mayor michek here council president conahan councilman K Council dinino here councilman Dodie here councilman Quinn here counc Rex is abent administrator La here and attorney corini here okay uh before we get started here I would like to amend the agenda to include in resolution 195 2024 the fire department report uh we're going to add Israel Castillo and Brian Marsh as new members of the middle sex fire department and also to amend resolution 205 2024 to change the effective date of the resignation of McKenzie bner until July 26 do I do it right now motion motion yeah motion motion second second uh roll call please council president Kahan yes councilman corn yes councilman dinino yes councilman doie yes Council mcquinn yes okay okay we have a presentation tonight after a short 40 year stint Mr Grim come on up come on Michael it's our honor to to have you here tonight really this is what the pillars are intended for and uh you know 40 years keeping the pool running so we've seen it go a lot of different ways you've been a been thank you thank you okay uh whereas the governing body the B of middle middle sex recognizes that in order for a community to thrive and succeed they must rely on the service commitment and passion of others and whereas it is in the spirit that mayor mic would like to honor and recognize individuals throughout the community whom have made exceptional contributions to the Bur of middle sex as pillars of our community and whereas Jim Grim's family have been active members of the middle sex community swim pool since 1970 when his parents were one of the first members to join and he became a lively member to the swim Feld and whereas in 1984 Jim Grim started his employment Endeavor with the swim pool when he was hired as a life part and whereas in the late 1980s Jim Grim was promoted to assistant manager and whereas after the retirement of Bill wagal in 2003 Jim Grim was recognized for his strong work ethic and commitment to the success of the swim poool when he was hired as the man and whereas during his tenure with the pool he oversaw many projects some of which included the design of the current filter system with the aid of Bill the removal of 3 meter D the 3 meter diving board the expansion of the original kids pool the installation of one of the first municipal pool water slides and the resurfacing of the slide and whereas Jim Grim directed The resurfacing of the main pool with diamondite a material which alleviated need to repaint the pool each spring thus eliminating countless redundant mans and whereas in more recent years Jim Grim designed a new lap pool current kids pool and a new deck for the entire facility after the acquisition of the old tennis court property and whereas in an effort to preserve the integrity and quality of the pool Jim Grim has ensured that almost all of the maintenance for the swim pool is done by himself and other members of the pool staff rarely using outside out and whereas Jim Grim throughout his career has demonstrated praiseworthy service and commitment to the burrow and residence by being an Irreplaceable asset to the community board and now therefore Jack melic mayor of the burough middlex state of New Jersey along with the middle sex burough Council and on behalf of the residents of middle sex wish to thank Jim Grim for all of his dedication sacrifice and labor to our community in witness whereof I hereby set my hand and seal the B middle sex to fixed this 23rd day of July [Applause] 2024 need two hands for this yeah congratulations get your family up here for a few shots sure well they're the ones behind all it's not me come on guys uh say you want to say say a few words let me say something first here um I'd like to thank the mayor and Council for for recognizing all the work that I've done however sitting in the audience here is the current pool commission uh and all the other pool Commissioners that before this without without them it's not possible in this job um for those of you who don't know we actually do have a pool in this town okay it's it's it's the biggest Health Secret in in Middle sex it's it's it's beautiful so come on down if you have never been there come join me we have great time uh I also want to thank my predecessor Bill W for teaching me everything that was there about Aquatics and Aquatic safety he along with my father gave me the work ethic to survive 4 41 years this this year of working at the pool um if it work for my wife and my two children my one son Liv in Georgia but uh there would be no pool uh they've given up so much so many hours so many events because I had something to do for the pool I did it because of a passion okay it's it's wonderful and I just can't thank everybody on this so let's see the next 40 years right thank you again pictures up here we have to photoshop my son and he's he's in basic training down Georgia right now this is by the way those of you who don't know many people have asked my wife she's never home aren't you afraid you has the mistress and the mistress is the pool you hold that you hold thank you all right thank you all right you know guys Jim Grim is exactly what the purpose of the pillars of middle sex is all about these are people that are just unsung and just go and do and keep us going can't thank you enough I thank you guys it's been it's it's been wonderful all right for you guys that are here just for the pillars if you want to St for the whole meeting I'll give you your this is your big chance to sneak out all right mayor you wna you want to get in there John I just want to say so many years I gotta tell you Innovation and uh creativity that's his middle name I'm going to just share a quick story he came to me one time I know PR Civil War he said he said I have to get a portable pump going I don't I don't have the money I don't know what to do so what did he do going down to um he got an old piece of um uh a lawnmower base and he found a pump he retrofitted the pump I mean that's a wonderful brilliant strategy saving the town the town and the pool commission a lot of money so kudos thank you d i wel from this man trust me great job D great job I very have a good night guys all righty everyone adjusted here we're all good to go uh we have no appointments tonight we have some ordinances for introduction okay we have ordinance number 21 29-24 and ordinance amending chapter 272 massage and bodyw work therapy establishments of the municipal code of the burough bid sex to clarify certain Provisions thereof I like a motion a motion second second okay okay and the roll for council president Conan yes councilman Corin yes councilman Dino yes Council doyoun Kevin counc qu okay 27 all right the hearing will be uh August 27th next one we have ordinance number 2130 d24 and ordinance amending chapter 395 of the municipal code title trees like a motion motion second second okay okay counc president Conan yes councilman corn yes councilman Dino yes counc doie yes councilman Quinn yes all right roll third one ordinance number 21 31-24 in ordinance amending section 168-180 per disabled veterans second right roll call counc President Conan yes counc Ms counc din yes counc do and Council Quinn yes all right very good all right ordinances for public hearing and final adoption I'd like to uh make a motion to open a public hearing not yet I have to read it oh you have to read it's number 2127 d24 an ordinance rezoning block 306 lot 17 from Municipal to R50 zoning all right now I'd like a motion to open the public hearing motion second second all in favor I I all right the public hearing is now open if anyone wants to speak come up to the microphone name and address please I've never been to one of these meetings so thank you my name is Chapo my hus chaparo and I live at 568 westg Avenue which is directly across the street from what we understand a proposed uh proposed lot is going to be built on that's correct so our questions are are we still having an app par uh the games practices and whatnot and you know how is that an parking uses that at at this point I don't think it should affect anything uh Michael um the park across the street will still be in work used as it is today parking will be as it's always been on the street in the public right of way that lot was never approved as a parking lot it is in the parking lot officially and in that zone the only pered use property single family residential so Tech technically using that corner lot as a paring lot that's not a permitted principle use on zoning and and I respect that answer but technically if anybody wants to go by when these games are being held that lot is being used for parking all the time and it's you know it's it's along the perimeter of the park it's along strey onest it's a medicine and some of these parents don't have respect for their children that are Jing out in you know in front of cars and building on that lot is just going to make it worse well we will work with the community to try to make the streets as safe as possible the bottom line is that corner lot was never approved for parking it's never been designed for parking to be safely entered and left you know by cars it was never built yet second thing is it's not on the state Register of open space the inventory of open space that each town has to enter Park land into the state of New Jersey does not LTT that corner property on What's called the rosi ri which is a register of open space so for lots of reasons it's not officially Park plan it's not officially a parking lot you could argue it's an unsafe situation right now because it's never been designed or regulated for anything other than open space you're right about that it's not Sav now and you know when you take away that ability for people there's nobody that monitors that people cannot well we'll have to do a better job of that and I promise you we'll keep an eye on that there's other situations where people are parking on sections of of the park that they shouldn't be parking on we want to take a look at that as well there's plenty of Street Frontage that people can park along the street for those activities so we'll be looking at that to try to make that work better for I respect what you just said sir one second just name and address oh call 568 West pers um I understand what you're saying and maybe it it is necessary to get some homes there or whatever for whatever reason you are not going to fix that parking over there there is no parking everything in that that street is so narrow that anybody walking cross that with cars on both sides is going to be in danger I saw I've seen someone get killed on the corner of West Persian and Harris by the church due to Darkness of streets these are even darker at night so if there's no plan for that the saf of the people in that area then where do we go from there when something does happen happen and there's already some something built there because I thought I I I think that the process should be both uh considered as one shot not one after the other and then something happens and nobody's held accountable for that you're Building Homes fine people are going to buy homes two lousy homes and you're taking away an area our kids grew up playing in that little corner lock he's got two children who will play in that corner lock there's a there's another neighbor of the pla who's got children who were playing that corner lot you're taking away more than just a small piece a lot in an area that's already congested with traffic that comes from Lincoln Boulevard from Mountain Avenue from Hazard s and if you saw some of the way these kids the these the younger generation even older folks drive through that street it's scary Mr dinino knows he's friends with with our neighbor I know I'm Mr Theo for a long time myself it's going to get a lot worse I don't think that there is anything that you can absolutely do to correct any kind of uh traffic that that's going to create when you have more cars parked in the street because that lot is not opening well a couple things you brought up first of all it's been proven my background is as a planner and I can tell you that it's been proven by many studies and and many traffic uh organizations throughout the country that when cars are parked parallel on Street it usually slows traffic down because the driveway lanes are are narrow you can not know but I'm just sharing information that I have the second thing is we share your concern about safety I can tell you that when this lot when it's sold and a developers subdivided into two two lots for sing two single V homes it'll go before the joint land 's board and they're going to be very concerned about safety they always are so these issues will be addressed they will not be ignored you've got a member of join L board right here tonight and I'm sure he's as concerned about it as you are um also you happen to have the police chief here who is very concerned about safety so he's heard you tonight and we'll we'll fact to that in I think we can make a situation as exists today we can make it better I I our our our biggest concern is uh when you put cars parallel parked in because people don't pay attention to the side of the park where people just park on the dirt and into the by the fenes and I you're going to narrow that road down and I don't care how slow people go if you see if you were there for as long as we've been there for 26 years if you see how cars go up and down that road it is a certainly I understand that but that's the current situation I just told you we're going to work together to make it safe I I just want to make sure that there's a plan for absence of the fact and that nobody winds up getting hurt due to the traffic going down and then it's being readdressed the good news too is that you're within 200 feet of property so you will be noticed um well actually no because that would be a permitted use but what we'll do is we'll let the neighborhood know when it's for the joint Landing boort because that way you can come to the meeting and and share your concerns absolutely yeah that's the time right thank you thank you app testing two three hi Gregory Alo 567 West pers um I think my fellow kind of put it very well um a few questions before I just give a few thoughts so uh it looks like or it sounds like it would be two properties to smoke home properties on that lot in that zone under the current zoning regulations for creating new Lots besides based on what's there now it would it would accommodate two conforming building Lots based on the current uh Zone okay well on the proposed zoning which is the Zoning for the whole block around it and blocks across the street the whole area is R50 p and that would face persan or face Max determined I don't think the council has that that'll depend on whatever plan they bring forward at that point and then it becomes reviewed whoever's going to whoever buys it and builds I know the two lots that are across on the other Corner they face the park am I correct two lots yes they mtic correct so if there was a preference for that we could certainly communicate that to the Joint land use board and the council if they wanted to okay um so yeah echoed some of the same thought you know they children or grown are still around I have a two and a half old time our neighbor across the street they have three and uh it's already sort of you know you know concerning already with the speed I which cars drive by um you also mentioned the lot or the the the makeup lot that people are parking on cook on that strip of grass maybe that can be turned into um you know be strip for for parking um other than that I think has in Stand it's already not great situation all right thank you well just you know one last comment though is that the chief of police is here he is very attuned to traffic issues and uh I'm sure he's going to put some time and effort in into researching the area and just because you know irregardless of whether people build or don't build or whatever people are breaking the law and they're not following the traffic rules that's that's exactly what they're there for right thank you okay anyone else all right seeing no one else I'd like to have a motion to close motion second second all in favor I okay a motion to approve motion second all right any discussion at this point we're pretty discussed out so uh question yeah it sounds like there's some interest in the neighborhood that the lob should face Madison could we possibly could the council make that just ask the 90p to consider that or maybe it's just Mr Caso taking that back to the yeah I mean okay I just wanted to not miss that opportunity and also Bobby maybe um maybe curving along Manis with the crosswalk oh yeah of course it should be new for that yeah you know I mean if if somebody does come in you'll see it you can add that and I'm sure there's no curving on the rest of the block but yeah right now there's nothing there's nothing's we could do curbs we could even do buff out curbs and crosswalks to make it safer to cross of the Park Street okay okay anything else Michael you good all right roll call please okay council president Coman yes councilman KS yes councilman dinina yes councilman doie yes councilman Quinn yes all right motion passed okay adoption of minutes approval okay we have approval of the June 2th 2024 regular and executive meeting minutes motion motion second second all in favor I okay all right we're moving to the uh mayor's report right here hang on one second I got get my notes all right all right coming up my report for tonight is uh congratulations to Grim uh the next uh pillars award will be in September National Night Out is on the 6th uh make sure if you guys are out and about it's one of the best attended events in in town uh I know that that that the chief and the the rest of the crew been working on it feverishly uh so I would expect that uh as every year it's going to be a bang up event all right um we had a grand opening uh actually a groundbreaking today at South Avenue for straight edge striping that's actually the building that they're proposing to put over there that's down on South a all right um it was a it was a nice ceremony I heard because uh the mayor ameritus helped me out today thank you very much all right uh tomorrow at at morgar for a Massa presentation which is uh at the at the school Michael and Jeremiah are going to actually be talking to the students so I think that's uh that that should be a a good day for them um you know it's part of it's all part of their morgar uh summer program so they'll be there for for an hour tomorrow all right um we also had another grand opening the Blue Jay Cafe opened up I don't know if you guys have had a chance to get over there yet they've done a really nice job cleaning it up uh it's it wasn't messy to start with but it's even better right now um the food is excellent I think that's uh that's going to be one of the little stops on the way for sure okay tonight um we're just uh throw a quick one out there we're we are going to table one of the uh one of the resolutions 196 2024 that's for the parking lot that's because we still we we have other financing details we got to work out so it's not quite there and um last but certainly not least because uh she's been around for a really long time and um it's a it's a loss to uh some of the some of the old guard here at at middlex MX McLoud I don't know if you guys are familiar with her she passed away yesterday you know just so you know she was uh she was uh pretty vocal over the years and uh it's a shame she was she was real nice lady and that's all I have for my report all right let's move on uh council president conahan yeah thanks mayor uh congratulations again to Jim I thought it was a nice showing uh some updates from our uh library summer reading attendance is back to preco levels um the library has some new front doors they being installed uh early to mid August some of the original windows will be getting resealed because the leaks uh blinds and shades were uh just installed in the new history room and furniture will soon be moved in and set up uh unfortunately on July I think it was the 5th after Heavy Rain the night prior the old the older hbac unit there's two up there did not drain correctly retain lots of rain water and leak through the roof into the library damages included uh like carpeting ceiling parts of the ceiling paint light fixtures and 217 books were damaged worth and the books were worth almost $4,100 I Know M go along with DPW as at the cleanup and I think repairs started uh congratulations to Nicole and Patrick who opened the bluej cafe uh please visit and add to the uh Victor The Rock snake it's along the walkway down to Victor Crow Park our annual 9911 ceremony is again in Victor Crow Park on Wednesday September 11th at 7 p.m. um also our annual free rabies clinic for both dogs and cats it's free is November 2nd 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon it's 2 hours over at uh DPW garage uh I also want to thank violia a business on bakeland Avenue they've been very very good to the burrow uh for a long long time and they donated a pallet of water to our fire department um lastly I also want to congratulate our fire department for recruiting two new firefighters this year Israel and Brian and they are both at a Parker firehouse and I I think Kevin may know better than me that's either four or five for the year four now four for the year and we haven't had that in you know eight nine 10 years long time so um that's it man okay moving down councilman KS um no just like you said mayor we're going to go speak to the kids cic engagement is amazing um I just saw your email respons with with the administrator so that's stting me that as well the kids need to know what's going on here um until they can grow up understanding this government uh that's pretty much it right you guys can tag team G be beautiful all right c dinino yeah I was away for the JB and the environmental um I came back I spoke with Lenny this week briefly um he told me that they had been cleaning all catch basins they will go through the town once again all catch basins will be cleaned that we do yearly also uh he's like spoke with Chief and he's on board to start cleaning up park for the 911 I'm sorry that's so that's all okay I I do have one quick question I know Claire you're back there I know you had a some activity with the trees you you put up some uhre it it it's working tell you they they they've been pesky this year all over the place especially the deer a lot of deer the trees I can't believe how much they've grown since we planted them how many how many you left how many you have rough guess really me they were Twee put them in they're really pushing deep through that's a great that's a great project I'm glad you guys are being so tough about seeing that thing through that's that that's definitely something we needed thank you councilman Dodie okay we'll start off with the police report uh first thing is National Night Out on the six it's more than just the police I know there Jolene does over the top there's going to be activities for kids food organization even our volunteer organizations come out you can figure out if one of them sued you because we're looking for volunteers like councilman just reported four guys this year but that's nothing like what they used to get they're down in the 40s I think now for members the fire department same goes for Rescue Squad and OEM they can use your help that's how we'll start off for June's report 1673 calls for service so far for the year we're halfway through it's 11,549 for the police they did 16 adult arrests 329 motor vehicle is radar summons is 29 motor vehicle crashes 26 the I know I the market that there was like 350 something motor vehicle stops so not everybody winds up with the T depending on what they're doing um we get through to the detective Bureau uh for June they have um investigation report is had a robbery two simple assaults there's four harassments um one burglary and trespassing two thefts and one chocolate I missed Chief I don't get yelled at by him later I bad when he's hitting back here and I missed something okay fire department we'll go to next 32 call or excuse me 44 calls in June okay they had some of the highlights were motor vehicle accidents with injuries there were six they went to two with no accidents they're keeping pretty good track of this um for the uh alarm system act activations no fire unintentional too just I guess you know that they responded to those there's been 82 of those so far for this year which is quite a lot for them to volunteer organization to go wasn't out there for nothing the chief also wanted me to pass along a couple things June 14th West Second Street everybody knows the fire that was down there they responded they found two houses 836 and 832 were both on fire when they got there they uh had a total they had three Department Chiefs Chiefs arriv with an AM minute each other confirm was out of both structures and requested a second alarm for Manpower so they got some help over there apparently it was cooking pretty good um June 26 Treet Top Road the tree fell through a roof during a strong strong thunderstorm they went over there made sure everybody was okay uh notified the building department they went over and everything you know everybody was good and I guess the uh building department said they can stay in it we just had a good repairs um bber Road and Marshall Place on June 16th um they overturn Motor Vehicles they had 200 block of First Street all occupants from all the SCS in total were able to free themselves and they before they got there so everybody came out of that okay uh the fire department attended Community Day in July 8th got July 8th and they part they helped the the County Fire Marsh office with a sprinkler demonstration and performed a vehicle exucation for the public and respond to two different towns for reported fires so they were back up for a couple other people and did all that on our day I'd also like to wish the chief a speedy recovery went in for some nothing major but surgery so he's kind of out a permission right now if somebody is looking for the fire chief right now not going to find um last thing Court seem to get all these at the same time there so away okay for June 24 total tickets issu 331 um 21 parking violations 310 moving total complaint activity 10 criminal complaints eight ordinances 22 zoning they have four sessions two in person two virtual 293 defendants 105 cases were deposed during court total assess F 41332 n6 Burrows portion 20923 43 that's all I have here that's it yes sir easy month for you all right councilman Quinn okay so first off thank you for mentioning the ry's clinic uh secondly right now the uh Board of Health is getting close to voting on the contract I should have from their next meeting what they want to do as a recommendation to the mayor and Council so fin getting to the end of the T that's a good one with Somerset suet anything else that's it all right all right and councilman Quinn uh councilman Rex is not here administrator's report please thank you mayor good evening everyone um summer activities by various departments are under way throughout the buau uh these include recreational and senior citizen programs as well as Park improvements and M and regular M uh tax bills are going out this week and rental property registration fees are being corrected it's busy time here uh as the council president mentioned earlier on the library the history room of the library is moving forward nicely our director Christy George reports that the um prog progress is being made in getting the collection ready uh the Department of Public Works assembled all the new display furniture and painted the B uh the window shades are were installed last week and staff is working on scanning materials for the new online database that will be part of the history um uh the volunteer group that's also working on this project is scheduled to meet mid August and they'll start putting the room together we hope to have an unveil unveiling for the public this fall early this fall um the mayor has stated uh noted that earlier today there was a groundbreaking ceremony for the new straight edge striping facility which will be located at 700 South Avenue I want to also thank mayor am merus M for being there uh he gave a nice presentation and and gave some comments which I know that the uh straight edge folks were really appreciative of they're happy to be a middle section um when completed it'll be a beautiful new addition to this major Gateway into the burough South a um introduced on June 11th and subject of a hearing earlier this evening was the resoning of surplus Municipal property that corner property which is block 306 Block 17 um the burrow intends to reson the underutilize site from Municipal which is its current Zone to R50 one family residential in order to sell the land for residential development what we see is two houses being built on or be subdivided into two lots Council resolutions on the agenda this evening include the authorization to submit a State Transportation Grant application the approval of promotions and salary increases for police officers Joseph Santa and Joshua fam and the hiring of a new Administrative Assistant desire mirez Ramirez for the office of senior and disabled services regarding the B Route 28 streetcape beautification project public service has replaced the top of one of the new street light fixtures that was recently damaged by a falling tree in the storm um PS also replaced another of the new Street fixtures which had been demolished by a speeding uh speeding car in a car accident last month so thanks to public service and Street State the news lightting fact in good order There Is No Agenda Workshop topic scheduled for this evening and the executiv con session the executive um session will this evening will involve uh discussion of Public Safety contract negotiations also the sale of real estate lot 17 of block 306 which I mentioned earlier and potential litigation regarding 22 when drive that's okay I thought for sure you're going to mention that they repaved that the the ocean over there oh that's right we're very happy uh Route 28 um when we had I guess it was a was that a water water break yeah watermain break last year and they had to do a rough patch which was frustrating because they had just repayed that whole area beautifully but now they've come back the the state has repaved it and it looks great and it's smooth and the police department a round of applause for staying on that on our behalf as well as public works and everyone else but I really appreciate the police department yeah they gave him yeah they gave him kind of short notice yeah oh by the way so it's looking really good over there we got all the lights you know getting okay that it yeah all right thank you all right we're going to open up for the privilege of the floor uh if you have anything to say step up give your name and address kage 40 uh mayor at the last meeting I asked about um yes I do uh we did look at there was we we looked specifically at nine uh basically these are items that were brought forward and there's various reasons some are sprinklers some are other other uses and U they go they go through the uh engineer who looks at them reviews them and if they're approp he he signs off on them and then they're presented and move forward so do I know exactly what every single one is no there's uh there certain amount of them are are sprinklers for sure yeah I would think most of those residential ones are well it's and and the apartment ones too they also have some have Sprinklers and some have approved uses okay um there were two in particular well you you had made a comment at the last meeting that some of might be Rel to taxs they related to taxs no no okay said that I guess that was just an assumption to me um there there are two in particular that I wanted to to ask about um one the amounts seemed really large to me um spray Tech it's we like 89,000 you say why that spray Tech I don't know that red by the engineer I mean I think bill I don't know it aded notely just the way it's presented on the resolution it says 89 down Z or something like that that's makes it's way I would think yeah it's very that's what was the exact dollar amount because I I we'll get in you said was 89 [Music] 89,000 it's on thetion all right I'll get you I'll get you a specific answer for that I figured would spray was probably some type of treatment of water oh sure doesn't the other one I wanted to ask about was the view for $54,000 it's like why is why are they getting that much that's and you know last time I guess it was not correct but saying taxs they have pilot so it could have been no it's not a tax appeal for them the view why is the vi get 54,000 $5,000 all right I don't know exactly I'm not going to I don't know I have to find out I mean I know it was approved by the engineer I I have to get an exact answer for you okay I had them review the nine that I saw that were like anything above 10 I wanted to make sure that they were legit so the ones that we last that were related to some of these comp some were sprinklers some were other items I mean I I checked with the engineer actually I I sent it through to Michael they came back to me and said if they went through engineer that they were approv approved if if there's specific ones that you want I'll have to get them for you specifically I don't know off the top of my head no I I think last at the last meeting I think I going into the meeting I just looked at the resolution quickly I had identified two for complexes I don't even uh know which remember which ones they were but after the meeting I looked at it the resolution further and that's why I like said spray te and I notic the view the spray Tech I know I went back a year and checked last year they also got away last year so most likely as we were saying they probably something water treatment or it's not all going back into the right the view I'll get you an answer Dave I mean to be quite honest on this I just have to you know I started with the basic which was here's nine that I identified can you let me know whether these are legit or not and you know an approximate reason I didn't go line by line by line they said they were all legit you know summer for spring but if you're calling out one specific I'll get you an answer okay I don't have anything very much you're welcome 243 ail wood I have questions couple questions for you about the property on Union Avenue that is adjacent adjacent to the entrance of Park which was an automotive repair shop run by by uh Brothers to that R right yeah um I know that bur purchased that property is that correct yes fee was $500,000 is that correct no can you tell me what it was 430 430 430 um I noticed uh recently that the DP has put some white lines white stripes for parking U so now that six six spaces are available so we PID $430,000 for six parking spaces or is that going to be used for something else it it there is a plan that we're working on right now as a matter of fact it's going to go out you know to an a firm to come up with a a master plan for the park what we didn't want to do which we you know we didn't want to just get the building and say oh we should do this we should do that we should do all these different things spend all kinds of money on it and then have it not fit into a cohesive plan for what we're planning for the rest of the park so yes there is a plan for it eventually to be used for other purposes than just looking like an old an old gas station I'll be honest with you the the uh the reason that those six stripes are there is because I asked for them to be put there because people were parking all over the place and I figured at least if we got a a remnant of a of a a line there people will sort of get the idea how to park in there so until we come up with a finished lot and the plan and everything else you know just here park here don't just park in the middle don't park on the side just park in these spaces So eventually over actually I wouldn't even Venture a guess I would I mean it may be Madam maybe they're going to turn it into grass I don't know until they come back with what their proposals are to be quite honest mayor would you like me to say words where where we are in the process right now the council has basically asked that to take sort of a short-term approach and a long-term approach to that really blending that what we call the Victor um crowd Park Annex the lot that's been purchased into the Historic Park itself so what you see right now as as you probably noticed we cleaned up the building it was repainted um it's being used right now for just minimal storage and that sort of thing BPW is keeping a good eye on it so is the police department um and right now other than cleaning up the site which is taking care of the greenery we painted the resty old bar rail we took down the oil sign things like that just to make it more pleasant working in the meantime the long term is something that's underway already we did an RFP a request for proposals for firms to that are interested in doing a comprehensive plan for the entire park and a major part of this plan will be how do we fold this new piece of land into the historic fabric of dist carow Park so what you see now is the situation right now it's a temporary situation um that front area could be all green space or maybe it could house memorials or paths or you know none of that's been decided yet and the the great news is that this planning process will be very open and the public will be asked to participate in it so everyone will be able to have a chance to share their vision for fruit pict Crow Park and to share their ideas for the highest and best use of this piece of property thank you U I also have a question about intermediation as an automobile repair location for many decades it's very likely that uh some carcinogenic materials are benly surfacing the ground and uh depending upon how deep they are will they be remediated well the firm that was the in part of this request for proposal that we sent out to firms uh we wanted to hear from firms that have an environmental background because they're going to be looking at the lake and other parts of the park and the new parcel the new anx site I can tell you that when the burrow purchased the Land There was a lot of due diligence done to look at the environmental situation uh we did background search we found out that Exxon took out the tanks I think in the 1970s or 80s and that's phase one to that's correct so there's been extensive Environmental Studies already on the property so we feel pretty confident that it's it's fairly clean and we can move forward and also our the good thing is our plan for the park will take that into account as well if there's any more additional for that okay great thank you very much uh Bob also bathrooms too that's something that that's something that there are bathrooms there so that's the plan uh there's Plumbing there yes there are two they're not 88 supplying but the plan is to uh you know I don't know if it's to make those two bigger maybe one big unisex bathroom um also with a they have these automatic locks down so you can set a timer so our police department they don't have to go down there you know each and every night and unlock lock so but but a big part for me at least for supporting the purchase was parking bathrooms you know that Portage on back there we spend 300 bucks a month gets knocked over it's been lit on fire um and the biggest biggest reason for me is uh to purchase that is and it's been about a year or less than a year is we we remove the junkyard which which is what I considered raised property uh we removed the junkyard from the front entrance of our you know oldest part so yeah we just and it was in yeah we we just didn't want to go a head and just start doing things without having a plan we've done that in the past in in town and we're trying to get past that so we we've stopped deterioration you know so it's it's secure it's weather tight the building's not going to get worse while we have it and in the meantime we work on a plan for for something that's going to be good for the whole town good thank you about that one more um few questions about the sampling plant um as we know it's adjacent to this building and it's where the Presbyterian church now resides and U I'm wondering as what is the uh current plan the current the current plan the land no talking about the the church next door we can't really talk about that right now well is the old landf Bob you're talking about no oh the church the church the church yeah the sampling plant is a historic name for the property that south of the rail track this is the historic name I guess but yeah no nothing at this point that we discuss land is being mitigated still so there's still environmental work okay so based on its history what sort of clean up what sort of money are we talking about taking care of that I can say that right now the federal government um having worked on the sampling plant that we just mentioned they know that historically I guess some of the contaminated soils or whatever materials that had been at sampling plant at some point in time in the 20th century were deposited in the municipal landfill so they have a responsibility to mitigate that and that's what's underway right now is a Time Li on this I think it's going to take as long as it Tak yeah we're dealing with the federal government they're they're moving very slow on a lot of these things it's a federal project so it's really it's not being painful by the federal Cas pretty much reason I'm asking is because uh since we don't know what the heck is under the ground there just wanted people to know that there are over radioactive isotopes that exist in modern science these days with shelf life of sometimes 1600 years so uh we're up against something there but we don't know what it is yet I hope that it's not going to break the bank um radium by the way is600 years um plutonium is uh 850 years so those are any sorts of measurable outcomes of what may occur concerned that the cost is going to be greatly prohibitive unless the federal government is brought in to familiar the situation well I know the situation right now is that the municipality has a firm commitment by the federal government that they're they're going to bear the cost of clean up of any any materials raction materials that were put on the municipal Landing site by the federal government so historically they were the ones to caus they taking into consideration the AER I'm I assume they are but I'm not a scientist I'd have to check because you got an I think they aree to the also rolling for 50 years it's going to be going for 50 more [Music] Bruce Sanders 10 Avenue um quick question may not a quick question on trees we just had an ordinance that's coming up have we decided on anything in terms of I guess my question is I know there's something about 10 feet from the curb is could be a burrow tree and then there's a right away I would assume that's higher up I looked on the website and I couldn't find anything to how do I clarify that that's a burrow tree or not a burrow tree and find going forward in terms of if you have a 4 in tree is going to be this amount of money to replace what is the whole story well the long and the short of it is and it's it it's pretty complicated is that it's not 10 fet it's your whole yard is what they're is what they're looking to to move to uh that you would need a permit to take down anything other than a dead in your own yard the the 10 ft from the curve is that you're referring to in the right away is is the designation for the what they deem to be a shade tree which is in fact a burrow owned tree so with the the state of New Jersey and we're probably one of the last ones to jump on this bus has has moved forward and they're requiring you know municipalities such as ours to to come up with an ordinance and and and items that we have to address in order to be compliant and that's where we're rolling along and and you know there's two schools of thought there's the school of thought that we want to be as restrictive as possible and the other thing is what they don't know won't hurt them but we're going to wind up probably somewhere in the middle at the end of the day because we don't know you know but that that basically is what it's coming down to so it's not going to be defined in the ordin coming up in August not well it's going to be defined as far as a tree that you're going to take down if it's above a certain size you're going to have to either replace it on your lot or basically pay to the tree fund to have it replaced elsewhere in town I believe that's correct you said it one minute I I I say that because like I have neighbors and these trees in the middle sex are old as we know and you know things grow and then they die and you know you look at your taxes you look at the cost of removing a tree from anywhere from $1,100 to $1,700 and then you're going to add another whatever it's going to be to place in tree if it comes down I mean if it comes down on your house come down fence anything Act of God type of thing so it's everybody's looking at the big picture prices are going up and you know how much can you trust me we're we're looking at the big picture too because you know there's a certain element of that's sitting up here that thinks that there's a little bit of governmental overreach you know on your I mean I understand the 10t I understand the right way I get that but I don't know if it it is 10t each tree is different in each Street it depends on the width of the street you'll have DPW actually usually he'll actually go out and measure it um and it does differ so keep that in mind that's only in the front yard so it could be up to 15t it's it's from the center of the road as well yeah so some roads are n some roads are so I know there's a sidewalk in there and a lot of trees and M neighborhood are close to the sidewalk in that strip yeah no no Beyond The Strip on your property what I consider your property on the sidewalk but it does differ all over the the different yeah based on the streets bed on the streets yeah if you're unsure if you're unsure you you call in they'll come and measure it go out and look at it right the works department and the engineering department okay all right thank you thank you anybody else all right seeing no one else stepping up I like a motion to close the privilege of the floor motion second all right all in favor I all right Linda you got 17 to go here okay we have resolution 185 2024 authorizing wav adjusted store charges for various properties resolution 186 2024 approval of the 2024 SE billing waved appeals for various properties resolution 195-202 24 except acceptance standing reports resolution 196 2024 awarding a contract to Garden State pavement solutions to Bill and pave the municipal building parking lot in an amount of $298 66 resolution 197 2024 approving the mayor to execute the mcua temporary discharge approval application from the pumping Services site to the mcua central treatment plant via the middle sex waste waterer collection system at mcua middlex meter chamber effective August 1 2024 to July 31 2025 resolution 198 2024 renewal of jun card licenses for 2024 2025 for the Barre of mle sex resolution 199 2024 approval to submit a Grant application and execute a grant contract with the New Jersey Department of Transportation for the middlex state aid application resolution 200 d224 middlex County Board of Taxation judgment on 2024 tax appeals for Block 242 lot 16 resolution 2011 2024 M6 County Board of Taxation judgment on 202 4 tax appeals for blocks 10 lot 7 resolution 20 202 2024 approval to advance police officer Joseph fenta to police officer class I at an annual salary of $ 61,2 48 effective July 25th 2024 resolution 203 2024 approval to advance police officer Joshua fam to police officer class H at an annual salary of $ 69,3 eved July 27th 2024 resolution 204224 2 20 24 sewer billing wave appeals for various properties resolution 205 2024 accepting the resignation of McKenzie Miker from the recreation department affected July 26 2024 resolution 206 2024 waving construction fees associate assessed pursuant to chapter 168 for Edward Riner of 400 Market Street 100% disabled Vietnam War veteran resolution 207 20124 approving the purchase of biodegradable leaf bags from P PCO Industries LLC and the amount of $1,868 2024 authorizing the B of middle sex to enter into the New Jersey Cooperative purchasing Alliance Cooperative pricing agreement resolution 209 2024 hiring a desire Ramirez of Somerset New Jersey as the administrative assistant for the Department of senior and disable services at an annual rate of $50,000 effective August 13 2024 pending a satisfactory physical and background check okay do we need to pull any of these I would like to P one 62024 Please Mr I'm like pull 205 196 and 205 okay no we're good with those okay okay so uh for everything except 196 and 205 motion uh we need a motion a second okay any discuss question on these These are simple ones all right um okay roll call please council president caran yes Council cars yes Council Dino yes counc doie yes and councilman Quinn yes okay Okay resolution 196 2024 that is the resolution that I that we table correct so I need a motion motion second second all right until we get more details on that for sure and uh roll call please counc president Conan Council corn yes Council Dino yes councilman doie yes and Council Quinn yes okay and last but not least resolution 205 2024 um I need a motion a motion I have discussion yes we we have to open for discussion is this open yeah yeah we have to make a motion second okay all right discussion yeah um I've been on here a year and a half now this is probably like the fourth person I've seen leaves direct I mean I hate this to be a stepping stone here we are we just training if people leave is it a money issue or is there something going on over there because I've seen two recors leave and this is a second other person that part believe right that's concerning it it is my understanding with this is that it was she done a better job yeah I can I can sh a little light on I I can't speak to what's happened in the past but that same concern as we shared with me what we're the starting salary that we're that we're offering to this new person is a little higher than than what the position basically position the past so I think it's a little more competitive this he's a younger person to who's very anxious to move into this role and to be here for a while so we may see a change because we're aware of that that that's been the recent history there okay all right anyone else so so it was money it was money an opportunity to do other things range of challenges everybody good I'm good roll call please council president conam yes counc CS counil D yes Cil do yes and coun yes all right uh non consent agenda we have resolution 210 2024 pay all claims motion second all right counc president caran yes counc K counc dinino counc do yes and Council Quinn yes all right very good all right we have no Workshop tonight uh the next one will be a resolution for executive session okay we have resolution 21224 executive session motion second second all right roll call please Council hand yes counc cor counc coun do counc Quinn yes all right motion passes uh at this point we're anticipating well there will be no action taken on these items tonight our next regular meeting will be on August uh 27th for those of you we're going to take a quick five minute break and then we're going to go into executive session