e e e e e e e e e thein good evening everyone I'm going to call the meeting to order would everyone please stand for a short prayer and a salute to our flag almighty God grant us the wisdom to make those decisions that are in the best interest of all our residents May the heavenly father of us all bless those who have given the ultimate sacrifice in service to our nation and may He watch over and protect our service men and women now guarding the gates of Freedom salute to the flag canell please I pledge allegiance 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 uh Jessica statement of publication please take notice that this regular agenda meeting of the mayor and burough Council being held on the 17th day of June 2024 has been posted and advertised in accordance with the open public meetings act chapter 231 Public Law 1975 roll call Council person's Bala here poliisi here NOA Roberts here sinari here zabowski here okay council president approval of Prior minutes I move the following minutes of the mayor and count be approved on roll call vote subject to correction if necessary the May 28th 2024 regular agenda and executive sessions second roll call Council person's Roberts yes fala yes poliisi yes boha sorry he's absent uh sinari yes zabowski yes okay at this time I'm going to ask Ken Kelly to come forward he has a presentation he is uh the chairman of our veterans Alliance can if you would please gentlemen we welcome you we thank you for your service and for the freedoms we enjoy today to Mayor Brian and members of the governing body good evening I speak to you tonight as a member of the seille veterans Alliance over a matter of great controversy and anxiety to our fellow veterans the matter of concern is the display of the pride flag at burough hall for the record the veterans Alliance has no animous towards the pride flag or those who support the pride movement however for the past eight decades the entire front of burl Hall has been dedicated solely to the honorably discharge Veterans of the United States military and the veterans of World War I 2 Korea Vietnam and the many conflicts of the Middle East the American flag and the P flag have long been prominently displayed as testimony to their service we ask for nothing except that the American flag and P flag be the only authorized colors to be flown at bur Hall I will read to you a copy of a US Supreme Court decision shirtliff versus the city of Boston the court advised that Boston was free to change its policies to make clear that it wished to speak for itself by raising Flags tellingly the court cited uh approvingly the flag policy of adopted by San Jose California the court likened that the San Jose policy includes language stating that San Jose's flag polls are not intended to serve as a form for free expression by the public and limited to and limited to approval of Flags uh flown uh have trouble seeing it here hang on remember trouble Flags flown to those constitute an expression of city official sentiments the Court's quasi Endeavor endorsement of San Jose's policy strongly suggests that local flag policies with these features would qualify as Government speech allowing the city to permit or reject flying of a flag consistent with its policies Mr we we ask that you uh uh seriously consider uh changing the previous audience or um um the previous rules that were passed by the council uh and uh a new uh policy be instituted by means of a uh um oh God uh ordinance okay uh uh this is a a subject that is uh sensitive to all however we feel that the veterans of our community have earned the right to have those flags in front of burall which honor all those who served those who died and those who are wounded and those now serving so we appreciate your efforts in this matter so thank you to all everyone thank you thank you [Music] Ken mayor if I may uh one or two guys wish to speak briefly okay if that's right call okay uh Stanley uh Eddie STK thank you Ken my name is Ed Shrek I'm a lifelong resident of shille a proud veteran and I come from a family of veterans who served in World War II Korea and my I served in the United States Army uh uh take your time man okay okay I'm a little little conf I'm okay uh in front of the bur hall right now there's two monuments it's decorated with the names of 1,950 veterans that served from seral during wartime World War I and World War II 60 of which were killed in action so what I would ask when the council the governing body has a chance to vote tonight take into take into consideration the names of all those veterans some of them may be your family friends or family members but take their names into consideration and vote for our veterans thank you thank you Eddie are there any other veterans that wanted to comment thank Ken are there any others no no okay I'm sorry Sam well it won't be a comment because it's introduction tonight there will be an opportunity at the public portion uh to speak about any and all issues I'll go ahead and say please come up Stanley um couple of things I'll just I'll just say a couple of things Stanley I still need you to say who you are where you okay El R Paro this is a joke Stanley draw 121 bazette Street I just want to make a comment uh on Ken Kelly's words and particularly in my case I I was a professional Soldier I served for 24 years I like I led soldiers from all the diverse groups um all over the world basically um and the only thing we wore on the uniform was our name US Army our unit patch and an American flag and uh I think the same thing should be done here with a burough Hall as a government organization Everybody's Free to exercise their rights any place at their home Club they belong to but the bur Hall represents a government agency that represents all of us and I think this nation needs to be United not divided into tribal groups you can never function particularly like a military unit split into pieces and fighting over every little thing um and I I just came back from Europe a couple of weeks ago I got a little problem drinking with sanley take your time let me have some water here real quick I can't obviously for me it's a pretty emotional thing having served that long but I just got back from uh Europe I was at the Luxembourg Cemetery where the Battle of the Bulge occurred and even as a professional Soldier I was really kind of uh emotional when I got there because we walked around my wife and I who's also a veteran and one of the things that different from most cemeteries is if you go to St STS or any Cemetery you'll see dates over a 100 years 50 years when you go to a cemetery like the one at Omaha Beach or the one in Luxembourg and you walk up and down and you'll see almost every grave is the same day or the same week and in many cases within the last two weeks and when you stand there and look at that and think everybody died in that one or two week period it's a totally different feeling and uh I just think we should respect everybody and maintain the unity of the American flag uh that's all I have to say thank you Stanley would any other veteran like to speak or comment okay Ken all right again we thank you we honor you we respect you and thank you for the freedoms we enjoy today gentlemen and ladies okay with that uh we'll move to Parks and Rec Recreation month Proclamation Stanley thank you mayor tonight we have a proclamation whereas the Parks and Recreation programs are an internal part of the communities throughout this country including Cal and whereas our Parks and Recreation are vitally important to establishing and maintaining the quality of life in our communities ensuring the health of all our citizens and contributing to the economic and environmental wellbeing of the community and region and whereas the Parks and Recreation programs build healthy active communities and Aid in our prevention of chronic disease provide therapeutic recreation services for those who are mentally or physically disabled also improve the mental and emotional health for all citizens and whereas the Parks and Recreation programs increase the community's economic Prosperity through increased property values expansion of local tax base increased tourism the attraction and retention of business and crime reduction and whereas the Parks and Recreation are fundamental to the Environ environmental well-being of our community and whereas the Parks and Recreation also improve the water quality protect ground water prevent flooding improve the quality of air we breathe provide Vegeta vegetative buffers to develop to the development and produce habitat for wildlife and whereas our parks and natural Recreation areas in Ure the economical ecological beauty of our community and pro provide a place for our children and adults to connect with nature and recreate outdoors and whereas the US House of Representatives has designed July as Park and Recreation month and whereas the burrow Sera recognizes and benefit derives from the parks and recreation resources also uh the Park and Recreation de executive he would couldn't be able to be here tonight but he wanted to thank the mayor and councel for having this Proclamation thank you is there a motion I make a motion to accept the proclamation there second second roll call Council person's Roberts yes Bala yes Ki yes tarski yes zabowski hold on Jess so there there there are a number of new people here uh may be the first time they're at a at a council meeting so the next section we're going to is called Old business when we do an ordinance it takes two meetings the first meeting is the introduction where you introduce the ordinance there are no comments on the introduction uh at the next meeting is is the second and final reading and that's when it's open to the public for comment uh that being said uh these ordinances are open for comments there will be a section at the end of the meeting called the public portion where any anyone can comment about about any issue um we do have a time limit it's a five minute time limit uh and again it's comments um so we'll proceed uh for those that are new I'll try to guide you through it Jessica public hearing on the following ordinances ordinance 23-24 buau of seral County of middlex an ordinance regulating removal of garbage refuge and rubbage rubbish in the burrow of saille County of middlex state of New Jersey second on Public Safety open it to the public first oh we got to open oh I'm sorry I'll open the public portion for questions or comments on ordinance 2324 are there any uh questions or comments well mostly comments rather that's the old way any comments b b no comments I'll entertain a motion councilman kesy I moved I move the public hearing to be closed the ordinance adopted on the second and Final reading and advertised according to law second roll call Council persons kisi yes Bala yes Roberts yes senari yes zabowski yes public hearing on ordinance number 27-24 buau of several County of middle sex ordinance regarding totally disabled veterans tax exemption I'll open the public portion for comments on ordinance 2724 are there any qu uh any comments being no comments I'll entertain a motion with the public hearing be closed the ordinance adopted on second and final reading and advertised according to law second roll call Council person's Bala yes poliisi yes Roberts yes zarski yes zabowski public hearing on ordinance number 28-24 bu of saille County of middle sex ordinance regarding environmental commission at this time I'll open the public portion for comments on ordinance 2824 are there any comments yes okay Mary Novak once called Drive um I never brought this up before but since it's being changed right now State Statute says this is a mayor's appointment it is not required to have the consent of the council and maybe it'd be a good idea to just take that out of there right now it's always been a problem with our ordinance so I figured hey we're changing it let's do it right right I'm making one tonight okay yeah so I think that's a fair what's your what's your opinion I public has we can't Hearne I'm speaking to the mayor confidentially I'll be glad to share in a moment you know what if if there's going to be okay folks public hearing let's he'll explain it what's your recommendation I think that's a fair comment whether the governing body wants to address that tonight or on another occasion especially given the public concern uh I I I think you have a valid point yeah there's there's two that is just with it tonight we want to come back and deal with it from perspective let's just uh we'll hold off we'll revise it and come back at the next meeting the other issue is that we're on second reading so if we make a substantive change to the ordinance it would prevent adoption so I think I wish I I I saw that at the last meeting meeting I think we would have been in a better position to address I didn't pick it up at the last just so the Public's aware as as the comment as long as we're changing it I figured we might as well align with State Statute no we can't second reading we'll come back to it we we'll we'll vote on it and then will'll come back and and do housekeeping at another meeting I think that's that's a great idea and and just so the Public's aware the comment is simply that uh your ordinance provides for the environmental commission appointments being by the mayor with the advice and consent of council but uh state law that governs environmental commissions does provide that it's strictly a mayoral direct appointment so we'll get that cleaned up but uh in order to do it tonight it would uh that would substantially change the ordinance such that final adoption could be had so I think we can proceed with Cent okay uh are there any other comments no other comments I'll entertain a motion thank you Mary for that feedback um we'll pass the motion so I move that the public hearing be closed the ordinance adopted on second and final reading and advertised according to law there second second roll call Council persons Roberts yes fala yes polii yes narski yes Browski public hearing on ordinance number 29-24 bur of saille County of middlex ordinance addressing parliamentary procedure during Council meetings this time I'll entertain uh comments yes Jim thank you mayor Jim Robinson from Parlin first I want to say I am so happy that the veterans are here because what we're going to talk about tonight is free speech and they are the folks responsible for our right to free speech I noticed you started the for me um not for the previous speaker I want to comment on the provisions of the ordinance that I believe are wrong and actually conflict with title 40 and actually um contradict what the burough attorney said at the last meeting the last portion of section one says the time limits are for the public hearings not for the public comment section on non-hearing items so which is it I'll remind everybody that the burrow lost a very costly lawsuit because the judge called a public hearing the mayor conducted on an ordinance of sham so I think we have to be very careful here we don't get ourselves in trouble so there is a distinction and that should be um addressed the section indicates that a resident can speak for up to three minutes in total that's new language in total then it says at the mayor's discretion a member of the public may be called up for a second or subsequent period of time and that no member of the Public's total time exceed 5 minutes so there's a 3 minute in total or 5 minute in total it says both so that should be clarified but the time limits should be the same for everyone not different for the friends or contributors that the mayor wants to call on because he has that discretion under this ordinance additional time shouldn't be at the mayor's discretion because you'd have to be Dopey to not know what would happen when the pilot was adopted for instance non-residents were called to speak first and more than once while residents were limited just once but let's get to the real point of this ordinance and that is to shut down the public it's no secret that some of you don't want to hear from the public and you want to conceal things from the people let's not forget this ordinance was Pro proposed because people spoke out about the transparency team that was elected using the secret dark money fund that raised $882,000 and we still don't know who the donors are we talked about the chairman of that dark money committee being appointed the mayor's chief of staff and that's why we're cutting the time that people are allowed to speak the mayor stopped Zoom participation in Council meetings you no longer answer questions at Council meetings and after residents subjected to the pilot that would give traml Crow a $65 billion Warehouse developer a tax break at our expense the mayor at that meeting referred to Residents as a-holes as Dopey people without lives then he called for an ordinance to further limit comment and it was assigned to councilman Bala who courageously I might add refused to move it thank you councilman the stated reason for shutting the people down was to shorten meetings at the last meeting you passed five ordinances you introduced three new ordinances you passed 34 resolutions you hired three employees you paid $7 million in bills you heard from the five or six people from Town Lake who are having serious problems in their neighborhood you went into executive session for 10es minutes to discuss tax appeals you heard from three other residents and it was all over by 8:15 an hour and 15 minutes so time is not the reason you're cutting off resident comment most meetings are often less than an hour there are many people here tonight so tonight's meeting might be an exception but the people want to be heard and that will take some time this meeting May last more than an hour but your actions brought them out so if you want to shorten meetings have people speak less don't shut down the Public's right to speak stop doing stupid stuff that will shorten the meeting we we'll all gladly stay home because some of us really do have lives and just to remind you what the public has spoken about at previous meetings Pilots drainage traffic streetlight outages preserving open space I spoke several times about Veterans Preference in affordable housing discounts on cable te cable bills for Seniors Helping the schools without with locating a school bus terminal preserving that lot in oak tree saving the Burrow's first burrow Hall Firehouse hiring an independent traffic consultant and religious land use attorney for the planning board application and things like that so I ask you to vote no on this ordinance there may be some Dopey people and some a-holes here tonight and as the meeting progresses we'll find out if they're on this side or that side of the railing I hope you will vote no and preserve the people's right to speak because what they have to say might not matter to you but it matters to them folks here spoke folks they're going to speak it matters and that's what you're elected to do to be answerable to the public thank you very much did I call you up did I call you up sit down pleas I can speak on I'll call you up are there other comments come on up Duffy thank you Mr Mayor welcome Council I just want to uh you state your name and address please uh no sir uh I'm going to continue as my time I'm remaining Anonymous uh so just to Echo some of the things yeah it's totally legal Mr Mayor um so just want to Echo some of the things that the last speaker said um for you guys to decide to even introduce this ordinance an ordinance to shave five minutes down to three minutes when members of the public only have once a month to redress their grievances with government are you kidding me what what a joke and the the fact that you have such disrespect Mr Mayor for your residence right and use such horrible horrible words you think people have no lives that's what you think keep looking down keep looking down people lives these are hardworking people these are residents trying to keep their head above water and they deserve to be treated with respect and they deserve to be heard is this even on is this microphone on they deserve to be heard Mr Mayor your words are hurtful they are not helpful they are hurtful and you should be ashamed for the way you speak I say it to myself uh the people who speak with no filter in that kind of manner especially in your position little children do it and really old people do it so maybe you just needed a nap that night Mr Mayor right I read your comments in the article that was putting out by my Central Jersey and you think that people have a platform to have a theatrical performance while people are watching on cable 11 viewers these are the statements you made you should be disgusted at the things you said and there is no reason why once a month people can't be heard for the five minutes not everybody even exhausts those 5 minutes okay and people have the right to be heard and you should be doing your job and what you're showing is a reflection of the fact that you don't give a about any of it oh no that's legal too that's legal too so Mr Mayor choose your words carefully the disrespect that you projected at your residence is garbage you're a garbage mayor for the things you said shame on you are there any other comments being no other comments oh Ken Ken Ken Ken I was very surprised when I walked in tonight that there wasn't a sign a-holes on the left don't be people with no lives on the right you've heard that from two speakers before and mayor it is disgusting as I've told you many times I've told most people have heard this I've been coming to council meeting since I was in high school and I can assure you it's a long time ago and if you look on these walls at the pictures of these Mayors I never heard anybody talk like that mayor I never heard anyone talk like that you have no respect for the people in this town you're an embarrassment to the office of the mayor you're an embarrassment to the people of town and you're embarrassment to everybody who said something there but let me let me get into what I really wanted to say democracy dies in darkness that's been said and from the actions that's gone on since January 1st it looks like the lights in here are getting very dim and it looks like you're trying to stab democracy in the heart and put the lights out and the people in sville I don't believe are going to stand for that let me tell you why I'm saying this on January first you took away the ability of people to participate in these meetings by Zoom that's very interesting it takes a lot of Courage you know who that hurts that hurts people who can't get out to meetings that generally hurts the old people that hurts people who can't come to the microphone and speak that was a very very disgusting decision to take away their rights and by the way by the way we have boards in this town that meet that way the rent leveling board meets virtually but you took that away for the council meetings number two you had police officers come here and escort citizens to the to their seat after five minutes not citizens that were out of order that did something unruly you just had police officers come and escort them to their seats I guess until there was such an outrage because I heard it from all over town how disgusting that was number three three uh then you came up with a scheme to refuse to answer questions from the public let me say it again to refuse to answer questions from the public this burrow was established in 1920 it's over a hundred years old I never heard of any Council that refused to answer questions from the public you say mayor if this is to conduct burrow business this is Bur business did you ever hear of democracy that's what people fought and died for democracy and part of democracy is participative government you should give people a medal that come here and want to participate in government and of course number four now you want to reduce the time that a Publican speak to three minutes which people have covered already it's just taking away more rights and harassing people and it's happened since January 1st so yeah the Dopey people uh with no lives are going to continue to come the a-holes are going to continue to come and we're going to let you know how wrong these things are and let me remind you the four of you that ran last year here part of your platform said you're going to promote transparency that puts an end to corruption and self-dealing well that's some way to promote trans transparency take away the people's rights to come here and speak and take away the rights for the people ask and for you to answer questions that sounds like most people would say that was a lie you people lied and there's four of you and by the way that's a quarum the mayor and the three councilman here that's that's a quarum and in closing I'd like to say mayor it's time that you put the big boy pants on and stop acting like a child up here and trying to take away from whatever and whoever you have something against and fight for the people of cille just do the right thing for the people of cille because cille now with your actions and it's not you it's the rest of these people it's these Council people who who say nothing and they sing the same song I I I I I uh it's very disheartening to see what's happened and I want you to think about getting the big boy P pants on and start acting like a real mayor like we have in other towns thank you very much Bob Bob Duffy 111 Meritt Avenue you can go to sleep mayor I want to talk to the council uh I don't know if you understand a few things number one if every Republican votes yes for you to be in those chairs you lose that's how many Democrats are in this town okay and I think you know that this ordinance you could put down and show people of serville you're here for them if it's two hours or 4 hours or two minutes you're here for the people of seril that's who puts you there where you sitting don't be a sheep be a council person and vote the right way I think it would be political suicide if you let this go through and I know a lot of people watching on that camera and they see the names faces and I don't think you'll be here next year so just do the right thing for the people of servvo thank you thanks bobone out any other comments yes I want to talk to you Anthony you have to face the governing body oh sure sure I don't mean to turn my back the mayor has asked me to my name is Anthony spado you may not know me mayor O'Brien it's the last time I'll probably speak to you directly we have an 8-year-old at home and oh I'm sorry I was actually going to speak about the flag but I'd like to speak about the the three-minute ordinance the importance of public comment in this arena is that folks can come and say things like thank you for your service folks can come into this Arena and say things like I'm so sorry that you were put into a position where it has become an US versus them that is not what America is it's not what these men and women serve for it's not what men and women died for when my son go goes to the store every single time he sees a veteran the door is opened there is a thank you for your service every time we interact with a teacher there is a thank you for your service because people in this country are not owed more than they have earned I have said that for years at this podium in this room and on that side of the day when I have been privileged enough to serve the people of this burrow I will tell you this is not the right move to limit public comments public comments like this with a ticker above you allow people the space to say I would never ever have never would never advocate for the pride flag to fly higher than or on the same flag pole as the flag that represents the men and women who have served our nation never I have never done it I would never do it and it has never been done in this burough nor would it ever be done so let us get the facts straight this evening that has never been done and I know that because I've been in that fight in this burrow in this room for years and it was settled so public comment and the time that is afforded to Residents to thank people who have served is more important now than ever before and my apologies are extended to the veterans who are in this room who feel at a polar opposite end of a conversation that should never have made them feel that way I have never done that to one of the people who has served our nation and never would so do not conflate the issues when we allow public comments this is our opportunity to correct the record the record that does not seem important to some of the folks on this day so I will yield my remaining two and a half minutes with the utmost gratitude for the men women who have fought died and continue to serve with pride honor integrity and dignity for families like mine who for years could not serve in the military openly but who were desperate to who were desperate to defend democracy thank you to the men and women who are here for showing up I will hear you and defend your rights to be seen and heard and respected every single day I have the privilege of being an American in this burrow are there any other comments Danley mayor just have a quick comment having been uh sitting up here as both a Republican and Democrat councilman uh I I really do believe there has to be some tightening up because uh I watched some of the uh Council meetings the last two years and it looked like a clown show to be honest you know the people coming in and doing the theater accusing the burrow of killing people the guy dressed like a wrestler and I mean it was a joke everybody laughed about it but uh having said that I I really I'm not sure I haven't really thought about how you should tighten it up but uh the one thing I I think we should do is keep the five minute limit because sometimes techical things come up that I I think have to be explained I'm not saying that it should be like a free-for-all but I think the 5 minute limit was pretty good and the other thing is I really wish you would bring back the uh Zoom um even if you have to control it somehow because I I because there's some health issues related to my service I can't come to summ of the meetings sometimes and I'm not the only one some people really uh would like to um I I recommending holding on a Saturday when I was as a councilman maybe once every couple of months uh people work in the city don't get back that type of thing again I I I understand the control I really think you really should do something to control the circus but I think the five minute limit is pretty good uh three gets tight on technical issues and uh again reconsider maybe Zoom somehow controlled maybe pre-register I'm not sure thank you are there any other comments are there any yes Mary one Scarlet Drive did you get that um I'm not gonna go over everything what Stanley said ditto I honestly think we should try to stick with what we had before I think that uh we Pro we could tighten up we were getting a little bit totally out of control as Don and I will attest to we and of course the girls that still had to go home and get their kids ready for school in the morning so it did need tightening up but I really would love to see the people on Zoom get to ask questions again I'd like the people here to ask questions again I'd like to stick with the five minute limit and stick with it I mean don't let people talk for 20 minutes make them sit down and have somebody else come up I and I've NE I'm going to do something I've never done before but this quote came to my attention and I said it is so apropo it is a quote from Thomas Payne he's one of the founding fathers quote a body of men holding themselves accountable to nobody ought not be trusted by anybody so please be accountable to the people in town and let them have their say thank you hey uh Vin kti for Yorkshire hi folks Council mayor um so you know when I was up on Council one of the things that I always did was I listened to the people right I that was my thing I listen to them and then I make my decision after I hear from the people um did that a couple of times on a few key issues that we had because that's who voted for me the people of this town so if I didn't listen to the people wasn't doing my job you know my job isn't to go up there and just say no this is exactly what I want because it's my decision no I want to make the decision on behalf of the residents and what I hear from the people what I see from them is that you're creating such a divide amongst the community and that's I know that's not what you want but you've got to do a better job you know you're shortening we used to laugh at the board of ed because it was three minutes oh my God three minutes you know we have five um and now we want to we want to mirror theirs and go to three um which you know people can get that point across I think you guys can do I think you probably are doing a better job tightening up the meetings right we know we were there for hours and hours but that was a different situation I think that that won't happen with with you running the show up here um I don't think you have to even take it that far you're taking away residents opportunity I mean shoot if you have two meetings of month somebody can come up here for 10 minutes and speak to the council for 10 minutes over the course of a month I mean that's not a long time so now you want to make it six and so you're creating a divide here we're we're I hear it in the room people talking amongst each other you know and saying not nice things to each other and there was a you know those comments that are going around the Dopey people no lives the a-holes and Stu what is this I mean it's just not you got to look at yourself and you got to figure out what am I doing wrong what am I doing because something's going wrong you got a lot of hatred you got some support but you got a lot of hatred as well and the hatred is is going amongst the residents and not really just oh the council the councel because I I like you Mike I like you Donna John and I know you guys better than the others so you know there's not that but you're creating this divide amongst the people listen to it I hear it you know people what what did you say what what do you got that's not good and then that take it they take that out onto the streets and then they have this situation where people start not liking each other around town and that's not what you're looking to do you guys should bring people together do things to bring them together and when you've got something that you want to do maybe I don't know find the happy medium the meetings last time around with the old mayor four hours five hours but they don't have to be 42 seconds you know it doesn't have okay get in out let's conduct some business here again once or twice a month and it I know the meetings much shorter I know you you guys are moving things along which is good Jim uh Jim said it last one was hour and 15 minutes for a slew of things that you had to accomplish that's good that's good and they're never going to get to that point because I know there's no more theatrics and you don't entertain that which is which is fine so you got it under control so to speak the people that speak out here they've got a ton of experience within the borrow List have them list the the positions that they've held around town I mean it's impressive they know their stuff so if they take the five minutes and they and they want to talk about it and Enlighten people they do speak on behalf of other people as well you know you cut off the zoom which which I don't you know particularly care for it's 2024 everything's on Zoom I mean I have 12 Zoom calls a day uh so to take that off and take the ability away from those people who can't get out or just really don't want to come in at night and and whatever I just I don't I don't like so you're creating a divide and this one here is just one of the other things did do you need to go from five to three you know I mean I don't know it's just really um unless there a unless you've heard from all the people and if you say there's 11 people out there or there's four people watching well then who's saying it's too long who's saying the five minutes is too long I don't nobody for that matter maybe you guys and maybe you want to silence some of the people that you know talk a lot but just listen to the people and if they're not saying that then why why put yourself In Harm's Way with the with the fight and drop something down to 3 minutes from five anyway thanks thank you V are there any other comments yes Evelyn Smith 124 Kendall Drive I've been here for 60 years um one of the first things that I want to say is and and this will make you put your head down and not pay attention to me again just like you've been doing for every other speaker that come up here you have no respect for anyone it's your job you were elected to listen to the people and you do have to to answer our questions the president of the United States has to answer questions you sure is hell ain't better than him okay so there's no reason to the one of the first things that they did in Germany in the 30s was to shut the people up and that's exactly what you people are doing you are telling us we are not allowed to talk about anything and God forbid we have a question you're never going to get an answer CU you don't want to have to you know um take it a a stand on anything you don't want to have to cover your rear end okay now Kennedy you and I have known each other for a long time okay I supported you when you first ran 20 some years ago okay we got along when I was doing Girl Scouts and everything else okay I don't know you I do not know you you are not that person anymore I don't know if you had a stroke or if somebody came and you know little uh orange person talked in your ear or something but um you you are not the person that you were and I do not like you now you are hurting this town absolutely hurting them we have the right to speak we have the right to ask questions and to get answers on those questions okay we are the ones who pay for all of this okay my taxes pay for what's going on here and for the zoom that you took AA and everything and everything else it's it's wrong like I said you know the first thing the first thing to dictatorship is to silence the people and you've already pretty much alluded to wanting to be completely in control you've said it it's been in print okay that you don't want to have to answer to anyone you want it to go be your way and your way only and that's wrong this is the United States of America and you people fought for mine and their right to get up here and speak and to ask questions and to get answers this is what freedom is that's what you fought for it's what you just you got rid of the Nazis for okay because you wanted to have free speech in our country and you wanted to have responsible government and right now we don't have responsible government so think about it you really really should go home and and look inside and say why do people hate me all of a sudden you know especially me like I said you know me we were friends back then and I don't know you anymore you are not the man that that I knew back then I don't know what happened I'm very sorry that you're not because the Kennedy I knew was a good man and I can't say that anymore thank you are there any other comments yes in the back yes my name is pradep Dara I live on a one page Terrace in a Town Lake I'm going to cut it very short this 5 minute 3 minute issue I think that you guys are in a public service and when you I mean right now you do not have a time but when you want a vote you hang out with us for four five hours you know that I mean you cannot deny that right and now you do not have a time if you do not have a time you do not have a patient to listen us then I think that somebody else should be in this chair that's all I want to say are there any other comments are there any other comments being no other comments I'll entertain a motion um mayor I just want to say something about this ordinance I think we've mirrored it to close the public I'm sorry I make a motion to close the public portion there a second roll call Council person's Roberts yes Bala yes kisi yes sinari yes zabowski yes Donna your comments yes and well I do know that we needed to control what was going on in the meetings and and have boundaries and we mirrored after after the school system and I also know that I've talked to you directly about being able to adjust this moving forward um but I think this is a first step we are going to take and I will be um move that the public hearing be closed the ordinance adopted on second and final reading and advertised according to law okay roll call oh second second roll call Council person's Roberts yes valala no kisi yes sinari yes zi can I say anything go ahead wa wait did we finish the roll call did we finish the roll call no no is is it your turn to vote Yes oh I'm sorry go ahead yes go ahead samley when I signed up for this I am still the same guy that I was campaigning last year and I vote from my heart I really do and if I felt that there's something wrong or if I felt there was improper times the time could be adjusted for anybody we've we've said that I'm I if I lose my votes because of this then I'm not meant to be here but I'm still an honest Street shooter that's all I can tell you all right any other comments all right very very quickly very very quickly I I learned 20 odd years ago from really a former counsilman named Jeff palowski who who had a habit of saying these are living documents meaning that they're changeable um what we needed to do or what I'm trying to do this term is to bring sville more into 2024 uh and by that you know if you want to display you lack manners go right ahead it when you wonder why I lose uh patience with people it's really bad manners coming up here I've sat here this is my 21st year um but long story short what what I'm trying to do is Monday through Friday 8 to 4 I have a full staff of people that are here to answer any and all questions in every imaginable department and that's where I'm trying to drive the questions what I'm trying to eliminate is I started coming to meetings around 1990 and at that time this was kind of for entertainment purposes and it was always a game of gotcha gotcha gotcha and uh it was before cable TV it was before the internet and you get a big crowd here and it was always about gotcha we need to move forward it can't be about gotcha it's got to be about the borrow what I've seen since four uh from four years ago till today is we had probably the largest tax increase in education in in in my time in the burrow and there wasn't any complaint people wanted the Improvement now the board of education has has a three-minute period I'm not I'm not not going to answer people but I don't have any intention of staying here a as people did for the last four years to be entertained I don't need to come here for entertainment I'm here to run a small service business there's several hundred people that work for the borrow and you can call them Monday through Friday 8: to 4: and ask the questions and they'll get back to you uh they'll either have the question when you call or they will find the answer and call you back that is what I'm driving for is that we have a modern customer service because the residents are essentially uh the customers and the burrow provides the service the first service is that we want to make sure that our police fire in first aid have their proper equipment and are properly trained so that they can Serve and Protect uh then then you go through the whole mirid of services the job of the of the governing body is to try to provide these services at a reasonable cost that's what we do up here that's what these two meetings a month are about trying to run a small service business um that provides uh all all the things that you get for your tax dollar that being said if anybody feels that anything being done up here is illegal I urge them to go to the prosecutor to go to the police department and file a complaint file a charge let them investigate um I welcome it I don't have any problem I've been doing this for $111 this is my 21st year for $111 three years prior to that I did it for $100 a week as a councilman I'm not here for the money I happen to like and love our town and I have tried to serve Faithfully now change is difficult and there is a a group of people that are not comfortable with change and they want to keep this thing to be a bit of a circus a bit of an entertainment venue a bit of a platform where they can get up and they can play gotu and I'm not going to permit that my whole thing if I can't bring us into the 20 uh into 2024 then what's the point of all this then we can just remain in the 80s and a lot of us will be gone and the new people that are coming in who are demanding great service uh Service uh demands of service that I've never seen before in this burrow and they don't want to wait 30 or 40 or 50 years to get a new road and they don't want roads to be political rewards for loyalty they they want something that makes sense when I left office it used to be you could look on on the internet and you could see uh a list of rows worst to best so you kind of knew where you were going to go we spent years doing 13 streets a year we have 600 streets we have some issues I'm trying to get a solution for so between the road the roads are a big thing uh and I'm trying and that's the purpose of the pilot is to do these improvements with pilot money rather than and raising everybody's tax it's not a difficult thing I've had long talks with mayor McCormack in Woodbridge that's got an awful lot of Pilots going and that's exactly what he does with them so that being said if if people may disagree with me I'm used to it I've been doing this almost a quarter of a century one of the people that got up the last time that person was here at the end of the meeting they give me the Nazi salute I have a family have children I have grandchildren and they tell me I'm rude crude ill bred I I beg to differ with that there are people here that justly deserve those words I used the last time if anybody is that uh super sensitive that woke that that I'm supposed to take uh abuse and and I'm not supposed to give it back to you you're mistaken I I'm 70 years old now and and I feel that I've done the right things for for a long period of time and I continue to be here for the right reasons and what I'm seeing is a group of people that don't like what I'm doing because it's Chang and they no longer have an entertainment stage to perform on that being said East Brunswick does three minutes the city of Chicago does three minutes the city of New York does three minutes and it's for comments Monday through Friday eight to 8 to four is is for questions and I urge you and and we're trying to make the website a little bit more intuitive so that when you do have a question you get right to the person that can get you the answer we're we're not really equipped up here to do all this customer service that's why we want to listen to your comments and not get bogged down with uh a customer service where one question leads to another most people Ed to treat this as as a courtroom where they where they thought they could do a cross-examination I'm trying to stop that it served no practical or productive purpose so uh if I am a little bit short I'm uh in in in the way I deal with people it's because I'm getting old I am old and I'm TR and and as I say to particularly people in their 40s and the 50s I said I'm the past and the present I'm just trying to get this ready for when you are able when your kids are out of college so that when you take over you you're not you're not dealing with a a town that's destroyed you're dealing with a town that's on firm Financial footing whose infrastructure sound I I don't think you guys realize everything the town provides our water and sewer department the pipes are aging it's going to cost me a fort it's going to cost us a fortune to to repair that so that everybody has fresh water and they get the sewage carried away I have to work on that what I don't want to do is have my time wasted watching somebody playing gotcha with me I find that so irritating it's I'm not here to play gotcha with so that being said when you look at what we do up here this is the least important thing of what we do because we're setting it up for professional customer service we have a first class professional Workforce here that are that are only happy to help you answer your questions if that's not enough I mean we we can look at this because it is a living document but because you want more time to do whatever it is that you want to do I don't really have the time because I got to find ways to pay for our infrastructure and to get that done um so I'm sorry for those that I have disappointed it wasn't my my intent I'm not sorry to those that are constantly rude and Ill bred and feel it's a uh a Town Sport to call the mayor's name or to come here and be disruptive but you know son you're either going to keep quiet or you will be asked to leave all right whatever your name is wherever you live it's of no importance to me because I'm here for the people of s that being said I I ask those I ask for your indulgences in that we're trying to bring us into 2024 so that being said the next order of business the following ordinances ordinance number 31-24 burrow of saille County of middle sex and ordinance establishing the flag display policy for the burrow of saille County of middlex state of New Jersey with with that I'll open the oh that's first reading I'm sorry I move the ordinance to be approved on first reading advertis according to law and public hearing be held on 7:15 2024 second roll call Council person's Vala yes polii yes Roberts yes zarski yes zabowski ordinance number 32-24 and ordinance to supplement chapter 26 of the municipal C code entitled Land Development to make modifications pursuant to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection model storm water Control Ordinance uh councilman Ki I move the ordinance be approved on first reading advertised according to law and a public hearing to be held on July 15th is there a second second roll call Council person's kisy yes fala yes Roberts yes zarski yes zabowski ordinance number 33-24 ordinance of the bur of saille County of middle sex New Jersey authorizing the execution of a financial agreement by and between the borrow and 1970 New Jersey Route 35 urban renewal LLC pursuant to the long-term tax exemption law and JSA 48 20-1 at SEC uh councilman Bala um I'll that mayor I move the ordinance be approved on first reading advertised according to law and a public hearing be held on July 15th second roll call Council person's Roberts yes ala no poliisi yes yes sari yes zabowski okay at this time I'm going to open the we could yeah this time I'm going to open the public portion for any any comments on the consent agenda are there any questions being no questions I'll entertain a motion to close the public portion to approve the resolutions I move the consent agenda items be I'm sorry I'm sorry the next I move move the um public hearing be closed and the consent agenda resolutions be approved on roll call vote second roll call Council person's Roberts yes Sala yes poliisi yes zarski yes zabowski need a motion to accept the corespondence as listed on the agenda moved second ahead she did I did okay roll call Council person's Roberts yes Bala yes kisi yes zarski yes Z yes mayor and Council reports okay administration of Finance councilman Bala thank you mayor just progress mayor thank you planning and zoning councilman zabowski thank you mayor uh I just wanted to recognize a couple of groups that uh in our community that did some really wonderful things over the weekend uh you'll know that our First Responders took part in a charity softball team a South ball game I think the Board of Ed or some of our teachers were there as well and also some of our uh young ball players uh it was on behalf of rooting for Riley it was really a wonderful event the second one was that it took place at the same time was arriv with friends our own uh Fred block was involved in that and that was really a bunch a big group of uh motorcyclists of fishing AOS and and people in their cars and they actually went to each of the houses of those in our community that were afflicted by certain medical conditions as well to lift their Spirits so really wonderful things that took place on the weekend Sarah uh met last Thursday uh we had a general uh discussion on um the master plan reexamination uh with an idea of looking at zoning and how the uh sah can kind of holistically look at things and make recommendations for that report uh the planning board is uh is meeting this Wednesday at 7:30 it meeting will be taking place at the Active adults center that is a continuation of our mosque application and then finally the board I'm sorry the board of adjustment will be meeting next Wednesday June 26 mayor that's my report thank you uh Public Safety and Public Works uh councilman kesi okay uh first with Public Safety is a progress mayor okay then with u Public Works um so the roads division is uh currently working on the storm water drainage pipe over at the club Pure they're uh waiting on now they're waiting on the pricing to remove that concrete blockage that's there Eric Court same thing with the storm water drainage pipe so that's actually creating sink holes in that yard right there so and they they're currently waiting on a price to fix that the parks um is progress they set the stages in Kennedy Park uh for uh the Eid services and the school for the uh graduation high school graduation and uh they already started prepping uh Kennedy Park for the Fourth of July event and the uh what else and that's it and we have some new signage coming into the parks that are needed and other than that progress thank you councilman Recreation councilman sari thank you mayor uh Recreation Department is in full swing our Independence Day celebration it's going to be June 29 9th at uh Kennedy Park there's going to be a lot of activities for everybody with all ages got face painting Inflatables 15 food trucks live music live you know live band's going to be there all day it's going to be a good day at Kennedy Park uh parks of recreation month is in July so July they have a cal Recreation be hosting the free scavenger font hunt and there'll be a lot of information on the website for the parks department other than that progress thank you thank you councilman water and seore environmental council president thank you mayor attended the recent environmental meeting I don't think we're going to meet again for the summer but the garden is open and running well and they'll have their subcommittee meetings um and I just want to say the um moving into the next Century I was um honored to be at a um seminar in data bricks Ai and bi artificial intelligence business intelligence and the presentation was by the County of Los Angeles they are struggling with being able to provide service in technology just like anyone else so we're going to look forward to some of those new technologies to come our way after those who have the big Deep Pockets shake it out first so I'm looking forward to that it was a very interesting um seminar so progress thank you uh with that we'll got a general discussion on agenda items uh Glenn authorization to issue recer licenses to the following Steve's Towing and transportation at 3340 Washington Road and thrust performance LLC 928 Highway 9 in South Amboy any opposition next item authorization to renew CAD system maintenance contract with QED through NJ State contract in an amount not to exceed $33,860 any disagreement next item authorization the purchase one 2024 Chevy Silverado from Lucas chevolet through a non-fair and open process in an amount not to exceed 44,000 any objection requests received to hold a block party from the following residents of Cleveland AB on June 29th from 11:00 a.m. to 11: p.m. and residents of Ridge AB in milon Road on July 27th from 1: p.m. to 10: p.m. any objection next item authorization to award a contract for the repair of an eagle sweeper to we Timberman through sourcewell contract in an estimated amount of $42,988 5 any objection next item authorization to appoint Marissa Barbary from clerk 1 parttime in the municipal court to clerk 1 fulltime and the wood and sore Department effective July 1st 2024 any objection next item authorization to appoint Alyssa Ansley is custodian in parttime in the Department of Public Works effective June 18th 2024 next oh Denise authorization to amend the 2024 local Municipal budget for the following clean communities Grant in the amount of $3,960 37 and also Parlin section one Redevelopment Community benefit in the amount of $1 million thank you Mr Mayor thank you Denise uh Jay thank you mayor just one item the Riverton project is looking for a reduction of their performance bonds to reflect the work that's been completed to date so we're looking for a resolution we'll have a report regarding the total amounts to be reduced at the next meeting thank you Jay could you also give us an update on the inspection for uh the old burrow Hall next door where you're at in it the environmental inspection has been completed I'm waiting for the report I should have that this week and the structural inspection is in progress and when do you think uh it'll it'll be I won't hold you to it but what's your best guesstimate on it should be the first week of July we should have everything complete okay thank you and Glenn will we have enough time to get it on the um uh on the ballot yes as long as we do it at the next meeting we'll be said okay thank you uh borrow attorney's report uh no report mayor but we will certainly look at the environmental commission ordinance that was raised earlier okay thank you okay so with that we're going to go to the public portion and comments can be made on any and all issues uh there is a five minute limit uh are there any comments to be made yes sir in the back good evening mayor good evening Council my name is Chris canella um I'm not a resident here I live up in Bergen County um I was invited to come speak today by my friend Anthony who uh whose husband is an educator I am the chair of nj's sexual orientation and gender identity committee um and I'm here to speak about the flag ordinance and um the uh I do a lot of work in education around lgbtq issues advocating for our students for our members and um some of the things that I've seen over the last two years as these issues have come to the Forefront uh you know kind of the culture wars and and our lgbtqia folks being on the Forefront of that is that our students are um you know kind of in the crosshairs and they're they're not feeling as safe as they did a couple years ago when all eyes weren't on them um so what I see is you know bodies like this making decisions about you know lgbtqia folks and which I happen to be one of them and it's impacting our students and there's data out there and I'm not going to go through it because I only get you know five minutes um and I just want to ask this Council to please reconsider the motion I think what you had in place the recognition of lgbtq by people is important particularly our young people um and you know the students that I interact with they see what's going on um in in the town that I teach in we they just had a discussion and and they weren't going to put the flag up they put the flag up and I had several students say thank you for bringing this issue up because now we feel seen and now we feel heard so another thing I want to do is one thank all of the veterans here for coming um and I want to share a bit of a story um you see my uncle uh my uncles were veterans they actually served in World War II and I remember growing up and I had my Uncle Frank and my Uncle Al um and they both passed away they you know advanced in age they obviously served in World War II and I always thought that my Uncle Frank and my Uncle Al that they were brothers okay and both of them served in World War II they they fought for this country but it wasn't until almost 50 years when you know my Uncle Al and Uncle Frank they were living together and you know again I really I thought they were related but they weren't in actuality they were partners and my family never talked about it okay maybe that could have contribute why I didn't come out until I was 29 year old 29 years old because we had my uncle and his partner who were together for 50 years but we never recognized it we never had had that conversation in my family they were in the closet okay and I understand that some folks you know have issues with who we are or what we do okay but in the end if you folks like you continue to shove our lgbtqia people back in the closet because that's what you're doing look the cat's added a bag couple years ago your body said yes we're going to fly his flag we're going to display it out there okay and we're going to we're going to show our community that we support our lgbtq people and I'll tell you the one who's who the ones who this impact the most are the kids it's the kids it's the students that I teach for 25 years okay it's the students that go home they're the ones that impacted not me I'm approaching 50 years old I have a tough skin I've been called many names names just like you mayor we we all get it okay so I'm asking please don't make us go back in the closet my uncle was there for 50 years I did not acknowledge the fact that my uncle was in a relationship with another man until he had died I'll tell you what my father loved his brother he loved his brother and I did not come out until my father died and I never told him that and now what these actions tell people and they tell our youth is that you need to go back in the closet because it's not fair you need to go back in the closet because who you are and how you act makes some people uncomfortable but my uncle wasn't uncomfortable when he went over and served under General Patton in Italy and fought for our people and our rights to have free expression and to exist please please fly that flag and don't pass that ordinance young man if I may you may if if you would there's no there's no comment and as far as I know the borrow of saille has no issues with what the pride plag pride flag stands for what what we're here to about tonight is not that you can't fly it the question is where are we putting it up that was that was the issue now the ve this has been a monument to our veterans for a very long time as you know one of the things that that a lot of people miss when it comes to local government or state government is what you do for one person you have to do for everyone so this is the Dilemma that we face so the uh what what I did I said there must be a list of of approved flags and sure enough if you go to Google you can find about anything um so this is this is this is really what has been brought to me the um oh jesz the amount of approved Flags um wait a minute on on the um where did Zach put that H okay um I think I left in my office 74 approved monthly there's 74 approved monthly Flags now from some of the conversations I've had with people they've asked me well what about this flag and I said I don't think it's on the list well what do I have to do to put it on the list and I'm going you know this this is my instinct is saying this is this is going to be more divisive than unifying because just let's take the pride flag in the month of June which is is the month for for the pride um I have uh June 14th is Flag Day June 19th is juneth the third uh Sunday in June is Father's Day which gets a flag um I'm sorry there are 64 annual days where where that get a flag there are 20 Ann there are 20 special weeks that get a flag and there as Glenn said there's 57 special months that get a flag I don't have the resources to I I would have to hire somebody full or part-time to keep track of the flags I I appointed an ad an ad hoc Committee of residents AC crosssection of our residents I said this is something I need a policy on so they met they studied they talked this is a lot of work because as I fly the pride flag I have to fly practically every flag my my my first instinct is I really don't want to be in the flag business because it's going to be cumbersome and I'm going to only make people unhappy because somebody else's flag went up there there there were Six Flags in a month and there's only four weeks it it it's a is a it's a recipe for unhappiness because nobody's going to be happy because there are so many just on the presidential list I I'd have to hire uh somebody just to keep track of this so it's not it's not has nothing to do with with what Pride represents has nothing to do with anything and if you know anything about SVO we take our kids very seriously we protect our kids and and and we protect all our kids all our kids if if you understand what I'm saying every single one of them on on on 911 a parent or a guardian escorted 6,000 children to their home to a to a parent or Guardian 6,000 so we really care a great deal about our kids and we would do nothing to hurt our kids but on the same token I got this this problem and that's just presidential you always have people that say well I may not be presidential I may not be on a Governor's list but I want my flag flown and then it's a question well what what you know what what are we going to do so all this ordinance says is the front of burl Hall is for the veterans it's for the American flag and the veterans that's all it's for no one else and that's the least we can do to the people that gave us everything we have all right and as long as I'm mayor I will fight for that because without them I would have nothing my family would have nothing and Lord knows what are what shape we our country would be in nothing with with the pride nothing with any of the other flags but it's a lot of work if we go into the flag business so we we we had a flag poll and we said all right we don't you know we're not going to put it in the front out of respect and honor to our veterans but we will we will keep the commitment and fly the flag so this whole disagreement isn't about whether we're going to fly the the pride flag this whole disagreement is where and I can't help you and fly it in front of the burrow I won't do that and and you need to know that there there are a lot of things I can I can accommodate people on I can't accommodate you on this there's nothing that you can say or do that's going to make me betray the gentlemen and the ladies that are sitting here and those that lie under the flag I'm just not going to do it and the and the vast majority of people in CVO are not going to do it has nothing to to do with with pride or what it stands for has everything to do with what they gave and and so that that's where we are it's not that we're not flying your flag the disagreement is on where and I'm eliminating the front of bur Hall if I can since you directed me so um I I've never heard of a Father's Day flag however I don't believe that any father has ever had to come out of the closet well actually you're missing the point so you know you you you you addressed me so I thinke I I'd like to address um um and the issue is again not that you're not flying the flag not that you're doing it it's that you undid something that was passed previously and the Optics of it and the viewing of it is that you don't value those people as much and now maybe you want to come up with a a a great idea and a great place you want to you want to go out there and you know build a flag Poole that's not hidden over there in in in the weeds okay I I think that's a great idea but that's not what you're doing okay and and from and just you know I did live in sval by the way for a year my first year teaching pretty cool town I actually like it I stop here often so I it's it's the message okay it's the message it's the way it's been done and um yeah there are a lot of other flags okay yeah but a lot of those other flags are also attached to many other political meanings the lgbtq flag is not and that is often what is misunderstood so I appreciate the dialogue and you know I do have to drive back up to County plus I'd like to give some other people a chance to speak thank you man I get that any other comments yes ma'am hi my name's Carol Angley 27 Ash terce Carol can you can you pull that microphone closer is that better yeah okay I only have a few things to say you mentioned earlier about how we were dis respecting you with our comments with our noises with our sounds um it all started with you and your comments from the April 29th meeting this young man's wh he's not there um his comments were in reaction to that he was insulted by you and your comments that's one thing I wanted to say second thing you want to bring us into 20204 why did you get rid of Zoom I'm done Bill uh thank you mayor uh Bill Henry Orchard Street um mayor um I want to start out saying that you have really no respect for the children in town here uh of cille you took away $150 million through that pilot program that you passed uh uh two months ago to the children of Sahl um you're willing to give and he said you're not going to give them bags of money but you're willing to give bags of money to u a multi-billion dollar company that can really afford that the extra money that would have cost to build those warehouses down there and now you're making a mockery of flying uh the pride flag where no one can see it you have children of seral quite ing themselves about their sexuality and saying the mayor has no empathy or understanding of me or the gay community you have a seveners committee deciding where the flag should be displayed the committee should have recommended not to put the flag up at all and um and embarrass the lgbtq community where they have placed it and I hope the next time you want to take $150 million from the children of cille and have a from you have a seveners committee review the pilot as council member zabowski has recommended that's all I wanted to say and the Fly could possibly be put out in one of these telephone poles out here it doesn't have to be right in front of the U one your is these gentlemen right here I'm saying it doesn't have to be in front of the bar Hall I'm saying on a telephone gent right here I'm saying onh and ask these gentlemen right here would you want the flag to be put on a t you don't want the flag at all in town is that what you're saying then where do you want to say he's asking me to ask you where do you want to put it then well I'm saying I said telephone mayor you the mayor created I'm saying a telephone I'm not saying created scaming back there why would you make that yeah unbelievable mayor the where you put the flag was a disgrace I'm saying to find a better place to put it maybe even Kenny Park whatever but back there behind all the trees and what not is a terrible spot for that flag it's what we had I'm sorry I didn't hear what it was it was a choice by default because it's what we had but um I would suggest that you um find a better spot for the flag and not suggesting that it' be out in front of barrel Hall thank you okay are there any other comments yes Anthony I called I called the new person behind you I couldn't hear you because I called the new person behind you I called someone behind you where' you call hi my name is vender Das and I live in U uh Town Lake West Community I'm also the uh h president for Town Lake West and I'm here with some of my uh neighbors and the HOA board members uh to address some of the issues that we are facing for last several years but they haven't really received any uh response from the from the town or any help in resolving some of the issues uh can I just see the hands up for people who are here from Town Lake so these these are the people who are directly impacted with what's going on around town lake with the uh new development of these Kaplan buildings around us as well as the previous building that is already there for last several years the apartments the biggest problem right now we have is in the entire Community where we have close to 100 homes there's not a single sign speeding sign of Transportation sign says slow down speed limits watch for children not a single sign from the Township in the entire community and I've sent letters to the transportation department last year and people before me on the board also have sent it but no response nobody ever responded to us and never got any answers uh right so let's deal with it one at a time would you give this gentleman um a way a way to contact Glen we've been dealing with the HOA on these issues just not this goad if you would yeah just s s aware I I don't remember everybody's name but there was a pretty large part of your constituency here at a previous meeting I I remember Mr Shaw leaps off the top of my he's also here is he here yeah but I'm talking as a no I I understand but just to to get you updated the police department is addressing the wisneski drive parking they're doing the study on that takes a couple of weeks to get that done and then there'll be improved signage and more than likely an enabling ordinance to address your parking we're in the process of addressing the VIS uh uh the possibility of planting trees in the hoa's common space I'm still waiting for a diagram from you guys indicating where that is on the HOA common property so we could start working on that project okay there are speed signs ordered uh that were requested by again I can't remember who in terms of the radar signs so we we are actually actively engaged in at least those three topics that are specific to your part of the community so we as residents we try to organize people to come up front and talk about their problems so we have a here a petition signed by 100 people who live in the community who have concerns and problem relating to parking and privacy issues and speeding issues uh as I understand one of the uh I think it's ordinance in New York and in sville says that no commercial parking on public streets but if you go on winoski after 5:00 you have you have trucks you have commercial Vans you have boats you have cranes and bobcats parked outside and people park in front of other people or the Town Lake Community homes and people living around that area they have no option but to put the garbage trucks or put a a basketball hoop or something to distract these people from par in front of their homes and they even make u-turns from the parking you know from the uh driveways so you know it's going that's being dealt with no it just it just doesn't you you can't make a complaint today most of the done particularly there are all kinds of laws that govern public streets and and you have to go through a process which we're going through I've driven after the last meeting I've driven through down wases drive and and to get a better idea I know Stanley sash spent an awful lot of time down there working on it and as did our business administrator so your community is absolutely not being ignored it's just that the things we need to do are not overnight we don't we don't have that ability to to um address it overnight we're addressing it but action take we have to make sure that we're within legal rights we understand but again it's not an overnight issue it's been going on for last 5 six years you know um I'm on the board for last four years people before me on the board they try to contact the city hall and try to get some you know uh resolution to this problem but nothing has happened so it's not an overnight problem Happ yeah so hopefully in near future we'll have some resolution according to you and people here and uh so again like I said you know this is one of the biggest concern we have in this community and we as seriously and we're addressing it if you like we'll we'll try to get you a more timely update probably some of the some of this happens because you were here uh or people from your community were here two weeks ago at which started the process and again I went there the ba went there councilman sonari spent an awful a lot of time there right um so we're active we're involved in in wisnoski drive and and your community um it's just takes time to effectuate change okay so I accept that part and um we'll keep track of it and hopefully we get some resolution in the near future okay U Mr Mr Merck I have the floor for a minute yes go ahead I was just there today I was at 22 and 20 with neski Drive I banged on the doors there was no answer I walked around the back to where the dit is I want to see for myself how the water table is how high the water is I did notice that there was some debris in the ditch that's back there I talked to Jay earlier and and it's supposed to be the hoa's responsibility to have that ditch maintained so if you could tell me who the HOA guys or you could tell him that the ditch has to be maintained as far as the water being blocked by trees and debris and garbage in that cul so that's one first start and I I am concerned about this in the first we heard about this what I heard about it was last month's meeting after the meeting even at night I went to there with and I spoke to all the residents there and I spent time with them but I couldn't go behind the fence at that time but I was there actually today just so I'm not forgetting about this we're going to try to do whatever we can do for you okay great appreciate that you know as long as you guys understand the community's issues and problems you know that we face you know privacy obviously everybody wants to have a privacy and you buy these homes you know I'm a 30-year resident of sville so you buy these homes you want to have some privacy you have some spot in front of your house then you say okay maybe my guest will come or I have second car I can park there but you come home and then you see there's a truck parked in front of you and doesn't move for two days or whatever you know this is not where I want to live or this is not what I want have those issues in other parts of town so you know thank you for your attention and I hope that in near future we'll have some resolution to this okay thank you thank you Anthony I rise today to talk about courage and doing what's right four years can we restart thr right thank you I appreciate that so we're talking about courage and doing what is right the four years that I have spent fighting for the pride flag to fry to fly in front of this building underneath the American flag but very much a part of the principles for which it stands that scared me and beyond words sometimes but I showed up I showed my heart and I earned the bipartisan votes to fly the pride flag at the burrow hall building I learned what bravery was from people with real courage you know honestly sir I really really want to commend your bravery and I'm a pastor and I'm excited to vote Yes and I'm proudly to say yes because on behalf of God he represents everyone on the face of the planet is a choice matter and I'm glad that she came up here and I'm super excited once again on the record to vote Yes and I don't have any hesitation was saying this in front of my congregation thank you so much and also greet your son Gabriel for me that's what a brave public servant sounds like I stand today in the shadow of the late councilwoman Unice Jun for but a bipartisan Council vote courage itself those don't seem to mean a lot in these parts when Kennedy O'Brien removed the pride flag from the front of the building and shoved it into the back of a parking lot hidden behind trees and now now that people know about it suddenly there's an ordinance 3 months after you put this bigoted policy into place in secret councilwoman June 4 thought that Republicans could defeat the notion that they were bigoted and close-minded you seem to disagree does anyone on this day care to know how many times I have had the word or  screamed at me as a resident that you represent does anyone care to know for standing outside holding a pride flag to restore the visibility that this mayor stole from the lgbtq plus community in the cover of Darkness do you want to know how many lgbtq kids try to kill themselves because of the way the world treats them who among you is going to be the first person to reach for the stats I have them here no one Donna do you want to know mayor Anthony where you bringing this lgbtq plus kids are four times more likely to attempt suicide and in the five minutes we get to speak soon to be three Brave mayor more than six young lgbtq plus young people will have tried to end their lives to the young people who might hear this listen you are perfect just the way you are and you are surrounded by people in this burrow who will fight for you and you can count me and those behind me among those people do not let the Silence of our mayor who has not once wished the residence of this burough a happy pride month make you think that you are alone because you are not no mayorship lasts forever no Council seat lasts forever but the way you treat people leaves its Mark keep teaching the grown-ups what it means to be brave I was prepared to come and ask for a motion tonight to return the pride flag to the front of burrow Hall but folks like Dan and Donna are going to tell you well if we allow the pride flag to fly at Burrow Hall what's next that is the same fearmongering that Republicans use to scare folks away from Marriage equality it is TR it is transparent and it does not hold water the pride flag flew here for the last four years without an issue without zero applications mayor for another flag to F to fly no applications because more rights for all does not mean less rights for some Kennedy O'Brien convened a committee behind the Public's back strategically waited to see if anyone would notice and now created an ordinance to back up the this Council and its mayor have reverse engineered bigotry you've done it on pride month and until our sville community stands together against you you're going to keep on doing it if the mayor is looking for Dopey he's looking on the wrong side of this de because the sville that I know and that I fight to represent is full of people who are caring and compassionate often in different ways often in ways that we do not agree about but who care nonetheless we're a burrow filled with love that is Who We Are So Gone are the days where you as a council and a mayor are given the luxury of having your secrets kept sville will know who you are each and every vote a cuckolded council paraded around by a mayor who knows he has your yes before he even has to ask the question arrogantly thinking that sville will buy the transparency that is being pedal like a second rate snake oil salesman shame on all of you who Champion service in the face of a greater good but run when the call actually comes and who pit veterans against parts of this community it is loathesome especially you council president Roberts because you have been part of this and the seat that you occupy was not awarded to you but it was earned by women who came before you and earned their place on this de in the women's suffrage movement that you celebrated a special right for a special interest that was welld deserved and well earned you disgrace the memory of those women by standing against this community who need an ally with empathy and courage you don't have either you got what you wanted the pride flag is no longer on the building we've been at this for years and you've got this part of it but remember that the Arc of History bends towards Justice my friends the conversation that we are starting tonight is beginning it is the first page of a brand new book one that many folks are going to read my kid is not going to grow up thinking that this is as good as it gets it's not so I will see you again tomorrow night in front of burrow Hall holding the pride flag and every night of June each June right out front where we belong May yes yes mayor council my name is uh Vinnie gambella I live on school drive um I purchased my family home 1998 because it's a peel of being on a dead end Street as it always was before I bought my house drove nighttime daytime weekends Gates were always closed always locked I I had two young kids and one on the way and it was a great place for my at the time 5-year-old to play around and everything was fine uh on a corner of school drive in ernston Road the Dead End Street Still Remains this the sign it Still Remains it's 60 years old all right it's not it's not a new thing it's an old thing it's the way it was however school drive is now open 24 hours 7 days a week we deal with school traffic buses cars uh rush hour traffic trying to beat the light at ernin and Washington coming both ways we have kids in our 20s me and one of our neighbors that play basketball B outside still in their 20s looking outside because cars are shooting trying to beat the light it is so dangerous once again this is an ordinance Dead End Street okay um the gates is what created the Dead End Street being broken there's no more Dead End Street all right it's it's a simple project we we we we've we've been down this road a couple times but it's just it's just a Dead Issue all right along with my neighbors I have four other neighbors we have have six houses on the Block four of them are here right now um we we we attended several meetings addressing the dangerous condition with both the Board of Education meetings and the township Council and it's affecting the residents of school dri's quality of life all right it changed our lives it changed our kids' lives it just changed the way we all lived this is not what we signed up for it's not what we bought okay um it's a direct violation of the New Jersey Constitution Article One rights and privileges paragraph one it's the first thing listed in the New Jersey state constitution of of uh peace and I I didn't I I don't want to read it but if you guys want to follow it everybody has the right for Freedom safety and everything else um we also refer back to saal ordinance number 418-9431 and also its site plan that we found in the basement of uh police headquarters all right we had a had a blow it up and find out what those gates are and those Gates clearly state that those gates are to remain okay clearly states the ordinance still exists uh in addition ordinance number 26- 971 C saal ordinance reads in general local residential streets shall be designated to discouraged through traffic that the proposed large traffic generators shall not be permitted through local residential streets all right two ordinances that are in violation of we find ourselves now in front of you guys and respectfully asked for a final solution to our s safety concern um and we also asked we contacted the county because we can never get out of our street both ways if I mean anybody goes down on erston Road Ro it's backed up both ways so uh we contacted the county to do that uh block the box and they respectfully said we understand and we know the area but it has to be initiated by you guys um to do a study or whatever um so we we we would appreciate if you guys can do a study or I mean uh or contact the County I I remember when those Gates would close if not all the time at least part of the time can you you you you went to high school there right Kelly yes right when were those Gates put in back in the 60s mayor wasn't right the were open okay I remember they were open part of the day like when school was coming in and going out right but when they opened full-time I'm I'm trying to remember and and I'm it's not coming to me but we'll we'll do you have another card okay um what what did the Board of Ed tell you that it's got to come here they Kick the Can over here right okay um Jay you have any light to shut on this I I don't mayor I I know that there were discussions in the past I think the police department was involved so maybe we want to talk to Traffic Safety to get their feedback okay all right well the best I can tell you at this moment is well we'll start investigating why those Gates were left open permanently I do remember one's broken and one's they're destroyed they're destroyed right well we combine let's find out why and then we'll go from there if you would would send your contact information uh to Glenn yeah we spoke last year we'll reconnect okay and and we'll we'll start looking into it's dangerous it really is I live across the street in Woodside right especially you know it's a mark Dead End Street it's not Mark Dead End Street except for school hours it's a mark Dead End Street it's a dangerous because I see the kids from Woodside Crossing through traffic to get to school in the morning it it's it's not a good situation so when you go home tonight you can you can see our dead end street sign exactly where you are so uh with respect I appreciate your time appreciate all you guys um my three other neighbors if they can just be heard uh quick okay following us sure thank you guys wait a minute behind you yes sir hi my name is Raj and I live in Town Lake West I'm also the one of the board member I know I'm not going to waste too much time because my colleague already explained the issue only we don't know that you know we call so many time the police when we they park the car on the driveway or they block some body they block your driveways Raj not my I live a little further up so you know but the one by vusi you know they were blocking the driveways and the way they Park you know when you want to get the exit from the road you cannot see and it's so dangerous you know when I leave for the work my family is worried that you know am I'm coming back home safe or not I really appreciate guys that you guys already addressed the issue and you are taking care of it but just give the priority so you know know we the town L people are feeling safe you know to go back home or to go somewhere else that's all I want to say and just last one more thing when we call the cops is there any way they can issue the ticket at least for the commercial vehicle they're not supposed to park there I believe they are issue tickets yeah well we're working getting well I'm sorry Raj F first there has to be an ordinance against parking we we went through this up on de Drive years and years ago where where commercial vehicles uh were parking it was a process but but we got it done we'll get it done in in in your neighborhood yeah the problem is what happened like cot they have on parking but he's charging money that's what I heard trying to save the money and they're parking on the street yep thank you mayor okay thanks Raj yes uh thank you uh again no name um and uh before I make my comment I just want to mention for anybody who's in the room or anybody who's watching online uh Anonymous Communications are heavily protected with government you don't have to exchange your fourth amendment to exercise your first you have the right to remain secure and you do not have to give your personal sensitive information to participate in a public meeting um I think with the issue uh in terms of the flag uh when you have uh some and then you take it away it's going to upset people um which I then want to uh talk about the fact that the zoom meetings were taking away um I thank all these veterans who are uh in the room tonight uh they are the reason why I'm able to remain anonymous and uh one of the things that what we did when we took away the zoom meetings was we took away access for disabled veterans to take part in the meetings and I think that's an important thing and that's why I'm speaking a second time on this issue I'm not going to beat a hor dead horse with a bat here on this one but um there are we have approximately 47,000 residents in sville uh even if it's one or two disabled veterans who can't come out to the meeting and participate for the for these freedoms that they fought for we absolutely have an issue and we're trying to curb theatrical presentations or whatever we want to we're not going to go into this again but what what we need to do is we need to recognize these veterans who have fought and the rights of the disabled and when you take away access to disability access there's a uh a legal process and I hope you guys did it all properly grievance period question and answer I don't even know I hope I don't if there's an ADA coordinator I hope it was done uh legally because otherwise we've overlooked that issue uh and we've overlooked it anyway mostly uh we all deserve better we have a right to be heard and we want to be able to be heard properly um thank you the gentleman from wait a minute wait a minute the gentleman from school drive did you have three people with you yes okay what one of those three people come up and this way I can we can hear you and then mission accomplished hi my name is Sharon I live on one school drive I've lived there the past 33 years when I first moved into that home that dead end sign was there it doesn't specify times nothing like that just dead end the gates were up originally the the yellow Gates I don't know when they were removed but now we have 247 traffic I cannot get out of my driveway in the morning these these people that are flying down our streets even on the weekend when my granddaughter's over those gates are open people are taking shortcuts through there my granddaughter is in the front of the house playing on the lawn no what they don't pay attention they're flying down our streets they make three lanes um it's it's just our our our street is very dangerous I can't see why nothing ever happened yet because it's dangerous on our street thank God no I'm serious you have to be there you have to be there to an accident I I agree with you 100% that is dangerous now it is it is but I thank you we're gonna we're gonna start dealing with it okay thank you thank you dear wait wait a minute Joel let me let me let me take care of these people from school drive yes ma'am hi my name's Victoria benedetto um I live on school drive my parents were original owners in 1965 you bring that a little closer Victoria in 1965 I res in the house um I feel my quality of life has changed drastically on the street um besides school traffic we have events at night and just the other night last week there was an event and it ended maybe about 9 9:30 and there were like two lanes they make just two lanes and I was waiting for somebody to come home and I'm like how is he going to turn up the street you can't even turn turn up the street so I would really like for you to perhaps put a guard rail there on what is deemed a dead end Street and I even have a picture want Jessica you would pass that up to Glenn well let me let me show the council a picture showing the gates when I was a young girl on the weekends they were always closed um I just really need a solution the solution begins tonight good I appreciate it thank you you want to say can we keep this yes absolutely thank you all right thank you Joel wait a minute was was there one Joel timing's everything I'm sorry yes sir hi my name is Patrick D Pascal I come from three School Drive D Pascal you get a two for one husband and wife yeah yeah so we've been on school drive now for 19 years and when we bought the house it was nice because we sorted dead end street sign we figured this is what we want you know we don't want this crazy traffic the time we had a five and a two-year-old it closed 24 hours a day when you first no not we first it the gate was there gate was there but they never utilized the gate um but all I got to say and I'll make this short and sweet this town has been very very lucky that nothing has happened mayor let's not make something happen our grandchild is out there I see that something's going to happen one day and we're all going to regret it because we're standing here saying we should have we should have we should have PR it doesn't so we're playing with God's hands now there's just a lot of speeding so I mean it's can your drive you put that sign up in the electronic like you can't go over what was it 15 25 25 and nobody oh my God they go so speeding and and oh once you enter into the school parking lot right right and my morning is getting out of work and going to work every morning is an adventure so you're making a left it's impossible yeah so all right so let's just make sure we do something about that an accident waiting to happen thank you so much for your time thank you good even good evening my name is Joe Bloom 15 shyen drive I'm also the post commander of the American Legion Post and sa and a member of the vi vigil veterans Alliance first i' rather not someone who has no familiarity with veterans make comments about veterans veterans help veterans the American Legion organization and the VFW our main goal is the help of Veteran whether they're a member of our organization or not a member of organization on green lights on oh if if everybody could just uh please stop talking because it's interfering picking up uh his comments we help veterans I don't want to hear that they can't come to a meeting because we don't have zoom if a member calls us if a veteran calls us we go out there and we help them we have something called buddy checks we check on the veterans we help him when we can yes my second point is the American flag is a symbol of our country the only flag the only flag that's allowed to fly on the same pole with the American flag is our p and Mi Mia flag and the purpose behind that is every September the 3D Friday of September is pmia Remembrance Day where we have a celebration and to honor those as of last year and I get these statistics from the Department of Veterans Affair we still had over 350,000 service members missing and undercount for an action the PMI flag will always always be on the same pole as the symbol of our country the American flag and no other flag will ever fly in that pole other than the pmia flag thank you thank you Charles good evening Mr mayor council persons and everybody else I'm just going to uh refresh the problems we have on vnis road my name is harad w and I'm leave on 29 vses Road right next to the the apartment complex starts or ends the entrance of that I have a person who parks there almost every day day and night my half of my driveway almost my mailbox is all blocked because of that car is always there a lot of time I even do not get my mail because the mailman's uh truck cannot go in there and he just uh bypasses me is that a commuter that parks there and they walk down uh to get the bus no the guy I spoke to him he says I park here because you have a camera in front of your house so my car is safe now H yes and he says so I want to know if anybody does anything to my car I will come to you to get you camera could you talk to him and make a compromise no no seriously no I I asked him I said why you park he said I parked all over other places but there is no safety and they keep running me out of there by putting the signs on my car where where does he live he lives in the apartment building he says I have three cars two I have space for inside but this one I don't have any space for and this car is like from 1960s somewhere it's a huge car and not only that because of that I have a feeling that no fire truck can go there if there's somebody else park on the other side no emergency truck can go there 29 wisneski I have a guys here 27 29 31 25 all of us are here and we are all having the same problem how long does he leave the car there he lives there for days and weeks and months oh okay okay he's never moved okay so I have I moved from nutly in last five years here we had no overnight parking over there which was a very good law that you know at least something happens at night time emergency can uh come to you and help you out so please do something about this make a sign that no overnight parking or no long-term parking there something has to be done in order to get these people out of there because I don't want to deal with him directly oneon-one CU if I say something or do something he is going to know that I have done it so that's what I don't want to be bothered that take care yes thank you thanks for listening yes sir good evening everyone uh my name is H Patel I'm also uh from Town Lake West I don't want to repeat this issues again but uh the concerns that we talked about today one is for parking one is for speeding or like you know the Privacy issue at the wisinski this is issues are not just for the wisinski road also for the Clark paig Terra and whad because I live in Whitehead Avenue and I see that people coming from Wilson School uh driving down south and this that's uphill so people are driving like more than 40 m per hour uh I did make a request to put a temporary sign there and I think two years ago they put like a temp sign there a speding sign and people pay uh like people from the other side of the community you know they play with the signs they put 25 to 52 they change the signs so we want a permanent solution there and also on behalf of the board because I'm also Secretary of HOA board I would like to uh com that we did the petition on what needs to be done and we want to make sure that the um you and the the council persons like you know they make sure that this uh issues are resolved so thank you so much thank you there's a gentleman waving his hand with the with the baseball cap hi um Michael Smith 16 Cedar Terrace um I'm actually here uh it's actually the first time I've ever been here I've never participated in this other than voting and most likely I've voted all of you guys in at one point um I've come here and prayed with you uh met many great veterans under the whole process of this flag uh the 31-24 which you have decided uh that we will not be flying a pride flag in front of the building but to be fair you've actually decided that we will be flying only three flags in front of the building which by my surprise I walked in today and proceeded to see the Kia flag flying in front of the building which I respect and realizing that this new rule will make it so that KIA flag will not be flying in front of this building I feel extremely horrible about that see the American flag is flying on one pole the prisoners of war and missing an action flag is flying on the other now I would never say that the pride flag has to fly at the same height or on the same pole as the American flag that American flag as your code States has certain rules that have to be followed lights on it certain tensions the way it is raised the way it is lowered the fact that during this time period if the weather was bad and that was not an all weather flag you would have to have a gentleman go out there and take it down in ceremony and make sure it does not touch the ground there are processes to that flag and I respect them greatly but you have two flag poles out in front of your building and in that situation I would not be against the pride flag being the lowest on the pole on the other side because the American flag must fly on the right side of the building but the other flag the PW flag can fly underneath it and in my opinion that respects that P flag more it is right under the symbol of this nation when on the other hand the pride flag which is as to my surprise I didn't even realize it had been moved out in the field now I would not be against again having flags of every body's form if somebody came to you and said hey I would like a police flag up there I would like a fire you have uh in the back of your building one of your locations has the First Responders flag hung run underneath the American flag and that is completely understandable I'm not asking for to remove the respect of any of the other flags I'm actually asking to elevate their respect to put the pride flag at the lowest but displayed not on the same side as the flag because again the flag must be flown on the right side of the building but on the other side I also in my great situation of seeing this whole situation uh heard you guys all here multiple people come up and talk to you about how losing these five minutes which I'd be over already um would be horrible I heard that whole statement and when that finished I was told about a living document right and this living document right now it it's evolving we want to go into 2024 correct I mean hell everybody could see me right now at least whatever number of people viewing and yet we're going backwards because four years ago we put this in so you're telling me that 2020 was more advanced than 2024 at this point because for four years it sat up there no problem and no one really cared no one tried to take it down until now suddenly it became a point of contention and I don't understand exactly why that situation would be I would think that there would be a compromise being able to be made not a Doctrine being put in place to force the inability to do anything but your three flags you've chosen which I mind you you do not have the state flag flying in front of the building which is one of the three you have mentioned yet you have the Kia flag so the only reason that I bring this up is because to me I have friends veterans that died people who have died that were gay in war in Iraq in Afghanistan and I think that would respect them to have that flag up too but not over the American or the PO W flag thank you thank you Mike thank you mayor Jim Robinson from Parlin I couldn't hear everything as as you know Donna I know you made the motion to limit the on the ordinance to limit comment councilman sonari did you second that you did okay thank you for that um I just want to comment that more than half the people who spoke today including the previous gentleman and the folks from Town Lake and the folks from school drive spoke more than 3 minutes so more than half the folks who spoke today their comments would have been cut off under that new ordinance and I spoke when the pride resolution was approved years ago and others have spoken about that more eloquently than I can and what it what it means but I do want to say just two things or a couple things I too come from a milit military family very proud of that very proud of my relatives who served I'm hearing some compare the pride flag to the American flag I think Anthony addressed that brilliantly and I think it ought to be made known as this previous gentleman said the pride flag would never fly on the same flag as the American flag it never did here it never should anywhere there is no comparison between the two flags even though some have tried to create some Division and confusion that and what happened here earlier mayor that you caused was was just disheartening um you know there is no every other flag flown with the American flag which the US code allows by the way must be smaller lower and subordinate to the American flag so no proponent was making that comparison I say this though that they both represent Liberty they both represent freedom and equality so they don't stand for different things and the two monuments that are out here the World War I and the World War II monuments they have only ever flown Old Glory and they only ever should those are The Monuments to the veterans in front of the building now I see that there is an ordinance proposed that will allow flying of only only the US New Jersey and Mia flag your sudden interest in flag adequate is admirable but I would note this we used to fly the New Jersey flag out front that isn't done anymore and I don't know why in accord with the US code the Mia flag is usually flown below Old Glory but we don't do that here either your new ordinance would not allow the burrow flag to be flown in front of the burrow Hall which it used to and the draft ordinance being introduced tonight would prohibit the red Kia killed in action flag that currently flies outside from being flown is that your intent I hope that's not the intent but that's what this ordinance would do did you want to prohibit prohibit the Kia flag from being flown I hope not or were you just in such a hurry to introduce this flag ordinance tonight that you didn't think of that and by the way the new flag pole and I say new in quotes because that flag poll has been there since I worked in the bar Hall 40 years ago the new flag pole where the mayor decided to fly the pride flag is an old flag pole the US flag used to fly there the US flag used to fly on that flag on that flag pole at the entrance to the bridal path that's why there's a flag pole there the US flag is no longer flown there and the pride flag is I'm opposed to that the pride flag should complement not replace the US flag there or anywhere and especially at the entrance to of all things war memorial bark for years the pride flag flew in front of the burrow Hall it's been smaller then flown lower then it was subordinate to the US flag as it should be but it still proudly signaled our Comm M to equality for which all glory stands I also want to address something else the council passed a resolution Donnie you were part of it you voted for it the council passed a resolution allowing the pride flag to be flown it was done at an open meeting people spoke in person and on zoom and expressed their opinion and there was a public vote the mayor wasn't happy with that in the burrow form of government mayor you can't override the council you had a committee even if the committee was composed of Chris Christie Justice Alo rup Paul and the pope they can't override you can't override I don't think others were cut off you can't override the action of the council and you're admitting that when you're introducing an ordinance tonight that will be passed by the council that will govern the flags you you are the mayor in a burrow form of government you were elected neither King nor Ayatollah you have limited powers you can run the meetings you can appoint with consent of the council and various other things but you everything that is not specifically enumerated in the law it's entitled for you I think it's section 60 right counselor is up to the council not to the mayor and the business administrator and and by the way what title what title 40 says is it's the mayor's job to enforce the resolutions of the council so it's your job to tell the administrator if the council passed that resolution until they change it that's what you have to do because that's the law mayor the council makes policy and the council made a policy council president Roberts voted for it and if you want to change that policy you can't do it unilaterally this is the United States of America the state of New Jersey where we have laws and title 40 I know you won't get into the conference but title 40 indicates what you can and can't do and you can't do a lot of the things that you're doing and that's one of them so if you want to change change it the council has to pass a resolution and you know what's so interesting today what's today the 18th 19th Pride ends on the 30th you had to introduce this ordinance now you know there are 10 more days it's this just a stick it in the eye of people is that what you're trying to do the mayor is supposed to unify people not cause division divisiveness mayor is supposed to to bring people together right thank you very much thank you are there any other comments yes Mary Mary Novak one Scarlet Drive um believe it or not I was requested to read a letter from former Council when uh Michelle and I somehow lost it you know what technophobe I am I actually had it there and somehow it disappeared she really wanted as educator more than a council person how important it was to her as a teacher she's seen so many children you know have problems maybe hurt themselves you know because they don't they feel unliked embarrassed for whatever and I was very much against this pride flag in the beginning I know I'm I'm a life member of the VFW or Ladies Auxiliary I know that this building this town is dedicated to the veterans that's why our welcome to sayable is the American flag we could have chosen a lot of other things but that's what we chose because we're so aligned with the veterans but after hearing from teachers Michelle our former mayor Vicki and other teachers that come up to the podium I did vote for this and I realize that you have a perfect right to you're a new Council that's what I've always said elections have consequences and you have you remember what I was saying about that other ordinance you're not going to be sitting up here forever so somebody else can change this very easily so I'm just saying where it was put was really such a smack in the face it almost looks like it's in a dumpster and I know that that used to be a FL American flag there and everything please show just a little bit more respect find a better place for this you don't want it on the front of bur Hall believe me I understand that I didn't like the fact that American flags used to hang there and they were removed just to put up this flag for June and that was not my intention that that was to me a little disrespectful I knew that it should have some place of prominence and you all have decided that that's what you want to do but and I really think that that is a little disrespectful I mean it really it looks like you threw them out in garbage you know and the kids the kids are the ones that I'm concerned about not the adults they've all lived their lives they're stronger but it's for the kids and also that ordinance we're not going to be able to fly a burrow flag we just spent a lot of money redesigning our flag with the new symbol on it and we're not going to be able to fly it out in front of our own Barrel Hall we don't have a burrow flag yeah there's one right there but that's the old one oh I mean we don't we we don't we don't use it it's not in parades it's not it's here on the on the DI it was hung on the front of burrow Hall and one of the doors there I'm working with what we got it's an imperfect world and this is part of it the flag in the corner uh going into Veterans Park was the flag pole that we had so that through lack of lack of options that's where it went we we've got we've got a year come up with something better and I really would like the council to to think on it and again please Mary I got 600 streets I got water and sewer I got a lot of things on the plate this is one of the many things on the plate I know but I again people are taking offense there was no offense given in this action it was respect mayor again I'm just I'm not concerned about concerned about the children I really am the problem was four years ago you didn't consult with the veterans Alliance you just did it arbitrarily well no we didn't do it arbitrarily we must have had about four or five meetings on this Kennedy we had open public meeting my opinion was changed because of people that spoke in the ordinance audience okay okay anything else Mary no thank you thank you Danley mayor I didn't want to speak again but I want to clarify because this this thing's going into a circle again yeah um the veterans Alliance wrote a letter we spoke to several council members a lot of us did personally we sent letters we brought it up at a couple of meetings we got buffaloed around nobody ever wanted to give us a straight answer the first time we knew the American flag came down and a lot of us said what happened and and then the same Council people would do this when they saw us and that's that's the background to it we we we have we wrote two letters to the burrow we handed it to people copies several of some aren't here now so I'm going to clarify we talked you and we we always said we didn't you know we thought the New Jersey flag would go up just like uh most places have as long it's one of the government Flags we have no problem with it the veterans burrow New Jersey flag and the and you know I I never saw the burough flag up here before so well I don't know so we're not against that and again we want to clarify the whole point of this is we do not want this to start putting flags up here because I hear things about bigotry Hate Everything how about a Palestinian Flags going to come up here one day is that going to be nice how about how about kill the Jew flag I mean ruter University i' I've seen him and that's the problem that it was our whole point as veterans we served with all kinds of people all of us some of us are we in in the in the we're used to an organization where a man's hurt or wounded nobody cares nobody nothing on your flag says what what is my uh sexual orientation my race my anything we never cared and that's how that's how countries Fall if we start splitting up you want to put you could put any flag you want Sero has no regulation you can put any flag in your your yard if somebody wants to go walk around with a flag of anything in the burough Park I don't think anybody would stop you nobody cares what we want to do is we do not want this to turn into a government not subsidizing but recognizing only a specific group or organization that's our Point sty that's the only thing we're saying we're not against any flag it's do not fly it in front of the town hall because what what flag will you deny I I brought one here oh I was going to present it but I decided not to this is the US Army flag on Satur this Saturday the US Army started its one-year program for its 250th anniversary unfortunately guess one the that gener that's going to be in June of 2025 I how about flying this one for a month no no no no no no but we we we no but we we no my point is we do not want that why no we we we want we want we do not want that specifically done for a reason because we do not want to get into this circus that is going to occur I I've done a lot of research talked to Ken you know we talked about it two years ago I believe the councilwoman a lot of towns have got into circus is over over this no you the whole point tonight was fly your flag we can't no not here you can't not anymore well no you can't fly here that's what I'm saying it has for four years well what I'm saying is from our Viewpoint the same thing happened to us that flag went up without our our knowledge our letter was ignored FL come when ours went wait fellas stanle I again my point is I I don't like the way this went tonight right because all we said was US flag New Jersey flag burrow flag P MOA Mia flag that's all we're saying you want to put you want to walk around with any flag we don't care you're your we're not playing this game about turning to Veterans again anybody no he's not he's not made a comment turn around you about yes Mr Mayor there we go thanks Mr Mayor I've come to tell you that you should be in the flag business including that flag uh as a local official you should be facilitating Partnerships with different demographics of residents continue I need your name please oh Kylie Den um as a local official you should be facilitating Partnerships with different demographics of residents not lamenting the personal inconvenience of recognizing those groups and that includes but is certainly not limited to the LGBT community the question that needs to be answered about ordinance 3124 is why now that needs to be answered why now the pride flag has been displayed I believe four years now outside of Bur what about this June this pride month is different why after 4 years was it necessary to relegate it to the back of a parking lot why now after four years I've lived in this area my whole life I've dealt with homophobic bullying and when I drive by somewhere like Burl Hall seeing a pride flag makes me feel safer if I can't see that flag from the road how would I know it's there how could I see it after you've hidden it amongst the trees I know that this is a Republican controlled Council so I'd like to make a few relevant notes the first transgender elected official in this state Jennifer Williams is a republican guess who I saw in the pride parade in Asbury Park the other day Republican assemblyman Don Guardian in the parade who's a gay man I myself helped run the Republican Congressional Campaign in the neighboring District when my friend Steve usio was running and guess what he came to Pride with me you're talking about the importance of recognizing our nation's service members and I agree with you wholeheartedly wholeheartedly we owe all of our nation to them as other speakers have said what you fail to publicly recognize is that pride flag does represent the countless hundreds of thousands of LGBT service members who have fought and are still fighting for our nation and I invite you and any members of this Council after the meeting to sit with me and we can call up some of those vets and active service members who happen to be LGBT who I've been fortunate to know and it's late now but if they are awake and they pick up the phone they'll tell you that they deserve recognition that they deserve to not feel relegated but it goes beyond that right because I would have to imagine that even my late grandfather who was a proud World War II veteran is turning over in his grave right now knowing that after seeing one of his sons who happens to be gay have to come of age during the AIDS crisis that parts of our American society and parts of our state are trying to inch us backwards let's be real here this ordinance was written and introduced specifically to Target the pride flag to Target visibility of the LGBT community there could not have been any other Catalyst you're not fooling anybody with that and I don't know why you'd waste your time I know why I'm wasting my time I'm wasting my time because I want visibility that makes me and people like me feel safer bad faith folks are targeting people like me right now but I don't know why this is where you decide to put your energy unless you're one of those bad fake folks too yet in spite of that I'll still say thank you all for your time are there any other comments again Evelyn Smith 124 Kendall Drive um first and foremost I would like to address the problem that is currently existing outside of this building when my son left they went past the front of the building there is no light on the flag in the middle of the building okay so someone needs to go and either put a light in it or take that flag down because it is now illegal being flown okay it must be lit after dark and here's the proof because they just took this as they were driving away okay the other thing is the uh the Kia flag though I respect the those who have died for our country again it does not belong up there that needs to be taken down immediately it's not on the list of approved flags and the United States and um it's really I'm I'm sorry but it looks giny it it's like some little kid decided to to take a piece of of uh cloth and and a marker and make up this thing get a nice one okay I mean it it's it can't cost that much now the other problem I see is um the pride flag that was being flown um is larger than the American flags that are out there which means that it is illegal but not on the fact that it's a pride flag but on the fact of its size okay it has to be smaller and lower than the American flag okay um I don't know why um I I remember the the uh P flag being flown underneath the American flag in the center I don't know why it has been moved over to the other one but uh we need to restore the state flag we need to um if we have one of those or well that's going to be too big too because that's bigger than the the American flag that's out there uh if we have a copy a new one put the uh the town flag up there but we really should respect and salute our uh lgbtq um veterans okay um you said that the front is supposed to be uh taken care of for our veterans well there's a whole lot of veterans who are gay okay and they deserve this same respect um that any of the other veterans do okay I mean I'd be willing to bet probably half of the men here served with a gay man US flag form in a US Army right because at the time they would have been because at the time they would have been they would have been shot they would have been shot for being gay they were not allowed to be gay Evelyn not allowed to be gay Evelyn address address the council please okay but anyway um like I said perhaps um if there was a smaller version of the flag or a another flag that that was a pride flag but said um you know veterans on it or something it would be more appropriate for what you are trying to project at the front of the the building which is for our veterans okay our dead and our serving and everything okay uh but to say that uh it doesn't belong there at all is not true like I said I mean Mr spado just said that he had two uncles who were gay who were who served in in the armed forces okay so by putting up a flag that recommen that recognizes gay service people is in addition to all the other things that you're uh you know respecting with The Monuments and and the flags and everything so I would suggest you consider consider that maybe you can come to a compromise with getting a s yes I know a slightly different um flag but still keep the uh the pride um part of it um and again get somebody out there to either put a FL a light on this plague or get it down because that's the law thank you my name is Mitch that's all I'm GNA say uh as far as looking at the memorial from outside I see the American flag P flag the KA flag and the memorial great I don't remember ever seeing the pride flag there I remember seeing the pride flag on the door which when I'm looking at it is not part of the memorial I could be wrong but when I look at it being on the door is not part of the memorial and you Mr Mayor you said something very specific you said there's 64 other flags that can be flown and hold on uh young fell um this is this is from uh Wikipedia uh 64 special day Flags wait a minute 20 20 special week flags and 50 special month Flags that's just can I ask you a question one grouping did that change from time it was on the building to time it was put in the back well from what you've just heard tonight from our veterans they were never consulted no no that one has nothing to do with the other Mr Mayor please just answer the question was the was the number of potential Flags flown different when it was in front as opposed to being in the back of the building was it always 64 I would assume so okay so the number of flags hasn't changed out of those 64 how many of them asked to be flown I'm going to correct you the the error that is being made tonight is that it's being interpreted as an anti-lgbtq no no I'm not asking that this is no no this is the error that's being made say anti but you made a point that you're not in the flag business that was your quote you're not in the flag business no please don't dismiss me I'm using your exact words you said you're not in the flag business how how many other organizations out of those 64 asked to have their flag flown I don't know anyone on the council answer that question because they haven't doesn't mean they will okay and so they've had four years of seeing the you know what all you're gonna do is talk so please make your Sav are you dismissing me Mr I am so you're dismissing me everyone else had that say I got three minutes I'm I'm not going to engage you so please go talk you can read your paper do whatever you want dismiss me however you want you're you're inconsiderate at this point one I'm not dismissing you dismissing me I am really annoying I'm annoying please I am glad that they got this on the record why am I annoying Mr Mayor because I'm questioning you is that why I've been I've been down this road with people ask for a lot of times perfectly sensible questions and you find me Annoying yes wow thank you thank you I hope everyone can see this this this is the man that you are following thank you thank you well yeah yeah you're one the few uh but so a flag that has not bothered anyone for four years are you the only excuse me can I address him for a second or do I have to address you where were you two years ago today you were not here speaking let in front of the count yeah just blah blah blah you were not here speaking in front of the council when the council voted only two people spoke up against the flag Donna and Karen no one else spoke up against the flag you brought the veterans here to parade to put on a show very good we're all proud We all see what you did so thank you very much give yourselves a you you guys were just used as puppets tonight which which is the completely wrong which is [Music] completely oh thank you thank you this has nothing to do against the veterans oh let's let's let him he's got a minute left this has nothing to do against the veterans if this has to do with a flag and where a flag is being flown you cannot tell me that the front of the building the on the side of the entrance doors has has anything to do with the memorial the memorial is at the very beginning it's a semicircle and it stops you could see the wall where it stops where the flag was there was nothing wrong with it you made this about the pride flag and you are the one that pitted the veterans against the pride community and for that you are very wrong and I hope that the rest of the board sees this that this has nothing to do it's a a pony show that's all it is he is against the pride Community for some reason don't know why maybe hidden in the closet I don't know I don't know you personally could be and I yeah nine eight seven six five 4 three two one happy New Year thank you thank you Eddie shake my hand thank you thank you get you I'll get you no but we were not police that came here we came you gonna stop him from Talking mayor what's that Ed you gonna stop him from Talking he's been talking for done uh like I said in the beginning uh that P that uh L uh pride flag flying where it is now is actually on Memorial property no and there were 60 trees planted on that property for 60 veterans that were killed in action now for this individual to get up here and say we don't care about that we do care about it how about the the the world war one and World War II monument that's over 1,000 I I quoted before 250 residents of cille that served 60 of which never came home never came home and their their flag is being flown [Music] on the memorial property there are 60 trees that were planted right alongside that flag running all the way down that path and and these veterans that are are on a World War I and World War II monument they should be recognized they they they they they serve their country and for some individuals to come up here and say that they doesn't mean anything I think it's sad thank you mayor thank you Eddie young lady hi uh good evening my name is Katie bisaha I've lived in sville my whole life I'm going on 33 years old um and I'm going to lower this CU you were a little taller than me so um I'm really just here to encourage compassion over understanding and I am welcoming the whole Council Andor the veteran community that is here to have a co-hosted event to learn to understand EP each other and have compassion for each other and what things mean for them so if you'd like to I welcome you to contact me speak with me after because I'm hearing a lot of murmuring a lot of Ang and it just seems like we're not understanding each other so I'd like you all to have some compassion and join me and trying to organize a LGBT plus veteran event maybe at one of the Halls that you have where we can learn to understand each other and the position in which somebody that feels represented by the pride flag more closely or as closely as they do the American flag so that's my invitation to the council and my invitation to the veteran Community here so thank you uh I yield my time and I appreciate the opportunity to speak so thanks are there any uh other comments being no other comments I'll take a motion to close a public portion make a motion to close public second there a second all favor I oppos take a motion for adjournment make