this chamber will come to order welcome everyone to the East Brunswick Township council meeting for July 22nd 20124 everyone please rise if you can for our pledge of allegiance to our nation remain standing for a moment personal reflection United States of America which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you C clerk please call roll read our statement of adequate notice councilman Bal here councilman Wendell here councilwoman Winston here councilwoman ziki absent council president makoy also present mayor Brad Cen here administrator Joseph culo here and Township attorney Anthony aoka here adequate notice of this meeting has been provided as required under chapter 231 Public Law 1975 by specifying the time date location and to the extent known the agenda by posting a copy on the bulletin board located in the main lobby of the East Brunswick Municipal Building providing a copy to the home News Tribune and the asber Park Press newspapers posting a copy on the Township's website and by filing a copy in the office of the Township Clerk which will be entered into the minutes thank you Council you have before you resolution 24-22 two adopting the meeting minutes from our July 8th 2024 meeting May I have a motion to approve second is there a need for correction or clarification on these minutes seeing none roll call please councilman Hall yes councilman Wendell yes councilwoman Winston yes and council president makoy yes Council we have two mayoral proclamations this evening the first is recognizing the month of July as Park and Recreation month councilwoman Winston will entertain the proclamation thank you council president um Proclamation for Parks and Recreation month whereas Parks and Recreation is an integral part of community's throughout this country including East brunic and whereas Parks and Recreation promotes health and wellness improving the physical and mental health of people who live near parks and whereas Parks and Recreation promotes time spent in nature which positively impacts mental health by increasing cognitive performance and well-being and alleviating illnesses such as depression attention deficit disorders and Alzheimer's and whereas Parks and Recreation encourages physical activities by providing space for popular sports hiking trails swimming pools and many other activities designed to promote active Lifestyles and whereas Parks and Recreation is fundamental to the environmental well-being of our community and whereas our parks and natural Recreation areas ensure the ecological beauty of our community and provide a place for children and adults to connect with nature and recreate outdoors and whereas the US House of represent atives has designated July as Parks and Recreation month and now therefore be it proclaimed that I Brad J Cohen mayor of Township of East Brunswick and the township council do hereby recognize July as Parks and Recreation month and express deep gratitude to Michael Ryner and his employees any comments from Council I just think you know our Parks and Rec Department is second to none all agree right if no if hands are butts on that one agre next we have a proclamation recognizing our our hometown hero Sam Mattis for his athletic achievements Mr Mrs Mattis would you care to join me we've done this before I think 12 years ago we've done it a couple of times that's for sure so whereas Sam Mattis a 2012 graduate of East brunick High School has been referred to as the greatest discus thrower in the history of New Jersey during his Junior and senior years he won the group four sectional Championship the group four state championship one the New Jersey meet of Champions he was two-time new balance High School National Champion and onetime Pen relay Champion as a high school athlete and whereas Sam went on to the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania where he earned a bachelor's degree in economics while competing for the Quakers he achieved many accolades including three-time nc2a allamerican four time ic4a discus champion and and I thought my fourth place in 1972 was pretty cool this is he get it from me that was just H there across pollination of the genes here because we we do go back there was time back in 2010 2011 2012 where the madis just like you parents did not miss a single meat anyway um First Team all Ivy honors four time and in 2015 he was awarded the nc2a national scholar athlete of the Year by the NCAA coaches association and he was The nc2a discus Champion 2015 whereas Sam competed in the 2022 Olympics in Tokyo finishing eighth at the 2024 Olympic trials he finished in second place qualifying to compete in the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris which will be beginning this this this Friday now therefore be it proclaimed that I Brad J con of the township of East Brunswick the township counil the residents of East Brunswick and the nation congratulate Sam on all of his accomplishments and wish wish him luck in the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris be it further proclaimed that Civic Center Drive shall be renamed Sam Mattis way beginning on the 22nd of July and running through August 11 2024 signed under my hand and the Great Seal of the township of East bronic this the 22nd day of the year 2024 The Honorable mayor Brad J con how about a word or two please oh she speaks much better more El than I I just want to say thank you um Sam's a product of this community he had a great education and felt a a lot of um friendship and guidance and love from the community so thank you very much thank you he also uh he he felt a a pretty deep need to show up Mr makoy um who uh has been pretty good at the hurdles as everyone knows he's I have some pictures of him from 50 years ago oh my God jumping over hurdles but I he's had uh he's as my wife said um this community is uh is fantastic and you know we're so glad to be a part of it and glad that uh you know your folks have actually uh taken the time out of your busy schedules to to recognize a little kid who um you know we're proud of and it's really nice to know that you know the pride uh goes throughout the community so thank you very much I really appreciate that yeah I just wanted to first of all congratulate you on his enor Sam's enormous amount of success it doesn't go unnoticed I think apples don't fall far from the tree and uh and I think a community helps in creating a lot of our success our schools are are well known but I I think that uh people like Sam serve as an example to everybody else on what what truly is possible here in public school education I remember being on the board of education when he got his diploma and I have to say I was a little jealous uh because there's just so many people that could be good at Athletics and good at music cuz he was an accomplished musician as well uh and uh and clearly a you know an academic uh so that does not go unnoticed and that's very possible with a uh a good family uh a good community and a a good education and I think that's why a lot of people choose to move here and and I I wish Sam the absolute best in the Olympics ahead of him and in life in general but uh we're very we're actually enormously proud of him and and he really serves an example to all students here in East brns than you appreciate it thank you fol I also want to I do want to wish Samus all the best for upcoming 2024 Olympics Sam has already made Eun proud now he's on his way to make the entire nation proud so all the best Sam thank you very much appreciate it and if anyone's awake at 400 a.m. that's what eting I am it should be on peacock um but again crazy time crazy thank youate Council four you have a resolution 23 hyphen 233 honoring and accepting retirement of joeanne leco second um councilman Wendell read this read the resolution please thank you um resolution 24223 resolution honoring and accepting the retirement of Joanne leco whereas Joanne leco submitted written notification to the township of East Brunswick that she will retire from the East Bruns Police Department effective August 1st 2024 whereas Joan began her career with the township East Brunswick as a dispatcher for the East Brunswick Police Department in June of 1989 a position from which she retires effective August 1st 2024 whereas throughout her 35 years of service to the township she demonstrated exemplary characteristics to the township of East Bron through her work ethics dedication leadership team spirit and enthusiasm to her duties be it resolved by the township Council of the township be bront Wick that Joanne's retirement is hereby accepted with an effective date of August 1st 2024 be it further resolved by the mayor and Township Council of the township of East brunwick that they hereby extend their sincere and grateful appreciation to Joan lco for her 35 years of dedication and outstanding service to the township of East Brunswick and congratulate her on her well-earned retirement and wish her happiness and good health in the years to come thank you go once once you get into that 30 Mark yeah you know a lot of people retired 27 years 25 2 29 years and then you get into the 30s W yes let everyone know that an that an average carrier length of a 911 or 911 dispatcher is 7 to eight years so when somebody works here for 35 years and retires at the same job it's amazing thank you very much for your service Miss leco uh roll call please on this resolution councilman Bal yes councilman Wendell yes councilwoman Winston yes and council president M yes at this time please welcome Mr John Fen who will speak to us regarding the municipal audit Mr fena the floor is yours good evening everyone uh my name is John finina I work for pkf o Conor Davies and we did the 2023 audit of the township of East brunwick um I also have with me Carmel copina she was the supervisor on the job she did a great job keeping the job keeping the engagement moving forward uh constant communication with the finance department and uh East Brunswick Personnel to get the job done as efficiently as possible um I'd like to start by thanking angel Sylvia Vivian Joe Tomar everybody really for for their cooperation during the audit um the end result is a 200 Page document but what you don't see is that we put in hundreds of man hours into getting the job done um and that's on our end there's also a reciprocal requirement of time from the East Brunswick Township Personnel uh to get the job done and we can't get it done without uh without quick responses and uh accurate documentation um last year we presented the audit in September it's July now so hopefully we're moving up a little bit earlier each year and uh hopefully we'll continue to do that as the state gets back on in more normal schedule and providing us pension and uh post-employment benefit uh documentation that we need to complete the job uh so I'm here just to give a brief overview of the audit and to any questions you may have uh the most important part of the 200 Page document is the audit opinion um I'm happy to say that again this year the township earned an unmodified opinion which is the highest opinion highest level of opinion that we are allowed to issue uh part of our audit major part of our audit is testing internal controls uh which means we test guard the or we test the safeguards and processes that uh the township has in place to over payroll over cash dispersements and revenue and um aside for two minor issues everything came back uh came back fine which is a good um indicator that that the the township has good controls also uh for every audit we have to assess whether or not the town uh the client spent $750,000 or more in either state or federal funding in this case uh the state or the township spent $750,000 in state funding which trigger which triggered uh a single audit which requires us to look at specific grants and test compliance requirements for those grants and this year we were acquired to test the uh New Jersey Department of Transportation grants and I'm happy to say there were no instances of non-compliance in in any of those tests overall the township we feel is in good uh financial position the current fund fund balance increased to about $33 million um revenues that were budgeted most of them exceeded the actual revenues exceeded what was budgeted um and as far as the utility funds go you five utilities all of the fund balances in those utilities increased except for sewer utility which uh decreased due to a large uh investment in Capital Improvements for the utility and uh there was a slight decrease in swim pool Utility Fund balance and parking remain the same but there was a required uh contribution from the current fund to keep that uh the same and as you know the parking utility is still feeling the effects of the covid uh pandemic and and remote working that resulted from that so that's just a brief overview of uh our audit and if anybody has any questions be more than happy to answer them well the per se the the document I have not received so as a are you coming back Mr f for our next meeting if if you need something we yes that's different look over the document and and you're telling me that nothing's going to be jumping off the page so go right to that you said 200 Pages go to about page 197 somewhere around there and yes you know tells you to go back to page 98 and go back to page 142 and uh but nothing uh like like you said nothing no jumping off the page at this particular time that we should be worried or concerned about Council thank you Mr fre okay thank you uh Council we have before us two ordinances for a second reading in public comment uh first ordinance 24-20 Council uh Township Clerk could you please read a capital ordinance appropriating 3,675 th000 from the sewer utility Capital Improvement fund to provide for various sewer utility improvements in and by the township of East Brunswick County of middlex state of New Jersey I have a motion motion adopt and a second second any Council comment on this particular um just wanted to say this is these are not Bond we're not bonding for this money this money is coming out of a capital capital fund that the SE utility uh has just so everybody's clear this is not that we're going to borrow any money um I'll open this up to the public now is there anyone from the public wishing to speak speak on this matter and this matter only Sir Michael Dela 28 Parker Street I just only had the question uh I know you know apartments are going up in this town and have been going up in this town and you're talking about store uh and Improvement or whatever so my question is that um are they paying into this uh I mean I would assume that some part of it is is because of them I would think I would I don't know so that would be my question do you want to when any new user uh goes into our sewer system or water system they pay a what is called a connection fee so every dwelling uh every you know two if it's two family home even each one of them will pay a fee to connect to our system so every one of those units pays what is known as a connection fee and that's St pretty much standard uh throughout New Jersey in in the industry so whenever a new user comes on they have to pay the fee to get on the on the line okay I think that was my question but my question was really uh towards you know the apartments that were moved in here because each apartment okay you're talking about in this case because the only reason why I questioned it because I've saw in other towns where they go into these kind of deals uh with uh um you know things being built uh and they they making a uh they try to do it with the town and the state as well and sometimes they don't pay those connection fees and that's why I was asking the question they pay connection fees here okay all right thank you hey Mike before you go um what is your your street address for the record 28 Parker Street Parker p a r thank you anyone else wishing to comment on this issue seeing none I'll close that public portion Township uh our second ordinance is ordinance 24 hyen oh we didn't do roll call I beg your pardon thank you councilman Wendell roll call please councilman Bal yes councilman Wendell yes councilwoman Winston yes and council president M yes uh ordinance 24 hyen 21 Township Clerk would you please read a capital ordinance appropriating 2,25 from the water utility Capital Improvement fund to provide for various water utility improvements in and by the township of East Brunswick County of middlex state of New Jersey motion to approve motion approve second second I'll now open uh this to the public is there anyone from the public wishing to speak on ordinance 24 hyen 21 seeing none I'll close the public portion comments from Council roll call please councilman ball yes councilman Wendell yes councilwoman Winston yes and council president maoy yes now move our meeting over to our report section and mayor con thank you council president a few short things I know on your agenda tonight is a um res resolution to approve the uh bids for the hockey ring they were broken up into both the building portion and the ice portion I just want to publicly thank all of the people who have for several years now within our department and many of our uh residents who've been part of the ice rank committee that have been working with our staff uh for hanging in there on a extraordinarily long project uh the the the government uh require IR IR Ms that go into public bidding for something that's that big is extensive and um personally I think meant a little bit of an overreach in many instances but it's done for a purpose and that's to make sure that the public could be confident that the township didn't just award things to their friends it went out on a public bidding process with a very specific bid package that describes what we're looking for and we're obligated at the end of the day to take the lowest responsible bidder uh and that's done in a in a way in which the public at the end of the day should be assured that it was done in a fair and equal process and and uh and while it may be frustrating at times to go through the legal wranglings between the state and the township and the department um but at the end of the day I'm happy to be able to provide to you a a bid package that when you do it the right way and we go through dotting the the the eyes and crossing the te's we have a package in front of you that actually is coming in at less cost than what you approved a bond for to begin with and I think we should be very proud of that so that's before you this evening the other thing I wanted to report I know that on a regular basis our police department does a very good job on their site of publishing crime statistics for the township on a month L basis so that people in town can have a sense of of of uh What uh is going on around them in terms of crime um I put on Facebook today and I'd be more than happy to share it with whoever wants not only that the the monthly stats up to uh the end of June which is essentially a half a year for the year 2024 but I also gave the a look back from 2018 to now and I think we just owe our police of gratitude uh they are doing a phenomenal job keeping crime in this town to an extremely low level I will never say we don't have any crime we don't have any crime we wouldn't need police to begin with um crime occurs around us all the time our goal is to keep it under control and to make sure that people feel safe in this Township uh and to be um uh for a set Town hour size our statistics really show that that's exactly what's going on where there are trends that could occur Ur from time to time the only things that I see that stand out in our crime statistics over the last 6 years or so um is that there's been a dramatic drop in the number of drug related crimes be that's primarily because of bail reform and legalization to marijuana things that were um crimes before are not crimes any longer uh there was a small bubble of increase in car theft which was a problem going throughout the state continues to this day um uh but uh we were like most other towns in 202 that was the peak 21 and 22 sort of the either side of that Peak and so far this year we seem to be um trending lower which is great um and I think that uh what it what it shows is a a Township that's that's well um run and has police that really have their pulse on what's going on and keeping us safe which is our primary job here in government so I give kudos to them to our office of emergency management John kask all of our dispatchers one of which retired uh today uh all who work together to to keep the town safe and then finally I want to thank the individuals here this evening who help bring you the township audit I know numbers sound kind of dry and boring um but at the end of the day um we're talking about an $80 million entity in this Township and managing that level of Finance uh is is extremely complicated on top of managing all of the Departments of the township our CFO is also managing the five utilities that uh the Auditors spoke about our water our sewer the pool the parking and the um uh police range all five of them are utilities uh they man she manages the library budget and she manages the re Redevelopment agency budget so this is a person who's got a lot on her plate she has a great Department working with her and when you can have somebody come in who has no political stake in the game on this and just looks at the finances of your Township and tells you that you're really doing a good job and the findings that they come up with are so marginal and meaningless for uh a budget this size I think they deserve credit for doing a a really a terrific job um under sometimes very difficult circumstances uh so your town is well-run you are living in a very safe town and uh you heard tonight a uh a resolution uh or Proclamation uh supporting the Parks and Recreation which helps provide some of the quality of life things that make living in this Township enjoyable so I think on a great you know 40,000 foot view um we're in a really good place and I'm really happy that those of you who came out tonight and anybody who will be listening uh had an opportunity to hear those three different facets cuz uh that's what makes us unique so thank you our business administrator Mr Chris kulo thank you council president uh thank you also for passing those two ordinances uh people don't realize you know we have some sewer pipes in the ground that are you know 50 years old um recently this week you know we're doing work on New Brunswick Avenue duck iron pipe that it's collapsing and so on so it's necessary to take care of that infrastructure to to keep things flowing um also water lines are even older than that 60 years old and so on so we're trying to stay ahead of that provide people with good clean paddle uh water and that's hats off to our our gent uh ladies and gentlemen work in the your water utility last council meeting there was a group of people that asked us to take look at Fern Road from cranberry to Old Stage Road um the mayor and I met with the engineering department and their traffic safety unit and they will you know commence a study when the proper equipment is available uh to be placed out there also uh we are taking a look at uh ruse Lane at Hillsdale when there's been some um there was an accident there on Friday uh the mayor and I met with the uh detective Bureau the and the Traffic Unit is gathering statistics in our engineering department we'll be looking at that as well so uh you know we'll we'll we'll study that area and we'll try to uh figure out what the causes are on some of these accidents and see if there's a way to remediated or or move forward with that so as the mayor always says uh we're always looking at making the community better and that's everywhere from uh parks recreation police engineering uh we don't stop so I'd like to what I'm circleing back to is always thank you for support and most of the time when we need some funds to do something um you support it with good hard facts and numbers so I'd like to thank the council for for supporting the project so we can continue to provide the level of service that our residents deserve so thank you you're welcome our attorney Mr AA coka thank you council president on the agenda is ordinance 24-2 to First reading amending the ethics code I would request that this be removed from the agenda so be it thank you anything else Mr I uh no sir okay Council any uh reports Council reports or board reports seeing none um coun clerk nothing to report nothing to report how about if we open the meeting to the public for comment uh Miss lawful please read our public comment statement the public comment portion of our meeting is to allow the public to bring to the council's attention their concerns or comments in accordance with njsa 10 col 4-2a and the East Brunswick rules of council the council ask the public to limit their comments to 5 minutes or less at the conclusion of the statements or questions from a member of the public the council president at his discretion may choose to respond or not respond anyone wishing to address council president please Mr Dela Michael Dela 28 Parker Street uh I wanted to ask about the uh I saw one of the meetings that uh something was changed in one of the plans I guess to put uh tow houses and to pay for the tow houses I guess instead of apartments and and one of the meetings that I heard from you right so my question is that um you know the only reason why I ask these questions is because I was going to buy a house in in plumstead at one time and they had gone into plans where they pay the developer or the developer works out a deal with the town and the state and um in in turn when they do that sometimes they're given things from the state and they're giv things from the town where they don't pay those storage fees okay and that happened in plumstead so um that was that was a case so at this point in time that they changed it to the apartments and you have worked out deals with these people you work that deals with the apartments that are there to get money in L of taxes okay so I guess how long is that going to go on for money in L with taxes that's one question and then uh the other question is that uh if these houses are going to be there are going to be town houses uh I think believe that's what I heard uh I don't remember what the number was but I know it was tow houses that they said um and you know I I don't understand what are they going to do when they finish these tow houses are they going to pay a tax or are they going to be still paying money in lie of taxes because there is a difference okay and it's a difference to the homeowner as well uh there also a difference to the state as well and some of the state programs okay so that's why I'm asking these questions okay because when you pass that resolution to let them change to apartments or tow houses I should say uh there was no questions on the council I think uh Mr McAvoy made some comments uh but none of the other council meeting members asked any other questions about it and I was kind of surprised that no questions were asked about it because you're going from one form of renting apartments to Selling Houses okay and your deal with these uh developers seems to be uh money in Lee of taxes and at the same time when you do that you take money away from the township uh Board of Education you also take money away from uh the um uh the County government as well and being that se 70 or 60 or 70% of our taxes are going towards uh the Board of Education I think that's a viable question to ask uh and I don't see that it's ever been answered okay and so that that's my couple of questions if one can answer that well I'm not we're not going to get into a question and answer here Mr Dua between you and I but well it's not a question between you and I it's a question between the coun and we'll take care of that because we have your address and we have the Township Clerk who we'll get back to you right okay but I think the public should know as well because I don't see anything in there as well and I even said how long is this going to last that you're going to pay this or get this and that's how that's how you see it so when we get back to you you can come back to our next meeting and then just share the difference between what what we say and what you think well it's not what I think uh I'm saying I don't see so I can't think and again the explan the explanation will be you will you will receive statement all right thank you okay president councilman Wendell I just like to point out that mayor coh has so many oh sorry Mayor Cohen has done so many presentations on pilot payment programs versus taxes and how the money gets uh distributed and and the increase in Revenue that comes from redeveloping these properties and and I'm sure there's many many YouTubes that can be found probably on the township website that explain the whole thing and if you want not not not from your seat Mr Dela okay it's okay it's on it's it's on the evtv YouTube web page are all those presentations are there just like all the council meetings are so Mr Wendell is correct those presentations are there and those ordinances that were passed at this Council are all also available to the public and when projects are approved at the planning board that's a public meeting people can come to those are advertised and uh when the agency approved things those are all all publicly noticed and advertised and put out um meetings um and we always follow the law when it comes to those Anthony make sure thank you Mr chrisol anyone from the public anyone wishing to address council president please name name Karen Scott 26 Windor Drive East brunck mayor councel I'm here tonight to tell you weigh in my two cents on this feral cat issue on two fronts first I'm a 60 plus year old resident of East Brunswick I live in the Windsor Park section of town as fam as which has had a horrible feral cat problem for years as families moved in and out um so did the feral cat situation this year and last year due to a bunch of neighbors getting involved with TNR we've seemed to have gotten a handle on the issue um back in the day when our ACO was related to our contracted shelter and the policy was trap re remove never took care of the problem problem always existed TNR has taken care of this problem in Windor Park um which proves to me that TNR works now I put on my second hat I'm currently the president of New Beginnings Animal Rescue we are a local volunteer rung cat rescue that has been in operation for the past 10 years in East Brunswick during that time we've had to deal with oh oh so many calls from our residents looking for help with feral and friendly cats in their neighborhood and I only wish I had the ability to build the township for the time that we have spent in addressing this issue the phone calls always always begin with we tried animal control but they were told they're not picking up any cats unless they're injured and sometimes maybe they may pick them up maybe they won't then they go on to say that the shelter which the township contracts with is not accepting any cats and that's a real shame since New Jersey sa 4 colon 19-5 specifically addresses um both the a acos picking up the cats and that a Township does have a facility that's capable of handling its load so I'm not really sure why the cat feels that there is a feral catshill I guess over the years many residents have just given up hope that they will get Township assistant and reach out to us the rescue and it's not the role of new beginnings to solve this feral cat situation in town nor do we work to determine even if that situation exists all the township needs to do is ask your own dispatchers and your acos to account for these calls we have recently again um instructed those who call us to call the mayor's office as well as the acos through the police dispatchers who knows if they do we really have no way of knowing as stated earlier um TNR has has been the only thing that has worked in my neighborhood but rest you know you've heard this it's not a local issue it's a South River it's a Sarahville it's a Spotswood it is an issue that isn't going away how however the township decides to address it is on the township but again as the current president of New Beginnings Animal Rescue It is not my responsibility to take care and calm down the residents of this town when they cannot find help for the feral cats or the sick cats or even their own cats that they cannot um dispose you know find a home for or help for because Woodbridge shelter is not accepting cats or the AC aren't available and I could go on and on we've sat in the past and talked with the police department who at one time and I'm not sure it was under your um leadership but the dispatchers were just as soon as someone said FAL cat they would give New Beginnings phone number um and we were just inundated and at that time the township who was an employee of the township they didn't even have a scanner to to scan any cats to find if they were chipped they would come to us to ask to borrow our scanner now things have changed granted and things are getting better and the dispatchers are not um giving them instantly our phone number however they really aren't giving the residents any help in these feral cat situations and I do thank you for all that you do and I hope that eventually well I I don't I doubt it because it's a Statewide issue but I do have hope that someday this issue can and may be resolved thank you anyone else wishing to address please hello my name is Diane Decker 17 Parker Street in East Brunswick I've been a resident for almost 65 years and I'm here to uh to uh support East Brunswick TNR and their newly proposed Community cat ordinance last spring someone either opened their door or dropped off six cats and there was four females out of the six plus another two older cats were roaming the neighborhood had having kittens I worked with the group and we got four cats spay which currently stay in my yard I feed them no rats in my neighborhood we used to have a bad problem no rats no mice and they don't bother anybody so I'm hoping the council would you know consider give giving them what they need to help these cats cuz I the cats that I have inside I trapped them called the vet dropped them off in the cage had him spayed opened my door and let him in and a best cats so I'm just hoping everybody has a heart and wants to help thank you anyone else wishing to speak to council president please hi there good evening uh my name is Shannon Brown I am a resident of 18 Herbert Drive and I wanted to address piggybacking off of the last two residents something that happened this evening I apologize for being ill prepared but 3 hours ago I didn't know I'd be standing here I was taking my 2-year-old daughter for a walk this afternoon around our neighborhood something we do regularly she's just learning how to walk she's just learning how to talk she likes pointing out all the animals that we see and there's a house right around the corner that has anywhere from 10 to 15 cats that regularly lays around on the street or stay in the front yard I don't know who their owner is I don't know if they have homes but this evening we stopped and we were talking to the kittens my daughter was having a great time just watching all of these cats run around and as we got up to walk away I saw one of these cats a maybe 3 to four-month old kitten run over by a car directly in front of us it is hard enough being an animal lover and watching these animals not have somewhere to go knowing that we don't have the resources as a group to trap these animals to take these animals all to veterinarians there's nowhere to take them even if we do have them vetted correctly because as everyone else has mentioned the shelters are full but if we can have them properly vetted at least this gives us an opportunity to stop younger cats from ending up on the streets to lower their numbers over time it does take time it takes resources and currently those resources are unavailable and as a result of those resources being unavailable my child had to watch a kitten be killed on the street tonight and so I came here tonight to talk to all of you hoping that this will continue a dialogue this I know will not be resolved overnight I don't expect it to be resolved tomorrow but I'd like everyone to be aware that this is an ongoing problem throughout the township this is not an isolated incident and we'd really like the support and the assistance to help these animals and to help prevent tragedies as as the one I saw this evening thank you for your time please good evening everyone good evening mayor president mavo uh my name is maryan toy I live at fdale Road obviously East Brunswick um resident for over 30 years just a quick statement I have spoken before about the TNR proog uh whatever it's called um a little nervous um I in my neighborhood there is one house that's got I'll say conservatively 20 cats we've been working with TNR and they are making a difference it is a long process but I just want to relate one story to you first I'd like to invite any one of you who think there isn't a problem in East Brunswick with feral cats please come to my house and I'm with take you for a tour no charge and I will show you the conditions that these cats are living in in in wooded areas but more importantly in neighborhoods um my neighborhood is overrun but anyway I took a cat to the Robinsville um People for Animals to get the animal fixed and two people came up to me from East Brunswick and said they take the cats to get um tanor on their own because they're afraid the township of East Brunswick they're afraid if they get caught feeding these feral cats that they're going to get fined they feel like the C the Township's Pro um response would be let's give them fines for doing it against the ordinance they're going to be fined for helping animals I hope that's not the case um I I know you guys have been saying you're going to work with us um TNR does make a difference it has made a difference in my neighborhood last year 15 kittens were removed from that property this year we've removed probably about 15 so far we've um fixed I think 13 or 14 cats which means there won't hopefully won't be any more kittens this year but again I I open my invitation to you if you'd like to come to my house I'd be more than happy to take you to these locations and let you see the feral cat problem there is in East Brunswick okay thank you very much for your time and have a good evening anyone else wishing to address council president Mr Mayor Town Council Mr President uh just a couple things of points of interest um I noticed on Gordon Street and and um Summer Hill Road there's a telephone poll that's out like this it's supported by another poll but the poll that is all cracked it's very it's about this High somebody may get hurt it's been like that a while so if you just check it's on Gordon and um Sumer Hill Road okay um the other thing uh there is some stuff going around with the senior tax free who who's eligible for it in case seniors want to know and the anchors program is coming out now but the application for senior freezes due by I think April 1st August October 1st just to let you just know thank you and um uh when are the water bills coming out again I mean the last one I got I owed 18 months I didn't know because estimated I'd have to get back to you on that one I do not have that I think the last one I got was in May I don't know if it's in August whatever um all right then um I'm glad they caught that nut job that wanted to blow up the uh PSC andg substations okay just from East brunsw gotard and uh whatever call and I my property faces a green belt on the back right there's trees back there that hang over my property could they be cut down on the expense of other people or um is it my responsibility is it someone's property behind you no it's like uh the Water easement the water drains into this thing Mr C you want to comment on that I'd have to look out same here I have to have to see it okay it's U I forget the name of the the development is find it they take care of it they mow it but 10 years ago lightning hit a tree knocked down on my side it cost me over ,000 at that time to clean up the mess so there are branches hanging over I do get nervous I see stuff that may get hit by lightning again I just want to know if they could take care of it and uh other than that president maoy please you're allowed by law to cut anything that's over over hanging over right you're hanging over your property so you're allowed to cut up with your property line but these are Big Trees you're allowed to cut up on your property line MH but let's say it's it's on their side could that be taken down it's up to the they own the tree all right just look at it if you could that's all and uh that's about all I have to say and thank you very much you're welcome anyone else wishing to address the council president see none will close the public portion moving on to our consent agenda before I ask for separation before I get to separation um resolution uh 237 councilwoman Winston that the number we were chatting about council president I believe um our mayor has adequately addressed that okay good yeah the ice it's the ice rink so that's been covered and uh 239 the coach uh anything the township needs to know there Mr Chris gulo sure as as everybody knows Coach USA is now in uh chapter 11 uh and we were due to upgrade or or go out for a new bid um what we are doing at this particular time and with advice and consent of our Township attorney and and the staff at at his law firm uh we see that it's best that we just do a two-month extension of that current contract for now because there's no other providers and we met with Coach USA um and there's uh the bankruptcy court is looking to uh make whatever parts of their businesses solvent and naturally have it bought off by other firms so we met with them uh last week and we felt that as a a stop Gap member that if we do the extend our contract for two months it was in the best interest of our residents and commuters that that go to New York uh from the two Transportation centers I don't know if Anthony has anything else to add but he was in on that call as well yes um in order to ensure the uh continuation of communed bus services and to allow Coach USA to complete its bankruptcy filing uh which would take about 60 days um we believe it's in the best interest interest and authorized under the emergency uh uh contract provision in the local public contracts law to extend the existing contract for additional 60 days um up until September 15th of this year thank you could I have a motion for anything else need to be separated could I have a motion for Resolutions 24 hyphen 224 through resolution 24 uh- 240 so move and a second second uh roll call please councilman bahall yes councilman Wendell yes councilwoman Winston yes council president McAvoy yes and uh the the ordinance 24 hyen 22 we pulled that that's been removed uh for the good of the Court um this weekend is the BFW uh 5K yeah um if anybody's interested there're still uh applications or you know you can still sign up just go to the vfw's website and uh you'll be able to see it there Council woman Winston I would just like to share a little um to piggyback on Sam Mattis Legacy um an e spun of connection to the Olympics this year's Olympics the gutter family used to live I believe on Stratford Road um former formerly very involved in the the um Buffalo's organization um great people great family I um went to school with um their daughter Kim and Kim's daughter Ally Wilson is now running the 800 meter in the Olympics in Paris wow so we have a small connection there I thought I'd share for anyone who knows the gutter family go look up Ali Wilson you'll see she's spitting image of Mom okay then we with regard to him to adjourn can I have a motion by signifying with an i the eyes have it good night had something I beg yourdon no second the eyes have it good night night