we live Madam we good I'm ready to go good evening everyone thank you for coming out on this great evening I appreciate it just wanted to read a little statistic it's Autism Awareness Month in April and I just wanted to share some steps from the C control vention one in 36 children in the US have autism up from the previous year of 1 in 44 one in 45 adults in the US have autism in the US about four in 100 boys and one 100 girls have autism boys are nearly four times more likely to be diagnosed with autism than girls and there have been changes that have reflected in the Improvement of Outreach and the difference that screening has made in destigmatizing autism diagnosis and especially in the minority communities thank you for your attention adequate notice of this meeting of the Lawrence Township Council being held on Tuesday April 2nd 2024 has been provided through the posting of the annual meeting schedule of said c counc in accordance with Section 13 of the opening public meetings act said notice was forwarded to The Trentonian the times and the Princeton packet on December 11th 2023 and now we'll have our inspiration may we carry out our work at this meeting in a just honorable and sincere manner always bearing in mind our duties and continuing to keep lawence a wonderful community in which to live I pledge aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the repic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all have call please Mr Bobby here Mr Kaki here is Perry keny with us this evening Mr Ryan here mayor Farm here do we have any special proclamations recognition or presentations no this brings us to the first opportunity for public participation you have five minutes and if you could come to the podium state your name and you can write your address on the sheet of paper I'm testing out the microphone all right um at the Town council meeting on March 5th at approximately an hour and 43 minutes I asked about the vendor selection process related to the 2020 and 2023 fire studies I wanted to know that the studies were objective and credible no Aunts Uncles cousins friends family being paid name oh I'm so sorry Ronnie M uh being paid to tell you exactly what you wanted to hear I use the specific term RFP several times at an hour and 45 minutes exactly Mr nnsky stated that there was a proposal process quote unquote the following is what I have figured out in my research since March 5th the Rogers group was purchased by lexo but that's still a bit nebulous Frank Rogers formerly New Jersey State Police and the Rogers Group is now an advisor to a company called the critical Response Group referenced in the 2020 study the Rogers group from the 2020 study has become Cotter strategies which is all the same people Sam's one resource changed Frank Rogers was replaced by Eric iers the 2023 study was conducted by Cotter strategies so essentially it's the same four people three three of the four people both studies now we haven't seen the second study and we're still wondering when and why or why not but I'm curious to see um where one leaves off and the other and the other picks up So when you say proposal process since there was no RFP there was only one 2020 vendor proposal and one 2023 vendor proposal no fee negotiations so perhaps the township could have negotiated the fees but they didn't because they had no leverage whatsoever um and again just I got I did the opr request one proposal 2020 one proposal 2023 so I would just like a little bit of help and help me to understand how these studies are objective and credible and how we should view them as such okay thank you for your comments and your information um councilwoman Perry is not able to be here this evening but she did share with me um as you know we are moving forward um through the um the fire and Safety Committee um will be having its first community meeting um scheduled for miday um uh M CL if you have the date as of yet for for the um committee for the fire safety the subcommittee I think they meet on well they didn't give me the date but I think it's on the third Tuesday one of is Tuesday but if anybody want to contact me I can give you the actual date right so that meeting is open but the subcommittee that will be studying specifically the fire aspects of that will be meeting in mid so more additional information will be coming out at that time you say the meeting is [Music] open the the fire the fire and safety one is yes but there's also an additional um sub committee that that one's by the sub correct I that to say that they're working on the information that is in this study so more information will come from that subcommittee that will come to the public the fire good evening mayor and Council Greg py H17 Booker Hill Avenue uh I have spoken before about the Redevelopment plan for the 331 Princeton Pike and I will say it again since we have new council members and a new Township attorney this Redevelopment plan was not a product of council conversations regarding land use this plan was devised during private meetings between a developer and the manager with the help of the township planner who not only got paid thousands of dollars to do the Redevelopment investigation but now gets to do a site plan review for thousands of more dollars for the planning board somebody tell me how this is not an ethical Conflict for a licensed professional that's a good question to ask it appears there was one goal in mind at those meetings and that was for the developer to be guaranteed and approval by bypassing the Zoning Board of adjustment because in all likelihood this project would have been denied the methodology used in the investigation done by the township planner was flawed the site barely meant two out of the seven conditions and there was no research or fact finding to determine if those conditions were self created by the property owners How can there be six Office Buildings on a property all constructed at the same time and only three of them are considered blighted Beyond use and in need of Redevelopment for the record according to a news article dated August of 2023 only one of the six Office Buildings is vacant as reported in Planet Princeton in an oped a recent New Jersey Supreme Court ruled that the town of West Orange New Jersey improperly designated a site as an area in Need for redevelopment under local housing law the court reaffirmed that the standard for declaring a property or building in need of Redevelopment must be that the property is blighted the Supreme Court also emphasized the fact a property is old or requires modernizing is not confirmation of Blake that is exactly what is happening here in laurren Township and your Township planner should have called that out in her report but she did not instead the township planner guaranteed herself a future paycheck by going along with the deception that the property is blighted and now will get paid to review the Redevelopment plan for the planning board according to tonight's Redevelopment agreement if passed will begin discussions on tax abatement for market rate Garden Apartments I could understand and this might be a different conversation that this project for was for 100% affordable units but it's not and far from it I'm requesting Lawrence Count Council take a pause and table this agreement in light of the recent New Jersey Supreme Court ruling and have your attorney research the validity of the investigation report by the township planner that led to tonight's developer agreement it appears the New Jersey local Redevelopment law was abused in Orange Township as it appears to have been abused in the township of West Orange the residents all know that the ordinance adopting the 3131 Princeton pipe development plan was rushed through by the township man manager for approval by council at the end of last year in December to circumvent it from being voted on by the new majority of Council in 2024 I also applaud former mayor John Ryan and former councilwoman Katherine McDuff for voting no on the Redevelopment order back in December for the very same reasons that I mentioned here tonight thank you for your time and I hope the council takes a pause and does legal research on the recent Supreme Court ruling thank you thank you [Music] I'm Bob pron 31 West long drive just a question based on the the first uh comments that were made can you briefly tell me what the criteria are for when projects have to go for um request for proposals as opposed to being just uh ministered Minister I um let our turn answer that well if it's a for a professional if it's for a professional service a licensed Service uh lawyer accountant uh license planner Etc there's no requirement that it has to go out for an RFP or an RFQ it it can it can uh uh just be uh solicited uh proposals can be solicited for that uh you can do uh an RFQ and then go through a a uh process to qualify five lawyers or five accountants or or five planners but but that process uh depends on each municipality or County and uh generally if there's a specialized area U the administration would look for a u professional that has an expertise in that area and negotiate a contract the all elements of the contract can be negotiated including price but uh there is no requirement that it has to go out for an RFQ or an RFP it's really at the at the uh discretion of the uh government agency to see what's in the best interest for the municipality or County so does government agency put out a notice that they're going to be requesting these Professional Services so that other professional groups would know or do they just contact how do you keep from them contacting someone who they know and making that appointment rather than putting them for notice out well you know there there's it has to go in front of the governing body this is not it's not just a decision by the township administrator or the County administrator or whatever the the government agency is the the the government body in this case the township Council has to approve it it's it's not it's not just administrative it's not just administratively approved well I guess said you know I'm I'm a consultant and so not in any of the areas that you're involved but um if someone is looking for Consulting Services they would make it more broadly known so the various Consulting groups or people could respond and if you're saying uh the group here has to vote on something that has been brought by this committee that seems to me to fall short of putting a notice out and maybe getting several responses from other qualifi well it's it's a I understand your question it's up to the governing body and they do not have to accept the rec recommendation of the manager or whoever whoever is is putting it forth it's really a a decision of council uh and it can either accept reject uh or table any any such proposal I wasn't here for when when they were hired so I'm a little bit at a disadvantage but but U if there's a particular area of expertise uh you try you you know you try to get the uh what you hope is the best uh company or individual uh but the ultimate ultimate decision is that of councel and and and not the manager or the lawyer or I completely yeah understand that however it's come through a funnel of that one person who who uh has reached out to someone because it's not made known in a larger community and that person come the funnel and I would assume that you're going to defer to the Judgment of the committee that made the recommendation rather than saying no we don't think this company or person is an expert that seems to be uh unlikely so I if there was some process to put in place some wider dissemination when contracts were being for experts are being asked I think that would be wise to put in place and and helpful for those of us who thank you thank you for your [Music] comments if I could just say what that means is not one person on Council does the decision it's the the entire body enti body make sure that the information is out there so that people know to apply for a certain contract for opportunity is it the legislature has made a a mechanism for Professional Services that does not require RFQ and RFP it doesn't prohibit it it's really at the discretion of the governing body not just here every and I guess I would ask for this governing body to try to make it more General know to get very good alternative uh requests that your committee can you just say that into the microphone so we can have a record of it so I appreciate your response I my request would be that the this committee have a process in place to make things more broadly known uh so that you could get um requests when you put out need for an expert lawyer for example you would have other people be able to respond and therefore the committee make the recommendation to you and it's seen several other people rather than just someone who might be particular [Laughter] thank good evening my name is barar Harrison um this is my first meeting and I don't know whether my whether I could ask a question now okay um I had attended uh the council meeting I'm sorry the Mercer County meeting um in October and at that time I complained about this traffic nightmare down here at Princeton Pike where now you almost have to break your neck to see oncoming cars and I just saw in the paper someone was killed I believe in that same nightmare so I did speak to um Mr dowy is that that's you right Chief that's my secretary that's your secretary okay but I sent an email to that person in January and I'm just trying to get some clarification was like I said it's a traffic Nightmare and I was told at that time in Trenton that a circle was going to be put there so I just want to know what's going on um and who could answer that question like I said I'm I'm a note writing fanatic so January 7th on a Sunday I sent an email regarding that no response that bothers me okay can you just clarify for me you said Princeton pipe you come down Princeton Pike um Bruns quick check is over here Brunswick extension okay okay um quick check is over here and now it used to be where you could come up and I think it was a light there but now you got to go around this roundabout but when you get here you have to almost break your neck to see if cars are coming on the side I'm not sure the location any right are you describing Princeton Avenue like quick check is on your left and you're going and the farmers market is going to be up there and you've got a turn all the way around to see cars coming what you're talking about all right thank you so it used to be too LAN there now it's one lane and you got like I said um a stop sign it's a stop sign but you have to almost break your neck and see the cars coming the other way and I do believe a person was killed there um last week I don't know whe it was that one it wasn't that one it was white head Circle but you know in any event sorry that man lost his life but in any event that's a freaking nightmare okay and whoever came up with that I won't say what I said in Trenton um but you can kind of get the gist of what I'm saying whoever came up with that um okay needs to be uh talked to we got it freaking nightmare I'm saying freaking but you know but in any event there's any public input into these before you things are change this it's a county road so I I can tell you that that the township officials have expressed deep concern about that new configuration with the county officials so we don't have any control or authority over the design or the traffic flow or the change of traffic flow on a County Road and no input either no input well the input we gave obviously didn't work like I said I went to the county and they they threw it back and said it was you guys that's not true that was October 10th meeting who did you speak to at the count um I got up just like I'm up now and you at Board of freeh holders meeting um the county commissioner I was at the County Commissioners October October 10th 2023 and I said I expressed my disapproval then and they said oh Lawrence Township did that no that's not correct I mean Lawrence says no Juris I mean I say not correct in the sense I'm not saying I you didn't hear what you heard but but under the state law the lawence township has no jurisdiction over that roadway at all okay but now we've heard you know so if someone complains what do you send a do you do anything the the the only entity that has jurisdiction is the county immerser and and you can make that complaint to the County Commissioners and to were the county executive uh uh the uh uh director of B see I mean there's there's you a variety of people there and they have a planner you know they have an engineer County engineer they have a County Traffic engineer uh so that's where the uh where you where you would make your your case for revising It Whatever unfortunately you know the township would would not have the ability to uh force a change on that okay all right there that's a nice answer a sad answer that I just feel like somebody's going to get killed at that intersection because it's a traffic nightmare I mean I grew up in in Trenton and have traveled all over that's a nightmare and you know it shouldn't take uh an accident or somebody losing their life before we say oh it was them it was them it was them like I said I I just think that's uh understand how things work I just don't think that's a good um a good uh use of that area and I just think it's like I said it's a nightm and an accident waiting to happen um I don't know if I said my name Barbara Harriston but thank you so much and then just write your address I voted down first when I first came in okay thank you for your com she left here um hello everyone um my name is Dro um I hate here I last week I been for a while to be honest uh between California and Florida and the Baltimore Bridge collaps I've been there I'm exhausted honestly the only reason can't hear you sorry can you hear me can you hear me now yeah can you guys hear me now yeah I want to make sure that you guys hear can I just tell Miss Harrison just one other thing um just so you know similar how we have a member Council on this body the um the County Commissioners also are represented as well so you know when you make your I know two of them person okay okay I'm sorry I make sure she awesome um yeah listen unfortunately I have to be here today um just addressing a few things basically just getting a few things off my shoulder um first of all I want to make sure that we understand this you guys haven't seen me in a while I in about four or five months um it's because this has been functioning a lot better than what it had before like mayor Patricia like you're doing an awesome job we feel a lot more confident in how this council is executing and Arthur just said it you guys basically are the ultimate decision makers of this space and um and applaud that because the reason this this used to be twice as full before but it's not like that anymore so because of that I want to bring you some information that you should already have um and by doing so what I'm going to be doing is basically taking the weight off my shoulder and giving it to you with the expectation that you're going to take some time with the councel and decide what those next steps should be again do not reach out to me think this is a responsibility for you to reach out back to the constituents and we're coming to you because of the great job that you're doing so I want to make sure that everyone understands I I never really call people I think I'm allergic to phones but I've made three calls in the last two weeks that been very important you might want to jot down the three calls I made first call is in relationship to what Rooney said Roger group doesn't exist right so I'm a CEO and what CEOs do is they call other CEOs Rogers grp was acquired by lexo spoke with a few directors there and they confirmed hey actually this study doesn't smell right the CEO actually wouldn't want to put this in writing but the directors are more than willing to have conversation that's what I've same time and I found that odd because a few weeks ago when I tuned in on on video I saw a lot of the information from that study being display to the public so I'm glad that a subcommittee has been created because that subcommittee you also have the responsibility to understand what information is being fed to them but also making sure that this information is not being BR out to the community I want to provide you a copy of this someone submitted an open request from the community and and I want to highlight some of the words that were exchanged before the proposal happened and I want to make sure that we're clear that type of language is the language that I use with my peers when I'm having a beer not language that I would use and then agree to a contract and exchange Community funds with so I want everyone of you guys to see it yes to have a testament of what happens and the next page actually shows you the date that the proposal was put through but that language was exchanged on multiple emails about four months before disappointing yes it's more disappointing was upon further review we looked at the proposal from the second study so I'm going to read the people that were involved in the first study course R Joseph hook Richard the group all from the Rogers Group the company that's now debunked three years later after that exchange of funds a second exchange of funds happened let me read you the names of the people in the second one Christopher cter Joseph hook Richard De it's one thing to be Reckless once it's a whole other thing to follow up and be put again 3 years later again I'm glad that your fingerprints are on that that it's your responsibility not mine I'm a citizen do not call me I don't even spend much of my time here anymore the second call that I made was even more important because I noticed that this grant um was um was a grant from a senator and thankfully senators are very accessible to people like me made a call one to understand the spirit of how this PR Grant came about and I wonder if they're under the understanding of what's happening with their money and It's upsetting honestly and someone who's very charit of myself It's upsetting when I see things like that so I made a call to the Rogers Group and I made a call to the senator but the third call was the most important call that I ever could have made in all this I want to make sure that you understand that call was not my foration to make that call was the first call that you the council should have made while we've been going back and forth about a study about data about location for the last few months and set up a series of events because we saw someone y Mr pilotti and started digging the Rocks we lost sight of what really was important so last year on Christmas Eve on the other side of town where a fire station really is needed a fire started and multiple families lost their homes they started a gold funding page they're easy to find I called them how many of you guys called them you guys work for them not one of you guys called them while we were here trying to figure this out they have nowhere to go and the g fundme page is still up so again my ask is this one I should not be making any calls anymore I hate calling people two do not call me because I'm not going to pick up and three the only deliverable Patricia that we're asking sorry mayor Patricia well earned that we're asking is and it's because we trust you've gained our trust on this is give the town an understanding of what's in front of you that we just passed over to you how did that get to that point what are you going to do to provide the right information moving forward and what needs to happen within this town so that doesn't happen again thank you I can't name no no no I I can't not speak allow me to speak we've just had multiple people come up here and each one of them has to disparage the character of me and other individuals who work hard in this community for this community in the best interest of the community and under the law the Rogers group was a study that was done was funded by the municipal government back in 2017 or 2018 an amount was was established by the governing body at that time it was actually prior to me prior to 2017 and it was because that there was a sincere and significant concern about the function of the fire department providing service to this community that fire that fire study was a discussion that was a recommendation made by the municipal manager not me to the governing body it says this is the type of Outside Agency information that we need to better understand our fire situation the parameters of that fire study were very simple very very simple but it required an expertise to do it one is to get a sense of our fire operations an overall performance and evaluation of our fire operations accumulation of data with regard to our volunteers fire response and provide the town with a list of recommendations upon which we could utilize and build a better fire department you saw the first study it was done by the Rogers Group when you have a specialized work that needs to be done just like Mr cypc was was a professional attorney there is no there's no advertisement for attorneys this Council needs to respect know the quality of work of the person that's going to providing them with legal counsel the same exact standard for professional Services has to do with fire study a police study that I've recommended that we do to get a better understanding of how many police officers we need during this time frame with regard to the type of community that we have now and that the Rogers Group every single member had extensive experience conducted fire studies with other communities worked with our Police Department in other matters where we were very confident that they were professional that they were qualified and they could deliver on the services that's what we do we're human beings we connect with other people we look for people that are professional we look for people where we've worked with in the past and we say yeah these people we can trust we know they're qualified we know the quality of work that they do and so municipalities throughout the state throughout the country officials government officials appointed and Ed they they search for qualified individuals it's not this blanket thing hey we're doing a fire study 40 PE 40 firms come and give us proposals it doesn't work that way they don't exist number one it's a very specialized situation I didn't know anybody the governing body didn't know anybody with regard to this Jack Oakley who's our fire fire fire chief and our Emergency Management he's been in the business for 40 years of course he has relation ships of course he knows people and along the way they work together that's how you build trust that's how you build a reputation of quality and when we reviewed their qualifications and those qualifications were submitted to me and I reviewed them and then I submitted them to the council for approval everyone agreed it was the appropriate organization to do our general fire study nothing for uh nefarious happened at all it just sickens me everybody that comes up here and disparages character it sickens me because all we do I'm looking at my department heads here we work hard every single day to do the best we can for our community and I lay my head down safely and comfortably every night because I don't do anything outside the law and I don't do anything behind closed doors like Mr pollut and okay good yeah I know I'm getting too passionate but you know what no one you said that you would you guys would defend me against this stuff you said Kevin don't talk we'll take care of it it didn't happen three people got up on three different things and said the same exact thing and they don't have the information they don't understand the law they don't understand the process and it's fine it's their right to get up there is it their right to attack somebody's character is it right there is it their right to disparage somebody's reputation it's not okay let me just go back to one thing um this fire study this whole process we are not the only town that has done this you know uh haven't been mayor since January spoken to you know the Mayors and other municipalities within our area this is not something that is uncommon in terms of townships looking at you know what is best for Community with regards to fire stations and all that so you know it's all become very uh personal right and and the other thing you know we we are we want to take our time in how we're going to move forward with this so all that we ask is that you be patient give us the time to review we've selected you know a committee that We Believe will serve us well and we've also have taken this very seriously and created a subcommittee so that they can look at it even more in depth you know we're not this is a a slow process it's not something I know everybody has been very passionate and very personally touched and yes you know the fires you know what what was said even about the go onund me I feel bad I did not reach out and call that family and I should have mayor mayor I've been in touch with but you have and I know that we've been assisting them along the way just s good and and I I didn't doubt that for a moment as well as my fellow Council woman who's not here this evening because it was in her direct community so I know that she knew the family um personally so you know give us time to wrap our hands around this there's a lot of information that we have not shared out publicly because it's not um not it's not the time as of yet we're still working through something so I just ask that you bear with us give us an opportunity to get our handle around all the things that uh we looking at in this situation we hear you you know um and we're going to move forward with uh with the with those things in mind so mayor can I sure I is is it all right if I ask the manager uh two questions follow up about the fire study thank you uh uh Mr manager uh one question I have for you is in the fire study how many recommendations were made off the top of your head was it more than 30 more than 30 3 38 38 and how many of those were uh involved with the location of a firehouse not many at all one one one or two okay yeah two okay and so out of the 37 uh um 37 recommendations and forgive me because I I I believe uh Mr Oakley presented the at his department meeting but most of those were recommendations that the Emergency Services have followed up on and actually have improved our processes through in terms Pur to make it make us better that was the intent to make us better to serve the community better and and I only say that not to sort of uh uh uh lessen the concerns of of the res but more so to say that this this study wasn't just about the location of a firehouse it was also about improving the delivery of our fire Services which it sounds to me from both uh Mr Oakley's presentation and from feedback uh from the manager that it actually has improved those those things so again not to dis diminish the concerns especially of the residents of West Long Drive um but there has been some positive that has come out that's all that's all I wanted to sort of shed light on thank you there sure it's okay my turn okay Mr Kaki councilman Kaki who serves on the public safety Comm when that uh study was done in serves on the public safety not the sub committee when that study was done in 2017 the people that had done the study came in front of us he close it R front of us and talked to every council member that was up here at that time interviewed us and asked us questions and explain everything that we're going to be looking at the study was also to look at for me not where Firehouse going to go but what we could do to hire paid firemen here and keep the volunteers we went around it was rich CR was the manager we went around to all three firehouses talk with the members of the firehouses about it and had a public meeting in there with the residents that did show up that's my understanding of the first part of that study was how can we build this Township up and cover the areas the way we're supposed to cover the one recommendation where they feel a firehouse should go that's up in the we don't know if it's going where at this time but that group came in spent many days with us talked to every like I said every member on this Council or previous Council spoke with the manager and that council at that time based on the decision from our attorney was to make that recommendation and we made that recommendation based on listen to our attorney just like 's my attorney if he gave me information he's the professional I have to listen to what he says same with the planner board attorney you got to listen to what he says then you make your decision all right they don't make the decision for us the Council made the decision the planning board makes the decision it isn't the attorney they're giving us their legal advice okay all right do have anything you want to add no mayor thank you all righte your name my name is Vicky Russo and I live um on Sunset Road uh when I was up here the last time I had asked about the community center because I am concerned about the traffic and I have to say I think I did come unprepared because I didn't have the document in front of me and so I apologize for wasting your time again but this one States um um this is from the um the uh grant information it says um I I didn't highlight this but I'll say it because it goes into the location it says while this location is in the southwestern segment of Lawrence Township which also contains an overburden community of lwi income and minority POS populations it will serve the entire Township the new facility will be available for training sessions Community meetings and events and will function as a community Hub it will provide opportunities for the community to utilize publicly accessible spaces for meetings Civic Civic events lectures and family events consistent with the manner in which local firehouses are integrated into the neighborhood so I was told that there would be no Community Center now maybe because they have these recommendations this particular recommendation is not going to be uh executed but I wanted you to know that it is in there and that is a concern for the traffic in our neighborhood um and parking on grass is not acceptable there would have to be a parking structure and safety for all so I just want to let you know now again um I was told that there would be none but perhaps um that this is no longer accurate where are you reading that from what is that from can I show you sure yeah sure because it seems like you're describing the neighborhood center on aage Crossing Road the neighborhood I know but this is the from the grants it was printed off oh sorry it's okay um but again no decision has been made I just wanted to say that that was a concern because it's saying that the firehouse is can we get a copy of that please yeah sure you can back all right here it's page 19 of the shley Turner may can I say can I say emphatically that that the if there is a new fire facility it will not be a community center or function as a community center at all like I mean but I guess it's there but it's there's been no plan for that but it could be something that I guess in the again you're going back in significant number of years in terms of what is the expectation a community Firehouse well that's yeah volunteer firehouses have frequently served as a community Hub but a professional dedicated fire department house Emergency Services would not be a community center with with weddings or or birthday parties or anything like that it would function exactly like the police department does a professional uh operated and occupied building the no decision has been made yeah right this is you know just for discussion no decision sure and then we're gon get going I need I need to get going so I'll make it quick again what just happened right now is a really good example you asked for a grant grant you state your name one more time this is Dr Ramon Mardo and and actually these These are the kind of things that were coming up you asked for the grant the grant specified something on P 19 now we're hearing that something else is going to be done okay but listen regardless again not my problem pass it on to you here's why I'm setting up the second time so what set up all these motions remember what was it I keep saying and I keep coming up someone yelled at an elderly man who comes here and boys here's a thing no matter how you see him the guy has spite in that's for sure but here's my problem why is he being singled out on that response go back and watch this video why is a resident being singled out in our response how does that intimidate someone and and again you know what's funny I was the one that came up and said it we didn't talk about a firehouse someone were sponded about the firehouse and went again and that's why people like me have to keep coming up I'm not interested listen it's the firehouse how can we move it's the Injustice that we're seeing it's the things that are moving it's the lack of character that's what makes us keep coming back and saying actually no we cannot stay blind we have to do what's right so again as AR said it's a responsibility of the council Council I mean you guys can decide whatever you think is best thank you for your comment and call Mayor I just want to say that I I take Umbridge with the the lack of character comment by Dr lazardo um I don't think that is appropriate for this uh forum and um I just wanted to state that for the record okay syvia kovas good evening good evening uh I want to thank all the department headers here tonight again for the hard work that you guys done on the budget and presentations and um I don't have anything to say about the firehouse um um but I do have something to say about the well actually wrong um when I first read about the firehouse um Grant uh and I came to the meeting and asked questions what's going to happen to the all that um I was accused that I don't want to support by Mr Bob actually I don't want to support volunteer firefighters for some reason I that was not even a question the first the first uh study was published on Mr nnsky blog that's how I found it and that's how I read it and now the new study is being kept in secret uh so that's kind of a little bit I don't understand the difference but we didn't but uh on the lighter note uh the white had Circle um we need better signs uh coming south onto the circle uh people who don't live in the area they do they have no way of knowing how to turn left off of that Circle well go go on to White Head Road uh that's how they're cutting off people the time uh that line the white line dividing the two lanes it's completely gone because people continue to cut across it and it just wrapped off so um it looks like there's only one lane uh going through the circle at this point um we need signs saying white Head Road left lane Route One South right lane whatever it is that needs to be done there there needs to be better signs and as for people being very sensitive when we came my neighborhood came with another issue um we were told we're coming here expressing our emotions I think tonight's uh expression of emotions of someone who sits at this very long table um was much more inappropriate than and we were accused of coming here expressing our emotions without any legal basis And the emotions are being expressed the other way around thank you thank you for your comments anyone else okay closing U public participation reviewing division of agenda um is there a motion for the adoption of minutes in our previous meeting December 5th I can't I'll make a motion to move the regular meeting of December 5th 2023 second okay Madam clerk we call the r Please Mr bobit yes Mr Kaki yes Mr Ryan Yes mayor F abstain awarding and or rejection of bids we don't have anything there the introduction of ordinances mayor I'll make a motion to move 11a ordinance number 24 66-4 an ordinance amending chapter 435 of the Lawrence Township Administrative Code entitled motor vehicles and traffic handicap parking space at 72 North Brook Avenue you have a second second thank you madam if you could call the V was there any discussion any discussion or details on I'm sorry it's just a handicap commiss any public participation yes seeing none Madam cler you call the RO Please Mr Bob yes Mr Kaki yes Mr R yes mayor bar yes okay that brings us to the manager's report um tonight is scheduled for the adoption of the municipal budget um this is the time that there's a public hearing schedule so you're the chair if you want to open it up to the public comment yes um is there any public comments or questions on the adoption of the 2024 Municipal [Laughter] budget great a27 Bunker Hill Avenue in regards to this year's budget I have some OPP observations I would like to share with Council but before I do I have uh two comments I would like to make the first is that I have the utmost confidence and respect for your CFO for his part in facilitating and crafting of a complicated budget document the second comment is that last year when I addressed this Council during the budget hearings I was accused and ridiculed in public by their manager for grandstanding that comment to a taxpaying citizen was disrespectful and unprofessional and it will not be forgotten in regards to the budget while I can app appreciate a flat tax rate for this year I have some observations on how the township manager arrived at a flat tax rate for 2024 in 2022 we had a 4% increase on the tax rate last year in 2023 we had a 5% increase on the tax rate due to math and that's a 9% tax rate in the past two years so a flat tax rate while this year while it is welcome it is not impressive looking at the last two years's budgets I see line items over budgeted by tens of thousands of those of over budgeted line items end up returning to the general fund over budgeting line items is not responsible budgeting there has been a significant increase in using Surplus to balance the township budget in the last two years which coincides with the over budgeting of line items responsible budgeting should have modest increases each year as opposed to Peaks and valleys that we have experienced in the last three years I urge Council to do a post audit on this year's Budget on all 2023 line items have a reserve of over $100,000 to determine if over budgeting took place last year in 2003 when we had a 5% tax increase thank you for your time and attention thank you for your comments and apologies for the grandstanding comment give that on behalf Council questions you want to close the I will close now the public participation okay so we have a a motion to um authorize the budget to be read by title only only somebody make the motion in a second so yes s apologies mayor um I was just wondering if if the manager had anything else for his manager report but it sounds like he doesn't so I will move 12a uh number 164 authorizing the budget to be read by title only second and um this is for the 2024 Municipal budget for the township of Lawrence County of Mercer for the fiscal year uh of 2024 I ask that the council take a vote on adoption uh mayor do we need to vote on uh was that b oh did you do did you do a vote for the no read only I'm sorry no sorry 12 a Mr bobit yes Mr Kaki yes Mr Ryan Yes mayor yes all right mayor if it's all right with everyone else I will uh make a motion to introduce 12b number 165 authorizing the adoption of the 2024 Municipal budget n Mr Bobby yes Mr Kaki yes Mr Ryan Yes mayor F yes and if I may make a comment yeah since this is my first budget I just want to one thank um the CFO Peter for taking time with me he I went over the budget line by line for two and a half hours took the court course um through the lead municipalities and learned a lot and also um the manager also was very um instrumental and helping me understand the budget as well and going through it again line by line so I am appreciative of that and thank you for and I also heard um the comment that was made about looking at the um the funds or things that are over a certain amount in thank you for that um comment as well yes you could have your report uh I have nothing new tonight I will have some new matters uh for the next meeting that we may need in executive session but nothing nothing to move forward with tonight take yes did mayor I do actually have two things in my manager's report if you don't mind the first is the discussion relating to Federal Point traffic signal design funding okay as I've indicated to all of you by email I did hear back from ying and Hopewell uh both ying and Hopewell indicate that they do not want to enter into a uh a shared cost for uh design work relating to um The Bull Run Road light or uh the Federal Point okay so um my recommendation is that we move forward on the Federal Point traffic light alone and that we not participate in the Bull Run Road light work and so uh hell and Ying will take care of Bull Run Road will take care of Federal Point Federal Point directly impacts Lawrence residents going in and out of of of that Association so I think we should move forward without delay with regard to getting um a proposal out for a traffic design St and for the safety of our residents also so do do I have uh support of council with regard to moving forward on that yes you have my support everybody yes we have my support yes do we need to do a call yeah why don't we do a roll call let's do a roll call and just State what it is so that so I'm seeking um authority to move forward with traffic signal design work for Federal Point okay do you want us to move on it or just have just I guess a yay or nay would be kind of good roll should do a roll call please aoll Mr B yes Mr Kaki yes Mr Ryan Yes mayor F yes so we're it is disappointing that they don't want to do jointly with us but they will and by that I mean h and and H are still considering the Bull Run location for a traffic L yeah they've indicated that they are they are still doing that oh okay so we will get those like just yeah the traffic study that that was done indicated that there the traffic flow would be positively impacted with the installation of two lights so uh we we just originally thought the three communities could get together because it was a shared uh situation for motorists traveling in and out of our communities but um I think they just want to they just wanted to do the Bull Run although I you know hope Well's got a 300 unit uh housing that's going right out and and they're going to use that light that Federal Point so I don't understand it's just disappointing okay don't look like that okay madam do you have anything to report for us I know that we have our yes you do so I distributed your financial disclosures they are due by April 30th if you need any help just Comm me a call all done online um as I sent out the question for the Juds and so far I've received three back M okay and they'll be going out to you um on the 4th April 4th I think it is once I get them back um I also received a letter of resignation from Jee for we want to thank him from the Dei committee yeah he has some other things that's going on so definitely reach out J thank him for yes de inclusion sure and then I just finished up certifying our petitions for the county committee which I'll be sending in to the county tomorrow okay fun stuff yeah lot okay um manager I just wanted to double check we did not go over 12d right we can we can absolutely go over that um um there was a press release that uh uh informed the public that the Lawrence Neighborhood Center on Ed's crossing road is going to be transitioning from being operated by Homefront homefront is um as you know expanded their operations at their site on Princeton Avenue and they will be um working out of that site um and the Lawrence Township Recreation Department will be um occupying the recreation center um the date is SE September 30th is when it's going to transition where the township is it's a Township owned building correct so we're taking it taking it back we have plans to do uh renovations to the interior of it and we have a lot of work to do to discuss the programming that is going to be there we want to make sure that um we uh provide the services that need to be provided as well as the programs that we want to that we want to give to the entire Comm absolutely okay looking forward to those Improvement okay um anything else do we have any unfinished business none new business none this brings us to public participation with uh three minutes [Laughter] thank you thank go my name is David Neno and I have some some notes on your agenda is resolution 161 the temporary used Township land to replace the gr of the Theon which I'm here supporting I think you surpass that tonight um the um Township um thankfully acquired the Seft property and completed the F Lake Park path behind the boning alley and the loop is completed by the existing sidewalk on the existing Bridge some people feel that that's unsafe certainly there's no barrier um you there just a curve there between the sidewalk and the traffic so um in checking the NJ website their fiveyear plan for here it's fiscal years 2028 to 2032 in that Capital fiscal year plan five fiveyear plan they have $4.5 million budgeted for the construction of that bridge um so the people at the frch of the col Park have been advocating for pest Bridge course the neck here which would be ideal but also would be expensive here we have the njp spending $4.5 million on the constructions of the bridge which is about the same location so when you approve that resolution for the temporary use of public land I would ask that you also request the do in conveying that approval to look at providing a protected pedestrian paring over the sabon on the colonial Lake Park Side and that way people can feel comfortable completing that Loop that way and also it saves maybe saves you the bother of having to build a separate pedestrian Bri that the K Pap and yeah that's it right thank you for [Applause] your see no additional public participation we'll close that up and move on to our resolutions all right mayor if it's all right with the rest of council I'd like to move 18 A1 through H5 in a block coun did you want one I just wait on a second okay we're on it all right just make it sure okay Madam cler if you could call the there's still no thank you coun okay Mr Bob yes Mr Kaki yes Mr Ryan Yes mayor far yes all right I will move H6 number 166 authorizing a Redevelopment agreement between the township and the lawrencville Development Group LLC pursuant to the 3131 Redevelopment plan second there any other discussion I would I would mayor I would like to table this until next uh hold on we give you a reason expect thank you no on the back it we uh when you go through the Redevelopment on that it says with uh exhibit a on the back you'll see it uh 1886 and it says Redevelopment agreement disagreement is a separate document there is no documents to read nothing you didn't get the no nothing in the book there's there's nothing in the book this is the agreement so how many and how many pages are there it is uh quite a it's 37 so maybe we should take until we can go through it that's what I would like to do fair enough did everybody get in their book no I know councilwoman have some questions also okay I don't see any problem with that if you didn't get in your bus and you didn't see it you could have contacted me and I could have made sure that you all had one but prior to this meeting I'm just going to let you know that going forward do going forward you could you could have done that um because that was probably just an oversight sometime we get a lot of Stacks with that and so when we're running it um sometimes so you can always call and say hey I didn't get the agreement okay we should have there were five of us we should have yeah out and and this is the first of me hearing it okay is that is that being tabled to a date certain to our next to the 16 yeah agreed just checking I I was just going to say um not in reference to uh councilman Ryan's uh tabling requests but I was going to say that um I think this is sort of a a lesson uh for all of us that if we are missing something from our book that we receive on a Friday afternoon that if we miss something during the weekend that we should reach out to the clerk as soon as possible so that we can continue to do the the business of the community in a timely fashion so um you know um so I think we as a body should be a little better about that that's all so um I'm in agreement with that we should defin I'll take ownership of that as well um and so that we don't have sort of surprises on on the days but I I will um if you want to make the motion or how how do you want to do it I just a a motion to table uh 18 six yeah you need a second okay and can I can I ask a clarifying question before a second is it to a date certain of Fe April 16 and I I'll go over with the with the clerk uh make sure that everything is in order it's part probably partly my fault that uh it's it happens yeah we I think it was SP yeah wasn't intentional so okay so we have a motion in a second to table the um number 166 166 number 166 okay you have a motion in a second and I'm going to call the yes M Mr bobin yes Mr Kaki yes Mr Ryan Yes mayor farmer yes promise to do better okay now Council initiatives and lay on reports I have nothing there anything um I'll just say that uh um environmental resources uh that committee is very interested in the uh master plan reexamination so as I as I showed up at at the planning board meeting um if they could be a part of uh the stakeholder meetings potentially um but have a sort of meaningful involvement in and I think there are other committees as well shade um I'm sure shade tree um and growth and Redevelopment and others who probably won't have some say on so looking forward to if there's a way to not increase costs of of the of the process but at the same time increase the quality I'd appreciate it thank you it's an important part of our process absolutely okay no all right do we have any written communication no communication right and executive session we do have no we do not we we put that in an anticipation of a possible Personnel matter but it is not materialized so just being safe and sorry here you go thank you all right we may need mayor we may need Executive session at next meeting on uh some real estate matters okay thank you for that oh okay time so do we have a motion for a Jour toob second all in favor hear you hear him crack all