##VIDEO ID:NwoNUPkit00## best of Jason ringer and share it with others Christy laay is loyalty courage and Grace the truth is right in front of you so christe's and Tyler's and Jake's victories and wins that is how we celebrate and we honor Jason thank you mayor Rossy for acknowledging my friend christe and Tyler and Jake and reminding us that caring for loved ones that are left behind is how we honor one's memory not with pieces of stone please go home everyone peacefully and safely thank you for the opportunity my name is practice there anyone else wishing to where she works her name on the please is G order is there anyone wishing anyone else wishing to address the counil seeing no one come forward I'll ask for a motion to the public move moveed by Mr Sparta is there a second second seconded by Mrs de benedetta roll call vote fa roll call vote please council member D benedetto yes council member Higgins yes council member Sparta yes president rudo yes motion carries floor is closed can we move to council comments Mr Higgins you'd like other there's we're being asked toh consider overriding what the mayor did I don't think there's going to be a decision made on that tonight we hear what you're saying the idea was to gather as much information from all sides as possible to gather the facts and as a third party or on the council but a third party to all that took place I have some general questions that haven't been brought up tonight and will have to be brought up before a decision or before at least I vote and some of those have to do with having knowledge having been on the uh on the L Le board of directors we had a gentleman Ray Bell passed away Ray Bell was a president of the league he died and one of my co-coaches John K and went to the wck board and and made a idea to come up with a plaque on a rock down a bell field it's been there for 25 years there was no controversy in addition to that it just so happened 15 years later his daughter Melanie B was Miss New Jersey from Vernon there was a sign in town when you came in for 10 years it was up and so the questioners how did that get up there with no controversy there was a lady named Peg Stewart teacher of the year in ver Vernon signed for 10 years 5:15 welcome to Vernon Home of Peg Stewart M fit Simmons teacher of the year signed for her a woman from West Milford wine Brank won the first Olympic gold medal for snow shoes or whatever and it was right on Route 23 and lastly I'm currently a member of the HHO league in town for the last 15 years and Don cower the gentleman who started the league with his family and they're still running it passed away about four years ago there's a sign down here and it honors Mr cower all those things happened all those things happened without politics being involved and there's a reason for that somehow politics got involved with this situation that's why we're here tonight because there have been Politics on too many sides and that's a part that has to be funneled out why did it happen what was the right procedure to follow why wasn't that procedure followed why did a mayor have to get involved who was asking for some special treatment was there special treatment is it a right for somebody to donate a monument and have a sign up I don't know all those things we're going to find out and then apparently I guess Jason also had a plaque down at Bap gra Park I heard that I didn't see it is that true was it hanging on a sign okay somebody told me that if it was the case I just wonder how that got there so this is all these things are out of the ordinary in terms of the way things always happened from some process and procedure so I'd like to find a process and procedure because even tonight there were a lot of people that spoke tonight very well spoken very well done I I like that some of them I guess I'll say are the firecrackers that start a lot of the controversy in town who are Facebook experts and that's what apparently in my opinion led to this and there's just too much controversy and it and it never stops and it's been going on forever so there are consequences the statements you know there are people that live in town here people that don't live in town here had something to say they all got to say it and uh you know there a lot to consider and it it's fairly complicated and I really appreciate everybody saying what they did I I have to be speaking with the council people and we might have to get legal representation that's that's my take on the whole thing uh I do have a few comments um I I want to a lot of people did talk about the tone in the town and a lot of people who spoke about that contribute to the negative tone in the town and I'm not saying I'm not involved in that either so I think maybe some self-reflection is due that wasn't my what I wanted to say tonight but I just felt the need to say that what I do want to say tonight is I understand as a town we used to have an animal a wildlife education course for people who move up moved up here from down south and I think we need to bring that back so oh anthonyw if somebody could let me know what I need to do to get the ball rolling to put that back in place because we do have a lot of people moving up here from other areas where they don't have the wildlife that we have up here and we're having incidents and I think it's important that everybody understands how to deal with Wildlife when you encounter it thank you thank you Mr spart if you run into a bear run downhill because they're front balls are shorter than they're is that true though oh really what if you don't have and you also have to be faster than the bear which is 35 miles per hour right depends on the beer or wait faster than the slowest person there right um I'm I'm not gonna make a lot of comments I just want to thank everybody for coming out tonight voicing their opinions concerns um about um the the issue going on in town right now so um you know obviously there's a lot to digest um and I I know we're going to have to uh rely on on Council on to how to proceed from here so um again thank you for everybody coming out and and making the comments that they made some that's all I'm going to say Thank you Mr Spar indeed tonight is a difficult night because we hear Reflections and Reflections and comments from people who have two different sides what becomes difficult and even more entangled in terms of the decisions that we're required to make is the separation of law from emotion I know you're going to say well this is a small town not really but it's a town and yet we have to be able to follow the rule of law there were many comments made and I noted the ones which were actually concerning the law when Mr Burell spoke I reflected on the conversations that I had had with him prior to the establishment of the memorial at the particular site and the resolution that was passed by the council at that time 3-2 was to name that Park the Vernon Township youth Memorial Park dedicated to the Youth of our community many of whom were not able to attend because they were no longer with us I expressed my comments to the then mayor Perell and he separated His Thoughts From Me from mine stating that he would not agree to that that the council did not have the right to name facility quite the contrary in my point of view and the research that I had done is that our form of government is named is patterned after the United States federal government and in that form of government whether people understand this or not assets of the government like assets of the community are not named by the administ ministration the Administration has given the responsibility for its care and its well-being but the actual naming of those assets are the responsibility of the legislature just ask any Congressman or state senator who was involved with renaming a base or a fort or a command and having somebody's name taken off of that base or Fort and replaced by someone else and having to go back to his constituency and make them understand it it doesn't happen easily and that's essentially what I told then at the time Mrs Rinker when she asked and approached me to name have the facility named after Jason my response to her and to the anybody else who cared to listen was that I don't believe in naming a facility after an individual you can find any number of people who might think otherwise about an individual come to a situation like this my response was that I preferred to name it after an an organization I felt it remove the possibility of this type of separation and hopefully this type of conflict so when this situation occurred and Mr Burell then mayor Burell agreed to uh place a remembrance in the facility we had a discussion the discussion was and it was a compromise that a small part part of that facility was going to be named in honor of uh Jason Rinker and there was a donation that was being made to the township to the Ford the uh construction and placement of the flag po excuse me the flag P the pavers the monument plaque itself a big sign at Maple Grange Park and a small sign denoting its dedication I felt that compromise was okay and so did the council the only alternative at that point where we had agreed to uh rename the name the park the youth Vernon Township youth Memorial Park passed by a 3-2 vote with myself Mrs gueri and uh Mr Mr Brian Lynch in the Cent and former mayor uh Harry shortway and Mike uh thank you in desent the only way at that point to determine how we were going to do this because of the strong stance taken by the mayor was to literally go to court and have somebody issue a summary judge council at that point really felt that to spend that type of money in legal fees wasn't worth it because what will we prove it the mayor said that he was willing to name the park the uh Vernon Township Recreation and pump track Park and which seemed fine and logical to me and to the members of the council who who had voted to name it otherwise that was law hearing the comments of those who cried what happened and the family of uh Jason who came here and said that you know he would never have wanted this the council can't enter into that we have no knowledge of what took place we can only go by what is Law and what can be testified to Mr Higgins did indeed have a good comment this is going to require some type of litigation I would hope that the litigation that comes out of the results of that litigation would bring quiet not only to Mrs Rinker but to Jason's uh uh wife or whatever or his child and that we can put this behind us come and give you the timeline as to who did what serves no purpose I'm trying to avoid a protracted Action Council did indeed receive a uh recommendation for placement on the ballot through the initiative portion of the law uh 578 members of the township signed that petition that's not a small amount considering the amount of time necessary requiring to get those signatures what is necessary now is for the council to act before it becomes a problem with timing regarding the next election in November because ballots have to be printed this may require us to have a special meeting in order to address this particular issue I see no problem with that I do see a problem with if we wait too long and then there is a requirement for a special election that becomes an onerous court cost to the township which I really don't want to see so my councel to my good friends on the council use the different words the pun uh is that we address this as quickly as possible I've asked Mr King who was here instead of instead of Mr mench who is our normal attorney to please address this I'm hoping that we can meet and provide enough impetus to the mayor to see that if there's some way that we can address this certainly uh it's not the council's position at this point to take a position one way or the other the comments that I'm saying and I'm making right now are not the comments from the council we haven't had chance to meet they are my comments based upon as I said earlier what I know to be the law what I know to have happened and we simply can't make legal decisions on the basis of emotion I would hope you would understand and Grant this type of understanding to my fellow council members they take their responsibilities very seriously I know them and for those who know me you know from my past experience in Council and as well as being on the board of education that I truly take my responsibilities very very very deeply and I I would hope that you would grant us the time and avoid the uh the conflict and the uh the intervention if you will in regards to you know going after individuals because it doesn't serve to help anybody so thank you very much for coming I appreciate your your taking the time and the decorum that you have showed and I appreciate your interest in the building of our community there anyone else wishing to say anything no uh motion to adjourn moved moved by Mr spart is there a second second second by Mrs de benedetto all in favor signify by saying I I oppos motion carries the the meeting is agend --------- ##VIDEO ID:BFqrTSYjppE## cookies I'm like you please read the meeting statement adequate notice of this regular meeting was provided to the public and the Press on January 17 2024 at the municipal building in accordance with the open 10 4-7 thank you please join me in a pledge to our flag 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 withy and justice for all here's drink from It Anyways roll call council member bushier council member D benedetto present council member Higgins here council member Sparta present council president rosuto here um just to let the council know Mrs bueri called me she will not be attending this evening she's not feeling she you her best and said she will be looking at us mayor council president thank you um I don't have much to add today I I held a online chat on Facebook last week it just gave some various Town updates um can you pull the mic closer I can't hear you got it how that we go so last week I held a Facebook live chat just gave some um some updates on some various Town Projects uh just just had a chat with some of the people just to uh get some of their feedback uh answer some of their questions uh there was no actual format it was just again just a chat so uh we got a lot of good feedback on that and I I believe it's uh crucial to be transparent about our work uh I have also expressed some serious concerns about the political violence in our nation especially after we've just witnessed the uh the attempted assassination of President Trump uh there is a lot of Mis misinformation circulating ons uh like news media and social media platforms which can incite negative behavior unfortunately this misinformation also affects our local community and doesn't stop with elected officials it extends to targy Medical employees few weeks ago we found a large fishing hook attached to one of the pull down uh handles uh that protects we have these wooden shs that each department has above above their uh servicing windows and there was a large fish fishing hook that was actually adhered to it and thank God the uh staff member did not grab a hold of it this this could have been laced with you know fol some other kind of dangerous substance and you know this this the kind of stuff it's just it's unacceptable I immediately reported it to the police chief fortunately due to the lack of internal cameras we don't we couldn't identify the person responsible as a result I have ordered additional cameras to be installed both inside and outside the building to ensure the safety of our staff so you guys will see probably September October uh those just to give you guys the heads up uh I want to ensure that the safety and the well-being of our staff are my top priorities and we are taking necessary steps to address any security concerns the employees of f Township didn't sign up for this okay just make that clear they didn't sign up for HT threatened or you know harass like that so please keep that in mind if you have any issues with employees please I encourage you to contact Tina our business administrator at business admin bw.com or myself at awp.com and we will address them promptly do not contact counsel it's not their job to feel these types of complaints my also want to emphasize that about 90% of the information on social media a lot of times most of time it's not true not true that you know I'm in the inside I see those three sides everyone always talks about three sides of the story I see it and I can tell you it TR is three sides so let's let's focus now on some of the projects are making including our ongoing pavement project fortunately there was been a a bit of delay on completing marget Lan due to an overturned truck carrying the esort for that tree the road had that road has been rescheduled very soon I think I think within the next few days or next week hopefully it should be done I also want to share that because we have a shared service agreement with the board of V we were able to add their pocket lots to our pavment project which has resulted in close to $100,000 in in taxpayer savings and it allows us additional roads because the more the more you pay the cheaper it is so that was um it's great to see those those savings uh tonight we will also be discussing uh it's on our agenda the purchase of a new Mini pum fire department this new vehicle will be more for efficient and maneuverable than traditional engines enabling us to access smaller roads and areas although the mini pumper has its limitations um it it it will significantly benefit our fire department and most importantly our community purchase price was 356,000 I have looked at this fire apparatus myself and it is still it still has it actually still has a new car spell to it and only 2400 miles this mini pumper also comes fully loaded with just over $20,000 in tools these tools are all Ral fitted it's all fit for this type of mini so uh became fully loaded with all these additional tools that you normally wouldn't buy if you were buying it brand new at manufacturer so if we were to buy that truck today that same truck it's 457,000 and is a threeyear weight time to get it and again it doesn't include the $20,000 in bills so this a huge one for bur also just to put update regarded the Town Center project we have submitted the technical Vapors to the county Engineers for the final approval I'm optimistic that we will receive their investment in the next couple of weeks and before I go into any other topic I want to finally enter Harris Salon into the historical preservation commission as many of you know has been restored the historical preservation commission which has been abolished we must protect our history not rasing lastly I want to acknowledge the generous donation the amount of 9,860 from the historical society which is the total cost of the Town Center clock this donation will be the centerpiece of BR looking forward to completing this project and I have with me a certificate of appreciation and I'd like to present it to the Historical Society so all members of the Historical Society if you're here please uh please come up and accept our appreciation thank that's thank you mayor may I have a motion to open the for public comments on the agenda item only which is limited to three minutes per person moved by Mr Sparta is there a second second seconded by Mr Higgins all in favor please signify by saying I I I I oppos motion carries the Flor is open to the public on agenda items only anyone wishing to come [Music] forward break the ice this one that one step right up that's bad step right up um your name first name last name MCL Thomas resident of Veron uh I've uh complained for a few years about fees and fines basically fees and fines or taxes uh as you know you have a couple of ordinances tonight on fees and F there's no need to do all of this we're raising fees to inspect an electrical box you know if I put one in I'm going to have to pay twice the amount now to have some person some person from the township come out I don't see that we pay their salaries and it's in the budget so I don't see this but the only thing that you're raising tonight which I agreed with which I've talked about to Mr rudo and even before Mr rudo was counselor I was talking about it and that's plary licenses for the first time in a few decades you've decided to raise those license fees and for that I think you're right you know because they make a mint they make a mint of those licenses and because they're so restrictive I go to California every half block has a liquor store or place where you can buy beer in New Jersey it's crazy it couldn't be so it's no longer the btud ACT has been repealed and we should act like it but anyway thank you for that and the other thing is the OEM you're raising him his salary but you didn't put in there what his old Sal salary was and from what I've observed over the years it's basically just a show up uh time time I haven't said that have a good day thank you anyone else wishing to address the council not I'll ask for a motion to close the meeting to the public moved moved by Mr Higgins is there a second second second by Mrs de benedetta all in favor signify by saying I I I oppos motion carries all members have received copies of the bills list you have any questions or comments on the bills L please opportunity to raise your questions can you just remind me with the 18th uh check number 62 to13 $18,000 software and support remind me what support was that that's what I'm asking it's I the I am yeah that is the software that the DPW uses for um the ms4 the um the storm water so that is the monthly for the that tier thing did the tier thing yeah did we have to have that before the tier thing no oh man we didn't have a choice on that yeah okay thank you gave it a mandate and I think it was um I think they gave us what 75,000 no that's we got 7 yeah 75 ,000 and it's almost nothing yeah it's nothing yeah work thank you that's that's a shame the other yeah one quick question on 621 135 that's for uh Smith price ping is that tax appeal service is that a retainer or is that an actual bill for things that have already taken place an actual appe that that would be um we pay them for when any appeals come through so that was probably because they had to do an appeal for an actual appeal the cost is that could be for one appeal it could be for several I don't know if that is one or not I can find out for you it be interested just see if what it cost us could be a runaway number I'm going to post the um the appeals and how much in in taxes we've we've collected or I should say we lost years ago which was over 300,000 and this year it's only $1,000 so it's yeah been it's been a lot okay thank you there anyone else wishing question thank you all members have received minutes of our regular meeting of July 8th and I have a motion to place them these minutes on the floor for consideration and review move move by Mr spart is there a second second second by Mr Higgins uh any anyone have any questions on the minutes additions deletions correct not here if not may I have a roll call real quick member D Higgins yes council member yes yes parries on our consent agenda we are removing resolution 24- 2233 I've asked the mayor if we could possibly review this and see if we could come up some system financing towards us whether it be Grant or something otherwise I understand the nature of the problem I think the council does as well but handle this the price of this ing is rather substantial and I think we could maybe do a little bit better so is there any other comments or resolutions that you would like to separate from the agenda consent agenda yeah I don't want to separate I just had a question on a couple of them that's all I had a question on 218 220 well if you only have a question you don't want it separated then let's let's separate it so we can have the question okay all right right 218 220 221 and uh that was it that was it anyone else okay so consent agenda for Resolutions resolution 24- 215 authorizing the cancellation of outstanding checks over six months old to Municipal cash balances resolution 24-26 a resolution requesting permission for the dedication by Ryder for donations to the police department trust fund resolution 24-27 chapter 159 resolution requesting approval of Revenue and appropriation amending the 2024 budget as Revenue an appropriation of $220,000 for the spotted Lantern Lantern fly program 24-26 uh 20-6 Grant uh resolution 24- 219 chapter 159 a resolution requesting approval of Revenue and appropriation amending the 2024 budget as a re as a revenue and appropriation of $10,000 State Insurance Fund Sif risk control Grant resol uh resol solution 24- 222 authorizing contracts with certain approved State contract vendors firefighter one for purchase of volunteer fire department turnout gear resolution 24-22 4 a resolution of the township of Vernon County of suex authorizing the disposition of Salvage of obsolete equipment in the the possession of the township at auction on municibid.com resolution 24-h 20 225 approving a charitable solicitors permit Vernon Emergency Medical Services Inc resolution 24- 226 authorizing purchase of fire apparatus from the Department of Harrington Park resolution 24- 227 block 530 l123 Bundy cancelling taxes for total disabled veteran resolution 24-22 refund for totally disabled veteran block 530 lot 123 Bundy resolution 24- 229 block 512 lot 138 Faller cancelling taxes for totally disabled veteran resolution 24-230 resolu refund for Lally disabled veteran block 512 lot 138 core logic resolution 24- 231 block 329 L 5 Nunes cancelling taxes for totally disabled veteran resolution 24-232203 d232 authorizing a date for Municipal Taxes may I uh have a motion to approve the consent agenda Mo second so mooved by Mr Higgins can second invite was dis started all in favor I'm sorry roll call member D benedetto council member Higgins yesc Sparta yes council member uh council president rudo yes carries moving to resolution 24-28 um I have a motion to place this on the floor for consider moe by Mr Higgins is there a second second second by Mrs de benad this is a resolution chapter 159 resolution requesting approval of Revenue and appropriation amending the 2024 budget as a revenue and appropriation of $24,600 so my question is pretty simple 24613 going to be added to the budget that's right is there any uh parameters on how that's going to be spent yes yes go ahead there is um it could only be in this account and we have to go by what their approval is um it deals with anything like drug related so a lot of the times this money is appropriated through the police department for like training for any equipment that deals with um any kind of uh drug abuse or anything like that so that money has to go by their parameters so it's tied to the opioid yes set yes okay so there's no one specific fund that's going to funds that deal with that problem I guess yes okay and then that's tracked and authorized and yes okay than I have to do a a yearly report on it to tell them like where the money's been spent okay okay um roll call please D benedetta yes yes yes council president rudo yes motion carries resolution 24-22 resolution authorizing fireworks to be displayed on August 4th 2024 within the township of Vernon may I have a motion to place this on the agenda for consideration move move by Mr Higgins is there a second second second by Mr sparter questions comments on that question is it's uh past August 4th I know this is only one meeting this month one last month so it's once again one of those votes after the fact right how soon up front do these things get planned so we can get on it's no one's going to vote down fireworks right we'd like to know how much money was collected the fire department apparently was the one who benefited right what's the amount now it's 3 later you know it's just information missing after the fact that's all well I think a lot of this deter is determined by you know what the longdistance view on weather is because of the potential for loss of Revenue and uh and I think as soon as they manage to come up with the funds themselves maybe it's frequently a consideration on that regard but I'll see if we can't get you the information that you yeah somebody could just let us know before time so if we can anticipate for the budget maybe there some money to be found who knows gold golden parachute roll call please benedetto yes council member Higgins yes Spock yes council president rosuto yes motion carries [Music] resolution what you nice 221 yeah 221 yep um chapter 159 resolution requesting approval of Revenue and appropriation amending the 2024 budget as a revenue and appropriation of 75,000 local Recreation Improvement grid and I have a motion to place this on the floor for consideration moved by Mr Higgins is there a second second second by Mrs de benedetto uh we have a question on that same question Tina $775,000 this is actually going right to Veterans Memorial Park to the lighting so we got this Grant and it specified when we applied for the grant was for the lighting down at Veterans Memorial Park so this money will go to that for that okay specifically so we've bonded for that job so are we not going to bond for the 75,000 or is it something extra yeah know this was extra because we had um something with the lighting um the so we needed more money so we applied and this is what it's going to there any way to put that on in the future when you know that information so that we know where it's going without well in the back of this it does actually say that is going to the lighting um like the information on the back of the resolution so it does actually say that it's going towards the sports lighting is that what you're asking yeah yeah so it is saying on the back of the information that you got said where what happened if I'm not mistaken there was a problem that wasn't until they began uh the repair or the change with project so that was the excess of what on the mount was and they applied for the additional quantities the quantity money um roll call D benedetto yes council member Higgins yes council member yes council president rudo yes introduction of orinan 24-17 in Orin Township Council Township of Vern County of suss state of New Jersey amending certain portions chapter 518 internal entitled Towing of the countship code may I have a motion to introduce this ordinance uh for a to have on the books for a second reading later on move by Mr Sparta is there a second second seconded by Mrs de benedetta yes Higgins yes council member Sparta yes Council pres yes she carries 24-18 an ordinance of the town ship Council of the township of Vernon County of susc state of New Jersey amending certain portions of chapter 250 entitled fees and esrps and chapter 330 entitled fees of the township codes may I have a motion to introduce this ordinance 24-18 moved moved by Mr Sparta is there a second second seconded by Mr Higgins call please council member D benedetta yes Council Higgins uh yes council member sorida yes council president rudo yes there for adoptions of ordinance second readings ordinance 24-14 ordinance addressing con addressing the construction records clearance may I have a motion to open this ordinance to the public for hearing uh on ordinance 24- 14 only moved moved by Mr SP uh Mr Higgins is there a second was M de benad Mrs de benad I'm sorry the is there a second second second that Mr he Mr Higgins uh floor is open to the public for anyone wishing to address ordinance 24-14 only anyone wish to come forward and wish this if not I'll ask for a motion to close the meeting to the public on ordinance 24-14 moved by Mr Sparta is there a second second seconded by Mrs de benedetto all in favor signify by saying I I oppos motion count a motion Carri may I have a motion to place 24-1 D14 on the floor for consideration and the second reading for adoption moved moved by Mr Sparta is there second second second by Mrs de benetta any council members have any comments or questions on this this is the CRC that we're talking about 24-14 right right is there a law or a uh override State mandate or is this strictly a local decision to to further uh I guess regulate the construction records no what happens is occasionally we have if I'm not mistaken we have uh Records that are still open and fees uh that have to be collected right or they have been collected and the records haven't been closed and this takes care of that situation yes when you so when you're buying a house let say you're buying Mr judo's home please for just for sale um if he had some open permits it would get flagged and this way he'd have to resolve those issues before you take an ownership which is it's it's good because a lot of times that you'll come in and you'll like you come in for something and and there'll be an open fee then you'll be held responsible for that so it's kind of like a record clearance that make sure that those records are cleared by the uh original owner right that record all the years that hasn't been in place and it's not subject to specific law like yeah we would find that people people I didn't know about this open permit or you know so now we have something in place that uh right that was for the clearance of that but if somebody protests a permit let's say they pull a permit and uh it's never approved for some reason they put up a deck they build a pool they do whatever there's squabble over one small piece permits never approved and they're using the pool for 10 years is that something that would come up whenever they sell the house is that an open permit that's still open hasn't been closed I yes it is yeah if they have an open permit and this form will allow our building department to make sure that all their permits for that house is closed before they can even sell the house right so if they did put a pool up or a deck up and didn't get a permit and the building department finds out about that also then they would have to actually apply for the permit pay for the permit and then they would get the clearance as well as any penalties right okay the reason I'm asking there's been uh when I say a few three three construction companies that I know in town a couple of them are saying they're not doing business in Vernon anymore because when permits are pulled and plans are submitted things change when it comes time to signing off the permits and so permits are left open and it's uh who's going to spend the money to go to court to see who's it right or wrong nobody wants to spend money when they have a permit and uh so in a case like that if it's not cited not settled it's still open it has to wait until the house is sold I guess to permanently settle is that it yes unless our building you know our official comes across it for another situation where he is checking up on some of the permits where they you know they applied for didn't apply you know so if not probably this is help clear up things that they don't you know check on because they wouldn't check on it unless they're asking for an inspection uhhuh there there's other townships that have adopted this um I could have the uh instruction official um shed some more light on that for you um this way you know he can answer really in depth all those questions so I just know it's it's it's so when you buy the home you have you know a a clear um slate to start with so so there's no pending permits open or anything like that so or things that you're should be held responsible for okay thank any other questions no roll call council member D benedetto yes council member Higgins yes council member Spa yes president rudo yes carries resolution 24-15 an ordinance amending the salaries for certain officers and employees Township of Veron County of Sussex state of New Jersey may I have a motion to open the uh public hearing to uh public uh mooved by Mr Higgins is there a second second second by Mrs de benedetto anyone wishing public wishing to come forward and question this particular issue please come forward so that's an ordinance or res resolution okay I already made that Emergency Management coordinator again sir just for the records Tim Tom Tom Tom Thomas MCL I waffle on that again he just want your name I just need your name for the record than anyone else not may I have a pleas close our meeting to the public motion second motion made by Mr Sparta seconded by Mrs de benedetta all in favor signify by saying I I opposed motion carries may I have a motion to uh Place ordinance 24-15 on the floor for approval by the council or discussion or question discussion okay so move move by Mr Higgins is there a second second second by Mr sparter any questions or comments on is this a a change in the current setup is this a new position is this uh what no it's not a new position it's a position that we had prior um the the person that's actually in this position has been doing it for several years and um we're just increasing his salary and the current salary is somewhere in the middle of these two yes and the potential is to go up to 10 yes is there a plan to do that yes there is and it's just for how many years been in a position I don't know exactly how many years but he's been at least at least two years uh he's been in that position has anything to do with the coordination and the merging of the EMTs and the yes he did he handles all of that so there is some functionality that's different oh yeah he's well I mean that's kind of like before he is he is the liaison between the ambulance Squad and our office um he helped get them merged together besides doing all the other OEM stuff with you know any kind of natural disasters or anything like that he's he's the guy to he's the coordinator for that so you have another position with the town no no no just a private individual private he has another job so this is like a part-time position for him okay yeah any kind of uh outages or anything like that he kind of coordinates a lot of that stuff any of the shelters yeah all of that he's got a vital role too uhuh so thank you okay you other questions no would you Ben yes member Higgins yes council member SP yes council president rudo yes-1 holding on this our next may I have motion to open the floor for public comment on any items on any topic move move by Mr spart is there a second second second by Mr Higgins all in favor signify by saying I I opposed motion carries the floor is open to the public for discussion or comment on any particular item please come forward and state your name good evening good evening Mr burough uh Mr Mayor and uh Council as a former Township council member and mayor I have firsthand respect and appreciation for the difficulty and the challenges of the responsibility that you shoulder as leaders of our town government and it is for this reason that since my four-year term as mayor ended in January this year I have not uttered a single negative public comment nor have I posted any negative social media comments criticize any decision that you've made or any action that you've Tak Mr rosson knows that this statement is true because he has firsthand knowledge of specific statements that made to support him whenever I believe that his actions were in the best interest of moving Vernon forward however on tonight my conscience compels me to use this speaking opportunity that's offered by the council to express my great and heartfelt disagreement with mayor Ross's decision to use the authority of his office to punish and to hurt a resident as part of what appears to be an ongoing heated dis with this resident I speak of Mr Ross's decision to partially dismantle two gifts to the town by former council member and former mayor Sally Rinker and because these two gifts specifically the main Town Central Park identification sign and a new flag Poe surrounded by a circle apron of beautiful paving stones because these two gifts were donated by a mother in memory of her deceased son a wide cross-section of Vernon of the verin public have described this partial smiling of these two gifts sou town has been a desecration of a memorial or an act that's spiteful and cruel I have also been compelled to speak tonight because Mr Rossi has stated that as mayor my acceptance of Mrs rinker's gift to the Town Center Park which total approximately $7,000 with somehow an improper or illegal quote back room deal unquote let me set the record straight this claim by Mr Rossy is of course absolutely not true my acceptance of the gifts that Mrs Rinker donated to the Town Center Park was above board it was legal it was proper and was done under the same conditions and rules that I and other Mayors have accepted a large number of other gifts that have been donated to our Town's municiple parks in fact our town has a memorial donation program that administered by the town's Department of recreation as is stated on our Town's website anyone can offer a gift to the town in the form of a unique dedication to memorialize a departed family member or friend there are in fact many other such Memorial gifts that were given in the memory of deceased individuals and they're located in all three of our Municipal Parks Mr Rossi claims that a thorough investigation during which he discovered that Mrs Ross's deceased son had at one time been arrested and had lived the life that Mr Rossy did not find accept I have not seen a copy of this claim thir Municipal investigation that was conducted by our Town's mayor because he has not yet released this critical document to the public I hope that he will release it soon and I call on him to do so immediately however no matter what the results of Mr Ross's investigation might say I ask that he remember that we as human beings are not perfect entities and many of us have sons and daughters and other family members that have lived the kind of lives that we would not like for them to have lived however if these individuals are our children if these individuals are our sons and daughters we still love them and even their imp and and with their Perfections and that's especially TR if it's a mother I end my comments Mr council president with the following two simple messages to our mayor number one the message is that I and the great majority of beron residents are not at all interested in the personal Fe Feud that Mr Rossy has with Mrs Rinker and we most certainly do not want this Feud to continue to hold hostage the progress of the many important Town issues that we need for him as our mayor to focus his time efforts and energy on WE there and number two we therefore ask that he immediately correct this serious mistake and judgment by returning both these gifts to the town to the initially donated condition I hope with all my heart I hope with all my soul that Mr Rosy will immediately he these two simple messages so that our town can start to heal from this breach of decency so that our town can put this divisive matter behind us and then we move on thank you very much for this opportunity to speak anyone anyone El please come forward and state your name council president I just want to make a quick comment those those naations were were given they were given back to public question we given back to the owners my name isman 40 14 lbur Hollow Road um I'm here because of JCP and La installed the smart meters they didn't give anyone the opportunity that opt out which Now find out you could um the issue is is everyone on our block our builds doubled and triped um we didn't have power for two and a half to three days I had a bill I have a 2,000 foot home of almost $600 my neighbor at the end of the block 600 another person 300 contact them they're telling us they're going to send a specialist out the test I'm in the electrical construction field I deal with maintenance I deal with testing I I train people how to test U they send someone that look he looks at the meter and leaves that's their extent of texting I contacted the state they're going back and forth with me I asked them if they I could be present when they're doing their tests on the meters they're telling me it's 100% accurate which is correct you're supposed to do a CT scan they're not doing that or performing that they're telling me they could bring a state official to come watch and to monitor the thing so my question to them is that state official is the NFPA 70 certified certified to understand and what the testing is going on their answer is no so we have a problem with people they're putting systems in our homes they're not or doing the proper testing now we have issues and they're not doing what they need to do on their end to get it tested right they own it even though it's on my house I can't get a third party to test it because it's their property technically um so going back and forth to them we're not getting anywhere we're just getting astronomical bills um hundreds of people we put comments on Facebook and Instagram and there's one guy he had a $700 Bill he lives by himself uh he has an air conditioning and everything lights um you know we it's not like my bill normally uh with air on and everything 300 350 now the last one was 600 the one before that was 580 with two and a half days of no electric so there definitely is an issue um the fact is is some of the residents don't say anything because they have Sussex rural um as you come up the hill turns into J jcpnl and it's like they have a monopoly there's nothing we could do it's not like I could go to another electrical company to give them competition so they could give us a better rate or to fix something is you know you call them up they're right there's no argument you can't say nothing let me comment on this just briefly we've had in the past some problems with jcpnl to the extent that we had extensive outages I think people here will remember this because of branches that came down and you know and it took an inordinate amount of time for these repairs to be made we we contacted jcpnl on the Halford the township residents who were affected by this and we were assured that these things would be approved uh or and uh corrected uh This was done through the office of the mayor I'm going to ask the mayor through his good offices to contact jpnl since this is a an issue regarding uh usage and a uh with with residents that would require you know the administration to look into uh we'll ask them if they can come and comment at the uh next meeting I think there's the there's an individual that we have as a contact he came just a few months right and we can bring it to his his attention so I will make that comment on contact on behalf of the council I I I share your concern because I too am a jcpnl resident except that you know I don't know if I have those smart meters or not it's well you're able to opt out and he told me afterwards it would be another $15 fee which I would have did I would have no problem of course yeah when they came to install it they didn't give me the option and you opt out now no because they can't give me my old meter back it's the smart meter that's it uh the other issue is is when the gentleman installed it they're supposed to give you a certification calibration they did not they won't give that to so I do data centers the biggest data centers in the state solar Farms I did my company constructed the biggest solar farm in the state of New Jersey we bring the power to the pole we have a meter when we get that meter it's calibrated certified we also get a calibrated certified by third party I'm asking them when I also know when the guy installed everything the meter he had wasn't calibrated certified so he how could he you know that's that's yeah he didn't wear a proper PP the whole nine so all that that they're doing how do I know they're installing properly or it's tested properly which I know it's not are you speaking on behalf of yourself only or a group group would you please give your name address telephone number to our business administrator and we'll see if we this along I would also suggest all the people that you're representing to contact the business minist a list Ong going list and um Facebook and then also all a lot of the people on our block that from susex that and susex Ro and comes up with provide those provide the address absolutely and we'll uh we have how po out supposed to have been made so basic through a contact phone call a a postcard or what what I would assume is either if you have on say you do a digital right so you're paying your bill digitally or I get mine through the mail give me something in the mail okay you you we getting new smart meters but if you choose to opt out it'll be an extra $15 a month we didn't get that option you're getting a smart meter you know it be installed on this date that's it I didn't the mail it was done by mail one would think that if it's a smart meter you probably get more accurate correct you knowre yes I did everything they asked so I changed my whole home to the smart thermostats we you know I work for electric company I'm might you know switch everything out to how they recommend to run it most efficient and it's not thank you you're welcome will you just give me a at least your name and number anyone else wishing to come forward sure it doesn't matter can your address please not a problem good evening Mr D D good evening sorry council president rido and fellow councilman I speak tonight to address the situation at the bik track Memorial as a formal council person I'm concerned with the potential does this open the door for every change of administration to take action of retaliation this town has a long history of underlying tensions of disagreement and dislike by allowing this action to stand it condones the action taken and set the burn up for a continuation of such Deeds I appeal to the council to reinstate the monument and to put an end to this tonight this has made a laughing St of our community and it needs to be set right thank you very anyone else wishing to come forward orjust the counsil Mr M yes sir were you did you not address it was dur I'm sorry you're good he thought you were coming up for a second time but you came up there any ordinance the uh I wasn't trying to get you know say you were getting two bites of the Apple I was just being careful I know you to slide I just got a couple question question number one is I didn't say before on the resolutions you approved uh the Veron uh charitable solicitors permit for the Vernon Emergency Medical Services Inc what the heck is that that's the new combined ambulance I shouldn't just slam the door in their face you can do what you want to do well usually when I get a all about you know the the sheriff's patrolman Association wants me to uh contribute money to help out disadvantage the sheriff Doan with along that lines I hang out I think most people do I assume okay but the uh seriously getting back to my original topic and that's property tax assessment and the way it's carried out within the township and you know at some point I mean the justification for this forget the point justification for this is that we lowered the amount of cases going to Property Tax Court and we knew that was going to happen because in the 2008 assessment right during the that little blimp we had in property prices prices in burning doubled the prices in the rest of the nation they sort of like tanked uh and that prompted a lot of tax appeals over the years we had the highest rat for 11 years and I heard nothing out of the tax assessor about hey we reorder redo this tax assessment but no not not a word so then 2019 come up and we're going to change How We Do property tax assessments and I said at that time I'll say it again uh most people do not need government intruding into their houses on a fiveyear basis uh it's it's just big government we don't need we had a a a system before that worked before if we would had a competent tax assessor which apparently we didn't uh but uh this assessment that we have now is just beyond the pale it's it's unnecessary uh we got to go back to the one uh person from Township coming out every 10 years uh do the evaluation and dropping back uh to the building code stuff all that should be uh appear in the property tax assessment so if I put in a swimming pool it's going to be noted there in the building Department's going to pick it up so regardless of that we have to change this property tax assessment system go back to the old system because I don't want to be looking at people from the township it's just big government intruding into individuals lives that's it thank you you heard me thanks very much have a good night welcome anyone else wishing to come forward good evening George n conov for ver I'm here to talk tonight about what I deem as an act of desecration committed by the mayor of this town to the memorial of Jason Rinker donated by the mother of Jason Rinker former mayor Sally Wier when my wife and I moved here in early 2000 bur in New Jersey was a place we envisioned living in enjoying and raising a family to us the Wide Open Spaces the camaraderie with your fellow neighbors and above all else the ability to come together despite political affiliation opinions and circumstances were all great factors for setting down Roots however when I found out about the act of desecration that the mayor has committed in removing the memorial from the pump track I started to see just how dark people in this town could become and in over 20 years of calling Vernon Township the full I am for the first time disgraced to call myself a resident here this is something I would have never expected to talk about at a town council meeting because a sheer idea of a town government committing an act like this is unfathomable to me as I said to my email on the Town Council the mayor dated July 9th 2024 whether you are for or against the pump track this is an error on many different levels for one the sheer fact that the memorial was removed under the pretenses outlined is an act of cancel culture cancel culture goes against the true ideals of conservativism where you learn both from the good and the bad so you don't repeat the mistakes this makes rning Township no better than the towns in the cities across the country that have removed from more second it paints a bad image for this town and sets a president for future Mayors what's to say that the next mayor won't remove future donations or memorials is that what we're about now would you be would you want to open the business here and and if the effort you put into town and the donations you made could be upended in a Heartbeat by one elected official third and above all else desecration is wrong both both from a moral standpoint and potentially by law T 33-9 states that a person commits a disorderly person's offense if he purposely desecrates any public monument Insignia symbol or structure or place of worship or burial above all else this demonstrates the character of the set elected official regardless of what you think of the pump track and the underlying politics this action is wrong the mayor made a grave mistake in evolving himself in the personal dispute between two parties desecrating the memorial and supporting cancel culture you do not desecrate the memorial to anyone who are we as residents of this town to turn a blind eye to actions like this and after that what's next what other memorials are we going to take down the council needs to act to undo this disgraceful Act and put the memorial back the actions you take today will show the residents of this town the county the state and even the nation who we are do we support desecration and cancel culture or are we a Town based around the fundamental values that actions like this should never be committed that the dead should be left to rest and that something like this should not be a political football please restore the memorial make the right decision thank you good evening good evening Mr Mayor Rich Carson how are you oh welcome how are you sir all right yourself yeah I know he not out my five minutes sorry okay I'm here to talk about the memorial situation and clearly this situation could have been handled differently and by that I mean was communication made with the council in conjunction with uh making a decision on the removal and was communication made by the mayor in relation to communicating with the families now the mayor's decision has caused tremendous heartbreak for two sets of families the Rinker family and the other family I'm not going to mention the name right now but my heart really goes out to them these two families should not have suffered and continue to suffer the agony that the mayor has triggered over the past month none whatsoever with that in mind a couple of interesting things came up that I think the council needs to investigate and actually it's your duty to investigate and report back to the town I know the family did not contact the mayor regarding this he contacted them all right excuse me who contacted who that the mayor contacted which family the mayor contacted the family which begs the question Mrs rinker's family no the other family which begs the question who contacted the mayor Dead Silence on that over the past month I've made repeated requests for that you have an obligation to find that out the town needs to know this is an issue of Integrity decency next this investigation those two words jumped out at me when I first saw the letter to Mrs Rinker detailed investigation by who well we know the mayor claims he did an investigation but who did his investigation again silence one can presume well I'm hoping to God that it wasn't our Police Department I doubt that very much I don't think they would stoop that low and I know many of the officers and they're outstanding so where did this information come from didn't come from the family initially who did it come from who contacted you just the council please please yeah so in summary I'll I'll leave other comments to others you have a job to do and what are you going to do about it how is this going to be corrected it clearly was done out of hatred and Spite and it's very interesting that the mayor campaigned heavily to heal division in the town that's all I have to say thank you thank you anyone else wishing to come please state your name Michelle schaer I'm sorry Michelle shaer I live at hridge Estates I've been there for over two decades Jason ranker was my neighbor next her neighbor I have a deceased husband I don't know much about politics but I do know right from wrong and I I know that this was very wrong this act of hatred um I think you would agree that if somebody did that to one of your kids that was deceased you'd have a problem Mr Rossy so if anybody had done that to my husband his memorial I would have a big problem with that have nothing more to say thank you thank you anyone else wishing to speak resumo good evening Miss Council Steve dunlo Williamsville State Liv here since 1995 relative newcomer um there was a video posted by the mayor about this incident and he made a statement about the administration had voted to name the park had voted down by the council and a five to zero vote now if this was part of his investigation he didn't do a very good job because there was never a five to zero vote there was a vote to name the park which you introduced the night of a meeting it wasn't on the agenda prior it was introduced The Night of the meeting and it said Vernon Township youth Memorial Park in pump track and that was a three to2 vote council president Natalie bueri and Bri Brian Lynch voted yes and Harry shortway and um Mike Fury voted no so it just makes me wonder if he couldn't get that right what else did didn't he get right I spoke at the last meeting and said I saw this as the mayor's pit for Mrs rinker's cat they've been poking at each other since before the election he was not happy that she called the police on him having viewed the video I think it was probably improper that the police were involved then he said that she stalked him in his house I believe she drove by his house and she was the way that the council found out that he was taking a Township owned vehicle home without Council approval I think it became very personal and for the mayor to involved Mrs rinker's son in it who was a dear friend of mine I found and still find unconscionable her son should have never been involved in this if he wanted to file charges against her fine no problem with that but this should not have happened it should have never been done and I really hope the council will intervene and do something to put it back I didn't even comply with a resolution the resolution was um 2216 2 and the resolution clearly stated it was to be named the Vernon Township youth Memorial Park in pump track in the end it was named the Town Center Park and pump track and Mrs Rinker paid for the sign she paid for the flag pole she played for the monument and later when it was taken down and he was questioned he said well no that's Township property the flag is still there I'm tempted to go over there myself with a chainsaw and cut the sign down because if it's either all Township property or none of his Township property she should at least be reimbursed but I don't think that's the answer I think the answer is to do the right thing the chrisan thing and restore the monument to where it was that was done last fall and nobody said a word about it until just a few weeks ago and it became a big issue in fact the father of the injured girl claimed in a Facebook page that he knew nothing about it until just very recently the mayor claimed to me that he had had many many people contact him about this well I know an OP was filed and the clerk said there was nothing responsive as if nobody had contacted the mayor right please but I but I do find it difficult when the mayor says that there was a 5 to zero vote to vote it down that's wrong so what else was wrong there were charges filed I don't think there was any ever res that was ever any resolution to that I I I hope the man will come to his censes and realize that it was vindictive and it was the wrong thing to do and then he will put it back and we put this whole episode behind us I have not seen this many people show up at a meeting since the original pump track meeting and the reason that he was being honored was he was the one that originally brought this thing to the town to build a pump track and offered to do it for free and then Dan Krauss came and wanted to do a 5013c and do it and then two previous Mayors took it over and here we have a pum try I hope the right thing will be done now hope I have a little bit more time left because I have a couple other issues to address one of them being are you n seconds talk quick go ahead one of them being the opras has come to my attention do some Facebook postings that the attorney is now handling opras at least on behalf of certain residents I know there was an issue in the past I know that the council met with the clerk the clerk was supposed to remove herself from the issue Lauren was supposed to be dealing with this at least one particular individual and was not supposed to involve herself now I understand that the township attorney not Mr King and another one is supposed to be handling these this is what the Board of Ed did and it ended up costing us thousands of dollars because the ba refused to do her job and now the attorney was handling the opras and charging us for it so my question is threefold number one did the attorney volunteer to do this pro bono number two was it the council president that instructed the attorney to do it or was it the mayor that instructed the attorney to do it and if the mayor and if the attorney is going to be doing it is there going to be an adjustment to the clerk's salary or is the clerk going to be responsible for paying for these additional legal fees op regulations say it's the town clerk's responsibility or designate anyone who has the appropriate certifications and uh and uh background to handle this which I would think would be her assistant Lauren right not the township attorney so I don't know who made that decision but if it's going to cost us more money I find it troubling thank you very much thank you pushing to come forward nobody wants to be me right here right now okay Sally ranker ver over the past several weeks there's been much misinformation delivered to the public about my son Jason Rinker and Me by Anthony Rossy he is trying to justify what can only be the result of political spite by removing my son's Memorial monument from the Vernon pump track Park my son is not here to defend himself so I will do that for him on July 6 I received an email from Anthony Ross stating he ordered the removal of my son's monument and park sign the council was copied on that same email but the items were already moved days before I was told I could pick them up at the DPW garage it's not easy picking up a couple of hundred pound gred Monument so obviously I had to organize some help and found it on the floor the DPW garage my donation to the park included the large entrance sign of flag pole and area for the monument to rest on and the Memorial monument for my son the email contained a Litany of Lies he wrote that my son had physical altercations with Vernon Police that never happened he wrote that my son had numerous arrests from drug and weapon charges that never happened there was a time when somebody made a false accusation about my son and when the police investigated or they found some guns locked in a safe where they belonged and those guns belonged to my son's ex-wife fully registered legal guns the charges were dropped that was the end of weapon charges for my son drugs my son had many injuries over a lifetime of love for extreme sports he had a medical marijuana card for legal use that was it no opens no anything else just marijuana now Anthony Rossy is courted marijuana companies to come here to grow distribute and sell it in our town Revenue his constant delivery of lies about my son had no other purpose but to create a false perception in the eyes of the public to Garner support for his despicable consecrate consecration of my son's Memorial he posted a seven minute amateur video to portray himself a victim with more lies he claimed I watch his house I don't watch his house I did see his house one time and I didn't even stop okay he claimed he twisted an event of harassment that he wielded on me while I was trying to enter acne to shop one night he passed me in the acne parking lot beeping his horn with his head and arm out the window on a 40° night yelling out my name his quiet video doesn't portray all that the totality of it was harassment in my eyes because we don't say hello on the street he also forgot to present my eyewitness's written statement which completely corroborates my statement that was missing but we were told facts matter but only his facts I reported it only because he was in office a very short time and it was very weird behavior and I wanted to document it in case the harassment continued and here we are so without concern for any other donation Memorial or monument in our town he targeted mine he reported to the advertising newspaper that people were asking him to remove it several separate open requests for this information yielded none of that except there were citizens sending the mayor and councel letters expressing disgust and requesting he put everything back that's all it yielded ironically my son's Memorial received more acknowledgement and authorization from the May from the then mayor barell and the council than any other Monument I believe in this town complete with a dedication ceremony by mayor Burell on November 25th 2023 when this spiteful act became known someone started an online petition someone I don't even know it gared 632 signatures in about 3 days today an initiative petition and allow action afforded to citizens of the forner at government to create an ordinance was submitted to the Vernon Township cler with 578 signatures received in almost not even three weeks this petition is appealing to the council to please pass the ordinance that's written in this petition to replace the sign and the monument to their rightful places in the park heartfelt citizens of our town have placed flowers in the place of the monument in the meantime minut I want to thank the committee of petitioners and the people of Vernon who eagerly signed the petition We Believe such public support to rectify such an ill act should be honored I will close by saying I am proud to live in a community that when people hear of such an act with no justification but a Litany of lies to fool them they respond with anger and disappointment that competent leadership is absent in our mayor's office thank you address the council evening everyonee state your name my name is Joe Hernandez I'm not a local Vernon uh resident I drove here from Manhattan um Jason was a friend of mine for about 20 years and we saw on social media regarding you know taking down his Monument not only affecting this town it's affecting the whole Mountain B community um there are thousands of people who have been responding you know in social media stating that this didn't need to happen I don't know the current mayor or what dispute he has with Miss ranker but um having that sign removed it hurt a lot of people and you know as someone else stated my opinion it makes the town look bad to allow something like this to happen not to say that anyone up here agree with it or disagree with it so you know again I drove all the way up here just to say that um you know of us are perfect and I heard some some negative things about Jason in his past but he BR a lot of us together as a family um you know he he introduced me to mountain biking and took me all over the East Coast I follow him in races um you know I know his children his child and he knows my children um I I've been hanging out here for 15 20 years just to go to come up to that bike shop my bike is is still there with John uh Hansen I have probably have 50 bike shops you know on the way here but I always come to Vernon and always try to bring business to this community um and just wanted to state that it's not just you know the town itself this is affecting a lot of people and thank you thank you very much hello my name is Johan Hansen um you guys remembered from the last council meeting I will try to keep this on more of a light note about the comodity and highlights things of that Jay has brought for the cycling Community I don't want to go down the dark path that Anthony Rossy has done um I just want to bring back to highlight of some of these amazing things as we seen one of our great customers Joe Hernandez uh it's been a great friend of Joe I mean Jay for over 20 years it's not the first customer that has come through our doors asking what has happened with the memorial stone down at the Vernon palp track um I constantly am asked you know what has happened with it and what's going on when I first left Trek uh when I had the opportunity to open up a business here was because of Jay knowing the foundation that he set and the community that he created and what made Mountain Creek so special for all these people that came to this Resort and with that I knew that I had the key success much easier than starting from scratch that J already built that foundation so when I started up my business there it was amazing to know that people were so happy to see me knowing that I was Jay's right-hand man for past 20 years to come in and know that I'm in there again and there amount of joy and seeing that everyone was would be so proud to see what the business has become now knowing that Jay can feel rested and happy knowing that this business is going forward Everyone Cared about Jay and too very much they wanted to know how they could support still Jay and we've made t-shirts and stickers and everyone's always inquiring about more t-shirts and stickers and things of that matter and I helped them out so when this happened it struck the community hard the amount of messages I received from social media saying how can they help it's just unfortunate that a lot of these people which is what ver is striving to do is bring in outside people for business can't come here and sign this petition or voice their opinion in much because of what the mayor did it's not right it's a low blow to say and just on top of it like you don't mess with the dead let them rest Jay's done so much along with that I will always say this Jay was never really into politics Jay would always have these conversations I always saw saying to Sally like you know why don't you just give it a break so to see this become now a political peace Jay would be furiated about it and it shouldn't have gone this low to begin with that's what I'm just going to end it with thank you you guys anyone else looking to address the councel pleas name good evening my name is Sonia Hansen I live in the Vernon Township and um I have a couple questions for the council and the mayor number one is what the coun so aware that the memorial was taken was going to be taken down did the mayor come and discuss this with a councel we're here to listen to your comments okay well that's one of my questions um politically you know we all have a right this is why we live in America we have a right to choose who we vote for okay and I respect that um I'm also openminded enough to know that sometimes we don't agree with certain parties but at the end of the day they may have presented a better um position and one and I also respect that Mr Mayor I feel that this act taking down the memorial was really personal we it's it's personal because as a mother and having lost a child I this deeply deeply sadden in me that we are all here toight tonight discussing this I ask you to please restore the memorial it is the right thing to do especially since the memorial was approved by the previous mayor this is a cross Mr Mayor all I'm going to say is you cross boundaries you made it personal and the right thing to do is to restore the memorial I have Liv lived in this town for over 32 years and honestly this deeply sadness me it was a mistake let's make it right thank you for your time thank you good evening good evening Weber one Cindy Weber onewood section of Vernon I wasn't going to speak but I feel compelled to my heart's broken by this horrible thoughtless heartless act of removing this from Memorial we have memorials all through this town of people who go to the the maple grain Park and there are Memorial trees there with Memorial names and PLS of deceased people from our town why aren't they removed why did you only remove move the one it obviously is some type of a political Vendetta or or something that you've got going on with salby Rinker and this one certain act these are just one Memorial and the council needs to step up and do something because this can't continue our town is going downhill I've never seen such animosity from everybody in this town as I see now you look at Facebook and all that you see is negative things who would want to come here live here anymore that's all I have to say I I just feel we need to do the right thing thank you is there anyone else that wishes to address the count see one time one second please hello my name is chy I'm sorry I can't hear you I'm sorry my name in 300 years since the accident um I've been working on my recovery and healing and healing my family and trying to being a single mother um but there's been a lot of misinformation and lies and false things going on I this was my time to come and see God um to let everybody know back so I'm here on behalf of myself and I'm also here on behalf of my beloved who is not here to be able to speak for himself um everybody thinks that they're honoring Jo and they're um you know on his behalf wanting to put this Memorial back the truth is that Jay would have never wanted this Memorial in this location he would have never wanted it there and um his mother's found Vier was well aware of that when he found about the results for the ground testing of this location they came back contaminated um with cancer causing help to me and for people who don't know but our son had cancer and battle cancer um and his mother Sally actually brought the paperware for the ground testing results to his bike shop while I was present and as soon as Jason found out that the land was contaminated and toxic he told her he wanted nothing to do with it if our children had cancer he would never take our boys there and he would never want anybody's children to go to be exposed to toxins and cancering chemicals as we've battled a very strong fight to have both of our children um thatle be cancer um I hope would also like to bring to the attention that um you know people are coming up and saying how disgraceful it is Jo Memorial um including his mother um but I just time um four months after my accident I wasn't able to attend Jam's funeral um I was in the hospital inida for the month and I came over broken arms broken legs broken ribs lacerated litter my lungs collapsed my spine was broken um and I was Final injury that I'm paralyzed from my base down um so four months after when I was able to get to his gr to leave something for him in of him I um have my own memorial in Black me and um here it is it's an engrav picture of us um that says rest in in peace my sweet love until we me again forever to gr I left his on his grave um and the next day it was sent back to me by Sally ler removed from his grave whom she loves her wants to honor him so much um but she this pce that I left there along with a very nasty letter telling me that I was no longer welcome at bra site I was no longer welcome at his home where he lived with my children and I was no longer welcome at the bank shop and that if I showed up at any of those places that she would call a p and removed her TR fing this is also a woman after his accident mon to honor her son who sent me uh messages in the beginning saying that I was the love of her son's life um and that she would be there for me and my son and my family no matter what and with the fact that her son loved me that much um and after I came home from my accident um she walked me out of the home where my stuff was my son's stuff was Jay's son's stuff was um she never allowed me my son or her J her own grandson to go back in the home to collect any belongings of ours or J to say goodbye or do in home or do anything um my GI was there all of my stuff was there including my sons and um after a month of her telling me oh you'll be able to go back there I'm going to make a handy C accessible for you I want you being able to live there and taken care of it got to the I needed to go there to get jacket closed my son snowboard my vehicle was there um and my son I wanted him to go start it it was the middle of winter and sitting um and I texted Sally about we were going to go there to get those things and to start my and um as soon as I arrived she showed up that in my face threatened me meanwhile I'm still very broken arms legs the open was only um in March after my accident was in January um and she got in my face in front of my son and my mother she threatened me and all the cops I was never welcome on that property again or on any of her properties whatsoever she's suing please please please so um just to say um it's odd that she knew her son wanted nothing to do with this P track in this location he originally wanted it at the flats years before then um because the the flats that as soon as he found out that this land was um contaminated which you can all and find valy also in writing wrote that the land was continu minutes please please handle this excuse me I'll take care of it okay but Sally knowing well that her son wanted nothing to do with this location or he made it clear to her ining he made it clear to the town after he passed this tra and she went and put his name on it knowing that he wanted nothing to do with it andin for mayor and was going around to try to get all of the ERS vots and the mountain biker votes and there are many friends of J who contacted me to let me know that she was taking all of his stuff my stuff my son's stuff out of the house which we never got back um please can you wrap this up please you knowe WP this up i'mna sit here you wrap this up lady has har morning she told her own Grand the mornings who is her son's son so if you really are trying to honor your son you would be honoring the people that he loved that he left you thank you very much thank you very much for the opportunity to speak Sally she has take please please is there anyone else wishing to address the council close close to the public if not I'll close the meeting I just want to say something I am friend of Sally ranker for your name my name is Christ G I live on Andrea Drive and Vernon and I'm a friend of Sally rankers I didn't want to speak tonight but I know that she's not that type of person that that the person was saying I know her to be a kind caring individual and not depicted the way person that just spoke said about her and that's all I need to say and everybody that knows Sally knows that they respect her she cares for people and she wouldn't go out of her way to hurt somebody steal something from somebody why would she do that it doesn't make sense and why was this done at the very end where other people have already spoken and they couldn't speak up anymore but that's all I have to say I know Sally Rinker I believe in her I trust her she's my friend and I don't think all those things were true to say um hi my name is Shannon Gyer um I'm Jason rinker's sister and I just like to set the record straight that my brother wanted to build the pump track upon numerous e e e e e