good evening everyone and welcome to the padway town council meeting reorganization for January 2nd 2024 I'd like to call this meeting to order adequate notice of this meeting has been provided as required under chapter 231 pl1 1975 specifying the time date location login or dial in information and to the extent known the agenda by posting a copy of the notice on the municipal building municipal court and the two Municipal Library bulletin boards Municipal website providing a copy to the official newspapers of the township and by filing a copy in the office of the Township Clerk in accordance with certif ification by the clerk which will be entered in the minutes there will be a public comment period for both remote and in-person attendees separately each member of the public shall only have one opportunity to speak during each public portion as the technology does not allow us to know if there are multiple callers on an individual phone line or logged in user account we ask that if you wish to speak that you log in or dial in separately so that we can recognize you as a separate individual so you have any further comments or questions the Town Council is always available by email and phone and you could always call the mayor's office during normal operating hours would everyone please join me in the flag salute I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for at this time we're going to do nominations for the 2024 council president and it'll be my honor to nominate the council president for uh 2024 I'd like to nominate Gabrielle Cahill my friend and colleague someone who always has the interest of the Public's um at her heart and she works very diligently and is very dedicated to her position so I would like to nominate for council president 20 2024 Gabrielle kahill have a second can you please call the role M sure councilwoman kahill yes councilwoman carmichel yes councilman Espinosa absolutely yes councilwoman Lombardi yes councilman Rouse yes yes you're not Rous councilman Shaw yes councilman Erin yes and we will now switch [Music] positions thank you councilwoman lardi and thank you councilwoman Carmichael for the vote of confidence um I do appreciate that and I appreciate everyone here on the council and U Melissa and Kelly for all the hard work mayor uh Tim and Raj thank you very much for everything that you do for the town um for our residents um just want to note that the last time I did this uh we were in shutdowns and we were having closed meetings here with just myself our clerk Melissa the mayor and Tim and our attorney Raj and it certainly was a different atmosphere um where we all sat on different points or in other parts of the building so I'm really happy that we're all back together here and as council president to be here with all you great folks as well so thank you again so with that um we're going to go on to uh the next item number five which are uh nominations to elect the council vice president and it is um my distinct honor uh to put forth um Dennis espanosa as Council vice president uh Dennis if you don't know has been a longtime um active member of um our Township uh he served on planning board alongside myself um and um his raised his family here so um I would like to nominate Dennis espanosa for vice Council chair for vice president sorry do I have a second second okay um Melissa let's take a vote sure councilwoman Carmichael yes councilman espanosa yes councilwoman Lombardi yes councilman Rouse yes councilman Shaw yes councilman Erin yes council president Cahill yes congratulations Dennis thank you madam president thank you madam president um and Council for all your support you shown um not only to me but to the council overall and to the people Piscataway I'm going to continue continue to doing my best in supporting and looking for at the best interest for the public and for piscatway so thank you so much thank you um and now this uh will bring uh us to number six which is a call of the reorganization meeting to order I'd like to call this meeting to order adequate notice of this meeting has been provided as required under chapter 231 PL 1975 specifying the time date location log in or dial in information and to the extent known the agenda by posting a copy of the notice on the municipal building municipal court and the two Municipal Library bulletin boards Municipal website providing a copy to the official newspapers of the township and by filing a copy in the office of the Township Clerk in accordance with a certification by the clerk which will be entered in the minutes there will be public comment periods for both remote and in-person attendees separately each member of the public shall only have one opportunity to speak during each public portion as the technology does not allow us to know if there are multiple callers on an individual phone line or logged in user account we ask that if you wish to speak that you log in or dial in separately so that we can recog niiz you as a separate individual should you have any further comments or questions the township council is always available by email and phone and you can always call the mayor's office during normal operating hours Miss Cedar would you please take the roll call councilwoman carmichel yes councilman espanosa yes councilwoman Lombardi here councilman Rouse yes councilman Shaw yes councilman Eran here council president kill and I am here as well and that'll bring us to number eight which are the mayor's appointments these are to the Civil Rights advisory commission community outreach Advisory Board green initiatives historic preservation advisory commission planning board and presiding municipal court judge for all those who are going to be sworn in tonight would you please come in to the and yeah read their Nam okay my apologies we'll do that at the end okay so uh we'll go to number yep to the Civil Rights advisory commission Sheri Alexander Anna almanzar Sharon carmichel Gloria cook leoy Hadad Luise huckleby Sharon Robinson Briggs Shirley Saunders so the community outreach advisory commission Christopher Jenkins Kimberly Lane Paul Sinkler and Jerry Wilson to the green initiatives committee uh Donan corkran Gabrielle Cahill to the historic preservation advisory commission Christine moer Jun sidlowski Gabrielle Cahill and Carol nerelli to the planning board Gabrielle Cahill Dorne corkran Alex Atkins and the presiding Municipal Court Judge James hovish thank you Miss Cedar so we'll go to number nine which is open to the public this is for items regarding uh item number 13 which are the consent agenda items let's just make sure I read the statement for this on one second okay okay so for each public comment portion for the remote attendees if you wish to speak at this time please raise your hand either on the Zoom app or if by phone by pressing star n when it is your turn to speak you will receive or hear a request to unmute yourself please click the prompt or press star six on your phone to unmute yourself at that time please state your name and address and note that you have three minutes in which to make your comments the council or Administration will respond if necessary after you have complet completed any comments or questions so again this is for remote attendees only for item number 13 which are the consent agenda items Miss Cedar president there are no remote attendees with their handr regarding this agenda item okay so I'm going to close the remote attendee public portion and that'll bring us to the in-person attendees comment portion if you wish wish to speak at this time please come to the podium state your name and address and know that you have three minutes in which to make your comments you may take a seat after completion of your comments or questions and the council or Administration will then respond if necessary so if anyone in the public has comments about item number 13 please come to Podium state your name and address and note that you have three minutes in which to speak okay I see no one in the public with an interest to come and speak right now so I'm going to close the public portion okay that'll bring us to number 10 which is an ordinance on first reading this is amending and supplementing chapter 21 zoning and it is a resolution adopting ordinance Miss Cedar would you please read the ordinance be resolved by the township Council of piscatway Township New Jersey that an ordinance entitled ordinance to amend and supplement the revised General ordinances of the township of Piscataway County of middlex state of New Jersey amending chapter 21 zoning 21-42 B and is hereby adopted on the first reading that it be published in the official newspaper and that a second reading and public hearing be held at 7:30 p.m. prevailing time at the Piscataway Municipal Building 455 hosan padway New Jersey as well as by remote meeting format on the 30th day of January 2024 be it further resolved that a copy of this ordinance shall be posted in at least two public places within the township prior to the day of the second reading and final passage and a copy of this ordinance shall be made available at the office of the Township Clerk for any interested member of the public thank you Miss Cedar do I have an offer offer do I have a second second second would you please take the roll call councilwoman carmichel yes councilman espanosa yes councilwoman Lombardi yes councilman Rouse yes councilman Shaw yes councilman Anan yes council president Cahill yes and the ordinance passes on first reading that'll bring us to number 11 which is also an ordinance on first reading this is amending and supplementing chapter 7 traffic section 40 control for the movement and parking of traffic on public and private property to assert title 39 jurisdiction on 88 Centennial Avenue and it is a resolution adopting ordinance Miss Cedar would you please read the ordinance be it resolved by the township Council of piscatway Township New Jersey that an ordinance entitled ordinance to amend and supplement the revised General ordinances of the township of Piscataway County of middlex state of New Jersey amending chapter 7 traffic section 40 control for the movement and parking of traffic on public and private property to assert title 39 jurisdiction on 88 Centennial Avenue B and is hereby adopted on the first reading that it be published in the official newspaper and that a second reading of public hearing in be held at 7:30 p.m. prevailing time at the Piscataway Municipal Building 455 hos Lane Piscataway New Jersey as well as by remote meeting format on the 30th day of January 2024 be further resolved that a copy of this ordinance shall be posted in at least two public places within the township prior to the day of the second reading and final passage and a copy of this ordinance shall be made available at the office of the Township Clerk for any interested member of the public thank you Miss Cedar do I have an offer offer do I have a second second Mr would you please take the roll call vote councilwoman carmichel yes councilman Espinosa yes councilwoman Lombardi yes councilman Rouse yes councilman Shaw yes councilman Erin yes council president Cahill yes and the ordinance passes on first reading that'll bring us to number 12 which is an ordinance on first reading an ordinance releasing extinguishing and vacating the rights of the public in portions of Clon Street Brook Avenue and Field Avenue it is a resolution adopting ordinance Miss Cedar would you please read the ordinance be it resolved by the township Council of pasca Township New Jersey that an ordinance entitled an ordinance releasing extinguishing and vacating the rights of the public in portions of Clawson Street Brook Avenue and Field Avenue in the township of Piscataway County of middlex and state of New Jersey B and is hereby adopted on the first reading that it be published in the official newspaper and that a second reading of public hearing be held at 7:30 p.m. prevailing time at the pasca municipal building 455 hos scatter New Jersey as well as by remote meeting format on the 30th day of January 2024 be a further resolve that a copy of this ordinance shall be posted in at least two public places within the township prior to the day of the second reading and final passage and a copy of this ordinance shall be made available at the office of the Township Clerk for any interested member of the public thank you Miss Cedar do I have an offer okay thank you do I have a second second Miss Cedar would you please take the roll call vote councilwoman carmichel yes councilman espanosa yes councilwoman Lombardi yes councilman Rouse yes councilman Shaw yes councilman Erin yes counc president kahill yes and the ordinance passes on first reading so that'll bring us to number 13 which is the consent agenda resolution for efficiency items have President we're going to hold the TT it needs a little bit more engineering review the trip party agreement between South planfield and middle traff signal light well okay so that was part of my my question it was if anything had to be voted on separately chance to finish sorry about that so let me just State the consent vote verbiage for efficiency items have been Consolidated in consent agenda to be voted on together the materials for these items have been distributed to the council in advance of the meeting at this time are there any items that the council would like removed from the consent agenda item to be discussed or voted on separately TT thank you Tim will be removed is there anything else that the council or Administration has comment or needs to be removed or voted on separately on the consent agenda items okay see none can I get an offer offer do I have a second second Dennis Miss Cedar would you please take the roll call vote uh sure and and then after I do that I actually read the names because these are the people that we swear in okay very good councilwoman carmichel yes councilman espanosa yes councilwoman Lombardi yes councilman Rouse yes councilman Shaw yes council president K yes yes okay so the following are the appointments appointment of Kelly Mitch as Deputy municipal clerk appointments of Kelly Mitch and DEP as deputy registar and Bunty sud as alternate Deputy registar of Vital Statistics appointment of Joseph Lombardi as conflict emergency Municipal Court judge appointment of Michelle styles to the board of Ethics appointments of Carmen Braxton Barbara Bridgers and Barbara Pollock to the cultural arts advisory commission appointments of Crystal Anderson Steve sladkey Franklin Leroy Gibson to the health advisory commission appointment of Lynwood Rouse to the Housing and Community Development advisory committee appointments of Evelyn Hartman Timothy dacey Chris irovando Janine albanes and Kimberly Lan to the library Board of Trustees appointment of Thomas Raa as certified Animal Control control officer and sha melli as animal cruelty investigator appointments of Joanna drenan William Keenan and Henry Kenny to the property maintenance board of appeals appointment of Raheem Hashi Hashi Helen Perillo Omar goswami Michelle Lombardi akmed molani and Cindy G to the public relations advisory commission appointment of Dennis Espinosa Aaron Gibbs Frank Anan Pat Morgan Rico Hernandez and tallaha Khan to the recreation advisory commission appointments of Henry Kenny and Alex Atkins to the rent leveling board appointments of Walter honer Herman Jackson chore Lee man Louie Antonio abano Joyce Kohl's and Karen odonnell to the senior citizens advisory commission appointments of Joyce Kohl's Michelle Lombardi and Marilyn oday to the senior citizen housing Board of Trustees appointments of Cal PES Patel and Steven Weissman to the Zoning Board of adjustment appointment of James F Clark and thei Esquire as supervising prosecutor appointments of Thomas Jay Lanza Esquire and John Kosinski Esquire as Township prosecutors appointment of Timothy dacey as public agency compliance officer appointments of James Harding Esquire and John wisuki Esquire as public defenders appointment of Vanessa cologne as Municipal Court Administrator appointment of Angela dos Santos as Deputy Municipal Court Administrator appointments of Robert Gore Christopher yotus William Griffith Thomas presolski Brad Stover and Joseph Quigley as special police officers appointment of Maria E Valente camera as a qualified purchasing agent appointment of Alex Moise as the tax collector appointment of vanana kurana as the treasurer appointment of guy gaspari as a recycling coordinator as well as guy gaspari appointed as a clean communities coordinator thank you Miss Cedar you went through that quicker than I thought okay um all right so next so Mr Mayor uh that brings to number 14 with it which is oath of office so yep so now everyone uh who uh is going to be sworn in tonight may come up here if you want grab a Bible to have you torn on we'll do that now and the mayor will administer the oath of office for all these various uh positions okay you're repeat after me I and state your name do solemnly swear that I'll support the Constitution and I will support the constition of the United States of the United States and of the state of New Jersey and of the state of New Jersey that I will bear true Faith willar true faith and allegiance to the same and alance to the same and the government's established and the government's established in the united states in the United States and in this state and in this state under the authority of the people the authority of the people that I will Faithfully that I will faithfully impartially and justly andly perform all the duties perform all the duties of the office of of the office of there you go and state your office okay according to the best of my ability ACC to best ability okay best my ability congratul see that was easy if uh those folks that just took the oath if you want to execute your um sign Oaths right there um uh we have them in the back there so if you want to go up and sign them that'll be helpful we can multitask here in Piscataway yep thank you mayor we appreciate that announcement um and as folks are doing that um we can then go to number 15 which are the appointment of council committees Miss Cedar would you please read those sure 2024 appointment of council committees Public Safety Committee Sharon carmichel Michelle Lombardi and Frank Erin the Public Works committee Sharon carmichel carmichel Dennis Espinosa and Lynwood Rouse to the finance committee Michelle Lombardi capil Shaw and Frank Anin and the Personnel committee Dennis Espinosa Lynnwood Rouse and capil Shaw thank you Miss Cedar um and that'll bring us to number 16 which announcements and comments from officials um and tonight we we're not going to necessarily go in alphabetical order because we're going to go to the person who's sitting there in the first uh councilwoman Lombardi um take this opportunity to have your comments first okay that's great I'd like to wish everybody a very happy and healthy uh 2024 I'd also like to thank Frank for uh his Service as president in uh 2023 thank you for everything you did for us um council president um and incoming uh Gabrielle kahel we look forward to working with you and accomplishing great things and uh let's hope that we don't get a lot of snow over the weekend the woman car Michael thank you madam chair uh I am happy to uh be here to serve on these committees uh thank you so much for uh giving me the honor to to be to serve and uh I promise to do my best and to work hard and represent the township and the council to the best of my ab ability and uh thank you Frank ER for your leadership and your coaching and congratulations to uh president K Hill and vice president espanosa and thank you to all my council members who support me in the township and everyone in the township uh have a happy and a prosperous New Year looking forward to working with you thank you councilwoman councilman espanosa um thank you Madame President um I want to thank again this team has been incredible um I I've I've gotten so much support uh and learning so much uh I just want to say thank you uh thank you to Frank uh and everyone on this on this uh Council I also want to thank the public for you know uh in in opening up and and and letting me hear their concerns and and it's it's it's residents and and and um and and the people Piscataway that we need to work together in order for us to move forward and I'm expecting a lot more feedback from uh our communities so that way we can work together and move forward in 2024 so I'm looking forward for that especially that and um and may everybody be healthy in 2024 thank you thank you councilman espanosa councilman Rouse oh yes uh first of all I want to just say congratulations uh to our incoming President and Vice President and to tell Frank he did a marvelous job and to uh prepare myself now to get back in action with everybody uh for to do all we can do to make uh pasca way the the best Township to live in um it's been trying been the last trying a year and a half but uh I'm here in 2004 uh 24 and things are going very well uh I want to thank the mayor and all the council for all their concern all their support uh in all their prayers and looking forward uh to being uh very very physical and uh visible in this upcoming year so I want to thank everybody once again thank you councilman Rouse that was lovely councilman sha happy New Year and this is my e year here work with this Council team and mayor I learn lot of things and I want to say special to all Township employee work with them is really enjoy and lot of things learn from them too and very supportive so I want to say thank you to everybody and Frank last year presidentship is great and incoming Gabrielle and and good luck for 2024 thank you thank you councilman cha councilman Ern yes I just want to wish everybody a happy and healthy New Year and congratulations to Gabrielle president and Denis vice president and I just want to thank everybody for the support for last year I really appreciate it Mr Mayor uh very very want to thank uh all the volunteers here with our great Community uh for most of you that don't realize we really rely on the volunteers in our community a lot to provide a lot of uh great services within our community uh we're very fortunate enough that we have a very large volunteer base of people that want to give up their time and help the community at large uh whether it's the boards and commissions or volunteering in emergency services or Etc or any other uh item so I really once again on behalf of myself and and our professional staff to thank thank all the volunteers out there uh as a quick note uh we're going to have a very busy year coming up uh we're expecting to get more of these road projects out to bid uh reconstructing a lot of streets in town uh continue renovating our 27 Municipal Parks uh obviously working on the ecological Park uh and a lot of other items out there and I I don't want to be bold to say this right now but uh until we get to the budgeting I would not be surprised if we have our tax rate either stay stable or go down again so that would be great news Mr Mayor that would be the seventh year in a row wonderful wonderful Mr Daisy just like to wish everybody a Happy New Year and look forward to working with everybody this year it should be a very very exciting year thank you just yeah looking forward to working with the administration and the council this year and I think we'll do some great things thank you and I too would like to thank give a special thanks um to Frank ER Frank um led us through this uh last year um professionally I don't think you missed uh one council meeting you did not um yes he does um and Frank you know it it's not lost on me uh how much you've dedicated your life to this town not just here on this Council but your entire life with your coaching your uh whole entire family actually being involved in um and now your service here on Council um he was very fitting um and um I am very grateful and appreciative for your leadership thank you and Dennis I look forward to you um as well working with you the entire uh Council uh to the township of Piscataway um I think that you cannot find more uh grateful Council here to serve you and to be your public servants and to have your confidence I think between um our tax rate um our public uh Services uh certainly during the time of covid I'd like to remind everybody that the township um did not stop running we did not have to Furlow anyone and uh Services kept going and that is through uh the leadership at the top Mr Mayor our business administrator um our CFO Daniel the entire staff the entire staff here at the municipal building works hard every day um to give our residents the best service that they can and um I look forward to this year I look forward to finding more ways to do right by our residents every day and I know that this team is ready for that so super excited okay uh sorry about that got a little long winded there um oh and also too let me Les not we forget our our Clerk and our assistant clerk who sit up here all the time and have to listen to our long- winded speeches thank you very much uh you are the face two of this town and Dana I know is in the back there cman and Jen Johnson all of you um who are frontf facing to our residents thank you very much all right okay now that takes care of that number 17 will be uh discussion for the consent session for uh the agenda for the session um on January 30th 2024 the first item will be an ordinance on second reading amending and supplementing chapter 21 zoning it will be also open to the public and it will be a resolution adopting ordinance to any of the council or Administration have questions or or concerns on that seeing none that will be on the next item will be an ordinance on second reading amending and supplementing chapter 7 traffic section 40 control for the movement and parking of traffic on public and private property to assert title 39 jurisdiction on 88 Centennial Avenue it will also be open to the public and it is a resolution adopting ordinance are there any comments or questions regarding this item seeing none that will be on the next item will be an ordinance on second reading an ordinance releasing extinguishing and vacating the rights of the public in portions of Clon Street Brook Avenue and Field Avenue it will be open to the public and it is a resolution adopting ordinance is there any or questions regarding this from I would like some clar clarification on that one this is over by the fire training all the paper streets over by the fire training site over there extinguishing them too they would be to to the part where we're going to have a Redevelopment site out there uh to the to the properties out out there where the old um Lela bus company was I don't know if you ever been back there it's uh Leela bus company has left Piscataway and uh we're trying to get that site cleaned up because it's actually in deplorable condition quite frankly um so it's not quite contiguous to um where the Best Buy is but it's in that same area it's adjacent to the fire training it's Center gotcha thank you very much so uh those are all of the items now for uh the next meeting so we'll go on to 18 which will be open to the public for remote attendees so for if you are remote and if you wish to speak at this time please raise your hand either on the Zoom app or if by phone by pressing star9 when it is your turn to speak you will receive receive or hear a request to unmute yourself please click the prompt or press star9 on your phone to unmute yourself at that time please state your name and address and know that you have three minutes in which to make your comments the council or Administration will respond if necessary after you have completed any comments or questions Miss Cedar do we have anyone in the public president there are no individuals remotely with their hand raised okay so then I'm going to close the remote public portion and that'll bring us to the in-person public portion if you wish to speak at this time please come to the podium state your name and address and know that you have three minutes in which to make your comments you may take a seat after completion of your comments or questions and the council or Administration will then respond if necessary so if anyone has any comments or questions now would be the time to come to the podium state your name and address and note that you have three minutes in which to speak oh you and hold it keep it held down okay excellent thank you good evening and Happy Holidays happy holiday mayor thank you mayor and council president VP and all council members congratulations to uh the new president and vice president and uh thank you to the former uh folks who served in that capacity may may I just ask you to state your name and address yes I'm Sharon Robinson Briggs my address is 407 Silverton Place Piscataway New Jersey 08854 thank you uhu absolutely and I'm joined by my mom Mrs verel Robinson who's been a resident of Piscataway for over 50 years and I'm very happy to join you this evening thank you mayor Waller my school Chum uh for your appointment reference uh for me to the Civil Rights advisory commission um it will be my pleasure to use my experience to serve all of the people of Piscataway and I thank you for this opportunity to be of assistance thank you ah yes thank you mayor is there anyone else in the public who'd wish to speak now is the time to come up state your name and address and note that you have three minutes in which to make your comments okay see none then I am Clos before you ask for you can ask for close I'd like to make a comment about Mr Baker oh yes no Mr Baker is allegedly retired now our former Township attorney but he's still here in the audience oh I think he's taken a long sabatical uh actually he's still on call for any legal work but uh the day-to-day operation of being a towns attorney has been turned over to Raj uh so I want Tok thank Mike for all the hard work he did for many a years as the township attorney um and for those of you who don't know personally Mike personally uh he is a farmer at at heart uh he has a very big farm in his hometown of East Brunswick where he Farms on a consistent basis and him and I swap stories on on who's growing the bigger Tomatoes or the better fr fruit and things like that and vegetables uh so I Mike I wish you luck uh tilling your your soil that bring the fruits of the earth out of there in your retirement oh Michael I did not see you back there you're hiding thank you very much thank you mayor that was very nice so let me just back to then closing the public portion so um now I am closing the public portion and that will bring us to the last item ajour do I have an offer offer do I have a second second second all those in favor say I hi hi any Nays hi none we are adjourn I got my G