continue with opening comments from Township Council council president cun thank you clerk good evening residents of Jackson thank you for coming out tonight I would like to take the opportunity to recognize Mr Mayor a teacher of Crawford Elementary School for his outstanding work I had the privilege of attending his presidential H which he has been organizing with the third graders for over 20 years it was a fantastic event and I am already looking forward to attending next year Mr and Mary are also another event around Thanksgiving Mar thank you thank you I appreciate that um where he invites all the students from past classes it truly is amazing what he does and he deserves our appreciation for his dedication to education I also wanted to update you on the mayor's veterans commission last week I attended the race for life at the kns of Columbus and we are considering co-hosting a veterans appreciation event there in August we beli it will be a great opportunity to show our support for our veterans I will keep you informed about any further details regarding this event regarding the Roa Farms project we are making progress recently had a meeting with the engineer firm and they have completed the wetlands delineation the committee has expressed their vision for the project to the engineer but we understand that it is still in the early phases we have submitted the project to the D to see if there is any additional space we can utilize beyond the wetlands buffer we are hoping to receive response by our next month's meeting Madam clerk I would like to discuss the process for preparing for Council AGA at the coun um as the council president I believe it is important to provide the residents of Jackson with Insight onto how the agenda process will be moving forward we have set a deadline of 12: pm on Wednesday prior to the meetings for all department heads to to submit the request to be included on the agenda once the requests are submitted I would like to review them before they are placed on the agenda this will allow me to ask any necessary questions to the department heads Administration or our attorney after I have re reviewed the request I will request you Madame clerk send them to the fellow council members for their review by the end of the day on Thursday I would like each uh email to council members to include the following message councilman the following is Tuesday's agenda please review and contact me with any questions do not reply all if I do not hear from you I will assume you have no questions and Madame clerk will post the agenda to the public by 4M on Friday I would like to receive a confirmation email from each council member prior to the agenda being posted to the public this final confirmation will allow me to address any changes and concerns that the council might have we aim to have the agenda posted to the public no later than 4M in regards to the ordinance we will continue in regards to ordinance we will continue the current uh process once I receive a new ordinance that is going to be introduced I will ask Madame clerk to circulate it to the council member members for their consideration and review I will also provide a brief summary of the ordinance and ask the council members to contact me individually to discuss any objections or concerns if I do not hear from them I will assume there is no objections or concerns thank you for your attention and appreciate your cooperation in ensuring an effective and transparent uh agenda process thank you thank you Council vice president Sergeant good evening um Mr C I have a question regarding that um the ordinance or the uh the piece where you said that you want everybody to notify you by Wednesday um do you feel like that's enough time for you I I know in the past it's been Thursday or Friday but even Wednesday is cutting it kind of short considering Saturday and Sunday are are days off 100% I agree ordinances are usually introduced to council at least a minimum of five to seven days prior to that's more in regards to resolutions or any concerns that they have once they receive their agenda before it goes to the public um if there's anything that they have a question for I'll be able to answer that thank you very much that's it for me thank you councilman burelli uh thank you clerk Moss uh first congratulations to the Jackson youth football and cheer teams uh continue making your family school in our town proud um also just an FYI for everybody in the residents of our town the Jackson branch of the Ocean County Library located in our Town's Justice complex will be closed beginning on Monday next Monday March 4th and reopen on or about Monday uh March 18th according to the Ocean County Library System uh reason being why they're closing is they're installing new carpet in our Town's Library during the time they're closed you may return borrowed items to on-site dropboxes or to any Ocean County Library branch also items awaiting pickup at the Jackson Branch uh will be transferred as of March 4th uh to Manchester's Library on 21 Colonial Drive their phone number if you need to contact them regarding that is 732 6577 600 or at any Ocean County Branch that that Patron wishes to request prior to Jackson's Library closing uh during the closing the phone number to the Jackson library of course will be unavailable so you can call the library's main number if you have to at 732 349 6200 or you can visit their website at www.the oceancounty library.org also um in closing actually uh at the very last council meeting I said with the advice and consent of the council president I was planning on introducing a resolution in support of assembly Bill uh 3589 which former colleague and former Jackson Township Council and assembly men Alex siwicki is sponsoring that would require the state of New Jersey to pay the salary of State monitors uh assigned to school districts not the local school districts would have the burden I noticed a resolution in support of this assembly bill which would help uh take the burden off Jacks and taxpayers imposed by the state and help our town School District with their budget W was not included on tonight's agenda I hope council president would consider placing the resolution on the next meeting's agenda in March thank you thank you councilman Bernstein thank you madam clerk um a couple of quick things um I had opportunity and also joining with council president cun and with councilman um Chisum obviously separately um at the RO Farm committee meeting yesterday and as the council president said the committee is moving forward we have um we finally have our Wetlands delineation properly filed with the state and we are looking forward to hopefully over the next month or two months um moving that process in a way forward that hopefully the dream we could actually see a shovel in the ground this year um additionally um I had opportunity as leaz on to the board of ed to show to go into the board of Ved meeting um I'm extremely impressed with the hard work that the board of Ved does as um my colleague um just mentioned I also would support um a resolution in support of of assembly Mini's bill I actually discussed it with assembly mini by a county event last week we're looking forward to our attorney properly drafting such a resolution and hopefully being on our next meeting's agenda the Board of Ed passed such a resolution and it's something that I think this entire Council would would very much support um I also just want to really thank the board of ed for going out of their way to ensure the safety and the well-being of all residents in town um they recently went into contract with the ldaa which is um a regional state approved um gorum that will hopefully ensure that a more of our children get properly busted to school but also equally important ensuring that our um our town has one address to speak to when there are issues snow snow snow issues Road issues and we can ensure that hopefully the safety of all of our residents in Jackson um additionally I also had the opportunity to speak to the county um librarian um multiple residents reached out about the possibility of the Jackson Library being open now on Sunday to accom to to accommodate more readers the county is looking into Opening Our Jackson Library I guess after the renovations are done for a couple hours on Sunday afternoon Toms River Library is open on Sunday and I think Manchester library is considering it and so is lakewood's Library so I think that will ensure that more children and more people are um have access to that wonderful resource which we have here in Jackson um additionally we are um just to really to piggyback off of our last meeting when we talked about the um the landlord registration after doing some math that the clerk's office provided um I'm happy to announce that um this ordinance will will generate over another 120,000 115,000 I think exact C12 $112,500 of extra revenue for the town um so we are looking at various ordinances that currently exist on our books to making sure that the fees are up to date with the 2024 standard standards um some of them do need tweaking if anyone notices any fees that they thinks should be updated please um feel free to contact any of your council members we are also looking at some of the no knock ordinance and seeing what we could do to fix that um um I also just want to mention that um we really um do appreciate everyone coming out to our meetings and um I'm excited to see some new faces have a good night thank you councilman Chisum good evening thank you so congratulations to our cheer teams it's fantastic to see the uh hard work that's really paid off for them they really make Jackson proud and it's a rich tradition we've had here with all of our sports teams for the last several decades whether it's uh as south or B South Champs or state champs national champs so we've got a really rich sporting Heritage here in Jackson and it's good to see the youth keeping that up um as usual however I would like to bring your attention to the people in Trenton you may have heard there a Senate Bill 1970 the age of consent bill it's called so they are looking to lower the age of consent for your children without your permission that they can make their own decisions without consulting a parent for mental health medical health physical decisions sexual everything except for sexual assault drugs alcohol I don't know about you but I don't know how many 13y olds are able to make those decisions on their own a lot of teenagers you can't get to make up their own room or decide when it's the right time to eat a proper food or to I don't know geez just make a list right I mean just driving decisions you've all seen it you've all been a teenager yourself quite frankly I don't know that our legislators are quite mature enough to make these decisions for our children themselves maybe we should legislate them with that I have nothing further so thank you thank you Mayor Michael raino thank you good evening ladies and gentlemen just uh it wasn't mentioned tonight normally normally we do I thought the coaches would and if it was was I'll count that to my bad hearing but the young ladies that were here tonight d8 and D12 are the large well the the d8 or large level two Jersey Shore Big East Regional and most importantly ayc national champions the Jackson Jaguars D12 large level three Jersey Shore Big East Regional and most importantly are also ayc national champions so I said it before and it Bears mentioning again the amount of time that these young ladies their coaches the parents put into this and we reap the rewards of Jackson being uh national champions again so I know they're all gone but I want to wish them a congratulations uh as as you look along the room tonight we have an opportunity to thank the Jackson Police Department's finest we have right here men and women uh you all do a job we know what you do we appreciate it you never told that enough instead you're told all the things you don't do so I'm here to tell you on behalf of Jackson Township and I know I mean this when we say we have your back we have your back all your backs this is not New York City this is not Philadelphia and yes some knock in these towns this is not Chicago we stand behind and with you and we will defend at all costs because you take care of our families so thank you all very much I think more now than ever it's important for each and every one in this room whether you're law enforcement or not to be vigilant whether it's your cars parked outside you even go into the grocery store as recently as this past week we had a woman in Tom's River going to a car kidnapped this is not good times wein open borders makes all of our towns unsafe so please be vigilant and stand behind our blue thank you all get home safe have a great [Applause] evening thank you Orin consideration ordinance public hearing and final consideration this is the second reading of ordinance 0 6-24 entitled in ordinance of the township of Jackson County of ocean state of New Jersey amending Chapter 3 of the administrative code for the township of Jackson establishing position of director of the Department of Public Safety this ordinance was introduced on February 13 2024 I need a motion to open the public hearing motion second second all in favor I I if any me M of the public has any comments to make please address the council at the microphone and state your name and address clearly for the record you will have five minutes and may only speak once Sergeant John Rodriguez SOA [Music] president we'd like to take this opportunity to once again thank the council members who have voted in favor of this ordinance the support of Mayor Raina and his administration and the unwavering commitment of the men and women of our Collective unions towards the future of our agency since we last spoke at this Podium two weeks have passed and while we're not surprised by this precious little has been done in the interim there has been no movement on hiring despite the needs of the agency it should be noted the chief has allowed Ocean County Police Academy class number 118 commencing May 3rd to fillter capacity with our agency having no persons attending the next Academy class begins September 6th and for the benefit of those unfamiliar with the hiring process the work needs to start within the next calendar month there is a certification process through civil service for those applicants and that takes several weeks we conduct a pre-employment physical assessment that needs to be organized and administered applicants need to be given additional time to complete and submit the nearly 50-page application and after reviewing the returned applications they are assigned to a background investigator from the detective Bureau who also maintains an active case load while simultaneously completing the background function having been in this position a minimum of four weeks but prably six is required to complete a thorough background then after the investigator submissions are reviewed an interview panel must be convened after which candidates are selected these candidates must then be scheduled for psychological and physical examinations and after all that they spend two weeks inside the agen completing mandated pre-academy training only after all that are they ready to attend the six-month Police Academy upon completion they must complete an additional three months of field training post Academy before being considered Manpower for Staffing purposes this brings the total time frame to approximately one year from the initiation of the hiring process and we cannot afford to wait any longer before the chief speaks and makes statements about Civil Service difficulties in closing our list and disqualifying applicants again I would like to reiterate that this is not the only means of hiring and any suggestion by the chief otherwise is untruthful at best as he simultaneously used exceptions to the Civil Service list to hire last summer while simultaneously hiring off the Civil Service list and sending both types of candidates to the academy at the same time when the chief laugh spoke he remarked on a recruitment unit that it has been going out soliciting for potential AC accur excuse me applicants this is again disingenuous the recruit recuitment unit consists of one individual who has only recently been assigned to this function as a side duty to his position with no budget literature or even applications to hand out they through no fault of their own have been sent to only one single event without the benefit of supporting materials and they went to a high school event speaking to children who are too young to even apply to the police officer position the chief's recruitment efforts have yielded exact zero applicants for employment and are wholly insufficient and I can't overstress the importance of seeking out the best future police officers possible furthermore I reject the chief's assertion that there are no good applicants on the Civil Service list I refuse to accept that as a society we do not have Brave kind-hearted intelligent and dedicated individuals seeking the position of police officer dig deeper certify more persons on the list and utilize all internal and external means means in a fair objective manner to find quality applicants this brings me to the next major item that didn't happen in the last two weeks promotions we currently have the promotion list certified and as of this moment the chief has yet to request any promotions from the township to provide an example of how this affects the agency and by extension the taxpayers of Jackson Township since I last spoke at this Podium there have been 14 instances of Patrol supervisory overtime for a total of 77.5 man hours at a cost of just under $110,000 to the township this is only the last two weeks and only Patrol sergeants yet the chief still has not sought to promote additional sergeants despite having open vacancies and unfilled spots this is inefficient at best and disrespectful to the taxpayers of Jackson Township I'd like to take a moment to address councilman burelli and Chisum following your no vote on this ordinance we're requesting the membership remain in the room for the duration of this meeting so they can hear your justifications for your positions after having heard our factual basis for supporting this ordinance it is worth noting that neither I nor president hemba have heard from either of you in the last two weeks while you were attempting to do your due diligence nor have I ever heard from you councilman berelli during your tenure as a liaison to the police department if you maintain your no vote at least have the decency to skip the part where you tell us how much you appreciate us and support us officer I did reach out to you you never re called me back when was that sir a few weeks ago before the first meeting the first reading on this when you had the prepared comments from the chief that you admitted that you I prepare my own comments sir but you spoke with President hemba you spoke with President hemba so you spoke with one of us yes but I did reach out to you to speak with you as well okay let's keep it okay we'll we'll move on the only thing last thing I'll ask is can the council speak on the breaking news that I was just made aware of of a $1.2 million settlement for a wrongful death suit uh your time's up but I will ask the attorney please address that last comment I'll respect the time thank you thank you [Applause] sir the township uh recently through its insurance company settled a civil lawsuit during a trial uh for a settlement amount of $1.2 million there was a death involved uh as a result of a police chase um and the allegations of the complaint um included um essentially um and these were the allegations negligent hiring negligent retention negligence supervision and failure to properly follow the internal affairs guidelines within the department and the case settled for $1.2 million in the middle of the trial and can you just elaborate why we settled well it's a decision of the insurance company um based upon the testimony that was presented um for the beginning part of the trial and whose testimony among others the Chiefs thank you are we ready yes [Music] ma'am Elanor Hanam Jackson New Jersey um I'm here to talk about this ordinance quite frankly I see this as a complete political agenda there is it's no secret that mayor Raina here has had his own personal agenda his angst towards the chief for the past six years M mainly because it revolves around the fact that the chief refused to make something go away when his son uh had a situation with law enforcement but my other really big concern my son-in-law who is law enforcement who is a lieutenant and the Sharpshooter and on SWAT off the mainline for Philadelphia I discussed with him something that I had seen the fact that officers are pictured or used for propaganda P purposes to promote or forward someone's personal company in which we have Miss cun here who has chosen to use the sheriff's department and generally the police force would be there to use that as her current situation during an eviction for a cash for keys in which that is part of her business so if you look you will see a picture of her current situation and picturing Law Enforcement Officers which puts those officers and their families in direct Harm's Way never should the propaganda of our law enforcement be used by such disgusting and unethical means furthermore it is come to my attention actually it's not recent but there was never a closed vote by the law enforcement union membership instead it was a show of hands never again have I ever seen a vote for a union done that way and I'm a member of a union I was a member of another Union for 18 years never has a union done that it is no secret that Miss cun her the other individual the union president for the PBA who is promoting and pushing this is also her boyfriend so it is very difficult it is very difficult to ascertain whether or not miss cun here should be I'm going to declare you out be have my First Amendment right I'm declaring you out of order vo on this ordinance it's my first amendment and you are not officer please remove her from the room I would like her removed thank you sir Jeff Hena I'm sorry 42-year Jackson resident and the PBA president uh good evening mayor Rena council president cun councilman Bernstein councilman Sergeant councilman brelli councilman Chisum and Mr wall before I address the main issue I'm here to speak about tonight I would just like to address a few residents in town who have spewed lies on social media Pages these last few weeks about my personal life I don't know anyone in explanation about my personal life but if you insist on knowing about it then please see me in person and I'll have a conversation with you I'd like to thank president Rodriguez for his remarks and discuss what the chief did do in the last two weeks since the last council meeting picking the lowest hanging fruit he held a hastily put together staff meeting with less than 24 hours notice via email on a day I was unable to attend due to previous scheduled work obligations as I related by those few who were able to make this meeting approximately 20% of the current staff and most who are already working the chief reported to have reiterated his statements from the previous council meeting with little more of substance to add the chief also held a command staff meeting with what was reported to me as 8 minute notice and I suppose he wishes to say that he's heard our concerns and has turned over a new Leaf but the men and women of our agency and our residents are too smart to fall for that at the previous council meeting I advised all of you some of the issues that the PBA and SOA members have had with the chief and the lack of leadership and decisionmaking that we are dealing with on a daily basis we the members not anyone else work inside that building every day and see firsthand what we lack and what we need to make the agency the best it can be our chief does not fight for or listen to his employees of their wants or needs to councilman brelli and Chisum who have questioned this ordinance and requested it to be tabled I ask you to please listen to the facts that s SOA president Rodriguez and myself have made you aware of at the last council meeting councilman belli who for the last two years was one of our public I'm sorry police leaon however never addressed any of these issues nor met with any of the current staff voted no to this ordinance he also insisted that he supported the men and women in blue of the Jackson Police Department prior to voting also at the last council meeting councilman Chisum wanted to know what the rush was to get this ordinance on the agenda and how the township will get sued I say to you sir sued for what sued for holding the chief accountable the agency lacks true leadership accountability and decision-making and these specific qualities are things that have been lacking for the last several years and something our members desperately need not the sooner the better these issues didn't just start yesterday this should not be and is not political however the both of you appear to have made it that way the PBA and SOA are asking you to vote Yes tonight and you would do so if you actually support the men and women of the Jackson Police Department lastly ly I'd like to thank our police Leons council president cun and councilman Bernstein for seeking out those who represent the rank and file of the Jackson Police Department to hear our needs and concerns as well as well as mayor Raina and administrator wall I'd also like to thank the Lakewood Scoop for their journalistic integrity and support of the facts throughout this process we look forward to moving your Police Department forward thank you thank you sir thank you sir [Applause] uh Jim Sakia I live in Jackson I know nothing about all the details everything I've heard is between last meeting and tonight's meeting I understand all the issues that the rank and file the union has presented and to me those are significant issues but here's my question in regarding this ordinance it sounds like people are unhappy with the chief so has it been looked at that maybe instead of adding an additional $200,000 we actually solve the problem of making a change that does not cost the the township anything if it's that significant that you guys are that unhappy with the chief has that been discussed as an option with anybody because you know I haven't heard that at any point I don't know the chief I don't know any of the the law enforcement that I I've been here for 50 years and I've never had a run in with any of these so I kind of take pride in that so I just want to understand it a little bit more and that's that's where my brain is at I I'm hearing this and I go if I'm an if I'm an employee in a business and I'm not happy with my my management and I go it's not bring in another level of management it's fixed the problem so where are we at that I I agree with I I hear you and those are major issues that absolutely need to be looked at and I just wonder how deep have we done a study on all of this so if I could Madam president um the ordinance creates a civilian position director uh it does not eliminate the Chief's position or replace the chief um and the township is not looking to do so it creates a civilian manager for purposes of policy and procedures to strengthen that portion of the police department um and the council is of the opinion and we'll see what the vote is tonight um that that is needed and necessary but does that not just leave well a significant problem of what they're talking about is their Commander is what is going to still civilian director would address those issues that have been raised if they're not if they have not yet been previously done that's what a civilian director would do it would assist the chief in preparing the department and protecting the department in the Township from lawsuits such as the one that would just settled by implementing various policies and procedures to make sure the township is complying with what's required under the law so and and these are issues that the police chief has been previously responsible for or have we never had the is currently the head of the department okay he's been responsible for those issues that's correct so we're now splitting the job into two roles because the council believes it has not been done properly okay and we're increasing the township budget by as much as 200,000 because that's the top don't know what that I don't know what the budgetary impact will be but I'm not voting well there is a $200,000 salary that's going on the books possible that somebody already in town could be appointed to the position we don't know but then you're going to replace that position that you're replacing so maybe not it's not un it's unknown I I guess I'm just thinking there there's there's other options instead of having to pay this additional Sal again we're the taxpayers I I want to support these guys I'd rather spend the $200,000 on new equipment better safety equipment for them you know that's where I'd rather see the money go not to add another layer for a situation where the union has issues with the the chief and the chief has you know he does his role and it's just somebody has to determine who who is who's right and who's wrong in this spot and make the make the appropriate decision thank you thank you [Applause] sir my name is Peter kakis 9 cranberry Harvest Court Jackson New Jersey first I want to introduce myself and tell you that the men in blue and the people that wear the badge I've supported my whole life I'm going to base some credibility right now so that you understand who I am I had the opportunity with several police officers here to use my rollsroyce to drive for share Network so that somebody could take the recipient of a of a kidney or donate I also built a group home in parcion called 360 life for autism and handicapped children that was also supported by the police departments I held many uh Affairs for the State Police including at gessle one of their honores Lieutenant Colonel Ed setar that was a Jackson resident as well and I'm speaking because many people don't know me but the people that do know me and some of these do I put my jeans on and I lay tile but I brought companies on the New York Stock Exchange I owned the company called MMA Alliance it was a UFC company I brought it and I felt that there was some sort of unity and everybody needs to stand together I'm not up here by no means opposing one side or the other side so I want to be clear I'm a I'm sitting up here talking about Justice and what we fight for as Jackson residents as people now I speak at schools and I do a lot of things and I'm a little choked up right now and I'll tell you why because it's uncomfortable in this room now if I sat in front of people at my own home I have Casino nights raise money for chops hospitals here in Jackson at the Italian American Club I host posted something called happen for 20 years I took group homes and handicapped children that nobody I'm not sure showed up for those at the time it was s um I was the mayor uh but I did it for 20 years for Ocean County Arc I also just declined a documentary about me from Channel 5 news I saved a woman's life during covid she had got Will's bar did not have insurance so I fought with a group of people like you to get her insurance they said there's not enough time so my attorney took me into that hospital New York University Hospital and said Peter put your money where your mouth is put $2 million up to this hospital and when the insurance goes through that child will be fine I didn't even know this girl I just met her at a store so I want to tell you a little bit about me because there could be a few people that don't know me and past speculation I drive Ferraris Lamborghinis but they mean nothing they mean nothing to anybody what really counts for is being credible for what you stand for we are Americans we stand for that flag only we don't stand for the man in the uniform we stand for the uniform so I will tell the Jackson people and the United States citizens and I will tell you this my First Amendment right is freedom of speech and it also says something about government I will remind you if you ever removed me from this Podium for something that I had to say that was just we'd see each other in court you cannot violate people's rights I was in a situation in this town that was uncomfortable and I let it go because I thought that the greater good overh holds the police department is King but we should not fear the police department somebody told me one day I was sitting in this chair two weeks ago and said Peter be careful and I asked myself be careful of what what am I careful for these are the people that protected actually these are the people that I pay to protect me right we all pay and I don't mean it like that but I want to be very clear everybody here on this Council has did wrong we all have and we all are not perfect but if we get together instead of pointing that finger because that's what I do in my company the first guy that points the fingers out of my company because you focus too much time on the blame let's fix the problem if we have to hire him I say hire them if we don't have to hire him don't hire them but let's make those decisions based on that Miss president here I own a barber shop as well in town but I own a tile company the only reason why I bought the shop now you would see me in my work clothes and think this man's but I don't live for money I live for justice but I will tell you put your money where your mouth is like my attorney said Pete you want to save that girl don't talk about it and don't get your friends to try to help you put it up so that's what I stand for I Stand For Justice and I stand for us to hold the credibility to everything and as far as in the Jewish faith I had an opportunity to study with a name a rabbi named Rabbi koniski very major Rabbi and he taught me a few things in this world and he said Peter you know never worry about just because just always comes and never worry on how much money you're going to make this year because God already knows how much you're going to make and something in the tabloids he told me that was very true he said God keeps you on your toes because if you wanted to reach in your pocket and get three coins out but you only have two coins you will ma'am I had other people speak for more than me last time and I please don't because everybody does things that are not proper right I parked my Ferrari across the line one time but I never took three parking spots I will not allow unjust okay I will not I waited I'm a Jackson resid for 30 years and I saw things back and forth I never would speak on politics everybody's opinion and it's it's like religion too we will never agree because I have my beliefs you have your beliefs but I ask that Jackson and if you're watching the video and you see it stand up for what's right for us and what scares me the most right now is that the people that are protecting us are at War it seems with their command and chief so what I tell the Jackson people is how are we protected and how can an Administration run their office if there's so much chaos I think this is an address that the state and the United States governments may have to get involved because we have parted who we are and I'll tell you this Jackson ain't big enough and I don't want to talk about big because I don't want to go that far but I want to say I want to say that it's important that we represent each other I love the people in blue thank you sir and I'm telling you if they're right they're right but if they're wrong let's try to make it work and I respect every one of you and I have donated to all the PBA things God Bless America and may God help you make the right decisions thank you sir Deb Jones heis and Road um I'm just here for this part I have more to say later but this is so sad that we have this divide going on it's bad enough our town is divided we don't need our law enforcement divided we need them more now than we've ever needed them it is up to you guys to step in I work in education if this was going on in a classroom it would never make it this far where so much stuff has to be aired where it's being videoed everyone's seeing it we have men and women in our law enforcement that need better cars to drive better bulletproof vests better equipment because we don't know what's coming down the pike we have an idea when we look at the world around us this is to me maddening I have lived in this town I don't have all the credentials that the man before me had I do have that I've lived in this town since I was a kid I've gone to school with a lot of them I've educated some of their children I've walked into grocery stores with them we need to do something this should not be a fight that at not one meeting now two when does this end and if we can't make a decision right now then we need to respect the people on this board who have a difference of opinion and maybe dive into that a little bit more instead of everyone pushing their own agenda let's push the agenda for our law enforcement thank you [Applause] ma'am make a motion to close public session second all in favor I [Music] I this is the third reading of ordinance 0624 entitled an ordinance of the township of Jackson County of usan state of New Jersey amending chapter three of the administrative code of the township of Jackson establishing the position of director of the Department of Public Safety I need a motion to adopt on third and final reading and advertise according to law motion second councilman belli I appreciate it hearing both sides of the issue of public safety director being um proposed I continue uh to stand by my no vote um on it I've expressed before that I wish we could table this ordinance that's obviously not happening to allow for more time for uh the leaders and officers in our Jackson Township Police Department to meet and discuss in house has out any disagreements and concerns that you have along with Township Administration and for all the better understand what the public safety director position would entail um I just feel that whatever differences you may have in your ranks in your Police Department should be handled from within your organization and not decide it at the governing body level I just don't see how creating another position in our town which could pay up to $200,000 a year with benefits with keeping the taxpaying residents in mind is going to solve the problems that are going on and I hope you can solve them for the public health and safety of our uh fellow residents and I stand by my voting record I've always voted for the resources that all of you officers need to do your jobs effectively and keep our town safe and secure 247 I will continue to do that and I want to thank you for your service and I'm sorry we have disagreements but you know sometimes that occurs with uh the human factor involved thank you thank you councilman Bernstein um when I took oath about three months ago um and then about six weeks after I was appointed as by most of my colleagues as the liaz onto the police department I jumped right into that position and I had opportunity to start speaking to members of our police force many members of our police force were hesitant to speak to me because I do have a relationship a personal relationship with Chief but my duty sitting on councils to go go above and beyond my personal relationships and to do what I consider to be the best and the interest of Jackson so after speaking to members of our local police Deport of our local police department of members of County Law Enforcement state law enforcement members of the state PBA and residents in Jackson who have a little bit more experience than myself former council members um many former council members um I am confident that my vote tonight will reflect all of their opinions and I am going to be voting yes councilman Chisum so again I will stand with what I spoke about last time for the simple reason that again there's so many questions that were brought up there of course when you ever you have any kind of disagreement there's your side there's my side and somewhere in the middle there's the truth now again in the last four years that I've sat here I have never once had an officer at any point whether at a public function Jackson day in private say that there was such dysfunction and or fail of leadership until about two weeks ago so if this was an ongoing problem and there's such an issue with the chief I don't see how heading another $200,000 salary is going to correct that because you're still going to have the chief in that position so that doesn't necessarily correct that it just adds a burden to the taxpayers having this problem between the two different factions inside is obviously not good for the town that's not going to get any better it's not going to change the culture and it's obviously at this point in time I mean you can see you know what's going on throughout the country right I mean our officers are Under Fire and you're saying how we can't find people and good quality people and I can tell you as a business owner it's not easy to fill any seats any job so finding somebody who wants to even be a police officer right now after the movement for the defund the police it's hard and I can't say as I blame them I mean a lot of moms wouldn't want their children to grow up and say hey why don't you go and put your life on the line so I mean I thank you for you guys doing it and stepping up but is a special breed of person that's going to do that so I understand the hiring issues as well and again you know why would we get sued um According to some of the research that I've done and people that have done this what happens is not necessar we're going to get sued now but when you hire somebody in any position I don't care if you're in the military the police in a in a I don't care McDonald's you can't take somebody that's two or three or four ranks below them and suddenly they're now your boss and leap frog you that just creates more culture problems and more tension and sooner or later somebody steps out of bounds does something they're not going to do and then it ends up with lawsuits we've already had conversation tonight about a settlement no personal issue there Mr counselor but you know I've had enough of lawyers and lawsuits in the last four years and I'd be quite frankly happy to not have any more under my term again I'm not saying we can't get there but if there is an actual problem somewhere along I don't think we've actually exhausted all Avenues and there probably should have been some kind of mediation so where that failure comes in is that in the police department is that in the union is that in the administration who should have sat down if there was really a problem for the last four years and like I said if there's suddenly this issue why did it only come up in three weeks ago nobody came to me until three weeks ago so if this was really such a crisis mode that it has to be done now that doesn't mean that my vote wouldn't change in two weeks or two months I just don't know that you throw the baby out with the bathwater to get to this position it's going to add other burdens and I see further stress as a student of History I can tell you when you repeat the mistakes of the past you are going to relive them we've already had this position in the past it didn't work we'll see where it goes again nothing personal but I think we probably have other avenues to exhaust before we got to this point so I'm gonna vote no for now thank you thank you Council vice president Sergeant so my version of the truth is certainly different than Mr barelli's and Mr chisums and I vote Yes [Applause] yes council president Keen tonight tonight's ordinance continues our commitment to fully support our local Jackson police officers Jackson law enforcement Community overwhelming supported to the establishment of a public safety director because they understand that this position will improve our police department and allow us to better serve the residents of Ja Jackson I'm proud that tonight's action was the result of a collaboration effort between Council mayor and administration and our local PBA and SOA I also want to applaud the dozens of individual officers who came out to make their our voice make their voices heard in support of this ordinance and thank the countless Moore who took the time to speak up personally I vote Yes this is a second reading of ordinance 0724 entitled an ordinance of the township of Jackson County of oan state of New Jersey amending chapter [Music] 412-638-2425 the public has any comments to make please address the council at the microphone and state your name and address clearly for the record you will have five minutes and may only speak once seeing no one come forward make a motion to close public session on this order somebody's coming from the back got someone coming hang [Music] on hello uh this is my first time at any one of these things I'm a little nervous uh my name is Karissa and I have I have to get my address I assume maam I'm sorry I couldn't hear your name maam Carissa Karissa yes thank you um I'm at 37 Birch Drive um I have been in contact with the township for a while now and at this point I'm just hoping that I can come to some sort of resolution um I purchased my home in September of 2021 and as many do uh I had my share of unforeseen expenses and repairs after purchasing and moving in I had to replace my furnace in AC which led to water damage and finish basement need to be I think you want public comment yes yes this is a public com this is only on this ordinance yeah about I'm sorry I was trying to I was trying to hear you I couldn't hear you when you come back just talk into here because I couldn't hear anything that you said but come back at the end okay all right thank you anyone else about this ordinance seeing no one come forward make a motion to close public session all in favor I I this is the third reading of ordinance 0724 entitled in Orin of the township of Jackson County of ocean state of New Jersey amending chapter yes and council president cun yes this is a second reading of ordinance 0824 entitled an ordinance of the township Council of the township of Jackson County of ocean state of New Jersey rezoning block 2141 lot 15 from R-3 to NC this ordinance was introduced on February 13th 2024 I need a motion to open the public hearing motion second all in favor I I if any member of public has any comments to make please address the council at the microphone and state your name and address clearly for the record you will have five minutes and may only speak once seeing no one come forward on this ordinance make a motion to close public session all in favor I I this is the third reading of ordinance 0824 entitled an ordinance of the Township Council of the township of Jackson County of ocean state of New Jersey rezoning block 21401 lot 15 from R-3 to NC I need a motion to adopt on third and final reading and advertise according to law motion second council member RI yes councilman Bernstein yes councilman Chisum yes Council vice president sergeant yes and council president cun yes this second reading of ordinance 0924 entitled ordinance of the township of Jackson County of ocean state of New Jersey amending chapter 245 entitled landlord registration and responsibilities of the Township Code this ordinance was introduced on February 13 2024 I need a motion to open the public hearing motion second all in favor I if any member of the public has any comments to make please address the council at the microphone and state your name and address clearly for the record you will have five minutes and may only speak once hi Kim R uh Jackson New Jersey um my question regarding this is who is following um what's going on with the rentals because I know for a fact I'm a realtor I know for fact there are are rentals that are out there that are not with the township that they're renting houses out and not going to the township with them there are violations on houses and they're still getting away with renting them so I want to know how this is going to work in order for them who is going to follow up with this ma'am have you called code enforcement to address those issues several people have yes okay so you they are aware of itware one of the houses was just rented again and I'm almost positively sure they do not have a landlord I did meet with code enforcement last week um to hear their concerns they actually um they actually said that they've never had a council person come in there and meet with them to discuss his words no council not real in time I'm talking about I know that there are people have that gone in and they went tot for violations and everything so now if it's in an LLC it's very hard for them to find they're they're we're working with them to see if we even have to amend this moving forward we're trying to do our best we're trying to get it so that it's easier so now a landlord has which is's over 4500 landlords in Jackson they have to register between January 1st and January 30th which makes it a lot easier for a landlord and plus we raise the F so it makes it a little better for the town um and then thereafter they can get a fine and we do have a structure for them but we are trying to following this now code enforcement that's I mean I do know that people have gone into the township and have made complaints on certain homes here and they're they rented the house how would they how were they able to rerent the house when they were do they have a renter SEO not that I know of if you want if you want to email the address I can check with code enforcement and get back to you all right thanks okay thank you m'am all right thank you anyone else seeing no one come forward want to make a motion to close public session on this ordinance in favor I roll call a third reading of ordinance 0924 entitled an ordinance of Township of Jackson County of ocean state of New Jersey amending chapter 245 in entitled landlord registration and responsibility of the Township Code I need a motion to adopt on third and final reading and an advertise according to law motion motion second roll call councilman burelli yes councilman Bernstein yes and again I want to thank my colleagues for working with our legal team and our clerk's office to get this ordinance ready thank you yes thank you councilman Chisum yes Council vice president Sergeant yes and council president cun yes this second reading of war in 10-24 entitled ordinance of the township of Jackson County of ocean state of New Jersey amending chapter 103 of the Township Code of the township of Jackson prohibiting parking stopping or standing within 50 ft of intersections at County roadways and regulate regulating and permitting permit parking only between 51 feet and 100 feet from said intersections this ordinance was introduced on February 13 2024 I need a motion to open the public hearing motion to open public hearing second all in favor I I if any member of the public has any comments to make please address the council at the microphone and state your name and address clearly for the record you will have five minutes and may only speak once Jennifer cusin La uh Jackson so my question regarding this ordinance is um I understand that it's mostly on County roads now the municipal roads are going to be the it's the municipal roads off the county roads off the county roads and that's going to be up to 100 feet that you can't park it's the parking permit is going to be 51 to 50 but it's going to be the first 50 fet on the right hand and the left side to allow um the only people that are going to be able to park on those roads is going to be buses so they could pick up kids and drop off kids okay so my question is um let's say a a long road like East Connecticut Concourse where there's currently an operating house of worship in the middle um are those patrons going to be able to park on the shoulder there if they don't live there are they going to need permits if it's within 100 feet of the intersection they need only a resident of who actually lives adjacent to that roadway can't park on the county road no matter who you are but are they going to have permits for that no not on the county roads only on the municipal roads and you have to live there so in that sence your house has to be either the first or the second house there's not going to be three houses so how are you going to regulate that you're going to have to supply where you live your address you're gonna have to fill out paperwork because for instance and I spoke with Morty about this um let's talk about 470 heisen Road apparently there's a uh Mikvah there I'm not aware of it Morty you're aware I'm gonna interrupt for a minute it doesn't matter what the use is so if you want to talk about the parking that's appropriate but to talk about the use Rel use because of we're a little sensitive to the stuff because of the lawsuits that have been filed and ASM indicated it doesn't matter what the use is this is a parking ordinance and that's all it is okay so it has this home the single family home has excessive parking by patrons who do not live in the home that is relevant Miss G is is the home within 100 feet of the street of the County Road of the County Road um well you said that it was no no I I didn't go out of measure you had mentioned that to me that it was within 100 feet it's 100 within 100 feet doesn't make a difference ordinance is passed then they it doesn't make a difference well the reason that I'm saying this is because law enforcement has been called out several times we had a snowstorm couple weeks ago and there was actually a hot Zola ambulance which happens to be a patron of the single family home parked in front of a fire hydrant and the decision was made not to give this person a ticket because it was at the discretion of the police officers that came out so you got to do it across the board I mean we can't pick and choose here who can and who can't park illegally in the town resp yeah I don't I I just want to say I don't disagree with you and this is a very passionate subject of mine so I'm not not disagreeing with you and I think that that's something if you would have emailed that to me I would have sent it to the Chief and asked that he discuss with the officers why they were not ticketed because I do agree with you if you're parked in front of a fire hent you should be uh receive a ticket right and I also want to know if [Music] um if that was a case and somebody did call or email you I want to know if that's considered spying I I would have to I'm asking talk about a parking ordinance right now I'm sorry we're talking about a parking great so if if can a resident feel comfortable enough to call if somebody is parking illegally in front of their home without it being considered spying within 50 feet of the intersection I get emails legitimately three times a week and I do forward them I for I just want people to feel comfortable to report something if I could just respond to you for a second every resident who has reached out to me with concerns I forward it usually to the office administration it's usually where it goes or if it goes to PD to PD and then it's out of our hands we're not an enforcement agency Council we're our legislative body but obviously we're out there and we're more than happy to forward the appropriate complaint if if you would like so when I reached out to you concerning pison did you forward that to anybody so you reached out to me through text message and not through but yes oh so it has to officially come down so one second so that was forwarded and I think the council president did mention that that would be a conversation she would want to have why that wasn't enforced that probably through in this form in this form of government it would be through the office of administration and um I'm sure our business administrator will be in touch with law enforcement to find out why that wasn't enforced so the people that live there and if there there are people legally parked in front of the house they should reach out to the business administrator no you send an yeah send an email to any of us you could send it to me you could send it to Morty and we'll forward it to the business administration and CC the chief and ask and traffic safety andc that we could hopefully address the issue thank you you're you're welcome ma'am have a great night once again Jim selecta actually she uh brought up an issue of a huta ambulance parking in front of a fire hyren I don't know if it's the same day that I'm looking at but this picture that I have was taken on Friday February 23rd in the 11 o'clock hour or so I would like to present it to each of you so you can see it if you want to give it to the clerk please thank you sir um but that's not my main reason for coming up here and talking I do want to talk about the ordinance and I've been back and forth on this ordinance because one of the things I do appreciate is hearing a lot about the safety of the citizens of its Township and as a proof of it once we come back to public comments you'll see me again because I'm going to ask this board to do something okay um but as in regards to this this ordinance I went back and forth because the state ordinance 39 already has in place that you cannot park within a 100 within 50 feet of a stop sign so most of these roads that we're talking about have a stop sign so it's already there so it's not a a need for an ordinance it's a need for enforcement now what I read and again if you remember I was here for the first time came up this has now changed a little bit and where I see the changes you've now included the opposite side of the road all the way to 100 feet when when the state ordinance only goes up to 25 feet it's always said both sides but yes well not the Way It Was Written the first time so okay thank you my question is you're limiting it to intersections where a Municipal Road intersects with a County Road why did you not go to the ex ENT of including all the roads in Jackson Township and the reason I asked that is Susan Drive intersects to uh heis Road you never have a parking issue there Neil Street intersects to Susan Drive if you get a chance go down Susan Drive and try and make a left-hand turn on to Neil Street any weekend you will see cars lined up on both sides it's a curve there too it's a blind curve at certain parts there have been times where I've gone down that road and there's a car coming the other way and we're basically we're currently looking into that your neighbor emailed me and I sent it to the chief in traffic safety as Wells Administration that's that's one of my problems but just to answer I am looking into the issues that I get emailed that's fine the second part and this is where I'm not sure that safety comes into play here is the 51 to 100 fet that is is permitting basically for the benefit of the homes the first and second homes I live in the third home I'm 160 feet from the from the intersection I get along great with my neighbors so it's not going to impact me one way or the other but I look at it this way is if the if my neighbor in the first house has decides to have their family over for a holiday dinner and there's excess cars they're more than free to park in front of my house because to me it's a public road the curb is open to whoever's there what you're doing with this is if I have a party and I have people want to park they cannot use the 51 to 100 and that to me just doesn't make sense why are we forcing I'm 60 feet away I can answer that so the um food for thought was then anybody could park there so we were trying to make make it so it was the people that lived in the first second and second home that were being impacted by this ordinance um because otherwise if we didn't put it adjacent to the property then the neighbor down the street could decide that they want to park their car in that spot and not but isn't that isn't that what the the public roads are for well we're trying is there anything is it is there any town that has permitted parking on public streets just for specific other than you may see a handicap Zone for someone that requires you know a space for a handicap individual in a home that I get makes sense but these are wide open roads and you know well we're trying to clean up in some of the neighborhoods it's really really over there's a lot of parking and every trust me I so we're doing every step and you had made a comment of um putting this throughout the whole town I would have a 20,000 people at that door if if I implemented that much that quick so we're trying to do it in phases and we did put out what you were talking about the title 39 we did put put out a flyer and yes you are right some of these things are already implemented but there we need to enforce them and we're trying and we also spoke about class I'm going to just answer you and then we'll end it um because I know you're coming back a couple of things that quick you know okay so what you were talking about with title 39 we are trying to enforce it and that's why at the last meeting you'll recall that I had spoken and said that we were looking to um possibly hire with administrations help class one so that we can have officers out there and you're basically going to create a parking we're we're trying to clean it up Sir a parking I don't know like like the big cities have a parking you know police like metates yeah but they're doing I mean have I and listen I get it because title 39 I've driven through my I I've gone out on a Saturday come through my development and I can tell you thank you I just want to be conscious there's a lot of people that want to talk and I don't I took a lot of your time there's been over 30 on one Saturday I counted over 37 violations of title 30 of section 39 so it's out there I get but we're not equipped with enough officers to implement this so that's the problem fine and so my point with this ordinance is if we're not equipped are we going to not be not equipped to to enforce this to so if I could just add one more point that this ordinance was in collaboration with the chief and members of the law enforcement and obviously we are hoping that our police department will enforce it and obviously like you said enforcement we're doing our job then the rest falls upon the PD the other the other quick comment I know I'm behind but I just want to kind of just some clean up on this it's a it's a it may be nitpicking but your the way your ordinance reads is from this the end of the intersection why don't you email me what you want me to look into and I'll send it to the intersection to 50 feet is no parking then you say from 51 to 100 so where is that yeah I 50 to 51 just I think that needs to be just cleaned up in sir in the ordinance and the other part of it also so email me email me I'll give you my card well the other part is you talk about from the inter your five minutes has been up two minutes ago so if you want to you know email the president you can but it's your time's up thank you I'll be back thank you look forward to it thank you sir seeing no one else come forward and make a motion to close public session on this ordinance second all in fav favor I this is the third reading of ordinance 10-24 entitled ordinance of the township of Jackson C County of ocean state of New Jersey amending chapter 103 of the Township Code of the township of Jackson prohibiting parking stopping or standing within 50 feet of the intersections at County roadways and regulating and permitting par permit parking only between 51 feet and 100 feet from the said intersections I need a motion to adopt on third and final reading and advertise according to law motion second councilman burelli yes councilman Bernstein yes councilman Chisum yes Council vice president Sergeant yes and council president cun yes ordinances first reading council president cun are there any comments regarding ordinance 11-24 yes thank you so this ordinance is uh state of New Jersey establishing title 316 the township um code entitled project labor agreement pretty much to sum it up instead of reading this it's anything any um the unions have been going to the county and asking that any projects that we support any projects over $5 million that we bring in uh unions so that's about sums it thank you ordinance 11-24 entitled ordinance of the township of Jackson County of ocean state of New Jersey establishing chapter 316 of the Township Code entitled project labor agreement I need a motion to approve ordinance 11-24 on first reading and to authorize the notice of approval and public hearing to be held on March 12th 2024 make a motion second councilman barley clerk Moss um I've researched project labor agreements La um from what I've read from what I've heard drives up the cost of public construction projects and at a time when Jackson pay Jackson residents are paying more for pretty much everything and um I think we have an obligation up here to try to limit the tax impact that can be passed on the residents as a result of public projects and their Town being steered to only labor unions nothing against labor unions but I think we should open up the competition to everybody including uh non-union private contractors which make up a bulk of uh new jerseyans including here in our town and in Ocean County Studies have shown plas go well and above uh and Beyond project costs drive up uh labor costs reduce competition and would negatively impact non-union I just said let's include everybody um regarding the bidding process when it comes to this so I vote no on ordinance 11-24 thank you councilman Bernstein yes councilman Chisum yes Council vice president Sergeant yes and council president cun yes we move on to bills and claims motion to approve or hold the bills and claims motion please motion oh second councilman barelli uh yes but I have to abstain and I will get that bill numbers uh d l01 e ye e01 NJ m06 NJ s04 and st28 and yes to the rest on the bills and pleas agenda thanks thank you councilman Bernstein yes councilman Chisum yes on V8 c44 yes thank you Council vice president Sergeant yes and council president cun abstained from rsco2 yes to the rest thank you council president if I may before the motion to approval consent agenda resolution r138 d24 had a typo that has been since corrected uh it will be corrected prior to the certification tomorrow yes thank you that was sent to the attorney literally I think a couple hours before this meeting so we do apologize for that thank you I need a motion to approve the list of resolutions under consent agenda motion second councilman burelli um actually have a question regarding one of resolutions I guess it would be opposed to the administration regarding I have to staying on it anyway uh would be the state health benefits plan and why are we removing Township employees from it thank you council president yes sir okay sure thank you sorry um the um one of the tremendous burdens on um employees and Jackson taxpayers and any municipality excuse me any municipality is cost of healthcare so from time to time working with the collective bargaining units and also you know administratively reviewing with uh our providers we examine and explore cost of Health Insurance Dental prescription things of that nature and to the extent that you uh find products or services that may be uh more uh beneficial to both the staff and also to the taxpayers um there's a process within which you consider changing so there has not been any final decision yet ad me administrator ly that's a partnership and communication with the uh uh mayor and the governing body and also with our our partners in uh in staff Union and non-union um the state health benefits requires you to give them a 60-day notice so we're providing them a 60-day notice and to the extent that there is a decision that may be made we have that notice on file so we may move and the um just as a sidebar to that uh there are additional discussions on going to ensure that uh chapter the 330 uh rules and regulations are followed so retirees are protected and we also have obligations within contractual uh uh with with our collective bargaining units to um provide certain levels of benefits that match equal to or substantially similar to or equal to depending on the language the benefits that they currently enjoy not just for themselves but for their families for their spouses and children so this is a procedural item that's required uh to be compliant with the State and um that's why that's uh presented on a public agenda for for for the employees as well we' filled a number of different questions uh good questions uh from the unions uh We've also had multiple meetings with the unions so they can share that data with their members this is part of that process in the event no decision is made that we would resend the resolution uh if we stay with the current plan I will tell you that the state health benefits plan is in effectively a death spiral where the towns that have good claims experience are leaving uh and you have a situation of adverse selection throughout the state where they are siphoning off the the reserves uh to prop up a burgeoning uh and problematic system so it's far far far better to make a collective smart decision now instead of going down with the death spiral that is the state health benefits plan and that's uh that's um if folks review that kind of thing and you look at claims if your claims are upside down and the healthy groups leave and the sick groups stay that plan will fail and it will go under so the uh this resolution represents considering making smart moves to protect the Jackson taxpayers and also our uh valuable staff and the the units and the collective bargaining units that represent them as well both Union and non-union do you have any other questions no all right thanks thank you sir councilman barelli are you abstaining from r138 d24 and yes to the rest thank you oh wait I'm sorry no no I'm I'm voting no on r133 d24 and r139 d24 on the resolution agenda yes to the rest on there thank you just to clarify the no is r132 and r13 13324 and 39-24 thank you yes to the rest thank you councilman Bernstein yes to all councilman Chisum yes Council vice president sergeant um president if I could ask if you don't mind I'm gonna ask absolutely no go um Miss Moss uh I just have a question regarding r140 d24 it's there's I don't have a date on here at all or day is there a reason for that what I'm sorry I don't understand the question the date of R 140 we have certified that yet it would be today's day in the event on the resolution in the event that Council voted down the resolution that would not go through and there that's why it's a blank okay okay uh yes Tom all thank you council president cun yes we move on to public comments on any topic um at this time if any member of the public has any comments to make please address council at the microphone and state your name and address CL clearly for the record you will have five minutes and may only speak once and five minutes is a real five minutes five minutes is Peter K coolest nine cranberry Harvest Court Jackson New Jersey so getting back to the topic of the public safety um my I was trying to show you credibility on my behalf and I didn't want to waste the time so I wanted to give it to at this moment is that my credibility to the people in blue and that wear this badge in man alipin Police Department I etched their badge into their floor to show the police department on the gratitude that I have donated by my company interface tile but now I want to look at the council and tell you a few things that I heard last week normally I don't do that but when somebody stops me from something I feel compelled so starting from the beginning here last two weeks ago we he talking about the public safety and about spending the $200,000 and this gentleman here says that we should get better Math teachers but in my mind I say get rid of the Math teachers I mean keep the Math teachers get rid of the history teachers because there was a retired officer that came up to this Podium 30 years lives in Jackson he didn't even get two minutes to speak about the past now the last time I looked in government we look at past to create and correct the future we don't worry about money because without history you ain't gonna have any money anyway so that was one then the second person had said that he was sick and that he reflected for couple of days maybe 10 days about his throat but he wanted to mention to everybody in the council or to the public that he wasn't cohorted he wasn't cohorted he's making this decision based on his own so I said to myself why bring that up we don't bring things like that in in Council right so then we go down the line and somebody asked this gentleman here uh Mr Burns I don't have my glasses said he only had an opportunity to speak to half of the police department now last time I looked there's 12 jurors if you only speak to six that means it's a cohorted problem in the court right so you speak to all of them right you made a statement that then we go into the middle here and we said you stopped that police officer from speaking right he wanted to speak about the public safety and give you his opinion and mind you the First Amendment right if you read it well and we're going to go to the attorney next is the best attorneys in the world they feed on what you say and they capitalize on your testimony and proving that maybe some credibility is not right then we move on to this gentleman that said listen it's on the table and you know he wants to review it and he wants to see how it plays out he's saying that you know the blue he rep you know he honestly says that I have nothing against the blue then we have somebody that says well with all due respect I don't know if you're supporting the blue because you're not going with what is proposed here my proposal and what I stood up here was wasn't against the right party or the left party it was right smack in the middle right staring right at the President right and it it it said hey be fair to everybody and there is discretion in this world you're right the guy that pays more sits at the front row of the Super Bowl you're 100% right and I'm sorry that it's that way but he earned that just like some of these officers earned their ability to be able to stand up on these podiums so I'm not discrediting these officers they have the right to use their discretion and represent Jackson and represent all of us but at this end of the day let's be fair to everybody take the beam out of your own eye before you take it out of somebody else's eye one time a person said pulled me over says sir you were speeding and I asked him did you ever speed said no I said well this is my first time speeding then right I speed you know it happens sometimes you make a mistake it's you know and we use discretion because that's who we are we're human beings and if you do good I did a lot of good I don't want anything extra like I told you I declined Channel 5 News was doing a documentary on health reform and how people do not have insurance and this woman would have died with without me but here's the thing if you don't say something then nothing will ever be changed so whoever is behind all this and has a problem with left or right work it out work the problem out and I will tell you this if I can't speak I do have the right to publicize anything in the newspaper and pay for it and I'm not going to say I have a lot of money but I'm able to pay for it I just say let's be fair to everybody thank you thank you thank you again I picked the wrong person to follow but I just want to say I watched the last meeting two weeks ago online and things have been sitting I'm sorry what was your name again oh I'm sorry Deb Jones heison Road thank you this year it started with a quote that says in 2024 this board is committed to preserving more open space maintaining Jackson's unique character optimizing the use of your tax dollars to enhance services without significantly increasing the budget now here we are in February with so many things adding to our budget and I'm sorry I do not mean this disrespectfully to any of you but in 2023 council president made 9,668 the council members made $866 now you're looking for council president for 35,000 and council members 32,000 that's a 362 per raise on the president that is a 369 per raise on the council members so I do have some questions about that what changed in the job of the council president that now warrants a $3,000 increase over the member that last council president that was making a thousand dollars more and what are the minimum amount of hours that you need to work to make these salaries because there's a lot of hardworking people in this town that are barely making this or maybe a little bit over and they're working fulltime jobs 40 hours a week doing things that they might not want to do but they have to do to support their families and part of that is paying their taxes to support this town that's sad and then we're all getting reassessed whether they're going up staying the same whatever we're all facing that our taxes are being reassessed that's sad also we've elected you guys into public office your professional life is not the only aspect get that gets viewed by the public whether right or wrong your private lives are also on display and sometimes can look like an inappropriate conflict of Interest as we all know our actions speak louder than our words which brings me to my last point for tonight it was extremely disrespectful to watch the embarrassing Behavior coming from public officials at the last meeting when some council members were explaining their reasons for voting the way they decided whether we agree with it or not they have the right to vote that way and they were chastised by another member publicly I would hope moving forward that our Council would show a bit more decorum and respect for each other and the residents of Jackson some of the issues that were talked about and should have been talked about were when you guys were behind closed doors and everyone could have been brought up on the same page nobody should be learning about something after their workday has been done I I just I don't understand I don't understand all the dirty laundry that's being aired over and over and over again and it's very sad but when I see the behaviors like this it really makes me question if our beloved town is really in the hands of the right leadership and that's very sad to me thank you ma' thank [Applause] you hi again hello um so again my name is Carissa from 37 Birch Drive um so I kind of just wanted to bring this to public at this point just to see what we can come to a resolution um I purchased my home here in Jackson first-time homeowner and it is nothing what I foresee it was going to be um I purchased it in September of 2021 and as many do I had my share of unforeseen expenses and repairs after purchasing and moving in I had to replace my furnace and AC which led to water damage and my finished basement needing to be pulled apart I had to handle them along along with uh adding a French drain system as well I blessed with amazing neighbors and we stay in touch and do our best to help each other and we have each other's backs I was able to get in touch with not my sellers but the owners prior to and he showed me the outdoor drains he set up being a former contractor himself and showed me where they were and we found that it was clogged with roots the size of a full- grown snake I have pictures later I came to find out that they were actually bamboo Roots um after the indoor mess I had to handle I turned my attention to the outdoors I had a dead tree in my backyard that needed to be removed for fear it would fall on my home I had to pay a the township for a permit for for this to be removed and an additional $2,000 for the tree company to remove it I was told upon buying this home for my inspector there's bamboo behind my property it was very clear and you can visually see it behind my property and I saw it but was not informed by the inspector or my sellers the extent of the situation I now face as I was directing my attention outdoors in April of 2023 at this point I had bamboo companies come out to see about getting a barrier installed to keep that Bamboo Grove at Bay to which I was informed it would do no good as my entire property is infested with the roots of bamboo already he showed me what I thought was Weeds originally and to my amazement these roots went all the way to the front of my property under the city sidewalks into the curb I explained to him the tree that tree I had ever moved and he said he wasn't surprised because the roots suffocate anything in its past this didn't sit well with me having to have just paid $2,000 plus a permit to remove a dead tree that was potentially avoidable he also stated a barrier had to be installed in a U-shaped form around the whole property and the and to the curb needing to be 3 in above the ground to me this is a potential safety hazard for anyone walking the sidewalks children's pets Etc once I came to the understanding of my situation I contacted the township to see what I can do to get this sorted and see who owns that property they said it was the school cam joy and it was finally hashed out and determined it's actually the Township's property from Jackson I have since gone back and forth with the township trying to come to a common ground and resolution I will say there's a huge shout out to Andrew Cheney he has been nothing short of amazing incredible helpful and caring and guided me to where I needed to be instead of brushing me off and saying it's not his Department I was supposed to be working with an Andrew Thomas who claimed to be working on this and since left the position and no one took over his responsibilities or followed up with me I had forwarded estimates and stressed the severity of this issue and my concern for the gas line in the middle of my yard my home's foundation and city sidewalks pipes gas water Etc just to add here these pipes and and Street were recently replaced by the township why let these roots affect and Destroy pipes the township just spent money on replacing I then told uh was then told Andrew balinsky will be helping me yet he hardly ever got back to me and he I will say he did get some movement with this after hearing from me many times on October 31st I saw and heard machines going behind my property I immediately called the township and spoke with Andrew binsky asking if he determined a full plan of action he said they're just doing going to have the township workers cut it down I was floored as I had in-depth explained this has to be fully excavated with all the roots at the same time Township property and my property I sent an email to Michael Raina and Thomas wall that same day in hopes to get some real traction I have been communicating with Mr wall since and we have been going back and forth on how to handle this situation November 17th I was told legal would be getting involved to get a document written up to allow access onto my property from the township to remove these roots I spoke with Mr wall and we came to an agreement I would like the bamboo removed from the township property my property my neighbor's property and the city sidewalks as this all has to be done at once this is a very hostile and aggressive plant it will grow through anything its nickname is bamboo Runner due to its fast nature and growth spring time is its prime time to come alive the bamboo has been removed and cut down by the township um I believe it was beginning of February I was informed it will just be cut and sprayed I voiced my concerns that this will not resolve the matter and leaving things as they are were only cause further harm to my property my last conversations with Mr wall left off that he will contact the bamboo professionals and hear for himself the hazards of leaving these roots I also have since followed up on the legal documentation to get on my property to remove the roots and was told the township does not work on private property just to give perspective here if a branch fell from my property onto my neighbor's shed for example I would be liable for damages to me it's clear the township is responsible and liable to rectify the manner to develop can I continue I'm almost done I'm going to give you my card and then what I'll do is I'll email you and talk to you and then we'll we'll talk to administration because it sounds like there's a lot in that that email and I want to just get CAU up to speed because I don't think any of the council members are are on on any of that okay would that is that okay yeah so you'll give me your I'm gonna as soon as I'm done just wait for me and I'll give you my card okay thank you thank you ma'am back for a third time this time I'm here to ask the council to do something and I'm not sure where again it's Jim Sakia and I you live in Jackson um I've been attending because I am now semi-retired I've had more time to see what's going on in the town with the various boards that are here so I've been attending planning board meetings zoning board meetings and if I'm not there I usually watch the video um I at yesterday's planning board meeting the issues that's being discussed made me think about what I'm going to ask for now and basically what was on the agenda for the planning board meeting was for four private schools on Chandler Road um and I don't have an issue with schools what I had what I saw was there's one Road in and out to get to these four schools and I think that is a bad precedent to set in this town to have just one way in and out of a school that houses 2 thou 2600 children 255 uh staff Mr wall was there he kind of he he raised his concerns and he he brought up the fact of you know the the old active shooter you know having one road out is that the safest measure what I would like to see and I don't know if it's the council that does it if it's the mayor but I would like to see this town for all new development whether it's residential whether it's a school whether it's warehouses are required to have multiple entrances and exits that are separated on the property not because what was in what was brought out yesterday is well there's there's a road in and out so we covered we're covered by the state guidelines that allows us that we can get traffic in and out problem with that is if someone is crazy enough that they destroy that entire road now you have no way out and those children if they're in the schools they're stuck so what I would like to see is going forward that we require the develop the the developer to understand that they must have two entrances and two exits out of all of their locations plain and simple it's not against anybody it's not you know it's to me it's all about the safety of whatever is going in there if it's a residential community and I will tell you we have a and one I will describe the one one that I know of in Jackson Township where we have a residential Community Crystal Brook right on Bennett Mills Road behind the stoping shop it is a one Road exit on April 7th of 2023 there was a significant structure fire in that that residence in that development the seven fire companies that we now have to have because again we're losing firemen left and right um take up all of the roads the between the the seven fire departments the police that all responded the first aid the road was blocked so anybody that was in that development could knock it out until the fire situation was cleared and that's just crazy there's got to be ways every you look around my development we have three different roads that get in and out so you block one we got two others you look at some of our you look at the shop right shopping center you can get out on the County Line Road in two different spots you can get out on the side road I can never remember the Side Road names Stop and Shop you can get out onto Bennett Mills you can get out onto County L we just it just to me makes so much sense to require these guys to have two entrances and exits separate same thing with a warehouse if if they have a a 200 foot wide Frontage that they're using there's no reason they can't put an entrance on one end and and you know an entrance on the other end this this way if there's an accident in one spot you can always get out the other and that's all I would love to see that this board would consider I don't know where it goes I don't know who's responsible for it I'll leave that to you guys to make the decision but I would love to see in the act of safety for the citizens as I said you you seem to be you know providing safety requirements in your whole tenure that so far this year so I hope that this Garners your attention and you look at it thank you sir thank you have a great night I know I already spoke at length here before but I was compelled to come back up after I heard the comments public comment you're good about the uh salary increases for Council persons and I wanted to say regardless of whether you agree with our position or disagree you deserve every penny of it I would like to note that the poverty rate for 2023 for a family of four is $41,500 the average council person salary range in the state of New Jersey is 32,1 19 up to $ 54,7 58 so as far as I'm concerned you are all underpaid for what you do whether you agree with me or not lastly I would like to say one last thing about the public safety director position and the salary as far as that's concerned because I do appreciate that it is a concern for the residents of the township I stand by my previous statements two weeks ago where we suggest that someone from inside the agency we have a tremendous talent pool who meets the criteria uh would reduce the cost from 200,000 to 29,500 and at this time the unions are not seeking an additional hire to replace the replacement so to speak at this point we would just be happy to get the hires that we're supposed to get not asking for an additional so thank you again for your time and thank you again for your consideration I have a question real quick you said not at this time that you're looking for replacement that's correct but in the future you may be looking for a replacement no not for that position thank you thank you sir have a good night good evening Council I'd like to just address a few your name I'm sorry uh Donnie Adelman Willow Point Drive Jackson thank you um I just want to address a few things and maybe we can go through it afterwards uh the dog park I we spoke a few weeks ago a couple sessions ago about the water problem about the flooding I they did make some improvements but we need some long-term uh improvements namely drainage at the gate and possibly a second set of gates I spoke to the public works people and they said what they've been doing is they've been collecting scrap pieces of gate material so that this way they can maybe build a second entrance on both sides I humbly ask that maybe the town appropriate 101 15,000 what ever it may take to fix the issue with the drainage and put in a second set of gates for both sides of the park number two mayor Raina um as resident he's my mayor I didn't vote for him but well enough people did so he wins I've been trying to get help from this man for eight years I've called him I've went to his office I've knocked on the door of his home he has not responded to me at this point what could be done to either fire the man recall the man vote him out of office short of voting him out of office I from what I heard on all different matters on all different issues in this town quite a few people have an issue with our mayor because he is not doing our job he has completely ignored me for years and when I sat there with you at Jackson day he told me to leave you alone so what could be done to recall this man and get a mayor in there that actually cares to do his job for all the residents of Jackson um next is recouping the money from the lawsuits apparently based upon a Convent excuse me a comment I heard while I was on my way over here um certain people haven't learned I am in the process of securing the all the paperwork for the lawsuit under Oprah and I know really what it comes down to there's a list of probably about 20 to 30 people that insinuated most of these problems some of which are in this room tonight tonight just like anyone else how about we enact a you break it you bought it policy because the residents of the town the 50,000 of us don't want to pay for their mistakes and more importantly maybe if these people are learn that if they say certain things do certain things and act certain ways and are penalized for it that maybe the behavior will stop and we won't have to hear about mvas while talking about parking next I'd like to ask if we could possibly look into on top of the civilian Chief or whatever it is that we're calling him a civilian oversight panel when it comes to Internal Affairs issues um based upon uh statistics I was able to recoup either everyone that lies everyone that has a problem which Jackson Township either lies about their problem or the various Internal Affairs officers over the years have done what basically what everyone thinks that they're doing is just there there as a mechanism to to alleviate any problems the officers may have and let's not wait till we have a Rodney King or or a George Floyd type issue before we check our officers with the looking into the paperwork for the lawsuit and other things um there's a great concern about what Oprah is in this town and what opr is for the state of New Jersey basically anything that is a public record is accessible to the public as simple as that if you want to uh eat your emails people public workers cell phones that they've take pictures on no matter what it is there should be open access number one and when we don't have open access that the mechanisms in place for penalizing the people that have have purposely destroyed documents that have erased photos and so forth we can't have the clerk's office say well we don't know what to do we're not going to do anything about it so you know because we don't know what to do and then the last thing is possibly looking into the town of having a disability coordinator disability department um possibly working in with the senior Department there's some basic services that as a disabled person could be beneficial to the residents um I think that there is a lot of problems in the town and there's just a lot of management on any large town that you know that we live in but having access to somebody who specialize and saying okay for the disabled residents of this town this is what we could do to make it better I think that would be a great idea that's it thank you sir you're welcome have a great night you too be safe seeing no one else come for make a motion to close public session second all in favor I to close second all in favor I have a good night everyone you're dying I'm Dy --------- [Applause] first come up and uh assist me in handing these out because you're going to be better with the names than I'll ever be names [Applause] allora Valerie [Applause] valer Val Haley Haley first [Applause] Kaye Cadence [Applause] [Applause] Gabby [Applause] Bella [Applause] Gigi Ava Clark cam [Applause] Elizabeth Scarlet Jenny [Applause] Ally Liliana Michaela Skyler Julia [Applause] Leila [Applause] Violet Juliana Ava Letterman [Applause] Reagan Kira [Applause] Grayson Ava [Applause] Kendall the rest is for you congratulations we're all very proud of you here in Jackson Town church this is this is the part where the parents come up and allow to take pictures of the girls where they are so you can stand up and take all the pictures you want right now yeah the next group will be the D12 cheer team D12 D12 [Applause] I like you Alana not as CL as the little on no [Applause] kinlin [Applause] Kalia [Applause] Danica [Applause] Audriana Ella Aubrey [Applause] Harvey [Applause] Val Aubrey Kelly [Applause] Gabriella [Applause] Elizabeth [Applause] Cadence [Applause] Olivia [Applause] Jenna jayani and [Applause] Julia [Applause] to all the coaches once again ladies and gentlemen girls we're so very proud of you thank you for bringing it home to [Applause] Jackson Julia put [Applause] way we're going to take a three minute break just to allow for the room to get cleared congratulations you're welcome congratulations [Applause] girls oh that's it what's up kid what brings you here very nice very nice I'm good I'm good I know guiz arm that's good yeah yeah oh my God how are you sure am I yeah maybe maybe okay well I know because you SED here all in your head that raspiness too you Havey okay ladies and gentlemen if you could sit down we're going to start hello we're going to start the meeting council president would you like me to resume yes Madam clerk please are you good thank you we will continue with opening comments from Township Council council president cun thank you clerk good evening residents of Jackson thank you for coming out tonight I would like to take the opportunity to recognize Mr Mayor a teacher of Crawford Elementary School for his outstanding work I had the privilege of attending his Presidential Ball which he has been organizing with the third graders for over 20 years it was a fantastic event and I am already looking forward to attending next year Mr and maray are also host another event around Thanksgiving Mar thank you thank you I appreciate that um where he invites all the students from past classes it truly is amazing what he does and he deserves our appreciation for his dedication to education I also wanted to update you on the mayor's veterans commission last week I attended the race for life at the Knights of Columbus and we are considering co-hosting a veterans appreciation event there in August we believ it will be a great opportunity to show our support for our veterans I will keep you informed about any further details regarding this event regarding the Roa Farms project we are making progress we recently had a meeting with the engineer firm and they have completed the wetlands delineation the committee has expressed their vision for the project to the engineer but we understand that it is still in the early phases we have submitted the project to the D to see if there is any additional space we can utilize beyond the wetlands buffer we are hoping to receive response by our next month's meeting Madam clerk I would like to discuss the process for preparing for Council Gena at the coun um as the council president I believe it is important to provide the president of Jackson with Insight onto how the agenda process will be moving forward we have set a deadline of 12:00 p.m. on Wednesday prior to the meetings for all department heads to to submit the requests to be included on the agenda once the requests are submitted I would like to review them before they are placed on the agenda this will allow me to ask any necessary questions to the department heads Administration or our attorney after I have re reviewed the request I will request you Madame Clerk send them to the fellow council members for their review by the end of the day on Thursday I would like each uh email to council members to include the following message councilman the following is Tuesday's agenda please review and contact me with any questions do not reply all if I do not hear from you I will assume you have no questions and Madam clerk will post the agenda to the public by 4M on Friday I would like to receive a confirmation email from each council member prior to the agenda being posted to the public this this final confirmation will allow me to address any changes and concerns that the council might have we aim to have the agenda posted to the public no later than 4 p.m. in regards to the ordinance we will continue in regards to ordinance we will continue the current uh process once I receive a new ordinance that is going to be introduced I will ask Madame clerk to circulate it to the council members for their consideration and review I will also provide a brief summary of the ordinance and ask the council members to contact me individually to discuss any objections or concerns if I do not hear from them I will assume there is no objections or concerns thank you for your attention I appreciate your cooperation in ensuring an effective and transparent uh agenda process thank you thank you Council vice president Sergeant good evening um Mr I have a question regarding that um the ordinance or the uh the piece where you said that you want everybody to notify you by Wednesday um do you feel like that's enough time for you I I know in the past it's been Thursday or Friday but even Wednesday is cutting it kind of short considering Saturday and Sunday are our days off 100% I agree ordinances are usually introduced to council at least a minimum of 5 to seven days prior to that's more in regards to resolutions or any concerns that they have once they receive their agenda before it goes to the public um if there's anything that they have a question for be able to answer that thank you very much that's it for me thank you councilman burelli uh thank you clerk Moss uh first congratulations to the Jackson youth football and cheer teams uh continue making your family school in our town proud um also just an FYI for everybody in the residents of our town the Jackson branch of the Ocean County library located in our Town's Justice complex will be closed beginning on Monday next Monday March 4th and reopen on or about Monday uh March 18th according to the Ocean County Library System uh reason being why they're closing is they're installing new carpet in our Town's Library during the time they're closed you may return borrowed items to on-site dropboxes or to any Ocean County Library branch also items awaiting pickup at the Jackson Branch uh will be transferred as of March 4th uh to Manchester's library on 21 Colonial Drive their phone number if you need to contact them regarding that is 732 6577 600 or at any Ocean County Branch that that Patron wishes to request prior to Jackson's Library closing uh during the closing the phone number to the Jackson library of course will be unavailable so you can call the library's main number if you have to at 732 349 6200 or you can visit their website at www.the oceancounty library.org also um in closing actually uh at the very last council meeting I said and with the advice and consent of the council president I was planning on introducing a res resolution in support of assembly Bill uh 3589 which former colleague and former Jackson Township Council and assemblyman Alex siwicki is sponsoring that we require the state of New Jersey to pay the salary of State monitors uh assigned to school districts not the local school districts would have the burden I notice a resolution in support of this assembly bill which would help uh take the burden off Jacks and taxpayers imposed by the state and help our town School District with their budget WS was not included on tonight's agenda I hope Council president would consider placing the resolution on the next meeting's agenda in March thank you thank you councilman Bernstein thank you madam clerk um a couple of quick things um I had opportunity and also joining with council president cun and with councilman um Chisum obviously separately um at The overa Farms committee meeting yesterday and as the council president said the committee is moving forward we have um we finally have our Wetlands delineation properly filed with the state and we are looking forward to hopefully over the next month or two months um moving that process in a way forward that hopefully the dream we could actually see a shovel on the ground this year um additionally um I had opportunity as leaz on to the board ofed to show to going into the Board of Ed meeting um I'm extremely impressed with the hard work that the Board of Ed does as um my colleague um just mentioned I also would support um a resolution in support of of assemblyman sui's bill I actually discussed it with assembly minui by a county event last week we're looking forward to our attorney properly drafting such a resolution and hopefully being on our next meeting's agenda the Board of Ed passed such a resolution and it's something that I think this entire Council would would very much support um I also just want to really thank the board of ed for going out of their way to ensure the safety and the well-being of all of our residents in town um they recently went into contract with the lsta which is um a regional state approved um his storium that will hopefully ensure that a more of our children get properly busted to school but also equally important ensuring that our um our town has one address to speak to when there are issues snow snow snow issues Road issues and we can ensure that hopefully the safety of all of our residents in Jackson um additionally I also had the opportunity to speak to the county um librarian um multiple residents reached out about the possibility of the Jackson Library being open now on Sunday to accom to to accomodate more readers the county is looking into Opening Our Jackson Library I guess after the renovations are done for a couple hours on Sunday afternoon Tom's River Library is open on Sunday and I think Manchester library is considering it and so is lakewood's Library so I think that will ensure that more children and more people are um have access to that wonderful resource which we have here in Jackson um additionally we are um just really the piggyback off of our last meeting when we talked about the um the landlord registration after doing some math that the clerk's office provided um I'm happy to announce that um this ordinance will will generate over another 120,000 115,000 I think exact 112 $112,500 of extra revenue for the town um so we are looking at various ordinances that currently exist on our books to making sure that the fees are up to date with the 2024 standards um some of them do need tweaking if anyone notices any fees that they thinks should be updated please c um feel free to contact any of your council members we are also looking at some of the no knock ordinance and seeing what we could do to fix that um um I also just want to mention that um we really um do appreciate everyone coming out to our meetings and um I'm excited to see some new faces have a good night thank you councilman Chisum good evening thank you so congratulations to our cheer teams it's fantastic to see the uh hard work that's really paid off for them they really make Jackson proud it's a rich tradition we've had here with all of our sports teams for the last several decades whether it's as south or B South Champs or state champs national champs so we've got a really rich sporting Heritage here in Jackson and it's good to see the youth keeping that up um as usual however I would like to bring your attention to the people in Trenton you may have heard there is a Senate Bill 1970 the age of consent bill it's called so they are looking to lower the age of consent for your children without your permission that they can make their own decisions without consulting a parent for mental health medical health physical decisions sexual everything except for sexual assault drugs alcohol I don't know about you but I don't know how many 13y olds are able to make those decisions on their own a lot of teenagers you can't get to make up their own room or decide when it's the right time to eat a proper food or to I don't don't jez just make a list right I mean just driving decisions you've all seen it you've all been a teenager yourself quite frankly I don't know that our legislators are quite mature enough to make these decisions for our children themselves maybe we should legislate them with that I have nothing further so thank you thank you Mayor Michael Reno thank you good evening ladies and gentlemen just uh it wasn't mentioned tonight normally normally we do I thought the coaches would and if it was I'll count that to my bad hearing but the young ladies that were here tonight d8 and D12 are the large well the the d8 or large level two Jersey Shore Big East Regional and most importantly ayc national champions the Jackson Jaguars D12 large level three Jersey Shore Big East Regional and most importantly are also ayc national champions so I said it before and it Bears mentioning again the amount of time that these young ladies and their coaches the parents put into to this and we reap the rewards of Jackson being uh national champions again so I know they're all gone but I want to wish them a congratulations uh as as you look along the room tonight we have an opportunity to thank Jackson Police Department's finest we have right here men and women uh you all do a job we know what you do we appreciate it you never told that enough instead you're told all the things you don't do so I'm here to tell you on behalf of Jackson Township and I know I mean this when we say we have your back we have your back all your backs this is not New York City this is not Philadelphia and yes some knock in these towns this is not Chicago we stand behind and with you and we will defend you at all costs because you take care of our families so thank you all very much I think more now than ever it's important for each and every one in this room whether you're law enforcement or not to be vigilant whether it's your cars parked outside you even go into the grocery store as recently as this past week we had a woman in Tom's River going to a car kidnapped this is not good times we're in open borders makes all of our towns unsafe so please be vigilant and stand behind our blue thank you all get home safe have a great [Applause] evening thank you ordinance consideration ordinance public hearing and final consideration this is the second reading of ordinance 0624 entitled in ordinance of the township of Jackson County of ocean state of New Jersey amending chapter 3 of the administrative code of the township of Jackson establishing the position of director of the Department of Public Safety this ordinance was introduced on February 13th 2024 I need a motion to open the public hearing motion second second all in favor I I if any member of the public has any comments to make please address the council at the microphone and state your name and address clearly for the record you will have five minutes and may only speak once Sergeant John Rodriguez SOA president we'd like to take this opportunity to once again thank the council members who have voted in favor of this ordinance the support of Mayor Raina and his administration and the unwavering commitment of the men and women of our Collective unions towards the future of our agency since we last spoke at this Podium two weeks have passed and while we're not surprised by this precious little has been done in the interim there has been no movement on hiring despite the needs of the agency it should be noted the chief has allowed Ocean County Police Academy class number 118 commencing May 3rd to fill to capacity with our agency having no persons attending the next Academy class begins September 6th and for the benefit of those unfamiliar with with the hiring process the work needs to start within the next calendar month there is a certification process through civil service for those applicants and that takes several weeks we conduct a pre-employment physical assessment that needs to be organized and administered applicants need to be given additional time to complete and submit the nearly 50-page application and after reviewing the returned applications they are assigned to a background investigator from the detective Bureau who also maintains an active case load while simultaneously completing comp in the background function having been in this position a minimum of four weeks but prably six is required to complete a thorough background then after the investigator submissions are reviewed an interview panel must be convened after which candidates are selected these candidates must then be scheduled for psychological and physical examinations and after all that they spend two weeks inside the agency completing mandated pre-academy training only after all that are they ready to attend the six-month Police Academy upon completion they must complete an additional 3 months of field training post Academy before being considered Manpower for Staffing purposes this brings the total time frame to approximately one year from the initiation of the hiring process and we cannot afford to wait any longer before the chief speaks and makes statements about Civil Service difficulties in closing our list and disqualifying applicants again I would like to reiterate that this is not the only means of hiring and any suggestion by the chief otherwise is untruthful at best as he sign simultaneously used exceptions to the Civil Service list to hire last summer while simultaneously hiring off the Civil Service list and sending both types of candidates to the academy at the same time when the chief last spoke he remarked on a recruitment unit that it has been going out soliciting for potential AC accur excuse me applicants this is again disingenuous the recruitment unit consists of one individual who has only recently been assigned to this function as a side duty to his position with no budget literature or even applications to hand out they through no fault of their own have been sent to only one single event without the benefit of supporting materials and they went to a high school event speaking to children who are too young to even apply to the police officer position the chief's recruitment efforts have yielded exactly zero applicants for employment and are wholly insufficient and I can't overstress the importance of seeking out the best future police officers possible furthermore I reject the chief's assertion that there are no good applicants on the Civil Service list I refuse to accept that as a society we do not have Brave kind-hearted intelligent and dedicated individuals seeking the position of police officer dig deeper certify more persons on the list and utilize all internal and external means in a fair objective manner to find quality applicants this brings me to the next major item that didn't happen in the last two weeks promotions we currently have the promotion list certified and as of this moment the chief has yet to request any promotions from the township to provide an example of how this affects the agency and by extension the taxpayers of Jackson Township since I last spoke at this Podium there have been 14 instances of Patrol supervisory overtime for a total of 77.5 man hours at a cost of just under $110,000 to the township this is only the last two weeks and only Patrol sergeants yet the chief still has not sought to promote additional sergeants despite having open vacancies and unfilled spots this is inefficient at best and disrespectful to the taxpayers of Jackson Township I'd like to take a moment to address councilman barelli and Chisum following your no vote on this ordinance we're requesting the membership remain in the room for the duration of this meeting so they can hear your justifications for your positions after having heard our factual basis for supporting this ordinance it is worth noting that neither I nor president hemba have heard from either of you in the last two weeks while you were attempting to do your due diligence nor have I ever heard from you councilman berelli during your tenure as a liaison to the police department if you maintain your no vote at least have the decency to skip the part where you tell us how much you appreciate us and support us officer I did reach out to you you never re called me back when was that sir a few weeks ago before the first meeting the first reading on this when you had the prepared comments from the chief that you admitted that you I prepare my own comments sir you spoke with President hemba you spoke with President hemba so you spoke with one of us yes but I did reach out to you to speak with you as well okay let's keep it okay we'll we'll move on the only thing last thing I'll ask is can the council speak on the breaking news that I was just made aware of of a $1.2 million settlement for a wrongful death suit uh your 's up but I will ask the attorney please address that last comment I'll respect the time thank you thank you sir [Applause] the township uh recently through its insurance company settled a civil lawsuit during a trial uh for a settlement amount of $1.2 million there was a death involved uh as a result of a police chase um and the allegations of the complaint um included um essentially um and these were the allegations negligent hiring negligent retention negligence supervision and failure to properly follow the internal affairs guidelines within the department and the case settled for $1.2 million in the middle of the trial and can you just elaborate why we settled well it's a decision of the insurance company um based upon the testimony that was presented presented um for the beginning part of the trial and whose testimony among others the Chiefs thank you are we ready yes ma'am Elanor Hanam Jackson New Jersey um I'm here to talk about this ordinance quite frankly I see this as a complete political agenda there is it's no secret that mayor Raina here has had his own personal agenda his angst towards the chief for the past six years M mainly because it revolves around the fact that the chief refused to make something go away when his son uh had a situation with law enforcement but my other really big concern my son-in-law who is law enforcement who is a lieutenant and the Sharpshooter and on SWAT off the mainline for Philadelphia I discussed with him something that I had seen the fact that officers are pictured or used for propaganda P purposes to promote or forward someone's personal company in which we we have Miss cun here who has chosen to use the sheriff's department and generally the police force would be there to use that as her current situation during an eviction for a cash for keys in which that is part of her business so if you look you will see a picture of her current situation and picturing law enforcement officers which puts those officers and their families in direct Harm's Way never should the propaganda of our law enforcement be used by such disgusting and unethical means furthermore it has come to my attention actually it's not recent but there was never a closed vote by the law enforcement union membership instead it was a show of hands never again have I ever seen a vote for a union done that way and I'm a member of a union I was a member of another Union for 18 years never has a union done that it is no secret that Miss cun her the other individual the union president for the PBA who is promoting and pushing this is also her boyfriend so it is very difficult it is very difficult to ascertain whether or not miss cun here should be I'm going to declare you out of order have my First Amendment right to speak I'm declaring you out of VO order on this ordinance it's my first amendment and you are not please remove her from the room I would like her removed not I didn't do thank you sir Jeff Hena count I'm sorry 42-year Jackson resident and the PBA president uh good evening mayor Raina council president cun councilman Bernstein councilman Sergeant councilman brelli councilman Chisum and Mr wall before I address the main issue I'm here to speak about tonight I would just like to address a few residents in town who have spewed lies on social media Pages these last few weeks about my personal life I don't know anyone in explanation about my personal life but if you insist on knowing about it then please see me in person and I'll have a conversation with you I'd like to thank president Rodriguez for his remarks and discuss what the chief did do in the last two weeks since the last council meeting picking the lowest hanging fruit he held a hastily put together staff meeting with less than 24 hours notice via via email on a day I was unable to attend due to previous scheduled work obligations as I related by those few who were able to make this meeting approximately 20% of the current staff and most who are already working the chief reported to have reiterated his statements from the previous council meeting with little more of substance to add the chief also held the command staff meeting with what was reported to me as 8-minute notice and I suppose he wishes to say that he's heard our con concerns and has turned over a new Leaf but the men and women of our agency and our residents are too smart to fall for that at the previous council meeting I advised all of you some of the issues that the PBA and SOA members have had with the chief and the lack of leadership and decision- making that we are dealing with on a daily basis we the members not anyone else work inside that building every day and see firsthand what we lack and what we need to make the agency the best it can be our chief does not fight for or listen to his employees of their wants or needs to councilman brelli and Chism who have questioned this ordinance and requested it to be tabled I ask you to please listen to the facts that s SOA president Rodriguez and myself have made you aware of at the last council meeting councilman burelli who for the last two years was one of our public I'm sorry police leaon however never addressed any of these issues nor met with any of the current staff voted no to this ordinance he also insisted that he supported the men and women in blue of the Jackson Police Department prior to voting also at the last council meeting councilman Chisum wanted to know what the rush was to get this ordinance on the agenda and how the township will get sued I say to you sir sued for what sued for holding the chief accountable the agency lacks true leadership accountability and decision- making and these specific qualities are things that have been lacking for the last several years and something our members desperately need not the sooner the better these issues didn't just start yesterday this should not be and is not political however the both of you appear to have made it that way the PBA and SOA are asking you to vote Yes tonight and you would do so if you actually support the men and women of the Jackson Police Department lastly I'd like to thank our police Leons council president cun and councilman Bernstein for seeking out those who represent the rank in file of the Jackson Police Department to hear our needs and concerns as well as well as mayor Rea and administrator wall I'd also like to thank the Lakewood Scoop for their journalistic integrity and support of the facts throughout this process we look forward to moving your Police Department forward thank you thank you sir thank you [Applause] sir uh Jim Sakia I live in Jackson I know nothing about all the details everything I've heard is between last meeting and tonight's meeting I understand all the issues that the rank can file the union has presented and to me those are significant issues but here's my question in regarding this ordinance it sounds like people are are unhappy with the chief so has it been looked at that maybe instead of adding an additional $200,000 we actually solve the problem of making a change that does not cost the the township anything if it's that significant that you guys are that unhappy with the chief has that been discussed as an option with anybody because you know I haven't heard that at any point I don't know the chief I don't know any of the the law enforcement that I can look into that go back been here for 50 years and I've never had a running with any of it so I kind of take pride in that so I just want to understand it a little bit more and that's that's where my brain is at I I'm hearing this and I go if I'm an if I'm an employee in a business and I'm not happy with my my management and I go it's not bringing another level of management it's fixed the problem so where are we at that I I agree with I I hear you and those are major issues that absolutely need to be looked at and I just wonder how deep have we done a study on all of this so if I could Madam president um the ordinance creates a civilian position director it does not eliminate the Chief's position or replace the chief um and the township is not looking to do so it creates a civilian manager for purposes of policy and procedure procedures to strengthen that portion of the police department um and the council is of the opinion and we'll see what the vote is tonight um that that is needed and necessary but does that not just leave well a significant problem of what they're talking about is their Commander is what it's going to still be civilian director would address those issues that have been raised if they're not if they have not yet been previously done that's what a civilian director would do it would assist the chief in preparing the department and protecting the department and the Township from lawsuits such as the one that would just settled by implementing various policies and procedures to make sure the township is complying with what's required under the law so and and these are issues that the police chief has been previously responsible for or have is head of the is currently the head of the department okay so he's been responsible for those issues that's correct so we're now splitting the job into two roles because the council believes it has not been done properly okay and we're increasing the township budget by as much as 200,000 because that's the top I don't know what that I don't know what the budgetary impact will be but I'm not moving well there is a $200,000 salary that's going on the books it's possible that somebody already in town could be appointed to position we don't know but then you're going to replace that position that you're replacing so maybe not it's not un it's unknown I guess I'm just thinking there there's there's other options instead of having to pay this additional Sal again we're the taxpayers I I want to support these guys I'd rather spend the $200,000 on new equipment better safety equipment for them you know that's where I'd rather see the money go not to add another layer for a situation where the union has issues with the the chief and the chief has you know he does his role and it's just somebody has to determine who who is who's right and who's wrong in this spot and make the make the appropriate decision thank you thank you [Applause] sir my name is Peter kakis 9 cranberry Harvest Court Jackson New Jersey first I want to introduce myself and tell you that the men in blue and the people that wear the badge I've supported my whole life I'm going to base some credibility right now so that you understand who I am I had the opportunity with several police officers here to use my rollsroyce to drive for share Network so that somebody could take the recipient of a of a kidney or donate I also built a group home in par siany called 360 life for autism and handicapped children that was also supported by the police departments I held many uh Affairs for the State Police including that jessle one of their honores Lieutenant Colonel Ed setar that was a Jackson resident as well and I'm speaking because many people don't know me but the people that do know me and some of these do I put my jeans on and I lay tile but I brought companies on the New York Stock Exchange I owned a company called MMA Alliance it was a UFC company I brought it and I felt that there was some sort of unity and everybody needs to stand together I'm not up here by no means opposing one side or the other side so I want to be clear I'm a I'm sitting up here talking about Justice and what we fight for for as Jackson residents as people now I speak at schools and I do a lot of things and I'm a little choked up right now and I'll tell you why because it's uncomfortable in this room now have I sat in front of people at my own home I have Casino nights raise money for chops hospitals here in Jackson at the Italian American Club I hosted something called happen for 20 years I took group homes and handicapped children that nobody I'm not sure showed up for those at the time it was s um I was the mayor uh but I did it for 20 years for Ocean County Arc I also just declined a documentary about me from Channel 5 news I saved a woman's life during covid she had got Will's bar and did not have insurance so I fought with a group of people like you to get her insurance they said there's not enough time so my attorney took me into that hospital New York University Hospital and said Peter put your money where your mouth is put 2 million do up to this hospital and when the insurance goes through that child will be fine I didn't even know this girl I just met her at a store so I want to tell you a little bit about me because there could be a few people that don't know me and pass speculation I drive Ferraris Lamborghinis but they mean nothing they mean nothing to anybody what really counts for is being credible for what you stand for we are Americans we stand for that flag only we don't stand for the man in the uniform we stand for the uniform so I will tell the Jackson people and the United States citizens and I will tell you this My First Amendment right is freedom of speech and it also says something about government I will remind you if you ever removed me from this Podium for something that I had to say that was just we'd see each other in court you cannot violate people's rights I was in a situation in this town that was uncomfortable and I let it go because I thought that the greater good over holds the police department is King but we should not fear the police department somebody told me one day I was sitting in this chair two weeks AG ago and said Peter be careful and I asked myself be careful of what what am I careful for these are the people that are protected actually these are the people that I pay to protect me right we all pay and I don't mean it like that but I want to be very clear everybody here on this Council has did wrong we all have and we all are not perfect but if we get together instead of pointing that finger cuz that's what I do in my my company the first guy that points the fingers out of my company because you focus too much time on the blame let's fix the problem if we have to hire him I say hire them if we don't have to hire him don't hire him but let's make those decisions based on that Miss president here I own a barber shop as well in town but I own a tile company the only reason why I bought the shop now you would see me in my work clothes and think this man's but I don't live for money I live for justice but I will tell you put your money where your mouth is like my attorney said Pete you want to save that girl don't talk about it and don't get your friend to try to help you put it up so that's what I stand for I Stand For Justice and I stand for us to hold a credibility to everything and as far as in the Jewish faith I had an opportunity to study with a name a rabbi named Rabbi koniski very major Rabbi and he taught me a few things in this world and he said Peter you know never worry about just cuz just always comes and never worry on how much money you're going to make this year because God already knows how much you're going to make and something in the tabloids he told me that was very true he said God keeps you on your toes because if you wanted to reach in your pocket and get three coins out but you only have two coins you will ma'am I had other people speak for more than me last time and I please don't because everybody does things that are not proper right I parked my Ferrari across the line one time but I never took three parking spots I will not allow unjust okay I will not I waited I'm a Jackson resid for 30 years and I saw things back and forth I never would speak speak on politics everybody's opinion and it's it's like religion too we will never agree because I have my beliefs you have your beliefs but I ask that Jackson and if you're watching the video and you see it stand up for what's right for us and what scares me the most right now is that the people that are protecting us are at War it seems with their command and chief so what I tell the Jackson people is how are we protected and how can an Administration run their office if there's so much chaos I think this is an address that the state and the United States governments may have to get involved because we have parted who we are and I'll tell you this Jackson ain't big enough and I don't want to talk about big because I don't want to go that far but I want to say I want to say that it's important that we represent each other other I love the people in blue thank you sir and I'm telling you if they're right they're right but if they're wrong let's try to make it work and I respect every one of you and I have donated to all the PBA things God Bless America and may God help you make the right decisions thank you [Applause] sir Deb Jones High Road um I'm just here for this part I have more to say later but this is so sad that we have this divide going on it's bad enough our town is divided we don't need our law enforcement divided we need them more now than we've ever needed them it is up to you guys to step in I work in education if this was going on in a classroom it would would never make it this far where so much stuff has to be aired where it's being videoed everyone seeing it we have men and women in our law enforcement that need better cars to drive better bulletproof vests better equipment because we don't know what's coming down the pike we have an idea when we look at the world around us this is to me maddening I have lived in this town I don't have all the credentials that the man before me had I do have that I've lived in this town since I was a kid I've gone to school with a lot of them I've educated some of their children I've walked into grocery stores with them we need to do something this should not be a fight that at not one meeting now two when does this end and if we can't make a decision right now then we need to respect the people on this board who have a difference of opinion and maybe dive into that a little bit more in instead of everyone pushing their own agenda let's push the agenda for our law enforcement thank you [Applause] ma'am make a motion to close public session second all in favor I I I this is the third reading of ordinance 0624 entitled an ordinance of the township of Jackson County of oan state of New Jersey amending chapter three of the administrative code of the township of Jackson establishing the position of director of the Department of Public Safety I need a motion to adopt on third and final reading and advertise according to law motion second councilman barelli I appreciate it hearing both sides of the issue of public safety director being um proposed I continue uh to stand by my no vote um on it I've expressed before that I wish we could table this ordinance that's obviously not happening to allow for more time for uh the leaders and officers in our Jackson Township Police Department to meet and discuss and has hash out any disagreements and concerns that you have along with Township Administration and for all the better understand what the public safety director position would entail um I just feel that whatever differences you may have in your ranks in your Police Department should be handled from within your organization and not decide it at the governing body level I just don't see how creating another position in our town which could pay up to $200,000 a year with benefits with keeping the taxpaying residents in mind is going to solve the problems that are going on and I hope you can solve them for the public health and safety of our uh fellow residents and I stand by my voting record I've always voted for the resources that all of you officers need to do your jobs effectively and keep our town safe and secure 247 I will continue to do that and I want to thank you for your service and I'm sorry we have disagreements but you know sometimes that occurs with uh the human factor involved thank you thank you councilman Bernstein um when I took oath about three months ago um and then about six weeks after I was appointed as by most of my colleagues as the liaz onto the police department I jumped right into that position and I had opportunity to start speaking to members of our police force many members of our police force were hesitant to speak to me because I do have a relationship a personal relationship with the chief but my duty sitting on Council is to go go above and beyond my personal relationships and to do what I consider to be the best in the best interest of Jackson so after speaking to members of our local police Deport of our local police department of members of County Law Enforcement state law enforcement members of the state PBA and residents in Jackson who have a little bit more experience than myself former council members um many former council members um I am confident that my vote tonight will reflect all of their opinions and I am going to be voting yes councilman Chisum so again I will stand with what I spoke about last time for the simple reason that again there's so many questions that were brought up there of course when you ever you have any kind of disagreement there's your side there's my side and somewhere in the middle there's the truth now again in the last four years that I've sat here I have never once had an officer at any point whether at a public function Jackson day in private say that there was such dysfunction and or failure of leadership until about two weeks ago so if this was an ongoing problem and there's such an issue with the chief I don't see how adding another $200,000 salary is going to correct that because you're still going to have the chief in that position so that doesn't necessarily correct that it just adds a burden to the taxpayers having this problem between the two different factions inside is obviously not good for the town that's not going to get any better it's not going to change the culture and it's obviously at this point in time I mean you can see you know what's going on throughout the country right I mean our officers are Under Fire and you're saying how we can't find people and good quality people and I can tell you as a business owner it's not easy to fill any seats any job so finding somebody who wants to even be a police officer right now after the movement for the defund the police it's hard and I can't say as I blame them I mean a lot of moms wouldn't want their children to grow up and say hey why don't you go and put your life on the line so I mean I thank you for you guys doing it and stepping up but it is a special breed of person that's going to do that so I understand the hiring issues as well and again you know why would we get sued um According to some of the research that I've done and people that have done this what happens is not necessarily we're going to get sued now but when you hire somebody in any position I don't care if you're in the military the police in a in a I don't care McDonald's you can't take somebody that's two or three or four ranks below them and suddenly they're now your boss and Lea frog you that just creates more culture problems and more tension and sooner or later somebody steps out of bounds does something they're not going to to do and then it ends up with lawsuits we've already had conversation tonight about a settlement no personal issue there Mr counselor but you know I've had enough of lawyers and lawsuits in the last four years and I'd be quite frankly happy to not have any more under my term again I'm not saying we can't get there but if there is an actual problem somewhere along I don't think we've actually exhausted all avenues and there probably should have been some kind of mediation so where that failure comes in is that in the police department is that in the union is is that an Administration who should have sat down if there was really a problem for the last four years and like I said if there's suddenly this issue why did it only come up in three weeks ago nobody came to me until three weeks ago so if this was really such a crisis mode that it has to be done now that doesn't mean that my vote wouldn't change in two weeks or two months I just don't know that you throw the baby out with the bath water to get to this position it's going to add other burdens and I see further stress as a student of History I can tell you when you repeat the mistakes of the past you are going to relive them we've already had this position in the past it didn't work we'll see where it goes again nothing personal but I think we probably have other avenues to exhaust before we got to this point so I'm going to vote no for now thank you thank you Council vice president Sergeant so my version of the truth is certainly different than Mr barelli's and Mr chisums and I vote Yes council president ke tonight tonight's ordinance continues our commitment to fully support our local Jackson police officers Jackson law enforcement Community overwhelming supported to the establishment of a public safety director because they understand that this position will improve our police department and allow us to better serve the residents of Jackson I'm proud that tonight's action was the result of a collaboration effort between Council mayor and administration and our local PBA and SOA I also want to applaud the dozens and of individual officers who came out to make their our voice make their voices heard in support of this ordinance and thank the countless Moore who took the time to speak up personally I vote [Applause] Yes this is a second reading of ordinance 0724 entitled an ordinance of the township of of Jackson County of ocean state of New Jersey amending chapter 412-638-2425 you will have five minutes and may only speak once seeing no one come forward make a motion to close public session on this order's coming up from the back got someone coming hang on hello uh this is my first time at any one of these things I'm a little nervous U my name is Carissa and I have I have to get my address I assume ma'am I'm sorry I couldn't hear you your name ma'am Carissa sorry Carissa thank you um I'm at 37 Birch Drive um I have been in contact with the township for a while now and at this point I'm just hoping that I can come to some sort of resolution um I purchased my home in September of 2021 and as many do uh I had my share of unforeseen expenses and repairs after purchasing and moving in I had to replace my furnace and AC which led to water damage and finished basement needed to be I think you want public comment yes yes this is in public comment this is only on this ordinance yeah about I'm sorry I was trying to I was trying to hear you I couldn't hear you when you come back just talk into here because I couldn't hear anything that you said but come back at the end okay all right thank you anyone else about this ordinance seeing no one come forward make a motion to close public session all in favor I I this is the third reading of ordinance 0724 entitled in ordance of the township of Jackson County of ocean state of New Jersey amending chapter 412 - 6 of the Town trip code entitled trespassing on public property violations and penalties I need a motion to adopt on third and final reading and advertise according to law motion roll call councilman barelli yes councilman Bernstein yes councilman Chisum Council vice president Sergeant yes and council president cun yes this is a second reading of ordinance 08-20 24 entitled an ordinance of the township Council of the township of Jackson County of ocean state of New Jersey rezoning block 21401 lot 15 from R-3 to NC this ordinance was introduced on February 13th 2024 I need a motion to open the public hearing motion all in favor I I if any member of public has any comments to make please address the council at the microphone and state your name and address clearly for the record you will have five minutes and may only speak once seeing no one come forward on this ordinance make a motion to close public session all in favor I I this is the third reading of ordinance 0824 entitled an ordinance of the township Council of the township of Jackson County of ocean state of New Jersey rezoning block 21401 lot 15 from R-3 to NC I need a motion to adopt on third and final reading and advertise according to law motion council member barelli yes councilman Bernstein yes councilman Chisum yes Council vice president Sergeant yes and council president cun yes this second reading of ordinance 0924 entitled ordinance of the township of Jackson County of ocean state of New Jersey amending chapter 245 entitled landlord registration and responsibilities of the Township Code this ordinance was introduced on February 13th 20124 I need a motion to open the public hearing motion second all in favor I if any member of the public has any comments to make please address the council at the microphone and state your name and address clearly for the record you will have five minutes and may only speak once hi Kim RI uh Jackson New Jersey um my question regarding this is who is following um what's going on with the rentals because I know for a fact I'm a realtor I know for fact there are rentals that are out there that are not with the township that they're renting houses out and not going to the township with them there are violations on houses and they're still getting away with renting them so I want to know how this is going to work in order for them who is going to follow up with this ma'am have you call code enforcement to address those issues several people have yes okay so you they are aware of itware and one of the houses was just rented again and I'm almost positively sure they do not have a landlord I did meet with code enforcement last week um to hear their concerns they actually um they actually said that they've never had a council person come in there and meet with them to discuss this words no council not real oh real are in there all time I'm talking about I know that there are people have that gone in and they violations and everything so now if it's in an LLC it's very hard for them to find they're they're we're working with them to see if we even have to amend this moving forward we're trying to do our best we're trying to get it so that it's easier so now a landlord has which there's over 4500 landlords in Jackson they have to register between January 1st and January 30th which makes it a lot easier for a landlord and plus we raise the F so it makes it a little better for the town um and then thereafter they can get a fine and we do have a structure for them but we're trying following this now code enforcement I mean I do know that people have gone into the township and have made complaints on certain homes here and they're they rented the house How would they how were they able to rerent the house when they were do they have a renter SEO not that I know of if you want if you want to email the address I can check with code enforcement and get back to you all right okay thank you ma'am all right thank you anyone else seeing no one come forward want to make a motion to close public session on this ordinance all in favor I roll call this a third reading of ordinance 0924 entitled an ordinance of Township of Jackson County of ocean state of New Jersey amending chapter 245 in entitled landlord registration and responsibility of the Township Code I need a motion to adopt on third and final reading and an advertise according to law motion motion second roll call councilman burelli yes councilman Bernstein yes and again I want to thank my colleagues for working with our legal team and our clerk's office to get this ordinance ready thank you yes thank you councilman Chisum yes Council vice president Sergeant yes and council president cun yes this second reading of ordinance 10-24 entitled ordinance of the township of Jackson County of ocean state of New Jersey amending chapter 103 of the Township Code of the township of Jackson prohibiting parking stopping or standing within 50 fet of intersections at County roadways and regulate regulating and permitting permit parking only between between 51 ft and 100 ft from said intersections this ordinance was introduced on February 13th 2024 I need a motion to open the public hearing motion to open public hearing second all in favor I I if any member of the public has any comments to make please address the council at the microphone and state your name and address clearly for the record you will have five minutes and may only speak once Jennifer cusin La uh Jackson so my question regarding this ordinance is um I understand that it's mostly on County roads now the municipal roads are going to be the it's the municipal roads off the county roads off the county roads and that's going to be up to 100 feet that you can't park it's the parking permit is going to be 51 to 50 but it's going to be the first 50 feet on the right hand and the left side to allow um the only people that are going to be able to park on those roads is going to be buses so they could pick up kids and drop off kids okay so my question is um let's say a long road like East Connecticut Concourse where there's currently an operating house of worship in the middle um are those patrons going to be able to park on the shoulder there if they don't live there are they going to need permits if it's within 100 feet of the intersection they need only a resident of who actually lives adjacent to that roadway they can't park on the county road no matter who you are but are they going to have permits for that no not on the County Road only on the municipal roads and you have to live there so in essence your house has to be either the first or the second house there's not going to be three houses so how are you going to regulate that you're going to have to supply where you live your address and you're going to have to fill out paperwork because for instance and I spoke with Mory about this um let's talk about 470 heisen Road apparently there's a uh MVA there I'm not aware of it Mor you're aware of I'm going to interrupt for a minute it doesn't matter what the use is so if you want to talk about the parking that's appropriate but to talk about the use I because of we're a little sensitive to the stuff because of the lawsuits that have been filed and ASM indicated it doesn't matter what the use is this is a parking ordinance and that's all it is okay so it has this home this single family home has excessive parking by patrons who do not live in the home that is relevant Miss gell is is the home within 100 feet of the street of the County Road of the County Road um well you said that it was no no I I didn't go out of measure you had mentioned that to me that it was within 100 feet it's 100 within 100 feet doesn't make a difference ordinance is pass then the it doesn't make a difference what the US well the reason that I'm saying this is because law enforcement has been called out several times we had a snowstorm a couple weeks ago and there was actually a hot Zola ambulance which happens to be a patron of the single family home parked in front of a fire hydrant and the decision was made not to give this person a ticket because it was at the discretion of the police officers that came out so you got to do it across the board I mean we can't pick and choose here who can and who can't Park IL legally in the Town Council president K yeah I don't I I just want to say I don't disagree with you and this is a very passionate subject of mine so I'm not disagreeing with you and I think that that's something if you would have emailed that to me I would have sent it to the Chief and asked that he discuss with the officers why they were not ticketed because I do agree with you if you're parked in front of a fire hon you should be uh receive a ticket right and I also want to know if um if that was a case and somebody did call or email you I want to know if that's considered spying I would have to I'm asking talking about a parking ordinance right now I'm sorry we're talking about a parking ordance great so if if can res didn't feel comfortable enough to call if somebody is parking illegally in front of their home without it being considered spying 50 feet of the intersection I get emails legitimately three times a week and I do forward them I forward I just want people to feel comfortable to report something if I could just respond to you for a second every resident who has reached out to me with concerns I forward it usually to the office of administration it's usually where it goes or if it goes to PD to PD and then it's out of our hands we're not an enforcement agency Council we're our legislative body but obviously we're out there and we're more than happy to forward the appropriate complaint if if you would like so when I reached out to you concerning heis did you forward that to anybody so you reached out to me through text message and not through but yes oh so it has to officially come down so one second so that was forwarded and I think the council president did mention that that would be a conversation she would want to have why that wasn't enforced that probably through in this form of government in this form of government it would be through the office of administration and um I'm sure our business administrator will be in touch with law enforcement to find out why that wasn't enforced so the people that live there and if there there are people legally parked in front of the house they should reach out to the business administrator no send an yeah send an email to any of us you could send it to me you could send it to Morty and we'll forward it to the business administration and CC the chief and ask and traffic safety and see that we could hopefully address the issue thank you you're you're welcome ma'am have a great night once again Jim select you actually she uh brought up an issue of huta ambulance parking in front of a fire hygen I don't know if it's the same day that I'm looking at but this picture that I have was taken on Friday February 23rd in the 11 o'clock hour or so I would like to present it to each of you so you can see yeah if you want to give it to the clerk please thank you sir um that's not my main reason for coming up here and talking I do want to talk about the ordinance and I've been back and forth on this ordinance because one of the things I do appreciate is hearing a lot about the safety of the citizens of its Township and as a proof of it once we come back to public comments you'll see me again because I'm G to ask this board to do something okay um but as in regards to this this ordinance I went back and forth because the state ordinance 39 already has in place that you cannot park within 100 within 50 ft of a stop sign so most of these roads that we're talking about have a stop sign so it's already there so it's not a a need for in ordinance it's a need for enforcement now what I read and again if you remember I Was Here For the First Time came up this has now changed a little bit and where I see the changes you've now included the opposite side of the road all the way to 100 ft when when the state ordinance only goes up to 25 ft it's always said both sides but yes well not the Way It Was Written the first time so okay thank you my question is you're limiting it to intersections where a Municipal Road intersects with a County Road why did you not go to the extent of including all the roads in Jackson Township and the reason I asked that is Susan Drive intersects to heis and Road you never have a parking issue there meal Street intersects to Susan Drive if you get a chance go down Susan Drive and try and make a left-hand turn on to Neil Street any weekend you will see cars lined up on both sides it's a curve there too it's a blind curve at certain parts there have been times where I've gone down that road and there's a car coming the other way and we're basically currently looking into that your neighbor emailed me and I sent it to the chief in traffic safety as the wells Administration that's that's one of my problems but just to answer I am looking into the issues that I get emailed that's fine the second part and this is where I'm not sure that safety comes into play here is the 51 to 100 feet that is permitting basically for the benefit of the homes the first and second homes I live in the third home I'm 160 feet from from the intersection I get along great with my neighbors so it's not going to impact me one way or the other but I look at it this way is if the if my neighbor in the first house has decides to have their family over for a holiday dinner and there's excess cars they're more than free to park in front of my house because to me it's a public road the curb is open to whoever's there what you're doing with this is if I have a party and I have people want to park they cannot use the 51 to 100 and that to me just doesn't make sense why are we forcing I'm 60 feet away I can answer that so the um food for thought was then anybody could park there so we were trying to make it so it was the people that lived in the first second and second home that were being impacted by this ordinance um because otherwise if we didn't put its adjacent to the property then the neighbor down the street could decide that they want to park their car in that spot and not but isn't that isn't that what the the public roads are for well we're trying to is there anything is it is there any town that has permitted parking on public streets just for specific other than you may see a handicap zone for someone that requires you know a space for a handicap individual in a home that I get makes sense but these are wide open roads and you know well we're trying to clean up in the some of the neighborhoods it's really really over there's a lot of parking and every which trust me so we're doing every step and you had made a comment of um putting this throughout the whole town I would have a 20,000 people at that door if if I implemented that much that quick so we're trying to do it in phases and we did put out what you were talking about the title 39 we did put out a flyer and yes you are right some of these things are already implemented but they're we need to enforce them and we're trying and we also spoke about class I'm going to just answer you and then we'll end it um because I know you're coming back up a couple of things you know okay so what you were talking about with title 39 we are trying to enforce it and that's why at the last meeting you'll recall that I had spoken and said that we were looking to um possibly hire with administration's help class one so that we can have officers out there and hopefully B you're basically going to create a parking we're we're trying to clean it up Sir a parking I don't know like like the big cities have a parking you know police like meter rators yeah but they're what we doing I mean have I and listen I get it because title 39 I've driven through my I I've gone out on a Saturday come through my development and I can tell you thank you I just want to be conscious there's a lot of people that want to talk and I don't I took a lot of your time out there's been over 30 on one Saturday I counted over 37 violations of title 30 of section 39 so it's out there I get but we're not equipped with enough officers to implement this so that's the problem and so my point with this ordinance is if we're not equipped are we going to not be not equipped to to enforce this too I could just add one more point that this ordinance was in collaboration with the chief and members of the law enforcement and obviously we are hoping that our police department will enforce it and obviously like you said enforcement we're doing our job and then the rest falls upon the PD the other the other quick comment I know I'm behind but I just want to kind of just some cleanup on this it's a it's a it may be nitpicking but your the way your ordinance reads is from this the end of the intersection why don't you email me what you want me to look into and I'll send it to the attorney intersection to 50 ft is no parking then you say from 51 to 100 so where's that yeah I got 50 to 51 just I think that needs to be just cleaned up in thank you sir in the ordinance and the other part of it also sir email me email me I'll give you my card well the other part is you talk about from the sir your your five minutes has been up two minutes ago so if you want to you know email the president you can but it's your time's up thank you I'll be back thank you look forward to it thank you sir seeing no one else come forward and make a motion to close public session on this ordinance second all in favor hi this is the third reading of ordinance 10-24 entitled ordinance of the the township of Jackson C County of ocean state of New Jersey amending chapter 103 of the Township Code of the township of Jackson prohibiting parking stopping or standing within 50 feet of the intersections at County roadways and regulating and permitting permit parking only between 51 ft and 100 ft from the said intersections I need a motion to adopt on third and final reading and advertise according to off motion second councilman burelli yes councilman Bernstein yes councilman Chisum yes Council vice president Sergeant yes and council president cun yes ordinances first reading council president cun are there any comments regarding ordinance 11-24 yes thank you so this ordinance is uh state of New Jersey establishing title 316 to Township um code entitled project labor agreement pretty much to sum it up instead of reading this it's anything any um the unions have been going to the county and asking that any projects that we support any projects over $5 million that we bring in uh unions so that's about sums it thank you ordinance 11-24 entitled ordinance of the township of Jackson County of ocean state of New Jersey establishing chapter 316 of the township code in titled project labor agreement I need a motion to approve ordinance 11-24 on first reading and to authorize the notice of approval and public hearing to be held on March 12th 2024 make a motion second councilman barley clerk Moss um I've researched project labor agreements pla um from what I've read from what I've heard drives up the cost of public construction projects and at the time when Jackson pay Jackson residents are paying more for pretty much everything and um I think we have an obligation up here to try to limit the tax impact that can be passed on the residents as a result of public projects in our town being steered to only labor unions nothing against labor unions but I think we should open up the competition to everybody including uh nonunion private contractors which make up a bulk of our uh new jerseyans including here in our town and in Ocean County Studies have shown plas go well and above uh and Beyond project costs and drive up uh labor costs reduce competition and would negatively impact non-union I just said let's include everybody um regarding the bidding process when it comes to this so I vote no on ordinance 11-24 councilman Bernstein yes councilman Chisum yes Council vice president Sergeant yes and council president C yes we move on to to bills and claims motion to approve or hold the bills and claims motion please motion oh second councilman burelli uh yes but I have to abstain and I will get that bill numbers uh d l01 e ye e01 NJ m06 NJ s04 and St a28 and yes to the rest on the bills ladies and gentlemen thanks thank you councilman Bernstein yes councilman Chisum yes thank you Council vice president Sergeant yes and council president cun abstained from rsco2 yes to the rest thank you council president if I may before the motion approval consent agenda resolution r138 24 had a typo that has been since corrected uh it will be corrected prior to the certification tomorrow tomorrow yes thank you that was sent to the attorney literally I think a couple hours before this meeting so we do apologize for that thank you I need a motion to approve the list of resolutions under consent agenda motion councilman burelli um actually I have a question regarding one of resolutions I guess it would be opposed to the administration regarding I have to obstain on it anyway uh would be the state health benefits plan and why are we removing Township employees from thank you council president yes sir okay sure thank you Sor um the um one of the tremendous burdens on um employees and Jackson taxpayers and any municipality excuse me any municipality is cost of healthcare so from time to time working with the collective bargaining units and also you know administratively reviewing with uh our providers we examine and explore the cost of Health Insurance Dental prescription things of that nature and to the extent that you uh find products or services that may be uh more uh beneficial to both the staff and also to the taxpayers um there's a process within which you consider changing so there has not been any final decision yet administratively that's a partnership and communication with the uh uh mayor and the governing body and also with our our partners in uh in staff Union and non-union um the state health benefits requires you to give them a 60-day notice so we're providing them a 60-day notice and to the extent that there is a decision that may be made we have that notice on file so we may move and the um just as a sidebar to that uh there are additional discussions ongoing to ensure that uh chapter the 330 uh rules and regulations are followed so retirees are protected and we also have obligations within contractual uh uh with with our collective bargaining units to um provide certain levels of benefits that match equal to or substantially similar to or equal to depending on the language the benefits that they currently enjoy not just for themselves but for their families for their spouses and children so this is a procedural item that's required uh to be compliant with the state and um that's why that's uh presented on a public agenda for for for the employees as well we've filled in a number of different questions uh good questions uh from the unions uh We've also had multiple meetings with the unions so they can share that data with their members this is part of that process in the event no decision is made that we would resend the resolution uh if we stay with the current plan I will tell you that the state health benefits plan is in effectively a death spiral where the towns that have good claims experience are leaving uh and you have a situation of adverse selection throughout the state where they are siphoning off the the reserves uh to prop up a burgeoning uh and problematic system so it's far far far better to make a collective smart decision now instead of going down with the death spiral that is the state health benefits plan and that's uh that's U if folks review that kind of thing and you look at claims if your claims are upside down and the healthy groups leave and the sick groups stay that plan will fail and it will go under so the uh the this resolution repres presents considering making smart moves to protect the Jackson taxpayers and also our uh valuable staff and the the units and the collective bargaining units that represent them as well both Union and non-union do you have any other questions no all right thanks thank you sir councilman barelli are you abstaining from r138 d24 and yes to the rest thank you oh wait I'm sorry no no I'm I'm voting no on r133 d24 and r139 d24 work on the resolution agenda yes to the rest on there thank you just to clarify the no is r132 and r13 13324 and 13924 thank you yes to the rest thank you councilman Bernstein yes to all councilman Chisum yes Council vice president Sergeant um president if I could ask if you don't mind I'm G ask absolutely no go um M Moss I just have a question regarding r140 d24 it's there's I don't have a date on here at all over a day is there a reason for that what I'm sorry I don't not understand the question the date of r140 we haven't certified that yet it would be today's day in the event on the resolution in the event that Council voted down the resolution that would not go through in there that's why it's a blank okay okay uh yes Tom thank you council president yes we move on to public comments on any topic um at this time if any member of the public has any comments to make please address council at the microphone and state your name and address clearly for the record you will have five minutes and may only speak once and five minutes is a real five five minutes is Peter kakis nine cranberry Harvest score Jackson New Jersey so getting back to the topic of the public safety um my I was trying to show you credibility on my behalf and I didn't want to waste the time so I wanted to give it to at this moment is that my credibility to the people in blue and that wear this badge in man alipin Police Department I etched their badge into their floor to show the police department on the gratitude that I have donated by my company interface tile but now I want to look at the council and tell you a few things that I heard last week normally I don't do that but when somebody stops me from something I feel compelled so starting from the beginning here last two weeks ago we talking about the public safety and about spending the $200,000 and this gentleman here says that we should get better Math teachers but in my mind I say get rid of the Math teachers I mean keep the Math teachers get rid of the history teachers because there was a retired officer that came up to this Podium 30 years lives in Jackson he didn't even get two minutes to speak about the past now the last time I looked in government we look at past to create and correct the future we don't worry about money because because without history you ain't going to have any money anyway so that was one then the second person had said that he was sick and that he reflected for couple of days maybe 10 days about his throat but he wanted to mention to everybody in the council or to the public that he wasn't cohorted he wasn't cohorted he's making this decision based on his own so I said to myself why bring that up we don't bring things like that in in Council right so then we go down the line and somebody asked this gentleman here uh Mr Burns I don't have my glasses said he only had an opportunity to speak to half of the police department now last time I looked there's 12 jurors if you only speak to six that means it's a cohorted problem in the court room right so you speak to all of them right you made a statement that then we go into the middle here and we said you stop that police officer from speaking right he wanted to speak about the public safety and give you his opinion and mind you the First Amendment right if you read it well and we're going to go to the attorney next is the best attorneys in the world they feed on what you say and they capitalize on your testimony and proving that maybe some credibility is not right then we move on so this gentleman that said listen it's on the table and you know he wants to review it and he wants to see how it plays out he's saying that you know the blue he rep you know he honestly says that I have nothing against the blue then we have somebody that says well with all due respect I don't know if you're supporting the blue because you're not going with what is proposed here my proposal and what I stood up here here was wasn't against the right party or the left party it was right smack in the middle right staring right at the President right and it it it said hey be fair to everybody and there is discretion in this world you're right the guy that pays more sits at the front row of the Super Bowl you're 100% right and I'm sorry that it's that way but he earned that just like some of these officers earned their ability to be able to stand up on these podiums so I'm not discrediting these officers they have the right to use their discretion and represent Jackson and represent all of us but at this end of the day let's be fair to everybody take the beam out of your own eye before you take it out of somebody else's eye one time a person said pulled me over says sir you were speeding and I asked him did you ever speed he said no I said well this is my first time speeding then right I speed you know it happens sometimes you make a mistake it's you know and we use discretion because that's who we are we're human beings and if you do good I did a lot of good I don't want anything extra like I told you I declined Channel 5 News was doing a documentary on health reform and how people do not have insurance and this woman would have died without me but here's the thing if you don't say something then nothing will ever be changed so whoever is behind all this and has a problem with left or right work it out work the problem out and I will tell you this if I can't speak I do have the right to publicize anything in the newspaper and pay for it and I'm not going to say I have a lot of money but I'm able to pay for it I just say let's be fair to everybody thank you thank you thank you again I pi the wrong person to follow but I just want to say I watched the last meeting two weeks ago online and things have been sitting I'm sorry what was your name again oh I'm sorry Deb Jones heison Road thank you this year it started with a quote that says in 2024 this board is committed to preserving more open space maintaining Jackson's unique character optimizing the use of your tax dollars to enhance services without significant increasing the budget now here we are in February with so many things adding to our budget and I'm sorry I do not mean this disrespectfully to any of you but in 2023 council president made $ 9,668 the council members made $866 now you're looking for council president for 35,000 and council members 32,000 that's a 362 2% raise on the president that is a 369 per raise on the council members so I do have some questions about that what changed in the job of the council president that now warrants a $3,000 increase over the member that last council president that was making $1,000 more and what are the minimum amount of hours that you need to work to make these salaries because there's a lot of hardworking people in this town that are barely making this or maybe a little bit over and they're working full-time jobs 40 hours a week doing things that they might not want to do but they have to do to support their families and part of that is paying their taxes to support this town that's sad and then we're all getting reassessed whether they're going up staying the same whatever we're all facing that our taxes are being reassessed that's sad also we've elected you guys into public office your professional life is not the only aspect get that gets viewed by the public whether right or wrong your private lives are also on display and sometimes can look like an inappropriate conflict of interest as we all know our actions speak louder than our words which brings me to my last point for tonight it was extremely disrespectful to watch the embarrassing Behavior coming from public officials at the last meeting when some council members were explaining their reasons for voting the way they decided whether we agree with it or not they have the right to vote that way and they were chastised by another member publicly I would hope moving forward that our Council would show a bit more decorum and respect for each other and the residents of Jackson some of the issues that were talked about and should have been talked about were when you guys were behind closed doors and everyone could have been brought up on the same page nobody should be learning about something after their workday has been done I I just I don't understand I don't understand all the dirty laundry that's being aired over and over and over again and it's very sad but when I see the behaviors like this it really makes me question if our beloved town is really in the hands of the right leadership and that's very sad to me thank you ma'am thank [Applause] you hi again hello um so again my name is Carissa from 37 Birch Drive um so I kind of just wanted to bring this to public at this point just to see what we can come to a resolution um I purchased my home here in Jackson first-time homeowner and it is nothing what I foresee it was going to be um I purchased it in September 2021 and as many do I had my share of unforeseen expenses and repairs after purchasing and moving in I had to replace my furnace and AC which led to water damage and my finished basement needing to be pulled apart I had to handle them along with uh adding a French drain system as well I am blessed with amazing neighbors and we stay in touch and do our best to help you each other and we have each other's backs I was able to get in touch with not my sellers but the owners prior to and he showed me the outdoor drains he set up being a former contractor himself and showed me where they were and we found that it was clogged with roots the size of a full- grown snake I have pictures later I came to find out that they were actually bamboo Roots um after the indoor mess I had to handle I turned my attention to the outdoors I had a dead tree in my backyard that needed to be removed for fear it would fall on my home I had to pay a the township for a permit for for this to be removed and an additional $2,000 for the tree company to remove it I was told upon buying this home from my inspector there's bamboo behind my property it was very clear and you can visually see it behind my property and I saw it but was not informed by the inspector or my sellers the extent of the situation I now face as I was directing my attention outdoors in April of 2023 at this point I had bamboo companies come out to see about getting a barrier installed to keep that Bamboo Grove at Bay to which I was informed it would do no good as my entire proper property is infested with the roots of bamboo already he showed me what I thought was Weeds originally and to my amazement these roots went all the way to the front of my property under the city sidewalks into the curb I explained to him the tree that the tree I had ever moved and he said he wasn't surprised because the roots suffocate anything in its past this didn't sit well with me having to have just paid $2,000 plus a permit to remove a dead tree that was potentially avoidable he also stated a barrier had to be installed in a U-shaped form around the whole property and the and to the curb needing to be 3 inches above the ground to me this is a potential safety hazard for anyone walking the sidewalks children's pets Etc once I came to the understanding of my situation I contacted the township to see what I can do to get this sorted and see who owns that property they said it was the school Camp Joy and it was finally hashed out and determined it's actually the Township's property from Jackson I have since gone back and forth with the township trying to come to a common ground and resolution I will say there's a huge shout out to Andrew Cheney he has been nothing short of amazing incredible helpful and caring and guided me to where I needed to be instead of brushing me off and saying it's not his Department I was supposed to be working with an Andrew Thomas who claimed to be working on this and since left the position and no one took over his responsibilities or followed up with me I had forwarded estimates and stressed the severity of this issue and my concern for the gas line in the middle of my yard my home's foundation and city sidewalks pipes gas water Etc just to add here these pipes and and Street were recently replaced by the township why let these roots affect and Destroy pipes the township just spent money on replac placing I then told uh was then told Andrew balinsky will be helping me yet he hardly ever got back to me and he I will say he did get some movement with this after hearing from me many times on October 31st I saw and heard machines going behind my property I immediately called the township and spoke with Andrew balinsky asking if he determined a full plan of action he said they're just doing going to have the township workers cut it down I was floored as I had in depth explained this has to be fully ES at with all the roots at the same time Township property and my property I sent an email to Michael Rina and Thomas wall that same day and hopes to get some real traction I have been communicating with Mr wall since and we have been going back and forth on how to handle this situation November 17th I was told legal would be getting involved to get a document written up to allow access onto my property from the township to remove these roots I spoke with Mr wall and we came to an agreement I would like the bamboo removed from the township property my property my neighbor's property and the city sidewalks as this all has to be done at once this is a very hostile and aggressive plant it will grow through anything it's nickname is bamboo Runner due to its fast nature and growth spring time is its prime time to come alive the bamboo has been removed and cut down by the township um I believe it was beginning of February I was informed it will just be cut and sprayed I voiced my concerns that this will not resolve the matter and leaving things as they are were only cause further harm to my property my last conversations with Mr w left off that he will contact the bamboo professionals and hear for himself the hazards of leaving these roots I also have since followed up on the legal documentation to get on my property to remove the roots and was told the township does not work on private property just to give perspective here if a branch fell from my property onto my neighbor shed for example I would be liable for damages to me it's clear the township is responsible and liable to rectify the manner to develop can I continue I'm almost done I'm going to give you my card and then what I'll do is I'll email you and talk to you and then we'll we'll talk to administration because it sounds like there's a lot in that that email and I want to just get caught up to speed because I don't think any of the council members are are on on any of that okay would that is that okay yeah so you'll give me your I'm gonna as soon as I'm done now just wait for me and I'll give you my card okay thank you thank you ma'am back for a third time this time I'm here to ask the council to do something and I'm not sure where again it's Jim selia and I do live in Jackson um I've been attending because I am now semi-retired I've had more time to see what's going on in the town with the various boards that are here so I've been attending planning board meetings zoning board meetings if I'm not there I usually watch the video um I at yesterday's planning board meeting the issues that's being discussed made me think about what I'm going to ask for now and basically what was on the agenda for the planning board meeting was for four private schools on Chandler Road um and I don't have an issue with schools what I had what I saw was there's one Road in and out to get to these four schools and I think that is a bad precedent to set in this town to have just one way in and out of a school that houses 2ou 2600 children 255 uh staff Mr wall was there he kind of he he raised his concerns and he he brought up the fact of you know the the old active shooter you know having one road out is that the safest measure what I would like to see and I don't know if it's the council that does it if it's the mayor but I would like to see this town for all new development whether it's residential whether it's a school whether it's warehouses are required to have multiple entrances and exits that are separated on the property not because what was in what was brought out yesterday is well there's there's a road in and out so we covered we're covered by the state guidelines that allows us that we can get traffic in and out the problem with that is if someone is crazy enough that they destroy that entire Road now you have no way out and those children if they're in the schools they're stuck so what I would like to see is going forward that we require the develop the developer to understand that they must have two entrances and two exits out of all of their locations plain and simple it's not against anybody it's not you know it's to me it's all about the safety of whatever's going in there if it's a residential community and I will tell you we have a one of I will describe the one one that I know of in Jackson Township where we have a residential Community Crystal Brook right on Bennett Mills Road behind the Stop and Shop it is a one Road exit on April 7th of 2023 there was a significant structure fire in that residence in that development the seven fire companies that we now have to have because again we're losing firemen left and right um take up all of the roads the between the the seven fire departments the police that all responded the first eight the road was blocked so anybody that was in that development could not get out until the fire situation was cleared and that's just crazy there's got to be ways every you look around my development we have three different roads that get in and out so we block one we got two others you look at some of our you look at the shop right shopping center you can get out onto County Line Road in two different spots you can get out on the side road I can never remember the Side Road names Stop and Shop you can get out onto Bennett Mills you can get out on to County L we just it just to me makes so much sense to require these guys to have two entrances and exits separate same thing with a warehouse if if they have a a 200 foot wide Frontage that they're using there's no reason they can't put an entrance on one end and and you know an entrance on the other end this this way if there's an accident in one spot you can always get out the other and that's all I would love to see that this board would consider I don't know where it goes I don't know who's responsible for it I'll leave that to you guys to make the decision but I would love to see in the act of safety for the citizens as I said you you seem to be providing safety requirements in your whole tenure that so far this year so I hope that this Garners your attention and you look at it thank you sir thank have a great night I know I already spoke at length here before but I was compelled to come back up after I heard the comments public comment you're good about the uh salary increases for Council persons and I wanted to say regardless of whether you agree with our position or disagree you deserve every penny of it I would like to note that the poverty rate for 2023 for a family of four is $ 41,400 the average council person salary range in the state of New Jersey is$ 32,1 198 up to 54,7 58 so as far as I'm concerned you are all underpaid for what you do whether you agree with me or not lastly I would like to say one last thing about the public safety director position and the salary as far as that's concerned because I do appreciate that it is a concern for the residents of the township I stand by my previous statements two weeks ago where we suggest that someone from inside the agency we have a tremendous talent pool who meets the criteria uh would reduce the cost from $200,000 to 29,500 and at this time the unions are not seeking an additional hire to replace the replacement so to speak at this point we would just be happy to get the hires that we're supposed to get not asking for an additional so thank you again for your time and thank you again for your consideration I have a question real quick you said not at this time that you're looking for a replacement that's correct but in the future you may be looking for a replacement no not not for that position thank you thank you sir have a good night good evening Council I'd like to just address a few sir your name I'm sorry uh Donnie Adelman Willow Point Drive Jackson thank you um I just want to address a few things and maybe we can go through it afterwards uh the dog park I we spoke a few weeks ago a couple sessions ago about the water problem about the flooding I they did make some improvements but we need some long-term uh improvements namely drainage at the gate and possibly a second set of gates I spoke to the public works people and they said what they've been doing is they've been collecting scrap pieces of gate material so that this way they can maybe build a second entrance on both Sid I humbly ask that maybe the town appropriate 105,000 whatever it may take to fix the issue with the drainage and put in a second set of gates for both sides of the park number two mayor Raina um as resident he's my mayor I didn't vote for him but well enough people did so he wins I've been trying to get help from this man for eight years I've called him I've went to his office I've knocked on the door of his home he has not responded to me at this point what could be done to either fire the man recall the man vote him out of office short to vote him out of office I from what I heard on all different matters on all different issues in this town quite a few people have an issue with our mayor because he is not doing our job he has completely ignored me for years and when I sat there with you at Jackson day he told me to leave you alone so what could be done to recall this man and get a mayor in there that actually cares to do his job for all the residents of Jackson um next is recouping the money from the lawsuits apparently B based upon a comment excuse me a comment I heard while I was on my way over here um certain people haven't learned I am in the process of securing the all the paperwork for the lawsuit under Oprah and I know really what it comes down to there's a list of probably about 20 to 30 people that insinuate most of these problems some of which are in this room tonight just like anyone else how about we enact a you break it you bought it policy because the residents of the town the 50,000 of us don't want to pay for their mistakes and more importantly maybe if these people are learn that if they say certain things do certain things and act certain ways and are penalized for it that maybe the behavior will stop and we won't have to hear about Mikvah while talking about parking next I'd like to ask if we could possibly look into on top of the civilian Chief or whatever it is that we're calling him a civilian oversight panel when it comes to Internal Affairs issues um based upon uh statistics I was able to recoup either everyone that lies everyone that has a problem with Jackson Township either lies about their problem or the various Internal Affairs officers over the years have done what basically what everyone thinks that they're doing is just there there as a mechanism to alleviate any problems the officers may have and let's not wait till we have a Rodney King or or George Floyd type issue before we check our officers with the looking into the paperwork for the lawsuit and other things um there's a great concern about what Oprah is in this town and what Oprah is for the state of New Jersey basically anything that is a public record is accessible to the public as simple as that if you want to uh eat your emails people public workers cell phones that they take pictures on no matter what it is there should be open access number one and when we don't have open access that the mechanisms in place for penalizing the people that have have purposely destroyed documents that have erased photos and so forth we can't have the clerk's office say well we don't know what to do we're not going to do anything about it so you know because we don't know what to do and then the last last thing is possibly looking into the town of having a disability coordinator disability department um possibly working in with the senior Department there's some basic services that as a disabled person could be beneficial to the residents um I think that there's a lot of problems in the town and there's just a lot of management on any large town that you know that we live in but having access to somebody who specialized in saying okay for the disabled residents of this town this is what we could do to make it better I think that would be a great idea that's it thank you sir you're welcome have a great night you too be safe seeing no one else come for make a motion to close public session second all in favor I motion to close second all in favor I have a good night everyone all