I'd like to call this meeting of the Piscataway Township Council to order adequate notice of this meeting has been provided as required under chapter 231 pl1 1975 specifying the time date location login or dial in information and to the extent known the agenda by posting a copy of the notice on the municipal building municipal court and the two Municipal Library bulletin boards Municipal website providing a copy to the official newspapers of the township and by filing a copy in the office of the township clerk in accordance with a certification by the clerk which will be entered in the minutes there will be public comment periods for both remote and in-person attendees separately each member of the public shall have one opportunity to speak during each public portion as the technology does not allow us to know if there are multiple callers on an individual phone line or logged in user account we ask that if you wish to speak that you log in or dial in separately so that we can recognize you as a separate individual should you have any further comments or questions the township is always available by email and phone and you can always call the mayor's office during the normal operating hours Miss Cedar would you please take the roll call councilwoman carmichel pres councilman espanosa present councilwoman Lombardi here councilman Rouse here councilman Shaw councilman Eran here council president Cahill here and would you please join me in a salute to our flag to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all all right that brings us to number five which are comments from Administration and Council this is regarding adjournment of any matters on this agenda seeing none we'll close number five that'll bring us to number six this is open to the public for the comments regarding item number 10 which are the consent agenda items if you sorry just hang on one second folks I just have to read some statements here about the public portion so we're g to open it up um first to remote attendees and then secondly to inperson so I'm going to read this um portion for the remote attendees if you wish to speak at this time please raise your hand either on the zoom map or if by phone by pressing star n when it is your turn to speak you will receive or hear a request to unmute yourself please click the prompt or press star six on your phone to unmute yourself at that time please state your name and address and know that you have three minutes in which to make your comments the council or Administration will respond if necessary if you have completed any comments or questions council president there are no remote attendees with their hand raised for this agenda item okay thank you Miss C so we'll close the remote attendee public portion and that'll bring us to the uh for the public who is here in person if you wish to speak at this time please come to the podium state your name and address and know that you have three minutes in which to make your comments you may take a seat after completion of your comments or questions and the council or Administration will then respond if necessary just just as a reminder this is for item number 10 which are the consent agenda items okay seeing none then I will close the public portion that'll bring us to number seven which is an ordinance on second reading this is to exceed the municipal budget Appropriations and establish a bank it will be open to the public and it is a res adopting ordinance Miss would you be it resolved by the township Council of Piscataway Township New Jersey that an ordinance entitled calendar year 2024 model ordinance to exceed the municipal budget appropriation limits and to establish a cap Bank njsa 48 4- 4514 was introduced on the 5th day of March 2024 and had passed the first reading and was published on the 10th day of March 2024 now therefore being get resolved that the offet ordinance having had a second reading on April 16th 2024 be adopted pass and after passage be published together with a notice of the date of Passage or approval in the official newspaper be a further resolve that this ordinance shall be assigned number 204-0957 who are here in person so for remote attendees if you wish to speak at this time please raise your hand either on the Zoom app or if by phone by pressing star n when it is your turn to speak you will receive or hear a request to unmute yourself please click the prompt or press star six on your phone to unmute yourself at that time please state your name and address and know that you have three minutes in which to make your comments the council or Administration will respond if necessary after you completed any comments or questions council president there are no remote attendees with their hand raised regarding this agenda item thank you Miss Cedar so we'll close the remote attendee portion and we'll open up to the folks who are here in person if you wish to speak at this time please come to the podium state your name and address and know that you have three minutes in which to make your comments you may take a seat after completion of your comments or questions and the council or Administration will respond if necessary yeah hi PR pel 29 redbit Road I just like to understand where would this money be spent on and uh what's the net load coming to the taxpayer if you're increasing appropriation that would be spend on thank you thank you um if you want I mean this is Tim you're more than welcome to answer but I just want to clarify that every year we have to um create a c bank because we do not know what the state is going to give us and is that roughly correct beginning of July so if maybe you want to clarify a little bit more than that so it's done every year what we do is we're allowed to go to a certain cap and if you don't go over that cap what you're allowed to do is carry your cap forward uh so that's what we're doing here we have not exceeded the cap we carry the cap forward to next year in event that we need to go over our cap next year it's what's considered a cap Bank so it's part of the budget process I mean just a comment that if right now if I if the state does not have money and you're increasing the money and even with the the Taxation and and I look at I I'll come in the public uh section later uh but there is definitely deficit going on so I don't know what you're increasing this money for um and I'm sure you're doing this every year but I would like to go for zero based budgeting because frankly tell you the truth I'm looking at these numbers and it doesn't make me comfortable lot of stuff that I've seen in in terms of maybe your numbers are reading right because many mbas now are very good at putting Excel stre together and put window dressing numbers when you look at the action on the street those numbers never translate into mean and I can I can attest to that on redb road uh ethal Road and the road conditions for that our taxes doubled and I don't know what the money goes for but even when they fix the pool in a month the Pooles are still there I mean it just resurface so I don't know how this pending works but it's it's it's like this if you want to fix stupid keep on fixing stupid but look taxpayers don't have money to just waste thank you Mr Patel is there anyone else from the public who would like to comment now please come to the podium state your name and address note this is uh regarding number seven which is about the cap Bank see none I'll close the public portion on that item Miss Cedar would you do I have an offer councilwoman Lombardi do I have a secondos would you please take the roll call councilwoman carmichel yes councilman Espinosa yes councilwoman Lombardi yes councilman Rouse yes councilman Shaw councilman Erin yes council president Cahill yes and the ordinance passes on second reading that'll bring us to number eight which also an ordinance on second reading this is authorizing execution of financial agreement with Clauson RP owner urban renewal LLC it'll be open to the public and it is a resolution adopting ordinance Miss would you please read the resolution be it resolved by the township Council of pasca Township New Jersey that an ordinance entitled ordinance of the township of scataway County of middlex New Jersey authorizing execution of financial agreement with Clon RP owner urban renewal LLC pursuant to the long-term tax exemption law njsa 4A colon 20-1 at SEC was introduced on the 5th day of March 2024 and had passed the first reading and was published on the 10th day of March 2024 now therefore be it resolved that the offers said ordinance having had a second reading on April 16th 2024 the adopted past and after passage be published together with the notice of the date of Passage or approval in the official newspaper be a further resolve that this ordinance shall be assigned number 202 24-10 thank you Miss so we'll open it up now to um the public for remote attendees if you wish to speak at this time please raise your hand on either the Zoom app or by phone by pressing star n when it is your turn to speak you will receive or hear a request to unmute yourself please click the prompt or press star six on your phone to unmute yourself at that time please state your name and address and know that you have three minutes in which to make your comments the council or Administration will respond if necessary after you have completed any comments or questions council president there are no remote attendees with their hand rais regarding this agenda item thank you Miss Ceder so we'll now open it up uh to the public for those who are here in person if you wish to speak at this time please come to the podium state your name and address and know that you have three minutes in which to make your comments you may take a seat after completion of your comments or questions and the council or Administration will respond if necessary seeing none I'm going to close the inperson public portion on item eight um do I have an offer offer do I have a second Miss Cedar would you please take the roll call vote councilwoman carmichel yes councilman espanosa yes councilwoman Lombardi yes councilman Rouse yes councilman Shaw yes councilman Anan yes council president kahill yes and the ordinance passes on second reading that'll bring us to number nine this is an ordinance on first reading it is amending chapter 7 with traffic section 14 parking prohibited at times on certain streets and it is a resolution adopting ordinance Miss would you please read the resolution be it resolved by the township Council of Piscataway Township New Jersey that an ordinance entitled ordinance to amend and supplement the revised General ordinances of the township of Piscataway County of middlex state of New Jersey amending chapter 7 traffic section 14 parking prohibited at all times on certain streets B and is hereby adopted on the first reading that it be published in the official newspaper and that a second reading of public hearing be held at 7:30 p.m. prevailing time at the pasca municipal building 455 H Lane pasca New Jersey on the 6th day of June 2024 be it further resolved that a copy of this ordinance shall be posted in at least two public places within the township prior to the day of the second reading and final passage and a copy of this ordinance shall be made available at the office of the Township Clerk for any interested member of the public thank you Miss Cedar do I have an offer offer car Michael thank you do I have a second second Espinosa thank you Miss Cedar would you please take the roll call vote councilwoman carmichel yes councilman Espinosa yes councilwoman Lombardi yes councilman Rouse yes councilman Shaw yes councilman Eran yes council president Cahill yes and the ordinance passes on first reading and that will bring us to number 10 which are the consent agenda items for efficiency items have been considered consid solidated into a consent agenda to be voted on together the materials for these items have been distributed to the council in advance of the meeting at this time are there any items that the council would like removed from the consent agenda to be discussed or voted on separately okay see none then um I'll ask for an offer offer do I have a second Miss Cedar would you please take the roll call vote councilwoman carmichel yes Council C espanosa yes councilwoman Lombardi yes councilman Rouse yes councilman Shaw yes councilman anuran yes council president K yes and the consent agenda items pass and that'll bring us to number 11 this is the public hearing for calendar year 2024 Municipal budget Miss Cedar will you be reading the no this is just the public he okay very good okay so um we're going to do um remote attendees first and then so for the public hearing piece of this um I'm going to read uh the statement for the remote attendees first and then we'll open it up to the public for those who are here in person so again this is number 11 um on the calendar year 2024 Municipal budget if you wish to speak at this time please raise your hand either on the Zoom app or if by phone by pressing star N9 when it is your turn to speak you will receive or hear a request to unmute yourself please click the prompt or press star six on your phone to unmute yourself at that time please state your name and address and know that you have three minutes in which to make your comments the council or Administration will respond if necessary after you've completed any comments or questions council president there are no remote attendees with their hand raised regarding this agenda item thank you Miss Cedar so now uh for the folks who are here in person if you wish to speak at this time please come to the podium state your name and address and know that you have three minutes in which to make your comments you may take a seat after completion of your comments or questions and the council or Administration will then respond if necessary sorry okay um just I'm sure there is there is a process that gets involved with the mun budgets uh but how much of the budget that you create for every year is based on petitions uh with actual signatures from members of the street that requires whatever Appropriations for spending or it's just like a wishless project comes in How does it go because to me um I have never seen a a spending plan that was spent sent even in newsletters that we are going to do this such and such Improvement there is a hearing for this if you if you have any suggestions or whatnot uh please go ahead and um and I've seen many projects over the last 10 years uh that people found out at the last minute or in last three or four weeks or and in many cases and then they had to rush through things and then we find out even U I think in in February we got a newsletter obviously we lost the case about the was Washington Avenue but uh in that it was written that the taxpayers would be uh spending some money for whatever the cost that was involved with legal Affairs and I was like taxpayers I mean that to me I was just taken by surprise so anyway questions stuff like that uh with respect to budget that I don't fully understand nowadays how this thing works and to me the looking at the State of Affairs whether it be state county munis or to Federal if everybody's paying taxes and and still people don't have money money and I'll just tell you by this like if if student loan has to be forgived and you're collecting record taxes for Education something is not right at every level of government thank you Mr Patel is there anyone else from the public who wishes to comment speak have seems like get techology anyway I'm Stacy Burger 233 Ellis Parkway I'm trying to find these try find the page so that I can direct your attention to it I have two quick questions one was is this accurate on the health insurance sheet two I guess I have three questions two questions on the health insurance sheet the township does not participate in the state health benefits program that correct is there a reason for that see we all have to hold our buttons down um I apologize hassle for everybody yeah I know um I think and I I'm not going to be the expert if you want answer I know we pay a better rate right yes we pay a better rate than the than the state is and we go out for it competitively U because in the remarks about I can't find it in the front sheet maybe I'm missing it but in the remarks in the front it looked like that was an issue that you thought might be a future problem there were little little x's on the user friendly budget which maybe is sorry places where you thought that you might have um Revenue issues and one of those was the health insurance so I was curious if you had rebid that or looked at whether there was a savings to be had in the state health benefits grr yeah there's no Savings in the state health benefits the other indicator that I saw there I just wanted to confirm it was that everybody on this Council takes family health insurance from the township that taxpayers expense that's what it lists on the userfriendly budget I'm sorry because if you want to have a debate you're more than welcome April 27th but if there was there's a user friendly sheet on the budget on the website budget and it indicates that there are seven Council employee me s seven council members who all use the health insurance program and that they're taking it as family health insurance but miss Carmichael shaking her head but either the budget is wrong or I'm misunderstanding it so if you could go it's not in here or at least I can't find it but it's I think it's not it's not true so I think you're misunderstanding you're misunderstanding the budget it's hard to manage these pages and the button at the same time could somebody just clarify who's taking health insurance and for which members of their family from the health insurance that the taxpayers pay for for a part-time decision if it's it's in the budget so you can read it there okay but you just said it wasn't in the budget so if it could you point me to the page Raj well you said it's seven pages I not pages I can't do it on on the dot when you ask me a question like that we can we can follow up tomorrow and I can I can revie does anybody I guess first question is is everybody on the Town Council taking health insurance from taxpayers for individ individually they're not well it lists seven and there's seven people so either your information is wrong on your budget It also says Miss Cedar I I mean Miss Cedar is right there she's lovely thank you for all your help she she is lovely a very lovely person um what would I suggest for clarification you always can Oprah you always can Oprah the information well it's in the budget it's on hang on a second that's okay I mean you're all here you could just answer all right Miss Burger your three minutes are up so we let somebody else in the a I mean I do I have another question which is to just confirm that the revenue that we lost from the warehouse Pilots is about7 million I don't know and in terms the third question on the budget and so in terms you want me to ask all my questions first usually you want me well we've hit the three minutes so um some of that was back and forth well that's why we always ask people to usually not ask questions expect an answer you ask all your questions and then we can respond okay well tell me what how you'd like to proceed Mr so so you could you have you have time coming up there's another public portion so you can speak then and you'll have those three minutes then so you can continue to ask your questions next time just ask all your questions and then we can respond in that way we don't have to worry about stopping the time or starting the time okay or we could just have a friendly conversation it doesn't so so I'm just trying to make sure that I understand the budget and there's some things that are clearly in the budget on user friendly page they're on your website that you're saying are incorrect so either filed incorrect paperwork or you're not telling the and Miss burer there there's a time period where the budget was being up for over a month now you could have easily called the you know the finance department the mayor's office ET but I'm here now when I can do stuff is not really business but you're asking for you're asking for an answer immediately after you ask the question it's the public hearing I'm a member of the public I have the right to come here and ask a question it's okay I apologize so you you three there is an open public portion at the end anyone else in the public wishing to come up and this time please note that you have three minutes in which to speak seeing none I'm going to close the public portion iners public portion that will bring us to number 12 which is a resolution amending the calendar year 2024 Municipal budget Cedar you got your water be it resolved by the township Council of Piscataway Township New Jersey that whereas njsa 48 4-8 the local Municipal budget for the year calendar year 2024 was approved on the 5ifth day of March 2024 and whereas the budget hearing on said budget has been held as advertised and whereas it is desired to amend said approved budget now therefore be it resolved by the township Council in the township of Piscataway and the county of middlex city of New Jersey that the following amendments to the budget approved budget of calendar year 2024 be me current fund revenues anticipated revenues Surplus anticipated from 12,549 375 to 12,864 3538 total Surplus anticipated from 12,549 375 to 12, 861 35380 miscellaneous revenues section F special items of General Revenue anticipated with prior written consent of director of local government services public and private revenues offset with Appropriations 2024 distracted driving Crackdown you drive you text you pay from $0 to $8,750 2024 arts and history Grant agreement middle sex County from $0 to $5,000 recycling tonnage Grant from 0 to $784 45 total section F special items of Revenue anticipated with prior written consent of director of local government services public and private revenues from $4,195 to $462 3350 subtotal General General revenues from 31,2 , 7262 to 31,44 6,919 72 amount to be raised by taxes for support of Municipal budget local tax for municipal purposes including reserve for uncollected taxes 49 m965 6453 from that number to 49,9 68,69 31 current fund Appropriations General Appropriations operations within caps computerized data processing other expenses from $195,000 to $250,000 liability insurance other expenses from $1,900,000 to $ 2,150,000 the scataway television Studio other expenses from $78,000 to $888,000 Total operations including contingent within caps from 48,3 31,900 General Appropriations operations excluded from caps public and private programs offset by revenues and it's the same of what I previously read with regard to the 2024 distracted driving Crackdown you text you drive you pay from $0 to $8,750 2024 arts and Grant art and history Grant agreement middlex County from $0 to $5,000 and the recycling tonnage Grant from $0 to $784 45 total public and private programs offset by revenue from $454,900 to $546,000 200 I'm sorry 5 46,2 $3.50 total General Appropriations excluded from caps Reserve I'm sorry from 27 m677 61374 to 27 milon 76982 19 reserve for uncollected taxes 1,928 1866 66 and that will now be 1,9 92811 1564 total General Appropriations from 84 m792 18874 to $85,200 one30 83 dedicated sore utility budget dedicated revenues from sore utility operating Surplus anticipated from 4, 310,000 to 700,000 total operating Surplus anticipated from 400 4, 310,000 to 700,000 connection fees 100 from 155,000 to 200,000 total sewer utility revenues from 15,31 14,38 to 11,748 38550 Appropriations for store utility operating other expenses from $3,455 to2 2,550,000 $550,500 Capital Improvements capital outlay from $2 million to 0 statutory expenditures Social Security System oi from $215,000 to $165,000 total General Appropriations 15 million from 15,31 14,38 5.50 to 11,745 38550 thank you Miss Cedar do I have a motion motion councilwoman Lombardi thank you do I have a second second councilwoman espinos thank you Miss Cedar would you please take the roll call vote councilwoman Carmichael yes councilman Espinosa yes councilwoman Lombardi councilman Rouse yes councilman Shaw yes councilman Eran yes council president kahill yes and the resolution to amend the C 2024 Municipal budget passes and that'll bring us to um number 13 this is also the public hearing for the amendment of the calendar year 2024 Municipal budget so we'll open it up to remote attendees at this time if you wish to speak at this time please raise your hand either on the Zoom app or if by phone by pressing star n when it is your turn to speak you will receive or hear a request to unmute yourself please click the prompt or press star six on your phone to unmute yourself at that time please state your name and address and know that you have three minutes in which to make your comments the council or Administration will respond if necessary after you've completed any comments or questions council president there are no remote attendees with their handr regarding this agenda item you misser so we'll close the remote attendee public portion and now will open it up this is regarding um the amending of the calendar year 2024 Municipal budget if you wish to speak at this time please come to the podium state your name and address and know that you have three minutes in which to make your comments you may take a seat after completion of your comments or questions and the council or Administration will respond if necessary all right I think I have this down hold the button still Stacy B still 233 Ellis Parkway she uh the sheet I'm specifically referring to is the uh userfriendly budget page eight where it shows that and I apologize one person is not taking full healthare benefits but they are taking single coverage to the tune of $144,000 and no disrespect Tim but I run a Statewide nonprofit Association and every year we have to zero budget and we compete we we ask for competitive bids and we have a great Healthcare program uh and we pay less than that so I'm happy to share my information with you it's a high deductible program and by the way no no concerns about people getting healthare everybody should have healthare we should have medical Med Medicare for all so everyone has healthare um but since you objected to my question before it does appear that six people are listed as having family coverage on at the taxpayers expense to the tune of $38,000 84 I'm sorry 8,846 128 per family so I just want to make sure that that's accurate so are you insinuating that we shouldn't get health coverage well there is a state law councilwoman Lombardi that was passed in 2011 that grandfathered every other Town pretty much in the state that said if you're in the state health benefits program your employees cannot your elected officials cannot get health care coverage so you all opted not to participate in the state health benefits program and opted yourselves out of that out of that rule which I think I think I put a lot of hard work into this town and I think I should be eligible for healthare I'm just I was trying to confirm earlier do you want to come to the side of the party in Miss Lombardy please continue I'd love to everybody should have health insurance I'm okay all I'm trying to make sure I'm just trying to make sure I understand the budget because in every other municipality around the state elected officials do not get health insurance unless they are full-time employees when we filed an open public records act request for the time sheets that should go along with your I'm I'm sorry does everybody have a comment about my comment do you want to have a debate we we're I'm happy to have a debate with you but this is my three minutes so if you don't mind you can all be quiet and well there's a lot of um commentary from the council which would be fine if they wanted to have an actual debate but but when we want to have a conversation about things then we're told we only have three minutes so you can't really have it both ways I mean there's a word for that but we don't have to go there I understand I didn't say you were right I I understand that but since you didn't you told me I was either misinformed or willfully inaccurate previously I want to come up and make sure that I am correct and since I was not given the opportunity to clarify that and you said that you didn't take health insurance and now you're saying you do take health insurance I would just like to get a clarification that six members of the council use family health insurance at taxpayer expense okay thank thank you Miss Berger we are answering questions regarding the amendment of the calendar year 2024 that Miss Cedar just read okay so yes or no sounds like some people are pretty confident that they do there's no ill will here but this is what there's plenty public portion is for okay so can someone answer the question or do I was I supposed to call Raj a week ago before I had this question M burger as was in IND instructions ask all your questions that's my only question that way we can make sure you have this is my only question at this time if that okay I want to confirm that six members of the council have taxpayer funded health insurance outside of the state law that required that if you took state health benefits program Insurance you were not eligible for that unless you were fulltime about the amendment so so miss Burger first of all the the township is in compliance with the law we're not part of the state health benefits right because you the the other the other inaccuracy you're saying is that you're just assuming that all other townships are not are all part of the now you're correcting yourself you're saying many you said all before not I just want to correct i' be happy to be happy to doting the facts that it's not all other towns and now it's many other towns there are other towns not famili plan and the township with the law and is continuing health benefits to to elected officials as they have done for probably 50 years is there a policy how long before my time at least before health benefits council president please this is about the amendment open up to anyone else in the public who would wish to make a comment please come to the podium state your name and address and note that you have three minutes in which to make your comments hiel 29 redb Road um I just heard about the Amendments but I I didn't get uh the details or is this actually increasing the funding or reducing the funding or it's funding what project in this town for this amendment I just didn't get it because it's it's all you in April I guess the budget gets finalized by December so you want more is that is that what I'm hearing so the budget actually just to clarify will not get finalized until the end of June because it takes the state that long to really in fact tell the townships what funding they're going to give us and then that's when we can actually implement the budget and again that sort of goes back to the reason reasoning to having the cap Bank this is sort of interim if I'm going to put in layman's terms but you know Tim if you just want to clarify I'm not sure that Mr Patel understands how Municipal budget seems he a little foggy on it so we start planning for next year's budget we actually start in August of the Year prior we have meetings with all of our department heads we look at all of our Capital needs we finally get the budget together for about early January the state tells us when we to introduce it when and when we have to pass it so we follow the state guidelines we introduce it it's introduced back in January now we're approving it in April so what we do on the amendment is anything that's changed since January and that includes any grants that are coming in any revenues that are coming in any state aid changes we're changing that tonight to reflect the real numbers so the numbers that were introduced were our guests and now tonight we know what the numbers are so we're amending the original budget to reflect the true numbers that so there's no increase or decrease in in taxes it just goes this is just an amendment so when the budget's adopted tonight it has the current numbers in it that's what tonight's amendment is for the reason I'm asking this is there a change because typically the activity used to happen by December everybody were aware of it now it's uh I'm sure it's rolling every six months now and state so to me the way the current process of budget works is basically state is using mun as a hostage okay Mr Patel is there anyone else in the public wishing to speak you may do so at this time please come to the podium state your name and address and note that you have three minutes in which to make your comments okay see none then I'm closing that public portion okay this will be number 14 and this resolution for the adoption of the calendar year 2024 Municipal budget M rer Cedar would you please read the resolution thank you be it resolved by the township council members of the township of piscatway County of midlex that the budget here and before set forth is hereby adopted and shall constitute an appropriation for the purposes stated of the sums therein set forth as Appropriations and author of the amount of 49,9 68,69 31 for municipal purposes and 3 m7745 2016 minimum Library tax summary of revenues General revenues Surplus anticipated 12, 86135 380 miscellaneous revenues anticipated 17,8 45,5 6572 receipts from delinquent taxes 750,000 amount to be raised by taxation for municipal purposes 49,9 68,69 31 amount to be raised by tax minimum Library tax total revenue I'm sorry minimum Library tax 3,774 516 total revenues $85,200 one30 183 summary of Appropriations General Appropriations within caps operations including contingent 48 m646 in no 48,6 46,9 2017 I'm sorry this print is small I apologize deferred charges in statutory expenditures Municipal 6,855 270 excluded from caps operations total operations excluded from caps 7, 98317 4.50 Capital Improvements 8,146 , 72869 Municipal debt service 10,468 275 deferred charges Municipal 1,171 650 reserve for uncollected taxes 1,928 11156 total Appropriations 85 m213 183 thank you Miss Cedar appreciate that here it is a little bit dark and dim okay um all right so that is uh number 14 do I have an offer for councilwoman Lombardi do I have a second second councilman R okay Miss Cedar would you please take the roll call vote councilwoman Carmichael yes councilman Espinosa uh yes councilwoman Lombardi yes councilman Rouse yes councilman sha yes councilman urin yes council president Cahill yes and the budget passes okay that'll bring us to number 15 this is uh announcement ments and comments from officials councilwoman carmichel I have two uh I wanted to just remind everyone that we have a Piscataway community cleanup event this coming Saturday at 9:00 a.m. at uh Riverside Park 4:30 River Road and you would have uh need to sign up either as an individual as a group and the township is providing cleanup materials and light refreshments thank you so much councilman espanosa yeah I was going to say the same thing I'll be there uh and I will be taking uh the family it's going to be fun uh I I really recommend everybody going uh and doing our part for earthday thank you thank you councilman Vanessa and councilman Michelle Lombardi who has clean years right she's run this for years so um maybe you'd like to expand on that no have couple of quick things first I'd like to um say um thank you to Daniel and the entire Finance team for your hard work and um due diligence and making this a very tight and exceptional budget so I thank you for everything that you've done for us to get this budget um heading in the right direction so that's number one like to offer um sincere condolences to the family of Fred Cassidy who passed away in our town a long-term uh resident of our our town I actually was very involved with Fred back in my Super Chief band days but he was very involved in the Rotary Club and um the library I believe so um our condolences go out to uh Fred Cassidy's family the library is also having their book sale right now the cleanup is back and we also have a shredding event at the liter Le field which is going on it's in tandem um at the same time as the cleanup uh from 8 to 12 if you have shredding that needs to be done that's this Saturday and um back to the cleanup instead of the little leak field it is at Riverside Park so we do have a change in venues this year so um we hope everyone gets out to do their part for Earth Day and and cleaning up their environment and uh getting the community together for the good of our environment thanks thank you councilwoman uh councilman Rouse I I'm just still excited about uh councilman Frank and the little it really really was nice I don't get a chance to make to too many but keep up the good work I do have a godson who I had to bring out there and teach him I thought he taught me but it was nice to see so many people and how you honored one of my long time Sunday school students marus and uh it just was a feeling day for me thank you Frank thank you councilman councilman Shaw if you know your family your your friends need something motor vehicle and if you don't get the appointment we have 25th and 26th April motor vehicle mobile unite coming at senior center so use this facility and secondly I agree with Misha for the Fred I work with him 16 years in a board of trustee is a really nice person and helpful the community for Library so very sorry the family thank you councilman cha councilman ER I just want to say little league opening day was a you success uh we honored two great people that were in the township and um we have over 20 50 poll players it was a lot of kids was very good and it shows the health of the program which is great um Mr Mayor I just want to piggyback from what uh councilman Shaw and councilwoman Lombardi said about Fred Cassidy uh he was also Mr Rotary Club too um and many ran the taste of piscatway for a number of years and valuable in person on the Library Board of Trustees and um Fred's going to be very much missed uh by a lot of residents uh throughout the town uh I would like to thank uh the professional staff um for for the budget as well as the input from the council members um it's not too often as as a local leader you get to say that this is seven plus years where the tax rates gone down um especially you know we're in state of New Jersey we know things are expensive um but I like to think a lot of that has to do we had an increase of over almost I think 230 plus million dollars in commercial development that went towards this year so um we're on the right Glide path uh I know some people don't agree with that I disagree with it but you know at the end of the day is any time that we can make it more affordable to the residents both seniors and working uh couples or kids and things like that uh it's a good thing um we we provide a lot of services uh for the 24% that uh we're in charge of uh from police uh to part of fire inspections to Public Works I know there were some questions earlier today about some of the roads uh they're going to be Renova this year Ethel Road West that should be finished by the middle of May uh we're waiting for the utility companies to finish up with Sutton's Lane so we can Mill and pave those those roads and international still on the way all that costs money for all the renovations of of the streets we probably have about maybe about a100 Million worth of road projects out there but we're only probably spending seven or eight million dollars a year out there as far as our budget but uh we try to do the best we have a very nice park system in our community we have 27 beautiful parks and uh we're the Envy of central New Jersey when it comes to our Parks that's all part of the 24% uh tax rate we also have a lot of program initiatives that we do with our seniors and our school children through our public Outreach committee uh about vaping and awareness of cannabis and uh opioids and things like that um our Police Department uh we do a lot of work uh with the community uh with our Police Department through our Comm Community excuse me Community Watch programs and Public Safety so there's a lot of mov Parts as well as the senior center which offers some of the most state of the art programs is recognized by ARP and uh obviously and we had the separate SE senior housing utility there and we had full occupancy over there um and all the renovations that were doing the building a lot of lot of great things going on our town so thank you to all the count and the and the solar project that's coming yes the solar which is the largest solar install project in uh Central New Jersey this year that's great great thank you Mr Mayor um Tim Daisy no comment thank you yeah I mean I'm I'm not going to spend a lot of time here I just go what everyone has said about coming out on April 20th I know Riverside Park um other organizations have targeted that Park specifically because of the river people dump tires all sorts of things in the river I it's crazy I lived by the Delaware River for quite some time and used to like swim and I can't even imagine you know why people dump that way but it's good to see that still cleaning all the parks it's just that we're going to disperse from River oh you are okay awesome but I like the fact that it is right over at that park because it is kind of a focal point for a lot of groups too um who are aware of course the river um and all that goes there um and I want to thank the professionals too I mean uh they put in a lot of work a lot of long hours uh to um to create this budget to you know know uh keep us looking very um fiscally conservative at what we spend town and trying to do the right thing by the residents um we certainly are a town that likes walkability not everybody um likes sidewalks but we found every time sidewalks go in in residents or even towards um areas where it leads you to uh retail people walk and uh I think we have large uh groups uh community communities of folks here who do appreciate that I think just the other day somebody was complaining to us when were when was there a sidewalk going to be put in so they could get to their home on a busy street to the local park so we do believe in that and yes it it does cost money but um really thank you to the professionals because they do a Yan's job and they do really the heavy lifting so just uh again want to thank them for that so um that's it for me um let me just back here now folks sorry about that okay so that'll close uh number 15 and that'll bring us to number 16 which is which will be the agenda session for the May 2nd 2024 meeting um the first item on there will be a resolution authorizing return of escrow these are for various blocks block 5201 lot 6.02 block 5302 lot 1.01 block 805 lot 31 block 5201 lot 6.02 block 471 lot 5.05 and block 581 lot 12.01 um and did I just read them all yes and uh are there any comments or questions or concerns about that item see thank you see none that'll be on uh the last item here on the agenda session is going to be a proclamation this will be for Emergency Medical Services week any comments or questions on that okay see none that will be on and that closes number 16 so that'll bring us to number 17 this is open to the public for the remote attendees and I'll just read the public statement here if you wish to speak at this time please raise your hand either on the Zoom app or if by phone by pressing star n when it is your turn to speak you will receive or hear a request to unmute yourself please click the prompt or press star six on your phone to unmute yourself at that time please state your name and address and know that you have three minutes in which to make your comments the council or Administration will respond if necessary after you have completed any comments or questions council president I'm asking the first individual with their hand raised to unmute themselves hi this is Jessica caval can you hear me yes we can thank you yes I'm at 1247 Brookside Road and I just wanted to mention that it seemed like when you all were speaking to miss berer earlier you neglected to press your buttons so for the recording we missed some of the unprofessional statements you made back to her um and I just wanted to say I don't understand how you can behave this way with a member of the public who has come to you with a legitimate question regarding the budget now I know you're all very afraid of Stacy berler but to comport yourselves this way at a public meeting is frankly embarrassing and I know that you're all very proud of the parks but that enormous set of warehouses that you've built across from the ecological Park is not going to make a positive Improvement for this town regardless of how much money you've gotten from the developer that's the end of my comment thank you thank you Miss Cedar is there anyone else from the public wishing to speak from the remote attendees yes I'm asking the next individual to unmute themselves hold on go ahead David a and BR Valley Lane how are you Council this evening hi Mr Ain how are you okay what I'd like to know the latest update for locations to hold the planning and zoning board meetings as you know it used to be held in public works Mr aens did you have any other questions that's it I may have after you respond but that's it for right now thank you Mr aens yeah the township is working on a physical location that they can fit the the equipment and and population there safely um right now it's still remote and by law we've had many discussions the uh all the municipal attorneys around the state are are discussing I know the legislator is discussing it but right now legally the the township can do it remotely and we are and I think um you know the conversation has been that it's actually been better for the public to do it remotely to being able to see the exhibits uh more closer on their screen um and being able to hear better and and have more access to to the uh to the conversations yeah I mean that is a it's a small space I think the of it okay that's great but in the meantime it is um fully accessible via phone or Zoom app or watch on thank you Mr ains I'm asking the next individual with their hand raised to unmute thems go ahead hi uh Brian rack 1247 Brookside Road just based on that last question is there any reason you can't have the zoning and planning meetings in very room you're sitting in right now which has all the technology you need I think there's usually only one or two days that conflict and since you guys are in charge of the schedule that that sort of seems like a solveable the problem thanks thank you Mr council president there are no other individuals with their hand raised thank you Miss Cedar so that will bring us now to the folks who are here in person I I will read the public portion um statement if you wish to speak at this time please come to the podium state your name and address and know that you have three minutes in which to make your comments you may take a seat after completion of your comments or questions and the council or Administration will then respond if necessary hi Haley Crow 91 c a i am currently acting Secretary of the scataway youth Progressive organization and we have emailed and called multiple times to Mayor Waller to invite him to our debate on April 27th it is a fair debate between the two or should be between the two Democratic candidates in the upcoming election we've gotten no response so I would just like to take this time to make sure that you hear our invite and formally invite everyone it's open to the public and invite the council members thank you thank you Council I'd just like to say in regard to that you know this is a municipal government uh meeting so we there shouldn't be any discussion of politics or campaigning here um so I'd ask the council mayor to refrain from any comments thank you Council I 29 Tri again hello you got to just hold it down yeah I know okay well um so again um I I see a lot of healthy debates and and dialogues going back and forth but I would just like to say a few things um as I was looking through the budget um there are three or four I've been living here for a long time so I'd like to congratulate you for the four iconic institutions in this town that works really well one of them is Public Works institution uh which is PWD I think they do a fantastic job with recycling the other one is the library institution that works very well uh the YMCA that you built um I think that had hiccups last year but it's working very well um what's not working is the road department and I don't know what they're doing and the other thing the second problem that I see in the town uhu is basically uh many government officials are telling that the job numbers are great and economy is doing great and whatnot I tell you the story at the ground level I have a small house that I'm renting uh the person is not is dealing from 35 days in in in in rent um he pays on time that's not the problem the concern that I have is he's younger than me he has a family to support and when I was his young age I wasn't running around for the money and I see many people nowadays they work two to three jobs and they still can't meet family obligations so then the question then becomes is if people are working and if things are not working who should be held accountable the government the bank the corporation or which institution we should hold accountable and responsible the third parties I see in mayor's newsletters many time uh that the town is good and the taxes are doing great and whatnot it's all spin stories and I'll tell you why because many buildings on this hose Lane are empty Office Buildings that wasn't there before that includes Tel and many other humming institutions that were functional there were many we houses that are empty today so the promises that were made in last 10 years for all the tax breaks and all the tax Avenues uh that we are doing fantastic job I'm sure there are a lot of good great stories but I also want to make sure that we also look at truthfully and objectively what the facts are uh and some of the facts are are changing so I want to make sure that we we portray those facts to public and find an open way to debate about it and solve those problems um the other aspect of this is when we are talking about lot of money for like your land taxes funds education and whatnot many times I've seen that if parents are paying lifetime property taxes and whatnot um and then still they have to take additional loans and the college tutions are now Crossing 80 to 90k for this college and institutions are taking research money from the government from corporations from private companies and still they they don't have enough money that means the question should be asking where are they spending money on and I think that's across all the institutions and I'm not singling out you munis as an institution now the question should be which institutions that we can trust and which institutions really are performing well and those who are not performing they better come to the podiums and public meeting explain to themselves just like what we are doing thank you thank you Mr Patel good evening I'm Gina [Music] register uh I want to thank everybody who participated in making River Road truck free because when I first moved here there were a lot of get out of my [Music] neighborhood we went out almost Miss register hold your mic down in this way that that when it's recorded yeah you have to hold oh thought I had it it's green okay so um the other day um at Park Avenue he stopped short at that blinking light and we were about the third car back it was almost a big pile up so I know it's a hard thing to solve I know all the signs are up all over no over x amount whatever it is but it is starting to become a problem again so just wanted to make you aware thank you thank you thank you what are the fines that are incurred by those trucks if we do catch them out there it's like 200 yeah we did increase it probably say didn't we talk about increasing yeah the statute it doesn't it's not steep enough that it Det but we can't charge more than what statutory level is I mean honestly the mayor's heard me complain about this quite a bit um because you know I I know um Miss register you were thanking some people here actually the idea was that trucks would be taken off once the uh Route 18 connection was done now you know if we just let sleeping dogs lie it wouldn't have happened and some people just complained about it um I'll be honest with you I don't like them uh I have a hard time getting out of my driveway now so um I don't know it's like the the devil you know the devil you don't know because now it's the traffic's just it's non-stop I can ever get out of my driveway and a reasonable amount of time so but I don't know if there's something else we do I know we do sometimes um the periods of time when we monitor yeah right right right let's make some money on tickets well maybe we can look it again to see if they could amp it up to him if we could you know it is a residential Road and you know I for one would like to make sure it's kept that way there's a lot of enticement as you know mayor from people who want to put up commercial and we don't want to do that it's it's a nice entrance that leads to the university too I'll mention it to the Traffic Division I appreciate it thank you is there anyone else from the public wishing to make a comment right now seeing none I'm going to close the public portion council president I forgot um question for Raj U with the court case all the councilman can you just brief the Council on the court case you talk about the court case yeah so um Council on update um there was a court case recently um you know as has been going on pending for a couple years uh just recently the the judge dismissed the matter um determining that the the township took appropriate action uh the argument was that it was uh the township took um arbitrary and cacious action in terms of the zoning of of the property the the court um the court decided that um dismiss matter entirely and said the the township took the appropriate action this is the property that was initially um was trying to build I think it was uh 300 H 300 high density housing um the township denied the application believe it was also 100,000 square foot commercial yeah and the township denied the application because of the the effect that it would have on the roads Etc um the developer appealed um as is in pretty much 9 5% of these cases um the court kind of pushes everybody into a settlement we're forced into a settlement with the to with the developer um and as part of it was um the the developer decided that he it wasn't economically feasible to to do what he wanted um he chose to then uh attempt to build a warehouse um the township um you know had to had to comply listen this is private land and the township can only do what they can so a a warehouse was applied for and approved and there was a um uh there was a uh a complaint filed by uh various individuals against the township and the planning board saying that it was arbitrary and compiti decision and the township uh uh ended up uh winning that matter um that they took affirmative action um we reduced I think it ended up being that the the townships actually reduced the population of cars from I 1,200 trips um a day um and it's going to be reducing the traffic substantially on that road um and the planning board took uh quite and as part of the the testimony the Town Township did put Implement a lot of conditions that they were legally able to in order to create a a safe environment and a buffered environment for that warehouse thank you so I'll take an offer and so the question is I know some of the folks that did file the suit happen to be Board of Education members um the impetus with the court case was is that um it was going to be the detriment of the students nearby uh however I want to just real the public um that the board of education did site a child watch place in SL prek right in the middle of an industrial Zone on brunic road and Centennial about about 100 feet away from um just six buildings I'm not faulting them for doing that I don't know I wasn't there when they execute the agreement and voted for it U the question I have Raj is I'm kind of perplexed at this because do we need to send a resolution over to the Board of Education asking them uh when that property is finished and goes on the tax roles do they want to accept the revenue from that site because if they romly opposed to it then I'm assuming that they don't want the revenue I think they should take it U but I I'm just I just want to know for the record do they want it or not want it yeah we that request I mean it's it's simple either yes or no that's all to make that request for clarification that's that's all okay thank you do I have a motion motion to do I have a second second all those in favor say I any n your thank you e