in compliance with the open public meeting Act of New Jersey adequate notice of this meeting was provided on December 21st 2023 by sending written notice and electronic notice to the C news the breeze and posting on the website and the bulletin board in the municipal building and filing with the Township Clerk if I could have a roll call please counc here councilman cill here Nogales here cman pedroso president ring here I believe councilman pedroo just walked in if we could all please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance un States all right um we do not have any minutes for approval tonight we'll get carried to uh future meeting um next up would be the township Council reports just a before we start that just a couple housekeeping things the beginning of the year um this governing body is governed not only by the laws in New Jersey and we have our attorney always here to help keep us in line we have bylaws uh which uh govern this meeting our meetings um which also call for the use of Robert's Rules as a side note I have distributed the bylaws um to the council for some updates and feedback um so hopefully in the next month or two we will be uh looking at that and voting on but with that I will uh start with um Council reports and we'll start with councilman kersch thank you Mr President um uh only a few brief items tonight on land use matters uh both our zoning board and our planning board had their reorganization meeting po meetings postponed due to weather uh on Saturday evening I had the opportunity to attend the Martinsville Rescue Squad annual um annual dinner and officer installation uh I'm sure others will provide additional commentary uh and then finally I wanted to just acknowledge that uh at our reorganization meeting uh the way it was originally written up we were to have two bites at the Apple U with um uh speeches um I I was not able to make a few comments which I want to summarize here uh really um um expressing appreciation particularly to our staff for all the hard work that they've done uh serving uh the last year on on um of my first term as council's president was truly an honor and a privilege uh the work that we do here is is highly collaborative and I want to particularly acknowledge those who sit on this day with us at each meeting along with their staffs they are integral parts of our Collective success so of course that's our administrator Michael papis our attorney Christopher corini and our clerk Grace uh Juna uh of course any mention uh of the clerk's office must note the outstanding contributions during a 20-year tenure of Grace as predecessor Linda Doyle our Clerk's Office Team which we firmly believe is the best in Somerset County if not all of New Jersey includes Juliana quo and Ali gust to Grace Juliana Ali thank you for everything you've done and continue to do for our residents always with a smile your hard work enabling Council operations to run so smoothly uh is uh is uh especially appreciated um uh I I will certainly finally recall the council presidency for deepen relations with each of the each of my colleagues each of you Howard Allen Philipe and Tim through countless individual conversations I was able to learn more about the particular and unique points of view each of you bring to council helping to make me more effective and with the gavl now sitting beside council president ring our leadership cycle has come full circle and I'm confident that 2024 will be yet another year of advancement for this Council thank you thank thank you councilman councilman cordill at this time I just like to report that I attended the um Martinsville Rescue Squad dinner and I had the privilege of uh H issuing the oath of office to the members of Martinsville Rescue Squad and uh thanking them for the service that not only the members but the members their family members and their with their support for all they do for the township of Bridgewater councilman nor gallis thank you uh Bridgewater residents have received their tax collection notice which resulted from the voter approval of the Board of Education plan for full day kindergarten please note that although this is remitted to the brid to the Township Tax Collector agent it is not a municipal government tax it is a board of education issue uh unfortunately in I believe Mr prus I'm correcting saying we cover the mailing costs as well as the uncollectible piece yeah uh for those of you who follow astronomical issues uh in a few weeks on Monday April 8th there will be a total eclipse of the sun folks are reminded to not look at the sun without using protective devices very important uh but I'll more about that as we get closer to it attended the reorganization meeting of the all volunteer Martinville Rescue Squad this is a wonderful organization which has been serving our Township for well over 60 years Fred mench the mayor's father was recognized for 45 years of service visited the swearing in ceremony for the North Branch Volunteer Fire Company although based in our neighboring Township of Branchburg North Branch has been the primary Bridgewater fire responder for our Northwest section of town since 1927 this is radar a awareness month and residents are encouraged to periodically test for this cancer causing radioactive gas seeping into homes and businesses uh I know in past years we've we've made radon tests available based on Grant will we still be doing that okay that's good news uh residents especially senior citizens are warned to be very careful about internet scams requests for personal information and offers that seem too good to be true are almost always bad people trying to steal your money and your information that is my report Mr President thank you thank you councilman pedroo uh thank you sir and good evening good evening members of our audience nice to see you um I attended some of the functions that were mentioned here tonight but um I'm going to use my time to um basically I had a short statement that I was going to read at the reorg meeting having been on the council now for 12 years it was the first read New York meeting that the council didn't have an opportunity in general to say any kind of statement so I had a very short statement I'm going to read it t read it tonight make it part of the record reflecting on the past year I've had the privilege of working closely with our 2023 council president Michael kersch while our perspectives didn't always align I must commend council president kers for his unwavering professionalism and courtesy he he consistently kept me informed about Council activities took the time to consider my opin my opinions even if he did not always adopt them and demonstrated a genuine commitment to serving the residents of Bridgewater his tireless work ethic and dedication to our community Improvement are truly commendable congratulations on your well-deserved re-election and serving in I was going to say tonight but couple weeks ago I look forward to continuing our collaboration on this governing body in the upcoming year as we welcome council president ring two weeks AO ago to lead this governing body I am confident in his Readiness for his responsibilities ahead I look forward to a productive partnership in the upcoming year congratulations Council council president ring on your re-election Bridge order is fortunate to have your insightful leadership to Mar mench I express my sincere gratitude for maintaining an open door policy and providing trans trans providing transparent insight into all government functions throughout your tenure over the past four years we have achieved much under your leadership you've steered Bridgewater through challenging times upheld your campaign promises and fostered the spirit of cooperation and unity within your team congratulations on your reelection and I eagerly anticipate the remarkable accomplishments we will achieve together for the Bridgewater community in the upcoming year thank you sir um just have a couple things I I did send uh notes to the clerk's office but I just wanted to publicly thank them uh for all of their efforts in the reorg um I will tell you you know as the incoming council president and trying to help uh make sure we're in a good position for our reorg it's a very different perspective than being a council member and on the outside looking in so um it was uh I I learned some few things through the process but uh I would like to commend our clerk's office for an outstanding job um I unfortunately could not attend the martinel squad dinner as I was uh out of town on a family commitment but I did have the pleasure um yesterday and today of being interviewed by two young Bridgewater Township residents one is a scout with troop 84 in Somerville and one is a a scout with my alamada troop 46 in Martinsville uh both men needed to interview someone about an issue they felt was important to the community um so yesterday yesterday we spent some time uh discussing spotted Lantern flies and today I spent some time discussing uh the township council's involvement in our roads in Bridgewater so um I look forward to seeing these two young men advance and hopefully someday become an eagle scout um that is my report Mr papis anything from the mayor thank you uh just a couple of comments about the storms that we've had and the one that's upcoming U our Public Works department has I think done a great job in being responsive to any questions or concerns from residents uh they are prepared I know uh they had a meeting earlier today to U line things up and prepare people and and hopefully um uh the storm will not be too uh impactful that's all that I have for now thank you question for you and I don't know if you know the answer um what how many inches of snow before we can actually plow versus salt okay yep yeah well we had that one storm where it was questionable as to how much we were getting we were supposed to get more we didn't but basically we need at least two inches in order for it to be plowable okay thank you we experimented a lot with it last year to the Nextel you know well that topic just kind of curious if we plow the streets with not I guess enough snow whatever that number happens to be does it does it ruin the roads in any way does plowing uh remove the top layer or help or take away or somehow um say reduce the lifespan it do we use All Steel blades yeah yes we the majority of of our trucks do have steel blades now rubber is not as rough on the road but it's not as effective clearing the road exact EXA L okay and I can tell you the county is All Steel anyone have anything else so do we do we make an effort to only plow when there's a certain amount of snow on the road absolutely that number is two inches is that the number yeah just picture the the little bit of coating it's not going to do anything if you have if you only have an inch of snow down there I so so the number is two inches so I understand thanks okay if there's nothing further next up on our uh discussion here since we started talking about the impact of blades on roads uh is a 2024 Road program uh presentation by Mr janova and Mr bar um Mr papis do you want to yeah thank you uh as the council knows uh there has been a u the practice to go through a rather extensive uh analysis of road conditions for the last several years uh 2024 would be U the next year the third year in this program uh this past year we saw great success for a variety of reasons because of the uh earlier start that we were able to have and certainly we appreciate the council's support in that regard uh and the efforts that Mr Jova and Mr Burr will share now will U help you appreciate but both the success that we've had as well as the proposal for this year so Mr janova thank you thank you council president good evening uh we're here tonight again to discuss year four of the five-year Capital Road Project Bill b Bill Burr and I were here on October the 5th and December the 7th to give updates and a summary of the roads completed in the 2020 3 Capital Road Project to date we have repaved 200 roads which amounts to 30% of the township owned roads this project is an exceptional success any project of this size requires countless hours of planning organizing budgeting and directing in order to continue this success it is imperative that we follow the the same plan as previous years where we are able to start very early in the calendar year this will allow for the best pricing on the project and we'll also ensure that the project will be completed prior to late fall when the temperature drops and it is not optimal optimal for asphalt construction of course the first step is find financing the project in 2022 the bond ordinance was introduced by the Council on February the 7th in 2023 the bond ordinance was introduced on Fe February the 2nd tonight we will describe the 2024 project scope and at this time I would like to hand off to Bill Burr the township engineer who will give a summary of the 202 for project thanks Tom good evening everyone thanks for having us um I think what I want to start if you don't mind Tom is is let's pull up the first the first sheet so we were here as as Tom mentioned back in October as well as December to give everybody an update on the 23 plan um we also had indicated in December that work was already started on Crafting our 2024 recommendations so we've been at this um for several months at this point um as you've heard we're we're entering year four of A Five-Year Plan uh the first three years have been funded at $8 million per year uh and the plan that we're going to go over now uh Honors that same budgetary um limits so the roads you see uh we feel very confident can be rebuilt or built within that $8 million threshold uh assuming you know we stay with the pattern of of the last three years so um as you've heard the first three years improved right around 200 roads uh if you include uh 2000 uh we're over 200 roads and I think you're going to see a a pretty informative map in front of you and I think um on the the TV screens behind us and what that map shows is obviously the Township as a whole uh it shows our six regions and we've discussed uh in the past on numerous occasions the regional approach the neighborhood approach that we've utilized to craft our annual Road program um so you can see the six regions that have been outlined and what we did was we highlighted in the color green all of the roads since 2020 through last year 2023 that have been rebuilt um utilizing this concept so that's what's shown in in green I didn't count the roads but I bet you in green because we included 2020 uh which was really our first test test year prior to the first $8 million you probably have every bit of 220 roads at least shown on this map in the red are the 42 roads that we're proposing to rebuild this year and as we we make our way through the slide show we're going to do a closer view a look in at each region um and the roads that are proposed in those regions so the approach that we utilize in crafting the plan this year is very similar to what we've done in in past years we've talked about the road rankings that we have um the roadbotics system that we've utilized twice now in the past to give us rankings of the condition of our existing roads that's still a heavily heavily utilized tool for us as we go go through all of our road candidates um so we used we used our road rankings um we took a look honoring that neighborhood approach we took a look to see how many of the roads in one particular region or neighborhood were in close enough proximity to really give us the best bang for our buck which is what we've done in the past great time savings but more importantly um monetarily money savings uh in our both our engineering and our and our construction so we look to try to package together as many roads that are nearby as possible OCR engineering public works department all keep rather robust databases anytime a member of the public and constituent calls in with a question concern complaint on a condition on on a particular road we track that when we craft this plan annually we take a look at those spreadsheets to see if there's a recurring theme of complaints or issues that have come through on a particular Road and and and we look at that um as we're reviewing the candidates and then really the last piece of it is we get out on on the ground and we do site visits it's fine to look at the rankings it's fine to look at our databases but if you're not in the field looking at the roads you can miss things so all those things together um really have helped us come up with you know the proposal that that we have here today and again with the regional approach um I think it's been proven certainly over the last three years I think it's been a great success both in terms of of saving us time on the engineering getting the projects out to bid earlier in the season so they the road can um improvements can get constructed before the winter season um and frankly the the coupling of the roads H have allowed us to get better bid prices and more contractor interest I feel in the projects um so let's let's dig in unless there's any questions I'm gonna move right into first slide just one quick question um I know you mentioned the road rankings the robotics somebody's looking at what's being presented tonight versus the road rankings um you want to touch on the psse and G Factor so there I think there's there's I would say councilman there's three there's three components to to what we're going to talk about not only tonight but also as we move through the balance of 2024 um we have the roads that we're presenting to be part of our road program um we also would like to undertake a pavement preservation program this year as well okay we did that last at the end of 2021 the last two years we have not done pavement preservation consciously because we've wanted to really leverage the money to get as many of and on the road rankings if you remember when we talk about the red roads the orange roads those are the real bad roads those are the ones we want to get improved yep we're to the point now where we really don't have that many left so we're starting to focus our efforts we still have some that we need to reconstruct but we're starting to refocus our efforts and we want to Kickstart that pavement preservation this year certainly into next year the Third component is PNG psng I think you you've heard us speak about it in the past they've come to the township probably in the last 18 months or so we've been working with them on a plan to replace gas Mains on about 21 or 22 miles worth of our roadway so about 10% of our roadway mileage is currently being impacted one way or another by this this gas main replacement plan we are currently engaged with the gas company to finalize a plan to resurface a number of additional roads from Curb to curb that they have installed gas mans on at their cost at their cost right now we have preliminarily a list of 12 to 15 additional roads that they would do full repaving on we're reviewing it internally and I expect um in the near future I hate to say it but you may be seeing us again to talk about that list in more detail once's it's once it's finalized but um the overall project is progressing it's been a little bit slower I think than anybody was hoping for I know there's been a lot of inconveniences with with the detours we're doing our best to manage it and and we're getting we're getting close to to having a bulk of that project would I ask you a a question on that topic if I if I may sorry to interrupt you sure uh when it comes to the detours some residents have reached out to Me Maybe to other council members about the frustration they have and not really knowing in advance is there a is there a way for us as a governing body or Administration to post on the website even if it's in the morning of when something is happening where residents can make a detour so you know these these detours pop up kids are going to school kids are showing up late parents are driving you know having a hard time getting their kids to school uh people going to work right um and if they just had a little bit of a heads up like even like a couple hours I mean anything would be better than nothing is there any possibility that that can be done we we have been holding bi-weekly conference calls sometimes in person with the gas company we actually had a call with them today we had a call with them last week and that that very topic is one that we stressed to them that there needs to be Improvement they've committed to giving us on a weekly basis every Friday an explicit list of what roads and what areas they're going to work on for the following week and specifically what roads will need to be detoured or have traffic impacted the school I will say is involved in those conversations so the school coordinator the TR the the the the bus coordinator is is or transportation coordinator is involved in those discussions as well um but they will be doing that moving forward and we will be posting that information through OCR for for the public to see how soon can we expect that to start I think you can expect it to start no later than the beginning of of next week and where can residents get information I know that there's some members of the media here uh where can residents get information uh going forward as to road closures where exactly can they go well two two places I would recommend first is psng themselves has a 1 1800 number that we can post yeah that doesn't seem very practical they they can also go to OCR um and we we work on a daily basis with OCR uh on engineering projects as well OCR is the office of constituent relations now exactly where can they go for OCR is there a site on the is there a website location or the residents can go to get that information on the morning of that they have to drive well I think I think what we envision is as updates become available those updates would be posted to the Township's website um can I make a suggestion sure could we possibly maybe have a conversation with the police department and taking that list on a Friday and sharing it with them so that they know ahead of time I don't know if there's the the ability to pre-schedule if you will a nixel alert but I think sending out at 7:00 in the morning these three streets are closed today is a lot more effective than someone having to check the OCR website right fair enough um and I I don't know if that technology exists to predu them or you know how that would work but if we could make I I think to the degree we can make it work through a nixel notification proactively as opposed to reacting to a resident I think it would be beneficial that's a great idea council president and also I think on the homepage there probably should be a a clear link that takes the residents right to whatever other page inside is going to have that information so and how to sign up for a nixel exactly that too sure and the reality is the more residents we get on nixel for stuff like this it also helps us during state of emergencies and other things like that it's just another tool to communicate well we we have had PD invol D with those calls as well um there are police on the job every time there's a detour or traffic Interruption so they are aware of the project and I suspect they'd be they'd be happy to sit down and and talk about it perfect the chief just gave you a thumbs up so good deal okay any other questions on psng for now or are we so let's let's um let's dig right into the regions and I'm just going to quickly go through each reason region if anybody has any questions interrupt but what you're looking at right now is is what we're calling region one and this is a Southeast you know what I'm sorry um is the public viewing this yes okay perfect thank you y yeah it should be if anybody's watching it online and then the folks Scott's give a thumbs up confirming Perfect all right so this is a Southeast portion of town um below route south of Route 22 and what you see in the green are all the neighborhoods over the last several years that we've um completed roadway improvements and you can see you know in this tightly knit area the the neighborhood approach that that we've implemented so what we're proposing this year is to jump jump to the Northern or the upper portion of that area just above Union a and we'd like to improve the two neighborhoods Jamestown and then the neighborhood right next to that so those four roads would be included in region one and I I think what I want to do is just you know as we go through here the the red roads are and I mentioned 42 of them we've identified those are what I would call our base bid roads those are the roads that we are recommending for improvement that we've fully cost it out and we feel confident at that 8 8 million threshold and Below we can get those improved what we've done in years past is we've also identified a number of other roads that we include as alternate bid items there are additional roads that aren't shown on this sheet we have about a dozen selected um preliminarily that we will share but we also would like to do some additional alternate roads the only problem with the alternate bid item is until you see how the pricing is coming in from the contractors there's no guarantee that we're going to be able to do those roads so it's it's difficult to advertise them um because there's no guarantee we're going to be able to get them done but there are some additional roads throughout the whole town that I think fit really nicely with the red roads that we're going to talk about um we're just not quite there yet with the with the alternates but the but the red roads that we're going through those are the ones that with your approval we're committed to to move forward with so any questions on area one that that's the neighborhood or the two neighborhoods that that we'd like to improve this year so heading over to to region two which is on the Southwest portion of town down Old York Road and and the miltown area this is a unique area because it's kind of split into into two separate a Northerly and a and a southernly area and you can see the the Red Road or the excuse me the green roads down along Old York Road there's a lot of long north south roads and then we did uh a big a big neighborhood the Hancock a neighborhood last summer um what we're proposing is to head a little bit north and build upon uh the work that we did last year so Rowan Oak AV Burwick a jumping over to the west side of miltown road there's a couple of neighborhood roads there that um the roads are really in bad shape um so we're proposing to to kind of improve that cluster of of five roads right in the middle of the section um nothing nothing right now by way of Mill and overlay or Road reconstruction is proposed on the Northerly section um we did you can see in green we did do some roads um last year up in that Northerly section that has been an area that has been the focus of some pavement preservation in the past I suspect we may want to take a look at that neighborhood or those neighborhoods again this year in some um you know some way shape or form to see if there's any opportunity there but that area uh towards the the upper portion of the screen is one that we want to continue to Target moving forward father of one of the scouts that I spoke to yesterday actually said after it was all said and done spoke highly of the preservation piece and and how it worked I think it's one there's a little the first couple days are a little adjustment period if you will but spoke highly of it so was appreciative sorry yeah no no Mr President I just wanted to bring the full Council and and and the public others uh who are who are uh listening um into some of the conversation that I've had with with Bill on on I guess um maybe you call it upper two just because that's the way it's shown on the screen um and you know a lot of those roads were built at the same time um they're now at a point where they're they're kind of between you know do they need to be considered for repaving maybe within a year or two do they need to you know are they better for um uh the um uh the overlay you know the uh pavement preservation um and I I I think that neighborhood is is is good you know let's do both um some of the streets may may get a pavement preservation uh and and that will likely not require additional attention then buying us maybe another four five six years at a low cost and some of those streets some of those areas um you know just by being patient for another another year or so um you know could could be really good candidates um for uh for resurfacing nothing in that area you know is is in the category of needing to be rebuilt thankfully um and I think that that that this neighborhood is is potentially a um um a goal for what what the future of our program will look like where we're toggling between pavement preservation uh and repaving um and hopefully we never reach the point again um where we have the particularly expensive um you know full-blown reconstruction necessary so um you know obviously all of our neighborhoods many of our neighbors were built at different times have different needs um but I just wanted to bring everyone into into into the mix on our conversation because while it's most relevant here I think it's illustrative of what we will see over time across a wider uh a wider stretch of town agreed and I think it's a really good point because if if moving forward our our biggest issue is trying to decide which roads are going to be preserved versus a simple Mill and overlay and that's a good problem to have on our hands and I think it's one that would show the success of the investment that we put in when we first started looking at this three four years ago we were grappling with what roads to fully reconstruct or really improve drainage on little by little our focus is is moving away from the full reconstruction into more of the the mill and overlay payment preservation that's where we want to be just and just one other thing that we've discussed just want to make sure that you can state it for the full for the full audience um you know the pavement preservation is great it buys us a few years it's very very cost effective but you know that can only happen so many times on a road um you know eventually a road you know will need to be uh will need to be repaved so I you know I know that neighborhood has also seen some pavement preservation it's not necessarily shown uh here but you know I I can remember seeing it out my own window and experiencing it we I remember a day with you Tom it was about 105 degrees uh uh out out on out on or near a Terrace Lane um so um you know it it's it's it's it's it's important that I think not only do we have a good program but we learn from it in other regions as well and it's a it's a process that I I do really feel is an effective one definitely cost effective but it also it brings value extends the life of your roadways but it's only effective it's if it's being used on on the right type of Road um and then from there it's all about the messaging and making sure folks understand what the purpose of that application is it's not to replicate a full roadway that's just been freshly repaved it's to preserve what's there and extend the useful life of that road so it's not going to have the same texture or consistency but what it will do or what it should do is fill in the cracks fill in any of the voids in the existing pavement surface that are going to really lead to further deterioration if they're not filled in so um I suspect we're going to be talking about that moving forward in more detail as well but just real quick for any of the public either hear or listening just so they fully understand and you can correct me if I'm wrong when we talk about milling and Paving that is simply a process to take the the top layer of black top away chop it up and put put down a fresh smooth layer of black top in some cases um the Robotics and site visits and Engineering suggests that that road needs to be fully dug up in some cases the dirt underneath redone we you want to it's like having a solid foundation on your house you need a a solid foundation under the road so some of these roads are simply milling and Paving others require more extensive reconstruction so when you talk about the two different things just so the public understands the difference thank you dra many over correct yes okay jumping off to area three again area three area four as we get into three four and five in the Northerly portion of town they become much bigger bigger areas um they're more spread out the lots are larger but you can still see even in an area like three with all the green a lot of the work that's been done is honoring that neighborhood approach and and we've really we've really taken care of a lot of neighborhoods through that area some of which have been the work has been funded with grants from the state mainly because we have a number of schools in that area um but a lot of work has been done over last several years in Area 3 and we want to continue that moving forward so this year we want to get the Rolling Hills neighborhood done which is right near the intersection of um Country Club and garon and then we want to move a little bit Northerly uh and continue in the upper section of of the area we want to continue building upon areas that we completed last year so farmer roads steeple chase Juniper Lane they were all done last summer this year we'd like to do Candlewick we we'd like to do love Road um it's really in bad shape it's a road that leads into an adjacent municipality um we really hear from a lot of folks about love it it ranks very highly on our our rankings so um those are the roads that we want to we want to tackle this year in in Region Three have we shared with Bedminster our plans for love Road for this not yet will we ahead of time we absolutely will so that if they want to do something on their side absolutely will yep yep all right moving over to area four which is the most Northerly portion of the Town it includes um Sunset Lake and then Works its way down along Washington Valley this one again vast area you could see in the green a lot of the neighborhoods that we've already improved we want to try to continue with that although I'll admit the roads that we're showing in red this year are a little bit more spread out although we're doing multiple roads in each of those spread out areas so the most Northerly area we want to get a couple more roads rebuilt in the the um Sunset lake neighborhood we've done just about all the roads on the southernly side we want to move up to the Northerly side closer to Washington Valley and start working our way moving down to the to the bottom right of the list we want to take care of long road this year long road is uh a roadway off of Washington Valley that leads into uh burnard's Township again we get pinged all the time on love Road there's some drainage issues um pavement is not in great shape um and it's really a heavily utilized road so we want to improve long uh there's a cluster of Roads Plymouth Jeffrey Ryan right near the uh Crim school we got a grant to improve those roads in November we were just notified so we'd like to take care of that neighborhood as part of this plan and then heading to the left on your screen um we propose to improve the outer loop of the star view Stella neighborhood for a couple of reasons Stella has been on our radar or actually starv view has been on our radar for a number of years for improvement that is a neighborhood that has had gas main recently completed on uh we think in concert or in combination with the fact that the roads some of the roads are already in poor condition with the work that the gas company did we want to start resurfacing those roads as well so we want to do the outer loop there heading over to area five um this is kind of the the I guess the central Northerly portion of town you have Washington Valley Road on the the upper right hand side and it stretches all the way down almost to where we're at right here the cluster of roads in green on the the left side of the screen is right here off of Woodland nav um we did a lot of those roads last year actually last fall there's a little bit of work that remains I I would call it punchless work all the repaving work has been done but there's a little bit of punchless work that we're going to clean up in the springtime the long up and down road on the left hand side in red is Somerset AV that's the last Road really in that neighborhood that wasn't done this past year so we want to pick that road off uh as part of this and then heading to the right on the screen we really want to continue to tackling some of the roads along that Foothill um Road Corridor so we've identified Birch Hill and Bittersweet Terrace those are both roads that rank very highly in fact I think Birch Hill is one of our only remaining red roads I think we have one other Red Road on the list that we're going to try to get taken care of next year uh young Scout that interviewed me this afternoon to talk about roads uh lives on bitter suite and was very concerned at 17 years old about the condition of the road I told him he should watch tonight that we were going to be doing this presentation so Ryan if you're watching Bittersweet is proposed that's funny and Ryan may have a job when he graduates okay right and then in the center of the screen we have the the laot and neighborhoods off of off of Northbridge um their roads that yo they're not in great shape on our rankings certainly there are longstanding drainage issues and that's that's really the importance when we talk about doing the site visits on these roads that's really where that becomes important because the road btics the road rankings that's telling us just the pavement condition what that road looks like doesn't tell you what caused it curbing it doesn't talk about sidewall conditions it doesn't tell us if there's drainage problems that's why we got to get out there and look at these in person laon's a perfect example um dit half of them are filled in half of them have crushed driveway pipes um the gas company was out there doing some work which has not made things any better uh and and and based on the rankings we think all these roads are are good candidates to be improved this year last not least last but not least area six the northeasterly portion of town tremendous amount of work you can see in the lower portion in green along that route 22 Corridor by voser AV um really improved a lot of the roads in in that area we last year started making our way Northerly towards Washington Valley we want to focus on continuing that effort last year or um this year so last year we did um Eastbrook I think April um Mayflower is the last road we want to continue we want to do um I know it's it's pan Weaver bid Davis that cluster of Roads Take us right out to Washington Valley and that entire neighborhood is is then complete and then we want to jump to to the bottom and really finish off the bottom portion of of that region Along voser on either side of voser we have the Glenn Glen Road neighborhood that was on our list last year as an alternate because of the bid pricing at the time we weren't able to afford doing the work last year so we want to honor it in this year's plan as a base bit item um there's curbing issues there's drainage issues PSG has come through and and done some work on the road as well so we want to take care of of those roads um the neighborhood across which is Shady Lane and Deerhead if you take a look at the rankings you will see that numerically they don't rank very high that's because we came in in 2021 and we did do some pavement preservation in that neighborhood which I think was a good application at the time it was very cost effective that was four years ago unfortunately the gas company has come back in now damaged the road to put the gas Mains in they are responsible for milling and repaving the entirety of those roads so that that work the Shady Lane Deerhead that easterly side of Osler that work will be done by the gas company we would like to before they do the paving we'd like to go in and do some repairs to the damaged curbing fix people's driveways and then allow the gas company to resurface the roads so that's why those two neighborhoods are shown um at the bottom of the screen so put it all together like I mentioned I think we have 42 roads shown on these slides uh the potential for about a dozen more and then when you talk when it's when it's when it's finalized and we're back to talk about psng we could see anywhere from 12 to 15 more roads on top of these getting paved by the gas company and the roads that we are proposing the 42 roads yes I'm assuming we have confirmed with pscg that they have no intention of digging those roads up in the next couple years not currently they do not have any plans correct but if they do based upon our updated ordin if if we repave one of these roads this year and psng decides in two years they're going to dig it up for gas piping based upon our updated ordinance from a couple years ago they will be responsible for repaving that road curb to curb from one end to the other even if they only dig up a six foot section in the middle of the road they they will be our ordinance um includes a seven-year moratorium so if they touch that road anytime within that seven-year period if they get approval to touch that road yes they but the approval comes from the township yeah but if they have to do an emergency repair it's hard to say no not an absolutely but in the meantime we're asking them to tell us to tell us where all these gas leaks are not to just say hey we'd like to replace that line yeah we want to have the incidents to prove them out we're not going to give them cart blanks understood I'm just for the Public's benefit you know there's a coordination here with psng and if they change their plans they're responsible for redoing the entire Road I agree thank you they want to replace all of the old steel pipes because they do have a tendency to rot out and they're in is plastic oh that we're talking we're talking the 50s 60s old pipe but aren't aren't they they're mandated by the state to replace it all by 2037 yes even though the governor has announced that he wants to eliminate gas stoves and gas heat and stuff by 20135 the Board of Public Utilities is mandating PSG replace all the old gas piping by 2037 only in Jersey so I have not converted my fireplace to gas and I'm very happy and in these temperatures don't have an electric car oh I I had a um Uber the other day in Philadelphia and it was a Tesla and it was cold as could be and he was had this little space heater on the dashboard I said oh is your heat broken he said no he says if I run it the car will be dead in a couple hours the heat the heat draws too much off off the batteries that's what the Uber driver told me so anyway so sorry you I was I was just going to give you my closing statement there's any unless there's any more questions so just just wanted to talk real quick uh scheduling just so everybody has a sense hopefully of where we're headed um and if we replicate our schedule from last year what we'd like to do is the period from March through May utilize that two-month window for engineering design on all of the road work may possibly into early June schedule for bidding of the projects award the contracts in that May or June time frame such that construction can commence hopefully as soon as July and all of our work as Tom said is done by Halloween with any luck that's the goal we did have some work creep into November this year we got almost all of our work done from 2023 finished last year in large part as you all know due to the schedule or the the manner in which that that we got funding in place which was hugely important um for us so my ask or our ask tonight um is give us the green light on the roads that we Pres presented or let us know if if you have any issues with them hopefully you've all had a chance to review the list and you're in agreement with with the 42 roads that we've presented that was going to be my third ask so the first was approve the road list the second was was to authorize us to start seeking proposals for engineering and this follows what we did last year and then the third would be to contemplate um introducing and adopting a bond ordinance in February similar to last year such that the funds are available by around the middle of March with which gets us in a position where we need to be to to stick with that schedule so tonight i' i' I'd love for you to give us the green light on the road so I I just asked Mr corini because I don't remember us historically I'll say approving the road list he said that is not something we would have to approve no you can give conceptual feedback okay a head nod yeah what we used to call it fine and you have votes in the future that will bonding vote votes on the individual projects and and just so that the rest of the council is aware I've had some preliminary as a member of the budget committee I've had some preliminary conversation with my counterpart councilman kersch as well as with the township administrator um prior to us receiving any bond ordinance the budget committee will be meeting with the administration just to confirm as we did last year um you know the we Bond we have a bill to pay we want to confirm you know the future budgeting for the ne and and making sure we can make those payments discussing obviously interest rates have changed although I understand uh they've become a little more favorable over the last couple months so the budget committee is going to have a meeting with the administration that we will look to report back at the next meeting potentially before um an ordinance would be present or introduced is that a fair summary Mr papis yes sir uh we we are um would like to and if with the council's consent to at least begin that process Mr pandos U uh set a conference call that we had this morning with Mr janova Mr B Mr drewitz and just talked about this uh to potentially be able to move forward uh at the next meeting to consider an introduction um so yes be happy to uh meet with the finance committee as as soon as you're available okay I have a I guess I got have a comment may be part question um when it comes to the road the road selections I I view that as being an administrative task and I appreciate um the administration coming forward and and showing us the road plan and showing us the roads and and getting our feedback and I and again I guess that kind of goes part of my comment toing Council statement about how I appreciate the mayor and the administration's transparency and coming forward to the governing body so I appreciate that however end of the day I view my role being one more financial and less one of deciding and nicking the roads I I that that task really I view false it's an administrative task and and in our former government it's the mayor's power to to to make those choices so I'm not going to nitpick on that but um my main concern which has been consistently over the last several years has been um in that this governing body I anticipate in February uh will be asked to approve a million Bond it's $8 million Bond $8 million Bond uh without I anticipate having a budget um to me is a concern I I believe that uh in order for us to fiscally responsibly manage the township budget and its finances uh we have to know how much money we anticipate on making this year and what our expenses are going to be and how much we can afford just like any anybody or anybody does in their household or any business does by managing their finances and and to be asked uh to blindly uh agree and commit our taxpayer to pay back $8 million in bonding uh without knowing the state of the finances of the township for the coming year I that is um it's inappropriate um and so I would I would ask if Administration I don't know how possible or not possible it is but I would I would ask the administration uh to provide us um a budget as quickly as possible and before I'm asked to pass judgment whether or not the township should incur an 88 million Bond um for for this for this project for the projects proposed before us Mr President I I I think that that you spoke to some of that a few moments ago where we will begin a conversation as the budget committee uh whether you want to call it a budget framework or you know what whatever you want to call it I I think that we will have uh at least a general sense of of where we are where we expect to be um you know throughout the year even after we pass a budget adjustments are made um but I think that as has occurred in previous years um we are being we will be asked to make the best decisions we can with the information we have at the time um with the idea that it is important to move quickly um because if we wait until June or July or August to even start this um uh this process uh you know including the engineering and then the bidding and the contract and the construction none of this work will be will be feasible or viable in calendar year year 23 so 24 excuse me in 24 so you know while while you know the points raised are are are good and accurate and it is important to have uh as complete a picture I think that the nature of this process and we've now been through this this will be the fourth time of five um is you know it's it's a bit of a dance um with with how complete the information is and um you know we continue to make the best the best decisions we can with the in with the with the information we have and the information that we anticipate I know certainly a good deal of it is uh um anticipated Revenue a good deal of it is obviously management of expenses I know one of the things that we've spoken about is our desire for a monthly report uh of the state of our uh our of our expenditures um so you know we'll see how the process goes over the next couple of weeks um but I I'm I'm very satisfied with the way it happened in 2023 uh and hopeful that we can we can do something similar and reach similar success in 24 thank you anything else on roads or let me rephrase it anything else on the 2024 Road program because we're going to talk about roads more in a minute no and as H oh I'm sorry Mr nalis go ahead no I was giving oh uh yeah yeah and as uh Mr Jova Mr bur said if there are questions or uh any questions about roads that were or were not on the list please let us know thank you so next up is another presentation now on the agenda I know we're talking about weight limit restrictions on the agenda it has Mr Burr yep on the handout I have I'm not sure if the chief's cominging up or not yeah he's wearing a tie so probably would be good for him to come on up just in case you'll be closer everybody is TI um so the uh the council uh U we appreciate the uh this will be much more brief presentation but um I think probably would be appropriate for uh Mr Burr and then maybe the chief to add some uh commentary uh there are a number of roads that are on this list there's also a um another road that's not on the list that actually has a weight limit that they're continuing to be concerns about uh speeding and uh I'm hoping that that can be addressed as well so um I guess Mr Burr maybe you could start and then the chief could add his perspective on that other rad so we were asked to take a look at we were asked in engineering to take a look at a number of Roads um I think in response to some new development applications that have come through the pipeline particularly on 202 206 as well as some concerns that have have been raised by the public in terms of truck traffic using certain roadways as a cut through um on our Municipal roads so we took we took a look at a number of roads and first on the list is is long road that doesn't that doesn't fit into the description I just gave you but long road is one that we constantly get get pinged on um for having what I would characterize as inappropriate types of vehicles on that Road and I think as as we take a look through some of the photos don't mind the hood of my truck in the one picture but long road everybody's been on that road that truck over the double yellow line um long road is is a narrow road um horizont horizontal and vertical geometry is such that it's really inappropriate for larger vehicles um the road was not built frankly to withstand the weight of thear larger Vehicles so long road is the first road that we're recommending the town consider implementing a 4ton weight limit on um long road as you know does connect to Bernard's Township we have had some preliminary discussions with Bernards to to ensure that they also are in agreement with implementing the same type of restriction on their end so far the feedback has been favorable but we're working through that process now so long road is is the first road that we're recommending um if I may just add to that this is a road that I had surfaced based upon some residents feedback and their comment was they've been trying to get this done for years and have always been told can't be done because part of the road is in Bernards and part of it is in Bridgewater um I immediately called one of the councilwoman in Bernards and said hey what do you think um and this has progressed forward and and Bernards is fully on board so it's a uh multi- toown effort long road so the next the next slide that you see before you is is actually the the cluster of roads that um we're recommending along the 202 206 Corridor and this is where a couple of new developments are going to come into play um there's one in particular across from Highland to Avenue um there have been some concerns raised so we took a look at all of the roads that could provide connectability from 202 206 to Foothill Road or Northbridge um you know in the heart of the township and you can see it on the on the map you have Allen Road you have Highland Avenue Somerset Avenue Hillside Avenue White Street Prospect AV and then we also included Crossroad um that's an interesting one because it's off of um well it's off of the lower stretch there of I guess two or two it probably considered dowy um but we envisioned a scenario where you could have trucks missing a turn and trying to turn around and Crossroads so we recommended that be looked at as well um pretty dense multi multif family development but taking a look at the photos you know carrying on the same theme that I mentioned about long you have roadways that have been built some time ago many of them are very narrow they have they have Curves in the road you have trees very close to the edges of the road um and frankly they they haven't been built to withstand any heavy truck traffic beyond your typical school buses garbage trucks and and you know delivery delivery trucks so just panning through some of the photos um you can kind of see the theme here so that that's kind of the short version I think you've been provided with a Memo from engineering with our recommendations the maps the photos I think we provided a copy of the existing ordinance that lists um the roadways in town that are currently under the weight restriction there's there's another road that we have taken a look at uh which is Adamsville Road which is in um you know a section of of of road that has a heavy cluster of industrial uses uses with truck traffic Adamsville Road is currently under a weight restriction from Main Street up to Route 22 there's three signs in each Direction on the Northbound and southbound side the one section of Adamsville that I think has been discussed in the past that's not under weight restriction is the South Adamsville stretch to the south side of of Main Street um if you restrict that South piece of Adamsville there would be no viable access to some of those those businesses in in the far rear end of of the industrial complex so Adamsville is currently on the weight restriction the weight restricted list if you remember back in 2021 this body added bellone Bridgewater AV and igrad um trying to think if there were any others Thomas as well to the list so trying to prohibit truck traffic from the adjacent residential roads that parallel South Adamsville and just if I may if I may comment as much as I absolutely agree with you Bill I I I have to State the Adamsville Road uh issue with the weight restriction has been a pain for years um with you know talking to the various police Chiefs over the years and also the uh police Chiefs in Somerville the issue has always been well we can go out and enforce it the minute we go out there uh the trucks will you know stay off the road and go down Fern Avenue but the minute we're gone the word is out and the the trucks are back um I would ask probably a stronger term than ask if we we we do we could put all the weight restrictions in the world that we want but if there's no enforcement on the weight restrictions we talked about Crossroads you know your concern is well if a truck makes a wrong turn he's going to go through Crossroads how long does would it take him to do that maybe two two three minutes it would be a stroke of uh a luck if there was a police officer handy around to witness it and offer issue a ticket uh I don't know if how that applies to all the other roads but we I've I've asked in the past and I'm asking again it to eliminate the problem on Adamsville Road we have the opportunity to go down findern Avenue which which is a truck route if we can get the truck route expanded on Van Von to go into the South Adamsville Road area which I understand includes a small parcel that is considered Green Acres with with Somerset County um I'm asking can we please get that done because I believe once that route is completed that will take the trucks on a much easier route to the old Egan Machinery site plant two site and C get them off of Adamsville you know we're talking about putting a weight restriction on South Adamsville quite honestly it's a great idea however there's no other way for the trucks to get in you know so we could put it on but they're still going to use it so I'm asking could we please focus our energy on getting that cut through from Van vcon complete you know in the Pro get it going and see what needs to be done to to do it and then the other roads would be you know they become second thought I I think that we can definitely reignite the review of that particular issue we started taking a look at a councilman but um through the course of the review there's some environmental constraints there's some there's some hurdles that we whatever it is to look at the the weight limit on Adamsville Road if I'm if I stand corrected that was done in the area maybe 50 years ago ago because there was a child hurt by a truck on Adamsville Road now we talk about environmental issues and so on yes they are important but on any of these roads give me a higher priority than a child on a road with a truck there's none higher in my opinion so I would ask with this project I'll support it if there is a an a strong effort to get the issues with Van vcon uh mitig at and get the cut through get the road cut through you know honestly I think if we had a bulldozer and just went through and did it I wouldn't complain is the solution M Mr President just a clarification um when you're talking about North Adamsville um between Union Avenue and Maine that's a border with Somerville right so in order to be truly effective do do we need to have a collaborative conversation with the governing body in in Somerville those those weight restrictions already exist on their side I believe so okay it's posted on both both sides of that road I I think that the what Mr cordilla has suggested I think we've looked at this uh eight different ways I think that is the solution and we did start looking at it Mr corini's office began looking at Deeds uh because there's a number of other property owners there the county owns some property there's um potentially Wetlands issues Mr bur and Mr Shimp actually at least on one occasion went and physically uh walked the potential route so this is something that is does make a lot of sense as as you said there's a lot of hurdles but I think we we do want to be much more aggressive in pursuing this and and seeing what what what it would take for the township to see this occur I hope so and this may be a well question for one of you more so for the Public's understanding when we talk about a road like long road and putting a a four ton restriction on it um someone that orders order stuff from Home Depot for their personal use in their house and Home Depot coming to deliver it on the flatbed tractor trailer uh to a resident on Long Road the the local deliveries are still allowed is that correct or are we that's my understanding yes okay so so so when we talk about um these restrictions it's really on through traffic the chief is here I'm wondering if he could just add his commentary about the Enforcement issue on Adamsville specifically for Adamsville Road um in year 2023 we had a total of 152 stops on that road so we are there enforcing that road like councilman cadilla said that's a very busy section of town um alone with uh you know fer naav with the with the crashes and then with the the prominade um it's a very busy area of town so to say that we can constantly be there to enforce that is impossible um but we are enforcing it as like I said the stats show that we are there we've had 152 stops in 2023 alone and we definitely have directed patrols there for these tractor trailers we even went as long uh we went tried speaking with Google to try to get the Google Maps to divert to so for the tractor trailers to say at you know it's a four-time restricted Road uh they have haven't cooperated yet with us to try to make that change so they can know the truck route any of those 1 do you know offand any of those 152 repeat offenders I don't know that no just so I understand next steps the thought process is at our next meeting we would get a ordinance to introduce to start the process to put these restrictions in place if I may yeah you may is the ideal truck not to have would someone argue that or 10 is acceptable or no semis or something or four is too much four four ton is what is currently regulated by ordinance it's the limit that is of our accepted stand it's our accepted standard it's a standard that's accepted by a lot of adjacent municipalities many other municipalities four ton is at threshold and that's that's kind of like the box truck size that you know 8,000 lb UPS truck anything bigger than that is what we're looking to keep off the roads as council president said it doesn't include the UPS trucks it doesn't include the delivery vehicles but um any of the cut through traffic any anyone else no sir thank you gentlemen thank you next up is a meeting open to the public uh members of the public wishing to address the Council on any matter we'll be allowed two minutes to speak unless there's unusual circumstances um we would ask anyone that wants to speak to come forward and please State their name and address first I need a motion to open to the public I'll make the motion to open our meeting to the public do we have a second I'll second all those in favor I anyone opposed all right motion carries the meeting is open to the public like anyone is welcome to come forward if you need to if you can just adjust the microphone you're speaking not only to those in the room but we're also broadcasting this over the internet I guess we have a sign in sheet there okay that works as well hello my name is uh isan Joi um I am 14 and I go to Bridgewater raron High School uh I would like to tell you about what happened on the night of December 20th 2023 uh so our neighbor was away for the holidays and my family had all just come over as my grand mother has was in the hospital uh and she eventually passed away the next day um my cousin and I were told to go to our neighbor's house to go water the plants be as they were away um and we went there and the alarm system was still set up and we went in to the house with the code to like the to the front door and we told we were told that um it should have been off it it was just a mistake but the police eventually ended up coming and my neighbor or my I had my neighbor on the phone while my cousin was still outside and they told me that the police had just come outside and they were talking to my cousin who was still standing out there [Music] um as I looked out the window I saw that my cousin was being yelled at um he was doing nothing wrong except for just standing and we live uh right across the street on bucken road and they live on Sunset Ridge and he just wanted to come and see the view it was a very beautiful Street and as I try to slip on my sneakers because I had the homeowner on the phone as I tried to slip on the sneakers I I couldn't even go like put them on all the way before I was just completely shocked my cousin was out there I open the door and I hear him officer holel yelling at my cousin for no reason as I go up to the officer I have the phone on speaker and he grabs it out of my hand and puts it in his pocket he aggressively spoke to us and interrogated us for no reason and as a 14-year-old I never thought I would have to experience this and I never thought that I would have to experience racism towards myself or my cousins at that for that matter at the age of 14 I was shocked I was so worried that this officer was going to use some violent force and try and detain us for no obvious reason he took my phone away and had the homeowner talk to him or have had the police I had the police or the homeowner talk to the police sorry and they they told him all of the information necessary but the officer was still aggressive even after the phone was hung up um I was fortunate to be a Cadet at the summer County Youth police AC Academy in the summer and they taught us that they to always respect the police and I was genuinely interested in law enforcement but after that I was completely disinterested I was I was shocked shocked and scared the police officer officer holel taught me something that day he taught me that racism is real and that was the first time I had ever been racially profiled by anyone and I I would like to thank him for teaching me that but shame on him jonen thank you could I could I ask you a question and thank you for sharing your story with us um you mentioned that officer you felt that there was a some conduct was occur towards you that was racist did the officer use any racial slur towards you he didn't use any racial slurs but there was obvious Prejudice towards me well why don't you elaborate more on that why do you think that's the case I genuinely believe that had another person that was not the same skin tone as me or my cousin who has a beard had had there been another person with a different skin tone I do not believe that the officer would have acted the same way but was there I I appreciate you sharing how you feel but was there anything in particular uh um that was said to you that you feel was racial or prejudicial in any way in the way that it was said no but there was obvious aggressiveness to a 14-year-old for no apparent reason may I um suggest that if you haven't already um that you speak to the chief who who is here um you know the first of all let me back my condolences on passing of your grandmother I'm sorry for what you've experienced but as a governing body um this is not your your concerns are not one that this governing body legally can address this should have a conversation with the police department who can look into your concerns further from an administrative side so if you haven't already I would suggest um getting your contact information to the police department for them to investigate further Ming maybe the young man already has have you spoken with Chief mitzak or any uh have not um okay I think all right thank you yep okay okay my name is asish Joi I'm the father um so a couple of things what you asked Mr pedroo um and which isan didn't say is that um as he was exiting the house there was an altercation between the cousin and the police officer it's all on video I've seen it it's very uncomfortable extremely uncomfortable and when you ask what racism was experienced oh believe me there was racism absolutely 110% I've seen the video he was inside so as he was exiting the house things were happening outside did you share that video with me could you email I'm not going to share that I'm not now you're not going to share the video with me I'm not going to share that because it's not mine it's my neighbors okay that's not the point and I'm not here for any of I could have done this a month ago and as my son said my mother passed over the next day now there is a teaching moment here in that we had an obligation we promised the neighbor which we've done many many times we go over there water the plants everything's fine should he have gone there without me maybe not I was at the hospital and I wanted to teach him that you gave somebody a word that you're going to do this you're going to do this so go ahead and do this okay to have the police officer come in aggressively was absolutely 110% inappropriate and I strongly believe that as my son said had the cousin not had the appearance that he had this would not have happened now we've all seen the mall incident okay and I don't want to go there this was similar in nature hang on as ishan said he was in this Police Academy last last summer the whole week loved it one of the things that they taught them is you assess the situation you go one step at a time the word is deescalate there was no deescalation going on on during this time in fact I would say that if he hadn't come out when he did I don't know what the next step would have been again I've seen the video all I'm saying is and coincidentally today is I just looked on the agenda and you're approving a contract for the chief you know congratulations but I hope the chief teaches this deescalate you don't have to go into every situation Gang Busters now to a 14-year-old when he has the homeowner on the phone to snatch the phone away put it in the pocket that's not how you do this business it was dark it was cold a lot of emotions grandmother's in the hospital and when you have a situation like this you do not go in so aggressively and that's all I have to say I really wish you would be able to share that video with us so that we can look into this further or if you haven't I would ask again that you please touch base with the police chief it's irrelevant it's irrelevant at this time you're making some allegations they have an obligation to investigate not an allegation we're I'm not here again let me reiterate I'm not here to allege anything blame anyone point a finger at anyone just saying that you do not go into a situation like this at a 14year old that's it okay I mean the the burger alarm did go off the officers are responding to a absolutely again they were doing their job I I it's a tense situation the officer on if I can just jump in here I I appreciate you the folks coming I'm going to give you my card uh I I don't I personally I don't need it I don't want to do anything about this I just want you all to know that I now understand the situation that occurred at the mall how it all went down that's not fair at all that's absolutely unfair why is it fair because because you're dealing with different officers there's different circum you've seen the video of the mall I don't show me the video sir sir the M sir all right we have a two-minute limit I'm trying to be respectful the police chief is here he would like to talk to you he's coming behind you as I've mentioned to your son I I was not that none of us were here no one on this day is qualified to do an investigation that investigation should be done by the police department you have publicly come forward stated your concerns they're going to follow up with you none none of us here on this day nor you have seen the videos of what transpired at the mall you may have seen one or two videos okay we don't know it's sealed we're not even allowed to see that let alone the public but I I I understand your concerns and I going to ask you that to defer further conversation to the police chief Bridgewater Township takes every every incident seriously the chief is standing right behind you now and regardless of what you may or may not have intended by your public comment tonight the department will be looking at this matter sure and I'll say right now on the record I am not going to file anything for obvious reasons and that's it okay you made some very very serious accusations and I think that accus think that this town we'll be looking what's the definition of an accusation further well you you've made some serious accusations in my mind what accusation so when you accuse the police department of being racist to me that's a very serious accusation that I 14-year-old said that you whatever but's been made and I believe the town further into thank you I'm sure the chief will speak to you further thank you want to put on a record that since he has made this allegation it's automatically going to be an internal affairs investigation uh will we review the bodying cameras even if he doesn't want to proceed with it I will proceed with it investigate it so thank you Chief thank you chief I'm sorry Chief before walking away apparently there is additional evidence that may be available I guess on a neighbors's video or somebody's telephone or something that was that was described um you know I heard that comment I presume that you did too that in addition to any footage that your officers may have captured it seems as though there may be relevant additional footage uh available as part of this Council M kers uh Chief mzac is has our full confidence to take a look at this and report back to the council I recommend no further discussion thank you thank you any other members of the public wish to speak move to close public input a motion do I have a second second second all those in favor I anyone opposed all right public comment is closed moving forward we have no introductions of ordinances so we will move to resolutions um resolution 12a to cancel Capital appro appropriation balances for completed projects in the amount of $3,945 u Mr pandos uh has uh is doing I think a great job in in trying to clean certain things up this U is speaks for itself these are U ordinances that uh have been uh the intended purchase of a product or a a contractor has been completed and these monies that are left over and would be uh considered unanticipated Revenue it's what I have in my hand yeah yes there's a in this particular version of the packet there's a mistake there um I think it was correct y here's what I what I see here you have um the same resolution for 12a and 12b and uh you don't there so yeah I have a copy of it I've just passed to Mr uh councilman noralis 12b is actually the um cancellation of checks and uh 12a is the cancellation of the capital of balances I think the U you good with that Mr nalis okay so do we have a motion on 12a to cancel appropriation balances for completed projects in the amount of 3947 I'll move 12a second okay roll call please cman K yes cman cill yesalis yes councilman pedroso yes president ring yes and now 12b which is a resolution authorizing the cancellation of outstanding checks in the amount of 138,139 I think this the smallest one was like 10 cents from uh 2022 to I think there largest was like $25,000 quite a spread last one time this was done I think was 2019 and and Mr pandos as he's acquainting himself with all of our records uh discovered this so Mr pandos thank you for for this work I'd make a motion to move move 12b I I just have one comment I I'll second that but I have one comment uh I I spoke to our auditor Mr swisser about this because generally the state comes in and attempts to a sheet uh any outstanding unpaid check but I understand that that is not followed for municipal organization so it is perfectly appropriate okay to do this so I'll move I'll second 12 b roll call I'm sorry did you have a comment Mr councilman foro question any of these checks were to residents you know the yeah do those funds have to go to the state trust fund if there is money that's what councilman oralis just said they do not that's the normal process but evidently that's not what be what is being done with this it's not going into trust it's it's rolling over and and these checks come from everything from the general fund to sore operating sore Capital TR regular Trust COA wreck police I think the state would have the right to come back under under Canon to to seize this uh and then post it as uncollectible fund as you know outstanding funds but supposedly that's what all municipalities do so the auditor says it's appropriate what we're doing okay all right roll call roll call K yes cill yes manales yes pedo gu hearing that the eyes are dotted and the te's are crossed I'll vote Yes president ring yes 12C authorizing Sarah husman qualified purchasing agent of Bridgewater Township to wave the requirement for claimants certification for a purchase order below 15% of the bid threshold pursuant to njsa 40a col 5-16 C3 do you um have any technical knowledge of this since you're here on this am of uh we we usually do 15% of the bid threshold and we wave the requirment for the vendor to sign off on the purchase order what happens every five years on the year ending in a zero and a five is the state changes the bid threshold increases the bid threshold so technically this resolution should have been done in 2020 it was done the last time it was done was in 2018 so 15% of the bid threshold in 2018 19 and 20 was $6,000 bid threshold went up to $44,000 in 2020 so 15% of the bid threshold is now 6,600 $ so that's what we're looking to do is to change it to $6,600 and wave the requirement of the vendor to sign off on the purchase order what it does is it speeds up the process of payment not having to send out the purchase order to the vendor have them sign it wait for it to come back in and then be able to process the purchase order so like I said this is something that was supposed to have been done in 2020 because we're going to be doing it again next year in 2025 it sounds like if the last time we did it was 2018 we're we're off on a few Cycles not correct correct so yeah so what will happen in in March of 2020 the uh state will come out with the new threshold and it'll go into effect June July time frame so we'll be doing this again in about a year and a half and the other reason we were doing the ordinance was to get uh Miss wit resolu and to change it to uh Sarah Housman okay so that that's the resolution not an ordinance correct correct yes okay any other questions I have none but I'll make a motion to move 12C got a motion do I have a second second I have a second roll call councilman K yes councilman cordella yesalis yes kasan pedo yes president ring yes all right uh 12d authorizing release of the performance guarantee in the amount of 19,4 $90.94 posted in cash and acceptance of the site improvements for parwal duala of PDD Construction LLC um block 642 lot 5 5.01 and 5.02 also known as 690 Foothill Road this is a performance guarantee release and this is for a two lot uh subdivision that was approved by the planning board move 12d I'll second it we have a motion clarifying question is this the one with the with the very historic house on it all right I I recall the case from when I was on planning board yeah it's still been around but that's that's you wow we heard it twice when I say very historic I mean it has roots that are rather old it's being re it's being preserved okay councilman Kush yes coun cill yesalis yesman pedroo yes president ring yes um do I understand from the administration we're going to pull 12E at this time yes okay 12f authorizing an additional 9,719 to benic Card Services LLC of New Jersey to provide prescription Insurance to the township of Bridgewater for a total premium amount of 2, 4,679 for the calendar year 2023 as you can see from the attached Memo from Christine Madrid this is due to fluctuation of those number of people that are covered in any given calendar year this accounts for the U slight increase in in those that are covered in any given year we have people come people go we finish the year slightly higher than we started for the uh for the hearing of the folks who were listening in we went from 319 to 333 people for a net ad of 14 do we have a motion I'll make that motion to move 12f so this second Mo because of him adjustments adjustments to the number of population people that worked correct all right I heard a motion did I hear a second I'll make that second okay councilman kers yes cman cill yesalis yes pedroso yes president ring yes 12g confirming and endorsing coverage and membership terms of the New Jersey intergovernmental Insurance Fund NJ iif and authorizing the execution of the nj's indemnity and Trust agreement yes would you so uh as the council recalls we um we executed a document authorizing membership in this new GIF the uh New Jersey intergovernmental Insurance Fund GIF several paper the paperwork that followed after was obviously paperwork we did not have contemporaneous to that resolution um and were not was not referenced in the resolution under the law we uh have to pass a resolution authorizing the execution of those documents which was not done originally for the very good reason that we didn't have them um we negotiated up to the to the deadline to get the best deal for the township as as we always do so just some documents that will uh smooth that transition any questions I'm always happy to answer any questions on this oh yeah sure I'm sorry do I have a motion I'll make the motion on 12g I'll second a motion councilman K yesman cill yesman nales yes asman pedroso yes president ring yes all right 12h adopting a prototypical service agreement with Empower retirement LLC to continue the Deferred Compensation Plan and service agreement formally provided by Empower annuity Insurance Company of America at no cost to the township a prototypical service agreement that's their language I think it's just fluff we kept it but that's their language I mean the word doesn't have a lot of meaning in that context but one tries to work with the ones that so I left it you're a prototypical guy councilman thank you I guess CU I know what the word means any other comments on 12h I'll move 12h have a motion do we have a second just one question I don't see reference to Legal review of this has has this not only we reviewed it but uh uh we took some time with not enough time to change the word prototypical which councilman which administrator papis did also reference but the uh the uh document and the instrument has been reviewed by us and approved we have a second um councilman K yes coun Cel yes coun mes yes cman pedroso yes president ring yes 12i resolution appointing Wells wager Christine Madrid as Bridgewaters representatives to the Middlebrook Health commission for a period commencing January 1st 2024 through December 31st 2024 pretty straightforward any questions uh we didn't have a copy of the actual agreement when we did this on and for the reorg I just want to get a copy of the agreement sure please do we have a motion I'll make a motion do we have a second I'll second 12i councilman kers yes cman cill yes councilman nalis yes councilman pedroo sure presidentti ring yes and with 12j um as a longtime member of the Elks I'm going to recuse myself and asked Council vice president noralis to handle this reading 12j as follows request for waiver of an open flame fire permit fee in the amount of $60 and a special event permit fee in the amount of $100 for the Somerville Elks 375 Union Avenue Bridgewater New Jersey 0880 7 for Jack's kids tailgate fundraiser event on Saturday January 13th 2024 the Somerville Elks a fine organization has his 501c3 are there any questions from the Council on this no but I'd make a motion to uh move 12j a motion I will second it roll call please councilman kers yes councilman cill yes councilman pedroso yes vice president Nogales yes councilman or Galla's vot is for me so I'll vote for him we yes are we good on that one we're good okay we will now return to our regular programming all right Tim uh as we move on 12K I need to recuse myself okay I'll leave the room little musical chairs tonight yes all right so 12K uh resolution acknowledging Township council's review of salaries for the board of fire commissioners of Fire District number one number two number three and number four for the year 2024 um for any members of the public listening the board of fire Commissioners is a separate government entity elected by the residents of Bridgewater every February um and those boards uh set salaries um that are set through their budget process there is a law somewhere in the books within I guess DCA or somebody that requires uh the governing body uh at the municipality level to review those salaries and I emphasize the words review we do not approve we simply review the salaries um and this resolution is to acknowledge that we have reviewed um the uh salaries for the four governing bodies of the fire districts within Bridgewater this comes from their tax correct comes out their salary the salary comes out of the fire district tax District tax right which is a separate tax that is not Revenue to the township or Bridgewater their budgets are voted on annually by the residents of the township every February I believe it's the 3D Saturday in February they have an election where they vote their fire Commissioners as well as approval of their budgets um and for whatever reason even though they're separate government entities were required to review their salaries anybody happen to know why Martinsville fire Commissioners make so much more than I could not answer that Commissioners yes you know Howard because you you were involved for a long time with this yeah you've reviewed it because you've asked the question we uh that I believe is the same amount that they had listed uh last year $5,000 uh by the way uh each of these fire commissions somebody's supposed to prepare a W2 so that there is a tax recognition of this amount uh that that was our requirement from the last time we talked about that I have no idea whether that is actually done but this is income so it is taxable so basically this document is available for the public it's uh resolution 12K uh they're welcome to go on our website and review the salary of their fire Commissioners and uh the public is certainly if they're unhappy with this they can take it up to the fire Commissioners and they can also vote them in or vote them out correct so all we have all we're doing is reviewing that this came before us and and to go one step further on that each of the fire districts passed a resolution setting these salaries as a government ENT as a government agency the resolutions of the fire districts are all public record as well their meetings are open to the public do we have a motion on 12K I'll move 12K I'll second it okay councilman kers yes councilman nalis yes councilman pedroso yes president ring yes got I just got an email the Bridgewater bariton school system will be closed tomorrow sorry I don't count uh council president um we need to amend the agenda uh for the executive session uh as you aware contract negotiations associated with the item that was tabled is already on the agenda in the resolution for executive we need to add uh litigation and we need to add um Public Safety so uh whoever moves the resolution should move it as amended I'll make a motion to go to close session as amended okay so we will have a closed session um I don't this you gave me for this correct okay so um be it resolved Bridgewater Township Council uh by the Bridgewater Township Council that this body will now hold a closed meeting to discuss contract negotiations litigation and Public Safety one and if the matters discussed become public record this will be n made known to the the public at that time the public is excluded from said meeting and further notice therefore is disposed with all in accordance of Section 8 and 4A of the open public meeting act do we have a motion I made the motion okay do we have a second second I'm going to um roll call councilman kers yes councilman cordill yes cman nalis yes coun pedroso yes president ring yes and before we proceed proed further for the public um there is the potential that the council may take action after the closed session I cannot say for sure whether or not we will but I want do want to let the public know that are watching that we may take action off Mr Stevens