##VIDEO ID:1FJPVl6DSq8## like to begin the uh meeting of the township of Hamilton committee Monday October 7th 2024 please rise for the flag salute I pledge aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all adequate notice of this meeting has been provided pursu to the New Jersey open public meetings law by posting a notice of this meeting on the bulletin board in the municipal building and by publication in the Press of Atlantic City and Star Ledger on January the 6 2024 Mr cheek here Mr lws here Mr patali here Dr Witherspoon here mayor Shanker here can we have a moment of silence for private reflection thank you uh we have no guest presentations additions of deletions late agenda items to be considered for Action tonight additions 12 additional executive session item Municipal Court update attorney client privilege contract negotiations so moved second have a motion and second all those in favor signify by saying I I those opposed the eyes have it early public comment on agenda items excluding items listed for public hearings we have no one signed up okay thank you uh we have nothing in discussions no public hearings and no introductions of ordinances we'll move on to number six Awards bids contracts change orders a resolution authorizing nicam CFO to execute the agreement an award a contract to Bowman and Company LLP of Vorhees New Jersey to provide Professional Services to the township for administration of section 125 cafeteria plan for the 2025 plan year amount not to exceed $2,000 motion second we have motion we have a second are there any questions or concerns I have a question sure go ahead it's not that much money but I don't really understand I I need more of an explanation I read the letter for the 125 cafeteria plan what is it so it allows the employees to set aside a portion of their salary every two weeks um to help offset the cost of co-pays and out- of pocket expenses for medical um I looked back last couple years um we we have it not to exceed a 2,000 but we've only spent $400 and22 425 and 23 and right now so far we're at 475 so it's not really a big ticket item it's just a service that we provide to the employees right now we have one employee that is a member yeah say money inside this money have them to it basically just pays for co-pays for they yeah mhm okay R can we do a roll call vote please yes Mr Chek yes Mr lws yes Mr patali yes Dr Witherspoon yes mayor Shanker yes all yes and car thank you B resolution resolution authorizing Award of janitorial services bid number 2024-the for the period of 1125 to 12 3125 in the amount of $61,800 cleaning in the amount of $300 motion I'll second you have a motion we have a second are there any questions or comments I have a question okay this was not the lowest bidder so why did we Dr withman I had the opportunity to review this with the finance uh there were two bids that's correct that was received one bid was in the submission lower but the bid packet that was submitted was in compliance to either the statute or the requirements of the bidden instructions because of what wasn't submitted what was lacked in that response uh it wasn't weavable under the statute so it was disqualified as being unresponsive okay any other questions hearing none Rita can we do roll call vote Please Mr Chek yes Mr laws yes Mr patali yes Dr Witherspoon mayor Shanker yes thank you C resolution authorizing purchase of bulk rock salt from the Atlanta County Co-op for the 20124 2025 season from Atlantic salt company at six $ 6721 per ton not to exceed $344,400 so so second have a motion we have a second any questions comments hearing none Rita can we do a roll call vote Please Mr cheek yes Mr laws yes Mr patali Dr Witherspoon mayor Shanker yes all yes and carrye D resolution to approve change order number two for Cooperative Fleet Maintenance and Management Services bid 202- 04 contract to transdev AKA um first service vehicle first vehicle services decrease in the amount of $3,715 C move move second we have a motion we have a second any questions or concerns key word there decrease read a roll call vote Please Mr CH yes Mr laws yes Mr patali yes Dr Witherspoon yes mayor Shanker yes thank you um consent agenda we have a through M I'll move a through M second we have a motion we have a second are there any questions or concerns a coule questions go ahead uh C on the resolution which Asser agreement with pal and us I had asked about the insurance because there was nothing attached to it to the pap [Music] for yes ma'am about insurance can you explain that we have it it's just I do have it just on my phone I have showed it to the attorney and the administrator um we do have it at this point um it's up to you if you can make you want to make a contingent upon it me getting it in hard copy or no I mean as long as we have it we have it all right that was that was that question I'm sorry Mr Mayor what item is she talking about C see building the policy White effect in June this year and it expires next June and for the record I have seen it has been presented to me as well thank you just two other things um E and F we are refunding um for these family dwellings so I don't understand why we charg them so we recently appointed a housing liaison um we hadn't had one in almost two years he discovered these two issues um over on uh say First Avenue and Long Avenue uh the homeowners or the property owners were charged the co-a fees but there was existing there existing dwellings on the properties so we don't typically collect COA fees for proper that have dwellings unless you know so they were collected an error so refunding the that was nicely job there thank it's refunded out of the trust account so it's not it's not charg in the budget okay we have a motion second anyone else have any questions hearing none all those in favor signify by saying I I all those opposed the eyes have it number eight resolution to appoint Peter Mano is a full-time police officer at step two of the CBA with a salary of 58,300 start date to be determined second a motion we have a second any questions or concerns R could we do a roll call vote Please Mr Chek yes Mr laws yes Mr patali yes Dr wther spoon yes mayor Shanker yes all yes and Carrie okay thank you number nine approvals minutes regular minute meeting meeting minutes is September 16 2024 so moved second we have a motion we have a second any questions or concerns all those in favor signify by saying I I all those opposed the eyes have it B minutes executive session minute meeting minutes September 16 2024 second we have motion second or any questions concerns read can we do a roll call vote please Mr CH yes Mr laws yes Mr Bali Dr Witherspoon mayor Shanker yes all yes and carrye C bills bill list total $91,400 I didn't see all of the maybe every one of the days didn't want to go but I didn't see any other the committee people on there besides the mail so it's does anybody else want to go besides me I guess no I want go so you can add me to the okay any other questions Rita can we do a roll call vote please sure Mr cheek yes Mr lws yes Mr patali yes Dr Witherspoon mayor Shanker yes number 10 reports Mr administrator I have nothing to add thank you Mr solicitor nothing reported this time mayor thank you thank you Mr engineer I want to apologize for being late it's quite all right very fast meeting so far I'll keep it short and nothing to add okay very good you just slowed us down all right thanks uh D Township committee members Dr Witherspoon yes I'd like to report that I the at County Legal municipalities meeting and it was very very nice Hamilton and they brought the new machines for voters uh that's going to be in the election um it and done a demonstration on that and I thought that was very um they're very helpful I mean I've voted on it before but a lot of people have not and a lot of municipalities and organizations are having demonstrations on the machine so people won't um so people will be familiar when it's time to vote uhu so it was a very good um presentation so I was at that I was at Art in the par U that was very nice I enjoyed the time that I was there I could stay long but I did attend that event I also the same day went to a night's football game um my baby grandson plays on the nights and I was happy they WN that day soed that I did that meeting and that's all I have to this time okay thank you committee M patali um I want to say congratulations to oakrest for uh beating gamy at football really the only game that uh that I'm really that concerned about and uh then they won so good job um some stuff coming up funny farm Fall Festival is Sunday October 13th from 9: to4 out there at the funny farm um and then fall festival in War Memorial Park on Saturday October 26th that's from 9:00 to 4: um we have a shredding event Public Works building on Saturday October 19th that's from 9: to 1 uh as I said the Public Works building elanic Avenue also take rigid plastics and batteries um anything else is that it I think that's it right metal too okay um we have the ghost walk um from the Historical Society is putting on the ghost walk again that's Friday October 18th from 6:00 to 8:30 tickets are required uh I believe you can get them on their website I believe it's Hamilton historical.org I believe I'm looking for somebody out there nobody's agreeing with me so I'm guessing on what that is and the Halloween parade of course Wednesday October 30th uh starts 6:30 p.m is down Main Street uh always a good time hopefully we get some good weather hope to see everybody out there and um just want to say um all the political nonsense and everything that's going on with what happened with that hurricane and then there's another one coming and it's it's huge but I know if you want to donate I know uh the pub has a box you can donate over at M Street Pub um there'll be another truck going down I think this weekend coming up if you want to make some donations uh be careful who you donate to make sure you know it's going to the to the people wanted to go to but uh I can't imagine what they're going through I was I was in Boon over the summer camping and uh and it was a beautiful place and uh I I can't imagine what what it looks like now uh where we were was right on there was a river running right through where we were at so I can just imagine everything that's there was probably gone now so it's it's really sad to see what's going on down there and I just I I just wish everybody could come together and stop you know pointing fingers and saying this and that and just make things right help everybody out and uh and we can get through that and then move on to this next hurricane it's going to hit Florida and hopefully it some something happens it dies out cuz right now it looks it's it's horrific and uh I'm sure we all have friends that live down there in the path I know I I've got several um my neighbor just sold his house two weeks ago and moved move to Cape Coral said I think that's right in the right in the path so I think uh I think Bubba and debber probably second guessing what they just did so uh prayers for all of them and uh that's all for me Reagan um I'll see you soon love you and Maddie I miss you love you and I hope to see you soon thank you comman yes on a lighter note the OAS abami game I am a member of the abami allall of Fame so it didn't turn out the way I wanted Carl also uh the Art in the Park was a beautiful day and it was a nice event and on a serious matter my dad passed away a while ago and I had my mother at the Atlantic County veteran services my father was a veteran naturally my mother wasn't just to all you veterans or spouses of veterans it was an unbelievable great experience how well they work and how well they communicate to find any benefit whatsoever either a veteran or a veteran spouse please contact those people they work very diligently professional and it was just a great experience so if you fit that mold don't hesitate to contact them and that's all I have hey thank you Deputy Mayor lws yes um no the uh art and the park was awesome um we like to seen it uh better attend it um but it was a great day it's a beautiful weather and uh a lot of wonderful people out there some great art um some wonderful we had some pretty creative people in this town we managed to get some rocks painted it was pretty nice um secondly um I'd like to congratulate a couple young men uh that went to Hamilton Township Schools from Elementary School La and you know they they ventured out in the high school they went to St H but uh we we very proud of one young man plays Princeton he's been having some outstanding games he's been Deans List uh just doing a out outstanding uh uh a job and then the other young man uh goes to West Point and uh this week he rushed on seven carries for 139 yards two touchdowns for over six yards against Tulsa and these two young men are just outstanding um and uh Nasir and uh Kanye um we they both played for the Lakers um uh they've run track for me and uh so all that speed they got comes from me no but just it's something to really really be proud of to turn on the television and see maze landing on the bottom of the kid's name you know when he scores a couple touchdowns that that's that's pretty big I try to take pictures of the screen every time it happens I know I know call me a homer but uh just shout out to those guys just outstanding super proud of them and super proud of the job that their parents did and that the school board did here you know on those young men that's it okay um I have nothing to report tonight so I'm going to open it up to public comment anybody in the public like to speak one two can you hear me yes yes can kind can okay yes okay so my name is Jason Weber um I live on Park Road um this past week I sent two stly written letters to the committee uh I'm assuming you're all familiar with that yes okay um so I wanted to follow up tonight on uh what I discussed in those letters uh I'm a longtime resident of Park Road uh the property's been in my family for over uh five decades my grandparents uh Patricia and Stuart lates purchased a property in 1967 um so uh I've I've lived there at various points throughout my life uh I purchased the property from my grandmother's estate in 2017 so I've got a a pretty deep knowledge of the property and um a vested interest in what happens there um first I want to thank uh Mr Watkins and Mr null for addressing the issues that that I had written in those letters um they were extremely helpful uh most of the questions that I had were answered my issue that I wrote to you about is the transparency because I felt as I followed this very closely over the past couple years um I felt that I was not informed um so when I saw the sign on the road that said that construction was going to begin it was complete news to me uh and so that's where that letter originated from uh you know I've been following this very closely for the past two years I've been looking on the website I've been coming to committee meetings um as it turns out as we found out over the week uh over the week is that those meeting minutes were never posted where the engineer presented um the construction there mhm so I was never aware of it and you know at the outset of this I wasn't convinced that this was the right thing to do and I think there was a lot of opposition to this sidewalk because there are so many other things that need to be done before a sidewalk got put in and I'm talking about enforcement I'm talking about you know um safety tickets things like that that have never been done like never no tickets have ever been issued on Park Road for speeding so that's why I wrote that letter um Brett and Bob addressed quite a few things but I think there's still some things that should be addressed you know uh what are some of the rules that are going to happen on the sidewalk I can I can already imagine that bicyclers are going to be coming along while there's pedestrians there and there's going to be an issue someone's going to hit someone while they're on a bike on the sidewalk where they're not supposed to be um there's other unaddressed issues like people walking their dogs okay my property has become the default dog park for maze's landing where people come to take their dogs to defecate on my yard and that is there's a law against that in your code MH so what's going to be done about that what's going to be done about enforcement um so these are some of the things that that I wanted to address months ago and actually years ago when we actually first had that meeting uh and so my issue is is with the transparency and why haven't we done these other steps that should have been done first well I can't tell you why it wasn't posted on the the website because every everything that we do should be on that website so how that happened I don't know so I I can understand if there is an error but yes with that and the previous controversy and then in that meeting when I went and looked at that meeting and watched it right it was brought up that should we notify the property owners that was dismissed as not necessary because it wasn't legally required okay even if it's not legally required we're still stakeholders as homeowners right there and we should have been notified well ahead of this so that we could have raised our concerns okay um so you know that that leads with leaves us with um you know what's going to be done about the kids riding up and down the street on their bikes without helmets cuz I believe believe that is a law as well uh what are the rules for the sidewalk um the speeding obviously is still a major concern uh I think that um some of the speed shelves and other traffic caling options should be looked at again um litter is obviously a huge concern of mine and then um who's responsible for the right away in terms of winter you know shoveling out front there uh mowing mowing the strip of of property that's between the sidewalk and the property owner's place I Mr engineer would you like to take on any of these um I believe the code calls for the homeowners responsible for I guess maintenancing or clearing the uh sidewalk along the frontage um in a certain Peri period of time uh in reference to mowing um I believe it's common that the property owner would mow that area as well I know all the homeowners primarily along Park Road do mow that grass that's up to the curb line which is actually the RightWay line um right now so um you know we we informed Mr Weber that you know if if the Township's not mowing that area it's going to stay the way it is so that homeowners response not not very much responsible but they should maintain it in that area what about shoveling on the sidewalk itself like when when it snows and things like that I think again I part of the ordinance for the city is the homeowner responsible for removing the snow in that area so that's some of the things that since we're responsible and we're stakeholders we should be notified so that we can have some input as to what happens here so that was that's where I was at okay thank you thank you [Music] Ryan mccort 3067 Lyndon Avenue I want to address the uh the hockey Court uh what is it that ordinance that you guys update obviously there was a problem I brought this issue up in July through email to you guys um there was a problem with it since then it's been addressed and now there's a $115 uh administration fee as a household taxpayer I feel as a resident I should have access to the ho courts you know to play there you know without having to make a reservation pay $15 which you know taxpayer dollars go towards these hockey courts why am I being assessed a $15 fee when mlaa can pay $500 and then that's refundable to them I know they have a user agreement um true safety and stuff I'm more than willing to sign like a SA you know waiver you know it also comes with an insurance policy too fine like I said you know I want to go there and play hockey I want to use the courts for what they're intended for and you know with you guys uh you're using New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection in Green Acres which I've been speaking with Jessica um there and you know she's like oh yeah well if they're compliant they have to give you a reservation program you guys updated that but that fee is just I feel that's ridiculous um as being a taxpayer and you guys claim that it's for vandalism that's why it's a lot well I did an Oprah request on how many like police reports in the last three years you guys had two reports one was a physical altercation with hockey players juveniles and one was when the Porta Poes were tipped over MH um so I'm like what vandalism is actually going on there and is it actually really like or is it there to just protect the deck that's part of it yeah but it's there to protect it but I mean you're blocking also the residents and if you're going to do that you're kind of assuming that we're there to destroy our you know we we're not assuming that and then I want to know where does it stop you guys are you know upgrading Underhill M do you lock it down no what why the hockey courts we have two hockey courts one's open 247 yeah we chose to Glock the other one because it has a brand new court I I just feel like it should be open to the public for public use if there's you know team's playing on it and I want to play by myself and there's an open court there but it's locked I'm being restricted and as a taxpayer like a household taxpayer I feel I need like I feel I should have access to it MH e you know the reservation works and if you want to charge residents like non-residents 15 bucks I'm all for that but I feel resident should have an easy like transparent like call up Carol you know a Google doc a live doc you know that kind of works the MLA schedule in there and you could sign up and then it's it works out great but okay or a timeable lock is there a reason why you couldn't use the other court was it was it not available sometimes there's people on there playing you know it's a it's a public court and I maybe I just want to shoot by myself I want to run around you know okay and there's a open court there but I'm restricted on using okay Mr solicitor are we compliant here um mayor we are and obviously as committee knows we' had discussion multiple meetings back to back we also had conversation with the one of the reasons we updated this included the reservation system was to be in full compliance with v because as committee knows those fields were under greenacre funding so they're regulated based on those Green Acre restrictions so everything from the reasonable fee all the way to locking them has been run by uh d okay did I add something sure um I brought this issue up in July that's when I first initially brought it up it was actually in 2021 you guys are pushing the goalpost because there was not a fee there was not a fee in that in that ordinance now since I brought attention to it and I'm requesting access you guys are putting that fee out there so it's if I had if I'm growing sunflowers in my garden and then you guys make an ordinance no sunflower growing in your garden I already grow sunflowers in my garden so you guys are basically restricting me doing what I was already doing I'm like kind of grandfathered in I brought this issue up and then now you guys are assessing a fee once again blocking me from using the hockey boards what was what's your what was your name Ryan mccort Ryan yep got you okay thank you guys thank you anyone else Melisa Moy 1932 cologne Gardens apartment F12 I come before you again because they presented me again with another do I want to update my leas and and now it's for $1,715 they also want to Institute a $15 Insurance on each apartment okay I know I'm not the only one people are moving out left and right with the things that they're saying are being done to them uh I brought another person with me that you know they forced out already it's crazy I don't know what else we can do but I would love to do something is there anything anybody knows that you know may be able to help us residents is that the first number you Ed is that what was that the Thousand first one it started out this is the third one okay the third one since they brought us this is the third one of 200 I guess about $75 they're trying to raise the rent plus the $15 fee this year so your rent is that, what was that number 715 now is what they want us to pick okay you know and which is crazy which means my sister and I have nowhere to live because we don't have that much okay you know so what do we do well do you want to address this uh solicitor yes we've been looking into this since the last time we talked that's correct actually the municipality had a meeting last week uh regarding affordable housing something that there's been a lot of changes and there will be a lot of changes across the state it's a problem affecting residents Statewide not just in Hamilton Township both on the affordability on buying houses and the rental market as well um I know that DCA is making a substantial change of the next few months we are one of the many municipalities are sitting by that we' have a team was created during the last committee meeting uh to address this and we're looking forward to see what legislative changes they're making so we're going to be a part of this to able to sit back and see what affordable housing changes come down the pike in the next few months as well and we'll continue to report back the committee which comes to the residents as well I know you're saying the next few months but within a couple months I would have to sign this so what is that saying um just move the the basically yeah you have to find something that's that you can afford and it's very expensive to live in New Jersey you know one bedroom apartments are 1,700 two bedrooms are $2500 all the way around and it's a lot of money it is a lot of money and what do you do when you don't have that money then where do you live right that's a question it's a it's a humanitarian question because everybody deserves to have some place to go especially living in the United States of America and definitely not under the board walk I'm not i' I've worked all my life I did everything that was asked to me and now I'm asked to go and live in the street because what because we have people that come in and want to take because that's what it comes down to it's a thing about taking and I think we should also look into people that come to buy in our Township you you're looking to you want want to rent to people but you're not renting you're just taking you're asking people to give you their hard-earned money and you're not giving them anything in return and so therefore I ask the next time anybody comes in to buy up any property ask them first what they're going to do for the people not what they're going to do for their people thank you thank you thank you I wanted to report for the school board that we were able to get a bid for duerson um we accepted the bid and they are we will be closing within 30 days and so it looks like this one's actually moving forward good so I just want to report that and then also that um one thing that was left out on Carl's report was the pta's uh trunk Retreat oh next sorry on the 16th I think is Saturday whatever the Saturday is a 16ish but um we'll have two sessions and hopefully be serving up to 500 kids two sessions at 250 kid hopefully everybody can come out and enjoy that is the third Saturday Dr Nelson I'm sorry the third Saturday yeah I think it's like the 16th it's the 19th 19th 19th 19th when when's day 30 for the sale of the of dubber do you know um it what's the date I know where you're going uh we accepted it on last uh two Wednesdays ago so we are about 50 more days I'll get you the exact date when it's accepted but it's been accepted when uh when we physically close yeah I think they're going to close before the end of the month so right awesome thank you thank you anyone else from the public like to speak motion to close public second motion second all those in favor signify by saying I I I all those opposed guys have it we will now join adjourn to Executive session order to show cause Atlanta County versus state of New Jersey docket number Atlantic 1947 d24 attorney client privilege pending and or let or let anticipated litigation we also are doing number 12 additional executive session item municip Court update attorney client privilege a motion toour to adjourn to to your motion executive session second motion we have a second all those in favor signify by saying I I all those opposed the eyes have it will we be coming in