##VIDEO ID:CvfHBwDBt6M## e e e e e e e e e e still Yes mine yeah okay all right good evening everybody it's Wednesday January 8th and this is a combined session and we are we are to called to order at 6:04 p.m. please join me in Rising for the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all all right uh clerk the roll call council member rusher here council member Cole council member Harris here council member Patel here council member PTI yes here council member pointer pres council member schmuel here here here uh adequate notice adequate notice of this meeting as required by the open public meeting Act of 1975 has been provided by notice sent to the home District store Ledger and Desi talk on December 18th 2024 and post at main lobby missal complex on that same date thank you very much Council president's remarks uh first of all I was going to wish councilman Coyle a happy birthday but he's not here so the hell with it um so um Now new a new protocol with regard to the public comment whether on on public comment is going to be that I'm I'm removing a list and because I really want to give Edison residents the priority in speaking and so instead of the list we are going to be working from the way we did it off the list at Monday's meeting which is have you line up if you're if you're disabled and you want to just reserve a place in line that's that's perfectly fine but we are looking for uh for Edison residents first this is a request that I've been consistently getting from Edison residents um we are okay um this is a very controversial thing I want to remove the mayor's appointments to the library board from the agenda um pending the formation of a vetting commission or a vetting vetting committee and this would not just be for Library board mayor's appointments this would be for other mayor's appointments as well to have a formalized committee to be able to interview and vet them now um I've been told that due to the Faulkner Act that there's a problem with this I would like to move forward on this I'd ask the mayor for his for his approval to remove it and he said no he wants the board the library board and their reorganization meeting next Tuesday to have the his people in place and um but um uh I I do see a problem with this and so I would like to remove it from the agenda and um I will uh so you can uh our counselor you can tell me why I can or cannot do this uh C uh council president you you certainly can um however it would require a motion in a second and then a vote um to remove it from the agenda or yes remove it from the agenda or or to uh or to table it those are two different things uh e in either case um as I stated in writing to the entire governing body earlier today being that I think I hear some we got some feedback could yeah okay drop the sound okay so uh here here's the issue in a nutshell um under the fogner act the mayor has the right to make nominations the governing body then has the right to give advice and consent or withhold advice and consent um in know in this situation the mayor's appointment under the fogner requires that it be placed on the agenda at that time once it's placed on the agenda the entire body gets to decide whether or not they wish to table the matter so the council president lacks The Authority individually to remove a mayor's appointment from the agenda but the group as a whole can do so so I'd like to ask then at the December 23rd meeting when at the time council president Patel had removed from the agenda and this was removed it wasn't tabling it it was removing it um how was how was that allowed to take place because he had the consent of a mayor to do so so it's the mayor's nomination he can withdraw that nomination if he so chooses um and it's not to say that that you can't take the action you wish to take but it must be done as a body not as an individual council president are you saying that without the mayor's consent that it has to be done as a body yes that that uh councilman Patel was able to do so so because he had the he was able to do it without a vote because he had the mayor's consent correct and I confirmed that with the mayor this afternoon yes okay um I would still like to remove this from the agenda pending the formation of a committee and so you tell me what I need to do in order to try to get that through president may I ask a couple questions sure please councilman yeah I just um the agenda I I was always told that the agenda is um by council president to make decisions as to when it comes up what she puts on what she agrees to put on what she doesn't agree to put on because maybe she doesn't have information um maybe there wasn't enough time for her to look at it right so what you're saying is that's not true that the mayor can just put whatever he wants on the agenda no um first off interestingly in the code it it doesn't say that the council president can remove items from the agenda but I understand that's been the practice uh for many years uh but when it comes to mayoral appointments under the fogner act the mayor has a right to make that appointment if an individual council president can remove that item you thwarted the mayor's right to make the nomination the council has a role here you can accept that nomination you can reject it you can table it you can do all of these things you don't even have to vote on it you got as I said you can table it you can remove it from the agenda but you have to do it as a body well let's let's go back to the um the council portion so you're telling me the mayor can put anything he wants on the agenda and um council president and the council has to live with it unless the council as the body decides to take it off no un when it comes only when it comes to nominations because he has the right under the Faulkner act to make such a nomination well I I so I read the legal brief yes um and the legal brief took in assumptions that were not true okay and I'll tell you in your legal brief where you led was basically that the council president cannot be an obstructionist um to not put it on the agenda because the council and the mayor are supposed to work together mhm but there was nothing in there that said that you know council president couldn't say I need more information I I want to have a committee look at it um there was there was nothing about the timing so what I did was I emailed back today right because I only got it today but I read it right away and I said Can can I get something you know where there was some kind of precedent um something legally where a council let's say or a council president wouldn't put something on a on a um agenda and the mayor went to court and they said okay you know what you're right four weeks is too long um because I I kind of think like one meeting or something is not unreasonable um I think the mayor is overstepping his bounds I I don't think he has a right to just put it on the agenda and to say the council president can't take it off because it's not like it it's never going on um it was just there were certain issues we have um you know we can go through all those issues um here tonight um there are certain accusations that have been made um ones that could involve uh legal right which could um so you know to me if we had this committee it was formed that could be vetted we don't know if these um allegations are true but if the council body were to vote on it and then they turn out to be true um looks bad on the council body and anybody that would have voted for it um so that was the reason for you know pulling it wasn't going to be pulled forever but it was a discussion I think maybe maybe I can clarify the issue a little bit counc president excuse me I would the coun can I add so I'd like I'd like you can speak after thank you thank thank you council president I'll be very brief councilman um councilman Brer I I I I want just clarify the issue this was not an issue between the mayor and the council president per se as it is my what I'm advocating for is that all council members need to make this decision on everything that you've just said is a substantive basis to table this nomination but you get just as much as say in that every council member does and that was the basis of my de of my opinion that the council president can't do it alone must do it with the with the voice of the whole body not one individual and that was the basis of the opinion well that that goes to say with everything on the agenda you know if if council president would like to put the entire agenda up if they have four Council people you can remove the entire agenda you know I mean right so um so then what's the authority of the the council president the council president can uh there's no doubt a council president can remove items but when you when you remove a nomination you're thwarting the Mayors right under the Faulkner act to make such a nomination and that's what's different here the statutory um basis for the argument is based in the fuler Act and the and the and the separation of powers between the two branches but but nobody's saying that can't put the nomination up no one's saying that the nomination can't be vetted it's just saying not at this current meeting here I I guess the question is well then when you know and so the mayor has the right to say no I want my my I have a nomination I'd like it to be considered you may vote up you may vote down but everybody gets to vote on it not just the council president removing it from the agenda that's that's the it's a very narrow issue and that's that's the only thing I was opining on okay counc yes um to the council um I just want to clarify from what I understand any council member can put up a resolution or ordinance without the council president's permission in fact it's been done before correct so correct or incorrect you correct and again my goal is to work with our council president we may agree or disagree that's been a fundamental issue throughout the year with many members at different times but outside this Council we get along um but I just want to clarify had I not spoken to the council president today and I had a resolution in my hand of a different subject matter I can ask to have it put on the agenda whether it was a Monday or a Wednesday and I could ask for a roll call if I got a second correct correct that would be added to the agenda correct if you so we just wanted to just give some balance to the public of I respect the authority of what we're trying to do however if the council disagrees and we have a second to that vote we we can put it back on the agenda um it's just a matter of what members of the council agree or disagree thank you council president Council pres yes Council P I was listening very carefully this is my 10th 11th year on the council Das I don't think this body has ever challenged the decision of council president whether we agreed or disagreed that's number one often council president think this is not the resolution or ordinance I want to go through we moved it off everyone respected it's a respect to that position that's number one number two the clarification attorney that you are giving to this body my question here is are you representing a mayor or you are giving the recommendation to the council president who may choose not to accept that recommendation and this has happened many times on this di well certainly I mean I my I'm only here as an advisor and so if the if the council president or the council hold chooses not to follow the law that the opinions that I offer that's within your discretion AB granted that my job as I sit here is to advise you on the law and understood and I want to make it clear that you're not representing mayor on this Das but you are representing the council council president you are giving the legal opinion that this body Council president may choose to accept or may go back and take the second opinion cuz we have had done that before councilman Kil knows we had the disagreement uh given the situation I don't think we I have even seen the resume of the second Library board candidate which is a prerequisite for the consideration so I don't know on what ground we are saying that this is a push we must go through this particular appointment so if this body really want to give that respect to the council president I would say you know why don't we give two weeks to council president to form a committee of her choice W out the applications call for more applications and if mayor again it goes back to Mayor the recommendation from that committee and mayor can recommend back to this body and that will be again up to this body to accept or deny that and that's my position here it's not that here it is and you go through this this is what we have done so far which we should change and in fact I have the statement to read but that's at the end in my discussion item I'm going to very specific and clear on what went wrong and what really needs to happen on these eyes thank you council president council president excuse me I think Council uh Council VI president pointer I'll I'll yield to councilman shmoel first if that's okay sure okay councilman Shmo just uh to council M pil the the the uh resumes are on are on the r drive if you want to see both of their resumés uh but my question is we're replacing or there are two expired terms that that needed to be either filled or for the two resumes when do those if we don't vote in on a term when would we uh vote in on the next it would be on the next meeting so the terms expired on the 31st of last year there are actually three positions right now but the two have been brought forward forward to us so until the new board members if there are to be new board members until they are appointed the the current the current people would serve until the point that they are uh appointed and swor in so they would serve until either new appointment is appointed or their appointment correct temporarily correct thank you okay council president before you go to the next speaker I would ask my counil colleague to check when the second resume was uploaded thank you yes I I couldn't find it either um counselor yes I I found one resume yes yes that's correct that's correct council president I'll yield to the vice president but Council vice president thank you council president I just want to uh make a comment in regards to uh the council president having the overall authority of the agenda uh people may remember during the first time that the public Advocate ordinance was placed on to the agenda it was not at my behalf I was overridden by the majority of this Council so to say that is always the practice that the agenda before us is absolute of the council president to me is not an accurate statement thank you council president Council Patel council president I also I do respect the opinions of my Council colleague councilman ptil however I also want to reflect an opportunity when I was vetting the Housing Authority board with another council member and we are at a halt of picking the last member council member Joyce ship jumped over the council president at that time I resided put up a member by resolution and voted that member in I accepted that but I just want to clarify uh that it has been done and also just to speak you know to our right here on the council I can make it motion that we move forward right now that just stays on the agenda and we can go for a roll call and go over the council president's Authority if I have a second now I'm here to have her you know keep the agenda as is but we have that right if other council members agree and other council members second that we may only get the three votes and we hit the ground zero but that is our right anyone here can set policy whe want for whatever purpose they may want changing zoning changing signs changing speed uh speed limit on a certain road if they had that done professionally by a lawyer they could put that on the agenda without the consent of the council president she may agree disagree and ask for a second to be added to the agenda and then we would vote on it in the public session thank you council president if I'm wrong please clarify uh thear counselor council president yes all I want to say I think it's at this point is established that the body as a whole will have to speak on this rather than one so we should move forward okay so my options at this point if I want to remove it from the agenda are to do I make a motion I ask for a motion for that in a second Motion in a second to remove it from the agenda yes motion to remove from the agenda second okay I would recommend a roll call yes a roll call please council member brusher yes counc member Coyle no council member Patel no council member PTI yes council member pointer no council member schuell no council president Harris yes stays on the agenda and any motion to table would that come later or now you could certainly do that now as well if you'd like all right let's let's throw it all out there so can I get a motion to table well um was that I'm I'm sorry what's the difference well because actually when we when we get to it and we get to speak about it and then maybe if my Council colleagues heard the concerns they might be inclined to table at that time is is where I was going you can C Council you can certainly renew a motion to table during the regular regular session if you so choose that that was just my thought I don't know that I I would be in agreement with that okay all right so all right moving on um so those were my remarks and uh sorry for the length of this last one but it's it's a big one it's important uh unfinished business uh we have uh ordinances up for further consideration public hearing and final adoption any comments or questions um council president councilman Brasher yes um and I did I did speak to Sonia but I'm just doing this kind of for the record um this basically here is going to be at the end of the it's not just a property it's going to be an ambulance service which is going to help benefit um Edison or or supplement the like the volunteers that we have now uh because JFK gives us ambulance service and then we have a volunteer service so this would be considered like an expansion of of that to help cover the rest of the Town correct thank you I just wanted to ask thank you any other comments or questions questions to the ordinances okay seeing none uh review of the minutes for the work session meeting of December 9th and combined meeting of December 23rd any comments okay seeing none from the business administrator so we I forgot to put this in my uh my remarks but we are we're dividing up a 7A the resolution awarding contracts to various firms for 2025 profession Services into separate lines and so we are we're we're having it not just as one grouping but we're going to have it by by separate lines um so we have a b and c uh any questions or comments about 7 a or C council president yes councilman paa I want to jump back to unfinished business did we cover the ordinance second ordinance oh I'm sorry I was doing that as a grouping all right I'm I'm still in the learning curve um all right so we did 2241 on 2242 comments or questions okay seeing none uh we're back to 7 a b or c any comments or questions about 7 a b or c yes C president in fact I have several questions you know I'm most of the I would say the resolutions are not resolution the contracts are fine but they are bundled as a one resolution and I would have preferred to list them either by the type of work or maybe by the department that would have been my preference however I don't think have a choice here she just said that yes I will come back there as well even though it is there but not necessary everything if you look at the labor counil there are two different different one right now why it is not one why is two if you look at R 024 r033 what number labor Council services and contract for special labor Council services I don't know what the difference between those two are but vendors are some of them are common can I clarify that special labc so typically what we would do if there's a separate thirdparty investigation for instance then we would hire that special Council we've done that in the last few years so it's uh similar to conflict attorney then I will say that there are one more uh tax appeal I believe there I saw two of them one is for apprisal one is for tax appeal those are two different but you know the more important thing for me was for the Engineering Services and I do see I when there are more than one vendor is listed here I don't see not to exceed for each of the vendor it's a total bundle together of $500,000 is 021 - 01225 now we have 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 nine vendors there with amount combined not to exceed $500,000 we have no idea each vendor what they bided for and how much they are not to exceed so so this is no different than what we've done where we have a pool and it doesn't mean that you use them all you you you pick from the pool and then not to exceed stays understood and that's where my bigger question comes in pay to play when you get the pool you get the vendor in you don't give them a contract but you do take the camp funds that's why I hate to say that if we put not to exceed I can understand can to agree I don't discuss um in terms of the payt playay laws are followed in this process it's a fair and open so I cannot assert or soon you will get the proof your claims soon you will get the proofs of some of those uh and that's the reason I would have preferred not to exed for each of those vendors so we know it is not just the name that is put in place but it's a real and serious business we are we'll be doing with those vendor or those vendors where is Sage R35 architectural 35 architectural 35 right last year you know it caused us a change order I don't know where the legal matter is with this particular vendor we were supposed to go on his insurance and claim the reimbursement for the change order yet we want to continue engaging this vendor I understand from my Council colleague you know this vendor will be utilized for to Center but that doesn't again let me put this way we are suing a vendor assuming we we will be or we might have sued him and yet we want to do the business why can't we replace that vendor councilman that's up to you if you want to vet them or not uh they are on the toe Center um it's the will of the body if they choose not to accept that vendor but that unfortunately that's bundled together that's my problem you can certainly remove and the council counselor can correct me um from the list uh you can modify the resolution if the council my apologies I was just I was handling a matter with the clerk and I didn't hear the question uh the question was with regard to one of the Architects that's listed on the resolution if they can be removed can we separate out one or can you separate there there's always the ability of council to divide the question um so you have that but that would require a motion in a second and a vote to divide the question yes thank this body can do a lot that's not question here but can we do it right I'm Sor what do you mean can you do it this body can do a lot in the sense the whole agenda can be drafted right in this Council chamber we don't need anyone for that matter can we do it right why didn't we pull that 31 separately or that particular vendor not to exceed or probably cap that to for a particular project rather than giving him putting him in open one fool I mean I I can't I can't speak to why to how why the administration picks certain firms or others or the or the amounts that were listed I think your question was a legal one and whether or not it can be separated which is the answer is yes legally you can separate it no we understand that you know because this is what we are doing this is a legislative body we can do anything and everything we can separate we can club we can do everything we understand that but you being mayor's attorney you could have suggested him hey there is a outstanding or ending lawsuit with this vendor can you separate this resolution but you didn't do it now we are talking about this body has an authority to separate it we all understand that we have Sage yeah council president if my Council colleague let me interrupt from I understand that the clerk has just separated all of them they're not on the agenda but they're in the packet okay fine okay I we combined The Architects understood but the rest of them are separated as we wanted prior to corre even though it's not on the agenda and that's something we wanted okay I don't object to pulling it however it has to happen right so is there a way that you know we can move this for the next meeting we again this is not something urgent that we need to approve tonight this is something we're looking by end of March we have February March 2 months left there once again it's a motion to table you have that Authority as well council president to to the councelor could we uh do a motion to uh table the one architect and accept the resolution all but one it to the counselor oh to me yes you can yes certainly is that satisfactory to you Council absolutely as long as we pull that vendor out from that resolution I'm good one resolution Sage we'll take a vote to take that off that resolution then vote on the rest of the resolution correct that's it yes we we'll make when at that time the vote a motion to amend to remove the architect that you desire to be remove and then vote on it as amended so that's legal that's 35 correct councilman p number 35 Sage yes okay amend get there okay all right any other comments or questions about 7 ABC um yes councilman Brer um yes I I just um I have some questions um to to council president on um on c um I believe I asked you if you spoke to the mayor about the his reasoning uh for replacing people and I believe your your comment to me was that he was unhappy with the uh construction of the new library would that be correct or um with yes yes with with the the feeling that it the pace was that it's taken 3 years and he's not satisfied with that and so that's the reasons that he gave okay I I would just like to say that um originally when our mayor was a councilman um he interjected himself on the library board when he did that I'm not going to say he forced or coerced um the library board members to hire an architect called sage architect that just happened to be the same architect that were looking to pull he had them come up with drawings for the North Edison Library they applied for a grant um the whole thing didn't happen there were issues with it the library board directors I believe recognized that there was an issue with the design um so they chose to go to another uh firm one that does libraries because Sage does like residential houses and maybe your Dunkin Donuts kind of thing they've never done libraries um of which then the new people had a design they went back and they had a a a grant that they applied for and this whole process is underway so where I go with this is well the mayor is unhappy that the Project's not going quick enough um the mayor was exactly the person that caused the project it's kind of like an elephant that goes to the bathroom in the room and then he's trying to blame the Mouse um that's that's where our May is um he takes no responsibility for his Reckless and irresponsible um decisions that he does um and and with that with that said there um so we have these new appointments now and this will go to the attorney see maybe you can clarify this but in our code it says something like whenever a vacancy shall occur one of the township boards are nominations to fill the vacancy shall be brought to Detention of the council and writing at least seven days prior so I don't know why we didn't do that um and we should get the candidates resumés and we didn't get that um and they should consult with the boards like the library board I guess right and I I don't think that happened um and it's up to the discretion of council yes so my question is since we didn't do any of these three [Music] things why wouldn't it be prudent to what in your mind why would it be acceptable if if we didn't do at least the three things councilman Who Who Are You directing that to oh to our counselor okay um a couple of things I think these appointments were known in the end of December I think the names were originally brought forward at that time so I think the 7-Day rule has been has been met uh the resumés now I believe are available I was I've heard that tonight um so that that sounds like that's been addressed but these are all reasons yeah these are but either way there these are all reasons why you as a as a council member may want to vote to table or to vote no on these things because you don't have enough information is it an Ultimate Bar to their presentation no no I there would have to be something in the language of the statute of the code to make it a bar um but these would be things that you could decide in your in your view as a councilman are not to move forward right no no what what I'm saying is you know we have we have Council people that are um they they like to do everything properly and correct um when it's not posted correctly it's you don't receive the resumés um you know whatever that be may be and don't get me wrong I I disagreed um with the mayor you know on this um some of the issues that I heard here was one of these members here is on a homeowners association that the mayor lives in the complex and that was the complex that the mayor didn't pay his fees and dues so before that person would be I I think this body should look into whether those fees and dues were were just dismissed as like a quig quo pro to be put on the library board I don't know but but this is the rumors that are circulating around our town um so I think before an approval that that was part of this process where we were looking to to vet this right we didn't want to come out here because how do you know if it's true I mean you know what I mean residents they they call me they text me and they tell me that it's true um but to me that would disbar one of these people um from being here just because of the close Association and benefits that that could have been um had by the mayor so you know given the whole rape allegation stuff that we have um given the um employees where the mayor went to their wives and girlfriends and asked them to go to go have drinks you know after they were terminated or whatever it is um you know after all these kind of things that are happening I I would think we'd want to vet this clean it up right and do it right um and that was the reason why we were looking to table it we weren't looking to have the open discussion about it you know kind of like we're having now um and that's why we were looking to give council president the the ability to just let her you know vet it and and we said we were going to bring it back up or she said even so it's because of issues like that that that we were looking to table um this item um in particular you know and the the sage Architects you know as as we know um it I know we haven't tabled it yet I know we're thinking about it but this body should also know not only did they hold this up on that Library project that now some of those Library board members are taking the heat for it because they replaced that person I mean me looking at it from a legal aspect um Sage Architects Did the mayor's campaign Flyers he got them work on the library they made a mistake on the library the library as being an independent body wanted to hire someone that was qualified and then what happens is the mayor wants to get rid of the people now on the library board and replace him with his own probably to bring Sage architect back would would be my my my only thought um because not like we're moving it forward but the same architect did our Jets field that originally was proposed to be a $5 million project that now is up to a12 million project um and and what was worse than that like my Council colleague said we had to bring in another like engineering firm architectural firm um to to vet his specifications and drawings um I looked at the drawings specification myself there there was so much left out of it um I'm expecting another couple $100,000 in change and I do know that the township has done some of the work themselves to try to mitigate the cost and I commend you for doing that Sonia um but it doesn't change the fact that you know this vendor is just out of their league here um so I I hope that we do table or actually I do hope we we vote no on the sage architect but I'd like the council body to be able to table this you know and and kind of resolve it so it doesn't have this dark dirty feel to it um on these appointments um I've spoken briefly to the two people they seem like they're nice people I don't know that they're qualified um haven't seen the other resume so it's something I think that needs to be vetted and I think we should give council president her time in that um thank you thank you any other comments or questions about 78 Ry council president yes I just want to clarify and if the councilor could object to my statement uh from what I understand we have a a planning board that the mayor appoints uh in no way does he have an obligation to be with the planning board and ask them for permission of who he appoints to that board um and same here with the library board it his appointments in no way does he have to meet with the library board nor am I aware of any mayor meeting with the library board there are suggestions in the past that Library board members may put forward someone or suggest a resume that is a qualified person to be an applicant but uh am I correct with that no objection anything you just said so I mean as much as I respect the my colleague councilman Brasher again he said other statements that are allegations and he said it's a thought I mean the still whether stuff you mentioned or not doesn't interrupt the process of what we have in front of us here thank you council president okay any other comments questions council president yes Council vice president thank you um in regards to the nominations obviously they are of the mayor's prerogative as such it is my duty to do my due diligence and reaching out and conversing researching guidelines and trying to make the best judgment based on the information that I have I reached out to both candidates I spoke at length to both candidates I asked some pressing questions particularly for my neighborhood that I live in with within the clar BART library and what happened during that tenure um I understand that some people have made mention that because of associations that that should automatically be a disqualification and it is not in my nature just to discriminate against someone because of an association I will let their character speak for themselves and their actions speak for the themselves um in terms of research that I've personally performed and I can only speak as myself one individual council member on a body of seven right I cannot tell anyone else here how they wish to vote yay nay or otherwise um I visited all the branches I've reviewed meeting minutes from the library from 20 21 up to current um and I've spoken to people that wish for the board to remain as current and for the board to have an adjustment it's on me to try to make a uh a decision based on a good foundation of information I feel that I have and that's all I can say thank you council president thank you anyone else I we talking about library or are we talking about 7 we're talking about 7 a through C cuz I heard the comments on the library repard so on the okay I thought on a we were still discussing about pulling it or something like but okay let any other con want to okay on C my question to attorney did we really okay let me put this way Library board is an independent body they have their own bylaws it's not like planning board or zoning board that falls under the jurdic of this town hall completely independent body they should be operating independently without any political interference without without any political intervention having said that the procedure there are there there is a you know by njsa you know we have several requirements in order whether it's a mayor's appointment or this council's appointment whether it's an application or the resumes I have not seen the second resume it was dropped I believe yesterday I was just quickly glancing when you my Council colleague pointed out typically 7 days is the notice period that this Council should receive the physical copy you know that's how the law says the physical copy of the application and the resume that's why it should be included as a packet I understand that to save trees we do not print the packets but at least that agenda is circulated via email and I will take that as my Bible in terms of the council meeting I do not go on Z drive or I drive to get through more backups there because that can be changed at any point in time anything that was sent an email that's my Bible that's my true copy I have not seen the resume of this especially the second nominee uh in that packet so that's why I would I would be okay to appoint possibly one person but not two uh if there is a possibility of splitting uh this resolution that would be helpful but again to if you ask me my personal opinion I would still give a respect to the chair council president and we'll move it to the next council meeting if that's not a possibility at least let's split the nomination in all fairness that I had no information about the second candidate even though I know the person personally but I need to see the resume physically or electronic copy as a part of my packet thank you council president councilman ptil are you suggesting that without that second resume are you saying that that therefore that's not seven days of no is that what you're saying y okay see if you look at the agenda was published on Friday we technically not even seven days but even if I take the agenda of month of December and I know why it was pulled because we had the W to shut it down it was you know that that's the reality of life is right you know we can agree to disagree on that and if we can probably at least give that respect that's what I'm saying the procedure by procedure I didn't see that in the month of December the second resume I didn't see that on Friday I didn't see that on Monday and that's the reason I would not be willing to support this you know second candidate second Council vice president U thank you council president um I think in the interest of what councilman PTI said that we do have the ability to divide the question as was mention with the Professional Services so I don't think that that is inappropriate approach for us to take on the matter so are we talking about taking one of these the nomination oh my apologies for interrupting but when it comes to the consent agenda pulling it for a separate vote when it comes up motioning to for a division of the question so that each of the candidates has their own technical motion and then each one can be dealt with on an individual basis okay gotcha anyone else okay um and and uh Council the um Dave what is that that's permissible that would make sense that we could do that during the regular part of the meeting okay good all right all right moving on to number eight from the Department of planning and Engineering a through any Council questions or concerns okay seeing none nine from the Department of Public Works just a any Council questions or concerns okay and finally number 10 from the Department of recreation resolution authorizing reimbursement uh any questions or comments okay very good all right we now move on to our regular meeting and uh we go to the the approval of the minutes and this would be for the work session meeting of December 9th and combined meeting of December 23rd uh we need a roll call motion to approve yes all motion to yeah okay we get a second second thank you okay roll call that's an favor Council counc voice oh oh it's I'm sorry council president I need to abstain from December 23rd meeting minutes I'm sorry one December 23rd December 23rd yes I I think I might have to be removed from one in there yeah that's the 23rd okay M okay all right uh all in favor I I I okay all right uh unfinished business ordinances for further consideration public hearing and final adoption uh clerk could you read the ordinance 2241 ordinance authorizing the lease of the property at 52 Lexington Avenue block 68 14 Edison New Jersey to Shiva HS of middle of middle 6 County okay all right uh open the public comment on this uh any public comment about the ordinance 2241 yes Christo okay all right anyone on 2241 yes sir sir okay just your name and address please and obviously we are neighbors we here for the community um it may be your next door neighbor we comprise of accountants doctors School teachers Etc there's approximately 50 volunteers which is including of dispatchers we operate 247365 anybody who calls us no matter who you are we do respond obviously you know where we currently are located our response time is fairly quick if you're calling let's say the other side of Edison the dispatcher May advise the caller to call 911 or we may call 911 ourselves because we want a expedited response time for the patient we have two ambulances in Edison our response time is about 3 to four minutes give or take um we responded to over 300 emergency calls in 2024 okay um we have a phenomenal partnership with the locals the police department the local hospitals the EMS Department as well as FD we're not affiliated with any other organization some people may affiliate us with a temple a synagogue or independent we are the community we are here for the community we are an asset for the community all members are fully equipped with life-saving equipment we have defibrillators in our vehicles we have oxygen we have emergency first aid equipment think of it as a response vehicle every member is certified by the New Jersey Department of Health in order to respond this keeps our response time down instead of everyone driving to the ambulance picking up the ambulance and then responding to the scene you will have two members responding directly which again will cut down minutes every second counts someone God forbids having a a heart attack anaphylaxis reaction time is of the essence and last but not least is every single member is obligated we get monthly CMEs continuing medical education okay we have to stay up to date on our certifications and again last but not least I just want to thank all of you I want to thank the mayor the council members the police department for your support up until now thank you council president yes counc M Brer um question you I was expecting for you to tell me the ambulance was coming but but you said that you dispatched directly there we dispatch both correct so so in other words you could get there before the ambulance to administer Aid 100% it could be my next next door neighbor someone down the block you know the radio goes off no matter what time two people certifi people are going to go direct one person will go to the ambulance so again if someone God forbid is bleeding out if someone needs epinephrine you know cuz their throat God forbid is closing up you are getting immediate measures right away I I I I love that because our firemen used to do that kind of service when an EMS call came out our firemen would go right to the scene you know they can't transport you in a fire engine but but they were able to administer that Aid and um I know minutes seconds it all counts there so just to piggyback what you're saying I've been in Ems for 13 years I worked for the New York City 911 system I've been a member here for four years I've responded and I know New York City is a little bit different um it's a great system a lot of technology I responded 45 minutes for some emergencies I'm not making that up Rush Hour you can't get by there's an accident here or there again minutes count seconds count I appreciate that thank you very much thank youate thank you so much [Music] because it's an because it's a statutory requirement for an ordinance okay could you could you explain that yes just uh just a clarification that when it's a a public comment on an ordinance uh we have a statutory obligation to allow the public to speak on this so what I recommend to the council president is let the public speak then there will definitely there has to be time for Council comment prior to vote but I was recommending that we let the count let the public first and then the counc speak yeah thank you councelor I I just had a question all right um yes uh Rob Kento 61 Meadow why aren't we giving them the property 52 Lexington had a building on it I believe in the 70s and I think there's a water issue over there so it flooded it was taken down and the building was demoed why don't we just give them the property and get it off the township books what's the Strategic advantage of charging them something like $500 a month I mean it's Pennies on the dollar500 a month why not just give them the property they're a charitable organization I think uh so they're going to get free property tax anyway so just give them the property why are we going to keep it on our books township owns the property I think next to it where the creek comes through and we have all of our easements we need there it's separate property I think I could be mistaken but why don't we just give it to them get it off the books 50e lease I mean I'll be dead in 50 years I mean I I don't want to you know well I think most of us in this room will be dead in 50 years I mean why don't we just give him the property that's all I got on that one okay all right um Sonia um any uh any insight on that no never respon okay anyone on Council have any insight on that any thoughts let the public comment okay um all right next for this risto yes okay am I recognized you're recognized thank you um why give somebody something for free uh absolutely disgusting most most of their services how many of their calls are in Highland Park instead of Edison they they didn't let you know that one because it's right on the border um why don't you just sell them the property for what it's worth and have Highland Park but don't involved have have middle sex County Commissioners involved and and the township gets what they're supposed to get out of it you understand through the chair to councilman Brasher councilman coil is that something that could be done that that you guys ask uh Highland Park and middle sex County to donate if they need need help to buy buy the property but why why should we how much can you s sell that property for um half a million set even without a house 300,000 300,000 there's nothing on the lot so yeah I just I have no problem with them having the property it's how they get the property I have a problem with and uh yeah get in touch with Highland Park get in touch with middle sex County Board of Commissioners Char uh Camaro and get the amount that the taxpayers are supposed to get from this property and that's it you know no no one should be getting anything for free for anything you know thanks Christo anyone else on 2241 okay uh now we motion to motion to uh close public portion on this and can I get a motion to adopt motion to close the public portion second okay and to adopt I'm sorry second I'm sorry right oh all in favor um for this is for closing the public portion um okay okay all right and um can I get a motion to adopt motion to adopt we already deal but anyway go ahead you can second who's second okay second then I'll second doesn't matter no okay all right second all all right uh and can do we have any Council comments council president yes thank you thank you doctor for coming and explaining the voluntary service U it's a great service and hopefully with this facility uh it will serve the community at large and you will be able to expand and reach to the broader audience uh proud to hear that uh the the response time is very quick and this will be an asset to especially toward the South end of the town and I'm really proud that you guys are doing a wonderful job in serving the community and I'll been fully support of this ordinance thank you coun okay anyone else councilman presser yes I was looking to um to answer the question about selling the property um I mean just for the record I'm a I'm against selling public property um if you were to sell it uh I I think they be they would gladly buy it and purchase it um I think the value of it is probably around $300,000 or maybe $400,000 but we'll never get the property back um there was a organization I think it was a it was either a VFW or American Legion um where the school board gave land to them for a parking lot and then they closed up and they that land got sold to a developer and the school board never got money back for it and you know so giving away public property no but giving them a 50-year lease or something I have no problem with that as long as they stay around as an organization thank you thank you anyone else yes councilman Patel first of all I want to thank you doctor and I'm glad you guys are getting the support and the base to work out of and I'm looking forward to supporting it and I agree with councilman brusher I don't support selling the property because 50 years is a long time from now things could change the organization might change and they might not need it they might go to a bigger facility and whatever that case maybe that town that property should belong to the town in the future if we need to do use it for something else we could decide that in the future thank you just a brief comment uh just want to tip my hat to the service and what they're going to do and provide for the residents in that area in the surrounding area I mean we benefit any opportunity where we have a free service that's willing to come to your house within 30 seconds or 6 minutes I mean that is just unbelievable and to get Services as a nurse or a doctor paramedic uh professionals with life-saving measures is a good thing in Edison so I'm truly proud this is in Edison and we're going to be supporting an opportunity for a lease with them at that location second um I'm not you just as we talk about selling things it's it's always good in real estate uh some people believe holding on to property doing ground leases is great times change things happen they may expand like our Council colleague said move on that's still our property and at at that date at that t time we may have a different value of that property uh but I also believe that while they're there auxiliary things come from ambulatory services such as uh meeting rooms and different things so who knows what the future plans will be to expand that location let's hope uh there's other opportunities and amenities for the community as other squads have had thank you council president any else council president yes Council vice president presuming that there's no opposition to this which I'm going to guess that there's not I think it's a great opportunity for the township to have additional services available um to help those that are in need and to assist the community and to improve the quality of life for the residents of Edison Township so for that I I look forward to the partnership thank you good uh as for my okay as for myself uh I agree with what has been said here I think this is a wonderful supplement to the services that we have this can only help us not hurt us and um I think that a lot of people have had questions as to whe whether or not this would serve only the Jewish community and it's not it's to the entire it's to the entire town and um so I think this is a great opportunity for the town and uh I'm I'm going to be happy to approve this thank you okay nothing okay all right so now we go to a roll call Mo to well that's yes council member Brer yes council member coil yes council member Patel yes council member ptil yes council member pointer yes council member schmell yes council president Harris yes great okay clerk could you read the ordinance of 22 22242 this ordinance amend section 2-2 entitled Township Council of chapter 2 entitled Administration in order to repeal the recent changes and revert the ordinance to his free Amendment status uh do we have uh we're going to open up to the public um any public comments to this ordinance 2242 yes okay Christo absolutely absolutely 20 242 mhm um so this is to get our six minutes back no this is about the deorum only the deorum not not even the six minutes rule that's not what's on here okay well I want everybody everybody that's in here to know um if you came here to talk about the American flag you can do so in this ordinance as well um so the reason you guys went all out with these decorum rules was originally to Target me because count councilman Nish Patel is a scumbag you understand he's an anti-American scumbag and um you ended up Banning the American flag you made international news okay and you're an absolute disgrace and the fact that you made him Council vice president when he himself banned the American flag how how can we trust the oath that he took um absolutely disgusting uh chairwoman Marco Harris did you guys create the Corum roles originally to Target me um and then you ended up Banning the American flag as well are these the rules where you where you ban the American flag I'm asking through the chair to councilman Brasher councilman Brasher this is this is the ordinance where they ended up Banning the American flag correct I mean it's a simple yes or no right oh what a BN what a bunch of idiots the number one the the biggest  idiot in this room Council Manish Patel they claim you can't personally attack anyone yes you can yes you can what are you going to do about it kick me out right now what are you going to do about it um through the chair of councilman Brer what they tried to ban okay they tried to ban speech that they thought I might come here and do now for the rest of the year I'm going to do it every time I come Rosenfeld vers New Jersey kick me out kick me out you're a piece of councilman Patel you weren't born in this country that's why that's why you had no respect for the American flag and you ended up Banning it let's just call a spade a spade what are you looking at council president for you're the piece of not her you're a scumbag point of order no point of order um stop my time let him go through his point of order Fiasco stop my time please there are certainly other adjectives adverbs and methodologies to express similar there are but I don't have to shut your mouth start my time Rosenfeld vers New Jersey shut your mother mouth which I've read thank you shut your mouth going back to the ordinance 42 interrupt council president uh chriso stop his time Mor thank you Christo I'm well aware you're allowed to do whatever you want thank you sometimes I've asked in the past you've given us a courtesy and I have done that cour as a professional courtesy for those who are listening I think you've gotten your point across and I think not yet okay when you feel when you feel you're out of breath as a personal courtesy for those children who are listening for those who are in this room who wants them to call Democrats hiding shielding children I'm asking when you guys want to sex change the children you guys are the ones I know your right request denied request denied thank you start my time so uh what I'd like to say each person that that voted for the decor rules is a  idiot and I'd like to name them one by one councilman John pointer you're a idiot the whole world know knows it councilman Nish Patel you're a idiot the whole world knows it I wish you never flew over here to America uh councilman Asaf scho another idiot right there stupid ass idiot um and coun councilman Joe Co I'm sorry I have to say it but you yourself you knew better than all of them you're the biggest idiot up there because you could advise them the right way and they would have followed you they would have followed you so absolutely disgusting God Bless America God bless God bless the flag and I just want to say each and every person that voted for these unconstitutional decorum rules is a piece of especially a assemblyman coughlin's Law Firm that advised for them to do it which I'd like to add in there the conflict of interest uh councilman Brasher when Jo Joi was on the library board he tried to re uh put the reserve funds of the library to coughlin's bank BCB bank so you should get another lawyer because they're a conflict of interest as well speak  any other uh comments from the public okay yes Joel Joel bass off Edison well I'd like to address this with uh a different tone I think we can repudiate the the type of language that was used but still support the right of free speech it is a double-edged sword um it's the people the other side please yes CHR Joel hang on one second yeah all right okay that's enough okay I'm losing my time yes go ahead Joel okay so as we can see point of order point of order go ahead Joel yeah she's using fighting words threatening me with her husband point of order stop his time please stop his time Christo you're Christo you're out of order now please sit down thank you thank you okay go ahead Joel oh no there's a lot of chatter please order order thank you go ahead Joel yeah I just wanted to point out that um when the council did attempt to ban masks and costumes and props it didn't end well so it's good that the council is repealing the ordinance that purports to do that and of course uh just to set the historical record straight um rules Banning masks costumes and props were imposed even before the ordinance was adopted uh so hopefully we won't go backwards on that and the right of free speech is just something it it's so precious that it's important that we preserve it even if we have to listen to speech that's repugnant uh people should have the maturity and the respect not to use that type of language in a setting such as this it's regrettable that they do nevertheless they they do have the the right to do it and hopefully uh after they get this performance out of their systems they'll use the right of free speech in a way that is truly informative and persuasive but in any event kudos to the council for repealing the Recently adopted decorum ordinance thank you thank you Joel okay anyone else wants to speak to the ordinance Mikey uh good evening Council um in reference to the flag B I mean we all have our different approaches we all have our different uh words that we try to use uh whether they're deemed as immature or excessive or whatever the case may be we all have the right to express oursel uh freely as we choose uh and it works both ways uh the maturity on the ends of people on that side of the diet have to respect the First Amendment Rosenfeld vers New Jersey 1972 guarantees the right to uh use profanity in such a way um and I think it makes sense that the passion and the frustrations can boil over the top because I mean the flag was banned councilman Cole banned the flag and you do you did know better you did know better but you banned It Anyway vice president pointer he shouldn't even be on that Council you're a piece of for Banning the flag you shouldn't be vice president you should not be on that Council Nish Patel you know what I think about you you're Goddamn piece of and same with you on the end you as well you ban the flag disgrace absolute disgrace so if people come out here and they use unfavorable choices of words well that's why we have the freedom freedom of speech it's for unfavorable things that are said I know you guys don't need a refresher course on that but then I second guess myself because you banned the flag so so maybe maybe this is quite necessary you know because I mean you all did it po you shouldn't even be on that Council absolute disgrace let alone vice president that's garbage Nish Patell you should not be on that Council not at all point of order through the chair to Nish Patel trying to call my point of order you can call your point of order stop my time stop my time yeah yeah can we please stick to the ordinance I would ask that you just stay with the ordinance itself well all this is relevant to the flag B point of order to coun the would you please stop the time in all fairness I understand your argument with us here in the accusations you made and your statements but can you point to the ordinance where it says the flag is banned and can you read that today right now because that's not true in the ordinance it's stated props and costumes let me finish our council president with the wrong advice took his approach so you can't say this Council voted for Banning the American flag that's not true yes it is true it is true not we voted it is true so listen we're in an opinion disagreement but if you can point right now since you have the courage and you're you're brave and you've done some things here and you've made your purpose and I've listened to you let me get my time back come on your your time is stopped please bring up the ordinance read it and show me in that ordinance where it states that the town of vettis in this count from you okay you don't have to but you can't point to it and that's your problem right now thank you Council presid so you want you want to disguise what had happened as if the flag wasn't banned go ahead we all watched the video all right the whole nation watched it right and where did you think it where did you think that the flag ban was going to go where did you think these the prop band was going to go you know you you you guys ban these things before it was even voted on okay that's very important very important part of all this you were enforcing something that wasn't even voted on at that point that's garbage I mean that's stupidity its finest and where the hell is Mike Burns he's the one who gave this horrible legal advice horrible legal advice and and he has nowhere to be found but he's been gone we we we don't know where he is I filed an Ethics complaint on him because he he doesn't give a about the First Amendment and yes the flag was banned that's why when Joel waved it and the and the and the room was super charged with police energy and they came and removed him for waving the flag what the hell do you call that coil did you stop them did you tell the police I mean at every at every step of the I know what you did to Chris though I I'm well aware and and if it wasn't for people coming out to stick up for him then then things wouldn't happen the way they were I came here I gave a performance I had a prop at that point there was no costume ban I came in here with a costume then you banned costumes you enforced all these things you guys didn't even vote on and yes councilman Coy you did Bann the flag you also banned the United States Constitution and the New Jersey state and the newy Jersey state flag that's what you will be remembered by you too poer and Nish that was the biggest black eye in your political career you don't deserve to sit there you don't deserve to serve the people when you ban the First Amendment thanks absolutely ridiculous and I can't wait to see Burns again because I want to give him hell for what he did was the shittiest legal advice ever I yield my back my two seconds back to the council all right thank you anyone else yes Anthony sorry Anthony di 25 Wy you're recognized thank you you know I uh when this Council screws up um in my opinion I I've I'll be the first to come up here one of the first to to call you out on it give you my opinion tell you the reasons why what you're doing um and we all when those mistakes happen we ask you to change it and you did on this one and I I salute you on that I you were dead wrong to begin with but you you fixed the wrong and that's all you can do um from there so I I I even councilman Patel who's made I think you know some some bad decisions when he was council president um hopefully he learned from it that's all you can do I'm not you know to continue to go uh uh to the overkill in my opinion is um is we all get the point and this town won't won't won't move on until um until some of us speak out about that so I I I I commend you for doing for for for repealing this or whatever it is um to fix it wrong and that's all you again that's that's that's that's what we asked and you did it so um and hopefully everybody's learned from this one uh thank you council president thank you Anthony anyone else yes Russ Russ Skyla Drive recognize Edison New Jersey good evening Council good evening council members fdpd edmin I'd like to wish you all a happy very happy healthy New Year I haven't been here in a while so this is though I like to get this past me uh happy healthy New Year to you and your families especially our friends here our neighbors and fellow Edison residents here with us and those watching closely from home and I emphasize watching closely from home pertaining to the uh band or so-called band or not band it it was banned and if it wasn't why was Joel bassoff removed why why was I holding the flags bunch of United States flags at the podium and reminded that if I continue I would forfeit my time if I continue then I'll I'll forfeit or would be remov from the the meeting and then removed from the building what is it which which is it you know you set a precedent you couldn't cont control Chris though friends came to help wel them this pertains to the First Amendment and and and freedom of speech and freedom of expression and standing here you told Rob kentos he couldn't hold the United States Constitution okay th th this means every a lot to everybody here not only here the people watching in the state in the country and internationally we we didn't get you there you got yourselves there everything you do and vote on today you're in the Limelight just remember that okay I think the you should also include the minutes as well four minutes is ridiculous there's there's many issues quality of life issues that's happening that needs to be addressed as well minutes is not Russ we need to just stay with this particular ordinance thank you you can speak you can speak on that during public what what I'm also opposed at and and appalled at is that they didn't didn't even give coun councilwoman Harris they didn't even give you the the decency to be present on the vote you you requested to be here they denied it four council members voted uh uh to move forward and ban the flag that was unall for that was wrong you know what we have backbones let's use them it doesn't matter who's here who's not here just because somebody wants something or wants you to do something don't rubber stamp it this should have never we should never be here speaking about this today thank you thank you R anyone else to speak on this ordinance yes ma'am name and name and address please yeah my name is Terry Beck from Hillsboro New Jersey I just want to make sure everybody up there understands whether your status of councilman president whatever it might be you all are enablers of crime Associated to accomplices to or direct parties every one of you has evidence the evidence is out it when to Texas it went to North Carolina it's an easy easy lawsuit I've run this by the Trump Administration for deporting taking them out all of them citizens or not if you aband and if you disrespect the flag you're gone that was a true violation of title four I don't know if you guys read the Constitution we understand law but maybe that should be a requirement for everybody to be up there which I will propose to Trump because you know what if you don't respect the statutes the ordinance and you don't follow the law me I'm looking to turn people in like all of you so I've got my hands full and I know it I have you all documented you guys are walking on thin ice I don't know why whoever misled you or the lawyers or whoever it might be if I were to heard ban the flag or even touch anybody assault them for any reason holding something up or a constitution you know what I would have charged you put you in jail right away why is it law enforcement right on your tail because you know what we're going to be promoting people into positions where they're they're going to crack the whip they're going to wish they never lived here if you're a criminal and furthermore the most important and I'm going to say this because I know how I am in the biker world when somebody starts showing disrespect language flies off the wall and guess what you guys all are guilty of the first unlawful unconstitutional assault so don't yell at Christo for oh my God his language because you guys created this I'm not doing anything wrong we're not doing anything wrong just show respect or leave the country easy answer or else we all go to court that's it thank you anyone else anyone else all right motion to close the oh I'm sorry go uh go ahead Lefty Lefty Grimes uh sativ across.org 51 C3 here in New Jersey fighting for disability rights and cannabis patients rights I'm glad you repealed the uh the ordinance and it was a flag ban you want want us to point to where it was it was very vague for a reason because it was a ban on everything was a ban on the First Amendment you also banned the Bible which is even worse the Bible was also banned which I was going to hold up I did hold up a Bible and um that was uh you can be sued for something called Crow waro which is U it it's not for money it's just to sue you to prove that you do your job as a public official and if you can't do your job you lose your job I don't even know if they do it anymore but there is precedent for uh qu waro apparently so um that maybe could be brought into to play but uh I do think that you can't walk this back you you you just move on say you're sorry and move on I mean don't say that you didn't ban the flag because you banned the flag that's why there's people here with flags that's why the well this went viral all over the country because you banned the flag you banned the Bible you banned the First Amendment so just move on at this point and it's the first time you ever anything that was uh unanimous everything's 43 in this town everything's 43 finally we saw something unanimous so uh I don't know why it has to be a a storm for you to do Anonymous votes on anything though thank you thank you l d anyone else motion to close the public portion I get a second second okay um can I get a motion to adopt motion to adopt second okay can we get what's that first motion who made the first motion on that was that that was a AJ oh okay okay okay um can we get a roll call please uh oh oh I'm sorry yes are there any c before are there any Council comments yes Council vice president yes uh thank you I will support the repeal of the Ordinance one item that I hope that is eventually reconsidered was the actual process in terms of actually calling to order and anything that is out of order because it references going back to Robert's Rules I have a copy of Robert's Rules actually just like your copy of the Constitution Yes actually there please um and the those guidelines are very minimal so it's actually in protection to people that are speaking in regards to not being uh having actually protect in the sense of actual proper process and procedure in any call to order right so I understand this this repeals those items as well I'm okay with that for now I just hope that from a process standpoint going forward maybe that something of consideration but again I will be supporting this ordinance in terms of repealing the previous ordinance thank you excuse me thank you since you haven't voted yet can I say one last thing on the ordinance about the flag will there be another opportunity to speak on that flag issue yes because I have something to say and I came here from susex County to say it yes there will be okay thank you thank you okay any any other Council comments I yes councilman Brasher yes I mean I I wish it never happened um I I know that there were three of us that were were wise enough um wiser than than the best law firm in New Jersey to know that it was wrong um knew that this would turn into a political circus um and I I mean my colleagues and and the legal firm um I've been accused myself of bringing everybody here and I'd like to hear the public I'd like the public the people that have come here today I'd like to hear from you at the end to tell the mayor of this town to tell the council people at this town to tell our police officers because a police officer accused me of bringing everybody to this town um I I'd like everybody to kind of stand up at the end and speak and let this body and the mayor know and let it be on a record I didn't contact anyone it it was them the elephant in the room that took the dump that's flaming it on the mouse okay because it's just it's crazy how they make a mistake and then they blame others for their mistake but because these accusations were out there um a senior police officer accused me of it um it's on video I I'd like them to come up and let the ba know let our chief know let our Council colleagues know and if I contacted any of you and asked you to come do me a favor tell the truth tell the truth and and tell them thank you very much council president anyone else want to speak council president yes as I argued with other speakers in here um obviously part of this ordinance at that time was the intent of costumes and props and the issue was different costumes coming to this meeting and whether this Council felt it was proper Decor or not now we lost that that fight but never I think there was any intention of one council member on this board that we'd be banning a flag it started with a bong and a baby bong okay now I may agree or dis disagree and I disagree with that but if that person has the right they have that right but we know that it all started from costumes and masks so let's not hide the fact that you walked our council president right into the bait and Joe bass off came up with the flag and he didn't know how to handle that properly that was my experience of what I saw and I think he got poor advice from his counselor next to him and we all know that and in five seconds we are a national story not one person from this day has jumped out of their chair including the three to say hey stop it was over we went into recess and he was asked to leave we were standing up some of us were in the back some of us on the side talking and he was removed but it was a mistake that ordinance that was written was wrong from the beginning but we all know it was not the intent of this Council to ban a Bible American flag or anything else okay we we please excuse me please it I'm just speaking from my position of what I believe and my opinion and what the intention of this Council was and if people watch the videos of those who come in here to exercise their free speech somebody called disruption so may not it was new to us here and we made a mistake and we are and we have please please this is we're past we're past that point of you you're well aware I'm sorry I'm sorry this is councilman Coy's time thank youe so again and nowhere in the ordinance as a state a Bible an American flag a constitution is banned and if anybody wants to come up in Council in the other part of this session here which will'll have another chance to speak all I ask is come up and read the ordinance and if they don't we'll read the ordinance again at that time that it wasn't that so I just being fair to say what happened in this meeting and how the council president handled it at that time and the poor advice of the counselor at that time you don't see that counselor here anymore and it's quite obvious the disturbance we had with that issue but it happened all in five seconds right someone took debate a member in the public again let let councilman Coy please let councilman Coy have this time please I'm just stating the obvious of what happened here I'm not happy would happened a member uh resident came to the Das and said you took the bait person came up here to test what what props would be and that could have went on forever and that was n properly thought through whether you show up in a Cinderella costume whether you show up holding a Bible whether you show up holding holding anything and that was not properly look through poor Judgment of How It Was Written and we have repealed it you're well aware of it I'm quite certain it'll be a 7-0 vote but let's not hide the fact that some of you here The Gaslight the the flag ban as if we wrote it with the intentions of that purpose and that's not true so continue your gas light continue your gas light it's fine it it's a fact that we did not have the intention of that and you cannot read one single word in that language that was written that you see the word flag so just call what it is of what we wrote and what we voted for today I'm happy Russ please please all right can you finish your comments counc M I am happy to support removing this and thank you Council presid thank you let me just see for the first time any other first time yeah yes councilman P thank you council president happy to see this ordinance uh repealed here just to remind my council member on the other end and he said that the three people should have jumped I held the flag in the hand ask council president will I be asked to be out or are you going to call police I held the flag right here so saying that none of us war is unfair our position was very clear very clear I said jump it's you you are more mature and probably oldest person on this consult I should have jumped but we want our job is to want what is going wrong and that's the reason I keep pointing regardless who comes to the podium what they wear what they are talking listen to them give them respect why you need to change an ordinance in fact that's one of my talking point at the end when I'm going to give the statement we created the circus blame this Das blame the leadership blame upstairs who didn't repeal he had the power to WTO this ordinance yet it was signed that's also a disgrace so we have more adults in this room who could have corrected the situation when time was right but I always say better to be late than never so this Council learned what went wrong and let's move forward so hence I'll be supporting thank you council president thank you councilman pressure um yes I I just you know what is I'd like to clear something up um after my Council colleague here um because if any of my other Council colleagues feel that what he said was correct um I'd like to advise you that it was a mistake um what he's alluding to is that nobody up here banned the flag these people aren't really here just for the American flag I don't believe this is about our amendments that were given to us by our founding fathers those amendments give people the right to free speech to protest to have signs to use them as props to get a tattoo on their forehead that might say something offensive okay that's what this is all about it's not just the flag but the Flag represents what covers all of those amendments that we have so so that's where the offense came was first the offense was that Crystal can't can't curse everybody knows I've told him I don't appreciate it um but he has a right um people have come uh the whole thing about um the bong Holio we had that it it it's all a statement to say that we have these rights and I was disappointed when my Council colleague seemed to think that it was only about the flag because if that's really what you believe you're you are so misguided um you need to go back to school and learn about our amendments and what those amendments really stand for and why people have died for that so that so I I I guess I'm I guess I'm correct in my statement that it's not all about the flag it's about the Amendments and the rights and unless everybody here in this body understands that everybody's going to continue to come it's not going to end you have to acknowledge the rights given to us by our US Constitution it's not just about the flag and and that that's what my point was so thank you council president thank you anyone else council president yeah councilman Patel um I believe the council does have a right to have the quorums and I think the guidance that was given was again misguided and it could have been written better to adhere and at the same time have the freedom of speech aspect covered uh but again there are certain portion of this ordinance that could be saved but I believe at this point like I said in my statements earlier uh we're gonna have to start again and maybe we can do a better job next time but I do agree that there needs to be decorum because again this is a chamber of discussion if we do not have rules of deorum then it will be chaos and nothing will be done there's a reason why we have one person recognized and that one person speaks if everyone is speaking then no one will be listening so yes I understand that everyone is U on the idea that the props were banned and I agree you know what maybe that was a little too much of a hindrance of the freedom of speech aspect uh and that was the guidance that we were given uh but at the same time I do not agree that no decorum rules are needed and there could be no limitation to free speech you know there's a reason we have a time limit as to so that we can each take turn and there's a reason why we're all recognized so going back to the same point there needs to be deor and as Council pointed pointed out there are certain portion of this wance that could be saved and I hope the future Council Works towards that thank you okay of point of information I'm sorry councilman po point of information what I was referencing particularly is when excuse me can I just have some decency thank you yeah I I excuse me for excuse me for one moment yes yes I I I need I need to respectfully ask this audience to uh to wait for your turn to speak and and we we listen to you when you speak we ask the same we for ask for the same respect and not interrup not interrupting in between I'm asking you that as a as a favor it will help the meetings go more smoothly and so I'm hoping I can I can get that kind of respect back from from you uh councilman pointer thank you I'm just trying to offer a point of clarification to make sure that my words are not misconstrued it's a form of species literally attacking that man anyways when someone is called or a point of order is called and someone is found to be out of order there are processes that should be followed in order to make sure that what happened before does not happen right if a point of order was made and he was found to be out of order then you ask to please sit down right or to stop the behavior first if that is not followed then it was asked to sit down and if a continued disruption happened then it would be to remove having those orders of process actually allows for a better run me meeting in the event of any breach those are the items that I'm mentioning none of the items of being restricted or anything like that those items that there's an order of a process to follow in the event that a breach occurs so I just wanted to be clear on that thank you council president Council vice president council president yes I'll be brief I just want to wrap up um it's fair to say that we all know the American flag is standing out front is right behind us right here and I would doubt that anybody who disagrees with us will come to the podium and say they see a flag and as this went out of control uh for what we stated before no one talked about flags being everywhere in the township vettis we talked about one moment and in five seconds a speaker came to the podium Joel bass off W with a flag and he was removed in 5 seconds that that's where it drops you know the anchor but we know we've saluted the flag here thousands of times we raised the flag a thousands of times the flag is up front so come to the podium and tell me you don't see Flags around this Township they're everywhere and and and you you you definitely um have you proved this ordinance to be wrong and we heard you and you know that and we've repealed it our council president apologized okay and and some people walked him right into this and they were clever and what claimed to be a prop they knew this was going to be a problem right from the minute it was written and that is their prerogative and that mistake was on him at that time and there's a fact but it's it's gone it's never going to come back again but I'd hope a few of you who disagree with me would come to the podium during the public portion and talk about the flags you see around this Township because none of them have ever been removed and they've been here all the time one speaker one moment 5 Seconds at one meeting and that you know is over indefinitely that will have never happen again thank you thank you okay um Let me let me button councilman ptil did you want to say something else yeah I just want to say that in audience please please listen to the council member be respectful hold on your emotions you will have your time to express those emotions at the podium but until then please if we can maintain the respect to this diet will be really helpful and we really appreciate thank you thank you councilman P appreciate that uh just to button this up um this was an unforced error and it opened up a Pandora's Box like nobody's ever seen before and we got some bad advice about this that we took this way too far do we need deorum of course we need deorum and that's why I'm saying as a new council president I'd really like to maintain order in this chamber it's an it's this is a sacred chamber and we've got important business to do and I'm asking once again I'm going to I'm going to follow up on what councilman pel said and what I said before I do ask you for the respect that I give you as the public I mentioned in my remarks on Monday how I do respect the public and that we as a Council need to respect the public and I'm asking for that same respect in return um I'm glad that this ordinance is will be adopted it will be adopted unanimously and um it's it's just a it's it's a sad chapter in our history that didn't need to happen but it did happen and we're going to hopefully shut the shut this chapter uh moving forward so thank you very much um at this point uh can I get a 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 adopted um okay now we go to public comment on the resolutions just the resolutions only I'm sorry did you say something oh oh okay so in the the comments to the resolutions and this again this is the new the the new procedure I want to follow is to have Edison residents come up first and just to get in line you don't have to raise your hand you can just get in line um any Edison residents who want to speak on the ordinance and when we're done with the Edison residents then we can invite the others so um yes yes and and when you speak on a resolution just please give us the number of the resolution thank you okay thank you um Christo thank you that's the name they gave me is r717 still on the agenda R71 the one with the library board it is yes it is uh through the chair councilman Brasher ptio and Margo Harris so what councilman John poiner said earlier was wrong because he's a dip  um through councilman council president to Brer hey councilman Brasher so they admit that that the woman lives in the same housing complex as as Mayor Sam Joi he says to not consider this person's discrimination um a conflict of interest is not discrimination where did John pointer get his law degree I through the chair councilman Brer at which point are the adults in the room going to tell him to shut his  mouth you know what I'm saying here he calls a conflict of interest discrimination so that if that's the case there would never be a conflict of interest for anybody let's just get get rid of the term conflict of interest because if that ever happens it's discrimination according to John pointer everybody has the [Music] right my God Common Sense common sense and logic you know even Street smarts they don't have it they don't have it and then they wonder how they get outsmarted all the time by by potheads by Poe heads um so it's but it's true Margo it's true I'm sorry I love you I respect you but it's been building up it's been building up it was one year of him building this this all up okay Christo can we just speak to that but back to the library board through the chair to councilman brusher councilman brusher so not not just as the appointment a conflict of interest that lawyer is a conflict of interest that lawyer is for assemblyman coughlin's law firm and we all know if you look at the change.org petition that the Chinese community did against Mayor Sam Joi one of the accusations was he was going to remove the funds from the library board to BCB Bank uh that's not an authorized dealer of this Township and um why why don't for for this any resolution that has to do with the library you should get another Law Firm to come in here and give you advice an independent Law Firm since obviously there's a conflict of interest they monetarily they they had uh economic gain from this corruption and you're going to take their advice they they want you to take the they want these people in don't you see what's going on John pointer I I I wish I would have let one of these guys come up because I wanted no what what I wanted to explain was when he made his comments on the library board what comments those were to claim that um a conflict of interest you can't raise those because it's discrimination in and of itself is discrimination ABS there he is councilman John pointer through the chair to councilman John pointer can you please explain to the public how a conflict of interest is discrimination yeah can you please explain to us how a conflict of interest is discrimination I didn't say a conflict of interest was a discrimination yes he did and I'm going to go back to the to the tape it's going to be played and then we're going to edit the part what he just said right now just to prove he's a liar he can't even remember what he says are you on drugs sir are you on Dr No No through the the statements he made earlier in regards to the library board makes me a reasonable person believe this guy's on I'm sorry chisto that is that's inappropriate this is slander like honestly council president that's slander it's a comment she made please sit down thank you okay Joel Joel bass off Edison okay so this um resolution number 717 of uh 2024 um uh regarding the library board nominees it it's um problematic both legally and substantively um the the legal impediment is that for one thing if as Council said the mayor withdrew the nomination from the December agenda then this is a new nomination and our Municipal Code requires 7 days notice so if you're just receiving now this nomination today or if it was just Monday you have not had the seven days to consider it uh secondly uh the ordinance are municipal code requires that nominations for boards and commissions be accompanied by a resume and I've heard that at least one of them was not accompanied by a resume and in any event uh we were told that the resume of the other nominee was transmitted electronically now I remember last year when for example the public ordinance um uh proposal was raised to the council there was an objection from the council president at that time that it was not in writing even though it had been transmitted to the council by email so to be consistent if a document to be submitted to the council in writing has to be on a piece of paper it should apply to this too you should have received a paper resume in the packet uh and in any event uh the council as a whole has not had an opportunity to completely vet the nominees uh one member of the council said that he spoke to one of the nominees but there should be a process for all of the members of the council to at least get a report of a committee designated to vet the nominees so we don't know what experience do these nominees have that makes them uniquely qualified to serve on a library board do they even have Library cards uh the bylaws of the library board recommend that any appointee to the library board at the very least have a library card do they utilize the libraries what do they know about the libraries uh we heard from Council that one of the problems that the mayor had with the incumbents on the board is that the renovation of the library has taken too long well that might not be a bad thing as we've heard that there are were problems with the previous architect and the fact that the renovation is taking a while means that they're doing it carefully and deliberately uh it's not something that you would want to rush through and if these mayoral nominees for the library board intend to rush it through and give contracts to unqualified vendors well that's a reason to reject them we also have very fresh memories of the attempt of the mayor to take the claraa Barton Branch building from the library and there's a legitimate concern that if these nominees for the library board are being nominated because they are loyalists because they will just do the bidding of the mayor then once again that Branch will be at risk and I have to tell you the people of this town are not going to forget and they're not going to forget who was responsible for that so you need to get your 7 days notice you need to look at the resumés you need to have an opportunity all of you to talk to the nominees you haven't had that so it shouldn't have even been on the agenda for today but having gone on the agenda the only responsible thing to do is to either reject these nominees or table the nominations and well I had other ordinances that resolutions I needed to speak to but my time is up thank you Joel okay okay thank you KY hi M congratulations thank you and um happy New Year name name and address 79 6 Street thank you Edison here in New Jersey um I have come to talk about um um ordinance uh 717 wait one for the library board appointments so um it has all had to do with the um the process of making mistake by the mayor and letting other people take in his fall uh president uh Patman and Sue oil are highly qualified uh people to remain on the board we know this particular appointment is from the mayor is purely political and and um the library board should be neutral and should not be a tool for Mayors to do his will and his bids president patasi is one of the State Library trust board he's even on the state board so if you lose this particular um what is it called it means that we lose the opportunity I said this to be a president on the state level and those are one of those things that make the library good the people that is bringing in we are not too sure who they are we know that it's possible that they are one of those people that will say yes we are the claba we know the pattern of life and gross responsibility of those people that are supposed to be representing us and um I will talk to the two of you about it councilman John and will never be able to do anything right by clab they are not man enough they can't do any right by us and by the way the way the two of you were talking to each other other people are here when you finish talking they will pick it up you are just disgracing yourself yeah other people are given the same assignment to talk but they decide to keep quiet when c um Co finish speaking you pick it up this particular that year try and listen to people and understand what is going on um I want to say a very big thank you to the DPW all the workers that work through the time that they were fixing the water break and the work in the excuse me we're just no problem I'm still coming to them the two of you should tell the mayor there's already a water break again we W those two people on the library board and simply because they are qualified we don't want that particular particular board to become one of those irrelevant boards that is not independent we want them there we don't want you to take away their lawyers or the Anthony the Anthony was telling us that the mayor wants the nomination by the next meeting do you you don't want them to take a decision you just want them to put in on paper and just send it down to that place everyone on that particular board as we are talking if you take the two of them off they don't have anything to do with the library that particular board and position should not be a pacifier to your followers or those people that are follow that want to do your will remember election is coming and God help us it's that's consequences for everybody please Elizabeth Conway 20 Netherwood Circle I'd like to talk about uh resolution 717 I know the mayor nominates those he feels should take spots on the various boards or committees or Commissions in town and then the council confirms it at a meeting I don't know these two people I don't know if you know these two people but what I know to make sense was what the council president said at the beginning of the meeting and that struck me as wow someone said something that makes sense if you are to take a nomination from the mayor it might be the two best people for the board I don't I don't know them but you need to stand by his nomination and in order to stand by his nomination you should be able to look at their resumés discuss with them and make a very good decision for each one of you a blatant for three was sad because the statement made sense and it didn't seem like anyone was listening to the sense of what the council president was saying and it struck me that wow that sounds like a good idea why are they not going for it at least putting off they could be the best people and in two weeks those two people could be nominated for all I know but at least you're following the common sense rule of we have a nomination we looked into it we feel the nomination is correct let's move forward and if they do a good job good for you if they don't do a good job when their time is up you approve someone else so when it comes to this resolution I appeal to you think about what you're doing don't just go that 4-3 route please consider common sense and judge the intelligent way thank you Russ Russ Aero Skyler Drive Edison um I propose uh I'm against resolution 717 1220 20 24 I do happen to know Pat Massie I do happen to know Sue O'Neal I have been to the libraries I have worked at the libraries uh with my business and uh I I'm not sure if this is a pay to playay nepotism favoritism uh but why would you have some two two members with a decade of of experience that know the libraries know the ins and outs know what's best for the library what's best for the Edison residents at the libraries why why would you take somebody out of that position that two people out of that POS those positions and put them with somebody that that we don't even know if they're qualified councilman P pel doesn't even have the the other resume we don't know who these people are maybe I'll apply for that position would you hire me would you approve me at this point that's not fair let's if if they are better qualified then let them do go through the proc the process if they if it hasn't been ample time if if not each and seven council members haven't received the resume to review it then don't even table it forget about it cancel it cancel this ordinance I I I I oppose it that's number one number two uh resolution 00 81225 the municipal budget shall be prepared by the mayor with the assistance of the business administrator during the month of November the mayor shall require all department heads to submit requests for Appropriations for the ensuing budget year and to appear before the mayor or the business administrator at public hearings which shall be held during that month on the various requests what resolution council president resol what resolution that he said 008 is what you said right that's this is this is Professional Services contracts R oh I'm sorry 009 that's the that's the planners okay so if this if this wasn't a if a public hearing wasn't made in November the same month that this was proposed it it shouldn't be uh speaker's out of order resolution are you you said you're speaking on 009 which that's the resolution awarding the Professional Services contract for the planners it doesn't sound like what you're talking about council president yes I just want to help a guide I think Mr aell was is speaking of the temporary budget then that would be out of order because that was voted on at the last meeting so he's out of order why am I out of order it's on here no it's not please reference a resolution that you're speaking speak onc resolution 008 01225 counc that's a Professional Services resolution that's not a budget matter council president I think he's talking about the agenda that was originally provided on Monday prior to us establishing the combined meeting which at that point also had the session on there so that may be the reason of the confusion yeah all right does this pertain to resolution 008 or 9 no that that was voted on at the last meeting so that's not appropriate for this resolution you come at the end and say the same thing yes all right so why is it on here then because you're looking at an old res an old agenda that meeting was combined to tonight that was voted on at the reorg that's a temporary budget that's what you're talking about Jo before I step down it thank you okay thanks welcome okay Rob Rob Kento 61 meow um how can I put this uh 717 um maybe I should mention I I I I really don't like to mention organizations I'm with but um I am the President of the matachin Edison Historic Society I'm also on the Board of Trustees for the Danish home I'm the vice Commander over at the uh American Legion Post 4 35 um you know the library board you know interacting with the community and stuff I see Miss Massie a lot I don't see these other people um but you know you heard enough of that from everybody else here's what I want to ask because nobody seems to think ahead up there we're talking about possibly somebody mentioned up there possibly just um tabling one and doing the other one so who wins the battle does does um Mr maty lose her job or does uh O'Neal lose her job you know if you pull one off who who's the loser who who gets to stay who gets to go are you guys you guys get to decide that today I mean it's just so comical you know we we all know that the the the boards are political we all know that these committees are political hires I could give you the best example ever if you had to pick one or two people to be on the historic preservation committee for for Edison Township let's assume Walter's not here right well he's not here but um let's take Walter stal out of the picture right um let's say you retired move to California or something and you had to pick one person who'd that person be up there do you know I can't get on that board it's like drawing Edison at Edison it's the most comical thing ever every year I file an application and every year my application is denied it is the most comical thing um I asked uh rinky thing in uh in a group chat that we have for the edl I asked her if um Sam paid his condo fees in consideration of this ordinance up here and she replied back something to the effect Sam's a really good guy so um you know I looked on the court website and uh NJ courts and you could see that uh Sam had uh not paid his con they they filed against him in 19 20 21 22 he might have paid them in 23 but then they filed again in 24 um rinky Singh she sits on the board of his HOA um she has to vote if they're going to assume if they're not going to assume all that stuff comes up for vote you know that could be a problem couldn't it you know just those factors just those factors alone you know you have the mayor appointing somebody to a board we don't know if his condo association fees are paid but we do know he hasn't paid them in the past and the person he's appointing happens to be on his HOA board no no comments she didn't want to comment either so that's all I got guys thanks Rose any okay octar OCT Nasser Pleasant Avenue so it seems like a lot of these people back here have done their research and I'm not quite sure I know one of you did your research but there's a lot of stuff that need to be answered um so I'm talking about resolution r717 D1 12224 the four of you made a mistake about the decorum ordinance and you made other mistakes as well I could kind of see that there I'm going to get to my point with this I'm going to tell you that this is one of those things that's going to be one of those big problems so if you want to continue to make mistakes like that go ahead don't heed my advice so um there are a couple things that have been repeated want to repeat here one year in violation of ordinance 22.10 giving the 7 days written notice to the council about the resumés and anything else that's associated with this none of you have anything that's printed as Joel said and again does that only apply to Residents when Joel couldn't go ahead and do what he had to he just barely had the papers for you guys and then we were able to talk about it are you guys not have to do that is it you know a difference between residents and also council members at different rules do any of you guys know the bylaws of the library I mean if you're going to go ahead and choose the people here you should know what the recommendations are I bet if I give you a pop quiz right now you would fail I have doubts that you're going to find anyone better than Pat Massie how can you get somebody better that's on the New Jersey state board or any of those two other people better than Pat Massie councilman pointer again I'm glad that you always do your due diligence but we can't say that about everybody else that's up there um you have more information than anyone else but shouldn't we be on the same playing field shouldn't everybody have the same data so that's where the committee would actually be important and I think that you should go ahead and do what the council president wanted to do I think it's fair and again you should have all the information don't you think that it would be appropriate for anyone that's going to go and try to be on the board to be present here so that you guys can ask questions so they can say hey this is who I am or if they do have their nomination go through then we can go ahead and give them a round of applause I think that would be relevant and appropriate um it seems like you need the subcommittee to have paper copies follow recommendations have relevant information about the candidates and know how many resumes were gathered there's a lot that I have to say but in four minutes that um I'm not going to be able to say everything so um I have questions about why did we move the December 23rd date uh why did the mayor go ahead and say that you know let's go ahead and vote on it another day it's truly because you didn't have the votes had it gone on that day these two people would not have been able to get approval so I would love to hear some other counterargument or maybe the U mayor didn't like the candidates or maybe there were new candidates came in for instance myself on the 23rd I put in for the library board as well I wonder if I have any consideration for that probably not we need better transparency we need to advertise these boards a lot better I asked twice already to go ahead and do that the ba did not respond to it the mayor did not as well wouldn't we want the general population to go ahead and put in their application isn't it more people better that you're going to have better qualified people just because the mayor gives you nominations doesn't means you have to accept them you have to vet them and you again you have to look through every single thing about these people I'm not going to mention the people that are being um nominated right now but I want to know again what their experience just like everybody else have they been on the friends of the library Pat Massie has gone to probably every single one of those um again with Pat and Sue they were told on October 10 with the mayor that they have strong consideration to go ahead and be uh the appointments why weren't they why was it on the 1219 um Council agenda that's where they kind of found out that they weren't going to go ahead and be approved that's just sad it's not right why wasn't it that at the last Library board meeting why didn't the mayor come up there and say good job to you guys um I'm sorry I'm not going to go ahead and let you guys continue but you did a great job so it's just ridiculous what's going on here I have so much to say but I do not have time thank you Oar go ahead Anthony Anthony D and Wy have um if it if if it is true and this one individual on regarding the um resolution uh for the library board I guess um 717 if she is on the HOA um that we we we got to find that out and and if she is that that that is [Music] I don't know yeah I mean I don't know if that's if that's not a conflict I don't know what it is I will say this too I believe they're both Democrat committee people um uh and you know the mayor when he was a councilman sat here at the Dank and pontificated to every single one of us and he was right actually at the time that that too many people would be given these types of positions that because of their committee men or women status and he was 100% right there I agree with him then but apparently he's not finding you know he's not following his own his own uh uh thinking um and if if these aren't you know it makes you it makes you wonder you know it's hard to argue against the fact that these aren't political so if if if he owes his HOA Association money and she sits on the HOA I think that's no Briner shame on anybody if they vote on that um and again two Democrat committee people um out of all the people on this I I would I you know we can't find you know that these are the only two qualified uh is is is is quite something but um uh that's it counc president thank you thank you Diana Diana 86 Laurel Hollow Court listening to this Library issue and I don't know Miss O'Neal I do know Pat Massie I've known Pat Massie probably for the better part of 40 years we work together at South clean field high school I don't know anyone more capable she's Beyond capable she's brilliant she's knowledgeable and I doubt if anybody could do better than she could do so if it's not broken don't fix it and keep her thank you thank you Diana any other Edison residents motion to close the public portion no no no no no no the this is with non Edison residents can you line up sorry I didn't you did that yes sir name and address my name is Joseph Mendes I'm from Sussex County I came down not to vent or denigrate anybody or attack anybody I don't know any one of you I've never met any one of you I don't know anybody behind me except for maybe two guys that I came sir which resolution are you speaking on I don't know I'm here to talk about the American flag I don't know which resolution no that's not that's not on the resolutions sir you can speak you can the time to speak on that would I think we already did the okay so it's coming up yeah thank you yes thank you sir um anybody else non- Edison resident want to speak on the resolutions okay motion to close motion to close of public portion give a second second thank you uh and all right all in favor yes all in favor all right sorry still all right I'll get it straight I'll get this straight um we got you okay um all right now we move to proposed resolutions and uh my Council colleagues uh anything you'd like to pull for a separate vote just that portion of that one that portion of the 717 the library board I think you're talking about the architectural contract Sage R35 oh okay we're going to pull that Professional Services to remove okay one council member Brer just say say it's the architectural services portion correct correct gotta okay so that's 035 stage architect where is that on mine we don't have okay all right so that's 03 yeah 035 okay anyone else Council pres 707 which one 717 717 okay 717 717 M request to split or that was yeah did that one yeah so we have zero we have 035 we have 717 uh anyone else want to pull anything okay so we are looking to uh approve uh the consent agenda which would be uh let me get this straight um it would be 732 through we're taking eight out we're taking being removed yeah eight is all right so 732 and we're removing 08 um 19 through okay all right 19 through 35 and that was 3 35 so 19 through 36 through 36 but minus 035 that's what uh we're taking for separate right yeah okay so uh we have um 732 and then we have uh 009 through uh 036 um and removing uh removing 717 all right so um okay so councilman patil um want to speak on 717 I think we should move the motion motion I'm sorry I'm sorry to approve the consent agenda except the one that are pulled right okay uh can we get a second second okay all right uh we got a roll call council member prer yes council member Cole yes council member ptil oh council member Patel yes council member ptil yes council member poter yes council member schmuel yes council president Harris yes okay all right now we go on to uh 717 7 17 I would prefer to split because as I said like I don't have the resume of at least one one nominee so if you can again that's my request if you want to call the rooll call for the approval separately that would be that's my preference but it's up to the council yes Council can I ask council is there a legal issue with with uh the candidate the 7-Day issue is there sign no no uh no there's not um they these names were provided as far back as December 23rd to me that's far that's notice the idea is that notice be provided to council the the clear intent of of the the code is to make sure that names aren't given to you and then you're voting on them that night so clearly the idea is that there be noticed to council you had these week at least two weeks ago these names before coun so in my opinion the 7-Day requirement has been met thank you okay uh so what are we doing here yes I also have a interpration the conflict of interest U I read into the bylaws of the library and it says something along the lines of that you know if they're getting Financial benefits from any decisions they made so with that conflict of interest be even applied it's it's awfully difficult I mean I've heard a lot of rumor this evening no facts no real evidence to link anything to anyone right but based on what I've heard the limited information that I've heard without any support I don't see any conflict of interest okay all right any other any other comments no that was make a motion to approve 717 on Council second wait what Sor council president I think the proper procedure would be to ask for a division of the question so that we can separate both uh each candidate out so a motion to uh motion for the division of the question to separate out each of the candidates that would require a second council president just point of order if we were to vote if we were to just vote on 717 and we have and it votes through this separation is over so I I just correct may we should at least either we have a motion to separate I just don't feel it's necessary to separate something that I would believe is going to pass anyway but I mean it's it's obvious but I mean if you want to step into separating then we have to create a separate resolution for each person I don't if the clerk can do that but have to add another additional resolution on there I just I'm open to just you know at your request at your approval to motion to approve 717 and ask for a second through your through your um Council presidency and as for roll call council person just want to respond back to my Council colleague for 008 it's a whole bundle we are pulling one vendor out of that oh I was speaking for 717 understand but we have to give the same treatment to both either you you are saying you take it all or none well I'm in agreement on one and and disagree with the other I mean we're beating a dead horse right here we I think we're well aware of that council president just to clarify I think his statement is that if it passes as combined does it matter to split it it does yeah he would he may want to support one and not support the other and that's a courtesy fine okay a motion I I believe there's there's been a motion to divide the question but I have not heard a second a second on divide the question now we' go to a roll we would go to a vote on a motion to adopt a no no motion to divide by Council app second by Council div so so if if that if that motion is it Madam clerk if if that motion is adopted then we'll just call each name in individually so this is the motion to divide I want to make sure yes correct correct okay so the motion was made by council president before we go into a vote if if we do divide um and a question was was raised before who would they replace who would one replace over the other is that our choice is that the Mayor's Choice yes yes the terms have I'm sorry I'll answer that one the terms have expired so these individuals are no longer Library board members so there are vacancies what what I'm sorry I'm sorry could you explain excuse me please the the terms have expired and there are no hold of status for library for uh appointments to the library board so I'm so I'm but but it's not let's just say if we approve someone if we approve there's a meeting next Tuesday if we approve one tonight but we hold off on the other one the question is going to be who's going to be sitting in those chairs only the one and there'll be a vacancy on the second only the one and then you you're saying that um let's say it's it's uh Sue O'Neal who's uh who is um both individuals who have terms have expired are no longer members of the library board um wow um okay so um all right soent council president I believe that might be I think in the laws it states that person continues or something only if it's a shared Library when it's in Municipal Library we've just done the we've done the research a memo has been drafted by my firm council president softly yes please Christo I'm asking for order please guys we're trying to get the answer so we can vote properly we have we have been asked by the administration to to review this question and their terms have expired there is no holdover status so these individuals that that that have been spoken about this evening are no longer Library Bo members there are now two vacancies okay yeah um yeah I do I do question that could you I'm happy to provide that research to yeah please please do it's very confusing um all right so where are we that's the same for the planning board let's get the straight there's a motion on the table made by councilman pointer second by council member Patel to divide the to vote on them separately yes okay once you then we after that we so now let's take the vote on to divide them up separately yes okay all right we'd have to decide who's gonna be all right so we're doing if I can council president would we would be fair that we commit to voting for 717 for the first name and we create a second resolution at the council clerk's number order numeric or she recommends 37 it' be r37 so uh the councilman PTI would have to make a motion to leave 717 as is and remove one member to to R r37 would that be correct Council counselor yes so what so turn to clarify the motion then so what member yeah so then so this is very okay sorry so on on 17 which one are we going to vote on which member are you keeping on 17 first the first name which is okay wait blav kabadi all right so PL so so we're taking the vote now on plavi and that's the one that we don't have the res res for correct okay and then immediately I mean following that vote there'll be a vote on rinky Singh Ricky Singh and she would have a new resolution number3 37 sounds great okay y so we're and each one will be voted separately both there you go okay so the motion has to be made to there is a motion in a second ready for a roll call make a motion to approve 717 for the one name counc or even we've motioned and seconded we just need the roll call to divide the question coun motion was to divide we didn't yeah now you're no we're not we're not it's just to it's just to separate it that's all we're voting on so this is just to separate this vot correct okay roll call please separate all right council member brush yes to separate council member Coy yes to separate to two resolutions R 717 and r37 council member Patel council member ptil yes council member poer yes on the motion council member schmuel yes council president Harris yes right so this is just to divide it that's the now we just call each name individually now we're g to keep1 no council president now we need a motion to accept council president motion to approve resolution 717 second and so in a in a motion to approve are were we talking about t when splitting were we talking about is this would splitting mean tabling one of them no no so so now now that the question has been split okay we immediately proceed to calling the name of pavi kabadi and a vote on that individual for a library board appoint for vice and consent of a library board appointment immediately following that vote we'll go to a vote on rinky Singh and each one will be voted on separately so we're at the now okay at the to call the question on those individual names because we've divided the question now now council president Sor coun councilman brusher I have a have a motion on the floor and a second already that's been identified first and who's got the second right so now we should be able to say what we want to say about this one appointment Council Council comments yeah that's what I was asking council president for so we're doing Council comments on the on the first one right okay okay my my question is um back a few years ago from the administration agenda coun Brer talked about resumés he didn't see the resumés for the library board member he'd like to make sure candidates are qualified and feels the council should review candidates for all boards I skip down to what josi said he just you know he's seen the resume um we go to council member Coy he agrees moving forward when being asked to support appointments for the administration they should to provide resumés for the one individual we did not get the resumés so I I'm just looking to vote to see that I know that he voted that way this time I just going to see if he's like the mayor on the flip flopper kind of thing um on the Ws so I just wanted that statement there thank you okay anyone else that was the apology Council pres I received the resume and I'm satisfied with the applicant wait you received the resume yes it was uploaded the site what was that we have we we have both the last I saw we only had rinky I don't have it yeah can we pull them up Sonia could could somebody here show me the resume that was uploaded yesterday I believe the the other one but again there's no notification saying that's the reason I said the packet I considered is a Bible Friday because that is the one that is published agenda outside if you manipulate doing anything outside of that I don't consider that as an update unless clerk notifies the entire Council saying there is change that includes resume application anything that sort of a nature and that's the reason I I'm asking for the first yes they the protocol is followed as far as the application resume awareness everything is fine but for the the second one if you are uploading because there was a question on Monday that's unfair and there is no notification this to council and as I said in past if you have vot and you want to just pass it just because you Wes it's your choice but as far as process is concerned I'm strongly think the process was not followed and it is unfair for this body just to vote what mayor wants thank you councilman Patel okay um so I like Council said we known which candidates are on the to be voted on and I have spoken with both of them and I have done my due diligence and one of them has volunteered for three townships in their libraries other one has a Treasurer they know and they're active part of this community and I believe they're good candidates um I want to thank Pat and sue for their services they have served for 10 years and I again this is a marial appointment so we have to vote on what is in front of us and if this is what the mayor had Chosen and I believe they're could they could do a good job I'm okay to vot for them thank you anybody else C president I'll make the last remark here I don't think we anyone of us are questioning the credibility or the resume of the both individuals I know them personally both are graduate it's not that question it's a question of did this body follow the process and that's where my question is if the process is not followed I will not be comfortable in supporting thank you anyone else council president yes um I've asked you know legal on their advice in regards to the the process items that my colleague mentions uh I I Echo the sentiments that councilman Patel mentioned in regards to the service of all the expired terms on the library board because while a focuses on just two there have been three terms that have technically expired with one that uh is technically retiring to my understanding so just to elaborate on that the the thank you and the gratitude for service absolutely is extended um and to Echo finally that while it is a because it's a mayoress appointment I take it at that value and do my review diligence and decision based on what is presented Ed in front of me so with that thank you council president all right for myself I've served as a liazon on this Library board this uh the years 2023 and 2024 and I cannot say enough about Pat Massie and Sue O'Neal they have done wonderful work their leadership is to be ad fired and held up as a beacon of how a library board should be run um I've been told so and so this is nothing personal to pavi and to Rinky they I know pavi and she's a lovely she's a lovely person I don't know rinky I I serve on the Edo also and so they're both on the Edo I just don't know rinky uh it says nothing personal about them this is on principle and I'm very disturbed about how this whole process has come down I'm I'm disturbed because what the mayor told me is uh that he first of all it was about um well they three years ago that he had put through the fact that these rehab projects for the libraries needed to be done and they didn't do it and uh even though it's being done now they are both in process the um this this whole issue with the architect it has been problematic this I don't see this as being something that was the fault of the leadership of the library board um then I was told another reason from the mayor was well they've Ser they've served a long time well maybe so and I think that's to their credit this is a hard volunteer job but there are no term limits for the Library board and there have been plenty of of boards that we have where people have served for a long time I don't think that's that's to their detriment well don't you think that other people deserve a chance that's fine if there are other people who step off we have Lisa Krauss who's whose term expired also and so that leaves that opening but so pavi and rinky might be extremely qualified but why this is the old if it ain't don't fix it why replace the Excellence that we have with with with people who might be good but we have excellence and why do we need to replace that um I don't I I don't know whether there's some political considerations involved I don't know if this had to do with the whole Clara Barton situation and the independence of the of the library but on principle I am going to have to vote no on these on these two appointments and again it's nothing nothing personal it's about principal and it's about having been the liazon for the last two years thank you very much um so we uh first and a second for apping okay ad so we are in a vote roll call if the councelor could uh instruct us yes I would I would ask for a motion and a second on La kabadi a motion on 717 just say the name that's to approve okay motion do have a second second we already did it but we can do it again for clarification whatever very good we ready for a roll call thank you council member brusher no council member Cole yes council member Patel yes council member ptil abstain council member pointer yes council member schoel yes council president Harris [Music] no okay motion passes motion passes motion pass yes motion passes passes for okay now the new resolution number will be 0 37- 01225 and this will be for um reek there a motion motion to approve second is there a second second Madam clerk we roll call whenever you're ready yes council member brusher uh no council member Coyle yes council member Patel yes council member ptil yes council member pointer yes council member schmuel yes council president Harris no motion motion passes y okay okay uh then we were going to 035 I think that was uh was that you councilman brusher who pul who pulled that one or was that you councilman ptil who who pulled 035 I think AJ Okay I believe based on uh comments in the workshop I believe a motion to amend is required yes a motion to amend to remove the architectural firm of sage correct that's correct is there a motion there is a motion to remove Sage architect from resolution r. 035 second Sage Sage yeah okay is there a second second okay second Patel oh here okay okay all right council member Brer yes council member qu yes council member Patel yes council member PTI yes council member pointer yes council member Schell yes council president Harris yes um now a motion to approve as amended is required motion to approve as amended second council member presser um to separate it yes no not no just Sage is removed they gone then yes yes yes council member Coyle yes council member Patel yes council member ptil yes council member poiner yes council member Schell yes council president Harris yes okay that's resolutions so now we're done with resolutions all right okay so all right uh Now we move on to oral petitions and remarks and so again I'm going to ask the Edison residents sorry we to approve the rest of the because we just m one we approved but what about the rest of the Professional Services they were all done by consent consent agenda that was part of the thank you okay you didn't pull any other ones but no that's it 035 yeah that's it okay um Edison residence if you could uh get up and uh formaline Edis I'm sorry Edison residence we're not going to do this kind of discrimination I'm ready um I'm I'm asking again as a courtesy because Edison residents often feel that they over my excuse me um Edison residents often feel like they are getting the short shrift so I'm going to I'm just going to ask you Mikey if you could uh if you could do that courtesy that's discrimination I agree that the Ed Edison residents didn't get a chance to speak at last meeting and a lot of this is because of what's happened on this side of the dis um I have a tremendously gigantic problem with that kind of [Music] discrimination I don't have my um counc council president night i i i i as much as I believe you have a great idea I would agree with the speaker I think it's challenging to separate anyone who walks through the microphone but than I'm here to listen to your measure of what you choose to do okay all right um let's leave let's so let's leave it that um I would prefer so I'm I'm going to put it this way I would prefer that Edison residents be given the the first choice but I will defer okay okay all right right thank you um yeah I have a big problem with that we can't prioritize one speaker over the next everybody has to be treated equally and if somebody walks into this room who you don't recognize you can't make that determination whether they're an Edison resident or not so I understand that you're looking for the Edison residents to have their voice and uh I agree with you in the sense that um none of them got to speak at the last meeting when it was adjourned um I already spoken to you about my dissatisfaction over um you have an emotion to close the public portion during uh close the meeting adjourn the meeting during public comments um we spoke about that um and I'm trying to move forward but I'm not going to have anything that starts backtracking and that is a complete way that we're now backtrack everybody gets to speak it doesn't matter if they're from Edison or not um none of that should be a problem former council president pattil ptil um Patel winds up saying uh during the during the the decorum ordinance that that some of these things should be preserved I would love to know exactly what part of that ordinance should be preserved uh this is another example of you're not trying to move forward you're not going about it intelligently that's for sure and then you just go and chat and you're talking during my public time so the Corum issues remember it's my time to talk don't talk over me don't don't be speaking to each other while I'm talking okay um I know I brought this up last time security clearance the officers told me that I didn't want to go through the security detector and they said well we don't have a wand so they would wouldn't allow me into the meeting unless I exchange my Fourth Amendment right to exercise my first I have a huge problem with that I've been to Council meetings hundreds of Council meetings all over New Jersey it's very rare and it's actually unique to see such a security clearing to come in and participate in a public meeting without public participation in council meeting such as this we do not have a democracy nobody should be shooted away or intimidating over I I've come to I've not never had a weapon in my life never held a weapon in my pocket or or on me or anything like that so so it's ridiculous um why doesn't it say on the ecode 360 website that the public time has been reduced to four it still says six minutes it still says six minutes so as far as I'm concerned when this clock runs out I should speak for another two minutes because you still haven't updated anything I mean house cleaning who whose charge is that is that the is that the municipal clerk who's supposed to do that because it's not updated uh what and also when when when the six minutes was voted on the six down to four when it was voted on it it wasn't 20 days this wasn't addressed last time I want that I want an answer to that when when was that voted on and did 20 days expire before those December meetings when we were only given four because 20 days didn't EXP so so that needs to be addressed and I didn't even get to speak at the last at the at the meeting on December 23rd because we illegally against opma we we adjourn the meeting during public speaking time it it's a complete disaster so I lost my four minutes there where's my compensation for that I came here to speak uh Vinnie Caputo from South Jersey news reached out to me and told me that commenton is shut off right now commenton is shut off on YouTube channel Edison tv nobody can comment I'm sure my face isn't even on here right now but that's that's an issue I I I would like to go for another two minutes thank you speaker time is I'm sorry Mike your speaker time you guys need to update the we the website because people now come here they look at the website I look at that website before I enter any council president this speaker is out of order he's out of time yes thanks Mikey thank you thank you council president thank you coun good evening folks my name is Joseph Mendes and I'm here from Sussex County and I'm here to to ask you a quick question I was five minutes late to this meeting so I wasn't sure if you guys do the uh Pledge of Allegiance when you start you did yes that's great to hear I'm very happy to hear that because that's going to help change that mentality that would even enter your  mind that you can do something against a living symbol of this country I'm a combat veteran and there are people who died for that flag that flag is alive it's not just a a cloth that you can decide it's a prop today and and and silence people that are pissing you off because they're wearing a suit or carrying a bong whatever the issue is with the Quorum you need to get it out of your mind that you even have a choice of outlawing my American flag in this country you cannot allow it to be rolled in with the other stuff you were trying to prevent people died for that flag people serve and sacrific for that flag every day for all of us I don't care if you were born here I don't care what color you are I don't know any of you but I was born here by the grace of God but my family fled communist Cuba to come to this country and I'm thankful to this country for opening its arms to me and my family and all the opportunities that that flag is given us in Cuba right now you go to prison for flying that flag that flag is alive it's a symbol for people all over the world that gives them hope and you cannot even let that enter your minds ever again please oh we're going to keep coming here to remind you how much that flag means to us thank you very much thank you [Applause] Tom Thomas lucky NE was Circle Edison uh congratulations on being uh voted Town Council president vice president uh back in early December I came here to talk about my cable bill recently switched over to uh well when Infinity came into my area I went and signed up for it the individual who came over to my house all real nice and smiles this is the price of the internet this is the price of cable this is all all the fees and and taxes that go on top of it couple months later pop the bill goes up $5 a month it's principal oh it's franchise fee here Town should know about that why wasn't that built in as originally who or do I have to talk to because Comcast xinity they don't care they're like oh what they did was yeah well we well you know nice nice W make nice they gave me like two months of like of of credit for uh for that uh sub uh that fee who in the town do I need to talk to to raise this up we need to have a running list of what Xfinity does right and wrong and we also need to do the same with Comcast I mean uh cable vision it's right now it's just you know it's just it's just a problem so I'd like to know a name of a person that I can talk to about that secondly want to talk a little bit about the water main break the town I think the town was very good in overc communicating when on on on the website as well as you know sending out nixel uh reports and all that sort of stuff that was great however I I would like to see an accounting of where the monies have been spent and as they gone to the appropriate departments not to affect non you know what's call non- Edison Township Water p uh uh Township residence there was a lot of heart cost with going and uh you know the the cost of the know the repair the cost of the overtime and all that but there's also soft cost does the township have a a reporting process to be able to say okay we bought X am of th000 cases of water that we gave out it gets built against you know this code or or or work breakdown structure what have you it needs it so that it that money that was expended doesn't go and get taxed against the people that have middle sex or American water so I'd like to I'd like to see a reporting on that secondly I think it's a shame as I've mentioned other times I've worked in the engineering Arena my whole career career my whole life I had some very hard and some very soft and easy site surveys the the engineering firm that did this site survey and said oops we we couldn't we couldn't go and describe or determine all where all the lines were that's an that's an excuse they I I've had to spend many hours going to do make sure what I did was right and was thorough and not not give an excuse saying oh we we think it's right and let us go they need to absorb those costs whether they're error emissions or what have you but they need to they need to be held speaker time elapsed yes thank you Tom um can we uh Tom asked about the uh cable bill situation and I I don't don't remember hold up I'll I'll get back to that maybe just deal with this now uh the cable the cable bill issues um where where does he take this where do we go with this council president there should be leas on for Comcast if there's not I can ask later through the administration or to the senator Pat dagon's office if there is someone who is an appointee to the area is that that fair and I can get back to the resident yes right I'll get you a contact it's I know it's about principal I know you're complaining about $5 but it's principal it's not the five bucks it's principal you told one thing and you got another all right so you can get his inform I will okay I have his number but I'll get it again tonight and then there was a question about the water M where the where the money was spent was that uh was that what you would ask sir Tom okay uh it's all getting charged to the water utility okay thank you all right thank you um I'm sorry Mikey I'm I'm going to just give you this point it didn't go into effect on the 11th I'm sorry it was voted on November 25th November 25th is when yeah right days was up de 16th you let us answer yeah yes December 16th is when the 20 was when the 20 days uh was was up and moved to and that's when it moved to four minutes so uh so that it was adopted November 25th and then uh December 16th is when it went into effect point of order we're having a back I'm sorry yeah you didn't know no December 9th and December 11th they were both at 6 minutes yes December 16th is when it turned over December 23rd is when no it actually yeah Mikey I I I would disagree I'm have to leave it here but uh no it it started it's so for the December 23rd meeting is when when this started right right okay I I I have to stop okay thank you all right Joel Joel bassoff Edison what a disappointment tonight was that these unqualified and illegally nominated Library nominees were were approved uh this Council has been getting abysmal advice from the the township Law Firm it goes back to the decorum ordinance which led to one of the greatest debacles that this town has ever seen uh you got the kind of advice from The Firm that that should lead the township to seriously consider changing legal counsel and you have a law firm that obviously represents the interests of the mayor and and the political machine that placed the mayor where he is because it does not represent the interests of of the council uh you were put in a position where you approved nominations that were not validly submitted under our own Township Code uh you didn't have seven days to look at the resumés a nomination that's made without a resume is not a valid nomination submitted to the council it our Municipal Code says it has to have a resume and majority of you did not insist on that you also have to have an opportunity to consult with the board in which the vacancies occur uh you didn't all have an opportunity to do that and you have to have an opportunity to thoroughly interview the nominees and you didn't all do that so the the council was the majority of the council was derel in its responsibility and thanks and kudos to those who voted against consenting to those nominations and of course if since the nominations were not actually lawfully presented to the council when those nominees take their seats on the library board any actions that the library board takes could actually be subject to Legal challenge if it turns out that those people were not lawfully appointed to the library board but of course that'll just produce more litigation uh for the the township which can benefit the the Township's attorneys uh now to follow up on a question that Mr azzarella had he actually was um referring properly to the resolution that awarded contracts to various firms for Professional Services because that has to do with Municipal spending which has to do with the municipal budget and what he was pointing out is that our Charter says that the municipal budget has to be prepared during the month of November the mayor shall require all department heads and I'm quoting verbatim from our Township Charter uh section 3-15 the mayor shall require all department heads to submit requests for Appropriations for the uing budget year and to appear before the mayor or the business administrator at public hearings which shall be held during that month on various requests and it says public hearings and I asked the question at the previous meeting why have we not had public hearings the answer I got was essentially well that's not the way we do it but that's what our Municipal Charter requires so again with the attorney that this Township has when you get a legal ruling to be responsible you'd better ask the attorney to show his work show the specific sections of the statute or the code that he's referring to because otherwise you don't know if he's just being an advocate for the administration to see what he can get away with and what he can put over on the council so uh my question is going forward will the council with every legal question ask for backup ask the attorney show your work all right um um uh to our council do you have any I'm not even going to respond to that I think the statements were largely defamatory I think Mr Bass off uh basically said that we gave certain advice to create litigation I don't even want to dignify with a response and I'm not going to okay well yeah your time okay I I also asked about the um the township Charter with regard to the budget public hearings that's what it says Okay um all right so your question was what was your question again well why do we not have public hearings on budgetary requests in November as the requires and we answered that at the last meeting and the answer is the same there's no the hearings did not happen there there's no other answer to be given right okay Joel you're gonna have to sit down I'm sorry okay it's a non- answer council president I just want to point to the record that we've had probably 15 different meetings where no one complained before and I think it is challenging to know it is an attack on Sam josi we didn't they didn't complain about mayor lanky same situation same problem didn't complain about m sing and know same situation same problem I just find it odd that today all of a sudden it's a problem thank you council president R Russ azarello Skyler Drive Edison New Jersey and and not for nothing councilman Coy but two wrongs don't make a right and better late than ever if something's brought to your attention you have to listen you don't have to like it the lawyer doesn't have to like it you have to listen we have four six minutes four minutes whatever you have to like listen and you don't have to like but listen we have that right that's our Amendment now I wasted a couple of seconds here let me Begin by saying it's no surpris that these P these last few months have been very challenging frustrating and emotional at times a as not only have our questions concerns disappointments and anger over many of our quality of life issues been ignored but we've been subjected to an attack on our first amendment and ban on the US flag and United States Constitution which because of Drew Township Statewide Nationwide and international attention anger and support the eyes of many have been fixed upon you and with each and every meeting how would you like each and every one of you to be viewed how would you like to be known and remembered I'd like to share with you because people do pay attention they are watching the meetings you are in the Limelight whether you know it or not and we all are Believe It or Not uh I like I'd like to share something with you that I received because if you don't if you don't think that people remember you're wrong I received this I have to share with you this morning I'm at the doctor's office and a man comes in wearing red sweats that says Edison and gold I asked who he was he he replied Mr Van Pelt who was a a gym teacher and a driver's ed at Edison High and TJ uh he told me a story of a conversation with a student he had many years of go it was you he was teaching about the stages of grief and you came up to him after class saying wow Mr Vel you describe me and and what what what I feel is normal then he said you were senior when your dad died a few years prior whatever you talk both talked about stayed with him his his whole life he remembered what you said people are going to remember people are going to remember how you act if you're a seat war up there if you're a rubber Stamper if you don't vote with your head with your heart and with your conscience many this is this is the mayor's last year the the fourth out of out the third the last out of four years right you have a you have a chance to save face do the right thing just because something comes in front of you you don't have to agree with it and let me tell you something if two if 10 people come to me to my job and one of to cut grass and Landscape I'm going to look for the best qualified how could you two people Mrs Massie and Sue O'Neal how could how could you terminate their positions for two people you don't even know one of them you don't even know their qualifications that's ridiculous you should know their qualifications they're around children they're going to be around children the library the community we don't know who they are you don't know their qualifications if they're for the job decade of experience known throughout the state it's it's I can't even find the words to describe it's a it's got to be appalling and embarrassing I'm I'm I'm I'm embarrassed for you for voting for this shame on you I got 43 seconds I need about 10 more minutes you know this failing Administration is setting a prec to to be incompetent in unep undependable unreliable non proactive untrustworthy and non-trans non-transparent consistently focused on wasteful spending on Edison tax paying residence dollars um you're turning a blind eye deaf ears to the to the veterans to the seniors uh to the old and failing infrastructure high taxes high crime wasteful spending uh the department heads where's the department head why wasn't these roads standing your time your time is up thank you Russ welcome okay Liz Elizabeth Conway 20 Netherwood Circle I just have a question about uh recycling uh after Christmas with all the different gifts and cardboard boxes um my recycling day was January 1st and I didn't have the information I couldn't find the information as to how I was supposed to get rid of all my cardboard boxes and luckily um Marina and John pointer were diligent and letting me know what I could do and I thank you both for that but there used to be um uh an excess to the mini ve where you could drop off cardboard and there was a a sign up that it was for recycling and there were times that you could drop off recycling I noticed some people took advantage of not dropping off the proper Recycling and I don't know if that has anything to do with it but since that time the sign is gone and the gate is locked so we can't drop off uh cardboard there anymore and I was told we had to go over to uh New Durham and I was wondering is this the only place in the township that it can be done from here forward and that was my question okay all right um Sonia or whomever do you know have the answer to that so as you may recall last quarter of the year we have a dedicated Recycling yard so that is exactly where Miss Conway should take her items to so minival will never be reopened it is not so we have to go across town thank you Liz okay anybody else from the public Lefty good evening Council I am El ridor I'm with sativa cross.org we 501c3 here in New Jersey fighting for disability rights cannabis patients rights last meeting councilman breter asked to ba if they had um paperwork on the incline out there that that says that it's ADA Compliant was that ever found was that paperwork ever found I was asking we we'll answer at the end okay yeah so that that paperwork needs to be found I'd like to know if that's uh compliant I know it's not compliant I believe the ba is full of BS BS at this point um because that was a lie and you're lying at the expense of of disabled people you got sick dying and disabled people disabled vets and you're lying making them suffer uh I will never forget how you all made those sick people go up that incline in the rain when the police chief blocked off the front entrance the handicap entrance and put cop cars out there now the chief's not here today but I brought a wheelchair uh hope the uh town can see the wheelchair give me the wide view yeah don't show my face down show the show the wheelchair I brought this wheelchair this is my friend Jeff's wheelchair he had stage four cancer would go to many Council meetings with us and I'd like you to get in that chair and go up that ramp just like you made all the sick people do and I know it's cold out there but you made them do it in the rain so will the ba go in that wheelchair and go up the ramp like you made all those people do will you do that will the police chief do it will Patel do it will the will the attorney do it it was Burns fault but I guess you'll have to pinch for burns will you do it will you go up on that chair no not I have been to many Council meetings and not one of you will take that chair and spend time in that wheelchair why what are you afraid of and is it unsafe is it unsafe yeah it's unsafe does it suck yeah it sucks real bad why don't you want to do it why' you make disabled people go do it why did your Chief make disabled vets and sick and dying and disabled people go up that incline that's not ADA Compliant I want you all to do it go in that wheelchair it's here get in there and do it will anyone do it not one of you raise your hand to do it no none of you care you don't care about Disabled Vets but but genital Joi will take videos and and and photos with Disabled Vets but you won't put the work in you won't put the work in but you'll put take photos with Disabled Vets oh I care about vets yeah prove it you don't care about vets it's all talk because the work is right here get in that wheelchair and go up that incline and I'll feel a little better about about about your life brave enough to do it is anyone brave enough to get in that wheelchair and go up that ramp like you did to the sick people anyone your city engineer I think that's your city engineer there I think you're the handicapped coordinator where were you is that your job to do the handicap stuff where were you that day why did you allow that to happen why' the firemen allow that to happen why did this whole town allow sick and dying and disabled people to go up that incline that was not Ada complying putting the last last you're supposed to put the last first you put them last any Christians on this Council cuz you're doing it all wrong if you're Christian you're doing it all wrong unbelievable and that's burnt into my brain I have to go to the rest of my life thinking about that that poor man just like I had to go through in B when I watched Jeff crawl up the  stairs in B in B they they they have no police station access uh South boy has no police station access where's the police Union no we get genital josy endorsements we don't get wheelchair ramp endorsements we get Mayor penis thanks police Union thanks for nothing hold this all right am I recognized yes okay so you saw how far was when I moved the line okay um before as you can see I I couldn't go go through here um so I went around I was I was just going to go around I didn't notice how far how far back normally this doesn't go all the way to the wall I can just sneak sneak around and come back this way in the middle of doing so the ba starts talking to me it's not her job to start talking to me you can tell me to move move the police are here to tell me to move I know where I can stand and where I can be I was about to go over the line anyway then I said some words she said some words to me she initiated contact with me I said some words to her do you know what she said to me she threatened me how many of you heard the ba threaten me terroristic threatened me that her husband is going to be waiting for me outside I don't know if you know this but deputy chief know she's writing a false false report on me now I dare you to I dare you to charge me I'm going to charge you with writing a false police report and she smiling about it so through the chair the pointer and and and Margo I'm sorry you know I love you when you're around I'm always going to be behaved but at the same time these instigations have to stop they're instigating me all right and uh yeah everything I said Every curse word I said it was all building up something that you wanted to prevent is now going to happen all year long good job good job councilman pointer one time councilman pointer called a fake point of order because I was saying that the ba is corrupt and he said that's a personal attack and then police remove me it's not a personal attack if I say the ba shouldn't get her raised I think she's corrupt especially with the payto playay Scandal that went through through the news so John Pointer's a piece of who calls fake point of orders as as a way nefarious point of orders maliciously to instigate she's a piece of and she's a piece of and I'm going to say she's a piece of right now all right two years ago and and I'm going to put this on on on YouTube when Coyle had me removed that one day I'm walking downstairs it's on body camera she goes she sees me Jesus Christ she uses the lord's name in vain Jesus Christ and then you know what she says shortly after that I'm getting my weapon or I have my weapon the police they wouldn't F they they refused to file a police report that they saying she was being sarcastic but when you take that day and what we all witnessed the threat she made today that's now a pattern that's a pattern and I'm not going to allow anybody to keep with me anymore  you you're a I'll be outside I'll be waiting for your H I am not going I'm not going to allow this I'm not going to allow this he has been harassed am waiting for your husband outside he has been harassed 43 seconds left is my ask you to sit down shut the  up my time kisto I'm asking you to sit down this is not this is not appropriate this is not it was it was very I only have Jo I'm asking you to sit down you're going to you're forfeiting my time I am okay uh Tor claim on you stupid stupid  my question council president that was not appropriate to be attacking our ba with language language like that it just was not appropriate you could address the council president you could have done what you've done before which is to speak at us scream at us curse at us that was not appropriate thank you council president thank you question thank you I'm sorry uh what was what was work for the ba about the compliant access oh yeah you had asked about the paperwork uh about that okay U do we have paperwork about the compliance I think we I think we had asked about that at Monday's meeting too right uhuh we'll get that to councilman brusher as ited okay all right thank you all right we'll get that um Dr Nas Pleasant Avenue I think we need to look at the interaction between Christo and the ba I know that there was something that I heard that um wait until my husband does whatever so I I feel like that was threatening there I'm not sure what went back and forth but I think that needs to be investigated all right um I want to thank the uh council president Harris uh for having to Gus to do something that was really hard at the beginning it didn't work out but um many of you up there know right from wrong but I have questions about some of the other people there I think we did get bad legal advice from uh our lawyer today with respect to holdovers if you look at the library bylaws it says the following under article three board membership Board of Trustees members whose terms have expired Shall Serve in a holdover capacity until official appointments have been made I believe you said something different I could be wrong maybe you can speak on behalf of that but that's what that says right there so if you were wrong about that I questioned about everything that you gave as advice today and you messed up the whole proceedings okay principles mean something I have nothing against the people that were appointed in fact I actually know one of them sort of and I kind of like them but again we do need to follow procedure we can't just make things up as we go I would love to know what Pat and Sue did wrong why we didn't ask back we kind of all know that did you guys happen to ask those questions because that is really important they are one of the best teams out there that you could have there all right um see a lot of cameras going back and forth here interesting uh it's good that the cameras can go this way finally I mean took a long time um patents two I feel were scapegoats um I hope that the two Library board members will not go ahead and disappoint us I hope that those of you that voted to put them in did you due diligence we know that many of you live in the clar bar area if the clar bar library closes and councilman Coyle I know that you were adamant about saving the library if it closes it's going to be because of you guys and you voted yes to it so you would be one of the people that we're going to blame all right so it's really hard for me to go ahead and talk about anyone that's under the Edo because I'm in the Edo but you know what I try to go ahead and go down the middle one of the things I did hear about um one of the people that were you know voted in today was by Rob and said that you know they are somebody that is on the board of the condo association that seems to be a problem for me I have a problem with you guys rushing things through um we should have done it on December 23rd again why didn't we do it on December 23rd we know exactly what that answer was because you wouldn't have gotten to votes I'm disappointed that we only have four minutes to talk I'm not belaboring any points I had so many points that I wanted to talk about maybe they would have made a difference but I didn't get the opportunity to goad and talk because this Council decided in their best interest to go ahead and shut me up or all of us so let's go ahead and think about that we need to think about the committee that um council president Harris discussed about future board uh proceedings or whomever we're going to select what happened here was a disgrace the policy was not followed you should have printed copies there shouldn't be like oh we got the electronic thing just right a couple seconds ago that is not how it works but I mean guess in Edison that's how it works I want to know about the water main break um will we the taxpayers have to pay for all the water that leaked out how does it work does the utility buy water and then it sells it to other people to the ba um you said that I was incorrect in my email that I sent yesterday um at and you responded at 10 a.m. you said that I was wrong about my uh assertions that most of the communications happened after uh 800m I got something finally today by Pat um at 4 and it seems like that counters what you said and if you were right why didn't I go ahead and get that information at 10: a.m. when you responded so I feel like you guys are just giving whatever messages you want to give and maybe I'm wrong go ahead and counter me clearly we have communication issues that we have to deal with and again I feel bad for Pat and Sue this is terrible what happened today anybody else from the public okay yes Rob Rob Kento 61 meow I I have a actually had a real simple question but um I'll save that for after um brought up the water system on December 30th at 9 like maybe 9:15 9:20 a.m. I was on the township website looking at the public hearing water documents from 2019 and um couple people were I am in me saying hey do you have the water documents I said sure I posted a link to them about why I was viewing them poof they were gone they're still not up today somebody took them off and then that same day the mayor quoted right from those documents are we going to get the water documents back I'm only missing one of them I could open them but if you just put them all back up now that the crisis is over and we don't need to hide anything that that would be nice thank you U you know I realized octar you octar you had asked about the water M leaks and who would be paying for that is that correct um can I ask you uh Sonia that question was answered council president that they're going to be building utility is that correct she did she answered that okay now the the question was directed towards leak um I have our water sewer director here who can answer that okay thank you the water from the water leak the residents you all have your water bills you charge for the water you use at your residents the rest of it comes out of the our budget so the residents will not get built for the water main break thank you thank you thank you Bob okay anybody else from the public motion to close the public potion second okay all right all in favor oh all in favor yes I okay I um all right we now move to number 16 from the council member to the planning board and I know that was there anything no no I don't have anything okay all right so um so Points of Light um just a few announcements January 9th which is tomorrow will be President Carter's funeral and the Township offices I'm going to be asking for order here can I ask for order in the public can I ask for order thank you um January 9th uh is President Carter's funeral and the Township offices will be open uh January 14th Edison Township blood drive 10:00 a.m. to 400 p.m. in Council chamber neighbors January 20th Township offices will be closed for Martin Luther King Jr day uh I would add to that that January 18th I think is where we are celebrating Martin Luther King day over at minil I believe that's I don't know the times of that just yet um and what's that I think it's I think it's yes it's on the website that's Saturday January 18th um any other Points of Light okay uh Now we move on to discussion items I don't know where Council bman brusher is uh oh I forgot about the Committees I'm so sorry Council committees um uh anyone any reports from Council committees um I'm going to go from you councilman Coyle Council I just have a a question I should have asked it in the work session part but would you be appointing someone from the council to the planning board uh yes because only because they have reorg coming up and it should have been discussed earlier yes yes I don't how many people are going to volunteer themselves it seems to be actually um Council vice president and I are going to be meeting on Sunday to discuss these the the really urgent appointments including that one sorry to interrupt council president just as a clarification I did um speak to planning engineering just to let them know that there has been no an appointment there is no actual application being heard there's a an item that was at the last meeting that got tabled to this meeting but it's it's not an actual application it's actually in regards to one of the zoning items that we had that the individual brought up on the uh the duplexes and the notice with the other homeowner um that's the only matter that is being heard though at the reorganization are they going to reor before this appointment uh yes their their next meeting is on Monday yes okay all right council president uh let me just go down just go down um so then uh so uh councilman Council vice president pointer any other committees uh any reports none council president okay councilman Patel U so open space met on January 2nd Thursday we discussed by pats uh there was a presentation for walking paths uh discussion regarding to affordable housing and how possible so much chatter yeah please continue okay uh so we discussed uh possibility of creating paths along wav also developing uh maybe changing the zoning near The Greenway to uh create more affordable housing and there were some questions that were asked at the open space committee uh for the timeline for the grant Sonia would you be able to provide the two grants that we received what would be the timeline that will would look like for the bike paths on the Central and uh jcpnl okay we uh can we close can we close the door please everybody it's all the people seated I'm sorry there's so much conversation okay again I'm going to ask for order in this chamber please thank you councilman Patel Council M Patel I just wanted to confirm um we just received them it could take you know uh 30 60 days I'm not sure uh we just received the award letters you saw a couple weeks ago so what's the next step and what will be the so Brian Brian has been working on the design um and there's been some back and forth with the attorney um with JC panel just on the one side to make sure that that's uh a feasible option I know there's some questions back and forth know there was some changes with the one of the laot was being owned by someone else and we're going to work around that so still working those details out okay but like two months three months well I I I think you're looking at the spring just to be realistic just if we're making any um physical alterations to the pathway okay uh there was also a concern about the sidewalk at John Adams School uh I was hoping to go through the liaison uh committee but unfortunately that's going to take place in March so I was hoping someone from the administration will reach out to the Boe to address the sidewalk that is uh uh it's from Fairmont to the parking lot specifically uh there was a discussion on the website for the Barnes preserve that is being launched uh there's an area that will be discussed in my discussion items that will be also discussed and there is also another additional uh trail that is the buron Branch Railroad that owns that it's a banded that's near the lot Mark Market on ambo AV that we could possibly Target to create a bik path in that area so that was one of the discussion items as well uh and also discussion they wanted W wanted to get in touch with the recreation uh director to discuss the bike path bike tour back in May and you know just to address the P path and how we the township can help out with that right thank you genten thank you coun patio any reports any committee reports okay councilman shamuel I do not okay all right um I I have uh the reports from the animal shelter um we have the December report currently in the shelter seven dogs no puppies six cats six kittens one reptile adopted in December 8 K9 15 female Felines and one reptile reclaimed in December three canines and one cat there will be a Tricky Tray with the PBA for 2025 in the summer that's being worked on right now Library board report there was a special meeting on December 23rd I was not able to attend because I was here in the council meeting but um this was uh the second round of bids were o were open um and a rental space the the headlines are basically the second round of were open a rental space was located for when the North Edison Branch closes and there were a number of committee meetings um the uh director's report indicated that the library will be looking to order a new bookmobile likely in the fourth quarter of 2025 current bookmobile was previously owned and has some issues um we have a con the update on the construction in the main branch Capital make sure I got at this uh we're finishing up construction and they'll be delivering the shelves and the books and that were in storage remediation of the first floor scheduled to start on the 27th of January will continue for two weeks um Miss SAR stated that a new children's librarian jayen beton Court started this month uh the committee reports Miss Massie stated that they are very pleased with a new temporary location found that was found on Oak Tree Avenue um Miss Massie clarified that through that throughout the state it's best practice to have a shared service agreement between the public library and the municipality uh resolution to approve an award Construction contract for renovation and expansion of the North Edison Branch Library went to Pal proo builders for 40 4, 280,000 which includes the base bid of 3, 980,000 and Alternate one roof of 300,000 as the lowest responsible bidder was approved um there was approved a collective bargaining agreement between the Edison Public Library locals uh 224-1 and 22042 of the American Federation of state county and Municipal Employees aflcio Council 63 for the period from January 1st of this year to December 31st of 2027 um resolution to empower the library director and board attorney to enter a lease agreement for temporary space at the North Edison Branch library at 1907 Oak Tree in Edison for approximately 15 to 18 months during construction was approved um on motion and second the 202 resolution to approve the 2025 operating budget was approved and the resolution to approve the capital budget also went through uh motion resolution to transfer 1 million from the operating account to the North Edison Branch capital account was approved there was a a resolution to approve the 2023 audit report prepared by sule Clooney and Company and that was approved roll call oh don't need to go through the roll call vote um the attorney discussed a possible resolution to offer Mr kimman a contract for the position of Library director and that would be binding upon acceptance that would track the salary increases of rank and file union members and would be for cause contract um resolution to authorize Mr Brady to send the previously discussed for cause contract to Mr kimman via email for a one-year time period with the option for a one-year extension to the library discretion uh was approved um the next meeting will be Tuesday January 14th at the North Edison Branch and that is my report um okay we now go on to the I believe it's a discussion item so I'm correct all right yes okay and uh councilman brusher uh you got some items yes I'll tell you what since it's getting late I'm not going to go through all these um right it's it's Joe's birthday today but just one question Sonia could I get those report for the fire alarm um I don't know if you might have sent them I just didn't see him I was sick I have in the past we are currently working on the new fire alarm did you need anything with the new fire alarm uh yeah it's being worked on right just the latest um test that they've performed what whatever date it is um you know I mean if it was last month whatever it is but if you can just give me those reports I just want to look at got them just so I know about the progress that's all um the other items I'll come back to at our next meeting uh for councilman CO's birthday thank you Council brusher councilman Co well um not have much to discuss but I I will say I didn't appreciate hearing council president announce my birthday and because I was seven and a half minutes late she said well the hell with him I don't know I thought that was just kind of kind of low but it's all good I accept but but I just was like I was literally and I text her I'm in the parking lot so I know she didn't mean it it kind of sometimes we just talk like that but I had to address it but uh it's all good I can stay here till 11 it's okay I've never been called the scumbag on my birthday but it's okay I mean uh and people have their right to speak and I get it and um I have nothing to discuss on my discussion only because um it's a late night in the public I know wants to be home so thank you very refreshing to see that councilman Co has a sensitive side thank you all right uh councilman Patel so I would like to make it quick so the main thing I wanted to discuss was the oak tree and Fairmont lot uh that's this was the discussion at the open space committee uh they were hoping to use that lot to create a community space uh for those neighborhood and hopefully by next month we will have a presentation that we will have developed as to a couple of ideas of what we can do with that space and then we can present it to the council and hopefully take it to the community and have the community's input into this project and maybe move forward with that um and the town finances I think we have discussed in the past so I'm going to skip on those all right councilman Pao I'll be taking a long time cuz I skipped my report during the December meeting given the situation in the council chamber so I only have two but you I'll be clubbing both year in review as well as the township employees so we didn't wish this Council didn't wish happy New Year but to all the resents of Township wish everyone very happy and healthy New Year congratulations Council president you have a very hard job congratulations or vice president uh you have been in that shoe so you know what you are getting into now I'll be getting into the more line items that will talk about the the journey last 2 year or a year mostly that happened last year at the same token you know I would expect you know con president as well as vice president uh you would respect the audience you will be open for the full transparency and this Council will be doing the right thing for the town I hope our attorney gives concise and advice to this body I spoke earlier on that will be respectful to respectful to the resident by paying close attention to what they have to say also all the council members should be requested to respect the residents and the council president no cross talking we saw that today as well I mean not interrupting the meeting no cross talking avoiding isolated discussions we have other end most of the time or in the audience while meeting is in progress let's maintain the sanity of these di let be serious for the business we have great Township employees and I thank everyone what you do for this town we agree to disagree on few things but we have I can always I always say that we have the best police department we have the best OEM the fire department in the state of New Jersey we can agree to disagree on some of those things DPW has been always great at moving things forward thank you finance team you always respond fairly quickly big shout to our zoning Officer Jim yard our engineer Brian always helpful planning head H Bell and construction officer John sales very very helpful people in our town in sh all our Township employees thank you all all of you what you do for us there are many more names to thank uh but that will take a long time but thank you Chief Deputy Chief uh Andy to as well uh for what you do for us now for the year in the review and there are lot many things to be said here I brought up several discussion items related to spending and residents quality of life immediate priorities when things are said we got it done but you hardly hear at what cost how far and what this means to us and the Next Generation great examples Glendale acquisition we close this in Rush with a big price tag paid $13 million and the matter is in litigation we are paying $50,000 month or month plus the litigation cost and we have no idea when that litigation is going to close I heard May Yosi mentioned the development opportunities but I have not yet seen the plan budget hearing it is supposed to be public hearing while May josi was a councilman he Ted doubted for the transparency he forced the budget hearing in the middle sex County College but last year we got into the council meeting and council members got hardly 6 minute to ask questions it's surprising Township finances and infrastructure priorities we are at two we are at close to $200 million debt to this Township and the township budget is close to $175 million so we have more debt than our budget is we have full-time mayor with a million doll Department he a chief of staff he the community Le and many more people were helping him for the Outreach mayor josi borrowed roughly $100 million in last two and a half year all prior mayor borrowed $100 million so look at our spending rate this is on top of 12 to5 million that may lank left during the covid that was the money that we got from State look at the projects that were branded as we got it done to Center spend close to $4 million project is installed look at the Sport Center we started at 4 million we are at 12 plus million we have prioritize I saying when we say that this council is equally to blame the priority was more to the photo ops project than the quality of life life may lanki started the paving program continued that for 8 years and thank you mayor josi for continuing that living unfortunately this body did not stand up for some of the big ticken atems we could have paused them or we could have done our due diligence before moving forward but hey let's see how resent respond this is the election year Edis an art Society had been here for a long long time very disappointed this has been moved out of this town hall animal shelter big debacle thank you council president you know you headed spearheaded that along with Sonia thank you for providing all the support to restore that uh but thank you we were able to correct the situation now let's talk about the entire town Clara bartan mayor josi tried closing the library it's a fact we're trying bypassing the resident for Jackson Avenue project but thank you to Clara Barton residents who came here who stood on the grounds to oppose all those things and we were able to reverse those decisions iron is we also lost or my Council colleagues Pet Project flowers for Clara Warden years and years years that neighborhood used to look beautiful now there are no flowers there are annual festivities of Clara Barton Clara Barton is known for annual festivities lost all of those festivity environment everything is mov to central location South End Edison water utility we have not moved a lot on the Edison water utility but mes unnown executive order which I spoke many many times shutting down services to condos the town houses the apartment buildings not serving those communities is very bad not PRI prioritizing water and SE pipe replacement and we just saw the water debacle and I hope this Council this year will push forward to get more things on on or more traction towards the uh building rebuilding the Edison water utility and funding it this the year 2024 I'm pretty sure every resident in the South End will remember this for water debacle it was not about the the water leak or water main PR we were not able to look at it was about the communication and the transparency that was happening at that time I would have expected our OEM director or the water department director would have communicated to this Council very closely what was happening on the ground didn't happen I texted M several times I called Chief of Staff Bob deal he had no idea what was happening I called Pat K he had no idea what was going on people were anxious to know what was happening yes mayor can be on the ground but who is the subject matter expert during the covid did we see Governor Phil Murphy coming and giving the briefing or it was the heal director giving the Bri that's where the problem is the communication communication communication or communication is always fine but at least communicating that to the elected official was very important that didn't happen I'm very disappointed with that Township financing and infrastructure priorities as I said we really need to move forward North End what happened cannabis we tried changing the zoning mayor thought he had the four five votes on the council TI when the push came from the resident there was an attempt to table that ordinance but thank you to Northend residents who stood on their ground and made sure this Council voted it down suppressing resident wise unnecessary use of police force I have not seen police officer Pres pres in Council chamber maybe around the somewhere in the lobby again I'm not I'm talking about during mayor langage time but now we have the police presence very unfortunate you know I don't know what what's what's wrong with that changing the camera angles when they were not really needed deleting and editing council meeting recordings I don't know what we are trying to hide and many more things lack of transparency while mayor josi was a council member he used to preach for the transp used to record and streamline this Council meetings right sitting here from his cell phone after becoming mayor he used the council president and council members to change the meeting process which we resigned the ordinance which existed for a long long time I agree that we need to have some rules and regulations but why they were not needed for 1520 years why the council meetings were so smooth and why it happened during last 3 years that's a question I don't know you know why again I we I don't want to rehash but it was a very very bad suggestion calling flag and the Constitution as a prop very bad suggestion and of course in terms of lack of transparency not answering questions of the residents in timely manner somebody comes to the podium they are taking their 6 minutes now 4 minutes from their personal life to ask the question and we are not responding to them in timely fashion most of the time we don't even respond or we don't give the correct answer and now there is no way to come back for rebuttal and ask the question it's very unfortunately I have many more attemps to discuss like Public Public Safety ignoring Amazon noise issue there are too many warehouses coming but I will continue some of this topic during my upcoming council meeting but let's talk about some positive thing that happened short tax stability yes you know last 3 years we did our tax did went roughly 6% cumulative with the help of County they reduce the tax so that's the reason we don't see much of a difference there but this is a long-term disaster because we have huge debt to pay master plan though it was promised in 100 days finally what we got it done uh but at least we have the Baseline which will keep changing splash park was done though we spend double the money than what we budgeted for but again I to thank councilwoman Joy sh Freeman who worked with mayor lanki to secure some fund the portion of that fund continuing the road paving program that mayor lanky started more Recreation facilities we have the soccer fields baseball courts more investment in mini so few things I would say happened again money was spent well investment in ston community center again this was something was supposed to be handed over to board of education but again the priority Chang while May Yosi was a councilman he was in support of giving this property to Board of Education the process was started got stalled after he became a mayor and now it will be used for some other purpose billboard ordinance lighting ordinance cl cl on four story to three and half story ordinance cleaning up zoning caps speed limit on gr Street or gr Avenue Capital spending on Cross light Crossing light the solar operated lights traffic study of gr and Calwood assuming that's in progress fencing to various Parks bike path initiative again thank you to this Council for doing you know some of the the good projects here the whole flag Fiasco you know against this something we Edison made the name Nationwide the apology from mayor Yi and council president and the uturn on resigning the flag prop ordinance again I I said that it's better to be L than never it's a good thing to that happened great presentation by veterans committee on the proposed Improvement to the Veteran Memorial Park and I heard good thing from uh our ba Sonia thank you for acknowledging that and hopefully will have the funds in this year's budget I will close with a quote from Oprah leadership is about empathy it is about having the ability to relate and to connect with people for the purpose of inspiring and empowering their lives it's not about power empathy respect democracy let's believe in those values and the last but not least I want to wish a very happy birthday to my Council colleague councilman K thank you council president um I'd like to make a motion to extend the meeting just I'm going to say 10:15 only because I have some remarks to make and I I just want to make sure I have the time for them um can I get a motion to extend to 10:15 motion to extend to 10:15 second thank you very much okay for myself um oh I'm sorry uh all in favor yes I okay sorry keep forgetting that part um so for myself I'm just going to address I'm sorry I'm sorry po oh I'm so I'm sorry I'm sorry okay go ahead councilman pointer thank you council president I I'll be brief um just a couple status updates that I requested from the administration to provide uh the smart hydrants and the meter replacement project are currently at the ibank awaiting approval from the D the Edison Light Transit currently under review by New Jersey Transit as they are the pass through for the grand funding however though elt services for senior citizens have begun uh the to Center the D has required an additional groundwater sample to take place despite the December showing that contaminant levels were under the threshold the sample will be taken on January 20th as that's the earliest date the sample can be taken per the de p uh then they will have to test that sample and then on the sports building uh you know things with weather minor delays however things are still moving along side paneling for the walls of the pre-engineered metal building and Roofing are currently going up thank you to the administration for providing that update uh a couple of items that I have here for possible code uh updates I provided to Legal some suggestions to update our adoped area program and an attempt to broaden our capabilities to Foster beautification and Community involvement with residents businesses and other groups organizations of the township I know I made mention of this on Monday what I'm going to do is uh probably tomorrow I will disseminate the draft ordinance to all my colleagues for their review I will disseminate it to the administration for their review view with the appropriate departments and I will ask council president that at the first meeting of February that it may be put on for consideration chapter 25 with trees um the environmental commission has asked for us to review our current tree ordinance a little bit further than just the uh replacement findes that that we had voted on last year this is in regards to uh replacement tree guidelines they provided me an draft I submitted some questions back they're going to review Once they do that review and send that back I'm going to ask legal to draft up a formal document um so that again that's said same review can happen between council members and the administration that I would hope to have have up by the uh March meeting um finally chapter 37 zoning I talked about uh updating our Z Zing particularly on areas that are now have become more residential in nature primarily along the middle sex Greenway Silver Lake um you can consider Whitman Avenue though that's mostly developed at this point and Woodbridge and Main Street I had a meeting with the administration which I thank everyone for their time and consideration for that um we it was a very productive meeting the timeline that I'm hoping to have the the Baseline uh ordinance for would be about 60 days because while we can take the approach of just the uh The Greenway areas if it is reasonable that some of those items can be applicable just throughout as a standalone um template so to say then we might as well just address it all at once so those are just some status updates on code requests that that I'm looking to have made thank you Council president thank you Council Vice pres council president can is Council important on one item and his discussion item if if you receive the timeline on the uh smart meter from d uh no not at the moment it's still being reviewed okay thank you thank you council president and I'm just going to address the on my discussion points the wonderful Pat Massie and Sue O'Neal and my disappointment and dis I'm disappointed and I'm distraught about this whole situation I don't like the way it's been handled um I don't remember if I mentioned this initially but uh back on December 20th is when the library board had our holiday party and at about I think it was a late late release of the agenda is when I saw that uh that that Miss Massie and Miss O'Neal were not going to be reappointed and here I am as as Library board leaz on going to that party and I know this and they and they would not have known this yet it was a terribly awkward position for me to be in and um ultimately the uh the word did get out and I had told uh I had told Allan and uh and I did talk to Miss Massie uh excuse me gentlemen thank you I appreciate it um I can't say enough about these two individuals who have given so much and have volunteered their time their knowledge their resources their qualifications are impeccable and so while rinky and pavi might be fine people they might be fine candidates for these positions there's a difference between fine and acceptable to between that and superlative and superlative is what Pat Massie and Sue O'Neal have been and my own feeling on this has been if it ain't broke don't fix it and it ain't broke this ain't broke um what bothers me even further is I I mentioned before my some of my concerns some of the doubts I have in terms of why they are not being reappointed but what bothers me even more was that the mayor did not have the courtesy so I so I'm left having to to come into that holiday party and the mayor had not had the courtesy to let them know that they were not being reappointed and for so I I told him I was dist I was really disturbed by that and upset by that that they deserve better than that at the very least he said well I will call them I said well it's unfortunately a little late for that but it but you should call them and he didn't call them he had he had Bob deal call them and I I just find that to be I find that to be a a disgrace so um I want to focus on the positive I can't thank you you're here Pat I can't thank you enough for what you have done in your service to this Library board to the commun community I hope we can get you back if if you'll have us I'm hoping that at some point we can have you back and I'm hoping we can have Sue back and Lisa who said that maybe sometime in the future she would she would come back but I just want to salute you for all you have done all you have given and uh tell you that uh I I'm hoping we can somehow get get you back so um please for please recognize what this wonderful woman has done I'm going to ask you for a round of applause thank you so much and that concludes my remarks uh I guess yes before you go there you know is the the comment on the YouTube live is on or they are turned off they've been turned off what's turn what is just spoke about the transparency fairness and here you go but this Council adop you know passed the resolution to make sure everything is restored as it stands I don't know why we disable the comments on the YouTube feed okay okay all right um with that uh can I get a motion to adjourn motion to adjourn second okay uh all in favor uh this uh council meeting is adjourned at 10:04 and 4 seconds thank you very much for