##VIDEO ID:F14umEiR3w8## ladies and gentlemen would you please take your seats we're about ready to start before we begin I'm going to turn over the um introduction to Mr Fred samal our Township attorney good good evening everyone uh this evening the uh municipal clerk Christa de jorgio is is ill so she's not able to attend the meeting so accordingly uh the clerk of the township should initiate the meeting and the reorganization so in this case of course Joseph Georgio is a registered municipal clerk and certainly more than qualified as this is his 42nd has got to be a record has to be his 42nd reorganization meeting but from a legal standpoint I would ask the governing body for a motion to recognize Joseph Georgio as the clerk for this reorganization meeting so moved second all in favor so approved Now ladies and gentlemen we can begin legally so on behalf of the township committee welcome to the 2025 Township committee reorganization day meeting and we're all very happy to see you with us this evening uh at this time I'm going to take the roll call members of the township committee president of the Das Mr keld here Mr Mahalo here Mr francoli here and Mr Gallagher here four members and attendance we'll also note for the record that in accordance with the uh open public meetings act we have provided written notice uh in accordance with the law by posting notice of tonight's meeting on the bulletin board here at the municipal building and by delivering mailing scanning and backing such notice and agendas to the Mars County Daily Record the stall Ledger and the Handover Eagle so it gives me uh great pleasure to introduce the new pastor of Our Lady of Mercy Roman Catholic Church uh who I happen to know uh when he was becoming a priest and serving at a uh serving at St Rose of Lima Church in East Hanover so it's a pleasure to introduce Father Michael rinsky and father will give a combination of the invocation and benediction unfortunately he has to leave at 6:30 to attend another church service so I would ask everyone in the uh in the meeting room to rise at this time for the invocation and benediction thank you thank you let us pray almighty God we give you thanks and praise for all of your Mighty Works you're loving and good and gracious thank you for creating us and sustaining us day by day thank you that you made us in your image to exist in community with other people we thank you for our town thank you for our elected officials the businesses the churches the families and the individuals that make our city the great place that it is thank you that Jesus rose from the dead and now reign as king over Heaven and Earth grant that our town would be known as a righteous town a town that confesses Jesus as Lord a town of peace and hope a town with happy homes a town that welcomes The Stranger a city that curs for the needy a town that defends the innocent from Evil doors Lord thank you for civil government those who be the sword to do so as your ministers to be a thir to Crime I pray that our civil servants would acknowledge this calling and perform it Faithfully be with our judges attorneys and law enforcement grant that they would never neglect or abuse their Authority but that they would stand firm for truth and Justice keep them safe from harm as they serve our community we pray for this council meeting tonight give the council members wisdom and guidance as they deliberate on the items before them may every decision be righteous in your sight for our benefit and For Your Glory in the name of the father and of the son and of the Holy Spirit am amen thank you ladies and gentlemen would you please remain standing unfortunately the um hover Township veterans Alliance could not be with us tonight because all the members are sick so they cannot present the colors and them so at this time I would ask you to join me in the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you very much ladies and Gentlemen please be seated and um at this time before we uh do the statement of the County Board of canvers just like to recognize some of our U elected officials and dignitaries that are present uh first of all Senator Joe pachio is with us ass seman Jay Weber we have commissioner crius representing the entire board board of County Commissioners uh we have also with us Chris Williams uh representing the um our congresswoman Mikey Cheryl so CH thank you for Jo with us and also Robbie Simpson of the mcrc thank you pretty good job so far Jo okay ladies and gentlemen we have the statement of determination for the um elections that were held on November the 5th 2024 it's a statement of determination of the board of canvassers relative to the election held in the township of Hanover the said board does determine that at the said election John L farasa was uh elected to serve as a member of the hover Township committee for a three-year term and the second statement of determination also for the November 5th election with regard to the Hanover Park regional and the local Board of Education we have the following individuals that have been elected Timothy Tim donu as a member of the regional board of education for a three-year term Keith Courtright member of the regional board of education for a three-year term members of the local Board of Education mark amaraso for a three-year term again the local Board of Education Lisa Bango Bingo also for the Hannover Township Board of Education three-year term and Karen cofy also elected to the Hanover Township Board of Education for a three-year term ladies and gentlemen our next order of business is the installation of committee person elect John alamasa it gives me great pleasure at this time to ask a committee man elect farasa and his dear wife Katherine to step forward so that I can administer the oath of office John elasa our John El farasa who solemnly swear who solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the state of New Jersey and the state of New Jersey that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same I will that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and and to the governments established in the United States and to the governments established in the United States and in this state and in this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people that I will Faithfully that I will faithfully impartially impartially and justly perform and justly performed all the duties as a member of the township committee all the duties of a me as a member of the township committee according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability so help me God so help me God congratulations congratulations John all right a chance over here okay ladies and gentlemen as we continue with the uh formalities um the first order of business with the the installation now with committee man from masca uh is to um have the township committee appoint the temporary chairman I'd like to appoint Joseph Georgio second all in favor approve okay the first uh order of business for uh the new Township committee this evening is the um designation and nomination of one of the members of the township committee to serve as the chairman of the board just like a corporation and the chairman of the board or the mayor has no greater power or authority uh over the other four members of the township committee they all have equal Authority and power but the chairman certainly sets the agenda and gets the township committee to work in unison uh just like an orchestra trying to get everybody to work together and that's an important feature of being a member of the township committee and the chairman so at this time may I ask for a nomination for the um mayorip I would like to nominate uh Tom Gallagher he's done a fantastic job so far and I think he really continue to do it and so I'll make that nomination thank you very much we have a second a second the nomination for Tom Gallagher a second n for Tom G Gallagher so we'll take a vote Mr K hi Mr Mahalo yes Mr FAS hi Mr francoli hi and Mr Gallagher hi congratulations thank you very much Joseph thank you good mayor next portion of business we also select a deputy mayor so at this time may we have a nomination for the position of there I would like to nominate Michael Mahalo to be the Deputy Mayor Mike has done an incredible job he brings a lot to our governing body and uh I just want to say that it's an honor for me to nominate you Mike so I'd like to nominate Mike okay we have a second I a second to motion second by Mr farasa on roll call Mr kahill hi Mr MCO yes Mr hi Mr Fran and Mr Gallagher hi so B itations now that we've gone through the formalities of um selecting a chairman and Deputy chairman mayor and Deputy Mayor um it gives me great honor to turn the gap over to you mayor thank you Joe thank you very much great job great job welcome so now as we continue with the agenda having a full Township committee on the dis uh we'll take a second roll call Mr kah here Mr Mahalo here Mr farasa here Mr Francy oi here and Mr gallager here five members in attendance sir and at this point um mayor you can read the statement into the record dealing with the open public meetings act okay thank you Joe adequate notice of the January 2nd 2025 Township committee meeting the reorganization meeting has been provided in accordance with the open public meetings act by posting written notice and agenda of the meeting on a bulletin board in the Municipal Building 1000 Route 10 Township of Hanover and by hand delivering mailing or faxing such notice and agenda to the following newspapers Morris County daily record The Star Ledger Hanover eagle and by fing the same with the Township Clerk thank you very May okay ladies and gentlemen next portion of business now is the reorganization meeting with appointments and reappointments so I'm going to read into the record uh the proposed appointments and reappointments and then at the end at the conclusion there will be a vote by the township committee so here are the following appointments uh and you can read it on your uh or you can follow through on page one of your agenda in terms of the positions for Township Attorney Fred samel Esquire and the firm of dorsy and samel personnel and labor attorney Steven Trembley Esquire of the chill Business Council LLC Auditors Katherine mantel CPA and the firm of Miss saach P I might add for the positions of attorney Personnel labor attorney and auditor those are one-year terms business administrator one-year term Joseph Georgio Township Clerk three-year term Christa de Georgio with the Municipal Court Municipal Court Judge three-year term Vincent Peron municipal prosecutor one-year term John E haran Esquire assistant municipal prosecutor one-year term sherro meta Esquire substitute alternate Municipal prosecutors when um Mr Moran Mr heran or meta are not available we also appoint the um prosecutors in the 38 other municipalities public defender one-year term Dino melli alternate public defender onee term Lee levit the uh staff of the Municipal Court The Joint court canover and East Hover Court Administrator Warren dalg full-time Deputy Court administrators Brianna eaus eileene Delgado and Alicia Simone the cmfo treasurer utilities collector and tax search officer one-year term Silvio Esposito assistant search officer one-year term Gerardo masera affirmative action public agency compliance officer one-year term Joseph Georgio the American with disabilities at coordinator one-year term Joseph Georgia commissioner to the north Jersey health benefits fund one-year term syvel Esposito commissioner to the Mars County Municipal joint Insurance Fund Sylvio Esposito members of the Township's Community Development Revenue sharing program committee Representatives one-year terms gerado masera David Leo Joseph Georgio and Denise Brennan appointment to the Handover surge Authority regular member 5-year term commencing February 1st 2025 William Keener planning board class one appointment is the mayor when your term Thomas a Gallagher and the class three member will be John farasa serving as as the Director of planning members appointed to the board of adjustment regular member fouryear term John Caruso regular member 4-year term Carol Georgio alternate member 2-year term Scott Bartell and Alternate member two-year term Amy Grasso environmental commission regular members three-year term John hendris three-year term W up for Dennis Bano Landmark commission regular members four-year terms Michael chis niiki and Robert HK to the Recreation Commission regular member 5year term Colin engelberger representative to the whiy river Watershed action committee onee terms Dennis dietr and John farasa the Green Team advisory committee regular members Christopher MC Dennis thri Dennis Wilson Roberto rying Risinger John Hendricks Philip glowey Dennis Bano Claire mattlin John FASA Nadia Aman Margaret McArdle Stella kulakov Darren chenang and Greg scet to the open space advisory committee a regular member 3-year term Robert Dean Board of Health 2-year term alternate two member Ronald francioli the class three special Law Enforcement Officers one-year terms Manuel Cruz Dominic manini Timothy Franks Michael vetria and Jason Jason Kangas and as we continue the mayor's Wellness committee steering committee members one-year terms Denise Brennan Christine em morisano Christine Eggbert Thomas Levis Annie May Carol Georgio Ava ventron Howard olon Katherine whad and advisory okay go ahead advisory committee members win your terms John El farasa Lucy Deutch Juan Q Rim David culo and Tammy denter Thomas are there any questions from members of the township committee concerning any of the appointments or reappointments need to move them may we have a motion motion to move have a motion by Mr seconded by Mr farasa on Ro call Mr kahill yes Mr M yes Mr farasa hi Mr franie hi and Mr Gallagher hi so now ladies and gentlemen as we continue I will now turn the next portion of business over to Mayor Gallagher on the the um recommended appointments to the planning board with the advice and consent of the township committee thank thank you Joe I'd like to appoint Charles Thomas member for your term Bill burn class two two-year term and a 4-year alternate term for Mark Hayward and i' like a motion to approve so move second second all in favor I thank you okay may now the next would be Township committee assignments okay okay okay I'm going to go through the assignments of each of our members uh Thomas Ace Gallagher director of administration Finance personnel and Violations Bureau Municipal Court class one planning board member member of edac Mars County Chamber of Commerce Advisory Board office of the Mars County League municipality co-chair of school and park Safety Committee affordable housing leg legislative chair and the mayor's Wellness campaign and mayor also I'd like to add uh since the last reorganization meeting you were nominated and elected to the Mars County League of municipalities uh to the U Advisory Board executive board executive board and you have also accepted a position as a member of the Mars County Chamber of Commerce Advisory Board correct correct thank you very much Joe congratulations thank you okay Deputy Mayor Mahalo Vice chair deputy mayor co-director of engineering for parks and Parks director of recreation and park administration department liais on open space advisory committee liaison Cultural Arts the substance awareness Council and the Hanover Township Board of Education K through 8 thank you Mike and she be seniors too and the senior citizens anything else right okay that's it that's enough okay Ronald francioli director of the DPW buildings and grounds and park maintenance Board of Health alternate one member and liaison to the whiy library senior citizens Club that's right you and R are going to share that veterans Alliance Interfaith Food Pantry group homes SMC mua marown airport member of the community garden and green advisory Community member of the Mars County transportation subcommittee affordable housing legislative subcommittee member that's a lot Ron thank you John farasa director of planning and zoning and Engineering departments class three planning board member planning Le aison to EAC The Gaze on to the Green Team and the environmental commission whiy River action committee member of the Hanover sewage Authority John thank you and Brian kahill building department and property maintenance director ctor liazon to Police Department Board of fire Commissioners Office of Emergency Management Landmark commission and the Han Park Regional High School District co-chair to the Township school and park Traffic Safety advisory committee and succession planning thank you Brian you got a lot there too okay Joe there we go mayor and I think at that point sir you can now uh ask for members of the township committee to com okay okay Joe we had two additional guests come in two more Commissioners okay we have ton and Tom Master Angelo how you doing guys Happ okay moving right along we're going to take a few minutes and truthfully a few minutes to have each member of the governing body give us a brief overview of 2024 and maybe a glimpse into what they're thinking for 2025 and may start father has to leave father you have to leave would you like to close out right now sure sure so first of all I would like to say big thank you because that's my uh second year in weip and that was a great honor for me to be here and Lead uh with charming Polish accent to lead the the opening prayer and the benediction I am so proud that I can belong to this town and uh be a pastor of Our Lady of Mercy in we so let's pray through the intercession uh let's pray to our Lord Jesus Christ as Jesus taught us himself as we say Our Father who art in heaven Hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done on Earth as it is in heaven give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation but Deliver Us from Evil the Lord be with you the almighty God bless you the father and the son and the holy spirit amen God bless thank you thank you Father thank you Father okay now now we will begin John would you like to start thank you we'll begin for the township committee a happy and a healthy and a prosperous New Year to all my highlights will focus once again on what I call the three Rs recognition reflection and resolutions let's begin with recognition by acknowledging the department heads and the board leaders and all the volunteers who helped things happen in in this community from a planning and board of adjustment standpoint we have Blaise branow kimbley bonjourno and chairs Pete Denis and Ben stanel engineering gerado merera economic development Bob Bruno Handover sewage Authority Mike W and chair Dennis Dietrich Environmental Green Team chairs Dennis Wilson Chris matesich along with Nadia Aman thanks also goes to our business administrator Joe Georgio our Township Clerk Christa de Georgio and their staff along with my fellow committee members special thanks at this time and recognition goes to my bride Kathy for her support Her counsel her special meeting night dinners and for managing the majority of the household responsibilities as I spent time serving the people of Handover reflecting upon this past year two words Stand Out smart Redevelopment we'll begin with planning from a planning standpoint we have the rebirth of the ced's mall a major upgrade we attracted National tenants Michael's Arts and Crafts Planet Fitness All Seasons golf entertainment and a new Supermarket coming to town Amazon Fresh the Old Pine Plaza remember that will soon host the grand opening of a BJ's Club store BJ's gas Chick-fil-A one of America's favorites this will be a great grand opening for Hanover Township still along the Route 10 carer we look forward to hosting the grand opening of Chimney Rock Inn restaurant at the old VFW site chipot at the old Molly Malone site and a new banquet facility David Allen k is coming to the former Powerhouse Gym along Route 10 the western part of Route 10 zoning paved the way for what we call the Redevelopment of a long glided piece of property you will soon see a new Shell gasoline station along with a kick quick food concept under the Dunkin Donuts name noteworthy from a planning standpoint the planning board working with the township committee helped advance two New Jersey state League resolutions addressing number one the impacts of density upon storm water and two prioritization for special needs within affordable housing development from an engineering standpoint given the increased number and complexity of projects the department faced we underwent a rigorous reinvention initiative to improve efficiency and Effectiveness Outsourcing was determined as a strategy to best provide the increased capacity needed and required specialized skill set significant efforts were placed this year on infrastructure and our road system engineering planned 13 roads and the good news is that all 13 were completed they implemented phases three and four of the trails around B Meadow Pond these are crown jewels if you have not participated in those Trails please do so Engineering also supported 10 Recreation initiatives 10 Recreation initiatives I'm sure Deputy Mayor Mahala will discuss some of these major initiatives uh Economic Development Economic Development focused on its efforts on shop local developing initiatives to help our small businesses small businesses provide us with convenient Services preserve quality of life and contribute to our rable base please support our local businesses edak continued its welcome to Handover program to greet and help Orient our small businesses to make them feel part of this town with the latest being all season golf if you haven't been All Season's golf yet please visit it check it out you'll be amazed we also conducted major B2B business networking events highlighted by a supporting Commerce within Handover this was hosted by the EM Railway over 75 were in attendance environmental and green team environmental and green team they partnered with the whiy river action committee for River and park cleanups Earth Day featured a cleanup of Central Park and tree plantings special thanks to our DPW department and our whiy fire department for helping out in that endeavor the Green Team earned the distinction of sustainable New Jersey certification for environmental initiatives it's a big accomplishment launched the quarterly news highlighting environmental tips and hosted a record setting shred day and food collection event along with providing free flower seeds giveaways on Township Day special shout out also goes to Green Team M Chris Mattis for leading an initiative to help raise state level awareness of the impact of increased dense development upon climate change the environment and flooding Handover sewage Authority again performed at an incredibly high level received National recognition earn the National Association of Clean Water agencies award for the 35th consecutive year in a row along with Association of Environmental authorities best management practices award in addition recognized as utility of the future for water environment by the water environment Federation for exceptional performance in implementing best practices and cost savings measures HSA will strategically be developing plans to manage p and protect public health and the environment past is an important issue it's Plastics getting the Plastics out of the system as for Resolutions the final are I look forward to working this new year with my fellow Township committeemen the business administrator the department heads the municipal staff to ensure Handover members a great affordable place to live work and play my focus this year will be on the following areas infrastructure support smart economic Redevelopment strategic initiatives to help this committee manage the impact of density upon it let's make 2025 the best year ever for the people of Handover there that concludes my remarks thank you John Ron just stepped out so BR you want to go next sure okay thank you so first of course I'd like to thank my family my wife Susan uh my sons Ryan and Kyle and my daughter Alyssa for all their support and patience a lot of nights spent out as you guys know um so very much appreciate to that uh I'd also like to thank the entire Han Township Administration and each of the Departments for all that you do over the course of the year really big part of what makes this town great is uh is the services that we provide and the uh um spirit and dedication that you all um show during the course of the year um I would like to make some special thanks too also to uh to Joe and to uh Christa syo Linda Jerry uh blae and Bill and I say that because they basically attend every single meeting that we're out every single committee meeting and support us and and help us in making the decisions that we make so thank you very much for that moving on to my areas of responsibility I'll start with the hand of our Landmark commission and I also want to mention the hand of our heritage Association so the hand of our Landmark commission is appointed by the committee um and they've been in place for quite a quite a while now but they've spearheaded a 501c um organization called the hover Heritage Association uh primarily to give them the ability to uh accept donations from corporate Partners residents developers whomever uh in the interest of being able to better preserve Hanover Township uh they do a great job preserving the bearing yard they do an awful lot of uh of events um but we've got a big project ahead of us and that is the Tuttle house on Route 10 and it's in need of a lot of work it's going to take a a great deal of money so the the really the point of putting this Association together is so that they would be more effective in creating our generating funds uh to help the township and the taxpayers uh in uh getting the funds to develop that but also in helping to get grants and so forth so they've done a really good job about that uh moving on to the schools I'm responsible for regional but but Michael and I kind of share the K through 8N Regional uh together so I just wanted to mention over the past year uh we had a couple retirements in the k through eight uh school district Mike Wasco as well as business administrator Vanessa walski uh these are two people that ace and I work together with years ago um so I just want to make special mention to them uh somebody else that was new to the scene when ace and I were working at the board of ed uh is Mr Justin Tumi who is now the new superintendent for the K throughway board B so congratulations doing a great job we had the pleasure of meeting with Mr Tumi and and and the board I don't know a month or so ago it was a great meeting looking forward to doing some uh uh some work together and uh some cooperate things together that may help services and and save us all a little bit of money as well so thanks for that uh Public Safety before I go into the Departments I just want to mention I'm sure a lot of you have read it on social or in the papers on Christmas day um there was a fire here in town around dinner time um where not only District Two in District three of our fire departments came uh to help put out the fire but also fire departments from other towns what you may not know is earlier in the day there was another structural fire in Pary that once again our fire department U rendered assistance left their families on Christmas to go help them out so I just wanted to give them a shout out because you know that that's really what it's all about when you come out and and and volunteer to become a first responder it doesn't mean when it's convenient for you it means when when you're in need so uh really congratulations and and much thanks to them um I should also mention as far as the districts are concerned and I did talk about this two or three meetings ago um districts 2 and three both put forth resolutions uh agreeing that districts 2 and three should be dissolved and that there should in time be one Handover Township Fire District fire district one uh this is a huge step probably one of the biggest steps that's occurred in the years that we've been talking about this but it is just a step and it's going to take a lot of work it's going to take a lot of meetings it's going to be uh require a lot of very difficult decisions so uh while I congratulate the districts for this big move uh I would ask that everybody be very patient because it's still probably going to take a while for sure uh moving on the uh the OEM insert teams run by by Tom Quirk again fantastic job um helping out with multiple flood situations last year uh fires and and and power outages it just uh never seems to end these guys come out and help wherever necessary uh the certain team last year when I sat here and introduced them for the first time they were only 10 members now they're up to 22 members and I understand that there's actually three more so uh it's growing and these are volunteers are doing a fantastic job um moving on to Hannah Police Department uh they just recently just actually yesterday concluded the uh dri sober or get pulled over campaign uh they participated in that initiative every year for as long as I've been here and probably a lot longer um they did get a grant for that uh we'll be getting results on on what occurred U and I'll report that out uh in in a future meeting uh I should point out that we have a number of additional officers mostly due to a lot of retirements our police force is slowly turning over the guys are getting younger and younger um but this year we swore in four new police officers and this is last year in 2024 uh and for 2025 we have three new officers coming on board as well so there's two reasons for that one is retirements but really the biggest reason and this is something that we've also talked about for a very very long time is um through uh Chief Lock's um planning good planning and and and persistence I should say today uh we're going to be putting together a a Traffic Division and this is something that's been needed in this town for a long time our surrounding towns all have them these people there'll be a group of officers that will be responsible for traffic only um and that will allow them to focus on problem areas and as residents of this town we know and as committee men we know we hear an awful lot about speeding and other dangerous or reckless driving and behaviors uh now we will have officers in place that will be dedicated solely to that so I'm really really looking forward to seeing that come into place um another big milestone for 2024 is uh the hen Town another initiative actually by Chief Lo and his staff uh the arrive together program and essentially what that is is sometimes when they have to respond to calls where there's a Behavioral Health crisis um it's often helpful if there's a um a a mental health professional maybe not there on site for the initial call but there as a back back up or to follow up or or just to to to you know make things a little bit easier for those in distress and those in need uh this is a brand new program um we we are uh very happy to have that help I'm sure and hopefully next year I'll be able to report on some great success stories around that last and not least uh the uh building department again they're great doing a super job John mentioned all the projects I mean just putting BJs and Chimney Rock and the Mars County mall and those alone have kept Shan odonnell in his Department very busy he has managed to put together a great uh Team he was having some staffing issues early on but I think he's got those pretty much resolved uh and through their efforts they've generated over 1.1 million uh dollars in revenues through uh permits inspections violations penalties so on and so forth so uh um really great job on his part as well so in conclusion uh John congratulations I really look forward to working with you for another year uh but I also want to thank the entire committee I think we uh uh we work well together I I enjoy our time together and uh we spend a lot of time agonizing over the many very very difficult decisions that we need to make um you know you some say location location location for us it's density density density will it ever ever end uh but we will persevere and push and do the very best that we can for residents of Hanover Township so thank you thank you Brian Ron thank you mayor very good um music's in my ears rable base growing that's great very good uh on that note uh a very very happy New Year to everyone uh to my fellow committee men to the guests that have joined us today First Responders in the audience and our neighbors thank you all for being here and a very very happy healthy New Year to you all uh to our administrator Joe Giorgio who served alongside me for all these years Joe happy New Year good um a rising municipal clerk who can't be with us tonight Chris De Georgio Sylvio Esposito our top-notch financial guy Denise brandan Michael wi Shan Donnelly Jerry M Chief lock our great superintendent our great super of OEM director Tommy cork Tommy where are you you're out there somewhere there you go and um looking forward to working with you all and 2025 uh going into 2025 Hanover remains one of the finest communities in Mars County we still maintain the lowest taxes top Services award-winning schools recreational facilities assured Public Safety and yes no Municipal bonding as lay on to many of the committees as John has gone through his and you've just heard uh Brian go through his uh I'd like to mention mine as well uh Brian fan with our roads Parks uh recre parks recreation uh areas uh has done a stupendous job this year there's no question about it we all know that um he's done collecting of 5,300 tons of Sanitation I don't know what that finally does for us but I guess we get S out of the house keeping ahead of the roads with over 4 uh 112 tons of ashf uh with more to come we improve our roads we can cut down on our ashall bu okay as well uh maintaining our parks and plank fields or snow removal and just about anything that God throws at them so Brian thanks for a great job I'm so proud of our Stony Brook Farm and Garden here in our town we started it this is the anniversary of going into our sixth year now with farm and it's doing fantastically well it's sold out as a matter of fact uh and uh the township uh the farm committee uh is looking at it of Al boar uh Bob Hank who's now our Master Gardener uh out there is doing a tremendous job uh if you haven't had an opportunity to get out there and see it off of Stonybrook you really do yourself a favor and get out there and see it you can join us give Denise a call she'll tell you how you can do that uh we're looking at expansion and in 2025 uh all 142 plots of Gardens have been sold out and they're flourishing they're doing great it's a great asset to our community and uh we look forward to more in 2025 there are more opportunities as I say from the garden but our seniors this year as you just heard uh this year committeeman Mike Mahalo will step up to be lay on for the seniors club uh Denise Brennan and her Recreation Commission have done a Fant fantastic job of broadening the seniors Club program to all seniors in the township uh every senior has an opportunity to take advantage of events and programs Cultural Arts uh uh uh activities Etc with the club and uh we're looking forward to them growing uh even further as we go on um a Happy New Year to those I serve with On The Board of Health Dr Carlos Perez who's on lease to us from the county is doing a great great job and uh chairman Nino Elli Diane herzo retired Stan zei Dr Ze barowski fantastic chairman for the Board of Health through the toughest times that Hanover had and that was through the covid years so we thank them all very very much as leaz on to the SMC mua all those fancy names out these Mars utilties Authority Water Authority this has not been the best partnership for Handover Township and as a principal member of the authority Handover is working to assure water quality service in our community and certainly to strengthen Communications with that organization our whiy library or whong Library under the direction of Kathy Sheridan and her board and staff continues to offer hundreds of programs and activities from Toddlers to we seniors they remain un [Music] and we certainly fund them but not being municipalization to the library so we thank them for all their service this year and as they uh as they move on something near and dear to my heart is our special needs here in Hanover Township uh we work closely Hanover does with arc moris Arc moris s Moran is a chairman Arc Mars has many many group homes here in our Township six right now and we give a total of 12 group homes to assist in our Township a fine staff that he has want to thank them uh as well for all they do for us and uh in their service to Hanover Township we proudly remain in h Township in the Forefront of supporting developmentally challenged individuals and their fam something we should all be proud of I take note that in 2024 mayor Gallagher committee man John farasa argued at theate State League of municipalities convention to further special needs housing in the fair share Housing Programs thank you John thank you mayor um in 2024 sadly we lost some good friends in 2024 we lost a good friend George Capa George Kola was committeeman here in Han Township an officer in the VFW and a good friend the naval gun Plaza in Veterans Park that you see beautifully lit up tonight as well stands in his name and George who be up forever missed phis he's dear in our heart the honorable Judge Brian oul passed Deputy Mayor John tart passed chief of police Steven Garder Our World War II hero Chad coachin at 101 Harry Elder passed it and we lost the good Patriot to Hanover Township in the person of Joe [Music] Mahalo a special thank you to committee man John farasa for his persistence in getting our Hanover s plant named after its founder and commit assemblyman art albone art and Genie we haven't forgotten you it's only been 40 years um art was instrumental in the creation of the SE plantant and getting hover Township into the SE uh system marown municipal airport one of my other responsibilities continues to grow uh it's a premier corporate airport at this point one of Hanover's largest taxpayers as well major placement of covert storm drains that date back to 1944 Runway resurfacing navigational upgrades a great asset to the airport and to us they're great asset to the county they're great asset Han of a Township and economic development as well thanks to Corey and all the mmu management finally let me take a moment here on a personal note you've all allowed me to serve you here for 15 terms 44 years I thank you all for that support this year along with mayor Gallagher I'm up for re-election my value to this Governor body as a senior member has aote to become a mentor and connection to the past experience to avoid avoid future mistakes my colleagues know my Mantra I've seen that movie the decision to continue to serve is one that Carol and I have always wrestled with Hanover has always been first in our hearts and in our lives my health remains excellent in all form thank you Lord my ability to contribute to the governance of Hanah remains strong and yep I can still hear you somewhat I need a favor in the weeks ahead I would truly value your opinion regarding a decision to run or not to run this seat as all seats on this Township committee are critically important to the stability and future of your Hanover Township a special wish for a blessed 2025 to my wife Carol allowed me to sit here all these many years 2024 was difficult for my family and with your support we welcome the start of a new year in closing God bless you all God bless Hanover and a very very happy new year thank you thank you mayor mik Mahalo all right thank you Ron and thank you for for remembering all the who P passed and my father being one of them thank you co um I know it's going to sound redundant but we all do our thank yous now and Ron told me in the very beginning thank your family thank your wife she's the one that puts up with everything while we're here so I I need to thank my wife and my family uh again without them it wouldn't be possible to get out all these nights and uh I I really thank them they they do bear the brunt of of all of these um like to thank our our our staff here uh Joe Giorgio de Georgio uh Linda di Archangel they're the back rooms they're the back bones they're the one that keeps us going Keeps Us on track um thank you all um I also want to thank my fellow committeemen it's uh it's a pleasure and honor to serve with you guys and like I've always said we don't always agree uh but we work well to achieve the best for Han Township so thank you guys again it's it's a pleasure to work with you um our department heads and our professional staff uh we do have some of the best out there um uh the Brian at DPW uh they do a terrific job Sylvio our CFO Jerry uh engineering Blaze Chief lock uh thank you guys um don't worry I didn't forget about Recreation you you get yours in a few minutes um again thank you all you're great to work with and uh they really give us the support that we need to do the jobs that we need to do um I've been fortunate enough to be the liaison as you all heard we have our directorships and we also have liaison ships so one of mine is cultural arts I see Ed and Ed and blanch and I think I saw Phil come in uh I want to thank you guys you're terrific to work with you do a great job if you guys aren't familiar with uh Cultural Arts they're the ones that really put together like the art in the hall uh the uh Hanover Symphony we sponsor that uh a lot of the cultural programs uh they've done through those um and and thank you guys for all of the work that you do um you really bring some some culture to our town uh the art that's hanging in the wall now is something that gets turned over every 2 months if you get a chance take a look uh and we do have art openings that's something that we've started uh past year or so uh an art opening at the beginning uh so again keep an ey out for it it's nice to see the artist and and uh take a look at the works we do have a couple new programs coming up this year um excuse me it was uh soda bread and step dancing in March uh so that'll be coming up and then Ukrainian dance and cultural food in May so keep an eye out for those uh we're always adding some new stuff blanch has really got some great ideas and uh she's working hard and keeping at on his toes so um so thank you thank you guys for all you do um I also see Mark Hayward out there thank you Mark Mark uh has stepped up to be chairman for open space thank you Mark it's a pleasure working with you guys um uh I'm excited again to be director of recreation I I really do enjoy it uh I want to thank Jim Coy he's the chairman and all the rest of the uh the rec commissioners they're uh again it's a great team to work with a great team of volunteers that provide uh all the types of events they work uh very closely with Denise and Tom uh Tom cork as the uh the liaison to the commission um and this brings me to I especially want to thank Denise Brandon superintendent and assistant superintendent Tom Quirk and the whole Recreation Department we've been to all of these programs we've seen how well on a shoestring budget they pull stuff together and it comes off almost Flawless from the outside it looks Flawless Denise you guys do a great job um you know again from our so many athletic programs summer concerts summer camps traveling teams bus trips fireworks an Township day masquerade at malap partis um Winter Wonderland uh a new one Hanukkah hopla this year uh volunteer recognition dinner these are all stuff that runs through uh Recreation I'm saying it fast cuz there's so many things to do she did give me a booklet of all the stuff that they did Denise has several booklets she does um but again they do a terrific job a terrific job uh and again thank you all uh one thing I do want to point out dialer ride uh that's a service that we provide for our Hanover Township residents um 1378 transportations this year so they're busy and almost 12 1,200 of those are for medical appointments so again it's a service that we provide um and and again it's run through Recreation they do a terrific job um additionally through Recreation coordinating the B Meadow pool um led by Eddie cashion he's the uh he's the director there um we had one of our most successful years again uh over 185 new members and total revenue over $400,000 we brought in um while we're talking about the pool last year we spoke about how the baby pool needed to be replaced and I am excited to report um that we had a construction meeting a couple weeks ago and any day now shovel should be in the ground for the construction of our ADA compliance splashpad uh and splash park uh and Spray Park um really looking forward to that and hopefully we can have that ready for for the season opening up cross our fingers they got a lot to do and as we dug deeper we realized we had some issues electrical issues with the pool the original pool building so that got thrown in there we had to redo that that added to the project um but again it's uh it's a a marquee property that we have in our town it's such a great facility uh if you're not part of it you should be uh for less than one night at the Jersey Shore you can belong to the beo pool for for all summer uh there's so many stuff so much stuff for kids and activities and concerts um really looking into it keep an eye out if you need information track me down um just want to go over again trying to go through it quick because there's a lot uh some of the exciting things we' happened last year uh Hometown hero Banner program we honored uh 45 more last year um we have a new program coming out again in February we're we're opening that back up in February so what that is is uh any of veterans anyone that served in the in our Armed Forces um we put a banner out with a little uh little shot about them about when they served and uh we hang their banners in our parking lot um again another thing through Recreation um complete of phase three and four the walking trail that John had touched on before over at B Meadow ponds there's three excuse me four uh four phases if you haven't had a chance take a walk on them it's it's terrific um really you go on a nice spring or fall day it's beautiful over there it's quiet um all the way all around all three of our ponds now it's uh really really a nice project that we put together and the best part is a lot of that was grant money uh for the projects we did over at the pool we got almost $900,000 in grant money uh including purchasing the machowski property last year uh that also came substantially came from grant money so again we're always working to uh to to get help from the county and whoever else we can to help pay for these projects um also 2024 we finally saw the completion of our multi-purpose turfield if you haven't been here yet it came out beautiful uh it's it's again another piece of Handover that's coming together you can play soccer lacrosse football of course uh we've had our uh The Brew Fest was over there for the PBA had sponsored and we had our uh concerts there again another great venue thank you all for supporting it you know it was it was a long journey um but finally finally we brought that brought that home um we continue to improve our facilities uh Monroe blackbrook uh the tennis and pickle ball courts got resurfaced and restriped upper malap partis got the replaced uh we replaced the the fencing uh lower Mal malap partis we got the area paved for basketball um we also have construction which Tom was heading up of a new electric sign at Central Park again these are things that we've been working on over at Recreation so we'll have another lighted sign similar to what we have at the entrance to the municipal campus here we're going to have another sign over at uh Central Park just to help get the word out of events and and things that are going on um some of our main projects uh for 2025 um like I said before the splash pad it's a 2024 2025 project that'll be coming online hopefully by uh by by uh by season um also one thing I'm not sure if you guys have heard we're turfing the infield at Black Brook large um with that that will give us the ability to pretty much play anything we're designing it so be it softball be it little league be it men's baseball with a few modifications here and there you'll be able to play those Sports on that field what we've run into at our other fields is anytime it rains we're shut down and it puts us at a disadvantage to other towns to other schools um if it rains again vetfield my kids were on there years ago be two three days before you could play again now we can certainly continue our Sports and uh really get those kids off the couch outside not give them excuse to lay around and play a Nintendo um get them out playing some uh you know playing some sports um just real quick we're doing the infield The Outfield is still going to maintain still be grass uh we're going to have new back stops new uh uh new dugouts um and some other new amenities over there so that's uh they put the shovel on the ground yet I know they moved the machines over I don't know Tom have you noticed did they start doing any construction yet yeah and and another one any day now another project that we're finally getting to move forward that should be uh you know again something that we're anxious to see um couple things for 2025 we've got to get the lights fixed at Black Brook uh now that we actually have some nice facilities over there we got to get the lights fixed that's top of our list uh walking trail through the Route 24 track um if you're not familiar with that that's a stretch that we bought back from the state it's over in Cedars going up manger Hill there in that area uh we're looking to put some walkways some Pathways up through that area uh again that'll also be grant money through the county we'll get some help with that too um we're also we couldn't quite get to it this year resurf resurfacing the hockey rink in Upper malaris uh that's on tap to go as soon as the weather breaks in the spring so that's going to get resurfaced um let's see um oh and that'll also have uh it'll be painted for basketball and some uh movable basketball nets so we'll be at least in the short term be able to play basketball on that Court too uh again we just ran out of time uh in 2024 uh also for 2025 one of the things we're looking into hopefully we can get it done in 2025 is putting a hockey roller blade rink at Central Park we all know the mosquito Pond that we have now um it just doesn't freeze it doesn't work for the for the one week a year blanch is shaking her head she knows uh it it it's not worth it we're looking into putting a drink in where hopefully we'll be able to when the weather's cold enough fill it with water be able to skate on it pull the plug drain it out and then roller blade on it after that uh that's that's one of the projects that we're looking for for 2025 also um also security cameras on all of our Parks the garden a lot of it's uh the been in the works already but we're expanding that we're expanding where we're going to uh be able to keep an eye on things uh and that's another thing obviously as we expand the parks and improve them we got to work on that also fencing too you'll see a lot of other things going on we're really again continuing to work improve our infrastructure bring it up to where it should be um that's it Tred to keep it quick I just want to finally thank everyone it's a pleasure and an honor to serve Hanover our Township and looking forward to do it again in 2025 so thank you all thank you Mike great job thank you okay to conclude with our comments I'd like to thank and acknowledge a few additional dignitaries that are in this room in a way everybody's a dignitary because we all work very hard as a team as I refer and Fred Samuel is not here to jump in on this one but Ensemble play everybody has a very very serious value and everybody's stepping up and these appointments are just an example of the type of people we have in h of Township but I would like to recognize Mrs Capa thank you very much for being here and God bless you and George and your whole family and Carol frko is the one that got me into this one of the three so happy New Year and God bless you the deputy mayor Han Township Deputy Mayor Judy irat happy New Year Judy and thank you for being here and does anybody want to recognize that guy with me right there hoe Olson he's worn every hat in this Township how happy New Year thank you for everything you're incredible human being thank you so thank you very much everyone for being here and happy New Year I'd like to begin by congratulating John far Masa on another very successful campaign to continue to serve on the HTH Township committee for three more years John congratulations and thank you for everything you do every day I would also like to thank the entire Township committee for what I believe was a very successful productive year together we had quite a few accomplishments and it's being noticed and enjoyed by our residents and by our surrounding municipalities I'd like to thank our entire Municipal Workforce everyone of our professional staff every single person that volunteers on any one of our boards councils commissions and committees all the people that serve tirelessly with our organized Sports our Scouts and of course thank you to our Knights of Columbus and all of our houses of worship I would like to take a minute as I have for the last 12 year to acknowledge Joseph Georgio I've always said at every meeting they did music they called James Brown the hardest working man in Show Business I called Joe Giorgio the hardest working man in Han Township and the the last 2 or 3 years with all the things that we're combating every every single day and working very hard towards I now call Joe Thurman mson cuz I used to be a big baseball fan and I've never seen a ball get by Thurman mson and I've never seen a ball get behind or past Joe Georgio so Joe thank you very much God bless you I could thank a lot of people and single out a lot of people but that's not fair but what I'd like to do is just single out the people that I talk to almost every day and we we do work very very hard and some of these people are 24/7 and I appreciate these people I'm just going to identify a few uh Christa de Georgio Christa really stepped up she's doing an incredible job Christa couldn't be here tonight thank you Christa Linda di Archangel 24/7 Linda you're doing a fantastic job thank you very very much appreciate you um Bill burn he's not here but I always joke I'm not sure what Bill's title is but he's here as much as any anybody else and we're calling them all day long trying to get some kind of guidance and asking him to clarify something so Bill burn thank you very much Brian fan Brian De Primo Tom Quirk Denise Brennan you guys are phenomenal and you're 24/7 and we can't do very much without our chief of police right there Chief you're doing an incredible job and I'm going to tell you what I just told our friends in Bon two weeks ago I am not a law enforcement officer but I'm a good judge policing because what I always say is if I feel safe and my I feel safe and my family feels safe to me that means the police are doing a very very good job so thank you Chief thank you for everything you do every day and your entire department well in the reorganization meeting of 2023 and 2024 we began to discuss on an even higher level how the residents can benefit from using every single resource available to us we worked on and began to implement new more aggressive strategies almost immediately so this at this time I'd like to run through some of our initiatives that have been very successful especially through the last 12 to 18 months the tap into hanor Township Which is less than 2 years old is the second most popular tap into tap into in Mars County and the second most red that was a very very good success to get information to people we created ask your governing body this is any question any time and today we believe this is more important than ever to be available to all the people that we represent in many many ways every day this is year two of the official Hanover Township Facebook and Instagram Pages it's also a very big help to get accurate information to our residents in real time we are constantly working to better communicate with all of our professionals and any developer interested in becoming part of our community we've been bringing in the absolute best Professional Services to work along with our in-house staff specifically to move projects along at a much more acceptable Pace I'd also like to say they have taken on and completed some projects entirely on their own I believe everyone can see the benefit of this practice I've said and began to practice aggressively once that once we are done with the legal back and forth about zone changes and Zone it is our job to work together as closely as we can to turn these proposed sites from piles of dirt and rock into productive businesses that the Hanover Township residents can shop in enjoy and get tax revenue from because we all know that the more ratables we have the less we have to be responsible as residents to pay for please take a look at some of the Redevelopment construction that is taking place right now please know there's an incredible number of meetings phone calls hard work and discussions long before a written proposal goes to our professional team and long before that goes to the planning board we are working to make Hanover Township much more competitive while at the same time maintaining what we all love about Hanover Township in 23 and 24 we called in and spent countless hours dealing with property owners Architects development companies and our M Municipal professionals including Joe Georgio and our Municipal Attorney Fred samal to work together aggressively to turn these piles of dirt and rock into beautiful businesses that we can enjoy and become very valuable ratables to Han Township I have a list of properties but John went through them with planning but I do want to tell you the story about the Mars County mall we had a story we had the Mars County mall in here repeatedly because of the condition of their property finally we doubled our fines because of the Mars County mall I called them in and I told them that I've about had it I said that because of supply chain Co Workforce for one reason or another it was going down and down and down it was a blighted property and we can no longer tolerate this as acceptable I said what do you want to do about this and what do you have to say they said Thank you and I said what do you mean thank you they said we really appreciate you taking the time to talk to us I said well what's it going to take for you to become competitive and have us get out of the situation we're in right now they said we need to get some kind of relief from our zoning I said what are you zoned at they said shopping center I said from what year they said 1971 I said how can you compete in 2022 with a Zone and restrictions from 1971 they said we can we got together we changed that zone in record time to be consistent with across the street the initial investment was $1 million and go take a look at that property today it's functioning it's beautiful it's not done but that's going to be an incredible resource for Hanover Township and look what it was and look what it is and that's the mentality we're taken to many many projects in Hanover Township we are also looking at ways to better understand repurposing outdated industrial areas Office Buildings and other areas that currently have outdated zoning what could we do to create business friendly zoning gain additional ratables while maintaining the look and feel of the township that we all call home again I refer to Marsh County mall I can refer to chimy rock I can refer to many many properties but as a musician not being an athlete I often refer to Ensemble play or collaboration which is the same as teamwork but I refer to it slightly differently but it is the exact same principle and what we try to do is work and lean on one another's strengths and try to push in the same direction rather than towards one another we see this through everyday practice now in Han Township with an incredible benefit we've been putting it to use and I believe you can actually see and feel the true progress that we are now making in Han of Township the concept and structure one applied on a regional approach has also us enabled us to take on serious issues that involve Han Township and many of our surrounding municipalities and I could go through these on memory the Partnerships that we have now with the Mental Health Association we'll catch you later out of out of Bon New Jersey and all the different mental health symposiums that we've been working on are more and more important now than ever we are just starting to begin to see the effects of people that were isolated for all that time during covid-19 and it affected our young people and our seniors much worse than it did to my generation we just got very very aggravated and but the young people were in their rooms for 18 months had of Township Schools they were opened a lot quicker than everybody else but all of the other activities that they usually enjoyed were they were unable to enjoy so the Mental Health Association is more necessary than anyone than ever before and Han Township is right in the middle of many many initiatives with the mental health association with that we're closely working with the Mars County Sheriff's Department James Ganon James Ganon has incredible programs that will we will only build on and I just want you to know that in all of these initiatives and now they're throughout New Jersey the birthplace was right here in Han of Township when we talk about flood remediation we talk about whether it's global warming whether or not it's overdevelopment I'll tell you what it is it's the fact that in 50 or 60 years nobody in New Jersey has done anything where the rivers used to be 4 to 5 ft deep now they're 7 to 8 in deep therefore the water is overflowing the banks more trees are falling into the water you cannot pull the trees out of the water what we did was told everybody whatever you're doing is wonderful God bless you however we have a problem Route 10 is flooding out every time we get 2 in of rain and other areas of our town are also we went in with colier engineering with Mikey Cheryl's office and some of our state and County elected officials we put together the whip Pake flood remediation task force and today we got $3.2 million in Grants we have we just awarded our first bid to down tree service to go in and do six spots we're doing bank reestablishment which is going to make it much less likely for dirt to rush down the banks into it to make the water more shallow and we are identifying in the next two to three weeks eight more areas that we're going to go into almost immediately that is real work that's long overdue that we don't have the money for but we got the money now $3.2 million that's one of our biggest accomplishments for quality of life in hand of a Township with the flooding and we are going to have a five municipality shared Service river cleanup this spring with professionals and residents so if anybody wants to get involved there's going to be all levels that they can get invol inv D in from standing on the banks picking up cans planting a few trees or jumping in and really getting dirty okay I just want to say this is another example of Partnerships this these types of relationships and Partnerships can only be built on trust and respect which I believe must be earned and Han Township is trusted and respected this type of structure enables us to combine resource in a much more focused way working with the best people which will better assure a positive result I'm going to jump through the last part because we can post it but I just want to talk about I see Denise Brennan looking at me we along with the substance awareness Council created and developed the mayor's Wellness campaign and we have incredible programs for all ages and I'm going to list these in the order that you gave them to me Denise we had a healthy heart lunch in Valentine's Day dinner dance let's improve balance introduction to acupuncture distracted driving and impair driving healthy sleeping Workshop mindful meditation hope one Naran training kicking it together and as Mike said before we also created a recognition award in hanb Township now there's a lot of recognition in a lot of areas usually it has to do with academics usually it has to do with eth Athletics and every single person that does anything and focuses and has a reasonable amount of achievement should be recognized however we're the first group that put together a recognition based on kindness and today I don't whatever you want to blame it on today people behave poorly and kindness is not recognized or rewarded the way it should be so we created Awards based on selfless service and years and years of selfless service and demonstrating kindness so our Lifetime Achievement Award went to Ho Elson right there hoe Olson Community starward Raymond Burkhart Community starward Margaret wein Scott and Han Township has been once again designated the town to watch and I will not go any through any more highlights other than thank you very much this is an honor we have a lot to do we are a committee former government I say when one of us walks into a room we all speak on behalf of the entire governing body and guys it's great working with you thank you very much for everything and uh we have a lot to do in 2025 thank you may may before we adjourn we have two other um items that we have to take care of first of all I noticed on our appointments list we've missed one person that needs to be reappointed to the cultural arts committee for a three-year term and that's recel Banbury so may we have a motion so move second all in favor and then secondly other resolutions um resolutions 1 through 14 designation of depository funds investment officials Professional Services designation of official newspapers the fixing the rate of interest to be charged for delinquent taxes cancellation of tax over payments waving interest and payment on any pass due charges for those 65 who are over designation of special service officers and special assignment Personnel authorization of temporary Appropriations designation of Township committee meeting dates vehicle allowance tax appeal authorizations and the cash management plan may I have a motion for approval motion second all in favor I so approved that clears the agenda of the acting Township Clerk thank you Jo did a fantastic job as the acting Township Clerk thank you very much super thank you m okay motion to adjourn all in favor I happy New Year everybody thank you holy C same when I went back they came terrible