##VIDEO ID:D3BBBXuUUdI## here Mr here Mr RIT here Mr janada here may here would everybody please rise if you're able for the Pledge of Allegiance I pledgees indivisible the next item on the agenda for this evening is the approval of the minutes may I have a motion to approve the minutes from August 21st second all in favor I tonight we have two proclamations on our agenda and the first one is the Leukemia and Lymphoma awareness month and deputy mayor grael is going to address thank you mayor title Dr your mic off on there we go uh title it say Morris Township supports the Leukemia Lymphoma Society LLS in proclaiming October 2024 as blood cancer awareness month uh all of these proclamations always have a lot of whereas Clauses I'm just going to read the first two into the record because it contains some really interesting statistics whereas an estimated combined total of 187,00 740 people in the US are expected to be diagnosed with Leukemia Lymphoma or Myoma in 202024 and whereas new cases of Leukemia Lymphoma and Myoma are expected to account for 99.4% of the estimated 2, 1,14 new cancer cases that would be diagnosed in the US in 2024 um to me that's a staggering number that over 2 million people a year are newly diagnosed with cancer in our country and I have had two close family members that have fought cancer and survived their battle luckily and although neither had leukemia or lymphoma as a form of their cancer I saw how devastating cancer can be to them and to their families some types of cancers can run in certain families but most cancers are not clearly linked to the genes we inherit from our parents Gene changes that start in a single cell over the course of a person's life cause most cancers so I would just like to remind the public that there is no sure way to prevent cancer but you can help reduce your risks by making healthy choices like eating right staying active and not smoking so let's all try to stay healthy thank you mayor thank you Deputy Mayor the next Proclamation is for breast cancer awareness month and again I'm not going to read through the entire Proclamation um I do want everybody to know that the theme for this year breast cancer awareness mon is that no one should face cancer alone and we all know everybody in this room we all know people who have been touched by cancer and we all know how much how important that is to make sure that there's all a lot of support from family and friends breast cancer is still the most commonly diagnosed cancer in women in United States and a woman is diagnosed every two minutes the mission remains finding funding for life-saving breast cancer research and although we've made a lot of Headway we still have far way to go our hearts go after those who have lost someone know someone battling cancer or who were just recently diagnosed continued research will make all the difference in defeating breast cancer once and for all at the end of our Proclamation it does read now there be it proclaimed that the township Committee of the township of Mars hereby recognizes October 2024 as breast cancer awareness month and encourages all women and their families to raise their awareness support efforts for early detection and celebrate the progress made while remembering those who have lost their battle to this disease next we have a presentation and we'd like to welcome welcome will Draper and Charlie lulano who are here to talk to us about the veterans healing Garden Project Heist yeah could we bring that closer or maybe put it on the side there you go I'm with the Rotary Club uh and it's so great to have many of the rotary members here support project' working it's a unique project we are now e for e cancer initiatives that you you just spoke about by three siblings have cancer means a lot to um the uh the story Charlie told about his brother is one story of of many for I I'm guessing most people in this room for whom you have loved ones who are veterans you may be a veteran yourself you may just care about what they go through and all it comes down to our personal stories we have two of our three uh veteran members of our committee are in the room at the moment joh joh could you stand is is was an MD was it is this working thank you that's better right okay Don was a was an MD for 10 years I believe in the Air Force um and the stories he tells bring tears to his eyes as well as mine uh Paul Nelson could you stand Paul's in the back Paul was in the US Army in more or less the Vietnam years but was stationed mostly in Germany is that right so uh they both have done their service we have a third member named named Liz Meyers who was US Army uh and and uh wasn't able to make it here tonight um but it all comes down to their stories are so much more important than than mine because I wasn't a vet but um but my story what got me here in front of you what got me into this project uh began at the first slide that is it Jack that just came in what's the name of the gentleman yeah that Jack is going to put up first slide please Jack he's fixing mics exactly thanks Tim what you will there there we go so what brings me here really is rooted in this ship this this is the USS Repose is a hospital ship it was based off about 100 meters off the coast of Vietnam during the Vietnam war in ' 66 to 67 and the the wounded would be carried on these helicopters and land on the ships under under egregious circumstances the the men mostly men some women put on the deck of the ship their their clothes are razored off there's triage to decide who's going to live who's going to die who's going to go to Japan and then those who they thought they could repair when went went down under the into the operating rooms uh that are in the ship itself in that in the year 6667 there were 50,000 Marines from uh the first and third divisions in the northern part of South Vietnam which is right under the DMZ where the hoian trail came in and there were of the 50,000 24,000 were wounded and 4,000 were killed so it's half half the Marines were seriously wounded or or dead and and the next slide please this gentleman here was is my was my father he was the medical command on the ship and wrote letters about the the operations that they did to the extent that he was able to and uh he's he's about 80 pounds lighter in this picture than than I remembered him uh but he just he did wonderful work I I worked with chat GPT to figure out uh how many people's lives were saved by the crew the doctors the nurses the Corman my father on this ship it was about 6,000 so the the statistics would have been 15,000 wounded and 10,000 dead were it not for the hospital ship because people some people couldn't get to Subic Bay and others couldn't be healed on the battlefield and so this ship was the intermediate source and they saved about 6,000 people so that was the beginning of my story and and but stepping back from our personal stories um are the general looking at the state of the veterans in New Jersey themselves next slide please Jack next slide please there we go so just to the general stats is we have 300,000 uh veterans in in New Jersey 16,000 in Morris County there's a a million direct relatives defined as uh siblings sorry as children spouses or or parents not siblings and uh that's about a million and then 56,000 in Morris County comat 75,000 men and women have been in combat in New Jersey 5,000 in Morris County and then those with disabilities 21,000 and and over 1,000 now that's half the story the other half is below next slide please those who suffer substance abuse in New Jersey 33,000 and that's a very very conservative estimate 2,000 and more County substance abuse being defined as alcohol or serious drugs homelessness 3,000 New Jersey 20 250 in Morris County who are veterans suicides suicides two and a half thousand in in New Jersey and 180 in Morris County think about that that's one every other day of veterans who are killing themselves in Morris County I don't mean to be a downer but these are the these are the uh these are the facts and 60% of va benefit applications are turned down now now I'm sure some of them are recovered but that it does suggest that there is a lot of veterans who are falling between the cracks and getting the care that they need next slide please so for those reason for so for the personal reasons and for the the global uh state of affairs with veterans Charlie I and we have 12 members of our committee uh formed a a project called veterans Valor which is uh an offshoot if you will of of the Morristown Rotary Club and Veterans Valor is um has has two real uh missions let me put them up next slide please the first mission and I have to read this let me just read every word to raise public awareness support and engagement for New Jersey and Morris County veterans and their families by one creating a heal and arts Garden which I'll review with you which is at the freeling hous in ARB burum which as you know is Morris County property and and we're in agreement with Morris County on doing that they've been wonderful Partners so far and which and to create a sanctuary for reflection conversation education and healing so it's not just the gardens themselves but it's also going to be using their buildings for for uh symposiums and and meet and greets and Galas and things like that uh the key the the the essence of the garden idea is that it's not going to be Bronze Statues and granite there's nothing wrong with Bronze Statues and granet there's a lot of memorials around that do that but this is around living organic cared for uh Gardens that are places of Refuge for the public as well as for the veterans and it'll be it'll be maintained on an ongoing basis by Morris County the second is convening Veterans groups and service Prov providers who serve veterans organizing symposiums that bring together diverse organizations in health art Support Services to educate veterans and non-veterans alike on the unique challenges faced by those who have Faithfully served the country so imagine we had a symposium on PTSD we brought in people from Atlantic Health we brought in people from from good grief or or other organizations that have an interest in that area and we bring in the general public as well as veterans to talk about it now PTSD doesn't just affect veterans I think I suspect there's a lot of public members who are interested not just for their own lives and so that so we envision having these kinds of encounters between the public the the veterans and the non-veterans uh in order to elevate the perception of and the sensitivity to Veterans needs so next slide please so the ultimate goals are healing and to inspire an increase in public generosity towards veterans ultimately so we see this is hopefully this can help the American Legion the VFW the other veterans organizations get more even more responsiveness from the from the public next slide please this is a map of the project uh this is this is looking down on the freeling heisen I'm is it safe to assume you all know the freeling heis in arbar since it's in your town it's uh yeah uh so you see the parking lot on the on the upper right and then the there's this there this element this this sleeve called the Glade of land that is actually narrower than it looks like here because what you can't tell here is to the lower left that's a hill that is that's quite steep uh that goes down from this this narrow strip of Fairly fairly level land called the Glade and Morris County has said we can set up that there this is the I have to tell you this is the perfect place for this I could you could not script it better why it's right off the it's it's it's Central it's right off the parking lot so if people are disabled physically disabled they can still just cross cross the street and be at the same level as the garden and go right in uh the second is that it's visible so a lot of the gardens in the freeling high and you sort of have to hunt for them this one is going to be visible to everybody coming in there's still 120,000 people that go through there and 120,000 people are going to be drawn to this Garden even if they don't get it as to what it is they will get it as soon as they enter it and they'll see these glorious Gardens that are dedicated to Veterans and the the other the other point is that there's this ultimately longterm is going to be seven Gardens seven subg Gardens uh the plus an entry portal which I'll show you in a minute we're going to build one at a time and then fund as we build one we'll fund the next and fund the next and fund the next um but ultimately the seven Gardens tell a story so the first Garden is going to be oriented to point of point of sacrifice where the sculptures the photographs this the language and the even the plantings themselves are going to evoke that that mood that psychology of of where these men and women were injured the second is then medac Charlie's brother Charlie's brother was a medic and he was he was getting the the people onto the helicopters and stopping their bleeding the third is triage that's my father so the tree the ship was triaging then there's home word what's it like coming back from battle in Afghanistan or wherever we are what's it like coming back to a country that largely doesn't know you or care to and you're and you're wounded either mentally or physically then there's the recovery period the sixth one is going to be off sort of off the The Loop if you will that's going to be dedicated to the Fallen I gave you the statistics on the suicide victims um I think it's time for them to be recognized because they're not recognized in normal memorials and then the seventh is New Life which celebrates not only their service but their ability to be leaders in in our communities going forward wounded or not the the the leadership capacity in uh in military with people with military training is enormous and the more integration there is between them and the community the better so the first one we're going to build is the entry but the seventh we're going to start at the end and start with a new lifeguard which is the uh let me do the next slide the entry Plaza will look like this um it's it's a little it's maybe a little hard to read but if you if you're coming up from hand East Handover and you around the bend around the buildings you will see this from from the road itself and you'll also be able to see it from the parking lot so this is this this position here is extremely important and the vision is to have a simple beautiful wall That's curv curved that says healing Gardens of Morris in it and each of those plates that's on there tells the story I just told so any even if the gardens aren't built yet the public will see what the story is of that we're trying to tell about the progression of people who've been injured and the second the next slide is would be the first Garden the new life garden and and you'll see a lot of the uh the wood platform there imagine that you you know that Hillside imagine that wood platform is going out over the hill be on stils so it's it'll stay level for anybody coming in but you it'll take you out toward the Long Meadow which is right below it uh Bruce and and um uh Kristen and others with Morris County have agreed that there's a lot of invasive trees that are on that slope so they they're going to clear it out so there's actually you're going have this wonderful Vista of the Long Meadow which they're also improving with wild flowers and so forth so it's going to be a it couldn't be a better spot and then we'd have the art work built in and hello there we go okay yeah I got training before we start uh so this is this will be the first the first Garden we built next slide please uh the benefits of it uh don don put these together for us uh public awareness is to tell this just tells the story reflection peace and dialogue not only the gardens themselves but the the symposiums we'd have in the buildings second phys physical healing there's nothing like this space to help people recover and rehabilitate mental health support especially I'd be happy to would that help how's it does this work does this work okay okay um forgive me I have to look over social connection uh to Foster Community again a lot of the vision is to get people together talking about these these very difficult issues that that I just cited and the the last one is accessibility it's going to be absolutely accessible to anybody so it's it's going to be it's going to maximize the inclusiveness of it just in the way it's designed and then the last before any questions you might have next slide please is what what what are we asking of you and you can say no to all of them but we least can ask the first would be your endorsement as the as the committee uh to affirm in your Communications in your public Communications keep up with us we'll present to you occasionally on whatever schedule you desire because this is your community for this project the second is to introduce us to Township citizens that you think might that you know might have a passion for this for for your community and and we'll figure out how to work with them potentially on the next one maybe even form I think I think mayor you even mentioned this idea of forming a a Township committee that would be an adjunct to our committee that would work together for all the stuff that needs to happen particularly fundraising down the road uh fourth is is attendance you know we're going to need to do a lot of events a lot of coffee ours maybe a Gala whatever we'd love this again in the spirit that this is your community we'd love to have one or two of you come and speak at those and certainly attend and mix it up with people and then lastly your counsel you you you know far better than we do how to get things done here and uh and love to have just some access to getting to getting your advice on how to make this a reality you're going to somebody's going to ask how much is it it's probably Charlie and I we don't have construction plans yet so please do not hold us to this number but guessing that the the the entry and the first Garden is going to be about a half a million dollars okay and then each Garden after that is incrementally that builds in a lot of the infrastructure so that doesn't have to get repeated but then each Garden uh would would be incremental on top of that but imagine we have the first garden and then placeholders for the are six and we we and we bring people to the Garden they see it and then we talk to them and say what about you I mean do you have any you've expressed an interest in suicide victims here's Garden six would you like to help with that so as as you begin to roll out the gardens our our vision we don't know for a fact but our vision would be that it would start to create more of a of a ground swell as we go one of our Inspirations is a guy named Tom Miller do any of you know Tom Miller he's a he's with the VFW um I think he lives in parsipany and he's a marvelous artist he's he's a great artist but he's also Vietnam vet lost an eye and he's a huge supporter of this and and and Tom Tom founded a 157 acre Park in Wisconsin dedicated to Veterans so it's not quite a garden it's more of a park but they he founded that in 1987 and they're just finishing a Museum there how many years later is that I can't do the math like 40 so these this is going to the idea is that this will sustain itself and and hopefully as we build community um ownership of it then then we can continue to build over time after some of us are long dead so that's the vision of it well thank you so much and um I do want to mention that I did have the pleasure of going with for and the and and when you're there we stayed a long time and sat there even you can actually start to Envision exactly what it will be like and certainly be incredbly healing place for families and people families are important right yeah exactly so um again it's a big project um what I will say that I know here on the CH committee won that we certainly will do whatever we can to help and we'll have discussions here about how we can and what we'll do to be involved but um want to thank you for putting this together and um bringing it to our attention and again like I said I know former mayor Wilson had actually couple years ago already started this discussion so things do take time but here we are with a formal presentation and I'm sure that you know we'll do everything we can to get we're we're we're very very grateful to you on November 14th last last word for me on November 14th the uh town the uh County Clerk and grai is hosting a an event at the freeling heis Arboretum uh for to honor veterans in Morris County and this in this year she's going to focus on rotarian Veterans although there will be others as well you certainly be welcome to that at 4:30 that day when it's still light which is about an hour before the event starts uh Charlie and maybe this Tom that I just spoke about are going to do the same for others that that that we did for you and show people the garden and what it's going to look like so I would I would encourage any or all of you to to join us on November 14th at 4:30 after free link heis Mayon I started my career working in Washington DC Hill every morning and every night office bual disi and you were talking about not having statues orble colums that Memorial is grass trees and glass with pictures of disabled veterans um living their lives and I walk through that Park day twice a day for three years impact on me the township has done a lot of work with the local veterans the American AG the American Revolution so I just can't commend you enough on all the work you're doing I didn't serve myself my father did my grandfather did so like the rest of comme dedicated to helping vet um I will say this talking about part of the park and people Target to come there for healing and Solace um a few weeks ago I volunteered for a group called ass program for survivors and I met some incredible women who are survives lost their lives military service and one woman from Louisiana e yes thank you for your presentation I remember when I started working as a young young man in my 20s the once the uh employees people working who were older near retirement were all World War II veterans and I was always admiring of that and um of course they they were the last of their breed and but I also met vietnames and Vietnam veterans and later on uh Gulf War veterans and I was especially haunted I think uh my company had a symposium for veterans and they had both combat and non-combat Veterans but I was haunted by the when the combat veterans were telling their stories but they always just trailed off because they never they couldn't complete their stories but hopefully this uh Garden will help people heal and and I'll definitely help would help in any way I can giving a talk or anything like that for this presentation it looks like it's going to be absolutely magnificent in and and the spot you found for it I'm looking to see how it evolves over the over the number next number of years hopefully it may not maybe not 40 years but I think all of us up here and and any future governing body of this Township you're going to find a lot of support for this and you know regarding U any Gallas or functions that you might have and you're looking for support just invite us it's that simple we're happy to help in any way we can your email you you can find me on the township website Deputy Mayor thank you thanks for the presentation and thank you to all the rotarians not only for coming out but for supporting a project so important as this I Echo a lot of the remarks that Mr JY just made um about what families go through and those of us who are in the know understand it um and those who experience it obviously understand it um but just as we have these proclamations every month to raise awareness about certain issues I don't think the broader public understands the ongoing issues that veteran you know injured veterans families with disabilities have that they will carry for the rest of their lives and since we haven't had a major war in a long time I think awareness of veterans issues is very low right now in our country so I do think also an important element of this project is to raise awareness overall in the community and I would hope that that would be a large element of what we can accomplish by putting this Garden here in Morris Township and I'm sure everybody on this day will help you raise awareness um within the community not only our community but the broader Community um and hopefully uh people will then have a a greater realization of of some of the issues that are still ongoing so many years after we were in our last war and will continue until these veterans you know pass one day um so thank you for the effort and I too will offer my uh efforts in any way I can to help you accomplish your goals thanks thank you um and you are all certainly welcome to stay and continue and at our exciting agenda this evening do not if you do need to leave please feel free to do that at this time but again thank you very much to the the only one who really has to say is Kathy Wilson everybody else can go but but if she Le if she leaves we're all gonna be really disappointed absolutely well there goes our AI back to talking there's two people on Sam come on we have the presses e this time we will open public comment First Take Inon attendees and then we will switch over to zo please your and add please note that comments are lied to minutes speaker have questions you would like answer time toed back for this purpose motion to open public comment all in favor yes my name is Robert p p t Jor I believe at 44 and 42 is the same two Ls M Street marown and I came here this evening because I came twice to I thought I was the right person to see about something that's going on where I live and I I wanted to find out is that legal to do what it is is first they put up a sign for dog training they got a sign here they train dogs right across the street from my house it's a playground with a big sign on it no dogs allowed but he takes those dogs out on across the street people are complaining to me that they being almost bitten by them stupid dogs and I complain like I complained and the officer that came over turned around and says to me that the person said he got a permit to go ahead and do that I got the regulation out that it's not in the regulation and I came here to find out did I go to the wrong place to put the complaint in that everybody complained it was me doing it I wasn't doing it but nobody can walk down my street when he got them dogs out there I'm sorry anyway that was one a part of my complaint the second was I live in a residential area my neighbor is a residential neighbor and I went I got the proof of the area I live in it's residential and yet my neighbor is Runing out his whole property to a trucking company and you can't even sleep anymore because in the morning beep beep beep and you he that so I went outside early in the morning at 6 o'clock and I put my camper so that he couldn't make a turn into my property and he called the police on me and they came and I said well he can't do what he's doing and the police officer said Mr pet you got to go find out what you say saying whether it's true and I got all the letters that the township has already given me it was over $550 and I got the receipts for every commercial vehicle on my property and now I had asked the zoning officer that came in along with the person from the building department about it and he said well all you got to do is make a complaint against your neighbor this was way back in the in the in in the 991 that that type of things and when I asked about that they told me that you have to put a complain in against your neighbor my answer to that was I don't want to put a complaining to none of my neighbors if they're doing something wrong why don't you do the same thing to them that you're doing to me cuz you f me for every vehicle I had in my yard and not only that you sent me a letter that I had to take every vehicle every trailer out my yard and take it over and get rid of it I did that and I got pictures of everything so why is it now you saying it's okay for them to do what they're doing and I'm sorry that's okay he's at his that's okay Mr poet it's my understanding on the use of the um the dog training that is something that you would have to did you go to the police I had the police come to me they I'm sorry they call the police they put tickets what I okay we we're gonna respond to that isue first and then I'm sorry no I I I will follow up with the police tomorrow to get a copy of the police report so I can find out what that place you know me you know what I want yes sir I know you you know me very well and on the the other item um I know that our zoning officer has been working with both you and with your neighbor in reference to complaints on the property yeah but he said so I didn't call the police up my neighbor did when I pulled my there was two cars on my property that I didn't own that the police couldn't get rid of and I said okay I'll park that car you can park it on my property until you can get rid of it it stayed on my property for about three or four years and it was the only car that I had that's why that's why you were cited for that yes they you parked it on the street and when I the minute I parked it on the street I got a ticket and I got and they they told it all away what was I supposed to do leave that on my property it wasn't my car I the police told me okay thank you you Mr pilot we'll take care of it they never came up and took the car the guy died that had the car he left the car in front of my house and you had a hard time moving and I located his key anyway I didn't stop talking no that's okay that that issue that's a that's issue I guess okay they're all separate and and and you know you you you try to do two things number one I am not I'm not Mr holy holy I'm a sinner like everybody else but you try not you try to do what is right to do I mean I've been through where town has given me finds I never complain I just figure if that's what you got to do then that's what you got to do because I don't know this stuff I didn't know it but you sent me enough stuff that I I I know and and I'm trying to do what is right I did not want to come here because I came here three times already and put the complaint in there's still an ongoing investigation into the property ISS the zoning issues the zoning issues so well the building the guy from your department the build soal from that I say the building department the guy turned around and sent me a letter I have a copy that letter and I came here with that letter and I said why you send me that letter that's I what I'm doing I got a permit my permit is good and and so again we appreciate it and we'll do we'll work through a solution we'll try to get to it's currently still being investigated but once we determine the outcome we'll definitely be in touch with you see what we can do to help make sure that everything well dogs I will follow up with you Mr over that field the kids from the school across the street from me they play in there and I told the man I you got a sign says no dogs allowed and I said now watch see the dog look what did he just do he went to the bathroom and they never picked it up we understand we've had that issue and we're working on doing what we can to help resolve that as well okay you for coming y I will get the police report and follow up with that okay thank you thank you Mr palot seeing No Hands raised on Zoom is there a motion to end the all in favor I we have one ordinance for introduction on tonight's agenda Madame clerk please read the title of ordinance 24-24 into the record 24-24 ordinance of the C of mors authorizing the creation of chapter 417 short-term rental property regulation so as to regulate the short-term rental or letting of any residential premises or parts thereof except certain license hotels or motels may I have a motion to introduce ordinance number 24-24 I'll it but I would like to offer second we have to say all in favor or no no first and second so we'll open up for a discussion so I think deputy mayor has has some discussion Deputy Mayor Gil you have comments uh yes so there's a limitation I understand the reason for this and just for the so the public understands this is ordinances to uh limit the short-term rental or subletting of any residential premise or parts thereof um except for obviously hotels and motels in Mor Township and the limitation that's presently in this ordinance is 175 days which um I think is far too long um I know instances of people who go away for the summer and want to rent out their house they might uh move overseas for a period of six months or a year for their job and want to rent out their house um or shorter periods of time uh and I think this is the 175 days is just uh too long and burden some for our homeowners and I wanted to offer up a what I think is a more reasonable limitation of 28 days I I know we don't want to have houses turn over week by week or maybe even every two weeks and we certainly have had issues with houses being rented out for parties um over a long weekends and we don't want that either uh but I think we can cover that with a much shorter period of time and I wanted to offer up an amendment of 28 days as the limitation yes I will agree with the deputy mayor's assessment but I'd also like to make the amendment that it's 14 days and not 28 for this for this ordinance comments anyone I may I oppose this ordinance uh in both forms amended or nonamended I think this or is the solution to search problem and I question standing of whether or not this actually case law that supports us passing this ordinance in my six years on the committee I've not once been approached by a resident with concerns about short-term leasing nor have I received feedback from that feedback from our employees if we were concerned about the short-term leases then we should be we should work to folster our controls over them not ban them Al together as we all know we are living in an affordability crisis a crisis that isting young people working families and folks on fixed incomes as a lifelong resident I continue to be troubled by the fact that people I grew up with can no longer afford to live here they can't afford to move back home to raise their families even if you're lucky enough to live in a home in Mars Township I know there are many families who are who are finding it tough to make end meet restricting homeowners rights to offer their homes for a short-term lease to me sends the wrong message and it hurts young people working families and retirees alike we know that Mars T do not SE is not seen as a vacation destination this ordinance is geared toward upcoming events that will be once in a lifetime opportunities for windfalls for people and I believe hotels in our areas will be fully booked and do not need this type of protection so why shouldn't we as homeowners be able to offer why shouldn't homeowners be able to offer their homes for a few weeks in the coming years to help pay their mortgage to help them pay their medical bills or help pay for the groceries instead of passing this ordinance I prefer we i' recommend we PST our local controls include language to include the same lodging fees that we received from hotels create a registration process to take the next few years is prepping our law and code enforcement to manage any issues that make yes committee rabbit just real quickly I understand what committee M JY is saying and I'm not g to be disagreeing with him on this what I'd like to do is I'm going to vote in favor of um this ordinance introduction I think that we need to sit on this I would like to hear resident input next month uh on this on this very topic because I think we ow to to the residents uh to weigh in on this so I will vote Yes on it um whether it's amended or not and wait to see if there's any um discussion on it by the public next month so right now though is our mayor Deputy Mayor grel yes uh Mr jery um thank you for your comments and I understand where you're coming from can I just ask for clarification so the ordinance uh says the whole home or parts thereof um are you also in favor of uh not restricting people who want to rent out rooms in their home don't yes it's a thing okay I mean I know people growing up who did their right so we so Mr Mr caner and Mr CL we have we have ordinances on the books that restrict two families multiple dwelling units within one structure right you can't have uh two kitchens for example right and two separate living quarters in a house um so that would offer that offers some restrictions right are you saying that you're against that as well I'm just asking for clarification with a kitchen or with with what I'm just seeing if there any okay actually if we're worried about people being disrupted it's probably saf to people room'll still be living there check got it I know this I know this like this is a very normal thing someone like working in the city and trying to make ends meet this is not like this is a very common thing people run out rooms if the World's Cup Cup's coming here in 2026 maybe a family wants to run a house out maybe people want to run a room just so they can see a game I don't think don't think we have okay thank you Jared uh so um taking no position on whether or not this committee should pass the ordinance to Comm jy's Point um this ordinance I believe and give a legal opinion that does pass legal muster um there are statutory uh there's a statute that allows municipalities to regulate uh short-term and rentals within its municipality um this ordinance is similar to other ordinances past generally they are in short towns um it's similar to Red Banks um I think East Handover has 176 days in their ordinance um Jersey city has has an ordinance um they have been challenged in court but for other reasons um I think that this ordinance is is constitutional would pass legal mustard based on based on the wording of it taking no position on whether or not nothing about the policy issues around it but I do think that it is legal it would pass a legal test and so Mr caner for us to move forward tonight do we have to settle on 14 versus 28 or some number to move forward yes okay so if if if you want to I don't know who wants to go first if if if the deputy mayor or I guess up to the mayor whose motion you'd like to entertain or if you guys can agree on I'll offer compromise and I'll I'll go with Mr ravit say 14 days uh just for the sake of us having be able to have a discussion at the next meeting I'm in him to vote Yes um at 14 days I'll I'll offer up I'll amend my Amendment so to speak the 14 days so there's a motion there's a motion to amend the ordinance for in each place it it references 175 days that'll be ref in 14 days so so first we have to a motion to amend so is there a second to that motion there a second to that second second okay see uh and now is there any discussion on the amendment I think this provides us 30 days well less than 30 days because our meeting in November's earlier so it'll provide us three weeks to have some discussions um see what how it's been effective in other towns and we can always vote no in in in 3 weeks time but I think it behooves us to at least have that discussion over the next three weeks so I would obviously support introducing it would you like copies of the police reports that are involving these properties that would be great yes absolutely I don't know if we need the whole police report but yeah list a list of a list of a list of a list of incidents yeah a list a list of incidents that would go a long way and and what's decision yeah and what's Mr qu what's the longest violation that you're aware of the ones that I've seen with the police department are usually you know three and four day weekends right okay so we have an amendment we have a second is this a roll call any other discussion on the amendment so just to be clear we're we're amending it to be 14 days across the board in every instance of 7 175 we're changing it to 14 yeah yes that we this is for the amendment for 14 days Mr gelle yes Mr JY no Mr J yes Mr robs yes and may yes so now may you need a motion to introduce the ordinance as amended and set a public hearing can I have a motion to introduce ordinance number 24-24 as amended uh so moved mayor second Madam Clerk we have a roll call vote Mr gelle yes Mr Rabbits yes Mr JY no Mr janata yes and may yes the public hearing and final consideration and Adoption of ordinance number 24-24 will be held on Wednesday November 13 2024 at 7M in the municipal building 50 Woodland Avenue we have five resolutions on tonight's agenda with I three additional add-on resolutions and that will vote on separately so may I have a motion to approve resolution number 24024 through 24424 by one motion second Madam clerk may have roll call vote Mr JY yes Mr gelle yes Mr Jada yes Mr R yes mayor Gia yes I have a motion to approve resolution number 24524 author izing the settlement of Gir Management Group LP versus Township of Mars block 1001 lot 5.2 Lindley Drive may I just want to say these three resolutions um were brought and put on the agenda based on discussions that were helding Clos tonight um which is why they were a late addition to the agenda okay is there do it's up to the we can do BL or we can do one would I think we should separate okay looking for a second second do we need to Second it or we just vote we have to move that we add the resolution a motion commit are you making a motion yes is there a second second any discussion Madam clerk may have the roll call Mr Roberts yes Mr gelle yes Mr Dy stay because I wasn't present for all session work conf Mr janada yes yes may I have a motion to approve resolution number 2 46-24 authorizing the settlement of US realy Financial Court versus Township of moris block 10312 lot one and block 10313 13,000 lot 13 240 Martin Luther King Avenue and Aaron Avenue is there a motion to approve I'll make that motion second is there any discussion hearing none Madame clerk may I have a roll call vote Mr grelle yes Mr janata yes Mr Dy Mr Rabbits yes may yes may I have a motion to approve resolution number 24724 authorizing the township to indemnify certain Township employees related to certain litig litigation caption Danielle bizop vers the township of Mars fire department is there a motion to approve so I'll second that Madame clerk may I have a roll call vote Mr janada yes Mr gazelle yes Mr Dy saying my role in the fire department Mr Rabbits yes may yes there is no consent calendar on tonight's agenda consideration of monthly reports the following reports are on file in the office of the Township Clerk and Township administrator August 2024 fire and Joint court and September 2024 the Mars toown Mars Township library and the tax collector and I have a motion to approve the monthly reports so moved second all in favor I I claims for payment and the list of bills and vouchers the total amount of bills and vouches for this meeting is 2,687 57931 we are also the tax collector for the school district the library and the county may I have a motion to approve the list of bills and V so moved second Madam clerk may I have a roll call Mr gazelle yes Mr Dy yes Mr janata yes Mr Abit yes mayor G yes at this time we're going to do our standing committee reports and general commentary will be provided by each Township Committee Member and we will start with committee Jan thank you mayor first I'll talk about the environmental commission they H defa moristown Fall Festival which was very successful this is the third year that the EC has been attending this festival and the members answered the people's questions and they had new signatories for their EC environmental commission newsletter and the children like spinning the wheels for the prizes which is the first time they did that and we talked about it before but there's going to be native plants at the Town Hall which is showing some progress the proposed proposal is to plant them in the front windows for the first phase future phases will be at the around the flat pole in the cannon and the main entrance native plants provide a critical habitat and food for pollinators such as Sunny bees and native butterflies so they are needed to sustain a healthy ecosystem and uh in addition we're planning to hold a tour of the sewage and water treatment plans uh dates will be provided later and uh we also had the transportation advisor committee Tac also shared a tent with the environmental commission it was the first time that they they were there and they have been encouraging they have were encouraged by participants they encourag participants to use other means to get to the green outside of a car despite the rain I actually walked to the venue and many residents and non-residents Dro by to inquire about bike plans and complete streets and this is also the time of religious holidays that has begun this month the Jewish High holy days of rashash Shan and yam Kapur have just been celebrated and Hindus also just celebrated desera which is and will be celebrating by the end of this month the Hindu New Year of Dali both holy days are based on mythical stories of good defeating evil devali is known as a festival of lights where homes are lit with lamps or Dias and they also light up firecrackers and fireworks so apologies in advance if you hear loud bangs in your neighborhood and as for our norer neighborhood back in June Tac and historic preservation groups had a t walk along historical walk along Normandy Parkway this was led by Carol Barkin who was the chair of the historic preservation commission Normandy Parkway was developed in the 1890s by the local attorney John Dodd Canfield large Estates were built with names like seven oaks Fair Acres cherry coft and featherly Farms some houses are still in existence While others were destroyed either by fire or neglect many Estates were subdivided into smaller Estates or even new neighborhoods such as f featherly Road and green no road which were once part of the featherly farms and there were some interesting characters who lived in the area one of the most interesting was Alis Allison Turnbull Hopkins who was one of the leaders of the women's suffrage movement she was a daughter of a former naval officer Franklin turn Turnbull who owned featherly Farms the House burn was burnt down burnt down back in the 1920s so the only remaining part of the house the stone pillars at the entryway it's and the far the farm Fe feathery Farms is located in the corner of Normandy Parkway in Columbia Turnpike and along with Alice Paul Allison turn hop turnbo Hopkins was one of the leaders of the suffrage movement and who fought for the women's right to vote she was the New Jersey chair of the National Women's party in 19 17 she was one of 200 women who made up the silent Sentinels these were groups of women who protested in front of the White House and they lobbied President woodro Wilson to support what would become the 19th Amendment many of the women chained themselves to the White House fence and were arrested and sentenced for 60 days in the notorious akaan workhouse for women because of her husband's connection with President Wilson Allison Hopkins was pardoned after just 3 days she he resented being pardoned and went straight back to the White House holding a banner that read Mr President how long must women wait for Liberty President W Wilson eventually was eventually influenced by these protesters since he supported the passage of the women's right to vote Amendment which was passed in 1919 this Segways to election day being less than three weeks away on November 5th absentee ballots were are already been Pro are already being processed inperson early voting will start on October 26 so when we vote we should remember the people who fought for our right to vote we should never take this right for granted and we locals should also remember that one of these Fighters was once a resident Mor Town Morris Township Alison turo Hopkins Madam mayor thank you committee janada and I was fortunate enough to just say Su so you gave quite a appropriate description exactly committee JY uh thank you mayor uh give my remarks brief um the uh ongo construction at the console playground is going really quickly I've been driving past really um a few times a week on the way to the why and I can't believe how much work they've already done so I'm really impressed with the speed of the contractor I know our Parks direct department and our staff here in town hall on top of them making sure everything's done spe thank you all that for all that hard work um I know administrator Quint has been working hard to get the RFP out for the community center uh engineering work to get done uh to hire a firm so we can start interviewing um Arch protective engineering firms to manage that project and start the public Outreach and uh design process so I'm excited to see that move forward thank you for the hard work on that and Mr quin's also working on the RP for the senior shuttle whe accessible shuttle so these are all really great projects um so thank you for all that um wanted to note that um we did receive um more applications for veterans baners this year so we'll have more baners going up that will be dedicated at the veteran St services this year really appreciate the support from um continued support from some fire companies in town who been than for some of their um past members banners or family members banners to go up I'd also like to thank the fire department for all their work during fire prevention week I did not make it to kids night firehouses but they did stop by my son's dayare and take photos of all the little kids so that was really nice enough to do um lastly I know Tim and his team have been working hard on the meadow project in Butterworth um and I wanted to not that I'm mimicing what they're doing in my own front yard and we have our ground cover CR growing and so do they at inart so we'll see we'll see who looks better I have a feeling it's going to be the one that gets a lot more sun and a lot less than I so that I'll thank you very much committee man rabits thank you mayor and uh thank you for all for attending the township committee tonight national news does get a lot of Spotlight but it's what we do here that has the biggest impact on people's lives uh real quick I did attend the the kids night at the Woodland Firehouse um just great job uh by all those who who planned it and attended it was great to see so many kids and and young families turning out lots of activities lots of opportunities for for children to learn some games and a good chance to you know interact with for me to interact with um with residents uh moving on to my my commentary and I will be brief uh November 5th is uh election day uh voting matters and elections have consequences so make sure your voice is heard by casting your ballot return your vote by mail ballot as soon as possible and if you've if you've not done so already you can vote in person starting October 29th or make plan to vote in person on Election Day we've heard that this is the most important election of our lifetime and as a reminder 2016 2018 2020 and 2022 were also all the most important elections of our lifetimes to that point 2024 is no exception while every election is important not just presidential election years uh there this year there was one presidential candidate who promises to be a dictator on day one and only one presidential candidate has said to vote this year uh because this may be the last time they'll ever need to vote America is already a great nation but to remain great we the people need to be better citizens uh because we now uh because what we now enjoy our rights our civil liberties our bodily autonomy our democracy our Republican our constitution can be voted away if we don't show up to cast our Ballance and finally let's not marginalize or demonize the people who have less political or economic power that some of us currently enjoy rather let's stand up to those who continue to profit from our division equal rights for all citizens doesn't diminish the rights of any other citizen we have more in common that should ever divide us which we will ReDiscover by talking to each other amplifying misinformation hateful or violent rhetoric is not part of any civil society and Lesly as remember as we remember to go throughout our days let's just be kind to one another kind to ourselves because kindness matters mayor thank you commit rabbits Deputy Mayor Grell uh thank you the economic development advisory committee met last week and I can report that nice progress is being made uh in ways to engage local businesses in town and to ask them to complete a registration form so that we have contact information for each business uh on our agenda tonight was a resolution for the appointment of a special law enforcement officer in the police department uh these special officers are used to cover security and related matters at the public schools located in Morris Township and with this hiring I am pleased to let the public know that we now have a full complement of officers watching out over our Public Schools uh for my personal commentary uh last week I participated in a memorial service commemorating one year since the October 7th attack on Israel soon after that this governing body last year passed a resolution in support of Israel and against the terrorist organization Hamas I would like to again thank and commend this governing body for the strong language in that proclamation in 2023 um but unfortunately one year later Israel's fight against Hamas is ongoing let me be clear war is horrible war is usually devastating for all involved and I truly wish this one was never started by those that did so last year I also noted that two young men from moris Township were fighting in the Israeli Army I recently found out that there is actually a third young man who attended Morristown high school that is also currently serving in the Israel Defense Forces so when you have three former residents all of whose parents still reside in our town it brings this fight to preserve democracy really close to home here in Morris Township each month this governing body tries to recognize two items via Proclamation as we did earlier tonight one that we have recognized in the past is domestic violence awareness month which occurs every October and every year sadly we need to acknowledge that domestic violence continues to be widespread a widespread issue and yes it happens here in moris Township as well so we continue to raise awareness of what domestic violence is how to recognize it and what can be done to prevent it thankfully we have police officers trained to address the issue when they come across it and we have a great local resource in the Jersey battered women's shelter to provide care for victims of domestic abuse and violence as many of you know I also like to raise awareness about violence in our country domestic violence and gun violence are deeply interconnected because abusers that possess Firearms are five times more likely to kill their female victims one truly sad statistic about domestic violence is that every single month every single month an average of 76 women in the United States are shot and killed by an intimate partner additionally nearly one 1 million women alive today have had a gun used against them by an intimate partner research clearly shows that disrupting abusers access to guns can save lives this is why we need to this is why we need National gun control legislation on this matter I'm going to switch gears here and end up on a positive note including I would like to say let's go Mets I also acknowledge our local Yankee fans here in mors Township Mr quen and I want them to know that in this particular case I am also rooting for the Yankees to win win in this round as well because I would love to see a Subway series but again I'd like to say let's go Mets and this concludes my remarks for this evening thank you Deputy Mayor my remarks um are rather short as well I do want to thank see committee NADA for sitting in at the TAC meeting um I was unavailable that night so we're continuing work there and I do want to on our complete streets Round Table where we now have some other mayors that are also involved um we're planning next steps and we actually had commiss commissioner Shaw um reach out I had a conversation with and he said he might attend one of our next meetings our senior citizens advisory committee um we did a presentation on Aging in your own home presented by Rebecca abante from Atlantic Health it was a really nice turnout and she did an excellent job and there are a lot of great questions I'd like to thank barbar seian no Noel Robinson and the entire senior citizens advisory committee for scheduling this very important session and I would be remiss if I didn't shout out to former mayor Kathy Wilson sitting here um without her this everything senior citizens advisory committee does would not have have been possible so thank you um our Mars health department has scheduled understanding Medicare on October 22nd for seniors at 1M right here Town Hall so we urge them all to come to that as well I also want to thank everyone who came out to coffee with the mayor when we were at the hillside Firehouse it was a beautiful day we got to sit outside we had quite a few residents and any of the issues or concerns they had um we follow up with letters to them and we try to help solve them it's also nice some people sto by to give us positive feedback so that's for the whole Township committee and it's um important that we hear that as well I want to thank attorney Steve Warner planner Paul Phillips and Leah leany for doing a presentation on affordable housing and I mostly want to thank all the residents who came and after that it was a great turnout and they had great questions for our professionals while we were here I attended the Nights of Columbus mass and dinner apprec appreciation where three Mars Township residents were honored for their service Kathleen Highland Ken Kramer and Jim Coons those are very familiar individuals to all of us and we thank them all for what they have contributed I did get to stop by the Fairchild kits night um and again committee rabbits describe the same type of atmosphere and want to thank all our firefighters who helped participate a quick shout out to the Mars Count of police officers who stopped by Cars and Coffee which was an event put on by director of external Affairs Paul mure at the Mars Museum on Saturday and I'd also like to thank Madison Mayor Bob Conley for treating our DPW workers who helped assist Madison after the damage from the Micro Burst storm that occurred there at the end of the summer that was a really nice thing for him to do and they were very appreciative so in closing in just a second I'm going to talk about voting which many up here have already spoke spoke about but I also want to bring up something positive and that's Halloween Halloween Falls right before elction election day and adults worry so much about the impact in our changing world when honestly we can only control a very small part of the outcome of so many things happening it's important for kids families and even adults to experience and remember the good events in life that create lasting memories dressing up pretending to be someone or something some thing for a few hours on Halloween is a dream come true as a kid I remember growing up in a big family in a modest neighborhood where literally you could go to 300 houses because the front doors were only about 25 feet apart and we'd all come back and we had pillowcases filled with candy and we'd sit down and we trade candy amongst each other but what I also want to encourage is everybody here in moris Township and and it's whether you go to trunk truck or treat or you go to your kids school or you actually trick- or treat around the neighborhood these are things that are so meaningful for our children and for our families and even adults who like to dress up on Halloween and pretend to be somebody for a couple hours so don't lose that it's really important and we have so many things that we're all really worried about every day go out and enjoy Halloween and you're in a very safe wonderful neighborhood but a voting is incredibly important to me and many of you know with my experience with the League of Women Voters making sure that citizen were registered informed and they're empowered to vote has always been important it's one of the many ways that citizens can participate in public decision making our voting practices have changed over the years offering more ways to get out and vote whether it's mail in ballots early voting or actually going on Election Day democracy is a very complex system and there remains much needed guidance for continued voting reform but that being said elections EMB body our democratic values and our essential functions in our Democratic communities on Election Day every citizen is an equal political agent your experience matters and you are an integral piece of the voting system all of us on the day is here care deeply about the concerns of your experience and want our community to thrive for every individual resident we are here to serve you and urge you to hold us to the highest standards whatever your choices are are be there to cast your vote as a proud American contributing to our democracy there are currently four members of the public joining us via zoom and one member in person at this time we will open meeting to public comment we'll First Take comments from inperson attendees and then switch over to zoom please raise your hand on Zoom if you'd like to speak please state your name and address for the record before speaking please note the comments are limited to five minutes per speaker if you have questions you would like answer the remaining time to speak will be yielded back for this purpose is there a motion to open public comments is there a second second all in favor hi welcome hi good evening everyone it's nice to see you different view from the other side of the de uh Kathy Wilson 20 Beachwood Drive and I just have a couple of comments one is that um I came tonight to support the healing Garden project and I encouraged a lot of the rotary members to attend I I knew that you guys would be so interested and supportive and I just I'm so glad that this connection was made and it's an awesome project as you can see and it'll just be a wonderful addition to our town and you could not ask for a better location than where it is on on the Arboretum so thank you for all your um kind words and support on that um part of the reason I wanted to stick is because I was interested in the ordinance that you introduced this evening I just saw the text of it late this afternoon so I didn't have time to study it in depth but uh the question that emerged for me was could you uh give a little background for the public about you know why you're um introducing this ordinance at this time I was kind of wondering if it had something to do with the upcoming um you know 2026 or if you could comment on that I think that would be helpful well I think again I you know anybody who wants to jump in here too please feel welcome um part of the reason was that we had the discussion um it came up about possibly I think a little bit of it had to do with the World Cup even coming to commit and jy's remarks about um people possibly Renning out that rening out their homes that's not the only thing but um it is one of the things that we were going to look at and just um obviously now that it'll be introduced we are waiting for a public comment on it to see how they feel about you know the length of time and if it's even something that so can you explain what what the amendment does it reduces the time from 175 to 14 days but what does that mean as a as a homeowner you you cannot what what can you explain what that means well Jared you wan yeah so so what the ordinance does is it prohibits um residents from leasing from renting for a period of 14 days or less to an individual who has an otherwise other permanent residence okay so you have to rent a house for more than two weeks in order to run a house of if you have another if you have if you have if you have a permanent residence somewhere else okay got I got to think that through my first reaction to be honest reading it as a homeowner was I don't understand this action I know that a lot of towns are doing this um um I think there's an issue in Morris Township I that where and it was in Livingston too where especially in the summertime houses with really nice pools people were renting those houses out for a few days and people were having parties that was causing disruption in neighborhoods and whether or not people should be allowed to do that or not is a policy issue for this but I think I think that that the trigger of it is lots of cars and huge parties um in houses and noise um related to outdoor settings where people have really nice backyards and towns like Mor T okay that that helps I can imagine people going out of town wanting to rent their house to someone for a few months and as I read my initial cursy reading of this was that this ordinance would prohibit that but you've changed it now to 14 days so um I I will be interested to see the public comment on this as well and and then my my last question um I did want to say I thought the um affordable housing presentation was really good thank you for offering that and I wanted to ask I I know from reading the timeline um October 20th is coming up DCA is supposed to be sending out their numbers by then and I was wondering if there's any update or is there an expectation that they will do this on time always aning that they will but we just like everybody else we are waiting to hear from them and I I will say having read some of this if you've read the the methodology it's 215 pages long it's unbelievably complex and their job is that they've got to apply this methodology to hundreds of different municipalities that are all different it's a it's a unbelievably huge task and it it makes me wonder how they can possibly get it done by October 20th so and what will happen if that first marker in the timeline is not met does that therefore change the timeline the expectations for the towns is not clear do you have any answer to that no one knows nobody knows that's exactly the same questions that came up that if it's not meant what Happ do they push further um again it's my understanding though I could be wrong on this the numbers are supposed to come out on the 20 so that's the deadline the question is can they do it interpreted that it's not the deadline um that it's not a mandate that it's um there's been a further interpretation from DC that not a mandate but it was the preferred timing because I guess it doesn't say shall so yes so because they think they're going to slip on that so again and and again dca's number is just a suggested number it's not the number the township will have the opportunity and by resolution will'll adopt its number um with dca's guidance um and then there is a challenge period to that number Township's deadline of January 21st or 31st is not going to be changed if DC is late on providing the numbers correct and again dca's number is just a guiding number the township has to come up with its own number um and again if there's a large discrepancy between our number and DCA then there has to be conversation okay well it'll be interesting to see what happens and thank you for all that you're doing good night thank you always good to see you you too we have one hand raised on Zoom Mrs mem I think you might be on you yes good evening everyone Marley 63 I have a quick question regarding recycling rechargeable batteries Mr Quin in in the past I had noticed that there had been a container in the side lobby of the municipal building where you could put such batteries in there uh I have not seen it in a number of years now uh is there still a drop there at Municipal those batteries are no longer recyclable you have to put them in your trash rechargeable or no longer oh no not not not for the small ones like that no not for the small ones okay very good thank you very much Mr Queen the county has drop off for the tmat yes hary the county does have drop off fire academy drop offies I'm I'm sorry I did not hear that Mr JY what did you say the county mua does have hazardous material drop off recycling dates at the fire academy that they post and one of the items bring are Li oncl so so there is a place that you could take it then okay yes okay thank you very much both of you good evening thank you there's one coming upst it's this month it is there's one this month yes I notic yes I know that I saw that that it was on um okay thank you very much both you I got this in the church you got us to the Pew so we good seeing no other members of the public wishing to speak will someone make a motion to close public comment so move all in favor second all in favor the time is now 8:41 can I have a motion to adjourn the regular session second all in favor next regular Township committee meeting is Wednesday November 13 2024 at 7 p.m. please note that's earlier for us um the regular meeting in the municipal building at biy Woodland Avenue thank you all very much and have a great evening good night