##VIDEO ID:NFb59TI9L7I## okay right 7 o'cl there we go let's wait for that [Music] all right I'd like to call the meeting to order meeting for August 12th 2024 please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance if you're able toed aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation God indivisible with liy and justice for all so move on to the open public meetings statement pursuing to the open public meetings act notice that this meeting was sent to the cranberry press Trenton Times and home News Tribune on January 5th 2024 posted on Township's website and sent to those who requested a copy of this notice we'll move on to roll call Mr fronte over here Mrs Canam over here Dr Rogers here Mr Scott is abson and mayor bedway here thank you thank you very much welcome everybody I feel like it's been a while um it's good to see you all um do we have any agenda additions or changes no excellent seeing none we will move on would anybody like to um uh adopt the township committee minutes for July 8th 2024 the extensive reading I would like to move the minutes of July 8th I'll second thank you we'll move on to roll call Mr fronte yes Mrs kir yes Dr Rogers yes Mr Scott is absent in mayor bway yes thank you it's unanimous thank you very much so we're on to reports and Communications would anybody like to start I'm happy to start um so I'll I'll mine will be brief the planning board and DRC was cancelled um the planning the parks and recck did meet um and uh I think it was just they're just working through the action and they're still working through sort of storming and norming and forming as an organization so but it's it's a it's coming together um uh planning board and dear was cancelled for August 1st but I did attend the library board and I the only sort of item of interest is that the library has been actively seeking um they applied for a solar grant for the library they did not get the grant but they decided to pursue solar anyway so they're actually fairly far down the road of um considering solar vendors and solar projects they'll have to go through the bid process they're working with um Aaron in the procurement office um the township can get whatever credit credits we need sustainability points for doing that on a municipal building which is great the library has the has 100% of the funds in in capital reserves to do the project they do get a 30% rebate on the project through the state they get a something like $10,000 plus a year credit from the state and then the configuration they've chosen will basically cover 100% of the electricity cost for the building so it's a it's a and the payback time is about six years on the project um and I say hurrah that's terrific yeah so they they're um we're going to talk to a potential vendor this week and then we're going to the work with the township on sort of the bidding process if if there's vendors that are state approved we may not have to go to bid but they'll follow the process they'll work with Aaron the library will do the bid specs um the uh the Aon will help with the sort of the process and sort of putting the parameters out there um but the idea is to move forward very quickly um my one thing I wanted to just bring up is that we sort of we did a library agreement last year between the library and the township and we essentially said um the to oversimplify we said the outside of the building is the the building and the outside part of it is the Township's responsibility the inside part is the library's responsibility I I think we if unless people disagree I think we can do this under the spirit of the that agreement they will cover 100% of the cost they pay they currently pay their own utility cost so they would get the benefit back on their own investment so unless people feel strong that we need to modify that agreement that I think we can follow the spirit of that agreement to um have them cover the cost and then them reap the benefit of the payback of that and the maintenance moving forward would then be the townships I think we we could talk about that I think the maintenance of it would be we'll figure out that as we go along through the program I mean I think the the nice thing is the roof life is probably longer than the the solar cell life at this point the LI the roof is brand new so I think where you get into risks is where you put a new solar panel on an older Roof then the the life of the roof comes up sooner than the life of the of the panels but I will certainly ask the about the lifespan of that when we meet with the vendors and get a sense of what the long implications that might be maybe when they're going through the bidding process they can get some um parameters around maintenance and you know uh what they've seen on what they decide on like what that maintenance plan is is there a warranty on it that they cover 5 10 years or anything like that that they could see if they could extract that out of the biders yeah they can fig that out so but I think they're very willing to let the township take whatever Municipal credits and sustainability points and whatever um whatever benefit the township can get from the program or the benefit but I think the from a cost standpoint the library will handle The Upfront cost and we and they pay the utility so they'll be getting the cost and the benefit from it I'm just a little surprised they couldn't find um a grant to help cover that like you would think that a municipal build so to speak Municipal Building would be well it it is um the 30% back is part of the um that is a kick yeah that is that is actually a Federal program okay so they they were going for a specific State Grant but this the 30% funding will come from it's actually the um part of the inflation reduction act okay um so that that is so they are getting that 30% back so that reduces the um the payback time from like 10 years down to like six years nice very nice and it doesn't tie you into certain vendors too and I think yeah I think I think that sounds really terrific yeah and you can get it done yeah you know like versus you go through a grant and you have all this yep yeah so it's more of a it's more of a rebate structure so it's a good it's a good way to to do it so I'm just like a related but unrelated question um when we did all this the the other solar what was it called yeah Community solar that's not something that could have helped this project or the library could have taken advantage of I mean I think Community solar is designed for residents that can't do the project themselves they do this sort of swapping agreement so the library basically had an assessment done the the roof of the building is perfect and the structure of the building and the life of the roof are all in good indicators of of good work for the project so they have the square footage so they can then they get a much bigger benefit from having this project on their own on their own roof well that's fabulous yeah I was speaking to Brooke to find out if there were any volunteer projects um in the library and she told me that the library themselves are going for a sustainability uh certificate themselves which is really terrific yeah it's great so good um so that's all I had um any questions for me cool thank you perfect thank you um did you want a report at all on the inclusive Park sure I'm sorry I didn't the um yeah the parks and rec was very pleased that the inclusive Park um was installed um it was installed over the month of July and then over the last week or so between raindrops they installed the um rubber um the rubber surface and um over the Jerry's team did a great job making sure that it was properly walled off with very proper instructions on why it was walled off and for what purpose so which kept us from having to post somebody out there 247 um as an keeping away an attractive nuisance but um the the the fencing has come down the rubber has cured I walked on it today it looks great it's really nice um it's a big Improvement I think the surface is really nice and I like the way that it incorporates sort of inclusive elements with just fun things to climb on so um I think um that's great for um parks and wck and for people that drove that project and it's very nice to do that with a 75% Grant so it is um so I I I think I visited that space every two days in its entire in its entirety and I was there when the day after they removed the fencing and these people arrived many people arrived actually play and they're like what is this when did you do this why did you do this why didn't you do this earlier they had a really really good time so yeah um I think Omar has taken some pictures of just a few things and suggestions that residents already had and I think he'll be sharing it with Ken and um Brendan and Denise yeah it's definitely exciting I would definitely go and check it out we can do a field trip after the meeting if we want to yes cool thank thank you thank you ladies who would like to present next thank you Lis um okay historic preservation committee their next meeting is August 20th at the last meeting um they discussed um the old signage uh around cranberry that was taken down I think I mentioned last year that they were contemplating doing an auction on those old signs so I think that's going to be set for like 2025 by the time we get to it but that'd be kind of cool if you wanted to own a piece of History history of the street you grew up on or School Lane or um they're still working on the certification for Hamlet station as a historic location uh they're getting a little further down the road on that and then they will have a tent at cranberry day um chips has been incredibly active and for all the things I'm about to talk about um you can go to Cranberry his.org and they'll have all the details I'm about to describe in order of their occurrence but September 21st is a Tavern tidb a cranberry Inn that's going to be a re there'll be reenactors there and then some interesting trivia about the um village of cranberry and that is uh on the 21st from 7 to 9:30 at the Cranberry Inn and then on um September 28th there'll be a historic um house tour uh focused on the parsonage plantation and that'll be the September 28th from 11: to 300 p.m. um but there is a art show that starts at 10:30 at the First Presbyterian Church as well so that'll be a packed day and then the date of the wasle has been set December 7th we'll celebrate the return of the wasel and cranberry from 7 to 10 p.m. and that will be in the Shadow Oaks neighborhood and they're working on uh four homes possibly five and they're working through um details of that right now is food marketing Logistics tickets um the homeowners and entertainment so um stay tuned for more detail on that but at least the date and the times have been set no update on CBA uh zoning attended the July 10th and the August 7th meeting a homeowner has been conditionally approved on Station Road to operating hot dog stand which is very exciting I inquired they will have Sauer grout which is a must have for myself so pretty excited about that so again conditionally approved they have to go through a lot of stuff before they can start to open but and that is all I have excellent any questions for Lisa wonderful uh thank you for that Barbara okay my uh so the shade tree didn't meet but I did reach out to Kathy to see how um applications were going for the tree removal and replacement um she has not received any um but there is indication that trees are being fed so um well I'm not sure what how what we do about those um so um the other thing is um uh the form online uh it says it's fillable um but it needs to be mailed in like the cats and dogs so at this point just letting you know um we I don't know which ones are on the just got the ability to do so so I did a bunch oh great and they just not uploaded on okay terrific okay um yeah I just I just meant to say that they need to be sent in but now they are fillable so that's terrific um the other thing is the EC July got cancelled due to Quorum but they are going to meet in August next Monday um and both are going to have tables at a cranberry day um it's kind of interesting uh I Amazon warehouse people reached out to me um to help to find volunteer um projects in town um it was really great I met with these interns College interns I am just so impressed on like how well they spoke and how you know they really they just were I drove them around cranber they were just amazed I mean they work over there and no one's ever come over here so um I gave them a list um but unfortunately the interns are done so um I do have another name that I have to fly it up the flag pole but um I did learn that um their warehouse all Amazon warehouses have to um have a certain amount of volunteer hours that they should put in so besides working full-time and then trying to volunteer I think it is a hard ask but um but I they they were very interested in some of the ideas I had reached out out to um chips I'd reached out to the library the EC the school um you know just to get some ideas so now we have a list and a name and now it's just a matter of trying to connect them and getting them to do it and then I have another um Warehouse that is really interested in in a project for the library so um hopefully we'll get them on board too so um you know slowly trying to get the volunteers to cross rout one 30 and find out more about our town um anyway the other thing are you okay okay I thought it was like a mosquito um um the other thing is I'm on the middle SE a development board and they had a meeting July 24th right here it's really great um and um one of the things that uh we had a presentation from the state Farmland preservation it's called Farmland preservation Statewide formula based value so there was a new law that was passed that um when when Farmland easements are assessed they want to put more into the assessment to get the value up higher and it's a whole you know it's a whole presentation but I just found that um the state you know is trying to find ways to get more Farms to become preserved so um and right now I think this was really an interesting data point 250,000 acres are preserved over 2,900 farms in the state that's about 34% of farmlands preserve and their goal is 500,000 Aces but of course the number of farms are declining and you know so they trying to make preserving farms for the farmer you know more attractive let's just put it that way so um it was kind of it was it was cool like you know I I got to you know be a member um to give input on this and you know one of the things was you know if you have to save Farms you don't have as many houses then you don't have as much you know the services that are needed so it was it was it was a really great meeting I thought um and uh I think that was it let me just double check oh Inlet mapping so the ms4 the storm water the the water that runs in your streets that go actually in the inlets or the grates that you see that go into the streams um are being mapped and it's almost finished there are about 500 of them and um another thing is if you want to just you know some of them are uh labeled um Anna Drago LED this one she passed away um but they they're what's going to happen is the mapping then the high school students are going to go and help label the ones that aren't labeled with this that's it i l any questions for Barbara all right seeing none I will roll into my report and seeing as Barbara just presented I wanted to boast a little about our TC member Dr Rogers and Jack produces a publication and featured is Dr Barbara Rogers and anj trustee served on the cranbery EC for 16 years six as a chair where she led initiatives and coordinated mun volunteer Partnerships on land use energy transportation and waste reduction and advocated for the inclusion in the Green Building and sustainability element of cranberry's master plan so congratulations Madam well done thank you so we're so happy to have your voice at the table absolutely um so like many of you uh seeing as this is the summer uh boards and commissions for that I liaz with did not meet um I did want to start on a little bit of a somber note and just um offer condolences and share um our sadness for the passing of longtime chps board member and Community member Bill bunting um rest his soul he was 95 and he passed away um peacefully in his home we offer condolences to the family um thank you for the report on the inclusive Park and it's just really nice to know that the state will fund projects like that we are looking at funding that has also come through uh Senator Greenstein has has um advocated for us so that will be uh for next year's projects in Village Park um I don't know what the exact amount is but we'll we we did chat about it at some point it was around 220,000 I believe okay and I think we got close to that amount and then we got 65,000 from the local in yeah so we we definitely are uh working on making our Parks beautiful and in you know environment Mally friendly and happy and taking people and their happiness into consideration in this town so that's great um I wanted to share with you all that uh I've been receiving messages and one of them was in particular a residents thank you for the new street signs and it read I just wanted to thank you and your team for the lovely new street signs in the village that was very nice and they continue to say they're just perfect for our dear old cranberry very tasteful and appropriate with the appropriate printing names and background so it's nice like some you know they paid attention to the detail so it was very nice yeah yeah it's very nice so thank you yeah please thank them and you know it's some great work obviously um the senior lunch this uh the this month and last month is it or it just this month was sort of displaced to the library and so I sent a letter of thanks to the library for accommodating that and um the feedback from the residents that attended that lunch was so positive I mean soaringly positive I'm I'm very excited that this that this that it came through this way and it was not just a lunch like they had a presentation and so they really were able to see the aspects of the library more than just sitting down to have lunch so that was great um the presentation they had was from the Department of Aging and disabled services of middle sex County so that was nice I wanted to thank Dean and the library staff for their partnership and attention so perfect um I also sent a letter of thanks to the uh Presbyterian Church for accommodating our campers during the gas leak a couple of weeks ago they opened their doors very quickly and accommodated these children the temperatures were really really high that day and um it was just quick work and very very gracious and generous of them so thank you to them again um let me see what else has been going on I attended an event at the chinmaya mission which is a temple on Cranbury Neck Road they celebrated their 10th year anniversary in cranberry and they expressed how grateful they are to be here and I um I mean it was quite an impressive event so congratulations to them we uh unfortunately did not have a National Night Out uh event here in this town but it was rained out I just wanted to thank everybody who part you know was intending to participate and put a lot of work into what they were going to share with the residents the from the police to the fire department Municipal Alliance was going to have their inaugural sort of collaboration um for their miniature health and wellness fair at the night out event and I you know it's regrettable when weather when weather is in play it's just regrettable that these things could not go through but I thank everybody that put their efforts forward um and that's it for my report any questions for me I did then just want to put a thought out there and we don't have to discuss it necessarily but you know cranberry Day is coming up and I hope that the weather is good but if we could all just think about whether we're going to be present that day or not thank you res table already for the yes yes I I will certainly be there I will 100% be there it's just a matter of who else will be rotating I'm happy to to so we'll work out a SCH okay I know some of us will be out of town and just you know as we can look at the schedule and take a um take a look see are you going to discuss any I like what we're going to do for the table we're just going to figure it out I think we'll figure it out okay I'm I I like your suggestion here and we may we may do a couple of things I mean can we feature the inclusive playground and have a nice big picture of that I think we should I think we should yeah last year we kind of featured the walking trail that was recently done and I think it's if people don't wander off in Village Park SS having them telling them about that is good yeah I think it'll be great I whatever you've done um especially if we can feature the part of it came from a grant that we secured to when Linda Greenstein always comes to Cranberry day it' be good for her to see certainly certainly and um and we'll we'll sort of we're working to plan some kind of a ribbon cutting ceremony as well to to make sure that people understand that the funding has come from the government and this was a great um collaboration with them so yeah and also the the bike Network that's what I've got right here I think it's it's wonderful it's so many hours that just doing one thing um you know may get a little repetitive so if we do a little bit of this and that that'll be great thank you thanks any other thoughts or questions okay excellent then we're going to move down our agenda um we have no subcommittees no department heads excellent so any follow-up items seeing none um we have on our boards and commissions we have one vacancy the vacancy is on the municipal Alliance for a member term EXP iring 1231 2024 so we're looking for a volunteer for the municipal Alliance thank you we have no ordinances for first or second reading today um so we are at our work session and I appreciate you all humoring me I have been talking for a long while most of this year about our senior interest um and Barbara's on the senior interest subcommittee with me but I I think I've collaborated with many different people in um in some capacity this kind of started out a little bit Michael with you last year and uh it's been ongoing with the marage wellness campaign so I if you all look at the the handouts that that you received I started out on that first page just to remind ourselves about our sort of line items where we sort of uh put money towards and what organization it went to so this is not necessarily to discuss this budget just to remind us as we talk about the next bit you know how much has gone into it and does it look adequate or not so budget items we'll talk about during budget season this is more for us to to digest what exactly is going on so the if you look where it says general statistics uh I found it really interesting to know that about 17% of our Town's population is 5 and over so it translates to around 791 seniors um I think the statistic for our town the the census was we have uh like just over 3,900 people in town so that's a that's a good number um you know the life expectancy in Cranberry is 84.2 years and it's just showing that people are choosing to age in place you know people don't leave cranberry to retire they stay here in their retirement and so that is contributing I think to the number of senior members within our town and so how do we you have to assume that when that number of people is increasing so do the needs and so are we meeting the needs you know where are we not meeting their needs um I went around and I sort of digested a little bit of what are the organizations that are dedicated to senior activities and what organizations sort of have activities that seniors are part of but not necessarily dedicated to them so the three organizations completely dedicated to senior residents are the first three that I listed there the Cranbury seniors which is a program out of the township the Presbyterian seniors which is out of the Presbyterian church and the golden aers which is um I think that that's part of like a like a national uh organization and we happen to have a chapter in this area so the cranberry seniors the program out of the township is for residents of cranberry age 55 plus the president Asian senior program is for anyone age 55 plus although you will find that it's generally people that visit the church that that congregated the church and then you've got the golden agers who also it's open U but it's a paid membership for and the age limit there again is 55 plus so I say 55 plus every time but the truth is the members for these organizations are mostly in their 70s and 80s so that has definitely changed from the Inception of these organizations the age of the res of the seniors that are part of them has only gone up that younger population doesn't necessarily see themselves in these organizations so you know you can imagine that the capabilities of these residents it's a little different um their computer skills um you know may be limited and so um all of those things are are for us to consider uh with regards to communication and and needs in general um and there's some other organizations that offer activities activities are available for these seniors U but it's not necessarily targeted at seniors and so we've got the St David's Church the Women's Club the library the Lions Club and I would say you know a couple of other clubs within the town so then I broke it down a little bit more and I delved into the the township seniors itself um there's about 67 individual members and the way these members are communicated with so what happens is residents that are interested in becoming members of the Cranbury Township seniors fill in a registration and once they're in the system then they receive these postcards inviting them to the lunches that are held and I want to say that that's pretty much what happens because although they used to have activities that doesn't exist anymore the attendance was so low that It ultimately just halted so it's become a lunch Club so to speak which in and of itself is very good because it offers socialization and as I shared with you earlier the uh the one that was hosted at the library they had a presentation a rather extensive presentation and I think they have had presentations in the past even in the senior center that's uh located downstairs so a presentation and a lunch and um and people are generally quite happy with that um let's see the Presbyterian Church Senior fellowship program um they have one to two activities a month they are free of charge and again a lot of it is based on socializing and it includes speakers and movies and picnics and trips to Gardens and museums and holiday parties um they also have an exercise program that meets twice wait Mondays and Thursdays of every month okay so Mondays and Thursdays of every month and again so this one is free but it requires registration and it's just a zoom class um the attendance on that Zoom class I want to say is pretty good we talked at the mayor's Wellness campaign about how we were conducting do you remember this Barbara we were conducting programs via zoom and it was great like attendance was really great in the beginning and then it became like two people and three people and you know we didn't know what happened there because I think that the senior program through the Presbyterian Church is has a good attendance that during covid too and I think everyone's kind of getting burned out on internet stuff too maybe so I don't know but they're they've managed to go right through before covid during and after and and I wonder whether just the regular nature of that like everybody knowing to expect that class um you know allowed for the the regular attendance and they also host a book club so all of the events that they offer or all of the activities they offer to the seniors are free of charge um the golden agers uh so a little bit of History you know the Cranberry Township sort of sponsor the Golden Ages through a resolution in 19 about 1959 and um their membership is again through registration and through dues um they have about 62 members and some of these members overlap right over the Presbyterian seniors and the township seniors and like the other two organizations the average age is now 80 years old and they have very many 90 year olds God bless them so while historically they would they would be hosted for like a lunch or um I think it was always a lunch um by either the scouts or some kind of a group in town uh they also used to have Dish parties their potluck parties at the school and you know that all has changed and after Co sort of put a stop to a lot of things there wasn't the stamina to go back to it um nor was there the interest in so they've been holding a lot of lunches at restaurants and their model is that you know attendees pay a portion and then their organization will pay a portion and I think when they had asked for additional funding from us last year was because those lunches were just a little more expensive than like a dish party used to be a potlock party and um you know the other element of their expense is that they depend on USPS for their mailings um many of the members either don't have email or have limited um interaction with email so snail mail is the way to go so they send six mailings a year and you know that can add up but within their the you know within what they have they're they're reasonably you know they're able to function and do what they need to do uh we have St David's Church that hosts a taichi class and that's um every Tuesday and so that class I think we have a link for that on our Township on our Township website right and it's a people that want to attend that class through a fee and then you've got the Women's Club and that's also through paid membership and they don't necessarily have a specific class for seniors but they have a lot of variety of opportunities for seniors to you know to participate in some capacity uh we have the public library which has like programming and um arts and crafts and they do celebrations and they do just you know basic ongoing things like puzzle making and all and that's I feel like the the library is probably one of the entities that is only going to ramp up in what they offer for the seniors they've uh Barbara you mentioned um a program that's coming up this month what was it called the caregiver support yeah was today oh that was today okay every yeah well I mean so meaning that they're thinking about every aspect of the community you know from the from the young to the middle to the Elder right so they're they're really thinking about all of that and then we've got the lines club that also is a u membership and it's open open membership but paid through dues and they offer you know they they get together for social events and they have their own sort of activities that seniors and non-seniors are welcome to join so I share this all with you to tell you that number one it took a long time to put this together um and the different entities don't necessarily know about each other so I found that a little like if I found that TR not troubling but if I if I had a limitation in finding all of that I'm sure the seniors are too so how do we get them all to find that information and a lot of it is on the township website you know but in in different you know bits and pieces here and there and I was trying as well very hard to to look at this and digest a little bit of the survey information from the mayor's Wellness campaign from last year and you know the the things that some of the residents lifted as their interests and their concerns you know in some of the activities and some of these uh organizations it's almost like they didn't know they were happening they didn't know what was being offered so there is that that communication gap and I say this to tell you that I don't necessarily have the answer I just I lift this for us to try and Tackle you know if if we can and I also wanted to maybe have a start thinking about how parks and wreck you know what their part is to play in all this and parks and wreck is very is is going to be very instrumental especially in the area of programming and how can they interest in programming um take into consideration maybe a collaborative piece with either some of these organizations especially the the library um when I look at the library the library has for example like free passes to museums and things like that and if at some point there is a trip planned for the residents for the senior residents you know would it be would it work out to collaborate with the library to say can we use your passes so just trying to connect these pieces um I think for me has been eye openening I don't know that everybody knows that the other exists and to what extent so that's what I wanted to share with you and I'm open for any of your suggestions or thoughts or so I was not here on the TC when the edac was discussed right like the Genesis of the edak forming but I know why it was because I was a OG on that on that committee but immediately my mind went to like an I'm calling it The ssac like a senior services advisory committee that we may contemplate forming that advises that that's why we form committees right to help us and advise us on things and maybe that this is an opportunity to form um a a formal subcommittee and kind of charge them with you know formalizing programming and have a TC liaison from the TC like we all liaison and maybe that's a way that we can organize and create a matrix of all these different things that you've diligently you know discovered that there is this disconnect and that might be a way to pull it together I I agree I wonder if like I know we chartered when we we s this committee sort of discovered when we were recharting parks and Rex that Rec has sort of a senior mandate to do senior programming and and I know they they actually formed a committee a subcommittee under Parks rack to um you know to to look at this so I I think it's a great idea I wonder if that could be the germ of where it could live and maybe they could get some people to join them that are not on Parks and wck so that they could sort of um they could be at least the place where it lives without having to stand up a whole yeah a whole new thing yeah but maybe we could extend the membership of that and add some people or something like that and so in bringing up the you know the general membership age I also just um am sharing with you this idea that I I just don't know who will all who will be there in these organizations as well like if the 55 year olds and 65 year olds are not looking to join these organizations you know what what kind of happens well if you think of like Toll Brothers right I've met um a couple of folks that have moved in there and they're def definitely on the younger side I'd say they're like literally on the nose probably 55 and took advantage of the fact that that's an adult community right but in 10 years those 55s will be 65 the 65s will be 75 and so on and so forth so they'll probably be looking I I don't think they moved in there for short term right that that's probably their retirement plan moving into those homes so I think they're going to eventually look to the township of cranberry to have a kind of a formalized um service program for them and and in those age groups and a spectrum of activity right so the things that that are interesting 55s are vastly different than 85 and I think that's Our obligation to make sure that the township kind of provides that that breath I think there like two what's that it seems like did you need to no um I just wanted to share this so Toll Brothers is supposed to have a clubhouse so they might be taking care of a lot of their in-house needs um but to your point the variety of stuff definitely is something that needs to be taken into consideration and um in Sharing all the different organizations that are already doing this um I don't know that the township has to do all of this but I think it's nice for us to expose people to the knowledge that it does exist in some capacity but how do you get there how do you find the analogy I would give to that is you've got Concordia and Monroe which is a pretty big Clubhouse my my um bonus mom lives there so she's very very active there but she also sources a lot of her activity from the Monroe Senior Center so while they be probably getting a good amount from their Clubhouse they're still going to probably look to us so I I totally agree with that it's not all or all from the township but we should be there as maybe a subsidy um to the activities in their Clubhouse so the analogy I would give is Concordia Monro Senior Center that they have both bigger scale I appreciate that I I think I think there are two things here really like we're talking about 67 individuals seniors that are using cranberry Services that's like less than 10% of our seniors so one of the things is is that we have to grow the number you know and how do you grow that number well yes we have these things in place but is that what they want you know is that one of the reasons why people aren't coming or whatever or is it because we you know they don't have transport like what's the things that's limiting it I mean and you know and are we providing as you're saying the the activities that that we need and is the goal is the goal on this connectivity or or fellowship or Services because I feel like the other thing yeah the other thing that strikes me too is what I I love the Four Seasons model where if not an island as much as some other communities are it's very much connected to the town and I think there's a certain number of people there that identify with being connected and being intergenerational and I think we need to look for things that both support the community but also connect the community that Community with the rest of the community with the school population with the things like cran Pals and stuff like that that gets them connect so I think we we we just need to be careful about what we we cater to things and I think to your point about the the age group is that a a past dish lunch is always going to appear appeal to a certain segment of population that's going to be a certain age that identifies with that activity so then there's going to have to be they're going to have to rethink you know and I don't know whether that's our job or or their job to rethink how to engage with people that don't identify with a past potluck Dish as a as a normal social activity well I don't think that that um will come back into play the the the nature the physical nature of the people that um are in the organization it just it's a little prohibitive I think um the the connection part I think for me is very big uh the idea that there is great work that's currently underway and I think the township has been good to recognize it and good to support their efforts because you know we can't do absolutely everything as a Township but we can support the efforts of the various organizations within town that are catering to the residents and that is what's happening um but that connectivity part for everyone to be aware of the other is still escaping um I do believe that the library is going to continue to be a very key element here because their calendar their social calendar is um you know number one it's popular ated it's visible it's it's easy to see and uh you know they they very quickly were able to absorbs this the seniors this this month for the lunch program you know maybe there is opportunity for some collaboration in other spaces um but then independent of that they have their own they understand they're meeting the needs of a community they have their own programming they have their own activities and that's open to everybody what's our capacity in the senior center that we have here I think it's like 25 people for lunch is that right I believe C like something would be it's it's yeah you have a cut off on the light yeah just like fire right and space space prohibition yeah so I'm just guess like the existence of it and not utilizing it and the feedback that I'm sure we've all received is not been positive right that it's you know in the basement of town hall it's dark it's you know it's accessible which is great and it as it should be but the feedback in general now that you have something to compare it to like the library is kind of tough so I don't know what point I'm trying to make except that we have to acknowledge that there's been definitive feedback about our quote unquote Senior Center and it's not been positive and are we going to do anything and give that voice its room and do we do anything with that because if it's not and there's nothing we can do about it we can't really expand it we can't do anything to make it better do we continue to have a senior center or repurpose that space and then try to fund help the library fund more programing that's senior senior focus and take our programming and formally move it to the library but we support it from a Township perspective well I think that is a discussion for the library I I wouldn't um it is I I mean everything that you're saying is um very intelligent and something that we should be talking about but I think it would involve a conversation with the library for sure yeah um first can I just thank you for putting this all together that was so much work and over years too with the mayor's Wellness campaign and the survey and um I think you know this is really just a call that this has to be done and organized better like you know um we're trying to put resources towards it but if it's not getting out there and only like 10% are using our stuff there's something there's a disconnect obviously as you're saying it could be space it could be not being able to get there and the trend is I've got this creating great places to age in New Jersey there is the trend of Aging in place but then we have as you said we've got you know Four Seasons we've got you know our 55 and overs and Toll Brothers they're getting socialization there too so is this model you know it's something that we have to kind of cogitate on and I think it's great that you're doing this thank you I was invited to hop over to Birchwood a couple weeks ago um on uh Route 130 just to talk to the residents say invite to me over for some coffee in their social hour and uh chatted with them and there there's some real disability issues that we have to there's some serious mobility issues and that's isolating members of our community that can't get out and it's like that that's really I would say a largest my largest concern is that population because if Co taught us anything isolation is just a terrifying thing and we were all even younger demographics struggling with mental health but add age to that and that that's a real concern so that's why we we have to look at Transportation I think and access to things it's great to have provide lunch but if they can't get to that like how do how do we kind of solve that problem and the numbers are big for cranberry right but it's really a managable number that we're trying to improve the quality of life the other thing this Municipal County office is absolutely unbelievable they're some of the nicest people that are there they're they are unbelievably helpful and will take the time people call you back they they do Outreach they're phenomenal and I'm wondering if they um could be here on cranberry day if they could get some space on cranberry day there are services that they provide from transportation to meals they cover util utilities there's some of our seniors that could be paying like $30 for an entire Year's worth of utilities based on the programming and the funding that they have so I would just love to see if they could get a Little Bit Stronger of a voice and it's great they had that presentation at the library but they're just they're just a phenomenal organization I wonder if we could get them a tent or that would be great to did they do something at the library they they were just there did that lunch yeah they did so so Lisa just to to share with you um beginning of this year it started at the end of the last year when Barbara uh connected my interest with middle sex County and she said let's go and see what the county is offering and at the time we had a presentation or we had a meeting with them a zoom meeting and it kind of fell flat it was more like hey we want to talk about infrastructure we want to talk about roads and sidewalks but that other piece just didn't really exist and so it may be that they're growing yeah and so that present I I was not here unfortunately for that presentation you know that I think that was different that was a sustainability we are certified like we're starting to become a age friendly so I don't think it's a bad idea actually um if if if they're interested in something like a presence in at cranberry day how how would that work we've already reserved what we have reserved and I mean I don't know I could talk to Christine Thompson I could talk to Julian and see if there's still any space available I mean I'm sure there still applications yeah it's an application and it's a I think it's $100 for a booth so it would be great if even if the township upon our invitation like could get them here but their amount of information and programming and it's very um it's attainable it's not a lot of things that seniors need to do to qualify for these things it's these are like simply like social security number name and address could could they join us at our table at some point or or or or not I don't sure that I mean in the past we've had TCS who pick a theme for cranberry day that could be your theme for cranber day and you could have them come to the table and you could each take turns sitting with them but they could be there presenting this information in in addition to what we have I don't think that would be um I don't think that would be difficult to do I like that idea Lisa I think it it works because the interconn it works because the inclusive Park you know and you know biking we're looking at transportation for all all you know Safe Transportation for all including you know so I think that would work really well yeah I don't think they're disjointed at all um so uh Lisa I like the suggest I'm just trying to think about the mechanics now so we should through the township connect with um the people who did the presentation actually we could probably do that through the library right what I think Donna was involved Donna would have that information so can we' be there so maybe we could have Donna look into if if she has the time that would be great if she could look into whether they would like to okay um so make which is good because Donna is also the Le the support for the parks and wreck so it's good see that ties a lot of things together connection yeah it ties a lot of things together wow that's excellent that's excellent guys and then they're also not they're not stuck at a table by themselves we can actually we can make it we can bridge and I think that's nice cool all right well this has already been very productive so the work continues I don't know that I have answers I don't know that we all have answers but it's this idea that it's an ongoing project right we're going to keep our finger on this pulse and uh you know grow with it as it grows yeah thank you all any other thoughts before we move on excellent okay so I got to get back to my agenda um i' I'd like to move items 12 a through e on the consent agenda second thank you thank you I'll move on to roll call on the send uh Mr France yes Mrs kir yes Dr Rogers um Mr Scott is absent in mayor by way yes thank you unanimous thank you and just before we open for public comment I did um I did miss something we have uh the next meeting 8:26 we I clarified this with everybody I believe that we were all unanimous on uh canceling the next meeting due to lack of service as well right there's really not much action going on that tomorrow be okay all right excellent thank you uh we are up to our public comment this evening and uh we would love to hear from anybody that would like to share some thoughts with us please you have 3 minutes please approach could you could you press the button yeah I think it's the right side the other one um in talking about the seniors first of all I belong to the senior exercise but we can't seem to get other people participating um and I think it's because people don't know about us and I don't know how to contact golden age I don't know how to sign up for lunches and I'm I'm active in the um and you know when I hear about what other people um at other towns are doing it's amazing Hamilton you can get lunch every day for I think it's a dollar in their senior center I mean the things that go on in these other towns is incredible and then I think about what we have which is virtually nothing and it's kind of depressing because um I think people would participate if they knew more about it I don't know how to contact the people to sign up for any of these things so thank you but we'd love more people senior exercise okay perfect any other public comments for this evening all right seeing none I will close public comment and our action item for tonight is the cancelling of our meeting the the meeting for the 26th um just to tie our public comment into our uh work session today I think that's exactly one of the issues is this connectivity and um I am I'm willing I'm willing and ready to continue to work on this piece it's it's important the other action item was uh the middlex county yes uh we've kind of punted that too Donna the other one was our attendance on cranberry day just to get back that who will be here yeah we we'll work that offline right that would be great yes thank you um I mean I think Madame mayor I think we do have to remember when we Benchmark cranberry is number one in a lot of things we're pretty light in General on Services we're a we're a 4,000 person town we can't punch at the weight of of B townships that are 10 to 20 to 50 times our size so we just have to kind of remember we have to find the right cranberry approach that fits our size and scale and budget and we're all we are surrounded by towns that are 10 to 50 times are are bigger than us we have to sort of remember that we there's we have to make it a cranberry solution and ours our style tends to be more about personal connection and connectivity and less about heav heavyweight um service overloading on services but I think that was said very well and um it it it just I think the comment for tonight still highlights for me the fact that there is work there is activities and people don't know about it and so so there's some you know I'm I'm very uh which I'm very excited about we've what we've done tonight so thank you all and if we have nothing else to discuss I will entertain Ain a motion to adjourn move second hi