pled Ali to the flag of the United States of America rep for it stands one nation under God individual liberty and justice for [Music] all good evening and welcome the April 25th meeting of the Jackson Township Council will now come to order councilman barelli here councilman berstein here councilman Chisum here Council vice president Sergeant is absent this evening and council president cun here as Clerk of this meeting I hereby publicly announce that in compliance with the provisions of the open public meetings act adequate notice of this meeting has been advertised in a manner prescribed by law council president I believe there are Proclamation yes first we're going to do the cheerleaders you're going to get your certificates so is there any Captain over there or anything coach right got it got it okay so I'm going to pass it to you say the name and then when you hear your name just come up okay Bella [Music] ardino Katie Adamo yeah she's here Lauren selini congratulations Madison curado Morgan [Applause] curado Kristen Driscoll Julia Goldberg congratulations Erin Holton [Applause] Alysa [Applause] canel Brooke lazinski Payton [Applause] Lori Ava [Applause] Marciano Samantha Pino Sophia Pinto conrat Bella quisada Leah scanland Olivia simonelli Alexa spear thank you congratulations girls Council if you want to come up and take a picture with them if you any parents want to come up and take pictures Co [Applause] [Music] yeah I learned from the mayor [Music] okay I'm going to read a proclamation is somebody here to accept it on behalf of uh the soccer organization hi guys thank you whereas it gives me great deal of pleasure to express my sincere congratulations to the Jackson soccer club and trimal program for being named New Jersey youth soccer Recreation program of the year and whereas the soccer club has been a member of New Jersey youth soccer for many years and has been a great partner for the State Association hosting several coaching courses and providing fields for various State Games and events and whereas the Jackson soccer club Recreation program consists of intermural Player Development and referee development the intermural program has divisions for players uh from 3 to 17 years of age they currently have 350 players each season um running programs in the spr spring and the fall and whereas the program strives to create a safe fun and exciting environment for children to learn the game of soccer their goal is to have every child leave the soccer field with a sense of accomplishment and joy and whereas the Jackson soccer club outstanding performance commitment and sportsmanship has set them apart and earned them the well-deserved recognition now therefore I Michael Raina mayor of the township of Jackson County of ocean state of New Jersey congratulate the Jackson soccer club the intermal director and all the associates with the program for their outstanding acknowledgement if you could please come up and accept it on behalf of the mayor [Applause] [Music] thank you we will now continue with the opening comments from Township Council council president cun thank you madam Clerk good evening all thank you all for coming out tonight another congratulations to our Jackson Liberty High School cheer team and the soccer team we have such great Sports programs and it would be a shame if the Department of Education under Governor Phil Murphy attempts to take away this from our school district by continuing to slash their budget this brings me to what's going on with our schools I would like to encourage the public to become an advocates for the district by reaching out to the governor the Department of Education and the state legislators you can visit Jackson sd.org to find email addresses for the governor legislators and Department of Education as well as templates that can help you get started tonight we are going to have a discussion between Council and fire districts three and four regarding their budgets not being passed by the residents residing in those districts the purpose of this conversation is to give each District 5 to 10 minutes to discuss their budget with Council and the residents I wanted to thank I wanted to talk about the turfs at the Justice complex first thank you for the administration for having these beautiful uh turf fields installed which cost almost $3 million also thank you to the soccer football and little league coaches that have been maintaining them um with all that being said our department head Sean at DPW is having a third party come out um and groom them so that oh wait sorry so that we can make sure sure that they stay in tiptop shape so if any of you sport parents see any issues in this field I ask that you reach out to me or Sean at DPW so that we can direct he can direct them directly you will see tonight's agenda the purchasing of scoreboards for the Justice complex as well this is being tabled for tonight so that DPW and our engineer team can check on the dimensions of the boards we are working getting scoreboards that can come with tablets or have an app for the coaches to keep score during the game thank you Anthony from our parks and recreation department heads for continuing to work to upgrade stuff for the kiddos next week we have an economic advisory meeting and we will have Greg vassie of CME attending to answer any questions the committee may have regarding the master plan thank you so much drive safe and have a great night thank you councilman barelli uh thank you clerk Moss um council president cun mentioned about the turfield at the Justice complex and um I'm proud that have been part of the count Council a couple years ago that was supportive of those new turf fields um at the Justice complex congratulations um also in order for the Jackson Liberty High School uh cheer team that was just here and the Jackson soccer team the coaches on their accomplishments keep up the great work and play in a happy Passover to our fellow Jackson residents who celebrate also I saw on the bulletin board in the hallway here a flyer about a summer concert series at Johnson Park starting in June and running through until August uh since taking office as uh your councilman I've been asking why can't we do more at Johnson Park and I've advocated for more events like the concerts that take place at our Township's largest park so I'm glad to know it's happening for fellow residents to gather and enjoy concerts at Johnson Park this summer thank you to the recreation department staff and administration for putting it together more information about this year's summer concert series can be found on the recreation page on the township website it's good seeing you all here tonight take care and have a good evening and a safe uh ride home and um also hello to the residents who are uh listening in as well take care thank you councilman Bernstein good evening um I also Echo what um councilman burelli just said happy P Passover happy pesak to all those who are celebrating with that in mind I just want to take a special moment to thank all the fire departments for um doing whatever they could ensure a smooth and safe KET burning on Monday morning I had opportunity to visit Three ketz burning sites and so many of you guys there so thank you additionally I also had opport unfortunate opportunity of getting stuck behind the fire truck last night that was on their way to a fire in my development so thank you to whoever went out to Ser to serve and to fight that fire um and I'm looking forward to hearing the discussion on the budget tonight um I'm also serve on the planning board as zaz on to the master plan committee for the council so I want to take a moment to just to update really all residents in of the town in in in in general in particular to my fellow council members um that on May 6th um the the master plan subcommittee will be here holding a public um a public hearing which will be to discuss the goals and objectives of the master plan here at 5 o'l in town hall um all residents are invited to attend to share their thoughts a little bit about the goals and objectives um and my fellow council members are also invited as residents to come sit in the crowd we look forward to the master plan process being transparent open and engaging with all of our residents um we also had the opportunity this week of last week sorry of meeting as the Roa Farms subcommittee um we are working together with our professionals from from Morgan Municipal um and on April 16th April 16th the Morgan professionals met together with the council president and myself over Zoom with um the pre-application hearing with the D um unfortunately working with the DP um there's multiple permitting processes which are required and due to due to that due to those permitting processes we are going to be taking a hard dive into all the plans ensuring that um whatever we can do we can do smooth fast um and obviously with all the the proper guidelines from the state additionally as council president said I I urge everyone to reach out to all the state legislators I had opportunity in speaking to two different members of the assembly from different parties in the past week and they told me that they had already received from local Jackson residents over 250 emails urging them to um to do whatever they could to fight for our schools I can I urge everyone to continue doing their part um because our voices are definitely being heard thank you and have a good night thank you councilman Chisum good evening thank you um always like to get the good stuff out of the way first so congratulations again to our Champions the Jackson Liberty Cheer Team and the best club of soccer in the state the Jackson soccer club uh we do have a rich history of all of our Sports uh since you know way back whether it was Jackson vix or Jackson little league Holbrook I mean it's great to see the kids really representing Jackson and it's uh makes us all proud so keep it up Happy Passover to those of you that are celebrating and thanks to all of our firefighters and First Responders here this evening looking forward to hearing what you have to say for those of you famili with the Morton Salt Company you might not be familiar with Jay Sterling Morton Jay Sterling Morton is a gentleman that in 1872 instituted our first National Arbor Day which is by the way tomorrow as an arborist uh I would like to help promote that so make sure that you guys are out there with your kids celebrating trees planting them used to be an important event the kids used to all do that uh some of that has fallen out of favor and we've decided we wanted Jackson to look like Staten Island so now we cut down all over our 100-year old oak trees and put up neighbor haters yeah it's great not a good idea folks so get out there celebrate your trees ARB day is the only holiday not like other holidays that Repose upon the past ARB day is the only one that proposes for the future so plant some trees and of course the bad news yes King Phillip is at it again and him and the Democrats you've already heard what they're doing to our state you've seen what they've done to Jackson schools they are devastating our school system with over $20 million and what is important to them is not actually an education contrary to all the lip service that they give you they are currently proposing the following three bills and you tell me how many of these help your children Senate Bill 1188 and assembly bill 2874 which is going to permit minors 14 years of age and older to consent to behavioral health care services without parental consent you tell me how that helps anybody what 14-year-old knows what the hell they need mentally or in any other way and that your parents aren't needing to be told they are not your nursea contrary to what Hillary Clinton says it does not take a village it takes parents assembly Bill 4120 is also out and it's going to prohibit restricting access to books or other resources in public libraries and in schools it authorizes withholding of state aid for non-compliance so if you think Philip has taken $20 million out of your schools and you decide you know I don't think pornography belongs in a third grade reading situation well he's going to hold back more money you don't think that's a problem folks I do Senate Bill 2421 and assembly Bill 3446 eliminates your local Board of education's authority to determine what library materials are offered in your public school libraries and removes all accountability of the library media Specialists and Librarians for what is actually being offered in Library materials so why do we have them just to put the books on the shelves they don't get the right by the people that have hired them and are paying their salaries these folks are a disgrace and they should all be removed from office every last one of them so when November comes you have the opportunity to vote out any single Democrat by all means please do because these guys are not Democrats they are socialists or Communists they are taking away your rights to your children and they get to decide what's appropriate for their reading and I got news for you I don't know anybody that agrees at a third-year old or a third grader fourth grader has the right to be looking at some of the stuff that is being promoted it is not book Banning and other leftist propaganda talking points it is pornography and other nonsense that does not belong being indoctrinating your children or mine and so now is the time folks speak up because they're just taking your rights and they figure you guys aren't going to speak up why bother because if you don't raise hell guess what you know they're just paying attention to people getting paid to set up tents on your college campuses instead of getting an education do something thank you have a good night thank you council president believe there's a tutorial on the agenda this evening sorry yes uh just a couple minutes we're just gonna we've had um some we've received emails regarding navigating the um our Township website and finding the applications that we are creating via ordinance so Christian is going to be so kind just to kind of give you a quick tutorial um about where where you find all the uh pertinent information that you [Music] need good evening everyone we're just going to cover the U uh container for construction and temporary storage permit on how to get to it from our website on the main uh there's several ways to get there actually uh the first one the the least popular one is the uh going into the department and divisions for in planning and zoning and these are the permits that are available online construction container temporary storage zoning permit uh tree removal and and the PDF for the applications for zoning permit uh second one is um we will'll discuss the form uh right after I show you all the the links uh second one is um going to the going back to the main page go into the forms and licenses and permits in here you can get to The Container construction temporary storage permit directly from there it'll bring you to the form and then there's also how do I apply for permit and same thing here it lands on the same landing page and the the favorite one um the most um I I guess everybody uh love doing a search so if you do container brings you right there on the form you have to fill out all the forms to move on to the next uh uh I guess the U the boxes here you have to fill out all the U the required uh information like the work type first let's say uh will go to the construction container and then you have to um enter the description of work you're going to do and the comments is um it's not required but uh the zoning office they they want you to be detailed on what the information um they want you to be detailed on all the information that you want to put in there and also um they want uh there is a spot in here for the documents they they want you to uh submit all the required documents to uh I guess and Christian I just I just want to be specific the the documents that are required is on there that they could see so when they're going through this it's going to say you need a b and c and then you can just upload them right there correct correct yes okay yes thank you I guess that's it and could you just do me a favor can you also just uh show the news website that we have sure thank you sir this is the website that we've been talking about that we want to turn into also have an app so you could put it on your phone and be able to get all of the information that you need right on your mobile device or laptop so this will also tell you about any upcoming events that we have uh like councilman was speaking about for the summer concert so if you're not sure there's also a calendar that'll also let you know when events are so if you're looking for something to do I actually got a text message today from somebody he like oh what can I do in town today um and I directed them to uh the website thank you Christian I appreciate it sure Madam clerk thank you President we move on to discussion regarding Fire District 3 and Fire District Four budgets okay so thank you so much what we're going to do is now we're going to have Christian if you could just have a um a timer a maximum of 10 minutes we're going to have District three come up first and we're going to have an open uh conversation this is not a debate this is not a going through your um budget line by line questions might have from Council they all do have the budgets um we just want to be transparent we are sitting up here you know month after month saying that we we're being transparent with residents we we have a problem the budget was not approved by the residents so it how what the process is the budgets go to Administration and administration reviews them and then it goes to council now I did ask if maybe Council can have this discussion in executive we were not allowed to do that so I want to make sure that you guys can have your voices heard to council and the budget that was the amount that was uh suggested to us was $350,000 cut from District 3 and $350,000 cut from District 4 now me being the person I am I'm saying I'm a negotiator right that's that's kind of what I do for a living I want you guys to have the open form to go through and to say listen you know maybe we can do this or maybe we can do that but we can't go all the way to the 350 it's going to hurt us now I also know that the District 3 is in conversations to uh merge and we in consolid I apologize um I also know that our EMS is definitely having problems and we are here to help we are Administration you guys I know are pretty much on your own um you know your own but we are here to work with you come to a meeting of the minds and hopefully um resolve this professionally and together and everybody walk away shaking hands that's that's that's the goal tonight I know we're going to try to get there but I really don't we let's not argue let's be you know let's have conversations and bring facts and we're going to ask questions and they might be hard questions let's just answer them and work through it and uh you know move on commissioner can you please come up and if there's anybody else you want to bring up with you we did set up two so um both of the commissioners of District three and four uh good evening everyone um if you want to sit at the we set the table up for you but you can stand I'll stand there you go thank you it's um I have a short statement I'd like to read it runs about four minutes um um you have 10 and and then uh I do have my Chiefs are in the room with me to help answer any questions that you may have afterwards I just want to let you know this has not been publicized to the public so there is going to be it's no comments of coming up and and that is not this this is an open conversation okay so it was not publicized we're just having a forum here um so it's not it's it's not that kind of meeting thank you right good evening everyone my name is Frank rushka chairman of the Jackson Fire District three Board of fire Commissioners located at 200 kir Memorial Drive in Johnson Park District 3 is in the Northeast section of town it is physically the smallest District it is also the most densely populated fire district in town we border districts two and four as well as how and Lakewood all of us at Fire District 3 continue to serve the public to the best of our ability responsibly and effectively while looking not only at the present but looking to the Future as well we can only meet these requirements with sufficient funding and Staffing districts 2 and three have formally committed by resolution to moving forward with consolidating it is a work in progress and will be happening consolidation of the districts will help streamline and improve the coordination of all aspects of running the fire service here in Jackson this year's failed fire district budgets however must still be worked out as if consolidation is not happening fire budgets are on the ballot every year when the election is in February even if within the 2% cap rules our budget was within the cap rules and it failed only 2.65% or 442 of 16,666 registered voters in District three participated this year February fire elections are set by New Jersey law for the third Saturday in February from 2: to 900m in the future I urge all registered voters to participate and consider mail and ballots to avoid any conflict with religious or other commitments fire at District 3 is not immune to our changing economy or inflation our operating costs have increased dramatically over the last few years just look at what happened to the price of a gallon of milk or gasoline our insurance costs in 2021 were $ 73,4 something7 this year they are set at $176,600 hose has doubled in cost new rules concerning aging out of apparatus and personal protective equipment are expected to be enacted in 2025 or 26 this increases the urgency to save what we can towards future future purchases to offset any needed financing depending on the finalized new rules we may need to replace our 16-year-old Tower ladder and 32-year-old heavy rescue sooner than originally anticipated delivery time on new apparatus has increased to nearly 4 years a pumper in 2022 that cost $738,000 will cost closer to 1.2 million today a tower ladder that cost 1.4 million in 2022 will cost closer to $2.4 million today one portable radio currently costs $1,000 turnout gear to outfit one firefighter has increased to $5,300 these are just a few of the things that we consider every year when we painstakingly craft our budget I'm here tonight on behalf of Fire District 3 to negotiate a budget cut that will respect those voters who participated in the election process we must however still be able to operate efficiently and effectively as well as carefully plann for our changing future most residents do not interact with us some interact with us on what is likely one of the worst days of their lives when when someone's home or business is on fire they just want us to put the fire out and rescue anyone who needs rescuing none of that is possible without sufficient funding and Staffing thank you for your time thank you sir and we thank you so much for your service okay so does council have any questions um you had some other folks that anybody else want to say anything or add to that or I mean while you have the the floor here um I I think we're good yeah please first of all thank you again for your service um quick question over here sure um I you mentioned that you are in the process you passed a resolution to consolidate with District Two the resolution actually has already been passed in District three and in District Two to move ahead with consolidation so can you elaborate were there any studies on on the savings that that will that will we have not gotten that far yet but previous studies show that if there are any savings it will be minimal and it will simply be on the government side it will not be on the operational side of the business okay and has there been conversations with other districts about possibly consolidating with them also um it it has been presented to other districts um District Two is uh is we're consolidating with District Two District Four at this time uh does not wish to be part of the process with us um and I have not had the opportunity or uh even thought until recently about possibly bringing EMS into the consolidation as well but we we are open to it and we open to doing that yeah we'll have to discuss it with Council and see whatever else it is we we need if we need to make any changes so the consolidation though will cut some costs now I'm not talking about hoses and stuff like that I'm not talking about what you need I understand and listen we understand the apparatus is going up um I I had did visit all of your um your meetings and it was very different between the purchase of an apparatus at one meeting you got two uh districts were purchasing them but the cost was very different between the two so I don't know if you need different equipment in certain areas in the in the town or what the well one of the things consolidation will do is it will actually give us the chance to re-evaluate all the apparatus in the Consolidated District then we can determine even before consolidation we should be able to determine what apparatus we may no longer need and can sell and we'll also be determining what additional apparatus we will need to be able to serve the community okay uh right right now our Tower ladder is 16 years old uh these new rules that they're talking about bringing into uh into bear they're talking about 20 years to have to replace it uh to age it out uh that means I should be ordering one today so can I just ask you what do you have in your um your capital for what is it reserve it uh in our capital reserve that's a really great question I think we have I want to say somewhere around 1.1 million okay and we were using portion of that to offset the tax levy this year I believe we were using somewhere in the neighborhood of 450 460,000 to offset the tax levy leaving us with about 540,000 in there okay and are you purchasing any new vehicles this year is that in the budget well it is in the budget you have a lot of vehicles I'm gonna we have we got a lot of tahos boys but and I'm not saying anything listen you have your thing we're just talking about cutting a little bit back yeah um so what what are you thinking where is District 3's head at um if we were to you know to present to council where you might consider um right now Council was advised uh $350,000 um I know that I believe that you guys are moving forward towards the consolidation and that would extremely hurt that process and we don't want to stop that process we want to see that process we're very Pro if if I can speak of for all Council and administration we are pro merging so we appreciate that and we thank you for having those conversations and I know that resolution was passed and I thank you for looking out for EMS because I don't want to lose EMS either and just you know I did meet with um the chief at EMS as well as councilman Bernstein and we had a great conversation and I didn't realize that we don't even it's not mandated that state of New Jersey has its own EMS I don't want to lose my EMS no my emergency services you guys mean everything to us my house two years ago I had a fire in my house there was 13 of you guys at my house I was like thank you where do I write the check even we had conversations you know sometimes you know they they get picked up and they don't get paid paid for the ambulance I don't agree with that so I think that you know we're here to support you we're not working against you we're working with you but we do need to you know work on this budget a little bit so go ahead I'm sorry Council can I just ask a question just because I got a beautiful packet of information that your District put together and I read through it this afternoon um could you just for the for the sake of the public who didn't get a chance to review that could you just let the public know how many calls you guys get a year because it's unbelievable last year we answered over calls if me memory serves me correct correctly it was 1131 calls last year there were over 865 possibly 868 calls in District there were about 162 assists to District Two we had 24 out of town assists that included freeold Lakewood and Howell and we had I believe it's about 50 a little less than 50 assists to fired this District Two 60 okay and and just to piggy back off that question um obviously um consolidating would mean a um you have lower you have a big bigger opportunity to bargain lower probably premiums and insurance um yes yes and and hopefully do you know how many calls District Two got just out of curiosity I do not sir I apologize okay no that's okay that was I just that was out of curi consolidating um all right so if anybody does anybody Council have any other additional questions before I ask this uh commissioner if you I have a question please thank you um thank you for your service and your staff your colleagues um I don't live in fire district three I'm in four so with three what was your budget that was voted down I mean what was your budget compared to last year's budget how much of there of an increase was there it it was actually a quite sizable increase um even though we remained below the budget cap rules right the increase was probably close to 19% okay that was the request um you know unfortunately we still have to pay the bills and and could we do it with less yes we can do it with less are is is it going to hurt our ability to plan for the future so that we don't have to finance so much yes it will but can can you do with the $350,000 cut that min we we can I I mean what number can can we do it yeah we can do it but we're going to be hurting very badly for future planning what number are you looking at maybe then you have a number or I mean I'm I'm hoping for somewhere around a 100 uh I I don't know if if you you can see that but I might have a suggestion sure um can we we're at 350 you're at a 100 um can we I'm going to ask the council obviously we can't confirm I can't shake your hand on this even though I said I was going to shake her hand after we come to meeting online because I I don't want you guys to be upset we we're just trying to can we kind of meet at the middle um maybe a little less and and and round it about I don't know maybe 190 or 200 we're taking and again I have to speak with Council can can I get you down to 140 uh no I I'll start going up no I'm being serious I mean I I think if we can maybe you know if we can get it to um you know maybe one0 or something like that Council I mean is there something you can um work with is there something you can put off until next year without it being a detriment to the residents I I really don't believe we can umse or the reductions that that I'm looking at we we came up with 75 on our own anything above the 75 is we're reducing what's going into the future Capital expenses so I just want to I just want to touch on that the only thing I'm going to bring up is want to bring up north New Prospect building so I understand that the volunteers own that building yes they do and then but you guys are taking out a loan to renovate it is that is that true or you're taking is it in your Capital I'm asking it's a question no that's that's to nothing has been arranged with them as far as so there's nothing there's no none of this budget is to improve that building no not at all not one one not one red scent and do you have a do you have room for a bay in there for EMS to park one of their vehicles or is that currently happening now or not um actually EMS is operating out of our kage road facility no I know that but is there an em do we have one on the other side of town because you mean when you say the other side of town you mean I know there you guys have two two buildings correct right yeah so I'm saying the building in North New Prospect does that have a a a bay that could hold an EMS vehicle it it could but I mean there are fire vehicles in those Bays but don't you think we should have an EMS over there as well or no that's a question well I mean I'm sure we could work something out okay okay go ahead um if I could just ask obviously no one on this on this government wants to cut any of our emergency services and none of our equipment which is which is needed do you do you see see it being able to take close it to about 170 from the cut a little bit under half you know what 170 I would be very happy with sir okay okay so I think we're I think we're we're nearing nearing a number which I think which would be a compromise and I think we which we could look at this budget because I went through the budget obviously I don't know all defined details well enough to to to to take it all on my shoulders but I I think we can probably get a little bit under 50% of of the suggested number and and probably cut a deal here that that would make me e ecstatic okay so I think you're gonna have a deal we will um we can't vote on it um but we will uh create a resolution and it will be on the next agenda and okay for the May 14th meeting yes sir we have to give notice right yeah we have to give notice so it has to be notice we can't we can't make any um definite you know handshake kind of things but we can we can we want to have an open discussion and and work with you guys we appreciate you so very very much um thank you very much for your time and for here look forward to getting it settled and uh yes sir one more more question for you here um so just for the Public's point of view the equipment I understand you know has a mandatory retirement age it it does not yet have a mandatory or other gear nothing has to be retired after a PPE does need to be retired um air bottles need to be retired how frequently sir the uh air bottles I believe are are 15 years the turnout gear is generally it's doesn't have to be retired at the 10year Mark but once it is 10 years old presently we will no longer pay to repair it so and and we'll put it out of service these new mandates come through either next year or the year after they will have to be retired mandatorily right and these things are all really cheap right like 50 bucks a pop right no more like 5,300 bucks a pop that's what I thought and and where are these mandates coming from uh from OSHA and I believe the NFPA yeah and NFPA is the National Fire protect Protection Association they are the people who write the National Electric Code yes very good and your trucks that they are looking to retire also with a 20-year very similar to bucket trucks areial lifts for those that work in utility and other work uh they would like to retire those at 20 years and as you just heard um trucks are on a waiting list because we're waiting for computer parts from China by the way our friends that send us all kinds of good things and um what else is that they're requiring those those trucks they want a 20-year window right well they're they're talking about a 20-year window now it may vary a little bit depending upon what they put in uh but as far as I know apparatus we talking about 20 years our heavy rescue truck is 32 years old right and it's the only heavy rescue in town and that's only because it's well-maintained and shown some love and yeah those things they don't last like they used to they don't build stuff like they used to we all know that no and and another thing that we are facing is uh emergency vehicle technicians are rather scarce and we are required to use someone that's a certified emergency vehicle technician to do the repairs and maintenance on these vehicles and that's really that's really cheap as well right so all of these mandates the point is that you know considerably every single week or whatever when we meet together I talk about the mandates from the state and from the federal government this is a perfect example of mandates coming down from on high you have to retire your gear you have to re retire your trucks they have to be inspected a certain way these things all come with expenses that are not at the will of the council or the administration this is not within our budget this is not the men and women serving your community that are saying hey we just want to spend money these are mandates that are given to you by our feds and by the state which is why I encourage you to hold those folks accountable you can see how it has a practical trickle down application right here in Jackson my point exactly every single time so thank you for your time appreciate the information thank you sir thank you very much District Four can come [Applause] up good morning Council good morning how are you so again we're GNA try and keep it to 10 minutes if you want to go and then any questions that we have be more than happy good evening I'm Raymond Torres president of the board of fire Commissioners for District 4 I'm going to give you a little information about our district yes sir we have seven full-time career firefighters two supervisors of the seven two of them are supervisors one firefighter who serves as our Fire official our Bureau we have a fully functioning Bureau that handles inspections fire investigations fire prevention we have two buildings on County one on County Line one on Commodore at Main and substation we have three Pumpers two utility Pumpers one tanker One ladder one brush truck two command Vehicles three support vehicles for fireplace we are equi to respond the calls range from structure fires forest fires EMS technical rescue water rescue rapid intervention helicopter operations and vehicle exucation to name a few in 2023 responded to 1,280 calls for service in 2024 we're around 366 year to date coming up on our busy season here's our taxes for the last five years this is as you know it's per $100 we are 069 on every $100 in that 2019 2020. 71 20 2.78 202208 7 20239 to finally this year we had to break 10 cents and go 0113 uh for reference your school tax is $142 for every 100 so uh and Jackson tax is 0.531 for every 100 and the county tax is 52 0.52 as you see we get scraps uh compared to the rest of the township how we able to keep the taxes low with all our capabilities Manpower apparatus with no major increases the answer is we've be doing more it less for years we save money uh we save money over the course of years be able to make outright purchases or put enough money down not to incur substantial debt we auction off Surplus supplies maximize our returns take part in purchasing co-ops bid out all purchases and typically beat State contract numbers uh most importantly we closely scrutinize the need of all purchases in our district unless items are absolutely necessary for the future benefit of the district we will not purchase it we do not purchase the wants but the needs to match the growth in population and fall volume in our district what's what different this year I'm sure everybody knows and the council is aware that inflation is slightly below uh 3.5% which is why the township Council itself asked to raise their budget from a 2.5% cap to 3.5 to establish the cap Bank all of our costs have drastically increased including our prospects of future improvements medical insurance salaries vehicle maintenance vehical Insurance gas training and cost of supplies we're out of room at our main station and need additional space the substation needs a two additional Bay we need additional apparatus to accommodate the tight spaces that are in Jackson 21 and replace our nearly 20y old Vehicles we need to transition to new Scott packs because Scott will no longer be willing to Service uh our current Scot packs this substantial cost $10,000 per pack so we need about 15 we got voter authorization for 150,000 they year to use um and that's just some of them may need more for reference one multiband radio also is $111,000 which the township transferred over to 700 mahz and that uh Force us to adapt as well and uh we would like to put career staff on at our substation to help decrease the call volum the decrease the call response time to our calls in order to reduce the burden of taxpayers we need to save money to help plan it for the future the township is requesting 700 and cuts from two districts which is with with very tiny budgets with be a major blow to both districts thank you sir does anybody have Council M have question I have a couple yeah I have a couple so I noticed that in um 2023 in your uh Capital you had 150,000 this year you have a $500,000 increase is what is that for so we've been pushing off projects we like to P we've used what we saved up over the course of years for other purchase so we purchased we allotted 200,000 from money we already had that we paid in cash for our tractor for 548 and to revamp the trailer that's currently associated with it no cost to the taxpayer we save up overtime we're trying to be physically responsible not increase tax which is why we're the lowest taxing down still to this day okay so you said you have seven career firefighters and two of which are supervisors one doubles as a Fire official and four of them are driving vehicles are that's what you have on your your vehicle sheet I have in front of me yeah it depends on the day I mean usually we have four guys in a PA three of them are tahos so yeah the vehicles I'm just trying to say I'm just trying to say is and why you're not considering the consolidation that would help you you know that wouldn't help us that would hurt us we we get this we provide the same quality of service to our taxpayers at an increased price because with a low and down it'll average up higher than whatever happens after that there would be incurred additional costs so it doesn't benefit our district at all actually hurts them but your budget wasn't approved that's votes pardon by 28 maale in votes and how many votes Al together did you have uh how many okay so you had 300 and how many people in your District how many residents i' have to look up the exact number I I don't know a substantial amount I mean we have population grow every year our ratables go up okay you don't know how many people are in your District sub more than 300 I mean no I know I'm just saying I I know that the the other package that we got we got the exact number of the district so I just I didn't know you would like a back so would have presented that to you I could get one to you no no I I'm you did I got your I got your your that's what we're going over okay I didn't know if there was an additional itemized breakdown you like yeah go ahead councilman if there's something we can do because obviously whether you have 10,000 15,000 16,000 like the other District uh that's 0 0 2% of the voters that showed up I mean so if you think about it I mean voter turnout in New Jersey is pathetic as we all know uh it's been at an all-time low which is why we're in the position where we are and the worse we see things get then we have more voter apathy so I don't know what we can do as a council or as Administration you know we're doing all this work on the website certainly promoting uh the turnout uh so that you get more than 400 or you know 02 respectfully it's febru it's on February 18th from 2: to 9: I don't get a notification I've never even that's what I'm saying so if we can do something to educate if they consolidate and consolidate then they would be in November and they would get the turnout that they need that's that's what the consolidation can I just hear that the uh State mandates that the fire districts have that in February no that's because they're they're not Consolidated it's only because they're not Consolidated if they consolidate their election will be in November then elction and the budget won't be on the ballot either and we won't have a yearly issue and we be here well that'd be part of it yes so I'm sorry I didn't mean to interrupt you I just want to let you know that that that is probably a huge reason well that is a personal thing so whether or not they all consolidate it's certainly not going to happen this year so we can do something to educate the public to get them out there in February and Grant that everybody's not going to come out but 400 I'm sure we can increase from 400 I mean it might not be 15,000 we might not even get the pathetic 25% that New Jersey gives us but we can get more than 1% I'm thinking we can do that I mean it's not a high goal let's raise the bar most people don't care about what they don't really have to pay attention to I mean we know when they need us and that's pretty much all they enough but other than that I don't disagree with you I I don't disagree with you I think it I do think the date is a little you know it's an odd date you know um it's been like that for years I never I honestly never I never knew until I saw it on Fakebook and I was like oh you know I I never knew and I listen I support you I I'm you know we're all I I can I can say speak for all of us we all are very much in support um I'm going to let Council have questions for you I've asked my questions and then so I I'm just I just I didn't fully understand um with the way the economy is and the direction it seems to be the direction throughout the town is to come together for the sake of the entire town um of consolidating two and uh three are are coming together um council president and I went to most of the fire districts we we got a tour and I was beyond impressed but we would if we come together at consolidating a like the council councilman Chism said before we would avoid this issue on a yearly basis because this is this I mean I don't I don't know if you have stats how often is this budget voted down not very of not very often I guess you don't have that many voters no we we we do a very uh good job and work very hard at keeping our tax rate the lowest in the town and we have a people in our district specifically that leave on fixed incomes that we try to sympathize with so we don't H them I mean we have a three this year was proposed $3 million budget 3 point said 3, 58,000 last year was 2,200,000 so we're dealing with the whole fire district on scraps I mean it's not like we're asking for you know $3 million for astr tur like we're asking for $3 million for fire district consolidating would mean less Chiefs because the whole town would would shares Chiefs or no so the way they were describing is there'll be one I guess career Township Chief and a bunch of Deputy Chiefs um but the command structure really wasn't ironed out well right now we have 15 Commissioners you're a commissioner correct yes so that would go down to five correct yes okay we get also we just get a state Tye and that's peanuts compared to no I'm just it's just it all adds up is what we're saying is you know we it's minimal compared to our taxpayers we get it I'm responsible I was elected to represent my district right and I have to do what's in the best interest of our district consolidation is not what's in the best interest for our district okay maybe for the rest of the township yes but for us it'll hurt us more than help us financially anymore operationally nothing changes we still work very well with the other districts do you have EMS in your they turn out of our building yes okay our main station and your main where's which which ones your road okay so yeah you have you have EMS that are there and you need to renovate that building we need additional space for like training and whatnot so and we have no storage on the inside we've maximized storage that we have we've made Cubbies like lockers and whatnot we would like to go a second level on to maybe have offices and training rooms so we can move our Bureau from sharing with the Chiefs to the second but you have seven let me just you have seven full times correct yes we're going to have to we're trying to hire another one this year but you want to add to that building a second level for training and for but there's only seven2 volunteers okay that's I think that's the bulk of your department correct yeah that's what that's how we also keep the tax rate low we didn't have enough volunteers we'd have to increase our PID that which increases our budget also okay and do you see volunteers do you think see that department growing because I think I think every other district is say seeing the opposite and and this and I'm I'm just asking questions as a there's def I mean it's definitely a decline everybody has to work two jobs to be able to afford it but our volunteers I mean I know the other District same thing but we've had a good base of volunteers that turn out for our calls and so right now we're not in the situation where we're hurting maybe it's different next year but that's on a year bye base we analyze our district needs and we address Bo okay um you mentioned EMS is house out of one of your buildings that's full day seven days a week uh yeah if I believe the running I mean they're they're there from the morning toight whenever volunteers take over and switches okay fine I I okay perfect they they service I mean they Service uh our El community in the other side of town so yeah yeah um anybody okay council president commissioner Tes thank you for your service and your and your colleagues too um like I asked the other gentleman from the other District where are you at with the number if uh I'm ass assuming you're up here because you're you guys are not agreeable to the three $50,000 suggestion so what number are you guys at that wouldn't present a detriment to the residents 100,000 I mean it's the same thing as District 3 but District 3's budget is five million ours is three So when you say 350 for two districts where did that number come from it was arbitrary I mean if you do if you do it if you do half of that you want to say 150 fine but we even told uh Mr wall when we spoke with them even 175 is a real stress for us it's going to put us back a couple years I mean to purchase an apparatus takes at least six months to get the contract settled go for voter authorization then you have to spec out the truck if it's not speced out already you got to wait for delivery so all this pushes back our time clock for getting what we need so 100,000 yeah I think we can shake a 100,000 but it nothing the the $500,000 in the capitals is is what's and the vehicles is what's my my biggest thing and and I I want listen we want everybody to be safe we respect you I I you know you guys are running into fires we we're running out I get it I see it we also have you know we have our EMS and we have all the other districts that are coming together and it's working you had district one and two combined it worked now three is going with one and two I know you're not seeing it for you but you even said you have 33 volunteers you only have seven full-time and are they are they're just are they nine what's their hours are they 24 hour because 10 hour 10 hour shift they work what we do is we analyze our call volume the times that the calls come in and we adjust our career accordingly so now with the changing call volume between four and six we have to put them on another two hours that's in the future we have to negotiate with the Union but it's so with this new building are you going to go 2472 are you going to have fulltime 24 hours on2 right now we still our volunteers are able to keep up with the call okay that would just be a waste of money what's your uh longrange planning and budgeting process for the gear and the trucks and what have you do you guys have a laid out plan like um so much gear per year needs to be replaced and is that all accounted for in the current budget and how many trucks you need to on a fiveyear now 10 year 20- year cycle based on what you're going to be mandated to do uh we have three of our trucks one of our trucks is already at 20 years it's going to be downgraded from a straight drop tanker it's Class A pumper it's going be downgraded to class B uh we can still use it but she's got a lot of miles on her and been working her hard so it's very costly for us to keep maintaining her so to be able to fix this problem we had to get a new pumper that can be our everyday pumper but now with Jackson 21 with the building department allowing the parking we have to buy another apparatus to be able to fit in there because our other trucks once they're in they won't come out so was that brought up by the planning board when when that application was approved I I don't actually know I know our fire Bureau actually uh sent something to the township but I understand that things get lost in the sauce it's it's understandable but that's why we have to go out we need a shorter wheelbase trucks were too long we couldn't get a a double axle so we had to get a single for that side of town to be able to fit in that development specifically on that issue just on Jackson 21 because I did receive some emails about it this week and the parking on the roadways public Jackson 21 is that we talking yes so the HOA does not permit parking on the streets the residents some of the residents are doing so and the resident is complaining that the it seems there's designated parking spots that there there's there's actually like lines on the ground if I'm not mistaken I could be wrong but I don't think there is because when I was in there last myself with the truck driving there was designated parking spots for people anyway so that might save you what's that so so that might we might not have to move you know and do that you might not have to buy that extra apparatus um so I I just had to say where where are you at and and you know we've been advised that $350,000 is where this budget needs to be cut um you know did I know the taxers how how many calls did you guys do last year what was 1,200 over 1,280 okay so so no no call has gone on answered okay so where do you have a number do you have anything that you feel that you could present to US District 3 is 5 million we're 3 million if you say 175 for them 100 for us is reasonable 170 170 let's give them give them back five say7 I'm sorry 170 it would be comparable if you said 100 for us I mean you see what I'm saying like they have almost double the budget so I'm just having a problem with we do more with less I understand like unfortunately the cost just keep going up I understand the cost no I understand I just can't understand how in 20 last year you know in in your Capital you had 50 and and now you're go are and now you're up to utilize all we've utilize all the money we were saving I know 500 is such a huge number too and I get what you're doing but if we come here next year you know your budget doesn't get get go go again and you desire like are and you you're telling me you have no desire to consolidate and you don't think that that's a positive for your District it doesn't make Financial sense that the cost is going to increase on the taxpayers at fixed income quality of service will be exactly the same we work very well with the other districts we go to them they come to us I mean if it's not broke why you got to fix it when there's more government cost more money less government less money we're the smallest level of government so we can save our taxpayers more than other districts that's just the way we work provide the same quality of service at the at the moment our quality of service is compromised and changes we don't do a good job then I'm open to consolidation but until that time the board doesn't our board doesn't feel that's I'm I'm going to recommend 150 the council can do what they want I mean the administration is telling us 350 um I I'm going to recommend 150 so I I don't know we can't vote on it now but I'm just going to let you know I think that that's where I'm going to lean I I I I respect everything that you've come in in front of us and and presented and you know we don't want to harm any Department I just you know I just feel that really the the capital that you're doing in there is is is a huge part um you do have people that said no I know it was 28 but a no vote one no vote is a no you know we we have to answer that vote as do I yes absolutely and that's why we're here and that's why we want to do it in open form so that the residents can hear and you know what hopefully they're watching and next year they understand your budget I wouldn't know we don't know it's not in our wheelhouse you know the administrator if you watched the meeting when we had the administration budget he did a whole presentation everybody was here everybody could say we're live you're on you know YouTube or whatever want so you know it it helps to have these open forms and these conversations so that you can explain to us and then the residents can watch it and say hey you know what oh now I get it you know council president what's the time frame that this budget needs to be passed it I think we're it was right it's right now we are oping on a temporary budget we're down to our last 100,000 so we effectively spent 100,000 a month so right so I'm just not ready to I want to go through I have the packet here I'm gonna go through it again we can't we can't do anything anyway we don't have a resolution this is open conversation this is not any you know I was just throwing my suggestion out there that I and I again I've read this on my treadmill like for the week and that's no joke so you can Q&A me on it I I do promise that I did read it because I do respect you know you guys coming in here and sitting down and doing this is any if anybody else doesn't have any questions I'm G to uh close this council president yes sir um I know the we're in an uncertain economy we're paying more for everything and you guys are no exception and I'm sure You' sought this and the other fire district has was well because we do it up here to help ease our Municipal budget and tax burden on residents in that is have you sought aggressively sought grant funding to save money absolutely um to uh try tot we received $7,000 from uh forest fire service I believe we got $40,000 from another one this year and we apply for another one for scottb back so hopefully we we apply for anything we're able to apply for we take advantage of okay we're very diligent with how we spend our money I'm just trying to think where else you can you know have savings and also find money we we can issue bonds as well the bond market right now is absolutely terrible people don't want to invest in bonds sure so even so uh you know it's just another debt incur on taxpayers we can save over the course period of time for a major purchase this is unnecessary all right I'm gonna wrap this up thank you so much commissioner I appreciate your time thank you thank you all the fin presid council president I just say something briefly I just wanted to say uh I just want to congratulate Ry and his team and how they represent their membership and also Frank and his team they've been exceptionally professional throughout and that's the credit to the organizations I just want to share that publicly with the membership here really a very very professional uh conversation that we've had and ultimately it's a council decision but what you're also seeing here this is government at work so I just want to complement the process as well because I think most folks that experience working with districts it's not in front-facing to the public and it gives an opportunity to share what the issues are what the concerns are and what the opportunities are for the life health and safety of the public so I just want to really congratulate both the council Frank and his team and Ray and his team I think I think uh you know conversational friction creates a bit of heat right it Heats your business so I think you'll come to a a study conclusion but I wanted to really compliment the organization I think professional uh professionals uh all around and I thank you for uh having this forum thank you sir and I I I piggyback on uh what Mr wall said thank you guys so much you men and women thank you for everything you do thank you for giving up safe thank you for always responding to the residence of Jackson it was really an eyeopener for me to hear how many calls that you guys go on and it it it warms my heart I really does and it it makes me just love our town even more so thank you to all the districts for everything you do even though two pass but thank you them as well thank you sir thank you ma'am have a great night actually made one just one other thing I mean we hadn't really acknowledged it too much also but not just all of you that are serving but your families as well because obviously you know their hearts have to drop every time you guys walk out the door and you know you're not home so uh thank you to all the families that support you as well because without them you guys couldn't do your job and we wouldn't all have the services you provide so thank you to all of you as well thank you Madame clerk do you want to move on to uh ordinances for final yes ma'am you thank you ordinances public hearing and final consideration this is the third reading of ordinance 15-24 entitled an ordinance entitled calendar year 2024 ordinance to exceed the municipal budget appropriation limits and to establish a cap Bank pursuant to njsa 4844514042 2024 I in a motion to open the public hearing so moved second all in favor I I I if any member of the public has any comments to make please address the council at the microphone you will have five minutes and may only speak once seeing no one come forward make a motion to close public session on this ordinance second all in favor I I I this is the third reading of ordinance 15-24 entitled in ordinance entitled calendar year 2024 ordinance to exceed the municipal budget appropriation limits and to establish a cap Bank pursuant to njsa 44-454 I need a motion to adopt on third and final reading and advertise according to law motion second roll call councilman barelli yes councilman Bernstein yes councilman Chisum yes and council president cun yes thank you the second reading of ordinance 16-24 entitled in ordinance amending ordinance 10-24 of the township of Jackson County of ocean state of New Jersey to delete permit parking on any County roadway this ordinance was introduced on April 9th 2024 I need a motion to open public hearing motion to open uh second all in favor I I 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 seeing no one come forward and make a motion to close public session on this ordinance second all in favor hi this third reading of ordinance 16-24 entitled an ordinance amending ordinance 10-24 of the township of Jackson County of ocean state of New Jersey to delete permit parking on any County roadway I need a motion to adopt on third and final reading and advertise according to law motion second roll call councilman belli yes councilman Bernstein yes and thank you council president for your hard work on this ordinance thank you councilman Chisum yes and council president cun yes ordinance is first reading council president cun are there any comments regarding ordinance 17-24 yes this ordinance will uh ensure that the township storm water management regulations in the Pineland areas of the municipality are compliant with both Pinelands management Plan and New Jersey DP thank you ordinance 17-24 entitled an ordinance amending chapter 244 land use and development regulations of the code of the township of Jackson County of ocean in state of New Jersey I need a motion to approve ordinance 17-24 on first reading and to authorize a notice of approval and public hearing to be held on May 14 2024 motion second councilman burelli yes councilman Bernstein yes councilman Chisum yes and council president cun yes thank you council president cun are there comments regarding ordinance 18-24 yes uh the township Council of Jackson of the township of Jackson introduced the above ordinance on April 25th 2024 this ordinance authorizes the acceptance of um property dedicated from Westlake Master Association Inc of the portion of block 12701 lot 12.02 for the construction of a roadway extension Council m would you like I just want to add to that that this the purpose of this ordinance is to really to piggyback off of the resolution which you passed by our last meeting which would enable more access to the Muse as which is an affordable development thank you thank you ordinance 18-24 entitled an ordinance of the township of Jackson County of ocean state of New Jersey authorizing the acceptance of a portion of block 12701 lot 12.02 from the West Lake Master Association Inc I need a motion to approve ordinance 18-24 on first reading and to authorize the notice of approval and public hearing to be held on May 14th 2024 so moved second councilman burelli yes councilman Bernstein yes councilman Chisum yes and council president cun yes thank you council president are there any comments regarding ordinance 19-24 yes this ordinance follows a recommendation from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and the township engineer to the to improve the township storm water management regulations thank you thank you ordinance 19-24 entitled an ordinance of the township of Jackson County of usan state of New Jersey amending chapter 394 toxic and hazardous materials of the municipal code of the township of Jackson I need a motion to approve ordinance 19-24 on first reading and to authorize a notice of approval in public hearing to be held on May 14th 2024 so moved second councilman belli yes councilman Bernstein yes councilman Chisum yes and council president ke yes thank you we move on to bills and claims I need a motion to approve so moved second Council melli I have to obstain on Bill vendor numbers njm 06 R t04 R14 TR E12 and TR E34 yes to the rest in there thank you thank you councilman Bernstein yes and all councilman Chisum abstain on br18 c44 rut4 and R14 yes to the rest thank you and council president cun abstained from RCS 002 yes to the rest thank you we move on to consent agenda I need a motion to approve the listed resolutions under consent agenda um but council president there was a slight um change regarding resolution 90-24 the account number has been inserted into the resolution prior to certifying and I believe you had mentioned earlier during open opening comments we are removing 182 d24 yes just for transparency the 190 it's for the schools um they're putting more uh equipment for the kids at the schools so we just had to fix a couple numbers there was a little bit numbers when it came to us so we corrected that and then we're um tbling for now 18284 and that is for the um the scoreboard school what are they call scoreboards I'm sorry that I talk we're just got to get to make sure the dimensions are right it's a lot of money we want to make sure that we can have them it's 2024 we want them on our apps but yes thank you thank you Council um I need a motion please so moveed second councilman burelli yes councilman Bernstein um first latest I want to make a comment on resolution 19224 which is a resolution opposing the new new taxes the gas tax um it went into effect already but I'm hoping that the legislator looks back and says hey this may not be such a great idea for our taxpayers additionally with regard to resolution 19024 I just want to thank the mayor and Mr wall um for getting this done this will benefit all residents I had the opportunity over over the holiday to take a walk with my children and go to the school Parks after school hours and it was a real pleasure and it's great to know that we have such a great working relationship with the school district so I'm vote Yes and all thank you councilman Chisum I'm not as optimistic as councilman Bernstein that Trenton is going to see the light but uh yeah I vote yes to all thank you and council president cun I vote Yes to everything thank you I need a motion to open the public portion of the meeting for all comments motion to open second all in favor I I at this time if any member of the public has any comments to make please address council at the microphone and state your name an address clearly for the record you will have five minutes and may only speak once okay my name is Deb Jones I live on heison Road in Jackson um I have a couple things to talk about but first i'm really disappointed that it was just a couple months ago I sat in this room and there was a 300% raise that went into effect for our Council people and we're asking our fire departments to cut back that's not okay if my house is on fire they're the first people that are coming if my house is on fire every one of you is still at home that's sad and I've been a lifelong Jackson resident and it kills me to think that our fire department means that little to us and I don't care if residents got out there and voted you guys need to back them it's not about the residents our our communities are changing rapidly so people who are in our community today are gone tomorrow you guys are sitting here every week every month it seems to me that you said that you're you're you're going over your own budget you haven't even done your budget according to this and you're going to go over it but you're going to ask all of them I'm I'm not okay with that I'm not not okay with that as a taxpayer I'm not okay with that as a parent I'm not okay as a School employee because you know what we have things happen in our schools you guys aren't coming they are we better stand behind them as a Township and to go with that our school system yeah we're in trouble and this has nothing to do with I don't care what someone's religion is I don't care what color they are I don't care about any of it when do we start saying enough is enough Our Town can't handle what is pouring in our school districts going under nobody does anything about all the illegal rentals that are going on we all turn a blind's eye it's not safe for the children that are in these rentals the tax dollars aren't covering you think that any of these houses the tax school tax is covering any anything no we don't need playgrounds we need curriculum we have playgrounds these are not public parks right now they're School Playgrounds they are open to the public they go after school hours that's after child care hours that's after summer school that's after all of that but we need help we got to stop everyone just wants to build this move this do this do that how about we start taking care of what's here this is absolutely insane I really don't care what kind of schools are being built wherever once we reach a capacity that we can no longer sustain we stop a ship is sinking we plug the hole we don't just keep pulling it you guys and not just you all of the councils in Jackson maybe it's time you guys all get together and start working together maybe you need to all be at a meeting together with the residents because I've been at zoning I've been here I've been at all of them and I'm sorry it's very sad and I've been I was told after the last meeting oh I can say we work very hard for our money I'm sure you do but you still didn't deserve 300% more that's that's disgusting and I'm very upset it I I just don't understand how you can sit there and then say you respect them you're not respecting them if you're asking them to cut more than you or you're asking them to cut and you took more I don't understand I really don't this is really it's just it's sad and someone needs to do something or Jackson will be no more and then what who are you going to counsel them I really hope you guys start being a little more fiscally responsible and stop asking everyone else to be thank you [Applause] ma' Jim seli a sixr Field Drive uh just for transparency I am the son of a lifetime member of station 55 he served as president of the fire company he also served on the board of fire Commissioners during the 80s so I learned when the election was I was out there voting this year as I've been every year since he's been a member um it is a shame that they get less than 1% because it is the people of this town that should be supporting them and I support them my concern and the previous person brought up the but the 300% raise the other part that was brought that this Township did is we created a new position for $200,000 a year for the police department and now we're asking the fire department to cut and yes I understand the voters voted against it and the one thing I will recommend to the fire department because for me I never saw what the budget was so even though I voted in favor of it and I'll Adit I voted in favor of it I did not know what it was but because of the fire department I'm going to do whatever's necessary for that so for this committee you you really need to look at what what we're doing if you're going to give it to one group make sure you take care of everybody okay the police department got what they needed let's make sure that the fire department need gets what they need because one of the things everyone has to understand is I think the Jackson Mills announced that he has 32 volunteer members and I believe if I counted the number right on station 55s they have 22 those numbers are drastically low for a Township of this size that relies on volunteers so guess what's going to happen over the next few years if we're not going to get the volunteers and I'm perfectly honest with you I'm not sure where you're going to get them but what's going to happen is they're now all of a sudden they're going to need to have more career firefighters and what is does that mean more expense more dollars to to this to to the residents of this Township so we need to figure out a way to help everybody and get what we need for everyone in this Township thank you thank you sir good evening council members how are you my name is Rich morero I live on Britney Lan in Jackson and I'm also the if 4395 Union president for District 4 uh as a taxpayer and As A Firefighter in town I have the pleasure of both supporting our district as well as serving our district prior to that I was a volunteer for 10 years in the district four until they needed additional Manpower uh just just piggybacking off of what the Commissioners came here to speak to earlier and I have the answer for one of your questions from earlier in regards to Jackson 21 I could answer for you as well but uh generally overall the population is increasing throughout Jackson um from the additional buildings are being built departments Garden departments it's just growing at an exponential rate uh the fire departments are trying to keep up with that but with the increase in the general population also comes an increase in service calls from alarms to actual fires uh with the addition to the Garden Apartments and potential taxpayers that are coming shortly in our district we're also getting warehouses and larger buildings all these buildings come with a larger fire load which means that our apparatus has to change to keep up with the different fire load in town as you all know Jackson has evolved immensely from what it was 20 years ago when some of these apparatus were put into into play some of these trucks can't keep up with what's going on including the Manpower or just the general power needed in order to to put people in the apparatus to properly fight these fires let's see uh again as commissioner Torres had mentioned and as uh The District 3 Commissioners had mentioned they're fighting to keep their volunteers the volunteers are holding on as best they can and I have tons of respect for them as I was one for 10 years as well but unfortunately with the increase in the price of of everything a lot of people have to work longer hours a lot of people have to go get second jobs which means that there are certain time frames in which there's no coverage or there's minimal coverage for the Personnel in town and that's why we need the additional firefighters on the career side in order to meet that fire protection uh again the equipment all these all these pieces of equipment have shelf life on them and there's laws being passed now that are going to force that shelf life on some of the equipment and unfortunately even though we're making do with some of the apparatus and Equipment that's over 20 years old it is a safety hazard to the firefighters that are coming out volunteer and career to to save and protect people of the of the township and the newer equipment would give us more protection so that you helping us can help them better without putting anyone's life in jeopardy let's see uh with the decrease in the budget there's a lot of uh auxil um extra calls that we do for the public for example the Santa Patrol there's certain EMS calls that we go to for Lift assists of that sort of nature that aren not required but we do as a service to our public to our residents uh there's a lot of calls where we're closer from the fir Tru and the ambulance might be coming back from the hospital and there's no other ambulances available we as trained EMTs on fire apparates can actually start treating and preparing the patient so when the ambulance shows up there's no longer a weight period where you're getting all that general information we can literally package up the patient move the patient to the stretcher and have them on the way to get further Care at the hospital without having to wait longer periods of time that may potentially be cut down due to the budget cuts because that's again fuel costs and maintenance on the apparis that we're not going to be able to afford in order to maintain that type of service and uh using our Facebook as you saw the other day calls from concerned citizens with ducks stuck inside of storm drain where we could come get them we might not be able to do that and might have to leave it to U animal control that might not have the proper equipment in order to move this the storm dreams out of the way to get to those types of calls and lastly uh because we don't have mechanics on on payroll we don't have electricians on payroll anytime there's a vehicle or building repair that needs to be done you have to go for most of the time prevailing wages in order to get these these jobs done unfortunately as you all know including the general maintenance and fuel costs prevailing wages have gone up exponentially as well and we have to keep that in mind when trying to get all these repairs to our building so I just again please consider the amount of money that you're trying to cut and realize that there's a lot going into this that we're trying to again work with as little as possible to make work and that money would would drastically hurt us thank you for your time thank you [Music] sir Vince scuo 24 Plymouth Court Jackson uh first of all the uh I want to thank the uh con congress not Congressman but your councilman uh yes I will be voting and throwing the bums out of out of tret thank you second of all you probably read the newspapers recently that Jackson has been announced as the 10th sa safest uh town or Township in New Jersey and I want to thank this group right here and our Police Department for that because that's what that's what they're all about the problem is that back here the problem is right there okay and the decisions you make every single day I'll give you the $700,000 back right now okay 7 700 million 700,000 okay $200,000 for that safety officer get rid get rid of a person okay you approved resolution 30 and 31 we got houses of worship going to be non- taxed in this Township okay my estimate over the next couple years a half a million dollars we're going to lose out of our tax right there because of your decisions you got them guys gotta make better decisions okay where's the revenue from the 19 warehouses you approved where is it okay where's the revenue for Adventure Crossing the hotels the hospital all this stuff you were all buffaloed by contractors and everything else you're all fooled as far as I'm concerned I've been here many many times in the the different councils the planning board the zoning board totally inappropriate you approved Jackson 21 nice place but guess what the fire trucks couldn't fit down the streets they had to buy a new fire truck at a cost a half million dollars your decision you guys are the cause not back here thank you thank you sir [Applause] seeing I'd like to say before anything uh congratulations to the kids on their achievements I was watching them with the proclamation and everything good job for them um hello Donnie Adelman will appoint d Jackson New Jersey um I'm happy to see that as of right now the broadcast for this for the online is not being broadcast on YouTube kids it is being broadcast on YouTube proper the comment section is still off I had a conversation with Mr wall this afternoon and frankly it's Mr McGuckin's job to figure out why it is that I say it's required because I could find it on my phone in 30 seconds it's not my job um I'd like to know real excuse me it's not required ju bet not absolutely it is the attorney general said so all right but real quick before we even get any further um is the uh Council willing to memorialize that they're going to guarantee that any future broadcast whether it be this body or any of the other uh bodies open to the open public meetings act be broadcast on YouTube proper not YouTube kids and not mark uh safe for children will you guys vote and do something right now to guarantee that in the [Music] future yeah hello would not be up C make that decision okay well then I got to express my disappointment because that stupid  Mich sir I will not have that language in here I will not have that language too bad you're out of order no sir too bad under the roosevel under Roosevelt ruling I dare you to remove me how about that sir no disrespect to you I'm not trying to be threatening in any way but I'm going to curse to make sure that this that we stay off of you two kids sir I'm asking you please I'm I'm saying no okay sir all right I'd like to say let's cut back on some of the spending for the police let's give the fire department everything they they want I'm getting uh my phone's blowing up right now because it's being watched by about a thousand people that made aware of some of the problems we have in this town and the overwhelming statement is quite simply this the police no one ever said that about the fire department give them I'm asking again please I please you could ask I'm gonna keep on saying no when you're not gonna do anything about it all right I'm concerned about the lack of transparency we have no officer here to have him removed so I dare you I'm gonna ask It's My First Amendment right to you to use I see as long as I not threatening Rosenfeld versus the state of New Jersey you should know about that long before you sit on that day Mr mcgucken all right the comments must be on and must be read into the record whether you like it or not and you could try and interrupt me and act like a jerk off all you want but I prefer to act a little professionally I'm only cursing for the simple reason that you won't memorialize putting this onto regular YouTube that's all I'm asking that's part of what I'm asking sir I'm asking that you you you I'm sorry but we can't have the profanity you're pointing at the business administrator you're attacking no I'm not attacking the business administrator I'm attacking Mr rain who's not here who's ignored me for eight and a half years and when I asked you four times I watched the records I asked you four separate times what we're going to do what could be done to remove mayor Raina from the office and you told me that you you looked at me three times and you didn't get an answer the last time I was here you told me you'd email me that never happened and the best I the best I got is hey you know we don't give a about regular people so what we're going to do is Mr wall sent me a message sent me an email today saying that where I could look it up and find it for myself sorry sir we we need to stop this discussion this is I have a minute and eight seconds I dare you to remove me hey Don yes it's spring your son or daughter to work today so my son's here he's 12 so whether you can or can't use profanity maybe the question is whether you should or shouldn't well I think there there's a great amount of obscenity being carried out by the employes I'm talking to you like as a human being whether you should or shouldn't I have a 12-year-old son here listening to your vulgarity I'm sure he's heard I'm sure he's heard sir that is unacceptable behavior digity for and I'd also ask about the uh as a point of order a secondary dog park gate for the dog park I know that we I heard before I believe it is Mr Bry excited about the coner series and about the expansion of events going on at the park which is all great look forward to going to those concerts and join the food trucks and everything else Jackson day all that all right but a second gate primarily would be the best fix and then after that fixing the drainage problem at the gate thank you sir have a good night oh I still I got four seconds have a good night mayor rain is a complete douchebag stop excuse me stop no mommy no mommy all right we are let D daddy mayor Raina get away with Mur have a good night sir thank you can you make a motion please some else up Peter Veno Jackson New Jersey um I'd like to comment something about the uh the town calendar the Multicultural committee it was not on the calendar last night and I'm under the impression it's not on the calendar going forward I missed the meeting for absolutely no reason I was sitting home I could have been there only six people showed up there's supposed to be 36 I believe I think it's 32 but we have nothing to do with the M2 two 64 people actually no it's two per district oh two per District yeah two per District 64 it is two per District yeah two per District I I'm not that's I don't I don't know I can't confirm I I don't know if it's I think it's 32 people and it's one per District but um I will look into that and I don't if on the calendar it definitely should have been on the website calendar if not that is anything we're not on that you know we have nothing to do with that Council Administration nothing administrative appointed the committee and the committee is to get together and have a meeting themselves we don't we don't have any involvement nor can we council president could ask a question Mr mcin is that committee under the offices of the Attorney General's office recomended and required by the okay so who runs that meeting yeah okay is there a chair to that meeting do we know I don't know interesting it would be a good idea like you said there's only six people there and I wasn't one of them I was sitting home I'll speak I'll speak with the administration and ask if the clerk's office maybe could create that and and maybe put everybody and just do the calendar for the year that's what we do with our committees and then you'll know all the dates that you have okay and um also uh last time I was here um I had this conversation with Mr Wong about something I inadvertently or accidentally admitted to the post that we talked about does not exist in my Facebook the an excuse me the anti-semitic one that you admitted to me that one you talking about that one the one about um the one that said that we're we're in trouble we're doomed that one yes it the one that was anti-semitic that referenced two Orthodox gentlemen can you be quiet I'm talking this is my time be quiet let's be honest this is my let's be honest W you do is talk but you don't say anything let's be honest okay this does not exist I I I gave you guys the benefit of the doubt because the post the m Mr de maro's post existed so that's what I saw and admitted to but mine does not exist where it says Jackson is doomed does not exist what I stated and which you could go check because it's still on on the uh internet um I replied to Mr dearo saying that this is what you supported and campaigned for that's what I said it's right here in black and white um I would like to submit this to um whoever the clerk can I do this the clerk yeah you can give it to the clerk sir so again so you're for it before you're against it I understand excuse me you're for it before you you were against it I think that's a John Cary analogy for you whatever but you also refuse to talk to me on you refuse to answer me on the internet and now you're talking to me I don't understand that I spoke to you for an hour a month ago no no no these are your exact words here I'll read them to you when I ask you play the recording instead I asked you a simple question um my comments last night stand as stated on the record they only be bunked that it doesn't exist okay okay and then you want to say um in light of your public statement last night about future judicial proceedings with Council I'm referring you to Municipal attorney copied here thank you and you refused to answer that's transparency Thank You by thank you sir seeing no one else come forward and make oh one more one the Chiefs how you doing my name is Chief Carl Halpin with Jackson stage 55 just want to say thank you for everything you've done to reconcile the budget for both districts appreciate it thank you sir real quickly council member anyone watching at home Jackson Township volunteers are declining um we are able to still provide the service that we need to provide I just ask that if the council can get it out to the community anyone watching at home if you want to make a difference in your community please come out to any of one of the four firehouses um we would appreciate it absolutely thank you thank you make a motion to close public comment motion second all in favor I thank you everyone for com to close yeah second all in favor I thank you everyone for coming out oh my goodness