here councilman bernin here councilman Chisum here Council vice president sergeant and council president cun 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 we continue with opening comments from Township Council council president K thank you madam clerk first I want to um thank all of you union workers for coming I was very honored and excited to get this ordinance um for the project labor agreement onto uh today's agenda I'm just going to to say my speech now because my voice is uh Gone um we did I did request it to be amended um if there's any jackon residents here for 30% of it to be the jobs to become uh to local Jaxon residents um Council I believe is going to agree with that and we're going to move forward so thank you so much for being here I also wanted to just talk about um I I was steering away from events but um our local fire department asked us asked me to uh talk about a couple events that they're having they're having their cigar night um on Thursday May 16th at 6 p.m and also Jake's got this which is um it's a benefit py I support it every year the our local uh police and fire departments have a uh kind of little uh game at Blue Clause it's really a great event so if anybody wants to attend otherwise thank you so much for coming and have a great night thank you Council vice president sergeant thank you councilman burelli thank you clerk Moss uh first my thoughts and prayers are with the family and fellow officers of uh NYPD officer Jonathan Diller who was shot and killed during a traffic stoping queens and by a thug who had 21 priors something is seriously wrong with our legal system and the crazy liberal policies that lead to tragedies like this to happen where criminals are coddled and protect it truly disgusting and so preventable this heinous crime was um also happy uh Bita purum and Happy Blessed upcoming uh Good Friday in eastern Resurrection Sunday and weekend also I received some flyers informational flyers in the mail uh that I wanted to share with residents uh from the Jackson Recreation Department uh there's always something to do for kids in our town uh first one is the summer basketball camp for uh grades K to four which will run from April 29th to May May 10th and for grades 5 to 8 and the camp for uh the grades 5 to 8 will run from May 13th to uh May 24th and this location for the Jackson uh summer basketball camp will be held at Swit Lake Elementary School gym from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. for residents it's $75 for non-residents um it's $100 you can register for Jackson summer basketball camp at um HTTP uh equal sign the two Ford slashes register uh. capturepoint domcom also Jackson summer camp will be held this uh Year from June 24th to August 9th at Jackson Memorial High School for K to eth graders to register for Jackson summer camp program uh please go to www.c capturepoint domcom if you have any questions or need additional information about these summer programs Our Town offers um please contact the Jackson Township Recreation Department at 732 928 uh 126 or visit our Township's website at www.jackson WP nj.net good seeing you all nice to see a nice crowd tonight have a good evening thank you councilman Bernstein thank you Madame clerk um first of all I just want to thank everyone for coming it's always good to see new faces here um which we've been continuously seeing um really this year so thank you for everyone for coming out um I'm also very excited to see specific ordinances on for tonight which I'm sure council president will elaborate on before their introduction um over the past couple weeks I've had have had the opportunity in with meeting with different residents throughout our great town um and I've learned a lot one one of the issues that I've had the opportunity of getting to know a little bit more about um was the school funding formula um I had opportunity I wasn't able to make it to the board of ed meeting but I was able to watch the board of aded meeting and watch our assembly assemblyman sui give a speech over there additionally I'm going to encourage residents to continue lobbying our state um all of our elected officials both on the Republican side and on the Democratic side on the Democrat side um for change because our schools desperately need it um I just want to give a special thank you to our Board of Ed president and our superintendent who specifically went down took off time to go to Trenton and to give speeches over there lobbying for all of our students um and if you anyone who would have watched some of the responses that some of the elected officials on the state level gave to um our local leaders who went down there that would have been actually very surprised um they were definitely not in tune with some of the issues going on in Jackson and it was actually humorous so I encourage people to get more involved um continue making noise about our needs and hopefully those needs will that noise will reach the right ears and we our issues will be resolved thank you and have a good night thank you councilman Chisum good evening everyone um also like to follow up with uh councilman bur's um kudos to our department of recreation we are going to have some great events for the kids so please get out there and register them it's good to see them out there uh doing volleyball basketball summer camp just getting them out of the basement and off the video games it's a blessing so please sign them up for some exercise and some fun with their friends uh thank you to assemblyman SII and Clifton as was already just mentioned uh Jackson schools as you've already heard repeatedly over the last few years have been deprived of about $20 million but I know where it went apparently it just went thanks to Governor Murphy King Phillip as I call him gave his friends in Edison $2.8 million made a big speech showed up and said hey congratulations now we know where Jackson's money went $20 million just fell out of the sky in Edison so uh thank you to uh King Phillip everybody else have a great Easter thanks for coming we'll see you soon thank you council president a non-substantive change were made to uh ordinance 11-24 the correction on page three section number 13 with the typo in section number 14 the percentage was changed from the original 20% to now 30% yes ma'am consideration of ordinances public hearing and final consideration this is a second reading of ordinance 11-24 intitled ordinance of the township of Jackson County of ocean state of New Jersey establishing chapter 316 of the Township Code entitled project labor agreement this ordinance was introduced on February 27th 2024 I need a motion to open the public hearing motion to open second all in favor I I if any member of the public has any comments to make please address the council at their microphone state your name and address clearly for the record you will have five minutes and may only speak once come up just yeah you can start a line right here yes sir I'm new to this so that's okay pardon me I'm a little nervous Council thank you uh for letting me address you all sir I have your name my name is Gerald inferna I'm a uh Township resident for 60 years my family's been in Jackson for 80 years I'm a union carpenter for 41 years I'm still a resident of Jackson um and I'm still a union member my son is now a union member and all these uh good people here are union members I believe or most of them um I would like to uh ask the council to consider the pla for carpenters and electricians and plumbers alike um they're local residents they earn local they spend local try to keep the money in Jackson it would be uh greatly appreciated as a union member um I joined the union 41 years ago as I said and it's been a really good um means of raising my family and staying in this fine town of Jackson I hope to live here for many more years so thank you for your uh for your time thank you so much sir and we did update it so that it is residence of Jackson for the minimum of 30% Thank you good evening my name is Ryan Archer I'm a local resident 46 Frank Applegate Road I'm also a union ion worker for 32 years moved into the town in 2001 um hardworking guy just like every other man and woman in here uh proud to be Union proud to be American we're all skilled trained drug free like again hardworking uh the contractors that we work for are legitimate contractors local uh Keep Us Safe uh and uh we just request that the township consider the pla to support our families in the future thank you thank you [Applause] sir good evening Council my name is bton tahar local resident 23 Ocean Avenue in Jackson uh going strong nine years now um I don't want to do an abbreviated you know speech of whatever I took time to write something down so I'll go word for word on it okay um so I did the beginning uh so we're here tonight on the pla very into it um so tonight when you vote tonight I want you to understand that the people impacted most by your choice are the workers that build your roads and the schools and if you value our lives and what we contribute to the community you might vote yes please to the pla project labor agreements ensure that men and women working together on projects are paid correctly and are well trained at their crafts you have to know how to keep themselves and each other safe on the job site I a proud local 77 laborer going strong and I will continue to be so either if it's in labor or any proud to be if you are willing to work hard and earn you can earn family sustaining wages no matter what race or gender you are the union is excuse me the union is also how I have access to family health insurance and retire retirement benefits I think every worker in Jackson deserves the same benefit that I have started with when I became a labor non-union contractors do not provide Pathways to careers for con construction workers too often non-union workers experience wage theft and are put in dangerous situations I am grateful for my union book every day and only want other workers in Jackson to have the same opportunities passing the pla ordinance will make it clear that Jackson is committed to ensuring public Investments and do not end up in the hands of bad employers it would also ensure everyone in town benefits from the high quality and experienced labor in the future of public words projects so please vote yes and thank you for the opportunity to let me speak with you guys tonight thank you thank you sir thank great [Applause] job Keith Stanger I'm a local nine member 22 Mary Beth Court Jackson I've been a local nine member for over 25 plus years if it wasn't for local N9 I wouldn't be able to afford to live here we all anybody who's been here that long knows how high the taxes have gone mostly close to the stool schools like you said they're cutting back on financing well when the school budget goes up we have to pay for it I make my money local I spend my money local done it for 25 plus years in this town it's a beautiful town I like to keep it that way you want to bring in Project labor agreements going to bring in educated trained safety workers if you don't have that you're going to have accidents on the job because these guys aren't trained that's why it's very important I know some of you probably don't like unions but they serve a purpose construction is one of them thank you thank you sir [Applause] anyone else seeing no one else come forward to make a motion oh one more good evening my name is Larry pan I live at 24 calary Cordon Jackson I've lived in this town for 40 years this year's 40 years I've been a union member of Local 27 Sheet Metal Workers for 23 um I didn't prepare a speech I didn't know I was going to stand up and say anything but I feel it as my right coming asking to come and uh do my union well my union brothers and sisters here and give good good notice to to the people of town that I would love to see plas on all future projects um I believe it benefits the town benefits me I live here I work on these projects I pay my bills with this money um as these gentlemen said the training goes without saying you know educated in that sense it's it is our work um and that's all I could really add I I would really like to see that going forward please thank you sir thank [Applause] you anyone else seeing no one else come forward and make a motion to close public session second all in favor I third reading of ordinance 11-24 entitled an ordinance of the township of Jackson County of ocean state of New Jersey establishing chapter 316 of the Township Code entitled project labor agreement I need a motion to adopt on third and final reading and advertise according to law motion second councilman berelli see local aspect it first and I thank you councilman Bernstein so also to Echo uh councilman belli's comments I'm very happy to the council work together to amend the ordinance to really make sure that Jackson comes first and to ensure that we could continue supporting our blueco collar workers so also I vote yes thank you councilman Chisum so I would just like to express first and foremost I certainly appreciate all the hardworking men and women unions non- labor anybody that works in the trades I uh certainly want to support all the apprenticeships the training the safety that's very important uh not just in unions but everywhere you go I mean it's just a job at the end of the day and everybody has something more important waiting for them at home so it's good that you're getting that training we like to see that I do want to express however like those reservations I will spell out those reservations this ordinance is filled with a bunch of leftist IDE ology and Dei there is no less than seven quotations in this ordinance that has been pushed from mandates from the state and Phil King Philip quotas and affirmative action have already been defeated at the Supreme Court and that wording should be removed and I hope somebody at some point will challenge that uh not just for this but any ongoing ordinances it does not belong there we don't need to consider race and gender we should just be considering hardworking Americans that's all it is but I will vote Yes but that wording should be removed thank you thank you Council vice president Sergeant good evening as a local member for the TWU um for 20 years I vote yes thank you thank you council president cun so as a sister of a local uh one union worker um and a third generation my brother has been in there for three my grand since my great-grandfather I definitely vote Yes and congratulations thank you ordinances first reading council president are there [Applause] [Applause] any ordinance's first reading council president cun there any comments regarding ordinance 12-24 uh yes Madam clerk so I just wanted to go over this ordinance um and then I just wanted to let everybody know this is 13 different parcels and it's uh a little bit over 114 Acres that takes Jackson Township uh I have confirmed it over 3,000 Acres of preserved land um this is amazing this is great stuff this is part of the uh purchase from the board of education so I just really wanted to reiterate that I think that's amazing that we have over 3,000 acres and we have stuff uh coming up as well to add to this ordinance 12-24 entitled in ordinance of the township of Jackson County of ocean state of New Jersey authorizing the acquisition of certain real property from Jackson Township Board of Education pursuant to njsa 481 12-5 I need a motion to adopt ordinance 12-24 on first reading and to authorize a notice of approval and public hearing to be held on April 9th 2024 motion second belli thank you councilman Bernstein um also just want to thank the administration for making this happen it's been a long process but it's it's the first of many more to or it's a continuation of many more to come so also I vote yes thank you councilman Chisum yes Council vice president sergeant yes and council president C yes just to piggy back on councilman bernsteen our administration's been working over a year on this um um obtaining these Acquisitions so it's really really good I vote yes thank you council president are there any comments regarding ordinance 13-24 yes councilman Bernstein um so ordinance uh 13-24 is really just a continuation of of some of the work that we did a couple months ago um about a month ago actually in which we um fixed the ordinance with regard to dumpsters that was creating a hindrance to Residents who were looking to do um small jobs um and we realize that there were some technical errors in it so we are fixing it to allow it to go in people's driveways um but it will still require will still have the same limits with regard to the streets you would still need a permit you would still need to notify the town where where you're putting it on your property um all that is not changing and how long that's the same amount of time as the first time yeah it's the same amount of times sorry I was looking at the I couldn't read my own handwriting to be quite honest with you that's why I passed it over to councilman no we had when um it was reviewed by our department head um an Administration they realized that there was an error in that you wouldn't be able to put the dumpster in your front lawn I don't think that you know we all don't believe up here that anybody should be telling you where you could put a dumpster as long as it's not in your setbacks or it's bothering you know it's it's in in somebody's view of their quality of life of your neighbor so we had that edited so we had to reintroduce it and it's on tonight thank you ordinance 13-24 entitled an ordinance of the township Council Township of Jackson Ocean County New Jersey repealing ordinance 0424 and amending chapter 163 of the Township Code of the township of Jackson entitled Construction Construction containers I need a motion to approve ordinance 13-24 on first reading and to authorize the notice of approval and public hearing to be held on April 9th 2024 so moved second councilman burelli yes councilman Bernstein yes councilman Chisum yes Council vice president Sergeant yes and council president cun yes thank you council president are there any comments regarding ordinance 14-24 um Terence did you want to say anything pertaining to that I could simply say briefly uh subsequent to uh a ratification of an Mo MOA mou with the tww we would uh that uh resulted in additional titles and that would be that's essentially the the uh the reason for this updated ordinance to add those titles uh as part of the negotiated settlement with the tww thank you sir thank you Mr wall yeah absolutely it probably wasn't and I apologize I don't have it in front of me um but I I believe that there has been no such change I would have to look at to verify that but there is no such change it was simply to address the tww and make some modest adjustments on other other yeah but I believe it should be on there I can look Mr wall I have the um ordinance I it's not it has not been removed it has not it okay thank you yeah I recall saying it okay thank you group effort thank you very much ordinance 14-24 entitled in ordinance of the township of Jackson County of ocean state of New Jersey amending ordinance number 03-242 and thereafter I need a motion to approve ordinance 14-24 on first reading and to authorize the notice of approval and public hearing to be held on April 9th 2024 motion second councilman belli yes councilman Bernstein yes councilman Chisum yes Council vice president Sergeant no council president Q yes the next item on the agenda is the first public hearing for the Community Development block grant program for calendar year 2024 in accordance with the guidelines set forth the township is required to hold a public hearing for the purpose of soliciting ideas and applications the community would like to see presented to the Community Development block program for the calendar year 2024 this hearing will enable the township to select and prioritize applications for the Ocean County Community Development block grant program the second public hearing is scheduled for April the 9th 20124 or soon thereafter here in the main meeting room of the Jackson Township municip Building located at 95 West Veterans Highway Jackson New Jersey 08527 at this time we will have the first of two public hearings on the Community Development block program for the calendar year 2024 if any member of the public wishes to comment on this topic and bring forth any suggestions you may do so at this time please address the council at the microphone and state your name and address clearly CL I believe he's going to present first sure right yeah yeah he's going to present and then any questions thereafter certainly sorry thank you council president Council M Charlie conliff licensed engineer with TM Associates we are the township townships engineering consultant as you heard Miss Moss um talk about this is for the fiscal year 2024 uh Grant application it's the cdbg Community Development block grant uh block grants what is that that's Federal monies that get allocated to uh state and local Municipal entities in this instance that comes from HUD the uh Department of Housing and Urban Development and as the grant name implies it's for Community Development um what that does is it helps fund projects that um would uh Advance um public improvements that would um help uh lower and moderate income communities throughout the country um but also one of the main components of it is helping uh promote barrier-free access to public facilities Ada accessibility um and the several Grant applications that have been filed by this Township in the last several years that has been the corrupt of a lot of those applications um Township of Jackson we're a little bit fortunate most of the other municipalities because of the demographics population they're on a two-year funding cycle where they submit an application every other year Jackson were eligible based off of our population that we can submit an application every year those townships you know their typical Grant award might be around 30 40,000 Jackson RS historically in the last four years has been in the range of you know 125 to 160,000 um the Grant application is a little open-ended in the title it's for uh Ada accessibility handicap improvements at various public um uh facilities throughout the township of Jackson what that does is allows the township some flexibility to be able to kind of put together Grant awards for multiple fiscal years to help do a little bit more extensive projects to some of the facilities the senior center Town Hall um over at the police department similar to how you how you would do for you know Municipal Capital br you sometimes often will do various roadway improvements and that allows more flexibility so um I know there has been some projects been in the past for improvements at the senior center um some of those haven't gone forward just with um a lack of a availability of funds so if we do get this Grand award we can string those together and hopefully you know move forward with some of these improvements um that's really all I have if there's any comments from the governing body or members of the public I'd be happy to answer them council president have one question what's the time frame for this for submitting this and to know where where we're submitting this yeah so as um clerk Moss indicated there's two public hearings that are required uh this is the first one um we'll have to open it to public get minutes second hearing same process the governing body will adopt a resolution in support of the application that finalized the application process typically the grant Awards will be announced uh mid July and then once the township gets the awards uh usually the the county um who administers the Grant on this on the local level likes to see the funds exhausted within you know um 12 to 24 months typically is what they like to see so I have a question have you identified any of the projects for that would allocate for the 125 to the 160,000 I know you said the senior center um the police department but it's mainly towards for handicap accessibles and to upgrades correct correct yeah so and that can be very open-ended so sometimes it's curb ramps into the building um you know Firehouse if they're owned by the municipality um where you might have public polling for elections and things like that improving uh accessibility um for for members of the public who are you know wheelchair bound and things like that um and then it could also be you know if you have twostory municipal buildings with stairs and you don't have an elevator or a chairlift that can also fund some of those improvements so um I know there have been like I said I think there's a project bid last calendar year for improvements to the senior center um I think uh that project was not ultimately proceeded with just because of funding okay if this grant award happens like I said because of the various improvements you can then string together multiple years to help kind of get those projects to come to fruition okay thank you very much than you sir not a problem absolutely yes absolutely um sorry about that can you hear me now all right um I saw the project location also included Township owned Park Properties so we'll Grant monies be steered that towards that as well and and if that's the case you know for what and for which parts so like I said it's the various Parks allows flexibility for the township so um you know if you get more 150,000 the next year 160,000 not every project that you um you know put out to bid and get project pricing is going to come out at exactly $310,000 might only be 180 that balance can be left over to then look at the various parks throughout the town I can tell you you know with Mr uh administrator wall we've looked at various of the parks and you know needed improvements as far as like Paving a couple handicapped parking spaces you know maybe some walkways into some of the parks um there's multiple opportunities throughout the Township in this grant award should help us uh potentially look to further some of those improvements thank you thank you sir great job than you miss Moss did you want to open up to the public now to to ask at this time if any members of the public have any comments to make please address council at the microphone you will have five minutes and may only speak once thank you good evening everyone um I just wanted to say thanks to Mr Conley for presenting his uh what he's doing there are major deficiencies as far as Ada accessibility in this town certain things things are just simple repairs that need to be made things like the doors to the police department the court building City Hall where they have the push buttons you know some of them don't work the police department they haven't worked in years the court they shut them off because they're tied to a light switch maybe in with this block funding grant that the priority goes towards some of the smaller things that may be cheap fixes that would help alleviate a lot of Ada problems and even well technically liability for the town it would just be very very helpful because as somebody who used to work on these things we're not talking millions of dollars we're talking you could probably fix every door in this town plus add the new ones for less than $25,000 I'm not sure what the government process and the purchasing is for that but again it shouldn't be an extremely expensive job things like upgrading accessibilities to the parks to the dog park would be a great thing having actual handicap parking at the dog park would be another good thing because there really it's Controlled Chaos and thankfully no one's been hurt because people are very cognizant of where they're driving but it only takes one person not paying attention too busy on their phone whatever the case may be and it's really not a lot but there's it's a lot of oversight because people believe that there's grandfathering involved and I could tell you nine and a half times out of of 10 when it comes to the Ada grandfathering is just a myth and it needs to be brought up to the standards I think that this will go a long way towards helping that but let's see if we can nail down all the little things that have just been broken or not functioning as designed in the town and we go from there thank you sir we're going to work on that Miss Moss we need a closed public session yes anyone else on this John Puchi 17 sha Road uh Madam uh council president I I realize uh this is the first reading of wood 14- 24 concerning the township council's uh new salary ordinance not I 14 Grant the development of the Grant I I sorry you said you said this was a P public portion for just on the grand just on the okay sorry come back at the end of the meeting you can come back at the end seeing no one else come forward make a motion to close public session second all in favor I I we move on to the bills and K claims motion to approve or hold any motion motion second councilman berelli uh I have to have stain on vendor numbers uh e ye e01 n JC 11 njm 06 njs 04 and Ru t04 uh everything yes to the rest on there thank you councilman Bern yes councilman Chisum abstain on R4 yes to the rest thank you Council vice president Sergeant yes and council president president C abstain from rcs2 yes to the arest thank you thank you consent agenda I need a motion to approve the listed resolutions under consent agenda motion please motion second councilman burelli yes councilman Bernstein yes councilman Chisum abstain on R 16924 yes to the rest thank you Council vice president Sergeant yes and Council president ke uh thank you I would like our business administrator to just go into the resolution uh 15724 for just about a minute if you could please Mr wall thank you very much council president yes we're very very pleased on the bids that came back uh in regard to the uh 2023 roadway Improvement program phase two uh the bids were were excellent we're able to also do alternate bid a b and c so I wanted to share that um there would be Pavements and and improvements on Highland Drive Declaration Lane Spruce Terrace Sapphire Drive Daniel Court East Pleasant Grove Road Albert Court West fish Road Sunnybrook road Crescent Avenue oi Burke Road and Paul Road and the alternate bids that are included are also Tilford street doose lane and Brewers Bridge uh Road striping so I just want to yeah share that with you that's amazing thank you so much thank you and and council president for May I also wanted to share with you that the the it's with partnership with the Board of Education I want to thank the governing body earlier when when we're working in Partnership and the organizations are working very smoothly you can get tremendous things done and that's what evolved with the partnership with the board of education so that's partnering with uh organizations that is functioning very smoothly here in Jackson Township with the board for that acquisition and we're also uh at the following meeting we're seeking to have a resolution for consideration to have approximately $1 million in playground improvements across all the schools awesome uh again furthering that partnership as well so we look forward to presenting that to the council for their consideration at the next thank you sir can't wait to receive it and put it on the agenda um I'm gonna say yes to everything thank you public comments on any Topic at this time if any member of the public has any comments to make please address council at the Mig microphone and state your name and address clearly for the record you will have five minutes and may only speak once hello uh my name is Carissa from 37 Birch Drive I was here last month and I've been in contact with Jennifer and Mr wall um I'm just kind of here because I really haven't had much info as far as um update um let's see Jennifer advised me that I call the Department of Public Work Works um but I'm not really sure what they're doing exactly if they're waiting on bamboo to start growing again it's springtime so things are going to start getting crazy um I did stress the importance of having this be handled all at once that it can't be done in parts and I explained all the hazards and ways of the Hostile aggressive plant prior to the township starting um and cutting down the bamboo shoots uh this was about a little under two months ago that they initially cut it cut it down uh it's still a mess back there I did talk to Mr wall about that um hoping that they're going to go back and finish up and from when I spoke with TR balinsky he did say that um Mr wall would be the one I guess to make the decision so I guess at this point I'm just hoping that we come to a resolution soon um I did have the bamboo professionals come back out on March 15th to uh break down a quote for my property my neighbor's property and the township property um they did tell me that someone from the township called them but they didn't tell me who or they didn't have a name I'm assuming it was Mr wall okay so um I did follow up with them they said they should get it back to me in a couple days I'm hoping that that's the like direction that we're going with this um is the escavation because you know between um even just Googling it or when you reach out to any escavation crew or anybody they're going to tell you cutting it down in Spring isn't really going to do the trick and the other thing is it's a very unique situation because there's homes involved it's not just a let's spray it and keep an eye on it like it's already at the backs of our homes down to the curb you know this is a you know I'm worried about structural Foundation you know I'm worried about underground utilities um just overall I'm just trying to you know get this taken care of the right way so I'm just kind of back C president from May yes sir briefly thank you for being here um I I did I spoke to the vendor at length and we are seeking a proposal from them so we could sit down collectively uh and Anze it as far as barrier and these types of things that you've become more well versed in than you would have ever cared to and then and we'll set up that meeting once that as you had indicated once our proposal is in okay but set up that meeting meeting the offices and and go over what can and can't be done there are challenges with a municipality engaged in private Landscaping essentially um that said we want to see about barrier development is on the municipal side and other other items that uh you know whatever may come out of that meeting so you're fully heard and see what the the Alternatives may be what a municipality you're taxpayer so what a municipality can do and perhaps what it cannot do um and once we have the proposal we'll we'll set up that meeting okay perfect yeah that's totally fine I know you guys are busy and I appreciate your time and I appreciate the efforts I just I want to make sure it's done the right way and I understand this is such a gray random area and like I I'm just trying to go about it the right way and work with you guys not against you guys I just want to handle this the right way um and I guess we'll we'll take it from there I just wanted to make sure that that actually was on the table as far as escavation and not won't work as far as what's on the table what's on the table is getting a a proposal and have meeting so and and we'll see what flows from that meeting okay thank you okay thank ma' if you could tell me your just one more time please the 37 Birch Drive thank you thank you thank you s yep there anyone yep John Puchi 17 shro since I can only speak once tonight I I'm changing the topic I'm wondering um how many more times we're going to see these types of headlines in the paper where Jackson has now been litigated against several times so in the last six months Jackson has paid out Andor its insurers at least $5 million March 15th we had to settle another lawsuit for $1.2 million I'd like to know what the mayor the council and The Business rator is doing for insurance risk to the community I mean we're you know we're paying money out of the jef and other insurance companies and these premiums in the future you know anybody most people in here just got home insurance increases not alone on their cars and some of them probably did nothing to encourage that these people are going to come back and continue once these premiums increase there they're there to stay because they're only going to predicate on what our past what our what our past history is and the number of claims we've put in but this is getting ridiculous we've had a religious discrimination lawsuit settled for $5 million there was an additional Union settlement for over a million dollars and now we had we had we had to we had to have another lawsuit for what almost looked like negligence on our part when it came to law enforcement I'm I'm asking what is the mayor and Council going to do about risk management when it comes to these types of lawsuits I see tonight on the agenda you have another lawsuit pending is that going to cost us money I want you can't answer that I understand you but what are we doing here I mean I know listen it's a litigated society to begin with let's not encourage anyone than we already need need to have yes sir thank you ad what about the what about the prior planning board issues that we've had with the land use laws that we had to settle what kind of what kind of public what kind of what kind of attorneys have we had land use attorneys have we had dealing with that I mean you know there were ordinances passed that you know shouldn't have never been passed all I can tell you is what this council is doing since they've and those ordinances have been amended those cases have been settled and as a result of that the tactic of avoiding any additional litigation which could have far exceeded what has already been paid out so in the future we shouldn't be seeing many more of these headlines in the Asbury Park Press is that correct as you say anybody I understand but and and quite frankly I'm not so sure how everybody's on how everybody's been up there but I mean it it's too bad this wasn't addressed you know a lot earlier I think that part of it had to do with the settlement of the matters trying to resolve it with the litig and that took I can tell you I've been involved in that for at least three years and it took that long to get them s okay by the way Mr wall I'm still waiting for your Chief Financial Officer to get back back to me thank you thank you sir I appreciate you coming up to president yes sir just want to follow up just let the gentlemen know and the public know that we have there are uh multiple safety meetings during the year with the joint Insurance Fund uh very specific training for all employees during the year and one of the items that I think is very notable and to the credit of law enforcement is the first time I believe in history Jackson Township Police Department is aedit ed through the New Jersey Chiefs Association it's a very arduous process where policies that had not been updated in as as far back as 20 years are all current um it's very arduous process for them and uh and so that helps to just to uh specifically answer the question liability it reduces both the liability premium and obviously the resultant liability of not having such an accreditation uh and that that was put in place uh quite recently to the credit of the organization so uh we are seeking to uh to keep that profile low as a municipality it's not uncommon to uh to have uh litigation but to keep a low profile and to and and to ensure that the workplace is safe that employees are operating in a safe Manner and there's the care and training on an ongoing basis annually thank you thank you Mr wall good evening Dan pic 17 Alaska Avenue Jackson um how does Code Enforcement go about enforcing the codes in this Township I mean there's there's bulk pickup in my in District 2 is supposed to start April 8th there's already branches and bulk out okay on Farmingdale Road near Serendipity court or whatever it is there's branches out on both entrances to Serendipity that goes on all the time garbage cans are left out for weeks on end recycling doesn't exist in my development for the most part I would say maybe a quarter of the houses recycle the rest don't there's houses that never have a a yellow can out the only thing that gets recycled is cardboard trees get taken down nobody knows whether the Township's been notified that the trees are coming down or not what goes on here I'm going to let uh the business administrator answer that regarding um Department one of the means and methods of understanding complaints and inquiries is the one that you just gave us so that's part of the information when there's an issue uh the issues that you're having uh other folks may or may not be having in the community you have a 100 square mile town and so from time to time you have folks that follow the rules and people that don't follow the rules so we do have we do have a full-time code enforcement team do they drive around to each district occasionally to see what's going on on a regular basis they do they're active um they're busy um and the process is of providing uh their role is is not to generate Revenue their role is to educate and communicate with the rules are in the community some folks may be familiar we have a holiday coming up I'm embarrassed to have relatives and friends come to my house for the way my development looks Fair Point and and this is just let me finish one of the one of the methods of understanding where there's an issue is getting an inquiry like you're sharing now publicly which is a perfect form to do that that will be taken into code enforcement they will explore that inquiry and to the extent that there are violations they will issue notices of violation or speak to the the folks that are in violation to cure that violation and if that violation at some point is not cured then the next visit is to a judge and a court date but like I said earlier their role is not Revenue generation their Reven their role is is just folks to as the rules that understand interested in quality of life and and a good Development I've been here for 46 years as it's sir I'm gonna give you my card at the end and then if you want to email me what your concerns are and I'll get I'll forward it to the business just a follow up to the parking from last time now in in my development Brookwood one if you go down Louisiana and turned on to New Hampshire now you can't there's cones out on both sides of New Hampshire by residents putting cones out so that nobody parks on their sides of the street can I put cones out in front of my house so that nobody parks in front of my house is that rhetorical or you're asking me another question I'm asking a question so what I what I what I do when there's public comment each respective department head I ask him listen to the public comment and and report back what your findings are so that particular item that strikes me as I reported that Cones were out last two weeks ago and nothing now there's more cones out and the and the no parking area keeps growing and growing and growing well I appreciate the input I'm going to refer that to the police chief I'm going to refer him to the commentary tonight and see if we can get a resolution to that problem again I'm asking a question can I put cones out in front of my house I can't speak to that the the municipal attorney can council president sorry no I can hear you sir in all likelihood you would not be permitted to do that I don't know all the facts but you cannot put anything in the public roadway except the motor vehicle okay again I'm going to give you my card if you want to just send me email of all that and I'll forward it to the business administrator and he'll forward it to the proper department heads and hopefully you'll get quality of life issues I mean even garbage cans are out blocking fire hydrant I mean should the fire fireman come have to move a garbage can to get to a fire hydrant and this has been going on for years I can't believe that police and code enforcement don't see these issues it you've got to open your eyes and make this Township better for everybody we're trying sir thank you Peter Theo Jackson New Jersey um last meeting I brought up an issue about a fake file that was being kept on me of unverified documents I then had a longwinded conversation with you Mr Wong where are we with that is issue what's the question I'm sorry Mr Foria last meeting we had a long-winded conversation about a fake file that is being kept on me of unverified social media posts that no one up there verified that Miss cun said a resident handed to her wouldn't refuse to tell me the resident's name so we have uh an unnamed person giving people files to put in my file my personal file that no one vets no one verifies and and you guys are using this against residents of your town we had a long-winded conversation on the phone for well over an hour and you said you were going to get back to me and I'm still waiting yes yeah I I don't have um any comment on other than what I share with you there is no file there are files that are kept for any applicant for a position wait a minute I want to I want to comment on this okay we had we were talking apples and oranges here you were stating that yeah we could have files on our desk to talk about residents but we're not going to keep a formal file about that and I said no that's wrong if you're using if you're using documents they should be kept formally so I know that they exist I didn't say what you just said yes you did no I did not then what did you say you said they should have not been entered into a formal file they should have been used to Talk Amongst yourself something to that effect you said which is wrong if anything you guys are using should be put in a formal file what I shared with you was that there are there is one file and we're talking about um citizen inquiries of being on the planning board or zoning board environmental commission shatri committee open space advisory committee things of that nature um that it's one file and it has the application in it period um that's what I share with you okay once again everyone admitted those files were never verified we I searched my archives I searched all my deleted files I went back for years in my social media they don't exist they don't if I can't find them they don't exist I I I've spent my life in it 45 years my last five years were in data security I know a little bit about searching files they don't exist so if I can't find them you're using fake information against me which is wrong sir just to be clear I'm not using any information in any way in my role as the administrator if you're speaking about the earlier meeting at a prior meeting where we went through the social media files that you had the only one you indicated that you could find in your archives was the one that you referenced we're doomed and if you want to have a conversation about the email where you referen we're doomed and the individuals that were referenced in that email we can do that publicly if you give me permission do publicly right okay so you I'll tell you I'll tell you you referenced two Orthodox residents of Jackson Township and your social media post said we're doomed which I ex I told you that that strikes me as anti-semitic and if I were making a decision it would bar you from a from a position on any board in Jackson Township it's not my role but that was after you verified that you you wrote we're doomed that it was your Facebook post that referenced two Orthodox individuals so if you want to have a real conversation we can do that have a real conversation Fu right this is my there's to be none of that language here sir there's not going to be that language here sir that specific post was from a member of Mr rain's uh campaign team and I commented on that why don't you bring that piece out and the reason I I I made that comment was because the gentleman tizzy Herman he is the editor of the PES the PES is a very divisive uh publication in this town and that's why I said that I don't think any publication that divides a town is good for the town and that's why I said that it had nothing to do with two Orthodox people on on in the in the post I could have said there was two Catholic people in the post but I didn't say that did I did I it goes both ways you know Mr Wong that is the reason I said that the PS is very divisive that's my exact nothing to do with the other gentleman I have no problem with the other gentleman so you're lying you're lying sir your time is up I appreciate you coming up well where are we with that getting rid of that file I have no further comment for you sir I'm sorry what I have no further comment for you tonight so you're going to keep a file on a resident account that's unverified that's from a unnamed person like I shared with you on our phone call and I referenced that if you wanted to record the phone call you should feel free to do so you would hear on that recording if you have one that I never said that I said we have one file that has any applicant any Resident of the community excuse me let me just finish and it's in one file it's by Year and that it simply has the um the downloadable file I think you can fill it out electronically uh so there be an electronic version as well of your letter of inquiry the application to be a member of a a respective board citizen leadership form sorry citizen leadership form thank you yes period that's it so what about those other documents that exist about me are they gone over your and there's other people that want us it looks like there's other people that want to speak and we're well over your time um if you guys want to continue this after the meeting that would be great can I speak with Mr W please privately or because your time's out that we've learned in the past that with police officers we did it for the respect of the and Thea and the chief of police we did it once but it's not going to happen again thank you sir your time is up respectfully thank you sir all right we're coming closer and closer to you answering these questions to a judge okay be well drive home [Music] safe good evening again um last time I was talking before this body I sir your name oh I'm sorry Donnie Adelman 206 Willow Point Drive last time I spoke before this body at the previous meeting I asked some questions but I really wasn't feeling so good I kind of just stepped out and I never waited around for the answers so what I'd like to do is just make my presentation and if the council could answer my questions I really would appreciate it number one short of an election what could be done to remove mayor Raina who seems to be very uncaring about most of the residents of this town from office number number two in regards to lawsuits I heard that presentation a few minutes ago and I heard the passion of that man's voice and frankly he's right you know there are lots of lawsuits but I can tell you right now that the employees of this town are not being monitored controlled or whatever I am had going through an issue with the clerk's office as far as Oprah animal control and code enforcement as far as some interactions that happened over the past uh 10 months or so and no wants to take any responsibility which things like this usually end up in a lawsuit why do we have to get that far because the employees fail to do their job and covering each other's butts is more important than doing the right thing number three we have the First Amendment everybody knows that you have the right to free speech freedom of expression freedom of assembly all that wonderful stuff that the forefathers granted to us it means that you will have nothing from the government Banning you from doing it doesn't mean that you you can say whatever you want do whatever you want scottf free without consequence as per even with our last speaker Facebook seems to be a problem in this town as of March 17th the Jackson Police Department put up a post about targeted enforcement and the same characters and cast of crew that led to all the lawsuits and all the different social media posts were back at it again so I'm going to ask on a public forum why is the Insurance Fund and the town not going after the 30 or so people that that triggered this lawsuit some of which abuse their power and abuse their Authority as government agents government employees whatever it is and all the other people that are causing all these problems in their town I can guarantee you if you take those people and you give them a bill for $6 million what just happened there won't be any more misunderstandings there won't be any more posts about they them those people and everything else because I could tell you right now that there's a major disconnect where in the old days when people did or said the wrong thing you can go up and you can punch them in the nose may not be the most civilized thing definitely wasn't legal but you know what back in the old days the police let it go because there's a difference between right and wrong and everybody cared about that difference nowadays that's highly inappropriate but I'm sure if the people that caused all these problems were to get a bill to recoup all the costs and everything that we wasted as taxpayers that is now being spread out among the 50,000 or so of residents a lot of that would stop a lot of people would sit there and give us give themselves a second of pause before they typed whatever they did into the computer all right that people have become way too familiar and way too accustomed to saying whatever they want thinking they can get away with it and that is simply not the case our far our forefathers knew that the government can't make you stop from saying anything but there will be penalties if you do you still can't yell fire in a dark movie theater you still can't I still can't come up to you and say you mfer I hate you blah blah blah blah and Trigger what they call fighting words so why are we protecting the worst of our town and not penalizing them because the quicker we penalize them the quicker this stops thank you sir I'm gonna let the attorney answer your first couple questions whatever I'm not sure what you mean by penalizing them and going after them who what do you who were you talking about I I believe just like in any other case Insurance the insurance companies who covered the lawsuits I can't speak about the lawsuit with the Jackson Police and the motorcyclist I I'm not I know I don't know enough about that but the various lawsuits over the anti-Semitism and with the Orthodox Jews let the insurance companies let the town go after the people named in the lawsuit and presented as evidence in the lawsuit the people that still have the audacity after all this to go on to a Jackson Police Jackson Police Department Facebook post and continue their anti-Semitism send them a bill split it up however manyways send it to are you talking about Township employees some of them are Township employees some of them are private citizens but you know what I I was involved in the all the discovery and the litigation and I don't recall any tantum employees who posted on Facebook that somehow had a bearing or relevance to that litigation causing the township to settle um there are private citizens who exercise their first amendment rights to basically ask the government or tell the government what they should or shouldn't do me the township officials and it's because of those comments that the township was put in a position we have to sett a litigation but the township has no right to sue them for that there's no they do have a First Amendment right and we cannot go sue them for their anti-Semitism or their inappropriate comments however the township wears that and that's what we have to protect against we're not suing them over the anti-em ISM we're suing them over the fact that they cost the taxpayer $6 million it's no different it would be no different than if somebody lit a match and burned out this entire building ultimately you know besides any criminal penalties the township would go after that person to recoup the cost to rebuild this building that's not a First Amendment right to burn a building down thank you sir we ran out of time I apologize but I hope you come back next meeting and if you want to email me your questions I'll forward them to the business administrator and the attorney to get you um additional responses before I go may I just get the answer about Raina mayor Raina I'll if you want to email me thank you sir understandable have a great night thank you good evening Trina Sergeant new relationship wild doing way um in Jackson I just have a nothing inflammatory like previously have a question I understand that you are the planning board the whatever no this is the council this isn't the planning board no I know but I understand that there are parks that are going to be you're acquiring all this land um I we you're talking about what was on the agenda tonight from the Board of Education those Parcels I I spoke with you I remember I know you're looking for um tennis courts right I didn't I spoke with you last week right um yes you were in the development that I live in you you called me and emailed me are you and you were talking about parks and things yes are they going to be the the land that you're acquiring will some of those be landscaped and designed um the council president just briefly we we've uh conducted a study uh the colar who uh the Landscape Architects have have this is goes back a little over a year ago or approximately have reviewed all our parks and uh we're looking at deploying assets through the open space Recreation trust fund to look at um uh Woodland Park and a host of other different parks to uh for for a couple different things one is Fitness trails and things of that nature passive Recreation and other uh types of Fitness oriented uh Endeavors as well as uh playgrounds uh for with canopy coverage for sun coverage as well so um we can uh help expand the recreation opportunities as as it relates to tennis courts and pickable courts specifically we're looking over at Johnson Park there you have an open landfill there that for whatever reason in the 70s or what have you that was didn't have the closure documents done uh accordingly so we're working with the the state organizations and uh you know local to see how we uh complete that process and then the governing body can look at a place additional Recreation if that's the topic here additional Recreation amenities for Jackson tou residents okay thank you sir um I don't have the energy for pickle ball and Tennis but just as an example in Hamilton Township at Mera County they have at St Gardens and every year they have an aelia Festival um and it it's just absolutely beautiful if I think if in Jackson Township if something like that could be created it would really be wonderful for the township thank you ma'am I will uh pass it on to a couple of the Committees no it wasn't about the tennis and pickle sorry thanks sorry but we did have a design council president by the landscape architect so that could be mindful of that I have to say you're reminding me of my semester abroad in eing it it's just gorgeous I mean it would be so so lovely for Jackson Township if open land is wonderful the land you acire it's super terrific but it would be so nice to have some color and you know fountains and other things thank you ma'am we will take that into consideration seeing no one else come forward make a motion to close public session all in favor I second all in favor hi have a good night have a great night everyone thank [Applause] you