in written notice and electronic notice to The Courier News and Breeze posting on the website and the bulletin board in the municipal building and filing with the Township Clerk if we could have roll call please councilman K here councilman codilla here councilman nalis here councilman pedroso president ring here if everyone that is able to stand could please stand and and join us in the Pledge of Allegiance Pledge Ali to of the United States of America to the it stands na indivisible andice all right um I believe we have some minutes for approval anyone have any Mr President I provided a limited number of edits uh offline which I believe have been integrated so unless there are others I'll make a motion to approve the February 1st uh minutes as uh as um as amended I'll second a motion okay roll call please councilman Kos yes councilman cill yes councilman nalis yes pedroso president ring yes and the minutes from the February 1st 2024 close session are making their way around for review and approval next is Township Council reports I will start with councilman nor Galis thank you Mr President uh the Lunar New Year is here and we'll see a lot more about that this morning this afternoon and and this is the year it's all about the dragon it is one of 12 animals assigned from the Chinese zodiac system the holiday also known as Chinese New Year and Spring Festival is celebrated by Asian communities throughout the world it officially kicked off on February 10th marking the beginning of countless celebrations worldwide Valentine's day was yesterday Valentine's Day also known as St Valentine's Day or the Feast of St Valentine is celebrated annually on February 14th it originated as a Christian Feast Day honoring a martyr named Valentine and later through folk Traditions it has become a significant cultural religious and Commercial celebration of romance and love in many regions of the world so if you have a special Valentine hold them close February is awareness month for heart health in the United States with one day set aside as National red wear red day to raise awareness of heart disease uh attended the monthly meeting of the Bridgewater aitt Municipal Alliance for the prevention of alcoholism and drug use that is a very long title with an extremely important Mission help young people with with education and awareness to not only avoid alcohol and drugs but also smoking and vaping you have probably heard about mad which is Mothers Against Drunk Driving but you may not have heard about an equally important group called sad that stands for students against destructive decisions our high school resource officers Anthony molo and Brian eer are key participants in working with the Township youth at the high school I also attended the bris the Somerset County Business Partnership present and future presentation or here updates from the State Chamber of Commerce Gentleman by name of Michael Egon the county president uh Michael McDon that is the local College uh sumerset Hospital Chief Operating Officer Dedra blouse and County Administration Sarah sui talked about uh administrator papis uh police chief mitac and I had another walkth through of the vacant e Theon building on Route 22 I want to share a couple of comments about uh the the snow recently uh for the first time in several years we had a measurable meaning plowable snow event our Township plow drivers can't decide to stay home or telecommute they need to get to work plowing over 200 miles of roadway they did just that the other day the downside of the plowing is that often times they plow snow across your driveway and you may have already snowed it uh shoveled it uh that cannot be helped one resident sent an email suggesting employees shovel out the driveway access after plowing please understand that uh that's not simply not possible it would take an army of folks and our budget couldn't so I trust you'll please bear with our our folks they did a fine job and to reserve our respect thank you thank you councilman noralis councilman pedroso oh thank you not used to going so quickly uh good evening everybody it's so nice to see so many faces in our Chambers tonight uh to those of you that that celebrate soly want to wish everyone a Happy New Year to the lunar new year in the Chinese tradition Year of the Dragon how exciting yeah I got to say of all the years I've been on the council I've I've never seen anything on our walls to celebrate anything so it's quite an honor to the Chinese Community to have to see that on the wall I wish I knew what it meant can you someone tell me what that what that says Henry what does that say yeah it [Music] says Ah that's wonderful can't go wrong with that so thank you you framed it right with me in the middle so that's basically all I want to say I think that's the most important thing so everybody enjoy your holiday and uh all the best upcoming year thank you councilman kersch thank you Mr President you know we have a full Full House uh a number of items on the agenda that I know are valuable to each of you so I'll be very brief on February 6th I attended an important meeting of the New Jersey Jewish uh public officials caucus uh it was arranged by the the New Jersey uh Jewish business Alliance held at Ruckers University at the H uh the topic was uh the rise in anti-Semitism in particular and hate in general uh in in in the in the United States in New Jersey and in the communities uh uh in in these communities around Ruckers University uh it was attended by seven members of the state legislature two senators five assembly members uh several Mayors council members a county commissioner or two uh and um you know on behalf of of this uh uh Council I'm I'm certainly happy to always stand up uh against hate in all its forms uh and make it clear through public policy wherever possible and through our voices uh uh each and every day uh that Bridgewater uh is a is a is a a tolerant loving Community uh and that acts of hate uh are are not going to be tolerated here uh no matter who the um the target uh seems to be later that day I attended the uh reorganization meeting meeting of the planning board mcio vesio uh was named to continue as chairman Ashley sakur uh is the vice chair for the year uh the zoning board did not meet because of the snow uh and on uh Sunday on the 10th I had the pleasure of attending the um uh Chinese Lunar New Year celebration at the mall um I I know several of the people in the audience were there as well uh there was um uh an area where there were some um uh you know some table some table and uh you know basically a a fair for lack of a better phrase with some local organizations and then the focus uh was um a celebration right in the center of the mall so during the years I've been on Council uh Chinese lunar new year has been celebrated uh I can recall it being at the high school I can recall it being out in our Courtyard uh it's been a few other places it's now been at the mall and I I would I would dare to say uh that it was such a rousing success uh with with thousands of thousand or more people uh participating I would say uh that uh it probably has found a home uh and I know the mall is is a great partner on events like this uh and certainly happy to celebrate uh last Sunday at the beginning of the holiday and certainly tonight as part of our festivities and that's my report thank you councilman cordilla first of all and most important I'd like to welcome everybody to our meeting tonight it's great to see a crowd it's really is usually we're here talking to chairs um certainly wish everybody well and I uh you're going to be given the opportunity to a great event and that is to see a new police officer being sworn in this evening uh Alex uh Jason you know congratulations this the biggest crowd I've seen to be honest with you this is a good start um as far as as my actual report goes the U I'd like certainly like to comment on uh the job that Public Works has done this past uh weekend week with the snow removal they did a very nice job and the uh also there's an important event coming up this Saturday the 17th uh in Bridgewater it's the fire district elections uh I would ask that uh all the voters in Bridgewater Township if you would please uh take the time to go to your local Firehouse from 2: to 9: and vote to uh vote on the Fire District budget and appointing Commissioners I feel that uh i' just like to say that in Bridgewater Township I offer the opinion that we are very fortunate to have the volunteer fire departments and the level of activity that we have and voting on The budgets on Saturday helps support support those those fire firemen and the equipment and the services that they provide so uh please get out and vote thank you thank you sir um recently attended through the Business Partnership a um State of the State business climate event that was uh featured a speaker from uh New Jersey business industry Association just talking about the overall business climate in the state um a lot of different things discussed but one of the key thing one of the key messages that uh a lot of conversation around is the uh state of New Jersey compared to many other states is not tax friendly our tax rate is much higher um state of Pennsylvania I guess is in the process of trying to lower their business tax uh substantially and trying to compete so hopefully New Jersey can maintain a competitive Advantage there um I also attended the event at the mall this past Saturday uh for the Chinese New Year the lunar year um and as councilman kers said many of those folks are here and I congratulate them on a very successful event um you know but it was it was a well attended event even drawing uh us congressman state senator multiple multiple state assemblymen so um kudos to them on a well done event and then earlier today uh the Bridgewater Township office of emergency management hosted the uh local emergency management Council quarterly meeting and that is my report uh Mr papus anything from the mayor yes sir thank you um on behalf of uh uh mayor MCH want to offer congratulations to M Mr jayon for joining the police department wish you well uh I have a couple of documents I just want to distribute to the council the first is a a memo from uh Mr Shimp the superintendent of Public Works that outlines some of the interesting statistics about the snow event that was mentioned earlier and uh that is available for you to review and certainly if you have any questions uh I also want to distribute a memo from Township engineer Bill Burr and uh a couple of photographs from uh the tulo Road uh area there is a resolution on the agenda that is authorizing the county of Somerset to have an access easement there's a portion of this area that the municipality Bridgewater owns and U there's just some photographs there's a photograph of uh the damage to tulo Road after Hurricane Ida and uh that was a photograph obviously is several years old and then there's another uh document that shows a couple of different photographs and the actual location of the bridge uh for council's information and um that is all that I have thank you is that it thank you all right um apologize I'm getting handouts but I know uh many folks are here for some of the special items on our uh agenda this evening so will you will move right along I would invite um Chief mitac up to the podium all right good evening everyone happy New Year um I'd like to welcome everyone to the swearing in of Officer Alex Jason i' like to thank mayor Matthew mench along with council president Tim ring council VI vice president Howard nalis councilman Alan cadilla councilman phelip pza and councilman Michael Kur for for allowing the police department to swear in a new police officer to this department tonight Officer Jason comes to us as a fully sworn police officer already up until today he worked as a patrolman for the town of Clinton for the past one and a half years I'm sure his experiences in the town of Clinton have prepared him for his new position as a Bridgewater police officer a brief background of Officer jayon he currently resides in White House Station New Jersey he attended ran Valley community college and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in crimin Justice from Stockton uh University Officer Jason made the dean list for all semesters at Ren Valley and Stockton University so he's going to fit in well here with us um prior to become a police officer he was a lifeguard for the New Jersey Division of parks and Forestry uh this training could come in handy Alex since we have a lot of parks forest and water and Bridgewater um for fun Alex is an Outdoorsman he likes to fish snowboard and ride motorcycles you get along with my sons very well Alex earned his Eagle Scout when he was younger during his interview with the Command Staff Alex reled that he wanted to come to Bridgewater PD to get involved more um in police work and have more of an opportunity Officer Jason I promise you that you will be more involved in police work in Bridgewater than you were in the town of Clinton and you will have plenty of opportunities as long as you do your best every day here Alex I thank you for becoming part of the bridge order PD family your goals while working here are to do your best every day for the Bridgewater community and for your fellow police officers and to go home to your loved ones every night that's your goals okay I now invite Officer Jason along with his father Richard mother Linda and his fiance Laura to come up to be sworn as a bridge order police officer coun St name you swear you swear that I will support the United States of United States and the of the state of newy state of will be our true faith and allegiance to the same will be faith and Ali to the same and to the governments established in the United States [Applause] spe just just listen to Suzanne nobody will get hurt all right we [Applause] got all right I suspect as we move through our agenda this evening the room in phases will get less and less of a crowd we just give them a second to uh get out and actually maybe um Henry if you and the uh board want to come up for this portion of the program feel free so on behalf of the uh mayor who unfortunately could not be here this evening I I have the privilege of reading a proclamation uh the 2024 Proclamation for Lunar New Year uh whereas the Chinese new Lunar New Year also known as the Spring Festival is a time-honored celebration observed by millions around the world marking the beginning of the lunar calendar with festivities that symbolize hope renewal and promise of a prosperous future and whereas the township or Bridgewater values the rich cultural diversity within our community and recognizes the importance of fostering understanding and appreciation for the traditions and customs of our residents and whereas Chinese Lunar New Year is celebrated by a variety of activities such as large family meals the burning of incests to honor ancestors setting off fireworks legal ones right yeah okay and gifting money to children in traditional red envelopes and whereas the Bridgewater Chinese American Association has played a significant role in organizing events and activities that celebrate the Chinese Lunar New Year allowing residents to come together in festive observance and whereas the contributions of the Bridgewater Chinese American Association have had a very positive impact on promoting cultural awareness Building Bridges of understanding and fostering a sense of community pride and whereas the Chinese Lunar New Year celebrates the transition into a new zodiac sign and this year 2024 ushers in the year of the dragon now therefore be resolved that I Matthew C mench mayor of the township of Bridgewater to hereby Proclaim 2024 as the year of the dragon in accordance with the Chinese Lunar New Year in our Township I commend the Bridgewater Chinese American Association for their dedication to preserving and sharing the traditions of the Chinese Lunar New Year and I extend my sincere appreciation for their efforts in promoting cultural understanding and Harmony within our diverse Community signed by mayor Matthew C mench and each of the coun ccil members so on behalf of the township I present this to you Henry thank you I'm going to turn the microphone over to Henry for a couple brief comments and he'll explain a couple things thank you thank you thank you council president ring and many thanks to the uh Township government of Bridgewater we are very glad to call Bridgewater Home contribute to local community together with all residents from all ethnics and culture backgrounds together we make make make up the tong of Bridgewater whom all we all share on behalf of Bridgewater Chinese American Association thank you for your support and happy New Year the Luna New Year is a tradition that is about PR peace Joy unity and prosperity we sincerely wish everyone a Happy New Year filled with prosperity and joy allow me to introduce our uh me a member of our community Miss ye Han uh to present Cal calligraphy artwork as a symbol of of our New Year wish I also like to invite a youth member of the community and inspiring pianoist to perform um yeah come please [Music] Phillip um to perform a fashion form of traditional Chinese music Silver Cloud chesing the mo it's a traditional Oriental Melody arranged on a traditional Western instrument East mid Mast a perfect tune and Harmony please welcome Mr H and [Applause] [Music] Phillip [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] thank you for the presentation of the great art and music [Applause] this a different form and this one is a dragon we would like to present this to our coun Pres don't rub up against yeah yeah GNA move this e [Applause] [Applause] e thank you breid water and happy New Year sh where did Henry go do you get um I'm just going to give it a minute or two to let them collect their stuff M Mr President in the meantime I if I may just simply say thank you sincerely thank you for sharing your culture uh for sharing this celebration with those of us in the room with the community at large um it really is is is a gift um so thank you for that and and it's my hope that that as a community we can continue uh to celebrate a wide variety uh of of of holidays and festivals and through that hopefully we can achieve a greater sense of uh of understanding uh and um and camaraderie so thank you [Applause] sincerely well said councilman do you guys want to move the piano now or do you want to do it at the end now now might be better do you want to go home soon or do you want to stay for an hour you can also come back tomorrow too you want to do it now okay we'll give you a minute and two short I think I guess they'll come back he did say now didn't he okay may he's just putting stuff down all right so we are going to next item is um meeting open to the public um I just want to I guess before we do that um just so everyone is aware what my intentions are following the meeting open to the public um I believe that you know we sit here uh representing the resident a bridgew and working for the people and obviously I can see a large group here that I suspect I know which item on our agenda you are here for tonight so out of respect for you uh I'm actually going to make a motion to modify our agenda uh to move item 12f the Grant application to occur immediately after um item 10 the meeting open to the public anyone interested in seconding that I I'll I'll second that okay 13f 13 I'm sorry 13f my apology thank you so the motion is to move 13f to immediately following uh the meeting open to the public we have a roll call please you just do A's and A's can we do it with A's I think you have I think the council president has this question to move no he doesn't no um to amend your agenda you have to yes once it's published all those in favor I any opposed all right so we're going to open the meeting to the public um if anyone does want to speak on that resolution um this would be the opportunity to speak about it um and uh members of the public wishing to address the Council on any matter whatsoever will be allowed two minutes to speak unless there are unusual circumstances can I have a me a motion to open the meeting to the public I'll make that motion open to the public second all those in favor I I opposed all right the meeting is now open to the public anyone would like to speak you're welcome to speak on any issue please come forward you uh I either need to state your name and address for the record if you don't feel comfortable saying it out loud there's a sheet there that you can sign with uh to put that information for the record feel free to adjust the mic I'm tall sorry um Mary Gallagher 102 Highland Avenue here in Bridgewater um I was on your website you know the Bridgewater website and I was looking at the do New Jersey state presentation for the 22 and 202 206 um plans um quite extensive um and I understand it goes from like common way down to pass a little bit past I guess the intersection of of um 22 and 206 it's complicated and it's a big Pro um project but anyway um my question really is and I assume that most of you had already been aware of all of this going on um but has the state um talk to you about the merger on 202 206 um basically onto the ramps of 287 um the inter between well the intersection like the um the South yeah going south that whole that's such a high accident area and it's such a problem trying to get across even to 22 West um I always go Garson road so I never even use it hardly so I'm wondering is there any discussion going on about that is has anybody heard anything Mr papis yeah thank you Mr President uh Mr bur our Township engineer is here and so I'm wondering if he could come up and make some comments he and I discussed this earlier in the week and uh we um I know that at least uh councilman oralis also had expressed some interest in this uh in communication with him so I'm wondering Bill since you're here if you would um provide information that that you're aware of testing testing hi good evening um Miss Gallagher how are you hi you so do has approached the town with a present um very preliminary concept plans they provided to the township they're engaged now in a public information Forum where they're soliciting feedback on their Draft plans I was trying to follow along at specifically what your question was but I'm gonna ask you to repeat it bill I think it's you're and they worked on it a couple years ago you're coming south off of if you're coming south on 202 206 actually you come past green old Grill you merge with the traffic coming off of 287 from both the inner and the outer L from the inner and outers so basically you've got five Lanes coming together into two there spend any time take a ride through that area between like 4:30 and 6 o' and you will fully understand Mrs Gallagher's uh comments I will take a look at that to see extent yeah now they they mer line yep few years ago I what I never understood is why estate uh exit ramps off of exit ramps had right away over a state highway such as 202 206 which really has to merge onto itself with those ramps there's like three ramps coming off of 287 there if you count them there's like there's three lanes there's two ramps with three lanes yeah and um they come off like it's the main Highway and so merging is very difficult for a single Lane which is 202 206 and it's a state highway so I don't understand why that ever even happened so I know that's beyond yeah I don't I don't know the history but I think that should be brought up to them we'll definitely take a look at it I know that the focus of of the portion of the project that I saw was dealing with Route 22 heading westbound on the merge on to 202 206 South yeah and trying to alleviate some of the congestion the backups frankly the the traffic accidents on that portion of the westbound side of Route 22 um but I'll definitely take a look at at the full scope of the project and I can report back to council Mrs Gallagher would encourage you as Mr bur said they're taking public comment as well I saw that and I will say something and we'll send it to the state as well a 10day or a two we period currently something yeah 26 27 some deadline yeah okay get the word out anyway thank you thank you it was a nice evening lot of Entertaining Mr President I can just say we did get the notice uh I think it was distributed and we did we have publicized it through our social media platforms to inform members of the public so we'll report back thank you Mr President as we're waiting our next speaker could we just have the chief take a second shot at keeping the the door propped open already yeah [Laughter] okay Kevin's on it guys okay any other member of the public wish to come forward to comment close public input I'll second all those in favor I I opposed all right with that um as I mentioned we are going to move to 13f um which is authorizing submission of a Grant application to the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs for the local recreational Improvement Grant the David and Philip Miller Park in an amount up to $100,000 with a 5% cash match for the total project award the 5% cash match will be funded through the state open space I'm sorry through the open space fund um this is a grant appli we we've applied to this grant previously and been successful with it um I understand the proceeds of this are to make some improvements to the park um I apologize I had some notes but um did you want to comment further Mr papus I think uh councilman oralis wanted to first and then I will thank you okay uh we've been aware over several meetings that the the park is in dire need of of an upgrade in fact in some cases people might consider it unsafe uh therefore this represents a a tremendous opportunity for the township to not only take advantage of a grant uh but but create a better facility uh to be used by Township residents and kids especially uh kids should enjoy being kids and should be able to do it safely uh so enough there another comments I I would move the adoption of this one I will uh gladly second it just a brief comment this is a competitive Grant the local Recreation Improvement Grant um is competitive it's designed to support improvements repair of public Recreation facilities including Parks uh so to that point um I think you know obviously we have a large presence here from the public and I think uh them being part of this and showing support to the state will be very instrumental and hopefully uh getting us a successful Grant application um I I know there was a lot of efforts we last year did some things through uh Mr Murdoch's uh Foundation to try and uh move some stuff forward in the park and I think this Grant application will greatly accelerate that process so I'm happy to Second it so roll call please I'm sorry does anyone else have any comments before we do a roll call uh just kind of echoing on your comments it is a competitive Grant if there's anything that we can do to help make that be successful uh let me know let us know uh maybe it could be a a community petition or something I don't know just thinking of ways that kind of pushed us along however we can help get the word out let us know any other comments all right roll call please councilman Kush yes councilman codilla absolutely yes councilman nalis yes cman pedroo yes president ring yes Mr President since you have such a great group with with such uh matching shirts perhaps Miss perhaps Suzanne could get a picture with the council and the folks present if they'd be so inclined we can make it part of the application to say they all came out to support it so if they're willing to I'm willing to all right suzan Will Tell Us Where to [Music] stand come on come on here hold on help me uh help me [Applause] I knew bad that baseball jerse don't AR with don't make him like her what is that that one say dragon I want the one that says Dragon I got to ask Henry's [Applause] we all right now back to our regularly scheduled program 11a public hearing and final action ordinance uh an ordinance amending chapter 206 entitled vehicles and traffic section this evening Allen Road from Route 202 206 to Foothill Road Crossroad from Route 202 206 to Downey Highland from 202 206 to Hillside Hillside from Foothill to right long road from Washington Valley Northerly to the township border um and we are doing that with the understanding that Bernards will be uh supporting that on their side of Long Road Prospect Avenue from woodlon Avenue to White Somerset from Highland to woodlon and white from Somerset to North brid so with that I will uh take a motion to open the public hearing I'll make a motion to uh have hold the public hearing on this ordinance second it all those in favor I I opposed motion carries we are now open for any public comments on item 11a seeing no me oh there is a member of the public okay Mary Gallagher 102 Highland Avenue I was wondering if you could just give me an idea of how this is going to be um enforced um is there any signage um cameras um sizes of trucks I know it's a 4ton truck is the is so yeah it's a 4ton truck so you and it's a four ton registered weight so um depending upon the size of the vehicles how much cargo they can carry um it's not what they're actually carrying it's what the registered vehicle weight is um I Know Chief Mitch's here but it would be his officers um that would be responsible for enforcing it signs would be posted yes uh I'll use I know you're asking about some of the other streets but um you know long road that was one of the things in discussion with burnard's Township because that road is half in one town and half in another and if we put signs up on our half trucks are going to come down the road oh I can't go any further try to turn around on the road to go back the other way out through Bernards so we worked with them for that purpose so yes signage uh also understand though um you ever see the Home Depot flatbed tractor trailers that make deliveries I was going to say flap heads come up the road all the time and car now if that flatbread is coming up the road because it is doing a local delivery on your street or a street immediately off of your Street then it would be allowed um you know we can't you might need a delivery to your house you might it might come that way uh but what it does not allow is trucks that want to cut through come off of 202 206 type thing tell that I mean these days we've had so much development on our in our area that um there's been tons of trucks coming and you can't tell the difference who's cut through and who's delivered police department has the right to stop them and and ascertain that information if they suspect there's a violation um you know you know and understand this is one one tool you know is that to say a truck can't drive through there police officer is not in the right place at the right time you can't say that every situation they'll be able to be enforcement but um you know and and I don't want to speak for captain um I was suspecting in the beginning part of it's a public education it's educating the truck drivers uh but the other part of that is also what we can do is in as any facilities off of the highway come online we make sure they're aware of it so they're communicating it to their drivers so um because what was happening these last year or two was like all of these trucks we had so much development houses got knocked down things had to be lugged away and then the new stuff had to be brought in laids all that kind of stuff so um the question I have is it is it can it be enforced with permits too because if they've got a permit for a house to do certain things for it could that include it so that you can keep a track of who's being delivered what to what area versus certainly take a look at I think the logistics of you know okay you have a permit well now you have to get a permit to the truck driver before he comes down your street and how do you arrange that with a deliver I have a hard enough time when I get deliveries and they say I'm coming between eight and two and they don't show up till you know it was just constant this y don't forget we have spontaneous deliveries whether it's FedEx uh UPS those smaller trucks talking like big Flat Lumber and bricks and well I think it's a combination of signage education and enforcement okay and a key ingredient for truckers there's a separate GPS arrangement for truckers in terms of what streets they have to avoid low bridges and things like that I think every effort will be made to update that New York has a problem with that too okay all right that's all thank thank you and I'm sorry Mr President just to to complete what this process is upon taking action tonight there is then uh I guess Mr Corsini it's a 20-day waiting period for for um yes and then uh public and then it is enforced yep okay I believe we have a motion yeah and a second is there any no actually we didn't to to close we we started that okay uh but I will make the motion to uh close the uh the uh hearing uh and move for final adoption of 11a we have okay we have a motion to say any council members have any comments I have a few comments if I may please well I ABS I absolutely do support the uh ordinance uh in our last when it was introduced I expressed concerns about the enforcement of this ordinance um I don't doubt our Police Department's ability to uh enforce things or whatever and I I do realize that it's a matter of timing who want and where and what what goes on but along with that I had asked if there's any um to support this even stronger was to look at the uh vanon Road fer Avenue to vancon Road uh get that open to the old Egan property and uh in listening this evening we've had discussion with Bernards about long road and my question is have we had any discussions with County regarding van vcon may I absolutely I I absolutely I just so you're aware Mr councilman Cel the um discussions with Bernards was something I initiated and took on myself to help move this forward but please Mr Pap when Mr bur's here I'm have him follow up after I make a couple of initial comments so uh councilman cill had this suggestion many months ago about how we could perhaps permanently solve the is issue with truck traffic on some of the roads in the fern section and so uh we began to explore uh options Mr Burr and Mr Shimp actually took a did a field trip which he can speak to uh there we we discovered there were a number of both publicly held and privately held Parcels of land that would have to be um become a part of the solution there's some perhaps wet areas and uh Mr corini's office office was given a file and began to look at what um legal impediments that there might be to access and creating an extension of Van Von Road um so uh we we have done that U research uh up until now and uh Mr Burr and I actually just met about this recently and and he has a uh kind of a Next Step concurrent with what uh Mr corini's office is undertaking bill so um as Mike mentioned we we started looking at this uh several weeks ago actually relooking at it several weeks ago and what we've come up with is we we've started laying out an outline for a feasibility study in a sense of identifying as Mike alluded to um all of the hurdles so to speak that we would need to get past in order to bring this to fruition so we started putting that outline together um we were able to make Conta with the engineerings surveying firm that has done a lot of surveys in that that what I'll call development in the past so we have now procured copies of those surveys so we have them in our hands and we're starting to put the surveys together to identify the parcels that we need to Traverse through as Mike alluded to there's County property I have to confirm if there's Green Acres property back there I don't know that for sure there's Wetlands there's existing detention Basin so there there are some some um you know hurdles that we need to navigate through but we have started identifying what the next steps are and we're going to put pen to paper and be ready to present that shortly so it's definitely underway thank you any other comments on uh 11a no okay roll call please cman kers yes councilman cill yes councilman Nogales yes councilman pedroso yes resident ring yes all right 12a or item 12 introduction of ordinances 12a is um an ordinance amending the code of the township of Bridgewater chapter uh Mr papis anything to uh add no I think uh I want to thank uh Mr crini for um taking my handwritten notes that I gave him when I found some of the errors or updating that was needed and then councilman oralis also had a suggestion that I I hope is reflected in what is being presented here I like thank administrator Pap for doing all the work he did a great job and we were very happy to make these changes I'm happy to do that I could I would I I'd like to make sure that the wording change under uh paragraphs section one paragraph C uh that communication can be either regular male or certified male and not both um councilman oralis Council vice president orgal wisely pointed that out it is as it is permitted under the statute so I don't know you can move it as amended council president ring oh so it's been changed already it's been changed okay it wasn't on my copy okay Full Speed Ahead then that's fine okay yeah we did uh we did look at that yesterday Howard and it was an excellent catch any other comments I'll move 12a I'll second it roll call please councilman kers yes councilman cordill yes coun manalis yesan pedroo yes president ring yes and if we could set public hearing yes final action is scheduled for March 7 2024 here at 7:30 p.m. public inspection of this ordinance is available on Township website the bulletin board and through the clerk's office all right 12b Bond ordinance providing an appropriation of $8 million for various Road improvements including but not limited to eggcorn Drive Jamestown Road Burwick Drive North Avenue Candlewick Lane love Road Starview Way Lake View Drive Somerset Avenue birchill Drive and parine Road including curbing Milling Paving drainage seore and other miscellaneous improvements and various Road overlays throughout the Township in and by the township of Bridgewater in the county of Somerset New Jersey and authorizing the issuance of $ 7,600,000 bonds or notes of the township for financing part of the appropriation uh this is for our uh year four of our annual Road Project anything to add U Mr papis uh I do not uh I'm here to respond to any questions Mr Burr's here as well okay any questions or comments well I I'll I'll make a motion and then uh once we have motion a second I I have a some brief comments to make okay so I'll make a motion to uh introduce uh 12b I'll second a motion okay we have a motion a second you wanted to comment councilman kers yes please uh so so as pointed out this is the uh fourth year of a five-year commitment that this uh that this Council made um you know at as part of the the mayor's commitment uh to uh dramatically improve uh what had been a a u poor uh condition overall condition of our roads uh I'm very proud of this as an accomplishment through year three that we have made substantial progress uh Paving I believe the the number is now over 200 roads this will bring that number even higher uh this is obviously a substantial commitment of of money uh and um uh future monies uh because a significant portion is being uh is is being borrowed uh but I do believe it is a wise investment it's a necessary investment uh we've been assured uh the the budget uh and finance committee which is uh council president ring and myself we've been assured that while the budget uh is still coming together that we should be able to comfortably uh absorb not only the previous year's commitments uh as part of this program uh but the 5% down payment uh that is required uh uh through this action uh and that the the net result is we are investing on behalf of this community uh we are overcoming what had been many many years of of of of neglect insufficient uh investment and we are hopefully now ahead of this uh wave and are at a point where uh in the future we will be looking looking more at at at cheaper standard maintenance uh of our roads and not uh the um thorough rebuilding that we've been been been subject to uh in years past so that's that's my my rationale for uh uh moving this ordinance and and ultimately voting in favor of it any other comments I have a couple comments um consistently with what I've stated yes I got this point now unfortunately many times before um I um not a big fan of uh approving an $8 million Bond uh before we know the state of the township when it comes to its Financial condition and we don't have a budget and more perplexing and concerning to me I guess I could say more alarming is the fact that yesterday the council received a memo uh from Mr papis uh with a subject of budget Outlook and um that look that Outlook was a little bit gloomy in the sense that uh the township is apparently entering a difficult budget year um cash one-time cash infusions are not expected uh property assessments are not expected to go up um and expenses are going up um without knowing really what um the financial state is of the township for 2024 and without knowing how much revenue we're going to have um I don't I don't just don't think it's it's right to approve a bond without really knowing these things uh certainly I mean one can argue sure the township is in a position to pay it uh and um because end of the day the township can pay anything if it raises taxes enough money but the the issue of course for me is that I think everything comes out of balance um if the residents are going to pay you know higher taxes what is that amount going to be how does this Bond um fit in the overall picture those all important questions and although I I support the road plan and I support impr principle the idea that we should fix our roads um I I don't think that uh it's proper to just blindly approve something because it was it was a commit commitment made to it four years ago I think every year that commitment needs to be reassessed as to what the state the township is financially how much we can afford what is the the the proper debt amount to add to the township all these things need to be asked year-over year I mean um the state of the finances four years ago certainly is different that it is today as it is year-over-year for the township uh for for residents you know for for their household budgets for everybody's budget I mean things change year over year so um without having without having a um a budget for 2024 I just can't not good faith support entering into $8 million debt for the township so I will vote now any other comments roll call please councilman Kush yes councilman cill yes councilman nales yes councilman pedroso no president ring yes we can set public hearing sure final action is scheduled for March 7 2024 at 7:30 p.m. here in the Municipal Court room public inspection of this ordinance is available on the township website the bulletin board and through the clerk's office just uh just for the record if um if we do happen to have a budget before we vote on the approval of the ordinance uh I will certainly reconsider my position if if we do have a budget well there's no way to have a budget in three weeks that's up to the administration okay um thank you for your comments Sor I appreciate it moving on 13 13 a resolution authorizing the execution of a vending machine concession to the Bridgewater policeman's benevolent Association number 174 for one vending machine at kid Street park playground um very briefly I know uh we did something similar to this last year for vending machines in the building uh these are things that do not even rise to the um necessity for contracts and and actions by this group but given the relationship between the town and the PBA uh there was a recommendation that we should approve this so resolution for one vending machine outside for a 5-year period I'll move 13A I'll second it roll call councilman kers yes councilman cill yes councilman nalis yes councilman pedroso yes resident ring yes 13B authorizing a four-year lease purchase financing agreement in the amount not to exceed $17,300 annually for the total financing of $472,000 specialized upfitters 3810 hect toown Road eastn Pennsylvania 1 18045 this is a reaffirmation of a prior award um where this was previously approved um some of these patrol cars have actually been delivered uh there's some issues with was some paperwork that uh was not completed properly at the time that necessitates this no no sure I quoted on here did I read the wrong one there seems to be a mismatch on on the number so okay all right so it's the the issue here is there's a it's five payment the first payments due at the time of delivery and then four it's a four-year lease so the amount yes it's I know what you're saying so um just to clarify then authorizing a four-year lease purchase financing agreement and the total amount not to exceed 536 64095 which is the total of the five payments for the acquisition of the patrol cars and again reaffirmation of a prior award any comments if I may although the the amount is relatively di Minimus at $7,000 uh evidently the paperwork wasn't processed long uh if this is a dilemma if we don't pay this amount or agree to the contract wording as as stated the the four additional police cars will be held hostage by the by the vendor so we're if if we're going to provide the eight four of the cars are here I think two may be in service uh but four are not and uh we we from my perspective this is a must do I I would move 13B as an necessity otherwise we won't have the cars any other comments I agree with Howard and second it okay um I I very much agree with uh councilman nor gal's comments and it's a it's a frustrating one that I've wrestled with today um in that you know delivered cars and and I understand it's not the dealership it's their leasing side but you know they obviously have relationships and you know when someone delivers something and then comes back like this it's it's quite frustrating um I guess Chief mitac do we still have a uh supply chain issue on patrol cars or has it improved any yeah sure Mr council president I'm going to have to leave okay I hope everything's okay uh so the cars that we're talking about were approved back in December of 2022 yep so we so far we received two unmarked and two mared the two Mark are still still not on the road yet uh because they need to be leathered and they also need to have the proper equipment installed which I think you guys approved we fixed that problem last week or last meeting that's about a two month wait before that stuff comes in so once um this gets done then the other four cars will be released to us but still it's supply chain on the equipment for the cars before they can go on the road I guess my qu I feel like pardon me there's a gun being held to our head to you know do this or you're not getting your other four cars um and I'm just curious you know do we have other op I know this is done through a co-op right like are these the only people like if we do this do we continue to do business with these folks are there other avenues we can look at for cars stay right yes if I can jump in here uh we are looking at other options uh wouldn't uh impact these vehicles the error here is not on the chief's part oh I understand that yes and our new purchasing agent found uh the error and the chief and and we worked it out in this manner the council approved this and the um someone yet to be identified uh in the finance office didn't place the order I mean it as simple as that and so because of that error there was an increase and so we think we will not see that occur again but we are looking at other options that as part of the budget uh we are going to be presenting a couple of options for the council to consider for vehicles in the future administrator speaking of Errors I just made one council president was completely right it is a co-op the other one is the other one we're working on is a state contract so this was the Cranford police Cooperative pricing system Chief can evaluate that one the chief may want to add to what I've said but I you know I want you to know that we are looking at options he's been he and his staff have been very diligent and seeking options that we are looking at that look very favorable financially um but um we will be back to the council as part of the budget discussions regarding that for for other vehicles and and Mr pavis I'm very happy to hear you say that because that's really a a conversation I was intending to have with you separately um that you know in light of of of of our desire to make sure that our our Township is run in as fiscally prudent a way as possible I think we always need to be asking how can we do it better how can we do it different um I guess my reaction um one of my reactions to this is uh you know we've we've now leased these cars for a period of time they're going to be sitting in Dry Dock essentially for a certain period until they're appropriately retrofit um so we're actually potentially not getting our full money's worth uh out of this lease um so I'm hoping that you know through the budget process through uh a partnership Chief with you and your staff uh that we can thoroughly review on a go forward basis uh what what the um purchase Andor lease of of police equipment might look like and Mr President just before we vote uh you know again sometimes there's Version Control challenges the resolution States the total amount $536,500 what the issue is is there's a down payment of 107 32819 and four additional payments the in theory we're leasing the financing the full 536 um one is written what the actual four payments are moving forward after the down payment it's like you make a down payment on your car and you get your coupon book of the month for because you already PID the first one you already put your down payment down one is calculating what the future payments are one is is calculating the total I think in to councilman nor gal's point in public transparency um the total amount is 536 64095 thank you yep all right we have a motion we have a second um roll call councilman K yes councilman codilla yes coun nalis yes councilman pedroso step to he left oh president Ving uh as much as it pains me I'm going to vote Yes all right uh 13c authorizing release of performance guarantee for Safari energy LLC in the amount of 57,7 15480 and acceptance of site improvements associated with the installation of solar panels and a canopy on the parking deck of Bridgewater Commons Mall 400 Commons Way Bridgewater New Jersey 088 07 also known as block 553 Lot 1 this was a private project uh handled by the mall this was just in conjunction with their permits in the project um unless there's any comments I'll entertain a motion I'll make that motion second roll call councilman kers yes councilman cill yes councilman nalis yes president ring yes uh 13d authorizing entry into a temporary construction easement not to exceed 18 months with the county of Somerset for a project entitled replacement of the Somerset County Bridge number g97 Tula Road over West Branch of the Middlebrook um I know Mr Papa spoke of this uh earlier um I don't if you have anything further to add um I know this project I think this is still one of the few wooden bridges around still wooden bridge Sergeant Edwards yeah um I remember as a kid one of the Martinville fire trucks uh didn't make it over the bridge the uh planks rotted out and the wheels sunk you remember that Howard huh yes I did it was their old Han um no he was not on that truck I'll move 13d um the only thing I would ask with I I'll second it the only thing I would ask the administration you're going to have some close contact um I think we just need to make sure we also share so so it's an interesting situation because you go over the bridge there's homes those homes are also accessible from the south side but there's a chain there that prevents that need to know what the emergency plan is when that bridge is inoperable will that gate be open on the culdesac for for one the residents to make it in and out of their driveways but as well as emergency vehicle access but I'll second it R call actually just a brief discussion um and I'm just reacting to the memo that was uh released earlier with some details along with the photo obviously uh the the the the photo shows the the bridge certainly uh has outlived its useful life I I guess just a question uh you know in an ideal world would would the bridge have been replaced a couple of years ago before we did tul low road and we simply that didn't occur or like like we encounter that with the county there's a over in I think it's uh the billion Morton Klein project there's another bridge that the county is going to replace we were trying to get them to replace it before we reconstructed the roads their schedule wouldn't permit it and we would have had to delay the paving of those roads probably for a year and we made the decision to move forward with uh Mr Burr speaking to his counterpart at the county indicating that we want to be involved in monitoring and expect that they would make uh any Improvement needed if they damaged our roadways and uh you know unless we you know would wait for the County's schedule for brid bridge replacement we um we have no control over that understood now when you talk about potential damage is is it uh anticipated that um trucks and other equipment coming into that site could cause damage what what what's the likely possibility well that but also just the equipment that's utilized to replace the bridge any of the equip heavy equipment that's used to remove the Bridge structure and any damage that could be realized from that okay but we do have a commitment from the county uh that that uh the the township and particularly local residents will end up with uh a smooth roadway that includes what we've done as well as what will then be a new bridge um that is what we have conveyed to the county um their response is maybe is not as definitive as we would like but we will have to monitor it and we will be involved in any pre-construction meeting any meetings uh during construction and we will monitor to the best of our ability and and expect that they would do the right thing if there's a problem okay thank you um are we getting another wooden bridge or are they doing a real bridge I don't know the answer to that bridge do you want a wooden bridge there's there sometimes there's advantages to that because it just will limit uh traffic correct yeah but you know also what works for our DPW as far as trying to plow and right yeah yeah so okay all right roll call conman K yesman cill yes coun manalis yes president ring yes all right 13e resolution authorizing the township or Bridgewater to accept a subgrant award in the amount of $10,000 for the federal physical year 2020 3 of Emergency Management performance Grant empg or the Emergency Management agency assistance EMA now we previously passed a resolution accepting this back in December of 20123 um the state apparently rejected our resolution because it didn't have some language that they requested in it and I've actually compared the two resolutions and uh one of the major highlights of the language is that we are now defining that the 2023 physical year runs from July 1st 2023 to June 30th 2024 for the state so um I'll make a motion we pass this I'll second 13 roll call councilman Kush yes councilman cill yes councilman nalis yes president ring yes and I would be remiss if I did not mention that you know um this is a grant that we obtain because of uh the size of our Township but also the work that Sergeant Edwards does there are certain uh things that he has to deliver that allows us to receive this grant that if we did not complete those tasks we would not receive so thank you Sergeant all right 13f authorizing submit oh we did it see I said the room was going to thin out little by little yeah you too that's fine um we get to talk to what' you say Alan we talk to the chairs yeah and they answer back all right always comes back 13g a a place-to-place transfer of planetary retail distribution liquor license number 18064 d045 d001 belonging to Bava Singh Kath of Bridgewater wines LLC trade name liquor cave with a mailing address of 674 US Highway 20226 sweet 4 Bridgewater New Jersey 08807 from pocket status to premises to be situated at 309 US Highway 202 206 Bridgewater New Jersey with a new license number of 1806-1807 d44 045 d002 um this is the liquor license we sold uh last year it's been in Pocket status um and the state has approved we are the as I understand it the last um piece in the process us approving this will allow them to actually begin to operate a liquor store the address is um consistent with the shopping complex at the Somerville Circle and I believe the carer actually had an article on on this today so move 13 G I'll second it roll call K yes hman cill yes hman nalis yes resident ring yes okay um 13h waiver of fire permit in the amount of uh $300 for St Bernard of claric Parish in connection with hosting home homeless families at their location 500 Route 22 Bridgewater New Jersey 08807 on the following dates February 4th through February 10th April 14th through April 21st September 22nd through September 29th October 27th through November 3rd and December 8th through December 15 2024 Grace council president reminded me this is one of the many many many Charities that Kathy SAA was involved in they're so hard to keep track of that I personally forgot remember she's a very charitable person do no our firm is refusal I'm not going to step off I I would make a motion to Mo approve this I'll second it Howard second it yep okay roll call councilman kers yes counc cill yesalis yes president ring yes all right um that concludes the public portion of our meeting we are going to have a a closed session tonight um uh which members of the public will not be allowed to participate in but be it resolved the Bridgewater Township Council that this body will now hold a closed meeting to discuss litigation two topics 1200 Route 22 and the Hussein matter one and if the matters discussed become public record this will be made known to the public at that time the public is excluded from said meeting and further notice therefore is dispensed with all in accordance of Section 8 and 4A of the open public meetings act assume no action after the meeting no action no action after the meeting we need a motion I'll make that motion second we have a motion we have a second all those in favor I I opposed motion carries we are now in close session we will just uh give Mr papis a minute Lucy did you want to take take the piano we back on Lucy's in the conference room waiting to pick up her piano by the way motion toj well do we do we have to reconvene or we just adjourn motion to reconvene what you would typically well we're still in executive I have a motion to we did close then you're fine okay so motion to close we have from councilman nalis I'll second all those in favor opposed motion carries come on in Lucy