TR I only have two check check all right good good evening everyone today is Wednesday November 29th the time is now 7:05 p.m. and this meeting is called to order please rise and join me for the Pledge of Allegiance Pledge alance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all Madam clerk roll call please council member brusher here council member Co here council member Harris council member Patel here council member ptil here council member pointer pres council member ship Freeman here Madam clerk adequate notice please adequate notice of this meeting is required by the open public meeting of 1975 has been provided by the annual notice sentin home News Tribune Star Legend Sentinel and Desi talk on December 1st 2020 two and post made Lobby missal complex on that same date thank you in regards to council president remarks uh two items I see potentially some U new individuals here to possibly speak so I wanted to just go over the uh public comment guidelines just so that everyone is aware uh each speaker for reference is allotted six minutes with one three minute rebuttal provided per meeting a rebuttal means you making a comment on a comment made by another member of the public on a different issue from which you originally spoke on the deputy clerk will announce when speakers have one minute remaining in their speaking time to assist with timing any questions presented are to be addressed to the council president council is not required to address questions however I will afford the opportunity to respond on questions only and considering that a resident May request a comment from the Council on a topic Council May respond to a request for comment I do ask Count Council Members to please advise which item they will be addressing prior to be given the floor to speak in response any responses by the council or Administration uh to a posed question will count against the speaker's time and time will not be halted so I do ask that all questions be asked in front so that we make sure that we can address all of your concerns uh when a speaker comes up to the podium I will request the speaker's name and address the speaker if for any reason feels uncomfortable providing can State they don't wish to present and I will recognize the speaker I ask everyone to please be respectful of one another and maintain decorum throughout the meetings uh meeting's proceedings and thank you before proceeding I'd like to uh see if I can get a motion to move new business for ordinance 2198 d223 to be moved to after the consent agenda motion moved second motion by councilman patile second by councilwoman ship Freeman can this Madam clerk roll call please council member brusher yes council member M coil yes council member Patel yes council member ptil yes Council membership Freeman yes council president pointer yes so the items under number nine new business proposed ordinances uh set down for Wednesday December 27th will be moved till after the consent agenda portion of our agenda at this time if I can have the clerk read the notice for the closed session whereas article six of the open public meeting act requires provides that a public body May hold a closed session and whereas the township Council will during this meeting enter into discussion for the following matter settlements and ordinance that's on tonight whereas the the matters to be discussed in close are to remain in the stric of confidence to all council members and their F furance of their fiduciary duties to the township of Edison now therefore be resolved matters discussed at this meeting will be released to the public when the reasons for discussing and acting upon them in close session no longer exist yeah roll call U Madam cler can I get a roll call for us to go into close session I need it first and second I'm sorry my apologies can I get a motion to uh go into close session motion second motion by councilman Coyle second by councilman Patel Madam clerk roll call please council member brusher yes council member Cole yes council member Patel yes council member ptil yes council member ship Freeman yes council president pointer yes so at this time we are now entering Clos session council president can I can I make a point here just for the audience because some of them might be coming first time here and we don't want them to be thinking that you know why certain things are happening so when their turn is going to come up probably if you can now you can tell them when it is anticipated they can come to the podium and speak I'm I'm sorry I didn't catch that you know can we explain the process because we are going in a close session which is going to take some time and audience will be anxious because they are there they want to speak as early as they can so if we can tell them that once we are done with the entire agenda then only they will be able to speak procedure standpoint of view understood I'll have our legal counsel you so we the governing body is going to enter into close session to discuss litigation Andor potential settlement of litigation which is authorized under the open public meetings act to be discussed in private session the way that uh we're proposing to um address the issue tonight is the room will be cleared the governing body will discuss the matters in Clos session uh when the Clos session is finished we will all come back into the room um then the council will move to its regular agenda uh approval of minutes um and the proposed ordinance which would potentially be the subject of the discussions in closed session is what the governing body uh just moved to after the resolutions on the agenda so um the public will have the opportunity to speak on the proposed resolutions once we come back in and after we get through the first ordinance so we ask for your Indulgence we'll try to make it as quick as we can um and then we'll invite you all back in we really need to talk about um the proposed issues in close session now thank you sir for the explanation thank you so at this time we will be entering close session thank you good evening everyone thank you for your patience the time is now 8:14 p.m. at this time can I get a uh motion to reconvene motion to reconvince Second motion by councilman ptil second by councilman Patel Madam cler that's wrong that's Voice vote it's fine uh all in favor I I any opposed uh motions approved we are in back in session six approval amends a combined meeting of October 11th 2023 can I get a motion motion to approve motion by councilman ptil second by councilman Patel all in favor I any opposed uh motion passes seven approval of volunteer firefighter uh we have five different volunteers can I get a motion to approve motion to approve second motion by councilman ptil second by councilman Patel all in favor I I any opposed motion uh passes eight new business proposed ordinances for public hearing sit down for Wednesday December 13th 202 3 Madam clerk please read ordinance an ordinance establishing the not to exceed salaries of certain officers department heads and employees of the township at this time can I get a motion on the ordinance I move this ordinance to be passed on first reading published according to law for further consideration and public hearing set down for December 13 203 uh 2023 motion by councilman Patel is there a second I will second it at this time can I open up for Council comments yes uh councilwoman sh Freeman on the ordinance to establishing and not to exceed salaries of certain offices yes com oh there's comments on this particular time oh I um would like to um just see something u a little different about that not to exceed salaries of certain offices I don't know I just had issues with uh the salaries cuz some of the salaries were listed people receive more than other salaries so I just I just need a better understanding of this ordinance because I'm not really for it ahead of time because I think that uh we got other issues that you know lower salaries and all that so I just I just have problems with uh the ordinance establishing the the salaries I know it's not to exceed that salaries but I need to see uh something better for the uh the you know the people that work in town that make really a lot less than that I this just it just bothers me thank you thank you for your comments any other comments for myself I think that it's important that we have ranges that will uh when vacancies are here that we can provide the right incentives to get the best mins here in Edison Township I think that this ordinance will help us achieve that goal is not to say that other items uh do not need to be addressed to what councilwoman sh Freeman was just saying um unfortunately though that those are separate items of consideration this is just in pertaining to uh the director and department heads uh what I have requested um from the clerch office uh in addition to the salary items that were provided were to reach out to the other municipalities in Middle sex County just so that we can see what their ordinances are uh that was sent out yesterday I know that she is still diligently working uh to get that information to us um you had show me a a spreadsheet of what you had gotten so far but it was incomplete so I apologize I didn't disseminate that earlier today but I didn't want to provide an complete uh document to to everyone so I'm hoping that that can provide additional information to if you are uncomfortable to possibly feel comfortable um additionally I had sent out what was provided by the administration in regards to uh a salary survey that the New Jersey lead municipalities does so that we can do uh so that you can review what the other directors and other municipalities have in comparison um I know that that was just recently provided but I uh I believe that it will show that uh what the current salaries are are fair and just for clarification this is not establishing what the current salaries of the directors are uh Andor department heads just the low and the high range of what they can be offered any other questions comments or concerns no I'm I'm just concerned about that so you can send me I I didn't receive that information of the salaries of the other the municipalities in it because I know that Edison itself pays more money than most people I'm like I'm talking teaching police everything I think we play we must be paid we must be on the top of the scale somewhere in some places I understand the point in regards to the documents I was referencing uh just for clarification uh one was the uh njlm salary survey uh that is a large Excel document so it may take a little while to navigate and the second item the clerk's office is currently working on based on what they received from the other clerks in uh middle section County okay I'll just be glad to have all the salaries and stuff middle states county is just fine for me I don't have to get the whole I'll make sure and obviously request the clerk that once that's uh finished to disseminate to myself review disate to everyone else I'll feel more comfortable that way thank you I appreciate it uh any other comments see none so there was a motion by councilman Patel for introduction second by myself any other Council comments seeing none Madam clerk roll call council member brusher no council member Coyle council member Patel yes council member ptil no council member ship Freeman no council president pointer yes to introduction so the vote is 2 yay three nay so therefore it does not get introduced two abs and then there's uh again item number nine in regards to um ordinance 2198 has been move to after the resolutions so at this time I will open up for a public comment on the resolutions only yes Anthony dammer 25 Wy um first uh the regarding the salaries you um there should be an ash next to for instance the the the ba as well she has just for clarification I please pause the speaker's time yeah uh because that was a ordinance it's technically separate from the resolutions and comments on this part are only for the resolutions I would ask if you want to make comment on that to have that be part of the public uh oral petitions and remarks um I know it's a Nuance because it starts off as a resolution in the work session but then gets moved to the ordinance side of that but okay well that's when I'll come back and we'll discuss the uh mayor's defunding of the police to as well I appreciate the understanding thank you uh would anyone else like to make comment on the resolutions yes Joel bass off 17 Beach Lane thank you uh I wanted to point out some issues with resolution 675 the proposed settlement of the litigation involving what's commonly known as the Charlie Brown site uh maram developers um I understand the attraction of settling the matter to uh just have single family houses and not multiple family but it looks like this is going to be setting up a special unique zoning District just for that piece of property which makes makes it look like illegal spot zoning so uh I think the public should probably get an explanation as to just how that's legal uh I just don't understand just because it's part of a settlement if uh it's legal to engage in in spot zoning and what would make sense would be to Simply extend the boundary of the existing Zone that that piece of property is adjacent to it's an RB Zone and it would easily accommodate six single family houses it probably wouldn't even require any variances what we have here is a situation it looks like the developer is being rewarded for making a completely outrageous and inappropriate development application to start uh a and now by by scaling it down to something that's just slightly less inappropriate uh he's being rewarded with uh a grant of something that by any objective standard really still does not fit within the parameters of the neighborhood and I want to point out that that six houses would be if you extended if you if you extended the um boundary of the the most densely populated Zone in the area the rest of the periphery of the golf course is the the ra and rbb zones which are even less dense so even by extending the boundaries of of more dense RB Zone you're you'd still be giving the developer more than anything else that that touches the boundaries of the golf course so uh if it's possible it might be worth just going back and suggesting something that actually is reasonable rather than something that's just less outrageous thank you um before you sit down there was a question at the beginning I'm sorry I didn't fully write it down but in might head something that the attorney might be one of the issues is is the issue of spot zoning so I'm not going to litigate the question in this forum um I will tell you that it is my opinion that this proposed solution to pending litigation does not constitute spot zoning doesn't mean that there is not an argument that can that cannot be made that it is spot zoning but in my legal opinion it is not and that would withstand any challenge uh that was brought on that basis okay thank you okay and and then the other question is really why not simply extend the boundary of the existing Zone which still accommodates uh a larger number of single family houses than anything else surrounding the golf course and of course a legitimate concern is does this then set a precedent if uh developer was to at some point purchase the golf course then then you've established facts on the ground that maybe uh are are not appropriate for the neighborhood I'm not sure based on the litigation aspect if I can really comment on extending the please don't okay council president yes councilman Brer I I think the member of the public is um this is like a settlement that we're talking about here this is on the resolution 675 right so this is a settlement yes sir um it's it's not something that like we have you know choices in um it's a proposal that was put out there is probably the best that we can do right I'm sorry is the question what was the statement I missed the last part our Resident was just you know bringing up that um you know maybe we could change it to this zone or do this or do that but but this here isn't about this this is just about a settlement that was brought forth to us um through his attorney and our attorney right that's correct not not what's better or what could be proposed or what may be uh authorized this is the proposal that has been put forth by Council um not Council Cil Council Council seal um at the Court's request to see if there was a way to resolve the matter this is what is proposed as the solution that makes everybody a little bit unhappy which probably means it's a good settlement uh before proceeding any additional questions before time runs out I don't want to be disres okay well ju just to clarify then so if I understand it um this was not the result of any back and forth between the council and the the the developer this is just the attorney for the council and the attorney for the developer coming up with something and presenting it to the council this is as a result of the pending litigation before the court it is being has been presented to the governing body for approval it's not the council negotiating directly with the developer right that's not the nature of litigation right and my any resolution I suppose could be amended or is I'm sorry I don't know I don't understand the question oh the question was whether a resolution could be amended yes and I'll leave it at that thank you uh anyone else that would like to speak I on the any resolutions um still Council it's still public comment on the resolutions so I can move on to the next one um would anyone else like to speak on the resolutions only yeah it's okay come on well in the back so I guess I I understand my question is because procedur um I a member come up for a second time speaking but he didn't really use up his time no it's not about that okay run your meeting I I apologize I don't want to set new precedents I have abided by first time come up to speak there's no uh capturing of time to reuse it at a later time I understand um that you had asked something that was not resolution based but I had asked to come up and speak at that time so I think just being in Fair fairness with how I've proceeded before um I can't ask for a secondary time up so I appreciate the understanding thank you anyone else that would like to speak in regard regards to the resolutions only seeing none can I get a motion to close the uh public portion motion to close the public motion second motion by councilman ptil second by councilman Patel all in favor I any opposed public uh comment on the resolutions is now closed at this time I'd like to ask for any resolutions I would like to be pulled for a separate vote start from my right councilman brusher uh 664 665 666 and 678 uh so that's 664 665 666 and 678 uh 678 678 thank you councilman Coy none sir councilman Patel I think he called the one off I 664 was that called yes uh yes oh yes uh councilman sorry 647 I think 665 is already called 66 666 667 668 669 670 671 672 673 and 674 so starting from 665 664 through all the way to 674 so 664 through 674 correct and 647 and 647 thank you Council woman Freeman oh um I just have I have issue with that with the um even though I have the senior citizen uh schedule somebody gave me but this is just like the vague one I used to give when I used to I beg for this for years I used get the same thing from Jay I don't I don't have you know anything substantial so I'm uh so moving the funds in 664 I I have an issue with that understood gotta uh 664 and for myself uh 675 wait a minute wait a minute let's p separate separate so the consent agenda will consist of 620 and 621 uh 648 through 663 uh 676 and 677 and then 679 through 691 I didn't see a 6 48 what um because that was from a previous meeting that got tabled and is now for us again okay whole series is missing so again the consent agenda will be 620 621 uh 661 through 663 676 677 and then 679 through 691 any other items for a separate vote can I get a motion on the consent agenda motion to approve the consent agenda second motion by councilman ptil second and by councilman Patel ad clerk roll call please council member brusher for the consent agenda yes councilman Coy yes councilman Patel yes councilman ble yes council members ship Freeman yes council president poter yes um for Simplicity purposes I'll just go numerically uh 647 thank you council president and I did make the comment on you know why I will not be supporting on this though I support all the nonprofit organization that are running the lead for the Youth it's a wonderful job but we need to be all inclusive and I said what I had to say on Monday you know we I requested mayor and the administration to include the malakam a nonprofit organization and also review the the funding of cricket which is flagged as a new sport which technically is not a new sport also I found that there is a reduction in you know some of the North End Baseball and again I don't have more clarity so I'll I think you know this needs to be rethought uh because this is not something you know we need to rush and this the reason and I'll be voting no on this thank you councilman P any other questions comments um yes I councilman Brer right I I heard my Council colleague on Monday um and I I believe us to support all of our youth sports um so I I think to you know rethink this one and just add another League I I think would be a simple thing um so I'm in agreement with my Council colleague on this one thank you councilman Brer any other comments Council sh Freeman council president I just I'm you know I want fness across the board when it comes to all um people involved in the nonprofit of our Sports of all their youth in Edison I just want them all to be uh divided equally and so that there will be no repercussions or nothing like later on everybody felt like they had equal part in it I think fairness is number one thank you Council Mr Freeman councilman Patel Sonia I had a question so if we were to table this and malakam were to apply for this would they be eligible this year they can certainly apply and how long how long is that process I 30 days or so 30 days thank you um yes so CH is there an opportunity that we can table this rather than to vote it down I just don't know um so my only concern is that the leagues usually look towards these they apply for these so if this is considered part of their budgetary um their budget so I wouldn't want to hold that up so that's my only concern thank you any other questions comments uh for myself just to oh Council woman therefore if my colleague here got the information be like at our next meeting and stuff could we could we put it on after he gets the information and gets done the proper way then then it'll be a a win-win for all of us uh to our business administrator um procedurally I just want to refer to the attorney but we can I would assume we could add another resolution on at the next meeting to add more leagues that would apply wouldn't prohibit that process you could do that I don't know what why the two weeks cannot be waited unless there is a rush because we did table this one time this is coming back in the second council meeting yes um And in regards to the new lead I think that was the first mention on that was on Monday so that was kind of new to me at that point uh despite it being tabled prior to that and just for clarification the reduction from the North Edison uh aspect was because in review of The Matrix uh there was actually the old number was actually in place that 9200 and the 6,400 uh was the actual revision number from 2021 so that's why there was the reduction for that one now thank you answer for the clarification but even though I brought this up on Monday but this is not new to the administration and the mayor they were well aware that the ask 3 months before the Monday's meeting but anyway that's your call whether you would like to table or how you wouldd like to Su thank you any other comments uh anything else from the administration that we should be considerate of timing wise uh uh no other than just to add to your comment it was the first time on Monday that I had heard about another a new League of course we can certainly add to it with another resolution I think that if they still have to apply for it anyway November 29th right now it would pretty much be at the beginning of the new year for next year anyway so it would fall in um so I personally don't see a need to hold this up with since we have opportunity to either do a second resolution or in the coming month or to just start aesh in 20124 since we're a month out anyways now council president I will wholeheartedly disagree what you are saying and what uh Administration said that she heard the first time you can look at my email I will forward it to you I copied you 3 months ago to you and mayor when we gave the proclamation right here to that those young kids and I'm surprised that you are saying you heard first time but again not to go into the detail but council president I'm long enough on this Council we say this you we'll do it it never happens I know this is the the Precedence we said unless you personally guarantees me that this will be done in next council meeting by process I can tell you that next couple of days you will get all the paperwork I don't understand why it would take 30 days this is not a legal this is Youth League this is our money why do you take 30 days unless you it takes two weeks to read the email and respond to the email then I understand that uh just for correction purposes it's the Township's funds and of course we want to distribute them equally and equitably so um there is an application process and we'd be glad to get it and process it like anyone else I I can't talk enough council president thank you any other comments and for myself if they apply and it's within by the time of the next meeting no objections for it being added on but I would need them to actually apply and know what that number is before finalizing on my end I understand council president what I said that I'm longing upon on this Council when we say we'll do it it doesn't happen and I heard that it's going to take 30 days so once you get the document I'll tell you we'll get in December 30 days mean it's the next year they will not fall into 2023 quota they will go in 2024 which will not come back in January because it will be unfair for the rest of the leagues to get into 2024 my whole goal is to get them funding in 2023 not in 2024 and if they're able to do so within 2023 I would have no objection uh providing your you know putting the resolution forth for consideration uh councilman Patel I agree with you council president I don't want to hold up the other youths just because they haven't done their due diligence of applying for this and they should apply for it I'm not saying they shouldn't but let's not hold up the funds for the other youths let's get them the money they need and we'll wait for them to apply and we'll do the DS that the township needs to do and hopefully get them the money this year as well council president yes's talking like we're holding up the the funds for the children um the past administration does anybody know when they approved the funds for the children was that in September before or October so so where we go here is because the administration put this on our agenda at the last minute like right before the holidays again it's our problem that we have to act on it yet if the administration worked with the council right and and they would have spoken to the council members about all of these issues right and these things um my councilman my Council colleague there his issues would have been addressed like he brought them up at the meeting he thought that they were going to be addressed but it wasn't but so if we had these conversations with the council and the administration um I I think all of this could have been avoided but currently um I guess it's up for a vote that would be a council president I'm just saying that that this emergency that we're approving it now so late was done earlier and the administration should get us things earlier same thing with the budget you know everything else there there's no reason for us to wait till this point to get this approved council president thank you uh councilman Patel I understand your point councilman Brer but that still doesn't have anything to do with malakam not applying they they could appli it earlier too right I think they were unaware council president again I I said this to my Council colleague on Monday I sent an email 3 months ago to Mayor and the administration asking them to include this sport they didn't do their due diligence and that's why we are here so we're trying to protect the failure of informing the league to apply and we are saying hey they apply so I did tell them right so we are here is because of our own inefficiencies it's not that you know leak didn't do their job we need to do our better job to go out and ask people hey there is a money sitting on a table we want to promote youth sport in this town please come and apply we have not done that and in spite me sending an email there is no even acknowledgement to that and there is nothing happened either we are just dropping the ball and we are trying to defend that poor management and saying hey you know we are holding the money for the kids I said that on Monday and I'm very disappointed when we don't do our own job and we say give the reason saying there's an emergency it defeats the purpose question council president councilman counc cor um what is a fair allocation you think they're looking for 4,000 5,000 minimal it's okay so you're not asking for okay thank you thank you any other questions comments or concerns um council president so could we add that as a Amendment or something onto this and can we you know can we say that we're gonna add an amendment onto this that this club uh contingent that they get their papers in before before the next two weeks that we move is technically possible I would say that it is however In fairness to the other leagues there's a sports Matrix that was used to come up with that total amount that they're being funded here and without doing that equation without knowing how many particip are there are actually I would feel uncomfortable in providing a dollar amount without having that backup information at this point I personally think that we have opportunity if we do get that information to have another resolution brought forth and then be able to address it um but that's my own personal opinion okay so it what happen this year they don't have he doesn't have any faith in the leadership but I'm saying you know you know that if they you know I was just thinking that if they could get it all in in the next couple of weeks then we can move move ahead I don't know yeah if I have the information I have no no issue putting it forward and uh they can't get it to you in a couple of weeks and it' be guaranteed that he would they would be able to get that we can certainly try Council woman so there is no commitment we try presid counc president motion to vote on 674 answer motion to vote on 674 hold on got a second so we're on 647 right now we're on comments any additional comments a motion motion is already there there was a motion to I just heard motion so motion to approve motion to approve by councilman coy second by Council Mel Madam clerk roll call please council member brusher no council member coil no council member Patel yes council member batile no council member ship Freeman no council president pointer yes so two yes four no so the uh resolution fails uh 664 through 674 um I guess 664 first because yes these are all separate uh so 664 um councilman member brusher then if you would like to Right This was um you know what the last time I guess we we went and we took money from the police department even though crime is on the rise right and I mentioned that because my Hope was that that the administration was going to be able to find some place new to take the money as opposed to take it from the place where we have home break-ins and cataly converters and all the other crime that's going on in the town but but they were unwilling to do that um so this one here now we're taking from the seniors and and I'd like to see that money stay with the seniors um I know my Council colleague at the other end um has always been an advocate for it there's a lot of programs that could be done that money could be spent you know better off I think they could take that from a different um a different bucket so that's why I asked for this to be pulled you know I mean I guess if the first time I made a recommendation there were some moderation and some kind of working with with the council um I'd be inclined to vote for this but at this current time I'm not thank you council president thank you councilman Brer any other comments Council pres yes uh Council I think we do the budgeting for the reason there is a amount that is budgeted for the department so if you're not spending means something we're doing it wrong we need to look at our historical numbers and if they were under spend then the budget should have reflected that but having said that this is a perfect opportunity for us to do more for the seniors they lost covid time I think we need to step up go above and beyond to provide additional services I don't and I have said this on during Monday's council meeting I do not like moving the funds from one bucket to another bucket because that undermines the first is budgeting ability and the second one is it probably create more issues in the budget because now you are inflating the budget indirectly because next year we'll continue to put the same money for that particular line atem for the seniors however we underspent so we need to stop this practice so message has to be loud and clear that's the first point the second second one is in a council president I did request what all departments are under budgeted or not under budgeted they were budgeted but we over spend the money and what are the other departments we budgeted but we are under spent so we know what corrective action should be taken subsequent year I don't have that information I did not get that in the email I requested that on Monday and I did send that I'll pull up the email right now but without delaying anymore any other comments no thank you sir uh council president thank you uh councilwoman shf Freeman you know a lot of times the other seniors tell me is is mostly you just in a club and that's how some information gets out a lot of seniors are telling me they're not getting any information so I don't know you to take money from there I think we should do better with advertising and I also when I spoke to the council president earlier I said that something a trip or something whatever he should be privy to it so when we do our points and information uh council president should be able to tell the seniors because a lot of seniors they look at these meetings and stuff if they look at them on the weekends maybe not that evening but they look at them on the weekend and I i' I've gotten this list sir but this is the same stuff that I complained to Jay Elliott on the vagueness of it now when I go to wor like I normally do in the morning for exercise and I uh meet a whole bunch of Addison seniors there I'll bring back show you what uh real scheduling and stuff looks like and so it's not vague so that the most of the seniors in our town that are not in clubs that are actually here and vote the whole time and very very you know uh involved in other activities and other places I would like to show people of that and show you how you can pick up your attendance in different information just like for instance say if we're where we're doing something with computers or whatever um the seniors that I know that look to guidance and using their computers and different things on different programs just you know they look can they have a meeting a lot of them don't like to be out in the evening because they don't have the transportation they tell me they want to be out after dark so I just want us to be clear and get more information to them because they're not getting information because I'm not getting it thank you thank you uh Council Freeman councilman Patel to Sonia I have a question so I see the majority of the money is going to the hand Health Animal Control I'm guessing that's because of the whole veteranarian uh what happened with the animal shelter is that why we're using the funds the excess funds that we have on the other side to for the health Animal Control why is there such a massive shortage there um so what essentially it could it's billing its invoices the services that we've provided and I've provided um a memo to everyone regarding all of the things related to animal shelter um but just to be clear the transfer resolution is a function of the finance department these are finance department uh recommendations in order to balance and we are capped by the state of New Jersey so we can't spend more than what we are capped at and essentially the money that we pull like from the finance the data processing the tax assessment the health the seniors and the recreation those are the money we're not going to be using this year and we're going to be transferring it to where we already spent can you repeat the money that we've already spent in terms of this year yes so I see from accounts and see they're being pulled and these are the monies that we are not actually going to be using right correct correct and it's going to be that's why the transfers happen every year probably for the past 10 years in my professional opinion every November usually is when transfers occur to balance your books okay thank you thank you councilman Patel any other comments Council pressure yeah I mean we don't I don't think the council disagrees so much with some of the transfers it's the line items that we're taking it from right like I understand that what my Council colleague said was that they don't they didn't plan on you that's money they had left over my statement on the police department end was that money shouldn't have been left over that money should have been allocated to preventing crime in my town so that our crime rate would have went down so what I see is we didn't spend the money right and we didn't spend it and we see an increase in crime the mayor was even on on Facebook saying you know crime is running rampant but but then I see that we didn't spend a million dollars right whether it was a million dollars in extra overtime or a million dollars in extra police extra feet on the ground I'm not talking about a million dollars to put right for like in the admin I'm saying a million dollarss with patrolman um we could have spent it on overtime looking through claraa Barton when they had that big problem with the um P catalytic converters down there or the north side of Edison with the like home invasions that have happened so so that's what I'm saying is is don't cut from there right take it from another place where you're not using the money I mean we received an additional $1.4 million I believe in state aid this year right everybody in the council knows this after the budget was put together everybody remembers that right or no I viewed it as a reconciliation with the energy tax receipts versus the state aid but I might be splitting hairs on this okay right so so it's not like we don't have money I'm saying don't take it from the seniors don't take it from the police spend it in those line items you know those are those are places that I don't think we should have that money laying over so my question is sorry are you done where would you take it from because this is the recommendation from the finance department I don't know where we would take it because we do have to I'll be honest with you two weeks ago I was recommended to sit down with the business administrator and um you know Bob deal and I sent a text to Bob deal and I asked Bob to set up a meeting with myself and the business administrator we could have brought this up in those discussions because with the past administration that's what we would do right and if this was something that would bother me I would make recommendations and and they might not agree with me on them but I might give them 20 or 30 different recommendations and and that would have garnered my support in my vote and that's how the past administration operated I don't know how many times you've sat down with this Administration and went through the agenda um I I know that I haven't had that opportunity um you know I mean I tried a couple times the first year but then it it just doesn't work okay and a classic example I I'll give a classic example when it comes up next because that's another item that I pulled so I'll give that classic example as to where the issue is um that would be it council president thank you councilman berer any other comments questions or concerns that was the last this is the new one um for myself uh just for um I guess a point of clarification I sent out on Tuesday November 28th yesterday 7:30 am as mentioned at last night's meeting please see attached all account reports sanitation water sewer and current which go up to November 14th 2023 any questions or clarifications needed please let me know thank you I sent that to all of our council members so uh to say that I did not send out that information is inaccurate in regards to the speaking in regards to just the senior fund because that's what's been mentioned if you look at our current expenditure under the full-time salaries we're at 46% as to what's been budgeted removing this 40,000 if you take what we've expended now and take that difference we're at 51% so that means 49% of that budget item is still allowed to be Expendable so I don't think that we're anywhere near close to being to shorting any of the senior services by reallocating this money to a different account as I stated on Monday though that is not to say that we should not spend those funds in that department but I do believe that they are two separate issues um in regards to money left over in each of the budgeted accounts I would invite our Council to look at the um budget documents from this year and previous years and do what the budget amount is versus what was expended and I can almost certainly guarantee because I've done this on for the past two years that pretty much every single line item has excess left over that um from uh terminology wise gets put into uh Surplus so I don't I don't really recall any line items where we've fully expended the entire budget and then if we did we would have to do this anyway um as a generality council president yes Council shre I just think the things like this like available at a senior two billiard table Library Room Lounge various table games I was like yeah six computers in there I mean we could you know you can put like six computers there that's there all the time and you know I mean we don't I don't know that we have somebody that's creative that thinks like outside of the box that's my whole issue the reason why you have stuff in abundance left over because nobody thinks outside of the box nobody thinks about these are things that are good that we could use you know what I mean if I have them sitting there seniors and everybody um in the high schools and stuff can come in there and interact coun with people you know before are any additional comments I'm just saying about when you you know I'm just concerned on that because I know the transfer the other places I'm not so much as worried about I'm just saying that when some places are underutilized that can be more than what they are that's my only issue the rest of I don't have an issue with I understand I do agree that um the funds if they are able to be utilized should be utilized I don't disagree thank you thank you any other comments on the resolution yeah it com I I heard your commentary on two three things you know if if you send an email with water and sewer or the sanitation I have there's nothing is on the agenda so I wouldn't even bother to open that email comparing the budget I think this is why we have the administration and they should be telling us because they come to us for the appropriation should be telling us by department where we stand what was our budget what's our bur rate where is what's the Delta what is left out what we anticipate that's the information I was looking for whether you do it because you took on yourself or Administration provide that supporting information when it comes to the agenda that's number two number three is I don't think our any Senior Center is a state of art you're saying that we spend 40% of of or whatever that number is in the budget it means we are failing first thing is it means our budget is inflated number that that's a separate point there it means we are not expanding our senior program in the other neighborhoods this is an perfect opportunity for us to expand our Outreach and if you're not doing that and saying we're not spending the money this insane so I don't know you know why we say that you know we are providing everything that seniors wants and still we have money left over the my last point I said this on Monday that if you have money left over move that money into Surplus so that we will have those for the emergency or anything that comes in maybe like what my counil colleague said for say animal shelter that's a possibility but there has to be thought process there has to be pattern on moving the funds in appropriate bucket and then probably come back this Administration can come back to this Council and ask for this uh the funds that required for additional projects again I'm in favor of that but just moving the accounts transferring the money as as I said like I'm I'm a finance guy I I will never support this thank you council president council president point of order can we vote on six can we vote on 664 motion to vote so well we're we've had a work session council president we're done we've had a work session you're not controlling the meeting we're having continuous I have the right to speak council president we are continuously debating things that council members have made up their mind on the audience is waiting to speak on issues that are important to them let's have a roll call you know what the answer is going to be I'm asking for a motion to vote on 664 that's all Ming counc president just to respect to those who are [Applause] waiting is there a motion on the resolution motion no he just said a motion to vote what does that mean motion to vote on 664 is there a motion to approve a motion to deny a motion to table I'll motion to approve I'll second motion by council president pointer second by councilman Patel Madam clerk roll call please council member brusher no council member Coyle no council member um council member Patel yes council member ptil no council member ship Freeman no council president poer yes two y four n motion of fails 665 not sure who council president you you can I I think you can lump them together Yep they're they're they all seem to be in the same basket for me well there was right from 666 all the way to 674 yes so we can save some time all right so I just want to clarify because there's eight different resolutions but two separate topics topics so I just want to make sure we're talking both topics everything all together yep okay um I'm not sure who pulled it if uh have I pulled the most of them pulled I pulled a couple my Council colleag pulled a couple I have as M initially pulled 665 66 so if you would like to start with the the comments I'm just going to say that I I gave my comments on Monday to the um things that I objected to um and I just stand by that thank you council president thank you councilman Brer councilman ptil I made my comments on Monday uh work session meeting so I'll just move on the voting thank youman ptil any other comments uh I'll just mention in regards to the uh printing uh resolution or with the resolutions r036 through r44 approximately of last Year's resolutions um it's pretty much verbatim this exact resolution right here which passed on the consent agenda so I would just hope that there's a consistency if there's going to be disagreement in regards to uh an issue now than it being an issue later or an issue prior thank you a motion to approve motion by councilman Patel I will second that so second by Council VI council president pointer motion by councilman Patel IAM clerk roll call please council member fresher no council member coil yes council member Batel yes council member ptil no council member ship Freeman no council prison pointer yes so three y three Nays motion does not pass so it was 6 65 through 674 uh 675 for myself I'm going to make a motion to table m I'll second motion by council president pointer second by councilman Patel Madam clerk roll call and this is uh yes to table no to proceed one more time Council presid it's no to table just repeat that again so yes would be to table the motion is to table the resolution council member brusher no council member recoil no to table council member Patel Patel council member Patel council member Patel yes council member PTI I'm sorry no no council member ship Freeman no council president poter yes 675 any uh questions comments oh to table so 33 no 4 two two four two y four n so so it's not table it's not Ted so now we have to I need a mover for discussion council president motion to approve sex 75 motion to approve by councilman Coy for 675 there second second second by councilman Patel M clerk roll call please council member brush yes council member Cole yes council member Patel yes council member ptil yes council member ship Freeman yes council president poter yes six motion passes 678 I believe councilman Brer yes that was me um this was a a very simple kind of thing here um where we're I guess we're going to release the funds for the streets that were paved that's one part but I believe they also have to put in a maintenance bond for a two-year period okay so we would be getting up right this is just to sign off on it and approve it what I wanted to do was I actually wanted to go out and and take a look at these roadways and on Monday I asked for a list of of these roads what I received was I received 100 roads a list which in which through further investigation I found out what I was sent was Paving plan one Paving plan two Paving Plan Three Paving Paving plan four on one sheet which didn't delineate which was one two three or four is that correct or I couldn't discern between it was eventually and sorry for interrupting it was eventually clarified that the distinctions were in the comment section I thought I had text yes there was there was a Distinction on a couple roads that said you know punch list but but that was it didn't tell me whether the other ones were part of the punch list or what was or what wasn't so another clarification sorry for cutting off um those were the roads that are inclusive of number four right and and we going with it is I made a very very simple request you know I I asked for for like a lollipop and I got an apple um so I did get that information today at like 2 right but unfortunately some of the roads were like woodro Wilson Drive is on planfield Avenue right which has is like closed down um so unfortunately you know getting it like 2:00 today didn't allow me the time to go through through and take a look at these streets to make sure that they are done and they're done properly um I like to do that on a on a basis and check things and I don't understand why I couldn't have received that document I should have received that document Tuesday okay Tuesday by noon the latest so me receiving it today was unacceptable in my mind which means this right here there shouldn't be no emergency to wait until the next meeting may I offer just a point of clarification you may disagree um the administration did send me the information I had sent it out yes we had the confusion as to what was included or not um but in regards to the information uh at least the total list that was provided um yesterday morning so I understand that there was confusion in regards to what was included where but um there was an attempt to get the information right um and this goes back back to where we started off the year about when we get information right typically if we get it on a Wednesday I mean unfortunately we had the holiday right so that we did get it Wednesday but with the holiday that doesn't really help because no one no one's working the employees aren't working um but that's why you need time you you can't give the council and drop this on a Friday and then get it um but that that would be a council president thank you thank you coun presid motion to table 678 like to make a comment but there's a motion to table by councilman Coy I second dude second by councilman ptil Adam cler roll call please and this is to a motion to table the resolution yes council member brusher yes member Co yes council member Patel yes council member ptil yes council member ship Freeman yes council president pointer yes council president please accept my apologies for rushing the comments only to the audience that's waiting and the obvious of what our opinion is thank you thank you um 78 and I I don't think there was any other intruction okay uh so at this time we'll move to uh new business proposed ordinances for public hearing in set down for Wednesday December 27th 2023 Madam clerk um please read ordinance an ordinance amending chapter 37 zoning by creating a new 37-13 a creating a new g- C slrb Zone uh thank you at this time CH from procedure standpoint it would have to go through a motion uh a second then there would be Council comments and then roll call so at this time can I get a motion on the ordinance council president motion to introduce there was a motion to introduce second sorry which one is council president move this ordinance to be passed on first reading uh to be published according to law and further consideration public hearing and set down for December 27th second thank you so motion uh to introduce by councilman Cole second by councilman Patel any Council comments council president are we allowed to comment or we're not supposed to comment on this the resolution on the from what Mr Mel had mentioned on Monday uh considering that the settlement resolution was approved uh therefore we can you can talk now comment on the ordinance oh on the ordinance okay um just for introduction right I mean um I I don't like us creating a new a new zone is um and I don't like the way it's the way somebody decided to call it GCB um so so there were some issues that I have with with this ordinance um itself that that would be a council president I'm trying to keep it short council president to to to the counselor we can change the language of the zone and and relabel it during this uh time frame can make it could we make a separate modification if we chose to to make it rb11 or rb11 you can make amendments to the ordinance if the amendments are substantive it will need to be reintroduced and just a just a code change from GW instead of being GW GC RB Zone could we make it RB one one zone you is that a small modification that can be done during the introduction or is that too much of a modification that's not a substantive that's a that's a procedural in the title and um if you have a mover to amend the ordinance the title of the ordinance and that thereby amending the title of the zone and a seconder you could vote on that separately do that okay no okay thank you council president you councilman Coyle any other Council comments Council Patel can I make a comment as to the interlinks between the two or no yes okay so from what I understand if we don't pass this then the agreement that we agreed to is a fail toate that's correct okay so it's either we and from my understanding again is either we settle this with the agreement that the councilors came to or we go back to the decision of the zoning board if the if the lawsuit assen we go back into court okay and the judge will make a decision based upon the merits of the litigation um not on any negotiations Council thank you uh any other comments councilman Patel councilman P thank you council president I'm not in favor of changing the Zone the way it is labeled uh I would probably change the ordinance in a way uh that extending the boundaries of RB zone so that we tie it and remove the GC completely if you're doing that spot zoning anyway uh also we need to account the master plan you know how how it is shown how it is proposed so we don't set the Precedence of you because there are hearing on the master plan and we adopting or not even adopting going changing the Zone itself is probably deviating with the master plan uh so I will wait for the master plan to be approved and this can go in the month of January or February as needed and hopefully this Council can vote on it thank you council president thank you councilman P councilwoman sh Freeman um the only I have problems with people creating new new zoning because people say it doesn't present a president but it does because if you go any place and you refer back to and somebody comes to you and say well you did x y and z for this particular person developer or whatever but you can't do it for this one I I just think it's just it's too murky you know changing zones at the last minute and stuff I I just think that it should have been I should have heard more about that before the even though I wasn't here at the meeting that we had discussed the whole um acceptance of the other things that were going on at go along with this ordinance I just I just have I just have problems with people creating new stuff and like my colleague said here what does the master plan consist of um I don't have a clearcut filling of that yet so when I get a clearcut of the master plan then I can be more aware of the different zoning areas that we have because I don't know within it right now I don't even know Chang different zoning areas but I know that down the street from my house is a bunch of tankers there a bunch of trucks and everything and it's I don't know about that being zoned for that because when I moved there years and years and years ago that wasn't there so I don't know that we should be changing all these zones in the town if it doesn't benefit the residents thank you thank you Council sh Freeman councilman Patel all right so from my understanding this whole thing is about risk mitigation uh we have a lawsuit I ideally I would love to keep this as a restaurant and have a successful restaurant which is what it was but unfortunately that's not an option and that's open to us uh there are two options currently we have 14 Unit Seven duplexes as one option uh which is what the zoning board approved and which Council denied and then they took it to the lock the court and they are arguing that our decision on Council was was biased if they win in court then they get the right to build four 14 duplexes or seven duplexes whatever that they agree to at the zone or we agree and we come to a compromise and we build Eight houses these are both options that doesn't necessarily make me happy but what's on the table is as a settlement that we have to pass this ordinance along uh with the acceptance of um the uh what was the term sorry we have to pass this ordinance plus the agreement right yeah plus the the divor adopted resolution r675 authorizing the settlement agreement so if we don't which resolves the litigation um this is the ordinance that implements the settlement resolving the litigation so we just adopted a settlement and now in the settlement that says that we have to adopt this ordinance so by now not adopting this ordinance we are essentially saying we're going to backtrack on what we just agreed to and that is my problem with this so either we go forward and move forward with the whole decision and hey say hey for this town to risk mitigate rather than getting the 14 seven duplexes and 14 units let's accept the Eight houses I know it's not what we want because we all want a restaurant there but unfortunately that is not on the table so balancing this is a decision that needs to be balanced uh we need to evaluate the risk and then we need to come to the table with in good faith and if we're in good faith saying hey we accept your proposals but then turn around and say we deny this that seems kind of unfair to me uh but yeah I will let the council decide how they decide thank you councilman Patel councilman ptil council president uh I think you know there lot was discussed in the back room in the close session I don't want to rehash on that we all have our own personal opinion uh and we'll vote accordingly my only the concern here I'm flagging here is a month ago we met in a closed session I'm not going to talk about what what happened in the close section because that's not supposed to talk here or discuss here but none of this thing came back in discussion it was only what the proposed plan what it was and I will leave it there nothing about zone so this came now and that's where I said you know can we make the comment and I was hoping that none of us will make the comment so that the in the close session discussion doesn't come in the front having said that I will just stop here and will not disclose any other information thank you council president thank you councilman M I do want to make a comment but I will offer if there any other comments by uh colleagues council president oh I just wanted and I'm sorry I was debating with my colleague I apologize no worries uh and that happens often we disagree but sometimes we come to some conclusion yelling at each other here but um I just wanted to make it clear to those who are listening and to the council who is uh on this St us this is just to introduce we have another meeting coming up to vote this up or down this is just to introduce there is some uh misunderstanding of what this may intend to be what it should be and what we may wind up with but I just ask that we vote to introduce it and at a later date as we speak with our Council and different members of the Planning and Zoning Board uh we can further decide on whether we're voting it up or down thank you council president thank you councilman Coyle uh for myself uh it was asked about consistency with the master plan from a procedural standpoint um if this ordinance were to be introduced it would have to go to the planning board for them to make comment in the consistency with the zone change in comparison to the master plan I understand the master plan is dated from 2003 with the reexamination reports but in 2003 that area was residential primarily with the golf course as it is so I don't think a significant change has happened I'll uh accept what our legal council had mentioned in regards to the uh spot zoning aspect um I understand the concerns of my colleagues in regards to establishing the a potential new Zone because you try to think out ahead as to how it would affect everything else down the road right what are the the potential Domino effects I'm still considering what those effects are having been on the planning board I feel that I have an understanding as to how members on the planning board view applications and what's brought forth I view what the proposed uh Vari not variances but bulk guidelines are and how they would potentially have effects uh afterwards um those are all items of consideration um no matter what there is a there is concern about what happens to a an area in the GC Zone if it were to ever go up for sale or or whatever happens the fact of the matter is is that if the Zone remains as it is and there were an application there it would go through zoning because it's a use variance so no matter what if that Zone were to maintain as it is if it if anything were to go that go there that were not a golf course it would have to go to the zoning board if it were to change the Zone That's The Power of this Council to change that zone so it would still go before us in regards to if we wanted to consider it to be a different Zone um I understand that just because the establishment of a new Zone in a particular area uh May does not necessarily equate that that zone would be expanded out should further development happen you can even take the current location as an example because across the street you have RB Zone to if you're viewing it on the left hand side you have ra a Zone and then next to it you have I forget if it's Raa or rbb so technically in that same radius already there's three different zones that are established um so those those are the only uh comments that I'll make in regards to that uh yes the ordinance is part of the settlement where essentially if uh one does not occur it provides opportunity for the litigation to proceed so uh that's everything in the Shell thank you any other comments from Council Members see n there was a motion to introduce and I was seconded so Madam clerk roll call please council member brusher no council member coil yes to introduce council member battel yes to introduce council member ble no council member ship Freeman no council president pointer yes to introduce so three three uh does not get introduced at this time we'll open it up to World petitions and marks uh starting from are still passing uh starting from the list World petitions and remarks Mr Bass off thank you thank you [Music] um Michael ttic T apologies if I mispronounced good evening Council I'm Michael ttic um live at 45 Victory court mouin and I'm a graduate of Edison High School thank you and I've also worked here in mouin I mean in Edison sorry so uh I'd like to say thank you very much on behalf of the 1700 nurses at Robert Wood for passing the s304 resolution so thank you very much and we have about 40 nurses here so I'd like to say thank you very much and maybe you can pass it on to other colleagues and let them know about what's going on so as some people don't know on August 4th 1700 nurses went on strike for safe Staffing standards meaning we need more nurses inside the hospital and the nurses got fed up and went on strike so we were asking all the different towns to propose to sponsor the bill s304 and a 4536 and that is the safe Staffing bill so uh I just like to say once again thank you very much thank you for your comments we are off the list so if anyone would like to uh speak please raise your hand I'll call you up yes and again I appreciate your patience and understanding before no problem council president Anthony diamon 25 Wy all right salaries first um I was going to say uh there should be an aster next to the ba salary I mean she also I believe gets a A take-home vehicle as well um so I saw you know she was part of that list um but I'll move on you know I I just happen to do some quick research um I'll just give you one example the Health and Human Services position um I believe if you go to um if you go to actually salary.com okay the a in New Jersey the average uh salary for that position uh is $90,900 as of October 2023 and the range has fall between 72,000 and15 but more importantly that position that individual holds license okay uh where they're able to conduct their responsibilities and we have a if I'm not mistaken still a head of human uh Health and Human Services that does not have these licenses okay um and that goes back to the previous uh person that held that position as well so we're giving possibly a increase in pay to somebody that doesn't have the qualifications to really have that position I I I'd like a little explanation on that um if you don't mind council president um the defunding of the police I councilman Brasher I couldn't be couldn't agree with you more um you know how the mayor stands up there on Facebook wherever he was at the time and talk about the increase in crime I can tell you right now the increase in crime in Clare Barton is I've had the police in my house numerous times for uh breaking into the car um just Shady activity in general and we've had conversations about that as well and I appreciate all the help that you've put uh into that though council president but with that said to take a million dollars out of that budget talking to people that are more familiar with the police budget and what that means that better than I am can tell you that is a big deal it's a really big deal and I don't appreciate people that don't live in this town okay who could stand up here and actually try to try to uh um defend that is is is a little disrespectful and and it's uh it's it's wrong um because what we're doing is we're feeling the effects here uh the the residents are feeling it um things like home invasion it's just just just the words scary and just to think though that the mayor who's the also the public safety director states that the crime is on the rise yet to to to to uh uh uh take money out of that budget um out of all the budgets I mean you can't find Cuts anywhere else is is that's I find that hard to believe um there's there's it's got to come from somewhere else and it's sad to know that um the public safety director is uh is is is being at irresponsible to be quite honest with you um I'd also like to I'll end with this um on a on a lighter note um you know you know I I as someone who was very big and instrumental in in bringing you know live streaming here to to to the Town Council as well as the Board of Ed um I have one recommendation um you know the I the you can see it in the numbers the amount of people that are tuned in to to watch these meetings um and I think you guys would all agree that transparency is you know you want as many many residents engaging as possible um I would recommend something where there are uh plat there are software available um where you're able to stream not only to YouTube but through to Facebook uh and to other platforms instant simultaneously um I have one you know I use one one of those uh software so I'm not going to mention it but we could talk offline off uh you know after the meeting but um the amount of people that you will see and I could just tell just based upon when I used to go live uh and and the as a matter of fact the mayor now then councilman was very supportive of that uh and instrumental of trying to get get the live streaming so hopefully you would be supportive of it but to offer um you know residents the opportunity that are on Facebook it's it's because it is you would think it would be easy but most people don't navigate off of Facebook to go to YouTube um and I think you just see a bigger engagement plus it's the cost is relatively cheap it's not that much money to stream to all these different platforms to give residents every opportunity available to uh has one minute to um you know to be a part of these uh meetings in in in some way so um I think it's something the council should really consider um and I believe that the technology is um is is you don't have to change any of the hardware I I I think it's just a software issue so I I think it's something maybe to look into and uh like I said give residents uh more of an opportunity to to view these uh these meetings thank you council president thank you sir uh to our business administrator if that's something that the administration could look into uh pretending to multiple streaming services um that would be appreciated in regards to the question of director of Health and Human Services uh if it's okay to take that offline I don't know if that was necessarily for the director what's been happening with the animal shelter so I don't want to State something that may be incorrect ie appreciate it uh would anyone else like to council president president yes counc about the salary and stuff how could you get a salary without having a license he wanted to know about that the salary that's what he asked he asked that how do you get salary increases and stuff if you can't technically do your job you have to have somebody else to put on your health Workshop about the health department about the health department that's what he was asking understood from my just personal knowledge I do not recall whether Dr Patel has certain licenses that's what I meant I don't want to mischaracterize if with all due respect I don't want to uh inhibit a rice situation so if we could limit that conversation regarding person thank you we when the person would was offered a job and we set up here it came it was it was actually on the paper is if you go back to the minutes it's on there about person not having the license is on there on one of our meetings has nothing to do with rice it it it was on there for us to actually approve the person discussing a town employee is rice noticing so let me let me help out here folks if I can so what was before you this evening was a salary ordinance with ranges not about an individual if you were going to speak about an individual's employment situation you have to give what's called a rice notice which gives the individual the right to appear request a I'm sorry I said appear or not appear they have that choice or not appear request that they be discussed in public or in private and have the right to counsel that has not been done for the discussions about an individual are inappropriate at this time if you want to have those discussions please um request that it be a matter um to be listed on the agenda so the the appropriate right notices can be put out that prot that should have been told to the him when he came up there discussing that that should have been told to him that you cannot you cannot discuss an individual salary you only can discuss the whole amount when he came up there that's all I'm saying if you you should have answered him properly at the time when he was here that's all I'm saying and uh apologies council president nor our directors were coming right anyway they're not here today so so maybe next meeting she'll be here anyway and then we can we can do that or do you need to notify her you would still need to notify any employee to my understanding that this situation may occur oh then then then the attorney should probably put out notification thank you thank you uh would anyone else like presid yes just for clarification what you mentioned before about those who are new here speaking I just wanted to re-clarify for those you're new on this side you can raise your hand to speak a lot of people on this side are veteran speakers and been here and they will yield you the time because you've waited so long uh just I'm sorry to speak over the council president but if you don't raise your hand they'll go on to the regular agenda and you may or may not appreciate that I appreciate them coming up to the microphone every time but just so you know for the point of clarification would anyone else like toh speak yes sir hi good evening my name is Young sik Li I'm leaving 10 marot Edison thank you uh first thank you so much your hardworking for Edison Township uh I really appreciate your serving Addison Township and also additional I appreciate your supporting you know supporting letter for the bill a 4536 and s34 this is really important for our community and also all of New Jersey resident this safe stepping issue is a save lives so please remember and then keep supporting this bill okay thank you so much I really appreciate thank you for your [Applause] comments anyone else that would like to speak yes good evening uh John Shu 219 West Shirley Avenue Edison New Jersey thank you um yeah just like to um actually the last time I spoke uh we had the uh we were able to talk about the the power plant um not having the the company withdraw their application so that was a a big night for us I guess that that was a couple months ago um and we passed the resolution the council here passed a resolution opposing the part power plant uh because of the health concerns for residents um just like to re reiterate that uh to thank the the council actually um last time I um I I was going to I was going to thank uh councilman Co um for his comments for for voting on that resolution and for his comments afterwards I just uh it slipped my mind at that time but um i' like to thank councilman Coy for his comments he said uh you know he appreciated us coming and uh just stating the facts and not making this issue political um and I think that's important because you know that power plant was not about scoring political points um you know it was about health safety environment uh climate so um you know we were really happy that um that that that the plan for the power plant was uh with withdrawn so um glad to we can move on from that uh regarding the resolution um it it was great that the council passed uh that resolution I guess I guess uh that same meeting a couple months ago um just to clarify I think um currently Senator dnan he is already a co-sponsor of the bill s304 so that's important that the public knows about that uh also the uh the assembly members sterley Stanley and uh Rob carabin uh they have both um verbally expressed that they will be co-sponsoring if you go on the website right now it doesn't list them as co-sponsoring A4 536 uh but they have already have expressed um that they will be co-sponsoring so we appreciate um the assembly men uh for for that and for the efforts here and residents with throughout legislative district 18 uh to push for that legislation so it was um a good good Push by everyone uh everyone involved uh question I guess a question I was just a little confused about that resolution um so it was like it was verbally passed but there was was there a written resolution passed or did you just send that letter to the uh to the to legislators the uh letter was sent to the uh the leg the legislators okay so there's like no no resolution saying oh we will we will do this and just just the letter was sent no the motion was to create the the letter then and there um I had asked afterwards for clarification whether a resolution had to be created but I was informed that for a letter as such that a resolution was not required okay thanks thanks for that clar clarification um yeah I'm I'm curious about the uh the ordinance about the uh the salaries as well um I guess there's a it's setting a a minimum and a maximum for certain salaries um what which directors uh was that would that affect uh the director's list is on the ordinance language um so it would just be those that are listed there okay is that somewhere I can it's over there yes in that book there um by just general recollection the only ones that I don't believe on there are on there are uh obviously Council council president chief of police and chief of fire I don't believe those were on there and this this won't affect any current salaries or this is um does it does result in any adjustments in current salaries it just sets a minimum and a maximum that the uh the township is bound by in order in terms of uh what they can offer from a salary perspective okay great all right thanks very much good night thank you Council yes councilman [Applause] P John brought a good point but I just want to say thank you to Mr dantar who on the spot suggested this Council to move the motion to send this letter to our legislature so thank you for that recommendation and thank you all the nurses for coming nurses I would say men and women coming here taking your time from busy schedule and thanking you know we we don't get enough people to say thank you but you came here and waited patiently so thank you thank you anyone else that would like to uh speak sir good evening Ben from Edison New Jersey do I have the floor council president thank you thank you uh all right uh recap um do you do you the new business the ordinance 2197 that was I was a little bit off from the video I was back and forth I just want to do a recap you the new business for ordinance 2197 was that resolved or it's in progress it was um it was not um it was not introduced it failed uh 24 I believe and then the 2198 uh-h 2023 did not have the support either to move forward that was uh 33 have any of the resolutions was passed or was it a separate vote I think you guys discussed that from a table point of view or um just because there were there were numerous um I don't recall the without taking up your time no no it's okay if you if you want to pause if we can wait until after the meeting on that particular question just so we can gather there were quite a few so I don't want to take up your time get go straight of what I was going to say so I want to say congratulations to of the votes that we uh that uh joi's Team sueded um I have one question there was two valid um boxes during the election like if Mr Coyle didn't win Miss uh Joyce Shipman would you know would would like what I'm trying to say is that he all you guys won but what happened to Joy is she still will be part of the council regardless of the of the vote or will this will be your last term here it would be uh her term would end December 31st of but it doesn't necessarily mean that this would be my ever my last turn I'm not yeah I'm not expiring or you know or leaving this Earth I don't think so so I just I just won't be on the one that starts in January that doesn't mean I won't be want you on on here cuz your voice really matters a lot and on to the council for real thank you everybody thank you um so yeah I want to say congratulations to you guys uh I know there was a 2 sl3 what is it there was supposed to be the Board of Education didn't go through that's all right um but we all won that was a good win um I haven't been here in a minut I've been very busy you have a time please contact Mr Chris though okay he's not doing so good but anyway keep him in your prayers by the way my condolences from the clerk there was another clerk before you she passed away my condolences and I guess you said something on Monday that was another faculty member also died so I want to say m condones is as well um I would say more I will but I will save it off the Record and I have nothing else to say but congratulations let's do what we need to do to make these people happy behind us thank you have a good night thank you for your comments [Applause] yes uh Nick Fagen 42 Edgewood thank you thank you council president um a couple of matters of housekeeping from the last meeting uh planfield Road status is there any update was the business administrator able to contact the County and get an update on that um and then I appreciate your votes on the Youth Sports I don't relish that we denied or we we um we voted against this but um I still haven't gotten an answer to the question as to who North Edison Athletic Association is um and I don't know if you have I also haven't I don't think I got an answer to the question if the formula was followed or not um The Matrix that you talked about so if you could answer that question just clearly was the formula followed to the to the agreement and and what it was before or not that would be good and then the last thing I had um is about 222 plane field so the residents have been clear um six single family homes is what we have requested from the very very beginning uh our planner that we hired Mr Peter stack had outlined a little cue saac with six homes in it in the opposition document that was handed to the zoning board way way back I don't know two years ago at this point um so if you'd like to see it I can I can give it to you but I would ask that Mr Township attorney if you could offer that to Mr manello and Mr renon if they are the lead negotiators in the in the settlement that six single family homes is the request um I also share concerns with Mr bassoff that creating a new Zone sets a bad precedence um it's not the way to to do this it's a convoluted way to bring this to settlement the the better way and I believe that the applicant is asking for that in order so they don't have to go through zoning board again that they could go through planning board instead and get an approval which is a rubber stamp approval so I'm asking you to have a Whispering Woods disc uh uh settlement with six single family homes using the RB Zone which is right next to it and extend that zone so that you don't have to make a new zone so that if the golf course goes bankrupt in the future that we have 117 acres in the case of theou and country club that can be turned into 0.55 f with six feet sidey yard setbacks 18 combined but you could have houses 18t from each other and you could have hundreds of them on the golf course right and so the developer the applicant's attorney is playing the long game and I believe Council was clear they desire a risk management settlement as you brought uh councilman Patel councilman uh yeah Patel um but that this way of settling it was too convoluted there's a much simpler solution allow agree to the settlement have them go through zoning board get the approval in a Whispering Woods decision and be done with it so that's all I had if you can answer my questions that would be good uh thank you I believe the only actual qu well the planfield road I know son you had sent an email I didn't get to go through yet so I I'll follow up offline after I look at that if that's okay or if you can adise can answer if you'd like sure um so right now they're working based on um conditions of the road and the temperature of course so it may take a little bit longer than what I'll let you know they're aiming towards the end of December but again pending weather conditions that may take longer so I don't want to but they did tell me that the aiming towards end of December and right now they're really closer to the mouin side um so did they let you know how far they're going down the road cuz the original County notification was they were going from Oak Tree to Oak Hills and that's what they came out with many months ago and so and now they're Way Beyond Oak Hills so I don't I don't know what they're I know they're heading towards matachin that's where that's where they're going fair enough and it's not your town once it becomes matachin I get ited But to answer second to answer your second question pertaining to the formula uh the formula was 95% followed the one discrepancy we had pointed out on Monday which reduced the amount by the 3,000 that's the discrepancy that I'm talking about uh which was corrected so in today's resolution that was presented everything was followed by the formula oh okay great thank you for clarifying that council president thank you yes uh just uh clarification before before and I don't want to interrupt but just because he saw has speaking opportunity okay yes councilman Co [Music] um the uh commissioner called me tomorrow and he said the county now I'm more confused because the ba made comment as well and there was a letter or some communication but he made it clear to me there is no Paving being done on planfield Avenue by the county it is a utility project being done by utility company and they're repaving so I mean hence what's a matter pavings being done it'll be completed but he said it's not a County job so maybe we have our communication cross uh it's Paving going on and it'll be done shortly doesn't really matter just that's they'll be ation of who's responsible thank you thank you councilman Co anyone else that would like to speak any rebuttals seeing none a motion to close motion toour motion to motion CL motion by councilman ptil second second by councilman Patel all in favor I any opposed public portion is now closed Cate a motion to adjourn motion to adjourn second motion by councilman Patel second by councilman all in favor I any oppose this meeting stands adjourned