motion um I think it was very cowardly if you not even to

[41:54] make a motion and then vote no against it you know you didn't want to have that

[41:57] on record you wanted to keep your your firm and you know when you took that

[42:02] oath you remember the power is in the people and I just wanted to make sure

[42:06] that you are aware I've been to these meetings a lot I live right next door in

[42:10] next town I've never seen this many people show up for a problem except when

[42:14] there was the flooding and um you really should listen to the people you should

[42:18] know what's going on in your town especially if you live right there you

[42:21] should know all the problems of the people and it's really it's it's very

[42:25] disturbing that you don't know job and I think that you should listen to your

[42:30] mayor these people elected a mayor and we stand with him so thank you thank

[42:35] [Applause]

[42:48] [Music] you um Patricia Griffith 518 Brown um

[42:55] after listening to all the different problem s that people have had and how

[42:58] long it's taken to get any of it addressed and it it's all the stuff the

[43:03] CME has to do with and then we hear from a neighboring town that they have

[43:09] another engineering company that can get things done I don't feel represented if

[43:15] you're not even going to hear it out about having another I mean you're

[43:19] supposed to represent us I don't feel represented if you won't even hear what

[43:23] the other company has to offer or what like you automatically are already made

[43:27] up your mind that we're going to keep CME and we're coming up here and telling

[43:31] you time and time again we don't think they're great they took forever to

[43:34] finish that baseball field was a joke now we've got a sinkhole where the sewer

[43:39] is on Leon and that's going to be a bunch of money and then the constant

[43:43] flooding I don't know how come other towns can get it fixed and it's taking

[43:47] forever with us and it seems like CME is the Crux of the matter so I prefer if

[43:51] that you would take a step back and remember you're supposed to represent us

[43:55] and we're here saying that please represent us because we don't want CME

[44:00] we would like a chance to try something else that's all we already know what

[44:05] they can and can't do it's already been proven and that's why we're all here so

[44:10] please keep that in mind if you happen to discuss it again thank

[44:15] [Applause] you yes ma'

[44:34] Jane mayor 88 stort Avenue Del New Jersey um on to finish with my what my

[44:41] sister was saying Mr lion um thank you for responding to my email thank you for

[44:46] the email I do appreciate I I do believe I got personally think seven yes and you

[44:53] know what you're the only one that responded I give you credit for that

[44:58] I know you didn't because your email don't work but he was forwarding it

[45:01] forwarding it to because I told him that I was going forward it to him but

[45:06] because he didn't have the email I wasn't sure with the okra laws if I

[45:11] should send it to his private one so yeah but yes I appreciate you responding

[45:17] and I know you didn't because it didn't work so everybody told him to forward it

[45:21] to you so there you go we had all bases covered you said you were going to sent

[45:27] an email to my sister when she was talking about the

[45:31] stuff she was up here Jo K she was up here talking you said about an email and

[45:36] we'll discuss that later uh that email that she sent me went s right but the

[45:41] reason she brought it up again is because the public needs to be aware of

[45:47] the situation that happened and I can tell you a little bit about it um the

[45:52] prints were wrong they dug it up again it was like 300 ft was very

[45:58] inconvenient and you know what who was overseeing that the one of

[46:03] the equipment operators said in all their years they've never had to do that

[46:09] they've never dug up Pump pipes that were

[46:14] installed so and then um I'm just going to read a

[46:19] little bit about what one of the suggestions was from CMA was about the

[46:25] glorified water balloons to prevent the flooding down in our section you don't

[46:31] have enough employees public work to clean off the storm drains yet they're

[46:36] going to drag out tubes filled with water than when the flooding is

[46:41] predicted they don't even clean the storm drains drains when flooding is

[46:46] predicted here we don't always know when the creek

[46:50] is going overflow the last one it was a fluke it just

[46:55] came Mother Nature doesn't let us know ER was involved with the Delano and the

[47:00] Army Corps of Engineers my family has been coming to these meetings since 2

[47:06] since

[47:08] 2012 and nothing has been done until this year when they

[47:13] finally signed the agreement with the army courp of Engineers but there was

[47:18] and I don't have the dates but my sisters do where Delan Township and the

[47:24] Army Corps of Engineers both drop the ball on the project to prevent the

[47:31] flooding the one person lost their house almost because of that so but the public

[47:37] needs to be aware that's why not just emails that being sent to people the

[47:41] public needs to be aware because we voted for you and it was an

[47:46] overwhelmingly and it wasn't just for the president it was because people

[47:50] needed to change they want to change and you know what sometimes a new set of

[47:54] eyes to give a better perspective just give somebody a chance that's all thank

[48:00] [Applause] [Music]

[48:15] you sh's

[48:21] working it's it's working on our side so I I don't know if there's a problem out

[48:26] there um we'll take a couple more before we move on the rest of the business is

[48:31] there anybody else that

[48:39] sir Jack Moore 133 Kathleen Avenue uh this is a bit of a change of

[48:45] pace from the uh topic of discussion uh lately but I think it's one that it's

[48:51] the right time to bring it up uh we've had a change in leadership and uh

[48:56] hopefully this is something that can be in the Forefront of your minds as we

[49:00] continue through the year when I first moved to Del Ran in

[49:04] 2017 I I looked around for my public library we don't have one we haven't had

[49:11] one the towns around us Doo cinnamon does morst toown does but Del Ran should

[49:18] not be going to other towns to use their resources we need to bring a library

[49:25] here Library liaries are Community Builders and I think we have a great

[49:32] Community but we can be stronger and we can bring people from diverse walks of

[49:37] life into our community through a library and through the resources that a

[49:43] library can provide they serve diverse communities

[49:48] you know and with Del Ran's you know thriving communities Turkish population

[49:52] Brazilian population having something like a library to bring people together

[49:57] and share their cultures would be fantastic there are great financial

[50:02] investment a library every dollar put into a library gives you back $3 worth

[50:08] of value they serve as a first stop for job Seekers a resource for the internet

[50:13] for our teleworkers who may have lost internet connection at home their

[50:18] connection to history a library for Delran could serve as a permanent home

[50:24] for the Delran historical society and Ensure Our Town history is preserved

[50:30] libraries are effective third spaces a meeting space and Community Gathering

[50:34] space can serve as a resource and attract prospective residents that may

[50:39] consider availability of a public library in their relocation decisions so

[50:44] it could help our town grow uh and libraries also serve as language

[50:49] learning centers as inclement weather weather shelters they serve so many

[50:54] different purposes and I think it's time that we need to have a conversation

[50:58] Earnest conversation about whether a library and the funds available for a

[51:04] library should be spent here in Del Rand to bring a library to our town thank you

[51:11] thank [Applause]

[51:16] you one more anyone are we good

[51:26] hi uh Kim kuster uh 24 uh 24 Norman Avenue um yes I would just like to uh

[51:33] piggyback on what Jack had said about supporting um a community library I

[51:38] thought of you when he said it because I know you brought it yeah I came here uh

[51:41] I think about a year and a half ago um I'm a new resident in in in um Daran and

[51:47] I came from a town that had a library and my Fondest Memories of being a

[51:51] little kid is going to the library for children's stories and it was just a

[51:55] place that you met it was a quiet place as our

[51:59] neighborhoods get a little bit noisier and congested we have a lot of

[52:03] development around us now and it's an asset I think that Delan really does

[52:07] need um I would I'm really looking forward to working with our new mayor

[52:12] because um I did have some meetings with our former mayor and it just didn't seem

[52:17] to want to get supported um I think a library I think we need something in

[52:22] this town to feel good about I think we need something to feel good about

[52:26] politics and bringing people back together and I see a library at least

[52:30] getting the committee together having us sit down and actually work for something

[52:35] for the community for the for everybody thank you thank

[52:39] [Applause] you all right

[52:44] um Le there's anyone else we're going to move on can I get a motion to come out

[52:51] of public please

[52:56] I'll second that all in favor I any

[53:03] opposed um so moving on with our agenda we have our reports I see we have um

[53:11] members of Emergency Services um you want to be first up I saw some P folks

[53:18] also I don't know if they split but um Brian's here

[53:22] [Music]

[53:33] good evening Chuck M from the chief Del emergency Squad just wanted to kind of

[53:36] give you guys some statistics for last year since it's

[53:39] 2025 congratulations welcome to uh the mayor position um and thank you to the

[53:44] council uh Winterfest was great um last month and we were very happy to

[53:48] participate with that uh for 2024 we did end up with uh we budgeted for 3,300

[53:55] calls for services we did end up with 3,681 calls it's 12% higher than what we

[54:00] uh anticipated which was great we're able to do that it's averaging 10 calls

[54:03] a day for the Emergency Squad that's 10 calls a day um out of those calls 546 of

[54:09] those patients that did refuse so a lot of times we go help people up on the

[54:12] floor make sure they assess somebody has motor vehicle accident on Route 130 just

[54:16] make sure that they're okay so um we've been kind of busy with that um we did a

[54:20] total of 21575 hours of career time and we also did 396 hours of volunteer time

[54:26] so we do have volunteers that are still Staffing the ambulances along with 38

[54:29] hours of training that we did for this year um in 2024 we did our fund drive

[54:33] towards the end of the year we did collect about $244,000 and we are

[54:37] investing that money into two uh mechanical CPR devices they're about

[54:41] $118,000 each so we have a little bit more money we're going to be putting

[54:43] there but it also helps embrace the additional scope practice that we did

[54:48] for last year for 2024 so we're really excited for what we're doing for 2025 um

[54:53] we uh are A51 C3 have been serving since 1939 you guys know that we really don't

[54:59] take anything from you guys uh the township does Supply us with fuel and

[55:03] also the insurance for the ambulances other than that everything else is were

[55:06] covered through billables uh for patients and insurances uh we do have a

[55:11] global forgiveness which we do not put anybody in collections and we do write

[55:13] residents off if they're not able to pay that bill and last year we wrote $

[55:17] 46,8 for residents so we're making sure that they can feel confident when they

[55:21] need to call 911 they can call 911 and they're not going at the collections and

[55:24] not going to be built for the services so just want to say thank you and

[55:28] welcome and if you guys anything less thank you

[55:31] [Applause] absolutely uh moving on to boards and

[55:39] committees no all right um next up uh administrator Joe bolina no report this

[55:47] evening Mr President thank you sir uh clerk Jamie edar I also have thank you

[55:52] Jamie next up mayor thank you uh first thing I want to talk about is uh just a

[55:58] little piece of business Joe and I talked about with the new website um if

[56:02] you guys can check it out when you go on there there's a new popup for you guys

[56:05] to report potholes second I'd like to actually

[56:09] address this resolution if that's okay I'd like to uh I'd like to see the the

[56:14] council relook at this obviously you know I was voted to be the voice of the

[56:19] people and I want to be that and they ask for a change I'm proposing a change

[56:34] so we we've had discussions on it yes okay are we going to continue to have

[56:39] discussions uh we're always willing to meet and

[56:42] discuss in the

[56:49] public FL is yours no it's okay I just want to make sure we can reopen this

[56:54] resolution and have discussions again we'll talk to Al about

[56:59] that talk about tonight or not tonight you guys canc with the motion this

[57:05] motion is dead but you can continue to propose same firm for as long as you

[57:09] want so these guys okay and that's what we like

[57:14] right I answer these are the guys I'm going to answer to that's what they

[57:19] want we'll putting it back on thank you thank you Mr Mayor uh next up

[57:27] solicitor Almera the only report that I would have is obviously you guys have

[57:32] some deadlines portable house we Mr here

[57:36] tonight address that in executive session so there there was some that

[57:42] into play that seing one to overturn the new law but also to

[57:47] stay deadline that that January 3 the resolution have Mr to discuss that and

[57:55] then we have that litigation

[57:59] discussing great thank you Al um next move on to council members I go all the

[58:04] way down to my far right Mr Mara thank you council

[58:10] president um before I get into some of the things I had wanted to discuss in

[58:14] the in my M minutes here um I do want to address the the residents that are here

[58:19] tonight um um dealing with that resolution and you asked questions that

[58:24] are legit why you know you want to know how we feel this is my time to tell you

[58:29] I served on Council from 2008 until 2014 I served on the planning board for 12

[58:35] years and in those years I worked with CNA and I know that the job they did was

[58:40] outstanding I had no issues now I've been away for 10 years from the council

[58:45] now when people say well how many projects do you have on we haven't even

[58:49] had a work session here so how would I know how many projects we have going

[58:53] right you you well I'm just newly elected I haven't had a discussion with

[58:58] the mayor with on any of this stuff yet with this resolution he hasn't reached

[59:02] out to me to talk to me about this I'm more than open to talk to anybody about

[59:06] anything I don't owe anybody anything I am a guy who lives in town

[59:13] who decided to run when almost 19,000 RIT lived in this town seven or eight of

[59:19] us decided to run and represent and do a good job and that's what I'm up here to

[59:23] do so if anybody if he wants to sit down and discuss stuff I'm more than open to

[59:28] do that but I did not I do not do social media I do not do Facebook I do not do

[59:33] Tik Tok I do not do Instagram I'm old school guys okay born and raised in

[59:38] Riverside grew up on riverdrive my father's house was built there in

[59:42] 1958 so I know the area well so I'm just saying I'm more than willing to work

[59:48] with the mayor on anything but there has to be a line of communication absolutely

[59:52] but not through Facebook and not through Tik Tok and their social media call me

[59:57] up come over my house we'll have a beer mayor Barnes we talked before you

[1:00:02] reached out to me in the very beginning I haven't heard from you since so I'm

[1:00:05] more than willing to do any of that so everybody's clear on that and that's

[1:00:09] what I'll leave at that um some of the things I talked

[1:00:13] about on on the swearing in that night um that we working with Council and

[1:00:18] mayor going forward I would like to try to get done in town we have a rental

[1:00:22] enforcement program that was passed a few months ago well it's time we

[1:00:26] actually get some teeth and get moving on that so if it takes getting a housing

[1:00:30] inspector to get something done to inspect these housing rentals that are

[1:00:33] popping up in our Township I do not want to see what's happening in towns like

[1:00:37] Riverside where they turn into what I call bedroom town a town I grew up in

[1:00:41] it's heartbreaking to see what's happening there I do not want that to

[1:00:44] see it happen in our community rental properties lower the home values of the

[1:00:48] houses around them and they ruin the fabric of our neighborhoods and I do not

[1:00:52] think anybody wants that to happen so I want to try to get something going with

[1:00:57] that and getting an inspector whether it's full-time part-time mayor when we

[1:01:01] when you start to work on your budget maybe we can fit something like that in

[1:01:04] there also I talked about working with the police department one thing I would

[1:01:09] really love to do is get the mine unit that's something that the township had

[1:01:13] many years ago not only does it has our Township grown in population growth from

[1:01:17] the apartment complexes and housing developments and that invites crime

[1:01:22] crime is about opportunity so in order to do that we need to to enforce the our

[1:01:27] Police Department so I'm more than willing to work with them and see how we

[1:01:30] can get a canine unit going and and also speeding is also a major issue we all

[1:01:36] have going through our neighborhoods when I knocked on doors I heard that I

[1:01:39] live on pan Co Boulevard the speeding that goes up and down my street is

[1:01:43] unreal so the police can't just be on every corner but there are things that

[1:01:47] we can possibly look into to doing and monitoring the speeding in the town and

[1:01:51] giving tickets enough of the warnings it's time to issue tickets you're not

[1:01:55] racing and speed through Daran Township anymore our kids and our grandkids are

[1:01:59] too important to have that happen also I want to work with the public works

[1:02:03] department they're doing such a great job in our Township when I was a

[1:02:06] councilman when I first got on here they were still going behind the leaf truck

[1:02:10] doing the oldfashioned way well now we started with one armed Bandits I don't

[1:02:14] know how many we have now do we know two three je three and that's just once

[1:02:19] again investing in our community making it more efficient getting more things

[1:02:22] done and it makes their job easier causes less um guys getting hurt and

[1:02:27] working is Cal which also costs us money also I would like to work on the

[1:02:31] riverfront area um the harbor District area it's been dilapidated for many

[1:02:36] years a long River Drive there long River Road um we have um most of those

[1:02:42] Harbors have been um closed down now but we can try to work with those owners I

[1:02:46] know there were some rumors um about a year ago about something about the tow

[1:02:50] houses and this and that being built out there well I'm not for any of that okay

[1:02:54] I would love to see something something like canoing kayaking passive Recreation

[1:02:58] being done down there bring it back to life I think we can do that I think we

[1:03:02] can clean up that area down there there's also we have garages down here

[1:03:06] um what I would used to call service stations um they're turning into

[1:03:10] junkyards and they need to be cleaned up and it's a reflection on our community

[1:03:14] and we shouldn't tolerate that kind of stuff also I like to continue working on

[1:03:19] the community park it's come such a long way from 2008 and 2009 when we purchased

[1:03:24] that property from a major your housing development but I think we can do some

[1:03:28] more really good things there it's great Sports Complex there's a pickle ball I

[1:03:32] think in discussion at some point but I well talk to Residents about an

[1:03:35] Amphitheater something to do summer concerts down there to make residents

[1:03:39] get more involved and they they were like yeah that sounds great so maybe

[1:03:42] something we can do there also the gentleman talked about the tractor

[1:03:46] trailer driving on chest Ry sir I work at Simon in Shuster okay I've been there

[1:03:51] 26 years so I obviously there maybe a conflict eventure maybe maybe not I

[1:03:56] don't know that yet but I do agree with you with the truck traffic I live on pan

[1:04:00] Coast I live free houses off of Fairview Street the Mount of truck traffic that

[1:04:04] goes down Fairy Street down into Riverside is unbelievable some townships

[1:04:08] I know in burington Township some streets you cannot go down at certain

[1:04:12] hours with truck traffic they can so townships can take steps to to stop and

[1:04:17] enforce those things so maybe we can look into that and and work on that um

[1:04:22] so I do understand your concern there sir and even though you don't live in

[1:04:25] our town I grew up in there and I know exactly where you live by the way so

[1:04:30] with all that said I thank you all for being here your your comments are not on

[1:04:34] theft ear I've heard you okay so like I said we open up our Communications I

[1:04:39] like I said I look forward to working with you I work with past past

[1:04:42] administrations and past people I have no problem with that so thank you so

[1:04:46] much for that thank you thank you councilman uh next up uh nikk okay good

[1:04:54] evening everybody and been near again um so coming to the uh comments we had um

[1:05:01] regarding the engineering firm when I make a decision is based on

[1:05:09] facts um the engineering firm that is being placed before us is something I

[1:05:16] don't know anything about I am not a robber

[1:05:19] Stamper um when I got on Council two years ago and I was introduced the CME I

[1:05:27] had no complaints so people voted me in to make decisions

[1:05:32] based on issues that if it's going to be there we'll fix it now I've been here

[1:05:39] two years

[1:05:43] and I still have to find out what the issues the real issues are

[1:05:49] that we have to deal with that has to do with seeing me for me to make a decision

[1:05:53] I do my research um just

[1:05:58] because with all due respect please with all due

[1:06:06] respect all the appointments we had from the last

[1:06:10] meeting the major had a majority I mean the mayor had a majority of them we

[1:06:16] worked with him when we are working in a

[1:06:21] professional environment it's easy to

[1:06:27] decide to make a decision based on what's on the outside but we need to

[1:06:30] look deep and I'm doing my research and I need to know why is it that we really

[1:06:37] want to change the engineer what is the real reason behind

[1:06:43] that and that's what I need to find out I'm not asking anybody a question I'm

[1:06:47] doing my public statement everybody up there is an adult

[1:06:55] and mayor hudkins with all due respect all the

[1:07:00] appointments you had almost 99% of them you did

[1:07:07] not go against anything because you work with a council president and you all we

[1:07:13] all did our research and we were all updated when that issue was brought up

[1:07:18] with CME I'm like okay I need to find out the real reason why we don't want

[1:07:23] them to do the work I live on

[1:07:27] Stewart coming back to the flood we keep hearing about the flood I live on

[1:07:32] Stewart my my house was flooded during Hurricane

[1:07:37] Sandy and I didn't see any neighbors to let me know that there's a

[1:07:42] way to get that fixed and like I told my neighbor when she approached me I'm like

[1:07:46] you know what when we make decisions and we have issues to face Let's Get the

[1:07:52] facts and make decisions B on the fact and there's some things we can fix some

[1:07:57] things we cannot fix when we had the last issue with quote unquote flooding I

[1:08:04] went to several homes and I looked into those

[1:08:08] homes the water wasn't coming from the river it was coming from under the

[1:08:13] ground that's a major issue that's a major issue that needs to be

[1:08:18] addressed now from what I unod from Miss pomerans is that she she had information

[1:08:27] from decades ago so I'm like I've been on Council two years and I never got

[1:08:32] that information from her I'm getting information as we go along so it's not

[1:08:36] that we don't care about the residents but it's like if I'm making a

[1:08:41] decision it has to be factual it has to be based on

[1:08:48] issues because if I'm deciding it's like you're hiring somebody right when you're

[1:08:54] going to decide to fight somebody it has to be with

[1:08:58] C now I can't just sit down because um it's on the

[1:09:04] agenda and I'm like okay yeah rubber stamp rubber stamp everything when I got

[1:09:10] on Council every appointment that made when I first started I ran everything by

[1:09:15] the council president like I'm doing now I'm like I don't know anything about

[1:09:19] this firm or this professional I need to get some

[1:09:24] information one once I get information I believe that is going to benefit the

[1:09:28] residents I make my decision so we need to work

[1:09:39] together we need to work together I have also offered the residents in Riverside

[1:09:45] Park that feel free to let me know what's going

[1:09:49] on we will continue we have started to put together a team to work on River

[1:09:55] side park because that's a bigger issue than we all can handle over here that is

[1:10:00] something that's going to be ongoing um the previous council

[1:10:04] president had me start with um councilman

[1:10:08] Jenning as a team um we were going to go forward with that but the election came

[1:10:13] up we still going to go forward with that and we're going to look into

[1:10:16] resources that we need and how we can fix

[1:10:19] it everybody up here I believe on Council live in Del r so we all care

[1:10:26] about Del Ran and we all care about for example I

[1:10:32] have W one there's a whole lot of people in W one so when I'm making a decision I

[1:10:38] consider all the residents of Del Ren plus all the residents in W one so when

[1:10:45] the media you know suggest something I'll do my research I will ask questions

[1:10:50] I will look into it and then I'll make a decision but Su just say that we are not

[1:10:57] working with the mayor I believe we should be you know mayor hutkins I

[1:11:04] respect you a lot and like I said before we went over all the appointments you

[1:11:10] had we did not do anything to say okay well the mayor's not going to have this

[1:11:15] because we got to serve the residents this one Whatever this one thing is we

[1:11:20] will work on it but I need more information to make an informed decision

[1:11:25] and since I've been on Counsel I would say this it's always good to give credit

[1:11:30] where it's due I have not seen any issues with CME so I will still continue

[1:11:35] to support them for the residents until we can say okay well CME cost the town a

[1:11:41] m now loss but I'm like and I'm still going to

[1:11:46] ask everybody who's here to think about it what is the real reason behind you

[1:11:51] wanting to get rid of an engine

[1:11:57] change can be negative and change can be

[1:12:02] positive when you're hire when we are hiring I'll say this again when an

[1:12:06] employer is hiring there's a lot of business people here when you're hiring

[1:12:10] somebody you're not going to hire somebody because of change you're going

[1:12:13] to hire somebody because they can do the

[1:12:18] job I am making my public comments please I'm making my report you ask the

[1:12:24] question I'm answering the question you didn't

[1:12:27] listen to what we had to

[1:12:32] say man with all due respect with all due

[1:12:39] respect I don't want to say anything about how people like me get treated in

[1:12:46] this country with all due

[1:12:49] respect with all due respect with all due respect

[1:12:56] with all due respect

[1:13:00] unb with I know I've lived in Delan for a time

[1:13:04] now and trust me trust me I live in Delan for a town

[1:13:10] for a time for a while now and I've been in Delan since

[1:13:17] 2005 so I'll come back to the uh factual reasons for not moving forward on

[1:13:24] anything regarding the engineering like I said

[1:13:27] before I don't have any hard facts to say they've failed the Township in terms

[1:13:33] of costing US dollars because that's what about taxpayer

[1:13:37] dollars and based on the advice from my council

[1:13:42] president and those who have been here a long time and from the administrator we

[1:13:46] will continue to look into it with all due

[1:13:52] respect thank you um councilman Smith yeah thank you very much uh just a

[1:13:57] couple quick things uh first and foremost wanted to thank the uh

[1:14:01] Department of Public Works uh they did a fantastic job with uh the snow removal

[1:14:06] with the two snow events we had recently um always do a fantastic job also wanted

[1:14:11] to thank uh uh our EMS to do a fantastic U service for the community I didn't

[1:14:17] know that you guys answered roughly 10 calls a day that's that's amazing so and

[1:14:23] especially with the you know all the volunteer that you have there uh thank

[1:14:26] you very much and continue to do a great job for our

[1:14:31] town uh now I will address the uh issue about the uh the engineer could you pick

[1:14:38] up a little louder please oh sorry I can't hear

[1:14:44] hey is this better thank

[1:14:49] you so uh we'll address the issue about the engineering uh first and foremost um

[1:14:56] I'm very pragmatic um when we have our engineering firm they're currently out

[1:15:03] there doing jobs if we were to switch Engineers we'd have to pay that cost

[1:15:09] twice to a new engineering firm secondly from a lead time perspective there's a

[1:15:15] lot of projects that are underway I know that the residents we heard a lot from

[1:15:21] tonight uh are concerned about the Le time I know got the uh Army Corp

[1:15:27] engineer project it's taken years we would be taking a step back if we

[1:15:32] switched out and went to another firm um when you take a look at all those things

[1:15:40] for me it made the most sense to continue with CME for these high value

[1:15:47] very important projects that are taking place in uh some of our most U vable

[1:15:52] neighborhoods especially when it comes down to uh water

[1:15:55] so that's the reason that I did not uh support the change of the engineering

[1:16:01] firm and the report thank you Marlo uh next up councilman Jenny thank you

[1:16:07] council president uh number one uh I want to uh congratulate the fire

[1:16:12] department uh this past weekend Saturday and Sunday Lake Lonnie uh they were

[1:16:17] doing uh certifications of winter water rescues uh literally going breaking open

[1:16:22] pieces of the Ice uh going into the ice ice and in protective suits and

[1:16:27] practicing the procedure to to take someone out of the lake should they be

[1:16:30] in the lake p through the ice it was really impressive uh and they had uh a

[1:16:36] number of people certified uh any with the green team any

[1:16:40] uh one has Christmas lights that are not functional or you want to get rid of

[1:16:44] them don't throw them out don't put them in a landfill bring them in here and put

[1:16:48] them in the uh box for the Christmas lights um regarding the Sammy um I'm

[1:16:54] going to keep it short because a lot been said and I agree with most

[1:16:57] everything that's been said uh I support uh maintaining CME because number one of

[1:17:02] their performance I've been involved with them for four years and I've seen

[1:17:07] good performance no one is perfect in this world um but I make decisions on

[1:17:12] facts and not politics uh the facts are that as M as Mr Smith had said my big

[1:17:19] concern is the cost is going to cost us to change right now with all the

[1:17:23] projects we've been working on money that we've already paid out and then

[1:17:27] money that's going to have to be spent to catch up uh that's uh one and like I

[1:17:32] said my experience would see me has been good uh I understand all of the uh

[1:17:37] emotion and I understand also that you know social media politicking I don't

[1:17:42] really care for but that's why you're here um and supporting the mayor uh I

[1:17:47] know there are a lot of other reasons maybe why ER might be a candidate we'll

[1:17:51] leave it at that um but at this point I don't see any reason reason to change uh

[1:17:56] we are the only Council the past Council that I was a member of that has gotten

[1:18:01] any action on the flooding in Riverside Park nothing's been done in the past

[1:18:06] there was some cursory Communications with uh the uh only core of engineers

[1:18:11] but nothing ever followed up on we followed up we actually have a contract

[1:18:16] that'll be doing uh a planning and we're moving forward with that uh you

[1:18:22] addressed someone addressed the um um balloon type uh devices that uh are

[1:18:29] available we've been looking at that and it's been extremely in fact I have an

[1:18:33] article from Florida how they've using tiger Dan for a long time and it has

[1:18:38] substantially reduced the flooding that would be a short-term fix the long-term

[1:18:43] fix is coming from the Army cor of Engineers as uh the mayor Delano mayor

[1:18:49] said they've been with the AI for 12 years and I don't think a reason to

[1:18:53] change is is the reason that you want to change a major player in our Township

[1:18:58] just for the sake of change uh I uh work I will work with uh mayor Barnes uh we

[1:19:05] work together uh a couple times in our meetings we discussed this in fact the

[1:19:09] first meeting when I ever met um uh mayor hutkins uh I expressed to him the

[1:19:14] fact that I thought the only thing that was important that I think we need to

[1:19:18] pursue is maintaining our Engineering Group and then Tom and I met with him

[1:19:22] again to discuss the appointments and and as was stated all the appointments

[1:19:26] except for one were approved we just do not feel that CME

[1:19:32] has done anything that requires a change and I think it will be very costly at

[1:19:36] this point and that's my reasoning for it um that's enough said I think

[1:19:42] enough's been said on that subject thank you very much for listening thank you uh

[1:19:46] councilman Jenny uh and for my report um I did put together a quick statement on

[1:19:52] the engineering uh change uh we do appreciate the idea of exploring a new

[1:19:56] vendor for engineering while I appreciate the initiative and openness

[1:20:00] to change I'd like to ensure that any decisions we make are driven by clear

[1:20:04] benefits for the residents and organization currently our existing

[1:20:09] vendor for engineering has been performing well and meeting our needs

[1:20:13] effectively unless there are specific issues or compelling advantages that the

[1:20:17] new engineer can guarantee to offer such as cost savings improved quality or

[1:20:22] enhanced features it may not make sense to transition at this time engineering

[1:20:28] changes often come with Associated risks such as disruption in Services learning

[1:20:33] curves or unexpected costs if there are specific challenges or areas for

[1:20:38] improvement with our curent engineer we'd be happy to discuss them further

[1:20:42] and explore their Alternatives but if the change is primarily for the sake of

[1:20:46] change it might be more beneficial to focus on optimizing our current

[1:20:51] relationship instead please know that the issues that the mayor and some of

[1:20:56] the residents have brought up are either currently being discussed with our

[1:20:59] engineer or will be forthcoming we expect CME to meet or exceed our

[1:21:05] expectations in 2025 please know that our administrator

[1:21:10] Department of Public Works and Construction office have full faith in

[1:21:14] CME and look forward to working with them in

[1:21:17] 2025 and I can assure you I have personally told CME if you do not need

[1:21:23] or exceed our expectations in 2025 I'll be the first one going to the

[1:21:28] mayor and say dude let's do it okay but um I do support keeping CME and having

[1:21:35] them for 2025 and working uh with the new mayor also um you know they

[1:21:42] they they do some really nice jobs in town and I there's a Litney list of

[1:21:48] great projects they've done and we all know Delan Community Park is a great

[1:21:52] Park including Jake's Place and they were involved with that the Brown Street

[1:21:57] field excuse me they were involved with that project and that's a nice project

[1:22:02] also upcoming we have the Hartford Road sidewalk Improvement which is um from

[1:22:08] Ashley Crossings to Fairview Street and we got a grant they secured a

[1:22:12] $145,000 grant that's going to create a sidewalk from Ashley Crossings up to

[1:22:17] Fair viiew where there is none so you have to cross the road to go over to

[1:22:21] where that shopping area is since we've had CNA they have secured 5.3 million in

[1:22:27] Grants for Us Safe Streets of Transit 1.3 million local Aid 2.6 million

[1:22:33] burington County and cdbg 1.45 million which is the

[1:22:39] 5.3 million um also we do work for the

[1:22:46] residents we work for all the residents and um one of the one of the issues

[1:22:51] somebody brought up that uh you may not think care because I'm looking down but

[1:22:56] when people speak while you might not be able to read my chicken scratch I am

[1:23:01] taking notes from when people speak so we can take a look at it and address

[1:23:06] those issues so please don't take me looking down as not caring or not

[1:23:10] listening because I am taking notes with everyone who spoke here today um next

[1:23:16] thing I'd like to say is um shout out for the fire department and EMS the

[1:23:23] piggyback I was out there with the mayor for the ice Rescue Training event and

[1:23:29] the practice ice Rescue Training it's got to be cold and it was cold it's not

[1:23:34] sunny and 70 um they did a great job a lot of people got certified and um they

[1:23:40] both asked they asked us to go in as rest people and we both chickened out so

[1:23:46] um but they did a great job um also to um the fire department and EMS and the

[1:23:53] police we've had some pretty bad accidents lately we appreciate

[1:23:57] everything they do to take care of those folks who who got in accidents and get

[1:24:01] them safely to where they need to be and get traffic moving

[1:24:05] again also thank you to the DPW for the the job they did with that minor snow

[1:24:11] event um also all the employees thank you for the job you did in

[1:24:16] 2024 hopefully they have a great 2025 we do appreciate our public employees a lot

[1:24:22] of times they go unrecognized and they're unsung heroes but we do

[1:24:27] appreciate that and listen it's we we all from the beginning we said we'd work

[1:24:35] with the new mayor and listen that all the appointments and whatnot and we're

[1:24:42] very very fortunate that we got rfps from a lot of competent um professionals

[1:24:48] okay um no listen no dis disrespect to Al or

[1:24:54] your Law Firm or whatnot the Great Law Firm I my union dealt with him um back

[1:25:01] when I was still working and wasn't retired Maro law was not my my first

[1:25:06] choice for the law firm but you know what it was the Mayors and I talked to

[1:25:12] council and I said it's a good reputable Law Firm they're going to do a really

[1:25:16] good job for us so let's go with Maro law same thing with the conflict

[1:25:21] attorney okay wasn't my first choice chice but the conflict attorney is a

[1:25:28] reputable Law Firm they'll do a good job so it's not like we're up here just

[1:25:34] saying H giving them the Heisman we're not okay so but the one thing that we

[1:25:40] did say and we have agreed to disagree on is we're pretty Resolute with keeping

[1:25:47] CME for 20125 there's nothing that says we have

[1:25:51] to keep them going forward and they are on notice Hey listen we think you do a

[1:25:55] great job you need to continue to do a great job and where these shortfalls are

[1:26:00] and what's being brought up you're going to need to address this [ __ ] all right

[1:26:04] so whether and we we'll come up with a resolution I promise you we're going to

[1:26:08] look take a look at it um already some of the things that people emailed me

[1:26:13] have been sent over to the engineering firm and we'll have those discussions in

[1:26:17] those meetings um so with that that's the end of my report and what we need

[1:26:22] now is a motion to go and to Executive session resolution

[1:26:27] 20254 to discuss attorney client privilege affordable housing and

[1:26:32] litigation Jody Klein versus Delan Township can I have a motion please I

[1:26:36] make a motion have a second all in favor I

[1:26:42] anyos all right we're in executive session we are not anticipating any kind

[1:26:46] of action from executive session but we will come back out after executive

[1:26:51] session open back up and close the meeting

[1:27:12] all right we're back uh can I get a motion to come out of the executive

[1:27:15] session so moves have a second I'll second all in favor I any

[1:27:20] opposed motion carries uh next stop I need a motion to adjourn motion do we

[1:27:27] not have I have a second second that excuse me we already had it we already

[1:27:33] had it that was I thought for just the that that was like to address Mrs AO uh

[1:27:40] she used my name I want to address her uh do we have a second to

[1:27:44] adjourn I made the second all right all in

[1:27:47] favor any opposed motion motion Carri

[1:27:55] I'll talk

1-14-25 Public Meeting - Full Video

Transcript