##VIDEO ID:Vu1C5fbadio## e e e e e e e e e e calling the regular meeting uh to or for Wednesday August 28th to order at 7:07 p.m. All rights for the Pledge of Allegiance Al United States of America the for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all now Madam clerk roll call please council member bruss here council member Coyle here council member Patel here council member pointer council member schmuel here all right Madam clerk please read the adequate notice adequate notice of this meeting as required by the open public meeting Act of 1975 has been provided by annual notice sent to the home News Tribune St Cal on December 23rd 2023 posted May Lobby missell complex on that same date thank you uh as for the Council of President remarks uh once again I want to remind everybody that uh this is chamber that we are trying to listen to everybody when it is your turn you are in your rights to speak whatever you like but when you're not recognized if you speak out of turn I will call a point of order and if you continue to do that we will have you removed so let's have a good meeting let's listen to each other uh moving on uh councilman Coy thank you council president uh to my colleagues and our residents vtis and firefighters I'd like to do a moment of silence for two people uh Chief William Prairie and firefighter Raymond tbok uh first with Chief Prairie he's been a volunteer fire person at Oak Tree Road a Volunteer Fire Company since 1975 and has been the chief there for 30 years he passed away on Saturday he um and he should be recognized for his 49 years of service to the Oak volunteer fire department and it helped many of his members men and women to pursue their career in this field um truly proud of the hard work and dedication and uh this person not only did devoted his life but he stayed Edison his entire life he didn't just do the job and then uh move on to retire he loved Edison also want to say uh to a personal friend of many people uh Raymond tbok lifelong firefighter family of firefighters and um it's sad to see him pass away uh last week he was dedicated to his job helped a lot of people he was known for Lending a hand to so many and making sure they got their start in their career I'm proud to know him as a friend so many here in this dayn as well and uh I just want to do moment science thank you council president thank you thank you council president thank you uh moving on to number five approval of minutes uh may I get a motion to approve uh and excuse I told okay so they know which one's after okay and uh can I get a motion to approve motion to approve uh may I have a second second uh council president I am seconding the motion except for a the work session of March 11th 2024 and I I'll second the motion thank you March 11 and uh I think uh councilman Brer is excused for a few and councilman Cole is excused for few uh all in favor I I moving on to number six approval volunteer firefighters uh may I have motion to approve James E neelson and Conor J small motion to approve may I have a second second motion by councilman shmuel second by councilman Coy uh all in favor I all right moving on to number seven unfinished business ordinance for further consideration public hearing and final adoption Madam clerk please read the ordinance ordinance cancelling the $1 178,916 where is the money going it doesn't indicate the one below it says that it'll go into an account but this one does not indicate where the money is going Sonia yeah while we wait do you have any other questions no you're only on that one that's the one I'm on I just want to know where the money is going to doesn't so it will be the 17897 41 appropriation will be canceled and it's being transferred to the capital fund Wellness okay I would just simply ask in the future that we make sure we put where it's going to otherwise we're going to come up and ask you where's the money of course thank you anyone else uh Nick Fagen 42 Edgewood you recognized thank you council president um I believe in reading these as a cursory reading I believe that their cancellation of Street Paving is that correct I'm just trying to understand and I guess I'll just ask my question I'm trying to understand what happened did we not need to pave these streets or did the streets not come to be what we need Street Paving in our town in my opinion no two unrated these are not related to Street braving so uh this is from 2010 um reconstruction resurfacing of wyard road from esto road to Elizabeth Court res resurfacing of Roxy AV from new do road to in manav and reconstruction of feather red lane from in manav to Edison clar border uh finally adopted in 27 2010 but I'll son I'll let you continue council president just to answer your question so um this is um past monies that we can no longer use and that's why they have to get cancelled so this is from the way it Ken explained it to us this is essentially money on the balance that essentially multiple projects that are we can't touch we can't use the money but they're there and it's kind of distracting so this is just a cleanup to get essentially close them out and we're done with it so that we can actually focus on the ones that are open and I guess that makes that's fine and and uh sure but did the original work get done I the resurfacing of Featherbed Lane and all the other streets you mentioned I believe from what I understand it should be done there might be just leftovers that they can't use that's again this was from 2010 they can't do anything with the money uh don't know what exactly the status of those projects are the only thing we do know is that they're there and they can't be touched and they can't be used so we had to cancel them okay I it still doesn't uh you'll do what you want to do uh Council but I would recommend that you maybe table this until you drive down Featherbed Lane or you talk with a resident down there to see if it's been done the work's been done or if it still needs to be done if you don't know if the work has been done and it still needs to be done maybe this doesn't need cancelling maybe this just needs the work actually just needs to be done so my recommendation is you just table this until you can find out that answer unless but it still hasn't been clear to me if this work was finished or not okay uh and you passed it back in 2010 2015 20 something 2010 2010 so it probably needed to be done by that Council that Council recommended and set aside that money correct to do this work I can have Sonia answer that for you yeah Mr Fagan is finished um so this is just a mechanism which we have to cancel bonds we can no longer use so in any event I can certainly follow up to see at what point that road was done but we cannot use the These funds to do those streets any longer so this is a mechanism in which we have to cancel bonds it's just procedural that's clear thank you for that so you can't you it's closed so maybe it's so gotcha so even if you did need to do it you you'd have to close it so maybe we missed something along the road from it's an accounting cleanup that's the best way to look at okay I hope those roads did get taken care of in the meantime and maybe this is leftover money but it sounds like maybe it didn't get taken care of and those residents are going to suffer but it it it's either here nor there it's an accounting cleanup I got it thank you Elizabeth Conway 20 Netherwood Circle which is around the corner from Roxy and down the block from Featherbed Lane and all the streets you're talking about I'm just looking for clarity so those roads that were going to cost this amount to pave never got done and now it's too late to spend the money that was appropriated to get those done no this is is only accounting cleano we don't know what happened in 2010 as far as I don't know so that's why I'm trying to uh council president Council give me one second let me have Sonia answer and then we'll come to you yes so we can't make that assumption that they were not done uh what we can do is cancel these um this is just again a mechanism to procedurally to have these cancelled we can certainly go look at those roads and seeing if they need any uh any Patchwork or any re resurfacing for that matter so but we can't make the assumption that they were never done they were never done but so you're canceling the money but we still have a chance that if you go back and look at the roads you'll see that oh they do need to be done you can get more appro that would have to be done by a new appropriation that correct whe whether whether we vote whether this whether this body votes to cancel the appropriation or not cancel it that money cannot be used so this is purely as you said an accounting mechanism to clean up the books so nothing will happen nothing can happen with this with this ordinance either way so what I'm saying is you're canceling the money but please don't cancel the job uh we do have some more information the original ordinance for was for 1,1 140,000 so this was the leftover from that 1,1 140,000 so they did use most of it but this is just a leftover money that I'm guessing they did not use in 2010 and we can't do anything with it so we're just cancelling it so okay but you're going to look at it yes thank you uh councilman Brer well I I was just going to say and and and I don't know that I'm right with this but I I did contact the State okay because my presumption is is that if this called for us to pave and redo curves on featherbed dis appropriation and we spent $800,000 of a million dollars and there's 200,000 left um that appropriation could still be applied to that project um as like a change order or something else coming down um so it doesn't necessarily have to be done like this but we could was where I was going so I I haven't been able to look at all of this but just so the public knows you you're going to you you'll notice that we pass a budget with $5 million for for Road reserving or million at the end of the day uh the business administrator might come to us with $4.9 Million worth of Road res servicing they go out to bid and at that point that might be 4.5 but we appropriate it the 4.9 so this is what they're saying is that mechanism to clean up the accounting of it um but like I said I I still haven't gotten Clarity from the state yet um because I think this money still could be used and appr it for what it was originally intended for but uh when I get the answer I'll I'll let everyone know all right thank you coun brusher um I'm going to get a motion to close the public portion motion to close the public motion may I have a second second all right that's motion by councilman pointer second by councilman shmoel uh can I get a motion to adopt motion to adopt may I have a second second and that's motion by councilman pointer second by Council M mu any Council comments council president Council poter uh can I just give a residents kind of an example of where this may come about down the road in 2022 we allocated money to repave Brower Avenue there was an application before the planning board for subdivision on Brower Avenue and as one of those conditions of approval was for them to actually repave Brower app Avenue right so that would instead of going on the onus of the township was made a part of the condition of that application so in the sense like why something may not have been done from the township I just wanted to give that as an example of how something like this could come about thank you council president thank you Council mcer any other council members all right seeing none uh may I get a roll call I'm clear council member brusher uh no council member Coyle yes council member pointer yes council member schuel yes council president Batel yes uh Madam clerk Madam clerk please read ordinance 2229 2024 Bor of the cent of Edison in the county of middlex New Jersey providing for the cancellation of $398,900 in bond proceeds not needed for its original purpose to transfer to such an amount to the to the capital Surplus account all right uh this will also be open to the public comments Nick Fagen 42 Edgewood so like the other like 2228 I think this is for roads the roads roads and and thank you for the council for the explanation of you know you appropriate a certain amount you don't spend at all to be to doe to wise government and and wise use of our money uh and then there's leftover but what I'm wondering and and Miss Hennessy I think asked the same question but I'm looking for more specificity the capital Surplus account so is this canceling the bond are we are we taking the money out of the bank and borrowing it and putting it towards another account that the city can use for anything it's called the capital Surplus account that can use it for miscellaneous things or is this canceling the loan and you're not taking the money from the bank Sonia so we have not used the money so that these are it was never taken from the bank in the first place one sec one sec let's finish before you continue yeah yeah again these are unused funds so they were never um borrowed um so what this is this is a mechanism which we transfer the funds into a capital Surplus account I'm confused I'm sorry so so if the if the funds were never and I'm a Layman I'm sorry but right I take a mortgage and I take that money and I've got the money and I I have to pay it back to the bank what I heard is that we never took the money from the bank in the first place but then I also heard we took the money from the bank in the bond and then we're going to now transfer it to what I'm going to call a slush fund so which one is it did we take the money out of the bank or not well first I I the problem with your what you just said is that you said that if you don't use Bond proceeds that they're put into a slush fund that is impossible that doesn't exist every dollar that is spent has to be approved in the budget okay via appropriation where there has to be previous you can look at the previous ordinance a cancellation of an appropriation so if money is is borrowed but no longer needed it can't be used for anything else okay so in this in this case certain funds weren't used they're put into a surplus account but they can't be used for anything unless this Council approves it so this is once again an an accounting mechanism for unused bond funds instead of wasting them on something now they are held for whatever other project may be necessary but that would ultimately be the act of that would be an act of council and can't be used unless that there's such action I hope that answers your question uh that's helpful so the money was borrowed from the bank the bond was taken out we do have we and we pay interest on it and and we have possession of it but it was designated for that road purpose and that road purpose is not available and so we can't use it anymore so it's locked up and and so we are trying to unlock that money in order to use it for alternate use under the capital Surplus account can you tell me as a resident what kind of things are you are spent for under the capital Surplus account it would have to come to council I mean that's that that's the requirement it would essentially this is leftover money from projects in the years past going back to 2010 they are stuck in those particular accounts that we cannot touch or use this is essentially an accounting mechanism to remove all those money that we may have borrowed let's say we borrowed a million dollars we used up $999,000 we had a dollar or whatever left we're essentially just releasing that dollar putting it back into the Surplus capital account and then essentially closing out that account so right now we have a lot of accounts open and it's hard to manage imagine having 24 checking accounts and trying to manage all of them some of them are not active but they're still there we're just a necess closing them out putting them into a surplus account when we do use the money which will still come back to but I can't tell you what we're going to use that money for till it comes to the council to be used in the future council president yes just to clarify and and uh Mr Mella was correct in a statement they're used for General Improvement authorization so uh for future which again have to come to council gotcha and it's not being specified as of now and that that makes sense uh is it possible to just pay down the bond with this money instead of putting it into a unspecified account for future use at some time later I mean we can council president it is a specified account it's Capital it's a capital Surplus account used for General General improvements to our infrastructure so that that's where it's going into one minute okay so it'll go into a fund where the council has describ to use in the future budgets and I guess what I'm asking for you is just pay the bank back with the money if you didn't use it but that's my simpleton way of thinking thank you thank you Maryann Hennessy Edison I'm trying to follow exactly what you're telling me and I'm still still slightly confused if you got this money and it was say to do the roads but you didn't use it all and it's been sitting there for years how long do you have when you borrow this money to actually utilize it I mean if it's been sitting there since 2010 or later it's now 2024 didn't anybody see this didn't anybody make a suggestion that it be used and if you're going to use it if you're going to put it back in the capital surplus funds what's not to and you're telling me that you can't use it for the roads the money that was left if that's what I'm understanding so if I'm not understanding please explain it to me but that's what I sat there and listen to so from okay uh let's put it this way um when we pass a bond ordinance here right and we say we're going to use this money let's make it simpler $1,000 for x per project let's say road paving yeah we continue that project this was passed in 2010 we continue that project we end up using $999 of that $1 remaining but since we allocated that $1,000 to that road that $1 left we cannot touch it minus that project because that's what the council appropriated in 200 whatever now someone should have cleaned this up earlier but what from what my understanding is no one did and this was a massive undertaking by the finance department that that took them a lot of research to essentially find out where all the money is you know what all the accounting and it took them a long time to gather all the data and they said this is the best way to make sure we can focus on what we need to do going forward so that dollar here $10 there and that's just stuck at that point and we're not utilizing it for anything we might as well close it put it into our regular checking account and then you know utilize it for something else it could be to pay down debt it could be to improve our roads it could be for anything but once again you'll have to come back to the council for an approval because now that we're closing those accounts it is not allocated for anything specific until now they were allocated for a specific project and that's the only project they were allowed to be used for I hope that helped it helps but I also don't understand my understanding from looking when you talk about bonds and you take bonds and you take them for so many years so if you took this bond in 2010 and it was a 10year bond that takes it to 2020 why has it been sitting there for four years I mean somebody has to be in control somewhere along the line there has to be something like some kind of a little flag that pops up to tell you you should have taken it it or you need to close it out why is there a procedure to do that so that you don't come back 10 years or 15 years later to clean these things up I cannot speak for anything in the past but we are doing it now and that's all I can really say I uh Sonia council president I this is nothing different than what we just did in the past ordinance okay so this mechanism is to close out a bond that we can no longer use our department everyone including our Engineering Department Public Works made sure that these projects were closed out otherwise we wouldn't be able to cancel these bonds so essentially this Surplus account let's call it um we are able to for example outside of using it for additional Improvement authorizations we can balance our budget therefore reducing taxes for residents so there is a good function to doing this we're really just closing on our books or reconciling our account excuse me our projects so that's all it is I I can't make any other assumption as to projects but these projects are closed uh we this is leftover money we cannot use it for anything else so therefore we're cleaning our books and we're just simply reconciling our accounts nothing more nothing less so I can't can't figure out what other imaginary thing I could use that money for I know and I'm going to be going back and forth with you because I don't understand why there was never council president I I respectfully I the back and forth I've explained it multiple times there's no more other explanation I can quite give we don't have anything but with the past in the past they didn't do it but we are doing it now do you have some kind of a system now in place that all these bonds that we have just been doing for the last 2 3 four 5 years when they're falling into time when there're supposed to be closed they don't sit there like this uh from what I understand from the finance department yes they are moving to a better system to make sure that this doesn't happen in the future thank you that's all I needed to know because I mean to me it's very foolish that it's taken this long to close these out when everything's been done I agree thank you Joy sh Freeman um from what I know and for what I understand about the bonds I don't understand why this one showed up because I know back in 2021 or 2022 maybe councilman Brer would be able to be fresh on it um that they Consolidated all the stuff and you're going to tell me after they Consolidated all the stuff and got it down to a 2.78 bond and handed over the money to the new Administration that they didn't didn't find this they didn't find money from 2010 and 2007 none of that money was taken care of so all of a sudden we have an epiphany and we found out about this money and I question why we keep putting money into um the Surplus because if we keep putting the money in the Surplus what's going to happen is 3 years down the line the tax will explode and who's going to be paying all this extra money back and I agree with other people like if you're not all this extra money and extra money on bonding and extra money it you know chickens do come home to roost I I just have a problem with nobody giving a definite meaning of why no matter everybody keeps going back and forth but nobody gives you a good reason why we're taking this money and putting it in Surplus other than trying to give us a false impression of our taxes are lower but they're not all right Elizabeth Conway 20 Netherwood Circle you recogniz I'm sorry to go around and around but when you take out a bond is there an interest on this bond that we have to pay back so if you borrow a million is there an interest payment over the million that you have to pay back is my question so if you get to a point where you're using so much of it and then you're not using the rest you're cancelling it but you haven't given them the money back are we still paying interest or we don't pay interest on Bones I equate this to like an equity loan so what I if I borrow $100,000 on an equity loan and I only use 78,000 of it I paid interest on the 78,000 but then I closed out the account that I'm not going to be using the last 22,000 so I'm not taking the money but you're still taking that 22,000 and putting it into another checking account I'm trying to equate it to the normal person so but I only paid interest on the $78,000 that I actually used so could you equate that to to this Bond are you paying interest on it and if you're canceling it do we not pay any more interest on that extra almost $400,000 that you're putting into your checking account so the way I would explain again going back to that thousand example you borrowed $1,000 for a particular project you soon as you borrow you start paying it off right you use $999 and you essentially paid it off on a separate process right it's not like you you borrow and then you pay it off with the same amount you have a different mechanism to pay off your debt and we Consolidated our debt in the past so it's not necessary that individual projects go with individual debt we can consolidate all of that debt into one particular payment so you cannot equate you had a dollar in this account so that Dollar's debt is still going that might have been paid off already so going back to the example you borrowed ,000 you Ed 999 you borrowed another th000 for another project so you have 2,000 you Consolidated that 2,000 into a separate debt you can pay off that debt let's say you paid off that 2,000 but you still have that dollar remaining in that account that was appropriated for a particular project that you're paying interest on no that pay the debt payment would have been already been done on a separate consol consolidation so if you had two projects you borrowed a th000 on each and you consolidate that debt into one and you're paying low interest pay pays on it that would have been paid off let's say 2015 already but that money that's appropriated in an accounting terms for this particular project that extra dollar that is appropriated already for that project is just sitting there not being used for anything else so this is just a way of saying we're done with this uh project we're not going to be able to use this extra dollar we don't need to keep this account open because it's getting confusing there's 30 different accounts that are essentially closed but we can't do anything with it so this is just an accounting mechanism to close all those accounts consolidate them make it easier to work with the account the debt is a separate issue if it was bored in 2010 I would assume it's already paid off but even if it it will be Consolidated into a separate thing it won't be associated with that particular project if that's all I'm trying to say yeah okay uh one second Council just in terms of the interest rates I just want to at least clarify uh we do make um five to six payments throughout the year for our debt service and the interest rates they vary from 2 to 4% council president can I add a note to that yeah because it just ties into what um Council Freeman wait till the sorry yeah thank you anybody else can motion to close the public portion all right may get a second oh all right come on up uh no mask please artificial intelligence am I recognized you're not I'm not recognized no you would have to remove your mask please is it is it lawful sir you will have to remove your mask if you want to talk I'm not going to say it again I will ask ask you to be removed all right uh motion can I get a motion to close the public portion motion to close may I have a second second all right that's a motion by councilman pointer second by Council Mel uh all in favor all right all right um can I get a motion to adopt motion to adopt may I have a second second that's motion by councilman pointer second by councel uh any Council comments council president Council poter thank you um understand the sentiment in regards to you utilizing the money to pay off the debt to use $100,000 example say we didn't use $100,000 from this project right to council woman sh Freeman's point the township Consolidated its debt right at an interest rate which is lower than what the current interest rates are now right let's call it 1.8% current interest rates range from 2 to 4% we could say hey right now we're going to utilize this money pay off the debt and next year when whatever Bond comes up we would just go about in our normal business I would rather use this 100,000 at the reduced interest rate and take off the amount that we would need next year usually we've been doing that $15 million Clips right so utilizing this $100,000 example next year it would be 14, 900,000 right but that 100,000 is at a lower interest rate than whatever the interest rates are going to be most likely next year obviously I can't forecast that but that's how I'm viewing it right now we have the funds that are able to be utilized now if you look at of the bond ordinances on the right column says period of usefulness so for Road resurfacing you have a 10-year usefulness lifetime of that so a 2010 bond has already elapsed right that's 2020 this is 2015 10 years is 2025 so that would be the difference for me thank you council president thank you councilman pointer uh councilman president counc press Sonia this $398,000 this is sitting in a bank account correct and we're we're getting interest on that also corre okay so in essence this is an accounting thing that that government does um and and like my residents I guess I'm going to use the same verbiage um I I didn't go to law school like my attorney here um so I'm going to use the word slf fund but in essence there are certain things that happen accounting wise um this money sits in an account it's been they've been here for years right we haven't spent them but at some point when this Council might be having to raise your taxes 8% okay they can clean this all up all these little accounts that they have right and reduce that cost next year is where you'll see like a reduction because this is basically like found money that we're going to allocate now it's going to be in the budget right it's just not going to be sitting in a bank account um I mean there is a drawback we receive a little less interest um but it's the same type of thing when we have uh employees in the town when we put our budget together we might have um allocated 200 police officers over the course of the year we don't hire new police officers but 20 police officers retire let's say mid year the township saves that $100,000 per police officer that they use then in the following budget it's it's an accounting practice um the way the public looks at it like like I do right we look at it like it's a slush fund because it's it's an it's not actually appropriated for a specific cause it's it's not like we go in and we say our budget is 150 million and then we spend the 150 million every year there's money that's left over that then gets put into the following Year's budget so so because there's no actual designation that's that's where we use that word Slush from because we don't know where it's going only the administration um could know at this time or they might not even know at this time they might decide next year what they're going to do with the funds um so accounting wise and that I I do understand but with with this here and with the one above I didn't get to take a look at where this all came from um because I just got my packet um I can't do the r drive or whatever we have I can't do it on my phone um so right myself I'm just not comfortable with the first two we had that's all that that would be a counc president thank you thank you uh as for me I would just like to say that with the debt payment back as councilman pointer said if we have a lockin rate of 1 point or something really low and our interest current rate is 7% or four two to 4% borrowing more money and then trying to pay back something that we have a really low rate in I don't think that's makes Financial sense so it's better to keep that one point whatever rate we have and use that money instead of borrowing more money at a higher rate uh but either way this is a accounting mechanism hopefully this will clean up moving forward and moving forward they'll keep it in order and close it as it goes along uh may I get a motion to uh actually motion may I get a roll call please council member brusher no council member Co yes council member pointer yes council member schmuel yes council president Patel yes all right moving on to ordinance 222 I mean 2230 um Madam clerk please read the ordinance an ordinance providing for the cost of living adjustment for certain employees of the township I will open this up to the public Lois Wy P Road you recognize Lois I have a question it says that um if the cost of living increase is for certain employees and the three that are listed are the business administrator director of water and sewer and director of Public Works are these the only employees that are getting a cost of living increase or other I think we uh I think in this ordinance particular ordinance we're only doing these three others others have received it in the past a separate ordinance yes they're in a separate ordinance I'm I'm sorry goad and most of our employees are part of bargaining units and they receive raises as part of their contracts these are individuals who don't are not part of a contract unit okay then the um difference is $66,000 for the increase in one case and uh a couple of thousand in the other cases why why do we need to give a cost of in living increase now I'm not familiar with all the positions I am familiar with the business administrator who makes almost a quarter of a million dollars why do with everything going on in this town and every penny counting why do we have to give a cost of living increase to sewing at that salary or the director of water and sewer or director of Public Works I could see the employees you know they're at a lowest scale and they it makes a big difference to them but I don't really see why we need to do this I I think you've stated your opinion on the matter I don't think there's a question for for me on that I think it's just your opinion is that they don't deserve it that's fine I mean that's that's your opinion on it I don't I don't think that's a question to be answered by us you don't understand my question no I I think I don't see I don't think it's question at all I think it's a you're making a statement about your belief that they shouldn't get a raise that's your right to do so to make that statement but I don't think that's a question that I can answer does the council feel that this is warranted when we vote for it well no we I don't know yet okay thank you thank you oh and what I wanted to ask let's say $6,000 or 2,000 is that staying on the books do you give that increase right now this year the whole increase or is it divy out it it's would be in each paycheck yeah over the course of the year yeah it's not it's not a onetime payment it'd be an increase in the salary paid I believe B monthly so it's not given right now the whole thing no no it just it address the salary up yeah okay yeah artificial intelligence am I recognized yeah yeah you recognized I'm recognized yes I'm still wearing a mask but okay who who is the who's getting a race specifically the three people that are listed are business administrator son director of water and sewer and director of Public Works okay okay and what why is Sonia getting a race for what reason uh it says cost of living adjustment didn't they already give her a vehicle to drive around in she doesn't have to pay for that vehicle she already got how much is her salary per year I think that's a person so if you if you have something to say please make your statement to the council uh I am making statements okay okay uh please uh keep it quiet thank you I'm making a lot of statements while wearing a mask um about ordinance 223-224 completely lawful the only reason I didn't speak before because I wasn't recognized had nothing to do which mask I was wearing or not I don't count okay how how much time do I have left Marina four and a half minutes okay yeah just more corruption more corruption from ba Sonia um asked for numerous meetings from her never got those meetings respectfully regards to the position not an employee so personal attacks on a an employee I do not find to be in line with the ordinance itself okay the councilman is correct the speaker comments are not are not in keeping with what is required of this I think you forfeited your right to speak so it wasn't a personal attack no you're it wasn't a personal attack I was just I was just explaining why you can please sit down or I'll have you removed you you'll have me removed for making public comments on ordinance 2230 please sit down or I'll have be removed thank you you're officer can we have this person removed thank you all right uh moving on uh any other we can wait all right we can continue this this is has this is just like your name and address please excuse me joy ship Freeman okay you're recognized I'm just saying this environment is so hostile that's why people don't come out excuse me excuse me you not there's no back and forth I just want to say something there's no back and forth um how often people would like to know how often are these three individuals getting a cost of living raise how often in this ordinance they'll be one time they'll be going from the number stated 160 to 230 which is increasing to 236900 how how often like because I've seen this before when it came up before not too long ago so I'm just trying to say how many times how many times does this come up and believe me I know about bargaining units and stuff because I was in headed one before so I'm just want to know that how often are we um submitting information because for them I don't know because I don't know if the people have been here some people have been here a little longer but some people I don't know if they've been a good three years or whatever so I've is questioning the fact that how often are we doing cost of living raises for certain people when I know the majority of these people here make like 30,000 or maybe 40 at poverty level and they not at cost you know they don't get the cost of living raised that's why I just want to know how often do we do it can I answer that yes well what you said is fundamentally incorrect I mean from the from the start to say that in that certain individuals are not getting a cost of living increase is incorrect if you're part of a bargaining unit um there's a uh generally an increase built in every year as part of that bargaining unit so I I reject your premise that that people that other people are not getting a cost of living increase and these individuals are as to how often these three individual these three positions have received a cost of increase it would have to come to council for that to for that to happen um and I cannot tell you as I said here tonight when when the last one was um but there's certainly a record of those because they're all they're not done by the administration they have to be done by this body so I'm sure someone has that information about when the last one was but yeah 21 202 2021 okay so there you have it but to say that I have to I have to just push back on that idea that others that they are getting it and others are not because that's not case I'm not saying that I'm not I didn't say that they wasn't getting one I said the amount of money they get is ridiculous I never said that they wasn't getting cost of living because I know I've been a bargaining agent before and I'm saying it's it's kind of crazy to me that people making 30 and 40,000 but we see this great need to pile on and give great more more and more money to people in the $200,000 range I'm just you know I just I'm just always for the the people the grunt people who you know are going out of their their way doing the best they can within this Township thank you thank you thank you yeah you can come on up um Nick Fagen 42 Edward you recognize um for the benefit of uh Council Wanship and some of the other people here I believe it was November of last year that this was requested and if I remember correctly the council did modify the the resolution and pulled one of the members from the resolution and modified changed the resolution and pulled the Ba's amount off and so uh and then I believe I thought you passed it or you tabled it so uh this is coming up again and uh I think you already voted on it in November thank you anybody else all right see up can I get a motion to close portion can I get a second second I have a motion by councilman Coyle second by councilman shuel uh all in favor all all right can I get a motion to adopt motion to adopt may I have a second second that's motion by councilman shmuel second by councilman pointer uh any Council comments just a a point of clarification this percentage is is the same or or less than what everybody else has gotten in the township 3% same okay that yeah it was just a point of clarity I'm just looking to make sure that everybody's getting treated um equally um thank you all right uh anybody else uh Madam clerk roll call please council member brusher uh yes council member Cole yes council member poiner yes council member schmuel yes council president Patel yes all right moving on to number eight new business uh proposed ordinance public hearing set down for Monday September 9th 2024 uh Madame clerk please read ordinance 2232 's amending section 36-7 major subdivisions 36-6 do1 sketch plat application requirements 36-9 do6 plary site plans 36- 9.7 final site plans 27-21 large water service and 36-8 do2 plary site plan approval of the township Edon to update electronical submission requirements on applications for developments um may I have a motion to introduce Mo introduce uh you have to read this yes you're right I move this ordinance to be passed on first reading published according to the law for further consideration public public hearing set down for September 9th 2024 and may I have a second second that's motion by motion to introduce by councilman shuel second by councilman poiner any councilman comments right see you none Madam Co Madam roll call please council member brusher yes council member Cole yes council member po pointer yes council member schmuel yes council president Batel yes all right um moving on to number nine we go with the list um moving on to number nine uh open to public comments on the resolution uh come on up Nick Fagen 42 Edgewood you recognized thank you council president so I have a question I have several questions on resolution 487 uh resolution designated redeveloper authorizing execution of the Redevelopment agreement with Fairway country LLC regarding the area in need of Redevelopment known as uh a thousand Inman Avenue or the Gulf range on Inman Avenue um there there is backup on the website of the actual resolution and it's text but there is no there's a there's a form a listed but the page is blank I had asked the clerk for that before the meeting and I was explained that I cannot have a copy of that as the public until after the resolution is either passed or decided upon that that is correct that was under under my under my advice yeah can you tell me why uh because it is a draft agreement but once the resolution is adopted um you can have access to that agreement okay so but the draft draft Agreements are not subject to Oprah okay so the public can't see that but the council has seen the council members have seen that and they are they are well aware of what's in that document okay um can you tell me more about the uh the principles of Fairway country LLC I'm sorry I don't think we have that information does Fairway LL Fairway country LLC is that represented by Mr Mark rosansky American Dream developers I don't know that is um is Mr Ken jobson part of Fairway country LL I don't know that don't know okay is Trion construction uh principal Mr Robert carabin part of the partnership of Fairway country LLC I don't know that don't know okay I thought planning board resolution or and this is Council I get it but I thought planning board documents of larger than 10 units require in the law to uh requireing the city ordinance to fill out a form as to who the principles are of the corporation who's behind the LLC is that not required no such law exists with regard to the designation of a redeveloper okay is is this Redevelopment is this Redevelopment 300 units do we know how many units are in this Redevelopment agreement I would pass it to the ba to answer just give us a second I I can't I I don't know that unless councilman forer does no in my review of the agreement I didn't see any dity um like number associated now in the previous Redevelopment plan resolution that we sent to the planning board that set the guidelines for the zoning of it but in this part particular agreement uh I do not recall seeing a a set number of units that would be required to be part of it fair enough thank you does this Redevelopment agreement um adhere to and abide by the density and setback and all of the requirements that were set forth in the Redevelopment agreement the the original Redevelopment ordinance which I believe is from 2021 I don't remember the actual o number but there was a there was a document in 2021 that was approved that set forth what the Redevelopment program would be I am not fam with that Sonia go to the planning board yeah any any redeveloper would have to adhere to the Redevelopment plan that was adopted okay so has to has to by law yeah so okay so the agreement that we can't see or you can't see until until later tonight until it's been assum it gets adopted yeah okay okay well I I I can't comment on whether or not you should pass it or not because I can't see it and so I find that a fundamental flaw in the process uh I guess it's not your fault but it's it's kind of a flaw in the process um I do caution the the the council that development and and overcrowding and and traffic in our town is a disaster uh I'll tell you a story I my uh my my little one is in travel baseball this year and and we've gotten to explore the state of New Jersey because of it Point order yeah yeah yeah I'll get there real quick one second one second we have a point of order can we pause this time just I understand this is for the resolutions I just want to make sure we don't go couple peers off track I just want to provide legal council that Council pointer is absolutely correct the speaker has gone beyond what is uh is not no longer is no longer speaking on the resolution and out of I'll bring it up respectfully I I I'll bring it up in uh open thank thank you all right uh anybody else be back they're talking it's even worse good evening Elizabeth Conway 20 Netherwood Circle you're recognized thank you um here I have a question about the resolution 487 and this particular uh plan of Redevelopment seems to come in waves every once in a while and I'm sure I probably won't be around by the time it's done but I know there's a number of steps that have to be taken so could you explain what this step means without being uh giving away anything that you don't want to tell me anyway don't you want me to you want me to handle that I can I can take you just want to go through just go through the entire Redevelopment process just from the beginning is that you're asking no okay where are we what kind of step is this are we at the very beginning have we moved on a couple of steps where they've gotten approval where are we John seems to give me a you want to take it it's it's technically the second the last step now the last step would be after the Redevelopment plan and all that's situated and redevelopers um agreed to they still have to go to the planning board to get the plan approved so that's technically the last step before the any development would occur this part right here is one step behind that so the so what are you doing this would be authorizing the Fairway uh Country Club LLC to actually perform the development on the lot the actual development itself like the so with the golf ranges yes they would still have to go to the planning board though to get their approval within the guidelines of the Redevelopment plan so they haven't done any of that yet no okay and you have no idea what they're putting up yet in terms of size architecture what it is I mean you heard things over the years but no specific bed on the Redevelopment plan I believe it's senior housing as term as far as what the exact Heights and widths and depths of the units are I I do not know that for you right now okay so that hasn't gone before the planning board yet correct okay so even though it's one of the last steps this is a giant step okay thank you maryan Hennessy and Edison you recognized thank you uh resolution 472 08204 resolution requesting approval of items of revenue from the op opid money 472 472 okay what's the question on that the question on that is I listened to the work session and I understand that uh we will be looking from the business business administrators comments we're going to be looking for two separate people to work in programs MH okay my question is this is $586,500 125 how much is estimated to be taken out of that amount for those two positions and will that money remain there for next year or the year after to hire will it be coming out of that or then that does it convert into Sou money so as of right now I know we this is not the only op so this is not the only opio money we got we have a lot more coming in Sonia can you elaborate on that correct uh so we have uh quite a bit of funding that has come out of the opioid monies um through various vendors and what I mentioned on Monday evening was that uh we have to be creative and um they're really uh strict guidelines on what we can use the money for um and one I mentioned was two positions to address issues with um substance abuse um to make part of our program so uh two positions community outreach um and to and that would come out of this not just this but whatever else we have in the account and I can certainly provide an updated amount to the council from opioid settlements there's been a lot of lawsuits going pretty much everywhere and we we did get a lot of money but they they come with very heavy stipulations as to what we can use those money for so we cannot necessarily use it for Road are you okay put the lock on this thing we should consider that um but we cannot use it for like road paving or anything like that so I think we got millions of dollars but I don't know the exact amount so don't quote me on it but we have a lot of money coming in from various sources for opioid purposes and one of one of the stipulations that we can use for is community outreach and so that is what we're going to be using that money for so it's just coming out of this particular amount of money that's being given yes there'll be other things coming out of this money as well yes but we haven't we don't know yet as to what that will be all right so out of this amount of money are you putting money aside uh say you don't get anybody until next year so you use the money out of here for next year are you putting money aside for 2026 to pay the salary so this money is coming into us but it doesn't necessarily mean we have to use it right away so if we like let's say a million dollar comes in it'll sit there and it'll be stipulation that we can use it for specific things so till we don't hire someone we're not going to start using that money or till we decide what we want to do what we can do with that money we're not going to use it it's just going to sit there right but my eventuality is when you utilize the money and it's not there anymore and there's no more money coming in from Jance and pharmaceuticals or whoever it is that's been sued and has to come to the state what are you going to do about those positions are they going to stay or are you going to have to look for more grant money uh council president these are temporary positions so and I'm sorry they're temporary positions so they would be noted as such in the advertisement so they're they're only temporary they won't be permanent they will not be in the budget no how long would the temporary position be I don't know you're asking hypothetical questions we don't this is not necessarily decided I the question on Monday was what can we use that money for and that was an answer that ba gave hypothetically that we could use it for it's not necessarily we haven't hired anybody we haven't actually done any of the ACT I was just curious as to what this money can be used for well I understand that but I'm concerned that we can maintain an amount of money going forward once we use up whatever we have again as what happen and you and I going back and forth I'm I'm just I'm just going to give up on that part I really am um because my main concern is it's an ongoing problem it's never going to go away it's never going to get any better and it will progressively get worse and I just want to make sure that we are understanding that we have to maintain these people therefore we have to consider where we're going to put the money can you know I mean like if you get a million dollars can you take their salary and project it for two or three years and set it aside like you do you don't like the word the slush fund wherever it's going into can it be allocated within that funds to pay for those salaries for at least two three or four years because like I say it isn't going away so yes I mean I I I know from within family it is not going to go away it is the worst monkey on your shoulder you never get rid of it regardless of how hard you try and I just don't want sources of council Etc to disappear and that's my question can we reserve money specifically for that area within wherever your slush money is so this is going to be again just to clarify this money is coming in we haven't decided what to do with it one of the things we can do with it is hire people and we are looking into it and even if we to your concern that you know this money will be used for something else it will not it will be used for opio you know I'm not worried about that I understand you're going to do it my concern is you will utilize the money run out of money your time is up just to just to clarify you can you can sit down I'll finish my thought but just to clarify that money will be used for the benefits uh to you know to community outreach and any other stipulation that money comes in with they got snowing like Tahoe already geez Anthony Damron uh Wy AV you recognized thank you uh just on resolution 487 I think that is is that 487 487 yes the previous speaker reported up uh a sitting c a sting a sitting assemblyman I guess may be part of this LLC and profit from this uh and we don't know that to be the case though is that is that correct I'm not sure about that okay so sitting assembly all right uh well listen I'm going to definitely keep my eyes on this one this is interesting all right thank you all right council president I mean Joyce you can come on Jo sh Freeman I'm concerned about 498 about the rubber cycle like what what materials is the rubber cycle made for on the playground and surfacing because I know all the problems we had in mini bville with Mercury so I get like a little skeptical when I see something with rubber cycle on it so can you give me a explanation for that sure Sonia it's uh rubber rubberized and uh part mulch so those are the materials what's the rubber what's like you know what this consists of people tell me rubber rid before but that wind up being filled with Mercury so what's the ingredients like what's the purpose of this Rubble cycle rather than you know the mulch and some other things that we have and where would the rubber cycle uh be located at and the uh Lake Pi papani area so for it should be by the park in the playground surfacing that's what they'll be used at uh but to your concern Sonia would this be tested for mercury is this something that we should be concerned about not at all okay I heard that before and it was still Mercury on the stuff but number uh two I wanted to ask about you know people tell me anything um I wanted to ask about the grant what number is are we securing a grant on 474 for the installation of a a splash park to cover the cost of that because I'm figuring if we get that money then maybe we can put one on the North side I'd be happy if we get it are we getting it we are getting that Grant okay so that frees up money we go on the on the other side right because y'all repurpose money all the time so I figured you you can repurpose it and put a splash park on the North side that would be very very good at all and actually maybe the park would probably be full thank you Council just to clarify it's related to this current splash park okay that's where this funding is going into yeah so just to clarify this funding the grant funding is for the current Splash Park thank you anybody else all right motion to close the public portion may I have a second second all right that's motion by councilman Coy and second by councilman shmuel all in favor I all right I'm sorry I'm lost yeah I'm on the wrong page like mo didn't anything all right anything to pull for a separate vote Council br um 473 473 498 498 505 uh five 11 505 and 511 okay and 519 and 519 uh anybody else that would like to pull anything council president I was just trying to get the number but the opioid I want to do for a separate vote the opioid grant for sear you want to pull for a separate okay Madam clerk that number is 472 472 thank You2 council president Council pointer can I pull um 475 I believe it is MH okay uh anybody else seeing none so so consent start consent agenda is going to be 405 to 471 and 473 to 474 uh 476 through 4 [Music] 86 you pulled out 487 right 47 2 four no no okay so then 4872 473 so 48 sorry uh so this is not pulled up so 486 through 497 and then 498 is pulled 499 through 504 505 is pulled 506 through 510 511 is pulled 512 through 518 519 is pulled 520 to 523 uh can I get a motion to approve the consent agenda motion to approve the consent agenda may I have a second second that's a motion by councilman pointer second by councilman Coyle Madam clerk roll call please council member brusher yes council member Cole yes council member pointer yes council member shuel yes council president Patel yes so I'll just go down the line Council MCO you have the first one 472 council president I just want to uh celebrate my colleagues of this Grant and the opportunity to help so many people uh in Edison uh and opioids mental health and how sad it is uh what has going on in the outside world um so many of us have been affected friends family um brothers and sisters uh colleagues employees um truly happy to see this opportunity uh come to fruition and I want to thank the council and the administration for previous grants and this Grant and I'm looking forward to the opportunities that we can share with this community creating programs and possibly some lifetime employees thank Youk you um Council brusher you were at 473 right uh yes um yes I asked to pull this resolution um didn't really get to go through the resume of a judge I'd like to know that the judge um had some kind of background of being impartial and being fair um before I would appoint one and since I I don't have that I don't know what the relationship is between the judge and possibly the mayor um I wanted to pulled this a separate vote so I think this is a reappointment I I know and I don't know where that went but I do know that um certain residents here I feel personally I feel that the mayor has been using our legal system against residents that speak out against him that's my personal op opion um and because of that I just don't feel comfortable moving forward with the legal system um and the judges that we have until I could possibly meet them speak to them and feel really where they are as far as being impartial so that's why I asked for it to be pulled okay thank you uh so you know what should we do this should we do it individually or do you want to pull everything separately uh or do you want to do everything as a block for you um no uh no they'd have to be separate because one of them I'm I have something I want to say but I will vote Yes on it all right so then you know what we'll do everything at the end we'll just make the comments or do you want to do it now you know let's just do 472 first okay motion adopt 472 right may I go second I'll second but can I make a is there Council comment yeah I guess after but I second the 472 this the councilman Co oh this is 472 yeah yeah because he pulled that so councilman Co the opioid oh oh I'm sorry I'm I'm thinking I'm sorry my apologies I kind of went backwards I just want to get it yes because there's so many separate on I didn't want to yeah got it got it sorry so uh coun motion by councilman Co second by councilman pointer Madam clerk roll call please council member brusher yes council member Coyle yes council member pointer yes council member schmell yes council president battel yes uh now moving on to 473 did you have comments Council app pointer uh yes as you mentioned this was a this is a reappointment the original appointment was back in 2022 so any of that backup as to qualifications should have already been in front of us uh if I said yes then I feel comfortable I did my research back then thank you council president uh I'll take a motion for 473 motion 473 can I have a second second all right that's a motion by councilman Coyle second by Council M muel Madam clerk roll call please council member Brer no council member Coyle yes council member poiner yes council member shamuel yes council president Patel yes um moving on to 475 I think that's the next one that was by thank you uh council president um I failed to make any mention I think it would just be inconsiderate if I didn't uh the work that the Water and Sewer Department do for our Township is superb it's immeasurable it's a valuable asset to the township uh so with that I just want to say thank you to um Bob Smith to Roger to James the entire crew of the water and SE departments I appreciate everything that you guys do for us thank you council president thank you councilman poter uh may I get a motion to approve 475 motion to approve second all right that's motion by councilman pointer second by councilman Coyle Madam clerk roll call please council member brusher yes council member coil yes council member pointer yes council member schmuel yes council president Patel yes and I think the next one is 498 right Council br8 the next one yes 498 uh this is that rubber cycling thing um you know and and well I do know like the business administrator said that there's nothing hazardous here at this time um unfortunate for me I happen to be quite a bit older than she is so I was around during the time when um actually lead paint really wasn't that bad in fact they used to paint your houses with lead paint and here today I sit with um the government Affairs coordinator for the Realtors Association for the state that's asking for us to pass a law um to remove lead paint so over the course of my life I've seen the professionals um the educated the professors the smartest people we had that told me that it was the greatest product in the world and what I've come to realize is that these people really don't know but what I do know is that rubber and plastic is not good for the human body and do I want to see it around our children absolutely not I've spoken out numerous times about our athletic fields with the turf um I myself voted for the athletic field with the turf but I've argued with everybody that wanted it because one day they're going to come around and they're going to go it was a problem so you know because of this um I wanted it pulled I wanted to make statement that it is not good I don't care what the professionals tell you 20 years from now you're going to hear that um it's bad and your CH grandchildren or great-grandchildren are going to go you know how did my grandfather or grandmother actually believe that this was good okay because that's just history so at this present time um I'll be voting no on this thank you Council M brusher any other council member motion to approve 498 all right may I have a second a second all right that's motion by councilman Coy second by councilman pointer Madam clerk roll call please council member russer yes oh wait a minute that was a no wait a I can't change his vote yes that's a no council member Cole yes council member app pointer yes council member schmuel yes council president Patel yes yes all right moving on to the next one R 5055 uh councilman brusher 505 okay 505 the various plumbers um quick question for that that that's for us to hire outside like plumbing contractors to do plumbing work within the township yes uh work that's out of the scope of what we can do in house okay and what I'd like to say with that is being that we're a municipality being that we own a water department being that we manage a sore Department um I find it appalling to say that there is Plumbing work that we could not handle and and if that's the case then the director of whatever Department we're talking about right should go for training and bring people in for training there's there's no reason for us to go to out outside vendors and pay their additional markups they all have to hire Union people because we all passed these um uh pla agreements so now we're required by law really to hire Union contractors so our men are unions so we're not saving it's not about saving money our men should be qualified and if they're not they should be trained so under that that goes back to my my whole principle with the Suz and not selling everything um we should do it in house and if the people that we have that are in charge can't do it in house then they should resign and um you know unfortunately you should find somebody that could actually do all these jobs so for this one yes I'll be voting no also any other council members president Council M can I to the ba is there a reason why we don't do this in the house uh we do do a lot of work in houses in the event that we can and we don't have to spend all of this this is not to exceed amount um but by law so that in the case there's an emergency that requires us to go to uh a plumbing company we go out the bid we go through the bidding process and this is the list of vendors we use um does it mean that we're going to use it uh this is just again this is a safety net for us to do throughout the year all right uh any other council members all right see n can I get a motion to approve r505 motion to approve 505 may I have a second second all right uh um that's a motion by councilman Coy second by councilman pointer Madame clerk roll call please council member brusher no council member Coy yes council member pointer yes council member schmuel yes council president Patel yes uh on to you uh r511 councilman brusher uh yes uh this is a Rec Department reimbursement is this something like where or I didn't get to go through those documents CU they didn't have that drive but is this for like our employees they might go to a seminar or something like that and and this is an expense that that they had there would Sonia no this is uh for someone that didn't go on a recreation trip so this is a refund to to that Resident or person who did not go okay all right perfect thank you um may I have a motion to approve R5 up if any other council members want to speak all right motion to approve r511 uh a motion to approve may I have a second second all right that's motion by councilman brusher second by councilman Coy Madam clerk roll call please council member Brer yes council member Coyle yes council member pointer yes council member shuell yes council president Patel yes and on to the last one R 51 519 uh councilman brusher yes um you know I I I get lost with the administration sometimes um I got told that that we wanted tool boxes so it had a uniform for Aesthetics and and now here we have a Jeep um I don't know how many Jeeps we own but it seems like we own a lot of Fords and Chevys um and and I was told that we need this Jeep in case it's really muddy so that we can get in those areas um with the Jeep [Music] um now the the problem I have with the Jeep is I have had a Jeep myself personally um what you can't do with the Jeep is you really can't go off-road um you snap axles you snap tie rods you snap everything um in fact had to be pulled out by a Dodge pickup um and as far as off-road and in the mud um anybody and I'm sure there's people here that have done it um the biggest attribute to it is are the tires not the vehicle per se so if you have like an all-wheel drive vehicle and and it's got like um it's got a differential in it that that doesn't just slip so it goes to the rear tires now sound like that M to thing right in the movie where it spins in the mud but if the tires are large enough it can get out of the mud so for me it just doesn't make sense to have a Jeep as opposed to a Chevy or a Ford and I don't know why we're introducing new automobiles um you know into this except to say that maybe somebody just wants to drive a Jeep probably because they never owned one before um so right um I like that just pulled because on this one I wanted to vote no thank you okay uh any other council members all right seeing none may I have a motion to approve R 519 motion to approve may I have a second second all right that's a motion by councilman pointer second by councilman Madam cler roll call please Council council member brusher uh no council member Cole yes council member pointer yes council member schmuel yes council president Patel yes and uh that's it that's it moving on to number 11 oral petition and remarks not there all right so uh I would take any comments actually counc CC this for petition remarks we go by the list or there's no list just by call of hands anybody new that hasn't been before that wants to speak is there's anybody new that's here that wants to raise their hand that hasn't spoken before Miss Conway I'm sorry gentleman the orange he he I'm Sorry Miss Kam if you don't mind just said professional courtesy he good evening Thomas Ley Netherwood Circle uh some old business a few months back I came here talked about Cricket play at John on John Adams Middle School uh I was told to take it offline I did I've yet to hear anything on it just crickets I was wondering what has happened have I been you know have I been heard what's the what's going to happen what what plan of action is being taken by the Town Council in conjunction with the Board of Ed that's my first topic second one La last month I came here talked about uh policing trying to get speeds under control people turn you know stopping on you know no turn on red not going through red light I don't know if it's just coincidental but the uh Deputy Chief or chief isn't here uh from what I saw what I've seen I've seen a couple uh police officers stop uh you know vehicles on the streets hopefully that's taking they taken into effect Now new business I went my water heater went contracted a a you know company to come in they said they they they came got the construction permit for the water heater being a senior I'm entitled to you know reduced permit fees as well as store bills and all that sort of stuff it automat the I went to the senior center put my put my name in registered with them and my water bill or my uh my store bill was reduced accordingly when I went to get the construction permit I was told that the fee is $63 and I said but wait a minute I'm a senior what's that oh that's uh you are so they it was substantially reduced down to $3 I was like okay great fine now I didn't have it I didn't have I didn't bring my checkbook with me so they said I went to take cash out of my pocket oh we can't take cash here okay so I took the three you know I I took a credit card out paid with a credit card hit me with a uh a fee to use my credit card but yet I can go to the pay I can pay my taxes and my store bill at the at the tax collector and I've seen people pay with cash pay with checks and all why can't they use why can't the same be be applied up at the uh you where you pick up your permits that you know it it and additionally why do why should I have had to go and tell them well I'm senior show my ID and all that that should that that information should be that I gave to when I register as a senior should be Des uh disseminated to the different departments why do I you know if if I if my contractor was picking up the permit he would he wouldn't know he would they would say $63 okay here's the $63 and now I got to come up to I got to come and request the money back from you and get a resolution pass and all that sort of stuff to refund my money just seems like there's a dlink in the system somewhere so my you know just moving forward maybe the township needs to take a step back and understand how and and understand how they treat or the information that they receive from the seniors so that you know we we don't get we don't get overcharged for services for for for that uh construction permits and last what I'd like to talk about is we're we're in this you know I guess West Nile mosquitoes are bad right now can the town be a little proactive rather than reactive and maybe start spraying I understand that I just learned tonight you can call up middle sex mosquito commission and they can come and spray your pray spray your house but it's not just my house there's a creek across the street for me that's not that standing water the town should go and start spraying earlier than you know later to go into help with you know you know eliminating the the potential for you know residents to contract West Nile so that's all I want to say and if if councilman through the chair if councilman pointer can shed some light on the on the cricket issues I'd really appreciate because I I happen to see that the play more and more and more often maybe because maybe I'm looking for it but it's just a little bit more obvious I don't mind people playing but play where you're supposed to thank you thank you uh Council poter thank you council president uh yes I I know I did ask about this being um discussed offline the last time we did speak about it July there was no education liaison meeting which I said I would bring up at the next one that next one happened to have been August 6th or 7th whatever that Tuesday was I did bring it up to the Board of Education which also did have members from the administration there obviously the Board of Ed members their Administration there uh just to make them aware of it and see what can be done um I know from an enforcement aspect I believe trespassing stuff is on the township and I understand the concern in regards to material damage I really don't want to be having like calling police officers on kids playing though that's kind of like a last I don't think that's it's you know 30 40 something's playing oh and one other thing I forgot to mention uh I had come up a while back during the previous school year and talked about people parking illegally on new do Road forcing people to move move to the into the opposing Lane which then creates a whole bunch of traffic uh other issues and litigation possible potential litigation the one another thing that you know what the Town Council or I don't know the school board did they put us put a uh sign up that was removed after the after the school year no stopping keep moving if that could be put up again that way don't you know we're we're trying just trying to be a little proactive as I said before rather than reactive to keep keep the you know keep it safe for not only the students people picking them up but also the people on you know driving on the roads so thank you but yeah I I'll wait to hear more from you know about the uh you know the cricket play yeah and if I misunderstood about the the age of the individuals going I I apologize okay uh Council councilman Brer yes I I have a question um probably for the attorney and I I know he's not here right now but but here's my question and when he comes back maybe if if it could be asked of him um you you know like I'm big on the whole Constitution and all this kind of stuff um I was told that money our currency is called the legal tender and that by law any business or any entity is required by law to accept that and and that's where you see those YouTube videos of a guy paying a $500 bill with thousands of pennies right and it becomes comical but how could a government not accept cash so it's a question I have I mean I I think by law we have to um I don't know why we wouldn't accept cash so Sonia why do we not accept cash because this is I think an important question uh to me as well because if it makes it easier for him to pay by cash I think we should accept cash so just curious I just want to clarify the department was this was in the construction building in the building in zoning okay I think yeah um so I I just want to reference the attorney if there is something that we are not allowed to take cash not aware of any specific law that we're not allowed to take cash um yeah we can take cash yeah take cash so I I will look into what the procedure has been upstairs yeah can we yeah can we make sure that we accept cash everywhere because I think that is the I don't want to go to a cashless Society if we can avoid that from tell you why I bring this up council president a couple a few years ago our neighboring town of Woodbridge I had to go pay maybe it was a ticket or something it was in their Police Department area so I assume it was a ticket and I went down with cash and they told me that they don't accept cash that I had to give them like a bank check and that I could go next door to the 7-Eleven and give them the cash and pay the fee to then come back and pay them and you know at the time I was busy I was working um I mean right now that I would fight and I go to court with you know what I mean some municipalities have made that move and and have decided as a policy to not accept cash but that's a that's a municipality by municip let me ask you a question isn't isn't cash and this is why I was waiting for you to come back isn't cash um United States tendered currency and is required to be accepted by law I I honestly I I don't know if it's been challenged but I do know I have seen municipalities across the state moving away or or adopting policies not to accept cash has anyone challenged that not not that I'm aware of no one so you're not aware of anybody challenging accepting cash no I am not but I but I have seen but it it as I've said it's a municipality's decision whether or not you as a body want to accept cash or not yeah and I have seen laws being passed in other cities uh in other states that prevent cashless uh stores so like you have to have stores that you can't go completely cashless you cannot um and you have to provide them the ability to get cash or like if they have cash be able to put it into a card and pay it even if they do go with just card so you can't you know remove cash out of the equation right cuz this sound like a like a setup but you know we won't take the cash but we're going to charge you the extra fee go get a bank check right okay and also moving on to the the data management aspect of it Sonia I do agree with the gentlemen that if you know we know that this person who is elder or senior and we should be able to Market through the whole department and rather than him having to individually go to departments and tell them which I think is a just convenient factor I could tell I I could just look into what the policy has been um certainly this Administration hasn't changed any policy related to taking cash or not taking cash but I will uh look into that in reference to our seniors yep cash thing definitely and also if we Mark someone a senior I think that should be passed on to all the Departments to make it convenient for the residents and I think that's the that's all I remember from this uh all right moving on uh come on up I already recognized her Joe oh Joe Joe said it sorry he didn't pass the message to me you can come on up Elizabeth Conway 20 Netherwood Circle you recognized thank you I live off of Inman Avenue and if you've driven on Inman Avenue you know Inman Avenue my concern and I brought this up quite a while ago was the the T of where Inman Avenue goes into Old riton Road and if you're going to make a left on to Old Raritan you really can't see anybody coming from the right side because there's bushes along there and I know uh councilman pointer he might have been the president at the time I know he looked into it because a day or two later or a week later the bushes were pruned but at the time there was no leaves on the bushes so you could see through the bushes if you wanted to look to the right but the bushes do get leaves so when you're going to make that lift you really have to be careful because people coming out of old ritin from like the Scotch Plains area you may not be able to see them and what happens is people coming from south planfield some people are very courteous and they'll put their right turn signal on to let the people know coming out of Inman Avenue that you know you can go because we're going to turn in but it's very dangerous and I've brought it to the attention that something needs to be done at that tea it's not an intersection it's a tea well the other night I'm coming back from South planfield and we're coming up old riton to make the right and my husband put the turning signal on and the car proceeded to go because he knew we were turning in well needless to say someone was coming from the Scotch Plains and did not see and nobody saw so he came he came out and we're coming to make the r all at once and it could have turned into a horrific accident of all three cars now we're not going 50 miles an hour but you're going 25 30 miles an hour and you're slowing down to make the turn he's slowing down to make the turn but the other uh car was not slowing down he was going straight so something needs to be done about that te because looking to the right coming off Inman Avenue is very dangerous and I've brought it to the attention and I know you tried with the bushes but the bushes I don't even know like on by where my house is you've got the curb you've got an apron you've got a sidewalk and then you've got a couple more feet before my property becomes official well those bushes are not that far from The Edge and there's really no curb and something needs to be done about it before somebody else or me winds up in a terrible accident so if you could possibly look into that again I would appreciate it now moving down the road about a mile you get to the te of Inman and raway and I know there was something a few years ago I want to say it was maybe councilman Lombard party that was talking about it and he was trying to get some kind of light or something at that because that's a terrible intersection and people want to make coming out of raway two lanes when it's really not wide enough and then somebody going to make a right into raway has become a real problem so I know he had tried it and for some reason it was turned down that we couldn't get it so what I'm asking can we move it down to Tingley and Inman Avenue and have the light either make a left or go straight it would be advantageous for the school and would be advantageous for the people riding down in Min Avenue because where I live where the uh just past the golf range that's under Redevelopment sometimes to make a left out onto Inman Avenue the cars are stopped because of so much traffic going down in man Avenue to the uh the West so if something could be done about that I would truly appreciate it so those two PE places need uh some kind of positive uh attention and my only other thing was I was kind of shocked that your resolution went through regarding the playground rubber I was involved with James Madison primary many years ago and we had 200 volunteers install a playground using rubber and the children loved it and it was fabulous but if you look now it's a bus depot because they had to take it down because rubber was a no no well the Parks look very nice with that soft rubberized uh grounding but if rubber is a problem are we really going to spend this kind of money and then find down the road that no it's really not as good as we thought we need to think about it and it's going underneath fields and it's the topping in playgrounds so we really need to consider thank you speaker time is allowed I'm done uh so answering uh your questions on the the old rare and Rh and Inman Sonia I know we looked at the t-section is that something we can do maybe like a stop sign there or a red light there is there anything that we can do like that over there we've actually had a Traffic Division and I the chief can speak to them in terms of uh any remediation on that level our engineering department who also went out there uh according our ordinance the placement of the bushes is fine um however he's reviewing all he's been reviewing all of the do um federal guidelines um we've spoken to council about it um the long and short of it it's become an Enforcement issue and if the bushes are grown and are back then we'll have to go out there and and make sure that we continue the enforcement but my question being that is there something we can do beyond that like a stop sign because I don't know if that's something we can do over there or no stating that he will uh look into that okay and same thing with inmen and the r and speaker stops you cannot speak uh I'm gonna sit down then President we we did have a traffic study there I will check personally tomorrow My Traffic Unit and I will review everything that they did there at that time we do have enforcement up there we have our traffic Bureau go up there and issue summonses for people that are motor violating our laws up there too so um we'll look more closely at it and I'll see what I can do for you sounds good thank you and as for the rubberization I have a study here from EPA dated uh 2024 April 2024 it to me again there could be speculation but as of this study it seems to be okay but just like back in the day they might have thought something was safe and in the future they might find something new it is possible but as of right now I cannot I can only go with the information I have I cannot necessarily speculate and say it's definitely going to be bad but as from the EPA the study it seems it should be okay and is as equivalent to playing out in the grass because the same amount of chemicals and dirt is stuff is in the dirt but I can forward this to anybody that wants it uh more than happy to All Right Moving on anybody else that would like to speak council president uh just one sec I'm sorry can I just ask a request of the chief when he looks at the imminent old uh rar yes um an idea that I had forwarded along I'm not sure if it was relayed um when I go up Bard Street in my area to Grand View because of the Hill there's a concave mirror that's on one of the posts there now when you're going from Inman across the street there's a post there so I'm wondering if maybe even a concave mirror may be helpful just to see around that corner just a just a thought suggestion thank you council president counc po all right anybody that would like to speak hi Maryann Hennessy you recognized um this one's a little bit longer but before I do that may I ask from the council president to the ba question what is the question it has to do with a stop sign okay what is it um I can't tell you the name of the street for all these years I've lived here I don't think of it but it's the street between Route 27 and the conflicting report as to whether a bakery is going to go into the empty property lot uh someone took down the part the uh stop sign months ago and it's never been replaced and it's coming out from behind Burger King to come out on 27 so if whoever needs to know about it can they put this the stop sign back up there okay yep we we'll look into it thank you very much now my long comment M boy Avenue okay I'm really unsatisfied with the way the planning board takes this issue and looks at it and checks it out and then sends it to you and you look at it and check it out and send it back to them and they're looking at it again to me that's the old shell game with Amboy Avenue being under the middle and you just keep moving things around and you don't solve the problem now you've got a problem there because the planning board screwed up there was a property at 1039 Amboy Avenue that was in under a company called A andd Holdings and they were supposed to come up with a decision within a specific length of time and they didn't now A and D can go in there and get a four store building put on it and it is 1039 Amboy Avenue Lot 1.03 block 727 and that's a perfect example of a messed up system someone screwed up someone didn't check their Tickler calendar what that we had to do in the corporate world to understand that there was a time frame and they missed it and now you've got the potential of being able to put a force story in there because you did nothing to take the four story out and go back to a three story I don't live there I feel sorry for everybody that lives in that area that has been simply asking you Time After Time After Time to take that out and make it three stories and neither one of you planning nor you have done it and now you've got this you've got it and it's going to go down to the court in New Brunswick and you're going to be told nothing you can do about it cuz you screwed up so I'm telling you how angry I am about that um I have a question regarding H I can't find it there were two areas that were open resolution 489 resolution amending three rfps of professional contract awards for engineering what were they for I mean if they've got an RFP they've got a you know it's an RFP 246 2407 and 248 going to T&M Associates what is it uh I think this is just a list of engineering firms that we could use and we're just adding one more engineering list to that so we already have an existing uh pool of engineering firm that we can use and this is just an addition to that engineering firm well it would be nice if it would be saying that you were adding it because it got me frustrated as to what it is all you're saying is amending and when you read it you think well what are you amending under 2406 2407 and 248 so it says to include tnm Associates so we're adding that one more uh engineering form that's that's what that amendment is okay all right um here comes my favorite comment to you project manager you're talking about doing it get it done because you've now got another change order for the to Center that should have been found before you even started this when you had a project manager who would sit down look at the project review it say oh hey this building was from da d da da so there's asbest let's put that in there to do it get it in there in the beginning the water system that there with contamination is another thing that should have been within the system and not coming in as a change order it should have been there in the beginning it's simple when you do a construction job you know you need to look at these things minute I'm sorry one minute thank you um also I I'm just curious there's like four or five awarding of playground equipment to two different companies can anybody ever put out a list and tell us what kind of equipment and where it's going and if you're going to be putting in a pickle ball court up behind the senior center off of Woodbridge Avenue could you consider putting in benching or seating because I think that's you do that on an appointment basis you just don't walk in and play so there's no place for anybody to sit down if you want to to take your children along with you there's no place to sit and it's the same at the playground on Vineyard going to Sam's Club you have no place to sit and what was the the first one that you mentioned beside the vineyard one uh it's the new one they want to put in the 41,000 council president the speaker's time is elapsed thank you for I realized my time's elapsed I heard it thank you very much uh so I will good evening I will mention to the ba to add seating because I think that's a good idea uh in terms uh and in terms of the project manager I think we have discussed it and I think the administration is working on that uh anybody else that would like to speak come on Arthur milstein for Comstock Road you recognized right so I was here last month I was speaking about the sidewalks and um I then right after the meeting Ray from Public Works took my photos and the list and I sent the information to Sonia um and then a week later I checked in with Ry to see what's going on he said he's aware of the issue he's going to work on it haven't heard from him since uh two weeks later I reached out to Sona reached out to me she said she was away she said that Pat Coy reach out to me haven't heard anything uh so a week later I emailed saying Hey I want some communication from this because I keep reaching out and this is my problem in the beginning and people just keep avoiding me and not responding so I'm trying to find out what's going to happen because this does not cost the town a penny these are residents that need to fix their sidewalks I don't know why the town just doesn't want to go and put notices on the people's houses no one's contacting me as a council member said to do a walkthrough with me no one's contacting me to do anything I know that when it snows the town says you have to shovel your sidewalk because it's dangerous if you leave it unshoveled so I don't know why this isn't being done and people want to when you guys walk out of your houses I urge you to walk one minute down your street and I guarantee you're going to find someone sidewalk that has problems so I want to thank Sonia for she's the only one that's communicating with me but everyone else is just silent and nothing's being done uh Sonia can we follow up The Path coil was supposed to reach out so oh I'm sorry one other thing and then uh two days ago Sonia mentioned that it's illegal it's inlegal but legal is here I don't see this as a legal question it's homeowners need to fix their sidewalks well uh the reason why I said it's a legal issue and I've been working with a different attorney in The Firm um just to clarify that point so sorry Dave um this would this is a policy of potential ordinance change so I have to go through legal to make a proper recommendation to this body about what we can or cannot do so that's why I said that to the gentleman respectfully so um I'm working with our I'll follow with my office to make sure you answer as quickly as possible thank you you're wel I know that sidewalks were enforced because I mentioned in the last meeting that 3 years ago a neighbor complained about my sidewalk to the health department and then one week later I had a notice on my door fix your sidewalk My Neighbor Next to Me had a little raise up in a sidewalk because of the tree he got a notice fix your sidewalk so it was enforced on me and my neighbor but when then I bring it to the attention on on a wider scale it gets seems like to me that it's just getting ignored so and and and it's not just my area again like you said they should maybe do something in the future where people can point out hey this sidewalk is messed up because walk you walk anywhere and you'll see sidewalks are bad I agree and I don't want anything to happen with anyone because as I said in the last time I almost flipped my son in the stroller because of a sidewalk so thank you thank you out there we're going to follow up on that okay thank you council president Council Brer um this is a subject um and I don't think actually I got Clarity on it but myself and and the business administrator we talked about where where the property line starts um and and we we didn't weren't really talking about specifics but the what I've been told is that the homeowner owns the curb and the sidewalk here in Edison there is a house on uh Carney drive at the end of the culdesac that when I looked at the maps that we have the curb in this their property doesn't start until after the sidewalk like their property line like on on the maps that we have so I don't know that that's a I I don't know that that's for everything but a lot of residents brought the same frustration to me where what they said was you guys put the sidewalks in back in the 1960s right my grandfather didn't put it in you put it in you planted the tree the tree roots upended the sidewalk and now you want me to fix the problem that you guys created um so that that doesn't seem fair to the residents either you you know what I mean so what can be done about this I mean this is a a valid question this is throughout the town it isn't just this gentleman it's been brought up to me probably 20 times since I've been sitting up here um and and I don't really have Clarity on this uh I I councilman Brer I I hear your concerns I don't have a a comprehensive uh plan for you this evening to address this um clearly my office has been in contact with Sonia on this maybe we can at a later date not long from now have more of a a substantive conversation on this and and just look in that that one aspect too like on on the Carney Road if you look at the map right the the for their property their property line starts after the sidewalk like they're deep okay can you give the exact address of that it's it's a culdesac it's um it's Andy Fresco's neighbor to the right you put Andy Fresco I I I think though what you're asking for is a more comprehensive way of addressing the issue of of tree roots and how they affect the sidewalk sidewalks overall throughout the town we're all in agreement that the sidewalk belongs to the individual homeowner the question is what happens when when Roots come from trees and also that particular property is it yeah that particular property cuz they were complained about the the curb collapsed you know and and then for them to fix it but they're like but the property line it's not on my property yeah yeah I think that is something we have to look at okay detail okay uh anybody else Lois Wy Peak Road you recognized um I came here mainly tonight to thank the Department of Public Works for all their help during the recent tornado in July I did thank the uh the DPW director by phone but I'm here tonight to personally thank the DPW employees the boots on the ground as they say I live in the Heights and we were hit pretty hard I personally had a neighbor's tree fall across my property blocking my garage my electric box was ripped from my house as well as my cable and telephone wires the DPW workers were on the scene that evening removing trees in the neighborhood until 1:00 a.m. I understand from the DPW director that actually they were out working around town till 2:30 at one point I walked out with bottles of water for them I'm sure it wasn't easy working at night in that heat soaring up trees but they were in amazingly good spirits a couple of days later the street sweepers came to clean up I would like to give a Hardy thank you to all the DPW workers and everyone involved doing such a top great job in fact councilman coil came cruising around the neighborhood that night surveying damage and stopped by my house I think it's must have been a scheduling nightmare but it was a good job and I want the DPW workers to know they're truly appreciated okay next subject okay I was I was a little upset with a letter that I got with my tax my recent tax bill in the letter the mayor thanked and specifically named only the council members who voted for the budget later in the letter he had yes and no columns and listed all the members who voted for or against the budget it's nice that the mayor would like to thank council members for voting for the budget but the entire Council should be thanked as a whole to explicitly single out one in one paragraph only the names of the people who voted for the budget certainly appears to be political and Petty then again at the end of the letter having yes and no columns explicitly listing those council members who voted yes or no on the budget is certainly Overkill and against Max of politics actions such as the above certainly give the perception that any council member who votes against something Administration wants is perceived as an enemy I don't always agree with how council members vote but these actions by Administration are a slap in the face and an insult to council members whether Administration agrees with them or not they all put in a great amount of time into their positions and should be treated equally and fairly and get all the same amount of respect there were valid reasons expressed by council members who voted no as to why they voted that way good government is all about agreeing and disagreeing on issues furthermore our tax letter should contain information strictly concerning our taxes it should not be used as a public relations or political vehicle we are paying a public relations firm for this purpose and there is also the monthly email newsletter sent out by Administration that would be more appropriate I sent an email on July 29th to Mayor josi and a copy to Bob deal expressing my feelings I asked for comments or at least an acknowledgment of my email but I've had no response to either I'm disappointed but I'm not all surprised uh another thing this happened at Monday work session I was a little taken aback to see C former councilwoman ship Freeman taken out of council chambers by the police her comments were inaudible you know when you listen to it home and those of us watching I've seen residents curse and be unruly and be given multiple chances at meetings and not be thrown at a council chambers they are not automatic Al ejected I saw an unruly outof control C crowded council members about the Cannabis ordinance yelling from the floor blocking aisles and repeatedly ignoring requests for order not one person was asked to leave I have seen council members reprimanded by council president due to repeatedly speaking out a turn with no repercussions I think residents are entitled to clarification now from Council president as to what actually happened with councilwoman ship Freeman because I I just couldn't believe so could someone clarify because we couldn't hear it on the video so could someone tell us what happened what uh we as I announced on the president's remark you get a warning if you speak out of turn you get a point of order called if you continue to speak out of turn then you will be removed just as it happened earlier today if you were here for that I'm not sure if you were but that is the simplest rule that we have now if you follow the rules and you listen to everybody that is allow you recognize you get to speak no one else gets to speak so that we can hear you if someone else is speaking without you if if you're recognizing someone else is speaking we cannot hear you you so in order to keep the decorum of this chamber we have to follow the rules and that was what happened thank you your time is up so you'll have to sit there two sides speaker time there two sides to every story you have to sit down or I will have to ask you to be removed pardon me you will have to be sit down cuz your time is up and if you continue I will have to ask you to be removed I'm sorry okay I just there were two slides St so okay I have one more thing no sorry your time is up sit down why not all right Officer can we have Miss LS woki removed because I I don't understand why I have to sit down if I just asked the question your time is up ma'am you cannot continue oh okay yes all right uh correct [Music] J ship Freeman and you're absolutely correct and uh through the chair U Chief Brian I was very disappointed that deputy chief Bob dudash did not tell the police officer not to walk me out I sat here and watch people tell him all about their private parts and call them every name in the book and he sit there like a statue the whole time okay just like the other woman just said it must be a misogynistic thing because let me tell you something I've watched people call you out of your name constantly and you didn't do nothing because they were male sitting here you did nothing I watched the unruly crowds I watched it back and forth now let me tell you this explaining this to you if you have a problem of processing information and compreh rending incorrectly and I correct you when you're doing it incorrectly you know what normal people say my bad that's not what you said this is what you said I don't act like I'm the king of Si am and I got this i got this thing and this is the way I'm going to treat people because I seen it he just did that to uh Lois wil I've seen it some people they get drunk off of power and I don't understand what the whole thing is if you get that drunk off of Power maybe you don't need power okay and I think it's it's really dis disgusting that people would treat people in that manner it it's two Sid and why it was UN audible because I sat in I sat in my seat and why got thrown out for saying grown men and I've heard these people you you've heard them too you've heard the people in here you heard them say disgusting things you've heard them all say all kind of things back and forth and you've heard and I watch you even tonight you allow the man over there to come back and forth you allow that back and forth you let them come back up because that's what you do like this now I think it's like you know highly disgusting of the behavior okay and I think that you I've been in this town and I've been here for for a long long time and let me tell you something I just wanted to see if y'all would lie to me in November we voted on those three people and somebody took the one name off it was just November November November hasn't come again so it hasn't even been a year since we asked for that raise before for cuz I know I sat up there when we were asking for that raise and they took somebody's name off of that and now number two you know I get I get tired of being lied to I get tired of people thinking that they're God and not treating the people of this community right A lot of these people you can look at them she's been here longer than you've been born and the disrespect is just ridiculous it's ridiculous when you come to this chamber cu the people who come here are the people who are interested in this town who have vested interest in this town and has been paying taxes long before a lot of people were born and number two somebody told me to ask you this uh about TJ about all the broken sidewalks and all that stuff all around the building they said what they supposed to do that's a dangerous Street there they said what they supposed to do walk in the street see because I don't know about it I'm not in there so they were saying what what's going on with TJ okay and they also asked me about the to building they said what's the deal on the to building now do I have to repeat that again and say that slowly so I don't have to go back to my seat and yell back up here again they want to know about TJ all the broken sidewalks and what's going on with that okay and they still want to know about the to booth and what direction we're going in the to booth and since people like to read on CBS they're telling you is recycling or myth or Amero because guess what only 10% of it is able to be recycled so you know look that up maybe that'll do you some good thank [Music] you any council members would like to answer that all right well the question about sidewalks yeah go ahead um can we replace sidewalks or is that or or is the school now treated like the resident and the school owns the sidewalks cool okay well maybe in that liaison committee that happens maybe something can happen because what I do know is that the township does not pay the schools as per state law if they did and they paid as per law the school would receive approximately $200,000 additional money in interest and that additional money and interest they could then use for sidewalks or whatever that might be so the the reason why there was this liaison thing was that there should be like a give and take um I know that Township picks up their recyclables and things like that so there is a give and take but you know something like that where we do all these contracts um for roads and everything else I think we can help the schools and the tote building if we can just get an update I mean Sonia did but unfortunately um our ex- councilwoman wasn't here at that time um we're moving forward with that now right that's going to start construction again correct the remediation and the esus was done is being done this week okay so we're we're moving forward right she just wasn't here to hear that at the last meeting okay uh anybody else that would like to speak Octor Nasser Pleasant Avenue you recognized um congratulations Joe Cole or councilman Co I to say for last week's uh successful um event at the Stewarts root beer seemed like there were a lot of different food trucks there and look like people had a good time I'm glad that they were able to get rid of the unpermitted hot water he that seems to be dumped in the same area also thank you to councilman uh pointer for getting rid of that mirror that was there for a very long time and even though I tried with DPW and I tried to do it with a couple other people I just couldn't get done I just don't understand why I wasn't able to do that but thank you guys for what you guys have done now it's been one last it's been one month since the July 24 meeting and I've been thinking about a lot of things since that recess time and we really haven't done anything for claraa barn we have it we've been talking but absolutely nothing has occurred that has given us what we've asked for um so for that I would give us you can continue after so for that um I would give us an a for effort but I would give us an F for the results the planning word also would get an F they failed to remove the four-story provision despite residents objecting during the master plan review process and eight years ago they allowed the four-story buildings to be built and they still have not Revitalize the Amboy Avenue by that plan and there's no economic benefit that has happened since the one four story building has come to town that means that the building was a failure for that plan in the last seven months we struggled for traction to remove the four story provision by first a repeal but then we're told that that was not a viable plan and then no viable solution was given so we wasted a lot of time there eventually somehow legal was able to find a new pathway with a resolution but for some reason the 45 window was not attached to that and I don't know if that was intentional if not it's still just as bad by mid July we were promised that the four story language would align with the master plan but this do didn't happen and the mayor was caught off guard it seemed by the planning board that he appointed to go ahead and get that done although the lawyer Administration scrambled to write an ordinance to try to keep keep their promise the council members wavered into positions from Monday to Wednesday of that week and it's funny how on Monday we had language from the council that said don't let the perfect be the enemy to good or that Clara bar will be unhappy to try to convince me to support it in the residence but then on Wednesday we had two flip votes the only flip vote that I could understand was from councilman poiner who had made multiple revisions or suggestions during that entire process of the seven months and so whatever he had suggested was consistent with what he had said council president at July's meeting you suggested that you had no problem delaying this ordinance for another month to get it right what specifically did you do during that month to get it right a group of us did our due diligence during that time to follow through with any changes and make sure it move forward but it never made it to the agenda during one month span between Council meetings residents asked me to schedule a meeting with the mayor last month but mayor Joi called and he said that now not be an appropriate time for us to have that meeting because he isn't the decision maker right now it is actually the council so at some point we have to figure out who is the one that's running the show here the mayor said that he wants to go ahead and do what the cloud Barn residents want and he's saying that it's the council that has to make the decision but you guys are pointing fingers both ways so I don't understand what's going on if we don't get any traction or a positive vote on this resolution people did ask to speak to the Council so I'm hopeful that you guys would be open to meeting at the first aid Squad to discuss with the people about what's going on here this issue is very straightforward do you want to eliminate the four stories or not parking is an independent issue although we keep hearing that it is tied together somehow if you try to build four-story buildings you run out of the parking spots and that is exactly what happened with lot 102 and 104 which is currently in litigation if both buildings were three stories or three stories and two stories then you would have had all the parking that you needed this is supported by the master plan that says smaller Lots like 104 and others like that should not have four story buildings so we need action no more delays has the council passed any measures to do the following these are very straightforward prohibit four story buildings on smaller properties which is by the master plan recommendations we talked about shared parking agreements with the parks or sorry the banks and unused lots have we gone forward with anything with that that would address your parking issue I believe the answer is no and that is concerning we need to do more than talk we need you to govern everyday four story Provisions means clar Barn is at risk if another four story is built it will be the the direct result of the council's inaction many of you have been on the council for at least three years and many of you guys live near clar Barn so you know the problems that we have but I don't believe prior to February that you guys I have how much I don't believe that any of you mentioned any concerns prior to that it's only now that we came and we talk about these problems that you guys are adding on different problems and there's other hurdles that we have to go into so if you did discuss any of those issues prior to February I would like to know when and what you guys did about it because it just seems like we getting a stalling action it's very suspicious and disheartening that you keep bringing up new unrelated issues every sing Le time that we almost get our goal I hope that you were listening on Monday and even today we hear that people are saying that they do not want four- story buildings across Edison and there are people that are outside of clar Bon that are supporting us so all we need is one vote I hope we'll work together get this done thank you uh any council members would like to take that yeah I'll give a shot at it um I I I consider you highly intelligent and highly articulate um I also consider you a very nice person and your statement about whether you spoke to the mayor and he says it's the council and the council says it's the mayor I'm taking that with a little bit of sarcasm um because I I really do hope that you do know where it really lies um and and this is a question that I'd like to maybe even ask our attorney this is um we passed an ordinance um about inspecting apartment buildings what council member here requested that from your firm I'm sorry what council member requested that from your firm I have no idea right because I don't think one did the mayor did I as a councilman asked to repeal that I asked our attorneys they refuse to do it as of yet I've asked them to put together something to name a splash park after our ex-council woman Joy ship Freeman and they refused to do it so when you wonder who this body or the mayor self-evident it's the mayor okay this body is is not the one making the laws this body is the one that is pushing forward the laws that the mayor puts in and asks to be drawn up um and and if I need to I'll go through every ordinance we have and find out from our attorney which council member requested that law to be made okay so you coming to this body is nice because the mayor is up here watching it but ultimately it's you seeing him or next June voting for someone no one or the other um I feel for you you know that I support your neighborhood I support Edison as as a general whole um but ultimately the public has to hold who's accountable accountable and please don't get us confused with maybe it's the councel or maybe it's the mayor um that would be my my comment thank you thank you councilman Brasher uh as for me we already spoke on this at length on Monday it is a process and again it's a slow process unfortunately I know we are not moving as fast as you would like but we are working on it and that's all I'm going to repeat on this thank you uh anybody else for the first time good evening Council Nick Fagan 42 Edgewood New sorry I don't like standing on the city seal um so uh next week our Edison school kids go back to school um and so I'm wishing them a great year I also do want to thank you guys um because I was I was watching the work session of last week and I heard that the crossing guard program is fully staffed and that's awesome and that's great news because you guys acted or didn't act on the Outsourcing plan and it's a success and we took the extra money that we were going to send to a for-profit corporation and we instead invested it in our crossing guards and we have full Staffing of that and that's awesome and it's because of what you guys did and thank you for doing that um the other thing that I wanted to bring up was um North Edison baseball and softball is uh doing their fall season and this is more less less for the council because you guys know this but more for the people on TV that the 2024 fall registration is happening now they've got t-ball clinics for uh five and six year olds they've got 7-year-old to 14-year-old baseball and softball weekly clinics the t-ball fee is 50 bucks for this season and baseball and softball is 125 bucks and I believe I'll throw in a South Edison ebl Edison Boys Baseball also has fall baseball going on if you're on the south side of town so pick north side southide whichever you want to play but we're looking for kids and and parents and coaches they're involved and want to want to play baseball and sometimes it's tough in the fall because we've got lots of football kids and and the Jets is a great organization too but we lose a lot of kids to football and soccer and so the baseball programs are hurting and so maybe if your kid doesn't usually play this might be a good opportunity to be you know uh a starter on some of those teams so come out come out and uh uh do that if uh if you want to register it's north ed.com um so just go to the website and register there um the other thing I would like to ask for the city is I had heard that the North Edison parking lot because the North Edison fields are City owned property right um but the North Edison parking lot is supposed to be North Edison Baseball parking lot is supposed to be on the list for this year for repaving that's what I had thought I had heard from from Sonia at one of these meetings but I know the paving season is going to come to a close here soon right the the plants close in like November so is that going to still happen this year do we know uh thank do we know if we are doing the paving of the North Edison parking lot it is part of the list so we're in August sometimes we can push it to December depending on uh weather also can you tell us what age group you're looking for so the the like the t- ball is from ages uh five and six pretty much uh I think you can you could sign up is even if you had a four-year-old we would take them and and train them and then um uh it becomes baseball at 7 all the way up to 14 um and there's all kinds of varying levels of kid pitch or coach pitch or anything so uh if you want more information uh please ask me or there's lots of coaches or uh Lisa Klein's the president uh but uh we're looking for kids to play and uh uh and it's it's only two months uh for the fall season it's September and October basically it's pretty much done by Halloween is and then it gets too cold and north ed.com north ed.com and then I don't know what at ebl Edison Boys Baseball which is right over here for Southside but they've got a program too I'm just not as familiar with what I think their Pro I think their program is a little less expensive it's 50 bucks I think but there's a work Bond as you have to like volunteer at the concession stand but anyway both sides of the city have programs and we're hurting for for kids to play so we'd love for kids to play so thank you and thank you for the I'm hoping we'll get that paved because it's in bad shape so it's on the list thank you thank you anybody want to speak for the first time all right seeing none anybody would like to do a rebuttal all right seeing none can I get a motion close and can I get a second motion by Council M Coyle second by Council Mel all in favor by and can I get a motion to adjourn motion to adjourn may I have a second uh motion by councilman pointer second by Council Mel uh all in favor all right and this meeting is adjourned at 9:40 p.m. e