and good evening everyone will you please stand if you can and join with me in our Pledge of Allegiance and remain standing for a moment of personal reflection I pledge of the United States of America stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for thank you Miss lawful please call roll and read our statement of adequate notice councilman bahal here councilman Wendell here councilman councilwoman Winston here councilwoman zigi here council president makoy here also present mayor Brad Cohen here administrator Joseph gusul here and Township attorney Raj Gomer here adequate notice of this meeting has been provided as required under chapter 231 Public Law 1975 by specifying the time date location and to the extent known the agenda by posting a copy on the bulletin board located in the main lobby of the East Brunswick Municipal Building providing a copy to the home News Tribune and the Asbury Park Press newspapers providing a copy in the office of the Township Clerk which will be entered into the minutes thank you C you have before you resolution 24 hyen 196 adopting our meeting minutes from our June 10th 2024 meeting May I have a motion motion to approve second second is there any need for correction or clarification on these minutes M lawful please call rooll councilman bahal yes councilman Wendell yes councilwoman Winston yes councilwoman ziki yes and council president maab boy yes [Applause] Council we have five ordinances for a second reading and a public hearing ordinance 2412 Township Clerk will you please read an ordinance amending chapter 144 garbage refuse and recyclables of the Township Code of the township of East Brunswick County of middlex state of New Jersey uh we have a motion motion approved and a second second Mr Mr Chris gulo um let's see how there are so many many varied Provisions as we looked as we all did our homework here can you possibly summarize sure this is uh to put in the changes to our code for the new method of garbage and recycle retrieval keeping in mind there are several communities that are still using Yol system because the cans just can't be facilitated uh in those communities so this is an update for the mechanical collection of trash and some updates to be in compliance with the new uh recycling uh regulations that the state imposes yeah that was that was a hefty seven eight pages ofation regarding the direction that Mar con has taken us and it's it's it's been nothing but positive in terms of my neighborhood I'm going to open this matter up to the public does anyone wish to comment on this ordinance and this ordinance only seeing none I'll close the public portion are there any Council comments roll call please councilman bahal yes councilman Wendell yes councilwoman Winston yes councilwoman zimi yes and council president mavo yes ordinance 2413 uh Township Clerk please read a bond ordinance providing for various School Capital Improvements in and by the township of East Brunswick County of middlex State of New Jersey pursuant to a shared services agreement with the East brunic Board of Education appropriating 6,00,000 therefore and authorizing the issuance of 5,795 th000 in bonds or notes of the township to finance part of the cause thereof may I have a motion for this ordinance so moved and second second Mr culo comment on this one um this is for financing that was requested by the East bun Board of Education and I think we've discussed this at length at several other meetings and finally got to a point where we're ready to proceed with this finally right great let's open this up to the public uh for the public to comment on this resolution in this resolution only seeing none we will clo I will close the public portion Council comments we're good uh roll call please councilman Bal yes councilman Wendell yes councilwoman Winston yes councilwoman zimi yes and council president M yes ordinance 24 hyphen 14 Township Clerk may you would you please read a bond ordinance providing for lien for the Cricut field at Heavenly farms in and by the township of East Brunswick County of middlex state of New Jersey appropriated $630,000 $630,000 therefore and authorizing the issuance of 600,000 and bonds or notes of the township to finance part of the cost thereof then may I have a motion for this so move second second and I'll open this matter up to the public for the public to speak on this matter and this matter only seeing n close the public portion any uh Council comments I know we had some Lively discussion on this and uh just a question is it still um on track to be open by the end of the summer yeah yes it is is uh the the the issue is we ran to the pumps that feed the irrigation system uh we had problems with the specific wiring from psng to the uh to that Shack at this point in time what we're going to do is we're going to run it by a generator course we don't want uh the install from psng to hold it up any further as you know summer power outages you never can schedule things with psng so the irrigation system uh should be operational now certainly do not want a lay sod in 105 degree temperatures so we're watching that temperature I have a call in to Mr Kip and we're seeing when that would be laid it it will take a couple days to lay that naturally be irrigated probably the best chance uh the sod to get it laid and and the butts taken up so there's nobody uh going to get hurts probably like mid-september to the end of September um that would be safe enough to be uh played upon um but soon soon as it is done uh we can we can get to that point Thank you thank you we're good uh councilwoman zamii yes thank you and just looking at my this is 24:15 14 2414 okay we'll do a roll call councilman Bal yes councilman yes councilwoman Winston yes councilwoman ziki yes and council president maoy yes ordinance 2415 Township Clerk an ordinance of the township of East Brunswick County of middlex state of New Jersey amending chapter 61 of the Township Code um we have a motion so and a second second second fine thank you Mr Chris gulo any comments on this uh give me a second to reference I know I'm putting you on the spot Mr Chris schoa was on vacation last [Music] week what cut the grass cutting grass cut the highway grass cutting ordinance on the roadway the what on the roadway side triangle issues and all lot oh okay now I I remember where it is right um this ordinance is uh to help us in um when the police identify a location that they feel is a hindrance to the public that they also have the power along with the code enforcement officer to say this is a hazard so if you remember over on Fresh pods and was it hardenberg yep we have that issue a couple of about a month ago I worked with Captain keenley and we went ahead and and took care of that problem but uh the code wasn't very clear in that area it was a hazard he deemed it as a hazard and just just clears it up that says officially you know the police have the right to do that and to uh you know notify the town or call somebody out to do that work closer with with Jill in that particular case thank you I apologize I just didn't have it in front of me right it's a team effort Mr Chris thank you sir team effort uh I'd like to open this up to the public and the public uh just on this ordinance 24 H from 15 seeing n close the public portion uh any more comments from Council uh mayor just to clarify that under normal circumstances if the code enforcement officer recognizes an area that that is out of violation the processes to give them a notice and then have them come to court and there's a period of time to cure but if the PO I guess what we're trying to clarify here is that if the police feel that it's a public safety issue that we don't have the time to go to court and wait for it to be resolved in that setting so that um we can go ahead the township will take whatever responsible uh action needs to be done and we lean the property for the cost and we all know the location that really prompted this it's been an issue for as long as I've been here certainly has any uh I did public portion roll call councilman bahal yes councilman Wendell yes councilwoman Winston yes councilwoman zimi yes council president M yes thank you let's move on to our reports section no one more 246 one more oh 16 we didn't use it I beg your pardon uh coun clerk would you please read oh yes I have an ordinance of the township of East Brunswick County of middlex state of New Jersey amending Chapter 3 of the township code to amend the definition of managerial Executives motion so second second um I I I I guess before I send it over to you Mr Chris kulo is this just clerical yeah this was a product of the ethics board meeting that uh Anthony and and tomorrow was at uh where we uh we needed to declare who we consider as man managerial staff in the township so this just clarifies us puts us in compliance with the state ethics code and uh uh resolves that particular situation I don't know if Raj has anything else the ad that's pretty much a summary um please yeah no I was just going to confirm with with that Joe was correct um there was just a confusion as to the duties of of individuals to uh um do disclosures Etc to the state and this clarifies exactly which positions are required to do that because when I started reading this what what uh jumped out at me was the ethics board says something so so ethics board says jump we say how high well or right or is is it because it has it has Chief of Staff we don't have the chief of staff you're you're number one in in in line of succession let's say with regard to this particular change I mean I know that Edison and Woodbridge oh Edison and Woodbridge they you know they have their Chiefs of Staff what all the titles that you have in your salary ordinance or prospective titles so it's easier to put like a catchall in okay that if you did have that title that they would be considered a management employee and then required to to complete the financial disclosure statement and that comes basically directly from the state and then we had tax assessor down at number 33 you know I I see your tax assessor with regard to managing our monies as being I'm not putting them at number 33 I got I got them there no order of importance on here let's be clear all right we're going on record saying that okay then I'm accepting I'll open this matter up to the public nobody's on my side on this one close the public portion um comments from Council on anything roll call please council member Hall yes councilman Wendell yes councilwoman Winston yes councilwoman ziki yes and council president M yes now move on we move on to our report section of the meeting mayor mayor con uh thank you council president a couple of of uh nice things uh one a hearty congratulations to the graduating class of 2024 uh anytime high school has a graduation we're all very intensely proud of the work that they did in our schools and so uh these kids are really all rock stars and um I we wish them the best uh in in the future uh also wanted to mention that within the last I think since the last meeting we brought in three new police officers to our department um really excited when that happens because I think that part of uh again one of the things that makes East brunic uh such a great place to live is how much we value Public Safety and uh bringing in new officers and having them feel part of the culture of the organization and become uh actively involved in the community it's critically important and so we're excited about that so we welcome all three of them and uh we also had not last weekend the weekend before a um two programs that were jointly combined one was a uh the Lost Souls project which is a um a project here in town recognizing uh east brunic past uh in terms of having uh sent individuals who are living here back into slavery through a uh a um judge that worked in town over 200 years ago uh that history had been discovered about 7 eight years ago and the township then uh decided that with that history we would use that as a learning opportunity and um and and create this organization that uh looked into the history celebrates it puts up a installation which when completed will be at the Community Arts Center uh and interestingly as they continue to find more and more about that past um people who almost number 200 which we thought were completely lost were actually now finding um many of whom survived and through DNA and the technology we have today they think they're actually close to finding people who may have uh be descendants of those individuals so I think it's all incredibly exciting they've put together programs in uh Ruckers to teach that portion uh of the slavering that that involved in New Jersey and it's actually being Incorporated with researchers down at LSU because when the uh individuals were sent back into slavery they would put on ships that were destined to Louisiana so I think there's a fascinating uh history there that our role is to not bury it but to uncover it learn from it so that things like that um um we learn and use as lessons for today that was combined with our first ever uh celebration and flag raising for juneth which both uh council president Kevin McAvoy and Council vice president Dana zii uh were there to um uh act as MC's so again very proud to uh have been able to participate in something that I think will now become a tradition and they were both uh really really nice uh uh services so uh I want to thank everybody for their involvement in that thank you council president okay our business administrator Mr Chris uh just one item our our Paving program is really ramped up in full swing you know which also includes drainage improvements last week I talked last meeting I talked about some burst and all the improvements we did over there and the special type of striping and the new stop sign with the flash of lights and everything has been installed and you may have noticed when you walked in today that the drainage portion in the parking lot right outside uh the council chambers courtroom here uh has been completed um part of that they did hit the electrical line that feeds the the lighting out there and the contractor was here this morning addressing those issues um but we're we would we should be see see you know less uh freezing in the lot there less use of salt and BR in of that area because of U the the water should be able to drain better it was a insurance risk with the amount of holes and everything that was in that parking lot and the amount of people that visit the building for court and various other uh other items uh naturally our GIF always looks for us to make continue improvements as if there is a lawsuit or error like that we can show you know that we did the library side last year this side year we did this side so we want to continue to make improvements and it helps us if we ever get into EV into a a court uh lawsuit along with that uh Paving as we're talking about Paving in the next couple of weeks we will be adding sidewalk uh from the uh the uh new Islam IC C Center on New Brunswick uh Avenue we'll be adding sidewalk uh down to the CVS area so there's a couple of properties there that don't have sidewalks that will have sidewalks installed uh on on New Brunswick uh Avenue there I've also worked with Jersey Central Power and Light to make sure all that lighting is now operational and uh luckily we got that done before the high heat uh incident occurred where they've actually been out on the roads worrying about power Restorations U with that uh I gave you an add-on uh resolution for this evening I'd like to uh thank Raj uh six o'clock or so this evening I gave him a call and said uh there's an item missing from the agenda this is to replace some of the sewer main over there if you recall last year we dug up a good portion of that roadway we did it in house because it truly was an emergency uh was been determined by uh our engineering staff and uh Dan loac who oversees uh the sewer utility that that pipe is is failing uh we did some tving of it further on down the line and naturally before we Mill and pave that portion we want to uh we want to replace that pipe uh it's a good section of pipe we we really would rather not do it in house because and we don't want to hold up our Paving program as we're getting you know ready uh pretty much to do it so declar the emergency there because the pipe is to this day is failing and we're afraid certainly with the Miller and the p on it it's just going to crush the entire pipe so uh I'm going to declare the emergency uh you'll see the memo from Mr loac and the resolution that was created by Raj this evening um to have that pipe replaced we have a number on that resolution Mr Chris G Raj we can add it to the end okay of the agenda it's on consent agenda it's not something we have to do from the podium right now yeah I have extra copies if there's members of the public that would like to see the resolution and this accompaning documentation yeah we can make this 24 208 that's all my report is than our attorney Mr uh Raj Gomer uh nothing to report thank you Township Clerk council president I just have a quick report um this pertains to resolution 24-1 197 which is listed on the consent agenda this resolution authorizes the approval of two liquor licenses one of which is a pocket license and the the other is an inactive license um the two licenses have met all the requirements for renewal for the period of 2024 uh through 2025 licens and period and uh the council must take action to either approve the license or to deny um the liquor licenses that are listed on the resolution um any action of denial should be done by resolution with good cause um please not that if a license is denied the applicant will not have the ability to sell their license or to operate um so once again um you know if a council do take action they must take action to either approve the renewal of the liquor license or to deny uh the liquor license and we'll see that on the consent agenda yes thank you that's all C your Council any uh reports or committees just quick yes Council woman ziiki mayor talking about tradition we have another tradition coming up on July 4th our annual Fourth of July celebration at the fairgrounds doors open at 600 p.m. there'll be food trucks DJ Nick Divine and children's activities um and a new thing this year our very own East Brunswick Symphony Orchestra will be playing um during the firework presentation as well so that's pretty exciting so get some chairs and blankets and come join us thank you councilwoman ziki let's move on to our public portion of our meeting countship clerk uh please read our public comment uh statement the public comment portion of our meeting is to allow the public to bring to the council's attention their concerns or comments in accordance with njsa 10 colon 4-2a and the East Brunswick rules of council the council asks the public to limit their comments to 5 minutes or less at the conclusion of the statements or questions from a member of the public the council president at his discretion may choose to respond or not respond thank you um let me make a statement first I'm going to reverse the process that uh we did at our last meeting our last meeting I made an announcement that we were going to limit to 25 minutes I mean to about a half hour I think I said and the I was I was giv the okay to save the cat people so uh with this I'm looking for somebody's to smile so that I'm using the right words so the let's go with the with with the with the cat comp people after a couple of like Mr inini I don't think you're I'd like you to come up and take the microphone first and if there's anyone else who would like to speak before the cat people so that we can focus on the cat people once the two or three people who want to speak Mr Mayor Town Council Tom inran Deerfield Road I just have a couple questions um does anybody know when the Chick-fil-A is going to be opening up or tent to be opening up on Route 18 that was one question okay we have we have nothing on that right and um when the B I don't even think a shovel has been put in the ground yet Mr I haven't seen nothing either that's off in the distance all right uh the other thing was um when the bids come out for the skating rank are they going to be sent to a contractor or all different elal contractors and laborers or comes here Mr in other words um the general contractor he's going to take bids of all trades or is it uh individual there's two bids that are out there one for the ice surface one is the GC so when we we get them back they'll be specifically from the GC and the person that does the ice right cuz I'm I'm concerned about electrical work basically right because I like to see the go Union Local 456 is available there's a pla on the excuse me there is a pla requirement for the um for the work all right but the things I'd like to see them at least get in in on if it's possible you know MH a lot of it is going to be Union work good I I did a skating ring 55 years ago so it's it's involved pretty is evolved right um the other thing was I I noticed could we put twigs and leaves in a garbage pil um Branch pickup is done as a separate collection if you just have small Twigs they naturally you can but branch and branch and leave uh uh twig collection has always been a second it's the third week of the month you call into DPW that you know put them in uh length of less than six feet less than 50 pounds called DPW it's a separate truck they come and get it they mulch them up and they put them into piles leaves at this point in time have to go to DPW cuz a lot of stuff fell down today and collected almost a pale of leaves from the pool and everything else and um I saw somebody on the blocks that had like bamboo coming out of the the garbage pills and I said wow it's like and they took it because it wasn't there no more so that's my question could you do it and right as long as you call into the township been then set up to date like Mr but that's a separate collection though this was a collection today that they picked it up that was nice oh and uh I I guess that's that's about all I had to ask thank you Mr ing oh the other guy that was here last month about the freedom of speech you know the First Amendment you know that was kind of you know well he's very passionate that young man yeah so he's very concerned about the welfare of of his side of the story and it was okay he was he when you cross the line uh I'll you know when anyone crossed the line I'll let you know but uh again like you you said it to begin with First Amendment rights are very important in this in this chamber course that wasn't used with president of the Trump you know so I I was wondering his his freedom of speech was taken away thank you for that analogy okay thanks anyone else from the non cat contingent want to address the uh council president okay so why don't we move into uh a half hour in and around from the uh the cat people Lindsay [Music] just move this to the side come on up okay good evening I'm speaking on behalf of Lindsay margosian 37 Buckingham Drive C president McAvoy esteemed members of the Town Council and Mayor Cohen first I would like to note that due to work obligations and vacations many TNR supporters were unable to be here tonight however much attention will be will continue to be paid to this important issue as problems continue to go unabated as the town refuses to pass a TNR ordinance and update chapter 83 of its Municipal Code Mayor Cohen thank you for reaching out to one of my board members recently to discuss TNR I know that you said you would be willing to meet with us which we welcome we are also open to providing you with our data we would just need to know you we would just need you to tell us exactly what you are looking for I'd also like to mention that the template ordinance that you all received can be tweaked to fit East Brunswick's needs no TNR ordinance is exactly the same from town to town but every TNR ordinance that you will see has the same basic elements we did send you an email on Saturday June 15th requesting a meeting and we sent a follow-up email on Wednesday June 19th Our Hope was to be able to have a discussion with you prior to tonight however our emails went unanswered so we felt the need to show up at tonight's council meeting Mr Mayor I understand that you refuse to change our ordinances and that you cite a concern for L litigation from those residents who live near hoarding situations as well as a concern for enforceability of our ordinances I'd like to try to address those concerns now let's discuss the litigation concern first East Brunswick just like any other town has its share of hoarding situations East Brunswick is not unique in this respect if a TNR ordinance were to increase the exposure of a municipality to the risk of litigation due to hoarding situations other towns and counties in New Jersey as well as throughout the United States would not be passing TNR ordinances by not passing a TNR ordinance putting the town at risk for litigation for the sheer public safety risk alone as others have said previously TNR helps hoing hoarding situations since litigation is a concern if there is a rare incident and incidents with TNR cats are very rare with a cat that results in a lawsuit it would be more significant now that you have officially been made aware that a TNR ordinance would have absolutely helped and you will let to do nothing about it let's move on to your other concern which was enforceability I'd like to take a moment to review how chapter 83 of our Municipal Code currently reads it clearly defines owner as when applied to the proprietorship of a dog or cat means every person firm Association Corporation or responsible party for an animal owning controlling harboring or keeping any dog or cat which is over the age of 7 months or possesses a set of permanent teeth or any other animals if the owner is a minor as defined by Statute the miner's parent or parents or legal Guardians shall be the owner for purposes of this section to Harbor an animal means to provide food and or shelter this is what any Colony caretaker does so our code is saying that if you feed a cat you own it this means that you must license these cats if you look at the licing requirements as there are no exceptions made for feral or Community cats let's move down to section 83-14 under 80 under Section 83-14 regulations for dogs and cats last amended in 2016 it clearly states that owned cats which include which includes Community cats since caregivers are seen as owners under our code are exempt from Parts C through G this means that they are allowed to disturb the Peace by yowling and howling at all hours of the night they are allow to run at large or free roam and best of all they are allowed to damage your property so Mayor Cohen I understand that you are concerned about about enforceability but what enforceability do you have now all you have is the licensing requirement which completely goes against the whole point of TNR as these Community cats are not owned cats you have no nuisance abatement process because you do not have a TNR ordinance in place and as our current code reads Community cats are exempt from all of these nuisance behaviors so if a resident calls to complain about cats they are basically up a creek without a paddle because our town excuses the behavior of these cats and the town has no ability to do anything about it a TNR ordinance would fix all of that it would give you back the ability to address complaints through a nuisance abatement process acknowledging the concerns of those residents who do complain I keep hearing that chapter 83 of our code dogs and cats is comprehensive in its regulations nowhere in chapter 83 does it mention barel or Community cats nowhere in chapter 83 does it mention Colony caretakers nowhere in chapter 83 does it mention TNR that's five minutes I read too slow um bear with me can you conclude in 30 seconds because I'm not going to open the door I'm not going to open the door to extend over here extend over here next month someone says yo mavo you respectfully right final note we appreciate that you're willing to take some time to um to take some steps to support TNR however you will not be mayor of V Bruns forever that's just how politics go and this is why we need a binding update to our chap to chapter 83 of our ordinances and we must pass a TNR ordinance thank you that's it thank you thank you linday for do anyone else wish to address the council president uh to the council council president Mayor Cohen my name is Susan yans I live at 14 Sheridan Avenue in East Brunswick and on December 18th 2023 I found four kittens and a mother on my deck I do not own any animals any pets at that moment I became a feral cat colony caretaker first I contacted East Brunswick Police who informed me that they outsourced to New Brunswick I I sent emails never received a reply I began calling and emailing agencies and was told that it was over inated with cats I tried TNR East Brunswick Lindsay replied to me within 2 24 hours she form she informed me it would take several weeks for someone to help me with my situation uh she sent someone out for trapping chipping clipping the ears vaccinating spay or neuter and then once they were fixed they were brought back to the colony which is my deck about two months after that another cat came and gave birth to five kittens so now I have five kittens that I need to socialize so that they can be adopted and there's a mother cat and all in total there's N9 to 10 and cats and I wonder is this a resident problem and why you wouldn't want to make any changes to make it easier on residents when this happens I've lived here for 46 years and I've never experienced anything like this uh I'm assuming that none of you have either uh every day I'm going out there and feeding them and I'm not complaining about it I'm I'm trying to do the right thing and help them but I wonder is it anyone else's responsibility and if Lindsay can help and she and we can do the right changes why wouldn't it be done thank you thank [Applause] you please good evening my name is Janine denito I'm a resident of South brunic I live on off Henderson Road and Route One um and I grew up in East brunic and went to middle school and high school here um in relation to the TNR and especially to some of the comments at lindsy made um the reason why I feel that a TNR ordinance would help you here in East Brunswick is because it would give the the town leverage to say to people who are who are complaining and threatening lawsuits because cats are destroying their property um once they're fixed it reduces all the most of the behaviors that people are complaining about and it would give you leverage to say look we're monitoring these cats they're they have medical care they're they're vaccinated so then not going to spread disease and they're not going to reproduce and that's the Crux of it to me and why you know it's it would be important for you to reconsider that because it would it would give you a point to make to Residents who are complaining because I've I've been doing tinr for a number of years and I've heard those complaints over and over again and what I've also heard is that once I go into an area and fix the cats oh they're not digging in my garden they're not digging in my trash they're not not jumping on my car and and urinating and and making it smell because they the the medical care that they proceive uh receive eliminates a lot of those problems so that's something you should consider on a personal level um I like I said I grew up in eunic and I I have to say that I forgot a lot of the stuff that I I knew when I was growing up and I was a little jolted and dis appointed um at how the last meeting went I felt like I was back in high school again and being bullied and and I just I don't want to think that the town that I grew up in still has that um what I you know that um the the memory of what I experienced growing up and I I would have hoped that it had changed and that you know you would be willing to work with us because we come we try to come to you respect Y and present our case um the third thing I want to say and then I'll I'll conclude is that you mentioned in the meeting that this is an East Brunswick issue it's absolutely not it's a worldwide problem and it's not it's not a cat problem and it's not in East Bruns or South Bruns or New Jersey or or the Northeast it's everywhere and it's a human problem because the reason why we have feral cats in the first place is because people don't fix their cats and they let them outside and they reproduce and they become wild um so that's another thing you need to take into account um that it's it's not exclusive to here it's it's everywhere thank you you welcome please [Music] [Music] hi April Alban nine Diamond Court East brunwick I've been a homeowner for 25 years I just wanted to give you some insight on my personal experience with Jess and Lindsay from East brunwick TNR which they are absolutely wonderful and they were a lifesaver for me so about 5 six years ago a neighbor of mine a couple houses down elderly woman um she unfortunately passed away when the medical team entered her home we discovered that she had a unhealthy hoarding issue with cats I want to say there was probably I don't remember the number I did at the time probably about 30 to 40 cats in this home where we witnessed you remember okay yep the captain does yes so uh I witnessed as a cat lover animal lover resident people with hazmat suits going into this house um the driveway was lined with cages and they were trapping these cats horrible conditions they looked unhealthy long story short I did meet up with one of her friends that I knew used to come and take care of her cuz I would give her help give her meals and I ran into her friend when she was allowed to re-enter the home after they had completely cleaned it out and sanitized it you could smell it from my house the cat urine I asked her I'm like what happened we did not even realize like a lot of our neighbors would have helped her out basically bottom line is she was scared she they had reached out to the town her friend did she thought she was doing the right thing which most people think they are you're there to take care of the animal and you're hoping everything goes away but what she was doing was making it worse a lot of her cats were unhealthy and now you're overcrowding the shelters I'm I'm not even sure what happened to any of those cats except for two two kittens made it to my yard I found them I fed them and based on what information I got this from this woman I was told the town isn't going to do anything about it so I also talked to some other residents that I knew had outdoor cats as well feral cats I've been a cat owner for all my life I won't say how old I am um but I know that there is inside outside cats I had two inside cats myself and I know how to take care of them so I started taking care of these two kittens I myself with my neighbor's help was able to capture one of those kittens she took it in the other cat lived happily in my yard for about 2 and 1/2 years until one day this nice big orange cat showed up and then a couple months later I had kittens so then I started panicking my friend who lived in Spotswood at the time said res out to the town they should have an you know TNR program reached out got the same answer that this woman had gotten years ago and so I was like oh my gosh I can't afford this what am I going to do this is expensive I can understand the in you know the situation that most people are in I went to social media which I always tell my kids do not get your news from social media do not look for help from social media well that's where I found my help not from my town from social media I found Lindsay on East Brunswick TNR she answered me right away with those four kittens we were able to capture three of them three were left uncaptured and we tried for a while um those two that were captured just from my experience they still live happily in my yard yard don't cause any problems I feed them the other ones periodically and unfortunately I had a medical issue with my daughter so I haven't been able to try to catch them again but now they have had more kittens and I actually have to talk to Lindsay and Jess to get traps again and try to get these but as a citizen of East Brunswick and a cat lover animal lover I just and baffled why we don't update our ordinance we have the template to to do so with that we'll get grant money which will allow Lindsay to do more work I think it's more education a lot of our residents are under the assumption that it is illegal and they're hiding it and then when their neighbors complain about the cats they bring them in their house and it becomes a really bad situation and a lot of them are our elderly residents that are lonely and the cats are great Companions and it's just I think we need more education we need to pass this ordinance we need to give Lindsay and just the help that they need so that we can control the situation because it is getting worse and it's just going to get worse because that one kitten that is not fixed can turn into multiple very fast thank [Applause] you anyone else wish to address the uh council president I didn't know if you know hi good evening my name is Alan margosian uh 37 Buckingham Drive East Brunswick um been a resident of town since 1986 um East BR TNR is trying to help the town um they're trying to get the town to pass an ordinance the ordinance has to be they're not cookie cutter ordinances they need the ordinance needs to be put together so that it meets the town's needs no one is looking to take away the ability of the town to enforce any ordinances or any laws of the town uh an updated ordinance will help actually help the town it will also help the whole TNR process by by stopping people from going underground with the problem um we're it's hard to have one-way communication like this every couple of weeks at a town meeting what we really need is to sit down and discuss the town's concerns what we think we can do to help the town what we can do to help our residents um we just need a meeting across the table where there can be open dialogue between both parties instead of us constantly talking to the town and not getting any feedback or if we get feedback it's limited and it doesn't address our our concerns um it's 2024 it's time that our town recognizes that its ordinances are old um they don't address the situations that are happening every day in this town and as I said before a lot of the people have gone underground we don't even hear about it um so once again what we're asking is to meet with the town um and find out if the is a way we can put an ordinance in place that will help not just the town but help the whole TNR process and East bunic TNR uh and rescue to help them do their job and they do it every day without the town's consent without the town's assistance um there is no sharing of information between the town and the rescue so that often times they're working in different directions on the same problem um especially hoarding situations nobody wants to see a hoing hoarding situation um it's bad for the cats it's bad for the residents it's bad for the Neighbors uh we both both the town and East Bron TNR want to help resolve those hoing hoarding situations and one way to do that is to work together um so once again we are looking for a meeting uh where we can have open dialogue between the the two groups and hopefully accomplish something and get the ordinances updated thank you [Applause] anyone else wish to address the council president we'll close the public portion and move on to hang on to the consent agenda and again um resolution 24208 is is moving beyond 207 obviously but um we have a a motion for resolution 24197 through 24208 so move and a second second can we have a little discussion on 24 197 any com any I just we see this Sunny Palace East BR GP has been in pocket um and we granted I guess a renewal on May 17th 2023 as discussed last meeting I'd like to see the state ordinance uh state statute on this and put this property owner or this license holder on notice that we expect them to activate this license within the period you know as per the state ordinance statute M so I'm sure he's not going to want to miss that that missed that particular date right and I don't want to be in this situation next year where we're having this discussion a little no I don't no I I don't either mayor mayor con you can't do that uh according to the state statute um the owner has the right to ask for an extension and if the owner asks for an extension and the state grants it then the the or the the whatever the state requirement is has been waved at their uh they accepted that so you can't you're basically you have to give a reason other than demanding them to do something that the state has given them relief from this one hasn't been they haven't been granted which one Sunny Palace so um this year I'm not sure the impetus of it but the state actually has waved the special uh approvals for this year for all liquor licenses I think it was part of the state bill that actually revamped liquor LIC es so none of the in pocket or or other licenses that are not active actually had to go out and get um special buos this year how long does the state allow them I mean how if the state grants them relief what's the period of time that that relief a year yeah still for Sunny Palace um when they applied for the last the license um in 20123 uh they were granted relief for 2 years which is the reason why it was listed so it was granted for the period of 2023 through 2024 and for this licensing period which is 2024 through 2025 which is the reason why it's referen on uh the resolution uh in terms of what uh Mr Gomer was referencing uh the other license um for Anna that one received the blanket relief that was um but for for what period of time for this licensing period for 2024 through 2025 just for the the one year okay okay anything else need to be clar counc right CU they put this in and now they don't want to you know get everybody relief from it so essentially there's really no restriction right now councilwoman zamii um yes resolution 24200 I was just looking for some explanation as to like the CH can you clarify when this applicant came to the planning board there was a certain obligations that were put on the developer this is the piece of property that on Fern Road it used to be a tree form I believe and they're going to be building some houses back there so there was a stipulation on there that they had to uh you know do it within a certain time period and someone uh before I left the office uh a week ago we were waiting on the project schedule from I understand uh tomorrow you've been provided with that schedule uh have you it's attached to and that was the outstanding item so they have to beat the criteria that was placed upon them at the planning board and um come to the to to this Council for its approval okay and you set uh you set on the yes and um again this was brought to your our attention uh just before the meeting so hopefully you had a moment of time to go through it and listen to Mr Chris gulo so can I have a we do we get the motion uh I don't yes we do and we'll do a roll call councilman B yes councilman Wendell yes councilwoman Winston yes councilwoman zimi yes council president maoy yes that's the whole thing stuff now Council Council we have three ordinances for introduction um and let's begin with um ordinance 24 hyphen 17 Township clerk when you read an ordinance of the township of East Brunswick County of middlex state of New Jersey amending chapter 158 section 15 entitled drug-free school zone maps of the code of the township of East Brunswick to update the drug free zone map we have a motion motion adop second second and Mr culo we we have a we have a map in in our right pack as you add uh learning facilities including Nursery schools good the maps have to be updated and the map actually comes from our Police Department okay uh and the purpose of the drug- free school zone if there's a drug transaction that goes on within that zone the fines are considerably higher um you know so that's that's and the map has to be adopted and the drug transaction would have to be within that zone uh so this was uh a requirement that's placed upon the town uh to adopt the maps as uh new facilities are added and then reviewed every x amount of years too bad we couldn't just make the entire map yes drug free I don't know if you can can rightfully see but everywhere we see a a darker portion of the community it's because there's a school there or there's some type of learning Institution um so that as Mr Chris kulo said the the fines are are exorbitantly larger okay um any comment from Council a roll call please council member Hall yes councilman Wendell yes councilwoman Winston yes councilwoman ziki yes and council president maoy yes uh ordinance 24 18 Township Clerk an ordinance of the township of East Brunswick County of middlex state of New Jersey amending chapter 166 entitled property maintenance code of the code of the township of East Brunswick to add Provisions for bamboo regulations Mr Chris gulo can any CL clarification sure um Raj and I did this in the previous town about 10 years ago when there started to be a u a problem with bamboo bamboo is a very invasive species of plant that easily can can grow under fences sidewalks various other things so we've received U several complaints from residents throughout the town uh and we have observed that it is true they they do have B the neighbors have ban boo growing and it's invading onto their property just grows right under the fence and so on so uh as an invasive species uh and the rights of of the of the neighbors uh putting this into effect would would make um the growing of bamboo on your property basically illegal because it's so invasive it will grow uh like crazy uh so I think Tom had mentioned he saw his neighbor putting some in his trash and it grows quickly okay we don't have any quala bears in e Brunswick to eat all this bamboo so you know we we feel that this is important and I must say that I've done this in other communities where I worked and the process will be um I would I would hope or I would think that the resident would be informed right you know various levels before you're let's say uh instituting some type of financial penalty but a a process whereby you because do doing this I'm sure there's there's neighbors of ours who've had bamboo for quite a while maybe there's those who take care of it there's those who don't take care of it it depends on where it's growing and and we can't do it depends ordinance so uh that's why we kind of mimicked what we did in other municipalities and the emphasis is on neighbors yeah okay may I have a motion on this uh ordinance mov second thank you uh roll call please councilman Bal yes councilman Wendell yes councilwoman Winston yes councilwoman ziki yes and council president M Boy Yes ordinance 24 hyen 19 it's lawful again please read an ordinance of the township of East Brunswick County of MX state of New Jersey amending chapter 209 section 62 entitled schedule 23 speed limits of the code of the township of East Brunswick to amend the speed limit along Fern Road to Cranberry Road I have a motion on this so move second second Mr Chris gulo the need uh pretty simple there's varying speed limits on that roadway this would just established that there' be a 25 M hour speed limit in both directions from Dunham's Corner Road to Cranberry Road to be consistency uh as you know that road is got some several severe bends in the roadway um and it makes sense to do that also we have a share of the road bike path on that roadway and really the state likes when uh you have that there that the speed limit would be lowered in order to facilitate that if you remember several meetings ago we did new bronic Avenue plus when we do that we're going to do a share of the road type situation for bikers as well thank you any Council comments roll call please councilman Bal yes councilman Wendell yes councilwoman Winston yes councilwoman zimi yes and council president makoy yes for the good of the cause um yeah i' I'd just like to uh commend the chief and and the administration and police department um and the mayor and and Mr culo um on finally moving back to sending our uh new patrolman to the account to the academy on our own rather than getting officers that may have learned some bad bad things in other departments and are looking for a new job I think it's a great great uh thing to be sending these officers to the academy not not letting them go on their own or or something else so thanks for doing that I think it's a great thing for the town anything else a motion to adjourn signal f with an i i i the eyes have a good night