##VIDEO ID:Go1WkgXF9Mo## Okay g it down good evening and welcome to the township council meeting for November 14th in compliance with the open public meetings Act of New Jersey adequate notice of this meeting was provided on December 21st 2023 by sending written notice and electronic notice to the courrier news and the breeze posting on the website and the bulletin board in the municipal building filing with the Township Clerk if I could ask the clerk for roll call please councilman kers here councilman cordill here councilman nalis here councilman pedroso president ring here if you're able I would ask you to please stand and join us in the Pledge of Allegiance I will ask councilman noralis to lead us Al to flag of the United States of America and to the repu for it stands thank you we have regular session for October 24th for approval minutes I had one inclusion but I'll I'll approve the minutes as adjusted okay we have a second I'll second okay roll call please cman kers yesman cordill approv of minutes yes or no yes Council manalis yes president tring yes all right we'll start the township Council reports I will start with councilman noralis thank you Mr President attended along with mayor mench the ribbon cutting at the J crew location on chimy Rock right next to Talbots also attended the ribbon cutting at the new Summit Health Center in the former kraton Barrel retrofitted from Medical Offices other attendees included mayor mench and councilman kers and P proso now just a an item many people say gee you report on all these things but re do you really do them so I want to show proof that we uh did go to The Summit Medical uh ribbon cutting uh last earlier um I spoke at the rededication of the Gulf War uh Monument on the North Long of the municipal building uh the internal plaque which was severely weathered and it was replaced in time for Veterans Day the Somerset County 200 club meeting was held this week the organization continues to recognize the selfless dedication of our police and Volunteer Fire and Rescue departments strict water conservation measures were announced by the state to protect this precious resource due to the extreme drought all outside burning of any nature are prohibited attended several Township meetings dealing with storm water management as well as sewer utility items it is important that the public fully understand that the sore utility which is build directly is a utility just like your electric gas telephone cable or Garbage Collection earlier today councilman kersch and I along with srva Commissioners Albano and leafari tour the storage utility owned Middlebrook pumping station on Chimney Rock Road this station originally built in 1985 is badly in need of updating to include new pumps and electronics as well as building improvements uh we also toured what is really the the newly refurbished uh station on gilbride road which was built in 1965 uh it is still a work in progress uh RWJ Somerset has just gone through a two- floor surgical care uh Edition I attended the rededication last night uh developer Jack moris donated a million dollars and Josh and Rachel califer donated $400,000 bringing the califer total for this project to $3.5 million uh Grace earlier our clerk in the package uh handed out the uh the schedule for 2025 I would ask everyone to go over to make sure that the council dates don't conflict with any important social or religious uh Endeavors uh the 2025 reorganization will be held on Thursday January 2nd at 7:00 it's important the regular Council always begins at 7:30 but reorg is always at 7:00 that is my report Mr President thank you thank you uh councilman kersch uh thank you Mr President uh back on uh October 25th attended along with um uh some others the bassone field the high school football field uh rededication uh the following day October 26th uh I helped to kick off and also um uh present awards at the summer strong 5K 10K uh over at Duke Island Park uh my work was only partially completed though uh because one Chris corini uh left before he received um his uh medal uh I'm going to sufficiently embarrass him because uh he won uh the uh 10K uh designation for his age group uh and I'll leave it to him whether or not he wants to admit what that age group is not pretty uh well it's it's not that it's not that bad prettier than some there there there there were others in in much uh in much older category so there you go Mr Corsini all right on uh on October 28th I had the chance to meet uh speaker Mike Johnson I just acknowledge that because he is uh uh uh SEC second in line uh of succession uh to the presidency uh after the Vice President of course uh October 30th we had a very successful Halloween event uh uh here in our parking lot and and surrounding area um it was a combination of our what I guess is typically Halloween along with the rain out um uh uh National Night National Night Out thank you uh was very successful was certainly I think a very proud moment uh for Bridgewater certainly outstanding uh execution by our staff uh I don't know if we can commit to trying to do a a blowout like that every year but it was certainly very nice to have it this year uh on November 2nd attended two dwali uh uh celebrations the first was at the mall uh certainly it it deserves noting that we have an outstanding partnership with the mall uh for important community events such as this it was very well attended uh and then that evening uh at the uh the Hindu temple uh and Cultural Center uh they also had a dwali program that I was happy to participate in uh following that November 5th uh was election day uh and I want to just acknowledge um that we had quite a successful uh operation here in Bridgewater which is no small feat uh we have 36 uh locations uh excuse me 36 voting districts 36 machines across 12 different locations um LED um uh by our our the effort led by our our clerk uh Grace Juna um she's provided a very detailed report um you know nothing was things weren't perfect there were some machines that were briefly down needed to be rebooted there were some challenges uh with the poll book the poll books the electronic poll books but by and large was a very successful day and I'll also add that the early voting that occurred in this room was robust and also very successful uh and I haven't seen final numbers but it seems like the turnout was quite strong so whatever channel uh people chose to vote in by mail early or or on Election Day certainly seems like um uh you know Bridge the Bridgewater and surrounding Community was well engaged with this year's election I do want to call out a few individuals who particularly uh who were particularly um uh critical in the election day operation uh from Public Works uh Brian sodin Curtis sa saffold Kevin Choy uh and um uh Adrien G uh some others in the building Lauren viddy from engineering uh Patty bueno from Administration Vil M day from Health uh shelen uh rajmani from HR and then of course our clerk staff which is led by grace and also includes Alice Ali gust Natalie uh tro and Juliana quo uh and of course Jame Jamie Edwards our OEM coordinator um was uh was also engaged that day on um Veterans Day I had the privilege of representing uh the mayor council in our community at the American Legion in Bradley Gardens I gave brief comments uh and that was a a a meaningful uh ceremony uh uh again this year uh it was mentioned that on November 12th there was a ribbon cutting at subit health I was there um also on November 12th there was a zoning board meeting uh they continued the application for um the uh property adjacent to the JCC along uh 202 206 uh there have been no planning board meetings in the intervening time since our last meeting uh and then today as was noted uh was um a pump station uh touring so I don't know can we have a shot at that so uh you know we talked about proof that we that we do things um so on the left side I I I only had a picture of of the uh dedication plaque from the middle middle Brook pumping station but then I thought to take an actual photograph with councilman um uh nor Gallas over at gilbride and the reason why this is Meaningful uh is that that this is a serious operation uh obviously uh you know we we have and we do commit a substantial amount of money and our residents rely on this utility uh very very much each and every day um and I guess that photo is after um uh Howard and I went all the way to the bottom uh and made it all the way back up to the top which is uh I don't know probably 50 60 ft underground 60 ft underground uh so I've I've earned I I I've earned my my uh two stripes as a council member by by going into both pump pumping stations and I'm I'm certainly happy to be enhancing my knowledge um you know because it is such a critical part of uh of our government operation and that's my report thank you councilman cordilla this garbage okay um I'd just like to say on Veterans Day I was at Cham at chimy Rock Park uh to participate uh in Veterans Day uh programming with VFW Post 6588 out of Martinsville and I also attended uh two emergency service meetings related to the use of drone technology for our First Responders emergency responders and in the coming weeks there will be more to be uh added to that I attended the dedication of uh flaner field with ex- mayor flaner and was just a nice thing to do for her work in setting up the municipal building and the properties all around and also I attended the uh dedication of the John basalone Field a new monument and certainly kudos to the board of ed for uh getting all that put together to certainly honor a hero from our uh from the Bridgewater riton Community John bassone that's all that I have thank you councilman pedroo thank you sir first of all good evening it's nice to see so many faces here in our courtroom in our Chambers today I don't feel so alone thanks for being here um just a couple things I want to highlight I attend the menu many of the things have been mentioned just want to highlight highlight a few things I did attend the flry field dedication ceremony uh mayor flry uh was the first uh woman mayor of Bridgewater Township and it was also uh certainly this administration building and the fields are are really her vision and so it was very fitting that the fields were dedicated to Mayor fenry um also belated hope everyone enjoy a happy Veterans Day just want to publicly thank all the men and women uh that have served and continued to serve our military uh here and abroad certainly uh appreciate their service and I'm sure we all do um first time I coached a soccer team or in fact coached period this season so I had the honor of uh coaching our our first grade soccer team and so Mr papet I saw firsthand uh what a great job you do and the recreation department does really at managing and overseeing uh thousands of you of uh of uh athletes here on the township and overseeing certainly a complex uh management of various Sports and activities and I can tell you it was a it was a great experience it was very very well run I enjoyed my interactions with the rec department I certainly enjoyed the time I I had coaching if any anyone gets a chance to ever do that I highly recommend it I thought it was uh just a great time it was very very rewarding to see the kids progress and having a little part part in it hope everyone enjoyed a great Halloween uh I know I did I have little kids so we did plenty of trick- or-treating uh my kids donate most of the candy they collect but nonetheless it was still fun I attended the Crim school um Trunk or Treat event in fact we had a we had a trunk at the school so that was that was a fun experience and uh I also came by and saw the the town's event again Mr papus a phenomenal job that that event seems to be growing every year um I've seen it from the first time to on now and it just it's really booming and uh it's just so Lively and exciting and just very well managed so congratulations on a great job that you and your team do um and lastly I attended the Dali event at the temple I appreciate their invitation um it was quite an experience I I took my my wife and and my my two little kids to go I always like to take my kids to different cultural experiences and have them exposed to to to different uh different um uh cultures and and and things and uh it was a it was a really great time and I I appreciate the hospitality of of uh one there they gave us a tour of the temple uh we got to to learn a little more about their religion and culture and um I'm just really happy that I had a chance to participate and be part of part of their festivities so uh Happy certainly happy R to those that celebrated um po so that's my report thank you sir thank you um for my Council report I just have a couple items I uh recently attended the grand opening of the uh and ribbon cutting of the liquor cave um liquor store located at the Circle shopping center uh I also uh joined councilman kersch at the American Legion Hall in Bradley Gardens for their Veterans Day celebration earlier this year and then uh earlier this evening I um attended the fifth anniversary celebration of the Bridgewater lifestyle magazine which I think many have come to be familiar with with um they celebrated their fifth anniversary earlier today and on behalf of the administration uh presented them with a proclamation um and I just want to also I know councilman kers spoke quite a bit about the election uh extend my thank you to all those that were involved in it um you know the polls are open from 6:00 a to 8:00 P.M that's 14 hours of voting um however that doesn't mean they come in at 6:00 a.m. they're here 4:30 5:00 in the morning Grace what time did you go home about 11: 11: p.m. it's a long day um it's an important day for our country and and everyone everyone who runs running for public office win or lose is not an easy process um we do have someone here sitting in the room tonight who recently ran for the Board of Education reelection extend my congratulations to Jennifer but um anyone that runs for office they put in time and energy and and it's a lengthy long process an election day is a lengthy long process for our staff so I just want to extend my personal thank you to you and your staff and everyone involved um that's my report Mr President just one item since we do have a few people in the room hopefully this would be meaningful uh there is an upcoming fundraiser tomorrow night to benefit the somerset Regional animal shelter an evening of laughter the the suggested donation is $45 uh and So for anybody who's interested um you know please uh you know go to uh the uh the animal shelters website for that information I'll be there with my wife uh it's certainly a wonderful cause and hopefully it'll be a a fun and funny night out thank you anything from the administration yes just a couple of things I want to uh acknowledge and uh staff U Recreation staff Public Works staff chief M SEC and the police department for the Halloween festival SL postpone National night out it was a wonderful event we estimate over 3,000 people probably attended it and um the weather helped tremendously yeah um the other is there two upcoming uh holiday celebrations that the township is sponsoring the first one will be on December the 4th at 6: pm. in the courtyard would be the annual Christmas tree lighting and uh December 26th in the courtyard to manora lighting so more information will be forthcoming that's all that I have right now thank you thank you all right um we do have two proclamations this evening uh unfortunately the mayor could not be here the first one is on breast cancer awareness and I know it's something near and dear to councilman noralis I've asked him if he would uh present f can e e e e for e like at Bridgewater High School I'm Haley Billman and I'm a senior at bridgew high school I'm jeie Faria I'm the coach of the cheer team at Bridge Ro ran high school I do not attend anymore I'm obviously not in high school I'm Kathleen siroli and I'm the co-founder of Dance For the Cure and I'm at three time primary cancer survivor I'm cpsed I am a graduate of Bridgewater rare in high school West um I am a breast cancer survivor of 11 years I'm Brean Myers a senior at Bridgewater Ren high school I'm Serena Grasso and I'm a sophomore at Bridgewater Aron high school I'm Sophia pelino and I'm a junior at Bridgewater Veron High School I'm Grace denado and I'm a sophomore at Bridger water Veron high school I'm Diana Berliner and I'm a sophomore at Bridgewater RAR in high school ladies we salute you thank you so very [Applause] much and whatever she tells us to do we have to to [Applause] you want actually just stay here going to okay rather than going back up coming down I'm going to did you no you're okay okay so we do have another Proclamation this evening um I'm going to uh ask Bonnie laata and her family if they'd like to come up if you prefer not to you don't have to but you are more than welcome to [Applause] I learned something new tonight that Bonnie uh actually used to work for the township um so I guess youve spent many of times in this room but here for a different reason tonight um Amel leata um passed away on June 12th 2024 survived by his loving wife Bonnie along with two daughters and four grandchildren and whereas Amil a resident of Bridgewater for over 40 years dedicated himself to a life of service joining Bridgewater Police Department's Traffic Division as a school crossing guard serving with great devotion and compassion for nearly two decades as a crossing guard and whereas Amil selfishly protected and guided our community's children endearingly called them my kids and ensuring the safe passage of countless students at Van Holton school with vigilance care and and kindness of a loving grandfather and whereas amil's warm smile friendly nature and Lasting bonds with the families made him a beloved figure known to many as the grandfather of Stonybrook embodying the values of loyalty humility and humor that enriched the lives of those around him and whereas amil's commitment to Public Safety inspired both the children parents and families of Stonybrook who look for ways to meet near aml's dedication and compassion in their own lives and whereas aml's Legacy of dedication rooted in a deep appreciation for freedom and Community will forever remain an inspiration to Bridgewater Township he demonstrated unwavering pride in his work a willingness to lend a hand and a love for his country and family now therefore I'm Matthew C mench mayor of Bridgewater Township along with the Bridgewater Township C IL do hereby proclaim the crosswalk located on Stony Brook Drive as aml's Crossing uh in in honor of his steadfast service his exemplary character and his positive impact on the lives of our children and community members Amil lata's contributions will be cherished and his memory will be a Guiding Light for all new who knew him so on behalf of the township thank you for allowing him to serve for 20 years with us um we will be arranging uh the erection of a sign to commemorate amil's Crossing we will certainly let you guys know ahead of time and invite you to attend but um on behalf of the township I present that to you [Applause] H honey don't go away good [Applause] [Music] Che all right the next item for business is to open the meeting to the public I will take a motion to open the meeting to the public make that motion have a second I'll second it all those in favor I oppos okay so um going to open the meeting to the public tonight going to um as council president make a slight change to what has been a longtime um policy of this governing body um we're going to allow members of the public wishing to address the Council on any matter will be allowed three minutes to speak unless there's unusual circumstances um as you approach the three minute Mark I will let you know you're coming near your time and ask you to wrap up before you would um your time is up and would be cut off so with that the meeting is open to the public anyone that would like to comment is welcome to come forward just state your name and address if you're not comfortable stating your address you can write it on the sheet there thank you hello and I'm going to also just ask my fellow council members um in the interest of allowing the public to speak if we could try to refrain from commenting during their time period thank you I would appreciate feedback if you guys could Dean I 671 Country Club Road uh first I am wondering if the town will consider picking up brush on the side of the road since we cannot burn Even in our fireplaces uh I have a lot of standing stuff that I need to get rid of fairly quick uh the second topic another AC tonight this time it took out trees one person was taken away in an ambulance the other did actually walk away with her loved one and got into a car I am asking I voted for many of you to come sit in my driveway for an hour sorry ma'am we need to keep the door open in order to be compliant with open public yep no I understand I apologize come sit in my driveway have a cup coffee with me sit on my porch for an hour and you will see all the people flying by all the people blowing through the stop sign something needs to give my kids don't play in my front yard my new neighbors have little kids if that tree was not there tonight that car would have ended up in their living room I have asked I'm asking again we need to do something about that intersection people don't stop for a stop sign I don't know why everybody's in a hurry but maybe even I even though lights would be blinking into my windows I want a blinking light red light with cameras because it's just getting to be too much every bang is alarming so please feel free email me come sit with me you will see it it's not BS I have tonight accident on my camera system again person blew the stop sign because they were in a hurry and meanwhile older lady is at the hospital two firemen almost got ran over because people were trying to go around an officer almost got ran over tonight twice because people are in a hurry on that drag strip that I live on so thank you what street you live on where at hi good evening Jen lockran uh I will I will confirm that that intersection is is very very scary um I have seen a lot of things uh we had that other accident that took the pole out the poll is completely cracked in half they didn't even take the pole out just attached another pole to it um personally I've had people blow through that stoplight with my kids in the car um I've skateboarded down that street many times um people will be looking at their phones I can see them through the window looking at their phones blowing through that stoplight so I I definitely agree with de that it's a a treacherous intersection um but I came here today to thank um Bridge Township Police Department uh all the first respons respers Administration and the department of recreation and also the Department of Public Works for everything they did to put together the combined Halloween and um National Night Out event uh we were invited to attend last year for National Night Out and we were grandfathered in this year and I can tell you that I'm so happy to that that we participated uh I was not expecting the department of public Works to drop off all our ramps so at the very last minute we had six police officers uh helping us try to set up and it turned out to be uh an incredible opportunity for a lot of kids uh we must have taught at least 70 80 kids how to ride a skateboard how to do it safely I had a a uniform that said helmet police um and uh and we enforced the safety so it was just a really incredible opportunity to be a part of the community um I handed out build a skap par stickers to the First Responders and uh and it was fantastic so I just wanted to thank you for that and also amazing effort uh on behalf of your staff for the election I have never seen anything like uh early voting that happened this year it was really quite incredible so thank you for that effort and have a good night Jane Gandalf 2000 Washington Valley Road I'm here with two hats first the Martinsville Community Center to thank you for inviting us to the Halloween National Night Out it really was a huge success well attended extremely well organized so thank you my other hat is Friends of Bridgewater history and I want to thank um Mike papis and the DPW team for allowing us to uh set up our display ways at the house on Milan Road the lane B's brok car house it was a huge success it was a two-day long event Saturday and Sunday we had 79 visitors I did bring a little flyer that you guys can look at thank you um we had a lot of people ask when the house is going to be open um I know there are a couple of grants that Bridgewater has received we would love to see those put to use to start restoring the house um I do want to call out Dicky Shimp and Brian saen I think that's how you say his last name um they did an exceptional job in getting the grounds ready for us to be able to display our tents and stuff I was sorry that I didn't see ready from Bridgewater we had County people I think Mr Chini attended a very ni thank you thank you so um my last thing and it's just a general resident Camp Cromwell I'm wondering how things are progressing in December on December 7th 2023 I came to a meeting and there is approval for a final payment to Earthworks at the time I was told the camp would be open for hiking in a month or two it's now almost a year later and I'd like some feedback on what's Happening that was it anybody have any feedback or can you share anything um we um continue to address hazardous conditions on the site uh there has been progress over the course of the year uh a bit slower some of it was due to uh resource issues uh we've been able to get some local businesses assist and address some of the Hazardous conditions and some volunteers um we hope over the next few months to actually make a presentation to the council so I'll let you know when that happens in advance thank you so much thank you all good evening I'm almost afraid to move the mic that it won't keep working um Kathy Frank 766 weac Road let me start with a question will there be a separate Open Mic for the introduction of the ordinance number 11 there would be a public hearing on the ordinance at our next meeting assume it's successfully introduced okay all right um as always I will Begin by begging your pardon with I app I appreciate the three minute limit um however I will attempt to keep my comments limited to to much less than that for each of the items first I'd like to thank the police department for posting how to report the fact of political signs which were stolen this election season and how to attempt to protect um this personal property of these homeowners also as Jennifer laughrin said um I thought the police department and all of the local um agencies did a wonderful job on the national light Night Out event um I'd like to thank the clerk's office for running a smooth election both during the early voting and on Election Day Mr papis um apparently you did receive the two emails I sent related to the calendar not reflecting recognized holidays at the time that I sent them um and that the offices are closed during those times the the calendar now does reflect this however you did not recognize my request to remind residents of the drop dead date that the quarterly tax payments you also neglected to acknowledge or respond that you received my email I found that um inappropriate uh let's see moving on to 12a oh I'm sorry no let's start with 11 ordinance number 11 I know you're going to be introducing it the budget um that was approved for 2024 had 11 15,5 68.75 you're now proposing in this ordinance $1 126,00 $194 for the position of municipal judge you're also proposing a court administrators increase from the budgeted amount of $ 93,7 6828 to 95,7 I'm wondering where that money will be taken from our budget has imploded um as far as you know taxpayers paying additional funds so where are you going to take money away from to support this increase for these two individuals in this change in the ordinance um I'm hoping that you have that answer um when you have the public hearing next time also if you have responses to me I would appreciate it as would I think anybody else who comes to this Podium that you answer these questions when we're here that you don't let us walk back to our seats attempt to close public hearing and then attempt to answer them without giving us the opportunity to either ask additional questions or to reut your statements because I will I will let you know come back up to this mic if you attempt to answer my questions after I've left I would ask you to just summarize your comments please you can ask me but it doesn't mean that as I said you have a number of items on your agenda and I and and I will keep each each of my comments and each of your agenda items do less than even the two-minute limit okay 12a is a resolution about um making the area in need of Redevelopment let me start with on the agenda you give the street address you give the block and lot numbers I'm sorry in my over 35 years of living in this Township I never knew frco Franco would you Franco please thank you Miss Franco could you please will not M Franco please M frco please Frank there's someone else that would like to speak thank you come hi hi Jessica gallico uh lifelong resident of Branchburg New resident of White House station I just wanted to thank the board for the beautiful Proclamation tonight for emol laata um he was like a big grandpa and uncle to me and um you guys did it good Bridgewater always does it classy so thank you once again thank you is there any member of the public that would like to speak that has not spoken please sir come on up uh good evening Andrew bucko 543 barrywood Lane um I'm going to uh provide some comments on items on the agenda genda and then if time a lots uh some items that are not on the agenda uh first of all item uh 12a the Redevelopment plan uh I would hope that uh and and I understand that this is just the first step in creating a plan but that this plan includes new housing uh if we want the next generation of Bridgewater residents to be able to afford to live in this town we need more housing it's just a matter of supply and demand uh there is a demand to live in Bridgewater and there's limited Supply and that has driven up the price of housing uh to unaffordable levels for many who are uh especially starting out their uh their lives um uh the mayor who is not here tonight uh killed the plan to build housing on the uh Center of Excellence uh uh location cost the township uh a lot of money to back out of the agreement that was already made with the developer and instead we're going to get a warehouse I hope to heck we don't get another Warehouse on the former ethicon site because that is not something that this Township needs uh we need housing uh second uh 12f um this is shifting a lot of money around and um I'm wondering why uh we're taking uh $115,000 I'm sorry $144,000 uh from the streets and Roads account uh I don't know if you've looked at the roads and Bridgewater but they could use a little help they could use $144,000 worth of help and probably a whole lot more and even the roads that were just recently redone are already starting to deteriorate um secondly uh some of that money is going to go towards bond interest um I don't know was this not anticipated when the budget was made uh 150 115,000 to the Improvement Authority 34,000 to uh General uh vague Professional Services I would like to have a breakdown of where that money is actually going uh secondly uh thirdly excuse me uh 12g uh the uh resolution says that the uh unused money from the uh uh sewer fund will be returned to each respective cap Capital Improvement fund or credited to Surplus uh which is it is it going to go back to the Improvement fund or is it going to go into a slush fund to just uh fill in holes in the budget uh that should be made clear before this is uh this is considered by this Council and finally uh in the past two weeks uh Bridgewater experienced yet another disruptive water uh main break uh from the local utility New Jersey American Water Company now granted I have only lived in Bridgewater for about 8 years uh but in that time we have experienced more boil water advisories or complete outages of water than anywhere else that I've lived in New Jersey my question to this council is what are you doing to hold the water utility accountable for this lack of service uh thank you very much good evening anybody else from the public that has not spoken that would like to speak Franco you've already been allowed at your time period motion to close public session have a motion because this counil there's a motion on the table we have a motion there's a motion on the table okay I have a motion do I have a second second all in favor than you Franco thank you next item is 11a Introduction of an ordinance Mr council president I just want to say two words uh I just want to first of all acknowledge Miss lochan's event on Halloween uh it was really was a phenomenal event I I walked by several times there are always kids on skateboards and doing great stuff and uh uh it's phenomenal thank you for being such a community activist and being so active in our community and doing so much stuff and just trying to make Bridgewater better I really appreciate that and I also wanted to acknowledge Miss Gandalf and all the work you do for for bridge order and and remembering our history it's super important for me I got to tell you I didn't I didn't know about this event I'm really sorry that I I missed it uh I wish I had known about it I went through your booklet it really looks like a phenomenal event uh but I wanted to thank thank thank you and the friends of Bridgewater for um just uh you know you're all volunteers and you I know that you're Try by hard to preserve Bridgewaters history and I really appreciate that and so I just wanted to acknowledge uh those two things thank you thank you next up is 11a Introduction of ordinances we have an ordinance amending ordinance number 24-12 the township or Bridgewater setting the compensation of the mayor Township council department heads and certain other Municipal Employees pursuant to chapter 374 of the um public laws of 1985 njsa 2A col 809 njsa 2A col 8-13 njsa 40a col 19-1 165 njsa 40a col 9135 njsa uh 40a col 9-46 and chapter 95 of the public laws of 1996 to amend the salaries of the municipal court judge and the court clerk administrator to reflect the Township's shared services agreement for municipal court services with the burrow of ritton um I think some of you may be aware in in the public earlier this year we entered into a shared services agreement with the Bureau of Ron where Ron has um discontinued their Court operations and and now utilize the services of Bridgewater Township with that um ritton is paying us for that service including for the salary of the judges and the court administrator the increases that are being proposed are um a prated portion of um the salaries that the judge was making in Ron Township to cover the period of October 1st through the end of this year the the shared Court took effect October 1st so um this is simply taking the salaries that ritton was paying the judge that are now paying to us and US passing that money on to the judge but it does require an ordinance um and I will say that um this is a pro-rated portion for the last three months of the year I know there's been a lot of back and forth on this and we would anticipate that we will have to do another one for the full amount for 2025 early in 2025 um and I know as I said there's been a lot of back and forth uh I know councilman nalis would like to say a few words regarding the ordinance I will uh afford you the first opportunity sir thank you uh several months ago we had the salary ordin for 2024 it included the names of the department heads and I apologize I guess we should first introduce your comment go ahead I'm sorry go ahead um it it listed by title and salary the payment for department heads uh mayor counsel Etc uh at that time I had raised the issue as I have numerous times in the past that I felt that type of presentation was inadequate I felt in addition to the title we should have the name of the individual department head listed uh at that time in fact I thought mayor uh mench uh supported that he said but we need to move forward at that point this is several months ago uh let's get this added away and the next time we come up with the salary ordinance uh we'll we'll incorporate that well as far as I'm concerned this is the next time in this document we have the municipal judge and the court administrator uh but we don't list the names uh I will support this document I will support this ordinance if the names are included but if they are not I will not now by the way just so that everybody knows uh our municipal judge is Kathleen how and our court administrator is Jenny Peterson uh their names are are on our website so it's not a secret I don't understand I have in several cases has gone back over minutes of of years back and I find titles but no names and and I don't want to be in a position where 5 years from now somebody looks back and says well there was a judge and they gave her uh an increase but we don't know who it is so that's my that's my standard at this point and it will be my standard for every salary ordinance in the future if if the names of the individuals are not included uh with the with the title I will will vote no thank you Mr President M Mr President just a brief comment um my concern uh is that the um salaries be tied to the incumbents uh so that in the event that uh one of these individuals uh uh uh retires or leaves for some other reason uh that we would uh be able to then work with the successor on an alternate salary could be the same it could be more it could be less we are achieving that through I believe it is section four on this ordinance so that is a step forward um I I will agree that uh it is my preference to see individuals named I have been assured that in 2025 names will be named um again this is 2024 uh to name these individuals uh in the in the ordinance would would be different than what we did earlier this year um but it I have been assured that in 2025 including the mayor the council members council president everyone who is part of the salary ordinance that that will be in 2025 and I will hold the administration to that standard I'm I am satisfied that we have for the first time uh clearly stated the incumbent is is required to remain in place in order to qualify uh for this salary in the event that for some reason those two incumbents do not we certainly don't expect that but in the in the event that either is no longer the incumbent uh then the uh those salaries are are no longer valid thank you any other comments Mr papz is there is there a um reason is why the names are not included is there some advantage to that in the sense of from a business perspective with a Township or the practice has been been up until now that the title is listed only not the name I think part of it is that um from some of the discussions that have there's been a lot of discussion on this ordinance but some of that is that we are modifying two and we would um while I absolutely support what councilman nalis says um we would only have two names in our ordinance because we're not going back to all the other positions that were already approved this year they're not included in here so we would only have two names in the ordinance we wouldn't have all the other officials listed I think it's something that we should do personally I think it's something we should do when we set the full uh menu of salaries for 2025 if you remember our salary ordinance has like 20 positions on it we have only named two in this version in this amendment Mr President my objective remains I I I think uh we're we're making up excuses to to not do what we say we're going to do in the future uh when we could do it right now any other comments I'll make the motion to introduce 11a okay we have a motion do we have a second I'll second 11a any further comment the only comment I have I agree with councilman kersch uh to honor the intent of councilman noralis is uh concern about names being added to the list uh we may vote on this tonight and pass this but I assure you that in uh 2025 with the ordinance if names are not there I will be voting no okay yeah I I'm push for the record I don't have an issue with the the names not being on this particular ordinance I think that the um I would mind if there were uh but I don't have an issue that or not I think that the just like con councilman or Galla said this information is readily available by just going on the website and seeing who our judges and who our court administrators is um I don't think there's any effort by the administration to try to not I don't know provide information I think it's just the way it's always been done and and if C Council hasn't has a great suggestion and I don't have an issue with that either um but I don't think it's worth holding this back um for that technical reason at this point considering it's only two people uh again whose information is readily available on the website um and by the way I um just to make a note uh our court is uh being run you phenomenally like I our our our judge um is certainly handling the court cases uh expeditiously in a proper manner um and our court administrator is doing a phenomenal job in handling now multiple courts in our system uh without a hitch and so just also want to note that uh but yeah I'll support I'll support the introduction of this ordinance thank you any other comments motion we have a second I'll take a roll call councilman kers yes councilman cill yes councilman nalis no councilman pedroso yes president ring yes if you could set public hearing please yep final action for this ordinance is scheduled for December 5th 2024 at 7:30 p.m. here in the municipal courtroom public inspection of this ordinance is available on the township website on the bulletin board and you also available in the clerk's office okay thank you next up resolutions 12a is a resolution designating the property identified as block 411 lot 39 9 also known as 555 route22 and block 408 lot 67 located on the northwest corner of Route 22 and Country Club Road on the tax map of the township of Bridgewater as an area in need of Redevelopment non- condemnation pursuant to New Jersey local Redevelopment and Housing law njsa 4A col 12 A-1 Etc Mr papis do you want to thank you uh we have Michael Sullivan who is the Township's red development planner who is here to uh present what he presented at the planning board meeting the benefit of the township Council uh he has one of his associates and I also want to acknowledge Mr James lellan who is also a consultant that the township has engaged an environmental consultant to uh uh address the uh environmental issues related to this property where we start I apologize um oh there we go okay the screens were out I if if Mr Sullivan could present that would be in order certainly uh good evening uh it's good to be with you um as Mr C said I'm Michael Sullivan I'm the township Redevelopment planner I'm here with my uh partner architectural partner John hatch who uh worked with me on the study um purpose of tonight's uh presentation is to update the uh Council on the facts that were presented to the planning board um as part of an investigation of Maran e the 555 us process began back in the spring in March when the governing body Council directed The planning board to study uh the site as an area in need of Redevelopment um my office prepared a report known as a preliminary investigation that was dated uh August 30th of this year um October 1st the planning board conducted a public hearing uh at which point we presented the information in the um investigation um planning board reviewed that U they asked questions there was public uh questions public comment and ultimately on October 1st based on the report the testimony and the public input uh the planning board recommended to the governing body Township Council that this area be designated as an area in need of Redevelopment so tonight we're going to give you uh the highlights of that presentation which is really a summary of the preliminary investigation report uh the full report which is on file now um as a reminder the basis for uh designating an area need of Redevelopment is within the New Jersey local Redevelopment and Housing law um and a Redevelopment area is defined as an area in need of Redevelopment is an area that needs Redevelopment pursuant to criteria with in the statute of the local Redevelopment Housing law and generally these uh criteria relate to obsolescent conditions or dilapidation or um lack of use or underutilization um and the preliminary investigation really summarizes the existing conditions and the evidence available and Compares it to the Criterion in order to make a determination or recommendation um so the purpose of tonight's presentation is just to up update you so the first thing I'm going to do is just go through the the general aspects of the study area this is the former ethicon campus uh it's located near the intersection of Country Club Road uh up on the screen you can see there's a location map um it's 555 us rout 22 we've talked about that and there's also a lot uh across Country Club Drive which is a smaller lot it's block 408 lot 67 which is roughly 2.4 Acres which is vacant um both lots are are owned by the same owner uh the current uses of the uh of the properties um see here's an aerial uh you can see the properties a little bit better on the on the right is the ethon campus and you can see it's largely developed with parking and many buildings uh with a with a green buffer along Route 22 and then the smaller property to the left is lot 67 which is undeveloped this time um the existing land use and this is from the for tax data shows that the it's its own or it's identified as commercial for the ethon campus and the gray color on lot 67 indicates that it is vacant um so let me give you a brief overview of the of the character of the eacon campus um there are 15 buildings uh or wings and it's approximately 700,000 Square ft it's an enormous complex was previous used for offices Laboratories and manufacturing of medical um devices needles um and it has employee amenity spaces and other things that you would find in a typical office or manufacturing uh business approximately 60% of the fla consisted of offices and uses that were ancillary um including a clinic a cafeteria Child Development Center uh a fitness center 40% of the site was we've calculated as dedicated to manufactur uring and that's been vacant for quite a while was used for research and the development of products um it's been more than 60 years since the first buildings were built there it's a very old campus it was first constructed building was first constructed the first building was constructed 1956 and it was designed and and redesigned over time as an evolution to really facilitate ethon specialized biomedical research and Manufacturing operating operations um in addition to the build buildings and and what they represent there's uh over, 1300 paved surface parking spaces uh a mile of nature paths there's lighting an electrical substation above ground fuel tanks generators um and other elements related to environmental contamination which I'll talk about a little later um but um the reason that my partner John is here as an architect is because um the the nature of these buildings is such that we really felt like it was important to have have somebody who understands buildings better than a planner like me uh look at these buildings Through The Eyes of someone who might want to uh adaptively reuse reuse them or understand uh the uh difficulties in repurposing these buildings so um John has conducted a u an evaluation of the buildings and we're going to go through that now so you get a sense of the buildings okay great good evening everyone um I'm just going to walk through uh briefly each building on the campus um as Michael said they there is a variety of building sizes and types and configurations all of them were designed very particularly for their uh original uses uh ranging from Labs offices and and a variety of other uh amenities um the issue with the Redevelopment of the site really takes two forms one is the particular nature of each building and how they were specifically designed for their function and then um the large uh group of buildings and how they interrelate and interconnect um which also makes the the Redevelopment uh difficult so the first building we're looking at is there in red is the called The Family Center or the Child Development Center this is one of the more recent buildings on campus uh built in 1997 um for employee child care it's about uh 20 almost 22,000 square feet um it's a double loaded Corridor that's set up as as kind of classrooms um what makes it very particular to its use is virtually every space has Plumbing in it um for uh for uh Child Care from very young children to uh to toddlers so uh uh there's a variety of building of room es but they all have uh sinks and bathrooms and and other things associated with um with child care young young child care the next this is really a group of buildings CDE E F and M all built around the same time these are among the earliest buildings on the campus 1956 and this was a these had a range of uses um offices and Labs primarily some manufacturing um they all have a similar quite narrow footprint and you can see they're also double loaded Corridor all all of the buildings on the C virtually all of the buildings on the campus are um uh very simple in nature very utilitarian very little architectural character um many of the buildings uh don't have exterior windows these buildings happen to have exterior windows uh because they were used as offices but they're very narrow footprint um makes them uh quite different from how Office Buildings are built today which have larger Footprints um uh and so this kind of uh uh collection of um smaller buildings with uh with a very narrow footprint is unusual for uh being reused as offices um and again they were very particularly designed for their um for their office for for that early office and lab use and here are some of the images on the interior you can see um interior spaces used as lab with all the equipment and uh and plumbing and and all of that the next building here are a couple of other other images the next building is um is building 10 or also called the old cafeteria it was actually built in 1964 as a bomb shelter this is one of the most unusual buildings on the campus it is underground it's made out of um Porton Place reinforced concrete um very designed and built very particularly uh to it's cold it was built during the Cold War it was reused later um you know they managed to find other uses for this very odd building I I can't imagine that that they really wanted a cafeteria in this windowless uh building below grade but they'd used that for a while until they move the carrot uh the cafeteria into another building uh Building 25 is the clinic or beam building this was built in 1961 it's a two-story building it's relatively small about 8,500 Square ft um houses a medical clinic clinic doctor's offices and exam rooms um the East End of the Upper Floor was converted to employee health clinic in 2011 um the West End is is actually below grade because of uh the slope on the site and it's uh connected um by a second story enclosed pedestrian bridge to Wing G um it is like many of the buildings uh very utilitarian with without a lot of um Without Really any architectural character and almost no windows uh again a lot of the buildings are I have um concrete exterior walls un un um insulated exterior walls um and few windows I would say other than the blue Windows it doesn't blue Windows right um building 30 was also Wing o this was built in 1969 with later Renovations uh almost about 98 999,000 Square ft uh primarily office space um and about 30% of the basement houses workshops and Storage it's connected to W Wing g at the West End and to the um ATC building at the North End by a connecting Bridge of the third floor um it also you can see here from the the pictures again very very simple very straightforward a lots lot of fair amount of the exterior doesn't have um have Windows this particular building also has um has loading docks again very particular to the the functions um of of ethon and their manufacturing and their lab and research functions the next building is building 40 the Advanced Technology Center ATC um this was built in 1961 a relatively early building on the site um and uh it's two stories 990,000 Square fet uh offices in lab space on the top floor and Manufacturing with lab space on the first floor and so you can see how this had been designed to accommodate those functions um uh really bare concrete on the exterior and the interior very very utilitarian very um straightforward cons Construction and design really for its lab and U manufacturing functions and a very large foot floor plate um uh lots of interior space with even even if there were Windows without access to um to Daylight um the next building is building 50 the learning Institute Wing G this is the largest footprint uh largest building one of the the first buildings on the campus 1956 um almost 185,000 square fet a floor area and contains offices um and this is where a number of the um uh some of the the amenities on site were located here including ultimately the cafeteria uh but it also includes a manufacturing lab warehouse space um and and other facilities that support the entire campus uh number of Renovations and again such a large footprint uh most of the the exterior walls don't have Windows and such a low large footprint that the interior um doesn't have access to uh to light uh to exterior to exterior Light Building 60 is the research Tower this is a uh building with a footprint of about 7,000 square ft and it's seven stories um on a over a one-story base it's about 70,000 square feet um it contained contained offices conference areas on the first floor and primarily lab space on the upper floors floors 2 through six and executive suites on the top floor so there are wind this building does have Windows on two facades and two facades essentially don't have Windows um uh and it's the the building is still filled with an extensive amount of research equipment Cabinetry utilities specialized ventilation for its research and um and lab former research and lab functions and building 60 the Research Foundation um this is from 1961 with later Renovations it's about 50,000 Square ft um primarily a research facility with highly specialized laboratory space spaces a surgical center conference rooms and um and other spaces specifically associated with the lab facilities and here you can again see just how um how specifically the Interiors are designed um and and the layous and laid out for the the research and laboratory functions so again very utilitarian um and specifically designed for for those functions this facade you can see uh no windows uh and the interior walls like many of the buildings um are painted concrete uh masonry units and painted concrete floors building 60 is uh a a little bit later construction 1976 um and connected connected uh the research Tower and the Research Foundation it's one story um and it's really Corridor space and with with some offices and is that the fitness center okay fitness center this is uh one of the later buildings 1983 one story Standalone building about uh 10,600 square feet contains a gym exercise spaces um you know well well designed for those functions although again very uh you can see very utilitarian um and with very few windows or embellishments there are a number of other structures um that uh provide utility support for the for the um the former laboratory research and office functions the water tower um the tank farm um has three 25,000 gallon fuel fuel oil tanks electrical substation um uh all of which supported the uh um provided required utilities for the uh for the other functions on the campus so the this this slide shows the the chart basically breaking down all of the floor area as I said it's roughly 700,000 Square fet it's 698 uh 7 and 77 Square F feet uh 60% is office and 40% was manufacturing um in addition to the to the building uh conditions um there is a documented history of contamination that's on goinging out on the site uh there's an existing groundwater classification exception area which is on this slide is the pink uh area uh and that was approved by the d uh in 2014 in 1983 but they've been monitoring this site for a while in 1983 there were nine monitoring Wells installed and sampled and they began investigating this the soil and surface water in 1984 just the pink area though carries well outside of this property carries over into the existing sjv is that correct that's correct the existing property to the east uh also has has the uh classification exception area on it thank you yellow the yellow is the prop is the study area boundary just for anybody looking at that exhibit um so the dp's overseeing the investigation and and Remediation at this site for over 30 years um there's no further action for all the soil uh issues but the groundwater uh contamination monitoring uh goes on uh an application was made to the DP in 2023 to reduce the area of the ca the classification exception area based on test sampling that the water groundwater is getting better um uh the results of that are not um I don't believe it's been approved yet um Mr President just a a question clarification um on your map you do not show um the Bridgewater route and Regional High School property as being designated uh in the contamination area it has not and is not in that area not not based on the information we got from the state okay because yeah that that was raised as a concern uh during the planning board hearing I just want to make sure that um you know it's acknowledged and and and known as part of the record as part of those uh uh witnessing uh uh this proceeding that um the the the high school property is not impacted the the various contamination uh is really chlorinated hydrocarbons is what they're looking for out there and some of this relates to when they cleaned uh manufactured uh devices needles cleaning Metals um uh so there are a series of of of those sorts of chemicals out there um in addition uh you know John took you through the buildings in terms of their function and their layout and what their character is but uh we've got reports uh documenting contamination in many of the buildings out here and the contamination uh is in terms of lead we've got building five building 10 Building 25 building 30 building 40 building 50 building 60 all with lead identified uh and the fitness center has led identified that will require remediation um uh or during demolition in addition there's ASB bestus within the buildings documented and this is within building 10 within building 30 within building 50 and within building 60 um pcbs were also identified uh and they're they're not good for you either um and it's generally been identified within caul and some other materials that within the building so um and the um the owner has got cost estimates for this um and based on the groundwater and the asbest alone the cost for remediation uh are over $4 million the cost for mitigation U and Remediation of the pcbs and Lead are not known at this time we do not have any information on that but it's a substantial cost um just to clarify the lead and the asbest and the pcps you know today those buildings as they stand it's not an issue it's only when you go to renovate or demolish those buildings and it becomes Airborne is that correct or I believe that's the case I don't know that any of the asbest is viable and I don't know the extent to which the pcbs are are uh able to be absorbed by anybody without actually taking them apart okay Mr Sullivan at what degree is the previous owner responsible for remed remediation of any groundwater issue is I I I don't know all the details of the of the requirements but what I my understanding is I don't know the details is that uh both the previous owner and the current owner have an environmental an lsrp working at the site um so I believe they both have some responsibility let me talk a little bit about the criteria U that the ethicon campus would fit Criterion B of the Redevelopment statute says that um you meet the criteria for redevelopment area if uh the situation is that there's a discontinuance of of the use of a building or buildings previously used for commercial retail shopping malls or plazas office Parks manufacturing or industrial purposes um and and that is my opinion and that's the opinion that I gave to the planning board and that is why the planning board uh recommended that this be deemed an area needed Redevelopment um we've talked a lot about the discontinuance of this it started 1956 it was expanded over several decades uh as an evolution uh to fit the program and the business model for uh eacon and Johnson and Johnson um it was used for more than 60 years but in September 2015 the manufacturing operation stopped which was approximately 40% of the of the building areas uh 60% of the campus continued to be used for offices uh until August of 2022 um that's when the employees were relocated to a new facility um there was a point where there was swing space used here to move employees back while other space was being finished in another location but now they are gone and they've been gone for at least a year uh year and a half um 50 employees remain on site specifically for security and maintenance of the facility to ensure that it's not becoming a a a moldering mess um but it is not occupied at this time in any meaningful way um it was sold in February 2024 um it's it was also my opinion that I gave to the planning board and I believe the planning board agreed with that this is an obsolescent facility as we've talked about the specialized nature of this campus 700,000 square feet dedicated to all the functions for this business model that went from Office uses to research and development and testing and Manufacturing um as John talked about they're they're very specialized these have these are not typical floor plates there's some Office Buildings on this site that have floor plates that might be close to what an office might be today but they're cobbled together and they're strung together in these large um connected uh building masses but then we have very large windowless floor plates which could not easily be um retrofitted for any particular permitted use warehousing is not permitted here right so you can't just go in and do warehousing here how do you get light into these buildings how do you uh remove the guts that were there for the manufacturing and the loading there there are some very strong um industrial uh internal Crane and lifting devices and other systems in here so it's not like it could be readily adapted and it's and it's an enormous complex and so in my opinion it's obsolete for what it was and it's not just because um ethon moved out it would be very hard to repurpose there's a reason ethicon chose to consolidate in the Ron campus as opposed to the Bridgewater campus is that uh I I can only uh presume yeah um and and and there's a you know there's an assessment the the property assessment is $51 million here um the annual tax bill for ethon is over $900,000 a year for that site um but the annual cost of maintaining it uh including property taxes is over $3 million a year this property needs to get up on its feet and that's what the Redevelopment uh law is for to get properties moving get them paying taxes get it redeveloped in a way that makes it a productive property within the framework of of a town in this case bridgew um absent Redevelopment uh and the tools that are afforded through the Redevelopment statute was my opinion that um ultimately uh you might be seeing tax appeals or things like that that would really drain uh reduce the tax revenue that you get from this alternatively Redevelopment uh of of immed me ful way could actually increase your tax revenues here beyond what they should be just so the Redevelopment uh statute is an has some tools that you can use and that's the opinion I gave to the to the planning board um I want to talk a little bit about the the small lot the 2.4 acre lot that's across Country Club Lane um that fits Criterion C in my opinion and that's what we said in our report and what I testified to at the planning board and that is because it is unimproved vacant land that has remained so for a period of 10 years prior to the adoption of the resolution directing the planning board to study it and that by reason of its uh topography and nature of the soil is not likely to be developed and so we went back and we looked at Aerials uh we have an aerial of from 2012 which shows its vacant property um when we have aerial imagery from 2023 it's vacant we went to the site it is vacant um but it's it's vacant and the characteristics of the site and we've talked about this before this is a a a wetland uh map of the site there was a wetland delineation done and the dark area the gray area dark gray area in the site uh indicates where freshwater wetlands are uh and of course there are Wetland transition areas in there it's about a third of the site that's uh constrained by wetlands and Wetland transition areas um wetlands are are a surrogate for uh topography that doesn't drain so it's an issue of topography and hydric soils which is the nature of the soil so that's how uh Criterion C is applicable here um it's an odd it's an odd-shaped lot with Frontage on Country Club Lane and Route 22 and ultimately you would to access this site you would prefer uh to access it from Country Club lame which would require you to go through the wetlands which would add expense to that and so through the Redevelopment uh tools of the Redevelopment U statute affords may be able to uh facilitate uh getting access to that site and making it productive it's got no improvement value whatsoever it's assessed for a land value of about $350,000 so it was my opinion that that also fits the criteria um finally uh Criterion H um is a Criterion that the statute uh continues to um keep and this says that the designation of the delineated area the Redevelopment area is consistent with smart growth planning principles adopted pursuant to law or regulation the state plan uh was adopted um pursuant to the state planning act which was a law um it is the States's roadmap for smart growth even though it doesn't use that term in it um and within the state plan there are several planning areas starting with the most um planning area one which is where the state envisions most most of the growth and infrastructure in the state to be developed um to planning area 4B or five which are the most environmentally sensitive planning areas where the state envisions uh minimal development if any and la and no infrastructure investment we are in planning area one the Metropolitan planning area here which is highly favored for redevelopment development and the investment in infrastructure and other things so in my opinion the the study area um and the properties uh meet Criterion h uh within the Redevelopment and Housing law and those are the that's really the summary of the investigation those were my uh the facts and the evidence and the conclusions that were presented to the planning board as a basis for their recommendation to you to designate the study areas area just question I'm not sure if it's for you just if we can talk briefly before we open up questions rest of the council procedurally tonight what we're looking at is saying yes or or you know making a decision on accepting the recommendation from the planning board that the site is in need of Redevelopment we are not defining tonight what that Redevelopment is as I understand the process that will then go back to the planning board who will determine how best that property can be utilized and then that will come back to this governing body that's that's exactly right ultimately the Redevelopment plan um is is really a hybrid of Master plan and zoning ordinance but it's adopted as a as a zoning ordinance this this is just simply saying that this property meets the definition of an area in need of Redevelopment or not that's exactly correct okay m m Mr President a few comments first of all thank you for that thorough presentation which I've now heard twice my apologies no again it's this is critically important but uh for the record if you need to do it a third time I I think I could step in uh if I have to um a very thorough report I I do want to provide a little bit of commentary I know I may have stated this at the last meeting uh with what occurred at the planning board meeting um because I I think it it it Bears noting that this is and will continue to be an open and transparent process uh through uh publicly available documents through opportunities for the public uh to participate in this process including um uh open public comment that did occur at the uh planning board uh that occurred by multiple members of the public uh at the planning board uh in some cases uh comments were on point related to the criteria uh um in the report in other cases uh comments were were made about other aspects uh of the property including but not limited to environment and certain other things um I'm just looking at Mr papis to confirm that I'm I'm I'm accurate in in how I've portrayed that um now one one thing that that came up during the planning uh board meeting again that that meeting is recorded So anybody could watch it but I'll save you the time of sitting through a 5-h hour uh uh recording by by um mentioning one area in particular that came up um and it questioned um you know essentially questioned the validity uh of this report um because uh it was paid for through an escrow um uh that was um a funded with the the township of Bridgewater uh by the current owner of the property um so the argument was made or at least the ground was laid that um you know this report is potentially um uh you know fruit from a poison tree um no those was those were not the words used those are mine um and then the response to that is well if that's going to be the case then development essentially can never occur in the state of New Jersey um because by its nature uh uh an individual will likely acquire a piece of property likely on speculation no guarantees of course uh but then have an interest in doing something different with that property um something else has to be done with this property because there is no utility for the way it exists right now um but you know that that was um you know a portion of the four or five hour hearing um so I you know I provide that as a public service to everyone you you don't have to you could watch the tape if you want but now you don't have to um and um you know that that certainly may come up moving forward um but the point was very clearly made uh that there is precedent in New Jersey uh lengthy precedent uh for um uh Redevelopment reports uh such as this to be paid via escrow ultimately funded by by the property owner and if that is called into question uh as a mechanism then uh that calls into question the validity of any development that has happened in the past as well as the the likelihood of any development anywhere uh moving forward so um you know just wanted wanted to provide that context um uh and state that I believe that that what is before us today is to either confirm or not confirm uh the the the uh the findings of this report um and again some of the issues that have been raised while certainly relevant um environmental concerns uh any traffic and other things that might be created by whatever happens here all those are relevant to the property but if I'm not mistaken maybe Mr corini can confirm right now our decision is does this report support the finding that this is an area in need of Redevelopment Mr Sullivan just confirmed that okay this is not there there's no shovel going to the ground Tomorrow there's probably no shovel going on the ground for quite some time so is there any other comments or questions from the council Mi Mr uh president uh Mr lellan is here and I'm wondering if we might just give him a moment to make some comments he he provided a perspective at the planning board hearing that was helpful and um I think it would be beneficial to the council thank you mikeal and good evening um I prepared a number of slides and do do you have them do we have them we can run through those real quick s if you maybe just for the benefit of the members of the council and public who are not familiar with you if you could just uh give a little your name and background as to why you're up here speaking yes sir my name is James lwell and I'm a principal at Appalachia hydrogeologic environmental Consulting LLC um we reside right here in Bridgewater and basically I've been in the business uh for over 30 years um doing preliminary assessments site investigations remedial investigations remedial actions um most um most of my experience is is with Redevelopment and and basically taking properties such as this and basically remediating these properties so that they can be put to better use thank you and your slides are up so okay great all right next slide all right just just a little bit of History here um and it will answer some questions that were already uh posed here by the council um eacom was purchased in 1954 operations began in 1955 and it ceased in September 2020 operations are such as the planner indicated basically it was research development manufactured needles sutures and other petroleum pharmaceutical products um from 72 to 1980s they used a compound called pce it's tetrachloro ethylene um people may know it better as they used to use it in dry cleaning they used to use it they still still probably use it for brake cleaner it's it's fabulous but however it creates an issue they used it for the needles the needles had to be sterilized so therefore they used this pce to basically strip off the oil which they had to use to basically create these long wires as a lubricant so they wouldn't break um basically what was happening is that the pce the virgin in the waste PC was stored in above ground storage tanks near um building oh and unfortunately they leaked and they leaked over a long period of time and they created concentrations not only in the soil but in the groundwater um ethon has gone through the whole gamut of De uh process site investigation process they've done preliminary assessments they've done site investigations remedial investigations and now they're doing the remediation um bottom line is that they had they had identified 38 historical areas of concern on the property and as of now they had 35 of them are complete they're done they submitted the report to the DP the D reviewed it and the DP issued what's called a no further action determination which simply means they're done the majority of that had to do with soils and that was done back in 1992 and 93 um and then currently they every time there's a change in standards they they they they take a look at the new standards and they compare it to some of the data that was collected back then and they basically compare it and determine whether it complies with the current standards so we had 38 historic areal uh areas of concern and 35 are done which means three are remaining and that is the groundwater issues at the site um and then just recently they found three additional um aoc's that they're addressing they're they back into the remedial investigation phase but those three additional they have to do with um some storm sewers and outfalls and and they're dealing with different types of compounds like phahs and and metals phahs are like benzo pyan and whatnot um the bottom line is the responsible party and that goes to a gentleman over here is ethon they are responsible for the cleanup I thought he was responsible for it he's our waste expert that's the he's our waste expert this this time you'll have to actually wear the Hazmat [Laughter] suit and if somebody purchased the properties U some of your attorneys up here didn't understand joint and several liability the new owner is going to have some responsibility as well so there's people on the hook for this going forward all right that's the history let's go into the groundwater remediation so now soils are done right that's part of the 35 aoc's now we have the groundwater remediation um it's up on the board bottom line is onsite yeah have active remediation for the higher dissolve phase Co cont concentrations there's a source area where it leaked those are higher concentrations those are dealt with they have some building Vapor mitigation systems under om that was the larger building in the center portion of it what that means is that the groundwater this pce is volatile it percolates through the ground it gets to the groundwater it flows it's soluble that's why it's it's it's the number one contaminant in the state right TC is but PC is close behind bottom line is it flows it goes under buildings it volatilizes it gets trapped underneath the buildings and then basically um creates a hazard so what you have to do is put in a uh essentially a radon system it's the same thing same idea it's PVC pipe it goes under the building it creates de pressures ation and that way the vapors get captured before they get trapped under the building um active groundwater remediation they have been working at this since 1985 where they were doing the old pump and treat system put in some wells they pumped contaminated water they treated it and then discharged it that was in 19885 to 2004 then they they also did some dual phase extraction which is essentially sucking the vapors from the soil and of course it strips off the groundwater and then gets collected and dealt with put in carbon and whatnot um today they've switched over they've they've shut those down and basically they're doing enhanced reductive decorizer The Source area Okay the soils are gone but they still have contamination in the Bedrock so they're dealing with the source area and they're dealing with the fug itive plume um they're doing it in both areas they have 10 Wells injection wells in the source area and they also have 17 Wells along the property boundary uh upgrading of petersbrook um enhanced bio remediation believe it or not they use a molasses molasses provides the carbon that allows the microbes to chew on it and they create anobi conditions and then the other microbes can attack the pce all right that's offsite they want to basically transition to what's called monitor natural attenuation um that will occur after they're done with the active remediation what that simply means leave it alone monitor it nature will take its course okay um couple criteria for that you got to remove the source area which they're doing with the active remediation you have to have decreasing concentrations over time and then also you have to just do groundwater monitoring and right now they have a plan in place that's going to be quarterly semiannually um there's some annually institutional control we talked they talked about the classification exception area it was approved by D in 2014 um it's a designated area it's a notification for people don't put wells in this area Okay the groundwater concentrations are above the standards that's simply what that is um since 200 7 2017 the groundwater plume has been stable and just recently as you indicated um the bottom line is that the ca is being Revisited or revised in 2022 and basically we have um a width 300 the length is 3,000 areas is4 140 Acres depth is 300 ft and it's an indetermined amount of time um before they it cleans up the reason for that is they don't have the data yet to show the decreasing Trend once they shut down the act of remediation right all right enough of this boring talk all right let's go to the plume extent okay if you look at this this figure on the left hand side you have the Baseline pce concentrations and that was 1998 look at the red in the middle that's the most concentrations and then you see the plume going moving to the southeast and then 2021 it's the same plume but it's significantly reduced which means they're they're very successful in what they're doing and these types of these types of treatment um methodologies they work I know they work because we use them as well so if you look at the second one which is uh I'm sorry the right hand side you see that they have significantly reduced these concentrations they essentially have a fugitive plume that's off this property and then they have one that's closer to the source area right the next now one of the things that um that we talk about go ahead for the next slide is these Maps these maps are for D it it becomes very difficult to read these and okay you know the public would say where is this plume is it close to my house or not so what we did is we took this plume we gave it some Geo uh um gave it some coordinates and we basically attached it to a Geor reference map so this just gives a an indication to the public of where this actually is so the plume is not even on the eacon property sorry it's not even on the eacon property uh correct it's just off now it's just off and if you look I know that there were some concerned citizens um with u around Country Club Road it's not even close to that uh there was a question here councilman kersch who asked about the school it's not it's not the school you can see that and then basically we have the municipal building and you can see that it stretches just off the property um SJP properties and it basically ends up at um the intersection of 20 State Police and 22 Yeah that botom where all the accidents are that's where the PC is the the the bottom right corner of that is actually the state police barracks correct that's it that's where it is so I think this is needs to be emphasized with anybody that has questions about where this plume is all right and this will there is there's a sentinel well right at the end of that that plume that elongated plume it's MW 29 and it's called a sentinel well and that Sentinel well has slight concentrations but they're not bad and and they petitioned the D and said hey do we need to go any further the plume is shrinking can we just use MW 29 as our Sentinel well Sentinel Wells are supposed to they're not supposed to have anything in it no contamination but the DP came back in a letter and said okay well since it's shrinking which means it's getting smaller it's not it's mature it's been there for a long time so you're concerned about oh it it could be it could be migrating you know could end up in Somerville no that's not true it's shrinking because the source is gone if we went back to that figure that showed you know the massive red that was over the site and then right it progressed now that's not mature that's migrating now that they've cut it off it's starting to shrink yes yes they continue to add molasses and the microbes are working and it continues to decrease over time I'll show you that's a if you look let's see if I have the next yeah sure go to the next slide so this slide shows the same plume from the arcadis map this is where we took it from and put it onto the bigger map so people understood where it actually was if you look along Pet's Brook and that's in between the ethon site and the plume you can see a line of wells and that's the treatment zone so they've created somewhat of a barrier wall where they're injecting this molasses this molasses and this molasses acts as a carbon Source allows the microbes to wake up and and and eat and and chew this stuff um and so what happens is it cuts it off as you can see it's cut it off so there's probably lingering concentrations on the property but it's cut it off so and they will continue to do that that's what that's so dealing with the groundwater they're in pretty good shape remediation of the existing buildings you mentioned asbest you mentioned PC be you mentioned lead the asbest yeah it's in a number of buildings um they basically um I I know Bridgewater has a code to clean up this stuff prior to um them demoing the building in fact if I'm not mistaken I saw a um an asbest abatement plan already written and on the record so there are plans to Abate this um and that's something that obviously the council um needs to make sure that that occurs pcbs it was in two of 15 samples yes it was in the CL of some of the build of within the buildings is it a major concern two of 15 okay we remove the COA and throw it in you know bag and it'll go off in a you know a different direction than the other demo stuff um and then as far as lead the lead was mainly lead paint okay this is an old building and there was a lead paint and they have gone through and done an extensive testing determining that paint for window sills and doors and some walls and all the samples are documented where they were collected and what surfaces had led and what surfaces didn't so um my guess is that that will be taken care of prior to demolition now as far as um you know there's a couple things I just added so we go very quickly through this when you're doing demolition you have dust and you have you know maybe there's a concern about that and if the the community um for extra um let see protection but just uh feeling better about okay there's not an issue here there's programs out there it's called Community air monitoring that you can put in place to make sure that the community feels confident that what's being done is not impacting their properties or their health and that's called air monitoring units and we we're doing this right now um we're in a landfill you can see the houses in the distance and basically these monitors are set up they're set up between the workspace and the people's homes there's a weather station that tells you which direction the wind is blowing and then basically these stations are reading continuously and if you go on to the next slide um they there was a question during the planning board next slide keep going there we go there's the are monitoring stations um next slide someone asked a question well when do we find out when do when do you know that you know you're you're close well if you look at this we actually have our phones and basically we get alerts of when we're getting close to that threshold and when we're close to that threshold um you go to the next slide these are these are just the daily reports that we get at the end but the file the last slide here we send out the water truck right to knock down the dust so we take care of it immediately and that's recorded that we did take care of it I think I've addressed the questions and and that's the end of the presentation any more questions thank you sir any questions for is there anything else Mr Pap before we open up for questions here just one one question that you can hopefully guide us on because this also came up at the planning board um a Redevelopment of this site is a pathway toward getting this thing cleaned up as compared to doing nothing and leaving it as it is then there would be no environmental Improvement correct I can tell you from redeveloping any property is if you've got a system that's in place there's ways of working around it and there's there's you could do virtually anything with this property I think In fairness your question is you talking about cleaning up the groundwater you talking about cleaning up the Asbestos and just if someone is concerned and I think we all are about the environmental condition of this site m by not move by moving forward with Redevelopment there are Pathways to making this a a a clean site a clean and safe site if we do not proceed with Redevelopment and what sits there just sits there dangers will just continue to lurk correct I I would say I would agree with you that if you're redeveloping this property there is going to be more motivation to clean up this as quickly as as possible versus a vacant site that's just sitting there and potentially having someone say well it's a vacant site I I can take my time I don't need to clean this up isn't the property owner if they wish to do any type of construction project on this site at this point would need to remediate the site at this whether or not it's in need a re need a Redevelopment or whether they decide to go through the building permit and just try to build something on here once the property prop is contaminated doesn't the state DP of regulations now that mandate that certain cleanups have to happen as long as you can prove that your Redevelopment is not to going to contravene the ongoing remediation then they'll let you do pretty much anything I I mean well the on but the ongoing remediation so there has to be ongoing remediation irrespective right that's my point okay that that is there has to be ongoing remediation they're not going to stop right and not process is going to happen irrespective I mean the state's going to have oversight over this property no matter what that's right right okay um the other thing I would say is that here's what's important about this that I noticed and I don't know it was by mistake or they did it purposely because we certainly do this purposely and that is clean up the soils get the soils clean it happens to be the source area if you clean up the soils now you can redevelop you don't have to worry about the soils the groundwater can be dealt with that's down 30 ft we can put in Wells well the wells that are there injection Wells all right but the soil that's dirty now you're when you're doing your footings and whatnot and going through the dirty soil you got to take that to a different landfill or treat it or something like that in this situation the soils are clean right but the remediation issue with the envir about the fact this property is contaminated that's already happened and the remedi is going to happen no matter what that's right okay so um so although your testimony is extremely informative and I appreciate you being here the fact is that nothing nothing is changing whether or not the property in in need of Redevelopment or not so's going to be remediated because that's the ongoing process that it's going through now that is correct okay so um this has anything been presented uh this is more out to the planners anything been presented as to what is going to be on the site no that's not part of your consideration no no um all right I really don't have any other any questions for the plan or I have a comment but not no questions so if you have questions councilman cordill had a question yeah I I just have comment I appreciate the presentation this evening of never realizing that the ethon site had these issues with contamination but based on past history in Bridgewater I'm thinking about the RCA site which is now Wegman's the cyanate site which was Federal super fund site uh all had similar issues and they're all being they have been dealt with or they're they're going you know they're they're still ongoing you know with Benzene and other issues uh so I feel very U I'm pleased to see what's being reported this evening as far as the ongoing remediation for this site you know whether we uh redevelop it or not that work still has to be done and I think the issue tonight is whether whether or not this site is deemed necessary for redevelopment and I think that's where our focus should be thank you any other comments or questions before we all right just I have a comment uh yeah um are you ready to to take action on it well what I was going to do was reread the resolution just to clarify since it's been some time to evening and then see if there was a motion in a second and we can have comments before we vote unless want to you want to comment now feel free whichever you prefer nope you got the floor Mr councel all right so the resolution is designated the property identified as block 411 lot 39 also known as 555 route22 and block 408 lot 67 located on the northwest corner of Route 22 and Country Club Road on the tax map of the township of Bridgewater as an area in need of Redevelopment non-c condemnation pursuant to New Jersey local Redevelopment Housing laws njsa 4A col 12 A-1 Etc do we have a motion I have a motion do we have a second we have a second Mr pedosa councilman pedosa you had some additional comments uh I did I did I will I will support uh this resolution um I think the um I do agree the property is a need they need a Redevelopment and I also uh like to note that um although although irres of that fact I mean the reality is it is a need needed Redevelopment but also by placing it into Redevelopment it actually gives this governing body I think more control uh and gives the township more control over what goes on that site and so there it's actually um uh I think a double win not only it's a win potentially I guess long term for the owner but also win for the township because um because of our control issue [Music] um I don't find the environmental issues to be really IR relevant uh at all because the property whether it's in need of Redevelopment or not has these issues they're ongoing issues the as as the uh as the call his name but as the environmental expert said uh the remediation is happening irrespective of Redevelopment so whether the property is deemed in R development in needed Redevelopment or not the environmental remediation will continue as is and frankly uh so I don't not really moved by I'm concerned about the issue but I don't think it's relevant to the matter before us and there is one thing I want to note uh this isn't certainly my my first rodeo with projects in need of Redevelopment and I want to make a note now on the record uh that I will uh no matter what happens down the line I want everyone to be aware um or the property owner to be aware the governing body to be aware that I will not support any apartments on the site I will not support any Mass Den housing on the site and and that would be a deal breaker for me going down the line um so at this point I'm okay moving the project forward um but having experienced through the center of excellence project and seeing what how that developed uh certainly it's you know once pitten twice sh I'm a little concern I'm a little you know it's certainly um something that I want to make very clear from the onset so having said that I will support this thank you and thank you for being here and thank you for your very thorough and professional presentation to all the witnesses that came here Mr President so I love that reference to Great White um being from the ' 80s so that was I really Mye I I really I like that a lot um I I use that from time to time I I express my feelings in in depth at the planning board so I don't need to do it here um I I think the report is thorough uh and the conclusion uh is valid I think that all the other issues and concerns that have been raised uh while relevant um uh in totality are not the core Focus here what is the core and focus here is does this property meet the definition of being an area in need of Redevelopment and I believe the answer is yes the environmental questions any traffic questions exactly what's going to be built there all very important questions to be answered in the future the question for tonight do I accept this designation my answer again as I voted at the planning board is yes any other comments from this the Das I'm convinced it's the right decision on behalf of the township and the residents to move forward uh with this site and identify it as a need of Redevelopment counc Mill are you good we have a motion in a second on the floor I don't we have it I just very briefly will comment that I think uh kind of echoing councilman Pedro's comments I think clearly the site is in need of Redevelopment I think you know um by declaring an area in need of Redevelopment we have a little more um flexibility as far as negotiating and controlling what goes on in the site versus someone who wants to conform with existing zoning there um but I think you know we have to be very careful as to what ultimately ends up at the site but um no other comments I will ask for a roll call please on 12a councilman kers yesman cill yesman nales yes councilman pedroso yes president ring yes all right 12b establishes the 202 than oh yes sure thanks I'm just moving along now 12b establishes the 2024 emplo employee standard mileage reimbursement rate for Approved Township business as set by the Internal Revenue Service this is just like in the unlikely event a Township employee uses their personal vehicle they would be reimbursed per IRS standards uh unless there's any other comments or concerns I will entertain motion on 12b I'll move it do we have a second I'll second it any comments concerns roll call 12b councilman kers yes councilman cill yes councilman Nogales yes councilman pedroo yes president ring yes 12C is authorizing the dispersal of $ 49,7 from the affordable housing trust fund for renovations and repairs for three low and moderate income properties through the Bridgewater housing housing rehabilitation program these include properties on Walter Street Brown Road and Pearl Street um any further comments or questions I have none but I'll make a motion to introduce it we have a motion do we have a second I'll second unless there's any further comments or questions I'll take a roll call councilman Kish yes councilman cill yesalis yes pedroo yes president tring yes 12d is amending resolution 24- 09-192 42 approving participation with the state of New Jersey in a safe and secure communities grant program administered by the Office of the Attorney General Department of Law and Public Safety to the amount of $4,150 and a matching expense of $273,200 I'm sorry $318,400 a a grant that we previously voted on but there was a an issue with how FICA and Social Security taxes were calculated so we've been asked to redo it any move 12d what's the money for it it it's it's a grant for Traffic Safety officers and the police department this is an expense that we would have no matter what correct we previously accepted this but the the the the matching dollar amount did not factor in FICA and Social Security tax so the state required it to be redone we have a motion did I a second I'll second it any other comments or questions roll call man K yes cill yesalis yes pedroso yes president ring yes 12E is a resolution authorizing the township of Bridgewater to accept a subgrant award in the amount of $10,000 for the federal physical year 2024 the Emergency Management performance Grant EMP G or Emergency Management agency assistance emaa um this is something we've received for the last several years um I will just say though that this is not just something simply a grant we fill out some paperwork there's a lot of work that is done by our office Emergency Management I know Sergeant Edwards is here to make sure we are compliant with the terms of this grant every year it is not um given to every municipality in the county or in the state we are one that has benefited from this so I will gladly move 12E second any other comments or questions roll callman K yesman cill yes manalis yesman pedroso yes president ring yes 12f is authorizing budget transfers for physical year 2024 Appropriations the amount of $549,450 in the current fund I know it's that time of the year but any further comments Mr papis no we do not anticipate uh any other transfers at this time okay Mr President can there was a a question from the audience uh about um the source of these funds streets and Roads salary and wage uh for the sake of the record can you provide guidance on on why that's the source of um you know so so so you know so much of the uh transfer there were uh several retirements and uh budgeted positions were um vacant and those funds had not been U had have not been spent okay so sometimes the the process to replace employees can take several months and there there's savings there and then and also a lower salary yes correct so this is a salary and wage line and it's not in any way shape or form accurate to say well G why don't you just spend an extra $144,000 Paving roads correct yeah you can see it's streets and roads snw which is salary and wage I just want to make sure that that that's part of the record any other comments or questions I don't I'll move this unless that's already occurred did it all right I'll I'll move it if there's no other comments or questions roll call on 12f kers yes cill yesalis yes pedo yes presing yes 12g is a cancellation of sore Capital bond order ordinances in the amount of $348,700 but uh some of these go back as far as 2013 um anybody want to move it well I will I I will definitely have been into the system uh today I I will I will move 12g okay second if no other comments or questions roll call councilman kers yesman codell yes manales yes pedo yes president ring yes 12h is authorizing the replacement of the retiree Medicare Advantage plan provided by Braven with the Medicare Supplement Plan provided by the Hartford to provide supplemental health insurance to eligible retirees the township of bridgew for a total annual premium of $475,500 for employees that are retired yes yes sure if they meet criteria those that are eligible 25 years of service Mrs Madrid is here and she's been here all night and I'd hate to have her miss the opportunity to make any comments that she feels would be no I'm okay with it helpful I'm okay with it okay okay [Laughter] I just I I guess I I guess I'll just confirm that that this that this is a cost savings correct yes the estimates for 2025 came in um about $93,000 higher for the plan that we were on weren't really happy with that plan anyway um so we're happy to recommend a change from a customer service standpoint as well as a cost savings standpoint what is one of the changes from customer service standpoint well this is a um a supplemental Medicare plan so this impacts only Medicare eligible retirees so those that are over the age of 65 and use Medicare as their primary health insurance and then this is the extra this covers the um anything that Medicare does not cover So the plan we have right now is a Medicare Advantage plan um we've been having trouble with that um everything needs to be resubmitted um to the supplemental company um they'd been denying a bunch of things giving people a hard time about it um so this is a supplement plan um approval is pretty much automatic the plane the um claims are submitted directly from the doctor from the um from the doctor's office to this supplemental plan process should be a lot faster and easier for the retirees and for the HR office who has had to get involved many times very good thank you move 128 we already have a motion in a second I can just how many how many employees or ex-employees are are receiving this benefit uh I I don't know off hand I can get bless huh I don't know off hand I can get numbers for you Mr one thing I just want to say that this is the only uh change that we're recommending for the medical coverage the next council meeting we are going to have a few additional resolutions which would be asking the council to consider which would be renewal of Horizon and and and the remaining coverages but this is the only proposed change thank you my closed got it okay okay all right no other comments we'll take a roll call councilman kers yesman cordel yes councilman nalis yes councilman pedroso yes president ring yes all right thank you that is the resolutions we do have a closed session session tonight um closed session for tonight be resolved Bridgewater Township Council this body will now hold a closed meeting to discuss contract negotiations and Public Safety Public Safety Police Department contract negotiations 1200 route22 Warren and the yard way site is my understanding one more planner I'm sorry planner and it is my understanding that um we do not anticipate any action tonight uh other than returning to the meeting and closing the meeting to the public do I have a motion for closed session that motion second all those in favor I opposed all right we are in closed session um e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e okay the door is open I will take a motion to reopen the public meeting motion to reopen I'll second it all in favor I motion to adjourn I have a motion to adjourn I'll second we have a second all those in favor I opposed we are adjourned thank you yeah I'll see you at the bramnik [Laughter] event that is