I ALG to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic which stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all okay good evening and welcome the May May 28th meeting of the Jackson Township Council will now come to order councilman berelli councilman Bernstein here councilman Chisum Council vice president sergeant and council president C here as Clerk of the meeting I hereby publicly announc that in compliance with the provisions of the open public meetings act adequate notice of this meeting has been advertised in the manner prescribed by law council president if I may have an announcement regarding the June primary election yes ma' thank you Wednesday 29th through Sunday June 2nd early voting for primary election hours will be Monday through Saturday 10: am to 8:00 pm and Sunday from 10:00 am to 6 PM for in-person early voting Jackson residents can vote at the Jackson library located at two Jackson Drive Jackson New Jersey 08527 Tuesday June 4th is the primary election day your polling locations are open from 6 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. voting information and and or assistance uh you may call 1877 NJ voter or 1877 658 6837 if frer voters of Jackson Township would like to confirm what voting districts they belong to and where your polling location is please contact the township clerk's office at 732 92812 and that extension is 1200 thank you council president thank you we continue with opening comments from Township Council council president cun I'm going to start with comments with our attorney in regards to our executive [Music] meeting discuss regarding attorney client privilege information the township is going to add to the agenda this evening resolution r220 d24 I'm going to read the resolution since it was not available prior resolution the township Council the Jackson County of ocean state New Jersey repealing resolution 19624 appointing five residents of harmy Farms to service Trustees for the Harmony Farms Association whereas on May 14 2024 the tup Council of the tup Jackson adopted resolution 19624 appointing five residents of Harmony Farms to serve as Trustees for the Harmony Farms Association whereas appears that resolution was improvidently adopted based upon limited information provided to the tantum council whereas as a result the T Council know wishes to resend resolution 19624 retroactively to its adoption on May 14 Comm 2024 and therefore be resolved this 28th day of May 2024 by the tant council tant Jackson County versus state New Jersey as follows resolution R 19624 being hereby Is Res sended retroactively to May 14th coma 2024 two the toship council advises the harmony forms Association and its residents that they should immediately and expeditiously amend their bylaws and establish a procedure for the election of residents to serve as a Board of Trustees for this community three The tter Preserves the right to take such action it deems necessary in the event that bylaws have not been amended or elections for an ho homeowners association board of directors has not been completed within 90 days you further resolve the copy this resolution be forwarded to Michael kpov Esquire Ty Jones Shalom all and the me various members who were appointed under resolution r196 d24 along with Mary Moss tant clerk what's the council's pleasure I'd like to make a motion councilman burelli yes councilman Bernstein yes councilman Chisum yes Council vice president Sergeant yes and council president C yes thank you okay so now I'm going to go back now that we're through that we're going to go back to regular comments from Council I'm going to start with um myself just wanted to talk about Memorial Day parade for those that you were able to attend thankfully the weather held off and uh officer basso he can he does that every year it takes him pretty much I asked him all year of planning um you had so many of the kids for sports and we had Memorial and Liberty band um it was really really a great event the weather held off it kind of got a little little rainy at the end but it was really truly a great event and thank you so much for always having that event for our veterans and thank you to all of our veterans um also wanted to go into Robinson state so as we had at the last meeting we had some discussions I'd like to read something um just to kind of answer anybody that lives in that Community or Westlake as to an update as to what the council is doing so I got this is from our traffic uh safety Bureau officer uh Lasco he I asked him for an update and he provided me one that I will be reading the traffic safety equipment is currently at Melissa Lee Drive and Linda Drive we are hoping to Move It from Melissa L drive to South Boston Road at the end of the week as long as it doesn't need any Char if they have to charge them every week um when South Boston Road is done we'll move them both devices into Westlake Community once device will be one device will be mounted by the main gate on Long Bay Road and the other will be at the entrance of Westlake M Muse facility at mfield uh road with this device set up we will be able to establish how many vehicles are entering the Westlake Community and how many of them are only cutting through it to get to Westlake bus facility I am hopeful to have this uh started at June 10th so that is the update for Westlake and Robins estate for the people that are asking about that Community update I've just read it officer um sorry Lieutenant um Fred miabi he sent me an email it's always good to appreciate our workers that work in the town everybody works hard at Administration DPW our clerk's office you know councel um and when you get something of appreciation to one of our department heads I like to let the residents know that how you do have hardworking men and women out there at the Town um this is an appreciation for our workers uh Sean balinsky and Mr koner so he just wanted to let us know he's taken the time out to recognize DPW supervisor Sean binsky and Steven koner as you aware we recently had a protest gathering at the Veterans Memorial in East Connecticut com Commodore Boulevard on May 19th the original location was set up um in the parking lot DP W which were relocated to the town hall south parking lot Sean was on top of things in beginning and was instrumental in making sure all Township Vehicles were removed from the lot and we did not want to afford the opportunity to possibly have any of them damaged as you may or not be aware the locations changed rather quickly from the group holding the protest Sean Sean was extremely responsive and was ready to help at the moment's notice offering whatever resources we needed he was extremely professional and was always a touching base with us to to see if anything else was needed so on the on uh his day off Stephen was his go-to and when plans changed stepen adop adapted and made sure everything we needed was there in the proper places to keep the residents of Jackson safe so I just wanted to kind of it goes on but I don't I don't want to go too much into it but it's really great to see you know um employees within the town and within different departments appreciating and sending a little thank you out to other employees that they work with that's all thank you thank you Council vice president Sergeant I'm yielding comments for this evening thank you thank you councilman burelli ofri patriotic plac around we a gratitude for veterans your mic can I start over again I really want yeah go ahead absolutely I I do that a lot all right sorry about that okay um like council president C uh reiterated before um it was another wonderful Memorial Day parade and ceremony in Johnson Park and much thanks to officer Mike basso and others in our town who organized it without a doubt our town is one of the most patriotic towns around and we owe dat a gratitude to veterans like Sergeant David Watson who so movingly spoke at our town ceremony about his and his fellow soldiers um experiences and we owe a Deb of gratitude to those who made the ultimate sacrifice to our great country and who protected the freedoms we enjoy As Americans also uh thank you to Township CFO Sharon pavich and Treasurer Patricia Schwarz I see you're both in the audience I want to um thank you and the governing body as well thanks you for your hard work and due diligence on another basically responsible Municipal budget for uh Jackson residents and in closing the first in the Summer Concert Series starts on Wednesday next Wednesday June 5th from 6:30 to 8 in our Township's largest park Johnson Park there will be a concert in the park every other Wednesday into August uh bring your lawn chairs if you're attending uh one of these concerts there will be food trucks at these concerts and more information on this summer concert series can be found on the recreation page on the Jackson Township website and hopefully we get nice weather for these events good to seeing you all thank you and have a good evening thank you councilman Bernstein good evening thank you everyone who came out um it's always great to see some faces here we look forward to seeing you hopefully by Future Council meetings um also I just wanted to Echo really my appreciation to um officer basso and really the entire department and DPW for um arranging and helping to coordinate and running on time a phenomenal parade it was great to see hundreds of residents line in the street waving American flags um additionally I had the opportunity on to join the senior center I think it was Wednesday of last week before Memorial Day reading a proclamation from the mayor um it was great to see so many local veterans and um having a chance to honor those who unfortunately um pass but also honoring those who really just stand for our country day in and day night and and day in and day and and day and in every single day and night I apologize um thank you council president um additionally I just want to take a moment and again thank our public safety director YC has been coming to our meetings it's great to see engaged department heads and we're looking forward to continuing to work together wonderful evening thank you councilman Chisum good evening everybody would like to also Echo all of the previous comments from Council uh thanks to Trish and Sharon and the mayor administrator and everybody in the finance department for doing a bang up job and it's a lot of work that goes into the getting our budget together and thank you uh for keeping us fiscally responsible as best you can for what we have to pay in our taxes we all live here um again officer basso the entire police department everyone that ran the parade it was great it was good to see everybody come out there and actually celebrate the meaning of the day and thank all of those that gave up their lives for us also our DPW and I again have to commend Sean for not just his uh ongoing work there with the uh protesters but just all the work that he's been doing uh since he's taken over him and his Department do a great job at the DPW also our primary election as you've heard is coming out and while it doesn't seem like there's much going on with that I certainly encourage you to Echo and get out there and just follow your constitutional right and vote regardless of who you vote for and I know it's a primary election there's not a ton of choices this year but please get out there and just exercise your right to vote because when you don't then you will see stuff like what we saw this weekend while instead of out celebrating and honoring the veterans and those that have given their lives for us people were out there taking advantage of that nice weather and going to the boardwalk and while that's a lovely opportunity you heard in at least three different boardwalks where there was rampant crime and the police can't do anything about it we told you this was going to happen when that stupid law was passed and King Philip said no it's going to be perfectly fine and what happened is it perfectly fine that the police officers cannot go up to a 15-year-old and arrest them or hold them when they are breaking and entering when they are looting when they are stabbing people having fist fights I got news if anybody else says out there that's a you know halfway responsible parent they would want to know what their children were up to and if they are drinking and doing drugs and fighting on the boardwalk they would want that call and back in the day it wasn't what the police were going to do to you it was what your parents were going to do you when you got home that would have been the real threat so at this point as usual King philli and his minions have passed this rule where our police cannot hold them responsible if there are no consequen quences what are we going to do with this generation when they are in charge this is a bad thing this is why those elections matter not just our primaries but the rest please don't vote for any more like Mr Phillip this is what happens thank you have a good night thank you I need a motion to approve executive session meeting minutes of January 23rd 2024 February 12th 2024 February 27th 202 24 March 26 2024 and April 25th of 2024 motion please so some moved roll call councilman brelli councilman Bernstein yes councilman Chisum yes Council vice president Sergeant yes you have to obain on April 25th April 25th yes arrest thank you and council president ke yes thank you consideration of ordinance public hearing and final consideration this is the second reading reading of ordinance 20-24 entitled in ordinance of the township Council Township of Jackson o Ocean County New Jersey amending chapter 244-2168 to permit increased height in po pool enclosures based upon on setback of same this ordinance was introduced on May 14 2024 I need a motion to open the public hearing motion to open 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 no this is just for the pool yep okay please come up state your name and your address for the record please um hope drew Jackson um why is it now 8 foot around a pool because I remember years there used to be in front of Council meetings always and they would always come back and say it's dangerous but if someone had a heart attack what if a baby statements uh last time and I did agree with you I did say it was dangerous I did but it's not I'm not I'm not going to tell what you can do with your home that's your responsibility it's your home you pay well that's why we have codes in zoning what are you talking about you should can you have laws you can I'm not in zoning I'm sorry I'm not in I'm not on zoning I'm on no I know I know but that's why we do so you can tell people what you can and cannot do with your home especially when it comes to safety that's why you can't have a fence certain sizes so that's a weird reason I just know if you go through YouTube and you go back and watch all the um meetings they were always denied for safety and for character reasons zoning made that decision when Varian went in front of them so does this ordinance take that away now from zoning that means they'll never have to need a variance if they want an 8ot fence around their po pool how's it work I can okay thanks okay yes they would need a variance if they are located within the setback or not further back from the setback so this ordinance permits a higher fence but only if the property is at least 50 feet if the fence is located at least 50 feet beyond the zoning setback so the setback is 15 feet or 30 feet or 20 feet as long if they're another 50 feet beyond that so the fence is so far from the public or another neighbor or from the road then they can go to a maximum of8 feet okay just thank you thanks you're welcome I appreciate it seeing no one else come forward move to close public session second all in favor I I this is the third reading of ordinance 20-24 entitled an ordinance of the township Council Township of Jackson Ocean County New Jersey amending chapter 244 216 B8 to permit increased height in pool enclosures based upon setback of same I need a motion to adopt on third and final reading and advertise according to law motion second councilman BR yes councilman Bernstein yes councilman Chisum yes Council vice president Sergeant yes and council president C yes this is the second reading meting of ordinance 21-24 entitled an ordinance of the township of Jackson County of ocean state of New Jersey amending chapter 245 of the Township Code of the township of Jackson with respect to landlord registration and responsibility this ordinance was introduced on May 14th 2024 I need a motion to open the public hearing motion to open the 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 state your name name and address clearly for the record you will have five minutes and may only speak once it's the second ordinance second reading landlords ordinance 21-24 you're welcome seeing no one come forward make a motion to close public session all in favor I I this is the third reading of ordinance 21-24 entitled in ordinance of the township of Jackson County of ocean state of New Jersey amending chapter 245 of the Township Code of the township of Jackson with respect to landlord registration and responsibility 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 C yes thank you ordinances first reading council president are there any comments regarding ordinance 22-24 uh yes thank you okay so ordinance uh 22-24 this ordinance repeals the a 1979 ordinance that was made made a portion of Ander Andover Road a one-way Street once adopted Ender of a road will now be a two-way Road for its entire length with that being said I just want to reiterate um the ordinance that we do have for no parking or standing on count count roads and no parking within 50 ft from Municipal from a county into a municipal and permit parking if there's any questions that you guys have to that I'd be more than happy or we have our uh our uh director candino over there that would be happy to answer any questions pertaining to that but this was an ordinance that was passed in 1979 and it was not implemented so we are looking to remove it from the records thank you thank you ordinance 22-24 entitled in ordinance of the township Council County of ocean state of New Jersey repealing ordinance 50-7 which had established Andover Road as a one-way Street I need a motion to approve ordinance 22-24 on first reading and to authorize a notice of approval and public hearing to be held on June 10th 2024 motion second councilman brelli yes councilman Bernstein yes councilman Chisum yes Council vice president Sergeant yes and council president C yes thank you you council president C are there any comments regarding ordinance 23-24 yes ma'am okay so this ordinance is pertaining to extra Duty assignments within the police department this ordinance if adopted would require developers who utilize town of police officers for Traffic Control to be charged for an additional four hours if at the last minute they change the time of work for the that officer it's eding chapter 3-12 G4 it previously had a 2hour requirement we're changing a 2hour to a 24-hour requirement if any changes thank you ordinance 23-24 entitled in ordinance of the township Jackson County of ocean state of New Jersey amending chapter 3-1 122 of the Township Code of the township of Jackson with respect to extra Duty assignments within the Department of Public Safety I need a motion to approve ordinance 23-24 on first reading and to authorize a notice of approval and public hearing to be held on June 10th 2024 motion second councilman brelli yes councilman Bernstein yes councilman Chisum yes Council vice president Sergeant uh Miss C on this particular one this will not affect the uh the contract with the police department in any way right no sir okay thank you yes thank you and council president cun yes thank you we will continue with resolutions only pertaining to the calendar year 2024 Municipal operating budget R 20624 entitled resolution of local examination of calendar year 2024 budget resolution an R 20724 entitled resolution to authorize the reading of the calendar year 2024 Municipal operating B budget by title only need a motion to open the public comments on resolution r206 d24 and R 27-24 only motion 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 seeing no one come forward and make a motion to close public session second all in favor I I are there any comments from Township council with respect to the reference to resolution r206 d24 and resolution r207 d24 great job Administration cler um council president clerk M I just have a few questions um for Miss pava Miss Schwarz if they don't mind start asking some of them go ahead Council okay um with the lawsuits that are behind us the ones that are pending will it affect this budget or future budgets thank you thanks this is our Chief Financial Officer Sharon pava CFO thank um they can affect um future years um if we um have to um accommodate for any settlements um this year there were two settlements um they are outside of cap which makes it a little bit easier when considering if we have to stay within cap um with we have our cap restrictions um but yes they they would um affect the budget in future years okay outside the cap what do you mean by if well there's inside a cap which we have the levy cap um there's two caps there's um the Appropriations cap which we have to we are allowed to go up to 3.5% of the prior years Appropriations and so we have to stay within that but those settlements would be outside of the cap so um and then the other uh excuse me the other um Le cap um is the levy cap and so as long as you have enough within your Revenue um then and stay within the 2% um that you don't go over the the 2% uh Levy from the prior year then then you can accommodate that and um as long as you have enough in Surplus uh to accommodate those settlements which are outside of the cap thank you what is our total Municipal debt at we just I believe it's about 20 uh it's actually on the um user friendly budget I believe it's 22 22 million and change okay yeah um at the end of um actually it's 22 mil 7699 okay uh what is our total budget surplus in and around I just well if you're looking at the end of the year um we ended up a little bit short because we did have the the lawsuits we also um have our master plan that we have in place uh we also have the reval that we have to both of those the master plan and the r Val we have to raise that within the next 5 years um that was about 480,000 this year it's about half a million dollars just for those two which will go on for another four years um for those expenditures uh see sorry so at the end of um after we're using our Surplus this year of over 11, 370 we end up at 4.84 five 4, 845,000 and then uh what what happens is um we try to replenish within the year and then that'll help bring us back or hopefully um to a good place okay thank you um last question we have a double A Plus credit rating which is really good yes so we want a bond or borrow money just so the public knows we pay really good rates yes we do um if we need to do that and of course we would love to do cash you know bu C you know do buy cash as much as possible in order to save money but from time to time I know the town has to bond and borrow for projects and yes for other necessities we just bonded at the end of 2023 um how can we get to that coved triaa Bond rating that the count Ocean County has on a Township level how do I I don't know if we could hear um it has a lot to do with economic conditions of the township and basically that's what they told us it it didn't have anything to do with the um with the township and their performance but it had to do with um economic conditions I want to ask which basically beyond our control okay the interest rates would be the same we we we have the lowest interest rate profile of any any Debt Service payments that we would have we are absolutely Marquee that service but the basically it's essentially demographics uh overall and and so for that that tick you know almost it having the AAA the only way to go is down double A Plus is fantastic it's considered tops but those there are items that are actually outside our wheelhouse that are simply the demographics overall in the the entire community and how they how they calculate them because we fought for we fought for a AAA rating and in our calls we had calls with the with the ratings companies uh very successful calls actually uh which I appreciate your work on that and uh and Trish as well uh with the team but that is uh those are items that are outside uh this the Wheelhouse of the finances of the municipality all right thank you any anybody else have any questions thank you so much we appreciate you any other comments from Council no I would just like to thank Mrs pava and Miss schwar for the incredibly hard work that they do every single day thank you very much thank [Applause] you I need a motion to adopt resolution R 20624 resolution of the local examination of calendar year 2024 budget resolution motion second again councilman brelli yes councilman Bernstein yes councilman Chisum yes Council vice president Sergeant yes and council president C yes any a motion to adopt resolution r207 d24 resolution to authorize the reading of the calendar year 2024 minicipal operating budget by title only motion please motion second councilman brell yes councilman Bernstein yes councilman Chisum yes Council vice president Sergeant yes and council president C uh yes thank you we now move to the public hearing of the calendar year 2024 minutes operating budget I need a motion to open the public comments on resolution r208 d24 entitled upon adoption of the Year 2024 Municipal budget motion 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 not yet we're almost there just on the budget seeing no one come forward make a motion to close public comment on this second all in favor I I I need a motion to adopt resolution r208 d24 upon adoption of the Year 2024 Municipal budget so moved second councilman burelli yes councilman Bernstein yes councilman Chisum yes Council vice president Sergeant yes and counc president yes thank you bills and claims motion to approve or hold motion to approve second councilman brelli obstain on Bill vendor number D l01 e01 and Ru t04 prob only there's only just a few of them that I had to abstain on yes to the rest thank you thank you councilman Bernstein yes councilman Chism abstain on B18 Co m44 m o1 one and R4 yes to the rest thank you Council Council vice president Sergeant yes and council president Kee abstain from RCS 002 yes to the rest thank you move on to consent agenda I need a motion to approve the list listed resolutions under consent agenda um Madame clerk would just have to pull resolution 26-24 yes ma'am we are pulling that because I spoke with our uh Chief Financial offic today and the statute 5:30 already allows for credit card payments to be made over the phone uh we were trying to give you know a little bit of the our building and code enforcement um just trying to assist them they had made a request that they wanted to start taking credit card payments over the phone we looked into it and it turns out they're already allowed to do that so we're going to remove that thank you very much I need a motion please motion second councilman for R yes councilman Bernstein yes councilman Chisum yes Council vice president Sergeant yes and council president Q yes thank you public comments on any topic I need a motion to open the public portion of the meeting for all comments so move second all in favor I at this time if any member of the public has any comments to make please address the council at the microphone state your name and address clearly for the record you will have five minutes and may only speak once okay thank you I figured I would start it off uh good evening my name is Michael S carpoff I'm with the law firm of Hill Wallock LLP and I represent the trust of the trustee of Harmony Farms uh ubbe Inc I want to thank the council for adopting the resolution uh resending resolution 19624 um if I if I understood you correctly though you indicated that um you expect or would like the homeowners to take some kind of action within 90 days to convert to a corporate governance with an elected Board of Trustees is is that accurate so what the resolution says is that we would Reserve our rights if something has not happened within 90 days doesn't mean on the 91st day that we're going to do something but we're trying to encourage that to occur okay thanks and I I appreciate apprciate that I I I want I I hope that the council understands well let me backtrack I I've represented hundreds and hundreds of community associations I have to tell you that Harmony Farms is the only Association only Comm group of residents I've seen where it's governed by a trustee rather than a homeowners association I don't know why the developer proposed that in 1986 um I don't know why the council agreed to that that they would appoint the trustee in 1986 but that's what was agreed and that's what's built into the Declaration of this community it is not easy to change that structure as we've already seen um I think you're aware that the trustee did uh submit a proposed amendment to the Declaration with bylaws to create a corporation that could govern this community um and then have annual elections for a board of of Trustees to operate it and only 29 of the 178 homeowners voted in favor of that I don't know that anyone else has the right to tell these homeowners how they should be governed um so so obvious viously well the trustee is kind of in the middle of all this because it's not up to him to tell the homeowners how they should be governed either um so I would urge the council if that's the way that if that's the direction you wish to go somehow you need to consult with the homeowners not a minority of five or not 10 whatever whatever number contacted you you need to get touch with the 178 homeowners and give them an opportunity to express you know how they want their Community to be governed um and then they have to decide how they're going to achieve that now I understand there are a number of homeowners here they may have additional comments they want to add but again I thank you in the meantime for resending that resolution and restoring an Essence the status quo until we can come up with with a permanent resolution thank you thank you sir Mr Caro if I could um the council agrees with you completely we have no desire to be involved in selecting trustees or being involved in the management of the HOA um I agree with you I've never seen it before never seen it since I have no idea why it was done back in the day um and when I say we reserve our rights we also Reserve our rights to seek a declaratory judgment action to remove the Township from any role whatsoever um we're hopeful that the association and its residents will make come up with a plan we don't want to be part of it we don't want to control it we don't want to be any part of that process um but we do hope that they can get that done and if not we may seek to have ourselves removed from that process and let the homeowners battle it out okay and I think we understand that so thank you thank you sir thank you hi sir hello I'm Kevin leaman I'm a uh for 20 years I've been a member of the homeowners association and I just wanted to Second the last speaker um sentiments uh we had an election two months ago where the choice was and this was a legitimate election done pursuant to the homeowners agreement where the choice was one bring in a member board or two keep the same administrator s and us and uh and Ube and the vote result was 83% in favor of keeping Sal and Ube and 177% in favor of bringing in a member appointed board the overwhelming sentiment of the homeowners association is to keep Sal and Ube and I'd like to explain one of the reasons the um our dues are only about $4 to $500 per year because of the efficient Administration that they have the average homeowners association in the United States States is between three and four times more than that the membership is thrilled with the job they're doing we had a a legitimate election two months ago where everyone already agreed to keep them and uh that's why we urge that there shouldn't be the need for any other election since the the whole membership had the opportunity to vote and voted in favor of keeping the status quo and I thank you for your consideration may ask councilman councilman the I apologize but we really should not be gting because of the threat of litigation i' Ur Council not to make any real comments and sir just through your response I understand there was an election that and the way it went down but that doesn't satisfy the Township's role in it we're still here and we're still involved because of the foundation documents which have not been changed that will not continue one way or another either the association is going to resolve that itself which we would prefer or we're going to have to get a court to it and I don't think that's in anyone's best interest but the township should have no role whatsoever in your Association and right now we do and we want to change that I think you do I think you all want that as well so we're urging you to please find a way to make that happen okay I understand so in other words if the membership uh decides in accordance with the recent vote they would just need to find a way to get if you select a Board of Trustees which then wants to retain ubbe that's perfectly your choice and we have no problem with that but you got to create a new Board of Trustees you have to create amendment to your bylaws countship has to get out of this mess we don't want to be in it okay I understand thank you so much uh thank you sir okay you have a great night appreciate it hello hi hi um I had something prepared so I'm just going to go can you just state your name but I have something prepared I'm just going to say it anyway because this is Harmony Farms our truth that's fine you just have a five minute limit I I get that okay my name is Diane Flynn and I live in Harmony Farms for almost 20 years I just wanted to say I am appalled at the council members here who approved the new trustees to our HOA two weeks ago since I only have five minutes to speak we can answer questions at the end but I guess we're not answering any questions so what what I want to know is why the management company Ube was fired that is my first question why weren't the whole community members of Harmony Farms notified before this took place why was ubbe replaced with the same five men that sued our own HOA in the court of law and the judge threw the case out have you council members done any research in this matter before you made your decision two weeks ago do you realize that these five men have tried to illegally take over the HOA for about two years and failed until you stepped in and handed it to them these five men have been playing dishonest and went behind every home owners back um councilwoman you stated last meeting that Jackson Township has been running this HOA since 1988 that is a lie there has always been a management company appointed since probably before 1988 I guess it was 1986 when Harmony Farms was established how can you claim that counc went through old things when you the council do not want to be involved in the HOA you said you do not want to micromanage homeowners but that's exactly what happened here you the council chose our trustees without any Vote or homeowners say why Morty you congratulated these men on their persistent emails and staying on top of their game what does this mean uve has been the management company since before I moved here ubbe annually every single January sends each homeowner a letter along with financials of where the money has been previously and will be spent for the upcoming year so your accusations against ubbe are faults that there is no Financial transparency when that clearly there is in March of this year we had a scheduled meeting with all the homeowners only 11 families showed up the meeting was to count the votes that were mailed out by Ube and the law firm they they gave everybody almost two months to complete the vote and mail back I believe only 45 votes will mail back according to our bylaws we need two-thirds of homeowners to vote the change this was not the case so things would to remain the same until 2025 these five men who have taken over the HOA were not even in attendance if they were that would have been great time to tell us all about them and the changes they want to make and why we should vote why we should vote ubbe even allowed votes to be cast that evening I think s and ubbe have played a huge role in protecting all of Harmony Farm's residents for the discriminatory actions that these five men have taken in order to take over the HOA s made sure the HOA laws that protect me and my family that are governed by the state of New Jersey were followed but that didn't really matter since you the council took our rights away you took our voices away you decided on your own what was best for my family my home and my neighborhood so I guess you rescinded the resolution for now so that's all I have to say right now but Harmony Farms has their own voice and each own each homeowner does there was no need to appoint five people that let me if I could try to answer some of your questions and some of your comments um what the council president said at the last meeting is that the tach Council governing body has been involved with this Association since it was created and that's actually correct we are because your foundation documents give us the authority to make those changes if we for any reason we want with totally within our discretion we don't want that you don't want that but the association has not taken action to get toship out of that mess and that is why we've taken a lot of actions here we would hope that your Association we who you decide to be your manager that Ube we we don't care that's your call we don't want to be any part of that but you have to do that the right way you have have elections you have to have a Board of Trustees and you should be making that decision not why we need a Board of Trustees and everything's not the township Council of Jackson Township we don't want that we don't want to be part of that you don't want us to be part of that but in order to do that you have to amend your bylaws you have to have an election and then if your elected people want Ube to remain then they remain that's what it should be that's that's your right and why do the bylaws need to be amended because right now we still have the authority to do it under your bylaws yeah but you haven't been bothered to do anything since 1986 why now because we do get calls from residents we should not be in the middle you get calls from the five same residents who' have been trying to go behind does matter does not matter if it's one res untrue what you're saying is untrue and it's only happened within a year it's happened before by these five gentlemen who have been gone behind it's happened before as well the T had to do another change to put in UB yeah yes okay thank you yes good evening Town Council resident Ryan Archer have some questions for the council it's regarding uh the U ocn 6421 the complaint that was settled a couple years ago um I want to know if any of the do information that's contained in the original complaint order if any of that was deemed inaccurate by the township or do all the statements comments by the politicians that were part of this whatever was written here is this all completely true there are numerous documents that the state claimed provided that information is there anything in here deemed incorrect well by who we challenged it and disagreed with much of it so this is the official document is that correct it's a complaint it's an allegation Fair that's all it is okay and I appreciate your phone call Sir the other day and I appreciate your phone call back welcome I want to apologize to Mr Burnstein councilman Bernstein and your community that this document even exists because it's disgusting is what it is and it should never happen and it doesn't represent at the time the entire community of this Township but it seems like that's how we were blanketed as part of this by pleading guilty if it is the word guilty so I AP I extend my apology to you and your community in regard to the consent order who negotiated the terms of the consent order from our Township who are the who are the people involved the Township's c special counsel's Brent pman um and he negotiated the matter for the township and who signed the consent order from the township I assume the mayor but I don't recall I don't have in front of and was the mayor's name listed as a defendant in this complaint yes and was there comments verbatim that were quoted in here by the mayor they were dis we disagreed with those and challenged them but this is still a legal document I'm not arguing with you sir I'm just stating the facts our answer which we don't have denied those allegations okay so the mayor signed this at the time and the mayor is still in office I I I'm not attacking the mayor by any means believe me I'm upset about this whole document existing and I and I sent in some Opa requests and they came back and they came back empty and that bothered me even more because the OPA request requested public statements by the township its officials at the time that would separate the Township from the social media companies and the and the small amount of we don't even know if there were residents that were creating the hateful talk that was in here yet it seems like the settlement was agreed upon by the the guilty party representing the entire community and I disagree with that when I vote voted for when I vote for politicians I assume that they're going to comply with the law I don't think that they're going to deter from uh I'm sorry complying with the law based on the influence of a small group of people who asked them to break the law this whole thing about surveillance by the government or local government is ridiculous it is ridiculous it's government overreach and its finest and I'm appalled to say I live in this Township based on this document I really am I put my trust in this government I put my trust in these politicians whoever they may be you do you take an oath to swear to comply with the laws of the township the state do do you take an oath to swear to do that every elected official takes that o they do thank you thank you for your response state so as you know or you might know I am in the process and I'm just a just a general worker bluecollar man who doesn't have the backing of a of a group of people the strength of an attorney but I do have the power of my voice and I feel this is wrong I feel that the entire Community was blanketed to be part of this mess here and I never agreed to this I never agreed to it that I would voted for a politician and they would de close to me that oh I'll break the law I'll do that I'll bend the rules I'll commit crimes against people this is this is serious and I know you guys handled it but not possibly in the best interest of every single person in this town because you had your back against the wall and you had deadlines to meet here and that's what I want to talk about now the next document in my hand who would approve this document written by Remington verdict on October 5th the amendment to the master plan who would that party be planning board planning board okay and when were the in the consent regards to the consent order when was that finalized what was the date of the finalization of the terms of the consent I don't know if you're talking about the state or the federal one or the private litigation so the one that's made the uh regulations that the town had to meet in regards to you know Equity board members and and uh the zoning overlays and all those things when was that finalized approximately I don't I about 13 14 months ago maybe so in the spring of Summer of of last year I think it was a little earlier than that earlier than that and when was the meeting held for public forum in regards to the two ordinance that were passed I don't I sir I don't mean to cut you off but we have a five minute limit and you're passed it okay I appreciate your time thank you any if you want to email all of your questions we've spoke send me an email and I'll forward them to the attorney and we'll get answers or you're of course welcome to come back I appreciate your time thank you all thank you sir have a nice meeing thank you ladies and gentlemen Abraham sharby for Hill Court I have a question what does it mean to be American all our ancestors came everyone here from many different countries what is the essence of being an American what does it mean why did we come here we know the famous saying from Patrick Henry Give me liberty or give me death the essence of an American is we want to rule ourselves just so like we vote here in the township every one of us has a right to vote for the township and to run for Township same goes for the county each and every one of us has a right to vote for the county same for the country same for the state we want to rule ourselves we want to govern ourselves the same thing goes for every HOA every Association including Harmony Farms we want to run our own Affairs and the fact that it has not been done for 30 years as an injustice it's unamerican and not patriotic the residents of Harmony Farms everyone who is here and not here deserves an HOA who would be who would which will be run by its own people I have over here petitions from over 50 people who signed that they want a new HOA they want to actually govern themselves I can start reading names mind Ros from t hlack Hill 10 Hickory Hill Mr Kramer one by one Emily Ben 96 Hickory Hill you could you could have a copy right here we want to rule ourselves just like every American deserves to be in charge of his own Affairs now there was mentioned before the bylaws that uh Mr queso did want to change just to say just to mention one point of that was brought up to Mr queso about his bylaws he writes in his new bylaws that he wanted us to to adapt it says principal office the principal office of the association is located at one Willow Pond Drive how New Jersey basically he's giving us an option to vote for bylaws which will enshrine him forever as the principal office of the association or not to vote for the bylaws hence he will be in power forever and ever Mr queso has been ruling the place for over 30 years and we pay here's a copy for yourself we pay $343 $178 homes $343 .7 for a year which comes out to $61,000 what does he do with that money I don't know he does pay insurance for the Common Grounds he cuts the grass $61,000 where is that money going Mr queso and also Mr KPop who is here where is the money we deserve to know where's the money and Thea goes his audacity is astonishing now that we want to change it and make it that we run our association he goes ahead and he sues us with our money he takes our money and goes and sues us the people we the people do not deserve to be treated like that what we get once a year is a paper like this that no questions asked and this is this is supposed to show where the $61,000 are going again anyone that believes that we should that others should be a tyrant should be ruling us that's unamerican such things are that's what happens in North Korea and in Iran Americans As Americans we want to rule ourselves we want to govern ourselves thank you so much thank you sir see no one come for oh Ora Kirk Jackson resident I'm also on the board for Jackson little leag um I know you guys have much bigger issues than this but I was just coming to listen in for the scoreboard approval possibly it it was approved it was approved it was a resolution on that thank you so on behalf of Jackson little league and all the kids on the organization we thank you guys so much I've been trying for two years to get the scoreboards fixed so well you can actually Recreation was a huge part of that and the only reason why it was pushed back for one meeting is because we just wanted to check with the engineer we actually had to up the budget to them to make sure there's actually instead of six there's going to be eight so thank you so much we really really appreciate the kids thank you and I also wanted to Second Sean balinsky yes to notch thank you thank you guys thank you I appreciate you coming out it's very kind of you thank you hi Council Joe candido public safety director in line with what Fred rabi said as far as thanking people for the protest on May 19th I need to thank John juven Captain John janetti and Lieutenant miabi for putting together the plan that kept everybody safe um um as you said before this was supposed to start over here at Town Hall and it got moved last minute to the veterans place and those guys did a phenomenal job in rotating and getting our Manpower where it needed to be to make sure that everybody was safe nothing got damaged and everybody went home at the end of the day we had a counter protest as well and they kept everybody separated and safe Sean balinsky and his crew awesome job I I can't thank them enough for getting what we needed to make everything go smoothly I also want to thank uh the Lakewood Police Department for assistance Sheriff master rardy and his crew for their assistance and U bill um Brad billheimer and prosecutor's office for their assistance they all came out and helped us out to make this a safe environment for everybody so that's it thank you thank you director Ron and needle I live at 87 Hickory Hill Road and Harmony Farms I've been there for 30 some OD years seen good things happen and bad things happen my one question to the board is and I don't know the law so I'm asking for you to do research is does the HOA have do we have the right to see where the money is being spent Council yes what they have to provide is always a question mark yes you are entitled to know where the money goes see copies of checks to see copies of expenditures bills Etc and that's including the insurance including any insurance charges however you have to act through an HOA Board of Trustees they would have the right and would have to sign checks to pay these bills you don't have that process set up at this point because you have a trustee who is in charge of the why was the board never set up I cannot answer that question it goes back 30 years I have because this is the first prior to this everything's been fine with no Board of Trustees well there was a prior incident where the governing body changed the trustee uh under these bylaws this is not the first time they've done it okay um so there was a prior incident where that occurred we don't want to do it yep thank you ma'am seeing no one oh I just want to read uh an email that a neighbor of mine sent me this is regarding the Harmony Farms Association sir your name please your name please oh Shalom ohon and your address I live at three Brierwood Court in Jackson thank you um he he sent me this email he told me that he sent it into the township and I felt that it sums up uh basically what everybody in I don't know everybody but most people with the what they're thinking all the people that's that put in a petition what they're thinking why they want it to be changed he said to whom am may concern I Mr so and so am a resident of Harmony Farms in Jackson the reason for this letter is to firmly State my support for the action taken by Jackson Township which allows for our homeowners association to be governed by an elected board the board should have the rights to hire a property management company as they seem fit and we should not have a property manager installed on our behalf for the past seven years that I've been paying dues to Mr Sal casso of ubbe I have not seen him offer true representation of the community and there are several unanswered questions as to how funds are being spent and accumulated the only practical and obvious solution is to have an elected Board of the association who can provide oversight to whomever they decide to hire as a property management company I commend the township for taking this step and hope they will listen to Mr casso's frivolous and they will not listen to Mr casso's frivolous claims to the contrary having an elected board for a homeowners association should not be up for debate it's Common Sense the fact that Mr casso is trying to use our money to fight for his unearned tenure should be considered as a very suspicious red flag thank you again for your desire to help our community kind regards thank you sir Scott Keenan for Hickory Hill Road uh 20 years uh Council would you know if we could just implode this homeowners association the town takes the property away takes it back we we looked at this 15 years ago when we we had like ATVs and stuff driving through just get rid of the homeowners association Town pays a dollar takes the property we're not responsible for it anymore we're like every other development is that possible no it's not why you have formation documents that constitute a contract between the residents and the association those documents are the same as any other legal contract that Township has no right to interfere and change them only the residents can change those documents the res you're saying that Harmony forms can dissolve itself I'm sorry you're telling me that Harmony forms then can dissolve itself if the board of directors of Harmony FS adopts amended bylaws that say selling this entire Community well the township may not buy it but they can dissolve they can amend them they can change them they can do whatever they want okay so we dissolve the Township's out of it the property just stays in in I do not believe you could do that based upon the I don't either but you keep saying that basically the town doesn't want to be in business with this and I I get it listen I I understand you're just you're the attorney representing the town this isn't personal there's no animosity between you and I this is just a question so the town doesn't want to be in business anymore but due to our own bylaws and document we can't get you out of it we can't say all right we don't want this anymore you can you can if you adopt amended bylaws create a corporation have an elected Board of Trustees provide a succession program to select the management of fir of the com of the uh HOA and then eliminate the township yes you can so we vote five people in a 90 days we come back to the town we say we changed everything we don't want it anymore what happens then if you amend the bylaws to eliminate the provision that the township can select the trustee we're out of it we have no role or no say okay do we still have to stay a homeowners association I can't give you advice on that sir check with your Choy the problem we have is that the only way for us to get advice is to absolutely pay so we have Splinter groups now so it's not a community we're they're not Community we're Splinter groups is what's going on and it's getting listen if if we could just get rid of it where everybody lives in their own house I'm fine for it I'm not looking for fights I just kind of wanted this to to kind of end I understand I can't give you legal advice I understand that I understand I appreciate your time thank you sir seeing no one come forward and make a motion to close public session motion all in favor I I motion CL motion close all in favor I have a good night