##VIDEO ID:7Ysd91LXlnE## we can speak yish all year I don't know much I only my grandfather spoke it flu my grandmother I know when we were at the dinner table my parents when they didn't want us to hear to know what they were talking about when speak in in Engish which is really just as bad as Whispering when you think about it it's rude e e e e e e e e e e e e e 2025 reorganization meeting to order please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance Al to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all Madame clerk please call the role council member brusher here council member Coy here council member Harris here council member Patel here council member ptil here council member pointer pres council member thank you Madame clerk adequate notice adequate notice of this meeting as required by the open public meeting Act of 1975 has been provided by the annual notice Center the home News Tribune Star Ledger and Desi talk on November 18th 2020 for and posted main lobby missal complex on that same date thank you at this time I would like to ask for a motion to postpone the work session portion of this meeting to Wednesday uh to create a combined meeting beginning at 6: PM is there is there a motion motion to Second any discussion none uh Madam clerk can we have a roll call please council member brusher yes council member Cole yes council member yes council member ptil yes council member poiner yes council member Harris yes council member schmuel yes thank you madam clerk uh now Wednesday's meeting will be a combined meeting of both work session and regular meeting starting at 6 PM uh at this time I will now ask for nominations for the position of president of the council for 20125 are there any nominations cello it is my councilman it is my honor to nominate councilwoman Mar Harris for the position of president for the year 2025 do do I have a second I'll second that are there any other nominations hearing none Madame clerk may we have a roll call on the nomination of councilwoman Harris council member brusher yes council member Co yes council member Harris yes council member Patel yes council member ptil yes counc member pointer yes and council member Schell yes congratulations council president Harris please accept the oath of office which I understand will be done right in front of the D give her one you can hold this I toise my hand oh well you know what let's we just try let do that let's do right want to try this yeah okay repeat after me I'm Margo Harris I'm Margo Harris do solemnly swear solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey in the constitution of the state of New Jersey I will bear faith and allegiance to the same I will bear faith and allegiance to the same to the government's established in the United States to the governments established in the United States and in this state and in the state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people and I will faithfully and I will faithfully and partially and partially impartially or partially and justly performed the duties of council president what was that what was the impartially and just the and justly perform partially and justly perform the duties of council president for the township of Edison for the township of Edison according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability so help me God so help me God thank you thank you so much okay well first I want to tell you that I've already had an accomplishment I've checked off a box on council president because councilman brusher never seconds anything in my three years on this Council councilman Rich brusher has never seconded a thing and yet he seconds my nomination for council president and I am so and this is this is sincerely I am so pleased and honored and I thank you for that thank you so much um yes um I also want to wish everybody I hope everybody had a wonderful Christmas Hanukkah happy New Year and I understand that for those Orthodox Christians who are cele crating its Orthodox Christmas tomorrow so I want to wish everyone a happy Christmas um so first I want to thank all my fellow council members for the this honor and I intend to speak with each one of you individually to get an idea of what some of your priorities are for this coming year which is going to be a very challenging year it's an election year we're going to be going into silly season pretty soon um but I do want to sit down with each and every one of you and get some ideas of what what you care most about and what you're hearing from your constituents that that you care most about um I'm also thrilled that I'm going to have John pointer councilman pointer as my partner as vice president his breath his his depth of knowledge the Deep Dives he takes into the issues and especially areas that may not be my strong suits I think makes him a is going to make him a great partner and I'm looking forward to working with him um lastly I would be remiss if I did not not thank Rabbi Bernard Rosenberg for coming here and and helping to administer the oath that was a great honor to have you here and uh Rabbi Rosenberg has become a very dear friend and has served this community well and I want to give him I want I want to give him a hand for all that he's done so a few little fun facts about me uh 29-year Edison resident but I have to say that my best education in this town has come from my service on the board of education and on this Council I'm and I'm so grateful to have been able to have served on these on on these esteemed boards I also have 45 years as a mental health professional under my belt and have honed my skills in problem solving with individuals couples and families and in this process I've learned that the most important Tools in a therapist toolbox are my ears and as they say we're given two ears in one mouth for a reason and it's with that in mind it's those particular skills those particular tools that I'm hoping to be able to effectively run these Council meetings and have an effective Year my three years on this Council have shown me how involved our residents are their effectiveness and advocating for the communities and in doing so help make us helping us make positive change changes on their behalfs I'm always impressed by those who are dedicated to staying involved whether by coming here in person whether by streaming on on Edison TV or on YouTube and um and so we we really owe you the public a debt of gratitude for how you make us better so getting into my some of my own 2025 goals this is in no particular order it's kind of as they came into my head um they include the following improving senior services and reestablishing a senior committee with resident Representatives we have that that's been a pretty dormant committee for quite some time and we have really great needs in in the senior community and with the senior center so I would like to see a senior committee become active up and running and um and become and move this town forward with senior service is near and dear to my heart and I said this upon taking the oath back in 2022 is a Performing Art Center we as a town this of this size we don't the fact that we don't have one whereas Woodbridge and Carteret have some wonderful senior the wonderful Performing Arts centers with really great entertainment this is really high on my list and this is something that the cultural arts commission is is very involved in trying to establish we would do so by seeking grants and our possible funding from a corporation with naming rights or a hotel that might want to partner and attach to a Performing Arts Center on the subject of Arts we want or I want and I'm hoping others agree with me want to restore a home for the Edison arts society here in the municipal building the fact that they were unceremoniously taken out of here yes we have Library space to be able to put it but it's just not ideal it's not a central location and we would like to see the Edison arts society be restored to the rightful home here in the municipal building um um the continuing to improve our existing parks and open space opportunities um this is a big one this is a real big one coming up more respect and attention given to public speakers with minimal op Interruption from Council Members questions would be answered in real time after each speaker from the public has finished speaking um um I have not discuss this with the mayor but one idea I have is I would like him to attend one meeting a month one of our Council meetings a month to be available to answer questions whether or not he's willing to do it I don't know but it's just something that crossed my mind that I thought could be that could be beneficial I would like to establish a resident advisory committee that would be comprised of appointed representatives from north south and Clara Barton sections to meet monthly and discuss concerns involving the respective neighborhoods with the council member or members uh which can then be reported at Council meetings for followup um I would like uh I would like us to explore I know this has come up AIT uh quite a bit the zoom access for residents I know there are issues I know there are some problems but I know for example that Woodbridge has Zoom access and I'd like to like us to look at models from other towns to see if this could be possible so that we can engage more of the public um I think you're going to like this next one restoring the six minutes of public speaking time um so what I want to say about this is and I've I've been consistent about this since 2022 it to me it's never been about the way it's never been about the minutes six minutes four minutes it's about the way the minutes are used and I think that the unfortunate result of what's happened with the with this change is that I don't think that we are reducing the time of our meetings as a result I think that they have actually increased because of all the Hue and cry about having done this and so I'm so when I say that this is about the way we use our minutes I'm going to use two illustrations of what I mean it's kind of like saying um the the riddle of what weighs more a pound of feathers or a pound of gold well the fact is a pound is a pound is a pound and so whether it's four minutes whether it's six minutes uh the next example has to do with insurance so we buy insurance we pay into insurance we pay our premiums every year and we do so because we in we in case we need to use it we want to know that it's there we may never use it and so we will have paid and paid and we don't use it but it's good to know that it's there and I think that the residents are wanting to know that that six minutes is there whether or not they use it most people don't but they want to know that it's there so I'd like to see if we can reestablish the six minutes of public speaking time would like to promote transparency in coun in Council meetings without fear or favor um and finally it's my personal goals to run efficient and effective Council meetings hopefully eliminating the need for recesses or early adjournments so in closing I look forward to working with my fellow council members the mayor our hardworking employees and our as and our Edison residents towards delivering a productive 2025 I expect you're going to hold my feet to the fire so I'm going to go out and get myself some fireproof shoes and Jump Right In um and you can always feed feel free to address any concerns that you have contact me directly through my Council email at M Harris Edison nj.gov thank you all again so much I look forward to working with you what about an investigation into the annual rape allegations will you open that up against against Mayor Sam Joshy didn't address that okay it's me now okay all all right uh let's open up the this is as usual let's open up the nominations for Council vice president council president president I am honored to nominate councilman pointer to the position of council vice president okay thank you do I have a second I second thank you okay um can we get the roll call council member brusher yes council member coil yes council member Patel yes council member B yes council member pointer yes council member mu yes council president Harris [Applause] yes a joke it was all fake nothing about investigations rape allegations against Sam J that's rapist r i John pointer I John pointer do solemnly swear do solemnly swear I will support the Constitution of the United States I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey that I will bear Tru faith and allegiance that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same to the same and to the governments established in the United States to the governments established in the United States and in this state and in this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people I will Faithfully I will faithfully and partially and partially and just justly perform all the duties and justly perform all the duties of Vice Council vice president of council vice president for the township of Edison for the township of Edison according to the best of my ability according to the best of my abilities so help me God so help me God [Applause] [Music] feels weird being in a new seat good evening everyone good evening first and foremost I'd like to wish everyone a happy healthy and prosperous new year thank you to my Council colleagues and your support for me as to serve as Council vice president for the year 2025 congratulations are certainly in order to council president Maro Harris on your nomination selection I look forward to working with you this year as we as you did with me in my tenure as we deal with the issues that the residents of Edison face I'd like for a moment to promote some of the objectives I have for this year and I apologize that my voice is extremely horar right now so if you don't understand me I'll do my best some of these items you have heard me speak on before first it's time to modernize our zoning definitions including that of warehousing data centers and residential items such as accessory dwelling units as mentioned before there are light industrial zones which over time have developed res residentially nearby let's update those zones better to reflect the needs of the residents nearby I believe that we need to update our sign code to address new technologies to maintain a less Urban feel of the township I believe we need to update our curb to curb guidelines so when utilities repair our roads it doesn't leave the road looking half new half old I look forward to working with the environmental commission to update our tree replacement guidelines and better promote environmental items in the township and finally I'd like to promote our adoped area program in the township to help Foster Community involvement and beautification while my own list is lengthy this is not to say I wish to ignore th those items that my colleagues find important as well I look forward to working with you once again congratulations to council president Margo Harris and thank you to my colleagues and your support for myself May the fun of 2025 officially begin thank [Applause] you all right as we go on with the agenda um do we have uh any public comment on the resolutions resolutions only Christo [Applause] okay and and Christo let me just um just to point out because we made the change for tonight this is uh the resolution 00001 through 00007 beautiful okay beautiful okay is my time started am I recognized you are recognized and just let us know what resolution you're speaking on absolutely r001 I don't trust r001 I'm against it cash management plan Sam josi has no cash management plan has no cash management plan r02 official newspapers for publication of legal notices are you going to include my new source in the official list how do you get on the list you can answer that later it's my time r003 resolution authorized in temporary Appropriations for 2025 Municipal budget through the chair to councilman Brasher we just started a couple days ago not too long ago and you already need a temporary budget that's sry if you say so I trust okay r005 I'm against it r006 I'm against that too absolutely against r006 r007 I don't support it it shouldn't be on here should be removed 1 through 7 should all be removed thrown away throwing in the garbage okay and that's it it's a quite a small consent agenda nor that's it that's that's all you're going to where's the rest of it very small consent agenda which I'm against and anybody can come up here and um P public comment on the res resolutions and speak how they vehemently oppose one through seven if they wish to okay through the chair to councilman Brasher councilman Brasher r005 very suspicious but Happy New Year happy Merry Christmas to you brother but r005 is very suspicious doesn't it look suspicious to you looks suspicious to me it looks suspicious God bless you councilman Brer any need to uh councilwoman Margo um I need to get glasses sometimes it's difficult for me to read again I'm against the r003 temporary Municipal budget just going to throw that all away cash management plan for 2025 do you have a copy of it that I can look through I can skim through so I can take a look at this cash management plan who created the cash management plan um she just going to cash manage waste the rest of what we have in the reserves okay chriso you had some questions and uh so I'm going to ask our business administrator what Publications are approved for legal notices council president actually deferred to the clerk okay okay so we have the home news uh tribute The Star Ledger uh Gujarat Samar Desi talk news India times and the Indian I um and um and the consent agenda oh the reason why uh the reason why I had wanted to move the consent agenda to the rest of the consent agenda to Wednesday is because in reviewing what the past practice has been for the last three Council presidents we went all the we went only up to for the reorg we went only up to the oral petitions and remarks um and the rest of the agenda which is the meat of it all was uh that had been under the purview of the previous council president so the past three Council presidents had had that courtesy given to them and I just was asking for that same courtesy so we're moving it to Wednesday um the last one was cash management the pl the cash management plan for 2025 you wanted a copy of that I think is uh okay so it's apparently in the back Christo where you can find that okay and and online thank you okay any other comments the resolution yes sir name and address please uh Vincent Caputo um for resolution 006 uh setting an interest rate is that for um like if people default on their on their um their utilities and stuff like the sewer and all that oh I guess so yeah if this has anything to do with that like the interest rates and the grace period try to be lenient because um you know it's really hard out there right now um I'm not a resident of Edison New Jersey but I own two houses and I have a rental property and even me uh I work at Island Ironworks in uh in um Egg Harbor Township I drove two hours away to get here uh it is it's hard um usually when uh you know you're paying your bills and things like that that's the last thing to be paid the water and the the sewer uh also for the resolution for authorizing Accelerated Tax sale for the fees I don't I don't think that's a good thing because that just hurts the uh residents of Edison so that's where I'm at okay uh Sonia um on that resolution about the setting the 006 the uh is this about default on sewer bills Etc yes and we're just uh going with accordance with the state of New Jersey and what is required okay okay thank you uh anyone else want to comment on the resolutions only yes choice Freeman uh let me ask you this before I even ask you some of this the questions that we ask you we have to go back to the back to find them for ourselves so we would know what questions that you can answer or which ones we have to go to the back and read ourselves council president I could just ask which resolution are you speaking on no no I'm speaking about the resolution because I heard her tell someone to go to the back to find the answer to something it's also on the on the website so you have to go to the website to find information so this is not the place to go to get questions answered no that's not at all what you said okay I'm just trying to be clear is this you you telling me there are people that are sitting out that's watching the TV now so if I ask the question if I ask you on 005 to give me a better clarification you going to tell me to go to the back and read the information council president pres if I could just clarify if I what was said in you there was a specific question about the cash management plan we answered the question and also let the public know that there was a copy of it in the back if you wanted to review it specifically so not every question is going to be answered that way just in this that particular question information was sitting in the back of the room my bad we got a new council president and last meeting we had they told us to go in the back to get some answers to some other questions so I'm just want to make sure that this year starts off the correct way at all so can I have a clarification for um The Accelerated Tax sales and fees for 2025 because a person I know came up and they came up to the Sewer place and they couldn't get a clear answer on and so they called me they said is my sewer bill due is this bill due is that bill due because they went to the office and they didn't get a clear answer so that's why I'm questioning the accelerated sale tax and fees what is that in relations to you have did you have other questions and resol I I want that one and I want a clarification okay so that's 007 and 00 five 00 five authorizing processing and cancellation of small balances and what was your question on that choice on I want to know I want to know what that in relation to is that in relations to like I don't know if somebody came up short like it maybe was you owed 8 cents or like on the sewer bill or whatever do they just cancel that out because at other times before they would send me saying oh you forgot seven cents I'm like oh well wow let me come you know and change that if the amount of money went up so just those I'm just concerned about those two the cellation of processing and cancellation of the small balances and the uh resolution authorizing Accelerated Tax sales and fees for 2025 else do that's all okay um this would go either to you son or to you Ken uh about the acceler this was 007 and 005 on 005 the uh cancellation has to do with balances under $10 that the tax collector is authorized to cancel balances uh under that amount that are either delinquent or overpaid and with respect to ordinance number seven that does establish us to do an Accelerated Tax sale uh Edison has always adopted in the past 15 20 years to do an Accelerated Tax sale as opposed to a regular tax sale meaning that any balances delinquent as of the end of the year for water sewer or property taxes are eligible to be placed into the tax sale all right thank thank you anyone else have any questions or comments on resolutions [Music] Joel Joel bass off I have a question about um resolution 003 temporary Appropriations for the 2025 Municipal budget um our Municipal Charter requires that there be public hearings in November of each year for the following uh fiscal year um public hearings in which department heads uh request their budgets for the following year now that wasn't done this past year uh I don't know that it's been done in previous years but it is something that's in our Municipal Charter so the question is um would it make sense to either amend our Charter or going forward to comply with our Charter and and have those public hearings at the end of the prior fiscal year any other questions that's it okay all right um on the issue of temporary Appropriations where the hearings are by Charter supposed to take place the November before is this correct the new the the new year um to Joel basso's question um what can someone tell me about I think I'll certainly review that I mean it's it's customary when we talk about those types of hearings that those are internal administrative hearings um and have generally not ever been done in a council certainly I've never seen it done in any municipality that I've ever worked in certainly though I'll review the code to see what the language says um Joel so U to see but generally those are administrative internal hearings to set up for the following year as we know the budget process plays out generally the budget is introduced in March and April it gets turned over to the council and they have a full opportunity to have hearings on the budget um a temporary budget has never had that type of public hearing so I'll certainly review the code though well it's in the charter yeah I'm sorry I don't think there's a back and forth here Joel I think you understand there's no back and forth I'm trying to answer your question yeah I'm just saying it does call for public hearings I'm not going to argue with him I think I'm trying to answer his question thank yeah so because it does call for public hearings if it's not appropriate then probably the charter should should be amended um if we're not going to comply with it so that that's my suggestion okay thank you thanks Joel um anyone else comments on the resolution questions okay okay second any want to have a second second okay very good okay uh that was uh John okay all right um so for the proposed resolutions anyone need to pull anything for a separate vote on 001 through 007 U r003 okay 003 right okay anyone else need to pull anything okay so we are looking to approve 001 002 and then 004 through 007 can I get a motion to approve motion to approve second okay roll call council member brusher yes council member Cole yes council member ptil Patel yes council member patile yes council member pointer yes council member schuel yes council president Harris yes okay councilman Brasher 003 yes question um what's our total cost for the health insurance all right and and what did we expend from last year let's say out of that I just wanted to confirm with Mr um Roberts so it's about 39 million just on health benefits uh 39 million okay um because the line item was 12 million right what we're required to by the state is 26.25 to adopt so that's why you're seeing just that portion of it so okay so I guess not the full balance if you no here here's here's my question um 26% right is very close to 25% which is very close to let's say a quarter to just do simple math um a quarter would be 4 time 12 million that would be 48 million so I understand it would be less you know um a little bit less but if you're telling me the total's 39 million I'm wondering where that other 9 million is because that's more than the 1% that's all sure um I can speak just from a legal standpoint the 26 26.5% is only to the overall temporary budget individual lines may be more depending on when payments are due um Edison may have certain premiums that have to be paid in the first quarter which are required to pay more than that 26% okay so you you might have to pay the insurance now is what you're saying more than the full amount yes right yeah or more than 25% yeah all right not more than the full amount excuse me yeah thank you all right so all right so a motion to adopt r003 motion second okay roll call council member brusher yes council member Cole yes council member Patel yes council member ptil yes council member pointer yes council member schmuel yes council president Harris yes okay all right we are now going to oral petitions and and remarks working from the list and we're starting with Anonymous okay see okay Anonymous has left the building um so um we would go on to Leroy truth start the time hold on all right I am L right truth of L right truth investigations subscribed to me on YouTube now councilman new president Margo Harris you've been council president for 5 minutes and I am profoundly disappointed that you did not address or say that you would be opening up an immediate investigation on the annal rape allegations made against Mayor Sam Joi and and I've got to tell you that I'm blown away that you are working with a man who has been alleged to rape a woman as if it didn't happen I don't understand how that could be possible it's mind-blowing to me and with a show of hands how many of you think it is wrong for a man to rape a wood woman in Edon New Jersey show a hands Richard Brasher Margo she frowns and she makes a face oh all right so are you going to open up an investigation into Mayor Sam Joi immediately on the anal rape allegations and not act like business as usual that you're working an alleged rapist will you do that I'm waiting to hear the rest of your comments and questions before I answer I'm going to read a poem that shares some important perspectives in the Christmas holiday spirit towards the night before Justice in Edison Town towards the night before Justice and all through the square the people were restless truth filled the air Mayor Sam Joi stayed silent in shame while scandals and Whispers darkened his name for one Brave woman woman old enough to be his mother spoke of betrayal of trauma to uncover her drink may have been drugged her trust betrayed by a mayor whose power has left lives frayed Joshi denied nothing his silence profound while sources suggested more victims could be found meanwhile the town crumbled the pipes ran dry four days without water residents asking why 3 years ago brusher made his plans clear inspect the infrastructure disaster is near but Joshi dismissed him his Huber is too loud now Edison Street sit under a waterless Cloud at the council meeting the tension grew high as ler right truth Rose to expose the mayor's lies with courage unshaken he spoke with great might unveiling corruption in the council's dim light but then came the moment a dramatic display as councilman Coyle tried to steal Leroy's say with 30 seconds left ler stood his ground while council president Patel spun around if you don't stop talking I'll have you removed but Leroy unshaken his courage unmoved looked Patel in the eye and fearless he said do it a moment that left the council in dread police were summoned but Leroy held fast this is my time and I'll make it last even Chief Tom Bryan attempted to stare but lero to strong his voice fill the air and he wasn't alone truth Seeker stood tall Jersey Watcher bong Holio Scalzo and sativa cross answered his call they condemned the council's corruption and shame demanding accountability in josi's name for this was a town where the Constitution was banned the flag Dishonored by the mayor's hand and all of your hands except for Brer and one other I believe but the people of Edison refused to cover fighting corruption with truth's great power for for justice will come no M matter how long so as Edison Sleeps No the fight isn't done for Leroy and the people the battle's begun and I heard him Proclaim as they rallied that night Justice for the rape victim and for Edison what's right and so will you open up an immediate investigation into Mayor Sam Joi Margo Harris that you are brand new council president you're done with your done with your questions that was my question okay so as you just said Leroy I've been council president for five minutes figuratively speaking and um when I when I say when I said in my address that I am promoting transparency without fear or favor that's what I mean now having been council president for this very short period of time this is not going to be a decision that I make alone this is something that I would be discussing with fellow council members and so I can't give you a yes or no answer right now so so but I pledge transparency without fear or favor and that's what I can say right now thank you that's a political line if I've ever heard one he allegedly raped a woman you're going to go on as business as usual sh point of order okay we're good okay you're a shame uh where's the list okay yeah uh bolio come on down uh good evening thank you Council uh Happy New Year everyone um congratulations um council president Harris um where do I want to start um I want to mention every time I've been to the meeting I keep asking the um police officers if if I have to go through the metal detector um and they keep telling me that the chief is saying we have to go to the metal detector I keep asking them if they could provide a law um that allows them to do that um because it could be you know if there's a law I've been wrong before if there's been a law but no one's been able to provide one for me so uh it's a Fourth Amendment violation um the United States Constitution as far as I'm concerned because I don't want to go through it I don't want to go I don't want to be searched I don't want my stuff taken out of my pocket I don't want my property removed from me and put on display so everybody could see you know just my property when I'm coming here and you know there's no reason for it it just it sends a it's it's a bad taste it's the first thing that like you know why that's why that video went viral because the the room was so chared I mean now you got the cops here all the time you know the room was so charged it was crazy looking um I didn't get to speak last time I came to the meeting and I didn't get to speak um so now I'm trying to like double dip and try to get all the stuff in that I was trying to say last time um but last time was pretty crazy the way the meeting ended because I didn't even get to speak um I made some toys I make action figures uh this is the Leroy truth action figure I'm presenting this to Leroy tonight for all his great work in Edison oh my God Leroy truth action figure with his recording with his video camera so Leroy that's for you thank you enjoy that and so I do the super superheroes action figures and stuff we all have characters and um I figured I'm going to do a super villain CU I haven't done that before so you can't have super superheroes without super villains so I almost I almost like slightly feel bad a little bit because the chief was being nice to me today he's he knows he knows so this is the chief uh Tom briyan doll and this is representative of everything that happened last time at the meeting that's the chief it says on it I hope you're happy dude and it says on it the night I went crazy would you like it Chief I dig it you dig it well I think I'm got to give it to Leroy because Leroy now you have the complete set because these are in the same liking so there you go you can have the super villing to go with your superhero action figure to have the set not honored to have the chief so uh a couple other things maybe um I like that you have your name tag Mr attorney um all last year was just Township attorney uh I didn't like that so I like that the name tag is there I think little things like that are helpful with transparency you know especially with the fact that this turned into the most Anti Free Speech council chambers in the United States it's what happened you know and I know we're trying to move forward but I still sometimes wake up and you know I can't I cannot believe that the flag got banned this would this became the most anti-free speech Place although we held our grounds and we exercised our First Amendment right and we helped everybody work through it work through all the mistakes that were made disastrous year by former council president Patel uh one of the worst meetings last meeting at the to the end of the year so it was it was a complete disaster but um I'm hopeful that things can move forward more smoothly and um I guess that's about it I would have liked to have spoke for four minutes because I didn't get my time last time but you know and I know some other people didn't either so but thank you thank you uh next on the list is Vinnie Caputo how you doing my name is Vince kaputo I'm only telling you my name because I have some respect for you um and uh councilman Richard Brer um what happened at the last minut was absolutely disgusting Leroy truth was interrupted Rob Robert's Rules of Order clearly State when it's Public's time to speak let them speak cutting him off was not only disrespectful but it also uh stomped on the principles of transparency and accountability in this Council it is supposed to uphold uh then you called for recess and then shut the entire meeting down that's not governance that's chaos Nish Patel you suck um and I'm so happy you're not council president I mean I mean that was that was something huh um you shown us time and time again that you that uh you're unfit to lead and we're glad that you're no longer the chair uh and as far as the town attorney what are you even doing man your job is to provide legal advice and guidance and uphold the rights of the people not enable this circus you are here to serve the public uh or just cover up for the incompetence of this Administration and for the chief did you really have the audacity to claim that you were attacked by a belly we've all seen the video and your claims are an outright lie it's pathetic and no wonder why this community doesn't trust you or your officers um how much longer are you going to embarrass yourself with this nonsense like this stop treating the public like we're stupid we're paying attention to the council you need to take uh this seriously Mayor Sam Joi and his administration have spent over over $100,000 of taxpayer money to to try to silence kristo and remove him trample on his Free Speech why because he's holding you accountable that's shameful instead of wasting uh public funds and silencing critics how about you start doing your jobs and while we're at it let's get to uh the speaking time let's get it back to Six Minutes stop trying to cut us off and suppress our voices also you promis to fix the camera angles as of tonight they're not actually back they can only see the back of my head uh so we said that I guess three meetings ago it's not back the way it was is what was said uh to Margo har Harris I didn't know if you're going to be the chair to Margo Harris if you're the new chair uh then it's time to take a stand to the uh sorry it's time to take a stand and conduct proper investigation to the accusations of May Mayor Sam Joi the residents of this town deserve the answers and let's not forget about Christo drop all charges against him now this C council is embarrassment to the town and the people they served and as for the mayor he's looking like a lost cause at this point we deserve better and we demand better we the people are watching and we are not going anywhere do the right thing for once I have one minute left uh I not a lot of people know this story I'm from Highland Park to town over uh I grew up with Russ azarel's son and Christo um I was treated unfairly by the Edison police when I was 18 years old 18 years old I got charged of the robbery for uh taking a cell phone that I bought and I was actually charged I went to the middle six County Police uh middle six County Jail um I didn't have a lawyer or money and uh I spent 41 days in jail and the public defender said you can get out today with a felony third degree theft and I took it because I didn't want to stay in jail and I think it was wrong of the uh Edison police to do that to an 18-year-old kid that was just a cell phone so that's all I have to say thank you Vinnie um Vinnie made a good it's something I meant to to address in my remarks about the camera angles and um can we restore the camera angles so that they are showing when it's Council time that they show the council and when it's public time that they show from the front the the public the angles have been restored so you're seeing the entire Council chamber what my understanding from from a number of people is that you're basically seeing the back of heads of the of the public that's that's that wasn't my understanding but I'll double check that please thank you uh okay Christo you are next am I recognized you are recognized she's absolutely a liar um and you you guys you're not even challenging her on it Edison TV are they showing me well because they mentioned it I wish you oh just the back it's not the way it was it's not the way they did show Joyce's space though right now see your face now yeah because we're mentioning it cuz we're mentioning it he's clicking away at the computer right now yeah he can there um God bless America God bless Donald Trump God bless Rabbi Bernard Rosenberg he's not always here so it's a special occasion he's here thank you Margo for having him come here today and uh yeah I was supposed to have trial started today oh well through the charity councilman Brasher you're invited um Friday we're going to start possibly start um pers they're persecuting me it's all right though [Music] um it's going to be the greatest greatest trial New Jersey has ever seen God bless my lawyer I have the best lawyer in the world he's a uh greatest man I ever met and uh yeah Edison police department faked a bunch of charges on me I got a felony for saying I hope this and I hope that and they claim that there's a retaliation involved I could get more specific but I don't want to edit more out on YouTube but um absolutely disgusting they charged me here they retaliated on me for years for years I finally tell them I hope this I hope that and all of a sudden I get charged with retaliation that's what abusers tend to do they accuse you of the very things that they're doing to you because it's part of the gaslighting she's a psychologist she knows all about it you know so Mayor Sam is a coward he's not coming in this meeting he should he should have came to this meeting took some photos with him Margo um John you get to enjoy the very privileged I was being thrown out of here for for for wearing a mask but you're you're very sick why don't you stay home you could get the people next to you sick you know absolutely disgusting that you came in here willing to get everybody sick you're going to get one of them sick they're going to shake one of their hands it's going to be a chain reaction just so and and Margo how did you know he was going to be vice president before a vote even took place [Music] how did how did how so you know everything's already predetermined they legally already had their meeting beforehand which they're not supposed to do okay God bless America God bless my lawyer come to my trial the middle sex County prosecutor's office is a bunch of ab bozos that Ison Police Department is a bunch of bozos through the chair to councilman brusher councilman Brasher I just found out today that normally these prosecutors detectives come after you I found out today that now we have Barnes family members coming after me when I I have them and we know that they served on Mayor Sam joi's campaign and we've said this is all political so that doesn't look very good on middle sex County it doesn't look good on n and police department you got a whole prosecutors DET they got a whole Army of prosecutors Detectives but Barnes barnes's family that that serves Mayor Sam josi absolutely disgusting screw and I'm going to say what I said to that cop the other day I'm going to say it to them again and again and again and again and they can't charge me for nothing thank you let's go to trial okay Joel bass off find me guilty I'll say it again where's where's Joel bass off Edison so this isn't just a new year it with uh your election as council president hopefully a new era for the council uh but before I speak to that I'd like to acknowledge the service of your predecessor uh in this town uh with this Council and and this public the council presidency it's a tough job but somebody has to do it and councilman Patel stepped up to the plate even though he had to anticipate that he'd be subjected to a lot of criticism and I've been one of those critics but no matter how heated a council meeting got councilman Patel always remained calm and softspoken and we should acknowledge that councilman Patel ushered in a modern digital billboard ordinance and has been a consistent champion of bike paths so thank you for all that now as for you uh council president Harris you have the Public's well-wishes and also our commiseration for the inevitable challenges uh here's what the public looks forward to under your presidency um a council that regards the public as a partner and a resource for the Improvement of Edison and not as an adversary to be quashed Council meetings where members of the public feel like we're being listened to and where we feel respected a council that welcomes robust public comment and even criticism as a benefit because that's what provides the council with useful information about problems that need to be addressed addressed and what has to be improved and ideas on how the council can do its job better so uh the back and forth if it exists it it's not adversarial it's helpful to both sides so let's not discourage that uh it it's done in most cases uh in a with a spirit of Goodwill uh so here are some priorities for the council in the new year uh a public Advocate ordinance to put residents on an equal footing with deep pocketed Developers let's get past the BS excuses that are just developers propaganda uh Edison needs a 21st century Logistics Center definition that distinguishes between traditional warehouses and modern distribution centers and fulfillment centers uh the public needs a council that exercises its advise and consent Authority for maral appointments to the boards let's make sure that the council vets nominees thoroughly and make sure that every appointee will serve the interests of the general public and not the interests of a political machine or who will put the interest of developers over the interests of residents now I know that one of your Council colleagues uh disagrees when I say that I speak for the public but I think I do speak for the public when I say that your election as council president is good for Edison so congratulations and good luck thank you Joel thank you Maria I'm Maria Orchid 83 Jefferson you're recognized thank you uh first I'd like to wish everybody a very happy new year uh I hope all the holidays was good for you congratulations President Margo Harris and congratulations to Vice President John pointer uh unfortunately I won't be able to make the January 14th blood drive uh my job I'm currently on lockdown so I wouldn't be able to give I look for another opportunity to give blood in remembrance of January 9th national day of morning if you could say your prayer for the former President Jimmy Carter we'll also have envir Edison environmental on January 16th if evue when he wants to come we'd be great to have you and talk about what our next uh projects are thank you for your service have a great day thank you Maria uh Steve Ronco uh Steve Ronco um how many minutes did Joel have I think he had like six minutes um and I'd like to know why the uh lawyer ran a meeting that's an opma V violation uh Mike Burns hasn't been has been absent from these uh meetings uh he threw you guys under the bus he gave you guys bad legal advice and then he just disappears uh hopefully you guys can get rid of this Law Firm because they're absolutely horrible if you do a Google search on them they increase the rates from like 40,000 to 400,000 just just to get paid and I think that's exactly why they they passed that ordinance so we would sue and then they'd make bank trying to argue it um I've asked for several op requests I keep getting extension after extension after extension um I'm denying all requests for extensions um some of them are immediate access items like invoices uh I hopefully you can address that and if you go on oper machine.com you can look at it where they just don't even answer some of them or just give themselves extension after extension uh last meeting you illegally enforced the 4minute time limit uh it had not gone into effect for the after the 20-day rule um you also adjourn the meeting illegally during the public portion uh time to speak opmi VI violations have been sent to the appropriate government agencies uh poer should not be vice president as he voted for the First Amendment to be banned um as well as a couple other people here uh his oath for uh is a joke he voted to ban the First Amendment uh to me he shouldn't even be on here never mind uh uh vice president um what you going to do about the government social media accounts that are illegally censoring their Pages the shelter the mayor Nish Patel the police department we we can't get on there and say anything I mean as soon as Nish Patel puts his apology and the mayor first thing he do is violate the First Amendment say you can't say anything about it um the camera angle when uh Kristal was first up here wasn't on him and that's that's an ongoing thing you guys just keep on going after him and that's why you had National and International attention um you you guys ignore Robert's Rules of Order I'd like to know if any of you have gone to the league of municipalities and learned Robert's rules because somebody says a point of order and then you just you just roll over it and don't even don't even address it so Robert's Rules of Order you just ignore I mean the last time I I I stood up said said Robert's rolls you guys just ignored them um you guys just do whatever H you want to do and it's an atrocity so I'm finished but I'd like to hear what you have to say Yes um so to the attorney with regarding uh running the at the beginning the reorg meeting what can you tell Steve Ronco yeah I mean he's he's yeah I mean Mr Ronco is wrong on so many points I I'll I'll try to do my best to reach all of them uh first uh it is perfectly remiss for either the clerk or the municipal attorney to preside over the meeting until such time as a council president is elected Happ I'm sorry I don't I don't want to interrupt Mr Ronco if he's GNA talk could you could you hold his time thank you you holding okay I I thought we're answering questions at the end no um so is he going to get a rebuttal to my legal opinion or how do you want to do it so let me let you finish sure okay go ahead okay so there's the you can call it an open open public meeting act violation it's not we don't have a council president we don't have a presiding officer somebody has to all right council president I'm not going to speak if if I'm going to keep get yelled at no actually his his term would have been up on uh on December 31st yeah so that's why there was technically at the beginning of this meeting no council president but don't you think that's an issue if if he's not he should be council president until the next one succeeds him and I am I mistaken on on this no you're you're absolutely correct I yeah that's just the first mistake yeah um and Steve you also asked about the social media uh social media pages and uh your question on that was what again uh so what are you going to do about the government social media accounts that are illegally censoring the pages that's that's not true I can answer that is true so Ronco versus cter the fores versus um borses versus ye they lost $440,000 for censoring people you also had Trump get get uh violated years ago Under start his time again um can you stop speaker's time okay all right um they're censored so once again wrong um if a municipality wishes to not have public comment attached to one of its Pages it absolutely has the right to do that it cannot remove comments based on uh that are that would be a Content based restriction council president this is impossible I cannot provide opinions if he's going to yell over this is absolutely out of order and I'm not going to speak vers versus he going to yell over me I'm not going to respond Steve uh we we' St we stopped your time on purpose and you certainly if if you want to start the time again we can do that and you can you can uh you can respond you want us to start your time again yeah so so Bor versus ye out of Hamilton New Jersey they sued because they they blocked and they and they stop people from commenting I'm blocked on the police department's page that's that's a government page I'm I can't comment on some of his stuff he's turned off commenting if you go to leagan mpali meeting have you gone there because over in in in there they they specifically said about quarter rette versus uh Ronco versus Cadet where you cannot censor and that's exactly what you're doing by stopping commenting by turning off commment thing you can't do it so his legal advice is absolutely horrendous you guys should get rid of this this this Law Firm immediately they were horrendous and if you Google them you'll see exactly what I'm talking about coughlin's a Nazi your your entire question your entire La firm a bunch of speaker time is up thank you okay okay um all right this is um what do I do with this yeah all right well so so someone well someone who put down Sam Joi is there someone who put down Sam Joi we the rest of the stuff gotcha uh I'm sorry Steve the rest of the stuff um we talked about the attorney running the reorg meeting and the government social media pages right Robert's Rules of Order so just just tonight he said he said a point of order and it was just ignored okay okay so Robert's Rules of Order in a garbage what's your legal advice on that all right you know nothing right okay on that one too all right um so with that we open it up to uh the to the public portion and what I'm going to have you do is instead of my going this this and this I'm going to have you just line up behind the the podium and then we we can do it that way so that no one feels ignored or or anything like that so um so let's start with you Lefty can you give your name and address uh good evening uh Edward Lefty Grimes uh sativa cross.org we're a 501c3 here in New Jersey fighting for the rights of the disabled and for cannabis patients rights also the first amendment um I'm not going to give the chief too much of a hard time today uh he took a real big hit on Instagram and uh it's just uh the comments are just brutal and uh it's an embarrassment what happened but what my big issue is the police Union the leadership of the police Union endorsing genital josi spending their political Capital endorsing genital josi it's not even erection election season yet but you're endorsing this guy why don't you endorse a wheelchair ramp for the South Amboy police station police Union you have a South Amoy police station without any wheelchair access why don't you spend your political Capital there and endorse a wheelchair ramp why don't you endorse wheelchair access to your own building here because we're having somebody come here to L laser measure the incline and for sure it's not it's not compliant why don't you have the police Union endorse a ramp at Montclair police station Union City you have police officers walking over a civil rights violation every day now this is not the you got good cops there but your leadership is the worst your leadership is playing political football with the disabled in Belle there's no wheel access in the police station at Briel this has burnt into my mind because uh years ago my my buddy Jeff who was the original who was our first president of sativa cross he had stage four cancer would go to counsel meetings all over the place he went to Belle and sure enough we couldn't get into the B council meeting the police station and the council meeting were both blocked this is how our government doesn't care about the disabled now I had to watch him struggle up those stairs to get into the Bal Council meeting it was very sad it sprunt into my mind I crawled up the stairs like Maria and Marina crawled up to this Podium absolutely disgusting treatment of our disabled for disabled vets our government doesn't care we've proven it over and over and over again you have you have ue's Urban Enterprise zones in in New Jersey without wheelchair access where disabled people can't get the same tax breaks as able-body people because they can't get in to those Urban Enterprise businesses that have those tax breaks you have cannabis dispensaries without wheelchair access you got no Zoom access from many of these meetings post offices how do you have a post office without wheelchair access so when you have a police Union that that's endorsing genital josy instead of endorsing wheelchair access wheelchair a button for you have no button over here at the police station you have other things to worry about you your bathrooms are not compliant there's no button on there there's no foam pads under the bathroom sinks the measurements are all off very sad treatment for disabled vets you wouldn't even have this Council if it wasn't for disabled vets fighting for your right to be ignorant and ableist God Is Watching it's a big this is a test how long you think you're going to be on this Earth for couple more weeks couple more months couple years maybe God knows how many hairs are on your head and it's very sad because I've seen so many people suffering unnecessarily and I've seen it here where the chief and the police Union allowed these disabled vets and people to suffer going up that that horrible incline so I'll end it with this they shall grow not old as we that are left grow old age shall not weary them nor the years condemn at the going down of the Sun and in the morning we will remember them thank [Applause] you thank you Lefty go ahead Steve council president yes um counc and Brer yes um to Sonia can we get a a letter because you were telling us that the ramp was compliant and and I didn't believe that it was can we get the engineer to send me a letter saying that that ramp is ADA Compliant um to our standards today I know you told me that I could talk to him but I'm looking for him just to give me something in writing thank you okay Steve Steve Nagel 19 back Drive I I rise today to First congratulate our council president Margo and to beg of our my fellow citizens give her an opportunity to settle into her chair and get used to Leading a meeting uh a point of information and then a question of made the point of information is I hold up the YouTube feed from the meeting and the camera angles are working um personally I think the back of my head is my best side I leave that I leave that up to your good graces to figure that uh but it is showing the council the front and the back of the speaker the question I have for the clerk uh if I may is With The Star Ledger going to online only on February 4th or last printed Edition February 3rd how does that affect the requirement of public notice and would we need to replace for example that with another media Source thank you very much best wishes for a successful 25 oh and and the human relations commission just so you know is reorganizing on the 14th next Tuesday thank you thank you uh to the clerk um the the question about the Star Ledger and what happens well we use the home news for our print the home News Tribune is where it's printed so until the home news stops Printing and they change the law on online there nothing we still have to do unfortunately okay okay yes sir name and address please Scalzo my contact information is at scof photo.com s c l zo you're recognized thank you um have a number of things I want to speak about um at last meeting but it was uh you guys left work early and you went home um so I'm going do a little quick introduction first I'm not a good public speaker so bear with me here but um I also have an issue to talk about with about the uh police chief but I'll get to that in a bit uh looking back in my life one of the most valuable times was working at Ma Hospital on Long Island for about 10 years and it was I was introduced to many surgeons doctors nurses in the operating room where I assisted one of the things I realized is just how impressive those people were I'd walk into the room during a doing a certain task and a patient would have their intestines literally on the outside of the body laying there somehow they were still alive it's still magical to me they finished the procedure stitched up the patient and sometimes that person went up walking the very same day was pretty amazing not only were they technically skilled talking about the surgeons uh but I would speak to them in the break room and most of the doctors were actually pretty friendly and generous with their time a few years later I started to collaborate with Leroy truth and focus on local government where I in medical situation I met some of the most impressive people now in local government I'm starting to meet some of the most shockingly unimpressive people in positions of influence which is pretty amazing um Mayors like dictator Brian stack of Union City with his mobster like City attorneys and cronies uh Brian stack probably one of the biggest empty suit politicians I've ever seen uh Leroy and I visited Bridgeport Connecticut where I met we not met can't get he's like The Wizard of Oz but we um we learned about mayor gam of Bridgeport who did put seven years in prison for corruption and racketeering and then became mayor again which explains how broken Bridgeport Connecticut is uh now leer and I have been introduced to Edison Mayor sley Sam and uh complet lowquality person in my opinion and his buddy Nish Patel from what I get from I can see at previous meetings he seems to be running interference where they friendlier than they should be rather than being independent uh complete bullies that would rather drag people out of a building than actually have conversations back and forth like uh like people do let me check the time one oh jeez running out time here uh the bad behavior was made possible thankfully by retiring hopefully police chief Tom Bran who from my experience is a complete cyclopath in the sense that he doesn't seem to understand human emotions and how people Express them uh um for example we came to the last meeting and the empty suits decided to go home and like budg of teenagers cutting class while the rest of us were here to have a meeting um the police chief could not figure out why people would be upset emotions emotions are necessary and that is often when people are the most truthful the police chief um attempted to guess of course he acted very friendly he's very good at acting friendly and sociable but I he there was a situation where well he basically can't handle criticism I was going back and forth with him and walking alongside of him and he did this thing where he stops short turns quick and pokes me right in my belly uh which everyone's seen the video there and then he goes he immediately lies I mean I've never seen someone that can lie so shockingly quick in my life and then he goes you get your hands off the police chief I'm like my my hands were over near you you poked my belly and then he says that I rammed him and you see the video with have about five different different angles it's actually shocking how what a liar this guy is and I'm going to be it's going to be a way to test out more to come in the future thank you sue com on up Sue malan Barber 85 Pleasant you're recognized thank you um happy New Year congratulations to you marot and to you John um and Nish I can only Echo what Joel said that it's a tough job I know in my heart you were trying to do the best you could um uh but I think um all of us are looking very much forward to a fresh new start and um hitting the reset button um I will not be here Wednesday so I would like to make some comments about the library board appointees um these appointees should be based on experience credentials and Merit and also based on who will do the best job for the library that's it new appointments should be carefully vetted and not just rubber stamped and I'd like to know what is the process for approval these appointees what are their credentials um and I believe there should be some formalized process for all appointees um based on Merit and credentials I see no reason to remove Pat Massie and Sue O'Neal from the board uh Sue has been on the board more than a little more than 10 years Pat has been on the board for 10 years um that's a decade of experience managing of quite a large Library System um I feel like that board has always had the best interest of the library and honestly nobody knows what's best for the library more than the Librarians and that board um Pat serves as uh Pat is a librarian she serves as president of the New Jersey library trustee Association and I I can't for the life of me understand why the mayor would remove her um she's president of a Statewide board that's nothing but a credit to Edison so I don't understand that and I think it's not a stretch to say that I that these um and I'm sure I'm not the only one these appointments seem um purely political um the uh mayor has has I go so far as to say bullied this board on a number of instances in the past two years and the board stood firm they are very independent and they have independent Council and that matters and the mayor was really pushing to get rid of that Council but that board stood firm the mayor was also absconding with the clar BART and Library building that board stood firm and did not bring that up for resolution ution and our library is there I feel like it is this council's responsibility to ensure that that Library board remains independent it is in the best interest of our town for the library board to be independent and I urge you urge you to do your homework and have a formalized process for V these just because um time limits are up on the board does not mean these two important um people should be replaced they have the credentials they have the experience and um the Merit to to remain on that board thank you thank you soon time is the last thank you thank you um actually to sue to your comments which I I couldn't agree more um councilman Brasher and councilman ptil and I have had some discussions about this and that mayoral appointments are on a consent agenda it's about consent and um as such rather than a rubber stamp that we are looking to make some changes in that and have a committee that can vet appointments like that vet and interview so stay tuned for that thank you okay Octor oor Nasser Pleasant Avenue you're recognized wanted to wish everyone a Happy New Year and congratulate the council president and vice president I also wanted to say that I like the idea that we are inviting the mayor to come here on a monthly basis whether he attends or not that's his prerogative but it would be great if he could come here I have a couple questions and they might be better addressed to the ba so if you want to delegate it that way you can um the first one is um as I was going through lots of conversations with residents um when the water main broke um one of the things that somebody asked that I should ask is about the infrastructure he said uh rather than replacing um all the lines but maybe they should go ahead and replace also the old curve valves because that seems to be an issue the other issue that I saw in lot of the Edo people that started working at 8:00 p.m. on that night was that we need to have better communication um we also have to have better resources provided for instance there was no water distributed to the residents there were no restrooms for the residents when I tried calling the Edison utility on behalf of the residents the 24-hour line it went to dispatch when I asked dispatch what's going on they said they have no idea what's going on when I looked at the website there was no information um I had to resubscribe to nixel again I guess as well but I don't think that there was anything going out there um so I think we need to establish better communication this was not the crisis of a century but what if it was if we couldn't handle this situation in a good way how are we going to handle something that's much bigger than that I want to move on to the library board and we had Joel and we had Sue speak about this um I think as you just said that we need to go ahead and do this a different way I think also we should also advertise on our brand new expensive website all these positions that are out there including the OEM and also the library board I asked the mayor and administration to do so by email uh because I wasn't able to talk last time but um there was no response there right now we are using the website to go ahead and say at the boil water advisory is lifted or whatever it says right now so I don't see why we can't go ahead and do the same thing that I asked to go and have these different boards um advertised to the 100,000 people versus the few people that are connected or maybe we're told you know oneon-one so it should really be a larger pool is what I'm thinking and I'm thinking that you probably have an idea about that as well I also think that if you're going to be nominated you should be present I also think that the resumés should be given to the council so that they can look that maybe you do have that but I'm not privy to that the last thing I want to talk about was ordinance 2241 d224 know that on the agenda today but I just wanted some more information about that uh for instance who proposed it what exactly is it about I keep hearing different things about it Edison owns the land supposedly it's not being used um and I wanted to know about the terms of the deal it just seems that we're not getting a market rate for that property I just wanted some clarification that's it okay so your questions were about uh the replacing curb valves was one thing was that a question that you had about that was a comment that somebody made that they wanted me to bring up to your attention that that should be also something else that we do okay so and and the or the uh resolution you were talking about which is uh not on tonight now but which one is it it was ordinance 2241 2024 2024 and that one just so is is which one the ordinance order authorizing the lease of property at 52 Lexington Avenue okay thank you okay all right uh so you had a question about that and qu any other questions it was about communication communication okay very good thank you okay um so the question about the lease of the property at 52 Lexington uh can we address that what is the um actual name that you're referring to the parties is that chevra hula yes the H okay yeah what was your question specifically because I'm am I allowed to talk yeah yeah just to CL all right so I just want to know information if you could just I hear things that it's a parking lot that they just need to use or I've heard things that they want to expand or we're giving um a cheaper rate it seems like or we're not making people pay for a certain amount time just want clarification on the whole process pointer do you have some insight on this president if that's okay um just what I recollect and we have in the backups um the proposed use is for EMS station I believe the term is for a 30-year uh term yes the uh annual rent is at a reduced rate I think it's $5500 a month increasing annually you know compounding annually uh the trade-off would then be you know because of the EMS services offered that's why they would have that um in terms of expanding a parking lot or anything like that we have at least preliminary architecturals of what the facility would actually look like uh which looks more like a a house versus like say the uh clar Barton first AIDS Squad um I believe there's three Bays on it and that's at least a cursory overview hopefully that answers some of the the questions that you have council president yes counc I just wanted to comment this first you had a lot of great questions second if people don't know about hotol it's an EMS uh provider for that area there and I think it's a great opportunity because I had a chance to visit that uh area and uh it's a 24-hour opportunity to supplement EMS services and Paramedic Services so if you look at the trade I didn't do a you know comparison to what other squads are getting but we're basically getting free services probably 7 plus thousand residents for that Geographic territory so I just want to share that with you and it is a professional run organization and everything is absolutely free not one person would be getting build it is a free service to offer paramedic and EMS services to that area so you know hats off that we have the opportunity and maybe that'll lower our you know our our bottom line with other services but I just wanted to share that but they're great questions thank you councilman qu all right thank you Joyce council president I don't mean to interrupt your meeting but there was questions with regard to Communications on the oh water right okay on the water main break um actually just wanted to add to the hot Sola having experienced in Bergen County with hot Sola if you go to Bergen Hots Sola there's a really great Q&A in terms of the operations um which is consistent with um what what they would be doing here in Edison so I'd um encourage anybody to look that up on their Q&A um provided they're pretty good information about straightforward about their services um on the communications we had 118 Communications that were sent out um to Residents um with that uh not only on the socials there's about 11 different platforms the website um the Nixle alerts there were just um a massive amount of communications that we put out um first and foremost this was a very delicate and complicated operation because there was an 800 PSI um gas line and and for those who unfortunately have to remember Durham Woods that was a 900 PSI so um with that we had to be uh very um thoughtful um about the area in which we were going to keep digging towards okay um with that we made sure that there was accommodations between the Sheridan and a couple other places um huge uh thank you and we sent out thank yous to various uh uh organizations especially the JCC who were be a able to provide showers for residents um the Edison Terrace really was the last of um the folks to get the uh water turn back on because of it was the immediately uh affected area um we did go door to Door throughout that entire area um giving not only giving out water but uh keeping Folks up to dat I will tell you overwhelmingly uh because of the amount of communications that were out there um primarily on the safety side and our OEM I congratulate our OEM our um coordinators and our Deputy coordinator Kenny Shrek um who were on the ground um with the command center who who were able to you any there were a lot of people that came through and we were able to communicate and give them the most up-to-date uh information but it it took as long as it did and I'm uh happy to say that there were no uh casualties given the fact that we were in such a critical area thank you Sonia okay Joyce okay um Joy ship Freeman uh the water main break was not like the pipeline over at durm Woods d That's unexpected we expected um this watered to fall apart this crumbling system because when I got on the council I got on the council I ran on water okay way back in 2019 and people would ask me why was some of the stuff taken down from the site that explained all the stuff prior to this about how we were supposed to do certain things that we told the um the government we were supposed to do certain things so that we wouldn't be fine so that's what unnerve people unnerve people people like it when you just tell them the truth and say well you know I should took care of it sooner okay now I may play whacka mod for a while and catch up when you make something strong when I put this this new cap on it remember everything else is going to get weak down the line all right I just like people to be truthful when they when they say things and they do things and believe me I know like when people say people in the room when they making the sauses I know about all the NOS That Came Upon about the water prior to the new Administration working hard on that and let me uh talk now about the library people about um Pat Massie great leader great librarian her I and Sue served on the library together Sue served along with me we together worked on a union package and everything for the Librarians there so to me Sue and Pat are very very valuable people but uh they don't know if it's like this because they're not committee people so they said that if you're not a committee person that can guarantee a vote for the new mayor or election maybe you can't be that librarian anymore you have to do that and to me that stinks because there's no Integrity you know we should at least stand for something at and we sit here with the light of the world and we can't stand for integrity these two outstanding people this is you know this is what we get these these kind of people like this that's not fair at all and also um I would like to speak about the um overabundance of pickle ball courts throughout this place like what's the average season for it like I mean it can be some other things that we put up because I I noticed now there was only three kids walking past my house before now there's like 20 kids walking past the house and I'm just interested in what are the areas outside that they have to play in you know what information do we have and also um how are we moving on affordable housing because a lot of neighbor a lot of neighboring people people they always go not in my backyard so I mean with the new economy with the new people coming into office in DC we got to be a little more careful and last but not last but not least I would like us to restore our six minutes and the thing that really angered all of us Edison people Edison people who had legitimate questions for you the way the meeting ended abruptly you get angry with people out of town then you tell us after sitting for two hours byebye I I did not like that at all I thought that was terrible and whatever and I'm hoping that well I know that this new leadership it'll be much better because guess what the old leadership BR the crowd and brought all the people here and you want to blame them for coming you can't be disrespectful you can't be rude you can't treat people like crap and think that you're going to have a good meeting thank you thanks Joyce okay AJ good evening Ben from medison New Jersey do you have the C do I have the floor council president yes thank you um I want to give a moment of silence for our our latest president uh Jimmy Carter and also uh four years ago one of our one of my family's friends friends uh Brian snik who also died uh four years ago from this horrible mob thank you ladies uh ladies and gentlemen I um camera's on me all right awesome um council president Miss Harris uh congratulations uh as president of the of this body of chamber and you Mr pointer congratulations as vice president and I hope you feel better because the flu is forget about it um anyway oh what what a what a year what a year that we had especially with the Edison residents uh I was affected that 1% of the Edison Terrace we have no water for those five days I want to appreciate the the proud of of everybody from uh creamer uh construction from the fire department uh Chief to uh uh Sam Joe Administration they were basically were handing out Waters U I'm not sure if you guys saw my Facebook uh Edison residents private page I was posting things from last week stories and stuff because to be honest with you guys the news was giving it out what it needs to be the mayor was a little bit of lack of transparency but for me and I was brought by Mr brusher that oh I need to write a story about this because everyone was left in the dark for those five days so I took the opportunity to write my thoughts about about this water main break and I had a lot a lot of responses from it um I don't care if if if I get chosen as citizen of the ward for Edison because of my due diligence and thank you Mr BR for coming out thank you um uh Mr Joe as well thank you for everybody um you know Ed I say this you know when when we have a crisis in Edison basically like this as a watermain break everyone stop fighting let's all come together and help neighbors helping neighbors I really appreciate everybody all hands on deck 24 hours a day seven like even five days because of this they were working non-stop to fix this um I I just really want to appreciate everybody and also to the chair to the business administrator Sonia about those Communications what times were those Communications were given out um do you have a time sheet of that according to thank you if you can please that'll be great um also uh going back to the the meeting that I saw um I'm going to say this I'm going to be blunt with this I I didn't appreciate how the meeting was shut down all because someone was yelling and screaming to give back their 30 minutes that's Absolut insanity this is not how we should be running meetings like this you come on we we're we're Edison New Jersey people we have over 100,000 residents looking a pond not just the council but the mayor itself so I really want everyone to please work together and let's literally just you know I want to bring I I don't like the whole four minutes thing we need to bring this back to six minutes and even Mr Bronco talking about the robber rules of orders where you know stop restricting the public access from YouTube Facebook or any public government page that is not right that's all I'm going to say I my minutes are up I have nothing else I yield back thank you thank you AJ Anthony Anthony Damron um Edison Council um Congratulations by the way um first question in regards to DPW um do we is there if are residents able to um during the we drop off recycling extra recycling at the recycling center I'm not sure if that's uh it never used to be but I I've been hearing it is now so it is okay that's that's good um the planning board um are there any members uh terms that are up I don't know I was trying to find it online I couldn't find it um if there are is the mayor reappointing anybody or or the they going to be new employ uh new appointees um there's the planning board just approved two more warehouses um last week I think it was last week or two weeks ago uh on Whitman Avenue and that's uh that's just terrible um if you're familiar with that area uh it's I believe that's the ground zero for overdevelopment in this town and you know those residents there are uh just just surrounded by uh just the traffic along I don't know I don't even know what to say from it but you're looking at I think a 50 50,000 foot warehouse and a 10,000 square square foot excuse me Warehouse um but it's important that we pay attention to these uh the planning board on who these members are um I believe the mayor controls the Employments for those uh for those seats so I was just curious to see if there are any um new members there um also I just wanted to thank uh the Edison water utility uh for doing a fantastic job um and uh trying to get that water up um you know I feel bad for the for the for the residents of South Addison it's just terrible and you know I I I'll say this for the next meeting but I believe that these uh a lot of this um the infrastructure problems um you know which the mayor has known about for quite some time um it concerns me um what has been done or back thereof um over the last few years but um I'll wait for the next meeting we to address that but um also thank to the fire to the Chief Fire Chief uh your department did a great job uh I was there I dropped off some water um just tremendous job they they really were there was lines of cars and uh they I think everybody left with like cases of water so that's that's pretty uh that's pretty remarkable so good job Chief and uh um that's it so um I think that's it thank you right uh Anthony I do have information about the planning board terms um so uh an expired term is it looks like manohar goer uh he's a class four member his term expired December 31st uh we have one Donald caret his term expired December 3st 2023 and then we have La Patel whose term expired December 31st 2024 and then of course John poiner um he his term expired and so we're going to be looking for a council member to the planning board right well I excuse me um yes so that's that's what councilman pointer was right T was just the Lea's honor I guess yeah okay um so is I guess the question is if he's going to be appointing any of those new the mayor um don't know you don't know okay all right thank you okay thanks Anthony okay council president yes just a as a point of clarification uh manahar uh doer was reappointed at the last meeting oh he was okay so it it wasn't updated from the terms aspect but okay all right um anyone else from the public who hasn't spoken who wants to speak okay if not can we get a motion to close the public portion motion to close the public portion can we get a second second okay we got a second from John pointer um and I guess we're at the point of uh motion to adjourn motion to adjourn get a second second we are adjourned at 7:51 and 15 seconds thank you very much everybody thank e e e e e e e e e e for