please come to order this is the combined agenda and regular meeting of the Monroe Township Council on June 26 2024 this meeting as I said is called to order please take your seats like we all to rise to honor our flag I pledge allegiance to the flag unit States of America and to the Republic for which it stand Nation God indivisible with liberty and justice for all I can't do it CL please hear are you in are you in enough I'm in enough clerk please call the rooll councilman Charles deiro here councilman Michael maral here councilwoman Rupa P seagull here Council vice president Terence vanzora here council president Miriam Cohen present would you please read the Sunshine Law into the record in accordance with the open public meetings act it is hereby announced and shall be entered into the minutes of this meeting that adequate notice has been provided by the following one posted on the bulletin board within the municipal building on December 29 2023 and remains posted at that location for public inspection two printed in the home News Tribune and the cranberry Press On on December 29th 2023 three posted on the Monroe Township website and four sent to those individuals who have requested personal notice in accordance with chapter 3 section 17 of the Monroe Township Code public comment shall be limited to 5 minutes unless further time is granted by the council president thank you our first Proclamation is for Parks and Recreation appreciation month which is July 2024 so we honor and Delight in and all of the folks who work in parks and recreation in our town presentation for this agenda session is to Eric I'm so sorry I'm so sorry to Eric Kesner for his 33 years with Monroe Township I would like to call up rich moris the EMS director please thank you council president uh want to thank the Administration members of council for taking time to acknowledge Eric and his extraordinary career um Eric began in 1991 as a PDM employee with the division of ambulance service 1998 he was hired as a full-time employee and recently completed his final shift on May 31st of 2024 living off 26 years of full-time service to the department and the residence of Monroe through through Eric's career I got to know him back when I started as a volunteer Eric was a great mentor to us coming up where he took the time to teach and show the different skills that it takes to be an EMT more than what you take in the EMT class everything they tell you when you take the EMT class is they're teaching you to pass a test employees like Eric are who helped make great providers that are out today and some of the providers in my staff that I have now I'd like to congrat rulate Eric on his 33 plus years of service and an additional started before I was born in 1979 as a volunteer for the township of Monroe as a volunteer he did 1979 to 1991 as a volunteer also spend time in District uh sorry Station 51 as a fire uh fighter as a volunteer as well so Eric has given a lot of time and effort to the community and surrounding towns I want to thank Eric for his commitment and time all these years and wish him all the best of luck on his future retirement [Applause] thank you to his family his without family makes a job even a lot harder so the support of family is what helps get through every day wife Nicole his children not going support thank [Applause] you like when any of my Council colleagues care to comment please councilwoman seagull good evening congratulations Eric this is such a wonderful honor for you um 33 years is quite impressive and I guess we can say that you're part of the foundation of our wonderful EMS services that we have here in Monroe I wish you all the best thank you for all the service for our entire community Through The Years thank you Council Council vice president Eric I will Echo exactly what uh councilwoman seagull said as they say when these people come up with monthly we have these people retiring or whatever 33 years is a long time man and and to stick with it and do the job that you did and to uh dedicate yourself to the town like you did I I I can only imagine if we figured out how many how many stops you made in a given week how many in a given month in a given year it you've literally helped hundreds and hundreds of people if if not more than that so we can only thank you thank you for your service is very much appreciated thank you good luck councilman deiro Erica I just want to say thank you for everything that you did for our community and setting a great example it's like you're the mcgyver of Monroe I mean you did you've done it all and you did you helped it even at Station 51 you know I'm a fire commissioner as well I want to say thank you for everything you did as a volunteer and also as a paid uh employee here and thank your family and wish you well on your next next Journey councilman marel Mr Kesner I thank you for your service um what I have to realize is that the type of job you've done for 33 years it's more than a job I'm sure it's takes a special person to P an EMS uh person and take care of people all hours in day and night I'm sure thank you so much as I've had occasion to say before I knew about the EMS service in Monroe Township when I was living in East Brunswick uh and it was always known as a wonderful service providing exemplary service to the residents of Monroe and the policies and procedures and how you work were emulated by other townships and towns in New Jersey I'm a nurse as some of you know so I have a particular fondness in my heart for those of you who get there first on the scene I wish you well I know that you will enjoy your retirement and we have been fortunate to enjoy your services all these years so I thank you very very [Applause] much we will take about a 3 to five minute recess to take some pictures please I know you have family here so we will do that now and then we will reconvene item six is my mic off again no you're good oh goody you're on item six are ordinances for second reading at the June 26 2024 regular meeting with the clerk please read the ordinance ordinance 06 2024 01 ordinance amending chapter 39 of the code of the township of Monroe entitled fees ordinance ordinances for introduction at the June 26th 2024 regular meeting would the clerk please read the two ordinances ordinance 06 20242 ordinance authorizing the township of Monroe to acquire a storm sewer management easement over property located at Remington Avenue known as block 13.01 part of lots four and five on the township of Monroe tax map ordinance 06 20243 ordinance amending the code of the township of of Monroe under chapter 108 section 6.23 to amend the medical facility requirement in the planned retirement community District 2 prc2 ordinance 06 22414 ordinance of the Monroe Township Council repealing chapter 78 of the code of the township of Monroe en title Personnel policies and procedures thank you item eight is the resolutions that consideration under the consent agenda at the June 26 2024 regular meeting R6 224-1 168 through R 62024 d178 any of council members wishing to have an item removed from the agenda this yes M councilman deiro yes council president I have just one r620 D I mean I'm sorry r 6-20 24- 171 171 any other council members wish something removed from the consent agenda moving on we will move to the public comment section of the agenda session it is limited to items on the agenda only and each speaker has five minutes to address the council I would like a motion to open the public comment section please motion thank you may I have a second second all in favor I any opposed public comment section is open please feel free to come up give us your name and address for our record do you prefer the table or the podium table is fine the table table is fine Stan table is fine thank you good evening council members thank you my name is Stanley fiser f c I live at 112 timber Hill Drive in Stonebridge obviously Monroe Township I'm a Broadway buff and I recall that many years ago there was a musical comedy called I love you you're perfect now change that could be the title of what we're doing here a zoning ordinance enacted 18 years ago has not only accomplished everything that was envisioned when it was adopted is it it has accomplished much more most importantly it has saved lives not only of Stonebridge residents but very likely of the many residents in the many homes in our area covered not covered by the ordinance under 55 by making it more likely that EMS services will be available to them if needed instead of having to come to Stonebridge my personal story is that twice in the past 11 months I've been rushed to the ER in the middle of the night in congestive heart failure I have nothing but praise for our wonderful EMS Personnel uh who you uh you honored one tonight who was retiring they certainly arrived at my home quickly but not as fast as our nurse who had me on oxygen fortunately the AED was not necessary and then worked with my wife to make certain that we were properly prepared to go to the hospital in addition twice I have personally witnessed situations where a Stonebridge resident needed EMS and they were not available in one case a resident took a horrible fall outside our clubhouse suffered a b bad head injury and the nurse was on the scene in about a minute to stabilize the resident until an ambulance eventually arrived in the other case a resident fell or fainted inside the clubhous and when 911 was called there was actually no answer once again the nurse was on the scene almost instantaneously and stabilized the situation in my case as well as the other two cases if we had been in Cardiac Arrest the nurse would have made the difference between life and death this is being made out to be a dollars and cents issue but as a retired CPA and financial executive I assure you that you don't always value something in terms of money the zoning ordinance must be judged on the basis of its value to our Health and Welfare and that is priceless as to the Stonebridge HOA board requesting the O zoning ordinance changed the resolution contained other statements that were either misleading or outright misinformation among them was that the cost of the nurse's office now $415,000 per year is an in inequitable burden in a two-person household that works out to 60 cents per day 60 cents per day hardly a burden the Stonebridge request stated that local urgent care facilities make the nurse's office Superfluous in fact the urgent care facilities are open less than half the number of hours as the nurse's office do not make house calls as our nurse does and don't know the patient history as our nurse often knows further one of them often times has had to cancel appointments because they didn't have medical personnel on site further we recognize that the Stonebridge board is not saying let's get rid of the nurse but rather give us the right to make our own decisions if you open that door an inch there are those that will soon enough use the opening to drive a wedge into the services so that they can save pennies per day it might start with the erroneous statement erroneous statement of who needs the overnight shift when the nurse is just waiting for an emergency phone call if you think that my conclusion that a compromise in our services is is a life and death decision and it's melodramatic I assure you it is not the Stonebridge Community is aging and our need for a 247 medical facility has never been greater the continued existence of the nurse's office improves our Health and Welfare and enables us to age in place we urge you to reject the amendment thank you uh I have a handout you may have seen it it was published in the Star Ledger April 7th uh some statistics regarding the oldest towns in New Jersey oldest not in terms of how long the town existed but our age uh we are number 14 and that concludes your statement your time that concludes my statement can I get should I give this uh hand out to the give it to Tanya the end of the table and she will take consideration and by the way thank you for raising your hand and serving our community anyone else wishing to address the Council on this issue or another issue that was on the agenda please come forward again your name and address for our record I'd be happy to my name is Lauren sattinger first name l o r n last name s a t t i n g r I live at 39 turret Drive in Monroe Township which is in Stonebridge good evening members of the township Council good evening I've already given you my name I'm going to give you my position within Stonebridge I'm the vice president of the Stonebridge Community Association board of directors I'm speaking tonight to ask the township coun to approve amending the ordinance so that Stonebridge is not the only Monroe HOA community that is required to have 24/7 Registered Nursing coverage just because Stonebridge is located in a particular Zone we have exactly the same characteristics of every other HOA except in this one instance it makes no sense that Stonebridge is the only community in Monroe Township that has this requirement this does not rise to the level of invoking the 14th Amendment equal protection Clause of the law but then again it kind of does councilman van druza as a lawyer I think you're pretty familiar with the US Constitution and the 14th Amendment the resolution passed by the Stonebridge board in 2023 asking that the ordinance be changed has a provision that the current current nursing service will not be changed unless 2/3 of the homeowners agree 23s of the homeowners have to agree to change the 24-hour nursing Services that's a high bar it's an affirmative requirement that means that out of 946 homeowners 632 votes must be obtained before the nursing service can be changed or discontinued or modified the township ordinance should be amended In fairness and equal treatment of Stonebridge as all the other HOA communities the vote about nursing service in Stonebridge is not a Township matter it is strictly a Stonebridge matter let Stonebridge have the opportunity to make its own decision about this matter thank you for your consideration thank you for comment sir anyone else wishing to address us please come up now please don't have a dis Dr Pros could you let this woman come and then you will go and then the Gent the third gentleman I saw in the back your name and address for our records barara Greenfield 52 timber Hill Drive Monroe Township is that better yes okay thank you I was just commenting the fact that Greenfield was my maiden name ah okay uh I'm here in defense of keeping the ordinance on the books because the nurse is vitally important to the community and I have a few little anecdotes to share with you about people who have have benefited from the nurses service but one thing I want to say is that when I came into Stonebridge 14 years ago I was a sweet youngish thing uh and I was so excited to be buying such a beautiful home in a lovely Community with beautiful grounds and amenities and so on and so forth oh by the way they told me we also have a nursing uh presence here they explained it to me I thought to myself well so what it didn't impress me that's because I was young but the 14 years have uh opened my eyes that uh we don't stay young forever and uh I feel that many of we are concerned in the community that many of the younger people who are just 55 won't see the benefit of retaining the nurse and will vote against it uh I could just give you some I'll start with something that happened to me I was out walking with a friend very briskly and all of a sudden I had dizzy spells and short shortness of breath uh I was taken immediately to the nurse's office she determined that this needed some Hospital uh time and off I went uh I've spoken to many people uh asking whether they were helped by the nurse okay so uh um one friend of mine uh her husband was uh confined to a wheelchair and one night very late maybe around 11:00 p.m. for some reason he fell out of the wheelchair he hit his head on a table and began to bleed profusely my friend didn't know what to do she couldn't manage her husband certainly couldn't take him over to an Urgent Care at that hour of the night she called the nurse the nurse came right over ascertained that he did indeed need to go to the hospital required some stitches excuse me and that was that situation was resolved um I myself again needed the nurse's service one day I was opening a can and uh since we recycle I was then washing out the can to uh uh put it into the recycling and I inadvertently slit my wrist well this was not a good thing I wrapped it up I ran to the nurse the nurse determined it did not need stitches was able to bandage it up properly and I was very grateful I was quite quite worried um a friend of mine fell out of bed called me up could I come over and give her a hand to get back in well I couldn't help her it just didn't work out we ended up calling the nurse the nurse came and immediately and determined that she needed some some hospital care and or she went um uh someone that I know who's had open heart surgery has to have his had to have blood pressure readings and other other measurements taken that person went to the nurse every day for four weeks until everything was stabilized and it was certain that he had the care he needed excuse me um another person told me a story where this is a simple thing she was having eye surgery she needed to put four drops she needed to put drops in her eyes four times a day okay that it's fine not so bad but her hands are shaky and she couldn't manage it and so she managed it by going to the nurse four times a day until the condition resolved itself I'll also speak about being a single uh many many people come into the community at with a spouse but as the years move on unfortunately the spouse passes away and now you're all alone in the dark at night and I know the EMS is out there but it is such a comfort to be able to call that nurse and have her come and ascertain whether you need to bother them or whether it's something simple that can be taken away I also had opportunity to speak to the nurse today uh as she told me that the Night Nurse uh isn't just sitting there waiting for a call they wait if someone calls and has a a question that they could answer but more importantly they're doing paperwork that the day nurses may not have time to accomplish so that is very important as well um I I could go on and on I won't I have as you see is that's okay so that's what I want to say and I hope you will take that into consideration we are concerned that our younger residents won't see the importance thank you for your comments Dr Pros just wait for you want to come you want to drash you can okay he can thank you thank you president prakash Pura 33 daa Drive uh today the liquor license you approving or it is in the draft resolutions mhm and I see some residential areas lior license so I I don't understand you know for example on the resolution R 6202 4169 for example there is 1 1213 33013 018 Nia P 327 Morning Glory Drive Morning Glory Drive is a residential area so what is this not not cited PR means what what the residential area has to do with u Lial license Mr mwan or M thank you council president I think the clerk's office may be able to answer this better than I can Christine if you want to Christine pocket license right uh they're um pocket licenses there are some licenses that don't have a location so they're they're held within the clerk's office so those are that's the address of just the owner cuz there's no location for the license so they are not making any alcohol no absolutely not go there to buy a drink no and they don't physically have the pocket license on them we keep it no I understand they are the owners of some you know I just curious regarding this Stone I'm I'm not in Stonebridge what what is they can call 911 and get the service that's the first question because if I have a heart pain I'm not going to wait and call nurse to come and then decide the decision no nurses they can have for putting drops and all but I think for emergency um someone said that they called 911 and no one came uh you know I have this is the list I have heard 911 when we call they are there they call immediately what's the problem uh if 911 is not responding then what is the alternative I ask for the council here if 9 911 is not responding I think people should call over EMS immediately but there is any any time the 911 has not responded I thank you for your comment sir yeah anyone who else wishing to address the council please come forward remember to please state your name and address for our record sir yes thank you Irvin rothar 91 Diamond Spring Drive Stonebridge Monroe Township uh obviously I'm here to speak to into the microph I'm here to speak to the proposed uh Amendment to the ordinance with respect to our nurse an amendment that's been here since 2002 a major complaint by those who want to strike the ordinance is that the existing Township ordinance is quote inequitable which very simply means unfair of course because Stonebridge quote from the board's resolution is the only Association that is required to maintain a 247 registered nurse facility as the other Senior Communities within the township do not fall within prc2 zone or if they do do not have 600 or more residential units unquote well actually the township could not possibly have acted inequitably or discriminated against Stonebridge because by passing the nurse provisions of the ordinance they were passed years before Stonebridge came into [Music] existence Stonebridge elected to gain the benefit of prc2 zoning and to build more than 600 homes that act that act triggered the nurse benefit I call it they call it a requirement but that triggered the statute once they elected to build 600 homes in a prc2 Zone they were required to furnish a nurse now Stonebridge says why is it being treated differently no it's not Stonebridge so far was the only Community the only community that elected to build on prc2 and to have more than 600 homes not surprising when the township had the foresight to enact a nurse provision in its ordinance it didn't do so retroactively to the other larger communities that had already been built that would have been unfair perhaps and une inequitable it was done with foresight now I believe it would be I believe that it would be inequitable or unfair at this time after 16 or more years to take away from St Stonebridge homeowners the protection or nurse benefit of the township zoning ordinance it was in place when each of us decided to build our homes our election to buy at Stonebridge was a very significant way in effect the voting to live in a community that had a Township mandated nurse so it isn't as if the town came along and singled out Stonebridge and said you have to have an nurse and every other town can make its own decision if a town were to if a development were to come along right now and elect to have more than 600 homes in a prc2 community it too would be required to have a nurse and I don't know a difference it would make to Stonebridge if there are more or fewer communities within the protection of the ordinance Stonebridge got what it wanted when it built and so did the residents of Stonebridge when they bought their homes uh now the nurse is very popular in Stonebridge I think you you could see from a lot of people here who have turned out and there are many hundreds of others who haven't it's a warm night but there's no Assurance of the result of any Vote or votes if the ordinance should be revoked for example at a recent election for Stonebridge board only four votes were the difference between a winning and a losing board candidate I don't think we should go down the slope with respect to a nurse that we had from be from the time we moved in and since that time as a small Point perhaps if the ordinance were revoked or the nurse Provisions the only protection we would have would be a Township through finish a sentence please I did have other things to say thank you for listening I'm sorry there are other opportunities anyone else wishing to address us please come forward now please state your name and address for our record sir uh yes uh Jerry melli 15 line H Hard Road in Stonebridge and it's about the nursing ordinance so for one I empathize with everything that was said by my friends and neighbors here tonight um I've used a nurse myself it's a nice facility to have amenity to have for us um and I support this uh ordinance matter of fact I was one of the two board members that were instrumental in approaching Kevin a year ago to get the board rolling on this um the the whole issue isn't isn't that we want to change it's and and it's that we want to give all future members of our community the ability to change should they want to in the future it isn't about us today I'm on the board now and I have no intention of changing anything about our nurse but what about 20 years from now a 100 years from now our community is going to be around for a long time and the people the people in our community today won't be here tomorrow but they want to impose their will and their decision and choice on future community members this ordinance will allow our community to make the decision for themselves into the future with a very high bar of a 23s vote it allows the community to always be able to decide for themselves how they want to choose their nursing options thank you thank you for your comments anyone else wishing to address us please come forward pleas eight8 timberhill drive Monroe Township in the community of Stonebridge thank you I'd like to speak in support of the nurse and of support of keeping this this ordinance so that the nurse is must be in Stonebridge I have had several experiences with the nurse one of them was when I had a spontaneous femur fracture in my kids chitchen and the nurse came immediately and tried to make me as comfortable as possible until the EMTs arrived to take me to the hospital in another instance one time after midnight don't remember what the circumstances were but I had a panic attack and I called the nurse because my my um heartbeat was very fast and I was concerned about it she came over and she talked me down it wasn't a major thing but it was a very frightening thing I think that to remove this ordinance takes us down a slippery slope now they're saying it has to be 2/3 to vote the nurse down what will happen if if 6 years or a month or whatever they talked and they they decide well it just the board didn't decide that the fact of the matter there's nobody in this community that's getting younger maybe the population is getting younger as the resales come along but nobody is getting younger and nurse is an essential thing of our community I have to say that if any of my neighbors whether I know them or not we're in an emergency I'll gladly pay that 400 and something dollars a year to make sure that they are alive and I hope that they would do the same for me that's thank you very much for your comments anyone else wishing to address us please come forward you might have gotten beaten to the punch hi I'm be brief your name and address to the record my name is Lynn l y n n e brillhart b r i l l h a RT I live at 17 Steeple Road in the Stonebridge Community I'm here in support of the ordinance remaining the way it is it has worked perfectly I've lived here 17 years I have had an a terrific experience many with the nurse but one in particular 2:00 in the morning I called her because I was having excruciating pain and could barely speak in my lower abdomen I was pretty sure it was gallbladder but I wasn't positive she came over immediately I have to tell you she called EMS right away because she did determine it was gallbladder it took EMS almost half an hour to get there because they were out on other calls that's understandable that's not a problem the issue was she had all of my paperwork she had everything ready she had it all printed out ready to go when the EMS finally arrived told them where I wanted to go for for the hospital we were all set to go so yes I could have called EMS but I would have been sitting there in agony because I would have not been able to give all the information that I needed to and I was very happy that the nurse was there she took care of me when I fell out walking one time banging my elbow was dizzy because I couldn't get up and who can look at their elbow to see how badly they're they're hurt you can't see it she took care of it I managed to get to the nurse's office because I was not far from the nurse's office office she managed to take care of it bandage it for every day for a week to rebandage rean do all of that to go to urgent care for something like this you sit for an hour an hour and a half just to change a bandage our nurse is essential and I do not want it to change so I'm in definite support of the ordinance thank thank you for your comments ma' your name and address for our records please uh hello my name is Glenda Beller and I live at 14 Cobblestone Boulevard with my husband Paul Beller who's sitting in the rear um we've been living in our home for over 15 years Paul's well I said I told you Paul's age uh he's 92 I'm 87 yay Paul and I love our Stonebridge Community we originally purchased our home because in 208 it appeared to fulfill currents and future Social and Health related needs for for us it had it has always been our intent to age in place and never find it necessary to relocate to a senior care or Progressive Care Community recently we were alerted to the fact that there is a proposed amendment to the Township's zoning ordinance that presently mandates a medical facility and 247 registered nurse be situated in Monroe 55 plus communities with 600 100 or more residential units prior to purchasing our home in Stonebridge that was uh 17 years ago it was in 2007 we were much younger then my hair color was different Paul's waistline was different well anyway PRI prior to purchasing our home in Stonebridge Community we carefully reviewed the documents related to the township and the Stonebridge Community to help us decide which Community within mon Road Township best suited our needs the very fact that a registered nurse would be present 247 in Stonebridge drove our final decision that Stonebridge will meet our presents and future needs perfectly and in 15 years we have not wavered on that decision the services our community receives from our nursing staff are not just an amenity or a perk the service offered by our community are a necessity I will give you some of our bases for this rationale very few residents are knowledgeable about administering CPR a registered nurse can change surgical dressings with skill required to prevent infections prevent inadvertent damage to the surgical site advise if a r wound is not healing properly Etc I have needed this service following several hand surgeries driving one handed to the doctor or an urgent care facility was out of the question having a registered nurse in Stonebridge has been one more Assurance for us toward having a better quality of life in our golden years having a registered nurse available within minutes of an emergency can make the difference between life or death and she has come to our house when needed in the dead of night within 4 minutes resulting in Paul needing to go to the hospital because he was in the middle of a heart attack which I kept telling him was indigestion removing the zoning audience relative to having our nurse would eliminate the Health and Welfare protection given to us by the township when we signed our contract back in 2008 with all due respect to the council Paul and I believe it is extremely unfair to modify this ordinance when the repercussions can be so serious Stonebridge will lose its protection simply by a board resolution it will take a two3 vote to pass a resolution for changes to the service in Stonebridge but the outcome will impact Future Property Owners who may not hold the same opinion as present Property Owners Paul and I thank you for your consideration as happy homeown homeowners of a Stonebridge home and proud residents of Monroe Township I hope you will carefully consider any modification or change to section 108 6.23 thank you uh for all of you I I sent an email to about six council members and that's why I wanted to speak tonight because I was nervous that this wouldn't circulate widely enough within the Council uh I do want to add one last thing what is the worth of a human life it's Priceless as the commercial used to say thank you thank you anyone else wishing to address the [Applause] council Please Mr gunkelman oh you will go first then Mr gunman you will be next ma'am please your name and address for our records okay um m' Marilyn erns 113 Diamond Spring Drive um so my story is a little bit different I am an accountant by education and professionally I worked for the Robert Wood Johnson foundation in Princeton where not only did I give out money but there was a lot of public health issues it was wonderful so I float between two areas um I was I purchased the 40th home in Stonebridge I was underage my husband was not so where I was 52 he was 54 and we met that requirement um my husband at that young age had Parkinson's disease so it's a little bit different I'm not going to speak about emergency issues or you know having to call for that reason alone um after he fell down the flight of steps in my house and broke his ankle and really could no longer work couldn't live there anymore my in-laws were in Clearbrook so I knew all about Monroe Township and I knew about the nursing care that could be available and was going to be available you know at Stonebridge also so I watched signs go up you know on Applegarth from lenar and we just went in and bought so this was not a consideration of unfortunately my husband has passed away but this was not like for emergency reasons which they're all Bonafide and all important um and it was not an aging decision either um it I've called her many I had called her many times I called 911 many times um it Priceless in is the bottom line um I thought honestly as as much information that I had I thought I was grandfathered in Surprise I'm not um there's so many reasons and many all of them adj just if IED but in my heart of hearts I'm telling you another side of the story so here I am you know I'm older yes but I didn't purchase it for for geriatric you know reasons I for you know great great deal of it I purchased it I knew I had not only 911 but I had an actual nurse on site to help me thank you thank you for your comments Mr gunman George Gan five Kelly Court Monroe um the ordinance uh repealing chapter 28 that's uh the top of page two on the agenda uh it's repealing chapter 78 of personnel policies and procedures what is being repealed please so council president um our Personnel policy sorry I'm not sure why that's acting like that because we're not good with microphone um that chapter of our code is our Personnel policies in our fauler Act form of government it's actually the mayor and administration who can make changes to all employee Personnel policies so it's actually not appropriate for it to be in the code it's been in the code for some time but um with legal council uh we have decided to take it out of the code um so that an ordinance change does not have to be enacted in order to change an employee policy uh employee policies have to change from time to time anti-harassment policies leave policies uh different things change sometimes at the uh conclusion of uh Union contract negotiations so it's just in keeping with our form of government and the law to um keep that in the mayor and administrative prerogatives as opposed to in the Township Code thank you so for how long have we been doing it wrong we've been doing it differently for many years and now we will be doing it differently again Mr gungan thank you you're welcome anyone else wishing to address the council please come forward hi can you hear me yes your name and address please Lisa Fisher 112 timber Hill Drive Monro Township Stonebridge Community my husband and I have been living at Stonebridge for almost 15 years we have loved availing ourselves of the various amenities that we feel privileged to have this includes the security of a 24/7 nurse it is incredible to me that there are those who consider this amenity a burden that we have to carry and who are actually envious of other communities that don't have a 247 nurse for those that are so interested in eliminating the nurse or reducing her hours have they considered the impact right now each indiv individual is spending 60 cents per day aund a20 per twers household to have the nurse what is the impact otherwise the impact is depending upon resources that are outside the community Gates that might not always be available in a time of need furthermore having our own nurse assures a sense of familiarity there is someone who has knowledge of our medical history this is not true even if we manage to get a hold of whoever is on call at a walk-in clinic there are those amongst us who somehow can never leave well enough alone when we moved to Stonebridge it was no secret that a 247 nurse was part of our budget no one was forced to buy there if they didn't want to and now that we're all getting older facing more serious health problems than ever before people are looking to change the existing policy how people who are aging can think that they need fewer Medical Services than they did 15 or 17 years ago is beyond me thank you thank you for your comments anyone else wishing to address the council please come forward now your name and address for our record sir my name is Paul aler Al l t s c hu l e r I'm at 168 Diamond Spring Drive in Stonebridge for many years Stonebridge has been forced by Monroe Township into having a nurse on duty 247 it costed our community millions of dollarss over the years and is now a burden to many of our residents today with the town's modern and efficient EMS service it is no longer necessary to make us maintain our nurses office EMS has proven itself time and time again with its Stellar performance and life-saving missions with the full support of our full-time firefighters backing up Ems if they're busy I don't know if everybody's aware of that that's a recent situation the firefighters will respond if EMS is busy um it is time to remove the town's mandatory rules pertaining to the HOA as far as cute little antidotes and stories I've been very amused by the nurse coming to people's houses and holding their hands and feet while they wait for emergency services we have not folks please folks I have the right to speak thank you has the right to speak right and so please as far as my own experience i' like to share a small antidote uh I was putting up a light fixture and the light fixture contained many little parts that had to be screwed in so my wife got on the ladder and she says could I do that and I said absolutely thank you and uh while I wasn't looking she stepped on the kitchen table and she's a light person but the table went over and as she lay on the floor with a broken collar bone my first action was to call 911 911 responded in 2 minutes the nurse never showed up even though it was written down that they're supposed to get the call from 911 and appear at the scene I can only say the greatest things about our EMS system we honored people here tonight I've seen nothing wrong with the system they were across the street from Stonebridge they respond wonderfully to all our requests and I think they're enough to cover our medical needs thank you thank you for your comments sir anyone else wishing to address the council please come forward now shush folks hey please I am not at a board meeting I'm at a council meeting ma'am your your name and address for our record ro1 wait a moment folks we Endeavor to treat every excuse me if a person is cursing is he elect can you remove the when I would please I would re request I would request that each of you treat each other with respect at this meeting we Endeavor as a Council to treat everyone who comes here with respect so please let people talk everyone will get their turn I would not like to have to ask our police officer to bring into action please folks thank you sorry ma'am your name and address for our records Sandra roob 91 Diamond Spring Drive thank you um I feel the audience that the ordinance your microphone I'm sorry I feel that the or ordinance is essential and right and that we need it no matter what age you are in Stonebridge this is not a this is not a matter of self-determination or using someone else this is a matter of doing what's right if the nurse helps only a few people wonderful that's good we need the help we deserve the help and the cost is really minimal in terms of other monies that we spend on eating out and doing this and doing all kinds of things which is fine but this is an essential and it's not a matter of self-determination of we should have a vote we have something good going let's keep it going for what's good for everybody thank you thank you i' move yes recognize name I will recognize you yes please your name and address for our records Michelle arm min9 Nathaniel Street um I have a couple questions regarding some of the other items on the list I'll be brief because I do want to discuss the ordinance um uh the ordinance uh 062 02412 the detention Basin and we're getting that from you got it 012 I'm not there yet okay someone will get don't waste my time right here yes thank you the detention Basin and does that have anything to do with uh the resolution ution 62024 176 are they tied in together at all and that is the insertion of special item of Revenue I think it's a grant for storm water waterers resources management council president yes please thank you oh thank you it's you look who's here please so the uh the the ordinance is an acceptance of a drainage easement it's uh right it was inadvertently left off of their final plat when when it came before the board and that map was filed so it's a storm pipe that runs through one of the properties that's all that is that's just accepting the easement through one of the properties accepting the easement it would have been depicted on the final Platinum would have been accepted at the time of the final plat however it was inadvertently left off by the by the contractor does the township already own and take care of the detention basined it's not a dedication not a detention Basin it's it's a uh amazement for a drainage pipe that's installed under the under the property oh okay yes all right and um let's just go to the resolution 0123 um nope I'm sorry that's that's incorrect the resolution regarding the Grant I believe for the storm water management is there anything to the grant that Monroe needs to uh add to that Grant we have a $155,000 grant are we responsible for anything else B based on that Grant council president we are not under uh I'll defer to the engineer but we are not under an obligation to match that Grant okay and what will that you be used for do we have an E mark for something council president so so what this is under our uh storm water discharge permit with njde we're required each year to do annual reporting regarding uh our storm water management for the entire town it includes uh you know recycling portions of it um as well as the maintenance responsibilities for uh for all our storm water basins so what the state did this year um there is some new mapping requirements under that permit that are that are required um so the state provided a grant um which all the municipalities who have that permit are entitled to and that that's what this 15,000 this going to be used for essentially soft costs like engineering and mapping and it's not really going to make uh any improvements to the storm water like physically it is it is not fit for the physical improvements of the storm water it's part of the storm water reporting okay and and there's there's there's several items that are required from what our DPW has to do as far as mapping that has to be done for the township um so so this goes towards that that and DPW some engineering any other planning are are these all going to all these types of again it's it's a grant for the entire reporting and and there's so many aspects of the reporting I you know I couldn't even list them all to you as we sit here tonight I I'll come back to that um in terms of the ordinance that people are talking about in Stonebridge I am not in one of the adult communities however I've been coming to these meetings long enough I sort of have a pulse of of some of the people my age um I I think that in the adult community and I think these ordinance is are good for what they were originally put forward to and and taking that away seems to be a detriment to the public um to the people who live there but also to the public this is a private Community they have uh chosen at this point to continue to have a nurse I've had friends um not necessarily in Stonebridge but in Rossmore and other places who have availed themselves to the nursing help and it's been it's been critical and it's been very important to their health and if they have to wait for an EMT then it very often they don't have to the nurse really satisfies uh the need or or re make a recommendation to to go to the hospital or something and it's very important the other thing it seems to me that again because this is a private Community this government is dictating an issue that has to do with health and safety of the residents and then if we also want to talk about cost if you eliminate this from the ordinance okay and people don't have to pay then the the Greater Community and a Gentleman sort of attested to that that the Greater Community it's going to cost more money for EMT services and and while we have good services and plenty of them it is really now going to be the cost is going to be spread out to the larger in general community so I would say don't do it thank you Michelle anyone else wishing to address US hi yes my name is Ruby anger and that's un ER I'm live at 55 timber Hill Drive in Stonebridge development I'm deaf so I have missed a lot of what has gone on unfortunately I can't read lips from from where you were you should uh I did find it app propo that we that you awarded um a proclamation to an EMS individual this evening and I wanted to point out that one of the benefits of having the nurse 247 is that they are able to assess what kind of care is necessary thus freeing up Ems to go to those other locations and people who really do need that kind of assistance that is very critical to us having her on having the nurses available and also to every other development and just the community at large that is a very very valuable service that these nurses are providing by taking a lot of the stress and a lot of the exess off of the EMS so they can truly address those people who need it and I hope that you take that into consideration thank [Applause] you anyone else wishing to speak please come forward now thank you sorry your name in address hi my name is Harold nouch at 18 steeple Road Monroe Township in the Greater Community of Stonebridge I didn't come here with prepared speech uh I found out the last hour that there was this meeting all I want to leave you with is from my heart Stonebridge needs the nurse thank you sir anyone else wishing to address us at this time if not I will seek a seeing and hearing none I'm going to ask for a motion to close the public comment section please motion thank you may I have a second on that second oh thank you all in favor I public comment section is closed May I have a motion to adjourn the agenda meeting please motion may I have a second second thank you roll call councilman's hero yes councilman marel yes councilwoman seagull yes Council vice president vanzora yes council president Cohen yes meeting is adjourned at 7:37 regular meeting is called to order may I have a motion please motion may I have a second on that motion second may I have a roll call councilman deiro yes councilman marel here councilwoman seagull yes Council vice president vanzora yes council president Cohen yes may I have a motion to approve the payments of the claims for the run date of June 20th 2024 motion motion thank you second second roll call councilman Piro yes yes councilman marel yes councilwoman seagull yes Council vice president vanzora yes council president Cohen yes motion carries may I have a motion to approve the minutes of the following meetings as written and presented June 5th 2024 agenda and regular combined meeting motion please motion thank you second second thank you roll call councilman Ziro yes councilman Marquel yes councilwoman seagull yes Council vice president vanzora yes council president Cohen yes motion carries thank you we're going to move to the ordinances for second reading ordinance 06 CH 39 of the code of the township of Monroe entitled fees public hearing I need a motion to open please motion motion thank you second second take anyone wishing to address the Council on ordinance 06 2024-the and hearing none a motion to close the public hearing please motion thank you second second thank you public hearing all in favor I I any opposed now would like a motion to adopt ordinance 06 224-1 moved thank you second second thank you roll call councilman deiro yes councilman marel yes councilwoman seagull yes Council vice president vanzora yes council president Cohen yes motions adopted ordinances in place ordinances for introduction 0622 24-12 ordinance authorizing the township of Monroe to acquire a storm sewer management easement over property located at Remington Avenue known as block 13-1 part of lots four and five on the township of Muro tax map parenthetical Stratford motion please motion thank you second second roll call councilman deiro yes councilman marel yes councilwoman seagull yes Council vice president vanora yes council president Cohen yes motion carries thank you 06 20243 ordinance amending the code of the township of Monroe under chapter 108 section 6.23 to amend the medical facility requirements in the plan retirement community District 2 parenthetical PRC 2 motion let's go folks motion thank you may I have a second second call councilman Ziro yes councilman Marquel yes councilwoman seagull yes Council vice president vanzora yeah yes this is just a open discussion this is not to actually vote on the ordinance just so the public understands yes I agree that we could have discussion and council president Cohen yes motion carries thank you item six the clerk please do the resolutions for consideration of under the consent agenda oh n side left anyone object to this introducing go back no council ordinance Township Council repealing chapter I apologize chapter 78 of the code of the township of Monroe entitled Personnel policies and procedures motion motion second second thank you roll call councilman zapiro yes councilman marel yes councilwoman seagull yes Council vice president vanzora yes council president Cohen yes motion carries thank you resolutions for consideration under the consent agenda R6 2024-25 d178 with the with the exception of R6 2024 171 which will be voted on separately thank you motion so moved thank you second second thanks again roll call councilman deiro yes councilman Marquel yes councilwoman seagull yes Council vice president vanora yes council president Cohen yes motion carries thank you resolutions removed from the consent agenda for consideration resolution number R6 2024 171 motion motion thank you second second thank you roll call councilman Ziro abstained councilman marel yes councilwoman seagull yes Council vice president vanzora yes council president Cohen yes motion carries thank you we will move to our administrator's report Kevin mcowan our Deputy Township administrator is with us this evening welcome sir thank you council president I'll be very brief this evening uh with your permission if I may ask Mr strain to just give a brief update on an irrigation service abely thank you sir Mr St he's the best in the microphones in the whole room crazy I'm telling you it should be on there it is yeah there you go there you go thank you council president thank you uh Deputy business administrator it's opportunity and a pleasure to give you guys an update on uh the extremely hot weather and irrigation demand that we've had throughout the township over the last several days uh at many of you might recall back in uh April uh through our normal water quality and monitoring and testing we discovered that the filter media in two of our wells was not functioning up to standards as a result we took those two wells off service that reduced 35% of our capacity to deliver water to the township now we immediately went ahead and did a competitive bidding process and award a contract that was uh approved by the council at the May 6th meeting to replace that media for approximately a million dollars that was anticipated to take place and be completed before Memorial Day when the hot weather actually began uh as a result of the national supply chain issues and issues beyond the contractor's control uh what we what happened is is that work has been delayed subsequently uh on June the 20th we had the extremely hot and dry weather and what I want to try to do is put that in perspective for you we did not have to reduce uh water do any restrictions throughout the township what we had to do however was alter an irrigation schedule for Ford developments throughout the township uh rather than allowing the water to be used during the peak hours of the evening which is when everybody turns the irrigation on and just to give you a a a perspective of what that is usually around 12: midnight irrigation starts kicking in and our Demand on a normal average day throughout the township is about 4.5 million gallons a day on an instantaneous basis when that irrigation kicks in during this last week our demand jumped up to 19 million gallons per day as a result of that are tank levels which makes up the difference between the production that we're able to produce recognizing that we had two of the wells or 25 to 30% of our capacity offline uh our tank levels made up for that well our tank levels were declining at such a rate that it potentially was going to cause a negative pressure that would result in a vacuum in the system a negative pressure in the system it'll boil water notice throughout the township I could not allow that so as a result of that what we did was take the interim measures of altering the irrigation schedule for just four uh developments and rather than in the middle of the night during the peak periods we altered it to between 10: and 2: in the afternoon during non- Peak periods uh that was able to carry us through that extremely hot weather and we hope that uh based again on our tireless working with the contractor and the contractor's tireless efforts to get this media replaced that we will have within the next couple of weeks the situation resolved and have our capacity back online uh and again we sincerely appreciate our our our uh utility Personnel have been working Round the Clock with all of our facilities running uh to to make sure that there are no water restrictions in our Township and that most importantly from a public health and safety standpoint all of our residents have the highest quality drinking water that they need for their Necessities as opposed to just you know putting it on the lawn uh and I I I I really appreciate everyone's patience support and understanding and again we believe that within the next couple of weeks we'll have the issue resolved so that all of the irrigation schedules can be returned to normal but until that time we're going to keep them at its current altered state where a few uh developments are actually going to be irrigating later on the day during the off peak hours and again I'd be more than happy to review any of our hydraulic models or any of our technical details uh with any Resident to make sure that there's a clear understanding but again really appreciate everyone's patience and understanding in this thank you Mr TR thank [Applause] you thanks council president I just have a few more items and hopefully uh Mother Nature might be helping us out overnight with some water for uh as modate as long as it's safe Moder no storms um I just want to uh behalf of the administration just congratulations again to Eric Kesner for his 33 years of Stellar service to the township we we couldn't appreciate that more um speaking of the heat we want to recognize and thank all of our Township employees who do much of their work Outdoors including DPW and mtud uh parks and all of our First Responders and our camp employees over the summer uh this stretch of hot days has been challenging and our employees do a great job so just want to thank them very much for that um couple of announcements the mayor and the police department are doing uh some Community safety tip presentations they do so about every 6 months the next ones are on July 2nd at 6:30 at the Monro Township community center uh the and uh July 18th at 3:30 p.m. uh at the senior center all of this is advertised uh throughout the township and on our website these will also be videotaped and posted on our website for anyone who's unable to attend uh an announcement that our Farmers Market begins tomorrow which is a treasure here in town um it'll be every Thursday other than the 4th of July from 2:30 to 6:30 at the library parking lot and uh just finally a reminder about our annual Fourth of July celebration event in Thompson Park uh our Recreation Department our DPW EMS police do a phenomenal job every year of putting that on and uh that event starts at 5:00 p.m with the fireworks at dusk uh there's live music there's rides there's food vendors and you can contact the recreation department with any further questions and that's my report Council thank you so much move to council reports I will move councilwoman SE would you like did you want engineer oh Mark I'm really my apologies to you tonight Mr TW sir thank you council president I'm going to be very brief as well uh tonight the uh Council awarded the demolition project for garvey's uh we did receive 8 bids um the the bid came at $110,000 in change uh so that was a very good uh bit and uh we look to get that started uh very quickly uh secondly South Middle sex Avenue fol Paving has been completed would you please folks help us get through our information sorry more please sorry the South Middle sex Avenue Paving project that that has been completed uh with the help of an NJ do Grant uh local Freight Grant um again and that has been complete the uh next project Inwood Estates uh Paving project and Road improvements uh that is has been submitted to NJ doot for approval I anticipate being out to bid in July and anticipate award at the next council meeting on August 5th and lastly the 2024 Road repaving program that was awarded at the last council meeting um we're going to be repaving approximately 18 roadways that work uh the concrete work for that will be starting on July 8th and then once all the concrete work is complete we'll be into the milling and Paving uh for completion during the uh summer months uh prior to school starting and I also notice when I go down forestgate drive that they they've done some work around those railroad tracks I believe some patching was done out there by uh either middlex County or the railroad I'm not sure who but it is a county road yeah so that was a very appreciated and that's my report thank you sir councilwoman seagull thank you council president good evening everyone so my report's going to be brief brief also since we had a council meeting earlier this month but um I do want to comment I'm very excited about the farmers market starting tomorrow because to me it's a sign of Summer and all the great and wonderful activities that we have going on in our Township and I do want to acknowledge our Parks and Recreation um department since it's their appreciation month and just what an amazing job they do really keeping our facilities and our Parks looking beautiful I hope everyone does get to enjoy our pickle ball courts playgrounds and all the other facilities that they maintain um just another couple items uh die Farm open house is coming up the next one is on Sunday July 7th from 1: to 4:00 p.m. and they have a special guest as they've been doing throughout the year they have TJ Fallon from dead history so this gentleman is interesting he travels the country and visits different presidential gravestones and ALS so he researches and does a lot of information so you can actually follow him on Instagram and we also have one of our Monroe residents Hannah Kerwin also coming so please try to come out and join us there and our summer concerts are starting another fun event it they begin on Thursday July 11th at 6 pm. in Thompson Park the series runs throughout this summer through August and you know we hope that everyone can come out and join us there's a wonderful series and I just want wanted to congratulate all our students Monroe students who had moving up ceremonies and high school graduations we wish them all the best in their future endeavors thank you we congratulate you on your son's your son's graduation from college with a straight 40 average for four years this is an enviable thing councilman Ziro thank you um I want to start off by saying I attended uh Court in this room uh few weeks ago and um had the honor of uh our seventh graders were here um it was amazing to see that 3/4 of the room were students to stay uh not to follow the laws and don't be in court uh to watch the people on the the smallest side of the room that had tickets and violations and and the children got to to watch how the process is done and it was just amazing to see our judge uh Lombardi and also see Donna linky and her staff along with the police uh that explained everything in the process uh and also our prosecutor all the questions that the uh that I had uh and being in court many times because I did break the law a few times and and I did and I did and I did get tickets for it but uh um I'll tell you it was funny it was funny to watch the kids ask ask questions and and each individual uh either a judge prosecutor or police do do a fine job so I just wanted to thank our police and the staff that that did everything to help our seventh graders and thank the teachers and the staff and then and then I went um last Friday to Trenton to uh I always try to go uh to see the um the seniors from Monroe Township High School um when I graduated a long time AG ago we did it in the the football field uh no turf fields back then but it's it's an honor to go see the parents the grandparents and to see the the 12th graders going to the next part of their life and their bright future so uh I attended that and it was it was very uh well done and I wanted to say thank you to the Board of Ed and the staff that made all of that happen um I wanted to see if we can get an update on our veterans building I wanted to see uh how we doing with the construction is it is it done uh on time is I passed it quite a bit um and I also wanted to ask about the budget if we are we on budget and then I also very concerned that our veterans are are going to get get the rental space that they deserve and and to make sure that they come first absolutely council president gown please thank you council president thank you counc so um it's called Valor Point um there is a website and a sign in front of the uh construction of the building I've been talking to a a number of residents I know Tanya has as well and and the clerk's office and others um who are interested and looking to figure out how to apply so right now uh to answer your question what I've been told uh by Conifer is that they are about 65% complete um it is on budget uh it is on time um in terms of construction what they're doing is on the website for for Valor point which and if anybody has any questions they can always call me uh here at 521 4400 and we can walk you through that uh you're putting your name um on the website there's an area to input your name and information onto an interest list um and at some point this summer we hope in the next month or so um the managers at Conifer are going to be contacting the folks on that interest list to fill out a formal application which will then review your income and your assets to make sure that you're qualified for the affordable housing um and then they're looking to do those there's an application and an interview process that'll happen um sometime in the fall and they are shooting for the winter to actually get people moved in uh as of this is probably not an updated number but as of a couple weeks ago there was 216 folks on the interest list uh the vast majority of them veterans um and Veterans have of course this is a veterans housing project so we're feeling pretty confident we're going to be able to fill these 80 units with veterans uh fairly quickly and so it's exciting yeah thank you and thank you Kevin for that it's also veterans appreciation month so I I just wanted to to put a shout out to all the veterans and and the families uh that um you know that are veterans in Monroe and and across our our state so I just wanted to say thank you uh also on our Township website I think maybe we should get a um a pothole uh for streets um if we could report uh resident sees a pothole I know middle sex County Road Department has that uh and they do also have a hotline uh I think that's something that could be very helpful to maintain our streets um and also uh give our residents a 24/7 if they want to uh make a report so if that's something we can add to our website that will be uh appreciated I I I noticed I got an email this month for the repairs to the hockey rink what kind of repairs are are getting done or got done at the at the hockey rink um Mr mcgarr are you aware council president um Mark certainly if you're aware of anything that I'm not and I apologize I can certainly get that information if I don't have it it was closed it was closed we all received an email said they're doing repairs I I've taken pictures there's cracks there's a lot of things that need to be done but I don't know if what got done the email didn't tell us what I feel maybe there was some seal coating of some cracks Mark but we can confirm that for you and get back to you yes Council uh council president they were waiting on materials to take care of the cracks and and like Kevin said a sealer of of sorts and a filler um it's going through our public works department and uh and our parks department but you we can certainly follow up and get back all right thank you and let our residents know um hydren painting are we doing any hydren painting throughout our community this this year Council not aware of the need council president I'll defer to Mr St if he has any information look at Mr St who didn't look right at I hear hydrant and water you're welcome excellent question uh councilman we are in the process of hiring uh summer help uh seasonal help and uh as soon as those individuals are on board we will begin our hydrant painting program for the summer okay thank you Joe just a couple more questions sure um how about water tower painting what's what's our plan for water tower painting as we do need that as you know uh what we did is we actually uh went out to bid for the 3.5 million gallon hydr pillar on Applegarth Road uh and uh that bid was opened uh on uh uh June the 2th and uh we're in the process of analyzing those bids now and we hope to award it uh either at the August meeting or September meeting depending upon how those bids come out okay and thank you for the emails back and forth and for the explanation tonight about the irrigation thank you Joe you're welcome councilman thank you um during the course of the month and last meeting I I brought up uh a suggestion that I've noticed in other towns and we do have one uh speed limit uh your speed is at the at the high school entrance on Schoolhouse Road I did forward uh to our chief of police uh some uh some companies that have the uh speed limit signs and I also sent that to Allan which Allan's not here I hopefully feels better soon and um but if that's something that we can get to our out on our communities it will definitely help because we've been receiving a lot of emails from the residents complaining uh especially in the Avenue K Mammoth Road um Union Hill Union Valley Road there's a lot of streets that the new Paving gets done and then the the residents seem to go a little faster than what the speed limits allow so and it is Summertime with our children uh with the skateboards and the scooters and everything else uh I asked that our residents try to follow the speed limits and and be alert um so if we can get some dis signs i' I'd appreciate it and the other thing um as a fire commissioner um for 21 years a resident came up and talked about um firefighters responding to First Aid calls if the first aid company does not respond um I I'm not up here ever to really com compare what a resident says but as a fire commissioner I could tell you that um the township just recently um work with we always work with the fire company the first aid police but one of the things that we just recently um added if if it's a nonresponsive call if somebody's not breathing if it's it's something like life or death then we do go to assist we do have firefighters men and women that are qualified to do this type of CPR and work and we do have the equipment but um I urge everybody 911 is the way to go if it's if if you have a life-threatening um situation that's that's number one also I wanted to say um years ago many years ago when um the the residents you know we had Rossmore and and then Clearbrook the community was promised a a hospital so being promised a hospital and and being a resident I'm here 64 years so being a resident and when a mayor or Council says we're going to give a hospital to the community for the for the betterment of the community um that was that was a promise that was made to previous Council previous Mayors and it was something that um when I was a lot younger I I kind of and I came to all the council meetings for many many years and I can tell you it's something that I I went back and asked my my dad and my my uncles that were here for a lot longer than me and I said why do we need a hospital why do we need a hospital and then we watched the community grow into a different Community um which which is warehousing and and also adult communities and a hospital is needed by everybody um not just uh elderly not just commercial it's also needed by um students schools and everything everyone but I think that's when everybody looks at the way that ordinance was written years ago um I my personal opinion about um a hospital was that was something that the community was an Outreach that the community wanted but now with listening to all of the pluses and the minuses and I don't I don't want to say any more than um the reason why that uh hospital was was discussed um is a good part of the way the community changed so and change does happen so I just wanted to put that out there because I don't know if any the rest of the council is was aware of that and or the public was aware of that and that's something that I just thought that um listening to all of the comments and listening to both sides um it's very important it's a very important decision for all of us sitting up here and we all have um my mom's going to be uh you know 84 this year so I I understand I I definitely understand and uh I also like I said before we all need but uh the last thing I wanted to say um 75th uh anniversary for a Volunteer Fire Company is amazing and I think maybe that's something we should put on our website and also our display signs their digital display signs throughout the town to try to get the residents to come out on August 10th to the uh Thompson Park and they have a band called The Nerds coming it's going to be a great facility for the community to come together and everyone's support but um I just want to say uh it's not easy sitting up here listening to stories as residents talk about health and a lot of people pointed it out and I just want to say thank you for living in Monroe and thank you for for listening to us because uh it's not easy sometimes but thank [Applause] you um a lot of the uh announcements that were made tonight we on my list and I'm not going to repeat them uh so it's going to be kind of a short thing uh I would just like to say that um one of my pets um in this town is diversity um just as I was at a couple of things this past month I was at an Indian festival I was at the juneth festival our first uh our first celebration of juneth was this month in town at the library we had over a 100 people there it was a great event um I hope everybody realizes next year we're going to expand on it and help the African American community in this town celebrate juneth it's a national holiday as I said this was our first year so um we're going to expand on that it was really great um I'd also like to give a shout out I think something we take for granted um being in this country and being a affluent is our water um comes out of that tap every day and U Mr strin does a fantastic job in this town we have the best water in my in Middle sex County it's really pure water people buy Poland Spring Water they buy all this water I drink it right out of the tap I haven't uh pretty healthy I get guarantees from Joe all the time don't worry about it it's great water um but you know really we should uh we should really look at the work that his Mr St does and his people and thank them that that water flows out of our faucets clear all the time uh the only other thing I want to say is I want to thank all you people to be here tonight um I want to guarantee you that we take this very seriously what you're saying to us about this ordinance and about this nurse um is serious is very serious we just don't go home I lose sleep over it I have lost sleep over this because I get I read the emails um and there's two sides to no matter flat how flat the pancake there's two sides to it uh and we we have to remember that and we have to represent not only the people who are for the nurse but people are for us overturning the ordinance so we I personally want to thank you people for coming here taking your time to speak to us tell us your feelings I've spoken to all the councilmen and we're all very very um interested in doing the right thing believe me it's not something let's just vote on and get it over with that's not the way we feel believe me uh I just wanted to put that out there and usually I don't criticize too much about what the people say here um but thank you very much and we'll do our best believe me believe me Council vice president vzer please sir all right thank you Madame President um again there was only a few items to talk about in terms of uh things coming up the 4th of July the fires farmers market and everybody else mentioned that already so invite you all to come out and enjoy some of the nice things that we have going on in our in our great town I don't usually do this but um some every now and then something comes up that I I feel is of great importance and uh and I feel it needs to be explained a little bit more than than might be understood so tonight was the the first reading of an ordinance um about the uh the nurse situation at Stonebridge we will not be voting on that tonight it does not get voted on until the second reading which will be the next meeting at which point other people could still be heard during that period of time but um and M marel started to explain and and I also had I put a lot of thought into this because at first I I really you know there are two sides to every story and and as an attorney I I really try to look at both sides to see what is the right thing to do cuz that's all I'm all I try to do is what what I feel is correct well first I hear okay Stonebridge is the only Community required by ordinance to maintain a nurse out of 14 different uh Senior Communities there's an association that governs Stonebridge and then the question arises well shouldn't they be the ones that make decis decisions for their Community because those are the people that govern it and that's how it works when in association law when you move into an association there's a Board of Trustees and those are the ones that should be making decisions and if you don't like the decision they make then you vote them out and you get people in that that make the decisions that you want so should the town really be dictating to the the Stonebridge board uh what they should do that's kind of the argument on the one side the other side of the coin though is this is an ordinance that's been in effect for many many years and and I think it was in effect when many people actually purchased there and they either knew of it or should have known about it when they moved in because it's something that would have been reflected in the offering plan I did hear residents uh uh come in this evening and and more than one said that that's one of the reasons that they moved into stone bridge is because out of all the associations in town this is the one Association that had a nurse on call and there's something to be said for that if that's what you were looking for in an association the ordinance was there in effect ahead of time that could have been an important factor for them considering exactly where they wanted to live out of all of the uh communities that we have and and certainly it's a nice Community too there's no doubt about that um we also heard many of the residents who've testified um uh as to their Reliance on nurses and and I hear things that I hadn't even thought of before like for example the the person with a cardiac condition that needed blood pressure taken every day well boy I didn't even think about something like that but this is something if there was no nurse would they would either have to call EMS tie up Ems to come out only to take a blood pressure or they'd have to get to some facility whether it be an urgent care or some other doctor's office which would probably cost them the cost of a doctor's visit when they went out so to have a nurse would save substantial amount of money in terms of co-pays and and things of that nature um so that's another factor I hadn't even uh thought about um there's a certain you get a certain Reliance and and what I kind of understand from what I'm hearing from the people is not that they're choosing nurse versus 911 but they're choosing the nurse in conjunction or to supplement 911 which means that when you know they they can call the nurse right away they could still call 911 right away but the nurse might get there quicker they might not always get there quicker but the fact that she's on call she's in the same community and that is her Sole and entire purpose purpose is to get to Residence in the community probably she will be there earlier and we've heard how there's been times when they've been able to assist in the preparation of someone who they know is going to have to go to the hospital so that when EMS gets there maybe they're just uh five minutes ahead of uh what they would have had to do had there not been a nurse on site so I I think that's another uh strong argument um so there there are things that that go both ways um I've I've heard uh you know different what was called uh you know uh little anecdotes and I don't think that they were just little anecdotes I think that these were serious conditions that affected people um and their lives and and some of which were were really potentially life-threatening so I don't know that the nurse actually made that real difference but there's a good chance that she may have and and those are important things I I think that we have to consider the other thing is um I I heard uh the vice president say that this is really I'm sorry if it's the vice president or the other gentleman um this is really something that would give future members the ability to to change if they want it and or did not want it um and I think the answer to that is if in the future they want change they could always come back back in and ask that this be Revisited but we're here to discuss what's happening now um the fact that the the potential uh resolution within the association requires 2third vote um leads me to believe that in all probability nothing would happen um I've been an attorney representing different associations both seniors and non seniors and trying to get a quarum for just about anything is sometimes difficult but um but right now um if we have something in place people have relied on something in place I think that's that's a strong factor to consider so we're not we're not voting tonight but there are two sides to the story I think we have to all consider what everyone testified to tonight and sometimes there's an old saying if it ain't broke don't fix it so uh we also consider that but um we will be back on next month and and as councilman marel told you I think you can understand that all the council is going to give it serious consideration on both ends so thank you Mr Marquel had a question I just have a quick question how many do you have a total number of calls these nurses make um I was sure he does sure he does I was told two years ago go there was 177,000 calls in year to the nurse the nurse made 177,000 calls in one year calls 177,000 visits or wish intended to some can I blood pressure or whatever can I make a comment please on that yes I live in a community and has a nurse 24 hours a day and served on my community's board for 10 years um there are records kept in the nurse's office by every nurse in however many hours is that the nurses in the community just a minute sir uh I see your hand I just wanted to I did not see it so that I am aware from my own past experience that the boards of all of the communities get a record of how many visits were made to the office the types of visits what were made and if the records are being kept appropriately within your office they are kept by the shift on which the resident was there and in information is to severity of what it was the confidentiality of everyone who comes there is maintained but the information is there and that was my experience as president of a board in this that was my experience as president and member of a board for 10 years uh in a community so the records are available uh we're going to not I would really if we could I would like to finish and move to public comment so you and you would all get to comment but I really need to just finish this it will be an I see because we will move to another public comment section so just let me please finish there's a piece of the agenda that I need to do and we will certainly allow for more the comments that you wish to make and therefore I will Mr vanzor you are through okay I will choose the to add to the record except to say that what I always hope when residents come is that some of you will decide that we were interesting enough to show up at more meetings when it is not just an issue that is pertinent to you I strongly believe in a government and in a population that is an informed citizenry and better prepared about the issues so some of what we do may not be overwhelmingly exciting but some of it is genuinely interesting so if you could find it within your schedules that once a month you visit us and you visit with us not just that you are here but that you're here and you participate I think that that would be a wonderful thing uh so what I'm going to do to do this officially and not get told by the three lawyers that are sitting to my left uh is we are going to move to the public comment period most officially so I would like a motion to open public comments please someone do that motion thank you someone do a second on that all in favor I anyone opposed good sir you were the firstand raised no he was the firstand raised in our unofficial period I just wanted to mention that we just sir sir you have to you have to come up and you have to announce your name real quick and your name it was if I heard Jerry correctly please Jerry melli 15 line and Stonebridge I just wanted to say that we just received a nurses report for January through May broken out into various categories for all three shifts and I'll be glad to send it to Kevin so he can distribute it to the rest of you there is a saying in my field that says the work isn't done until the paperwork is completed you got it so yes that is there Dr prash please thank you president prakash pup 33 uh daa Drive uh I have question on where the perses restaurant is there in Indian restaurant the intersection appleg and Old Orchard Road people are concerned about that intersection I hear it for last several years I have been coming anything can be done to avoid accidents on that road that intersection uh apple and Old Orchard Road uh it's old church Mark yeah old church old Archard p restaurant if you remember oh I know yes going down correct correct yes to the rest council president so I I did have a meeting on the site with the County engineer so the County engineer is reviewing that intersection to see if there's some uh some some immediate improvements uh that can be done to that intersection to help make it uh a a little less confus using when you when you come to the intersection yeah thank you thank you there are request that at least a flashing light should be put there so that to avoid the accidents so I'll leave it to I will tell my community that that there is a thought process going on okay on that the next question is we have very severe hot days here the temperatures going up so what is the emergency for the people suddenly they lose their electricity City what is the emergency where they can go in the township Mr so council president thank thanks for the um thanks for that question Dr Pro's a good one so um in certain situations when jcpnl cannot um uh cannot promptly get the power back on our Police Department our office of emergency management make a decision uh to open a uh temporary cooling center um if if it's a matter of a you know a short disruption in the power a 10 or 15 minute or sometimes even longer and depending on how hot it is outside um the police department office of emergency management make a decision um various locations have the potential to be cooling centers including the community center the senior center the library and the police department itself in some situations my comment on this is we had to be proactive that if there is a grid and um electricity goes away for certain amount of time he here are the centers open for the Emergency Because by the time police takes a decision how the person they the citizens I'm just commenting president I I don't I think the thought process you all have to do sir yeah sir I just wanted to just maybe clarify a little bit what she's saying those Community those Community cooling centers may change at every time so it's not like there can be a preventive uh notice to everybody that these are the cooling centers because they have to be prepared I understand that but New York City and S places the heating there's going to be crisis and they say where you are to go you don't wait for uh you know what the law may be but you don't wait sir we can't we can't function on hypotheticals we and we do understand understand what you're saying okay but do understand that's fine thank you very much the next question is um the Wells Wells purification system failed or purification because there should be a Tigger system that efficiency of the filters and there should be a tiger system you don't wait till they fail so can I because I thank what they have done I'm not Comming I'm very very thankful but going forward because 35% of our water comes from those Wells there's any triggering system that's my question please U Mr D Trin please that's okay that's an excellent question and again the the issue is is that that's what we were doing uh you know from a proactive standpoint we monitor the pressures that go across the filter media we look at the absorption of it removing the particular matter we were able to see that it wasn't performing up to standard we took the action to go ahead and shut those things down in advance of the hot season really coming into play and again it was that supply chain issue that caused the delay so so proac thank you I understand thank you I see three people yes sir I don't have to approach the microphone I just want sir you do sir you have to come up sorry we really have rules much more again your name and address for the this PA Scher 168 Diamond Spring Drive I just wanted to State one fact that I personally read the report from the nurse okay and I believe it was the year either 22 or 23 during that year for the full year she made 1,000 house calls thank you sir not 13,000 or 15 thank you okay next oh folks you know we're going to have another hearing on this I think you were waiting wait wait I see two folks on my left and then your turn whoever walks faster is going to make this first you like that don't walk so slowly do I need my name again yes you do your name and address Kelly Court Monroe yes um jcpnl uh Street lighting uh I've had good responses uh from right the clerk's office about who to connect and all that and I've done all that and a couple of times they've come out and repaired it and for some reason whatever jcpnl does is about as temporary repair as it could possibly be I'm once again cycling on and off they they keep replacing with what is kind of stupidly excuse the expression uh outdated equipment I.E there're sod sodium haly bulbs that go in and out and they use what four or five times more energy than LEDs we in the town in our lots have replaced those older style things with LED lights um just about every commercial facility almost all new construction uh has that goes through planning board and everything is LEDs yet we allow jcpnl in the community to use our money that we pay for for Street lighting to continue to use outdated systems that fail regularly and repeatedly LEDs last 10 times longer that's the main reason people change them because they they last so much longer the big expense in in lighting is the Manpower when they do have to change them so it's to coin an expression stupid and I don't know why we don't have more leverage with them possibly we could talk to assemblyman Wayne dangelo who's connected to more to electrical issues and and maybe has a little more weight with jcpnl than we do as one Township but it's it's not a very professional approach that we're experiencing here Mr McGowen would you like to comment on that or I will council president I think that's a good idea to to bring that to the assemblyman's attention we also have a contact in the office of government relations and we certainly talk to her a lot about Street outages um and we can certainly raise additional issues about the actual outdated equipment and I was in touch with the assemblyman's office earlier this week on another issue on and we'll be speaking with him about this as well okay thank you you're welcome um large developments in the community um particularly in any upcoming uh large development historically in in Monroe as well as cranberry we had uh before we planted houses we planted potatoes here and the potatoes were irrigated with ponds that were dug mostly right after World War II with drag lines not expensive to build and some of them um still exist in the um southern side of Encore there are the old ponds that were left over from that PL no one is using those sources to irrigate their their lawns none of the gated communities are are using them I think we should look into the possibility of getting more ponds both in existing communities if there location that works can be identified and certainly in in future ones because is absurd that we spend the money to purify water and then spray it out on the ground in in in outrageously large amounts and in the case of the larger communities um they pay a different great they don't have sewer added on to it the irrigation is separate so we also cut them a break uh in individual households if you have a single family house on a street you have one rate so if you're going to sprinkle your lawn you're going to add on sewer to it so we're you know which is reasonable we're not going to have 2 meters in every house that would be burdensome and and and not realistic but we're help helping we're giving them a break uh to use the the water that cost us a lot more and I think we should look into policies that can get away from that uh and and install some uh ponds per it happens in other places uh almost everywhere you go in Florida they're using water from the canals or from ponds and stuff they're not using treated water thank you we could do that as well thank you your com is my time up your time is you have a minute left sorry I thought I heard a for cutting me short my apologies no I I'll leave it at that I had one other item but it takes more than next month next month I'll see you yes please must be getting Rocky maybe I should have little coffee Michelle armini 9 Nathaniel Street yes very quickly resolution uh uh R 6202 4172 how many vehicles are we selling Mr mcau council president I don't believe we have that number yet this will be the uh authorization to engage in that it um I'll certainly get you that information well it doesn't matter it should be on the resolution right people are hi just I oh you do have it okay sorry folks please I can't hear I can respond council president Uh current there's 13 vehicles on the list but it's it's not complete yet it's still being updated okay and I'm just curious on R6 20241 173 the Garvey demolition what are we going to use that that's going to be open space what do we using it for and why would we destroy an entire building that we might be able to use for recreational purposes you have bathrooms there you have a kitchen why couldn't we use $10 million $110,000 to just spruce up the building okay same question um so what had happened is that basically the closing was done all the buildings were reviewed they were monitored by experts there was no way to save the building and so now there's going to be other purposes for the residents in a safer manner what residence for the residents of Monroe to use the yes land so we're demolishing a building and then rebuilding it cannot Salvage the building and what Engineers were did the experts that we have here you have an engineer over here and they will benefit by both the Demolition and the building it's not a benefit we're trying to benefit for the residents the property well sometimes just rehabbing things is a benefit but anyway we'll move on sure um the cameras where are the cameras going to be placed that is resolution 178 is that our police council president council president this this is uh cameras and other uh access infrastructure for the new police department headquarters um I don't have an exact Mark I don't know if you have an exact it's on the it's on the property P for the police department that's correct yes yes not big brother yet okay um and last but not least the comment that um I'm Sorry Miss sha made about the Emergency Management I thought the whole point of Emergency Management is pre-planning for emergencies to say that we don't know where cooling stations are our emergency things are until the emergency occurs is so reactionary I mean we pay I think we have an emergency management Personnel I think we pay for this I think we're required by the state or may no may I finish I think I have no no I I understand that but I think that I think you're taking it out of context I just like to correct it before you continue I have the floor just let her finish please would you please finish yes and it's my understanding that um we have to present sent a plan to the state I believe or to the county so these things should be in place we have citizens we have young children we have people with disabilities people should know when an emergency occurs where they can go that is my my the whole point of an emergency imagy thank you very much welcome council president ma'am ma'am what I want to say and I didn't say anything about the OEM plan the only thing that the gentleman was asking for and I'm not sure maybe if this was missed is that the the business business trator said that we have cooling stations a lot of times the cooling stations break down or there's issues with it you can't have a pre hey please everybody go to this building and it can't even cool everybody down so that is why we were saying that we weren't saying that there wasn't an oem plan correct well an oem plan should be should there is one do we knew so tomorrow or tonight if the electricity goes out and it's a very serious situation where can people go tomorrow will go to the appropriate designation what does that mean I don't have the information in my head but I know that OEM has it I know that our police has it people need to know and the people would be notified where to go just like we have been when we have snow storms in previous is for the most part very very good but to hear Council say we don't know until it occurs it's not a hypothetical Emergency Management plans are just that pres going to be I beg your pardon Mark Mark and I can additional light on this Library we're all getting a little I promise I'll be brief and and Mr R will add anything or correct anything that I say the office of emergency management absolutely has a plan in place though and I may have uh not been as clear as I could have been before when I mentioned a few different locations those locations are part of the plan but it will depend on the current situation what if um the power's out and the generator is not working at the community center there's a backup plan there's a whole um public out reach plan in place for OEM to let people know the senior center is today's cooling center or they're all going to be open today there's different variations based on the situation those plans are absolutely in place and they are presented to the state and and our our Personnel in that regard do a phenomenal job to know thank you council president for myome and thank you Mr B Kevin summed it up perfectly at there is absolutely plans in place and and there are multiple shelters there's multiple cooling centers and it would depend on the situation and OEM has that public service announcement on how to put it out to so that the residents would get it if needed I am very confident that we have always and will continue to do as we have always done appropriately and notify residents when something happens of a serious nature we are not you are most welcome on that does anyone else have anything they would oh there you are I am so sorry your name and address for our records please my name is Anne Fred and I am at 88 Griffin Drive in Monroe yes ma'am and I just have one very very brief comment when the gentleman said that there were 1,000 calls made by the nurse to the residents uh there are many many more calls by the residents going to the nurse thank you very much for your comments does anyone else have anything they wish to bring forth to the council this evening please come forward now seeing and hearing none I'm going to ask for a motion to close the public comment section motion may I have a second on that motion second thank you all in favor I any opposed council president council president could I just say make one comment please um residents are asking about shelters I just want to point out um Station 51 uh is geared up for a shelter uh fire um a brand new Firehouse that's geared up with uh generators um bathrooms showers everything that if anyone's needs the facility the doors are wide open because that's a building that the taxpayers own and we're there for 247 it's on it's on 4 469 SP uh spots for English Town Road of old Texas road but that building's open to the public if there's an emergency of a hurricane or whatever the situation may be so that's a building that the town residents can count on 247 we are now voting to the close public comment section please all in favor I I any opposed public comment is closed I would like a motion to adjourn the meeting motion may I have a second on that motion second we are adjourned all in favor we are adjourned it's 8:40