##VIDEO ID:qzSiBzN9OU4## e e e e e e e e e e I'd like to call to order the October 22nd 2024 Oldbridge Township council meeting please stand for a Pledge of Allegiance please remain standing for a prayer and a moment of silence I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic which stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty justice for all as customary in this chamber we stand for a moment to remember those who are protecting our freedoms both here and abroad our First Responders those have made the ultimate sacrifice and this evening for all those that are suffering whether it's through hurricanes War we want everyone to know that we are thinking about those that are in need and that are suffering a moment of silence please okay and now our prayer Mr acet oh Lord bless thy servants in the ministry of public affairs who serve thee in the chamber give us quiet minds and hearts that we may hear thy voice help us to know when to speak when to be silent give us strength to oppose the wrong and uphold the right and Grant that we have a good conscience and Soul at peace with thee and with one another amen amen thank you please be seated roll call councilman auli present councilwoman dearo here councilman dama here let the record reflect that councilman Desai is absent councilman Garcia pleas councilman Murphy here let the record reflect that councilman Pas gidy is absent Council vice president Dr Greenberg belly present and council president soar here this meeting is being held in conformance with the open public meetings act notice has been given to the official newspapers of the township on January 6 2024 and has been posted in public places next open public meeting of the township Council will be held on Monday November 18th 2024 at 7:30 pm. thank you good evening everyone welcome to the meeting and we're going to begin with something that's very positive and we're very excited about I'd like to have the introduction of new police officer Andrew Kola good evening I stand before you tonight honored to increase the Oldbridge Police Department with our most recent addition police officer Andrew Kola Andrew took his oath of office on October 17th he attended the Ocean County Police Academy and served as a special law enforcement officer Class 2 with the Seaside Heights Police Department he holds a Bachelor's of Science degree from Fairley Dickerson University and proud to introduce our newest member of the O Police Department Andrew Kola congratulations yep you want to move this conratulations absolutely very nice very very nice yeah oh congratulations and we wish you nothing but luck and safety Andrew thank you very much thank you sir okay well on to the body of the meeting uh next will be 2024 best practices good evening joh and mayor of course oh and Anna I'm sorry good evening ba as well are watching you next time I'll say just good evening ladies yeah I got the one well it'll be it'll be short uh good evening mayor and Council um that time of year again for the best practices inventory or checklist that's required by the division of local government services um they first started it in 2010 uh since 2019 we have to submit it through their fast system which is their financial automation you know tracking system system so they could kind of you know it's gotten better over the years but at the end you'll see where it's still got some evolving uh the best practices inventory assesses each municipality's compliance with various laws and evaluates implementation of fiscal and operational best practices it also identifies areas where municipalities may require some further technical assistance uh the 2024 best practice inventory had a total of 69 questions among three scoring categories so the scoring categories are always core comp core competencies best practices and then they have unscored questions so core competencies um addresses the statutory and Regulatory Compliance obligations and other areas critical to sound Municipal finance and operations there were 41 questions at one point each in this category uh best practices involves fiscal and operational practices that are of significant benefit to many municipalities but are not foundational in nature or uniform uniformly applicable to all municipalities so this is kind of an extra credit category um you get a half a point for it and kind of the difference um core competencies are do we introduce the budget on time do we adopt it by the dates set by the state do we submit our AFS timely you know um best practices it's you know do we have a reserve for storm recovery in case we have large snowstorms um a couple years back they changed it from snow removal trust to storm you know in response to Sandy so now we could use it towards any type of storm um you know do we have a reserve for accumulated absences it's not something you necessarily have to have but it's yeah it's it's a good practice you know because you could get large payouts it kind of is a cushion and then there's unscored survey questions these are usually ones you know if the state has something they're about to roll out like this time around there were a lot of affordable housing questions which I believe they're starting the fourth round of that so a lot of questions on that and there were 17 of those questions so there were a total of 52 scor questions covering the following topics ethics Personnel budget Financial Administration capital projects transparency environment procurement cyber security lead remediation shared services special Improvement districts utilities and then there were three new ones this year affordable housing Redevelopment and Broadband now last year there were a lot of questions on solid waste and recycling this year nothing so it's just they kind of gather information on some of them a minimum score of 35 points was needed to receive full final state aid payment which for Oldbridge is $ 37,1 4667 now according to the fast system out of a possible 46.5 we scored 38.5 but something seemed off so I added it up five times I came up to 40 1.5 that we scored so regardless uh we are not losing any state aid nor have we ever lost any state aid due to the best practices does anybody have any questions I I added up 41.5 fast is telling me 38.5 but you need a minimum of 35 so we're good either way I I think some of them too um especially the utility ones um they're not applicable to us so I don't know if it's saying we get a point but I don't know if maybe they're not counting certain things yeah count it I know we don't lose any credit but I don't know it might be a glitch in their system I just want to take I just wanted to take a moment to thank Dawn for overseeing this every year um she works with several of our departments to gather the information if you heard all the different topics that are covered in this um it involves a little bit of everybody clerk's office obviously HR uh I think Public Works was involved um uh building department engineering so you know I thank Don for working with all of our uh professionals to get this done every year and uh clearly we're doing a good job yeah yeah yeah we should be very proud and Dawn works very hard and as you know it's budget season now and they're working on that really hard it's always budget one ends the next day it starts yeah just question is this kind is this required of all bodies like the M you know the MUA the Board of Education I mean do they have best as well I am not sure I'm not sure if they have their own version of it I've I haven't seen one because sometimes when the division puts stuff out you know we get notified but I okay no I was just wondering you know if there's something yeah just you know that was available to to look at is this being put in a place where people could see this I mean or is it yeah once uh once it's finalized I have to submit it to the state by Friday we usually I believe we post on the website if did I just wanted to make sure the people know the residents know they can track it and they can see what the best practices have been you know approved and how how we rated with it so I'm glad thank you thank you very much anyone else no okay thank you I do know that the MUA gets yearly um I think it's the 20th year in a row that we get financial awards every year for the good job that the finance department does okay great thank you Jan for all your all that work it's a hard job thank you next will be approval of minutes resolution approving the regular combined council meeting minutes of April 30th 2024 and October 8th 2024 do I have a motion okay mov by Dr Greenberg belli second by Mr ASI roll call councilman auli yes councilwoman dearo yes councilman dama yes councilman Garcia yes councilman Murphy yes Council vice president Dr Greenberg B yes and council president soar yes carries Bill list Mr Garcia okay thank you uh Bill list as of October 22nd 2024 counts payable October 22nd 2024 12,666 5 $521 payroll October 11 2024 1,731 3.36 payroll overtime October 11 2024 44,00 2877 and that completes my report thank you okay thank you councilman Garcia and excuse me for one second just let the record reflect that councilman Desai has entered at 744 okay thank you okay uh can we have a breakdown of the overtime please Anna sure um we had a slight uptick in our overtime for this last payroll mostly due to Oldbridge day uh the police sworn police overtime was $2,239 7 the duck grants $653 4.73 the duct etto $3,000 $3,257 and deduct accreditation $1,199 for a total of 9,487 72 and 241 a half men and women hours we have two officers on light duty and four still out on injured on duty thank you very much do I have a motion move it okay mve by Mr mury second by Mr auli roll call councilman auli yes counc councilwoman dearo yes councilman dama yes councilman Garcia yes councilman Murphy yes Council vice president Dr Greenberg belli yes council president soar yes and I'm sorry I skipped councilman Desai yes eight yeses okay thank you consent agenda I would like to get a motion in a second and then I'll go for separations move it second okay moved by Dr Greenberg belli second by Mr auli and now separations councilman auli any items for separation no thank you councilwoman dearo uh yes uh just c um six s and eight for discussion C six seven and8 councilman dep no thank you councilman Desai no thanks councilman Garcia I have none thank you councilman Murphy no thank you Council vice president Dr Greenberg Bell no thank you council president president soar no thank you okay so we'll vote on the balance the balance without C six seven and8 yes roll call councilman auli yes councilwoman dearo yes councilman dama yes councilman Desi yes councilman Garcia yes councilman Murphy yes Council vice president Dr Greenberg Bell yes council president soar yes eight yeses okay C6 Mrs dearo yeah we can I just can we can talk about six seven and eight Al together I just really wanted to highlight the um you know the shared service with the county and do we just curiously for public uh for the public to hear um do we reach out to the county does the county reach out to us is there because I was just talk uh speaking to one of the Commissioners last night and she was saying that there are just a lot of Grants and things available out there so you know this is wonderful to see you know on the on the agenda so i' just like to maybe just shed some light on on the whole thing yeah absolutely so uh good evening everybody um as far as C6 this is uh chloro chloro fluorocarbons um basically the freon that's in like a a refrigerator or um air conditioning unit we do the uh the scrap collection you know every other week and all that Freon needs to be recycled properly we go to a approved site the freon's taken out they charge us for that but at the end of the year the county reimburses us for that so that's just a formality that we have it on record that we're going to be reimbursed for that program um then when you move to C7 that's a shared service for the paint uh collection so uh once a month you know you could bring all types of paint to the uh recycling center we have staff there that helps unload it and uh you know we find some interesting old rickle cans and all sorts of uh stuff when people are moving but um so that the county handles that whole program they handle the the whole cost of that um we use the recycling tonnage grant that we receive to staff it and um it's we're there just to assist but the county runs that same thing just to um formalize it so everybody understands you know uh what yeah the legal aspect of it uh then when you move to C8 that's an agreement for cooking oil um again County fully funds that it formalizes that we have a a cooking oil recycling um container in our yard the only thing that we do for that is when it gets full we call them they send a vendor out to clean it up so it's limited work um we work really well with the county uh we were at an event today we're at a recycling center up in um South Brunswick and um we appreciate that these are really good services for the residents so uh we're always welcome to any service that they want to uh add to our recycling center right yeah thank you yeah I I saw that I you know it is a great program now um the the paint recycling I think I was reading that that's open to the whole County we we house it here but it's we host it and it's open to the whole County okay that's good to know while with that particular program and most of the county programs not every town has a paint collection day so like they'll skip like every third Town Oldbridge is fortunate enough to host one so it's very convenient for our residents but we have a log book and we just ask the residents where you from they say e sprunck we just check it off so the county can keep an accurate record of where the paint's actually coming from but uh yeah that's once a month it's a second Saturday of every month and we also take fluorescent light bulbs that day um that's a newer addition but uh a lot of people they don't know where to get rid of the old long tubes or like even like the compact fluoresence people kind of switch to so uh yeah it's a good service so that's it's excellent yeah just a question I just thought of uh so for the chlorofluorocarbons um with the discarded uh appliances we're talking about refrigerators you know so do residents have to like Hall when you know if they put the refrigerator out on the thing out on their curb is that so so the the way the uh program works is uh any Resident can call the township and set up a white good or you know appliance pickup um we ask what it is whether it's a hot water heater refrigerator um it's state law that you have to take the doors off of refrigerator so our staff talks them through that you know make sure it's safe for everybody they don't need to do anything else all they have to do is get the appliance whether it's a dryer you know anything to the curb and then our staff picks it up puts it on a truck um once the truck's full we bring it to a a facility uh in kesby and they handle all the chloro carbon you know all that good stuff FL yeah it doesn't matter I I don't know why they call it white goods uh we we're transitioning to Appliance collection yeah um I said one many years ago I was dropping off the appliances and I walk up to the man at the scale and I said I have a whole load of white goods he goes what's that I'm like appliances you know so uh you know we're we're we're shifting away from white goods I think more people understand Appliance a few times in the village can only put out white applian yeah you we're we're happy to pick them up for you per thank you so much casy good I'm I'm glad that you know just for the benefit of the public I thought that was something to highlight yeah thank you um so if I could just plug uh public works for a second uh we recently opened up a Facebook group for recycling so uh you know Anna was instrumental and getting that all set up for us so we encourag all residents to go to the Oldbridge recycling Facebook group um due to the settings you have to be uh entered into the group but once you're in we know uh our staff does a great job posting all the upcoming events that we have and uh you know even wind advisories and you know if it's going to be snowing we haven't done that yet but you know take the uh your um recycling in from the curb so the snow plows can get by and stuff like that so it's going to be really informational and uh we actually took a lot of video today of the recycling center that we were at so we're going to put some clips together for the residents to see what happens to the recycling after it's picked up that's good and comments can be made on this page or no it's yay okay I think it's the the best thing is strictly informational I love it that's what I was asking if you have any question recommend it's it's it's fully informational and uh it's it's very very useful sometimes you just want to see something so you might not want to scroll to the township Facebook page so you're like I just need I have a question about Recycling and and the things are right there for you pickups and all that stuff so it's it's really really useful and uh uh if people are interested it's facebook.com groups OB recycles that's the group that information has been posted on our Township Facebook page for quite a while and we'll keep blessing it out to keep growing it's got quite a numbers of of residents is already on the page communication is is the Paramount and that's a great thing commenting that's a whole another story so thank you okay anybody you're good Casey yep okay all right do I have a motion can we uh can we do them together all right okay so we moved it okay we seconded it we're good to go all right Council councilman auli yes councilwoman dearo yes councilman dep yes councilman Desai yes councilman Garcia yes councilman Murphy yes Council vice president Dr Greenberg Bell yes and council president soar yes eight yeses okay reported the Township Clerk so I did just want to make a brief mention that the township has um created and updated an elections page on the yes I was going to me thank you on the township website so any uh important links to County County information will be there uh voter applications voter registration applications uh when early voting is when actual election is so if anybody's interested there is a page out there on the township website centrally located um with all the information in one spot thank you I was going to say that because you did a great job doing that making again communication is Paramount this way people know where they can vote early when they can vote ear applications that they need you know anything like that and that's important because we want all the residents to know where the information is and how to go about getting getting it all in one place so thank you K thank you very much also wanted to thank um Amy Alonzo she works in the uh manager in the manager's office she was Paramount and helping me uh put everything together and get it centrally located okay great I really that's a great thing thank you okay next is ship attorney Madam president um as promised the DCA did Issue fourth round um affordable housing requirements um I I would say I wasn't overly surprised with the numbers that were assigned to Oldbridge um so basically what they uh presented was that for this is the fourth round and it's every 10 years fourth round the town's present need is 318 affordable units and then the prospective need which is future is 685 uh units the methodology if anyone's interested they put out a u a um pamphlet which they disguise meth discuss the methodology and has everybody's numbers I'd sent it to the to Anna an has it so if any council member wants to see it V uh I forwarded it to Vina um even know she's recovering um just one thing is even from the last time on the present need um as developments have been coming on um there is an affordable component that V had required so we we have been collecting new affordable units since our third round right um not sure about the number but maybe there might be about a 100 already um so so that's and then prospective need is something that uh you address through uh through zoning and so what they and say that you know beyond what's due now you have to plan for the next 10 years and so um The Next Step would be is a Veno will do is going to do a vacant land analysis because they sort of do a top down approach and uh if you look at the land that's uh may be open and available but it may not be developable for Mar of reasons there could be environmental constraints you know wet land so they they don't necessarily know that and then um so that sort of puts in perspective what the developable property is is and then um the by July January 30 30th 31st of 2025 um municipalities have to adopt a resolution either saying they're going to accept the numbers provided and if it's and if it's a different number you have to you say if with the number you think it is and then uh you obviously then have to have to and give reasons why um and then the housing element and everything has to be in place by by June of 2025 okay all right yeah so we're starting that process uh those on the planning board will be busy uh any member will be sitting on the planning board will become very busy and then um there may be different uh you know ordinances come back some of you have been through this through the third round last time so you're more familiar with it but so there that's where we are okay well thank you I I need a motion to accept the attorney's report move it second a move by Dr Greenberg belly second by Mr Murphy roll call councilman auli yes councilwoman dearo yes councilman dama yes councilman Desai yes councilman Garcia yes councilman merphy yes Council vice president Dr Greenberg Bell yes and council president soar yes eight yeses administrative report Anna all right thank you very much number one early voting inperson early voting will take place at the orage public library from Saturday October 26th through Sunday November 3rd polls will be open Monday through Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. and on Sunday from 10:00 a.m. to 6: p.m. absentee and mailin ballots can be placed in the drop boox located at the municipal complex we encourage all of our residents to vote election day 2024 election day is Tuesday November 5th 2024 polls will be will open at 6:00 a.m. and close at 8:00 p.m. for information on your polling location please visit orb bridge.com Clerk or call the clerk's office at 732 721-5600 extension 22000 fourth quarter tax payments the township division of tax collection will be on open Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. during the fourth quarter tax collection period the tax office will also be open from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. on Saturday November 9th and from 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday November 12th please note that the Township offices will be closed on Monday November 11th in observance of of Veterans Day payments can be made in person at the tax office at the Dropbox located near the front doors of the administration building by mail online through our website and by signing up for automatic withdrawal for homeowners who are already involved in automatic withdrawal program your taxes will be withdrawn on or about November 5th 2020 24 for additional information please contact the township division of tax collection at 732 721-5600 extens extension 2999 prop property tax reimbursement senior freeze forms the deadline to file file the 2023 PTR form with the state of New Jersey is October 31st 2024 applications must be postmarked by October 31st 24 for additional information residents should contact the state of New Jersey Division of Taxation at 1 1800 88265 N7 or the township division of tax collection at 732 721-5600 extension 2999 Township Halloween spectacular event please join us on Saturday October 26 from 11:00 a.m. to 2: p.m. for our Halloween spectacular event this year it will be held at Kell Farm park for additional details please visit our website at o bridge.com Recreation or call the office at 732 721-5600 extension 4999 Cultural Arts committee hosts cultural Festival we would like to thank the volunteers of our Cultural Arts committee for hosting a wonderful Asian cultural Festival this past weekend in honor of our in honor of the valy our volunteers put a lot of time and effort in PL this this great event and it showed by the great turnout that we had thank you to everyone involved and thank you to those to everyone who attended and I just wanted to add to that I know it's not in my report we have about seven members on the committee all of these members are volunteers um four of them are actually Township employees who give up additional free time to be part of this committee and they did a really great job at this year's event so we thank them and all of their efforts this year and all the events they put together thank you thank you all right anybody make a motion move it move by Dr Greenberg belly second by Mr acet roll call councilman acet yes councilwoman de Caro yes councilman dep yes councilman Desai yes councilman Garcia yes councilman Murphy yes Council vice president Dr Greenberg Bell yes council president soar yes eight yeses okay next is public comment on any subject matter for a maximum period of 3 minutes the public comment portion of our meeting is to allow the public to bring to the council's attention their concerns or comments this section is open for any topic or items in the consent agenda in accordance with njsa 10 col 4-2a and the Oldbridge rules of council the council ask that the public to limit their comments to three minutes or less only one member of the public shall approach to speak to council at a time the council will respect the Public's Time by refraining from any comment until the speaker has finished with their allotted time should be further noted that the public comment portion of our meeting is not structured as a question and answer session a member of the the public has questions they seek answers to an appointment can be made with the corresponding Department's office during regular business hours Township Clerk will regulate the time during the comment portion of our meeting okay anyone from the public wish to come up and be heard seeing no hands I will close public comment and go to council comments councilman asly yes um to everybody here and everybody at home have a happy Halloween have dwali and two weeks left make sure you vote thank you okay councilwoman dearo yes thank you um first I'd like to congratulate um our new officer Kola I don't know if I say that right um congratulations to to him and his family they seemed very proud of him and I just urge him to stay safe um I want to with regard to um there was a question and I know this is a um a common question from the residents a lot of people were put on vote by mail ballots during uh covid a lot of people don't want to be on the vote by mail they like to go in person which is very understandable um and they want to know how to remove themselves from the vote by mail ballot so um I just want to make mention middlex County uh nj.gov and if you go on there uh under the Board of Elections and if you click on for some reason it's under early voting if you click on there it will give you a way to um it's just a small little form a short little form that you fill out and you can just mail it right in and you should be removed from um the vote by mail so um hopefully that helps anyone that's that's listening and if not of you know by all means always call the Board of Elections if you're having trouble with that can I not to be I worked there part-time and usually with the opt out we've already it's been mailed out the your ballot your absentee ballot so at this point if it's already you know your mail-in ballot is already out there you can fill out a form but I don't yeah it's not oh no no no I didn't mean for this time I'm just to be clear get there yeah people might think they go on they do that and then they'll go to the polls and say oh I you know I it out for the following CLE absolutely yeah no I just didn't want you know any confusion absolutely yeah no no no it's is for the following year thank you for for clarifying and and bringing that to mention it's come and be like oh I did now I that kind of thing absolutely absolutely so and and in that vein um I if you got a vote by mail ballot and you still want to go in person you can but you have to vote provisionally and um and that's fine they just direct you to a different table you vote provisionally and your vote will get counted so um yes it it's too late to do it for this election but for the next any future election you know you just have to fill out that form and sometimes you do have to follow up with them um and I do want to thank Kate and the clerk's office in advance for the amount of hours that you're going to put in on Election Day I know that's a very very long day for you and so I just want to thank you and your team in advance for your work that day and uh other than that you know I just want to say Happy Halloween and uh everyone be safe hopefully the weather is going to become a little bit more fallik within the next couple of days and uh everyone enjoy stay safe thank you and I did want to mention that that uh application you're talking about we also have copies in the clerk's office out in our information center if anybody needs help we will take it and scan it and send it to the county but it is not it's too late for this election but for future elections um we do keep a variety of applications in that information center regarding elections so if anybody needs help okay councilman dep thank you um just wanted to mention so pink out last week was a success I wanted to thank Amy and Jacob from um the TV studio for coming out so this year was a little bit different we kind of had uh TV come out to kind of do a little segment on it the mayor was there myself um president soor so I think it was uh a little bit something different we get to put it on our television show highlight some of the great things that happened both here and at the schools uh it was a good success a lot of people things went very smoothly it was an excellent win for for Oldbridge so it was um a great great event and I just wanted to make sure I thank Jacob and and Amy for coming out I know wasn't too much of a late night but it's a Friday night nonetheless spending working so thank you guys very much uh also happy Halloween everyone please stay safe and also uh the next time we meet is going to be after Veterans Day so I just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Veterans Day and thank you all that served uh our country thank you councilman Desai happy Halloween to all Resident have a safe Trick and Treat I just request to every citizen of fullbridge please drive carefully on Halloween day and look out for the children walking in the street we don't want any accident so be safe be careful look out for our young ones second thing I want to send greetings to my fellow Indian descent resident of Oldbridge Happy Diwali the festival of light and happy Hindu new year sometime next Wednesday it start the festival is almost 7 Day to 9 days it start next Wednesday will be the first day of those holidays and new Hindu New Year Diwali is on November 1st and Hindu New Year is on November 2nd Saturday so I wish my greetings send my greeting to all my fellow Indian who lives in this town and in this County and the state thank you one more thing I would like to say election is coming up it is very sacred that we must vote whoever you want to vote vote because then you cannot complain that this is not happening this is not happening this is the time to pick a right candidate who can serve you better so please make sure as Anna just mentioned early voting is starting absente ballot is still available and election will be on November 5th Tuesday so please go out and vote and I hope the weather cooperate thank you councilman Garcia yes thank you I want to congratulate uh the new police officer Angel Kola uh keep him I pray stay safe you know to hopefully 25 years of safety so congratulations to Albridge getting a new officer so also happy uh I guess happy Halloween to all your trick and- treaters out there be safe like I said watch we you're walking you know and U happy Veterans Day like Eric said thank you that's all councilman Murphy yes um I just also want to say happy Halloween and just be very carefully driving with the kids out there uh the other thing I want to thank Casey he brought up a lot of information about recycling that I didn't know and I really appreciate that thank you Casey and happy Veterans Day Council vice president Dr Greenberg B yes first of all I want to thank the cultureal Arts committee for the Asian cultural um Arts Festival they put on this past um weekend at the senior center it was phenomenal the dance and music was very beautiful also I I am urging anyone everyone to consider adopting a pet our animal shelter is really packed we have about 114 cats and kittens I visited there they're beautiful they're friendly they're well taken care of there so please find in your hearts to um adopt a pet also there are eight dogs um usually that's pretty unusual at this time of year that we have eight dogs but I went over there they're all friendly they're beautiful and um looking for a home and also we're having a fall adoption event November 2nd um at the pet center at the shops of Oldbridge it's going to be a wonderful event um and it's starting at 12: to 4: so there's going to be the activities for the kids face painting um there's going to the pets can come in Halloween costumes that you bring there there's going to be adoption event to to get the pets that were presenting there adopt it um there be also an ice cream truck and a hot dog truck for the kids and everyone going so I urge you please find it in your heart it's very sad to see these cats and kittens and dogs when they they are just so loving and they just need a home um the other thing I know that still everyone is talking about um the taxes at the school how they went up this year and it is very overwhelming at this time when you think of it and there's a lot of misinformation going going out and I know there was um at Palm uh Plaza Grand there was a discussion and really there was some misinformation that was given out there and I just want to clarify it it has nothing your tax school taxes went up has nothing to do with the council zero zero in fact please read your tax bill we get 17 cents of a dollar which we have to run the town which we've been very efficient with a you hear all the time from the road Department from the police police safety is the most important thing um and we maintain it well in fact our financial what Dawn presented tonight we we follow best practices and we have a double A Plus Bond rating so with that said the school tax went up expressly for several reasons one the governor decided to take money away from the school district why all this discussion is coming saying blaming on the council we have nothing to do with it they should go and speak to the governor or go down to Trenton first of all then the thing that's going around now that has something to do with the pilot programs that are coming when the warehouses we're not getting any money at this time from the warehouses they're not rented yet they're not even finished being built and it was either warehouses or 10 more than 10,000 residential units and you can imagine what that would have done to our roads and our schools there without amount of students so I think it's very important to be factual and actual information that should go out instead of causing alarm to people and inciting people and in fact fact misinformation to the council we have nothing to do with it we don't vote on the board of education if we did it would be a different story I can guarantee you so I do wish everyone a Happy Halloween have fun and be safe and happy to all to all enjoy thank you nov November 2nd at the shops of Oldbridge and right in front of the pet center there's the parking lot there and we have a big event going on but in the meantime go to our shelter everyone's working really hard to find homes there for these pets it's very sad to see them spend a life in a cage or confined right thank you it is council president soar yes uh again we went naturally being the last one here we reiterate everything but it was a really really nice couple of weeks for us I mean the the uh a police officer alone is something for us to all be very proud of we are really trying to commit to you that we are Public Safety is Paramount and the mayor and the business administrator as well as the police the chief it's a CO you know it's a cohesive effort to try to make things better here in Oldbridge and I and I think it's it's being successful um I did also enjoy the pink out I thought it was great um again Spooktacular coming that's something for everybody to look forward to I was at that event at the senior center for the Nepal and you know the duali and it was it was excellent the it it was so even the small children it's so nice to watch them in the dances that they do and to share in something you know that you can Embrace in town we're so um here in town we have such diversity and it's just wonderful to see everybody together and enjoying each other's culture and in a positive way and I think that was really what Dr Greenberg also was saying about all of these different things with pilot programs and so on somehow there is some misinformation that's being disseminated and people really have to understand and look into it for themselves whether you're looking to vote for someone for a council position you're looking to vote for someone for the Board of Education please make sure you vet these this out and you see exactly what their platform is and what they stand for but the rumor mill don't use the social media because if you go by social media it's incredible what's being written in social media I get things sent to me because I'm not really that techy but what I see and what is written I'm just absolutely taken totally AB back by it and you have to you have to to weed that out and please like she said about pilot programs and things shared services there is a lot that goes on and it's not always one-sided that you know we have no consideration it's not true I really take you know I really get upset about that please just make sure you know all of the information thank you and everybody have a great Halloween have a great diali and be very safe thank you mayor do you have anything this evening or you no comments okay all right wish everybody happy holidays as well be safe I know the driving is a little crazy out there but it's throughout the whole uh State okay all right very good thank you thank you one apple is enough one bite is enough okay all right so we so we're gonna entertain a motion to enter executive session for matters of litigation testino vers Township of orbridge and uh to adjourn and we won't be coming back into regular public session move it second okay moved by Dr Greenberg belli second by who seconded was it John yeah ER Eric Eric okay roll call councilman auli yes councilwoman dearo yes councilman dep yes councilman Desai yes councilman Garcia yes councilman Murphy yes Council vice president Dr Greenberg belli yes council president soar yes eight yeses adjourn at 8:20 p.m. okay good night e e e