##VIDEO ID:AmQz8zBQbaI## in accordance with the open public meeting Act of the state of New Jersey adequate notice of this work session regular meeting of the Franklin Township Council was made as required indicating that this work session regular meeting would take place at the municipal building at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday September 10th 2024 if we could all stand for the Pledge of Allegiance and remain standing by the invocation delivered by deputy mayor Ed pesnik I pledge 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 and justice for all As We Gather here today as members of the township Council we pray that we are ever mindful of the opportunities to render our service to fellow citizens and our community keeping in mind always the enduring values of Life exerting our efforts in those areas on those things upon which future Generations can build with confidence may we establish peace throughout the world the Nations and here in our own community may tonight's debate be something that people watch uh closely um and provide for a better America a safer America and let us continue to strive to make the world better in every way that each of us can amen amen Madam clerk please call the role councilman EMB Barrison here councilwoman Francois here councilman Kazi here mayor Kramer here councilman on jaka here Deputy Mayor pnik pres councilwoman Udin here councilman vasella here councilman Wright here we are on to item number five on the agenda copy of the agendas are there near the clerk first item is check presentation to the center of Great Expectations assemblyman Joe Danielson Daniel thank you and good evening mayor one two okay thank you mayor and Council for having me tonight um and thank you for wonderful 911 ceremony that you do every year to honor those that we lost um today I'm here to talk about the center for Great Expectations it's here in Franklin Township and it's one of the great elements of Franklin Township it was established in 1998 by uh Miss Peg wri who's sitting to my left and uh I hope I don't get this wrong uh but the center is um off uh uh uh the M Lane and its focus is that it houses women with children that are experiencing emotional abuse physical abuse addictions um and they have to um care for a child or or more and their goal is to not only teach them how to be healthy happy productive individuals but they also teach them how to parent as well so in addition to being a residential uh therapy healthy happy home environment they are stopping the generational cycle of addiction abuse and neglect and uh the absence of education and role model and they are truly turning lives around and making new futures for these women and their these children um I found out about them only a couple of years ago through a mutual friend of ours who happens to be a lobbyist and I took a tour of it the my next step was to get that money from the state I I think I got you1 and a half million dollars uh then the following year I thought it was so important that I got the speaker and the mayor uh to come there and take a tour of it and it's just a Wonder wonderful wonderful uh uh facility and I encourage everyone to take a tour of that um you'd be right along side me supporting this and they have two halves actually you have many halves um well one section of the facility is for mothers that are under 18 and then the other side is for mothers who are over 18 and then they have Condominiums and apartments that they own or and or manage that um are used for housing these young women uh as a phase out of the program and the program is actually a lot shorter than you would like it uh Financial constraints you should also know that she operates in a negative too often so for example uh the facility segment for W uh mothers that are under 18 she loses money every year and that's only made up by either um state grants that I provide or donations so this year I'm proud to present again be along with the help of the mayor that helped me Lobby for this money another check for the center for GR expectations and i' like to izy can you uh turn that uh we have the proverbial giant check and Peg please don't try to fold that up and put it in your wallet so th this year's great uh State Grant is $1 million for the center for Great Expectations and this still leaves one a half million doll deficit for just one of the segments of her operations the other big oper that she conducts every year is the other last thing I want to talk about she has an annual Gala that she's you holding in Franklin this year right at the maragold that's the big fundraising uh event she has that's more public and I have committed to a table of 10 seats at $300 a seat so I want you all to raise your hand who does not want to buy one ticket thank you I'll come around later uh vasella you were the first one not to raise your hand so I'll be Tom morning I'll be at your house and uh mayor may I invite up Peg right to say a few words oh boy thank you Joe thank you Franklin Township I live in Franklin Township in hunon County so it's this Franklin Township is so close to my heart your police officers were there today they're often there they're lovely and they support us and I'm grateful for that and I'm grateful to this entire committee um and I am so grateful to Joe uh because we could not function without this funding and as you pointed out we have a full Continuum of Care we treat pregnant and parenting women 58% of maternal mortality is due to substance use and mental health disorders there are less than 2% of programs across the country that treat women with substance use and mental health disorders and how Joe so eloquently pointed out we're about breaking Cycles we work with recers University very closely we collect a lot of data we're very very serious about this and I will tell you stigma is Alive and Well my own dear friend who's my doctor at RWJ I will not mention his name I adore him and I told him 10 years ago by the way I'm in recovery for 36 years and he said you just like that and I said shame on you you know yes me and it can be anyone and it is anyone and we have to come together as a community and this Township sh does that in Spades and so does Joe and I thank you for that God bless you so um it's difficult to follow Joe because he said it all um but uh I did tour with him and I was incredibly impressed with your facility it just went on and on and on it was um amazing in the programs you had but what really stood out was that this wasn't just a place to House people it was a loving organization to bring people back from the the lows that they were at and uh that love clearly carries through to the the product that you produce which is Happy functional people thank you mayor uh the gala is October 18th at the mar gold and I'll call all of you to stalk you for the money thank you okay next is my brother's keep for presentation by the Franklin Township Police Department good evening everyone I do not have a million dollar check I wish but I am qull Mayweather public safety director for Franklin Township I have with me Captain Sean Heaven Sergeant Rebecca Leah officers Lauren Gregory and Malcolm bin tonight we have an update on my brother's Keepers program no audio it should be on everything says it's want to start okay we have a backup all right good evening mayor Township Council and Franklin Township community we're here today discuss that going okay never mind then did it work of the Franklin Township community a certificed coll toship entities to achieve our ultimate goal of preparing our boys and young men of color for life's challenges Department the Board of Education Youth Center houses of worship Community organ representes student representatives and Town Council representation keep a in our certification application the police department Chen focus on Milestone number all youth remain safe from violent crime in order to achieve this goal the sters focus on and Mak changes to policies and procedures their respective fields to achieve this change and number two creating events workshops and mentoring opportunities around establishing a vience free environment you may be asking how will this benefit Franklin Township the first benefit will be violence reduction in our community by our continued partnership with our stakeholders the second we become part of the nbk leadership Network which provides networking opportunities exchanging of ideas collaborative opportunities nationally and Community Partnerships on a national level here you can see a current list of certified communities just on the East Coast Franklin Township will be the second certified city in New Jersey third benefit become eligible to compete for Grants internships apprenticeships and mentorship opportunities finally we also benefit from opportunities to gain funding for nbk from major corporate entities such as these if anyone wishes to give input or comments on our certification or has questions please contact us at crb programs at Franklin nj.gov thank you awesome so that concludes our update and present presentation on MBK um we'll be back later once we receive our full certification thank you that's great okay awesome great job good job okay um the next item on commendations and proclamations is Hispanic Heritage Month Proclamation and Deputy Mayor pesnik will be presenting we have art on the monitors it's a beautiful moment um so I I'd like to invite the folks to stand behind me from uh the Hispanic Latino Community um the next Proclamation is on Hispanic uh celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month um and we have folks uh joining us from the business Community from the health and wellness Beauty Community folks that are part of cleaning services we have media we have um individuals and I'll let them do an introduction after I read the proclamation from the Hispanic chamber of com Commerce the consul of Mexico um so we really appreciate all of you being here thank you I know you a little bit thank you very much appreciate it um so Hispanic Heritage Month whereas Hispanic Heritage Month is celebrated from September 15th just around the corner to October 15th recognizing the rich cultural heritage and contributions of Hispanic and Latino Americans and whereas the Hispanic and Latino Community has played a vital role in shaping the history culture and identity of our nation and I might add our Township whereas this month provides an opportunity to honor and recognize the achievements traditions and diversity of Hispanic and Latino Americans now therefore we at pnik Deputy Mayor and Phil Kramer mayor of the township of Franklin and the uh council members here in the Somerset New Jersey and the state of New Jersey to hereby Proclaim September 15th to October 15th as a Hispanic Heritage Month in the township of Franklin let us celebrate and recognize the significant contributions of Hispanic and Latino Americans to our community and the nation and we're really pleased to have some of those folks with us and I invited one to speak we're trying to keep tonight's program so folks can get home from MV um to join us and also if we do quick introductions of uh each of the folks joining us thank you all right thank awesome well thank you Deputy Mayor and Council city council the city of uh Franklin uh first I'd like to introduce one of the um most representative entrepreneurs in in the State uh Miss Von Von land and over here we have uh Dr Maria Santiago for she's doing a lot of work in the in the community uh we have uh the consulate uh from Mexico and she's um Miss imal Larios and Miss Maya my wife and mesaas from uh New Brunswick lassos America uh the Latino Community is um representing two million uh two M 2.2 million people in the state of New Jersey it's 22% it the Spanish language is the second most spoken language in the world right after Chinese Mandarin and English being the third language so bringing in this ties in with what we're doing Statewide which is encouraging people to speak Spanish also um Elevate the Hispanic culture in in this Township uh the the Board of Education they have 37% of the student body is Latino is Latino uh families in the city in in this Township is 177% so we appreciate what uh Deputy Mayor is doing by signing this this Proclamation thank thank you sir app thank you okay we're now on to public discussion do I have a motion to open to the public so Mo second it we can second it all in favor of opening to the public say I I I oppos say nay motion is carried we're open to the public um to speak about anything related to government we're going to limit tonight to three minutes of time may only speak once no yielding of time um please state your name and address when you come up anyone wishing to speak I see not a stir in the audience I move that we close public comment seconded we have a motion to close do we have a second do we have a second on yes seconded moved then second and all in favor of closing public session say I I I opposed say nay motion is carried public session is closed so we have no answers for the public to comment on and may God grant that the council comments are only as long as the public comments good luck uh councilman Cari hey I guess this is a test I'm going to make it quickly there good evening everyone and good evening uh Franklin so I hope everybody had a great summer and during the summer we had a few uh grand opening of new businesses and that's wonderful we uh and I participated in a couple of them we wish them the best of luck and success our golden Franklin Township is to be the preferred place for businesses and we are happy to see that more and more businesses coming to our Township uh couple of uh announcement that could help our community members uh the blue season around the corner and during the U Advisory Board of Health we learned that the Somerset County Health Department is planning to offer uh free flu shots and they maybe come to places like food bank Senior Citizen Center and maybe youth center and even house of worship also uh please remember the anchor program for 21 it's up and you can apply if you a if you were a home owner in 2021 and your gross income was less than 250,000 or 250,000 or lower you may get up to, 1500 and if you are senior 65 and over you may get additional $250 and if you you renter you get $450 plus uh 250 if you are over 65 there is an excellent training for youth Mental Health First Aid which is going to be held uh on September 30th from 9 to 300 p.m. in the uh Community Senior Center so I encourage anybody uh who is interested to learn about the mental health especially our youth Believe It or Not 64% of the youths with major depression do not receive any mental uh health treatment and also one in five teens and young adults live with mental health condition so in this training uh people will learn uh how to identify understand and respond to signs of mental illness and substant ab abuse disorder uh human relations meeting is going to be on September 25th at 7 o' across the hall and we have Reverend Sonia red who's going to be the guest speaker in that uh meeting and they are trying to find ways that we can collaborate and better unite community and lastly I would like to recognize uh couple of things that happened in our Township some individuals and organization did a great job assembly Joe Danielson as as as the nna they had a back to to school backpack program which they distributed uh hundreds of backpacks many of them filled with their school supply and we had another organization by the name of GMA who for the first time started a new program where they bought uh I believe if over 300 uh new clothes for the students at pain Pine Grove uh Manor School and uh finally uh let me know that if we have uh I want to let you everybody know that we have opening in both Advisory Board of Health and Human relation commission so if anybody's interested to join those please come and sign up you can get the information from uh our website Township website I'm the for both of them and please call me if you have any questions and we look forward to having you and join to those uh two boards and count Commissioners thank you very much thank you councilman councilman only chak Mike hello hello okay we all aware that uh we've had series of accidents on the Canal Road this way okay we all aware that we've had series of accidents on the Canal Road I've actually discussed with the deputy mayori mayor um I'm moving a motion as a process to cut down accident in can Road the sense of doing this is to make that road a safety place for the Ser one to paint the road to paint a road stop sign ahead that will help two to Mark to all those Junction to Canal Road between the stop sign so I moving a motion for this today so we have a motion um to paint stop sign ahead on Canal Road mentioned you councilman I mean Deputy Mayor do you want to second that I'm happy to second that absolutely okay share my appreciation to the councilman for that I would like to make a quick Amendment if possible go ahead go ahead which would be on Canal Road in addition to folks running the stop signs which we've seen and just making folks more aware there are some skinny Bridges they're really on Lane Bridges and folks they're they're marked but folks don't always notice and they kind of go quickly through and causes a lot of consternation and potential accidents and and maybe painting on the road in front of those this is a on lane bridge so as they approach they can be reminded similar to the stop sign ahead that that is I think there's two instances of that the township manager could add in more where there's the skinny um bridges in addition for for more awareness sure I'm I have about a half an hour booked for my report so perhaps I can add on to that report oh so the there was a motion and an amendment and the motion accepted the amendment so we have a motion as read between the two of them um and a second anyone any other discussion on the motion so I have just a a comment I think about a couple of years ago on Parallel Street on uh we had a similar situation where they ran their stop sign went right into the Canal Road uh Canal um now the grower road is what we are talking about this time and I believe that's what councilman only jock is talking about no no no so I think at at that time at that time we talked about maybe putting some the blinking stop sign so so we we so and I had this conversation with the deputy mayor this morning you need to apply proper engineering um to any of those applications and most of what you're so the the the stop ahead pavement markings and we've discussed other pavement markings as well that that I've already begun the process of of dealing with the engineering aspects of it um through our Township engineer and also through the police department Traffic Safety Bureau um accident history is is a is a trigger for certain things and there is not a significant accident history at those locations and both of the accidents that you're talking about and without going into any great detail had many other contributing factors um that were were the cause of those crashes not the inability to see stop sign um there's only currently One Stop intersection in town that um has a flashing Beacon that's New runswick Road in Willow Avenue and that was as a result of a full engineering study to determine that there was a necessity for the flashing Beacon so the the federal manual doesn't just allow them to go up anywhere you choose to put them there has to be a a reason for it so the we we've discussed different things as far as um Traffic Safety um pavement markings and and what have you I mean I have to be honest with you um my my initial reaction to this was one of like maybe a giddy school girl I mean I have been lobbying in one way or another for certain things that we're talking about here for many many many years um there is some cost involved in it the the stop signs if we were going to look at those intersections that warrant them um it would probably be a capital project for 2025 the pavement markings are a little bit less expensive and don't require a significant amount of uh of work on the back end to justify them um I've probably already identifi them in my head um on more than one occasion where I think that they would be warranted and where they would be helpful um not just stop ahead not just one lane bridge ahead but curve ahead as well um we have a number of of locations so all of that is going to be part of a bigger project I think that that we're going to move forward with that you know having Council support for things like this is a huge thing for the engineering department the public works department and the police department and your manager who has like I said wanted to see things like this for a long time okay any other yeah there's there's many there are there are locations that we will work on any other discussion all right we can I think we can do this by acclamation it's just direction to the manager who seems on board already um so all in favor say I I opposed say nay motion is carried thank you councilman only Jaa and Deputy Mayor what we'll do we'll report this back through both Public Safety and Public Works which are the two relevant committees anything else councilman well that's it mayor thank you thank you Council for approving this okay councilman M Barrison thank you mayor I'll be brief uh there were several events and meetings that I attended but I think the most significant one was the uh August 29th the master plan uh review uh meeting uh we uh were given a report uh by the uh firm um that was contracted to do um essentially the two intersections were added at the suggestion of uh uh residents that submitted their um recommendations so they they included those two intersections for their study and the numbers were presented uh and uh more more importantly I think they have gone ahead and looked at the entire bi Zone and the suitability of uh warehouses specifically um whether is there any uh room for new warehouses in town um as you know uh we have an ordinance Banning warehouses um so I think what they're thinking is where there is no impact to residences in in terms of traffic uh I believe they're going to be recommending certain pockets of B Zone U that would allow warehouses but with uh uh not not spec warehouses even if it they're spec warehouses they're going to recommend that they identify the use uh the future use and if it is not going to be used as it was built uh that would be subject to uh another um variance application so that's a quick update I wanted to present and uh other than that there was a seage Authority meeting on September 3rd um and of course we just came off from our 911 ceremony uh every year it's a beautiful beautiful commemoration of uh people who lost life from our town uh our hearts go out to them that's all I have mayor thank you uh councilwoman Francois thank you Mr Mayor there's just one thing I want to highlight on August 7 17th it was Community day here in Franklin Township the First Baptist Church of Lincoln Gardens they gave out over a thousand book bags to students and they they served over 1400 Mills and assemblyman Joe Danielson was there also giving out book bags on that same day the week of the people gave out over 350 book bags both events ran out of book bags there were that many children in their families that came to these events at the week of the people we gave out free hot dogs free hamburgers free snow cones free um cotton candy uh what else free free free um they the kids could go in the game truck the kids could we had free pony rides we had free bouncy rides we had free face painting it was a beautiful beautiful beautiful day I want to thank uh the Somerset Community Action Program for part ING with us the Franklin food bake was there giving out information uh the um n NAACP was there doing voter registration we had Robert Wood Johnson out there uh giving out information on health health uh inequities and things that people could do to better their health and then I also want to thank the um Franklin Township Recreation Department because they helped out a lot with the weak of the people event and also the Hamilton Street Advisory Board they provided some funding as well and then the Franklin Township Police Department was there in drov and what I thought was so so beautiful was how uh things have changed in Franklin Township how the police were there interacting with the kids it was it was a beautiful site and our um councilman Rah was there and so was councilman uh vasella so they had an opportunity to see what a beautiful beautiful day we had it rained but people stayed they stayed in the rain and uh you know we we had the uh event from 2: to 5: and everybody really had a good time and also I thought what was beautiful was there was a huge latino uh population that came out as well and a lot of people didn't speak English but again it was a great great Community Day and I look forward to next year um having another type of week of the people event over in nean Williams Park um for for our children and their families it also represented the the great great need that that's out there that that people have uh that you know some of us may not be aware of but that we served a need that day and it was a community day here in Franklin Township thank you Mr Mayor thank you councilman vasella yes now you got me thinking about that day which really was so organic in nature and I can relate to everything you said about it um the line for the cotton candy was so long all the time I couldn't I never got any because it had end up talking some every aspect of it was so appreciated from the water slide to the pony rides anyway and just I have to mention because I remember before I even got on councel I think it was 0405 Percy Sanders after the event although we advertised was 57 years or something it had gone away for 20 20 or 25 years and he almost single-handedly along with a committee I volunteered as a resident and brought it back and I remember that that and has just gotten better and better every year anyway thank you for reminding me how great that was um hope everyone had a good summer couple more weeks left um I think my brother's keeper the program has great potential I look forward to hearing more about it um and glad we recognize Hispanic Heritage Month which starts a week or so um it's a great time to learn more about Hispanic culture experience Spanish culture Hispanic culture um here or anywhere um congratulations to the Great Expectations I'm proud that it's in the ward the ward I serve and the ward I represent um um it's a very successful nonprofit and its mission is so important and regardless of people's political views I think we realize government cannot do everything and what they do learn more about them look them up online I'm not going to go into it but what they do is really serve a fantastic uh service that really is life changing I'll leave it at that so anyway welcome back from what hopefully was a great summer for everyone thank you councilwoman e thank you good evening um just wanted to highlight again thank you to councilman and Baris mentioning about the master plan study review that happened on 829th um I will look for the minutes to that meeting to be posted on our designated website so I can circulate that back out and review the two intersections that were added um if residents still have questions um feedback concerns um feel free to as you are um sending them out to me I will circulate those back to Mark um and then he can um also review that with our third party fendor um we had moving the park and uh it was at Nasa Park and we uh showed Shrek and um you know I just got to give it to our parks and rack staff Public Works Township manager for putting this together so quickly um it was such a success seeing the little kids um with their families enjoying a night out and it wasn't too hot it was just perfect weather um having ice cream and um hot dogs and um water bottles were provided by our assemblyman Joel Danielson so thank you to him and his staff for um coming out and being part of that amazing night and lastly um back to school at the youth center um councilman Fran house I did not see you there but it was an amazing one again an amazing event at the um Youth Center I enjoyed myself um with the kids and you know time to time I go there and I just continue to be amazed of what we did there and just have seeing the kids have an amazing time playing playing in the game center creating crafts um just it's a really nice uh Center that's been built um and lastly again it's because it's back to school I I have already seen cars flying by when the buses are being stopped so I just request that let's just be mindful the buses if you see the flashing lights please stop we have little kids that are crossing even little or big kids are crossing um so just definitely want to put that out there just be mindful thank you thank you councilman Wright sister to sister 19th anual virtual in person breast cancer awareness run walk on Saturday October 15 2024 this organization provides Sanctuary support education advocacy and breast cancer related programs for minorities and underserved breast cancer survivors again October 5th 2024 from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. those that are interested can contact Miss darthy Reid at 732 246 830 again 7 32246 8300 or NJ n excuse me SN nj2000 gmail.com again SN nj2000 gmail.com our food bank here in Franklin Township raised $65,000 during their feed Franklin best with over 21 DS that live to the motto neighbors helping neighbors uh Derek Smith is director you can go to their website at Franklin Food Bank Franklin email Franklin Foodbank gmail.com again Franklin Foodbank gmail.com Mr Mayor that ends thank you Mr R deputy mayor patnik I have no comments thank you you're my favorite deputy mayor uh for my comments briefly um Nabil gentleman we call NBC from the library board has resigned uh so my custom is to move up my representative to an open space so Alicia Ali is now a full trustee and I will be replacing um as my representative um Zachary lickman um from East Millstone and um I apologize for not being here last council meeting I've missed one council meeting since I have been mayor and that was the day that I was sadly had to decide whether to put my dog to sleep or not um I the reason I missed it last week was because Fire District 3 is under some distress and there's potential for the East Franklin Firehouse to be shut down I went there to tell them that it is unacceptable for that to happen they're the highest performing Firehouse at least in Somerset County uh and they're having another meeting now and we I will find out later what the update is on that um but uh we will I will do everything in my power to keep that from happening that's all of my comments Mr manager thank Mr Mayor just two quick things um one just a reminder that at the end of the month on Saturday September uh September 28th from no to 5 Colonial Park will be Franklin day 2024 um for those of you who are familiar with it then you know what it will be we're back in Colonial Park again now that it's available for us and uh it is a CommunityWide celebration entertainment car show vendors food vendors nonprofit vendors uh and and uh just a an allaround Fun Day entertainment uh both at the cultural arts stage as well as the main stage uh Knob Hill Colonial Park off of Elizabeth Avenue and metler Road um the other thing is that I I just I I want to I I want just want to add a little bit to councilman EMB Barrison comments as well as councilwoman uden's the bi study that councilman EMB Barrison was referencing is nowhere near complete it is not at a point yet where there's any recommendations coming from the committee the traffic study is complete and the actual planning study which will rely on a lot on information from the traffic study is just beginning now so there are no recommendations from that report yet because the planning report has yet to be done because the investigation has just begun and I think the last meeting that you were at was a steering committee meeting so all of the minutes councilwoman are up to date everything is up to date on the website I spoke with Mary today and there is nothing further to add to the website at this time because it is up to date the report is there from the traffic report final draft is post and that reflects the two intersection additions that councilman and Barrison had referenced so that's that's the update on the the bi study and um councilman Wright um we received today the um proposals for the traffic study on Hamilton Street they were due today and uh staff will review them and uh I will uh be able to report back at the next council meeting who that contract will be getting awarded to I would imagine it'll probably be on the agenda at the next council meeting for award um also received today were the proposals from PL uh a affordable housing experts related to our um looking to bring on board a a an expert related to the state's most current affordable housing laws that were adopted and will go into effect at the beginning of 2025 and we want to stay ahead of the curve as far as that's concerned so we receive them today and uh we'll have a discussion in the administration committee about that Mr warl Mr vlac I thank you for the traffic study that you're going to do today and also the affordable housing um we're member of the Redevelopment agency and we definitely want to hear something about that as we move forward so I want to thank you for both of those on behalf of all the constituents of Franklin Township very good and that's what I have Mr Mayor thank you our meeting begins Mr Mayor can I say one thing yes on the record I want to say the reason why I was not at the youth center back to school event was because I have my granddaughter she's nine months old and she is a piece of work I could not take her over there we missed you both I missed it too thank you Mr Mayor glad we cleared that up um item number 10 counil discussion items we have none uh item 11 approval of the minutes I present the following minutes to the township Council for their approval Township Council work session regular meeting and executive session minutes of July 9th 2024 and the work session regular meeting of August 13 202 24 do we have a motion on the minutes some move seconded mayor I oh go too quick too quick I I have a correction on the July minutes please that's that's what we go for next all right go ahead okay so um both my reference and councilman kazi's reference on Kali was transcribed as Diwali so so I just to correct that they're not the same however uh our Township we are going to do Diwali in on October 12th so that's coming up next month so I thought I'll just throw that in okay thank you any other Corrections hearing no other Corrections Madam clerk councilman embarrass yes councilwoman Francois yes councilman karazi yes mayor Kramer yes Council on cha yes Deputy Mayor pnik yes councilwoman UD yes councilman vasella yes councilman rright yes item number 12 warrants of the approval of the warrants that's how we pay our bills warrants in the amount of 50 million discussion Madam clerk councilman narison yes councilwoman Francois yes councilman Kazi yes mayor Kramer yes councilman on joa yes Deputy Mayor basnik yes councilwoman Udin yes councilman vasella yes councilman right yes item number 13 public hearing and Adoption of an ordinance on second reading first reading is when we announce to the world that we're considering an ordinance second reading is when we consider passing it and the public has the opportunity to speak ordinance 4449 24 amend the municipal code of the township of Franklin Somerset County New Jersey more particularly chapter 226 vehicles and traffic section 2 2613 parking prohibited at all times on certain streets at Oakbrook Place uh is presented for the township for is presented for public hearing and final adoption the public hearing has been noticed as required this is the end of Oakbrook um in front of the sewage station um do we have a motions open to the public so moved do you have a second second mo' then seconded all in favor of opening to the public say I I opposed say no motion is carried we open to the public on this item only same rules mayor see no one coming for a motion to close the public portion here second who in seconded all in favor say I I opposed say nay motion is carried we are closed motion to adopt so moved second second moved then second and any discussion on the motion Madam clerk councilman EMB Barrison yes councilwoman franois yes councilman Kazi yes mayor Kramer yes councilman on Jaa yes deputy mayor tnik yes councilwoman uden yes councilman vasella yes councilman R yes ordinance 44 50-24 this I'm sorry this is our first readings now ordinance 44 50-24 an ordinance amending the code of Township of Franklin County of Summerset state of New Jersey more particularly chapter 226 vehicles and traffic section for the movement and the public and the parking of traffic on all other private properties what we're doing is adding Somerset gate Somerset gate is a community on Route 27 uh across from the New Brunswick Cemetery um it's a private uh owned streets but they're asking us to monitor those streets and to do so it's government we have to do paperwork so uh um do we have a motion to introduce some second move in second and any other discussion Madam clerk councilman EMB Barrison yes councilwoman Francois yes councilman karazi mayor Kramer yes councilman Oni Jaa yes Deputy Mayor pnik yes councilwoman Udin councilman vasella yes councilman right yes on to the consent agenda items a through w with the exception of p and Q I'll explain in a moment as listed on the consens agenda portion of this meeting are presented to Township Council for adoption to have a motion on what I just said soov moved and seconded the reason why we're pulling p and Q is because councilman basella has to recuse himself due to potential conflict of interest on those two items uh any other discussion councilman I mean Deputy Mayor did you notice we're getting two electric vehicles I did I was going to talk to the township manager I'm assuming that's for the police it is for the police department they're being purchased with the opioid settlement funds to use towards our lead program and Other Drug um reduction programs in the town um I predict they will be very popular I predict given the type that they got and those that are available or the reason why they got them is probably going to make them very popular yes beginning of new things to come cleaner air any other comments Madame clerk councilman EMB Barrison yes councilwoman Francois yes councilman karazi yes mayor Kramer yes councilman n Chaka yes Deputy Mayor pnik yes councilwoman udine yes councilman vasella yes councilman Wright and now items p and Q are present to the township Council uh for um adoption to have a motion so moved moved in second and any discussions on pmq Madam clerk councilman EMB Barrison yes councilwoman fra yes councilman karazi yes mayor Kramer yes councilman Oni jaka yes Deputy Mayor pnik yes councilwoman UD yes councilman vasella councilman Wright yes thank you no there are no resolutions to be voted on separately old business uh boards committees commission vacancies any nominations uh very quickly we have openings on clean communities Advisory Board of Health advisory Rec counil Hamilton Street Advisory Board and human relations um there is no executive session do we have a motion to adjourn some move second move then second all in favor say I I opposed say nay motion is carried we are adjourned be well Franklin have a good night --------- ##VIDEO ID:gw5-gSJLf44## in accordance with the open public meeting Act of the state of New Jersey adequate notice of this work session regular meeting of the Franklin Township Council was made as required indicating that this work session regular meeting would take place at the municipal building at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday September 10th 2024 if we could all stand for the Pledge of Allegiance and remain standing by the invocation delivered by Deputy Mayor Ed basnik I pledge 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 and justice for all As We Gather here today as members of the township Council we pray that we are ever mindful of the opportunities to render our service to fellow citizens and our community keeping in mind always the enduring values of Life exerting our efforts in those areas on those things upon which future Generations can build with confidence may we establish peace throughout the world the Nations and here in our own community may tonight's debate be something that people watch uh closely um and provide for a better America a safer America and let us continue to strive to make the world better in every way that each of us can amen amen Madam clerk please call the rooll councilman EMB Barrison here councilwoman Francois here councilman karazi here mayor Kramer here councilman Oni jaka here Deputy Mayor pnik president councilwoman Udin here councilman vasella here councilman Wright here we are on to item number five on the agenda copy of the agendas are there near the clerk first item is check presentation to the center of Great Expectations assemblyman Joe Danielson Daniel thank you and good evening mayor one two okay thank you mayor and Council for having me tonight um and thank you for a wonderful 911 ceremony that you do every year to honor those that we lost um today I'm here to talk about the center for Great Expectations it's here in Franklin Township and it's one of the great elements of Franklin Township it was was established in 1998 by uh Miss Peg Wright who's sitting to my left and uh I hope I don't get this wrong uh but the center is um off uh uh uh the M Lane and its focus is that it houses women with children that are experiencing uh emotional abuse physical abuse addictions um and they have to um care for a child or or more and their goal is to not only teach them how to be healthy happy productive individuals but they also teach them how to parent as well so in addition to being a residential uh therapy healthy happy home environment they are stopping the generational cycle of addiction abuse and neglect and uh the absence of education and role model and they are truly turning lives around and making new futures for these women and their these children um I found out about them only a couple of years ago through a mutual friend of ours who happens to be a lobbyist and I took a tour of it then my next step was to get that money from the state I think I got you $1.5 million doar uh then the following year I thought it was so important that I got to speaker and the mayor uh to come there and take a tour of it and it's just a Wonder wonderful wonderful uh uh facility and I encourage everyone to take a tour of that um you'd be right alongside me in supporting this and they have two halves actually you have many halves um well one section of the facility is for mothers that are under 18 and then the other side is for mothers who are over 18 and then they have Condominiums and apartments that they own or and or manage that um are used for housing these young women uh as a phase out of the program and the program is actually lot shorter than you would like it uh Financial constraints you should also know that she operates in a negative too often so for example uh the facility segment for W uh mothers that are under 18 she loses money every year and that's only made up by either um state grants that I provide or donations so this year I'm proud to present again be along with the help of the mayor that helped me Lobby for this money another check for the center for Great Expectations and I like to izy can you turn that uh we have the proverbial giant check and Peg please don't try to fold that up and put it in your wallet so th this year's great uh State Grant is one million for the center for Great Expectations and this still leaves $1 and5 million deficit for just one of the segments of her operations the other big operation that she conducts every year is the other last thing I want to talk about she has an annual Gala that she's you holding in Franklin this year right at the maragold that's the big fundraising uh event she has that's more public and I have committed to a table of 10 seats at $300 a seat so I want you all to raise your hand who does not want to buy one ticket thank you I'll come around later uh vasella you were the first one not to raise your hand so I'll be small morning I'll be at your house and uh mayor may I invite up Peg right to say a few words oh boy thank you Joe thank you Franklin Township I live in Franklin Township in County so it's this Franklin Township is so close to my heart your police officers were there today they're often there they're lovely and they support us and I'm grateful for that and I'm grateful to this entire committee um and I am so grateful to Joe uh because we could not function without this funding and as you pointed out we have a full Continuum of Care we treat pregnant and parenting women 50 8% of maternal mortality is due to substance use and mental health disorders there are less than 2% of programs across the country that treat women with substance use and mental health disorders and how Joe so eloquently pointed out we're about breaking Cycles we work with recers University very closely we collect a lot of data we're very very serious about this and I will tell you stigma is Alive and Well my own dear friend friend who's my doctor at RWJ I will not mention his name I adore him and I told him 10 years ago by the way I'm in recovery for 36 years and he said you just like that and I said shame on you you know yes me and it can be anyone and it is anyone and we have to come together as a community and this Township does that in Spades and so does Joe and I thank you for that God God bless you thank so um it's difficult to follow Joe because he said it all um but uh I did tour with him and I was incredibly impressed with your facility it just went on and on and on it was um amazing in the programs you had but what really stood out was that this wasn't just a place to House people people it was a loving organization to bring people back from the the lows that they were at and uh that love clearly carries through to the the product that you produce which is Happy functional people thank you mayor uh the gala is October 18th at the marold and I'll call all of you to stalk you for the money thank you okay you're going to get next is My Brother's Keeper presentation by the Franklin Township Police Department good evening everyone I do not have a million dollar check I wish but I am qull Mayweather public safety director for Franklin Township I have with me Captain Shan Heaven Sergeant Rebecca Leah officers Lauren Gregory and Malcolm bin tonight we have an update on my brother's Keepers program it should be on everything says it's on want to start okay we have a backup all right good evening mayor Township Council and Franklin Township community we're here today to discuss that gone okay never mind then did it work okay as en to the township Council and the Franklin Township community a certific we haveed collor enties to aeve our ulate of our and young of color for life challes these Township sters includ Frank Police Department ofeducation youth houses of community organizations parent Representatives student representatives and Township coun repres in our certific appc the police department Hasen focus on Milestone number all youth remain safe from violent crime in order to achieve this goal the stakeholders will focus on changes and procedures within their respective fields to achieve this change and number two creating events workshops and mentoring opportunities around establishing a violence free environment you may be asking how will this benefit Franklin Township the first benefit will be violence ruction in our community by our continued partnership with our stakeholders the second is we become part of the nbk leadership Network provides networking opportunties exchanging of ideas collaborative opportunties nationally and Community Partnership on a national level here you can see a current list of certified communities just on the East Coast Franklin Township will be the second certified city in New Jersey become eligible to compete for Grants internships apprenticeships and mentorship opportunities finally we also benefit from opportunities to gain funding for nbk from major corporate entities such as these if anyone wishes to give input or comments on our certification or has questions please contact us at crb programs Franklin nj.gov thank you awesome so that concludes our update and present presentation on MBK um we'll be back later once we receive our full certification thank you that's great okay awesome great job good job yes okay um the next item on commendations and proclamations is Hispanic Heritage Month Proclamation and Deputy Mayor patnik will be presenting we have art on the monitors it's a beautiful moment um so i' I'd like to invite the folks to stand behind me from uh the Hispanic Latino Community um the next Proclamation is on Hispanic uh celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month um and we have folks uh joining us from the business Community from the health and wellness Beauty Community folks that are part of cleaning services we have media we have um individuals and I'll let them do an introduction after I read the proclamation from the Hispanic chamber of com Commerce the conso of Mexico um so we really appreciate all of you being here thank you I know you a little bit thank you very much appreciate it um so Hispanic Heritage Month whereas Hispanic Heritage Month is celebrated from September 15th just around the corner to October 15th recognizing the rich cultural heritage and contributions of Hispanic and Latino Americans and whereas the Hispanic and Latino Community has played a vital role in shaping the history culture and identity of our nation and I might add our Township whereas this month provides an opportunity to honor and recognize the achievements traditions and diversity of Hispanic and Latino Americans now therefore we at pnik Deputy Mayor and Phil Kramer mayor of the township of Franklin and the uh council members here in the Somerset New Jersey and the state of New Jersey to hereby Proclaim September 15th to October 15th as Hispanic Heritage Month in the township of Franklin let us celebrate and recognize the significant contributions of Hispanic and Latino Americans to our community and the nation and we're really pleased to have some of those folks with us and I invited one to speak we're trying to keep tonight's program so folks can get home from mus TV um to join us and also if we do quick introductions of uh each of the folks joining us thank you all right thank you awesome well thank you Deputy Mayor and Council city council the city of uh Franklin uh first I'd like to introduce one of the um most representative entrepreneurs in in the state um uh Miss V Von land and over here we have uh Dr Maria Santiago for she's doing a lot of work in the in the community uh we have uh the consulate uh from Mexico and she's Miss iral Larios and Miss Maya my wife and mesaas from uh new bronswick lassos America uh the Latino Community is um representing 2 million uh 2 Mill 2.2 million people in the state of New Jersey it's 22% it the Spanish language is the second most spoken language in the world right after Chinese Mandarin and English being the third language so bringing in this ties in with what we're doing Statewide which is encouraging people to speak Spanish also um Elevate the Hispanic culture in in this Township uh the the Board of Education they have 37% of the student body is Latino is Latino uh families in the city in in this Township is 177% so we appreciate what uh Deputy Mayor is doing by signing this this Proclamation thank you sir thank you photo up fr than thank you okay we're now on to public discussion do I have a motion to open to the public so second it we've then second and all in favor of opening to the public say I I I oppos say nay motion is carried we are open to the public um to speak about anything related to government we're going to limit tonight to three minutes of time may only speak once no yielding of time um please state your name and address when you come up anyone wishing to speak I see not a stir in the audience I will move that we close public comment seconded we have a motion to close do we have a second second do we have a second on yes seconded moved in second and all in favor of closing public session say I I I opposed say nay motion is carried public session is closed so we have no answers for the public to comment on and may God grant that the council comments are only as long as the public comments good luck uh councilman Kazi this is test I'm gonna make it quickly Mr Mayor good evening everyone and good evening uh Franklin so I hope everybody had a great summer and during the summer we had a few uh grand opening of new businesses and that's wonderful we uh and I participated in a couple of them we wish them the best of luck and success our golden Franklin Township is to be the preferred place for businesses and we are happy to see that more and more businesses coming to our Township uh couple of uh announcement that could help our community members uh the flu Seasons around the corner and during the U uh Advisory Board of Health we learned that the sumers of County Health Department is planning to offer uh free flu shots and they may be coming to places like food bank Senior Citizen Center and maybe youth center and even house of worship also uh please remember the anchor program for 2021 it's up and you can apply if you uh if you were a home owner in 2021 and your gross income was less than 250,000 or 250,000 or lower you may get up to 1,500 and if you are senior 65 and over you may get additional $250 and if you you renter you get $450 plus uh 250 if you are over 65 there is an excellent training for use Mental Health first aid which is going to be held on September 30th from 9 to 300 p.m. in the uh Community Senior Center so I encourage anybody uh who is interested to learn about the mental health especially our youth Believe It or Not 64% of the youth with major depression do not receive any mental uh health treatment and also one in five teens and young adults live with mental health condition so in this training uh people will learn uh how to identify understand a respond to signs of mental illness and sufficent AB abuse disorder uh human relations meeting is going to be on September 25th at 7 o'clock across the hall and we have Reverend Sonia red who's going to be the guest speaker in that uh meeting and they are trying to find ways that we can collaborate and better unite the community and lastly I would like to recognize uh couple of things that happened in our Township uh some individuals and organization did a great job assembly Joe Danielson as as the nna they had a back to to school backpack program which they distributed uh hundreds of backpacks many of them filled with school supply and we had another organization by the name of GMA who for the first time started a new program where they bought uh I believe if over 300 uh new clothes for the students at pain Pine Grove uh Manor School and uh finally uh let me know that if we have uh I want to let you everybody know that we have opening in both Advisory Board of Health and Human relation commission so if anybody's interested to join those please come and sign up you can get the information from uh our website Township website I'm the liaison for both of them and please call me if you have any questions and we look forward to having you and join to those uh two boards and count Commissioners thank you very much thank you councilman councilman only Jaa thank you Mike hello hello okay we all aware that uh we had a series of accidents on Canal Road this way okay we all aware that we've had series of accidents on the Canal Road I've actually discussed with the deputy mayori mayor um I'm moving a motion as a process to cut down accident in can Road the sense of doing this is to make that road a safety place for the city one to paint the road to paint a road stop sign ahead that will help two to Mark to all those Junction to Canal Road between the stop sign so I moving a motion so we have a motion um to paint stop sign ahead on Canal Road mentioned you councilman I mean Deputy Mayor do you want to second that I'm happy to second that absolutely okay share my appreciation to the councilman for that I would like to make a quick Amendment if possible go ahead go ahead which would be on Canal Road in addition to folks running the stop signs which we've seen and just making folks more aware there are some skinny Bridges they're really one lane Bridges and folks they're they're marked but folks don't always notice and they kind of go quickly through and it causes a lot of consternation and potential accidents and and maybe painting on the road in front of those this is a on lane bridge so as they approach they can be reminded similar to the stop sign ahead that that is I think there's two instances of that the township manager could add in more where there's the skinny um bridges in addition for for more awareness sure I'm I have about a half an hour booked for my report so perhaps I can add on to that report so the there was a motion and an amendment and the motion accepted the amendment so we have a motion as read between the two of them um and a second anyone any other discussion on the motion so I have a just a a comment I think about a couple of years ago on your parallel Street on uh we had a similar situation where they ran the stop sign went right into the Canal Road uh Canal um now the grower road is what we are talking about this time and I believe that's what councilman only jock is talking no no no so I think at at that time at that time we talked about maybe putting some of the blinking stop sign so so we we so and I had this conversation with the deputy mayor this morning you need to apply proper engineer ing um to any of those applications and most of what you at so the the the stop ahead pavement markings and we've discussed other pavement markings as well that that I've already begun the process of of dealing with the engineering aspects of it um through our Township engineer and also through the police department Traffic Safety Bureau um accident history is is an is a trigger for certain things and there is not a significant accident history at those locations and both of the accidents that you're talking about and without going into any great detail had many other contributing factors um that were were the cause of those crashes not the inability to see a stop sign um there's only currently One Stop inter section in town that um has a flashing Beacon that's New runswick Road in Willow Avenue and that was as a result of a full engineering study to determine that there was a necessity for the flashing Beacon so the the federal manual doesn't just allow them to go up anywhere you choose to put them there has to be a a reason for it so the we' we've discussed different things as far as um uh Traffic Safety um pavement markings and and what have you I mean I have to be honest with you um my my initial reaction to this was one of like maybe a giddy school girl I mean I have been lobbying in one way or another for certain things that we're talking about here for many many many years um there is some cost involved in it the the stop signs if we were going to look at those intersections warrant them um there it would probably be a capital project for 2025 the pavement markings are a little bit less expensive and don't require a significant amount of uh of work on the back end to justify them um I've probably already identified them in my head um on more than one occasion where I think that they would be warranted and where they would be helpful um not just stop ahead not just one lane bridge ahead a curve ahead as well um we have a number of of locations so all of that is going to be part of a bigger project I think that that we're going to move forward with that you know having Council support for things like this is a huge thing for the engineering department the public works department and the police department and your manager who has like I said wanted to see things like this for a long time Jack and think yeah there's there's many there are there are locations that we will work on any other discussion all right we can I think we can do this by acclamation it's just direction to the manager who seems on board already um so all in favor say I I opposed say nay motion is carried thank you councilman only joa and Deputy Mayor P what we'll do is we'll report this back through both Public Safety and Public Works which are the two relevant committees anything else councilman oh that's it mayor thank you thank you Council for approving this okay councilman M harison thank you mayor I'll be brief uh there were several events and meetings that I attended but I think the most significant one was the uh August 29th the master plan review uh meeting uh we uh were given a report uh by the uh firm um that was contracted to do um essentially the two intersections were added at the suggestion of uh uh residents that submitted their um recommendations so they they included those two intersections for their study and the numbers were presented uh and uh more more importantly I think they have gone ahead and looked at the entire bi Zone and the suitability of uh warehouses specifically um whether is there any uh room for new warehouses in town um as you know we have an ordinance Banning warehouses um so I think what they're thinking is where there is no impact to residences in in terms of traffic uh I believe they are going to be recommending certain pockets of B Zone U that would allow uh warehouses but with uh uh not not spec warehouses even if it they're spec warehouses they're going to recommend that they identify the use uh the future use and if it is not going to be used as it was built uh that would be subject to uh another um variance application so that's a quick update I wanted to present and uh other than that there was a seage Authority meeting on September 3rd um and of course we just came off uh from our 911 ceremony uh every year it's a beautiful beautiful commemoration of uh people who lost life from our town uh our hearts go out to them that's all I have mayor thank you uh councilwoman Francois thank you Mr Mayor there's just one thing I want to highlight on August 17th it was Community day here in Franklin Township the the F First Baptist Church of Lincoln Gardens they gave out over a thousand book bags to students and they they served over 1400 Mills and assemblyman Joe Danielson was there also giving out book bags on that same day the week of the people gave out over 350 book bags both events ran out of book bags there were that many children and their families that came to these events at the week of the people we gave out free hot dogs free hamburg ERS free snow cones free um cotton candy uh what else free free free um they the kids could go in the game truck the kids could we had free pony rides we had free bouncy rides we had free face painting it was a beautiful beautiful beautiful day I want to thank uh the Somerset Community Action Program for partnering with us the Franklin food Bap was there giving out information uh the uh um n NAACP was there doing voter registration we had Robert Wood Johnson out there uh giving out information on health health uh inequities and things that people could do to better their health and then I also want to thank the um Franklin Township Recreation Department because they helped out a lot with the week of the people event and also the Hamilton Street Advisory Board they provided some funding as well and then the Franklin Township Police Department was there in Rose and what I thought was so so beautiful was how uh things have changed in Franklin Township how the police were there interacting with the kids it was it was a beautiful site and our um councilman Rah was there and so was councilman uh vasella so they had an opportunity to see what a beautiful beautiful day we had it rained but people stayed they stayed in the rain and uh you know we we had the uh event from 2: to 5: and everybody really had a good time and also I thought what was beautiful was there was a huge latino uh population that came out as well that and a lot of people didn't speak English but again it was a great great Community Day and I look forward to next year um having another type of week of the people event over in nean Williams Park um for for our children and their families it also represented the the great great need that that's out there that that people have uh that you know some of us may not be aware of but that we served the need that day and it was a community day here in Franklin Township thank you Mr Mayor thank you councilman vasella yes now you got me thinking about that day which really was so organic in nature and I can relate to everything you said about it um the line for the cotton candy was so long long all the time I couldn't I never got any because then i' end up talking so on every aspect of it was so appreciated from the water slide to the pony rides anyway and just I have to mention because I remember before I even got on Council I think it was 0405 Percy Sanders after the event although we advertised was 57 years or something it had gone away for 20 20 or 25 years and he almost single-handedly along with a committee I volunteered as a resident and brought it back and I remember that that and has just gotten better and better every year anyway thank you for reminding me how great that was um hope everyone had a good summer couple more weeks left um I think my brother's keeper the program has great potential I look forward to hearing more about it um and glad we recognize Hispanic Heritage Month starts a week or so um it's a great time to learn more about Hispanic culture experience Hispanic culture Hispanic culture um here or anywhere um congratulations to the Great Expectations I'm proud that it's in the ward the ward I serve and the W I represent um it's a very successful nonprofit and its mission is so important and regardless of people's political views I think we realize government cannot do everything and what they do learn more about them look them up online I'm not going to go into it but what they do is really serve a fantastic uh service that really is life changing I'll leave it at that so anyway welcome back from what hopefully was a great summer for everyone thank you councilwoman e thank you good evening um just wanted to highlight again thank you to councilman andaris mentioning about the master plan study review that happened on 829th um I will look for the minutes to that meeting to be posted on our designated website so I can circulate that back out and review the two intersections that were added um if resident still have questions um feedback concerns um feel free to as you are um sending them out to me I will circulate those back to Mark um and then he can um also review that with our third party vendor um we had moving the park and uh it was at Nasa Park and we uh showed Shrek and um you know I just got to give it to our parks and R staff Public Works Township manager for putting this together so quickly um it was such a success seeing the little kids um with their families enjoying a night out and it wasn't too hot it was just perfect WEA um having ice cream and um hot dogs and um water bottles were provided by our assemblyman Joe Danielson so thank you to him and his staff for um coming out and being part of that amazing night and lastly um back to school at the youth center um councilman Francis I did not see you there but it was an amazing one again an amazing event at the um Youth Center I enjoyed myself um with the kids and you know time to time I go there and I just continue to be amazed of what we did there and just have seeing the kids have an amazing time playing playing in the game center creating crafts um just it's a really nice uh Center that's been built um and lastly again it's because it's back to school I I have already seen cars flying by when the buses are being stopped so I just request that let's just be mindful of the buses if you see the flashing lights please stop we have little kids that are crossing even little or big kids are crossing um so just definitely want to put that out there just be mindful thank you thank you councilman Wright sister to sister 19th Daniel virtual in person breast cancer awareness run walk on Saturday October 15 2024 this organization provides Sanctuary support education advocacy and breast cancer related programs for minorities and underserved breast cancer survivors again October 5th 2024 from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. those that are interested can contact Miss darthy re at 732 246 83000 again 732 246 8300 or NJ n excuse me SN NJ 2@gmail.com again SN nj2000 gmail.com our food bank here in Franklin Township raised $65,000 during their feed Franklin fest with over 210 DS that live to the motto neighbors helping neighbors uh Derek Smith is director you can go to their website at Franklin Foodbank Franklin email Franklin Foodbank gmail.com again Franklin Foodbank gmail.com Mr Mayor that ends thank you Mr rright Deputy Mayor patnik I have no comments thank you you're my favorite deputy mayor uh for my comments briefly um nail gentleman we call NBC from the library board has resigned uh so my custom is to move up my representative to an open space so Alicia Ali is now a full trustee and I will be replacing um as my representative Um Zack Zary lickman um from East Millstone and um I apologize for not being here last council meeting I've missed one council meeting since I have been mayor and that was the day that I was sadly just had to decide whether to put my dog to sleep or not um I the reason I missed it last week was because Fire District 3 is under some distress and there's potential for the East Franklin Firehouse to be shut down I went there to tell them that it is unacceptable for that to happen they're the highest performing Firehouse at least in Somerset County uh and they're having another meeting now and we I will find out later what the update is on that um but uh we will I will do everything in my power to keep that from happening that's all all of my comments Mr manager thanks Mr Mayor just two quick things um one just a reminder that at the end of the month on Saturday September uh September 28th from no to 5 Colonial Park will be Franklin day 2024 um for those of you who are familiar with it then you know what it will be we're back in Colonial Park again now that it's available for us and uh it is a CommunityWide celebration entertainment car show vendors food vendors nonprofit vendors uh and and uh just a an allaround Fun Day entertainment uh both at the cultural arts stage as well as the main stage uh Knob Hill Colonial Park off of Elizabeth Avenue and metler Road um the other thing is that I I just I I want to I I want just want to add a little bit to councilman EMB Barrison comments as well as councilwoman oudin the bi study that councilman EMB Barrison was referencing is nowhere near complete it is not at a point yet where there's any recommendations coming from the committee the traffic study is complete and the actual planning study which will rely on a lot on information from the traffic study is just beginning now so there are no recommendations from that report yet because the planning report has yet to be done because the investigation has just begun and I think the last meeting that you were at was a steering committee meeting so all of the minutes councilwoman are up to date everything is up to date on the website I spoke with Marky today and there is nothing further to add to the website at this time because it is up to date the report is there from the traffic report final draft is posted and that reflects the two intersection additions that councilman embarrassing and referenced so that's that's the update on the the bi study and um councilman wri um we received today the um proposals for the traffic study on Hamilton Street they were due today and uh staff will review them and uh I will uh be able to report back at the next council meeting who that contract will be getting awarded to I would imagine it'll probably be on the agenda at the next council meeting for award um also received today were the proposals from PL uh a affordable housing experts related to our um looking to bring on board a a an expert related to the state's most current affordable housing laws that were adopted and will go into effect at the beginning of 2025 and we want to stay Ahad urve as far as that's concerned so we receive them today and uh we'll have a discussion in the administration committee about that Mr vlac Mr vlac I thank you for the traffic study that you're going to do today and also the affordable housing I'm a member of the Redevelopment agency and we definitely want to hear something about that as we move forward so I want to thank you for both of those on behalf of all the constituents Franklin Township very good and that's what I have Mr Mayor thank you meeting begins Mr Mayor can I say one thing on the record I want to say the reason why I was not at the youth center back to school event was because I have my granddaughter she's nine months old and she is a piece of work I could not take her over there we missed you both I missed it too thank you Mr Mayor glad we cleared that up um item number 10 council's discussion items we have none uh item 11 approval of the minutes I present the following minutes to the township Council for their approval Township Council work session regular meeting and executive session minutes of July 9th 2024 and the work session regular meeting of August 133 2024 do we have a motion on the minutes so move seconded mayor I oh go too quick too quick I have a correction on the July minutes please so that's that's what we go for next all right go ahead okay so um both my reference and councilman kazi's reference on kuali was transcribed as Diwali so so I just want to correct that they're not the same however uh our Township but we are going to do Diwali in on October 12th so that's coming up next month so I thought I'll just throw that in okay thank you any other Corrections hearing no other Corrections Madam clerk councilman EMB Barrison yes councilwoman Francois yes councilman karazi yes mayor Kramer yes councilman Oni Chaka yes Deputy Mayor patnik yes councilwoman UD yes councilman vasella yes councilman Wright yes item number 12 warrants of the approval of the warrants that's how we pay our bills warrants in the amount of 50,9 51,470 on September 10th are presented to the township Council for payment to have a motion on the warrants so mve second moved in seconded any discussion Madam clerk councilman Barrison yes councilwoman franois yes councilman karazi yes mayor Kramer yes councilman on joa yes Deputy Mayor pnik yes councilwoman uden yes councilman vasella yes councilman Wright yes item number 13 public hearing and Adoption of an ordinance on second reading first reading is when we announce to the world that we're considering an ordinance second reading is when we consider passing it and the public has the opportunity to speak ordinance 44 4924 amend the municipal code of the township of Franklin Somerset County New Jersey more particularly chapter 226 vehicles and traffic section 22613 parking prohibited at all times on certain streets at Oakbrook Place uh is presented for the township for is presented for public hearing and final adoption the public hearing has been noticed as required this is the end of Oakbrook um in front of the sewage station um do have a motions open to the public so moved do you have a second seconded move then seconded all in favor of opening to the public say I I oppos say n motion is carried we are open to the public on this item only same rules mayor see no one coming forward a motion to close the public portion here second Mo in seconded all in favor say I I opposed say nay motion is carried we are closed motion to adopt so moved second second moved then second and any discussion on the motion Madam clerk councilman EMB Barrison yes councilwoman Francois yes councilman karazi yes mayor Kramer yes councilman Oni jaka yes Deputy Mayor pnik yes councilwoman oudin yes councilman vasella yes councilman R yes ordinance 4450 d24 this is our I'm sorry this is our first readings now ordinance 4450 d24 an ordinance amending the code of Township of Franklin County of Somerset state of New Jersey more particularly chapter 226 vehicles and traffic section 22631 c regulations for the um movement and I'm sorry regulations for the movement and the public and the parking of traffic on all other private properties what we're doing is adding Somerset gate Somerset gate is a community on Route 27 uh across from the New Brunswick Cemetery um it's a private uh owned streets but they're asking us to monitor those streets and to do so it's government we have to do paperwork so um do we have a motion to introduce some second moov in second and any other discussion Madam clerk councilman EMB Barrison yes councilwoman Francois yes councilman karazi mayor Kramer yes councilman on jaka yes Deputy Mayor pazik yes councilwoman uden councilman vasella yes councilman Wright yes on to the consent agend of items a through W with the exception of p and Q I'll explain in a moment as listed on the consense agenda portion of this meeting are presented to Township Council for adoption to have a motion on what I just said soov moved and seconded the reason why we're pulling p and Q is because councilman basella has to recuse himself due to potential conflict of interest on those two items uh any other discussion councilman I mean Deputy May did you notice we're getting two electric vehicles I did I was going to talk to the township manager I'm assuming that's for the police it is for the police department they're being purchased with the opioid settlement funds to use towards our lead program and Other Drug um reduction programs in the town um I predict they will be very popular I predict given the type that they got and those that are available or the reason why they got them is probably going to make them very popular yes beginning of new things to come cleaner air any other comments Madame clerk councilman and Barrison yes councilwoman Francois yes councilman karazi yes mayor Kramer yes councilman meaka yes Deputy Mayor pnik yes councilwoman uden yes councilman vasella yes councilman Wright now items p and Q are presented to the township Council uh for um adoption to have a motion so moved moved in second and any discussions on pmq Madame clerk councilman narison yes councilwoman Francois yes councilman Kazi yes mayor Kramer yes councilman Oni Jaa yes Deputy Mayor pnik yes councilwoman UD yes councilman vasella councilman Wright yes thank you no there are no resolutions to be voted on separately old business uh boards committe commission vacancies any nominations uh very quickly we have openings on clean communities Advisory Board of Health advisory Rec councel Hamilton Street Advisory Board and human relations um there is no executive session do we have a motion to adjourn some move second move then second all in favor say I I oppos say nay motion is carried we are adjourned be well Franklin have a good night