and good evening and welcome everyone to our December 26 2023 East Brunswick countship council meeting will everyone please rise and salute our flag as we pledge allegiance to our nation remain standing for a moment of personal reflection I pledge allegiance to the flag flag of the United States of America to the Republic for which stands one nation to God indivisible Li and justice for all thank you cach clerk please call rooll and announce our statement of adequate notice councilman Bal absent councilman Wendell president councilwoman Winston here councilwoman ziki absent council president makoy here also present mayor Brad Cohen here administrator Joseph culo here and Township attorney Michael Baker 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 Bolton board located in the main lobby of the e Brunswick Municipal Building providing a copy to the home News Tribune in Sentinel 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 at this point I'm going to change the order of tonight's meeting to have the public portion first so Township Clerk please read our public comment statement the public Comon 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 asked 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 not respond or asks the administration to respond thank you at this time I'm going to call on our attorney Mr Baker for some introductory comments Mr Baker thank you council president uh see we have a lot of folks here tonight I want to make sure everyone understands the procedure and what's happening what's not happening tonight a resident of the township has asked to come and speak at the public portion and ask the Town Council to consider a resolution the council does not have the resolution on it agenda it wouldn't be acted on uh on tonight so there's no vote taking place tonight on anything that might be brought by way of resolution it's a Township resident exercising their constitutional rights as we all have to bring something to the council's attention thank you Mr Baker and at this time I'm going to call on Ms atika kja who was uh tonight's organizer of the cand vigil outside going to have her speak first Miss kja right um thank you to the entire Township Council for having me and having all of us tonight to hear our voices um that we are trying to speak on behalf of the Palestinian people who are besieged right now um they are we all feel bad I think every human being feels bad seeing civilians being killed in this number especially and um half of them being children two-thirds of them women and children um the deaths of journalists healthcare workers the targeting of hospitals schools un Aid workers um this is something of Epic Epic Proportion this humanitarian crisis um the world has not seen this before and we are calling for an immediate permanent ceasefire we would would like our Township Council to support that because um we are not getting it from higher up leaders uh like our state legislators and federal government as well as our president of the United States so we are asking for it to be done on a local level in order to put pressure on other leaders elected officials that we have um I want just want to start off really quick by introducing myself to everybody my name is Dr aaka ganja um I am Indian of Indian descent uh we are a Muslim family so I'm not Palestinian I am not Arab I have traveled there on a couple of times before on vacation I have Jewish friends Israeli friends I've been to Israel myself as well um I don't have a stake in this fight per se in the sense that I don't have family members there or anything like that but I think like so many billions of people around the world this issue of Palestine hits me very very deep in the heart in a way that I can't even explain to you why that is um but we all feel something about this issue I feel like in the world and um I'm here to just represent my own views and my own desires of what I want to see this Township council do um I am born and raised in East Brunswick actually well technically I was born in California but when we were two we moved to uh this area um to Central Jersey so I attended Lawrence Brook Elementary School since kindergarten then I went to you know um hamers Churchill East Berwick high school I graduated in the class of 2000 so I'm a product of the East burnswick School System um I went on to go to medical school uh I went to college at UC Berkeley where I did learn a lot of my activism and then I um went on to go to T Lane medical school I also got a master's of science from uh New Jersey medical school I came back to Robert Wood Johnson to do my Internal Medicine Residency I went to Chicago to do my Chicago uh to do my Cardiology Fellowship I'm now a non-invasive cardiologist I'm triple board certified um I'm actually currently not practicing but I do want to I will be starting to practice soon hopefully and I would love to practice in this community in this town if possible um as a doctor I take a hypocritic oath to to treat all patients equally and to love and care about every single one of my patients and I truly do and I want everybody in in this room and in this town to know that calling for ceasefire it is because of my love for human beings and for people um and I want every human being to join me in that call for ceasefire I want all of my Township councils to join me in that I want my mayor to join me in that I want all my elected officials to join me in that because I do believe that this upholds the values that we stand for in this town and in this country um so without any further Ado About that um and then the last thing I will say is that you know I could have gone anywhere to live in the world after I finished my Med my medical studies and started working I decided to actually come back to East Brunswick I never thought I would do that as a child growing up here I came back to East Brunswick I want to raise my family here I have a three-year-old daughter who I would like to raise here and um I chose that because I love this town I love the school system that we have here um I love it for its diversity its inclusion the respect that everybody has for each other um I love how safe it is I love that you could you could easily leave your car or house unlocked by mistake and you're it's going to be fine that's how the East Brunswick is and we need to always keep it like that here um I don't ever want to feel threatened here in my town um and I never have so far and after this meeting I hope I never do I also do have the Assurance of the township Council that that's not going to happen to me or to anybody that's here because that's very very important um safety is always the first thing and that's what actually what we're here for we're here because the people of Gaza do not have safety they don't have their god-given human right to be safe and that's unacceptable and we need to protect them today is day 82 of the siege of Gaza to date almost 29,000 Palestinians have been killed 11,000 children 5600 women 200 healthcare workers 101 journalists more than 100 un Aid workers the most in any conflict in un history 57,000 people have been injured 1.9 million people have been been displaced and the their homes destroyed 25,000 tons of explosives have been used on guaza that just for reference an atomic bomb is 20,000 tons so we are talking more than an atomic bomb that has been dropped on Gaza in the last 3 months this is using American weapons of mass destruction famously in the first six days of this assault on Gaza 6,000 bombs were dropped and the onslaught has only intensified since then that's a number I will never forget days and 6,000 bombs in Northern Gaza none of the 24 hospitals are now functional they have all been bombed raided the sick patients and medical staff and thousands of civilians taking Refuge inside have been forced to leave on foot this is literally patients carrying patients walking down the streets to get from North Gaza to South guaza this is what the Israeli military has forced people to do in hospitals they have taken over 100 medical a medical personnel and they have taken them to an undisclosed location we do not know their whereabouts this targeting of civilians journalists healthcare workers humanitarian Aid workers and medical facilities is classified as a war crime under the Geneva Convention this is a humanitarian crisis of Epic Proportions that experts are calling a textbook case of genocide there is no safe place in Gaza Gaza is has also been called a graveyard of children and a recent un mission to El shifa hospital called it a blood bath with patients strewn on the floor so that care must be exercised not to step on patients on the floor yesterday morning I'm just going to give you one at example of atrocity yesterday on Christmas Day we woke up to the horrific news by the Israeli government media of a massacre of Al magazi refugee camp in Northern Gaza where at least 70 civilians were shot at Point Blank Range mostly women and children including a two week old infant as you know this is just one of the many atrocities and assaults on innocent civilians that we have been reading about and watching on our screens in horror every single day for the past 82 days without a ceasefire I am here today to request the East Brunswick Township Council introduce and pass a resolution calling for an immediate permanent ceasefire in Palestine across the United States similar resolutions are being proposed in towns and cities to encourage the US Congress to pass Cory Bush's HR 786 resolution for ceasefire and humanitarian Aid that was proposed on October 16th 2023 we are calling for an immediate and permanent ceasefire because millions of lives are at risk if we do not achieve it we need humanitarian Aid to be delivered promptly to the $1.9 million displaced and besieged Gins who are who a significant amount of them up to 40% by The Who are starving to death right now as we speak the federal government holds immense diplomatic and Appropriations powers and an ethical responsibility to save both Palestinian and Israeli lives Excuse me yes at that point your time has expired however okay I will give you 30 seconds to wrap it up okay um internal International organizations like the United Nations the World Health Organization usaid uh Oxfam Doctors Without Borders Amnesty International and many others have called for ceasefire to prevent the uh further civilian loss according to data for Progress poll that was taken on October 20th 66% of Americans support a ceasefire yet less than 11% of our Congress has signed on to HR 786 this glaring disc discrepancy is worrisome for our democracy which is bound by the United States Constitution that our elected officials must represent the will of the people people and never the interest of a private party or another country even a close Ally we are urging the city council of East Brunswick to call upon our us Congressional Delegation to join us in number one urging the Biden ad Administration I only have two two items here one urging the Biden Administration to immediately call for ceasefire to end the current violence um urgently two calling upon the Biden Administration to promptly send and facilitate the entry of humanitarian assistance into Gaza we are also requesting that the city of East Bruns cond I'm going to stop you that's that's 45 seconds I think I've been very fair and adequate with regard to the amount of time I've given you okay thank you thank you very much okay thank you I want everyone to understand as well that this governing body deals with issues regarding the welfare of the township we do not legislate international issues anyone else want to address the Town Council president please give us your name and spell it and your address please my name is Dan rosette d z I live at uh 39 Wilson Court I'm also the director of community relations of Jewish Federation in the heart of New Jersey pardon my voice uh been speaking a lot lately so I'll do my best so first of all I want to uh say that um I respect free speech for all no matter how much I might disagree or even reject someone else's opinion uh however Loosely throwing around terms such as genocide in a way that completely ignores their true meaning or its true meaning is in my opinion wrong on October 6th there was a ceasefire every innocent person that's dead today since then was alive on October 6th there was a ceasefire and every innocent person dead since since that day was alive on October 7th all that changed because Hamas attacked Israel and massacred 1200 Israelis raped women carried out hundreds of executions beheadings and kidnappings of people of Israelis of all ages and backgrounds and if you don't believe me come to me and I'll show you video I have it ceasefire no problem Hamas needs to surrender disband and all hostages returned immediately there are still 130 plus hostages being held by Hamas and Palestinian Jihad unfortunately in all wars there are civilian casualties no exceptions in every single war in history and every single innocent civilian killed is a tragedy Israel does everything possible and more to avoid it but nobody is perfect no Army is perfect Hamas deliberately operates in civilian areas including schools hospitals mosques and more recently Refugee centers the IDF the Israeli Defense Force has reported that 7,000 plus Palestinians killed are Hamas Fighters hundreds if not thousands more have been killed by Hamas rockets that misfired and landed in Gaza Hamas has been has been uh recorded shooting Palestinians retreating from war zone areas to Safe zones because they want them to be used as human Shields and Hamas has been raiding un uh facilities unra facilities stealing food for their own purpose and not giving to the Palestinians who need it so desperately Hamas has wasted billions and billions of dollars given by the International Community to build underground Terror tunnels some of them two miles long and wide enough for cars to drive through them the issue of genocide that term has been used very Loosely especially when it comes to the Palestinian people and again I want to say that I understand that innocent civilians in Palestinian territories are being killed but from 1990 to 2022 the Palestinian population has increased from 1.98 million to 5.4 million that's a growth of 155% in 32 years the current population is 5,431 422,000 and is at a growth at 2.3% gen genocide is literally the opposite of population growth and Jews know about that thank you very much for your time appreciate it please and what I'm going to try to do is go back and forth ladies and gentlemen with regard to the Muslim Community and the Jewish Community here in East Brunswick I'm gonna do my best name and address sir good evening Council good evening Miss Lael uh Mr Baker Mr criscolo and mayor and police officers and everyone thank you for inviting me here my name is Dr Khaled Zed would you spell it please khed k h a l e d last name z a y e d and you're address sir I'm actually a resident of piscar but I'm a Palestinian American and I came here to support my sister ARA uh because she needed a Palestinian voice so that's why I'm here to speak on on um behalf of Palestinians um again as I'm a Palestinian American and my dad uh my dad left um the West Bank of occupied West Bank of Palestine in 1960s as a refugee he was a teenager when uh Israel 1967 attacked um the West Bank invaded the West Bank and Gaza and occupied the West Bank and Gaza until today so I'm a son of a refugee a Palestinian refugee uh I've been in piscatway since 2012 I've lived in multiple US states the last time I traveled to occupied Palestine was about five to six years ago uh my the I wanted to just mention a few things uh the uh uh last week I introduced a resolution to the city of Piscataway Township Piscataway similar to what we doing tonight uh because people are being uh civilians are getting killed in Gaza and like uh the uh article mentioned that about 29,000 Palestinians have been killed uh the my the previous speaker said something about October 6th uh there was no there was a ceasefire but the one thing that he left out that uh there's 200 over two to 300 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank prior this year alone prior to October 7 uh also Gaza has been under siege since 20 6 17 years of Siege air blockade uh sea and land blockade of Gaza where nothing can comes in and out of Gaza with the per without the permission of Israel so um the also the previous speaker said something about woman being raped there's not a single Israeli woman that came out and said she was raped so these lies that were spread on the US media uh there not actually there's no evidence of that so I'm here today just to request that the city East Brunswick City Council Members to introduce and pass this resolution calling for ceasefire in Gaza across the US uh multiple uh cities already p uh introduced resolutions for this and we are calling for a ceasefire because hundreds of thousands of lives at risk if we don't achieve the ceasefire we need humanitarian Aid to be delivered promptly the federal government holds immense diplomatic and Appropriations powers to save Palestinian Israeli lives International organizations like amnesty y International United Nations the World Health Organization the US agency for International Development us Aid the International Rescue committee and many others have called uh made a call for ceasefire to prevent the further loss of life of civilians and to be uh by the uh to be by the international humanitarian law uh about two three weeks ago they did a poll 66% of American voters supported a ceasefire this is according to on October 20th actually this is about now it's it's been two months uh 2003 data for Progress poll and want to see the US leverage its diplomatic relationships to prevent further uh violence and civilian death we are urg urging the city council to call upon the US Congressional Delegation uh to join us in one urging the Biden Administration to immediately call for ceasefire and to end the current uh violence uh violence urgently we also asking for calling the Biden Administration to promptly send and facilitate the entry of humanitarian assistance to Gaza um we are also requesting that the city council uh condemn all forms of racism bigotry and discrimination and support all of its residents once you once this resolution is passed we would like to ask you the council to quickly forward copies of this resolution to the president of United States to our Congressional Delegation in New Jersey and um uh I would appreciate that thank you so much we have copies actually drafted copies of the resolution uh we made five copies and with I don't think we have enough copies for everyone but if you don't mind we can pass it on to you you can take a look at it thank you uh we'll take one copy we'll submit this to uh you cler Township Clerk and uh so that'll it'll be entered into the record with regard to this governing body and what is taking place this this evening but again this governing body deals with issues regarding the welfare of the township of East Brunswick and we do not legislate International Affairs your four minutes is up sir I mean your five minutes is up thank you from the Jewish Community please sir this gentleman yes please my name is Art Kagel I live at 222 Dunhams Corner Road I have been a resident of East Brunswick since January 15th 1990 so a couple of weeks it'll be 34 years um my wife and I raised four children in East Brunswick two of whom have settled here and are res residents and taxpayers in the town as well um my third son recently married and is living in Highland Park also in this this beautiful area um I am very very proud to be part of East Brunswick have been um since very soon after we moved in because this this Council shut down someone who was trying to prevent the uh Young Israel of East Brunswick from building a new building um and came to this Council um with uh spewing hatred and this Council shut him down and I was very proud of that and it made me very proud to live here um I also want to say that I very proud of all of these people who come to express their their love for Humanity and for people um this is all to the good um I think that some of what has been said here um is misguided and misinformed um certainly there are untrue is being spread on on all sides of this issue um but I think it's very important to to note that the organization known as Hamas Right started this entire thing on o October the 7th by crossing the border of a Sovereign Nation from their um Enclave in in Gaza um with thousands of civilians and War Fighters um and slaughtered people killed them murdered um tortured and took hostages that they brought back to Gaza many of whom are still being held um I think it's inappropriate to to to tell the government of a Sovereign Nation what it needs to do to protect its borders and to protect its people and I think that just as um you Mr President have stated that East Brunswick is not in a position and and should not be in a position to dictate to foreign Nations or to our own country for that matter um it's important to note that Sovereign Nations have the right to protect themselves and to protect their borders and to protect their citizens just as East Brunswick has a responsibility to protect its citizens and its borders um and all of the rights of its people um so I would propose um a a resolution for this Council to consider and I understand that it is not may may or may not be appropriate but for your consideration I propose the following be it resolved that the Council of the township of East Brunswick New Jersey abhor and condemns the unprovoked terrorist actions taken by the governing body of the region of the Middle East known as the Gaza Strip also known as Gaza that being the terrorist organization called Hamas on October 7th 2023 wherein numerous Fighters and civilian associate civilians associated with Hamas did cross the national border between Gaza and The Sovereign Nation the state of Israel and subsequently murdered and tortured over 12200 innocent civilians and security forces and kidnapped over 200 civilians as hostages across several towns in the state of Israel including citizens of the United States of America and other non-involved nations be it further resolve that the Council of the township of East Brunswick New Jersey supports the right of the state of Israel compliant with international law to defend itself including the right to enter hostile territory with the intent to Route out and destroy the terrorist organization known as Hamas and to repatriate those taken hostage I have a copy for the council and uh thank you for your time from the Muslim Community I see a hand deep in the back come to you next I'll come to you next please gentlemen with the mask on give us your name spell it and your address sure my name is Anton kabaz I live in um Kingston New Jersey uh close by spell your last name please kabaz K ha BB a z add is uh 10007 lowest court Princeton New Jersey thank you I just would like to say that um uh my family is uh Palestinian I was born here I went to uh many universities including uh I worked at Princeton University as a uh a neuroscience researcher and I'm also from a Palestinian family my my family is from the West Bank which is occupied by Israel since 1967 and they are um uh in the midst of uh they're closed right next to Bethlehem Bethlehem closed all the um all the uh the ceremony canceled Christmas because uh in solidarity with the people of Gaza and uh right now in uh the occupied West Bank um settlers act with impunity impunity means that they can take guns and shoot people and kill them including including um children children women pregnant women and uh the uh the powers that be there which is the Israeli uh IDF um Israeli Defense Forces support them and protect them and they they they they um act with impunity um hundreds have been killed since October 7th um the situation in the West Bank is um mild compared to what we know is happening Gaza and we heard about that especially from our first speaker um but um uh it's uh no exaggeration to say that millions of people are starving and starving now why would we be involved in a such a remote place as palestin or Israel why well Israel is acting with impunity disregarding every human law that has been here for thousands of years not just our laws but the sanctity of life I mean our we just read the uh Pledge of Allegiance liberty and justice for all we espouse Justice and Liberty well I mean Israel is giving no justice there's no justice Palestinians are second class citizens in Israel they have no laws in Gaza they're they're they they don't even have food uh water they have no life I mean um parents are uh have to deal with um facing their children asking for food and those are the lucky ones a lot of them are being killed and we know it I mean every one of those 2,000 20,000 people killed have a story they have a name they have children they have aspirations some of them like the same singers we do like Billy ish they like to rap they're just human beings like the rest of us if we can't Embrace Humanity then where are we where are we we have to it's our right it's our duty as people as civilized people now honestly Israel could not do e drop even one bomb without our support As Americans our support gives them $3.8 billion a year unlimited military and diplomatic pressure the US has vetoed hundreds of resolutions asking for justice for Palestinians we veto them for no good reason now this has got to stop we the people do not want that 66% of We the People the Americans want to cease fire that's at least that's over almost 2/3 it's 2/3 it probably is more and um you our elected officials are requested to uphold democracy which means uphold our views so maybe it's true you are not entitled to vote on International or to represent international issues but it is also true that you're Americans and you are elected officials time has expired sir okay thank you you're welcome someone from the Jewish Community please my name is Joanne leond I live in 307 R Lane East Brunswick Joanne could you spell your last name please um l a f o n d okay uh my parents are Holocaust survivors and what happened on October 7th is they uh beheaded babies they uh raped women they took hostages they killed 33 Americans uh and they're still holding hostages and uh it wasn't just Hamas that participated it was the civilians in Gaza as well and yesterday I got to watch uh that on October 8th they showed the Hamas videoed uh what they did and all these people it was like uh all you could see was lights on and people there taking uh cheering and uh taking videos of what happened I got a call at 3:00 in the morning in the middle of a Jewish holiday here from a friend that uh moved to Israel and uh she said that there were uh Hamas Fighters uh shooting and killing people she said there were bodies all over the street in Jerusalem where they were living and she didn't know what she was going to do with her husband and her baby and as far as uh they're saying Gaza is besieged while Egypt also shut their doors because they took uh uh they took uh sides on and supported the Muslim uh Brotherhood they could go to Egypt anytime but Egypt shut their door and as far as atrocities uh Jordan killed 25,000 of them when uh they caused problems in Jordan so Saud Arabia and Kuwait during the Gulf War expelled 42,000 of them into the desert Israel took some of them Jordan took some of them because uh they also took sides on Saddam Hussein uh Syria and Iran starved something like uh 12 to 15,000 in the Lebanese refugee camps uh because they also took sides no Arab country wants to uh take them and because uh they're causing problems there uh Israel's provided um Hospital even to the terrorists while they're shooting Rockets to Israel uh and they pay their salaries of the officials those people that raided those decimated the kibuts in the netive those a lot of those people were employed as uh employees Builders Pickers or whatever worked in the green houses and whatever in Israel and a lot and they I mean they bombed uh um they uh safe houses they shot women and children was one where they cut off this girl's arms they put babies in ovens that's what happened in World were two my relatives I lost 8 my family lost 87 relatives and out of 10 and something only seven survived thank you can I yeah just couple more okay I think at this point in time it it's very clear where the two camps stand and just for time going to bring on uh two more Muslims and two more Jewish from from our community and then uh call it a knight with regard to the to the uh the public portion so this gentleman in blue who I did recognize earlier hello uh name spelling address uh Muhammad sakib uh s AQ e EB um live on 46 rers Lane I live here in East buwick what what street do you live on Forest rers Lane rers Lane and I just like to say uh this is not the Muslim Community and the Jewish Community this is a pro Palestinian Community standing here for children and this is an Israeli Community sa for Israelis now and I will oblige the pro Palestinian Community thank you and with regard to the Jewish Community whatever they say it's going to remain the Jewish Community whatever they like well also there are Jewish communities that here are pro Palestinian so there is a discussion about that too and and not just Jewish not just Palestinians pakistanis Indians Hispanics white people this is not about religion here we're talking about people standing up for people and one of the issues that we you know been hearing throughout the whole entire time was what people have have been doing and shooting and biting and biting one side is just talking about stopping genocide topping people dying in the streets the other side is talking about justifying why people should die in the streets there is no competition or com controversy about who wants lives here and who wants lives over nowhere we don't want them be here and I don't know why like the entire set is based on one side goes in one way and the other side goes the other way and to the point about welfare about the community how come you don't have like a public assembly just to talk about what's going on in Palestine how can we don't do like a simil similar thing that we talked about when the hijab was taken off in 2017 right we had like a little Community Fest where we brought people in in the community to talk about their consideration or issues that I believe helps with the welfare of of our County the Muslim Community don't feel safe um I don't know I'm pretty sure the Jewish Community has brought up that there's anti-Semitism and yet we don't have this discussion in the school Community we don't have an assembly we don't have some uh PSA about hey you know a moment of silence for the people who have been dying constantly every day in Gaza that every single person here sees in this media whether you're American citizen or Canadian whatever you live in the world you see kids dying in the streets you don't want to have a moment of silence to keep people safe like that's that's what I rais to most of you guys like if you want to talk about the welfare of our County how what's the best welfare but making sure that people don't feel silenced that's it thank [Applause] you with hi my name is Gail honig I live in East Brunswick I live at 91 Stratford Road I wasn't going to say anything um but I think it's really important to focus on the fact that Hamas is doing these things to the Palestinian people not Israel Hamas had money that that was given to them and all they did was build um tunnels they didn't take care of the people they're not taking care of the people the things that the Palestinians have was given to them by Israel and Israel is being blamed but it's Hamas that went after Israel it's Hamas that took things away from the Palestinian people it's Hamas that is responsible for the deaths not Israel they didn't give anything to their people their people have nothing they built tunnels and whatever Underground not Israel and I resent that Israel is being blamed for it it's Hamas thank [Applause] you and our final speaker this gentlemen our final speaker not not you sir was okay now your final speaker ladies and gentlemen thank you for hearing us tonight my name is Rebecca Lev l v i n I do not live in East Brunswick I live in North Brunswick but I do work in the township and I feel very proud and very strongly about this community that has welcomed me into your arms everyone here is connected to everything that is happening anywhere else in the world but in order to make change we have to start small we cannot make a change on the other side of the world if we do not have our small individual communities our neighbors reaching out and helping us to make a bigger impact and that is why this is an issue that affects this Township and not just the country or the planet or the other side of the world from us my great-grandfather Joseph J Jacobson may his memory be for blessing fought in World War II and was a prisoner of war and when he was captured by the Germans they looked at his dog tags and they said ah you are a Jew and he stood up to them and he said no I am an American and that saved his life because his status as an American citizen protected him from the atrocities that they committed as Americans we have to stand up for for the freedom of everyone and on this planet whether or not we speak will be felt will be noticed will be heard this is not just a worldwide issue a country issue it is up to us the individuals to stand together to raise our hands together and to make a voice that can be heard around the world please don't consider this as something that does not impact your community your Township because you have people here who have family on both sides of this conflict you have people here who have lost loved ones on both sides of this conflict if we do not have peace complete peace between both sides there is only going to be further loss of life please do not reduce this to the Muslim side and the Jewish side because as a Jew I speak for the people of Palestine they deserve Freedom they deserve peace they are our community thank you you're welcome our final speaker is from the Jewish Community good evening I'm a Jewish American and resident of East Brunswick my name is Judy goldridge I live at 15 new do Road um I think that the task before uh the council tonight is fairly clear um but I think that just in terms of some of the points that have been made by various members of the audience during the evening it would be remiss on the part of uh most people who know the facts to uh not try to rebut these facts uh or the the expression of of what was said um some of the speakers talked about their love of people we all love people and I don't think anybody should be reduced to um being told that they don't love people if they support Israel um the people who talked about their love of people and their concern for people's welfare uh I I would question why none of those folks have expressed any concern worry uh or fear for the fate of the 120 plus hostages that are still remaining under the control of Hamas in Gaza when they were kid kidnapped from their beds their kitchens their bedrooms in Israel um if people really do care about other people that should be uh the first expression uh of concern that we hear here tonight people being raped and beheaded and killed by Hamas and tortured that is the type of uh activity that should be condemned here tonight and should form the basis of any type of resolution that is considered by this Council the people of Gaza uh no one would no one would deny that they are uh certainly suffering at this point uh along with the people of Israel and the people of Gaza it should be noted have had their lives destroyed for one simple reason they have had their lives destroyed because the people purporting to act on their behalf and who have ruled them uh since 2006 when Hamas took over from the Palestinian Authority in a bloody coup uh are the ones who make their lives miserable and they have not served their people well at all in terms of occupation the Gaza Strip has not been occupied uh by Israel Israel pulled its complete uh troops out of the Gaza Strip in 05 there was an election the results of that election were overturned as I said in this bloody coup that Hamas proped and uh from that time on uh Hamas has ruled the Gaza Strip it has not been Israel and there has not been a single Israeli soldier controlling Gaza so as far as occupation that is a misnomer and it is not accurate uh in terms of genocide that as as several people have mentioned here here tonight genocide is a very very serious term with a very serious definition Israel has not by any standard um perpetuated a genocide Israel in fact has been the one to uh assist Palestinians who come across its international border seeking Medical Care and other kinds of care uh in fact the people who are perpetuating a gen idal intent are Hamas who in their own Charter state that they have a goal of eliminating every Israeli and every Jew okay and that's not something that um you know is um is noted here when the term genocide is used that is where we are hearing genocide when we look at the Hamas Charter not on the part of Israel um and and in terms of uh the statistics that were band-aided about I think it's also worthwhile to note that in November of this year uh several weeks after the Hamas attack there were uh polls that were taken and uh Palestinians both in Gaza as well as in Judea and Samaria were pulled and they were uh asked questions along the lines of was Hamas correct to do what they did on October 7th to the Israelis more than 50% of Palestinians pulled from those areas stated Hamas was correct to do what they did that means that that is something that they are supportive of so when we talk about who is supporting genocide and your time is expired we need to be careful thank you I want I want to thank everyone want to thank everyone who came out this evening and we could uh continue but there's governance that needs to be done by this particular body I think uh at 8:20 we get a clear idea as to what the sides are thinking and appreciate everyone coming out we'll take a recess for a moment to let the let the uh let everyone leave unless you want to stay around and watch governance anybody behind the the uh the curtain Rec there wants to know okay let's see where I want to be I have a motion for resolution 23 uh- 351 we good I'm sorry report no no no we didn't do this adopting the minutes from December 11 2023 second any points of clarification or discussion roll call please yesst yes yes I'll open the public we did that we did that we did how quickly we did did you want to do a reports of members hang on hang yeah we we have a public hearing regarding um pre-qualifications for prospective biders for the construction of the ice rink related work uh the work for a new uh Municipal ice skating rink does anyone wish to address the council with regard to this matter council president if I can uh describe why we're doing this and the purpose of it uh the uh uh state of New Jersey has very strict rules on uh public bidding uh in in order to keep the process uh clean and transparent um usually you just have to accept the lowest bidder on a project and that doesn't mean the lowest bidder is a good contractor it just means that they happen to be the lowest bidder however the Department of Community Affairs in New Jersey has a process for providing additional qualifications for bidders in specialty type work that would require the bidder not only to be the lowest bidder but also meet certain qualifications to know that they have to do that they're they're experienced and qualified uh with the type of work uh that's required in this case um it's the ice related work in the proposed new uh Arena Ice Skating Rink uh by Ice related work we mean the the uh Plumbing that goes into the slab the refrigeration the cooling tower the installation of the equipment that keeps the Ice uh in in good condition and in the uh uh rink area that keeps the humidity and the temperatures at appropriate um uh levels so in order to be sure that we get the best contractor for that type of specialty work because it is not work that a general contractor who builds buildings normally undertakes uh we've put together with the assistance of our architect as well as our uh Township uh engineering staff some pre-qualifications those qualifications are that the bidder before they're permitted to bid has to be able to prove that they've done at least three indoor ice rink projects with this type of specialty work on average for the last three years that would be a total of nine for the last three years they have to establish that their project manager has done three similar projects with this specialty work in the last three years they have to have not uh wrongfully defaulted on a contract or had work terminated for non-performance within the last 5 years uh they have been to be able to show that they haven't denied performance bond in the last 12 months and they have to provide the name and information of all the principles that are involved in their uh organization by doing this we hope to only get qualified biders for this type of specialty work being able to bid on the ice rink work that specialized work in the uh new ice rink uh uh Arena uh process-wise the council would have to adopt a resolution after the public hearing in it's on your agenda I believe it is the second or third item under the uh on the agenda it is resolution 353 353 thank you Council uh president this then gets submitted to the Department of Community Affairs they will review and let us know if they approve of uh our pre-qualifications and if they do we then can go put those bids out uh on the street with those pre-qualifications and again only those contractors who meet these requirements would be permitted to uh bid on that portion uh of the project and with that council president if there's anyone in the audience who would like to comment but I think I did um um went out of order a little bit I me did you you can reop can we go back to the mayor's report or do you want to finish this yeah yeah open up the public for the hear okay public portion with regard to justce resolution 23 hyen 353 anyone from the public wishing to speak on this issue in this issue alone seeing none roll call it no close public portion and we'll move to do should I do 23 354 or no you can do them later when you get back to them now reports mayor's report mayor con thank you council president just a couple of small things one I just wanted to make mention that uh a colleague of ours on the board of education uh recently passed away Holly Howard served this town uh for almost 20 years on that board and I think that it uh it deserves a recognition because it's clearly a a board that is important to this Township as its schools are are our number one priority here and Still Remains the number one reason that people move here it is a job that people do not get paid for uh it's incredible amount of work that goes into uh being on a board of education sometimes I think people don't understand exactly how much that's involved and then to have done that for 20 years speaks volumes about that person so I just wanted to make sure that it was in the record that we paid tribute to somebody who had committed that much time and effort on be on behalf of the students of this Township also wanted to make a mention that this is the last meeting me for our Township attorney official meeting for our Township attorney uh Michael Baker and uh again uh kudos to somebody who has contributed decades uh of service in many different aspects not just as the township attorney but in in in many different ways giving back to this community and that does not go unnoticed um but we will miss you and uh and uh I think that the town has um um uh owes you a debt of gratitude and is infinitely better than it was uh from the day that you started and so on behalf of the entire Township I want to thank you for all your years of service to the township of East Brunswick thank you very much mayor appreciate it and finally Happy New Year to everybody uh happy and healthy 20124 our business administrator Mr Cula Happ New Year to everybody uh also um congratulations to Mike on his retirement had the luxury of working with him in many different uh towns learned uh an awful lot from him and uh an old mayor of mine used to say learn something new every day and if you talk to Mike on any given day you learn something so thank you very much for your stewardship and your patience with me at times um you will be missed but I'm not going to say goodbye I'm going to say see you around thank thank you Joe final comments Mr Baker um Joe I have almost infinite patience um I started up here over 40 years ago in January of 1983 uh it's been a great run both as an elected official uh as a political leader and as your town ship attorney I did enjoy those breaks that I took in between some things like when Jim and the Republicans took over um in the uh late 90s and U mid 2000s uh but east Bruns is a great town uh I'm happy to have uh been born here 60 six and 10 months ago uh and have raised my my family here my daughter is a proud graduate of East Brunswick High School my wife's a graduate I'm a graduate my brother sisters everyone uh love East Brunswick and um I continue to uh uh be involved in town you're not done with me yet thank you council members Mr Wendell nothing from me just happy New Year and congrats to Mike thank you so I can move to consent good the res the three resolu motions 352 no 353 we can we can roll call that we're ready for that motion to uh adopt resolution 23353 second okay roll call councilman Wendell yes councilwoman Winston yes and council president McAvoy yes resolution 23354 move to adopt motion second second not even not even reading it right through there that's nice I like that style especially on December 26 that's right uh roll call please councilman Wendell yes councilwoman Winston yes and council president maoy yes thank you uh before I ask for anything to be uh separated from consent um just get a couple of clarifications one from Mr Chris gulo one from the mayor Mr Chris gulo can you Enlighten us on uh 23 hyen 357 um Cricket field yes right if you recall last year about this time we passed a bond ordinance uh which included uh building uh the Township's first official Cricket field as you know we have a smaller one at B Centennial Park um Mr Kip and our engineering staff uh de the specs uh over time and uh we're happy to announce that we're going to be awarding this bid uh to the contractor to begin uh building the Cricut pitch over at Heavenly Farms that's great news great news and everything but lighting I guess the lighting made it just too too expensive so just for the for the community that's watching the uh Town council meeting the lighting the lighting is coming next year yeah that this is for naturally the turf uh the irrigation system which is definitely necessary and uh the build the pitch itself um as you can see it's 782,000 so uh that's within our coffers to do great and mayor con can you comment on the uh resolution 23 360 the uh um recy solid waste containers just to finish up on the last comment regarding the um Cricket field the the plan had always been in still as as you mentioned council president to do this as a blit field um and uh we will uh seek to go out next year and and finish that so we didn't want the public to think that that wasn't part of our ultimate plan for the cricket field um but uh right now it was the bid was a little too high to expect that it would cover all of those things things and in the million dollars that we were setting aside for that project right and we all respect that financial planning of yours so as a community thank you uh regarding the solid waste and recycling mic's off I'm so sorry regarding the uh resolution 360 which is for the solid waste and recycling waste containers uh we did mention earlier when we um agreed to the uh new contract that was being provided to us that they would all be uh automated service and so it requires that we have to change to a a septical that can be picked up by uh those automated trucks uh in order to do that we need to go out to bid to try to get those containers that's what this bid is here in in front of you uh each resident will get one Recycling and one uh Solid Waste uh receptacle uh they will have the East brunic Insignia on it we'll have instructions regarding solid waste and uh recycling inst structures embedded into the covers they're all covered uh in addition there will be the number that people can call for bulk pickups so that we realize that going into the contract into uh the beginning of the new year bulk pickup will still be done but you will have to schedule that it will automatically be picked up from your home and the main reason for that is because it is unpredictable at any one time how much bulk is left out um by by residents and often trucks get filled up faster than we thought and uh means that it's difficult for the huler to get back to the community and finish the promised area so if we schedule it we have far more control over making sure that they're picked up on time and that nobody gets with uh has um empty bulk pickups that aren't picked up so that uh is what the $1.7 million is uh that is is also uh rep represents the fact that they will be mostly 95 gallon bins but we will have 35 gallon bins we originally talked about 65 gallon bins for people that really don't put out that much garbage or elderly or disabled that feel they can't um move the 95 gallon bin we'll have uh the option for them to pick 35 gallon uh bins instead uh that is payable over a 5-year period of time and that's uh to be bonded but um we wanted to get that bid out and um and put the order in so that our expectation is that they would be delivered sometime in um probably more likely the end of March uh and and and they will be delivered directly to each resident you will not have to pick it up they'll be brought to your home and um but we want to get that order out as soon as possible thank you mayor do we need anything separated no got a motion for uh for 23 hyphen 3 55 through 23 hyen 368 motion second second roll call please councilman Wendell yes councilwoman Winston yes council president McAvoy yes we do not have any ordinances for introduction therefore good of the cause just like to wish everybody a Happy New Year stay safe enjoy it it's amateur night but the new Garbage Contract does start uh January 1st um or second actually um so then we'll go to the twice a week pickup so you put it out as you do now um there's a letter going out to every resident uh should be hitting the streets about now it's going to be north of Cranberry Road South of Cranberry Road that's the dividing line uh Mondays and Thursdays Tuesdays and Fridays and recycling is going to be on Wednesdays uh every other week same scenario try to make it as easy as possible uh but that will start so naturally people at um when there's a holiday on a given week you skip that service there's no makeup on the Saturday so the people that have Monday pickup well they won't get Monday pickup they'll get Wednesday pickup so uh if I'm sorry on Thursday if Fourth of July is on a Thursday well then you don't get picked up on that Thursday it goes to the following week so like that so okay just want to make sure everybody understood we'll be putting more information out on social media and everything to remind people of of the state we have a motion to adjourn so move second second all those in favor say I I the eyes have it good night