##VIDEO ID:jF_r2pUMqrs## e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e all right all right uh calling this combined meeting of November 13 to order at 6:06 p.m. uh please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America stand roll call please council member brusher here council member Cole here council member Harris here council member Patel here council member PTI council member pointer present council member shell here thank you for my charger adequate notice please adequate notice of this meeting is Reed by the open public meeting Act of 1975 has been provided by the annual notice sent to the home News Tribune Star Ledger senel Dy talk on December 12th 2023 and posted May Lobby missal complex on that same date thank you uh as for the president's remarks uh we have uh plenty of ordinances on uh our business for today uh that might be controversial but I'm hoping to have a good debate and a discussion on it um moving on to review of minutes sorry yep uh moving on to review of minutes any questions or comments okay um moving on to number six I'll just unfinished business ordinance for further consideration public hearing and final adoption Madam clerk please read ordinance 2237 ordinance of the township Von authorizing acceptance and ex execution of a site triangle easement agreement and sidewalks right of way easement agreement known as block 49701 lot 1.01 on Township's official tax map Kilmer Kilmer uh develop any questions or comments yes council president yes I just need an idea I tried to find it from the backup documents and maybe I missed it but what exactly is a site triangle um I will have legal explain it okay sure a site triangle easement uh is essentially a um so uh do you know the the uh the complaints that we've had from people that have come in saying we can't see at the intersection the site triangle officially codifies that area of someone's property where they can't install something to block line of sight for oncoming traffic so it would be the official way and legal way of recording that um they can't have anything in that portion of their yard higher than 3 feet or or 36 in um in order to preserve those sight lines okay all right thank you thank you and any other council members all right seeing none moving on to new business proposed ordinance for public hearing set down for Monday November 25th 2024 uh Madam clerk please read ordinance 2233 ordinance amend section 22-13 entitled addressing the Council of the Township Code by providing for 4minute time for the public to speak and providing for no rebuttal time thank you any questions or comments yes council president yes Council VI president as I am not going to be here for the November 25th meeting when assuming that this is introduced and and on the 25th it would be voted on for final adoption I really would like to be able to speak on this I would like to be able to have a full voice but I will not be here for the 25th meeting and I wanted to make a motion to table final approval until the following meeting on December 11th okay uh I do hope that we can pass this as this has been and discussed earlier and then brought to the committee and then brought back here I believe it is time that we move forward and make a decision but you are welcome to call a motion council president I couldn't help the time I I have no control over the timing of this and when this was going to be put on the agenda and as a courtesy to me I would really appreciate having that extra that extra time to be able to be here to discuss this okay so you're calling a motion to table yes councel sorry um just so that we're clear that would have to be done during the regular session okay the actual motion but also the the ordinance was already introduced and it was already tabled so really what you would be doing at this point is making a motion to take from the table and set the schedule for it so you could do it one of two ways you could take it from the table and set the schedule for the 25th uh or you could and then have the mo motion to uh I guess adj it to the additional date but what would probably be simpler is if the council wishes to uh actually uh respect uh the council vice president's request is when you make the motion to uh take from the table is would be to set the date for the requested date so you could do it other way okay uh I think we'll have to rediscussed code it says that a a subcommittee report would be made I do have one drafted I don't know if now is the appropriate time or if you want to wait until the committee reports which would be after though the introduction so I would say do it now as this is the more part in time if that's okay with uh my colleagues yeah on September 25th Council formed a subcommittee to review current Council procedures and advise on any adjustments that may be found to be suitable for consideration for the governing body the committee formed consisted of myself councilman schmuel and Council vice president Margo Harris the focus of any adjustment proposals would be to create the guidelines for efficient and professional run meetings while simultaneously improving the exchange of ideas and alertness to concerns in the township the subcommittee held two meetings the First on Wednesday October 9th at that meeting a list was reviewed of suggestions for consideration these suggestions were placed into one of three groups items where there were no one or only one was in favor were set aside items where there was unanimous consent were agreed to be included and items where two were in agreement but one was not in favor was set aside for future discussion and or to have as a separate ordinance the it which had at minimum two support that are on the agenda for introduction in ordinance form I'll briefly go over items that were not placed on the on the ordinances and the reasons being first was considering starting War sessions at 6:30 or 7 compared to the 6 o'cl time frame we did not proceed with this as right now Council has the authority to do so by resolution if it deems fit uh second was modifying voting format from alphabetical roll call to another whether you call that a blind Vote or otherwise um the reason this was not moved forward was because of logistic reasons how do we actually Implement that type of policy in terms of the uh the voting procedure item agendas uh submitted for Tuesday while there is interest um just speaking frankly the administration uh had concerns in regards to Logistics of achieving and additionally I'm not sure enforcement mechanisms on that and finally there was a discussion about setting guidelines for discussion items amongst the council members whether we could do a first round of all council members speaking for 15 minutes and then allowing council members to uh finish any discussion items that they were not able to address in that first round um that was not move forward on the item of main discussion pertained to the four minute speaking time as that was the initial item for consideration to further analyze I put together information for the subcommittee's review which included a list of neighbor bring and local municipalities comparing speaking times and rebuttal allowance minutes in review of the 2008 and 2010 adjustment that were made for Council procedures an analysis of several meetings analyzing speaking lengths discussion ons brought forth and the council's interactions it was agreed one additional meeting would be held on October 3 23rd to allow time to review information and get responses to questions that were raised in discussion on Wednesday October 23rd the subcommittee reconvened and followed up on open items it was agreed to separate out ordinances and to proceed with plac and proposed adjustments on the agenda for the council's consideration which you see before you tonight thank you council president thank you Council pointer any other council members council president just have a question is there any place in the agenda that councilman Harris could uh make some comments um so we could possibly not table to move forward with this with this vote on the ordinance uh she can make comments now she can I believe she can make comments on are you going to be here on the 25th correct no when but the 25th is the public comment we'll have a secondary vote correct or would that be the final vote the final that that would be the final vote final uh so today will be the time that you can make comments on it yeah unfortunately that I want to be part of the full discussion I want to be able to hear the back and forth I want to be able to hear what the what the public has to say and so for me no that would not be sufficient I I want to I'm going to do whatever I can to try to get the votes to uh to vote this down okay um anybody else that would like to speak to councilman BR um yes I believe the public knows where I stand on these type of issues um I've been steadfast um I've been an advocate for the public it's not being an advocate for myself it's never been about self it's always been about the public um these type of rules and laws were put in office because in my mind people were elected they knew the time that was considered and now unfortunately they'd like to change that um what I will promise the public is that I am going to work diligently um whether it is myself running for mayor and finding three new Council people that will support restoring The public's time that is definitely one of the issues um you the public will have to wait until June until the primary it would only be six months so we have a um at least we have some Saving Grace moving forward the mayor and his Council has the votes so it doesn't really matter what the public has has to say we've we've watched this over and over but I remain steadfast into changing this and bringing back the public rights thank you thank you councilman Brasher anybody else all right moving on to ordinance 2238 any questions or com uh Madam clerk please read ordinance 2238 an ordinance amending chapter 6 out call Beverage Control by amending section 6-41 hours of sale in Section 6-42 New Year's Day uh any questions or comments council president counc p and I saw the email exchange in a councilman pointner thank you for pointing uh responding to one of the resident who and this was linked with Kosco by the way but my question here is does this apply to pretty much across the board all the retail the wholesale everything this ordinance as far as the timing goes so your question is whether or not this applies to wholesalers I don't think this applied to wholesalers before because it's a retail license yeah I believe wholesalers are controlled by the state statute this is this is the retail licenses okay but anything about the wholesale doesn't cover right no we didn't we can't control this would only be for distribution and consumption correct yeah correct but the distribution could be Warehouse do apply yeah okay just the stores not a warehouse thank you yeah okay any other questions or comments okay uh as for me I think uh this will make it easier for the residents as one one of the many of the residents have been complaining that when they go to Costco Sunday to do their weekly shopping they can't get their wines till 12: so I'm hoping that we can pass this and uh you know make it easier for the residents to do all their shopping at one go uh moving on to ordinance 2239 Madam CL please read this ends section 2-2 entitled Township Council of Charter chapter 2 entitled Administration in order to establish firm rules of theum for for conduct um Township Council meetings all right uh any questions or comments from the council councilor president Council yesterday I was at the JCC attending the veterans uh appreciation uh event and we were handed out with the the prayer for our County country The Pledge for veterans and I would like to read a couple of sentences from that prayer it says may our judges elected leaders and all who hold public office exercise their responsibility with wisdom fairness and justice for all fill them with love and kindness and bless them with that they may walk with Integrity on the path of peace and righteousness and this kind of strike the reason I wanted to read is this or specifically this ordinance is more about the conduct if this Council conducts the way they are supposed to be I'm pretty sure the residents will conduct themselves we need to show that Integrity that Honesty that behavior on these di respect people again we are living in 21st century and I don't know again I I always say one thing don't fix the thing that are not broken and right now the system that work for decades we are trying to wrap it we are trying to kill the voice we are saying hey you can't do this you can't do that I can do anything that I want and that's not fair so concept I will definitely will not be supporting this ordinance I think we should leave the thing that they stand we should improve our process our protocol and give that confidence to the people of the town that we are there for them thank you sir thank you C anybody I will speak on on this I should have spoken on the other one as well but um looking at all the all of the pieces of this particular ordinance to me is just tying us up in knots it's tying us up in knots it's tying the public up in knots and what it's doing as far as I can tell is setting up the speakers who would be in question to become plaintiffs and bringing lawsuits that it would cost the town an awful lot of money and I think we can just rely on Robert's Rules and at the at at the end of the day it's the council president's discretion as to what's allowed and what is not allowed I think we've been we've been to this Rodeo before and I think we are making something that is fairly easy into something that's really bollocked up and much more complicated and that that can turn quite litigious so I joined councilman ptil and uh saying that I would not be supporting this either thank you okay uh thank you Council vice president any other council members Council Brer yes um question to the attorney um the council um us individually um we were elected and when we were elected we we agreed to certain things and this here is changing that so so if I was elected under a certain condition and then the body decides to try and take my rights away that I was elected by um do you defend me in my rights here okay I'll make a silly comment because I guess whoever drafted this didn't realize it there's something in here that says no masks correct yes okay if I decided I wanted to wear a mask that's in violation of this ordinance yes when I was elected I never agreed to any of that okay therefore I would want the attorney on this dis to defend me in court against this body on my rights that now you're trying to take away by an ordinance well I was elected and those rights weren't those rights were given to me at that point so uh you know just because the body might decide it you can't decide on the rights that the state has given me and I would I would want that defendant so let me start by by just addressing that the premise of your question is flawed councilman brusher um the rules of this body uh the ones that you agree to when you are uh elected to that position um are the same as any other rules and regulations of membership and if the body determines that those rules or regulations need to change or adjust or adapt for the time or the fact that the old rules aren't working the way that they should um that is something that you as a member of of this body would be subject to that's that that is how rules work okay um but the secondary part of that is that I would not or really any attorney representing the township wouldn't be able to represent you against the township I don't represent any individual member of this body the the director of law Mr renon is the township attorney he represents the township and the interests of the township right but I'm saying he can assign an attorney to represent my rights that are being he would have to find conflict counsil yet so that that's what I'm saying would he assign counsel for me because when you say these laws at this body this body here has made laws maybe not the people sitting on the dis today that this Administration doesn't follow I mean we have cars are listed as an ordinance yet we have cars going home driving all over the state of New Jersey in this state and we're paying for the gas the tolls and everything that's a law here that we created yet it's not enforce so here you're making this like our laws are real laws and I'm saying I'm listening to what the laws of the state gave me not to the laws that the Renown Law Firm decided to make up because they believe in some kind of uh you know silencing the public or silencing and let me ask you a question I sent a email and I asked for an answer on this if a councilman were to wear a mask and pay himself to the dis mhm and then he's arrested how long does he have to spend in jail I'm sorry what would be arrested for going against his ordinance so wearing a mask whatever it might be uh so it's not a criminal offense you understand that right well if I was arrested right well you wouldn't be arrested for wearing a mask though it's not a criminal offense um if you read the entirety of the ordinance if you're so disruptive as to to impede the proceedings of the council uh the council president has the right to adjourn the meeting and continue the business of the council at another meeting oh um so you can stop the meeting if if that is your choice to disrupt the business of the council to the point where the council can't actually conduct the business that you're elected to do um that would be the within the ordinance anyway which again wouldn't be arrested for would be the that would be he's being comical now because I'll tell you why he's throwing assertions out there that I would be disrupting the meeting all I said wait sir all I said to you was if I wear a mask a mask is not disruptive except that's not what you you said no I said if I wear a mask and chain myself to the dis right none of that is disruptive but yet you threw in those assumptions I think we're getting off on top no no no no no we need to we need to clarify the legal portion here please let's because you didn't say if I wore a mask you said if I wore a mask and chained myself to the Das and got myself arrested or was arrested how much time would I spend that's the question that you asked councilman BR which is a silly question to ask but that's the question that you asked the arrest it's not a criminal statute it is an ordinance regarding the rules of conduct at the council meeting and if you choose to disrupt the meeting to the point where business cannot continue then the council president has the right to adjourn the meeting or call for the meeting to be adjourned and The Business of council continue at a meeting where the council members wish to actually conduct the business that they are elected to conduct okay so let's get this straight so if I sit here with a mask I'm going to make it simpler for you counselor if I sit here with a mask and I chain myself to the desk and I don't say anything except when council president calls on me there' be no call to have me arrested or removed right as per this and therefore there would be no jail time or anything because it's not criminal because I'm not being disrupted would that be correct so uh two things one uh that would be at the discretion of the council president as to whether or not your conduct is being disruptive to the meeting whether it's designed to be disruptive to the meeting and two um The Well won't really address that so we don't need that would be the thank you councelor that's enough on that um all right so here here's where I'm going to go with this my my other colleagues um have spoken um I feel the same way there's no way that I'm going to go and take this away from the public um again as I said before um I hope to be running for mayor I'll find three Council candidates will which will promise to repeal everything here okay so that's that's what I see the people we have here are looking to limit your rights the rights that were given to by the veterans that served um you have veterans that probably will not agree with some of the things that go on right but they fluffer those rights and I'm not going to negate that and say that what the veterans did and and the rights the veterans stood for that we're going to take those away so you know to be honest with you the council everybody up here was elected under these same things because they don't like it because they want to go home to their families or whatever it is you know they want to change the rules um very simply put this has worked for this Township for I don't know how many years like my Council colleague Mr councilman ptil said um but yet we have new Young Council people that believe that they can scramble an egg better so I will not be supporting this and I will not be supporting anybody that votes for this thank you council president pressure any other council member again uh let everybody cover go ahead if it's I want to we have only in a couple of question to attorney is this by any way contradicts or conflicts the First Amendment Second Amendment given to the resident by the Constitution of America no thank you sorry um if you'd like a bit more of an explanation to that council member I I didn't mean to be flippant there but uh it no it it the memo that I provided to the council previously um these restrictions have nothing to do with the content of what people say uh they are free to come in here criticize this body criticize the township criticize the mayor speak up whatever topics they wish to speak on it is just the manner that they do so that that the council uh or that the ordinance is is proposing codifying I know that there have been people at that Podium who have complained well it's not clear what I am am not allowed to do uh this lets them know exactly what we expect of members of the public who want to come in who want to express themselves in any way that they see fit they're free to come in and speak on on whatever topic they want thank you right any other council members council president Council poter uh for myself in regards to the deorum rules it's nice just to have guidelines that we were supposed to abide um I wish council members up here would abide by the same things item G number nine says do not take advantage of services or opportunities for personal gain because of their position the pontification that councilman brusher just did for him running for mayor to me he's using this Das for personal gain in that aspect so if let's just be fair with it yes uh president I'm a lad of rebuttal Council Brer okay this is not a campaign this is about cleaning out the trash here in Edison okay uh I'm going to just quickly put my points into this this is about clarifying rules to make it easier for the residents to conduct themselves to conduct ourselves to run a good meeting to have a good dialogue to have a good communication to get the things done that the residents need to get done this is about nothing else than that you can make it out to be more than that or less than that but this is the goal the goal is to clarify the rules so that we can have a good dialogues to get the problem solved and we can actually have good discussion and good communication from the residents to the council and from the council to the residents as to what is going on what issues we need to address and what should be our Focus uh by clarifying these rules we don't have to keep rehashing the same rules over and over again at every meeting I am hoping this will make it easier for all of us to conduct ourselves uh the residents to conduct themselves for all of us to have a better dialogue that's what this is about to me and I hope the council supports me and if they do not you know the next president will have his their own rules and guidance that they'll have to go through and that is fine as well uh moving on ordinance 2240 an ordinance amending chapter 2 Article 1 mayor and Council by amending section 2-27 work session meetings order of business amending section 2-27 amending the rules of council and creating a new section 2-18 combined meeting order of business all right any questions or comments all right seeing none moving on to number eight administrative agenda any uh from Mayor Sam Joi appointment of human relation commission Dr changu Shen any questions or comments councilman Brer uh yes the human relations commission there their purpose is the purpose of the commission I mean I I understand that they're a commission but what what is their purpose I'm sorry I can't I can't hear you councel uh what is the purpose of the human relations commission U who will be able to answer that for me Sonia as far as my understanding it it promotes and looks into any inclusivity Equity um with um our Township especially being so diverse as we are do so we have issues with that in the town it's a question I think it's just being proactive to make sure that we're inclusive so we're being inclusive inclusive in what way and where oh thank you very much I mean I I grew up here right and and I never had a problem um with inclusiveness or or anything like that um that I've seen and I have friends from all Races and religions so I'm wondering what they what the purpose is council president Council can I just read from the code powers and duties purpose the human relations commission is hereby empowered to make recommendations for the development of policies and procedures in general and for programs of formal and informal education that will Aid in eliminating all types of discrimination based on but not limited to race Creed religion national origin ancestry disability ethnicity health age marital status sexual orientation or gender or the perception of these qualities so we don't do we have anybody that creates policy in the town that we hire uh to to it's question to Sonia like on the board of education they have a company that creates policy overall um not just with this but all policy you know they hire a company and they give you policy recommendations that get update it by the state your okay if you could clarify policy um because we've got several policies that we developed whether obviously it's policies through the council or general policies through the township like an employee handbook what policy are you okay there so it goes through several bodies and and so let me explain on the board of education anybody that's a teacher or ever been involved um they have a policy committee but the policy committee technically doesn't make up the policy right there's um a group in Trenton or I shouldn't say Trenton um but with the government and they make up policy um and they update all the old policy and it would deal with um like a human relations right it would deal with human resource it would deal with actually everything you just said um but but they come up with like the state policies that then get drafted so my question to you was do do we have a company that does that no all of our policies are gone through our legal team do we pay our lawyers come up with the policy instead of hiring the policy company that does it where I think they only do it for I think it's a couple thousand dollars or something I can't speak to what the Board of Education or their policy firm does however um it's been my experience that any polic policy that would affect the greater good of the residents or the employees should go through our legal team um okay I'll find out what the board Ed pays and I'll make that recommendation to you because they got to be cheaper than our legal team um okay thank you for that uh councilman Bram I am hoping that one or two of the people from the human relations commission will be here later on they wanted to come anyway to talk more to the public about what the HRC is about and so I told them that public comment was at the toward the end of the meeting okay so hopefully I just put a a call out there to see if they if anyone is coming okay okay all right oh oh there we go hello Liz yes can can we have is it possible to have Liz no we have to wait for the public portion Sor there's no talking back and forth okay all right yeah all right so is if if you can speak during public comment that would be great thank you all right uh councilman question on again like it's great to expand the current structure of the teams we need more people on the human relation commission my question here is has anyone done a due diligence on checking what Dr Chang sh what he does uh not just a resume because resume can be made shiny and glossy but in terms of because this is human relation committee the character the personal life uh the family or anything because those are the characteristics those that builds a human being and that does help into human relationship because that empathy is not built within a person I don't think you know they will have any empathy against anyone else so just a question there has anyone done a due diligence on this topic uh Council mtil to your point the application it's eles um advises us that um this um person has served on the College of Staten Islands diversity uh equity and inclusion Council so there's experience there and of course alongside with the resume so there is um experience with training um and any sort of employee misconduct that appeared so we Fel the mayor felt that this of course um would fit be a good fit for the human relations Commission and um if Miss Harris who is the liaison could expand on it certainly she would um I think everybody received all of this okay um so so um they did have the background and the experience and we felt this was a good recommendation Y and I and I agree you know thank you Sonia for responding to the question that I asked my only the question is has anyone spoken to individual have done the background check specifically not I'm not talking about the criminal check but especially in terms of how who the the person is what's his personality is have you interacted with anyone who is equitance of this individual so that we know it's a better of it again I have no problem I think the council be really hard question to answer because all we are judging this on is what we presented it which is the resume and I would assume that mayor who selected the person would have done the executive work which is to check on the back end and the personality we are just essentially basing this on the resume and I believe the experience speaks that this would be a good candidate but I will let you make be the judge no not necessarily the experience that's the reason I said in any glossy paper I don't believe in the facts I believe in so if anyone from the human relation committee has spoken to the person individually or have interviewed that person then that gives me Comfort F thank you sir thank you council president counc I have more of an answer thanks to L Conway uh she sent me the uh the purposes the purpose of the Edison human relations commission is to Foster Goodwill cooperation and conciliation and to diffuse tensions among Township residents specifically by addressing issues or I think something I cut off here diffuse tensions among Township residents specifically by addressing issues or acts of bias uh based on a person's race Creed color religion n national origin ethnicity age sexual orientation gender identity or abilities so that is the article three of the purposes of the HRC thank you Council uh any other comments all right moving on to number nine from the business administration a through F any questions or comments all right uh seeing none moving on to number 10 um Department of Finance a through D any questions or comments all right moving on to number 11 from the Department of planning and Engineering a any questions or comments councilman brusher oh no all right uh moving on to number 12 from the Department of Public Works a through C any questions or comments yes all right uh C uh $10,000 for Firehouse roof repair what and why council president we'll have uh Ray poro come up and explain okay councilman at house five you have a unit that's on the roof they have to take uh they have to remove that unit and repair underneath uh the unit and reinstall it because there's a leak underneath it under uh underneath the unit itself okay the rest of the roof is in fairly decent condition yes yes okay all right thank you any other questions councilman brusher oh no okay it would be answer all right moving on to number 13 a any questions or comments all right moving on to number 14 uh a through C any questions or comments uh I had a question on B uh I know you I cannot find out the exact location of the cameras but I was wondering are these stationary cameras or are these going to be on the police cars themselves uh the chief has um stated that it will be on both okay thank you yeah both um okay counc yes um see we have this $869,000 I guess for for lights for the police cars um how many police cars we need these lights for how many cars do we purchase that we need all these lights for it's almost a million dollars in lights and you know where I went with our budget and that was always about to put spend the money on the guys to be in the cars driving around um as oppos to spend a million dollars on the lights themselves I mean what's the need for these lights so what this is is an annual contractual um bid we put out if you will um so this is a yearly thing that we do um this covers most of our vehicles um if not all up to this point um we've add we have added new vehicles to the fleet obviously with new officers on board so um this isn't um separate than anything else we've spent throughout the year so so so technically you don't you're not spending $869,000 this was what was provided to us from the two vendors that are being awarded this evening so between East Coast emergency lighting and Island tech services so this is what uh we are we we submitted in ter well what was submitted to us in terms of bids oh so so you're looking to purchase $869,000 worth of Lights I mean are police cars do they look like papani park now or do they look like the same police cars that I'm looking out there in the parking lot right now where is the 8 this is not for lights completely unrelated to the park this is for everything included uh the equipment accessories if you see in the uh resolution lists all of the different emergency lighting accessories that go into a vehicle to an emergency vehicle and we need all these is this for the new vehicles or are you outfitting the old Vehicles both you're doing both what's wrong with the old equipment and lighting as you know things don't last long so obviously they're pretty um substantial vehicles that um from time to time are used heavily and so um this is just wear and tear including new vehicles a million dollars a year in lighting and accessories that we go through on a yearly basis because you just said before that we do this every year right we yes we have to we have to go out to bid because these are substantial um costs obviously we're obligated to go out to bid for them can I get a list of how many accidents our police officers have been in that warrants $869,000 worth of re outfitting every year these are not related to accident only this is this is all of our vehicles that we get fixed including any new vehicles that we have to retrofit so you have new vehicles you have to retrofit right we can add them up I think there might have been four right that we bought new ones over the course of maybe the last couple months but so then the rest of this would be to for the old vehicles that that break the lights break or whatever is what you're telling me but so what I'm getting at is we're spending $869,000 to outfit our existing Vehicles so let me just lay it out for you what's in the backup you have the division of police you have the division of fire you have the Department of Public Works and you have the water sewer utility so this covers all of those vehicles for any emergency lighting or accessories in those Vehicles themselves and in all of them so even DPW correct we have to put it all in one bid because it's it's essentially u a commodity if you will um and we do it on a yearly basis okay then I could say it shouldn't be underneath police because this makes it sound like this would all come out of the police budget and then it's really DPW is what you're telling me or water so let me let me just be clear um most of the costings come out of do you have the backup I can send I can vote if you want to grab this copy um so when it breaks down here okay do you want me to give you the breakdown Okay police division fire okay so so here Edison sore utility right has $50,000 worth of emergency lighting I get it but it's underneath the police line item here so where do you bill this then against oh there's a weird feeding um I apologize uh so it really H in terms of placement um most of the costings come at are within the police department I could have put it under business administrator I could have put it under DPW um quite frankly frankly that okay yeah mik a something's going on with the mic yeah so it as far as placement goes it's just semantics there but um this covers all of those departments okay um I'm going to say okay um I'm sure that'll change in the future thank you sure okay um moving on to number 15 from the Township Clerk A and B any questions or comments all right uh seeing none uh we're going to start our regular meeting uh but before we do we'll need to add I'm sorry council president I'm I'm sorry I did want to ask about the uh council meeting schedule noting um noting that there are many combined meetings for next year I had questions on some of them are self-explanatory but I had questions on uh actually six of them uh combined meetings in February April June September October and November um not the Thanksgiving not the one just before Thanksgiving but earlier in November um Can someone shed some light on February April June September October let's start with one at a time so the February 1 February is the first one for holidays presid I believe the King Day there's one in February okay oh oh so because one of them I think the meeting for for the it's February 10th is the combin meeting and what's and what's the 12th 26 what's the 12th why in other words that's Lincoln's birthday but is that celebrated yes that's where're closed okay all right April April is probably between Easter and Passover the reason you know where that fell on the calendar okay yeah because I was looking through my calendar and I was having trouble finding holidays on some of these um June June is election day oh okay um it's a wait election day well I have election so we're it falls we have elections the first Tuesday after the first Monday of the month right so I can't possibly try to do a meeting that same week so that's why it's down to the a okay September is probably um is it well there could be uh r from the U from The JCC of the all right October October that probably Falls I'm the holiday on 13th is Columbus Day there there's is there another one in October that's combined I think we'll have to get back on the October October if you want to do the sixth and the eth let me check on my coun October 6 of the first day of suot okay so it's the Jewish holiday of sukot okay that yes that's it is okay and then the the first meetings in November what's going on then because I have election day on the 4th and then we have a holiday on the 11th 12 we change it to the 10th I think we can split that one up because there is a holiday in the 11th but I think we can do 10 and the 12th separate I think we can do that one separate okay you want to do that separate that's just election day is the fourth the week before and that's the Reon because the 4th is election day on Tuesday November 4th and then I have to get everything from Thursday Friday you know just election day itself is hectic and there's still things to do the week of like I don't finish with election really until Friday you know that's why and then how would I get the meeting prepared for Monday that's why I made it Wednesday u i mean that's up to you I'm okay with the combin but if you want to split it up I think we can well I don't want to make it harder on the on the clerks um all right thank you okay thanks you're welcome okay uh moving on to the regular meeting uh we do have to add the uh appointment for the mayor's uh because it it's a consent in agenda and it wasn't added uh so that would be the appointment of human relations commission Dr Chang we s uh we're going to add that to the agenda so can I get a motion to add motion to add second motion to add by councilman Coy second by Council vice president do we need a roll call all in favor all in favor I I all right so that's on the agenda that that be a number thing so now no it doesn't get number now we're going to vote on that okay so we'll take a roll call that's added we have to vot to accept it okay motion to accept mot can I get a motion to accept motion to accept may I have second second all right that's a motion to accept by Vice pres uh Council vice president and second by councilman Coy uh Madam cler roll call please oh all in favor or would it be roll call just aoll okay roll call please okay council member Brer no council member Coyle yes council member Harris yes council member PTI council member poiner yes council member schmell yes council president Patel yes uh moving on to number 16 approval of minutes I believe leave Council vice president will beain abstained for uh August 28th and same thing with uh council member ptil he was also absent on the 28th of August okay and um motion to approve may I have a motion to accept or approve motion to accept and may I have a second second that's a motion to accept by councilman pointer second by Council vice president all in favor I I all right moving on to number 17 uh ordinance uh Madam clerk please read the ordinance ordinance of the township of edicine authorizing acceptance and execution of the site triangle easement agreement and sidewalk RightWay easement agreement known as block 49701 lot 1.01 on Township's official tax map Kilmer developers all right this will be open to public comments on ordinance 2237 if anybody would like to make a comment you can come on up apologize okay uh so anybody else would like to speak on ordinance 2237 Elizabeth Conway 20 Netherwood Circle you recognized thank you I just have a question on this because as I'm reading it um I don't understand uh the purpose of this and if somebody could explain it because I did read the uh resolution also and it didn't clarify it even more um but as some of you might think a triangle of property would clear the site for some purpose is what I'm thinking but I'm not sure so if anybody could explain it is this the time to question it okay uh and what exactly is the question just to be clear Clarity it says the execution of a site triangle easement agreement yeah uh for right away so council president go ahead uh so there was a a development approval that was done and as part of that development approval the developer has to turn over these easements to the township the site triangle easement isn't um because the property is a triangle or anything like that it is the line of sight necessary under DOT regulations so that you can safely approach the intersection and be able to see oncoming traffic so uh what that means for our purposes is even if they dedicate it we still have to accept it uh through this this ordinance to make it official um that's that's all it is okay just sounds familiar for other purposes thank you thank you anybody else that would like to speak on this all right may I get a motion to close the public portion motion to close public portion may I have a second sorry so that's a motion by Council vice president second by councilman pointer uh may I get a motion to adopt motion to adopt I have a second second that's a motion to adopt by councilman pointer second by Council vice president uh any Council comments all right seeing none Madam clerk roll call please council member brusher yes council member coil yes council member Harris yes council member ptio yes council member pointer yes council member schmuel yes council president Patel yes uh now moving on to the proposed ordinances uh I believe Council vice president wanted to motion to table uh so I'll take a motion well my question is that this is for introduction my question was if it passes introduction if the adoption discussion could be held instead of the 25th on the 11th I'm not necessarily moving that the introduction if the if people decide to approve introduction so can we uh adjust this so yeah so like I was saying before this actually was already introduced this is the same ordinance there are no changes to it there's been no amendments to it it's been reviewed by the the committee correct uh councilman porner yeah uh and so it's actually already on the table it was tabled without a definite return date so the motion would actually be to take from the table and have on for public hearing for X date so if if Council woman Harris wishes to make that motion to take from the table and have it on for December 11th that would be what the council would vote on if someone else wants to make a motion take if we're just moving it from the 25th to the specific date I think that'll be okay I just don't want to table it again to reintroduce okay so council president uh not yet okay um so how do I phrases so motion to take from the table and list for I'm sorry what date was it December 11th yeah and list the ordinance for December 11th for public hearing okay uh motion to take from the table from November 25th adoption to the December 11th meeting for adoption all right may I have a second second that all right so that's a motion by Council vice president second by Council M brusher Madam clerk roll call please council member brusher yes council member coil no council member Harris yes council member patile yes council member pointer no council member schmuel no council president Batel no all right uh sorry so you would need a motion to to to bring it back to November 2 so uh may I get a motion to can you reword that pleas take from the table and schedule the public hearing for November 25th all right may I get a motion to take it from the table and schedule it for November 25th council president uh Council uh a motion to take from the table scheduling the public hearing for Monday November 25th 2024 okay uh may I have a second second all right that's a motion by councilman pointer second by councilman Coy mam clerk roll call council member brusher no council member Coyle yes council member no council member ptil no council member pointer yes council member schuel yes council president pattil yes all right um Madam clerk please read the ordinance oh now it's back from the table so now I got to introduce it no it's been introduced it was introduced and then tabled so then so now I'm on to the other new business so it will be on for the 25th for public hearing and adoption right what was confusing about that uh the attorney he's confusing no the clerk's confused no just all we did was now we're on the next ordinance all right that ordinance will be have public hearing on November 25th the next ordinance can be now addressed okay moving on to ordinance 2233 Madam clerk please read ordinance 2233 ordinance amends section 2-23 we just did that sorry ordinance 2238 council president Council you don't want to open up for not I don't know about the public comment but especially for the council because I have not seen the report out from the committee subcommittee that was formed why the decision was made to no make having no changes but to put this on agenda I would like to hear from the council members that the subcommittee we did have the report done did yeah at the beginning no but that's in the okay probably then I missed that yeah okay I'll listen through the recording we can we can recirculate read the text of it okay thank you all right uh an Ord go ahead ordinance 2 now 2238 an ordinance amending chapter 6 outall Beverage Control by amending section 6-41 hours of sale and section 6-2 do 6-42 New Year's Day right may I have a motion to introduce council president I move this ordinance be passed on first reading published according to law for further consideration and public hearing set down for November 25th 2024 okay may I have a second second that's a mo motion to introduce by Council vice president second by councilman po pointer any Council comments all right seeing none Madam clerk roll call please council member brusher yes council member Cole yes council member Harris yes council member ptil yes council member poiner yes council member schmuel yes council president Patel yes all right moving on to ordinance 2239 Madam clerk please read ordinance 2239 ordinance amending chapter 2-2 entitled Township of Council of chapter 2 entitled Administration ordered to establish firm rules of deorum for conduct at township Council meetings all right um may I get a motion to introduce council president Council I move this ordinance be passed on first reading published according to law for further consideration and public hearing set down for Monday November 25th 2024 may I have a second second that's a motion by C motion to introduce by councilman pointer second by councilman Shel uh any Council comments All Madam clerk roll call please council member brusher no council member Coyle yes council member Harris hell no she said no council member PTI yes for introduction council member pointer yes council member Shel yes council president pel yes all right moving on to ordinance 2240 uh Madam clerk please read ordinance 22 40 an ordinance amending chapter 2 Article 1 mayor and Council by amending section 2-27 work session meeting order of business amending section 2-27 amendments to rules of council and creating a new section 2- 2.18 combined meeting order of business may I get a motion to introduce council president Council vice president I move this ordinance be passed on first reading published according to law for further consideration and public hearing set down for November mber 25th 2024 thank you may I have a second second all right that's a motion by councilman white president and second by councilman pattil uh any Council comments all right seeing that Madam collect roll call please council member brusher no council member Coy yes council member Harris yes council member ptil yes council member pointer yes council member shumal yes council president Patel yes all right moving on to number 19 uh this will be public comments on the resolution so the resolutions being 648 to 668 if you have any comments you can actually we'll have to start off with the one on the list Joel bassoff Joel bass off 17 Beach Lane you're recognized so I suggest that the council hold off on approv approving resolution 648 dispersements um the township Charter section 3-15 States during the month of November the mayor shall require all department heads to submit requests for Appropriations for the ensuing budget year and to appear before the mayor or the business administrator at public hearings which shall be held during that month on the various requests so my question is now that we're halfway into the month of November is the administration planning to comply with section 3-15 of the charter or is the administration planning to flout the charter and if that's the case if the administration's violating the charter would it make sense for the council to hold off on approving the dispersements until the required public hearings for next year are held and then concerning resolution 651 transfer of funds uh can we get information as to why an additional $150,000 is needed for legal OE and what is the OE and after that transfer what would be the total Appropriations for legal okay uh any other questions that's it on this okay uh let's start off with the resolution 651 150k uh Sonia can you answer that for us um as I see to the council who had some SAR questions with regard to the 150,000 so um this is what we've spent on average in terms of our um legal bills if you will and um there's it's based on average with what we've is conducting our business on a daily basis whether it's to through ordinances policies um and the like or any litigation matters this is what we've spent um the last you know few years if you will prior to even this Administration um so again no November transfer resolutions um and the like so this is just sort of a um you know routine thing that we do at the end of the year okay and the question on the November public hearings with the department heads I uh not quite understanding the question uh we hold uh internal meetings uh I myself with um all of our departments um don't know what exactly would been done in the past or if it at all in the past um as far as that so we haven't violated any um State Statute or anything to the like uh we introduced the budget as we are supposed to and I've said this several times to Mr Bass off so um I don't have any other comments okay okay that doesn't completely answer the question um because uh first of all it is required by the township Charter to have public hearings not just internal meetings and the other part of my question on 651 was after the transfer what would be the total appropriation for legal and of course now there's another question since the answer is that this is um routine monthly expenditures why wasn't it put in the budget to begin with if this is something that that we should have been anticipating if this is routine I think so that's the remainder of my question okay I think the routine portion of that was that we do transfer funds to allocate to different needs routinely around November every year uh that's the routine part that she was alluding to uh one let me finish my thoughts uh and then uh the in terms of the total overall budget of the legal department it is it was provided the council it's been pretty consistent uh for a couple years except I did notice that there was a spike in the last year uh which I'm not sure as to maybe it was something specific to Legal that we were doing last year the big obvious one is uh contractual um all of our unions you know Su of between about 12 so uh takes quite a finessing in that so um that was a huge cost okay and I think we are down compared to last year we we are we are slightly down yep okay uh and I don't have anything to I don't have anything else to add to the the public hearing for the Departments right well first of all I I don't have the the budget in front of me I was just asking what the total appropriation would be you know in terms of dollars what do you Havey you can pull that up approximately 875 Mr bof okay and then the other question is uh in terms of the the township Charter um why don't we follow that um maybe Mr President you could ask legal or or Finance I mean it's in our Township shorter so that that's that's our Edison law minute uh legal would you clarify this for me I'll have to discuss with um with the head of League LA to discuss with Mr Renown to give Mr Bass off a satisfactory answer I I know this has come up multiple times over the even just the last year that I've been here where he's brought it up it's been at least somewhat addressed so I'll I'll have to speak with Mr R okay yeah my point is it keeps being addressed because there's never a clear answer as to why we're not complying with our own municipal charart again I think we'll have to wait for the legal to get us the answer for this and how long would we have to wait for that because obviously we've been waiting because as Council acknowledged the question has been answered has been asked a number of times before and hasn't been answered I want to say it's never been answered Mr bov it just hasn't been answered to your satisfaction uh but I should have an answer for the next council meeting okay okay all right anybody else that would like to speak you can come on up uh I'm sorry I recognized him oh oh I'm sorry uh name and address yes uh Jersey watch your YouTube channel broad uh broadcasting worldwide and uh Township no that I named my organization it said in the you can name your organization and that's fine he's asking what township the organization is based out of is it Edison is it oh broadcasting worldwide world it's a worldwide organization worldwide um just one question I'm a little bit confused um you recognized that's up to you it's fine you recognized thank you no I know I've been allowed in the past in County meetings and I wouldn't I'm not trying to here the C no no no for clarification I can't serve someone worldwide they would have to have a a location where oh no no the loc the location is worldwide um I'm soon interdimensional but that's a different discussion um just one clarification because today's a double meeting um through the chair the councilman Brasher uh I thought I was going to be able to speak on the ordinances are are they in the resolutions right now any of the ordinances did they get no right no no the only resolutions are 648 to 668 all right no I thought maybe it moved into the okay all right thank you for that all right God Bless America um R SEC uh the the last one R 668 yeah the last one okay um I'm very much I'm very much against the last one um resolution approving the 2025 council meeting schedule I I took a look at it it it was all double meetings except I think through the chair to Bress was it one or two months not not a double meeting every time and you know um speaking to all the council members through the chair of course I'm speaking through all the council members um I feel that takes away from our speaking time a lot of speaking time throughout the year um I look forward to coming to the council work session so I can get my six minutes uh then and you're you're taking that away because when you combine the meeting meeting all that gets removed am I correct the so you know you're taking my chance then away um I I don't like that so for every double meeting it's instead of getting 12 minutes to speak on certain things now you cut it down to six I don't like that I'm I'm absolutely against that so for R 668 if you're going to do that for the entirety of the year you you also have to acknowledge that the hours are going the hours are of the meeting are going to be much longer you know am I wrong about that some I don't want to be here for four or five hours one day I'm not coming here for that all right so I'm against R 668 I hope you guys can pull that and work on a different schedule um that's more transparent more accountable so this way more res presidents can come and air their uh Grievances and concerns as is protected in the United States Constitution First Amendment um but how much time left do do I have Marina two and a half minutes two and a half minutes all right um I'm against r667 I'm against r665 I'm against R 664 I'm against R 663 I'm against R 662 um but going back to r66 we don't have to I'm against it um um you know what every every single one on this page against I'm not for anyone on this page um yeah if if if anything you know 661 had some promise but I'm like you know screw that let it let it continue to deteriorate you know what happened at R 661 through the Char to councilman Brasher uh was there a fire recently um somewhere and you need to replace the roof don't replace it let it keep raining let let the black mold keep building up you understand uh the same Joi way we saw what happened with the Fon house and then we can can send our our public workers in there without any masks and get them all sick sick with cancer causing materials absolutely disgusting calling himself a public safety director um how much time did you say I have left 33 seconds 33 seconds that's 33 seconds to say God Bless America and Trump won he proved every single one of you wrong and now you got to eat all right oh well it's not time not time's up yet but not talking resolution you're right you're right God Bless America God Bless America thank you anybody else that would like to speak a name and address please my name is Donnie Adelman I am a Jackson resident who has a business interest in Edison Township New Jersey okay you recognized all right I first um you have to speak on the resolutions okay no I understand okay all right I like this thank you for uh having me at your uh to meeting I am looking for a home for my business and I I think you're going off on topics sir I no I hope I hope that we can just do things right I'm looking at these resolutions and as far as anything to do with the motor vehicles whether it be the vehicles themselves or the outfitting of them I have a little bit of experience with this now besides the fact that it's not broken down as it possibly should be as far as how many vehicles are being done the level of services that they are receiving that I'm looking at these numbers you're overpaying you know just for instance the uh police interceptors you're getting them for $50,000 a piece those are $41,000 trucks these days through the Ford Fleet program all right I don't know why you guys are paying extra $9,000 I'm very well versed in uh outfitting police vehicles with lights cameras so forth and that you get there's somebody should do an audit because that's a lot of money that is potentially being overspent next is as far as the scheduling is concerned yes there is a grave concern for people and residents of the Town business owners in the town where having two meetings would give us two separate opportunities to speak especially when you're adding a resolution to take that six minutes and knock it down to four minutes without any rebuttal which means that even if we sit here for four minutes you guys are not going to take the time afterwards to answer our questions why I know it may be a little bit easier for you to have one day a month where you just power through it and you have a four or five hour meeting that's kind of disrespectful to the residents and the business owners in town because we need that time to speak it's our time and you know there are things maybe have we had something beforehand like the before you guys voted voted on the ordinances you could stop really bad ideas before they even get a chance to get rolling um I don't know and I'm not familiar with the different council members as far as their backgrounds or history of the voting and so forth as the council I will become very well versed but you know as far as like when you have these ordinances open public comments at every single every single council president speakers off topic uh just the resolutions only yes please I think you are speaking on the schedule but you are going a little off topic there well as far like I said as far as a schedule there might be extend circumstances one month but to have all these double meetings it's limiting our time to speak it's limiting our time to have contact and redress our government or whatever matters we it may be you know there are certain things as far as what's brought up in the workshop meetings that we want to have on topic and then we want to have something else that that to be brought up during the regular meeting if it's all done during one meeting we're with especially if we're going to have four minutes we're not going to be able to get any questions answered well especially if you're not going to if you're telling us right now you're not going to answer questions I think it's a bad idea I think it's a bad look for the town and transparency is the most important thing as far as what's going on with the council with the town with the mayor with the every Department in here should be open and welcoming to Residents who want to speak their mind obviously yes it should be done respectfully and within bounds and no no one should go wild or go crazy and you know I think just to clarify we did have a discussion with Council vice president and Madam clerk that to try to get as many non-combined meetings there are particular reasons I think there are six meetings uh that we discussed as to why we had them as a combined meeting so the idea is to try to have them separate meetings as for the ordinance but in certain circumstances it it's beyond our control or certain situations it makes more sense to do them as combined due to the workload that the Madam clerk is under or if there's holidays or other things that we can't control if they're combined would you guarantee us at this point that whether we get four minutes or six minutes that you'll give us a chance to speak during both meetings so we have double opportunity to speak uh as per the ordinance you will have an opportunity to speak EXC I I'm sorry I just I didn't hear you as per the ordinance you will have an opportunity to speak at the workshop at portion of the meeting and at the regular meeting SE session council president what he's asking is if there will be two opportunities for them to speak one during the work session portion one during the public meeting portion which is not what is not currently quoted as that no thank you very much all right anybody else that would like to speak on the ordinance resolutions resolutions sorry Elizabeth Conway 20 Netherwood Circle you recognized um I would like to talk about six uh resolution 668 also and I understand um the inconvenience and why you need to make um the meetings together but it's no offense it's very um inconvenient uh for people to come at six o'clock at night uh we live in Edison and I live off of Inman Avenue and to get here by 6 o' I had to leave at 10 after 5 in order to get here and I got into the parking lot at 5:54 so that's like the perfect time to get stuck in traffic to come across town so if it's convenient for your schedule to make them combined meetings could you po could you possibly move the meeting back to 7 o'clock so this way it's not that much better but it would be a little more convenient I feel your pain I work commute from Livingston and I literally have to rush eat dinner in 5 minutes and then come here so I understand I would love to have it at 7 but I seven out of 24 meetings moving it to 7:00 when all the other meetings are at 7 uh would be more convenient for the I you and to the uh committee to discuss this issue and bring it back to us I can I don't want to take away your time so I'm done I don't you can elaborate if you like so we we did uh speak on that there are a couple of I want to say logistic items but like there is consideration with like the clerk's office how when they're here like it's a entire day's aspect we have the department heads that are that are here uh and at the end of the day if we wanted to push it back we can by resolution push it back it doesn't actually have to be codified so we do have that opportunity to still adjust the schedule um how it's presented right now no it's it has not been adjusted to that later start date but it's not to say that we cannot take that into consideration and modify for next year's uh meetings I think that is something we'll consider but I personally will be in favor but again I do have to look into the other aspects of it like you know how long the Madam clerk will have to stay back and wait for us or the department heads would have to wait to answer our questions and that's an extra Gap that they will have to deal with but again I think that is something to consider thank you council president Council Brer yes I I'd just like to comment that it's for is pushing that back to seven um a problem with a combined meeting is you know we put these couple controversial issues on the agenda today um the public didn't get to speak about it today if we were to have allowed the public like it would be at our next meeting right now at 7:30 we wouldn't be to this form right here it would be more like 8:30 to 9:00 which means the public that just came here to complain let's say about flooding on their Road or something of that nature would have to wait until we got through all of this to get to their portion which might not be till 10:00 at night um and and a lot of the public I don't think wants to wait till 10:00 at night to come and address their you know their issues um maybe something uh on a format change would be to change that part of the public where they could speak at a combined meeting at the beginning of the meeting like we do at a work session on any subject yeah we uh we had suggested to keep it after the business items from the council are done so uh on the combined meetings if they maintain at the 6 o' time frame um like we haven't even gotten to that here and this is actually the format that we would be following so we it's 7:30 right now we're not even at the oral petitions and remarks section um and this is the format that we're looking to codify so okay uh any other questions Jo ship Freeman uh Township Addis JY I'm just doing this because I don't think Joe should be filming me if you know if I don't want to be filmed okay if you're not GNA film me I don't think he should fil me that's just how I feel about it okay and I just think that with 668 I think it's disingenuous of people that sit on the council to say to complain about the time or anything when you were elected you knew what you were going what you were going to be a part of on 668 so your schedule and all that stuff it's fake that you're talking about it okay because this is what you did and somebody said oh joy tried to be political no lot of y'all not like me I've been coming to meetings already since y lensis before I was a c a woman okay I I was there ahead of time some of y'all just showed up lately you know and that's y' problem okay now moving forward um the resolution and the transfer of funds I was wondering were you going to give uh Mr Bass off a good answer for that but I guess he'll have to wait forever to get that like never ever happens all right so now 654 the resolution authorizing the mayor to enter into a shared services agreement for paint program drop off services with the county of middle SEC what is that pertaining to counc vice president if I have Mr poro come up who can explain yes thank you Council vice president just in consideration of her time can we can we stop ask ask to ask all the questions first and then have them addressed I don't want him to take up like three minutes and then you be left with nothing else up up to the former councilwoman maybe they'll put some film on you and the senior citizens can finally read your lips from home resolution uh 660 resolution authorizing uh the installation of sand volleyball courts and the amount of that where are they located all right and the 664 um license place reg U recognition cameras where are they located thank the uh agreement that we're entering into with the county is for paint and for tires um there's no cost to the township they provide the containers and the county uh picks up and disposes of all of the material um as far as the volleyball court that's located at Edison Woods Park yes Sonia council president um the third question was with regard to cameras um we can't discuss where the placement is okay for safety reasons please no talking if you would like to does she still have time council president um she she didn't hear that uh Mr poro had said that it was at um Edison uh Edison Woods uh Park the wall yeah Edison Woods Park okay thank you all right if you uh motion to close the public portion no I think someone else might want to speak yeah that's sorry if you just just um let's finish the public portion and we'll have to uh take a maybe a break all right uh continue all right uh Ben's from Edison New Jersey do I have the floor council president yes you do awesome I just want to discuss about the resolution for give me one second I just I just had oh yes uh 11224 for the Hogan security I took a look at that um they've been in service for V what number was that oh it's going to be resolution for the Hogan security for resolution 659-1177 so um I took a look at their information it's very well going I would like I would absolutely will approve this resolution for the police department so thank you very much thank you B uh anybody else that would like to speak on the resolutions only all right may get a close the public portion all right may I get a second second that's a motion by councilman Coy second by Council vice president uh all in favor I all right the public portion is closed should we take a can we please okay may I get a 5 minute recess uh and to reconvene at let's say 745 motion for recess okay uh may I get a second second all in favor I all right so we're going to take a recess we'll be back at 7:45 thank you e e e e e e e e e e e e e e first all right all right can I get a motion to reconvene please motion to reconvene may I have a second everybody please sit down there's a motion on the floor for reconvene can I get a second second all right that's a motion by councilman pel second by coun appointment all in favor all right all right the motion reconvenes I mean the meeting reconvenes that s 45 all right uh continuing just to uh that discussion was because there was a duplicate uh resolution on resolution 656 so we are going to be removing that so because that is already captured again under resolution 665 so we will be removing resolution 656 so that we don't vote on it twice now moving on to public comment all right anything to pull for a separate order um counc president yes uh 658 okay anything else council president 668 668 okay anything else all right so the can we have uh can we have no talking in please so we can conduct the business here thank you all right moving on the consent agenda is going to be resolution 648 uh to 655 we're removing 656 657 uh councilman bresser pull 658 659 through 667 and councilman Coy pull 668 may I get a motion to approve the consent agenda motion to approve second so that's motion by councilman Patel second by councilman Coyle uh Madam cler roll call please council member brusher yes council member Coyle yes council member Harris yes council member ptil yes council member pointer yes council member shuel yes council president Patel yes all right uh moving on to resolution 658 councilman Brer um yes I I mean I I believe I understand the administration's need for it I just think that they're going about it the wrong way um you know with our code enforcement I do know that um we have difficulty finding people in Code Enforcement um because we don't pay them a fair living wage in fact most of the people I think we have I think our average age is probably 67 years old so well most people are retiring we're hiring part-time people in code now I do know we have problems getting all of our inspections done but I think if we raised the salary and we hired full-time people that that would work better than having to buy like basically police intercept their vehicles so they could drive around and get to their destinations faster um I I just think it's really going in the wrong direction um so that's why I asked I I understand the need because currently we aren't paying them Fair wage so we want we need them to get around to their inspections faster um but I just don't agree with it that's all I think they just need to get to the the inspection I don't think they need to get it faster I think the confusion on the police I had the same thing I saw the police thing it's not a police car uh it's just the hybrid portion of it as per our policy we're trying to get more hybrid cars and this was the way to get that may but the interceptors um well okay you're you're younger than me but it's always been called a police interceptor because it's a it's a faster vehicle everybody in the public knows that so I'm just saying you know if the idea was to do a more of an electric kind of hybrid thing then you would get a a more appropriate car that's all um so I thought it was so that they could get there faster because uh we don't have enough people but um it's that's okay just wanted to make that statement I I think we should okay up that salary any other comments no that would be it all right can I get a motion to approve motion to approve may I have a second second all right that's a motion by councilman ptil second by Council vice president Madam clerk roll call please council member brusher yes council member Cole yes council member Harris yes council member ptil yes council member poer yes council member schmuel yes council president Patel yes all right moving on to resolution 668 councilman Coyle council president I wanted to share um my opinion and also discussions I've had with me of the public some of the 15,000 people who vote for us here um the combined meetings I think are convenience and those who I've spoken to in the past believe they're convenience um those who watch television at night like to see a productive meeting of the council doing business uh I think we don't have enough combined meetings today if this is voted for I will support it however I think we should take a longer look at this at another day and have more combined meetings a combined meeting I think is convenient for directors convenient for the public I mean people have to look at both sides as I sit here as a council member and most and some have been here for 20 plus years some may members on the day as today have been here for nine plus years we shouldn't allow the six to 10 people who come here to dictate what this Council should do now they may come here and have an opinion for those they spoke to whether it be in their Community or a few people on Facebook but they don't speak for the public they do not speak for the 15,000 people who vote or the 100,000 people who live in this town so we have to look at that as we sit here as elected officials we can't change our position because of a few people come to the Das and are disappointed in something they see on the agenda for instance I just want to make it clear when we when we brought Silver Lake we bought this property for 15 plus million dollars that was something I would have never done but members of this public felt that we shouldn't have a warehouse there and they changed our position and we bought a property for $ 15 million doar so as we however we want to look at those who have their opinion outside this day in the public those who see here today we have to just take a stronger look I asked my Council colleagues to take a stronger look one thing are said who they represent because they do not res represent everyone and there are many people today watching this meeting right now who want to see a productive council meeting and we should take a stronger look on the six to 10 people who try to control this meeting and claim that they speak for the public they do not that's a fact they speak for their few and they have the right to do that they have every right to speak for the few they are involved with but I hope sometime in the future we take a stronger look at this I think combined meeting are a beneficial use of this public good and it is productive thank you council president thank you councilman Coyle uh as for this ordinance uh councilman schmu brought up that we do need to change uh one of the dates and September 24th we want to make to the Thursday meeting to be September 25th uh to change the com is that a combined meeting yes it is combin the combined meeting on September 24th does not work due to holiday so we would need to move that to a Thursday uh September 25th um do we need to take a motion on this okay so motion to change the dates all right can I get a motion to amend motion motion to amend second all right so that's a motion to amend by councilman pattil second by a council vice president um roll call please council member brusher yes council member Co yes council member Harris yes council member ptil yes council member po pointer yes council member Schell yes council president Batel yes and now that we have updated that change may I get a motion to approve resolution 668 motion to approve may I have a second second all right that's a motion by Council vice president second by councilman ptil Madam cler roll call please council member brusher yes council member coil yes council member Harris yes council member ptil yes council member pointer yes council member schmuel yes council president Patel yes okay moving on to number 21 oral petitions and remarks uh you can come on up I come from the West the rest ARA Gula 51 mle Street are you recognized uh I wanted to raise a water drainage concern or a new construction which is happening in between mckenley Street and Rivier bouard so the previous houses that were there before the new construction they were not so elevated on the hill but the new construction the houses are being built very elevated so because they're on the corner of the street and they're elevated the new new houses all the water is draining into our backyards and into our basements and they're getting flooded so this is getting very hazardous and uh we need uh we already complained uh to the zoning department but the complaint was uh immediately closed uh we now we're now asking assistance from from you all like to take this seriously and to take some kind of action on this because both the backyards there it's breeding like particularly if it is going to be in summer then it's going to have lot of mosquitoes and water is going to get stagnated there and uh even the basement also I'm worried now that everything all the water will come into our backyards so I have a letter from my neighbor as well supporting the claim and I have my other neighbors also here to support you mind you can give the letter to Marina and um also uh when you do can you send out an email to Sonia uh she'll get your information after the meeting or if you want to give it to her now uh and we will follow up on this unfortunately this will not be um a meeting where we can discuss the details specifically but let's we are aware we will be aware of it once you bring us the information and we can discuss it uh in person we can give you a call from someone from the administration okay and then we can figure out what we can do sure thank you yeah council president Council yes I have a question um this area here this is flooded before correct just I'm McKinley uh RNA RNA um your name is RNA right AR archna sorry uh councilman Brer has a question for you right this is this is McKinley on the hill right and and this area has flooded before um a couple years ago too correct um not the day call it's McKinley Street uh and it's like a ajoining rwer bullyard right but I'm saying that McKinley goes on a on a slope yeah that's correct and you're on the slope yeah we are on the slope and the houses are built they being built here and it's a slopes down and all our houses are down here yes correct that's true right so council president just to um let the business administrator know um all her department heads are very well aware of this issue um they've had flooding in the past it's one of the same areas that it continues to flood um and we've been unable to fix it like the other places that we've had flooding um we could probably go back in the record to when Lany was mayor okay so it it is not like just the new thing um I think she specifically said that it's because of the new buildings that are right now they're building new houses there in addition they're building making it worse I think we need to address the Cause right right but what I'm saying is they they have a flooding issue that that goes down there in their backyards and stuff there somebody's pool is underwater there I forgot whose it was um but now with the new building it's it's even worse I think we can take this off table more details on this particular issue to have a good discussion but thank you new buildings it's very now like and it it gets flooded very quickly all right well thank you Aro thank you if you want to come on up your name and address please n you know 41 mechanist streate so I want to Echo what you know asna said that and it's you know it's a real issue in our you know the neighborhood the issue is that all the new construction are elevated right and there is a uh even though we complain so far you know I haven't seen any action coming which prevents that in the water coming in my backyard is know always has flooded we have muscular issues you know even my basement has the issue before that you know and how to spend my money I think a few years back you know like I complain nothing happened I send out you know that you know pictures and everything nothing happen and I see that you know same thing is repeating right now you know because of now you know and this particular house you know what is talking about is right on the hill right and then it's even it's elevated so even though I you know it's going to make it much worse for for us so yep just make sure when you email include me at n Patel when you email Sonia so I can be in the details I want to make sure that we follow through on this we do thank you thank you come on up uh name and address please hello again Donnie Adelman Jackson New Jersey got a couple things I like recognized what was that you recognized sorry oh I'm sorry uh a couple things I'd like to speak uh 2233 limiting time without rebuttal this is the people's time don't limit it and if we had questions we'd like answers it's that simple um Mr Town attorney 2239 about the decorum and I saw uh when I came in I was given a list of rules about signage props so forth I don't know I'm sure they taught this in law school about prior restraints and limiting constitutionally protected activities now I've seen some of the things that gone on here and while yes it is unusual basically with our six minutes or four minutes whatever we end up getting if we want to sit here and go through Every curse word in every language that we could possibly think of for six minutes that's all right if we want to do a S if we want to take our six minutes and do a circus act that's fine just as long as we're not doing anything threatening or outwardly disorderly that's not for you to judge it's not for you to enjoy you just kind of got to take it and I'm I I can't I don't mean it as disrespectfully as it sounds but opening the town up to lawsuits because of feelings enforcement saying that you don't want certain things going on in these Chambers these are the people's Chambers this is the people's time and yes I'm new to town so there may just be a few people that come here regularly but part of the problem is that I you know I'm disabled and I spent some time in the services so let's say I'm not able to come to the meetings there's no way for disabled residents homebound residents quadriplegics and so forth were cannot leave their home to participate there's no way for them to participate on Via the live stream or through the TV and that's another problem um I saw something in the I guess the close session meetings uh about Sunday blue laws I'm just going to say this stop don't do it don't consider it it is a bad idea Bergen County has it everyone's fighting to get rid of it because it's a nightmare it's we we're getting rid of them oh you're getting rid of them that's the discussion awesome all right then I apologize um let's see so I spoke you know again the feelings enforcement the blue laws um now again Mr Coy I understand what you're saying about you know certain people may come here regularly but the simple fact of the matter is they may not represent the town but the town itself because I've been to a lot of these meetings in a few different towns generally doesn't show up unless there's something so egregious that it's really does affect everybody and I know what you guys do does affect everybody but there's certain Hot Topics that will bring out the masses in general though it's going to be the same people it happens in every town so please show a little concern for the they may not speak for everybody but I'm sure they speak for more than themselves uh like I said the open meetings try and figure out a way to have audience participation for lack of a better term it's in the Sunshine Law and it's in the guidelines that they um memorialized for uh for covid as far as the restraint as far as what's supposed to be done so that this way people who were not able to come during covid could participate they memorialized that said hey that's a great idea continue it I don't know why that's not happening here all right I'm saying all this all right I hate to sound obnoxious but well let's just go for it I'm well off I me and my friends own a company we're looking to find a place as I said to build our business and open up a manufacturing facility we're going to contribute several million dollars a year in taxes to this town the only thing we ask is this town runs fairly openly transparently all right I'm not sure I'm not GNA say that there any good old boy stuff I don't know all right I I'm not gonna say that there is or there isn't but I could sure say transparency is key you guys are here to serve the people now the people yeah sometimes may be pain in the ass I get it I used to have a very similar position to you guys but the simple fact that matters whatever it is you get paid or even if you did it and you're not getting paid to do it that's the job you signed up for it may not be fun at all times yeah you get to go all the openings and you know all the parks and everything like that all the town events which is great but when it comes time for people like me to come redress our government we need to be taken to seriously as possible all right I sit there I build things for our soldiers to fight for our freedom and then one minute to have those freedoms turned around by the city government makes no sense it's not a good look and there's no justification for it as I said prior restraints I understand some things have gone on and you may not like it but it is what it is and you just kind of have to accept it all right if things get disorderly threats are made different story I understand that we have a large police presence here and it's not for anything more than a couple of cameras all right I'm sure it was here for one camera that you didn't realize that I'd be coming here I am very big into freedoms I am very big into first amendments like I said I know people who have fought sacrificed body parts and died so this way when we come to America and we come to all the freedoms that we fought for we're not being told that we can't do certain things in public meetings we can't say certain things thank you Donnie have a great night you too all right uh anybody else that would like to speak you can up you can come on up Joel okay so it it Joel bass off 17 Beach Lane so at the beginning of this meeting we recited a pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and that flag is a visual representation of the values that this Republic stands for including the right to freedom of speech and the right to petition the government for redress of grievances and I I mention that because the proposed ordinance 2239 classifies the use of props as quote an impediment to the orderly conduct of the meeting now I'm holding up an American flag to represent those fundamental American values of freedom of speech and freedom of petition to the go freedom to petition the government so my question would be does this flag impede the orderly conduct of this meeting uh would it be considered an illegal prop under this proposed resolution that's a good question I will ask the Le Council for exactly it's a good question because it's ambiguous and then you put yourself in a position where you either have to suppress the American flag or you have to make a choice that some props are okay and some props are not okay and now you're talking about content based speech and having to make a distinction based on the content of the speech this is represent representational speech and I think it would be a disgrace if this was suppressed I would like you answer that the ordinance is clear it does not permit props right and if you're bringing a prop to the podium you'll be asked to put the prop away if you refuse you'll be at violation of the ordinance none of that makes the prop illegal uh none of that makes the gamesmanship of claiming to suppress the American flag illegal um all it means is that there is an orderly way to conduct business at the Mee time now yeah you asked for a question you want an answer to it and typ and typically typically content Bas you answer the questions at the end so you don't take away the time of the public the time that's already limited so please give me my time I have important points that I'd like to make I understand why you would like to suppress it but these are important points that I would like to make and they're free to that are guaranteed by our Constitution and there are freedoms that are represented by this flag I'd also point out that the ordinance that would proport to make this illegal has not been adopted it's not in effect and if it was illegal to hold this up now you wouldn't need the ordinance so there's no problem with holding this up now I'm also holding up a copy of the Constitution of the United States to remind everyone do you want me to answer the question in terms of why he's still speaking do you want just continue okay I'll let you finish when you're done when I'm done you can address all my points and I hope you will so I'm holding up this copy of the Constitution to remind everyone here that each member of this Council took a Solem oath to uphold this constitution I'm holding up this New Jersey state flag to illustrate our state's motto liberty and prosperity signifying that Liberty is a prerequisite to Prosperity I am being told that just as we are implementing a law that I have to give you a warning it is a prop and all props are going to be considered okay under an ordinance that has not yet been adopted this ordinance is just codifying the laws in writing it these are essentially what the council president enforces so as I am in do you want to answer or do you want me to no I'd like to continue think you made your point um if you hold up any more props I will have to give you a warning and have to remove you so no more props please okay no more American flag no more Constitution no more state flag no more Township seal I get it sorry let let me repeat if you hold up any more props you'll forfeit your time and then get so right now this is the arbitrary ruling of the council president which is not law and which is going to be put into law because there's a recognition that the arbitrary rulings of the council president cannot be enforced and could possibly subject the council and the township to First Amendment litigation which could be costly to the public okay I get it vote out the council okay so anyway regarding the proposed uh ordinances 2233 and 2239 uh there are questions that I'd like answered uh regarding ordinance 2233 what's the purpose of reducing the public speaking Time by 2 minutes per person person two is it the intention to reduce the amount of public criticism of the council and the administration and and that's a serious question so do some introspection as to why you're trying to Ram this through three do you by how much do you expect meetings to be shortened as a result of that ordinance or with the exception of maybe one member of the public um do you view that members of the public are wasting the council's time by having more than 4 minutes to speak five how many members of the public have asked the council to reduce the public speaking time six how many members of the public have asked the council to retain the current time limit seven why does ordinance 2233 have no whereas Clauses no reason for the ordinance in the ordinance okay regarding ordinance 2239 uh question 8 um can I get a copy of the committee report the the committee that recommended that ordinance question nine uh is ordinance 2239 based on decorum ordinances of any other municipalities uh question 10 thank you Joel your time is up H you may sit down and I can answer your question well you took a good of my time please sit down thank you uh now as for moving forward the props any props will be considered not conduc to what's the right word conducive to a proper conducive to good order conducive to good order as that is the Judgment as the president of this Council I am making that call it is in my duty to conduct a proper business and that is the decision I have made so moving forward no props be allowed if you do propose any props you will be given a warning and your time will be forfeit and then you will be kicked out if you do not follow the decorum rules simple as that it has nothing to do with First Amendment it has nothing to do with content it's just simple no props allowed you are more than welcome to speak your mind you're more than welcome to say what you choose if you want to criticize us you are more than welcome to criticize us that is fine but no props will be allowed moving forward now you have a lot of questions so I will let the council answer uh any of these questions uh councilman anybody would like to take it council president how is how are props is as an expression how is that not part of the First Amendment how's that not part of the First Amendment how is that different from from speaking how is that not part of the First Amendment it's it's bad legal advice pleas attorney has got sued so many oun pleas you are not recognized disgusting like can I get a five minute break so and can I get a second all in favor I all right the council will return at 88:18 e e e e e e e e e all right everybody please sit down we have four all right may I get a motion to reconvene motion to reconvene may I have a please uh can we we're going to reconvene the meeting now yes meeting started I second second Mo all right that's a motion by Council vice president second by Council Min mu motion all in favor I I all right the motion is I mean the meeting is reconvened at 8:20 uh who else would like to speak yes you can sit down if you continue talking I will have to give you a warning sir okay Elizabeth Conway 20 Netherwood Circle you recognized thank you I'd like to start off with today is World kindness day and that you should say something kind to someone or to somebody's and the kindness that I'm going to share is you did a wonderful job with your paint job in the council chambers that's what I could come up with uh but the thing I would like to discuss is um your ordinance regarding changing uh public speaking to from six minutes to four minutes I come up here with respect each and every time I try to keep to the minutes I don't want to waste my time asking morina how much do I have left at the board of ed meeting my first question they have the time up on the TVs so this way you can just uh check the time so that it ensures that that you can get everything done I can get an answer to that right now if you don't mind I think uh Sonia we were supposed to get a shot clock in November is it here already or is it going to be here soon with um our production team up there they were supposed to get that together and I'll find out if it was ordered okay so they are bringing a clock that will solve that specific issue very good so on November 29th uh you're going to put it to a vote with you as president this will come into effect in December or automatically on the 25th is my next question if it is the 25th will it take place in December is my question now come December is following month is January where the reorganization takes place and I don't know vote wise who would be our next council president but my question there is should the council president be different from you can they undo everything that you've just done in November okay that's good uh my next question is I notice when I'm sitting I I don't have to watch the council uh on TV I watch I come because I want to be a part it's my town but I do notice that I am not on TV not that I want to be on TV but I don't understand why that change took place other than um another uh part of decorum was instituted because of that I know uh a friend of mine had asked why that took place and I didn't even notice because I wasn't really paying attention until I came tonight so that's another question that I had I do notice that the gentleman to my right has a camera and the gentleman with the dog and has a camera and I did notice before I thought it was a water bottle but somebody told me uh Mr coil is also videotaping and I was wondering what the purpose of that is rather than just being able to see what's being videotaped by the Town Council when I come up here I speak on my own behalf I have concerns about my town and I'm a strong enough person that I come here and I share my beliefs I didn't come here with 15,000 votes I didn't come here with 10,000 votes I came on behalf of me and if any of my friends or neighbors ask me a question I always say I don't know I will ask but I kind of find at some points in time that I not wanted to do this by certain council members and I feel that's an injustice to me as a citizen of Edison it's my right to to speak I do it with respect and I feel I should be given the same respect that I'm giving to you so I really think you should think about this ordinance because in years past we didn't have this major problem yes you're going to have certain people that are going to upset the apple cart but there are other people that don't and for the number of people in the audience I feel like you're punishing us because of the fact that another is taking advantage so I really would wish you reconsider or come January it gets changed thank you thank you president uh Council Brer yes I I just wanted to um when you asked about the camera angle I think the business administrator said she was trying different angles um Sonia we trying different angles at every meeting or is it the same angle we just maybe is it a degree off or what would the change be for the change remains it's to get a sideline of all of the council and the conduct of business and not to have the public present and when you asked about councilman coil um he's not here right now but he confided in me cuz I asked him about it and he said that he wanted to have that for his own Nostalgia um so that he could see the public so I guess he doesn't agree with the public not being shown either so that's why he's filming the public okay uh thank you Council rusher uh anybody else that would like to speak uh uh Mr Freeman just give me one sec there were some questions that we an answer for Elizabeth con do you remember which one was did you address when the council rule would go into effect yeah that's the one when 20 days 20 days 20 days from passing okay so it will go into effect 20 days after it passes no it won't be at the December 11th meeting it would be at the December 20 second I think it is right that be no it's third okay so 20 days after the adoption that it will go into effect okay sorry name and address please Joy ship Freeman Edison New Jersey you're recognized yes um after yeah after listening to Joel bass off I I just realized how ridiculous this whole situation is it's ridiculous and even though Mr Coyle thinks I don't represent a lot of senior citizens and other people who look like me I do they speak to me back and forth I could be in Wagman and they're talking to me a lot of them they're in their 80s they're in their 90s all right they don't get to see the person so they don't hear what they're saying even when you're speaking or one of you guys are speaking up there nobody zeros in on you so that the people from the audience could see but hey y'all a bunch of Millennials you know you you got the 13th Trophy and you guys are like you know really horrible horrible to senior citizens and it doesn't you know at this point it don't even matter if you get rid if you four minutes to six minutes because you gonna make sure so nobody that hurts your feelings or anything the people don't get to see the people I have been all the way around I told you before since you lensis I have never seen this much deterioration and let me tell you this if you don't have good leadership skills I'm from the school system we don't put the audience on cap we put the leadership on it a correction active plan action plan so that you can do your thing better and I'm sick to death that we paid millions of taxes we paid tons of taxes and we get treated like garbage everybody sits around there everybody's up there their shoulders back and and you know this is the game this is not a real game and I don't understand why this whole thing came about I don't understand I went to the boorder Ed meeting last night went to the border ed meeting very good six minutes over there leadership out of this world people working hard and they're not making 17 to $220,000 you know they're not making anything but guess what they do that you guys don't do they respect they respect as I have to say it again they respect the people they represent okay when you signed on to say that you wanted to be a council person if you didn't have the time you should have never signed up cuz I've been here in these Chambers 2:00 in the morning with people who only made $6,000 that's all and when they didn't try to hide you or Ras the camera or any of that they would say like Peter Barnes would say I respectfully disagree with you they didn't have that problem so to me it's it's like an experiment we did with a bunch of Millennials and we found out that they couldn't handle the job and that's what you know that's very very sad and meanwhile this other lady was telling me she said Mr Fix It came to her house and well she wrote the letter to you know the mayor and everybody but you know y'all don't answer and she said Mr fixie came to her house and she had this water problem well he accidentally left the water on and instead of her bill being $200 her bill wind up $400 all right and all she lives off of is social security so to the people up there that think people don't call me and don't ask me questions in the direction in which this town is going in they're very very sad about it they can't believe that it deteriorated this much in 2024 what's the problem what's the real reason that you're not even even if you if you came here to say if I came here to say something plus about you it's not going to be heard because with the Acoustics in this room with no rug down that even makes it even harder for my senior citizen friends to hear what's going on because it's bouncing back and forth okay so I figure you Millennials should know about that because you got your little phones that tell you something okay because most of you guys stay on that but I this my whole problem is that I told the seniors tonight I was going to tell you how disrespectful they are and I'm also concerned about the food desert that they have on the north side of town it's a shame that they have that food desert there like what what you know what I mean if you want to walk here if you want to walk there you can't do it anymore and somebody told me oh don't worry three miles down the street there's a grocery store but if you have any type of health issues or if you are a certain age three miles is far it's very far for you to walk through but everybody so self-serving nowadays so self- serving they don't care about the individual and I I like that she said this is kindness day I wish this would end off of being kindest year the only thing that has been productive on this council is eliminating people from the view of other people and limiting people's conversation I don't understand how you can take all that that money from us and say oh girl what I don't I don't have a time for you very very sad very very sad now the fool desert and I don't know who's going to be responsible for paying the ladies extra $200 for Mr fixon and some things Mr fixon cannot fix so he should just say he cannot fix them thank you thank you uh is uh Sonia is there someone who can help uh the old lady with Miss Mr Fixit or is that something town can do uh thank you without the disparaging remarks about being young um council president uh if there are any issues with Mr fixed if someone could please email me exactly the address and Resident so we can Rectify that situation thank you thank you okay uh please no talking from the Maria Orchid A3 Jefferson you recognized thank you uh have to remember my issues first I'd like to thank the police department for the wonderful trick-or treat event uh the HRC was there also giving out candy and talking to the children and having fun with the community the HRC human relations commission is designed to bring the community together we had a survey that went out to the residents and the residents say yes they have experience at some times biased discrimination incidents and we're working on giving out a pamphlet on what the procedures are and how to reach the public we would like to invite the public to our next meeting which is December 3rd where Dr adari is our honored guest as well as commissioner Charlie Tamra also we're looking forward to the next event would be the winter winter wonderland on December 7th I'd like to thank all the volunteers that came out to help the Edison environmental commission and I'd like to thank you for all the time that you spent and working for our community thank you thank you Maria oh wait one more sorry I forgot um I want to support Pat Massie and Sue O'Neal they'll be coming up to their terms at the end of December I'd like to say it's such a pleasure to work with them I've been to a few of their events and I look forward to or hope to look forward to working with them in the future thank you thank you Maria anybody else that would like to speak you on the back Ron laugher 6 ncy circle Edison you recognized Ron uh I came here today to speak about a couple of things uh but from what I've been listening to I've gotten a little sidetracked uh I'm a little concerned and I can't comprehend the lack of courtesy given to councilwoman Harris to ask uh for an extra two weeks so she could be here to offer her opinion and to vote regarding an ordinance uh it's just two weeks later that you lose two minutes it shouldn't matter and that courtesy should be extended as a member of the council um what I really came here for is um the open space advisory uh committee uh puts a list together of properties uh that it would like the township to acquire and 135 Whitman uh this is a property that's in front of the planning board now um located next to the dog park has been on the open space acquisition list uh for many years um but instead of expanding the do park or planting trees or making that area nicer for the residents or the dogs the town didn't do anything and it's the detriment to the residents the dog park even the neighboring town of mouen hired an attorney to oppose the warehouse so we give uh we're taxed by middle sex County $6 million a year for open space and Edison um with the open space trust fund uh gets 800,000 approximately per year um what I do see happening with the open space uh trust fund money uh we got a uh an Excel spreadsheet uh few weeks ago and we're spending $40,000 on Flags uh splash park signage that wasn't included within the splash park cost flag poles and it's really being you know what I would say nickel and DED instead of used for you know preserving open space for the residents and for the people um that live around there even at touin um throwing away money um a couple weeks ago as you drove around town there were 12 uh variable messaging systems that basically said crime is against the law we've spent $10,000 on 12 signs for two weeks that could have paid for the splash park sign and the flag poles instead of taking it out of the open space trust fund um I never come up here saying that I speak to about or for all the residents um and I can't say that any of you could say the same you you represent the residents and the residents that are here are you know up and here to present their point of views and a lot of people will not come to these meetings because they have families or whatnot but every generation um you know Bruce Diamond used to come here now he doesn't come here anymore different people come here but that doesn't mean that their point of views are less relevant and again I I don't know what you're getting back reducing the public speaking Time by 2 minutes how much time are you saving how much time do you expect to save uh so if you can answer that question uh another question um in reviewing the uh monies that we spend and especially regarding the underbid threshold monies that are be able to be made by the town under $44,000 is there a way that that can be on the agenda uh or how much money that we uh spend on those under bit threshold monies uh they're on probably a resolution for dispersements but there's no documentation or resolution regarding those funds so can we get a commitment to uh giving that transparency uh to the residents at the meetings uh second the reason or not second lastly the reason people come here is to share information um back in 2021 uh the chairperson of the open space advisory committee came here and asked uh the council to change the Ordinance one minute for the open space trust fund in the Edison code book I don't know how long he spoke for he wrote a letter gave it to the council and he asked the council to change the ordinance so the money can be spent for Park improvements to date that ordinance has not been changed and the only monies that should be spent regarding the open space trust fund uh is for purchases and Acquisitions of properties so some people can express that in six four or one minute but it's an exchange of ideas and sometimes times those ideas take longer uh to communicate sometimes years because again still not done so regarding the bid threshold uh can I get an answer on that please sure thank you Ron uh so the ask is you want to under the bid threshold of $44,000 you want transparency as to where those are going uh I think that could be doable uh that is a i that is something that we passed to allow the administration to be make more efficient decision on I believe two a year ago right C council president just to clarify uh we are under the state statutes guidance to go before the council uh anything 44 and up okay that's what we that's what that ordinance changed was to abide by what the state statute allows us to do everything else is on the bill list okay and I'm not arguing that I'm sorry your time is up run but we can have a further discussion as long as you understand the question sir your time is up sorry you can't talk anymore unfortunately that is the rules that we have to follow so please sit down I will try to get the answer thank you so I think the ask is whether or not how can we be transparent on the cost that's below $44,000 is there a way we can be more trans arent because I don't believe those come before the council to vote on so you know it could be I I'm not quite understanding the word transparency it's everything's on a bill list okay I'm sorry there's a lot of noise in the background yeah can please have no conversations because then we can't have a business meeting here we cannot have a conversation here and no one can pay attention so if we can please thank you um so I think the question is transparency in the sense of making it more available not that you guys are not following the state statutes that you guys are but more available easier for residents to see where those purchases are happening again under the bill list under the bill list yes and that would be the best way for the residents to access yes sir okay and if we need to improve that is there way possibilities to make it you know what we can have a discussion off on this uh in terms of uh open space this is a question I had for you Council uh can we use that fund and is it appropriate or not allowed because I understand that open space would like to specifically only use it for parks and improvements uh which is ideally my goal as well at some point but are we allowed to use it for like let's say the splash park signage so one of the um one of the things about open space is that it's a it's a little bit of a misnomer it's not just for um acquisition of land uh the Green Acres Program I believe specifically put out a pamphlet that's under the same open space guidelines and rules where it's for uh additional expenditures related to improvements to recreational facilities um and other uh a public access uh areas so things like Park improvements uh generally fall under uh the specifics of the Township's Open Space Program uh I'm not intimately familiar with so um I would have to uh review and get back to you um on what exactly the guidance is there but the generally speaking so long as it is uh related to the Improvement of of things that encourage people to get outside things that encourage um not building developments um would tend to fall into the Ambit of of acceptable use of those funds okay thank you that was Ron I'm sorry you mis construed both by Sir Ron you please sit down I'll have to yeah I we can have a discussion offine that wasn't the question answer offic I didn't ask what he responded you've been warned you've been asked to sit down okay if you continue then you'll have to be removed please thank you okay uh and in terms of the last question how much time do you expect to save uh anybody would like to answer council president to me it's not about saving time now I understand that's what is mentioned out but we have to have a more direct line of communication to express to be able to have I think a concise time to look at me right now I I have as much time as I want and I can't get my thoughts through right so being able to have your points directly mentioned allows for more ideas and thoughts to actually be expressed right we've stayed here until midnight many times when I was council president is not about reducing the actual time it's about having a proper dialogue for constructive whether it's criticism exchange of ideas or just general expression of statements that that's my point on anybody else yes council president yes Council vice president I have been I have been told that in 2008 the speaking time the public speaking time was reduced to four minutes but then in 20 0 it was put back to 6 minutes I wasn't I wasn't around I wasn't attending Council meetings or listening to them but I don't know about the rest of you but that tells me something that tells me that there was probably some kind of hue and cry about the four minutes not being the the four minutes not being sufficient and the people felt very strongly about having that six minutes restored and it has been ever thus since 2010 I I don't understand this I find it I find this ordinance Folly and um and and the people have been very clear they have spoken very very strongly about this and it's not just it's not just about people in this room and that they're only representing a small amount of people I can tell you on social media I've seen a lot about this and so I would like very much to see this ordinance voted down obviously I will not be here to be a part of that vote um but um I'm hoping that if and when this passes that we can revisit it thank you council president Council press yes I have a question maybe um Council vice president could look into this for me you you said that it changed in 2006 to 2008 2008 to 10 2008 to 10 could you see if the council body changed at that time because maybe the new Council body went back to the old format yes thank you uh anybody else council president can we have um as a courtesy could you pick some firsttime speakers uh sure uh and as for me I think the two minutes is again as what councilman pointer said it's not really about saving time it's about focusing if let's say the idea that many of you are saying that you know if you don't have your thoughts together you might need more time if I gave you 10 minutes let's say if I gave you 60 minutes if the council gave you 60 Minutes of talk you can talk someone can talk for 60 minutes but then that won't be a conversation because we won't know how to answer those questions uh also if there is a lot of people in the chambers let's say 100 if it's a very pertinent issue that a lot of people are very willing to talk about it if there's 100 people in the chambers and if everyone took their full time and let's say everyone had 10 minutes there's a lot of time that is a lot of times just repeats of stuff but if if you are the idea of focus is that if you are allotted a specific time and you know that you're allotted 4 minutes you would focus and say the things that are important to you and that will also help the council to know what is important and what is to address uh again and going back to the philosophy of changing these things I don't believe this to be so permanently set in stone as Elizabeth Conway alluded to this could be changed next year if the council agrees that this this is not working uh it will change in next year so it's not uh set in stone and it's not done forever it is something that I believe we can try to see how helps the conversation go better uh but if it doesn't work I am open to changing it again this is not something once done is forever and forever this is something we can work through and figure out uh I think this is what Amazon Jeff basil says that if this is a decision that can be a door that you can go back and forth it's not too much of a concept to just say hey let's try going through that door and if it doesn't work we'll come back into the store it's fine it's I don't necessarily take it as such a set in stone uh belief uh but yes I would like council president can I make one more comment yes simply put this is a hammer looking for a nail thank you okay Steve Nagel 19 back Drive you're recognized thank you Mr council president good evening everybody um I had some additional questions on 2233 uh and just a point I don't go back as far as our distinguished former Council woman and council president Joy ship Freeman until yenis I I think I was a zygote at that point um but I've been in this Council I've been addressing Council since I was a life out going for eal getting my community uh citizenship in the community mer beding I had to come to a council meeting and address the council so uh I think the most important thing in this chamber and I've said it before is decorum and and respect for elected officials and the respect that they show the resident so in regards to the four minutes or six minutes uh I have never used my full allocation of time in both both end and I've always yielded time back and that's based on the respect that's been to the chair and the chair has returned so I think that's an important matter that we need to continue to look at is how our residents address our elected officials and how they address the the residents of the municipality but back to 2233 I have some questions I'll be more than happy to um I'll read them here I'll be happy to email them to you if you'd like to respond I can give these to you if you'd like so you don't have to write them all down um was this ordinance based on any ordinances from any other municipalities um if not should we be concerned that in some ways we're setting some presidents uh that other towns have have addressed and and and looked at and passed on since then um the ordinance uses the term patently of patently patently offensive and how is that defined where any of the Court were any court cases reviewed in drafting uh 2239 uh I I have great concerns about props I I don't know what a definition of a prop is and interestingly I um I'm I'm wearing a jacket just that actually got in Alaska and somebody said is that a prop because you have something on it does the you know do we move from props being something that someone's holding up to someone wearing a flag shirt a flag P it it's a very very vague area that I think we need to if we're going to do this need to Def have very definitive terms for because I'm a f I'm also afraid of of violation of First Amendment rights could a member of the public use a photograph to illustrate a problem on public property for example would that be a prop in what ways does a costume which is also an expression of your first amendment rights uh impede an orderly conduct of a meeting and and respectfully I never really cared what people were wearing but it it does turn into another thing if a person comes in wearing religious Garb if a um an Islamic person comes in wearing a h um if a Jewish person like our distinguished councilman wearing is that a problem where we really need to define the where does this start and where does it end and the last question I had is how does a non-medical mask impede the orderly conduct of the meeting thank you for your service to to our municipality and our residents and I yield back my time thank you uh for 2233 I think I would ask councilman pointer to address that question thank you council president in regards to reviewing other municipality ordinances I did put a list together that documented uh what their speakings times are what if they allow for rebuttals uh there were several that had 5 minutes there were several that had 3 minutes there were uh municipalities which set time limits as to how long the oral petitions and remarks could be for instance Highland Park allows for 21 minutes with three minute speaking times so there are a lot of different ways that other municipalities have uh done this but uh to yes we did review other municipality ordinances than counc poter and it's for 2239 I would ask the legal councel to answer those questions so uh I'm not sure if this was directed toward 2233 or 2239 um uh but 2239 is at its core based off the Mel recommended ordinance um that is from the uh the insurance uh providers uh so that's their their model ordinance uh modified for the township specific circumstances um with respect to what whether or not something qualifies as a prop uh your clothing doesn't qualify as a prop that's your clothing it's what you wear if you have you know something written on your clothing that's not a prop props are uh extraneous items brought in uh in order to try to to demonstrator proof to something uh while you're speaking that aren't related to your speech so um if you try to go to the state house and bring in props even if you are a member of the assembly uh they won't allow you to to do so so uh it's not a a hard term to to understand when you come up you're speaking you're speaking you're addressing the council you're expressing your concerns uh if you have exhibits or or documents you wish the council to review um it's been very very easy you have it with you hand it to the clerk clerk distributes it to the council for them to review um that is the the orderly conduct of business so thank you Council uh on the back in the back car Edison you recogniz call at the last meeting I got hot I had every right rich I appreciate what you said a for Words AJ is out here right now I appreciate what you says and for the public I did not get thrown out of this meeting two when AJ was speaking I said it's going to take somebody with big shoes to fill my shoes nobody been hired yet in my replacement but they took a guy from public works over to my department and got A $155,000 plus raise when I couldn't get a raise was being blocked by one person on your Sky out and through the chair Joe cor I do not appreciate that comment you made about me doing ni work and furthermore the mayor hired me mayor Tom lankey not you and through the chair to the ba did I abuse you that night thank you because Joe harer I was abusing you that night and I was not abusing you I was asking you a question thank you now a 926 Amo Avenue they took down over 20 trees no Tre trees were replaced a frence got put up and 2 Days Later somebody got a brand new frence around their house were there have any permiss taken out from them trees no we donated $100,000 you guys approve $100,000 for trees and plants for Amway Avenue from the tree fund but 23 was never replaced at that lot taken down with no permits that's why I was bored from Claud Barton for three years bored for doing my job and I will continue coming up here when I'm here I'm living between South and North I got a lot to say if I'm a whistleblower oh well for there was a person in this building on the top four the top four in this building two people they had a Target on my back they tried to get rid of me they didn't but I know I can get somebody in deep trouble right now we have people a lot of people can't come to this Podium because they work here like like I did guys went into a yard last year in this town and cut trees down in the pussian Eden border illegal another thing during Cleanup in this book it got no special pickups but somebody on this dialogue is special pickups all the time with mattresses with no covers and what's in this book you put a mattress out you got to have a cover on it the Chinese place that was being sold for $2 million you know why it didn't go for $2 million the real was going back to sign the deal so they went to 5 million but what happened to mayor Sao in Ward years ago he went to jail for something like this prior body the guy lost the realer on that place same person went to another shop in M hey I'm going to be a realer you know what the guy said get out the door thank you until the next meeting have a Thanksgiving guys thank you Carl anybody else that would like to speak good evening Ben from medicine New Jersey you have the floor counts president you recognize Ben thank you very much at this time we not be speaking it's already 903 I should be saving the world for role play since I'm a major general for the army of lamita but anyway um this is more important issues instead of the role play cuz I have bigger shoes I have to do when do the role play but in IRL it's a little bit different here but I want really want to discuss this um uh ordinance -22 33 d224 by changing the public speaking instead of six minutes will be four minutes and we lose 2 minutes I feel like that is absolutely not right and I hope somebody can please um don't improve this and if it does get approved then uh hopefully Mr brusher does become our next mayor and I'll guarantee you that I'll be on your team as well we will definitely repal and replace everything in this Township so help you God thank you very much thank men anybody else that would like to speak all right thank thank you uh Anonymous um New Jersey uh New Jersey corruption watch member of the press my organization am I am I recognized Township oh worldwide all right you recognized inter internationally just uh before you start actually if you pause this time the props I'm going to have to give you a warning if you start I was putting that down I forgot no warning I was putting it down as I was I was just putting all this stuff down all right you can continuous time can you take back the warning take back the warning please I was just putting I'll take back the warning okay thank you thank you um time started mhm okay so before I I um let's just all our cards off the table right now is this a prop right here if you use as a prop that is if you're wearing it is fine I'm going to wear the shaman hat from January 6 the next meeting so thank you hats are allowed um when I when I came in this meeting through the chair to Margo um through the chair to Chief of Police through the chair to councilman bresser and anyone else that wants to listen the um the police were refusing me entry the police were refusing me entry for wearing my mask like this my co mask um through the charity of councilman Brasher do I have to go back on on YouTube when when you used to wear the the bandana around your your face during covid times I mean so um these police officers four normally there's two now they got four gang members to harass me some of them I grew up with I like them I shouldn't have said gang member CU they're not really gang members but you know I'm just a little bit upset right now and I'll say this I'm sorry I said gang member Fashion Police they're not the fashion police all right what is this TMZ Sam josi's TMZ and he's sending the fashion police making sure I got the same colored socks on by the way I don't one's one's blue and one's pink um but so now that we get this out of the way I'm allowed to wear this mask uh if it's medically hey you're sick you're it is it's my medical mask I've been wearing it all year long that's fine all year long and and you know that because I come in here I wore it like this but when the cops kept me out they kept me out for actually wearing wearing it like this I I hope I hope that's important to know okay um so this is illegal it hasn't been codified when you say Behavior which disrupts otherwise impedes Orly conduct of the meeting it when it's my time to speak you're the one who always creates chaos and Havoc around the speakers the use of patently offensive or abusive language is prohibited Cohen vers California somebody came uh into the court rumoring uh a jacket saying the draft he won that court case there's another court case saying uh Rosenfeld versus uh New Jersey where somebody went to Board of Education meeting and said several several times so legally I'm allowed to say this Council chamber rules are stupid and Sir IA told me I was allowed I I told me I'm allowed take this as a warning if you continue you will for your time I'm I'm so I'm taking I'm I'm forfeiting my time for doing something that you guys told me I'm allowed to do I'm not insulting anyone they said as long as I don't insult anybody and I'm emphas izing something I'm emphasizing something right now I'm emphasizing that these Council chamber rules are  stupid and under Rosen your time point of privilege lawyer you have no right to call a point of privilege sir we went over for me uh sir please sit down or you will be asked to be leave your time is forfeit okay let me grab my stuff thank you okay you're forfeiting my you're forfeiting my time because Rosen your if you continue I will ask the continuing I'm grabbing my stuff and I'm I'm I'm walking away if I can Address rosenfelt rosenfelt criminalized speech nothing that we're doing is criminalizing speech rosenvelt was very specific about the fact that it was the criminalization of speech that was an issue we're not criminalizing speech we're not charging him criminally or anyone else criminally sir your time has been forfeited sir officer you'll Beed out if you continue but you don't have officers can please esor you don't have to charge someone the removal is enough thank you all right you can finish your no that that was that was me advising so that everyone in the room is aware um it comes up at every meeting where uh shouts about rosenfelt rosenfelt was very specific about the fact that they criminalized the speech so that uttering vulgar language in it of itself was a crime for which they were charged uh it went to a court ultimately was dismissed uh because of the fact that it's not a criminal act and we're not making it a criminal act here either but let me ask you a question Mr attorney when they Sue and I hope they Sue and I will testify for them okay testify that I believe their rights were taken away okay and when they sue and they win because they aren't arrested but they were removed which means you did not allow them the right to speak and that's what they will sue you on at that point Mr attorney understand one thing I am going to ask Lou renon and Coughlin to please have you removed from their firm and from our Das at every meeting until my term is up thank you just so that we're clear here sir it was a statement that's fine council president if I may yes please just so that we're clear uh everything that has been prop proposed uh with respect to this has been vetted by Mr known um counc pressure you're not recognized please all right um anybody else that would like to speak all right motion to close the public portion may I have a second second um motion by councilman coil second by Council appoint all in favor all right I am where we are all righty okay moving on to from the council member to the planning board um Council poter uh no report the next meeting is uh Monday um 18th at 7.m here in council chambers thank you okay report from all Council committees uh starting Council McCoy I have nothing to report council president but I do want to say um DPW did a great job with pany park it looks wonderful uh ready for holiday celebration thank you thank you Council vice president yes several from the animal shelter uh the October report uh dog adoptions were 26 cat adoptions 21 currently in the shelter there's there are four dogs plus one mother dog nursing there are seven puppies seven cats a mom cat nursing uh a TNR cat TNR cats are two kittens three and reclaims uh that there were seven dogs that were reclaimed um next we move to the human relations commission report that was the meeting of November 6th and um the issues were that Charlie Mero was supposed to be at that meeting but he was not able to make it and that's why he'll be at the December 3rd meeting along with Dr alderi uh we discussed in prepared bylaws um we are looking to update the Facebook page with pictures from events on sending a weekly positive message on WhatsApp open meeting and publicized meetings post a meeting schedule when the next meeting is scheduled our next meeting we will be discussing our January meeting need to update our official list term expire date what's the procedure in the biased crime uh escalate to this I don't really what is the procedure in the biased crime escalate to the correct department referred I might have to ask what that what that means what happens when someone sends a complaint uh a attorney can be involved in open meeting guidance what about um who who does the HRC go to with with legal questions human Relations Committee who does it go to the legal questions I would commission commission they would come to the township attorney I mean that would be the first stop for any uh wing of the township for who to discuss uh legal issues with and if it's something that we need to refer to a specific attorney who's on the roster you know we talked a lot earlier about the the legal bills that's that's over 10 firms I think that are part of that so it's not necessarily your firm it would be it would be our firm first depending on what the issue is um so well no it would be our firm First full stop then depending on what the issue is either our firm would handle it or refer it to one of the other uh firms or attorneys that the township has contracted with okay good thank you um we were able to donate a case of Thanksgiving food to the Hands of Hope uh meeting adjourned at 7:47 it had began at about 7 o'clock so actually 7:25 p.m. it was a very short meeting um and again the next meeting is on December 3rd um the cultural artarts commit meeting was oh there was one more thing with um with the uh with the animal shelter there is an event let me get that up here uh a fundraising event there's a taco Tuesday hosted by Edison TMX Deli 2024 Woodbridge Avenue that's going to be Tuesday November November 26 from 900 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. and proceeds will come out to uh will come out to the shelter um okay the cultural arts commission met on the 12th and that was yesterday and that was 5:45 pm very brief meeting also appro approval of the 101 meeting minutes um we went over the the upcoming the upcoming displays to be at the gallery which will be Hispanic heritage display domestic violence display and um the public safety display review um Ed Edison arts society exhibits this is a this is a an issue because the Edison arts society is no longer going to be able to have their exhibits up on the third floor as a matter of fact they cannot have it anywhere in the building we are hoping that as a partnership it's not it's not under necessarily under our purview but we are hoping to be able to once the once the Fon house is ready to go we're hoping that we might be able to relocate the their exhibits and there that would be a good place for it um we are also looking to the Ed the cultural arts commission wanted to find out what the Edison TV schedule is um and just a to get a reminder of when is the running of the council meeting times this would be to you uh uh Sonia um so tell me Tell just to inform everyone again the Edison TV viewings of the meetings are when and what time I'm sorry are you referring to the broadcast time yes um I believe they were uh late in the evening do you remember do does anyone know what time 900 p.m. the night after okay so C the council meetings are 9900 P PM the day after tomorrow at 9 okay um we also are looking for fundraising ideas for the cultural arts commission and so we're going to be discussing that going forward um that was it for Cultural Arts then Library board I was not able to attend last night because I went to the veterans event but I did get the minutes for that um bids were open on Thursday for the North Edison renovation project and they're now under attorney review making good progress on the second floor of the main branch and it's still on target for the second floor to be completed in December new flag pole was installed at the the clar Barton Branch resolution to approve a new contract with Mark Browski and Associates as owners rep for the North Edison Branch library in the amount of $28,000 was approved Mark is currently the owner's rep but his current contract only went through the bid process Friends of the Edison public library book and bake sale on 1025 and 1024 raised $1,049 the friends will be friends of the library will be holding a popup bake sale at the main branch on 11:23 from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m or earlier as they sell out if they sell out before 4 pm um I believe let me just make sure I didn't have any other uh yes that's that's my report thank you thank you Council vice president uh councilman pointer none sir Council mm not of this time okay uh as for me uh the open space committee met on the first Thursday of the month uh at the council chambers and we discussed a bike path um that one-on Central ab and it we decided the action items will be to have a meeting with engineering and Walt stal to discuss uh key issues that we have on the bike path and what compromise net need to be made we also discussed the greenway how we can expand it to Stelton Road there is a a rail line that is inactive but not being currently used uh by the railroads but they haven't given us the permit to extend that Greenway uh we try to brainstorm ideas as to how to get that right to connect Stelton Road to matachin and continue that Greenway um all the way down um and that's it on the open space moving on to points of Lights any council members have any points pres counciler a committee report oh sorry oh you were not here okay Council Brer um yes uh a we had a veterans meeting um at the meeting we we discussed uh coming up with a an estimate I guess to complete the project um that's there you know our original task that we were doing was we had the stones and the new pole um but then the attorney informed us that we couldn't do that work like ourselves like we couldn't have volunteers go there and actually work in the park because of uh insurance I guess so now we um we're going to revise our estimates and then present that to the uh Council the administration um so that we can get this uh money approved um I got confirmation from our commissioners that they will do matching funds for us so I feel fairly excited about that um we also talked about taking a look at our other monuments that we have throughout the town um to see if there's any sort of improvements that maybe we can make to those um make them stand out a little bit uh and we're going to reach out to Boy Scouts uh the schools uh to see if we can get some help and support with that um we have a meeting schedule for tomorrow that would be our next meeting thank you thank you councilman brusher uh moving on to point of Lights any council member with the points of Lights yes Council vice president uh yes uh first and I have some of the Flyers out there for anyone who might be interested the John SP 10th anniversary Memorial basketball game which will have the JP Stevens lady Hawks versus the Edison lady Eagles Thursday December 19th 2024 at 5:00 p.m. and they're they're doing some fundraising with uh t-shirts and uh sweatshirts and things like that and so the you can order them you can order them in advance and so the Flyers are on the table if anyone is interested with the game itself is Thursday December 19th at 5:00 p.m. at Edison High School um uh councilman Brasher and councilman uh patile and I had the pleasure of going to the ABA center opening which is for an Autism Center that's at 2163 Oak Tree Road and ABA stands for Applied behavioral analysis this was a very impressive facility and they serve I believe uh children from two and a half or so to conman Brer do you remember what the upper age was was it 21 or I thought it was 18 they're to go to they're going to go to 21 okay right um and I think right now they had something like about 15 uh 15 kids in there um a very low ratio of um of staff to the uh the clientele the center itself is bright and very cheerful they have all different kinds of rooms for all different kinds of purposes sensory rooms either for stimulation or sensory rooms for being able to to just kind of chill um extremely impressive they had an opening that day in Edison and also then later in that day they had one in hobok and so um that makes four of their centers that they have in New Jersey the one of the advantages is that while at other autism centers the waiting time can be not only months but can sometimes be years they have an average of 47 days from the date of uh of a consult so I would urge you to just check it out again that U that's a 2163 Oak Tree Road it's right near uh Park Avenue and Oak Tree Road um and finally uh a number of us who at the veterans event last night at The JCC which was extremely moving and um there was uh aside from a honoring all the veterans there that ranged from vietn from Vietnam actually even people like Dave tingle who's still in service um all the way to there was one who was a 97y Old World War II V veteran um but one the the big presentation was about the uh the honor flights and um this was uh let me just see if I can pull that one up uh second here um so the honor flights which normally they are actual airplane flights in this case um this is a bus trip that uh that starts in Bergen County and goes down to it it goes down to Monroe to pick up some other veterans and then it goes on to other stops along the way it's a it it starts at I think the people have to be ready in Beren County at 3:30 in the morning and I believe it comes back pretty late at night but this is supposed to be really quite the trip excuse me sir um this is really quite the trip of a of a lifetime and that's done twice a year in April and October they just had one last month but they are accepting applications for the one on Tuesday April 15 2025 it's free these these uh these honor flights are free for the veterans uh if they take a guardian along with them then uh the guardian is cannot be a spouse but it it can be it can be a friend it can be a it can be a a u sibling um they pay $85 I believe um but if you are interested and I really really would recommend this program to anyone who would be eligible uh they they start with the people who they would start with World War II um Korean War Vietnam and then if there's space after that I think they said they have three buses going if there's space after that then they will take some of the more recent veterans um for more information on this you go to to the website can be uh www. sjfl light.org um and you can also for more information call Pam and Ron at 85658 n572 but it was it was a terrific event very well attended so um I would urge people to check into the honor flights all right thank you thank you Council vice president uh anybody else with the point of light council president Council pointer uh thank you I just want to make a note that the Edison Housing Authority is hosting a Housing Resource Fair on Saturday November 16th from 10: a.m. to 1M at 13 Reverend Samuel Carpenter Boulevard this program will go over items related to housing firsttime ownership and Session 8 voucher for mortgages there will be a presentation that starts at 10:30 which will which will review uh the following items preparation and Fair Housing Services Banking and mortgage options energy assistance program firsttime home buyer options down payment assistance programs and Grant availability and options for additional information please contact Carmen amalbert at 998-5616 25 extension 210 or at C lb r t at Edison hs.org thank you council president thank you Council U now uh no one else I'm we're going to move on to the close session to get an update on the lawsuit so can I get a motion to close uh take a how do we do this motion to close no oh I'm sorry do we motion to close or do we just CL the close session yeah yeah you have to motion close session why would session which is to discuss legal matter so we can I get a motion to close uh do a close session for the lawsuit up for the legal matter up motion to close session all right uh second second all in favor all right all right we'll be back after the closed session no no e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e all right can I get a motion to reconvene motion to reconvene may I have a second second that's a motion by Council vice president second by councilman pointer all in favor I this meeting for reconvenes at 9:43 p.m. do we need extend this what time do 10 10 uh let's extend it to 11 so we're just covered till whatever uh can I get a motion to extend the meeting till 11: so it can finish early if possible but motion to extend uh can I get a second second motion by Council vice president second by councilman pointer all in favor I I all right moving on to discussion items starting with councilman pointer uh thank you council president on items uh B andc I'm going to hold off on those for the moment I'm still putting together thoughts on Item B and item C I meant to have an overview of the new community solar program um I know that a uh a letter was sent out with general information I wanted to summarize it but I forgot it uh and I just wanted to touch base on uh some ordinances for consideration um that had been previously shared with uh the council and the administration first is in regards to deer management guidelines if we're going to do anything in regards to managing deer population in the township is whether or not we are okay with having bow hunting within Township as about as straightforward as I can put it uh the second one is in regards to invasive uh plant species uh guidelines this was brought up by a resident that had asked particularly in regards to Bamboo um I put together something for review that expanded on it just for the generalization of invasive plants with some specifics in that that's still being reviewed uh tree replacement percentage right now you do not have to replace any tree that is removed as long as you do not uh are not removing 25% or more of that tree coverage I think that we should reduce that down to 20% um so that that way if you're removing 20% of the tree coverage on your property you have to replace it to a certain degree uh Warehouse definitions this was previously brought up last year um I'm not even going to talk about I'm going to separate the definitions from the actual um permitted and prohibited use aspect at minimum it is important that the township has definitions in there particularly when it comes to traffic and uh traffic studies for land use boards because the different types of warehouses have different types of metrics that that uh go into their calculations so a general light industrial being different from a high Cube uh facility being different from um all the other variations and the different sizes uh they have different calculations that are associated with them in regards to the state guidelines uh right now we just have the general warehouse definition so by by that we're kind of limited into what we can actually request out uh so even just by having the definitions available would allow for the boards to make a more educated decision uh and I said I was going to separate out warehousing from the actual zoning the definitions from the zoning the last one the LI zoning along middle section Greenway I think that there are certain industrial areas in the township that are not industrial parks that the zoning of light industrial is not appropriate The Greenway light industrial area is the prime example because while maybe back in the day when the the railroad was in operation and it made sense to have businesses that Abed the the railroad that railroad is now no longer there is now used for a pedestrian walkway um so I think that we should modify the zoning there to I call it a trans transition zone to allow instead of warehousing maybe you allow for residential there also when you look at potential COA obligations this could be an opportunity to uh spec out larger sized lots and when I say larger I mean something that's like 1 to three acres that would allow for those opportunities to to occur which to me makes sense because you can pardon the phrase called two birds with one stone you can reduce the actual light industrial footprint and you can assist in meeting the the co-a obligations that um the township is going to have to consider so with that that would be it thank you council president thank you councilman poter uh Council vice president yes um first question is update on the Fon house uh Council Vice President we are not um having any work done in the interm um can you tell me anything more I know that there's in the interim of what uh right now in the foreseeable future we're not doing any work in in at the Fon house um I guess I I guess I need is will there will there be work resuming Council vice president if I may um if if the uh business administrator is advising you um the way that she is it's because legals advised her and I'm assuming this conversations with Mr renon uh that we have that there is a limited amount of information that can be discussed regarding foron house in a public forum um however I can suggest that you you speak with her offline rather than in the uh at the public meeting okay okay yeah all right that's fine um the next issue was oh I had asked about the C I had gotten a question from the resident about the cost breakdown for devali how much came to came off the taxpayers and how much was donated and Sonia was kind enough to give me the breakdown so and answer to that question the expense the total expense were 131,000 and change um we received a revenue of 26,7 and then donations amounted to 71,9 so the total cost to the township was $32,365 188 so thank you for providing that sure and and just also um so because the events are close to one another I'm talking about dwali winter wonderland a lot of the costs are shared for those two events so that we don't have to go back out and put lights up for example um but uh it is my understanding from um the administration team that there's additional donations that would be made so um we're hoping that it would be u e either an even or you know okay very very minimal cost of the township very good and so um I had also gotten a question about for such big events as deali or for the winter wonderland um are there Emer in case of emergency are there emergency evacuation plans that are made for anything that anything catastrophic yes our Public Safety team they have uh orders that they submit to their personnel for those big events we have weekly meetings for the Lo those large events so that operationally with all within all of the Departments there are plans set in stone that um if you know something were to happen or any situation um we were all to be prepared for that okay all right good to know and lastly uh the Sunday blue laws is a moot point because I this was I put that in before I knew that that was coming up as a as an ordinance so um no need to address that uh the last was the resident complaint um a glaring lights on Parker Road and he had Pro he had provided some pictures of that um and so can there be anything done about this situation on Parker Road Council vice president I've been working with the zoning officers on on enforcement uh and the proper way to go about that uh I know that they brought up uh certain enforcement mechanisms that they can app uh that they can use for light uh trespass especially in light of the ordinance uh that the council just passed uh adjusting some of those so uh if there is a resident complaint U if it's forwarded to zoning uh that department is is the one that would address that so they need to to forward their complaint to zoning yeah yeah the Mr aot uh would be the one to to bring that to him and Mr Johnson have been doing a very good job of enforcing the zoning ordinances uh such as the light trespass ordinance okay if there needs to be covers put on or or some other adjustment to angles they can enforce that there okay all right very good um G sen TI sir and and um just because I won't be here for the the meeting on the 2 I want to wish everybody a very Happy Thanksgiving thank you that'll be all thank you uh I'll move on to council mcoy thank you council president the economic development uh position I know we discussed it before um I truly believe hiring a consultant to do some of the work that needs to be done in town is is vital we have the money in our budget I I don't know if we um agree but time and time again I have to sit here and listen to the few members who come and have a position in in in CLA Barton or another part of Town who say we need certain things to be done but we don't talk about the marketing of what we need and downtowns are becoming service areas and there'll be no specialty stores and soon things will deteriorate you're going to watch it happen so where you thought you Sav six feet on a building and it changed the world it didn't change a thing and it really didn't you listen to a lot of nonsense and the true stuff that has to happen is marketing for vacant stores throughout this town to fulfill them with opportunities there are a lot of franchises out there that are looking to move to Edison we have to identify them and at least do that so to council president just I'd like to see something happen councilman Coyle um I will um send your request including uh Council presidents to the mayor with the regard to the direction whether um we put the ad out again or if we go through Professional Services yeah I mean and it can be broken down into multiple services and I'm not saying what I believe is the only thing but it's certainly a criteria that needs to happen in town whether it's off a Inman off a planfield off a steamville Parkway off a town Ridge we have an empty bank on town Ridge that's been empty the old BCB Banks been just sitting there and um as some people know we have um cane what's it called cane chicken this new uh company that's coming in ra Raising Cane thank you Raising Cane is coming to town on um route one so I mean uh this is pivotal it's truly pivotal and as I listen to the nonsense about six more feet and I'll call it nonsense because again this Council sometimes will listen to a few that think they know about economics they have they have the right to to speak but you're going to fail when we don't fill stores and they become Services that's where you're going to fail so you think you save this giant opportunity for six feet okay and a few of you have a motive you're going to fail on service and it's going to just fall over us um sad so I I'm G to ask every meeting I hope we can find some money for Consulting and uh it could be one of the five areas of Consulting but certainly recruiting franchises for the vacant stores and doing an analysis of all the vacant retail locations we have so I hope I find the support of this Council I know you may find it uh may not be happy with how I speak about some people who come to this dayis um and I understand you have your right but at least agree the fact that we need to fill retail stores so um I'll segre on finance because it's just a small thing I want to just discuss when we talk about spending money on different things and whether we stop spending on stuff and as I do appreciate my Council vice president I've had some experience with spending money on these properties that are sitting in the middle of nowhere on um acreage that we um you know put in we purchased and the homes sit they get vandalized it's a waste of money to save the fronte house just knock it down it's going to be a fact that will be vandalized no one's going to use it we had one before that was vandalized nobody used it some people may remember on the council so as we look at ways to finance um and how we're using the open space money open space money is for Passive Recreation we can use and build something that would fit a park light setting that will be either a pavilion or something different every time I'm listening about the pante pante house pante house it is a terrible investment it's an old home it'll never conform to ADA compliance it'll cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to get it together for people who will slowly vandalize it it's in a middle of nowhere it won't be policed it look at where it is just go back you can't even find it where it is try to pull down that block ask anybody in the audience to just try to find it doesn't know how to find it doesn't know where it is you'll get lost so just something to be uh mindful of I'm only on five minutes here just so you know I'm going to try to keep it to seven opioids I had I talked about opioids before I just to to to the um ba uh through the council president we have funding um wrestling recovery has reached out more than a few times and I'm tired of hearing from them but they and I can't say they know every move to make but they've been approved before they held um an event was successful do we know where they are in receiving their Grant opportunity through the opioids so councilman Coy um clearly their performance and their need is wanted um however we're subject to the New Jersey procurement law um because of the um aggregate of what we're spending on a vendor they are subject to uh disclosure forms for example so our purchasing agent just as um early as yesterday has requested um because of the procurement law we do have to search multiple quotes we at least um what we can get for that kind of service um we do have to follow that order um and if we go ahead and award um or a contract to them um I believe it's a we're at 32,000 based on the events that they would be putting together um looking at the aggregate they're still they still have to provide um certain disclosure forms so we're working through the procurement process okay I okay I didn't know it was 32,000 I thought they were asking for $6,000 to do an event I'm sorry there there's three events in total okay I did not know that okay it could could could you send me the email what we're looking for from them sure just you know what the I know just specifically what they have to well just from on the township side we have to get multiple quotes um so that's on us um otherwise it's just um just some common purchasing forms but I can certainly send they're missing documents just if you can tell me what they are or send it to the clerk that's all okay I'm fine thank you council president thank counc m co Council M Brer uh you know what the paving I'm not going to go through today um I did get the the sheets for the Ia for the paving um I'll be looking at over probably for the next couple months I guess driving around uh public Advocate did did we come to a uh consensus on what we were going to put forward uh Council vice president yes I think we were going to put forward uh councilman pointers or the proposed ordinance the one that that we had drafted for the last meeting okay uh flooding issues well that was mckenley we dealt with that earlier today um campaign donations and not filing I'll come back to that at the next meeting uh the cost of the burglar signs is that correct was that the $10,000 and and what did the sign the burglar sign say this do does anybody recall and who decided to put that up so uh with regard to the signage um that took um for the couple weeks that was um through the administration okay and they decided to put up a sign that said burglars go to jail right what did it say I don't have the right the verbiage on me okay well let me ask you a question before that new law was passed did burglar go to jail or or chief did you just write them a ticket and send them on their way so sign a campaign obviously because of the passing of the the new crime bill is a law enforcement tool to help us combat the home invasions car burglaries and burglaries at all so uh it simply is put out throughout the town because the as you know the governor signed the bill here and uh those that would enter the town and want to commit crimes were alerted by the signs up and I think obviously it was very effective because I do have the stats um and with our team out there uh there's the crime has definitely gone down tremendously all right Chief I got to be honest with you I I don't believe that right that's that's that's your opinion that's fine sure lever you want you don't give me the STA stcs give me the statistics for the last three years Chief can you get that for me sure thank you yeah you're welcome I can't seem to get that but now as long as I have you here right you have stated that there were threats on the mayor and that's why you give him security uh my question to you is how come you can't solve the threats question sure I can't say that I can't solve it because we do solve about 76% of the crimes that occur in Edison Township but the on directly to the mayor and other elected officials and um officers and employees throughout here there are ongoing investigations regarding that yes okay so so wait Chief I I didn't ask about other employees okay I didn't ask about other people I well I volunteered that councilman it's fine yes well I'm you know it's kind of hard when I ask you a question you give me a different answer right no I answered you answer question slick so let me ask you a question how come you cannot how come you cannot not solve the threats that are against our mayor well I can't say that we can't solve them or we won't solve them I telling you there's ongoing investigations okay you know some of some of these threats councilman come from all over the United States because what happens here with the videos that are put up as we discussed offline across the country people see this and then what of course they do is call and make threats against the mayor the mayor's staff myself my staff so sure okay so so where I'm going with that is I know that in our schools we had a credible threat to a student okay your department was able to contact Google okay track the perpetrator down or or the the incident they were able to go through the dark web and all that kind of stuff and go and actually catch that person right so where I'm going here is when you're talking about stuff on the internet and all of this right you're not going to Google you're not getting that person you're not going to prosecute that person I haven't seen anything that said You' prosecuted anybody or have any charges against anybody so what I'm saying here Chief is I believe what you're saying here is BS that's a statement that's not a question to you that's a stat my point I'm not going to discuss police strategies councilman well plain and simple so I don't know where your expertise is in law enforcement but I respect I respect opinion so that's why I'm not going to discuss it any further with you all right so what I'm going to do is I'm going to go through your entire strategy at my next meeting council president please this is my time my next question I have is I believe you authorize the stealing of time which is the same thing that we are Prosecuting other officers for I offer myself as a witness coun if you listen to me you're accusing me of a crime then I advise you to go to the prosecutor's office or the Attorney General's office if you're accusing me commit crime compose yourself everybody can we get a do I need to get a recess here or conduct ourselves in a better man to yell need to accuse people of anything you can take this offline if you really need to do something council president I just have a statement okay and it's very very simple there is no difference and I wasn't yelling he is talking over me he interrupted me you should have hit that gavl on the Chief Sir that's council president so let me just explain okay our chief and our mayor in my mind stole from the public the four officers that are being charged president I'm not going to sit here and tolerate I'm not tolerate this for he making a complaint against myself he's making complaint let him go to the and make the complaint motion to recess can I have a second second uh take a five minute recess we'll be back in e e e e e for