Pledge of Allegiance the video bro I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America to the Republic for which it stand one nation under God indivisible with liberty and J roll call please here yes here yes I'm here I'm going to read the video thank you I skipped that a little out of order but that's okay uh this portion of the scheduled meeting of the edara township committee is being videotaped for broadcast and du to either technical reasons or topics for discussion may be held in first session pursu to the New Jersey of the public there may be interruptions proceeding and this meeting will be aired by ehtv Channel 97 on Thursday February 27 thank you we're going to start with uh resolution 135 there I'll make that motion can I read it first oh [Laughter] sure this is to appoint Jonathan S serban as uh an additional police chap for the calendar year 2024 he's a pastor of the New Life Assembly of God Church um now we'll take the motion I'll make that motion can I have a second please I'll second roll call yes yes and yes Pastor would you please come on down and going to take the O raise your right hand I I Jonathan servant I Jonathan servant do solemly swear or affirm do solemly swear or affirm that I will Faithfully that I will faithfully impartially impartially and justly and justly perform all the duties of police chap perform all the duties of police chap to the best of my ability the best of my ability I do further solemnly swear I do further solemnly swear or affirm or affirm that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States the Constitution of the state of New Jersey constitution of the state of New Jersey and I will bear true faith and I will bear truth and Allegiance and allegiance to the same to the same and to the government established and to the government established in the united states in the United States and in this state and in this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people so help me govern so help me govern thank you that congratulations than sir all right um once again um this is a second chaplain that's been sworn in since uh you know I've been uh chief of police and uh I've said before the chaplain serve such a vital role for our agency not just for the police officers but for everyone uh our professional staff our dispatchers and our citizens again why we have a chaplain program is because no better person to be there during a traumatic incident to uh console and counsel and provide guidance to surviving family members of a traumatic incident um and you know and it it it brings a level of uh peace and reassurance to really everyone involved but um so they serve like I said a vital role to our agency and our community um and one of the things I will say you know chaplain Bernett um he's always reaching out uh praying for us praying for me and and I've said this many times you know in today's day and age with the amount of stress that's going on the amount of noise that's going on um who's praying for them because you know um they give hope when when when we when you reach out to me and you reach out to our our people and and you say that uh we're in your prayers um whether you know it or not it gives us hope um and sometimes it's uh almost too uh ironic that when you get that text or I get that text or that email it happens to be at the time I needed that so um so I guess my point is for as much as they're praying for us we should be praying for our chaplain and so I thank them and congratulations and welcome uh chaplain Ser thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you you guys want to see anything okay they have to get to church they have services at 6 so all right moving forward we actually this evening we do not have any public hearings or in ordinance introductions so we're going to go right into general public discussion is there anybody from the public that would like to address the governing body on which name and address for the record my name is on be the uh you know it's a zoo yeah we don't have any idea of what you're doing there been a little bit of help with some signs it slowed down a little bit but it's brutal out there I we live on the mill the mill property dead center so we get to see a really and not too far down from our house is one sign telling people what the speed limit is and what they're doing it's not stopping them at all and it's you know we've got a lot of little kids Kids on the Block up the street there's a lot of them and uh you got bust into everything else and this is going to be carrying on until they finish some this point ma Landing Road yeah I mean I don't know what the county did how or why they nobody you know came and talked to us and said hey here's what we're going to try to do blah blah blah they could have done one side of the county road at the time and eliminated a lot of headaches but now we're all paying for it and if you come off of uh up steelmanville road instead of having a big sign saying to detour this way there's smaller signs and now half the people already know but when summertime comes M forget it forget it it's going to be hell oh it's going to be brutal so really bad I can tell you what we have the chief here tonight and he's going to give you an update on what we've done so far I got off the phone with Denny levenson five minutes before we came out here um and he said whatever he can do to make life easier he can't stop the project he can't you know open the bridge up and make it work for you know 10 months probably but whatever we can do and whatever I can't do that here I can't at Le um they're going to work with us as much as they can I know a lot more could have been done up front which is where the weakness came in on this application because nobody had notice right and I think all of us you know we all found out around the same time and it made it difficult for every one of us but let's let the cheap give you an update so you can one thing really I don't think anybody on this government body certainly I did not know that Bevis Mills was tied to m lang R right okay now that's somebody's thinking ahead by fixing that and you know how bad they were I live out there okay those bridges were bad so we fixed them and we went out on M Lan Road and closed it for a year now be Mills was not closed for a year those bridges yeah and there's two and they fixed them and I just think it was uh poor poor operation whether I didn't know it I don't know anybody else in the government body knew it or didn't know it or somebody but it could have been done a little and listen I'm going to just give you a little tip they're going to have a problem in Summer's point because that Parkway bridge needs to be replaced too so join the fun Maan road is going to be difficult it's a throughway at summertime I see the shore traffic I live on Asbury I come out that way all the time by school house so we just got to try to get through it I think my my to ddy would be can you speed him up that's well yeah that's the question all right cuz I tried to talk to the county initially when it's first started because they were the local people that were there and I told them we going to have a problem blah blah blah we'll look we'll check we'll this we'll that and Well here here's what we're doing now so we got got the chief here uh mayor's been on the phone with the county exac there's been some improvements there's going to be more improvements we want to hear any ideas that you have and that's where we're going to go we that's how we move forward woring about spilled milk doesn't help we need to move forward right no I don't mean that for you but I mean we need to move forward as far as how can we make it better for everybody let's put our heads together we got the mayor we got the chief we got the county ex I mean that's where we need well that's what when I first contacted people I counted first I went to Sergeant Stern because he was headed traffic he gave me some updates what he was try to do and then I talked to the administrator and uh Tom and you know great job everybody was heading down the right path but that was like 3 weeks ago and the first meeting where you guys had brought it up people didn't say anything because you just got the information you know give you needed a chance to put it together so we want to know you know the people that are here tonight we want to know what is in you know in the work so to speak okay chief come on up thank you and if you have any other questions when the chief is done please ask them now now how do we excuse me yous how do we uh say we see something and we realize okay this is an issue that maybe you can handle it call the administrator's office is that the only way to well there there's two things you can do really one is you can absolutely call the administrator's office or any one of us you can always do that second of all I would go to a county committee meeting or County Commissioners meeting their next meeting is uh March 5th at 4M in Northfield they're the County Commissioners they're in charge of this project okay um so they're at the what's the name of that building Still Water building right on Route n right on right on Shore Road Shore Road in Northfield at 4:00 on uh May uh March F it's Tuesday I have their numbers I'll all them up you know we have three residents we have a of V harber Township on the County Commissioners you've got John rley Frank ball and Andrew Parker all three of them are commissioners so it's right on the border of pville and Northfield across Army Reserve right there go up the big white steps and just go in that way y thank you you're all right good evening um I assume all residents of that area Okay uh listen I wish I could tell you it's going to get better and I'm not going to come up here and give you um kind of sell you something that is impossible but the one thing I can tell you is I do think that everyone um here understands the impact that it's created for you and what your normal way of life was and now how it's been interrupted and I can say that is because throughout town I mean the police department is you know unfortunately well I should say fortunately right but um Quality of Life issues come to us um and the the dillies you know when they had the neighbor with the chickens um and we have other issues in town that impact other areas of town that the police uh you know is called to try to mitigate we do our best um so with that being said I don't want you for a minute to think that what you're experiencing isn't on the Forefront of the police department and our initiative as far as trying to make it better for you but that's what we're trying to do is just make it better mitigate it hopefully reduce it eliminate I don't think that's going to happen I wish I could tell you otherwise so but one of the things I did want to just kind of tell you so back when I learned on January 15th I got an email from I think it was the uh South Shore or the construction South State um of the pending closure for that section of 559 and no one how it was going to impact um your area um we immediately the next day pushed out on social media again thinking of our residents uh we pushed out on social media in fact we have popup reminders scheduled in there to remind residents and remind people now that's unfortunately that only goes so far it's only goes so far as the people that are monitoring social media we notified School transportation internally we notified the PD police Communications um and Sergeant Sterns who has been absolutely aces in this um who's kind of our right-hand person when it comes to traffic enforcement uh he took the liberty and man and notified our emergency management stakeholders and people might wonder what that what does that mean what that means is he had the uh he was by notifying our Emergency Management stakeholders that's Fire EMS and our public works that's so to ensure that you the residents don't see a deficiency in the service that you receive whether or not it be emergency or just the normal services like trash pickup and things like that so we did that it wasn't until on or about January 30th that we got started getting the notifications in fact I wasn't aware of it and neither was Tom uh Sergeant Stern somehow became aware of the complaints that were coming in and with that he took the initiative he put a stealth radar unit out there to what the stealth radar unit does is it measures traffic volume and speeds um and what he was doing the intent was to Target those times that we could deploy officers um we could make them available because if we identified certain times if the speeds were in excess and traffic volume was Heavy then we could just deploy our resources a little bit more efficiently and effectively um which we did then we put the uh the plan was to put a radar trailer uh which is a you know a bigger type unit than the the the radar the stealth radar unit um which we have uh subsequently done since the last meeting the last Township meeting we put the radar trailer out there uh we put a complaint that's entered into the cad or computer a dispatch system so our officers know that like especially the area the officers that are assigned to we call that five area they know that when they're not on a call a priority call like domestic violence shoplifting crash with injuries or something to that effect they know to go into that that complaint screen and they should be going out there to do to conduct traffic enforcement or some type of Patrol um with that the Traffic Unit started doing their own and and I think it's important you understand that we have Traffic Unit and we have Patrol they're actually two different units here so we have uh traffic guys that are that are more that's all they do is is traffic crashes and traffic enforcement so between both of them they've been out uh to specifically the area of Bevis Mill doing traffic enforcement um so after the January 30th and those complaints came in the continued complaints which was kind of from our last Township meeting additional signage consideration has been explored and I believe it the county from what I understand has put some other things out there since like for example the road closure local traffic they school hous and design they're going to put one tomorrow they told me they're going to get out to 559 which is WARF in English Creek and put signage there um but I think what we've talked about is they need increased signage they need to see Road closed 500 ft down the road another road closed and things like that to keep people off there are some the local people know how to get around and I think in the end the bulk of the issues are going to come from the local people that know how to use that road to get through to where they're going yeah and so it's the GPS people we can stop by signage but it's the local people I think that are going to be using that road more than anybody which kind of again kind of um kind kind of parlays into so the more detour signage and strategic placement of the scene so that's not done yet um again this is this unfortunately it doesn't happen overnight but there is a collaboration with the county to get more signage out there we actually discussed even though we have they just put that Road close sign right at the corner of Zion Road in school house like so when people are coming to make that right hopefully that'll give that person that's not local the the the the uh push to say I got to continue straight right so we did that but that's not going to help because you're still going to have the people that are going to ignore that so there's other ideas that we're trying to be creative with maybe from later on down the lane putting some orange Jersey barriers in the lane something that's visible to show if you're not local here you don't belong here these are things that we're considering Now understand just like with the road closure and the unintended consequences that came with it your impact in your way of life with doing things like this it could create more problems all of a sudden and that's the things that we have to balance you know all a sudden we start putting things in lanes and now a car that's not familiar and they Veer around it and causes a crash that creates problems and that's why we're kind of very we have to really tread carefully on what we do but it is a priority um so I just wanted to give you again so that more speed limit signs we are working on that we can put more than the two that are out there I don't know if that's been relayed to you so that's going to happen Township administrator is on or he's out this week but when he comes back we're going to get together with public works and put more speed limit signs out there per you know permanent ones the other thing I just wanted to suggest so that stealth radar unit that was deployed so the data came back 85% of the traffic volume was traveling at or below 35 milph um now during the traffic enforcement by traffic and Patrol just for the uh Glen or the Bev Mill Area there have been nine director patrols third by our Patrol officers that's where they come out at certain times and Target the area to again sometimes just the presence the mere presence slows people down um and then total eight hours overall bu Patrol uh 12 motor vehicle summonses and two traffic summonses two I'm sorry 12 motor vehicle stops two traffic summonses I will say that I'm I don't necessarily um not real happy with that stat and we're going to push forward but again just be mindful unattended consequences local residents start getting stopped we certainly don't want to issue local residents but that's another unintended consequence that could come with this so just something to keep in mind um but at the end this is something that's a daily topic of discussion and um and I know you want to see change immediately and I wish I could give you that answer but we're we're doing the best we can do I think and again I've said this before our priorities in town unfortunately are the priority calls for service uh domestic violence things that really tie us up domestic violence shoplifting crashes T consumes a lot of resources and then when we get that spare time we get out there to do the traffic enforcement what about speed bumps or I had a crazy crazy idea might be fine you have the rumble strips going down the main rows by double yellow lines what if you were to put them diagonally not 90° diagonally across the road a few of them so that when people hit it it's a quick nothing super noisy nothing super bad but would slow them down the one end of the road you've got you got this this street uh manhole covers this High out of the ground so you can't you know speed down there you're going to get killed the other end is opened up and that's where they start picking up pretty fast down VI tree surface area they come zooming through there and once they hit I mean I I stood out there to watch him because I wanted to see what was going on once they hit where that all that new Paving is Bo Guy picked up and he if he wasn't doing 45 miles an hour it wasn't you know it wasn't driving he damn near hit me I'm on a side of the road and it's the other thing is that there's not enough room with these two cars going faster now than normal to walk on there I mean you can ask anybody who walks on that street now it's it's crazy it's very difficult I've seen tractor trailers on the street pardon I've seen tractor trailers on the street and it's because I've gone we've all gone down numerous times just to see what's going on and to see the speed but when I saw the tractor trailers followed by a bevy of other trucks I'm like wow the only only thing that we can do as Citizens Drive 25 miles an hour and drive them crazy that's about it and a lot of people are now doing that we're all trying to we'll slow it down somehow honk that on my camera my right I do have a question sure where you're monitoring the speed you know we do see the officers and we're seeing a lot of cars slow down they are monitoring in a corner and our road does line they're monitoring in a corner that slow when everybody's coming to where the officer sitting that is the slowest part of our road if you were to go further up where it's a straight away or further towards Robert best straightway you'll catch more people goinging much faster but most of the time and when the police are there it is awesome you see a huge difference and we do appreciate that that is it's great when the cops there we know they can't be there all the time but they are in a spot that you a lot of our opinions that is a slower corner I don't know if you you guys are right there but when you go past that corner head towards your house they speed up they come up the hill we live on the other end toward school house they come up the hill they fly pass ra property and head towards Welles are there you can hear all right well here's a couple things I just noted uh real quick so I I mean that those ideas those are things that we need to uh talk to the county about whether or not that's a possibility um and so when Tom gets back we'll approach that with the county uh listen I think creativity is the the right way as long as the creativity doesn't violate uh state law and doesn't increase the possibility for um unattended consequences like someone an a crash causing a crash that they're being observed what about like they us to do the IOP speed just the white lines and people knew okay they Pi the check of my speed something like that or they do make if Township committee wants to give us a helicopter no I know I know where the key is who would fly you sign up and says that speed is being reported that's all and they see that and they go okay and they have signs that tell speed all right well even just that flash would be enough to make people so you have to just make them think they're being you don't have to be there well again you bring up again there's another thing that we and I think we I brought it up last time or maybe we discussed it but a fixed alpr reader uh that a fixed alpr reader is uh recording tags recording any everyone that's coming and going so it's that's another option we don't have a fixed alpr but no but we maybe we can again I know who does I believe the county does and maybe they could uh deploy one of those from another area to our to that location so uh that's an option so yes personally I don't want to see people get tickets you know there are neighbors and so many of them really do a great job on weekends with the neighbors there there are surrounding areas that are using the road on weekends weekends are like totally different than weekday they're they're like what we're used to and and I appreciate you saying we can put more signs up because two signs on that whole street one on each link some the person coming into that street without really knowing where they're at can miss that sign there's not another thing they can go past the uh our electronic sign electronic sign does not have anything that says what the speed limit is so that elic signs say 35 M an hour if they don't know what the speed limit is okay it's 35 no good point um but that that sign I'm sorry I cut you off go ahead and then the only other thing is like they said the signs had a bad if they can just re program the sign just to take the speed limit not slow down your speed limit or your speed is it goes through that cycle continuously time cycle it doesn't when a car gets up to it it doesn't change and if the cycle is off the time the car gets there they can't see what speed they were actually going so I'm the old guy that walks up and down the road so I kind of noce but this is good some good points some good conversations I said the sign is great having it there but just to have it give the person the speed because if you get a couple cars grab those speeds and then if it has 25 mph speed limit on that it will tell them that oh man I'm going too fast all right so again I'm just trying to make sure I understand what you're saying so the the digital board that shows your speed you're saying that to put the speed limit fixed to that so people understand the difference of where they're traveling is that okay all right and then they can reprogram it that just give because that slow down and your your speed is or your speed it that say that goes through that cycle it doesn't matter who's going through it anything that that's a rotating cycle continuously so if you start through it halfway through it won't give you the speed okay well I have uh one two three I definitely appreciate the sign is and like they said the been great actually if there stop somewhere and I'm walking I thank them they done a good job well I I appreciate hearing that but uh I mean there's someone in the audience here you know sometimes uh you you're you feel like you're in a way satisfied but sometimes again the weather's going to change and Spring's coming and then before you know it we're going to be rocking and rolling and we might not be there as much but that's why we're here today to hopefully get this under control before the busy season my big concern is that there's really no sidewalks on that road and there's a lot of little kids younger kids I I just hate to think of it again two questions what are the times that you monitor the traffic said well it appears that uh the rush hour in the morning seems to be the highest so that's when a lot of the deployments from a resource standpoint has occurred so and one other thing is I know that the the officer like on a side of the road top of the hill where from a distance away he can see him before he can shoot him because it's a turn in the road I told him you want to park on my property go ahead I don't care same same here we we got a big field on the road you can park right the field I don't care I know you might just you could sh well that's uh again and someone said it because maybe the straightaways that's why the officers aren't setting up because of Resident you know B right on the shoulder but maybe if we know those locations that are more officer friendly um okay um and I I will bring so the other thing is I know uh many of the residents have started putting up signs on their own and that's fine that's just on your property and I I say uh the more the merrier again one of those the squeaky will gets the grease I mean and uh the more visibility the better uh that that actually helps so whether you know it or not yes sir um the narrowness of the road is there any way commercial vehicles even though you know they can't be totally eliminated any way to put like a message out there that commerial vehicles and try to avoid that other than just regular things because we don't want tracka well I I will say that the by Design if we get those on like Schoolhouse and Zion those uh closure road closure local traffic Oni right in that lane and then on the opposite side where we're that's going to deter the big trucks because especially trying to make a turn with a trailer to navigate the opposite lane of travel um so I'm I can only hope that that will be a deterrent and then again will push them for the detour here's one other thing the the narrowness of the bridges themselves our one piece in particular one closer to Robert be if two cars come down you C your life in your hands on that bridge oh yeah years ago you can always jump over the rail now I put a railing up this High I can't get over that I mean it's if you walked in that one sector and look two car just two cars trops are coming in it's very very dangerous and I I guarantee you somebody's going to get hurt I guarantee it I mean I've been here 45 years my kids used to play in a bid of Road and I never even worried about it 45 years ago now it's a hell hole it's really you're going to have problem for sure guarantee we know and that's why we're here know you only do so much so fast but the thing is nobody's informing us either as to what you are doing you said you I gu should posting it on the police section social our Facebook page right um now I we'll have to look at that again again because I don't know if we've done a media release do you feel media release uh will I mean I don't think the major news outlets will pick it up because you know you know especially in the summer a lot of the people aren't from this area they're coming from Philadelphia Delaware New York mostly Phil Pennsylvania for that route um it's something we can consider I just don't know if it's going to be really that effective um but our social media um you know it's important if you're if you see our start sharing it I mean the more it gets shared um maybe we can pay to you know in so on Facebook maybe we can there's always that you pay extra to get it uh pushed out even uh to a larger group um something we can consider as well HD happenings page who's is anybody on that page the original HD happenings original Township that's you that's me well that that page alone I mean that's a page I look at it probably three or four times a week just to see what's going on but it's actually the best I could actually just start a group in in the a g Township thing that maybe that would help because uh people read that I get a lot of people people are communicating on there you can see that and so people lot of rumble strips think they do everybody's you know got an opinion which is fine you know it's what it's all about so yeah that's and just one other thing and just one other thing that I might add we talked about this earlier you have to remember too that I know the signs say local traffic only the people that live on English Creek or nearby think is that as local so but is so what I'm saying is that we may not know because they think they're local and they're they're traveling through right but I would like to think because I if I'm again I put myself where in your shoes I read that as no local to you right so the people on English Creek are elsewhere that decide to go down Schoolhouse and I'm going to zip or Schoolhouse and Coss Zion because guess what I'm local I'm going this way right we can't control that yeah I know know yes I for a few for about a week and a half the very large barrels the orange and white barrels were on the bridge on that bridge and that really did slow Dam some traffic right it really did now we only had the one at the from the from the schoolhouse side right I could see everybody I look I watch everybody put their BR on it Nar off the road a little bit more well I put a note here again I think that's an excellent idea you put barrels out there um no in the in the middle of the lane um was the orange barrels that were already there there they did slow people down if you put them in where the big curve is where we live is the big curve between the two Bridges if you were to put the orange Barrels in that area nobody's going to be affected by it other than the guy's driving and that definitely I think really help to slow them down think we we put out one of those small cones that kept them slowed down a little bit and of course somebody did it pedestrian I mean I don't know if it's kind of dumb CU we don't have sidewalks or crossing p those pedestrian thing spring things PL back and forth instead of the barrels there things that are anchored to the road some of the you know neighborhood places they would probably slow somebody down if someone did hit one at least stand back up on like the barrel you'd have to get out of the car have to send public works over to Mo Barrel again but what about those plastic PS that you see place you know no that's all that's kind of what he's talking about they would serve the same purpose so we do pedestrian walking down the road regular people with do all well again I think there was some again there's some good ideas that again just by talking you you came up with some good ideas that we can uh hopefully um Implement and um I wish I had more I wish I could tell you it's going to get better I hope it gets better but we're not going to eliminate it um so takes your license plate that's the alpr board I think honestly where my field is would probably be the best place to put it that's where everybody and what's what's your 124 but it's right across from 125 big it's one of the bigger straightway on the anywhere it's straight straight up you certainly the any I was in contact with the county six seven weeks ago about signage because we at that time the bridges were closed down we always were in the middle we got screwed either way so I knew what was coming and we asked about signage like I say quite a while ago how do we expedite that part of them getting them to put the sign well I can tell you this we're we're going to schedule a meeting with them I think okay you know really neck what's this when's the 5th is that two weeks or a week it's two weeks now but I mean we're going to talk I'm going to call Denny levenson tomorrow morning because I talked before I walked out here we also going to talk to the members of the commissioner's board and you know they're I think they need I think they need you to go to the meeting or even to set up a separate meeting with a few of them um and hear exactly what you're saying CU we're telling them you know and they're telling me Oh you the thing they always tell you it's they've ordered signs they're not in yet all this kind of things but there's temporary signs they can put out to check the emails I sent to their representative who did you talk to do you know I I talked to a Diane I think her name is k k you know she was going to look into it for me they have they had five of their Engineers out one day looking [Music] at we're going to have an early summer season I believe Easter start caling down to fix up their home and we're going to see old traff well we want to get this fixed before then we don't have a lot of time no we don't I mean there's five weeks left to L you know so it's all right I think there's again I do think after talking there's there's certainly other options that are still available and being creative and it's just a matter of making sure that number one we're not going to create more problems safety wise um and we're not violating state law or or you know County uh ordinance or Township ordinance but I think again everyone in here is on the same page um to try to kind of Blitz that area high visibility to to get this under control so um made notes Here going to get go back talk to our Command Staff have our traffic sergeant and we can uh start there are a couple things that we can take you know start tomorrow like again some of the traffic enforcement stuff I want to see some things maybe a little bit different but um and some of the extra signage that will'll get together with public works you know the additional mile per hour signs um adding a mile per hour sign to the speed sign and having the speed sign program where it's showing your speed right um so and then in addition to some of those other ideas I actually love the idea about getting those fixed flexible poles all the way down because it would certainly uh I think that's that's actually right that's the hard thing the kids are primarily on the one end side listen and just like the mayor and Township committee um we have we only have so many uh resources in that regard however because it's a count project that's impacting our local community now we are going to look to and hopefully um say ask for resources that we can dedicate to the local roads that are being impacted so all right we've got one more question back there simp Street c you're if you're a non right and you're driving down that street you don't know the out see the sun says very close now if you had an arrow there that was set to it that way put another justad they don't know direct keep going straight see what I'm saying Street cut into it I'm keep yeah but there's one thing I noticed I don't have I'm not using a GPS I go online on my computer shows traffic patterns it's open going through going through b mil so people have a GPS if they GPS is tell them oh okay make a right want to make a right that's one again I'm glad you brought that up so we uh Sergeant Sterns reached out to Google to see if Google could be updated and and the can okay because like I said right now because everything kind of draws off of Google Maps and so they he actually tried to even Broach that with you know a global entity such as Google to to hopefully you know be able to have them program that that's and they wouldn't do it we had a problem Delila Oaks a few years ago we stopped truck traffic on Delila Oaks years ago and we couldn't get we couldn't get back then we couldn't get Google to do it and it was exactly that the GPS's were routing truck drivers down Windsor Drive but it's so your comment is kind of like what we did which the there wasn't a sign originally uh at um Schoolhouse and Zion right in the lane that said Road closed right so that's kind of what will probably have to be done where you're talking about because again it when people slow up to make that turn oh I can't go here they go to the next oh I can't go here it really kind of locks in that area as it's local traffic um and that's something again that's something we're going to have to talk about so and the other thing is are you know speed bumps are almost stri mean I haven't nobody's you know talked about that yet I know there's laws on that so CU they're not that I mean I looked online they're not that even that expensive couple hundred bucks you get I I think uh I think we're restricted because uh they're Township roads or County Road well they're their Township the county yeah that's something that the township engineer would have to yeah everything we've talked about tonight we're going to talk about with our engineer um and we're going to talk about this with the county and we're going to get whatever Solutions we can get we can't fix it it totally but we can make it a lot better for at least the next 10 months but um I think if there you have any Here's my thought if you have any questions before we set up a meeting um you can reach out to our office and if you have the number 609- 926 488 you can get any one of us plus the administrator you can call the PD and ask questions there email us and we can start and I think on the PD side they can put out what's going on and let us know so you can know what's going on so I think communication is the best thing if we have open communication back and forth that's what we need here um and I did I saw all the signs that are going out in the yard slow down children to play all of that and as the chief said I think the more the marrier you know in some of our ball fields near we have some of those peculiar street signs that say 9 miles an hour and things like that that makes people slow down you know it's but but I will say because of where we live we get this get nice view of everything the double yellow line you cannot believe how stupid people are you're walking down the road somebody's walking down the road you think they can drive their car a little bit over no no no you got a double yellow line let's P this is what we're dealing with I know it's brutal but here's the end result I mean this was a good dialogue thank you Chief this was a good dialogue you got some good ideas so moving forward let's see where we stand in like 10 to 14 days certainly before Easter com you know what our meeting is a day after the uh the Commissioners we're they're the fifth so we're the sixth of March is our next meeting so their meeting is the day before ours but we'll be talking to them before then all right and uh hopefully we you'll see some signage going up and you'll see some changes I think we have to let the people that actually understand traffic patterns and things like that plan what they need to do and that's where we're at I think right now that's where we're at so but let us know if some of these things we done like give it a week or two like give it a couple of weeks and let us know if it's showing any progress that's important to get your feedback that's why we didn't go to the first meeting we had to give you a chance to do something and it did we did see some improvement that's in the morning in particular it's really nasty well the the data proves that out so yeah okay and then the only I'm going to leave you with this listen um we obviously can't be out there all the time one thing I will say because I did drive out there to this afternoon uh I did notice a sign on uh 559 wasn't uh it was kind of leaned over on the barrier but those are things we do need to know about um so don't hesitate to call the police department if you seen if you see signs blown over uh you know turn sideways because of wind conditions or whatever that's why we are here you should call us so we can get an officer out there to to fix that um and then um but we'll move forward and hopefully make some uh modifications improvements and and uh reduce your concerns yes really you're not using it that's not a bad idea I mean if we have and I know you have the field listen if we have one that's kind of decommission being decommission I'm not I'm not opposed to it it's an idea so it works yeah that does work does anybody else have any questions we're good thank you thank you very much appreciate it you know where to find us Keys ready for thank you thank you Chief before you go let me see testing one two three work is it working it's working good suggestion best one yet uh Chief also um the pothole situation you call Communications and they say what you know someone will um how can we make everybody aware of what to do when a pothole is in your neighborhood going down West Jersey near Grant the pothole had to be from bigger than you a big pothole right now Pine Avenue the other day they they fixed that but I don't think the residents know what to do if they see a pothole on the highway you have uh C1 reported potholes report numbers and stuff like that and they're very serious this time of the year unless good it's good question as much as I was thinking where are you going with this uh um commitment but uh that's actually a good point but unless I am mistaken um but I'll verify you call our non-emergency police number and they are going to so if anyone in the uh citizens come across the pothole you call the non-emergency number um obviously if it's an eer situation where you know the road caved in that's different called 911 um and normally what will happen is our dispatcher if it's a Township Road they send um they uh connect with Public Works um either you know if it's after hours they send a message if it's a County Road they obviously coordinate and send message to the county and if it's a state road they'll normally make contact with a with a state entity at that time but the bottom line is you report it to police right I I understand that but the other day I called communication I guess he was a little confused uh it was a little mixed up in what I was asking and they finally we finally got on the same page and the officer went out did a great job but I just want to make sure they all are aware of what we doing about the potholes we call communication we report the address the location or whatever just wanted to let the public know what to do because these PES in the town are just popping up everywhere Communications did a good job and we finally got on the same page and the officer went right out there and reported and it was patch up the next day so that was a good job I just want to make sure people know what to do you know they can also right on our website you can report H Hol is right on our website and it goes right to Public Works what you if you're not got a computers you call this you call there but if you're good at it send it right to uh right on the website you can click right into the link and it'll tell you where to report it and also committee manelis what I'll do is also I'll just let the the dispatch supervisor know Matt Cochran because again just a reminder to our dispatchers again we we do have some new people in there and um you know if you haven't encountered something yet that's how they gain experience so that's just probably a reminder just to say that when should they feel to call like that what they're supposed to be doing so we can do that yeah did did a good job but just want to make sure they all know you know the citizens want to find who to call what to do okay thank you thanks Chief is there anybody else from if you guys want to go feel free to go home thank you very much thank you and we'll all be in touch is there anyone else from the public that Mr Sharp yes good evening Dennis sharp assistant chief farmton Volunteer Fire Company I would like to ask the township committee to approve a resolution in regards to an incident that happened last year at the ly County Utilities Authority and we find my narrative and I'll be right with you the incident occurred I and I spoke to Madame mayor and the township Chief about it and he recommended I create a narrative and I'm taking this to present to the Atlanta County Firefighter Association this evening for a unit citation uh in regards to the incident because the incident occurred June 24th 2023 at 0823 hours uh it was a cut short it was a very joint effort of the police fire and EMS Medics uh the ACU way and it was uh a very good unit uh work operation I was inent command for I I've had incidents like this before early in my career I knew what to do I made it happen uh Chief Zang assistant chief uh dance from ciff uh where my rescue Personnel our training of this fire department police department and EMS in this Township is second to none and this committee should be very proud of that okay us working together made this a very successful operation uh the gentleman had a fractured leg uh we got him out I had I do have some photos here to show you of how severe the incident was and a resolution would be good for morale uh gets the young guys out there's a basic photo of us bringing him out I have it on photo I got videos of it if uh you would like me to send them to you I will okay there's another Pho can you give us a quick synopsis of what happened what started it and what happened the quick synopsis is um EMS was dispatched for a person trapped in a mulching machine okay the machine about as big as this room about as long as this room about as high as this room okay and the request came in from EMS to quote unquote provide a ladder for them to get in and get the person out of the machine uh the EMS Personnel that arrived first had enough wherewithal and training to realize they needed help and when the dispatcher dispatched just Farmington uh to provide a ladder for EMS I got suspicious so when I went on the air I called a dispatcher and I said what does this involve and they said they have a man trapped in the mulching machine and EMS needs uh assistance in removing him I immediately called the fire I mean the car to fire company to dispatch our ladder uh Chief Z and their uh Personnel responded uh we got there we created a uh rescue plan and we were all on the same page of how to uh enact the rescue uh I made a suggestion to Chief Zong and just for a point of Interest Chief zong is the countywide instructor for rope rescue I've had his training um everybody in this Township Fire Department EMS and police department have had his training we go over to the drill Tower over in the Canali training Park uh we repelled down the six stories of the uh drill tower inside and outside after a class full knot tying rope tying different types of ropes figure eights and Bing you know all that nonsense Mr Hansson you're familiar with that you've had that training you can verify that no I'm just saying I'm just I'm just patting you on the head I got you and and you know what too GL Laur asked you to reiterate what happened the Machinery man fell into the inside the mulching machine well what happened was he was mulching right and creating wood chips and machine got clogged so he climbed in the machine to unclog the machine and there's a greet in there about this big that's 500 lb right well it blew out and broke his leg he called on his personal cell phone 911 they dispatch EMS EMS got there and the rest was that machine owned by acua a machine is owned by acua yes it is right so I just the date of that was the 24th or the 23rd of June June is June June 24th June 24th all right I wrote it right 20 24th okay well Dennis you'll hear me speaking and tonight I'll speak about the Betsy skullfire you guys are second to none and I believe it I'll go I I tell say it every time whether you guys can handle it or carival help you or bargain to helps caret whatever else we get it done and a perfect example was Betsy skull at 9:00 in the morning on a Monday okay of a a bad Royal fire Ral rural area where there was water issues and everything else I was going to suggest tying in a nice resolution in regards to that that was probably the worst since we had the condos off of fire R mhm yeah a lot I Whitey at the time I got pictures of that one that's this probably was it was just a suggestion well thank you okay thank you thank you welome forward thank you yeah I'm weling forward to it well we got to pass the resolution is there anybody else from the public that would like to address the governing body seeing none can I have a motion to close public portion so move check it roll call please are all in favor I I uh resolution consent calendar resolutions 136 through an including 149 can I have a motion please moved can I have a second second thank you roll call please yes yes yes resolution 150 authorized in payment of all bills can I have a motion please second roll call yes yes yes yes yes uh Township committee reports Mr Ellis or Mr Paul Mr Paul just talking about beev mill again wrote it about three or four times over the last week seemed like it got a little better now because they're detouring down English Creek Avenue comes out comes down to Schoolhouse that's where the problem comes in because local people are going around that sign they come up they're coming into beis Mill that way so it's mainly local traffic it is uh the other way they detour It Down Still Road M coming off of maze Landing so I think with Summer traffic we're that should be a pretty good setup because summer summer people ain't going to know to go around that sign so hopefully we educate the public around bitm the summer coming off the Zion and and M road is the key it's going to bottle neck up here at Ocean Heights and Zion but that's the key because they won't know any better like you said y they'll come down all the way Zion local people right now won't go all the way to Robert Bess no no no no they won't but out there the other day will they are using Boston to cut from Robert best to Z there is other areas being stressed usually that that's what happened especially these Parkway bridges when they took a Mill Road other things were stressed but Boston is being used now to cut across both ways okay they come to Zion and and certainly when Zion when L Christian uh lets out that Ocean Heights and Zion it it's it even always is backed up always it's always back in front of the golf course there's many times you can't turn in the golf course oh no it gu CRA now Mr Alice no no okay Paul I I just real briefly and I kind of said what I was going to say um I think Laura you know and others know we had a significant fire in this Township on the 12th Monday morning there was a total loss of a big big home in the bety skull area um and two just the point of Interest skille was quick however their main apparatus had to go around the detour to get to Betsy scull am I correct I don't anybody thinking I'm not talking right scoville's first truck was there right away within minutes along with um Cruz and uh it was a bad fire I know the people were out there's a GoFundMe page the residents in the neighborhood were very very helpful to that family but the the remarkable thing was it was a large large home 8,000 square ft added on too many times and um you know it's a royal one of the ruralist areas of the township still left where there was a problem with water and and you know they they activated the tanker task force and when they got cooking we got water but the thing is um to our fire department I mean I think um they called it a general alarm I Ain heard a general alarm in a long time but every fire apparatus uh that we own was engaged or fire company was engaged and it was remarkable to see a paid Department come out to cter ventner came to cariff so they really moov stuff around that I'm look I haven't played Farm in a long time but it's um there was ACC there was assets from out of the county that helped us out there so again like I bring it up all the time and I listen to the fire scanner all the time I today we had a couple good crashes um Kate's in West Jersey mhm another problem we have and um you know our fire department didn't let us down but when you look at the the 24-hour clock 9:00 on a Monday it's not a peak time for volunteers there's no no doubt about it but but we took care of the problem and Gary I want to say Gary Cruz Vernon Cruz did a tremendous job out there as the fire chief and um you know I hope the people rebuild but it's a total loss um and I know they lost some pets and so forth and all their belongings but again to the fire department Rescue Squad was there our chief of rescue was there police department everybody did a bang up job but that's what communities do and it's just a damn shame because uh we would have normally been able to stop that house stop that but it was added on to and it got a hold and it took off and I mean you know I had some fire training as you alluded to you know sometimes you push fires with water so you got to get them and get them right and when water becomes an issue that's a problem big problem oh yeah so again to our fire departments all of them involved and the the so all the other municipalities helped us out um I thank them a lot and and we're certainly there to help them y hey well I I want to actually pay compliment to you m which we you had the chief out here with this issue on the county road and I know you've been on the phone with um County exec on a couple of occasions so but this was a good meeting because some good stuff came out of it there's a good line of communications folks had some decent ideas did uh the chief will Implement stuff I know you'll do a followup so uh you know I just wanted to publicly compliment you and that cuz I know behind the scenes you've been working hard harder at it than uh people realize other than that I really have um nothing to say for this meeting thank you appreciate that thank you very much listen we're team up here you know and it's these are our people and our job just with the fire company and I do have to Echo what Paul said you know you guys go above and beyond every single time that that Bell goes off or the pagers go off um and we want to make sure we thank you and we honor the service that you give this town because I I think our response time is better than anybody's from the time it's toned to the time somebody from the Department ton if not both is on the air and that's key that's key the trucks you have you're going right to the scene vice versa I think is really key and your spotty dog I know since the radiers were down we had that Fiasco the spotty dog is excellent yes and I would like to say in regards to that that first started this this is what kept us going yeah I know counc committee supports this fire department we greatly appreciate that even it shows up even in we had a terrorist attack the system works there's ways around it but we you the fire department got alerted situations for care of nothing got Miss nothing at all no and that's important to us cuz our job is to make sure if there's an issue that we can take care of it and that's our responsibility make sure those programs are in place so yeah with everybody's help so it works it works but thank you well I mean the Spy Dog is excellent because you don't need a truck with a driver you need a truck with a crew no I know it's incredible your response time is incredible I won't mention the pay Department I listen to them you guys you guys are right up there if not the best they are the best all right we have some approvals can I have a motion to approve the township committee meeting uh Township committee meeting close session minutes from February 7th I'll make the motion second roll call please yes yes yes yes yes can I have a motion to approve the township committee meeting minut from February 7th 202 so move uh can I have a roll call on this or is this an all faor all in favor I I I uh the administrator and the attorney are not here tonight Mr Ridgeway do you have anything you need us for nothing good we have no closed session for tonight safe at first so can I have a motion to adjourn unless somebody else has anything else to say that motion second it right all all in favor thank you everybody good night