ipal building and following with the Township Clerk if we could have roll call please councilman Kush councilman cordill here councilman nales here councilman pedroso president ring here if we could all please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and the Republic for which it stands one nation God indivisible with liberty justice for all all right we will um we have minutes for approval I will move those minutes that's for the April 4th regular session I'll second it we have a motion in a second all those in favor I opposed and then there's also uh minutes from the Clos session on April 4th making their way around for approval um moving on to Township Council reports I'll start with councilman nor Galis thank you Mr President April is Earth month when we should all consider what we can do in our personal lives to improve our environment Earth Day is the annual event on April 22nd to demonstrate support for Environmental Protection first held on April 22nd 1970 and now includes a wide range of events coordinated globally by earthday.org earthday was the brainchild of Senate Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin I will bet if you were in New Jersey on April 5th at 10:23 a.m. you will recall exactly where you were when the 4.8 earthquake shook our state the epicenter was in tuxbury sadly one of the victims of the Quake at my house was one of four ceremonial plates from my 1975 Bridgewater heritage plate collection its 6- foot fall from the kitchen shelf did not end well for the plate the Patriot Stadium opening baseball was that day uh Fe but it featured a strong Aftershock minutes before the game at 6:00 it was a very memorable day April is child abuse month as the proclamation from our last meeting supported the many organizations at work on behalf of this endeavor among them is the Bridgewater Women's Club which initiated and installed pin wheels in the Municipal Court Courtyard to display continued support for this important cause two weeks ago I reported that the lighting of the Crescent Moon display at the municipal building in support of the Muslim Community would take place on Tuesday April 9th uh the day before the end of Ramadan uh shipping issues have again delayed the the original Ally arrival so it will formally take place sometime later this year the good news is that display has finally arrived in Bridgewater uh the master plan presentation originally set for April 11th has been moved to May 22nd and lastly the 2024 solar eclipse occurred on Monday April 8th 2024 our was not totally in the dark but it was still quite a spectacle if you had those special glasses the next total solar eclipse in New Jersey will be in 2079 so mark your calendar and save your glasses that's my report thank you thank you I am sorry there's one other thing I'd like to say uh after our last council meeting I received several calls from residents concerned that based upon the potential Redevelopment of the site on Chimney Rock Road which includes the yard way site that we would lose that facility let me be very clear we will continue to have a yard way site available to Township residents somewhere on that property thank you thank you councilman cordilla my report is not going to be as fully detailed as Howard's report but I would like to say it was my pleasure to attend opening day of BBI baseball last Saturday uh Bridgewater baseball and also um during the past two weeks I attended the initial meeting for this year's Community block Grant and I have about a half a dozen uh projects to be reviewed and make a recommendation for in about a week and a half that's my report Tim thank you councilman pados are you ready for a report just want to say good evening to everybody nice to see so many people here in the house thank you for [Music] coming thank you have a couple items um councilman kers unfortunately could not be here this evening due to a family conflict um this past uh Saturday um I joined several of my fellow council members for the Bridgewater baseball softball Opening Day festivities at Prince Rogers um I did have the opportunity to uh fill in for the mayor and uh I did not come close to uh taking anyone out this year with the opening pitch uh unlike last year uh with the mayor uh could use a little Improvement but uh we everyone was safe this year um this coming Saturday is also so the Bradley Gardens Baseball opening day and then um councilman nalis mentioned about this being Earth month this Saturday the township is hoping hosting an Earth Day Arbor Day uh event at Chimney Rock Park called can you dig it from 2: to 4: and it's a rain or shine event and everyone is welcome there um and then the only other thing i' like to mention just for public awareness um official notice has been posted but due to to Quorum concerns for the May 16th council meeting that has been cancelled and a a new meeting rescheduled for May 23d um and again that's due to some uh Quorum concerns that's my report this evening anything from the administration I think I'll reserve my comments for the presentation portion sir okay thank you so um up next is swearing in so I'll invite Chief mitac up okay good evening everyone I'd like to uh welcome everyone to the swearing in of Officer Michael Thompson like to thank mayor Matthew mench along with council members uh council president timing vice president how nallas councilman Michael Kur councilman Alan cardill and councilman phelip pza for allowing the police department to swear and a new officer tonight the mayor and councel are strong supporters of the police department I'm thrilled to announce the hiring of a highly skilled and experienced 16-year veteran police officer as a long serving officer you bring with you a wealth of knowledge expertise and dedication to your to upholding the highest standards of Public Safety in your new role you will play a pivotal part in maintaining Law and Order within the Bridgewater Community ensuring the Safety and Security of our residents your extensive experience in law enforcement will be invaluable in leading and mentoring Junior officers providing guidance and support in complex situations additionally your exceptional communication skills and problem solving skills will Aid in building strong relationships within the community by fostering trust and cooperation a little background about officer Thompson he resides in great medows New Jersey with where he currently resides with his wife Zoe and four children Michael axel Levi and Amelia as stated earlier officer Thompson had 16 years of police experience where he worked with the Lebanon Township Police Department Officer Thompson graduated from the somerson County Police Academy in 2007 prior to this officer Thompson earned his associates of Arts degree in criminal justice from Ren Valley Community College and his bachelor's degree in sociology with a minor in criminal justice from Fairly Dickerson University officer Thompson enjoyed spending time with his family riding motorcycles fixing cars hunting and fishing he's a genuine Outdoorsman while conducting his background we learned from numerous contacts that officer Thompson is a team player and is always willing to land a helping hand officer Thompson I thank you for becoming a part of the bridge order PD family your goals right working here are to do your best every day for the Bridgewater community and your fellow officers and to go home to your loved ones every night I now invite you up with your family to be sworn in as a bridge order police officer one very important thing the young lady with camera turn right just just listen it's my word of encage word of advice all right I state your name you solemnly swear swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey of the state of newers and that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and to the governments established in the United States St [Applause] know e [Applause] thank you thank you we'll just is okay good evening Council um we're just G to give it a second let everyone that's out so we're not competing over the movement okay all right okay so continuing on um up next is presentations uh we actually have a couple this evening I'll start with uh psng and turn it over to administrator papis first thank you thank you Mr Ring um the uh Township uh for quite some time now has been coordinating uh in an improved fashion all the time uh the work that pscg has been undertaking in the township they have a rather extensive um replacement of gas Mains throughout the community and U as you all know the township has a very aggressive Road Improvement plan that began several years ago um it was critical for us to coordinate with them um and inform them what our plans were to uh obviously coordinate their work with our work the last thing we would want is to reconstruct a road and then uh the next month or next year them come through with digging it up and replacing a water a a gas man so um it's a little bit of a bumpy start but that has improved and and uh we have had a regular for the most part communication with them uh the two individuals that I think from from our side has taken the have taken the lead on this is Wells wager the deputy Township administrator and Bill Burr our Township engineer others have been involved from engineering but those two individuals in particular have been uh the main points of contact uh Wells couldn't be here tonight Bill's here Mr janova is here Department director and uh wanted uh certainly Mr Burr to say a few words Mr janova may have comments as well but uh would like one or both of them to to speak and then to turn it to psng not used to you at that table B you're Bill you're always over there they threw me off a little all good well thank you everybody for having us tonight um just a a a quick introduction I guess when this program and I know this program has been years in the planning on the gas company's end when it first came out on our radar was around the end of 2021 give or take most of 2022 um really continued with the planning the permitting with the township we had regular um meetings about this program and and really what it what it consisted of was we're going to hear the exact number tonight but I want to say it was about 20 to 21 miles worth of gasm Rec replacement on our Municipal roadways construction on this project started I believe around the early part of last year the spring of 2023 and really has been ongoing continuously to this date um I would anti or I would estimate probably to 2/3 to 3/4 of the work is is complete we'll hear more of that in a minute um but Mr Papas is exactly right we've had bi-weekly calls and meetings with the gas company with various um departments from the township Township Administration OCR engineering um police and the school as well to try to coordinate on some of the traffic control issues detours coordinate on the Municipal Road improve Improvement program that's going on at the same time as a gas work um gas company just finished a large project in town that really was several months in the doing along Foothill Road and a portion of North Bridge Street that work is complete now work just started last week on the next phase of the project which is on Church Road and Meadow Road or yeah church and Meadow um we thought at this point it would be a good time for the gas company to come in give us an update on the program answer any questions um as we round the corner and hopefully finish this this project off soon so that's kind of my take um unless anybody has any questions of Tom or I or if Tom wants to say anything I think the floor is if I can just make one additional comment of the the biwe we B bi-weekly meetings that Mr Bur mentioned uh have been rather uh mostly consistent um we have I know um heard from a few members of the public uh and I know councilman pedroo at a meeting a few months ago spoke of the concerns that he had about uh the changes that uh sometimes take place to detours and so uh he participated in a meeting with myself and two members of our Police Department from the traffic safety Bureau and it was a very helpful discussion certainly for me and I think for him uh what he conveyed and what they conveyed to us was I think very helpful we've conveyed that to psng uh thought about as conditions change and sometimes what they communicate to us on I think it's Friday uh for the following week sometimes change they're they're field conditions sometimes will cause them to have to adjust their plan and uh hoping to hear from them tonight because we have spoken to them a few weeks ago how they may be able to give us more um up toate information as it changes during the ensuing week so then we can try to convey that information to the public so it's one of the things that I'd asked them a few weeks ago to be able to cover here tonight and I'm sure I hope that they will and I'm sure they have other uh comments as well so take it away good evening Council thank you Mr papis I appreciate it um my name is is Mike Coyle I'm the public affairs manager with psng we have a few folks here tonight PSG never travels late when we we come to events um we have uh Andrea Almeida who's our our project manager Jee Murray Ryder who is one of our Outreach representatives and Mike Gallagher who's the construction manager and somewhere is Jason Pino somewhere behind me he's also with our outre group um so we want to talk to you a little bit tonight about the the projects that we've we have completed and we've undertaken in the past what we're working on now and and the the grids that we're going to look to to work in the future in town um all to upgrade the the gas system within within the township as part of our uh gas system modernization program a program is approved by the BPU um and uh you know to to to objective to to minimize and eliminate the uh the methane emissions into the into the atmosphere and and to increase the reliability and capacity of our system throughout our territory so let me turn over to Andrea to uh to take you through part of the presentation good afternoon so thanks Mike uh and thank you the council for uh permitting us to present today so I just want to go over um high level overview of what the program is about then we'll cover the work that we have completed in Bridgewater uh a progress report of everything that we have left to do uh and then afterwards we'll cover communication and then Outreach so starting with a high level overview of the program so our program is called uh gas System Mod modernization program uh gsmp for short we are in gsmp 2.5 at this point we which is um the third phase of our program that is a 2024 2025 project and what the system is about is we consist some upgrading our o infrastructure our Cas IR on Main um that is you know it's been in place for over 70 to 90 years um any uh be steel that is unprotected and the benefits will reduce leaks um reduce Greenhouse emissions cost savings for the residents as with the high pressure main now they can use their high appli like high efficiency appliances um reducing their their cost we also enhance uh safety and reliability to prevent future gas leaks and with this new program we also relocating The Meters from the inside of the house to outside of the house which is a safety item because you know if something happens um you know is not inside a homeowners and also it gives access to Emergency Services right away without having to enter uh The Residency so this program works by doing a study on all the infrastructure that we have in New Jersey taking into account the age of the main also the amount of leaks that we have had Through The Years um so it goes on a system is Monitor and then it's put on a hazard index so all the streets are repaired in order of the higher the hazard the more priority that they get um here in Bridgewater we have 19.2 miles of gas main replacement that has been identified to be replaced as a priority to upgrade the infrastructure to minimize leaks so far we have completed completed 14.1 uh miles of Main and replace 606 services and the work remaining that we have is 5.1 miles and 323 Services um as it was mentioned uh we are working or coordinating with the town for restoration uh but we have restor in June of 20121 greway Mountaintop Road Mine Road and cream road that it were ahead of Paving streets that were done um before all the work that the township had planned in that year and then then for the summer of 2024 we are currently coordinating with the township to uh pave the rest of our grids 403 and 404 and I know the numbers don't mean much to the council but I will break them down on our next slid what covers everything but um we're looking to make sure um that you know the rad are restored properly we're coordinating to make sure that we can give as much back um trading credit and coordinating with the projects that you already have planned to make sure that we can do curve to curve rows instead of just half a road so that's our main priority right now and that is um 2024 now the current work that we are doing now that we started on April that will be um restore final restoration will be on the spring of 2025 and the reason behind that is because as we complete the work we need to give a 60-day cement period and this work will be completed later into the September October months so by the time that IDs the 60-day sement period our baving season is over because we don't like to pay when it's to cold outside just because the temperatures do not agree with you know the final restoration sometimes it just doesn't haul as well so I'm going to start with the ahead of baving um like B mentioned you know this being on the planning so when we approached the township with all the grids that we had in you know that they were identified as needed to be replaced we coordinated with them the projects that they already had planned so um this is a combination of seven streets across all our Maps or grids that we have completed and we put this a priority so this was already completed um and uh I know that they haven't had final restoration yet I know some of them have but whatever is left over we're looking you know to restore properly once you know we get the green light sorry just sorry to cut you off quick question one second sergeant Edwards can we have to keep the back door open since the meeting's open to the public sorry uh the presentation that you that's before us on the TV screen do we have a copy of it do we have a ver a digital version that we have no but I was going to ask them if they could provide that okay great yeah thank you okay thank you Sergeant sorry that's okay um and then we move on to phase one so this was our first grade um this was completed it was 4.4 miles of main install and approximately 200 33 service this affecting 18 streets uh our phase two was 4.8 miles and approximate 212 Services uh this is still in progress we have one service left we are working with the township and our Outreach group to try to get an appointment uh to finalize the final service after this what is left over is tiin abandonment of our old Main and excuse me are the red red colored roads the roads in question here everything that is bolded in the map are the streets in question not the red the other no so it will be like if you see here this is the Baler street so it will be this the red is Balden and then some of this black line we don't unfort we don't see your pointer unfortunately I'm sorry I was told that you have it in front of your we have the screen but we don't see your cursor see M oh you guys don't see my mouse okay we see the mouse now how about now now we do there you go okay so it will be this blue line over here it will be all the red ones that are thick and this black ones um right here so everything that is really bolded in the map what's the difference in the colors uh is the size of the main gotcha [Music] and Andrea that's the Foothill Road Corridor correct this is the Foothill Road Corridor our phase three was uh PL 404 we have 2.6 miles uh approximate 118 services and this is also in progress we have two Services left uh just like in the last one we are working with Outreach team and the township just to try to get appointments and be able to complete this grid and then going to our current grid so this is the grid that we started in April um it's approximate 5.1 miles of Main and 273 Services 13 streets will be affected by this um our estimated end day pending weather will September of 2024 uh as everybody knows weather hasn't been the best um so we are you know working as fast and as safe as we can to make sure we understand that it's taxing on the residents with the traffic patterns and the road closures and even just the noise and seeing the construction all around um but you know we are I want to say 80% completed with all the work that we had in Bridgewater after PL 406 is completed we do not have any more work um um that has been identified in gsmp 2.5 to Bridge Water that program runs into 2025 obviously is like I said it's a hazard index that keeps getting monitored every year so if I wrote all of the sudden gets a lot more leaks or um meets the criteria we will approach the township and and let them know you know this is the roow um you know has been identified is there any possibility that we can come back um but we coordinate that accordingly but as of now of course so I can I can run you to the process so first we install our new main next to our old Main so that will be in the middle of the street um then afterward once we can gas our main we connect our the new pipe into our system so now there's gas running through it what we do is we either transfer the services which is like the Ser the service pipe is good we don't need to do anything to it so we just need to connect it to our new Main and either instances what we have to do is replace the service right so in that case we have two choices sometimes we use our old service main and we just use it as a sleeve and we just shut it through it to the house in order to minimize the disturbance to the property and in some other cases we can do that so we need to actually install a new trench into the service by once we're completed the service to the house the service is completely new it's safe to use there's not nothing pending on on their end that is correct they can they can do on average three to four houses a day yeah and for all the services um we depend on appointments so all the appointments are you know previous to with a previous appointment and uh sometimes what we call a strugglers is you know residents are on vacation or sometimes their work schedule doesn't uh you know permit us from being there so sometimes it takes a little bit longer to complete the services just because we need the access um now our communication strategy um like it was mentioned uh we have some um bumpy roads but we definitely take all the feedback that we get from the township the residents uh we do have a dedicated Highline to the project so everything that we hear back we try to implement it and make our communic ation process better and more efficient um we know we have always been a company that values their customers and we want to make sure that they get a good impression of psng so with that in mind we have a bi-weekly meeting with the township and school officials we have a daily morning meeting with PD to discuss uh The condens Detour or to minimize the impact to the local residents we have a daily text change uh with where we have our contractor the township the school officials and the project team to update of a work location any changes as the township administrator mentioned sometimes we have to do field changes sometimes it's due to weather or sometimes is do that once we open the the service or the spot where we're going to be working on the conditions that we had in our head is not what we find so we need to Pivot and trying to you know either address it right there or just move to you know the next service sometimes residents um you know have emergencies or they cannot be at home so they cancel the appointment so at that point we need to move to the next appointment um which it was not planned and it wasn't part of our two week look ahead or our weekly look ahead um we also have weekly phone and email notifications to the affected residents so every Friday Jing Marie she sends a Bari call which is just telling them we're going to be working here or you're going to be effective about traffic um because we understand that sometimes even when we are not working on the street where the residents are affected or installing mainor Services there they do get affected because of the traffic patterns so they might not get the notifications but we make sure that they get uh the emails and the phone calls we have a weekly email um is a look ahead uh includes crew locations um and it goes through the municipality the school transportation and the ba Bridgewater ritan Regional School District the contractor is there and the Outreach team is there um and then we have iners meetings to the town request and um we also have a psng website so we heard some of the feedback that the residents and the township have about uh you know they want more up toate um something that they can see where we are so now that is being updated weekly uh and so the persons can go in the psng website and it will tell us where are what we're currently working and Jim Mary will cover the in the next slides now we have the outage sample materials yeah hi good evening my name is G Marie Ryder I'm the public affairs specialist for this project which means I send all the notifications to impacted residents and businesses along the Route sorry we're adjusting over here um one thing I did want to note as well on this is that our door hanger and our mailed notices that go to the residents along the Route um do not have the roads listed on on there they have to go to the website or they can call our hotline um that's really just logistically in the event that we had to move Cruise it's it's harder to get out those actual physical notices so we include the roads where we be located on the phone and the email notifications that go out at the end of the week so I do have some of those materials here with me today if you wanted to touch them look at them see what is actually getting hung on those residence doors uh this slide actually shows them on here these are some of the updates that we provide so the construction door hanger like I said I have that here with me and it details in step by step What the residents can expect to see so it talks about the trenches when they install new pipes and then when they come back for services and restoration and again I have a bunch I can pass them around um we do the same process when we go to pave on these roads yeah here I have there's a whole bunch in there you could take with you um obviously different materials that walk through the paving process but they look the same um there's a letter in there as well so that's exactly what a resident on our newest map will receive we've been staggering them at the Township's request so at this point both Meadow Road and Church Road receive those notices and we'll continue proceeding with those as we move along the map um some other things listed on here are FAQ documents um the orange thing that you see right here is the door hanger that goes on a resident door handle when we're ready to schedule their service appointment it'll have a phone number to one of our inspectors and that's what they call in order to make their service appointment that we were referring to earlier um the restoration postcard is what we send out when we're done with work in the area but we have some time between when we come back to recede or to restore their their driveways I also have some what we call hotline cards here so if anyone's interested in a stack of them if you're ever talking to a resident you can feel free to hand them out they have our contact information on them and that includes the hotline as well as our email the hotline is manned by me I get back to them within one business day as well as the email address as well so I've spoken to many Bridgewater residents um they know my name some of them so this is a copy of our website as Andrea alluded to we are updating this weekly it's basically a list of our streets and it's color coordinated red as completed green has not started yet blue as active construction so we'll leave it as blue once we start installing the main it will stay blue until we we've completed all the services on that road and then it'll turn to Red so residents can go on there and see whether or not we're going to be coming back to their Road and I believe that concludes our presentation any go ahead Council so how are the contractors work in the road it's PS and employees who actually go in the house on yeah so for all the services the uh workers that go inside the resident house are all psng employees they they're not the contractor the contractor only does the main and up to uh the leg up to the sidewalk but all the meters everything anything else is handled by us cuz we handle our own infrastructure so the meters is by us oh yes that is correct like they all have badges I don't have my badge with me uh but they all have badges they should have a psng badge uh and if you have any questions just you can give us a call to the hline and just say there is someone on my door they're saying there is psng can you just please confirm and we will confirm like if you feel any type I know there's a lot of scams going around so yes please do check badges ask names ask questions we have no problem with [Music] that yeah no it's a very visual operation [Music] I I I can speak from my own personal experience last year um contractor did all the work in the street contractor so they and and just like they said they put the the main in and then couple weeks later after I guess it's tested and energized per se or pressurized uh they started making appointments so we knew that hey tomorrow pscg is coming the cont tractor dug up at the curb and dug up right next to our front door and then left the they actually put uh what flex pipe I guess it is through my old feed and left it sticking up out of the ground and then two PSG guys showed up in a van in uniform photo IDs and actually did the work from right next to the front door to the basement so that was my experience now I will share with you some of I appreciate what you say about the settle um I've gotten some feedback and I've experienced it myself not only on my street but other streets one of the things I think where there is an opportunity is the aggregate that they use when they do the black top we know it's not finished black top when they're filling that hole after digging it a lot of stone and over that six months sometimes over the winter you get stone all over the road and then it creates challenges for kids bicycles walking and just even cars and the stones getting in tires and stuff I don't know if there's anything that can be done as far as if if you're letting it sit over the winter at some point you know whether it's a street sweeper or something but uh that is one comment I've heard from some residents is the stone aggregate yes and we had some feedback from the township so at that point what we do is we call our contractor and they come and sweep the road and they maintain the trenches so anytime that the township has pointed out hey you know xroad needs some maintenance please do something about it we call the contractor now uh the only challenge that we're having with that is the the aop streets because they were completed last year and he was under a different contractor I don't have my contractor in the area so sometimes it takes me a day or so to get them so I really appreciate everyone's patience okay can I ask Mr B Mr janova the is the the turnaround time that's been described here been your experience ER from any calls your department has received as far as sweeping the roads I would say by and large the um Gas Company's response has been very timely the issue ISC president raised is because many of these trenches were repaired temporarily it's creating more and more aggregate because it's base course payment that has larger aggregate that continues to break and I think the frequency of sweepings probably needs to be increased um but as issues are reported to Tom and I we relay them to the gas company they're usually very responsive getting sweeping done but it's an ongoing discussion ongoing response until frankly the final rest is going to Beach you look like you have a question councilman H just a comment I certainly hope so we do know it's it's been it's been quite a while and and um you know we want to finish it as as quickly as you want us to finish it maybe even more quickly than that so we are trying to to get it done so um this is a state mandated project isn't it it is it's approved by the benj Board of Public Utilities and and we're doing it Elizabeth Town Gas is doing it all the other utilities are doing it as well so the sooner we can get in the better weather we have the sooner we can get completed and we can get the roads you know final pavement and uh and make it nicer for everybody and when does New Jersey want to eliminate gas too soon you had a question I I do uh first of all thank you for being here and for providing more information for us and to um yeah be here to answer our questions appreciate that