[Applause] [Music] Miss you're spe good evening please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance and please remain standing for the invocation by Pastor Michael Williams of shade of worship Church to the flag of the United States of America and to the rep stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all you my place this evening is Dr Robin whitei so of course I am not Pastor I father God I want thank you for this opportunity to be amongst brothers and sisters to god father although this may be black hisry month that we're celebrating we know that black his is all Lord God we thank you that at this time God that brothers and sisters in gler Township father whatever they may look like God whatever package they may come to God we're still brothers and sisters God you are great Creator made us all to be brothers and sisters God so I thank you for this opportunity tonight to come before you on behalf of my brothers and sisters here to honor Black History Month God and those that have made positive contributions to glester Township father a wonderful place to live and so father I I ask you that on tonight as the procedures go through God with the services you Lord that everyone God walks out differently than when they came in that they walk out God with a heart of United this God and one God that says that we are going to work together we are created to be together so we thank you for all these things thank you for the council thank you for all those that put this affair together and we thank you for those that are being honored and I ask you to continue to bless everyone here God and their families in the name of Jesus am please be seated good evening this regular meeting of the township Council being held in according to the scheduled meetings of the township Council establish and adopted by the township Council which schedule designated time and day and place of the meeting adequate public notice of this meeting has been provided pursuing the provisions of the open public meetings act where using electronic Amplified forign device in order to obtain a clear and aible record request all those wishing speak be recognized and state your name and address directly to the MK the cour device be so utilized by the township clerk's office for the preparation of M and shall the official record of the township Council meetings CL may ro Please Mr here Mrs Grace love here Mr Nash here Walters here Mrs wers here Mr mic pres Mr car here Mr ctis here Chief here Mr M here we had a special presentation this evening as we celebrate Black History Month before we do that there's a proclamation I ask the clerk to read Madam Clerk and recognize February 2024 his cting to our country and whereas negro history was first established in 1926 by the Association for the study of African-American life and history under the leadership of Dr Carter J wson the famous African-American historian known as the father of black history and whereas in 1976 saw expanded the celebration of black history week to a monthlong celebration of black history and whereas 10 years later Congress passed Public Law 99- 244 designating February 1986 as the 16th annual public and private salute to Black History observed as national black afroamerican history and whereas we recognize this year's theme of African-Americans and the ARs and whereas this theme explores how the africanamerican influence has been Paramount in the fields of Visual and Performing Arts literature fashion folklore language film music architecture culinary and other forms of cultural expression and whereas African-American art is infused with African Caribbean and the Black American lived experiences and africanamerican artists have used art to preserve history and community memory as well as empowerment and whereas artistic and cultural movements such as the new negro Black Arts black Renaissance hip hop and afro futurism have been led by people of African descent and set the standard for popular Trends around the world and whereas The Unbroken chain of the black art production from Antiquity to the present from Egypt across Africa from Europe to the new world can still be seen today through the Timeless parts of African descent such as Riley E King and his contributions to music lanks and Hughes and his poetic contributions and the artistic contributions of Judith James now therefore be it resolve that David our mayor mayor of the township bler and Orlando marado president of the council town bler do here by Proclaim February 1st 2024 through February 9th 2024 as Black History Month and call upon the people the CH to the fler to observe this month with appropriate programs activities and Reflections continue our efforts to create a world that is more just Equitable and [Music] prosperous thank you madam CL I appreciate good evening everyone thank you very much for joining us today my name is Orlando Marcado I'm the council president and I send greetings from mayor mayor for mayor mayor is out of town today s regards to everyone and I also want to acknowledge we have commission from C County C County Commissioner g b Al [Applause] John as we celebrate 10 outstanding honores that contribute to the fabric of bler Township these 10 honores were selected by our committee we have two individual that Ser our committee Mr George Hill George both honores that former honores that come back here every year and serve in this capacity so I thank you very much we have 10 outstanding honores and you're going to hear about the inspirational work that they do the contributions they make to our community uh the uh the obstacles that they have overcome and we're going to learn from each other and this is a great uh evening one of my favorite classes when I was in college was a class called ethnic minority relations where we sat there we learned about different cultures and tried to there are some stereotypes in this and for myself yes Puerto Ricans we like riceing beach yeah you can't yeah it is it is what it is but we merged from each other and we sat down and discussed the different races and ethnicities that we had there and we learn from each other we have a better understanding of each other so I want to thank you for all for being here today I want to bring up our first nominee KH br KH was born and raised in bua out there in atanta County okay he we usually the 17 country we talked about that earlier today I'm myself uh but great roots and he attended Atlantic community college and graduated with associates degree and with high honors there he moved on to Ron University where he majored in English and graduated English degree and also an English as a second language certificate he moved the bler Township in 2021 uh he currently is a substitute teacher of Charles W Lewis school trying to navigate his way to get a full contracted position in our district I'm proud of as a gentleman because two years ago he attended job there right and the individual that he interviewed was me I served as a human resources supervisor Los school district and I sat there and I listened to his story and his background what he wanted to do and his infectious smile and energy that he brought and I knew we're going to bring him on we got higher on the spot correct okay and I said I know where I'm going to put you I'm GNA put you at CW Lewis Middle School I said because I believe our students there can benefit from him he has served as the assistant basketball coach of the men's basketball team he has served the assistant track coach he is also in a miral coach he is part of a project at Rowan called project impact project impact does it incre increases male participation um in as far as getting more men of brown and black to be teachers in our school system so uh he is part of that program he was nominated by the school counselor at CW Lewis school and I'm just going to highlight some of the things that she said about you he brings a happiness and passion to see the school teachers Praise Him because he has the ability to work with every student there now the substitute teachers in our school district they come to work every day they're there 185 days uh so that for those who tried to maybe for some reason uh didn't get through the interview process or maybe they just were looking for a different path in life uh this is a home for them through our substitute teaching program and this is a gentleman that I foresee I can't sit my hand but I believe one day he'll be employed as a full-time contractor school dist uh he has worked with the counseling center and getting donations from Target and those donations were used to create a large Clothes Closet for some of our students at CW Lis schools in addition to that he's been a mentor a teacher a friend and a coach and that energy and passion and caring and compassion compassion as he brings through his work every day at Charles ly Lewis school he had a quote that he g a quote that he has his own personal quote prepare each student that what he wants to do is prepare each student for their lives outside of the hallway so on behalf of bloster Township this is awarded to khik Bruce in recognition of your exemplary leadership outstanding service and dedication for people of the township on February 26 2024 provided to you by Boston countship mayor David our mayor and Council in addition to this you have prop citation from United States Congressman morross in addition to that you have a citation from New Jersey legisl signed by senator Paul morard assemblyman Dan Hudson and assemblyman Cody Miller and in addition to that the commissioner brought along with them as well a citation from the K County Board Commission congrat [Applause] hey everybody I really don't need a um as Mr Orlando said you know I do this every day because it's a passion of mind I didn't really prepare anything today but um Talk from the heart I do it for the um the students and um I always want to do this my whole life that's pretty much before I get thank you everybody I do appreciate it and um for those that coming up here next we appreciate you in our district you know um it's because of us that um keep the school the way it is and um it's only moving forward you know as a young guy um students look up to me as a motivation and um I plan to do nothing but that um that's pretty much thank you everybody I do [Applause] app [Music] [Applause] evening everybody my name is Jim Das I'm here to introduce U Michael of black hor bike Regional School District for his contributions to our community in honor of so first I'm to start off he was nominated by um Julie Scully and Marcy guy I'm G to start off with some of the highlights because they brought some great things about Michael's demonstrated a commment to creating culture within our schools that reflects our students experiences meets their needs and creates connections between community and school he was integral in the planning and hosting of The Barbers shop talks for students in collaboration with Legends Barbers shop this event invites students to get free haircuts and refreshments while they discuss topics topics relevant to helping students manage various challenges they face in high school and as they plan for the future it's a great um in Mr Jones's current supervisor role he directly oversees the multilingual learner program which serves the needs of families from across the globe uh that gler Township has welcomed into the community Mr Jones plays an essential role in assessing the growth and needs of the ml program and in determining what additional staff are needed to ensure these students and their families receive adequate support to be successful in school and in life he supported expanding the program beyond the school day to include home visits nightly adult classes for parents as well as other school and home Partnerships that will help continue to build program Michael Jones is the true mission of improving equity for students in gler Township run me bmar he understands his potential to have powerful influence on improving students experiences and is dedicated to maximizing this impact Prett Co after reading this you know it makes you kind of think back to when you're younger right we all needed a good Ro um lot of every one of these nominees uh reminds me of this it's very important for both children and adults to have strong role models in their life in fact coaches teachers parents friends whoever it may be um they're a they offer a sense of comfort admiration confidence a person that you know you can rely on you look up to not only should we all have a Michael in our lives we should trve to become so Michael fit this perfectly his bar shot off program roll in the NL program continues to help the people across the township goes above and beyond Michael is a great great asset to the people across the township [Applause] [Laughter] I would like to thank OST Township for this award for this evening for this time also the back School District with education recog also who is also pres here and also superintend i' be remiss if I also did not thank my support my family my father my brother my sister my wife children uh they have been an incredible support for me in this journey of Education um so if anything else um my family has been my rock they have been the part of me that pushes me mytivation so again thank you for this I [Applause] do our next honor this evening is Pastor Michael Williams she [Applause] I had to wrestle uh councilman Carol and Grace love for this nomination I nominated him first so she like oh I'm GNA do mik I no no I got first too bad Michael was raised in BO and raised in longside New Jersey he's a resident of Berlin where he lives with his wife M and two children he is a graduate glb State College R University now as a biology major he worked at Cooper Hospital and doing medical research uh researching blood diseases he a graduate of Lady of our Lord's nursing program where he's been a registered nurse for 20 years in the field he worked in the pen health system for 13 years and now currently works at Bata Home Health where he works in the Pediatric Vision he is a chap of the gler Township Police Department there are some times and the chief can tell you and attest to you when we need some faith and we need comfort and he's one of the individuals that's called upon at all times of the night or all times of the day is that correct you absolutely he's doing best in 2016 he is do along with his wife uh pastoral duties at St and worship Church on eel Road what's impressive about what they do at shades of worship church is that they have a food distribution and Michael shared with me that he was in the parking lot on the Sab lot on Blackwood clemon Road and God spoke to him and said we need to start a food distribution program in my conversation with him I was I knew that they did one but I was not aware of the level and depth of that food distribution he restaff the Center for Family Services here in the county how they how they can Service uh our most vulnerable population he reached out to harvest support which is the entity down in the South that provides support in finding food for those that have food insecurities uh he reached out the mom Organic Market which is up 73 is that Cherry Hill Sprouts which is kind of like old Foods on 73 as well where he goes there on Sundays and picks up food collecting food and this food is distributed to the neighborhood of Shannon do uh which is our senior community 55 and over located off kiry road to senior campus one Lakeside uh lak Lane area to Franklin Square which is also a senior community where they're there for one Friday a month and they provide Frozen frood and nourishment to those individuals and they feed them Moby as well they also have a food distribution that takes place every Thursday at 6: pm at his church in my conversations with him he had said that pre pandemic know they were doing pretty well post pandemic some of those volunteers left and if you could need two or three people I think there's some volunteers here this audience that could help out volunteers okay to do the work that he does here in addition to that prior to the school year there was a book bag distribution that was provided to students in the southern end of town or anyone in town if they needed a book bag for those to attend school in the fall and he was ahead of that along with his church and his wife it is because of these contributions that he was nominated by me and this because of these contributions you're being honored by won County so behalf of uh and recognition of Exemplar leadership outstanding service and dedication to the people of Township this is presented to you by G Township mayor David our mayor and Township Council congratulations hey man I'll just make this very short um I just want to thank my Lord and my savior Jesus of Christ of Nazareth for for who he is what he's done in my life what he's allow us to accomplish nothing can get done without him his help he gives me the sustainability the breath in my lungs the strength in my bones uh Mr marado of course I didn't go into a lot of detail but maintaining this food distribution is literally almost the the number of hours that we have to put in is is equivalent to a full-time job in addition to the job that I job in I have and I'm already working in addition to Pastor uh where do I find the time I don't know I don't know I feel like I'm in a whirlwind sometimes but this is what God has called us to do just make whatever sacrifices are necessary in order to get the job done just want to say Council we we we thank you very much we love you God bless you forever mayor mayor and his absence um shades of worship church if you wouldn't mind if you just stand to your feet real quick give a [Applause] once again my beautiful wife nothing gets done without [Applause] her now I know The Parting of the Red Sea was a miracle her not wanting to say anything that's a even bigger Mir somebody call an EMT I'm about to pass out God bless you we love you listen I just want to tell you you well when you up up April 7th Sunday April 7th we will be out at laas Scotta right there off of blackon Road and M Road we're going to be servicing the hometown House Development we're going out with 350 bags of non parishables we'll probably we have 800 hot dogs grilled right there for you we'll have clothes we're going to have social services information anybody willing to volunteer we need to start taking back some of this territory out here and getting out here and helping our neighbors which could be your Uncle Bobby your Uncle Bubba your uncle lero you know whoever might be and and so we we need help we need help we have four major outreaches where we're going out to apartment complexes and townhouse complexes and we're going to do our best to service all the families that live that live in those um uh complexes and so if anybody I don't care who you are if you're retired if you're a student if you've got two to three hours per month that you can donate to be a blessing to someone else we solicit your help there's much more that God wants us to do but we need able and willing arms and legs to get out there so that we can help and bless the humanity that God has called us to bless uh so hopefully this will resonate with you so maybe you'll have a dream tonight or something like that or maybe you sweet but we're located at 2746 G um uh we would like to hear from you we would like to hear from you there's a great work that needs to be done outside of a Martin Luther King Day of Service you got to understand people need help every month not just once a year God bless [Applause] amen ask you to volunteer I'd like to call Sydney Griffin temp scho amen amen this high school student goes to P she's going to be a graduate class in 2024 oh yeah congratul and she's a great representation she does so many things for other people and for the school and for the township that to have her as my person and I heard some things about her but then I also got some things from family members who texted me and thank God I may have a text I have a son and the only way I see him Tex but anyway uh she Sydney is she's an and I believe this what do you do for four years so you know she's really good and she's one of the original members of the student voice committee now I have never heard of the student voice committee and I don't know you so the student committee is basically we talk to students in the school about problems issues that they have and then we l them to our Administration to basically change the thing that they don't like or they feel like a problem just to kind of build a better it's leadersh she was one of the original members of the student voice committee that repres she was represented uh she represented her her school at the Rowan University transformative student voice competing at this past May so it was nice that she got to be the representative of the organization she's at a college all right I think that's wonderful the program does help young people but it's particularly those most disadvantaged connected which is really important today we do that and she creates and participates in a lot of efforts at the school to improve the quality of the school and improve the quality of the students who go there she actively engages in the convening and put and she puts her new learning into practice as a student voice leader this year our leadership has inspired a a lot of our younger students to get involved with student voice and they help around the school so she's a real true leader because she's getting others to follow her that's the sign I know you don't think of yourself as a leader but you are now I did hear some other things uh she wants [Music] to now she's also been accepted in certain colle she's aior she was accepted university university Hampton University there are three major universities so that's a big thing when you're applying to colleges to get accepted univers I work at a college are used to but that's a wonderful honor for to so I was very proud of that too now she she does have a part-time job well she's G to school so she's got oh she's also on the [Music] um National Honor Society so you have all those skills she's not only talented in sports she's got a mind to go with it and she has the heart to be a leader so with that I congratulate you and I honor you and just [Applause] you leadership outstanding service and dedication to the people of this Township we honor you and we thank [Applause] you I want to say thank you to everyone that nominated me the award as well as my parents and my family for supporting me I know I've done a lot during high school and it's been a lot but they' supported me and me to do my best throughout all of it so thank you so much and thank you for everyone here tonight that's [Applause] [Music] all everyone I don't know what's going on at Timber Creek but there's some amazing things going going on oh yeah okay that principal stand up stand up principal right say your name [Music] again when I read Jasmine's bio Jasmine Lewis uh cannot be here tonight but her dad is here Mr Lewis if you can come up he's going accept the award on her behal but again thank for all the amazing students that are it's just an amazing thank you um so this is Mr Lewis and Jasmine was nominated by her guidance counsel advisor Jordana Simmons and I read the bio and I just got chills and I said to myself the things that these young students are doing um exceeds what I did when I was 30 years old I was never on this track but you know we're we get there we all get there but these young students are amazing and there are leaders that are going to go beyond and I I don't see her just as what's on this paper I can't wait to see her in amazing I also saw her in politics this long history but I'm going to share with Mrs uh Simmons wrote um on behalf of J Jasmine you hold this right here to school so Jasmine Lewis they noted that she is a highly motivated intelligent and overall great student that's how starts out she is a stand out member of our the student voice committee very much just like Sydney Sydney are you guys related yeah that's right and it is it is in that environment that she truly thrived from presenting to group The group's ideas to administrators presenting to adults in the Symposium uh Symposium and in sharing ideas during meetings to her peers she has a strong voice that she uses in a positive way to try to create a better school Community ultimately allow each person to celebrate and share their culture in addition to her student Voice or student voice Jasmine is also member of the class of 2024 executive committee she's a part of the interactive Club the future medical professionals she's a National Honor Society she's also a part of the African-American Culture Club and like I said how do you guys do it don't know um it goes on to say uh she has also participated in the girls soccer team the girls La Cross team and is a foure varsity swim team member when Jasmine is not participating in all the above with any with any free time she may have which we don't know where she gets it from she can be found working at the Bear Paddle Swim Club as a swim instructor and in volunteering at James W Lewis school as a tutor for struggling students Jasmine keeps herself very active yet she always finds time to volunteer such as Martin Luther King Day of Service um every year she does that every single year our during the fall and spring festivals and many many more Jasmine is a well-rounded student and caring and mature young woman who is this destined to be great and I'm sure you're very proud of her and the school says that they are very proud of her as well to call her a charger and a little bit more about her she's also also a senior she has been accepted at ruers University Morgan State University she's been accepted at the University of Maryland I'm sure there's some more that we didn't cover but she is well in her way to much success excuse me um let's see here anything else we want to cover you wanna okay okay wonderful so what I want to do now is just read this year and honor J for black history Jasmine Lewis recognition of your exemp leadership outstanding service and dedication to people of the town on February 26 2024 was Township mayor and D mayor and counsel congratulate Jasmine [Applause] Lewis um would you like to come up and and take a picture along as principal since she's not in her H come on up come on up hold some of these you know I'm sure she would love I'm sure she would love to see you in a picture apolog for not being here today she has a stomach she want get everybody sick however she want to thank those who nominated for this award she stated that it's honor to be honored such a presious award black his thank you we will now have a musical selection by Melanie Thomas Thompson of Shad worship Church hello everyone even song says here I am to worship here I am to bow down here I am to say that you are my Lord just want to say to all the nominees I'm so especially those young people just touches my heart to see them work so hard it it blesses me so here I am to worship here I am to B down here I am to say that you're my God you're all together lovely all together worthy all together wonderful to me so here I am to worship here I am to bow down here I am to say that you're my God you're all to together lovely all together worthy all together wonderful to me see I'll never know how much it cost to see my [Music] sins that cross I name [Laughter] [Music] know how much it cost to see my sins upon that cross so here I am to work worship here I am to bow down and here I am to say that you're my God you're all to together lovely all together worthy you're all together wonderful to me God bless [Applause] you evening um I would like to call T [Applause] Das so Tammy Dash I had met um a few years ago when our boards were playing um baseball and Tammy and her husband be there um and Tammy would be cheering on the kids um she knew all the kids names she encouraged them and she was just just an admiration for them um so that next year um I had the pleasure of working with Tammy Tammy came to Lauren Fleming as a social worker um and I was a nurse so we um we were roommates basically I had my nurse's office and she was right next to me so whenever I was having a hard time with a student she just took over me like so she know so we formed not only a coworker Bond but also a friendship we would talk about our kids we talk about our families what we were doing and um she just became a part so the following year um she during that time she was with me she was also at two other elementary schools so she split her time between the three schools and I'm not sure how she kept those kids together what day she was going where but she did um and then the following year she went to Blackwood and she was upset she was leaving more and cling and all the people she knew but I said they are going to love you Blackwood is going to love you are gonna love you there every day um she's an extra extraordinary person that I am privileged to say that I know her and have the friendship with her um with that she's raising her young son darius's a respectful young man that I have him now so it's a pleasure to see him every day so not only does she take care of the kids that she comes to her te um so I just want to read some things that uh were sent in um her nomination she was nominated by um the principal Alexander Fon from Blackwood so I had just read um when considering someone for this honor we wanted to recognize someone who continuously goes about above and beyond to impact those in our community positively our nominees is responsible for supporting and nurturing the mental health of our students families and staff as education has identified and shifted to supporting the whole student we have recognized the impact of anxiety depression trauma addiction and many other contributing factors to one mental T Miss T Dash is our goci person as a licensed Clin social worker and is the person who makes the impact on our community I can't speak enough of what Mrs Dash means to our school together with Mrs kogen our school counselor help all of our students deal with social and emotional mindf that we call life whether it's dealing with issues that arise in the students life outside the school the digital environment of social media or student to student interactions at School Mrs Dash befriends our students becomes their trusted adult helps students students process their emotion and mentors the students social and emotional development if you are a staff member of Blackwood Elementary School you probably had a conversation with Mrs zash regarding students who identify in your classroom needing support or ask her for advice for issues you might be struggling with in your own personal or family life Mrs Dash makes herself available to our students teachers and parents I can recall many stories Where Mrs Dash had told me a teacher or a parent reached out to her during evening weekend who came to the rescue Mrs Dash um sometimes it's a true emergency and Mrs Dash sleeps into action and rallies a team for support the fact of the matter is Mrs Dash is always there in a world where we recognize mental health issues we would be lost without hish knowledge guidance and compassion there is no other person that has big of impact on our community Miss Dash can work with any of our 577 students and 77 the 75 staff members were the catless family represented in our school um and I also have one from Miss um I've been blessed for the past five years to work with this with tamy Dash as our school social workers she and I have tackled some pretty issues facing our children today she understands the mental health system and how to navigate the complexities that go with it I have learned so much from her and continue to do so every day tamy amazes me for ability to make deep connections with students and their families she's always there for teachers and questions and concerns they have she never hesitates to jump in and help anyone where needed above all Tammy generally can genuinely cones about every individual and will drop everything whatever she has to attend to them I am so lucky to call our colleague but more importantly a friends [Applause] and I'll I'll be uh Mrs Z is someone I can always count on she's reliable insight and she gives her complete effort into anything she does students I can count on Tommy whenever I need your ideas and put her advice I am proud to have Tommy that always a colleague a friend so through this you can see that she pours her heart out into this with the kids with parents with teachers s um and she makes a world of difference so I luy to um presenter award um for exemp leadership ex service and dation it's a pleasure to work every day um I'd like to thank everyone for being here tonight thank you coun thank you for um for presenting me um a week ago I laid my mother to rest um she is peacefully laying beside my father um my husband and I are transplant here in Jersey so I literally have no family here except from my family over there and half of my Blackwood family who showed up here for me today um it has always been a passion for me to work with children because I feel like you know they didn't ask to come into this world and the only thing they have to do is survive it um as times have gone on and on it's been more difficult for our students Co social media things of that nature um and for me I just want to make sure they are our future and I want to make sure that they're you know here for us as I tell them all the time when I'm old and decrepit I'm relying on you guys please don't raise my tax and they all look at me we don't know what tax truly truly um however you know I feel thankful for this award I am um if my I know my parents are looking down on be down very blessed um my husband is somewhere over there and my son also I have lost oh there he is uh videotaping this for my sister and um my family down south so thank you so [Applause] much good evening evening so this is pretty ironic uh that I would follow somebody with the last name of Dash because I look out in the crowd I see a find a friend who gives one of the best speeches I've ever heard of my life and I try to mimic it and reiterate I can't do the justice and I hope maybe tonight people get a chance to hear about the dash great I almost Ste your thunder but anyway uh I'm a man of quotes also I love quotes so one of my top five quotes is if you can't fly then run if you can't run then walk if you can't walk then crawl but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward Martin Luther King Jr I have the pleasure of uh introducing and bringing off Mr Eric Butler Butler looking Dapper he's a accompanied by his mother Valerie his daughter Ariana his wife de his son Blake and his mother-in-law Mrs Flowers Mr Butler was uh recognized by Miss chel Shiloh from CW Lewis Mr Butler is an English language arts teacher for the glou Township Public School District for nine years he's also all his effort is given back to the students and the community he's a lead organizer of our Black History Month celebration at CW Lois his responsibilities include uh his role being D giving dally morning announcements celebrating the contributions of notable black authors scientists and lawyers he also assists in setting up celebratory displays of black culture and success as well as help organize the Black History Month wax museum where students Dr dress up and act like important figures in black history in additional to being a teacher and involved in uh academics he's also an assistant baseball coach which he was a CW Lewis for three three years before taking on the role uh at gcit uh which he's been doing for the last two years and he's also coached a track team for the past four years now did you coach Mr Bruce um he actually replaced me me and Mr Bruce connect all the time very good very good so I did ask him if they did win any championships and he said yes so gcit was the Tri County uh chance this year so [Applause] congratulations co-piloted our young men of americ y y he facilitated opportunities for young men to get back to their school and community Through various social projects including the Martin Luther King Jr daily social project where students made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches now I believe over 9ut butter and jelly sandwiches not that wound up all over the truck that's okay uh Mr Butler's dedication to giving back is not end once he leads the school in fact Mr Butler has spent most of his life giving back in various ways either as a teacher fraternity brother or a church member he has served as a parent coach consultant for the South Jersey chapter of New Jersey orators I did ask him what an orator was that is somebody that he coaches public speaking which I think is fantastic because in today's day and AG it's hard especially uh some of the youth and I have two of the children that live in that technology World computers and and laptops cell phones and that's how they communicate but uh what you do that that is fantastic and I think public speaking is a is an H so congratulations doing that uh Mr butlery performed his own original poetry on Legacy for the P mu Omega chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha sar's annual Dr Martin Luther King Jr breakfast now this poetry it doesn't consist of roses or red B and blue right right I saided what is most important and impressive about Mr Eric is his poetic and pathetic heart he's a poet I not only trade also in the way he perceives the world he's a role model for all who encounter him especially young African-American and black children who see themselves in him and aspire to be Mr Butler you did it congratulations good evening everyone it's good to see the network come out and support each other it's a really good feeling um a couple couple things couple people that I want say thank you too so just bear with you real quick I make this make this fast um before I get started I like to thank God for this evening where we are able to celebrate a legacy of Excellence Under the Umbrella Black History Month um I'd like to thank again my mom for being my rock my support system my wife di always being there for me uh my children um for being supporters and being there for me to to lift me with joy whenever I needed my mother-in-law always being solid for me too so they are here to always B by my side wherever I go um sometimes watch your whole family with you yeah my um I'd also like to thank all the distinguished guests that are here uh mayor mayor absence and the gloss Township Council for putting this celebration together this really means a lot um I'd like to thank my superintendent Mr John V and my building principal Mr Ted Aon for giving me the opportunity to do the great work of an educator here in glow toown it's truly been an amazing experience th far uh there's a quote I like to live by man of course as well um the quote says you Chang the world you live in by your example not your opinion that's de right um and that's the way in which I have approached my profession modeling good character and integrity for the students that I teach moreover in reflection I ask myself daily am I doing enough am I doing enough with my position am I doing enough with my platform as so many have come before me with the intent to empower this nation to embrace a sense of unity and Humanity receiving this recognition is confirmation that I'm headed in the right direction uh not only is it confirmation but it's motivation to continue educating Scholars coaching athletes mentoring young people and dedicating time to serve communities uh or this community that thrives in improving the condition of the people people so um without further Ado I both humbled and honored tonight to be recognized along with so many others that continue to fulfill the dream of creating a more Equitable future through service thank you all very [Applause] much [Music] I'm not a great Storyteller but I'm GNA share the story anyway how I noticed the Embrace restaurant before I introduce Mr owner Pastor chef and um has a great restaurant here in Lo Township so I was out one day shopping and I'm a nosy Council woman and I noticed we had a new business so but I'm I'm messy my hair is messy I have sneers on sweats but I said you know what I'm GNA go in there anyway so I go inside the restaurant and I'm like BL away it's amazing inside it's beautiful Ambiance I think that day they were playing jazz music um and I'm I'm saying to myself and also I have Southern Roots so I'm from the Carolinas and you it's hard to find wonderful uh black own restaurants with that Ambiance of the Hampton area or the Virginia area so I'm in there and I meet Miss Hicks and she talks to me for a while and Mr Hicks um was so focused on the business and getting his customers we didn't get a chance to talk but I was so amazed and so so excited about the business that I got I left and called all my family members and I called my my my friends in Virginia my military friends in Virginia Council excuse me um Colonel Michelle Hammond I called all of them because they were coming down for my way and they love to eat so I made sure that you were on the top of the list of where they were going to eat for breakfast and lunch and dinner so I'm so excited but I wanted to also um you can come up now Mr um Alex so [Applause] [Applause] can um and I also want to introduce U also our military folks here if you can just stand up so grateful for you and you can come up as well second CH thank you just let them come all come up okay so okay so I want to First say Mr KS um is a wonderful wonderful person he's is a pastor chef and owner of a brace he lost his business I guess it was a business before going through the co and he came back even stronger you know so you can see the tenacity the hard work Dedication that wanted to do the things that he's done he's doing for the community um Alex like many others uh again um he he gives back to his community he's Guided by a vision from God inspired by his wife who's also military and police officer uh and um they open Embrace restaurant where they combine their Ministry their generosity um and delicious homecook meals to create a spa-like atmosphere when I say it's a beautiful Restaurant please go there [Music] tomorrow um um you can unwind and dine if uh it's there that Alex serves our hometown Veterans for complimentary Wednesdays Alex created a Serene atmosphere that Heroes feel safe to share their story restore their spirit and vast in the peaceful environment that is important I love that also Alex um feeds several disadvantaged and displaced families at Christmas time um employs folks who have made some mistakes in the past um but are seeking a second chance at risk you also find a home at Embrace as Alex provides mentorship to give them second give them lessons and etiquette and to promote the good works of service so we are very proud and honored to having all here at Bon Township um again this is his wife this aim who serves as the New York police department and serves her country both Desert Storm and desert Shi in 20 to E7 retired I say that correct and petty officer third class B Be e for medically retired yes we thank you so much for all that you're doing for our community so let me read this out loud so the Black History Month Award presented to Alex hi in recognition of your Exemplar leadership outstanding service and dedication to the people of our Township February 26 2024 Township made mayor our mayor and Council present supp [Applause] this is from citation from the statey and this is from the county C County Board of Commissioners um and we thank you again for I'd like to thank God first for this opportunity i' like to you know give honor to the Lord for being in a position to bless people's lives and to give them an opportunity to see God in a different place than out the four walls of the church um I honored David mayor who allowed me to be a part of this ferial board uh at several meetings and one of the officers back here who was a part of that as well who we meet at the at L post and it's just a blessing to be a part of a community that has faith and that trust God the first prayer breakfast I came to here in this community let me know that I was in the right community in the right City for 20 years not even knowing that the police department prays and found out that they have the probably one of the most least crime in the area of the whole state so with that being said it's an honor to be here I honor my wife my support I honor the that are here Mr Abdul in the second chance program someone that has been on our team for several months who you know you get certain people that just won't have a chance or an opportunity to get a job because of your past but with opportunities given to people you can see the blessing of God that can come out of a person and out of people that you can bring out of them and I like to also honor you know my spiritual Mentor Daniel okar you stand Daniel my brother-in-law van Brown my mother-in-law Miss Ida and my other brother-in-law and the one of the chefs at the restaurant Mr Raymond J God bless and I just want to thank God for everything and I would like to pray for this community right now father God I thank you oh Lord that you are God I thank you that this is an opportunity to give you glory I bless this city I bless this community and I ask you oh God to let your hand of blessing and approval be upon this this state and this region that no weapon formed against it would prosper and all that we have been given and honored to today the glory goes to you because you give us life you give us breath you give us activities of our Limbs and you let Blood Run warm through our veins on a daily basis and Lord we just say thank you and we give you honor in Jesus name amen thank you [Applause] every I just wanted to also say as last hour asked Mr if he could bring for us he's just amazing and he has you know I'm sure it's be delicious I'm be the first one in line but I just wanted to [Applause] share [Applause] Nom by the mayor uh the reason he was nominated is he performs a lot at Bluster Township events and uh he has much more Talent than I do obviously because he plays guitar keyboard and base started all of that not surprising in the church you know he was at a young age and learned all those things asked him about singing his uh he's the proud husband of Ursula for the last 22 years and we talked about that a little bit yesterday just saying it's nice to hear couples together uh for period of time because you know we don't see that as much as we should in the St nice to see um and his wife also helps with the liim's Productions since he does a lot of his uh talents and different things so he you know she helps to manage all that stuff for him so he can spend his time performing um he has two boys that he's very proud of AD Don Lee and 17 and injuring who was 14 um he's been a police officer for 21 years uh started in chiselhurst they moved to Georgia and his wife want come so needless to say they're you know he's back at the chiselhurst uh depart and he does community police officer and the former G officer there using those um skills and talents with compl Community Police officing he uses those abilities with his neighborhood which is in Britney woods and he helps with the neighbors the elderly young anyone that might need help you know with anything at all he's helping um in in his nomination it said basically he's giving kids advice for Bully helping with lost pets that are out there and even being an extra basketball player you know when you need to be on the teams you know you need one more player you know there's someone available to help out um and he comes to help lend the helping him with whatever might be needed and sometimes it's just lending you be that person to listen when someone to talk uh he performs at a lot of different cler town events mainly the farmers market uh recently the GT juny celebration he can also be spotted at the farmers market selling his books he the author of two different books also uh so the one is 365 days of Happiness through preparation perception and people and that is used by the field officers during their training um training um he also they also utilize his second book which is the voice behind the badge which deals with the challenges of being a black officer at current times um so he's able to take his experience and and you know encounters over the last couple however many years to help others and help them hopefully learn it maybe sooner than he have to learn it you know because someone can teach to them a little sooner and they can learn those things and use that in their everyday life um and it it helps them to relate to others and care for people with respect and understanding so it sounds to me I mind you know he's a good neighbor you know I wouldn't mind come in my neighborhood and helping out and being involved in the neighborhood but it's nice to see that there is a neighborhood that is able to take him and embrace him to utilize his skills and his abilities and his wants to help so I congratulate him and hon to [Applause] in of people matter how much in front of people is always like every time my son said yeah you do it every it's not 70 or 80 people um I I like quotes as well I'm just GNA copy off the last two people by 47 I'll be 47 in April I've acquired a little bit of knowledge enough to things so uh without Unity I say there's no community so I'm kind of a nerd so actually look at thetically take there's no community like and I learned that from my parents and this is where I forgot who said but you get a little touchy feeling older you get like the rock car dude just it softens up because things happen [Music] lose [Applause] only teared up maybe five um but that's origin tear up because that lady you know I can if when you get to that point if you haven't it it feels like no other feeling because you can still hear these folks like when you're about to do something I'm raising my boys do little things a little different old school old school it works but it does some damage in other places so I can hear my grandma that's Siri tell me I was raped my grandma you know she was really short she tack me made me feel tall only like five she reach up and she felt my temp coming as a kid she attack and I'm raising my kids everybody know teenagers can get you there I can her saying don't do it like that do it like that so them two big head boys stand up it's not the accomplishments of degrees that count as you get older the kids like you go to the school and they're like let me tell you how much I love these kids and I'm like what did they do um but it's never what they did it's what they want them to keep doing they they're such an inspiration to me um I learned this as a kid the whole community on S I'm taking L to gather myself because that whole grandmother situation still dealing with that she only been gone like two years and I lived with my whole life so as a child I ran into a bad experience and for law enforcement and I you know this is not about law enforcement but Chief can attested this and The New Yorker can attested this too the job chooses you the guys that you see in the news they went after that job but for those of us that just chose us we love everybody we want to help everybody like I literally almost came in here with my off duty weapon and I was like everybody should be good I'm not need it but Chief you get it New Yorker you get it it's like it never stops when I'm out in the neighborhood it's not the flex Sergeant I don't care about none of that are you okay sir are you okay ma'am can I help you and that's what I got from my grandma that's why feeling some type I didn't think I would I thought I was great as said um be the change that you want to see so I remember I had that that pivotal moment at my teenagers this going to my sons whoever else but listen um I had a chance to be bitter or I had a chance to be better and I chose the ladder of the road we all we're all going to come up against some things things in our life and we have to overlook some of the foolishness to get parts uh this led to my career in educational law unforunate the music I play the more fun stuff um but the music I play is entitled sful instrumentals I'm not specific to it genre if you look in the left part of your program which is weird was already there you talk about different factions and different genres affected and I took that along with my wife I love her to death she she said listen go out here and do what you do and I was like well nobody's going want to hear Soulful instrumentals most people want to Pigeon hold like your pop and your Jazz and your gospel but I'm everything all of us are everything that we listen to everything that we take in so that's what I do and I was allowed to do that at H Harlem Park and that happened by accident I came over to this building to ask could I get in Caso for 60 bucks and then I end up meeting Andrea and then somehow I landed in her and other towns around here um I'm thankful to my sons mostly also for inspiring me to do better as well as my wife and my other person she don't like to be seeing her she probably bur her head that's my mother-in-law she she's the rock should tell her y you do it just get out there and do it I'm telling her back there in the back then I might to go to the bathroom nervous you're like you better get up there I'm almost 50 and she still tell you I just want to thank everybody for this very awesome and El but Le this is a very serious moment and I appreciate thank [Applause] you thank you ma' thank you again okay so last but certainly not least let's bring up Fedora A [Applause] J so vedora is a senior at Trion high school and she had five people nominate her one thing that I I noticed in in looking at all the five letters that were written from of Samantha Spalding MJ Chambers Mary Jenkins Jim Frank and then on be half of Melissa Shepard Paul Summers he there's a lot of adjectives a lot of adjectives to describe theora and and reading this uh it seems to me that one day she's going to be a coach whether that's in sports academics in life you'll and you'll feel the same way when I get done uh saying all these wonderful things that were said about the door so door is all the things that an advisor can ask of a student but she's more than just imentally talented highly accomplished or greatly involved she's also more than a tireless worker Dependable respectful or any other of the other platitudes and advisor would commonly use to endure students she also has a unique ability to make those around her want to do and be better she's the type of student that inspires those around her to be better do better and expect more theora was an integral part of the student council tra she's constantly developing activities to build school spirit while helping keep the club organized and focused on helping the less fortunate Thor was a role model for younger students and always went above and beyond to assist in any way she could th is an Engaged and hardworking student her sense of maturity her sense of humor were continually on display she agreed to do a taste test for a group of students but she's also real so the former presidents come back and they give their recipes and she said yeah I I'll do the taste test and the first one she tested she said nope and walked away you see she's not afraid she's not intimidated he's always going to help and volunteer she also would like to attend law school and become an advocate for women's immigrant issues so I asked her what schools did she apply to she said she applied to 12 schools and I asked her what school do you want to get into and she said University of Chicago with that said she did get accepted into two schools two top schools rers being one and Princeton the other was involved with many clubs at Jo High School in addition to Sydney with our audition vocal grou so we have another singer in the house she serves as one of the officers to the class the 2024 National Honor Society and the Key Club she's also a talent performer and she's been involved with the production and spring musicals so I asked her she was Will to sing anything tonight National said a rain Che she also involved in the community uh she took part in giving away free backpacks loaded with school supplies and meal kits to the community she exes maturity Grace and intelligence any college or university would be fortunate to have a young adult like d walk on their campus she's a tenacious individual in the face of challenges theora constantly demonstrates a determination to over come obstacles and Achieve goals this resilient and great make Fedora uh not only an AC an asset in academic Pursuits but all aspects of life she's truly admirable Fedora is remarkable individual who possesses a rare combination of tenacity altruism loyalty focus and intelligence especially involved in that community and then along that other with those things she's also a lunch buy while still maintaining a 4.0 GP amen [Applause] I'll try to keep it short first I like to thank God I wouldn't be here without him I'd like to thank my [Music] mom [Music] like to congratulate everyone who received an award um I look up to all the adults up here to be like you guys I honestly I going to give any back to receive because I just truly enjoy it and seeing people happy see people healthy just and just it's a blessing and I hope you that I get to College So yeah thank you and [Applause] congratulations [Applause] than before we hear from our County Commissioner please all stand up backing [Music] [Applause] [Music] the [Music] [Music] [Music] sing the has [Music] [Music] theory [Music] is stand up [Applause] all [Music] thank you for coming my brother like a ghost when I saw him walk through the door 5 and half hours away thank you I [Applause] love really you know as Commissioners we go to a lot we go to a lot of go to a lot of these events and they all are special but this evening was very special because it had a lot of education and U that's good that we had our Young Folks up here and that's very Mr Bruce so as as I sat there I listen to all of these folks and all testimony fol came and said all it felt like somebody told me sometime you in that day Moment Like that's because you're sleep heard that so I'm saying that to say you were me BK I for a couple years and I basketball and city of Cy kept trying to get be a teacher want to be a I just wanted to coach and so I kept subing and then one day I just decided you know what goou and get my sub I can become a teacher because coaching they saw that all the kids were being inspired by Me was home also high school so for you I'm just saying this that was inspiration just to hear what you're going through I'm going say this I don't want sound like I'm bring so as I got my my Ser I started coaching I started coaching high school basketball in my community and I became the all time win this girl in my high school history so I say that to say continue what you do and it's not just about the basketball I went back and got my masters became a principle and athletic director director of Career and Technical education and I retired last year and I had black beard like you had before I 25 Service as educator and during 55 I said you know what I got I sat there almost tear when I heard story because that was me and somebody put their arm around me and said now you got to go start educating so whatever you need basketballs whistles or just anything for from me as a commissioner whatever you need alternate roof program anything you need I know want you to take that next step don't short yourself don't short your community don't short student you got a GI if the kids are inspired by you they listening to you you coaching as a sub that's a great thing just keep pushing like I said here's my card right here I got a buch in my pocket if you need anything from me [Music] Commissioners my two colleagues KY B and commissioner John Young we want to thank Los Township for having us down this evening this was a great program I truly appreciate it and I will be back next year thank you that concludes our program we can have all the honores come up here we'll grab a picture we're going to be splattered all over social media for the next few days one more quick announcement from the chief he has an open house they like to talk about first let me just say I am honored to be here amongst you pillars of the community it really is great night tonight and I do we have connections being made here tonight and you know I believe the Lord works in mysterious ways for sure so I normally give a director's report at the end and I ask special permission from Council president I appreciated sir we are having an open house with the Gloucester Township Police Department for hiring we're in a hiring cycle and I would be remiss if I didn't take this opportunity to tell a room full of people these great people these winners tonight and all if you know someone who wants a career at a great Police Department in a great Community here in Gloucester Township we have an open house right here in this room this Wednesday from 3: to 5: please also renck is in the back we'll be giving you a flyer to take if you know a young man or woman who ever has an interest in law enforcement come learn about us we will be here we're looking for good men and women we need good men and women to serve as police officers here in this community council president thank you very much for giving me the opportunity congratulations to all the award recipients really a wonderful night thank [Applause] you we can have all the re please come up here and grab vict thank you you good hey chief quick question have to live in the [Music] [Music] town [Applause] [Music] [Applause] oh [Music] yeah [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] know [Music] know [Music] [Applause] our [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] congratulations [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] yeah [Applause] [Music] I know I know I was some tiger in the house I see there [Music] [Music] con do [Music] [Music] [Music] going [Music] e [Applause] [Music] [Music] every [Music] you [Applause] see [Music] [Music] I'm Melody hi girl you don't remember are [Music] much [Music] [Music] [Applause] this [Laughter] [Applause] [Music] AF [Music] that's all you do that's all [Music] [Applause] [Music] you at [Applause] [Music] [Applause] you [Music] now [Music] h [Music] really conations black one that's awesome are [Music] you all right my have a [Music] great [Music] [Music] w [Music] [Music] [Music] you oh thank you appreciate it all right thank [Music] [Applause] [Music] you [Music] [Music] back [Music] [Music] [Music] yeah [Applause] [Music] [Applause] yeah [Music] [Applause] [Applause] great the roll again please here here here Mr Nash [Music] Migel Mrs have the first public por this is for agenda items only anyone addressing Council they speak one time all those wishing to address Council had their turn ex they may address Council second time leave add said earlier not repeating anyone like first public [Music] miss good evening Dena Hendry Summerdale um I'm currently asking if this meeting can be postponed due to the fact that the agenda was not posted until after 12 o'clock today request kindly only because only because the township does a really great job in ensuring that the agenda is posted 48 hours before each council meeting um I went on Saturday looked to see it so I can review it and it wasn't there it was a long 73 page Bill list um unfortunately the township building is closed so I could not come to take a peek at it here at the wall nor could I come today before or after work because I was working and went to a Schoolboard meeting the agenda was not posted until after 12 o'clock today so therefore I couldn't even put a egov question if I had a question regarding the agenda especially the fact that we are going to be talking about the budget and that's large sums of money and myself and other citizens would truly appreciate if we postponed this whole entire meeting due to the fact that we the citizens did not have a chance to review the agenda as it was not posted I apologize that it was not posted it was requested by clerk posted on Thursday it did not make it to the website it was posted at 852 am uh this morning is that correct madam cler yeah I looked I looked at 9 o' before I went to work and it wasn't there it wasn't until after 12:00 um I mean I understand things happen I honestly do especially when you're relying on somebody to do something for you the thing is where is the checks and balances to ensure that it's done properly like I send an email to a team member and there has to be something where you're checking to make sure that it's done especially when there is a large population in counting on this information to be reviewed so the capital budget this is the second reading of the capital budget true story introduced at at the last meeting nothing has changed with that capital budget there is a hearing that takes place for that and there'll be ample time if anyone like to speak on that capital budget if any of my colleagues would would want to table this meeting or not move forward please speak up I guess we're going to move forward Okie doie poke is there anyone else seeing n first public portion way the reading accept the minutes of reorganization January 3rd 2024 Workshop January 8th 2024 regular session January 8 2024 and January 22nd 2024 may I have a motion please move on the question roll call please Mr yes Mrs alel Mrs Grace love yes Mr Nash yes Mrs Walters Mrs wers Mr Mar yes next is ordinances ordinance 0-24 d02 there will be a public reading it's a second a public hearing there's a second read ordinance amending the gler township Land Development ordinance 0-21 d09 The Villages of gler Township Redevelopment Plan and the New Vision Redevelopment area plan uh this allows the township to then Part B of section three local taxation to provide for corly reporting of marijuana sales so therefore uh Part B of section three local taxation shall be deleted and amended replace that the Chief Financial Officer controller or licensed account for the marijuana establishment shall file with the CFO of the township a corly report of gross revenues for the license marijuana establishment for each quarter of the current year this tax that's imposed by the second shall be paid for the given calendar year to the CFO of the township of glester no lated in the first business day in February and payments are pursuant to the section shall be accompanied by a report that certifies that is true and accurate by the CFO controller or license account for the marijuana establishment showing gross revenues for the licensed marijuana establishment for each quarter of the preceding year and the corresponding tax obligation for each courter We Now open up the public hearing anyone like to speak on this matter seeing none we'll close the public hearing may have a motion second thank you on the question roll call please Mr yes Mrs Al yes Mrs love yes Mr Nash yes Mrs Walter yes Mrs Ward yes Mr M yes next is B is excuse me ordinance 0-24 d03 Bond ordinance authorizing the completion of various Capital Improv improvements in the acquisition of various pieces of Capital Equipment in and for the township of bler County of C New Jersey appropriating the sum of 9,137 4419 therefore authorizing the issuance of General obligation bonds or Bond anticipation notes of the township of bler County of Camden New Jersey in the aggregate principal amount of up to 8,702 $33 making certain determinations and Covenants and authorizing certain Rel action in connection with the forego We Now open up the public heing anyone like to speak on this matter Mr swe Mr swe as we've done in previous meetings uh there is unlimited time but we asked you in five minute uh increments if then would someone like to speak after you uh they will speak if no one's speaking then you'll continue your five minutes okay uh Sam sweet for arel good evening Council good evening um have a couple questions I guess regarding the capital projects uh some details um first one is we're doing we're buying miscellaneous office equipment which is we're replacing 5-year-old desktops how many of those are we replacing and who who's getting them so they are following a plan that's one of the questions I had Mr S as well so I believe bear with me for one second so they're running a 3 to five year period 3 to five year cycle of replacing those uh computers they with me computers and monitors and the now replacing 33 computers of the 145 that the township currently has in service the thir three computers are slated uh for that are five years or older those are that are slated for replacement uh usually the standard it practice Area 3 to 5 years and they're rotating this um the commuters are mixed throughout the uh Township and are located in every Department okay thank you um 72 inch zero turn diesel mowers um we Outsource a lot of um of the Landscaping to Marksman Landscaping so how many of these diesel motors mowers do we need Mr cars is something you can answer I don't know about how many we need but the ones that are in here are necessary because the supervisors have indicated that they need these to cut grass we talking about contracts rewarded outside that is for landscaping of the building and maintenance of the invention okay because the reason I'm asking is we we have well after we borrow for these two uh we're going to have nine of these diesel mowers um starting in 18 we borrowed for two they cost 39,000 19 we borrowed for two that was 39,000 in 21 we borrowed for one it was 19,000 last year we borrowed for two that was 27,000 and now this year we're borrowing for two at 54,000 so the prices increased that doubled from 23 to 24 for those diesel mowers because that just seems surpr me because we are cutting all the cutting well I'm more concerned one about you know how many do we need uh which hasn't been answered and two last year was 27 have we need and this satisfies that so last year was 27,000 for two this year is 54,000 for two that's a double the price I realize inflation is taking place but 100% inflation I think that that that price is a little high and should be looked into wouldn't wouldn't uh Council agree with that please continue um recycling carts uh how many do we need for the township I mean I know the Township's big are we getting new ones is everybody getting a new one no because in 19 we borrowed 64,000 21 we borrowed 32,000 23 we're borrowing 32,000 and 24 we're borrowing 32,000 so that's $156,000 on recycling carts that we're borrowing so and I haven't gotten any on since I moved into the township so I'm just wondering why we're borrowing all the money for recycling carts and how many do those recycling carts you know how much is 32,000 buying a recycling C50 or 60 and we need to replace that many recycles or were they going to new homes or what like who why do we need that many and borrowing every year for them new homes and and Replacements but also people buy two I have two myself buy two what an extra yes okay all right um we're borrowing we borrowed $500,000 in 23 and we borrowing $500,000 in 24 for the black boox theater what exactly I know it's a black box theer but what exactly is going there and when is construction going to start on that because you know $500,000 last year is just sitting there and now another we're borrowing another 500,000 I don't understand why we're not borrowing when construction's ready to start why why are we borrowing it every year and letting it sit uh take pause does anyone else like to speak on this this coin these coin choose Landing um under F improvements and upgrades to various Township buildings 1,182 6113 can you tell me what Township buildings are getting improvements and upgrades bear with me for one second I had that was also part of my questions that I had earlier that I forwarded to Mr CIS I'm talking about my question if you are you able to answer that one well I mean I you go down the list of 25 right no I think she's looking for something more in depth than what's there she said a million 1.1 okay 1,182 613 something specif that's have have you seen the capital budget for that section no oh okay so uh generators at public work uh resurfaced the hall roof the municipal Hall roof uh kan's bathroom upstairs Police Department for four new offices for detectives uh making improvements to Old Public Works painting the outside the garage and a new rout for the old Public Works uh lighting for the uh pickle ball court lights Gabriel Tav tabern parking lot lights Outlets LED heads the hall paint the walls of the police department Recreation Center relamp the building on the out on the inside the community center relamp the inside of it LED lights in the buildings security cameras and card swipes uh hick down Community Park lamp with three Fields the TBA parking lot light four poles uh for lights uh the pool uh with the epoxy coat the police department to replace and fix seven slop sinks clerk's office for new carpeting pool replace the feet on tanks and filters defibrillator Tech Lifeline AED door access system upgrade and storage and filing improvements for the office of the chief of police okay so the money that's going towards the old Public Works garage is that in addition to the money that was already borrowed for that Mr car yes okay thank you is there anyone else would like to speak on this matter yes Miss smithman this is for regular the regular agenda yes well no no this is on the hearing for the uh Capal budget then I'll come back when it's for my apologies any anyone else like to speak on this Mr sweet uh so you had a question about the black box you want to start with that again yes uh why are we what construction to my knowledge has not started or anything on that so Sor great I'm just wondering you know we're we borrowed 500,000 23 we're borrowing 500,000 24 how much are we going to borrow in 25 if any and how much is this whole project going to cost and when does it start okay so that's a lot of that I'm GNA tell you uh so and maybe Mr cars can tag in on this uh the renovations are going to be completed in phases and phase one's going to entail exterior Renovations and some partial interior Renovations so that exterior Ren Ovations are include um some work to the exterior Stone uh repair to the slate roof have new Roofing and new windows uh the exterior renovation also includes a new made entrance which is going to have a reconfigure the stairs uh so the interior Renovations include Ada accessible toilet rooms and a new wheelchair lift when are we starting with them do you have a uh is that's something you could provide Mr swed and also members of council I can do thank you so if we didn't start it in 23 which obviously we not and we don't have a time frame in 24 why are we borrowing ahead of time Mr not borrowing ahead of time there is some work that has going on inside that building okay it has $500,000 of that's a million dollarss of work there is additional work just pointed I understand but we don't have a time frame on that so have to have funding in order to move forward to award contracts um so this coordinance once it's in place provides that funding to award contracts so then we would the bid at approve okay but this Council has proven time and time again that if it needs money we can go out and borrow it on on the drop a hat not saying that's a bad thing I'm just saying that you've proven that with the insurance claims of two years ago where we all of a sudden had a bond ordinance for $4 million I can go down the list of many other times where we you let finish you guys have shown that we can borrow it a drop of a hat my problem with this is we don't have a time frame on on it and I'm not saying that would it doesn't need to be done but I don't think we need to borrow it ahead of time we we're early borrowing it and it's we're paying interest on it and then at some point and especially with today's interest rates where they're at I mean three years ago when there were two 3% okay maybe but now they're five six s% so it's a waste of money to borrow this money and sit on it and not uh you know spend it per se and not even have a timetable so I just think Council needs to to really look at this capital projects that were asking $9.1 million and there's other other examples um the municipal Hall you brought up the uh the building he said 35,000 for the municipal Hall coding why are we recoding the roof when the roof was just replaced in 23 and then along those lines we've now borrowed for this roof $380,000 since 2017 and the roof only cost about $228,000 according to invoices I want to apologize that's repair of a hall roof not Reco I apologize should re repair okay so so my question still stands why are we repairing a roof that we were we fixed in November same but it says the hall roof Municipal Hall roof roof you're referring to was the side roof that is out front is a maner style familiar with maner if you notice there was work out there several months ago all that was replac in front of the building and partially along this side of the building that's what that expens was for this is for the actual roof itself okay but that explains 2024 but doesn't explain why we borrowed 2017 170,000 we borrowed 2018 25,000 and 2019 we borrowed 25,000 ,000 2021 we borrowed 100,000 and 2022 we borrowed 25,000 all under Municipal Hall roof Town roof Court roof which is all the same roof now I know there's different areas of the roof but the roofs that we that was fixed with the I of invoices for only $218,000 so we borrowed 345,000 why again why are we borrowing early and not not fixing the roof to begin with just another example is there anyone else would like to speak on this capital budget Mr swe please continue so I mean does council have a an answer to that is anybody questioning that anyone guess we're fine with it Mr swe um the engineering design I guess and the engineering inspection how is the engineering inspections um calculated like how are they build are you referring is there something on the there yes so the capital projects um you have on the different capital projects for instance you have Cedar Creek has engineering inspection uh $10,000 Colonial Court $4,000 Madison Drive 13,000 how how do we uh how are they calculator those bills why your percentage and not an hourly rate okay so but so could they come in below that so if the higher the the job so if you have a $200,000 job you're saying it's a percentage and it's a straight percentage for budgeting purposes okay so it what's that percentage all right so a $200,000 job is going to budget 20,000 for inspection all right but you build hourly at the end of the day at the end of the day when you actually do the inspection you build hour okay so we we can't determine how many hours for him for better budgeting like I mean is that easily it's called it's I believe Remington veric has been doing this a long time and I believe that they would know okay I Mr cartis you asked me a question I would appreciate it if you actually listen to the answer before you interrupted me not step over each other please okay so I mean with all due respect to R and Vernick you guys have been doing this a long time so you can look at a job and say okay for budgeting purposes because my problem is with these engineering inspections is not the price but are we actually going to be getting the engineering inspection done this year because if we're not getting to these jobs this year then we're borrowing again for a job that's not being done and we're paying interest on that and I don't and I stand up here every year and say this when we borrow money it's it hits the bottom line of the budget because we have to pay that back Mr cartis has said sat here mentally and said we have to pay the debt service back by borrowing this and early borrowing and sitting on it we we're we're wasting money we're wasting taxpayer money and I just don't understand why and every year there's never an answer and now we have several new council members and I you know would like to know what you guys think of that we're wasting money by o you know early borrowing hear that I I heard that they're plan for construction but we're now in February so when are they planned is there a schedule for them planned and then how long is it going to take them to get done and then for those inspections because I'm pretty sure that when I went through some of these lists from prior Years A lot of these SS haven't been done and they they wait you know when I say haven't been done haven't been done in the year that we borrowed for okay and I don't understand why we're borrow we're borrowing for this year the inspections almost almost like $190,000 for inspections I'm not saying it's not worth it don't get me wrong I'm not saying it's not worth it and it's not something that needs to be done but I if we're not getting to like three or four these jobs until the inspection in 20 or 2025 why are we borrowing for in 2024 I think Council needs to look at these jobs and come up with a better wedding I think he just mentioned that it was scheduled for 2024 correct that's correct scheduled but I understand they're being scheduled but if they're not just because they're scheduled wed bud did not Mr cars hold on does anyone else like to speak on this capital budget Miss [Music] coin Denise Queen she's Landy um I just want to clarify something that Sam said earlier that wasn't really responded to that's concerning to me and the figures Escape me it's late but he said that we borrowed for the municipal building roof multiple times and that the receipts that he has that he was provided by the township for that money that was borrowed is less than the amount that was borrowed but now we're borrowing again for the roof did I hear that correctly Mr don't know what refer to he men the 18 budg 19 budget well essentially majority of the money that was budgeted for the RO was for the Mansion outside the front of the building and around the Sun that was just completed three months ago okay but he mentioned specific figures saying we borrowed x amount of money then x amount of money then x amount of money and the receipts were I think $100,000 less than the money that was borrow but now we're borrowing again and he asked if anybody thought that was concerning and nobody said that they thought it was concerning I think it's concerning nobody else thinks that that's concerning I don't think either of us up here are experts on pricing of Roost and I don't know if you guys are but I don't know what a total price of replace a roof would be that's sure something we can look into but is it a million dollars three I'm not talking about pricing a roof I'm talking about finish this coin he wasn't finished so if we look over the since 17 18 those projects 20 some thousand 30 some thousand I don't know what sections of roof that that has been done I trust the the supervisors who are who are planning these projects but but I don't know what the total cost of this roof would cost do you do you I'm not talking about a total cost I'm talking about you go to a bank and you tell a bank I want to replace my roof and the bank lends you $100,000 and you spend $50,000 of that and then you go back to the bank and say excuse me can I have another $50,000 my roof needs more work so now you have $150,000 for a roof that you spend $50,000 on and I think you're speaking of a solo group where this is a multi-level group in multiple different sections I don't think he said for 25,000 they replace the entire roof it sounds that they're replacing portions of the roof over time exactly but the receipts the cost for that roof should equal what you borrow before you go out and borrow more money for something that you didn't spend the money that you got that you already borrowed on and you're borrowing more that's concerning that doesn't make sense to me thank we do [Music] have I mean historically I don't know what happen there's always chers on everything I tell the money okay but is there any recordkeeping where you show that I borrowed $200,000 to replace a roof and I've only spent 75 so I have money left over I could still spend on that roof I don't have record showing what in 189 what might have been left from those Appropriations I'm going by the fact that supervisor telling us that this is what the estimates are this is what it's to make the RO that's what're so they ask you for more money and you don't know if you've already spent the money that you already borrowed if we had money available for the roof we would not be bor the money then why can't you produce the receipts for the money that you borrowed what the receipts do for the need to fix the roof right now and the fact that we have money appropriated in this Capital to fix the roof because it shows that you still have should have money left over to fix the roof have money left over to roof well then what happen why don't you have the receipts to show that you spent the money I didn't know I I needed receipts here I don't have receipts I'm sorry you don't have receipts for money I didn't bring receipts to this meeting from 2018 2019 that's not what I'm asking what are you asking I'm asking if you borrow if we had money left are you gonna let me finish you ask me a question I'm trying to answer I'm asking if you borrow $100,000 for a project do you like have a folder that says roof and any receipts for that roof go in that folder and you keep a running track of how much money you have spent of that $100,000 before you go out and borrow more money and you haven't even spent the original money that you borrowed that's what I'm asking no I don't have a folder with receipts I don't mean a folder I mean keeping track is there anyone else would like to speak on this thank you for being respectful and answering my questions SM hello good evening Council my name is Sean smithman I live in the SDK Milbridge Gardens apartment complex on milbrook Court department 341 uh is the council required I would think in some way to show proof of where the money was spent um I believe that the term is called it's termed receipt proof of purchase correct proof of transactions money excuse me for second Miss SMI Miss coin can you please keep the chatter down I'm trying to listen to miss miss smithman here I'm sure you can hear no you're actually listening Miss Miss coin please show some respect to the speaker and also coun how about you respect me you allow to me like that please please wait and I'm not supposed to be angry I'm here to reinforce what Miss Quin had just said my name is Shauna C smithman and uh I would think that the council would need to a show in some way a proof of purchase which I believe the technical term is called a receipt correct yes and is is that not required so if there's work that's performed there is a receipt or an invoice all right I may I ask what Tom Z cis's title is he's the business administrator uh is for this transaction for the township you repeat the title again the business business administrator okay uh as a business administrator would he be was he aware that you would need a receipt to show where funds are coming from especially on a on a government type level I mean I know that individual Burrows and townships and cities are um can kind of go by their own policies they don't necessarily are not restricted to the exact rules of the state or the federal laws but it's still a part of a government transaction I would think he would need a receipt I've been audited several times I would think he would need a receipt to show any transactions whether it occurred on a roof whether it occurred at any time for any transaction especially an amount of what is the discrepancy of more than $50,000 Miss Smith Mr cars was saying he did not have receipts here with him tonight are do do the receipts res do the receipts exist because the way I heard it he didn't have the receipt at all he indicated he did not have receipt with him tonight will he say that Mr cartis you want to state I'm not sure where we're going with this because we we follow the state procurement statutes in order to purchase anything um we to the bid thresholds apprach thresholds we purchase anything we have a purchase order don't pay it till we have an invoice attached to that purchase order everything is audited at year end especially all the individual capital accounts the sub accounts are also audited and any balances would show in any particular audit Year miss is here our CFO she canate I didn't hear that the receip that the receipt existed does he have a receipt for the purchases that shows the emount bar invoice man yes pay based on an invoice they bill you get an invoice it's attached to the purchase order purchas order first is a requisition then it becomes a purchase order with an invoice on it then pay based on that purchase order with that invoice we certify we receive the services and or Goods once we've done that we then make payment to the vendor and the invoice will equal the amount that you borrowed that glester Township borrowed to repair this roof it may or may not has nothing to do with that has to do with the payments made on the job the job could come in under job could come in over it is possible the way these are estimates estimates some of them are are very good estimates because it may be as Mr swe pointed out a lawnmower if they have the exact estimate it could be a road as Mr Mel pointed out that we estimate what that road is going to cost but does the invoice reflect that you spent the amount that you borrowed before you borrow more money the invoice represents the amount you spent for the job Township Miss Smith please allow him to finish well he's referring to it I don't have a business allow him to finish whether it's acquiring something or actually doing something like construction of a road construction of drainage construction of the sidewalk yes there are invoices get buil I'm asking if you have an invoice for the project that is being presented that you more money for the invoices will reflected yet you have estimates you didn't answer the question at all Miss smithman uh is there anyone else your time's up Miss andry Gina Hendry Summerdale again I work in simple numbers so this roof that we're talking talking about of we say that we're going to borrow and whatever do you borrow in segments like the right side of the roof cost X not sure I understand question in segments or phases in phases yes like so do you do the right side first and then the middle and then like the left side typically the borrowing is a factor of Bond ordinance Bond ordinance authorizes an amount to that you cannot exceed in terms of borrowing so in this particular instance because we won't be permanently financing this what we'll do is when we're ready to go after the projects we'll take a note out okay probably a oneye note okay so say for instance the note is $100,000 I don't know the exact numbers I just work in nice big round numbers because that's easy for me to digest so say it's $100,000 and the job comes in you get invoiced for $80,000 but yet you have $100,000 sitting in the kitty where does that $20,000 go you would when you go to renew the note you would not renew the note for the amount you did not need in terms of that that particular project or exp so then therefore every time that there is a job and that we're asking for money then all the receipts and all the invoices match out and then will equal zero I'm not sure you so say for instance you ask for a bond for $100,000 the estimate comes in for $100,000 but yet the invoice comes in for $80,000 happen right away once you borrow the note let's if your you borrow the note there's $100,000 in there for you only need need 80 so that note is going to carry on for one year and it's going to mature at that point you either renew the note for the same amount or a lesser amount and you make your interest payments okay so in that case because the project came in under I would say you would not borrow the note for that amount you so then you borrow for $80,000 but yet the invoice and your receipts say you know what actually there was a really sale on shingles so therefore it's only $60,000 but yet you borrowed 80 where does the extra money go does it pay back the note no no now you're moving the number so it was 80 you're saying it's 80 now all of a sudden it's 60 so it went from 100, to 80 and now drop to 60 so if it's 60 then you wouldn't borrow the other 40 if a year from now you didn't need it because you did the RO for six okay so why is it seeming that we're always borrowing again for the same jobs I think that's where the confusion goes with with everybody here that it's a job for the roof but it's not specified whether it's the right side of the roof whether it's the middle roof or whether it's the other side it's not specific and it's not detailed so I think that's where the confusion is is that we keep borrowing for the same jobs over and over again but we have the question of where is this extra money if we're coming under in the job here that are not this there was listed they were listed for the old Public Works building we have what 12 15 buildings not account the concession stands there are a lot of so I don't know where particularly these roof spots are Bob Tek my supervisor in charge of buildings would know that but I don't have that information right now what I have is what his estimates are what our needs I think going forward I think it would be be beneficial if it was detailed where it's just like the building here so therefore there is no questions and it will alleviate some of this back and forth because it's not detailed enough and that's I think the reason why a lot of the residents have questions on where's the extra money going it is detail it does show it in the detail Mr has you do not have it's in the bond it's the detail that Mr swed has and what we have here and it does show next to each one of the items the particular building that those group repairs will be made got it thank you there anyone else would like to speak back Mr s Sam swe from Ariel again um councilman Nash I'm not saying I know what a roof costs okay because I don't and we don't know my question is more along the lines of in 27 17 we borrowed 170,000 for the municipal roof that's what the detail says on that so I can only go by the de what the detail says you gotta address president not direct he'll like to respond to it all right so fine so it's 170,000 that we borrowed for it the roof the municipal roof in 2017 the municipal Roof then was not fixed until three months ago we borrowed again 25,000 in 18 25,9 100,0 21 25,0 and22 and now we're borrowing 35,0 24 now I realize it's it's a large roof but why did we borrow in 17 and did nothing to the roof for six years that's six years of Interest six years of wasted money that I think everyone would agree here and that's my that's my concern is not what the roof costs okay but we're borrowing for it early well in advance and we're waiting six years to do that that's six years of Interest all right at what 3% and it's interest only and then at some point I believe in 17 that that loan was permanently financed because it was bonded so now we're paying [Music] off so now we borrowed in 17 we permanently financed it in 2021 and now we're paying that off and we didn't do anything until 23 yes you have facts that show we did not do any Ro improvements in 17 18 19 21 22 yes because I we asked for well then then 17 17 17 18 19 21 22 and now [Music] 24 now as far as correct understood and I don't but when I asked for the roofing invoices that's what I got so I can only go by when I'm asking I want all Roofing invoices from this year to this year and this is what I get and then I get oh well the 17 one wasn't done the 18 wasn't done 19 wasn't done and now it's done in 23 that's what I'm getting so either a that so I'm I'm pretty thorough what I asked for and it was pretty self-explanatory so either a the facts that I have a correct or B There Was An oper violation because I wasn't given everything that I asked for and if he comes up with other things there will be an Oprah violation okay so I think there should be some concern there because again council is not being transparent okay so that that's that's the issue with that that okay you're not being transparent you you bought 17 you bought $170,000 six years ago and the roof wasn't fixed until 23 okay fine I don't care that the roof wasn't fixed but you borrowed the money for it and you sat down on it which leades to my next question if with Miss Henry if uh we borrow 100,000 for the roof and it comes in at 80,000 we still borrow the $100,000 did we pay it's most likely those are interest only because they're Bond anticipatory notes so they're interest only so when the comes in an 80,000 we spend the 80,000 on the invoice in this in this small little world right you still owe $100,000 so when you renew the note unless you paid the 880,000 you're renewing the note for 100 because the bank's not going to say oh it's only 80 well we're going to lower it down to 80 the bank's going to say we still need $100,000 correct govern entities councils entities to cancel to up the budgets was put out in a local Finance 202 or 21 you provid that you provide that [Music] to speak and you provided at the council at that time I did absolutely Miss smth where's that yes hello ccel my name is sh C smithman the SDK Milbridge Gardens apartment complex on milboro Court Apartment 341 for this budget um what is the ordinance number uh ordinance 0-24 d03 thank you president M are these funds allowed to be transferred from what the request for the money it like if they they borrow the money do they have to actually spend it where it the request for the money was no can be it can be amended to move to another line item it can be moved to for example on the streets you can add additional streets that were not originally named in the ordinance Ro wasn't named in the original I asked because on I believe it was February the 20th 2024 there was a planning glester Township planning work session uh where there was a request by someone um in glester Township the somewhere near Timber Creek Court um I live in the mil f m GS Department complex I just attended the meeting because the public is permitted to attend uh they were given a number written on a piece of paper most likely close to the amount of the discrepancy of this uh this roof that you're speaking of probably close to $100,000 uh you wouldn't happen to be well they were told to speak to that they had to pay that amount before they could build uh 16 homes on a culde saac and that they had to speak with Mr Thomas cartis on the glester township Council and like I said they wrote down a they were at this table here they wrote down large number on a piece of paper and handed it to them the public is not permitted to speak at cler township planning meetings and I'm fearful um to interrupt I just observed when I could and listened when I could sometimes I got a little closer when they started to whisper but that would be considered M money laundering wouldn't it if Mr ctis was involved somehow in transferring funds for an over borrowed amount to hold on hold on hold on hold on on hold on Tom Tom hold Tom please stop Miss SM there's not money laundering taking place let's go back to this budget capital budget well that's what I was asking about no there's no money laundering taking place the amend is very similar you're able to make budget transfers you could change line items but he doesn't have proof of where that money is going he admittedly by not answering a direct question for 10 minutes of council time between Mrs coin and myself asking if he had proof of where that money was spent and I just find it so strange that it was pretty close to the same which is close to $100,000 of government funds um you you're borrowing money from you're you're you're borrowing money to spend it you're saying on a roof the roof was repaired for much less than the amount that you already had and then you're borrowing more money almost at the same time like I said it was February 20th 2024 the planning council meeting they start at 4:30 p.m uh there was a lawyer he also has a different position and Mr Bach he was speaking with the uh the builders I guess they would be called I I don't inquire too much I'm just a member of the public but it would probably playy similar to this amount that would be considered money laundering wouldn't it no I guess I don't know no thank you is there anything else anyone else would like to speak that's not spoken yet Mr sweep Mr cartis actually never answered my question question if we borrow $100,000 and the B bid comes in at 80,000 don't we have to pay back the 100,000 and if we don't use that 80,000 or that 100,000 to pay to pay it and if we cancel it the project not the debt we still owe them $100,000 I don't care that New Jersey says that what the you know rule is of cancelling projects all right my question is if you borrow $100,000 for a roof and the roof comes in at 80 we still owe that $100,000 to the bank correct in that's in my little scenario right there if we borrow $100,000 in a bond anticipatory note for in a bond anticipatory note we borrow $100,000 the bid comes in at 80 we we pay right we still owe $100,000 to the bank let finish please I'm I'm asking my question I want to be clear if we borrow $100,000 we still owe the bank $100,000 regardless of whether the bid comes in 80,000 whether we pay 80 whether we pay 70 okay you did you said you said when we go to renew the Sam he was responding to you but matures in one year here you can decide whether you want to lower the amount that you borrow if you roll the note over so if you bar for one year you Bor the 100,000 you must pay it back nobody forgives you of 100,000 that you borrow what I said though is if you borrow again on a note which we often do we we roll the note over you don't have to roll the note over for the entire 100,000 you wouldn't roll the note over for the 80,000 that's okay but you have to pay the 100,000 back before you do that's not what you said the first time we can go back to the video Mr CIS it's not exactly what you said really what you said we can renew the note for a lower amount okay I agree that you're very good at your job and a little too good and you like to talk circles without answering the direct question that's what I believe okay right it's not a kogin right it's it's not a kogin continue when we talk about respect all right you're going to allow them to talk to me call me a kagin and a malc Content Mr President ricado Mr cars can you refrain from making any comments I will certainly refrain for make any f apprciate it you said that this note this note that we're borrowing for 9.1 million will not be permanently financed didn't say that I actually I wrote it down you said it will not be permanently financed I said it will be a note initially and it could very well be permanent Finance we have quite a few notes that are outstanding that are rolling over year after year that have not been yet combined into a permanent Finance so all notes will will eventually become permanent financing unless you're able to pay those notes off you're required to pay them off over a 10e period you cannot roll a note of past 10 years and after three years by law you must begin to make principal payments on any note am I correctness there that is correct thank you you also stated that you don't have any records I don't understand how he doesn't have the records but yet I did he doesn't have records of with him this evening he that's what he had stated Mr no he stated that I don't have records going back to 17 Mr swe please let me finish that Mr cars did not have the receipts with him today he said he will go back and take a look at 17 18 19 21 22 and 24 is this year that's what he stated I don't have a folder with we can and you know we will um why do some jobs not have an engineering design where others have an engineer like for instance Cole's Road has an engineering design an engineering inspection but there's no construction yes and then we see if anyone else like to speak please sit down M sweet me go correct me if I'm wrong some of these projects were designed in the prior year and are going to construction this year when they go to construction the only you need to budget for is the actual construction and the inspection in other cases there is just design this because we're designing that road in order to put it into next year's Capital for construction and inspection is that corre corre inst of Des is there anyone else would like to speak uh during this hearing Mr sweet can you provide an estimate of how many questions you have remaining Mr sweet uh it depends on what is said I have about four or five what is said okay I may have I may have questions on what's said so like I have need clarification on on Cole's Road I have engineering design of 66,000 and Engineering inspection of of 55,000 and you said that that road is now going to be completed this year all right but we're not borrowing for that road okay that's fine I'm not I'm not trying to got I'm trying to understand we have a grant from construction cost we still need to put bud and then would I assume that that um bill is going to be about $550,000 since the engineering inspection is 55,000 okay um Highland this year Highland ravenue has 125,000 of construction 12.5 engineering inspection but there's no design going back okay but there's no design plan just I just went over that whole thing with so any clarification of it there are some projects that you will see just construction and inspection because the design took place here okay but Highland Avenue doesn't have a constru um I went back and doesn't doesn't have a uh it's empty from last year there's no design con there's no design engineering design on Highland Avenue in 2023 one in glor one okay but okay but Highland Avenue in 2023 it's blank and then this one says construction so I'm just wondering why there was no design but God bless you um the schedule of projects to be completed in 2024 are they all scheduled to be completed and engineered inspection Mr cars Mr Miguel are you what are you referring to Street projects the street project so all the project yes all the projects in 2024 the street projects that have engineering inspections we have all these Street projects about toing 1.5 almost 1.5 million we discuss the capital budg Mr M okay um Hampton Road has two engineering designs is there a reason for that both for $112,000 one in 23 and one in 24 you said Hampton Road 14 still chance for work that may get pushed again but that was in 23 so so you're saying that Hampton Road was originally in 23 and then had to be pushed back did not get designed yes okay but if if we borrowed for it in 23 why are we borrowing for it again and I know that's not that's not your it was that was pointed that out earlier question was are you allowed to are you stuck with everything you say you're going to do each one of the line item Bond and I said not you can change you can add road you can can track roads uh you in order to amend if I want to move money get the budgeting 101 if you want to move money from the road section to let's say the police section you have to amend the ordinance so you would have to have amending ordinance and a public hearing if within police budget in that section the chief decided he wanted to buy a license plate reader let's say and he had adequate funds left over to do that he could do that on and doesn't need a bond ordinance he doesn't need because it's under that more aware of that um um monello drive it's called Uh mon Montello Drive weep hole refit retrofit sorry um in 24 we're borrowing 55,000 for construction 6,000 for the design and 5 .5 um th000 well 5500 for the inspection in 23 we borrowed 44,000 for the design and in 22 we also did 55,000 for construction 6,000 in design and 55 in inspection so so now we're that's three different times we borrow for the same project and it indicated weo retrofit yes all the all monel Drive weep whole retrofit Mr car you able to respond to that no no I'll try to get us some information on that uh Mr swe what are you shaking your head for sir so well your time's up anyone else would like to speak on this matter okay Mr sweet please continue I was shaking my head because that I've been doing this now for I don't know how many years coming up here with the c budget you know that I'm going to go through it compared last years to the other years you guys have stopped borrowing for weed whackers you guys have stopped borrowing for leaf blowers because of the constant borrowing of that now we're doing this and I just don't understand how it's not looked at how a council doesn't notice that we're borrowing $55,000 in 22 for the same project in 24 and if if you said says well we cancel the project okay well is there an email is there something telling the public hey we cancel this project but yet we still borrowed the money because the bond anticipatory note was as we've asked Mr cter several times each time he borrows the whole amount in whole and then it sits there so now we're borrowing money again and it goes back to every year we're borrowing money we're either early borrowing over borrowing I haven't even gotten into the over borrowing because in 24 I can't really do that until 26 to find out whether what the jobs cost but last year I stood up here and I asked for $12 million worth of um invoices and I got back $8 million that's the 122 million that we borrow that this Council borrowed authorized to borrow and $8 million was actually spent on invoices that's 33% increase so that's over borrowing of $4 million and that's only on my my little sample so if we if we extrapolate that out it's probably about 20 30 million of over borrowing at interest rates and interest rates as Mr cartis and I have gone back and forth with this The Debt Service gets increases and we cannot not pay our debt service and that's way around the 2% cap of real estate taxes and we're paying money on on some projects that aren't even done now do I have a list of all the projects that aren't done no can I get one sure but a lot of these projects are done two years later the hockey rinks Paving of the hockey rinks were done three years after we borrowed for the money the library still doesn't have a new bathroom that we borrowed for in 2015 constantly so here we are we're B asking for $9.1 million how many of these projects are not going to be utilized I know there's a schedule I know where you want to and you know the best lay plans of mice and men but every year how many how many projects of that money that we borrowed in 23 how many projects were were not done were not completed and I'm not asking you to know that off the top of your head but I'd like to know that answer I'd like to know also in 22 and I think you can get that for me at some point you know you guys are constantly over borrowing and and and early borrowing and that costs the taxpayers money and it's not it's not the Township's money it's our money it's your money you guys are taxpayers too and you sit up here and I ask a question and neither I get and that's why I was shaking my head because I don't get answers up here I stand up here I got five minutes I have to sit down stand up all right you know trying to ruin the train of thought and you guys are just standing there and not and then trying to change the subject and I don't understand this $9.1 million we could probably go through it and probably shave off I would say two million and I know Mr Gs will say well where would we shave it off I don't know but I I think this every year we over borrow every year and I've proven this beyond the shadow of a doubt and every year Council just ignores it is there anything else you want to add or do you have any questions or you just going toide your opinion yes I [Music] do do we know when the the library bathroom Renovations are going to be done from 2015 that we borrowed I do not know does anybody have a problem with the fact that we borrowed money for 2015 Renovations and we actually now I believe 2015 the that amount has been permanently financed is that correct Mr cartis Excuse the 2015 amount that was originally a bond anticipatory note I'm assuming that that's been permanently financed I would all right so we borrow for that 2015 bathroom Renovations for the library and they haven't been done and nobody knows when they're going to be done I think you bring up a good bid point I think Mr cars what we do is look into it like he mentioned some projects could have been moved maybe that happened we're talking nine years ago so why don't we give them the opportunity to go back to 2015 to see if that project was moved for some other reason like he mentioned already because the products can be moved right absolutely and and Sam you are free to email me any questions that you have you chose not to do that had thisal Bud foreks um I actually OA in the I OA the day after I got the capital projects and since it didn't fall within the seven business days I didn't get them those invoices back or else I would have had more questions you bathrooms from 201 I opened them before and I got that they're not done before when last year so when you say that Mr has had a he's had ample opportunity to look into it in 2015 resp actually no I did get a response I I did get a response and they weren't done and now they're still not done why don't giving you resp okay because I I sent the I sent the opras so the lastek or but but again I in 2015 when I stood up up here or 2023 last year when I stood up here and said how come the bathrooms haven't been done nobody everybody same looks crickets and nobody did anything about it and now here I am a year later the bathrooms still aren't done and now now we're going to go look into it but yet I'm sure that won't get looked into at all I don't know that they have not been done and I don't know that it's not been cancelled it was permanently it very well may have been can that would have within that realm of money okay but we still so we still borrowed for the money we still borrowed for that that and didn't do the project and so therefore that that money is still outstanding and we still have to pay on that loan you can cancel the project you can't can stop stepping over each other please is there anyone else like to speak on this uh ordinance Mr sweep please continue you can cancel the project but you can't cancel the debt so if we borrowed in 2015 and they've been permanently financed all right we are now paying for a project that either was routed someplace else or and and I don't know the answer to that but we pay we borrowed for a project that's not complete so that means at some point we're going to have to borrow to get the bathrooms redone or if the bathrooms are fine in the library then we borrow for no reason at all and we were borrowed and I can't stand up here you know I can keep standing up here you guys got to start changing your borrowing habits because it's increasing it's increasing taxes over borrowing early borrowing all right I'm not going to go borrow $50,000 to go buy a new truck six years from now I'm not going to go to the bank and say I need a new roof give me $50,000 and then go to Tahiti with it and then go back to the bank and say I need $50,000 again for a new roof because I I I spent the money elsewhere all right I'm now I'm going to owe the bank $100,000 not 50 and I could have canceled the project decided to go to Tahiti yes but I'm still going to need to put a new roof on well I want to see if Mr has any more questions you have any more questions no okay thank you CL public heing I entertain a motion I'll make that motion is there a second second roll call please Mr yes Mrs Al Trel yes Mrs Grace yes Mr yes Mrs Walter Mr yes next is ordinance of first reading and introduction ordinance 0-24 d04 ordinance of the township of bler County of Camden state of New Jersey providing for a real property tax exempt sta predicated upon a veteran disability this uh shall provide an exemption from Real Property taxation on property owned by disabled veteran for 100% service related disabled veteran and the intent of this ordinance to establish the effective date for an applicant seeking this tax exempt status in any current tax year uh may I have a motion there a second on the question roll call please Mr yes Mrs Al yes Mrs Grace yes Mr yes Mrs Walter Mrs W Mr yes next is ordinance 0-24 d05 in ordance of the Cel of glester County of Camden and state of New Jersey adopting prohibited uses to the Land Development ordinance uh this ordinance has accepted well accepted the recommendation of the claing board has determined that in the best interest of the township to adopt this new section in the Land Development ordinance uh therefore that ordinance 0- 0303 known as The Land Development ordinance of national quer is hereby amended as follows uh to amend section 41k of the general Reg regulations to add the following parking and or overnight parking storage of semi-trailer tractors trucks tractor units and semi trailers except when associated with the operation of permitted use and storage of material and semi-trailers or temporary trailers except during loading unloading associated with the operation of a permitted use honor a motion there a second second on the question roll call please yesel yes M Mr yes M Walter yes ordinance 0-24 d06 this this the first reading there'll be a public hearing at the second reading in orance of the township of waler establish certain fees for the sewer utility as part of chapter 51 in the code of the T of wer County of cden and state of New Jersey this esta fees for the sewer utility uh the sewer bill that's paid quarterly That Remains the Same $46 per unit per quarter uh this is uh I'm highlighting the sewer connection fee uh Mr Carter you want to comment on that no you said it's uh uh highlighting the sewer connection fee and increasing that fee I entertain a motion make that motion is there a second second on the question roll call please Mr yes this question is this the accurate one yes Mrs Grace love yes Mr Nash yes Mrs Walkers yes Mrs wers Mr marado yes next is ordinance D 02407 ordinance of the Township of glester County of camon State New Jersey amending ordinance 0-03 uh Land Development to adopt an updated zoning me uh M Corbin would you like to address this please good evening Council this um ordinance to update the zoning map is essentially to effectuate the previous um Council ordinance amendments that Council have adopted since 2016 2017 so the list of ordinance amendments um which are outlined in the ordinance are um outlined in the zoning map update that we have before you tonight all right entertain a motion so second on the question roll call please Mr M yes M Au yes Mrs Grace Mrs Nash or Mr Nash yes Mrs Walter yes Mrs wers yes Mr marado yes now we have our consent agenda any council member like to have any item removed from the consent agenda please speak up hearing none I'll entertain a motion to accept the consent agenda has presented I'll make that motion we had a public portion already please don't shout out Miss smithman thank you there's a second on the question roll call please Mr yes Mrs Al yes Mrs Grace yes Mr Nash yes Mrs Walters um I'm to V resolution but number 0577 and and 073 and that's on resolution 73 for a payment Bill Mrs W yes Mr Mar yes we have a a few GTE go access [Music] emails the first is from uh it comes from January we have to provide an answer for Mr Peter he ball Morning Star Court in cille New Jersey please fully explain the process for GT's reverse tax appeals please fully explain the work that consultant BL and blow does to execute GT reverse tax appeals how are the apartment complex properties chosen for reverse tax appeal and were the glester outlet property Parcels considered and analyzed for reverse tax appeal uh the township hired a law firm when specializes in Reverse tax appeals the law firm review properties and made recommendation to file appeals they are working on a contingent fee basis and only get paid when they bring money into the township they do not get reimbursed for any expenses including experts and folling fees whether they are successful or not the apartments which were chosen were based on data to include whether or not they may significantly or may whether or not they may be significantly under assessed not all apartments were appealed comparable sales were considered which reduced to a common unit of value might indicate any given property was under assess additionally mortgages were looked at to indicate what the property might be worth also capitalization rate data and potential rents and to the last question regarding the outlet no they were not considered an analyed for reverse tax appeal next from Carol H hasin 10 Fourth Amendment Avenue cville New Jersey can you provide the names and rank of anyone from the GL T Police Department that attend the controversial street cop training in Atlantic City in 2021 if a claim that the names cannot be provided is made please provide the number of attendees and their rank if BL Township did have any attendees what is the additional training cost as mandated by the state for attending this 2021 training Atlantic City thank you 4 of the chief of police no one attended this uh training our next eov comes from Terry frz at 85 Cherry Circle black New Jersey I do not attend Council meetings but I do like to be aware of what is happening in wost Township I tried Friday through this I tried Friday through this morning to view the agenda on your website but only the bill list was posted is there our I'm reading this as it's written is there our agenda for tonight's meeting February 26 2024 thanking you in advance for your attention to this matter as I stated earlier uh the clerk made a request to have the agenda posted on Thursday afternoon unfortunately it did not make its way there uh it was posted this morning was brought to the attention of the clerk Mr Caris uh we pay a have a service that updates our website U I'm requesting if possible to have a credit uh this is not the first time this has happened but we have not had our agenda posted there and we need to remedy this situation I do appreciate Miss fretz sending an email and contacting us as oppos as opposed to some of the other method is that a resident or may have in this Township I think this is the proper way to ask a question next Terry fretz from 85 Cherry Circle a few weeks ago gler Township Public Works Department spent two days cleaning the park behind my home on Cherry Circle in Blackwood I would like to thank them for the wonderful job that they did our park has never looked so good and I wanted them to know that their work was appreciated I had the opportunity to speak to a few of them when they were around my home and they were very nice and friendly I think it's important to Residents to important to Res to know that we have such nice people working and wanted to keep our parks in the best condition possible thank you to everyone at Public Works it really was a lot of work and cleanup and they did an outstanding job and that concludes our OS We Now open up the public portion second public portion anyone wishing to speak on any item please raise your hand these speaker entitled to five minutes and they have an opportunity to speak twice there's 30 minutes for this second public portion Miss smithman Follow by followed by Miss coin hi good evening Council my name is sha C smithman I live in the SDK Milbridge Gardens apartment complex on milbrook Court department 341 I apologize I must have missed the public public portion for the consent agenda may ask what time this meeting started this evening is today still February 26 2024 it is I saw you take a picture of the clock earlier but you know it's so late it could be am or P pm at this point so I figured I would ask it started at 7:30 okay what time is it now 10 almost 10:50 thank you for answering that uh I had um learned from a woman her name was Miss Edna this was at the South Jersey Behavioral Health Resources partial CARE program she would take an onion and cut it in half and sprinkle sugar on it um making like a funnel on the bottom she would cut the bottom off and place it over a cup and the sugar would actually make the onion weep and that the onion apparently very good for the lungs and for whatever reason after she told me that a couple days later she was kind of angry she said something to the effect of is there anything else I wanted to know so I wanted to make sure that everybody knew that that was Miss Edna and that Brayson Sports Barn Pub I think it's considered Pence aen but it's right on the borderline of Merchantville New Jersey is where the uh presidential elections and the Summer Olympics falls on a leap year uh to one more time bring it up that February is a leap year it has 29 in 7 28 um also I think it occurred to me that the daylight savings is is approaching is it it the 2 Saturday of March Am I Wrong yes it's going there second Saturday well going to Sunday well so it's Sunday morning Sunday at 2 a.m. and it's the second Sunday in March it is March I only ask because I forget it all the time so I wanted to bring it up and since the council meetings are only for glester Township the council meetings are the second and fourth Monday of every month it's kind of hard to determine when to bring that information up to give some a prior notice because every two weeks it might be too late so I wanted an opportunity to bring that up on my Approach here this evening I noticed that the street lights were just beginning to illuminate uh on the Northbound side of Kelly driver Road do you know Kelly driver Road intersects with County Route 534 and haer Lane and Hyer Lane comes directly into this Gloucester Township municipality on the Northbound side that's on the Kelly driver road heading towards Haider Lane uh you can see the back of the businesses that are located on CH Landing Road they it runs parallel to the the front of that business park Park is well shopping center faces choose landed in the back of the shopping center faces Kell Kelly driver road across from this store called the dance club there is a street light that is turning on and off um I could I report that this evening you had the number on the poll I did not approach the B to check the number I brought that up last council meeting that there are several labels on each pole of the uh utility po so you had a you would take a picture of that clock right you have a camera on your phone I have a camera on my phone so is it possible you could take a picture of that poll well it is very possible and sometimes I would for whatever reason this evening I didn't but since it is behind a business that Services children I think it could be interpreted as a little creepy um because the camera would also catch the view of a business that caters to Children um one reason why someone might hesitate it should not really be necessary yeah the business administrator for gler Township right here do see see where the location I'm speaking of it's called a dance club I'll take a picture of it on the way after thank you Mr n an officer do do you need a picture to indicate that the light needs to be repaired well to get the poll number okay so we could report that anything else you like that I no I don't have well uh if glosser Township would be interested in participating in a program if it's made available that would allow people to pay the fines and penalties or at the very least pay for copyrighted materials that they sold that would have been um seen illegally like a bootle miss miss smithman sorry your time is up anyone else would like to speak Miss [Music] coin [Music] Denise Coen choose Landing um I just like to remind you that we have a First Amendment right to free speech and a First Amendment right to petition our government and we could do that any way we choose and you don't have to like it can I respond to that sure I think that was just in poor taste what happened this morning what was in po taste what are you speaking of so we know what we're talking about in poor taste what are you gonna let me finish if you tell me what we're speaking about let me finish Miss coin tell me what we're speaking about Miss coin let me finish go ahead that members of our department our Clerk's Department had to be videotaped videotape they came here to work it's one thing if people want to take shots at Council and sit outside and waste their time on Election Day with a sign okay or videotape and say their first amend Amendment rights being taken away from them but to come here and videotape members employees of our Township what was the purpose of that because it's our first amendment right I'm not done speaking Miss coin okay is it my five minutes or yours ask for respect pause it you ask for respect give me respect if you pause the clock I asked him to pause it go ahead you come up here on my first event well you know what I'm expressing my first amendment rights and when people here on this s Express their first amendment rights you do not like it says who I'm not done speaking I'm not done speaking this coin okay you're gonna come up here you want to lecture us okay I'm gonna lecture you and I'm going to lecture your little friends okay they can go out there and disseminate crap in the parking lot they can come here and videotape people but those people do not deserve that they do not deserve it at all and that's what I'm speaking about can I speak now okay we have a First Amendment right to videotape our public officials in the course of their duties it's case law that is our right they're public officials they're in a public place you can video anything you can see from public it's a First Amendment right given to us by the Constitution you don't have to like it but is our right we have a right to petition our government okay you said yourself this is not the first time that this has happened where the agenda is not posted to the Township's website it has to do with transparency and accountability we come to a meeting we don't have the time to prepare for it happens over and over again you said that tonight yourself we have a right to document that that is our right how dare you slap us for exercising our right you are a representative you took a o to the Constitution to support the Constitution and to protect our rights and you're trying to suppress us and prevent us from using them by telling us we're bad people for exercising you don't get to do that the Constitution protects us from tyrants like you thank you very much and I my responsibility is to protect all of our individuals here and residents of this Township and people who work here miss coin have a great evening anyone else Mr sweet it's just poor Chas Miss just poor Mr swe Sam sweet from Ariel I must have missed something um I have no clue what that was about oh you'll know soon no clue what that was about um when we get a bond anticipatory note is there a cost associated with that I don't know cost is minimal compared to permanent financing you know what that cost would be that's just Bond counts takes typically one day to bond ordinance and that's really the any cost Associated really the supplemental debt statement would be filed by Miss Z correct I file a supplemental de well what I'm saying by cost is um when you permanently find it's my understanding when you permanently Finance it um there there's a cost Associated because you need a legal team to review the documents and all of that and they Char they charge a fee for that that's a much higher okay of each Bond book each time you Bond there is a gray binder that is created in the back of that book list all the professionals I believe there there's a schedule in there that show what confession is there a similar cost but a less of a cost when when we no because it's just Bond C preparing all right and is that cost for the permanently financed about 10% of the bond it's not 10% but it's it's not cheap it can be as much as $100,000 maybe more okay um getting back to I know the ordinance passed for the um capital projects um I know president Mado asked questions and sent questions to Mr cartis how many of the other council members ask questions regarding the um capital projects when any council members like to respond to that yeah I also question every every member of council we sat down here beforehand we asked line by line learn the in addition to that I reached out to multiple supervisors within the town and ask their opinion on items of the budget well uh how did you reach out to them through the phone and when he said he sat down with everybody uh when did we sit down with them we had a workshop there it was discussed at our Workshop uh two weeks ago um okay um all right um that's it thank you okay thank you Miss Andre good evening uh Dina Hendry Summerdale good evening two weeks ago um when I had asked about the um the publishing of the Redevelopment meeting and it wasn't on the website um and I believe um the clerk had stated that she would let me know I never got a phone call or an email of what happened mam clerk I thought I emailed you I will check I believe I I just checked now I typed your name it's not there um nor a phone call I could swear I sent you an email okay it wasn't there so being that we're here uh and I still have four minutes and 13 seconds um what happened with the Redevelopment meeting I did not send it I did not send it to the website put it in the newspaper and did not send it to updates to post okay so the newspaper um it's kind of like a dinosaur um it needs to I mean we have to have better ways to let the public know what's going on I mean I don't buy a newspaper I mean I went last night to try to find the public you know portion or agenda of this meeting or a public notice and I couldn't find it um the website itself needs to be fixed like who who's responsible for ensuring that the website is user friendly I mean we still have things there from notices from 2023 2022 like it's really confusing and it's not userfriendly whatsoever as through the administration M CIS is that something that uh you can ask um or folks that handle our social media and all the different platforms to work with the blue wire that does this to update that information there yeah I can um just received any complaints about the scale dat information you're the first one that heard understood and being that this has happened a couple times where you know the the account that we use to put things up like the agenda has not happened like what safeguards are going to be in place to ensure that the agenda is there for the whole public to see in a timely fashion uh I don't have any to come to mind um Miss uh how what she does is she sends an email she keeps a copy of that email that is sent up to updates uh in the past uh she has done on her own time have done screenshots of that um so uh we just have to ensure that it is up there and it's available to our residents and I'm quite frankly I was not happy uh learning that it was not up there um so that's why I'm asking Mr cars to reach out to to the vendor and express our dissatisfaction that it was not okay um for I back so what were you saying do you have like notices like I mean I work on websites like that's my profession it's just not user friendly it's it's it's having old like you type in Council and it's like old stuff it's nothing it's nothing to your fingertips it's just not user friendly whatsoever um I would just clean it up and archive it um and ensure that it's done in a timely manner in the future if the agenda is not posted how would you like it to be handled they can contact the clerk's office but if it's if it's there wasn't a need for and I'm sure you're aware of it there wasn't a need for an individual to come in here and videotape uh the people that work in that office there was a need to come in council chambers and bypass receptionist receptionist instructed that individual you should have stopped here so a phone call but that was the purpose of creating some clicks and some comments and some fodder for the next time there's a podcast so it was just in poor taste okay so a phone call but when when would one person call 8:00 in the morning on a Monday if that was not there okay all right then thank you thank you anyone else like to speak that has not spoken before Mr uh Miss smithman followed by Mr swe Comm Council my name is sh smithman I live in the SDK Milbridge Gardens apartment complex on milbrook Court Apartment 341 what is 2406 that was at when there a different when it's not printed on white paper that typically means that it was some like an addition for the evening agenda that was the updated fees correct Mr cars yes your original agenda had an incorrect calculation of updated connection that was reflected change place Saturday change yes was that voted on like was that was that included I didn't hear what that it was includ usually it's announced that it's something called it like a walk one no so we had that was the first reading and we'll have a second one the one printed in yellow there'll be a hearing for it yes but I didn't hear it brought up I as question oh you did I I could have I miss I miss for the first uh for the first portion to speak during the consent agenda it's very possible I missed something else too I'm far from perfect I had gone to the Gloucester County Board of Elections located on University Court I I don't know if that's considered Turnersville or what area that would be considered it's written your or Street um I ask for the election results are they were kind enough to print out um that the election was won by for the council president Orlando marado Oh and three other individuals it had them on there but you were the only one that was confronted during a um a work session prior to a Gloucester Township council meeting terrible wasn't it it's terrible was depends on what you notice and how you understand it and what you know did happen What could happen um I just wanted to make you aware that I did get a printed result that you were that won that election I only bring it up but Saturday I I had a United States postal service worker at the pedestals located on milbrook Court delivering letters I had a question for that person they wouldn't identify what township or where the United States Postal Service was located that that particular letter carrier worked at couldn't quite figure out why uh I've had very strange things going on with my addresses I've brought up several times with Council um with the police while I've never had an appointment with Chief Harkins uh even though he seems to have my paperwork with him quite often I've never actually reviewed it with him or had an appointment with Chief Harkins of the glober Township police department and now the United States Postal Service um it was so strange they would not verbally announce where the his place of employment was uh I've had letters also come from uh the veterinarian for my cat Patty got AR her she passed away in 2019 um there was a a vet that would come to the apartment I was having a lot of difficulty figuring out how to get my cat uh Health Care to bring her to the veterinarian because I I haven't driven in since two 2015 maybe even before that other than driving my son's car and 's car when he lived in my apartment in the year 2020 um the letter arrived with it said Mill and had space bridge and then it had the just Laural Springs which I've been having some strange discrepancies of cross referencing of complications without a properly right my address it was just very strange and when I hear things directed towards you you it might come up here or there that you might want to be reassured that I did see that you were elected I not could to tell you who I voted for my father didn't uh get much through to me but one thing he did say was um he's not going to tell me who we voted for I can't exactly tell you how he said that to me but I understood at a very young age that he wasn't going to tell me who he wrot it for that it was none of that's all thank you for the time thank you Mr [Music] sweep last time for tonight I promise um what's the sewer rate connection fee going up to what was it like what's the increase $2,224 79 per e du and Tom you had the previous number for that I believe it was 1600 I don't know if it was 160000 change you stands foral so we're increasing it by $600 that's correct that's by formula has okay um you said it's a formula yes so there's nothing that can be done it's not a halfhazard guess or we just feel like raising it UPS and this not arbit is this done every year excuse me is this done every year no has not so how often do they have to do that I don't think they're okay all right and then we can discuss that more in depth at the second reading correct yes okay um with regards to the capital project I forgot to ask this um it's 9.1 that we're borrowing and then there's a line item that says less Capital Improvement fund 435,000 is that left over from 23 so what what is that okay all right thank you um president radoo um regardless of whether what what happened earlier this morning or not um and how you feel about whether we come up or not um part of the you have a hard job and I understand that um but getting angry at us because we're questioning it or somebody's doing something that you don't like it's it's not a good look for you s may I respond to that may I may I finish okay we stop and I can I respond to that sure it's not getting angry you know it is you get to the point you know you take the high road and you take the high road and these people in the clerk's office did not deserve that they did it no one's infringing upon anyone's First Amendment right show some class it was just poor poor and it's all for clicks and for some fodder and that's what it's about and it's it's it's try you know what you want to make me look bad I don't care waste an afternoon holding a sign out in the front of the municipal Hall okay what did that do nothing okay but record videos in front of the building okay do that waste your time but come in here okay these people are trying to do their job they came in here at 8 o'clock today they expect someone with a camera in front of their face like they did something wrong make a phone call send an email that's it but oh we're infringing upon their first amendment rights they want to waste their time doing videos and passing out crap in the Park Lot do it it's not gaining any traction at all time's yours right Mr Reed coach Reed um coach Reed okay um to be clear I wasn't regardless of whether you agree with it or not as council president sometimes you have to take the good with the bad and if if that happens and while I may agree with you coming at them if that's the way they feel on the First Amendment rights you just got to let it go just like I'm very disappointed and counsel over the fact that I stood up here for about an hour or so talking about the capital projects and not one person had a you know I got crickets on a lot of my answers right but I'm not up here you know getting angry and yelling I'm just disappointed in all of you that I've done this every year year in and year out and then no doesn't you know doesn't change anything and then for you to point out that it doesn't do any good and it's not getting any traction again not a good look because you're supposed to be above that and above them above that above them I get accused of being above them okay no I said above that no I said above that not above them I said above that I'm a public official not a public punching bag okay but folks are not g to come here and make comments and get away or do those things again you want to beat up on me or members of council f fine don't beat up on our employees that was not necessary Sam just want there's there's a way certain things that are just in defensible it was poor it was classless that's all I have to say well if we want to go down the road of poor and classy you could look to your right and his wife attacked me and attacked my wife if you want to go poor and classy so I I only got seven seconds left but you know exactly what I'm talking about okay his wife attacked my wife publicly all right thank you very much that concludes our part portion we have pulling of directors repel all our award winners ton together great every it was good to see some people on our Township doing something positive for the entire Township not just for themselves and that do my heart to see that and we do that a lot in this Township I appreciate it and I just wanted to say that I think we get more with kindness we doity no matter what our position is on anything treat people we should doesn't always happen but we try the best we can continue rise and and everyone have a good Mrs Grace uh congratulations to all the recipients tonight one of the things that i' like to see as a woman of is when the community comes together in the um we have a lot of good business and a lot of great African-American people in our community knowing each other working with each other and and making our community so much more great it's already great and and we just have so many people that are caring that are praying over our community that are giving back to our community and I'm just so happy again to be a part of boster Township made a difference alongside every thank you again Mr Nash uh yeah I agree yes I want to congratulate all the award winners tonight uh I was an it was an honor for me to be a part of it so thank you thanks for everyone for coming out tonight on Orlando doing all I to congratulate all winners tonight very to congratul Mr Mar thank you for coming out this evening congratulations to honor all the honores entertaining motions make that second those in favor w girl