got perfect excellent thanks David thanks for catching us Stephen all right uh look if there's any new business so the next agenda item is uh the plans for 157 Pearl Street so I know Richard um review the plans drafted a letter of recommendation I reviewed both plans and the letter of recommendation I just got one comment for Richard that I put on email um there was around a number in the calculation otherwise I'm good with the letter of recommendation does anybody else have similar thoughts or different thoughts yes I agree with the recommendation and uh concur with your uh your Corrections okay so in that case any any other thought any else comment I think we just need to have a motion for approval so motion to approve the the letter recommendation for one 57 P Street as drafted um with a correction to the calculation of run off right second okay motion approved all right uh next item on the agenda is Scout projects yeah so we got a couple of quick notes um tro 368 um are doing some work on the bra Garden at Mountain Park I think this week um so Chris SP Romo is leading that group um I'm also in touch with Chris of troop 368 about potential Scout projects during the um the next month or so which could be cleanups along the river or cleanups elsewhere um so I gave Chris a few options as I think we could do um whether invasive species whether trash pick up um so I'm waiting to hear back from Chris on that so um we'll try and schedule something within the next um couple of weeks before we get into the sort of fullo Summer um I have a just to throw this out I I have a just a suggestion or something to think about should we set some kind of goal or or Target for amount of litter trash Etc we clean up over a specific period would that help us in any way would that um help for educational purposes for the town to educate people to like show that we've collected x amount of whatever which is the equivalent of how much ever um I think we did this a number of years ago we put up posters I think this is when we were doing the tracks collection but um just an idea instead of just so for instance when we did the cleanup at um SN Park we we didn't weigh the trash but would it be helpful for instance to know that um in the various cleanups along the river each time we do it we collect 2,000 pounds of trash because we find these giant tires or something like that or you know would it be helpful to get the word out about just how much trash is out there would inspire people to help pitch in and clean up I think that sounds like a good idea Kim at least in terms of publicity you know to see how much is there to collect um you know I don't know if we can I don't know if we could put it in a chart necessarily but you know I think it'd be great to kind of show like as we've done in years past yeah just just a thought so that people can for those who want to have skin in the game and feel like they're helping out letting a helping hand like I don't know to maybe we could maybe equate it like this x amount cleaned up means I don't know about CO2 emissions but like how much cleaner and Greener our community is as a a result just thought yeah um it's definitely worth keeping estimating what we pick up at each cleaner that's for sure um so we've got to the best that we can generate a record of what we've picked up um I think setting goals around that a bit difficult yeah um but definitely worth tracking what we collect and and yeah equating it to the weight of something in public that doesn't yeah we'll need to make sure that you know we'll during these cleanups we'll have to take some uh decent amount of pictures and at least you know find some way to well document you know what is collected maybe we'll need somebody to during these cleanups and for the end or whatever you know just at least uh keep track of that stuff that's a job in of itself it is yeah yeah done a lot of cleanups yourself you did you have forms that you could make a perhaps share with the team that to for use in those that tring um if I can find them sure' be happy to share them um I I will say that and and those of you who partook part part whatever the past partake in those cleanups um did you find it helpful to do at the time because unless this my experience was unless you were teamed with someone else you would have like a picker uper and the person who was the recorder of stuff picked up otherwise it became a bit unwieldy to try to pick up something and then take the sheet and record exactly what it was that you picked up i d David what are your thoughts you you were at a number of cleanups that we had the forums at what what did you think for the ones that I've run I've not used the forms I right but well we did have for did you did you it's twice as much work so as much work so it makes us half as productive yeah that's why for the I've run I've not done that I've just at the end of it all I've just tried to estimate how many bags of wat weight each so we have a total mass of what we collected yeah and I I I agree um and that is actually when I filled out the adopted beach form for the cleanup that we did at Snyder Park um all that they asked was approximately like how many bags you collected what were the strangest things that you picked up um and not not a whole lot of detail yeah I think I F's got impression of what were the most common items like was it beer cans was it fast food containers was it water bottles yeah that's as far as I've gone yeah yeah anything else on um Scout products do you David I'm just kind of curious do do you think it's worth reaching out to um not not only the the Boy Scouts but the scouts to see what upcoming projects they have in mind so that maybe we can um let say like build something more elaborate around what they have planned already I have no idea how to get in touch with these people but if if someone is in touch with them and has contacts and they do have a schedule I don't know if they have a schedule um that could help maybe inform some of the stuff that we decide to do when we do it so we did a project with the Girl Scouts Girl Scouts did a project um a couple of months ago on one of the trails in Berkeley Heights so we've got points of contact there John Richard myself were in touch with them so we do have those contact with one of the troops in town um right now all of that has come to an end for the summer they do nothing essentially between as far as I know between like June when school ends and September when school starts again okay so um September or in the runup to school starting will be the best time to probably reach out when they start to firm up their plans for okay David can I should take me back to the your the you cut out a little bit when you reported on the troop 368 activity what what was it that they're doing that's being led by Chris bomo um that's the cleaner that's the um maintenance at the rain Garden in Mountain Park School that's happening this week thank you and then the other thing I'm still in tou with Chris about is a potential additional activity which could be try pick up on the long V River Trail or it could be something invasive Focus I'm open to Chris's thoughts on that I could go either one you could go to piggy back on what Kim said also in terms of cleanups I mean the invasives also is you know definitely want some uh publicity on that because that's even more I mean not to say trash isn't important but invasive have more uh wide ranging reach and it's less people are less knowledgeable about it trash can is obvious but they may not know what a multiflora you know Rosa is yeah yeah definitely true so um I do take your suggestion Kim that we should Rec out to the Girl Scouts um I I think to be honest we can get traction with Boy Scouts Girl Scouts for as many of these things as we choose to run I think it most comes down to um our bandwidth to run an event okay that's fair yeah I think there's definitely I mean I can't speak for Scouts but I think they would I think a lot of people would love if there was you know if it was possible more like a consistency in terms of when it is like oh we we'll put this this is always going to be our event every year at this time you know rather than this kind of this peace meal you know yeah do we want to have one during the summer was it kind of Summer a tough I think sum hot yeah summer is hot I've done cleanups in the summer and no matter how you dress for it no matter how much water you bring after the first few minutes it starts to get pretty insufferable quickly yeah and the the vegetation is tough as while it's easier when the vegetation dies back in the fall or before it comes in in the spring yeah yes and to your to your point Angus um the the state sponsors different events at different times of year so if we wanted to get into the habit of doing the like whatever adopted Beach equivalent cleanup they have I know they run something in the spring and something in the fall and if we wanted to get in the habit of doing that as more of like a an annual thing even though we could have it over you know we have a number of weeks to select it from but if people knew that we always have that kind of a cleanup that could become a thing they do that twice a year Ken um yeah I'd have to check it give me a sec come back to me in a second I'm going to look at their website as to when they hold these things that would be a good no it's a the New Jersey clean communities Council so I'm just trying to see when their calendar of events is okay they're adapt to beach Clean Water Challenge takes place between March 1st and April 30th um the international Coastal cleanup takes place in September um and that's it for adopted Beach let me see if they have other stuff to September 30 or 30 13 30 the other thing was March 30 um yeah so the Clean Water Challenge is March 1 to April 30 and the international Coastal cleanup takes place in September but I I feel like there's something else that some other place offers in September too anyhow um it if we wanted to do something like that we could look more and if we wanted to do that kind of a cleanup on a regular basis we at least could do the spring one and we could do the fall and I'm sure that we could like register with the county to do something in the fall so at least you could plan around two regular cleanups that we would do somewhere yeah it's mostly about us I think figuring out what period we want to Target and then ensuring enough of us are available to um plan it and manage it on the day yeah I think targeting something in the spring something in the fall is a good goou does it make sense in the fall to do it when the plants have look they died back but have some you know proceeded to some way you're picking up the trash from the sum's worth of baseball games yeah so to that to that anus that usually doesn't happen till like the end of October beginning of November just because it's it remains pretty warm and things that are green and leafy tend not to start dying off until earliest at about that time yeah yeah I October's a good time yeah October November you start to lose leaves things begin to die back a little le start falling it better do one before the le start falling or is AC you're like Sting through these like I don't see any invasives or I mean trash maybe yeah I think trash in the fall is easier because it's usually a little bit more visible invasive are hard because you might buried underneath PES of leaves where you are so maybe invasive is more of a spring thing before it's happen it's more tra okay that sounds great updates I don't think so moving on to community garden Renee R you're on mute can you hear me now hear you sorry about that um no updates except that things are growing the Children's Garden I don't think I mentioned this we did have an event where the the children came to the Garden it went well um we still have you know that construction and that path that the the Boy Scout built needs to be repaired at some point but I think it we'll have to wait until construction's over um so we we're just you know we have cones up there now the dpw's been been monitoring it so the contractors know that you know they shouldn't per we shouldn't have further damage but again we just need to repair the existing um but that's it from the garden bees are doing great you know what was the DAT of the sorry was the event what was the event um it was just the so the Children's Garden had some of the children from the schools um that came to the Garden to visit you know and and get their their hands dirty I can provide some actually if you want I can um share the link to our Facebook website with some pictures and some some info on that if anyone's interested yeah you want to write something or publish some photos or at least lead to your is anything on your website the community garden website yeah yeah I don't think we got I'm not sure if we got permission to post outside of that um was that your question yeah yeah yeah I'll have to ask I will share with the team I'll put it I'll pop it in the um the chat here on our Zoom sound good um David in terms of Scouts are there any Scouts available for help with anything in the garden or you in principle yes there's only there's always there generally always Scouts who are looking for for um service hours so yeah um this is like this is not going to be well let me ask you is it sort of a big a big onetime group project or is it more likely for a couple Scouts here and there over a period of time I mean there's always something right that might be needed so if it's if it's Scouts that need ours um then we you know if there's there's some help that's needed I can send your way if it's a bigger project I can send your way um Let me let me gather some info and then David we could connect offline okay I I will also at the same time um I'll connect the three the three of us you me Chris bomo so Chris is the troop 368 um service shair okay so he'll finish up to some extent managing whatever we plan to do so I'll connect three of us sounds good and that might be an option that some some of Scouts choose to do over say trash pickup or invasive species [Music] okay stor ordinance and ms4 education status [Music] gave yeah I thought that updated storm was do by [Music] Jun seen so yeah I'm guessing that's not happening okay uh on adop the drain Kim um I don't have anything to report um I do have something to throw out because um as as Westfield had I want to say warned me um there tends to there's basically a lag in participation at this time so I was thinking and want to get feedback on it and we could post it on our adop to drain page if people and this could be fun for kids I was thinking um did something for like from the perspective of the drain or from the perspective of you as a person um why do you like it when your drain gets cleaned and I don't know like we could make it kind of a fun campaign um I could come up with some something Snappy for like M drain and you could make it a poem or a lii or something like that but just to get creative and get people thinking about their drain and why it's good to clean their drain and the thought being if you think about your drain and write something about your drain you're more likely to come out and actually clean your drain and report it now any thoughts what is the goal period are we thinking for that what is the goal sorry the goal period is that what you said what's the time frame we're thinking like for this to uh um just it's over the summer before school starts up again just give give people something to do what do you think how much AC we're going to get over the summer that okay fair um do you want to wait until the fall till we roll something like that out we could launch it at the beginning of September and maybe close it up at the end of you know by Thanksgiving or something we don't you don't want to make it too long but long enough so that there's interest in doing it I don't remember how long we did the uh the name your drain contest but you know long enough to keep people's interests but short enough that it's you know not forever yeah I think the summer people aren't paying attention honestly um and the fall would be perfect because leaves will start falling we want to prepare good habits right um and and I think that would be a better time yeah we can Ty letter you know you know we can tie it to a newsletter called action kind of thing you know that hey leaves are going to start calling better watch out for your drain and then we can tie that together it it'll be a little more synergistic yeah okay remind me hey Kim when you started talking about this were you talking about not not a lot of uh recorded cleanings is going on at this time yeah I mean the DI hard fans are reporting but those who when when they first adopted drain they were very gung-ho people were reporting now it's kind of trick it it's it's trickled off a bit Yeah and reason I brought that up is unless you're looking for people to check in periodically and say no pounds if there isn't anything because for example while I have a couple of trees that have kept my gutters busy you know in May and June the gut the storm drains down at the End of the Street um haven't needed cleaning well I at least in my neighborhood and this could be a factor of the trees around um there are certain ofid drains that tend to collect um pine needles from trees that are on the the water basin the catch Basin um they tend to catch like trash and stuff like that I have neighbors who are redoing stuff on their lawns and their lawn people don't do a fabulous job of clearing up everything so that makes its way down down to the drains so there there's some stuff to clean up there's not a whole lot yeah I'm just like I said I'm just adding the perspective is if there's it could be a combination of of if there's nothing to do you don't report the cleaning yeah and that's at least that's my experience because I see these I see the drains often enough to to do something and especially in advance expecting a lot of rain and now we're into thunderstorms and so we can get a lot in a short time yeah when it needs it should be just just just just adding that perspective yeah Kim can I ask um forgive me what what is the method of reporting so if you adopter drain you have an adopter drain account and you can do it either on your phone through the app it only takes a few minutes like literally there's four questions um or you could do it online on your computer so just any any way or anywhere that you can access the internet you can do your reporting you don't have to weigh anything you just estimate it you estimate the kind of stuff that you picked up like was it dark leaves was it crack was it something else on like a weekly basis a monthly basis a quarterly basis so it's not a usually usually you do it when you do a cleaning because it reflects when it was you know when it was when it was cleaned last yeah you have you have your ability to say to click the little radio buttons that say what it primarily was and they and there a secondary list of and what else and uh people are gonna kind of know the information to put it in at the time they clean it and hopefully they they go online basically from my perspective no matter if it's a computer or a phone it's a it's a website ktim was there actually an a mobile app for this well it links to your the website but yeah you can do it on your phone because that's that's how yeah all that means is you're using your browser on your phone to do it that's all you know unless they have their own app that that lets you not have to use your browser but I don't know that there's an app no I haven't heard there's no app it's too expensive development is actually pretty pricey unless you some kid who wants you know and and and the way they design the website it works you know kind of just as well you know from a browser on the phone yeah usually they would make a mobile mobile friendly version of the page when you design a site that's the simplest method now I I'm just going to point out they probably when they designed this whole thing didn't really have the east coast and primarily leaves Etc in mind because it was arounded in Minnesota and if you look at the various different categories of things you have all sorts of snow and ice and that kind of stuff and and very little breakdown of leaves so um enough yeah people I'm sure don't have their maybe they do but their phone out with them as they're shoveling their train TR no you got you gotta go it's like I I just I think of my practice I you know I do it and I go home and you know before the day is over I log on and put it in but it as Renee but really it's it's like once you've done it you know a few times I got three drains I do you know and I can I can log them all in in a minute and a half so yeah I I'm thank you Angus for sharing the link I'm on there now I might adopt the drain except it it's it's right across from Neighbors that are not so friendly so I might go a little further people get funny they think they on the street you know if if you're in front of their house they get defensive so um yeah but Kim I think I think definitely the fall I love the idea I just think people aren't paying attention in the summery I'll add some I'll add something else that is happening and and and I know Kim unless you it's got lost in your email or something I am getting more reminders from adopted drain um about remembering to go in and and do it and I don't know if it's them doing it it's their messaging and it's generic and I don't know if you've gotten them to do it or they're just doing it by themselves now and is that do you know Steve if is that triggered around weather patterns like if there's going to be a thunderstorm or no it's Rand no no no they they they're not they're not that Adept I I I don't I just know all I know that it's um and I haven't saved them to be able to look at the time stamp but I I noticed they're they're they're coming more frequently than I ever remember them you know this year which is so cheap to send out a a widespread email to all the current users um why not but that's happening so that you know that now the you know subscribers are actually getting reminders to go and do it no I I one thing one can you know Kim you can you you can check to ask what they what they're doing these days is a matter of course move on yeah all right other further updates uh sustainable Jersey actions actions for 2024 green pledge no re is not on this call um so I don't think we have don't know anyone else has any updates on that did that get roll out anyway at the what get roll out the um green FL yes yes okay uh some people did sign up I'm not sure how many but uh yeah there were some people who definitely were signing okay all right uh next item recycle and cleanups I already kind of talked about cleanup so we don't need to about that we really have anything on the recycling side of things right now can I just one more thought on cleanups yeah um and David I think you still have children in the system in the school system right no longer actually no you're done okay well it's for me it's very frustrating amount of like downtime that students have at all levels middle school high school um especially this last semester is there any way that when we have events and things that we can get the word out better in the schools um I know we used to have like AA on right we had Robert at one point um I mean unless you feel that we get enough volunteers coming to these cleanups um the other thing to consider is like can can we coordinate so that they could be scheduled during school hours where could be like a I don't know we could really hit a lot of ground um like a trip kind of thing what's that a school field trip yeah something is there a designated volunteer day I know I know L'Oreal does their thing does a school have anything that's a particular volunteer designated day or they just have a lot of downtime I'm telling you this the the last week during finals if if you know your children didn't have finals they were just home but it's it's an official school day and absolutely yeah um you know and for seniors too um once the seniors commit to their colleges they just stop everything so what can we do like how can we create the win-win um because these children are bored they're bored to death [Music] too there there's plenty that can be done in the community is this throughout the year or just like during like these particular goals in the year I think it's more like I said the last semester especially for seniors and then then around finals that's that's when it's bad but but even in middle school and my son would come home pretty much the last month or two and he's like I hate school it's so boring we do nothing you know so um I don't let's let's think about maybe doing something partnering with the schools more do we have a represas on with the schools anymore no we don't that's gone away there was supposed to be a rotation it was always supposed to be a different a Bo different Board of Ed member weting I don't yeah laa is point of contact to the high school but he doesn't that doesn't cover the school district as a whole doesn't cover middle SCH right and that's particular to the EnV club right that's the environmental club right yeah yeah I don't think I don't know if the middle school has anything similar to to that group you know we could aim for something you know it's it's a long ways off we could aim for something next year for around Earth day which is sapling thing beyond that um you I think we want to jam too much stuff at the same time I mean like for birday you kind of need to prep like ahead of time like you need to start an initiative like at least a month more time kind of like give them time to like they want to write something or things that unless it's like a join on the spot like you know weekend yeah and and I don't know Kim like maybe you your kids have gone through school too would it be even feasible to have like just a day or half a day to say let's clean up our town and and get kids to to volunteer I mean there's a lot of them and we can do it during the week because weekends tend to be so busy with sports and things I mean to to whoever raised I think it was David it would have to be a field trip because you get into liability issues you get into issues regarding transportation and supervision so that's just something to bear in mind um and getting you know getting people to to be the quote adult at the event especially for upper level kids I don't know how easy or difficult that is um you know especially if if the parents work I mean I'll put it this way there there were a number of things when my kids were in school here that if I didn't step up and be the parent who did it because all the other parents were like that's a great idea like Okay can someone help out with this oh no no no no I don't have the time to do that um so it it just we have to think about will the teachers do that will it be a field trip will it be a schoolt event Logistics and the liability that go it something okay yeah so I mean I'm I'm happy and and I'm assuming we this would take some time well in advance it would need to be planned well in advance if if someone can help I I'm happy to to be on a team to to try to organize something because I I just think there's an opportunity there I like what we did this year I mean you know obviously our our tree giveaway was a lot smaller than it was we we went private or whatever we a different Source but you know then the Reed had something plantings with the library the next day so like became like a instead of an Earth Day single day kind an Earth Day weekend which was kind of though you know mean our best would maybe partnering with Laura and see if she wants to come up with something because I don't think I can't have anyone better to help organize kids yeah from a like added to the curricul kind of thing and making it a focal point of like you know you have to write a paper on it or some report about it of your impact I don't think we're in a position to really dictate what curriculum is going to be so we can kind of offer our help your point science curriculum like dedicated day or two days a year like one during the first semester and the other during the second semester or quarter whatever um and you know figure out what those are going to look like and do it at like an educational that mandatory because EX on it there certain amount can do locally if you so if you think of where all of our schools are located so um um H for instance they could pick up around per a h school they can access a couple of trails from there they could they could do within like a half a day they could they could do pick up on the school grounds and adjacent properties Mary um Park got those are all um I I think we should stay away from elementary they're too young I would say middle school and high school so so what what I was kind of extending your idea though we don't need to manage it we can just promote the school to take the kids out as own okay I see where you're going just to clean up their own little location it's good way to build habits early as well right like you know putting tracks where it's supposed to go things like that letting the kids know what a mess the area around their baseball fielders who did that they shouldn't do that um it might it might be something we could push on if had a border bed represent we have yeah are there any meetings during the summer anyone's even attending I know has got own okay well I'm sorry I didn't mean to to take us down a rabbit hole it's just something I've been thinking of I think there's an opportunity for sure and um maybe we could just talk about it some more um yeah the discussion I agree thanks I think we should do stew on it a little during the summer so because when the school year starts they're not going to have time so I think we can use the summer to kind of maybe like talk little build is and then we can present him to Laura maybe as a group or something like that and say hey these are the ideas what do you want to do talk to B to bed you know just kind of get something before the school year starts like August because that's that's when we want to talk about it and kind of get it right so and and honestly like you remember being a kid in school you loved we loved just not being in class all day and doing something different it's a win-win for everybody in my opinion um so yeah let's let's maybe we can just leave this as an agenda item and just brainstorm over the next few meetings um I think it would be really nice a nice thing to do and and get these kids more environmentally conscious they're the ones creating some of this mess right some Maybe um so all right thank you guys for the time to to flush that out a little bit all right uh next on the agenda is topics for the township newsletter we have anything I mean we just got a notice about the next news letter which [Music] is saw today it is Thursday June 27th so it's a couple it's like about 10 days okay do we want to do anything on Lantern flies again I will say I we'll talk about more block party but everyone's been commenting so far it's been a lot less of people's minds like people aren't as people haven't seen it nearly as much would good no but they're coming have you seen I haven't seen nothing on my Ard either look have you seen on yours I've seen the baby like the the nymphs really wow what's making them go away I don't know I wonder if it's s with in some way we got other invasive insects about now but yeah that's everyone's been commenting that that's like they're like we were giving away those little cards they clean off eggs and they're like I haven't seen any so which I mean rich and I both agree we're like yeah we haven't seen as much but we're also holding our breath and not like thinking that we're out of the woods yet so we could do something um we we'll watch I think we need to see how the wind is going and we'll see what you know what the other people are messaging and we'll decide if it's important because if there's nothing there people we don't want to ch anything any other topics to the grass yeah could skip for this next one yeah I would skip all right moving on uh next agenda item pic River Park and trails I don't know if you want to talk about it um I know John mention just just what I me talking to um potential cash pickup invasive event so yeah it's kind of blending of pickups and is that yeah okay uh I don't know what to discuss on rgi Grant Al you're are closest link to anything rgd related yeah I the only thing I'd say is that U uh per Richard's last comments at the last meeting was that we did um walk a number of streets in town identified new locations uh they were mailed the residents were mailed um and in the n I'm sorry Al I don't know if it's me I couldn't hear the last couple things you said yeah I apologize my connection is really bad I'm actually hard time hearing everybody but um Richard and I had walked Twin Falls Road and South fuse uh streets a few weeks ago the residents that were identified uh were mailed the letter that residents receiv about opportunities to plant trees and you're breaking yeah I I couldn't hear that either can you just type in the chat did we lose [Music] him chat um all right B City USA resolution usually Richard updated on that one any on that yeah then Wayside adop tril proposal right and finally Township street fair so e this year's treat bear I mean probably so I wouldn't say it was you know that did [Music] um um we did uh sign up for um trees you know for the rgi grant then we um what else is there gave away cards Lantern flies um I think Nar gave I think she gave away some seeds as well um I showed the we showed the uh food cycler some people and um you know talk about rain barrels just different topics so it was a pretty decent event we didn't really have a lot of like concrete thing beyond the tree to really offer anybody on to the winter walk next and all right I think that's end of old business so citizens hearing on any ronmental issues Steve I don't have anything so I'll let you adjourn good night all right okay we have a motion to adjourn motion Beed all right at 8:32 p.m second by David good night everyone enjoy the heat good night I'll send you the recording so that way you you can work off that good night good night