##VIDEO ID:BzPpileYq6o## United States amice as Clerk of the township of Jackson it is an honor and privilege to welcome everyone to Jackson Township's 181st annual reord meeting of the mayor and Township Council as chairperson protm this meeting of January 2nd 2025 I hereby publicly announc that in compliance with the provisions of the open public meetings act adequate notice of this reorganization meeting of the mayor and Township Council has been advertised in the manner prescribed by law we proceed now with the uth of office of council person elect Mr Nino barelli thank you clerk M um San Alex wiky of Jackson will be saring me in hello okay ready yes all right repeat after me I Nino burelli I Nino burelli do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that it will support the Constitution of the United States that will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey constitution of the state of New Jersey that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and to the governments established and to the governments established in the united states in the United States and in this state and in this state under the authority of the people under the author of the people and that I will faithfully and that I will faithfully and partially and partially and justly perform all the duties and justly perform all the duties as council person for the township of Jackson as council person for the township of Jackson according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability so help me God so help me God congratulations than yes [Music] thank you oath of office for of council person elect morai Bernstein for the term commencing January 1 2025 through December 31st 20 through December 31st 2028 the oath of office will be administered by Mr Jack Chelli [Music] you okay I don't need M theti of the United States and the constition of the state of New Jersey true faith and Al to the the government established in the United States this under the authority of people [Music] [Applause] W get back up here [Music] [Applause] next is the O of office for council person elect jeppi palmary for the term commencing January 1 2025 through December 31st of 2028 o will be administered by State Assembly members 12th District Mr Alex a it's popular to our meetings tonight [Music] all right you have the most important part you know that ready all right repeat after me I jeppi Paul I jeppi Paul Mar do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey that will bear true faith and allegiance to the same that I'll bear true faith and allegiance to the same and to the governments established and to the governments established in the united states in the United States and in this state and in this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people and that I will faithfully and that I will faithfully and partially and partially and justly perform and justly perform all the duties of councel person all the duties of councel person for the township of Jackson for the township of Jackson according to the best of my ability according to the best of my so help me God so help me God congratulations thank [Applause] you this will be the official roll call of the Jackson Township Council council person barelli here council person Bernstein here council person C here Council person Paul Mary here and council person Sergeant here as chairperson protm at this time I would like to accept nominations of council president for a term commencing January 1 2025 and ending December 31st 2025 so I would like to make a motion for councilwoman Jennifer Lin cun for council president thank you for interrupting me I second that motion Council person barelli yes council person Bernstein yes council person cun yes council person Paul Mary yes and council person Sergeant yes theath of off if commissioner Frank sedi could come up and swear man thank you sir I Jennifer K i Jennifer L do soundly swear do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution that I will support the Constitution of the United States of the United States and the Constitution and the constitution of the state of New Jersey of the state of New Jersey that I will bear that I will bear true Faith true faith and Allegiance and allegiance to the same to the same and to the governments and to the governments established established in the united states in the United States and in this state and in this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people and I will faithfully and I will faithfully impartially impartially and justly and justly perform all the duties perform all the duties as council president as council president for the township of Jackson for the township of Jackson according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability so help me God so help me God congratulations thank you sir [Music] now the chair yields to council president at this time council president will accept nominations of council vice president for a term commencing January 1 2025 and ending December 31st of 2025 I nominate morai Bernstein for vice president I second it roll call sorry council person barelli yes council person Bernstein yes thank you council person pal Mary yes council person Sergeant yes and council president C yes now the of office Council vice president Mor Kai Bernstein will be given by Mr Jack [Applause] chiarelli come on round two all the duties coun president counc [Music] [Applause] at this time I need a motion to change the current seating chart to the following if you were facing the day as council president yes so uh you'll have mayor Raina M or business administrator Terrence wall councilman barelli um we can't do our attorney will be there whoever it is we shall see um myself council president Jennifer cun Council vice president morai Bernstein councilman Scott sergeant and councilman zeppy Paul Mary the clerk and then our it Christian thank you Miss Moss [Music] h we move on to opening comments by Township council members Council belli thank you clerk moss and to you and your staff for keeping it together for us always on the council uh first I want to thank uh my wife Deborah For Your Love support and patience helping to take care of my mom too who's 92 couldn't do this without you hun I love you much um also thank you to our residents and special guests for being here including our County officials who we are thankful for their service you are friends to Jackson and I look forward to continuing to work with you our dedicated Township uh professionals and our hardworking Township staff and serving our great town thank you for the upgrades and improvements made to our many County Roads Patriots County Park and Ocean County Vocational Technical School in Jackson congratulations to my Council colleagues uh council president Jennifer cun and Council vice president Morty Bernstein on your leadership appointments on the council and congratulations to councilman P Mar as you begin your service to our town on the council congratulations to our volunteers on your appointments to serve this year on our Town's boards and commissions you help keep Jackson running smoothly and effectively we appreciate all of you thank you to Jackson's own assemblyman Alex siwicki for being here tonight with us and for swearing me into another term as a councilman I set up here with Alex for my first year and a half on the township Council we co-sponsored a ordinance together and he was a campaign manager in my first run for a Council seat and one of the first people I met when I got involved in Jackson politics thank you assemblyman for your support and fr we're very fortunate to have you serve us on the state level thank you to Jackson for a second term public service is a noble calling to me I will continue to do the right thing by our fellow residents I'll continue to do my best to give back to the town my family and I called home and where my dad settled after moving here to America from Italy uh local government is the closest to the people in most Grassroots and where you see the most uh get done and pretty quickly and I'm humbled to be a part of that as an elected official and look forward to working together with my Council colleagues continuing the honor and serving our town on the council I look forward to work with mayor Raina business administrator Terrence wall in administration to review every dollar of spending conservative finding innovative ways to do more with less making sure every Jackson taxpayer gets the most for the money and for the services they receive use and enjoy have a wonderful and blessed 2025 everybody take care and have a good [Applause] evening councilman Paul Mary thank you good evening everyone first I want to express my deepest gratitude to the residents of Jackson Township for placing your trust in me and my fellow council members your support has been the foundation of this journey and I'm truly honored to serve our community I also want to take a moment to thank the county and state officials who are with us this evening your presence is a reminder of the importance of collaboration at all levels of government and I look forward to working together to achieve great things for Jackson and Beyond to my family thank you for your unwavering love and encouragement you have been my strength and inspiration throughout this journey and I could not have done this without you as we take this next step together I'm filled with optimism for Jackson's future we have an incredible opportunity to take our town to take to keep our town thriving safe and strong I look forward to tackling the challenges ahead with determination and serving every resident with integrity and dedication thank you and let's get to work for in Township councilman Sergeant good evening I'd like to congratulate Miss Kon Mr Bernstein and Mr Paul Mary on their new appointments to council and um I'm gonna wave the rest of my comments thank you Council vice president Bernstein thank you Miss Moss um thank you everyone for coming a special thank you to my wonderful children and my wife for coming out wasn't easy um but more importantly for being by my side day in and day and day out um in the mornings afternoons and nights my schedule could be sometimes quite crazy um and they always handle it with a uh with a smile so thank you again children thank you again wife a round of applause for them because they really stand by everyone um a special thank you to all of our state and County and local elected officials who who who who came out tonight a special thank you to commissioner Haynes commissioner sedi um some of the other Commissioners were supposed to come but the last minute of things came up so we appreciate their continuous support a special thank you to Senator Owen Henry who second home is really in Jackson almost at this point um assembly mensi assembly man Clifton um and then a very very special thank you I want to make sure I didn't miss anyone not yet um a very very special thank you to assemblyman um Jack Chelli for swearing me not once but twice um it's great to know that we could rely on and we have a friend hopefully in Trenton but we have a friend out there like Jack chellis so thank you thank you Jack um a special thank you also just not looking around the crowd for a minute to the arer family for coming in and being there and uh always helping out us our family extended family here in Jackson we appreciate your continued friendship um I wouldn't be here without the help of a wonderful team but it really started about a a little over a year ago when my colleagues here in Council put their trust in me and the mayor made that decision that I was the right choice for Jackson so thank you mayor Rea thank you council president C a special thank you to councilman Sergeant for giving me that that chance and letting me uh to be up here and to have a year to prove myself or not prove myself and and I really really do appreciate that trust that you put into me um I also want to take a special moment and really just thank my running mates it was a wonderful brutal campaign happy that it's over and I we looking forward to governing and working together I'm blessed to work with a council up here and a Administration that works very well together and I'm looking forward to great things not just in 2025 God willing further on into 2026 Al also a lot of friends in the in the crowd and I noticed a lot of people who work for the township a special thank you to all of our employees all of our professionals Jackson is just continuing to move in in in an amazing Direction and it's because of the work that everyone puts in in the mornings afternoons nights weekends handling council's calls the mayor's calls everyone's calls some of the calls from me might be a crazy hours but we very much appreciate it and we know that you guys really really do care about Jackson thank you for the great work we look forward to that part of the agenda then to the rest of the residents both the residents who are here um who came out it's not it wasn't it's not always easy to come out thank you for those some people in the crowd it might not have been such an easy time to come out we very much appreciate it um and to all the friends out there both here and lo and and throughout who are watching but really a special thank you to the residents of Jackson who put their faith and trust in me and gave me this opportunity I hope to make make you proud we look forward to working together with our local elected officials our County our state and hopefully our federal elected officials and continuing to make Jackson an even better place for us to live and raise our families thank you and have a wonderful evening council president it's gonna be hard to uh to follow that one um good evening everyone it is truly an honor to sit on the de once again as your council president I am excited to continue serving this community and being and I'm deeply committed to upholding transparency and making decisions that are best for all residents of Jackson I would like to M take a moment to thank some of our professionals that are here as well as some of our elected officials I see Senator Owen hery came in um thank you commissioner sedi for swearing me in commissioner Haynes i' saw you uh assemblyman Jack selli um assemblyman siwicki assemblyman Clifton and anybody else that I miss I just truly thank you guys for all coming out it means a lot to us here in Jackson as well as our public safety director our PBA president and our SL a vice president you guys do a great job in Jackson Police Department in protecting and keeping the residents safe and we greatly greatly appreciate you um I would also like to recognize and congratulate our new elected vice president uh Burnstein councilman brelli on his reappointment and I'm thrilled to welcome our newest councilman uh jeppe Paul Mar to the team your dedication and hard work uh are going to make this town great and I look forward to working alongside each of you I had the the honor of working with councilman Sergeant last year and I look forward to continuing that partnership as we tackle the challenges ahead as we begin 2025 I'm excited to work closely with our newly elected vice president Bernstein to build on the successes we've already achieved and continue to move forward in Jackson and achieve more this year this year we'll continue the important work of resolving the issues that were brought to our attention in the past year and there are some and we are willing and ready to tackle them I'm confident that together we can make a real and Lasting difference for our residents thank you again for the trust thank you for being here tonight and let's make 2025 a year of progress and success for Jackson residents thank you [Applause] all we'll continue with Council president's appointments to the township Council subcommittees council president will read into the record subcommittee appointments for County year 2025 thank you Miss Moss Administration chairperson Jennifer Lun Vice chair morai Bernstein Board of Education chairperson Scott Sergeant Vice chair jeppe palmary business and finance chairperson Scott Sergeant Vice chair jeppi Paul Mary Community Development and land use law chairperson Scott Sergeant Vice chair morai Bernstein COA Council of affordable housing chairperson morai Bernstein Vice chair Jennifer Lun Economic Development advisory committee chairperson jeppe paary Vice chair Jennifer Lun emergency medical service advisory committee chairperson morai Bernstein Vice chair Jennifer Lun going green committee chairperson Nino brelli Vice chair Scott Sergeant law and Public Safety chairperson Jennifer Lun Vice chair morai Bernstein Mobile Home Park advisory committee chairperson Nino barelli Vice chair jepp paary Municipal Court chairperson Jennifer Lun Vice chair morai Bernstein open space preservation chairperson Nino barelli Vice chair Jennifer elun private residential Community advisory chairperson Nina belli Vice chair jeppi palmary Public Works buildings grounds and vehicle services chairperson Scott Sergeant Vice chair Jennifer elun recreation parks and Senior Services chairperson Nino barelli Vice chair Jennifer elun Roa Farms Advisory Board chairperson Nino burelli Vice chair Jennifer elun shade tree commission chairperson Scott Sergeant Vice chair morai Bernstein veteran services chairperson Scott Sergeant Vice chair Nino barelli council president if I could just ask um I had a conversation walking in with the council president um I ask my colleagues I would like to ask make a motion for going green commission um the council president was very involved with some grants and grant writing which falls under going green commission I would like to see that possibly continue if my colleagues here would be amendable to allowing two Vice chairs we did this last year when it came to Roa two Vice chairs for the go green commission to add council president obviously um no three members will show up to a meeting together but they'll rotate internally I actually just want to add to that I just want to thank councilman the previous councilman uh Steve Chisum I didn't realize the importance in that committee and getting grants for our Township and it's very very important we've been working with I've been working with the business administrator and councilman um Vice will be working with me to do everything we can to get as many grants for parks recreation our Police Department our DPW all of our departments it's very very very important that we take advantage of the grant writing and we I think we want to step it up this year so if that my council members would be I would like to make a motion and then um can I motion second second roll call council member Elli yes councilman Burstein yes councilman Paul Mary yes councilman Sergeant yes Council council person Q yes thank thank you Miss Moss thank thank you Miss Moss I appreciate that thank you Council second that was second Vice chair for the going green yes ma' another one no just going green that was the only one thank you move on to consent agenda I need a motion to approve the listed under consent agenda motion please so move second councilman burelli yes councilman Bernstein yes Council councilman Paul Mar yes councilman Sergeant yes and Council uh president cun I just wanted to make comments on resolution excuse me 2625 that will uh make Stephen Chisum Jr the chairperson of the Roa committee We Have Not Elected uh members of that committee yet we if you we've re received your application it will be at the January 14th meeting after um he can review all the applications also I want to again thank you for me to the going green and I look forward to working with klier as they are grant writers ker engineer um truly truly will be uh being in touch with Administration and you a lot and congratulations to the zoning board uh Jason such your appointment congratulations as well as Mr Kim Bry and then the MUA um congratulations on the appointment the new appointment for the MUA and yes to everything council president at this time yes if we can congrat congratulations to our professional Greg mcguy our attorney if Mr mcgucken can you come up and join us I apologize we forgot about you miss C can you um repeat who the MUA person was I didn't get to hear it uh George Stafford Smith I apologize thank you right Greg Greg Greg Stafford Smith I apologize we forgot about him sorry you should have waved back there I was join likes nothing up there you know got my head now we will now continue with the mayoral appointments right into record by Administration council president you like me to read them um yes sir you can read them sure thank you um good evening folks I'll read the uh mayor appointments uh for the honorable Mayor Michael Reena I'll read them into the record and then the uh the backup as far as the terms will be on file with the clerk's office uh we have the appointment to Des of designated piland Municipal Council Eugene Fowler appointment of members to the Americans with Disabilities committee Richard Wilton construction official Jamar Glenn safety coordinator and Moren van bramer appointment of members to The Economic Development Committee Roger derkson Gary rmer and Jeff Hena Lee is on to the mayor appointments to the member of the planning board Terrence wall Class 2 ray Tremor Merl design shimi heler class four Patrick Rogers class four Jeffrey rker class four environmental Elizabeth Rose alternate one Fred weart alternate number two appointment members to the Jackson Day committee Mayor Michael Reena Terrence wall Samantha Novak Anthony HOA Casey wolf Kathy fishbach Captain fredman officer Michael bollock Sean bolinsky Steve koner Michael Gman Al ciero Ray koner Nick janusa Christine Johnson appointment of member to the Shay tree committee members Steve Chisum senior Michael McCabe appointment of members to the veterans commission Barry Kos David whan Greg worth Mueller Frank bolamy Paula Robertson Kenneth Bry appointment to the environmental commission Jeffrey rker appointment to the office of Emergency Management Deputy coordinators Richard boner Scott Rous aliero Gary NOS from the township Mayor Michael Reena Samantha Novak Terrence wall James Diaz Earl kiano Anthony Bruno Reverend Dan Schaefer MOA Hinman tras from first aid and Fire Chiefs tras Ohara James Lono Dan Bradley aliero certified J operators Michael mizio William cosna C Personnel John abro Bruce Miller Al hot Dave alvo Patrick gagher car kers bom Michelle Mor Rocco Alan tozo Pac Wes Joey todano Monica wolf Dan Medina Ena ganowski Dominic chicarelli Juan kasanova Cil Rankin Jane Liss Christine Natoli elain weskate Nick papis schm npark Israel Mor morges Morales uh Carmen Esposito Rich gross Jerry Chapman Virgil Hollander Bill greenblum Peggy Mack Vince scuo Joe Mada Dale Andrews Robert Curtis Barry Ash congratulations to all on your appointments Township Council and the mayor looks forward to working with all of you thank you very much thank you sir council president my apologies I need to continue with the roll call for the consent agenda I thought okay I was just like okay no worries council president yes I yes council member barelli yes councilman Paul Mary yes councilman Sergeant yes and Council vice president Bernstein yes thank you we move to approve the bills and claims I need a motion please motion second councilman barelli obstain on venor numbers e01 and TR e37 yes to the rest on there councilman pal Mar yes councilman Sergeant yes Council vice president Bernstein yes and council president K yes thank you we move on to public comments on any Topic at this time if any member of the P public has any comments to make please address the council at a microphone state your name and address clearly for the record you will have five minutes and may only speak once dman will Point Drive Jackson I gotta say welcome Mr pal Mar it's nice to see a fresh face on the board I uh also am a little enthusiastic about the continuity with the rest of the board you know as I said before I voted for you guys so it's nice to pick a winner I guess as they say um you know I was here the other day because the town schedule gets messed up around this time of year and nothing you know all for good reasons the question I have and unfortunately Mr mcgucken was not here the other day I believe it his daughter um how is it not a conflict of interest that he is a state legislator and also Town attorney it's not a conflict multiple how so you're sitting there you're is you're empowering these people with their laws and they're going to you and you're enacting their laws disagree with your interpretation of that but no it's not a confim okay well I disagree but I guess we could look that you know I am a little disappointed that Mr rain is not not here because well would like to ask him a couple questions but that seems to be part for the course um you know I do have it going on where I am going to be hopefully meet Mr wall to discuss some other issues um I will say uh Mr pal marry now that you're here and now it's a new year I would hope that you take a few minutes go over this new ordinance that they passed last year you know on the 31st of the year and say hey maybe we want to visit this CU our attorney who's supposed to sit in there as a stop Gap saying hey this is a really bad idea this is where we should just let sleeping dogs lie failed to do his job for his $650,000 a year and he's asking to be repaid again but again the town is getting horrible legal advice you should be sitting there saying no you can't do that or you really shouldn't do that because it's already done this is not a battle you want to fight and yet here it is Town's going to lose 120 million dollar when we don't have the money to keep schools open tell me how that makes sense all right try and justify it and I also hope that in the next year no one for any reason be a political gain or just because they think they're doing the right thing even suggest buying any open Green Space or taking any additional expenditures that are not necessary until the school situation resolved it's a little a little disgusting that you know the school board meetings on the same night usually as the Town Council meetings we know that's kind of done for a reason maybe we could look into changing that somehow some way procedurally I'm not sure about the law on that but I think there's a lot of things that are just being kept under wraps and again I'll say it again the town would much rather respond to a lawsuit and settle out of court than just fix any problem there are lots of things in this town that can be fixed without having to go to court and pay whether it's Mr mcgucken or another attorney thousands or Millions dollars because somebody doesn't want to do the right thing we're not talking about changing laws we're talking about it's in black and white it's a the right way to do it the wrong way to do it it's legal or not legal and people in this town whether it be the police department or people who work in this building seem to have taken upon themselves where their thoughts feelings and opinions overrule and are trumping law and what's reasonable I hope everybody takes this moment to reflect upon it and have a great night happy New Year see you next year thank you sir have a great [Music] night seeing no one else come forward and make a motion to close public comment second all in favor I I motion to close meeting I'll make a motion second all in favor I I thank you first time I got that right it only took me a year could I have took me a year yeah