okay yeah I went there my friend uh married and went out there and we did the you know Wings in a beer but I was like e e e e e but not a lot just because they probably e e okay if he doesn't call in by the time we get to the because the thing that he wanted to make sure he got vote on the uh um resolution so if we get to the number five the executive said before he calls in then just go to the meeting minutes and the bills and claims and then we'll just deal with it if he doesn't call in at all it doesn't call in at all then we'll finish up you got it all right it's 7:00 good evening I'd like to call the miltown fort Avenue Redevelopment Tuesday April 16th 2024 meeting to order can I get a roll call please uh Mr cook here Mr farcus here Mr Livingston here Mr mangarella here Mr mashy here Mr olinski here councilman rolinski so he is thank you can I get everybody to stand for a salute to the flag please I pledge allegiance to the flag the United States of America and to the Republic for which stands one nation God indivisible for all thank you very much than all right that brings us to the meeting notice cath or Mr K whoever wants to read it notice um let the minutes reflect that adequate notice of holding of this regular meeting of the Ford Avenue Redevelopment agency was provided by the adoption of a resolution and the posting filing and forwarding of a copy of the same to the official burrow newspaper home News Tribune publishing companies on February 6th 2024 public participation in this meeting will be permitted during public hearings and after the agenda of scheduled matters has been completed thank you so we're going to skip down yeah Mr chairman I suggest we go to uh skip five and six for the time being to allow um councilman revolinsky to call in and let's go to uh item seven oh so item seven is the meeting minutes from the we have two meetings we have the March 19th meeting and we have the special meeting that was held on April 10th can I get a motion to accept as typed so moved second second all in favor all anybody opposed thank you all right next we go to bills and claims C Mr I'll do that Mr chairman um at the uh after payment of the bill bills at the last regularly scheduled meeting uh we had a balance in the escrow count of $4,825 cents uh there were bills that were um uh that are on the bill list as indicated at$ 39,5 36.75 uh the developer made a replenishment in the amount of $40,000 uh so after payment of the new bills uh the amount that will remain in escrow will be $1,284 128 thank you all right can I we got to accept the bills and claims right you got a motion to accept we got a motion to accept the bills and claims as typed and red so move second second all in favor I any opposed all right that brings us to number nine the Chairman's report just uh we held off on you're a little bit later but we held off on the executive session because we're waiting for coun rid from the call in so we're just going a little out of order but that's a session where we got to kick you out anyway so all right so I don't really have anything else for the Chairman's report we'll go to correspondence no nothing no correspondence family do any of the members have any old business do we have any old business uh the trial um pre-trial continues to move along at a pretty good Pace um there's been a number of motions filed on behalf of the Redevelopment agency pre-trial types of motions looking to limit various types of testimony from the experts of uh um uh the property owner uh those will be submitted and um um they be submitted tomorrow I believe uh and the judges indicated will decide those matters I want to say on March 10th May 10th but um it may be a different date in May but it'll be certainly before the trial begins that's so while the trial is getting a little HEC the pre-trial is a little hectic right now it's really not changing anything until the judge on these motions these are the expert Witnesses for berer uh yes okay so both sides um have expert witnesses as to the value of the property the highest and best use of the property which is a planner uh the demolition on the on the subject property uh um the and that includes some environmental stuff but only with regard to the demolition not with regard to the clean up of the site all right thank you anybody have any questions about the old business all right do we have any new business so I I would suggest in the absence of any new business that um we move on to item number 5 um as a um follow through for the special meeting we had on April 10 the the resolution that um authorized us to go into close session indicated would reveal disclose to the public what took place during the Clos session at the next regularly scheduled meeting it's now the next regular schedule meeting and would probably it was short uh so it probably be good to do that as an lude if you will into going into CL session now so if you'd like I'd be happy to do that Mr chairman um so at the special meeting on April 10th um the um the agency um open the meeting um in regular session and then shortly thereafter Clos the meeting to go into executive session to discuss Personnel items the specific Personnel items was the hiring of a new executive director um finalists were chosen from among um a group of people and we'll talk more about that after we go into Clos session uh and uh interviews were conducted of uh the finalists that had been uh chosen to be finalists and uh and thereafter a short discussion took place among the agency members uh and with that Mr chairman um I could read the resolution to go into closed session to wrap that up yes please okay uh whereas the Midtown Fort Avenue Redevelopment agency has a need to discuss matters involving a selection of an executive director and whereas the open public meetings act provides that a public body May exclude the public from Those portions of a meeting and discuss certain matters in Clos session including any matter involving the employment appointment terms and conditions of employment including matters falling within the attorney client privilege now therefore be it resolved by the miltown fort Avenue Redevelopment agency that the agency enter into closed session uh to discuss the above matters be further resolved that the discussion held in close session will be disclosed to the public upon return to open session thank you okay I suspect it will not be very long but you never know so for the benefit of the public I don't think motion oh yes need a motion to go in executive session so move second second all in favor and he opposed all right guys got to I don't think it'll be long if you want to hang around a couple minutes e e e e e e e e e e e back so basically we're going to get ready to uh vote on our candidate and we you know pass a resolution to offer him the position he cannot get the position till he's approved by the DCA but he cannot be go through the the process until we pass his resolution so that's basically where we're at um do we have any discussion from the board before we vote on the resolution I i' just like to thank the screening committee they did a um a of an effort by going through a number of uh resumés taking the time I believe it started in December to pre-screen and bring the uh agency a number of viable candidates and then make them available uh I think that the uh the screening committee did a did an excellent job in getting the agency uh where we need to be so thank you gentlemen thank you thank you yes good job boys so now we have so we're going to I'm going to look for a motion to pass the resolution that's in front of us it's the resolution of the miltown Ford Avenue Redevelopment agency to approve and authorize appointment of Kevin mcgaan to the position of executive director can I get a motion please so mov can I get a can I get a second second uh Cath let's just do roll call okay uh Mr cook hi Mr forgus hi Mr Livingston hi Mr mangarella hi Mr mashy hi and Mr olinski I motion carries resolution carries yes so now he'll be offered the position and then if he passes the DCA which is a requirement by law he'll be he'll be appointed to take over for Rich you want me to explain that a little bit Yeah you go ahead yeah so the process involves uh exactly what uh the agency did there's certain advertising requirements it must do by law um and uh the screening committee um conducted um a did their due diligence on all of the applications as did uh the the remaining members reviewed all 15 applications that uh were submitted um the screening committee um narrowed it down to four candidates um and uh made certain recommendations in one of our closed session to the remaining members of the agency um interviews were then con uh conducted um those interviews um continued into a second round for some of the people um and uh the nonscreening committee um members also had the opportunity to to interview and then uh at a special meeting on April 10 uh the entire body would you accept Mr mashi unfortunately who had a prior commitment but had met all of the candidates uh that were in in the final hunt if you will um and they all had the opportunity to speak uh to the candidates and uh once selected uh the the candidate cannot take the position by law until they it's submitted to the Department of Community Affairs who reviews the candidate and the application and certifies the eligibility and there's certain criteria that are set forth in both statute and New Jersey regulations as to what the um uh requirements are for employment as an executive director of a Redevelopment agency so uh within the next week we'll submit our package down to DCA uh the regulation says it uh uh normally will be done within a twoe period so hopefully Adder around the 1st of May we should have uh a new executive director thank you you're welcome so we're going to move on to number 13 audience comments anybody have any comments or questions come on down Lee weisenberger 99 JFK Drive uh I have a question on a gray area that's come up now in recent weeks months with the governor now he was trying to present now more affordable housing more units squishing them into the towns and I'm curious if this would affect Ford Avenue at all it came up with the planning board meeting Mr Barry had some comments on it not much because it's new and I know Washington's pushing now too for affordable housing and units in the towns too and it's kind of it's not it's very similar to the overlay Zone stuff but more units and so I'm just curious if you know anything about it be happy to I'm going to say that is since we don't really have any jurisdiction over the land yet and we won't that would probably be more of a planning board and Zoning Board issue for the town and the council I I don't think we all have a say in it that uh the agency doesn't have a say in it that's correct yeah uh but as a pract itical matter it'll have no impact on the fort Avenue project uh because the fort Avenue project is a second round obligation of the buau it's been litigated on at least two occasions as to uh the number of units and approval of the uh development plan by uh the uh uh superior court of New Jersey um the only thing we're waiting for in that litigation is what's called a compliance hearing we can't hold the compliance hearing uh until we acquire the property because while the Court's already rulle that the Redevelopment plan uh is the best plan for the site um in order to pass the compliance hearing you have to have um you have to demonstrate a a reasonable uh probability that you're going to be able to complete the project and until you have the pro the title to the property uh that's a loophole that you can't uh jump over and the Court's well aware of it and is patient okay that was you know trying to get some information on it like I said because uh our contact I guess with our attorneys that represent us miltown the feedback where that goes to council who you know we don't hear Too Much there and that's I was just curious you know where it was so appreciate it no problem you guys got anything 924 Avenue on the best thing that could happen you know everything goes through there's no more bumps and when would the um property start to be developed all right um I I'll do this in my head and um but please don't Lo I'm not going to hold you to it yeah lock me into it um so the trial is now scheduled to take place um and complete in the end of the first week of June so let's just assume that happens and the jury um um issues a verdict uh and the court then enters into a judgment and says the proper is worth x amount of dollars if the if the X amount of dollars is acceptable uh to uh the the developer and the county because the county is a partner in that to the extent of the open space uh then they can deposit the monies into court and take title to the property um within a matter of a week or two um the either party can file an appeal um but the appeal um doesn't necessarily delay anything if the developer in the county decide to advance and to take the risk that there might be a higher award uh resulting after after an appeal uh so what'll happen at that point in time um there would be um a new Redevelopment agreement that would be entered into among um the at least the Redevelopment agency and the developer uh that would now reflect what's going on new time frames would be struck Etc um the property would first be cleared and remediated so that could happen I think you would see the property start to get cleaned up let me just put it that way cleaned up from getting rid of the rubbish and the junk that's around there and vacated certainly by the fall uh and then I think you'll see uh the removal of the um structures and the foundations that still remain on the site uh and the commencement of a the the environmental remediation of the site that'll probably take place there's a good shot it'll start before the end of the year but it's got to go through the d uh for them to evaluate the the actual plan to be done or at least through the expert de operates a little bit different today than they did a few years ago you can now hire um what's called an lsrp um and uh that person then assumes the responsibility for the plan and the cleanup and certifies its compliance with d and and that moves things a little bit faster um and then um I think you'll see the um the actual start of [Music] construction it is it is not likely to be in the spring but I think you're probably looking at a year from taking title because all that other stuff is going to take a little bit of time right and then um there's some paperwork kind of where the you know the surveys will have to be done to really delineate where the County's property begins and ends uh what's going to be Park land what's going to be uh the developer's property Etc so all of that'll you know take a month two months you know and so the time frames that I'm talking about are the absolute best right and then the these things could delay it ever so slightly so um a range of uh you'll see activity on the site uh probably as early in as September um you'll see real construction anywhere within 12 to 18 months after that thank you one other question is the um the middle sex County Park part of it still kind of where it was like the back end of it and then the front like from yes Street to Main Street would be the building yes I should know that um it yeah it's right around it's almost like cutting the property in half there's so Clay Street it may not be I think Clay Street goes into the site um and there might be a little bit of parking that goes to the right of Clay Street um all of that is a little bit subject to change because until you actually engineer it what was what was part of the agreement among the four parties the buau the Redevelopment agency the county and and the developer uh it was all on a concept plan and that everybody would exercise a good faith effort to get as close to that as possible but when you get Engineers out there and they say well we need to move this over here and that nothing substantial uh but just that it makes more sense it fits better thank you okay anything else all right um that's all good news it all comes true there Mr K um that's it can I get a motion to adjourn so move second second all in favor anybody opposed thank you um