e e e e e e e e e e e e feary Hillsboro New Jersey one of the 100 best places to live don't take our word for it experience Hillsboro located in the heart of Somerset County there's something for everyone community Parks hiking trails trendy eateries indoor rock climbing and Adventure arts and performances did we mention top-notch dining we've got activities for everyone to keep you healthy involved and entertained come see why everyone is talking about Hillsboro experience our community experience our Farms experience our events [Music] experience our history experience [Music] Hillsboro okay good evening and welcome to the township committee meeting of April 9th 2024 Hillsboro New Jersey it's playing again okay it's all good I got hit with the allergy bus so I'm going to be a little raspy tonight I'm sorry everybody miss lenzo this evening please call the role committee woman hand here committee men Le Pony present committee women Pay Here Deputy Mayor chiarelli here mayor bring here administrator Ferrera here uh clerk break here attorney Willard here all right would you all please join me in saluting the flag FL United States ofer Amica the stands na indivis andice okay please be advised that in accordance with Section Five of the open public meetings act chapter 231 of the public laws of 1975 notice of this meeting was made by the posting on the bulletin board at the Hillsboro Township municipal complex and notifying the officially designated newspapers that this meeting would take place at the Hillsboro Township municipal complex at 7:30 p.m. wrong date on April 9th 2024 I almost said March um no there are no approval of previous minutes um now we're going to go to reports from committee Liaisons and receip reports petitions or Communications we'll start with committee woman hand thank you mayor all right from the health department we have um raidon kits again if you need them get them why they last um there's one per household and it can be picked up in the health department um under the recycling please um ensure like especially with the crazy weather we are having recently and on these windy days um please prevent your recycling the cans and the recycle from blowing into uh into your neighbors um yard or even the ecosystem please stack your recyclables with the heaviest material on top to weigh down the Plastics and they've asked that um we write our address on your recycling bins so if they fall down Blow Away um at least you can get them returned from Social Services um gratitude we would like to thank um schna contractor Memorial Foundation kti contractor Kavita Morris Elijah Morris and Alicia Morris who kindly volunteered for the Social Services Department to help plant seeds the seeds are going to grow different herbs that will then be used by the Hillsboro can food pantry so thank you for that um donations still you hear me say this every two weeks um the canned food pantry is definitely in need of a couple things and I'm remiss because I brought laundry detergent and I forgot it at home I will remember in two weeks I hope one of you hold me accountable for that um but please if you if you're at the store and you have some extra stuff um please uh feel free to drop it off at the Hillsboro can wreck department this is kind of exciting well this is really exciting so here uh if we can see the picture here of Mr Wagner so the Hillsboro Township Park and recck Department has been recognized at the annual 2024 New Jersey Recreation and Parks Association conference um they there were Awards um a meeting held in April to identify Community leaders employees Volunteers in the field of parks and wreck and to recognize the state's outstanding parks and wreck agencies for excellence in programming publicity and um facility design and under the title of video promotion category the hillsbor Parks and Rec team won the agency showcase for their spring campaign How the Grinch Stole our Christmas tree it was a riveting tail um you liked that one didn't you riveting riveting but it was it was it was really a a thoughtful and fun engaging video and they won an award so congratulations a sincere congratulations to the Hillsboro wreck department for being recognized for this fun and engaging campaign thank you mayor thank you committee man leani thank you mayor all right uh oh what happened who turned out the lights wrong glasses there we go H Hillsboro is hosting a scavenger hunt this week to commemorate the New Jersey local government week when New Jersey municipalities are encouraged to engage with the community while celebrating local government at the first stop participants will be pick up a scavenger hunt packet containing instructions a map a quiz and a clue use the clues to learn about each department and complete the quiz asking questions about the different departments is encouraged at the end of the scavenger hunt participates receive a certificate signed by mayor Brit as a prize bag well that's all you need more the scavenger hunt takes place at Hills mpal Building through this Friday the 12th between 8:00 a.m. and 400 p.m. so please note that the M building office is closed at 4:30 so I think it's a great idea to bring your anyone in maybe you have some children that just need to run around a little bit come out let them run around building and get get a a proclamation from the mayor while learning about the local government uh the hills Ro Business Association 2024 spring social was a huge success the event took place on Thursday March 28th at iron Peak attendees heard from mayor Robert bring about different success factors for businesses and from Kathy Guzman from the New Jersey Economic Development Authority about different funding and grants available to businesses thank you to the township committee all and all the businesses and the township staff that attended we hope that you were able to make the next great connection the next business social will be take place it's already dated uh June 27th at the Landing stay up to date for events sign up at the HBA news and I'll just say that uh every time I hear someone speak from the NJ Eda uh I learned something so I encourage if you own a business or know if someone as a business the amount of grants that are out there that are non-competitive all you need is an address and a website or a thing if you need to improve or add some equipment to your to your business or anything you there's probably a good chance that there may be some money out there and it's and it's non-competitive that's the key so this all uh is carryover from uh Co to encourage the mom and pop businesses that have storefronts uh to help facilitate even rent payments was one of the things that they can help with uh so it was a good lesson to learn uh Municipal Alliance uh April's alcohol awareness month sponsored by National Council of alcoholism and drug dependence the goal each April is to continue to raise awareness for communities to help understand the causes and provide resources that are available for treatment in hopes of combating one of the nation's largest Health and Social crisis the campaign also focuses on social stigma reduction by educating individuals on how the disease can be addressed offering help and advice for families as well as direct engagement with those Afflicted with alcohol addiction the mission of the Hillsboro Municipal Alliance also known as borrow aware is to change lives and save lives by empowering our community to help manage and deter substance abuse and relative issu related issues through education awareness resource deployment and advocacy burrow Weare will be hosting a community event on Thursday April 25th at 7 p.m. at at this building the Peter J Beyond Municipal complex 379 South Branch Road if you don't know where you are today uh Refreshments will be provided and there'll be many giveaways the program will feature the viewing of the first day the Chris Heron documentary couple more um steered Street we we are in the worst Mental Health crisis America has ever seen in a culture that grew up with pills Mark as a solution for every human ailment the threat to our youth is greater than ever your awareness of the curtain drug Trends cannot be underestimated and is vital to your child's wellbe beinging steered straight will outline the national Trend to minimize the dangers of marijuana fentanyl vaping ecigarette devices alcohol bullying and suicide learn how these drugs are being marketed to our youth and be a catalyst for change the presentation will take place on April 11th at 6:30 p.m. at 466 Raider Boulevard I'll repeat that it will be on April 11th at 6:30 p.m. at 466 Raider Boulevard last thing is the Hillsboro Municipal Alliance is also once again looking for volunteers to help beautify Hillsboro participating in our Adopt A Highway program participants will help pick up trash along 206 on April 14th from 9 to 11:00 a.m. the r location is a favorite if you don't ever know it is Starbucks parking lot so you can get yourself some Joe and a bag and go help clean up Route 206 and uh that's all I have mayor thank you very much very good thank you sir committee woman pay good evening mayor hello good evening DEA uh National takeback Day the United States Drug Enforcement Administration has declared sat Saturday ail 20th national takeback day a day to dispose of unneeded medications anonymously and at no cost the DEA began its takeback day initiative in September of 2010 to minimize water pollution by avoiding flushing drugs into the sewer system and providing a safe Anonymous means of disposing of unneeded or expired medications the drop off container will be at the Hillsboro Township Police Department located here in the building the program will run from 10:00 a.m. until 2: p.m. PM drop off is confidential and Anonymous this is an important initiative and it should be noted that Hillsboro Township has a receptacle in the police uh Department Lobby around the corner here for medicine drop offs all throughout the year there's also coloring with the police uh coloring with the cops sorry Hillsboro Police are pleased to announce the return of a fun Community event coloring with the cops taking place on Wednesday April 24th coloring with the cops provides an opportunity for children to get to know members of the local PD while coloring and enjoying Pizza registration is required and will be capped at 75 children see the sign up link in tomorrow's E news top cops each year the Hillsboro Township Police Department selects two Top Cops one from each patrol squad to recognize their exceptional performance for the previous year the award recipients are determined based on a score devised from the annual job performance evaluations and a ranking achieved by their respective supervisors and peers officer Dylan Kelly and Officer James saers are recognized for the highest ranking on the two Patrol squads top cops are formally recognized by the department the mayor and the township committee and sorry through my paper got so excited and acknowledgement in their personnel file in addition officers Kelly and saers will have their names engraved on a plaque displayed in the lobby of the P Police Headquarters honoring each Year's recipients since the program's Inception in 1996 in addition they will be awarded a merit bar that is worn above their uniform badge for veterans veteran in information session this is a save the date I'm pleased to announce that our second quarterly veterans information session will be held on June 15th from 10: a.m. to 12:00 p.m. our topics will be veteran services uh someone from the state is coming to speak on that and then we're also doing me mental health for Veterans someone from the VA will be coming this session will be held in the senior activity room of the municipal building and will'll be in Q&A format this um is a free information session nothing's going to be sold or ask them to sign up for it's not only for veterans it's for their families so if you're you know you have an elder vet in the family who's not able to attend please feel free to come in their place salute to military service breakfast Memorial Day veterans breakfast is open now for registration at the Hillsboro military service I'm sorry all military service Personnel are invited to participate in the salute to military service breakfast and to lead Hillsboro Memorial Day parade and commemoration program on May 25th registration is required for the breakfast and can be completed online at the Township's Park and wreck website or by calling the park and recreation department at 908 369 4832 each year we look forward to the salute to military service and veterans breakfast our teams here at the township are hard at work planning for another great event save the date from Saturday May 25th as we come together as a community to honor all military service Personnel past and present for their sacrifices thank you mayor thank you Deputy Mayor chiarelli thank you mayor good evening uh first report from the building department about pool safety pools have specific requirements for their installation and barriers these requirements are intended to protect against potential drowning and near drowning by restricting access to the pool seasonal pools may also require uh while temporary May Al can also pose life safety issues and require a barrier if not uh and uh excuse me require barrier the building department has a residential swimming pool guide which contains all the code requirements if you have any questions uh from the engineering department the Transcontinental gas pipeline survey notification the township engineering department received notice that the Transcontinental gas pipeline Transco and other will be performing surveys along their RightWay beginning on or about April 19th the pipeline the company must must review its RightWay for any obstructions or other problems to determine uh that the underground Pipeline and area are free from safety issues uh Transco runs through a large area of the township if any property owner has a Transco RightWay easement and has concerns they can contact Lee Kramer the land representative for Transco at 732 456 9837 uh and her address is Lee Lei g. rer1 williams.com and I'm sure if you'll call the engineering department they'll be more than happy to give you that as well um so from public works it's time to participate in one of Hillsboro Township's most popular programs uh to help keep the Town looking great the annual cleanup program runs two Saturdays a month from April through October and takes place at The auton Road Site opposite the Aon Road school this no cost program allows residents to dispose of unwanted household items and brush registrations for the 2024 annual cleanup drop off program will continue until all available dates are taken please sign up early to register for a date at the best fits your schedule uh most information and the registration link are on the Hills Road Township website and we'll be in tomorrow's e newss um I know personally one of the things that the DPW recommends is maybe teaming or partnering with neighbors so get get one person gets a a ticket for early in the season and then when you accumulate enough stuff over the summer you can go again later in the season so that's what me and a couple of neighbors do um and lastly sustainability it's uh spring is here and that means it's time to get out your lawnmowers I know that keeps uh committee man leany busy um we want to remind our residents to be mindful when cutting their lawns this season and use the cut it and leave it method basically mulch your own grass uh grass clippings can contribute a large amount of waste to New Jersey municipal Solid Waste stream and after mowing your lawn or while mowing your lawn simply let the grass clippings fall into the soil they will quickly decompose to fertilize your soil and by doing so the will not only benefit your lawn by adding nutrients to the soil but also reduce municipal waste for more information visit uh Hill www. Hillsboro nj.org B backboards backg Green Team for for other sustainable uh tips and that's everything mayor thank you Deputy Mayor Chelli all right I'm going to get through a few here raspby wise and then we'll get to some of these great proclamations so first let's talk about the mayor's Wellness healthy Town award so this year Hills our Township again is designated as a healthy town by the mayor's Wellness campaign our Township joined the the wellness campaign in 2006 pledging to increase awareness about healthy living in 2024 Hillsboro Township remains steadfast in that resolve uh with even more programs and initiatives encouraging and focusing on healthy alternatives for both employees in the township and also residents throughout the town Hillsboro Township is honored to excited to be recognized by the quality Institute as a 2023 healthy town a gold level designation which is a big deal the mayor's Wellness committee's mission is to improve the health and wellness of our community and we continue to engage our residents through Innovative programs and Outreach so be on the lookout for some more fun mayor's Wellness campaign items coming up so this is a good one next one this is the hottest real estate market so Hillsboro Township has been recognized as one of the hottest markets in America number 18 right there's a number of them in New Jersey New Jersey is a very hot set of markets we're number 18 there's a few in Jersey that are above us now uh according to data compiled by the real estate website real.com ranking 18 out of the top 100 hottest markets in the country the data is based on search engine Trends including page views and the length of time property remains listed New Jersey had 25 of the top 100 spots on the list of hot markets that's really it's pretty incredible that that we live in a town that is that that is that desired to live in it's great it comes as no surprise at Hillsboro's desired place to live we have excellent schools beautiful parks and farmland which you know that we're all trying to protect and the best neighbors anyone could ask for and I and I feel that way um Hillsboro continues to receive high marks as one of the best and safest places to live and to raise a family now before it goes to the next slide um I asked the um uh uh the tax collector to uh to reach out to um some of the other towns that were ranked higher than us on there to get kind of a kind of a baseline versus and we just looked at the taxes and some recent data and the average for500 foot house in Hillsboro is between 12 and 13,000 uh and and and in the other town was between about 16 plus thousand so it's about 25% difference between Hillsboro Township and some of those other towns so that's the value you're getting it's a hot Market but you're spending a little bit less on taxes than you would be in some of those other towns and you know northern Jersey you go you're you're talking 25 30 45,000 bucks even not so far from Princeton right so we we live in a great place so um that I just wanted to make sure that that we put that Baseline is there well too so Eclipse my wife did not want me to put this picture on there but I did anyway because she told me not to um my middle guy took the picture so I made that face at him it wasn't at my wife um so this is uh the picture on the right on the left is the actual picture of the uh of the eclipse my phone did not burn it didn't die um thank God for the clouds I did listen I promise my kids listened my older son Robbie on the bottom there on the bottom left and Christian on the bottom right and my goofy self on the top there uh I thought a few stats would be good for you guys to hear so the first solar eclipse uh this is the first solar eclipse in the US in the past seven years so it's happened before not the first time you read on the internet you think you know the world's flipping upside down and we're on Flat Earth right uh solar eclipse can only happen during a new moon that's another fact through the focus on the totality though the focus was on totality right so not seeing anything everyone in the country was able to view at least a partial eclipse which is pretty cool everyone in the country someone was able to see it this was our country's most viewed eclipse ever that's probably because of social media so that's pretty cool I thought those were pretty cool statistics that I would share with everybody SC say again the next one is August it's an August my brother birthday month yeah absolutely it's good yeah all right scavenger hunt as committee man leani mentioned earlier Hillsboro is currently hosting a scavenger hunt to highlight uh New Jersey government week I'm not going to be labor this point but uh we had shot a video earlier today and we're going to send that on social media I think either tonight or tomorrow to try to get uh share it with people with that you know have children come by I think it's a great opportunity to to engage a local government as as committee Min laon had had said and tonight is a very important night for for people who uh who celebrate Eid aler um we'd like to take this opportunity to wish Eid Mubarak to all Hillsboro residents who are partaking in the celebration of breaking their fast this is for the Muslim uh uh uh uh sector sector within our our Township um e eat Al fitter marks the end of a month-long Ramadan holiday so as many of you know um people in that culture and that religion they fast for a very long period of time so this is a a big change for them and if you have children in schools let them know that their friends may be going through mental change too because they're going back to eating during a regular hour so I think it's important that we we recognize that and before I get us to my my my my last one I'm going to go to 206 I think everybody everybody want to hear a little bit about 206 right all right we're we're working we're working really hard we we don't have the control to to uh to fix the road but we're doing I swear to you everything in our power uh to try to make it happen so I I I if you go to that one slide that you just left okay so that slide there too for those of you in the room and those watching haven't seen it before I put this up once in a while to just talk about some of the the core objectives that we have for this year and as you can see infrastructure we're really focused on this as well too it's a major issue we have a major state road that goes up the middle of Ark toown we don't have control over it so we have to find ways to control the controllables next slide please and in part of that our communication or my communication with the team with the state has been pretty significant so I'm going to look at the slide as I explain this we're talking that we call it the 206 get it moving campaign and I've been engaging more recently with the uh it takes time to get access to people but I finally have access to the NJ doot chief of staff on a regular basis whenever I need them cell phones text messages roll aex back in the day um so he gave me an update on some of the some of the items so utility work if you drive up and down 206 there's utility poles that are still kind of in the road but on like the construction side there's new poles that have been put up by pscg so PSG is its own entity that has to do that so those poles are imperative to put up so now what they're doing is they're transferring the wires from the Old Poles to the new poles so when those Old Poles go down that kind of sets the stage almost like when you paint a room you want to put the tape up around the room first before you paint that's kind of the same concept as what we're talking about here so that's happening there was also interm repairs that uh we had uh I had shared on one of my as the Mayors about a month and a half ago where we pushed the state to fix some items that we felt were still major safety issues which we confirmed were um they did a nice job on a few but some were still lagging so we pushed really hard committee mapani and I were in a meeting not too long ago we pushed hard on that and they had come back and they they've sent in some of their people to make those fixes which is great uh and then I we asked them about uh collaboration so right now uh the state NJ do has control over the road but really there's a company called it's aurity company that that and I won't go into the details but it's their responsibility to get the project back on track so I wanted to better understand their communication process between the state and that insurity company and tomorrow we're going to be releasing and ask the mayor I just sent it over Miss Break um with regards to and I'm actually going to read off actual the email that came directly from the njd chief of staff so you can hear directly from him um but they are working very closely together on finding a new uh a new contractor and that that the process is happening didn't give me an end result but I promise you like I've been promising you and we have been um we're going to do everything in our power to get the information to you as soon as it comes to us so stay tuned on this one this is an active situation we understand the importance of it um eat sleeping and drinking it every day and um uh I promise you we're going to continue to work on that so there's your update with 206 sorry to be laborate but I think you deserve the the reality um all right so now this the last part of it before we do the proclamations stay connected as always you can stay connected with all the news and events by subscribing to the Wednesday e uh mayor's E news and Thursday's experience Hillsboro bulletin please if you haven't go on the website and sign up for the Wednesday and Thursday follow and like the official Hillsboro Township Facebook page the team is doing a wonderful job there X which used to be Twitter and Instagram tune in to the Hillsboro YouTube channel and sign up for Hillsboro alerts for traffic and emergency notifications all right I'm going to take a drink of this little ginger ale here we're going to come down and do some proclamations for some some great people better he knows me my we love watching all right so we're going to bring up Matt Jones and family if you'd like to all come up or if you guys want to take the picture and then you can do afterwards so I know Matt Jones well because I watch Matt Jones wrestle and he is a senior he is what we would call in Sports World a beast when it comes to wrestling here take this come on over here come on over here so um my middle guy Christian is in wrestling too my son Robbie he's a great athlete Christian were trying to get into it more and we brought him to a wrestling match where we watched Matt and I had never seen him before wrestle and man this dude can wrestle I mean he just came out there and he was driving that dude into the ground like I'm talking like him on purpose because he was really driving him into the ground it was really cool to watch and he was very strategic about how he did it so I just wanted to to call that out I played a lot of sports in my life and you were just fun to watch so I wanted to call that out so Hillsboro High School senior Matt Jones achieved his 100th career win for the wrestling uh for the bbo High School of Varity wrestling team please give him a round of applause here's the good stuff Matt was a three-time state qualifier a two-time Somerset County champion and a two-time district Champion please again now here this is even better so this is what I say whenever the kids come in Matt is the student council president good for you pal American Legion boy State lieutenant governor Fellowship of Christians athletes Club leader leader and a peer mentor I mean wow he is committed uh he's committed to Shippensburg University for wrestling good for you congratulations man this is a great one now therefore be Proclaim that we the mayor and the Hillsboro Township committee do hereby commend Matt Jones for a successful season and commitment to the sport and wish him success in all of his future endeavors congratulations pal good job do you want to say anything uh just I mean it took a lot of work to get here obviously took a lot of time and I appreciate the recognition so thank you mayor BR you got it you got it you can speak too it's good public speaking it's good want take a picture all right excuse my voice [Music] again get Dad next congratulations okay so I am going to I'm going to run this one solo so uh I'll leave this here and I'll read it off and then we'll get up there with that so autism is a pervasive uh developmental disorder that manifests itself and affects the social learning and behavioral skills of those affected by it in New Jersey the diagnosis rate is 1 in 35 children which is the highest in the nation highest in the nation accurate early diagnosis and the resulting appropriate education and medical interventions are vital to the growth and development of the individual New Jersey as EST state offers a wide range of services and support to this population through various organizations for autism including Autism New Jersey Autism Speaks Organization for autism research the Rotary Club of Hillsboro Special Olympics and several Hillsboro Township Hillsboro Board of Education and Somerset County departments so you can say we take this very very seriously and my wife is a speech pathologist too so she has a lot of experience in helping children with autism now therefore Peter Proclaim that we the mayor and the Hillsboro Township committee hereby declare April as National Autism Awareness Month and vow to continue to support programs dedicated to Hillsboro special needs Community um I think just I think just a round of applause even though they're not here I think it's it's important we can skip picture this one I will just um I'll leave this up here with Miss with Miss lenzo all right all right the Copic author author Church father would you mind bringing up yourself and and and whoever else please run in Solo great guy coming up here you go sir me get my little binder now this is the church just to tell you I you might even say this but this is the church on 206 that's been impacted by a lot of the uh the construction you see it on the right hand side the white church their sign is like on its own little island so they're going through a lot as well too so these guys are a great group of people so the Coptic Orthodox Church is celebrating the event of April 2nd 1968 and has future plans to build a replica and father maybe after we get through this you maybe explain a little bit more on April 2nd 1968 St Mary appeared over the domes of the Coptic Orthodox Church in ztown Cairo Egypt the vision of St Mary appeared daily and the crowds became tens of thousands each night continuing for two years witnessed by Christians and Muslims alike the ztown memorial Foundation is planning to erect a fullscale replica of the original Church of St Mary's as a memorial to commemorate this event it's a wonderful thing now therefore be a Proclaim that we the mayor and Hillsboro Township committee do uh do hereby recognize the event of April 2nd 1968 celebrated by the Copic Orthodox Christians and encourage others to visit the replica once completed and learn about uh other beliefs in our very very diverse and wonderful Community thank you [Applause] Father [Applause] a by the way I didn't dress up for the occasion the Coptic Orthodox priest is always in his robe or cassic uh whenever he leaves his home uh kind of like we're always on duty uh the proclamation does give the origin of the April 2nd 1968 event but if I can give a quick summary of how we got here today uh as a child in Egypt in the 1960s there were a few images that were etched in my memory uh one being dragged down to a bomb shelter in the middle of the night another coming home from school and looking at an apartment building with its facade sheared off because of a of an earthquake and another one was a bright image of a woman wearing a white robe and a blue Shaw over a church but kind of like in the air um in 1969 my father immigrated to the United States and brought our family over um I was at an event in a CTIC Orthodox Church in New Jersey when I was 16 where a uh Mrs Pearl Zeki was presenting a slideshow about The Apparition of St Mary and zetune I was sitting there casually but when I saw that one slide it was that same image of that lady in blue and white I po I popped up in my seat and from there my Quest began uh when I submitted to the priesthood in 1995 it became my mission to bring awareness of this event um The Journey was long and I'm grateful to the many people who were inspirational and supportive including my wife and children we will have a bit more to go we still have a bit more to go however being here today right now is an incredible honor uh about Hillsboro I've been uh serving our church Church parishioners in this town and and the region for over 25 years and throughout that time I've witnessed Hillsboro Township grow into a from from a a quaint little town to a beautifully diverse Community yet still keeping its pleasant Hometown feel and Hospitality I do believe it is one of the best places to live and have a museum in America my greatest appreciation goes to the honorable mayor Robert buring the esteemed uh the esteemed Township committee and the entire uh Township staff thank you very [Applause] much okay could the group that's representing the Parkinson's disease Proclamation please come Rock Steady boxing love it who do you want to holdik you want hold yeah go ahead got two minutes left in my voice I need a drink yeah g that Ginger that's all we had in the fridge all right so Parkins disease um it's a chronic progressive neurological disease and it's the second most common neurodegenerative disease in the United States after Alzheimer's the symptoms of Parkinson's disease vary from person to person and can include Tremors slowness of movement and rigidity impaired balance and coordination difficulty swallowing chewing speaking and a variety of other non-motor symptoms the mission of rock steady boxing is Awesome by the way is to empower people with the with Parkinson's disease to fight back the Hillsboro Rock Steady boxing affiliate continues to help those with Parkinson's to improve their function and quality of life through boxing inspired fitness programs now therefore be a Proclaim that we the mayor and the Hillsboro Township committee hereby declare April as National Parkinson's awareness month and urge residents to support the search for cure and assist those individuals and families who deal with this devastating ill illness on a daily basis please if you don't mind thank you who would like to represent the group here I think you said most of it but we would like to we would like to thank you Mr Mayor as well as the township committee for recognizing Rock Steady boxing we are honored to be accepting this Proclamation for the achievements of rock city boxing and owner physical therapist Barbara Kelly who couldn't be with us tonight rocket boxy is an international company that focuses on non- cont boxing which has been proven to help improve symptoms of Parkinson such as balance stiffness reducing Falls Etc it's also a great opportunities for boxes to socialize encourage one another and gain useful information about Parkinson's Rocksteady boxing is actively pursuing volunteers to join our team so that we can give our boxes the assistance and the opportunity to challenge themselves God bless you [Applause] guys thank you very much neighbor all right put this [Music] here all right so oh now we have a presentation the presentation is by Karen Briggs for the project for Project Graduation come on up thank you very much for having us Project Graduation is represented in the audience I am the board chair of Project Graduation and uh for those of you who don't know what Project Graduation I'm never I'm not sure who to talk to you let me wrong um so so Project Graduation is an amazing event that we host on graduation night where we take the senior class after graduation we lock them away actually um from 9:00 until 2: a.m. and keep them so busy that they get exhausted and they just go right home and go to bed um the purpose of this um if you could show the next slide uh are some really negative stats about drinking and driving drugging and driving especially around grad season it's really awful if you look at what what that last bullet says right now onethird of those younger than 21 are going to lose their lives in accidents at graduation time and we find that unacceptable so if you could switch the next slide our objective is really to uh try to provide a compelling exciting uh busy funfilled event for them where they can be together as Raiders for their One Last Time celebrating what they've achieved and staying off the roads and staying safe we can't help them every single day of the year but we can make sure that there is not a single class in our high school's history that is marred by a trauma how would you like to be the class that was remembered that way we don't want that to happen to any class so it is our mission to be able to raise the funds and host an event that can keep these kids busy excited and exhausted by the end of the night switch the so our stats Project Graduation is a national event it's held around the uh United States and actually up into Canada as well started here in Hillsboro in 1991 so that's 33 years that project rad has anybody here gone to project rad anybody anybody yeah yeah yeah yeah all right so lots and lots of people have been impacted by this one little event that's not really so little um 430 kids from last year's class attended that's about 7 5% of the class we're really proud of that that number is even higher than it was the year before and we hope that this year's class will even attend in higher percentages if we could get to 100% of the class that would be remarkable you coming we do a lot of um publicity we do a lot of mailing some of you who own businesses have seen my name on letters um asking for your support um in 2021 we did did become a 501c3 which is excellent for those of you who want to donate you can now get matching funds from your companies and we can accept uh uh grants and all sorts of great things so we've made a lot of progress over the last 33 years but we have a big task ahead of us we want to raise $60,000 each year in order to provide the kind of entertainment and fun and busy night great food great fun um and it costs a lot we actually use iron Peak here in Hillsboro for the last few years we've we've done the event at iron Peak we find that that's a great facility we amp up iron Peak to the nth degree to make sure that the kids are having a blast and they don't even notice how fast the time is passing and that's key right keeping them there keeping them having fun keeping them busy um but it is expensive if you could switch to the next slide so what we're here today to talk about are sort of our challenges one is awareness so how many of you guys did not know anything about Project Graduation before I started talking it's okay A lot of people don't so our goal is to make sure that everybody in this community understands this event it is pivotal whether you are a graduated parent whether you're about to graduate a kid whether you have a kid in grade school who will eventually become part of Project Graduation we intend to be here for you we need you to be here for us this this is a community event these are the kids who make your coffees they're the kids who serve you at the restaurants they're your babysitters right we need to keep these kids safe so that they can go on and become one of these guys behind us for this community that's the whole objective of Project Graduation so please participate in our fundraisers we are doing something almost every single week so you'll see our signs around we have a craft fair coming up uh right here in this building we also are looking for some sustainability this is one of the hardest parts uh of what we do is having people who will come year after year and be part of of leading this effort it's not a small effort and we need sustainability from parents who have graduated pay it backwards parents who are coming up in the ranks pay it forwards and join us and help us to make sure that we can always make this uh make this event happen um that's it thank you for your time appreciate it thank you before I let let the the group go that that that could move on for so we could finish our business I just want to make a comment about this if anybody else wants to too I think this is fantastic that you put so much effort into it when I was back in high school this was this had started a few years prior and this is this was a big deal for us and it's really important for the younger generation that that doesn't truly understand that one little mistake can go a really really long way after all all that hard work so it's really important so get the message out cuz you're Mr tough guy so get it out there and people will listen to you all right so that's important when you're a leader you got to you got to stand in front of it so uh this concludes our proclamations and presentations congratulations to all recipients oh yeah yes yes yes Mr Leon sorry yes I was going to share two quick things my daughter was a one of my daughters was a senior last year she said it was the time of her life had an awesome awesome time I will also share that when I was a either a freshman or a sophomore in high school um one of our most popular kids in school who had painted a beautiful wall mural um was killed the day after graduation um driving home you know from the accident and it was a huge tragedy so I I can relate to this and I think this is they did not have this back when I was in high school um I wish they had because it probably could have saved his life um but it's an incredible uh effort by all of you and you know we should all be donating right um whether we have kids in the school or not just to help keep our community safe so thank you for all that you do perfect thank you anybody else oh yeah we're gonna watch a [Music] video H my name is Joey kazmo and as the president of the class of 2023 who received lots of feedback about the Project Graduation event I can confidently say that Project Graduation was a special way to to end our high school years while the graduation ceremony is a meaningful way to end high school together Project Graduation is Meaningful in a different way it allows us to interact with each other one last time it allows us to go back to our childhood years and play super fun games and sports together and it also allowed us to win awesome prizes besides this it also allowed us to see the amazing Hillsboro Community we have that will continue to support us as we move on to our next Journeys since graduation is impossible without all of your generous donations thank you besides this I am grateful for the events effectiveness at ensuring all members of the class celebrated graduation in a safe and healthy way on graduation night ultimately Project Graduation is something we will always remember as one special final night together as a class thank you very nice so Joey is actually one of my neighbors who went away with my daughter last year so they were supposed to graduate together but they didn't um so uh if he could get 430 Matt seriously now all the pressure like at least at least 500 of your closest friends have to come let call 600 there we go here we go all right so this concludes our proclamations and our presentations congratulations to everybody in the recipients thank you for joining us this evening we're going to take a two-minute pause for those of you like to leave and then we'll we'll continue the rest of our business thank thank you everybody e e e e e all right guys we're gonna we're going to commence I think we're already in the back good okay we're good okay so um consent agenda numbers 1 through 18 may I have a motion to approve the consent agenda items number 1 through 18 so move a second second second comments from the de anybody no comments from the floor okay Maria Janu 6 720 East FR Avenue Manville New Jersey also Hillsboro Township property owner block 86 lot 3 2155 camplan Road um consent number five resolution authorizing the application of a leap implementation Grant um how much money is going to be allocated to this shared service for this um was is it just for this van I can uh take that mayor if you'd like so um we are we are working with our partner uh Montgomery to help with uh food insecurities so one of the things that the team is is uh talked about was really how do we get out in the community so people come here and use our food pantry through our can program and we've teamed with Montgomery over the years uh collectively with with a partnership because we're there're our neighbor so we feel that if we go out for this Grant That'll be fully funded by uh the state that we can take this van and go out into the communities and go out into events so we can showcase all of the services that we have not just our food but our other services uh that we have through Social Services so we're probably looking at I want to say somewhere maybe between 2 and 300 don't don't uh quote me on the dollar amount for sure but it's up to a certain amount that both townships can get so I'm speaking with the administrator there in Montgomery and their social services team they' willing to do that together so we can share um um the the resources that both towns have and be able to use one Van versus two so that's what we're looking to do if that's your question okay thank you welcome um resol um consent number 13 resolution authorizing the qualified P purchasing agent to solicit bids for custodial services for the period July 1 2024 through June 30 2026 is this for a specific like a a company that provides this service or is for individuals for for here it's for the company right Mr far this under your your jurisdiction yeah that's correct those are for all the services that that we provide here in the building including uh for the library it's just an annual so this this this isn't like like like hiring a person for this you're you're hiring a service that provides this correct company yes a company that provides that correct okay um and consent number 15 resolution opting out of emergency building inspection program um what is do that mean what kind of emergency building inspection is that like after an emergency or is this I mean what is this I can take that too if you'd like go for it's it's going to be the Anthony and Maria show tonight so it's perfect okay so uh it's interesting so at the high level it looks like hey it's an emergency Let's help each other out which we always do we have multiple agreements currently in place with with towns in Somerset County uh when other towns are in trouble we help them they help us the difference with this is this is helping anybody in New Jersey so if there's an emergency let's say there was an earthquake would never happen right so something happens and our guys are now in other towns in this law the Hillsboro Township would be responsible for picking up all the costs of our folks so we're opting out because we already have a shared services with all the other surrounding towns so this would put Hillsboro in a bad way that say any of our guys could be forced to help out any were in New Jersey and Hillsboro Township would be forced to pick up our building and that means overtime supplies equipment and all liability on Hillsboro so our construction official Mr fieler um advised our Township committee liaison uh committee M laon and deputy mayor uh uh chiarelli that this would not be a good option and uh we agreed with that so that's why we're putting it on tonight okay all right thank you you're welcome thank you and I'll just give you a point of reference so during idida when we hit got struck by that uh hurricane we all helped each other run around do inspections of homes to get people back in them not just in Hillsboro but surrounding areas Branchburg sville Manville everybody was on duty because if you remember it was a holiday weekend Memorial Day weekend so there was uh and we we absorbed the cost but we all helped each other out voluntarily as we always do any other comments from the floor with regards to consent agenda 1 through 18 yes okay thank you good evening uh I'm commenting on I guess consent number eight related to the aad family farm Carnival uh license uh application I just want to express concerns about that volume of traffic on in that neighborhood uh Milburn Drive actually ends at a culdesac it connects to another culdesac CLA Court uh which is basically forms the corner of the aad for Farm which is a 10 acre property uh we're concerned I'm concerned I should my neighbors aren't here so I will speak for myself only I'm concerned uh that the neighborhood the roads the infrastructure were not built for that volume of of folks I understand the need to the need to want to have um a a unique charity event one of my concerns on the application is that it states it's to bring more awareness to the farm um if we're looking at a situation where what has been um just a gentile horse farm is turning into more of a business I think that's a conversation that has to happen with the community and this group uh also want to express concern that I kind of found out about this through Word of Mouth I'm not sure how this kind of thing uh develops and how information is supposed to get out to the community but I do know that if I add nine square feet to my driveway pavers I have to let my neighbors know in the form of variant so I was I was you know surprised to to realize that I didn't know this was happening um and and we also have concerns um where I have concerns also because since the Awad family has moved into the area there have been some levels of frustration between the neighbors and the farm operation uh related to how different ordinances are are either um abided by or Not abided by uh so overall we're just concerned that um for this event I think the answer related to the parking is that cars will park only on one side of the street I have the concern that we may not in reality see that happen uh also concerned about the amount of police resources that may go into this uh we all know our police resources are already thin um it seems like our resources could be used better than than basically doing traffic Patrol on a on a weekend afternoon so those were my question yeah so um this a question for the board I'm like sorry uh so the is there a limit to how many carnivals or events like this per season and um okay and the the police that would work these events just like the rotary Fair they the farm pays that so it's not taking active police off the roads be overtime job as it's so they they they pay for that those people to be there okay the applicant submitted details about the event the proposed event and which we send over to our police department and they go out and do an investigation they check out the area they they evaluate for traffic and they either approve or deny and they come back to us with with with their opinion on whether or not yeah I think my concern is if people do Park on both sides of that road or those roads um having I had an E I had a health emergency event last summer my neighbor down the street had one a few years ago another neighbor literally all in the same all on Milburn Drive the thought of something happening and emergency vehicles either not being able to get um through Milburn drive or those other streets or even being able to come up the emergency access road from mstone River Road to Milburn drive if the fire department had to come up there and things were blocked that would be another concern the area basically isn't it's not designed like the Lowe's parking lot where you can have a large Carnival event that's that's basically what I'm pointing out right so you and I actually spoke extensively yes I recall exactly this convers doing Halloween decorations yes I scared the beesus out of you didn't I um so it was just brought to my attention this is actually for one date this is not a like a license in it's one one one date one event it is it's one event with it's one date with the rain date correct that's right my concern is on the application it says to draw more attention to the farm agreed which is that's where I'm concerned that if we're talking about something other than what I would call traditional horse farm right with boarding and what you would expect for a traditional farm so that sounds to me almost like a business objective for them it's not tactical in nature relative to this event so to me it almost seems like they're just making that statement because nothing in the application from what I understand is related to creating more awareness I mean this is just approving whether or not they can have it what they do with it afterwards is they can go on social media and say anything they they really want and present anyway they want right I mean that's they can do without this corre is there any cap of personnel or uh attendees they have to in the application they have to say how many people they think will will attend they they really have no way of knowing okay sure sure yeah okay fair enough but I think we could make the comment that I'm just so my husband's part of the fire department that covers that area and the trucks are not small right so I would think the police would be responsible for ensuring that any emergency vehicle be it police paramedic um fire department would be able to safely access any of the the residences on that street that that would be the job of the the police that are working over time to protect that area right understand yeah but like I said If This Were to grow into something else my one my my earlier concern was it's just the way the information or the news gets out I did not know about this I was literally sitting on the beach in Florida and got a text from a neighbor first of all Lucky You Yes sounds like fun yeah but your road is also a concern actually the day that I was out there there was a wedding or something going on down the street from you and it was impassible and um police were not a present it was not like that kind of thing but there were over a 100 cars easily on Milbourne on both sides of the street which did make it impassible so I recall that very very well that day right um it's a very valid concern I think you know being that this is one event for one trial if you will that would be very obligatory on us to see how that went and then what happens going forward right I agree with that but I think the good news is for each event they would have to have an application my other thought is maybe you should follow them on social media well I guess the question would be question for if another applicate for anything not just not just this form but for anything how do how do we find out when those applications are made or it AG the agenda Miss break is there a formal notification of the the other yeah right okay that would be difficult cuz there's a lot of things that happen excuse me it's not like it's a zoning or a meeting that has to be public it's just an event just like like when rotary has a fair there's no notification so I found out it was on the agenda I went on the website website and I accidentally submitted comments or questions on the website and I was told those comments are not for the items already for consent those are for that's for public comment for items not on the agenda so this is if if you submit a question that way we can't answer if you're not here so this oh so that's the purpose the purpose that's why I asked you commenting on the this consent if it was a just general public question uh comment later on that would be I would say could you maybe wait till we get to that next section as well as ask so again the good news is is that it is public knowledge and it will be posted in advance and then you'll see it the same way that you saw this one so bookmark the page keep an eye out after you know especially after this June 2nd event it just I would keep an eye out for um down the line more things and that would be something so I mean you know this is a one-time thing but that would be something that our PD our fds would all Converse on to see okay this wasn't a great turnout this wasn't a great logistic move you know we would take all of their advice under advisement for a secondary permit if it even ever came up understand understand so all right thank you for your time thank you very much sir thank you okay we need a roll call please committee woman hand yes committee men Leon yes committee woman pain yes Deputy Mayor Chelli yes and mayor Brit yes public hearings I see none um so now we're uh so we're introducing of new ordinances but I'm make a statement first we are re we are reintroducing this next ordinance due to the rescheduling of the April 23rd meeting to April 30th uh and the timing requirements for the public hearing so now introduction of the ordinances 202 24-4 Bond ordinance providing various Township wide Road improvements in and by the township of Hillsboro in the county of Somerset New Jersey appropriating 9 million therefore $9 million therefore and authorizing the issuance of uh 8,550 th000 uh do in bonds or notes of the township to finance part of the cost thereof further consideration and a public hearing will be held on April 30th 2024 so this is an introduction of new or ordinance that will happen later may I have a motion to introduce 2024 d04 so moved may I have a second second roll call please committee woman hand yes committee men leani yes committee woman Payne yes Deputy Mayor Chelli yes mayor biring yes claims list may I have a motion to approve claims list 2024 d05 motion to approve a second second comments from the Das comments from the floor roll call please committee woman hand yes committee men leani yes committee women Payne yes Deputy Mayor chiarelli yes mayor bring yes new business I see none so now public comments for matters not on the agenda uh Miss lenzo please read the statement regarding public comment the township committee welcomes input from the public please state your name and address and please spell your name for the record you will be given one three minute allotment for your comments please understand that this is a public forum is not structured as a question and answer session comments are to be addressed to the mayor again thank again please keep your comments to three minutes thank you Maria Janus um at Thursday's planning board meeting there's going to be an application held um uh held for uh the Sherman tract by Eminem at camplan Road and I I looked at the information and at the documents that are being provided for that application um Eminem at camplan Road has a uh settlement agreement with the township and they also had presented a concept plan last year and those documents are not being provided on Civic clerk for this application the settlement agreement is very important to this application because it also involves the Glen Gary application by uh Eminem So I think those those those documents are very important uh and they should be provided on Civic clerk as well as the concept plan that was approved by the township um also uh on the corner of Route 206 and Falcon Road there is a body of stagnant water looks like a pond that's just sitting there and the warm weather is coming we're going to start getting mosquito larvae and that's going to create a tremendous health problem and um I don't know if anything is being done about that water uh it's it is a it is a health issue y thank you for both your comments thank you okay and uh just the second comment the one one thing I'll mention is that is one of the items that the state njd is dealing with as it relates to right now with uh off the 206 they've been made acutely aware of that since they built it two years ago yeah we had a pretty rough conversation about it so it's good in a good way in a very good way okay um executive session we do not have one this evening may I have a motion to adjourn motion to adjourn second second roll call please committee woman hand yes committee men Leon yes committee woman pay yes please Deputy Mayor chiarelli well before I vote because it's moot uh just a reminder that the next meeting is the 30th uh I think it was it was on the consent agenda kind of got slipped in there the mayor mentioned it but uh the next meeting is being postponed a week because of Passover so we'll see you on the 30th yes and mayor bring yes it is 8:45 p.m. thank you every [Music] everybody