The Record

During public comment, residents raised: the outgoing Tax Assessor's service; a rehabilitation-grant loan's repayment terms; the Water Carnival and Parade, and a request for cleats on the H dock; an upcoming candidate forum; cost and scope questions on several resolutions, including the Kirby Farm preservation acreage, the Bicycle Pedestrian Action Plan, the Urban Enterprise Zone grant, the billboard bid, and the number of well flow meters being purchased; the bill list total; requests for pothole repair, BMIA building maintenance, and Veterans Park improvements; the status of the EMS building and Sycamore Hall; ambulance availability and the recent sale of a township ambulance; the Planning Board's Master Plan process and meeting attendance; support for a pending union contract; advance access to resolutions before meetings; dogs at large; the size of a proposed employee pay increase; the Urban Enterprise Zone boundary; upcoming Historic Trust events; E. coli levels in Mirror Lake; the status of the budget and a solar project; zoning of the former college property; and tree removal near the ACME property, including developer payments and whether an endangered-species study had been done.

During public comment, residents raised: recognition of the Police Department during a road paving project; the number of bids received for the upcoming trash/recycling contract and tipping-fee costs; whether an employee cost-saving incentive program exists; contact with other towns and the New Jersey League of Municipalities on shared challenges; the timeline for a parade permit request; year-round availability of portable toilets; volunteer recruitment for the Fire Department; the status of Mirror Lake dam lighting and a Route 206-area shared-services agreement; the bill list total; the status of negotiations for the EMS building and Sycamore Hall; upcoming Historic Trust and Blueberry Festival events; a rental-properties ordinance's language, including whether it improperly combines business and residential rules; road conditions and a request that Public Works document needed repairs; the status of a mortgage-lien discharge; the Economic and Development Committee's work; the status of a proposed solar panel project; grocery-store recruitment efforts for a redevelopment site; and tree removal near the ACME property, including replacement requirements and developer payments toward a tree-replenishment fund.

During the budget public hearing, residents asked about: the amount to be raised by taxation and the expenditures driving it; the sale of municipal assets and how the resulting funds would be replaced; the sale of the former Browns Mills Shopping Center property and bond-anticipation-note fees; efforts to reduce trash fees; the causes of higher healthcare and liability costs; salary increases and how much reflected contractual obligations; the decrease in legal-services spending; the projected 2026 surplus; a proposed $500,000 set-aside for a splash park; total full-time-equivalent payroll compared with 2025; the Uniform Construction Code section of the budget; the increase in bond and capital-note payments; availability of printed budget copies for residents; and why the budget hearing was scheduled during a regular council meeting.