##VIDEO ID:xvZbtnWineI## this meeting of the Monroe Township Council on this October 7th is the agenda session is call to order as just a point of general information that I have been asked to mention there is a baseball game that some folks are really interested that is occurring this evening if you see people begin to wander you'll know why is my mic on I'm on okay is the beginning of my agenda ladies and gentlemen would we all please rise as we honor our flag councilman deiro will has a moment silence add to it please sir exactly just like to have a moment of silence for the victims and lost their lives in the hurricanes and also uh what's ahead of them as well thank thank you sir The Pledge please I pledge alance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which stands one nation God indivisible with liy and justice for all thank you you may be seated roll call please umed we call to order do you need to do a roll call councilman deiro here councilman Michael marel here councilwoman Rupa PE Eagle here Council vice president Terrence vanzora here council president Miriam Cohen present would you please read the Sunshine Law into the record in accordance with the open public meetings act it is hereby announced and shall be entered into the minutes of this meeting that adequate notice has been provided by the following one posted on the bulletin boards 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 will move to presentations and proclamations the library director Leah Wagner is here yes I let me help you I will join you coming down it's here hello it is but it's okay it truly is my honor to participate in the proclamation that Leah is reading and presenting to our friends of the library here this evening as you all know there is not one of us who lives in this town that does not know that the true Gem of the many gems we have certainly a preeminent gem is our library and that is so because of the people who work at our library and the people who volunt their time in an organization like Friends of the library to make it possible for many people to have access to programs and events and as I was in the library last week looking for something I spotted the little cabinet where you can buy supplies yes is anybody who knows me knows I rarely have a pen or if I did I can't find it and I frequently need some notepads and there's that little machine and I thought what a wonderful little piece of equipment and it's made possible because of the work that all of you do so I will I could wax enthusiastic but I won't I will let Leah do this please say my words later after that yes okay so I figured she was going to ask me to read it so I thought I better bring my glasses is you a good idea yeah but still I can't see that's better okay Proclamation Friends of the monra township ship Public Library week it's Friends of the monra Township Library week October 20th through 26 2024 whereas the friends of the monra Township Library is a dedicated group of individuals committed to promoting literacy education and Community engagement through the support of the monra Township Public Library and whereas the friends of the monra Township Library plays a vital role in enhancing the resources and services offered by the Monro Township Public Library making it an asset to our community and whereas Friends of the library week is a time to recognize and celebrate the contributions of the friends of the library groups worldwide and whereas the friends of the Monroe Township Library have made significant contributions to our community Through fundraising for pro programs for all ages technology for Studio M wireless printing volunteering their time and whereas the friends of the monra Township Library oversee the museum pass program providing access to museums in New Jersey New York and Pennsylvania and whereas the friends of the library Monro Township Library purchased the Monroe Township library book bike to enhance the visibility of the library's Outreach and its services and whereas the friends of the Monro Township Library have supported the program and services for youth of our community by funding the annual summer reading program and events like the American Girl doll collection and the office and Supply office and school supply vending machine and whereas the friends of the Monro Township Library annually sponsors three scholarships for graduating Monro Township High School seniors now therefore be it resolved that I Steven Delina mayor of Mayor of monra Township do hereby proclaim the week of October 20th through 26 2024 as friends of the library week in Monro Township middle sex County New Jersey I encourage all citizens to join in celebrating the friends of the Monro Township library and their dedication to the the fostering of Love of reading learning and endless Discovery and that is the proclamation you were I have a few words so I I I did want to tell you a little bit about how this Proclamation came about because most most of the times when you think of a friends of the library group the first thing that comes to your mind is Book Sales but I want you to tell you that the friends group any friends group is more than just a book sale the book sale is how they raise their money that and membership dues it's what they do with that money that makes them so special you heard many of the things that they do uh but there's a couple that I think you should really know about there are all the programs for all ages they support the summer reading program they have the vending machine that the the council president mentioned that everybody likes uh but for me this year was really big because they bought a book bike I know that sounds really odd but they did they bought a book bike and it's a small bicycle that we can load with books has a big it looks like an ice cream uh cart and we take that to places we cannot get into elsewhere cuz it's so small we can go into the lobbies of the assisted livings we can go into the lobbies of all of the club houses we can get into places where we can't get the bookmobile because the streets are too narrow we just load it in a truck and off we go and it's allowed us to reach people we never could before and for that I can't thank them enough because there are always people that we can't reach and the other thing I think that is really important is that they have provided for the past maybe three or four years a scholarship for a graduating senior this year they gave $3,000 scholarships to graduating seniors at the high school what better way is there to to help your community and to work with the young people in your community and so I felt that it was really important that they be recognized for all of the hard work they've done they have really enriched the library services that you can get at the library and um I would be Miss if I did not mention Francine kits who is our president and could not be here today it is through her leadership and her guidance that she has been able to keep this group together they get unruly but she's been able to keep them together and be able to do all of these things and to support the community as they do so thank you to the mayor thank you Council uh thank you friends and um thank you all very much I hope you'll come to the library and see what we've got thank you [Applause] we need a picture yeah we need a little picture Mr Weinberg in charge your pictures sure you just a twoin just a two-minute recess so we can have some pictures taken please folks we are back in order the other proclamations that we have this month are it's Hindu heritage month of October Italian American Heritage Month in October National Breast Cancer Awareness Month rat syndrome Awareness Month Becca muscular distrophy awareness week and metastatic breast cancer awareness day thank you we will move to ordinances for second reading ordinance 08 -224 d016 I did one tap you're in thank you ordinance amending the code of the township of Monroe section 108-72 7 entitled stormwater management this is an njde mandated up date ordinance for the first reading 010 2024-25 ordinance amending chapter three of the code of the township of Monroe County of middlex entitled administration of government specifically section 50 entitled division of police and chapter 79 of the code of the township of Monro entitled police department rules and regulations specifically section 7 9 through 80.1 entitles specific qualifications the next is item item on the agenda is resolutions for consideration under the consent agenda at the October 7th 2024 meeting r10202 4- 217 through r10 d224 d248 Council colleagues and my assumption is you have all read through these resolutions any that you need remove from the consent agenda yes council president I I have two go ahead r10 2024 d224 r10 d224 d233 that's it okay you're welcome no one else has any that they wish removed we will move to the public comment section of the agenda session please remember that public comment is limited to agenda items only and five minutes per speaker I'd like a motion to open the public comment section so moved thank you may I have a second on that second thank you all in favor I anyone opposed no right public comment section is open anyone wishing to agend address the council please come forward now remember your name and address for our records please you'll try hard I knew that George gunman Monroe um I have question on a couple of the items in the consent agenda number 238 uh rejec the bids are we going back out for bids or is there any change in the bid spec of the new one going out and were they were non non-complying proposals orive what was what was the issue Mr warberg are you in please or Mr sty Joe do you want take it please is this s yes uh the reason why the bids were rejected is that it exceeded our uh estimated cost for the services and the reason upon investigation was uh a 20% increase as a result of a performance bond which isn't necessary for this particular uh bid so we're rebidding exact same specification except we're uh cutting out the requirement for a performance bond thank you you're welcome uh the next item uh 239 authorizing the purchase of a gas boy system I have no idea what a gas boy system is uh could someone explain oh yes please CC president if I may so this replaces the uh the uh regular uh and diesel gas uh facility that sits between the police department and EMS uh it's a 1995 uh pumps that we're replacing so it's almost 30 years old um and it's also tied into redundancy and uh in case power goes out okay no I just had no idea what that was thank you um the other question I had was item 241 which is puras uh purchasing a um caterpillar asphalt compaction I thought that the Public Works had sold off their Paving equipment uh why now are we buying a new roller so if I counc presid so this is a smaller not not really a a roller and I I don't pretend to be an expert in this but this is replacing a 1997 bow mag asphalt compaction model and this is really just for patching that we do to make sure that we get it down right um so it's really just for small patching and it replaces the one that's about 28 years old F thank you that's all I have thank you anyone else wishing to address us please come forward please state your name and address for our record my voice good evening Lucio Panos is this on Lucio Panos 128 cander Plaza 024 I'm just curious how many police officers what's the ratio of lieutenants to police officers and detectives um yeah on 2027 I'm sorry it's yeah I'd like to congratulate let me see something Lori I'd like to congratulate Lori on being promoted she always seems to be on top of things and I hope that you know um she continues to be because your audit says there's some a lot of room for improvement over in that department with the timely timely um filings of the recommendations they not the rec conciliations aren't done on a on St should have a schedule the basis there was um they said that certain things should have been rectified by December 31st and I want to know where they rectified whatever that audit says and which I regret that it wasn't online I just had to grab it tonight I just want to see what the recommendations were well the recommendations you got to look at who's going to we of course looked at all the recomend I'm sure you did but I'm asking everybody look at them and then follow up on it because there's recommendation is there that I'm sure Lori's going to do a bang up job on but anyway that um again here we are buying almost almost a quarter of a million dollars worth of vehicles in this in on on tonight and not one of them as and is a hybrid or electric but meanwhile it's being pushed on the public you better do this you got to do this and you guys don't do any of that why you know councilman you on the phone you you does pay attention yeah excuse me yeah that's excuse I heard exactly what you said I don't appreciate the response and I don't appreciate your your insinuations of what what was I insinuating singling me out as a council member you you're looking down very familiar with the agenda I went through the agenda I went through with our business administrator I also let's give the public the respect the transparency that it deserves forward yeah anyway basically it's the cause it's graduating Lori it's please follow up on the recommendations cuz they are in need and I'd like to know the ratio of lieutenants right I I believe this is correct I believe we currently have six lieutenants out of our 67 sworn total officers if that's wrong I'll clarify it with you tomorrow so now it's going to be seven for only how many how many officers so so we we currently have 67 sworn officers we're about to go to 70 sworn officers people in the academy um this is what called the rter ordinance so it's the maximum you can have we'd ultimately have to budget for the lieutenant but the router's ordinance which sits in our code creates the maximum for each position whether it be Chief Captain Lieutenant Sergeant um and patrolman and what this does is allow us to move even though we only have six now it authorizes up to seven but the budget would have to move us to seven no I that's I think it's good to have good leadership but there should be enough Indians to lead um then one other thing and there's a number of things let's say authorized authorizing Award of competitive contract That's goes throughout and that's very open there never it's never said about Center State Center State just gets the contracts I never see there's not one thing on here tonight that says us awarded through competitive contract to Center State but that goes to every other it seems like every other contract that's awarded is competitive why not isn't that in there somebody Professional Services is completely different from competitive contract that's how njsa 48 col 11-1 that's how the legislature set it up so engineering is not a professional service it is but it's not it can't be done by competitive contract Professional Services contracts are Professional Services contract competitive contracts are for building construction correct they're not for they're not for Professional Services to apples and oranges okay and bananas sometimes we shouldn't leave um anyone else wishing to address the council at this time make a motion okay any opposed public section session is now closed I'd like to entertain a motion to agend to end the agenda session so moved may I have a second on that second thank you R call please councilman Ziro yes councilman Markel yes councilwoman seagull yes Council vice president fanora council president Cohen yes motion carries so nice and warm in here thank you I think her M's off again I to call the regular meeting to order a motion please motion thank you second on that second thank you roll call councilman deiro yes councilman marel yes councilwoman seal yes Council vice president vanora council president Cohen yes6 may I have a motion to approve the payments of claims per the run date of October 2nd 2024 motion please motion thank you second second roll call councilman toiro obain councilman marel yes councilwoman seagull yes Council vice president vanzora yes council president Cohen yes motion carries may I have a motion to approve the minutes of the following meeting as written and presented the September 4th meeting the agenda and regular combined meeting motion please motion thank you second second roll call councilman deiro yes councilman marel yes councilwoman seagull yes Council VI president vanzora yes council president Cohen motion carries ordinance for second reading 08224 d016 ordinance amending the code of the township of Monroe section 108-b to7 entitled storm water management we do not need a motion it is on the agenda correct correct thank you I'd like to have a motion to open the public hearing on that please motion thank you may I have a second second thank you anyone wishing to address us on this ordinance only please come forward now seeing and hearing we have we have do we have some oh George I'm so sorry George gunman Monroe U I just wanted know what this covers uh and what what the effect of it is if it's increased capacity if it's going to require us to do remedial work what's what's involved here Mr R mois please council president essentially uh in short it's for storm water management designs of new construction and any major subdivision would have to meet these requirements essentially it uses current precipitation data current rainfall numbers as opposed to what's already in the the old numbers at the state so it'll be more in line with some of the storms that we're seeing these days and and it'll provide better storm water management that's the intent thank you thank you anyone else wishing to address us on questions about this ordinance seeing and hearing none I'd like to have a motion to close the public hearing on this ordinance motion thank you may I have a second second thank you all in favor I any opposed no may I have a motion to adopt ordinance 08 2024 d016 please motion thank you second on that second thank you roll call councilman deiro yes councilman Marquel yes councilwoman seagull yes Council vice president vanzora yes council president Cohen yes motion carries thank you item six is the resolution ions for consideration under the consent agenda r10 2024-25 d024 ordinance amending chapter three of the code of the township of Monroe County of middlex entitled administration of government specifically section 50 entitled division of police in chapter 79 of the code of the township of Monroe entitled police department rules and regulations specifically section 79 through 90.1 entitled specific qualifications motion motion thank you a second second thank you roll call councilman toiro yes councilman marel yes councilwoman seagull yes Council vice president vanzora yes council president Cohen yes motion carries resolutions for consideration under to the consent agenda r10 2024 D 217 through r10 2024 d248 with the exception of r10 2024 224 and r102 2024 233 which will be voted on separately thank you may we have a motion please motion may I have a second on that motion second may have a roll call vote councilman toiro yes councilman Marquel yes councilwoman seagull yes Council vice president vanzora council president Cohen yes motion carries thank you resolutions that were remove for the consent agenda resolution r10 2024 224 and 233 thank you may I have a motion motion thank you a second second thank you roll call councilman toiro abstain councilman Marquel yes councilwoman seagull yes Council vice president vanzora yes council president Cohen yes motion carries thank you we will move to the reports Mr Weinberg yes thank you very much council president I'll be somewhat uh brief just comment on a few of the items on the agenda that were passed today one um awarding a contract for design bid and construction of the paving sidewalk and drainage over on linkx drive that's supported by a $552,000 state Grant so we're excited about that to move forward also there's a design contract on for some pickle ball courts over at the senior center which is also supported by a $64,000 uh DCA local Recreation Grant so excited about that um the other item on the agenda I wanted to highlight were the security cameras at the rec center so that's an important Improvement we'll be rolling that out um at other facilities as well and then finally just a couple quick upcoming events um the October Fest just in case folks uh don't mention is uh 12:00 to 4:00 p.m. on October 20th um the Rec Center event at etch farms for Halloween family fun night um is on October 29th and then of course uh trick-or-treating at Town Hall which is always super fun to see everybody come into town hall is great um the mayor did ask me to mention two quick things uh tonight first um he wanted to mention that our hearts due and this was mentioned earlier our hearts go out to those who've been devastated by Hurricane Helen our fellow citizens and we're certainly praying as well for those who are in the path of this new hurricane hurricane Milton and then also mayor Delina wanted me to recogn I Seymour nen Bal a 101y Old Monroe resident and World War II veteran um from the ghost Army some of you may have read about him who passed away this past weekend um Mr nbound received the Congressional Medal of Honor earlier this year from Congress which is an incredible achievement and a special thanks to him and all his fellow veterans um for their service Council presid Mr razim Mo thank you council president um quick update on a couple of the projects going around going on around town uh the county project at Oldbridge English Town Road in mounts Mills Road that traffic signal uh Jersey Central Power and Light is is finishing up their workout there and we anticipate Paving in the next couple of weeks uh Applegarth and Joan Warren Way intersection that traffic signal the signal is is still up and it it has a bag over it so it's a waiting Jersey Central Power and Light to provide Power to that signal and then that should be up and running uh demolition of the Garvey uh uh project on Spotswood Gravel Hill Road again that's ready to go waiting on Jersey Central to complete their shut offs and provide documentation to the construction Department our 2024 roads Paving project we completed uh we paved 18 roads throughout town as well as a portion of the library parking lot uh in in the next week or so they'll be finishing up the striping of those roads and last lastly um at the last meeting the NJ doot Grant project for Inwood Estates was awarded and we had a pre-construction meeting and I hope to get that started uh real soon thank you that's my report Council reports councilman Council vice president would you like to start us off tonight thank you uh Madam president um just want to clarify one thing I I think when it comes to uh environmental uh questions and green energy things associated with the town probably the most Progressive out of all the council people every month Whenever there is a vehicle that's uh to be purchased I have questioned business administrator they get sick of hearing from me at every pre- meeting to find out whether or not that's a possibility and I'm told that despite all the multiple cooperatives in the state that we're um we possibly go through to get the purchase there simply aren't any vehicles of the types that we've needed that have been available for purchase I've questioned them at length about that so the question then becomes as between not having the new vehicles which are necessary versus having an older style vehicle or gas vehicle if you want to call it that I will vote to approve the uh the vehicle so that the township has what it needs I certainly hope that in the future um the state cooperatives that we go through given that they continue to push for green energy we'll have the necessary vehicles in the future we'll be able to to start to make the purchases as they become available and in that same regard I also mentioned for the first time that we should consider starting to have some charging stations built in the town they don't have to uh be all built at the same time but start to have it so that when the vehicles are purchased it does not we don't have another major expense at the same time or start to put some money into a fund for that purpose so I just wanted to clarify that um the other thing I just wanted to say um we as different people have mentioned about hurricane Helen um every time I see it it just seems like it just gets worse and over you know 250 or more lives now are lost um if anyone wants to make a donation uh redcross.org donation is a place place where you could go to uh contribute if if that's something that that you feel uh you you can do not everybody can afford it um but if you can that's that at least is a reputable place where hopefully it'll get to the people and we'll continue to hope that uh hope for the best with uh about that situation in Hurricane Milton so thank you you are most welcome councilwoman Seagle please second councilman thank you council president Cohen um good evening everyone I want to start with congratulating L congratulating Lori Ola for being appointed our new Chief Municipal finance officer I look forward to working with you in your new role and wish you all the best um I wanted to do yeah we'll do a little clap for you um I did want to also uh do a shout out to DPW La this past Sunday yesterday was the last open house at the um die Farm site Historic Site and I just have to say they have done an amazing job all year long uh making sure our farm was all set uh making sure the grass is done everything looks beautiful we had a big vintage baseball game a couple weeks ago and it was immaculate it was just gorgeous I mean it just looked beautiful so I just want to do a huge thank you to DPW for always taking care of that um I did want to have I did want to do a little update around our Township dwali event and wanted everyone to mark their calendars it's being held on Sunday October 27th at the senior center from 4: to 7:00 our dwali committee has been working for many months trying to pull this event together and the day is going to be filled with music um cultural programming some opportunities to purchase and try some of the food from our local Indian restaurants and lots of vendors so and we're going to end our evening with the big deal lighting so please mark your calendars and try to join us at the senior Center and I wanted to just point out I know there were several proclamations on uh the agenda tonight and I wanted to point out two of them around Breast Cancer Awareness Month um council president Cohen and I went to a fundraiser this past Saturday and did a proclamation for metastic breast cancer awareness day which is on October 13th and I have to say this is the first time I've ever read anything or heard or actually met survivors with stage for um breast cancer so I encourage everyone to read these proclamations um I didn't know about it as I said and it was very hard very really hits home I guess is the words I'm looking for and I also wanted to just share some St statistics around breast cancer um it is the most most diagnosed cancer in women the numbers are startling 297,000 2,000 women will die from it so October 18th is national mamography day and if you haven't made your appointment or you haven't gone this year maybe October should be the month that you remember to do this very important thing so thank you hi Mr marel W one uh I justd like to congratulate Lori she's a great great young young lady I'll say young lady does a great job congratulations um like to like to do a shout out to the green fair I don't know if how many of us uh great Fair went it was absolutely fantastic uh anybody that doesn't have faith in our youth today should go to the fair and uh come in contact with the young people there they're absolutely wonderful they ran they did a lot of the explaining and a lot of the um exhibits were're through the young people um one other thing I'd like to uh mention was the taste of Monroe we had at the senior center for Betty Snider uh Food Bank um something that's important to me as a as a past retailer is that we had multiple restaurants donate their food samples to the taste of Monroe and I'd like to mention the short list of restaurants that that donated food and their services to this tasting which we got a tremendous amount of uh donations for Betty's uh pantry and uh as I say as a past retailer what people don't understand is these retailers uh are asked by the schools by the council by multiple organizations for Their donation and their time and very often when we go out to dinner or we go out shopping we forget about these local PE local retailers so I'm just going to read the list it's a short list and I'd like people to take note to frequent these places because they helped us when we needed them uh amichi Bakery Antonio's Italian restaurant bearded one barbecue Jersey Kebab platters and Grill mind the gap coffee forsgate Country Club 390 Prime Steak and Seafood restaurant and tomato pie and Italian Kitchen um we had a number of people come and taste their Foods it was really fantastic um the only thing else I'd like to say is congratulate the friends of the library they they without them Library wouldn't be as great as it is and everybody knows we have probably the premier library in in in the state thank you very much most welcome Council M deiro thank you I I'd like to uh as Council Markle just said it's it's real important that we shop local it's very important as he said that when we ask them to help our community uh it's in return the community should help our businesses stay uh local and to be able to help our schools and our seniors and and programs that we we rely on uh to to support our residents um I want to congratul congratulate Lori as well because um I first met Lori when uh economic and industrial commission and she came at on board because we couldn't find a secretary so I I just I know I tease her every once in a while about it um because it was many years ago and this is you're just a prime example of in Monroe that you started at a part-time position and now you're going to be basically helping run our town and keep in our town uh make sure to keep keep the lights on so to speak and also that our bills get paid and as one resident said uh make sure that our audit gets done on time and everything like that and I know you do a phenomenal job and I've I've experienced it many times and so good luck and and uh we're here we're here for you just like you're here for us so thank you I I had a question in reference to the street lighting bills I noticed it was on the bill list um do we pay for street lights for light poll or do we pay for usage on these bills because there are many lights that are out through our Township so are we paying per poll or we paying for the usage uh council president if I could I believe it's per poll um but I just would want to clarify that and the point is noted because JC pel has mentioned earlier in Mark's comment doesn't do that great great a job um but that's how they bill every town um whether it be psng or jcpnl throughout the entire town okay so with that said as we know our CFOs been paying our bills and we've been approving these bills uh maybe we get someone either from our Police Department I know there are the ones that used to go out and look at the lights or engineering department and go up and down our community because there's a good percentage of lights that are out for a long period of time one example is matchaponix and Spoto Gravel Hill it's been out before before we even started the project that that intersection it's still out I mean I can go on spots of gravel ho there's probably eight poles just in In the Pines alone so maybe we we can get an update on what lights are on and what lights are off versus what we've been paying and maybe they might owe us a few bucks um so that's something I wanted to point out uh D die Farm I was at the uh baseball game as well and um rupe did a great job throwing out the first pitch and that that was great uh we were a lot of us were there to see that and it was it was it was great day but I I want to say um there was over 200 people at that event uh it's nice to see DPW put the fencing up in the front but I think that we can do a little bit more for that that um that beautiful property and one being a parking lot they park on the grass in the entrance maybe we can have our engineer propose uh some kind of U Stone gravel um parking lot to help to help the uh to help the people that come there that we not parking on grass and and and all over the place so I think something that we should look into is uh a parking lot to help to help them out I um I'm the chairman of the um citizen review board as as a Terry's on and Allan and also Tanya as well and I attended the gradu uation they had on October 3rd um at the uh at the facility at the which we call a stay home from 1866 and there was 35 graduates that they call residents and the graduates got their GED uh uh degrees for um for high school and it was very it's very interesting because they had one guest speaker his name is Chris uh Wilson and he was in he was in school at 17 and and he did he he actually murdered somebody killed somebody and it was a light he had a life sentence and they had him come as a guest speaker because he turned his whole life around in prison and he he was able to um do to do to turn his life around and and the judge gave him a second chance in life and with with listening to to the stories sitting there another board member stand came as well and just listening to the stories of of uh the people that are there sometimes they get in a bad situation just by being with somebody and they're guilty by association and sometimes there it gives them an opportunity to see what the jails or what the prisons or security um facilities are like and being inside there I used to go in there for recreation when when I was a lot younger and now it's it's they're talking about closing the facility and as we always ask the question how you know how far off how far off but um it's a it was a good it was good to see the inside of the the the the prison they they call it but it's it's a good uh way to see people uh in a different way because there's people in there they they know that they did wrong and they're trying to improve themselves so gave them an opportunity to have the graduation I just thought it was important to attend it was the third one that I went to and I and I just thought it was really good to uh to hear the stories so I wanted to share that um I also wanted to talk about next year's budget uh hopefully Allan uh I think we should increase the paving the paving in the uh 2025 program I know we we don't know what the cost of oil is going to be Stone and asphal that always seems to be going up but I think if we can get to a $2 million uh you know annual uh budget if we can do that it would definitely help out get more roads paved as we have over 500 miles of roads that that we're trying to pave throughout the throughout the year and trying to get sections done so planning ahead I just think that's something that maybe we could think of uh going forward for next year um also I was talking about Paving um JSM whatever what uh approval we had on Mount SM Road our past mayor and some of the council we've we um did some Paving on Mount Mill Road which was the responsibility of the developer on the offsite improvements I would really like to have somebody uh from our legal department and are planning to look into what exactly um are in those approvals and what we what we as I say as taxpayers what we spent to to fulfill part of that Builder's obligations on the mount SM Road and the reason why we did that that Paving with the previous mayor and the council was because it was a safety issue and if I remember M uh you know mayor tamboro always saying I'm going to get that road paved if the developer doesn't do it then we're going to do it and we'll deal with it going down road but the residents was coming in here constantly talking about when is that road going to get paved so if we can look into um what was in that approval for offsite and also what we what we spent and we already it's paved it's great but the intersection is is a is a nightmare he's on the hook for that God only knows when he's going to do it so maybe we can get some kind of answers um as I approach the uh municipal building I notice gal's Landscaping a local landscaper uh does our Landscaping does a great job with the mums the mulching and the Landscaping with all our Township properties and I just wanted to say thank you to his staff and his crew and our DPW guys that work hand inand with him um I I went to Beatle Mania and um it was a great over 500 people were there great concert right here at the high school and the cultur cultures art did a beautiful job by putting that together it was really done very well it started out with Ed Sullivan which brought back a lot of memories councilman Marco was there I'm not old enough you're not old enough to know but but I I'm old enough so I I I thought it was really done very well and I just wanted to say thank you also with the green fair I'm liaison for the green Fair um for Council and they work hard they they start working on the green Fair the next week when when the the last one was just done so that was something that was done a lot of us attended it it was it was well organized and we did have some uh a lot of support from the community I I wanted to thank the police department uh for putting up I I I know it's the First Solar speed limit sign on ellingham Ericson Avenue and I wanted to say thank you for putting that there the residents called the few residents called me and I sent a few emails if you can pass that along to our police department and say thank you for getting that solar uh speed limit sign up and maybe we can get a few more uh d digro Road a lot of people are calling with speeding Avenue K by our Park Mammoth Road and also schoolhouse Road uh a lot of people are it's 25 mph speed limit areas and people are going a lot faster so I just wanted to get a shout out to there police and also maybe they can get some more up I noticed um a lot of a lot of talk about um people coming from nursing homes assistant living and just walking uh at night and they're and they're not they're either dressed in clothes that you can't see in a drive driver can't see people walking and some of them are walking right down the middle of the road so I thought maybe we could think of pedestrians that are walking in our community if we can get vest like the the reflective vest and provide reflective vest for daycare centers and if there's people that I know every time we go out on the road Allen you put your vest on the first thing you do and you make sure we have ours on but when there's people walking down these roads and they're and it's dark you know and they're coming out of either facility nursing homes assistant livings or dayc carees wherever they're coming out of they're they're hard to see at night and a lot of our roads don't have sidewalks so I just thought maybe there's something that we can help uh these these uh owners you know either request ask them to put have vests for their their residents or maybe we can help provide vests and just something that I thought that um to to you know bring to the mayor and the council's attention um and and we lost a lot of um we lose a lot of people in uh in in our in our town this this month alone we lost you know our Planning and Zoning a secretary her mom passed away a lot of us were at the uh the viewing at well actually the church and um and also Maria who melik who does cultural arts her husband passed some of us was there as well I was thinking maybe we can do like plan a tree uh program we can have something um that positive for each and every one of the people when we lose someone in in our community maybe we can have a a plant a tree help help the family as a me membrance of everything that they done for for example if it's like uh somebody from DPW we can help plant something along you know one of our Parks or or if it's the police maybe someone at plants trees at the police department so I just thought maybe I know Carterette has PL a PL a tree program and it's something that maybe we should look into and the last thing I wanted to say was we have a lot of lot of um motorcycles quads we have a lot of um people complaining about going up and down roads we have a uh open space site that that we purchased or we received from the turnpike property on primeville road uh I know it's 4 500 Acres maybe we could look into giv the the people that have off-road vehicles an area to to take these vehicles and uh and use property and give them some somewhere to go instead of going through our whole community and just driving around uh especially areas like u m Lake Manor and alal and stuff like that so it's just an idea that maybe we could look into and uh that's all I have thank you that's it I need a whole class every second to do that but in the community where I live we had purchased vest and we had them made available to residents of the community and when I come home I see no one wearing a vest it is very rare to see people wear them I don't know who's on the street I don't know you know where they live but they are we could perhaps see about doing a campaign to wear a vest when you're out walking because many people own them and they just don't put them on and then they're on the phone so that's helpful as well or not helpful but I did want to comment on that Lori congratulations I work I enjoyed working with you these last few years I'm going to enjoy this even more so much success and much happiness and we are good with this um I would like to open for public comment now again I would like a motion to open the public comment period motion to open please motion second second all in favor any opposed remember it's five minutes per speaker and your name and address for the record even if you've done so before Lucille pel 128 cand Dera Plaza as far as that tra uh that developer you know what's his name on Mount Mills Road Jack something I think you must be holding Bond money so don't release the bond money when they're done time comes I want to thank the clerk's office because you did a bang up job election is a month away less than a month away and I know the county throws a whole bunch of stuff at you guys and it's all done I think it's on your end it's all done so thank you for that since I've been doing that and listen sometimes I come up here and and I and I have a lot to say because I think I know a lot but that doesn't know such but one thing this Library I took my granddaughter there I have a 13-month old granddaughter I've been throughout the county on on and seeing libraries nothing is like this Library it is the best thing that she was entertained for like two and a half hours I couldn't get her out she started to cry so um anybody want a babysit no but anyway I want to thank the library is a really awesome place um thank you you're welcome anyone else wishing to address this please come forward now hello your name and address please hi my name is Amy Benner 33 Bentley Road um I did want to address a few things we've been here before from our street um we haven't floated away yet um we have tried to address the water and sewer that the issues that we had on our road about our septic tank and septic fields flooding we're still having those issues and I know that we had hired a lawyer that spoke that said we were supposed to get um water and sewer from the developer that's in between that development that's going up with the 900 Plus Homes or something between Pineville and Applegarth um I we haven't heard anything we're kind of waiting on what's you know the end result with that if if we're having that in the next 5 10 15 years um Bentley Road you said ma'am Bentley Road yes yes yeah it's part of the the design and I I all the name sound familiar so we'll go with the 900 unit one that's next to you it's um part of the design of that sewer system is for them to build the sewer out to yours and then the town would connect to that to connect your street yes that's all part of the plan they just haven't got to that part of the construction yet but as they will they will get to it see um it's the quickest way of getting it for you because for the town to hook you to sewers otherwise we would have to go thousands of feet in the wrong direction so okay um but it is still part of the plan yes yeah because I know that uh we're basically like the last little street that has no development to it although I've grown up in Monroe my whole life my grandparents came here in 1950 had their Farm here my a lot of my family members were worked for the township you know being firemen and police officers um and that's why I stayed in Monro so I'm just hoping that like our tax money can come back to us and something can be developed on the road also besides the water and sewer I know a lot of our issues are speeding lately people um use the cut through from 33 to Applegarth Road both ways and um I do have a six-year-old that waits for the bus obviously I don't have him wait at the end of the driveway because we don't have sidewalks so uh we wait back at the house so thankfully the school buses stop at each driveway but um that is an issue that we have people flying down the road and I have come out and spoken um with not so nice language to people because um you know we'll yell to slow down and I know that um the past mayor did have a Slowdown thing for about a week on the street um so it kind of is disheartening to see Jamesburg have that cool like text message they have the slowdown in our town and we're kind of we just had a week um so was just hoping that something could be you know looked over on that as well please um I know we have kind of limited time here to speak but just things like that like just to come back to our street because we didn't leave the town we're still here so um that's it thank you you are aware of your concerns thank you for your comments thank you anyone else wishing to address us please come forward now freezing again lowered the heat again your name and address for our record sir please Danny bat go 29 Bentley Road yes sir okay he just talked about a whole bunch of Paving that was going on last year we're trying to get more money for Paving me and that man back there have called numerous times speeding nothing done we talked about putting the signs up like you just put on uh Electric City we can't get them Paving our road nobody paves our road but when 33 floods they come down Bentley I mean this has been going on for 15 years and you people have done nothing for Bentley Road and you keep saying oh we're going to do it on the Builder when the Builder does it maybe it's time that the township took care of Bentley Road and got reimbursed by the Builder cuz he's saying when what's the time frame 20 years oh no 30 years oh no well we heard that before it's going to be 5 years it's been 15 years right nobody's got anything to say when tractor trailers are coming down the road when the road floods right wrong no answers mean I pay my taxes every quarter and I get nothing for it nothing they put another 50 houses up the top of the road there's cars constantly speeding down the road and nothing is done nothing's done so maybe I I don't have to pay my taxes anymore is that the way it goes because evidently you're not doing anything for any of us right wrong no no answer if you lived on the street you would understand the frustration right yes Tesla after Tesla after Tesla cutting through cutting through you back out in the road you almost get hit her her poor son I'm yelling at him all the time to stay away from the road nobody put speed bumps up nobody put a speed limit sign I worked in this town I worked in this town for 34 and 1/2 years how many streets I I marked out that were paved once twice three times I've been there for 25 years it wasn't paved one time one time right so I mean is there anything going to be done we've called the Mayors we've called this guy nobody ever calls us back we're like the redheaded stepchild out there and I'm I'm literally done with it I pay my taxes every quarter on time I want something done for Bentley Road not worrying about a baseball parking lot with freaking putting some Stone in it why don't we get Bentley Road taken care of care of cuz how many people live on Bentley Road and they all pay their taxes right it's just very very annoying year after year call after call and nobody does nothing nobody does nothing but we're Paving roads to and three times in other sections of town right wrong no answers right nobody has to say anything am I like they talking to myself here or you're not talk you've made it very clear what your issues are and but here's the thing we've been making it clear for 15 years like how much longer do we have to wait I've called the mayor's office a 100 times I would just add I mean I think I certainly appreciate your comments and and obviously we'll talk to the chief about better enforcement we've certainly done that before if you don't let me speak then I can't please you got your time please let Mr W TR trying to respond so we can certainly emphasize that and we can try and get the trailer out there as well I know this has been sort of a cut through uh for a long period of time there were some discussions years ago about whether or not it could become something like a a culde saac but I know some residents on the street did or did not want that there were times in the past where sidewalk was offered but when it came up at the planning board residents came out and were opposed to it this goes back Years Mark can talked to that he's um let me just let me just finish um I know that the the area doesn't have sewer and water now um I know that when it came before the planning board the planning board made the decision to make sure that the developer who would be developing to the north which would have to come through and Joe can talk about how narrow the area is to put the utilities in that when they came through because we can only do this once that those would be put in so that we wouldn't leave anyone behind to be able to connect to that I can completely understand the frustration of wanting sewer and water yesterday I know it's never been there but I completely understand it the challenge is that's an affordable housing project um or program I should say that we don't have control over when that moves forward that's up to the developer some projects have moved forward very quickly you see them across street at Arbors you see them at Monroe 33 but it's not land that we own that's part of the settlement that was court ordered in round three so when JSM North as it's called comes into fruition that will come through so I just wanted to highlight a couple of those things Mark and I and DPW and police and everyone we go through and review every road and we have lists of roads that we that we believe are the worst and we also take in uh uh residents feedback and we have a moving list of stuff that we try and do the worst roads each year that need to be done I believe Mark has already mentioned to me that Bentley is is near that point and we are looking to get to it I believe I believe next year um and so that's we try and do it in the order of priority and that they need to be paved um so I just I don't want to think we're not we're not hearing your frustration and certainly happy to talk to the chief sorry all right would you like we can make sure that someone gets back to you I am please don't I I know how frustrating it is to make calls that don't get returned oh it's it's it's beyond frustrating it's beyond frustrating there is no one here who doesn't know that you know no I mean I'm not looking for anything extra I not you got you all got W sewer at your house probably right yes I do Mr we make sure that when you have met with the chief and discussed the increasing patrols and whatever else the chief can do to help assure that the streets people are not speeding that uh you are made aware of that this conversation and if that when it reaches whatever point they tell me on the paving project that you are aware so that you don't feel that no one is paying attention and been there for 25 years and nobody's paved it sir I'm can only do what I can do now what what we can offer as a council now I I understand I don't want see years ago I was in East brunsw I don't want to see it paved and said well we're not going to rip the road up for water and sewer cuz we just paved it but that's part I've been construction for 34 years I understand it that is part of the challenge yeah that is part of the challenge and we do not Control jsm's building so that is part of the challenge but we will do the best within the means we have I would think and I would perhaps suggests that you come to a council meeting more often it's always good to see our seriously and that would sometimes you get a question answered on the spot I'm going to come every time till we get it resolved that's fine okay we meet once a month anyone else wishing to address the council please come forward now seeing and hearing none I'm going to entertain a motion to close the public portion of the meeting motion may I have a second on that please second thank you all in favor I any opposed n may I have a motion to adjourn motion thank you a second second we are all in favor of adjourning that's not a debatable motion I we are adjourned the time is 7:41 thank you very much