yes good evening everyone and Welcome to our East Brunswick council meeting for June 10th 2024 everyone please rise if you can and join with me as we pledge allegiance to our flag and remain standing we remember the passing of Rick ogrodnik from our public works department who worked with the township since 1988 pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America the repblic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you C CL please call roll and read our statement of adequate notice Council mble Hall absent councilman Wendell here councilwoman Winston here councilwoman zimi here council president McAvoy here also present mayor Brad Cohen here administrator Joseph kulo here and Township attorney Anthony ayoka 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 location ated in the main lobby of the East Brunswick Municipal Building providing a copy to the home News Tribune and the Asbury 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 Council you have before you resolution 24 hyphen 182 adopting our meeting minutes from 5:30 2024 may I have a motion motion approved second second is there any need for correction and our clarification at this time seeing none roll call please councilman wendal yes councilwoman Winston yes councilwoman ziki yes and council president McAvoy yes we have two proclamations to be entered into the record the first is recognizing VFW Post 133 for the traveling Vietnam memorial wall and the second is recognizing June 2024 AS lgbtq Plus pride month mayor con you handle the Traveling Wall please certainly safe t i do certainly hope that a lot of people here had the opportunity to see the Vietnam Wall that was up or during Memorial Day it was quite a sight and a lot of work that it took to get that here and uh a tremendous amount of cooperation from all the Departments but not the least of which was the BFW itself and so this Proclamation tonight is on behalf of the township and in recognition all the work that it took to get that here and the proclamation reads as follows whereas the dedicated members of the veterans of foreign war memorial post 133 applied to the Vietnam veterans memorial fund to host the traveling Vietnam memorial wall VFW Post 133 held numerous fundraisers and received donations from other organizations businesses and individual donors to help fund the Endeavor whereas built in 1998 the traveling Vietnam memorial wall is 3 fifths the scale of the Vietnam Memorial in Washington DC it stands 6 feet tall at the center and covers almost 300 ft from end to end this wall contains the names of US military personnel who lost lost their lives in the Vietnam War it was made for the purpose of helping heal and rekindle friendships and to allow people the opportunity to visit loved ones in their Hometown who otherwise may not be able to make the trip to Washington DC and whereas the traveling Vietnam memorial wall was escorted to the East Brunswick community art center by Rolling Thunder active and Veteran members of the Armed Forces ebpd and surrounding police Poli departments the East Brunswick fire department local servicemen and women and Township and County officials this is the display was free and open to the public 24 hours a day from Thursday May 23rd to Monday May 27th 2024 VFW Post 133 in coordination with the township of East Brunswick organized numerous Memorial Day observance ceremonies now therefore be it proclaimed that I Brad Co and mayor of the township of East Brunswick along with our Township Council extend our sincere gratitude to VFW Post 133 for making it possible for many individuals to visit the traveling Vietnam memorial wall given under my hand and the Great Seal of the township of East Brunswick this 10th day of June in the year 2024 thank you [Applause] I'm going to leave this with you Tommy and hopefully a few words from anyone that would like to Yes uh uh mayor K thank you Town Council thank you as couple of people some people in here I'd I'd like to thank tonight Uh Kevin MAA for been on our one our board with us and Rob zukerman who worked this tail off for us the whole time I thank you Rob and Dana Bazi for the Educational Foundation Association thank you and and I want to thank all the people in the township that helped us out along the way our our our Police Department parks and recreational was there for us throughout this whole time and everything also John costic that uh I don't know what his title is but he was he was with us all all along too and he did an amazing amazing job so I I I want to thank the community for coming out and supporting us throughout the time they did a great great job and we appreciate that and I I I also have to thank our auxiliary this pres Madam president of our auxiliary and and the auxiliary people for all the great work they did they was with us side by side throughout the whole thing so I thank you and I appreciate it God bless you thanks God bless thanks I'll the read the proclamation uh lgbtq pride month if there's any Representatives who would like to join me I like that sharp move thank you for the but before I begin um Mr Zuckerman please couple of words from Trenton thank you let's different address this should be addressing the council but actually um what I wanted to say actually was actually to the the folks in the back of the room from the VFW so we have we have a resolution uh from all the state senators and assembly people that represent all of the districts that are in Middle sex County and it's really um the word similar to I think the resolution that was uh from the Town Council and from the mayor um recognizing you know the the honor it was to host the wall here in East Brunswick um in middlex county in New Jersey and particularly um if personally on Memorial Day itself and um you know that's true but I think also in addition to saying all that which hopefully you did as the mayor said had an opportunity to be there I have multiple copies of this because um I I know Tommy thanked me but you know being there really just showed me what they've all do they all did right and they spent months and months and months tirelessly being able to put that together and have that uh run the way it did and they had people there 247 for that entire length of time so they really are the ones who uh deserve all of the recognition and um you know really it's it's an honor for uh them to be uh housed in East Brunswick and uh you know we always appreciate them so uh these are all for for you guys and if you need more for everybody else that helped you know let me know [Applause] right Proclamation June 2024 lgbtq plus pride month whereas the township of East Brunswick recognizes and proclaims the month of June 2024 as lesbian gay bisexual transgender queer and intersex pride month and whereas East Brunswick cherishes the value and dignity of each person and appreciates the importance of equality and freedom whereas all are welcome in East Brunswick to live work play and every family in any shape deserves a place to call home where they are safe happy supported by friends and neighbors and whereas it is imperative that people in our community regardless of sexual orientation gender identity and expression feel valued safe empowered and supported by their peers and now therefore be it resolved that I Brad J Cohen the mayor of East Brunswick along with the township Council recognized 2024 AS lgbtq Plus pride month and urge residents to recognize the contributions made by members of the lgbtq plus community and to actively promote the principles of equality liberty and justice given under my hand and the Great Seal of the township of East Brunswick on this the 10th day of June in the year 2024 The Honorable mayor Brad JC [Applause] before we move on to our next phase of the Town council meeting if uh anyone has who has been recognized you want we'll take it we'll take a two-minute recet so that we can you guys can scoot I don't know that you want to stay for the the the guts of the meeting but if you do you more you are surely more than welcome Anthony you good we live live we're live okay ordinance 24 hyphen 11 Township Clerk please read an ordinance of the township of East Brunswick County of middlex state of New Jersey amending chapter 209 vehicles and traffic of the township code to include violations for parking obstructions and incumbrances and streets may I have a motion motion second second I'm going to open this up to the public on ordinance 24 hyen 11 on this ordinance only anyone from the public wishing to speak on this ordinance close the public portion roll call please councilman Bal yes councilman wendal yes councilwoman Winston yes councilwoman zimbicki yes and council president McAvoy yes we'll move on to our report section of the meeting mayor con uh thank you council president a couple of things at your and on the agenda this evening for the consent agenda is a uh second uh uh time to consider a shared service agreement with the public schools for their Capital expenses much like we do for our Capital expenses uh the ability for the schools to finance uh is a lot different than it is for the township the township can go out to the public market and because of our good uh Bond rating we we can Finance at significantly lower levels than the school could ever possibly do on its own uh and because of that we for years have had uh an arrangement with the schools that when they need Capital expenses that we will raise the money through the bond market uh to do that um in order for us to do that we need to have a each year a updated shared service agreement that spells out the terms of that agreement we've been doing it by financing or they've been financing their Capital needs with fiveyear bonds and it rotates every single year so that after five years as one pays off they take on a new one and it helps them keep their uh Capital costs and interest payments lower than it would be if they went out on their own so again this year we have in front of you a uh shared service agreement that we have updated uh Chang a couple of things that would benefit the town such as providing uh a mechanism to make sure that bus drivers could be utilized in the summer for our summer camps that some of the buildings would be made available at just cost uh and some other things that were um needed for us to make sure that we had saw some parity in the agreement this is a past practice this isn't anything different than what we've done for years now for the schools uh it saves them significant amount of money as an example I gave each of you a copy of the last eight years worth of bonds and it varies a little bit from year to year but on average it averages to about $5 million per year um if you were looking at what bonds are being paid off and in terms of comparing it to the new one that they're taking on the new one that they're taking on is 5.79 almost $5.8 million if you look at the last year or the that one that's going to be just paid off this year they'll be paying off a $14.6 million loan if you're looking at the one that was paid off the year before that it's 5.8 essentially they are not taking out any more debt this year than what they had in the past if you look at the difference at Best in what we're saving by financing it through our Capital Market versus what they would have to do um it at best would be a 2% difference that 2% on an average payment for last year which was came out to about 9 almost 10 million would be about $200 or essentially a tax point so essentially what we're doing by helping out the schools no matter uh one way or another those that interest would have to be paid and uh and so we're essentially by doing this helping taxpayers save somewhere around $200,000 a year year in finance charges that would ordinarily have to be paid if the schools went out on their own and then the final thing that benefits the township generally when we do these financing deals is that we never fin we finance and try to do that together meaning that if the town has a capital need and the school is a capital need when you combine the two it actually puts us in a higher market for the capital markets and we get even better rates so that if the school is fin financing $5 million and the town's financing $1 million to go out for $6 million gets us all a better rate so the ability for us to do that together actually helps the town as well so I'm uh I just wanted to make sure that we're clear tonight on what's being asked the school board and the township are two totally different governing bodies in the state of New Jersey they are statutorily different we have no influence over the school board the school board has no influence over the township this is not New York City the mayor and the council does not pick the superintendent we don't pick the school board members that's up to the public and and and uh so I want to make it pretty clear that it is not our role here at this end of the highway to dictate school policy or manage their budget that is for them if the public is unhappy in how they're doing that they have a mechan mechanism to correct that and that's at the you know at the time of Elections so uh I just wanted to make it very clear what you're being asked to do this evening uh second thing uh you'll see also in resolutions there's again about $170 to $200,000 in grant money that we are accepting that was on top of what we accepted last week was uh last council meeting upwards of $800,000 in uh uh uh B uh grant money uh it really underscores the fact that as a rule um the township Council and our departments have been really aggressive at trying to go after Road Grants and parks and wreck grants and Public Safety grants all of these things are are used towards items that we would ordinarily have had to pay for anyway all of those roads that you're seeing done many of the big ones that are done through Transportation trust grants like Fern Road and this year is going to be uh New Brunswick Avenue uh Dunham's Corner many of those roads are Township roads those are our responsibility if we were fixing them they would come out of your property tax dollars every time we get a grant that is money that you don't have to pay in property taxes and it's a large part of the reason why we've been able to keep our tax increases on the municipal side to an average in the last last seven years of 0.5% which I know doesn't mean much in the but in in terms of what does that number mean well it means that your average Municipal tax increase is about 12 little under $12 a month a dollar a month uh I don't really know if it's possible uh for us to do better than that uh and we're going to but we will keep trying and then I think finally what I'd like to close with in terms of uh talking about just look at uh this past weekend and the thing that were going on in Township and I know that we can all concentrate on negative things that have been in the news lately but over the weekend we had a uh a Coptic uh Community had their uh uh biannual Festival there was canera which was a celebration of Asian uh uh aapi uh and and the community that we have here there was the uh soccer clubs that were all out this weekend there was Polish Festival that was out at the fairgrounds and on and on and on with with really celebrations of really good things in the township and it highlighted the diversity and and positivity positivity here in the township so I think that while we all may have uh um uh negative things that we can concentrate on I think the good far outweighs the bad and and we should learn from that that and and recognize how wonderful of a town we live in and try to get along with one another and move the ball forward I think that by and large um we have a lot of things that we can really say that we are truly blessed for here in the township I think last weekend was just a prime example of that so um I turn it back to you council president thank you mayor uh Mr Chris G our business administrator sure just a quick announcement uh we're far ahead on our road paving program um as you if you parked in the left hand side parking lot you can see we're working on some drainage out there it will be paved next week so the parking lot will be closed that entire lot will be closed it will be milled it will be paved pitched so it goes into the drainage and striped so that's next week that that lot will be closed naturally the other lots are open and uh during the daytime you can park on Civic Center Drive uh from after that school ends and then we'll be hitting the other roads uh full force uh that's all for this evening thank you Mr chriso our our attorney Mr aoka there's nothing to report at this time thank you Mr aoka our Township Clerk Miss La there's nothing to report thank you thank you Town Council any reports committees councilwoman zamii quick quick uh quick report um Crystal Springs opened uh on Memorial Day Weekend season passes are up if you still haven't purchased one it's still a good value for the summer it's a great safe environment to take the children and even adults um first uh season of our East Brunswick Market was held two weekends ago and it was a great success uh the next one will be July 28th there was lots of vendors um it was a great Community event bringing everybody together um Pride at the poll was this Friday at Crystal Springs Mr Ray returns for all the children on June 24th at 600 p.m. at the community art center um of course our July 4th Festival will take place at the community art center with fireworks and um a bunch of great food and celebration uh let's see acoustic Monday is a favorite of many people right here at the missile Municipal complex Returns on July 8th and July 7th is national hot dog day and Parks and Recreation will be giving out free hot dogs right here at the municipal complex from 11 to2 and uh a little Community piece um the park and Rex is collecting new bathing suits and goggles for children in need if you would like to make a donation you could do so at the park and reck department on Dunham's Corner that's it thank you I will now open the meeting in to the public and so will Township Clerk 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 colen 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 thank you um because of the fact that we have a full house and we have a foyer as well uh full I'm going to start off the public portion with uh the community cat program so that people can voice their concerns with regard to the cats because I think we have a a large contingent of don't I don't think I like this term cat people I don't like I I I don't like that you may use that behind closed doors but but I want to I I think what we can do in with regard to allowing you know First Amendment rights to come up to the podium and and and share your ideas um and and we'll take we'll take let's just say five because there are some other issues that people are going to want to talk about this evening we'll take take about five people who have five five minutes if you break it down to 3 minutes maybe we can squeeze in a sixth and so and so on and so forth so uh uh is there anyone who wishes to address the council president please hi there I'm speaking on behalf of Lindsay margosian and you are I'm Jessica Laurier and what's your address Jessica mine is four Lantern and she's 37 Buckingham council president McAvoy esteemed members of the Town Council and Mayor Cohen I've been a lifelong resident of East Brunswick I grew up here this is my home I had a great childhood here and I always felt proud to say that I was from East Brunswick this town has always treated me wonderfully until now as I am sure you are aware East Brunswick TNR and rescue sent an email to all of you who are before me on May 16th kindly requesting a meeting with at least one of our council members to discuss a pervasive Community cat issue within our town and the need for a TNR ordinance instead of receiving a response to set up such a meeting or even a polite decline I was sent a rude threatening letter by the township attorney filled with inaccuracies Not only was this letter absurd and insulting but a Township who is so concerned with keeping our tax dollars from increasing spent what was it 300 in billable hours to our Township attorney where is the logic in that I founded East Brunswick TNR and rescue in 2022 to to address a problem that you all seem to be ignoring every day I F calls emails Facebook messages from your residents seeking assistance with cats here let me play a message for you in um just a few minutes from us and they have uh four kittens in the garage there um they're about they look like they're about four weeks old and and mama is still kind of comeing to see them but I was wondering if like maybe we can get them over to you guys and get Mom TNR or something um you can give me a call back and give us pointer or something this is just one of many calls that we receive weekly there's nothing special about the message that I just played for you it's actually very typical you wouldn't know because we've insulated you all from the problem to date we have 100 plus cats and found rescue placement for upwards of 30 kittens that's just in less than two years and with a very small team I'm not here looking for recognition I'm here today because you decided it would be better to dismiss a resident's request for a meeting versus entertaining discussions with us as our elected officials it's your responsibility and duty to listen to your constituents and take their concerns into consideration many residents who have assisted gladly replied all to our request to meet with you stating their support for a trr ordinance for you to dismiss us all is extremely shameful and embarrassing all I'm asking is for the town to get out of our way if they aren't going to assist in doing anything proactive the way you can do this is by passing an ordinance that updates the codes so residents are not living in fear and th will work with us in finding a solution doing nothing is not an option your residents are pleading with you to be that Progressive East bronswick that you claim to be and they have been pleading for years it is high time that you make the right choice to bring East Brunswick out of 1984 and into 2024 and pass a TNR ordinance now until we receive what we are asking for we will continue to attend attend your Town Council meetings on a regular basis as this is obviously the only Forum where we have a voice where you are forced to listen to us we've been asking for the last four years after Mr Hackett and I met with Mayor Cohen back in 2021 to discuss the issue I along with representatives from People for Animals then met with the mayor the business admin as well as ebpd lieutenant and Sergeant Who oversee animal control in East Brunswick meeting after meeting discussion after discussion all to no avail when is enough enough [Applause] I'll just have a quick statement so excuse me you're not recognized you're not recognized just waiting for Lindsay to make her way okay sir yes you I don't know names and I'm and pointing but I have good evening I'm Alan margosian 37 Buckingham Drive East bronw thank you Mayor Cohen and members of the Town Council for the opportunity to speak to you in the residence of East Brunswick we've lived pric since 1986 and became aware of our Town's cat problem about 20 years ago when we would see Cats hang out and cross our property on a regular basis we believe in TNR we've seen how it reduces the feral cap population especially around our home we started using outside groups to TNR the cats in our neighborhood and we haven't seen a litter of kittens in several years the point here is that we haven't seen a litter of kittens in several years that's because the cats we have seen have all been spayed or neutered our daughter Lindsay recognized early on that East Brunswick had no resources to help these cats we didn't even own a cat until 5 years ago the closest resource for TNR was karmic cat Zen do in miltown and she joined their nonprofit and served as their TNR coordinator for approximately two years onethird approximately onethird of karmic cat's TNR requests were coming from East Brunswick Ki serves most of middlex county yet they were getting about a third of their requests from us Lindsay saw that East brunic like every other Town needed more to help and she formed East brunic TNR and rescue a 501c3 nonprofit East brunic TNR has been a conduit for helping lost sick and injured cats and regularly refers residents to animal control which was outsourced to New Brunswick in 2023 we're an affluent Community but East Brunswick is no longer in control over their own Animal Control Officers over the last 5 years we've met with mayor the mayor attended Town Council meetings in an effort to get East Bron to look at its Antiquated and contradictory ordinances Our Town needs ordinances and regulations that recognize and support TNR as trap neuter vaccinate and return as a part of the solution to reduce the feral cat population early on Lindsay was told keep doing what you're doing we don't want to change the ordinances because it takes away our leverage in dealing with problem cat people keep doing what you're doing no one wants to see a resident especially us or a colony caregiver get get in over their head and evolve into a public nuisance or a health problem instead of our town embracing TNR and involving East brunic TNR and rescue when they see a problem Brewing they continue to keep them in the dark and fail to recognize what they do for our residents on a daily basis East brunic TNR and rescue and their volunteers are a valuable resource to our residents seven days a week East brunk's Town website ordinances and codes regarding our community cat population contain Antiquated and unenforceable policies misinformation and contradictions our mayor and the current Administration refused to consider updates and changes to our ordinances and as was previously stated their request for a meeting was met from um was met uh by the town attorney Anthony aokoka he States no changes are warranted and the town will not entertain further discussion that's what we're doing right now we're discussing it Mayor Cohen members of the council Mayor Cohen members of the council you failed to realize how uninformed your thinking is when it comes to TNR ordinances current modern modern TNR ordinances and the community and the feral cats East brunwick TNR and the residents that support them have the resolve to continue pushing for this Administration to act they can't simply be told keep on doing what you're doing I want to leave you with this an unspa K kitten can get pregnant as early as four months old and can have three litters of four to six kittens per year the math can get very scary very fast I'd like to thank all the people who came out tonight to support us and East runs of TNR and rescue and the work that they do every day [Applause] would anyone else like to address the council president regarding the cat situation gentlemen this gentlemen it's cats we're only doing cats yese goe no you've exhausted your time I'm sorry thank you oh but I read on behalf of Lindsay is okay so your name and address please my name is Janine denito I'm a resident of South Brunswick at 7103 Laurel Court I grew up in East Brunswick though where my family lived in the township for 30 years um and I went to middle school and high school here um I live in South brunic I have been a practitioner of TNR for at least 10 years in that Township um my I'm we're more fortunate than it seems from what I'm hearing in East than in East brunic because our our Township has not they have not tried to limit the work that people doing there's they they don't have a TNR ordance but their their animal control works with the community and they kind of like I said they take a hand like a hands-off approach but they will not remove for example uh cats that are living in the wild that are not help that are healthy and that are uh ear tipped which shows that they've been spayed and neutered and vaccinated um I I urge the township to work with the groups that are here um I I work with Lindsay she sometimes sends me requests that people contact her about that live in South Brunswick so it's it's um it would be beneficial and and make the township really look good to work with the residents on this issue because we're going to be here still doing it and it's not going to go away without help um and like um I'm hearing that we I know e spric has a lot of resources because like I said I grew up here and it and it would like I said it would make the township look look compassionate and Humane by by working with us and and trying to solve this problem because I will be the first one to tell you that it's a problem um there's you know I go into different places and there's cats and everywhere the only thing that stops that process from continuing is is TNR and getting them fixed it's just simple biology if they if they don't if they can't reproduce they're not going to the population is going to decrease over time so thank you for allowing me to [Applause] speak just want to clarify that before your address again yes Lantern yes the previous statement was from Lindsay and that's going to say my statement now I am the vice president of EB TNR and rescue we are a 501c3 here in town we've been doing trap neuter vaccinate release for several years providing a free service to Residents who reach out for help um I've personally gone to many sites to assist residents by the time the calls come to us they're quite desperate um you know there's there's kittens there's hoarding we all know about that um the thing that's that's gotten really out of control now as a result of really not having uh the ordinance passed is that people are now moving underground with their feeding and their hoarding so now things are getting more secretive because residents are fear fearful of you know prosecution and um there's fear now so what happens as a result is that people now bring these trays inside the house and what happens there is that you know you've got a a bevy of disease we've got kittens that are going blind dying in the house um this problem's not going to go away it's it's actually hitting a fever pitch now I just want to let you guys know that and we would really like you guys to consider and to work with us we're already doing the work um we're not asking for any money in fact if you pass this ordinance it really would open you up to grant money so we're leaving money on the table we want East Brunswick to be moving into the next century want us to evolve we want to partner with you and I really hope that you'll consider that thank you I see a hand you can't you're gonna have to raise your hand young lady this this gentleman and then I'll come back to you okay and then we'll uh good evening mayor Council uh my name is Brian Hackett I'm the director of government and community relations at Associated Humane Societies 124 Evergreen a in Newark uh that's our business address I'm a resident in North Hanover New Jersey in burlton County uh I appreciate the opportunity to speak tonight um it's unfortunate it had to come to filling a room with 50 or 60 people to try to prove the need for this I've worked with hundreds of local and state officials around this whole state on this very issue and uh fortunately has not been as difficult in those places as it has been here to get a progressive policy regarding Community cats passed I really venture to try to discern why it's been so difficult years in the making certainly if we believe that your local ordinances and codes are in no need of Chang es or updates and that certainly is the source of the problem that flawed and mistaken belief um this policy is not asking for any money from the town it would actually afford you tens of thousands of dollars potentially in grant funding I can tell you working with national animal protection groups that throw around hundreds of thousands of dollars in grant money they would look at a town like East Brunswick and think it's in on this issue a total joke and they would never even look at granting at this town to address these public health concerns in East Brunswick they would not Grant to any town with the types of codes and lack of formative ordinances on the books that this town has I mean we don't have to venture to guess very far Edison Oldbridge seille numerous towns just within the vicinity here are dealing with Community cats in a 20 24 way in terms of best practices would you want your physician or your surgeon uh operating on you utilizing medical knowledge and practices from the 1970s no would you want your airline pilots fing a plane under thinking and pre-regulation before all the plane crashes that happened that have perfected air travel no then why are we allowing your residents to operate and live under animal care and control Animal Services policies that are from the 80s you know the national animal care and control Association which is this the standard Bearer they talk about best practices I'm going to leave a copy of this respectfully with the council and the mayor asking exactly for what we're asking for this is the national animal care and control Association the National Best Practices on this um your ordinances don't allow for a nuisance of treat M process which doesn't only affect the cats but it affects the residents who have complaints regarding cats um you don't have any feeding guidelines that are specific that outline uh practices in for feeding and then give opportunities to correct that if people aren't feeding properly and you don't have anything encouraging these policies so you have a group like Lindsay that are spending time and money of Their Own valtion and the town has a boot on their neck just simply trying to help the town do great work so we're not asking for any money we're just simply asking that East Brunswick upgrade your policies to reflect 21st century best practices and what many other towns in both middle sex County have done and throughout the state Kate May County does this on a county level middlex County Commissioners endorsed this policy several years ago I mean it's I mean we could go on and on on I hope we don't have to keep filling Council chamber rooms to Pro prove the facts and prove the E efficacy of this you were provided a template ordinance which encompasses all these best practices that would appropriately update your your codes and we really respectfully urge you to pass that um I'm having conversations as we speak with the city of Newark and other municipalities there's a State Legislative initiative to address this I mean everyone's kind of getting on board and you know e sprunck is one of the few that's not in in our work on this and it's just really unfortunate and I really respectfully urge everyone to change the policy the hoarding cases you have in town are being made worse by your existing policies if you had this things would improve over time there's many people here who could speak to that tonight from examples all over um the state but uh I'll conclude now so thank you very very [Applause] much hello my name is Michelle campon thank you for making time for all of us yes microphone right and a little bit louder and your address Michelle the founder and president of starfish kittens rescue and your address 270 Union venue ruford 07070 that's correct I'm present tonight to offer continued support to our fellow rescue East Brunswick TNR whose name states its reason for existence and thankfully so because they are doing life-saving work their organization as well as mine and the others who have emailed all of your Council including your attorney are aiming to assist your jurisdiction in coming up to code we are hoping that you're going to adopt a more Humane approach to managing the cats in your community I have witnessed personally on multiple occasions disastrous outcomes for cats that are the result of outdated practices in your Township specifically the lack of a successful TNR ordinance I am the person who responds 247 with due respect the current code is outdated the organizations including the rescue that I operate are and have been for years stepping up to assume the burden of public need directly from your jurisdiction we are volunteers who are willing to share the burden for the sake of the animals but is time to update your practices to satisfy the Humane standard that is in line with the current practices of your fellow municipalities it is all of our hope that you will please consider the TNR ordinance that was proposed on May 16th to all of you which was followed up by statements from all of us it represents a Humane and necessary update to your operations in service to your constituents and to your community cats thank [Applause] you sir with the hand up and we're going to go one more after this gentleman thank you for my name is Alan Brasso I live at 1246 Liberty Bell Drive Cherry Hill New Jersey Cherry Hill yep uh I wanted to thank you for allowing me a few minutes of your time I drove up in Cherry Hill because of the importance of this matter uh as a Camden County Democratic Committee Member and as an animal advocate for over 30 years with experience in the county animal response team as well as other volunteer organizations where we get involved with the results of what bad ordinances do I kind of felt obligated to end to support your local citizens who are enduring a TNR program rather than do nothing approach and hope the problem goes away I've seen the results of what happens with that and had to deal with it even if you don't care about animals supporting this request for a Humane cat ordinance is not just good policy it's smart politics thousands of communities across the US and around the world have embraced TNR at the Grassroots level or as official government policy in rural and urban settings cold and warm clients everywhere in between TNR works for cats and communities I know that I'm from Camden County which is one of the many New Jersey counties whose County Commissioners have recognized that this approach is successful and viable public policy I understand and Brian said it middle sex County Commissioners have also endorsed it so I wonder why East Brunswick is not catching up and passing this simple ordinance I grew up in North Jersey and I always looked at nor East Brunswick as one of the leaders this ordinance is great it'll allow you to actually regulate the people who feed the cats provide the cats are sterilized and properly vaccinated prevents more animals from being born and protects Public Health uh someone mentioned about the cats getting pregnant they can they can go to heat every two weeks after they've had had a litter my wife is dealing with some that we're rescuing right now and taken care of it also allows a new this ordinance also allows a nuisance complaint abatement process you currently don't have any of this to help and protect your residents and it's a problem in South Jersey we've even had local businesses step up and be active and they've supported TNR and they've set up Community facilities for feral cats on their properties behind their buildings their employees enjoy feeding them because they know they're not going to reproduce and by the way the life expectancy is about half of what a normal cat in your house house would be it's about seven years that they live but they're not producing so the population goes down and managed in a humane way but your approach now is to merely designate a Good Samaritan who cares for cats they do not own as a harborer and therefore an owner which is inefficient and wholly ineffective it drives people to deal with cats in the shadows rather than in the sunlight where they should be simply stated you need to update your local code to reflect with thousands of other communities of done doing nothing and hoping the problem goes away is not a solution the other alternative which is just as bad as your current approach which is do nothing would return us to the Stone Age of Animal Welfare that of the open trap and pound and kill approach not only has this not only has this proven to be wholly ineffective both in historical and contemporary examples of of its employment but it's also of C financially unsustainable socially irresponsible and extremely questionable from an ethical Viewpoint the best thing to do is meet with your residents give your residents what they want pass an ordinance like many of the UN the municipalities in New Jersey have that is current effective it works it doesn't cost anything I have to deal with our County Comm came to County Commission all the time it costs nothing to do this the right way don't don't just ignore your residents please and thank you so much and finally thank you for your time I'll keep this short it's okay my name is Kimberly sked my last name is spelled SK D I live at 213d Avenue robling New Jersey which is Burlington County and I'm here tonight as a representative of the friends of the Burlington County Animal Shelter we're a shelter Affiliated 501c3 we have both programs within our County shelter and we also have programs to support the county on the outside so in that role I'm the cat Foster coordinator for animals in the building and I'm the TNR coordinator for Animals outside and what we see is all-time highs on surrenders and really it would be nice to keep the shelter for our own residents that need a safe haven for their animals to go to where they don't say that animal is just going to get killed there because there's no space and what we see is that TNR is working last year fob cast spent over $90,000 TNR in cats we spent another set $7,000 on providing health care for injured and sick Community cats now we're working at a countywide level if we had a small town or you know municipalities more on board it would be so much easier we have 40 towns that we're dealing with in our County and each town that we can get on board it helps um we see the numbers going down in 2019 500 40 animals cats were killed in the burington county animal shelter for Behavior last year 247 were killed for Behavior so we've brought that number in half we're getting our shelter to an 80% live release rate which is not no kill on the cat side but we're striving and TNR is a meaningful way to get there it's a piece of the puzzle that we have to have and we have the community support we have the donations to support us so if you've got a town group that's already here supporting it and doing the the boots on the ground they are really worth their weight and gold so that's all I'm going to say unless you have any questions for us but thank you for your time folks so we've heard what you've said we've listened I'll meet with the mayor business administrator and attorney because this is my meeting and uh after a conversation with them I I'll I Jessica I have your I see you as the uh quasi leader and you're you're in town versus a host of people that I heard from all over the state of New Jersey this is an East Brunswick issue okay East Brunswick and therefore um I I I I will get back to you at this time I'll p a recess of 2 minutes so that the chamber can be emptied so that our people who are in the foyer can come in thank you and we're live Mr Winston name address yes good evening I'm Jeff Winston 44 fresh ponds Road East Brunswick I would like to thank the mayor for his comments at the last council meeting acknowledging the issues that have plagued the school district and the Board of Education in East brunwick while this comment was likely related to budget issues then recent events have transcended anything anyone could ever imagined I do not need to rehash the events of the yearbook debacle as it pertains to the in as it pertains to the incident instead I would like addressing the handling of the event by the Board of Education and now it extends beyond the district and Falls squarely on the feet of this chamber and its members I will explain last Thursday the Board of Education held a meeting at the East bronic High School auditorium and at that time superintendent veski stated that outside special counsel will be retained to determine the actions that led to the egregious event he stated that he had nothing conclusive at that point president LAX at the end of the meeting stated quote I may be in trouble in saying this but this was not anti-semitic end quote the comment was confusing simply by virtue that the superintendent failed to offer anything remotely close to is sort of a conclusion in fact Victor veski confirmed the investigation was ongoing today it was reported that the district did in fact hire special counsel the individual hired is a former partner of the of the school district attorney match yobe's law firm and filled in for the district attorney as legal counsel at board meetings in 2017 hardly independent and likely conflicted in the public meeting last Thursday what we witnessed was many students Muslim and Jewish and others come to the mic and express concerns about safety incidents of bias harassment reports threats and other descriptions of Despicable things many of which were not or were poorly addressed by the Board of Education Mayor Cohen you have stated several times that hate has no place in East Brunswick and I certainly agree but the fact is hate has taken up residents in East Brunswick as a result safety and well-being is being called into question back to the schools our Thursday superintendent was not prepared to draw a conclusion that he could share with the public regarding the yearbook issue and the investigation was ongoing the following day Friday an article was published in People Magazine online in this article veski stated the incident was not in fact bias but an error a mistake he was unwilling to tell the residents of East brunic especially the students less than 12 hours prior to the publication uh that what any results of the investigation yielded which resulted in concerns for safety to grow exponentially had he shared his findings at that meeting would likely have slowed the effect of the Wildfire Brewing among the student population so why now the township you are governing the East Bic Police Department whose primary purpose is to protect and serve protect against threats that could bring harm to our residents because veski refuses to quell the fears of the most vulnerable the students he essentially increased the threats thus putting our students In Harm's Way the equivalent is a precursor to inciting violence and because of that this is now a Township problem besides being public students these kids are also Township residents and still up to you to protect and serve in spite of the disruptor and perpetrator being Victor veski a leader a Leader's job is to bring calm and not increased chaos where veski has failed you can Excel I respectfully request the following the township should maintain a high level of police presence at the high school and at a minimum until school is dismissed in the summer an increase of any planned presence of uh at graduation events or any other ceremonies where large groups of students gather and lastly it is time for this Town Council to make a formal motion with a second and to vote no confidence in the Board of Education and the superintendent schools veski to summarize the superintendent of schools has prioritized National and international publicity and ego stroking Spotlight over the safety and well-being of students in our schools and the community at large and this is noticeable and unaccepted acable this is not the first time he's done it and it won't be the last please let the district know that the Township in this chamber has worked so hard to build a thriving community that is now on fire as elected officials who were put in the seat please do your part where other elected officials at the Board of Education have failed miserably please make a motion tonight and submit a majority vote of no confidence of the Board of Education and superintendent Victor veski and I thank you for your time gentleman here with the Met uniform easy to identify not the mohawk no uh all right so good evening and happy pride month uh my name is Dominic scani that's spelled s c a f n I um I live at torgan place I'm here to talk about a beloved educator Dr Louis Figaroa not only is he or rather was a beloved administrator of over 10 years for the schools but he's also a beloved resident in town so I come here to honor the great man Dr Figaroa is and it's not just me who thinks this but rather over the um 1,140 people from the petition I started in hopes of keeping him they have also agreed that he's a great man and while I'm disheartened that the Board of Ed decided to go against the will of the people I'm really happy to know the majority of the township residents know the true the truly great man Dr Figaroa is and and I know you have zero control of the board of education but I still think this is a very important topic to bring to light thank [Applause] you please yes the black with the dark glasses on yes hi Naval toel Tall Oaks Drive East Brunswick please as a first generation Muslim American immigrant who moved to East brunswig couple of years ago I'm deeply concerned about the recent events in our town my husband and I are raising our three very young children in this town and what's happening demands immediate attention from our Town's Administration the incident involving East brck High School yearbook last week and the aftermath has been profoundly distressing and alarming when reports of the incident surfaced on various local Facebook pages they were flooded with hateful comments directed towards the Muslim Community including our children it's difficult for me to believe that our mayor was not aware of the wave of hate and islamophobia online and by the way I have all those comments here although they have now been deleted however when the mayor issued his first official statement it was incredibly disappointing that he did not consider the potential impact on the Muslim Students in that picture he seems to ignore the challenge of his Muslim constituents and focused solely on Jewish students as a Muslim mother reading that statement makes me feel as though our town is being governed by someone whose personal bias overshadow their ability to Mo to make fair and professional judgment and decisions furthermore the mayor's immediate classification of that incident as anti-semitic only further fueled hateful rhetoric online with trolls calling the kids in the picture terrorist comparing Muslim children to KKK and pewing other Dory remarks although these comments have since been deleted the damage has been done leaving the Muslim Community feeling marginalized and exposed and again once again I have all the proof in my hand now allow me to underscore the gravity of spreading hate online I can it can have deadly consequences for Muslims I want to remind everyone the aftermath of October 7th when repeated falsehoods from the mainstream media led to the brutal murder of 6 years old Palestinian child Wadi aluni in Chicago stabbed 26 times by his own landlord are we willing to wait for such Horrors to repeat themselves as a Muslim woman and a mother I'm actually fearful for my own children in my own home now I keep my doors locked all the time I'm not letting my kids go out outside because I'm clearly a Muslim women and I do have sleepless nights now as I agonize over how to safeguard my children in a town with hate that's clearly now obvious online so now back to mayor's post a good number of islamophobic and and and hateful comments were posted on his Facebook post as well so Mr Mayor did not do anything about it he did not take them down he did not did any action for for several days uh he did not even close his post for comments and he just let those hateful comments come online and by the time he decided to bring his post down it was already late I mean not the post down it's still online but the comments his subsequent statement that he issued uh while somewhat improved still fell short of acknowledging his initial misstep and in offering a sincere apology to the Muslim Community he has failed to take responsibility for his actions I must also address the disparity in reaction between this incident and the ongoing conflict in the Middle East which by the way is called genocide as per most of the reputable humanitarian organizations um while there's an OD outpouring of support for an incident in the yearbook the same level of empathy is not extended to the thousands of of Palestinian children who have suffered in this conflict this discrepancy is is deeply troubling and speaks to a larger issue of selective empathy children are children and should be seen as such not as Jewish children or not as Muslim kids we should be ashamed of ourselves if our heart only feels pain seeing the suffering of children of our own faith and last in conclusion I really demand Mr Mayor Kohan to take responsibility for his action apologize to the Muslim constituents for the harm caused that is 5 minutes but please finish and consider stepping aside if his bias prevent him from Fairly addressing issues affecting our whole Community thank you right here right here good evening good evening my name is Rose I'm at 31 Glouster Court in East Brunswick and and your first name again Rose 3 31 Glouster yes okay um I just want to recognize the council and um the rest of East Brunswick and East Brunswick residents um first of all I do want to thank I know they're not here now but the VFW and the auxiliary um my husband is a golf four veteran and we are always so honored when our veterans are served and thank for their service I also had um the unfortunate um pleasure of seeing my cousin name there and was able to call my aun to give her Solace that I saw him and um it was a wonderful gesture so thank you to them I'm here today because of the yearbook incident but I want you to be aware of something else while we're here talking about religion and race and confident president I know that you had a proclamation for lgbtq plus there was another incident in the yearbook that has not been addressed my child recognizes as trans and it's very difficult for me to protect my child from all the hate that is going on but I certainly didn't expect that I would have to deal with this issue here in East Brunswick in addition to the issue regarding the club and the photos with the Jewish students the Muslim Students my daughter's ad for celebrating her achievements while educated here at East Brunswick High School was omitted I paid on a timely basis I created this ad of wonderful pictures of her growing up and warn offer being part of the marching band which Dr Cohen we met and discussed while you were at the deli one day only to be told that sorry and so we don't have an opportunity to celebrate her achievements and she does recognize as he when I called the school last week they asked me to send them confirmation of the email in which I had paid for the ad and the ad itself and I did I had all the verification I had the verification of emails that making sure that I was at the right website that I submitted all information correctly and I did not hear from anybody at East Brunswick High School and I waited and my daughter wanted to know what's going on I called today and was asked to provide verification of my credit card receipt that the that they received payment for the ad which I thought was really ridiculous because I gave them confirmation of the email that I received and I was told that maybe I would get a reimbursement a refund of the $225 but they weren't sure from who right now the refund is not relevant what's relevant is that in our Township hate has no place ha has no place whether you're black or white Jewish or Muslim but it also has no place if you're part of lgbtq plus and so one of the horrors that a parent has to deal with is that their child is going to be forever hounded and hated for choosing who they want to be as well as who they are and so I asked the committee to consider other venues in we which we can celebrate our togetherness our Humanity versus our differences and I know we do a good job of our culture and these proclamations but we really need to do more and so I want to thank you for letting me speak tonight you're welcome in the back row good evening Council my name is Trish Quinn I live at 528 Waterford Drive in Edison I don't live in East Brunswick but I am supporting your residents you have heard about the benefits in t of TNR including the empirical and factual evidence stating that is the only Humane solution ution for animals that have been failed by humans the cats didn't ask to survive outside especially not without the care that humans have always provided to them the sad reality is that countless members countless numbers do not survive because house cats used to having their meals put down at 700 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. 7:00 a.m. and 6 p.m. were tossed outside because their people were moving had a baby or just didn't want them anymore these domestic animals have no skills to fend for themselves the lucky ones are able to get past Their Fear after being tossed outside and find a different human to feed them and maybe bring them to live in another home or they find an existing Community where they can grab some scraps of food but only after the established cats have eaten and left the area otherwise they are beat up leaving them not only starving but injured the struggle to survive even with a better skill set that allowed them to adapt they can hunt but more often than not they seek out the scraps of kindness from the very humans they fear they have to constantly run a gauntlet of cruel humans and cars so many are killed trying desperately to cross a street shelters are not an option for these cats since they are fearful fearful of humans they live short difficult lives I have a story about one outof control community that Sami so tanor we were aware that there were at least a dozen cats who had been reproducing unchecked we ultimately learned that the homeowner had allowed this to go on for years and at times had upwards of 30 cats on the property when the complaints from Neighbors got too loud he would trap a bunch of cats take them under cover of Darkness to an unknown wooded area and let them go these young cats had never known anything but his property where they had some Shelter From the elements and were fed at least sometimes their Fates haunt me now and likely will until the end of my life they had no chance to survive in the strange place he dumped them when we finally got the homeowner to allow us on the property the Heartbreak continued as we attempted some cleanup we discovered there were 15 cats we could identify three females had young kittens or newborns and others were pregnant more devastating were the Dozen kitten carcasses we found this is all on the property of a Man Who Loved the cats before trapping day we removed 14 live kittens from the property ranging from 3 to 7 weeks old they all went to foster homes were completely vetted and adopted to loving homes 14 kittens who otherwise would have grown up on the property only to eventually be transported to an unknown wood and left to Die thanks to this effort that did not happen when everything was finally in place for trapping day which included very difficult conversations to convince Fed Up neighbors that this was the solution to the problem that had been plaguing them for years we assembled with traps tuna mackerel and a plan in one day one night we trapped 19 cats several of which were completely we were completely unaware of five more would not go into traps and the three moms with newborn could not be spayed at that time we did eventually get the moms and kittens People for Animals came the next day with a van and brought 19 cats to be spayed and neutered vaccinated and medically treated if necessary of the 19 only six were female but all were pregnant this was far from the end of the story but what I want you to remember is this the 13 male cats stopped fighting in competition for the females they stopped spraying and marking their territories which included the properties of all the neighbors the six females no longer had to be subject to stalking and sexual attack from the males they did not have those kittens and they did not have to struggle to feed them while desperately trying to keep themselves alive if you haven't done the math during my time I'll do it for you from one TNR effort on one property in one day 24 adult cats lives were changed for the better the population did not grow and it naturally reduced over time a total of 20 live kittens were pulled to live their lives as house cats calculating an average of four kittens per liter and 2 liters per year 48 kittens were never born in that one Summer from the six females who are on this one property Additionally the neighbors were no longer subjected to the horrible scent of unneutered male cats they didn't have to listen to the screams of fighting and mating cats at all hours of the night they didn't have to watch The NeverEnding suffering of kittens dying on their front Lawns situations like this happen over and over and over again in every neighbor neighborhood doesn't matter how many laws you pass you will never stop kind-hearted people from feeding Stray Cats what you can do is give them a resource to extend their kindness to TNR so that the cat they will not turn away from will not reproduce and continue the suffering to Generations catch and kill has been tried for more than a hundred years but the cats are still here because of us we need to stop the arbitrary killing of innocent cats and take responsibility for what we caused we can dramatically reduce the suffering and number of outside cats through TM are it is the only Humane solution thank you gentleman in the silver suit good evening Mr President Mr Mayor the C Council my name is Alex trackman 47 doorchester Drive is bronck this is my third visit to this Council and I would like to bring bring your attention to the condition of the tennis courts at the lopy park on my first Lop Park first time I was informed that everything is fine and everything is operational however all the surface was bubbled up on my last visit I believe it was month and a half ago I was informed by a few members of the council that water table coming through the surface and that's why those Park those courts will be unrepairable and you have no time frame when it's going to be repaired well I did my own survey there is no water table under that uh surface as a matter of fact there is another uh basketball court which is next to the uh tennis courts which is 4T below tennis courts there is no water going through so probably what happened the surface was replaced 7 years ago with something that was supposed to be only indoors I was informed that Township thinks that there is enough tennis courts in East Brunswick and those courts will not be repaired in the near future I have a petition signed by over 200 families in East Brunswick who want those courts to be repaired I would like to ask Council reconsider and repair those courts as soon as possible there is no water coming through it was just bad repair let admit it let fix it let us enjoy our tennis courts and pickable courts and outdoor thank you can I bring this in you want it back we we'll photocopy it and and we'll photocopy it and return it before you begin sure just on just again this is all because of time is there is there any more lenon p park people who want to that do want to speak okay then we'll continue I guess I'll talk about that first my name is Haba migahed I live in 27 Christian drive so the neighborhood where lenapi park is located um I I just didn't get your your name hea HBA right mad m g ah e d it's been I I think a year and a half since the floor surface was damaged people are still playing in that tennis court and um it's a tripping Hazard it's a safety in it's a safety hazard and so I suggest you guys fix it soon because you don't want like a lawsuit with some sort of safety incident on your laps anytime soon so I would appreciate if you guys can can fix it um so it's been locked I don't know BR a lot people are able to get in yeah well yeah broke the lock they broke the lock they got in but either way it's been a year and a half it's been quite a bit of time I just don't want to have a dialog I agree I understand and and you know there's a lot of notes here and already there's Len Park's got to be looked that I'm sorry interrupt no worries um so regarding the second issue the tone of my talk today is a lot less inflammatory than my talk at the board of ed meeting last Thursday don't worry I won't be shaming any of you since I have since taken down the heat according to your note Mayor Cohen but I would like to reflect back on the way the high school yearbook incident was handled the way it was handled made the Muslim Community feel completely isolated the way it was handled created a bold divide between two groups of people in a time where there is global heightened sensitivity we feel like an afterthought and let's be honest who wants to feel like an afterthought it was only after Muslim parents reacted to the inital initial messaging labeling the mishap as anti-semitic before even an investigation was concluded subjecting Muslim Students to a lot of hate it was only after we reacted that we got some level of acknowledgement the fact of the matter is Muslims are growing substantially in East Brunswick and you know the more we feel dismissed the more we're going to show up and speak up listen we're not asking for much we're asking to work in Partnership ship we're asking to not be dismissed we're asking to be consulted with on a proactive basis and to be involved in the decision-making process the Muslim Community would like to help East Brunswick Administration truly embody the words that you guys preach diversity Equity inclusion and making sure that all people feel a sense of belonging and we could do that together speaking together proactively before mass communications and messages are sent out thank you [Applause] yes as as I point the B my my my best best point look good evening Mayor Cohen and Town Council Members um your name I'm sorry Sor Mary an toy five Dale Road East Brunswick resident I've lived in this town more than 30 years and I'd like to ask the council and the mayor what kind of town do you want East brwi to be a type of town who cares for its residents both two-legged and four-legged or a town centered on building and building a town that really wants to help residents or just concentrate on more and more housing like many towns we have a serious feral cat issue there are cats these cats are baby making machines the TN or TNR sorry TNR ordinance is something we desperately need now we need to stop the growth of feral cats I can go into specifics about a hoarding situation that I'm very close to but I think the the the whole issue is not one specific location um there are some many hoarding situations with well-meaning people feeding the cats but they don't have the funds to fix the cats or they don't realize how how quickly the situation can get out of control so they start with a few cats and soon it becomes a colony this is a serious problem and I'm urging the council and mayor to please pass the T TNR ordinance ASAP thank you very much for your [Applause] time I see a hand over here and then I'll come back over here okay hello my name is um Breen rub I'm a resident at nine kentes B Circle East Brunswick what Circle kentbury got it and since there aren't enough people from East Brunswick vote like advocating for TNR I will put my vote there too but that's not what I came to speak about as cute as I think kittens are I do feel that they have a great point we really need to do something for as a Township for the animals um but what I came here to speak about tonight is my disappointment in our Township uh I happen to be Muslim as well I am a mother of three children who are in the East BRS District I want to say that all the messaging that I came out of course it's being investigated of course we are speaking about it of course it was horrible to begin with but I want to make sure that you all realize that the youngest child in those pictures who's receiving threats is 13 years old his picture is out there for all eternity there are so many softwares out now you can take pick up your phone today and take a picture of anything and Google will tell you what the closest matches there is no way to hide an identity and I feel as a Township we really really drop the ball here whether every single child in that picture was complicit we didn't do a single thing to protect anyone and just threw them under the bus and I they tried to make a post online to just urge people to stop and what I came back with was comments saying well this is all happening on Instagram it's not Township people and then I came back and posted picture after picture after picture of vile crap being said about these children now yes I understand all these children are not on Progressive parents East Brunswick or all these other groups but they are on Instagram and the youngest child who's 13 years old read comments about himself and about his friends for simply going and representing East Brunswick Township at a town different townships that msas were competing and they were proudly representing our town I feel that yes an investigation was in place but every single comment that was out there from our Township from the board could have just simply stated that none of those children were on the board for the yearbook a simple statement even if the even if the investigation is going not a single step was taken to protect those children and that is on all of us that is really on all of us all those PCT people in that picture at the time that the picture was taken were minors and even if they were which I don't know we are still waiting for the investigation to be completed and I will not I mean of course there should be dire consequences this is not a laughing matter but we the least we could have done was protect their identities so I really feel that those children deserve an apology from our Township it's not enough to say well we made mistakes and this weekend was great with football and this weekend was great with a Polish Festival and whatnot it doesn't erase the failure on all levels from parents from people from residents from the school board to this mayor's office apologize to those children thank you so [Applause] much can I get a show hands of how many still want to speak get an idea of how long we're going to be here okay okay I I'm please good evening um my name is Sherie Wexler I'm a resident I live a few minutes away in neighboring Oldbridge um I work in Edison uh currently I'm a longtime TNR Advocate I currently maintain a colony that's all TNR it's down to five cats now near my job in Edison so I've been doing that probably for about 15 years I'm currently fostering two kittens who were Community cats for a local rescue at of Old Bridge and I know it may not sound you know seem like it for you guys right now because I don't know what time it is and you're probably stuck way later than you expected to be you guys don't know how lucky you are I mean if Lindsay and East Brunswick TNR can pack a room the size full of people you know think what they're doing out in the community and it's basically Free Labor there's volunteers you are so fortunate in this area to have so many amazing rescue groups karmic cat New Beginnings happy homes out of Oldbridge North Brunswick Humane Association all of these groups are coming in and doing the work that you would normally be paying your animal control to do so it would would actually be fiscally irresponsible for you not to support them with the TNR ordinance that they're asking for and you know I think you you're probably happy that I'm not an East Brunswick resident because I'd be over here requesting Town funding and you know support and all kinds of stuff they're just asking you to support them and protect them from the work that they're doing anyway which is saving animals they're adopting out these animals to your residents your residents now have what they consider family members they're going and adopting these CS that they've taken off the street you know that's invaluable invaluable that I adopted my dog that I just lost a year ago that I had for 12 years from Mississippi I talk to his shelter volunteer weekly if not almost daily because I'm so grateful that she brought him to me and that's how your residents feel when they're adopting these cats all they're asking is for your support you know they're saying you can get grant money so they're not even asking for Town funding you guys would be crazy not to take advantage of this I mean it's a room full of people free labor volunteers that are just waiting to help they're doing the work anyway and they're just asking for your support thank you so [Applause] much AA ganja um at Ka G nja 68 Burkshire Way East Brunswick what's the address birkshire way bsh yeah so um actually in my country Woods development there's a huge fural cat um issue so I and I I know TNR has um tried to work on that so I hope that the the the um the council will support them fully in their efforts so thank you so much for all the volunteers here for that um you know two issues that I want to talk about and I think the first the first one I'll just has already been touched on ad nauseum I would say which is this yearbook issue um you know I got a really upsetting email from the president of the MSA the student president um when it right when it happened and that they were so upset about all the horrible comments and he you know sent screenshots of all the horrible comments under Brad Cohen's um you know messaging there were comments like um Beyond ridiculous superintendent offered Muslim Students an apology they were the they weren't the ones being replaced um superintendent must be fired now he's pandering to the pain of the perpetrators veski was quoted as saying it was an error was committed sounds like he's already coping out anyway so it goes on and on but um just um I think it was really irresponsible obviously um to call it an act of anti-Semitism before um before it was investigated and I did have a lot of repercussions for our community so um we've been coming to Board of Ed Board of Ed meetings lately since this whole October 7th started um as well as meetings here trying to discuss the issue of islamophobia um Rising anti-Semitism as well as islamophobia that we're seeing I think um the Council of Arab Islamic uh relations or American Islamic relations care theyve said that it's gone up by over 300 300% in the United States um islamophobic islamophobic events so um this is something that we need to take really seriously because we do have a rising um population of Muslims as you know we just opened the Majid um here in East Brunswick the Islamic Center so um you know the community is now really starting to come together and get stronger so we really want to make sure that this is a safe and and place for our our uh children to grow up in um the second issue I want to bring up is um the ceasefire resolution that I really want we're going to keep coming to here until that's you know introduced for a vote um Piscataway just passed the ceasefire resolution last week so that's one of our communities in Central Jersey that's passed it so I really want you all to look at this very very seriously um we are reeling right now from what happened over the weekend as you probably know four hostages were released which was great um at the expense of over almost 300 people killed um many of them children and um our American Military actually did a trojan horse move where they they they went into an aid truck through the port that was built by American government to provide humanitarian Aid to the people of Gaza they actually are now using it for their military means um so they they actually had the military people hiding in an aid truck um and then when it went into the nerat refugee camp the people because it's Aid that they desperately need cuz they're starving they ran into the truck and then when the military came out they were they started just shooting like crazy so um you know these are massacres after massacres that we're reeling from and a ceasefire resolution is absolutely necessary from our American government um to push that to the Israelis to do that um but we can start right here in East Brunswick and that will be something that shows that East Brunswick truly does care about peace about Harmony um and about all of its residents well-being um that is actually ceasefire is the way to get the hostages back safely I believe there's like 120 hostages left that is the way to get them out safely because they are being killed right now along with Palestinians by the indiscriminate bombing that's being done by the Israeli government so I'm just ashamed that this kind this like I I think I think it was said before that we should move out of the 1980s here and I I agree with that because I grew up here and I think we are really stuck in that time that that time frame we are not a progressive Community I can just tell you that so I want to move East Brunswick forward I want the mayor to move us forward um that needs to happen and um I we are going to keep continuing to come here to talk to you guys to get a ceasefire resolution in East Brunswick so thank you so much for [Applause] listening please no young lady behind you hi my name is Anastasia Muk I'm sorry you are Anastasia Anastasia Miran uh three glad court is brunic in what town is brunic I just want to share um uh how I fell a victim actually of the colony of cats um my neighborhood had like nine cats living and we had to struggle with a lot of issues that we were bringing as living outside they were marking the fences the fights at night were insane like you would wake up my son um he always wanted to try to bet them I was always afraid that he going to get Rees from you know feral cats even though I love pets and I have um dog myself um and one day unfortunately I had to clean up a that kid off the road because I was killed by the car it was really traumatic I called the police and Animal Control nobody was able to help us um actually Lindsay's team helped us they um trapped all the cats they neutral them and spay them and Rel them back since then um we see there are no more kittens we don't see um as many uh cats roaming around our houses I still have to clean up my mulch a lot because they use it as their litter box of course but that's like considering you know what we had to go through that's like nothing um I really uh help our I really hope our Township will support the Lindsay's efforts and um we will have um U some arthans that will help her um all her work thank [Applause] you will I be able to go to the rest of the meeting soon someone in the back someone in the back um good a good evening my name is Alysa Henry I live at 8 Monroe Place East Brunswick New Jersey um I've been a resident of East Brunswick for about 23 years um I got involved with TNR a couple of years ago I had a couple of feral cats in my backyard that I was feeding um one cat after another was having babies so I actually went to a meeting at our VFW Post 133 People for Animals was doing a presentation through Lindsay and that's how I met Lindsay um I connected with a couple of people and I actually um trapped neutered and released these cats into my backyard so I was good but my neighboring streets were not doing TNR so right now I still have cats I am TNR I have a mother cat that is impossible to catch she just had a litter of five so now I'm going to find those five kittens homes on my own so I fully support TNR completely my husband and my son also help I TR transport right now for anybody that needs transport of their trapped kitten to People for Animals in Robinsville I'm there by 8:00 in the morning these cats cry in the back of my car I'm sorry I'm getting upset because they are so scared they don't know what's happening to them they are covered with blankets I can transport three or four or one whatever is needed I will also pick up the these cats and bring them back and release them it is the saddest thing you ever want to see because you want to keep them all but you cannot I recently started volunteering along with my son at sami's Hope um it's definitely giving back to the community and seeing that these cats are being taken out of places that there were horrendous conditions and loving families come and adopt these cats so it can be done in East Brunswick we can save these cats so I really applore you to do the right thing update your codes and let the TNR process begin I do have another comment to make I am a Jewish resident of East Bruns New Jersey my son graduated East brunwick High School he is an eagle Scout and I am very proud to be a resident of East Brunswick and a Jewish resident I just want to comment two things about the yearbook one the Jewish P the Jewish children's pictures was replaced we don't know who did it but their picture was replaced by somebody in that High School number two the Jewish names were erased that's all I have to [Applause] say um wahed Baja 47 Ago Street East Bruns the first name w a EED and your address 47 Edgar Street East Bruns go ahead thanks thank you uh council president council members Mayor Cohen uh thank you for recognizing me uh so I just want to uh mention a few quick things about the events that have been happening in in our community last week uh we are a proud community of diverse uh citizens and the events of last week are trying to create a divide between our community and people who are whether they are from the Jewish faith from the Muslim faith uh we can kind of understand where the outside forces come from they are more On The Fringe right of things that try to uh attack uh and try to pit these communities against each other um so I won't belabor the point of uh what happened with the yearbook I I will try to keep it short and I have only three requests from the council and also if uh people who are listening here one is for people who are not fully aware of uh the the anguish that the the children the Muslim children faced in response to this yearbook Saga uh I encourage everyone the recording for the uh Board of head meeting is out I encourage everyone to hear their testimonials uh they were brave enough to go there most of them except a couple who felt threatened and they did not feel comfortable going there they went there they talked about uh the threats they have received and how they have been implicitly assumed that they had something to do with it so that's one request at least the entire uh C uh Council uh members uh every member I request that they do watch that to understand the pain that they are going through second um I uh we already have an investigation going on regarding the incident that happened to the Jewish club uh so hopefully that will be resolved soon there is another point do I want to make so that's one uh W uh group of of or or victim group of victims we have another group of victims which are the Muslim children and I talked after the board of head meeting to the Board of Ed and they said that they do not have any way of pursuing any legal aspects so what I would request is if the township could look into if any uh crime was committed if any laws were broken when the the pictures of these children were shared widely if if there were perhaps the township could look into per perhaps if there is a way to uh uh to pursue that angle and the third is uh which is something that uh mayor K mentioned in his statement also is that we need to bring the town the town towards a healing process where we need to remove the distrust between the different communities and we hope that or at least I hope that the uh this Council will try to take up some uh leadership role and try to take some actions which basically remove this this kind of uh the Fisher that is being created and we can really live as a as a uh citizens of a harmonious town so thank you I'm coming I'm coming to the high school kids next if it's High School hello my name is Denise Morgan I live in sville New Jersey I run sville TNR we've trapped and neutered over, 1300 cats preventing thousands of being born I'm not going to read my whole speech because I just want to say a couple of things this is running so successfully in sville because we have an amazing Animal Control Associated Humane Society and I have a equally amazing rescue Casa rescue who also funds my TNR efforts I don't get kitten calls as much as I used to get because we are TN ring so many cats there just is are not so many kittens anymore out there we don't get nuisance calls as often there is no howling and screaming and screeching because the males are neutered so they're not spraying and they're not fighting East buns with cats can make it into seille so whether you think that your TNR efforts of you know just poor Lindsay and her team don't affect my town that's successful it does so when you're saying oh you know we don't need it and look the other way it's affecting my town so I take it personally um hoarding situations they come from TNR not being practiced in the town the people are afraid to feed the cats outside they want to help the cats because they have compassion they're compassionate when they feed these cats they take them inside and then they lose control so now they have sick kittens and sick cats and multiplying cats and now the weather is better in your house so now they they breed more and they cause even a bigger issue those people aren't to be penalized those people are to be supported and helped so this doesn't happen TNR fixes that TNR fixes a lot of things my daughter died of breast cancer she left her son she always told me never give up she wouldn't let me give up on her and I know she's proud of me because I will never give up helping East Brunswick helping Lindsay get this past and I will never give up on the cats in my town she told me never to give up and I will never give up you will see my face here I don't reside here but your cats come to my town I'm not going to give up I'm going to keep supporting this effort thank you for your [Applause] time I'm I I promise the kids I have one high school student Aram you are the kids around this is Shakur go ahead good evening I'm has Ali as soon to be junior at East Bic High School give us give us your just don't don't give us your address give us your name um Ali spell that for me h a s EB space AI you can always get you through the high school just need your name so I'm also here to talk about the year Brook incident and I moved to e spun about and a half ago and before moving here all I heard about was how good the community was and how beneficial it would be to me as a student and as a citizen and that was the case for most of my time here until about a week ago I'm not here to discuss about anti-Semitism or anything like that but to hear to speak about the lack of protection from um the hate being targeted towards us as a Muslim body Mir K also made the situation worse at he made as he made a press release based on assumptions which ended ended up indirectly putting blame on Muslim Students without full investigations the press release put a clear divide in the community as I stated in my previous statement last Thursday at the board of ed meeting all we have been hearing about these past couple of days is how the Jewish Community is hurt but we the Muslims have been forgotten and have been given the M um the bare minimum we aren't any different from the rest of the children in East buwick we too deserve the proper attention and support anyone else would we've been over looked and seen as sort of like the party that doesn't really need attention as we've been receiving hate um like like bad comments and everything and like um death threats and there hasn't been really that much like public protection towards that and even like um he's been sending out like these messages saying about how he's trying to address both sides but we've clearly seen that the Jewish Community has been receiving more attention than we have and I just wanted to like emphasize that we too need the protection that we need thank [Applause] you good all right the young man and then the younger man I trying to be nice and you are my name is Abdul wahab Yousef you are again huh I didn't hear your name my name is Abdul wahab YF ABD l- wahhab ebhs yes I stand here because I'm deeply concerned about the recent incident and the subsequent response which has left many in our Muslim Community feeling vulnerable and unheard while we while we understand the importance of addressing the anti-Semitism we cannot ignore the way that the situation has unfolded the fact that a press release was issued based on an assumtion before a full investigation indirectly placed blame on Muslim Students and created a clear divide in our community we appreciate the mayor's commitment to represent all citizens but actions speak louder than words we have heard numerous expressions of support for the Jewish students which is commendable however the response towards the Muslim Students is very little who however whose faces have been plastered across National news has been glaringly different where is the same level of vocal support where are the concrete actions to protect these minors who are now subject to the potential backlash and fear let me be clear this is not about diminishing the severity of anti-Semitism this is about demanding equal support and protection for all members of our community we the Muslim Community especially the students whose images are have been circulating deserve to feel safe and supported we urge you to stand with us to amplify our voices and to demand accountabil ility and actions from our leaders we must come together as one Community against against all forms of hate and Prejudice and I said last week at the board of ed meeting that I was called a terrorist in ebhs I would like to know what you guys would do to ensure my safety in school and out of school thank you very much going to take I'm going to take one more and I'm going to close the public portion I'm take this gentleman yep I'm sorry was confused I'm still considering myself young man so I was confused before name and address sir Ami 19 rathl and is that in East Bron yes okay you have the floor thank you so uh I do uh present myself as a proud resident of East brunwick for more than six years for now but unfortunately today I'm presenting myself as a concerned parent of two kids in East bronswick that their picture appeared in that controversial um public book story last week so um I'm very worried and concerned that their picture uh appeared in this um uh context that and Spread virtu spread virally nationally and internationally especially that this is associated with hateful comments terrorism comparing them to KKK and many other stuff that they heard with their ears last week so the responsible way that the the Board of Education demonstrated in handling the situation last week made us feel a little bit better than before however the reason I'm here today is because uh unfortunately a public statement issued from this elected government body negatively contributed to this situation in my opinion sorry sorry for that technology yeah okay um I do believe that someone serving in public office should have an should have and demonstrate certain qualities among them uh knocking down in rumors and or anything uh threatening social uh peace overcoming his personal biases and leading people to come together and here I saw exactly the opposite unfortunately in my opinion so um sorry um more concerning to see this to see the situation categorized as anti-semitic before any investigation outcome and unnecessarily mentioning Muslims in the context in an official statement I don't understand jumping to baseless conclusions and positioning Muslims as being the opposite of Jews and vice versa while I do believe that it's completely the opposite we are all people of belief uh uh worshiping the same God so but in a critical and and also this is happening in a critical time that he should exert an extra effort to bring everyone together rather than feeling something that can f social media storms like what happened last uh last week I'm here I'm here by requesting a clear apology for this situation and if unable to demonstrate the required qualities in my opinion to be serving in a public office to Simply leave it thank you so much close public portion we'll do a two-minute recess in case you want to scadaddle or if you want to stay for the rest of the meeting Anthony you got that no it's not I'll try it again moving on to our consent agenda can we separate 24 if you read the can we separate 2483 I'm going to have um oh delirious right now next week Tom um could you read the uh consent agenda uh statement the following items resolutions 24-1 183 through resolution 24-1 195 the following items are considered routine and non-controversial items by the township Council and will be inacted upon by one motion there will be no separate discussion of these items unless a count council members so requests in which event the item will be removed from the consent agenda to be discussed and voted on following the approval of the remaining items listed on the consent agenda thank you we're not separating anything but uh Mr culo could you just give us a couple I'd like to I'd like to separate 2413 oh is that the uh liquor license yes you want that separate yes okay I didn't know that councilman window first no we'll come back to that was it 191 183 183 that's the first one in the so could have a motion for uh 184 through 194 second second through 195 195 I I have 194 in my uh I'm looking at the wrong uh probably agenda that's okay 183 through 195 uh motion 184 through 195 1845 motion to approve second uh roll call please councilman Mahal yes councilman Wendell yes councilwoman Winston yes councilwoman zimi yes and council president McAvoy yes let's go back to 183 yes and I'll begin with Mr Chris gulo can you just make some comments on that I think that's a liquor license I don't understand what I don't what's question W the question question is pocket licenses how long are they allowed to stay in Pocket the other question is is this uh imperative that we do this tonight is it is there a time clock on it well the pocket like license issue I would defer to our two attorneys that are here and uh tomorrow when are these licens due to expire they expire at the end of this the end of this month so they're all up to be they have to be renewed by July 1st if they're not renewed then they have to obtain if they're going to continue to maintain the Integrity of their license uh secure uh a permit from the state but they are they are required to be renewed every year Well my issue is the pocket licenses and I I brought this up last year I don't like licenses staying in Pocket um for long periods of time it's my understanding State um only allows a pocket license to be in pocket for two years and um the council can continue to R it but ideally it's supposed to be activated within 2 years that's been my experience and what I would like to do is get a copy of the state statute on this and notify these pocket license holders of when their two years expires put them on notice now and let them know that something needs to be done by this time next year with that license or we're not going to renew it uh council president is is there only one in Pocket two it's on the so and if these people don't get the license gym now they're not going to be able to open right well I mean they're being held in Pocket which means they're not attached to any property any property any business right now someone bought it and is just holding it um and not operating a business in town and from my perspective two things we struggle to have the number of licenses we have and in addition to that with these licenses staying in Pocket it's affecting our tax revenue Jam if you don't mind go ahead president so in terms of one of the pocket license that license is a brand new license that we issued as a Township um based on population change U so that's one of the two pocket licenses that we have and the second one is really um uh one license that has been pocketed for quite some time however last year they any license that that is pocketed for two years or any license that is inactive for two years um they must secure relief uh with the director and they did secure relief and they're also due to the recent legislation or legislative changes um they have um uh a blanket protection that allows them to renew the license without having to obtain relief for this year for this um but they don't have blanket protection for you know five no no no no with the new legislation there's been some changes and um this particular i' like to find out what what the legislation exactly States and notify these people I know I understand the first the the the one you said that was just issued and just sold by the town that should be given a little bit extra time because it's sold to a redeveloper and you know they purchased it prior to even starting the construction council president can I make a suggestion in um in approving all the other ones except for the one uh that's the uh Anna uh approve all the other ones and ask our our attorney to get the legisl or get the law that does that so at least we have the body or the bulk of them completed and then for the uh the 24th of June we'll relist this and give our attorney some chance to do some research and you know what Tomar said makes some sense and to make sure it satisfies your question cutting it real close though aren't we with regard M col please chime in cutting really close if we're if we're looking at on May 1st this all of this July 1 going to say paperwork has to be completed so that this guy can open and I don't and I and I no it's in pocket council president okay so they don't have an establishment council president can I just add the the legislation was completely revamped earlier this year the State statue was issued uh there right now there's no regulations in place uh on the legislation so uh the attorneys were waiting for regulations to provide guidance as to how to uh implement the new legislation uh I'd be happy to provide uh the new legis new legislation and a memo advising what the current statute is uh subject to receiving the regulations okay what do you think Mr Wendell I like uh Mr chulo's suggestion okay I just don't want any business to be effective no I I would I would amend this to remove the pocket license the one that's been in pocket for a long time not the not the newly issued one the newly issued one is going to Russo development own Russ yeah we really shouldn't be differentiating between someone there's was just there was just issued this year I don't want the other one's this one here is fine we're talking about this we're removing this one from this resolution tonight so I'd ask the attorney to make sure worded so tomorrow has correct direction in order to modify the resolution and what you're going to approve or disapprove go ahead you know what I'm saying Anthony IA are you going to approve it this evening or the next meeting next meeting yeah I would no the current license is I thought this evening okay and then and then and just to the last one look into to the last one okay that's what I think Mr Wendell is agreeing yeah okay yeah so we remove East bronic grp Incorporated Sunny Palace which is in pocket and we'll improve the rest correct where does it say that that Sunny Palace is is not um in Pocket they says pocket on here they uh they're inactive really they have an establishment so you know they still own that I'm not sure if they owned it or they rent it but they still have an establishment in which the license is linked to um and they're actually trying to reopen business um this year so right now I I don't know when but they're they're planning to reopen I I think that you're you're you've got two you didn't see the other one there's three pocket licenses on this page next to Sunny Palace it doesn't say it on the right hand side but it's a pocket license if I understand Mr Wendell he's concerned about that one which has been on the market for years now and is just being held and not uh utilized we'd like to I think you're asking that you look at what the issue is under the new law for them and for the last one I don't think we have an issue with the one that was just sold within the last couple of months correct agreed correct so I'm assuming that you're okay with amending it to pass on everything other than the the Sunny Palace and the last listing here um for tonight and to get back to this Council in enough time to make a decision about the file those two they're already in pocket so it's not going to hurt the business that's open if get what I'm saying so St for Sunny Palace cuz they're trying to to open but they will need a license an act of license they're that that's what they're telling you they've been trying to open for the last four years they haven't done it so they're holding it and they' need a CCO so they'd have to go to construction anyway in order to open so we we got a little time okay so just to summarize uh resolution uh 24-1 183 right is being amended by deleting uh the uh pocket license with regard to East brunwick grp Sunny Palace and uh with regard to pocket license uh regarding Anna cenel is that correct okay okay I'll make the amendment any make a motion so move second we'll vote on that a roll call that's what I think uh I'm sorry who first are you good yes uh councilman Bal yes councilman Wendell yes councilwoman Winston yes councilwoman ziki I think he's right yes and council president M [Applause] yes okay so we're done with uh we're done with um consent ordinance 2412 C clerk an ordinance amending chapter 144 garbage refuse and recyclables of the Township Code of the township of East Brunswick County of middle SEC state of New Jersey we have a motion so move second second Mr culo a quick comment yes this is the modifications necessary uh when we went to the new uh collection system so so we needed to update the ordinance to make it current with the colle new collection system thank you discussion from Council roll call please councilman bahal yes councilman Wendell yes councilwoman Winston yes councilwoman ziki councilwoman ziki yes and council president M yes ordinance 24 hyphen 13 cion clerk please read a bond ordinance providing for various School Capital Improvements in and by the township of East Brunswick County of middlex New Jersey pursuing to a shared services agreement with the East Brunswick Board of Education appropriating 1,100,000 therefore and authorizing the issuance of 5,795 th000 in bonds or nodes of the township to finance part of the cost thereof we have a motion so moved second second Mr Chris gulo uh this is the bond order for the school financing for their buses and so on so goes hand in hand with the other one to uh help uh our taxpayers roll call please councilman bahal yes councilman Wendell yes councilwoman Winston yes councilwoman zimi yes and council president makoy yes ordinance 2414 Council uh a bond ordinance providing for a lightend for the Cricut field at Heavenly farms in and by the town ship of East Brunswick County of middlex state of New Jersey appropriating $630,000 therefore and authorizing the issuance of 600,000 in bonds or notes of the township to finance part of the cost thereof we have a motion motion approve second second we don't need a discussion I'm pretty clear on this one right roll call please uh councilman Bal yes councilman Wendell yes councilwoman Winston yes councilwoman zimi yes and council president McAvoy yes ordinance 24 16 15 an ordinance of the township of East Brunswick County of middlex state of New Jersey amending chapter 61 of the Township Code motion so second second Mr Chris gulo yes uh we had a couple of issues over the last couple of weeks and I've worked with um several members of the Council on the public and the police department uh we identified where some grass was actually blocking the sight lines for people to make make uh proper Turnage seeing clearances and so on so I worked with um the police department Captain keenley um Wade Gordon and and our attorney to discuss this item but tonight as you put in the consent agenda we placed a lean on that property on frush ponds Road when we declared the emergency uh we just wanted to clarify and make it very clear in our code that it's not ambiguous that if the police department uh deems it as a public nuisance Public Safety is required that we can take this immediate action uh without any question thank you roll call please councilman bahal yes councilman Wendell yes councilwoman Winston yes councilwoman zimi yes and council president maoy yes for the good of the cause sorry one more I oh 16 yeah an ordinance of the township of East Brunswick County of middlex state of New Jersey amending Chapter 3 of the township code to amend the definition of managerial Executives motion so do I hear a motion for this you do you want to do an explanation explanation sure so um the township ethics board is recommending that the township uh Council consider amending the Township Code with regard to the definition of managerial executive for the purpose of filing the annual financial statements uh there's a new definition that's contained in a New Jersey Administrative Code which specifically lists I believe 33 positions that have to file the annual financial statement instead of making a determination as to whether who is a manager and who's not okay thank you okay motion adopt second second roll call please councilman Bal yes councilman Wendell yes councilwoman Winston yes councilwoman biki yes and council president mavy yes for the good of the court if I may yes um just for recognizing you council president and your induction into the St Joe's athletic hall of fame um as an individual this time um I think that's a hell of an accomplishment and you must have had a hell of a record in school so congratulations show off that ring show interesting show that ring off the one thing that's really interesting is it was talked about the table there's there's like four records you got to be kidding me you can't beat those records by now I mean I'm out of school 50 you know I'm I'm I'm I'm no youngster anymore so that that was that that's real interesting but thank you for those kind words show that show that ring to the camera lift it up well we we got a ring I I wasn't going to wear the ring tonight because it's it's our meeting it's it's not Kevin mcka night and the wife said put the ring on Case Closed here I am that's right but thank you for those complimentary comments yes please I'd like to thank you once again for your very very Swift action when we identify a hazard on the roadways in our Township the property on on Fresh ponds in hardenberg has been cleared of of the high grass and it is once again safe to move out into the road there and I just appreciate that you're always on top of it and this isn't the first time you've you've possibly saved or likely saved people from an accident and um grateful for that as I always say it's a team effort here in East Brunswick I talked with Captain keenley they sent out a patrol car they took a look at it took a picture deemed it as a hazard taught the Ed of in Parks him and will you know it was already almost 4:00 went out there immediately and took care of it so it's always a team effort here in in our Township and I'm proud of that okay um one more thing Council pres um regarding ordinance 24-13 I I think we should just reiterate to the public that that um not to be divisive but given recent budget situations with the Board of Ed and the difficulties they're having the public should know that deliberated deeply on these issues and then we we push for as much transparency as possible um for for what they're spending the money on and we will continue moving forward to watch very closely to make sure that our taxpayers money is being allocated um with with the embracing best practices thank you motion to adjourn with the oh oh I take that back no all right you two things um first um Saturday the Township's going to be holding their first uh juneth flag raising it starts with the law Souls project at 1:30 and then probably around 3:00 for the flag raising so we hope we have some people coming out to join us for that um I'm sure it's going to be a very moving um ceremony and then my other point a lot of people here speak most Rec boed meeting I was there for the 4 and 1/ half hour marathon meeting that occurred and it was very full of emotion it was sad it was disheartening and it was also inspiring some of the many of the students that spoke that night um honestly spoke more eloquently than most adults do or can um they had a lot of great messages for our community and I think we here in the township have Avenues to try to help that healing process cuz that's definitely the message that came across there needs to be some healing going on and we do have those Avenues we have the Interfaith clergy group that can help us we have the human relations Council that can help us so I think maybe that's something we need to look at as what can we do what how can we what events can we create coming forward sooner than later to try to pull these groups together and because we are one East Brunswick and we need to get we need to make sure that we emphasize that and that we do our part um in assuring that everybody does feel included so that's something I would like to take a look at with Council and see what we can what events we could create using the resources that we already have established that's yeah I just wanted to Echo what the I got it I got it got it just wanted to Echo what the councilwoman said that uh the purpose of um then the uh fact that we have and are proud of such a diverse community that we have here means that um we do do have people that that are well-meaning and want to do the right thing um the comments that uh I made regarding the anti-Semitism I don't take back because as a family member of who who has um a long history of people who were victims of the Holocaust I can and will not um uh take back uh uh anything about eliminating individuals or the way in which um somebody perceives something as anti-Semitism uh doesn't change to me this was an anti-semitic event um what I didn't say uh was that there was anybody to blame and that the ended result will be determined by an investigation um unfortunately the sad effect of that statement um which is a fact uh was that it uh unfortunately un least the worst parts of of uh the community and that is hatred and some of the comments that came out afterwards were really terrible and hurtful and um and affected um whether it's the Muslim Community most directly affected by some of those nasty comments or students themselves that were on the yearbook uh I made a post regarding uh my feelings about that and that should never happen um for that we need to try to to work harder um for all of us to have taken uh what was a uh seen as a uh as an attack or an act on a one particular community and then it resulted in hate and hate doesn't solve hate um so I I think that we need to act very quickly to identify those sources whether they're the ones you identified there's organizations and professional groups that do this we have a bevy of people that live in our community who are uh psychologists and and individuals that work in um in dealing with helping to solve these type of issues but the talent and the and the uh professional help is out there and I think we need to work at making sure that we heal cuz I do believe underneath all of it uh that we moved here for the same reasons we wanted a good education a safe Community uh a a Comm that values and recognizes the the good uh in each other and the value of its diversity and we need to get back to that uh there were calls that I've had over the last couple of days to take even more interviews and uh that that's only inflames an already inflamed situation that will not we've uh not taken any of those and told them they will not that the effort of the town now will be at healing and I mean that sincerely uh I think we all need to play our part in doing that and I think that we can um as far as uh uh as the results of an investigation again that is on the uh Board of Education uh when they are completed with their independent investigation those results will be made available to the public but that doesn't mean that we can't start the process of healing among ourselves now thank you okay with a vter of I we can aour hi good night