e e e e e e all right calling this work session meeting on May 20th 2024 to order the time is 6:01 p.m. please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance unit states to the for it stands one nation God indivisible liy and justice for all Madam clerk roll call please council member brusher here council member coil here council member Harris here council member Patel here council member ptil here council member pointer Pres council member schmell here all right Madam clerk please read the adequate notice adequate notice of this meeting is required by the open ping Act of 1975 has been required has been provided by the annual notice sent home News Tribune Star Ledger Desi talk and news India times on December 12th 2023 and posted main lobby missile complex on the same date okay so now we're on number four oral petition and remarks going from the list I have first person Charlie crille good evening Charlie Caville New Brunswick New Brun today thank you I wanted to ask about the budget that was introduced can anybody tell me uh the timeliness of it was it introduced later than the statute and if so how late uh no no exactly no so it was introduced on time you want to explain on that sorry yeah sorry never been in 20 years yeah it it was introduced on time okay that answer I wanted to ask about the Edison Park Athletic Complex proposal that I know the county uh Commissioners are are backing they had an event this week and um you know have big plans for not only Edison Park but also the neighboring County College campus does anybody on the council have a perspective on that are you supporting it is it something you want you think is good for Edison I will let the council speak for it at the end of the meeting if they choose to okay I'd be very in hearing I know it's a project that has uh drawn some opposition from uh you know for instance like Walt stoel and folks that are you know care about open space preservation I also have to uh you know speak up and and ask why hasn't the administration responded substantively to my questions about the epd's response to the Immigrant bus I know I've been here at a couple meetings I've asked initially I was promised some response from the ba I you know have reached out multiple times to the deputy chief and the chief of the police department gotten nothing from them I see they're not here tonight but the ba is can somebody speak to this was the was what the epd did that night inappropriate I will not make comments on that but I will let the ba answer as to why they did not respond to you I've answered this previously when you were here last time and we don't have a response and I also responded to your email right so when you say you answered you answered by saying you won't respond council president I'm not going to go back and forth I already have counc President just point of order and and no disrespect to you Mr credille but are we making this an interview process he's a repor I don't mind but most reporters do this offline if no one responds back to you get no comment can't be reached that's been your Mo and many MOS for the last 30 years I know I'm just yeah because we usually don't have a back respect thank you council president this is your meeting you know you should be responding to the the council yeah yeah thank you okay just yeah in all due respect to the council um I have reached out offline I didn't get satisfactory answers and that's why I came here so last time you said that that you didn't get a comment or a response so I made sure that you got a response unfortunately if you don't like the response that's not something under our control uh that is what you'll got is what you get sorry okay well I will not accept your apology I do not find this acceptable after what happened I think the township owes the public a response and that's why I keep coming here to ask for it I hope you all read my article on this topic available free to the public online at New Brunswick today.com and I would like to hear responses from the council uh later this evening if anybody uh read it watched the videos has a response I would encourage you to speak up since the administration is exercising their right to remain silent on this uh it's a very serious matter I think there may have been violations of the US Constitution violations of civil rights and uh you know my concern comes from the fact that the videos were not released pursuant to the Oprah request until after a lawsuit was filed and now that the truth is out there everyone who had anything to do with it is being silent and not owning up to uh to that and and you know before you respond I do also want to share with you a document if I may so for your information this is some responses I got from NJ Transit who did substantively respond to a series of questions and I uh uh you know can report that the Edison police when this whole thing went down it was about 2:30 in the morning and they told uh you know the the folks they talked to that the train station was not open 247 and implied that they had missed the last train and would have to move along but actually that night there was a special train it was New Year's New Year's Eve into New Year's morning and so there was a train that arrived you can see it in the body warn camera videos and the Edison police in addition to all the shenanigans all the inappropriate comments um they gave bad information about about when the when the trains were coming and folks that could have just gotten on the train and there would have been no issue were interfered with their right to travel was interfered with and ultimately a issue was created where there was no issue by the Edison police so I think somebody should own up to that I see the chief's back so Mr chair I hope that you'll yield the floor to the Chief and let the chief respond on behalf of the police department about whether what happened or not that night was appropriate and I hope that you speak up yourself I understand uh but unfortunately this is not a place you mind yes I will let the council speak as you pointed out sir at the very beginning you believe that there may have been civil rights violations other violations committed um whether or not that's the case I'm not going to comment on but I will advise the council that the unfortunate reality is and today's climate commenting on it can only hurt you in the event that there is any kind of lawsuit now or in the future so take that as it will all right well I think in the United States of America we should have have transparency the people of Edison deserve better than this um you know the obstruction around the op request was essentially a cover up and we need the FBI to come in thank you all right next person up is Stephanie wmer hi I'm Stephanie warmer 48 Bradley Drive I'm here to discuss the resolution for the change order for the sports building roof I'm on the Edison jety board the parents auxiliary for Edison Boys Baseball I'm on the parents board for Edison High football I'm a catechist at St Matthews a coach for the girls Spring football at Jets I'm a mother of three boys and I work full-time I'm not listing my community service for accolades but rather to show I have a passion to give back not only for my boys but for the good of the community when the mayor had a Roundtable to discussion with the Sports organization I was glad that they opened the discussion up to all board members and what was clear when I was brought to the table was that women were not well represented equal opportunity is important to me because growing up as an athlete it was clear boys were more highly regarded than girls and while things are getting better there is still work to do when the discussion was brought up around bringing Turf to the Jets I brought up the fact that our girls had no space of their own to practice no longer is cheerleading just cheering on the sideline for the boys but a sport where girls are tumbling holding each other up and learning sportsmanship from their coaches I watch cheer coaches fight for space at the middle school and also rent space from gyms to practice their routines in spite of all the odds against them the Edison Jets have won title after title regionally and and most recently nationally this past year our cheerleaders have for years shared space with the Edison Jets Little Eagles wrestling and of course the building we will be shared with them going forward last year we were able to start offering girls flag football we had six girls on the team and due to the construction of the turf we were forced to practice at the park on Central AV and contend with dog poop bugs and uneven ground the girls of Ed yet again showed they were forced to be reckoned with and were able to win games with the help of the turf field this year the program has grown to 22 we hope to continue to grow the program with the building we can start earlier and enter into flag tournaments that take place early in the spring we were grateful that the Town Council approved the building however without the change order being approved we would be at the mercy of waiting for insurance to continue construction which has already been plagued with weather issues every day we are stalled in another day the kids of Edison do not get access to the space I've seen on social media people complaining about the cost of the building and that it won't be offered to enough kids we are one of the few programs in this town that offer something for both boys and girls and we never ever turned a child away between the Jets and the Little Eagles alone we're talking about 400 kids the Jets have relationships with many other sports in town and we offer space when we can provide it while millions of dollars have been allocated for this building it would be shameful to make these kids continue to wait because of $187,000 I implore you to please pass this change order thank you for your time thank you [Applause] next up Joy Freeman Joy sh Freeman I applaud the young lady that came up uh because I did a full-time work and I did cheerleading and I think it's very important for female sports and I'm glad that they added flat foot flat foot flag football and they're giving out scholarships for that so I think that's wonderful I think with the massive amount of money we SP spent already hey what's 187,000 more you get it done at all now about the meetings and stuff I know sometime it's just like spitting in the wind because I some other seniors called me today and said where are the meetings where the meeting they said all they keep saying is a celebration from April they're not able to see the meetings at a decent time the ones that do not have Wi-Fi at all now I want to ask about the um mini bville building I want to know when the rubber floor was poured into the building when did when when did it first exist and I see that we have a massive amount of Engineers and I would like to know why we don't have a project manager and I would like to know the problem with the buildings and extra stuff is we don't have a project manager we don't have the skills we don't have it listed we don't have all this information we just go and throw something against wall and we go Oh They'll like that boom boom there's nobody there's no type of structure that goes on we just throw it up against the wall like spaghetti and if the good piece sticks it sticks and that's really sad to me because everybody's talking about the two tons of change orders with this town that's all we have is change orders change orders change orders where is the project manager where is the person when we actually um say we're doing a project where where's that person you know what I mean we wouldn't have all these change orders because it's unfair to them and it's unfair to other people that all of a sudden we need some more money at the same time all right I don't think that's fair at all another thing I would like to know is how many company cars go home every night how many cars how many cars are from Edison how much money are we spending on gas for everybody and cars that we're giving out to people you know I don't mind a person that's going to be on call okay but some of the other people that have getting cars and the enormous salaries they get I think that's a bit ridiculous and our master plan so we're going to have a master plan now that after all the lawsuits go down to new bronic and we lose them then they're all going to be put on the master plan and then we're going to be okay with it okay oh and and instead of sending out the Illuminator a lot of people would like to have a piece of paper saying oh when you get to Amoy Avenue that's going to be closed off today and at a certain spot in wdge Avenue is going to be closed off I know that was like a three minute ride for you to get to your job or your destination ah now it's going to be a half an hour out the way it would be good if you sent somebody that and somebody asked me about the uh budget I told them I said it's semantics they only have to introduce it to you they don't have to present it at this time and I want to know why if a the building is like 50 years old or more that you don't know that as best as is in the building how do you not know that the building is toxic and then you oh we got this bid we got five million we have this bid over here oh but we got to add some more change ERS because of the that's ridiculous that's ridiculous we shouldn't know better than that at all and then when they're talking about all these bonds these bonds that we have people think everything is good but what I don't like is I don't like it co- Mingle when you Cal minkle it you make the law enforcement and you make the fire department think that the people don't agree with the particular Bond let them have their bond separately and then you Bond something else in the other way because that's not fair to people at all because out of all this bonding this whole Administration will be gone when the chickens come home the roost when everybody got to pay that extra money and the extra ta taxes and I don't think it'll be fair because a lot of these young people who have young children now oh it it'll come it'll come up later on it may not come up now but later on down the road when it's time for them to go to CH college and go other places it'll be that way and then finally talking about the the final part about the budget um I rolled the dice I took a chance I didn't know I didn't know I thought the person who couldn't handle their HOA fees was able to budget correctly but I see now and I'm looking through the budget and I'm looking at this stuff and I'm looking at us with this all this extra extra extra money now I don't mind us spending money for good things but some of the other stuff some of these people and some of this double paying for lawyers and double paying for this some of this stuff I mean does anybody up there anybody up here read the faul act because it's like so many people up in that office and the F forner act doesn't it doesn't go for that at all but I'm just saying and I'm saying that at the end that we're spending wasteful money the money that's in important the money is important to spend for that for the young people in our but all this extra money to all these lawyers all these Engineers all these other people it's millions of dollars that we're spending and guess what and as Richard Lord says we're we we're reviewing that we're reviewing that we're reviewing that because we're not answering anything thank you thank you chice uh next up on the list is Joel bassoff Joel bass off 17 Beach Lane I have several questions uh first of all regarding public Advocate um that the planning board recently denied an application for a building on the corner of Amboy and cabat avenues and the decision was correct but the planning board did not solicit expert witnesses to counter the testimony of the applicants experts so now the applicant is suing the planning board and Superior Court uh to in an attempt to reverse the planning board's denial so now the planning board has to pay to defend itself against the lawsuit and they could lose in court because there were no expert Witnesses in opposition to the applicants expert Witnesses so if we had had a public advocate in that case a public Advocate could have put in expert Witnesses could have built an airtight case the applicant rather than suing may very well have come back with a scaled back application would have been suitable but some people say that well we shouldn't have a public Advocate because oh I'm sorry am I interrupting no I'm asking him a question about public advocate so that I'm not misinformed but the ostensible reason for not having a public Advocate is that it would be costly well it's going to be costly for the planning board to defend against this lawsuit and even more costly if they lose so my question is under the scenario how is it that we were better off without a public Advocate okay another question is the J Dynasty property is Edison still planning to purchase that another question um concerning um given that the planning board missed its 45-day deadline to come back with a report on repealing the four-story ordinance for Amboy Avenue uh when will the repeal of that ordinance beond the agenda or is the council and is the administration trying to give a developer more time to file an application for four stories uh regarding parking on cabat Avenue uh cars park at the commercial building on the corner of cabat and Amboy and they extend into the cabat Avenue right of way so can the council president or someone on the council speak to the public safety director to get parking enforced uh the municipal code section 10- 9.6 prohibits obstruction of streets and public ways uh with vehicles um there's a section uh 7-18 that um governs angled parking it's reserved so there's angled parking going on there but it's not authorized by the ordinance you can check that and New Jersey statutes 39 colon 4-38 uh says that there's to be no parking within 50 ft of a stop sign and some of those cars are within 50 ft of a stop sign so when can we get enforcement of the parking regulations for that location um now regarding the bond ordinance uh there's uh money in there for Amboy Avenue Road resurfacing my question is why would the town Township be resurfacing a County Road it's County Route 501 and then on the agenda item 8A uh there's an item uh for renewing the contract of a finance consultant for over $200,000 now since we have a Chief Financial Officer what does government strategy group do and since we're paying over $200,000 for a finance consultant in addition to what we pay for our own inhouse Finance Department why is the budget a month late regarding the March 11th work session and censorship when will the recording of of that March 11th work session meeting be restored to the the YouTube channel and to the Edison TV channel it's just censorship pure and simple to take down an entire meeting is it because someone cursed or is it because maybe someone on the council said something that the administration is unhappy with and that's just a pretext for hiding the video uh also on the agenda items 11 H and J there's uh $247,000 worth of change orders uh has anyone questioned the legitimacy of those change orders uh and then something that really should have been on the agenda several meetings ago uh the ordinance with updated definitions for warehouses distribution centers and fulfillment centers uh when will we have that ordinance or are we waiting for the industry to draft the ordinance with appropriate loopholes for us can you repeat that one sorry the last one so at one point the council considered an ordinance with updated definitions for Logistics centers warehouses distribution centers and fulfillment centers the ordinance was pulled uh it had some glaring loopholes and we haven't seen that ordinance revived so my question is when will we see the ordinance and uh maybe I'm being sarcastic maybe I'm I'm hitting on the truth are we waiting for the industry to draft that ordinance for us so they can put in the loopholes that they're looking for so those are my questions oh well you came prepared Joel all right well I'll start from the bottom okay okay so for the waiting us to when we're going to put that in we will put it up soon when it's ready I don't have a specific timeline we are working as a council together not with the industry as a council to put it together but we do have to come to agreement because putting it up to fail is not the solution to here we're looking for we're looking for something that can pass and something that works for the town um for the work session to be reposted I am not too sure who handles that I have the answer actually I can respond to that yes I spoke to Bob deal today and he said that that that work session can be found on YouTube but they will not be restoring it to Edison TV so it is available no censorship just available on YouTube uh as to the government strategies the 8A Sonia can you answer that as to what does the finance consultant service do in addition the company serves as our financial um director of the entire department so uh can you expand a little bit just essentially she's the one that's running the whole dep correct so under Finance globally you have obviously the finance department their payroll services there's tax collection tax assessor um and uh everything that we handle with regard to our financials whether it's processing of our bills um but it oversees all of the staff within that department and it's been like this for I want to say 10 years or so so they've been here a long time and their services are great thank you Sonia uh as for the bond surface ordinance and the road res surfing is that a county roote as to why there's no Road resurfacing it's a specifically the title it's um Amboy app streetscape Improvement project um and just to go back we did cancel those ordinances for the Amboy and this really just reintroduces some of the projects we were going to do um or they had allocated years ago so we're just reintroducing that okay uh in terms of sorry I can't read my own handwriting oh parking enforcement on the C calber and Amboy uh can we get someone on that please sure I did check with the chief and he can certainly elaborate um we're not aware of enforcement issues obviously if there are we would appreciate if you could just give us a call and we'll take care of it um but we didn't have any specific issues to report on parking no okay uh I think we're good there uh repeal of the agenda uh in terms of J Dynasty I'm not sure what the administration's plan is there uh have not told me anything about it um there is none council president okay and terms of public Advocate and the experts as of right now where we stand we do have the ability to hire experts and they can uh if they felt that that court or that particular case did not require experts then it is up to the board to decide whether they hire them or not but it is in their right and they have the financial needs we haven't sure as a council to do that so it is a judgment call I believe you believe that there needs to be experts on that maybe they felt as the they already have experts uh Engineers they already have can you elaborate counselor usually applications they have them reviewed by the engineers and by the planning um planner uh in order to have a response and in order to respond accurately during the hearing raise questions raise issues with any kind of submitted plan so that the board can make an informed decision those are the the retained experts that work for the board and also the reports that uh Hank bnell makes those are all really well detailed and pertaining to as a court case they could be used so I believe we are plenty we are loaded up in terms of tools to you know fight over development and I don't necessarily agree with your assessment that a public Advocate would have made any situation different uh but thank you thank you Joel okay you'll hear followup all right uh moving on to anybody that would like to speak come on up after Nasser Pleasant Avenue I enjoy seeing the discussion items that our Council people put on the agendas the items that you put into discussion lists give the public Insight on who you guys are and what you stand for and what issues you care about I'm fortunate that six of the seven Council people engage with me through texts phone calls emails offline chats so I have a good idea of who you are however those residents who don't engage with you as I do would likely be unaware of who or what you represent so I had a hypothesis I said that we can learn about who you are without listening to a word you say so I decided de to put all your discussion items from this year into an AI to generate a response of what matters to you so the disclaimer I have with this is that I think it did a good job of capturing the spirit of the council people but not necessarily how you vote so we'll start with councilman Brasher said that your concerns are on community governance council president this is point of order this is not something that she this is the oral petitions and remarks it's open comment it has to do with municipal AI let me let me make this he is allowed to make any comments that he chooses even if we don't like it if the AI comes back and says we don't care about certain things it's fine you are more than welcome to defend yourself because I don't necessarily agree with his assessment that the AI based on the discussion items that we put up is what it is we can care about a lot of other things pushing other agendas but discussion could be something that we talk about because we want to talk about it in public and not necessarily everything we do needs to be discussed in public but that is your call to say whatever you please you can continue Maron please so I agree with what the AI put there I decide to to have an unbiased I don't think that you're going to hear anything that you wouldn't have liked but uh we do have decorum that we spoke about the other time and I don't appreciate being interrupted your Council think what you're doing is juvenile councilman Co please you AI counil Co to to it's ridiculous can use AI in his speech let the res everyone please I will have to ask for a resar if you do not let the resident speak I'm here to listen to him I can listen to you guys after he's done I promise all right continue now I didn't say that the speech wrote my AI said that this is the input of the discussion items that you put there and AI generated an answer of what you stand for all right councilman prasher your concerns and I hope I'm going to get my time back your concerns are on community governance including including infrastructure Public Safety Environmental Protection Economic Development and Social Services you're get dedicated to addressing a wide range of issues to enhance the overall well-being and quality of life for residents councilman coil your concerns are on fostering a thriving and sustainable Community with a focus on economic Vitality social equity and the overall well-being of residents I think that's a nice thing to say councilman ptil your concerns are on Public Safety infrastructure Community Development and fiscal management with a focus on addressing residents needs and concerns to enhance the overall quality of life in the community councilman Harris you've kind of broke the AI at stall for a little bit your concerns are on local government or Community leadership with a focus on addressing a variety of issues and concerns relevant to the residents Council M Patel your concerns are about being involved in Community Development and improvements uh Improvement efforts particularly focusing on infrastructure transportation and communication councilman pointer you were concerned about various aspects of Community Development governance Environmental Conservation and technological innovation councilman schm I couldn't find any discussion items in the last five months that you've been a council member if I overlook this please let me know I will give you a free pass because you are the newest addition and the Ed voted you in nonetheless I'm hopeful that you will add one or two more things in the next month if you need a quick place to reference look at the email I cc to all council members last week in regards to safety councilman shamuel since I haven't had any items to send to the AI the only way I can gain insight about you is on what you have voted on I don't know if you're aware of this but every vote in some shape or form that deals with clar barn you have voted against be that the resolution from 4 to three or even something that would benefit the entire time town at public Advocate as I understand there is a lawsuit between the planning board and the town it sure would have been great if we had more expert testimony by the town if we lose this is a clear indication of why we need a public Advocate we barely had any expert testimony by the town councilman schmel I hope that before you build your 15% of the vote against clar B again that you connect with me offline as I do with the other six members of the Council on a given day better yet you could meet the people clar B at their monthly meetings that just about every council person here has a attended if you do I sure that you would easily find one discussion item to add my guess is that you're a reasonable person and that you would stand up for the quality of life of the people who elected you now we don't need AI to find something striking this week if you look at discussion items for this week only Northend Edison Council Members have listed items for Clara Bon you would think that since Clara Barton is on the South side at least one of the four council members in clar Bon would mention the hot topics of the res I will end with this two weeks ago we asked the council legal team about how can we move forward about the four to3 story language with the which the planning board um has decided that they're going to do an unlimited time study um and it'll likely be wrong so where can we move forward uh I do not want to wait on the planning board to go ahead and take a year two years and also come back with the wrong decision so where does that leave us now you said that you would have an answer for us so we are still in the same position um we're in the position we were in before it was sent over to the planning board which is um that we have the option to Nuke the entire uh ordinance um which has its own problems uh we have the option to rewrite the ordinance ourselves uh vote on it introduce it send it over to them again there could be issues there or we could do what was suggested uh and what was actually carried out which is ask the planning board to rewrite the ordinance appr appropriately which is what they're in the process of doing the way that they're supposed to do it all right and given everything I said and since there was one council member that had a problem with what I said if you feel I said something that was incorrect or unreasonable this is your time to go inad and reject your time is up thank you up there uh I definitely think it's unreasonable what you did councilman Co he asking a question I'm answer not you're a school teacher I'm just surprised you would do that one of my Council colleagues he's a new member you know that just wrong with I will I will I will address that we've did very good of ERS private meetings may I ask for a recess thank you motion to go in The Recess or five minutes and may I get a second second all right we'll be back at 6:40 the meeting is not over we'll be back in five minutes thank you e e e e e e e e e we got 11 seconds 11 second all right the work session of May 20th is back in order so if everyone can please uh in the please sit down so we can have our meeting started again thank you very much now I am going to go answer Ur as to what he asked first I honestly think that is unfair to categorize someone's work based on only the discussion items as I stated earlier this is a portion of what the council does not everything that they do this is something that they choose to discuss in public and councilman Shel is a new councilman and I personally think is very important and I personally went through this it's very important to listen and understand and figure out everything before you start talking and the other thing I want to mention here is that if you want people to work with you doctor this is a word of advice I always like to not antagonize people that then they choose to work with you if you antagonize them I don't think necessarily you're asking for help you're just looking to antagonize now going on to the clar Barton section I would like uh Hank if you don't mind coming up explaining what's going on in the three stories and the four stories uh because that is an concern of the clar Barton and I want to make sure we address it good evening ladies and gentlemen um the planning board received your your request to look at the change to the ordinance or the rehabilitation plan from four stories down to three stories since the master plan is still Ono going they hired or asked the master plan planner that group to to um to look at that that in detail and provide that information I think that'll be back to them within 30 days or so and it should be part of the overall plan one way or the other I haven't decided either way but that's what they've done so they are they are working on it AB they're not they they're looking at it and the people that they were at the meeting too I heard the same thing I heard so it's it's going to be before the before the planning board as as she completes her report and while I have you here can you elaborate on public Advocate I know you might not be able to comment on everything but what is your opinion as to a public advin uh never mind yeah I don't want to my opinion okay you know what that is fair I will not put but I'm not sharing with you so let's do it that way I will not put you on the spot that is unfair uh but that would be it for now okay clar Bon uh I will move on to anybody else that would like to speak uh come on up Sir you can come on good evening everybody uh my name is Dan boslet uh 5B Center Street I was born and raised in this town I was born in JFK hospital I've been here for 50 years I left for college came right back as I loved the town I've been involved in every all I shouldn't say every most of the Rec Sports in town as either a player or a coach or an EB member um I'm here to speak to you tonight about the resolution for the money comp to complete or for the roof of the sports building there's a few things I want to point out my fellow board member Steph did an eloquent job and covered most of the bases so I don't have to she does that most of the time she's a great board member she takes care of everything um there's a few issues that need to be pointed out the money from what I've been told and what I understand is more or less a bridge laan we pay it to keep construction going the errors and Emissions Insurance uh errors and omissions insurance of our engineer or architect whoever is in charge of making that plan up should be responsible to reimburse for that which is great we'll get it back hopefully you all know how insurance companies work yeah wait yeah wait yeah wait before you know it it's two weeks it's four weeks it's two months now not only does that delay our completion of the building but that construction company is not going to sit on their hands and wait for us to say okay go ahead and do it they're going to charge for every day that they're not allowed to work so now it's snowballs so even a bigger Bill if we wait or we table it or we hesitate that's as important as the time frame we want to get this thing finished there's many children that are waiting for this with baited breath and any delay would hurt their chances of getting into it this this coming winter it's not that far away to where we have time to burn we really don't every day counts we had a terrible spring and it delayed with all the rain we had it delayed days of work constantly I would go over there and check with the guys and yeah Sor right Dan we got to get the pumps going everything's filled with water sorry we're gone for another four days another two days we're not going to be able to work so with the unar characteristically wet spring and now this change order possibly delaying things it's it's going to be a long shot to have it done by the winter and we desperately desperately need it for the winter I'd like to you guys to take that into consideration when you pass your boat when you make your decision and keep in mind that again this is more or less a bridge loan to get us through and hopefully the town will get it back all right thank you for your time and thank you council president yeah um I I do hear you know what what the um the residents are saying about the sports facility um and just to be on the record right this isn't endless money that can be given out um this I guess we're up to about 12 million uh for one organization I think I spoke to the president about it I said if I was mayor it' probably be a $5 million facility and the other groups in the town would have also gotten $5 million and you probably could have built yourself a pretty nice facility you know you might not have had the um little extra accompaniment like um a generator right or a basement but you would have had the square footage for the children that's for sure um I know when the cheerleaders came and they had a problem where they couldn't get room for mats in the schools I made sure that we have room for the kids for Matts in the school and Herbert um so the children have always been Paramount but my question is um they talk about a schedule do you guys have any timeline when you believe you're supposed to get this building there's no back and forth because and the reason why I asked that is I I believe I asked the administration last week for a schedule um and they're unable to get a schedule so I thought maybe the leagues might have better knowledge than um you know the the mayor Administration I there's no back and forth I I appreciate the information but I will right and and and this is where I go with it is there's information that I still haven't received I know the ba is trying to acquire me the this information uh my personal feeling is that we should have had it already um nothing I'm asking for and that's going to be my discussion items but so I'll get into that well I think we'll wait till that particular portion to have that discussion okay I I'll go through it at that time thank you council president uh anybody else come on [Music] sumone Barber 85 Pleasant Avenue you recognized hi can I ask Mr bignell a question big no unfortunately you have to ask me the question and okay so um I I sent everybody a letter I I know you've gotten it I I heard from councilman brusher and I see councilman brusher and uh Council vice president Harris and councilman patile have um claraa Barton and the three to four stories on their uh talking points tonight um what we heard at the planning board is not really footing with what Mr mcnell just said but maybe it's changed but what we heard at the planning board and why um you know we're not crazy uh it really did look like the the resolution was intentionally buried was that um we need to do a study on the area um to determine why there has been no develop for story development in the area since 2016 and um uh what is economically uh realistic or feasible I forget the exact language and um we were also told there's no timeline on that study when we compare to what was in the master plan with the four stories um it was pointed out that um Jade Dynasty and Stewarts both um still were in the master plan as benefiting from four stories um lots and properties don't benefit real estate agents and developers benefit what at the detriment of the neighboring homes um but that aside um we were told that those two properties because they are large Lots were ilustrative of what could what might be more beneficial on a large lot on Amboy Avenue so it was an easy um line to draw that any new study will cover lots that might also benefit from four stories um and there was absolutely we were told no time line on this study then councilman pointer when he gave his recap at the at the council meeting said that um uh who are they be who's the the master plan people bfj BF bfj bfj or bfp yeah um uh that um they were doing a review and then um the council attorney said the planning board turned it over to their experts to be Rewritten and now what Mr Bell just said is similar to that that it does have a timeline on it and it the language is being looked at to be changed so none none of that hung together based on what we were told the night of the planning board so that's one thing so we're not crazy it's good if that's the real story and that's what's going to happen that's good it's still does seem like a delay because because of the mixed messages and also because the there CL Clara Barton Amboy Avenue don't need another study we've had study after study after study that aside I I see on on tonight's agenda the talking points by councilman brusher um councilman Harris and councilman ptil but I would like to ask directly um a couple of questions to the other council members if I may um I'm directing this to you uh council president and to you John and to you Assaf um why I I I'm pretty sure the the three council members that I mentioned earlier would move to an or ordinance we don't have to wait for the planning board you have the power you guys can move to an ordinance why what's in the way of that and why won't you and and if someone presented an ordinance would you um vote Yes on it and if not why not um and uh Council M muel Clara Barton is the C center of the universe for us and this town should be grateful that there are people advocating for their Community we shouldn't be scolding for that so I don't I don't know what's happening now and I don't I I hope that you don't one minute hold that against us but I would like an answer to that like what is in the way and would the three of you vote for um a an ordinance that reduced to three stories it's not hard as I said it's political and Joe I'm not I'm not asking you that question because I know where you stand and I know why you stand there you have a financial interest in one of the properties um so I'd like an answer to that question all right so I will leave it to the council members if they choose to answer it uh would you like to answer anything yeah sure um any other items I want yeah before we take your time any other questions no that's it okay all right thank you sir we'll stop talking about Amboy Avenue if we go to three stories okay you can sit down we'll have a councilman answer for myself I'm not opposed to it I'm not going to give any guarantees that's not how I am I wait for the information to be presented back to which we sent to the planning board for them to provide their report amendments and send it back here so once I get that I'll will formalize my final thoughts and comments based on that uh considering that I said yes to send it to the planning board I think that should automatically indicate that I'm not opposed to it the question as to what's in the way of an ordinance because it's done through the Redevelopment aspect when it was originally sent to the planning board when the planning board originally reviewed the plan and the study they made their indication based on that it was in conformance with the master plan the 2003 master plan so when we're talking about going and automatically updating an ordinance that does not have any updated backup document to show that this change would be in conformance with the master plan I find then that we would be liable as a Township and probably lose in court because we literally had something presented to the planning board they found it in conformance with the master plan it was sent back to council council did not object to it so therefore that council at that time different Council there what's up here agreed with the planning board's assessment so you have two governing bodies at that point that have said that those changes are in conformance with the master plan just updating the audience yes you can do it I think that legally we would become liable on it which is why all the times that we've discussed this I've kept on saying that we need to go back to the Redevelopment plan itself versus just making the adjustment I hope that provides some clarification as to why I think you have to go the redevelop plan route in the amendment before it gets to the Ori I understand the concern in regards to How It lines up with the current master plan revision it makes it kind of a a unique circumstance to have both being worked on side to side but I hope my explanations at least give detail as to why I think the more appropriate course is to wait for the recommendation back from the planning board thank thank you Council M and and I agree with councilman pointer uh what he said legally is a sound decision to wait also from what I have heard from Hank and other members that they are working on it actively working on it I know they're working not as fast enough as we would like but I am okay to patiently wait for something good then Rush something bad uh especially if we just do it for the sake of doing it and open oursel up to litigations and not exactly getting what we want even if you pass the ordinance and if they do four storage and we deny them they could have legal uh ways to get that and we won't be able to do anything at that point uh so yeah I would rather do it right than do it wrong and even if it takes time I'd rather take that time to make it sure that we do it right uh that would be my answer for that and in terms of the hypothetical unfortunately I I I hate to say yes to a hypothetical ordinance that is perfect because I find no ordinance is perfect there's always uh devil in the details uh there might be something that I might not agree with if not one everything but it might be something and for that I might you know hold back but yeah that's that anybody else that would like to speak come on oh uh councilman sh sorry I you asked why I don't speak well you got a concise answer from councilman pointer and and even a more detailed answer from Council president and to Echo them I I would I would want to look at the plans and I really don't have an objection to three stories or four stories um but we have to go through the proper channels and until we do go through the proper channels that's when I could I could vote on it council president can I Council P yes thank you council president there is a history to Clara Barton Redevelopment because I was one of the voting member back then however what was alluded here is the legal process and the legal changes which is factually not true because this Council makes the laws we are the governing body we are the legislative body we make the laws so back then we made the law putting Clara Barton into Redevelopment Zone master plan was not changed so let me put the fact here master plan remains as is it is I don't know how many years old 40 50 60 we passed the legislation that put the Clara Bart into Redevelopment Zone we even looked at the possibility of putting the four story to give the economic viability for that particular neighborhood fast forward it years down the road the area is not redeveloped so this body who propos that law has every single right to repeal that law and get back to square one without any litigation if someone has a conflict of interest I'm not talking about the council in terms of the redeveloper who has the active case yes that person might be able to sue the town however if there are no active planning or zoning board cases in that neighborhood I don't think the anything stops this this Council can tonight revoke put the resol uh mood the motion to revoke that ordinance thank you council president point of clarification thank you Council uh can I have the council answer the clarification and then I'll get to you council president one sec let me have the counc explain and then we'll move on certainly I just want to reiterate the point that Mr pointer has made that yourself has made um that the the the best the most unassailable way of doing this is the way that you're doing it now so that there is an actual study so that there's actual backup for the change so that anyone who has a vested property interest in clar Barton um can't challenge any action by the township uh Council can't challenge any kind of change to the ordinance uh can't potentially overturn disrupt or um upset anything that this Council attempts to do it's why it's going through the actual process um that is done to ensure that you have an actual zoning ordinance that works uh and that can be enforced councelor councilman poiner if you would like to and just as a a point of clarification I did say that we could pass the ordinance I find that it would make us liable I also find it a little ironic that there are individuals that support the public Advocate and support this process but then don't want the backing documents to support that decision so thank you thank you Council poter would you like to speak Council counc I just wanted to make a few comments because some people assume I have a predictive uh answer to what I may say or support I mean I've been on Amboy Avenue longer than most people doing great work to keep the community the way it is and I know there's a lot of people in this room that do the same um but I I I think we've come to a closer opportunity meeting together and trying to find a resolution um to predict that four stories over three stories is the answer of why things aren't happening on mway Avenue it's not a factual statement it's an opinion uh and we've have 30 units that are built over 35 years so automatically you're you say in your opinion although you say for everyone which is not true it's not working because of because of the four story it's just not working when I'm sorry I'm speaking council president snow back and and I mean it's just an opinion you have you have to get out of the woods when people come to spend $15 million in your community you have to listen to see what and how we can work together for that opportunity hey I could live with three stories so many of us can but still at the table it's more about what they're going to invest in community what matches the residents and what they want the opportunity but and aside you won't carefully listen to any of the business people you said stated you don't care about the business people they don't live here not true several people live in the community and you just have to look at other townships and how they're falling to be a service community and we're just three four stores away from being service you you've set sat in meetings before about complaints to any nail salons we don't comp we don't control who rents space landlords control that based on the demand who comes to them and if they feel like doing a full search or just live with what who's come to them that's going to pay so that's not in our wheelhouse but when you talk about Economic Development and bringing more opportunity to bring specialy stores I think that's where we're working parallel together but to say four stories it's this is the whole reason why things AR not happening it just becomes the timing of who's selling at the time and and what's available and who wants to make the investment we have 30 units in 30 years and you're you're acting as a factual statement that the neighborhood is going down thehill uh one person makes a statements it's devastating the neighborhood okay devastating a neighborhood we're appr prais values are at $600,000 for a single family home $600,000 for a single family home just show me the data I'm open to sit down and listen but we have to weigh the option of how investment matches risk matches a financial game for the community so we start to have a mixed plan of service restaurants and specialty stores I love to climb that way with you I'm open I listened I put out my I lent my hand to you I've been out met with you I've taken numerous phone calls from each one of you and talk to you face to face I'm sorry that I've been sporting since 1992 I'm sorry that I'm out there working the gardens and making sure things look nice I don't see some of you out there working every day to make it look beautiful making sure graffiti is not making sure cars aren't selling all block making sure trucks aren't parked everywhere I wish we all would gang up together and go down to the area on the south end where where Avenue Is by The atalian American Club and do the same because that's where blading is has been for a while and we're doing nothing about that so I just we have to put our heads together and I'm open to sit down and you know you can call me thank you thank you Council mcoy anybody else would like to speak come on up Keith Ying three Carmelo Drive um I'm also the vice president of the Adison Jets like to apologize for the council for speaking out of turn like to apologize to you Mr brusher for speaking while you were speaking um but I do want to clarify some of the things you were saying uh as far as the timeline our timeline is as soon as possible um last year at the beginning of before our season even started um our water was shut off at our existing concession stands and restrooms we didn't have them all season we've had portons down there for the last year plus uh we still don't have the electricity on for our Stadium lights so our our timeline is as soon as possible um and and to clarify something else you said it's not all this money going to one organization we play well with others uh Edison United uses our fields and most likely will be using the facility as well Edison wrestling our cheerleaders uh Midtown softball holding pitching and catching clinics in there um Edison Boys Baseball when they have overflow for their clinics um I mean we we our doors open to the entire Sports community in Edison and and beyond that we have no no thought of keeping things from anyone or keeping anyone out of a of a facility that's for everyone um but we do need to get the ball rolling I mean we see the progress and if it stops it's just going to make it worse and we're going to go another season without having concession stands another season in PTO John's that honestly are horrible not because they're not come to be that the township doesn't do their part to send people out to clean them and maintain them the way they do but because other residents in the town don't treat them with any amount of respect they see them and they see an opportunity the fishing derby was uh uh beginning of May and you know the same day of the fishing derby someone threw fish that they had caught at the lake inside the Porton the day after they had been cleaned so when we're down there practicing with our girls for flag football we have to smell rotting fish so we need the building to move along so that we don't have to deal with those kind of things it's not a question of we're getting all of this to one organization again we we share with everybody we work with every many of us are board members and and members of all these other organizations throughout town and we are more than happy to make it available and share that with them we we just the thought that it's only going to one organization is just not true that's all I got thank you thank you for your time council president CC if you don't if you don't mind can we wait till we get to the discussion and we can discuss it at once if you don't mind this is in relation to what he said okay um yeah I mean listen I get that I I really like to hear that you guys are going to share this um with everyone else unlike you guys I guess I've sat up here and I've heard like that this building was going to be used also for basketball now in looking at the drawings I don't see a way that you can use them for basketball so so I was told by somebody in the administration what this was going to be used for and then I'm looking at plans and it doesn't and I do understand you're you're wanting to get in there right uh as soon as poss possible and I really do um I do understand that the mayor asked you guys to come down here so this doesn't hold you up right I mean I heard it with my own ears too but but we all know what that was I mean you know this was um so the mayor could get this thing approved without somebody going through and betting the numbers themselves um so I hope that you guys stay till we get to that discussion item so you can understand the problems that there are with this change order and just to say spend the money and we hope to get it back um as a councilman that's here to watch over all the money yeah that's kind of hard to do when we're talking about maybe it could be held up for a week and a half um where I'm looking at that you guys can't be even in there right now until at least November at a at a minimum that's if everything goes great and you have Sunshine so that's just from being in construction my whole life otherwise I don't see how it gets done so whether it's November 1st or November 15th um 20 years from now when these children are the coaches there no one's ever going to remember this you know what I mean this is this is the Small Potatoes of it um the place will be built the children be playing there nobody remembers about the Shamrock field which the township paid for and we spent the money to build the entire Shamrock field which I was a part of by the way um that now is sitting there uh overgrown with grass not used um so so I I definitely know about spending money and I definitely know about spending money for the Youth um but this process isn't really that long um to do if the administration gets me the information which you'll see my questions later on all these questions I could have had on Friday today's Monday I could actually have it before I leave here very good possibility that there is no problem maybe the architect didn't even make a mistake to be honest with you I can't even fall into that category yet but I you know I appreciate your your love for the sport um for a residence um I don't think there's any bad intention by anybody you know with the Jets um reminds me to Shamrocks when when I was younger so um I commend you guys for doing that and for coming down but at the end just listen to what I have to say that's all I'm asking thank you thank you councilman brusher anybody else that would like to [Music] speak hi good evening my name is Jen westak from Gail's Road in Edison I am also a lifelong resident born and raised here for 50 years um I grew up through the Edison Jets program and um I have to say uh that we've come a long way from the lyen now school parking lots and all the cuts from all the glass and the cans where we used to practice um my children are growing up through the Edison Jets program I have a football player and a cheerleader I'm currently on the eboard I help run the chair program um my son is also a little Eagles wrestler I think that the facility is wonderful for all the children of Edison um I just as far as basketball goes this was the first I've heard of it that you know I was under the impression there were a place for basketball in every school in Edison they all have basketball hoops as far as cheer and wrestling go our mats are at Herbert hoop Hoover come November we are physically on top of each other trying to practice we are bound by the school's days off half days um when we're not allowed to use the facility and you have two organizations trying to share one small space and we definitely um you know it's definitely a distraction for the children I want this facility at the Edison jets for everyone to enjoy I'm not sure if it's possible to cover every sport in Edison I would love it to um I would never turn anyone away from using the facility we're very excited about it my cheerleaders are ecstatic our season has grown because our program has grown and we're looking forward to getting it completed so any help that we can get would be greatly appreciated thank you thank you anyone else good evening Ben's from Edison Edison New Jersey do have the floor council president you're recognized thank you council president and hello everyone good evening uh I haven't been here for quite some time and been busy with some role playing by the way uh I'm not sure you guys see my Tik Tok videos but I actually got fired as a rookie police officer if you haven't seen that check the Tik Tok videos but now I'm a lieutenant in the United States Army you can say so yeah it's it's getting crazy uh in in where I'm at in my own uh my own world but anyway back to the IRL issues in this Township I've been seeing things that are just absolutely heads scratching eye opening and too many headaches of the people behind me that is in resid I want like I'll make it short and sweet let's just get things done um the the over paying of what I've been seeing it's it's absolutely unnecessary the overpaying of the tax dollars for these people have to pay for next two years nobody ain't going to be living here anymore um the Edison Jets field okay great we got that field but we still need work to need to be done for these kids these are the future of our Township the splash park is amazing that's in in progress I just spoke to somebody uh maybe last week about it I went on the site it looks amazing I have it looks looks like um Crystal Springs but like a small version of it you know uh so yeah I just want to say thank you everybody for coming out here and showing your support and please listen to the As and resonance it's Ben take care arrest my case thank you Ben thank you anybody else that would like to speak all right seeing none can I have a motion to close the public motion close the public portion motion by councilman Coy second by Council vice president all in favor I all right all right moving on to review of minutes any comments on a through e all right seeing none uh moving on to number six reports from all Council committees uh to my right councilman brusher none at this time sir Council mcoy none sir uh Council vice president yes sir um starting with the cultural arts commission we met last Tuesday the 14th um we're still waiting to hear from Administration regarding uh pavers for the front area of the the the front entrance area to this building that we would use as a fundraiser so people would pay for whatever they want to say on a Paving block or a tile or something like that so we're waiting to hear back from Administration on that um we are are now the Clearing House for all exhibits and this is at the mayor's request and that includes the gallery I guess that would include when the fante house is completed it would be the fante house and any other exhibition space um the Human Rights Commission would like it would want to have some exhibition space in the new North Branch Library when that's built and uh we would we would like them to do an exhibit in the gallery downstairs uh L star will be redecorating the gallery for the upcoming holidays for red white and blue we also discussed displaying the names of those edits and Veterans who died in past Wars we are still waiting to receive a list of places for mural paintings also waiting for a list of utility boxes to decorate by high school students um the jazz festival lineup is coming along really well September 25th and um we have commitments from three performers um one is the is off the hook which is JP alumni group uh Carrie Jackson who's fabulous really just terrific in the style of elepant Gerald she's a jazz vocalist singer and Akiko suruga or suda she's an organist there will also be a dance troop um that's the cultural arts on the library board we also met on the 2 on the 14th and uh friends of the library book in B sale was extremely successful um alen kimman discussed the renovations the work done so far at Main at the main library and what still needs to be done prior to the official start on Tuesday that's tomorrow the North Edison Branch project is moving at a rapid Pace anticipated to go before the planning board in June or July the bookmobile is running very well the Sprinter van which is a smaller van is in the shop for mechanical issues Allan discussed the possibility of up updating the library hours for the summer and Shar the regarding the shared service agreement U Miss Massie had acknowledge that the agreement is still needed and in uh my discussion with Bob deal today it sounds like that is being that is being scheduled that is the end of that and I just want to say this is not an official report from the animal shelter but it's from an anecdotal report of my visit there a week ago Saturday in which I was so impressed by the condition of the shelter they have done great work and we have the the shelter director here Tina paskinsky wonderful things have been done in this past year it's clean there's no odor and the outdoor runs there have been additional outdoor runs most of the dogs were outside when I was there and so I'm really really pleased and and my fellow subcommittee members should be pleased by what's been going on there they had uh a drop off of 10 pointer lab puppies that were snapped up in just a in a New York minute um and so the shelter is running really really well and I was so impressed by my visit there that concludes my report thank you thank you Council vice president councilman ptil n of this time sir all right I'm going to skip councilman pointer councilman shuel not this time sir okay as for me uh just wanted to mention open space committee's uh mayor's uh tour between matachin and Edison this Sunday which was attended by uh Council vice president councilman pointer councilman Coyle the mayor and I and it was a wonderful weather we had the highest number of riders uh more than 170 at a little bit before uh the closing bell I might have bit more uh but it was wonderful and I must say I could not finish but Council vice president did finish so I'm proud of her and I'm proud of councilman pointer uh but I did love the Bike Tour it gives you an honest a different perspective of Edison when you go a little slower through all of the town you get to see a little bit more so I hope all of you do get on a bike and ride our beautiful town uh that's it for me councilman pointer any uh reports on the council committees uh no direct reports I know we have the education committee meeting tomorrow I believe uh Council m is working on the veterans committee um and I know there's a finance committee and a sub uh Public Safety Committee that is been is being working on no direct reports thank you the public safety is most probably going to be this Thursday still waiting on confirmation and I do want to make an announcement uh for the mayor's budget presentation will be on June 13th the Thursday uh so first uh again June 13th Thursday that'll be the mayor's budget presentation at 6 PM it's going to be 6 to 8 p.m. all right moving on to Points of Light any council members with any points of Lights yes counc Council vice president yes um just to piggyback on what you council president said on yesterday it was a first of all it was amazing how many people showed up for this bike tour and uh we could not have asked for better weather but I have to I have to ask uh Ray poro when did all the roads in Edison become uphill Something's Happened between last year and this year because it can't possibly be that I'm out of shape so can you maybe do something about that uh next year because uh yikes um but it was a wonderful wonderful day and um and I'll tell you what these K these these kids who were who participated just left left everyone in the dust they are they are real Troopers so it's a great a great event and I would encourage anyone who can participate next year to uh to join us um speaking of bikes I also wanted to comment on the Police Unity Tour which which uh started a week ago last Friday and ended on sun on that Sunday in Washington and I got to tell you I was at the kickoff in at the Franklin municipal building it was a horrible weather day it was it could not have been a worse weather day unless it was snowing because it was raining it was cold and this was the kind of weather that our our 17 or so Riders had going to Philadelphia but they did it and um they uh they had good weather on Friday from Philadelphia to Baltimore and then on into into Washington so um I really want to salute these members of our Edison police force and um and I I think we I I would like to offer a round of applause for the cause that they were riding for so I'd like pleas is to go out oh and uh what I I failed to mention I wanted to give my thanks with regard of the 24 Mile Bike Tour yesterday I want to thank the Edison police department Edison police auxiliary the mouen police department Department of recreation and the rvr EMS Services they uh I would be remiss if I didn't mention how seamless they make this bike tour how they keep our safety uh the safety number one and um it it could not have gone off better so if not for these particular or these particular departments it wouldn't uh it wouldn't have gone off so well so I want to thank all of them too thank you thank you Council vice president uh anybody else council president councilman Co I enjoyed the Bike Tour myself and I did bike about 1.5 miles and I did hit an uphill and I want to answer the council vice president's question because the reason why the roads are at a different slope is because all the p leing we've done more in the last 30 years in this town I want to thank to dtpw and the town for getting that done but I was most excited to see um all the young children and families together in different organizations and I agree with everything council president vice president said but most important of excitement was when I went through papet Park and I saw the new splash park and knowing that next year that's where they'll wind up at that splash park but that's going and passing the turfield uh with that were just several teams multiple sports are going on at that t field so exciting so much that never got done and so much that's getting done thank you council president thank you Council M Coy anybody else with any points of Lights All Right Moving uh for me there is the prepper shutting event on Sunday June 2nd from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. in the parking lot of the Town Halls the Memorial Day Parade will take place on Saturday May 25th starting at noon on planfield app begins at Division Street and will end at Lindell school at Blossom Street Farmers Market will take place uh starting May 30th to October 24th at swes Park every Thursday from 2: P.M to 7: p.m. and I do have to agree with everything Council vice president said that the each departments did a wonderful job through the recreation to the police department they made it seamless and very safe and I enjoyed every moment of it and I hope to redo it next year uh now moving on to each departments any questions or comments number number eight from the business administration a through C any questions or comments council president councilman pointer um in regards to item a uh my experience with the firm has been fantastic I know uh Kender Roberts has I mean he's answered every single question that I've reached out to him about so no complaints here and I'm happy to see uh hopefully they have the support to continue their services thank you council president thank you councilman pointer yeah council president I Echo the sentiment you know Ken is always Cooperative you ask any question he will answer and I'm happy that you know happy to support this resolution thank you councilman Patel councilman FR yes um I I'd like to Echo what my colleague said I I've guess known Ken's been working here on many different things for us um actually and he's been enlightening when it comes to questions about Finance which is what I think we're hiring him for but every question ever asked him um he's spent as much time as I needed for me to understand it for him to go through it so so I I do recognize his importance um to this Township thank you councilman brusher president I just wanted to Echo the words of my Council colleagues but if you haven't met Ken uh Ken will answer every question but uh this town was at a rating and much worse than we were uh 10 years ago and today he's not only bumped us up and a good credit rating but again and again and again now he's going for a fifth review putting us in you know the best place a Township can be so when it comes to leveraging money and bonding he's been our expert he's done a great job I mean it's outstanding work I'm glad this something we all agree with and uh he's also been a great teacher to all of us thank you thank you Council M coy as for me I wholeheartedly agree uh Ken has been amazing especially when he refinanced all our loans just in time and uh before the rates went up and we saved a lot of money so this 200,000 is really cheap for the amount of money he has saved us so he's been doing wonderful job and I hope we can all support uh he moving to number nine from the Department of Finance a through F any questions or comments council president Council vice president e um through uh council president to Chief Brian um can you explain what traffic calming measures are vice president so there's uh there's a lot of different Comming uh items that we can use you have the speed humps the speed bumps um there's there's a lot of them depending on where they're placed um there's a whole study that we have to go through in order to facilitate the proper caling device for the area that it's going to be installed would that include some of the blinking the flashing lights at pedestrian Crossings as well yes yes okay we can install those also okay all right very good and speaking of of that thank you very much Chief welcome um the uh the fact that they finally are going to be putting one of those flashing pedestrian Crossings over at Old Post and Boulevard of eagles is a welcome development that's something that's been long in the making so I'm really glad that that's going to be taking place thank you thank you Council vice president anybody else uh C okay go ahead councilman BR um I'm going to go with f um I see we have a bond for a million4 but in the budget we had um we had money that was not accounted for and I'm wondering is there a way that that number could be adjusted as and using some of our reserves or whatever we have inside that account that was that was number one and I guess if you can get an answer for that um for our next meeting or actually this is an ordinance right so we have actually another set of meetings even after this um the other was the bond ordinance for the 28 million um I'm a little disappointed because I think it was 29 million and then we cut 5 million out because we're not going to buy the $5 million restaurant like we did the5 million pond so I I was thinking that this would be 24 million but now it's 28 and the one item that became a big concern is I've been asking about the paving and it looks like we put more money into Paving which normally wouldn't be a problem but like I I heard we're tearing up roads again um in fact I heard Harding's being torn up now and and Harding was torn up we had an issue we fixed it and then it got tore up because another utility came in and it was repaved and now I hear it's being torn up again so uh if I may council president with regard to Harding that's um FEMA money so um with that the FEMA money will will cover us on the rebuild of the um it had to do with hurricane Ida so that that's one of the reasons why we have to get in there and get the work done it's about I want to say around $2 million of of FEMA money we were able to recover or 2.5 um I can get you the right the exact amount um you are correct in your assessment with regard to going back and making sure that we are doing the streets that we're not going to go back into and um have to rebuild so our departments between engineering DPW and our utility we are talking to one another about what the bigger picture um however the road Improvement you know we can address an array of issues and making sure not only are we doing the asphalt obviously but the concrete work we are doing a lot more concrete assessment making sure that it's done correctly and then there's proper drainage measures okay could you just tell me then where the other two million went um I didn't get to go through it and compare the two sure um but so I notice like an extra 2 million in Paving then where would the other two or three million have went um under Park Park uh Park improvements okay and I believe I did break that down with the DPW planning of the various Parks Park improvements there's a detailed Excel sheet to that um on the package that I sent over um to the council now did you also and and I didn't see the email but did you get me a um a list of all our bonds and it kind of like you gave them to us the other day you know what was allocated for it and what we spent um did you did you send that over to me yet or not I have a a probably a few weeks ago when you had requested but I can just put at the top of your email yeah if you could all right thank you very much councilman Brer any El councilman P quite a few question the very first question to council president Sonia is there a reason that we bundle all these different heads as a one Bond cuz you're looking pretty much as a blanket approval from this Council if you have put public safy separately engineering another line atem public Works Recreation Information Technology would have been very helpful rather than making it as a one package and say hey give me $30 million $29 million bond is there any reason is rational are you afraid that one or the other thing will not pass this Council and that's why you are forcing this to bundle it well this is how typically Bond ordinances are done they do it in one package especially for bonding purposes uh you probably get more banged for your bug doing this way and my professional experience I've always done it in one um I do have the individual backup as to the reasoning for the various requests so if there's a specific request you're looking for clarification I can certainly pull it up and just explain uh explain to you in the public about what that line item means understood that but again I'm this is my ninth year on the council I have only seen this new Administration is bundling everything together 20 million 30 million 60 million and that's my concern but I I I understand that your professional experience is a little different than what I have dealt on this Council I have very specific questions here the public safety the installation of traffic calming measures and it does say that Brotherhood eel Old Post Boulevard mckenley is $500,000 but if you look at the average cost what is the average cost for implementation here it's dependent obviously on the location so um that's a general assessment that we came up with um again with the road Improvement funding that big number we can certainly um allocate some money in the event that it costs more their additional areas we want to address for traffic calming measures or general um improvements for um drainage can I interrupt can we please fix this sound it it is the feedback from that from that so I apologize okay now if again on the same line atem if you look at $500,000 and it says with four known locations and we are also accounting three additional locations and the comment also says it is based on the PD traffic along with the receip of numerous complaints and citizen inquiries on this di since since 8 months I'm bringing at especially three locations continuously and I can read that it's in the public safety of my discussion line atom Calbert and grow we had three accident in last one week yet that is missing in the entire Bond I don't know why there is a reservation not to put some of these again if the police ship wants to answer that question the sensitive areas are not highlighted here and I'm not saying that the the one that are highlighted are not important they are equally important but there are three additional locations it is at the discretion and not accounting what the council person is asking where the traffic data even proves that you need the safety measures on that particular location yet it is not there the next location I spoke about was the new Bruns week Avenue uh again last council meeting I said there are several accidents PD should go out there your Traffic Unit they should know it I'm surprised that this location is not again in the list uh and some of the location I can live with it but again this is very important that you know we are black and white and we are not at the discretion saying okay you know these are important but rest will figure it out I need in black and white are you going to cover these locations or you're not going to cover this location because those resents are watching this council meeting tonight and it's very important for me the next one is the public event management is this $300,000 are these only the uh the equipments we are talking about nothing more than that so just to further break that down some of that includes um I would say most of it actually includes for the various public um events that are being held um that are interchangeable so there's passenger vans that we're including in there um there's some miscellaneous costs to um conducting those events uh especially emergency with emergency Personnel um utility vehicles that are required for these large scale events quite as you know we've we have some pretty large scale events so we want to make sure that we are well prepared with the equipment and and the vehicles for those events is there a reasoning that this is not classified under the recreation which is a primary function of the event like the the events all along Recreation is responsible for the event uh area but I see $75,000 for recreation and $300,000 is on the public safety uh I'm surprised there next one is various drainage projects $1 million again the same thing let me ask this question under engineering is this how much is the engineering fees versus actual projects in this probably several million dollar sure if I could just ask Brian to come up you can tell you the assessment I understand these are engineering projects but I want to understand engineering fees versus actual implementation cost give me one second to get to the appropriate page councilman ptil are you referring to the Professional Services that we can charge yes okay when you want to know the difference or how we allocate the correct because say for if it's a million dollar project on drainage which is shocking to me that could be an engineering fees professional fees and nothing get going to get done there so that's why my question is very specific to those L items from a financial perspective I just want to answer that we are allowed to char charge professional Services related to engineering costs to um a capital Bond ordinance but you can cover what his so the roadways on here and the drainage projects that we have on here the cost provided of the uh $250,000 was for the actual construction costs on roadways for the roadways yes so 250,000 is engineering fees professional fees no we did I did not include the professional fees in our request of a quarter of a million $7.5 million in the bond line atom um sorry are you asking for the resurfacing or the drainage portion only no I I'll go step by step roadway resurfacing okay resurfacing so for the resurfacing uh It's s and a uh75 million of construction cost perfect and this construction cost is for 2025 correct it's if everything goes well we can hopefully SPID and start construction end of the year but we typically do the following money this year pave next year yeah understood and that's the reason you know this is 2025 spin basically drainage projects let's get back to that as let me give the history and you know better than me here we have spent probably over $5 million on the drainage project especially in engineering fees that for the Cal Summer Street multiple of those areas a ports of $5 million I'm stunned to see a million dollar I don't know what you're going to get here so for these projects in theory I won't have to go to D so we should be able to perform the mo the majority of this design inhouse with some Aid of um hopefully some survey work which I believe we were requesting through uh some of the section 20 costs perfect so this is again is more of the Professional Services not actual work no this is actual work the items on here the roads uh Normandy Peru Cedarwood Pearson when we evaluated those drainage issues they were within the roadway but they needed the installation of inlets catch Basin and piping which is not typically part of your drainage uh sorry part of your uh resurfacing projects but I think you know earlier we labeled them as a part of the resurfacing project olden days because when you talk about the drainage projects it means more of floting related or any of those major projects but this looks like if you have a road which needs to be paved and has some drainage issue around that you are addressing here so these actually needed design which we planned on doing in-house so we separated them away from the typical resurfacing project perfect no question for you but my question is to Administration now this means we are not taking care of calart which is more than 5 years Summer Street which is more than 3 years we are talking about uh we recently I brought to your attention about the JP Stevens flooding because of which the school was shut down for a day uh Winding Brook that was recently brought up I don't know are we moving forward with any of those projects or those are still on the paper right you know we spend $5 million just shell them and just take something low end and get those done and then tag them as a drainage projects no no that's that's um I just correct your statement that we have looked at Calbert we have looked at summer we've put those professional contracts before all of you and were approved so those are in the works Calvert and abbit yeah I believe is the Calvert one you're referring to that's actually in Collier's hands right now and going through design to go to D and get approval I thought the designs were all done 3 four years ago they were designed to a point to get the easements so they can go to D and get the D approval since then the requirements have changed and I want to say back in March Council approved the uh contracts for cers to continue the design and go to D for Calbert okay in short in this Bond none of those projects are being covered that's just want to make it clear they are covered in other Bond ordinances but I heard that it's only the design not actual work for the Calbert and abbit no we don't expect the design for Calvert and Abbott if everything goes well wouldn't be ready until next Bond ordinance correct so it may take some time to get that design working so with the D um sometimes it takes a year to get their approvals and that's always Our concern is that rather than going to this body and putting in a full Bond ordinance for something that we don't know when it's going to happen um we are prepared though financially to do all of the design work understood that's a six years old project I'm surprised that you know it is still in the design phe but I will that's for the next discussion let me talk about ambo Avenue street scape Improvement again this is $1 and5 million is actual implementation you'll be done with all the sidewalks in the entire on the entire M Avenue I just want to make it clear um what what was I'm sorry can you repeat question it says resurfacing crosswalks sidewalks streetcape many many more things right so my question is are we will be covering the sidewalk of entire Ember Avenue stream so upon adoption of this uh ordinance let's say this is an introduction and then once we adopt the bond ordinance and we have that 20-day stopple uh our engineering uh Team uh could then design the work or we could do it we could do it inhouse or we could do it externally to do all of what is listed here so let's say in a uh from a Time perspective I would say we'd go out to bid maybe in August September um and the work probably wouldn't start to the following spring so um is that your qu my question is a little tricky I'm very clearly asking are we going to put the sidewalk on the entire M Avenue have we taken you on the permissions with the from the businesses have we discussed with the homeowners but there is a right way and that's the reason I'm saying well that that'll be part of all of the design work and the due diligence there's a due diligence that we have to get done through that so we're estimating what the cost looks like for the entire so we are putting the card before the horse we don't know is that going to happen if you don't get the permission from the business owner well well that's our right away so that we don't have to get any permission for that correct me if I'm wrong with the attorney regarding our own sidewalks I just need on the official statement saying are we going to put the sidewalk across the entire amb Avenue we can do our due diligence design that's perfectly fine we can uh they are in the right way as long as we can do it and it is here like I just want to make it sure that that's what the intent is and we are not going to do the patchwor or no it's an entire I will have the counselor explain so the business administrator can't really answer that until the design work is done um I I know you want an assurance that the sidewalks will be put in along the entire way but until the design work is done it's not possible to know whether there are any issues with putting the sidewalks in the entire way such as acquisition issues property owners who don't want to cooperate there might be eminent domain that has to be done in order to complete the project all of those are potential issues that have to be handled in the design phase so that the township can advance and the Township can't start negotiating with property owners until they actually have the approval to do so and the funding to do so otherwise they're not negotiating in good faith so that that's that that's why she can't answer you directly is there going to be side and that's the reason I use the word we are putting the card before the horse why you we you know putting $1.5 million when there are so many unknowns that we don't know just just so reiterate what the counselor said we can't go to negotiate until we have the design like once we have the funding approved so we're not putting cart before the horse we're just taking the next steps right it's not a next step we haven't done design at all my ask would be do the design negotiate and then say it it's going to cost me X come back here and get this approval I think these are just the estimates and then they'll come back to us right if I'm not yeah so these are just estimates we approve it they do the design work and then they come back and with more final numbers and then we get to approve it again I know I understand that but why there is a rush to put $1 and half million we can always go back and put the bond in front of this Council again this an estimate right estimate to do the work without doing the homework that's my question here this is essentially authorizing a vision that this is something we want and once we agree with that Vision then they can move forward and work on that Vision to make it a reality so I understand uh we can't necessarily say 100% that this is the vision we'll end up with but this is the start so I hope you agree and you know support the vision no with this start you know we have spent probably close to $60 million you know not spent but we have bonded $60 million and I need to really start thinking do we really need this bond to include this line atom today but if the vision is there and the commitment from this council is there I'm perfectly fine I'm not denying on that my only the question that is 1.5 is well low less money for that entire Avenue sidewalk striping you know signage again I'm just telling you that the estimation Whoever has done it I don't know they have given too much of thought but I will do it there my next one is Park renovation and repairs $6.2 million do we know how much money we bonded for the park and rotation in 2022 2023 and how much we spent out of that the earlier bonds uh sure I did provide the report to the council I can resend them um I don't have that number off the top of my head but I can certain recirculate is it exhausted did be has it been exhausted yes it has okay so this $6.2 million is without the the matching funds from County typically we should get the matching fund for Mark Improvement we don't typically match funds necessarily we can we can ask for additional funding um I think you know we need to go back to our history here before 2022 we always have asked the matching fund from the county and most of the time we have receiv received this and based on on that we have bonded the money uh but again I will leave it to your research if you can do that anything before 2022 you know we used to get the money $6.2 million is the renovation of the parks right yes sir my question goes back there you know you don't have the number but Wednesday if you can come back with the number in 2022 2023 how much money we spent on the Park renovation and if there is any money left there and I'm really disappointed with $75,000 for recreation but other than that you know I'm good thank you thank you councilman Patel anybody else with any questions council president Council poter uh if it's possible to ask the engineer question in regards to the Amboy Avenue uh portion of the ordinance that should be fine uh Brian if you don't mind thank you Brian um one of the issues on Amboy pertains to the drainage but I know we previously approved for design concept to address drainage at MacArthur uh MacArthur Drive correct will that address the pooling that Amboy Avenue currently faces the McCarthy avenue drainage work is just on McCarthy okay um would other public improvements that is specified here include any drainage improvements on Amboy Avenue um and I I can give you a specific location so if you're looking if you're going I guess it's westbound um past the ter Pike you get to the three-story building that's at the corner pretty much at Pleasant Avenue uh from Pleasant to waltuma waltuma to 7th there ends up being a significant amount of pooling there where the water just will end up sitting for a day or so um my concern in those areas is that if that poing were to remain and we were to do those improvements that that would have a negative impact of the work that is to be proposed so I'm not against the ordinance but it's just something of consideration because if we're going to have that drainage issue I wouldn't want that to affect any of the work that we do oh sorry I completely understand and so um with the funding what I would what I would probably want to do in with our engineering team is um potentially do an overall study I may bring you know call the DCA with with regard to they have design teams that do these streetscaping projects and that do address those issues along side of making it look pretty but also making it functional and uh well lit space so we just need the funding in order to do our due diligence part of it uh bringing up the fact that there's some drainage concerns I think we need to make sure that we look into that as part of our due diligence is the draining issue and um we do have funding obviously in other areas so we want to make sure that um when we embark on that project that we are looking at the drainage and I would propose that we do that and um look at bigger picture and potentially what we could do with DCA to get a better better um Vision if you will they call it a vision understand and I can share with you photos and videos that I have of previous uh instances of pooling so that would that would be helpful thank you thank you thank you Council thank you Brian thank you counc and anybody else with any questions council president Council MCO first I'm I'm happy with a lot of things that are here for Public Safety in different departments but for the 1.8 for Amboy Avenue could the be just walk me through is that including pavers because there was a point where we're at over 4 million for pavers and improvements and now it's at 1.8 and is this a and is this to the counselor is this number fixed or can it be moved once's the bond for the bond what timing can we move the number up or down for the once you what's in the the the individual expenditures within the bond ORD um I'm not Bond counsel but my understanding is no um that the there's little wiggle room correct correct yeah yeah so it's it's a more complicated answer than that but the the short answer is I can go offline with it but I we were I thought at one time we were considering 4 million plus now 1.8 million I just don't know if that's enough to cover and I can have a separate meeting with um DPW to see what um is calculated in the pavers but I did see irrigation which is great and um good opportunity so for those who here from Clair Barton um I think that's a help helpful opportunity thank you thank you councilman Coyle um seeing no one else we're going to move on to number 10 from the Department of Health uh a any questions or comments president just a brief comment I think it's um I know it's a requirement because it's from the dot but I think it's a great requirement uh one of the facts that is in the backup documents is that uh based on the last census um 18% of the Edison population they have classified as uh LEP which is limited English proficiency so this uh requirement to ensure that the information that we provide is offered in those different languages is of absolute benefit to the citizenry of the township and I'm happy that we're doing it thank you council president thank you councilman pointer and I wholeheartedly agree there are many residents of the town that do not speak English as their first language and uh it would be better if we can communicate with the language that they understand uh moving on to number 11 from the Departments of planning and Engineering uh 8 through I any questions or comments council president Council pressure um H I guess I'm still going to look into this is a a change order on a change order correct so we issued a change order and then this is an additional change order to that same change order oh okay H yeah no I'm looking at it so okay that was that not a change order to a change order this is an additional change order and what is this change order for for h this is for remediation so there was additional remediation that was required okay so wait wait wait wait okay did we give a change order to remove an oil tank with contaminated soil so uh let me go back to the timeline and how we got to this point so in 2019 there was a permit that wasn't closed out correctly and what this corrects is that issue including the remediation okay so we didn't give them a change order to remediate this before the prior to this prior to this right so this Administration is correcting the issue of making sure the permits are closed out and the REM remediation is done correctly in order for us to get into the building to perform the construction to ask a question maybe if if the engineer could come up because I have questions on to like how do we determine the cost of of um change orders Brian if you don't mind they're based off of a percentage but Brian Brian can cover you on that I'm evening councilman good evening I'm GNA be as nice as I can um but but I do have questions for you yes sir um being an engineer when when you're designing something um I I don't care what your design entails whether it's water flowing um or or black top pavement um your estimates that you would normally give would be in units of some sort of measurement would that be correct or or do you just out of thin air uh the way I typically do them is by line item by line item right so so there's basically an estimate that's created um went back to the the prior thing with my Council colleague were he was talking about the cart and a horse thing right like typically a design would be done you would then quantify that with numbers right based upon units or of linear footage or square footage or tonnage and then at the end you come up with what we would call an engineers's estimate correct which typically can be off um compared to what a bid would be right and we I guess we understand that but but you're somewhere in the ballpark right like normally you wouldn't estimate at a million and it comes in at 10 million or something to that effect typically not no sir okay so for this change order can can we get a breakdown with um numbers right that talks about like tonnage or yardage of material that was remediated and and that can we get that yes sir okay we can provide that backup for probably by noon tomorrow okay I appreciate that on that one my next one goes to I which is you know we have everybody here in the audience for that one that came tonight um and I I appreciate the documentation that I have received so far okay I have not received all of the documentation and and some of that I think is pertinent to making decisions okay but I I just want to go through there's um and tell me if I'm using the word incorrectly is is it called com check is that when you talk about the um qualities correct yes um I'm waiting on those documents and I don't know why I haven't received them because those would have to be approved before you start building correct correct so I am waiting to get the actual documents from the architect at this point okay well now okay let's go back I I asked for this um does anybody know what day that was was that Thursday or Friday so is there a reason why that AR Tech could not have gotten the council person right the requested information but the mayor can make sure that he gets all the families and children's down here but he couldn't make that call to his architect that did his campaign for him right and get that document for a sitting councilman is there a reason why I can't get this councilman if I may um there we are having issues with um one of the professionals and I don't want to get too much into it because there's potential issues with that um our issue of bringing up this change order is to move the project along we are going to deal and have been dealing with the attorney separately on the issues that you're mentioning I don't necessarily want to um or again I I'll refer to council regarding uh potential legal issues okay so let me let me make it simpler um where does this energy Comm thing who applies for this the architect right and then he would end up sending that to who to get approved so my understanding and before you answer Brian does this apply to this change order this com thing because I not sure the inability to meet the com check is one of the reasons for the change order okay and what exactly to enlighten me uh what exactly happened between the the bid in now yeah I'll explain it the best I can not being an architect mhm the what was specified in the plans was for a pearling bearing roof instead of a standing seam roof well council president if you would just Let Me Entertain this um I I read and I'll tell you why and I I sent this to the ba I was hoping that she would send this to you but I just want to read um I want to read it I mean I took a picture of it uh it's been a while since I texted you son um let's see here it is um specifications the specifications that were written on 5923 right it says the Finish warranty period 25 years from date of substantial completion special weather tightness warranty for standing seam metal roof panels manufacturer agrees to repair a place with a warranty of 20 years so that calls in in the specifications for a standing seam roof there are two sections uh talking about metal roofs there is a lower roof which is a standing seam roof that was specified in the portion of the specifications where it talks about the pre-engineered metal building it specifically calls out a PBR or pearling bearing roof and that's where the contradiction is okay well here's another one um basis design of pro um double lock standing seam roof panels now the those are pretty simple that that's not where I'm seeing any of this um of which what I received in my packet in the explanation was something that's called like through fashioned uh through fast that's the PBR roof right through fastened but I didn't see anything about saying that it should be through fastened in the specifications all I see in the specifications are that it calls for a standing seam um they talk about Clips um they talk about the insulation and and the insulation that they're calling for could not be done if you screwed it down directly um so I'm wondering like how I I'm a little confused here right so the the energy thing I'm looking for because that's a component if that was missed at the beginning then that would be on the architect but just in looking at the specifications you know what I see here is a standing seam roof which is the extra of what we're paying for okay and then I'm I'm giving you this because I'd really like you to get back to me with this information tomorrow and then there's another aspect to it um I looked and in the breakdown that I received um that metal building the steel columns that hold up the whole building right um everything that's Steel in their components including the the siding and the roofing they had listed as being worth I think it was uh a million two to purchase in I'm going to say it was their AIA maybe payment schedule okay um but then I just read another document that said it's 600 ,000 so I'm wondering what that disparity was between those two from epic and from what was showed in the original I because one is 600,000 and one is a million two right but now now here's where it gets really good forget about if the 600,000 is right let's say it's the million two right now the only thing we're doing is is we're changing a metal roof to a metal roof and that's $200,000 extra so this is where I go when I talk about quantifying things right and I asked for this um from the administration right I asked for a breakdown right and I got I didn't get a breakdown so you being an engineer right you always quantify your things because you're an engineer um Architects will quantify their things as an engineer but we have a change order that's recommended by this body to to approve with absolutely no breakdown all we have is a contractor saying it cost x amount of dollars more what's the difference between 175,000 200,000 or 2.8 million when you can't quantify it so if the contractor is unwilling to quantify this right you being our engineer I'm saying then that that should fall on you and then you can you can then Bill we we could build the contractor for that later on but but how can anybody sitting up here without having the quantities to to go through do we know that it's worth 175,000 without having those numbers would you know would you bet your salary on it or sir I am not an architect that is not in my purview of my license that is in the purview of an architect and I would have to go back to the architect for that answer okay do we have another architect do we have anybody that can quantify we are working on that and like I I said I don't want to get into too much of the issues we're dealing with the architect because of potential legal issues we're dealing with so we in fact are getting another architect to look at this in the meantime the way it's presented before the council tonight is that in order for us to do any other part of the building the anchors um the walls everything else we need to make sure that the roofing material is ordered is done correctly and Brian having said into this position to oversee the project um is in full agreement of making sure that this gets done the right way and we're in support of that and I hope that you are all I don't want to necessarily um and I completely understand your position you have concerns legitimate concerns um we will get you what we can I did provide what I could from the actual contractor regarding the AI and what the weather proofing means and that cost um we're going to get you the schedule as to what we are able to provide but the schedule is also dependent on this change order well okay now no okay when we get to the schedule right because the job should have had a schedule to begin with okay from day one we have noticed to proceed that from from the day one you should have gotten a breakdown of an entire schedule and then that gets updated at every meeting um any meeting that I've ever seen okay even when people work on somebody's home in their bathroom they give them a schedule so so not to have that is concerning for the architect the um the contractor and the administration you know what I mean um I shouldn't have to ask for this we should have this um and I hear now that there's some other kind of issues um but something like this kind of needs to be worked out and you should be able to verify to me that this these Roofing panels should cost X and the new ones installed with the clips would typically be Y and just so you know I also called Butler and and they would be a good Avenue for you maybe to reach out to and and get a a cost because Butler will give you a cost for the one way and they'll give you a cost upgrade for the other is that a contractor uh Butler makes metal pen they make the same right in fact I don't even know who you're using you actually might be using Butler um I believe the contractor is using berelli okay all right so right there's you know they're they're kind of the same but you can reach out and and get actual numbers from them um and and I'd really like to have this before we get to the meeting I I'd like all these people here to know that you know we want to move ahead with everything um but I want them to know that we're also kind of watching at all um we just can't afford to go out and just approve thousands and thousands each which we see right and we don't have a construction manager on site um of which we we all talked about right and we had numbers and a lot of this would have been beded um and and when I talk about the meeting minutes the meeting minutes were critical and the reason why I've been asking about meeting minutes for months is a lot of these things could have been avoid it let's say um just myself and reading the meeting minutes if I would have gotten the meeting minutes when I asked right the ones that that nobody knew where they were um I could have given you the concerns that are still out there with all these things and then you being the administration you could do with that knowledge whatever you want it you could have done something and be proactive or you could have done nothing um and and there are some things that I do see in the future meeting minutes that I I think you guys should be a little bit more proactive on um and getting the contractors and and them out there um I'll put the list together for you I just started reading them you know I just got them right so um that would be it council president thank you Council Brer anybody else counc Council P the question on Ed is the multiple time you know we receiv received the change order this four what is our net Square fet cost as of today what is this costing us the to Center square foot cost yes square foot cost I would have to go do the math and get back to you on that I don't know it off top of my head okay do you know how what is the footprint like What's the total area roughly not off the top of my head no I'm sorry fine I'll wait for Wednesday the next one is the the change order again we need to move you know again this is something that we need to you know approve this Council will approve you know if everyone agrees my question here is will this be built to the insurance company through the insurance company again without going into too much of the legal issues that we're dealing with it we are trying to take several various routes that we're able to whether it's through the insurance and through our attorneys so we've had those conversations okay let me ask other round are we anticipating this money back to the township whatever the means it is whether it's a lwood whether it's Insurance whatever is name are we anticipating that we are trying to recoup that funding yes perfect uh and do we know how this will be classified once we receive that money will it go in Surplus will it go in regular expenses the isas I'm asking is if this body approves for this project which should if we get that offset we shouldn't be putting that in the regular spending budget otherwise indirectly we are giving you $180,000 $187,000 to spend somewhere else so where how this will be classified if at all we get this money back it would go back into the budget probably under miscellaneous revenue or something to that effect or into Surplus um however it works out I usually depend on our finance people to make sure that there's a um allocation for it that helps us to balance the budget Okay the reason I'm saying is on the record that we don't want this to be an Avenue to you know move the money around and inflate the budget because this is one time uh expense and it should not surface as a part of the budget that's the reason I asked about the classification that's it thank you thank you coun P anybody else would like to make a comment council president Council mccoil I'm just um I'm thankful of the Council and pressure here in his comments but um I'm also excited to do a lot of things for the sports uh teams that we haven't done a long time so when it comes to something like that that's on my the agenda and we're in place to move forward it's just time when I look back at all the things we've never done over over the last 30 years and as we compare it to other towns like Woodbridge bouin and and different areas around the Central Jersey state we're way behind times so and I look at the cost of supplies cost of what uh labor is and interest and if you add that up sometimes you have to move uh when they AR hot and uh I I I I think Mr brush's questions are critical and I think we'll get those answers but this is truly important as we move forward there's a change order it happens I mean there are a lot of things in life no matter what we do in our home whether it's in our kitchen doing an expansion on the on a dormer you know there's always an issue where we spend a little more money and nobody's happy about that and I'm sure the resid pres of Edison want to hear why but when you look at how we did move forward across 30 years and how I sat here and watched it nothing happened has we just sat in the mud and nothing happened so today I'm just truly proud as this Administration is moving forward and when it comes to sports they deserve it if it's another 180,000 I'm for it if it cost 225,000 I'm for it it they've waited long enough and this is going to be an unbelievable opportunity to combine all sports underneath one roof and I get several phone calls where certain teams don't even know where they're playing during the week some are waiting during the week's schedule on a Monday where they're practicing on Wednesday your average parent today doesn't even know where they're going to practice and doesn't have a full schedule to make up their week of what they're doing because of this fa facility not completed and for what we never had before so I'm looking forward to how you know this town finally moves in a direction we have moved a long time I'm not going to ask you any questions so you're able to sit down if you want I'm sorry but but the and thank you for all you do and your hard work but you know council president I I hope this Council comes together to see you know the impact on Sports and and the people who showed up to today and regardless of who or why they show up they show up to everything I mean they're out there all the time spending their days and afternoons and evenings and cooking and it's constant it's something I have to start taking a roll in because I have two three grandkids and uh I'm looking forward to and then I'm not looking forward to it because I know BOS had me in that kitchen working and I thought I was retired so I thank you for the time you put into this I'm looking forward to this coming together and it's been Decades of nothing getting done Edison so uh congratulations Council for all that's happening in the last two and a half years thank you Council MCO anybody else council president Council M pointer um couple of clarification questions if I can first in regards to item H um I do understand what councilman brusher was previously uh asking about in regards to whether this is a change order on top of a change order the previous change order uh they had the limitation of up to I think it was like 100 tons of removal so that was the initial change order that we had and this is additional presuming fill that they had to remove and replace but need to get clarification as you said in regards to the um measure units of measurement so to say uh one question in regards to H um there's an item in here that says the contract will be changed by 60 days but then in their statement to us it had a contract to be extended by TBD which is the item that would be bound and I asked this because um in normal change orders you have the time extension for it and that would get you your new so the TBD and I had the same actually good question I had the same question why was it TBD I don't necessarily want to commit to that and the reason it is is because we don't know what the findings will be so that's why there's a TBD um we are getting regular reports we feel good about them so we're hoping that once we get the change order done and get the work done we can provide you at the next council meeting with an actual date of when that work would be completed okay so right now is under TBD even though the change J form that we have says 60 days correct correct um in regards to item I considering the potential actions from the township um I I look at this not simply is not the right word but there's two ways to uh how I view this the com check insulate uh energy level that supposed to be required it clearly states on the drawings that was done it should meet those standards so whether it is on the architect that messed up in the calculations whether it is the Builder for not providing the right spec whichever way I believe that these funds are recuperable that does not mean that I believe that the project should be delayed but I just wanted to point out that I see those items in regards to the backup and and uh should be noted so thank you council president thank you Council pointer counc um I just want to say that um people of Edison should be very proud of how hard this council is working Richard brush are asking the right questions um and I hope that you get hope you get your answers um but I feel that we need to move this project forward because whatever the change orders are to cost a lot more money than change orders so we look at what the change orders are and and uh and I hope you're you're you're whole with it and uh if we can move forward as fast as we can so we can build this building that'll be beneficial for us thank you Council M uh for as for myself I did have some question for the engineer Brian if you don't mind I'm sorry I know I'm sorry that again up again uh but can you walk me through exactly what happened what the situation is and second question is if we don't pass this what happens and I think let's start with that and then let's see if I have more questions after okay so the way the specifications were written it requests or it specifies a pearling bearing roof with providing I forget if it's four or five vendors off the top of my head who can provide that roof to meet the specifications the specifications while calling out for the pearling bearing roof also call out the need for a I believe it's a 20-year water tightness warranty which after reaching out to multiple vendors no none of the I forget if it's four or five vendors could provide that 20-year watertightness warranty the only roof we were able to provide uh we were able to have those vendors come back with was the standing seam roof which was actually ified on another portion of the building okay if we don't move forward with the change order we will either have to live with a water uh a roof that can't be warranteed as watertight Beyond one year cannot meet the com checks for thermal efficiency the only way it my understanding and please forgive me if I'm saying it wrong cuz I'm not an architect I'm trying to relay his message was if a thermal break was put in an in a layer of insulation is put in between the roofing panels and uh the peins with once again those vendors that we had reached out to our professionals had reached out to would not provide that the PBR roof proofing system with the additional thermal break in there because their Fastener they wouldn't warranty the Fasteners or the that form of construction okay so I keep hearing that the insurance might be able to pay this can we wait for that how long would that be or would you not know I would not that' be a question for Sonia I mean that that that's a that's a um timeline that we can't predict okay um going through insurance I mean that could be several months if not years especially if we tie in litigation so um it's thank you Brian you're welcome okay so as for me I personally think this is around 1% change uh to the whole project and I really like this project and I want this project for our kids and it's important that we get this project done and now if it ensures that we have a warrantee that this won't leak for 20 years I like that safety and I like knowing that you know kids won't be putting buckets at specific locations uh to make sure that you know they dance around it uh and at 1% I I'm okay with this change I don't want to throw out the baby with the bath water so I hope the rest of the council agrees with me and supports this come with Wednesday and I councilman brusher I hope you get all the answers because I know you're in a construction business and you definitely know a lot more than this a lot of this stuff went over my head so I'm glad you're here and I hope we can use your knowledge uh but I do hope that you can support this at 1% I think it's a good uh safety net to have for 20 years uh but but that's it for me moving on to number 12 from Department president I just want to have a word about about this uh really good questions have been asked about this project and I I'm I'm so grateful to all the parents and the families who've come out here advocating for it um I roll my eyes at the change orders that we go through there are an awful lot of them but this one I think as council president has pointed out is really a part of the expression a drop in the butt when we're talking about leaky roofs um this one is a drop in the bucket and these people have been waiting a long time to get this thing going and so I'm uh I'm I'm in favor I this is a CH a change order that I think is very well worth it thank you thank you president I'm I just want to clarify we can know what you just said we can discuss I just want to move on I asked I don't want to keep discussing this point cuz then I want to say something wait no no no we can discuss offline I promised no but wait can I then bring that up in my discussion item and I'll comment it was on this though that's on my discussion items look I don't want to continue this but you can talk about it on Wednesday Fair okay what when wonder when we vote on it before actually should maybe not actually we don't really talk about okay you know what I'll open it up com we do comment on it really so you can comment on it then yes that's fine okay all right moving on to number 12 from Departments of Public Works A and B any any questions or comments all right seeing none moving on to number 13 from the Department of recreation a through C any questions or comments uh moving on to number 14 from the chief of police a any questions or comments uh council president councilman Brer yes I guess these are 12 Vehicles we need for a half million dollars um and and normally I mean I don't think I've ever questioned the need for vehicle but over the last few weeks I've watched um I I don't know uh 10 20s 30s Vehicles all over Edison um parked without anybody in them um I'm going to get to that my security thing but if we if we need these additional vehicles are are these going to be man vehicles or are these going to be just like the show vehicles that we park sure council president Chief good evening councilman uh no they're not show Vehicles they're replacing vehicles that are were damaged um and that are being Sunset so they're all going to patrol to be utilized the 12 explorers actually I hope the officer today is um doing well I I drove by an accident today um I appreciate you asking thanks he's doing well they're both doing well um but thank you very much appreciate it all right thank you Chief you're welcome actually I had one more question on it with with the chief is this going to be hybrid by any chance okay never mind thank you I just wanted to add to that we are going out for um auction surplus auction um and some of that stuff is Vehicles so although the M from a monetary perspective they're not huge we do um get something back we get some of those costs recouped for vehicles that we uh put out to auction all right thank you uh any other questions I would be it okay uh number 15 from the Township Clerk A and B any questions or comments council president Council on B is this a new license yes it will be new license new license so what will be our license count once this is sold this the last one this will be the last one we will be capacity based on What's the total number of what's the number this will be number 14 14 mhm and in last 2 years do we know how many we sold complete distribution I believe we sold two last year okay and this year this will be one this will be one yep so total three in two years okay thank you and question uh for Sonia do we expect similar numbers that we got last time because I know there was some change in the state law that allows the licensing to go go abroad right yeah so I think we might get a lower number or a higher number I don't know we're anticipating a high number so you know okay all right well we'll see uh moving on to president yes coun um um just one clarification and one question the clarification my understanding with the new law is that while you can transfer the licenses they had to be contingence to your municipality so that does put somewhat of a limitation as to what can actually be transferred over um the question that I have uh to Sonia if I could um right now in the uh budget this is not accounted for towards our Revenue Source it is not you're correct presumingly then that would be put into Surplus going into next year exactly we could um put that into our budget anticipation of that that's thank you uh council president thank you Council app poter I'm going to point to you now for number 16 uh from the C member of the planning board thank you council president uh I do apologize I don't have a formal report but it was a short meeting so I'm just going to spearhead um the planning board had its monthly May meeting on Monday May 13th at 7M here at council chambers with the following items discussed first was the approval of minutes followed by approval of resolutions which which included uh first Garden State buildings LP P9 d202 3 extension of a minor subdivision approval second was uh ordinance number 02213 amending the sign regulation for the Billboards uh three Amendment to the Redevelopment plan of a00 IM Avenue and four Redevelopment plan John Street and Thomas place these were just resolutions uh solidifying the actions done by the planning board the vote on the master plan was carried to June 17th 2024 that is the next plan board meeting here at council chambers which will be at 7 p.m. uh under old business first was p620 23 yourway Construction LLC applicant was seeking preliminary and final site plan approval to construct a commercial structure used for storage of construction materials and Equipment this was previously heard at a other meeting where there were questions brought up about the types of vehicle maintenance that would occur uh that was corrected and situated and eventually the board found it acceptable motion to approve and it was accept uh approved uh under new business case p2224 blueberry Village Incorporated was carried and I forget if it was for the next meeting or not I believe it was uh case P22 d222 just Nation likewise that was also carried to to the next meeting and finally there was case P 5254 kimar developers LLC uh 70 rever Boulevard applicant was seeking minor subdivision approval with no variances uh this was approved the next meeting as I said is Monday June 17 2024 7M here in council chambers and again the master plan is uh figured to be voted on then thank you Council vice president thank you actually uh councilman pointer a question about follow up on the Mason and Clive property the old Lucille Ball house so to speak um anything happening there I I don't have an update but the last correspondence that I had with the administr oh uh Hanks W if okay mind bring him up the applicant received um minor site minor subdivision approval and as part of his approve there were several conditions of approval one was that they were supposed to create an easement for the property that's the wetlands and the one in the front of the one property um that easement was prepared by the applicant's attorney it went to the planning board attorney I believe he approved it it went to the township attorney they had issues and that's where it stands right now so it has not been approved yet so they haven't met all the conditions of approval they are entitled to build one house so far on the proper of youc construction they tore down the loose still ball property quote unquote but um they were allowed to build one one house so far so do I recall correctly that it's it it will be one of the houses that has the domain over the pond the yeah if you look at the property um and just look straight in it's it the sunivision L be straight down so the property to the right on the corner will have that Wetland area in its front yard and they were supposed to create an easement so that they couldn't touch that the easement there's case law now that from the Supreme Court that says that the wetlands law has to be titled or has to be tied to a tributary in the 49 states in in New Jersey they hasn't caught up yet so the owner of the property is looking at it like well I'll give you the easement but I don't I don't want I want to be able to take the property back if the Wetland Law changes in New Jersey and he's allowed to build on that property values of properties in Edison are so valuable that that's the that's the uh the concern wow okay thank you so much all right thank you okay uh moving on to ordinances number 17 unfinished businesses uh let's start with ordinance 2217 any questions or comments all right moving on to ordinance 2218 any questions or comments ordinance 2219 any questions or comments ordinance 2222 any any questions or comments ordinance 2223 any questions yes council president um I'm all in favor of this as being an electric vehicle owner myself my question is um what is the anticipated impact on the electric grid here with the possibility of all of these charging stations being built so this will I think this is so this change is what's mandated by the state statute to be included yeah this change is what's mandated by the state statute to be included in the municipal ordinance uh that's what I can answer from the legal side I don't know that there's been any kind of study conducted on what the impact of these have been since the statute went into effect in Mr Porter left I think it was 20201 this essentially changes the law system how many credits they get right toward the parking yeah yeah yeah that that's what this covers it covers this does not necessarily have to do with the Grid it's more of before when an applicant would come in uh they can say Hey you are short 10 parking lots parking spots based on your use needs so they can say hey I'm going to install five parking spots here to reduce the essenti they count as two so they're like okay we got the cover and then they don't have to ask for a variance with this we are limiting how many of those they can do because it was essentially unlimited prior yeah the way that it was written before there wasn't any kind of real limit on it and it was missing some of the more important language from the the actual statute itself because Edison had changed their statute and then like a month and a half later the state came out with a new statute that said oh by the way we have these other changes and it was just never updated uh to reflect those so uh but again the the actual question that you asked about the impact on the grid um that's that's not something that would have been covered by this ordinance but also doesn't impact the fact that the township needs to adopt this ordinance um I like I don't know if if engineering or if the business administrator is aware of any studies that have been done recently or sometime in the last two years but it it's that that does bring up a good question but I think we'll take it offline for me okay thank you you uh moving on anybody else all right moving on to discussion item councilman brusher uh Calbert and Grove uh I I think we're we're going down a bad road with Calver and Grove um and when I say a bad road is just to add another light in the township every time we add a light I believe it's like I'm moving one step closer to one of my cities and and I still don't want to give up on Edison as the city um has anybody in our in our Public Safety looked at this intersection at either maybe closing off um one of the sides of Calbert or making it no turn um so people can't do that little zigzaggy wiggle thing which seems to cause all the issues that we have um I know that when I was growing up Livingston was blocked off um where you didn't have access to go through Livingston and you know the thought was it would cut down on traffic subsequently I I moved back to Edison and uh Livingston was opened and it's kind of a freeway um we give out tickets actually on Livingston but on the Calbert and Grove has anybody thought about maybe just closing off one end of Calbert so that you can't continue to go through I don't believe that that issue was proposed or your your solution rather um I don't think our traffic uh between our Traffic Unit our Engineers that that was that would be a the traffic signal is what we are proposing to do is the safest measure if you will well I I get the traffic signal because we put them up all over and then what happens is and I tell everybody the same story um a lot of people up on this Das haven't lived in this town as long as I have every time you put up a traffic signal I drive through someone else's neighborhood to avoid the traffic signal um it's human nature and everybody does it so traffic signals I I don't think actually are working um so that's why I'm proposing something different okay I'd like to see Edison as a rural Town not as a city and I'm not really looking to go down that road to make it worse um I know that when we had I think it was June Troy he tried making it like that and now we we have um our new mayor much like June Choy right we're heading towards more of an an urban type of feel um next I have a question is um is our chief here um just quick question about about smoke detectors and and really the importance of them in homes um being that it's it's spring this time of year right I think they tell you something like spring or fall right we're supposed to be doing something spring ah head fall back usually B batteries right the battery thing a reminder yeah but but that that's one of the the top things that a homeowner can do or or anyone can do right is to make sure that your your smoke alarm systems are actually functioning correct um not only to save your life but even to save save your property absolutely so I I'm just kind of putting that little reminder out there that we are at Spring um smoke detectors are important to make sure that they're all functioning properly um so it saves lives so i' I'd like to ask everybody just pay attention to that one thank you you're welcome um graffiti I'll come back to Amazon I still haven't gotten anything a contact for Amazon um someone that would actually answer the phone and call back um but but I'm waiting to see the next um donation we get from someone and whoever gave us a donation I'd like their number and I'm going to get on them about getting me a number for someone that actually exists um there three to four stories um I I heard the residents I heard from my Council colleagues um that there could be potential litigation um I don't know what the chances of that potential litigation is um I I mean I'm under the premise that that we could all be sued right um I could walk out the building and someone can decide they want to sue me and and it does happen um I've I've heard of a resident in town that said something to another Resident and their feelings are hurt and they're like going to court over it you know because uh feelings are hurt so I guess right anything you could be suited for but I I would say that I think they needed like 30 days to do this study and I would recommend if we don't hear back in 30 days then we I'm going to propose that we just change this scrap whatever is there like my Council colleague said whatever we had scrap it let's do it um I think 30 days is fair enough um for somebody to get someone in to do a study or whatever they're they're thinking about doing you know I think it's more than fair um and to come to some conclusion so Le let's start the Calendar now at the 30-day Mark um JF and legal matters I'm still working on language I received something from our legal firm um on on language and decorum um I'm going to need to read through that to determine whether that's something maybe I agree with maybe agrees with the Constitution I don't know um briefly looking at it it seemed like it didn't actually tie into this body but I I'll read the case law itself just to make sure um but I just got that the police substation um I I think the mayor posted something about the um th for a thh hour service um heard something at the county that we blew up the generator or the motor on it um what's going on with it is it coming back are we going to have people in it when it comes back or is it going to be like our cars and and Sonia listen to be honest with you I was almost going to go buy a bunch of tulips and plant them around the police cars if if we could maybe get the chief if maybe the guys could move them around town a little bit I I think that might be a little bit more effective um if so two questions yes right yes two questions here first question substation we are looking for a more permanent um placement of a substation so we're working that so hopefully next couple weeks you'll see a permanent one um that the township is investing in um um second question you're mobilizing the vehicles and that's your recommendation or suggestion well what I'm saying is that everybody I know around town is just laughing okay because the cars are parked there continuously and they don't move um is there a way possible that when two two officers leave here they go and they go can they move the cars you know move them a block two blocks make them look like somebody's actually um in them because what what I've seen here where what it seems like is the people that are doing the break-ins they're not just like driving down the road and they just stop and go hey I'm going to break into your house it looks more like they're casing the area and looking around so if they're casing it they're going to notice no one's inside the car and the car is going to be totally ineffective gives the public the false sense of hope so I mean it's just my recommendation I'm not in charge right but to me having the things move um so that at least it seems like there's somebody in them might be a good thing I certainly think we should bring that up at the Public Safety Committee meeting and up for conversation and debate with some of the or rather not debate necessarily conversation about about that potential uh Lookout okay um then let's say my final matter for tonight which is kind of important I believe um I believe leadership starts at the top right [Music] and a lot of things start at the top and it trickles down okay and I I know I put something in here about uh my friend sing at 911 so I'll tell you what happened after 911 um I was watching TV and I watched a good friend of mine he was the um he was actually the head of the uh the seek Temple and queens at the time and I I seen him on TV talking to President Bush so I was a little shocked I didn't know he knew the president but what I did was I called him and and it was good because his meeting the president was recorded and I said why were you meeting the president of the United States and he said um 9/11 happened and people in this country um see me and I have a turban and they think that I'm a terrorist so I went on TV to explain that you know we're wearing a turban and we aren't we aren't your enemy or anything like that um and it was a it was a good thing because it it it kind of quieted down what was happening in this country at this time um people were very upset and they were inflamed and they went to try and calm the people and the reason why I say this is it comes from leadership again you know if the if the leader is saying you know honk honk honk the horn right we got an emergency things are in danger oh my goodness everybody gets worked up about certain things and then that trickles down right to everybody underneath them and when I looked at you know what happened when the mayor made his comments about we're going to deport people we're going to send them back to Mexico we're going to blah blah blah you know coming from someone that was a uh his parents are immigrants right it's kind of offensive um my grandparents were were immigrants they came here um but but in no way do do I think the mayor has the authority to send them back let me just state that for the record I don't think that the mayor has the authority to tell our police officers what they can and can do cannot do and order them I believe him being in charge of Public Safety his ability is to shape policy um but by him starting with this you know I'm going to call it rhetoric um to to get himself on TV on a national level right alarms our men and our Manpower coming all the way down because their feeling is this is what the mayor is looking for us to do so I believe that that by him by the actions that he had as the head of Public Safety um caused a lot of this that happened with the buses which are people that came here they immigrated here um and from what everybody read it was the same thing New York won't let them in between the hours of after 2:00 in the afternoon so the people were looking just to get on the train just to go to New York um but instead we had to turn that into a political Fiasco of which now people are feeling unwelcome um in this country and you know like I said um shoot my uh my daughter-in-law is is an immigrant so forget about my grandparents right my actual daughter-in-law um is an immigrant maybe my grandchildren will be immigrants so to make people feel unwelcome just because you happen to be born here in this country is just wrong it's just wrong and to come from a a mayor um to me is deplorable um if he'd like to act like that I tell them resign from here as mayor move to Texas right you'll be happy in Texas there's a lot of Democrats moving to Texas from what I understand from California the only thing they ask is that they don't destroy Texas like they destroyed their states but like I said I'm just kind of I blame the mayor for what happened I don't blame the officers I believe the officers were doing their job they were doing what they felt the mayor wanted them to do um unfortunately I I think our mayor likes politics and PR more than he does people at times so that's all I'd like to say on this matter thank you thank you councilman Brer moving on to councilman Coy thank you council president I'll be brief as I hit my timer as soon as I start uh thank you council president I just wanted first to the administration um I want to set aside time it could be before the next work session I uh for affordable housing I I know we were looking at a presentation but I'm happy with a one one with them uh to talk about affordable housing we actually do have our affordable housing person here so if there were specific questions regarding affordable housing and the council council president permits I just want to have a deep dive uh want to one before I okay badly because it can go into a a long long hour discussion but I just want to have a separate meeting first and then clarify a few things but I do thank you for that sure so if it's possible it was requested as at a a couple Council meetings to have our affordable housing um professional here so they are here okay M Mr chairman yes the young lady's here but she can come during the day and we can set up a meeting and that's it's just it's a it's a long arduous two hours I would want to sit information anybody else that wants to come we can have like a small meeting and go through some of that stuff okay I'm open through the administration the council president for the next work session I can come in at 4:30 if anybody will discuss what members can um and the sewer department I'd like to get a meeting with the sewer department discuss our uh calendar of improvements that we're doing along with um our administrative consent owner and that could be on the following Wednesday as well I also um I'm hap I just want to make comments on Public Safety I think we're have done a great job I'm happy to see the new officers we've hired and the so many we've promoted in the past and the others also that we've hired as well so I you know I'm challenged and I what questions I asked the chief because I don't want people to know our poker hand what we do and how we strategically put cars around town I mean if that's he what he wants to do it's fantastic I'm certainly not here to tell the public uh who are looking to be criminals in our neighborhood um what we're doing exactly strategically so it's up to him if he wants to have cars out there moving around for what reason whether the officer is getting a cup of coffee or the car is sitting sitting Idol I don't have a question any car in a residential area in a community is a good thing it's a deterrent and it's a great factual studied opportunity in the community to help out with with crime I hope we continue to do it I'm happy we're buying more more um vehicles but I I disagree with my Council colleague uh I I know where he's going with it I think it's I see he has his points but I continuously want to you know see cars around I I think it's great and if he wants to plant flowers around him he's more than welcome but that's an insult and again you're you're you're giving up the poker hand to the criminal what we're doing so that's certainly not my style um and to the administration to the council president uh as far as Amboy Avenue this three four story nothing happening it's not working you know for those who have their opinion could we have a meeting or hire a professional for a full factual study of where we're going on on this you know Amboy Avenue opportunity now we know for 30 years not much has happened but when I get the complaints when I do speak to the business Community we have multiple sides to this story and what I don't hear at this meeting and I evalue the time of the two or three people come here old every day but I never hear from the business Community we never knock on the door to ask them what they want and when I hear it doesn't matter what they think they don't live here you know and that's an opinion I get it I'm forgiving for that but you think about that you don't care what the business people you don't care about them they're the ones who make the town vibrant they're the ones who make that change That's Mike and Marlene at the coffee house investing their time if you ask Mara how much she makes per hour she'll tell you I wish I never did this it's so much time to have a store and when people think about you know I I want a place store and I want to have a place one day that's a great dream it's such a hard job when you come to reality of opening up a business so you know I'm challenged when I hear that again forgiving of it because it's just part of you know what someone believes in for their opinion that's great but you need business to survive a downtown you need them to invest you need them to promote somebody else to make that investment as ambo Avenue stands with eight to nine stores you hope to get to 12 as you balance to seven you drop to six and you have to balance those scales and I'm open to sit down when this meeting takes place or what professionals are being being hired and I hope the council also weighs in you know the instant vote we made uh to to to switch to from four to three I understand the the the position of the council and what they what they would want but at least let's weigh the data let's talk about a factual study let's get factual data let's talk about what's causing traffic on AO Avenue in 30 years we have 28 units on the Block we are a main aotter from from Perth Amway to Princeton with vehicles that come through from all over the state and the 28 units are causing the the the the traffic I'm open to sit at any project just sit with me in the morning I will go and volunteer anytime you're ready I will sit in front of a project show me what you're upset about and I just want to know the factual data of the study what's happening I'll stand in front of the doctor as hell's building show me where that's affecting the traffic on the Block show me how eight people are pulling out at the same time eight people are leaving at the same time it's just not a fair assessment I just ask that we engage to get a factual assessment of what's happening on the Block because as we kick and pout of what the town should or shouldn't be we still got to weigh the odds of those who invest it's just a fair assessment we've given plenty of people time in the community the mayor's met with the the the community four times and you think about that's that's no big deal well the mayor's been you know busy and he still took the time to meet four with them four different times to come up with a plan to do something to make them be a part of development create create uh there were many discussions that were had and I think it was a very healthy discussion but the fact is when I and I and I'll sit with any council member just let's talk about factual data because it's a shame that this Township doesn't move forward because we get a we get a group who doesn't want change and I get it I want to be the same town we were here in 1950 it's just not possible how you're going to be that that way but at the same time no one's going to say that they want to sell their house for the for the price they paid for in 1950 no one's upset on what the Indian Community has done in North Edison and the only improvements and how they raised the value of prices and how the education system has gone up because of the change in culture so as we argue one point there's repercussion of another and I just ask that we thoroughly have a healthy debate healthy discussion for the two facts that are on the table before we hesitant to say it's just not working it's just not working and and that's not a fair assessment of the community it's not a fair assessment when 40 people get together who don't want something it's not a fair assessment when you don't speak to any of the business in the community and don't walk up to them directly and say what do you think and what do you think you need and if we were to have a public Advocate you know one gentleman came to the microphone are you saying that it wouldn't be fair to ask those business people what they think of what they want for the neighborhood so it's only the residents and what they want and for the business Community who live there and own a property there and own multiple properties they have no weigh in because they're there so it's just it's just I find it odd we don't do a thorough assessment before we pull it you know you know we vote no on something and that's all I'm asking because this has been going on for 30 years I've watched it since 1992 I'm seeing this change in in in work I'm seeing this change in families taking on their business from their FA for their father they're not they're just not picking up their their parents at work they're doing something else today and an entrepreneurship is not what it used to be before so I just hope we can have a thorough you know homework together and I'm open to sit down and when when I hear council president from the two residents that come up a lot I will meet with them anytime they can call me anytime and I will walk door too do a fair assessment not I'll go to see every business and have a healthy discussion on what's needed for the town and if it's only three stories fine I can I can live with that and I will support you but let's do a fair assessment because what's today is is not 100% fair and it is skewed and we're not bringing in everybody and again if we had that public Advocate you'd half the way in the business Community you could just pick and choose and say well we're only going to support the residents and invest in What the residents don't want we shouldn't care about the community we shouldn't care about the business res the business Community who invest money and time and spend hours being in their business to keep it open so it's just something through the council president to the ba that we can have some type of investment uh study whether it's happening through the planning board or through our our time I know we're looking at an economic developer uh one day which hasn't been hired yet but uh these are a few things I'd like to be discussing again we're we're we're here to uh to have a healthy debate if you don't want to have a healthy debate it's understood and and if and as far as the comments before from one person I'm fine we're past that I disagreed with someone you know uh uh picking on and and uh one of my Council colleagues and attacking him but we're past that I'm here to help let's let's move on but I'm going to call what it is as I see it at the time it's coming thank you council president thank you councilman Coyle uh moving on Council vice president yes um most of the items actually have been addressed the March 11th work session video to be found on YouTube the mayor's presentation of the budget on June 13th so that's been taken care of uh the Amboy Avenue repeal um all I can add to this is the concerns as I hear it from the clar Barton residents are well the main concern is that as this hot potato goes back and forth and back and forth and planning board which had missed the 45 day deadline and this goes back and forth that at some point the possibility exists that a developer can come in there by the property and that uh then no it it's not going to matter what the planning board what what we do with the ordinance because someone will have beaten beaten the dead beaten that deadline and um will'll will take that property and build four and maybe build four stories so I um I I really would like to see this game of hot potato stop and um if it means that the council takes up this ordinance uh I I would really like to discuss that further if we can take up the repeal of this ordinance um and so connected to that the public Advocate referendum update um councilman brusher any any news on uh where we're at in terms of trying to draft a referendum uh for the public Advocate yes um I need to send out an email to everybody that was part of it to determine which which one we would like to put up um we had a couple different scenarios um and and but I I I'll send out an email you're right I I didn't send it out I was supposed to have sent that out to everybody last week um my recommendation was to go would be to go with the orodell one but I'll put that in writing for everyone only because that looks like that was something that was in play it was um checked um as opposed to the one that we did that I I would just um if I my council president that if there's an ordinance that you also work with our attorney obviously we want to make sure there's proper um checks and balances and that you're protected in that sense so if you could just circulate that to our Township attorney whether it's Mr Burns or Mr rayon so that you can work alongside one another um and that we have um a proper narrative to what it is you're trying to accomplish that's actually what we were doing we went to uh I I went to Lou and I asked him about drawing this up and he he asked which one would you actually like to do which then prompted the maybe we can change it um to the Orel one but um I'll send out an email to everybody and then do a followup if everybody can just email me back on it I appreciate it thank you thanks councilman um and I think that the issue with cars parking on cabat and uh Amboy apparently that's been addressed as well um so that would be it for me thank you council wice president moving on to councilman Patel thank you council president I will just you know quickly run because most of those are covered by my Council colleagues the first one resident safety topics uh son again I keep mentioning about these intersections gr my Council colleague did you know mention that the challenge there is it is this intersection is in the close proximity of school so it's going to be a little difficult of you know shutting down or one way or the other so the best thing is to put there you know traffic measures maybe you know the flashing light or any of those the one intersection I you know I brought this up multiple time in man Avenue and Raha Road uh I mentioned that the the traffic signal was I think there was intent by the county to approve I don't know where it was lost uh I was supposed to get some backup or some background where it stands and will this Council or this Administration is willing to put at least the flashing light at that particular location again this is also close proxim school it is very close to MLK School the same thing as your gr and Cal it is close to another school Master Plan update you know I heard from my Council colleague it is for forwarding next month flooding remediation we briefly covered my request on this particular topic is especially Winding Brook if you can have DPW go there I'll be happy to be on site along with the crew to show where the problem is the entire that neighborhood the one area is almost eroded you know water is flooding in the uh backyard of multiple residents and it is very close cutting to their house so we we need to take the serious consideration about this as well Kilmer field status I was told that will'll have the season you know again no blame to any specific Department here I know Reay you works very hard hard for DPW cricket team literally lost the season because we don't have this field ready I don't know why there was a need to pile up that dirt 5T dirt there we could have been probably maybe feet and half and would have been fine with flattening do we know what we are planning to do there or we are planning to shut down the Cricket on that particular field and by the way this field was used by the youth program and they are in trouble so councilman if you haded a foot and a half of dirt you could ski off of that field we we in order to go ahead and try to make that field level not only level but expand it into two full- sided Cricket fields we had the perfect opportunity where we had all of the dirt um all the trucking was paid for so um the only thing that really didn't cooperate with us is Mother Nature as you well know and you and I kind of discussed back and forth um we've had more rain I think this spring than I care to see for a lifetime uh the field is graded uh the field is leveled the field has top soil on it now and uh very shortly we will be putting the uh seed and fertilizer and The netting down and the stabilization on there um I understand the impact that it has created however the net gain um you had a sight that was in horrible condition the cricket pitch was in horrible condition um the end product and you know it's it's um always Discerning when you take a field out of commission right um it's bittersweet for the time that the construction is going on everybody's mad when they're now next year playing Cricket on two fields and two different teams being able to play cricket there they'll be very exciting and the cost to us was really minimal I understand that and I agree to disagree with one and half field because I know that field very well that is already way high in the back you could have literally leveled down and you know leveled this up again this is different discussion I had been with the earlier Administration on this particular topic I was told that this was not a rocket science in fact we had reserved $100,000 particularly for this this field I don't know where that money went but we could have handled this much better way again Mother Nature you can't control again I'm not blaming you specifically but there was no need to when you done in the uh soil we could have leled at the same time not waiting for another 6 Months 8 months and then hey you know we have the was nature problem we we we didn't wait we didn't wait we we ran we ran soil there um from both projects for months um and again we didn't pay for any of the trucking to run that and I'm happy to meet you out at the site um we took a ton of grade shots over there and when we took a look at what it would do do in order to um be able to give us both fields in the most cost effective and efficient way this is the solution we came up with I'm happy to meet you at the site to show you and kind of go into you know of course if son is okay with that to meet you at the site um I say this as an aside um my guys who are probably watching right now I even approve Sunday overtime to get it done of which my guys know I never approve Sunday overtime Department always does a great work there's no question about to go ahead and get it done so it I think at the end product I think everybody's going to be very happy and that with this Fai no understood you know it's just that it it's a problem at this point in time I get it the whole intent was to get the two pictures there uh but we could have done much better that's my complaint there and I'm happy to meet there and we can go through that because as I said like this was very near and dear to my heart this was used by the youth and now they are displaced and he have the problem but I told them patients you'll have it yeah no no no doubt about that I I respectfully disagree with you on one of the things that you said but that's okay um the net net of is the field is like I said we're at a point now that we're at grade we're top swing it we're seeding it um and again anytime you want to go out there and take a look at it I'm more than happy what happened as far as funding or things of that nature certainly way before my time yes um what happens what I I I apologize there's a lot of um chatter in the background and just just to be respectful to councilman patile and our DPW director if we could just yeah if you actually does anybody have any questions for any of the Departments if not we can let them go so that way they don't have to stay back you you guys are more than welcome to leave if you guys want to sorry for holding you up I have a question to Mr Bell though you know rest of them I don't have but I do have but thank you I appreciate you know I'm good just just finishing that thought what what what has happened in Edison at least um from what I've seen in my tenure here is that a lot of people have um promise to fix things they promis to fix this building they promis to fix the cricket Fields they promis to fix the tennis courts and it's never gotten done you know we go ahead and we've spent a a significant amount of money fixing all of these things that have never been fixed so yes I agree with you there was a lot of talk there was no action the flip side is we're getting it done understood again you know I have but we can talk that offline you know I don't want to debate at this forum uh funding for various youth programs last year you know we debated on this Council Das the folks come to the podium I think this year more uh youth programs might be applying I don't know we increase any amount in the budget or we are going to recalculate the formula established I have no idea if you can give me the update on that we are working on the recalculation so that's that's current I don't know if Mr brusher um got back in touch with Mr der Roberts about it but um that we are currently working on it yes they they they contacted me um I gave them the parameters that we set up um in the past um roughly they asked my my my feelings about creating additional funding um I agreed I I don't disagree as long as it's uh delegated out fairly and equally and there's some sort of formula so that that could always be checked um so they're actually working on that currently and that was probably about a week ago understood councilman my only concern is if there are more youth programs applying for the funding if you are just doing the calculation based on what we know then we'll be back to same situation that we were debating last year especially for mam we said hey don't know you know you came late we'll do it next year if that program is left out we'll have a challenge I don't know if any more youth programs have applied for the funding you know they will be left alone so we need to make sure that we do the the funding formula but at the same time reserve some money for unknown youth program they might be seeking for funding this year that's my thank you thank you for that next one is claron resen email and I was referring to SU email it was nicely drafted the entire Council received it just need a clarification again I was not part of the meeting in a councilman K was part of the meeting I believe uh coun poer you might be what is the net net I I hear that the residents are frustrated and I will respond to my Council colleagues uh the semantic on the businesses Etc but did anyone respond to that email what's a fact here the know mayor had a with the resident what is the outcome what happened there do we know you're referring to a meeting that the mayor was part of I don't I was not at that meeting so I would ask you to contact the mayor to get the extent of the details of that meeting okay you work for mayor so I would expect you to follow with the mayor and get that information so this is an email I'll be happy to forward tonight if you can find the extract what is the outcome of the meeting and happy to do that the same topic let me you know counter what my Council colleague said I don't know where he is last 8 years we are looking at the Clara Barton I don't think anyone is saying about the business shutting down the business or anything you know still the ground floor is going to be the small businesses so we are welcoming the small businesses there is no question about the uh uh discouraging the businesses if they want to come to the podium and speak happy to do that but they cannot come here and say I need 10 story building that's not not going to happen so what my ask is councilman K if you are part of the Chamber of Commerce it's if you can go around and ask what the business Community is asking for and provide that feedback to this Council and we'll be happy to consider that but going back to the math I don't think you know if I bought the property hoping that my property will be a $2 million and that's why you know I'm adamant that I don't want this to accept the change that's ridiculous to me let's hear the residents let's hear that you know what they they are expecting 8 years ago there was a decision to put that neighborhood in Redevelopment there was a reason for that the expectation was that neighborhood will FL flourish we'll have more businesses uh it will be kind of a mini downtown for Edison didn't happen in 8 years we're at the peak of the real estate market if you look at 15 years ago the single family house a brand new house in North Edison was costing $800,000 today it is $1.6 to2 million I'm talking about residential what happened to clar neighborhood is really if if the market is really good for the commercial that could have been gone up significantly higher would have probably the entire clart and entire M Avenue would have been flooded with four story buildings and I don't think resident would have been here asking to reduce it to three story didn't happen there is a reason there is a rational for that the business it's not again about the business it's about if you talking about the real estate business in terms of getting more units and making the profit out of it it is not a small business it is a developer and redevelopers business you're talking about which I don't think is a good idea to you know encourage them and have the entire EMB flooded with too many Resident that's not a good idea if you're talking about the business let's talk about the small business and I'm happy to visit again the M Avenue knock you know go to every single shop or the business and ask them what you expect and I'm pretty sure they will say they care about their business they don't care about what two story three story four story that's that's the thing you know let's be realistic here let's be realistic listen to the neighbors of Clara Barton and act and this is what I keep saying this body has a responsibility to make those laws adjustment we did that 8 years ago let's repeal that let's put that back and let's see what happens maybe we may not get the three building maybe another after 4 years resent might come back and say lower it to two story we should be open to accept those ideas and see probably what where we land up and that's where you know my question was to uh Administration that what was the outcome of that you know mayor I I I know may heard the residents and I know that may wanted to do the right thing what clab Barton resents were asking but I don't think I I have the answer tonight but I'll refor that Emil to you SEC next one is the council meeting broadcast schedule again there were numerous complaints even our former mayor tonyan also sent an email saying hey why unless it is fixed I'm happy it is fixed the the timing was adjusted perfect thank you com cost Road opening and Lawn destruction issue entire North Edison I don't know do they have the road opening permit not the road opening but lawn opening permit I don't know if that law exist but they are going to the private lawn digging 4T down laying down the cables and just putting the top soil do we know what's happening there they're guided under the BPU and I'll just refer to Legal regarding any RightWay work without knowing the specifics it's a little bit difficult to speak to it but in general if they've got lines underneath a private residence lawn uh there's usually an access easement or or an easement allowing them to access do whatever repairs they need to do because they need to maintain a continuity of service um usually they're supposed to return it to whatever condition it was in which I've seen that where they just throw some seed down I've seen that where they just leave it dug up and let it grow in naturally and leave it to the homeowner I've seen it where they throw down a piece of sod depending on the size of the work area so um what that actual extent of is going to vary depending on the terms of the the easement that they've got and the right of access that they've got U but that ends up being an issue not between the township and Comcast it ends up being an issue between the homeowner and Comcast if they're on on a private residence and uh councilman p anecdotally uh this happen on my street the more people complain and the person that complains the most gets the better service so just ask everyone to complain and they should get the clear service yeah thank you coun my only concern here is there are hundreds and hundreds of residents who are impacted and every single person calling that is not really a good way we should have some sort of a layers on through the township saying he call me I'll make sure that the Comcast fixes your I'm not saying Township will fix it but at least there should be some service from the township I think legally speaking they have the right way to do it I think we passed that ordinance to essentially get more service so I think it's hard for us to uh take up that charge but I I do believe you know if it's because it on my street only like three people's lawn were impacted so it's hard to complain for everybody when very limited people were impacted so in that case it's better to just do it individually council president there were some emails concerns a specific location so that we do have a Le we have a contact at Comcast obviously it's an internal we don't share that and we did pass that concern over perfect if anything is there then I'll pass on your please do thank you uh the next one is the legal lawsuit against this is something we agreed that we'll have some close tour meetings do we know the schedule when it's going to happen I believe I left it up to the council because I don't know what court cases are going on so if there's something that comes up he will you know set something up I don't know this is regarding anything that was settled but not known to the council through JF or through any other mechanism because we get to hear from social media which is not great thing if you get briefed I think mainly it's the GIF that will be bypassing us right there there's not a bypass that is just the that is the practice the policy of the GIF and what they do for cases um someone uh opra a a case and posted on Facebook we can't stop that however and that case particularly it's Personnel related we can't discuss it um but rather than having a um open-ended Cas less for you are you looking for a two-year a oneye what could you give me a more specific timeline as to what cases you're looking for that were settled by the jff that necessarily didn't make it to this body because that would be helpful and certainly then we could uh set up a close session absolutely I don't think we received any legal briefing about in last two years the cases were settled to this body and that's what my ask was again not necessary to discuss here we we can take it offline yeah thank thank you and now M Hank um very generic questions you know that's the last one about again coming back to Clara Barton that's the we have the I would say clar walon is one of the oldest section of Edison Township where we have various businesses homes which might have grandfather usage uh if a business or the prop let me put this way if the property owner choose to enhance his property through Redevelopment or through development will that person sees any grandfather benefits probably yeah no probably is like subjetive because it has to be it has to be discussed with the planning board so I I I know you're going you're going with the backing out parking AR the cabin is what you're talking about yes the um the issue of parking has always been an issue as long as I've been around for like a 20 25 years it's always been a problem up there and then when the county came in and put in all the pavers they punched out the the pavers and they took away parking spaces and if you go back to the original ordinance the commercial property they could count like spaces in the street as part of their parking requirement um but then the place had dormant so then what happed happened was that was the a Zone um then what happened under the last Administration uh Susan GRL who was the planning consultant that did the need of corre of Redevelopment in this case was Rehabilitation she came in and she um created both plans so the re the Redevelopment plan for the rehabilitation area included things like stacked parking and it went to four stories but with a setback on the building um if you're talking about the drel property um that whole Corner was part of the original approval and I don't think Dr C at the time you know with the financing like that he had his issues so um when they did the approval for the for the for the four-story building they also did a subdivision so he could keep his doctor's office there it's my understanding that the parking along cabin that backs out has been there 60 70 years so I don't I don't know from a police matter whether that's grandfather or not but he does has the right to do it um oh because it's been over time I'm not sure it's a planning issue when it's in the public rideway so that's something that legal would have to just you know tell me one way or the other whether the police could enforce that or not um if a new application come they certainly can add new conditions and make changes and and and say look you can't have that parking or it has to be over here or has to be arranged a different way so you're you're you're correct in that in that assumption okay but the problem is like I don't I like to discuss some of these things when there's things pending as there is a legal case going on it's been it's been appealed that decision and they also also have already filed for the fourth story so they're you know they're they're protecting themselves with the ordinances and the like okay all right so in terms of the uh not that particular specific case but you know uh I kind of asked some of the questions during the bond uh discussion if someone has a grandfather say you know they didn't put the sidewalk and Township has a right way that we were just talking about the Comcast right there the right way well with the land use attorney can correct me because I'm not I'm not an attorney I'm a planner but um we always learned that it was a what they call the bundle of rights with your property and the bundle of Rights could be an easement that you just talked about you gave away an an easement so you lost a piece of the bundle U parking things of that nature were part of the bundle um and then things that were grandfathered so was before the ordinances and stuff they had the right to use it because it was before the ordinances you couldn't really take it away from this goes back so far I don't know how we would find out whether or not the council granted them an easement to back into the ride of way way back when when it was just a dirt road so it's very difficult for us to come up with that uh no but the burden is on the owner not on the township burden is on the owner to prove that he had grandfather us you're talking you're talking legal stuff now not uh planning stuff no right away and and the other thing too is the planning board really has no jurisdiction in the right away that's all yours correct and that that is where you know I have not seen any application coming to this Council Das about approving the waiver for the sidewalk and that is exactly where I was going if tomorrow this Council approves this Bond and Township wants to go go and put these sidewalks all across the um Avenue like I said that's a legal question I don't know if he has rights he he probably wind up in court we're in court with one of those already with the gates on a road that was supposed to be vacated but wasn't vacated and there's things going on already with those types of issues um so I really can't answer that question so my question is you know what measures your office will or the administration will take into consideration to enforce based on what is happening three story four story sidewalk anything proactive measures so that we don't get we don't the zoning planning we don't enforce the rideway inside the rideway that that's a police issue that's not a zoning issue so if they're parking illegally on a street or whatever that's not something that we enforce we enforce the zoning on on the property but not in the right of way so what happens if I start building without a permission on the right way well we if you start building in the RightWay that's a that's a police matter if you start building on your property without a permit that's a zoning matter that's how we've always approached it it's a right way property is also owned by technically is owned by the property owner even though he has you know he has given a right way to the township or whatever the BP or whoever it is and that's where the question is where it falls in it is it does it falls into land use planning zoning or it falls into going forward the planning board can say we don't want you backing in into the rideway it's a very bad design okay and that's not something that I always for the last years that I've done this stuff in other places I always kind of like cringe when I see backing in the runway and always try to make them change it as far as this property because it's been so long point of vort clarification and I'm asking this for legal I apologize to interrupt he stated that there may be a pending application before the board that is perview to that I am on the planning board does this potentially put me out of conflict no you should not that a you're okay there there's a potential application before the board okay I just want to make fine um you you have the right to to hear any of that um do do you mind if I I step in just for a second Mr P sure Mr Bell has it fairly accurate when he describes the property rights as essentially having a bundle of Rights rights um and he can't really answer you as to whether or not this property owner um has uh grandfathered rights other than to say that they probably do um if the township were to challenge those rights hypothetically in any scenario where we challenge someone's rights and try to take those um take those rights away from a property owner whether it's through eminent domain whether it's through enforcement of the right of way whether it's through saying you have to build something here that's not otherwise in existence on your property because of changing zoning laws um you're you're technically correct in that the burden is on the homeowner to show that they are grandfathered in um but what I I it's not a difficult burden for them to meet though okay um so I think that's something that you have to keep in mind so if we said with any particular piece of property we want to do something on this part of it and he says no you can't do that I have this document from 48 years ago that's all he needs to do right or here look at the land records here I pulled this from the county records saying that I had this in place and we don't have anything else then it becomes a much steeper climb a much more uphill battle for the township to rebut that presumption because once they make that claim clim it then shifts back to the township to have that burden to show that someone is to be denied their rights and the theory behind that is obviously we want Property Owners as as a state and as a country property owners have certain rights and those rights are protected um strongly know for the state to act and for the state to to impose or infringe upon those it's difficult and it should be you know the state shouldn't be able to just come in and say you know we're going to do this and you can't say anything about it you're done um there's there's none of that without just compensation there's none of that without U the right to a hearing to do process all of those things apply so um rather than speak about a specific property um or speak about a specific property owner U which could get us into I don't want case that's why I said gener um when we talk about in general if there is uh the right attached to the property to park within the right of way somewhere along the line that right is going to remain grandfathered in until we do something about it um and that might include something such as simply trying to enforce existing zoning when a new application comes through um it might involve uh saying you know what this is not how we want this developed and having to take action to acquire and improve the property or acquire additional rights to a property so that we can make those improvements but anything that they already have in their possession any rights that they already have intitled to if we're going to take those away at some point if the township seeks to take a property owner's rights just compensation has to be paid uh and the process has to be followed understood understood again not debating on that the reason is because the township long enough we did not enforce our own rules and people have taken the advantage claiming that is a grandfather which is the problem well I guess one of the questions would be can you do a title search would that help if they if they got into that process and and do those new rules apply if he was doing it prior to the ordinances being put in place yeah but rather than speculate about all the things that we can do right now I'm going to suggest at this point that we take this offline so that we can discuss any particulars that you want someone to look into whether it's from Hank's office or my office and then we can actually sit down with it and go what does this stuff mean and well you were talking about things that could exist 60 years back in the county records which may or may not be easily accessible no where I'm heading is if you are planning to repeal the ordinance I would put the specific language that will give Township right away to have the sidewalk all along amb Avenue because this will be perfect opportunity for us to clean the mess like it's all over right someone has a grandfather someone doesn't have it someone has a sidewalk someone doesn't have the sidewalk someone is using for parking if we are really doing the Justice to that neighborhood this is the high time we should look in in complete detail saying what best can be done so that whether it's an imminent dominant whether it is you know looking at the grandfather Properties or any of those that would help to you know establish that zone well if they're in the RightWay then you don't need them in a domain you already own the property now it's just a question of like needs my implication or all the legal stuff that we'll go to court with probably yeah because I will be looking specific language into that ordinance if you're planning to repeal that Redevelopment that's where I was coming but I will send a separate communication you know what we can get and what we cannot get into that but thank you H okay sir is that it uh councilman okay well the last one up would be council president and there he is okay all right uh as for me uh let's start to with the bottom economic developer uh Sonia how far are we interview process I will tell you we have been finding it challenging uh with regard to the um scope of the job description and aligning it with what one the needs of what we're looking to accomplish with an economic developer and as well as um having somebody that is qualified you know we are looking at some background into does this position or person have a full some planning background so right now we're in the interview process we have just some of those concerns about it um and so we're just going through the motions of that if you don't mind can you send me the the criteria that we are looking for I can send you the the job job description posting if you want perfect and uh moving on to the papani park power line bike route I know there was some update so if you don't mind sharing with us yes I actually had a um a pretty lengthy conversation um with the representative from jcpnl uh their legal team is still reviewing it um which is uh fine we had uh some discussion items to actually go over with respect to that um where we're at right now is actually uh and I sent I believe uh you and the business administrator an email about this last week uh is if we have uh if we want to move more quickly once it's ready for signatures um at this point they're ready to start reviewing um simultaneously with the legal documents any kind of plans that we've put together or if we haven't put together any plans um we can start that process so that we can submit so that they know what we're looking to do on the property itself they can review that as well make sure that there's no environmental concern start that whole process going that sounds perfect so can we we do have I think we do have some preliminary plan so I'll work with Brian on getting that to you perfect the bike I'll ask for the update on next meeting on that now on the last thing is the bike connection project the the Pro Plan that the big plan that we had at the last meeting I was here uh that when mayor Jun Choy was here they essentially developed that whole plan engineering was done what are the next steps what can we do to get that from paper to real life are you talking I so you'd have to bring me up to in terms of what the plan that you're referring to is there an actual developed plan yeah there is an actual developed plan um I think uh Madam clerk pass they scann that big I think I brought it I left it out here for public and then uh I think I talked to you about it but we email it I'll have clerk email you again but that is something your what is your question with regard to the process so now that we have that and I'm sure we'll have to update it a bit uh because it was 2018 2017 um uh what can we use and how can we get that built out uh going forward I know open space is very interested and I know I think that we have support on the council if it's something that we need to do through ordinance or funding I am not sure but uh if we can get the next steps to how to make that a reality uh okay uh it will take some time because if you're looking at an old report we'll have to reassess some of some of the um actual things that we're able to get into um OB obviously if they're right away issues or similar issues that we're dealing with um jcpnl I mean it it took us nearly maybe 6 eight months to get that that's fine I'm okay with baby steps you tell me you know where we can end up at the next meeting and we'll go from there sure I'll circulate it with our engineering team sounds perfect thank you and now motion to adjourn may I have a motion to adjourn motion to adjourn may I have a second second all right motion by councilman Patel second by Council vice president uh the meeting has ended at 9:4 what do you want done done done all right for