##VIDEO ID:B_dWUbUMvD0## [Music] okay I want to thank everybody coming out to the uh 2025 swearing in ceremony uh I'm mayor Brian Waller and I appreciate you all coming out I know it was a late night for some of our firemen here uh we had a working structure fire last night that we didn't finish till about 4 in the morning right Ry right around 4 in the morning so some of us are very tired so um with that um if we can have the volunteer firemen come up and say the the Pledge of Allegiance and we'll have everybody please stand while we're doing that come on Chief I allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all thank you and you guys few folks did a great job thisday morning it was a very busy uh in the early hours of the morning for the uh Volunteer Fire companies and now we're going to have uh the national an sung by Angela delandro Angela come on up Angela's no um she's been doing this for how many years now 3 years since I moved to town since she moved to town and we're going to so see by the dawn's early light what so proudly we H at the Twilight last gleaming who brought stripes and bright stars through the per fire or the real hearts we watched were so gallantly streaming and the rockets red glare the bombs bursting in air gave proof through the night that our flag was still there oh oh say does that Star Spangled bner yet way or the land of the fre and the home of the bra all right I know this isn't the ballpark here so next I'm going to have um the invocation uh Reverend Kenny he's going to pinch hit for the uh Minister North St Church you m Holy Father Here we are on this special occasion Lord in the swearing in of our illustrious mayor at this time lord and others in his cabinet Holy Father touch him by your power Divine and everyone in the sound of my voice bless each and everyone in this new year of 2025 and keep us in your perfect peace in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit amen Reverend Kenny thank you for that $25 blessing uh next we're going to have the honorable Phil py come up for the squaring in ceremony uh I just want to say a few words about Judge Paley uh judge Paley has served on a bench for numerous years and now retired uh however uh he's also a Vietnam veteran served in combat in Vietnam and we thank you for your service not only on the bench but uh as for the Armed Forces of the United States and judge P was the judge that first swore me in 25 years ago as mayor and there was a major snowstorm the night before we had about 18 in of snow in a parking lot so this time he only brought rain which is good so judge py if you want to come up I'm going to turn the mic over to you and we have uh Laura lewitz please step forward with your family um good afternoon will you please repeat after me I state your name I Laura lewood do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will support that I will support the Constitution of the United States the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey that I will bear that I will bear true faith and Allegiance true faith and allegiance to the same to the same and to the governments and to the governments established in the United States established in the United States and in this state and in this State under the authority of the people under the authority of the people and that I will faithfully and that I will faithfully impartially impartially and justly and justly perform all the duties perform all the duties of the office of of the office of Piscataway Township council member at large Piscataway Township council member at large for a 4-year term for a four-year term expiring December 31st 2028 expiring December 31st 31st 203 according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability so help me God so help me God mle congratulations do you want to say do you want to say something good afternoon everybody and happy New Year I want to thank everybody who came out here today to start off the new New Year in this beautiful town of pcad that I'm so proud to be a resident of and now to be an elected member representing so many of our wonderful families community members senior citizens veterans and everybody who makes up this town the wonderful community that it is thank you so much got some paperwork here good afternoon will you please repeat after me I state your name i s Rashid do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will support that I will support the Constitution of the United States the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution and the constitution of the state of New Jersey of the state of New Jersey that I will bear that I will bear true Faith true faith and Allegiance and allegiance to the same to the same and to the governments and to the government established in the United States established in the united stat and in this state and in this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people and that I will faithfully and that I will faithfully impartially impartially and justly and justly perform all the duties of and perform all the duties of Piscataway Township council member at large members Township Township council member at Large for a 4-year term for a fouryear term expiring December 31st expiring December 31st 2028 2028 according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability so help me God so help me God congratulations it's very nice to meet you would you like to say a few words it is truly a pleasure and an honor I am looking forward to serving everybody from this chway and and we will celebrate our diversity because our account is truly diverse thank you so much we're to pull this out you have to S CL right here and put your blessing left hand on the Bible raise your right hand please repeat after me I Gabriel Cahill I Gabrielle Cahill do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will support that I will support the Constitution of the United States the Constitution of the United States and and the Constitution and the constitution of the state of New Jersey of the state of New Jersey that I will bear that I will bear true faith and Allegiance true faith and allegiance to the same to the same and to the governments and to the governments established in the United States established in the United States and in this state and in this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people and that I will faithfully and that I will faithfully impartially impartially and justly and justly perform all the duties of perform all the duties of the office of the office of Piscataway Township council member at large Piscataway Township council member at large for a four-year term for a fouryear term expiring December 31st expiring December 31st 2028 2028 according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability so help me God so help God congratulations thank you judge thank you for coming out today I appreciate all the dignitaries here the elected officials to the residents of scataway so many of you who serve on boards and commissions in this town obviously to our firefighters for their hard work it is so important what you contribute into this town this is what makes us so great it is not really us it is all of us makes this count great and I am honored to serve another four-year term and to serve the people of the gway thank [Applause] you all right so the significance of our family Bible is I've been sworn in 10 times here at Sky the township and every time this morning get noted on who judge was perform and judge I believe you're here your name's here the most I think I think he did every judge mayor would you kindly put your left hand on the Bible and raise your right hand please please repeat after me I I state your name Brian Waller do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will support that I will support the Constitution of the United States the Constitution of the United States and and the constitution of the state of New Jersey that I will bear faith and allegiance to the same and to the governments stablished in the United States and in this state under the authority of correct and that I will Faithfully that I will faithfully impartially impartially and justly and justly perform all the duties of perform all the duties to the office of Mayor mayor Township of piscatway for a 4-year term for a expiring December 31st 2028 December 31st 20 according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability so help me God so help me God congratulations thanks your honor we going have the my M my late mother always said I would never be a good lawyer or doctor because you can actually read my handwriting that's from my Catholic School bringing so uh I want to thank all the officials that are here today um before I say a few words I want to not uh that we have some County Commissioners here we have Charlie Tamaro Charlie and commissioner Kenny Charlie Kenny 's own commissioner Chanel mome we have our County Sheriff there I think they uh between Chanel and Millie are dueling there with the kids there uh we also have Mayor Cohen of sponsor for is Brad Brad is here he back over there and we have numerous fire Commissioners here in the room uh so just ra raise your hand as your fire commissioner there you go and once again I want to thank all the volunteer uh fire Personnel from um work every all 365 days a year it wasn't just one night it's it's many nights so I want to thank the residents of Piscataway for for allowing me the opportunity to serve you for another 4 years uh I don't take this oath I take this very seriously um this is a great Community uh so much so that I'm not going any place my great plots are even right across from my house so I'm I'm I'm here for eternity so and my wife made sure my name's already on the on the great Stone already so um but I want to yeah um 2025 is going to be a very busy year in piscat Township um we're going to under undertake the largest reconstruction Road Project in history to town Centennial Avenue from uh nights Bridge all the way down to River Road uh we were able to get a 4 million uh state DOT grant for that I want to thank Governor Murphy and our legislative uh delegation Senator Smith and senat Egan and Senator McDaniel for that uh we're going to be reconstructing mguard street over on the north side of town I know Frank her's been pushing through that for number of years he received a half a million dollar Grant from the state uh Senator I want to thank the delegation again for that uh we still have about 11 or 12 streets hung over from 2022 22 2024 um we're still waiting for utility companies um to move some of the polls and some of the infrastructure uh judge it seems like almost every day uh if the scatter I spend a good chunk of the day just calling the utility comes up to try to get things done for our community uh we're expected to award the contract Thursday night uh for the for the addition of the metler bod House Museum uh the significance of that is is that uh the new addition will house the new Ross Hall wall which is the only remaining artifact of Ross Hall where the July 1st July 4th celebration took place in our country thus # first forth um the wall has been refurbished it's waiting its arrival from Tennessee to when the addition is done so we're looking forward to that and should be finished in time for when our great country celebrates its 250th anniversary uh the ongoing solar projects that we have going here today is the largest solar project in SC and not not only in disy but in the state of New Jersey in 2024 that'll be spilling over into 2025 that means that we're going to see savings up to almost 50% uh generating energy for our Township uh especially on all of our buildings um like for instance this building every square foot of the roof has solar panels on it uh and over at Police Headquarters there is going to be actually a micro grid uh there which will be the last to be installed um and that's going to actually have we back up solar energy for uh the town in emergency and have up to 7 to 8 days worth of energy and back up solar um we're expecting uh we're having 28 charging stations throughout on government property the most of any community in the state of New Jersey the most and Senator I want to thank uh you for that with some legislation obviously Senator Booker and Congressman PLO helped out and I want to thank Uh current president Joe Biden with the deficit reduction act because that would not be happening had he not signed it into law and the significance of that law is that it allowed towns and cities to take take advantage of the tax credits where the private sector was able to take advantage in towns weren't so and by a large part you know it's only going to cost the town about a million doar for a $28 million project and I think that's a very good deal for the taxpayers but more importantly for our environment we're going to also be under construction for the um New renovation of the new Community Development building uh which the contract was awarded for that that is going to house the engineering department and also the U property maintenance uh group there and that should be finished by early 2026 we're going to have a multitude of Park improvements this coming year um I know day park were in the process of setting up to uh have a multi-use path there in day park uh we're going to be adding more pickable courts throughout our town our community um we're going to be adding in infrastructure improvements in Green Acres par to have a bathroom facility there so we're going to set everything up there I know that's a big thing when they have a lot of games there that there's you have to use qu potties or run down to the high school um gym to go to the restroom so we're going to eventually start that and something very nearr and dear to councilwoman Lombardi we're going to talk about uh and hopefully award the contract this spring for the start of the cleanup of the eological park uh we're going to need a little help for Council to put the money in place and working through with d we're expecting anywhere between $3 and $4 million in grant money through the spill fund money to uh improve that it's going to be about a $10 million clean up and take about 2 years to clean the property up in order to get us to the point where we can actually make it up part so at least that's moving in the right direction um for Public Safety we're we're going in the process of finishing on our new 911 call center uh which is adding three additional seats in there for dispatch Services it'll be the most state-of-the-art facility uh this is about a $10 million project of which about $9 million are paid for by the federal government and I think that's another big deal I want to thank President Biden Congressman palone uh Senator Smith e and Danielson for that for helping out with that uh we're also adding in new Communications Towers uh to fill in uh the areas where we have uh holes in our communication system radio system and the significance that is is that when First Responders come into a brain structure or PD is that now they'll be in constant communication with dispatch there and we do have some blank areas in our community which will now be taken care of with the upgraded the new 800 MHz system Sy um consequently with that uh we will be installing uh dark fiber to run to our Township parks for security purposes and also uh all of our government facilities where we'll have security cameras and all the parks with Public Safety uh and I want to say what we're going to do once that backbone starts we're in uh discussions with uh private internet providers to provide highspeed internet service to Residents along that way I mean obviously it'll be a fee but it'll start the backbone to build out for some competition for highspeed internet and I know that's one of the big things not just at this scataway but throughout our communities about highspeed energy and we're going to tap into some of that uh Broadband money and that's through the deficit reduction at and I know Congressman B just walked in I was just singing your Praises about all the federal money that you brought in so you just came in right on time some other projects in the future is we're going to be renovating the DPW Maple Avenue Public Works Yard there uh we're in the process of going through design of a OEM Fusion center next to Police Headquarters right there uh there'll be more upgrades at Sterling Village our housing where we house our seniors over there and I know Amy Balman our aging directors here um and also to continued improvements at our senior center uh there is some low hanging fruit one the big request at the senior son they wanted an additional painton table to me that's an easy one to take care of we get them a painton table uh and then also uh some upgrades to our both of our libraries right here with all the HC systems and the improvements so you're going to see a lot of things uh going on here in our town and this all doesn't happen through um grants from the federal government or the state a lot of this gets paid for by economic development in this town and and that has allowed us to maintain the second lowest Municipal tax rate in Middle six County but yet provide services and infrastructure improvements for our community not just the current residents but future residents and that's what's critical in this country that we need to maintain our infrastructure Improvement so I'm love the fact that their council is going to be looking forward to that in the coming year so I would like to I would be very remiss um if we didn't speak about um the passing of President Carter uh I was fortunate enough to have met him a couple of times both at the White House and on Capitol Hill uh I I believe he he'll go down in history of one of the better presidents not not just for his presidency but his afterlife in the presidency so I want to go to condolences out there and I want to send a special note out there for the folks that tragedy in New Orleans uh last night got there there's always something unfortunate going on in our country I want to also acknowledge the folks out here the battery Democrats right here in the battery committee and our chair of Gabriel kill right here so come on you can give a hand Arthur that's fine and I know we have a lot of the folks from M County young Dems here also so I want acknowledge them uh I think I named the all officials and Frank would you like to come up con come up say a couple quick words come on I think you deserve it after delivering the about $15 million in federal funds to us we'll give you we'll give you the mic we'll give you the mic for another 15 million I don't know how long we've been waiting here so I don't know how long they want to hear from me but um I do want to say this you know um I guess sworn in on um Friday uh and of course we have a new president not one that I wanted but nonetheless uh respect for the office um but I do want people to know that um in Washington you know cuz Brian talks about infrastructure and funding uh I don't believe that this is going to be um a situation even though Washington in theory is all Republican that the Democrats won't work with the Republicans I think we will uh and I certainly am committed to that um and I think you all should understand that when we talk about Federal funding uh often times it is bipartisan not as much uh as as a at least a lot more than you might think uh so we're going to work together with the new president and with the new Congress um I do expect that we're going to continue to provide help uh for towns like Piscataway um and I do want to say this uh this is one if one of if not one of the best if not the best run town that I represent and I say that because of what Brian you know I came in at the end so didn't hear it all but I say that because I'm amazed at how many things whether it's this Recreation Center or it's the library or so many things in town that you know help residents and make the quality of life better for the resident of the scway and able to do that working with middle six County and the state and and me as well but doing all that by keeping the the tax rate down and getting a lot of help from you know various levels of government uh in order to pay for things is kind of the but you know that's really the challenge that makes for a great government mayor and counsel and you guys have this SC away more than any other grp were able to do that and I admire you for it and we'll just keep working together thank you congratulations thank you thank you congressman and how about this community center come on no tax dollars involved in constructing this we're up to 13,200 members here now this is the second largest wi branch in the state of New Jersey uh there not a day that goes by that every you see all the happy faces in this building uh it doesn't matter whether you're in your 80s or 90s or you're you're a toddler uh everybody loves this building they love the staff here I want to thank the Y folks staff I know Dan's around here some place but thank you for all the hard work that your staff does to keep this uh going and I also want to thank to m employees because they are the heart blood of this community uh I want to thank s Sarah and Laura welcome aboard um to my wife and my family I know I got crazy at times and they've seen it front yes I know my wife's shaking my wife's shaking her head yes and it's word Bob Smith does he doesn't do divorce uh law so so with that that's my segue into asking Senator Smith to come up and say a few words [Applause] newly installed mayor greetings judge elected officials newly elected officials uh friends of the family everybody that's here today a wonderful day God bless America January 1st and you see a new government getting underway every heart and mind in here should be positive no matter who won the election we're America we'll find a way to work together and hopefully move our country ahead now I'm officially here to bring greetings from Governor Murphy assemblyman Danielson and assembly Manan and the reason I'm bringing greeings that they're not here they would like to have been here but there's a lot lot of places that we like that officials have to be on January 1st thanks the Congress for who's always here for us for coming in and bringing us uh words of wisdom and positivity so it's a new government and what do we have to look forward to Mayor told you that that's called an agenda and uh Frank was correct when he said that this guy has been well LED for a really long time our current mayor this is your seventh ter mayor seventh holy God you're going to set a new world's record I actually at least I have hair yeah oh let's not let's not be personal and we've had other great Mayors uh like T life who was our mayor for 25 years uh and then a couple other ones for short periods of time but the two long term on are 10 go and with a good Council they Town well he mentioned all the good things especially the second tax mid C and all those wonderful things but I have a different Prejudice my Prejudice is that the existential challenge for us to scatter away the world is global climate change and I will tell you in the scatter away you're doing your part this I I see 567 towns in the state there is no Town doing more with the help of gr Frank the legislative delegation the governor a really smart Council and a really smart mayor to try to get as much renewable energy into our system as possible to reduce our car foot so all the other things Fab I taxes but you are really doing your best to help give Humanity a chance and I know Frank pled to it I know that uh Ean and Danielson and I pled to it we're going to do our best to help we do that because you're setting an example not just for the rest of theour for the entire country to help us reduce the impact of the the global warming you're welcome by the way it's Now official 2024 now is in the recer books as the hottest year in the history I have news for you 2025 it's only in work but I'm not going to leave you on that happy note all right we just saw a new government for in and we are we have some really smart people we're going to have great year even in tough times and my last thought to you is this I I swear to you I'm not a really religious guy pray for these people if you were a LED counsil person in yourday you were come with 10 dead people 30 people in the hospital no idea any coming all the security forces up you never know what's going to happen and it's really important as smart people in your government you got yourself one have on a team for the coming years so let's hear it for the mayor and the new counsil God bless and the old Council too May thank you Senator and uh Sheriff would you like to come up with grandchild and say a couple quick words she's the she's the only grandom tooning G toning grandma that I know so great grand yeah great grandchild great grand I want to congratulate the mayor and the El council members and to the new council members I say welcome welcome welcome de KY it's so great to see you but this SC I want to say that uh this is where I started off as a council person myself and this is a great town it is a great Community as you said is divers me and I am happy and proud to be a Pas scattering resident and I am happy and proud to be the Sher of middlex County and I said this to you but my political life started here right here in this town and I say to the mayor and to the council and to newly elected officials the best of luck to you and to the senator I going to say his words is please this is a year of 2025 it's a year that we don't know what to expect but it's a year that we should all respect play and I say thank you and God bless sherff has a competition with great BR life there we can have our County Commissioner Chanel MC come up and say a couple of [Applause] words thanks good afternoon everyone uh Happy New Year uh on behalf of the entire Board of County Commissioners I would like to wish everyone a happy and healthy uh New Year this is uh it's always great to be in Piscataway right but it's this is our my first swearing end of the year um so it's what better way to bring it in than in my own Hometown here in piscato I want to congratulate the mayor Gabrielle laora and Sarah I wish you all of the best um my mother said she started her career out here I started my career out here too um and this is to me a good place to train you right there's a lot that goes on here in the scataway we're a great town we work hard we work together we are a very diverse Town you're going to experience everything that you need to know and I'm looking at Laura and Sarah right this is your first time on the council and I remember when I came in there they going to welcome you you're going to learn a lot you're going to read a lot people are going to approach you that never approached you before but you can do it you know we're a true team and now that I'm at the board of County Commissioners um I actually look forward to working with you there as well as the Charlies as well so I just want to wish everyone the Charlies right um yeah I just want to wish everyone at bis gataway a happy healthy New Year and I look forward to working with everyone again this year thank you commissioner that's a good segue and I want to acknowledge some of the council members here we have fourth award coun councilwoman Michelle lardi there council member of Dennis Espinosa from the second ward from the First Ward Frank ER and next to Congress and home third Council Shar harm I think I every and I would be Miss not saying our our former councilwoman and county commissioner Camille fernicola okay we're getting towards the end where we can get some uh food so we're going to have uh Nathan Miss come on up and he's going to sing two songs for us uh the second one will be God Bless America so we're going to please ask uh everybody to stand when he do that thank you [Music] [Applause] how lucky can one guy be I kissed her and she kissed me like a fellow once said Ain't That a Kick In The Head [Music] the room was completely black I hugged her and she hugged back like the Sailor said quotes ain't that a hole in the boat my head keeps spinning I go to sleep and keep grinning if this is just a beginning my life is going to be be beautiful i' sunshine enough to spread it's just like the fella said tell me quick ain't love a kick in the [Music] [Applause] head like a fellow one said Ain't That a Kick In The Head like the sail said quotes ain't that a hole in the boat my head keeps spinning I go to sleep and keep grinning if this is just a beginning my life is going to be beautiful she's telling me we'll be wed she's picked out a king-sized bed I couldn't feel any better or I'd be sick tell me quick oh ain't love a kick tell me quick ain't love a Kick In The Head [Applause] we're going sing God Bless America very be S God Bless America land that I love stand beside her and guide her through the night with the light from above from the mountains to the Prairies to the oceans white with f God bless us America my home sweet home God bless America my home sweet home thank you Nathan all right if everybody can read remain standing uh we're going to have uh pinioning for Aman Smith is uh we have uh Calvin Laughin from Mac Macedonia Church Iman had a last minute issue he couldn't make it here got add to Reverend Kenny here we need $50 CL thank you may first I want to congratulate all the uh new members that's been sworn in this town and I pray that you do a wonderful job moving this town in 1964 so I ain't going nowhere so keep my town nice and that young fell God bless you part of the rad pack let us pray Lord we thank you for this day we thank you for those that took the oath that to do a job to hope to protect the town and keep the town safe and running smoothly give them endurance to do what they have to do bless them from the top of their head to the crown of from top of their head to the soul of their feet let them do the job that they said they swore to do bless them in a mighty way bless the food that's prepared for us let it be a nourished for our body bless the hands and prepared these and all blessing we ask in your precious son in Jesus name amen amen and amen thank you Calvin uh and this concludes our ceremony