##VIDEO ID:upBBdUmbzqI## e e e e e e e e e e e think I taste that was nice I did that before just okay yeah she's okay too right they have a bus that was extra you wouldn't [Music] pay actually I we ended up taking the bus when it started rain really let me tell you something she's dropped she has dropped and I'm like three four weeks to go yeah that was Cher that's what that's what his baby was good four weeks early he didn't think you come up here and call us all calling the work session of Monday September 23rd to order uh please stand for pledge allegiance I PL allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty Justice for All Madam clerk roll call please council member brusher here council member coil here council member Harris here council member Patel here council member ptil here council member poiner pres council member schmuel here all right uh Madam clerk please read the adequate notice adequate notice of this meeting as required by the open public meeting Act of 1975 has been provided by nanon New Tribune SC Ledger Desi talk in news India times on December 12th 20 23 and posted M Lobby of missell complex on that same date all right moving on to number four oral petitions and remark uh starting from the list uh Ralph Bui Ralph uh name and address please Ral BCI Central Avenue you're recognized thank you good evening good evening everyone Ral if you don't mind please speak closer to the mic so we can hear you you hear me much better I'm good yes all right I'd appreciate if somebody give me a heads up if I get down on one minute and I'm still speaking sure council president I've lived in this one Party Town a long time and one thing I've learned over the years is that elections have consequences everyone can see what's been going on since the last election whining about it doesn't help it is what it is you deal with it which is exactly what brings me here tonight you see council president on August 27th I wrote an email to all council members about you since I was writing about you I copied you so you would be aware of what I was saying I also sent the email to the clerk because when I communicate with the councel I sent it to the clerk and asked that to be accepted as an official communication it didn't find its way into Communications and the agenda what a record council president I understand and respect that it's your responsibility to set the council agenda but that responsibility comes with some obligations too you see council president I don't have a problem if you disagree with me I don't have a problem if you don't do it I say I don't have a problem even if you don't like what I have to say but I do have a problem if you block what I have to say you know I'm a resident and I'm a taxpayer I have every right to comment on and be heard on whatever goes on in his Chambers so since you didn't do it it I'm going to do it myself I'm going to read what I wrote Into the record in that email like I said it's an email date of August 27th this to all council members coping the council president and the reason is follows dear council members after last night's disturbing action by council president Patel to remove former Council membership Freeman from the meeting I request that you make him step aside and someone else fill the role Mr Patel last night and consistently has demonstrated his disdain for the public and clearly you must see how condescending and detrimental he is when dealing with the public clearly he doesn't know at a runal controller meeting since there was a better way to handle his situation last night but Mr Patel apparently can't see past his own inability to run a meeting with a self-serving bias is this concerning meanor the meaner is nothing more than an attempt to block any kind of transparency or ability to have differing opinions heard it's one thing for the mayor to have enough council members supporting him to control the meetings and the boote but it's quite another to consistently treat the public with such disdain disregard and disrespect leaving him in that position will only make all of you part of the mockery he's turned the council chambers into now forget your political affiliation alliances and do something about it for the people you're supposed to be representing sign Ral finally adding that oh jeez I don't know how to describe it that little Justified ordinance reducing public comments to four minutes and eliminating rebuttals just further reiterates what I already asked and you step aside as council president and finally little bit of unsolicited advice be more patient with seniors who come to this microphone and let have get Krystal okay same thing with him there's something called freedom of speech thank you thank you Ralph uh Joel bassoff Joel bass off 17 Beach Lane are you recognized okay so the mayor's Administration is still censoring a video of Township council meeting at the March 11th work session councilman brusher called for pay-to-play investigation into an overpriced contract for a new Township website the administration removed the video of that meeting from the Edison TV archive and from the YouTube channel now the business administrator and the council president tell the public that a dis with that meeting would be provided upon request but how many residents would know to request the video uh if people typically if they want to see what's transpired they go to the Edison TV website or the YouTube channel so the question is why continue to keep that meeting off the township websites and is it really to spare the mayor from embarrassment and speaking of websites and payto playay the Board of Education recently uh unveiled its new website when will the township get its new website and why is the township paying over three times as much as the Board of Education paid for new website design and speaking of censorship at a previous meeting the council president had a member of the public ejected from wearing a mask at this Podium so here are the questions what's the legal Authority for objecting a public speaker or wearing a mask uh is it up to the whim of the presiding officer or is there a statute or case law that supports that kind of restriction on freedom of speech and is the president of the council opening up the township to Legal liability I've asked offline and I'm still waiting for answers I've also been waiting for an answer on whether when Edison is going to have a 21st century zoning ordinance that distinguishes high volume distribution and fulfillment centers from low volume warehouses I keep getting the non-answer that the council's working on it so the question is what's holding everyone up and does everyone on the council understand that the law protects structures that are made non-conforming by a new zoning ordinance does everyone understand that the new definitions would be forward-looking only and that it would not require the uh the dismantling of any existing um uh F uh fulfillment or distribution centers and now regarding the ordinance that would cut the public speaking Time by 33% the public sees through this this has nothing to do with making meetings shorter or more efficient this is about reducing the amount of criticisms of the mayor and the administration that make it on to the public record uh no one from the public has come to these meetings and asked for shorter speaking times so does this ordinance represent the needs of the public or or is this about the whim of the mayor and why isn't the council following its own statutory procedure uh Municipal Code section 22.17 says that the council has to appoint a special committee to review proposed changes to rules of the council so why hasn't the council done that and if you were told that a prior Council can't bind a future Council well that's wrong ordinances remain in effect until they're repealed uh you can still amend the code you just have to follow the procedure that's in the code and if that section 2- 2.17 requiring the appointment of a committee is invalid why did the lawyers leave it in when they revamped the code book in 2007 so okay um I'll wait for answers okay uh the video I believe we answered last time which is that is not really up to the council but you're more than welcome to voice your concerns we have and they have heard your uh concerns but unfortunately it's up to the administrations to put it up as I have previously mentioned it is available online on YouTube and I will also reiterate The Strand effect which is you know if this is the way to hide it this is the worst way as we have talked about it more and more uh but we can continue off on that the website uh Sonia uh just to understand actually the question rather this or if it's a statement you'd advised about the pay to play and website so we followed all of the procurement laws that guide us through the bidding process and so we went through that and this was done through a competitive contract and do you have a timeline as to when it should be up so we had actually a transferring of content on the back end last week so hopefully in the next couple weeks but I will get you the correct timeline by Wednesday thank you uh in terms of censorship uh I was advised legally not to answer based on what was intended would you like to answer that legal regarding masks regarding the mask so the requirements to address the council require um that the speaker be recognized the ordinance itself actually calls for the speaker to identify themselves by name and address uh the wearing of a costumed mask um impairs the ability of the council a to hear and understand the speaker B conceals the identity of the speaker um if you'd like additional legal support for that I'm happy to do the research uh and bring it in so that I'm not um half guessing at the appropriate citations that you looking for um the enforcement of that by the chair uh is appropriate uh and also would you mind answering the question on the warehouses I it is something that I have requested and I was told by legal that is not effective to what we're intending so I wasn't involved personally in the drafting of that I'll have to go and and talk to who you you spoke with about it to see what the actual issue was I think the last time that it came up uh was it you Mr pointer uh who said that you're still working with with on that someone else from the office so that we can try and get it done in a way that won't be immediately challenged and shot down not necessarily but I'll yeah that it's it needs to be it is something that we working on to figure out how to make it effective and get that uh to the council uh in terms of the timing uh the special committee if we did review councilman pointer did point it out to me that back in when they did uh pass the change from six 4 minutes to 6 minutes in 2010 it was gone through special committee legal advice me that it's not necessary but if that is what the township did I am willing to follow that advisement but again yeah so the the inclusion in the code is not necessarily enforcable um what essentially that does is it allows one governing body uh to restrict the ability of a future governing body of the same municipality to actually enforce its legislative powers however it's perfectly acceptable for uh the the the chair to assign someone to that to voluntarily participate in that um as a matter of protocol sounds good uh thank you Joel council president just getting back to the masks issue Joel brought up exactly what I have as one of my items on Council discussion and am I to understand correctly that you did not bring any legal anything legal written about the wearing of masks because uh I have that on my Council comments that way we can hold it off till the discussion item so we can have a longer discussion on it sure thank you uh council president yes can I just address uh the item for 2-2 17 in regards to the committee I would just ask my colleagues that supported the public Advocate ordinance last year when they violated 2- 2.11 subsection a all ordinances and resolutions shall be drafted by the township attorney upon request of the council or mayor so president has shown that this body does not follow its own guidelines thank you council president thank you councilman pointer council president I just want to make as a process you can just yeah Council comment so when resident is on the DI and asking some question I would request attorney to respond to the resident not having the dialogue between you and attorney itself because I feel that's an offense to the the speaker the second thing is I will ask attorney to respect this Di and call a councilman of the councilman rather than by the name thank you sir okay counc president Council I just want a quick brief comment if there's been something that said by this Council on March 17th that was redacted and the video is not shown I'd imagine that council person could speak on that today uh it would be relevant whether it was said then or said now would be the same so if the speaker is discussing that I'm sure Mr Brasher can bring that up today if he chooses to on any transparency of the website and pay to play if that was the subject I just wanted to bring that to the attention of the council president thank you all right thank you counc m coil uh moving on to Bruce sits have aop good evening everybody um just a comment some of the speakers are hard to hear and even up on the day is here if you could speak closer to the mic okay you know some of the people are going like this uh I'm not going to rehash a number of things that we've done over did we get your name and address I'm sorry oh Bruce Heights 88 Park H you're recognized thank you okay thank you um I don't want to rehash some of the things that have been ongoing and ongoing for many months so I just want to speak about two key things right now um I met with Joel yesterday and we discussed some of the things going on in the town you know we might call ourselves Advocates or concerned citizens of Edison or whatever branding or title you want to give us but um we discussed this issue with the committee and everything I deal a lot lot in business with the FDA and the FTC and you got regulations coming out of your ears I think Nish knows this all right so sometimes um and I'm going to do two things uh because I'm going to jump to my second part and talk about this ordinance uh cutting 6 minutes to four minutes and how absurd it is but um the point I wanted to make in terms of the go back and forth and what the ery said and Joel said is sometimes you have to let Common Sense override what certain regulations are that don't have to be enforced so I think with this one-third cut in the public speaking restriction on your freedom of speech with everything that's going on in the country today I think that the council should take a very serious look I don't want to go ahead of myself and I want to stay focused so unaccustomed I'm going to read maybe two minutes of my thoughts so I stick to the subject okay now um I hand it out before you know I'm all a I'm chairman of the cable committee okay I handle the optiman side I have not been involved with the um Comcast part of it although I've dealt with Comcast and infinity in Florida as I have a down there but when I was asked when I asked about getting involved with Comcast and the negotiations Richie knows we talked to Verizon several years AG they didn't want to come in because of the cost and the infrastructure so uh when I said let me get involved with Comcast I was told I'm not a Township employee and you stick with Optimum we'll stick with Comcast okay I won't comment anymore except to say that I hope that the problems that we have resolved with Optimum over the past two years do not occur with Comcast and what I hear from the mayor's office it seems to be going fairly smoothly uh but I've been working with Aisha Howard who is the uh director she replaced Marilyn many of you know and some of you even complimented so I you each have this three page I don't want to go into today but for the past month I've been working with Optimum this is a three quarter report of what they've done what they've doing contributions they made to the town I would like to just introduce this in the public record we could speak about it at a later meeting but I do request that this be posted on the Edison website it wasn't done when I had a similar report done in March okay a lot of work went into this and you know John you know a lot what's going on with this stuff okay I had to go through legal and Regulatory and Regulatory and Le them back and forth to get this two and 1 half page thing done so please read it and let's give Optimum a fast shot and the good the bottom line is that we have competition in the town now with two table companies and also as I said in the previous meeting uh now that dish TV doesn't have the dish a lot more people are looking at that so there are three options okay how much time do I have left a minute two minutes okay two minutes okay so I'm just GNA read this then okay uh I'm going to keep this short and talk about the council enacting this reduction in time for residents to speak which is showing total disrespect and disregard okay and passing this insulting and ridiculous 4minute time limit and restricting our speed of of free uh freedom of speech the reduction in time from 6 to 4 minutes again is not good is there a significant Savings of time if you have only 10 people I mean a show up at these meetings is the disinterest and the um the lack of interest is is just amazing in a Township of this size but um if you have 10 speak 10 people speak and you cut them short by two by two minutes each that's 20 minutes you guys go back and forth more than 20 minutes okay so again Common Sense over you know something like this um nobody else has time restrictions okay those of you that vote Yes on this uh you know I don't want to be insulting but are you afraid and insecure that you don't want the people to have a full amount of time to speak okay um in closing if you have respect and concern for the people that voted for you you should vote no it's bad enough about half the time the residents ask questions they don't get answers right away or at a later date and again just if we had a slogan do the right thing and let the people speak so thank you and um I hope Common Sense prevails and I know some of you um are undecided right now but please make the right time is up thank you Nick Fagan I don't like standing on the seal uh name and address please uh Nick Fagan 42 Edwood you're recognized uh good evening Council I apologize for my dress tonight but I have baseball practice tonight for the kids and and I had but I had to make a detour to come down to speak as a concerned citizen um to speak out against the proposal to reduce the time allocated for public comment during Council meetings public comment is one of the most fundamental and meaningful aspects of our Democratic process it is not only a right but a responsibility of the residents to participate in decisions that affect our community reducing the time available for public input diminishes our ability to engage thoughtfully raise concerns and provide feedback on matters of importance to our Township we as residents come from different walks of life with varying schedules and obligations and this is often the only Forum where we can voice our opinions directly to those who make decisions on our behalf restricting this opportunity even by a few minutes will send a message that council is less interested in hearing from the people it serves I understand that time management is important but not at the expense of public engagement moreover reducing public comment May time May inadvertently silence some of the most vulnerable members of our community individuals who may not have other avenues to express their concerns or bring critical issues to light whether we're discussing local development cannabis Public Safety safety or social services in town we need to make a space for all voices to be heard further other public boards around town look to your leadership on this issue for example Zoning Board of adjustment has now a six-minute limit because of council's long-standing minute limit it is also worth noting that public comment is not just about venting or opposition it's a source of value input the feedback you receive here can enhance your decision making provide fresh perspective and Foster greater trust between the council and the residents limiting this process only risks widening the gap between elect our elected officials and the community I ask the council to reconsider this proposal and preserve the full time allotted for public comment at 6 minutes our community is stronger when all voices are heard and our decisions are better when they are made with input from everyone kudos to council members Harris brusher and patile for their prior pledge to vote against reducing resident engagement the appreciate the residents appreciate your support thank you for your time and listening to this concern of your constituent I urge you to vote against this measure and ensure that public engagement remains a priority in our Township ship thank you thank you Nick Bonnie black uh name and address please good evening Bonnie black 28 Remington Drive you're recognized I have a question for you I'm I'm a resident here I I first moved to Edison in 1968 and I've been aware of the um the site on Oak Tree Road Air Products and chemicals and that it was contaminated but I recently noticed that there was a fence around the property with that green tarp and I was wondering what's happening there what what is the location of this I I printed out the contaminated sites in Edison uh 1680 Oak Tree Road U now I have the one from May 2013 and it's still on the contaminated list so I I'm just wondering has that site been taken care of remediated and any way does anyone know I'm waiting for a response from the EPA okay I wish I had had it by the time I got here tonight but what's happening on that site that's what I'd like to know if anybody can answer that question and if it's safe son would you happen to know what is uh on 1680 Oak Tree Road and if it is uh deemed safe council president let me let me just get back to you council president and talk to Mr Bell if this sounds familiar okay uh yes councilman I just I don't know the fence is there but is it a silt fence is it that we that helps a dirt is it a black I took it driving by okay you have to give it to the clerk only because I inbody okay counc I'll yield my time council president thank you council president if you want me to comment on that uh councilman P do you yes this property yes you're right it was contaminated but to my knowledge this was remediated back in 2020 or 2019 that's what the last reports were submitted there was a Redevelopment plan that was submitted on that property is there any documentation that you have that I can get a hold of and absolutely okay when who do I see where do I go I think engineering department or the planning department should have that approval plan planning department yep one sec I think Sonia has an update she might be able to get that yes um so according to Mr bnell uh there was a Redevelopment plan in 2016 that was approved but it's been since it's been 8 years it's uh no longer good so um right now it's just covered there's no no activity okay so the question is why is it no longer good is it because it's you say it's not contaminated it's been remediated years but the fence around it is there because uh if you don't mind uh Hank if he can I think he's the most knowledgeable person he might be able to answer for us yeah to answer your question I believe it received the site plan approval in 2016 and it's had its extensions that was what eight years ago so I think that has expired um it was a mall with I guess adult housing on a second level approved by the planning board um but I'm not sure the status of that approval right now as far as the contamination they'd have to I think as a conditional approval clean up the site because you can't have residential housing on a contaminated piece of property so is it so that would be part of their approval to clean it all up what it stands now with the owner I have no idea I I could check for you and get back to but as of right now is not remediated it is still considered contaminated I I can't tell you definitely I don't think it is but it if it is contaminated it has to be remed remediated same thing up on on on IM and Avenue it's the same type of situation okay all right thank you yes you can go on their website and you can see and they have um it tells you just shows you different layers if you put the Block in lot there goo yeah I don't think they've up I don't think they've remediated it yet but it's part of their process okay when they get an approval and they working on their approval because they've been back to ask about it lately okay okay oh you talking about okay have any time left this concern okay so I went to pick up the leaf bags today and uh I I knew where to go because I read it in the calendar I love the calendar uh the problem was that the sign faces this way so when I'm coming this way I don't see the sign so it was the next driveway over so it it's a little deceiving so what I did was I just walked around all of the the Department of Public Works walked all the way to the back all through the buildings trying to find somebody who can tell me where to go for Leaf Bags there was nobody there except one person who was washing a truck one minute so those buildings were wide open anybody could walk through and just might be a little concerning you know for security purposes and um the the last thing I wanted to say was leaves are falling uh down already a lot and I'm starting to accumulate bags and I know it's not going to the Edison's not taking the bags until October 21st so there's no way to change that now right but maybe in the future with the weather patterns you can I know it's already in the calendar before that but if there's any way to collect bags early or bring bags somewhere because I have almost 200 bags eggs that I do a year oh wow okay so okay uh we will put that into the note of consideration all right thank you thank you okay uh Joy Freeman evening jury ship Freeman Main Street Edison New Jersey you were recognized good um starting off talking about the four minute want to cut down to four minutes um I myself would like to apologize to this town for giving the raises out for going along with the raises for a self-serving Council I can't believe that almost $140,000 but you don't have time to listen how it's money people are paying for you to City here and you don't want to sit two minutes more and you sit here amongst each other and just spend time and time again talking about unnecessary stuff because you don't answer 90% of the questions at all and I always remind everybody over and over again we got the lawyer up here the lawyer almost a million the ba almost a quarter million up here almost 140,000 this amount of money being spent but you want to cut down on people's time that to me is ridiculous and very self self-serving you know very very disappointing and as I and as they were talking about the uh TV about the Addison TV I even during the um 911 ceremony I called over councilman Coyle and had him listen to a bunch of uh senior citizens the ones that are being disrespected the most that have been here for like forever but I don't know when I was raised people respected senior citizens you know it's a new age thing at all I guess everybody you know different people I'm not talking to the grown-ups in the room I'm talking to the people who got the 13th trophy for participating that's the people I'm talking to and also there is a um a great amount of trucks up there by Oar and up there by the stop uh stopping shop I would like somebody to give me the information on how that area is zoned for those gas trucks because I know for a fact one truck caught on fire on Route One and I was 45 minutes late for an appointment and I live around the corner from Woodbridge Avenue okay and the normal appointment I would go to it takes me 12 minutes to get to so I don't know how we have these tons and tons of trucks sitting over here when one truck caused such a a big outburst all right and I do remember the mayor before before he got elected mayor I do remember him up on Oak Road with Jim aot screaming and screaming about the trucks that were not zoned up there screaming and screaming I guess it depends on where you live how you have to live all right then I I also read the old information about the tree fund and the sidewalk fund and I seen a lot of people complaining about the sidewalks do the town fix it or don't they fix it or how's it going but this was all said that the tree fund and the sidewalk fund has not been thoroughly used so we got a whole chunk of money sitting somewhere I don't I don't know where but it's for that and number four somebody uh one of the seniors told me me that the lawyer shouldn't be saying your time is up if the council president is doing his position properly he should be the one telling them another thing they told me also um I did well it was told to me too while I was at a political event they said I can't believe you fought for people's civil rights civil rights you fought during the 60 forum and they couldn't wait to to throw you out of a meeting you know that's like all over the place every place I go everybody's asking me what what was said what was said CU they thought I said something salacious something crazy or whatever because they never heard the word warning or any of that they was like how did you get thrown out the room I said well some people are self-serving some people are condescending some people don't want you to speak at all no matter how much money they make no matter what I guess their insecurities about their ability to govern has a problem and last but not Le somebody sent me from another town because they want to know because they said they want to know how they can get one they want to know what's the $100,000 Rubicon Jeep being used for that you have in your town they said they would like to know so they could get one thank you just please answer that question if you don't mind repeating the question they want to know why you pay purchase and what is it being used for the $100,000 Rubicon Jeep uh Sonia what was previously listed was a DP Wrangler and that was uh about 55,000 and that was used for water and sewer to go through the um some of the terrain that we've had issues with where one of our trucks actually caught on fire so for safety reasons and purposes of the unknown uh the G BR was before Council and approved thank you Sonia council president Council pressure yes with these um with these trucks that that are parked there um I I kind of I don't know how they showed up there um my Council colleague just showed me a photo and what I remember that area was it it it had trees can we find out who the owner of that property is and then maybe can we get can Sonia find out did they take out tree I swear there were trees not bushes but I they were trees there so it looks like somebody cut down trees and now we're storing like trucks tanker trucks I guess um so if we can just get the address who the owner is and then how they ended up clearing that lot uh this is a question that I also had as to what are they allowed to be there those trucks is that something we can through our ordinance have been removed the president if it's okay I Mr bnal can come up yes thank you right I know you know the history of probably all of this it's come across I'm getting my steps in early tonight um the property um is being used for truck uh I guess a terminal uh Depot without site plan approval when we issued the summonses uh the court in town and ruled that they use the wrong section so recently we went back and we picked out every section that they were in violation of with the help of our Township attorney and they've been given a notice of violation so once we give that 30 days they're going to wind up back in court and at that point the town can decide whether they want to do it municipally or they want to go to New Brunswick and have a order to show cause that stop the operation without a site plan approval and do you remember uh about do you know anything about like maybe trees removed there or oh yeah we we we showed that to the court it's part of our did sure the trees were cut down they put in stone they did a lot of things that they shouldn't have done without side plan approval okay and if you go on the property I've been there the where they filled it it slopes off you can probably lose a truck down into the hotel the old holiday in from the old days I don't even remember it was a holiday in because I used to work there when I was 17 18 years old so it's been there a long time but that's and it's it's what they call qualifier lot so all those properties are basically on one deed would qualify Lots like a homeowners association so there's some issues and that's also the property that received approval as Redevelopment for assisted living the higher rise assisted living and so the council knows there's been a gentleman in recently that says he's under contract to buy it to build the Assisted Living so hopefully soon these trucks will go away and they'll be moving on with some future development okay but that's where it stands now so we've issued violations correctly by whatever code we have we've well no we've issued the notice of violation because we have to do that first we have to get them off opportunity to upate their violation and if they don't then we will issue the new summonses with the proper we didn't we didn't we weren't particular in the in the exact number so the court was was thrown out in court this time we'll be particular in the exact sections of the ordinance that they violate and what how long's that process take I I mean to get to the point issue issuing like a violation yeah no it took a long time to get to the court and then it took like several months to get a decision and then it's we've been we've been chasing our tail a little bit with this one uh Hank I had a question if they cut down the trees what kind of uh fines are they looking for we have to we have to those are those are the same violations that we'll we'll site them for they have to pay the um they have to figure out how many how many trees they cut down what size uh how many trees they replaced they get paid into the tree fund it's a whole process and okay it happens all over town by the way so we've been chasing people all over the place so okay thank you Hank Hank oh sorry yes I know a little bit about this case and I some residents complained of the list of things you have on your plate is this a priority is this an imminent Hazard what what I mean I from what I understand there's 29,000 gallon guess yeah I don't know about the the the Hazardous part of it I I know dp's been called they've been on the property to see U my concern is that they don't have an approval to do what they're doing and that that that flies fac in the you know opposition to the our zoning ordinance that's what makes me kind of like nuts and crazy over it but like I said we just met with the township attorneys again to make sure so we're on top of it we're going as fast as we can from a legal step by-step point of view we're not going to make any mistakes with this step byep are they are they operating today or is there stop work oh yeah I about today there were there's still all kinds of stuff going on there I I believe they were allowed to park a few trucks way back when when it was a hotel truckers could park there and use the hotel for the night they'd come off the road um but that's evolved into something that's completely uh yeah you know without approval residents who've complained to be never seen anything like it usually that is down in the lyen area gasoline trucks like that are down somewhere deep in the r Center on the waterfront I agree with you okay just curious um of our list of priorities I'm just I'm assuming the residents and the hotel owner and their future P across the street we've also there other piece of proper that they were fil they're using as a storage yard without approval what they don't realize is that that that land up is very probably very very very valuable for development so they're not going to lose anything but they're at the same time they're doing it what they're doing now illegally counc thank you council president thank you councilman Co thank you Hank Council rusher so so I understand the let's say the legal aspect and and the planning part of this um and that's being taken care of but my Council colleague spoke about like the hazard part of it that wouldn't be Hank that would check into that who checks into the Hazardous type of um things that happen around the town is that the the fire department think if somebody brought a truck of uranium and they parked it right who looks at that that that from experience been DP so we make a report to DP at any point um so legal would you like to answer this so it depends on the nature of the on the nature of the hazard um if you're talking about potential fire hazard from parked gasoline tankers then you would have the fire department do the inspection uh have the fire inspector go out to the property and make sure that there's no chance of fire or danger that way if you're worried about environmental contamination uh that would be the D that would have to be called in if you're worried about the tanker leaking or the the vehicles contaminating the soil if you're worried about um you know Property Maintenance that's the health department uh so it depends on the nature of the hazard that you're looking at can you send out people from multiple departments to check within their areas of expertise certainly um and that's one way to go about it to make sure that the the residents are ensured their safety um but as Mr bignell said we are uh working diligently to remedy the situation um in the appropriate legal manner at least from our end the inspections would have to come from uh the administration well I mean just because because since this was brought up right and let's just say that there's fumes of which I don't know and they ignite um I don't know I almost think we should have someone from the fire department or office of emergency management at least go there and and and tell you know the business administrator that everything is um at least safe and there are certainly guidelines for that for them to follow if they want to do that inspection and I think it's a wonderful suggestion council president last I just Council mcco yeah my confusion and I got many complaints on this um is how do they operate without a site plan I mean how do we and again I don't need Hank to come back up here but to the administration you know when you get any project in Edison you have to go through a process with our planning board and I just don't know how they can operate without a site plan which the site plan would include drainage parking this is track to trailer parking and the market to have track to trailer parking of gasoline trucks is through the roof in and finding space uh people are begging to find a location let Lo a location that's right at the tip of 287 where 880,000 cars pass a day uh and near you know a catering hall and near a hotel so it's just how we don't aren't able to stop them till they get proper approval they can get a site plan they get a site plan if they get approval they get approval but there are residents who come to the microphone and use certain words in the vocabulary and this definitely would match that in their vocabulary of this can be a very big explosion thank you council president thank you Council MCO and I believe there they're operating in violation so hopefully we can correct that down the road now in terms of uh the decorum of the council uh if you are not adhering to the rules of the Council of this chamber uh you will be kicked out and that's the only reason we are all here to hear each other and if you are preventing that from happening that is the only reason you will be kicked out now moving on um the list is done anybody else that would like to speak in the back Anthony Damron uh 25 Wy uh council president first you are recognized y thank you um I'd like to thank the uh the chief and the PD uh for the increase in Patrol in the CLA you know my side of Clare Barton which is the Ford side I've noticed them out there um quite frankly uh I work outside late usually and they've been driving by and I could probably speak for many of my neighbors when I say thank you um we feel a lot safer just considering what's been going on in that area lately so just the increase uh it's been noticeable and uh I appreciate it number one so thank you um also I want to thank the uh DPW um I meant to get to this a while ago but um they've done an incredible job over at D Dash Park um they worked their asses off they have um I saw them out there late summer hitting golf balls while I'm hitting balls so they were uh they were really doing uh putting that fence up and um I've been advocating to clean that Park up for a while and it's uh they did a great job so um thank them as well um as far as the the minutes and decreasing them to me you know listen you could move it to 3 minutes you could even up it if you wanted to without any back and forth open open discussion open dialogue and getting rid of the you know the the communication interpersonal communication the back and forth as you would um to me that's what's important that's how you work things out that's how you debate that's how you have healthy conversations um I I you know I don't want to go down the list but there's so many times that that type of process has helped uh this town um on so many different issues um and I think it's important to to me it's the back and forth because what I'm afraid that we're moving towards council president is really getting R public comments Al together what I mean is having a what you'll end up having possibly is people submitting their questions before before the meetings start and giving you a list of questions and you guys you know the council president reading those uh those uh those questions and then answering them because that's basically what you have now is you have coming here with a list of questions you guys you right them down and then the speaker leaving and then addressing them so to me there is no difference so I think the the dialogue and the back and forth is a healthy discussion uh is healthy for for whatever the issue may be um so I I I'd like to see the back and forth also remain not not cut the minutes and on top of that um have a have a opportunity to to have an open discussion because sometimes it's just more than just you know you ask a question um and and and you know you got to dive deeper into it and and you know a question could lead to other questions and and instead of bring the person back up here so to me I'd like to see that um and that's um that's about it so thank you council president thank you Anthony name and address please huh name and address artificial intelligence and address The Matrix am I recognized you recognized thank you um through the chair to Margo and councilman Brer I believe Margo you're they ran around your question before because the last time I wasn't recognized I sat back down but then there's other times I am recognized and they still have the cops remov me it doesn't matter if you guys can hear me or not that that doesn't matter so that that's very nonsense um excuse but so I am going to file my second tour claim and then my third tour claim for the last two incidences um today is probably going to be the fourth and uh Wednesday is probably going to be the fifth so you want to keep keep playing that game we'll keep playing that game council president Patel he's gonna he's putting the careers of police officers at risk every time he has these police officers remove somebody like Joyce ship Freeman they're not turning on their body cameras which leaves them open to an IIA complaint they will be IIA complaint one time on me to officers on Joy ship Freeman and why why would you do that the police officers don't care so we'll just keep doing the Ia complaints I'm going to come back tomorrow I'm going to file the ethics complaint for the police department being the mayor's personal security all the way down to Chicago and um how much time do I have left Marina and a half minutes four and a half minutes you're well aware that this mask is part of my religious clothing and I put put it on is part of my religion um yeah absolutely disgusting what you guys do to me every time um last time I was removed I didn't per do a personal attack on the ba but councilman John pointer likes to call fake point of orders and councilman Nish Patel likes to remove people what was the personal attack I didn't there was absolutely no personal attack so what we have is members of the council that they redefine everything they start redefining words they start redefining reality um I don't have to come here and do councilman Nish Patel's perception of what the law is in here I just have to come in here and do what the the law is in here and that's it um how much time do I have left uh three and a half minutes three and a half minutes I never ate no dogs I never ate no cats okay have you seen like the body warn camera video of the woman in Canton eating the dogs and eating the cat I find that absolutely disgusting um I'm that's why I'm going to vote for Trump um yeah and you guys just keep removing me violating my religious rights and I want to know why why are you so insecure councilman pel is it because the mayor orders you to do it are you going to press them on on what the legal reasoning is for them to remove someone part of their religious clothing the religious freedoms act here in New Jersey I I hope you can Google that how much time do I have left Marina two and a half minutes two and a half minutes I I think your actions have shown that you're very cowardly you don't care for members of the public here in Edison New Jersey you abuse use your power and authority for personal gain and you utilize these Township employees which are the members of the police department to drag out civilians while doing their constitutionally protected activity Joy sh Freeman didn't disrupt the last meeting State vers chuski says she can you can C uh clap you can boo um she made a statement out in the public she wasn't a physical disruption to the meeting and you found your excuse uh this is what abusers and gaslighters like to do they like to show their mus muscle and they like to terrorize you how much time do I have left Marina minute and a half minute and a half but nobody should ever be terrorized here in United States of America especially when they're doing their religious freedom I mean here we have people eating cats and cting we should also uh my time pause this time artificial intelligence if you don't mind you'll have to remove your mask in order to continue I'm loan versus rier Beach you can't mute if you not remove your mask you will be remove to continue speaking it's Absol dis that you can remove artificial intelligence this is going to be my fourth Tor claim I'm going to come back on Wednesday and do my fifth Tor claim okay can you please not grab me come on don't grab me don't push me around don't [Music] push anybody else that would like to speak you can't do it again I'm s I'm sorry good evening name and address please uh Margaret navro 207 Jackson Avenue you're recognized so two things things uh from what I understand you're going to be to taking a vote today on um the revitalization project for Jackson Avenue and uh what I'd like to say is as much as Jackson Avenue is in absolutely D need of some sort of improvement and beautification um a v no to the widening of the street we uh found out about this not because the town had approached uh any of the residents on the street um with a clear plan of what was going to be in the works for the street uh we found out completely by chance uh some time ago and at this point we don't even know if the same plan is in place what is going to be done there's been absolutely no official notice to the residents of the street what is going to be done what the plan is so but I understand that there is a plan to widen the street and um I'd like to um make sure that my protest against this is marked because we're going to have the street isn't already very wide as you know but chunk taking off chunks of the sides of the street is going to bring traffic closer to our front doors it's going to uh I think promote speeding it's going to actually benefit the 18wheeler trucks that go up and down that street at all hours of the day bringing those trucks closer to our homes as it is already we have uh noise level from those trucks and the fact that houses Shake as they go by bringing these house the these trucks closer to our front doors is really not going to be an improvement for our lives um it's going to affect the well-being I think of all the residents and the daily quality of life the street is also heavily used by children going up and down to the middle school there and I don't think that's going to be a very safe issue for the for the traffic to be uh coming you know it's going to improve traffic in the sense it's going to make for more traffic to go be going up and down the street and faster so uh that is an incredible concern um but what is outrageous to me is that nobody on the uh on the street no residents have received any official notice have been asked for any kind of input about this um so we would like to actually know what the plan is before you do the vote please um give me a a second I need to look at my notes and I also feel that widening the street is actually going to promote the traffic of the 18 wheelers rather than improve the lives of the residents there this is going to be our daily um our daily experience if you had in your homes an um a suggestion that you're going to have trucks coming so much closer to your houses I'm sure you wouldn't be happy about that nobody on the street is correction most people aren't I have spoken to my neighbors there was talk about this sort of thing going on last year I think we met with Mr Po poo sorry and um we kind of got a gist of what was going to uh be in you know in the works but we haven't had any kind of confirmation at this point yet so we'd like to know that I think there should be a meeting for the residents where all this is explained and so that you have our feedback also what we think and please take that into consideration because this is going to severely impact our lives on a daily basis uh number two is um the issue of the time frame where we are allowed to speak now for 6 minutes and it's going to be whittel down to 4 and I think that that is really a huge mistake on the part of this Council um you are here to listen to us to the residents because this is something that you do for us you're employed by the residents so please even though some people may go on and um don't make sense other people's have have something to say do not take away our time to to have our say because this is your basic duty is to listen to the residents of this town thank you thank you anyone else for the first time all right seeing none there is just one point I'd like to clarify for the uh the the the woman that was just speaking uh the council doesn't have uh the Jackson Avenue rehabilitation project on the agenda what they have is a grant acceptance I the acceptance of money from do um as part of that project from uh earlier I I have a moment to speak still right I don't think I second right what is the plan and is that is that plan uh so if you vote on it what actually are you voting on are you voting in order to accept the money and then Whittle plan what you're going to do with it or is that already in stone we don't know what that is so please clarify everybody is interested everybody wants to listen and we're not unreasonable we so explain to us what you're going to do and why Sonia if you don't mind explaining um just from Mr picarello is here and he can explain in terms of the logistics um between engineering and police it was a collaboration um there was traffic counting and studies that were done uh from a procedural standpoint there was a resolution back in 23 May of 23 which Council approved to go out and apply for this at which time I believe we did explain exactly what we were doing in terms of the whing and why um due to the greenway so if Mr picarella could just come up and explain more in detail the need for the widening hi Mr picar if you don't mind just going through in details is exactly what is the process how we how we arrived at this situation um my S and our Traffic Division uh received complaints from residents and uh parents of the school that in order to enter an exit Jackson Avenue they tend to end up going head on with oncoming traffic and have to weave in and out through parked vehicles to allow vehicles to pass the proposal that we had as part of the Grant application was to widen the road from 32 foot to 34 to 36 foot not impacting the existing sidewalk locations but just widen the curve uh widen widening the road itself to allow for parking to move closer to the houses this way freeing up a minimum of two through Lanes one in each Direction which would then allow vehicles to more safely pass each other and by doing so that would allow School traffic to exit Jackson Avenue more easily and to alleviate the uh backup due to that weaving through Jackson a okay uh thank you council president do you have a question for yes councilman BR how much um land I I remember a drawing that I received at one point that showed a widening where we were going to take people's land um there to make the road wider because I remember at that meeting because we were talking about traff I commented that I live across from JP Stevens um JP Stevens isn't really worse than Herbert Hoover to be quite honest with you and I deal with an immense amount of traffic for 20 minutes in the morning and 20 minutes in the afternoon um so to take someone's land for 20 minutes in the morning 20 minutes in the afternoon for 7 months 8 months you know it just didn't make a lot of sense to me at this time but can you tell me how how much land we're going to take we're not taking any land from the residents all the work is to be within the public the existing public right of way okay so here wait let me explain um there is a curb right or there's grass and a and a pavement um that residents are told they have to maintain so most residents assume that they own that um and I I guess I misspoke how much grass or how much extra land are they going to miss because when I look at the homes there cuz I drove down there it looks like they're only set back like 20t from the pavement and if you know if you're going to take 4T now they're going to be 15 foot from the pavement on average with we don't have the survey done yet because we're not doing any we're not doing full design work unless we get the grant so rough draft we did it on top of an aerial it averages two foot on each side okay so the proposal is I guess we take two feet on both sides correct right you're going to make the road wider correct to accommodate the parking alleviate the track the traffic for the 20 minutes in the morning and the 20 minutes in the afternoon but is anybody spoken to the residents um that live there about that because this is the first you know that I I heard because I spoke out against it um back when this happened but this is the first and I'm hearing from a resident that said saying that they weren't notified um is somebody from the administration maybe want to speak to the residents or something down there I know they have clar Barton meetings um down there is there a way that you could get the residents together to see whether they're looking to move forward with this proposal um to lose the the two feet of their property on both you know both sides of the street to gain a little bit of relief for 20 minutes in the morning and 20 minutes in the afternoon so are this was done based on the feedback we did receive from various residents including parents of the school um so ultimately it's up to the council whether they you know choose to move forward this is just accepting the grant Sonia I've I was on the school board and and I will tell you that I have witnessed I witness it every morning I I have residents that pay for their children to get busted a and here's the best part they don't allow the children to walk to the bus stop they drive them to the bus stop so parents in Edison yeah they they I understand but they can allow their children to walk to school um it's a healthy thing I I don't know that we're supposed to build super highways because of the school but I tell you what I will do over the next couple days I'll stop by every residents on Jackson Avenue I'm going to leave my card and I'm going to ask them for their feedback you know the parents at the schools you'll have the same thing when they go from Herbert to Edison High we'll have the same issues over there and it'll be every school that we have um and me you hear I'm not complaining about JP Stevens right it it is not the best place in the world to be in that 20 minutes in the morning and 20 minutes in the afternoon but I I'll leave my car with all the residents and uh try and get feedback from the residents over the next day or two council president yes qu um I also looked into this I spoke to the residents I spoke to and I didn't speak to everyone but for the majority I spoke to they don't want this and I I have spent a lot of time on mway Avenue I don't think anybody argues with that um and I sat there just recently because I I knew this was up for discussion and the amount of traffic for the school situation for parents is 20 minutes in the morning 20 minutes of backed up traffic I timed it it comes then the thanks to the Chief and the traffic department they did create a relief program that's working for for you know for the council to support widening in any way to give relief to trucks or to head on uh opportunities that are just carefully maneuvered I mean it's been going on for 50 years I know I walked to the school half of us went to the school there but so I'm I'm not supporting any money to fund anything on the blog because I don't want anything done I think it's been working it's fine and I'm not saying your work is not accountable you do a great job you do more than you should be doing and you're overworked and thank you for continuing to work but I just don't see and I can't speak for all the council colleagues here but I don't see why we want to allow trucks to pass each other and create a thoroughfare that creates speeding uh takes away two or we say two and a half feet today is three feet tomorrow disturbance the I know the block very well I know a bunch of the residents over there you know we looked at the Ferraris you know there in the corner I don't even know how much his from two feet before you know it you're pretty much can be on his building but I won't get into that obviously the planning you discussed it's been a challenge for 50 60 years there been a warehouse down there for 60 years 60 plus years it's working he's been in school there for 60 plus years uh I just can't support putting children in a bad way because we're trying to solve 20 minutes of traffic for parents who just are frustrated for 20 minutes thank you thank you uh thank you can I just say one thing real quick right now the roadway on average is 32 ft wide technically for the rsis if this was a new roadway parking would only be permitted on one side of the street by widening it we would be bringing it into compliance with the rsis it would be having a minimum of a 10 foot Lane which is the bare minimum travel Lane width so we are not making it a a highway thoroughfare we are doing the bare minimum to bring it into compliance with the rsis so the other option is you're saying that we remove parking on one side to be in compliance with the resid residential site Improvement standard the width of the road right now technically should only have parking on one side of the street okay all right thank thank you br thank you just a quick question before your the floor for two seconds council president I listen I'm not disagreeing with what factual uh information you have it's been going on it's grandfather in I'm still not supporting changing it once you eliminate parking at first it's turn those who've been parking for decades they have two three family homes they have children and you're creating a you're just going to create a thorough fair for to make parents happy for 20 minutes and that's it I've been dealing with it for 50 years so have my neighbors and the best thing that happened was the chief and Lieutenant Turner and and um Sergeant simino put a plan together and it's working it's 20 minutes of a problem and I mean no punt to your hard work thank you but I I will never support this thank you thank you counc thank you counc question you know I I have seen this enough that when the residents don't want we find a way a reason to show the things and I'm calling this literally showing on the resident how many roads in Edison are not RSI compliant I don't have that exact number but there are hundreds quite probably yes yes why only this is chosen when the residents don't want that to happen this is the problem that was brought to us primarily my from my understanding from the school and the commuters so that's why when we had the option to get money from the do to do it we went forward and tried yeah I understand but we have hundreds of Road in medicine which are not RSI complain you gave the reason we are doing this because in RSI that's what I called you find a way to show it can we talk to the resident that is what my Council colleague was saying can we talk to the resident who are whose lives are impacted because of this project rather than taking a decision just moving forward that's my point there thank you sir thank you councilman pel uh no your time is up uh you can come on as a president yes uh before before you uh before you start I will have us recognize Council Mel I I actually would welcome uh the census that councilman Brer is going to make with the residents on Jackson Avenue because we have a similar situation in uh South Edison on EDG Mount um where people go down edgemount and 20 minutes and more than 20 minutes in the afternoon and it's even more than 20 minutes I think it's about 45 minutes um as a resident on Jackson Avenue if you're going to work and and you're stuck behind a bus or a truck uh you you would I would I would think that you'd want the road to be widened so that's why and and I hear you I I understand your point and I I agree with you but I would want to hear uh the senses from from all the residents on Jackson Avenue uh if they would welcome this or not thank you thank you Ben's from medison New Jersey do have the floor council president I'm sorry repeat that I said Ben's from Edison New Jersey you had the floor council president you are recognized thank you so much hello everyone uh I know I haven't I haven't been here since what was it June I was under the weather and uh when Mr Christo said Donald Trump is coming back and I said yeah right but he's not coming back uh anyway the reason why I came here is because I've been listening to the council meetings and I've been seeing too much of uh too much stuff going on people getting thrown out and it just needs to stop uh let's please respect people's uh timing I understand about the whole anomalous mask I yeah I know if between that between the government doesn't work well like that that's why you know people have to show their face people got to show their face who who you are you can't wear a mask you know and and think I know you throw out Christo and and some other people as well I didn't like that but if you're going to speak just speak with your who who you are and who you identify not no mask okay the I think you um lawyer uh I think you you're referring it to a Halloween mask well the anomalous mask is a symbol of overriding the government and that's the last thing we don't need if I'm not mistaken so besides that I have some good news I am a travel agent um I yes I am a travel agent uh with Archer and evolution travel I have a business called Pensylvania travels better savings better discounts so I wanted to uh open up uh my business to Edison Township and for the community as well um I'm still new at it I already am certified for Royal Caribbean um Celebrity Cruises I'm already in the process of getting uh V Vin vages um cruises at the moment um I have uh hotels I have airplanes I think a teacher told me they wanted to do a a class trip uh because they recognize my services from Yelp I'm certified on Yelp on easy locals I have my uh where is it my certification if you guys want to take a look I have a website you guys want to check out as well um it's going to be link linkd linkd uh it's going to be l i n k t r period e e SL Pensylvania travels that would be b n c i v e n g a t r a v e l travels um I'm not sure if I can po well when I you guys are going to have another one for Wednesday okay can I um post something on the display next no okay all right that's fine um but I just want to let you guys know I'm here for anybody's needs for hotel airfare um cruising um uh for example I want to do this for example I have rates for military and police for cruising for example I'm going to pick uh Chief Bryan for example let's just say he wants to go on a cruise in two months right I'm looking at it instead of him paying the app so basically you you know when you guys do the bids for wholesale we do the exactly the same thing we lower it to the general public so for example let's just say Chief ran wants to go on a five night Western Caribbean cruise right he I'm I'm saying as an example a average officer one sec can we pause this time he's allowed to uh is he allowed to advertise and give examples with the member it's an open Forum at Oral petitions and remarks uh if you'd like to give examples you can give examples if you'd like to advertise his business it's his six minutes to do with the as he pleases so long as he maintains the rules of the Quorum of the court and not the court sorry of the council and respects the council members looks like you've been going Court sessions a little bit but it's all good um like I said if he want if if the chief chief Brian wants to go on a cruise right um he only is going to be paying on under I think $1,000 to be honest with you cuz the average person of a military they're paying two times too much we're talking about three grand for for six nights for me I lowered it under a thousand so there you go if after you want to retire I got you after you want to retire you want to go on a cruise I got you give me a call I got you have you heard but yeah I just want to say thank you everybody for listening to me I am open for business you guys can um reach out to me on my social media I'm on Instagram Pennsylvania travels Tik Tok uh there's a lot I there a lot I've been posting too much of my traveling agencies I'm also certified with a travel insurance called tin link I'm not sure anybody heard tin link it's um one of the best travel insurance ever in the United States they um got rated um the best from The New York Times so uh like I said you guys want to check out my linkd linkd penssylvania travels uh l i n k t do EB n c i v n g a t r a v l thank you so much and that will do it thank you thank you anybody else that would like to speak Elizabeth Conway 20 Netherwood Circle you're recognized thank you I have a few things to talk about first two are really good the first one is at the tea of Inman Avenue and Old ritan Road I went to my daughter's house today and when I got to the end of Inman Avenue I looked to the right and saw a car coming do you know how happy that made me I feel bad for the people because they really cut it down and but it was delightful because I felt something was done I thank you and Lieutenant Hunter was really nice um number two I'd like to thank the DPW for cleanup on Saturday morning uh they did a great job going around picking up stuff because I was the Wednesday that was this past Saturday and they did a fabulous job and the streets were nice and clean when when they were done they weren picky about picking up stuff that was really great okay so I was nice number three I see there is an amendment to the re development plan for 1001 in Min Avenue was that a mistake that was a mistake we're removing that but that will happen after once we get to the work session okay then my fourth thing guess what I'm really Disturbed that it's continuing that you have truly thought and decided to to uh mark it down from 6 minutes to 4 minutes that doesn't go across to the residents very nicely I come up here I'm very respectful but I'm a retired teacher I talk I'm not rude I don't usually yell at any of you but when I have something to say I'd like to be listened to and respected and by you doing this you're showing disrespect to anybody that comes to this podium to speak and if it takes them a few minutes you need to respect that and I'm very uh depressed at those of you who decided that this was a good idea when people get up to talk they have a concern and it really takes a lot for some people to come here and speak I can do it all the time and you can see me all the time and I'm going to continue to talk but there are people in the township that it takes so much for them to come and talk talk about something my one neighbor never went to meetings before but he has a true concern so now he's stepping up and coming to the meetings and I'm proud of them for that yes the people on TV don't see that there's only maybe a dozen and a half people in the audience but there is plenty of people watching the meeting and for you to do that to the few people that are going up to speak you're really showing disrespect and I realize there's no election this year so so it could happen and you don't have to worry about a I'm not going to vote for him because he didn't do it because I'm I might forget about it after a year if you decide to go through it and I don't mean to be rude but think about it how many of you when you have something to say does Marina time you and only give you four minutes and you go back and forth at one another I'm not asking you to go back and forth with me I come up with concerns I have a question and I was actually surprised that uh council president responded to my first concern about Inman Avenue but he didn't have to and I thank you for that because it got it out of the way but I'm here showing respect to you I demand respect from you and by doing that you are not showing respect and of all the years that I've been coming to Council meetings they haven't gotten out of hand but until you started this a few months ago now all of a sudden people are getting angry and therefore you're responding to those people getting angry and that's sad so I truly think you really need to think about this are we doing the right thing and then to eliminate the rebuttal if there's a definite concern because if I come up with a question and then after I sit down Mr Brasher said something that I just do not agree with I should have the chance to rebut him so truly think about it did I do okay Marina thank you how many minutes did I use minute and a half there you go see thank you council president uh one sec any you cannot uh there's no second there is no rebuttals on this right during the work session one sec no talking during the work session meeting is is comment it's just remarks right yeah it's just remarks believe that's on the comments on the resolutions comments on the ordinances that the rebuttal are there but I double check very quickly for you we will double check on called for the rebuttal yet so we haven't called for rebuttal yet anyways so if anybody else that would like to speak for the first time no all right uh can we close the public no actually we might have rebuttal so let's wait for that Council pressure I I was I was just going to comment that um Miss Conway was worried that people might forget to going from the 6 minutes to the 4 minutes um she knows that since I'm up here I'm not going to let people forget it's I'm going to bring it back up um that would be a council president we have allowed in the past so it's up to your decision I want to make sure we follow the process whatever that may be yes it's permitted okay so the first time is that have special rules for it okay so the first time uh speaker is done anyone left with the rebuttal but before you start I will have the legal explain what a rebuttal is so that we can ensure that it is a rebuttle so that it's clear a rebuttal is not a secondary opinion it's not a tangent on something that you had said before it is a direct and contradictory response to a comment made by someone else uh on the floor it has to be public no um it has to from a prior speaker so uh my understanding is that that's always been uh advocated as the public um those are the ones who are are technically required to speak during the oral petitions and remarks so another member of the public that you would like to rebut uh you can do so three minutes oh yeah sorry it is three minutes uh it won't be that long uh thank you very much for allowing this uh name and name and address Margaret navro to7 Jackson Avenue you recognized and uh all I wanted to say is to the gentleman who was speaking about the widening of the street and the reason for it and what is going to solve my thought about this is we can easily eliminate all of those problems by just making the street one way this has been made one way already during uh you know drop off and pickup hours for the school and it's made a enormous difference to the traffic so if we made this as a one way permanently I think that would just take care of it that's my two SS about that thank you thank you okay uh can I get a motion to close the public portion motion to close public portion second all right that's motion by Council vice president second by councilman Coy all in favor I okay I'll take that as inclusive uh moving on to number five review of minutes A and B any comments Council pres councilman Patel my ask is any council members have read any of these meetings especially June 10th and June September 9th I assume this meetings are also accessible by the residents I'm sorry I didn't get the question my question is if any council member has read these meetings meeting minutes it's one pager if I read have no idea what is there literally if you can read because we are approving this minute meetings if if I remember last year or year before we had good meeting minutes very good line a what it says what coun me were who said what said everything was there but if you look at it's one pager and it says a half of the things are missing that remark is irrelevant what the councilman made to that particular point so I my ask is before anyone approve these meeting minutes please look at it read and see if it makes sense thank you council president thank you Council Patel uh any other comments all right seeing none mov mov on to number six report from all Council committee starting on my right councilman Brer uh none at this time sir all right councilman Coyle none sir uh Council vice president yes um starting with the public the library board we met on September 10th and uh pretty short meeting uh the uh good news was that the asbest at the main library was done on time it was done within the two weeks um the uh week of 1020 to 10:26 is National friends of Library weekend on 1025 and 1026 there will be a bake sale I believe that's it the Clare Barton Branch I am not positive about that but uh I'll report back on that next time um the bookmobile is on the road uh the logo and rebranding project is ongoing one staff change was a resignation of the children's librarian and the next regular Library board meeting will be Thursday October 17th at 700 p.m. Cultural Arts commission we met on the 17th of September and uh we're we're gearing up for the jazz festival on Wednesday now I have uh on the table there this is the a little a little compact brochure of all the Jazz Festival events and I'd really urge you to take one and and check them out they go on from Wednesday the 25th to Sunday the the Sunday the what is that 29th and um so we have we have great we have great acts coming up the weather forast is not looking particularly good right now we're going to make a call on that by the end of by tomorrow if we have to move it inside we'll move it to mini but we're going to we will know that by the end of tomorrow we'll have a better idea of what the weather forecast is showing but uh unfortunately unfortunately it's showing rain during the day and during the evening uh we do hope that next year with matachin wanting to move from Saturday night we do hope that we can then take that Saturday night slot which would be perfect uh we are going to be putting up a public safety display in the gallery for November so that's going to be the fire and uh and police will be displaying down there uh we also are going to have a do a domestic violence display in the later part of October uh potential Hispanic heritage display uh Edison High School is connecting or is going to do a connecting old to new and that's going to be I that's going to be we had a couple of the high school seniors from EHS who came and spoke to us about that and a a potential EMS display and a potential Sports display uh the next session of the library board is I mean of the um Cultural Arts commission is October 1st human relations we did not have a qu we did not have a quorum and so that next meeting I believe is October 8th right um and I will do an animal shelter report when we meet next month we'll have the September report for the first meeting in October and that is my report thank you Council vice president Council F none at this time councilman pointer thank you council president um I was unable to make the environmental commission meeting but I did ask them to review the draft bamboo ordinance I know councilman Brer is going to be uh speaking on later um they did let me know that they are in support of a modification to our ordinance so just want to relay that in conjunction with that though they did make mention that they would like the township to consider um modifying our list of invasive species that are considered for plantings so that's something that I would like to bring to the administration's attention I know that I've done so uh recently um but just wanted to reiterate that and with that I'll take the uh time just to make mention that the I believe that the township should consider a community forestry management plan which would help in the planning of trees shrubs any types of plantings moving forward the other item I just want to make mention of with the Smart City advisory committee uh they are up for reappointments at the end of next month however several members are due to personal obligations not able to participate in the same manner as previously so it's on us whether we want to continue with the subcommittee or dissolve it so that would be it council president thank you thank you Council Council Michu nothing to report right as for me none for me uh moving on to uh point of Lights any council members yes council president Council vice president um first I uh am very very sad to report the passing of Rabbi riffkin he passed he passed uh today in Israel and I know that councilman schmuel will have more to say about it but I just want to say Rabbi riffkin was not only a pillar of the Jewish Community here in medison but he was a pillar of the community at large and he's going to be greatly greatly missed so that is very sad news um other things to report were that uh last Tuesday September 17th there was a help and hope Suicide Prevention awareness presentation that um was really very very touching so uh Gloria did who had lost her grandson to her SE her 15-year-old grandson to suicide in 2017 uh is is a big Advocate this is September we're ending up National Suicide Prevention month but she spoke so passionately and right from the bottom of her heart about her grandson and um and then we also had a very touching presentation by our police chief by Chief Brian about what he's encountered in his role as the chief of police and as a public safety person who has unfortunately not only witnessed a suicide when he went to the went to the person's home who had called but uh also has had some colleagues who have also passed from suicide so um it this is uh it's so important that people remember 988 is the line to call for suicide side prevention it's 247 365 but um if we next year I would I would really Advocate that people attend this particular presentation we also had the September 11th we had the September 11th um Memorial and presentation on September 11th which was a beautiful beautiful day very very well attended and uh I'd like to thank all who attended that and how wonderful it is that even though we are 23 years beyond the actual September 11th 2001 that we still remember and it's important that we always do remember and honor those who we lost um one last thing was there was the car show that benefited this was this past Saturday the car show that benefited the animal shelter uh animal shelter raised $2,100 and uh so that was and we had really great weather for that too and so those are my points of FL thank you thank you Council vice president any other council member council president Council M um thank you for bringing it up councilwoman Harris uh today we lost a giant of a man uh like you said he was a pillar of of our community our Jewish Community it was also a pillar of the Edison Community at large uh to me on a personal level he he was first a mentor and uh and a friend I had an opportunity to see him when I was in last week in his hospital bed um we went to to visit him on Sunday he seemed like he was in good spirits uh and we were hoping that uh he would be coming home uh I'd like to share a letter with with everybody that was written by uh kahila kahila is a CommunityWide organization created to support the unique needs of the greater ritan Valley Orthodox Jewish community that Rabbi riffkin started himself it is with deep sadness that we announced the passing of our founder Rabbi I Rifkin Israel Rifkin our deepest condolences to his wife Rebecca children grandchildren great grandchildren and all those who loved him and admired him he was a transformative figure in the greater Raritan Valley Jewish Community he was a Statesman and a mench at the highest level his selflessness was further enhanced by his thoughtfulness and demeanor he projected the Majesty of Rabbi figure and the meticulousness and professionalism of an accomplished and upstanding businessman his thoughts and actions always gravitated towards the betterment of our community and the concern and the comfort of others he light-heartedly titled himself as superjew though in truth it was truly the perfect description of his Essence he helped numerous local institutions both seasoned organization and those that were yet in their navigated navigate the in the intricacies and workings of various governmental agencies he was a learned man who did not hesitate to share his deep-seated wisdom with others and we all and we are all better for it his legacy will be Everlasting for he has instilled in his children and those that were lucky enough to be in his orbit a sense of responsibility and care for the community and the individual may his memory be a blessing and May the Almighty Comfort all those that knew him thank you council president thank you Council mm council president councilman Batel you know we lost the great leader of the community is not the Jewish Community but the community at large I was fortunate enough to seek the guidance from rabkin had numerous interaction what a humble great guy who always look above and beyond one community and to make a this a great place to live in uh it's a I would say very sad moment you know personally to me because I was in touch recently even after he was in Israel I knew that he was not doing great healthwise but didn't expect that this would happen uh all of a sudden uh if possible if this Council can recognize his contribution and call for a moment of silence please yes can we please have a moment of silence for Rabbi Rifkin thank you everyone uh any other council members council president Council MCO I just want to Echo the sentiments of my Council colleagues I had a chance to get on the phone with my Council colleague Assaf schoel and I can feel the pain in his voice listening and learning of a old friend who passed away and um I'm terribly sorry um it's one thing to grow up with a mentor but to also see the leadership of someone who is caring for more than just himself but also leading the community the um I can't think of anyone who it was more easy to get on the phone and you know as as a leader in the community no matter who you were a resident a neighbor from the outside Community or dignitary he got on the phone with you Rabbi and you got a chance to speak with him and hear his opinion on the community where what direction we should go um I know he's always been there for Edison and will be deeply missed by so many of us and um it wasn't long ago I was on the phone with him it was probably more than N9 months ago but uh always good to hear his voice uh thank you for going to see him us off in Israel and um again greatly missed thank you council president thank you councilman Co councilman brusher I'll pretty much echo my um Council colleagues remarks um I I I know that his help hasn't been the greatest um for a little bit of time now you know it was one of the ideas um where I was looking to name Parks after people that that are alive um to recognize them while they're here so they understand that um this is a it's a very sad thing now um and and I hope that um we could still move ahead with something like that um I'd like to ask you know council president maybe to put together a committee um of some some sort that the council can be part of as far as um naming naming things in our town after people have given so much to the community you know that we recognize them um while they're here and and while they're gone because they have relatives you know that are here so so the relatives um to hear for your grandchild to hear that their grandfather was a great man is really a good thing to do um but it's very sad to hear that I actually just heard this prior to the meeting um today and and was a little taken back and shocked by it um and I'm sorry and and thank you for bringing this up at the meeting um Council vice president I appreciate this thank you thank you councilman brusher um as for me unfortunately I never got a chance to meet Rabbi Rifkin but from all I have heard of him has been great things and I know Edison is worse off without without him so I thank you everyone for saying nice words about him and I would have love to known him a little more uh uh also for some couple of announcements Wednesday 25th is the jazz festival at 5:45 at papani Park the council members most probably will not be there but uh you are more than welcome to go there and enjoy yourself there uh Saturday is the fall family spectacular from waltuma to Jackson app uh near clar buron at 1: through 900 p.m. now moving on to the Departments any questions or comments uh just couple of updates we are removing 8B which is the appointment to the Redevelopment agency we will have a further discussion during the discussion period on that we are also we're also removing 12d uh which is the 1000 Inman have amendment that was added in clerical error and we're also adding is this 16 SE yeah we are also adding communication received uh on ordinance 2233 2024 petition uh under 16c uh I think that's it for the changes so starting at number eight any questions or comments on Aida Theo reappointment of Judge Peter price council president just wanted to make comment I want to make comment on a yes go ahead C uh judge price has been around for decades in Edison I look forward to him continuing to serve uh he certainly has represented Edison uh in the best and I'm happy he's continuing his journey as a judge thank you thank you councilman Coyle any other questions or comments all right seeing none move moving to number nine A and B any questions or comments council president councilman uh question to the administration I know on this uh agreement the per tonnage amount would be 90 cents per ton what was it previously councilman porner I'm still grabbing that information for you I know you requested it uh the reason why I'm asking is that this is a line item in our budget so just forward looking you know what what impact that has thank you council president uh Sonia I also had a question on this particular thing I understand this is back from 1990s and it's a landfill in East Brunswick uh and they're paying us I'm guessing for the odor what what exactly are they paying us for and maybe our attorney can actually clarifies the payment that we're receiving from the mcua um all of the towns that are part of the mcua so what do we have to give in what do we have to give in return for receiving that money was it Miss Berlin who put this resolution together for you yes Sonia yes yeah uh give me one second to now we can come back to it if you yeah yeah all right so we'll come back to that uh moving on to number 10 8 through F any questions or comments council president uh councilman p on D the resolution of authorizing refund of water is this really the over payment by the resident or this is something the adjustment to the bill uh is this 10 B yeah okay d That's the tax sell certificate is that no no refund authorizing refund for water so 12d okay yeah okay PD 10 uh 10 10 d d is in dog cuz I see one address water for department and it says a bill adjust water for yes that's correct is that one resident it's a community it's one uh Community okay so it is an settlement with HOA is this because of the incorrect bill or it is because of the over payment by the HOA because the comment says about the bill adjustment something it was a bill adjustment and it probably had to do more with the fact that there had been some estimated readings in a meteor malfunction okay CU we have several residents who have complained about the building issues and adjustment so just want to make sure that this is not one off uh can I get a report on what was was the was this because of the actual reading versus the approximate reading that caused the over payment or it was a leakage and we settled something we didn't settle anything this was just a an error and a duplicate building but I will get that if you can get the report please thank you I question on a report of dispersment through September 19 2024 in this report uh where I can find where mayor is using the taxpayers fund to send his communication what's the line atom I didn't see any anything related to that the correspondence going out from the town to the taxpayer any communication your well okay so there's various ways to communicate which we have I'm talking about more explicitly the letter like this which I'm going to distribute to my Council colleagues I I can't see it from here so I can't speak to it but if you could just provide a copy that um part of the communications as you know uh we have Vision media is one of the Avenues we have on staff folks that also put together some writing so um I don't know exactly I can't speak to what you have but the repaving I I will come back on the uh this thing but where I can find that line atom on the dispersement that's my question it should be it's contractual so it should be charged to Administration if it's if it's a vision media working I didn't see that but you know if you can point out very specific page number I'll be happy it may not be on this so unless you're asking for what we've totaled up to this point or any bills that we've paid correct up to this point because this letter is dated from June so of course you know we already spend that money and we are here now to clear that disbursement we already spend the money but if I if you can show me where in the report that communication portion that includes the printing mailing all that expense that goes out explicitly for mayor's communication not for the taxpayer like tax bills not the sewer bill I'm talking about any document that is signed by mayor where is this thank you council president council president can I thank you councilman PTO councilman Brer yeah I maybe I can clarify a little bit um you know what it is Sonia we do a newsletter right I call it propaganda right you can call it a newsletter we we could always agree and disagree on that um but there was a letter that was sent out to Residents saying that we're going to pave 200 roads this year and I'm going to specifically name five council members that that wanted to pave these These Roads um so this wasn't a vision media like the Illuminator or something of that nature right this is bordering on politics and taking taxpayer money is for political use okay which would be a crime and it's very close to it um so we'd like to know what account that money came out of that's the question so that was paid for by the taxpayers right um to me that looks political um we'd like to know what account it came out of who was the vendor that made it and sent it out right and after that I'm probably going to go and do my own uh file a complaint you know because this is starting the once in a while little thing I get right but this right now is starting to look criminal to me um so I'd like to get those account numbers for where that money was spent it was a letter that went out and it talked about road paving so could we get that if I could just get a copy of that correspondence so I can look at the date and help you in that way yes thank you all right uh any other questions presid counc mcoy uh for B and F for B are we saying that's water department or sewer department or we saying that it's taxes the tax collector is the designated Department that collects the fees so re this reimbursement is for water customers or SE customers it's for water water customers yeah and same thing with f those are sale tax redemptions okay okay they both state the same thing though res resolution refund okay so f is taxes B is water uh according if you want to speak on this D is water and the two are redemptions one sec I think uh Cheryl has AIC are you saying because we have we have two tax sale certificate separate resolutions on meeting I want to hear from the ba I'm sorry coun madam CL I can you can write to me email me I just didn't want to confuse the question I was just looking at B was for water and F is for taxes yes and since you're providing uh Council P just can I have the backup on what that is it the backup is part of the resolution that's in the packet okay thank you I apologize um I don't think the two of you were hearing each other you're talking about B is in boy correct corre and B as in boy is for tax sales certificates not water d as in dog is for water and F is also for tax sales certificates but they are separate resolutions because they were done at separate times and it looks like B didn't make it on to the last list because it wasn't completed in time um either the sales weren't completed in time or reported in time to make it on but because their tax sale certificates they have to be done as the grouping that they are thank you counc presid just councilman just want to make it very Crystal Clear B and F those are the tax sell certificate but I heard is the tax and correct me if I'm wrong when we do the tax sell it could be water sewer or the property tax or it is separate the tax goes across the board it is not very specific to water D is D for dog is completely different line ATM it is adjustment to the bills that's the backup I'm asking asking the backup provider is not good enough to understand what exactly the adjustment is But to answer conman kils answer question B and F they are linked with the tax cell that happened and the people have paid back to the township that could be water that could be sewer that could be property tax just want to be sync with what the question is council president Council poter uh just a question to Legal if there is a line item in the dispersements that uh you don't approve of what would be the process to take that out or do I just vote no on the entire dispersement uh I don't believe that you have the ability to veto directly a line item I think that you have to vote no on the entirety of the dispersement but I'm not entirely certain so um that's with respect to just these it looks like councilman ptil has a better answer for you than that it looks like he's more familiar with that particular process yes you know to my knowledge we can pull a very very specific line atem for a separate word again it depends on the word what you agree and what you don't agree we have pulled the library board uh disbursement out from the total reimbursement and this Council has approved minus Library board everything else uh just to lead off I can get I guess the proper procedure for me to do so and thank you CC president thank you councilman pointer uh can we go back to 9B legal for the mcua and as to what we are getting paid for so uh the community host Community benefits Agreements are made with the surrounding townships for a landfill uh they're usually entered into uh at the time that the landfill is acquired or begins uh to compensate those communities that are surrounding the landfill for the inconveniences associated with having a landfill including odor um including possible contamination things like that what the township uh agrees to uh when they take that land uh is essentially to limit their right to sue and to limit their right to try to block the operations of the landfill in exchange for that landfills pay uh some monetary amount based on tonnage uh at least under this agreement uh they agree to certain terms and conditions uh one of the terms and conditions in here is uh the operation of Odor Control devices as well as maintaining a 24-hour hotline for odor complaints so that they can be addressed promptly um there's uh yeah uh that that's the two factors on the Odor Control so but those th those are the associated benefits it's it's a four-page agreement um that's been in place I guess uh with minor modifications updated since uh 1989 1990 somewhere around there and does the payment increase through inflation or is it fixed whenever the payment comes up for renewal is when it's determined what the payment's going to be I guess um how they reach that agreement is uh through the administrative negotiation process with with the the landfill for continued um use of the land continued operation of the landfill thank you uh moving on to number 11 from the Department of Health A and B any questions or comments yes council president Council vice president it sounds great and as the mental health practitioner I'm all about uh about these what I'd like to know is what would this money from a grant allow us to do in both A and B uh Sonia so it this would help with some of our programming in the health department to to raise awareness to our residents for just various things um it's always a good thing it's a it's a program it's a service that we provide to our residents when it comes to um Wellness with the township um also part of our sustainable Jersey certification is providing uh services such as health awareness and so this there's a lot of things that are compounded into having something like this before the council and procedurally we just need to get this on the docket so this would be about promoting awareness in both of these areas yes various he various Health initiatives okay all right thank you all right uh any other council members uh for our uh Department of Health A and B okay seeing none moving to number 12 from the Department of planning and Engineering a through C the D is being removed so any questions or comments on a through C council president counc I do have some additional questions for uh Mr pricella that's sure okay uh Brian if you don't mind thank you where is he AB thank you um I know that the previous conversation focused on the traffic of Jackson Avenue but my understanding with this project is that is not just like that's one component of it there's the curbing there's the substrate underneath the actual pavement and then the Paving itself so can you elaborate on the other items that would be occurring uh so the other items that were occurring were basically resurfacing Jackson Avenue in areas need of full depth reconstruction we would go in and fix the like you said the substrate build up the pavement section to where it won't deteriorate as quickly as just a normal resurfacing um there's curbing that will be put in most likely mountable curbing just so it will not as it won't affect the grass area as much it's a little bit wider than a normal vertical curb but the transition is not as drastic um there are I believe I think it's two trees that would have to be cut down as accommodation but we're looking at replanting in kind as Street trees I'm not putting back a 48 in tree but it would go back to Township uh Township ordinance which is a 2 and 1 12 inch caliper streak um those are the major items we'd be looking at refreshing signage and so so forth to bring it up to standard thank you uh the two other questions I have one if say for whatever reason the street widening aspect was not proceeded with could we still receive funds for all the other work or is that a not under this grant okay this grant the widening was included okay uh the last question I have is when if this project were to occur when would you anticipate that happening I have to go back and look at the dates they typically need it typically needs to be bid for construction Within a year okay uh that would be all my questions in regards to that one I do have questions in regards to the outdoor lighting but if anyone else has uh anybody else have a question for Mr P uh I as Al just to clarification for the widening you're not touching the sidewalks the sidewalks will remain and you're just taking that little exess correct the sidewalks will remain we will be providing new driveway aprons to accommodate the widening okay but they would be meeting the existing uh sidewalks okay and as uh I forgot I'm sorry for but the she recommended if we do a oneway is that a possibility to alleviate the situations that we are facing we would this I'm saying this without doing a full traffic study for doing it but making it a full-time one way you would be putting all the traffic from Jackson Avenue going back to Camelot through the neighboring roadways and doing so you'd also be relocating the truck traffic going back to I think it's a warehouse back there um not 100% sure that the other roads in that neighborhood could accommodate those turning radiuses okay so there's a little more to think about there's other things we'd have to look into yes okay uh thank you uh anybody else pres Council M with regards to this gr and just jumping on uh counseling Pointer's question are you able to isolate the uh the in of the road from this Grand to no not at all it's an all or nothing okay thank you you're welcome thank you uh any questions councilman pointer does all um I'm just going to make a general comment in the resolution it says that the township was given notice two months ago about this grant uh I met with the residents last year at length at the first aid Squad I would have happily gone and met with them again and made sure that communication was there so uh but moving on in regards to item C the outdoor lighting I'm wondering if we could amend the ordinance uh in two ways first in regards to adding the language of adjacent with residential property if Assaf was a commercial or residential I was a residential councilman ptil was a residential and there was a disturbance right no issue disturbance if I were a commercial property though and he's still bothered by the Light because his res residential property is not adjacent I.E right next to I have a concern then that his disturbance would not actually be allowed to be remediated so I would ask that we remove the word adjacent from from the langage the second item it specifies uh recessed lighting in regards to the sofits now I I know that this is not Apples to Apples but I deal with interior residential remodeling so when I talk about lighting I can go recess lighting I can go flush mount I can go semi flush mount I can have a scon there's a lot of options available so I don't think we need to call out a specific type of lighting just have it be lighting in the s or on the S that would be it thank you council president Council Pat I know this is something thank you for those and I agree you know those are minor tweaks we can do that helps to widen the scope to take care of multiple scenarios and if you can make those minor adjustment and move forward this uh ordinance that would be helpful okay uh and I also wanted to address the Christmas lighting in there to make sure that uh we still are able allow the residents to put that up if they need to as there as temporary temporary so so um to address uh just a one point at a time um for councilman Pointer's uh issue with respect to the adjacent residentially zone property that's what's in the existing ordinance um wait no it's not you're correct um that that's uh not a a major Amendment um that's fine uh most of the concern from that can be alleviated from the existing requirements for commercial lighting anyway but there's no issue with removing that it doesn't substantially change the intention of the the ordinance if it's too high on the adjacent residentially zoned property it's going to be too high on yeah or a nonadjacent property it's going to be too high on adjacent property um but for commercial buildings that's that's handled for the most part on by the other standards that are existing with the code but no it's fine um and so that [Music] we're all on the the same page as to what the second request is at the paragraph C should read to minimize light Tres trespass soft lighting is prohibited above the height of the first floor on the side yard of any Residential Building or do you just want lighting is prohibited above the height of the first floor just sof lighting right just recessed eliminate the word recessed okay so it should just read sofit lighting which is also a minor minor variation there's no need to resubmit it um yeah uh this deals specifically with light fixtures which have a specific definition so um Christmas lights temporary Christmas lights uh wouldn't be affected by this permanently installed Christmas lights May um under certain conditions uh but it would also require enforcement by the township it would require the township to actually enforce that now perhaps that's a problem if you have like a naal Lampoon's Christmas Vacation yard um but um for the most part it it's it should be a nonissue uh and so then doesn't necessarily qualify under this for interference so can we have these two amendments done for Wednesday and we can still vote on it all right council president councilman brusher yes I I I'm a little confused did we say that we're going to eliminate so you can't put lights in the sopit uh we are going to remove the word recess uh from that ordinance that's presented right so that yes essentially says we cannot put permanent lights in the sofit above a certain height but if you if you so if your surface mounted it that would be okay then because it was a recess if if you surface mounted the light to the s that would be okay I mean because even with lights in the soffet that are recessed right um you you've seen them where they wash the wall you know where the light doesn't go out it it washes a wall I mean there's different types of lights that you can use so I'm I I I'm I guess I'm at a loss says to what we're going to change this to exactly this just remove my request is just to remove the term recess if it it were if it were to still disturb a neighboring property regardless of whatever type of light it would still be a disturbance and therefore enfor okay that that's what I was looking for yes perfect thank you just one question on the security lights I know sometimes security lights are up there would this interfere with that they would have to be properly shielded mounted uh and directed so as to minimize uh glare or nuisance light but this the way the word the ordinances worded they could still be able to mount security lights as long as it's not mounted directly on the S they would be able to mount a security light on the wall uh the way that it's worded it's it's intended to address a specific issue okay sounds fair council president Council mcoy who um where did this ordance come from and can I sit with that council person or yeah uh I don't need to do it now I just want to make sure addresses some other stuff and yeah if you want to sit down it seems like some of this came from a direct complaint of someone who lit up a large amount of lights in their backyard so I think councilman P might be able to help you out there specific pictures that he has I that part I know I just want to know what exactly is being changed I don't want to make the resonance way for my discussion thank you all right uh moving on to number 13 a any questions or comments all right moving on to number 14 A and B any questions or comments moving on to 15a any questions or comments moving on to 16 a through C any questions or comments councilor president council fatel is a is this a brand new license we are adding we sold we sold this one in um by bid in 2023 and then he had to go through zoning process what now we're going to issue it so it's not 2024 new license it's 2023 it was the 23 new one that we sold thank you uh any other questions all right moving on to number 17 from the council member of the planning board Council pointer thank you council president planning board held its monthly meeting on Monday September 16th 700 p.m. here in council chambers uh it was a heavy agenda so I will be brief in the overview uh minutes for July 15th were approved resolutions adopting the following were also improved the 1810 Route 27 Redevelopment plan uh P5 256 minor subdivision approval resolution adopting the master plan so that is all situated now P1 14-223 uh an Patel 120 120-day extension request for minor subdivision p0620 21 Federal Business Center one-year extension request on preliminary and final site plan plan approval and p13 d2019 979 Amboy Avenue one-year extension request for preliminary and final site plan approval there were three items under miscellaneous the first Edison Public Library North Branch 777 Avenue uh they did a presentation on the addition to the the proposed addition at the North Branch I invite everyone to please take a look at the planning board meeting to see that presentation and the proposed improvements P 01-2017 Top Golf amendment to resolutions for hours of operation and lighting this was from diligent work with planning Engineering in regards to revising uh with the company their the times for their operations from 2: to 1 lighting from their TVs to shut off at 8:00 and a general um illumination from 100% to 30% uh my terminology is a little off but all good stuff for the residents and finally 0 2234 d224 comments on the ordinance uh in regards to ambo Avenue Redevelopment plan again these items were approved under old business case P 22-20 to2 just Nation at 271 metal Road uh this was a application to construct a structure on the current site has been going on for literally over a year it was approved with many conditions of approval uh and only preliminary site plan was uh provided under business p14 d2019 Federal business centers 140 field Crest Avenue applicants sought to amend the previously approved application to raise the roof on the existing building to match the addition approved as well as adding two vehicle charging spaces P 08-20 24 425 raran Center Parkway applicant was seeking preliminary final site plan to add 12 loading docks to the Western portion of the existing building and revising the adjacent parking and loading area no other modifications were proposed again these items were all approved P5 255 triaa NJ homes 1671 Woodland Avenue applicant saw a minor subdivision approval case P 92025 24 J&M futen covers Corporation 44 National Road applicant sought preliminary and final site plan approval to demolish and reconstruct the existing 50,000 foot warehouse and office building P 01-2020 Ace mechanical LLC 50 Lehi Avenue applicant was seeking preliminary final site plan approval to demolish existing vacant building and construct a new two-story building for a plumbing business and office p01 d2014 was amending uh an existing building at 1920 Oak Tree Road to allow for additional medical and Professional Services uh n none of the parking needed to be modified and again that was approved and finally p16 d202 3 deer realy at 75 Midvale Road this was an expansion of an existing warehouse and again this was approved the next meeting is scheduled for Monday October 15 at 7M here in council chambers thank you council president thank you Council po again council president I have a question about the report sure councilman Brer um this is a report from the planning board correct yes are planning boards televised think so they're they're televised they're televised but they have not taken the YouTube live uh procedure all right then do we get to speak on these ordinances today again correct right I'm sorry repeat that we we get to speak about these ordinances today no we haven't got there yet but we'll get there okay uh and moving on to number 18 unfinished business ordinance for further consideration for public hearing and adoptions uh starting with ordinance 2233 any questions or comments council president Council M getting back to the uh planning board um this body has no jurisdiction over the planning board like we do let's say the zoning board it's more like just a committee like other Council people we sit on I understand asking Council people for their reports on their committees um because those committee meetings are not public they're not videotaped there's nobody there A lot of times the public isn't there so it's good for the public to actually get that information what I see with the report from the planning board since it is televised is a waste of four minutes worth of time if if we were going to try and save any kind of time at all I think eliminating the council memb remarks to the planning board from the meeting as opposed to taking the time away from the public okay would be a better Justice to the public and to this body only because that meeting is televised so if somebody wants to know about the planning board well they're going to go on our video and they're going to watch it um how would we go about removing that would we need a committee for that or is that something that could just be proposed I think as far as I'm aware legally we can propose it in a moment I I believe it's part of the um procedure set forth for the council is one of the items on there so it would be the same procedure it's it's a procedure not in Robert's Rules you're saying where at the state no no no within the ordinance it's listed as one of the items on the agenda within the ordinance the township ordinance sorry yeah within the Township Code yeah the ordinance I believe lists each part of the work session meeting and the so we would need to like repeal that or change that yeah it's essentially the same procedure that you would go through for what's proposed under 2233 okay I'll save that for a recommendation another meeting thank you uh any other council members all right seeing none moving on to to ordinance 2234 ex I'm sorry I didn't know that we were on yeah okay we can go back that okay ordinance 2233 uh yes council president so last Thursday morning I received a call from the council president asking me if I would be willing to support the ordinance if the speaking time was was lowered to 5 minutes instead of 4 4 minutes and I said absolutely not and that we've been to this Rodeo before we were at this Rodeo a couple of years ago same exact process started with going from 6 to 4 then it was uh okay we'll make it 6 to5 and I don't know why we're doing this it's if you are willing to to try to get my vote to add a minute back on why not just keep it at the six at the six minutes you have heard from and I direct this to all the council members my Council colleagues who are voting who right now are inclined to vote Yes on this ordinance so that would be councilman schmuel councilman poiner uh councilman Coy and council president I am appealing to you and to your better Angel angels and the common sense to listen to what the public has said you have gotten a resounding no you've been given very good reasons by the public why they are so against this and I agree with them 1,000% I don't know why we're doing this and if you were willing to lower you were willing to raise from four minutes to five minutes then why are we doing this so all I can say is to my fellow my Council colleagues who are inclined to vote Yes on this nevertheless less I'm asking you begging you to rethink this thank you thank you Council vice president any other comments um you know council president I I would just like to say yes I I mean we know that I'm against this right um and I will promise the public that moving forward in about 6 months I will only be supporting a mayor and Council people that are going to bring back the resident 6 minutes okay I I won't support anybody that's looking to take time away from the public I just want that to go on the record thank you thank you Council M moving on to ordinance 2234 any questions or comments okay moving on to number 19 discussion items councilman brusher yes I'd like to introduce uh repeal ordinance um the procedure to do this right would be oh I can have the legal explain the procedure that would make it easier for you uh if you don't mind sure uh it's fairly straightforward it's uh the same procedure that we run through when um we want to make a change to the agenda or an amendment to the agenda is you have the resolution it was prepared by legal um so there's no issue there uh you would call for a vote um of the council to uh add it to the agenda essentially um that would be proceeded by discussion uh before you take the vote just like any other um resolution so you're essentially passing an oral resolution to add it to the agenda so you would follow those same procedures so you have the resolution you're you're proposing that it go on uh you're calling uh for a vote someone needs to second that well someone needs to to to vote for it and then second it uh to uh then call the question and have the vote so essentially a motion a second and then discussion motion that's the I'm looking for I apologize sometimes you just yeah all right motion to add and then a second and then discussion and then roll call okay yeah I I I'd like to propose a motion to add this new ordinance to the agenda on to add it today but it it won't be voted on until Wednesday but you are motioning to add it to the agenda for today correct okay so we take a roll call vote on yeah but we still need a second so uh councilman brusher is motioning to add an agenda to repeal uh ordinance to I'm sorry that we can't have side conversation if you have any comments I can I'm more than happy to recognize you I have a question all right Council m is ordance renette where is that ordinance that councilman brusher wants to introduce oh did I see that yeah so if you're am I recognized yes you recognized I apologize so if you are uh making a motion to add it to the agenda um for today and for Wednesday obviously um you would then uh read the title of the ordinance uh give a brief explanation of what you're adding or calling to add uh and then or really it's just the title while you wait for the second because I think the title explains what the ordinance does and councilman brusher as I asked you in private I'll ask you again in public if we can hold off on this till the following meeting I would appreciate because there is a legal uh thing going on but I'm sure you can discuss it during your discussion item in the discussion time right I would like to make it clear to the public what has actually happened here and what I'm going to ask um for my attorney to produce also okay so go ahead and do we have a motion on the table I I propose to add ordinance of XXX ordinance repealing ordinance [Music] 225-2020 and restoring chapter 17 to its pre- amended state right and do I have a second can I have a question to the attorney though before I say something question one sec but we do have a motion on the table so I can't does it have to continue right in fact you know I wanted to ask the question beforehand but he can ask the question um but we can't engage in a substantive discussion while the motion is pending uh it is a procedural question Ed I I assumed it was a procedural question okay the procedural question is this I believe this ordinance was drafted by your Law Firm was were distributed to this council at least the handful of the council members and there was a email going out from clerk to distribute to the entire Council I don't know why everyone doesn't have the copy but with that assumption my understanding as a process if any council member would like to introduce ordinance or the resolution even if the council president doesn't agree by process it can go under the clerk if the again if the ordinance or resolution is drafted by the attorney who represents the council if it is drafted then it's a formal process that it should be go under the clerk however this didn't go in spite councilman's request so my procedural question is yes anyone can move the motion on the table provided that ordinance or resolution was not given to any council member and I'm coming out of pocket and doing trying to do something fishy I get that that's where you introduce you have second you can roll call you can on a agenda but if there is an email going out by a council person I don't know why we can't respect the opinion of the council colleague and not put that on the agenda not necessary anywhere under any head but under the clerk that's my question to proced question I I'll be honest I'm not entirely certain that I followed what the actual question is so uh the question is if the council member requested an agenda to be drafted by the legal yes is it automatically assumed to be added to under the municipal clerk or does it go through the council president's uh authority to add it to agenda or not it is the council president's U prerogative to set the agenda for the meeting uh if you wish to uh either disrupt or add to that agenda it requires the vote okay so you're saying that this entire agenda council president has the ition that he can remove anything from the Department of planning engineering if he doesn't agree as far as I'm aware I am allowed think so I don't think this Council has ever done anything that if the council colleague is requesting and we don't agree we put that under the clerk there is a reason for that the reason is because clerk work for the entire Council not just for council president I mean as I we have done that many times as I discussed earlier I was asking council member bresser to delay this so it is My Prerogative to ask and that is my this yeah but either way do would do you like to second I would second this ordinance all right uh so there is a motion by councilman brusher second by councilman batil to repeal ordinance 2215 I will take any comments or questions on this councilman pressure okay council president um this is an ordinance that we put in um that wasn't explained uh very well to us as as to the need or the want I can assume what the what the needs are for this um this had to do with rental properties here in Edison um there were issues with it um the way it came up the way that we we went and voted on it there were some questions I think I had um when it first came out because I didn't have enough time to look at it subsequent after that uh I found out that we were going to have a potential lawsuit and we were going to be sued by I don't know 50 different entities 80 okay well at that point I became concerned so I asked legal to draft me up an ordinance I believe I waited over two months to get this ordinance of which then caused litigation to actually occur from the time that I asked to the time that this happened of which whatever the arguments are legally right should be something that to me Council should have looked at to me this whole process here was flawed not one council member asked for this to be put up the administration asked to be put up for this to be put up the administration cannot create laws the administration can ask this body to create laws the administration should the mayor should have called council president and said I have a problem council president being council president should have formed the committee in forming that committee the council people should have went through reviewed with the attorney other laws that there are in other towns okay but that's not what we did here what we did here was we allowed the mayor to play councilman and not play one councilman but play four because he has the votes so we allowed the mayor to create a law that created a lawsuit that then I wanted to repeal and we didn't because I couldn't get it from our legal team until after we were already served notice of being sued so question to the legal team is what have you expended in time so far defending this ordinance and getting prepared for your court on Wednesday okay because I think that's kind of important that we know what you're CoStar to date okay um the second thing that I have is here we got a letter about a affordable housing I hope every council person read it okay the people that live in some of these apartments are not the wealthiest individuals that we have in this town but by us creating a law that's going to they believe they're going to charge the um land owners an extra $100 and the land owners aren't going to pass that along to the renters I mean that's what happens in life government pushes cost and then that cost gets put back on the residents so here we have a cost of I believe it was $100 at the time so I what I'm looking at is we're increasing everybody's rent in Edison by $100 and and I almost think that rent here is is unaffordable in fact we all receive letters to try and support being affordable housing um so that's another problem that I have with this so as opposed to paying our attorney um 50,000 100,000 whatever it is to try and work out the details on this with the 50 or 80 people that have sued the township at this point or or are going to go to court over it before we spend all this money I think this body should do what this body is designed to do and this body should create create a law the first step in creating a law would be to eliminate this law that I believe was a mistake I believe it's flawed um there's implications that I I don't believe that this Administration or this mayor or actually any town I can even go to Woodbridge and take John McCormack I don't think John McCormack can inspect all these places in the time period that we allowed in our ordinance I I think it's impossible to be done so I was that's why I was asking for this to be repealed um and I didn't understand why I felt I was being styed um and I talked about it at the last meeting because I asked for like over a month must be two months to have this repealed and I couldn't seem to get it um and then I did get it right before that meeting I mean it was apparent when I went back and read those emails it came that day but to me here you know we're fleecing residents um we're fleecing residents we're making it an impossible thing for us to enforce and the way we drafted it is just wrong so I'd like to see it repealed I'd like to see council president for a committee I'd like to see them get the input from from the mayor's office and I'd like to see this body actually act like a council a body that actually creates laws so that's why I asked for this to be um an ordinance to P this thank you pres any other comments president yes the reason I will support this uh repeal of this ordinance first thing is you know I don't think we have a Manpower even to enforce we just heard we are not able to enforce the illegal truck parking it's happening under our nose for over more than a year now we are talking about thousands of Apartments inspected they were charging the fees we don't have the Manpower so this is technically and practically impossible to enforce so the question is why would we go the route that some of the I would say most of the ordinance we don't enforce but this particular ordinance that's going to cause thousands of residents their rent will go up by $100 I don't think it's $100 councilman it's going to be council president it's going to be more than $100 because every single inspection Township will find something they will get to run around for the inspection the landlord is going to lose time in repair that will cause more drain of their capital and that cost will be passed back to the tenant ultimately you are not expecting $100 it could be upward $3 $400 we don't know and that's why you know we need to think thoroughly again I agree that if we can form a committee look at the the loopholes the possibility what what C what we can enforce without impacting the landlord without impacting uh tenants uh that when it's win-win situation tion so that's the reason I'm supporting this repeal ordinance thank you council president thank you Council Patel um Council po um question to Legal so we have a hearing on Wednesday just thinking out loud here say it gets introduced and it has to go till October 9th for second reading from there there's 20 days until the appeal itself would actually be enforceable now I guess a does an adjustment to the ordinance with it in litigation right now like does that have any bearing or is I'm sorry councilman um this entire conversation puts me in a difficult position uh mostly because it is current in active litigation um it's been said I think three times already uh there is a um an initial Court conference on Wednesday morning um that um is essentially the the initial conference with the uh the judge opposing Council I know that there are have been attempts to set up a meeting with Council for the plaintiffs in this matter um but what you're asking me um is essentially to provide you with a legal summary and opinion uh which is inadvisable in open court um at this or sorry in an open meeting second time uh at this time um it could uh greatly impact uh any kind of position that we take let me uh ask a followup question not directly related to that because I understand the constraints I appreciate the explanation the findings or the actual proceedings from Wednesday's meeting is that something that this body could become privy to after the hearing or the meeting occurs uh there's generally no there's no reason that you wouldn't be privy to it um that's something that we could go into a closed session and discuss uh we could add that to the agenda or call for it on Wednesday uh assuming that there is um reason to discuss or information to provide my thought process within I apologize for elaborating um is that if we are going to have that additional information on Wednesday and the effect of any repeal would be not for a month and a half and I'm approximating here and the actual registration aspect of the ordinance itself wouldn't take place until the beginning of next year might it behoove the council just to wait the extra and I I understand your frustrations I I really do in in what I'm suggesting here um but would it behoove us just to take that course of action because we will have much more information after Wednesday's meeting in regards to any potential modifications to what was previously proposed um as well as potentially reducing our risk from discussing in this forum uh yes and that was the recommendation that I made prior to the meeting wait council president let me ask the attorney because um my Council colleague made a statement that you're going to go to court on Wednesday our meeting is after that you could have a closed session with us in the back so we could add this to the agenda today on Wednesday if these great ideas pan out like um council president or the attorney seem to believe right I myself will vote no on this on Wednesday but but if if nothing really happens subsequently right and there's nothing of really Merit there you move forward with this this is a bad law that was created councilman and I I would really hope that you would support that that um as opposed to litigate thank you any other Council comments council president I don't think we are first time we are in this situation many times in the litigation this Council was forced to pass an ordinance or the resolution so that we can go in the settlement if you add this on today's agenda I'm pretty sure your Wednesday's meeting will be much smoother because the The Entity that has sued Edison Township will know that this Council has good intent to work and resolve this again you might laugh but again we we I'm telling you you know if this would have introduced last month uh last council meeting would have been much better shape but if we show the progress that we are willing to work that would change the equation again this is not the first time in last 10 years I will tell you we have done this many times and in fact it's your Law Firm many times we have been in a close session I've been discussed about if you do this we'll be able to better result the lawsuit again any other council member council president Council Michel so I believe this ordinance was put in place to enhance the quality of life for the residents of the apartments uh that are in Edison but I I agree with Council ptil where with thousands of apartments and only three inspectors I don't think we have the infastructure to service this ordinance so so I would like to see this ordinance fixed up a little bit changed up uh as is I I I don't think it works for us as as a Township um and and unless someone tells me otherwise I I would support repealing this ordinance is it per okay uh as for me I would like to not add this to the agenda as we had discussed this in the past there's a reason why we need to do the inspections as you pointed out Council Mel we need to do the inspections because there's a lot of times that there's a gap where there has not been a change in residents for a long period of time and we need to ensure especially since there were some incidents like fire and the collapse of the roofs those are the reasons why we need to do this so that our residents are not in danger going forward also in an emergency situation we don't have the data needed as to who lives there any of that record is I believe at another entity which we have to request and it's a bureaucratic process which slows down the whole help that we can give to the residents so again I believe the Council made the right decision in the past and this is a discussion we can have but I don't want to rush it and again this is something I also asked Council M brusher not to rush it especially since the legal it was going through their motion again we can have the discussion but I don't believe this is the right time to add it to the agenda I'm willing to let the legal case play out we we'll see how it goes but I do believe in the past the council had made the right decision and we should not be second guessing ourselves so with that said Council to make a remark the com you mind if I get a little air time on this one yes counc cour council president first thanks and uh I'm listening to my Council colleagues uh I disagree um and I am open to listen to my Council colleague Assa Shu I'm waiting uh for a few reasons first uh this course is passed on to the landlord um is it enough cost to hire a team to go out there I don't have that answer but I do know is we are covered by rent control so anybody who does live in in an apartment is not going to get this P this cost passed on to them immediately is there a possibility over over some time yes I can't control that but when this was passed uh we had some issues with different apartment complexes and their year and age and time uh and we've had more since then so there's got to be a threshold of where we want places properly inspected or self- inspected or some type of comparable engineering report that should be provided uh we have places that are you know 75 plus years old so uh I'm open to see making sure that the public is safe uh at what cost I don't I don't have the answer where uh this ordinance makes that enforcement but uh obviously there's never a cost that uh that's valued against human life though so I'm open to waiting I'm listen to the sentiments of my Council colleagues but I I am voting no to put this on the agenda today thank you pres counc I'd like to move the motion to extend the meeting for another half an hour uh sure may I have a second second all right that's a motion by councilman Patel second by Council appointer to extend the meeting to 9:30 9:30 yeah now let let me make a quick comment you know before we proceed for the word oh so do we have to call allend meting to 9:30 9:30 all in favor I I okay council president the the comment that made is we want resident to be safe I get it but I hope I used to be an HOA president so I can tell you the process every five years there's a state INSP inspection just uh before we start we might have to vote because we can't do another motion while are we in the middle of another motion can we does anyone on the does anyone on the council object to taking this out of order during the middle of the motion no okay and then procedurally we can do so in order to actually extend the time for the meeting because technically we will be violating the ordinance if we go for another 30 seconds okay so we are good then at the same time CC president can some of these discussions could go to discussion items only because I think this is I I think this I agree but I think this is for the vote for the adding of the agenda so we have to have this discussion go ahead Council presid you know every five year there is a state inspe for all the HOAs there is a fire inspection our Township is involved in doing that so it's not that we are talk about stranger for years these units are not expected we do inspect every five years okay every time the tenant changes they do apply and our again the inspector go and look at the units for the safety measures so any claim if someone is saying that our units are not safe we don't have the data completely wrong do you think that someone will not apply or if the tenent chain that's possible regardless of that you know some of those things will happen so the claim that our resident needs to be safe and that's what we are doing I want to make sure that our residents are safe those units are inspected every five year our fire department goes there the DCA goes there they're inspected they are well every time the tenant changes the is our health department goes they do their due diligence they do check or even fire department go so it's not that the the residents I don't want to scare them their safety is in danger so just want to make make it clear that this ordinance has no bearing as far as the safety is concerned only my question there was about the cost thank you council president U okay any other Council comments before I make my final comments and take a roll call uh just I do believe safety is an issue we did have an issue where the roof fell down and we did not have the information we needed and this ordinance will help us with that and with that said may I have the roll call whether or not to add the repeat appeal of ordinance 2215 204 2024 to the Wednesday agenda I hope the council agrees that we made the right decision in the past and votes this down thank you council member brusher yes council member coil no council member Harris yes council member ptil yes to repeal council member pointer stain council member schmuel yes council president Patel no one two three yeses and four yeses no we have the we have the votes three three now you got brusher Harris and schmuel that's four yeah so it passes it adds so it passes to add to the agenda yep all right so this will be ordinance under unfinished business for next Wednesday it'll be for in introduction for first reading introduction intruction for first reading okay and can we also add a close session for this Wednesday all right uh continue Council M BR okay the um ordinances right I spoke about that prior um for four minutes um okay May reimbursement um we we all read the article that the that the mayor is going to reimburse the town for taking uh the police officers to Chicago on the vacation but how do we know number one from legal because when we accept money this body approves it right and when we expend money this body approves it so how do we know what we expend it and how do we know the mayor paid it back I'm going to actually defer to the administration um believe that the check was already received uh from the mayor's office uh covering all of the costs associated with um with the security detail that's true well okay but so we don't need to this body does not need to approve funds that get expended or funds that get the the mayor has a security detail um that that's them doing their job uh we don't authorize every paycheck so I'm not sure what the well the question is because they weren't doing security for the mayor on a personal trip that's illegal this is called theft of service if the mayor wants the oil Chang in his car and this Township pays for it that's theft of service if the mayor takes 5,000 pens from upstairs for his own personal use that's theft of service so we should be made aware this body somehow should be made aware and I'll I'll say this at every discussion item for the next year I need to have the credit cards that were spent on the gas I want to see the mileage on the vehicles I want to see the airplane tickets I want to see the officer payroll Ro okay if not I'm going to go down and sit in front of Matt pl's office and demand that they get it for me and and that's what I'll do I mean eventually somebody's going to look at this and cover it but how do I know and I as a councilman I need to know the mayor took money that did not belong to him it belonged to the taxpayers okay I have to see where this goes that's my job and if the administration and our attorney are going to cover it up then I'll bring that up to Matt plins too is where I'm going with it so I want this information I'd like to have it by next week I'd like a counting of it I'd like a picture of the check that he sent I'd like to see that it was deposited okay this isn't just going to end this is something that will continue and if I don't have it by next week like I said then I'll be down at the Attorney General's office number one or I'll be and the chief's office filing a complaint um but it's not going to end until I see this paperwork and I want to see the credit cards also I'd like to see who signed for these credit cards authorizing this fuel to be spent to go to Chicago flooded areas do we have a update on the flooded areas on like are we bidding that area where we have by Calbert and that is that out for bid or Sonia oh Ryan you can come on sorry for jumping the gun there uh caldav and those drainage areas are not out to bid uh the getting we're having trouble with the last attorney to get copies of some of the easement so we can complete the submission to D we while we purchase the easements we don't have physical copies of the easements so we're working with the old attorney to get them get copies of them when do you think the reason why we asked was that this was a project that was designed by an engineer right right that we had to get signatures from from all these people for their easements and it was done and then what we did was we switched Mayors right one mayor didn't run and we elected a new mayor and then in 3 years years right three years the end of this year will be three years um this mayor and his administration haven't been able to get the project going that the other mayor had all these things signed off on and done and the engineering for it so I'm I'm wondering when this Administration is actually going to have this out to bid is where I'm going with it do we have a date until I have those easements in hand I can't give you an accurate date the plans are ready to go the forms are ready to sign we just need the easements in hand so we can get it to De then through our legal can you get a hold of the legal that's getting us these easements and these these signatures and find out I can talk to you after the meeting and get you the contact information yeah I mean you have my contact information but yeah tell me who you're working with and I'll make sure that whatever be done give me an update like at the next meeting okay thank you um leaf bags I I heard about um that were given that x amount of leaf bags and and I Sonia I did speak to you and you were very informative but I I have to just ask formally so everybody's going to get x amount of leaf bags and while some people um some some Council people even like I've been to their homes and and I've see that they have three or four trees right I have like 50 trees I pay more taxes even probably so the allocation of leaf bags if somebody comes and they have 50 trees are we only going to give them the same amount that we're going to give to someone else so Council M Brer as we spoke um if a resident would like more bags due to the you know um level of trees that they have we certainly be happy to help them with more bags I don't see it being an issue right I thank you and and right Sonia did give me the information before but I think it's important that the public um gets it because I was asked that question um so that's why I as long as we have enough bags I don't see why we wouldn't be able to give bags out all right thank you very much uh dear study I'm going to save for our next meeting uh the youth funding formula I know that that was something that you're kind of still working on right but is there any way possible that we could allocate um an increase to youth funding for this year and and let me just tell you where my thought goes um inflations went up first of all youth funding we have not increased in like 15 years so so they deserve something but all the employees got raises right we do this for everybody is there a way that we could just maybe just increase by a percentage youth funding um for this year until we get the formula worked out for next year we can certainly take a look at it um part of the youth funding assessment was actually looking to see what the um attendance if you will of these different leagues and there was significant decrease in one increase in the other so um I I can't speak to In terms if we if we can increase it um only because this is all a really big variant and based on some some sports just really had a huge decrease some were defunct at a certain point um so we'll need to talk we can I'd certainly like to set up an appointment with you to just to go over the findings all right I I'll contact you um well this week I'll give you a call for that uh toad Center um I said I drove by the toad Center it seemed like no one was working on it and I was under the impression we were moving forward uh can you just tell me can explain to the public what you told me we're going to do now for the toad Center sure so with the asbest remediation that was complete on the 18th uh what we are doing now is groundwater monitoring it is required by D and that needs to be done for some time um I can maybe Brian May know more or less the timeline of the tow Center and the groundwater monitoring first week of November is the predicted response from DP um we need that clearance in order to go in and complete the and do all of the construction okay thank you name of parks kind of did that before um I'm going to skip to K employee compensation because bamboo ordinance was something I was looking for some input um from the rest of my colleagues um employee compensation I I know that we have unions here right everybody's governed by their Union contract the ones that aren't part of the Union um like I I don't believe the police chief is or the ba right but they have uh contracts themselves um that dictate you know what your jobs and Duties are that you have and and and I get that and that should be in you know like a profile for whatever the job description might be but last meeting when I was here I watched um I think we had like 12 residents and then I ended up having something like 12 people from DPW now I do know we have our employees come here and the employees are here um to help the ba and to help the council answer questions my question was really with all the DPW people because you know like I'll see we have uh taxes and we have so we we have like one person from each department but DPW we have like a small army I would say um and my my question and this would probably be the legal is if I were an employee in DPW right and this wasn't in my contract that I had to come to these meetings right because I'm a union member and I feel like I'm forced or um I need my job or whatever it might be but I don't say anything right cuz I want to keep my job um and then I retire next year and can I go to the Department of Labor and put a claim in for all the hours that I spent here in Council chamber not getting paid when I'm a union employee that has governed by a wage scale and hypothetically um if you were being being forced to perform work regardless of whether you're DPW or or any other Township employee uh and you're not being compensated for it then yes you can file a complaint with the Department of Labor uh I don't I'm not sure I understand well no here's my question is there an allegation that the DPW workers are being forced to come here and not compensated or well I I don't believe they're being paid or compensated to be quite honest with you um but are you are they being forced to come here that that that's a concern that I have but based on what you said um so so right so so here's my question I mean the the one guy that has that has his job likes his job right he's going to stand up and say he's not um but like Sonia Sonia knows that part of her job right is to be the ba of the town and to attend Council meetings is where I'm going it's not in their Union contract is where I'm going to attend a union uh account I I believe that the ba um is required to be here as part of uh her job uh the department heads that are here are probably be here hourly employees they're salary compensated and they're required to be here as part of their job um but I I'm still very confused as to why you believe that there's anyone being forced to be here unpaid um I I don't know I'm just saying if one is right if one is and somebody retires next year and they come here and they put a claim in the Department of Labor might have us pay everybody that's been here right and then what's going to happen wait not necessarily but but they could right they definitely could if they found out that it was a violation and then even though we had the one person that said you know what I don't want to be home with my wife and children right like the council people up here I know want to cut everybody's time to 4 minutes so we can get home to our wives and children but as an employee at Edison I don't want to be with my wives and children or anybody in my family I would rather be here listening to you councilman brusher right I just don't think that's the truth no matter how much they might stand up and say it so my concern is yes if their Union contract if it's not in there that's a concern for me for further uh lawsuits or litigation in the future when somebody retires and say that they felt they were than they had to we like our fire chief or police chief I know that you know it's it's expected of them to go to a council meeting but the regular Union employees I just didn't feel that way that's all and again I'll I'll repeat um if that was the case there would be issues with the unions themselves that there would be grievances filed so I don't believe it is it's the same point it's right I I asked the question it's on the record right when it happens and you're down at uh Marboro and I come to the council meeting of Marboro and say that I said but we got sued right it's just for the record that's all that I'm saying okay now for the real one bamboo ordinance um we all received a a letter an email about a bamboo ordinance um because it's an invasive species so Lou sent us um an ordinance from another town that that did sound kind of nice I was talking with Sonia and she said that we have an evasive species um type of ordinance and that I was unaware of because I haven't read that but I heard that it was illegal to have bamboo and Edison it's not illegal it's not illegal right and and the reason why is it is so invasive that it can grow like under your neighbor yards and then they have an issue with it uh from what I understand and Sonia correct me uh as as long as on state is not marked as an invasive species neither in Edison it is considered uh invasive species in other states and we could I think we could do it as a Township level to add bamboo as an invasive species yes and we can ban it from being you know grown in Edison Township so that is something we can do and I think environment commission is advising that we do that so we are looking to already attempt to do that uh Council leoun I to interrupt we're talking about two different species okay Bamboo which is understate it is an evasive species the second point I obviously don't want to steal councilman pointer Thunder I'll let him take care of that but to councilman uh bresser's point I will forward you the information um through our health department that um supports your understanding of the bambo and a potential ordinance so is it legal or legal in Edison I'll let legal answer that question there's nothing specifically in the code against it however if it's l is an invasive species by the state for specific types of it then it shouldn't be here it should be subject to removal um the ordinances that we've looked at I believe um address one of two options which is complete um nullification of its uh planting uh although there are many benefits to uh certain types of bamboo um or alternatively there are certain requirements that you can impose for its planting that create barriers so that it cannot spread so that it can only be in certain areas um it it spreads through its root system not through more traditional means um so it is possible to uh contain it so that that's why there's there's options okay and and that's where I was going was I I was leaning more towards the containment right not saying that if you like the look of it that you can't have it but that you liking it shouldn't affect your neighbors um type of thing I think is there um I think we can take this offline and have a bigger discussion on this particular ordinance and if you're interested we can put something on T okay okay uh are you done with your discussion all right Council BR is done councilman Coyle and actually before we continue Council m i see that we only have 10 minutes so maybe we can get a motion to increase by I'll be I'll be one and a half minutes may I get a motion to extend it to 10 p.m. motion to move second extend the meeting to 10 p.m. second all right so that's a motion by councilman pel to extend to 10 and second by Council vice president and all in favor all right councilman thank you counc president and thank you coun br for yielding some of the night left uh being 9:20 maybe I'll see my grand children thank you but uh and I'll keep it brief I'm going to skip four or five things on my list and go to what's most important here which is affordable housing and um I just asked my colleagues if we could all unite together to work on affordable housing today it was said to be at a local McDonald's today and see uh a lady and her autistic son homeless um on the border of Edison in the piscato area I just said a sad moment uh to see them confused and being with an autistic boy who um who can't speak you know but he certainly understood fear uh and I was lucky to be able to talk to them and see if what help I can offer um so affordable housing is important not just for those who are homeless for those who just can't afford uh the price of rent today and there's certainly more work we can do when I sit at this St and listen to the six minutes of the res residents uh it is important what they have to say what but what I don't hear enough of is other topics that are that concern residents who are listening here today looking at us right now we heard a lot about uh certain sections of the town but we don't hear enough about affordable housing and so many other subjects I can get into you know opioid suicide Public Safety uh we just talk about uh a few items which we should start to see how we can change that here at the Council um next I just want to bring up our Economic Development again I ask our my Council colleagues to strongly uh get involved in Economic Development to wo some people to the area I'm working to ask the administration to see if we can spend any dollars on a consultant um and see how we can bring some people to this uh town in another business to fulfill a Stop and Shop or to fulfill bacon store and to bring in some specialty opportunities to this town when we talk about economic development these things are truly important when a downtown suffers and vacant stores become uh sitting idle that's a problem for your neighborhood it's a big problem when I sit back here and listen to some residents talk about using large vocabulary and dangerous words about what is bad for a community I'm shocked to hear that a $9 million building would be a a hurt to a community what hurts Community is vacant stores vacant stores vandalism graffiti um and or enforcement that hurts the community so I hope we can get behind economic development for the reasons it helps communities and I ask my Council colleagues to look into that and last I just want to thank some Departments of course we thank public uh Public Works enough but I don't uh I still love them but I definitely want to give a shout out to the SE M Department what they do for this town and how much they've grown uh since the birth of that department thank you Council council president all right we'll skip over me right now and uh councilman councilman P ptil yeah while I start my questions you know Marina if you can please distribute the letter that I to to all the council members Marina comp Marina that again he was talking I said can you please distribute the letter I did already perfect thank you I don't have the copy of that so uh let me start with the first one 2024 tax delinquency it's coming up very quickly fairly quickly uh most of the town in state of New Jersey do use real auction.com uh we are the fifth largest town in state of New Jersey we don't we still go through the manual Excel se you know people come to the town hall ask for the information and we do is there any reason who can answer this question is there a reason we are not going with state of art technology that is proven again I'm not talking about state of New Jersey but is entire us that use most of the towns use the real auction.com anyone can answer yeah councilman uh there are several options for people to pay their taxes they could mail them in they could sign up for automatic deduction from their bank accounts a payments they could pay online uh so we have a number of different question is different this is for the tax sale oh the tax sale yes we are in 21st century I think you know Edison has a large portion of Technology people they live in town why we are not using real auction.com for tax sales I brought this up many times and I'm asking again because we are closer to the tax Sal season now yes we are getting into the tax sales season uh We've looked into it the tax collector's opinion was that it was better to manage given the volume of appe appeals that we handle it internally so that we have everything recorded properly uh rather than do both inperson uh submissions and online submissions you don't need inperson submission if this will be completely automated process well it's a good point and we will look into it again and I will get back to you if you any information I'll be happy to explain the way we did with the payroll system thank you the second one uh this is something Sonia you need to help me because I do see the in the dispersement detail uh there's a funds contributing or coming out of the trust fund uh this was discussed you know who manages this trust fund and is this under Council jurisdiction or this is just a block of funds Administration can can take the donation and spend the money at will how how this is managed it's it's managed through finance and it's in a trust account and it would spending would be deducted from that understood who manages the trust fund Finance We the finance will manage it but you know who is the authority oh well we have Recreation so who puts the events together okay are those line atems coming to the council agenda for the anything that is spent of the trust fund because this is directly indirectly taxpayers money is that being added on the council agenda anything on the bill list obviously um some of the contracts that if they're above a certain Threshold at one point when we win out for lighting that was one of them um those Union um outside uh Union agreements who did some of the work for example uh with Winter Wonderland putting those Huts together you know that came before the council so yes this all at some point comes to the council yes but those are class those are that's a money coming out of the trust fund yes sir yes okay Ken the question for you is as a part of the budget is this tax fund trust fund not a tax fund trust fund details are outlined it's outside of the budget because it's a dedicated expense the donations coming in can only be used for those speci c ified activities understood but again the donations are coming in into the trust fund this Council has no transparency who is donating for what cause but there is a potential chance for pay to play and this is one of the blanket I see the trust fund that is not transparent the budget you know I can go line by line item and see where the revenue is coming from so is there a way that you can expose the details of the trust fund maybe you can give probably the details saying who donated in 2023 2022 2024 what was spent from Individual summary sort of things um just for the record P to play and attorney can correct me if I'm wrong does not apply to donations well I I think what the councilman is is saying is that U he his concern is that it is an endr run around that procedure by putting money into the trust fund rather than uh into other venues that it could be used as a quck pro quo of some kind I think that's what he's he's concerned about and I I'm not sure how that would work um but that that seems to be the concern okay there's there's a mechanism for tracking we track the events and any cost so okay here is what I'm asking can you give me the list of the donors 2022 2023 2024 with a dollar amount with their name of course and any expenses again I'm looking summary I'm not looking 100 page document for which donation account we have donation accounts for recreation for health for across the board across the board shelter anything that goes in trust fund okay right so we'll give you a report of all of our trust counts how about that I appreciate that the next question is the taxpayer contribution and that again ties when you give me the report also give me the report how much tax Fair fund was was used for entertainment purpose because this trust fund is specifically most of the time we are spending the money from that but how much taxpayers money also went into the entertainment the events I'm calling as an event or entertainment that yes again 22 23 you know if you can give me that data and if you want I can prepare an Excel document send it to you get that for you perfect sounds good 2023 paying list and again I would like to bring up the letter if the council members have do have a quorum by the way okay two consum are not there this is about the 2023 Paving Leist the S the question is 2023 Paving Leist that you gave it to me thank you for that that we are using for this year if you look at the letter that mayor sent again 2023 Paving list for 2023 Paving the Capital amount was approved by this body right that will be spent in 2024 2024 Capital 2025 under what circumstances mayor will not think through who who voted for that capital and will send a letter to resident or the neighborhood saying that these are the council member who supported the his C project that was for 2024 nothing to do with 2023 Paving right but he excluded because on the record I did support last year so he chose to ignore this this is I would call as a more of a PR or political campaign if mayor send this with his paid for by mayor josi I have no problem he should not be using the township seill he shouldn't be using Township taxpayers money to send the political mailer to the taxpayer especially stating the name of the council member and that is the question I ask you do we have the list of all the mailers that go out from May's office that are vetted by you or by the council president validating the facts whether we are telling the truth to the residents uh any communication that comes from the mayor comes strictly from the mayor not it wouldn't come from okay so mayor is acting like a correct supreme power using tax fund for a political purpose correct and this Council has no jurisdiction there is a letter you know every council member has it just put your hand on your soul and say that is this the right thing for the mayor to do it I will say that mayor should reimburse any money that he has spent on this political mailer because he has sent it to Across the neighborhood all the streets you know probably you know most of the people will send me the copies but I did receive few copies of that so again this is more or less political propaganda using taxpayers money giving a wrong information again if had it been a factual it's a different thing this is the first mayor who is using taxpayers money for prop political propaganda sending a wrong things I call those out light bless you thank you when somebody sneeze I call it the truth and that's a truth that may light there again I'm the question is to all the council member you know think through when you come to Wednesday meeting I'm going to make the comments as well on this one the next one is uh Mr Bal your service I think you know I will if you allow you know admission if you allow me to have the offline conversation I would like to understand the process his services to the township his services to the applicant I can have that offline conversation I don't want you to be on the podium for that if you allow me to do that not not a problem at all thank you I appreciate that next one nison Township Finance audit you know question to K you know who does this audit pkf o Conor Davies was appointed earlier this year at the organization meeting to conduct our audit thank you do they do the audit you for the trust fund they audit the everything trust fund operating accounts grants Etc perfect is there a separate binder for each of those because we I used to to get probably we used to get the the audited report that would move more than one binder yeah you you'll be receiving the order reports for the next council meeting next council meeting yeah they would just completed would you include the thrust fund audit as well yeah the trust fund schedules are included in the audit report perect thank you for that Public Safety now question Chief I know your department always does a great job but I have some concerns I am not going on the other topic political topic here but North edisan substation we had good PR newsletter News Bulletin entire North Edis things we have the uh substation there I was there on the weekend in front of the substation the cars were parked lights were off inside lights cars were parked my question is do we have intent to operate that or it was just the spur of the moment we took some decision did a PR did a press conference mayor came out saying hey I'm taking I'm I'm the first mayor who is doing the uh North Edison substation is there a vitage to this not that it matters from the safety standpoint of you guys are doing a wonderful job I see the officers on the ground question is on the substation the reason I'm saying is I wish we would have used that money instead of PR instead of put that container there we could have used that money to buy more equipment for the police department uh councel I appreciate the kind words thank you my staff does a great job as you know as you all know um there is um a detective sign there police officer sign there to obviously Aid the residents if they don't want to travel all the way to South Edison um to the municipal building to file a report so they can actually go there it's much more convenient um and again as I stated in the past there's we have uh different we have many bureaus within the division of police we have Street crimes unit we have detective Bureau we have um police strategic operations that are going on around the clock so that is also a place for them to stop um I believe that's your question you're you're wondering why it's not staff 247 not 24 by7 first and last time I did ask on the same topic hours of operation I never got that Monday through Friday uh there is somebody staff there during the day and uh if we get a call to headquarters that a resident or someone else would like to meet an officer there off hours we accommodate them and we certainly do that also and again like I stated earlier we do have other officers stopping in there both a patrol unit uh with the marked patrol cars and also our detectives and Street crime unit um which would have um detective cars which are unmarked can you please tell me the hours of operation Monday to Friday what time to what time um I believe this is not for me but this is for the r we listening yeah yes believe from 7:00 to 4:30 perfect okay I'll make the random visits to see if it is operational thank you sir thank you thank you Son thank you council president thank you Council Patel Council vice president yes uh through Council president to councilman Brasher once upon a time we had a public Advocate subcommittee the end what happened in between as somebody once told me um committees or were all good ideas go to die but um on that note I I know that you did request that we put forward um an ordinance for the public advocate we were going to use uh councilman pointers um one I did look through my emails I did not find an ordinance that was drafted by councilman pointer what I did find was a bunch of um going I call it like notes to make an ordinance out of um and I did not send those notes to our Law Firm to make up an ordinance for for it actually um but I'd be more than glad if we said that we wanted to do the idel one or or if if councilman P remembers actually making the ordinance himself if if you could send me that because that's what I didn't have I had all those notes that you sent that I was able to find I couldn't find that email um I I'll I will definitely do that speaking for councilman pointer I am quite certain that he has he has that in his files that would that be correct coun pointer yes okay all right thank you um fronte house and this is where I need Ray poro um I understand there have been some problems and that it has been the work on it has been suspended and I'm wondering again through council president if I can have Mr poro come up and talk about counc vice president I can answer those questions please okay if you have any specific ones well I want I think we all want to know what's what's going on there have been rumors about asbest that there have been some studies done we're waiting for reports although I don't know how how long or why these reports are taking so long but uh we especially on the cultural arts commission are we have a lot of questions about this what questions in particular just the asbestos itself or we've it we've done some uh preliminary remediation we're working through some reports that's all I can answer in terms of the fante house can we find our understanding is that there were some employees who said they were getting sick I can't speak to Personnel matters can can can I so what can you speak to Sonia I don't understand we all want to understand what's going on with the fronte house when we can expect whatever reports need to come back about it is there any at this point it does not sound like it's going to be available we were hoping by maybe the end of this year but it sounds like that's uh that's probably not realistic I guess if there's more that you can tell us than this this is that's just so that's so generic and it's not even really an answer and so I think we all want to know what is what is going on was there is there some fear of asbest or something else we'd like to know why this work was suspended as I stated before there's an environmental study of the building being completed once we do find out what the remediation looks like um then we will let you know what the next steps are I know the chief of staff spoke to you regarding this and so there's nothing different that I can report that he reported is there a reason why this study is taking so long to come back why it seems to me this this work stopped quite a while ago now why is it taking so long for this for the results to come back just as an example with the toe Center uh there was aestus in that and it took a couple of months to get that done and so we're right now in the middle of doing all of that so it it does take a bit um especially if there's action that needs to be taken in terms of remediation time will someone give give me an update when that study comes back I don't want to have to keep asking and asking and asking when that study comes back and there's some status or some determination will somebody please let me know I can do that myself yes I appreciate that um back to the issue of masks and I am disappointed that with this having been put on the agenda and I had it on there that Wednesday's deadline line I am surprised and I'm disappointed that there is nothing in writing nothing legal that states what masks are permitted and what masks are not personally I think it's I think it's ridiculous I think Christo is is getting what he wants out of this which is to be thrown out of the meetings and it goes to his YouTube channel and the clicks and all of that stuff I don't know why we make such an issue out of this I think it if a woman came in a Muslim woman came in willing wearing a full burka would you be asking her to remove part of that that burka so that she could be seen so whether he's wearing this cloth the cloth mask or the whatever this this other mask is um I would like to see it just seems like this is so arbitrary and subjective about him being taken out for wearing that mask could we please as soon as possible be given the legal whatever is is down in legal ease about what masks are permitted and what masks are not could we please get that certainly okay soon please because I I I was hoping that this would be here and available for this meeting and it's not and I'm going to keep asking about this uh I'm going to skip over festivals and go to we we had on the cultural arts commission had asked about a line item on the budget for the cultural arts commission for when we get donations where to put that and I don't believe we've ever gotten an answer to that you did ask that before and what any donations stated is goes through a trust account so uh a trust account is is that a line item in the budget as stated before we have various trust accounts so it would go into uh we can set up a trust account we can put it into a recreation trust account delineate it so that if if it's specific to Cultural Arts we can certainly make that distinction so but any donation goes into a trust account it can't go into our operating account all right uh I think we would like to have a separate designation for Cultural Arts then we could yeah as soon as we get any sort of donation if there you're anticipating one yes uh please send that to uh Ken and I and we can make that a we can make that set up thank you that'll be it council president thank you Council vice president councilman pointer thank you council president I'd actually offer councilman Shu if you'd like the chance to speak because I have a couple items I know you have one so I'll be very quick sure that's okay yeah Council councilman pointer Council M so um in light of uh of the the format an ordinance and and Council vice president's comment uh about public speaking I I I haven't formulated this yet uh and I'm going to speak about a little more but for the time being I wanted to uh Flo the idea to this Council about having a a town hall meeting with the residents on hot bun items uh anything that could pertain to us make help us do our jobs better uh where we have open dialogue it could be monthly quarterly um but I'm going to formulate this I'd like to speak to everybody individually and and and get the temperature and and come back to this Council and to the public with uh with some information thank you Council M Council appointed thank you council president um I'm going to kind of hop around if that's okay first to uh legal regards to item C the mobile digital advertising I know earlier this year we passed the billbo ordinance and in there it says that off premise mobile advertising is not permitted the question that I have is I was driving down 287 and the truck itself that the company worked for had TVs on all the walls it was literally a moving advertisement and I'll I'll gladly share the video um it's crazy quite honestly I want to make sure that what we have in our code would actually enforce against that because to me that promotes distracted driving and would be of detriment to the township but would that so are you saying that that they were driving on public road and they had adver it was on to I 287 and specific to off premise billboard word advertising I know it's very nuanced right if if you're promoting a business that's offsite right that's off premise advertising I just want to make sure I I know by definite I guess any traveling thing is off premise but I just I personally think I don't think we will have the jurisdiction to mandate that so that that's kind of what the issue is um we can limit advertising within the township on Township property and on property within the township mobile mobile advertising actually presents kind of a unique challenge because there's not a whole lot of studies on whether or not it's distracting or creates an issue um there's conflicting information uh a lot of those things just get kind of tuned out in the general flow of traffic uh so it's hard to tell uh the secondary issue is that mobile advertising would likely fall under do jurisdiction for what can be done and enforced which means that as a Township we might be precluded from even taking that action um it's it's relatively new and it is something I think to keep an eye on and definitely to keep an eye on how how it's being dealt with um but taking action at it at this point is is somewhat premature uh just personal anecdote I was absolutely distracted um ordinances for consideration we've discussed plenty on ordinances uh tonight uh committee commissions and board vacancies I understand from a technical standpoint that certain boards even if a term is expired you have to keep the name on because technically they can still serve postterm expiration the ethics board is an example from last year so I understand that you can't remove it however what I would ask the clerk's office to do is that on that list create a column at the end and just put Aster that hey this term has been expired or that there's a vacancy because then you'll know exactly where to look at for uh those potential openings I can provide an example if needed um Township density future projections and planning the board of education has a demographic study that they do to uh project out the future student population of their schools do we need to extend the time or uh yeah I think we should um after after you it's okay get done now can I I'll be brief can I motion to Extended to 10:15 10:30 1010 just in case 1010 so motion by councilman pointer for extending it to 10 30 and second all right second all in favor I all right all right you can again I'll I'll try to be uh brief um the board of education does that for their student population I'm wondering if we have any Avenues to do similar projections within the township example we can project out that hey this Cape Cod that's in my neighborhood may be developed over time and with that development may increase the bedrooms from three to four bedrooms or three to five bedrooms right we can kind of take previous historical records in regards to conversion rates and just have a projection out because that will help us plan out for traffic it'll help out planning for COA obligations um so I do see a benefit where that information would help the Township in terms of uh planning if it's not just on us this is something that I'm sure the economic developer would be able to situate my final item is in regards to additional uh potential council meeting procedure modifications um I'm just going to list off a couple first combined meetings I think we should just have that codified in our code book because right now as we saw from earlier this year to now we were able to modified that but the regular and work session meetings are codified so to me it just madees sense to have combined meetings codified uh Item B in regards to work session meetings right now we start at 6 o' uh wondering if we'd be open to actually having it start at 7 I know many people that actually work until 5 536 so that starting time frame actually becomes a little difficult additionally in the work session meetings we have the oral petitions and remarks at the front of the meeting so you have to be here closer to that start time to ensure that that opportunity is present uh 2- 2.7 Item B all item all agenda items shall be submitted to the clerk by Wednesday I think we should modify that to be Tuesday or Monday so that way we have ample time to be able to get the agenda and do our due diligence 2-22 rules of debate in decorum item D the roll call shall be alphabetically uh I've seen this done at the Board of Education when they did for the their presidency and they have a blind vote so right now everything's sequential I mean honestly if I see no no no no no I might be incentivized to vote no even if I agree with it just because the numbers line up how they are we owe it to the residents to vote our conscience and our mind and I think that ad that modification would allow for that to happen um 2- 213 addressing the council uh I did have if we do modify it to four minutes to allow for Council to motion to extend it uh I did find out that this was added in a 2008 ordinance but it didn't go through so I'm not sure if that's technically legal to do or not it's just a item of uh can you repeat that sorry um so like Highland Park says that for their public comment 21 minutes 3 minutes per speaker right so they've established that 21 minutes is their time limit by this the suggestion would be if that were the rule whatever it is hey we don't want three minutes we want it to be four because whatever the topic is there right being able to modify by the vote uh I I think I understand what you're talking about and I will just say um that the potential for not even necessarily abuse but allegations of abuse of selectively entertaining certain viewpoints or over others um is uh really really problematic and that's have a fair fair response back [Music] um oral petitions remarks right now says that you have to if you want to have preference over other speakers you have to provide your your name ahead of time um not everyone may be aware of that rule right some people may come here and not be familiar that hey if I want to speak earlier on I have to write my name down uh I think that that may be problematic in some cases so I think we should look at that uh 2-27 amendments to rules of council if Item B is advisory in terms of us having to go to committee then why is it on the books it just just doesn't make sense and adds for confusion because we're being told that the state allows us to do this right but our code specifies differently now I'm not saying that we don't have the authority to do so in fact as I mentioned before the public Advocate ordinance that was first introduced early in October didn't follow our procedure there the ordinance that was introduced was not written by legal and it was motioned to be introduced uh and finally I know I'm going to get push back on this but discussion items started at 8:35 it's now 9:55 I had to wait over an hour having a time limit in terms of our own discussion as residents have pointed out may not necessarily be a bad bad thing so those are items of consideration I would be open to uh forming the subcommittee and doing the all the leg work with it but now would be thank you council president thank you Council poter um Council P make it quick please yep I will you know only two or three minutes the last one let me start with there is a reason we have the work sessione is it done you can't limit the time the work session meeting is meant to understand the backups and the questions and all that so it is I would say it's it's going to be that's why I said you know for public make it 10 minutes I have no problem I'm willing to hear them the second one is as far as the public Advocate why he didn't follow the process because mayor came out openly and say he's not going to support so of course our legal didn't act on it and they didn't trap the ordinance so only the choice for this Council has to trap an ordinance and send it to Legal so didn't we follow the process of course we followed the process but if there is no cooperation and that's why I keep saying the attorney works for the council clerk works for the council it's not just the council president or not just for the mayor and if you follow those protocol which was followed for years and years and years I don't know what happened last two and a half year we are literally going in a very different direction and I know the people do understand this thank you council president thank you p uh as for me I don't think time limit on the discussion ch no I still I'm sorry council president I apologize I didn't I didn't I didn't mean that great job Council poter the time limit discussion I think this is a council meeting to do Council business and I think it should be allowed for the council members to discuss but the other points I do agree with I think there there's some good suggestions about the combined meeting coding and the 6 p.m. to 7 P.M I come from Livingston it's really hard for me to make it in time uh so I completely agree with that one uh all of the agenda Tuesdays and Mondays I think that's a discussion to have with the administration because I'm not sure how the back end of that discussion happens yeah but yeah I think it's a great ideas and I definitely agree with the alphabetical or the blind vote I think that's a great suggestion um moving forward as for me uh moving on to pedestrian safety I think I'm going to combine A and C with this uh we had the sidewalk discussion multiple times and residents have come up multiple times to discuss sidewalks I want the legal to present us with the three options that were presented to us as to what the council can do and I think we need to make a decision and move forward we cannot let the decision paralysis keep going so if you don't mind please reshare the three suggestions that we had and I I hope the council can make a decision and move forward was was the memo that I sent out uh shared with the rest of the council it was but briefly some of you're asking a lot here um I I need to refer to the memo I know that there are very specific rules for how it's done one of which is I will continue with the other stuff till then okay uh for the bike paths uh Sonia any update on the Central app where are we stuck what can we need to do to move forward okay I submitted to you a narrative in terms of central a specifically on that bike path and um if you could just take a look at that um one of the issues was eliminating parking on Central so if you could just take a look at that plan and just give Brian or I a call to discuss it okay um with the other one where Brian is was working on a design so JC pnl is going to get our design on the other one so for the jcpnl we're we're going to give the design when will that be done eminently soon soon all right and once they get the design are we in the clear legal uh not entirely okay um because once they get the design they're going to have to review that design to make sure that it comports with whatever they have planned for it and uh I think as I've I've put forth before their legal team is um still reviewing uh they haven't given any positive feedback yet um what I do understand is that it is a very limited team that they have access to okay but if once we submit the design can we ask for a follow-up yes oh yeah yeah no no no we we we don't have any issue asking them for a followup and i' I've been on them it's that the person that I'm dealing with has no control over what the legal team in if I remember correctly Ohio does yeah okay so I will assume that the next work session we will have the design will be submitted and we would hopefully have an update from jcpnl as to what the status of it is uh and Central LA we discussed Redevelopment agency uh I know this is something that was on the agenda uh I do hope to re it's on the books I'm not sure if it was ever started I'm not sure when it got on the books but it is something I am looking to pursue as if we had the Redevelopment agency the agency can Target all the blight that is in Edison all the businesses all the empty lots that are not doing anything and not serving the residents of our town hopefully with the rment agency we can Target those areas we can start moving and I'm hoping it works in conjunction with the economic developer which I would like a status update on Sonia if you don't mind I'm guessing this an application out but we don't have any applicants nothing no applicants all right but I am hoping that we have an economic developer soon that can work with the Redevelopment agency and we can Revitalize a lot of the vacant Lots or blight around town and we can focus and specifically have an agency that does that and that will serve the residents by increasing our tax base hopefully we won't have to you know look at any ugly buildings moving forward now moving on to the three options for the sidewalks okay so uh essentially option number one is what goes on now uh which is we leave it up to the planning board um they make it a condition of approval for um you know applications before the planning board and charge it to the land owner or charge it to um the developer um that's pretty much what happens now without any uh Council action uh and um well I won't comment on that uh option number two would be what's essentially the local improvements law um which authorizes certain repairs gutters sidewalks uh all of that but um would require a study uh because that is done under a priority of needs basis so you would have to authorize a study in order to identify those areas of the township most in need um in order to then prioritize those needs uh the cost on that I believe um is usually [Music] uh funded by the property owners uh you would have to do special assessments so these studies will be done by Property Owners no the study would be have to be undertaken by the township okay the cost of the actual improvements themselves and can we use the sidewalk fund to help with that yeah okay no yeah so I'm sorry specifically yes but only for those properties that have donated okay so you would have to match up funds in order to figure that out yeah yeah okay so if you don't mind can you come to the podium so I can actually hear you because I I'm hearing a little bit and not completely so yeah I would rather have a good discussion thank you yeah council president our sidewalk ordinance says that if the planning board weighs them to put in the sidewalk the physical sidewalk they still have to pay the fee into the sidewalk fund but then that money can only be used to build sidewalks in front of that particular property 10 15 20 years from now which is kind of silly so one of the proposals was and hopefully we can do that with the new sidewalk ordinance is to say if you donate into the sidewalk fund then the town can use that money to repair sidewalk or put sidewalk in places in the township other than that particular piece of property okay so we can update that ordinance to just eliminate that contraction so that it opens it up to pretty much any property cuz if you go around town you can find that there's like sidewalk to like for a new house to a to a mound of dirt and then there's no sidewalk the stupidest thing I've ever seen and I've taking pictures and that's what the recommendation was okay so to eliminate that and then if you want to do wholesale sidewalk well that's something else that's an out of assessment that's something completely different but you could use the sidewalk funds that Mr Ray could use the funds to you know fix sidewalks in town because there a lot of sidewalks of the raise goes to the roots and things like that that need repair but the township doesn't have the money to do would that update on the ordinance retroactively open up those funds for well that's a legal question I'm not sure you can do that at this point you may have to start a new fund or say you change the rules from this point forward good luck with that one yeah no it's that's going to require a little bit of digging my initial response that is that is's right you can't retroactively say well by the way that money we took from you we're going to use it something that we told you we weren't going to use it for now um government does that all the time though no we we reasonable Minds can differ about as of right now for whether that happens next meeting can we have the update on the ordinance so moving I've got a check with with Mr Bell there um I don't know who he was working with on the updates to the sidewalk ordinance um but yeah we have we probably have copies that we can yeah and then I can go through that because the third option that you always have is you just pass an ordinance to do it and either you choose to pay for it you choose to make the home owner pay for it through a special assessment or you split the cost with the homeowner so the way we figure out where they go is if you look in the neighborhood if there's no sidewalk say on their side of the street you can put into the fund if you're continuing a sidewalk that's existing then you make can put the sidewalk in that's how we've approached it since I've been here okay try to make it fair and reasonable okay so then in this case I would like if the council supports to start a study for the whole town as to where or we might have a study done in the past uh for the sidewalks do we or it might be really old I don't think we have a sidewalk study this was just changes to the ordinance that we're talking about okay so I would like to do a sidewalk study to see where we are absolutely necessary especially places where people commute heavily uh that would be good places to start if we have funding from the sidewalk fund for those particular Lots then I would like to use those money to obviously build the sidewalks and I also would like to update the ordinance so that moving forward any money that's added to the sidewalk fund can be used for any sidewalk and not particularly just that property um like the tree fund like the tree fund and the what was the third option that we were discussing that I did not quite understand the third option for the sidewalks oh the third assessment that's essentially you determine where you want to put a sidewalk um you do an ordinance uh through their usual procedures for a passing an ordinance uh and you say we're putting a sidewalk here uh when you're doing that you determine who's going to pay for it either the township can pay for it wholly uh as an expenditure if they've got it budgeted uh the homeowner can be forced to pay for it there can be a split um it does have the right to appeal that ordinance for the from the homeowner um if it does pass they can take action to to try to fight the imposition of that um it's just it's the way that you can do a sidewalk just to do a sidewalk in a particular spot okay so I think the first step is to figure out where we are lacking sidewalks so I think a study will be the first step so I am hoping that the council agrees and do we have to do an ordinance or a resolution how does that work to start a study for the whole Edison you know before you go to the study you know can I ask a few questions this sidewalk issue has been discussed multiple time uh if you look at the the fund that were collected I we used to get the sidewalk waiver on this di it has gone in last two and a half years I don't see it that fund we we used to deny in fact this Council some of our Council colleagues said you know we will not approve the waiver not to put the sidewalk we very stubborn back then but I have not seen any way were coming and hopefully that's working out going back to when your planning and zoning ordinance came in effect what funds were collected at what point in time from what own owner because the ownership would have passed from one owner to another owner and we may or may not have the record of the even the fund the bigger challenge is going to be the amount we collected or the dollar amount we collected from the resident maybe 40 years ago the cost to replace that sidewalk at on that particular property probably is 50 times more than that so you will end up potentially looking at much higher budget in terms of you know uh even if you want to reuse use that fund but I think which I doubt you know again my knowledge my if I recollect most of that fund was used somewhere else and I will leave it there I think what I would understand would be that money will be tied to the lot and not necessarily to the owner yeah so I think that'll be easy enough to figure out now in terms of whether or not we should do it I think first we need to know where we stand like if we don't know what the problems are there's nothing we can do about it so I think if we start a study we would know where we stand which areas definitely need to be and we can make a decision whether we want to spend that money or not uh but that is something that would be the next step but I do want to move forward so I so the logistics of doing a study because I can only imagine this is going to be very costly is that uh during the next budget cycle is that there's committed funds and there's you know that's the commitment of the or the will of the council I can certainly bring that up um and make it part of our Capital Bond ordinance that we do an actual we we allocate funds specifically for um sidewalk study um there's an array of things to follow including assessments on properties so I think we need to talk about the policy and what that looks like um and certainly I'd like a lot more from the council to understand the um what is your goal with the sidewalk ordinance and and I'd like just just I'm saying I'm throwing that out to all the council members not just one of in particular for me the goal is to a open up that sidewalk fund to use it actually use it I feel like it's right now it's just building and we're not doing anything with it so a update the ordinance so that we can actually use it for sidewalks B hopefully we don't necessarily need to do the whole town if that cost is a issue maybe we can do the areas of need uh I am sure you know there are specific areas that are heavily traveled in those areas we can do a study as to where whether or not we need it but again I'm not sure how to approach it that I will leave to the administration to tell me as to what's the right approach to figure out where we need sidewalks because I'm tired of the complaints and I'm tired of the frustrations that I hear from the residents we need to take actions and whatever action it is even if it's a small tiny step I would take that then not take anything right are we good cool all right so uh can you get back to me on the study and can you for the next uh agenda have the updated ordinance so we can open up that sidewalk fun yeah I'll I'll check with Mr Bell I'll check with what we can and can't do um with respect to the ordinance itself so that you know we can get it done we can get it done sounds good all right can I get a motion to to adjourn can I get a second second I got a motion for councilman Co second by councilman ptil all in favor all right oh