##VIDEO ID:qbq_iG3v6-A## all e [Music] One Nation God indivisible liy and justice for all [Music] i' like for everybody silence this past Saturday 12 year anniversary of tragedy children innocent children killed um by as a result of my opinion my gun control in this country so um I'm hoping that we can keep in our and prayers silence all of those who have become victims gun violence in this country during and before that time period and hope that our legislation see a way to bring together adopt Common Sense thank you very much uh this meeting is being held New Jersey over public meetings act advertising retrospect on the B board downstairs and all official B of social media channels I ask for those of you who are here with us in public U please place your phones on silent speak with somebody while business please do outside Mr fit Mr M here M Morales here Mr perno Mr SP here Mr Woods here M thank you very much um first agenda is the public portion of the meeting uh anyone from the public who wishes to come forward and speak on any topic including any topic on the agenda there are no other public sessions this evening we will not be opening up to the public any other time so if you're here to speak or any items on the agenda or any other items for that matter please move forward see your name address for record evening um my name is edstone I'm a third generation resent merville my grandfather his father now me I'm here uh so we've been here for over 8 years active in the community my grandfather his brother made some pretty significant contributions to the Roman Catholic Church here at St Peters help with their Bell Tower project and I can say U being the third generation person here merch I'm very proud of living here it's a beautiful community and I want to thank you know your honor and council members for creating such a warm and inviting environment for everybody love all the local activities just a Charming place to live and it's always been a very uh you peaceful and safe here and you're uh uniforms of service officers are fantastic just wonderful community so I praise you all that thank you for the hard work you put in I've been president of HOAs in the past here in Florida so I understand you know the time the hard work that's put in to you help intimate a large community better place to live and also you know the headaches and the things that are also involved late hours you know all these position were felt having a full-time job second job but I'm glad I did it because it contribut to the welfare of community I'm here today um by way of background I have over 30 years of experience as a practicing attorney I'm general counsel for nonprofit Philadelphia and prior to that I was litigation counsel for many large siiz firms and I even did a for into pharmaceutical world for a while so my background is primarily litigation also risk management you know containing risk for seing R and doing what's necessary you know to prevent inciden happening for corporations um I'm here today because um I want to advise to the Council of a situation which I think presents um you know certainly a public nuisance but more importantly it's I think what is could be considered under the doctrine of tracted nuisance here merville uh on Mo Street U where U I reside 130 Mo Street um it's situated between as you know Maple Avenue and Bowen Street there's a lot of traffic that travels uh through that street you know sometimes at at a high rate speed unfortunately uh there's two apartment complexes that either as you may not fors at one end and comps at the other so it is a high you know traffic area um which has never really been an issue I mean it's it's it's unfortunate that people speed through you know it's not it's certainly not a safe condition but that condition has been made worse um by um the installation of a a basketball hoop that is now situated um I don't know if you call the easan area or the quote Dead Zone but it's on the curve and also on the grassy patch that's between the end of the sidewalk and the curve it literally abuts right on the street and as you may know on Mo Street one side is for parking dedicated parking and it makes the thorough even more narrow so cars going in both directions have to pass extremely close to each other um you know and it's it's constant traffic you know day and night but at night especially after 5: p.m. you work hours people rushing out it gets much worse but what has happened is um a local resident name is Bonnie Selzer she lives at 133 Mo street she has erected a makeshift basketball hoop as I said in front of the house and it's supported by two large cinder blocks during our recent storm and the thing was like wavering in the wind you know it look like the going to come down hit a car that's a separate issue the primary issue is that we have very young children in the neighborhood that come from both apartment complexes some look as young as 5 years old some look maybe look as old as 12 years old and they gather in you know fairly large groups of times and they've been using this um makeshift basketball CP as a playground essentially but at all hours you know during the day at night sometimes up 9:00 p.m. and as you know it gets very dark very early so when this traffic is coming by these children at night a lot of times these kids will scream out me there's constant pounding there's that that's the public new SE in the loud noise especially late night after work but when the cars come by the kids will scream like car and then they run out of the way these cars will like Zoom by I video you know which shows these cars like passing right in front of these children it's presented a significant attractive nuisance because these children are too young to appreciate you know the danger that they're in by being out of the street at car unsupervised by any parents any adults you know you don't see the parents out there supervising these kids they're just out there at night playing in the dark in fact um office his last officer Selman came out to investigate the situation one evening and he even stated to me he said yes he goes even my patrol car came off Maple Avenue and I came right up on these people before I saw them I didn't even see them until the last minute and that's the sort of danger that poses um there's a street light on Morris that they sort of group under but again you don't see these children the very last minute now unfortunately um there appears to be nothing uh in the uh merchand ordinances which address um basketball groups their placement non-placement hours of operation whether they should be pulled away after play or whether if they're room with somebody's driveway should they directed There U Miss smelter has a very large and long driveway there's plenty of room there if she wants to put the basketball hoop there and invite people on to her property to play there that's our business it's our property I know my other neighbors have done that my neighbor across the street has a basketball Boop in his driveway and other one down the other end of the street and you know that's their private property the right to direct there but what this has created is literally a playground in the middle of a very busy street with two-way traffic and not to mention the fact that the ball has several times like hit cars there because property damage it's just not a a great situation and my concern I mean yes there is a nuisance aspect I'll be honest about that it's not fun to get home from work and hear the pounding of the basketball in the payment EO through your home until 9:00 at night kid screaming in the Y late at night but more importantly I honestly believe that one of these children would be injured um these cars are not seeing these kids it's dark at night and unfortunately one of these kids are injured and you might want to check with um you know the counsil legal counsel um I think the liability would not only rest you know with the owner because it is an attractive nuisance and of course the driver but it also presents risk to the council to the city I the bur excuse me the burrow itself because I can guarantee you you know any attorney worth assault if a child is injured or seriously injured I guarantee it'll bring lawsuit you know against every party they can possibly in suit and one of those might be the you know Barrel because like I said this is on the curb and it's like you know using a b ther Street for a play area so um unfortunately the U which is shocking my neighbor is a principal at a um I think a middle school somewhere in aavan and when I presented this issue to her and risk concern she said well I I talked to a merch officer he said because there's nothing on the ordinances I'm not liable so I'm not worryed about it she goes it's it's the parent parents fault the driver's fault for doing this I said well you have created something that's tracking children they don't understand the risk that's involved in playing L and night like that just want to play ball wanted the kids they can't five or six seven eight years old they can't assess the risk of car speaking down the road and possibly hurting them so I wanted to make the council aware of it so hopefully you know some action can be taken to prevent this again not only is it it it prevents the quiet enjoyment of your home but it also is presenting a serious risk where I don't want to see one of these kids hurt in front of the property like that a kid out on the street one night because an adult who was supposed to be responsible wasn't their super vising or didn't have enough common sense to move this court into their ample driveway where children could play safely so that's why I'm here thank you Mr Arison um what we can do is work with our chief of police and and look at some maybe ordinances that are available in other communities it's clearly not the only Street in town that has a basketball hoop that is utilizing the roadway AA um so we'll see you know I'm I'm not sure council's ready to make any decisions this evening but we'll certainly take it under advisement and work with our professionals to see what we can do I appreciate that you're onor I know other like having field and I know other U you know PHS have adopted the U thing that you know when it's not use it should be stored on the property or put somewhere safy on the property because this just invites children through that area at all hours and especially at night the night times really concerns you literally cannot see these kids until you're right on top of them and that's unfortunate you know it put we talked about Sandy Hook earlier right protecting the safety of children that's that's the primary concern here the secondar of course the other issues that we talked about I mention but thank you so much I appreciate that anyone else from the public wants to come forward and speak on any I don't to move that hey everyone will Brown here 213 map terrorist uh I'd like to express my support for the pros marijuana consumption Lounge in our town um a few different angles to come out this from marijuana legalization is supported by people across the political lines with both liberals and conservative recognizing its values today marijuana is legal legalized in 24 States including our own and the District of Columbia U there's growing acceptance across the country uh and establishing a lounge here with position Merchantville as a leader and embracing progress across uh political spectrums in the state of New Jersey you know when it comes to safety concerns which I think a lot of people on Facebook and across our town have been bringing up uh studies show that marijuana is far less likely to lead to violence or aggression than alcohol in fact alcohol is far less uh or far more involved I should say in impaired driving incidents and fatalities uh it's more involved in violent violent crime incidents and domestic violence across our nation actually the CDC has stats that alcohol is more likely to lead to Violent incidents uh or than marijuana at a rate of nearly double um so you know there's a we we have the Blue Monkey I'm a supporter of the Blue Monkey we have the brewery Town support of the brewery we have the cigar lashing Town um I don't I've never attended there but I'm in support of people using their their rights um I think the same um policy should be applied to the marijuana consumption Lounge in town Beyond safety um it's worth noting the substantial tax revenue that I believe this Lounge is generating for our town um through the grap Vine I've heard um unofficial statistic reference statistics reference that it's generating substantial Revenue which just going to Le us to substantial tax revenue for this town I'm sure you all heard that people in the town are not happy that our taxes keep raising uh year over-ear so I'm sure that this L is one means to uh provide the the buau with additional tax revenue Beyond you know coming back to the pockets of our residences uh in closing it's not just about the lounge it's about moving progress forward with the times I understand that there have been people who have lived here for Generations the next generation of of resident is starting to move into Merchantville my I own a home my sister owns a home my family is planning on buying additional homes here in in the buau um and you know I really want to support you all as council members and you you as a mayor and you know everything that you all do here for the town I am such a big fan of whether it's um Halloween um Christmas like I I talk to people I work from remotely from California I talk to people on Los Angeles how I almost live like a Hallmark as town when you see these these movies on uh Netflix it's like literally reminds me of the town that we live in um and I can guarantee you that uh the dispensary is not going to Sully anything about this town it's just going to add to the the draw of the Town um there's nothing that the dispensary or consumption Lounge would um unfortunately lead to that the the brewery the bar or any of the other viices that we like to provide you know areas to in town would Le to so what I'm getting at is that you know I hope you all support it I just wanted to mention my support of it and um yeah that's about it thanks YK anyone else from the public come forward speak on any top your name and address drar 27 Frank and 28 South my business I just wanted to show my support for these folks they've been fantastic um Partners in our town they're willing to spend their money and help build the town a little bit more and I'm in support of their Lounge because it's not going to be any worse than going to a bar with Brewery sorry I like the brewery too I but it's not going to be any worse to wear especially given I saw your um survey that you did and if people are willing to not drive just like a lot of people are not willing to drive drunk I don't think it's going to be any worse for the tent that's thank you thank hello everyone my name is Victoria BR you heard from my brother a few minutes ago I live at 52 West chest Avenue so as you can see being in merchant field is kind of running in the family and my brother and I grew up in haddenfield so uh we are pretty local to the area I also just wanted to voice my support for Jin sing's consumption Lounge I think it's a really amazing thing that Merchantville has opened up um having a lounge or sorry having a dispensary um in the town and I've seen the way that Jensen has really supported the community doing a lot of charity events I had a cat adoption event like like yesterday or yeah Saturday they just had like a cat adoption event um I actually adopted a c there rather uh my partner did um and I just think that opening up a lounge and providing additional activities for the adult and Merchantville um to have to socialize with each other to get to know each other and other neighbors from nearby towns would be a really great thing for us to have so I just also wanted to voice my support for jining and the consumption Lounge as a community member thank Youk you anyone else I have I have one question to comments the question is when will the yard waste collection be as a schedule for Christmas next Yeah we actually I'll be Consulting with the the che about that tomorrow we'll have something Facebook pretty sure we're being told it's the next day so the 26 Christmas okay and the comment I was going to make is um it be possible if you think when you start doing the agenda next for next year for the meeting if you could possibly put a additional um public comment at the very end I've been here a couple times a couple people comeing late and they haven't got to speak whatever they had to say they running late from work or whatever else but I don't think by putting that public comment in the second one it's going to take up too much time nor nor I do I think many people be saying that so I think it's just a convenient thing to to for your consideration the last one I want to thank you all for your work for this year on behalf of and I wish you all [Music] got stuff up here so my name is Todd cater and I live at 41 West Chestnut Avenue and um lived here now for over 20 years and in the same house on on West Chestnut and um I was wondering if there's any plan for reopening the other side of West Chestnut because as much as I love the events that happen there right next to the monkey and everything that was going on um when that street got closed off it dramatically increased the amount of traffic on the other side of Westchester I mean we now see so many cars it's crazy how much more traffic just from having that one section blocked off has increased the traffic on the other side and I've had conversations with my neighbors and with the owners of the blue monkey and they don't want anything to do with that or at least that's what they're telling me they don't want anything to do with that side of the street being closed off but yet it's still months later after everything's been removed it's still closed off so is there any um plan on reopening that side of the street the plan at this time is not to reopen it uh that we are working with side professionals to put a place making area there or some sort of something that we can use for other events in town uh but the public safety methis that we've found over the 3 four years that it's been closed now for that intersection Alone um and speaking with our police chief and speaking with a lot of the public uh really outweigh I think reopening it at this time um and so we're trying to find something that works uh we haven't been able to identify that design yet but we're working with our professionals to do that I know that section is very confusing with the two two sides there but it's I've lived here for so many years and it was a real change for our side of the street when that got BL B I mean it's just I mean luckily there's not a lot of children I mean my children are now grown so they're not crossing over do the bik path as much but it's definitely been a concern I've seen especially with the kids uh coming to school it cross over on West shut heading towards the school and the increase in traffic there is has been pretty dangerous children school crossing that road I just wanted to attention and see if there's an idea or plan of when that might be open change some way to reduce the fing the traffic only on one side of the road it doesn't I don't think this time thank you appreciate it all right see anybody else the public portion of the meeting approval minut first we have November 424 and everybody M Morales [Music] second is Theus meeting November 25th everybody here on those second all in favor iOS thank you very much Mr Lee engine report Mr Mayor rep is address but compl and contract time contract time was exceeded no final no final quties have been submitted so we are planning to make some adjustments depending on what theyit for a lot of discussion that so we'll approach that I'll make application uh [Music] questions any other questions you say [Music] contract long uh there definitely were additional costs associated with our engineer being out there for the period of time so they would be subject to liquidated damages under the contract so we're waiting for final pay appliation things discuss other questions thank you very much [Music] Mr any correspond okay Cil rep Mr Woods thank you your honor report shade tree met last Thursday to review all Resident concerns regarding our shade trees throughout the burrow uh we also are starting to take a look at of those many requests the trees that we're going to Contracting for removal uh in the coming months when is more time for some of those removals Le on the trees and our joint land board met last we some a few uh of the approvals throughout the year that P ends get ready for the new year that concludes my thank you very much questions to Mr Mr news okay all right thank you very much Mr I'll try to be quick I got quite a few things DPW report Chris Belmont who had suffered an injury last year will be returning to work January 2nd 2025 two of our Public Works members have taken their CDL test so that will be good in terms of um maintaining use of trucks when different different individuals have to take things off or go out for training um our small thumb truck is out of service at the moment we're waiting for a part the transmission waiting for we have nine trees slated to be removed by the end of the year um yard waste obviously has become increasingly heavy as for the leaves have come down so we're up to two trash trucks run and we have two sewer calls for the month of November December uh B ofed met on December 2nd um we saw a minor increase in Choice students coming in and happy to report I always like to kind of point this one out um there are currently no merer students who are choicing out of our district into any other public school districts at the moment so I think that's a good sign when we have you know more kids trying to get in than we have the spot for them and literally no one from the schools saying that there's a better Public School System they were op on the web and communication towards that so I know it's going to be a continuing project going forward uh Board of Health was uh was going to meet on the 14th we switched it to email just because of um holays uping and everything else that we're be continuing to pursue uh the loness campaign also it was noted that um I'll leave that out uh and from public events fromont we had the parade of the tree lighting the breakfast with Santa holiday home tour shop from dist Association everything else going on as far as I know everything was success and quite well is always big head heard a lot about that that's all I have for questions thank you very much SE public very well attended and low seat thank you to allun Mr fire this is for the report for this this year this is through November we've had a total 202 calls um here 23 calls total for last month 18 that's not equipment's all in good shape um code for fire prevention we had 200 total annual inspections primary inspections 191 reinspection um looking for number allary 48 complaints in the year 125 Clos 84 resale inspections year that's total units inspected this year 227 units the properties and we completely all rental inspections I should note that West went to court this week or last month and I'm sure [Music] uh questions for Mr thank your honor merch police for the month of November uh responded to 1,252 incidents of which 122 for officer initiated positive engagements with members of community uh addition there were nine arrests and two two DWI arrests uh November was a busy month on the training front call Chief Gracia attended attorney general webinar on annual year end reporting detective Marone attended 2day child abuse investigation course Maron and officer be also recertified as child Parc technicians all officers attended a one day handgun rifle in certification in Lind world all officers Firearms you may have seen an increased Presence at the intersection of chest Avenue in Center Street we've had a a police vehicle out there quite often some complaints of vehicles not stopping that particular intersection the chief advises that he will issue a reported findings for the month of January to my attention which I will share with councel and then last but not least just a kind reminder from the merch Police Department uh that they are looking to hire they are accepting applications at this time so I know they come through social media again so anyone interested would like to join merch finest applications are available [Music] all uh thank you I will only add to the extent that anybody's here the update on [Music] drones um I wasn't able to attend the mayor's meeting in Ying uh however I did speak with my friend mayor kwood who also had a uh bit on CBS News where they basically told us absolutely nothing Chief then doubled down on that the following day and it was uh in a Chief's meeting state where they also told them nothing because they didn't know so so uh I think maybe Twitter or whatever your social media platform choice is guys look there you might find there be some interesting conspiracy theories for sure but I remember yeah I got um any questions from Mr M about okay thank you very much uh that's it for Council reports CL report thank you your honor I just want to remind everyone that the reord meeting will be January 6th here at 730 and we will be doing a picture if everybody's available you need to confirm that you are and I'll set that pH Up um again we will be having a memorial for Chris Mecca if anyone is interested that will be Friday at 11:00 and there will be there was a tree planted a plaque place and it will be in memory of Chris mea who was our former construction official who passed away recently if you need any more information or you'd like to attend you can let me know or you can just come to the bike pass across from the senior housing uh on Friday 11 o' um also we will be closed on December 24th and 25th for the Christmas holiday and that's all that I have any [Music] questions uh we don't have Comm report move into Old business uh first old business this evening is Proclamation for councilwoman City Morales this is your last official meeting uhor so we want to something nice for you uh and you one term three years one years so you weren't aut for pun but uh we want to thank you for everything that you've done all your volunteerism uh you've been leading the way diversity committee for the last three years and we really appreciate that it's an incredible contribution to our community uh and we hope you won a stranger I know you're involved a lot of stuff around here so uh we want to present this proclamation to you thank you anyway all right next item on discussion consumption request U as council's aware jinxing has submitted a request for approval by the bur for consumtion on premises they' submitted a package of information uh and I believe um Tom or somebody J sing has met with almost all the members of council discuss concerns uh so Tom I'll turn it over to you um just name and address record or whoever else I don't know if anyone else is speaking not sure my name the local address 14 South that's where is located I also have an apartment in charer hill but we live in Washington Township up in Warr about an hour and a half see drones up [Music] there we have the copies of the presentation [Music] everybody on the same music what a consumption Lounge is consumption Lou is where cannabis customers or patients which is kind of important can consume cannabis in a safe and regulated environment right so obviously it's legal to buy it have consumer wherever they want um sometimes those plots that they choose are less desirable due to their circumstances um somebody lives in an apartment typically you're not allowed to smoke in apartments any longer you're in a rental home um so people often have limited options so they go and hang out or whatever so we're trying to get a place where people can consume their cabus indoors nice environment um people like came for the cat adoption start as a living room is kind of what we before a nice comfortable place where people do they want to do under observation supervision um and do it safely okay so um the we're regulated by the New Jersey cannabis Regulatory Commission CRC referred to um they have finally um approved their their regulations that they initially approved in January uh they addressed those regulations again in this past meeting uh to allow dispensaries to apply for the endorsement to their license to to have a consumption so there's as usual at the CRC a bunch of Hoops that we have to jump through the submit Sops and floor plans and significantly the approval of the municipality that's why we're here tonight is is to discuss that approval um so the the uh endorsement is is renewed annually at the state level um significantly it's also renewed annually at at the municipality level so you know regardless of the decision that that we make uh hopefully will be approved some point in the future uh if after a year uh we have difficulties that we can't resolve whatever um that approval can be withdrawn by the by the Bur separate from our licensing as a dispensary so it's two separate issues um and then they not necessarily okay um the state will be accepting finally applications uh January 2nd for social equ licenses which we are not those are basically dispensaries that are located economic impact zones in the state or are run by people that used to be criminals that are now upstanding citizens and members of um February sorry April 2nd is the date that we as aely owned buiness Canada is an economic impact Zone obviously so they'll likely us to the punch consumption L and then non diversely owned like corporate so State operator dispensaries can apply on July 2 um a consumption Lounge is allowed specifically allowed in merch bills ordinance um so that's already provided for we don't require or anything specifically call that the other kind of restrictions or points of interest uh anybody that goes into the lounge has to be 21 or over over um kind of contrast to The Dispensary itself where a child is allowed to enter the dispensary with their parent or Guardian uh I believe the CRC and their wisdom decided it was better for the child to come into the dispensary versus uh sitting in the car or being pitch up to the parking front of the so we have to comply with the same laws that a cigar lounge can be relocated right across street from would have to um abide by particularly with air filteration and air quality also one the Smoke free Air Act is specifically called for that um basically the only thing that I can gan from that is that we have to put a sign up that says smoking is allowed in here so it's not really um interestingly food sales we are not allowed to sell food at all um so uh but we are allowed to um permit customers to bring their own food or have food delivered to to dispensary one little interest Co decision so we we've been in contact with the restaurants in the area and they're belal that they'll be able to deliver food to to our customers pretty well them that sming marijana cause people to get snacky so that doing business customers and we we can provide menus and facilitate the transaction but we're not allowed to sell those um absolutely no alcohol or tobacco collab in consumption Lounge uh they can't bring it in themselves we can't provide it just doesn't exist inside there um you might have seen like for instance when we had the uh the Christmas walk or the Halloween Walk that sometimes people walk around with containers at that point we have to put a table outside for container there allow toit them into facility um when somebody comes in and buy some ten consume if they don't consume at all U they we have to provide them with a resalable um container to take it away in so that's evident that the container was sealed and if they're driving you're not allowed to drive with an open container cannabis look like you're not allowed to drive with an open container of alcohol so we have to provide toal that just like with a bar we're not allowed to serve or or allow a feat to continue to consume canat once they seem to be intoxicated or imped by the consumption just some of what what our tenders have to do they're not allow to serve obviously drunk um as a kind of a positioning statement we're not looking to create a free-for all you know kind of there's a movie in the 50s I just re for madet you know we're not looking to to do anything like that similar to the way we run our our dispensary itself we haven't had any complaint all as far as you quality or quantity patrons everybody's that comes in is U well behaved and you know basically Everyday People we anticipate that will be some demographic that we participate in our consumption L what we intend to do is is basically Community Building type of things so B nights um card kns we're setting up some gaming systems we have two table so basically kind of like a a living room man cave such thing that that somebody might have in their house except accommodating 40 people or so the most so that's kind of the guid life we have that we want to area place that we do education place that our vendors come in sing similar to to the uh tolip you have have flights of different strange that people can try try a little bit see what they like thing or when a girl has a new product coming out they would like to able to the customers SLE that's one the things that we like to do there was recently this is an there just came out a national law review article just Briefly summarize this says that the theur cus industry the delay we've experienced so far uh chance to reduce stigma expand access and build up loal economies and businesses while one3 of municipalities allow Canada sales here in New Jersey P it doesn't have Embrace consumption lges a lot of this delay comes down to misconceptions some officials imagine these faces as Ry bars overlooking reality that langes are regulated with band and alcohol back on food so we have three cameras we have a room gu kind of the size of this and we have three cameras in the corners and the CRC is constantly able to look on those cameras themselves and and make sure something so we're not doing anything where we're not very which is subject to scr at any moment for caner this delays few options those with rental ferally subsidized housing or thus us as ban or espcially impacted Alles could provide them with a saf place to consume beyond that places could help normalize campus use creating opportunities for Education Community Connection in the control set exactly what we want to do as far as our competition um we have numerous competitors there there's a dozen that listed here that are located less than 10 miles from from our location um sign ific L can currently has has one um dispensary but they're around 20 in Canon so we have a dozen right now that are in our area could be 19 more just in Candon most of these um locations do not allow consumption rages uh some of them have did not address the question of consumption Landers in their ordinances um Belmar just so happens to be work p one of our bigger competitors located does allow three consumption L within the municipality so right now we have a dozen CRC basically will give um a license to anybody that nicely the real governor of of how many um dispensaries will eventually be in the state or the municipalities very very difficult now to to find a city or or municipality that's not filled that hasn't had all their their licenses you spoken for um and then even when there is a license available as there is one license available still Merchant Bill to find Z compant property which is kind of the next nonetheless we anate that the amount of competition is going to grow my personal feeling is that spenc come up with their stores before too long you them we you a poll of our [Music] customers that was fun enjoy that we had about 300 customers that uh that filled out the the responses um I summarized results there 10 them out of the area um only two of them out of 300 were not in favor of of a consumption Lounge for whatever reason um so 96% of them 271 original so they would order food from local businesses uh 231 or 213 of them or 75% said that they would come to the dispensary using a ride share um seven said that they would walk there because they would local um 61 that 61 that said that they would not use a ride share um 46 of those 61 that they would not drive um so I'm kind of knows as they would have somebody driving over of the 300 15 they would dve this okay so we intend to look at those as as three different segments of customers and treat them slightly differently depending on how they're planning on so for the the r share guest are kind of our our best customers so they're basically permitted to do whatever they want because they're not going to poose anybody when they read they'll hop in their in their Uber and Uber away um or it might be the case of of a group um like a bachelor party or something that's in a bus you know some sort of mass transportation Ty of thing or birthday party um so these individuals they they'll have to give us their ride share information so if they um are unable to summon the r sh themselves be a way when closing time comes if they're in a r if they're not uh taking a ride share and they're also not driving um that mean somebody else is driving them we're going to treat those folks similarly but we're going to ask you the contact information of the friend that's U that's going to drive that's their designated driver so to speak hope that designate driver is next door monkey drunks hope out we're going to do our the interesting c-port is are the guests that are that are driving so for those folks uh we scoured the planet for a solution put our heads together um so we came across a company called impairment Sciences out of Massachusetts they have a a um application an app called druid which is driving under the influence of drugs um and basically it's it's a test of not so much if you're under the influence of drugs but if you're ined in any way and not really suitable for driving or in other cases they they also use it in in mines and construction workers you if you're not fit for um operating heav machinery for example things on those l so it's basically a three-part test um I have it on my phone if anybody wants to see it but it's it's um so the first test is you look at your phone and they're going to show you either little tiny yellow circles or squares and first you see the instruction says if it's a circle push where the circle is if it's a square you push this little op at the top okay so [Music] now press all this okay and then it stops and it does it again and usually it changes it so where it used to be Circle now you have to press the square okay so it's it's relatively challenging it's pretty quick but it's relatively challenging it does like flash like instantly so you have to really be paying attention and push where it is and if you're supposed to push here push there okay so that's the first one the second one there's a button that says stop and you have to you start it um and you mentally count for 15 seconds and you hit 15 seconds you push the stop button problem is while you're waiting for those 15 seconds you also have to push these circles that are popping up all over the place so it's test it's called like a distracted attention type thing so you have to up up up all these circles and probably 15 seconds so the stop at that point the third one is you have to hold this thing and you have to stand on one foot and it determines how Lely you are okay so the idea is that we're going to for people that are hi on driving away they have to pass these hles so so first when they first get there before they consume we're going to establish a baseline right so some people are better at standing on one foot than I am or some are better some are worse some are more you know visually accutive than others so we're to EST what your personal Baseline is before you do anything you go you're consume home so say okay I'm ready to go and we're going to say okay you got to do your Druid again and they do the whole thing and Druid gives you a score and it's going to say you know if you're five points worse than you were when the first took it you're not ready to go home yet you know so uh you have a choice you be calling U for you we' been hang out uh if you don't like those choices if you really insist and we're going to say okay don't plan on ever coming back again because we're going to bage the life and we're going to call the so we're hoping that that's sufficiently persuasive that they'll go back and play f a little morees so the next couple Pages go on about the Dr test there were studies that were published in uh legitimate scientific journals there a study done by John Hopkins which examines the um effectiveness of of the je test to determine impairment by specifically by THC and the results were that yeah it really does see if you're impaired we also had our our staff who from time to time I hear from TFC a whole B and they've you know checked the results themselves and they agree that it is effective in determining their own impairment um Colorado University Research um did a test um checking also also Tex testing pation and have aid application measures that and think to a similar results um one little thing that I find interesting is Peak Dr perent effects were seeing immediately after ATT so peak in was see immediately with recovery of performance at 1 hour first post use so do consume stop consuming an hour later so you should be vares a lot by by person to person Sam here is probably know [Music] [Music] to and then the uh these guys here M Municipal Police institute um looked at at J as a um f variety such of thing and they came up with again SAR results that that George does measure inment as driver or as operator of Machinery things like that shouldn't be doing not at your cognitive Peak speak so that's the cont of my presentation f so here Tom go around for counil questions might have I know that some of you as I said earlier did meet uh the group and talk about some of the questions I guess I um put you on spot closest there right you don't mind if you have any questions you just talk about some of the hours when you're looking to have this open have the hours so I know that there's been sensitivity in the community about this going on when children are coming home from school and that type of thing and you know possibly seeing a window and nothing more versus people suming BL monkey we're sensitive to that and and we'd be more than willing to not not make the consumption L available for consumption during those times when kids might be passing by I appreciate your presentation was very thank you I guess elaborate further on that point are you suggesting working hours of the lch being after school hour dat is that well not during not during times when when kids will be going or or coming back from school so we might have like for instance we had the the uh people that are living behind us they might want to play Bingo or crochet or do puzzles or something during the day so we we make the space available consum in their in their quarters there so make it available them so what would the operating hours of the would be like what time you open we open at 10: okay so the L be open uh from 10 yeah 10 to two yeah I'm not sure exactly I guess school out at 2:30 I guess so close from you know 2 to 230 or so on those [Music] lines um I I do appreciate the presentation as well I think we Googled the same articles um but just so I say correctly um uh your diversity own business would be eligible um you know so you're eligible April 2N April and this came out of December 12th yeah meeting that they finally clarified yeah so we have been waiting since last January when they first uh you announced the passed the the regulations that govern this which are very brief um and then nothing and nothing nothing nothing nothing nothing and finally blue yeah we're going to do it next week and can you remind me when when did you open for business February 22nd of this year that was our soft opening and then March 1 was our grand opening so we've been open 10 months and there's less than 12 or about 12 municipalities so far have approved consumption laes out of 567 so I I I think that's national law research that um so I would say that they looked and at the ordinances and if the ordinance how Merchant Bill's ordinance you specifically allows for it kinded that and they were they were able to come up with less than 12 why did they just say eight or whatever it was very few now that's not to say that you there were in my in my research there were some that didn't address the question at all so those you know if I was in that town and I had the space which is another limitation a lot of dispensaries are rather small just wouldn't have the space to do something like this um so that's to be another limiting factor um you know if if they were inclined to do it and and the ordinance doesn't allow for it then I would you know approach counsel and ask them if they had the space and they want to do it and the ordinance specifically doesn't allow it I would still approach to the town and as for change the ordinance or variance or whatever just because it says you can't do something it's not Stone changeable obviously it's more of hurdle to get something changed to um my f it's already approv I think that's where number [Music] of uh I just one more question um the it certainly seems that the uh the canis industry is uh is heavily regulated maybe you'll say Lo but in that vein um is there more that you have to do in ensuring the safety of a patrion even your establishment now I'll dra my comparisons obviously people are not sign a contract when they de monkey but right are more um stipulations or requirements on you to to really make sure that that person leading your facility is um is not impaired by the substance the the crc's regulations don't address that to at all so so it's really you what we're doing what we're doing today so I think the typically the CRC regulations they regulate a lot of things but each individual regulation is usually pretty brief and it's more prescriptive you know like you have to do this figure out how to do it you know they don't say have to do this and this is how you have to do it it's just here it is you know you have to have to submit a Flor plan you know it doesn't say what the Flor PL to include that's oh my Flor plan hope it's good and then they say so a lot of it is kind of guess workor or um you have Consultants that submitted for somebody else and this is what I found in my couple instances [Music] a lot of Mr uh just questions so in your poll you when you PLL residents of where they live and what was the confin of in the area so we can the area mer in shet like neighboring yeah yeah [Music] okay um okay I was trying to get a sense of where these people were coming that's all you're going to be driving or travel some form of transportation bicycle so our our department is inand by Costco I can tell you you can walk from I did it sorry wasn't bad at all I know we we touched on uh the weekday hours and and you would potentially take a break during uh kids leaving school on the weekends would you propose having it open during your normal hours of operation the whole time or ideally um it's going to come down to we would have to stack the room so we would want to sta it when nobody wants to be there you know so we kind of get a feel for you know when when it's popular I suspect you know 10:00 in the morning morning until noon or so not super [Music] popular probably after Lune of thing you our um our sales you know kind of peak around 1:00 and then people are coming home from work so iect that those are more popular times again with the sort of the Wild Card of local residents and and you know the folks that live behind us ' had a lot of interest from those so architecturally I believe 70 people which seems to me to be a lot um so we're we're putting furniture into the room now we're kind of say Okay I want count the seats I'm going suspect it's it's probably be around 40 or so when we comfortably so we have some some tables and chairs around them we have sort of game stations and chairs that are oriented towards the TVs we have a big Sixers cker table type of things so i' say probably people the only major question I have is in regards to um the filtration smoke free Air Act was a little bit separate but a couple people have kind of brought up um I guess yeah prevent the downtown from being a little too over stunky if you speak a little bit Yeah so so we already have installed a um in the roof a AC carbon filtering system so take the air in filter through the carbon um as you know as you probably know the sck that you breathe is is organic compounds so it's combustion products burning organic compound so we specific carbon or carbon specifically very good capturing those organ compounds yes we so it's the same thing whe the compound diss in water compound isolved in air the gr Carbon on the surface the surface reaction is able to those those compounds so every once while we change the filter go just put the filter in your oven and take off the organic compounds and totally rable proba do all the s is immediately F tank I'll take the car fish tank and so we have that actually happen to have so we actually have a to organic compound meter that will'll be able to monitor the air quality of theom and I also have a our was in the green zone we also have anomer so air flow make sure that the air is kind of going into the the room P out I check that so in addition to the SE mounted one that's our kind of our work plan getting some individual units that will position throughout the room so have kind of Spot Treatment people are sitting um there's also over absorbing gels can buy bu the truck whatever necessary uh and use those also spray sprays and stuff like that use for so we're very sensitive to that I'm I'm not particular smoker at all myself and I'm not really turned on whether the smell of burning Canabis so I wouldn't it myself sobody else follow question questions you mentioned the beginning of your presentation uh you specifically use the word patience what percentage you know uh are are people that are utilizing for medicial purposes as oppos Recreation yeah I me so so the what's your sense obviously my sense is is probably there's a lot of people that use it for things like um can't sleep can't fall asleep can't stay s right so that's pretty common you know for whatever reason people are in that situation Canabis will you know definitely help with that problem anything else will help with that um anxiety is is another one um so I think there's people that are self-medicating the the um U the medical program in New Jersey is is on fire and and like spiraling out of the St right now um there's this past they reported there were 60,000 patients I think about four months ago there was double that so you know we're halfing every quarter we're be down to you know five people at some point so just because there's there's no real incentive to be a patient and lots of disincentives to your patient so for instance if you're inclined to carry a gun or be licensed for a gun you know being a cion is is not a positive on that um all you get is is um relief from the the state sales tax which most dispensaries including us will will weigh you we'll pay their Sal taxs anyway if they have a medical card um at this point there are no new medical grows so if you're a medical patient you come to Medical recreational dispensary um you have to buy the Cannabis that was grown at a medical grow this point there are no additional medical grows but there's lots and lots of new adult use grows so the selection that's available to a medical patient under the medical program is is decreasing fa so so all you get is is Rel from tax but you get that anyway if you ask for it you also mentioned um endorsements from the municipality or an annual uh function you would have to come back to the body here and seek additional enement on an anual basis much like when I wrote the letter endorsing just the recreational license contain ret yes so of surprisingly the at the last meeting they said that there's going to be some kind of portal for the for the municipalities to go to to submit their endorsement I'm not sure what that's going to look like um typically the portals are um easy address doc something but they do want to come directly from the municipality instead of me photoshopping up would be a lot easier this so Denise is telling me that license State jersey with the [Music] ABC um you mentioned uh that the regulations don't really are more prescriptive they don't they don't necessarily take how to do um you have identified in in your package here and in your your statements earlier a number of safety features that you're going to be putting in place those is a result of discussions youve had and what you've heard feedback from people about your concern their concerns in Comm those are not things that are required by the C's Regulatory Commission these are things that after discussions decided would be happy to implement corre so so if we were um the bists on 130 in Collingwood it's like it's I understand that you know we're in the center of you we're prominent we we're kind of um for a lot of people you know the introduction to to merch we want to ref not you we want to bring people into town I know it's the goal of the um the professional association to to bring more people into town and encourage people to walk around and Stu like that defin want to let people know um what's available in town we're going to put inserts into the the bag let people know the other businesses set town there are some unque business there's only so many witchcraft shops in Jersey [Music] right um the final question I have and Council have any questions com my question Tom's forur the discussion here you mention April 2nd is the application I guess that's when so so the application is is CC website been on the CC website for a few months it's it's not particularly own as it's to be compant to of the Ws of of your own investigator right um so there might be some back and forth on that know we basically have everything ready to submit um when when opening I thought I went there one day and it was there like look good apply so started fling out get the last part says do ITC so the question I have is um from a timeline perspective because I don't imagine the council's going to be prepared to vote this evening and make a decision tonight is there sufficient time if we were to uh visit this in January or February and say hey let's now talk about this if we gave the endorsement then we'd be able to get the application in by the second of April or what's your timeline and what are your concerns so I guess our concerns are that that we want to build out you spend some more money and build out the space to make it more inion Lounge we're kind of doing that by making it right now just a lounge um so it's going to have a lot of the elements you know as I find in my Facebook Marketplace to uh to for people to hang out there and play the games and kind of commune with with each other and that type of thing um so you know when it becomes a consumption loung versus just a lounge it's kind of the same thing you know so so i' would say you know we're not spending a ton of money like I'm not going to start buying $800 air purification units putting them around the place until looks more imminent January I think is fine our first regular meeting of B Council will be January 13th as said earlier reust 6 um but unless council is interested I I as I think not everybody probably I don't vote uh on Council matters unless I'm TI breing vote um and so I really did not somebody voting on this council is interested in making a motion and moving this tonight I'm happy to do that um I'm also happy to you know extend it to January 17th and have the discussion that time just you know my personal opinion I supportive the application personally mayor but I'm not unlikely to vot I I think personally I would like additional time the rest coun that timeline work for you guys okay so that's what we'll do a little bit more time based on testimony this evening presented and there's Council [Music] here ask there any concerns that anybody has that come to mind I Haven address or like address happy to open the council if you have other concerns questions things that you think might give you a better idea about the application for you I don't have any additional concerns that you haven't address or that we haven't discussed previously I mean I think that my reservations still hinge on the fact that our police don't have a tool to to determine whether somebody is truly intoxicated and given as as you stated your location set of downtown that's where I think it makes the the issue a little more uh it needs to be a little more mindful [Music] when else no I think if you have any questions if you don't mind thank you [Music] very all right next the agenda agendar none resolution 24111 appr appropriation resolution 24112 appr open contract balances resolution 2413 refund overpayment for change in tendency application resolution 24114 refund please Gerald Mr M yes M Morales yes Mr yes yes Mr yes r415 um for bills and checks totaling 67,2 Mr M resolution [Music] 2413 app second was M Wood I believe okay any discussion Mr M yes yes yesid SE year um Council volunteers public for coming the meeting it's nice to see people don't always have this many people at our meetings I can promise that [Music] session first Mr f with second 851 all favor thank you [Music] practice hour