the town council meeting of bridge order for August 1st 2024 in compliance with the open public meetings Act of New Jersey adequate notice of this meeting was provided on December 21st 2023 by sending written notice and electronic notice to The Courier News and the breeze posting on the website and the bullettin board in the municipal building and filing with the Township Clerk could we have the Roll Call please councilman kers here cman codel here councilman nales here coun pedroso here president TR it is with deep regret that I announc the passing of retired police Lieutenant Tom denan who died in a boating accident on Greenwood Lake I ask for thoughts and prayers for the family and friends in this tragic incident and ask for a moment of silence after we are led by the by Alan cill in the pledge of pledge of allegiance to flag United States of America for it stands one nation God indivisible andice thank you the U minutes for July 18th will be will be uh postponed for until the next meeting uh Township Council reports I'd like to please start with councilman pedroso thank you sir Okay C my breath all right good evening I am deeply saddened to address a troubling incident that occurred last week someone to face the pillar of the mosque at the AL Center in Bridgewater with hateful anti-muslim graffiti such acts of bigotry and discrimination against places of worship are utterly unacceptable and must not be tolerated the United States was founded on the principles of Religious Freedom championed by pilgrims who RIS their lives to practice their faith without persecution our forefathers uh enshrined the right to religious liberty into the very fabric of this nation these fundamental values are so intrinsically fair and just and it's unfortunate that I even have to talk about them today Bridge township is a vibrant diverse Community where individuals of all Races colors and religions religions coexist it is it is essential that everyone feels welcome here here let me be clear Bridgewater stands United against hate we will not allow the Despicable actions of a few to tarnish the welcoming Spirit of our community our Muslim Friends Along With all religious groups should know that they are respected and embraced in Bridgewater in 2016 as council president I broke tradition by inviting representatives from all four major religious groups in town to offer prayers at our council reorganization meeting this gesture was meant to convey a powerful message Bridgewater celebrates its diversity condemns discrimination and is a place where everyone belongs today I re reiterate that same message and I hope it's loud and clear I must also address a recent issue involving false accusations of discrimination AJ Joshi a board of education member who was the keynote speaker at the Bridgewater Ron High School graduation falsely claimed that his son was racially discriminated against by the Bridgewater Police Department chief John mitac presented findings from the suers County prosecutor's office at our last council meeting revealing that no misconduct occurred Mr josi initially brought these accusations before the council I was deeply concerned our Police Department is exceptional and such serious allegations warranted attention however after reviewing the police body camera footage it is clear that Mr josi misled this governing body the officer involved acted with professionalism sympathy and courtesy false accusations of racial profiling or discrimination are a grave disservice to our community and the cause of equality these lies not only undermine the Integrity of our police department but also so div vision and distrust by fabricating victimhood Mr josi disrespects the genuine struggles of individuals who have faced real discrimination his actions dishonor the legacy of Cil rights Heroes like Rosa Parks and Dr Martin Luther King Jr and diminish The credibility of those with legitimate grievances Mr josi's conduct demands accountability he should apologize to the Bridgewater police department and our community for the harm and division he sought to create our society cannot afford leaders who undermine the fight for racial equality and disrespect the true victims of discrimination our children deserve better role models Mr Joi should resign from the Bridgewater ritan Board of Education immediately let us stand together as a community United in our commitment to Justice equality and respect for all thank you thank you uh councilman kersch please evening good evening um uh through a quirk of the calendar there have been no land use board meetings uh since our last council meeting so no reports there uh on uh July 19th uh just the day after our our last council meeting I had the pleasure of delivering welcome comments um at uh a mental health awareness Forum which occurred in this room uh sponsored by United for impact and the Bridgewater R and Youth Services Commission uh it was a a lively dialogue featuring uh six experts in the field of mental health uh and certainly there needs to be continued uh and renewed uh um uh commitment uh to providing the resources necessary within the community and support for those uh who are facing mental health uh Andor addiction challenges on July 25th which I believe that was last Thursday I attended uh a um tour of the stavola Quarry that was the first time I'd been there uh and want to certainly thank Tom Branch for hosting us uh inside a van because uh OSHA and other requirements do not permit um uh open walking of the uh stavola uh uh Quarry property uh it really is a remarkable operation they are dedicated uh to being good stewards of that land uh they certainly uh work very very hard to make sure that um everything they do um is as efficient as possible um and um it's it's really it's really quite a sight we we for those who haven't been there you know it's uh uh you know an area that has been mined for many many years and the net result uh is um formations that look almost like our own mini Grand Canyon uh right in the middle of Bridgewater uh and uh that is um that's the extent of my report tonight thank you uh councilman cadella please since our last meeting I've attended uh two committee meetings for the open space and Recreation master plan and the I've also met with uh administrator papis and OEM coordinator Jamie Edwards uh to discuss the funding needs for our Township First Responders due to some uh Federal radio frequency changes that are being uh mandated for Bridgewater Township uh also Al on Tuesday August 6th uh invite everybody to attend National Night Out Here at Bridgewater from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. here at 100 Commons way it'll be a good time for all thank you Howard thank you my report is as follows the Bridgewater Township employees were treated to ice cream by Gabriel Fountain located in Martinsville two tables in the employee breakroom last week were covered with cups of delicious ice cream and eight different flavors and mixtures it was a real treat on a hot day I sat in on the interview conducted by Township Clerk Grace Nuna and Deputy clerk jul Juliana kho to fill the administrative position in the clerk's office they've been working short staff for a long many months uh they selected Natalie trosy an internal candidate from the tax collector's office who has worked for the town ship for 10 years good luck in your new job Natalie the township Administration is working to revise and revisit the 50 plus Year s contract with Warren Township whereby we facilitate the pumping and piping of Warren seage to the somerset Regional seage Authority treatment plant which is located in Bridgewater I spoke to uh Warren mayor Victor sordillo yesterday to reinforce the council and administ ministrative position already communicated to Warren let by a letter by administrator papis that the issue needs serious attention um more to follow that after they have a meeting on August 16th I hope that the residents have seen the news release entitled Bridgewater Township efforts to protect residents emails ends with Victory last week the state supreme court dismissed the appeal by an organization called Rise Against hate seeking to gain email act addresses for residents who signed up for Township emails in my opinion this was a simply their effort to broaden their marketing base this was a real success for not only Bridgewater but for the other towns that participated with us lastly Bridgewater Township Police Department National Night Out as just mentioned uh by uh councilman cordilla will be Tuesday August 6th at 5:30 here at the B Municipal complex that is my report uh mayor Mr papis anything from the mayor's side please thank you U uh before the meeting started I distributed a memo from Bill bur Township engineer and a map for the council's edification um information I should say uh psng has been undertaking a pretty extensive uh gas main replacement in Bridgewater and the list of about 10 roads that you have in a map showing the roads that they are going to pave curb to curb uh over the next few weeks the other uh document I want to share is a memo with some photographs regarding the success and the progress in the turf field Replacements the one at the high school uh was completed several weeks ago with just a few punch list items that remain and for those of you who drove by you could see the carpet has been laid here for the one next to this complex and um we're hoping within a week that will be completed those white bags that are piled along are they part of this project yes they're actually the uh the um pellets that will be that are being applied onto the ground onto the field so that's all I have thank you any questions from Mr papis okay moving to item number seven under proclamations we have none for tonight under item eight presentations we have none so we'll moving right along up to item nine which is the meeting open to the public members of the public wishing to address the Council on any matter will be allowed two minutes to speak unless there are unusual circumstances could I have a motion please to open meeting to the public I'll move make that motion all right we have a motion can I second second all those in favor I I I we are open to the public if you wish to address the council please come forward to the podium please uh put your name and address on the sheet and tell us your name and address and then share whatever you like I am just filling it out real quick oh take your time all right hi good evening nice to meet you all my first meeting here I'm resident for 18 years my name is Denise Ren r i NN I live at two Hayward street mailing address is boundbrook but it's Bridgewater so I had a couple of items that were I just really wanted to come here and make the effort to discuss with you all um one it's of safety so I live on Hayward street if you're familiar with that area of Bridgewater I think maybe some people don't go down there like the police to be honest um so we're right next to Shady Lane Park I live right next to it um it's a problem with the speeding on that street it's a cut through street from 22 you go down Vos to Deerhead to Shady Lane to Hayward you come in from boundbrook on Betsy Ross um it's terrible my daughter um who does not live she's grown and um I have grandchildren and she's made several calls to the mayor's office and I think there's like a public Advocate or something that's supposed to call me maybe they're going to do a study but um nobody's called us and people are speeding all the time I've been driving since I'm 15 years old I grew up in Arkansas he could drive at 15 I'm 60 years old I'm pretty good at judging speed but I don't have a you know a radar but people are speeding terrible they do not stop at the stop signs at Betsy Ross at any of those stop signs okay and I'm asking if a study could be done if we can look into speed humps or rumble strips enforcement and um Lines by the stop sign like boundbrook has them on every stop sign okay um we have one at the top by vasular a line across the road it's like a visual like hey there's a stop sign here people just plow right through it the most people that are that offend the most are the ones who live up the hill by the way um okay so that's number one please if something can be done about this speeding I'm afraid a child is going to get killed we don't have sidewalks and you know does it take a child getting killed before something happens and God help us I hope not um number two smoking in the park especially marijuana which according to the smokefree Air Act of New Jersey it is illegal to vape or smoke marijuana in Parks or in New Jersey in public it is God aful horrible and plus they shouldn't be doing it for the children I walk out of my house and I can smell it it's it's like a quality of life issue for me okay so somebody could please it's along with the enforcement of the speed enforcement of the park closing at dusk which doesn't happen um people are in there doing drug deals and stuff um okay and the third thing is um mosquitoes now I haven't seen anybody come out and spray they were spraying in the park behind us at Shady Lane there's a low-lying area behind my property my property is right behind Shady Lane Park and also the the boundbrook high school football field and you can see the water pools there and nothing's ever been done and that's like a breeding ground for mosquitoes like I can't even walk out I walked out for two minutes I got 11 bytes so um that's my other item if we can please I've spoken to the recreation department in the past probably 15 years about things and nothing's been done so okay well mosquito control is a is a Somerset County function they have an entire program that does that Mr Pap could we uh get that information to them so that they can address that issue absolutely if I could just suggest ma'am if you see anything you should call the police uh day or night if you see something that's happening in the park as you've just described here you should you should call immediately yeah but by the time the police come but but if you don't call then there's a record not established that shows that there's these uh activities being witnessed so the police always say call whether you you don't know how long the people are going to be there or not I do I do I have called in the past we have called we try to keep it kind I mean not Anonymous to the police obviously but we don't want like everybody to know like it's the people that live right there there are people calling all the time but I look right on I can see everything that goes on in that Park good and bad so I mean there's a lot of good stuff but there's also some bad stuff so um all right I I appreciate so if you guys can look into the safety issue well it's definitely I'm very concerned about the safety that's my number one reason for being here is the speeding on that street if you could possibly we've already had one accident oh bicyclist too they don't stop at the stop signs either and they ran right into April 1st 2020 right into the side of my daughter's car so and total my car and thankfully the gentleman was okay but he toted my daughter's car so thank you very much thank you for your first appearance at a council meeting is there anyone else who would like to address the council please U seeing no motion from the audience could I have a motion to close public input I make that motion I'll second second all those in favor of closing public input signify by saying I I okay we are closed for public input uh public hearing and final action uh 10A uh is an ordinance uh authorizing a quit claim deed releasing the affordability controls attached to certain affordable housing units at block 526 uh lot 16 um this one U was introduced the last time I have a couple of comments that in fact learnard Council uh may may wish to to uh sign in on this one uh in fact we're privileged to have Alex Fischer with us tonight he's the deputy uh Township uh attorney and a great source of of everything thank you uh the the quit claim by the way I had to look I knew what a quit claim was but I want to know what the definition said and it says uh to release or re extinguish a legal claim uh back in the in the 1990s there were a number of 30-year incumbrances on houses that were agreed uh by the by the owner that they would be uh affordable either low or moderate income affordability uh we have eight homes um in the in the somerset Griggs area of town uh that have reached their 30-year Mark statutorily 30 years was the length uh and uh any attempt to renegotiate and extended that uh led to financial thoughts that simply could not be born by the town so this is a quit claim uh basically and um as I said the an ordinance authorizing a quit claim deed releasing the affordability controls attached to certain affordable housing units at block 526 lot 16 uh Alex do you have any is there anything you'd like to offer on this particular one sure the these are uh eight rental units at Village at Bridgewater um whose 30-year restrictions have expired and therefore uh the township has to uh provide the quick claim deed now that it's expired so that they can um legally move on and they've already expired April 1 was was it so this is a a procedural process correct U are there uh any any U additional discussion comments from the um I have a question I'm sorry I have a question yes sir uh for our Council thank you for being here tonight um my understanding is is that and correct me if I'm wrong but the the 30-year restriction was something that was placed on at the beginning the time period has now lapsed the 30 years are elapsed and by virtue of the owner's right the uh affordable housing limitation is is done is that correct that's correct okay so we don't we don't typically address I don't believe every single affordable housing that expires doesn't come before the council what's special about this one for a rental uh unit a rental uh facility my guess is that they need it for financing or deed purposes um it may have lapsed by uh by effective law but technically techically under uck they're supposed to get a quick claim from the municipality in the form that you see here so it may not be enforcable anymore but the municipality is also supposed to provide a quit claim okay what if we took no action what would happen well it's already expired I understand I don't know legally that's that's why I'm glad he's here if you took no action on it they could most likely uh get injunctive relief requiring action and that there's nothing under the law that would provide us an option to keep that affordable housing uh there was no nothing preventing negotiation but the amount that they sought it was beyond any reason that the township could let let me rephrase my my question um they conc certainly I guess voluntarily agreed to continue the Restriction based upon a certain payment and I understand that's a negotiation process but if they just didn't want to negotiate and just wanted to have the Restriction removed there's nothing that we could do to stop that is that correct that's their right as a matter of law yes okay thank you okay now we need to uh hold the public hearing for this I'd like a motion to have a public hearing on 10A please I'll make the motion motion okay well I'll second it then all those in favor I okay we are now open to the public for anyone wishing to come forward regarding item 10A on the agenda uh which is the quit claim uh on eight afford they were affordable houses anyone wishing to come forward making comments seeing no movement on the part of the folks uh could I have a motion to close public meeting and move for final action I'll make that motion okay Alan would you like to second that sure I'll second it a roll call please on 10A motion and final action please councilman kers yes councilman cill yes councilman pedroo you have a choice yes vice president Nogales yes okay moving on to introduction of ordinance 11a is an ordinance adding chapter 63 to the code of the township concerning lead base paint inspections uh any comments from the administration on this uh no uh we had extensive presentation by Mrs Madrid last time i''d be happy to respond to any questions and in its simplest form this is for rental properties uh built prior to 1978 uh during an era when lead base lead was used and paints and and things of that nature um we have a mo any any comments from the uh any questions I could just add this is a requirement that the township all municipalities had from the state in fact when the uh the the administrative law was developed two years ago they gave uh municipalities two years uh which expired the beginning of which expired last month so we're right at the window of the need to do this um I I'll simply state that the um presentation was comprehensive and make the motion to introduce ordinance 11a a second on that please I'll second it roll call please hman kers yesman cordill yesman pedroso yes vice president Nogales yes and could you please cite the hearing date please yes final action is scheduled for August 15th at 7:30 p.m. here in the municipal courtroom Public public inspection of this ordinance is available on the township website the bulletin board and through the clerk's office thank you uh 12a has been withdrawn by administrative action of the uh Mr papis uh I would like to do consent approval for 12b C and D is that is that okay with the the council that is acceptable to me with that in mind I will read the three summaries 12b is a a resolution authorizing the appointment of Matthew D Jessup of the law firm of MCM Scotland and Bowman LLC as special councel for redevelopment matters to be paid from the escros established by the redeveloper of the appropriate projects uh applicable projects excuse me c is authorizing the appointment of Rebecca Robel Esquire from the law offices of Rebecca Robel as alternate municipal prosecutor 12d authorizing the appointment of Daniel fella Esquire from the law offices of Daniel fella as alternate Municipal public defender any comments or discussions on 12b C and D if not may I have a consent motion on those three items I'll I'll make that motion Howard you have a motion a second please second roll call please kers yes cordel yes pedo yes vice president Nogales yes uh we're now up to item 13 which is a closed session for litigation be it resolved by the Bridgewater Town Council that this body will now hold a Clos meeting to discuss litigation litigation specifically the address is 12 1200 Route 22 in Bridgewater when and if all matters discussed become public record this will be made known to the public at that time the public is excluded from said meeting and further notice thereof is dispensed with all in accordance with sections 8 and 4A of the open public meetings act um I anticipate there will be no additional action on the council at the conclusion of the closed session we will simply close the close and go to open and then and then adjourn the meeting could I have a motion please to go to close session I'll make that motion second please I'll second that all those in favor I I okay folks we're closed thank you very much for coming out for e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e okay all right we have completed the Clos session uh we are now up to the point of I have I'll make that motion allvor ofour I I have it we are thank you I [Music] go that was easy all right by have a good night Alex okay graci thanks much you're welcome so the next time I see you is in SE