##VIDEO ID:PNI9uio7j1s## 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 7 p.m. on Tuesday October 22nd 2024 we could all stand for the Pledge of Allegiance and remain standing for the invocation by councilwoman Kimberly Francois 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 if there is to be peace in the world there must be peace in the Nations if there's to be peace in the Nations there must be peace in the cities if there's to be peace in the cities there must be peace between neighbors if there's to be peace between neighbors there must be peace in the home if there is to be peace in the home there must be peace in the heart amen Madame Master clerk please call the RO councilman EMB Barrison councilwoman Francois here councilman karazi mayor Kramer here councilman Oni jaka here Deputy Mayor basnik pres councilwoman Udin here councilman vasella councilman Wright yes so next would be commendations and proclamations I think they some people may be in a public safety meeting uh particularly councilman and Barrison so uh we're going to hold that till after public discussion move we open to public discussion seconded moved then second and all in favor say I I opposed say nay motion is carried we're open for public discussion uh people may come up once for 5 minutes no yielding of time um please state your name and address anyone wishing to speak that was quite a ballet there no go ahead you're okay okay the mic the mic's not hang hang on the mic's not on the mic's not on he'll turn it on now we want to record it okay okay Carol Peterson 12 Lake Avenue in Somerset I'm here again tonight to ask and a lot of people aren't here but we really need the laws enforced in your District Mr Wright M Mrs franois you don't live far from us and the idling of trucks that are now being allowed to park on hill and Lake need to stop I mean I'm tired of after even more than 6 months having my brain rattled out wakened at night I have a deciple level in my house with Windows Doors closed of 80 to 90 sometimes I've called the police the police have tried to do their best but as they say as soon as they see a police car they turn them off there's people coming and going all night long mainly around 2:00 in the morning morning because you hear their big mouths too you don't understand what they're speaking but you know they're there and I think it's time since we have ordinances and there's one family that's moved in that has the neighbors who aren't here are calling the junk hole because they have so much stuff lying around Mr Wright I hope you come out in the daytime Mrs franois I hope you do too just to take a look God forbid if we ever have another hurricane or strong winds because everybody around them is going to lose something from their house and I think that it's gone on too long why are they trafficking all night long why are people coming and going all night long mostly men with backpacks and I think the worst thing thing that's happened to us is over the Labor Day weekend when we had family from Florida visiting and we got together on Sunday from Sunday morning church till about 3:00 in the afternoon came home and the neighbor at 10 Lake had taken out our bushes taken out some of our trees dug big holes filled them with concrete put in 2 by tws and had half a fence up didn't tell us they were doing it yes the fence is on their side at the end of the street but it butts right in with our fence we have just had another survey done I'm waiting for the results but I think it's time that somebody put this man in his place because he seems to be dominating the area but not obeying the laws and there's two things I learned a long time ago and I've tried to practice one no pollution because pollution is hard on your health and when you are in your bedroom at night trying to sleep not only the noise that can affect your hearing but the pollution that you start coughing you can't breathe you've got the windows closed but it's still coming in and then thank God he burnt so much one night that we had two fire trucks when we called the police and an ambulance and a policeman and they talked to him seriously because we've had a long dry spell and burning outside haphazardly equals fire not only in his property but everybody else's as well so I'm asking you please to intervene and then the last thing is when you go to people working for the township and they treat you like dirt and tell you you sue them you sue them they're not my laws they're breaking they're your laws they're breaking except for the fence and that will be discussed at some other time with a lawyer thank you very much thank you anyone else wishing to speak speak Debbie Stu Debbie Stewart to farington Plaza um that's a very sad story that lady just told us and I hope you all can help her out and um I would like to thank the council the mayor and Council people um for considering this nuisance amendment I think it's very important as you know Studies have shown noise pollution can cause stress sleep disturbance hearing loss cardiovascular disease cognitive impairment and mental health issues and we applaud you all for addressing that in the um ordinance that you will be reading tonight um I was wondering though you could answer does that also I read it but maybe I missed it include very loud vehicles and very loud motorcycles is there any way to address that uh this the other thing then I I always bring up and I don't know where Mr Von Locker is but um metler Road I would love to see from Weston Road all the way out to Amwell meter's Road become 35 miles per hour it's 40 and then it goes to 35 near Colonial Park but I really think 35 would be a better number for that particular stretch of the road and I also want to thank again for whoever is um insisting that the developers along Schoolhouse Road maintain the sidewalks they're wonderful I see families people walking up and down that stretch now all the time and it's really been a great addition I know recently you had I guess it was the developer was told they had to cut back the growth that was along the sidewalk and that looks very nice now and I guess they're going to be taking care of that um I just want to make sure because people in my community Canal Walk had asked is that for bicycles also I think Mr Von Locker said that was a multi-use sidewalk um you know as long as bikes aren't flying too fast so if anybody can answer that that would be good and thank you again anyone else okay Jim Johnson 34 norch place um I want to talk about the upcoming election um I was at the somerset okay I was I was at the Somerset County Commissioner debate last month um I was there uh this is a this was a debate between uh uh the two Democrat incumbents uh Chanel Robinson and Sarah soy and the two Republican Challengers uh Nick Kozo and Rocky ganta um it was a very a very interesting debate very Lively debate um uh Mr Mayor you were there uh uh councilman RAM and Council councilwoman oudin and assemblyman Joe Danielson was there um and it was a very good debate but there was just one problem it was it was not broad it was there was no broadcast there was no video no no televised broadcast um um so there was there was just a 30 people in the room who heard the debate just the 30 of us in the room and um it it's it seems to me that a debate the the purpose of a debate is to um allow the voters to see the candidates uh how well they perform in the debates so they can decide who they're going to vote for but if they but if this if if this if this debate was not broadcast to the to the general public all the thousands of Voters in Franklin and and uh Somerset County could not see the debate that the debate was not kept uh it was not made public so so my my question is I mean I'm I'm not I'm not trying to lay the blame on anybody but I'm I'm just saying that uh that whoever was in charge of running the debate uh I would hope that next time they have uh you know uh that they they they they they broadcast it so everyone can see it um and and the debate was right here in Franklin and uh there there was no there was no news coverage you right so so uh uh you so I just wanted to say that um and uh all right but so but I want to make a few comments on what happened in the debate um uh Chanel Robinson uh made a couple of statements that I disagree with uh she said that uh one thing she she said that in her opinion uh warehouses are not a county issue they are strictly a local issue and uh and then the um uh Rocky ganta responded uh he he just he he made the point that uh they they are a county issue because uh for for one thing the the truck traffic can can can spill over into neighboring towns and and a good example of that would be the the warehouse uh that's gr up right now on Elizabeth Avenue next to the Elizabeth Avenue School uh have you have you seen that uh there's a the new Warehouse it's a it's about it's a 437,000 foot Warehouse uh uh right next or right near uh Elizabeth Avenue School um it's uh uh okay and as she also said um she made a comment about preserving open space uh but there's a lot we're Los we're losing open space here in Franklin uh we we found out that there's a new application that just came in for 15 uh new housing new houses on Cedar Grove Lane uh across the street from the 32 houses that are currently being built on Ceda Grove Lane and the these are these are uh uh uh they haven't been approved yet but there but they but they more more and more applications keep coming in for for more housing developments uh for more and for more warehouses right so so uh so um okay so but other otherwise it was a good debate and uh I hope that uh you know they they they can they can make they can you know and I I don't know um uh um but anyway yeah it was a good debate and and thank those of you who were there thank you for being there and uh okay thanks thank you don't have to yield his time uh I don't know what the rule is because you didn't say next person okay um Benjamin guy 35 patent drive so um just real quick um October 26 is this weekend so um I just want to say trunk Retreat is going to be on Hamilton Street this week week so um anybody can tell a friend to tell a friend bring your kids out and make sure that you're um you're coming out to have a a good time during this weekend at all so this going to be 12 to 1200 to 3 1200 to 4: on um Hamilton Street you should see the signs right by uh the firehouse at all so just want to let everybody know that uh second portion is that um because it came up in a conversation that we had um at the Hamilton Street bo uh well is going to come up at the hamilt stre board and I want to know because we're going to go into budget uh budget requests going into next year um the conversation about Hamilton Street and the street Scapes that's going to be going on because uh I know vas andella have brought this up about um about uh things that were going on with uh other community committees actually supporting uh auditions that are going on uh was a great a great job by the open space committee to actually uh do the Shrubbery and the trees that are on the street but shade tree committee shade Creek sorry clarification so again uh just for you know for that going forward we just want to talk about what's the plan for the street skatee because we had uh we had a conversation with uh come of the a couple of the county officials and we wanted to see whether or not there was a proposal going out for the actual streetcape that's going on if it is can that be forwarded to the Hamil street board so we can evaluate what's going on so we can make a proposal back to the town on whether or not we going to be uh proposing a sid tax because we want to stay within budget for next year at all so if there is a plan and there's something else that you want to do um that the town is recommending please for that to us so that we can actually look at that going forward at all um about the election portion I just want to make sure that um somebody from the Town Council just says before this meeting because this will be the last meeting prior to elections something about where the polls are going to be and if there's going to be any like information because a lot of people watch these meetings afterwards about you know where the election stuff is going to be done for that's going to be in the town where poll locations and everything else just for informational stuff or if it's going to be on the website please direct them exactly where the poll location is going to be because that will be a conversation that comes up after this meeting saying they don't know so I'm just making sure that you're pointing that out before this meeting is over all right um one of the things that you're going to be coming up with um today um I think is October 22nd um uh for ordinance reading that's going to come up I think it's uh 44 44 56-24 which has to do with the Cannabis regulations that you're actually doing again I would table this conversation this is my opinion because again because of of the conversation that happened pretty much from you guys from the last meeting at the end of the meeting and given this open public and being that this right before the election I would table this until after election season to actually have this open conversation and try to vote on our your ordinance the reason why is because the state department still has to figure out a formula based on what they're doing for Taxation and going stuff going forward and I don't think it's hitting the way the way it needs to be done so preempting and doing making a decision in in an ordinance to actually do something I don't think you should actually do now the conversation you had about Hamilton Street I think that is well very reversed and it shouldn't be uh just concentrated in one area but I do think you should have a convers you should not be permitting and making a making a business decision for a free market society that is my opinion on it so again I will say that as we go along I know that the state screwed you I'm going be very clear about that the state state screwed you but that should be taken up with your assembly people and your senators and you guys should write a letter about that and make them make them back you if they and make them give you some more tax money on the back end of it that mean specifically Joe Danielson Egan and everybody else that's in this area you guys should write a letter to them because they did screw you but again do not punish the citizens of the society for something that the state screwed you on that is not that's not punishment that you should give down to to local residents and business people just like you're hearing about this warehouses it's not fair to other people the economic people that are driving this economy all right so that is that um additionally uh for Workforce Development portion like I'm going to bring keep bringing this up you guys had this conversation I want to see what support you're going to do after this year what work because it was something that was talked about we need action we have a problem in this community we have a problem with getting these people jobs John Johnny's over there in the corner he'll always say it every year every time he comes up here there's nothing done by This Town Council to back what he's been saying for the last 10 years nothing that is a problem you need to act and you need to get something done that means Ram you need to meet with Johnny every week for the next two weeks and get something done because again that that Johnny's going to keep saying the same thing and until you solve the problem it's going to keep pring and I'm going to back him on that conversation that is the one thing I'll back Johnny on again thank you very any time good evening uh Jan brand 22 Bryant Court um just have a a couple questions and things to ask about and I know a couple weeks ago I had asked about the um the traffic report and when there's going to be the the meeting with the input from the community um one thing that I was reading I I guess it happened um a couple weeks ago around October 16th there was a fatal crash on Amwell Road in South Middle Bush and when I was reading about it in the newspaper the one thing that I read that surprised me was that it said this is the fifth fatal car crash for Franklin Township for this year um and so you know just um I'm really happy that you all are doing this traffic report but it just seems to be that I know a couple weeks ago the public was supposed to have a meeting and there's supposed to be input and it just seems like things are just not moving along with this traffic report and when you're having you know people dying this was a dad who there was a a head-on crash on Amwell Road then there was another crash I think was Western Canal Road I don't know where the other five fatal crashes car crashes were for 2024 but um but this is really you know we have a small community and to read about things um you know and and we know that with all the new development we're having in our community and all the buildings and whatnot things that are making just things are more dangerous for us to drive in our cars in you know Franklin Township and um that worries me so I hope um you all could give me some answers of when that next meeting is and I hope that that's moving along quickly because you know people are dying in the meantime and what's interesting also when I was trying to do a search to find out where the other car crashes the fatal car Crashers in Franklin Township are um just so that you all know it's you know lawyers are online you know saying Hey listen you know if you've been a car crash in Franklin Township you know with all the new development and whatnot there might be liability so um I hope that this traffic report will help the flow and create answers so that people aren't dying you know from the traffic in Franklin Township um the other thing I wanted to ask about was um I heard that the ordinances that Franklin Township had for the warehouse ordinance and the um uh a noise ordinance and also the storm water ordinance I heard that they're coming up in December the different um I guess warehouses and things like that are suing the council and all and so I think it would be good for the public I was trying to do a search on when these um ordinances are coming up that people are challenging that you put into place um so it might be good for the community to know when these are going to be heard I heard it's going to be in um hunterton County Somerset um that these um so if you all know when those ordinances are I I don't know if it helps for public to be there to hear you know people trying to overturn the ordinances that you all put in place but you know you might want some public prance and you might want to advertise this in Franklin Township so people know that all these ordinances that you had put into place to protect people are coming up for people that are suing you know the council and trying to turn these ordinances over so I know I wasn't able to find out when these dates are but I heard that um judge Menan is seeing is hearing these cases in December so if you all could share those or at a future time share those um and that's and also and thank you for the the new noise ordinance um it seems like it's I I know in the past I have just like the first woman who came up that spoke about noise I know in the past when I've called the Somerset County Health Department you know there was really nobody to come out to measure the sound and to do anything about that and it sounds like you all are doing things to put into place so that um you know people could have a good night's sleep and um and have this being more reportable where action can be taken when people are doing things that they shouldn't be doing so thank you good evening everyone I'm Ellen rubben stonem man at drive right here in this town um I wanted to bring up something that really none of us here are certainly not you has direct control over however I thought it was important that both the members of the um Council and the residents are aware of it so that we could uh make our voices heard hopefully in this particular matter it has to do with a charter school a small charter school in Newark um the administrator the president of the administrator the superintendent and um the somebody who is high up in the administrative staff of this school are husband and wife and um they're living in Carl Gable Florida I'm sure you could all imagine why that might be Florida does not have a state tax and that's and it is known that that is the reason that why they're there and there is a law there is a law about that that is not legal it is not legal and from what I read um we're trying to do something about it but my feeling is that if there is something going on in this state that is illegal unethical we should bring it up as individuals we should bring it up with our state officials um they're making between the two of them both of them $600,000 a year and um we all know that um stool districts throughout the state of course require quite a bit of money and other school districts including of course our own would ultimately be impacted by any additional money or money that flows out of state which shouldn't which shouldn't certainly that's warrants some state income tax is $600,000 um between two people um and uh obviously this is sort of rolling around among the powers and wondering exactly what they can or should do but but there are others who have started to do this as well I am familiar only with this particular couple and um if if you want more precise information about names I'd be happy to email it I didn't take it with me um and um people who are looking to do something similar and there are um would be certainly be looking around to see if whether there was any um consequences that this that this uh this couple receives um so I'm hoping that all of us of this and um spent a little bit of time discussing things with um you know our Representatives who have always certainly I've been up to uh Wayne Des Scot's office for our men our assemblyman Joe Daniels very very responsive I haven't spoken to him about this I thought that I'd come here and hopefully speak to a nice group here thank you so much thank you good evening aminay 1483 Lincoln Highway in duure um I'm here to discuss um Bill sorry ordinance S2 S3 3235 um that's to ban intoxicating hemp products from um being sold in Franklin Township um right now like most most cannabis dispensaries like we we have a problem because we're ma'am let me interrupt you just just for a second you can speak now if you want there is if you're talking about the Cannabis no she's not mayor she's talking about the state law that adopted B Banning hemp products excuse me for interrupting and um just give her like another 20 seconds before you start the clock go ahead I'm I apologize no it's fine um like cannabis dispensaries we're already struggling in a competitive market and with these smoke shops and um gas stations allowed to sell the intoxicating hemp products it um we have to compete with stuff that's not even it's not tested um it's not real cannabis either it's synthetic cannabis that people think that is real cannabis there are crazy side effects you have um seizures forget like not forgetfulness seizures paranoia that comes with using some of these products um also like you guys don't even get any of the state tax revenue from these disp not sorry these dispensaries these um people selling these intoxicating hemp products um also um there needs to be a little bit more um awareness and education with the bill because you have like kids the issue right now you have children going into these gas stations going into these smoke shops they're not 21 they're not getting ided and they're able to purchase this stuff and then they they get sick off of it when they get sick off of it they're saying it's cannabis but it really isn't cannabis um another thing I'd like to talk about is the amount of um dispensaries that are allowed to open in Franklin Township there's like 22 I think 22 or 25 dispensaries that have been allowed to be opened however Franklin Township is only what 56,000 residents and it's like um we are already competing with each other all these dispensaries are already on top of each other so like it's kind of a struggle for us and for me I can speak for myself I'm not even open yet so it's like the competition is already there there's going to be more competition coming and we're competing with other dispensaries we're competing with the smoke shop so I just feel feel that it's really not fair especially for us who've done it the right way and US who've like gotten our license gotten the permits went and it's taken us this long I just feel that um maybe you should consider changing things so the people that have done it the right way we at least have a fighting chance and that's it thank you again anyone else here for cannabis you're allowed to speak at this point but it does have its own separate meeting hi everyone uh my name is shaie I'm from Leaf house also cannabis dispensary I agree with the I guess fellow dispensary owner address uh address um 900 Eastern uh Easton Avenue in Somerset New Jersey so um we're having we're also struggling as while like um the fellow dispensary owner is saying they're not even open and they're afraid to come in we are open and we're struggling we negative since we've been open and people think that we money Pro probably coming from disguise which which is not so we need your help I mean to give our 24 25 licenses or 18 being approved I mean imagine if you guys saying because there are 18 liquor stores now what we're going to have 18 police police stations 18 fire department 18 hospitals that's why we should have 18 Cannabis stores that doesn't make any sense I mean for people for us to come in and invest Millions I'm not it's not even hundreds of thousand we're talking about Millions several Millions into dispensary to come in and and and just for for the town to say well let the stronger to survive I mean what kind of town does that I thought the town would supposed to help the residents help the people cuz we're here to create jobs and all we asking for just put the limit on the cap I mean other town is 45,000 residents and they only have two and it's cap why would you have 25 licenses you are setting up everyone for failure I mean how will it look if everyone will shut down and then we're all going to go to the state and how it's going to affect you as a town that people are actually here sitting and doing nothing you're setting everyone up for failure honestly so I would really appreciate if you guys reconsider regroup and do something about it I mean it's impossible to to work for for the past two years not receive any paycheck I mean how would you I mean do you you guys get paid every week I want to get paid as well I want to at least get my money back so I can leave this town because this town is not supportive also we would also request for the town to to take steps to to crack down on IL illicit shops um cuz right now not only we competing with other we don't even have competition what's there to compete there are no no no really clients and then for us to compete on top of it to smoke shops and Deli stores and other grocery shops that sell ilicit cannabis I mean why we being so I mean regulated in on on state side on Town side we get violations after violations while everybody illegal stores they get to do whatever they want I mean at the end of the day we're talking about these are sumerset residents there are children there are families I'm I'm also a mother I have I don't want my child to get sick from illicit drugs if they're going to buy from the they don't even check IDs next door to me they sell IL illicit drug like I don't know cannabis they they sell it h but it's not and everyone can walk in even children so if you care about the children of Somerset resid please do something about it we really we honestly I don't even know what to I'm pleading thank you so much for your time thank you anyone else wishing to speak good evening uh Rob Peterson 66 Wilson Road um so it's very interesting to hear some of the comments from the dispensaries that are here um and I guess you're going to have a special meeting but I really hope that you guys would recall that I actually spoke in front of you probably a little over a year ago maybe two years ago I don't remember exactly and I said you guys are rushing into this you're not even thinking it through and I questioned why you had 36 or 38 you know applications pending and I was told oh no we're the state's never going to grant us more than six or seven never going to happen well okay well here we are now and you know you guys made us the weed the weed capital of Somerset County so congratulations I just want to hope that you're not going to go out of your way now to to start rescuing businesses what about the struggling Pizza poar what about the struggling you know daycare center they're also regulated aren't they so you're going to start bailing these uh these businesses out it doesn't make any sense to me I feel for you I feel for all the people that that are business owners but this is the count that you're dealing with so sorry it's come to that but you you guys rushed into it you you were gleeful you were beyond beyond gel to get that tax money this is what you've got good evening my name is suzan Nicholson I am the chair of the New Jersey cannabis Equity Association Along with the New Jersey cannabis trade associ assciation I'm also the CEO and owner of Holistic Solutions which was the first blackowned majority medical to then transition to adult youed store in the great state of New Jersey I am not a resident um I've here on the behalf of operators in your community by bringing comments specifically to intoxicating hemp I want to First say thank you you did something that many towns um were reluctant to do you passed an ordinance that allowed regulated cannabis in your community by passing pass ing such ordinance you've benefited and will benefit from the 2% Community host fee but by way of passing of the bill s 3235 the governor has acted and requested that any intoxicating hemp product that is sold in a non regulated dispensary which would mean a dispensary authorized by the state which is the Cannabis Regulatory Commission is deemed illegal during this moment of pause municipalities have a great opportunity of looking to pass ordinances that would impact such businesses I am here by way of offering support previously I've worked for state government for 24 plus years leading government's employee litigations as well as reformative initiatives this is not going to be an easy measure and we need to have consensus as you heard from your own community and how we move forward but we are here offering support because the action in time is now these elicit products are being sold in our communities they are being sold to our children there is no gatekeeping there is no ageg gating that is occurring in many of these facilities and by way of not malice or intention they themselves have found themselves to provide a product that is in the gray Market illegal but not legal and based on that opportunity they continue to break the law they continue to dishonor what you have done is by providing a regulated market in a structured framework they pay no regulated taxes to your Community you get no benefit but I believe that we have a great opportunity of working cooperatively together to change that to bring these businesses into fold and for you to get the well-deserved tax money that you so desire many of these tax dollars are benefiting community and residents I'm not here to speak on your cap sizes but I'm here to make sure that your residents and citizens are not getting access to a legal cannabis that is really a detent to your community more importantly working with your municipality and law enforcement is a wonderful Opportunity by hosing meetings within your districts talking about resolutions and also inviting these businesses into the conversation a way of changing something is by providing regulation and enforcement enforcement actions are something that the municipalities have leverage over in the law what a wonderful opportunity you get to keep all of those tax dollars on any fines levies and revocations and that also applies to the business landowners and owners again there's lots of opportunity here as well as these products are being sold in liquor stores cannabis is being sold in liquor stores in your community that's not what you intended that's not the will of the council or the will by mayor that's not what you wanted it is time to look at potentially going in a New Direction and we are here to offer support I thank you for this opportunity thank you very much thank you anyone else I am johnie's tubes 25 parck side street 80 years Mr tibs if you're going to give anything to us give it to the clerk you let other white people do that Mr tibs please go back to the microphone go ahead go ahead first of all you a Democrat huh you a Democrat sure you a Democrat thank you you're a Democrat you a Democrat huh he didn't want to answer you I don't blame you you're the Democrat you're a Democrat you're Dem for the people that's in this address the council I look great at you for the people that's in this meeting here I want you to understand this is the election time do you know what Mega means you know what Mega means there is a mega Republican philosophy called mega mega it's MGA right help me out y'all help me out you know what I'm talking about it's been flowing over top of Franklin Township for the past seven years you know where it's coming from there's people here first of all uh uh um Mr lawyer there's two things I want to do of course I asked you one time before that you know they they have have uh hacked my phones I'm my third phone they didn't hack that one too coming out of the IT department here in Franklin Township okay that's supposed to be against the law secondly uh what was the other thing against the law oh I want I want to pro pro bono to stop the law for building warehouses in Franklin Township for industry I need the people in in this town need industry to come in so we have somewhere to train our kids to go go somewhere to work we don't need nobody in this town to stop industry to Industry from coming in this town if a proone o whatever it takes for a law that's what they say one person I'm making that order now to you sir whatever it takes secondly in turn the people here with the cannbis stuff baby they want y'all to fight they don't care nothing about you I ain't going to say they there's particular people they don't care nothing about you they want you to fight ain't about the laws and and the cannabist who they want all that's why they got it all down in the black community cuz they want yall to kill each other that's what the point of the point of Mega philosophy is is to divide you and to make you tell to kill each other that's the point of the mega Republican philosophy and there people on the council has been spewing that for the past seven years until you understand that factor you will not understand anything else I know what it is I've been here 80 years I I know everybody on the council I've been here before yall even think about being the councel you know that and I love everybody I love you know but I'm a black man and I try to look out for my young black kids you got me between a rock and a hard plates you know what's going on and you set up there and let accept it you know what's going on don't let one man or one person rule you for doing something wrong at one time this was the fifth best place to live in in this whole country number five I was a part of that whole unit me and people down in the Parks all the area down there we were the fifth best in the country we still here B what B I want to I tell him you know he has a policy not to hire no black kids in Franklin Township that's been a policy for this Administration gentleman's time has expired yeah I know but I ain't expired yet that's a good thing I'm going have to respect the mayor so from now on y'all understand what I'm saying the gentleman's time is expired yeah right um Ellen Ellen Oren 9 Republic row Somerset New Jersey um I just wanted to talk to about the traffic study and I know that um that Road Canal by uh Hooters at 287 that that is a count I guess a County Road and a state intersection but it does affect the people of uh Franklin so as I was going this morning at 9 clock down that road towards 287 there was a whole bunch of trucks on the shoulder uh opposite Hooters a little bit up from Hooters there was three trucks and a cab on the shoulder of the road and I don't know if this is illegal but I remember when I was traveling to work on 287 North there was whole bunch of trucks on the shoulder of the roads there on 287 and the St St at one time said it was illegal for all these trucks to be on the shoulder of the road I don't know if that's still the law that the trucks can't be on interstates and on roads but I don't understand and I'm addressing this through the traffic study and I will write it to in the traffic study um send it to an email but I don't understand why all these trucks are allowed to be on the shoulder of the road and pulling in and pulling out causing all all these problems and I just like to know that one question is that illegal and are they we being is Franklin Township monitoring this situation for its uh the good of its Community to be able to travel freely on that road without having all those trucks on that intersection thank you any else seeing no one further I move we close public comment at this time second all in favor closing public comments say I I poos say nay motion is carried public session is closed wow that's a lot of subjects uh for first of all for the Cannabis while you didn't want to wait until the uh cannabis portion of the meeting where there going to be have its own public discussion I'm going to wait to answer those questions then I'm ask other council members to consider adhering to that um truck idling Mrs Peterson has left um it's been repeated to her many many times when it happens she needs to call the police then and that's true of many things that we hear all the time people have issues and they're legitimate issues and they come to a council meeting about it there's nothing we can do to a truck driver that's idling his truck four days ago so please call the police you're not bothering them even if they're busy with other things they know how to prioritize it so please call the police when it's happening um as far as meter's Road speed limit speed limits are set aren't we don't just decide on a speed limit speed limits are set by doing a traffic study and then measuring the speed of various cars and taking I believe it's the 85th percentile of that speed and that's the speed that the road will get uh attributed to it you have to be careful about that because if it's a 35 mph Road and most people are traveling at 40 m an hour that means it's gets gets changed to 40 m an hour um but I will talk to Mr vorn Locker about considering uh a study on that road uh Canal Walk sidewalks did you want to answer that yes uh may I yes yes perfect um so there has been a lot of um residential emails regarding the school house um Canal Walk Boulevard metler Road um grass seds over growth and uh I just want you to know that that has been taken care by Summerfield um HOA we have had discussion and I want to thank the township manager for following up and making sure that it has been done um I've walked I've gone that way myself I know um Mr Dominic who's sitting on behalf of Mr vlocker has also received some messages for me to go check some of the additional um overgrowth concerns out so currently that's been done um we will continue to monitor that situation um and I want to thank all the residents that have sent me emails um some of you guys have also gone ahead and sent pictures around that so thank you um for letting us know so um this has been taken care um the debate at Canal Walk um government is not in charge of broadcasting debates you should talk to the people who put on that debate um I I wouldn't want government meddling in that um it was open to the general public they did do that and I wish more people had gone um polling locations can you uh Madam clerk can you say where on the website that's available um if you go to the township Clerk's page there's a an elections link that gives you all the information yeah there's 13 different places I I don't want to take the time to list them all but you're going to get sample ballots pretty soon and being mailed out um tomorrow so that'll be listed there um the lawsuits Mr Mayor there's no the only thing that's scheduled right now in those lawsuits and by the way there are a series of lawsuits it's I believe it's 12 or 13 challenging both of actually three four of the ordinances that were adopted with regards with storm water noise and the two uh zoning ordinances uh they've generally been Consolidated and the only thing that's on for December 4th is a case management conference which is for the lawyers to get together and talk about dates and so there's no nothing substantive going on at this point in time I thought January 14th there was B9 um that so that's that's the one that's different right so the B9 is just the appeal from the B B9 9 has a challenge to the ordinances that my office is handling um the other B9 challenge is this is just the trial on theing board on the challenge to the denial so that that may be on in in January my office isn't handling that that's being handled by the planning board attorney that's January 14th in hunington go ahead yes yes and and mayor just so you know the reason that it's in hun is New Jersey um courts are not split up into counties they're split up into vages and hunon County and um Somerset County are both in the same visages and um judge the judge on the that has been assigned these cases just sits in Flemington and could you comment about the role of the public in such a thing there's none Ian I I am intending to go to it I actually moved my clinic because of it um but I don't know that a judge is going to be impressed by a room full of people and certainly clapping or something it's not a council meeting um would you agree correct it's not the popularity contest it's uh Court proceedings but of course anybody who would like to go to see if you're if you're interested is free to go subject to the availability of seating you know most courtrooms aren't that big but no it doesn't matter I don't want the public think oh if they don't show up that somehow the judge is going to be influenced one way or the other because there's nobody there um uh as far as traffic crashes I'm a little reluctant to answer because I know things that are not open to the general public but a lot of the crashes are some of the crashes are single vehicle running stop signs another crash is believed to be someone falling asleep um I don't know that there I don't know that anyone here I don't know if you're up on this or not but are there crashes due to road configuration probably not something we should talk about yeah that's probably thank you question probably a liability issue yeah thank you um cannabis will hold off dates of trial Mr Mayor there there were two other questions one one in regard to uh the bi traffic report we just recently uh had the most uh steering committee met probably within the next three to four weeks we'll have another public session and that'll it'll be notified it'll be on the website so the public will have input it is moving along we've started discussing the framework for a master plan Amendment and a zoning ordinance that's going together with the traffic report report the other question was it is a dual use walkway bicycles are allowed the question about the trucks parking was that on Weston Road or on 287 so we have cars parking overnight trucks parking if if as the mayor mentioned before if if you see anything that you believe is legal illegal call you call the police and they will dispatch someone the the trucks cannot park on our shoulders if they break down they break down but that's why you call the police and the police will investigate and if they are parked illegally they will get ticketed Frankl police so Franklin Police will handle Weston Road I I asked you a question we can't continue a conversation no that that's okay that's okay yeah I I know but other people will complain to me that I'm not letting them talk um um the did you want to say more about the state law intoxication yeah no only mayor that it is a it's a state law that was adopted I'm I'm not I wasn't quite sure that I caught the drift of um the comments to the council it's the state law um I believe that there is currently a lawsuit that's challenged it I'm not sure if it's currently being enforced um but um but at at this point I don't think right now I think there's an injunction against it being enforced and and we're not the ones that enforce it it's enforced by the state I believe um so I'm not sure that we're we're even the one and I I I am fairly certain that there's a lawsuit that has that has stayed the enforcement of it at this point in time and remember the state law itself had a period of time in it where it wasn't going to be enforced so um I I honestly I didn't I wasn't prepared for that question but I I can certainly let the council know okay um did anyone else have comments I I do have mayor Mr Mayor if I may I just want to respond a little bit to Mr tibs first of all thank you for loving us Mr tib we love you too just to make sure that you know that um you know we live in an amazing Township we have over 70 languages spoken in school we have over 70 houses of worship in the township and we always pride ourselves for being the second most diverse community in New Jersey and our principle has been and will continue to be to create an environment that everyone who calls Franklin Home feels respected and valued so just remember that this is a Township that we love I lived here for 38 years there are a lot of good things happening in the township honestly from if you look at it people are coming together to eradicate the the U food insecurity we are working in many ways to provide health care for our students our community members and also there are a lot of efforts to create jobs so please be proud of where we living this is a beautiful Township I've have seen the growth yes we have challenges but I bet if those that they looked at that made art Franklin Township to be the fifth best place to to live if they come they will find out that this is really maybe better than the fifths maybe will be second third that's why a lot of people would like would love to come and live in franklen Township but more importantly we respect one another we live together support each other value each other's culture and value each other's contribution to the township so I just wanted to mention that comment anyone else uh yes mayor just wanted to add on the bi um master plan study so the October 9th meeting um I know councilman and barison was um part of the staring committee um the minutes to that meeting hasn't been posted yet I've already notified Mark um so that will be posted shortly and then once it's posted I will also circulate that back out um to the community Folks at um seen it um I'll socialize it out to some of the key members and then I'll put it out as well um so you can see it in a couple days probably it'll take um to load those minutes off thank you anyone else may may yes sir uh so I just wanted to respond to uh guys uh comment uh specifically addressed to me uh about Workforce training uh in in town one of the things that we have been saying is that uh we are that's one of not a core function of the council uh if there's an opportunity to collaborate with uh other organizations such as Board of Education or uh rvcc or any other um place that are going to bring jobs into town we are certainly willing to help them with that but to create an infrastructure to provide uh Workforce training uh uh at the expense of the council is is not why you all elected us you know we are here to provide services and I think Workforce training addresses a small segment of the people we can be all things to all people all the time so uh whenever there's an opportunity presents itself we are jumping into that opportunity and helping the residents when we had a program with the AR funds to uh help the uh residents that needed some additional training we set that all up but there are very very few takers handful of them um so that was not something that uh was I guess required by the people um earlier this year uh councilman uh francoa brought in a program in collaboration with the Franklin Board of Education uh so some of the leftover funds from the AR uh money was assigned to that uh training about 300,000 300 plus thousand that program is going on training about 20 plus uh youth uh high school students and and and drops dropouts and that's going on so that's a limited opportunity when there were funds available we do do that kind of a thing but to uh expect the council to set up a a a full infrastructure to provide ongoing training is an very expensive proposition that's not our core Mission um so I just wanted to let you know that we are not ignoring that population or the need for the training but there is only so much money to go around to programs like that I think that one of the previous meetings I asked to uh ask for a show of hands how many people would like one or 2% increase in your taxes is to provide Workforce training to the people here and I saw none so um so I just wanted to respond to guy uh I think he sometimes asks question then leaves um I'm sorry about that but okay thank you that's all I have mayor thank you anyone else real quick mayor I just wanted oh will you going Deputy Mayor no oh um we're doing a lot of studies so I just was wondering if there's a way meaning traffic studies there's uh a public meeting coming up that has to do with eastn Avenue which actually has two one for deont intersection which will be constructed in a few years and the long-term one is there a way maybe we can uh just put online this the uh because there's two studies with Hamilton Street right now having to do with traffic one we're doing we just hired last week a expert then the county and federal government's working on one maybe we could put on on the uh uh website the active studies uh if there's a schedule because I think there's one coming up in the community center I don't know our acting manager Mr Dominic may know I don't know if that's the one that we're doing or or the Count's doing but maybe we can put this online because there literally are at least four studies going on that have to do with traffic in Franklin so I know you want the meeting the meeting dates put up on the something that could just very simply study a study B study C study and uh who's sponsoring it and if there is a meeting and if there's a website you know something just very straightforward because it's all good stuff but I think uh some of it's uh getting a little lost in the shuffle is Mayor um it's a reasonable Point could we and I don't want to the answer is yes we we can do that put it on the clerk but or whoever it is between the manager Office a clerk's office planning office we can do it office okay just very matter of fact cuz I I want people there's there's these public sessions are specifically for people to get involved and if they know ahead of time sometimes they can get documents or plans uh you know if they're published sometimes you go that night but whatever but there are a lot of good studies going on and um hopefully they'll prove very valuable going forward thank you mayor thank you that's a good idea moving on um or moving back uh we had to skip accomodations and proclamations so councilman and Barrison Hindu heritage month thank you mayor thank you mayor uh so uh this is an annual uh Proclamation that we do uh worldwide um this uh month October is celebrated as a Hindu Heritage Month uh so I apologize for my friends who are here for being late to the meeting uh we had a public uh safety committee meeting so we got delayed uh so I couldn't make it here on time um so let me uh read the proclamation today um whereas Franklin Township is proud of its Rich cultural history and the many people who call our Township home and whereas Franklin Township is home to a vibrant Hindu community and whereas Hindu Americans have made significant contributions across all Fields including Science Education medicine law politics business culture Sports and More and whereas Hindu Heritage culture traditions and values have enriched our great Township and whereas during during the month of October every year the Hindu Community across the state of New Jersey and across our nation will collectively celebrate Hindu Heritage and whereas Hindu Heritage Month provides an opportunity to focus on Hindu culture and its diverse spiritual Traditions rooted in India now therefore we Ramen barison councilman and Philip Kramer mayor do hereby extend greetings and best wishes to all observing every October as Hindu heritage month thank you for coming I invite my friends here to accept the [Applause] proclamation yes of course no no no no we want you to Wi the picture do I get to talk for a few minutes go okay so first of all uh Dr Phil krer as I would like to call him we are very proud to have a medical doctor a healthc care profession leading our great town uh Deputy Mayor RAM and all of the council members we appreciate that my name is Dave carleer I'm a resident of 7 Julie Court Somerset New Jersey I'm a proud resident citizen of this great nation for the last 25 years as a person immigrant person with the Dual Heritage that is from India coming to the USA one USA being the oldest democracy and second India which is the largest democracy hosting 1.5 billion people over 850 million people voting so I have a great privilege of having this dual Heritage what I would like to say is was Kumba that means the whole world is one family I appreciate Miss Kimberly Franco starting with the pl of Allegiance and the prayer talking about wellbeing for for all of us I have made few notes and I'm going to read that uh for you all uh as a resident of Franklin Township as a small business owner most of us are Lani G is a CPA uh Sharma G is an IT technocrat HRA Bay asok B working in a healthcare pharmaceutical Industries so we are about 1 one and a half% of the United States population wise contributing over 7% to the GDP B uh RAM briefly talked about the contribution whether it's an IT entrepreneurship whether it's a Healthcare doctors lawyers new name it the highest educated Strat of the people in terms of the ethnicity the highest in terms of the GDP the lowest in crime that's music to hear for most of the ethnicities law abiding citizens follows the laws contributes to the community pays the taxes or more taxes as most of as are entrepreneurs so diversity is very similar this country thrives on diversity we say the thought is we all came from different part of the world something similar when you talk about India which has most of this you know religious minorities of global World residing amicably for the last 10,000 years Hinduism is the oldest surviving religion across the world dating back to over 10,000 years uh finally we appreciate this opportunity it means a lot we are over 1.5 billion Indian uh living and migrated across all the world this means a lot to us it's an election time voting is our Civic right irrespective of our party affiliation the least I would like to say is to vote and put our country on the right track we are the greatest country in the world there is a reason why most of us are first generation immigrant we came to this country for the betterment of our life for the betterment of our family we would like to keep it in the same way so keep up the good work I appreciate all of you doing the great job and you know God bless us all thank you so much just a shout out to Dave Ker's daughter um mayor and I have visited his house to uh meet his daughter uh who's in high school very bright girl her at at that age uh she has decided that she wanted to be a doctor just like our mayor and she has been working my my daughter is a doctor so I have had her talk to her as well a neurologist same as our mayor now I just learned that she just AED sat 18800 in perfect score wow all right so congrats to her big shout out and and good luck on her College that's amazing and I didn't decide to go to med school T is 27 thank you okay we're on to council comments uh Mr Mayor could I I think I could uh move this down move this along real quick because I would have answers for some questions that fellow council members might ask okay okay I'm nervous but go ahead uh don't you just love it well a couple things come up and I sort of want to nip them real quick uh someone talked about a traffic study well there are a couple traffic studies out there my has nothing to do with them mine is strictly from Franklin Boulevard till the end of the township on Hamilton Street mine does not consist of any anyone walking along the street I mean the sidewalk or anything it's specifically designed to find out how cars are moving out of the buildings um Left Right is it hazardous uh down in front of John Plaza what happens if the kids want to cross the street what type of movement will happen with the additional cars that come out on Hamilton Street so I don't want this confused with anybody else's study is specifically what I just told you councilman vasella brought up some other stuff can't talk about it mine this is what it is I brought it up to the township manager we voted on just that section for traffic study uh my next thing um you're going to love this one okay affordable housing our numbers just came out for affordable housing um fourth round everybody's going to get affordable housing uh based on the population of the Town um we're going to get hit now we have affordable housing here in Franklin Township uh a lot of it but we're going to need some more and I want to make sure that the affordable housing that does come in fits in the right location now Council women franois and I are on the Redevelopment agency and we realized how hard it is to to bring in affordable housing um so that's a challenge that we're going to look forward to now on your consent agenda you'll see that we hired will hire someone to do just that affordable housing uh a consultant and he will help us with that process instead of Us coming out of a back pocket trying to figure it out they're going to figure it out and be concise give us a report and we can move forward um it's going to take a little bit but we're g to know how it is councilman Ron brought up a very good issue uh social action projects per se and how do you deal with them well as he said you know if you want us to throw a couple tax dollars out there fine but my suggestion and someone said uh we ran out oh he left because I wanted to address his comment um willly nilly yes we did Rush well I know I did so I can't speak for the rest uh because I wanted the tax dollars and I wanted the tax dollars for social action programs because sometimes somebody is going to say why are you funding a bus to um r Valley with my money you see they're going to point at themselves because it's their money why are we doing that why are we um doing a training program with my money everybody's got that okay not in my backyard is what they say that's what they're going to say now uh my fellow council members is not a whole lot of money at first uh my fellow council members some might say they want it in the treasury some might say I'm we'll give you a little piece of that I Want It All I'm greedy I want it all because this is found money and as found money I want to use it for just that social action programs that's the only way we're going to get them in town and that's the way I want it bring the money in so that's my little uh bug on that now we're going to move on to um cannabis everybody has an issue with cannabis and on your Mr wght would you mind holding that until we have the Cannabis ordinance okay I'll hold that for the Cannabis um we also have to bring up social action programs I did uh housing I did and um oh come out to Hamilton Street on the the 26th of this month on a Saturday uh we're going to have a lot of fun um the street as it's called has provided for everyone to come out uh we have some vendors to come out um I come I I just might wear the clown costume this year I doubt it um but we want everybody to come out and have a good time so that means old and young come on out and hang out with us so Mr Mayor I'll hold my comments as you say for the Cannabis until we come up with that piece of pie thank you thank you councelor woman aene thank you uh just a couple things want to H on um I've been receiving some requests on replacing traditional signages on New brri Road so that is something that is being looked up um by our Public Works as well as our Public Safety department um and I might have a status for you guys um if it's done sooner you will get to know otherwise for by the next council meeting um we should have some information um about that and I know Mr Bon Locker is not here today but I wanted to check on the cameras um status on the cameras from our last meeting um having those at the traffic um lights I believe in certain uh streets um we already addressed the schoolhouse some summer fields HOA we also spoke about the bi master plan study um I did started to receive so it work starting to kick off on the 2025 road paving schedule um I know there's been some emails already coming through around if there if that street is you know if their particular Street is ready for um Paving so we do have a third-party vendor that it goes through um grading the streets um and each year we have a certain amount of funds that is allocated to PVE the roads um and then it's bid it to a particular um Paving Company so that's more to come we're starting to meet now in public works and as the meetings start forming um it will be made available the 2025 road paving schedule I also was part of the fire prevention meeting couple uh last week and just want to report there has been a grant that was received to purchase some equipment um I will provide more information on those um on the next council meeting what I did want to kind of hit up on is something that our public safety director mention mentioned at the last meeting around register ready program um I have circulated that to a lot of the folks and it's basically a program that is to enroll for individuals who may need assistance in a disaster um I have circulated to folks in Canal Walk um all the adult communities and the link to that to register to that is www. register ready. nj.gov and the number is 877 652 21148 if anyone needs any information on that please feel free to Reg uh reach out to me and I can give you um the information but we definitely want that number up because I think we may have individuals that would need assistance in a disaster and we don't want to wait last minute um to have that information um ready and then the other thing I didn't want to ask about um Mr Dominic may have the answer to this is I know November 6th there was a planning board meeting um and I've been asked to give a followup as that if that particular agenda has been formed um for that particular um onx um if you can let us know when it's the turn um if that meeting is still scheduled or if that's been moved to a further um timing that's all I had thank you so much thank you councilman vasella um most of the items have been addressed we have the trunk Retreat this Saturday on Hamilton Street uh myself Council Rah and Kar councilman karazi actually are acting manager tonight Mr Dominic and our attorney we're a few minutes late to this meeting we literally were across the hall in our public safety meeting um since it's a a new item not going to get into a lot of the details but we were reviewing the most of the meeting was focused on reviewing our fire response uh needs capabilities and how to balance that going forward um and there's some options on the table since it's in its infancy not going to get into those details but we want to be ahead of the curve and make sure we're suited Township wide to deal with uh our fire response uh needs so there'll be more to come on that lots of facts and figures and a lot of little details to decide or to review before um make a decisions policy decisions related to that um oh I don't Mr rown is it public information to numbers that came out on affordable housing by the way yes so yeah I thought it was I just want to make sure I wasn't saying something I wasn't supposed to yeah I came out and uh councilman can I can I just say something about it though yeah sure of course and I I just if if uh the mayor allows me everybody is saying well the affordable housing numbers are out and and we're done so that's our number the law changed in New Jersey the numbers that were published by the DCA are advisory only they're not binding on anybody the numbers for each municipality are going to be established by that municipality by resolution no later than January 31st of next year so when everybody says well our number is X and now we're going to have to build all of this affordable housing the answer is we don't know we just got that number the same day that the public got it the municipalities got it and all at the backgound data we're in the process of analyzing it what our ultimate number is is the number that the township determines is the number based upon the guidelines are in the that are in the uh State Statute and with the guidance of the DCA num so I just wanted everybody I I I think that there is um I think people are seeing this the same way they they saw the um the third round which is by the way maybe the second round because the third round got screwed up too is that this is not a circumstance where like a judge ruled yesterday that this is our number this is just a preliminary step in a process that starts really next year and I appreciate you jumping in because he said that much more eloquently than I could have and what I was going to kind of say in my own words was uh we got a number but one of and I've been through this now uh this the third time dealing with this this process hopefully it'll be better in the last two because it was very convoluted and a lot of delays and lawsuits but bottom line uh the number is just over 700 but like Mr Rayo said it's very important that's one of the reason we hire expert because they flush through everything and there's units that we probably have that qualify for for councilman once again I'm I'm going to say and I think that you're you're about to give an analysis of the last two times and that's not what no no but we have an expert that will review what I'm saying this what I'm saying is the process you said you went came went through the process twice twice before this is not the process it's a complete completely different process in the last two rounds in round two and in the beginning of round three DCA published the number that was your number that's not what happened last Friday what happened last Friday is DCA put out a number that is a non-binding number and it as as advisory the determination as to the actual number is going to be based upon a resolution passed by the Council next year so when you you're about to you you started to explain the process that was last time process that's not what this process is it's completely different well but but I guess the point I was making and tell me if please explain if this is off but the township that number isn't a rock hard number that the township does review we're choosing to use an expert and that number well could change in any direction but we're hopeful and we'll see if it changes to what we pass that resolution our number may be lower as as I said it's just it's a completely different process yes you know those numbers were announced and and I don't think I I didn't see if there was a press release released with it but they were just simply it was kind of like a that a data dump that's all it was but if you were involved and and and you know it's a complicated process and it's a completely new process it's just a different process in in in U before we would go through it and then we would start to figure out how it is we were going to meet that number and that's the process you were beginning to describe that's not where we are in this process that part part of the process is not going to happen until a year from now so would it be correct to say that that number people should not put too much into that number because we don't know what our number we're going to pass I think I pretty much I correct yes guess that's the main point that people shouldn't be glued to that number corre the process will play out and we'll see what we actually come up with correct for Our obligation exactly no that's I heard the Bell go off I my time was up thank you thank you for explaining all of our time is up Bob Bob yielded me his time oh that's what it is uh councilwoman Francois thank you Mr Mayor your time's up so let let me just be clear the trun or treat event is this Saturday October 26 from 12: to 3 at John's Plaza and then after that we have our Youth Center at 429 Lewis Street is also a free Halloween party and that's from 5: to 8 for the Youth so there are two events coming up this Saturday and I know we've all been talking about the Halloween Halloween Halloween but we never said where these events were going to be on Hamilton Street at John Plaza trunk Retreat 12 to3 429 Lewis Street the youth center Halloween party free for all youth ages 9 to 20 at uh at the youth center from 5: to 8 um you say sugar high su Sugar High yes sugar high and I'll have my costume on too okay I did want to say um de the wall was a very very very nice event um thank you for organizing that councilman ROM it was a beautiful event like it was the last couple years and I I I look forward to it again next year and thank you for the invite and also yes please please please everybody exercise your right to vote on November 5th our democracy is at stake we have the best country in the world and it's very important for people to make the right decision for our future thank you Mr Mayor thank you councilman and Barrison thank you Mr Mayor um I think um I went through a couple of uh points already uh just to rein Force the workforce training component of it uh we had a follow-up meeting with the uh Franklin Board of Education as well as rbcc on the 17th uh because we have a facility on Route 27 at the Board of Education building we have classrooms that are available to do uh any sort of training courses or programs so um we are honing in on a couple of uh ideas uh not uh completely fixed but uh um I think there's a collaboration between the two educational institutions uh hopefully we will see some um Workforce training programs especially in the medical field because of the proximity of many uh hospitals nearby as well as uh doctor's offices um so I think kvcc is going to put that together as well as we talked about some other uh far credit courses as well uh so stay tuned we are trying our our best to bring these programs to uh to town uh but it's not entirely in our hands we are trying to uh leverage our facilities at no charge to the college and uh we are hoping that there'll be a support uh from the public to uh take those courses and there's two other meetings I attended uh the greater ratton Valley um board uh Workforce Development board meeting and of course the master plan re-exam that vce kindly give an update on uh when the minutes are up everybody would get to see what was discussed more to come on that and and I think the last meeting was supposed to be a public meeting but that was uh rescheduled to later in November uh no November 14th is that is that what he said uh one of one some sometime in November so that'll be reschedule and then you will have uh chance to come and attend that and and give your input on the traffic study that's all I got mayor thank you councilman on jaka okay mayor yes mayor I was I was honored to be at the meeting yes yesterday the meeting that uh we held at East uh Millstone the meeting was very very interesting and important to t w and the entire Franklin the meeting was more on a speed control and um how to reduce accident in Franklin our public safety director and her team they were all there they were able to answer questions and actually direct direct the the meeting and made it categorically clear how to reduce accidents they suggested that the consequences of this accident is is by issuing tickets they brought issues and uh his processes of controlling the speed including homes uh installing cameras which they said is not permitted in New Jersey so the director and their team promis to step up in speed control and reduce accident in uh in Franklin so may that is what I have here thank you Kazi thank you Mr Mayor um I had the opportunity to attend The Advisory Board of Health meeting and I'd like to make a few announcement about the health related matters the first one is that National Prescription Drug takeback day is this Saturday uh October 26 at the police department at that public safety department and it is from 10:00 a.m. to 2: p.m. and Resident can drop off the medication they do not need uh also please note that they do not accept syringes Sharps items and illicit drugs liquid products such as cough syrup should remain sealed in their original container and in addition I'm happy to let you know that the Advisory Board of Health has arranged for residents to get a free nxen anybody who wishes they can have a free box November 12th uh the Somerset Health Department will have free uh will offer free flu and covid vaccination at the food bank which is located at chel Avenue and there's another important event is going to happen in our community uh Senior Center is going to be on November 20th this is for anybody who has a teenage this is a great uh event is called our turn to talk and it's a documentary and discussion this is because of the high level of anxiety and stress and impacts of all kinds of sort of things on our uh teenagers which uh affecting their mental health they're coming forward to talk about their experience and basically be stigma free so we are inviting or encouraging everybody who has a teenager to please attend I'm sure you will learn something that might help your teenager as well U human relations meeting Commission meeting is tomorrow at 7 p.m. across the hall and there will be a presentation on dealing with mental health issues stigma free also October is cyber security awar awareness month and as you may know cyber crime is a huge problem for organization and also individuals and I'd like to share a couple of uh statistics so you can appreciate the the extent of the problem 25 billion passwords and usernames are available on the dark web and marketplaces probably many of them or many of us have our uh password and and usernames out there and cyber crime is projected to cost 9.5 trillion dollar not billion not million trillion dollars in 2024 and that may increase to about 10 and a half trillion and 62% of breaches breaches were as a result of stolen credential so what can we do as Citizens as community members everybody's recommending two things which will really help protect our uh uh credentials and ident avoid identity theft that is to make sure that you have a strong password and second is to have at least two Factor authentication you know most of us probably do if you don't please consider having that so somebody will text you on your phone or some other email so you confir confirm that indeed that's that's the the actual person or bank or whatever they want you wanted to to reach out also um along with councilman Ram we participated uh in a great G by Center for great expectation if you're not familiar this is just an amazing nonprofit organization our town which is was established about 26 years ago and they helped so many women in need of support and uh they have actually free information session for anybody who wishes to learn more about them they're located on 19B Delwood Avenue in Somerset and this free session or information session is going to be on November 7th so look it up for them the great expectation Center for great expectation and you will be amazed the type of uh services that they providing to the residents of our Township in need and by the way Joe Danielson our assembl man Joe Danielson was honored during that Gala and uh the champion for change so we congratulate Joe again and we are proud of him to have uh our assemblymen Mr Mar that's I have thank you Deputy Mayor basnik two things one I want to wish everyone a Happy Halloween it's a fun holiday but remember to be safe as well if you're expecting trick-or-treaters leave your light on if you don't want anyone shut the light off um make sure your children are wearing safe costumes and they're looking both way and ways and crossing streets Crossing at crosswalks all the safety features um and precautions uh it's been a little WI since we really did this because of the pandemic we've done it like last year and maybe a little bit the year before so maybe this is like year two so just you know go back to our old school days and help make sure the Next Generation has a safe and um you know fun Halloween season interestingly it's also a Polish holay called Juday um which is like an All Saints Day which runs October 31st to November 1st which also coincides with Dali which is a Darkness uh being beat out by light um so I don't know what that means in the universe I have all those three holidays at once um but here in Franklin I'm sure we have folks celebrating all of them and uh rightfully so also voting Election Day is coming up but you can vote as early as now with vote by mail so you can request those ballots you can also vote in person starting this Saturday inperson voting is from Saturday the 28th through November 3rd from 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. right here at the senior center um so that's available anyone in Franklin Township can go to that location and vote early and then of course on Election Day from 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. at your polling place which will be on your sample ballot and of course you can check the registry through New Jersey votes um I think exactly what it is NV votes or some njv vote whatever um and it'll it'll tell you your voting location lots of ways to vote no excuse not to it's really important um and maybe in the spirit of Dali we can make sure that likeness beats out Darkness thank you thank you uh for my comments it's really really dry out there fact the only day it's rained in the last two and a half months was on Franklin day that's true um so please be careful with ignition sources cigarette butts cannabis butts um it's just you could start one hell of a fire so please be careful and then the last thing I have to say is vote um Mr Dominic uh just two quick things in response to uh councilwoman uden's request the uh the Onyx planning board application for the warehouse has been continued to January 15th they just submitted revised plans they have not been reviewed yet so they did not have enough time for us for them to make the originally scheduled November meeting so January 15th here at 7:30 uh the other thing is Bob's procedure went very well he's home resting hopefully not watching this but yeah 5050 on that hi some bre noing him he is okay um we're now on to council discussion items there are none approval of the minutes I present the following minutes to the township Council for approval the township Council work session regular meeting of September 10th and September 24th to have a motion on the minutes so moved seconded any discussion any changes Madam clerk councilman EMB Barrison yes councilwoman franois yes councilman Kazi yes mayor Kramer yes councilman on jaka yes Deputy Mayor pnik yes Council woman udine yes councilman vasella councilman Wright yes approval of the warrants in the amount of 17,46 6978 on October 22nd 2024 presents to the township Council for payment do we have a motion to pay the bills I move the warrants be paid as red second move then seconded anyone want to pull one uh question one Madam clerk councilman EMB Barrison yes councilwoman Francois yes councilman Kazi yes mayor Kramer yes councilman Oni jaka yes Deputy Mayor pnik yes councilwoman uden councilman vasella yes councilman right next item number 13 for those following on the agenda there's copies of the agenda up there public hearing and adoption on second ordinance of ordinances on second reading so there's a first reading to announce to the world that we're considering an ordinance and a second reading where we consider passing it uh and public gets to speak at that uh re uh at the second reading so for second readings ordinance 44 53-24 an Ordnance to acquire by donation certain lands within the township of Franklin County at Somerset state of New Jersey for the purpose of open space preservation in the township of Franklin pursuant to njsa 4812 12aa for the property known as Franklin Fields LP property located at 140 copper mine road block 11.01 lot 62 is presented to Township Council for final hearing and adoption uh for public hearing and final adoption the public hearing has been noticed as required to have a motion to open to the public so moved seconded moved then seconded all in favor say I I opposed say nay motion is carried we are open to the public on this item only mayor seeing no one coming forward a motion to close the public portion of the hearing on this ordinance a second second mo' done seconded all in favor say I I poos say uh public hearing is closed on this item do we have a motion to adopt so moved seconded then move and seconded um this is just what it says donation of land um any other discussion Madam clerk councilman EMB Barrison yes councilwoman franois yes councilman Kazi yes mayor Kramer yes councilman on jaka yes Deputy Mayor basnik yes councilwoman udine councilman vasella yes councilman R yes ordinance number 4454 d24 Capital ordinance providing for the acquisition by donation for the purpose of open space preservation for property known as Franklin Fields LP property located at 140 coppermine Road also known as block 11.01 lot 6 2 and appropriated $23,500 there from the open space trust fund of the township of Franklin County of Somerset state of New Jersey to pay for the cost thereof is presented for public hearing and final adoption the public hearing has been noticed as required to have a motions open to the public so second seconded then seconded all in favor say I I oppos say no we open to the public on this item only seeing no one for mayor a motion to close the public portion of hearing on the ordinance second all in favor say I I oppos no uh public hearing is closed do we have a motion on the on the do we have a motion to adopt I moved second then seconded um so this is to pay the bills of like the assessor Etc to uh accept property um any other discussion Madam clerk councilman EMB Barrison yes councilwoman franois yes councilman karazi yes mayor Kramer yes councilman on Jaa yes Deputy Mayor pnik yes councilwoman uden councilman vasella yes councilman Wright yes orance 44 5524 and amend the ammin code of Township Franklin County of Somerset state of New Jersey more particularly chapter 226 vehicles and traffic section 226-13 parking prohibited at all times on certain streets streets we're adding uh a portion of Oakbrook place in front of the sewage Authority uh building not the main building uh a pump station is presented for the public hearing and final adoption the public hearing has been noticed as required to have motions open to the public so moved all in favor say I I oppos say nay motion is carried we're open to the public on this item see no one coming forward in this item mayor motion to close public portion of a hearing on this ordinance second all in favor say I I oppos say nay public hearing is closed do we have a motion to adopt so moved second then second and any discussion Madam clerk councilman EMB Barrison yes councilwoman Francois yes councilman karazi yes mayor Kramer yes councilman Oni Jaa yes Deputy Mayor pnic yes councilwoman udine councilman vasella yes councilman Wright ordinance 4456 d24 an ordinance amending the code of the township of Franklin County of Somerset state of New Jersey with a new chapter 92 cannabis regulating retail cannabis dispensaries is presented for public hearing and final adoption the public has been noticed as required to have a motion to open to the public second all in favor say I I oppos say nay motion is carried we are open to the public on this item only same rules as before so I'm here Ram so I was on the phone so if you want to talk about something you can talk about it right now but specifically like I said before um the Cannabis portion and I'm going to be real real clear about uh why this needs to be moved out and not be done now name and address Benjamin guy it was already recorded before Benjamin guy 35 patent drive it was already recorded previously so again it needs to be moved out because the simp fact is an open market you don't know what the state and you don't know what the regulations you don't know what the taxes is you don't know what the workforce is and you don't know how to impact in the community so again if you're going to cut something off for financial reasons at this specific time frame now the regulation that you actually that you should put in portion is that where they should be at it should be spread out around the count around the town itself it should be spread out in each one of the each one of the uh the what the awards specifically so that the growth can be actually be there you don't need to cut off the revenue stream it's a difference now that's the the problem is that you got screwed by the state I'm going to keep saying the same thing over because I want the state to hear it because just in case they're doing it because again it's causing you guys problems for regulating taxwise and everything else that was that you accepted in the beginning you got assembly person to back you because he was on the he was on the subcommittee to do it so what's the problem work it out work it out with the state now you guys should bring in state people to help you mandate and regulate this stuff because the state is still rap slapping some of the business owners with regulations what they got to do you're hearing the problems that they're going through you're not you're not helping the problems you're not hurt you're not you're not even having subcommittees that have have having a conversation about it to use as a funnel for what can be done as a as a good behavior you guys can be a beacon of a success if you embrace it the problem is is that you're rejecting it early without embracing it and actually getting ahead of it the problem is is that you you're you're being you're being what's name retroactive rather than proactive about the approach you knew this was coming because we had this conversation multiple times about this this was had on the hamilt street more multiple times so multiple Council people were aware of this so it's nothing that was not known already right the problem is is that how you handle economic benefits for the society that you actually govern that is what this real problem is about you have no real plan on how to reach your community this is just a a pilot example of how you do it because you have no state representatives that are here advocating for this you have community members complaining this is a problem just like your housing problems everything else that's going on there a problem in this area and it's repetitive when do you guys stop just reflect and say we did something wrong we did it and have a discussion with yourselves about how you're going to handle it going forward at all when do you take accountability that is the only thing I ever ask about you guys just taking accountability about stuff that you already you already governed and you said you accepted the economic values was already pretty much set by Ed pnik last meeting saying everybody else around is not doing it we're doing it so why you not bracing that why you not why you not challenging and saying hey look listen we're the people that's going to be be the leaders of this I don't understand what you want to do is you want to put an ordinance in place and and regulate it and do it you couldn't stop the warehouses it's already done so economics wise you got to you got to embrace this it's coming in here there was 41 applications we said this in the last meeting when we when we had this conversation before it was 41 applications that came through here we had that conversation through the hamilt board multiple times nobody embraced it and said oh we're going to make a subcomittee just to research and study and see whether not these people are going to pass and get through this nobody stepped up and do that nobody had a conversation about anything about proactive about being didn't have a conversation with any of the counterparts in the county Support what that was New Jersey Eda or anybody else to support anything of growth and and actually maximizing the benefits here we just let it retroactively happen and then we want to put an ordinance in there and say hey look well we're in trouble now we got about 18 and noring them are not having as much as success as everybody else not their problems it's our Township problem so why are we not embracing embracing what we have as far as economic success and actually embracing what we can do now on Hamilton Street I'll speak for me personally there's too much the reason why it's too much is because of smoke shops there and I don't I'm not I'm not knocking the smoke shops because they got to do what they got to do too but it just that it's not regulated it's not it's not commonly placed and talking about it can be a green Gateway so it's a simple conversation how you can actually have a solve a simple Problem by having a simple conversation economic Liv we're not having that we're regulating and it's causing a problem so I say you stop or think about it go get a state assessment just like we do with rways or anything else and then take it from there thank you my name is shaie I'm from Leaf house 900 Eastern Avenue uh Somerset New Jersey so um I'm going to be just repetitive I guess but I'd like to read this um I I came with this I believe a few months ago but I would like Franklin Township must they must also take steps to crack down on illicit Marketplace the product offered by the stores are heavily regulated by cannabis regul Regulatory Commission ma'am um this ordinance is not about regulating non-cannabis this is an ordinance about the number of cannabis licenses we have so you already said that and that was in our public portion but that's not this port this is only on this ordinance so that's not safety of the no this ordinance has nothing to do with the hemp products this is strictly with regards to the number of cannabis licenses that are in the that are in the township that's the only that's the only thing that's the subject of this and the hours of operations of them understood okay so if you compare to Jersey City the Jersey City's population it's about 290,000 people they have about 40 licenses issued versus Somerset about 68,000 to have 25 licenses issued that's just ridiculous and uh Jersey City's population again the medium income over there is much higher 60 to 80 ,000 Somerset is 42,000 the median income how they going to even afford legal cannabis that's number one obviously they're going to go to Illegal shops to go and Shop there because they cannot even afford that with income $42,000 a year who's going to even afford to be to put in uh the somerset as destination place for cannabis it does it's no one is going to come from sou Jersey they already have so many dispensaries same same thing from North Jersey no no one is going to drive here so I believe live as a town and I want to succeed I'm the first one to be open and you you were all invited and thank you for coming all of you and I want to succeed and stay here I want to create jobs I I I also open a a cultivation site and a growing facility and Manufacturing facility here uh on David Davidson out but right now I'm kind of a little bit scared because I'm not even sure if you cannot support me as a dispensary for me to bring the cultivation and a manufactur ing I'm a little honestly scared because I don't feel being supported cuz right now there's so many dispensaries are being open and they not even open some of them if I'm open the very first dispensary and I'm negative imagine for other people and it's not safe I mean it's not even fair to them uh I all I ask can you guys reconsider because even 18 is a lot of licenses being issued 18 is for sumerset it's just impossible you guys have to re recalculate to max out but you guys will set up everyone for failure and imagine lawsuits coming in back and forth ma'am just I just wait wait till she finishes I'm sorry are you done yes okay so there are currently 18 licenses that are either open or are being constructed and they've been granted there are a few more that are in the pipeline that have already been granted by the state we don't have the ability to just reduce the number of licenses for instance you're a license in the township we don't have the ability to come and say to you well you should close because the other nice woman who was here has a cannabis facility and we would rather har succeed than you so if you would like us to reduce our licenses your license would get reduced I don't think that's what you want and I don't think that we have the legal authority to say okay well let's put 15 of the 18 people who are currently open out of business so that three people can survive so so the reality of the world is we have 18 licenses there are a number of others in the pipeline we've stopped it at that point now we could could make could have made the number five but we still don't have the ability to go and take your business so what I I I just want the the public to understand what we're doing here we're putting a cap on it which is what we we are doing um but we don't have the business the ability to go and close operating facilities if we did I I'm sure I'm pretty sure that if you got a call from the township administrators that said hey we're going to close your facility so that one of the other ones can do well you'd be pretty upset about it and by by the way correctly so so the answer is that I just want to make sure that what what everybody understands what we're doing we're capping where we are now um and if any of them go out of business they're they're not going to get reissued unless we go below 18 so that's where that's where the number is just want everybody to say so I'm sorry your time was I didn't I didn't mean to interrupt you I apologize so even if if you guys cannot put cap I understand those why not just put for example if 18 were already given out like other Town what they did they gave out x amount of letters right support letter of support but they did not like for example some dispensers they did not even build up there no the answer is is we're way past that point so these these 18 already have building permits and licenses so they're not going to if they fail they fail but they they exist those are existing businesses and we can't go and take them and I'm sure that um I'm sure you understand that because just think about it I mean you have I don't know how many licenses that you have in New Jersey but your your location is on 900 easn Avenue there's no way that we have the ability to go in and say to you you need to close now so that the other life lies in town so so the answer is is you're asking us for something that legally we don't have the authority to do no no I'm not saying I'm not asking you to sorry up apolog anyone else good evening I'm Geneva muan I'm at 618 Hamilton Street and yes I'm open in dispensary but the lady that just spoke the reason I'm up here is that was not her question she actually you actually answered what she was talking about was putting a cap on it because if we continue to just open up dispensaries where are we going to put them all and you have so many on Hamilton Street already and so that is a s relief for me that you've decided to cap it that's what it does corre but that's what she was saying she wasn't saying you was answering a question that she hadn't even put out there I believe that that's what she basically was saying besides the fact that there's little legal activity that's what she was talking about and um what does the township will do about that 18y old should not be going to what did you say gas stations and um smoke shops and buying um that's what's not in yeah that's what I'm saying that's another subject yeah that's and that's not the subject this the only thing in this ordinance is what you just said which was the capping of the number of licenses that's that's all this ordinance is okay so if we have concerns about that that will there be an ordinance for that yes there is that right now we're about to vote on the ordinance that's what we're doing now correct correct yes all right fine yes ma'am thank you Debbie Stewart to farington I'm sorry out I'm out in left field with this topic so I'm just trying to learn here if I'm listening to them the one lady she wants to lower the amount but yes you don't want to close people down is there any way to word it that will keep the 18 and whatever's in the pipeline whatever you legally have to do now but then beyond a certain period of time let's say five of them go out of business unfortunately or 10 now once that happens it's back it's to 10 or whatever a smaller amount I don't know what the wording is I don't know if it's legal that's essentially what we're what we're doing what is oh I'm sorry 18 is the 18 is the magic number right now that if places go out of business wherever it lands 18 is the max dispensaries not grow or cultivation dispensaries this ordinance if it passes 18 is that magic number that it's capped at well I thought there were 18 now no there's more than 18 now so so if I'm hearing this lady correctly she would like to be lower than 18 that's what wants so let's assume some of them go out why couldn't you and if you think 10 after some kind of a economic study 10 is the right number couldn't you say going forward after this it would be 10 I don't know you I maybe I'm not making sense but kick it down over time that's what we're doing the number we're using is 18 you're using 10 okay but you're not decreasing it you're leaving it the same no so the LI we are we are because there are we are mayor because there are more than 18 that have been approved by the Regulatory Commission I think the total number is 23 we've reduced it to correct so so so if number 23 goes out of business it there isn't going to be another number 23 the number is going to get reduced until it goes down and at some point in time I would assume if if you find that's a bad number you could come back and correct exactly 30 39% reduction Jan brand 22 Bryant court and I I wasn't here for the Cannabis either so just a question and and this just sounds very familiar um to some processes that happened in Franklin Township I guess when you all this I I I guess was there a ever a study done as to how many cannabis dispensaries were going to be too much for the community because it sounds to me like the woman who was speaking was saying that there's 23 right now and I I I don't know how much she's paid for her license maybe $100,000 I'm I'm just guessing I I don't know if you have that question either but I guess if if this was a mistake that the township ended up giving too many dispensary licenses out to people um I'm just seeing that like kind of like what we've had like with the warehouse issue where there was too many warehouses and too much development in the community I'm just wondering like to just learn from the mistakes that have been happened in the past of having studies done before you decide on 23 dispensaries because it sounds like this woman is very worried about her business and you know that she spent a lot of money and invested in it so I'm just wondering was there ever a it's was you just given like okay you could have 23 and then you decided to have 23 and 23 were given out or was there ever a study done M Mr Mayor you want me to answer that question can we just wait hold everyone stop I'll try to answer it if you think that you need to add you can answer can we wait till the end and answer them all at once no hang on everyone thank you so the M there was no study the mistake we made was we trusted the state the state said you're not going to get more than six or seven so we said well that's fine so we didn't bother coming up with a number to limit it now Mr Dominic if you have yeah and and just to be clear we don't issue licenses the state issues the license and what the mayor was speaking about is from the very beginning we let the market be open but we were assured by the state that there was only going to be a few and that's not what they did so the council didn't make a mistake they let it be open they let the market dictate it the state the CRC just decided to open it up and issue more licenses and now the council is taking the appropriate action and they didn't they didn't warn us beforehand in fact there as we brought out this ordinance and people started coming out of the woodwork there was places that had gotten a license that we we weren't notified for over a year so it I do not think it was managed well by the state and I can't quote the line from Animal House but we messed up we trusted them anyone else want to talk speak Mr Mayor are we done with the public portion anyone else wishing to speak anyone anyone seeing no one I move we close public comment second Mo then second and all in favor say I I oppos nay Mr Mayor can I just sure just just an answer to one of the questions one of the things that's that's happened and I just want to make sure everybody understands is only only 36% of New Jersey municipalities allow cannabis licenses at all so when the law passed people rushed to get into this business and then found that they had to rush to find some place that would allow a license and a lot there's a lot of towns that that limited to one license so everybody comes to the government and says well did you do a study to determine how many licenses that you you would allow in you would allow in town that's not not my question and I'm one of those I'm I'm in a lot of different municipalities 65 different municipalities and I've fielded hundreds of phone calls from people who had interest in doing in in cannabist business and my question to all of them is always the same is what kind of Market research have you done to determine whether or not there's a market if you're going to build a McDonald's McDonald's knows how many cars are going to go past and how many people are going to buy hamburgers so the the question is when when when you know it's it's not for the town to create a sustainable uh Marketplace for cannabis in its municipality that's not we don't have the we don't have the economic regulatory authority to do that the state says we can issue we can allow life Lies We allow them but if you open a if you open somebody used if you open a pizza place next to another pizza place then either you have the much better pizza or you're both going to struggle that's what happens here and if if you're on a road that has 10 pizza places you can't come to us and say I don't understand why you allow so many pizza places and that's that's really that that's really kind of where we are now so so this ordinance is a reaction it doesn't want to put anybody out of business that's not you know so to the extent we want to support small businesses we're not looking to put anybody out of business however there has to at some point in time be a cap on the number of them uh legitimately because the number of cannabis licenses that were supposed to be spread across 564 municipalities are now being spread across 209 municipalities ities that's that's the reality of of this that so I that's I just wanted to say just from a big piure mayor that's why we're doing that's why staff came to this conclusion that's why it was recommended to the council anyone else Mr Mayor I just heard some numbers I just want to make sure that everybody knows exactly the numbers and so force and this is the latest data actually from uh uh W so we have right now 10 cannabis dispenser stores open in town eight proposed dispensers have construction permits they have not open yet they have not built yet and there's also five proposed dispensaries have submitted for construction permits and have a license from of course the CRC but they have not issued construction permit so when we talking about 18 we are including that eight which have the permit so but right now as we speak Mr V correct me we have 10 that are open okay just want to clarify that okay before anyone else speaks um I'm a stickler for Robert's Rules do we have a motion to adopt so moved second we've done second and now we can have discussion thank you uh Mr Mayor um that's why why I wanted to go because I sometimes we have uh the ability to go off the rails the attorney uh Mr Reno he definitely hit it on the head exactly the F points that come out of the state of New Jersey and what we have to do to regulate and I want to bring up something that the township Council tried was going to do but it couldn't do and that was someone paid a lot of money for a liquor license don't know who they are paid money for a liquid license and our ordinance for that is 1,000 ft so when it went through one abstained and I voted no okay now um in realization of that that was my I shouldn't have because no no I should have voted no because as Mr Ron said hey if you think you got better Pizza open up and if you can't beat the other guy what do you want me to do now we have dispensaries on Hamilton Street and one is four doors or five doors away from the next dispensary a okay now somewhere along the line some are going to close because somebody can't uh uh uhh work it mean it's just not going to work so somebody's going to fall off the bandwagon real real quick and then you have other dispensaries that are humongous they're going to eat somebody up now what do we say about that oh well you need to cut down in size because XYZ has to live here's the example how many barber shops do we have on Hamilton Street how many barber shops in h uh I see missa there she should know there are 8 million barber shops there and everyone has a particular barber shop that they go to so now what do you want me to do about them hey you can only have five on Hamilton Street everybody else got a close ain't going to happen so through attrition they're going to go and we're going to get down to 18 19 or whatever our license number is and as far as Mr guy says Embrace what we have and look at it economically well G uh some sometimes you got to look at what you're bringing in and say no sometimes you got to say enough is enough and we're saying enough because when you look around at all the communities that surround us wear it you go on 27 we it because they're all on our side of 27 they're not on New Brunswick side they're not on North Brunswick side they're not on South Brunswick side they're on our side you slip down into prin uh Princeton you might catch one or two there it is it stopped before Princeton I I I want you to understand something we we want the business but at some particular point in time just like liquor stores economically and that's why I voted no is because why should I allow someone else to just because they spent $300,000 on a license slip through the door because if I do it for one I got to do it for what the next one because I open the door so no uh-uh um if they can't survive I'm sorry economics two warehouses on both ends of the street they all want market share what do they do they all move toward the middle survival of the Fitts I want the whole nut I'm a funeral home I want everyone that dies to come to my funeral home but I got nine funeral homes in nor nine of them so what do you want me to do knock off cotton Perry and everybody else I can win so I just want you to understand that and you know economics size sometimes you just got to say no sometimes you just got to say no and unfortunately I'm the guy that says no um beat me up if you want to um I got broad [Music] shoulders I've said no a couple of times beat me up if you want but I'm still here and I ain't going nowhere I got broad shoulders go for it anyone else who hasn't spoken Mr Mayor I'd like to say something yes ma' so I was one of the ones that reached out to the staff and said we need to put a cap limit on retail class 5 dispensaries coming into Franklin Township what alarmed me was what was coming in on Hamilton Street the the overabundance we are doing this to prevent Market sat oversaturation and I think yes we may be a little uh reactive but we also did not know as been said many many times tonight that the Cannabis Regulatory Commission we did not know that they were going to issue all these licenses what we're trying to do is be fair to the people that are already in the pipeline that have their licenses that have already been approved and we don't want to prevent them from start opening up a business because they were already in the pipeline so it's not a magic number but we we did some forecasting about what was in the pipeline what's already been approved by the CRC what we already have and that's where that number came from I think we're being fair to the uh to make sure that at least the people that are here can succeed I know it's probably too many at this point we may be reactive at this point but we're I think we're if we did nothing we would probably have 40 more coming in so that's the whole purpose of this regulation this ordinance tonight some people may think it's not fair but we need to do what we need to do to make the quality of life here in Franklin Township the best that it can be thank you Mr Mayor anyone else who hasn't spoken yet Deputy Mayor yes so originally I wasn't supportive of the cap um but I was very pleased that the colleague my colleagues agreed to look at this if there is more of a demand that seems sustain able and also like a distribution that could make sense to to make sure uh we're maximizing our retail spaces and also providing business opportunities because I think as the attorney said you know we don't there's a lot of things we don't have limits on you know uh pharmacies or uh other regulated Industries like uh hair salons where people need licenses uh or pest uh companies but I was very much persuaded by that sort of bill of goods where we really didn't think this many would be approved and in fact I went to my community in Kingston and said you know we we are approving basically not approving but we are agreeing that everyone who is applying that they're allowed in the zone we had no vetting process for anyone we didn't know if they had enough financing we didn't set up committees to you know rank the order of what projects were um you know more in line with something that we came up with uh we let the free market sort of decide I think the big thing here was that the state wasn't going to issue very many and um you know 18 I think is a very reasonable number and of course there will be more than 1823 that will be able to be built and until and if any of those are not successful then other ones would open up if those are successful and the market needs more I I hope the council will consider that but um you know I think it's good for the folks who exist currently um because there is a cap and you know that you're going to have some market share um um and it's also you know forward looking to be inclusive and um in this moment I'm supportive of that for all the reasons folks have described so I appreciate everyone's you know listening and sort of working together listening to the community and the business owners as well and I wish everyone great success um in in your uh time in Franklin and and I I believe we are very supportive and have been very supportive um many ribbon cuttings many personal visits to cannabis dispensaries uh as well to sort of check out what's going on there um particularly in my words so um you know thank you for choosing Franklin uh we continue to be a wonderful place to do business and uh we look forward to the new shops opening up but with this cap of 18 into the a perable future if it passes any other council member just uh just want to point out mayor that you know again I think we're all having kind of very similar language here and saying that we're most of us are supportive of this I think um 18 is the number I think we weren't ready to see such a huge increase over time I think it happened so fast and that's why we're trying to put a cap on it and kind of uh limit the number down um so we are a business friendly Town um I understand the challenges I've spoken to many of you guys um on the challenges that have happened and you know I understand and I think that's why we're taking this uh decision to put that cap on um you know so definitely could have been more I think think it's just a flush of licenses that are being provided by the state and um as mayor and the team mentioned it's something that we do not provide it's given by the state um so exactly to what um deputy mayor has provided I think that you know we are here to support be supportive to you guys um you know putting a cap on it right now just helps limit the dispensaries because I I think that's just been in a a big number especially in Hamilton Street um so just want to say I am supportive of this mayor yes okay yeah so um I was one of the ones uh that attended your inauguration so I'm very unhappy to hear that uh your business is not doing so well uh but the the the number the cap number while it may sound subjective it is not so we looked at um for example um the number of Lial licenses you know that's about around 20 in town so we didn't arbitrarily decide okay 18 is the number it was so happened that we had 18 at the time when we considered this ordinance so there is some uh discussion some deliberation that uh we have had in fixing this number again like the mayor said we are not going to of the 23 that's coming in if uh some of them would uh uh not survive we are not going to let them uh refill at that that slot so I think that's a good thing maybe 18 is too high it's too low we don't know we will we will know in Du course and then we will make more decisions on that thank you mayor I have one question the cultivation license is it part of the 18 or separate from the 18 separate separate yeah retail retail okay okay anyone else don't feel obligated so just for my short input the use of the word bailout I uh have issue with bailout brings to mind the government spending billions of dollars to bail out things after the um the Great Recession uh that's not what we're doing that's not my motivation uh it's not costing the town anything and just it was brought out at the last meeting this is likely to bring in the use the Cannabis shops yes we were giddy to get the income from the taxes looks like it'll be around $400,000 a year that's 1% of the amount that we raise in taxes so that can be used to hold down taxes by 1% in the future um I think we've all discussed this did you have anything to add Mr Dominic unless someone else is dying to speak Madame clerk councilman EMB Barrison yes councilwoman Francois yes councilman karazi yes mayor Kramer yes councilman Oni jaka yes Deputy Mayor pnik yes councilwoman Udin yes councilman vasella yes councilman Wright yes okay ordinance on introduction and first reading ordinance 4451-x 24 at 7 pm in the council chambers do we have a motion to introduce so moved second moved then seconded the big item in this is um what should be done with a private party at someone's house that has over a hundred people attending any discussion Mr Mayor I think uh I'd like to make some comments M uh uh my personal view is that what we need to do is uh I mean first of all I I understand the main reason behind this which is uh to make sure that people stay safe there's no traffic issue parking issues and then an emergency the township vehicle can reach out but I'm not 100% sure sure that we need to have a permit for the citizens of this Township to go through the application and all the other stuff that is going to come with this to just have a personal party what I believe is needed some guidance to be provided to the community members that if you're going to have a large party Township is here to help to guide you some of the things you can do and you can't do and um then we can inform the public in in many ways that we have so they know what are the the the good ways to uh have their special events and I mean personally speaking I had three special events in my property when my daughters were getting married and we had over 100 we informed our neighbors that we going to have a party and everybody knew that we going to have a party and then we asked them if it's okay to park in front of their houses the street was uh wide enough and we didn't violate anything but having another permit an application and waiting for somebody to answer in the township and and even some of the details that that they ask and see where you're going to be putting the benches and so forth I believe it's just too much work so I'd like to just propose that we have a guidance and let the community members to go for this uh May mayor I I I'm not sure because I didn't hear the word motion but I'm I believe councilman kaz's looking to change a component of it I'm not sure if he want to put it in the in a motion to amend oh why don't we have a little more discussion oh does anyone else have anything else to add well I had one thing separate and I do um in general uh think there's ways to do without a mandatory uh parenting process um but one thing I wanted to address I don't have the printed copy I've read it and I just saw it before but there's a section there separate from the private party thing just in general for permits for special events that the applicant that's applying for permit would be notified uh it used well presently says 15 days days if for some reason the permit was not being issued I see the new one at s um I because I think Seven's a little bit tight of a window someone's having a big event and for some justifiable reason they're told they can't they have to go through the cancellation process I just think uh given them at least 10 days would be a more practical Fair uh number um and uh if there's staff information or clerk has any thing to add that says that would be impossible I'd be open to hearing it but I think 14 down to seven is a little too dramatic so I would motion that that gets moved to 10 that's the days that someone is told um if for some reason they that cannot proceed so we have a motion I'm obligated to ask for a second this is on the third page it's 325-5 under a goes from 15 to seven he's adding asking to strike that and leave it at 15 do we have no I was asking to uh 10 my understanding is the 15 that would be a little uh too uh too long of a window two typ St well that was my idea I mean I'm open to tweaking it but I thought 10 was a practical a second on 10 there's no second that motion dies anyone else or did you have more uh for now I'm good okay anyone else mayor mayor yes sir okay so um as I understand uh the source of this ordinance uh was really the traffic issues on on on the streets because of a large Gathering uh so my opinion is similar to uh man karazi uh it seems like um it's um it's an it's not placed at the right uh in the right frame um in other words I you know I'm not too keen on uh over regulating a private party um in a house uh while the problem I I I get it it's it's a traffic issue um that um Street may not be able to hold so many cars and a party so I think that's not what this is is reflected in this uh in this ordinance and to ask to impose a permit burden on on residents um for a party how do we know that there are going to be there there are 100 people is let's say somebody has a 98% uh party they're exempt from this rule yet they're going to have the the same number of cars as a 100% party so I think this dis ordinance is misplaced uh I'm not too thrilled about it yes I understand that we have to provide a safe parking environment uh for Gatherings private gatherings I think that can be done maybe on a more on a guidance basis like councilman karasi suggested uh I'm not too keen on this particular ordinance as it is written um Madame clerk you you I know you have feelings about this no okay it's up to you guys you guys set policy I have one just sort of thing why I think it's important and I've said this before the noise ordinance which we just I think approved no not yet not yet that's next I think we're doing it in the wrong order but anyway the noise ordinance that we're going to maybe approve possibly um allows noise up to 10:00 which means without a registration and some other rule set for a registration folks have to stop whatever they're doing at 10 o'clock which I feel like in the summer particularly is unreasonable um you know people should be able to have events till I think 11 is reasonable particular on a weekend of Friday or Saturday um so I like the idea of registering and with that maybe there's a few things that you get like a checklist like the councilman kazzi mentions um for guidance and um the ability then to stay uh active with your party till let's say 11 o'clock at night instead of the noise ordinance which is 10 so you know what goes with that if there are any other sort of caveats or strings or requirements around other things that folks think would make the event more smooth if it's parking related or other then I think it makes sense to to consider those um I don't feel like it's a government overreach to say if you're going to have 100 people at your house and you want to go later than the noise ordinance please take a moment to fill out a form in advance so that you know that you know everything's going to be above board and you're not going to have your wedding for your child shut down somehow because of some something like I I think it actually helps clear the way for folks to have peace of mind which was described by staff when people are calling and wondering why is there no process how can I be sure there is stress related to that and as someone who likes to host parties um you know I feel for that sort of situation um I think some of the things that were discussed previously did seem a lot like wow that's a lot right for a home order to go through a um I think a scale drawing you know next they'll be asking for architectural satellite drawings and 3D models uh to bring in or something which might be fun but really doesn't get to the point right like nothing's broken particularly now but but can we approve it so people have both peace of mind and safety but also a benefit like longer hours to have an event which are reasonable um so I would recommend that we send this back to committee to just further have discussions but before we I make a motion to do that I just want to make sure other folks have a chance to share whatever concerns they might have because the committee is only made up of some people and that means you know let's say it goes back to Administration it's be myself the mayor Kimberly and Charles so I guess anyone else who's not on that committee that wants to share anything that we can consider maybe come back with a revised version that addresses some of the concerns so folks can feel comfortable with it you know considering that they would get an added benefit with the registration you can even make it optional or what have you we can come back so unless someone is compelled to talk more about it right now so I guess it's back to the 65 DV at the property line that's that's that's a different ordinance [Applause] um so you could make that emotion to table until it's going to committee I'll move that we send it to the administration committee for further consideration given the comments um expressed here tonight in the previous meetings I second that so moved and seconded once something is offered to table the only discussion can be when you are tabling it to not the uh specifics of the moot of the uh ordin so does anyone want to change when we are going to table it to currently it's until it's gone back to committee so it's indefinite mayor it's indefinite until it's gone back to committee okay um I just is that process then would cover like the question that I brought up that I think people might not have understood we're just not putting a deadline on this yeah we're not saying bu no that's fine that's I think anything in the all these things can be reviewed and um I just ask that the Comm let Council so we can only discuss what what time well that okay I this part of the time you can discuss that offline well just that the the rest of Council in a timely matter if we're talking about time get whatever your guys ideas and okay alternate possibilities are any other discussion on when to table it to Madam Clerk councilman and Barrison we're voting on the motion to table table okay now you have to councilwoman franois yes councilman Kazi yes mayor Kramer yes councilman Oni jaka yes Deputy Mayor baznik yes Council will udine yes councilman vasella yes councilman right making of the sausage um ordinance 44 52-24 an ordinance amending the code of the township of Franklin County of summers at state of New Jersey more particularly chapter 169 nuisance and repeal chapter 167 noise in its entirety uh the forgoing ordinances present the township Council for adoption on first reading posting and publication accordance with law on public hearing and final adoption at a meeting of the township Council to be held on Tuesday November 12th 2024 at 7 p.m. in the council chambers do we have a motion to introduce second within second so this is for the general public moving getting rid of the noise ordinance and but make making noise treating it as a nuisance um and that gives us some flexibility in that um it doesn't have to be proved by DCA or DDP D D um and uh it's also a an easier way to prevent noise it doesn't require a meter it doesn't require training uh it's it's an easier the noise ordinance was broken and this is a way of fixing it any other discussion yeah I okay I had just two questions uh one about the distance of that 200 feet that uh is in there um about it being the adjoining uh I don't want to call Residence but I guess the adjoining house the adjoining structure as opposed to 200 feet um the other thing that um and I I think some other Council people have ideas in that with that topic also I'd like to hear from but the other thing um I know when this came up two weeks ago I was concerned about making sure we had a enforcement structure and I saw the attorney put in uh fines um and from what I understand if if I'm interpreting them right the first offense is 500 and subsequent offenses are a thousand so I just had a couple technical questions I'm not I don't have a problem with that structure but uh does that allow that the judge's discretion or whoever it is that you'll tell me has the authority on a first offense uh to to not give them the $500 or is that mandatory that your first offense if you're in violation you will pay 500 it's a minimum so it gives the judge the discretion to give them more than that less than okay um not trying to rewrite it tonight but when we we were discussing and I forget as a committee or just I think with another council member we were talking about if uh discretion We Trust our people who enforce this in town that are a first offense if that address has not had any prior complaints that we wanted uh we were open to them again at discretion of our experts to be given a a written documented warning of sorts I don't want to be too lenient but sometimes that discretion is uh uh can be applied in a fair way so I wanted to throw that out there and then I'm fine with the $5,000 intervals for subsequent offenses um if there is a rental if the property that gets a violation is a rental does the violation go to the owner agent of record or does it go to the person at the house at the time um our expert would find them in violation um and I'm wondering since we have a good amount of rentals in town if um like a new tenant a year or two later would be considered a first offender or a second offender I'm not trying to find trouble with this I just want to be clear because how it would apply to the reality of the landscape of our town so if these are these are not property offenses these are personal offens so they would go to the person at the house not to a owner or landlord correct so if you buy a house from somebody who was particularly noisy you're not at risk because they were fined before so I'm sorry so if somebody got a fine moved out a new tenant comes in would that new no person be considered a first first offender person okay that sounds logical I just want to make sure at the same point if you were a person who did this at multiple locations in town and follow it would follow so it's so the way you're describing it's the most fairly uh applicable because it's holding who's responsible and if you're a habitual offender or if you're not you're a new person at that okay that's exactly how I'd like it to be so I I'm I'm satisfied with with those answers thank you um Mr am can I absolutely um I just want to the mayor said that this it was important to do this ordinance because it it helped us fix the noise ordinance and most particularly it helps us fix that provision of the noise ordinance that we pass specifically to regulate noise in at warehouses so I I I I want to be clear that that was one of the my driving forces in recommending to the township manager and then to the council that we we reconstruct the ordinance in this way it is a a important tool po that we need to continue and I just wanted that I didn't want that to get lost and that's the portions of 16919 um that we worked pretty long and hard on about 18 months ago and I want to I want to um I want to make sure that that's that's an important part of this because there's a pending legal challenge to that provision in the noise ordinance I would like to move an amendment based on what council vasella had said on page six um I think it says 16918 letter A to um it currently reads the last sentence the operation of such machine or device so that it is clearly audible at a distance of 200 feet from the building which it's located to instead read the operation of such a machine or device so that is clearly AUD audible at a neighboring residence if accessible comma or at a distance of 200 ft from the property line in which it is located so basically that would mean if I'm in a home and the neighboring home the police officer could go there and they could hear the noise it's clearly audible at the neighboring house this is after 10 p.m. that would be a violation and if you're you're in an area where it's like a larger lot it has to be 200 ft from the property line to nowhere because there's not a house there that you can go to or if it's an an inaccessible area for example it's a gated home and no one's home police aren't going to scale the gate to go there and go to the front door it would be the 200 foot distance from the the property line from where the sound is started so this way you know that it covers a lot of the different types of things that are in the town the 200 F feet itself in a more densely packed um uh suburban area versus a more uh like spacious suburban area um you know it it didn't really fit so in this way um that would be the amendment so I can read it again uh the motion is to basically insert the words after clearly audible a neighboring residence if accessible comma or he at a distance of 200 feet from the insert property line of and then it continues the building in which it is located I'm concerned that it makes it more confusing yeah definitely makes more and I'm I'm concerned because it at at one point makes the distance shorter and then at another Point makes it we disc it we didn't have a second on it so we don't to discuss if there's well you and I it's just you and it's just two guys talking about it did you have recommendation on rewarding the motion I'm I'm sorry I 65 DB I'm I'm confused by that so if the offending uh the offending property was this table you're saying one is 200 feet beyond the table no like I'll give an example my first house in town was on Home Street 25 foot lot by 100 foot deep right I'm in my I'm making noise in my yard somebody calls and complains you go to the next house if you can hear it it's a violation okay okay after 10 o' after 10 o'clock if you're in the area where I live now the same thing happens I'm in my yard I'm making music somebody calls and complains okay you either go to the neighbor to their house if you hear it it's a violation if the neighbor's house has a big fence around it and fiery dragons the police officer can't access that house to judge at the residence if it's audible they would go to the property line and then they would go 200 feet and see if it's audible that it's the same thing as saying 200 feet if it's audible it just adds the you can go to the neighboring house and if it's notable then it's a violation so it's really for more densely packed areas why shouldn't it be from the complaintant house so Carl's playing music too loud and I complain you're not complaining Jim's not complaining so why just from my property line so and I think that I agree I'm trying to address the the the densely populated areas and but here's the part that I don't understand so I think that under the language that you gave us so I'm just a just a guy and I'm walking down the street there's loud music being played in the house I live six blocks away I'm going for a walk I call the police and the police have to go to the not that house but the neighbor of that house to determine whether or not or get out a tape even though that person hasn't complained well the way it is now the police offic have to get a tape measure find the radio and then run the tape measure from the radio 200 ft no they don't they don't need a tape measure they have a they have access to the gis map of the township they just check and see and they can tell something they'd have to go pretty easy and and by the way that the 200 feet part of it might be something that somebody might do in a in a court but the police have available on their computer in their unit to be able to tell how big the lots are and so in in this neighborhood of my first house you would have pass four houses so house two house three would hear it and house four wouldn't it wouldn't be a violation but House 2 and house three would be like oh my God it's so loud and so here's and so here's if I can't remember so here's where I agree the that's why the first part of it I agreed with you it's the second part of it that made it confusing for me if if you're going to change it that it you can't that you hear at the next house that's a policy decision and by the way maybe not a bad one it's all of the other language I think made that confusing that I think made sense okay I'm just using what's there if if it's you know if it can be held at the you know the property line of the offender just say the dwelling of the of of any neighbor we can they can be clearly audible okay I'll withdraw my Amendment and I'll say clearly audible insert uh excuse me clear a at or clear the why don't we let the the attorney advises I'm thinking that may be what you want to say clearly auditable as a distance of 200 ft or or at the next residential property that's what I said I just said in the opposite order yeah I just I did the exact same thing in the other order it I don't want to I don't know if you want to do property linage I think you want to do I think you want to do dwelling that's what we were saying but you just mentioned properties so if I have a big property and I'm way out away from my house and I can hear the noise but and that's a violation on your own property no no no no my neighbor lives 800 ft from me but my property goes right up near his house if I wanted to be sitting out on my property near his house but on my property and it's too loud that's okay because I'm not at my dwelling I'm audible at the dwelling can I can I ask a question I if asked the question I'm waiting for an answer I think what what what I was what I was saying is at the dwelling if if your neighbor could hear it at their house from where you are then that's an offense so and and I think that by by doing what the councilman and I just suggested though in different order that there's two stes it's at the next dwelling for 200t can I can I just make a suggestion yes because we're sitting here going back and forth and I wouldn't vote for anything because it's muddled now and the amendment would be muddled so I was suggest we take this back and rehash it get a sound engineer in here like uh Arie Schmid or somebody who does it who did it for Union I believe because if you're telling me you if you hear it at my property line and it goes over to yours I'm screwed 200 ft after 10 o' they still screwed because they're still gonna hear it's the whole point of the ordinance I don't care about the man throw this back and and let's get this right throw it back this this is not and once again I'm going to say it again it's important that we get this ordinance introduced for the reasons that I said before and I don't want to have to go for it and I think that I understand because I had the same question about whether it made it more confusing we picked 200 feet because remember this is a nuisance ordinance so now we're talking about sounds that are loud enough that you can hear them 200 feet away after 10:00 are deemed as a matter of this ordinance to be a nuisance so while we can make make that less it is it is also a clearly identifiable distance that a police officer could understand understand and it's not I I think that that that's I think that's part of it so you know my question is if you're playing music loud enough in your house that they can hear it in the house next door you I don't I don't I mean you can make you can make it 100 feet and maybe that that makes it easier um well so I I wait a minute uh I'm sorry Mr B know we need to put this in in in place tonight would like to get it introduced okay but I want to get it right it's yeah I understand you want to get it right but we need to put it in there so that warehouses like you were saying it stops all that noise and it moves out and stops some of the noise in the street uh IT addresses some of those uh noise issues everyone else had I'm for you uh but I just want to make sure and and you can't guarantee nothing but I'm going to go with you on this so I I think that I I think that by reading the entire paragraph I think I've solved this problem okay I'm with you so the the paragraph says it's unlawful to make or continue to make a noise that disturbs the Peace Quiet and comfort of neighboring inhabitants or the public period that's what the violation is the sentence we're all playing with is the operation of such machine or device so it is clearly audible at a distance of 200 feet from the building in which it is located or outdoor space in which it is operated between the hours of 10 and 8 shall be Prima fascia evidence of the violation of this section so what that means is if the police officer goes out and he goes 200 feet away and he can hear it it's it's an a non- rebuttable presumption that you're guilty okay if it's less than that then it is the neighbor coming or the police officer coming and the neighbor coming in saying they were I had this at one of my houses karaoke singing next door it's 1:00 in the morning I I can hear it in my bedroom I and it's clearly Audible and it's it's disturbing the piece so I think that we're playing with the what's the the bright line and that bright line is one that a police officer doesn't have any trouble understanding by going 200 feet away and saying I it is what it is so I I actually think I what I'm saying is I think it's okay because I think it does all the things that you're worried about because it covers your closely packed neighborhood and it covers bigger things too and I just want to make sure that we understand what those two that's two different sentences but the 200 ft doesn't cover a closely packed nature sure it does because the remember the 200 ft is only it's a the Prima fascia case of it you're still can't operate it between those hours in such a manner as to disturb the Peace Quiet and comfort of neighboring inhabitants can you find a way to work in audible from the neighboring dwelling yeah that's what I was trying to do before such a matter yeah and where I would put it is it uh Pion of sound in such a manner to be audible from a neighboring dwelling in such a manner in such to be audible reducing sound audible I think that's where I would insert it in that sense in such a manner as to describe so audible I can put it there that's at a neighboring dwelling or a distance of 200 feet whichever is shorter no see once again you're using 200 ft like that's that's what it is the violation isn't within 200 the vi it's a nuisance ordinance R it's not a sound Orin it's a nuisance ordinance so let's drop the 200 fet so well you want Prim a fasia to yeah I wanted Prime fascia to be in there because it gives the police the ability to to but but it still doesn't preclude other violations that's the point of it so can we add the neighboring dwelling and or or rather uh 200 feet in this way covers both I think that's what I was trying to get at and maybe I didn't do it well but to that same place I think it covers all of our say the sentence Mr rown we so I think is it it shall be unlawful a person to make or continue cause to make or Contin the play matters just uh Disturbed the peace conf inhabitants in see I think it has neighboring inhabitants in it already that's my point I think that's already in there but in the Prima fascia sentence so in the Prima fascia sentence it would be the operation of such a machiner device so it is clearly auditable that would be where you put neighbor well well can I can I tell you I think that maybe it's just that simple clearly auditable from a neighboring dwelling or at a distance of 200 feet fine Mr you got that Amry clearly audible from a neighboring dwelling or at a distance so now and then you add the the 10 p.m. in it so if you can hear it from a yeah neighboring dwelling between 10 and 8 in the morning then violation CRI Mr R hang Mr I will move Mr renown's Amendment Mr Mo no Mr Wright we have a motion do we have a second second move in seconded now Mr Wright I I one of the reasons why I I think Mr Renown is going this way and why we're going to beat the other one the other one didn't have any teeth in it it didn't had any any enforcement in it the police could come by and say turn it down and then soon as they leave you could turn it up right so one of the things that we did was let's put a little tee in the ordinance to say hey the next time I come out to your crib I got something in my back pocket that you don't want me to have and that's a ticket y so yeah I I I understand the way we were going with that and yes I understand we want to put some teeth into this thing um so again sometimes you got to swallow that pill and keep it moving this is one of the times that I'm going to go with you on this one because okay when with the differences you put in I'm with you but again it's got teeth and that's what I want any other discussion on this amendment I just wanted to make sure it says televisions radios instruments whatever do we need to put anything God forbid someone's using some other type of noise making Machinery anything on this amendment well this this section is where this would be so I want to make that would be an additional Amendment fair enough mayor no I I think it's a great amendment I second it and if my interpretation is it's the neighboring dwelling if there's an issue it says our other machine or device okay so any I was to wait get Mr rown we're talking about this amendment no this I know thank you I think this is a great Amendment but I do have a question for the attorney so we're all we're all good Lou this means that if neighboring house hears it or 200 ft the cop could iPhone it is could act on either one correct okay so I have a question about my Amendment because you wrote it so my house where I am now my property is more than 200 ft right so hypothetically if I had a radio at the back of my lot and there's no one behind me it's open space right and no one could hear in any direction 200 or whatever and 200 feet on my property would it be primacia evidence for me to be in violation on my own property at 200 feet from that sound device from the building or it's 200 feet from the outdoor space where it's located so so the answer is no it would have to be out outside of your it be 200 ft from your property property if it's outside that's why I added the words property line yeah in my I was just thinking about my house currently so if it would still be on my property but 200 feet from the source I think I'd be in violation if my radio is Yes except that except that remember once again we're talking about the second sentence the first sentence is that it is it it is done and it is disturbing somebody's peace and quiet so if there's nobody so this is a we could put the if you know a tree in the woods kind of deal there's nobody there to hear it and there's nobody there to be annoyed yeah you going to call the cops on yourself this look this if you're talking about now interf Family noise complaints I can't help you just okay any other any other issues on this amendment no okay so we're gonna vote on this amendment only not on the whole um piece but on this amendment madam clerk councilman EMB Barrison yes councilwoman FR councilman karazi yes mayor Kramer yes councilman Oni Chaka yes Deputy Mayor pnik yes councilwoman udine councilman vasella councilman Wright yes okay anyone else on the ordinance let's I make a motion to approve introduce the ordinance we already have we already have that hang on guys we already have that I have another amendment I think 500 on a first offense is kind of steep well that goes back to what I had asked the attorney if we were allowed does this give the discretion because I agree mayor so I I think it's kind of steep there is some discretion the officer has that discretion uh always has a discretion in these things so I'm saying we go two 250 for first 500 for second a th000 for third and thereafter I would are you making a motion second that was a motion and we have second it but okay any other discussion don't feel obligated on this change um I mayor I just wanted to the violation the general violation of penalty I just wanted to to let you know the general violation of penalty that we have has a minimum of a hundred U dollar fine for the the first offense I I just wanted you so you're suggesting 100 instead of 250 yeah what what I'm suggesting is that if you if almost every section of our code says that we use the general penalty that's contained in article one section three my Sugg just continue to do that yes and as a matter of fact if you look at the ordinance I say that and I say except that the minimum fine is $500 so if you just take that language how high can we go you can only go two like on the thousand can we make it like if we're going to start lower 2,000 then we got to like make up on the other end because people who are repeat offenders you know we have to make it so that people can enjoy their homes and um so if the first one doesn't get them to stop and if it's low $100 you know is just like a bottle of vodka and maybe some mix the maximum pen the maxim some mixers Max May the max is 2,000 so I would say that if we go lower should go higher then Mr Mayor yes may I just say something okay my understanding is that this is not only for the resident but also is for businesses is that true this noise ordinance for anybody making a nuisance so for business is $100 nothing but residents $100 $100 so I would suggest that we put for uh resident who are violating that the first if it's possible if not at least have something smaller so suddenly our residents they're having a party and then they have to give another $250 fine because they didn't know so the first offense should be low and then we can increase it uh afterward that legal I don't think that's legal no no no for residents I'm talking about for everybody you can't differentiate don't differentiate now just have it low for everybody including businesses but increase it the the later so what numbers would you use I I would suggest to start with 100 so if we start with 100 can we do 100 then 750 then 2,000 well yeah I mean you could put all of that in or once again the current the current you know General penalty is a $100 minimum f for the first and for and thereafter it's set by the judge I think we should stick with it what was what did you move you did I said 25 500,000 so but we could do 100 100 1500 and a th000 okay 15,000 is that a formal motion yeah I I would I made the motion I would accept that change I'll make a motion to Mr vasella let me I'll accept the change the motion and the second has made the mo have accepted the change so that is now the motion 100500 a thousand any other comments on that motion Adam clerk councilman EMB Barrison yes councilwoman Francois thought it should also be up to the discretion of the judge that language no no no these are minimums okay minimum wait we're in the middle of a vote okay yes councilman karazi yes mayor Kramer yes councilman oi jaka yes Deputy Mayor Paz yes councilwoman UD yes councilman vasella yes councilman rright I have I have another very minor Amendment on 169-193 I believe the third line from the bottom of the um at least on my print out it's property or within 250 ft of a residential property line I think the word or when operating on a commercial or industrial property I think that word or should be placed in there doesn't make sense without it can you say that again after the words residential property line or that's not what it is it's it's or within 200 feet of a residential property line when operated on a commercial or industrial property so that so if you're operating the machine or or or an industrial property within 200 feet of the residential property line it shall not be operated on a residential property or within 200 feet of a residential property when operated on oh I get it yes got you're right yeah right yeah okay I withdraw my motion any other motions any other amendments okay so we will now vote on the amended ordinance councilman EMB Barrison yes councilwoman Francois yes councilman karazi yes mayor Kramer yes councilman Oni jaka yes Deputy Mayor pnik yes councilwoman uden yes councilman vasella yes councilman Wright yes well that was easy you know Bill Clinton says better to get it right than right away um okay noise oh we're on to the consent agenda oh boy never been happier to be there the items a through K as oh my crack me up the items a through K is listed on the consense agenda portion of this meeting are presented to Township Council for adoption do we have a motion on the consens someone moved second moved in second any discussion on the consens agenda anyone like to pull anything discuss anything Madam clerk councilman embarrising yes councilwoman franois yes councilman Kazi yes mayor Kramer yes councilman on Jaa yes Deputy Mayor pnik yes councilwoman UD councilman vasella councilman rright yes we have two motions to be voted on separately resolution 243 368 issuance of a special event permit oh boy uh bleachers dispensary Fear Factor track Trunk or Treat car show Sunday October 27th I don't know oh two two that's an error what's it 2:00 to 6 no 6 p.m. to 10 6 to 10 p.m. 1165 Route 27 Somerset do we have a motion on that item so moved second then second it all in favor say I'm sorry we have to vote Madam clerk can counc Barrison yes councilwoman franois yes councilman karazi yes mayor Kramer yes councilman Oni Jaa yes Deputy Mayor basnik yes councilwoman uden councilman vasella yes councilman Wright resolution 24 369 authorized insertion into calendar Year's 2024 Municipal budget chapter 159 Federal Economic Development initiative Community Project funding Grant $1 million to have a motion so moved second we then seconded any discussion Madam clerk councilman EMB Barrison yes councilwoman Francois yes councilman Cari yes mayor Kramer yes councilman Oni Jaa yes deputy mayor basnik council woman oudin councilman vasella counc right old business boards committees commissions vacancies are there any nominations yes Mr Mayor um there are two uh committees that I am leaz on one is The Advisory Board of Health we have a vacancy and we have one of the members who has been an alternate Christine buffo we'd like to I'd like to make a motion to move her to U regular member and also uh on human relations commission we have an opening and uh we would like to uh make a motion to nominate Samir satar to fill that position um okay are there any other nominations for those positions I move that the nominations be closed any other nominations for any other positions Mr basnik I couldn't hear what you were asking I just want to make a quick announcement we have at the day as invit so no so no we can do that I'll give you room for that later but not in the middle of this so we have two nominations for two different uh spots and no one opposing we can do it by acclamation all who agree say yay yes yes all oppose say nay congratulations to those two you have an announcement yeah we we had an invitation at the day for connect with Palestine it's a free event on October 27th from 1 to 4 at Colonial Park at the Knob Hill Pavilion which is the one we're all pretty familiar with at 156 metler Lane there's going to be workshops and giveaways and guest speakers as well as performances and a film streaming um so if you're interested in learning more um I'm sure it'll be listed as well on our website and you can reach out to I don't know how to do this because it's very long um but I'm sure if you Google connect with Palestine Franklin um it's uh with the somerset Park commission thank you you don't have the RSVP there was no executive there's no executive session and do we have a motion to adjourn so move second move in second it all in favor say I I oppos say nay we are adjourned vwell Franklin