e e e e e e the other guys than good evening everyone I'm going to call the meeting to order we'll begin with a short prayer and a salute to our flag almighty God grant us the wisdom to make those decisions that are in the best interest of all of our residents May the heavenly father of us all bless those who have given the ultimate sacrifice in service to our nation and may He watch over and protect our Ser as men and women now guarding the Gates of Freedom salute to the flag please I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all Jessica statement of publication take notice at this regular agenda meeting of the mayor and bur Council being held on this 8th day of April 2024 has been posted and advertised in accordance with open public meetings Act chapter 231 Public Law 1975 roll call Council persons Bala here kisi here boha here Roberts here sonari here zabowski here okay uh Council presidents prior minutes I move the minutes of the mayor and Council be approved on roll call vote subject to correction if necessary for March 25th regular and agenda sessions your second second all in favor roll call counc person Roberts yes fala yes kisi yes NOA yes zarski zabowski yes okay so we have two uh two presentations tonight so we will start with our first presentation with our recycling coordinator basically Earth girl El leise Baron my friend for quarter of a century thank you so much um for those of you that don't know me I'm Elise I'm your recycling coordinator and clean communities coordinator um a couple of weeks ago Donna at the last meeting asked if I could come and talk about recycling because there's a lot of confusion sometimes people don't know what to recycle or how to recycle so if I could come and do a presentation um my presentation usually last any time from 20 minutes to two hours um when I go to the schools or the boys scouts or the Girl Scouts I do some classes at Ruckers I promise you it is not going to take that long today Jessica can I have the time on the clock please if not I'm gonna said it can I um yeah know I really do and I have to tell you I rehears this for five minutes I have not gone over so um when Donna had asked me to come she says there are some questions that she had and she wanted know what I get most often when people call me about recycling like what is the biggest questions so some of the biggest questions I get is pizza boxes can we recycle pizza boxes the answer is no the haulers do not want it in our stream now we are under contract and they won't take it but the contract is coming up and they said they might revisit it because my pizza boxes are clean and I think they should be recycled so I'm fighting that one um the other question was bottle water bottle tops can they be recycled if you keep them on the bottle they can if they're off you throw them in the garbage so it gets very confusing um hangers no hangers cannot be recycled so there's a real easy way to find out what can and can't be recycled and I will let you know Donna I'm putting you on the spot when I do a presentation we play games so here's the first game I'm only doing one all right what do we do with our glasses from today do we Rec recycle these or do we not recycle all these solar glasses oh I don't know I keep them as I keep them as a souvenir okay that's one option all right for the hundreds of thousands of people who has these glasses if you want you can recycle them just take the plastic out of the middle you can donate them and I have organizations that will send them to Latin America for the next solar eclipse for the children that are there and all this information will be on Recycle coach tomorrow so let me tell you about recycle coach recycle coach is a free app that we have the D paid for it for the state of New Jersey it's this awesome app and if you need any information at all you can go there I had someone call me up today she goes I have blinds what do I do with blinds I said let's look on Recycle coach so she did and blinds will go in your regular garbage her bulk garbage which is this week so recycle coach will tell you when is your garbage when is your recycling what you can and can't recycle um answer your questions when we do brush when we do leaves it has all the information you possibly can need um if you have a smartphone now I know the older people some people do or don't if you don't have a smartphone you can look at our great books that we put out every year or you can call me I love talking to people as you know so all the information will be on Recycle coach and then this way the answers are answered and um it's a really good program the other thing I wanted to um that Donna had asked me what is the what do people recycle most that they shouldn't so plastic bags they should not be in our waist string what is it done plastic bags so plastic bags shouldn't go in there because they they mess up the the stream they in the big you know material recovery plant the other thing is um Tupperware Tupperware shouldn't go in there Forks plastic forks and knives they shouldn't go in there so all that again it'll be on Recycle coachs we have that information it's great it's there curbside is single stream recycling so it all goes together and at the material recovery plant it will all get separated and there's there is a lot of money in recycling it does not go to the land landfill these holders would not be doing it if they weren't making money um we do not at our recycling center we separate comingled and boxes and you know so this way we sell part of the commodity and then we pay for part of the commodity um all right I wrote everything down so I wouldn't talk longer than five minutes so you can set set notifications on Recycle coach um I'm going I think part part of okay sorry I don't mean to rush because I have 44 I'm really doing it just um part of my other UH responsibilities is I am the clean communities coordinator or Earth Day person so Earth Day is um we're celebrating it um April 20th down at Kennedy Park from 9 to 12 we're going to have a cleanup shade tree commission will be there the environmental commission will be there um the green team will be there we'll be cleaning up the park we will be doing more presentations at the library for information from the environmental um so this is not just a quick you know we we have that information for you but all right it's all right I'm G to give you a dispensation because it's it's a critical topic all right well as the clean communi coordinator second this is a second five minutes for the oh I get a second five minutes go ahead go ahead no and I did say I know that I rushed um we're going to do an event together with the environmental commission with the recy uh the recycling um Green Team and the shade tray at the library I'm going to bring my worms we're going to do worm composting and this will give our residents the opportunity to come and talk to us for the information that they want and actually we'll all be at Earth Day so you can always come out and ask the questions I never want to cut anything short it's just I know there's a lot on your agenda tonight so I just wanted to give you a little sound bite like I said I'm pushing recycle coach because it's free and it's a lot of great information um but as my responsibility as clean communities coordinator I get this awesome opportunity to bring up my superintendent George Gavin who him and I um work tirelessly in our community and we are very fortunate to have a volunteer here and we would like to present a recognition award to Gian should I get up there proud mom come on dad go up to you could oh you're videotaping come on all right all right so let me read this because we are so proud of GI so ga was awarded face the camera Don Elise you're Elise okay go all right so Giana it gives me great pleasure to recognize Gian who was awarded from the state clean communities you know how many minutes I've done now well Pete tells me you can you you a while thank you and I'm sorry for keeping you so long okay it gives me great pleasure to present a Rec for George and I to present a recognition award to Giana from the Bureau of sville for receiving the state clean community's volunteer award in recognition of her outstanding efforts and her continuous volunteering with the clean communities program Gian is a student has been who has been part of our program helping it succeed grow and make a difference in the burough of sville you really have sweetheart it gives me great pleasure to be able to nominate you for that award it was wonderful having you get the award down in Atlantic City from the state director um she had said that it was an awesome opportunity she was so proud to meet you uh ga's been with us okay now I'm going to close this instead of reading because I get a few more minutes Gianna has been with our program since seventh grade so when she came she was this High she's not this High she drives now stay off the road right she um she and she volunteers she comes to talk to people she works at the tables when my other volunteers you know haven't gotten there yet she's always there National Night Out you've been at all of our events either playing games like I said I do like to play a lot of recycling games or working the table just talking to people because she gets it she is also the environmental coordinator for the Leos at the sville high school and so when the Leos come to my cleanups I've gotten probably about I don't know last cleanup I think we had 75 between the Leos and some of the other groups so she helps coordinate the cleanups in our community and we're so very very proud of her so gaan it gives George and I and the B of SEL great pleasure to be able to give this to you and say thank you for all that you do I'm sorry should we let the high school person talk no I'm kidding thank you I think that's really it if you do have I will say I know you have a question who who is doing are you doing Arbor Day also no oh ARB no it's Proclamation sorry goad read it and before be mayor yes before Elise leaves do you want to tell everyone a little bit about the environmental shout out oh my goodness thank you thank you thank you see you know there wasn't enough time Jess I'm so sorry this is important stuff for the B I know I mean so everyone knows Elise has been working for really almost 25 years that I've known her on on Recycling and environmental projects and because of her diligence and her dedication both to to the environment and to the people at sville she has gotten uh many grants and many awards for the for the town so this is this is important important stuff thanks I appreciate that so we have started something along with the environmental commission as we are doing environmental shoutouts for the month of April and then we will continue it as a business recognition uh recognition also so we have shouted out saber um we have a whole list of uh companies this is all going on Facebook we're so proud of what they're doing for sustainability and the Bureau of sville and helping us in the environment and then their recycling Endeavors um the more that we capture and recycling the more money we get back in Grants so these companies have been awesome with their information so we'll be shouting them out um Nicole every Tuesday and Thursday Nicole has did done an awesome job setting it up that it'll go up there and then we'll let all the businesses that um were recognizing and shouting out let them know so thank you oh and one more thing we're doing a paper shred uh April 27th at the at Fort grumpy it will not be open for anything but the paper shred from 9 to 12 thank you Elise you're welcome thank you job well done whereas the burrow of Sero was named Tree City USA by the Arbor Day Foundation in honor of its commitment to effectuate urban forestry management and where seral obtained this recognition by meeting the program's four requirements a tree border Department a tree care ordinance an annual community forestry budget and an Arbor Day observance and Proclamation and whereas Tree City USA program was started in 1976 and is sponsored by the Arbor Day Foundation in partnership with the US Forest Service and the National Association of State Foresters and whereas in 1872 Jay Sterling Morton proposed to the Nebraska Board of Agriculture that a special day be set aside for the planting of trees and whereas this holiday called Arbor Day was first observed with the planting of more than million more than a million trees in Nebraska and whereas Arbor Day is now observed throughout the nation and world and whereas trees can reduce the erosion of our precious top soil by wind and water cut Heating and Cooling costs moderate the temperature clean the air produce oxygen and provide habitat for wildlife and whereas trees are a renewable resource giving us paper wood for our homes fuel for our fires and countless other wood products and whereas trees in our city increase property values enhance the economic Vitality of business areas and beautifier community and now therefore Kennedy O'Brien mayor the burough of seral does hereby acknowledge that Arbor Day will be observed April 26 2024 and urge all citizens to support efforts to protect our trees and Woodlands to support our Town's urban forestry program just need a motion to accept that motion make a motion to accept the proclamation roll call second is there a second roll call Council persons Roberts yes Bala yes kisi yes NOA yes sinari yes zabowski okay uh we're going to go into we have we have a little bit of business to take care of in executive how much time counselor 5 10 five minutes five minutes maybe 10 we we we hold ourselves to a high standard okay all right whereas Section 8 of the open public meeting act chapter 231 Public Law 1975 permits the exclusion of the public from a meeting in certain circumstances and whereas this public body is of the opinion that such circumstances presently exist now therefore be it resolved by the mayor and bur Council the bur of seral County of middle sex state of New Jersey as follows the public portion of this meeting is here by adjourn in order that the governing body may meet and close private session for approximately 5 to 10 minutes to discuss the following matters litigation following the conclusion of said Clos session the governing body shall reconvene the open portion of this public meeting to consider any other matters which may be properly brought before it at this time the nature and content of the discussion which occurs in closed sessions shall be made public at such time as the need for no non-disclosure no longer exists this resolution shall take effect immediately I make a motion to go into executive session second roll call Council person's Roberts yes Vela yes kisi yes NOA yes zarski yes zarowski yes e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e go ahead make a motion to return return to open open there a second second roll call council person Roberts yes Bala yes poliisi yes an NOA yes sinari yes Kowski yes public hearing on the following ordinances ordinance number 12-24 burrow of saille County of middlex ordinance addressing storm order management private storm drain Inlet retrofitting are there any comments on this ordinance being no comments I'll entertain a motion councilman Kachi I move the public hearing to be closed the ordin it's adopted on second and final reading and advertised according to law there a second roll call Council persons KUSI yes fala yes anoa yes Roberts yes sonari yes zabowski yes ordinance number 13-24 burough of saille County of middlex ordinance addressing storm water management Refuge containers and dumpsters uh this time I'm going to open uh to the public uh are there any comments on this ordinance being no comments I'll entertain a motion councilman kesi I move the public hearing to be closed the ordinance adopted on second and final reading and advertised according to law there a second second roll call Council persons KUSI yes fala yes an NOA yes Roberts yes sinari yes zabowski ordinance number 14-24 bu of saal County of middle sex ordinance address storm water management privately owned salt storage are there any comments on this ordinance being no comments uh I'll entertain a motion councilman I move the public hearing be closed the ordinance adopted on second and final reading and is advertised according to law second roll call Council persons kisi yes ala yes anoa yes Roberts yes senari yes zabowski yes ordinance number 15-24 burrow of seral County of middle sex ordinance addressing fees for the Department of recreation are there any comments on this ordinance being no comments I'll entertain a motion councilman sonari I move the public hearing be closed the ordinance adopted on second and final reading and advertised according to law second roll call council person sinari yes fala yes kisi yes NOA yes Roberts yes zabowski yes ordinance number 16-24 Sero County of middle sex ordinance resending ordinance number 11-23 are there any comments on this ordinance being no comments I'll entertain a motion councilman Bala with the public hearing be closed the ordinance adopted on second and final reading and advertised according to law second roll call Council person's Bala yes polii yes an NOA yes Roberts yes senari yes Browski yes okay uh under appointments I have some appointments I'm going to appoint Mavis hon to the rec board um and I'm going to appoint um Nancy Johnson Patricia farell and MaryAnn Weber to the Cultural Arts Council I make a motion to accept the um appointments as stated is there a second second yes roll call Council persons Roberts yes fala yes polii yes an NOA yes sonari yes zabowski yes new business just ask Matt mat they want to pull 17 18 and 19 that's they motion to table or pull you can just make the announcement okay um the burrow council is looking to um pull ordinance number 17 18 and 19 do we need a motion do they need a motion or no you don't need one if you want someone wants to make motion to table you no one's fourth therefore table that's fine okay ordinance number 20 ordinance of the burrow of sael County of middle sex New Jersey authorizing the execution of a financial agreement Buy in between the burrow and Parlin section one urban renewal LLC pursuant to the long-term tax exemption law njsa 40a 20-1 Etc okay um from admin and finance councilman Bala I can make the uh you can go ahead now um I move the ordinance be approved on first reading advertised according to law and a public hearing to be held on April 29th 2024 there a second second roll call Council persons Roberts yes valala no poliisi yes an NOA no sonari yes zabowski yes okay resolutions public portion oh I'm sorry uh this time uh I'm going to open the public portion for comments on the resolutions are there any comments Jim thank you mayor Jim Robinson L barell square and Parlin good evening everybody first thing I want to ask about is the bill list jcpnl there's $118,000 on there for street lights I know at one of the meetings I missed the attorney said that he reached out to jcpnl about lights and they were said they were very happy to uh hear that Kennedy was back and at another meeting I was at the mayor said that he would activate the senior citizens to get them to do something about the street lights I went down to the senior citizen complex they had a different plan when they when they heard about the mayor's plan so but basically my question or my statement because I can't ask questions is I would like to know if we are still paying for lights that are out and I would like to know if we have a plan of action and if we have a schedule as to when the lights will be fixed anything else Jim yes um the other thing is uh 20 24101 the benefits agreement with the mcua I spoke about that uh a while ago at a council meeting and I am wondering besides the money what the host benefits are the everybody knows everybody who has a nose knows there are problems associated with the mcua and they're being in town and I'm wondering if this agreement addresses the $23 million wastewater treatment plan and the protections to the burrow in case something goes wrong long while that is taking place while it's under construction everybody knows what I'm talking about we've experienced that before and I am wondering if that agreement addresses um a replacement for commissioner Giuliano who passed away who was cille's representative to the mcua he um fought on behalf of cille to make sure that we got the host benefits to which we are entitled and I am hoping this agre greement addresses that and I am also wondering I'm trying not to ask a question here I am also wondering if this agreement references Riverton and what is going to be done to ensure that the mcu's problems don't spill over to Riverton thank you very much and if anybody would like to use the rest of my time to answer or comment on my comments which are not questions that would be wonderful I'm sure the public would appreciate it are there any other comments anyone else have comments and I'll entertain a motion to close the public portion Ken yes 10 thank you mayor Kenall chesy 108 North Edward Street uh I'm on same resolution we just talk about 202 4-101 but a different aspect of it uh the resolution I believe calls for a120 is the rate for the next 10 years I just wonder if everyone knows that the rate for the last 10 years was 120 and the rate for the 10 years before that was 120 so at the end of this agreement it'll be 30 years at a rate of 120 I find that interesting I find the fact that I don't know of anything else that stays the same for 30 years uh I also am suggesting that if we looked a little bit better at our Revenue we might have some money to pave some of those roads that we talked about a couple meetings ago but uh a rate of a120 for 30 years very familiar with this agreement because as I said here last meeting uh I helped author it uh the original one and there were rate increases by the way in that agreement uh every year or every second year it was nothing like the agreement we have here and my last thing is I wonder if the agreements we have with the county I know this isn't the county but it's a it's an offshoot of it I wonder if the agreements we have with the county like the County Health Department if that rate has stayed the same for the last 30 years it looks like the taxpayers are taken on a chin once again thank you are there any other comments Jim thank you mayor resolution 2024 106 authorizes the execution of a shared services agreement with the seral economic Redevelopment Agency for administrative services and I hope somebody will explain what that is about also I hope we will learn who negotiated Who The Negotiator was that negotiated that wonderful 0% increase with the mcua um because that that would be that would be very informative of course I can't ask those questions but I have more than four three minutes left four minutes so I'll stand here if anybody wants to offer a comment about what the shared services agreement with Sarah is councilman zabowski is the chairman of Sarah he would be in a wonderful position to respond to that any other comments and there are some folks I'm not done with my comment mayor any other comments and there are some folks up here who are talented intelligent dedicated some are well paid I'm sure they would be in a position to speak to that 0% increase in host benefits that we are getting from the mcua and I would be very willing to yield the rest of my time if anybody would like to not answer those questions because they weren't questions but to comment on that because I'm sure the residents of SEL the taxpayers the people who pay the bills here the people who would probably like that host agreement to go up in much the same way their sewer bill goes up and their water bill goes up from time to time I'm sure those people would like to know about it so if anybody would like to comment now would be a wonderful opportunity it would be a great opportunity to tell people what that shared services agreement is and how we came about negotiating ating a 0 percentage increase with the mcua and also who negotiated that wonderful increase why they would do that why on Earth they would do that that would be a good time if anybody wants to do that no are there any other comments yeah now we saw an this is like this is like watching the eclipse all over again it's are you finished it no no I'm not mayor I still have some time I am finished with you so please take your seat just commenting please take your seat I'll sit down as soon as I'm done you're repeating the same thing a number of times all over again please take your seat now you're justar shameful and you should all be ashamed of yourselves that noed nobody will answer a question by taer you should be ashamed of yourself all of the theatrics is now over thank you uh are there any other did you say something I said yes the theatrics is now over please take your seat well rehearsed Jim share that comment with the rest of the people here please share that comment was that was that a spontaneous comment or rehears your you're one that you gave just just at a governing body what I just said to you mayor is back oh yeah I'll be back we hope uh are there any other comments being no other comments uh we are going to uh pull for review resolution 2024 107 um I'll make a motion to um P 2024 107 from the resolution list correct and and to close the public portion and to close the public portion there a second roll call Council person's Roberts yes Bala on resolution 2024 101 and 2024 105 I'm voting no yes on all others all right hold on uh 101 just speak clear was was the I thought that the motion was a motion to 107 from the that's all we have right now okay MO yes yes sorry okay is there a motion to to close the public portion okay Roberts that was a yes Bala yes kisi yes an NOA yes sinari yes zabowski yes now we need a motion to adopt the remaining need motion on 99 through 106 all right I move the consent agenda items um be re receive and um approved on roll call vote the remaining there a second second roll call Council persons Roberts yes Bala no one 24101 and no one 24 105 yes on all others kisi yes an NOA um no see mayor but before I vote do you mind if I have a a professional or a liaz on speak towards uh 101 and and 106 if possible what is it that you want to do have either a professional or liaz on and speaking more details towards 101 and 106 we're just voting on it we we can certainly discuss it at the next agenda meeting right I just think that uh the additional if you like I'll take a moment to abstain that okay just those 101 and 106 uh I'm a no for 105 starski yes zabowski yes okay I need a motion to accept the correspondence as listed make a motion to accept the correspondence as listed there a second yes uh roll call Council persons Roberts yes fala yes kisi yes anoa yes sinari yes zabowski yes um mayor read the notice of public hearings that was under the correspondence uh committee reports Administration and finance councilman Bala thank you mayor I have no report this month okay Planning and Zoning councilman zabowski uh thank you mayor uh first off um I just wanted to uh personally express some condolences to the scandin family for the loss of Joe scanland um as someone who has uh I I had the opportunity to work in various ways with uh with Joe uh for close to 40 years whether uh it was with him at the count with the county whether as the um Animal Control Warden or also and most particularly with his work with um the Morgan first aid Squad uh Joe was certainly a unique individual U there were probably only one mole and that was Joe and um or burrow would um I'll miss him and I and again I just want to express my condolences uh number two um ordinance 2024 which is the tral call Pilot uh Sarah will be providing a presentation at the next meeting which is April 29th uh to provide some uh details and reference to that um also uh I'm responding to a request for information regarding the place there was some if there was some uh discussion as to whether uh the place which is an apartment complex off River Road was uh up to holding its standards when it comes to um special um um individuals or occupancy so uh I checked with our Municipal planner uh Peter Van Den C and this is the information that came back and it says regarding the special needs occupancy at the place uh they reviewed the deed restriction and related documentation for the project and um with Community invest strategies which is the developer and I think also the operator to confirm a few details uh based in the documentation it appears that CIS had agreed um to include the greater of five units or 5% of the project for occupancy for individuals with special needs as this development contains 88 affordable units a 5% requirement yields 4.4 units uh since the language requires that the greater of five units or 5% of the project be reserved for special needs uh that's how they came up with five units reserved for special needs homeless veterans are common special needs for groups that developers select to fulfill these requirements for lowincome housing tax credit projects lihtc the special needs group selected for this project was in fact homeless veterans based upon documentation reviewed apart from the special needs option the project is required to make units available as well to general public without further restriction to tency other than of course for income restriction to provide housing eligible housing so what I also found out is at this point uh there's something called the qualified allocation plan for 2023 2024 and in fact um homeless veterans are in fact part of that special needs with that said uh I do appreciate the response from our Municipal planner uh uh to reach out to CSI and ensure that they are doing their due diligence and making a good fa Faith effort to Target Market the special needs group I understand there are times where legislation changes and sometimes they can be broadened if in fact that is the case I've asked our burough uh our Municipal planner to reach out to CSI to see if in fact their requirements and their marketing has broadened as well to meet those requirements for my understanding based on reaching uh listening or having this discussion with our Municipal planner his experience is that this is a very difficult category um special needs individuals and they do struggle we're not the only one struggling to find interested applicants for um for placement there uh and finally um Sher uh Sarah has as a result of um wanting to be as transparent as possible we adopted a share service agreement that shared service agreement is nothing more than what uh what has taken place over the years there's no duplication of of resources what it is is to ensure that the burrow has a because Sarah is an independent body to ensure that they the bur has a spot for files here that there are times where there are documents that have to be filed in conjunction with Sarah that's done by the burrow so they're work in conjunction so it's not a duplication of effort but in this particular case we felt it was better to memorialize things that were taking place over the years um and the last thing and I apologize for the long report uh I just spoken to some of our Volunteer Fire uh service members and they are still looking for volunteers for that uh our numbers are extremely low and I'm just to call out again to all our residents that if in fact this is something You' like to do please reach out uh they could certainly use you and mayor that is my report thank you councilman uh Public Safety councilman and noow you Ste mayor uh want to take a moment to thank uh councilman zabowski for touching on a lot of uh topics that do connect with Public Safety as well um you know in addition to that I'd like to uh thank the residents uh those within the buau and beyond for their support um especially in the area of finances towards the family of uh Christian Rivera and you know to support the family through uh his uh tragic departure and you know praying that the Lord will continue to um comfort his family even in this challenging time and for and I like to take a moment to thank the you know our special safety agencies and our Professionals for uh their availability and and um you know there their support for uh just the challenging time during the earthquake for any you know scares within the burrow and um express my gratitude for uh the fact that there weren't um you know any casualties or any uh uh injuries to report so far so that's my updates so far uh progress and uh thanks and gratitudes thank you st mayor thank you Public Works councilman kesy progress mayor thank you Recreation councilman sarki thank you mayor if you're coming down Main Street in SEL you see spring is here that means the rec Department's really going into full swing uh there's going to be tennis clinics April 17th and 18th for ages 3 to 14 there's a children's Bingo on April 30th ages 6 to 12 uh May 5th May 4th I'm sorry Saturday uh there's the big fishing tournament at Kennedy Park uh that is a real good time everybody that you don't even have to fish or have children just come down and support us we'll be there um there'll be a food trucks I'm sure there'll be somebody there doing something ice cream truck for the kids and that's a real good day other than that progress thank you councilman water and sore council president thank you mayor um environmental we saw a great presentation from Elise earlier is there anyone that was sitting out here that didn't learn something new about recycling today um so I certainly did so I appreciate that and I hope that everyone goes on the recycle coach so that we could be um better stewards of our environment um so we have as she mentioned Earth Day April 20th at Kennedy Park 12 9 to 12 rain date is May 4th um April 27th seedlings at the Active adults Center and I'm really proud of the first environmental shout out to the saber organization and many more because there are so many organizations that really are doing um the right thing for the environment I do want to let you know that starting April 15th weather permitting um there will be hydrant flushing going on in town the schedule will be based on the weather so there is no it's a loose schedule but just be aware that there's hydrant flushing um the Board of Health is having their rabies clinic on May 4th and one of the things I wanted to ask before getting here is I've seen a lot of notifications for it I don't know where it's happening Public Works garages okay um I also want to let everyone know that the police adult Academy um learning about law enforcement is nearly full and there will be the junior Police Academy this summer again very popular program um and of course elely had mentioned the paper shred at Fort grumpy on April 27th and I do want to um also send my condolences to the scanland family the Rivera family and um to Randy we just found out his mother had passed this afternoon so we'll be um joining his family uh for that and for all the First Responders and what they do I want to say you know heartfelt thank you um and I appreciate it thank you thank you council president uh General discussion items application for a person personto person transfer for the following uh license number 1219 33-01 20009 from alh House Tavern and tap LLC to saal liquor license LLC located at 1899 Route 35 South and South Amboy all reports and paperwork have been filed is there any reason why not to issue this transfer okay so for the next meeting there'll be a reso authorization for the tax collector to refund 2024 taxes and cancel all subsequently bill taxes due to 100% disabled veteran tax exemption covering 20 Smith street block 158 lot 13.01 in the amount of $2,923 rzo at the next meeting um coin toss request uh received from several RiverDogs for September 14th and 15 next item uh request to travel received from the several fire department to attend a Memorial Day gr on May 27th in South River and authorization for Majid sadar and Community Center to use the portable stage for their prayer service at Kennedy Park BR I have a question on that do we charge them the same fees as we charge all the people in these our stage you know it's supposed to be in compliance okay I'm I'm looking to get confirmation on that okay that's all I have okay business administrator's report Personnel moves mayor authorization to appoint Jeffrey zeleski and Daniel Herrick to laborer one in the Department of Public Works effective April 16th next item authorization to promote Vincente buffalino and Beth frier to senior Public Safety telecommunicator effective April 16th next item authorization to appoint Michael claic to laborer one in the water and sore Department effective April 16th next item and authorization to appoint Thomas wasilevich to keyboarding clerk one in the tax assessor's office effective April 16th is there anything else no uh CEO Denise CFO rather thank you uh Bur Engineers report Jay thank you mayor one item looking for authorization per plans and specifications for the replacement of the roofs at the Melrose firehouse and the president Park Firehouse resolution at the next meeting thank you thank you okay borrow attorney's report no report thank you this time I'm going to open the public portion for comments on any and all issues Jim oh wait a minute let let me get the young lady first please that's you you need to state your name in your street please if I could say the street Kathy barowitz um I'm on wh lakowski can you pull the pull the mic down thank you w West wiekowski Avenue in this sperker point Community the 55 andova were active adults very active adults um I just I've been calling I speak to Zach regular I've called Mr zimowski this is appalling that Gand drive has five street lights out two are out since October this is an area of seille of Parlin and sville that is so dark because we're near the marinas and is unsafe along with the roads having so many potholes um like I said there's now five street lights out I've called I tried to call jcpnl I went on their website the only problem with their website is you have to have they ask you for the house number that's closest to the street lights that are out well guess what there's no houses on Gand we're all off Gand so that's the end of the website usually there's a number on a poll I I I have the numbers I've given them I have done everybody else's job and given the numbers off the poll I've given does Zach have the numbers um you know what I gave it to him a while ago okay and now there's more numbers to be added okay so if you if you could send them to Glenn I think I think Matt got us a friend at jcpnl H which we will for we will forward them to him well I don't know this has gone on like I said consistently since October andbody says something's going to be done I I this is my 24th year sitting up here it had it it had gone on before me there used to be companies that would come in and do an audit where where you could challenge what you were being build I haven't seen one of those companies uh in in this term I even like excuse me a phone I don't have anybody on payroll to go around at night to read this so I'm dependent on the people living in the neighbor well I've done that I've done it many many times I stopped I've given the numbers and nothing happens let's see what happens this time well it's the best I can do well it's it's pretty poor I'd even call the governor if I could call him I you have a number I'd be glad to do it I imagine I imagine it's on I'm not being I'm not being a wise guy but I would assume the governor has telephone numbers listed you probably get staffers it's just I'm looking out for the all of the the residents of Gand this is a very dark area it's dangerous it's unsafe I'm familiar with gond drive and also I I'm a ped at Route 35 it's as if that part of sville doesn't exist it is dirty by the one of the clubs constantly the earn Road U-turn there's always bottles cans the grass is rarely cut it's disgusting and I honestly I don't like to tell my friends to come to my home through that way because it's just like they're asking me where did you move where did you move let me deal with the lights first well I'm asking about 35 since I moved here okay also 35 shouldn't it be up to State Highway yeah right but shouldn't it be up to the businesses and can't you get the businesses to clean up around them there's right as it as it go down 35 there's stuff along the side of the road and especially like I said the ernston road U-turn it is they have a party there's a party in the U-turn it's really despicable and we should be proud of the Town not correct not have this really I came from another town that was spotless and taken care of this is sad this is very sad and especially the fact that we don't have lights that that's really safe safe thank you thank you are there any other sorry who do I give the numbers to again our business administrator Glenn scar I no I don't I'll give you his email that me good evening everyone um demitra Wagner seven Roma Street um and I'm a committee woman in district one for the GOP and um I just want to piggyback on her um she said s is very dirty so I've got gotten complaints as committee women that Kennedy Park is so dirty a couple of other parks are so dirty and I I brought this um before to a couple council members and I spoke to a lieutenant that was at ol's health fair on Saturday that um I have a little idea that would probably make the burrow a lot of money it would probably make a lot of people mad but I don't know anyone in my 48 years of my life that have ever has ever gotten a litter ticket I don't gotten what has never gotten a litter ticket um we see the signs everywhere they are like $250 and you know second offenses are higher and third offenses are higher and I know but we do have uh police officers and auxiliary officers if you know they they probably have cameras on their lapels they have cameras on their cars um cigarette butts is the number one producer of litter um I see people throwing things out their window Demi this weekend is Earth Day and and Elise is bringing out an awful lot of people that's generally an annual event there and then the parks department Kennedy Park is a catch all the way the wind blows and uh anything that's not secure in a in a trash receptacle usually ends up in Kennedy Park I don't know why but it does the wind blows in that direction and if you go to the end of the park between the park and ernston road where where there's there's undergrowth and Forest and water bodies of water we pull out shopping carts we pull out so much every year it's not that we don't we don't uh under we we're not aware of it it's we don't have a full-time staff to go around picking up litter oh and I completely understand that and with the bad storms and the winds and it happens to be recycling night it gets all over the place and I I completely understand that my whole point is is not that my whole point is that I have never ever in my lifetime known anyone that's got a litter ticket or anyone that has given out a litter ticket except the lieutenant on Saturday said he gave one in his entire lifetime so what I'm trying to say is if we want to make some money for the burrow and at the same time teach people a lesson whether they're juveniles or adults or whoever is that we you know you can't just come to cille whether you live here or whether you're just driving through and just throw your trash everywhere um and expect not to get a ticket and I know some people will complain and say oh that's just the police department trying to make their monthly whatever budgets or whatever I'm just saying like um there are other countries like Singapore um that are very strict um and they're clean you know their towns are their countries are clean their cities are clean their suburbs are clean and I think we you know we can just you know putting a sign up doesn't really do anything you know you have to teach people lessons and I think if somebody gets a 250 F a $250 fine or their child does they're going to think about it the next time they might complain about it I have a friend who just came back from his first tourist trip to Japan he said there are no trash receptacles in Japan you you keep it on the body till you get home where you dispose of it wouldn't work here oh no I don't agree with that that that's I think that's ridiculous we we do our best I think I think come Sunday you go through Kennedy Park they'll Elise does an excellent job every year and then the parks department um keeps up with it along remember we're we're uh 16 square miles um and and we we do a lot with the with the payroll that we have well thank you uh mayor and I want to thank you for um running the meeting uh not until like 12:30 midnight like the previous meetings are I want to say thank you because those that was really ridiculous and God bless you all thank you thank you dear Jim thank you there members of the council I am back to talk about something I talked about before which is important and that is Veterans Preference John I appreciate you're looking into it with the planner but as we know so often especially you as an attorney would know this the answer you get so often depends upon the question you ask and if you ask the question about homeless veterans yes that's the right answer we know that the County Commission director Ron Rios has said they did they did a a census we are very fortunate in Middle sex we don't have any homeless veterans so my question wasn't about homeless veterans it was about low and moderate income veterans getting a preference because that's what we talked about originally not homeless veterans and I looked at the new law that the governor signed thinking that maybe this would address that and he signed it per Amboy yvon was the sponsor of it and it was really really just it was based on the Old Law the existing law so I took a look at that existing law that was in place and not a lot was changed with respect to veterans that law the Old Law that was put in place when this was approved and the new law provides that there can be up to 50% set aside of the affordable for low and moderate income veterans not five 50% % and I think John you said it's there 88 folks there so that would be 44 units could be set aside for low and moderate income veterans and when I first suggested this six seven years ago that's exactly what I envisioned I had that pamphlet mayor you might recall I distributed that pamphlet to the council and some of you accepted it some did not and I'm sorry that I didn't get more involved in this back then but you know you can only do so much and I was God knows we were fought every step of the way uh throughout this uh uh uh affordable housing COA COA Fiasco but you know there was what the planning board that caused the suit which was a problem there was the flaw agreement that the mayor signed that thankfully a judge overturned and now this Veterans Preference for homeless which is really a bait and switch we never talked about veterans we never talked about preference for homeless veterans we talked about a veteran's preference for low and moderate income veterans and the result of it doing the way they did it is that no veterans no veterans received the preference that wasn't the intent I'm sure it wasn't the intent of the council I'm sure it wasn't the intent of Sarah I know it certainly was the intent of the folks in town that I talked to and you know I don't know exactly how this happened because we certainly talked about it at the council we talked about it at several maybe this is one of the reasons why it's so important to be able to ask questions so we could ask the right questions at the right time and perhaps if some of you were paying attention we'd get the right answers or we'd have folks look into it so this would wouldn't have happened but as I said the result is no veteran received the preference out of this deal out of these 88 units that we know of certainly none that indicated they were veteran on the application not one of those 88 is a low or moderate income veteran because there are no home thankfully thank God there are no homeless veterans in in Middle sex County it's wrong it's a bait and switch thing it's fraud and it needs to be made right now John you talked about 23 24 I know in 25 there there are new numbers coming out we have to take a look at this but we need to address this and I know you have this silly uh no questions policy that I've been coming to meeting since 1973 first time I've heard this but I can understand why you wouldn't want questions you've got a lot to hide you don't want questions but I think this deserves and John I appreciate what you did but I think we have to look at the other side of it the Veterans Preference for low and moderate income veterans not just for homeless veterans and I would appreciate it if the governing body would look into that and greatly appreciate I'm sure that people would if you'd comment on that thank you very much any other comments Ken kenel sheski 108 North Edward Street I grew up in cille and it had the slogan carille home of nationally known industry I uh I've been coming to Council meetings for over 65 years why do I say that does that make me smarter than anybody else no but it gives me the background to say I know what's going on at Council meetings and I don't think anyone could challenge that in 65 years you want to know who served when I first started coming here I'll tell you Harold Bame who was a councilman before he was mayor then you went up to Hill you had Ray prno insurance agent on Roma Street you went further up to Hill you had Eddie duko with Tavon owner uh you went to president Park you had Pat leam a gas station owner you went to uh Morgan you had Al schler a businessman and you went over here to Main Street and you had uh Joe zalinski uh a Tavern owner there were people when I started here years ago and I buy the way I didn't look them up I know that from coming here so if you think I don't know what's gone on at Council meetings I can tell you you're sadly mistaken and the idea that there should be no questions and no answers of course we all know that you can't be forced to answer a question that's common sense nobody's going to put a gun to your head but you know why you want to answer questions you want to answer questions because you owe it to the public to the people that elected you because unfortunately now you know what we have in Sero let me tell you we have instead of the home of nationally known industry the home of secret government and you know what secret government is secret government always leads to corrupt government you know about corrupt government don't you don't you people here know about corrupt government well let me quote you your Flyers four or five months ago you want to hear what they said uh sarraille first team promotes transparency that puts an end to corruption and self-dealing you said that in October let me tell you another thing you said Servo first team will restore trust in local government you said that in October how about another one serval Democrats are a pattern of corruption so I think you know corruption you call them a pattern of corruption how about another one serval DS can't be trusted with our tax dollars and seral Democrats are hopelessly corrupt so you know all about corruption and secret government I think anybody will agree leads to corruption and ladies and gentlemen we have here secret government and everybody's responsible here you know it's not only the attorney uh who I don't remember anybody in seral voting for uh we can't just blame him that's nice to blame somebody we blame the former chairman who's dead now like that was all his fault we know that's nonsense that wasn't true I don't want to absolve him from any blame but he was a puppet man he was a puppet and the Puppet Masters are still around we all know that uh and if you're not part of the solution here you're part of the problem let's make that clear to everybody the idea that we should have secret government we should have corrupt government is repulsive to every taxpayer in this town and you should all hang your head in shame when you leave here tonight if you're a part of corrupt secret government because secret government let me repeat it is corrupt government and what I said when I was up before 30 years at the same rate for Middle sex County Utilities Authority agreement boy that's really watching that's a watch do for the people of Sera you're doing such a good job and that secret corrupt government is all present and it's at every meeting that we come to when we see what you're passing and it's great you don't want to answer anything and you don't want any questions now we know secret government from now on by when I come to the microphone it'll be kesy home of secret corrupt government let's call it what it is thank you very much are there any other comments being no other comments entertain a motion to close the public portion make a motion to close the public there a second roll call all all in favor oppos is there any other business before this body if not I'll take a motion to adjourn make a motion to adjourn sir