##VIDEO ID:pnLzYqkZYVc## e e e e e e e e e e e we we' all please rise for the full salute to our flag will the clerk please call the role councilman Charles depiro councilman Michael marel here councilwoman Rupa P seagull here Council vice president Terence vanzora council president Miriam Cohen here please read the Sunshine Law into the record in accordance with the open public meetings act it is hereby announced and be entered into the minutes of this meeting that adequate notice has been provided by the following one posted on the bulletin board within the municipal building on December 29th 2023 and remains posted at that location for public inspection two printed in the home News Tribune and the cranberry press on December 29 2023 three posted on the Monroe Township website and four sent to those individuals who have requested personal notice in accordance with chapter 3 section 17 of the Monroe Township Code public comment shall be limited to 5 minutes unless further time is granted by the council president thank you we move to a very special part of our meeting where we have proclamations and presentations uh we are delighted that our mayor is with us as usual to handle the presentations the first believe we are doing Monro special Sports uh Korean War defense veterans Jewish War veterans Charles compliment please all right so um first and foremost good evening everyone um it's uh it's that it is the season I come to you in beautiful Joy I just performed two marriage ceremonies so lovers in the air my friends um it's just a distinct honor and I'm thrilled to wax poetic tonight about some individuals and some groups here in Monroe Township deserving of a little special Accolade for what they've done as residents of Monroe Township and um we started this recognition about one or two years ago and I'm glad that we can come together on a night like this and um just recognize some beautiful beautiful residents of Monroe Township as uh the council president had mentioned uh there's three presentations proclamations and I'm going to start with Mr Charles celan you want to come up Charlie so first of all um you know there's just some wonderful things with this man standing next to me um and I'm going to start with his his beloved wife of 66 years Fran Fran don't worry you're getting get a proclamation next year for for for dealing with Charlie I'm my I'm only kidding I say that with love um so Charlie has lived in Concordia for 21 years now um happily married to friend and Charlie just recently celebrated his 90th birthday what brings Charlie here tonight is his dedication to his friends colleagues and fellow community members specifically regarding our veterans here in Monroe Township um as you may or may not know you know we we have veterans groups here in monre Township but over the last couple years now we've brought all of these separate groups together to form a strong unified body of Monroe Township veterans and what we've seen here in Monroe Township is because of Charlie right I mean Veterans Day events Memorial Day events so well attended now other community members now intrigued about the veterans the stories and what they bring and I've always talked about our veterans as being as Citizens with distinction in what they've done so many events and Charlie's been in the Forefront with in regarding that Korean War defense veteran past Commander life member Korean War defense veterans Commander for the state of New Jersey Jewish War veterans life member Concordia veterans this is the essence of what Charlie does and who he is Knights of beas life member Deborah Hospital Foundation Concordia chapter president Concordia health committee past chairman Concordia security committee past member Concordia Clubhouse Activities Committee this is the essence this is Monroe Township the dedication to all of those organizations but it takes somebody to say I'll do it and Charlie's that man so Charlie this is the volunteer appreciation award to you in recognition of your humble service and dedication thank you for going above and beyond serving the citizens of the township of Monroe and Beyond never forget the difference you have made with heartfelt congratulations and a sincere thank you mayor Steven Delina and the Monroe Township Council December 18th 2024 my friends Charlie cman you want to say a little you want to say a little something first of all I want to start out saying what a wonderful town this is that's number one we came here 21 years ago and we love it next thing I want to thank the mayor and councel and the committee for presenting me with this award tonight I don't want to take up more than the five minutes I was told so I thank everybody that's here tonight and I thank my wife that's number one thank [Applause] you thank you my friend you bless you and what we'll also do is after the presentations we'll call a quick recess that way we'll get some larger uh pictures or some pictures of some larger members and family members friends Okie doie oh boy the Monroe Garden 10 years ago in business they open their doors they open the plots to grow beautiful things here in Monroe Township and we're talking about about growing things not from the soil as from the soil but the relationships and the friendships and the Goodwill and that's what brings this group here tonight it's all about the growth of not only what comes from the ground but what you've done for the community as well not only the plots the greenhouse certainly rated one of the top and I I will say it I believe it is the top Community Garden in this state of New Jersey for sure some numbers we now give over 2,500 lbs of fresh vegetables to organizations and food pantries during the growing season they sell over 2500 vegetable plants they have pure honey which they bottle for private label and sell the strong relationships that they've made again that emphasis about growing the relationships socially but also with the community our Cub Scouts as well integral part bringing all of Monroe together what you may not know as well is them giving back to the town time and time again the community garden has for the last four years been in a financial position to donate its earnings back to our Police Department Fire Department EMS department and the community library giving back to the community if you have not been there my friends please you feel that Community Spirit when you go to our community garden but it takes the people to do it and for tonight I would love to call upon our Monroe Township community garden to receive their award please come on [Applause] up photographers us go so the volunteer appreciation Award presented to the Friends of the Monro Township Community Gardens Len Basin Gary busman Jacqueline Coleman John Jeresy Joel Greenberg Jerry LaVine Joan mster Donald poet Robert sibler in recognition of your humble service and dedication thank you for going above and beyond serving the citizens of the township of Monroe with heartfelt congratulations and a sincere thank you mayor Steven Delina and the Monroe Township Council December 18th 2024 let's hear it for [Applause] him want to get a quick picture yes quick pict come here that you got sorry who's the keeper of the award good good all good baby love you you thank you thank you all righty my friend Sue Riser why don't you come on up long time my friend a long time we've been together Monroe Monroe special Sports the heart and soul of Monroe special Sports I I won't say the face of Monroe special Sports cuz I know what you it is the people the young people who participate for sure started out with Buddy ball there's Track Stars basketball Pals Soccer Stars kings and queens of bowling hosting hope fun Warriors yoga art on the go special social outings throughout the year bill the bear movies pumpkin hunt winter bold day I have 19 years uh doing this so y it's gone like that your ability to adapt and make it fun has led these athletes these community members to greater things so great things in life what you've instilled and again the recognition of your beautiful family as well by your side all the time at home on the field on the court it's all about the kids right that's the saying and what Sue has been able to accomplish with our neurodiverse our special needs community members has just been amazing I was lucky when I was president of baseball this is when buddy ball started to be out there and Sue what happens on the field goes from person to person to generation to generation personally speaking my sons were assisting with Buddy ball and one day you they each were assigned uh a partner and on the drive home my oldest son cried because one of the boys didn't want to really participate he wanted to go play on the playground and he did and my son had a Pokemon card and he gave it to him and all of a sudden with that Pokemon card the boy started talking to him first time they talked the whole season and it made my son cry and obviously I'm a softy it made me cry I'm crying on the way home what would you have done all the volunteers has just been amazing Sue but now not only the young people of Monroe but adults with special needs as well getting involved in programs again what you've seen now what you've seen here with Sue my friends this is Monro Township this is why we love Monroe Township so sue a volunteer award for appreciation to Susan riser in recognition of your humble service and dedication thank you for going above and beyond well deserved and be serving the citizens of the township of Monroe and Beyond never forget the difference you have made I won't this is with heartfelt congratulations and a sincere thank you mayor Steven Delina of the township Council December 18th 2024 congratulations [Applause] so so much thank you yeah of course as you all know by now my name is Sue Riser when we first started these programs we started with a handful of parents and a couple of special needs students who had been told there's no place for you to play we don't have the supports we don't know how to do this come back see us in a couple years bring a plan so a couple of us parents and the baseball association said we need a field we need kindness and we need interaction buddy ball was never about hitting a ball it was about coming to the park getting out in the fresh air meeting a new friend and maybe moving five feet away from your caretaker because a lot of the special needs were not invited into the world and therefore didn't interact well we started the Buddy ball Theory and we kept going with it we have special Olympic gold medal Bowlers in our group my personal family we have coaches who have grown up in the program as teenage volunteers and gone on to get certified and become nurses in real life we've had the grandkids involved in the programs we've had Dawn do art on the go for our students as well and now we have mix and mingle at the local library so our adults grew up as children in the program and then grew into adults in the community and the interaction is wonderful because most volunteers will say I don't know how to play sports or I don't know how to deal with students my first response is you have to be kind that's all you need to do you have to be kind and we take care of all the rest it's fun it's not challenging and we're always looking for more opportunities and more volunteers I personally am thrilled to have gotten this plaque and I can't pick up off here um but I want to say a big thank you to my core team my husband Carl my oldest son Chris my second son Nick my third son Jonathan my daughter Rebecca my daughter-in-law Julia my grandson James Ben Ben Ben and Mikey because they're so much a part of the program when you come you come to visit and you end up staying thank you again to [Applause] you I'm sorry in my remiss about the the photos would somebody from the garden please like to come up with a couple words Joel please couple words Joel that doesn't usually go together but that's okay I'll keep it short all in all uh we have we have been very privileged and I really want to thank the people behind me these are the people that have made the garden what it is today we might do the work but you know what not one of them has ever said no to anything we ever asked for that's important and the township has really really blossomed and I give the mayor I give the Town Council I give the Department of Public Works I give them all thank you from all of us thank you [Applause] mayor Madame council president the gavel is back to you thank you so much uh as all of you noted on your agenda uh a proclamation to Parker House on its 10th anniversary in the township of Monroe was delivered to Parker House earlier in the week and we are pleased to have them as part of our Monroe Community at this time we would like to have a five minute resource so the families can all take pictures folks and we'll gavel back in five minutes so please let's do that Alan are you in ch e e e e e e e e e e e e call to order all of you are welcome to stay and join us for the rest of our meeting leaving is not a requirement move to item six on on our agenda would will the clerk please read the ordinance to Second reading 012 2024-25 ordinance ordinance authorizing the acceptance of conservation easement from brasusa Construction Inc on block 37 Lot 12 item seven resolutions for consideration under the consent agenda R12 2024 295 through R12 2024 337 any members all memb members of the council please review any that you need removed to be voted on separately please tell us now seeing and hearing none we will now move on we will move to the public comment section a reminder that comments are limited to five minutes per speaker and they are limited to the agenda items only may I have a motion to open the public comments motion thank you may I have a second second thank you all in favor I I any opposed anyone wishing to address the council please come forward stating your name and address for our record good evening council president George gunkelman 5 Kelly Court Monroe um item um in the consent resolution 311 and 314 um there are two engineering contracts one is for the township and the other is for the utility department uh utility department is and has been for a long time part of the township why are we having separate contracts is it a specialty that's required uh or um that the other firm doesn't have in place or what's the motive for that if I can lber would you please comment yeah it's a specialty contract for water and sewer that's different from the township side okay and then in in item 314 and 316 uh there's also um separate engineering Contracting um or um for uh water and sewer um why Mr warberg continue please can council president so uh the 314 and 315 are for the no 316 yep I was just going to get to it sorry 314 and 315 are for the regular operations um and 316 if there's a capital project the director can also uh solicit um quotes for that project from any of the firms listed in 316 as well okay for a specific Capital project so you brought it up why are 314 and 315 identical uh We've U council president if I can sorry uh uh we decided to have two different engineering firms help us with both our water and sewer this year through our through our director the amount h2m and h3m sorry r r3m r and h2m sounds familiar but they're two different things two r3m h2m two different two different companies okay like different door in the same office looks like you know well then yeah what hey it's all good um um item 322 um I guess I don't understand well what a public agency compliance officer's role is cu it would appear to be to an outsider that doesn't know a conflict of interest can someone explain to me what it is what that role is and why it's not a conflict of interest if I can sure so um every every by Statute every town has to have a public agency compliance officer it's required through the Department of Treasury uh they come they can come out every year they haven't come out they just came out this past month on the previous before that it was about 5 years they ensure that we are meeting the EEOC requirements and the requirements in the law in terms of uh affirmative action and discrimination as part of our contracts um that are in the statute so when we go out to bidding there are certain uh forms and requirements that need to be uh put in there per per state guidelines and they we have to make sure that we're following those guidelines as part of the statute and that's different from what we normally do no that's a part of the local sorry part of the local public contracts law it's a requirement for all all companies that do business with with public entities all of us so my Law Firm for instance has to have a a plan which is approved by the state and when we do public bidding for lawyers for instance there is an there is an actually a provision in all of our contracts that require all of our vendors to have all of these certain forms in place the compliance officer is the one who's technically responsible to the state sits with them on whenever the comes in once every 5 years probably and and goes through it all with it okay items uh 334 335 336 and 337 um what are they and what are the amounts we're talking about here turn again sure if I can uh so 334 is a total of about 900,000 this is cancelling Capital fund Grant receivable balances that's where we had projects they're going back uh going back ways where there was a partnership with us in the county on a on a uh intersection Improvement projects going back in some cases almost 20 years the projects have closed out we ended up not spending the amount of money that was necessary so we're just sort of cleaning up cleaning up the books for that um and offset on money that we didn't spend um 335 is cancellation of water sewer utility uh Reserve balances in the total amount of $3.3 million so that'll that'll move back into to uh Surplus uh three if I can keep going council president please do um resolution uh 336 is uh cancellation of water sewer Capital Improvement fund B uh authorization balances that's bonds that have been um uh that have that have been uh issued um but have not yet been spent and again those are older Bond ordinances that once again we're we're sort of cleaning up and then lastly and that's on the Utility side and then lastly 337 again is uh cleaning up some old um Bond ordinance that haven't been spent on the capital fund Improvement side on the and I call it the township side the non-utility side um and that's for a total of $9.7 million on some ordinances going back as well so this is just a bookkeeping housekeeping exercise by and large it's a housekeeping but it's also a positive thing because it'll lower our debt that we have outstanding it's like making you know uh it'll it'll lower the debt that we have available to us even though we haven't drawn that spend expended that debt and the Auditors have treated that as debt until we move it because it's available to us to be spent they're very happy about this thank you council president thank you sir anyone else wishing to address the council please come forward please ma'am your name and address for our records please good evening can you hear me my voice uh Lucio Pano's 128 C lendera Plaza Monroe New Jersey George asked some of the questions that I was going to ask some my time is short uh 3 320 what is the rate of interest is it used to be 18% I don't know if it still is and what is the window of time before it goes up to a tax lean sale um the 322 uh the public compliance is there a snping for that and and that was it George asked all the others look at that Mr wber so 320 we set it based on the statute I believe it's 8% for the first 1500 that is owed um then it can go up to 18% above 1500 and then if it's over 10,000 it can go up to 6% I believe it I believe it occr after you're 10 days late after that quarter is done tax sale normally happens the year after um so if we have a tax sale this October we would be selling uh amounts that are due from 2024 um so you still can pay it in the in the year that you're in and of course there's all kinds of notices associated with that uh before it happens and then on 322 public agency compliance off so there's no stien no stip no stip no um when the tax sale does happen or lean or whatever you want to call it a year later it starts off at 18% it starts off at 8% for the first $1,500 18% for everything over that and everything over $10,000 is an additional 6% so could you explain that to the public people get a lean on their property or something so then a year later it goes up for a tax sale a lean and if the lean could you so give me that example when you broke it down of 8% 5% I just assumed and I could be wrong that a tax lean sale starts an 18% no matter what it so no the way the way it's calculated it's 8% on the first 1500 and on the delinquencies over 1500 it's 18% and then those over 10,000 there's an additional penalty of 6% so 20 4% correct wow when do your tax sales take place uh they typically take place in uh October or November okay listen thank you all I hope you all have a nice holiday as well anyone else which to come to us please come forward now good evening council president good evening thank you my name is anjan karnati anjan Kar 11 preservation Drive Monro yes sir and I'm talking about the resolution 334 335 336 337 just now I heard about that 9. some Millions you put put it back to Surplus or how does it work sir could you repeat the question please the question is this is the can Capital fund Grant receivable balance can B balances and next one is reserve balances the next one is also same thing another one is okay now I'm sorry Improvement authorization thank you so right so um if I can council president so on 334 when you cancel that that actually comes out of your Capital balance so it's the opposite of going into Surplus it would theoretically come out of surplus because it is a it's sort of a negative effect 335 would as I mentioned earlier would go into Surplus um and 336 and 37 are neutral because they they're Bond authorizations that haven't been spent yet so they're they're kind of neutral you haven't spent the money yet it just lowers the amount of debt that you have out there um in terms of available to yourself so how much do we have as of today debt and surplus so on the on the township side um um so if I can council president please continue if I can on the township side um our Surplus I believe is about $15.1 million um and on the uh on the Utility side I want to say it's about maybe $2.7 million um and uh our outstanding debt I I don't have the exact number right now but it would be about I would say it'd be about $58 million in outstanding debt so this would bring some of that down although we are at times writing new notes as we do new projects as well thank you sir you're welcome and may I ask you about you know additional question because you know have a little time left yes sir please yeah because I I want to request the Park and Recreation South Monroe because we don't have anything because it is not related to resolution it's not really it's not an agenda this meeting end of the meeting don't go away come back at the end of the meeting and ask president okay thank you you're most welcome anyone else wishing to address us on this agenda items please come forward now thank you sh min9 Nathaniel street thank you Mr gunkelman for sparking an interest in uh some of these uh resolutions in terms of the resolution 322 uh again the resolution appointing public agency compliance officer um I I don't think the question of conflict of interest was answered but before you do the uh my thought is it and I believe I heard Mr wi Mr Weinberg say it was a stien attached to that no no no stiping so there's nothing additional right um but isn't that like a self-regulatory no position no what then can you explain the difference sure so the state of New Jersey is the one that actually regulates the compliance so they do that the the compliance officer is only that person designated to deal with the state on this issue that's all so when the state comes in to review they have to meet with Mr correct and Christine may want to help me out with this as well because she sits in at the meeting with me the treasury Department comes in to do a full inspection and we got a letter passing all the different items they ask for certain uh documents they don't tell you what they're going to ask for they do an immediate inspection and myself and Christine and Tanya have to provide those documents immediately to them um and they review them to make sure that everything that's in the statute we're following in terms of EEOC um and the variety of uh oversight I don't know it's it's like designating a custodian so so they you designate most places designate the business administrator because he's the one who is responsible for keeping all of the documents right but the the the the people actually responsible for enforcing compliance of the state of New Jersey not us okay EEOC is equal op equal employment opportunity commission we we use that euphemistically but it really is these are that's a federal that's a federal agency but it really is a state this is a state part of does this designation have anything to do with um compliance on disclosure forms for no that's who who regulates that in that well we don't have an Ethics board correct no we don't have an Ethics but we are required to fill in so the clerk feel that would be the clerk do we have any outstanding um any outstanding officials that have not filled out their uh disclosure forms and they should be posted on the State website correct council president um so it's not due until April 30th for 2024 we had full compliance how about it for 2025 it will come out correct correct not we have full compliance we comp compliance maybe last few years no yes yes yes yes okay you're saying no I didn't hear I know we haven't had anybody who was fine with delinquent in completing in the last certainly in the last three or four years as far as I can I yeah I believe um I understand throughout this state and this I'm glad it doesn't have to do with Monroe but with the time I have left um I understand that there are people who are under uh discl have not disclosed have been fined and they don't even pay the fine so you're saying we're not we're not in that situation not I mean it's only Our obligation to notify them when the state um comes in but um last last year definitely we did not get any delinquent delinquents cuz I do get notified and I have to reach out to them okay good because that we also would we'd also be notified if so it's a technically there's a it's a state ethics board charge we would be notified of that too and we haven't been notified of any well but I know there's not good um followup with the state when people have been uh fined then this and fines just go un paid and and these things go on we have all in compliance we don't have um last if I have time um there's a lot of things in the newspapers and uh in the media well it's water and soore how how do we do no it's it's serious it's about the water and seore contract well it's about water and sore and um what we test for do we test for pasas and what do we do with that for drinking water audible water it's not on the F it's not on the agenda but we can answer that we can finish that out I've heard about posos before sure we all have it's becoming very very you know please the state has testing council president yes uh yes we do we test for posos every quarter it's a requirement uh based on the Safe Drinking Water Act in our relationship with njd and how how we do how do we do in relation to that in full compliance we're in full compliance in terms of and in fact uh we're in the midst right now we did a pilot study for treatment because of the new EPA regulations that are coming in within the next three or four years where it goes down to four parts per trillion uh within 2025 we're actually going to build a a brand new treatment plant facility in two of our wells that we know have uh higher than four parts per trillion right now we do have wells higher for four parts per higher than four parts per trillion but under quite frankly New Jersey has the toughest regulations for posos in the nation right now their uh regulatory limits 13 and 14 Parts P trilon we're under that but we are over the four so we're going to make sure that we are uh satisfying that I hope we really take care of that because that seems like the forever chemicals as they're called and our drinking water is we're very careful and always are you're welcome thank you thank you anyone else wish to address this please confine yourself to the agenda items only seeing and hearing none I'm going to ask a motion to close public portion thank you mam the second on that second all in favor I anyone opposed okay may I have a motion to adjourn the regular meeting the agenda meeting please motion thank you second second roll call councilman deiro yes councilman marel councilwoman seagull yes Council vice president vanzora yes council president Cohen thank you agenda meeting is adjourned at which time was that it is 7 16 thank you we're going to call the regular meeting to order may I have a motion please motion thank you second second roll call councilman toiro yes councilman Marquel yes councilwoman seagull yes Council vice president vanzora yes council president Cohen yes may I have a motion to approve the payment of claims claims per the run date of December 12th some thank you a second on that second somebody second thank you roll call please councilman toiro yes councilman Marquel yes councilwoman seal yes Council vice president vanora yes council president Cohen motion carries thank you so much may I have a motion to approve the minutes of the following meeting as written and presented December 2nd 2024 please motion thank you second second roll call councilman deiro councilman marel yes councilwoman seagull yes Council vice president vanzora yes council president Cohen yes motion carries thank you we have an ordinance to Second reading 01220 24-26 ordinance authorizing the exception of conservation easement from brassua Construction Inc on block 37 Lot 12 parenthetically saying s Union Hill Hill Road would like to open a public hearing on that ordinance please may I have a motion motion thank you may I have a second second all in favor any opposed public hearing is open anyone wishing to address the Council on that ordinance and that ordinance only please come forward now seeing and hearing none I will entertain a motion to close the public hearing motion thank you a second second all in favor I any opposed motion to adopt please so moves thank you second second thank you roll call councilman councilman deiro yes councilman marel yes councilwoman seagull yes Council vice president vanzora yes council president Cohen yes motion carries thank you vot to item five yes we do we are at the resolutions for consideration under the consent agenda R 12 2024-25 through R12 2024 d337 may I have a motion please don't move thank you may I have a second on that motion second thank you call the councilman Appo no councilman Marquel yes councilwoman seagull yes Council vice president vanzora yes council president Cohen yes motion carries thank you uh we'd like to move to our reports my first reporting individual is our administrator Please Mr Weinberg thank you very much council president appreciate the opportunity to speak um I do want to start off and I hopefully I won't be too uh longwinded um but uh I know that the mayor and Council um uh last night and today did receive uh probably about eight or nine emails from residents uh from the Stratford community and a couple other uh uh residents from uh across the township who were writing about uh uh two uh burglaries that had happened uh this this month uh within the Stratford Community one attempted burglary that they noted as well um and I think it would be helpful for me to share uh the response that I wrote uh this afternoon I'll also have copies of this for anyone you know who would like a copy as well I think it'll benefit um in case folks are sort of here on that issue so if you'll indulge me for what probably will take three minutes I just would like to read the response because I think it would be I think it would be helpful so I appreciate that that time so I did send this letter to the nine folks who had reached out to the mayor and Council um so I'll just read it into the record so that you know as we continue to discuss this uh throughout this evening so thank you for your email I appreciate the time to write to us any crime in the township is upsetting especially to the victim it is unnerving sorry it is an unnerving experience for those involved and their neighbors please know that the mayor and counsel and the police department are always working together to keep us as one of the safest communities in our state I think it's very important to share the facts when it comes to Public Safety and crime the Monroe police department has maintained crime statistics on their website for many years the statistics can be found by visiting www.mm Monro township.org statistics D1 again that's in the letter please note that this link has been shared on numerous occasions including previous volumes of the printed Monroe News social media and Council meetings these statistics come directly from the computer Aid dispatch system that helps law enforcement agencies manage and coordinate emergency response every call that comes into the police department headquarters is automatically logged last year there were 50 burglaries in town by comparison and as noted in the letter that we received from residents this year there were 32 burglaries as of November 30th as of today we stand at 36 to date that is currently 14 less than the burglaries we had last year but with still two weeks remaining in 202 for our efforts are ongoing and constantly improving but this year we will hopefully uh we are trending in the right direction when evaluating crime reports and statistics it is helpful to examine data in neighboring municipalities and understand that no one is immune to Crime Monro Township however is safer than most other municipalities in New Jersey in fact our burglary incident in I'm sorry incidences referenced above are significantly less than other towns including neighboring East Brunswick who has experienced approximately 40% more burglaries this year as of November 30th than Monroe furthermore motor vehicle thefts in Monroe have gone down from 30 in 2022 to 20 in 2023 to 10 as of November 30th in 2024 again that's one of the lowest auto theft rates per capita in the state our top rank in safety did not happen by accident we have an incredibly professional well-trained experienced and knowledgeable Police Department that notifies the public immediately when and if there there when and if they determine there is a known danger the police department reports on crime within the town as appropriate as determined by the chief and the Department's professional judgment and shares those notifications on nixel Andor social media it is important to note that as information is sent to the public it may also be seen by criminals there is a fine balance of keeping the public informed and sharing intelligence with those who are aiming to commit crimes as you mentioned when they wrote to us there were two burglaries this month in Stratford um and the police chief has increased Patrols in that area while also maintaining patrols for all of the township the police department actively communicates between local state and federal agencies much of our success in keeping our incidents down is because of the active communication between local County state and federal law enforcement agencies including the FBI to address all crimes the mayor and Council have increased our police force to 70 officers and we have invested significant funding in flock cameras which have successfully detered crime from taking place they cover entrances to our communities and scan license plates to identify stolen vehicles and those with warrants our Police Department respond to these notifications in real time the mayor uh advocated advocated with the legislature to increase penalties on home burglaries there's an article featured on the cover of the Monroe News which is arriving this week in mailboxes following are some of the notable items from this recently signed legislation home invasions are now first-degree crimes punishable by 10 to 20 years terms a fine of up to 200,000 or both residential burglaries are now second deegree crimes punishable by 5 to 10 years in prison fines of up to 150,000 are both home invasions and burglaries are now subject to the no early release act which requires a convicted person to serve at least 85% of their prison term before parole eligibility and convicted offenders who are 15 to 18 year olds now face up to 20 years in state prison again while any crime is alarming the number of overall crimes in Monroe has been down in the last few years it's important to look at the facts and note that according to the statistics from 2022 to 2024 overall incidents have decreased there is not a growing frequency and unfortunately there will never be a time when crime rates drop to zero the township responds to every resident inquiry that we receive we continue to hold regular crime prevention strategy workshops during the day and evening at different times throughout the year in closing I want to stress to the public that should I'm sorry in closing I I want to stress that the public should continue their due diligence reporting suspicious activity it is equally important that we work together to help spread factual in and accurate information in the interest of Public Safety the entire Administration has always been and willing continue to be committed to serving you in the safest and most effective way possible we understand your concerns and encourage you to share this information with your family friends and neighbors um I signed it myself um Alan Weinberg so I thought it would be helpful to share that obviously U myself and members of the the mayor and councel they can speak for themselves you know take these issues seriously I do think um it's important to you know look at the overall scheme of sort of where we are because um obviously if you've been personally a victim um it's a it's a fairly intense experience and certainly understand the frustration um but I think it's important to look at the data and for you to know some of the things that we're doing to try and grow the police force use technology to really respond in real time as cars try and enter Monroe and some of the things that we've done to try and uh Drive crime down um I did make copies of this letter that I sent to the eight or nine people who emailed and I'll be happy to hand them out at the end of the meeting and share with anyone who would like to make a copy of it um but I just wanted to share that um in terms of uh as part of my report uh the other thing I wanted to mention too is um just pivoting a little bit from that important subject um that round four of affordable housing uh will begin in 2025 at our January 29th meeting um uh Monroe like 340 other towns uh will begin to set um a number for the affordable housing uh units for round four we're in the process now with our Consultants internally looking at uh what the state uh put forth as their as a number that they uh put forth aspirationally um and the data that they put together and as part of this legislation we get to uh put forth the number that we we think is right and the backup associated with that and that's something we'll be presenting to the council for their approval on uh June uh January 29th um every town will do that of the 340 towns that are under this requirement and then every town will have approximately six months once that's approved um the fair share housing could challenge that number um other other groups could certainly challenge that number um that we put forth but uh we get to put it forth first and L will certainly correct me if I'm wrong um but uh and then six months later we'll develop the plan to Implement that number if it's approved or or goes unchallenged so just want to put that out there as well and then I mentioned uh that the Monro news is coming out so appreciate your time council president appreciate your report and thank you for reading that letter into the record because that way we certainly have people here in the audience and perhaps on YouTube and that information gets more generally shared so that all of our residents become aware of what we do to keep us all of us safe um going to ask our engineer looks like is Qui Mr Ramo please thank you council president thank you council president just uh one project to report on the Inwood and I'm sorry the Inwood Estates Road Improvement project um the construction has stopped for the winter and will'll be resuming in the springtime um that's the only project to report on and happy holidays Qui night to our Council report going to begin with our W one councilman please um good evening everyone um I've read the um emails from the concerned citizens with the berkes and the break-ins and um I think I can speak for the entire U Council that um anything that we as Council people can do to alleviate this problem with uh crime in Monroe it's a number one on our agenda for sure um hearing that we're one of the safest towns if not the safest town safest town in uh New Jersey it doesn't give much Solace to the people that have been broken into I understand that but um every day uh the police station um Police Department rather and uh our Administration um look look into what more we can do to make this town even safer than it is um with that I'd also like to just say uh happy holidays to everybody everybody I want to make this short um I wasn't going to say anything but these listening to the um Awards we have here tonight um it always amazes me how really great this town is and all the things that we do here um I'm I'm relatively new in Monroe I'm only here for six years so every time something an awards given out to someone that's been working for 21 years it um it's really amazing it's really fantastic um I just want to say that on December 26th at the senior center at 5:00 uh there's manora lighting I hope everybody shows up not just the our Jewish population but it's a community um presentation for everybody to get together um once again happy holidays um and I hope that it's a safe and happy time for everybody thank you thank you War Two councilwoman please good evening thank you council president um just a couple I have a very brief update I know we had a council meeting earlier this month but um as I think about the year and I know I've been attending a lot of year-end meetings at work and reflect on all the work and things that we've accomplished this year so thinking a little bit about the township to and what we've accomplished um we number one we have amazing people that work in this town day in and day out to make sure our community is taking well care care of and improving the quality of life for our residents so couple things that came to mind as we've saved we've done so much around open space preservation this year through grants and acquiring a lot of land technology enhancements in our Police Department as Mr Weinberg mentioned about license readers and flock cameras and all the other equipment to enhance that department um and through the collaboration with our County and state we've received lots of Grants and funding to improve our roads so a lot of roads have been paved and traffic lights have been added um enhancing our facilities which is always priority throughout the town our rec center our senior center or even our DPW site with the Recycling yard and all the work that our boards and commissions do throughout the year bringing all kinds of programming education and services to the entire community so thank everyone for all that they do throughout the year and with that I wish everyone a happy holiday season and a prosperous new year thank you thank you W 3 councilman please thank you very much um I'll I guess I'll start off with all the emails that we did receive in the past couple days from our residents um in reference to uh the crimes and and uh cars and theft and stuff like that and I I noticed that one of the emails one of the residents attached a a report from another town um East Brunswick and it might be it might be something helpful if we I've been asking for our Police Department to do a police bladder it might be something helpful to do a report similar a monthly report as Allan you gave us all the the uh the details in your your letter today thank you for that was very helpful and uh but maybe it's something that we should put out there um to our residents a monthly report I know our EMS does it on social media let everybody know what's going on that we do have a solid police department and it is a big town 42 square miles but maybe we can do stuff like neighborhood watch we used to have that years ago and our Police Department Works hand inand with if you have cameras please notify our Police Department to be part of their program to help if there is crime or if there's anything suspicious in your neighborhood by all means no matter what it is make the call because no calls not is is a bad call because they need to do their job and they need to investigate and find out uh who these people are that are coming through our communities because it's not people my belief living here for 64 years my belief is it's not people that live here it's people that are coming through our town to make it a bad Community um that they're used to in their in their communities so our our police staff is second to none they're very good we give them all the tools that they need and they do they do do good job 724 365 all our First Responders do but I just think that we can get the message out a little bit better it might be more beneficial for all our residents and I know that our mayor and our Council here is 100% behind our residents and behind our our police department and our First Responders so as they mentioned before in the letter and the previous Council we do have flock cameras and we have cameras they have body cameras they have all kinds of updated technology but it the crimes are still going to happen regardless but we just have to let that let them know by your help helping our staff and our police uh catch these people the word's going to get out real fast and are going to stay out of our town but that's that's what I the best thing I can say is to help us if you have cameras notify our Police Department there's a program to join with our police uh it was really nice to see the three volunteers get appreciation um from our mayor and councel it's very nice to see Volunteers in our community uh do stuff uh to help our community become better and better every day uh I my dad was in a Korean War I mean so I I I I can relate to a lot of these volunteers and uh my daughter's a special need teacher and I just cons I can just say that for everybody that volunteers I did mention it a couple times to our mayor and and business administrator there's a volunteer program in other towns like man alipin maybe there's something that we can do to help our volunteers uh with a program to continue this this uh as our mayor said before going back three or four years we started really recognizing the volunteers a lot more and if something that we can do to help a program to help all our volunteers uh I I can get that to you again Allen if you need it man alapin is a town that that has a plan and a program maybe we could we could look into that as well you mentioned affordable housing we uh purchased a building uh it's called Meadow View building I went through some old emails and uh that you wrote to me and to the council in reference to uh hopefully getting 30 senior affordable units uh by getting funding by affordable trust funds state and County affordable housing grants and tax credits and then an affordable housing nonprofit I guess nonprofit Builder as we're doing similar to The V to the veteran building we'll run the facility do are we in any uh how are we on that project are we doing anything currently well I think that it's all part of our your your mic's off though I think it's all part of our plan for the fourth round so I mean lately with regards to affordable housing we're all focused on the January 31st deadline and once that happens we'll immediately get into mode about I mean I'm assuming this is one of the many projects that we're to do but we need to know how many units we need and then we'll start to talk about how it is that we'll get the compliance and part of of course part out evaluation councilman as you probably remember from the third round is we have to understand how much money we have in our affordable housing trust fund how much we can anticipate over the next 10 years and then we can start that process of you know figuring out how it is how many units we can get at that right cuz we made a $3 million investment to purchase that property initially and I just you know that's $100,000 a unit if we're looking at 30 units for credit uh you know I just do the quick math and I just say let's um I'm not sure if we're working on it or or if something that uh it's something that's going to come forward within the next six months I just uh wanted to bring that up I was going through one of Allen's old emails uh 405 spots through Gravel Hill the two oil tanks I asked about it last meeting What's the progress on that Mark didn't give us an up council president the um excuse me the contractor and the lsrp are uh in the process of getting their permits from njd for the removal of those tanks okay do we know the cost yet uh we did have an estimate uh off hand I don't have that number but I could certainly reach out to you could you just that number let all of us if you can let all of us know it that would be appreciative to know what the cost would be I know it's under bu you know we're not uh it's not a big change order but i' just like to know what the cost would be um no one said anything about our our aition at the police department can we get an update where are we with the police department's aition Mr wein bur sure so um obviously the the the expansion there is moving just a little bit slower than we would like um the project is scheduled to be uh was supposed to be scheduled to be completed towards the end of January so uh probably at the end of our January meeting we'll have a further update on how much longer it may it may take to get done and we'll be getting some advice on you know how we should handle that internally uh from Council in terms of any delays that might be needed if uh percentage wise like what would you say with completion of of completion like what percentage completion are we council president they're uh about 50 to 55% complete as of last week however in the past week they've done uh uh quite a bit of Paving as you you've probably seen out there so there's been a lot of work going on uh in the last week so probably closer to 60% um roof trusses uh which is a big part that you'll see is coming uh the second week in January so those roof trusses will be going up and then uh closing up the building at that time and then they can work inside thank you thank you um yesterday council president I attended Parker House it was um Parker House at Monroe year anniversary and um I said I said this to council president at the event and I want to say publicly um you know it's it's a pleasure sitting up here when each one each and every one of us are are I'll say that we have a specialty and council president you did a phenomenal job yesterday and very proud uh to be part of this team because you you know you knew people there you relate everybody she was speaking um before she did the proclamation she she spoke and she connected with people nurses there and her career and uh the building is like it's brand new for a 10-year-old building that building they keep it in incredible shape and the staff was exceptional we met doctors there we met a lot of different people and some of a resident that's 100 years young we met her and she was singing in and it was just a really great part to uh participate in and I'm glad that I was I was there and they're looking to expand I guess they're working with Kevin on getting their fourth Wing uh expansion for their their zoning board uh they showed me where they wanted to do that and they showed me the plan while I was there the um the charging stations uh we have two out of three that are installed and I was just wondering if do we have a tenative date for the third charging station yeah it's council president it'll be in January uh 2025 yeah 2025 yeah okay 2025 just making sure um cost and the cost was 106 the cost was 169,000 and we got a grand of 100,000 uh are we are we charging any fees yet for anything or council president yes you you voted on an ordinance to charge fee about about four months ago okay but we are charging now though I believe on the two that are open but the one that's not open we're not charging for you 2025 January we'll get so so that's good and and I another point I wanted to make out the VA building one rossore drive sweet 14 uh there's 80 units for our veterans preferably all veterans is that's the way we would love to see that building filled and the phone number is 60937 781 1680 and I would ask that we can get that on our website if we don't have it already on there to help our veterans reach out to veterans in need for a facility there's 80 units there one two and three bedroom units it's a beautiful building most of us walked it and had and I'm not sure when the ribbon cutting is but I encourage everyone to come that gets invited and it's definitely it's an asset in our community and the last thing I'd like to say is happy holidays to all to our mayor councel staff and our residents and families stay safe and and happy uh New Year to all thank you thank you Mr van thank you madam president my pleasure um first of all uh I I would join in with everyone else uh um to thank all of our volunteers that were honored tonight um all of them represent a different part of Monroe that helps to make Monroe the great town that it is um I am uh particularly partial to sue Riser um the wreck advisory committee Guy and um I've gotten to know Sue and she's one of the most unassuming people you could meet she's the kind of person who would not come up here looking for an award she just wants to do the job to help all those people and if you really think about it this is really what could be one of the most forgotten groups in society we have uh people who are special needs sometimes when they're children there's funding for special needs children to help them Reach a certain level but then when they become adults sometimes they almost get forgotten and lost in the shuffle so all of these many programs you heard the the mayor talk about whether it be the the Buddy ball the bowling Special Olympics Arts soccer it goes on and on and on and these are just programs that they came up with over and over again a new program here a new program there the yoga they got involved all of these things and all volunteer I mean how much money would it cost to hire somebody to put together a program like this so the amount of work that she does along with all the other people who have gotten involved with it and and uh also volunteer their time it's Priceless so um a big pat on the back for all of the people that were here today but I especially uh wanted to say something nice about her um quick thing on the uh uh on the on the subject of the burglaries um for what it may be worth um I would recommend the homeowners if they can uh if you're concerned about burglary to perhaps videotape part of your house if you can keep it somewhere gather receipts in case you're burglarized if you want to make a claim against your homeowner's insurance policy they're going to be looking for proof of loss so you'd like to have something to present to them if in fact that's the case hopefully this is not something that people are going to have to be going through and I don't want to add to the hisst areia of it I I do think our our police do a pretty good job and hopefully this is just a uh an operation of of of what we really have so um but just that little tidbit if it if it could be helpful to people to lessen whatever loss they may have um what I do want to talk about you know the end of the year we just had a meeting two weeks ago so I don't really have a whole lot to say but I wanted to talk about the holiday season itself you know we had the Wall-E you know a little earlier this year with the Festival of Lights and the the things that you do and all the holidays to me they're all about the Traditions that each has you know the the Festival of Lights with dwali I understand they make lamps and seems like all all of our uh all of our holidays uh involve lighting candles somewhat K Quanza involves candle lighting exchanging gifts something called Kumba which uh the the more creative the gift the better it is um the the Traditions that go along with Hanukkah and this year we have Hanukkah and Christmas uh right at the same time so the the lighting of the Hanukkah candles um the dle the the cooking the Lis and and the special things that you might have the other special Foods they're all they're all kind of a special thing I think back my own in my own uh family if I'm saying that stuff wrong just corre I didn't bother um we had we had different things that we would do every year aside from you know the Christmas lights um we would make Christmas cookies every year and it was a family tradition you know my mother would make it but everybody would help it and special cookies that you made around the holidays the the uh cream cheese cookies with the uh the Lear and and and the other you know fillings that we would have with it um the the idea of uh uh riding around Christmas Eve looking at the lights while we were out of the house on the lights that's when they laid the presents under the tree because we were all going out you know to look for us Santa always came somehow when we weren't home you know but it was it was a tradition and it gets to a point where the kids know that it's not really there but who cares cuz you're coming home and you're getting presents and every everything's lit up Santa comes by and and uh you know there there's just a special feeling in the air whatever whatever religion it is that you believe in and and what you really do is you become thankful when you think back to those Traditions it reminds you of your family it reminds you of your friends and it helps you be grateful for each other so comes back to the town we have starting with the volunteers that we consider tonight and considering the great town that we have here in Monroe it makes all thankful so this is a time of season let's be thankful thankful for what we have with our family our friends and thankful for each other and all the people we have in our town so merry Christmas happy Hanukkah happy K Quanza for those that already celebrated the wall you already got your happies and let me just say one more happy festiv us for the rest of us so good luck to you all thanks before I ask our Maya to share a few words I'd like to add my my wishes for everyone for a happy and a healthy holiday season and for peace in our world um I like to tell people sometimes and I was very lucky because my family had a tradition that every Christmas my we went to the hospital for children with romatic fever which was run by nuns in Long Island and we would be there when there was shows Perry Como used to come and sing and my sister got to sing with him I have no voice but it was a wonderful opportunity to learn about caring and sharing and indeed we did so that you know that what the councilman said is true we all share a commonality of belief and hopes for peace and a world that works really really well so with that note I'm going to ask our mayor to please share a few words with us thank you madam council president um my holiday gift to you is I'll be short um since our meeting was only about two weeks ago um I I do want to make a comment in regards to the uh the burglaries and the emails that we received and the information that we've uh um received from our police as well as conversation with our council members so um so as the leader of the team right um you know I come from a recreational background coaching you know you let you let your home run hitter you know forth you let your best soccer player you know play forward or goalie depending on your philosophy but it's all about letting the professionals do their job and I have great faith in our police force and I hope perhaps for those who may have you know come in late or business administrator gave a great synopsis I think in regard regards to what we've done what's going on now and potentially what we're going to do in the future so please you know after the meeting come up and take a look we printed it out it really covers the essence of our philosophy our team philosophy in regards to letting the professionals do their job and and there's been results now again it doesn't minimize what occurs we don't live in a societ where there's zero crime this isn't science fiction like Minority Report you know this it happens and it's horribly unfortunate we've seen this right we've taken action we have financially supported our police to protect the citizens in Monroe Township um increased the police force um investing in technology flock cameras the numbers have shown that they're working and we will continue to do that we will continue to support our police professionally and financially tonight if you look in the agenda two of the resolutions majority vote four to one in favor of upgrading the CAD software dispatch system Technology support financially supporting the technology three additional police cars this is what we do we are there to support our police and the return on the investment is protection now again crime to experience it is difficult we know we hear we understand and we Act but we let our professionals do their job um holiday parade on another topic went well earlier this month we have our Township manura tree lighting on the 26 as mentioned by councilman marel at our senior center Rabbi Z's having the large manur Lighting on that Sunday um for the jcpnl lights out uh on the street light out situation we're all working together in that as a collective body putting pressure on jcpnl BPU their governing body our police have been out there in regards to um taking inventory of the lights out in the streets so we're certainly working on that um as we segue to the holiday season something very um very important to me is the mayor's uh toy drive uh the police toy drive uh and I just want to thank everyone who contributed and I will end with a merry Christmas happy Hanukkah happy Quanza and for all of you to have a blessed prosperous new year thank you oh thank you we've moved to the public comment section remember that people have five minutes to speak um I'm going to ask for a motion to open the public comment section please and a second thank you all in favor any opposed n you'd like to address us please come forward stating your name and address for the record George gunman 5 KY Court uh C president I I received um some information in my email account about some um grants that were extended in the in the county for preschool education uh totaling 12.1 million Carter Ed got 5.8 Dunellen got 3.46 Highland Park got 375,000 and pis pisr away got 2.26 million um preschool in kindergarten is one of the are the probably the only area of uh what goes on in our Township that is behind neighboring towns and I don't know whose job it is to find these grants and apply for them but it appears that we missed an opportunity um uh it's it says it's um my information it was part of a 42 million Universal preschool facilities expansion Grant I assume that number was probably for the whole state so how much was allocated to Middle sex I don't know um so I'm not sure if this is the task of uh the the township or the School Board uh to be tracking these things and taking advantage of it but you know it's it's significant money that could help us and and we uh in recent years have struggled uh with funding our school system uh getting obtaining um support for new initiatives and whatnot so again I don't know so what who should have been tracking that or how these other towns found out and we didn't I'm not sure um uh but certainly our representatives were were active in promoting this and getting support for it so anyway uh the other thing I wanted to mention um is about uh the affordable housing and you know the the more complete explanation um that you know the the end of January is kind of the more of a kickoff than it is a final but we're going to come up with a number but it's and I'm not real sure about the language here talked about our internal Consultants um who are internal Consultants on affordable care or affordable housing rather well my myself and our affordable housing planner Jennifer beam and Mr rasovic and that's more oriented toward the the legal compliance issues that are involved or well we have well obviously we have a we have a planner because there's obviously there's planning considerations here too so the the remember the the the report by the state DCA is is probably in and of itself a planning document so you obviously we have to work through the legal requirements of the law but you know we're working through the planning elements of it also I would hope as we go forward uh in working out what how we're going to address this next phase that we would have a little more Community Information and maybe Community involvement because the effects on the schools and our taxes are rather dramatic you know particularly over time and uh I I for one would C like to know what the options are in how we address this um as a municipality it uh before we finalize any decisions next year so that's all I wanted to say about those two topics thank you thank you sir the question from earlier please we still need your name and address for our records thank you council president my name is Anan karnati 11 preservation drive thank you mayor and everybody and the crime rate actually we said you know he's 33 35 right this year happened please answer him what the mayor whatever council president sorry yes uh so when I was talking about burglaries and again I'll hand this out at the end of the meeting um as of November uh as of November 30th there were 32 last year there were 5050 as of today including up through through December 18th uh we're at 36 so those are the numbers that may said you know it is not easy to make it zero I understand totally at least uh is there any communication to alert you know residents you know so that something happen if you get alert we will be a little bit careful and is that anything happening like that council president if I can um so on on the link in here where you can see the past I think seven years of crime data which includes burglaries you can see how many per month and some months there's two some months there's three some months there might be four some months there might be zero you rarely see any sort of major that is on the website is it not there's rarely is always on the website yes as of today as of today 34 you mentioned right how many are closed how many are open still I'm I'm sorry I couldn't hear how many are closed cases how many are resolved you know that would still Police Department um I don't have that information I can certainly check with the police department on that um in terms of how many are open and or closed I understand police department is very very thankful whatever we are doing you know here they're doing their best and I trust them you know I very confident they will do it you know resolve these cases abely thank you thank you and the second thing is affordable houses affordable was planning is going on right is there anything location you identified so far no would you no comment on the affordable housing board as no we're not at that point yet so just Council board is planning board planning people are involving in identifying the location or any public also involving no well right now we're not at that point where we're identifying locations where we are now is there there's the two-step process here actually it's a many step but the first step is for us to work with the state to establish what the number of affordable housing units is that will be required to build in the next 10 years right and then probably you know kicking off in February of this year we'll then start talking about you know how it is that we'll have to comply with that process so the reason I'm asking about you know when you consider the planning when you are doing planning if you set the locations if you share to public that will be helpful because if it is coming in front of our neighborhood and that will be a big problem you know in center of the Monroe example if say said we are very crowded already you are putting a warehouse I know mayor luckily you know thankful to Mayor he denied the application hopefully you know we don't get that kind of things in future at least we don't you know 2,000 people are working here and coming here and you know everybody saying same thing we don't want to do that so I would really appreciate if you consider the when you're considering the location if you publish and then if you take the public opinion and that would be better understood understood thank you I and third thing is you know we are requesting we have been everybody is requesting about the Parks and Recreation on South Side so are you considering a next year in the budget yeah sure please can in I thinkk under our master plan ETA right we're working um we're working on a a a brand new playground that hopefully will begin soon um and picnic area over by the community garden um Mark is working on some design work for some additional pickle ball courts over by the senior center and we have a couple other projects that we're uh going to be moving forward that we identified in the master plan as well the reason is you know we are bringing up to your attention our children are playing on the road they're biking they're riding cars are really all over the place especially you know this is really you know not safe because Monro wants to be safe my know Monro is the safest city in New Jersey but we want to be safe you know that is not enough I would really appreciate and if you consider you know constructing or you know making a plan parking and Recreation because we cannot walk in we cannot go any park we cannot go Thomson Park we cannot go Recreation Center Thomas Park is Thompson Park is okay but Recreation really we have not been there very few maybe two three times I went there but that's good actually we are expecting our South Side also something not like that big money and small parks at least to walk and to meet the people to interact with the people and to take our children to the playgrounds yep appreciate it this is my request thank you ma'am thank you for your time thank you for your comments next person who wishes please your name and address for our records sir sure prep mam for Jak place so honorable council president mayor and other council members I would like to start with the reiterating the famous Abraham Lincoln quote this is the government for the People by the people government of the People by the people and for the people so today I stand here not to discuss about a PO hole or a bad road but to address a far more pressing issue that is grip our community by its roots even though the mayor and uh our business administrator has uh responded to that but I will continue that there is a big uptick in car thefts home invasions and bulgares in the recent past these thieves are terrorizing our neighborhood and it is imperative that we take personal responsibility to stop these thieves they become so embolden that flashing lights are motion sensing lights sounds sirens is not no more deterrent they are not even like flinching their eye or they're not even back step while we are trying to detend them we need a decisive action from mtpd and instill some fear in these thugs or else I hope and pray that these home bulgar don't escalate into any confrontation situations that's what I pray for this whole holidays and this is my home and willing to fight for it while appreciate all the efforts from our police Police Department I would like to bump up their game and catch these culprits or at least install some fear that they should not try in our city as this is not only affecting our town there should be more collaboration between the surrounding towns County officials and State Police I hope the police are already working with them even if we need help from FBI we can ask for them and regarding the communication I haven't got a single nixel alert about any bulgar relas happened in November or December not on my phone not on my wife's phone and I don't see any apprehension of these thieves or any results that happened about these bugies did somebody catch anybody no we don't know did they close any cases we don't know and while we are at this point I want to ask like has any bulgary happened to any politicians in this town so far or any in adult community do we have the statistics that these bugar is happening in adult communi so many and outside so many do we have that statistics and I want to stand Mr weinberg's stand that you said you are publishing the stats in this Monro newspaper I don't find it here so I said not even on the PDF that is sent by the mayor's office that is also doesn't any of those hasn't command the website has all the data the website has all the data but he mentioned in his speech that he published in this newsletter and the monthly mayor's newsletter it's about to come out it hasn't come out yet let me just answer go ahead let him I want to read my exact words because I think that's helpful what I said is that in previous editions of the Monroe News we have put the uh the scan code where it takes you right to it and I can certainly give you copies of that I don't think it was in this one because we hadn't gotten any we want like a detailed report because that please don't argue with him I was just trying to respond to your question just let him respond to your question and then you can continue goad okay so while we try to hold our ground and protect what is ours I request the mayor and Monro Township Police Department to reduce the $50 fee that is charging for firearm identification document to a nominal $5 or $2 that is pre-o rates so that at least we residents can I didn't understand afford buy couple of guns and keep us safe so the situation in our neighborhood and it becomes like that that we have to wire our fences and we have to install the iron grills in our windows and lock and stay inside the house that is the situation we are living in I lived in Jersey City before I'm moving here for 8 years there are some shady Corners I don't want to pass in the night because of afraid of the mugging okay but once I reach my home in Jersy City I never feed any not in a single night that somebody will come and knock my door and invade and stole anything but here in Monroe now we are locking in and putting the security alarm on and then we are living in fear while I'm not talking about just security I'm talking about the essence of the community that we are living peace and safe that is all gone and the rest of actions from you I appreciate sir please don't one of you come next be your name and address for our records please hi my name is ganesa s a d m s t address 283 283 Morning Glory Drive thank you uh so I'm also reaching out the same thing like uh reaching up about the concerns uh about the burgers happening in Stratford so the reason is actually that there are multiple burglaries H events happen the same week and which is concerning like whatever the police patrolling which is happening right now I don't think that's enough uh we should do something more so can at the council can I request the council to do something more so that we can do increased patrolling in uh around around statford and also other communities and it it happened in mandro M I'm from mandro Manor and I know that like maybe this not this year here before they were like two or three nights where we saw like people walking in during the night time and we were very scared there was a event which happened next door in my in my community okay the car keys were there and then the theft happened so those kind of things when people it happen that happen we are very afraid because it happens like frequently right even the statford thing which happened there were like two or three events which happened the same week so what can we do to Mo do more PS patrolling during the night time because I don't think the current patrolling is enough that's what my so we we did as I mentioned in the letter we did increase Patrols in stord not during when the one this events happen but then I think it should happen maybe like I don't know the I'm the schedule but it should happen like in a month right I mean I don't I haven't seen like I mean I'm not so up at at night but I don't see that patrolling happening at least in my area I haven't seen that yeah yeah look so the police look at the times that they happen not every one of them was overnight right so they have the times and then they they they they dispatch and they certainly increase when they see two that happen in the same area within a week obviously besides the two that happened at this time you know the last one in the area of Stratford besides there was one also in November was was there was one in in April so four of the 36 that have happened within the town um were in Stratford this year um so just to highlight the numbers that are you know that we're dealing with um throughout the town um just to share some information and is in terms of Motor Vehicle thefts of the 10 motor vehicle thefts we didn't we don't have in our CAD system we have zero motor vehicle thefts within Stratford that means it hasn't been reported to us um for the year 2024 so if there's someone here who has a motor vehicle theft see me after the meeting because we don't have it in our CAD system so I'll be happy to talk to you after the meeting because right now we don't we don't have that we have attempted motor vehicle thefts but we don't have anyone who successfully took one um so so they they they analyze this data there is no Rhyme or Reason uh when talking with the chief in terms of if you're averaging about three burglaries in town a month and they're all in generally different places it's unusual to see two in the same general neighborhood Stratford has about 800 homes now with another 100 being built so to see two that are you know only a couple blocks apart or a block and a half apart is unusual so they usually step up their surveillance when they see that especially if you haven't had one in a seven-month period and it's an incredible feeling of violation when that happens and scary in the neighborhood there's no question about it so they increase that the flock cameras we think are are pretty big deterrent not just to car thefts but every time a car right this is not a secret every time a car comes into Monroe um and in C cases goes out they're picking it up and they're flooding the area to try and drive those folks out with police presence to make sure they know they shouldn't be in the area I mean that is okay but then what happening right now is people are walking right so I I think they just walking into the I don't know where the car they have parked and all that but yeah so I mean they're not normally well I don't want to get into a debate on it I'm not the police officer so I things I had like something not related to the bugers but like um pickle ball court right I pickle ball S I know like I was maybe this year earlier a year ago I said you know what oh there are pickle B quotes are coming to Cena center now also I see the same update do you have an exact at least an estimate time when the pickle B codes are coming in Mr Pickle Ball so the pickle ball uh um the pickle ball at the senior center right now we're looking at five pickleball courts and some additional parking in uh at the senior center so so we just started the design work on that um so I don't have a date yet because but timeline like estimate timeline like by next year at least we should have it or like maybe like to get it out out and under construction this year sometime later this year or 20 look forward for it doing the summer then um there are a few things which I did you finish because your time is up no I think he took my time oh he took your time give I take I take time answering questions I apologize I should ask first I apologize I'll not take much there were some residents who were like complaining about the jcpnl upgrading the lights to LED then th the township said you know what we're going to look into it is there something going on because I think those that will definitely help please Mr Mayor sorry as I had mentioned uh we as a collective body have reached out to jcpnl we've also reached out to BPU uh which is the governing body for jcpnl um and what's going to be happening probably in the next month or two uh representatives from jcpnl is going to come to meet with us uh two council members as well and um we're so that's what we're working on we're not fixing the light but upgrading to LED because that's what I'm that is a topic that is certainly a topic one last was uh in the last council meeting right maybe a month or two ago uh I had some I had a question from like we have from penville Road like on Union Valley Road to payville when we're going from payville Road from Union Valley to the uh pent wheel on proxim plane right it's a one lane one lane when you're going to the school and when we are coming back from Stop and Shop going back right it's a two lane so I had mentioned the last time that you know what it should probably a two lane because when going to school it should be more it'll be better right for people to go to the school right rather than coming back because when I I usually don't drive with my daughter in the morning but I see like that lane when I used to go it was so backed up so I mean it's if something can be done to improve it council president it's a County Road County jurisdiction but I know there's restrictions on some of the land is state-owned Green Acres land in that area no I'm not saying to increase sir it is County Land as I'm not saying to increase the make it tool in what I'm saying is it's a tool L coming back from post of Stop and Shop to un Valley and from un Valley to post office it's a one lane it should be other way around because we have school buses going the morning that's what I'm say ask you to wrap this up this is County Land This is County Roads and we don't have jurisdiction over them so it is not a matter of ours saying just go restripe the roads we can't even do give a recommendation we may or may not but I'm going to ask you to wrap up now you're several minutes past your time I know there are other people who wish to address us and we can even talk the meeting is over thank you sir please your name and address for our records sure yeah uh this is Raju dantri uh Le Archard Grove Monro which is Stratford at mro community and as you have seen right and um so past one month the incidents again the first and foremost for any Council City Town Council or mayor right what is more important than the Safety and Security of the citizens right that's the number one important thing and what's happening in statford is last month there's a burglary happened and they drove away with the car actually in sh drive that actually happened last month so they drove away the car and after 2 three days it was found in Bronx so I don't know how the Alan probably missed it yeah so but again yeah so and then in the last one week between 9th of December and 17th yesterday uh three burglaries happened attempted mean including attempted uh four uh so ninth attempted B happened um and the neighbor was whatever burglar happened it was not successful and maybe I think they broke into the house they broke into the house and the person is here today um and he woke up and shouted and then that he so they broke they broke the window and came in and so he woke up he shouted and then ran away so the broke into the house n9th 14th uh the people just went out uh for a couple few hours so they brok in and then it seems around 45 minutes they spent in the 21 Lexi uh so B yeah they St a lot of things B happened 14 so 9th they broken the house uh when the people are inside at morning 4:00 a.m. 14th the Broken House people are not there I think that time but that they spent 45 minut luxury bug happened and 7 which is yesterday they did attempted bugly in two houses the first attempted one house didn't work out then tried another house uh that also didn't work out but video cameras captured those people trying and know in the the ring cameras captured so in a matter of one week so three four incidents happening and suddenly like residents yesterday two incidents happening all the of the we just shocked we're shocked we're terrified we're afraid and now thinking every morning we get up and then first of all morning people are not able to sleep properly so like or is is this going to be my house like for so every yeah that's this is like uh and then we are saying like you know uh we install lot of cameras license plate readers nothing is nothing is working we didn't hear about anything being caught and the fact that these people are coming repeatedly again and again in five four times I mean three times in one one week they saying they're thinking oh it's easy we can go do it nothing happens it's easy come go to statford do burglary or attemp attempt burglary nothing happens so the first time it happened on 9th and the last month successfully that took a burglar happened and went away with a car vehicle and then this month again within one month another B happened nine that I think that is a time a Stratford being 800 how residents Place one of the biggest places you could have put a petring active petring every day didn't happen 14th it happened 40 minutes the burglar spent inside and did a lot of burglary that is a time that the same night immediately would have put cops like okay one dedicated cop because this is very big community and two incidents happening within 5 days and also one another particular happened with the car stolen the last month the done again two years back similar incident happened two three two three random incidents when we had a meeting with the mayor and the police chief they were very Cooperative we still like them we still hope they will and you are there too so yeah we still hope they can but right now you people give a lot of reports saying counts this is we have taken a lot of actions the crime rate is down but what we are seeing exact opposite so I don't know what you where the cameras are put the license scan scanners are put we really the township Council has to put budget for because security is the most important factor you have to put more license you have to catch the people how do you catch it put license more but buy if you have two buy another five license scanners catch them please please catch them otherwise they say it's easy today Strat Stratford tomorrow it's another community and please because we're so afraid every night but people are sleeping not able to sleep and every morning WhatsApp message that's checking whe anything happened please start in today for the next three four months have one dedicated Patrol man for the statford please we thank you sir for your comments and we going to we're going to request for a meeting with the mayor and the police chief of the stator Community yes thank you sir please hello my name is Abdul mtad nine Robert Court mon through Township the reason I'm here is to bring up u a request which is um everybody knows you know the fall is a season is a colorful season but it also brings up lot of leaves and people have to collect and when it comes in the back and front yards the bagging is a laborious closer to the mic bagging is a laborious work and I've tried to look around and found in Westminster for example they have leave next with the curb collection and they have suction trucks that from the township that comes and sucks those leaves rather than bagging I was wondering whether or not the township will consider this issue as we Mr War we could certainly I could I could certainly bring it up with our DPW director we currently don't have those trucks um I don't know what the cost would be to purchase them and Implement them but I could certainly mention it to I understand Mark I don't know if there's a DP guideline C president I believe under the township is doing Investments so I know you have to remove them there's njd has storm water permit permits and uh it may be in violation of that having the leaves in a gutter because they block up the storm system and get into the pipes we can certainly speak to DPW something to ponder that's what I'm saying it's something to uh to to go through Ponder we'll speak with the director of our Department of Public Works yes and see if there is a way that put into practice some very interesting programs let us see y if that is possible and reasonable I don't know and to Mark's point just really quickly um and I've seen it done in smaller towns as well um there is a certain number of hours I don't know how many it is that if you do that you have to commit to picking them up within I think whatever it is 48 hours so they don't become a storm water issue yes we will certainly check this out thank you the other thing is the second point that I would like to bring first that i' like to congratulate uh this Township for allowing or giving um opportunity for muslims. org to uh arrange on the December 8th there was a nice event which they had here at the township it was very nicely done and it was attended by Bonnie Watson and ilhan Omar the congresswoman and also the ComEd and Jerry mlan so but I was just wondering also why why somehow mundro Township newspaper missed that to to to bring it to the public notice right so yeah it wasn't a Township event so um I know that different or nonprofit organizations in town utilize the senior center so I and we're happy to have them do that uh but I don't think it was an official Township event um so I think it was an event where a nonprofit used the senior center to have it which is terrific but it wasn't an official a Township sponsored event we would okay that all right thanks thank you for your comments sir anyone else wishing to address us please come forward remember your name and address for our record sir thank you Kumar kumaru yes 32 sh D I just want to uh repeat the same issue on the burglaries I just want to see how uh the public and the private can basically cooperate in apprehending some of these uh burglar right number one is uh we just wanted to check if with the council and the mayor on the township to see if we can install uh these flock cameras or something of that sort at least one or two on the um street lights that are available in our streets right that is number one uh number two is um as councilman Deo previously said uh if there can be reports that are published which includes the number of resolved issues and the number of types of cars or the types of burglaries that happen uh number three if if the township can or the police department can provide an email where you know folks can basically upload or send suspicious activity which happens during the night because most of us basically have uh cameras and we can basically see some kind of cars going at 2:00 the same car coming back again at another 30 minutes on the opposite direction and things like that so if we have an Avenue where we can basically upload these uh videos that probably can help the township and the police department to uh do certain things right and the last one is um uh uh can the township basically publish some of the high vulnerability areas where we have these burglaries and uh so that the residents can be extra careful in basically know taking additional precautions thank you thank you for your comment sir anyone else wishing to address the council please come forward now sh arm min9 Nathaniel Street as a as a resident of this community I I want to um give my empathy to all of my fellow community members with with what's going on um in the society and of course in our community with thefts and burglaries and that sort of thing so uh I I think if we all gather around and and become Vigilant with ourselves and then of course communicate with our our leaders um maybe we can do something about it so I just want to say uh give my support for everybody who's spoken before um going back to affordable housing uh I think it was last week or uh last month or the beginning of the month when I talked about what was in the newspaper about about the affordable housing and I was told it was inaccurate um I went to the fair housing obligations for 25 to 20 for 2025 to 2035 and on page 31 I think it mentioned about the same number uh it says perspective need that that does mean it may not be what we are going to end up with but I think the newspaper said around 750 uh uh needs for Monroe Township and that is what is featured in the state document uh so I think all we said we didn't say it wasn't in the document it's just not not a binding number you said it didn't you said I was incorrect but it is it's not a binding number it's not a binding number but there's a difference the number is there at 750 which is the number I and I apologize if you misunderstood what I said it's not correct that it was a binding number you said the state established our number but they didn't well it's it so what does it mean that it's in the state document the state advisory we get to set our number on January 31st so I apologize I conf You by saying was wrong but I'm just saying that I mentioned that it was in the newspaper and you said the newspaper got it wrong but in any case it doesn't it doesn't matter my my question is um I asked last time about how many affordable housing units were delivered and built in the third round now we're going into the fourth round for everybody else to understand but in the third round I was told approximately 30% so my question an ancillary question to that or additional question is what is the number of market rate residential units that have been delivered under the affordable housing unit well for the SEC for the second round we're still completing units in Stratford so there's probably another 100 units or so in Stratford that are part of second round affordable housing over by the senior center and those are the the market rates those are the market rate units and how about the third round I think a lot of the third rounds have been delivered if if I could yeah so on the oh so on the third round I'll have to get you an exact number but it's not that much farther past the uh uh the approximately 30% because as as our attorney mentioned last time there's a very specific COA schedule that you have to stick to in terms of how many market rate units you can do and so it's within that framework I can look it up because I don't have it on I think the public should be aware of and I think it's four to one isn't it they can put four market rate units to one affordable or that's Our obligation I'll let Lou council president you want me to answer or Lou sure well the the answer is is that each one of these developments had different obligations right so they were they were the percentages were different so all I think what Allen is saying is that under cor rules which govern the third round there is a scale so when you build X number of market rate units you have to build X number of affordable units so if only 30% of the affordables has have been built that means that approximately 30% of the the market rate houses been built Mar the number of houses is different that's okay so that's what I'm asking it is because there are more market rate houses than there are affordable houses cor about four to one well yeah by the End by the end yes by the end of the whole project it's a four to one ratio correct over direct line but the answer is yes corre so I would I think the the uh the community is entitled to an exact figure instead of a percentage as to what has already been and we'll just keep it to the third round if you don't mind you said that we still have 100 to buim 100 so my my point is and I don't have the exact figure but I do have the documents at home we're we're putting thousands of units in to to fulfill Our obligation of the hundreds of affordable housing people need to understand that uh again the state requires that yes I understand that the state requires it but also 4 to1 ratio also changed for the fourth round and what is it now so it allows us to set it so it could be 30% which would make it only 3 to one well I think it should be and that was in the third round as well but we didn't we didn't force that no it actually was well the here's the problem so the problem was is that the third round was controlled by the courts so the courts were not approving settlements at 30% they were only approving them up to 20% now we have once again under the new affordable housing law we have more control over that okay I would just like to ask the community to go to this website fair housing uh obligation it's it's from the state and it's a 43 page document that we should all be aware of because it is significantly affecting our community and I wish you all a Happy New Year and a happy holiday thank you can you open the door for you open the door I just want to hand out the may I have a motion to adjourn motion may I have a second for