[Music] e [Music] good evening please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance please remain standing for the to flag of the United States of America to the for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy andice for all let us pray almighty God as we remember that March is women's history month we thank you for all the women who are recognized here tonight as having am making a difference here in gler Township but also in the lives of many we also want to give thanks to you for all the cherished women in our lives and throughout our histories the mothers the daughters sisters friends and neighbors we thank you for all the women in the world who are strong and wonderful in so many ways standing up for truth and life watch over each and every one of them and keep them in your loving care we also ask tonight that you will watch over and guide our leaders that they may act justly love mercy and walk in your truth I ask all these things through the name of Christ Jesus amen amen please be seated good evening this regular meeting of the township council is being held in accordance SCH meeting of the township Council EST and adopted by Township Council which schedu designate the time and date Place Mee adequate public of this provided provision of the open public meetings act and we are using electronic amplifying recording device to obain a clear and record request all those wish recognize state name address microphone device utiliz by the town office the preparation of men and shall be the official record the township Council Mee here here Mrs Grace love here Mr Nash here Mrs Walters here Mrs wers here Mr marado presid Mr car here Mr ctis here Chief arkins here Mr Mel here Proclamation M CL as the cler takes pride and recognizing March 2024 as women's History Month celebrating women of every race class and ethnic backgrounds and their historic contributions to the growth and strength of our nation count must reported and unrecorded ways and whereas National Women's history week was first introduced to the nation in a message from President Carter designating March 2nd to the 8th 1980 as such asking Americans to recognized this week with appropriate activities and whereas in the same year representative molski House of Representatives and Senator Orin hatch co-sponsor a congressional resolution for National Women's week 1981 which demonstrated a wide ranging political support for recognizing honoring and celebrating the achievements of American women and whereas by 1986 14 States had declared March as women's history month and this state-by-state action was used as the rationale to Lobby Congress to declare the entire month of March 1987 as National Women's history month and in 1987 Congress declared the month of March as National Women's History Month in perpetuity and whereas we recognize this year's theme of women who advocate for Equity diversity and inclusion as declared by the national women's History Month Alliance which speaker headed the movement for March being declared National Women's history month and whereas this year's timely theme recogniz the invaluable contributions of women who have dedicated themselves to advocating equity diversity and inclusion in all aspects of society and whereas women from diverse backgrounds have long been at the Forefront of efforts to address systematic inequities and promote a more inclusive and just society and whereas the courage courageous advocacy of women for practical goals such as Equity diversity and inclusion serves as a beacon of inspiration for all individuals and communities and whereas in 2024 we honor the women who have tirelessly worked to dismantle barriers challenge prejudices and create opportunities for all individuals regardless of their background and attacks against diversity equity and inclusion programs and training in our Institution now therefore be resolve David R mayor mayor of the toer and Orlando marado president of council at the CH cler hereby proclaim the month of March 2024 as women's history month and encourage our community to celebrate achievements of women who have championed Equity diversity and inclusion and reinform our commitment in advancing these principles in our society let us honor the women who have dedicated themselves to advocating for Equity diversity and inclusion and let us continue to work together to build a more just Equitable and inclusive world thank you madam Clark this evening we are celebrating women's history month and we also challenge that we celebrate women who make a difference in our community we have nine outstanding honoraries that have been nominated throughout from residents in the community and tonight you're going to hear a little bit about start their first [Music] honor good evening everyone um our first award I'd like to introduce Pam Bon from buer Township [Applause] so um Pam is um I get to I love fortunate enough to know Pam through work um so she has always been there when I called her she's right there um getting what I need with within minutes um I call her something somebody showing up in the door whatever I need and she does that throughout our district so I just want to um uh uh um Petty who works with her had um recognized her for this award so Pam um has been married to Jim they met in college at Easter urg um where they met playing volleyball um they got married they had raised two um beautiful daughters they're 20 they're both twin they're twins 29 years old and she's going to be a grandmother on this name um Pam um she's very giving she's very dedicated to her family she puts her her family's needs anybody else's needs before hers and this is one of the reasons why Peggy had nominated her um she she enjoys going to Ocean City she enjoys playing pickleball she enjoys watching the sunset but most of all she does for others she is a devour Christian and during her spare time she gives to those who are in need she gives U meals even if um she cannot prepare something she will call and have it sent to their home she helps to um gather clothing and any other needs that families may need um she's been working in gler Township for the past nine years so we're very fortunate and um she's been working with Peggy for uh the last eight years and Peggy was going through some hard times and she was a really good support support person friend um confident that she could always um count on not only for work but to be there strengthwise and her strength um himam strength would give off to Peggy and that would help her get through the day um sometimes even just the hour would help her get through um but most of all Pam likes to uh Jer so she is a jokester so when I called her we were just his dark 11 for a few minutes before we uh we were talking so it's very nice to um to work with somebody to be nominated by fellow co-workers and to know that she does make a difference in our community so um Pam um on behalf of Mayor mayor and Council we would like to give you this award and and from our first um congressional district um Donald and and our new legislator marity hson Miller and from cam County um Edward McDonald [Applause] and je Gomez [Applause] Jean Gomez is here with her family I just want to introduce some of her family she's here with her lovely husband John of 39 [Applause] years was a mechanical engineer for 41 years she's also supported here by her daughter Lauren Batel V and um Miss is a marketing uh manager for NFL Corp in Camden she's also here with her husband uh who's a teacher in Cherry Hill School District and a baseball coach and we are in the same basketball coach we are in the same district go Cherry Hill and basketball that's right she's also here with her son Brian Gomez is a full-time firefighter in kaken thank you and Brian's fiance Miss Liz law is a special education teacher in Broman school system and you can see that they have a hardworking family that gives a lot to others so thank you um so we have an award here for women who make a difference and I enjoy talking to you although it was very brief on the phone for a few minutes um we know that our seniors are very dear to us in our community and Jean I said I wasn't going to cry I'm not going to cry cuz going make her cry because she knows that we talked a little bit about uh my mother who's disabled but for her to do what she does and helps our seniors in our community it's a great great thing to do and I'm honored to be able to tell um the community what you've been doing here in glosser Township you were nominated by your co-workers who are very fond of you and they shared quite a bit of information about you and I can't do it any justice but to she are they here too okay okay and um it it was a pleasure to read so I'm gonna read some of what they said about Jean um Jean has been here and she shared with me it's the senior plus plus right not the senior plus yes so we're going to and she has been a driver for 19 years years where she has been making a huge different in the lives of um our older residents here in Gloucester Township every day Jean picks up our seniors and takes them grocery shopping banking lunches and other stuffs Jean car and loves dearly for seniors um like like they were her own family and she talked a little bit about that today too she treats them like they're her own like she would treat their own her own parents and goes above and Beyond to make sure that they are happy and safe in our community Gan is always sprinkling a little extra kindness um on her beloved seniors or our beloved seniors by making every Friday a treat day and she shared with me that one day she was kind of up and just trying to figure out what else she can do and decided Well you know I'm just going to make cookies and and bake and stuff and that's kind of snowballed into something she did every Friday for the seniors um she makes um variety of snacks to cater to the senior special dietary needs she takes that into account um it could be gluten-free or diabetic seniors um Jean knows um her seniors on a personal level uh giving them nicknames that provide a kind ear to those experiencing health and family issues Jean can be seen navigating her senior check out list excuse me self checkout she's familiar with their shopping list and we'll even give them alerts um when their favorite products are on sale whether it's um wheelchair or Walker Jean uh Jean there to make the seniors feel safe and comfortable um in the event someone's um having a bad day Jean can keep a cool head and respond from a place patience and compassion um it's more it's more more Jean loves her seniors and they love her back just as much they give her the nickname jeie St Jean I like that and even made her the topic of a Night Before Christmas po detailing her bus driving antics you got to share a little bit of that ulad from her bus passages have come in the may may mayor excuse me mayor's office bragging of her helpfulness and consideration and helping them carry groceries taking special requests and adjusting her routes to accommodate their Desir stops um her co-workers know her to be attentive thoughtful funny and outgo with great sense of humor and most of all a tremendous passion for her job she is a team player and is simply a great friend and she is definitely a woman who makes a difference um there's also one of her special passengers that said he was considering moving out of town but he won't because of je okay because she makes just the greatest difference so we're really pleased to have you as u a resident in gler Township to receive this award women who make a difference Jean Gomez is in recognition of your Exemplar leadership outstanding service and dedication to people of our Township March 25th 2024 Bloss Township mayor David our mayor and Council present you with this [Applause] award have citations from the state of New Jersey from the senator the Senate and the general assembly you also have um US House of Representatives um congratulate you for being a woman who makes a difference as well as Cam and County Board of Commissioners um congratulate you again on making a difference so please [Applause] take [Music] [Music] so thank you very much app I honor of presenting Don Huber so Don H was nominated by her daughter which I thought was very different we do these events a couple times a year it's not something we commonly hear where it's a child nom a parent so that's a great thing um I think something should be very proud of Love um so she came here from Florida in 2019 and right away got involved in the schools and became part of the parent task force and the school advisory Council which she was part of similar things in Florida before coming up here so it seems like she jumped right in um they lost our name um and she was able to use their prior experience from being down there and experiencing different things down there that she could use up here you know with trial and error that maybe some of those things could work up here so hopefully that's where I went because she has a lot of accomplishments um since she's been here she's been part of the Highland Hing school council this list is a little long the President and Vice President of the home and school council now mind you she's only been here since 2019 and she's already stepped into that leading role so that tells you something about her leadership characteristics um being on those councils she was able to get a student added to the council to have their input and have let them have representation on the council um she was also able to get a teacher liaison added to the council so that you have both of those points of view other than just the parents shouldn't say just other than um she's also been an advocate and helped give and helped giving students a voice to bring forward to fix such issues some of the issues that she's tackled are um inequality for the girls and boys sports equipment so that boys baseball had batting cages at Highland softball did not now uh the boys had scoreboards nothing against the bo the boys had scoreboards and uh the girls didn't but now they do which also helped field hockey because sofball using it enabled field hockey you use it and I know my daughter played it high at Triton we didn't have a scoreboard Michelle knows this so we had to do some fundraising and we literally bought a scoreboard this big you that had a button and we could keep score and time on that just so that the parents would have a clue what was going on show up l or anything like that but they were able to get a real scoreb um one other big issue was the bathrooms apparently in the school were locked at different times because there weren the teachers to monitor them and you know to keep everyone safe um so that was an issue that was brought forth by parents and students so she tackled it a couple different times you know there kind of complicated things that we can't do the first time you mention it so sometimes you know you have to keep on going um and so it caused problems where this since the bathrooms were locked the Reliance at the unlocked bathrooms teachers were stuck doing monitoring during their down periods or sometimes they were late to their regular classes you know different kinds of things and that's on both students and and teachers to be late for different things with that so after a couple times bringing it up they got it resolved and they do something called smart pass which I had to what that was because I had no concept um so it's a program that allows them to kind of track the students and things through that so they know you know this person's going to the bathroom every single day um but also to know that there are I don't know what a good number is you know 20 kids out of the room right now you know in the hallways or things like that so just to be able to keep things safe for the students and and the teachers um so it is better for both um she's been a attending a lot of the school board meetings and continues to advocate for equality within the district um she's also working for safety for the uh students and teachers and parents so one this year was an issue with illegal parking and the blocking of exits and views of pedestrians when you're walking through grounds um so they brought it back to Administration after a few attempts they got that resolved and now it is a safer environment for everyone that's going through the parking lots um she's volunteered for multiple fundraising opportunities and help to raise money for scholarships and also uh help to increase the amount of scholarships they're able to give it a time so that you can help more students to further their education um and on the side you know she's a wife she's a mother of three girls um and she's a manager of Cisco foods and her supply chain for 30 years so she definitely has the leadership abilities whether it be personally or professionally um her family obviously recognizes that with her daughter nominating her for this award and I would just like to congratulate [Applause] her my name is Jim Nash and I have the honor of celebrating l [Music] jmy how how about a daughter and a beautiful granddaughter come on yeah [Laughter] that's so again like I said I have the honor of celebrating Linda who is a choose elementary teacher for 31 years single mother of three single mother of three no not of one and dedicated Animal Rescuer um I'm gonna read a little bit from Andrea's nomination very very well Linda has been a vocal advocate of children for special needs during the duration of her career her commitment to these children goes way way past teaching and she also serves as a mentor and surrogate mother if necessary her greatest joy is put in countless hours into choose Giving Tree committee a program that ensures Families in Need A Merry Christmas throughout the holidays she's been active on that committee for over 20 years Linda's also very involved in animal rescue Linda adopted several rescue dogs in her lifetime but her dedication to her fairy friends doesn't stop there recently she became a foster mom to homeless dogs and rescued to those animals in undesirable situations after hearing dogs being given away to free to a free excuse me given away free to a good home at the days in motel Linda sprang into action and saved the granddaughter and took custody of the pups keeping one and finding a loving home for others her kindness also extends to humans as well as she made a practice to provide for those facing adversity taking care of her choose family is a priority but she recently extended that favor to a co-w coworker at her part-time job who's having a hard time putting food on the table Linda connected her to unforgotten Haven and gives her rides there weekly to keep her and her family add chauffeur to her list of services as Linda can be seen picking up and dropping off a number of struggling co-workers mean wow right wow Linda is a highly dedicated and integral part of our Township we're very lucky to have her and I'm very honored to present her with this award [Applause] [Applause] so I wanted to nominate introduce tonight the nomination for be [Applause] Simons so Beth was nominated by uh the principal of Highland uh Mr Varga and they G I've started writing out notes and things like that after reading through it and talking to her and I realized that they kind of wrote it all out for me so I'm just going to go by the list that they gave me instead of you know doing it twice uh so she is a teacher at Highland uh she's been there for 13 years um so her professional accomplishments while she's been there and the list is kind of long and it's nice to see uh people that are so involved in their in their job and their livelihood and you know our kids too uh so she has been assistant athletic director she is an English teacher she teaches English one English 2 American studies and journalism classes she also um is part of the Highland RTI which I don't know if any of you know what that was but I had to Google it because I didn't know what it was so it's a response to intervention program so they help with tell me if I'm right they help with students and making sure they're on track and keeping them moving forward in the direction in which they should be going um at all levels right whether it's children that are struggling or the ones that are you know doing above and beyond yes okay um she's also part of the i in RS program which I wasn't sure what that one was okay all right so it's on her choice okay that's probably why I can't find um so she also is involved in setting up professional development on a national and District level for the teachers uh she does peer mentoring of Highland advisor peer mentors the Highland advisors um she does the Twilight alternative program I didn't know what that was um it's now Al so it's when they can't attend our schools any longer to oh okay okay I know that uh Wellness team leader the head women's track and field coach uh she's a facilitator for no place for hate uh supervisory certificate sander certificate for teaching special ed and teacher of English um and then personally she's kept yourself very busy also uh committee chair for troop 96 for Boy Scouts uh secretary for Woodland PTA uh completed in competed in the 2004 and 2008 USA Olympic trials which yeah we don't read too many people that you get that far so that's quite an accomplishment um competed professionally in USA in World track circuit from 2000 to 2010 in countries such as Canada Mexico Jama Trinidad Spain Ireland Finland Greece and England she's been all around for us representing us um winner of pen relays Olympic Development Division inducted into the weaton college Hall of Fame for athletic for individual athletic accomplishments as well as team athletic accomplishments um also the NCAA individual high jump Champion Outdoors she's been a six-time All-American holds the Wheaten and Gettysburg College indoor and outdoor school records and she's participated in the Woodburry relays winter in high school so she's been extremely busy um you can see same her leadership skills obviously are on track and field but they're obviously at the schools also and she is demonstrating that through all the different things that she's involved in and being recognizing recognized for those characteristics um hopefully our children are getting everything they can out of her but sounds like they are um you know so that they can learn and build and grow from her experiences to better themselves um so on a side note she has a husband and she has two kids that I'm sure keep her very busy other than all of those kind of things and I take this time and I present you with these wasn't prepared can you hear me I just just like to thank you really I'd like to thank all the students at Highland they're wonderful students I love working with them all of them the good ones and the bad ones the great ones the mediocre ones everybody deserves to be recognized and so through RTI we're able to recognize the ones that necessarily don't get recognized and then through peer mentoring we get to work with a really great Juniors and seniors who gets a mentor freshman so I just wanted to thank all of you that have their students at Highland um it's a pleasure and it's an honor to work with all of them thanks good evening next up we have Wendy snon [Music] so Jerry her husband you're G have to build a bigger wall because Wendy was here in October and she also received a coach that makes a difference so this is her second time in his six months here receiving Awards so congratulations to you soy was nominated by Elizabeth Johnson who is a neighbor and a colleague so Elizabeth had some very nice things to say about you and then I finish that but ni things of our relationship so Wendy snon is a one-of-a-kind woman she has worked as a physical therapist PT in gler Township School District for many years she has served countless students and along the way has helped teachers better understand the physical development of children I have had the pleasure of knowing and working with Wendy for the past 19 years when I first began my career as a preschool teacher I worked with children with special needs Wendy was the PT assigned to work with the children in my classroom however she didn't just work with the children she also taught me as the teacher how to incorporate physical activity into the school day that specifically targeted gross motor development I still keep these motor milestones in mind as I coach preschool teacher teachers in best practices for their classrooms Wendy has also stepped up to continue to share valuable information about gross motor skills during professional development times with Preschool teachers in addition to helping children and teachers she has also went the extra mile to provide resources and information for parents as well during meetings and interactions with parents she explained complex terminology and very easy to understand terms and demonstrated how parents could work on gross motor skills at home in ways that it wouldn't feel like work for the kiddos over the years Wendy took her love for children in gross motor development to the field the ball field that is she was an active participant in coaching a team for the Field of Dreams which is located here in Boston Township I was able to witness her team in action and how she was able to keep these kids uh feel joy and excitement of being part of the baseball team Wendy is a caring knowledgeable professional and a kind woman she has been helping to make a difference in the lives of GT students for many many years so I want to say with this in closing that I first met Wendy in 2016 and what Elizabeth was talking about with the baseball field Bost Township field dream we started that in 2016 finished we had our first season 17 so when we asked who wanted to be a coach very quickly Wendy's arm went off and said I'll do it and I was like great you know what you know about baseball or whatnot and it wasn't about baseball or Athletics it was about working with children and making them feel special and making it enjoyment an experience and Wendy captivated all of that and kind of had a real me in a little bit I come from a you know competitive background and this wasn't about competitive so w Township Field of Dreams is is made up for for folks that have special needs to this day right now we have 44 uh players that are signed up and half of those players are from Wendy snon so beld we put name tags on them and uh make sure they all have gloves special bats really can't speak enough for what she has done for the Gloucester Township field dreams she had stepped away for a little bit uh but as pro has promised me and me and kept her promise last year she showed up and did help coach some of the games but when she showed up to the field you could just see the smile and excitement on the players's fa they almost forgot that they were a ball ball game to where they want to go see coach Wendy so with that I appreciate that you did say again you g to come out you it's a busy spring you're gonna You're Gonna Come assist and I want you to come out there because the children love having you there teams love having you there and I love having you there also so Wendy thank you congratulations for who you are Jerry Build That Wall for her so she can get these blacks [Applause] up good evening our next honory is teis [Applause] Jones thank you m b for your readers I was sweating I'm be to see you're welcome I'll start off with a comment that was made from a colleague fortunately the gun Landing Middle School has an amazing leader and Mrs teisa Jones she's been making a difference in the lives of students and teachers for many years what sets our apart from others is Our Daily Commitment to being a servant first anybody who knows Mrs Jones has been the recipient of her kindness and support she puts everything on hold for her students and staff no matter what she has on her plate her desire to nurture and care for others is innate combine that with a servant first mentality with her amazing ability to teach and Inspire and you get one of the best education leaders around we are grateful to have Mrs Jones thank you for always being there making a difference in our lives as one of her colleagues Teisha didn't set out to be a teacher but she liked people she was born and raised in Philadelphia Pennsylvania graduated from Philadelphia High School for Girls attended and graduated from the HBCU Lincoln University with the educ as an education major ding Lincoln she was heavily involved in student government uh she was the treasur of student government and there some other person was the vice president then became the president she runs some City in Philadelphia now cherelle Parker all right so her and cherelle were running things in Lincoln University in the early 90s uh she attended and graduated St Joseph University in 2006 and received a Masters in Education leadership her first job out of college was at Pleasantville the Pleasantville School District teaching math and science and in 1996 the gloss Township Public School District stole her uh and she has been an employee of the gloss Township Public School District since 1996 first teaching Ela at uh Charles W Lewis Middle School serving as a vice principal from 2006 to 2016 then becoming a vice principal at er Elementary School from 2016 to 2019 and then becoming the principal at Glen Landing Middle School uh she has been honored not once by but twice twice by glester Township and during Black History Month for her contributions to our community she is involved in her community she Liv in Delaware County where she's involved in Special Olympics she also serves as the procurement committee for her son's school so she's going around shaking down businesses for contributions to her son schools uh she is a Teen Mom for the basketball team and in her youth served as a block Captain uh in Philadelphia she's joined today by her two sons Ernest Jr and Tyrone one of the things when I she was nominated by her colleague me so so so we spent some time on the phone and one of the things that I admire I've always admired about Teisha is her courage her strength her kindness she is a well-respected colleague and staff member of the Bon CH Public School District caring and nurturing and when life through her occurred three years ago she responded and moved forward uh her and I shared a conversation how my mother lost her husband at a young time in her life and I said to Teisha you try to make life as normal as possible for your children and she is done she's playing both mother and father to her children and I thought about there was a song that came on the radio today uh Superwoman by um Alicia Keys and I think this embodies teesa that even when I'm a mess I still put on a vest with a S on my chess oh yes I'm a superwoman you are a superwoman congratulations on behalf of of your leadership outstanding service dedication Township by David our mayor and Council you have citations and proclamations count County Board Commissioners New Jersey State Assembly legislature and also from Congressman Don congratulations thank you to the losta Township community for being my second family um in 1994 when I was my first position in Pleasantville I used to drive in all the way down the Pleasantville I us to say it was Blackwood Elementary School I want to work in that District I don't know what district that is but this is perfect cuz I live in South Philly I'm like this is perfect I want to work right here wherever that is and I Mass mailed my resume out two years later and got a call I me that was before GPS before any of that stuff and so lo and behold when I'm getting off that exit I'm like oh my gosh this is the district this is the district I was so excited uh to be in glester Township and I declined all these other um job opportunities that I had received because I was just so hopeful that I would come here because for those two years I was saying I want to work wherever that is and so uh being a teacher at Lewis Middle School and then an administrator I was at Lewis for 19 years that is my home I love Lewis and once a lwis Indian always a lwis Indian through and through and that's where I learned that's where I grew up I said I grew up at Lewis Middle School and this community has embraced me as my own so I do call it my second home I'm here sometime 7 8:00 at night uh that started back in 1996 and it hasn't changed so thank you so much for the opportunity to serve your community thank you for acknowledging me for doing so it just comes from my heart I love the children here I love the families here thank you so [Applause] much well we have another candidate who happens to be a friend of mine uh who was nominated by the pastor of our church we both go to Jews United Methodist Church Roa wuss come on down I've known Roa a long time I won't tell you how long because then you'll know how old we are but Roa is a very active person in our community especially our church and IHOP in our church I've seen her work the ham and oyster supper when we had those I was the C lady and she was a variety of things wherever we needed her that's where she would be uh Sunday School uh collections communion she was always doing something to help the church and if if we needed somebody to fill in Roa was there to always help us which was just amazing because you never know in a church somebody might be sick and they're supposed to do something and they don't show up Roa was always there you're welcome and Roa was um also IHOP did anybody ever hear of IHOP well Roa the IHOP is the Interfaith uh Community for the homeless people adults and children and Roa every year since I well for many years at least 25 years that I've met her has spearheaded the Iha from our church you have donated money you have uh created the fundraisers that they've had you've found them homes you've given them food you've done so many things for the homeless and there's hundreds of we don't realize there's that many people that are homeless but Roa does because Roa took care of she takes care of him every year she does this she's also on our Board of Trustees at our church and how many positions have you held there quite a few yeah yes yes so brother has such a variety of things but if you'll notice most of the things that she has done are through her faith she's a very a Christian woman she cares about people and it doesn't matter who you are if you need help R will help you we all need people like that in our community a whole lot of so and we happen to have a person here that nominated you but I'd like to have all the people who came for Roa please stand [Applause] up and I'm gonna Pi call our pastor he's not dressed for it but I don't care because he can always but you only it's three minutes that's it that's it thank you I promise I won't pass the collection I'm Reverend John invero and I've I've been the pastor at Tuesday night of Methodist since July of 2022 but months before I started there I heard the name Roa wuss I was War I was told uh about this woman who was involved in everything if I had any questions about what was going on in the church Roa knew she knew where everything was she knows where the body IES are buried literally she's on our Cemetery committee so over the past year and a half as I've been there I've gotten to know Roa pretty well and I've gotten to see that yes all those things that I was told her true but so much more I've gotten to see her serve in a thousand ways and always without demanding recognition or just just humbly and and Faithfully serving in any capacity when I learned about all of her uh involvement in ministries like ihw and so many other things outside of the church my admiration and respect for Roa grew and so it was my honor to nominate her as a woman who makes a difference you're [Applause] welcome I didn't pass the plate I would have been embarrassed well we know what this says so I'm going to give this to Roa and she also you know this this is from the uh Congressman nor cross uh the Senate the assembly and the freeholders and we have all these wonderful um accolades to give to you and you hang them up in a place where when people come and visit they don't have to go to your bathroom to see [Applause] them I just want to thank everyone for showing up what a surprise I have the Callingwood Fellowship Church where I serve the CH night at Methodist Church it's not good with mics so thank you all for surprising me tonight and thank you council members for the opportunity to be a part of this great Township thank you Helen and you know for getting us involved in the sports the [Applause] um Roa back in January and sent me an email she say you think I can get a couple shirts from MLK they like I have 500 shirts because they wanted them for their ihawk walk and also because they're volunteering at the church congratulations R our last recipient Julie Scully could not be here today uh she is the assistant superintendent of the Black Horse Pike Regional School District so I'm just to read briefly her uh her nomination Julie scull is the assistant superintendent of schools at the blackor bike Regional School District her job is huge and so is her heart as an assistant superintendent she juggles a range of responsibilities including the oversight of social emotional Learning and Development managing School Personnel addressing student concerns uh in her world she recognizes the importance of Hosting Fair investigations focus on hit in our world hi as it relates to Julie stands for helpful important and beneficient many of us have our jobs because of her and sustain immense satisfaction those jobs because of her commitment to guide and Mentor others as a former director of counseling Julie knows all too well the nuances of customer service and support it is her Knack it is her gift her leadership empowers others in the district to boo the boost their capability maximize their drive and grow their investment we are because she is she manages our central office with Mama magic and Gifts the folks students facts families and faculty the magic of believing in themselves and their ability there are countless teachers she has recruited at job fairs giving that recent graduate the shot of success they deserve or substitute she is convinced to start teaching in a more permanent role because this job and education is the best one ever Julie is married to a teacher and raised two boys all while supporting evening programs and events she does not reside in glosser Township but has made glosser Township her home many years employed at the blackor spike region School District Julie is being nominated by everyone there was a range of people that were pulled to examine her candidacy for this amazing award to which folks responded Yes yes thank God yes we would appreciate your Keen consideration this wonderful woman for a woman who makes a difference recognition and without hesitation we believe she deserves every good thing that life has to offer in the words of Alicia Keys this girl is on fire so we will present that with provide that to Julie Scully councilman winners councilman winners will conclude with some closing thoughts and sweet so I was asked to give the closing remarks and everyone knows why we're here and what an amazing group of women that we have so this will be short and sweet I want to just thank everyone for coming out um it's so nice to have these kind of events that we can recognize uh positivity that's happening in our world in our town in our schools in our neighborhood um you know that we can all hopefully learn from them and grow from them um I want to thank all the nominees for coming out I want to thank all their families and their guests and their supporters because we know they couldn't be where they are without the support of everyone that's with them um also I want to thank um all anyone else that came here tonight to be part of this because it is a great event that our Township is able to hold um we heard about many amazing women today doing wonderful things in our Township it is a great night to hear about all those things and what these women are able to do um it is inspiring and encouraging for all of us let us use what all of these women are doing and motivate of all of us to do more and to make a difference thank you this concludes our program we can have all the recipients up here we have a few pictures for the social media p for the town thank you we say 10 minute recess for com hell thank [Music] you said whatever are you guys coming from hereat I'm d how are you sir for yes you all going ter [Music] ch lady e get [Music] Che [Music] I hope [Music] that's a truck I can't imagine like and it's all you know you okay mollers Miguel Mr ER here before we go to the public portion I have a statement regarding the sewer utility so I good evening I want to thank you for coming out this evening uh there are three resolutions on the agenda tonight regarding the sewer utility and the possible sale of the sewer utility to a private entity those resolutions are one a resolution to name a special conflict attorney two a resolution for a request for bids and the third resolution is to send a resolution to New Jersey state com controller that is needed due to the fact that any possible sale May exceed 12.5 million the three resolutions enables the township to explore the possibility of selling the sewer utility to a private entity in this format neither Council nor the mayor can unilaterally authorize a sale of a sewer utility to a private entity the residents of Glon Township will determine through a referendum on the November ballot by voting yes or no whether to move forward to sell the sewer utility to a private entity bid specifications will be put together and will be out put out to the open market to allow any private entity to bid on the sewer utility once bids are received the bidder and the winning bid about will be placed on the ballot in November as a referendum and the residents of ler Township will deter determine whether or not to proceed in selling this asset the proceeds of the sale any proceeds of the sale of the sewer utility must be used must be used to reduce or retire the outstanding debt of the township [Laughter] Lastly lastly the May of our Township is employed by New Jersey American Water I along with all members of the governing body received this past week a letter from his attorney indicating that he has a conflict and that he cannot participate and will not participate in any discussions on the sale of the sewer utility all Communications in regards to this matter will be through the township business administrator Tom Caris myself as council president and our Township attorney David carlman we'll Now open up the public portion the public portion is for 15 minutes each speaker is entitled to three minutes on the agenda items only Mr poor good evening Council Ray pador from the historic village of Ariel ask council president in event that more hands are raised for this public portion you would more than consider extending this public portion we have a 15-minute public portion for agenda item we also have a 30 minute portion when anyone can speak upon it this is a matter that's going to be ongoing for sever before you vote if you see more hands raised it would be nice if you would extend that period Please we keep it at 15 minutes I just ask that anyone us comments keep their comments so you don't want to hear from you don't rather not hear from the public okay thank you we'll move on we'll move on before we go on clock if a question is going to be asked from the public and you want to response back please allow the speaker whoever may be to respond back if you do not want to hear from that speaker then continue with your comments I'm going to be making some statements because it's only a three minute window pleas okay so we have in the past come here and asked uh this Township including the administrator um if you absorbed dissolved and absorbed the MUA and you said you were looking to save money we asked if you did a cost benefit analysis we asked you how much money you save you've never answered the question and still to this day I'm sure cannot answer that question that being said Thea has functioned in this Township for a long time they have maintained a very reasonable bill at an average of $45 per quarter they come out at night weekends and all times of day and night and solve our sewage issues and you always see them out there they had a $6 million emergency fund that this Township is constantly referred to as a surplus they chose to use that in case of an emergency when asked what if that emergency happens not you I'm sorry uh I don't know what to say you did with that money but it's gone three million of it's gone um so you're going to borrow money to fix what they had already saved for so you basically took their security blanket their security net and wiped half of it out that that they have always provided what Mr ricot was referred to as premium services and they did provide them so instead you dissolved them you've absorbed them and now we're going to put it up for bid back in May this question was asked specifically to you folks please tell us you're not going to sell them it's bad enough that you took they weren't broke I don't know what you thought needed to be fixed you that money you had to have that being said so now it's going to go out to sale could go to Aqua could go to New Jersey American but either way we've already seen in haddenfield what's proposed in Mount Ephraim okay and eventually they're going to gouch for sewage so why not keep this mua organization intact within the township keep our employees hired here in the township and if anybody's going to gouge why don't you guys gouge because if you gouge us at least it's going right back in our pocket and not New Jersey American Waters pocket so all that you've done all that you've done you destroyed something that was good and now you're going to put it out for sale like a fire sale and you have people here that may be out of a job thank you Mr [Applause] poor all right Dennis Parmer Brar Avenue H good to see you it's been a long time how are you I a little great a little less exactly I don't see that far anymore yes but my concerns are similar to some ones already talked about if anything thing we deal with private entities and take it over a system you deal with the fail market value it's a way that you look at the system we already paid for the system once and when they acquire a system we're going to pay for it again we have a lot of people who are going to be a fixed income you just see the record and it's throughout many newspaper articles about the price of private store how it's higher private water it's higher because in fact they have to return usually about 8% to their on their on their stocks the stock holders but we just look at the the history in Hadfield they had a level number and it was gone up just in last week's paper 50% Ram it's G up 45% New Jersey America as an example says their average sewer bill is $65 a month okay where about 180 a year for GTM or the old GTA and it went up a little bit recently that was was a Township taking that exactly I thought it went up like $4 all right it's flat but again R talked about Surplus it's really Tom it's net position it's it's it's gone and that's really the authority ran very well most of it was very well capitalized and about the last big project they have was or road so there's a lot of things they had done over the years public stations have generators they all have alarms this is critical now it's critical for our our future because they usually these private companies build by the gallon so if and they always many of them have a base of 5 5600 gallons a month it's 188 gallons a day if you have kids in your house your bill is going to be higher than the base rate if you're vill on Gall is you're going to pay sore rates for your pool your lawn and your garden that never got into the sewer that's not acceptable as you go forward it should be a flat rate the big concern is that I have is I said we already paid for it once every development we know in this town was built by a developer and those sore lines were dedicated for free free to the township when they took over those lines but when you go to sell it we're going to be paying for something that was free that's going to come back my biggest concern is is our seniors you heard earlier how seniors are very important this room's got a big table you have a big de these all look like there big table over there they seem like important table big Tables important decisions there's only one table that's important in this town that's a kitchen table Mom and Dad single parent trying to pay their bills seniors trying to pay their bills that's the important table I think this is going to upset that table it's really going to be a dangerous precedent as you see these rates going up and there's history is full of it the most recent one is had feel M 50% sorry I'll have more time want to ask a question if you have you no I don't have any questions thank you very much thank you thank you Council David ha Highland Village my neighbor is the Highland Village puming station when there's an issue there and there's been many I call the phone number there's 24hour service my fear is when a contractor is there they're don't care about profit they don't care about coming at at 2:00 in the morning to fix a problem I say no to the sale and turn it back to the MUA and give them their $6 million back I hi my name is Joe V I'm from Summerdale New Jersey so what I wanted to talk about is I think Fair representation all right so you mentioned tonight the three resolutions I think people would probably be more considered on their voices heard if somehow we can intertwine some additional representation into the decision decisioning process right so that could be an advisory uh Committee of four or five people that can get involved with the council um that would understand the facts as they go through the process right because we've been residents for almost 42 years here in B Township and we've always always if we ever had a problem the gtmua they've been there like you said doesn't matter it could be a storm could be snowing outside it did not matter so they're an important part of our community and I think that's why everybody's concerned so I think if you can take that suggestion and make that part of how we go through this endeavor I think that' would be B additional thank you Mr [Applause] appr Anthony calibri uh for those who don't know me I am the shop seart one of the shop stewards for the employees at the glal township mu tonight I'm not just speaking for the men and women that over the past 40 plus years day in day out have given their time they've worked their asses off to serve the residents I also speaking for the residents tonight a lot of the people a lot of the employees I found out about this was from a Facebook post and since day one of this dissolution I think it's absolutely disgraceful I think it's embarrassing and I think it's an insult to everybody that has been employed there the fact that this is the way we found out is unacceptable you have people that bust day in day out again for this Township to make sure that this system which is one of the biggest in New Jersey not many people can come in know what we do do what we do the way we do it I I I just the fact that nobody's come and talk to us we've been in the dark since day one since finding this out and a year ago we asked we've been in meetings I was here last week wasn't brought up at all the fact that nobody could at least give us the decency of telling us about this is insane to me and I I just it's it's insane at this point it is absolutely insane that this is the way that this is going no complaints are we perfect no but the way we commit to the jobs to make sure the jobs get done by you giving that to a private profit company is going to not only hurt the men and women that work for the MUA but it is going to hurt every single resident of this Township which supposed to be for us it's it's it's unacceptable it's un [Music] Denise Co choose Landing Road um May 22nd 2023 we were told that it was not council's intention to sell the MUA and somehow we got from there to here and now we're being told that this is going to eventually end up on a ballot as a referendum and the township citizens are going to vote as to whether or not the MUA should be sold and my question to you is how do you expect citizens to vote on something they know nothing about thank you [Applause] first of all this is exploring the possibility of selling the asset B specifications have to be put together and when it's put out to the market and there's responses to those bids the bid the person The Entity that's interested in purchasing the winning bid is put on the B during that time period putting those bit specifications we will have workshops that correct Mr Caris possibly and putting those bit specifications together working uh with the special Counsel on that as we move forward with it this has to go to the com controller's office the controller's office has 30 days to review the bid specifications and ask any questions of the township moving forward uh once that bid someone has uh bid on it and the winning bid that along with the uh the mount is played on about in November so there will be an education process leading up to that process but ultimately the residents of gler Township will decide whether or not to sell this utility there's not an anyting it is a utility okay so how did we get from May 22nd to here did I say that we were not still on May 22nd I was not at that meeting Council said I was not at that Council said you're report of council Council said can we not have any shouting out from the audience please yes Council said yes Council said that quote if it was your intention to do that that's what they would be doing on May 22nd 20123 that's not what we're doing that's what was said so somehow we went from that to the residents being told and assured that that was not happening to less than a year later here we are and the employees had no clue that this is where we were going to land tonight so I don't understand how the citizens of this Township can have any faith and any belief that they're going to kept in be kept in the loop and be informed and you guys are going to be transparent about what's happening because it seems like you know things just you know the citizens are told one thing and then not even a year later it pops up on a council agenda as a resolution and that's how you know if you happen how many people come to these meetings five so if what of the five people happens to read it and see that it's on there that's how we find out so doesn't sound very transparent and personally I don't have much faith that you know the residents are going to really have a say and what happens here and I think this was planned from day one and that we were not told the truth on May the 22nd 2023 when a number of us specifically asked if if this was the plan and we were told it was not thank you first public portion there is a second public portion that people would like to speak during that time period bid reports special Council conf attorney now a motion I'll make that motion there second on the question roll call please Mr yes yes next is ordinance a second reading there will be a public hearing on that [Music] ordinance ordinance 0-24 d05 ordinance of the township w County C state New Jersey adopting prohibited uses to the Land Development ordinance what this does is amends section 401K of the general regulations to add the following that parking and overnight parking and storage of s trailer trucks track unions and semi-trailers except an associated with the operation operation of pered use and storage of material and semi-trailers for temporary Trails except during loading unloading associated with the operation of a permitted use Now open up the public hearing on this word like to speak on this ordinance seeing none public he I have a motion on the question roll call please Mr yes yes Mrs yes next is ordinance 0-24 d08 I'm sorry jumped in Sor next is ordinance 02407 in or of the township of bler County of can in the state of New Jersey amending ordinance 0-3 D3 Land Development to up adopt an updated zoning M this delineates the inclusionary affordable apartment overlay delineates the New Vision family residential overlay District it revises the Redevelopment area boundary of the college trive R Development Area it delineates the Lakeland conflex phace to development plan boundary it delineates the Little Pond overlay District boundary it delineates the Lakeland conflex space three Redevelopment PL area boundary and delineates the Brit Woods Redevelopment plan area boundary what it does is it's amended that's adoption of the zoning map within the township limits assigned to each district and the location of boundaries were established by this article shown upon the zoning map titled Zing map lost town in County New Jersey I'll open up the public hearing on this order do anyone wish to speak seeing not propose the public portion on this ordinance Comm motion I'll make that motion on the question roll call please Mr yes Mrs Al Trel yes Mrs Grace yes Mr yes yes next is ordinance 0-24 d08 it's a first reading ordinance amending ordinance number 0 89-114 known as the construction code enforcing agency of the township of waler known as chapter 20 of the code of the township of wer County of camon State New Jersey what this does is the amendment of fees for plan review fees and construction permit Fe may I have a motion please I'll make that motion is there a second on the question call pleas Mr yes Mrs Al yes Mrs Grace yes Mr Nash yes M wers Mr yes next is ordinance 0-24 d09 ordance amending chapter 51 of the code of Township of bler entitled fees of the code book of the township of bler County of Cen state New Jersey uh this amends the fees for the municipal pool there will be a second there'll be hearing at the second reading may have a motion please make that motion on the question roll call Please Mr yes Al Mrs love yes Mr Walter yes yes next is our consent agenda any council member would like to have any item removed please speak up hearing none I entertain a motion to accept the consent agenda as presented on the question roll call please Mr yes Mrs Al Trel yes Mrs Grace love yes yes Mr Nash yes Mrs Walters Mrs W Mr M yes resolution 113 resolution of the township Council bler authorizing isance of requests for the bids for sale of waste water collection and con system I have a motion make that motion there a second on the question roll call please Mr yes Mrs alel Mrs Grace love yes Mr Nash yes M Walter yes M wers Mr yes resolution 114 resolution of the tent Council tangent bler authorizing submission of pre- advertisement notice to the Office of the State may I have a motion please there a second second on the question roll call please Mr yes Mrs Al Trel yes Mrs Grace love yes Mr Nash yes Mrs Walters yes Mrs wiers yes Mr marato yes resolution 115 resolution to make budget transfers between appropriation reserves in the calendar year 2023 current fund budget may I have a motion please make that motion there a second on the question roll call please Mr yes Mrs alel yes Mrs Grace love yes Mr Nash yes Mrs W Mr yes resolution 116 resolution Council cluster Cy County New Jersey authorizing the public sale of auction of a vacant parcel of land known and designated as 351 Ring Road Blackwood New Jersey 08012 block 241 plot four as shown on the tax cluster pursuing to njs 48 have motion make that motion the question roll call please M yes Mrs Al TR yes Mrs Grace love yes Mr n yes yes we have a few gtov access emails [Music] M cor you have an e access email you like to read that during the public portion would you like to read it read so I'll read during the public portion now count your time during the second public portion our next GTE go access email is from Sandra Barry Rogers of eight noble Road Ariel if you sell the MUA who will be doing the normal service that the residents are used to being done and free why is it necessary to sell the sewer plan will we still get a bill from the MUA or the new owner we be able to up our stable rates I do not see a reason for the sell of the MUA other than a potential of lining of someone's Pockets this Township is paid for sewer needs plus we hog tie into having to pay for the city of Canon because they could not pay their share we never got the bill reduce of either sewer bill which was promised years ago and yes I know about this but my family was here when this all started uh my statement at the beginning addresses uh comments regarding the services those are things that uh if the sale does go through um that as we lead up to we have more information the next OT is from dawn Sabella at 1061 choose Lane Road I'm sure there will be several people in attendance who like me are very curious about the sudden decision to sell our sewer and water management system to an outside company what changed why were we told absorbing the MUA was the best decision for the residents and now we're selling off the responsibility we so Hast took on considering the township slogan a great place to live work and play can you guarantee that the current mua employees will retain their jobs and be able to keep working including current titles responsibilities and salary what protections will we put in place to ensure the red Township will not have increased bills more protection will be put to ensure the same service including after our support are still available to the residents of loster Township forgive me if it was mentioned but I do not recall clarity about the $6 million the Township game when we took over the MUA was there a final decision on keeping those funds in esro for any major sewer line repairs and maintenance if not why and where will the funds be applied instead I see the township anticipates the sale of the sewer and water management system to be over 122.5 million how will those funds be applied if undetermined at this time what are the reasons for the uncertainty that last portion any proceeds must uh by law pay off retire or uh retire the debt or reduce the debt of the municipality in regards to Protections in place about increased bills uh service and employees those are things as we go along and put together a bid spec Mr cars correct me if I'm wrong or something that we could put in the bit specification and have a discussion okay thank next from Christy dady from 903 Cummings Avenue I know others may also ask this question but please explain the benefit to residents of selling the anyway to a third party I am confused how this is working and why this is a necessary move bottom line no action should be taken that will not have a direct benefit for the residents I'm going to refer to my statement I made on the SE utility at the beginning of the meeting and last Melissa Whit from 18 Danberry drive if the existing system cost an average of $45 per quarter per household and generated a$6 million do Surplus for the Emergency Ser repairs then why are we switching providers when we'll end up costing more to each household and then the burden of any emergency repairs also falls back on those same households two you're basically asking the households to double pay for any emergency repairs since they've already paid a surface of 6 million for that very purpose that purpose should not be used for anything else how can you justify stealing those funds away from their intended purpose rather funding it equitably to each contributing household what initiated this proposal to switch to American water are there any board members of government officials who have any type of business dealings and relationships with American Water if the answer is yes how do you justify these actions when it is clear that is not in the best interest of the people living in this County so let me clear again uh there is no conversations with any of the utilities there are four major Water Utilities in the state of New Jersey that purchased municip municipal authorities or utilities and there have been no conversation with the mayor is not involved with this as I indicated earlier he cannot be part of it he has a please no shouting out the audience please we'll now go to the public portion I'll first start off with Mrs coin's uh e OV [Music] access bear with me I'm sorry it is Denise coin from choose Landing Road two weeks ago after the council meeting on March 11th I reached out to our solicitor via email seeking clarification on the procedures for public meeting notifications and posting of meeting agendas while I initially asked some of the questions during the meeting Mr carer requested that I submit them via email despite making multiple attempts to obtain answers I have yet to receive a response it is unacceptable that two weeks aaps without any acknowledgement or response to Mr car I should not have to make multiple attempts to get a response both Mr car and the clerk have a record of the questions I presented I kindly request a response thank Mr far do you want to comment on that yes sure first of all I have not received any email reest I not received any email request from this Coury to respond to her at the question she present at Mee March 11 the initial question is verified by theie of the minutes was presented by Miss Henry who read a one paragraph question that dealt with the failure to have the posting of the agenda on the website of the toship that was her question and I told her I said I can't respond to your question until such time as I read it I asked M entry to submit her question to the clerk which she did not do and said she would send it in I said send in your request and then I will review it after reading it I will respond that question never came in from Miss hry in place Miss coin set a three page two-page question involving three questions rather than just she really asked the question involving regular meetings Redevelopment meetings and unscheduled meetings so Council should remember that the uh meeting on 26 there was a failure of the publication on the township website and the agenda for that meeting was not published in time before the meeting and was not discovered until Monday which then the clerk followed up with to make sure that that been correction from a sitting with the clerk in the minutes she had a verification from the publisher of the website that the minutes or the agenda was in fact published when that was an error was not Lo so I reviewed the question submitted by uh this coin which dealt with regular meetings Redevelopment meetings and unscheduled meetings the regulations of the open public meetings act really apply similarly to all three of those meetings and what it indicates is that following the Township's first reorganization meeting in January of each year Boston Township posts the schedule of meetings GRE and and executive meetings of the township Council once that is published and posted by the township there's no further obligation of the township to do any other scheduling posting of regular agenda or the executive session uh meetings uh there's no further uh transmitt for publication what the open public meetings act says is that prior to your meeting you publish a hours prior to that meeting you post your agenda of the schedule of meetings uh on on the Township Public posting board a Township uses its website the statute in New Jersey said that's not an obligation of the municipality to use its website uh to post it may do so but that's the material as far as the statute statute says you still have to post it on your public board agend the Township Clerk not only you as our website but also posted on the uh public board in the municipal Hall as well as the outside windows which is now being the technical failure of the uh website coordinator electronic failure to have the uh meeting agenda posted is not a failure of the meeting if it was uh and it de with particular issues the statute also says that the governing body by vote three quarters of the members present at the meeting may have V to continue the meeting regarding regardless of the fact that it was failed to be posted at that meeting if I recall correctly there was a unanimous vot of the members of Township Council to proceed with the meeting but keep in mind that the statute does not mandate a use of a website it says that's discretionary with municipality the regulations is to notice the uh published the scheduled meeting which the township does in January of each year and then to publish your agenda the best you can 48 hours prior by posting it on a use of the website is not a mandatory obligation so the failure of the website to have the agenda is not detrimental to the meeting the same regulations will apply to go the township Redevelopment meetings as well as unscheduled meetings uh the Redevelopment meetings and unscheduled meetings are not posted or published in January so and as the township sched a redevelop meeting that has to be published or sent out to a newspaper if there's a failure of the newspaper is not detrimental to the municipality so long as the municipal government send it to the required newspapers for publication the uh posting of the agenda still has to be done on the uh internal public board notice that it provides for public to review uh in addition uh the initial January publication shows the whole year of annual meetings posted on our bulletin several copies for the resident secure so that answers the same thing for redevelopment meetings as well as unscheduled meetings I believe that should answer this's question thank you Mr when I open up the second public portion which speak please raise your hand Miss Henry Follow by Mr Brown Mr hey good evening Dina Hendry Summerdale um two things before I start uh one you're correct I did not email you because I felt like I didn't need to do your job for you um the other is um if the agenda is on the postboard and it is locked on a Friday one cannot view it so if you can kindly think about posting it somewhere else that would be amazing um the third thing is the third thing is before um I truly begin is I have the political Flyers campaign Flyers that the four of you ran on the promises that you made to this Township leaders who will keep gler Township strong merging government agencies to save tax payers dollars but yet on the agenda tonight it says Council desires to open the bids why would you desire to place a a entity for bid when you guys ran on this you guys ran this when the cost of everything else is going up it is no accident your tax bill did not protecting your tax dollars okay the four of you are leaders who understand the value of our hard-earned dollars but yet you desire to place the MUA for bid why is that why why would you do that to the taxpayers why would you do that to these men and women who work for this Township why would you go back in your promises and basically be Liars why so that's the question I'm asking is why and you can answer that or we can have a staring contest not appreciated well you're lying isn't appreciated you're lying lie to you you did lie to us you you all lie to us do you want to response so you g to go back and for I will listen to you please refrain from comments Miss andry we're exploring the possibility of selling an asset there's no longer an mua anymore and this as I stated earlier this goes to the public res of gler Township will determine if they want to sell this asset but why would you start the process are we in trouble is this Township in trouble that you need to sell off an asset no we're not in trouble so then why the asset has a value to it and we're exploring that a value to have these people jobless a value for the taxpayers that if there is a sewer backup that it could cost them anywhere between $300 and $20,000 to fix what's the value I mean you guys are homeowners you guys are taxpayers too but yet you all voted guess not one of you thought about it and said you know what this guy made a compelling speech this guy made a compelling speech Denise was pretty good onest maybe we should put a pin on it you all said yes you have lied to us countless times but guess what tonight there's not six little classless Little Friends There is a room in here seeing what you are doing and it's being fullface Liars it's despicable it is shameful and it's hurtful not only to me but to everybody in this room that you would desire to have open bids on this why why go back on your work people voted for you people trusted you granted not me but that's not neither here or there remember I'm at the polls no cuz they buy them all that's right they do okay what about our ask you like to speak you have an opportunity to speak please do not shout Mr hey you had your hand up you were second you who was second I'm sorry followed by Mr Brown go ahead okay thank you David H Highland Village uh had a problem s Saturday with the rain everybody did I sent Kevin B and Miss pal the uh pictures the reservation behind uh Fraser Road and Edinburgh Road flooded out the last two times it did that the drain underneath 42 was a 5 foot pipe was clogged up uh three years ago Kevin B did come out and clean it out the first time time it clogged up this Township spent million dollars replacing three-foot drain pipe with three- foot drain pipe when I tried to tell the RB engineer what the problem was they didn't want to hear it uh my question is Kevin's working on it right now I feel he'll solve the problem my question is I asked Mr Miguel he he couldn't help me where I get a map of the current Street trains and proposed Street trains in fal's run which is running behind Route 42 and that's the run that goes you know the bridge on the Walking path that's that run underneath it's called FAL run it's on the US Geological Survey where do I get a map of the street trins that currently feed that and proposed to feed that because I think it's overtaxed M cars can you reach out to CES regarding that will you get contact me m pal has my we have your thank you Mr Brown David Brown mberry Station um first off I'm going to start out on it a good thing um the playground that was built finally in our neighborhood um who was it what company was it that built that great job it's awesome I know we had an issue with the previous people that was supposed to do it little tyes that dropped the ball was game game time did it this time they did a great job I me it's very useful the neighborhoods enjoying it and uh it's just real nice took us seven years to get it when we after we started bringing it up but it's good now my son went from sixth grade to graduating high school while we were waiting on it but um one thing I wanted to bring up was I've come to the meetings since I moved here a little bit over 11 years ago when I first moved here I was coming from another area I said why don't we have early voting it's too expensive now we're doing it and it's actually helping out it's actually doing real well I asked about mu why don't we get two sewer and water bills from the county and from the township I was told it was because Ronald Reagan passed it in ' 81 and that was a rule well if he passed a rule in 81 about it why are we selling it off why didn't we combine it with the county and get rid of the administ ministration cost and save money I mean it would save jobs because it'd still be doing the job it just that now you combine the county and this and the township but now we're trying to sell it off to take care of some other issues I don't understand why but U I know I was told by someone at the tax office in Pine Hill about it and uh over a year ago not that it was going to be sold off but what was happening and it justred me that it wasn't really communicated out here to our community as much as it should have been but uh I think the transparency and communication would solve all the problems and uh that's just one thing you got to do now I also talked to Orlando little bit ago as a disabled vet American flag is not supposed to be below any other flag that needs to be taken care of thank [Applause] you good evening Council Sam sweet from Ariel um I've stood up here a couple times and asked about the egub questions and you said that if the egub questions pertain to the agenda items that you would consider reading them before the agenda items you read three egub questions regarding mua prior to that so are we not looking at that anymore because those three questions maybe might have influence councel to change their mind you ask me to consider it yeah so are we not considering it any more I read them I had a statement on it I believe that they addressed some of the questions that was in but you should have read those questions before because those people couldn't make the meeting and had questions on the actual agenda so why were they not read beforehand E I understand that why is the ego I specifically ask you to consider it and are you not considering it or you the so you're not considering it I read them and I respond okay you stated that um the MUA now has a value that's the reason we're doing this utility the utility has a value correct corre and that whatever that value is and whatever that sale price is is going to go down to pay down the debt retire or reduce the debt the debt that you guys have been over borrowing for years I'm just want to make that clear so the debt that you've been borrowing for since you guys have been in office the over borrowing the roofs that we borrowed $370,000 for that we just fixed for 240 eight years later so now we're going to pay down the debt that you guys have been borrowing and our prices are going to increase because haddenfield Mount Ephraim have increased if I've heard that correctly 45 50% so now we're going to pay down the debt that you guys have incurred over the past 10 years is that correct the debt that's been accumulated for the last 30 years or so all right but the debt that you guys over the last 10 years have been over borrowing for again go to a referendum ultimately the res of Township decide but it could have stopped here with Council council could have voted no correct could okay the possibility but they could have voted no every one of you could have said no to this so it's no secret that I've applied for Council several times all right I've run for councel and I've been denied on that because I've been told that I'm not a good Foxhole guy so just keep that in mind to the council members here they consider you Foxhole guys and essentially because you're voting the way they want you to vote not the way the people hear or the voters want you to vote or even in their best interests and there's another word for Foxhole guys it's called puppets keep that of mind thank you someone who has not spoken yet uh gentlemen all the way in the back yeah Barry salvator Hicktown Road cville uh just real quick first I would like to apologize to the people that have the potential of losing your jobs I apologize I think um question directed it at the board not to come across as accusatory but besides the mayor that has no interest in this dealings is there anybody on the board or their family that's stands to profit from the sale of the utility I have I'll start off I have no family members no stock and any of these four entities that are in the state of New Jersey middle sex water Su which is now aqua water or New Jersey Amer water no family interest no stock no family that works anyone else want to respond to that we also have associated with I think that's a fair question to ask of the board because I mean I have well in septic so I'm hoping that I don't somehow incur part of the cost of this new transaction but the MUA before it became uh what are we calling it now it's a utility a utility okay what does it generate for the township per year B versus the 12.5 million or so that the township might get as a One-Shot deal and now loses the residual incomes generated by it that's something resp I don't know as if it's generating profit I don't know well it generated a $6 million surplus so it's generating profit into the township million and went before the localed dis that was one of the contrib factors to the decision by the local Finance board which was unanimous in fact told us after or actually during the public me meeting which several members that are out here were on that meeting that the township which is rather unprecedented could use some of the uh Surplus that was available in fact up to million we used.on did not use the full million but is it is it a losing Venture for the one second I'm having people say that cannot here because people are talking please have some respect no have some respect for the speaker you're not speaking love it you don't need to shout sh come on sh okay please use your microphone please use your microphones please allow the speaker to speak and get his thoughts across thank you Mr Carson and bar please continue I think I lost 26 seconds give you 26 more so is the the MUA prior to becoming a utility last year was it losing money for the township was it costing us money to keep the 25 or 30 people that are employed with the township were we losing money after those expenses I don't know what the parameter would be what I can tell you is that there was was I believe $6.3 million in Surplus on a $5.1 million budget and that was part of what the local Finance and the division of local government services looked at and they made their decision based on that tell you it's highly unusual I think Mr Palmer probably would know about this but it's unusual when a decision is made to dissolve Authority and allow a municipality to utilize any of the CLE typically they do not allow MP present okay so I mean my understanding is just that it's not costing the township money to maintain it that that was my question has remained the same for so then as well Orlando I guess went to the restroom so but as Mr palador said instead of allowing somebody else to come in and gouge the township even though all these other people are going to lose their jobs and their livelihoods and food on their table and maybe tuition for their kids why not give us a instead of the 45 or 50% that these other townships are seeing why not a five or 10% increase to the township and keep it where it is and not hurt people like that and I have to agree I I think it sucks that everybody here voted yes to it I that's my opinion I think it sucks that every one of you voted yes without taking into full consideration of what it is going to do to the township I would almost bet that I'm going to have to pay money even with well and septic somewhere along the lines to help support this program from these private companies so I think I use my extra 22 seconds thank you very much for your [Applause] time hi Margaret Gil from sherck Boulevard in the timber Burch development I just have a question in that if it's going to go to a vote in November on the ballot and there's only a handful of our residents here um and instead of putting it on Facebook or whatever if a letter from the utility or from the from the township or whatever to every single household knowing that this is what's what what your plans are what what's going you the proposal and so everybody who is a voter in this town will know what is happening and what they can make a conscious effort to either vote Yes or No but what is you know because I didn't know about it until I read it on Facebook that it was coming up tonight so like not everybody is on Facebook and not everybody knows and everybody is as a citizen in this Township needs to realize what is our government is proposing and it's just just a letter making not not a cause for just stating what would happen and why and it's going to the ballot and everybody would have a chance to understand what's going on that's my that's my suggestion to you is that somehow the MUA or the utility from the township the mayor's office somewhere that this comes out in a letter to every household that this is going to be on the ballot and what is proposed thank you thank you [Applause] m good evening Council my name is Shauna C smithman I live in the SDK Milbridge Gardens apartment complex on mil Brook Court is considered the Lower Side of the apartment comp complex live a mil Brook Court department [Music] 341 um is today still march Monday March the 25th of the Year 2024 yes I'm just making sure um even Council uh on Monday November the 27th of the Year 2023 there was a uh the Gloster Township council meeting I think it was resolution see r231 1305 do you recall can you tell me what that resolution is about uh it reads here that the resolution authorizing refunds for the Department of the Township Clerk okay it I don't have the um the details of it but when it was posted on the bulletin board it did read my name sha c smithman s h a u n SS y s m i t h h m an um for a refund for an overpayment that I had made was overcharged for a open public records act request uh then when I was sent the check from the township of Gloucester it had the address written incorrectly um you had said president Marcato you had said that you would send the letter certified because uh there was a there was no desire to waste Township funds to resend me the letter for the uh I don't know how much is it 8 cents um so they didn't want to resend the8 cents so I had requested that it be sent certified I mean it said I said I would pay the township where they can charge me um for the cost to remail me to my apartment the the refund from the township the bler New Jersey um they refused but you had mentioned that you would send the letter to me certified mail at your own expense is that true yes is this the letter that you sent it was sent and it was stamped on February 21st of 2024 it has your signature here as well you have it yes well that's what I was asking I wanted to make sure that the number numbers lined up okay the certified mail here I have it written as uh 9589 0710 52701 048 8743 60 that's what I have all right so this is the one that you sent yes I'm just making sure I had sent uh certified letters and required signature authorizations for a very important letter from my stepfather Ronald Samora gab s who lives in the state of Hawaii well he passed away uh all I could do to verify the address since he is about 6,000 miles away 3,000 of it water um there was a video my son had the video phone and my mom had one too the smartphone where you could see people I think it's called Skype but I don't know if that's what called all the time now um but when I showed him one of the signatures only one signature he verified was his the other one he said no that that was not his so somehow the placement of the United States Postal Service certified mail part got sent to an incorrect address and somehow miraculously wound up in my United States assigned post office box uh c39 located on mbook Port it was not his address it was not his signature may I see that you say I didn't realize you had it with you may I see it what would you like to see I want to make sure it's my signature I don't I'm very grateful that you had it with you we didn't plan this in advance at all come take a look and then bring it up sure Chie rather than me approaching counsel sorry I I did watch People's Court growing up oh wait wait hold on can I see the numers on M smithman thank you very much your time is up you sir and you're our last speaker of the evening good Jim Simpkins from 39 Indiana out of Blackwood New Jersey hi Mr s how you doing uh council members thank you for your time and your effort and everything you put into this um I just want to say that the MUA employees are some of the best people that I've ever had to deal with because I live in an older section of town they've been phenomenal phone calls they're out right away and to do away with a business that is that good at what they do it it's it's disturbing I've been there for 35 years I've been a member uh resident of glester Township since um 1969 I've been a participant of all the major good organizations that this Township has had uh glester towns in football blackw um little league Kanas we went to the state championships this town has been together the first time that GT logo was seen was on the gler towns stallion football it so um when I see an organization like the MUA folded put into other hands I think why it was probably the best managed organization in in the town that we paid for already and I really don't want to have to pay for it all over again with an outside contractor coming in you know you look back at the um the trash collectors when they were Township employees you could wave you could say hello they lost watched out for your kids they watched out for your house you know that's part of what being ler Township is about you know all the people that coached me were part of the town the different bus drivers and stuff like that to let another organization come into our town it's people that we don't know it's usually residents that that aren't don't have a job it's part of what makes gluster Township great and I can say that I've been part of that for all these years and I do appreciate the job that you do the volunteer time that you put in but for everybody to vote Yes on an issue that is pretty concerning our last asset it's our last asset are we do we want to be so quick to give it away what happens if we have an emergency and we need that asset I'm just you know I don't have all the answers I know all these people are frust frustated I know that you guys don't have all the answers I know that you're trying to do the best but how fast will $6 million go how fast will $12 million go I know that that I'm a business owner that is a part of business it's a tool that you use to get to the next level but it can't always be that we're adding debt upon debt upon debt in a Township where we have so many people people my business in Williamstown they haven't had a tax increase in six years and that's that's because there's a couple good people who said no we don't need that right now maybe we don't need the as Fields maybe we don't need this maybe we don't need that so I'm asking somehow this can be conveyed to the public yes yeah you can go out for your bid you can go out for this we have a monthly we have a quarterly newsletter that comes out to every home it's already postage pay it's already there I don't understand why this issue can't be explained and say this is coming on your ballot this is what it means to you and it will mean an increase at some point down the line so thank you for your time I appreciate your com thank that our we have to go executive session I have a motion to go an executive session for a uh litigation matter there a second all in favor we should be back in approximately 10 minutes have a good wedes take care take [Music] care you are Dr turned on suale road and hit the in front of M she P covers Trail that's destroyed as well they fix I just just want to say that know had seal Carol running a everybody's good yeah yeah's good about you family's good though yeah everybody we can't can't complain you ever need I I will don't don't hesitate text me or call me anytime app you know and uh I will I'll he asked me so s here an email Firearms yeah I Promise You by tomorrow e f spe now oh my wait you didn't tell me don't you think it's W Mr Chief here Mr M here the closed session was regarding a litigation matter Mr Caris and Mr C will reach out to the opposing Council regarding that litigation matter we'll now have our polling of directors Mr carier Mr ctis nothing Chiefs nothing to report Mr Miguel nothing thank you Mr congratulations all the women who have made a difference in receiving award tonight thank you take care of I thank you for coming I thank women were made awn and I apprciate all the comments made think it's important that you speak your mind whether you agree or disagree respect I respect that you do that I appreciate the fact that the shop Stewart made a comment for for his his Union I thought that was good I'm a former Union president so I understand that uh I also feel that when goes out to the public the whole public will get an opportunity to vote on this in the meantime I I do appreciate the fact that people did ask um if we could share the information as we you know I'm sure there's going to be some public hearings process everybody will have an opportunity to see and thank you for coming Mrs Grace love thank you all for coming out thank you for your comments your detailed thoughtful comments um you get Council always extra to to kind of process so I do appreciate that I want to thank all the um women who made a difference in our community um it's extraordinary to see them always thriving women and just in all areas of Township doing things for the elderly within their schools just making a difference um so thank you all congratulations to all the nons uh everyone have a great night and a great Mr Nash yeah so I just wanted to clear a couple things up Sam you brought up as well uh all of us here are pro mua no doubt about it but it is our job to do our due diligence for the entire population of gler Township it is our job so what we voted on tonight was just to explore the idea to see what the options are this is not about just 30 people here it's about the entire population whether it's popular or not whether we agree or not our job is to be nonbiased and to bring it to the public so that the public can decide whether I agree whether I think it should be on a b doesn't really matter what matters is we got to present it to the people of the of bler T that's how that's how government works Mrs wers um I want to thank everybody for coming out I appreciate um being nominated tonight and TOS thank you everybody in the community for coming out um as I've been part of this down for the last many years um and we have used the MUA as well my mother's still here in so she use as well so I thank everybody for their comments and considerations to this matter thank you Mrs wers congratulate the nominees it's always a good night when we're able to host these kind of events I thank everyone for the comments and please be safe Mr M I want to thank everyone for coming out this evening and thank the honores uh this evening I also want to thank all the comments from our residents those that are interested um here is the place that if you're seeking some information please come here please ask please provide suggestions um the purpose of my statement at the beginning was try to debunk some of the misinformation that has been out there uh again we're exploring the possibility and this is left to the residents of La town to decide if we move forward with the sale of it in the upcoming weeks and months there will be more discussion that'll take place I welcome any comments that people have regarding that um and I look forward to working uh with anyone who's interested in working with us um on this matter so that entertain a motion to adjourn there a second all those in favor have a great evening everyone Happy Easter