##VIDEO ID:uEP7xiKm_DE## good evening this is a meeting of the township committee September 3rd 2024 the notice requirements provided for in the open public meetings act have been satisfied notice of this meeting was properly given by transmission to the Asbury Park Press and the two River times and by posting at the Middletown Township Municipal Building and filing with the Township Clerk all on January 11th 2024 committee man Clark here committee woman Katz here committee man srino here Deputy Mayor hell here mayor Perry here please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all at this time I'd like to ask for a moment of silence to honor the troops serving worldwide defending our constitutions freedoms and way of life thank you first item on tonight's agenda we have a presentation recognizing you don't hear me am I am I coming through okay I'm sorry I wasn't close enough uh presentation recognizing September 2024 as ovarian cancer awareness month in the township of Middletown at this time I'd like to invite turn the town's teal volunteer Michelle Collins to please join mayor Perry at the front of the room yeah um so it's it's our yearly tradition it is and one that um I hope one day we don't have to have because you know I was talking to another group the other day 180 turning lives around and I told them how much I love them um but I hate that they have to exist and while I am so grateful that you and so many others advocate for uh turning the town teal um that I wish we didn't have to um but before I I I we open this up uh one individual that many of you know uh because he is a staple here at our Township committee meetings Vinnie Moran lost his wife Jackie on August 24th uh of ovarian cancer so Ben I'd like you to come up here and uh stand next to us as we Proclaim uh this month as ovarian cancer awareness month you take it away first got so my name is Michelle Collins I'm an almost 10year Survivor of highgrade cus ovarian cancer um I'm one of the lucky ones this is a very deadly disease as you can see um I've been doing this advocacy work since my diagnosis to raise awareness for this disease it's rare it's underfunded um I want to thank mayor per Perry for allowing us to turn the towns to Yellow Middletown um for aarian cancer stats there's around 21,000 people diagnosed a year and around 13,000 will pass away um usually diagnosed after the age of 60 I was diagnosed at age 39 with no family history no genetic mutations no risk factors I did everything I was supposed to do uh the problem with this disease is there's no early screening test a papsmear does not detect aarian cancer a lot of people think it does they think they go to the gynecologist and get their yearly checkup and everything's fine no ovarian cancer it doesn't have early uh has a few early symptoms but there's no early screening test to find it at the microscopic level so once a woman has symptoms it's already advanced and most of the time you don't have symptoms when it starts it starts to develop um it they researchers have found that it starts in the Fallopian tubes so that's why um it's so hard to catch early because once it leaves the Fallopian tubes it sprinkles onto your ovary and by then it's already pass stage one it's and then it goes quickly from there it it's a very fast moving disease um we do have really only the same treatments that we've had about for the last 25 years we have some harp Inhibitors that have come out of experimental trials senal trials um but there's no no chemo drug that is going to fix ovarian cancer for every person it's really luck of the draw whether it works for you whether your surgery is done properly you should be treated at a major Cancer Center um have a deuling surgery and pretty much everyone who's diagnosed with Arian cancer goes through chemotherapy even if you're at stage one um there's I wanted to just tell you about a new recommendation um for prevention for ovarian cancer because we can't detect it early the new recommendation is for people to have an opportunistic salpingectomy that is when um if you're going in for some other sort of pelvic or abdominal surgery you can ask your surgeon to at the same time take out your fallopian tube so you're not having an additional surgery if you're done having children get rid of your tubes and then that's pretty much will drop your risk to like 10% for ovarian cancer um ovarian cancer is also related to breast cancer there's the brca mutation um there's uh if you have a family history of or you know that you have the mutation in your family you should be tested um if you have relatives that were diagnosed with ovarian cancer you you should urge them or their children to be tested um if they're no longer here because if you know you carry the mutation you can you can take action and prevent this from happening um if you have early breast cancer in your family you should also look into potential genetic testing I had no mutations uh like I said so that's not always the case to have a mutation but when you get aarian cancer also a lot of people don't realize that you can pass mutations from the father down so it's not only the mother if the mother has a vitation um we can pass down but also the father and um men can also carry the mutation like I just said and they can develop be at risk to develop prostate cancer or early breast cancer for men um lastly I just want to say to be your own Advocate if anything is wrong if something's different about what's happening with you you're having some weird symptoms that aren't going away don't stop until you get an answer um I want to honor my the cousin Christine uh she was a really strong advocate for herself um unfortunately she uh was diagnosed 16 months ago and passed away last month coincidentally there's no correlation between my cancer and her cancer it was a different type of varing cancer and we both had genetic testing and we have no mutations so just like luck of the draw um and she died at age 37 of clear cell of Varian cancer um it's like I said it's it's not it's it's a tough one um but this is why I do this to try to fight um raise awareness so you all know know what to do and what to look for and hopefully we will um you know get better treatments and an early screening test will be found in my lifetime but I'm not sure about that so talk to your doctors so um obviously we we you know we mentioned Christine we mentioned Jackie and uh obviously we can only hope that one day scientists are obviously able to come up some time some type of early screen scening tool that is abl because um while we've done this a few times um up here I don't even know how many years it's been now um but uh obviously uh this guy is is has a tough exterior up here but behind every tough guy is a tougher woman right and U tough yeah and uh and and I can feel the the the love and emotion and and then on behalf of the township committee and every everybody here I think I can say that our heart goes out to you and and your family I know you were dealing with a lot you you and I saw each other passing in the halls and uh and we started talking and um you know when you come up to that microphone it's it's tough guy Vinnie Moran um but I know deep down inside the love and compassion and and and desire to see your your your wife Jackie beat this cancer but while she may not have beaten it she's still that that tough lady looking out for you and being tougher on you right you got that right good good um very quickly uh I'm going to grab this Proclamation here um but I just like if everyone would just quickly join me in stand and uh and honor the life of of Christine and of Jackie real quick uh and and hope that we can uh all pray that that someday an early detection test will be there thank you he more F too yes he didn't I mean Michelle we just met and she just about went through everything that I was just about ready to say that I knew okay but she had it more better better than what I'm just kid I bet know she's been doing it longer than I have because you know of course you know uh yes he's watching me I understand that I understand it okay and uh it's not easy it it's really not easy it's hard very hard so please get tested get tested no matter what wanted this get tested eat it we didn't catch it in time like you said we did not know it's not fault though it's it's it's impossible it was just one of them things that did Cath and they found it and like you say the chemo didn't really help it didn't it was just a and it went for two months two months salt two months salt every day now set up sit up back place all right well with that um to I gota be able to read um today I mayor Tony Perry and the Middletown Township committee to hereby Proclaim that September of 2024 is ovarian cancer awareness month in the township of Middletown and be it further proclaimed and that this governing body supports the turn Town Town teal awareness campaign give on this day under my hand and the seal count middle now I want to thank you for coming in and then I want to thank you very much for coming up and saying a few words I know it's been a tough tough weeks for you here and a few weeks and I just want to thank you and know that the town's praying for you thank you very our next presentation on tonight's agenda we have a presentation recognizing September 2024 as pediatric Cancer Awareness Month in the township of Middletown at this time I'd like to invite Andrea bone gorer and Natalie gorner from infinite love for kids fighting cancer to join mayor Perry at the fun there we go um I love that big hug I just I needed after that Tara definitely needs a hug after this so if you can accomodate um well I didn't um you know there's a lot of things to be happy about in life and I think far to often we we spend time on the negative things and I know we just went through ovarian cancer but September is obviously pediatric Cancer Awareness Month as well and um uh again another organization that uh I love deeply um that I love the mission uh they still haven't gotten me in the 2 two at the 22 TR but I attend the tut2 TR um and and and an organization I know that's that members of the township committee are very close to as well um but every year I talk about all the the great things that infinite love for kids does and from the nearly a thousand people that ran I think it was this year about a thousand um in the in the 5K earlier this year um I don't think the speaker system was loud enough for for the people in the in the back to hear you and I which I think they might have been okay with too but definitely for me but but not so much for you but the things that I've learned from organizations like infinite love the things that you don't think about the the the the costs that incur for families when they uh when they receive this diagnosis the the both ment mentally physically financially all combined um and for for a while in in my first few years on the governing body um I got to meet some of those some of those kids that um have this uh diagnosis that I don't think phases them up front and and it it impacts their family and you see them and you you still feel the love and same Joy even though some of them have lost their hair some of them look frail yet you still see the joy in every child's face and you hope to replicate that in your own body in some way shape perform but infinite love for kids is out there talking about it riding on a pelaton for 24 hours multiple times now um which I'm still jealous about um but the the the great thing about infinite love is that it is a homegrown advocacy group a homegrown field where you where you know the names and you know the the families and you know how they're connected to you and you know I I I've talked about Luca aono before talked about his battle talked about how I I I as clear as day can still see Luca coming up to me at Brookdale Community College after he completed the police youth week training and and I I still have the the the picture of him and I uh because only just a few months after that did Luca pass away um and his parents I I love seeing around town because their positivity and their advocacy uh and his and his grandparents too the best but I I'll stop rambling but I'm rambling because I love this organization and I love what they do and I know they have their love for Luca 5K coming up on uh September 22nd y right okay and um I just hope everybody goes out there and and can support in whatever way they can um and whatever small donations they can and whatever Facebook sharing they can do for this great organization and we're fortunate to have Andrea and Natalie here to talk about um this great organization and everything that they're doing and spot spotted Lantern flies behind Thompson right so Andre yeah so uh for those of you on familiar so I started infinite love for kids fighting cancer um officially in 2013 because my beautiful daughter Natalie here who will be 15 at the end of September just started freshman year um we're going to come up on Thanksgiving on her 10th year of being complete with a two plus year treatment uh from her very high-risk leukemia when she was diagnosed just before her third birthday and she's doing great but you know you said she's one of the lucky ones we're one of the lucky ones during Natalie's fight um it didn't take long for us to find out how similar um how underfunded it is uh for Pediatric cancer research um there are dozens of different types of Childhood Cancer and then within those different categories you know brain cancer leukemia romaroma neuroblastoma Wilms tumor they all then have hundreds of subcategories and unfortunately for our kids because the uh you know medications and chemo and everything else is not very profitable um they just don't give a lot for funding so you know the National Cancer Institute for instance only gives about 4% of the research dollars for children's cancer so you think four pennies to the dollar that has to be split amongst those dozen plus different types of chotic cancers and it's just not practical so over the years um since I've started infinite love I've met so many different researchers and oncologists from like all over the nation you know from msk to chop to Dana Farber we've partnered with all these incredible um researchers and they're saying like Hey listen we've got ideas we've got theories we just don't have the funding and they depend a lot on the mom and pop foundations like ours to help keep their research Labs going and every so that's what we focus on while we are um I'm very proud to say we're 100% volunteer run so you know not a single person on my team takes a salary we don't have a brick and mortar so the money that comes into US is really going back out not just to research which at this point we've already funded this short amount of time over $2 million to research Across the Nation but we also help the families directly so families just like ours because when Natalie was diagnosed no at the time even though um my husband and his family has been in Middletown for 50 plus years um at the time we lived in Rutherford I worked in Manhattan and when you know you're in your office in one moment and then you get a phone call and you're rushing home never back in your office losing a full salary because you know an UNC colist is saying to you hey someone is going to have to walk away from their job because taking care of Natalie for the next two plus years is going to be a full-time job having to walk away from that I mean we had to put our house on the market the following week like just you know we hear the worst news of our lives but we're like okay we can't afford to stay in our home so that's one of the things that you were saying that a lot of people don't realize when you have a child who is affected with a disease like cancer um it affects so much more than their physicality it's just goes right back to the families who now are financially devastated because somebody has to stay home and you know take care of the child and the bills have to get paid so when we were going through that um we had so many people just come out of the wood woodwork people we didn't know who just helped us keep the lights on and helped us with all sorts of things to get us through that like first 10 months I'd say before we ended up moving and and settling um and that's what we want to do in return so what from the the second a family is brought into us um they become our family so whatever they need help with like right off the bat we give them $1,000 family Grant from there it's what they need like sometimes we had we had a family who their car broke down and it was their only car is they had to get rid of their other car so we paid for the repairs um somebody uh they their air conditioner broke and you know a kid who is going through this they couldn't be in a hot house so we took care of that like we do all sorts of things like that in addition to fulfilling wishes um one of the kids near and dear to my heart um Angelina she had a wish to go to Hawaii um and she was also uh told that she was terminal so at that point we had a thorough trip together really quick and in less than a month we got her family to Hawaii um so those are the kind of things we do and for beautiful Luca you know um we send he and his family to um hockey Gam like VIP style and a limo and you know I still to this day um regularly see the ionos and because when a family comes to us it doesn't matter you know if their child is lucky enough to be a Survivor like my Natalie or you know if God forbidden those situations where the child passes away or you know the child is currently fighting like those kids and their families are with infinite love forever so whatever they kind of need um that's like something we just love is that everything is is just so personal um but as far as the Luka Ron I just want to like specify that you know 100% of the proceeds are coming to infinite love for kids but we didn't organize a thing that was all done by two amazing women Lauren Moore and Sam Cutler and all their wonderful volunteers these women were so touched by Luca their sons were very close with Luca he inspired them so much that they approached me I think it was three years ago now and said hey we want to do a fundraiser for you you know is that okay and I'm like well yeah of course and we got to know these wonderful people and they've been doing it every year and so far in Luca's name they have funded six different type of research grants for rabdom Meer saroma and Michelle and Frank get to be a part of the entire process so that's what they're continuing to do year after year so they can keep Luca's memory alive yeah your turn you want to follow that up I know if I can beat that can't just I didn't tell her I didn't tell her she would be speaking I just told her she could walk upal okay all right all right it's all right it happens to H don't worry about it I know how that feels you're not you're not being put on the spot you're a shiny example as to why what everything that we were talking about what your mom just talked about and what all of us believe is that you being here is a blessing for not just your family but for all of us in talking about what impacts many families that people don't know so your presence says everything everything that that uh needs to be said so um the don't worry about that at all um Hy will give you some tips on how to follow stuff like that um so uh I I'll just read briefly um to uh help raise well I should say this Middletown Township along with local nonprofit 501c3 Foundation infinite love for kids fighting cancer is dedicated to educating and mobilizing people about the critical need for funding for Pediatric cancer research and to help raise money for this important cause the third annual love Luca 5K will be taking place on Sunday September 22nd in honor and memory of Luca aono 11-year-old Middletown resident who was taken by cancer in 2019 infinite love will also be holding its second annual designer bag Bingo and basket raffle that's got a line of written all over it doesn't it on Friday October 4th now therefore I mayor Tony Perry in the middle toown Nation committee to hereby Proclaim September 2024 and every September going forward as pediatric Cancer Awareness Month in the township of Middletown and we encourage the community to help keep Luca's memory alive and honor his life by participating in this event and all proceeds will be given to infinite love for kids for the second annual designer bag and bingo basket raffle event by visiting uh go visit our website infinite love for kids oh ignore that yeah infinite love for kids.org infinite love for infinite love Bingo 2024 um given on this day thank you so much for everything appreciate it thank you great that's okay take a quick picture and send it to Raven will count to three and she'll one two three thank you like this one two three beautiful all right let's give these guys a round of applause I'm so sorry have but one thing that kind of caught my ear in at least in the child cancer Community I don't know if it's the same for you but when a child passes away from cancer we don't like saying that cancer won or that you know they lost their battle because we see it that you know I didn't have the pleasure of knowing you jack um but from what I've heard it just seems that it was impossible for her to lose because she was strong until the end and seem so she loved you till the end and your family so cancer did not win because love always wins so that just wanted to say that she did not lose her battle she kicked cancer butt every day because she still loved you every day loved your family every day and she fought every so did not well I think that deserves WR I told I just told you you did okay we still have two proclamations for the record a proclamation recognizing September 11th 2024 as Patriot Day and National Day of Service and Remembrance in the township of Middletown and a proclamation recognizing September 2024 as National preparedness month in the township of Middletown at this time we have public hearing on proposed ordinances our first ordinance 20243 422 an ordinance repealing and replacing ordinance number 2024 3418 amending and restating ordinance number 2023 37 3371 solely as to the established fair market value for property identified as block 1045 Lot 2 nutswamp road block 1045 lot 3 one 114 nutswamp Road and block 1045 Lot 4 Dwight road with in the township of Middletown any member of the public wishing to speak on public ordinance number 224-3201 Katz yes committee man s bro yes Deputy Mayor hell yes mayor Perry yes motion carries to pass this ordinance on second and final reading our next ordinance for public hearing we have 202 24- 3424 an ordinance adopting the three the 325 Highway 36 Redevelopment plan consisting of block 238 Lots 5 and six and a portion of the Central Avenue RightWay any member of the public wishing to speak on public ordinance number 2024 3424 seeing no member of the public stepping forward move the close the public portion and approve comman Clark wait oh I'm sorry we need a second second I'm sorry um okay committeeman Clark yes committee woman Katz yes committee s brino yes Deputy Mayor hell recuse mayor Perry yes motion carries pass this ordinance on second and final reading at this time we have introduction and proposed ordinances ordinance 20243 426 and ordinance lease authorizing lease agreement with the Middletown Township historical society for the historic Railroad Station motion to introduce second committee man Clark yes committee man committee woman Katz yes committee man srino yes Deputy Mayor hiel yes mayor Perry yes motion carries pass this ordinance on first reading with a public hearing to be held September 23rd 2024 at this time we have ordinance 2024-25 an ordinance amending chapter 84-101 Clark yes committee woman Katz yes committee sen brino yes Deputy Mayor hell yes mayor Perry yes motion carries to pass this ordinance on first reading with a public hearing to be held 923 2024 at this time we have ordinance for introduction 202 4- 3428 salary ordinance repealing and replacing introduced ordinance number 20 24- 3425 motion introduce second committee man Clark yes committee woman Katz yes committee man srino yes Deputy Mayor hell yes mayor Perry yes motion carries pass this ordinance on first reading with a public hearing to be held 923 2024 at this time we have ordinance 202 4-34 29 and an ordinance providing funding for various Capital purposes for the township of Middletown and appropriating 2 million two $2,200,000 for for such purpose motion to introduce second committee man Clark yes committee women cratz Yes committe Man sen brino yes Deputy Mayor hell yes mayor Perry yes motion carries pass this ordinance on first reading with a public hearing to be held 923 2024 at this time we have ordinance 20243 430 a bond ordinance providing an appropriation of 1, 930,000 for various Capital Improvements bu and for the township and Middletown in the county of Mammoth New Jersey and authorizing the issuance of 1,833 th500 in bonds or notes of the township for financing part of the appropriation motion to introduce second committee man Clark yes committee woman Katz yes committee man set o yes Deputy Mayor hell yes mayor Perry yes motion carries to pass this ordinance on first reading with a public hearing to be held 923 2024 at this time I'd like to ask the township committee to adopt a consent agenda which would include resolutions 24- 231 through 24- 242 motion to approve consent agenda second committee man Clark yes committee women Katz yes committee man SBO yes deputy mayor hell yes mayor Perry yes motion carries at this time we have Township committee comments all right committee mclark um first Finn I I got to speak to you before the meeting but uh again know thoughts are with you buddy um the uh infinite love group is a group that I've been close to for a good of my adult life and uh I'm just glad every year to see that um what start out as a little group uh continually gets more attention and more um more Focus because uh the sitting Township committee mayor and everybody else sorry about that um has done a an amazing job of continuing to um Point attention in that direction uh so thank you for that and uh lastly on a positive note um I want to congratulate everybody who started school today uh in particular my uh my daughter who's a freshman today um it's pretty wild I still having a hard time reconciling that but it was pretty cool to see the uh start of school today um so good luck to all the students so I have May thank you commun Clark commun Sen brino thank you mayor I'm going to take my time just to ask for a moment of silence with regards to the ovarian cancer awareness month and the Pediatric cancer there's no no other words that I can say that uh that haven't been said uh at the moment thank you mayor thank you committee woman Katz I'm gonna hang on to my comments mayor thank you okay Deputy Mayor me as well mayor all right um just a couple of items uh again I want to thank everybody came out tonight for presentation um I want to congratulate everybody uh on their first day of school today I was at North Community Clark was at North dropping off his daughter he was he was holding he was holding back a little emotion uh as as we were standing there um but uh I want to congratulate all the students teachers parents um on their first day I was at North I was at Thompson I was at linkt and uh it's the positivity of going having their first day of school goes up as you go the little or the kid uh as they as they get there everybody is excited when you get to linkt elementary and Elementary School not not so much when you're when you're sitting there at 6:50 in the morning at at high school north um but it was C always a great to to travel around and uh welcome the kids back to back to school um just a a a few um other items I want to encourage everybody um as you all know we have a very exciting historic and Monumental event that's about to take place in Middletown being the commissioning of the USS New Jersey um people from all across the state um will be coming and descending onto Middletown over the course of more than a week to tour this sub to welcome the sailors um to welcome them not just to New Jersey but more importantly to Middletown as uh our town has yet another historic event and if you were one of the the individuals selected by the Navy to join us on that on the pier on September 14th I hope to see you there um it's going to be an unbelievable event and uh more than 5,000 people will be out on that Pier um which I hear is okay and safe I I when I thought about it I got a little bit nervous but um but this is a once- in a-lifetime Opportunity this is only the third vessel to ever be uh to Bear the name of the USS New Jersey and uh it's it'll be an unbelievable event so when you see and I want to thank all the businesses that are participating in things um supporting them Swagger barber shop providing haircuts to the sailors uh Belford Brewery has their own beer that they are coming out with so when you see all the different organizations and businesses coming together to support these Sailors I got the opportunity to meet Commander Hall um who is a a great man uh has honorably served our nation for decades and uh he this is his fourth ship the First Command that he is going to be taking and um it's it's great to see that him and his and his kids and his wife um are all coming out to celebrate this momentous occasion um and we couldn't be more proud that it's taking place in Middletown so I encourage all residents if you see any of the sailors walking around uh around town please go up to them thank them for their service thank them for their commitment to to the Safety and Security and of the freedoms that we're all enjoying today um this is a once- in a-lifetime moment for us so um I I look forward to Middletown shining um as these Sailors come into town um September 11th anniversary September 11th is uh we're fortunate that we're going to be joined by several of the sailors um at our commissioning ceremony this year um a as as normal it's a silent ceremony so uh I hope everybody can join us uh that's on Wednesday uh September the 11th 7:00 um at the Memorial Garden um with that um I don't think I need to hit in on anything more um I'll open it up for public comment any member of the public wishing to make a public comment may do so ask that you state your name and address for the record ask that you keep your comments to five minutes at four minutes I'll let you know that you have one minute remaining with that being said any member of the public wishing to make a public comment Ben come on up Anyan 39 Bri Leonardo I just want to thank you guys really I never appreciate I never thought that that would happen to me or to my wife okay it was tough and everyone here backed me up 100% And I love it and don't be afraid of appear it won't fall down okay I've been here for 78 years and it's still standing okay if not put a life jacket on thank you very much thank you Vinnie any other member of the public wishing to make a public comment Tom I'm Tom Valen 71 Walnut Avenue um I'm the president of the Middletown Township historical society and I just want to give a big thank you to the township committee for your service in general but also for uh authorizing the lease on the train station we're going to have a nice 250th exhibit there in 2026 and even Beyond we think it'll be a really nice benefit for the town so once again thanks look forward to working with everybody Tom I want to I want to thank you Peter Van nortwick deserves a lot of credit as well I want to thank him um you guys work tirelessly to not only preserve the history of of our town but to put it on display and we've been talking for you know a long time now to get the Historical Society into the or the old train station um which Peter just told me in 2026 when America turns 250 the train station will turn 150 and um so uh we're very excited appreciate the police um moving their their facility that they had in there so the his the old train station will now be home to the Middletown Historical Society so that they can on display place things that we have here in town um place them there so that people can go and enjoy and learn about the different historical sections of our town the the history that uh not many people know uh I'll just tell a quick story on one of my office hours where members of the public can come in and talk to me privately about things Tom and and Peter came in and they showed me a document uh a military document that was regarding veterans that were living in Middletown at the time I think of the War of 1812 right Peter and the The Unbelievable full circle moment that occurred was the date at the top of that roster was the that day that we were sitting in my office it was the anniversary of this document being drafted and it was sitting in front of me and it's all the names that you that we've all come to know and love here in Middletown from a historical perspective but the items the documents the artifacts that the Historical Society has should be on display and uh we're excited that this lease is going to be moving forward at our uh introduced tonight and then moving forward at our next meeting so um we're looking forward to opening that up and and continuing to tell this the history of our town so thank you both too thank you any other member of the public wishing to make a public comment okay seeing no other member of the public stepping forward move the close the public portion and adjourn second yes committee women Katz yes committee man sen brino yes Deputy Mayor hell yes mayor Perry yes motion carries to adjourn have a great night everybody thank you all