##VIDEO ID:7ye6huCoKtg## good evening everyone and welcome to Township committee meeting on this date November 14 2024 read uh statement adequate notice of this meeting has been given in accordance with the open public meetings act pursuant to the public laws of 1975 said notice was advertised in the Asbury Park Press in the beacon and was posted on the bulletin board showing the time and place of this meeting we'll salute our flag have a moment of time IED Ali to the flag of the United States of America and to the for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all ladies and gentlemen before we get started tonight I just wanted to inform you I am sitting in as deputy mayor for our uh fine mayor Juliano who is feeling under the weather tonight and that's the only reason I'm sitting in here so proceed with business now second reading of ordinance 2024-25 Pro providing for the acquisition of a fire truck and various Fire Equipment in ordinance of the township of lacy County of ocean state of New Jersey providing for the acquisition of a fire truck and various Fire Equipment appropriating $1,500,000 therefore and authorizing the issuance of $1,425 th000 bonds and notes to finance a portion of the cost thereof authorized in and by the township of lacy in the county of ocean state of New Jersey this is second reading open the floor to public comment St make motion oppos the floor second all in favor I motion on the ordinance move it second Mr McDonald yes Mr Kennon yes Mr Beck yes Deputy Mayor Deputy Mayor KOLO yes item number two resolution 2024 294 a authorizing the execution of an agreement with the county of ocean resolution of the township of lacy County of ocean state of New Jersey authorizing the execution of a Schedule C agreement with the county motion this is the annual agreement that we do with the County Roads Department for the sweeping and screening of our streets the contract is up to $30,000 I have a motion second Mr McDonald yes Mr kis yes Mr yesy Mayor K yes item number three resolution 2024-25 awarding the contract for the purchase of natural gas resolution of the township of lacy County of ocean state of New Jersey awarding a contract for the purchase of natural gas to UGI Energy Services LLC this is through the Stafford Co-op um for our public gas accounts moov second Mr McDonald yes Mr Kennis yes Mr de yes Deputy Mayor K yes it number four resolution 2024-25 authorizing the acceptance of an emergency management performance subgrant resolution of the township of lacy County of ocean state of New Jersey authorizing the acceptance of a subgrant award of the federal fiscal year 2024 of Emergency Management performance Grant and Emergency Management agency assistance this is up to $10,000 and the purpose of this funding is to uh enhance uh our Police Department's ability to respond to Emergency Management and catastrophic move it second Mr McDonald yes Mr Kennis yes Mr D yes Deputy Mayor Kira yes item number five resolution 2024-25 authorizing chapter 159 in the municipal budget step Federal Highway Safety Grant resolution of the township of County of ocean state of New Jersey providing for the insertion of a special item of Revenue and appropriation in the 2024 Municipal budget of the township of lacy pursuant to njsa 4 a487 this is for the Federal Highway Safety Grant um it's essentially A Safe Transportation Grant it's in the amount of $46,900 move second Mr McDonald yes Mr kenis yes Mr de yes Deputy Mayor Caro yes item number six resolution 20242 appointing a public safety telecommunity Ator coordinator resolution of the township of lacy County of ocean state of New Jersey appointing Aaron Collins as Public Safety telecommunicator coordinator this is a leadership role um to streamline communication between dispatch and the lieutenant in charge move it second Mr McDonald yes Mr kis yes Mr yes Deputy Mayor yes M number seven resolution 202 24-29 appointing school crossing guards resolution of the township of lacy County of ocean state of New Jersey appointing school crossing guards for the township of lacing we are going to be adding two new crossing guards move it second Mr McDonald yes Mr Kennis yes Mr B yes Deputy Mayor here to yes item number eight resolution 20243 appointing an alternate member to the environmental commission resolution of the township of lacy County of ocean state of New Jersey appointing keeper garolo as alternate number one to the environmental commission for the township of lacy second Mr McDonald yes Mr Kennis yes Mr de yes Deputy Mayor K yes number welcome aboard kefir thank you very [Laughter] much item number nine resolution 20243 authorizing cancellation of mortgage for property that participated in the community development block rent housing rehabilitation program resolution of the township of lacy County of ocean state of New Jersey authorizing the cancellation of a mortgage on block 16334 lot 6 this is for the release of a mortgage lean um for a property that participated in the COA reability a program move it second Mr McDonald yes Mr kis yes Mr yes Deputy Mayor K yes M number 10 resolution 2024-25 taxes due on a property granted the 100% disabled veteran exemption and refund the resulting credit balance move it second Mr McDonald yes Mr Kennis yes Mr yes Deputy Mayor car yes am number 11 resolution 202 24-33 authorizing the refund of a building department fee resolution of the township of lacy County of ocean state of New Jersey authorizing the refund of a building department fee issued by the Lacy Township Building Department move it second Mr McDonald yes Mr Kennis yes Mr de yesy mayor keron yes item number 12 resolution 2024 304 authorizing the refund of deposit monies resolution of the township of lacy County Ocean State of New Jersey authorizing the refund of deposits held for the use of Municipal fac move it second Mr McDonald yes Mr kenis yes Mr de yes mayor jul I'm sorry Deputy Mayor KK about to happen yes number 13 resolution number 202 24-35 authorizing the payment of Township bills resolution of the township of lacy County of ocean state of New Jersey authorizing the payment of Township bills this is in the amount of 12, 291,413 $753 move it second Mr McDonald yes and I'll abstain on T 0035 Mr Kennis yes Mr D yes Deputy Mayor car yes item number 14 resolution 202 24-37 rejecting the receipt of all bids for the Lacy Township dredging project resolution of the township of lacy County of ocean St New Jersey rejecting all bids for the Lacy Township maintenance drudging project moving second Mr McDonald yes Mr kis yes mrov yesh oh I was just going to say that we only had one bid and it came in well over the engineers's estimate for the cost of the project all right thank you item number 15 monthly reports right for the Department of Community Development for the month of October the receipts were in the amount of $86,000 Municipal clerk's office for the month of October were receipts in the amount of $3,280 the municipal court for the month of September collected rece the amount of $2,622 month of October recycling um public works department collected Road opening permits in the amount of $2,599 recycling commodity in the amount of $946 truck parking in the amount of $25 motion to accept the reports is read move it second all in favor I item number 16 motion to approve Caucus meeting minutes from October 24th 2024 move it second Mr McDonald yes Mr Ken yes Mr AB Deputy Mayor K yes and number 17 motion to approve Township meeting minutes from October 24th 2024 move it second Mr McDonald yes Mr Penis yesy mayor yes item number 18 motion to approve executive session minutes from October 24th night 2024 move it second Mr mcdonnald yes Mr Ken yes Mr Deputy Mayor K yes we have some add-ons this evening yes yes resolution 20243 resolution of the township of lacy County of ocean s New Jersey authorizing the execution of an intergovernmental service agreement with the county of ocean for the storm water Improvement construction project for the South doc bulkhead replacement um we're receiving County funding for the South dock Improvement project um so we need to do a resolution authorizing second Mr McDonald yes Mr Kennis yes Mr yes Deputy Mayor yes additionally yes resolution 202 24-39 resolution of the township of lacy County of ocean state of New Jersey providing for the insertion of a special item of Revenue and appropriation in the 2024 Municipal budget of the township of lacy pursuant to njsa 4A col 487 this is to authorize um that money that we're receiving from the county into our budget to fund the project move it second Mr mcdonnald yes Mr Ken yes Mr D yes Deputy Mayor K yes lastly resolution 2024 310 resolution in the township of lacy County of ocean state of New Jersey awarding a contract to R kemer and Sun Marine Contractors LLC for the Lakeside Drive bulkhead phase one and phase two replacement project South doc bulkhead move it second Mr McDonald yes Mr Kennis yes Mr D yes Deputy Mayor K yes that's all I have like to 10 comments from the committee Mr diov Sure uh first this past Monday was Veterans Day I want to send my gratitude to all the veterans out there thank you for what you do Keeps Us is safe and um ensures our future I want to congratulate Mr McDonald and Mr Laray for their election I want to thank Mr Dolan and Mr stemel um for running it's very important that you know people get involved um I want to thank Mr armado and um Peters for their election um it's Unfortunately they were no other people who ran and given all the criticism that the School Board gets um it's not a very well say State of Affairs um I would think that um someone who criticizes would step up um but they don't that's all I have mayor thank you very much thank you CH Mr McDonald thank you mayor um me start off uh the parade is usually the LA the first Sunday after Thanksgiving however this year is been moved back a week to the 8th and it starts at 3:00 down at uh the Lac United Method this Church um Paving yeah we're finally getting it paved and it's tonight they're Paving um excuse me uh Manchester Western and hannes that whole intersection there is being paved and they're going to have detours so if you're coming down Lacy Road and want to make a left to get down to the high school or something like that forget about it you're going to have to go either down to Lake barnegate Railroad Avenue or down to Route 9 they're not going to let you get past Adam Street which is the street the back road in into Wawa so plan on that and particularly in the morning it's going to be difficult because you can't drive on freshly paved Road they got to let it settle a little bit so so just be careful with that um the election I just want to thank the uh citizens of lacy Township for coming out and voting it was a great turnout um regardless of how you voted uh I know my uh running mate Bob and I are going to do the best job we can representing everybody in Lacy Township um let's see what else oh the business expo is uh next Tuesday night is that right R correct uh on the 19th 5 to n down at the uh Community Hall the new one um oh our next meeting is on the 26th of November because of Thanksgiving okay we always have to move it around that week so mark your calendars if you plan on attending that and the re Across America is December 14th at 12 o'clock we're working on solutions to how to handle the parking because we can't park in Murray Grove this year because they've got an event going on that's going to take up a lot of it if you've ever been to it it's great um but we have a lot of people there so we're we're working on that hopefully uh at the 20 deme on 22nd we'll have some more instructions on how to handle getting to and from there and and that's all I have thank you Mr McDonald Mr Mr Kennis thank you Deputy Mayor yeah I also want to congratulate um committee McDonald and uh future committeeman Bob Laray on their um election last week and also acknowledge the uh skip Peters and salato for their win as well and um just acknowledge also the people that that went up uh put their name out there for election and uh did did not get elected it's a very timec consuming thing it's and it's hard to do it's hard to put your name out there and uh you know trying to convince everybody to go vote for you on a slightly lighter note I just wanted two news items that uh crossed my desk um one I'm I'm lamenting the loss of the Star Ledger it's as of uh February uh January or February early next year is no longer going to print um which will leave New Jersey with no newspapers sort of no print print editions it's really unusual and uh I don't know I don't watch much TV but last week I happen to watch 60 Minutes I don't know if anybody saw it but the the last segment was on uh robots that actually do marble sculpting um if anybody saw it they the they they're able to do you know sculpt these marbles um or you know big huge slabs of marble into fine details uh it looks like it's done by hand by humans um so with both those things uh I'm wondering what everybody's going to do in the future because the robots are coming and everything is going digital so those are my comments thank you and maybe you'll save some money on labor as you build homes I suppose so we kid because we kid there um thank you for your comments I would also like to uh congratulate Mr McDonald and in committee man elect lay it was almost 12,000 votes and no matter how anyone voted that type of participation in a town with our census is quite impressive and I I congratulate everyone that put their hat in the ring uh I people that know me uh when I'm up here I often talk about in in glowing terms uh businesses because the it's part of the backbone in our tax base uh last night I was fortunate enough to speak in little EG Harbor at a dual chamber meet uh for little EG and Central Ocean Business Association we have one of our members here uh from Koba who may or may not come up and speak during comments um is a great honor to be there with sen Senator Amato uh and other Mayors um we we know that you have a choice in uh to where you're going to open your business we want to facilitate uh and offer that Olive Branch and go right up to the foot of the door and not get into your day-to-day business plan but we want to tell you how to facilitate the paperwork we want to bring you in and we want your business to be successful it's in our best interest here in Lacy Township uh I know Mr McDonald is one of my Coons with our Recreation Department we'll have uh Mr wand up here to have comments there were some questions raised about the wibbit and things last month I spoke to Mr uh wand earlier today uh he will be up here but I can assure you that report is going to be positive to the good side of The Ledger uh the wibbit has been very profitable for us for a great many years now and I think Mr I think I talked to him I think we're going to bring him up um doing the budget meting and he makes his presentation so that's when we'll be they'll do the whole thing I talked to him we're going to go back to day one and go forward from there so everyone so we'll have all the information on the living so in just two nights uh in that same vein here and it was done by a lot of uh volunteers the uh the Halloween Expo which got rave reviews and greater claim uh took in just over $155,000 and were very appropriate and had a uh a sensory friendly uh portion of that trail too for the children that needed it the younger children and those um that have you know experiencing you know some issues with lights and bright lights and that type of thing so um nothing but good reviews we're grateful to those those young people from The High school that worked on it and of course our Recreation our DPW our police that were all there um so we're grateful for that uh that is all I have this evening welcome veterans thank you for your service it was a wonderful uh on no November 11th our ceremony out right in front of Bicentennial Park and that'll conclude my comments I'll offer the floor now to the public are there any comments from the public this evening yes name Laura okay Laura shlick J Miss palet yeah can you s c h e t e l i c h thank you you're welcome uh so I want to discuss the forkid river Bayfront Park again surprise um recently I was at the I believe it's called the John C Bartlett Jr park at Berkeley Island um which has a very similar setup as the Bayfront Park does same uh foliage a lot of the same grasses and shrubs and uh it was alive and beautiful it's a joy to be at compared to the Forked River Beach Bayfront Park which is now a desolate landscape of nothingness um so I want to address two issues one being the pollinators and one being erosion which should be a main concern for the people living there which I know it is um so I've got a lot and I so I'm just going to read off my notes so I get everything so um you continue to mow these uh beautiful flowering uh beneficial plants in the spring before they even get a chance to flower in May when you do that the milke weed's not even flowering yet a lot of flowers aren't even there and you're cutting them down not even giving them a chance um and then again in the fall just last month I was there right before you mowed it and it was a lot live and beautiful um a lot of the plants flower well into the late fall and we're still blooming when you guys came or sent the Department of Public Works down to cut them okay still blooming still beneficial for the pollinators um one shrub that lives down there which doesn't live in a lot of places is called the groundsel bush it's a member of the sunflower and Aster family and it has the ability to thrive in windy and salty locations so it's perfect for there and I I've understood that the D after Sandy and you guys were replanting suggested certain plants to plant down there the ground so I'm sure being one of them for a reason so that was still blooming when you guys came with your tractor and your big saw and hacked it down um I think it's called a tractor mounted tree saw anyway so that was still being used uh they were still in bloom uh they kep be pruned back um if necessary because I know a lot of people on the path think that they're blocking their view which if you go down there when they're in full bloom they are not um uh but uh cutting them down to the ground can be very detrimental because if the water does come up that high and covers their Roots uh they won't get the oxygen they need to live and they are part of the erosion control down there um as well as the large uh grasses the frag mighties um that are down there that you also send the Department of Public Works down to literally hack down to the ground now they are not native like the ground cell is but they are beautiful grass and it's everywhere down here up and down Route n it's all over the place there's no getting rid of it it's beautiful and it's it's beneficial for erosion um it's also beneficial for uh Birds um and many other insects and again the lack of oxygen they're hard to kill but a lacks of O oxygen will kill them and dead Plants provide no erosion control they won't be able to hold on to their soil if they're dead um so these flowers and shrubs and grasses also provide food and fuel cover nesting area for many birds insects and small animals and a place for birds to rest while they're migrating without anything like that they're open to Predators um without habitat and food for Birds we see an imbalance and an increase in non-native invasive insects some of which can cause major damaged trees and crops so since I brought up Birds I want to talk about the pollinators at the park so we just we talked about the erosion with the the plants that you're hacking down um or not you personally but sending the Department of Public Works to go down there and do it so at the park we have um a handful of pollinators um field mice bees bats Birds moths and butterflies um all use those plants that continue to be cut down before their life is is um done um for the season the bird population has declined by 34% since 1970 2.9 billion breeding adults in North America grassland Birds collectively the song birds have decline by 53% these are the birds we love to listen to In the Springtime that are coming back now migrating from the south um the Eastern Monarch which is on the union for conservation of natur's list of endangered species is on a weight list to be officially declared in danger Under The Endangered Species Act it um their population has declined 60% in the last year 80% total since 1990 loss of n native nectar plants many which grow down there most importantly the milkweed is the main cause of their decline monarchs are Specialists with which means they rely solely on one plant in particular which is the milked for survival adults lay their eggs on the plants the caterpillars eat the leaves of the plants and the adults feed on its pollen and nectar all of these plants and shrubs that I brought up are that are dependent upon them are all at the fork at River Beach Bayfront Park it's way past time this practice of leveling it twice a year be stopped over 200 people on Lacy chatter liked love and commented on my post last month agreeing Michelle I I have to respectfully I got one more sentence okay okay so my question is and I don't want to hear the same answer I'm not talking about mowing along the path for safety which you have said or Mr McDonald has brought up the fact that the Department of Environmental Protection said what plants to plant down there for the turtles and so because it's after Turtle season it's okay and they should then why didn't they say you know not to mow well I want a real reason why are you going down there and hacking everything down to the ground I I will answer I real no I have every intention people that know me know I speak from the heart and we're all being recorded right now what I will say to you is that the mowing season traditionally for regular Landscaping it's anywhere from 20 to 26 times once a week depending on the day of the week it doesn't matter as 26 times things get mowed I disagree with your characterization of hacking we've been extremely responsible we've cut that area two times this year since the blade on the tractor two times that's Hing it down we cut it two times in addition that and and I'm I think I am qualified to say this I'm the Cooperative Coastal monitoring program manager for Ocean County I went down there I walked it with the young lady in the back left part of the room uh and what I saw was a a thriving ecosystem down there and and the there was so much overgrowth that the tubes that the turtles are supposed to transport themselves to were overgrown there's no turtle on this planet that could get through that so I would disagree respectfully with your characterization you asked me to go down there I have been down there twice we've only cut it twice we cannot make everyone happy but it really I we've given the people that have the opinion and it's your I'm here to work for you but what I don't want to do is is overdot on one subject matter I don't think it's fair to the other very important items that we deal with here throughout a 365 day year and we've given this item uh Fair course well I'm not going to stop fine just so you know I don't plan on stopping until this pactice we cut it twice it's not just cut you honestly go down there with a saw attached to a tractor that hacks the those bushes down to the ground for no reason why are those bushes being hacked down to the ground we just got a letter today why are they I'm answering you please we got a letter today forwarded by administrator Laray uh that there was concern by one resident that we have to keep that walkway clear or we will get suited if somebody these places are not on the walkway listen we're gonna agree to disagree agreeably I suppose I am we are allowed within the scope of that permit to cut that lawn cut that area twice a year it's a thriving green I barely saw a GRE a brown blade of grass my last day there was July 23rd well we were in a drought it's probably green I mean brown right now but I'm not talking about the walkway necessarily I mean some of those the bushes aren't growing on the walkway I have to invite the other people that of which there are many up for comment we invite you come back again I'll jump in for for my own personal opinion and we've been talked about this for so long if I lived and I'm talking about just the walking path behind the houses never mind the rest of the park but the on the Walking path if I lived there and it was my house I would would not want it cut because I do believe that helps storm attenuation and um uh soil erosion however I don't live there so you yours is one opinion of the other residents that live there as well so we're just making a call with the best information we have we try to take everybody's an opinion account and you know sometimes it doesn't go the way you always wanted to well there's seven houses there that want it cut and and we they have said it's because of their View and we left and that's fine but that's so but we gave the option of the people that do not want it cut to leave it up and that one if you talk about it thriving that's the only part of the park that's thriving that's alive if you walk that path you don't hear a bird a cricket you don't see a butterfly or a moth until you get down to the last two houses where it's not cut the rest of that Park is Barren and dead thank you for your comments any other comments please please name only no address please Kelly spankowski I wrote what I have to say down so um it's two points that I'd like to make unfortunately one is one you told not to talk about but good evening I'd like to begin addressing the council regarding the recent cutting down of the vegetation at Bayfront Park while I understand the rationale behind maintaining the area I am deeply concerned about the extent of the vegetation that was removed particularly on the water side of the gaban wall these plants are essential to holding the soil and protecting our community from storm damage especially during the storm season numerous studies highlight the fragm mites are among the strongest plants for soil stability therefore I urge the councel to reconsider this action and make it the last time we compromise the natural defenses of the bont park it is detrimental not only to the environment but also to the homeowners the town and as a a whole not to lose the little protection that we have thank you for allowing me to express these concerns of course now um I was wondering if I could actually turn my back to you and speak to the people who are here if you would allow me please I'm a little nervous I wish to speak directly to the audience both of those in attendant and watching online I stand here today perhaps with an unorthodox Reason Not solely to address the council but to engage in the community while I occasionally voice my concerns at these meetings I also watched nearly every session online I must admit I do not always agree with the council's decisions or a matter in which they are presented however I believe it's essential for us to find a happy medium communication is a key and we must learn the art of give and take one aspect that has stood out to me um in his prevalence of negativity and mean-spiritedness should not be tolerated from either side during a recent meeting I watched a report card that was presented to Mr McDonald attributed to a group of individuals I am curious to know how many truly represent this group it is really a constructive approach is this really a constructive approach to affect change if anyone believes that they can do a better job I encourage them to consider running for office or proposing policies that Foster collabor collaboration I keep hearing about a large group of supporters behind certain initiatives yet I do not see them in attendance instead I often witness the same individuals questioning council members for their property about their property benefits their allocation of school funds and imp inflation implications of our taxes as we Mo move forward situ Solutions seem scarce I usually I urge everyone both the council and the public to work together the spirit of meanness and buling has no place in our community or in this Arena this perspective only comes from one taxpayer in leac to Township and I hope it resonates with many of you thank you for your time thank you m masc any other comments from the audience tonight yes ma'am Lois raferty I uh moved to Fork River just a month ago bought a house um couple of blocks from the uh Lacy Elks so that area I was really looking forward to that waterfront park being near where I could go Mo and walk uh and I'm very sorry to hear about this mowing because I too like the vegetation there just wanted to comment on that that's appreciate I hope you stop it thank you for your comments yes ma'am she raised her hand oh Point yes looking right hi Donna broy um just for the record this is my third year coming up before you with the same issue and I don't understand why it keeps continuing I understand your P your perspective and I appreciate that you try and and take the middle ground and try and please everybody you can't please everybody all the time but I do appreciate and recognize everything that you do do uh for all the residents so I with that I would like to thank you for mowing and removing the weeds uh last month I and I thanked the uh the DPW workers who were out there I appreciated everything they did I mean it's a park it's a Township own Park people come to enjoy the water views they don't come to go through the what I consider to be a jungle in the last two homes where it's so overgrown that you can't see anything and it is a Township owned land and I believe it should be maintained um for that reason so that people can come and enjoy the water views um I've seen people walk walk and because of the growth uh I've seen a little boy fall into the weeds not knowing where the bottom of the ground is scraped his leg um when I walk it and another person is coming or there's a bike coming I have nowhere to go to move out of the way so the overgrowth is a safety hazard in my opinion I'm all for milkweed growth I have milked on the side of my house I'm all for that but this is not a an area that is a nature preserve this is not the intention of that land it's a it's a park where I've seen people come enjoy the water views enjoy the land fly kites and I've maintained that I've said that to numerous times so I would just recommend if you are concerned about that plant milkweed around your house like I've done so to nurture the butterflies but I still have the water views and I still think it's a Township owned land that should be maintained much like Gil Gilla park that's a Township owned property Township owned Park and it is maintained and it's beautiful and that's what I think this park should represent as well um I know I just wanted to mention that uh Sandra Arnold couldn't make it but she said she sent a letter and I trust that everyone was able to to read that and review it so um I didn't have to um share that opinion with her but it is our opinions and I just wanted to say that you know I don't understand why the last two homes get to dictate their own policy I understand you're trying to find a happy medium but I feel like again it's Township own land that abuts their property and that's not being maintained but yet we have to fall in line and follow what's dictated to us through Township yet they don't so I don't understand that disparity um that's basically all I wanted to say thank you again for your time thank you any other comments this evening how we doing tonight folks hi I'm Andy m yolic how we doing did you spell your last name for me I sure m a c i o l e k thank you and uh I'm going to thank you for cutting the grass it didn't get done on the 15th but it did get done but thank you and I also want to thank guys for the park benches that were put in at that Park they're awesome and I want to give a shout out to uh Robert I think it's crashco the director of public I thanked him and the two guys that put the benches in it was a wonderful job right and know and Denise Viara my partner my neighbor she's not here tonight she says thank you for the park benches okay so now my question to you who decides what time the parks close open and close how's that decided okay the governing body decides that and they yes establish an ordinance that is then put into our code book okay cuz um I was I took a ride to the beautiful parks of lacy day a few of and of course the Bayfront Park is the only one that has a sign that says the time it's open and closed the other ones don't okay why is that um well at the time again this has been part of the Hot Topic with regards to um this park uh there were people that there were there well after dusk because our parks are normally open Dawn to DUS that is the traditional ordinance Dawn to D and a lot of um again there are some very close houses along the walk path and they were concerned with people walk because some of those that that pathway goes be right so there was concern that you know there's in the dark because there's no lighting there um that they don't know who's walking behind their houses like is it you just getting exercise because you're home late from work or is there something else going on so we established firm times that that Park is opened and closed but you have a sign saying it's open from I believe it's 5 to 10 I believe you're correct with the I got the other phone the okay I got you and I'll tell you why I'm leading up to this because there's two incidents happened to me during the summer in a uh July my daughter and my nephew were walking to the park and I guess it was around 9:00 it was still daylight and the cut the police officers told them they had to leave the parks closed okay I didn't say too much about that but then in August I was at the park at 8:00 and this is in August and it's daylight so you can't use that oh well it's night time and all this I was asked to leave the park was closed to me that that's unsatisfactory that shouldn't happen now my question who made that decision according to what I was told the police made that decision they come there at night the night shift comes in and locks the gate at night is that correct well again they filed the ordinance you know they should be filing ordance you talking about 10 10 p.m. and they do open and close the gate okay I but they don't do that to the other Parks though why only there are other parks that are are closed the bathrooms but not the gates no if they have main gates where a car could drive in those gates are closed by the I looked at the gates and they don't look like they were closed recently cuz the leaves haven't been moved so I could be wrong on there no those gates are closed and the police open them in the morning or Public Works make well I was at the one park there was no gate so you can't close the park that that's correct there parks that don't have Gates so my thing is why does this park have to be closed and open and the other ones don't that's you know I just don't understand why did I have when the cop said the police off he was a nice guy by the way he wasn't being nasty he was very nice said to me we had we're uh there's two uh people that complain that live along the park well I live near the park right around the corner you're telling me I don't have the right to be in the park at 8:00 on an August Night you know because these people complain so the the police decide they're going to shut it down that's not fair again there's an if you're going to have a sign then take the sign down that's false advertisement the parks open to 10 it should be 10 am I correct I'm right wrong on that guys ladies would you if you if the speed limit says 25 you're doing 25 you're not going to expect a cop to pull you over give you a ticket right because you're doing the speed limit so if I'm going the park at 9:00 or 8:00 I'm not expecting the cop to tell me I got to leave you know so is there anything we can do about that we'll call the chief tomorrow after I talk to the mayor and we'll we'll iron this out figure it out very much thank you kind appreciate memo out to the police thank you God bless anyway but thanks for the benches they're awesome by the way thank you comments 11 good evening I'm Kevin mure and uh I have a comment about um I'm sorry let me said anything I think that's behind Okay uh so my comment is regarding the uh uh Calvin street where the new apartments are being built Walter Apartments uh there's a very dangerous situa situation on that road um the building construction people are parking their Vans along the street there on Calvin Street the people who live in the houses they Park their cars on the street one house Parks their car in the wrong direction so at night when you drive down heading towards Newark Avenue you don't see tail lights you know they don't reflect it's that road is is getting really dangerous and and there's you know there's there's a lot of traffic on there two cars coming at the same time you know I think something I don't know what the town ordinance is maybe you can park on both sides of the street maybe you can park in the wrong direction on one side of the street but it's a situation that I think needs to be attended to or looked into so I just wanted to bring that up and with that in mind uh the new house that's being built on Newark Avenue is parking going to be allowed on that street because you know right now it's a bicycle lane so the the house isn't occupied yet but I think it's worth mentioning there's no established bicycle lane on norc Avenue and we do allow on norc Avenue on street parking and they are supposed to park in the correct direction of traffic and that's a police Enforcement issue and we do have an uh an ordinance on the books for properly parking on the street okay I mean it's been going on for a long time so do do is there are police officers still here how does that get reported well you you could call it into the police and they would send a car out you know they do do monitoring of local traffic situations when they're out and about but calls for service come first obviously so if they are able to you know monitor that that they will but you could call them and report it to dispatch and they will send a car out and they will go out and knock on the person's store and let them know that they have to move their car and have it faced in the right direction yeah and I think a lot of and I agree with you that there are a lot of contractors currently parking there because I do see that a lot I do think that you know once that site is complete you're not going to see as much parking there because again your contractor but you're driving your own vehicle there because you're not leaving the shop you're leaving from your house so I think you're see a lot of that dissipate once that site is complete yeah that'll go away but I mean for right now it's a dangerous situation and it it's I don't see uh passengers Vehicles there I see work vans yeah I I agree with you that and they I mean that that's a big complex they should be able to find parking I know the street behind Lacy Township there or Lacy Car Care you know let them Park along there I'm just thinking safety you know Public Safety and you say that even though there's a bike lane on nework Avenue there's not I don't think there's an established bike lane it's not by ordinance no it's not an established bike lane by ordinance no there is no they'll be able to park along that street on both sides when they build on both sides interesting unless the town wishes to establish an ordinance that does not allow any parking on the street where where does that comment you know my comment come into play well that that would be for them to determine if they want to send it to the engineer for an engineer to do a study to determine under the manual on uniform traffic control devices if it warrants to have no no on street parking okay I hope you take that under under advis I'm going to call the chief tomorrow so I'll talk to him about this okay good thank you any other comments this evening let me give these folks a chance first my name is Bob shling uh want to congratulate you on the job you did cleaning up the park looks great the kids can play in the field they can walk up and down the park uh the path and the end of the path is a little sketchy to say the least um but you know got to make some compromises with everything I think you guys have a good handle on everything and everything's working out uh as far as the gating for the park there's areas that are not gated next to where the gates are and kids come in there and they're riding their ebikes and stuff on the park at night we can see them from the house and you can see them and they're speeding along in there and that could be dangerous you know if someone else is walking there so I just wanted to bring that up um and the park looks great the kids can play we we watch the kids they're flying kites be prior to that you couldn't walk in the grass because it was like this side and it's got all the little Burrs in them there's Burrs all over the grass so it turned out real well so just wanted to congratulate you and thank you for the work you did and it it looks real nice and it does happen to grow back every year so I don't what the big deal is thank you Rob can you spell your last name for me please yeah s i c l i n j thank you Regina danenza bid River um I see resolution 8 item 8 um you appointed an alternate member to the environmental commission when is the next meeting because I'd like to attend November 20th huh November 20th next W when where here here 6 next Wednesday 6:30 um I already asked Mr Connors but has everyone here yet attended one of the information sessions for the $992 million referendum yet yes the October one were you at Steve uh whatever one you told me to go to all right well the October 17th meeting was changed to October 15th okay and I missed that one but that was supposedly the fourth information the one that she told you to go to CU she wasn't going to be at it correct I couldn't be there um it wased attended all right well great because here's the thing yeah I was coming home from the airport I can't be everywhere um so those meetings have not been televised they have not been put on YouTube and they've been attended by between 25 and 50 people the school district is not doing a great job of publicizing this $92 million referendum and that's why I'm speaking about it here and Mr Khan is you've lived here a long time and I believe did you serve on the school board me Township attorney I will be there huh I don't I've never been to a school board meeting since I've lived here ever no you weren't on that free holder meetings I don't attend you were only on thisis all right all right whatever you know but I meetings anything like that all right but I I think everybody should be informed and the school district better make a better effort to inform people at 5:00 p.m next Thursday November 21st there should be an information session if they don't change the date again in the lecture hall at 5:00 p.m. prior to their monthly meeting at 6:00 p.m. you know if 25 people or 50 people out of 28,000 are attending these meetings guess what there's a lot of people that don't know right here in this room okay and that's pretty darn sad and and then I think it was Mr Kennis made a remark to thank people for running well folks I had my 14th run this year I think only Mr Parker has run more than me in Ocean County I want to thank the people that gave me 94,000 votes but everyone should know that it was 215,000 I believe for the winners so we did have an unbelievable turnout for this election and it I went to all the districts it went beautifully the early voting worked really well there weren't really horrible lines anywhere I only found one line all day so please keep up the good work Lacy Township come out and vote congratulations my name is Neil pero I'd like to ask a question to Veronica uh the last time we spoke about the preliminary use report connected to the nuclear plant you said it wasn't available is on the website now do you have the can I get the link tomorrow yeah well straight on our Municipal website under comprehensive plans um am I correct Amy right yeah that there it is I mean if you want a copy of it it's going to be about seven or8 doll that's fine and I can get it tomorrow you can you can ask Amy and she can print it off for you can I get it tomorrow Amy thank you any other comments this evening Mr Bender good evening council at Jarrett and uh can you spell your last name sir j a r r e TT and uh we actually live by the two houses holding out on the bay uh for not being mowed and I thought that was great last year that we came up with a compromise that we would have you know the option to mow or not there's only two down on the south end we're the house right next to that and if anybody thinks that's you know bird sanctuary it looks great or whatever they you need to go down now and take a look at it cuz it is not this is an overgrown itd be like someone in your neighborhood any neighborhood around here that would just let their grass grow for the whole year uh it's it's not pleasant to look at and we bought our house we had the view of the barnegate light and I I know they're all worried about people that have view but I'm from Maine and I wanted to be near a lighthouse and I love looking at the barnegate light right from the bedroom window and I can't see the barn light I've got bushes now that are probably 10 12 feet tall that two people have held out and said that we don't want to mow and I believe that that's the piece that we were talking about is there a turtle life we we've been down every angle on this as you possibly can think but it it really is a Bayfront it's the view it's the water that's why we bought the houses there that's why we want to see the view of the water and I love it when the kids are running and they're looking at the water and you see the boats going by the sailboats now we have a part where we can watch the sailboats then all a sudden we see bushes so we can't even watch a sailboat go all the way by down to the Jetties or anything like that so we're just asking even though people don't think the view is there we do um just almost as much of a mortgage payment as the taxes that you pay to get that view and we work very hard and I've worked very hard very blessed with how we were able to get to the shore but we have a one-story house and we're not going to be forced to go up because we want to see The View we got the house we had the view and because of this nonsense going back and forth and no mo eventually we won't be able to see any water to our right we can't see it now during the summer because the the bushes have just gotten out of control so the original permit said low-lying grasses low Ling there was an effort to say that it would be low L I don't know what low Ling is but 15 20 foot tall trees that are eventually going to be there those bushes are going to keep going they doubled in size last year so we're just asking for someone to understand what are those species are they eventually because the one neighbor one of the South Neighbors went to my other half and said you know we're really sorry that we're blocking your view maybe we can work with the town and and get some of this stuff knocked down and we haven't heard anything but uh again they're on a raised uh deck and the last house is on a raised deck they've got about 3 feet well that they're they're starting to lose so I would say in another year or two you might find the two to succumb to this that it's just ridiculous but they leave it looking like that at the end people call it the jungle for a reason you can't get off with a dog you cannot get off the path the stuff has grown onto it also Summer Long and there's ticks there's all kinds of stuff we just found out not only the the uh vegetation is not managed or what it is we had green beans we just found Pumpkins this year so everything is growing in that whole area if anybody you know is throwing something in that area or it came from recycling some of the soils originally we've got all kinds of vegetation that doesn't belong there and we just again we've been begging for this and we was told last year we were going to have a meeting over the winter and we've been calling and calling there's been no comprehensive meeting on this just to get this under control let's go with the low lion grasses let's go with the flowers that can stay there all year long let's come up with a plan that satisfies everybody but to let it grow natural to get to the point where it looks like a jungle well let me let me let me let interrupt you number one I agree with you I think it's wrong and I think it should be cut at least twice a year so because we we actually find other homeowners that don't cut right for a long period of time so I agree with you with that further with within the scope of the the permit now um we're allowed to cut when we want we still honor cutting twice a year right but this is the same D yeah that I assure you has sent out a public service announcement on pooling water to keep mosquitoes out because they there are some and we do have some cases in Ocean County because my employer follows that uh of West Nile virus and there are mosquitoes that carry that and they don't carry it if we don't provide them a habitat to do it they go somewhere else they die at first FR us so they'll probably die tonight further you reference ticks again same other there have been memos that have come out from the D that said you have to keep your property in toe um there's been no shortage of over the years maybe not this year maybe not last year of beesia and what's that other disease you get from tix it's right now Li disease Li disease so you right so this is this is a a d that has sometimes conf flicted with itself but I'm with you it should be cut and two times a year is not unreasonable and and now that the hescos are in there we haven't seen any oysters yet but they are starting to grow the grasses out there hopefully some of the Eel Grass is coming back but eventually we like haven't been able to go crabbing but that we bought the house again being from Maine I love the idea of going over the wall and going into the water and putting the traps out and I was catching some really good crab haven't done it in the last three years but once that's all settled out out there we should be able to go crabing again but again there's this limitation that you have to go through that growth to get there so I went in three years ago and I was getting covered in ticks and all I wanted to do is make a path and I got a letter saying you can go to jail you can have this huge fine if you do this again and it's like and then we tried to do it again this year we had a small path we put clamshells down somebody else in the what I call the South jungle had clamshell path out to the walkway well we started putting clam shells down and we got a letter you can go to jail you can be F and so we had to go out and clean up the clamshells and pick up the mats and and it's just all I'm trying to do is not walk over to the path from the house without getting into the ticks and all the stuff that is down there we'll revisit it my opinion is and I'm one of five regardless of who sits on the mayor's seats committee form of government every boat is worth the same 20% but uh for me yeah that that should be groomed accordingly exact it's a waterfront property two times a year is not unreasonable yeah thank you so much we appreciate again the effort that's being made Take Care thank you thank any other comments Mr Bender it comes to closer Barry Bender in an older part of the town that okay anyway I want to read this and I'm going to give it to the deputy mayor when done yeah I hope I'm not in re access to Warden house to complete historic registry application members of The Lazy Township committee and the senator and I'll always call him Senator regardless of what who is I'm still not going to go to legislative okay I took my best shot school or School Board having previously requested verbally for access to the historic Warden house to complete our application for registration as a historic building I am submitting this written request for the application of for the same I'm sorry with your verbal rejection of the request and with the recent removal of the sign identifying the building I feel it is necessary to put my request in writing to the best of to my knowledge the P purchase of the warden house has yet to close which I have argued still gives the Authority for my entry into the same the right of the present property owner which is Lacy Township with the recent removal of warden house sign which the reason for has not been shared with the public it gives me more concern that the rights of the citizens of lacy Township are being ignored in behest of a monetary real estate transaction which insults the history of our town and those whose families have been residents here from Town Inception and I say thank you for your attention in this matter sincerely Barry bender and I'll give this to you Deputy Mayor thank you Mr as as I'm going to make a comment on the other subject that's been discussed here tonight um this committee decided some time back uh that the maintenance of the uh land that's owned by the township okay and we remember it's owned by the township you guys made a decision that'll be left up to the people who live behind that property as to what will be done with the with that property and it has remained that way we have been waiting since last January for a meeting to discuss the vegetation on the on the uh on the township property which hasn't happened yet hopefully we get something soon my personal opinion people love their views but if you go too far with removing the veget ation their views will be real good because the water is going to be with their where their homes are um that that growth much of that growth especially the thick Woody stuff helps retain the soil and keeps it fights the erosion you're not going to permanently end the erosion so just wanted to share that thank you for your time thanks Mr Bender sir in the back I didn't want to ruin the momentum of the night uh on that one topic Bob Laray Lacy Township hopefully you know have to spell my last name I might have to ask you but now I come up tonight number one I want to thank Tim McDonald for giving me the opportunity to uh be his running mate and most importantly I want to thank the community for their faith in our Township government reelecting Tim and now have the honor to come forth and be on the governing body and it's actually a real honor for me after six generations of our family here to be representing the uh Township of lacy one thing I do want to comment on I didn't catch your name back there but you were spot on when you turned around and addressed the uh public and I want to thank you for that um because one of the things uh that is interesting is I've been coming to these meetings for well over a year I've learned a lot from that side of the Das and also here and one thing to come up and talk but also if you have a problem let's get people in place and run for office or whatever um because I'll tell you what 28,000 29,000 people in town to see our school board run unopposed when half the meetings the people come up and complain to the to the governing body concern the school board so just keep that in mind but I want to thank you again Regina I made that meeting too so I was listening also but to all the candidates that run for election I want to thank them because win or lose you're involved you're putting your name out there and Mr Dolan who I met uh about a month ago he's uh seems to be a very nice young man and I had spoke to him about staying involved because I'll tell you what we need younger people and even at this case in this case when we see what's the people that are getting involved we could actually even use middle-aged people to get involved because everybody's complaining about age limits and the older is all that's getting involved but again again I just want to thank everybody it's an unbelievable honor to come in January to be representing this town and thank you for this opportunity thank come on up again uh yes so I wanted to um touch on what Barry said about the meeting that we talked about last year that has yet to happen um because we keep going back and forth with the same things here um now they some of these people that live there and are happy with the way the park looks you know that's their opinion I I'm disgusted by how the park looks I love the jungle end of the park it's alive it's beautiful and um it may block their view but um if you go down there and look on the other side of that gentleman's house you'll see a monstrosity that blocks people's view on the other side of that house so that that was allowed to be built that large gray modern looking horrible looking in my opinion house um is blocking other people's view so um there's got to be a compromise where um it it doesn't get you don't go down there with a with a tractor and a saw arm and just literally cut everything down for no reason um there's got to be some kind of compromise of maintaining Le leaving this here leaving some there leaving some there leaving some there instead of cutting it all down um they're not weeds despite what the uh woman said they are native plants for the most part um the path is uh I got to say at least five feet wide so there's plenty of room for two people to walk side by side and maybe some of those homes should be allowed to have a pathway if they're afraid of ticks thing is when you get the birds gone when they've got nowhere to nest they go they eat ticks and also they've always complained about the geese well when you cut that grass down it's like um putting out a buffet for the geese they don't like Tall Grass they won't come and nest and poop all over the place which they've complained about in the past cutting it down that low is an invitation for the geese to come okay I've never seen anybody walking on that path as I'm walking one way have to go around and literally walk in those dangerous plants where children can fall never I walk that path all the time I've never seen it happen so maybe instead of like the one house did first they put weed killer down on Park property so they wouldn't have to walk through the dangerous ticks second they put clam shells down third they put rubber mats all illegal so if they care so much about the park why are they doing that all right so maybe they should be allowed to have access to the park it's a very short distance from their property to the walking path that's a compromise we could have I don't see a problem with that mowing along either side of the path we've talked about that many times for maintenance if you want to make it look prettier and more well-maintained we've never had a problem with that we're going to have a meeting but it's going to be difficult to as soon as January comes it's a scheduling issue and we're trying to schedule it um R from St barnica Bay is trying to help coordinate that and she can't get all the people to commit to a date and time us let's have more than one meeting let's have a meeting for people who can make it let's have another meeting for the people who can't make it I mean we can't keep well it's not it's not that people such as the residents it's the experts that we want in the room that can't coordinate a date and time together because their schedules are all busy it's not about the residents I mean us five six of us seven of us having the meeting is going to get us nowhere because we're not the experts right right so that's why I'm counting on brda and she has a lot of resources and she wants to invite a lot of people of different multitudes of expertise to assist us in doing something and those groups won't want anything cut ever and you know that so what we trying to do is make everybody happy that's impossible we have an obligation to clean the place up and to keep it groomed accordingly so that it doesn't Harbor ticks pests or mosquitoes so we already have a Gabon wall there I don't know what inviting all these other special interest groups is going to do um but I just don't think you we're making we're continuing to spend to ship time on this issue and we're making a a mountain out of what I will call a mole hill um us your opinion that's not my opinion because I love that we've talked about it for a very long time well obviously still an issue so because we haven't come up with a plan that works for everybody okay and I and I selective cutting selective right and an obligation to cut to let everyone have their own way down there I disagree with it um May we revisit well again um uh the few people that did speak uh uh that love what you've done down there had um said that their neighbors or their husbands or whoever say thank you well I am saying um no thank you to the 219 people on Lacy chatter who agree with me and don't want to cut so on their behalf I say no thank you to that and to please do they live there I mean l not an official it doesn't matter if they live there talk through Park it's a public park I I follow L chatter and I can tell you the 29 out of those 180 have no clue what you're talking about all they know is they think oh so you're saying they're stupid no no I'm saying they have no clue I say don't don't try and put words in my mouth why would you say they have no clue if you listen to me they don't because they don't even know where Bon Park is how do you know I know that cuz I I read what they say Okay believe me I know a lot more than you do okay believe me a lot more that's right and I'll say smarter than I a lot smarter believe meot and a lot a lot more a lot more respectful than you are also trying to make my man okay out the roomx a little bit I might don't say you're smarter than me because it's it's ridiculous already okay what's ridiculous 29 you're quoting 290 people on social media La chatter get real people get real Mark it's the people that live in this town and they have no clue what they're talking about as it relates to hear that Lacy Mark says you have no clue what you're talking about said that's right okay let's move on please we gave you for twice thank God you walked away oh yeah I dug myself a hole yes ma'am please come up I duck it up there okay thank you wait a second we have another person Linda Miller work at River hello Linda hi hello everyone hello all right uh the last meeting um I ask if we could say the Lord's Prayer we before we start our meeting totally forgotten I apologize for that okay totally forgot is that going to be we can do that we're going have to add it to the agenda so we don't forget sorry about that we'll try that sorry totally apologize okay I appreciate that any other comments this evening for the good of the order seeing none make a motion to close the floor second all in favor I one more resolution resolution of the township of L County of ocean state of New Jersey authorizing the convening of an executive session in accordance with the open public meetings act to discuss matters of personnel move it move it second Mr McDonald yes Mr K yes Mr yes Deputy Mayor yes motion to moving second all in favor I no further business no the further business