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 PL 1975 specifying the time date location login or dial and 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 of the official newspapers of the township and by filing a copy in the office of the Township Clerk in accordance with the 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 only 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 council is always available by email and phone and you can always call the mayor's office during normal operating hours M would you please take the call councilwoman carmichel here councilman espanosa present councilwoman Lombardi here councilman Rouse here councilman Shaw here councilman Ern here and council president kill here would you please join me in a salute to our flag to the flag of United States stands indivisible andice okay that'll bring us uh to number five which our comments Administration and Council that's regarding on this agenda are there any Council none at this time thank you very much and take us to number six then open to the public this is comments regarding item number 10 which are the consent agenda items so anyone in the public wishing to speak or about item number 10 this will be the time and let me just read um so hold on one second okay for each public comment um if you wish to speak at this time um this is for remote attendees we will uh open it up to remote attendees first if you wish to speak at this time please raise your hand either on 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's nobody with their hand raised for this agenda item thank you Miss Mitch so now we'll open it up to um uh the public 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 and again just as a reminder this is for items on the consent agenda agenda which is um item number 10 seeing none I'm going to close that public portion okay that'll bring us to number this is an ordinance on second reading it's an ordinance releasing extinguishing and vacating the rights of the public in portions of clawen Street Brook Avenue and Field Avenue it will be open to the public and it is a resolution adopting ordinance Miss Mitch would you please read the resolution be it resolved by the township Council of Piscataway Township New Jersey that an ordinance entitled an ordinance releasing extinguishing and vacating the rights of the public in portions of Clawson Street Brook Avenue and Field Avenue in the township of pasc County of middlex and state of New Jersey was introduced on the second day of January 2024 and it passed the first reading and was published on the fifth day of January 2024 now therefore be it resolved that the afores said ordinance having had a second reading on March 5th 2024 be adopted pass and after passage be published together with the notice of the date of Passage or approval in the official newspaper be it further resolved that this ordinance shall assign number 20248 thank you Miss Mitch and so now um we'll open this up to the public and again we'll open it up to the remote attendees first and then those who are here in person so for the 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've completed any comments or questions council president there are no individuals with their hand raised for this item thank you Miss Mitch we'll open it up to the people here who are 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 gas EOS 58 Curtis this thing about the public giving away rights to a property is that does that mean that that 400 square feet that happened in in Curtis Avenue is that legal and you want us to vacate from here you might want to explain what the vacate really means here yes so this isn't giving away right so this is uh Township land that Township is feels that is doesn't need anymore is paper streets um and we've done that around town to to assist because where roads will never be built um the township doesn't need to continue to maintain those pieces of property so this is um basically vacating those Pap a couple of paper streets or portions of them okay is there anyone else seeing none then we'll close the public portion on that item do I have an offer offer do I have a second second Miss Mitch would you please take the roll call councilwoman carmichel yes councilwoman espanosa yes councilwoman Lombardy yes councilman Rouse yes councilman Shaw yes councilman Eran yes and council president kill yes and the ordinance passes on second reading that'll bring us to number eight which is an ordinance on first reading this is to exceed the municipal budget appro Appropriations and establish a cap Bank it is a resolution adopting ordinance and just um so everyone's aware we need to do this every year um before the official um budget comes or the monies that we know from the state so this is sort of our interim piece that we we we have to do every year to fill that Gap um Miss Mitch would you please read the resolution 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 c bank njsa 40a 4- 45.4 B and is hereby adopted on the first reading that it be published in the official newspaper and that a second reading and public hearing be held at 7:30 p.m. prevailing time at the Piscataway Municipal Building 455 hos Lane pasca New Jersey on the 16th day of April 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 of this ordinance shall be made available at the office of the Township Clerk for any interested member of the public thank you miss m do I have an offer offer do I have a second second Miss Mitch would you please take the roll call vote councilwoman carmichel yes councilman espanosa yes councilwoman Lombardi yes councilman Rouse yes councilman Shaw yes councilman Erin yes and council president kill yes and the ordinance passes on first reading and that'll bring us to number nine which is also an ordinance on first reading this is authorizing execution of financial agreement with Clauson RP owner urban renewal LLC it is a resolution adopting ordinance Miss Mitch would you please read the resolution be it resolved by the township Council of Piscataway Township New Jersey that an ordinance entitled ordinance of the township of pasaway County of middlex New Jersey authorizing execution of financial agreement with Clawson RP owner urban renewal LLC pursuant to the long-term tax exemption law njsa 40a col 20-1 Etc B and is hereby adopted on the first reading that it be published in the official newspaper and that a second reading in public hearing be held at 7:30 p.m. prevailing time at the pcad way Municipal Building 455 hosan pasaway New Jersey on the 16th day of April 2024 be it further resolved that a copy of this ordinance shall be posted in at least two public places within the township PR 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 offer offer do I have a second second thank you Miss Mitch would you please take the roll call vote councilwoman carmichel yes councilwoman espanosa yes councilwoman lardi yes councilman Rouse yes councilman Shaw yes councilman Erin yes and council president C Hill yes and the ordinance passes on first reading that'll bring us to number 10 these are the consent agenda items for efficiency items have been Consolidated into a consent agenda to be voted on together for the Mater 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 to be discussed or voted on separately seeing none um then I'll ask do I have an offer offer second second Miss uh Miss Mitch please take the roll call vote councilwoman carmichel yes councilman espanosa yes councilwoman Lombardi yes councilman Rouse yes councilman Shaw councilman Shaw yes councilman Ern yes and council president k yes and the consent agenda items pass that'll bring us to number 11 which resolution this is the introduction of calendar year 2024 Municipal budget Miss Mitch would you please read Municipal budget of the township of Piscataway County of middlex for the fiscal year 2024 be it resolved that the following statements of revenues and Appropriations uh shall constitute the municipal budget for the year 2024 be it further resolved that the said budget be published in the Star Ledger Ledger in the issue of March 11th 2024 notice is hereby given that the budget and tax resolution was approved by the council members of the township of piscatway County of middlex on March 5th 2024 a hearing on the budget and tax resolution will be held at the municipal building on April 16th 2024 at 7:30 p.m. at which time in place objections to the said budget and tax resolution for the year 202 24 may be presented by taxpayers or other interested person summary of current fund section of approved budget General Appropriations for Appropriations within caps Municipal purposes 55,1 187,188 Appropriations excluded from caps Municipal purposes 27 m677 613 74 total General Appropriations excluded from caps 27 m677 $63.74 reserve for uncollected taxes 99.05% of tax collections 1,884 31373 total General Appropriations 8474911100 less anticipated revenues other than current property tax 31 m527 2627 local tax for municipal purposes including reserve for uncollected taxes 49,92188 to20 and minimum Library tax 3,774 $516 thank you Miss Mitch um do I have an offer offer do I have a second second Miss Mitch would you please take the roll call vote councilwoman carmichel yes councilman espanosa yes councilwoman Lombardi yes councilman Rouse yes councilman Shaw yes councilman Eran yes and council president kahill yes and that'll bring us to number 12 which are announcements and comments from officials councilwoman Carmichael thank you madam president U yes I would like to say happy women's history month since it is March and we are celebrating women and the power of women and the women's voices and positive change so we are celebrating that and I'm happy for that and we have a lot of great women here on the council and working in the township so we're in good hands and also the Senior Citizens Center will be celebrating International women's day on Friday March 8th from 11:00 a.m. to 1M thank you councilwoman espan I would like to Echo Sharon's wishes a happy women's History Month um it's a great start thank you thank you Sharon that was one of mine so thanks for covering that for me but uh more importantly um we had a very unfortunate situation happen here in Piscataway uh last Wednesday where we had a fire at our fish food pantry um Market Avenue so uh first and foremost I'd like to thank all of the uh Emergency Services Personnel the firemen the policemen the rescue squads and everybody that came out to help to keep contain that fire to what they kept it contained too um that's uh number one one number two uh I'd like to also give kudos to Lisa couch and her husband who run the fish food pantry um for uh their unbelievable strength and inspiration um to move the pantry forward so um they had a special meeting uh the insurance people are there um checking out whether they can keep the back portion of the building and um they are they're planning to try to rebuild if they can but uh they also were out there on Monday morning even though they had a fire last Wednesday with tables in the parking lot with food for those who needed it so that was the most inspirational part of the whole situation so um there are ways that people can help you can donate by check right now they need financial help and gift cards so so if anybody wants to write a check you can go on the website for fish and find the address of where to send a check or they'll takeing gift cards $20 and under to any of the local food food stores in the area so um the community always pulls together in situations like this and that makes me very proud of Piscataway one minute this is not the public portion and then last but not least it's also natural nutrition month and everybody knows how much I like nutrition so so everybody it's National nutrition month pay attention to what you're eating part of the mayor's health and wellness campaign mayor bit um yes we're gonna go out of alphabetical order because we have uh councilman Frank ER sitting right here so uh councilman would you like to have any comments just Echo Sha's word about all the great women in piscato oh Frank that that was an appropriate statement that's all I have right now very much so um councilman Rouse I I agree with Frank it a lot has already been said especially about the great women I have about four special ones that's on my Mount Rushmore of course my mom my grandmother uh God bless us with a lot of great women who stepping forward more and more as they can continue to pave the way so God bless you and one especially at home I'd say um councilman Shaw no thanks thank you Mr Mayor I'm gonna reserve my comments afterwards uh but I would like to congratulate Frank ER for being honored by the Central Jersey Elks as right congratulations Frank it's a great honor and not a surprise in the least um Tim Daisy nothing tonight thank you thank you very much uh counselor no comment thank you okay and I'll just Echo what everyone else says and because I'm married to an Irishman I do want to wish everyone a very happy St Patrick's Day um uh and um so that's it for us up here we're going to go into um then our consent uh agenda or our agenda session for April 16 2024 um there will be the ordinance on second reading to exceed the municipal budget Appropriations and establish a cap bank at that time it'll be open to the public and it'll be a resolution adopting ordinance any comments or questions see none that will be on the next item will be an ordinance uh on second reading authorizing execution of financial agreement with Clauson RP owner urban renewal LLC it will be open to the public and it'll be a resolution adopting ordinance any comments or questions regarding that item okay see none that will be on that'll bring us uh to number 14 which is open to the public for remote attendees uh 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 unmute yourself please click the prompt or press star 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 individuals with their hands raised for this agenda item thank you Miss Mitch now we'll open it up to comment for um people 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 and questions uh or questions and the council or Administration will then respond if necessary 58 Curtis why do you suppose I pay $480 more on homeowners insurance than anyone in my neighborhood negligence scway maintenance is not working for the public not fact I go over there looking for Paul Paul where is he in court two months three months I chase him around every complaint I made about 58 Curtis and ordinance violation ations around it is nonexistence and our mayor has the most recent copy our district leader came by he saw the MTH he saw the violations one of the people from Property Maintenance came over there he says hey there's a problem here I got to call a landscaper to come and see that didn't happen I pay for that rebuilding the the roof when the tree fell on the house that was in the complaint but it didn't exist the copy you have in your office of my complaint is nonexistent is that Mr you came over there and saw the property do you have your eyes closed you didn't see a thing take care of piscatway 7th and Washington has to get curve and all them trees that are way outdated take them down they become a hazard there's a blind spot I can't over here light that intersection up people are hitting the curb for K sakes take a good look s a police officer there to make a report thank you is there anyone else wishing to speak may do so at this time come to the podium state your name and address and note that you have three minutes in which to make your comments see none I'm going to close the public portion that will bring us to um a moment for the mayor who' like to make some comments about this address the comments from the gentleman the two streets that he's talking about happen to be County Roads uh West 7th in Washington Avenue um they are under engineering design okay the entire length is under engineering design from the south PL field planfield border down to the intersection um so we have to be patient we have to work with the county to do this so um as far as the project would Co replacing two signalized intersections and also all the Curbing and sidewalks in Tor entire length so it's a very very very expensive job uh looking at it's probably going to cost about $14 million and that includes the road too caving everything but the other stuff do we know when the C when the engineering might be no they have to get re-engaged because it was stalled for a number of years because of the uh School Board holding up at the intersection of uh um of w West 7th and Rock Avenue remember the whole tree issue we didn't want to go away oh that yeah so that's resolved so the County's gonna so it's under engineering now it potentially could be next it has to they have to re-engage an engineering firm because what happened was it was stalled for a number of years by the school district members and then they finally de it over to ye right there so right you know we're we're trying to work through it I think what's going to end up happening is they're going to do the intersections first and then take a look at the entire length including the signal yeah including the signal so there's a lot of Sir okay we heard you I I I can't as mayor wave a magic W out there sorry it just doesn't happen you had some comments about this week's events yes president um I would like to send our condolences out to the gubernat family for for the loss of their siblings so want to make the council members aware of that um the other issue I just want to give an update uh council member Lombardi spoke a little bit about the fish right there so we're in the process we we did have a discussion item with u the folks in fish um we're gonna uh the council was gracious enough to execute an agreement tonight to allow temporary housing of fish of uh their dryy goods at the old Italian American Club building so Department of Public Work should have everything finished up uh within the next week or so so to have them start housing and packaging their things they still want to distribute as uh Council Lombardi knows out out out of their venue next to the Baptist Church but at least they have a temporary 90day storage place until uh they can figure out with the church uh Baptist Church how how they're going to go about if they're going to rebuild or whichever a route to planed to so we're hoping that'll transpire over the next week or so yeah the biggest issue now is um when the Community Food Bank comes with their truck they um have um proteins so they have frozen meats and things so if the they don't all get used by those who uh come that day um they need to find a place to keep the frozen meats so I believe um the church down at the um the te intersection a little farther down the street on New Market is letting them use their freezers right now to keep the proteins so no right that they the two walk-ins but um mayor they are going to utilize our um facility for the dry G yes okay and then we have overflow capacity in our walk-in freezer at the senior C the reason they want to stay in the parking lot over there is that's what people know and believe yeah they're used to it and that's where they know to go so when you change things it's it's a little difficult yeah uh on a side note uh I want to thank the council members and the professional staff for putting together the budget um we're fortunate enough the municipal budget rate has Dro and by almost four points again so I don't know if everybody got a chance there was an analysis done by an outside media agency of all the tax rates of all the municipalities in the entire State and I suspect The Star Ledger is going to be doing the same um within the next month or so it shows that our tax rate uh here in this town is the second lowest in Middle sex County and that's a credit to everybody you know on the de and also the professional staff I want to thank uh Daniel and his team uh the finance director for and also Tim and the rest of the department heads for putting together the budget um it hasn't been easy putting a budget together and and I and I say that reason why because we're very fortunate over the last several years through the econom iomic development we've been able to do a lot of great things in our community by trying to keep things affordable for our Township residence for instance we built the community center uh we have great Parks out there uh we have great programming at the senior center we free sports free sports right there as Frank F finally says that doesn't happen by accident that happens by planning and um being able to keep things affordable for for the residents out there paying our our professional staff here in town uh Police Department Public Works uh the recreation department all all the professional staff that's tied into the missile government and also um I want to also say that that alludes to the other taxation districts the the school district they pay their teachers and we're fortunate enough now that the tax rate of that almost 39% of that taxx rate comes from the commercial base right now uh there's not too many towns in the state of New Jersey that can say 39% of the taxes come through the commercial base most times it's like 80% is the local homeowners that are picking up the costs we're fortunate enough now that we have uh some availability that we can get some of the road sticks like for instance we we have about 25 roads that are scheduled to be reconstructed this year and that doesn't includ the ones that are under engineering design uh more improvements to the parks some of the parks are going to look to get uh more pickle ball courts we're looking at other amentities we're also trying a major Capital project to put the ecological park over the finish line that does not happen by accident with the finances uh it goes hand inand with economic development now I also understand that not every this is America not everybody agrees on it and everything however we've been very fortunate in this respect that we're able to get a lot of these projects over the finish line and a lot of projects that are going to come about in the future like for instance the renovations to the addition to the museum and some other projects as well as like I said before the ecological Park I want to just tell the residents out there not everything is perfect in town but I got to tell you we're in better Financial footing compared to some of the other towns in in central New Jersey and North Jersey during the pandemic we didn't have any layoffs we didn't have any furlows during Ida we were able to come up with some money to House people temporarily uh uh at the hotels uh when they were displaced along the riverfront at all the apartment that doesn't happen by accident and for those uh critics out there uh it's very interesting to see that they're they don't like the economic development going on the alternative is out there that the homeowners will take it on the chin if you don't have Economic Development and it's incumbent upon us to keep continuing to do this because we have a lot of great projects that are on the line and I also want to say is that it's interesting that some of the critics out there had filed a lawsuit against the town project South Washington Avenue where they were complaining about two poent two buildings that are going to go up uh Logistics buildings verse um 275 tow houses now I have nothing against the townhouses whoever but we have met our co-ag guidelines uh that project was not on the co-a list uh when you have large um high density housing like that it does have a cost to the community it it you know you have potentially have kids in the school system Social Services additional um needs of that the municipal government will have to provide uh verse two buildings out there uh which would have bare minimum cost on the community uh if you have high density housing along especially along that I'm zeroing on that particular site is that um you have potential 1,200 trip Generations a day out there so for those critics out there that were trying to claim um that it was being built too close to a school I I beg to differ because the same folks that filed on this lawsuit or some of the members that were part of the school district they didn't have a problem with executing a contract down the road at the um old New Brunswick Road in Centennial to put a pre- facility in the middle of an industrial zone so you can't have it both ways out there so not everything's perfect but I don't see them I didn't see them raising their hand saying they don't want to accept the revenue out there because they they're G they are accepting the revenue over the last five or six years around the town for the economic development because it's paying the salaries of the of the teachers the professional staff that run the school system so before somebody goes and criticizes out there they have to look at the legal guidelines out there and then if they don't want to accept the money that comes into local government then they should do a resolution saying they're not going to accept the money because to me it just looks like um they're just demagoguing it so um but there again hey I'd rather be in a miss Municipal Community out here where we're pinching the pennies we're watching the tax dollars we're getting things done it's not perfect but we're in a heck of a lot better situation in a lot of other towns in central New Jersey and in the state of New Jersey at this point and I want to credit also our Congressional um delegation uh Senator Booker and uh Congressman palum for helping out getting a lot of federal grants out there for our community especially the radio system that was just um uh adopted contract that was awarded tonight that is going to take us in the next step in the future um to Public Safety and it's long overdue and by the way it was a federal mandate Anyway by the FCC that this had to happen so but it's nice to know that we're not having to spend local tax dollars so thank you K I apologize for the length of this but it needed to be said about the economic development thank you no thank you very much and certainly from when I first moved in here and we went through that downturn where we were bearing the brunt of it it's good to see that the the economic development is um starting to take up more the the brunt of the taxes so thank you so with that um we come to our last item which is an adjournment do I have an offer offer offer do I have a second all those in favor say I I I we are adjourned thank you that