all right Council regular meeting of January 24th is in order all stand for the Pledge of Allegiance ALG to the flag of the United States of America and to the repblic for it stands na IND andice oh uh meeting in session at 7:03 uh Madam clerk please uh do the V call council member rusher here council member coil here council member Harris here council member Patel here council member P here council member ER president council member schuel he's absent okay adequate notice of this meeting as required by the open public Act of 1975 has been provided by the annual notice centent home News Tribune Star Ledger Desi talk and news India times on December 12th 2023 and posted main lobby missa complex on that same date all right and now we're going to open to the public hearing Madam clerk please read state of New Jersey Department of enironment Environmental Park development enabling resolution Green Acres Program matching grant for the project of the Angels field soccer all right we're going to open up to the public for comments anyone that would like to see Mr Walter stoal you are recognized I don't think the mic's working can you hear me here we go here we go Walt stoal 2118 Oak Tree Road I have a letter from the open space committee dear council members the Edison Township open space advisory committee has reviewed the preliminary plan for the building of new soccer fields on Kilmer Road where the Edison Angels girls softball fields are and we have the following comments one the site is next to a number of parcels that were acquired from the federal government at various times over the past 40 years for Park and recreational purpose a park master plan for all these Parcels should be created so that the facilities developed on the side are not built in isolated in isolation but are connected to other parts of the park this is shown as Camp Kilmer fields on the 2018 Edison open space plan two the 20023 draft Edison master plan calls for the changing of the Kilmer Road area from an industrial area to a Transit Village mixed use area these Park Parcels could be part of a great Central Park for future land use in this area as part of the change the draft Ma and the draft master plan is recommending a multi-use trail called the scooter way that would connect this the park to the Edison Train Station and the ruter Livingston Campus creating a non automobile access to the park the scooter way would be located along the old road on the west side of the fields where the the parking lot is now planned this is an existing former Camp Kilmer Road the scooter way could be incorporated into the design of the parking lot a pass should be created to connect pcad Lane to the new parking lot on the northwest side of the fields this would get access to the restrooms refreshment building four a wide sidewalker path along Kilmer Road front it should be built and then could be extended past building 1072 and connect with the crosswalk at Truman Drive five bicycle racks should be placed at appropriate locations six an electric vehicle charging station should be installed seven benches and an area for picnic tables should be provided eight it's not clear if the Edison Angels buildings have restrooms and will be used as a part of this project nine the emerging wooded area to the west of the field should have invasive vegetation removed and be maintained to prevent their regrowth 10 a review of the area photographs of Camp Kilmer show this site has been a location of Ballfield since the 1940s 11 the historic SMY burial ground is located to the west of the fields and should be shown on the map the deed between the United States and Edison deed book P deed book F 5317 page 595 has the following restriction Cemetery in order to assure long-term proection of the SMY Family Cemetery a 75- ft buffer around the currently demarcated portion of the cemetery shall be surveyed within 12 months of the signing of this deed and a deed restriction and deed restricted imp perpetuity a substantial fence shall be erected and maintain in perpetuity around the perimeter to demarcate its extent 12 the Camp Kilmer historic kiosk at the corner of Prescott Lane and Kilmer Road should be relocated be part of a permanent Memorial area with a flag pole to recognize the history of Camp Kilmer and the millions of soldiers who passed through on their way to war 13 Camp Kilmer is a state recognized historic district they review under section 106 of the National Historic preservation act may be required 14 the site was given to Edison for Park purposes by the federal government a change in the original program of utilization may be required may be required and review an approval by federal Lance to park program 15 the committee is pleased at the choice of natural grass fields for the project a well-maintained grass field will last forever while expensive plastic Fields need to be replaced every 8 to 10 years and cannot be recycled thank you thank you all I'll leave this here any other members from the public would like to speak all right I will take a motion to close the public portion motion to close yes all in favor I I council president okay can any member of the council can make the comment uh yes yeah thank you council president and you know thank you Mr stosel for coming here and uh giving the letter to this Council and I hope uh before the public hearing all those points will be considered especially U I'm more concerned about the rosi you know we it happened with to Center I don't know I don't think it should happen with any and hopefully uh the due diligence will be done on the all the aspect that you mention before the public hearing thank you council president any other council members that would like to speak counc president Council appoint uh in regards to the project um I'm ecstatic about it my daughter is is a member of uh UA and having participated in the soccer program o over the past couple of years you can see how expansive the soccer program in Edison has gone those fields are always in use they're it the schedule is packed so having these additional converted Fields will be extremely beneficial to that program and I think that the um the uh the children will get great use out of it um as was mentioned uh in regards to it being natural Fields I know that that is uh a desire by many residents in the township so it's good to see that um for this particular area that natural Fields is proposed the advancements and the parking around are going to be extremely beneficial anyone that's been at the park on a Saturday knows that when you go up to Park it's it's a game of chicken for lack of better words so the improvements in the field the improvements in parking and lighting I think are going to be of extreme benefit to the township and uh hopefully everything moves forward and I look forward to supporting this thank you thank you councilman pointer any other council members okay as for myself I think this project is a big win for Edison as it not only secures the one to1 Grant match but also marks initial stages of Revit revitalization over our underutilized lands in close proximity to Ruckers Livingston Campus and Edison Train Station and opting for natural grass field is a big deal it's a win for over thousands of soccer loving kids and families in Edison and I believe this project will create a positive impact for the community for generations to come U I will take a motion to adopt motion to adopt second all right Madam call please council member brusher yes council member coil yes council member Harris yes council member ble yes council member pointer yes council president Patel yes okay so now I would make the count for the president's remark so the main objective that I have is to encourage residents to attend our meetings and share their thoughts and voice their concerns in the pursuit of that objective my plan is to reserve public comments for residents if there are any questions that can be answered quickly I will allow the administration to promptly answer them and the reason behind reserving the public comments for the residents comes down to a simple math for me let's consider a hypothetical scenario where you are the 11th member a resident to speak if every resident before you takes the full six minutes you are already waiting 1 hour to speak now however if we allow council members to speak after each residents and remembering permitting one council member to speak would require to let all the council member to speak and if each council member speaks for conservatively 3 minutes then that 11th resident 11th member uh the 11th person in line would have to wait at 4.5 hours to speak the additional three and a half hours are neither Fair nor conducive to an efficient meeting as such I'll reserve the public comments for the residents and only then I will open the floor for the council comment ments once the residents have had their opportunity also moving forward we will also strictly enforce the deadlines of Wednesday prior to the work session for discussion items to be submitted to Madame clerk I would encourage my Council colleagues to submit any questions they would like to answer ahead of time this will give our ba some time to look for the answers and for all of us to have a more productive discussion come Monday um and now we will need a motion to go into a Clos session as we are adding a last minute agreement sement agreement can I get a motion motion to go in close session second second second session whereas article six of the open public meeting act provides that a public body may go into closed session whereas the township Council will during the meeting enter into discussion for the following matter settlement agreement whereas the matter to discuss in in close session or to remain in restrictive confidence for all council members in furtherance of the fiduciary duties to the township of Edison now therefore be resolved matters discussed at this meeting will be released to the public when the reasons for discussing and acting upon them in Clos session no longer exist so vote the motion well the motion was seconded so all all in favor all in favor right all in favor all right 714 okay yeah the time is 7:46 the meeting is now back in session all right moving on to number six unfinished business Madam clerk please read the ordinance ordinance of the township of Edison the county middle 6 New Jersey cancelling 1,945 74171 in bonds authorizing bonds anticipated noes proceeds not needed for the original purposes and to transfer $671,000 77 cents in bond or Bond anticipated notes proceeds to Capital fund balance okay opening up this to public comment any public that wants to make a comment on this um motion to close motion to close all in favor I I all right and uh any any Council comments um council president under pressure yes I was asked asked by one of the residents um what this was about and and why we can't spend this money instead on like our water and sore um and I want the residents to know the purpose of us cancelling this is a lot of these Bonds were put out um some of them were for clar Barton and this was the unused portion that we never borrowed so we're cancelling out that debt and the balance um the administration is going to place I guess that would go like in your general fund which would help to reduce taxes next year or or are you going to use it for payments um to pay down some of our bonds yes would be um to pay down some of the bonds okay so this is just really cleaning up bookkeeping correct is really what this is and this is what is allowing us to do the other bonds um for water and sore or we wouldn't have borrowed that much that's correct this will create a capital Surplus okay thank you counc president just want to clear that up all right and a motion to adopt motion to adopt second uh call Madam C council member brusher yes council member Quil yes council member Harris yes council member ble yes council member app pointer yes council president Patel yes all right Madam clerk please read 2203 Bond or providing for various Capital Improvements in by the township of Edison appropriating 7, 900,000 therefore and authorizing the issuance of 7005 7, 55,000 bonds or notes of the township to finance their part of okay and I'll open this up to the public comments Mr Walter stoel Walt stoal 2118 Oak Tree Road I have a letter from the open space committee since this Bond uh ordinance contains funding for the stelt androl community center uh dear council members the Edison Township Council the Edison Township open space committee supports the restoration and reopening of the Stelton draw Community Center in Stelton park for many years the open space committee met at Stelton draw Community Center the place was always a beehive of activity with sports in the gym and meeting rooms being used by Community groups such as Scouts and Sport leagues sadly over the years previous administrations did not invest in needed repairs and improvements in in the building and it was closed in a Bandon in 2018 built as a school in 1925 and expanded in 1949 the solid this solid building has many beautiful architectural elements that should be preserved as part of the restoration the township should also consider placing a display of historic photos of the building and the stal neighborhood inside the building outside there's an opportunity to build rain Gardens and replace the parking lot with perious pavement to reduce storm water runoff it also may be time for the township to act on the recommendation of the open space Committee in 1999 to acquire the the adjacent property to expand Stelton Park while some may complain about the cost of restoring the building there is money available from state and federal sources with the nearby Jefferson Middle School and the Edison main library this is not just the community center but the center of the community thank you thank you w chice Joy ship 41 Main Street Jo ship Freeman um just asked inquiring about the Stelton building uh at the 3.7 whatever percentage it was um like I'm trying to figure out like how much percentage of it would be going toward the removal of asbest before anything even begins to be there and also was that footprint accepted by because I've known of that being on the rosi for the longest so is it off the rosi now and and uh do they have to continue with the same footprint and um I'm asking about the percentage of cost that we cost for aestus because I know we don't want to go in the room and just paint up stuff and paint over top of all the contamination um Sonia do you know the answers for the asbest percentage um it right now roughly about between the roofing and some of the initial costing it's 1.6 million um there was another question with regard to the Rossy the Rossy um I know we are updating the list so I'd have to just follow up with you and get a get an updated copy for you and also if the footprint will remain the same yes there is no change to the footprint okay thank you she will get back to you she's not sure right now no um Anthony Anthony Damron 25 Wy um just a piggy back off the uh councilwoman um what percentage of the bond or the monies will be going to actual renovation of the Interior um of the place floors um cosmetic stuff um or is this going to be for the Asus the roof um and is it going to be the same interior that it is currently right now um I guess is my question thank you council president Anthony Sonia do you sure the total cost is 3.6 million and how much would that be toward cos cosmetic portion and how much would it be for the ESB bestus removal all of that is for renovations repairs and alterations as I mentioned before roughly about 1.6 is for the roof repair and the initial remediation okay and the rest will be used for the Cosmetic upgrades yes sir okay thank you any other members of the public no uh motion to close the public portion motion to close second second all right all in favor I okay opening it up to the council for any comments council president yes I would Echo Mr sto's remarks about this Center and the the possibilities that it has I think it's a real diamond in the off I'm so glad that uh we are finally going to be doing something with it and um I like Mr social's suggestions so I think uh this I think there's a lot of potential here and I'm very much in favor of this ordinance thank you thank you vice president any other member council president councilman Patel it's a a very good uh initiative of restoring this building this is historic building and it's a gym you know this is the south end and hopefully once it's restored it will be put in use for the recreation which I understand that's why it is on rosi but if there is any other intent you know that should be clarified while we go through the process u i was involved along with mayor Joshi back then mayor lanki was in office of handing over this building to school uh we even engaged the attorneys on the both the sides but we were told this was under rosi and there was a process of Brewing from the rosi so it can be handed over to school didn't happen uh but it's good we are at least moving towards restoring this and hopefully it will be put for the good use of the taxpayers thank you council president and thank you Council M any other member council president Council Brer um yes I'm going to Echo my uh colleagues um this is a good thing it's good that we started but the the public should be aware that a lot of the things um like the storm water management I think that is something that we should take into consideration but that isn't in the money that we're approving in today the the money we're approving is basically to secure the building um for further deterioration but it's it's not going to it's not like a rehab that we're going to do the whole building isn't going to be done for these funds that's correct right no the entire money that's being considered tonight is for the entire renovation of the building including retrofitting any space that's within so okay so so this building will for that money the whole building is going to be renovated and will look like a new building to us CU that that wasn't my impression I thought this was just a secure secure the building with heating air conditioning um you know Roofing so we have no more leaks and no more deterioration um and then some small cosmetic upgrades and a little bit of aestus removal as opposed to a total renovation where you kind of you know you gut the walls and you gut the floors and you have a new space like when I go in I'm still going to feel like I'm in a 100y old building I'm not going to feel like I'm in a brand new building so I think Sonia I think from what Sonia said earlier 3.6 million is the total budget 1.6 of that is for the roof and the asbest so we do have some money to make some cosmetic changes on the interior but I'm not too sure as to what the plan is yes the full money like I said there's some so we went in with the health department department and we looked at some of the rooms and they're fairly large so in order to get better usage out of the out of those rooms we're trying to retrofit some of the spaces to accommodate um Senior Services uh anything uh related to the health department recreation activities um so all of that is accounted for in this 3.6 million okay all right I mean right I I guess the confusion was the roof I thought was 1.6 I figure your heating and air conditioning has got to be 1.3 um between Aus removal and a little paint and maybe some tile type of stuff you know eats up the rest of that balance but that doesn't give us a new space um so if we wanted to do stuff like you know storm order Management on the outside um if we're looking to tear down walls to make larger gym type access that this would all be additional um like additional funding that would have to secure um currently what we're approving is just to kind of open up the building but it's not going to be a restored um it's not going to be a restored building it will be a restored operable building what this Administration has been very active and is pursuing grant funding so we're looking at additional money obviously to create more programs um and make it a lot more of what you're describing perhaps um making it a brand new building but the goal is to one make the space usable and operable okay no I I'm good thank you council president I'll be I'll be 30 seconds although we've had discussion here for six minutes on this during a vote um quickly it's a unique building it's h I'm very happy to see this Administration the mayor and this Council move forward for this building to be renovated so to me anything is a great start I'm looking forward to seeing it being useful and I just love the architecture of this building if you get a chance to go over there it is unique and it's wonderful that we're keeping it so looking forward thank you Council McCoy council president Council M thank you council president um as everyone has stated I'm ecstatic about the Stelton Community Center improvements um I also just want to indicate some of the other items that are on here that I think are beneficial to the community the design costs for the improvements um for the animal shelter I believe are a necessary first step towards achieving the goals pardon me of the uh Administration and um securing better facilities so that we can offer better Services uh seeing the improvements for the firehouses as many people are aware our firehouses are in need of uh are in need of repair so having funds allocated to that I'm happy to see the the funds allocated towards the road message signs um we've all heard about the desire for crosswalks and uh those types of items so helping fund those initiatives I think is a good thing uh having a backup generator for the municipal building to make sure that during uh emergency cases that we can can still remain in function is a pivotal investment and in regards to any of the illary items of stun Community Center um say say if we needed additional funds for any of the furniture or the fixtures uh flooring and such two other items on on the bond the first item for 1.4 million for improvements Renovations uh to various municipal buildings and the 500,000 for furniture and fixtures I think some of those funds then could be reallocated to that project if they were needed just because it would it's a municipal building so I think that we are uh secured with the with the hopeful pass of this for some necessary improvements within the township thank you sir thank you for that information councilman pointer and as for myself I think this is at least for the selling Center I think it's a beautiful building and over the years through the lack of Investments and maintenance it's lost it has withered away and it's lost his some of his charm but the historical significance is still there and as open space committee requested I am hoping that we will preserve a stunning architecture features and bring back this beautiful building back to life um now on to the motion to adopt Mo to adopt second and Madam Lo council member brusher yes council member Quil yes council member Harris yes council member P yes council member pointer yes council president Patel yes Madam clerk please read 22 four Bond ordinance providing for various water main improvements for the water utility in by the township of veton middlex County appropriating 9,500,000 therefore and authorizing the issuance of 9,500,000 bonds or notes of the township to finance their part thereof right and opening it up to the public portion any public that wants to make a comment on this Council and Shipman women ship I'm just uh curious about this is this um that we're just going to keep patching up because I believe we were supposed to get money from the I Bank do we have to spend all this first before we could put in for25 million from the I Bank Council president we actually have to do this process first before we go through the ibank the ibank uh requires that we have backup information um for for committing to the the project essentially so once this is approved this will be uploaded into the ibank system we can put the application through so so so any time soon are we going to go to the I bank because we're in Dire Straits and the way the climate change is going now and there's tons and tons of rain and all this stuff if I watched in other towns like I'm I'm really nervous about us getting the money and moving forward on fixing our sewer systems and every time I look around there's a there's a water main break there's a water main break you know and we have water up and running up and down the streets all the time so I'm hoping that we get the money from the I Bank itself so I figured the sooner we put the money in the sooner we move forward then we can be able to get that and take care of the things we need to take care I know the water system in the sooi is not nice and sexy and beautiful that everybody can see but it's very important very important for this town thank you I concur uh any other uh member for the public seeing none I motion to close the public portion motion to close all in favor I okay before I open it up to the p uh for Council comments uh Sonia can you please update us with some of the memal that were sent last and any other information that we the council would need to know for 2204 I know there was a document sent out for um Neptune I think that is um just for correction purposes is the 2204 is for the runion Lane planfield Avenue mcginness Road popular installation of smart hydrants so uh what I sent you over from um from Neptune was with regard to the automatic uh reading the meter reading okay so they're two separate two separate ones but um essentially the water main replacement on runan planfield AV mcginness Road popler all have very different um situations for example mcness there was there's a Browning of water we need to replace popler happens to run alongside that so that entire area would be uh getting uh a water main replacement um as you know plane field Ro recently had another water main break so um all of these will be taken care of once this uh Bond ordinance is um introduced and hopefully adopted by the council thank you for that and opening up to the council any comments seeing none Madam cler roll call motion to approve second Madam clerk roll call council member brusher yes council member Co yes council member Harris yes council member pel yes council member pointer yes council president Patel yes all right moving on to number seven new business Madam clerk please read the ordinance ordinance amends a no stopping or standing Zone on a section of Brower Avenue can I get a motion to introduce council president I move this ordinance to be passed on first reading accordance to law for further consideration and public hearing set down for Thursday February 15 2024 and a second second council member brusher yes council member Coyle yes council member Harris yes council member pel yes council member app pointer yes council president Patel yes Madam clerk please read 2206 ordinance amending chapter 2 Administration by creating subsection 2-14 Cultural Arts commission may I get a motion for introduction council president on behalf of the cultural arts commission soon to be commission I proudly move this ordinance be passed on first reading published according to law for further consideration and public hearing set down for February 15 2024 and may I have a second second right and I will council member brusher yes council member coil yes council member Harris yes council member Patel yes council member app pointer yes council president Patel yes Madam C 3 32207 bonds providing for the toship wide water meter replacement project for the sewer utility in and by the township of veton County of middlex appropriating 8, 850,000 therefore and authorizing the issuance of 8, 850,000 bonds or notes of the township to finance their part thereof may I get a motion for introduction council president I move this ordinance to be passed on first reading published according to law for further consideration and public hearing set down for Thursday February 15th 2024 may I have a second second Madam CL roll call please council member brusher yes council member coil yes council member Harris yes council member ptil yes council member pointer yes council president Patel yes and now we add the now you want the resolution okay and uh we will be adding the resolution yeah number r051 D 01224 resolution authorizing the mayor and the Township Clerk to execute a settlement agreement and release between seing cedarlane LLC and the township of Edison and uh I will open it up for public comments on the resolution anony Anthony diamon 25 Wy um 2207 um is this money for uh for G material is my question and um can you repeat that question I'm sorry the money we is this for is this for basically point point of order and fing just asked to stop the gentleman's talk um 2207 is uh ordinance um it's not technically a resolution so this wouldn't be the appropriate time to yeah I think this is for the this is for resolution on February 5th on February 15 apologize I AP oh so none of these new ones Okay resolution I'll come back Council Loman D ship Freeman um on 41 42 and 43 I'm hoping that people keep the receipts and the vouchers for the amount of money so when people do they told me when they do come to um Oprah stuff so they can have like an idea they can have the alignment of what's you know because you just have a blanket fee there and um they just want to know which which Vue was spent on all the different things for those three then I wanted to know about the um is that most of that money spent for asbest say on r45 man um also the resolution authorizing the May in the township uh for the health services is that the health services because we don't have a c certified health director we have to send out to the county or is that something that's done all the time what number is that councilman uh that one is 48 I asked about 45 also about that if that was the speciic stuff and I asked about 48 is that the reason that we have to send out to the county because we don't have a certified health director here and last but not least questioning because I had spoke to someone before is the rington Valley Regional Emergency I thought they had changed their name from Raritan to Edison or something not sure but I seen it on the truck that it had a different name than Raritan any other questions uh Sonia do you have the answer to r45 as to the asbest spending um r45 is related to soil remediation not asbest and I I'm confused with the r48 soil remediation at the Green Acres part of the to to building it's surrounding the to yeah CER yeah that's what I'm talking about grass around the building yeah that the the whole Green Acres part around the building at all because I you know because I heard we had to go up instead of that all right and then the uh the r48 that one the r48 that that is not related to the health department that's related um council president I'm sorry didn't mean cut Youk you um it's related to various U Public Safety Equipment that we use through the county so A specialized equipment that you use through the county correct okay I need to know what those are what that is I need a deeper explanation of that I believe they're listed on the resolution council president okay and uh for R50 as do you know if they change their name because I think we are using R and center but if anything will cuz I seen on there I seen on their new equipment that they had Edison on there they didn't have ritin on there so I don't know if we're outdated we keeping up with them because they because of people kept asking about their ritin and the other service that we were using so when I spoke to someone at the riton place they showed me the new ER truck or whatever they called it they showed it to me and it had it didn't have Raritan on it had Edison am I correct councilman uh pel I think we'll open it up after the public comments and if I know but I'm not gonna wait all night for my answers we did this before with the other councilmen and that's why Bruce diamond and them aren't here anymore okay thank you any other public that wants to speak resolutions yes thank you am I recognized you are recognized thank you r. 040 resolution rejecting all bids for municipal website consultant um whose idea anyone can answer this question I open it up to anyone through the chat to anybody whose idea was it to have a municipal we site consultant any other questions several several several other questions I was just saying if someone wanted to jump in and maybe it was a one one second two second answer I guess no one so your question is whose idea was to have a municipal website absolutely a municipal website consultant we have a municipal website we don't do we really need somebody to consult us on how to run a municipal website I will let Sonia answer this sure no no I was I I didn't expect I didn't think someone was really I'm reclaim my time thank you um through the chair to councilman Brasher councilman Brer a municipal website consultant I mean we've had a municipal website long before Mayor Sam josi was even a councilman it's a little bit strange to me that I understand it's being rejected but somebody thought about it enough to try to get this through that's a little bit concerning councilman breure all the money we've been wasting we gave 100,000 to Cassity Grom now just to clarify I think we're rejecting the bit so we're not spending any money here absolutely but it's on the agenda and I understand the subject about Cassidy Grom isn't on on the agenda but I'm speaking about a very broad topic I understand certain IQ levels might not understand that but if I may continue may I continue thank you through the chair to councilman bresser councilman bresser um so we uh we had Cassidy Grom $100,000 okay we keep paying for the Illuminator and now somebody thought about a municipal website um and by all means if I'm wrong please stop the gentleman's time but I'm not sure how going off resoltion exactly no like I said it's a broad topic and right before you stopped me I was going right back into the municipal website consultant so so um I I if you can restart my my time yeah start thank you um now I forgot what I said but by Design that's that's the way the Beast Works how much time do I have left uh three minutes 3 minutes for municipal website consult and tell us how to run a municipal website who who has been running our Municipal website I'm sorry can you repeat that question do you know who has been running the municipal website before we thought about having the cons because I think they they're doing a great job I think they're doing a very good job uh thank you because by putting no no please don't by putting this on the agenda you're insinuating the person that has been doing that job is doing a horrible job because you need to now hire a consultant and my question is you hire consultant there's not much more they can do so do you think maybe they're trying to hire one of their friends for another no-show job that's how it looks like to me and you know um through the chair to councilman Brasher I'm quite concerned about that it's over and over and over again um you need a municipal website consultant I'll do it for free I'll did you guys put out any bids for who can who can apply for municipal are we going to i i i reclaim the time she can speak after me no no I I love you I love you so I'm not trying to be rude I would I really uh H how how much times I have left two minutes two minutes quite strange quite strange times that are going on out here resolution r48 for the memorandum of understanding for the use of specialized equipment they don't let us know what the specialized equipment is you don't have to tell me now you can tell me afterwards um but yeah going back to the municipal website consultant um I think somebody was trying to hire their sister's best friend again the same way they hired the judge but this time as a media a municipal website consultant what more information can be put on a municipal website other than the calendar that we have the things that are going on um we already wasted money on the Illuminator um in the age of social media uh the mayor can't just use his website own website stop wasting taxpayer dollars to promote himself by claiming he's putting out literature that promotes the town because that's that that's an Ethics complaint right there I'm going to be 30 seconds 30 seconds God Bless America but I'm going to be stop talking about r040 I'm so disgusted that we're going to try to hire a municipal website consultant um we have many employees like Marlene and Cheryl who should get an added pay but we're gonna hire people who shouldn't even we don't even need how many employees have already gotten fired so far for absolutely no reason thank you thank you uh just to Sonia clarify are we hiring or rejecting bids on R40 we are rejecting the bids so what happened was we did go out with an RFP to get a website consultant the website Consultants task is to redesign the entire website on the front and the back end um as we discussed on Monday there's some suggestions and changes to the uh specifications we're requiring for mobilization and for some additional Securities on the back end uh the process the procurement process is that we come to this Council we have to formally reject the rfps and then go back out uh with the changes okay and uh I think the r48 is there a way we can list the specialized equipments yes I have that for you so it's surveillance equipment like Towers VMS boards command trailers vehicles um as well as personnel with specialized training and uh equipment such as drones K9 and other areas um these items are based on availability and utilized on a regular basis um throughout many municipalities in the county um so this is a you this is an agreement that we enter into um on a regular basis with the county okay thank you Sonia any other public uh comments all right seeing none motion to close the public portion motion to close may I get a second second all in all in favor I all right uh now does the council would like to pull anything for a separate vote Yes um one of them and and maybe I missed it um I'm not sure I I seen a document that talked about us putting land up for for sale um there were two lots I think is that on this agenda now that was just an informational thing at this point it'll come at a later date okay because I was looking for it I just couldn't find it um then I guess r45 and [Music] R51 r45 and R51 correct oh 5011 okay all right Council McCoy would you like you pull anything for the separate vote none sir Council vice president none sir councilman Patel 51 is already pulled so I'm good all right councilman pointer none sir all right and I will pull the website one which was the R40 all right so councilman brusher I will take let you take the lead on the r45 and R50 R51 yes uh what would you have any comments um yes uh should we do r45 okay okay r45 I would just like to get a copy of all our inspection reports that we might receive from the town um you know that can just be sent to me just so I could just review them that's all okay I think we can provide that to you and for R51 okay R51 is this treat this is a new one correct okay um R51 I I guess is settlement type thing um and I'd like the people to understand that when it came to trees in the town um initially I was a a a fan of increasing the dollar amount per tree um subsequently I guess we've been challenged right and there's a settlement offer here um and in this offer they're basically telling us that our what we charge for the trees is too too much and while I'm I'm torn with trying to make something but to stop legal proceedings or anything like that from progressing um I'm in favor of this ordinance as long as as long as this body changes our ordinance that says that any residential homes will not have to pay more than this dollar amount per tree in the future I I don't want to give developers a discount just because they have attorneys but our residents that don't don't have the funds to to hire an attorney for a couple thousand dollar to save themselves a couple hundred on a tree they should be treated the same as everybody else so I'm going to be you know moving forward I'm going to ask the clerk to put this under my discussion items at every meeting that I can question the council and the administration on the process of where we are moving forward so that the residents are paying the same amount um of a discount that we have here uh because it it seems that maybe our tree ordinance was a little high um that that would be a council president thank you Council Council yeah thank you council president and I have twofold problem with this particular resolution uh this topic is going on for almost two years and I believe you know we met sometime in September October we discuss there's a change the first problem the reason I said two problem the first is the procedure itself you know this landed at 600 p.m. in my mailbox and 7:00 is the meeting and there is a change there is a big folder which I don't think you know I have even the copy of the legal settlement and we have been asked to vot tonight that's number one so proed when we are saying that the council member must submit their discussion atem a week before the council meeting and here we go we are not treating the again I ask is this an emergency this is we are discussing probably the matter last two years four years not two years there is nothing emergency this could have waited for two more weeks and this Council have taken the corrective actions yes no it's a different thing that's my first problem the procedure we need to treat every single thing in the same way if you're not letting council member to speak we should not enter in anything on the agenda at 6 p.m. on the day of the council unless it's an emergency something there's a do die position you need an emergency fund to take care I agree with that fully and I have supported that in the past my second problem is and and we have spoken uh discussed this in past the benefit should be the residents not to the developers and this settlement is because the developer has an attorney has a Deep Pockets he's going in a code and challenging this Township and every time we Bend backward we don't adopt we don't follow our own laws and we settle however our residents are suffering and they have to still pay the full amount because they can't go to the court and that is where my ask is if we have introduced this ordinance today to give that break to the residents while adopting this resolution I would have support this resolution thank you council president thank you councilman p uh so in terms of as councilman P said first I want to say councilman Russia is really right and I hope we do discuss this every meeting till we get this affair resolution for the residents I agree with him I think we need to come up with a plan that will make this more palatable to the residents as well um and in terms of the procedure as Council M Patel said that this has been going on for two years and the money is tied up because of it and I think that is why we had a 20-minute close session unfortunately with the ways of the settlements are they do have happened at the last minute they were arguing with the law legal department the other attorney for the whole day better out the whole day today and I myself found out about it uh at 5:00 I believe um at the same time I think this is not a significant change from what was presented prior which was presented to us October and uh our attorney has gone through very detailed as to you know what the changes are and I think is pretty palatable to me and we are getting the money to start planting the trees been holding this fund has been holding for two years now four years four four years now20 so it's been four years that we haven't used this money and I think it's about time we make a decision and move forward um so I am hoping that we to get a motion and to start ounc council president just want to make one comment here as I said like unless it is an emergency this matter going on for four years could have waited for 2 weeks so that you give the equal respect to this council member that is my concern don't take it wrong the second thing is none of the residents were aware that this resolution is on the table so I don't think anyone got a chance even to comment and had it been on Monday's meeting they would have a chance to speak on Monday itself or today but I will leave that aside I disagree with procedure uh and I will leave it there understand I understand but uh moving forward I will take a motion for the consent agenda that will oh for myself for want to speak next so the resolution R40 we are rejecting the website bid um there were a couple of changes that I really wanted into the spec one of them being mobile optimization which was not included in the last spec uh there were a couple other more of security backup legal uh stuff but that's wasn't that important to me and the other one that was really important to me was the interactive calendar I think the less click a resident has to do to find the information they need is the most important thing we as a a service provider can do so if a resident wants to go and find out about the meetings and the agendas and everything that is pertinent to following what's going on around in the town I think the calendar will serve as the best function to that and that was one of the requests that I made to the administration and as well as a mobile first application which is when you open it up on your phone it will look nice and presentable and easy to read and that was very important to me as well so I'm glad the administration listened and uh we're rejecting the the bid that we sent out prior and we're hoping to send out a better upgraded bid for the website uh that's for me now onto the consent agenda uh it will be r29 to R39 r41 to r44 r46 to R50 May I get a motion for motion to approve the consent agenda as read by the council president second Madam CL roll call please council member brusher yes council member Quil yes council member Harris yes council member pil yes council member pointer yes council president Patel yes and now on to R40 may I get a roll call please motion to approve the motion to approve the motion to conrat motion to approve R 40 second second by Harris and may I get a roll call please council member brusher yes council member Cole yes council member Harris yes council member pel yes council member pointer yes council president Patel yes uh for r45 may I get a motion for [Music] adoption just that oh sorry R51 wait I thought we did R4 we said 40 I said 40 no you did we just did 40 yeah we did 40 we just did roll call 40 for the website right so now we have there are 45 45 and And1 were pull do you want to do them together no you want to do uh councilman brusher do you want to do it together or separate uh I would do separate because I will be supporting one okay so let's do r45 first can I motion to approve second all right Madam clerk roll call council member brusher yes council member Cole yes council member Harris yes council member PTI yes council member pointer yes council president Batel [Music] yes and the last but not least R51 may I get a motion motion to approve may I get a second I would like the motion under table second all right so we have a motion to table on the floor may I get a roll call please wait a minute there's a motion to approve and then a motion to table I don't think be the second on the table I'm guessing wait wait wait he said you want you said motion to approve Joe correct yes yes and then he said motion to okay so let's let's let's do it like this we got to straighten the record out and do I have a second for approve okay no so can I get a motion for table motion to table second all right may I get a roll call it's motion to table table okay council member brusher yes council member Coy no council member Harris yes council member ptil yes council member pointer just for clarification this is to table motion to table for the next one no council president Patel NOS okay so then it fails it fails so then do we motion what do we do all right um all right so you know what let's to make it more all right so anybody wants to call motion just do a motion to approve and see what the vote is and sure I mean only just for clarification motion to approve uh R 051 all right do I have a second point of clarification what happens if there's not a second does second all right may I get a roll call council member presser this is motion to approve no no council member coil yes council member Harris yes council member ptil no council member pointer yes council president Patel yes now it passes y all right so and now opening up to the oral petition and remarks uh do we have a list yes first up Walter sto we'll have to go through the list first and then we'll open it council president yes question for you uh yes um just like a procedural question um I have something that I'm looking to say and my question is when the public is done will you allow council members to speak or should I get up at the podium no I think you should be open to make oral petition remarks all right thank you can we finish for the public can we have the public portion be finished before c just to save the conversation you had about time if you have any questions that you would want to answer don't to the end and then we can answer them at the end all right okay Walt stoal 2118 Oak Tree Road um I'm inviting the council to matachin Edison local History Day on Sunday February 18th 2024 1 p.m. to 4m at the matuch library for 0 middle 6 Avenue uh this year 2024 is the 50th anniversary of the founding of the matachin Edison historical society and we have 50 years of things we have been collecting uh thousands of photographed and hundreds of thousands of items tens of thousands of photographs and thousands of items old photographs postcards Maps aerial photographs and uh other artifacts that we have collected over the past 50 years uh if we if we did not exist those things would be gone this is a historic year for Edison I don't know if you know this year in November it will be 70 years that we had the referendum that Chang the name from Ron Township to Edison Township so in in Fe in November we will Edison Township's name will be 70 years old so I'll leave a flyer for you guys and uh hope to see you at local History Day thank you thank you Walt next up is Frank Helen doctor Dr Frank Frank Heen at 55 Harman Road and uh I guess it's in response to some of the migrant situation that had been going on so it's somewhat political but uh and uh so I want to thank Mayor Sam Joshi and the Edison police department for protecting the citizens of Edison Township by prohibiting illegal migrants on buses to enter Edison the primary role of government is to protect its citizens permitting nearly 300 unvetted illegal migrants would spell an uptick an Edison crime the great invasion of 10 million illegal migrants into the United States has caused the murder of citizens rape torture sex trafficking theft diseases Terror cells cartel drug distribution and massive fentel deaths especially among the young slavery is still alive and well in the United States with an estimated 50,000 sex slaves mostly vulnerable children entering the country with the illegal migrants controlled by the cartels as depicted in the film sound of Freedom mayor josi was right on target when he stated that Edison doesn't have the resources to care for the illegal migrants hospitals across the country are going bankrupt caring for illegal migrants schools are being taken over by the incursion of illegal migrants American students are being tossed out of their schools and being replaced to shelter illegal migrants mayor josi indicated we welcome legal immigrants to follow the process and enter the country in an orderly manner as other immigrants have done in becoming part of the American story the current federal Administration has dictatorially abrogated the laws of Congress and has lawlessly opened the floodgates of open borders to cause chaos and turmoil that being said Council vice president Margo Harris's recommend is a sensible one to set up a subcommittee to establish guidelines for vetting and caring for the illegal migrants coming into Edison Township individual sponsors must be found to accept the weighty responsibilities of caring for the food shelter health education and spiritual needs of these de facto illegal migrants it is fatuous for governments to allow migrants to wander around aimlessly in Edison homeless and searching for food with the absolute necessity of being coerced to Rob food money cars and jewelry for survival governments have neither the resources nor the political will to take care of these illegal migrants only individuals and families working with faith and Community organizations should be allowed to take in Edison illegal migrants the Vietnam immigrants coming in in after the Vietnam War provide a good example of families and organizations sponsor ing them so the Vietnamese were eventually able to attain citizenship and become productive members of American society Christ followers have a special obligation to feed the hungry clothe the naked take in strangers and care for the sick but make no mistake about it local governments must cooperate with the immigration and custom enforcement ice in deporting where necessary illegal migrants to their countries of origin again I express my deep appreciation to Mayor Sam Joshy and the Edison police department for carrying out the sometimes unpopular duty to protect the citizens of Edison Township to conclude in dealing with the crisis of illegal migrants let us remember our American national motto inscribed in our dollar bills in God we trust thank you for listening thank you for your comments I have a copies for it should I just uh yeah you can give it to them over here you can give it to the clerk and she'll pass it on table there I'll on the table thank you thank you Dr Helen uh Maria Orin I'm Maria orid 83 Jefferson you are recognized thank you I have some dates on February 1st is the open space meeting here in the municipal on February 7th there's Friends of the library we're always is looking for new ideas to make the Edison Library better on February 10th there'll be a tricky treay at Edison High this is a a fundraiser for the course and on February 17th will be the Lunar New Year in Lake papani last year it was a great event and we look forward to such an event this year we're looking for more members to the human relations commission you can find the um application under the official list any update on the master plan and how we doing with our crossing guards we have open beds at swes and dwire please check our website Edison Community Gardens website for application information and thank you thank you Maria U Sonia do you want to update us on the master plan as to where it stands currently I believe it was referred refer back to the planning board I believe it is in the planning board and it is still being discussed and I think they're going to set up another meeting for with all the public comments they have gotten uh but um and then crossing guard sorry uh currently we are in the middle of negotiations with the crossing guards okay thank you and the next up is Ben okay thank you am I am I recognized you're recognized walking away councilman Quil he's walking away by Design he always walks away when it's uh my time to speak these people always need to use the bathroom when it's my time to speak councilman pressure so yeah it's been two years I had my rights stolen from me um Edison police stole equipment from my house showed up one day detective Bureau without their body warn cameras on guns drawn to senior citizens my parents for no apparent reason and uh the case just got dismissed the Predator catching case um Dumbledore deputy chief dudash isn't here to give us an update he updates Suzanne Russell when it's time to slander me it's uh through the charity Council Margo Harris used to I I find it very concerning when we're maliciously falsifying police reports in in order to maliciously prosecute the residents in this town in order to trick the judge to put out file charges to put out warrants and then to put restrictions on on somebody what was my real crime was my real crime putting out police Edison police body warn camera on YouTube that's retaliation um I'm going to beat every charge one by one uh there was not ever a victim in my case the man that they claimed was a victim was a child predator that happens to live across the street from an elementary school can you believe that he committed a second degree crime I was nice enough to hand over evidence of people committing second deegree crimes here in this Township and what what did they do they turn around maliciously falsified a report over dramatizing gaslighting so they can get their newspaper article are you aware that one of the alleged Predators I'm saying alleged because never had his court date everyone's innocent until proven guilty are you aware that person committed suicide I'm not sure you are if this person committed suicide they could have been innocent yet the mayor had his people in the media put out fake news articles over a maliciously falsified police report shame on this to I know you're drinking water now um you nervous are you nervous council president that all the facts are coming coming out people tend tend to drink when they're nervous it's so self- soothing they don't get thirsty well not not every time the hard topics get brought up it it becomes a pattern and then it becomes suspicious um so how much time do I have left Marina two and a half minutes um I'm absolutely disgusted did Shame On This Town um was it really worth it what did you get out of it uh I'm the one who's going to have the last laugh at the end but very shameful um I'm going to be obtaining all your text messages all your emails each and every one of you um except councilman Brer because there's no reason he doesn't do any and joy I won't get your emails uh [Music] so yeah shame on that is in Police Department detective gist who was the complainant on that charge actually has a civil rights lawsuit for breaking the jaw of a black kid without probable cause apparently black kids cannot pick a backpack out of one vehicle and put it in another vehicle it's highly suspicious to some people I used to do stuff like that all the time thank God through the Char councilman Brer councilman Brer thank God I never got my jaw broken for simply moving one item from one vehicle to the next that's the guy who was a complainant on one of my cases and then the other cop detective cohut that showed up to my house guns drawn to my parents his father used to be chief of police and Perth Amoy kicked off the force for making racist comments uh make sure to hide all all this stuff because the Mexicans are going to steal it or the Puerto Ricans who knows they're all racists out in Perth Amoy so but especially cohut so that just goes to show you the kinds of officers we have here in Edison Township racists that follow the mayor's illegal orders MH Absol absolutely disgusting 8 days in jail for what as an innocent man 8 days in jail child Predators caught and release what was I doing in jail so this way Mayor Sam josi can have his news article so when people Google my name it makes it look like I'm somebody threatening people or I'm a public safety risk what's that that he says I'm a public safety director and then abuses his power and authority into tricking the police officers into taking orders from him when his job is only to create policy and not to tell the police officers what to do am I wrong about they can answer when I'm done speaking how much time okay thank you for your comments uh Joy Freeman Tracer Freeman uh let me start off with uh I agree with councilman Patel that you can't just throw something on at the last minute I keep telling people all the time if you GNA make rules make all the rules for everybody all the time don't just cherry-pick whatever rules you want to stick to I'm a very stickler for that and I I did that with my students in the school and even my pre-ol students whatever rules it was we had to stick to them and when something is not in an emergency that doesn't mean you just throw it and you add it extra and number two um you you get a lot of money to uh take care of these um uh the resolutions it took um Maria two seconds to pull up that it said Edison it didn't say Raritan it took all of two seconds to pull it up and show it to me so something's wrong that you can't even get a a resolution correct all right so now uh I still did not receive the number of streets that were paved in 2022 I still did not get the amount of change orders in 2023 that I asked for this has been like three three four weeks ago and I still didn't get the information about that xinity Comcast did we sign a a a written agreement or what what happened with that or what direction or what time it was going I didn't get that and a person from the apartments down there by rendale or by Blackberry or somewhere by the hilmer place where they said they br all the black dirt from up here on papani they want to know what what they're going to do with it they said because like I don't know but they told me when they start building dirt piles like that that mean there something they're interested in in the Kilmer thing I always had a problem with taking that good dirt taking it someplace else but this was someone who called me today and asked me to ask about that and as um Mr Joel Bassel said about the mun budget will we be able to um see the introduction of that by the deadline of March 20th because I read over the statue also and I'm a pretty good reader and I have good comprehension skills and that I came to the conclusion that um Mr Bass off is correct and I'm still waiting for me for the uh corrective action plan because if I signed off on it that means that I I should be privy to a copy of something that I signed all right now the seniors are very very unhappy about the busing they said all the rest of the money that we waste on holidays and overspend Overkill they're very disturbed that they're being cut down for the buses and also the seniors from the Northern end of Edison are telling me that they're not privy to to any buses or anything that take them to um the actual senior citizen building or wdge Avenue you know and they like ask me you know is it because they're brown people I said I don't know I'm going to ask them why they don't come down this end of town and pick you guys up and bring you to the senior citizen building okay so if I can get any of this stuff because uh since we're cutting down and cutting down and cutting down if I asked you all this stuff three weeks ago I still can't get it like how long does it take you to get information and how long does it take you to you know follow a paper trail all this stuff should be this stuff should be all written down somewhere you know I mean you're meeting every day you're putting stuff on the agenda I I don't understand how this stuff is not written down you say here and then somebody was telling me Oh you're getting two tons of opras just be transparent and I guarantee you I'll guarantee you a dinner that if you're transparent they will cut your opras in half just let everybody know what's going on just like tonight when you sprung up the tree thing that a lot of people they didn't pay attention to picking up the other thing that's why they didn't know and I'm glad that some people brought it to their attention because a lot of times because the developers got have cash and they can pay us we the citizens we suffer we suffer and the only reason why I asked it too about the ibank and 125 million because you've done agreed to almost $100 million in bonds that we gonna be paying for for the next 15 years at at a high percentage rate because I don't know when inflation is going down then we on cap it and they right said oh well we gonna get low interest on the I bank I said I don't care if I get low interest on it I got low interest on my house when I purchas it but I still got to pay the bill it still comes in all the time and the tax amount inre increases the whole time so that means my escrow always increases so I have to keep up with that okay I'm just saying I you borrow money I don't care if it's 2% you still have to pay it back and that's a heavy burden on the taxpayer I'm telling you we seen you know you getting cut with money thank you councilman Joy sh Freeman uh for the number of Street PID for 2022 can you have do you have that right I believe I did send it to the council a couple of weeks ago I believe uh councilman uh schm had asked for that so I did pass that along but I con certainly send it to the clerk any information I canly provided the clerk and she can disperse it for Joyce I think we're going to give everything to the clerk and she can provide all the answers so that would be the streets paved the numbers of order change for 2023 2022 streets paved 2022 streets paved uh change order for 2023 uh the exfinity agreement change order for uh what in particular I CME uh and then there was something about Kilmer and the dirt piles but I think if you can give us more information on that I'm sure we can provide a better answer for that and for the budget on March 20th should we have it introduced by it would be the last meeting in March that this Council would have okay and uh corrective action plan Madame clerk said that she's willing to print that out for you so whenever you get to her she'll print it out for you okay all right moving on C council president if I may I do have some information on the seniors okay so um just uh for purposes of uh transparency we do have the dial arrived for seniors 55 and older so any Township resident is afforded that opportunity to do the dial ride um uh 115 um shopping transportation again to any senior in Edison um total the total of uh shopping trips to date have been 1,67 we have the medical transportation offered Monday through Friday between the hours of 9:00 am and 3 P.M um to Medical Offices between Edison and mouen um all transportation is first come first serve basis uh if we're unable to accommodate a request we can ask a physician appointment to be rescheduled for a date or time um we have various trips that we did take in the last quarter um in October uh tribute to Frankie Valley in the Four Seasons with the township they were a total of 20 residents on 1019 Columbus flea market bus trip with about 20 as well um so we've had consistently 20 on 1026 delicious delicious Orchard bus trip 10 uh 118 118 tribute to Neil Diamond uh 127 uh Rocking around the Christmas tree and 1214 the boogy Wy Christmas with with the township bus as well um so we have continue to offer the senior service so if there's any particular senior service that the township is looking to add or Council uh we're certainly open to it but um it is ongoing our transportation between medical uh the dial ride and um for shopping okay I think the they say they no longer no longer providing yeah no longer providing service to the to the meeting point of order please okay what she wanted she need the second part she's not answering what I'm asking point of order I believe the meetings she's referring to is the meetings for the clubs which are separate from the township Services thank yes and that's what I so you got to tell the people from the North End they can't come up to the buildings here because you're not going to there's no talking back and forth please take it offline love you okay anybody else oh actually she was waiting if you don't mind thank you good evening Diana joffy 86 Laurel Hollow Court Hi D um several months ago I come up here to talk about financially insignificant but uh safety-wise very significant issue uh to date I have not seen or heard about anything that's happened I discussed the um site triangle issue on Raritan and Inman Avenue there is a the hedges I was talking about if you're trying to make a left-and turn on the right it's a blind spot with Hedges that have gotten higher and higher over the years in the winter time you can sometimes see through if there are cars are coming because there's no leaves in the summer and the spring time it's deadly I've been up here this is my third time I have asked I the ba said she was going to work on it I haven't heard anything the other thing I uh the other issue I discussed was just a simple sign change for Timberline Drive it is totally faded out you can't see it um unless at night when you have your high beams on so a simple solution I guess to change it um so I would like I know there is an ordinance or or not an ordinance I'm sorry a minim uh Municipal Code that addresses this and um I would like to know what the status is okay um Sonia do you have the answer to the triangle issue yes um I believe we we're reviewing it with legal council so I just wanted to confirm um it for unfortunately it takes a little bit of time because between legal and our engineering team we're trying to make sure that it is uh uh checked so I don't want to make any conclusions or come to any conclusions but rather it is being worked on so I just wanted to double check that okay and uh for the sign on Timberland Drive Timberline Drive Timberline Drive Timber uh can we take a look at that I believe that was um replaced but I will again double check on that Timberline okay but if not just email me and I'll follow up for you okay uh Anthony first and then you're next oh Sor sorry Anthony Dion 25 Wy um man Frankie Valley I saw him like 15 years ago he was he was old then um first just in response I wasn't going to bring this up but uh the resident happened to uh bring up the uh illegal immigrants coming here and I you know though in philosophy um I 100% agree with him however I would just say this that the mayor knew about buses of illegal immigrants coming here for about two years uh being dropped off at the Botox and um did nothing about it so um uh which there's video on uh and um you know I regress on that one um the in speaking um you know I was I was in contact with a few Woodbridge Township uh um from their police department and uh we were told by the individual that 12 catalytic converters were stolen um in Forge last week on one single night um due to the proximity to CLA Barton um I was just wondering if there is communication between police departments um and local neighbor jurisdictions um to to notify the residents on such things I know broadly we been uh the township and the and the police department have uh doing everything they can to to educate everybody but something like that is very concerning um especially you know in the this happened in Fords that's why um and you know just one solution I I'd say this um you know back when I was with the previous administration you know I developed with the community policing unit uh thing called cop chat the purpose of it was it was a it was for public safety concerns we we were able to uh take questions from residents um in real time uh any public safety concerns they had and really speaking of low shortening Council um uh uh Council meetings if you would uh it it residents were were were told to go use that form to to uh to speak or or ask regarding those public safety concerns I I I I I say I I'm very disappointed that the new Administration didn't keep it uh obviously have a new host call whatever you want uh but something of that sort that type of format it was extremely successful uh we had the chief of police Honor on our first show um we did it I believe once a month um but however you want to do it it's a great form for people to just talk with the police department and keep an open dialogue there something to think about maybe bringing it back uh is one solution um in regards to the the meetings itself though um I I just would have to disagree with you council president um you know I I I think the the example that you used earlier regarding the 11 residents um to me that is that hypothetical is is worst case scenario um you know I've been to a a good amount of meetings uh in my life um especially over the last five years and very rarely does that happen where you have 11 residents come in here use all six minutes and then have back and forth dialogue as a matter of fact even during our Suez uh Council uh meetings I don't even that would probably be the only one that we had that much interaction with with residents for that length of time um I I I say this the the the council meetings are for the people uh you all are at large uh uh Council Representatives you you work for us um and if a council member if if somebody if a resident comes up here most residents come here majority of the time outside of the usuals um come here because there's a problem there's a concern and if a certain council member has a an answer or can indulge and help speed up the process or ask those questions I I I believe that they should be able to ask that's that's the point of the meetings and to go and defer to with all du respect to the ba an unelected person here um it it's it's it's not fair if the mayor wants to come down and be part of the meeting and we could change the way the council actually operates that's some that's something else I I should be open to that but she is not the mayor with all the respect um she offers insight to other things great but if there's a real concern and they want answers from elected officials especially if the elected official has knowledge of something that could be very beneficial I I personally I don't speak for every resident I speak for myself I personally would want to hear from that Resident uh that uh council member um and and not wait till all the way to the end um though I respect your opinion um on where you uh you know however you want to run your your your your meetings is fine um but I I I think this is uh heading down this is heading down a road that is to me uh just going to cause many headaches down the road I think people coming here for the first time might not be aware of that um um but again uh hopefully maybe you're open-minded to something that uh to to to to see how this goes short term and uh and and and if it if it turns out that I'm wrong and you're right you know if it's run smoothly then so be it I I come up here and I commend you for it otherwise um you know I would say just to at least keep an open mind maybe in a month or two look back at this and see if it's possibly we could change it back to the way it used to be um other than that council president that's that's really all I have for today thank you thank you Anthony come on up councilman missero Tony MSO 86 Laurel Hollow Court I probably have the easiest things you'll have to deal with all night to lend a little bit of perspective to that intersection at Inman and old ridan my first days on the council that issue came up I brought it to a meeting under my councilman's agenda you know he speaking points brought it up and if you read through the municipal code it's possible to infer that some part of it was talking about new construction because there were buildings and sheds and things like that but it also talked about trees and bushes and other things that have leaves needs to talk about that as new construction it just makes no sense but it was taken care of my real purpose to being here tonight is to talk about 2206 which was set for further conversation and adoption on February 15th about a year ago the Edison Township Cultural Arts committee was formed at that time I was probably one of the first people appointed and along with councilman Coyle and current Council vice president Harris in our first discussions within a minute or two we were 10 years and 10 miles down the road as far as where it was going and what we're going to be able to do there were some log jams along the way and one of the things that was needed to get to where we were hypothesizing was to change it from a committee to a commission well I watched the adoption tonight I saw it be unanimous I'm going to presume it's going to pass in some shape or form on February 15th if that is true again getting 10 more years down the road I think we will look back on February 15 2024 as a seminal date in the history of Edison Township because that change from committee to commission is going to allow us to do some things that don't exist in Edison although they do exist in some much smaller towns in the meantime in this past year the cultural arts committee has been doing some shortterm things you pass by the gallery downstairs probably more times than you want to that's one of the things and that's a shortterm item more can be done with that short-term item except that we are missing a piece of paper that is in the process of being what used to be called word processed once we have that we will be able to move forward on those shortterm goals but that's a conversation for another place at another time if all goes well hopefully we look back at February 15 of 2024 as that seminal date in Edison Township thank you very much thank you for your comments councilman and I think anyone else from the public that wants to speak I think that's it motion to close the public portion may I get a second oh it it's this first time only yeah what about rebutt if you have a proper rebuttal I will allow you the and I would let you judge what is rebuttal because to be honest I still don't know what a good is walking away again I have never seen anyone do a good rebuttal I told you it's by design it becomes a pattern and then it becomes suspicious can you explain to the resident what aut proper rebuttal is okay so I'm going to quickly just let the legal explain what a proper rebuttal is no no I I know you don't have the police I understand but I would like him to okay certainly a proper rebuttal uh addresses is specifically a comment made by someone else who spoke during the public session and offers a Counterpoint to the specific uh statements made by that individual it's not meant to expand upon Comet with um add color commentary to a statement made by someone else who has come up to the podium to speak so once it starts venturing into that territory it's no longer rebuttal and the council president president has the right at that point to cut you off uh or direct you onto a more clear path of an actual rebuttal okay sir thank thank you so much I recognized you're recognized oh okay I just find it strange I I I don't think we would have had such a conversation for someone else's rebuttal but I'll go back to the rebuttal um what I'm what I am going to rebut is the legal immigration comment comments somebody was making earlier okay thank you who gets to decide what's legal immigration and what's not um it's there's many Avenues to Legal immigration one of them can be coming here illegally getting married having a kid you can take that route um I don't understand why Mayor Sam josi and certain people in this town get to decide what Avenues are appropriate and what Avenues aren't but about the legal immigration comments I find it strange you know that here in this town we've always been a welcoming town when we were a majority black latino White Town we were always so welcoming to everybody that's how all the Asians invaded this town you know just invaded this town we we didn't care about it we didn't bother us any but now that I see the Asians are majority and flexing their muscles it seems to me that the same Asians that didn't that enjoyed how welcome you are wearing off I I am not it's a broad topic because he spoke about the legal immigration and I'm against what he said and I'm I'm talking about that now so I understand your your desire to speak on the topic um but being against what he said and expressing your own views on Asian immigration outside of the context of his specific comments addressing the the busing uh put you off topic from a formal and proper rebuttal so just just keep that in mind as you continue to comment okay okay I kindly disagree because if if I was allowed to continue I would have you guys would have understood but in any case here um I disagree with what the resident said because here in this town we were so welcoming to every everybody and now that the Asians took over it seems that it's okay when their Community comes into this town but when it happens to be Hispanic Latinos who happen to live on this continent all of a sudden we want to throw everybody out um I'm against that I'm against the comments he made about legal immigration because you know quite simply we can't just have our police officers walking up to a bus load of women and children and asking them for papers violating their Fourth Amendment right that Edison has never been Nazi Germany we've been so accepting of everybody and uh so I'm against his comments I'm I'm against that he said Mayor Sam Joi did a good job in what he did he he made us made us look like stupid once again we made national news he made us look like we're unwelcoming to immigrants yet we're very welcoming to IMR topic he's okay I'm okay like I said to low IQ individuals when the topic gets a little bit broad however if you do Veer into personal commentary against the council members or against the speakers that have come up then you are definitely off topic and you're out of order if you do so so I would ask you kindly to to to respect the the position of the the people that have spoken and the the council members and and avoid personal commentary thank you I agree I think your time is up as well thank you all right is my time up or am I getting extra time back from arlena because normally I'm told when our our clock stops your time is up I'm sorry so when you guys tell us our clock stop some people speak over us is not true thank you that's on the record council president moot motion to close the public portion president point of order okay what's the point of order uh the the point of order is I thought the council was able to comment um after the public comment closes the public portion is done and then the comments starts so we're good okay so so then once we close the public portion right but let let me just Express where the issue would be if when the public finish their first comments right and then we make our comments they might disagree with us and and rebut that but when we close the comments totally we speak and the public can't can't have any opinion about us afterwards I mean I want to speak about something else at the end which is true but there were two comments that I had about the public comment Point council president so for now as we are already done with the public portion let's close it and we'll continue that discussion uh may I get a motion to close the public portion motion to close the second um all in favor right all in favor I I so the motion uh public portion is closed and I will recognize councilman brusher to your point okay to um our resident Christo you know when he asked why um the simple answer is they got you to be quiet and they got you not to attend our meetings so they it so what they did was a success the I don't believe it was ever if there was ever an intent to put you in prison personally um a question that I'm trying to understand on old ridan and imman um a resident I guess came up a couple meetings ago and they asked for that to be cleaned up or a light put [Music] on see this is why I wanted the public to be able to um so Sonia do you do you recall it was a couple weeks ago did the resident ask for a light to be installed there or were they asking for it just to be cleaned up or the one particular issue that came up with regard to Inman uh was a light however because it's a County Road it has to go through the County engineering office so that was referred back to our engineer and police that is the one particular issue I know with regard to Inman not cleanup unless you're also then referring to the Inman a tree which is being worked on so those are the two that stand out for me IM and and and old raran there is an intersection and I think it's difficult when you P so let me explain is the site triangle I well I guess I would classify it as a site triangle um I I believe that it's it's hard to see as you're pulling out and and I'll tell you where I'm going with this so I I've been all over Edison right I've been the south side of Edison the north side of Edison and I'm very familiar with that side of Edison like if I had to move back to Edison there would be no place but that area that I would move to and part of the reason is that area when you go from South Edison to that portion you believe that you went to a different country that part of the township is so naturally beautiful um when you compare it to South Edison now I live on Grove so I'm kind of like in between and and I've watched my beauty deteriorate over the years with with lights and things of that nature so I don't want to see a bunch of residents coming asking for a light to make it safer when the easy solution would be to cut back the shrubs or or the trees or the branches and we've done that so why do we you said we were Consulting an engineer or something for that I didn't understand there was a light there was a light issue on in oh that required right away agreements with residents but at the same time the County engineering office needed to review that now with regard to the site triangle the answer that I gave um a little while ago was that it is under legal review because that would require a modification to the site triangle I believe you were on those emails that we were going back and forth about um changing the site triangle ordinance well okay that wasn't me but but my I guess my question is it that's a dangerous intersection because you can't see is is what I'm presuming and can can we have somebody check it and cut it back um so it makes it a safer you know safer way for us to pull out we'll take a look at it first thing in the morning all right thank you uh and now can I go to my comments yeah as opposed to residance ones you can make any comment okay coun president let's yeah can we do the res yeah a as a courtesy can I just throw comment at the IM Min Avenue for just 30 seconds sure but to the ba um I'm aware of that location over there it's it's obvious it's an enman Hazard it's a blind spot I it's a buffer zone that's overgrown on private property it's been in my experience we can just go and just cut it down we don't have to ask for permission if it's in a site triangle blocking the obstruction of traffic it's something that can be cut so I'm just curious when you do uh come in tomorrow can you look into to see whether we meet the criteria with the deputy chief the chief or the fire department because and the health department I mean it's a blind spot we had a tree in in in an area we just cut it the next day I mean when children parents can't see and there's a blind spot it can cause an accident so I believe that's where we were before and I'm just curious if we can check into it thank you and do you have any other comments for the residents Council any other comments we'll just continue so if you have any I want Mr BR to cut Mr BR off but I'm fine okay thank you I'll make it quick right here I just wanted to clarify first council president I support uh your agenda and what you're trying to accomplish in times sensitive manners when there are people here in the audience that want to listen and get through a productive agenda and to have a healthy debate back and forth um what you're trying uh I think will be a success but I just want to point out when RES come up here uh specifically objectors that object the mayor's agenda they're never going to agree with you and they come here specifically for the agenda to object so when they speak they speak for themselves they don't speak for all the residents and when I receive phone calls after this meeting I don't receive phone calls from the residents who come here the few the five the 10 and thank you for staying all this time through a meeting but it's been about the same 7 to 12 people throughout a 12-month period across 36 meetings but what I can stand is when I'm hearing the objectors tell us how residents we thinking and that's not true because the phone calls I received from some residents this my opinion is how long the meetings are and how they are not productive and that the objetive is how they try to spin the narrative as if we're not trying to have a productive agenda or move this Township forward so it's challenging to listen to it and and I am going to definitely stand up when I hear this because it's not true because at this time it's the mayor and the administration that are moving forward with an agenda this Council supports it again tonight look at it look at the school we took over I've been here eight years we haven't touched that school we complained about that school and this Administration is moving forward to fix up ston school that's a huge congratulations so I'm not going to put up with it and I'm going to speak on those points when they come forward because it's the same objectives over and over the same four or five thank you thank you Council McCoy uh anyone else wants to speak from the S any comments no all right then councilman Brer I'll recognize you again okay I'm going to go back to our speaking thing um I I I think personally this is a big mistake I don't believe that this helps make the meetings any shorter I would challenge any Resident including the council president to watch our entire meetings that went till midnight and to can up how many minutes that I spoke and then cut up how many minutes the other Council people spoke and see whether trying to limit my speaking because what I noticed was I would speak and then my Council colleague Coyle would comment and he would spend six minutes my Council colleague Nish would speak and he would speak 10 minutes and and each council person so the entire body is what EXT exended the meeting um just because I wasn't a fan of something and and I spoke that I spoke my mind of how I felt about it um so this isn't about the council people speaking this is about the residents and to me this is called you know the council meeting so how the administration can answer you know if the public wants to talk to the administration well they have Sonia's number they have her email they can go and speak to her when it gets to this level here right the residents want to hear what we're going to help them do um and and I'll tell you what cutting the brush back here very very simple thing right resident came didn't get anything done they came back right and they're they're looking for this body to trying to get to the bottom of from the administration when are we going to take care of this um but by making the council people wait and go to the administration to me it's not the council meeting it's the administration's meeting in in my mind um when we continue and we talk about you know like our agenda and stuff I do notice that you do want the council people to put their information on the agenda on Wednesday um I am not really going to partake in that when a resident asks me a question five minutes before this meeting or I'll tell you what when a resident contacts me at 5:00 that'll be my cut off because this administ ation and the council president dropped uh 50 cents on the dollar negotiation to this body at 5:00 so I'm going to give the residents the same courtesy to 5:00 um irregardless of whether you allow me to speak about it or not I am going to bring it up and I am going to speak about it um if somebody would like to actually challenge me on that please challenge me I would like to have the attorney represent me because in my mind what is happening here is the council people are given rights by the law of the state of New Jersey the township of Edison has passed this in the past which is restricting the council's ability to be Council people and I believe that that's illegal and illegal law just like the car ordinance and the hiring ordinance for the mayor and and I did agree that we were limiting the mayor's ability and in this same case we're limiting my ability now that goes back to our other item over here where at 5:00 on the day of the meeting which isn't really the day of the meeting because it should have went to the work session we had something that was dropped on our desk that is very important it's very controversial it deals with giving you know very important developer people a 50 cents on the um thing you know a discount well the residents at this present time do not have that discount and I don't know Council people have to follow and go by the the laws that the council president is putting in place but then the council president has circumvented the same laws about this being on our agenda on Wednesday or Friday to appease a settlement offer which is is a large developer right which probably has made contributions uh maybe to our campaigns I don't even know and I I think totally false statement council president I didn't even hear you up that let him finish you know you you you have that gaffle and he can't control himself here um so this is where it goes so the the meeting is kind of devolved now at this point right you you have councilman Co that speaks up now he spoke up the other day when I make a false statement I'm going so he he he can't you know you can't control I think at this point you're going off track do you have no I'm well I'm trying to but I keep on getting interrupted just like you do have the floor so please continue with the point all right which is the same thing it's it's a bullying tactic okay um it's not like you're beating someone up right but trying to knock someone off of what they're talking about um well that's not really a nice thing to do uh to your colleagues but like I said you dropping that on our agenda at the last minute shows that you are like pro-development you are pro-administration but you are anti- counil by making the council live to different rules than developers and the administration are held to and that would be all I have to say thank you council president thank you councilman BR council president those statements are not true that was tabled two times and we brought it back onto the the agenda it's a normal process happened before thank you Council MCO but uh please please uh wait to be recognized now anyone else want to make a comment all right you're not going to keep me under control either can we please either you talk to your rest of your colleagues and you run a decent meeting all right all right you are not recognized councilman brusher now thank you so thank you Council all right so moving forward uh as I thank you for your comments councilman BR I understand your suggestions as to how I should run the meetings and I'm always open to ideas but I am willing to see how this change affects the meetings and uh how it affects our decorum and our discussions and I'll see like I said I will see in a couple of months if things are not going well and if I think that the discussions are not productive then you know I am open to change but as of now I have been mandated to run a council meeting which would lead to productive discussion and I feel like it has uh we had better answers from our ba because she had enough time to prepare we had better discussions from the public because they knew what we were going to discuss ahead of time and now I understand you're concern of something being called in by the residents at the 5:00 hours I urge you to tell them take this offline and maybe ask the ba to to resolve that issue and if not please bring it up at the next council meeting and we'll more than likely talk about it and try to resolve it together but as of now I believe this is the right approach for the council and I'm hoping that um this is good for the residents they'll get a more efficient meeting they'll get to talk much quicker uh get their concerns addressed much faster uh and that is the goal of a council meeting our goal is to do work for the residents this has nothing to do with your speaking time or my speaking time or anybody's speaking time it's just to run a more efficient meeting this is the approach I feel is correct uh but that will be it for that and what's the next try this dis uh a motion to adjourn please may I have a second second this meeting is Jour 9:33 p.m. that