okay good evening everyone I'm going to call the meeting to order would everyone please stand for 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 our residents and may the heavenly father of us all bless those who make who may have given the ultimate sacrifice and service to our nation and may He watch over and protect our service men and women now guarding the gates of Freedom salute to our flag I pledge aliance 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 statement of publication take notice that this regular agenda meeting of the mayor and burough Council being held on this 8th day of January 2024 has been posted and advertised in accordance with the open public meetings act chapter 231 Public Law 1975 roll call Council person's Bala here polii here NOA Roberts here narski here zabowski okay at this time uh I look for approval of the prior minutes council president move the following minutes of the mayor and Council be approved on roll call vote subject to correction if necessary and we have December 11th regular and agenda sessions roll call Council persons Roberts yes fala yes polii obstein no he's not here sorry uh sinari here zabowski AB okay proclamations and presentations Mr business administrator we're just we're going to have the chief address that traffic all right Chief flu marker thank you for coming tonight Chief thank you thank the men and women of your department for the work that they do well do can you hear me yes all right so as you're all well aware uh South Minn is closed once again beginning this morning at 8:00 um bear with me bear with me for a moment so last week uh the contractor met with My Traffic Safety supervisor to discuss the plans for the project um he reported back to myself so on Friday myself and one of my captains had a conference call with the owner of Z Brothers Concrete who is doing the project as well as two project managers that are anticip F to be on site for the duration of the project so the first thing they told us was that the reason this project wasn't completed last time was due to the fact they didn't have approval from Conrail to work underneath the rail Bridge that's where the scope of this project for the next three weeks is focused excuse me underneath the rail Bridge they got approval that's why it's moving forward so our first question to them was is there any way we can keep the roadway open down to one lane of traffic and Alternate traffic with an officer on scene uh they simply stated not really possible the road is scheduled to be torn up from Curb to curb they're pulling up large sections of concrete and rebar they don't feel it'll be safe to their workers to pedestrians or vehicular traffic to go through the area at that time our second question was be would they be able to work around a clock to shorten the duration of this project uh their answer was when they initially bid the project and were awarded that wasn't part of or wasn't part of the scope of the bid that they won however they said for a pretty large costly fee they would be able to work around the clock however uh in doing so one of the first things they told us was that they would the bur would have to sign a hold harmless agreement regarding the material being used for the project the reason for that is they be uh laying asphalt uh in the evening hours where they're saying temperature in this time of year is not really conducive to doing so if anything should fail in the future Z brothers would be off the hook liability wise uh in addition the project would come working 24 hours with um noise and disruption to the residents of that area so that was pretty much off the table uh the next thing we asked about was if they'd be able to put material or plates on the roadway in the evening in order to have traffic pass through at night and even on the weekends again based on the scope of the project tearing it up from Curb to curb they didn't feel safe for vehicular traffic to Plate the road or cover with material also in doing so would simply extend the scope of the project beyond the anticipated three weeks finally we asked them are we confident the Project's going to be completed in three weeks uh their answer simply put is conditions permitting it should should be completed within 3 weeks I understand everybody's frustration so what are we going to do is the s a police department we started this morning so when it was closed last time the biggest traffic disruption we really noticed was in and around the schools ernston and Washington Road so what we did today we stationed officers at the ernston Washington Road intersection monitoring and manually controlling the light when needed to do so in addition our Traffic Safety Supervisor was there he spoke to the crossing guards who were normally scheduled to work that post and enforc the importance of utilizing the signals to cross students in that area sometimes the cross the guard itself in Middle East says they would step out before the light really changed red stop traffic in order to get everybody across safely it was reinforced them the importance of working with the traffic signals when they turn red step into the intersection and cross the students at the same time we had a uniformed officer at the Kennedy Park crosswalk entrance with the crossing guard over there uh one of the problems we've identified is in the crossing guard self famility tells us that students Park walk up to the intersection the crosswalk and she tries to Corral them but they don't always listen to her so they'll start walking through roadway so she's forced to go out and stop traffic this morning with the uniformed officer on scene of working with the crossing guard we were able to Corral the students till a large group gathered then step into the roadway stop traffic and cross them uh the crossing guard doing on our own was stopping maybe every three to four cars what our officers there this morning every 20 to 25 cars what that did was increase the flow of traffic through the intersection here so it was a little bit better this morning granted today was a half day um what that comes into account I'm not really sure we're going to continue to monitor for the next three weeks and we will have officers at that intersection uh for the next three weeks as well as the crossing guard post at Kennedy Park and also going to monitor different areas around town where we feel we have traffic issues okay um other questions from the council from the governing bnny uh Chief one of the questions I have there there are a number of log jams I live in Woodside and and on the way uh to the meeting tonight I left my house about 5:00 and it eron Road um both directions was was impassible I was talking to the ba about it and I said I for the life of me I don't know where that starts and and what causes that but he said you were you were doing studies on that so we're going to start a traffic study specifically in that area we were going to start actually this week however with the road being closed at South MNC we didn't feel we get an accurate representation of the true volume of traffic so we plan on soon as the project on South MNC is completed and that roadway is open again our traffic counter will be on ernston road um to get an accurate the picture of what the volume really is over there U the traffic safety Sergeant has met with the county already on some of the issues over there and we've discussed the timing of the traffic signal uh the County engineer has told us that it is at the maximum level where they feel it's safe for vehicular and pedestrian traffic one of the other things that was brought up was uh do not block the box where the roadway is painted so cars cannot uh the county pretty much told us that they're not inclined to put paint on pavement at this time again we're going to continue to study once we get the uh numbers back from the traffic counter we anticipate that in probably mid to late February okay would would you have your traffic study people take a look uh at Kendall Drive because if if if the I really don't want to see an in increase of cut through traffic there because that's one of the few cut throughs that would be available but it would become dangerous uh for the residents and for the kids um and and it may be inconvenient but most of the people cutting through there as I heard for 25 years enough from sville so their inconvenience is left less of a concern for me than our residents inconvenience absolutely I work with the VA to to coordinate the traffic stud so if you I don't know what the proper terminology is residence only and particularly no truck traffic going through Laurel Park during this time absolutely that would be that would be pretty tough uh is there any anything else that you wanted to report at this time not at this time mayor okay um is there anybody that has questions for the chief if so for the for the purposes of brevity to keep things moving I'll ask that you're going to 310 that being said anything to do with Laurel Park and with the bus depot I will wait till you come back all right you okay with that Chief absolutely there okay so anybody that has a question about the traffic and Laurel Park takes a big brunt of it uh go right here in the next room and the chief will be there to answer uh answer any of your questions if not we'll we'll just proceed there you go I'll wait for you to come back I'll wait for you okay all business okay I have some appointments tonight uh I am reappointing on the human relations commission for a three-year term I'm reappointing harad Patel did I do this last did I do Bon the last meeting yes okay uh on the uh uh on the on the commission of Aging um because I am a senior it's important to me I've created a mayor's leaon uh to the Commission on Aging and I'm going to Appo it's it's an old friend of mine uh Mr DOI he is going to be my liaison to the Commission on Aging and what's that yes oh I'm sorry okay um so I'll reappoint on three-year terms Lorraine Gallas Pat Farrell uh Debbie Terry Carrera uh I appointed B uh a three-year nonvoting member Michelle Goa nor a three-year nonvoting member Dawn Carbone and um Stanley sarki is going to be the council liaison and Mr Doshi will be my uh liaison uh on the open space uh committee uh the reappointment of Valar um a three-year appointment to reesh kadakia uh that's that uh what decide not yet rent leveling board um the reappointment of Joyce May maor Julia green Daryl Hartsfield uh three-year appointment for Valar um three-year appointment for Angel Shaw and um Vince uh Mike Kazi will be the council liaison I think that's it tonight okay is there a motion make a motion to accept the nominations as read as as as said as said there second second VOC call Council persons Roberts yes Bala yes kisi yes sari yes zabowski yes okay let's do correspondence I'll come back to resolution in case there are folks in there who want to see it uh correspondence if you would need a motion to accept the minutes from the Board of Health rent leveling board and environmental motion second roll call Council person's Roberts yes Sala yes kisi yes sinari yes zabowski yes we'll go to council reports Council Council administration of Finance councilman Bala thank you mayor uh not much to report now we're just busy working on 2024 budget and progress thank you planning and zoning councilman zabowski thank you mayor uh most of progress uh planning and as well as zoning board uh will be meeting for reorganization this month and the first meeting for where Sarah will be at the end of the month otherwise progress okay Public Safety councilman Ki thanks mayor Public Safety and Public Works let's okay so we'll start off with Public Safety um so there are no minutes or uh anything to report for this meeting so um progress on that we appreciate the chief coming out here tonight and then um for uh Department of Public Works the boat house at Kennedy Park was uh rehabbed with new decking and railing along with the new supports and the Gazebo on Major Drive that received uh new flooring and supports and um also lastly the men and women in public works did an outstanding job over this weekend for our first winter storm and that's all I have thank you Recreation councilman sinari I have progress until the next meeting then I'll have a a better report when I get touch and meet with the recreation director thank you water and SE council president Roberts thank you mayor I've a couple of things um to share first we did have our first um environmental meeting and I want to thank our business administrator for um being so gracious in helping us move to the new location I believe that everyone on the environmental Commission is extraordinarily happy with uh with the move and what's been done with it so very successful with that um and I do want to say mayor we spoke earlier uh annually there is an annual scholarship for um Municipal Municipal scholarship competition I've contacted my leison at the high school so that we can get some um essays about about learning about how your municipality works so I'll be working with the high school for that we've got done this for about three years so maybe we'll get a winner this year um otherwise progress thank you thank you council president so we'll go to uh agenda items authorization for the tax collector to refund 2023 taxes and cancel all subsequently build taxes due to 100% disabled veteran tax exemption for the following 15 Kendall Drive in the amount of 5,9 $ 55.94 18 kerski Drive in the amount of $2,623 40 1906 bayhead Drive in the amount of $3,459 73 authorization to issue renewals licenses for recer licenses subject to the approval of insurance certificates and recer inspections authorization to award a non-fair and open contract to jaffy Communications of Cranford New Jersey for social media consultant services in an amount not to exceed $40,000 application for membership As A Firefighter received from Devin zor accepted by President Park Fire Company authorization to purchase one 2024 Ford Interceptor for fire prevention through NJ State contract from Winter Ford in an amount not suceed $4 45,9 52 authorization to purchase 95 gallon automated Refuge cans from IPL North America through hgac by contract and amount not to exceed 46268 authorization to execute a two-year agreement with green chip recycling for the cost free collection and disposal of eways and next is Glenn you need a motion no those will be listed for the next meeting thank you uh business administrators report thank you mayor uh some Personnel actions were requesting approval for uh authorization to appoint the following to the position as labor or ones in the Department of Public Works effect of January 16th Daniel mccab Thomas pavick deir amulic Christian Gonzalez and Nicholas panai author authorization to appoint Kenneth P Kelly senior as part-time keyboarding clerk one in the administration department effective January 16th authorization to appoint Zachariah n scha as keyboarding clerk one in the administration department effective January 16th authorization to appoint Katherine Riley as predem dispatcher in the police department effective January 16th um also we're looking for authorization to execute a collective bargaining agreement with the seral association of Municipal supervisors uh for the years 2023 24 25 26 and 27 authorization to renew Reliance Insurance Group LLC a division of aaur as our insurance broker for health services for the year 2024 and we're looking for authorization execute a contract renewal with North American Insurance Management Corporation to serve as our risk management consultants for the year 2024 okay are there any questions Glenn on number one there's like five new hes how many are U new positions and how many are just you know because of people replacement two new storm mandates the MS were for the storm water I remember storm water we we discussed it last year we finally got to the point where we're able to do it and then we didn't do rfps for number four and five right I'm sorry say again with the Reliance we didn't do rfps on it and no we normally do not RFP for that I'm informed are there any other questions roll call I don't need one you don't need listed yep even better okay uh CFO report budget transfer resolution authorization to refund escro to Regal limousine in the amount of $562 349 and authorization to refund escrow to cook the subdivision SL site plan in the amount of $1,291 84 cents thank you okay uh borrow Engineers report thank you mayor two items Lam mer section six looking for release of bonds uh for driveway paving that work was not done when they were issued cosos it's been completed so recommending resolution releasing those bonds second item is the 2024 well maintenance Dave Lightner has requested our office prepare plans and specs that's your annual contract for do hernel and burrow well repair work so need a resolution authorizing that that's all mayor thank you thank you burrow attorney's report I have nothing to report okay this um is everybody in from the other room I'm going to open the public for you got do the I'm sorry okay um Jessica would you read them we just have to open it to the public okay uh I'm going to open up number seven on the agenda these are resolutions resolutions so we can pay the bills renewal of Motel licenses authorizing the burrow clerk to administer all games of chances that that's stuff you go to the carnivals for and you do pull out tickets are would anybody like to ask a question please come forward on these items we need a motion Jim may my question now the bill section so I don't take time later Mr skarzinski a question I've been asking since June street lights um is there a bill on there for street lights and if so are we doing anything since I started coming here I counted the lights between my house and here first time I counted I think I told you it was 21 um then it was 24 and today it was 27 three of those three of those street lights that are out are at the Main Street and Main Street intersection Main Street and Main Street Extension intersection um I think on your way home you'll probably count six um where are we with that and are we still paying them for service we're not receiving I'm going to answer that question for the ba uh several weeks ago I was with mayor McCormick in Woodbridge and he has a much larger Town than we do and I asked him how he dealt with that issue and he said there were Volunteers in Woodbridge they were mostly seniors that liked and loved their town and they made they took it upon themselves to go around uh and and uh report the report the street lights that out so in the coming weeks I'm just going to set up a process where I will try to recruit uh people of all ages not just seniors who like and love their Town who will just do it and the only thing you need to do is take the number off the telephone poll and uh and report it in and then it will go out and be repaired but that's how Woodbridge does and I said that's pretty that's that's a that's a nice Testament to Woodbridge so I'm going to be looking for the people at saille uh everybody body take their own block as a responsibility and when a when you see a light bulb uh come out um call them in uh it seems to be working very well there the mayor of Woodbridge is quite satisfied with the results and uh so that's what I plan on doing here within the next several weeks I I appreciate that mayor I can tell you that this senior has reported 14 lights good I started in June and of those 14 that I have reported 14 are still out so while I appreciate you're doing something and and you know that some of us have posted on social media um that they have done exactly what you said and gave them a website gave him a phone number some people I even gave Julie early's email address to well I will visit mayor McCormack again and say what how do you do the followup in the event the um Power Company doesn't it's a start and I appreciate that and it indicates that you are taking the problem seriously so I appreciate it I just wouldn't put a lot of Hope in there because I think well as a matter of fact Mr skarzinski will tell you they had a list of about 300 at one time and I I think we're maybe they're down to 285 but and we as you know mayor we pay by the street light whether they're they're not metered so whether they're on or they're off we pay and we pay a lot of money and it's not just you know I'm not being pedantic or or pikun about it it's a safety matter and Mr skarzinski will tell you he knows of a situation where a pedestrian was hit by a vehicle um because a street light that had been reported several months prior on Main Street was out um and by the way remains out well let's see what Wood Bridge is doing that we're not doing and we can learn from them appreciate it very much okay are there any other questions being no other questions I'll entertain a motion um I make I move the public hearing be closed and the consent agenda resolutions be approved on roll call vote second roll call Council person's Roberts yes ala yes kisi yes sonari yes zabowski yes and with that I'm going to go to the public portion for questions or comments on any and all issues uh one of the things I'm doing is re is reinstating the five minute uh time limit this is for the business of the burrow all right I appreciate everybody's passion and concern I truly do I try to find passionate people to put them in charge of solutions but one one of the things I found over the last six or eight months as I made my rounds around town was they just found that that these meetings got sidetracked and they got off the they got off the important stuff excuse me so we're gonna we're going to enforce the five minute rule uh the call-in segment was really something that came up during covid Co is behind us uh so what we're trying to do is keep this to the business of the Bor and with 45,000 people in 600 streets and 250 employees 's a lot of business we have to take care of uh so I appreciate you all working together on this and with that I'll open the public portion for questions or comments Jim thank you mayor what I have to say is important I hope Jim Robinson L barell square and mayor first I want to start by congratulating you I heard that on January 1 from two folks that you had made an Outreach and attempt to inject some sanity into Dr labby's ludicrous lawsuit um that I've called seral taxpayers versus seral taxpayers and I sincerely thank you for that I think it is exactly the right approach I hope that we can form a committee to kind of resolve this before we're doing court on the 18th I also want to congratulate the new attorney I have met you before um I have lots of friends in Somerset and hun either at one of Leonard Lance's events or Kip baitman or Tom kanes but um and I have been following you and I appreciate what you're doing in Bridgewater as the mayor especially with regard to open space I've been watching what's been going on with religious institutions because we've had that kind of stuff warehousing I know is a concern of yours so I wish you well here I'll tell you a very quick story back in the 1980s when my friend John McCormack was the mayor I arranged for a press conference where he was on a skateboard at a half pike behind here and I know mayor you've done the same kind of thing so we have that in common um let me ask this which attorney will be handling the uh ludicrous Labby suit against the taxpayers burrow attorney the current burrow attorney okay and before Mr Kane Le or or attorney Kane Kean left I sent him some information on the suit I don't know if that was transmitted to you but I sent him in in addition to a bunch of emails um between my between me and Dr Labby and the school or among Dr Labby and the school board and and me uh I also sent him a note that indicated the board the board never authorized the filing of that suit um and when asked if it was discussed in closed session they would not answer that question okay and the resolution they passed to go into executive session did not indicate litigation was to be discussed so I think that's important to know maybe it's important to know according to Dr labby's very generous contract and I'll quote and I'll I'll email all of this to you if you'd like the superintendent shall have the right to legal assistance in carrying out his duties at the expense of the board provided that he has conformed to the board's policies rules and regulations and New Jersey Law now I don't know if the board has a policy that says that they ought to be suing the burrow but um if if they do then he conformed but I don't think they do we also know they didn't conform with njsa 4055 d-31 which says they have to come before the planning board and despite being told several times that that law requires a public agency to present their capital projects to the planning board before spending any money Dr Labby told me they were not subject in writing and and that was transmitted to the former attorney were they were not subject to to local planning board and the board spent half a million dollars on a design project before coming before the board in March the board through their administrator falsely certified to the Department of Education that they had submitted to the planning board as required for Department of Education approval in October after I had a conversation with the board attorney who by the way is is another mayor um from muton and who ought to know better the board reached out to the planning board to schedule a presentation um so I truly believe that the way to solve this is for a committee of mature responsible officials who understand their obligation is to the people not to the superintendent to work this out you have one minute Jim okay I I'll speed it up we have we're fortunate to have two former school board members Mr Bala Mr zabowski I I ran your campaign for the school board so I remember your service is on the school board you were you served there with distinction I think you'd be excellent emissaries I think there ought to be a committee formed before you're due in court on the 18th to resolve this in a way that doesn't involve more money for the taxpayers and litigation and lastly I say this every January because the the governing body almost always forgets the land use law provides that the class three member I think is Right mayor be appointed by who is which is a member of the governing body be appointed by it so I don't know if that happened but the council actually has to appoint if Mr if councilman zabowski is the planning board member the council actually has to appoint him okay thank you all right thank you very much all right just uh so everybody understands by law the the burrow professionals cannot have ongoing dialogue with with anyone but the uh elected officials and certain members of the administrative staff here at sville because they're all billable hours so anything Mr Robinson that you want forwarded will need to come to the business administrator first and then it will be uh read and reviewed anything anybody in the burrow wants there is no direct dialogue it can't be permitted because otherwise the billing would go crazy uh it it's pretty standard and routine in the state of New Jersey that only only the governing body uh can instruct a professional to incur a debt against the burrow and the people uh so that being said going forward any correspondence that you wish to have with a professional you have to send uh to ba skarzinski uh that being said let's let let me make an emphatic statement I have no intention of entering entering into a business agreement with the Board of Education I do not want to be part of this bus terminal I don't see it as a good decision when I asked members of the Board of Education why they were going private and uh why they're taking it inhouse rather than rather than uh using private Services they said they found private Services were were irregular in their service and I said well what was your solution to that problem and they said well we're going to make everybody that works for us a union member now I'm pro-union but I'm going and what what what are you going to do in in in five years or 10 years when the private side becomes that much cheaper than the than the public side it doesn't make any sense to me uh and again I'm a pro Union I'm a pro-union guy but that was a that I was very unhappy with that answer that that their way was to encumber more money from the people of cille to drive the buses and why they bought the buses before having an agreement on a place to keep the bus is is conf it just it just uh confuses the Daylights out of me that being said my position is I am not for this I will not I will not pursue being a business partner with them I do not want to be in business with them I don't think they have business acument and I don't see it Ser servicing uh the needs of our children and of the school that being said if any of the other uh elected members wish to comment um please please do so but sometimes some of the show some of the broadcasts I've seen on this topic is it comes out that that some of the governing body was in favor of doing this and I I can tell you as the newly elected mayor I am the opposite of that I am absolutely not in favor I have all the confidence in our legal standing uh and it would be idiotic uh to go to court in two weeks when when when our new borrow attorney has been on the job for a week no judge is going to allow that so it's all phony baloney to use a nice word and then we use nice words and sayable can I one brief procedural update on this go ah ahead just for the for the public oh thank you for the public who's interested uh my office I'm Matt mench by the way for those you who don't know me yet I'm the new B attorney um my office requested that the Board of Ed consent to an adjournment of the of the hearing uh they denied the sent for request which is usually pretty standard uh when you have a new attorney coming on WE reached out to a letter to the court which is all on the public docket and the court has scheduled a telephonic case management conference tomorrow with my office and with the Board of Ed so the uh the date for next week we don't know yet whether that date will be I have you know we don't know what's going happen to the conference tomorrow but for those of you who are following it closely the conference is at 2:30 tomorrow and I assume the purpose of that conference is to discuss scheduling and next steps from a court management standpoint so uh the date could get pushed back but I don't know that until there's court tomorrow so we'll obviously make sure the administration's updated and those of you who are interested can reach out to the business administrator with regard to whatever you know there's dates uh changed thank you uh council president I I was at that meeting and I do want to say speak sorry I was at that meeting and I do want to say I brought up other Alternatives like using some of the parking rides that are no longer in service Distributing the fleet finding other Solutions other than this um I was never a supporter of having a bus depot but it was um framed in a way that um was difficult to manage and I'm I'm glad we're taking leadership on this and and finding new solutions that really work for for everyone so I completely support everything you said so thank you mayor Bala I was on the other side when this all came about and prior ba offered the land to the board so on the board side we said yeah we'll take it why not take it hey it's free land so that's the the players have changed and players yes everything's changed now and it's I'm just reevaluating everything right at this moment okay thank you Dan C uh councilman kassi I don't have much to say about is uh except that I'm an agreement with uh us as Council thank you councilman zabowski oh thank you mayor um I'm in agreement with um um with the direction that the mayor and council is going on but with that said this is a seral issue and I'm always available if there if discussion is necessary councilman sonari thank you mayor very you need to speak in the M gu I'm very interested in this problem I wish we can come to a solution where the Board of Education drops a suit against the burrow for the suit um as far as the parking in a bus I agree 100% how can you buy 80 buses and don't have a place to park them if you go down Washington Road now and look at it they're all stacked up staggered at the junior high and high school they're in the parking lots all over I I just don't understand how this works uh to me it's a little bit late to try to find a place to put them after you purchase the bus and then they're throwing it at us to find a spot to put it so uh I think there's a solution to the problem but I just don't know it yet thank you thank you and with that I'll open the public portion for for questions or comments I do have something that you should all be aware of our ba who I have great confidence in has told me next week we're going to get 10 inches of snow no he did so I'm gonna I'm just the current forecast that's subject to change I do want him to let you know uh he and and and councilman Kazi and our Public Works and our Police Department we have an outstanding group of people that work for the borrow in the 20 years I was mayor before this time they were remarkable they really were and and uh I have no doubt they will exceed uh how good they were the last time so that being said get your salt get your shovels right find some strong kid in the neighborhood that's what I'm looking for I Pray For Rain yeah but the forecast at this moment is 10 inches so what day Glenn Tuesday Wednesday Tuesday Wednesday good time to go to Aruba uh with that being said are there are there additional questions or comments on any and all to yes come up please Nicholas manenti 101 kendle Drive uh welcome back mayor uh welcome to the new Council um let's hope we have a good year um I'm here to speak about the bus depot although I what sounds like I probably don't need to but okay no keep the message strong okay uh I'm here to speak to the council about the bus depot because the land was offered by the prior business administrator during that joint meeting with the Board of Education you wonder probably why are we here why aren't we at the board of ed well we did attend the Board of Ed on their invitation at a prior council meeting and uh we got nothing but arrogance uh from them we got Silence from them if you watch the uh the footage of the meetings um nothing was nothing was really done you know as far as listening to our concerns they just took our concerns and ignored it and decided to follow follow through with a lawsuit um on May 8th the Board of Education submitted to the Department of Education for approval for this bus depot on May 31st they received approval from the Department of Education based on their application and in their application they indicated that a presentation was made to the planning board well it wasn't um I attended a u an October 17th meeting of the Board of Ed and at that meeting Dr Labby had uh advised the board that they they accepted uh a bid from a contractor to start clearing the land this was in October 17th a day before they even presented to the planning board October 18th they presented to the planning board there was a lot of us from Laurel Park at that meeting it was a little bit of a little bit of a fiasco in the sense that um their their um their architect actually admitted that they fumbled the ball and didn't make their presentation in a timely manner to the planning board when they were supposed to before spending any significant amount of money they also under questioning from a planning board member admitted that no environmental impact study was done no traffic study was done we live in Laurel Park Laurel Park is a matter of yards away from Cheesequake Road where this is proposed to be built um on November 1st the planning board unanimously voted against this they also sent a recommendation to the Department of Education that they resend their approval for this uh for this project based on testim that came out at the planning board meeting and the lack of preparation on the board of ed side thousands of trees were cut down on Cheesequake Road for that warehouse project they their their architect estimates that anywhere from 400 or up trees are going to be cut down on the Seven Acres that they want to use for this bus depot right now and you know we brought this up before and it has nothing to do with the police range I live on Kendall Drive we Face the woods right now we for years we've been able to hear the pistol range the popping from the pistol range again not a big deal it's always been there I'm here over 32 years it's in the distance you don't really care since the warehouse project came in and the trees thousands of trees were cut down we hear them very clear now and the pistol range is quite a distance away from where they want to put this bus deall so we're going to you know as far as environmental impact study we're going to be hearing the noise of these buses between 6:00 a.m and 600 p.m. uh 6:00 a.m. and 6:30 a.m. every morning when they leave to go pick up the kids we'll have to hear the buses backing up starting up and and pulling out we'll have to hear them in the evening when they return because the trees aren't going to be there and they're that much closer so as far as our quality of life we have the same argument as the people who live on school drive and again they shifted the the buses where they parked at presently because of the people on school drive traffic study well you just mentioned ernston road I don't have to tell you about erston Road Laura Park is sort of a peninsula in a way we have the woods behind us that they want to cut into but we have erston road we have Bordentown Avenue and we have Cheesequake so we're surrounded by those three roads I live across the street from you y okay then you're affected by eron Road I'm an expert so all three are just horrible to drive on we have the time the time of day we want to leave our development you know not to have to sit there and wait for somebody to show us mercy and to pull out I'm I'm going to make a recommendation all of SEL and I came here in 1987 matter of fact the girl I fell in love with you're living in her house right you you have that two-story house on the top of candle uh yeah yes cousin U but I I'm um my my my stepmother is a Bailey and grew up the street here so I'm I'm familiar with what was what happened what is and and and a lot of things happen so what we're trying to do is to correct them now one of the things from everybody that I all my friends that that are from Laurel Park and have been there from the 50s they said Laurel Park used to have an associate ation and and they said it was pretty effective first of all it was social but then it was about the business of Laurel Park I will make room rooms available to you public rooms so that you can restart for the for the residents of Laurel Park not the non-residents let them do it in their own everyone the residence of Laurel Park um and you could start the Laurel Park Association what happens is if if you get five people 10 people 15 people the message isn't changing but what happens is is you can't you can't you might miss nuances whereas if if you if you bring it all together if if you have a if you have an association where you say listen there's 25 things we want to deal with these five first that's a that's that's a realistic goal for us to handle up here if you come to us with 25 issues and every neighborhood then comes to us with 25 issues it's not going to be a good outcome um so you come and you just prioritize it we're all living in the same town we're all paying the same taxes we all want the same outcome and it's like let's work together and and and get this stuff done but um I I would highly recommend you re you restart the Laurel Park Association and and and come we can get it from the water bills we can get we can get your mailing list we don't have we don't have a telephone list right but we have the mailing list with the names of the people that are living there paying their water bills um so it's pretty current and and just just say to them listen or or I can't I can't say we'll do the mailing for you um but I'd like to but I can't um but I would Rec recommend this I would recommend this and and come together we well you know let me know how many people you think are there we'll have it at the senior center if it's an awful lot of people if it's smaller people we we'll we'll thank you downside it all right just lastly uh again the only thing I I want to emphasize is that we're looking at this as a public safety issue on our end for the people who live in our development 72 to 85 the place holds a maximum of 85 buses so you know they currently have between 68 and 72 buses that'll put them at their maximum capacity those buses go go to four different locations now those buses will be going to one central location right behind Kendall Drive it wasn't thought out no it wasn't thought out because they're all going to be taking that same route those three roads to get back and to leave in the morning that through Kendall Drive it's not meant to handle that that's what our concern is right I'm with you thank you I know it okay thank you are there any more questions or comments all right being no more questions or comments oh I'm sorry um joyn Ryan 129 kendle Drive um I know we need to move forward can you can you take your mask down I can't hear you honey I'll talk L I can hear you I can't understand I'll talk louder okay yeah I couldn't get the flu shot I have an allergic reaction so okay okay so I know we want to move forward um and I appreciate that but I do think we need to take a good look at how this happened and it was a joint issue remember everything's on video so it wasn't like the Board of Education just walked in and said we're taking this land it was offered to them which I find amazing I live on Kendall Drive and literally this will be in my backyard now they keep saying there'll be a buffer there won't be a buffer because they're closing they're going to cut down over 450 trees there goes your buffer okay who do I sue when I have carbon monoxide poisoning like they did in Schoolhouse Drive do I sue the board do I sue who who do I sue Board of Education just curious wait wait you're assuming it's gonna happen and if it does happen God forbid it won't happen because I was in favor of it or anybody sitting up here is in favor of it no they were it's on video they were I wasn't here but I'm here today I'm here today I don't think they have I I can't really talk about it because it's under litigation I don't think you'll be Su anybody I think I'm not saying I'm going to what I'm saying is no no I there might potential lawsuit Schoolhouse Drive did because there isn't enough of a buffer and what I'm trying to say is none of this was thought about before that joint meeting or during that joint meeting it was just the land was just offered nobody thought about Kendall Drive nobody thought about the traffic in fact the engineer stood right here when I was at this meeting and they're putting gas tanks back there for their buses and when we asked them well what will happen with gas runoff which usually is with gas tanks they had no answer so you want to put gas tanks in the middle of a forest with no plan on how to make that safe it's ludicrous it's outrageous and yet we had the Board of Education and people from this board agreeing to it and one more thing isn't it a I'm not a lawyer obviously isn't there a conflict of interest going on here why do we have so many people with I know it's a small town from the Board of Education that leave the board OFA Board of Education serve on the board right or or go back to the Board of Education shouldn't they recuse themselves from issues to do with the Board of Education and we even have I'm not following you there we you have people that sit on this board that worked for the Board of Ed even the the previous mayor did well that that I can't answer for but in the future shouldn't it be normal practice that people recuse themselves from issues to do with previous places of employment let me let me refer to our torney as a general matter no if somebody sat on a board of education previously and is now sitting on uh this board they're not there's not a blanket prohibition for them dealing with board ofet issues there may be individual nuances that come up depending on the specific issue in which case I'll work with those board members to work through whether there is or isn't a specific conf I'm asking if that happened I did that happen in other words if if I was working for a particular agency and then an issue came up that that might favor that agency I would in good conscience recuse myself from that issue just for that issue no understood and I didn't see that happening I'm just saying I don't I don't believe based on the facts I know and I've been here for for nine uh eight days um but uh based on the facts I know I don't believe there's any there's any legal conflict with board members anybody on this Council being able to vote on this issue or matters generally regarding the school district simply because they were on the school board at the time but I will work with if there are issues then I will provide legal guidance to those council members separately uh not thank you here but I'll work through them with those because at the Board of Education meeting which I was had we actually had a board of ed uh member right who accused us Laura Park residents publicly of not wanting to help children with a bus depot which is ridiculous UL who said that one of the Board of Education uh board members okay now that board member was also at these ball meetings because the bus depot was going to be built in Morgan well she didn't want it because she lives in Morgan so there is a lot of conflict of interest going on clearly that should not be permitted if there isn't a law against it that maybe somebody should speak to other people about ethics okay okay and I'm just asking that in the future if you're going to make a decision about putting a big bus depot somewhere maybe go stand on that land and look around there's a whole neighborhood there okay one minute there oh okay one more thing probably I don't know if it's uh really has anything to do with this but maybe it does safety there aren't even any sidewalks on Kendall Drive I can't walk my dogs wait wait wait wait now you put the bus wa wait wait I'm going to stop the for 25 years I have had friends in Laurel Park that that like to give me a ribbing and they go you know we don't have curbs we don't have sidewalks I go listen if I put a sidewalk in here it's going to take 10 feet of your front yard you had returning GI homes right they were I think 50 foot Lots so they 55 50 by 75 Jay 50 by 100 so you had very small front yards so the first I think they were 12,000 in the early 50s right um but that being said a builder is only going to put that's why there are no garages to keep it at $112,000 you got the basics it was like a lown my parents first house was a levitown back in the early 50s all that being said so I I I've told every one of my friends in Laurel Park who likes to give me a hard time I go I can put a sidewalk in there I Saidi put valet parking in there but you're going to pay for it and they go end of subject so you a bus depot we've already had a child hit by a car there dogs hit by cars when they're on a leash wait wait most of most of Parlin was built after the war and it was for returning GIS so the whole thing you know the GI bill I think it was $100 $200 down it was to give there was a real housing shortage after World War II when you had 11% of the population all of a sudden come back from war there was no place for him to live um anyway so they started building houses so I I think the original GI Bill to buy a home was a couple hundred doll down and most guys were making $100 a week if they were making that much into 50s so everything was for the time it was built so so nowadays you couldn't build a development first of all you couldn't build a 50 by 100 foot lot secondly it would have to have the the amenities that we've all come to accept it would have to have some remember there wasn't a house in Laurel Park built with air conditioning not one I don't I don't even know if they had central air conditioning right they got it now but it wasn't built with it what year were you okay I my wife always says I'm not perfect and you just proved it okay but my the point I'm the point I'm trying to make is the things which we look at as normal now remember it was a different time and a different need then so yes I do I do if I if I could have everybody's attention I do understand all right I and and it's not that we listen it's it's collectively our money so what you have when you go home tomorrow when you look out the front door say do I want to lose 10 or more feet of my front yard to a sidewalk plus you're GNA have to put it in it means another child not being hit by a car yes well I'm not arguing that point you asked me I'm not arguing that point there's there's a lot of neighborhoods without sidewalks and they're all small houses and now we're increasing the traffic with a bus people that was my point but but remember I don't think it you and I may differ on this but who's going to pay for the sidewalk well who's going to pay for the people that are injured with a bus depot and increased traffic and no sidewalk now we're SE let's separate the bus here and the sidewalks here but we can't because it's going to increase the traffic and the traffic's already you're assuming it's going through hopefully not hopefully you'll change that's my hope I we hope together all right okay thank you all right we're hoping for the same thing I I think I I don't think it will be built there that's my gut feeling and we appreciate you trying to stop it no we we all live in the same town why why are we fighting over this you know it's silly because a bad decision was made to begin with well listen I I've been accused of making many bad decisions so I try to get better at them thank you okay thank you Jim Jim three minutes this time thanks mayor you probably know there H there are two things I spent the last year fighting one was the pilot for the Arsenal warehouses everybody can I have your attention my time I know warehouses and the other was the bus depot first when they started with the crazy idea in Morgan and now this idea Cheesequake Road which is just as bad so I I'm I'm happy to hear that it won't be going on Cheesequake Road I'm not so sure that we shouldn't cooperate with the school board God knows they need the help in finding another site I've suggested six or eight sites to them I gave them detailed reports I even they thought I was kidding I hav suggested Club 35 I thought we could go from a place that was busted to a place that could house buses people thought I was kidding um I got a report from Folks at Club 35 who think that might not be a bad idea they might be willing to sell and that might solve two problems for the town so I think you should seriously consider that now back to the attorney we are going to be friends um I assume you're also handling the Arsenal Warehouse pilot denial suit that's it that's it if you have a question you can come through sorry mayor I not not is the burrow attorney also handling the Arsenal he handles all borrow business what is your question to the mayor all right back you may recall because you were the mayor back in 2017 CME did a report recommending the moo property on main street where the warehouses are going be put in a Redevelopment Zone and in 2018 the planning board agreed that of course paves the way for MCO to request a pilot you know that makco sued the burrow and won that suit it cost us almost $1.5 million and the burrow was very strongly criticized by the judge in his decision mako's attorney was the D franccesco Law Firm who was just appointed as our COA counsel now you know that's a great firm back in 2000 you need to address your questions to me I I'm getting to my question my time um back in 2000 it's my time I recommended um de Francesco law firm and you appointed Jeff Lair for a while my question is this does their representation of Peter Marco present a real or just the appearance of a real conflict we'll get back to you okay and the other thing as long as we're on pilots and you know how I feel about Pilots John Jonathan jaffy Communications was appointed and I know they've done things for you they're they're excellent firm Jonathan's a good guy but they are also the pr firm for Riverton and Riverton is also seeking a pilot does that present a real or just the appearance of a real conflict I had another call from mayor McCormick from Woodbridge who said mayor would you like me to come to seral and explained Pilots he says I'm currently you uh doing 50 of them in bridge to help pay for other things so everybody has a brief understanding of a pilot if you want sidewalks you can pay for it with taxes meanings everybody's taxes go up or you can do a project and and put a pilot in which will give you more money than a regular tax and that will pay for your sidewalks the the difference so and I'm very familiar with what mayor Mack has done those are dedicated same thing in Piscataway when there's a pilot that goes to a community center that goes to a DPW garage that doesn't go into the general fund I get it so that it can be I'm familiar with it I don't want to use the the the colloquialism but so that it can be wasted all right we're at three minutes that's the difference okay and my last question Glenn were there any vigils or visuals in town this weekend escort Mr Robinson to his seat please I just want to ask if there were any Mr Robinson to his seat Jim you wanted to come out in this scenario so answer my last question please three minutes is up well you you took two minutes my you want me to sit down officer okay I'll sit down this is now you have a whole new thing to write about all week Jim yes ma'am hi Margaret Rocka 154 Kendall Drive welcome back thank you um I'm going to be a broken record I live on kendle Drive I can't get out of my driveway now with the traffic never mind once these warehouses are coming through and the thought of these buses looking at them hearing them breathing what we're going to breathe you have 75 buses starting every morning and we they're going to warm up it's cold out it's winter they're going to warm up nobody cares about anybody in Laurel Park we feel like at this point we are the Forgotten ones that it's just oh sucks put it in Laurel Park oh this thinks put it in Laurel Park how much more do you can we take our houses are going to be worth nothing we can't we don't get buses and I know that was something that was decided years ago half of our kids don't get buses to go to school so our kids are walking in the street now you're going to have them walking in the street with these extra trucks which I know they're not supposed to come down there but sit there every day when I look at my bay window and they're coming down my street they're coming down Kendall they're coming down Buttonwood making the turn to go on to Cheesequake it it's not going to stop it's going to get worse we just need you to hear us you're both right on the sidewalks we we have you're right you're right I take it even though I'll I'll cut through Kendall Drive uh from time to time um you're right I'm G to look into it our kids walk in the streets I mean my kids are not school age anymore but when they were it was scary and and I still see the little kids out there so what I really need is for this Laurel Park committee to take together because you need to discuss this you're giving up a good part of your front yard I understand the motivation is child safety that's the motivation so but everybody needs to be in agreement that they want to give up that much of their front yard not only giving up your front yard but anybody that's on a slope you have to put in a retaining wall it's going to be an enormously expensive project I'm not even saying that's the answer I'm just saying that we are at a loss at this point our children are not safe we're not safe I go out for a walk with my friends I'm not safe I get it I get it and and I'm GNA Chief if you'd put that on your list uh and again um it's just an objective what is the risk there's a huge risk to the kids that's but I'll let you do it professionally thank you I appreciate that I mean but I really I really urge the people from Laurel Park to put together the Laurel Park committee we we could we could be here all night and I'll never get through the issue believe me I I've been mayor a long time for a lot of terms I've been through every neighborhood in town and and every neighborhood has an awful lot of things remember our whole our whole purpose for years and years was to provide as many services as as cheaply as possible and the keyw was inexpensive inexpensive spend as little dollars as as we could because we were paying the mortgages we were sending kids to school so you can't give me 25 things I understand but like you saying pay cheaper our taxes or more since we all I understand exactly what you're saying okay I've run into this in other neighborhood I understand all right I understand and I'm not saying sidewalks are the answer I'm just saying it's one more thing that makes it not safe for our children it's one more thing putting these buses there our kids don't get them and now these buses are going to drive so I understand sidewalks in Laurel Park if I did all of Laural park with sidewalks I'd probably be at 10 or20 million oh I'm not disagreeing I I understand that that's so now that I'm not saying that's the answer I'm just saying it is no it is the answer I got to find $20 million it if right it's not the answer for everything because it's not going to change the traffic it's going to make our kids safer but it's not not gonna change the traffic it's not going to change the our breathing from these buses coming in there I get it I get it I'm with you I'm with I'm not the enemy I'm with you okay I understand that part of it but this is just very very frustrating for us like I said the sidewalks is one thing separately this bus thing is really really a killer breathing it the fumes getting out of our driveways it it's not fair it's not fair okay okay thanks okay uh yes ma'am how are you I'm Kelly wank neeler 84 Pine Tree Drive I share the same sentiment as the rest of my neighbors uh about the safety and everything else so I'm not going to beat a dead hor about that um I wanted to watch this meeting tonight online um but there was no link I went on the website there was not an online info option for tonight there is for tomorrow night so I wasn't sure if that was an error um there's a rumor on Facebook that the uh speaking portion for the people who call in has has been stuffed stop that because that was something for Co there there are there are numerous ways to e either send in in a thought a suggestion a complaint and and the feedback I got from everybody in town was you got to shorten up the meetings they're too long right and it's not that it's not that the the input changes it's that and everybody's very passionate about it right right but at some point we I got to bring it together yeah understand I get that just right now we're in kind of a a a a thing of sickness everywhere and I wasn't going to come tonight because I don't want to spread anything but um I I saw that I couldn't get online and you know so just to make you aware of there's no online option for tonight's meeting is there okay I did look and and I didn't see anything so my apologies if I'm incorrect about that it wasn't okay okay all right thank you thank you very much um that's it that's all thank you very much I think we're all I think everybody sitting up here is collectively with you yeah I'm not you know I don't have the sense from my from my colleagues that were working against uh the people of Laurel Park right there there there's a solution out there to be found yeah um and let me reiterate we all know that we all care for the kids and we all have expressed concern of the need for this bus depot we all know that and we're we're passionate about that as well so just to get that on the record that once again that we are passionate for the kids safety and it's always about the kids it is we had our turn yeah yeah at least old guys like me to so anyway just something that everybody needs to understand for the four years the last four years I was mayor and probably for some time before that I had very little contact with Dr lavy by his choice this time he will not return my phone call and my thing is you know I got enough work to do here I know I know I know this job I'm not I don't want his job I don't the Board of Ed is the board event they got more they get a hell of a lot more money than I get here uh as far as money to work with but it's our appreciate you reaching out thank you so together we'll get it done we got to find a solution I got to find you 20 million for your sidewalks seems Pilots is the only answer but we'll see what we can do okay thank you very much but the chief is gonna start to take an intelligent look and make an intelligent assessment and then I really need you guys to form your Laurel Parkers thank you Miss form your your Laurel Park so you can take all the problems that you have all the improvements that there may not be problems maybe you just want improvements your housing was built in the in the 50s in the early 50s things change but you just got to bring it in in something that I can manage I can't manage too many things at one time so we're going to deal with the bus first what's that you gotta come up H you can't do it from the chair I'm sorry I forgot to ask can we the people turn around and just sue the Board of Ed can you what can we sue the board of ed for this I have no idea I imagine he's laughing because I mean at this point everybody's suing everybody why can't what are you gonna Sue there's nothing done you know just the abuse of the power the money that they're spending without doing anything he can't do anything without permission of the Board of Education he can't spend the nickel without their permission well he already spent a half a million dollars who gave him permission yeah that's the way it works they want to list we've gone to the board of ed meetings and nobody there will listen to anything we have to say let let let's work on it this way that we're making progress next meeting you have more information okay all right okay are there any new questions Yes dear [Music] take your time take your time welcome back we missed you um congratulations um I live in Laurel Park also but it's not about bu you I go to Cheesequake Park who are you I'm Marie Gates I live at 38 on Terrace um I take my dog to the Cheesequake park that's not dedicated to the private the other one they're storing their equipment there for the road work they're doing on boarding Town Road all right that's our park right yes okay I go to bring my dog down in the park they have all their stuff in the beginning you can't get in there now you can't get in right now is that legal or illegal I should be able to get in the park and they block my way on purpose they see me coming and cuz the one time I was down there I was down there with the dog I pulled all the way in because I go all the way down by the bleachers now I don't know I only saw it from Washington Road that the road was closed if it's you come in through zeleski no I'm I'm in Laurel Park I'm coming down Kendall I but they they stop it up there at the warehouse entrance right no he's talking about access I know what I know where I'm I'm on kendle Drive K the Basi I go to the baseball field right there and that's blocked off they no they block it with their trucks cuz they're in there with the all their dirt pile there when you go in I can't they block my way to get in the park get it I get it but but that's illegal isn't it I don't know it should be but but listen listen listen it's our money so the harder we make them work the more it costs us if it's easier for them to put whatever equipment you know pavings stuff that they need to uh is that is that by is that by the dedicated field across the street across the street we we we can talk to them and ask them uh to see if I call the go ahead no no we'll talk to them and say listen we have residents who like use it as a dog Mark can you can you can you give them accent access that let us do that okay but remember if it's like your Hing a guy to put on a roof and say then you say well you got to put the shingles on on on my neighbors across the parkway because across the street because I don't want them in my yard he'll do it but he'll charge you and that's what I'm saying about this situation they'll do like um like like the chief said yeah they could work 24 hours a day but they're going to charge us right and even though we're in a new world and we have houses Laurel Park 450 $500,000 uh we have houses in cille now selling for 900900 it it it's certainly changing as my stepmother fell off her kitchen chair when I tell her these numbers and My Hope Is God will forgive me for doing that to her um we still don't want want to spend a nickel more than we have to I understand that I just want to take my dog to the park and I want them to move out of my way when so I'm going to I'm going to have you leave your phone here and we're going to look into this tomorrow okay are there any other questions no other questions with that I'll take a motion to close the public portion make a motion to close the public portion second roll call all in favor I I what was the one you want to I make a motion to close the meeting no oh I'm sorry the council right but first we're going to go into Clos session okay we're going to go into Clos session there may be business or probably will be business when we come out uh but there won't be any more oh okay where section eight of the open public meetings act chapter 231 Public Law 1975 permits the exclusion of the public from a meeting in certain circumstances and as as public body is of the opinion that such circumstances presently exist now therefore it be resolved by the mayor and bur Council the bur of seral County of middlex state of New Jersey as follow the public portion of this meeting is hereby adjourned in order that the governing body may meet and close private session for approximately 15 to 20 minutes to discuss the following matters litigation following the conclusion of said closed 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 Clos session shall be made public at such time as a need for non-disclosure no longer exists this resolution shall take effect immediately need a motion make a motion to go into executive session roll call Council persons Roberts yes Bala yes polii yes sinari yes zabowski 820 [Music] okay I'm gonna call the meeting back to order Lucy could you take it into Hall hun thank you okay motion to reconvene make motion to reconvene second all in favor I I all right I I'd like to appoint councilman John sski to be our leaon to all the land use boards I make a motion to make John Z Browski the planning board second land use land use second uh roll call Council person's Roberts yes fala yes kisi yes Sinar yes zabowski okay take a motion to adjourn take a motion to adjourn all in favor I I opposed what time we got 836 8:36 okay we'll try to do better thank you