for stands one nation under God indivisible liberty and justice for all good evening and welcome the November 21st 2023 meeting of the Jackson Township Council will now come to order council member uh Bernstein here councilwoman C here councilman Sergeant present Council vice president burelli here and council president Chisum here as Clerk of this meeting I hereby publicly announce that in compliance with provisions of the open public meetings act adequate notice of this meeting has been advertised in the manner prescribed by law and council president if I may I have um two announcements um ordinance first reading ordinance 36-23 has been added to council's agenda this evening this pertains to calendar year 2024 salary range for various officials and employees and also resolution r 40923 as listed on the original agenda schedule a regarding fire district 2 has been updated thank you very much you continue with opening comments from Township Council councilman Bernstein thank you Miss clerk um I just wanted to start by thanking my colleagues here on Council and for being available in the past 10 days I spent a lot of time on the phone with many of my colleagues on the council learning more about the town learning the way the process works and I look forward to working with everyone over the next year additionally a special thank you to the business administrator who last Friday gave me a guided tour on a busy Friday afternoon of the administration building um it was great to see so many Township employees so hard at work and I can definitely attest that our taxpayer dollars are are being well spent with that being said Thank thank you for coming out and have a Happy Thanksgiving thank you councilwoman C good evening everyone um first I would like to talk about uh Starbucks that is opened it is on the other side of town but I'm super excited about that we have a lot of businesses opening over at Adventure Crossing so if you make it over there uh try to visit them also our Jackson Police Department is having uh celebrating over 30 years of their fill truck it's at shopright um in the shopright Plaza on uh December 9th um it's really a great cause um right now I know everybody you know it's the holidays and we think about you know helping others during the holidays but you know if we could maybe spread that out throughout the year uh I visited the food uh Pantry the two days ago uh it's really great to see there was people dropping off stuff all the time they actually uh accept clothes as well so it's really something great to give back it's a Feelgood uh experience and then also with the Jackson Police Department they have bins that they could drop off of any local business would like to support and be a drop off center I'm sure you can contact UM the police department and they'll guide you in the right direction also toy land uh at the um Jackson Township that's being held on December 2nd and 3rd from 10 to 2 at the Jackson um Senior Center I heard that's a great event so if anybody wants to go that also our Jackson Liberty the uh at lib they're giving out flyers I put them up in my businesses they're presenting Elf the musical so uh that's December 8th and 9th at the High School tickets are currently on sale and can be P purchased at liberty. boox tick. net go out and you know I'm going to take my nieces over there it's a great show I've been to a couple of them um so that's all have a great night thank you councilman Sergeant good evening um recently I was watching the news and I noticed uh Lakewood Township had made the news when they found a grenade strapped to a light pole uh I can tell you that well first of all the police department doesn't know who did it they don't know it could have been anybody but I would say to all the public in Jackson Township keep your eyes and your ears open you don't know who's doing what this was a bad bad thing for Lakewood to have happen to them and it could happen in Jackson in two seconds so please keep your eyes and your ears open and Report anything you see thank you have a good night thank you Council vice president barelli thank you clerk Moss um I'd like to wish each and every fellow Jackson resident a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving um enjoy this great American holiday with family and friends and I'm honored and thankful to be serving as your councilman and also please keep the nation of Israel in your prayers as they go through this difficult time take care and have a good evening thank you council president Chisum hello good evening so it's been a couple weeks since I got to talk about King Phillip so let's just let it rip I don't know if you have paid any attention at all but since we lost yet another election and several more Republicans were removed Democrats are back at it if you are in business they have decided that the tax break you are going to get is probably going to be repealed because there is nothing that they won't spend money on so if you thought you could stop them forget it they now have two more years why because 80% of new jerseyans decide that they want to and moan about politics and about Trenton and about DC but only 20% of you showed up to actually vote and do anything about it so if 80% of us are not going to go out and vote and do anything to change it then we really have no right to complain when they tax us and spend us into Oblivion Mr Murphy has also decided that it's okay to take your cars he has decided he's now going to continue to take away gas vehicles sustainably this is not going to happen you cannot that's why we just if anybody was paying attention had all of Michigan up in arms and said hey we're not going to go back to work we're not not going to make any more cars because you cannot produce 100% electric vehicles especially in 15 years whereas the money going to come from $15 billion do already where's the infrastructure these cars are heavier they're going to wreck your roads they've already had garages collapsed they're heavier they've had more house fires why because they're a fire hazard the batteries are toxic this is a terrible idea anybody that thinks they're saving the environment or the planet with an electric car is fooling themselves so reach out to your Democrat friends and tell them possibly everybody in Trenton wake up and smell the coffee before you sign these stupid bills and with that yes again this week is Thanksgiving it is a great holiday hopefully you will take advantage of that and not just take Thursday off it used to be the number two holiday in America today the most expensive after Christmas Is Halloween Thanksgiving is no longer at that threshold the Norman Rockwell paintings are no longer valid so whatever your family looks like be thankful for them and appreciate your Thanksgiving God bless have a great night thank you I need a motion to approve executive session meeting minutes of October 31st 2023 motion councilman Bernstein can I vote on this I wasn't there right so I'm I'm an obstain councilwoman cun yes councilman sergeant yes Council vice president burelli yes and council president Chisum yes I need a motion to approve ordinance 33-23 entitled an ordinance of the township Council of the township of Jackson County of ocean state of New Jersey providing for the vacation of a portion of a certain right ways and paper streets located within Jackson Township Ocean County New Jersey this ordinance was introduced on November 9th 2023 I need a motion to open the public hearing motion second call all in fa fa 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 Elanor Hannah Jackson New Jersey um so this is ordinance 3323 correct yes okay so they're vacating um a portion of rways um in paper streets within the area that's part of the land swap is that correct okay so therefore um this is being vacated to m iorn it's being vacated in accordance with an ordinance the township Council adopted uh months ago okay so but to the owner who is morai icorn well whoever owns property whoever owns the property surrounding the right of ways would become the owner of them by law so the owner of of course you know which is a concern is that this whole land swap is under litigation at this time so I don't quite understand why we are moving forward with vacating more while this is under litigation was that a question I'm sorry I don't understand why we are opening up Jackson Township for more litigation with this or the approval of this order or this ordinance because this whole thing is Con is under litigation currently right and now we're still moving forward while it is still under litigation there's no stay involved the trial court is already ruled so the township is moving forward yes even though it's under litigation there's no I T won the case and now there's no stay in place and the t is moving forward in accordance with its contractual obligations and the ordinance it adopted okay so then upon the final vote um I would expect that Mr Bernstein here would not be voting on this being the fact that he is Port I'm not going to use a term because you don't quite understand it but because he has entered into a pack of poit political action committee with morai iorn conflict of interest thank you seeing no one else come forward move to close public comments on this oh I apologize sir please come forward my name is Patrick penella 15 Quail Road Jackson New Jersey um I don't know exactly what went on tonight because I try to keep up with as much as I can in my own neighborhood but um from what I understand there's going to be a vote or maybe there was already a vote prior to any of us showing up as to um whether homes of are going to be allowed houses of worship in the town is that true it's not on the agenda this evening it's not on the agenda tonight correct okay well when is it going to be on the agenda December 5th okay um I just want to voice something to all of you uh some of you may know me I think maybe Mr wall might have received something from me um maybe through an email or whatever and I just want to be very clear um I served in the United States Marine Corps I worked I worked for the sheriff's department for 27 years in Mammoth County I'm retired I've lived in this town for 28 years a house across the street from me 18 Deer Lane is a house of worship I have facts of this Pard pardon me sir I don't I I don't want to be rude but um we're just talking about this one ordinance at the moment so if you can save these comments I mean you're free to talk for five minutes at the end when it's like open comment but this is just for this one ordinance so I don't want to cut off okay I didn't mean to no no you can you can yeah come on back up when it's at the end and yeah please thank you sir no when you GNA adjourn I wasn't sure if it was no no no thank you would anyone anyone else like to come forward and speak on this ordinance if not I move to close public comments I this is the third reading of ordinance 33-23 entitled an ordinance of the township Council of the township of Jackson County of ocean state of New Jersey providing for the vacation of a portion of a certain right ways and paper streets located within Jackson Township Ocean County New Jersey I need a motion to adopt in third and final reading and advertise according to law motion please motion second councilman Bernstein yes councilwoman cun yes councilman Sergeant yes Council vice president barelli yes and council president Chism yes ordinance is first reading I need a motion to approve ordinance 34-23 entitled an ordinance of the township of Jackson County of ocean state of New Jersey authorizing the vacation of all right title and interest of the township of Jackson with respect to parcel v3r 4 A3 containing approximately 0.085 acres and returning said right away to the owner of a joining property pursuant to njsa 40 67-1 etq on first reading and to authorize the notice of approval and public hearing to be held on December 12th 2023 motion please please motion second councilman Bernstein yes councilwoman cun yes councilman Sergeant yes Council vice president barelli yes and council president Chisum yes I need a motion to approve ordinance 35-23 entitled an ordinance of the township Council Township of Jackson Ocean County New Jersey amending and replacing section 338 to provide a new chapter entitled pawn brokers and deal ERS of secondhand Goods on first reading and to authorize the notice of approval and public hearing to be held on December 12th 2023 motion second roll call councilwoman uh councilman Bernstein yes councilwoman cun yes councilman Sergeant yes Council vice president barelli and council president Chisum yes I need a motion to approve ordinance 36-23 entitled an ordinance of the township of Jackson County of usan state of New New Jersey establishing the salary range for all of the various officials employees of the township for the year 2024 and thereafter on first reading and to authorize a notice of approval and public hearing to be held on December 12 2023 motion second roll call councilman Bernstein yes councilwoman cun yes councilman Sergeant yes Council vice president burelli yes and council president Chisum yes we move on to bills and claims I need a motion to approve or hold motion second councilman Bernstein yes councilwoman cun I abstain from rsc2 yes to everything else thank you thank you councilman Sergeant I have a question on uh I can't see the number it P 230 it's on the first page it's the third one down it says bottle openers $410 12 it says for a bottle opener I'm just curious because I look across the line and it doesn't say a thousand bottle openers it doesn't say one bottle opener are we really spending $410 on a bottle opener champagne I'm kidding anyone I'm not sure what number you're looking at it's not on our first p page I didn't see it it's right here what do you what do you what number oh 4 i1 okay it's on the first it's clean Community handouts so that's the clean Community stuff it looks like those are all giveaways for whatever so that's obviously not one bottle opener I don't know if Terren would have any information as to how many the short answer would be no um I can pull the detail but Jackson day there are number number of different uh sets of items that with imprints on the Jackson Day committee um give we a number of little you call them chis whatever terminology you want to use uh as part of Jackson day items for the thousands of folks that had visited so um but no we would never be like a $600 uh hammer federal government absolutely not the um the the detail isn't shown here but under no circumstances would this be one bottle up this would be this would uh be a significantly higher number probably 500 purchased in gross but in this summar bill list it doesn't have that level of detail it would be a foot thick but we can I can subsequently send it you know get it out if uh if that's of interest um if you want to pull it it's certainly your choice but this is uh the answer is no we did not pay $410 for bottle up this would be a perhaps a case of uh printed uh items for Jackson day for the uh the event that we had recently well it just seems to be that there's a lot of things on this agenda that have been printed and reprinted and I would say moving forward that we could perhaps uh have a double-checking system for the entire Council so that we don't have to go through this stuff all the time but my answer is yes thank you Council vice president barelli um I I have to abstain on vendor numbers uh D l01 NJ s04 Ru t04 R14 sta 01 and sta 28 yes to the rest on there thank you and council president Chisum abstained on B18 coom 44 njs 05 and r04 and R14 yes to all the rest thank you we can take the listed resolution as a consent agenda I need a motion please motion second welome councilman Bernstein yes councilwoman C yes councilman Sergeant yes Council vice president barelli yes council president Chisum yes we will continue with mayoral appointments right into record by The Honorable Mayor Michael Raina but in his absence Mr Terence Waller business administrator will read Charly for May council president please do okay thank you this um on behalf of Michael Arena mayor of the township of Jackson to hereby appoint the following persons to the Jackson Township planning board shimi heler class 4 to fill the unexpired term of morai Bernstein uh to 12 3124 and Raymond Tremor alternate two to fill the unexpired term of shimi heler to 12 3124 uh from the mayor congratulations on your appointment and the township Council and the mayor look forward to working with you congratulations gentlemen thank you we move on to public comments on any topic I need a motion to open the public portion of the meeting for all comments before you get to that can you hold on just one second sure I do need to make another comment um to president Chisum uh I publicly want to apologize to him because he called me twice and both times I didn't check my answering machine the proper way I was checking the deleted messages and I didn't check my own answering machine properly and lo and behold when I got home I found the proper messages that President Chisum left me so again I want to apologize publicly to you for that because it was my error thank you thank you thank you so nice I need a motion to open the public portion of the meeting for all comments motion second hi 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 Peter vieno 63 Tusk Drive Jackson New Jersey um I guess I should direct us that Mr McAn I guess in light of the latest lawsuit concerning The Whistleblower and Mr and Mr Wong shouldn't they both be removed from any voting until this is resolved and no I mean there's a legal perspective Bas perspective Municipal officials get sued all the time and that would require every public official across including myself over the years would have had to vacate their seat if that were the case because someone makes an allegation in a lawsuit does not make it true when it's a whistleblower it's a little bit different it's it's another allegation that's all it is okay but I mean in light of the fact in my opinion that they may be extremely compromised every vote that they were involved in is going to have to be Revisited I would think if they are found guilty correct no there's no guilt or innocence in a civil lawsuit number one number two this is simply a Personnel issue from a former employee of the municipality has nothing to do with any other action the township has taken over the years okay it's a personal complaint of the individual employee all right it just it doesn't look it doesn't smell good put it that way um also um can I ask Miss Moss a question count direct your comments to the chair he's the what's that you want to ask who Miss Moss um if it's appropriate Well her name's on the document that's the only reason I want to ask her um we're going to revisit this issue again about why am I removing from the zoning board um Miss Moss this is the document that was on the uh Podium when we walked in it had my name on replacing uh Raymond lavaco the very next day my name was removed and I see that your name is on the document um can I ask you who directed you to remove my name I don't know what document you're I'm sorry I don't know what document you're referring to well I want to submit both of these um if I submit them they can be opened correct is that the way it works Greg is that if there's a document that's in possession of the clerk's office sorry if for what yes if if the Township Clerk receives a document it could be o okay then I'll give them both to the original and this is one with your name where my name is removed so I'm assuming the one that Mr MCU may I look into this and then get back to Mr Peter I'm sorry that I have nothing in front of me too this was done back in March yes so well I I thought it would be frustrating remember because I've talked about it so many times at the microphone yes you have um but you don't remember who directed you to remove my name I would have to look back I all right um now also I I would think the council president at the time would advise you I would think I can't say I said as I had answered you prior many times the council president at the time Marty Fleming I've answered this question for you I and I'm glad you found the documents I stood here for three times before weer determined that you lied so those three times up here shouldn't even be charged to me it took me three times at the podium to determine that you lied I didn't lie yes you did you you just got the documents you you very specifically said and that's my next issue that it was because of my social media correct my social media was spotless clean then I asked you to come up with a list of issues I believe that you were also wait let me talk the next week you could not come with with any and you said it was because of um Mr Fleming removing me because he wanted Mr Hudak instead of me or something to that effect no that's not what I said what's that I said no he removed youo to your social media your social media is my social media your social media what about it he removed you due to content on your social media I believe you're also removed from the planning board for that reasons as well I I'm not on the planning board I wasn't here then but I believe it was not the first time that your social media had come into question so therefore when I went and spoke with the council president at the time he had his exact things I guess the next thing you knew your name was off so that would be probably the document that you had just given in because you opened it correct yes so that would answer your question that's why I was trying to say I think that you should be settled now because you literally handed over the information that you've been asking for so long you answered your own question you you just had the documents in your hand you were on and you were removed from then council president the reason he has the right to do that I can't remove you siral I was on here for three months spotless I'm just saying I've been I was on it three months at the time I I don't have the power to remove or add anything to the agenda the council president does Mr binho thank you very much for your comments your five minutes is up but I'll certainly get back to you on this tomorrow I'm not done yet because Miss cun interrupted me I I think I deserve more time she interrupted me well she was she was answering your question and I don't I didn't ask her though I I don't want to be root but again we're trying to keep with the five minutes I honestly prefer to talk to one of you guys who have more experience she has very little experience um but on the same issue I want to submit to more documents because um okay well you can submit the documents to the clerk please and then we're gonna it's just very very suspicious that I just found these last week and there there both documents are related to um March 29th they're dated this is on from Lakewood Network news now they purposely okay left my name out of search engine op if you search my name you will not find these documents okay pleas submit them to the clerk again just trying to keep it the five minutes here I appreciate it I've worked in media for 16 years I know how it works um Mr Veno thank you sir that's the time please that's it five minutes yeah please you know then I have to I'm have to keep coming back every week and I'm gonna keep doing it why don't we just finish it now certainly welcome and I I appreciate it this is my fourth time on the same subject if we just give me more time I wouldn't have to keep coming back and revisiting it well when the new Council takes over in January they can revisit the time clock but right now for this year that is the way it's set thank you sir thank [Music] you Elanor hannam Jackson New Jersey um I'm going to start off with um these two ordinances that are going to be voted on on December 2nd that are affecting every single resident in the township of Jackson um upon legal councel who has reviewed um the amended master plan she has found and she is one of the top uh attorneys for land use in the state um she has stated that it is wholly and grossly insufficient it does not meet the municipal land use law it requires the contents um a statement of objectives principles assumptions policies standards for the physical economic and social development of the town that has not been met it also must address the natural conditions the topography soil conditions water supply drainage flood plane areas marshes Wetlands that has not been accomm that has not been supplied the statement of strategy has not been done the concerning smart growth has not been done potential locations for environmental infrastructure and sustainability that has not been addressed in the amended master plan it is very very clear that somebody has just taken this and just carved up Jackson and then blamed it on our loopa and a uh a settlement a doj settlement that this does not meet that settlement what is proposed in these ordinances therefore these ordinance should they be approved should be illegal which I also find that it is very very concerning the Optics of what I am seeing in this Township as I had seek um legal advice from numerous attorneys and most of which said it is one of the most corrupt towns this is coming from the lawyers that's it on State Bar boards very concerning and I guess I'll just go down the Road and hopefully I won't be the next Robinson when a year ago when Samara Porter was appointed never did I see County officials come but once I saw George Gil for uh felon shall I say George Gilmore come here with All the King's Men And every single County uh commissioner minus Kelly and the sheriff it begs the question as to what is really going on in this town oh I should say it comes down to money Morty Bernstein and Morty iorns pack that they chose to throw their wives names on so they hide behind their skirt but should I say that you have Fortune 500 corporations uh contributing to it that are some of which are going back to Canada in this pack these contributors are all land investors and land developers there you go with this master plan do you see what's going on you have a an Township attorney here that participated at Mr Bernstein's pack um fundraiser so he is compromised so what is happening is again I'm going down the road of imperialism this is a land grab in Jackson Township we have a councilwoman who uh let's see has uh engaged in cores for kids uh cores for Keys um where she worked for Institutional Investor for the sheriff sales for new countless years and she works for hen hedge fund investors related to land Acquisitions so if you don't see the writing on the wall I do so on December 5th those two ordinances should be pulled this master plan needs to be reexamined you cannot make a um a use that is so intense as a permitted use that doesn't have to go in front of these land use boards for the Optics of a land grab because that's what this is all about because Morty's um contributors conveniently purchase property prior to the settlement in these overlay zones and the day after it was approved back in July they threw those properties up for Millions so you don't see what's going on because we all do thank you so much my name is Patrick Panella 15 Quail Road Jackson New Jersey um I've been here for 28 years all of my kids have gone to school here graduated from Jackson Memorial High School I live in a very quiet neighborhood that you could pretty much call it a culdesac I don't know if you know that area over there off of new prospects but the roads you have to go in my street you have to get to my home by going down one street taking a left with two houses on the left and they'll go down another Street to leave that area so the only people that come in there are people that live there or you know are coming to visit friends anyway as I said earlier I have sent documentation pictures I have videos um I can go on and on to numerous uh Township uh zoning board members planning board members the mayor uh etc etc etc okay um no uh Veterans Day weekend I'm going to say over a thousand men in religious Garb carrying religious literature went in and out of that that house during the weekend I'm I'm talking over a thousand okay now I have an email from Jeff Papo who made a comment to me because I had been complaining about different things going on in the neighborhood there was some illegal digging on that property where I contacted the county sent pictures it looked like Beirut over there okay the front yard looked like Beirut the structure that is on that property is way too big for the property itself I don't believe that it follows any type of zoning um type um whatever the limits are um I'm just wondering at what point does someone take the sheet off of their head and look at what's really going on here that home is listed I I keep calling it a structure in all of my emails because it's not a home nobody lives there there's a gentleman that Parks his car there and then he leaves it there for a little while and then he leaves like listen I'm a basic everyday guy right I'm Blown Away about what that woman said because I can't even wrap my head around that okay but I live in my home and I watch this and I've sent so many different articles to different people and no one says you know what let's really get to the bottom of this I understand that the zoning officer Works 8 to4 but let me tell you something the people that are going in and out of this house of worship they don't work 8 to4 they go in during prayer hours they leave an hour later or an hour and a half later during prayer hours I watch them take chairs out of the home stuff them in a shed in the backyard so that when Jeff Papo is coming for the phone call that he has to make to go visit that home it looks like a regular home but if me and you went in that house structure you would know it's not it is a religious worshiping structure they don't use the front door in that home okay the front door is never used front door isn't used because all the religious relics or whatever type of things that they have in the front portion of that home well the front door faces towards Jerusalem okay I'm a simple person that home was bought for $400,000 I believe in February of 2022 $400,000 and that house was sold three months later for a dollar okay and I did some research on other homes that are being used as prayer or worship homes one bought for $800,000 that sold for a dollar 68 months later now I'm a simple person so if I could see that and see that it looks dirty and it's not right and I'm supposed to follow these rules that zoning etc etc etc why does everybody ignore what we're saying here I'm not talking about all this other stuff because I really can't get into that okay I don't know that I know is what I see with my own eyes I have video I have pictures of nothing but men going in and out of that house and if there was a poor white family in that home or a poor black family or a poor Hispanic family the police would be all over that home stop looking at her for the time because that's rude I I hear it thank you you very much but if they were in that home I guarantee you the police would be watching that home and wanting to know what was going on in there and I'm a republican I serve this country it's time for somebody to step up it's not my fault that somebody made a mistake months ago or years ago with the with the Jewish Community I don't mind that they're here but they need to follow the same rulle I do sir I'd like to hear back from one of you at some point in the future well thank you for bringing that to our attention let me just say that again unfortunately this particular body is a legislative body not the enforcement body so that is handled by Administration so I would tell you that the appropriate channel is to speak with Mr wall during the week speak with the mayor and then mayor says he had spoken to Mr wall I haven't heard nothing back but thank you Mr I regret it's just we are alleged legislative body and as well I wanted to be on the record here in front of all of you because you are the people that decide what gets voted in and out this house has been operating like this for over six months first I'm hearing about it but I thank you for bringing it to my hearing about it as well sir so thank you have a good night anyone else seeing no one come forward move to close public comments second I I motion I everybody home safe Happy Thanksgiving everyone have a great holiday