recording in progress that's our queue it is 7:02 welcome to Bedminster Township this is our regularly scheduled Township committee meeting March 18 2024 recognize we have a quarum of Township committee here in town hall with committee Min Stevenson commit man hickey committee woman Fernandez committee woman moresi has an excused absence Miss Ray may we please have the open public meetings act stating yes mayor adequate notice of this meeting the township committee was sent to The Courier News Somerville Burnsville news whiy and to all subscribers and post at the Township Municipal Building on January 5th 2024 great thank you please join me in standing for the Pledge of Allegiance I plge allegiance to the flag the United States ofor and to the Republic for stand Nation God indivisible andice for all okay this is the uh time of the meeting we open up the microphone or the zoom session for public comments any member of the public wish to Connected statement now is your opportunity seeing none here online seeing none online and none in person do have one set of meeting minutes to approve that's the time ship committee meeting minutes from March 4 2024 any comments or questions regarding those minutes seeing none take a motion to approve so moved second all in favor thank you we have four sets of permits and Raffles to go through first is a seasonal Farmers Market permit for burn M cider ater Farmers Market we improve that one no that was and that's beginning May 25 and running through December 7 2024 next is a social Fair permit to benefit New Jersey turf grass foundation on May 6 20124 from 8:00 a.m to 6: pm at Fiddler's El Country Club a social Fair permit to benefit Raritan Headwaters Association on June 2nd 2024 from 2: p.m. to 7:00 p.m. fair for wildlife preserve and the last is an un premis merchandise raffle to benefit the center for contemporary art on April 21 2024 from 300 P.M to 5:00 p.m. at the center for contemporary art questions or comments regarding the permits and Raffles say none take motion to approve so moved second all in favor I thank you monthly report discussion by subcommittee chair committee M Stevenson we'll start with you thank you mayor good evening everybody um store PR we have not uh met uh this month yet we'll be meeting I believe coming up this Thursday so I'll report for you then uh the next meeting uh as for DPW uh update from Kevin we're getting the obviously the fields ready for the spring Seasons hopefully an end to the snow but we'll see if that comes to pass um doing uh some clean up at Parks from the wind we had some wind events recently so we've got a lot of down branches we've been doing a lot of clean up there um River Road Pavilion uh if anybody seen it it's up there looks really nice they're going to be pouring a um the pad coming up soon uh so that's going to be hopefully finish soon it looks really nice um and they're obviously doing some uh pothole repair a little bit more permanent basis now the weather's turned some so um the only other thing we've got coming up in the future we've got uh Kevin's got a meeting with Pac and Burnville um to talk about the grant that Robin's going to be working out to get a sweeper okay great okay thank you come he thank good evening all uh border of Health uh this month's meeting is cancelled because we have no new applications uh Board of Ed I did attend last Thursday's Board of Ed meeting which was standing room only as Jay can probably tell you that's where all the action happens these days there are two big issues uh the teachers are working without a current contract which remains under good faith negotiations and secondly the parents want to make sure that the current math curriculum aligns more closely with the overall Somerset Hills School District so that Bedminster students are not at a perceived disadvantage when they enter burners High School at issue is the algebra and geometry curriculum so the board Administration are evaluating test scores and other indicators to determine whether any changes are warranted so more to follow at their next meeting mayor that's all I have thank you committee woman Fernandez thank you may Tomorrow there's a committee meeting so I'll have more updates our next meeting okay thank you L use board was uh pretty quiet um committee M hickey and I did attend the last one and uh the only real issue there was someone got a variance to build the deck um that was not very exciting but yeah that's what the board is hearing right now um of note and we'll certainly be discussing this with the lus board in upcoming meetings today the um Senate approved well I'm still going to call it the assembly Bill A4 which was the uh redo of for housing legislation um essentially getting rid of Kaa and replacing it with some um new legislation we'll be working with attorney Bardo uh the lands board attorney Tom Collins and our planner uh to look at the potential impacts to bed insur and what we need to do to be ahead of that so something that um we'll be discussing in a small session and then perhaps larger sessions both with the TC and then L board on Library we have a meeting this week con9 will be attending liary third meeting uh Farmers Market is scheduled for a couple weeks out and that's what I have to report from my subcommittees M Ray and we have the administrator report uh yes mayor we continue to finalize um our uh Municipal budget we have a uh budget meeting tomorrow evening at 7 o' here in V Town Hall have a sewer I'm sorry say um sewer transmission Advisory Board stab meeting coming up uh to review the budget as well as a shared Court meeting to um review the budget and um Wednesday uh we have Municipal manager s County Municipal managers meeting here at our Township offices with um the County Administrator Colleen Mah discuss the radio situation it's n col's gonna be here yes it's nine o'clock Wednesday morning this coming mesday okay and um um last week I attended a count Somerset County um uh ha Hazard mitigation uh meeting it's a kickoff for a program that the county is uh updating their plan uh we have a resolution for consideration on the agenda tonight that is a result of it we need to appoint various people from our OEM um to that uh committee to work at the county level and um last but not least there is coming up a community volunteer Fair uh on March 28th with Pottersville fire company and Far Hills uh EMS at um the Pottersville firehouse and everybody's invited just to kind of come and see what everybody does it's open house from 7:30 to 900m March 208th and that concludes my report good thank you Chief is not here to do the uh community policing um report but we'll certainly get an update at our next meeting moving ahead introduction of ordinances we have none to introduce tonight we do have one public hearing of an ordinance which is ordinance number 202 24001 as we've talked about before this ordinance um supplement chapter 3 police regulations of the revised General ordinances of the township pment SED a new section 3-25 entitled resident protection to prohibit knowingly trespassing for the purpose of committing a crime including tampering with or committing the theft or unlawful taking of a motor vehicle breaking and entering burglary and home invasion take a motion to open up um the public hearing for ordinance 2024 Z1 so move second all in favor all thank you hey John I know we've talked about this before but um for purposes of public hearing why don't you walk us through the happy to do so mayor um the the ordinance the resident protection ordinance has four distinct sections the first section is is the purpose of the ordinance the purpose of course is to protect the health safety and Welfare of the residents of the township of Bedminster by uh establishing certain uh Provisions to protect the security of the residents from Criminal and intentional activities related to property personal and violent crimes uh the second section is is what is titled motor vehicle for protection uh that makes it a um a crime um illegal and a violation of this ordinance for a person to knowingly knowingly enter or remain on any private driveway private parking lot or other location on private property in the presence of a stationary motor vehicle a parked motor vehicle knowing that they are not licensed or privilege to enter or remain at that location and to commit uh the following acts is pull a door handle of a car or take any action in an attempt to open or unlock a motor vehicle that the person does not own or have a license or privilege to possess or um the technological aspect we see these days is to possess an electronic device uh that is capable of determining if if an electronic key of fob is located inside a motor vehicle um it's also a legal and a violation of this ordinance for uh a person knowingly to be present inside a motor vehicle in other words a driver if another occupant of the motor vehicle committed a violation of of this section of the ordinance um the third component is a residence protection it makes it illegal and a violation of of this ordinance for a person to again knowingly it's a knowing and intentional component enter or remain on any private property they are not licensed or privileged to enter or remain and commit certain of uh certain of the following acts uh pulling a door handle turning a door knob or take any action in an attempt to open unlock or gain entry into a house an apartment a garage or other structure that the person does not own or have a license or privilege to enter or remain or uh beyond that to enter any house apartment garage rather structure that the person does not own or have a license or privilege to enter or remain and and once inside um a house it's an it's an ordinant violation to be present um if occum committed a violation of subsection a prior to the entry into the house apartment garage or other structure so someone enters the residence and another person then uh follows um likewise if you're driving the so-called dead away car uh you're you're a driver of a car and you know that someone is in a house committing a crime you're you're also liable under the the ordinance as a so-called accomplice um the last component is p IES it gives the municipal court judge a certain amount of discretion uh if a violation of the ordinance is found upon conviction um the person could be punishable by a fine of not more than $2,000 doesn't have to be 2,000 but not more than 2,000 or by imprisonment for a term not to exceed 90 days or both such fine and imprisonment or in the discretion of the municipal court judge a period of community service not to exceed 90 days um not not withstanding any of the above the minimum penalty assessed by the judge should be $1,000 for the First Defense and $2,000 for each subsequent offense essentially that's the the ordinance fairly straightforward and John these U these violations would be prosecutable in minicipal court yes they would be certain of them obviously can rise to the level of a a a county prosecution um and if the County prosecutor came in and decided for instance a burglary or a breaking was a wasn't something that they wanted to prosecute at a county level they could but but this is meant to confer Upon Our Municipal Court Judge jurisdiction over these violations great thank you and just to be clear Bernard's Township did adopt this same ordinance last week we we did in burnard's Township adopt that ordinance um um it was fairly unanimous questions for uh John or just for General discussions about the uh ordin I think it's just a discussion in general I mean I think it's the right move if we have nothing on the books that we can actually enforce we know it's problem this has been pervasive throughout the area um I don't think for a moment it's going to deter but perhaps once folks start getting caught and you know it goes through the process maybe there is some deter to it but look it's what we can do and I think that it's it's a good first step and certainly it's a necessary step to at least get us our foot in a door to to a court of law so this is um rule number one of government right protect the citizens and I think it's a it's certainly something that we need to do it's a shame you know certainly is an indictment of our society what we what it is where we are and um you know um I'm all in favor of doing something that protects our residents and ensures that we're working towards a safer Community okay there's no other comments from the township committee we'll open up the um public hearing for public comment any member of the public wish to make a statement or question regarding the ordinance Miss Ray and still no participants on Zoom no M okay so I'll take a motion to close the public let's see Robin do I need a motion to close public comment well we typically do an open and a close okay so you do it the long way but yes yes that's true I gave you the short way you don't like the I know you told us before we're old dogs we can't learn new tricks you know we're black shirt might so we do need a motion to close to close the public hearing that's correct yes so I'll take there you go thank you thank you Gina and I'll take a motion well we have to vote on CL in so we're closing right the public hearing is that all favor we little off we were open to we were open and we Clos now we're opening the public hearing but that's okay now we're closing the public hearing so we we missed an action in between but we're good okay we're good I got Doug and um committee men uh Stevenson and committee woman Fernandez for the close of public hearing okay shall we vote all in favor allk okay now now we have a uh now have a motion to approve ordinance number 2024 001 so moved second that's a roll call quote Please Mr Stevenson hi Mr hickey hi M Fernandez hi and may Jacobs I thank you thank you and I will note that in um on nj.com this afternoon saw that um a report of uh handgun permits up across the state yeah yeah certainly we've um experienced that here locally talking to Chief Bernardo that um handgun permits applications have increased dramatically um from covid uh through the present um but we also see the Statewide so U the public safety element and um it's out there right this this concern by the residents um it's power able um certainly those numbers that you see in the handgun permits um reflect that and anything that um we can do from the government side working with our police and prosecutors uh to bring enforcement of our laws into effect so the personal property the personal privacy of a home um or a car um is maintained um short of everyone going out and getting handguns um so hopefully Doug just as you said it's um may not be easy to enforce right because it still involves active policing and we've increased our Police Department by two um so we're at the largest number for policing that we've had um and perhaps it will will be that as this ordinance is prosecuted that word gets out that the municipalities that have adopted this ordinance or similar ordinances um that the cost of doing business in car thefts is more expensive here than elsewhere and maybe you're better off going elsewhere to steal your vehicles than coming to Bedminster or the surrounding towns that have adopted uh this ordinance so thank you all to uh Township committee and to John for uh for working on this ordinance we have no items on the consent we have three resolutions for individual consideration first is resolution 2024 045 this resolution authorizes the execution of a professional service contract with duberry Engineers to provide Engineering Services to the Sewer transmission Advisory Board in the Bedminster sewer utility for the phase to Miller Lane Pump Station replacement M Ray so this is um we're now moving to the engineering phase of the uh Pump Station replacement that's correct so this is um phase two which actually is covered by the eepa grant that we um received so um you do need to go back out to bid on this and do BU obviously won the bid and this is to award the contract so the initial design phase is completed um this now takes us to the next level with the actual bid specs and ready to roll so we hope to have everything set by the end of April so the bid specs so duberry finalizes the bid specs correct we go out to uh we go out an RP with bids corre and hopefully um we'll soon be under construction all right so things will be flowing things will be flowing flowing did you just you just put that together I've been working on that workshopping yeah something piffy moving right along with after that take a motion to approve resolution 2024 045 so moved roll call vote Please Mr Stevenson hi Mr hicky hi M Fernandez hi and mayor Jacobs I thank you next resolution authorizes emergency temporary Appropriations and current Fund in the total amount of 3,3 2016, n76 and 5053 and in the sewer operating Fund in the total amount of because we don't have a budget in place uh the first quarter we usually um by law we're allowed to take 26.5% of our budget from last year and apply it to the first quarter now this we're allowed to take another 26.25 per for the second quarter and that's what this amount is so we can maintain operations until our budget is passed okay thank you any uh questions or comments from MRE see none take a motion to approve resolution 2024 046 second roll call vote Please Mr Stevenson Mr hickey hi M Fernandez and mayor J hi thank you and the last resolution is resolution 202 4047 this resolution authorizes beder Township's participation in Somerset County multi-jurisdictional Hazard mitigation plan updates in coordination with the Somerset County Office of Emergency Management and Somerset County Office of planning policy and economic development this right so this is the um the mitigation plan that we were discussing earlier that's correct so um every five years in order to stay in line with Dema um the county goes through this process of updating um their Hazard mitigation it's become much more involved um uh all of the municipalities are much more engaged in OEM and Hazard mitigation so um we are all supposed to provide members of our um municipality to represent Bedminster Township on this County committee and that's what this is about okay and the hazards mitigation a lot of it certainly you've worked with the county before on this issue which is uh looking at the flooding situations so flooding correct flooding is a very big component flooding is number one yeah so um any further questions or comments seeing none take a motion to approve so moved roll call vote Please Mr Stevenson hi Mr hickey hi Miss Fernandez hi and mayor Jacobs hi thank you okay you take a motion to approve the bill list anying review of individual invoices sove second one call vote again please Mr Stevenson hi Mr hickey hi M Fernandez hi and mayor Jacobs hi thank you any matters of new business discussion seeing none old business uh dot improvements um Chief did send out a email to uh narith Hammond over at dot asking for an update on the uh changing the timing for the route to6 lingon Road crosswalk do not have a response back from dot so we'll ask actually I may just follow up with that myself send the email followed upon a Chief's email to Meredith just follow myself um utilities uh mayor just update on jcpnl I wanted to mention a letter that went out under your signature to the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities supporting the infrastructure improvements that our Municipal liaison yolanta presented to us last month just as a refresher those include significant investments in our local substations Loop schemes from the substations to our neighborhood networks as opposed to a single Branch feed that is more subject to failure reclosers further down in the feeder networks and additional storm resiliency and network hardening initiatives including overhead line and pole replacement recall that jcpnl is separately asking the BPU for a modest rate increase of 3.6% phased in over 5 years for the record we did not provide support for that request only for the infrastructure improvements and you may ask Colin where do they get the money for the infrastructure improvements if not for a rate increase well that's up to the BPU and I suspect they will examine internal cost cutting opportunities at jcpnl Capital reserves and other things like that as a start but uh mayor I wanted to thank you for taking initiative to raise the bpu's awareness of why these infrastructure improvements are important for Bedminster I also want to thank the residents of bmin who have shown up time and again in these very Chambers to voice our concerns um there's a reason a substantial amount of money is being potentially earmarked for Bedminster and I suspect that's because they heard all of us loud and clear in the hallways and executive suites of jcpnl so thank thank you to everyone for their involvement and thank you mayor for your leadership on this issue thank you thank you for your leadership in uh coring the residents and jcpnl together and um hopefully we get those improvements they much needed especially um for certain sections of the hills that have continually experienced those outages we had uh just as Doug mentioned the uh the wind events over the last couple of weeks and uh once again we all experienced some outages from that so the hardening of the infrastructure is important and we'll continue to push it yep thank you thank you and do you anything else on Altis or New Jersey American Water nothing on either of those at this time okay plugman Park Housing I believe Doug you and John will probably have an offline discussion maybe ready for uh public discussion now correct receive the communication um from the owner and we'll be communicating okay set Hills Public Safety Committee um so we passed the ordinance tonight we joined Bernard's Township in passing it last week um I've had discussions with both um in the last couple days with both uh mayors of Pac and Gladstone and Far Hills and I know that they're looking to both introduce and pass and probably passing probably hope well it's up to their burrow councils um but they're looking to introduce uh either later in March or early April with um public hearings perhaps in later in April and our next public safety committee meeting Robin do you remember that next two weeks uh two weeks from we just met last Wednesday so it's in two weeks two weeks okay all right was a three- week Gap in between this time okay so we do not have any recycl of sessions so we'll run through tup committee comments and then we'll adjourn for the evening committee M Stevenson thank you mayor um I just wanted to just uh extend thanks to you on the uh passing of the uh safety ordinance I know that you know we got together with the other towns but thank you for spearheading that and look we all identified the issue here but it's one thing to identify it's another thing to go out and try to do something about it um so actions again speak much louder than words um thank you for spe spearheading that I should say and um making sure that again you know it sounds cute and all that but it's it is it's it's one of our first functions here you have to make sure you got Law and Order and you protect your citizens and your residents so I think we've uh taken a step toward that so thank you thank you D and may I just like to Echo those comments I had a uh a meeting with one of the HOAs in the Hills a couple weeks ago was Q&A session and surprise surprise that was the number one issue yeah raising questions concerns look they're seeing it in the paper reading about the news and what's the township committee going to do about it and I mentioned the effort that you've been championing they were all very relev to hear that and almost on Q a patrol car went by said no folks I didn't arrange for that but look the residents want to see increased Patrol in the Hills they're seeing that this is another step as Doug said it's it's action it's not just words and again thank you as Doug mentioned for your leadership along those lines thank you last I just want to Echo their sen thank you everything you've done for our our resident safety it's very important and that's all so um thank you um this weekend was the fire department annual dinner so organized by Far Hills Bedminster fire department 29 Far Hills Bedminster first aid 29 and Potter Volunteer Fire Company 63 and and uh Colin and I attended on behalf of Bedminster and just you know what a great event to see the awards um given out by each of the Departments [Music] um these guys uh do so much work they are volunteers they're volunteers and the amount of effort and it's not just the effort but remember these guys are going to life and death situations not only for themselves but for the uh folks who are impacted and uh Patty seagull who's a president of first aid you know talked about the young volunteers 16 17 18 year olds that are going on calls with it they're not going on calls because it's they're going to see something happy they're going to emergency situations where they may see the ugliest part of life and and death and these guys are going out there and spending their time in training uh being available on call and going out to those calls and uh in the remarks that I gave as uh uh mayor Welsh did from Fort Hills um certainly express our gratitude and appreciation and I'll just use the same line that I've used at rorg since I've been since I've been the mayor and the same speech um that we do at the Memorial Day Parade which is also organized by our volunteer services and repeat it again we live in a small town small town where our first respon ERS are volunteers and that does not make them any less professional and they're motivated by Duty camaraderie and sense of community rather than being paid but once again this not make them any less professional when you see our guys in action I know we've all gone through uh some of the training events that they've uh um ask us to uh to observe so just a another op opportunity to say thank you to our volunteers and that's all I have so at 7:35 I'll take a motion to adjourn for the evening so move second all in favor I thank you and good night