safest place of town council president ready okay guys please rise I pledge allegiance to the flag of 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 please be seated good evening and welcome the February 13 2024 meeting of the Jackson Township Council will now come to order councilman burelli here councilman Bernstein here councilman Chisum here Council vice president Sergeant here and council president cun here as Clerk of the of this meeting I hereby publicly announce that in compliance with the provisions of the open public meetings act adequate notice of this meeting has been advertised in the manner prescribed by law council president if I may the proclamation for the Jackson youth football in cheer d8 and D12 cheer team will be presented at the February 27th 2024 meeting correct thank you thank you we'll continue with opening comments from Township Council council president C thank you good evening residents of Jackson I would like to thank the men and women of the Jackson Police Department for showing up in support of ordinance 10-24 establishing the position of a public safety director I'm hoping that all members of the council will show up tonight and support our men and women in blue as they are supporting us thank you over um after over five years of inactivity in the Jackson Township Economic Development Committee it has met and discussed the future of Jackson's business and commercial landscape the committee discussed providing local businesses with information and opportunities such as aiding businesses and finding appropriate grants for small business administrations and to guide them in the right direction to obtain PPP loans needed for expansion and growth the veterans committee had a great meeting as well we are looking to have a veterans Appreciation Day in June more details to come as they come in I have great news that I haven't even told the Jackson Day committee yet I received confirmation from the Board of Education that the Jackson Memorial band will be available to perform for Jackson day this September I met with the Board of Ed and I was able to present tonight's ordinance 1024 no parking on County Roads 1044 admit that no parking on County Roads and receiving their blessing this ordinance will be reintroduced and I will explain why later in the in the meeting in regards to Andover Road that was the only that was the only oneway Road brought to the attention last meeting the the ordinance was being enforced was not being enforced I contacted our trative Traffic Safety Bureau and they conducted Road studies which has been completed and sent to the county for their traffic uh studies as we have so we should have a final answer by the next meeting on whether we will resend the ordinance or move forward with enforcing that existing ordinance I had a meeting at t uh Town Hall last Friday with Administration Township engineer and DPW to discuss the Jackson Police Department parking lot issues our administrator or business administrator Mr wall and our Engineers informed me that there is a grant money available for the county for projects just like this one the engineers are working on submitting the plans to the county and while provide an update on more information as it comes in you'll see a graphic that's up on there if you can reir your attention to the screen for the last four months I have been working closely with the Jackson police chief Traffic Safety Bureau Township engineer and DPW we are getting to roll out phase one which will be educating residents of the Jackson dos and don'ts of title 39 councilman Bernstein DPW Jackson Police as well as myself will be walking and visiting neighborhoods with Flyers that you see up there to inform residents of title 339 they will also be found at all the Township buildings phase two will be I have proposed a business administrator for hiring class ones and class 2's officers which would be very coste efficient way efficient way of helping clean up the parking lot issues in our town thank you so much thank you Council vice president Sergeant I'm waving comments at this time thank you councilman barelli uh thank you clerk Moss uh I would like to acknowledge the passing of Vincent Rubio who was a longtime resident of our Town who with his wife Patricia 40 54 years raised a son officer Vincent Rubio Jr many of you served with him who recently retired from the Jackson Township Police Department his dad Mr ruia worked for Jackson Township as an equipment operator and safety officer and served with distinction in the United States Army um during the Vietnam war earning a Purple Heart Mr Rubio who devoted his time and service to his community and country is certainly a role model for the young people of today rest in peace sir and my prayers and condolences to his family as we may have all heard by now the Jackson Township School District was forced to borrow over $10 million from the state of New Jersey to cover a budget deficit caused by yearly State 8 cuts of suburban school districts like ours so because of this loan the State Department of Education is requiring the Jackson School District to be assigned a state monitor who will oversee and can overrule the decisions of the duly elected School School Board in whose $160,000 salary and all other expenses we taxpayers will have to pay for not a good situation for our schools to be in so at the next council meeting with the advice and consent of the council president I plan on introducing a resolution in support of assembly Bill a 3589 which former Jackson Township Council men and assemblyman Alex siwicki is sponsoring that will require the state of New Jersey to pay the salary of State monitors assigned to school districts not the local school districts thank you and have a good evening thank you councilman Bernstein thank you Miss Moss um before I forget I meant to thank Miss Moss by our last couple meetings um Miss Moss has been phenomenal at getting the agendas out earlier our agenda was out I think it was Friday by 11 o'clock in the morning publicly so thank you Miss Moss for all that hard work um again thank you everyone for coming out I just wanted to give a quick update on some of the things that I have opportunity and the privilege of doing since our last council meeting a couple weeks ago um about two and a half weeks ago I joined mayor Rea and and president cun by meeting with the county Engineers County Commissioner sedi um to talk about Jackson's growth and ensuring and advocating for Jackson to get our fear share from our County so we could continue with our road improvements lighting improvements and anything else that we can possibly get as I think most residents are aware the county did give us multiple commitments the one commitment that the county was comfortable releasing to the public is that they are actively working and pursuing um various plans to widen South New Prospect to a threeway threeway Road hopefully over 2024 um we also discussed the need for them to look at Whitesville Road Hope Chapel Road cooksbridge Road and other Jackson roads they are actively starting those processes continuing those processes and we hope to see 2024 being a year where Jackson's um traffic and quality of life continues to go in the right direction um multiple residents have reached out since I guess that news hit the fan about sidewalks and I'm going to continue to encourage our residents to reach out to the administration sidewalks generally fall under Administration obviously we can't sidewalk everywhere in town um it's impossible overnight but to reach out to Administration um voice your concerns voice your safety concerns and I can tell you that the council and Administration very much support and um our strong advocates for the safety of all residents um I have the pleasure of ser serving on the open space committee um open space committee met for the second time we are currently working on um updating our Maps so we can know exactly what the town owns for open space and to look into that and see what could be made into Parks what could be left just as as as as it is now um additionally since the open space committee met um we've gotten multiple leads that the administration is looking into obviously we wish every lead turned into something tangible but we continue encouraging you to let your neighbors let your friends know that Jackson Township is looking for open space and you never know by speaking to someone in the grocery store what could end up happening and what could end up turning into a beautiful preserved land for eternity um as council president mentioned there was an economic advisory committee which I also serve on with council president I did have to leave early but I was so impressed to see a wonderful um phenomenal energized group of residents um there was a representative of the planning board on there representative of the zoning board the um um and and other resident boards who who joined together and looking forward to seeing continued econ IC growth in Jackson Township um similarly to to assem to assemblyman sorry to um councilman belli um I also want to Echo something similar but on a different note um the state recently redid their um their housing development plan um assembly Bill A4 um as I think our local legislator said and and and I've seen throughout the state all Republicans from what what I understand voted against it the legislature instead of focusing um instead of focusing on adding more housing requirements they should be focusing on better ways to make New Jersey more affordable for all Jackson res for all residents in New Jersey um I'm looking forward to um to working through our agenda tonight with all of our residents and looking forward to everyone having a safe night and a and a great week thank you and councilman Chisum good evening thank you there we are some of you guys might be familiar with the who I'm not talking about Pete towns talking about the World Health Organization they are currently right now trying to force the United States into a pandemic treaty if that doesn't concern you if you don't think that 2020 was a complete disaster just imagine what happens when the Star Wars bar scene is now in control of all of your drugs these guys are now going to be able to take away our United States sovereignty and demand that we pay for drugs and take our stockpile so when our citizens are now hospitalized we have have to give them to Third World Nations because they demand so and we're going to be paying for it so you should demand that our two senators who do next to nothing for New Jersey vote no against this because it is their obligation to defend the United States of America they have not done a very good job of that also an epic failure King Phillip has decided just yesterday to allow his BPU president to basically raise your utility bills for the average New Jersey resident by $100 per year doesn't seem like much but when you add that your gas and your groceries and everything else that's gone up 5 S 8 20% in the last two years then it might be more of a concern to you and you might say well why do you need all this extra money to enact green initiatives to basically line the pockets of your donors they are not going to save the planet they couldn't if they tried it's rather disgraceful um I just heard that there's a five-year Hiatus in the economic development committee so I just want to correct that that's not exactly true we did have meetings here the last couple years while I was the president of the uh or chair of that committee and when I sat on the Chamber of Commerce I was a member of that and we did have meetings uh over the last five years so I'm glad to see there may be some traction on that but just to clear the record we did have some meetings um on the good news I did also see we got the $2 million as council president had admitted and talked to uh that's going to go back to our schools not sure how everybody else is doing but I hope we're going to use that for math our students are totally deficient it said I just paid an extra dollar at Popeye's because the dude couldn't give me exact change after I gave him exact change and I just said it's not worth the dollar you can keep it I've had that happen three times where I had to correct kids on just counting money please use that $2 million to teach our children basic math for the love of God the best note though however I would have to say is the Roba farms uh volunteer workday we had sever several companies working here in the town donating some time to improve the grounds over there uh so I would like to thank the mayor and administrator for helping me set that up making sure everything ran smoothly Phil's Tree Service K&L Tree Experts Aspen Tree Experts our Department of Public Works who was also out there and the kids at the JTV team uh great job thank you to all that helped out and we certainly look forward to having some more uh good news going on at that Park this year and for that thank you all have a great night thank you thank you consideration ordinance public hearing and final consideration this is the second reading of ordinance 02- 24 entitled an ordinance of the township Council Township of Jackson Ocean County New Jersey amending chapter 3-1 149 of the township administrative code to provide for an additional alternate member of the Jackson Township municipal Utility Authority this ordinance was introd produced on January 23rd 2024 I need a motion to open the public hearing motion second roll call all in favor I thank you if any member of the public has any comments to make please address council at the microphone and state your name and address clearly for the record you will have five minutes and may only speak once seeing no one come forward and make a motion to close public session second thank you call all in favor I I this is the third reading of ordinance 0224 entitled an ordinance of the township Council Township of Jackson Ocean County New Jersey amending chapter 3149 of the township administrative code to provide for an additional alternate member of the Jackson Township municipal Utility Authority I need a motion to adopt on third and final reading and advertise according to law motion second councilman belli no councilman Bernstein yes councilman Chisum yes Council vice president Sergeant yes and council president cun yes a second reading of ordinance 0324 entitled an ordinance of the township of Jackson County of ocean state of New Jersey amending ordinance number 36-23 establishing the salary arranged for all the various officials and employees of the township for the year 2024 and thereafter this ordinance was introduced on January 23rd 2024 I need a motion to open the public hearing motion second all in favor I if any member of the public has any comments to make please address the council at the microphone and state your name and address clearly for the record you will have five minutes and may only speak once seeing no seeing no one come forward make a motion to close public session second all in favor I this is the third reading of ordinance 0324 entitled an ordinance of the township of Jackson County of ocean state of New Jersey amending ordinance number 36-23 establishing the salary range for all the various officials and employees of the township for the year 2024 and thereafter I need a motion to adopt on third and final reading and advertise according to law motion second roll call councilman brelli yes councilman Bernstein yes councilman Chisum yes Council vice president Sergeant yes and council president cun yes this is the second reading of ordinance 04- 24 entitled in ordinance of the township Council Township of Jackson Ocean County New Jersey amending chapter 163 of the Township Code of the township of Jackson entitled construction containers this ordinance was introduced on Janu January 23rd 2024 I need a motion to open the public hearing motion second all in favor I I if any member of the public has any comments to make please address the council at the microphone and state your name and address clearly for the record you will have five minutes and may only speak once seeing no one come forward and make a motion to close public session second all in favor I I this is a third reading of ordinance 0424 entitled an ordinance of the township Council Township of Jackson Ocean County New Jersey amending chapter 163 of the Township Code of the township of Jackson entitled construction containers I need a motion to adopt on third and final reading and advertise according to law motion second roll call councilman belli yes councilman Bernstein yes councilman Chisum yes Council vice president Sergeant yes and council president cun yes ordinances first reading council president cun are there any comments regard regarding ordinance 0624 yes this ordinance is a collaboration between Administration some members of council the S SOA the PBA to clean up internal issues that have been brought to my attention and I've shared with my fellow council members also after consideration this ordinance has been updated to require the candidate to have a minimum of 20 years of law enforcement experience and a sworn police officer that shall have a ranking of Sergeant or above thank you thank you ordinance 06- 24 entitled an ordinance of the township of Jackson County of ocean state of New Jersey amending chapter three of the administrative code of the township of Jackson establishing the position of director of the Department of Public Safety I need a motion to approve ordinance 06- 24 on first reading and to authorize a notice and approval and public hearing to be held on February 27th 2024 motion please motion second roll call councilman barelli uh clerk Moss um I want to First acknowledge many of our police officers who are in the audience and I want to thank you so much for your service we can't thank you enough on the residents and all of us up here um at this time I'm going to vote no on ordinance 0624 for creating another position in her town which could pay up to $200,000 a year with full-time benefits and I want to explain why because it's such an important issue and um share my statement with all of you I just think we should be fiscally responsible conservative here uh the public safety director position from which I've researched have learned about is limited in what they can do and the courts and state legislature have acknowledged the civilian nature of the director position um they will be performing the same administrative duties from what I gather as the chief already does so my position is why create the position then uh the chief would still run the day-to-day activities of uh the police department and um I've heard the public safety director position was uh tried before in our town and it didn't work and thankfully in because of all of you working together we live in one of the safest towns around and we were very blessed for that I haven't heard how adding specifically this position would better benefit our fellow Township residents uh we already have a police chief which seems to have worked out well over the years and uh there's a thing is too many chiefs and there's no pun intendent when I say that which which is you know isn't always a good thing for an organization this may cause more problems than it solves I've expressed that I wish we could table this ordinance uh to allow for more time for leaders and officers um including um all of you in the Jackson Township Police Department meet and discuss and maybe hash out any disagreements and concerns you have along with the township Administration and for all better and for all to better understand the position of public safety director position and what it would entail um I just feel that whatever differences may be going on within the ranks of the police department should be handle from within their your organization and not decide it at the governing body level and my time on the township Council I've always supported the men and women of the jtp proud of all of you we all are which I've always like to say you guys are second to none in the state of New Jersey and I have always voted for the resources for you officers to do the jobs that you do effectively and keep her Town safe and secure 247 I will continually to wholeheartedly support the men and women in blue thank you for your time vo yes okay thank you councilman Bernstein yes councilman Chisum so I would like to Echo um councilman belli's thoughts on a few of those things especially you know thanking all the officers for what they do my concern here has been really about the rush to push this through uh while there are some serious issues that need to be discussed if this is a good idea now it will be a good idea in two weeks or in two months there is really no reason to push this through um I don't like the way it is currently written it appears there are going to be some lawsuits filed if this is the case we did actually receive from the New Jersey State Association of Chiefs and police a letter today saying that uh some of the wording in the bill I would like our attorney to please respond to the comment that you just made should I finish my comment or you're gonna have I just just if you could address it because it's an inaccurate comment and you obviously didn't read in front of you upd we didn't get a letter today oh no but I've corrected it and it's been updated and you didn't read your paperwork you updated you actually amended the legislation sir before the meeting after 3 o' this afternoon didn't inform anybody sir yes you didn't inform me that you changed this wording in this you were informed by being after 3 o' yes sir I did I did okay that's good so if we've Rewritten that so then still I'm GNA have to vote no because we have not had time if you rewrote legislation this afternoon after 3:00 that's kind of ridiculous however it is still a rush there are still some things that going on and you know creating another salary if this is so important quite frankly and we're going to add another position for $200,000 I much rather would see that this maybe goes on the ballot maybe we put it up in November let the people decide such an important position rather than rushing the Judgment we don't need to show that we are acting just to do something just to be busy that is not the goal of this body and quite frankly there's enough rules on the books we don't enforce the laws that we have whether it's at the local state or federal level level if we were doing that we would not need to be creating new positions new money more legislation and more ordinances that is not a republican value and I'm going to at the moment until things are changed I'm going to vote no the way it was presented to me thank you Council vice president Sergeant good evening so as I was home nursing a massive throat infection for 10 days I had a lot of time to think about this and the mayor council president none of the council members influence how I vote I vote based on what I feel is the right thing to do and I vote let me just say that I was elected to vote the way that I feel like is the right thing to do and based on all the information that I've gathered as I'm home and also making phone calls like that you can't even believe at this time I'm voting yes to this position this position is not to take away from anything from anybody that's working in the police department this position is to facilitate anything that needs to be facilitated having said that again I vote Yes proudly thank you thank you and council president cun yes thank you thank you guys council president cun are there any comments regarding ordinance 07-24-18 this ordinance is an ordinance which is just to fix up a current ordinance and give um really our department a stronger way of enforcing it it's an ordinance that would prevent people from parking on some of the islands and some of the neighborhoods that unfortunately people sometimes do um Park on and the current fee system is either ignored or sometimes the cars are abandoned after people leave this would give the department the ability to tow them and hopefully them I think we have a commitment from Administration the signs will be updated over there to reflect that and um we can hopefully enforce this ordinance going forward thank you thank you ordinance 0724 entitled an ordinance of the township of Jackson County of ocean state of New Jersey amending chapter 412-620-1080 7 2024 motion please motion second councilman burelli yes councilman Bernstein yes councilman Chisum yes Council vice president Sergeant yes and council president cun yes I would just like to say um sorry yes I would just like to say that this is a very important ordinance there's a lot of our uh small neighborhoods that have abandoned vehicles that are parked in them so if if you're watching this I would suggest that you start moving them um because we are going to start cleaning up our streets thank you thank you council president cun are there any comments regarding ordinance 8-24 no ma'am not at this time ordinance 0824 entitled an ordinance of the township Council of the township of Jackson County of ocean state of New Jersey rezoning block 21401 lot 15 from R-3 to NC I need a motion to approve ordinance 08-20 4 on first reading and to authorize the notice of approval and public hearing to be held on February 27th 2024 motion motion thank you second councilman burelli yes councilman bernsteen yes councilman Chisum yes Council vice president Sergeant yes and council president cun yes yes you council president cun are there any comments regarding ordinance 0924 yes there are okay so this is regarding landlord registration we raised the fee from $100 to $125 we've also moved registration to be conducted between January 1st through January 31st therefore if it's not registered you won't be have a fine enforced what was happening is our courts I met with our judge and he was having you know at some of the Court hearings 150 people coming in um because landlord registration was just SC scattered throughout the whole uh calendar year so so now we're going to make it for within the first month so that way everybody that is a landlord can register your property and not get these violations um and it will be able to be done online which we are trying to move everything online so that's a huge Improvement thank you for the business administrator for helping uh work with us to get that process Mr C did you mention a $25 increase on that yes I did I must missed that piece can you tell me what the purpose is of the extra $25 just it's hasn't been raised in a long time and I think that all of the clerks and everything that are in the building department um we were looking to raise salaries and stuff like that and we thought that the landlord should also pay a little bit and contribute to the hard work that they do in the uh building department thank you thank you thank you ordinance 0924 entitled ordinance of the township of Jackson County of ocean state of New Jersey amending chapter 245 in entitled landlord registration and responsibilities of the Township Code I need a motion to approve orance 0924 on first reading and to authorize the notice of approval in public hearing to be held on February 27th 2024 motion second councilman brelli yes councilman Bernstein yes councilman Chisum yes Council vice president Sergeant yes and council president cun yes thank you council president cun are there any comments regarding ordinance 10-24 yes this is going to be this is for the county um okay they have it up so this is a reintroduction this was introduced at the last meeting and meeing meeting with our traffic uh safety Bureau and making you know other conversations with council members we had thought that it was the main problem and actually I was driving around in the morning uh during school hours and if we didn't add I I added standing to here so in essence you cannot park a car um and let it idle unfortunately at the bus stop and I know I'm probably going to get a lot of backlash on this but it's just it's unsafe um I I spoke with traffic safety and if you could see when um I had the clerk when we sent this to the public I made sure that his letter um officer alco's letter was in included in that people can't make rights or lefts but we also I made sure with the attorney's Guidance the buses will be allowed to park on these County Roads to pick up your children and that so you guys when you're going to work can make a right and a left and have nothing OB obstructing your view um I'm super excited about this and we also added two permits for any properties that are adjacent to the parking area that you can't park in I'm thinking I know that it looks a little crazy but um once we have everything painted and we have the stop bars and the um the signage out I hoping that the neighborhoods are a lot more safer for your kids to get on the buses and to uh get off the buses thank you so much thank you are there any other comments no ordinance 10-24 entitled ordinance of the township of Jackson County of ocean state of New Jersey amending chapter 103 of the Township Code of the township of Jackson prohibiting parking stopping or standing within 50 feet of intersections at County roadways and and permitting permit parking only between 51 feet and 100 feet from said intersections I need a motion to approve ordinance 10-24 on first reading and to authorize the notice of approval and public hearing to be held on February 27th 2024 motion second councilman burelli yes councilman Bernstein yes and thank you council president C and everyone else the business administration for fixing it up and making it resolve hopefully the issues that we needed to result you're welcome thank you councilman Chisum yes Council vice president Sergeant yes and council president C yes thank you move on to bills in claims I need a motion to approve or hold theill bills and claims any a motion motion second councilman burelli I have to abstain on uh vendor numbers d01 I I'm sorry yeah I yeah e01 NJ s13 r04 uh sta 01 sta 54 and st76 yes to the restl thank you councilman Bernstein yes Council Chisum abstain on c44 and rut4 yes to the rest thank you Council vice president Sergeant yes and council president cun um I'm going to abstain from rcs2 yes to the rest thank you council president if I may before the motion to approve the consent agenda resolution r107 d24 and R 10924 has been pulled I also would like to table uh resolution 12624 Okay resolution consent agenda I need a motion to approve motion second councilman barelli uh yeah I think maybe I have a question for uh administrator wall regarding resolution uh r10 d24 Roba Farms Wetland survey was that done already I think that was funding was voted on years ago before uh I think any of us join the council thank you for your question councilman I uh held a conference call with tnm Engineers who had done prior work on that topic um about three years ago or so and also with uh Morgan Engineers to make sure that their efforts dovetailed so we were able to have a proper application that went to the state uh as far as the uh the regulation and the permitting that was required okay thank you welcome is it yes to the rest yes to all councilman I have to abstain on resolution R1 125-450 d24 yes yes sir thank you councilman Bernstein yes councilman Chisum yes Council vice president Sergeant yes and council president cun thank you yes move on to public comments on any Topic at this time if any member of the public has any comments to make please address council at the microphone and state your name and address clearly for the record we will have five minutes and may only speak once I'm gonna let Sergeant Rodriguez please speak first Chief you will be next just want to make sure this is on okay for those who don't know me I am Sergeant John Rodriguez and I represent the superior Officers Association of PBA 168 I will try to be brief given the weather and the volume of interested parties in the room but first I would like to thank mayor Raina who could not be here tonight and his administration for their ongoing and long-term commitment to the growth and development of our Police Department Madame council president councilman Bernstein councilman sergeant and councilman Chisum and berelli we thank you for hearing and being receptive to the current needs of the agency and by extension the best interests of the residents of the Jackson Township whom we proudly serve I first wish to speak on the issue of the position of a public safety director and why we as a union support the Township's decision to present this ordinance let me Begin by stating this is not a personal issue or attack I have had many respectful disagreements with Chief Coons but the leadership of the agency has been in disarray and decline for a substantial portion of Chief Coon's tenure much to the detriment of the order and function of the agency as a few examples there have been no agency staff meetings since August of 2015 even among Command Staff there was minimal communication and one-on-one meetings between captains and the chief with different direction given on the same issues I had a conversation with a captain who shall remain nameless only six weeks ago who employed me to do whatever I could to hold the chief accountable as they struggled with Personnel assignments given unfulfilled vacancies for both supervisory positions and Patrol level assignments in these instances the chief failed to advocate for or even request several still unfulfilled promotable positions from retirements leading to unexpected possible shift assignment changes for staff as for the patrol level positions the chief failed to hire four full-time police officers that were appropriately and graciously offered offered by the administration in the last calendar year alone as a former detective who was involved in the hiring and background process I can say the manner in which it has been handled in the previous few years is nothing short of disheartening and if the chief would like to assert that this was a function of the civil service exam results failing to yield adequate applicants I would say that he has had no problem circumventing the Civil Service list demonstrating a willingness to do so in the recent past this affords an opportunity to recruit individuals from outside the Civil Service list who may have special skills such as bilingual status or who better reflect the demographics of the increasingly diverse Community which we serve even a modum of effort from the chief to establish recruitment protocols would have been warmly received as opposed to watching a growth opportunity slip through our fingers as the son of a Cuban immigrant I can say we do a disservice to the exponentially increasing Latino population in town and and there has been zero direction or even suggestion of concern from the chief on this matter when we have one to two persons within the entire agency who speak any Spanish none of which are Court interpreters certified which is the standard established by the prosecutor's office to interview a suspect we disenfranchise victims who know that if they call to report a crime no one who responds is even going to be able to understand the words coming out of their mouth the chief has failed to Advocate effectively to this Administration the needs of the agent and in his absence as a leader the PBA and SOA have filled in to serve as an intermediary ensuring the Staffing and equipment needs of the agency are being met not only has the chief failed to advocate for the agency but I and president hemba have both personally had conversations with the chief regarding how we can advocate for the growth and development of the agency during which he provided his wishes for a specific number of hires and promotions only to later change his mind after obtaining Township support report choosing to decline the growth he had just asked us to advocate for the chief's actions have turned from apathy to counterproductive and he does so without explanation or remorse the agency has no known formal growth plan unless the chief has been hiding it in his desk for 16 years and waiting until tonight to present it in fact when such a document was presented to the township approximately 10 years ago by previous Union leadership they were chastised and discipline was threatened against them by Che Coons as a union we seek to stop this dysfunctional cycle of fulfilling tasks that should be the purview of the chief but instead fall on the union to complete or the agency suffers and we thank the township for taking steps to address our concerns for the dedicated and hardworking officers who are currently employed by jpd there is no formal or structured career development plan nor is there any meaningful review instead supervisors are mandated to complete semiannual evaluations which are a requirement for our accredited status I have personally included recommendations for training and career development for the officers on my squad and have never received any feedback or even acknowledgement on this issue the agency should have a Core Curriculum of ongoing training courses that all receive in a structured manner to further both each of the individual's interests and the needs of the department no such protocols exist and the union have been asking for this for well over a decade I could continue at length But as time is limited I want to address two other items of concern I have rightfully been made aware of residents having pause over the salary figure corresponding to the public safety director and it is indeed a significant salary but I might add it Still Remains nearly 50,000 less than the chief salary whom the public safety director will be holding accountable it is worth noting at this point that as a collective Union we support and appreciate the Township's agreement to maintain the position of chief of police as this position alone should Prevail as PD leadership longterm with either a chief Coons who performs adequately the functions of his office or a new Chief who is willing to do so down the road as a union we would like to make a suggestion to the township when filling the PSD position that they consider utilizing the immense talent pool that already exists within the agency not only will this serve to have someone who is already intimately aware of the concerns and issues with in the agency but further saves the township a significant portion of the salary figure the township would instead only have to increase the salary budget by the difference in salary and with the parameters established by the ordinance this would total $29,000 instead of 200k Plus benefits with costs minimized opposition to this by Chief Coons is really just opposition to accountability perhaps such a measure would alleviate the Draconian cuts the Chief has recently threatened if this ordinance passes I would now like to speak about some of the media articles that have been published in recent days president H hemba who I'm sure will speak later and I have both received overwhelming support and encouragement from those we represent as you can see in the room today as a result we have issued statements to the Lakewood Scoop regarding our support of the Township's ordinance again specifically as the township has committed to maintaining the position of chief of police this article and the article outlining the disgraceful bully tactics the chief has employed in recent days are both factual and represent the destabilization of the work environment the chief has fostered in the wake of this and we hope to move forward with providing ever improving service to the residents of Jackson Township the article that was published regarding Lieutenant olar's retired lieutenant olar is not endorsed by PBA 168 and contains factual errors in including identifying that incident as the impetus for this ordinance this is not true and a distraction from the greater issue at hand which is the inability of the agency to progress as it is currently managed as it relates to what did or didn't happen regarding discipline for this matter it is a direct reflection on Chief Coons as this incident occurred within the confines of the building he manages and he alone ultimately made the recommendations for what if any discipline should have been levied as such I suggest you direct questions to him furthermore to suggest that this is any reflection on mayor Raina and his administration is an even greater farce and purely an attempt to damage him politically as civilian employees are not held to the standards of police officers and if one wasn't being disciplined how could the other be without claiming bias but again the investigation of this incident the details of what transpired and any delays in reporting are for the chief to answer and not pertinent to this ordinance other than as a reflection of the ch Chief's management abilities the union wishes all its retired members well as they move forward beyond their tenure with the agency lastly I would like to thank the large contingent of PBA and SOA members who are here tonight to support president hemba and myself and no one else thank you thank you thank you Sergeant Chief would you please come up would you like to come up to the microphone chief please come up good evening Chief Matthew CS Jackson Township Police Department um hopeful I'll get the same courtesy of some latitude on the time as absolutely sir that was a lot to unpack and I did my best to take notes so thank you uh Sergeant Rodriguez and uh oser Hena for your representations I will say some are fair and some are completely off base I'm sorry did you say that you were taking notes I was trying to take notes as he spoke so I could address the com okay because we have it on tape well yeah no I mean but this is in real time sir so with that said I will express my disappointment in the inaccuracy of a great number of the remarks by Sergeant Rodriguez first let's speak on hiring so last year with the ascent of the mayor his budg the uh appropriate Authority the business administrator and the governing body we were generally authorized to hire eight police officers our first obligation is to explore the Civil Service list that is our absolute Duty as a civil service agency to explore that list for suitable candidates which we did and we did with Vigor uh we were unable to identify sufficient number of suitable candidates from that list which I would note that to date we're still fighting with civil service to close out and recertify so what we did was we pivoted and we went to what is known as the alternate root program we hired one gentleman in the spring and we've hired several additional since using that program with the goal the goal that we share of hiring the maximum number of police officers as Allowed by the township and codified under Personnel positions which currently State we can hire up to 110 officers from top to bottom today we sit at 108 we would be at that 110 but for the two officers we lost recently we lost one in the fall at the beginning of the cademy training and we had a resignation just two weeks ago so we were actually at our maximum authorized strength that said through the budgetary process and as some of the administration is certain to know we've requested to hire 10 more officers this year so we can grow the department commensurate with the growth of the township so to say that we're doing nothing on hiring is actually inaccurate at best we have also advertised for hiring in the recent past and we have sent officers to recruitment events uh both at the wtown EMS Academy at a college event and we have another one uh coming up in about a month I believe at Keen University so our hiring efforts are active they are ongoing and we are absolutely dedicated to identifying the absolute best candidates for this Township where we find a candidate has an unsuitable background we pass on that because as we say in the industry if you hire a bad candidate you're hiring a 30-year problem employee we want nothing but the best for this Township so we go to Great Lengths in our background process currently I believe it is four positions on the Civil Service list that in concert with our Personnel officer we are fighting to remove from consideration for various negative findings in their backgrounds criminal history domestic violence occurrences theft dishonesty we need to close out that old list and remove these candidates so we can get the new certified list this is our duty and it moves at the speed of government unfortunately it is not fast food concurrently we have four new class two special police officers that are in training and if we ident identify them as suitable candidates to move up to fulltime we can advance them to full-time vacant positions as well to get us to our 110 or if our ordinances expand our table of organization beyond that so we have a multitude of areas in which we are moving to keep our hiring current I would note that despite the commentary of our lack of growth and planning under adverse budget conditions in the last several years working with the mayor working with the administration we've grown our department from some 90 officers up to 110 that's a substantial growth in numbers and percentage in the recent years that's a body of work that was accomplished only but for the police department working with the administration and again every annual budgetary uh submission that the governing body has received is clearly reflective of those demands to continue to grow the department commensurate with the grow of growth of the township I can point to a recent conversation with councilman Bernstein where we discussed the industry standard calculation of 2.2 officers per thousand residents which would suggest that we should be at 130 officers contrary to the 110 were authorized councilman Bernstein bested me by saying in his estimate we're growing faster than the Census Data is projecting therefore we should be on a trajectory to aim for even more than 130 officers and uh in a similar conversation with council president cun she asked okay if we're at 110 and we go to 130 where would you put them and without hesitation we would have put 12 into the Patrol Division we would have added to our services division to our Traffic Safety Traffic Safety supervision detective Bureau we could instantly accommodate that number of Staff but another part of the calculation it's not a Jackson problem or an Ocean County problem or a New Jersey problem hiring in law enforcement in the last several years has been extremely problematic in part due to the maligning of police the defund the police movement the negative media coverage a and the appearance that going into law enforcement is perhaps less attractive now than it was without people stopping to really take a hard look Ocean County this area actually law enforcement is great I know our staff has afforded a tremendous contract the terms and conditions of their employment are most favorable again and that's for the work of the governing body and the collective bargaining units so I I was to me recently again with Jeff and John I was ghosted on that but I think part of it is that there's this uncomfortable climate that has developed in the police department because of the ranker uh discussion of this uh Public Safety uh director position but I've maintained an open door with the PBA and SOA and admittedly and I'm sure if Jeff were to speak he would say that our personal and working relationship is the best between the department and the union that it has been in many many years and that is for our professionalism our mutual respect and the ability to separate business from personalities and I'm proud of our half of that as a department uh as far as career development program our trainings Cadre does look to ensure that our staff has a diverse uh training beyond the Attorney General mandated minimums we seek to have various disciplines such as advanced crash investigation etc for everybody not just the Specialists there are five core areas that we look to expand everybody's training since covid that has also been extremely difficult where inperson training was cancelled uh the change in the breathalizer device across the state we weren't afforded sufficient spots to train our staff for the conversion we Face a lot of challenges but we continue to work at it and I thought we work at it together um again just in no particular order responding to the comments of Sergeant Rodriguez we've seen the failed experiment of promoting a low-level employee from within the police department to oversee it it occurred in 1988 and it was a sergeant promoted the public safety director and the result was so chaotic that in short order the governing body asked that public safety director to separate themselves from service I would dispute the uh statement that threats have been made there's been no threats there's been discussion as to how this impacts the department how it might impact us budgetarily so the number 200,000 continues to come up well obviously it doesn't occur in a vacuum I work with the administration on our budget I've had many meetings recently in the finance office conference calls with the ba with the CFO and the consensus is it's a very tight year in large part due to the significant pay increases that our Union Personnel saw so now in order for the township to continue to do what it does every year and craft a responsible budget that money has to come from somewhere I went back and I sharpened my pencil and I realized a bunch of cuts that I think we can get away with in order to work with the administration to stay within the budget but keep moving forward so there certainly was talk that this could lead to cuts and there was talk that a public safety director may come in and seek to justify their existence by insisting that we're living well be in our me well within our means and well within our budget and they might seek to drive Cuts as well those are objective discussions those are rational discussions based on the budgetary experience they are in no way threat and I understand that the large contingent here represented staff that were both for and against the creation of a public safety director it's been brought to me and I'll go to my prepared comments if I may but it's been brought to me by many staff that they feel uh stifled or suppressed in expressing their opinions which again speaks to this is creating an uncomfortable climate in the police department I think I covered all the notes that I was able to Garner from Sergeant Rodriguez's comments but I would say we all have the same interests in mind that would be the growth and success of our department and whether I'm a Floy human being or not I always believe that the business of the department such as the business of the township belongs at a conference table not in the uncomfortable public forum where it's akin to uh airing dirty laundry so I gave a test read of my prepared remarks and I went back and I crossed out a lot to try and respect this five minute timer but if I'm a little over I hope you give me a little bit of L on it because these are all very important discussions so having responded to those comments hopefully reasonably so good evening Madam clerk again for the record Chief Matthew CS chief of Department Jackson Township Police Department and I'm also here as a homeowner a taxpayer and a 56- year resident of the township good evening again members of the governing body and Township Administration I come before you this evening with a number of concerns and I do so with some trepidation as I have always believed the business of running the township is best conducted professionally at a conference table not in a public forum such as this kindly note it is not my intention to be adversarial but rather collaborative as we all share responsibility in the governance of the township and its departments several matters do loom large tonight those being the proposed creation of a public safety director a prior disciplinary matter and the impact of all of this on the good men and women of the Jackson Police Department again my intention is to promote this responsible sharing of information and to collaborate as far as is practicable while maintaining the integrity and decorum each matter is deserving of since the recent release of ordinance 0624 is drafted local digital media has exploded with rampant misinformation attacks on all persons even remotely related to the matter and a protal narrative has been created to justify an unjustifiable position it is appalling that Anonymous authors find it acceptable not only to publish false statements but also that they would so cavalierly Sully the names and character of others in pursuit of promoting ordinance 0624 as somehow legitimate when we all know the creation of a public safety director is dubious at best if this proposition were indeed so Noble there would be no need for the media and character attacks being executed in support of it I cross this part out but I want to bring it up because I think it's important and it speaks to character I would note that I did contact more than one publisher and cite my concern that Distributing articles which report the mayor has an agenda or does not always find himself in agreement with me did not serve the interests of the town Township and I ask they consider redacting them also of note is that I have not asked for any publication or story line regarding the instant matter as again I believe that not to be in the public interest and contrary to my personal belief that business matters should be handled privately on collaboration the two Liaisons to my office in the Jackson Police Department council president Jen cun and councilman Morty Bernstein it has been my perspective Ive that we had previously laid the foundation for a productive working relationship meeting on traffic concerns as you've cited dating back to last year our time was productive as well as constructive while not the focus of those early meetings late last year we will we were able to touch upon such important topics as hiring and police department Staffing an industry formulation for calculating the appropriate level of Staffing was discussed a number of 130 police officers being the proposed Staffing level I see you've reflected that for our agency and our Township to Aspire to given our population growth and expansive geometry geography deployment of such additional Personnel was also discussed again as a sidebar to the traffic concerns then at hand entering 2024 as the named council members are were appointed as Liaisons we also began to share timely information regarding Public Safety matters I have learned secondhand that the two liaison met with some members of the local bargaining unit a byproduct at meeting said to be operational concerns and a need for a public safety director to date information regarding the process for revoking that so-called need remains specious and with regret I report that many other members of that same bargaining unit have have expressed to myself and others their disdain with both the process and the outcome the point to be made here is that the police department lead aison met with some Department staff but sub subsequently did not meet with the department head to confirm or dispel some or all of the information being shared this would be this would appear to be a deficiency in our process and of particular import as the meeting has been cited in part as a predicate justification for The Rush to install the public safety director council president cun I note objectively that when you have come into your Council position and this liaison position with an apparent Zeal to move quickly where you identify work to be done that is of course lble particularly in government having said this I also suspect that you wish to proceed in the most informed and judicious manner to include having performed all the necessary due diligence regarding this or any other matter likewise in law enforcement and the tenants of management there is a guiding expression which simply stated as facts before acts all of that said I believe that in the interest of all due diligence and fact finding which ought to be afforded such an impactful decision as the expense of creation of another Police Department administrator we should meet to confirm or dispel the purported information being bandied about as you are aware I have previously requested such a meeting but regrettably our schedule have not yet aligned in the interim I have shared relevant information by way of two documents which provide a competent overview of the police chief and public safety director positions and I respectfully repeat my request for a meeting and professional discussing discussion regarding the instant matters as for the actual public safety director position my reading of the draft ordinance reveals it to be in conflict with the statutory law as to duties reserved for the chief of police I would continue to suggest that rather than create another $200,000 Administration position for the police department said monies would be better spent on the hiring of additional police officers in my estimation three police officers could be hired thus providing a 5% increase in our current patrol coverage of the township with respect to the inappropriate public and media commentary on a confidential Personnel matter I can certify that from what I have observed the media commentary and the commentary from Sergeant Rodriguez is rought with terribly false and damaging information all Personnel matters are conducted with the strict confidence they are deserving of and any past or present matters which may have been reviewed cannot and will not be discussed by my office in public I would only indicate that with respect to a recent matter which has been the subject of false public commentary I have requested the Ocean County prosecutor's office to review it to ensure that all the actions taken by the police department and the township Administration have been Justified legal and proper as for the men and women of the Jackson Police Department I present my concern for their safety and well-being law enforcement is a notable yet dangerous profession in order to perform their Duty safely and effectively police officers should be physically fit well- rested and of clear mind failure to be prepared for Duty can and may result in poor judgment lack of situational awareness or deadly errors the current proposal to install a public safety director has had a negative effect on the staff of the police department and its Personnel leading to divisive interpersonal and political disputes as as well as creating a systemic unhealthy distraction officers are spending time debating the merits of such a position and carrying those concerns into the field this is wholly inappropriate and unhealthy as our staff of sworn personnel should be reporting for and carrying out their Duty assignments without the encumbrance of concerns such as the impact of disposition on their Agency for historical reference the same experiment was initiated here at 1988 and did not go well in short order the unions protested vociferously and the director was shown the door by the governing body if we do not know our history we are doomed to repeat it another barometer for the support or lack of support for this measure is the hyperpolarized digital media response to this proposal certainly were this a more agreeable position there would not be the viral outcry regarding it it is for all of those reasons in addition to those previously stated that I respectfully suggest that this ordinance be tabled and we convene a liazon meeting to distinguish between fact Folly and truly actionable items all in the best interest of the safety and well-being of our police officers I truly care for their welfare and trust that you do as well thank you for the opportunity to express these critical concerns and I'll look forward to continuing our collaborative working relationship thank you sir thank you thank you officer H would you like to come up thank you I think I'll okay yes sir come on retired Captain John seedler Jackson PD also retired s SOA president I would ask for the council and the clerk's forbearance on giving my uh street address because of my job I still run it to people in the grocery no reason um I would just ask I I've heard uh from Council that you've all talked to people in the police department about this issue I would just ask if anybody's reached out to a retired Command Staff like myself retired public safety director any supervisors or Command Staff regarding any of these issues because I know I haven't gotten a telephone call so I know when you're doing this kind of thing you should do your due diligence and get the most information that you can so I'm just wondering why I can answer that for you so the men in women in blue that are current employed with the Jackson Township Police Department that are standing behind you yes I did do my diligence as well as councilman Bern I did speak to them there is no reason that I would call a retired officer respectfully and I mean that with utmost respect to ask what's going on in the current department and if a public safety director is needed or required but you would go to the men and women that are currently employed but certainly there certainly there there's a history of of things that have gone on that may play into a lot of the decisions that you need to make so that's so I I just want to add on I never met you before but I'm more than happy if you want to leave your business card you want to send me an email I'm more than happy to hear your perspective but I'm going to make my decision on the people who are currently in the department and I've spoken to over half the department and that's why I made the vote that I made and yes I'd be willing to speak with you but I will go with the current I understand that and I respect that and you and and and again I just want to point out I consider the chief a a personal friend out of the entire Council here and I will always consider a chief of personal friend when I took when I took an oath my oath was to serve the residents of the town and to to do my due diligence I did my due diligence and that's why I I voted the way I voted tonight but I'm more than happy to take your business cards send me an email and I'm more than happy to hear what you have to say I understand it I think there are people that might be able to shed some light on some things that you should maybe take into account when you make we're all open to be more informed yes thank you sir have a great night get home safe Captain um I don't want to speak over you did have time left so I didn't want to shout over you but yes I did actually speak to several um current and retired staff but I would be happy to speak with you after the meeting as well and get your number I did not have it sorry uh that's quite all right sir thank you very much ABS thank you sir hey everyone uh Jeff Hena PBA president Jackson resident 42 years uh this is mainly about oversight accountability and Leadership of or I'm sorry or lack thereof uh just want to clarify a statement the chief made about the animosity in the police department that was created by him two weeks ago when he started to um show up in briefing which he hasn't done in 15 years and he started to um tell the patrolman how um uh public safety director will negatively impact the agency that was not created by us having listened to Chief Coons I would like to take the opportunity to remind the council and those I attend uh those in attendance today that he speaks only for himself and does not represent the will of the masses the chief is on an island with less than 10% of the membership if only everything could be decided with an over 90% majority the world will be a much better much more peaceful place I would like to elaborate on what president Rodriguez spoke to regarding the Articles we endorsed the tactics employed by the chief since this became public have been truly disappointing the manner in which he cornered members of this agency in attempt to solicit coerced signatures after making threats to the livelihood and special positions held by individuals within the agency highlights the manner in which he runs the agency the fear-mongering and sky is falling if this passes narrative he openly States is detrimental to the day-to-day operations of the department and further justify the need for the public safety director position but as previously stated our issues with the impediment the chief has become the growth and pro progress within the agency are longstanding to add a few uh new ones and reinforce what has already been said here are here are some examples you heard this already but I'm going to say it again did you know the chief hasn't had a staff meeting with officers since August of 2015 the police department is managed through numerous daily emails did you know the police department has a much-needed SWAT team consisting of very highly deserving officers who train multiple times a year however the chief hasn't signed a policy for this team which was sent to him in October of 2022 did you know the chief was sent an updated Towing ordinance for his review and signature in March of 2021 still isn't signed did you know and our agency was staffed with 76 full-time officers there were four officers assigned to our Public Schools full-time we also have four officers assigned to the traffic safety unit with one Sergeant directly sub vising that unit and their needs as of today we have 112 officers with two officers assigned to our Public Schools three officers assigned to the traffic safety unit and no direct Sergeant did you know the chief refuses to send officers to training classes if that particular officer doesn't write enough tickets Chief what is enough tickets since a quote is illegal did you know just a month ago that Chief the chief attempted to use our contracted no leave days which is the allotted fouryear for Township events weather related events on the week of the pba's mini convention which takes place annually the first week of March he attempted to do this to alleviate overtime and to not allow members to go to this convention did you know the PBA SOA has had to file countless grievances against the chief these last several years because of him violating our Collective bargain agreement the chief refuses to negotiate after grievance is filed any kind of outcome that works for either party so the PBA then has to bring the grievance to the township Administration for resolution solution did you know just last year the Jack the township Administration approved the chief to hire eight new officers out of the eight that were approved only four were hired of which only two graduated from the academy last week leaving six approved hires on the table the chief has not attempted proactively hire even though I per personally heard him say that he would like to have 130 officers on staff the Town Council Administration the last several years has approved numerous hires to help staff this agency why is it not being fulfilled by the Chief did you know the chief has ignored Medical Professional recommendations for certain gear officers can wear to help prevent or alleviate injuries to their backs hips Etc the chief does not like how these exterior vest drop down holsters look so he requires an officer to submit a doctor's note in order to wear them within the last month the new Chief in Manchester approved new uniforms for men and women to include exterior vests because their officers presented to him the benefits of wearing these items and he became and he listened to his officers and approved them did you know that most times the suggestion is made by anyone in the rank and file it is almost always shot down some examples are wearing steer vest showing tattoos or allowing officers to grow beards for No Shave November uh which we have officers here that have suffered and are battling cancer The genome morale is an all-time low some causes for this low morale or inadequate Staffing our staffing on day shift is set at a six-man minimum which couldn't which hasn't changed in years afternoon shift is set at six-man minimum in the last two years more officers on afternoon squads were allowed to take off than were required to work just last month the chief raised the minimum Manpower on our midnight shift from five officers to six it has been fiveman minimum for at least 17 years even though the population in the town has grown significantly it's an officer safety issue and detrimental to the residence of Jackson the inadequate Staffing is being done to reduce overtime did you know since January of 2023 the chief has made 75 motor vehicle stops however doesn't wear a body camera did you know in October of 2021 the chief was made aware of how many clerks and under and the undertaking of a redaction unit due to the implementation of mandatory body cameras the chief waited until January of 2022 where one clerk was hired and who was behind from day one to date there are currently three clerks in the unit with no direct supervisor this unit is currently eight months behind for attorney requests and 10 months behind for Ocean County prosecutor requests this is well beyond a legally established time limit did you know approximately 5 to six years ago Great Adventure started to hire Ocean County Sheriff's officers as well as Jackson officers every day uh every day to assist their security officers as needed these are considered extra Duty jobs every other extra duty job in Jackson are offered to Jackson officers first if we can't fill them then they will get assigned to an outside police agency the chief has done nothing to fight for each job a greater adventure for his officers maybe a simple phone call and discussion of sheriff Mardi and the president of Great Adventure would help and show your officers that you care about their concerns or requests I would be remiss if I did not note representatives from the chiefs of Police Association in the audience Ocean County has had many wonderful leaders in law enforcement such as sheriff massardi and I'd like to take this opportunity to support Chief little of Tom River as he navigates difficult times that said Jackson Township is a unique jurisdiction with Complex public safety needs the nuisances of which are known to those who serve here while we appreciate your attendance we kindly request the position of the PBA and SOA are respected as only we speak for our officers thank you for your time and we strongly encourage all members of the council to support this ordinance thank you [Applause] sir Elanor Hanam Jackson New Jersey uh first I'd like to comment on uh Miss cun's comment about the economic development committee uh PPP loans expired back in 2021 so I don't understand how publicly you can make that statement and as far as our small businesses are concerned ered if you are genuinely concerned you would contact the landlords for our Comm our commercial businesses who are choosing not to negotiate in good faith thus we are losing many of our businesses because they're closing because those landlords are increasing their rent but then not doing the same for another accommodating another um when it comes to the director of public safety I find this very reminiscent of Years Gone by when George Gilmore had changed Jackson ordinance to ensure that Joey Joey Torres you know the Patterson mayor who ended up in jail um would become the business administrator for Jackson Township he reduced the fact that he really didn't have to have any college degree um I find that there are many many conflicts with some members of this uh Council when it comes to the relationship of the PBA Union president and as a member of two unions in my lifetime I had never ever seen a vote from the floor in an informal union meeting by a raise of hands all Union votes are closed votes they are never done in that way and it is my understanding I'm a resident of 60 years so I have a lot of people in this town that I know some being on the police force so I am aware of what had happened that is completely unacceptable and that should not be accepted from a union president I would also like to note how confidential Internal Affairs situation got leaked to these uh propaganda Rags that are being spewed that are destroying people's lives that is confidential information and none of that should ever have been leaked I find it very very discouraging when we are going to or members are looking to do this to create this position that they are going to be answerable to our business administrator who already is named with two open lawsuits or three open lawsuits for harassment to do une ethical things for their jobs and I'm going to end with what I see I have a masters in European history what I am seeing from this board who has increased the spending by $38,000 in two meetings for the residents of this town that are some barely making ends meet I see attributes of a totalitarian government what a totalitarian government does or a dictator first they broadcast information then they control the media and the information that goes to the public they silence their opponents they use Terror to speak out against them and here I see that being used throughout the Lakewood Scoop the Lakewood News Network The Shore News Network the asur park press and the voices of the residents of this town their side are not heard surveillance is used as I have seen by this mayor where he plants spies as he has done with my organization and now in a hypocritical move they're all being appointed after they were forced to step down and they were named in the do J lawsuit but they can now serve on the planning board and they can serve on the MUA and you almost put the vice president of the coupon on your zoning board so it's very questionable very very questionable the ethics and integrity of some members that I'm looking at especially with those that have open lawsuits and I'm going to end with a question about the defunct environmental commission why why is it not being why aren't they meeting why aren't they doing their job why aren't you filling those seats I'll get back to you ma'am thank you uh we were told we would get answers at these meetings that came out of your mouth as council president I have to check I believe that's an Administration uh uh well I'll have we have an administrator here I mean you're the one making all the appointments you appointed yourself to all these boards and commissions so did Morty don't know how that happened I don't know if it was a ring ring or the three of you got together that violates a sunshine law but it's really quite interesting what I'm watching this totalitarian government so miss cun you are in charge of all these appointments that you've had no no problem doing in three meetings so I want an answer council president is not in charge of all appointments it depends on the nature of the appointment the mayor has certain appointment Powers the council has certain appointment Powers depends on the particular position she's not in charge of all them oh so then what is the the code I I'd have to look I don't know what the environment so you're the town attorney you don't know the code you don't have it in front of you I don't oh that's interesting so why are we paying you because right now what I'm looking at is the expense account that you are defending Mr wall here and Raina for the schal uh whistleblower lawsuit the harassment charges and the firing of Dan Burke the also the lawsuit with the DPW Fred rtz um we are increasing our legal fees I I don't understand this and then you almost turned around and had uh Frank s's uh business Morgan engineering to do what was already done thank you thank you ma'am [Applause] Ray Kona 11 forom wrote I Really implore that our council do more research on this I've heard tremendous accusations uh tonight and I think instead of jumping the gun it should be further researched Mr morai you said you're interviewed half the police department what about the other half I think we need a little time to really look at the benefit or disbenefit I personally don't have an opinion because I don't know enough but what I heard tonight I think will require a little bit more time to assess doing what you guys are looking to vote on I'll be quite honest council president K respond I look forward over the next two weeks before the second reading to continuing to engage with the rest of our police force and making sure that my vote is reflective of what the police force wants I would greatly appreciate that and I would like to get some more information on it myself I it's obviously a serious condition and I think it needs to be a little bit further explored thank you thank you sir seeing no one else come forward make a motion to close close public session second motion all in favor I all in favor motion have a great night even everybody get home safe second all in favor all in favor thank you