aliance to the flag of the United States of America to the Republic for which it stands nation liy and justice for all can I have a roll call please La council member Bonas is excused council member Cassidy pres council member facy Blackwood pres council member Forest pres council member Janome pres council member Triano here Portman here we're gonna jump right to the best part about this meeting hands down we have a bunch of Champions in our midst ladies and gentlemen congratulations guys I'm going to lead everyone here in a sing along of We Are the Champions ready we are the CHS now all right so let me read this Proclamation on your behalf burrow of Redbank Red Bank Rockets middle school boy soccer team 2023 Championship winners whereas the hard work dedication sportsmanship talent and camaraderie of the 2023 Red Bank Middle School boys soccer team has enabled these student athletes to earn the Shore Athletic League championship title and whereas Red Bank Middle School Rockets boy soccer team won the Shore Athletic League championship by beating Ranny School Panthers it just gets better and better and whereas Red Bank Middle School Rockets boys soccer team has brought honor to Red Bank school district and the community finishing the season 92 and one and whereas the entire coaching staff team member parent parents faculty and student body at Red Bank Middle School were integral in helping the team to Victory through their unwavering support now therefore on behalf of the burough Council I William Portman mayor of the burough of Red Bank do hereby recognize the Red Bank Rockets Middle School boys soccer team for achieving the Great accomplishments of winning the 2023 Shore Athletic League Championship come up and take a picture I'm gonna give everyone I have a uh um of Excellence for every player so yeah we get a picture first you look recognized individually oh great okay you Eduardo Eduardo let me see let me see this let me I see you I see everybody I see you Mr schmeer you should go up front yeah I gotta be you're tall stay in the back righty mayor no I see you all right guys all right smile yay we are the champions what other town is a mayor that would do that all right right here guys thank you all right give me a chance on three one two three all right work I have individual certificates for each player so let me absolutely want to speak first coach yeah perhaps yeah let's do that yeah um sure why of you guys have a seat bring up one by one and actually coach do me a favor speak in the microphone so everyone can hear you online listening as well right you want here you want I can bring it over for you and you can face everybody there you go a little more nervous right good evening my name is John Rue I am the assistant boys soccer coach at Red Bank Middle School on behalf of coach John andronov itz our athletic director Isaac Nathanson superintendent Dr Jared rummage our principal JT Pearson I also want to thank Mr Dy Mr jelli for coming out tonight Administration and the team I want to thank mayor Portman and the council for inviting us here tonight to receive this Donn lenon said I'm I'm an artist give me a tuba I'll bring you something out of it at Red Bank Middle School if you drop a soccer ball at the feet of a student chances are they'll bring you something out of it we are a soccer school this year we began our season by having 49 boys try out for our Squad eligible players must be between grades 6 through eth by my math those 49 boys equate to over 25% of eligible students I know many more boys beyond that would love to be on the team but did not come out for various reasons the players you see here with me tonight are the best of that group going back to the years before 2020 I was not a coach at the time but from what I know it was typical to have over 50 boys come out for the team those squads would have undefeated seasons and bring home championship trophies it was the norm unfortunately the 2020 season was canceled for us as it was for many kids around the world in 2021 we were able to take the field again that season was my first season as the assistant coach and we were led by coach Kristen myello we had 25 kids try out everyone made the team we had a third place finish that season we weren't back quite yet the following year we had 30 kids try out we had a fantastic season but unfortunately we lost in the championship and took home second place so close but still not where we wanted to be this season I was excited to get started this had to be the year we had a big Talent poll of tryouts and our final Squad had all of the elements we had Talent skill speed size and some of these kids can kick a soccer ball really really hard however we had a rocky start to our season we ended our first match in a tie that match was followed by a loss to our rival we were 0 one and one to start the season but I was not worried all the components were there we just had to come together as a team and build our confidence as a collective unit steadily this squad did just that what made this possible is that this is a team comprised of gentlemen this is a first class group of kids that support each other and do what's right for the good of the team from that point on we would go on to win all of our games for the rest of the season except for one against the school that you mentioned when we again lost to our Ral no worries we will see them again we saw them again in the championship game on their Turf the game was competitive from the start both teams going back and forth But ultimately we went into the half down one to nothing no worries then the second half began and it magic led by our captains Kevin quena and Jason Ramirez we put five goals in the net in a matter of minutes we rolled through the second half and we got to celebrate once that final whistle blew we were back this team is deserving of experiencing the joy that we all felt that day their hard work their selflessness camaraderie and sportsmanship were rewarded in the end I'm proud to be their coach and I proud of them want to thank you again for inv inviting us tonight and we hope to be back then next yeah and I'd like to call up each player for individual recognition I played soccer my whole life from seven to like 48 yeah he did not easy to do what you guys did you're Champions you'll always be Champions congratulations I have certificate of excellence um individual recognition ran actually just you know what come this way next time guys when you come up yeah there we go come on up right congratulations position sixth grader be back next year David aralo David Castillo conratulations nice uh Chris cantes he was ill today Captain Kevin quena Flores Tony buddy R Kik Guerrero Johan Jimenez congratulations thank you you are more than wel and thank you Giovani Jimenez Maro Leonardo rapael Rafa Lopez Kev pantel Alex Ramirez Captain Jason Ramirez Fernando Ramirez Henry Selenas Santa Maria yeah Ardo Oliver Tio Kevin soar B Vasquez Eden Velasquez one more time for the champions thank you great work if you guys want to sneak out now you're welcome to you're welcome to stay but you don't have to stay you come back yeah yeah come back nj.org you can find the council meeting schedule you come well he Lana took him they have to leave so you can St that 22 kids yeah 49 said ridiculous percent out okay moving on we have one more um Proclamation it the 7th anniversary 75th anniversary of Human Rights month whereas the 75th anniversary of Human Rights month marks a significant milestone in the global movement for justice and equality it is an opportunity to reflect on the progress made over the past decades and acknowledge the challenges that still remain this anniv reminds us of the enduring importance of Human Rights and their role in shaping a just and inclusive Society reflecting on the past 75 years of the human rights movement it is evident that significant progress has been made during this period we have seen the dismantling of discriminatory laws the advancement of civil rights and the recognition of the inherent dignity and worth of every individual through the tireless efforts of activists Advocates and Grassroots organizations countless lives have been positively impacted and oppressive systems have been challenged despite the significant achievements made in the past seven decades it is essential to acknowledge that the work is far from over discrimination inequality and human rights violations persist in many forms across the globe eradicating these deeply ingrained prejudices requires a collective effort to challenge and change societal norms and attitudes in 1948 the universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted by the United Nations this groundbreaking document recognized the fundamental rights and freedom freedoms to which all individuals are entitled regardless of their race gender religion or any other characteristic civil rights movements across the world have fought for and secured legislative changes that ensure equal protection and opportunities for marginalized communities from the ending of a parth in South Africa to the legalization of same-sex marriage in numerous countries these victories represent the power of collective solidarity and a tireless pursuit of Justice the human rights movement has seen gain in the recognition and protection of vulnerable populations efforts efforts to advance women's rights have resulted in the establishment of laws and policies that protect against discrimination violence and gender-based inequalities the rights of children have also been prioritized leading to Broad advancements in education Healthcare and protection from exploitation indigenous communities have fought for recognition and pre preservation of their culture land and self-determination leading to important strides in the recognition of their rights and the need for inclusive policy in celebration of the 75th anniversary of Human Rights month we Proclaim our commitment to upholding the fundamental rights and dignity of every individual human rights are the Bedrock of a just and Equitable society and it is our duty to protect and promote these rights for all as we reflect on the progress made and the challenges that persist let us come together to renew our dedication to the principles enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights now therefore be it resolved that I William Portman mayor of the burough of Redbank on behalf of the council and citizenry of Red Bank to hereby Proclaim December 10th 2023 as human rights day and December 2023 is human rights month I call upon the people of Red Bank to join us as we honor the past address the present and Invision the future where human rights are universally respected and upheld and witness where I of he who have set my hand and caus the Seal of the B of Red Bank to be fixed this 14th day of December 2023 okay are we um on the just they can speak okay for okay got you um but again that's just okay it's just it okay um can I have a motion to open up the public hearing make such a motion mayor can I have a second second all in favor I okay someone doing a presentation no summarize it okay um I know Darren's on Zoom Darren do you want to summarize um if you can for everybody the New Jersey Green Acres Park development program for improvements at count BC field sure so this is a um a grant through Green Acres um it was the second time we're submitting this grant we submitted it last year we're unsuccessful but we're trying for the next round the funding it's um approximately $1.1 million for complete um rebuilding of the bleachers uh the hom side bleachers um to include the concrete structure all the benches and the Press Box um if anybody's seen it lately the uh the bleachers aesthetically are not very pleasing but also the metal uh benches we've had to remove several of them because they were damaged Beyond use and were um had sharp edges that could cut somebody so while they're safe at the moment they're definitely showing their age from the best we can tell they're about 90 years old um and in need of replacement at this point but as everybody can see from the price tag it's a large number so without some sort of funding from Green Acres or another source it wouldn't be you know necessarily the the top priority project for us but it is a good project for this particular Grant and that's why uh between myself the engineer and our grant consultant we we uh submitted this project right and so you're just letting just basically we're letting everybody know that we've applied for this Grant and when do you think we we hear about it we should we didn't actually apply yet we're having the public hearing the application is due uh later this month um we had to do this public notice first um we should hear the um sometime around July of um 2024 we should have the result thank you Darren um anyone have any thoughts in the uh anyone is here have any thoughts on on um the grants that we're be applying for we open that up yeah no anyone online all right well hopefully we'll get the grant um yeah can I make a comment sure um I've been to it many times obviously U the last few years public schools have done their graduation there um I think it's time that we somehow find a way to fix um the bleachers actually one concern that the V manager didn't mention that really bugs me is there's no railings you know you walk up there and I guess back in the day when they built in the 30s there's just no railings up there and uh you know it's in desperate need of attention um we actually I've been to a lot of events there that were not connected to Red Bank Catholic I know a lot of people online were saying Red Bank cath you know it's a Community Place lot of things happen there um you know it's been 70 years I guess since we've done a lot of work there so I think actually applying for the cant makes a lot of sense because it is a big ticket and um you know the Parks and Recreation program's a lot of stuff there um you know it's an important asset to the community so I certainly support applying for the grant well and if that doesn't work you know maybe finding some funding because at some point we will have to take action you know we could even possibly have liability there I just it's not it's not particularly safe you have to be very careful up in there so that's my comment Mr Mayor thank you councilman they else yeah I'll just state that um you know the boys that literally just left the room that we were celebrating you know a project like this impacts them um this isn't a do we want to do this or not want to do this this is a it's only a matter of time before it has to be done I agree that it's a liability um it's it's you know it's unfortunate that the price tag of work is the price tag of work but if that's the cost of this project you know we can't say oh we're just going to let our bleachers fall down and not have bleachers that's not that's not an option in this case so I hope that this gets pressed I hope that green anchors hears us that this is a really worthy project um and I hope that you know that rolls the ball forward for us to you know easily be able to do this so if you're out there listening to us please consider us for your Grant thank you anyone else yes good evening everyone uh you need my name and address allen hill 64 McLaren street so just a question really about the grant is any uh attention going to be paid to the conditions of of changing rooms and showers uh store rooms offices and kitchens or is it just the bleachers I understand having not ever been in the changing but that they are in need upgrading and bringing into the 21st century Darren is there uh yeah yes there is it's not not so much for the kitchen that's a separate building but everything that's contained in the bleachers so there's a locker room in there changing area as Mr Hill said um and there's some uh storage areas used by ebw so that would all be refreshed and updated with the screen thank you anyone else okay and I have a motion to close the public hearing how many such a motion is have a second second all in favor I I I um next up we have public comments on agenda items only I have a motion to open up the hearing for public comments so move have a second second all in favor hi okay Mr Po you got your hand up first evening good evening ladies and gentlemen this is William koku 90 Bank Street it working move it closer if you can 90 Bank Street okay I'd like to start by uh setting up a little Pro I've got a few um agenda items that I want to cover but uh a little prop is going to help me uh explain everything partly on uh official I mean I'm unprofessional uh nature of it all right so I have here uh a bottle with water in it that represents um devel affordable land water it's an empty bottle that's vacant land affordable water develop V develop affordable land water develop affordable land high fructose corn syrup high density luxury apartments now I'm speaking relative to the developers agreement in one of those uh resolutions what happens is that the uh developers agreement is between Red Bank and the developer but I recall that uh a long time ago when the lcks were being built NAACP was involved in the agreement because NAACP is concerned about affordable housing now you have to understand that the whole Doctrine Mount Mount Laurel Doctrine came about because the NAACP sued uh Southern Burlington County and that's what brought that land M case in 1969 now we have a situation here in Red Bank where were asking for one of those um resolutions something that basically translates to a Transit village now if you want to really see what a Transit Village looks like you know pay go go over to uh Atlantic City and and see whether that's what you really uh would like to happen in red man now if what is being proposed was eventually going to lower taxes for long-term residents I'd have no quals about it we are building some more Cedar Crossings and uh we were getting uh people to come out into Red Bank and uh build a nice diverse community that would be perfectly all right but one would think that if you brought in a million doll high density property the revenue generated should benefit all these existing long-term Pro uh uh what you call it uh residents but that's not the case that's not what's happening in Red Bank people are complaining that despite the fact that we're pulling in huge amounts of revenue from all these high density luxury units the taxes keep going up every year for the past few years and one of the reasons in my opinion is What's called the assessment development program where it looks like we're relying on some kind of a computer program or whatever to generate what it believes is fair taxes for all but what it's really doing is fair taxes for the uh profit driven industry so what am I going to do about it I have brought action against this town okay so there's a pending lawsuit asking for uh the courts to review what we're doing so my suggestion is that you need to put a breaks on the idea of Transit Village and uh start thinking about how we can make this place more affordable and uh welcome into all kinds of people so I try to I'd like to bring your attention and please if my minutes is up wave and I will set up and go away uh I'd like to bring your attention to the the story of Nat King Co Nat King Co was a very very wealthy and uh uh accomplished uh musician and he moved into some area in uh Hollywood and the folks that lived there didn't want him they try to burn his house uh try to buy it and all that but eventually what happened was that they they kept on harassing him because he was not he was like an undesirable uh in that Community Red Bank is at the crossroads we don't want to create anything like that like what natkin called we have established a great infrastructure here lunch break the Bon job be place and people can go out there and get stuff but they have no place to go to sleep need to change that so that's my presentation thank you Mr Pro give a minute pack it up and then by the way you must you must love those Tostitos right that's it you're like I'm gonna save these jars I know I'm going to have a use for them one day I like pante and that's one of the nice things that the Hispanics have brought to our community they are a blessing else have a comment on agenda items only sure come on up Dad all right so to No One surprise I'm here to talk about resolution name and address yeah and re 20 iring Place uh I'm here to talk about resolution NP 23140 um sending a request the planning board to explore a uh declaring an area of Red Bank an area in U Need of uh need of new development so uh I've got a few objections I I said some of them last uh last meeting uh so I'll be repeating some but um my first is the only reason there are only two reasons uh to declare uh something a Redevelopment area as opposed to a rehabilitation area and those are condemnation you want to take somebody's property through a domain or you want to give somebody a 30-year tax break those are the only two things that you gain by moving from an a rehabilitation area to to Redevelopment area so if don't intend uh this is a non-c condentation area so it can't you can't be using eminent domain but if you don't intend to give 30-year tax breaks then I'd ask you look at the designation of a rehabilitation area um I don't know maybe a third of this area is already in area in need of Rehabilitation from five years ago uh so you could just expand that um easily so um I'd rather see Rehabilitation than Redevelopment um and the Redevelopment area is uh in the law a blighted area it's an area that's lighted it's not an area where you could uh it's not about trying to give developers the right uh conditions to build something special it's about uh trying to build something where no one will build um that's not the case with our train station the the developer who will benefit from this 30-year tax break just built a building that's inside this area in need of Redevelopment it's it's not in need of uh any kind of special tax breaks or spot zoning uh people want to build there um if we give them the chance they will build there they'll build as much as they can there um so I don't think we need to go through uh this sort of twisting of the Redevelopment law to for the convenience of a developer for the benefit of a developer um and to be clear the New Jersey Transit did say if you want to be a Transit bill you need to either have a Redevelopment plan which for which you would need either a Redevelopment area or a rehabilitation area you need either a Redevelopment plan or a Zone they don't want the overlay that we currently have but you could simply take the overlay Zone and make it the Zone uh that makes a lot of sense to me rather than having the br1 Zone The br2 Zone The br1 Zone with the overlay br2 Zone with the overlay and then a Redevelopment area um I don't think we need that many areas in that small an area just say this is the transit Village Zone build to these requirements um and those requirements are more generous than uh most of the the rest of the Town um so um yeah the only other thing I wanted to say is in support of what Mr fku said um I've been keeping track of of what classes of property are paying taxes what percentage of the tax burden in this town and for residents it's been around 60% um starting in 2013 the lofs came online and another big apartment building came online and we actually did see uh an increase in the share of taxes paid by apartments and a decrease in the share of taxes paid by other Residential Properties that went away uh now we have gone back up and uh residents are again residents are now paying above the median for the 34 years that I've been um tracking it so um building more Apartments has not worked uh to lower T tax bills that's all thanks thank you D oh I'm sorry I saw your hand next good evening I'm Mike zadlock president of Red Bank PBA local 39 um I just have a statement to say and we'll be out um as many you recall Red Bank PBA executive board spoke to this body on August 10th 2023 we alerted you of our multiple concerns involving Chief mcc's actions which we PBA LC 39 find demeaning and counterproductive to this department the best of our knowledge since that August meeting there has been no visible action that we are aware of taken by this body or any other body in order to investigate the claims and concerns we made on behalf of Redbank PBA local 39 we have seen no progress with the Attorney General's office investigation and we are unaware of whether the mammoth County Municipal joint Insurance Fund has investigated this manner or been alerted to the potential futureal litigation and we bring this to light because we'd like Township our to avoid lawsuits as a result of questionable leadership we would like to alert you of what we have seen since the August meeting uh we recently filed a grievance concerning the lieutenant and Captain promotional procedure um I point this out simply because I find this at best pathetically coincidental that I the Red Bank PBA president the most vocal opponent against Chief uh McConnell was singled out as being ineligible for the promotion under the chief's claim that I never received that he never received a letter of intent or a cover letter um despite the fact that I handed I hand delivered the resume and cover letter to his office personally uh the larger pool of applicants are the better chance for a sound promotion selective exclusion and exclusion based on uh retribution should never be tolerated we are heartened by the soon arrival of the new city manager and we request an immediate meeting with Mr Gant to address the concerns this Union has concerning the deficiencies of the police department which we consider to be ineffective leadership at the top and avoid any costly litigation the ineffective leadership was the basis of PBA 39's Ved no voed no confidence against Chief McConnell by a margin of 85% of our voted members um having no confidence in him 85% of our Union has no confidence in him poor supervision leads unwanted and unnecessary cost and compromise and in the end it's detrimental the overall operation of our Enterprise especially at Police Department we simply want to do our job and Serve and Protect the residents of this town in the most effective way we can the union has filed the most amount of grievances during the tenure of Chief McConnell than any other police chief in Red Bank history that we are aware of Simply want to return to a period of Labor Harmony between the police Union the administration the mayor and councel that all of us uh May better Serve the People of Red Bank thank you officer you thank you and you had an opportunity to meet the new manager tonight Mr Gant who's right there you have any questions for him in the hallway uh I saw suan first before sir his name is scobby 25 C Street I want to speak about the np23 1-41 um obviously it's a done deal but my concern is and I just want to highlight so we don't miss an opportunity uh with this big development being constructed a first phase obviously being constructed and B when it comes to fruition um Mechanic Street is part of this um is a side street to this development so I was wondering if anyone uh gave any thought or should be giving some thought about how it affects we turn off um Broad Street for the summer and it's a deadend street for mechanic but with now that corner being built up you're gonna have more traffic you're gonna have more cars you you're more pedestrians which is great your people walking but my concern is um I hate to wait till the last minute to appease construction and more residents moving into town um I also have a question on the lead program um it could be under np23 138 were 128 uh I spoke about this in the past um on the West Side they did dig the holes and um some grass got pulled up and that was fixed but I've noticed Patchwork where it was cement but it's getting patchwor with the the black top so it really looks um looks horrible because you have a nice sidewalk and you got a black top spot um one house on uh Bridge Avenue has a beautiful um brick layout a little pattern and now you got this splatch of black top in it uh so I was just wondering if that is ever going to be put back to the way they left it or the way they found it uh so it doesn't look just looks bad um that's all so I didn't know if you guys looked into any of that mayor I can address the one item if you'd like go ahead sorry I know it's I know it's weird having me up here instead of over there but anyway um the concrete will be restored it's just that the contractor is waiting to all the test pits and all the replacements are done and then we'll do a restoration of the concrete all at once it's easier to mobilize a Mason one time than it is to have them come in 10 times for different test pits in different areas cool thank you CL I just wanted to make sure the the public understands uh I know Mr Fu and I wasi have mentioned resolutions 139 and 140 which are developers agreements but this body is not approving development here tonight there's no approval or denial of these buildings are development all that was done at the zoning board in the case of um 120 M Street it was done back in October of 2021 the development was approved by the zoning board and with respect to the second one which is uh the subject of 140 which is one globe that was done in January of 2023 by the zoning board so miss bomi raised very good concerns about traffic and and the the the items concerning the development but those were already decided at the zoning board so that's not being considered these two developers agreements only are conditions of those are previously granted approvals and so for 120 M Street the developer is required to uh contribute a substantial sum to in to improve the storm water drainage during the burough project on all of M Street they have to contribute um funds to that because of their development so this council is only entering a new agreement to obtain money from these developers to contribute to the public infrastructure in the latter instance um on one Globe uh they are um contributing to the water infrastructure up to $50,000 depending on the board Engineers determination so these two Agreements are not approving or denying development or really determining anything of what it looks like or anything like that this is simply this governing body is its job to take care of the public infastructure zoning board approves these developments this body deals with the public infrastructure they have to connect to they are extracting um money from these Developers for the public infrastructure so that's what these developers agreements do they don't give them any more rights to develop or do anything other than pay the burrow money for adding the burden to the the public infrastructure so that's what we're accomplishing here tonight as a governing body although your points are well taken um and I I know they are part of the public discourse here in general but I just want to make sure that procedurally everyone knows what we're doing tonight right just to clarify and I'm not speaking for Mr Goku but I've been at the zoning board meetings I'm not here the contestant they not to vote for it I just want to highlight it because it seems sometimes like when we talked about broadwalk and getting things out it was DK there was a debate last year because they wanted to push out push it out last minute so I kind of want to just highlight an issue food for thought so next year if there needs to be a change it's already top of mind for you all before we rush because it is good for some buiness I'm not disputing that it is what it is it's only pass I'm not that's not my point of of bringing anything up my point was just I understand I appre we totally appreciate your your perspective I just wanted to make sure procedurally everyone in the audience knows what we're what we're doing we're voting on infrastructure contributions all right thank you next Barbara boas 135 brch Avenue um I had um a little confusion in my head so I'm going to ask Greg probably be the person to explain it um when I was listening to um Dan before he talked about the 30-year abatement um now my understanding is that that isn't available thing it is not an automatic thing that the minute they apply and be it becomes a Redevelopment or re re organiz re development Development Area um they it doesn't automatically mean that any developer gets a 30-year abatement they have to apply for it and they could apply for five years so they can fly for 30 years or 25 years or 20 years at is my thinking screed up or is just from maybe Dan can clarify from what I understood from what Dan was saying was the only reason you would do this particular designation as if you were either doing condemnation or awarding a you you're saying even if we did it that way we still don't have to award it 30 years it could be that's my understanding but I always yes I think you are correct good facts I didn't my facts were alternate facts I think it's safe to assume that a developer would be looking to get as many years from a pilot as they possibly could you don't have you do not have to give it to them but they and then if it's in the other other category they can only get up to they can get five or seven or five just five years at the at maximum okay I couldn't remember all those numbers um so then my my my brain is not totally gone thank you thank you uh yes Chris and then and then Steve were you did you have your hand up too Jimmy I couldn't see you we behind Chris I'll get you um Chris Havens one live in River Street um first thing I want to say is I think there's a remarkable increase in lighting of houses for decoration for the holidays this you're on the West Side yes yes agreed um I've been uh studying that uh I I too like my neighbor Mr poke who are concerned about affordable housing and there are ways we can deal with that it's very difficult Transit Village in some ways we're already a big Transit Village so it makes sense to really focus on these opportunities as presented by the legislation by potential grants by the interests we'll have I would also suggest to people that real estate developers and probably New York uh New Jersey Transit are studying this area already for these of things they've going on for a while they're thinking about the dirt there the parking lots which are not you can't really rehab a parking lot any great effect so I think we should be studying them too if all these other people are studying them friend a village we should be looking at it too through this uh through this method and the last but not least I think the trans Village idea is a modern green concept around the country that people are talking about M and that's how we are in Red Bank modern and green could be looking at it too thank you thank you mayor if I could just add a comment to this conversation sure I just want to make sure that and I understand that when we have these conversations that they're going to naturally go into the future and what this could mean going forward but the the resolution that we are voting on tonight um which it what it does is it is going to authorize the the planning board to conduct a preliminary investigation of the area and to make recommendations back to this governing body so I just want to make that clear that that is what the vote is on from this council tonight it's not on a specific development it's not on going into these things it's about following a process it's about us authorizing for our planning board which is a separate body to go and investigate and say whether or not what we what we are looking at in this area is true or not and that's also following our master plan um which is a document that you know had a lot of public input and a lot of people towards it um so I just wanted to make it clear on on what it is we're actually talking about tonight because I know it's a larger conversation but all we will be voting on is authorizing that investigative work by the planning board um that is what this vote will be tonight thank you thank you deputy mayor uh Jimmy and then Stephen or you guys can work it out who wants to go first all thank you Jim of cat 135 Branch Avenue I I want to focus for a moment on the um shared services um resolutions that are uh on the agenda and I want to make sure I understand um the uh the net net result of all of this um so I i' like to refer to np23 143 which is an agreement between burrow and Tom Seaman um am I reading this correctly when I look at um this three-year contract um and I look at a certain amount of money that uh comes to the borrow and of that money a certain amount will be um paid to our CFO am am I reading that correctly okay so the um the net result after three years is about $41,000 um that the burrow will ACR uh with these two three-year contracts um and I think that's wonderful if we can um provide a service to our neighbors and make some money the question is um are we sure that we don't need a full-time CFO you want to I can take that if you want so the CFO is a salari position so he works the number of hours required to get the job done so if he has extra work to do since we're now taking responsibility for the CFO services for the other towns and it's important to note it's only the CFO Services we're not running their finance department they have a staff in their finance department we're not taking over that responsibility our CFO will simply be the the um licensed if you will registered CFO for their town and do certain services for them that requires a CFO um but if that takes him an extra 10 hours a month to do that then he has to work the extra 10 hours a month hence the extra compensation it's not if he works 40 hours a week now for example for Redbank he won't be working 35 for Redbank and five to the other towns he would be required to work the extra amount that it takes to complete the task for those towns and those towns as you can see are much smaller towns than ours and his involvement in the day-to-day operations of their finance office would be extremely limited and in many cases done remotely not actually in their in their town it's it's just not the type of work that requires as physical presence is the maximum of four hours per month uh accurate what what um I yeah yeah it is I don't I don't have the I'm sorry I don't have the agreements in front of me but yes what what I worked out with those towns and with our labor attorney that's the accurate the accurate average I mean sure one week one month it could be five months five hours and the next it could be three but yes we expect that to be an accurate number thank you all right Jimmy you've been patient U Jimmy Dar 48 West Avenue Red Bank the question I want to ask this is the Redevelopment this is about up here at U the train station right the train trans St the thing I want to know they was talking about uh Redevelopment and they talking about putting Apartments there right on the last meeting they talking about building up putting apartments right there I think they're talking about they want to put a whole bunch of things there but include Apartments okay but my thing is um from long years ago they might don't remember this up there in Woodbridge they buil some apartments up there right by power lines and I didn't keep the article I wish I did and it was talking about because radiation coming from the power lines and all that it was a a danger and that's why I always said you know when you come in who nobody's a doctor lawyer or engineer or electronic person or chemist you really see how safe is to live in Clos by power lives like this is it a health haard and from what I'm gathering all the years I know this is all way I'm saying why would they do to keep this is why I'm saying that you know sometime all the people that keep talking about that they should have them all here and they said um oh you know when you get off the train you can say look at Red Bank you don't need that to say look at Red Bank you've been born and raised here or you been living here for 30 40 50 60 some people been here 100 years my thing is why do they want to keep it you know over over developed it's already like a you know like you got two arms wrapped around you you can't really look at something and then you look you have to look straight up and they say it's gonna make money but my thing is I always say the the developer is gonna get the tax break but the little person the little person is gonna get pushed outside the the park weight Turn Pike out of New Jersey because you know I seen a lot of my friends moved out and some of them still still leaving and I always say why do you have to keep you got so many apartment buildings around here now why do you need more and you got enough right here and I always said why give tax breaks to the wealthy and you got the person and you giving something to them but the little person is paying for for their stuff and that's why I said sometime they should have them here where you can put the questions right to their face and the Redevelopment train there's nothing wrong with the train station it's good and sound and they talking about you can oh you leave your car home to me car's been around for some people more than some people's lifetime to me it's already enough here and um you should have people here to ask the concrete question that's like I know you can't answer for the zoning board this is why I said somebody said zoning board should be right here we're just not at that phase yet I mean but you know is um not to cut you off that point I'm just thinking about this because every time look around you pick up the newspaper you see this in the newspaper you know you see so much going on at one time and I said I was just speaking for myself I said you know what go ahead and ask these questions now don't wait till it get to the dead end and then you can't answer that then you turn around you gonna sit be sit uh across the street somewhere trying to signal so could I come in and ask you one more question that I should have asked six months ago a year ago and to me and just like you say sax breaks and I understand Lor uh the attorney said they get five or three to me they already making the money building the stuff they gon you know they're gonna do it gonna make the money but my thing is you got to think about the little person too and they keep saying people are not going but if you look stand out and look out sometime and hear from word to mouth people are slowly that you know they migrated came in here now some of them slowly got the uh wagon whatever and they going out they said because it's coming two months it's too small this is not New York like I said this is not San Francisco this is not Chicago the same way if you talk it's all over you know the country the same thing you hear from other people and I always said you know that's too small give you know give he a Brea some breathing R not they got be sitting there H up together you know you got to squeeze in to go somewhere and it's this and this is why I'm just asking these question I I'm not going to wait the next year I said you better go ahead and do it now why it's fresh on your mind and I understand I'm not trying to I want to pour all the water on top y'all at one time but I figured to get these questions out now maybe somebody can come in here because I understand some but some I understand but the tax break five years 30 years and they making the money when they all developed five years and 30 years and look at the money they making off of it hey two we is on but I'm just saying it's too small but keep the breathing room where you have something to breathe thank you thank you Jim I think I saw Allan back his hand up next uh allen hill 64 McLaren Street um it wasn't a surprise this evening but once again despite um the burough saying that minutes would be available for this meeting unless they've been published on the internet in the last uh hour or so they are still not available and I would just like to um said they were posted in the packet when they were when the packet was posted online they're not the the minutes aren't in there yeah I'm going to go back and check that in a minute I I the copy certainly when they were first published the minutes we're not in there okay anyway it talking about like accountability um it was uh kind of disappointing to hear the um president of the PBA um a PDA J when it is U speak just now in that there was no um response from this committee uh sorry from this Council um I'm very concerned that it with the um election of this Council there was a big change to um police's accountability in this town previous to this there was at least a degree of uh civilian oversight of the police department you was done through I think it might have been a Public Safety Committee consisting of the mayor a nominee from the council and I'm not certain if it was the bur administrator or or or the chief because that's been a bit sort of uh hazy for the last couple of views but with the election of this Council the oversight is now change solely to that of the burough administrator and I'd like to know how that um is going to increase transparency from oversight of of the police department and you know effectively put admin sorry put virtually every I don't know policy um every matter of the police just in one person's hands and with no clear no clear way of actually bringing it before the people of of of of Red Bank because remember policing is is not by enforcement it's by consent and the people the community have to know what we're consenting to that's my first point okay thank you and I just just to be clear um what officer zlock said was no no action was taken by the council but I had responded to him uh in writing on the advice of um on the advice of our attorney there's really not much we can do right now um there's an uh AG investigation going on um and Darren can't Chief literally can't retire until that investigation is concluded um he wanted to he was supposed to retire back in August uh and is unable to because of the investigation that was instituted by the PBA so it's a little bit of a an odd situation here um Darren would have been um retired for several months already if that investigation had not been instituted so there's really nothing we can do until that investigation is concluded yeah I understand that I didn't I rais that as an example or I mean yeah I know I know how that's going but I raise that as an example of really quite serious matters arising and yet there's no not even a report so far as I know not even a discussion on amongst yourselves about matters like that so uh so once again I go back to the fact you have to understand is that the Attorney General is in charge of it so we're not allowed to investigate ourselves here I understand that again all these people here did the right thing and passed it up the chain to someone who's independent who looks into it on their own and it's completely out of our control here I am yeah like I say I'm not really worried about that what I am worried about is that there is at some time in the year or once a month a report from the police department and it's not just to knock the police department there's a lot of things I'd like to know about protocols and training and stuff like that that I think we're entitled to know and have a view on or at least Express A View to you it's just not possible is it at the moment because you've never refused to report and now the report is going to stop at the ba and I'm just asking that the ba how is the ba going to report to the community matters of of the police department I'm not asking for confidential matters I'm not asking how you're going to solve a crime or you know I'm not even going to ask if you uh monitor uh ring doorbells I'm not even going to do that but there has to be a time when Community can like I say it's by consent but we don't know if we don't know what we're consenting to it's a bit awkward isn't that well certainly have that opportunity to ask the administ the new uh manager that he starts um part-time on the Monday and full-time on the 1 so you can he will address that I'm sure I'm sure he's in the room I know he'll listen to that um resolution 23133 uh 133 uh concerning the Environmental Protection Park developing enabling resolution I guess this is uh the count basy I I just wondered what um why did the uh burrow uh prioritize count basally against other pars that were in need of of refurbishment and rebuild building for example the Marine um I don't think it was a prioritizing one or the other Marine Park we're still proceeding a pace with and that will um we already have money laid aside for example um for the the parking as soon as that gets approved um we also just did Eastside Park you know the the the the Green Acres um grant that we had applied for we applied last year for both both uh count basy and East Side park and it was awarded to East Side park and we just watch why we just redid the tennis courts and pickle ball courts there and the and the basketball court so um we can I think we can do them simultaneously speaking of Green Acres and I don't expect an answer to this but I don't understand this council's hostility towards putting the Waterfront at the uh um at the senior center on the Green Acres Program I don't want to now but uh it makes some people somewhat cynical uh my the last one I want to raise at the moment is um number 140 that is about the transit Village and I think Mr Roden has uh raised a lot of issues with it and I'm glad to hear the commitment from at least one member of the council that uh nothing's been decided yet but what I am worried about is that you're putting a lot of onus on the planning committee to to investigate and come up with proposals and I just want to know is the planning perit planning committee is it resourced or does it have the expertise to actually do this or are they going to come back and and ask for a budget I don't know or are they going to go out and ask for goodness knows another expert from outside to guide them so that's what I'd like to know thank you okay thank you um that's a longer I I believe and I'm not familiar with all of them but there are many many steps that we have to go through before we would even be getting a Transit Villa designation so um I mean certainly Darren I guess Darren what's the step after let's assume for a second the planning board um investigates finds that this is determines for investigation and say this is a feasible um area needed Redevelopment area needed Redevelopment what's the next step do you know David might know Greg may be better than me at this but I believe the council then appoints a uh firm to do the study the actual study right Greg so this is a study to determine whether the blocks and lots listed meet the the criteria within the Redevelopment law and then if they do the council can adopt ordinance designated in that area in need of Redevelopment but the preliminary step is to determine whether they fit the statute and that's performed by the planning board more specifically as Darren alluded to um a professional planner who studies that area as to the age of the infrastructure the age of the housing stock um what's commonly referred to as blight as Mr Reen was mentioning and and some other factors that are involved there um they escap me off the top of my head right now from the statute but uh essentially that's the CF the statutory criteria fit the area so before the the council Get Next Step of adopting an ordinance designating that area as in need of Redevelopment you have to perform that study so that's the procedural preliminary step thank you yes sir now I don't have to PE are we going to find out with all those shirts bigger one we allance say certainly are is this okay yeah there we go there you go so good evening uh my name is Will Mumford I truth be told currently reside at 54 cresy Drive in Middletown just across the bridge however for several years prior I lived at 226 Bridge Avenue you're the old YMCA and my brother sister mother and grandmother love of my life still call Red Bank home and I wanted to speak today in regards to I think it was MP 23142 regards to man mandated ratios from their s um excuse me can you state your name once again for the record the clerk my first name is Will and my last name is mumf like M and Sons okay without the musical Talent OR Fortune I want to hear you so bad what speak up I want to hear you is this better yes let's go so the more that life goes on the more you appreciate the reality that people experience life different when I walk into a hospital for example I do need not need a translator as a native speaker of English I do not fear the cost of care as until several months ago I enjoyed health insurance and job security nor do either White Coat Syndrome or a historical Legacy of mistreatment by the medical community deter me from active participation in my own care this is not the case for everyone from a nurse's perspective Red Bank has done and continues to do an incredible job of mitigating the barriers to access to care for its residents linguistic financial and otherwise the Parker Clinic where I used to volunteer as As an interpreter the Visiting Nurses Association and countless other organizations offer culturally sensitive care to write the scales and ensure a More Level Playing Field for residents in need of medical intervention the issue becomes that despite these laudable efforts Acuity of sufficient severity occasionally precludes the possibility of local treatment at University Hospital New Brunswick where I work a level one trauma and comprehensive stroke center we regularly receive patients in need of more intensive care from Redbank and neighboring towns the sickest of your sick as a colleague once put it and who addresses the barriers to care once these patients come through our doors we do not all of us but the good ones do and I work with a lot of good ones nurses who Embrace their ultimate responsibility is the discernment and fulfillment of the human needs unique to each patient this is critical to grasp in terms of understanding the consequences that a lack of enforceable Staffing ratios has not merely in terms of medical outcomes but on the dignity that patients enjoy in the hour of their greatest need to illustrate this point I would like to introduce you to a patient of mine for whom I cared several months ago we will call her Marisol Marisol was a Latino woman in her mid-40s who initially came to the hospital to begin treatment for a long-standing HIV infection of which she had been entirely unaware unfortunately the severity of her unchecked infection IND induced an immune reaction to the medication administered resulting in irreversible brain damage of the sort that entails Progressive dysfunction of the entire nervous system imagine for a moment being told of this complication through a translator and that you have one or two months to live each day that passes brings noticeable cognitive and motor decline as you gradually lose the ability to walk to control your bowels or bladder to even speak clearly and express your thoughts you have not told your family or friends of your diagnosis for fear of Abandonment or worse you are utterly alone now imagine that you are her nurse and have five other acutely ill patients to care for it is borderline impossible to meet the full medical need of patients on our floor narrow floor with more than what an enormous body of research has demonstrated to be the safe number of patients per nurse based on Acuity the human needs forget it how can you comfort someone build trust show compassion if you were always running just around the corner thankfully for m a nephew in whom she had confided agreed to bring her to his home to exchange her hospital bed for his own and allow her to die not in the interval between harried nursing rounds and physician consultations but enveloped in love with her human needs the needs that we fail to meet fulfilled mat so was ultimately the casualty of a healthc care system that actively chooses to ignore scientific evidence and the testimony of its own nurses by operating on meaningless non-enforceable guidelines and placing profits over patience in closing as you consider this resolution MP 23142 ask you to vote your conscience with all of your neighbors in mind and if anyone present feels as though ours is a ssfi and effort well- intended but ultimately futile in the context of a healthcare industry so set against change I would respectfully counter with a lesson I learned from my father when I was young that with persistence and effort even Marvel softens to the right touch thank you thank you thank you for being here on behalf of my wife who uh May statement yeah thank you I've been a nurse since 1976 and staffing has always been an issue I also taught Health policy I have a doctor in nursing I've taught Health policy it's a very broken system you are very right thank you for coming thank you for standing up thank you for being here and everything you said is so true thank you yeah I'll of my wife who's a postpartum nurse yeah thank you and thank you all for being here you're either coming off of or heading on to your next 12 to 15 hour shift so we really appreciate you taking the time to be here and I'm just glad I couldn't read the BL blue shirts I'm just glad I I'm not in trouble sorry right still on strike since August 4th so we are coming from the picket line from 7 a.m. oh morning and we're still standing thank you again so those just so I can say that see a picket you don't cross a picket I'm with you I wouldn't cross it if I saw it and I encourage anyone who comes across a pick it out not to cross it of course Emergency Services Etc but support to you and let us know you know my email's online however I can I'm with you um I had the honor of meeting some of you um when I attended Senator Sanders field hearing record so full solidarity uh I just wanted to say uh I know that nurses Hur responders people who have to see that real hurt they never want to have to share those things with the public because they want to carry it with them and they want people to live their everyday lives and they know how heavy to put those things on people so when I was hearing the testimony that day about having to choose between which patient lives or dies because the burden is so big on one person and the constant repa of we're not even asking for more money for ourselves we're just asking for safe Staffing um you know it's it's important to pass res I just ran back here sorry um it's important to pass resolutions like this I believe we're going to be after tonight the 11th town or 12th municipality in the state to pass this um and it does show the importance of bringing things at the local level and bringing them up so I truly hope the governor hears us I hope he speaks out on this issue I hope that you are given all the love and the support and the solidarity that all of you deserve um and we want you to know that we are forever indebted to you um for your dedication to this for not getting you're pay for staying on strike um just for the unbelievable strength that all of you have shown because what you're doing is Monumental and it's going to work we all know it's going to work it's going to work and it's going to work because of your dedication to the people um and I always say we believe in life and the people and life and the people have never let us down so I know that sometimes people say at the local level oh resolutions you know they don't have teeth they're just symbolic but I think we all know up here you know she knows I think you know I think we all know up here that what how important this is um and any call to action like counsman Cassidy said of us you know let us know we're with you all the way so in solidarity and you know let's hope that you get to go into the new year with new terms thank you thank you any public comments for agenda items only yes even M Council mayor my name is John Shu Hsu 219 West shle Avenue Edison New Jersey um it's always nice to be in Red Bank come here for uh many uh many concerts um C theater so really love this town um but yeah I'm here with the nurses U just want to give a little um background of what's needed you we've been talking about the resolution um we really do need the uh the state um legislators to support the nurses um and we we do have that currently uh with vin gel uh the state senator he is a co-sponsor of this bill uh that that mandates St Staffing um so the nurses are on strike Staffing um you know not not for pay we you know that's very important that we reiterate that this is for safety of the patients um for working conditions to make sure that uh young young nurses who join the profession they stay um rather than not being burned out and that's what happens so there's any talk of a nursing shortage that's that's not the case it's because the work is just way too hard way too demanding um it's also and it's also important to know that the hospitals are you know they they are very doing very well financially it's not a financial situation um they it's a weird thing why the Staffing levels are not where they should be um but it's not because of the hospitals going out of business or anything like that there's many studies uh with uh concerning uh California passed this safe Staffing Bill and there have 20 years of studies that show that that's not the case um but we do need to support and we do need to we want to come here in the public forum uh to let uh the residents of Ren Bank know that we need the support of the legislatures V pal is one of 12 state senators currently as a co-sponsor of this bill as 304 um but we do need the uh um Assembly women elect donin and uh Peter Paul to support this bill as well to to sign on to a 4536 actually these these numbers will will change in the new year um but we do we do need their support we do need the legislators to understand that the um the public is behind the nurses that they're behind the bill and that um that it would be good for their constituents to to get behind the bill and to be co-sponsors as well so I just want to give that background for folks for people U listening in please uh you know if you want to support the nurses one great way is to call your legislators in the new year and ask them to to sign on and be co-sponsors and be supporters thank you thank you thank you thank you any other public comments for agenda items anyone online La I don't think so okay can I have a motion to close the public comment on agenda agenda items so move second all right all in favor okay um approval of the minutes can I have a motion to approve the minutes from 824 2023 all moved I have a second second all favor I I have a motion to approve the minutes from 10 2623 so moved I have a second second all in favor I I have a motion to approve the minutes for 11923 so moved have a second I in favor I I have a motion to approve the minutes from 11923 is executive session so move I have a second second all in favor I I I have a motion to approve the minutes from 11723 special meeting so moved I have a second second all in favor I and can I have a motion to approve the exact session minutes from 11723 so moved second second all in favor I okay um hearing and adoption for NP 20239 amending and supplementing chapter 64 fire department um can I have a motion to open the floor for public hearing on this ordinance only I have a second second all in favor I I anyone have any comments on this ordinance have a motion to close the public hearing on this ordinance only make a mo have a second second all in favor I a motion to adopt ordinance NP 20239 I make a mo oh yeah you go I make a motion we move to adopt I'm gonna second that um can we do a roll call council member Bon talk council member Cassidy yes council member facy Blackwood yes council member Forest yes council member janon yes council member Triano yes mayor Portman yes yes hearing and Adoption of NP 2023-2024 68-3 parking I have a motion to open the floor for public hearing on this ordinance only make motion a second second I'm favor I anyone I have a motion to close the public hearing on this ordinance so moved I have a second second all in favor I I can I have a motion to adopt ordinance NP 2023-2024 is excuse council member Cassidy yes council member facy Blackwood yes council member Forest yes council member Janome yes council member Triano yes mayor Portman yes thank you um hearing and Adoption of NP 2023 D21 ordinance amending Chapter 490 Planning and Development regulations to require the provision Andor posting of disconnecting means for electric vehicle charging stations I have a motion to open the floor for public public hearing on this ordinance only moved have a second second all in favor I public I have a motion to close the public hearing on this ordinance I have a second second all in favor I motion to adopt can I have a motion to adopt the ordinance MP 2023 D21 second all right roll call please council member Bon takas is excuse council member Cassidy yes council member facy Blackwood yes council member flis yes council member Janome yes council member Triano yes mayor Portman yes passes thank you um do we have to pull any of these resolutions out or adopt the consent agenda about the bill list one and the last one I believe should be voted separately okay I would also like just for um just for nice purposes to pull the resolution okay so let's do um individual resolutions first can I have have a motion to approve resolution np23 d123 the pill list so moved have a second second roll call please La council member Bonas is excuse council member Cassidy yes council member facy blackw yes council member Forest yes council member janon yes council member Triano yes mayor pman yes resolution passes sir um where did it go thank you um can I um get an approval of resolution np23 D what' you say which 133 there we go thank you no no no I'm sorry it's not that one thank you 142 in support of mandate minimum nurse staffing and hospitals yes can I get a second second roll call please council member Bon cus is excused council member Cassidy yes council member fa Blackwood yes council member Floris yes council member Jano yes council member Triano absolutely yes mayor pman yes resolution passes and um can I can we get a motion to approve resolution np23 d143 CFO Services renumeration agreement so move I second second roll call please council member bonak is excused council member Cassidy yes council member facy Blackwood yes council member flis yes council member janon yes council member Triano yes mayor Portman yes resolution passes sir thank you and can we um can I have a motion to approve resolutions np23 d124 through NP 23-141 I'm make s a motion can I have a second second a comment though Mr Mayor okay uh this includes of course what we were talking about today about the this includes the transit Village so um I just want to make a comment on that after listening to the comments tonight and also we had a hearing on this I a month ago um my understanding I was listening to Dan and I was listening to Jimmy um and Mr Bou um I'm inclined to say yes to this and vote Yes um I believe in transit Villages I've been an environmentalist and you know it's good thinking that we we think this way it's in the master plan now with that said there's a lot of issues I mentioned some in the last meeting I'm not going to repeat all of them and particularly I concerns around New Jersey Transit um but you know it's not an area that I've ever been a fan of I love the train station my father drew a marvelous picture that we have hanging in our House of the train station when it was a boy um and that's going to be saying the same the way it is now we don't know what the project is you know we say things here but we are just authorizing the planning board to look and see if you know this whole Transit Village thing is really doable and if we need to declare you know area need of Redevelopment now I was I asked that same question I was told that you know you know we can and that you know if we have any tax abatements it would be a negotiation tool blah blah blah you know we'll see when we get down and I'm very reluctant to vote for that sort of thing and I assure you that I certainly am never going to vote for anything up here that would in any way hurt our schools it just will not happen and I don't think anyone on the council but I'm not speaking for them would either so um I mean we have a council member with a child in the school district it's it's not going to happen he was here um so and he is here is he still here no he got to leave um you know so I know there's a little fear mongering about that sort of thing happening but that's not going to happen um okay so we hear a lot about I mean Jimmy particularly talked about you know um what was it I wrote it down um you know thinking about the people you know and I not doing anything is also an action you know I Street is now overcrowded because housing is so desperately expensive there's nowhere to park there's nowhere to live I have neighbors that have housing insecurity without going in the details I have friends some of whom I see on a weekly basis that where I go to eat which I'm not going to mention who live in some of this oh it's only 20% you know it's 80% of the housing is for the rich people in the $4,000 a month well you know that 20% if you live there is life and death you know not having a kitchen table means you don't have those kitchen table conversations that I take for granted in my nice house and in fact many of the other people who complain on Facebook and here have no do not face housing insecurity so it is a big deal that we provide affordable housing for my children your children and anybody else who doesn't happen to be making $150,000 a year or whatever it is it cost to pay $4,000 a month rent and one of these luxury come so that 20% matters and I do not see proposals from very many nonprofits for building affordable housing in redm I think I've heard of one since I've been a council member it's a very modest project so you know if we do something nice as my wife put it at the last meeting that brings the town together there maybe with improving Transit maybe with some bike walk pass I'm certainly open to the idea of looking at that and if it includes some affordable housing well I think that's fraking great you know some of the businesses in town are now having trouble getting people to work there because they can't afford to live here and get to work they can't afford to live in a town this by the way this town used to be thriving if you go over those red bang Historic Society photos we were just talking about with a friend of mine this is a busy Commerce Town I don't necessarily want to be all that busy and you know I hear from my neighbors and maybe I won't get reelected in two years and that's okay because I'm going to vote my conscience at at all times uh I know development is not popular politically and I'm sure my opponents will use it against me that I'm open-minded to building affordable housing and other things to improve life here in Red Bank you know how often do we all as voters and I'm voting up here have to make imperfect decisions I mean would I like a nice nonprofit to come here and say I'm G to build 200 units of housing somewhere on a parking lot near the train station I would love that but I don't I don't see that and I'm not qualified to do a project like that millions of dollars would have to invested I'm thinking to myself well maybe as a council should I buy property and create a development agency well we know how popular the Redevelopment agency was up here and I certainly am in no position to risk the very limited funds of this very small town that may not be able to fix its own bleachers to buy property risk taxpayer money and build 200 units of affordable housing I mean I would love it if some nonprofit comes in and do does it and I would vote Yes for that but now traffic we've heard a lot about traffic and I've been struggling in traffic just this week you know we live in a Crossroads I don't know what the percentage is but most of the traffic on Shrewsberry Avenue is actually not Red Bank traffic I'm driving to Shrewsberry Avenue and I'm stuck in traffic going by the the What's It uncle jeis and Shop right it's not moving so I do know that this development will cause some amount of traffic but you know it's interesting I walked by the rail today coming here tonight and I walk by on going home and I walked by many of those other projects there's actually not that much traffic coming out of those garages fact I see more Walkers and bikers and scooters and whatever else skateboarders coming out of there than actually I see cars the biggest impacts really are when somebody's moving in and out I see a lot more traffic at the Armory you know for the the ice game seriously now I don't know whether I'm not a lawyer I can tell you if it's a blighted area or not but I don't think a parking lot is really benefiting us at all and they're freaking damn hot in the summer the the the and as I said to Dan at the last meeting I actually think our DPW probably does qualify in the classic sense of blighted so I'm going to vote Yes on this I have struggled with it I will share and I I've said that um you know I like Cedar Crossing I like our public housing but I don't see anybody I don't see the federal government coming up with money um I don't see the state coming up with any big things so not doing anything means the market will continue to destroy affordable housing in Red Bank that's what's happening now if I do nothing if we do nothing we'll have less affordable housing because you don't see people like myself or anybody else who owns a house for five that's worth $500,000 or much more then I'm going to say well I'm gonna I I don't see that you're scratching that my my my kitchen table oh well Amy let's just sell a house for 200,000 you know what probably happen somebody buy my house and then sell it and you know and flip it um I mean that's not happening so if Market forces are going to be the only way we fix the housing prices and Red Bank and everywhere else we're not going to fix the housing prices in Red Bank or anywhere else anyway that's my little comment mayor on uh on this thank you I think we already that long enough it was great you sered you served you served the T councilman and you I think we already had a second to vote didn't we yes so then can I have a roll call on these council member bonaka say excuse council member Cassidy yes council member FY Blackwood yes council member Forest yes council member janon yes council member Triano yes mayor pman yes motion pass thank you can I have a motion to open the floor for public question and comment on anything you desire yes yes I have a second second all in favor public the floor is yours Jimmy you got it go ahead yeah I have to come back over that's good that's how we that's how we get to it J get too over I'm getting too old because just say your name and address you know the TR dark 48 one West Sunset at R New Jersey well I'm G say it like I'm G say it like this to each his own well if you gonna give somebody something give it something where is nice not by something power lines and not by closed in if you gonna give some put them it's so many new biggest New Jersey all these towns got a lot of empty lands and you can it's lot of things there if you work with other towns other mayor senators and Cong it can come up with something I understand it's homelessness and all that but if agency to come out there should you know get them to come out and help people because you know you say um it's um like the young lady well daughter whatever her name was talking about um oh you leave your car at home no List look car's been around before her lifetime my lifetime I want to speak for her but my thing is your building is too congested you you you I understand you feel for people but you got to understand feel for people too or leaving and nobody wants to say that and you talk to individual that's leaving Red Bank too people leaving this New Jersey too if you really just talk to people and get all the time people say I see this talk sometime to people there's a lot of people moving out in New Jersey because the taxes and sometime they say so crunch you know you got to run down you said it's and you that traffic is terrible you got sit there you might well put your car in m control and let it drive itself inch by inch but my thing is the train station my opinion is a is a bad spot if you hear from where you live at all time now the train is you hit a horn on a nothing I can do about that my thing is give somebody a something that's nice and Candy if you're GNA build something give him something that's nice and strong not half% 1% if you're going to do building something give it 100% because you want something say mind it's not something next day you know something is falling apart and you can't um I'm not to e on like I said but my thing is give somebody something a nice area wherever they might want to go you said you want to keep them here but my thing is and one question I was want to say you said the zoning board has to check this out and I can't uh y not the zoning board my thing is is anybody on the zoning board a engineer a contractor a chemist and you said they got to go and investigate this but my thing is I can't ask these people back here I know they nurs it they heard about this radon or what you call thing give off you know electricity thing is bad I ain't gonna tell you how I found I found this out years ago and gives off radiation so much is something that you can't see and you really had to really bring these people in and let people talk to him it's sad to see that you hit all the time and said this is only so many miles like a shoe box and I know tax breaks to me I'm G say it again it shouldn't be given to the wealthy to me you got these nurses and doctors my thing is you just give them something I understand 13 14 15 hours and standing up on your feet and they don't get no raised health and they to enoy a lot of stuff every hospital or something give this to the ones on the front line but my thing is if you gonna build something don't put it by way they G wake up one o'clock two o'clock three o'clock four five o'clock in the morning give them somewh and you got kids where the kids gonna play go do like we did go out there right on the railroad tracks and do every devilish thing you can do everybody been a kid once once in a lifetime so I'm just going to close this out give somebody something nice not half or not when so wind a wind or storm can come by and blow it down and I'm not none of the above but when you've been through it or you been here long enough and you read it in the papers then it's all over so I hope y'all would take this in consideration because zoning board I don't know about them and just been to a couple meetings but my thing is put it somewhere with if you got kids I don't care if you don't have to have kids you can go out and enjoy it's only so small and tight you have a livable space but still make it healthy and safe thank you thank you Jer thank yes alen Hill 64 McLaren Street I'd like to remind Ben Mr Forest I'm sorry yeah I'd like to remind the council that because you just because you ask a question does not mean you're necessarily against n or against a whole concept just because you ask a question based on the town and the burs and developers interpretation of high density uh building is doesn't mean you're against high density building anybody who knows anything about town planning knows that high density building is essential in terms of the environment the community in terms of equality Etc we know that just because we say look what you've done so far it's rubbish doesn't mean we're not for it there's a lot of people as I say who do know what those things are so I'm not going to take it from Ben say you know given me a bit of a lecture it that not mean it necessarily a lot of us do know what we're talking about okay and so I I just like to make that and that applies to almost every time I come up here because I ask a question doesn't mean I'm against something and just because somebody on Ben's Facebook page AG or in Red Bank CH says no you know this Transit Village you know it's got It's got issues doesn't mean that they're just against any form of progress some of us really want to see that we're going down a road that we've gone down before which led to a total lack of progress that's what I got from Men's contribution however I have got two other questions one is the historical preservation commission what's happening about the historical preservation commission please has it been reinstated are people enited to be on it are you going to ask for nominations for people to be on it what's happening unfortunately Christina bonatakis has been heading that and is not here tonight she'd be best qualified but I do know that at this point um our plan is to be repopulating or you know uh naming the uh HPC board during the reor on January 1st so and how's that process are you taking nominations are you going to use your last list what are you going to do um no no we're we're I think we have between existing members and other people who had expressed interest and uh in the last round that we uh we have enough candidates I believe thank you uh to go back to last October I think it was um uh porch West uh there was a great uh opportunity there a great reaction actually I think probably by environmental commission to provide bik paths around the town Etc more or less successful in in many respects um after that uh event there was actually a questionnaire put on the burough website I think it was and uh quite an extensive one I just wondered one how many people applied and two actually at the end of the um questionnaire it asked if people would be interested in sitting on a group devoted to bike and pedestrian matters I wondered what had become of that go ahead um the survey went out and it was handled by easy ride and they're working to put together the report with the results of the questionnaires and the steps going further so I haven't received the full report yet but I'm pretty sure it's coming soon than you you're welcome okay thank you anyone else yes Suzanne it's going be 25 C Street um I don't really say this publicly at all but I think this is kind of my to kind of tap on what Mr Hill said um why I ask questions as a person who became a citizen I think it I I think that it's the Public's responsibility to ask questions that's what I've been doing for over a decade because we've learned not everyone's correct not all of you guys there have the right answers and not all of us have the right answers but asking questions is a great way to start a conversation to bring up ideas and to hold people accountable so I'm glad we all don't agree actually U with that being said my questions okay where should I stop um is it okay to drive on the wrong side of the road no okay with that being said here's a picture of the front of this side of the building and there's a car parked on the wrong side of in the wrong direction on the wrong side of the road and the excuse was well they wanted to charge their car doing more investigation you could say the can I finish please the the the line has enough slack so there's no reason here's a nice big truck and there's still a bunch of slack and you can still charge your car so I just get curious why um I think I passed this car on the way to an event at the library and then on the way home and the car parked on the wrong side of the road which eventually drive on the wrong side of the road um will be driv on you know didn't get a ticket here's another car and then enough slack to charge so actually I give the people who put the uh charging station in um the option for people who have charging on different side of the car is the ability to do that so there's no really no reason for a car to drive on the wrong side of the road on uh M Street number one number two um I was just see if you guys had an update on the unhitched trailers um I have about three trailers on I think it's Willow Street that's been parked there before you guys passed the uh different change in the is it resolution or the ordinance there's a trailer it's been there for weeks I'm assuming if they got a ticket or something they would it um I wish um so an update on that also I wish Mr Boon was here I know he brought it up I bought brought it up I think one or two other the residents from the West Side brought it up you know we talk about Safe Streets and pedest and how great it is that we all are using sidewalks once again the business by the uh pocket park by coffee Crown cars parked on the sidewalk again that's not adding to Safe Streets and I'm assuming I'm hopefully that you know someone's talking to them say hey don't do it you're gonna get a ticket and they cons consistently do it which is said um and I brought this up numerous times too and I wish this comes to fruition uh especially for the environmental Commission Lids um the other day it was windy and everyone cheeks Smart in the um program for the uh and I might be saying it wrong the the plastic wrap I can't tell you how many I saw blow blowing in the street because they have the bucket there's no lid on it it was very windy and it's just blowing and then I also noticed when the buckets are out there's people who walk down the street and see the buckets and they're throwing trash in there and I start one with dog poop in there and I see one with like just garbage in there so I'm assuming you guys don't want that in with the film but maybe if there's Lids on it it will hinder it from other garbage going to because it's counterintuitive right you're taking your time you're doing the right thing you're putting it in the bucket but then it's blowing around on the street so you know like I I don't know why we can't be efficient and work smart here and last but not least I know um Mr C or councilman codyy you mentioned you said you supposedly helped and help with getting some of the um trees and brush and stuff off of Cedar Street I was just curious when are they going to pick up leaves I haven't seen any leaves picked up in at all in December um I've checked all my cameras because there's uh lost like four parking spots on the street because there's been leaves in there for the whole month so far and I saw on the website the pickup was supposed to be on my on the West Side December 9th I'm I'm not sure the exact date when they're those are all day-to-day management operation questions when it comes to DPW when it comes to Traffic Safety so Daren if you're on the line do you have any answers to any of those things in detail yes sure so I'm in parking how about now yeah it's better okay um so as far as the unhitch trailers we have been issuing summonses we did specifically get the three that are on Willow Street but yeah the summonses are are fine the people you know don't necessarily move them immediately hopefully they'll move them soon one is not even I don't I didn't run the plate myself but it's like a the back end of a semi-trailer and it's not I'm sure registered anywhere locally so I don't know how quickly we'll get that one out of there we have issued summon I'm sorry you just got muffled there for a second I don't know what you're doing sorry the reception's probably not great but at any rate we have issued summonses for trailers um you know and we're we we're seeing compliance but not 100% compliance yet but it's only been about a week and a half that we've been issuing summonses so it should get better um as far as the leaf pickup I know dpw's been out there every day I just talked to Terence two days ago they were picking up um on the North End of the West side but um there's a lot of leaves out and they're they're doing the best they can to get to them all um you know as far as cars parked on the wrong side of the street I mean we issue actually our numbers have gone up they're issuing over, 1500 tickets a month but obviously we don't get every illegally parked car doesn't get a ticket we do what we can what about cars parked on [Music] sidewalk this the same answer I mean if if an officer or a parking officer sees it they issue it a ticket but we certainly don't see every illegally parked car and just for the record this is on um shrewbury Avenue so I'm assuming they go down that street and the car on the wrong side of the Rover is lit in front of the police station so they do go in and out the entrance there um and last but not least um and unfortunately this is not to be little or say anything bad but it's more of a helpful thing um with the amount of homeless in town there was here's one picture of someone's cart that was left out on the street for two days and there was another one down at the other end of bridge is there a place or something that we can do that obviously people that are homeless need these clothes need these articles is there some kind of program where they can store their part um and and not just leave it on the street so it could be taken or pushing in the middle of the street I mean unfortunately people do the various things I mean if someone just roll this right into the street could cause damage um like I said this is just one picture there was another part at the other end of a bridge uh just for food for thought for safety and Safe Streets yeah I'm I'm not aware of a of a current or program or a place to store the carts but it's certainly something we could look into I mean I know that they have the warming centers obviously we're we're doing what we can to support um that Community but that's certainly another idea that we can look into yeah I can give you one example of the community coming together and the resources coming together to protect an unhoused person's property if that's appropriate and would help give you some answers no I'm just wondering if we you know if you see this I'm know it's why a I don't want no one to push it in the middle of the street and B if there's something to your point the um the warming stations can and help them out because they collected all these their items we don't know if it could be personal items in here I hate for them to lose it right absolutely so I can tell you that recently um I saw a homeless person it was 11 o'clock at night it was very cold outside I believe it was a cold blue night which I've served on the code blue committee since the deception in 2018 um for the public listening I also just want to take this opportunity let you know we also have one of the first women's warming centers now in Red Bank as well um saw this gentleman it was very cold outside I immediately alerted the chief he unfortunately had medical reasons that this individual actually had to go to the hospital I emailed the chief and I said I'm worried about their property it's still outside and I just wanted to thank um there was a business owner that actually took those belongings in the police collected them and put them into storage so so I just want to take the opportunity to talk about the humanity that actually is in place here with the leadership of this town that the police were kind enough to collect those belongings put them into proper storage and that the gentleman was escorted to the hospital so people are paying attention here to these things and we are connected to those resources so and that was just a couple weeks ago and that's my point is Humanity I mean this is could be their extra coats or extra socks 100% personal L picture of the CH kids we don't know and then the flip side of it is the safety of it God forbid that cart rolls in the middle of the street absolutely that's a busy street Tak everybody caring thank you anyone else comment anyone online La no online all right can I have a motion to close the public comment so second I'll second it in favor I all right um mayor and Council com you want to start over there Mr Cassie anything to add uh I want to wish everyone hell celebrating Happy Holidays happy New Year coming forward we won't be seeing youall till the new uh 2024 got to attend to Christmas tree lightings I went to a manova lighting where I lost at a game of drele with uh uh Rabbi Harrison's son Schmo um but he deserved the guilt last night I had a tremendous privilege to uh serve as a panelist the pastor Porter from Red Bank was on the panel as well with me amongst other uh folks from the greater Mammoth the greater uh YMCA greater Mammoth County had its uh model un ramp up for the middle school and high school students and and it was it was it was just so refreshing first off Brookdale hosted it and it looked like a million bucks these kids were treated like they were just the superstars that they were last night and it was just such a privilege to get to offer them some um some some some guidance and some feedback and to wish them well as they head off to Hershey and the beginning of January to represent uh Mammoth County um in a national competition the 23rd is Santa run um it's the last night to register so if anyone's out there still thinking about it you can still register for Santa run go to the hook and ladders website um it's going to be a tremendous night and if you if you're coming from out of town we have two restaurants sponsoring stops with Santa that's a gian's end new corner and I I just want to reflect briefly we had a we had a fire on Spring Street yesterday and um As A Firefighter you just remember those fires that happen right around the holidays more than any other Fires for for whatever reason those where we lose life as well for that matter but um I sat with a little girl yesterday she's hugging her pet chinchilla Maria and just talking to her about it and I just want folks to think about the resources we have in in Red Bank the red the Red Cross was brought in and um there's a lot of ways that people can be helped in this town I remember that that that that that that that press conference we had just exemplifies that I'm so proud to be a member of the fire department I'm proud that I can serve my neighbors and my neighbors served me willfully we all left our jobs we all went and we responded in a manner um trying not to be emotional that it just reminds me of those old barn raisings they they they you see out there it's just neighbors helping neighbors and these are folks they're going to need further help and um 2023 is coming to a close I've only been on this Council for four months but I think about the vote that we had to implement the services through the police department with source and it's the proudest vot I have in 2023 so I wanted to share just where I land I just think and I think about yesterday and that was my thought is like look there's there's there ways to help people we can talk about with the mayor and Council woman have said but um that's hard I just want people to think about those families that are now displaced and how they can help and I'm hopeful that there's going to be some ways that people will be able to help um publicly um it's a really hard time a year and those kids need everyone's love and support and um personally that family is fully together and healthy and well and I'm just grateful that uh that they are and I'm now rambling to end my 2023 season but uh I appreciate everyone indulging me as I try to get my thoughts collected so thank you uh first off I just want to share that the senior center is having their holiday party tomorrow if anyone is interested and attending it's um it starts at 11 o'clock at the senior center on um shury Avenue um I also had the privilege of attending a um class demonstration by some Ruckers University students at the blowstein school they were um their landscape architecture class and they chose Red Bank and particularly the west side and came up with some innovative ways to design um the Sunset Avenue area of remediation uh coffee Corral area the train station as well as um the count basy and uh the municipal parking lot and if budgets were in limited there were a lot of things that we could probably implement um they were very creative designs uh for the sunset area um sensin area the remediation Center one thing that I did see consistently is that they created walking uh walking paths uh where you're basically above the area that has been remediated and one of the ideas was to make that whole area once it is remediated as a place where people can learn about the impact um it's an environmental Park you know with classes education and they even created a pathway that went all the way down to by the primary school and then came up with the idea of a floating island which would be used as an outdoor classroom with various Lookout points so it was um and even and at the train station they came up with um the idea of a bridge across this train station and as someone who lives close to train station has personally seen people run around the tracks when the train is there because they're rushing to get the train I do like the idea if there was an elevated platform where people could get to the train safely um the other thing that has been going on the environmental commission is still doing its thing um they're exploring the merits of a gasped leaf blower reduction effort um because of the um the impact to the health and safety of the workers that are using the two-stroke engines and that's pretty important and they're also working towards your sustainable Jersey C certification um and I think that's about it I want to thank everybody for coming I wish you all the best for all the holidays that you celebrate and one more thing before I forget I'd like to to thank uh Chief McConnell for his service to us as the borrow interim administrator for the past couple of years I've learned so much from you um you know like when I was doing work on the environmental commission and plus being here on Council and I want to say that we really do appreciate the work that you provided to us that's all I have okay um I want to piggyback a little bit on Nancy's comments about Trea Connell I think I made so a little council meeting but also navigating us through the whole government change and reset was quite an assignment it was very difficult on many levels politically and lots of details uh lots of meetings here and um your service uh um acting administrator Chief McConnell is very much noticed and appreciated thank you um also schools now as Lea's on to the schools I just got a note from Dr rumage uh congratul in the 2023 Governor's educators of the Year Crystal Hackett of the Red Bank Primary School Crystal finnean of the Red Bank Middle School teacher and a Tom Thomas scroll Mr Tom as he's known from the district Educational Services professional I thought I would mention that today because it's a nice honor the school district also have a few things from our Park and Recreation committee um mentioned the tree lighting already so I won't do that um but we are looking for donations for winter uh clothing for our Drive uh and also uh you can still register for our our um Christmas uh Hanukkah decorating contest I think you do that online um and also uh Santa will be will not be writing letters back until December 18th so you can still put in a request then if you want that letter from Santa you can still get it to our recreation department and we'll do it and yours truly may be doing some of the Santa phone calls upstairs in the recreation department that's my report Mr Man thank you la hi um I wanted to thank Chief McConnell too um he's gone beyond what I expected from him I even met him on South Street at 7 o'clock one night he's been very helpful um in me becoming a councilwoman and learning what we have to learn so thank you for all your service um I also wanted to give a shout out to the nurses thank you um I couldn't staffing has always been an issue it's been an issue since 1976 um and I'm glad that you're standing up for this you brought up a really good story nurses do a lot more than people recognize um I'm glad that you also brought up the Parker clinic and the BNA of Central Jersey I work for both those places and they're both great Services um we need more services like that but thank you for standing up and thank you for coming coming I'm glad we're able to support you and I hope to get your bills through um so we'll get back to the Committees that I'm the on to which is the library and we had a meeting on November 16th um we had an audit that um was very good so that was a great thing and um I had the animal Weare committee meeting this week so there's a few things that came out of that there's a we've talked to the environmental committee about putting a town ban on pesticides that har dogs when they there's some places on Maple Avenue there's actually signs that you can't walk your dog there because there's like chemicals in the what they put on the lawn um so that we're talking to the Environ environmental committee about that um we also having a pet food drive for the holidays you'll see outside in the municipal hallway here and at fins and feathers um you can bring your dog and cat food there and we are um partnering with lunch break to have uh dog and cat food they're going to have a big um on this Saturday the 16th at fins and Feathers they're going to have a a big uh kind of a meeting with the lunch break taking the food uh the dog and food cat food back to lunch break so that's um something that we've been working on um we also have had Ross litra and Mike goart come to our meeting from the MS U Mammoth County SPCA I learned awful lot from that that talk and um I learned that we have um Red Bank has two Halos um that are police officers that work with the mammoth SPCA um I also found out that we have three registered cat colonies in Red Bank being a Catwoman with three three of my own cat um I was interested in this um two of them actually live on my street so I'm going to make sure that I introduce myself to them um cute I am a cat moment I like dos too though um and I just want to wish everybody a great holiday and best wishes for 2024 and stay healthy thank you nurses thank you we love you thank you uh once again I echo my Council mat's uh wishes for a happy holiday season full of healing and reflection um we've had so many wonderful celebrations um for so many different people and backgrounds um most recently I went to the Virgin de Guadalupe procession um which is every year on December 12th um find it always to be an extremely moving and meditative walk even uh for my myself who's not of the Catholic faith uh this year it went right down my street Leighton Avenue and um just reminds me that people are good um I'm also honored to also be a firefighter with Captain Cassie and uh we were there responding uh to that call together uh and I just wanted to thank uh the mutual Aid response from little silver Norths side and tinon falls and the RIT team from Middletown uh and you know yeah that was a lot um I also had the to meet with another one of our Girl Scout Troops last week over at the charter school um they were earning their badge on um how to stay strong uh which was a really great conversation for me I always love starting out with asking uh young girls what makes them proud to be a girl and I always love hearing their responses uh so it was a wonderful opportunity to speak with Future Leaders I was a girl scout my mom was a leader um I think it makes phenomenal public servant uh we were just talking about all these resources in town the warming centers that we have Soul Kitchen lunch break this wonderful Network we have uh that we covered in our recent press conference um Soul Kitchen had their mistletoe radiothon it was held on the boss and I'm really happy to share that through that uh 72,000 $231 were raised uh so thank you to everybody that contributed to that that includes Red Bank community members and Beyond um you know these are really important funds to you know help this work if anybody wants to give to a meaningful cause I know that myself and my Council mates have been sharing Online ways to do that um the new women's warming Center is um taking in funds they also have an Amazon wish list that's available online um the cost per night to operate that warming Center is $500 um and as you know you felt it every time you go outside it has been pulled we've already had over 15 Cod blue kns um so if you're looking for a meaningful way to give back um please you know look into that as a as a way of giving um and yeah I think I said everything I had to say before but nurses we love you we love you in Red Bank um you know we're always going to be here and you know we're in full solidarity so thank you thank you um yeah again I want to Echo comments of my colleagues um I talk to Darren pretty much every day uh the administrator especially in our new form of government runs the town Jim you will be hearing from me at every day um I'm going to need like a bat phone like a cell phone never off you know stuff goes down here um but anyway Darren I could not have uh I I probably could have done the job without you but it would have been done poorly so um very grateful for your support and your knowledge um your institutional knowledge of Red Bank so uh you will be missed um now we were talking about all these Services here in Red Bank and um Bonnie Featherstone who is a volunteer at lunch break came to see me in my open Office hours on Monday with uh a woman Gabby tanella who's a gardener um and they're looking to start a community gardening program um lunch break in 2023 served over a 100,000 meals the number of people who are shopping in their pantries and and and um it's up 61% um from January to no member um what I liked about this program is they literally want to talk if you have a garden consider setting up a box in your garden and and and donating that food to lunch break and maybe we can get some community garden stuff happening um fresh food is I liked um one I like yeah fresh food you know so much of the the food drives and and I'm not knocking that but it's a lot of canned stuff and processed stuff and there's a definite need for fresh produce obviously um so you can reach out to lunch break ask for Bonnie or you can reach out to me and I'll put you in touch with her if anyone wants to you know do some Community gardening that would be very cool um yeah lots of great celebrations the Hanukkah um manora lighting we did at Riverside Gardens I was at the light up you know the the big concert on uh on Broad Street right after Thanksgiving um Holiday Express Holiday Express thank you Ben thank you um next year I'm going to see if they'll let me sing the Hanukkah song but uh we know we have a to plan it so um I can't wait to see that anyway uh thank you all for being here I hope everyone uh enjoys the holidays and we will see you January 1 thank you manager report all right um Darren you want to give your manager's report sure um first of all thank you for your nice comments um it's been uh challenging but an honor to sering this other position and uh I'm looking forward to working with Jim so um I'm going to take my time to mostly talk about two projects briefly The Mechanic Street Road Improvement project we had our pre-construction meeting um last week or this week and um that's due to kickoff right after the New Year um with the goal of wrapping it up by the very beginning of May um so that's a a road project to improve we're doing a water main as I think Greg or somebody alluded to earlier um and some concrete work in a repaving of the road removing the concrete decking that's currently on the roadway um and then the bigger project that want to talk about and while while I'm speaking I'm just going to let Jackie Flur our project engineer in just in case she has something to add I'm going to have her I'm just going to give her permission to uh to talk in case I missed something but um as you know we've been doing a lead pipe replacement program um since I guess the middle of last year I think July of last year or July of this year I guess we started it um but the bonding was approved previous to that um just as a refresher for everybody who's listening we borrow just under $4 million from um the ibank um to do test pitting and Lead Pipe Replacements on a census track that takes up most of the west side of town basically everything south of M Street and West at Maple Avenue um we test pitted every property that we did not know the material that was underground there identified everything that was what was underground in each one and then started Replacements um the number of Replacements is higher than we originally anticipated so we're going to look to move into another phase of replacing the remainder so the bottom line is that our recommendation will be to the ibank if you recall had authorized up to $ 8.8 million in funding with 50% principal forgiveness um we took advantage of that for just under $4 million on the first round of this um with 50% principal forgiveness so almost $2 million in free money I guess it was and then these are rough numbers so the next phase um to replace the remaining lines we identified as being wed or galvanized lines um on in the census tract we're currently working on will cost us another $1.8 million above and beyond what we already allocated um so we we would like to do that and get those known lines replaced um so that um you know we know we can guarantee that drinking water for those homes is safe but the next phase we'd like to also move into is Phase what we're calling 2B test pit the remainder of the Town um to test pit every property in Red Bank that we don't know the number of lines on besides ones you already test pitted would be another 2.4 million on top of the numbers I already talked about um but there's two main advantages to that if we test pit the remainder of the town we will then know exactly how many lead and galvanized lines we have to replace by 2031 I believe is the statutory deadline to replace them um it's a lot easier for us to to gauge funds fing um and to ask for funding if we know exactly what we're asking for right now we don't know if we're looking to replace 500 lines or500 lines so by test pitting when we will know an exact number we'll be able to request funding for that amount and we'll be able to go out and do bids that are accurate and know exactly how many lines are being replaced by the contractor um all of this with the with the soft cost and everything will come to just under the 8.8 that was originally authorized by the ibank the CFO myself and um jacqulyn FL project engineer met with the ibank and they authorized us to continue if if the council authorizes it um to continue and to do all of these um test pits and to replace all of the lines that are known in the on the west side of town um up to that 8.8 million again 50% principal forgiveness with the caveat that the 2.4 million on the east side of town will likely not have the principal forgiveness because it's not in the census track that meets the socioeconomic needs to meet to to the threshold to be 50% principal forgiveness but we do get um a very competitive interest rate on that money so you know if you look at the 8.8 million almost that will be com that will be actually borrowing except for the 2.4 and a little bit of soft cost so say $3 million in rough numbers the rest of it will principal forgiveness be 50% so we're talking $5 million with principal forgiveness for half of that so we're going to be getting almost $3 million in um essentially free money and then rest at low interest so we we think it's the best way to go the ibank and DP tended to agree with us um if if the council if it's the will of the council to move forward then in January we' be introducing a bond ordinance um to authorize us up to the 8.8 million and just one more caveat is that if we don't actually spend that much money if we end up needing less we don't actually borrow it we don't borrow it until we're actually spending it so if you're authorized up to 8.8 but we only end up spending 7.8 then we're only borrowing that amount of money it's just giving us authorization so that we can award um and so that we can secure the funding from the ibank um that's basically it Jackie did I miss anything important got it got it 100% hey can I just ask a quick question sure so the the funding that comes from mity does that come from the water utility or from taxes the debt would be paid out of the water utility debt would be paid out of the water utility thank you okay and any other immediate questions for Jackie okay do you have anything else on your report there is that it no that that's it I just wanted to cover that basically the rest is uh you know the end of the year are the budgets going well I will give that um Tom and I have been working on the budget um all the department heads have submitted it we're reviewing it now um and you know when Jim gets on board we'll review it with him and um you know try to stay on track to have a budget adoption by April this year so but um and we're finishing out this year pretty healthily um there were a few transfers tonight but for the most part um you know this year finished out well and I do see just as a I'm good with my report mayor but I do see that um somebody raised their hand I don't know if it's based on what I just reported on or something else I just noticed it now on my screen U Mary Beth blackham had her hand in it's no comment right now we have to open no it's not but I don't know exactly when it went up think we um we moved on I'm going to have to I'll reach out to Mary Beth and see what her question was see if I can get an answer um we need to race lead pipes it's good to know what Le pipes you have to replace yeah know yeah for sure we we'll be we'll be uh discussing that in the new year I can say I'm personally in favor of moving ahead and getting the lead pipes replaced as soon as possible um but having said that can I have a anything else anyone we have an executive session today may we do we do we do I need to discuss with you yes it'll be very brief I just want to inform you of something that's confidential okay so then a motion to adjourn to Executive session I'll make such a motion have a second second all in favor hi hi we take five minutes yeah we'll take five minutes we're gonna ask everyone to clear the room so we can go into executive session it's usually a Personnel issue but goad give your display so for the Public's benefit the executive session discussion will Nur will be about anticipated litigation out of his business application and it will take about 15 minutes and no action will be taken after executive session good Dan important was this this was your last council meeting yeah they --------- thank you pursuant to the open public meeting acts njsa 10 col 4 4-6 notice is hereby given that there will be a special meeting of the governing body of the burrow Redbank to be held on Friday November 17 2023 at 2m in council chambers at Redbank burrow Hall 9 M Street redm New Jersey purpose of this meeting is to approve a contract appointing a b manager no other action will be taken please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance stay for moment silence 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 all yeah um we just gonna have a oh yeah a moment of Silence we lost uh a neighbor and a resident in a fire at Evergreen Terrace Miss Hazel Davis so um we could all just observe uh a moment of silence thank you please council member Bona takas pres council member Cassidy pres council member Facey Blackwood here council member farest pres council member janon pres council member Triano here mayor pman here um so the the um the way our Zoom is set up letting our residents know is um it's a one-time link and then it expires um so we're going to go into to Executive session for about 5 or 10 minutes um and then come back out of session and and uh let you know all the details of our hire but normally what we would do is ask you all to leave the room and um shut the zoom down but we can't do that because then the people who are online won't be able to rejoin so we're all going to leave the room for a few minutes you guys stay here make yourselves comfortable um and we'll be right back so um can I have a motion to uh adjourn to Executive session I'll make s a motion I have a second second all in favor I all right we'll see you guys in just a few minutes we just want to make sure Mr Cohen we will call you on the phone okay that's fine you have my office number broadcast it in here uh and for the Public's benefit the purpose of this executive session is a Personnel matter the hiring or bu manager it'll take approximately 10 minutes and action will be taken when we being you know mic it's out there too my guy just told me about this Robinsville and if he told me this isv that's that's the world east or west Western yeah hug yeah that's right out there too what it's a it's Indian yeah yeah it's big population and they do it's like 30 acres really amazing like huge right I was impressed by that years that Ang like nobody yeah except why am I not hey how are you good I see you there f that's should right the than no s yeah yeah all think that false F say thank you years I have a motion to resume the public portion of the meeting I'll make such a motion a second second all in favor I okay um thank you guys for being here um we are purpose of this meeting is we are announcing the hire of our um our new manager Jim Gant who's sitting in the back um so I'm going to introduce the motion we'll get a second and then we're all going to make some comments comments we're going to vote on it and then of course we'll open up the floor to public comments um but without any further Ado can I have a motion to approve resolution np23 d123 so moved can I have a second all right before we before we move on um let's just go around the horn Christina you have anything you want to yeah just really quickly I want to uh thank Chief McConnell for his amazing work in this inim role first all um and also Express how excited I am for uh what I hope to be a really wonderful new chapter foring thank you yeah I'd like to say this is a very thorough process um I'd like to thank our fough clerk for helping shepher is through and to Chief McConnell um you've done the work of this burough as an interim basis and you did a hell of a job and I just want to say thank you um even through this process you just kept your head to the ground and did everything that had to be done for this burough without any questions appreciate it notice it and wherever you're next they're going to be very fortunate and I always go after David um well Chief and the clerk I want to thank you so much um the clerk for guiding us through the process Greg for and uh Jonathan for the legal aspects of it and chief thank you so much for the work that you've done for the borrow for a very long time you know you're amazing to work with you still are and you know we know that you're still be around so that's good to hear um I'd like to welcome our new our administrator or manager sorry manager aboard um it it was a pleasure to introduce you we had a lot of good really good qualified candidates and we went back and forth but I think we made the right decision so welcome aboard to Red Bank um I want to thank the mayor and deputy mayor for leading such a thorough uh process um I'm very honored to be on the council because it was always about what's best for Red Bank up here um so that was a this a really good thing on many levels um to be part of that I was also impressed by the resumés we received many resumés um you know high quality candidates was not an easy decision um and I was uh I was you know grateful to see that um there was a lot of interviews um but kind of agree with what Nancy was saying over there um it was a really good process and I've done been through this before um and I was thinking a lot of being a school board member for 19 years of hiring our chief Executives uh and also our charter school I mean our our Charter study process and that all was very beneficial going through that and I I'm grateful for the candidates for going through the grilling that we all gave them uh upstairs in the office um um this is the most important decision probably that we make as a council and mayor it's wonderful that you vote in this new form of government and um you know we're going to do the evaluations and our due diligence as we all committed to and running for this office and in our new form of government um see I'm just looking at my notes to make sure I covered everything I wanted to say oh there was one more thing I want to thank I think pretty much everyone in this room but also the many thousands of residents that I've spoken to um on this topic uh a lot of people reached out it need to be this need that an input on what a manager should be and um some of it wasn't always easy to listen to and was very direct uh but thank you for all of that that's it Mr oh I'm G turn that off oh one thing I just want to repeat to was that the staff was great um our clerk U our various lawyers I don't know the labor council's name on top of my head and our acting um girl administrator or manager um we're all very helpful in making this process move forward I I just want to you know what everyone said I did want to thank Chief McConnell he's been great and um I know he'll be around thank you Laura um our two attorneys Greg and Jonathan and working with the council to um hire Jim which I'm very excited about so welcome I have the same Sentiments of my colleagues um Chief McConnell you have been an amazing asset um in this position uh to the municipality so much so to the point where we went through rounds of looking for mandators or administrators and you stayed um that's a testament to your work as my colleague said any municipality um if you are so willing uh if they were to get you uh they will be extremely fortunate uh so we are eternally grateful um for all that you've done uh I couldn't be more excited uh to be finally here um at this chapter um I think it's phenomenal that we actually accomplished this before the end of the year I know of other municipalities in the state who are currently looking for a manager and they're having extremely difficult time I think that's a testament to Redbank I think it's a testament to the new page that we've turned as a body that we got excited good candidates that came to us um and Jim you were at the top and you know I I'm just I'm so looking forward to just having this this truly this new beginning we're here we codified a new form of government we have this new governing body here this was really you know this is the star in the tree um so thank you so much uh for believing in Red Bank for applying here and you know for trusting us that we're going to be a good team and respect your leadership thank you and thanks to Jonathan and Greg and Laura and the mayor yeah thank you uh Laura kept us on track Greg and Jonathan we appreciate your uh your counsel um Darren I speak to you more than my wife at this point um there has literally been not a moment where you have taken your foot off the gas I mean even today I sent I sent Darren a text um we have you know we've been doing this project on South Street the neighbors there are very engaged every day we are informing them and sending them information I told Darren that for uh Christmas this year I'm making him a coffee table book of all the emails we've exchanged with the residents of South Street but this was literally going on an hour ago so um has not stopped it has not stopped but Darren it's it's a testament to um who you are your work ethic your knowledge of this town um and I can't imagine how my first year holding political office would have been without you there toh hold my hands um having said that um big shoes to follow but Jim we're really really excited to have you um you were again Kate mentioned it at the top of the list from your first speed dating interview and uh you you stayed there I'm excited um note to note to the council let's try and not hire a new borrow manager during the week of the league of municipalities ever again because apparently this was the worst kept secret except here in Red Bank um but I heard nothing but good things about you across the board from anyone I spoke to and that's a testament to you uh I'm really looking forward to this next year you know tackling all these things that we have on our wish list can he say something and uh yeah yeah why don't we um let's have a vote and then uh Jim you're welcome to come and introduce yourself to everybody if you want um without further Ado and uh we already had the motion so we just got a roll call council member Bona tacas yes council member Cassidy yes council member facy Blackwood yes council member Forest yes council member janon yes council member Triano yes mayor Portman absolutely do it on that mic does he have to say his name and just so the people who on Zoom might be listening yes mayor council Chief McConnell can hear you all righted to that microphon very close this is already it's been a great experience I mean hearing from the the crowd I mean very welcoming uh it's very appreciative uh I'm incredibly honored and humbled to to be before you today as a newly appointed Burl manager of red bank first and foremost I want to extend my deepest gratitude to the governing body for placing their trust in me to serve this remarkable Community I also want to express my sincere accolades to Chief Darren McConnell for his guidance and Leadership he's provided to Red Bank during the interim period most people think interim they think I'm going to be there for six months right uh you've been doing it a long time and it seems like with everybody's test and testimony that you've been doing it very well and I'm grateful for that um his dedication and commitment to the burrow has clearly laid out a strong Foundation which which we can build on taking on the responsibility of burrow manager is a privilege that I do not take lightly Red Bank holds a special place in my heart with both of my children being born only a half a mile away at Riverview I'm thrilled at the opportunity to contribute to Red bank's growth and prosperity I'm excited about the great work that lies ahead of us and the endless possibilities that we can achieve together as I prepare to step into this role I'm committed to fostering an environment of inclusivity collaboration and transparency I firmly believe that effective leadership is not just about making decisions but also about listening intently to the needs and aspirations of our community members and our community leaders when making decisions that shape the future of Red Bank our goals will be ambitious uh but with dedication and teamwork I'm confident that we can overcome any challenges that come our way identifying our strengths our weaknesses our threats and our opportunities will be critical a strengthening Community engagement enhancing essential Services promoting sustainable development and fostering econ economic growth and stewardship are among the key areas where I aim to focus my efforts I believe in leadership style that encourages Innovation the accountability and inspires Excellence I am dedicated to assembling and working with a team of passionate individuals who share the vision of a local government that delivers Quality Service a team that Redbank can have confidence in in closing I want to thank each and every one of you truly for the unwavering support that you've had you've made this process very enjoyable for a candidate uh it was great to be in front of you on a number of occasions uh and have the conver the tough conversation that we needed to have so that you could have confidence in the choice you made today I'm honored to be a part of this community already and I look forward to working alongside all of you to build an even brighter future for Red Bank a legacy that we can all be proud of so thank you very much for today appreciate it thanks just for the record Jim's hair style in no way swayed my objectivity and my support of this candidate go to the same Barber um I think we're going to uh yeah I want to um motion to open the floor public comment I'll make a motion we open the floor for public comments have a second second all in favor all right anyone from the public has anything to say yes good afternoon Cindy Burnham 71 MTH I mean what what am I saying 71 Wallace Wallace here I was just on woth who was this gentleman uh he was our a labor attorney that helped uh negotiate the contract okay I was just curious okay thanks all right anyone else anyone online no all right um motion to close the public comment so moved have a second second all in favor I motion to adjourn make such a motion I have a second second all in favor I meeting is turn welcome to Red Bank um Kate motion