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All recordings are working, the meeting is yours. Good evening everyone. I'd like to call this regular meeting of the South Orange Village Council to order. It is Monday, July 28, 2021 PM. May I have a roll call please? Yes, may I follow? Here.

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council member and council member.

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council member Greenberg.

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council members.

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councilmember Hilton.

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We're going to Jones.

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council member Niñez Chang.

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I'll withdraw the staff.

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I'll withdraw the staff.

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Mr. Chavers.

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Here.

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Mr. Rader.

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And Mr. Otis.

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Um, man, we have a form and a form and a form and a form.

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with the open public weaning act of the State of New Jersey.

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Added for the noise of this meeting has been provided to the official newspaper over

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the relief post-unitable in the website and file the office of the bill of court and the

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came in and that this meeting is there held virtually, this is the well-backed video

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conference in the morning where more weaning participants and fully members of the public

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may be muted by the halls, however there will be an opportunity for those to participate

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and speak on the public portion of the meeting with participants will be a muted academic

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question may we take in. Thank you, and we have one resolution to go into executive session.

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Yes, we'll return it for you. That's 181 resolution, I apologize it. An executive session

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at the July 8204, where the meeting and the southbound bridge points. Okay, and we have water

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utility discussion, which is a turning client privilege and also contract negotiations. And

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I'm going to add just general redevelopment updates, which are contract negotiations and a

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any client privilege. Are there any additional items that the council members wish to add to

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its executive session?

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H.P. Ordinance, any client privilege?

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Yes, ma'am. Anything additional?

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Okay, may I have a motion to go into executive session?

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Yes, just add also additional, a 20 client privilege,

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open communication. Yes, sir. All right, any additional items? Okay, may I have a motion

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to go into executive session? So, move. Is there a second? We have a motion from council,

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ground, seconded by councilwoman Jones. All those in favor, please say aye. Any opposed? Okay,

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Be back out for the public portion at 7 o'clock.

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All right, Stephen, are you there?

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Stephen?

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Stephen?

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I T.

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Someone, anyone?

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Stephen, can you hear me? I see you are on the name of your name.

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My, of headset for you. You're all set, everything is running.

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Good evening, everyone. I'd like to reconvene this regular meeting of the South Orange Village Council.

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It is Monday, July 28th at 702 p.m. May I have a roll call, please?

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Yes, Mayor Colin.

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Here, Nelson and Brown.

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Here.

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Nelson and Greenburg.

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Nelson and Brown has kids.

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Nelson and Brown have children.

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Nelson and Brown have children.

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Here.

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Nelson and Brown have children.

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Thank you, Ms. Davis, and we have a few announcements from South Orange downtown.

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The farmer's market is back every Wednesday in the Sloan Street lot from 2 to 7 p.m.

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Shop for Jersey Fresh fruits and vegetables, eggs, bread, meats, pickles, olives, soups,

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homemade ice cream, apple cider, soul food, sweet treats, plus, grab and go lunch, dinner

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options, and so much more.

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Exciting new vendors will join the market this season in addition to your returning favorites.

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Again, that is every Wednesday from 2 to 7pm.

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Next, we have downtown after sundown. Join us in spio to part from 630 to 830 every Saturday for downtown after sundown.

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Enjoy live performances from talented local musicians covering several genres including R&B, soul, flamenco, rock, jazz and more.

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Grab your favorite lawn chairs, order some delicious takeout from South Orange's finest eateries,

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and let the sweet sounds of South Orange ignite your summer nights.

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Next from our South Orange Recreation Department, South Orange Summer Nights are back.

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Join us on Wednesdays this summer for free fun on Flood's Hill. Enjoy programming on our summer stage,

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including July summer night concert series which starts at 730 and August we have moonlit movies

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at sundown so again the concerts are July 3rd which already passed and had a successful kick off

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July 10th 17th 24th and 31st and movie starting on August 14th the 21st and the 28th and you must have

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notice there was a gap in August, because that is national night out. That's Tuesday, August,

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six in metal and park. So join us on Flood's Hill for National Night Out. National night out

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is an annual community building campaign that promotes police community partnerships and neighborhood

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camaraderie. Five to eight p.m. there is free food, inflatables, dunk, cup, in the dunk tank,

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giveaways, and more. And from 8 to 10 p.m., the movie Migration. And as a follow up to our last meeting,

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we learned that was about ducks. Lastly, we have the adult swim nights at the pool. First coming

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up is this week, that's Friday, July 12th and then we have a second one on August 16th. This

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is from 5 to 8 p.m. You can bring your floats and friends and enjoy an evening of live music

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and dinner poolside, free for all South Orange residents over 18. Next we have announcements from

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The South Orange Public Library, have you seen Smoky Bear in honor of his 80th birthday Smoky

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Bear will be making an appearance at 16 downtown locations during the month of July as

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part of the Smoky Bear scavenger hunt.

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Come by the library to pick up a bear paw to get a hand in documenting all located Smoky

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Bear sightings.

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Complete in return by July 31st to be entered into a raffle for big prizes.

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Before I want to continue on, it's actually a great moment to know that Smokey the Bear is fake.

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We have had some legitimate bear sightings in South Orange, most recently, in Newstead, in a trash can.

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So, as it relates...

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To real bears, dangerous bears. Please do not approach under any circumstance. They are not a part of the South Orange Public Library bear hunt.

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And more to come from our health officer because this is now a second sighting, one from a resident who is walking in the reservation.

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And now for residents in our wonderful new stead neighbor who found a little black bear. Again, do not approach these bears.

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and more resources will be provided to the community. Continuing on with the South Orange Public Library,

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it's Shark Week. Watch out for South Orange Public Library, Sharky, at the community pool on Wednesday

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the 10th at 4pm. She'll be reading stories and splashing around the kiddie pool. Visit the library

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for more movies, books, and information about sharks for all ages. Next from both South Orange

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Village and New Jersey American Water,

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with a request to limit outdoor watering.

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Residents asked to be in conserving water now

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to avoid possible summer restrictions later.

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Given the recent consecutive days of hot dry weather,

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the village of South Orange and New Jersey American Water,

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which operates in maintains the water system,

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is asking residents to voluntarily limit their outdoor watering

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now to potentially avoid more stringent summer time

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restrictions of water usage.

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limiting outdoor water usage now will help the company manage a finite supply of water

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and customers will still be able to maintain their lawns and gardens. The guidelines are provided below.

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Under the header of outdoor conservation guidelines, several bullet points, first water earlier late in the day to minimize evaporation.

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Second, generally, lawns only require one inch of water per week,

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most coming from precipitation and due, or by watering two times per week at a maximum.

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Number three, raise the level of your lawnmower blade to avoid lawn burnout and the need for watering.

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Fourth, avoid adding new plants or sod to your landscape during this time of excessive hot and dry weather.

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Additional tips and information can be found on New Jersey American Waters website at New Jersey AmericanWater.com

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under water and wastewater information and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protections

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once water conservation website. Their hyperlinks in our agenda, but you can also just Google

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search it for best practices. colleagues, are there any additional announcements that you would like

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to share?

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I just wanted to do a shoutout to Matt Flath in the Medellan Park Conservancy for a wonderful

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job on Star Spangled South Orange. Really, really, a great night. I think the attendees are

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really thrilled and excited about all the offerings.

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And he does this.

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I have to call about he does this as a volunteer grant

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and we provide, you know, staff resources to help him,

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but Matt is a tremendous community member

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who continues to do things that are wonderful all the time

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for the village.

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And that was definitely a nice addition

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that is going to be coming to annual tradition

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to celebrate American.

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All right, we are going to move now

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to the first public comment period.

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For anybody who is attending this meeting

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for the first time, please stay your name and address

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for the record and limit your comments to three minutes.

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You can use the Raise Your Hand Feature

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at the bottom of the screen and Ms. Davis are clerk.

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We'll acknowledge you and you will be elevated

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into the boxes.

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Try and keep your camera on if possible.

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Ms. Davis, do we have any members of the public

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that wish to address the council at this time.

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Madam, Madam, that's seeing an old hand clearance.

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Oh, we're going to get one bin by cell.

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Stephen, can you all wait and please?

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Mr. Vittal, you're in the meeting.

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Please turn on your camera and microphone.

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Hi, Dan.

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You just need to unmute yourself and you'll be good to go.

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Sounds good.

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Okay, well, I had a bunch of things I wanted to talk to you about tonight,

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but I've been

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letting them accumulate for a while, but I actually am not going to talk about those things

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instead.

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I'll talk about the water, this is your way to think, the water deal, and we'll talk about

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the other things some other time.

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So you just have a bunch of questions I want to read into the record.

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We've been hearing about this, as you said, you know, for a couple years now, a lot of telecasting to the public, which is great.

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It's been very minimized, like, you know, don't freak out that we're making this irreversible decision, the time will come for your comments.

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And now, with the further thing in the press period, it seems like we are actually going to try to put a question on it.

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We have an ordinance tonight to put a question up the referendum.

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And the text on the website kind of made it sound like they would be a little more discussion before we did that, but that doesn't actually really make sense.

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So here we are in the compressed period and I'll just read a bunch of questions into the record and then maybe I'll send them to you and we could get these answered over the next, you know, couple months.

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Um, there we go.

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Um, did Maplewood sell its system to New Jersey American water when and what were the terms to deal.

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The next question is, have we explored joining forces of neighboring towns to merge water utilities

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that way we run our joint meeting for wastewater?

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The next question is, the New Jersey American WaterBit includes a 9.3% rate increase over

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five years, that's 0,003% and 3%, but also a $50 million investment.

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The $50 million investment period is not specified.

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What is the time period of that investment?

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Utilities apply to the BPU for rate increases based on capital investments.

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is the $50 million excluded from such an application.

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Next question is, has the village explored any of the domestic water infrastructure funding programs announced by the Biden Administration, including for lead service line replacement?

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Next question is, the period of years mentioned in the ordinance of 2024-15 section 3.

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That's the one you're going to have tonight.

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I think we may refer in the language proposal.

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It's not adequately specific.

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how many years exactly this refers to both the fire hydrant tariff and the municipal buildings

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water use charge and superior. Why didn't we try to sell next question? Why didn't we try to sell

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the utility before investing millions and upgrades like smart meters, the new state tank rehabilitation,

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the crest drive tank replacement, etc. Usually when one company buys another they acquire the

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associated debt. Is New Jersey American water assuming our debt? Otherwise it kind of looks like

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more or less giving away our system for free. Which maybe is what we want to do, but let's

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tell it like it is. Next one is the typical municipal water charge annually that New Jersey

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American water proposes to forgive since you're referring to that in the referendum language.

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Next question is the referendum language talks about the assumption of lead service line

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replacement cost.

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And this, I think this language needs to clarify whether the homeowner side is included or only the utility side. I expect we all know it. The answer is, but it's only fair to the public to clarify that.

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Do you have any questions?

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Do you have any questions?

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Do you have any questions?

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Yeah, okay. I'll stop there.

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Mr. Vitale, why don't you go ahead and send us the email of those questions?

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But I want to reassure you also and I'm sure I'm going to say this at the end of the public comment period is that

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we were very forthcoming about the process.

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We had the option to wait another year until 2025, but that's going to be a deferral of capital improvements that we don't want to do.

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So we made a very decisive deliberative decision that after our task force completed their recommendations

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At the end of last year in 2023, we updated the valuation from our consulting engineering firm

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is that we made a decision that we wanted to get a bit package out so we can put in all the variables

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of what the highest fitter would be offering. Also with the context of thousands of pages of work done prior to that

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and then have this community conversation over the next three months.

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So, this is a starting point, this is not committing to the sale of our system, it is allowing us to release this information to the public, so you have a full understanding and every one of those questions absolutely will be answered.

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I'm not going to go point by point right now with each one of those, the 50 million, I mean just off the top my head is in the first 10 years.

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So all that will become absolutely available this action tonight, advances a process that is statutory, is that we have to provide to the third office 81 days notice and the language that gets put on the ballot referendum is dictated by the statute that permits municipalities to sell.

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So we can't sway it one way or another, or add this in, or remove that, or make it a little bit more sexy, it's boiler plate language.

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See the other questions, I think those are absolutely all fair, and we can answer that, you know, as we go through this process.

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Thank you.

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Okay, next we have Josh.

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Josh, you are in the meeting, please turn on your camera and microphone.

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everyone and see some familiar faces. I've been a resident in South Orange for almost

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six years now. I thoroughly love my time here and love a lot of the updates I

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were making to the town, especially at the Bayard. I decided to use that with my

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children. One concern that I wanted to bring up was around the pool, knowing that

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this past year. They cut down the big tree that overlugs the two little pools,

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the small pool and the mehemp pool, as well as some of the branches that sit in that

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I understand it's likely due to the dying branches and parts of that tree that needed to be cut down.

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My concern is that there's been no plan put in place to replicate the shade that the trees would provide to the many families that were there.

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I have a newborn who's only four months old and we go to the school every weekend and something that we love to do.

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A newborn cannot wear sunscreen and without any protective shade over the pools where a lot of young families live during the summer.

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With the UV index of over eight during this heat wave, I really am concerned that there's no shade in place.

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I had conversations with Mac Ray over at the elect department and it was told that it is impossible to put anything up this summer to protect us from the sun.

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I suggested maybe sunsales sunshades.

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I can connect from the fence to the creek as a temporary solution or something that could be put up.

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but there's no protection from the sun and as some of them who brings their young children

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they're often who want a reprieve from the sun as they're having snacks or enjoying the snack

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are at the pool in between swims because we'd like to spend six hours at the pool of every

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day of the weekend. It's really interesting that there was no plan put in place after cutting down

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the trees. There were places that some of the shade that was provided.

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And I'm just curious what

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what the town is going to be doing for the season and beyond to try and replicate some of that

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shade. Thanks very much for your comments, Josh. Deputy Administrator,

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Pete Travers, could you open on some of these issues? Certainly again.

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So a few of the trees that came down were not expected to come down some of the branches, so that was

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for seeing. We do have two large capital and food projects in the queue for the pool already

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this all season, so we don't have any capital funds set aside for shade at this time. We are going

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to be making a request for capital funding for 2025 to increase the shade. There's any leftover capital

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funding available after the projects that are necessary to operate the pool are completed. We'll

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use that money. The temporary solutions that you're talking about usually are not consistent with

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for use and many times right on the packaging say not for commercial use, not to fix the trees,

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not to fix the buildings, which in our risk manager has problems with that. We do understand that,

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you know, shade is important. So we're recommending the families that have young children to bring

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those small pop-up tents that kind of sit like three feet off the ground for the newborns.

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We know this is an idea, but we are working on an option for the next summer. This summer we'll be

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a little bit of rough patch for us.

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Is there any temporary solution that could be done this year to, because otherwise everyone's just going to be bringing beach umbrellas and stabbing the ground and then you're going to have landscaping work that you're going to need to do.

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You know what? Josh, I'm going to, you know, obviously, I hear my neighbor. I heard this so I did look into it right away.

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I think that this is kind of the area where government is, I would say so inefficient.

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Like I would I would jump on Amazon right now and get you a whole bunch of tents and like set them up and all the structures and then we get into the regulations of each one of these things that we do and so to pizza point normally we get our hands flat after I did Google search it and I was like we could get that is that we do have risk managers even for anything temporary if you think about we we just got a couple big tents for families right on with you is that right away instead of looking at it is like okay there's some risk and we'll take it down if it looks like it's windy

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It turns into a hard note right away, is that it has to be installed completely, it has to be

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There has to be mitigation to any windstorms any damage that could be done obviously to human life and other property

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So that's when you end up in all this red tape

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So I want you to know I heard you loud and clear a lot of those solutions

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I think are freaking great, but we have to work through and see which ones we can do

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biobly and sometimes we take on risk. That's that's reality is like, you know, our risk managers, our attorneys are always going to advise

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caution. That is their job to be very conservative, but I think that we might be able to come up with some ideas or at least better

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advertise, you know, ideas to families of what they can bring. So I don't want to put anything on the spot right now with our deputy administrator because we're also working on it with our

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Director and our administrators not with us tonight. But I think he raised a lot of great points. And the sun is scorching. We want families at the pool. We want you to enjoy yourself at the pool. And we need to have more shade in general. So that's been in the long-term plans as Pete mentioned. But we need to think about something short-term relief of what we can do just to create a few more of those shaded areas for families like yourself.

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Yeah, I appreciate that and also appreciate the red tape that you have to go through.

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I think what might be helpful because I'm not speaking just for myself.

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I'm seeking for a lot of young families if you could advertise what are some of the solutions as families we could bring.

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Because I'm sure you don't want everyone from bringing beach tents and umbrellas because that's it's almost AP risk.

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Like you said when blowing away and then crowded and ruining anything.

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So maybe advertising suggestions that you would give two families who could come and win.

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So we're sunscreen or young families that don't necessarily have the means to buy these

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public pens that can be expensive or anything that you just just might be helpful.

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And it was permitted items.

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We might be able to purchase and bulk just some of those little things that can help

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01:01:05,780 --> 01:01:10,160
families that when you come first come for serve is that, you know, these are available for you

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01:01:10,160 --> 01:01:12,780
that are permitted that can be attached to your lawn share.

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Whatever it may be, I'm just talking out loud is that the rec committee and our rec staff

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your suggestions very seriously. We know that they're absolutely real. The idea of watching

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your baby girl like out there without any type of shade is enough to make anybody, you know,

273
01:01:27,380 --> 01:01:32,140
make a sad face. So give us give us a little time to get back to you and we'll come up with some

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ideas that we could do to help alleviate the season knowing that we're going to forget I'm the

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pool open for the next couple months. So we we want families to come use it. Thank you. Just one more

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01:01:41,940 --> 01:01:45,340
question. I'll see you in my time. Since this is the first time that I'm speaking on one of these

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01:01:45,340 --> 01:01:50,200
meetings and actually asking you guys for something. How should I expect a follow-up or next

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steps or around what we'll be done?

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Peatrevers.

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01:01:54,180 --> 01:01:55,460
Basically gonna call me.

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01:01:56,640 --> 01:01:59,840
I always really know. Okay, let's have a solution.

282
01:02:00,220 --> 01:02:02,000
Great, thank you so much. I appreciate the time.

283
01:02:02,140 --> 01:02:07,400
Thanks, Josh. We can also add it to. We have a meeting on a meeting was moved from last week

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because of Fourth of July to this Thursday, so we've also added this Thursday's meeting for

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01:02:12,120 --> 01:02:17,620
Oh, that's, that's amazing. Yes. Josh, as you probably know, we have three members of the

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01:02:17,620 --> 01:02:22,460
governing body. It's chaired by council member Bobby Brown, so I'm not to make you go to

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more meetings, but if you'd like to pop on to the recreation committee to talk about this issue,

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they are always welcome to community feedback and things that we need to work on.

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Councilmember Haskins. This is also a great inspiration to us to consistently plant trees,

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you know in as we go forward because when you have the unfortunate situation that you have to cut down

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a 40-year-old shade tree, your best solution is just to go sit under the 35-year-old shade tree.

292
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You know, so if you've planted trees all the way through, then you've got options.

293
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So, you know, looking for we need to make sure that we don't think of this as something we do

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once every few decades but as something we do every year.

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01:03:10,960 --> 01:03:16,980
And I think under your leadership bill, I'm pretty sure we're going to be doing everything

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every year.

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01:03:17,920 --> 01:03:23,680
I think this homage of tree backgrounds is a tribute to you and how much our focus has

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been on trees.

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So I definitely have to give you a good nod for that.

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All right.

301
01:03:30,380 --> 01:03:32,060
Do we have any other members of the public?

302
01:03:32,760 --> 01:03:35,560
Yes, we have one more saying the Falco.

303
01:03:36,700 --> 01:03:36,720
Okay.

304
01:03:38,400 --> 01:03:41,880
Mr. Defalko, please turn on your camera and microphone.

305
01:03:45,440 --> 01:03:47,160
Hi Sam, welcome.

306
01:03:47,540 --> 01:03:51,240
Hi, I'm sorry. I don't think I can turn my camera on on my phone.

307
01:03:51,960 --> 01:03:52,540
Is that okay?

308
01:03:52,900 --> 01:03:54,340
Yeah, that's totally fine.

309
01:03:54,880 --> 01:03:56,300
Okay, wonderful. Thank you.

310
01:03:56,500 --> 01:03:58,740
So much for the opportunity to speak tonight.

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01:03:59,620 --> 01:04:04,220
My name is Sam Defalko, and speaking on behalf of the advocacy group,

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01:04:04,220 --> 01:04:12,300
student water watch about the first reading of the ordinance to move forward with a potential

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01:04:12,300 --> 01:04:19,300
referendum of the water system. So student water watch, we're an advocacy organization

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01:04:19,300 --> 01:04:26,020
in one of our key focuses is protecting democratic democratic control of water system and access

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01:04:26,020 --> 01:04:32,180
to water we believe that water is a human right. And you know, along with that is access to

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affordable safe drinking water. And so we have a number of concerns with this proposal that we

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wanted to make her on the record and would love to, you know, potentially have a conversation

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with the council members of the council to talk further about our concerns. But yeah, so our

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first concern is that this will likely see rates increased. You know, typically right now,

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01:04:56,900 --> 01:05:09,140
So, residents pay around $720 a year for water in South Orange at the cost of $8 per

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CCF of water used, and J. American Water charges about $8.58 a year, and $8.58 a year, and

322
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$150 a year, and with the rate hike, they're seeking that will bring the total to almost

323
01:05:20,540 --> 01:05:26,880
a thousand dollars a year, so this is about a 30 percent higher rate than what residents

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01:05:26,880 --> 01:05:35,620
a current in paying, you know, to an American water can promise rate freezes, but this

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01:05:35,620 --> 01:05:41,420
can be rejected by the beauty view, often communities have promised rate freezes, and

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01:05:41,420 --> 01:05:43,220
they don't materialize,

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and these can, you know, reject the freezes as an applicable for

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01:05:49,700 --> 01:05:56,420
other, and J. American water customers, households, you know, can really expect their rates

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to increase if this goes forward,

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and this is another standard practice of the company,

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typically, one minute, what's the company charges in its minutes of a serious public and

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expected to see in South Orange. And lastly, just wanted to name that public financing

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is the cheapest way to make improvements to the water system. So we want to encourage the

334
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to look into and seek federal and seek grants for capital improvement projects at the lowest cost,

335
01:06:26,600 --> 01:06:33,420
option for residents, public borrowing on the municipal bond market isn't also considerably cheaper than

336
01:06:33,420 --> 01:06:39,700
reliance on privatization. You know, with privatization, companies authorized to earn a rate of return,

337
01:06:39,960 --> 01:06:46,440
on its investments, on 10%, plus passing on the cost of all property and taxes in the form of higher rates.

338
01:06:47,140 --> 01:06:55,860
And so with prior participation, you have to pay not just for the improvement project, but also for the sale price and the price of the company's other acquisitions.

339
01:06:56,420 --> 01:06:59,700
So for these reasons, then several other things that I don't have time to get into tonight.

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01:07:00,440 --> 01:07:04,540
We'd like to encourage you to do a shout-out to, you know, hit pause on this.

341
01:07:05,060 --> 01:07:07,200
It's done for more time thinking about it.

342
01:07:07,240 --> 01:07:11,020
Maybe it's so happy to have a meeting to discuss our concerns in more detail.

343
01:07:11,640 --> 01:07:12,200
Thank you.

344
01:07:12,200 --> 01:07:14,020
Thank you again for the opportunity to discuss this evening.

345
01:07:14,980 --> 01:07:21,340
Sam, thank you so much. May I ask where you're calling from? Are you based in New Jersey or with the National Organization?

346
01:07:22,600 --> 01:07:26,840
Yes, so I am based in New Jersey. I currently have the Jersey City Group in Mars County.

347
01:07:27,540 --> 01:07:29,980
We are in National Organization, but we have a big-

348
01:07:30,000 --> 01:07:36,140
The meeting here in New Jersey, particularly, most of our water work has been focused in south-ears, and could have

349
01:07:36,140 --> 01:07:39,820
been overseeing a lot of privatization cases. Go forward.

350
01:07:41,080 --> 01:07:46,160
Yeah, I just want to say, I thank you for coming to this meeting. I realize that a lot of times

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01:07:46,160 --> 01:07:53,760
people will have concerns about privatization. I'm familiar with your work in my professional capacity.

352
01:07:53,820 --> 01:07:59,020
I'm the executive director of the American Planning Association. So we have a vested interest

353
01:07:59,020 --> 01:08:04,400
also in how communities are planning for a lot of these regulations that are coming down,

354
01:08:04,440 --> 01:08:06,240
the costs associated with them.

355
01:08:06,620 --> 01:08:13,500
We do have a group of Phoenix advisors who's doing a right now after we receive the bid

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01:08:13,500 --> 01:08:17,260
and the commitments of the infrastructure upgrades over time.

357
01:08:17,920 --> 01:08:22,060
We are going to be sharing that with the public, but I would also love to share it with you.

358
01:08:22,720 --> 01:08:28,720
What I don't think that you noted is that the village will through its water utility need

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01:08:28,720 --> 01:08:34,400
make massive infrastructure upgrades over the next several years. So the rates will absolutely

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01:08:34,400 --> 01:08:40,540
be going up whether we sell the water utility or we keep it in-house, whether that be with a third

361
01:08:40,540 --> 01:08:47,360
party O&M operator or if we bring it entirely in-house or we have a hybrid of both, there's a

362
01:08:47,360 --> 01:08:51,420
full acknowledgement of the village council as that we have to have the updated infrastructure.

363
01:08:52,180 --> 01:08:57,860
It's important not just the lead line replacement but the overall goal of each aspect of our system

364
01:08:57,860 --> 01:09:04,240
getting the care that it deserves, but whether that's going to be done through the BPU regulated rates

365
01:09:04,240 --> 01:09:10,700
approved by them for New Jersey American water or customers who are interfacing with our, you know,

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our one-staff member in the water utility right now is that the expectation would be that, you know,

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we're not assuming that our rates are going to remain flat because we have a lot of capital improvements

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01:09:23,120 --> 01:09:26,000
that were identified and are actually

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01:09:26,000 --> 01:09:29,640
numerated in the response in the bid.

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So what I can commit to you is would love to work with you.

371
01:09:33,400 --> 01:09:35,300
Would absolutely love to see your analysis.

372
01:09:35,680 --> 01:09:39,700
Happy to share what we got back from New Jersey American water.

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And we're just following the statutory requirement

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of getting a ballot initiative.

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01:09:44,900 --> 01:09:49,380
We're not committed one way to a sale or to keep it,

376
01:09:49,380 --> 01:09:50,960
but we're welcoming the conversation

377
01:09:50,960 --> 01:09:57,180
and in order to release all the materials to the community that we've had over two years of working on this,

378
01:09:57,400 --> 01:10:01,140
we'd like to be able to share that with them and do a lot of education about our water

379
01:10:01,140 --> 01:10:06,380
and the existing water utility where we get our water from, which is definitely not South Orange.

380
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So this is a process and I just want you to know we'd love for you to be involved with the process

381
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and offer your expert advice as we go through this.

382
01:10:17,720 --> 01:10:29,420
That's amazing to hear. Thank you so much for the app. We'd really love to work together and thank you for the added context and we'd love to see that information. Is there a that's the way I can follow up with the council about

383
01:10:29,420 --> 01:10:35,160
the chair over some analysis that we've been running the past.

384
01:10:35,460 --> 01:10:40,980
That would be great. If you email clerk's office at South Orange.org.

385
01:10:41,180 --> 01:10:45,860
Ms. Davis will share any correspondence that comes in with the full full governing body.

386
01:10:45,860 --> 01:10:49,460
Okay. Wonderful. Thank you so much. Thanks, Sam.

387
01:10:53,450 --> 01:10:55,550
Miss Davis, do we have any other member of the

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01:10:55,550 --> 01:10:59,870
public that wishes to speak? I'm not saying any other candidates.

389
01:11:03,000 --> 01:11:06,220
Okay, so I did speak with Miss

390
01:11:06,220 --> 01:11:15,620
Griffin earlier today. And I do see that she's on Miss Griffin. I'm just, I'm calling you out

391
01:11:15,620 --> 01:11:18,640
because I thought you wanted to speak. And I wasn't really sure what you were going to say,

392
01:11:18,640 --> 01:11:21,040
but you can use the Raise Your Hand feature

393
01:11:21,040 --> 01:11:23,100
or we have a second public comment period

394
01:11:23,100 --> 01:11:26,360
that happens at the end of the meeting if you want to wait.

395
01:11:27,000 --> 01:11:28,600
But just bring in this to your attention.

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01:11:29,120 --> 01:11:30,720
In case you don't know how to use that feature

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01:11:30,720 --> 01:11:32,160
at the bottom of your screen.

398
01:11:33,900 --> 01:11:35,340
All right, there we go.

399
01:11:35,740 --> 01:11:36,580
Ha ha

400
01:11:38,910 --> 01:11:39,430
ha ha ha ha.

401
01:11:39,430 --> 01:11:40,010
It's beautiful.

402
01:11:40,430 --> 01:11:41,570
There we go.

403
01:11:42,150 --> 01:11:43,630
Ms. Griffin, you're in the meeting.

404
01:11:43,790 --> 01:11:46,050
Please activate your microphone and camera.

405
01:11:54,140 --> 01:11:55,980
There you are, Laura, but you're muted.

406
01:11:56,300 --> 01:11:57,540
We can't hear you.

407
01:12:01,770 --> 01:12:06,030
Sorry, Laura. We're not getting anything. Steven, is there a technical issue?

408
01:12:08,250 --> 01:12:11,170
No technical issue. The system's not showing her microphone.

409
01:12:12,570 --> 01:12:20,790
So it may not be... I mean, I can see it on her screen, but I don't see a way to unmute her.

410
01:12:22,050 --> 01:12:27,590
Nope. And it's not showing on my pegboard. There it is. There's your microphone.

411
01:12:28,350 --> 01:12:29,990
It's there, Laura. You just need to unmute.

412
01:12:31,770 --> 01:12:46,010
There you go. The microphone's finally working. I just I don't have a comment about this. I just want you to know. I'm covering it for the village green. So I'm here. I'm listening. I'm just listening here. I'm the the call. Okay. Thank you.

413
01:12:47,050 --> 01:12:48,010
All right.

414
01:12:50,760 --> 01:12:57,380
Is there any other members of the public mis Davis who wanted to address the governing body?

415
01:12:57,380 --> 01:12:59,480
No others at this time.

416
01:13:00,180 --> 01:13:05,420
Okay, and for anybody who came to speak about the water, just know this is a first reading tonight.

417
01:13:05,620 --> 01:13:09,220
There's a second reading that happens in August.

418
01:13:10,260 --> 01:13:12,240
So there's a second public comment period now,

419
01:13:12,240 --> 01:13:15,960
and then there's another public comment period during its actual hearing,

420
01:13:16,060 --> 01:13:18,420
which will occur at our August 12 meeting.

421
01:13:19,280 --> 01:13:21,660
So I'm going to close the public comment period,

422
01:13:21,780 --> 01:13:23,000
which I think I already did,

423
01:13:23,360 --> 01:13:25,560
and we were going to move on to the approval of minutes.

424
01:13:27,080 --> 01:13:33,220
Yes, so I'm requesting to vote the approval of the Minutes for the meeting that was held

425
01:13:33,220 --> 01:13:35,020
on June 24.

426
01:13:36,260 --> 01:13:40,020
Everyone here is eligible to vote except for Councilor Middleton.

427
01:13:40,500 --> 01:13:40,640
Thank you.

428
01:13:40,720 --> 01:13:41,260
Thank you, Councilor Middleton.

429
01:13:42,520 --> 01:13:42,740
All right.

430
01:13:42,980 --> 01:13:46,120
May I have a motion to approve the regular meeting held on June 24th?

431
01:13:49,030 --> 01:13:49,510
All right.

432
01:13:49,670 --> 01:13:55,450
I'm going to give that one to Councilmember Haskins and a second to Councilmember Lewis Chang.

433
01:13:55,610 --> 01:13:56,670
May I have a roll call, please?

434
01:13:56,670 --> 01:13:58,290
Yes, council member,

435
01:14:03,200 --> 01:14:04,560
council member,

436
01:14:07,870 --> 01:14:09,490
council member, council member Hilton,

437
01:14:10,330 --> 01:14:18,090
abstain, council member Jones, council member Luis Chang, yes,

438
01:14:18,210 --> 01:14:20,270
council member Hassanis.

439
01:14:21,690 --> 01:14:24,510
Madam Mayor, we have four days and two yes, thank you.

440
01:14:24,650 --> 01:14:28,790
Thank you, Ms. Davis, and now we are moving on to ordinances for first reading.

441
01:14:30,070 --> 01:14:54,850
Yes, so we have one ordinance number 2024, that's 15, and one of the South Orange village advancing the sale of the village's water system and walk around in a position to be printed on the ballot for consideration by the borders within the village and for general election on November 3, 2020 for providing for the sale of the water and water system to leaders in the American water industry.

442
01:14:55,430 --> 01:14:59,670
Alright, so before we get started, I'm just going to ask our attorneys.

443
01:15:00,000 --> 01:15:09,380
If you would be willing to do a high-level overview of the contents of this ordinance and the bid that we received.

444
01:15:10,920 --> 01:15:16,880
Sure. The contents of this ordinance are pretty much prescribed by statute.

445
01:15:16,880 --> 01:15:27,740
as required under NJSA, 40 colon 62-5, I think it is that prescribes exactly what it is

446
01:15:27,740 --> 01:15:32,280
that we need to do in order to be able to place this question on the ballot in November.

447
01:15:32,920 --> 01:15:40,300
And so there is a specific language within that chapter of the statute that tells you that

448
01:15:40,300 --> 01:15:44,900
basically what you're doing is awarding a contract, you're not necessarily going forward

449
01:15:44,900 --> 01:15:51,040
with the sale, but you are acknowledging the bid and the general terms of that bid so that you can put it

450
01:15:51,040 --> 01:15:59,300
into the formal question on the ballot and that question is specific in the statute and it just has

451
01:15:59,300 --> 01:16:05,860
blanks that you fill in and that's what we are moving forward with now and that's how we're advancing

452
01:16:05,860 --> 01:16:14,700
this sale is just by following the prescription of the statute in terms of trying to advance this and

453
01:16:14,700 --> 01:16:16,480
get this on the ballot in time,

454
01:16:16,480 --> 01:16:20,180
poor November, so that the voters can make a decision.

455
01:16:21,040 --> 01:16:22,460
And so that there can be some discussion,

456
01:16:22,660 --> 01:16:24,940
public discussion, but we do have that time constraint.

457
01:16:25,420 --> 01:16:27,320
In order to be able to get it to the clerk in time.

458
01:16:29,640 --> 01:16:31,540
Thank you so much, Mr. Otis.

459
01:16:32,800 --> 01:16:36,860
So I am just going to pull out some provisions of the ordinance.

460
01:16:37,180 --> 01:16:40,480
First and foremost, from a process standpoint,

461
01:16:40,780 --> 01:16:45,120
if we're going back two years, we had a water utility task force.

462
01:16:45,120 --> 01:16:47,160
That's what they've been working on.

463
01:16:47,360 --> 01:16:50,300
We've conducted valuations of the water utility.

464
01:16:50,720 --> 01:16:53,000
The first time that we did it was in 2021,

465
01:16:53,340 --> 01:16:55,980
and then it was updated at the end of 2023.

466
01:16:57,160 --> 01:16:59,340
Throughout this process, we have also

467
01:16:59,340 --> 01:17:02,180
had consulting engineers working with us

468
01:17:02,180 --> 01:17:05,740
to look at the various models, a failed being one of them.

469
01:17:05,800 --> 01:17:10,780
But the other one was that we would outsource our O&M,

470
01:17:10,960 --> 01:17:12,560
which is operations and maintenance.

471
01:17:12,560 --> 01:17:16,620
That is the agreement that we have right now with New Jersey American Water.

472
01:17:17,040 --> 01:17:19,040
They are our bulk water supplier.

473
01:17:19,560 --> 01:17:22,560
They are also in charge of operations and maintenance.

474
01:17:23,120 --> 01:17:30,480
We went to that contract after we terminated to say it delicately, the relationship with

475
01:17:30,480 --> 01:17:32,140
East Orange Water Commission.

476
01:17:33,260 --> 01:17:34,500
More to come on that.

477
01:17:34,960 --> 01:17:39,820
So New Jersey American Water is in that role and we have indications for them that while they

478
01:17:39,820 --> 01:17:46,020
continue to supply us water for a very very long period of time. That's in no danger whatsoever

479
01:17:46,020 --> 01:17:53,280
is that they will no longer be interested or have indicated no longer being interested in the

480
01:17:53,280 --> 01:18:01,100
operations and maintenance of our system. So the first option is that we find a relationship similar

481
01:18:01,100 --> 01:18:07,280
to New Jersey American water where we need an O&M person. The second option that was evaluated is

482
01:18:07,280 --> 01:18:10,160
bringing all operations in-house.

483
01:18:10,720 --> 01:18:14,640
So that includes full-time water administrators, support staff,

484
01:18:14,960 --> 01:18:18,940
legal, engineering, everything you could think about similar to like a joint meeting,

485
01:18:19,360 --> 01:18:22,040
where you bring that technical expertise in-house.

486
01:18:22,280 --> 01:18:23,760
You have to prepare for emergencies.

487
01:18:24,380 --> 01:18:27,160
Things of that nature, so we also got some recommendations

488
01:18:27,160 --> 01:18:32,200
of what that staffing plan would look like to insource all aspects of operations

489
01:18:32,200 --> 01:18:34,780
into our own South Orange Water Utility.

490
01:18:34,780 --> 01:18:44,080
The third option was a hybrid of both, taking some of the operations and maintenance and outsourcing that, maintaining more control in-house.

491
01:18:45,060 --> 01:18:47,720
So those were the three options if we didn't sell.

492
01:18:48,300 --> 01:18:50,060
So put them in a bucket together.

493
01:18:50,340 --> 01:18:53,360
That analysis will be shared with the community at large.

494
01:18:53,820 --> 01:18:56,100
And then finally, there was the sale option.

495
01:18:56,580 --> 01:19:02,940
Everything leading up to this discussion obviously was confidential, deliberative, and contract negotiations,

496
01:19:02,940 --> 01:19:07,740
because we'd never want to project out to any third party who would be bidding on the system.

497
01:19:08,520 --> 01:19:14,120
What I would claim is proprietary knowledge to the village as a part of a negotiation process.

498
01:19:14,880 --> 01:19:18,880
So once and if this ordinance does pass on first and second reading,

499
01:19:19,360 --> 01:19:22,560
we would then share all of that information with the community.

500
01:19:23,500 --> 01:19:31,260
Simultaneously, while we had figures on what this would mean for the village in all three scenarios and a potential sale.

501
01:19:31,260 --> 01:19:39,180
again, knowing the number from evaluation. We now have Phoenix advisors who works with us on looking

502
01:19:39,180 --> 01:19:45,060
at debt planning for long-term investments, our capital improvement plan, our water rates

503
01:19:45,060 --> 01:19:51,160
compared to what New Jersey American waters offer is within their existing rate tariffs,

504
01:19:51,480 --> 01:19:55,740
and what those five years will look like. All of that is also going to be shared with the public

505
01:19:55,740 --> 01:20:01,740
of a better indication of what it will look like on one track versus the other track. We're

506
01:20:01,740 --> 01:20:07,800
expected to receive that this month and prior to the second reading and public hearing. And then

507
01:20:07,800 --> 01:20:13,120
our goal is to really do a lot of community outreach. I think that there's I don't want to say

508
01:20:13,120 --> 01:20:20,020
misinformation but a lack of information of knowing about our water infrastructure, about how do we

509
01:20:20,020 --> 01:20:26,080
know about our water quality, how do rates get established, what does it mean to be a private

510
01:20:26,080 --> 01:20:32,700
entity that is publicly regulated? A lot of our issues I just shared with the community

511
01:20:32,700 --> 01:20:38,580
member for those who lived here when we had East Orange Water Commission, that resulted in

512
01:20:38,580 --> 01:20:46,840
imprisonment and it resulted in also a legal settlement and that entity was a public utility.

513
01:20:46,840 --> 01:20:59,580
There is going to be ups and downsides with whoever we go with, but to reinforce that this is a private utility or private company that is publicly regulated by the state of New Jersey.

514
01:21:00,320 --> 01:21:07,180
So I'm sure that discussion with food and water watch, they will also separate that because that's not the same throughout the country.

515
01:21:08,180 --> 01:21:12,080
That's all we're doing at this point is authorizing a process to continue.

516
01:21:12,080 --> 01:21:31,040
The alternative to that is to reject all bids and just forge right ahead with coming up with one of the three options and at this time the majority of the village council wants to proceed with sharing more information going through a very thoughtful and transparent process and getting to November.

517
01:21:31,040 --> 01:21:37,160
Once the November vote happens, if the community votes it down, then we have to perceive

518
01:21:37,160 --> 01:21:42,140
one of those three options, as I just mentioned, is outsourcing O&M, taking everything

519
01:21:42,140 --> 01:21:50,280
in in-house or a hybrid of both, if the community says yes, that also doesn't bind this

520
01:21:50,280 --> 01:21:58,000
village council to approving a sale agreement. But in order for us to approve a sale agreement,

521
01:21:58,000 --> 01:22:03,540
if the majority of the council would like to, it does need to be reinforced with the voters in November.

522
01:22:04,420 --> 01:22:08,500
And we are expecting a very high-turned-out election. It is a presidential election cycle,

523
01:22:08,960 --> 01:22:14,600
which is good. And we're right now committing to do our absolute best in sharing information.

524
01:22:15,800 --> 01:22:21,760
I don't believe that we get anywhere. If there's any type of misinformation about something as

525
01:22:21,760 --> 01:22:27,720
important as water, water quality, our water infrastructure, and that's why we've committed

526
01:22:27,720 --> 01:22:29,980
so many resources and studies and...

527
01:22:30,000 --> 01:22:47,820
Time for our staff and community volunteers to really evaluate that. So that is what this ordinance is. And if it does pass, there will be the second reading in August and immediately following that will release a community plan that we're still developing of how we're going to do outreach.

528
01:22:47,820 --> 01:22:51,080
They weren't just, they won't just be virtual meetings like this.

529
01:22:51,260 --> 01:22:55,940
We're still waiting for our, our room at the Bayard Center for official village meetings.

530
01:22:56,020 --> 01:23:02,760
But we'll have the mix of in-person meetings, FAQs, virtual meetings, any specific stakeholder meetings, etc.

531
01:23:03,080 --> 01:23:04,880
So the community can expect that.

532
01:23:04,900 --> 01:23:05,920
You deserve that.

533
01:23:06,100 --> 01:23:12,020
And quite frankly, we deserve to share that with you since there has been so much work that has been leading up to this moment.

534
01:23:13,980 --> 01:23:16,760
Mr. Otis did, did that pretty much capture?

535
01:23:18,460 --> 01:23:23,840
Yes, I tried to give that high level view, but I do appreciate the historical context that you gave.

536
01:23:24,560 --> 01:23:25,520
Yes, that was good. Thank you.

537
01:23:25,980 --> 01:23:35,940
And lastly, as the ordinance states, the first is that the bid, the actual bid, is $19.7 million.

538
01:23:35,940 --> 01:23:54,060
It is required under statute that first that money that is received by the village first goes to retiring debt associated with our water utility and next must move to municipal debt to retire municipal debt.

539
01:23:54,060 --> 01:24:00,300
more to come on that, but what you're looking about is 16 to 16.5 million in water utility debt.

540
01:24:00,320 --> 01:24:05,740
We have more authorized, but right now our existing obligations is that, and the balance,

541
01:24:05,880 --> 01:24:11,960
whether it's 33.5 million would go towards municipal debt. That's currently on the books.

542
01:24:12,540 --> 01:24:20,020
The next aspect of it was at least $50 million of capital improvements. We didn't specify it in the

543
01:24:20,020 --> 01:24:29,160
But it was communicated to us via the proposal that we received is that the 50 million would occur in the first 10 years.

544
01:24:30,120 --> 01:24:35,840
The next aspect is the availability of the H2O Help to Others program.

545
01:24:36,260 --> 01:24:44,380
This is a unique program that's offered by New Jersey American Water for ratepayers who whether have not paid their bills or they need more assistance.

546
01:24:44,380 --> 01:24:48,040
That's specified by your household income things of that nature.

547
01:24:48,040 --> 01:24:56,440
And then we did have a public comment that there is some vagueness to two of these bullet points, and that was intentional.

548
01:24:57,220 --> 01:25:03,240
The first was the provision of water service to municipal properties without a cost for a period of years.

549
01:25:03,360 --> 01:25:11,820
That is something that the villages actively negotiating, and we hope to have that information by the next meeting.

550
01:25:11,820 --> 01:25:21,260
And the other aspect that some of you may or may not know is that there is a fire hydrant

551
01:25:21,260 --> 01:25:30,040
tariff that we would pay $29 in a little bit of change each month for every hydrant in the

552
01:25:30,040 --> 01:25:30,820
municipality.

553
01:25:31,460 --> 01:25:36,140
This amounts to give or take rough estimate around $375,000.

554
01:25:37,040 --> 01:25:45,440
And so we're also working on that to see if we can have a phase and on that cost, more aggressive discount in the initial years.

555
01:25:46,620 --> 01:25:57,100
And so that's why it's vague in the ordinance right now is those are, that's not going to be on the ballot, but those are the considerations that we're continuing to work on after the bid came in.

556
01:25:57,100 --> 01:26:03,200
And then lastly, there was the assumption of led line replacement.

557
01:26:04,300 --> 01:26:07,460
Now Mr. Otis, one of the commenters had said,

558
01:26:07,860 --> 01:26:17,480
it's not specified within the ordinance that that is for both the customer and the utility side.

559
01:26:17,800 --> 01:26:21,500
I've read the ordinance, I didn't realize that was the case,

560
01:26:21,880 --> 01:26:26,380
but that is a very minor adjustment under the explanation

561
01:26:26,380 --> 01:26:30,700
to know a assumption of lead line service line,

562
01:26:30,700 --> 01:26:34,220
a assumption of lead line lead service line replacement

563
01:26:34,220 --> 01:26:36,840
on the utility and customer side.

564
01:26:38,760 --> 01:26:39,960
Is that okay with you?

565
01:26:40,680 --> 01:26:44,100
Well, yes, and I think that we have to get an understanding with regard to that.

566
01:26:44,220 --> 01:26:48,240
I believe that the comment is not an inappropriate comment

567
01:26:48,240 --> 01:26:52,580
with regard to lead service line replacement.

568
01:26:52,860 --> 01:26:56,540
I think it is, they will assume we're placing both sides

569
01:26:56,540 --> 01:27:03,680
and they'll pay for the utility side on their own, and I do think that they will enjoy the private

570
01:27:03,680 --> 01:27:13,380
regulated utility, has some type of way of, I don't know what the proper term is, and that's

571
01:27:13,380 --> 01:27:19,580
why I'm hesitating. But I don't want the perception to be that the customer side is not

572
01:27:19,580 --> 01:27:24,200
ultimately have passed on in some form or fashion.

573
01:27:24,540 --> 01:27:27,240
I don't think it is the same amount, obviously,

574
01:27:27,680 --> 01:27:29,620
that they would pay if we had to pay it.

575
01:27:30,000 --> 01:27:31,260
Or they paid it themselves.

576
01:27:32,660 --> 01:27:34,880
There is a lot of benefit for them

577
01:27:34,880 --> 01:27:36,420
having to put this money up front.

578
01:27:37,840 --> 01:27:39,840
Clyde, would you have any objection

579
01:27:39,840 --> 01:27:42,760
because it is consistent with the proposal that we received

580
01:27:42,760 --> 01:27:46,760
for us to just make a real time amendment,

581
01:27:46,760 --> 01:27:52,060
assumption of lead service line replacement, both utility and customer.

582
01:27:53,580 --> 01:27:56,360
No, we can put that in for the second reading.

583
01:27:56,800 --> 01:28:04,880
Okay, great. Yeah, just clarity on that. I'm sure people are interested, especially if they're one of the households that may have.

584
01:28:05,620 --> 01:28:13,040
The utility line led or galvanized is that this falls under, again, assuming a sale.

585
01:28:13,040 --> 01:28:18,440
this would fall under New Jersey American water and how they are handling it is that for customers

586
01:28:18,440 --> 01:28:23,220
all throughout New Jersey and a New Jersey American water I think is a little less than a third

587
01:28:23,220 --> 01:28:30,920
is that there is a special assessment that is put against all rate payers rather than the customer

588
01:28:30,920 --> 01:28:37,500
only being responsible for that. So that is and that was approved by the BPU but as a part of this

589
01:28:37,500 --> 01:28:42,720
agreement it is both sides the utility and the customer side and if you have any questions about

590
01:28:42,720 --> 01:28:44,680
that you could look no further than Maplewood,

591
01:28:45,120 --> 01:28:47,120
because Maplewood already has this contract.

592
01:28:47,560 --> 01:28:50,700
It's system is already owned by New Jersey American water,

593
01:28:51,500 --> 01:28:53,080
and they receive water from it.

594
01:28:53,340 --> 01:28:55,440
So some of those residents have already begun

595
01:28:55,440 --> 01:28:58,680
the Lead Line Replacement Process for their households.

596
01:29:01,750 --> 01:29:03,490
Council members, is there anything additional

597
01:29:03,490 --> 01:29:05,650
that you want to add to that explanation

598
01:29:05,650 --> 01:29:07,350
or anything that I missed?

599
01:29:10,930 --> 01:29:12,970
Okay, seeing none, and again,

600
01:29:13,070 --> 01:29:15,170
this is an introduction of an ordinance,

601
01:29:15,170 --> 01:29:20,050
the second reading and public hearing will be at the first meeting in August.

602
01:29:21,010 --> 01:29:27,110
And so, yeah, there's plenty of time and a few months after that is when we're going to be doing community engagement.

603
01:29:27,570 --> 01:29:36,210
May of emotion to introduce ordinance 2024-15.

604
01:29:38,220 --> 01:29:46,740
If you have emotion from Councilwoman Jones, is there a second? Seconded by Councilwoman Greenberg, may I have a roll call please?

605
01:29:46,740 --> 01:29:54,580
Yes, council member Lillus King, council member

606
01:29:57,910 --> 01:29:58,750
Haskins?

607
01:29:59,450 --> 01:29:59,770
No.

608
01:30:01,100 --> 01:30:10,940
Councilwoman Hilton, council member Greenberg, yes, and councilwoman Jones.

609
01:30:14,610 --> 01:30:19,850
Now the mail we have, boy, yes, two-mode, one-mode and cows.

610
01:30:20,730 --> 01:30:33,730
Okay, thank you, Ms. Davis. And now we are moving on to, I'm sorry, that's right. Council member Hilton, could you please set this down?

611
01:30:34,630 --> 01:30:38,630
It's um, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry about that.

612
01:30:38,990 --> 01:30:40,070
Thank you, Mayor Column.

613
01:30:40,330 --> 01:30:46,850
I move that the public hearing for Ernest 2024, just 15 shall be at the Village Council meeting on August

614
01:30:46,850 --> 01:30:53,830
12, 2024 as seven o'clock PM. On this date, the council members may take further action. The Village

615
01:30:53,830 --> 01:30:58,770
Clerk is directed to see that this ordinance is published in the official newspaper and post it

616
01:30:58,770 --> 01:31:03,090
in an open place in a municipal office. Is there a second?

617
01:31:06,390 --> 01:31:11,610
Seconded by Councilman Lewis Chang, all those in favor, please say aye.

618
01:31:12,170 --> 01:31:12,350
Aye.

619
01:31:13,070 --> 01:31:13,890
Any opposed?

620
01:31:15,470 --> 01:31:19,230
Okay. Moving on to resolutions on consent agenda.

621
01:31:20,050 --> 01:31:21,670
Yes, so we have members.

622
01:31:22,350 --> 01:31:25,310
Resolution number 20, 24 days, 182.

623
01:31:25,690 --> 01:31:27,670
In 20, 24 days, 16.

624
01:31:29,150 --> 01:31:29,610
Okay.

625
01:31:29,610 --> 01:31:34,710
What any of the members like to pull out any of these items for separate action or discussion?

626
01:31:37,380 --> 01:31:42,020
Seeing none, I just want to bring attention to resolution 2024-186.

627
01:31:43,400 --> 01:31:49,420
This is the resolution requesting state and federal representatives to improve New Jersey transit and Amtrak services.

628
01:31:50,020 --> 01:31:57,960
I can't emphasize enough the importance of short-term relief in particular for our commuting community.

629
01:31:57,960 --> 01:32:02,140
We were thrilled to see that 200 people over 200 people

630
01:32:02,140 --> 01:32:04,760
pre-registered for the community form that we had.

631
01:32:05,120 --> 01:32:09,640
We did follow up with every level of government,

632
01:32:10,620 --> 01:32:14,200
specifying the significance of what our communities are facing.

633
01:32:14,780 --> 01:32:19,360
There were some great news today released by the Gateway Development Corporation

634
01:32:19,360 --> 01:32:21,640
on the future of the tunnel and things like that.

635
01:32:21,700 --> 01:32:23,880
But we do need immediate relief right now.

636
01:32:24,180 --> 01:32:26,720
I want to thank Mayor Nancy Adams and Maplewood

637
01:32:26,720 --> 01:32:33,800
and committee member Victor Luka, they work to create this draft, which we will gladly adopt,

638
01:32:34,180 --> 01:32:39,600
and it is the hope to share this with other mayors and keep the pressure up on state and federal

639
01:32:39,600 --> 01:32:46,120
officials on short-term immediate relief that's needed right now for our commuters who are

640
01:32:46,120 --> 01:32:51,460
still dealing with this issue. And it's funny that, well, it's not funny, it's ironic it

641
01:32:51,460 --> 01:32:58,520
funds with so many years where the summer months have really led to significant problems for

642
01:32:58,520 --> 01:33:02,380
commuters and we want to be a part of advocating for them the best that we can.

643
01:33:03,740 --> 01:33:08,200
So thank you to everybody and all of you who participated in the community forum and especially

644
01:33:08,200 --> 01:33:14,320
to all the members of the community who came out. Also note is that unbeknownst to me but somebody sent

645
01:33:14,320 --> 01:33:19,540
it to me was that there's a working committee of New Jersey transit that deals with customers and

646
01:33:19,540 --> 01:33:24,880
service delivery, etc. And after that was sent to me, I thought it would be a great opportunity

647
01:33:24,880 --> 01:33:29,180
to have representatives from South Orange and Maplewood either attend the meeting or submit

648
01:33:29,180 --> 01:33:36,540
comments. So we use the email distribution from the pre registrations to the meeting and also

649
01:33:36,540 --> 01:33:43,760
the New Jersey film a commutes Facebook group. And definitely over 150 comments was were submitted

650
01:33:43,760 --> 01:33:48,340
because people let me know that they submitted comments, which is fantastic. And also there was

651
01:33:48,340 --> 01:33:53,760
members like Erin Scherzer of Maplewood who showed up virtually to the meeting and spoke

652
01:33:53,760 --> 01:33:57,600
on behalf of our commuters. So we're really grateful that they did that called action

653
01:33:57,600 --> 01:34:04,180
and was immediately with less than 10 hours before the meeting. So that's how I got. Do I have

654
01:34:04,180 --> 01:34:06,300
a motion to approve the consent agenda?

655
01:34:09,780 --> 01:34:15,140
Is there a second? We have a motion from Council Member

656
01:34:15,140 --> 01:34:20,820
Hilton, seconded by Council Member Haskins, may I have a roll call please.

657
01:34:21,700 --> 01:34:22,760
And, Jones?

658
01:34:23,600 --> 01:34:24,160
Yes.

659
01:34:24,980 --> 01:34:26,560
Council Member Lish King.

660
01:34:28,690 --> 01:34:29,850
Council Member Brown.

661
01:34:31,900 --> 01:34:32,180
Yes.

662
01:34:32,860 --> 01:34:34,280
Council Member Greenberg.

663
01:34:35,860 --> 01:34:37,060
Council Member Haskins.

664
01:34:37,760 --> 01:34:37,900
Yes.

665
01:34:38,620 --> 01:34:40,100
And Council Member Hickson.

666
01:34:41,780 --> 01:34:43,900
Oh, man, may I have six, eight, and then some games.

667
01:34:44,820 --> 01:34:45,200
All right.

668
01:34:45,200 --> 01:34:47,880
and we have one resolution for separate action.

669
01:34:48,200 --> 01:34:51,420
Yes, number 20, 24, there's 187, it's a resolution

670
01:34:51,420 --> 01:34:53,480
about being a South American vote.

671
01:34:53,660 --> 01:34:57,860
Central Lions, VBA, South Orange, downtown, this video,

672
01:34:58,220 --> 01:34:59,960
2024, not the waiting budget.

673
01:35:00,720 --> 01:35:03,160
OK, this is also a public hearing.

674
01:35:03,400 --> 01:35:06,000
Is there any member of the public that wishes to speak

675
01:35:06,000 --> 01:35:08,840
on the South Orange downtown budget?

676
01:35:11,540 --> 01:35:13,540
I'm seeing any familiar greetings.

677
01:35:15,320 --> 01:35:17,220
All right, I'll close the public comment

678
01:35:17,220 --> 01:35:24,100
period. And again, before we go into a vote on this, I just want to reinforce how incredible

679
01:35:24,100 --> 01:35:30,740
Melissa and Lisa are. They're just killing it. And I mean, the big takeaway from the budget

680
01:35:30,740 --> 01:35:35,020
is that they're raising more money assessments are doing well and they've been able to reduce

681
01:35:35,020 --> 01:35:42,080
the village contribution. I can't say enough about them. Honestly, the downtown is bustling.

682
01:35:42,080 --> 01:35:47,300
There is always activities, there's always special events, there's farmers' markets, there's

683
01:35:48,060 --> 01:35:53,180
just the music that's happening, the Fasad Magic Grant Program, a really engaged

684
01:35:53,180 --> 01:35:53,580
board.

685
01:35:53,740 --> 01:36:00,160
They've been supportive of the Soma collab.

686
01:36:01,240 --> 01:36:04,520
They've been there to offer assistance, so they're tremendous.

687
01:36:04,760 --> 01:36:08,840
I'm not sure if they're ever going to watch this meeting, but it's good to say this even

688
01:36:08,840 --> 01:36:13,020
when they're not watching is that we're so grateful for the work that they do, how engaged

689
01:36:13,020 --> 01:36:19,620
they are, they're follow up and the community benefit of South Orange downtown. Not that, I hope

690
01:36:19,620 --> 01:36:23,620
that doesn't put too much pressure on you to adopt their budget, but you won't know that.

691
01:36:24,060 --> 01:36:30,800
What I just said is so true. Yes, Councilmember Hilton. You bet. Madam Mayor, I also want to do a shout out

692
01:36:30,800 --> 01:36:38,000
as a budget nerd. Their budget format is so excellent. If you're ever wondering what they do,

693
01:36:38,000 --> 01:36:44,020
why they do it, what's the priority, what's the strategic goal, it's right there in the numbers.

694
01:36:44,240 --> 01:36:45,780
And it's just, it's just fantastic.

695
01:36:46,140 --> 01:36:50,620
So I just really think it's applaud them for the clearly tons and tons and tons of effort.

696
01:36:51,000 --> 01:36:52,280
It goes into this document.

697
01:36:52,880 --> 01:36:58,560
And it's just, it's very well done and it's very helpful for us to appreciate the good work that they do.

698
01:36:59,620 --> 01:36:59,680
Amen.

699
01:37:00,600 --> 01:37:01,940
Any other comments?

700
01:37:01,940 --> 01:37:08,940
All right, may I have a motion to approve Resolution 2024-187?

701
01:37:11,820 --> 01:37:16,020
All right, we have a motion from Council Member Hilton, is there a second?

702
01:37:16,260 --> 01:37:20,100
Second, second and by Councilwoman Greenberg, may I have a roll call please?

703
01:37:21,320 --> 01:37:23,240
Yes, Council Member Haskins,

704
01:37:25,740 --> 01:37:26,820
Council Member Boyle,

705
01:37:29,580 --> 01:37:29,980
Council Member Boyle.

706
01:37:31,920 --> 01:37:43,360
Yes, councilwoman films, councilwoman greener, yes, councilwoman Hilton, man, may we have 60A's motion

707
01:37:43,360 --> 01:37:44,200
payments.

708
01:37:44,960 --> 01:37:50,960
Thank you very much, and now we are on to councilmember Hillham's favorite part of the meeting,

709
01:37:51,180 --> 01:37:52,640
the approval of bills.

710
01:37:54,000 --> 01:37:59,320
Thank you, mayor, I make a motion that we approve a resolution

711
01:37:59,320 --> 01:38:04,500
in 2024-188, authorizing the payment of bills and the issuance of checks for the period

712
01:38:04,500 --> 01:38:05,900
through July 8th, 2024,

713
01:38:08,020 --> 01:38:11,440
and we all have received a copy of the detail in advance of

714
01:38:12,340 --> 01:38:13,240
our vote.

715
01:38:14,260 --> 01:38:16,220
Is there a second?

716
01:38:16,480 --> 01:38:16,760
Second.

717
01:38:17,940 --> 01:38:23,180
We have a motion from Councilmember Hilton, seconded by Councilwoman Jones, may I roll call, please?

718
01:38:24,480 --> 01:38:24,900
Yes.

719
01:38:24,900 --> 01:38:35,860
Council member Luis Payne, Council member Brown, yes, Council member Greenville, Council member

720
01:38:35,860 --> 01:38:45,980
Haspins, Councilwoman Jones, Councilwoman Holtzins, yes, Madam Mayor, we have CTA motion

721
01:38:45,980 --> 01:38:46,660
families.

722
01:38:47,000 --> 01:38:48,600
Hi, thank you very much, Mr. Davis.

723
01:38:48,800 --> 01:38:53,860
I can keep my report very short, and I can also speak on behalf of the Administrator Julie

724
01:38:53,860 --> 01:38:59,300
is everything has been about the bids that we received on the water utility. So we're compiling

725
01:38:59,300 --> 01:39:04,920
the necessary information, having the meetings that need to occur, preparing for the public

726
01:39:04,920 --> 01:39:13,600
presentation, getting answers in that will be the source of an FAQ, so that has been the primary

727
01:39:15,140 --> 01:39:21,420
issue that has taken a lot of time over the past couple weeks. And Miss Doran isn't with us tonight,

728
01:39:21,420 --> 01:39:28,880
But we do have Deputy Administrator, P Traverse, Mr. Traverse, would you like to provide any updates to the board?

729
01:39:30,500 --> 01:39:35,840
Update. We notice a typo in the most recent issue of the gas light in the tax office section.

730
01:39:36,160 --> 01:39:42,460
It lists the due date for third quarter taxes as August 14th when it should say August 1st.

731
01:39:43,280 --> 01:39:49,020
And notice, we'll be sent out from the tax office, letting everyone know what the duty is.

732
01:39:49,100 --> 01:39:52,280
But I just wanted to make that a word, everyone, that there is a tape going to guess that.

733
01:39:52,320 --> 01:39:59,440
Okay, and in the event, not to put you on the spot, but given that if somebody does not see that,

734
01:39:59,440 --> 01:40:05,440
or they don't see the correspondence that comes after it, we typically have a grace period, do we not?

735
01:40:05,440 --> 01:40:10,640
We do have a grace period. The grace period will end on August 12th, which means

736
01:40:10,640 --> 01:40:16,120
interest group crew starting on the 13th back to the first. So it there's a gap

737
01:40:17,000 --> 01:40:22,480
there between those two dates. Okay, if you can follow up with Ms. Ware and see if

738
01:40:22,480 --> 01:40:26,220
there's anything there we can do if we receive the payment and somebody didn't get it

739
01:40:26,220 --> 01:40:30,260
because I understand what it looks like when we have a typo that goes out in the

740
01:40:30,260 --> 01:40:35,140
expectations. So if there's something we can do that gets us to the 14th date for the

741
01:40:35,140 --> 01:40:41,620
period that would be lovely. Well, do. All right, any questions of our Deputy Administrator?

742
01:40:43,680 --> 01:40:51,820
All right. Now moving on to, I'm sorry, I skipped over your report. I'm sorry,

743
01:40:52,520 --> 01:40:57,800
but Village Attorney's Report, and I think I can report on your behalf. Clyde, is that you've been

744
01:40:57,800 --> 01:40:58,840
working on the water.

745
01:41:00,860 --> 01:41:05,320
I got a thumbs up on that. Now we will go to the council members. I'll

746
01:41:05,320 --> 01:41:12,420
start with council woman Hilton. Yeah, do I get a gold star for submitting my bullets?

747
01:41:12,780 --> 01:41:17,040
Right. Love your billet points. You are the best. There you go. So I just want to keep everyone

748
01:41:17,040 --> 01:41:23,060
up to date on our library construction project. So I know we haven't broken ground yet. And

749
01:41:23,060 --> 01:41:27,280
we probably won't for a little while, but lots and lots and lots of work is going on behind the

750
01:41:27,280 --> 01:41:32,640
All of our professionals are busy working on finalizing the construction documents.

751
01:41:34,180 --> 01:41:41,860
And we did just pass, you know, consent agenda, the resolution authorizing the award

752
01:41:41,860 --> 01:41:46,420
for the asbestos for mediation, the cleanup of the existing library.

753
01:41:46,960 --> 01:41:49,660
So that will happen sometime in the near future.

754
01:41:50,180 --> 01:41:54,300
And so people will see a lot of activity around the main building.

755
01:41:54,300 --> 01:42:02,060
around cleaning up asbestos, but we're aiming to have that be completed by the 15th of September.

756
01:42:02,400 --> 01:42:04,220
Mr. Travers, is that correct?

757
01:42:04,560 --> 01:42:05,400
That is correct.

758
01:42:06,140 --> 01:42:12,380
So, and then back to the process for the library construction, once our construction documents are complete,

759
01:42:12,920 --> 01:42:18,000
then that whole package has to go down to Trenton and they have to review it.

760
01:42:18,080 --> 01:42:21,940
And we don't know how long they take to finalize that.

761
01:42:21,940 --> 01:42:30,180
So, there's still a lot of administrative pieces that have to happen before we get to actually go out to bid for this process, but for this project.

762
01:42:30,740 --> 01:42:37,900
But just know, I wanted to know that there's lots and lots of work going on and behind the scenes on moving this project forward.

763
01:42:38,380 --> 01:42:40,860
And happy to answer any questions, if anyone has any.

764
01:42:43,170 --> 01:42:49,930
Thank you very much. Councilman Hilton, and then you also have the active recreation for older adults.

765
01:42:50,370 --> 01:42:53,790
Oh, I'm sorry. That's right. So we have a ton of new.

766
01:42:53,790 --> 01:42:55,610
I'm sorry, my daughter's making a love voice.

767
01:42:56,170 --> 01:42:59,870
We have a ton of new programming for active older adults,

768
01:43:00,690 --> 01:43:05,450
both in sort of movement as well as art kind of things.

769
01:43:05,990 --> 01:43:08,750
So I just wanted to highlight that they've been very, very popular,

770
01:43:08,990 --> 01:43:13,510
but we've got a new round of classes that are going to be getting going in September.

771
01:43:13,650 --> 01:43:17,530
And so that registration is going to happen soon if it's not up and up already.

772
01:43:17,870 --> 01:43:19,190
But I just want to do a shout out.

773
01:43:19,190 --> 01:43:26,830
The rec staff has been doing Yomans work on finding new interesting classes that are just

774
01:43:26,830 --> 01:43:33,450
really fun and great for everybody to participate in to this just a little extra shout out.

775
01:43:34,010 --> 01:43:38,370
Awesome. Any questions for Councilwoman Hilton?

776
01:43:39,610 --> 01:43:44,630
All right. If any other member of the governing body has any updates, even if you don't have bullet points?

777
01:43:44,630 --> 01:43:46,510
Now is your time.

778
01:43:51,380 --> 01:43:56,700
Alright, seeing none, we are now going to move on to the second public comment period.

779
01:43:57,180 --> 01:44:01,840
If any member of the public would like to address the governing body, please use the

780
01:44:01,840 --> 01:44:07,000
raise your hand feature and state your name and address for the record and please limit your

781
01:44:07,000 --> 01:44:08,420
comments to three minutes.

782
01:44:09,180 --> 01:44:13,060
Ms. Davis, is there any member of the public that wishes to address the village council?

783
01:44:18,100 --> 01:44:27,020
Okay, I will close the public comment period and now we will move on to new business.

784
01:44:28,800 --> 01:44:30,740
Anybody got any new business?

785
01:44:32,140 --> 01:44:34,740
All right, well, then I hope to see everybody on Wednesday night.

786
01:44:35,000 --> 01:44:35,720
Let's go.

787
01:44:36,180 --> 01:44:38,180
We're all the action is occurring.

788
01:44:39,420 --> 01:44:44,100
Right now, I'll criminarily tell people that we're set to have both meetings and

789
01:44:44,100 --> 01:44:48,980
But that may change. We've got a lot of business going on with the village normally during the month of August

790
01:44:48,980 --> 01:44:55,600
We don't have a second meeting right now. It's still on the calendar. So stay tuned on that and

791
01:44:57,080 --> 01:44:59,980
Yeah, that's that's about it and again don't forget about the

792
01:45:00,000 --> 01:45:21,920
Do not approach any bears. We had some bear sightings. And most importantly, if you see a bear, contact us. Contact the police. Like immediately. It's good for us to know that. So if any alerts or notifications need to go out to our residents, they're prepared. And we also can keep any schools in mind, also depending on where any bear sightings might be.

793
01:45:21,920 --> 01:45:29,200
Alright, I will turn it over to the one, the only, it's never the same when she's not here.

794
01:45:30,000 --> 01:45:31,260
Councilman Jones.

795
01:45:34,300 --> 01:45:35,660
Thank you.

796
01:45:36,240 --> 01:45:36,820
Thank you.

797
01:45:37,080 --> 01:45:38,040
Good night everyone.

798
01:45:46,220 --> 01:45:50,040
Gentlemen, I know when the live has stopped.