e e e e e e e e everyone in accordance with Section Five of the open public public meetings act be advised that a notice of this meeting was made by posting on the bulletin board in town hall and forwarding to the officially designated newspapers that this meeting would take place at Town Hall at 7M on Tuesday June 4th 2024 meeting details and the draft agenda were also posted on our Township website please stand to salute the uned states stand roll call vote Please Mr Cohen here miss puus here Deputy Mayor Sandy here Mr Stoler pres mayor Romano here thank you may I have a motion to approve the agenda so may I have a second second all those in favor may have a motion to approve the May 7th 2024 regular Township committee minutes may I have a second second all those in favor I any I have a motion to approve the May 7 2024 special Township committee minutes so may I have a second second all those in favor I okay uh miss puus you are scheduled to present a proclamation whereas every day 120 Americans are killed by gun violence and more than 200 are shot and wed with an average of nearly 18,000 gun homicides every year and whereas Americans are 26 times more likely to die by gun homicide than people in other high income countries and whereas New Jersey has 427 gun deaths every year with a rate of 4.8 deaths per 100,000 people a crisis that cost the state 5.3 billion each year of which 168 .9 million is paid by taxpayers New Jersey has the fifth lowest rate of gun debts in the US and whereas gun homicides and assaults are con concentrated in cities with more than half of all firearm related gun deaths in the nation occurring in 120 cities and whereas cities Across the Nation including in mburg are working to the end the sensus violence with evidence-based Solutions and whereas protecting Public Safety in the communities they serve is mayor's highest responsibility and whereas support for the Second Amendment writes a law-abiding citizens goes hand in hand with keeping guns away from people with dangerous histories and whereas Mayors and law enforcement officers in partnership with local violence intervention activists and resources know their communities best are the most familiar with local criminal activity and how to address it and our best position to understand how to keep their citizens safe whereas gun violence prevention is more important than ever as we see an increase in firearm homicides and non-fatal shootings across the country increased calls to domestic violence hotlines and an increase in City gun violence and whereas in January 2013 idea of Pendleton was tragic shot and killed at age 15 on June 7th 2024 to recognize the 27th birthday of had of Pendleton BN June 2nd 1997 people across the United States will recognize gun national violence National Gun Violence awareness day and wear orange and tribute to hadia Pendleton and other victims of gun violence and the loved ones of those victims and whereas the idea was inspired by a group of hadia's friends who asked their classmates to commemorate her life by wearing orange they chose this color because Hunters wear orange to announce themselves to other Hunters went out in the woods and orange is the color that symbolizes the value of human life and whereas anyone can join the campaign by pledging to wear orange on June 7th the first Friday in June 2024 to help raise awareness about gun vience and whereas by wearing orange on June 7th 2024 American will raise awareness about gun violence and honor the lives of gun violence victims and survivors and whereas we renew our commitment to reduce gun violence and pledge to do all we can keep all we can to keep Firearms out of the hands of people who should not have access to them and encourage responsible gun ownership to help keep our families and communities safe now therefore be it resolved that mayor Romano of the township of Milbourne declares the first Friday in June June 7th 2024 to be National Gun Violence awareness day I encourage all the citizens to support their local communities efforts to prevent the tragic effects of gun violence and to honor and value human lives signed Anette ran mil Township mayk you thank you to the mayor and the town committee my name is Diane Nelson Nelson I'm a Township resident and a volunteer with Mom's demand action for gunsense in America I'm here with my fellow volunteers from the Essex County chapter I'm happy to say that this is the seventh year that we're accepting the gun violence stay awareness Proclamation here in mbour I want to thank you for your continued support for wearing orange and for agreeing to light up the township the Town Hall in Orange tonight we wear orange again this year because of the continued gun violence in our country and also because we're determined to elevate the voices of survivors I just want to highlight a few statistics from the CDC and FBI guns are the leading cause of death for us children by homicide suicide and unintentional shootings tragically 2023 saw the highest number of unintentional shootings by children since 2015 every month on average 57 women are shot to death by an intimate partner in the United States nearly six out of every 10 gun deaths are suicides and children between the ages of 10 and 14 have the fastest growing suicide rate of any group over the last decade an increase of 146% guns are being stolen from cars at triple the rate they were 10 years ago in 2022 on average at least one firearm was stolen from a car every night minutes gun theft is a significant source of guns which then end up used in crimes to do our part we focus a lot on Secure Storage and on red flag laws to try and reduce these numbers we should not have to live in fear that gunfire can ring out at any moment we'll continue to educate raise awareness organize Advocate and rally for safer communities by uniting with us in our efforts to end gun violence by issuing this Proclamation together we can build a future free from all types of gun violence gun suicides gun homicides unintentional shootings and intimate partner shootings we want to invite you and the community to join us along with our partner organizations this Friday June 7th from 5:00 pm to 6:30 p.m. for a wear orange rally on the summit Village Green I would like to also present the committee with a handout about gun violence in New Jersey and with Flyers advertising the rally thank you again so much for your support thank you as Diane mentioned um the lights outside of town hall will be orange tonight and you'll see that when we leave um and thank you for bringing the ribbons can we take like two minutes to take a group photo since we have our orange on for e okay reports please uh provide reports um on the Committees that you are uh leaz on to and I am going to start um we had a very informative public information session with the police department last week uh I am looking forward to our community policing division to roll out at the end of the summer a special thanks to Chief gilfedder uh detective Lieutenant tovaris Sergeant Barbosa and detective selime for a very informative session we started our home home security Assessment program also last week which will be under the umbrella of the community police division more information and registration is on the town Township website and the video is on our YouTube channel and um art advisory committee held their annual awards ceremony last month the students received over $3,000 in gifts art supplies Framing and gift cards that were donated by Jerry's artists outlets in West Orange nine students were honored this year and I want to thank the library for hosting each year the art advisory committee views AP and Jun AP Junior and senior's portfolios before selecting the award recipients so I wanted to congratulate the students and um thank the art advisory committee for another successful event that's all I have Deputy Mayor sure uh so the environmental commission had an info session uh with landscapers to talk about a potential phase out of gas powerered leaf blowers uh this was a very helpful uh and informative info session uh the Commissioners were able to hear from the landscapers firsthand about how they have suffered in other towns that have instituted year round bans um they explained in Intimate detail how Banning the leaf blowers in the fall and the spring would be detrimental to their business and to the town uh customers um and um you know I I think it was important for the Commissioners to hear this before they propose any changes in legislation um on the plus side the landscapers did see seem a lot more amenable to a June July and August uh ban because apparently they don't really need to use high-powered leaf blowers during that time so uh we'll see what the commission comes back with in terms of recommendations but it was a very informative meeting the zoning code examination committee adjourned their last meeting um but we have been making progress throughout the year and there's some additional um ordinances that are going to be read tonight with regards to zoning changes um and the planning board last meeting was a brief meeting uh they're going to be doing new set of bylaws and that'll be something that'll be discussed there tomorrow so if you're interested feel free to attend that's it thanks NOS uh sure uh Recreation committee uh fall program registrations opening this week includes re soccer flag football girls volleyball and cross country uh the four Miler race uh was held on Sunday with 130 registered uh Runners uh congratulations to Tom ganela and Sophia van run who were the world champions uh and there's a yane bus trip tomorrow it's sold out but they may have a few extra tickets if anybody wants to go uh for the special improvement district girls night out is uh June 6 uh pending the weather I guess uh 400 people have already pre-registered for this event open streets program uh open streets for the Town Hall Plaza pedest Mall this summer if your business or Community organization and want to host an event uh please email uh the Sid Boe the Milburn Township School District Board of educations initiated a search for a successor uh superintendent the schools uh it's open to all stakeholders uh there's going to be four phases uh we will put up uh if you want to participate the uh there's a zoom link and there's also a uh another stakeholder survey you can fill out joint Fields uh High School Fields the D isled to have a determination on the flood Hazard area in that area back behind the uh the football field behind the baseball diamond uh and looking at very various options such as potentially turfing those fields field rentals in use the recreation department and athletic department have worked diligently as we were discussing many times earlier this year uh optimizing the scheduling uh and so far that's worked out fantastic nothing to report on the emergency dispatch uh flood mitigation it's been a while since we've had an update there so I'll just give you a quick update on the West Branch uh we've officially secured support from the county of Essex and City of orange and now we've submitted the application for the 2.5 million so we're waiting on that uh We've also uh secured agreement from Lakeside Village on the removal of sediment and debris from the river uh which was causing us a problem East Branch uh we're working to secure 11 easements needed from residents to move forward with the uh drainage project on home elevation three residents have appli for home elevation have they received that yet Alex they did receive it all right fantastic that was confirmed uh sewer backups changing the ownership of certain sewer lines have given Milburn actually Direct Control of those sewer lines which gives us much more uh ability to solve those issues and then the Gilbert pump since the upgrades were completed early this year it's been operating flawlessly ban Winkle which is the Glenwood area uh the flood mitigation has identified the PO potential solution uh to expand that detention area near chadam road which will reduce the frequency and extent of flooding and lwood um and then just on other note uh other things uh meline Haws uh age 95 uh from bunchers passed away on May 31st 2024 funeral service will be at the funeral home uh at 10: am at Holly um I talked to you know I I shopped a long time at bunchers over the years I talked to meline and uh or to marleene and she said to that her granddaughter called Gigi uh which is what she went by as the grandmother of Milburn Avenue so we're all sad that she's passed away uh in lie of flowers they want you to make any donations to the paper mill Playhouse Etc that's it thank you yeah well Deputy Mayor Sak already covered the planning board I would just like to Echo what what the mayor said about the uh meeting with the police if you were unable to attend I would definitely encourage you to watch the video were a lot of crime prevention T tips that they went over and that certainly be helpful I was also glad to see that they are instituting the home audit program which I had raised uh several months ago at the at the library there's a ton of events going on this month for pride month and in fact we will be raising the flag tomorrow in honor of pride month here at Town Hall tomorrow at four o'clock so I would urge you to attend just a few brief reports um just to add to the report on the home assessment program uh that started on Thursday uh May 30th uh and we've already had 96 people sign up for that um so uh they'll be busy the um just a reminder to Residents the president cup is on June 24th uh if you're familiar with this this is on a Monday it is in the evening and it will close all of the streets of the downtown uh but it's a great event uh you know run by the Chamber of Commerce uh it's a great great 5K but just be aware of that date and uh that Monday night that uh traffic will be uh impacted in the downtown um just a quick update on Fairfield Drive I know that's been in the M on the minds of some um the jcpnl has finally finished their work we will have our contractor out on Saturday June 8th to finish curb work and then milling and Paving of Fairfield Drive will take place either later in the week of of June 12th or the following week uh June 17th and lastly just as it's come up a few times just want to remind residents that if you'd like to report a street light out uh you have to do so directly to jcpnl uh they're responsible for the street lights in town and replacing any outages we do have information on our website we just put out a Facebook post on it as well and uh there's a uh there's a link under the how to I section uh in case you need to report a street light outage in your area that's it thank you public comment oh I'm sorry good evening there thank you um so tonight um I'm GNA give a fair share of housing update as there's been um as there been some significant event that has taken place um I'm going to advise the public as to uh where we stand on our fair share housing um there's be no further comment um from the governing body as we're still in the midst of litigation and we're still trying to figure out um what our strategy is going to be going forward but I do you know in transparency want to give the public all the information available to it I know there's some op requests out there uh for the reports that were submitted um those OP requests should be fulfilled shortly they're going to be approved these reports will go out to the public and I understand that um Mr B's report has already been made public I'm not sure how that was made public but I heard that out there so um so as everybody's been following it recalls um the court we tried to move off the the DPW site the N Main Street site and the court allowed the township to provide an alternative site analysis um the township suggested Lot 19 um where we would build 29 affordable family houses and 14 Workforce housing also lot nine which would be 67 units which would be comprise of 46 affordable family units and 21 Workforce units um our our Township planner uh Graham topology provided a report to the court um and we did an analysis and the analysis provided the problems with the DPW site um the levels of contamination um and how much contamination we think is potentially there and removing all the soil the potential impacts that it could have on New Jersey Transit because moving all that soil could have potential impacts um we went through um that we have DPW located there um and the inability to identify a feasible site to move our DPW and all that's involved in the um also our emergency response as as as the public is aware the DPW site is used at times for Our First Responders if there's an emergency in downtown to congregate there and how important that is to the township um we also raised that the Ingress e is in the 500-year flood plane and it may there may be some issues in Ingress and egress um as everybody knows the traffic coming in and out and there's no access on the S it's all on Main would be a major issue at that site um and also just the long-term quality of life given the PSG substations there and some of the other things that surround that property and the idea is this committee was um determined to meet its affordable need and want to put the 75 units in the downtown they just wanted to put them in a better place and they identified two additional sites um and we also identified the benefits of those two sites which were the improved Ingress and egress on those sites um the reduced likelihood of contamination um and the workforce housing the workforce housing is actually interesting um you know is an important aspect and I think this governing body really took time and really was interested in having Workforce housing be a part of the plan uh and made these developments inclusionary not exclusionary which we think eliminates some of potential stigma that could be associated with exclusionary housing um and Workforce housing allows people to work uh and live in in the township of murn it has a higher income level um this was something that the committee thought was important uh it's kind of where the state is headed um and we thought you know the benefits and and and and these issues we laid out with the DPW site um were objectively a better plan and and while still meeting our affordable housing obligations um so we submitted those reports um um RPM the developer and fair share housing submitted reports also um they didn't disagree with a lot of what the township said um but they felt that the N Main Street project was a better project um it was further down the line um it had already been planned out um and um there were Bal reports also obviously all those will be overblown and available to the public um but ultimately the special master was to make a determination by June 1st and as report came out on May 31st um and his report was sort of contrary to everything that the township was asking for um his report says after review the submission of parties I recommend that Milburn be required to continue with the Redevelopment of nine Main Street for 75 affordable units in addition to special Master found I know there was some public debate over um how to remediate the site um there was a cap there was also I know a public forum where it was suggested that we we remove all the soil and replace it the Special Master is recommending the court order that just a capy put in place um as to the DPW site um the special Master found that um we knew about this from the beginning we can't it's too late to raise the issue that doesn't really solve the problem but just that it was too late to raise the issue and we're kind of stuck um he even suggests that we could use these alternative sites for DPW location which we know isn't realistic or feasible um he then suggests that those of you have been fing closely I know a lot of you have been to a lot of the meia um and have seen us you know reject the Redevelopment agreement he recommends the court order us to immediately pass the Redevelopment agreement um so the RPM project can move forward um and that's that's Bas that's basically what he found so to sum it up um the special Master found that uh that the court should require the township of Milbourne to move forward with the N Main Street project um and determined that was more feasible and would happen faster than the alternative sites um we disagree with a lot of what is in the special Masters report um we think that some things factually are incorrect we also think um overall it doesn't make sense when you could have the same amount of affordable units with the addition of Workforce units in a better location without having to move your DPW site at a cheaper cost um again and the locations are even more they're closer to downtown um they have greater access at least the other site to New Jersey Transit it's kind of confusing and I use that word kind of silly in a silly way it's not confusing we don't understand how anybody reading the three reports could come up with the idea that the DPW site uh is superior to our alternative analysis um but that is a special Master he was appointed by the court um the settlement agreement provides for this exact situation um if we if the township determines that N Main Street um that excuse me that DPW site was not going to move forward um the court is allowed to appoint a special Master the special Master to evaluate all the sites and make the determination report back to court we have no reason to believe that the court is not going to follow the special Master's report and order this um we don't know when that's going to happen or how that's going to take place um fair housing submitted a request today to the court requesting the court bring us in for a case management conference um we believe in that case management conference the court is likely to order um uh this remedy um we're obviously going to ask um the court for a few things that day which I'm not get into now um but you know that's kind of the State of Affairs and fair housing uh the committee has been fully advised um we're reviewing our options um and you know in spirit transparency we'll continue to update the public as decisions are made and um we go forward I'm sure some people in public count have some thoughts on the special Masters report but I've advised this committee that we're not going to comment at this point as ongoing litigation um we were surprised by this report uh in full transparency we w these sites with special master um we walked the DPW site um me uh Deputy Mayor sacy committee committee member Stoler um and Alex we walked the sites with the special master um he seemed impressed with the alternate sites um he seemed to understand the issues with the DPW site um he understood that you know a lot of traffic moves through the back of that DPW site um from Township um so we were kind of surprised by this report um I think surpris is an understatement um but again we're evaluating our options um and the one thing I can say is committee is committed to its affordable housing obligations um this isn't an end the round of its affordable housing obligations they just want to make sure when they do it it's done right and done the benefit of the residents of milberg and the new residents of milber will be coming in um so that's my report on Fair Housing um I don't have much of any other updates if the committee has any questions for me I'm happy to answer I'll just add that in um for ease we will add that document to the townships affordable housing page so everyone has access to it thank you mayor and and I apologize to everyone um I have some election today's election day and I have some election obligations so U my associate Rich Birch is going to be stepping up on them days but I appreciate it and I thank committee thank you thank you okay public comment when invited to speak to offer your comments please come to the Lector and clearly state your name and whether you were a Milbourne resident and or property or business owner please do not provide your full address seeing our meetings are recorded and are readily available to the public for the convenience of our community there is a remote option if you called in would like to comment please press star six now if you are attending by computer or electronic device please click the raiseed hand button and be sure your video is on when you comment all members of the public wishing to speak will be put into the queue to address the committee to help facilitate an orderly meeting and to permit all to be heard speakers shall limit their comments to one three minute session you will be prompted when there is 30 seconds remaining a reminder that this is not a time for a dialogue or to debate a matter and this is a time during our business meeting for the public to offer comments I will now open the public comment period good evening Mike Becker uh resident for 49 years I I think he said you can't comment on anything in this but uh I'm nervous because I'm not a lawyer but I read this and it sounds like not only were we unsuccessful in convincing them to move to New spots there's there saying they're taking the initiative if I read this right and saying oh those are new spots that's great that'll help us get even more uh development so that's got me concerned you can't [Music] comment thank you um good evening my name is Jeffrey Feld I live in the poet section um what a few interesting like 10 days found out no one's Above the Law the misdemeanors can be elevated into felonies um I my custom I submitted various questions prior to this meeting I'm still waiting for answers from last meeting written questions and it seems like we have a series of oops situations like I think the Public's entitled to know what happened why the agenda was delayed be posted why the bill list didn't get posted till Monday because when you look at the bill list there's a account that says celebration account and this goes back to the budget process who has oversight of that celebration account is that an account that the township um local government body has or the rec department or Alex has discretion over that fund and how much has been funded for that um also on the bill list there seems to be a payment for mediation for the high Senator and I think that's about the second or third payment the reason I mentioned that on Thursday and I'm surprised our Mr attorney didn't raise this the township filed a cross Motion in the Bear Properties um case seeking to litigate and not to mediate the be property's U action I filed a responsive pleadings on Monday this morning the township requested opportunity for to follow Ser brief reply reef and I'm looking forward to how they rebut the uh certification M zuro um when I went to vote today at jro Park there was a banner announcing when the U concerts June concert series is going to start in July um there was a concert on last Thursday that wasn't listed um was that sponsored by the rec department or some other party or was that just another way ploy to get votes because it was not listed it really wasn't advertised um importance of public notice I'm glad we talk about the Sid because last week I think it was Friday like a half page ad appeared in the Star Ledger regarding the Hoboken Sid and how much they work and that forced me to do investigation of the hok and Sid and I find out that when I talked about last time the feasibility study they had a two-year feasibility study process we had none and I think it's time to step back and analyze what I've been saying about you know the viability of this entity in addition one question has to be answered when we've been hearing about you know weaponization of of judicial process how a municipal complaint was filed by our former mayor against a vocal denter was issued by our local Municipal Court thank you without a dated and executed prob C Mr pH thank you I will be back and you will answer some questions thank you uh comment was made uh when the subject of the flood mitigation committee came up uh regarding uh what is in fact the Fandango Dam and Fandango Pond which is along the path of the West Branch of the rway river um and i' like to suggest to the historic preservation committee and to the township that that a that that area be considered as a historic site and designated as a historic site and the dam be protected as as a historic piece of of Milburn history at one point there were nine dams according to the Milburn Historical Society in the township and the last one to exist was the Fandango paper mill which was is located on the property now occupied by the Lakeside Condominium Association uh I know that's private land but currently you know it in the transfer of ownership of the dam way back when I guess the dam was allowed to own a piece of the river uh the trans the ownership transferred to the Condominium Association and now we have a private entity in our Township that owns a piece of a river a tributary that runs through our town which is fundamentally wrong and makes no sense at all now I know they that Mr McDonald has has negotiated with them and they have an obligation to clean out that pond but beyond that it's a historic location it could be a Scenic location and if there was a way to provide some kind of access for the town's people to see that and enjoy it um uh I think that would that would be something that would be of interest certainly of interest to me but I I think it's an opportunity to take ownership of the river that we should own it's it's through our town nobody should own a piece of our River so that's all I have to say thank you Jean Pastak resident um I think first thing I'd like to say is thank thank you all five of you for having the courage to vote against The Dump project and to um stand up against I know difficult forces uh after something was put in place years before that the town spoke loudly against 65% of our voters last year said stop this and I give all of you a lot of credit for the the the the strength that you showed and dealing with that process I know Ben and Frank both spent a lot of time on this I'm sure Alex as well at these Alternatives I think this is a slap in the face of our Township and the hard work that all of you put in and the courage that you showed so I'm standing here before you representing our Township residents who spoke really loudly about this and I hope that you'll maintain your courage that you will not stand down that you will not let their fear tactics and their pushiness and harassment and whatever else they're they're doing with this report um this special Master showed he has conflicts I was at a hearing where he spoke and talked about how um the project on the the um the uh the whatever it's called Wetlands um on off of JFK is the Woodmont project is is actually the best project in northern New Jersey like how can someone be objective when they're cheerleading for one of the projects in our fair share settlement agreement so I hope all these things will be considered before you make your decision about what your you're about to do next okay and the other thing that I wanted to say is I hope our our citizens realize that what what you do who you vote for makes a big difference this Pro problem starts at the very top of our state with the governor and the legislators who just doubled down on this whole movement to force housing not affordable housing overdevelopment onto this whole state and we have no say you can see it in this silliness that's going on and that's really going to affect all of our lives so I really hope that our citizens will stand up against this and support you and whatever efforts you want to make to to push back thank [Applause] you anyone else in the room no one online I will now close public okay h good evening Perry urel 514 oh sorry up from Milburn Avenue property owner business owner April 15 24 there was a case management hearing where attorney Fel recommended that the attorneys meet to discuss the case prior to a mediation the toup attorneys who represented Mr caner stated that his firm just received the documents from the former Township attorney additionally he stated loud and clear that the township has no interest to mediate is this true and does this sound like an attorney looking at the best interest of the town this brings me to the bill list this evening that's attached to your agenda check made P payable to the wine Garten Law Firm described as legal services for mediation fee reference the kai Center is the township mediating yet another $700,000 Plus settlement with the kai Center I respectfully ask this body who and why does this Township Committee just like our prior Administration choose to litigate rather than mediate a case who is seeking no damages unlike the kai Center who has in the past on May 7th attorney Feld met with attorney caner at his office attorney caner ba McDonald and two of Canter's associat IES were present this was a scheduled meeting prior to a mediation to get both attorneys up on spe let me state that this was not to mediate where the judge has not yet appointed a mediation or a mediator attorney Feld presented during that meeting a settlement to be presented to our fellow TC members sadly there was no counter which is outrageous so who on this TC instructed attorney caner to deny the bare property offer and recommend to move forward with litigation was it an unanimous vote 41 five across the board a 3-2 Vote or is the township attorney or ba McDonald making decisions without this body's approval I respectfully wait for your answers thank you and have a nice evening thank you anyone else okay just wait one second hi good evening David elepant resident of Short Hills uh mayor and Town Council I wish to briefly bring up an issue related to the proposed historic district of Marywood notingham that has been tabled by the HPC I'm going to just be brief because I'm aware that I believe Frank you are the liaison so I'm sure you've done your due diligence in um bringing up to speed the mayor and the fellow TC members so if what I'm going to say is just a reiteration of what you know please forgive me um approximately 3 months ago back in March uh the marrywood notingham residence approximately 153 received a written U communication from the HPC chairperson this was official written communication on letterhead stating that the HPC had heard uh the concern of the residents and that HPC was going to bring a motion to the table to basically I'm I'm paraphrasing and you can read it for yourself bring a motion to the table to end terminate kill if you will the historic districting of marrywood Nottingham and in fact invited everyone to attend the April me meeting when that was going to take place it's my understanding that that never happened that never happened in April that never happened in May there were meetings of HBC but it just never happened so I believe that there should be some accountability for this official written communication the HBC needs to do what they said they were going to do anything else would be a dereliction of Duties it is my understanding that perhaps you are proposing a new HPC ordinance fabulous that doesn't diminish the Optics that doesn't diminish the written communication and what's necessary is accountability and they need to follow through with what's been communicated thank you have a good night thank you good evening Jerry Kung short House resident um I know you're not allowed to comment about the ongoing litigation but just wanted to flag some issues in Bish's report you probably already know about them um so just very quickly uh banish sites a report by David Kinsey um I believe believe David kiny is the one who came up with these astronomical numbers for uh unmet need uh who claims that the nine Main Street site is currently used as a storage and Recycling yard not an essential service I believe this is incorrect uh the site is also used for the salt Dome and refueling and parking of essential DPW Vehicles Alex can correct me if I'm wrong um he also states that while site remediation could slow the construction process N Main Street would ultimately create units sooner than starting on the alternative sites this statement Benish who cites Kinsey this statement was made with no evidence at all um so you know normally if you want to make a claim you back it up with evidence and banish is citing a report that has no evidence uh banish cites Joshua Bowers fairshare housing attorney who claims that the alternative sites will require relocation of parking spaces which is not the case at N Main Street however I believe Mr Bowers is incorrect because the nine Main Street site would require relocation of the parking spaces in lot 16 um those are the spaces right outside the DPW uh Mr Bowers also says that the type of soil contamination is typical of DPW facilities and can be remediated appropriately I believe this is also incorrect because the particular nine Main Street site has a history of contaminated soil dug up from around underground leaking fuel storage tanks around Municipal sites dumped onto the site um unless Mr bers wants to pres present evidence of typical of other DPW facilities I don't think he should be making that statement um at the end of the report Mr banish states that while Milburn does not know a need to remediate contamination at these alternate sites the existence of historic fill along the railroad may impact these alternate sites as it does at N9 Main Street the contamination history of N9 Main Street is much more severe than at the other sites um I don't I suspect it's much more of year we haven't done the testing at the other sites but you know maybe it it might make sense to do testing at all three of the sites and do a comparison um just a suggestion and I do want to commend the township for all of their work uh providing an alternative plan that not only provides the 75 units of affordable housing but also provides 34 units of much needed Workforce housing um which also known as middle-income housing it's best practice that's also used in other states so I commend the committee for coming up with that plan because you know in the spirit of inclusivity as attorney caner stated earlier you know that's a much better way of doing affordable housing and I think milb I have 20 seconds still oh that's okay um so you know I I think it'll also help mitigate the any potential stigma without attorney caner also mentioned related to income segregation um and I think it's just better to separate it out instead of having one large building as as mentioned um traffic up Ultra Hills Road is a huge problem and these two sites would actually allow Ingress and egress onto other streets thank you thank you I have a motion to close public comment got one all favor okay the township committee will now consider consent agenda resolutions yeah oh sorry no worries May mayor if I could just speak before I just want to uh recommend that we don't speak about the be properties litigation as its ongoing litigation um so I just wanted to uh make the committee aware of that thank you um Mr elepant um so thank you for your comments tonight they were largely the same as the email you sent to the entire Township committee earlier in the week um I responded to that email so uh I will reiterate my response um the letter that was sent by the chair of the HBC indicated that the chair of the HPC would be putting forward a motion to D reccommend the Marywood Nottingham District uh as a historic district thereby stopping the process uh unfortunately there were some extenda circumstances that prevented the chair from being in attendance uh at that meeting uh the person acting as the chair uh took it upon themselves to decide not to read that resolution um they felt that it would be better for the entire committee if they heard it directly from the chair because again the letter simply said the chair would make the recommendation that doesn't mean it's guaranteed to be voted on and accepted by all of the committee members so I think in uh vain of trying to get the best possible chances of that moving forward uh they waited until the chair could be present I also pointed out in my email response to you that um we have a new HPC ordinance uh and I believe the first read on that ordinance is tonight it's my understanding that when the new ordinance goes into effect assuming it passes then the process uh for Mary with notingham would have to start over so the tabling and tbling is sort of a mo Point uh because if they wanted to try and move that forward um they would need to do so and start the process over because there's now going to be a different uh procedure uh that has to be followed um so hopefully that will give you some some comfort uh I'm sure you'll you'll have more Comfort once you once you see the actual resolution uh or the ordinance and and it's passed UMO I'd love to answer your question but I've been advised by Council not to um so unfortunately my hands are tied there uh Miss pck um I I agree I I think that um you know while I'm not going to talk specifically about our legislation I think you make some very Salient points about how a lot of this affordable housing overdevelopment seems to be pushed down on us from uh state level officials um absolutely uh correct about that uh I know that um you know mayor Rano and I met with our uh members of assembly uh and we tried to explain to them the challenges the towns like Milburn were having uh we did the same with our state senator um unfortunately uh our two Assembly women uh voted for the uh new affordable housing bill that was in the assembly um quite honestly we feel that this was a mistake and we had advised them to you know try to get changes made to that bill because it takes an already bad process and in my personal opinion makes it all that much worse um in my opinion I think if we want to see changes at a state level we need residents to start getting uh upset and communicating their feelings with those state level officials and uh there's also a gubernatorial election next year I would encourage everyone that's going to be voting in that to really do a deep dive on all of the candidates and uh if affordable housing is a big issue for you perhaps keep that in mind uh when you vote next year um Mr Bamba I would love to hear more about um that that Dam that you'd like to be uh declared historic um I'd suggest that perhaps you come to a historic preservation meeting or uh reach out to some members of the historic preservation committee uh to see if that's something that's you know uh possible or should be pursued um Mr Feld um as far as the agenda will let um Alex answer why that was delayed um the the agenda that I get in Draft form was the same as the one that was posted so I would venture to guess it was some sort of clerical error but we'll let Alex uh explain that um see here um last Thursday's concert I agree I I've had many people say to me that they didn't think that that was very well publicized um so um perhaps Alex could could explain um you know why that wasn't publicized as much as some other events that we have coming up in town um I'm assuming was just an oversight of some kind um and also finally I I am interested in finding out more about this Municipal complaint that was filed against a dissenting resident um I think there should be an investigation it's my understanding that the local police department um did not want to pursue this complaint um but the elected official somehow managed to get a prosecutor and newor to move forward with the complaint and uh it was ultimately dropped but I do think there should be some sort of Investigation as to whether that was politically motivated um it certainly has the appearance of being politically motivated um but I think there should be some uh investigation because politicians should not be able to weaponize uh the police or the justice system to stifle dissent that's that's just wrong and we absolutely should not be doing that nober not to say that happened here but I think an investigation is ored um and Mr Becker um so the law as I understand it for affordable housing uh specifically says that towns can't be forced to give away land now the reason that that sometimes happens is towns enter into these settlement agreements and they voluntarily choose to um you know give away land or at a reduced price or entirely uh in order to get immunity um so we'll see what happens next round but unless the township body decides to proactively give that land away I think it would be difficult for the state to force us to part with that land um but again that's you know something we'll look into and take into consideration for the next round uh that's it thanks I just want to address the HPC issue so prior to getting the email Mr Elon I had no idea that occurred and I'm just talking to you because you're Theon but I think that while we do have this resolution on tonight I I think that because something came out and I understand that so Alison missed a few meetings wasn't a few there were extenda circumstances she had three deaths in the family that happened um very close together yes it's it's a very unusual set of circumstances and I think it'll be on the agenda tomorrow and oh I'm certain it'll probably be dealt with then great so this Thursday Thursday seems like Alison you know that Alice is gonna it's my it's my understanding that that's what's gonna happen and if she doesn't I will make sure it gets presented any oh all right so there's no issue great all right I got sure I'm I'm just going to address the the comments that Jean and Mike and Jerry made I'm gonna be a lot more blunt than Mr sakami was I'm not gonna be siling what happened to our town we PR we presented a much more plausible project both financially and in timing and better for our Township we got to communicate the project we got to discuss it with the special Master we walk the properties and I am dumbfounded by the report that was provided back to Jean's Point there's something a miss going on in our government there were things that are happening that we can't that we're not controlling that's not being done by Good Financial or timing or good decision making we put our best foot forward we put the properties there was literally no reason for it not to be accepted beside the fact of what I want to say is it should have been accepted I think while we're talking about some investigations we should investigate professional misconduct for this town and how we got to this point yeah you're here because we should not be at this point folks Frank and I ran on full transparency we've we've given full transparency and I'll be remiss if I didn't say we stand behind our affordable housing obligations as a Township that is not what's that question here it's what's being done in a manner that's consistent with sensible planning I promise you from this day that we will not give up I will not give up I want to thank Frank I want to thank Tara Annette and Michael for the support that we've put that we've Bann together to peel back what's actually happening and this is not a Milburn Township problem this is a state problem folks your legislatures have failed us that's probably to the extent that Richard wants me to speak about this uh so uh uh you know I'm just Dum dumbfounded shocked by that presentation and we will do everything we can to prevent we'll do whatever we can thank you I don't have anything to add um the only thing I want to add of the rec concert that took place last week was not part of the summer concert series it was a special concert for the um anniversary of Taylor Park as to why it wasn't advertised as much I I don't have an answer for that but I just wanted to clear verify that do you want com uh no I don't have any comments Department summer concert this Thursday Did you announce that does any sorry did you announce it you did okay um so just to I guess comment on some of the questions that have been asked of me first first and foremost you know the the rec concert um for the 100th anniversary of Taylor Park uh that was heavily advertised on the rec department Facebook page um but uh did not uh receive the similar communication on the township uh channels not for any particular reason um just uh it's something that when the rec department receives their own Facebook page which is new and different um you know we've got to do a little bit bit of a better job of cross-pollination of those Communications um but it was it was heavily um advertised on the rec department page uh so just wanted to uh let the the committee know that I think the First Communication went out on May 17th uh on their page but uh again uh you know recognizing that it wasn't heavily communicated on the township pages so the as far as the agenda goes um sometimes things happen you you know uh and they are not posted immediately at 4:00 on a Friday every time uh it's not held for any particular reason uh there sometimes there's clerical eror you know uh delays sometimes there's just delays in getting the materials sometimes there's a whole host of things that take place and putting an agenda together and getting it out to the public and so sometimes you know uh they they they do take a little bit longer or you know it's it's uh it's missed um it's not held for any particular reason uh so I'm not sure uh certainly it's been pretty consistent otherwise the the question wouldn't get raised um so I think that you know we just got to recognize that sometimes these things happen um the the other matter I'd just like to address is that I am um communicating with uh the vocal citizen uh that had you know in this whole situation with the court and the sub what you know I've been communicating with that individual and uh and their attorney uh to provide some information as it relates to the court and as it relates to um how how this transpired um the point is is that a complaint was made um as soon as that complaint is made it is uh sent to the presiding judge in Newark who then makes the decision regarding probable calls um I am have not yet responded to the third inquiry about the situation but I will certainly do that um in which I'm going to uh suggest setting up a meeting with our municipal judge so that there can be added clarification to the process in which municipalities have to go through especially when there's conflict because the whole purpose is to avoid what is being insinuated up here today um the process is there so that we don't have any conversation about political influence or weaponizing police departments or anything it's something that I take very seriously and want to make sure that everybody understands that that does not happen and that the process went through what it needed to go through so that people up here that are ordinary citizens as well in this community can make a complaint if they need to um and so I'd be happy to set up a meeting with the the municipal judge so that that process can be understood a little bit better thank you consent agenda resolution items are there any comments from the committee in regard to any items listed on the consent agenda may have a motion to approve resolution 24152 through resolution 24156 which are listed on the consent agenda may I have a second second roll call vote Please Mr Comm yes M pus yes mayor secondy yes Mr Stoler affirmative mayor Romano yes no I'm sorry I actually I didn't realiz was part of the agenda um Alex weren't you going to talk about 24153 oh yes I'm sorry sorry call so this is a um a situation I've communicated to the township committee regarding a a property that um did some did work uh without a without a permit um ended up impacting a u sanitary sewer pipe uh the township had to do some emergency repairs as well as while we were in the ground we made some additional repairs I want to be fair to the to what occurred in that we did go beyond what was necessary to make sure that we were we were uh um getting the most bang for a buck while we were there in terms of repairing things that needed to be done um we have sent a letter from our attorney to the homeowner uh we will be pursuing both insurance as well as a possible assessment against property if necessary uh if insurance is not is does not determine a claim is uh able to be made or subrogated against their insurance uh but just just to be clear like while we are authorizing this money because the contractor needs to be paid for the work that they did um we are pursuing um that that money as well from from them so we expect to be partially reimbursed for the amount that was really subject to what they did and then over and above what we did obviously we're not asking correct that's correct thank you thank you are there any comments from the committee in regard to resolution 24157 may I have a motion to approve resolution 24157 may I have a second roll call vote Please Mr Cohen yes M brus yesy mayor second yes Mr ster affirmative mayor Romano yes thank you committee improve is your scheduled to sponsor ordinance 2678-20 I'd like to present an ordinance entitled ordinance 26784 or amending and supplementing the township of milour development regulations and Alex would you like to explain this yeah um just briefly um this is just a a revision to the applications for both uh the zoning board and planning board it actually combines the applications to provide a more concise and uh inclusive uh application for both boards in the event that there is um some some crossover or necessity there it is a process that is utilized in other communities uh was uh recommended by the zoning subcomittee I move that this ordinance be taken up and passed on first reading countship CL authorized to have ordinance published ordance with the law and item for hearing in final passage on Tuesday July 16 202 may I have a second roll call vote Please Mr Cen yes Miss pus yes Deputy Mayor Sandy yes Mr Stoler affirmative mayor yes committee Mall your scheduled to sponsor ordinance 2679-20 sure I would like to present an ordinance entitled ordinance 26792 for ordinance amending and supplementing the township of Milburn development regulations and zoning ordinance uh this is a uh Master Plan reexamination update that that seeks to protect the character in established residential neighborhoods and encourage land use and development at an appropriate scale and dens city um so we seek to provide for development and Zoning definitions that are clear and facilitate efficient land use administrations much more for transparency I move that this ordinance be taken up and pass on first reading and that the Township Clerk be authorized to have the ordinance published in accordance with law in the item and for hearing and final passage on Tuesday July 16 2024 may have a second second a roll call V please Mr Comm yes Miss purpus yes Deputy Mayor secondy yes Mr ster affirmative May R yes thank you okay I would like to present an ordinance entitled ordinance 268 8-24 ordinance amending and supplementing the township of Milburn development regulations and zoning ordinance Mr McDonald do you mind um again this was uh previously discussed at the uh Township committee on May 21st uh regarding the process for designation of uh historic uh Properties or districts there are several revisions within the the ordinance uh this will be further um discussed uh at the public hearing with the the planner but um some some key highlights in it are just that the the time frame is changed from 60 days to 35 days for the planning board to review that there spelled out a um protest provision for uh those areas uh put forth for designation and that the um that then it is put consistent throughout the ordinance as well uh this will be again discussed with the township planner um in attendance the July 16th meeting I should this pass on first reading I move that this ordinance be taken up and passed on first reading and that the Township Clerk be authorized to have the ordinance published in accordance with law in the item and for hearing in final passage on Tuesday July 16th 2024 may I have a second second roll call vote Please Mr Cohen yes M pus yes Deputy Mayor seain Mr St affirmative mayor Romano yes Deputy Mayor second amend scheduled to sponsor ordinance 2674 d24 I present for consideration an ordinance entitled ordinance 2674-20 ordinance amending and supplementing the township of Milbourne development regulations and zoning ordinance tonight is the time set for public hearing and final passage as advertised in accordance with law I declare the hearing open me a second again my name is Jeffrey Phil um section it's just some questions of maybe explanation as to why we change certain definitions such as uh the basement if I look at the garage I don't know if we really want to do one of the prohibitions in here because it sort of bands ramp parent Suites which is a um growing way to resolve the affordable housing issue that you convert the um garages for the grandparents because that you're preventing that in your new definition um also can someone explain to us why we Chang the definition of public use seems to be more broader now to incorporate the paper move because before it was the use of land by a municipal County state or federal agency or authority that's being deleted you have now a more expansive definition to include agencies as used herein shall be deemed to include non for-profit corporations under lease or contract with municipality to perform Services deemed to accomplish public purpose just like to know you know why you got such a more expansive use of public use because that goes back to the Papermill issues that we're having then also surfacing parking lot and the reason I mentioned this it seems to now allow um containing use of solar PL panels to generate electricity while Sheltering automo shall be permitted so long as the sides of the parking space are open to the elements the reason I mentioned that it seems to been to been another hiccup in local L use with St Rose um they started construction and doing it I guess it got shut down there was addon to the zoning board to have a approval of it it was postponed mean I'm not against you know have allowing it to do it but it's the question of in the first place how did they start digging holes to put footings in if they knew they had to go to the land use problem the reason I said that because last night I attended the Board of Education meeting then I came to the zoning board and I see some other neighbors there and I ask them why they're there they said well another neighbor started construction and they got never know got notice of this and I think there's been a a problem now on our land use the permits and things are happening without enforcement and I think we need to look into this I just bring out to like understand why certain these changes are happening some of them look like after the fact to cover up something or cure a problem that existed thank you I want to respond to the garage and then I want to respond to the to the general zoning it seems like I'm I'm late to the game I think but it seems like the the way you guys are clamping on certain of the zones and I understood R7 is really being hurt very badly from that I really think you should you should take R seven out of this because if you do garage 30 ft wide for a house that is 16t or 15t wide there won't be any front door in that house have to be all away from the side it will look horrible and terrible that's one thing plus garages they only more than 20 feet long there's almost no car except the truck that is more than 12 feet long so one thing I would say take R7 out because R seven also use if it doesn't use let's say the attic for that seven footer issue six versus 7even footer you're talking about two-bedroom homes Builders are not going to come in they're not going I live downtown I live in R seven and I'm also a builder they're not going to spend the money it's private capital and the place is going to stay dilapitated for years um the R7 should be calleded out from that zoning uh decision both on the those two different numbers 79 and the 74 thank you very much thank you sir would you have your name uh sorry uh Elan ban resident of uh downtown M thank you sorry and move that this public hearing be closed and the ordinance be adopted on Final reading and that the Township Clerk be directed to publish the ordinance by title as passed on Final reading in accordance with one may have a second second roll call vote please Please Mr Cen yes M cus yes mayor second Mandy yes Mr Stoler affirmative mayor Romano yes thank you okay uh old business um Deputy Mayor and committee prus we wanted to speak on the uh citizen crime Public Safety advisory committee yes um so uh committee woman puus and I uh spoke uh on a few different occasions uh we also o collaborated with a me resident uh who happens to be a licensed clinical social worker uh about this committee there were a lot of great ideas uh and we actually circulated a draft um ordinance to Mr McDonald um Mr McDonald wanted to follow up and have some conversations directly with the police chief uh to make sure they were comfortable with um some of the uh purposes and and goals of the committee um I can just share a quick highlevel overview um the purpose of the committee um is to enhance Public Safety and Community well-being through collaborative transparent and data driven approaches uh the crime and Public Safety Advisory Board Shall Serve as an advisory body to the township committee and the chief of police providing recommendations on Public Safety policies resource allocation community policing and Community engagement initiatives um the we anticip that this committee would have uh one member from each of the five elementary school districts uh in town and then we had also proposed that there be uh two members at large that'll serve as the chairs of the committee one from Milburn one from Short Hills the idea is we want to get equal representation from all parts of town uh and then once the committee is formed I expect they'll form various subcommittees um some of the uh highlevel ideas that were suggested as responsibilities and duties would be to have a subcommittee that regularly reviews and analyzes crime data and Community safy perceptions uh that way they can try and understand you know if the community feels unsafe why do they feel unsafe what what specifically is driving that feeling uh because if we have that data then that can be reported to the police department and the township and you know if there's something that can be done to resolve that um you know that can be done but understanding is is the first uh step we need to take uh the second would be to develop and propose datadriven policy recommendations to the township committee and the chief of police uh advocate for necessary policy changes at local County and state levels so there might be a subcommittee that maybe does outreach or letter writing uh drives so that members of the community can contact state level officials to try and get policy changes and changes legislation um organize and facilitate Community engagement activities including Town Hall meetings and public forums so there maybe be more of these Community meetings and this committee could take the role of organizing those to take some of the burden off of the police department um and finally develop educational materials and campaigns to increase awareness of public safety issues so these were just some of the uh examples that we had come up with um and I believe the way we left it is uh Mr McDonald's going to have the conversations with the police chief and then we're going to be able to discuss in close session with the police chief some of these some of these ideas and and then we'll sort of take it from there uh if the rest of the committee is comfortable with it I would just make a suggestion there seems to be from what you said some overlap between this one and The Pedestrian Safety Committee and one way to to and they have different you know there's some overlap in in a bed diagram I would recommend that one of the other members of this committee be lays on from that committee so that that they you know that they maybe vice versa going back the other way so that they're not going off into different opposing directions that's a great idea and then members of the community police station oh yes will be the police representation yeah and there' be two TC uh member Liaisons as well as we share I I share I have discuss it right but will you have that have discussion with him prior to our Clos session on Tuesday yep so and will you be able to let us know that so we can make the edits before giving it to the rest of thec MERS before Tuesday great to be clear that's Tuesday we have meeting right perfect not next oh great so we have some time great so we can just get that out to the three of you and then we'll have something to talk about CL session thank you one more thing to talk about thank you okay um Deputy Mayor citizen budget advisory committee new business sure um so this came up um a resident actually brought this up uh at a few of the past meetings um and it's something that has been on my to-do list uh the idea is that there' be a committee of of residents we have a lot of residents in town that have vast Financial uh experience uh and probably could help um you know one of the things I think our town really needs to do is a long-term capital spending plan looking out five 10 15 maybe even 20 years um so the idea would be to involve residents in the community on the committee that could help you know develop this plan um that in in my mind would be its primary goal and then a secondary goal could be to work with the CFO on you know the budget I I think you know the budget generally from what I understand they take you know all the salaries and and and the compensation that has to go to the officials and then they add in all the costs and what's projected so it might not be a lot of wiggle room there but it would just be a way for the um Community to have Representatives that are a little bit more uh tied into that process and and able to voice their concerns but again the the primary goal would be to do that long-term plan um as with all the Committees that we've started this year I would uh ideally like it to be um staffed with uh residents from each of the five districts we have in town um and then you know perhaps one or two um TC Liaisons and then you know if the CFO was willing uh to be involved that would be great um you know if if not we'll have to discuss that have you spoken to Matt about thise yet um so actually uh at an initial meeting after Ben and I were elected we actually did bring this up and I believe Matt's response was I love talking about the budget so he did not seem seem opposed to the idea um we can certainly Circle back with him again um but I doubt change between but maybe we can just get some sure anyone have any comments I guess we have already have the finance committee so those people that would be the the TC right I mean that's uh we have two people could be I mean it should be otherwise there's disconnect there yeah I think there should be should be the TC people makes sense sure if if both of you want do it I know Mr stoler's on I'm not sure what's the difference but at that point it's not clear to me why you would have two different committees because our town has not done any long-term capital planning that's been disseminated in a public way and I think that this committee could help develop those long-term capital plans uh that way you know TC members turn over right every year there's a change in TC membership what we want to do is have a long-term capital plan so that when the local governing body changes you still have some continuity in terms of okay well we know that these are infrastructure projects that are going to have to get done eventually where do we think those should fit in with you know regards to other big projects aren't Matt and Alex the Alex has that yeah that's the continuity obviously nobody's slaves but you know we do expect that uh mat and Alex will be around I have yet to see a long-term capital spend no I'm just talking about the continuity that you're concerned can com so if if if if the goal the committee is a long-term capital plan I think those that were attendance I you know the few that were attendance at the budget uh session that we held between the introduction and the adoption I committed to the individual who keeps bringing up the long-term cap that we would do that and that I thought it was important um you know and um actually have already started that process uh internally um I think that I just like the caution against sort of like creating committees for for every everything if if if this is a a project that we want the community to work on I think that's great and perhaps bringing the community together to work on this particular project rather than creating an entire commit committee that you know ends up you know you know in in terms of a budget right we work with the two members of the township committee we presented the township committee as a whole you know it's the budget for running the governance of the town and you know from a capital perspective I agree like having long-term capital plans and making sure that the community is involved in that and understanding of that you know but but just create a committee then you know that may have to meet what you know monthly or quarterly or and and the education process that goes into teaching Municipal budgeting appros to finance which is you know completely different I'm just I'm just want to provide some caution on that and and that I'd already committed to the public at that meeting that we would create this long-term capital plan um so that to your point which I think is very valid that there's continuity beyond the township committee Beyond me Beyond Matt that that people understand what the needs of this community going forward are in terms of building infrastructure road infrastructure sewer infrastructure all of those things that can be big ticket items but just creating a committee that that you know I mean again we talked about already we have two more committees that we've created this year I mean there's going to be a sense of um you know uh yeah so I think if you'd be willing to have some public sessions with yourself and and the CFO uh and invite the public to come participate in that long-term capital planning then that might possibly negate the need for the committee um it'd be great if we had some semblance of a timeline you know two month three month like what when do we expect to start to have some of those meetings so I think we're going to take the summer to do this and at least get the framework around it and and then be able to come out in the fall and start M because know obviously over the summer we start doing with with public engagement it becomes a little bit more difficult but we're going to take the summer and be able to um you know put this framework together and then have it so that we can put the pieces in as it comes up with those public discussions as well so um people can have an understanding of sort of what we have from a departmental standpoint which isn't those very big ticket items but certainly there's something that add to the overall expense from a capital standpoint and then these very big you know or larger ticket items that are going to be buildings um you know whether it's you know River wall things like that that that have been talked about in downtown visioning plans or Master plans and things like that they all kind of go into that so that there can be discussion with the public about what even the Public's priorities are when it comes to that kind ofu maybe we do the first public meeting in September let's do that do you need anything in order to like get that prepared for September do you need any other resources like other than you that well so we also have a casa who we've we've utilized that could help at least put some you know General numbers together in terms of financing in terms of you know interest rates or expected interest rates things like that that can provide some of that that long-term planning from a number standpoint that will be of assistance to that but um we've also got a we've got an intern that's going to be able to help put sort of some of that storybook aspect together take pictures make sure that we have you know photographic evidence of like what we're talking about because most people won't know if I say hey we've got a million dollar uh project that is going to be needed at the Hilton Pump Station because it hasn't been updated since the 1950s I don't know how many people will be able to tell me where the Hilton pump station is right so we can take a photo that let people know where that is and having a better understanding of so and I'll just saying I'm sure then would agree that since we are the finance committee whatever Health you I certainly would be more than happy to to do over the summer great great great great I'm isra okay uh commit ster you want to talk about Charter study commission sure the uh Charter study commission this is really on the back of the 65% voters that back Frank and myself um you know the presidence of National Party affiliations is often led to division among residents and hindered the progress of our community so I believe the need for a nonpartisan government form in Milburn has become increased apparent as elected officials who ran on this platform we want to eliminate the constraints of the two-p party system understanding the importance of ensuring that qualified professionals unencumbered by political Ambitions and such have the opportunity to participate in local governance the current political landscape in mil mil in Milbourne New Jersey and all of New Jersey for that matter U is characterized by partisan Strife ideological polarization and a focus on party interest over the needs of the residents and the people the community the divisive environment not only hampers the effectiveness of local government but also undermines the trust and unity that are essential for a thriving Community by introducing a charter study for a nonpartisan form of government we aim to create a more inclusive and collaborative governance structure that prioritizes the best interest of all residents this initiative will hopefully provide a platform for individuals with diverse backgrounds expertise and perspectives to contribute to the decision-making process free from any constraints of any Party politics ultimately our goal is to cultivate a political environment in which the focus remains on local solutions for local challenges fostering transparency and accountability and promoting Unity within our community a charter study for nonpartisan politics involves a comprehensive review and potential revision of the municipalities governing document known as the charter to establish a nonpartisan in form of government uh some key components that I believe should be looked at are form of government outli outline the proposed form of government for our municipality elections and candidate qualifications campaign finance and ethics appointment of officials and boards and public participation in govern and engagement uh and also come together with a transition plan uh for implementing these changes as required over all a charter study for nonpartisan a party nonpartisan politics I believe will create a more inclusive transparent and effective system of governance in our Township so I can open it to any questions yeah I mean I certainly agree you you and I ran on um a platform of encouraging uh the town to move to nonpartisan local elections uh it's something that many other towns in New Jersey have done quite successfully um and it's my understanding that in order to move forward with the charter commission study uh believe we need four votes so um I would vote for it go down the line that correct s attorney I'd have to check that to be to be sure okay let's just wait please we we'll have to find out okay does anybody have any um comments yeah I would vote for it so that's three right there that's three I'd vote for yeah so I guess and I I think I think there's a lot of stuff going on in terms of you know the the elections with the U the the loss of the line on the Democratic side I'm sure that's coming on the Republican side as well and I think you'll get that that uh you know increased level of participation my concern with nonpartisan as I've said before is without primary system you very easily could end up with for two seeds if that's if it's still two seeds you know you could end up with 10 people running for two seats and the person that wins has certainly has no mandate you know if everything is close I can't do the math in my head right now but it would be a very small percentage of the vote and as far as as far as uh I I also I also think no matter how we all got here and you know whatever we we came from different paths this year with our multi-party uh Township committee we we have all manag to get along and work together and put the interest of the town uh forward and so I'm comfortable with the way that things are and I don't think that it needs to change so you do not have my vote um I agree with committee M Cohen with block voting um everything is changing and um I also want to see how the Conor case uh plays out I'm also not sure that the taxpayers want to pay for to elections so um that's another concern of mine because where there would be most likely a election in the spring and then the General in November no no it could be excuse me I'm speaking you cut us all the time EXC I no I don't excuse me and additionally partisan or nonpartisan elections Party politics Will Always exist now now just a little bit of a rebuttal uh you know I'm asking for a charter study which will look at what exists today the benefits the advantages the disadvantages look at the current climate and look at the you know we haven't had a study done since when uh Alex since 19770 so I believe moving that forward you know just to do commission the study let a study be done and look at their assessment of where we are today I don't think can hurt anything and you know it's really 65% of the of the of the population voted for Frank and I with that is one of our main pillars along with crime and uh sensible uh development uh so I think it would be a a disservice to the constituents of this town the residents who who pay the taxes and and we're here to support the other thing is that we're only voting on starting a study that would then have to go to the voters to vote whether or not they want to make the town go independent or change the form of government so we're not deciding anything corre here except to give the option to the voters so that's it correct okay so so and if that's three votes that's three votes okay and we can start that process of the commission okay so this three votes no so no I meant like if it is three votes VES okay and that me well I just wanted to get it introduced to new business so find Mr McDonald can ask Jared to look into it and find out whether it requires three or four votes and if requires three votes let's get it on the agenda for next because you think we're just voting for doing the charter study taking that study and making it available to the public at large and letting them have a voice I guess J will or Mr Pander will guide us through this whole the process of it because it must be a very formal process of what a charter study commission is consider special counsel that has experience exactly oh this is so exciting sounds good okay public comment the public comment period is to allow for final comments with the commun from the community when invited to speak to offer your comments please come to the Lector and clearly state your name and whether you are a Milbourne resident Andor property or business owner please do not provide your full address seeing our meetings are recorded and readily available to the public a reminder that in order to help facilitate an orderly meeting and to permit all to be heard speakers shall limit their comments to one three minute session just to acknowledge I stood here Charles Bambara I'm sorry uh 27e resident of short I stood here a month ago and stated that uh I had made some comments and suggestions and lacked response um I'm happy to report and to their credit uh Alex responded to me the very next day and uh went over all the issues and we're now moving forward with progressing all of those ideas uh Nick Romano also contacted me from the Recreation Commission about uh the option of heating the Township swimming pool with solar energy for free uh and we're moving forward on that so thank you Alex and thank you Nick for responding to me and hopefully we can move forward with some of those thoughts thank you moral a Township resident uh first off thank all committee members for what you do for our community it is uh a very tough job and um speaking for myself I really appreciate everything you guys do up here um thank you for support um in gun violence awareness uh event Proclamation this is the seventh year thank you for lighting the town hall up um it's really fantastic and we want to thank you for support um thank you for the introduction of the uh commission study um if you want to recommend on lawyer I recommend um Michael Collins he was legal um representa on the Red Bank Charter commission you can watch the videos um I spoke with Michael um and asked him the specific question on how many votes you needed he told me unequivocally it was three um if you read the fauler ACT there's no mention of a super majority in the fauler ACT um he said it's covered by common law and it requires three votes it's actually a more involved process um as I understand it um not only um does the charter commission need to be formed but they have to run in an election to be appointed as Charter commissions so you first need an election to say we want to have a study once the township committee votes for it the Commissioners need to be elected by the by vote that then begins a 9 month study of which comes out of it a recommendation so um mayor Romano to your point uh if the residents wish not to pay for a charter commission study they can vote to say we don't want it at whatever next election now I don't know if there's time to get that into this November election or not that's something if um you're really interested in moving forward you have to move forward quickly so um thank you you and I think it's a great idea um I I like it because it lets the people of the Town decide whether or not they want to consider a different form of government not the people on the dasas so that's my thoughts on the subject so thank you Jeff Fel um I Echo what Jay just said but it's also there's two other issues that could be added to the um Charter study one will be ranked voting which is a new issue that's coming up and giving the people the right of initiative and referendum is another issue as to the budget I hear about the input one of the issues that came up request from last Thursday was like an organization table just for just like not just only for like the police department but for just City Hall like who reports to whom U oversight um such as like over land use who is it who's the ultimate uh decision maker there um also because last Thursday I after the meeting I went back and I started comparing um certain statements as to what we have in the police department and actually what said in the user friendly budget there is discrepancies between demanding um areas um please be tough with fair share housing Mr banish I re offer my assistance in fighting fighting them um the reason we got it was posted on the website from some of us the court we were had access it we were told this afternoon um go back to Jared tell look at an opinion issued by judge satino again today his panel point about the implied Covenant of good faith and fair dealing this is an argument I've been making since the first day that this Township by not telling the citizens the terms prior to consideration official action violated the implied Covenant good faith and fair dealing and I've been pressing that issue I'm pressing that issue in the current appeal um also I think it's very important that Mr canther because I've never seen on his time summary that he ordered the transcripts from the September 2021 first case management conference in the January 222 fair share housing by where myself and David KGO were prohibited from asking questions of the special master in Manis um did that did that um as to the issue of the criminal complaint I want every for fair disclosure I represent Miss Pastak proo a municipal court judge did her own investigation and she found no evidence that there ever was a court hearing by the presiding judge I made op request there's no request interesting when the summons got issued had a return date back in Milbourne if you had a conflict why was these summons issued there's never been a been able to find out how it went from Milbourne to Newark back to Milbourne to get a summons finally Cosmic irony last Thursday the Supreme Court in a p involving the NRA talked about political free speech and how government cannot suppress it and then today we have a trial beginning with Hunter Biden about his getting a gun under improper statements and I don't know how you make that up I'm not a wrer yes Carol kers Wyoming section I wanted to thank the committee and the county for an amazingly rapid response to the concerns that I and others had about the uh safety issues on Wyoming Avenue um since the time it was brought up we have cross rocks on almost every block and just in the last day beautiful very bright signs and I think there's also uh something closer to the school so it's frankly the way I wish it had been 35 years ago when my kids went there but I'm sure there's a lot of happy Wyoming parents who who worried about getting their kids to school thank you Jean Pastor resident um I just want to say to Alex this isn't personal it's about process and and people having confidence in the system and I think an independent way of looking at this would help everybody feel confident that the process was followed so um I know I would appreciate that and I think it it speaks on behalf of any Resident that would be in the same position uh as far as a Citizens budget advisory committee uh I I would I have to disagree with you Mr Cohen I know I understand that you don't want more complication but I think um at the expense of transparency accountability that this actually is a good idea there other towns that do it have done it for many many years it has been successful I'd be more than happy to do some research on that and give that to you um I think we don't need to be defensive it's meant to be a a support to the CFO the ba the finance committee these are sometimes very long-term kinds of research projects that have to be done when you're doing strategic planning and long-term planning it's asking a lot of people to put aside their day-to-day to do that kind of work I know the uh Board of Education undertook a a long project doing strategic planning uh I would say it was a bit hijacked by uh the administration but I think it was still a process that they put in place and I think that that's something that could really benefit Our Town um we're looking to bring resident input into determining priorities uh that our taxpayers and citizens have in terms of spending their own tax dollars for the long-term good of the town I can't understand why that would ever be a bad thing so and I don't think that's what you said I don't mean to apply that but I think that there is a certain process that can be embraced and it just brings more accountability and transparency um as far as a nonpartisan I know some people believe you know that this does anyway end up being partisan but I really think it gives our voters a chance to look at what the options are and I I I personally think it's a good idea I think that um that the um attempt to bring politics and to say the school board you know I don't think that was successful so I think that's actually a really bad thing and I hope that we we can at least be adult enough to say let's go and and have a look and as far as historic preservation uh Mr elepante spoke I understand that he's very involved with uh the high Center and the people involved in you know the litigation and things that are going on that affect our town I really think that the historic preservation committee is doing very constructive and very helpful work um putting this committee under severe criticism I think is counterproductive it's gotten personal and it's hurting our Township and I think it should stop um the last thing I wanted to say is um The Code Enforcement I hope we're keeping up the pressure on that because I know my being a pain in the ass about the citizens budget advisory has gotten us somewhere so I'll keep keep bringing it up thank you good evening Jerry Kung short president um I wanted to thank commune mener for bringing up the idea of nonpartisan I think it's a great idea um and you know given Mr Stoler and Mr sakandi want to by sizable mandate I think I think everyone on the township committee ought to at least consider this um I want to thank committee Cohen for bringing up the idea of a lack of a mandate I think this is this is an important issue um as part of the charter commission study I think that maybe one thing that could be looked at is ranked Choice voting um so that could potentially address the you know 10 people running and someone winning with 12% of the vote um so there there are a lot of interesting ways to you know fix some of the concerns um I know mayor Romano mentioned uh having two elections May versus November it's certainly possible to have November elections in a nonpartisan form of government um so I think you know at the end of the day I think what we really should think about is what the residents of our town want versus you know what any political party wants what any political machine wants um so I think that it's just important for us to actually give residents the opportunity to Think Through you know what actually makes sense for our town from a governance perspective and you know you're not actually voting on yes let's just change the government today you're voting on let's form a commission that can study all of these issues that people have concerns about at the end of the day if we can't find a suitable form of government that actually is going to be you know better for the S residents of M bur then maybe we stick with what we currently have but it doesn't hurt to actually consider all of our options um as for Mr Mor thank you for all of what you've done in terms of putting information out to the public for nonpartisan I think you outlined the process almost exactly except I think that in 2019 the state changed um from being a majority to a super majority so this was just an article that I found um certainly I'm I'm not licensed practice law in the state of New Jersey so I'm not going to give any recommendations but if indeed it is a super majority that's required I would hope that commun M con and mayor Romano consider to give residents a voice in terms of forming a charter commission thank you thank you good evening Jonathan back to F Drive Short Hills um this is just going to be very quick I got a message that we uh the consideration of the town dump site as at least going ahead according to the special master I wasn't at the meeting I had my daughter's uh concert so I just wanted to reiterate I wrote a letter to the judge well before Franken Ben were elected back when the issue was first flaring up um expressing my concerns about that site and I just wanted to re reiterate here my concerns about that site today um I mean the biggest issue at the time in the town and of a big reason behind Frank and Ben getting elected with such big majorities was that the whole thing was negotiated in secret agreed upon in secret voted on in secret and presented as a fat comply to all residents and felt a lot like living in a one party State um and that's not going very well at the moment so a lot of people had issue with the development um I won't go into all the details here now but it's 100% affordable housing um I did have a ation with the mayor at the time Maggie miggins about this and she said that fair share Housing Commission had insisted upon the dump site from the outset that it was Alex McDonald was that meeting too so he can verify this um that they insisted on it from the outset it was never up for negotiation the town was never able to give any input on the consideration of that site and nobody ever even tried to push back on it during the course of negotiations so um given what's happened since given the fact that the town has expressed such strong views about this um and that we don't want this it's not that we're against affordable housing but we're against this very very bad idea for affordable housing and I'll reate reate the litigation issues with this you know down the road some enterprising lawyer is going to come in whenever anybody gets sick on that site and they will file a lawsuit I don't know whether they'll be successful or not but you know as they say you can indite a ham sandwich they can get up you can find a jury who says hey they're all rich they can afford to pay and uh you know it'll just cost the town money that we it's just unnecessary so I think at this point we need to continue to push back on this we need to keep fighting against this I don't think we should give in and I thank everybody's efforts for that especially Frank and Ben so um just wanted to come here and reate my pretty well complete opposition to this project thank you keep it simple Christine vast you all know me M Town I just just standing in front of you I'm not going to really say a lot but I just def definitely hope that you guys can push back if you can on the site um for affordable housing going at the town dump I totally disagree with it and basically concur with what was stated by the gentleman before so I don't need to reiterate all the things that he said and then I also um I apologize I was not uh at the meeting earlier I had a business to do at the library but I did have a question for you Alex you might have stated this in the initial things so I apologize if you did already I would like to understand um in my neighborhood at Fairfield I know that you guys were very polite and thank you so much for giving me an update as to the status on jcpnl and why you know I clearly am very clear as to why Fairfield drive is not being repaved at this time but what I'm trying to understand is why um marale and Fairfield terrorists are not being repaved unless the conduit from Fairfield Drive extends into that so I would like some clarification if you already spoke to it then I will go back and review the tape um you and also while we're all waiting because it seems like we might even have another year of this and I don't know what happened to that girl that fell on her face and broke her nose but um I constantly twist my ankle you know how you twist your ankle just a little bit and you didn't blow it out I don't really want to do that you know um it's really bad I tell people to drive down our road and now what's happening is you know how like when things look bad then people just throw trash or landscapers are now just leaving their debris all over because there's so much debris from what Seline Suns did it's really I mean at the bottom it's all clogged up so I really just hope that the town could clean stuff up I really do feel like since the DPW has been in charged um has been charged by a Forester that maybe that's an operational position that really should be charged by somebody who has DPW experience because I'm seeing a lot of issues just around town with just weeds trash every where I mean that's my personal opinion i' it's really going downhill so I just wanted to comment on that and that's all I have to say tonight I hope it didn't offend anybody and thank you so much for everything you guys did okay good evening Mike stots executive director of paper mill the very nonpartisan nonpolitical Paper Mill and I just came here really with the PSA um next Tuesday we're going to have 12 100 students from across the state for the rising star awards this is the equivalent of the Tony Awards for high school musicals we have 120 applicants from schools from every county in the state and the top of the top the cream of the crop will be performing on the paper mill stage and receiving the equivalent of their Tony Awards uh next Tuesday so I invite you all to stop by because you'll never see a more meaningful uh group activity happening on our campus uh second thing Gatsby Great Gatsby has opened on Broadway we should all take enormous pride in that paper mill and our staff and our board certainly do um but this has been a rough year on Broadway and uh before assumptions are made about money being made you know in The Great Gatsby our royalty is $1,000 a week so it's not like this is going to be the grand Savior and finally we start performances of uh beautiful the Carol King musical tomorrow night uh We've extended did it through ju July 3rd sales are going extremely well so starting tomorrow night I think you'll see the restaurants full again so thank you again you hi Perry uro again upper mil Avenue business owner so I understand that you can't talk about the bare property litigations and you can't answer those questions so perhaps you can answer why does the township need a sid what is the real reason behind the Sid it is to my understanding that there is a functioning Chambers of Commerce for years like I asked in 2020 when I first learned about the Sid at the height of covid under the watch of the current chair Sid board chair who chastised this body at the last TC meeting for their lack of transparency that is beyond hypocritical why the Sid instead of the township utilizing an existing entity which appears that both entities are competing with one another would it be considered a conflict that the city executive director is an active City Board member of the chamber I highly recommend this body visit chatam and take a page from their playbook for they do not have a sid however the town Works closely with their Chambers in every single piece of government town chatam is vibrant businesses are well diversed I believe there also is no parking fees the streetcape is absolutely inviting lastly as a responsible business owner and landlord here are a few be few things that I feel that's a benefit of the city number one taxation without representation number two unnecessary legal fees number three irresponsible use of taxpayer TR fund monies using four districts to subsidize one District known as the downtown number four loss of garbage service without a reduction in taxes number five irresponsible use of taxpayer trust fund monies for the use of 60% of the collected assessments for administrative salaries and lastly let me not forget the latest crying laugh laughing mermaid who is representing the business districts of Milburn Short Hills it was the video would not only was offensive it was embarrassing this individual also was reaching beyond the scope of their contract by seeking a level of Code Enforcement badge which would allow them to have authority and control over private property in the event that this video I'm referring to was removed from Facebook because it was posted by the Sid a public entity would be subject to Oprah thank you and have a nice evening thank you I have a motion to close public comment I think we have to CL com first okay anyone want to respond you want to go first the little levity of seeing Steve the levity of seeing Steve gillo and a mermaid suit was a was a riot um to Mr Baxter to Mr Baxter uh we addressed uh the what we felt about the affordable housing so if you go watch that first part you'll glean a lot of information from it we were pretty blunt uh and fully agree with you and the uh the liability of in the future uh I forgot who mentioned that I think you mentioned it is uh you know who knows where that will will stretch Miss kersch uh I noticed the new walkways as well they're beautiful and the signs are very very good and uh and I'll defer to our to our Council for uh for Mr con and uh Mr morelli's comments to come back to us promptly with the correct um structural and uh procedural methods of moving forward with the commission study that's it thank you can we color good have mayor uh yes um so I'd like to thank the residents that pointed out that the charter commission study would indeed be a referendum uh be a referendum on an existing ballot so it's not like it would cost the town anything extra to have that referendum item and I would implore the rest of the TC members that are not on board uh to consider the fact that anytime you give residents a choice via a referendum how could that be a bad thing to not give them a choice is really to suppress public desire and the public will so I'd say you have nothing to be afraid of if you trust that uh nonpartisan uh local elections are not something that the public wants let's let's have it go to a referendum what's what's the harm in that right um always better to give resident a choice when it's possible um let's see uh Miss erso do townships need a sid no they don't uh for some reason uh our Township at some point felt that they did need a sid um I think that circumstances have changed I personally think that's something that should be re-evaluated I'm not sure that we still need a s I think now that vacancy rates are down and uh covid is over and situation has changed changed quite a bit I think the Chamber of Commerce can can definitely fill in um a lot of the areas that uh the Sid professes to help um I think at this point the Sid is something that should go to a referendum um but uh I don't know if I have the support of the rest of the TC for that so I'm only one voice all right thanks everyone I have no remarks I just want to respond to a couple quick things um one is um to miss P first I'd like to be clear that I did not name anybody in my comments I did not want to do that however um also I did not take it personally I just and this kind of also parlays into Miss best's comments um and some of the things that have been said you know we a lot has been said tonight about partisan politics and things like that and not wanting to treat people in a certain way but we are very quick and I've said this before I think last year um we are very quick to automatically assume corruption cover up and we are you know assuming that something nefarious is going on and saying things vaguely like you know the director of DPW because he's a Forester everything's gone down hill I don't think these are fair comments um and so that's I'm just gonna certainly want to say my piece about that um because one thing is I'm happy to continue to work with Miss Pastak and making sure that you know we get some information and resolution to what what you've gone through um uh if if uh if certainly if something nefarious was going on I would would not be willing to do that um and I want to to get you an answer I had mentioned in an email previously that perhaps having a discussion with veriety judge who made the determination while maybe didn't provide anything to you in an open request would be a good route I think at least the first Next Step let's meet with our judge if he's if he's able to uh I've made that request to the court uh administrator she's going to get back to me once I have that information I'll reach out so that we can set up a meeting uh to do so um in terms of Miss best's inquiry about uh Fairfield Terrace in marale yes uh one of the issues is is that the underground wire did sweep onto marale and Fairfield Terrace as you know from living in the neighborhood that the T the poles go down the middle of the the properties um from uh from basically you know Fairfield Fairfield drive all the way down to old short h Road um so those wires did sweep in addition when we were when PS was doing their work there was quite a bit of consternation in the neighborhood regarding curbs and drainage so we are actively addressing that in the uh Road reconstruction ordinance that was approved to or bid that was approved tonight uh to be able to do some curbing work and drainage work on Fairfield Terrace and marale so that when pscg comes into Mill and pave it is a complete job um I had updated the community as a result of jcpnl being able to complete their work on Fairfield Drive that our contractor will be in the area on Saturday uh to finish up curb work then their subcontractor coo will be uh in on later part of next week or the beginning of the week of the 15th um to or I'm sorry the 17th to complete their Mill and pave of Fairfield Drive um and I think that is all I wanted to respond uh just that we'll follow up on the charter study commission and give an answer to either Alex or you know to transmit to the account to the committee or we could just transmit it to the committee thank you may have a motion to adour motion