##VIDEO ID:OIYfzvsPv0s## e e e e e e e e e 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 this meeting is convened in the accordance with the provisions of the open public meetings Act of New Jersey let the official minutes reflect that adequate notice of this meeting has been posted sorry provided by publishing a notice in the Asbury Park Press on Thursday January 4th 2024 the Press of the Atlantic City and the Star Ledger and also forwarded to the Tom's River Times Tom's River patch and wobm news on Tuesday January 2nd 2024 and thereafter posting same on the town hall Bolton board for such notices and filing same with the Township Clerk pursuant to resolution adopted by the township Council on Tuesday January 1st 2024 the meeting dates have also been posted on the township web [Music] page here here here here here um Steve I'm not just sure if your microphone is really on or not okay got it item number five is the minutes I have a motion to approve I'd make a motion to approve the minutes second motion was made by councilman Quin seconded by councilman lamb counc councilman n seconded by councilman lamb councilman nion yes councilman lamb yes councilman josi yes councilman lobman yes councilman quinis yes Council vice president alol yes council president K yes okay we have no um honoring resolutions or presentations tonight so move right on to ordinances first readings item number seven is a first reading ordinance of the township Council of Tom of the township of Toms River Ocean County New Jersey amending and supplementing section 47779 schedule 21 speed limits of chapter 477 vehicles and traffic of the Township Code reducing the speed limit on Silverton Road between New Hampshire Avenue and Todd Road from 40 mph to 25 M hour to promote enhanced vehicular pedestrian safety and again this is a first reading I have a motion to approve I'll make a motion I'll second motion was made by Council uh councilman quinis seconded by I didn't hear you I'm sorry Council woman2 councilwoman O2 councilman quinis yes councilwoman Al yes uh councilman lamb yes councilman lobman yes councilman iers yes councilman uh Coleman yes thank you councilman Jai sorry okay moving on to item number eight ordinance of the township Council Township town of Toms River Ocean County New Jersey repealing ordinance number 4802 24 the Township Code of the township of Toms River titled authorizing the mayor to execute and the Township Clerk to attest to a lease agreement between the township of Tom's River and the Ocean County Board of Health auth authorizing the leasing of certain Municipal uh property pursuant to njsa 40a 12-1 14b and this is a final reading move eight you got no first first I'd like to open this up for public comments since the second reading bill any public comment councilman chair can move no I I just want to just say please State the the property the description of the property what is it that we're talking by title BYT okay but I'm asking what building is it please can't we can't say that what building this is for the record okay this is for the shelter lease thank youing shelter motion close public comment just all right all right all right we're good we're good calm down calm down go ahead say your name and your address please okay uh Julie adamac 69 Cedar Grove Road Toms River New Jersey um I just want to make some comment ments about the uh Toms River Animal Shelter matter uh we know that the shelter's been closed since June the 7th uh per mayor rodri's directive um there is no deal with the county and there's no construction even though uh there's been plenty of news reports uh indicating that was the case it's false um the certified animal shelter petition had 4,000 plus signatures that have been ignored by the mayor violating New Jersey uh state law one Township Animal control officer remains down from four set a 75% decrease in our Animal Control Officers to cover 44 square miles and we have backup by a Academy Pest Control arranged by the mayor without Council approval and they cover eight out towns and there's a 4-Hour uh response time um and in fact I was at a breakfast in July with some uh friends and somebody had indicated uh told me about a story about a fox uh that was suspected to be ra uh to be possibly rabbit and there was going to be a 4-Hour um response time and they were stunned when they were telling me the story and I said well I said the animal shelter was closed and I said our uh animal Control Department has been decimated so what's the result of this we now have the Toms River Police getting which is already underst staffed and we have more police officers res retiring Etc and they're getting diverted from official duties to handle animal calls the shelter sits empty as the County shelters remain full uh domestic animals and Wildlife no longer have a shelter to accept them and people people who have lost pets are being taken to manah hawen or Jackson uh needless to say the residents of Tom's River are being uh inconvenienced so um uh I think that this was a a foolish plan of action um it's putting the public at risk uh we have uh you did this during the uh sum during the season of the during this kitten season uh you have an expl expion of feral cats uh I mean the answer is not to just Round Up thousands of cats in town now and try and just euthanize them that's like cruel and inhumane um and even if you initiated a deal with the county that would not that's a Band-Aid and that would not solve the the problems that you've created by your decisions and I'm talking about the majority council members because there are some wise council members thank you very much for your council president I was just wondering council president I would just I would just like to address before the next person speaks I just would like to address some of the statements that were made sure I should be pretty quick about it um as for the petition excuse me just one second mayor looking folks you have to be fair I know you're upset but you have to be fair if you we're going to be quiet and listen to people at the microphone have to give a mayor a chance to speak that's only fair let's do it the fair way no sorry you got to be fair go ahead mayor as as for the petition the petition was a petition to repeal the lease that's what we're doing right now we're repealing the lease uh as to why the shelter is closed and not reopened since June uh in June we um we were anticipating going to the county uh at the time we had a deal on the table and it was closed before the petition was turned in as for um the wildlife we're not supposed to be taking in Wildlife according to the Board of Health um so if that was going on it was improper uh as to the police uh we did have a a recent retirement um however um we're not underman under staffed we will be hiring people as we make the promotions I believe right now we're one patrolman down uh and one patrolman will be hired uh plus additional patrolman when these promotions are made so uh we're not under staffed as far as the police are concerned the petition we repealed it as as the uh petitioners requested and as to why and also the notion that there is no deal is a complete falsehood because this Council voted on a shared services agreement and approved it at the last council meeting and assembly m is here uh and he presented that to us and to the county so there is absolutely a deal in place and what the petition really did was caus the shelter to be closed much longer than it would have had to been it would have been opened already but but what this is really about is about who's working at the shelter because that's what this is really about this is about whether or not it's this is well the the county is going to run the shelter the shelter will be open so the notion that you would now oppose repealing the lease and reopening the shelter that's the way it's going we're reopening it so you asked for the for the lease to be repealed the council is repealing the lease okay thank you mayor yes sir all right Brian uh B2 consulant group and Alin so I have two responses to that 4191 1516b you actually have a statutory obligation to service all animals within the that are found within the the township not just domestic animals if you have an injured Goose sir right now the discussion is on rep of the ordinance okay but I'm also responding to false information that want to make sure I want to make sure you talk to the subject okay what's what's your address at this point what I'm going to speak your name address excuse me I need your name and address Brian B2 Consultant Group man Alpin at this point I would say that the township currently has an active lawsuit that Direct goes against what this ordinance would be proposing so it would be again I'm not an attorney but I would say the attorneys that are here should probably be referring to the council to probably put this on hold and tbling it pending that litigation to be processed again I'm not an attorney corre but that seems like that might be the appropriate thing to do and I don't appreciate the comment Mr lman I don't appreciate yours either so you're there to be there so I would just say that maybe that's something that the attorneys in the room should should consider and it doesn't have Mr does this count to my time all right let's stop the let's just finish and let's send this go ahead oh I'm saying at this point you have an active lawsuit in the town the attorneys here should probably take that into consideration and table this pending the outcome of that ordinance that's all I'm saying and thank you good evening Phil brilliant 79 Holly Tree Lane just a quick correction so the clerk issued his letter that he was going to certify the petition he issued the letter on May 31st it was closed on June 6th um but I want to say something a prepared statement in complete transparency I'm going to go as fast as I can I have filed a lawsuit against the township um nine other parties including the the mayor business administrator acting clerk uh legal counsel several council members for simply not following the law I am not an attorney I'm going to do this the best I can as a prosay I'm quite certain attorney uh Donald Burke a great litigator as described by the mayor will run circles around me in court just like I would run circles around him on natural resource damage claims but we are going to court next Friday September 6th uh we had a conference the other day I was informed if I Prevail this ordinance if pass tonight and the resolution from last month for a shared service agreement may be deemed null and void by the court action so I have two quick points to make I think there's a misconception and actually the mayor just said it again about my lawsuit I am not looking for the ordinance to be repealed I'm looking for this Council to follow the law of the state of New Jersey njsa 40 colon 49 A-1 191 that requires 20 days after the clerk certifies a petition if it's not withdrawn by Council or the committee of petition during that time period it goes to referendum it goes to the people to vote I reached out on numerous occasions within those 20 days to have a meeting to discuss an option or answers relative to what could be done the only answer I received was from the mayor and I quote I have absolutely zero interest in meeting with you you bring nothing to the table then three other paragraphs of attacks that you can read in my court filings your action on this ordinance to repeal is way late almost 60 days from the certification of the petition so so the vote is moot NJ addresses the timing of the election which I honestly believe should have occurred the resolution last meeting for the shared service agreement was the same as the ordinance just put in a different package and I'm prepared to argue that next week the intent was made clear on June 6 when the mayor closed the shelter laid off the employees and had no plan of action to handle Animal Control efficiently and effectively in Tom's River his actions that based upon the code of Tom's River he does not have the authority to do without Council approval does make it appear to be fruitless to move forward with a referendum but again I'm prepared to argue this next week based upon my briefs the last thing I intend was ever to sue the town I think it's fruitless but the referendum vote should have happened the taxpayers had the obligation based upon the petition that was signed my bigger point is by the action taken by the mayor members of the team Council the rights of the residents of Tom rer have been violated the Civil Rights Act is clear any person who has been deprived of d process equal protection rights privileges immunities secured by the Constitution and the laws of the United States or any substance I knew I was going to run out of time again next Friday I'll be in court I was going to offer to you if the shelter would be reopened I will drop my case I have no interest in the township spending any money on lawyers spending any money on the C on the process but you if by Friday I'm notified it'll be open I will drop my case thank you very much up Debbie KY Baring Street Tom River New Jersey so you closed the animal shelter before you had any Arrangements in place the day or the day after you you closed the animal shelter we were getting getting all kinds of um I help with networking homeless pets could you speak into the microphone please no I'm just saying would you speak into the microphone please you close the animal shelter without a solid plan for the animals the day or so after you closed the animal shelter the Ocean County um animal shelter was saying that they had too many pets and they were pleading for foster rescue and adoptions they reach out to every single uh organization that is available to try to help out so this was a very poor plan for whatever agenda it is that you have I don't know what your agenda is I don't know why you hate animals and the township residents this is just I really don't understand that but in any event ma' this is the Public's opportunity to comment specifically on the ordinance to repeal the lease to right so it needs to be repealed and you need to go back to the drawing board and you need to reopen the animal [Applause] shelter uh don laar fidella 752 Jaclyn Court I just want to urge the council to reconsider and reopen the shelter under the town's Direction in Li of handing it over over to the county along with a $1 million donation to complete unnecessary Renovations the Town and County is suffering as a result of the doors being closed and it's a gross abuse of taxpayer funds and the residents will give to the town to put dog runs in to exercise the dogs as I've stated in my online comments to Mr rodri that he deleted um dog runs are a little 3x5 closet side space they do not exercise the dogs I don't know if anyone realizes that so this project would require to gut the entire building and start over ma' make sure you talk directly to the ordinance please yes so I am asking the council to reconsider handing the lease over to the county and open the doors because this is this is a gross gross abuse of taxpayer funds to spend a million dollars on Renovations that are not necessary do you want to address me directly instead of whispering into his ear no he's just he's just I think that's what I think that's what I think that's what the council's doing they're repealing the lease to the county and it's going to be opened by the county through a shared services agreement so I think that's exactly what the council's doing semantics and when you do that not semantics if I might jump in just for a second here so again wa wait hold on hold on as long as I get my time back let her finish let her finish go ahead ma'am fin because I get my time back I'm willing to have dialog ma'am I want you to finish please that that's please finish that I'm asking you to please finish I want to hear what he has to say well you will after you're finished no don't say no to me ma'am rid I'm sorry this is my meeting I'm telling you right now finish or you're done finish or you're done I have finished but I want the ability to respond no you're finished my understanding is he's an invited guest to this meeting you can respond and I'm actually addressing you all but it's just he is the one that closed the show the ordinance that we're talking about directly yes that is what we're talking about we're talking about the shelter president I don't mind jumping jumping in and let her jump back in afterwards if that's all right with you I I don't mind I'm not excited about it to be honest with you mayor I'm not trying to be combative I'm just try no no I'll jump in so again just to clarify what the township attorney just said the petition opposed the lease agreement with the county we were required then to repeal it or fight it we repealed it so the order that you're he about tonight is repealing the lease but what you basically sought repeal of was just a lease it wasn't about running the shelter we have a different Arrangement now as to um the million dollars I don't know which million dollars you're talking about but there are two different hang on there's a donation that was made uh from from a a a deceased individual who wanted to see it used for the animals it's been being used for salaries which I don't think is what was intended for the money so the money was intended to improve the shelter and do things for the animals that money will get used for the upgrades um or whatever else we might need going forward the county plans to bring in veterinarian services and plans to upgrade the facility as to the other million dollar which you may have heard about is the million dollars that the township Saves by allowing the county to run the facility um as to why it's not opened yet be be it's because of the petition right we needed to repeal we needed space we needed meetings you had to have multiple meetings had we back when this first agreement passed giving it to the county I'm pretty confident the renovations would have been done already and it would have been opened and now the Hang On Now what's most interesting is some of the very folks who circulated the petition are asking now they're asking for an injunction to stop us from repealing which is so convoluted because they asked us to repeal this so we were asked to repeal it we're repealing and now they're going to a judge and saying wait a second your honor we don't want this repealed it makes absolutely no sense at all Mr so that I'm sorry Mr quinis now if you have fur the questions and you need to extend your time I'm willing to answer those uh if if you have more or if you have something else that you want to say I'm I'm I'm all yours you know I don't want to uh deprive you of your answers go ahead well they're coming back and asking you to open the doors not handed over to the county the renovations that you're speaking of I would love to see these plans which I know are not in place um anyone who went to the last Ocean County Board of Health meeting knows that they explicitly stated that there's no conversations in place nothing's going on just may be what they're saying on social media but that's not the case was at the meeting I was at the meeting right but the folks that are on the board and the folks that actually run the county facilities that these Agreements are uh arranged with um they're not one and the same right so folks on Council for example they don't know every meeting I have during the day and who I have it with but we have an agreement in place we voted on it this is the second agreement we have in place so the notion that there is no agreement is outrageous there's been two agreements and this whole thing we talked about kitten season we would have been opened right so all of this now you want to put it on a ballot that's not going to open the shelter any sooner and the petitioners didn't petition for a referendum they petitioned to repeal the lease which we're about to do for the second time uh and we will be able to then get the facility back open once the renovations are done but if this continues then in in into the ballot and what have you that doesn't change anything either we're just asking the people whether or not we should go forward with a lease that we're not going forward with the County's not going forward with the lease now we're not going forward with the lease so on top of this we're asking to uh put on the ballot a Poli agreement that neither governing body is going to move forward with so it's a complete waste of taxpayer time and money uh in election what's the election going to do we're not we don't have a lease if it winds up on the ballot we still can go forward with the shared services agreement this is a legal moot point and people are trying to create a political issue out of something but the shelter would have probably been opened already and I'm not saying everyone here is here for political purposes but the folks who are rallying everybody to the to the to the cause are and that's just a fact it's you know but the fact is the petitioners asked for the repeal we made the repeal this is the second time for the repeal and this injunction request is to not repeal what the what the petitioners asked to be repealed so it's likely not to be granted um I'm just gonna make two more comments go ahead three maybe one this is a workaround plain and simple it's a workaround two uh the construction you're going to have to gut that building and start over so stop blaming the petitioners for the delay in all of this because there's no plans in place and there was no contingency plan and now everything is a disaster and that is what people are really upset about [Applause] wait just want uh preface a little timeline here Sarah could you give your name and address messenger Street th thank you um on May 8th at the Board of Health meeting it was stated at the Board of Health meeting that a the county had no intention of taking over the animal shelter the town asked the Board of Health to take it over that's number one the last part of it was if the residents of Tom's River got the signatures they need everything was out okay so before the petitions could even be finished the mayor decided he'd close the animal shelter he didn't even give the citizens a chance to get their signatures and that's the issue here he couldn't wait to close it he couldn't let the citizens have their say even though we got the petition and knowing that the county said if you get the signatures deals off so now he left it with no shelter no place for the animals and once again he showed how much contempt he has for the citizens of Toms River yes this is my second time so why can't you just admit you made a mistake that you were wrong why can't you just admit that you were wrong that your motivation wrong ordinance speak to why can't you make speak to the ordinance please I'm asking kindly please speak to the ordinance okay I am all right then don't don't point and just he's the one who's just talk to the ordinance spokesperson we're trying to listen to your position on the ordinance I'd like to know how much money it's going to how much the county is going to uh charge us for taking over the animal shelter that's not part of the ordinance free free and saves us a million dollars a year it's free free so they're not going to charge the Ocean County taxpayers money we're already paying so Tom's River they cut taxes this year the county actually cut their taxes this year because they have that much extra money so they are taking it on for us for free sav1 million this is against what the towns the town's residents want and so you have to repeal feel the audience you have to go back to the drawing board and you have to open the Toms River Animal Shelter under Tom's Rivers control and I am not a member of the mohill gang as you have accused me to be in social media I've never met him before I know nothing about him and I have absolutely no relationship to any of the shelter employees or the former shelter employees so I'm here for the animals and for the animals only I wish you were council president I a question for you so this is the first time I'm hearing that there is other arrangements made the cancelation of the lease what what are the other arrangements no putting to the lease no no shared services agreement the council voted on it yeah I know but you mentioned it and Mr rodri mentioned it there's other enragement yeah we voted on it Dave we voted on it last week you're not saying what they are you voted on a shared services agreement Dave you voted okay all right so motion is let me finish there's a motion I know but is a mo is that the other Arrangement the share agreement is that what the other arrangements are I think we should close okay and then get to your issue the vote I think you have a motion in a second motion to motion to close public comment on this I'll make that motion second all in favor this was a motion to close public comment on the reading of the ordinance and take the vote okay so now we're going to uh do we have a motion for a vote for it motion a motion is on the floor motion was made by C Lamb seconded by Council vice president OU councilman lamb just want to say this ordinance is repealing the lease if you want to talk about the County shelter versus a Township shelter I can only speak for the residents of my ward several from ortley Beach and I want to tell them the folks ortley Beach and those that live on the waterfront and those that live in my area Guilford Park I am speaking to the ordance the goal here is for me as a republican in this town is about small government and I have to look at everything within the prism of small government now you might not like that because maybe you are not maybe right leaning or you're you know again more of a left-leaning person however in my in my constituency the people I represent they want to see that their tax bill doesn't go up and doesn't increase and if the County shelter is that bad why aren't all you at the county commissioner meing railing about how bad they're doing I don't see anybody at the county commissioner meeting talking about it I don't see any of you there at the county commissioner meeting begging for some change at the County shelter system why is that is it because it's run so bad or is it run well um from what I've seen and the evidence I've been presented and the facts I've been given the County shelter does an incredible job but for all those reasons I vote Yes Council vice president o tool I would reiterate the same plus I saw the shelter when we first came on board in January and you wouldn't want to you wouldn't have kept your pet ant there much less animals it was horrendous horrendous you all weren't there so don't talk what you don't know all right and my vote absolutely is yes okay thank you councilman josi listen um I'm going to abstain from this vote because I don't know the whole picture here okay and I'm really nervous about it it's going to be an end of end round play I'm sure of it so I'm going to abstain councilman lman I'm GNA vote yes only because I was down in that shelter and I saw it and over the course of The Last 5 Years there's been discussion about mold there's discussion about dogs being in that kennel for over two years and not getting out there's been locked doors there's been no visitation and there were huge costs involved we decided a long time ago people were fighting that shelter and complaining about it like crazy now we went on the board and we decided that we were going to close it and turn it over to the county to run because they're much more able to run it there was no vet there we had to go outside and pay vets to come in and do work on the dogs we decided to do this the best way is to turn it over over to the county that's what I voted for there's mold in there the dogs were in a building with mold I that's why I said yes I vote Yes councilman ion well I'm definitely not in favor of turning it over to the county but I would like to see a representative from the county at one of our meetings to lay out their plans give us a timeline nobody's been here yet uh I guess I'm going to vote Yes to repeal the lease agreement but I I still want our town to run it I don't want to lease it to the county I want us to run it like it was and I was there in January and everything looked fine to me and trust me I have a lot of animals I've raised animals I've bred award-winning golden retrievers I have 150 animals right now there might have been some dog feces in a few kennels that happens they go out they relieve themselves throughout the day there's not someone standing there waiting for them to go so every once in a while you might walk in there might be a few soiled cages it might have been kind of crowded but I think it was running good and I think it could be run better I think it could be the The Shining Star of all shelters in the state councilman Quinn [Applause] uh first Mr Mayor if nothing you are very entertaining you closed the shelter that you swore you were not going to close it is closed you did it this lease agreement was uh about leasing a building not a service so it shouldn't have been closed until the issue was resolved the the Tom forer animal shelter whether in that building or some other building separate from this you're right about that separate from this so if you want to lease the building go for it but what are you going to do with the Tom D animal shelter that's a separate issue I'm very disappointed in you you continue to lie and you continue to change the story as it suits you all right now now quickly I have to give props to uh councilman uh uh lamb here uh last week three people showed up and complained about the fees at the pool Mr lamb jumped on that issue and he's going to help those three people lower the fees at the pool but 4,000 people signed this or or signed this petition and he can't back it we're reping it's repealing we're going to repeal it you're not supporting the petitions for the repeal thank you the petition's for the repeal Jim we're repealing it that's what you're voting on do you know what you're voting on or where is Tom River Animal Shelter you're asking for my where where is the Tom rer animal shelter J there's a motion on the floor there's a motion on the floor Council I'll tell you what you want you want two taxations you want two taxing bodies to tax for animal shelters you want the county to tax for it and you want the Township tax for right you shaking your head yes so you believe that two taxing authorities should should tax you for a shelter I don't believe in that and my resident certainly Beach don't believe that and the Waterfront people are getting hammered on taxes so so not happening when the county gets an EMS program we should close down the CSL program stay on point Jim stay on point we have Sheriff's Department we don't need a police department we're not talking about we're talking about the animal shelter Jim we're talking about the Tom D animal shelter is closed can we get can we get back on the subject which is whether repealing the ordinance gym we want to know whether we're repealing the ordinance yes or no like I said in last week's meeting it is impossible to vote on this thing when the when there's legal so are youing on this I'm going say no to repealing this because there's legal reasons thank you next legal issues next your vote he said no he said no council president Coleman yes thanks thank you moving on to the consent agenda all matters listed under items consent agenda will be enacted by one Motion in the form listed below there will be no separate discussion of these items if discussion is desired on any item that item will be considered separately okay i' like this time I like to open up to the uh Town excuse me first okay okay I'm going to open then it up to the council any resolutions that you like a separate vote on Council Council yeah I um sorry um I just had a question about uh R okay for $171,000 is that onland Heights and didn't we just do that you got to pull it off first oh sorry and he has to open it up to the my apologies he councilman said he would like a separate vote on resolution R I had a question question any others no yes go ahead Tom w councilman nerson asked that resolution W be held for a separate vote so you said R and W yes any others if not then I'd like a motion to approve oh I'm sorry G G and H is that right okay so we have R WG and H you said you ma'am anyone else o as in Orly Beach remember these are being called for a separate vote that's the point of this anyone else J letter [Music] J letter F anyone else okay then then we like to have a motion to approve the rest of the uh consent agenda Mr lman made the motion I'll second the motion second by Mr a motion was made to approve the balance of the consent agenda by councilman lman second byoun seconded by councilman nerson councilman lman yes councilman ion yes councilman josi yes councilman lamb yes councilman quinis yes coun uh council president Coleman yes and okay let's begin with resolution I'm sorry oh I don't think you hit the Vice President Steve yeah she had to step out so hold on okay she she left the meeting early she Ste yeah we probably notic the councilwoman has an injured eye and um I got her credit for even coming as long as she did so I hope that you'll pardon her thank you okay um so for the record that's a no vote did not vote did not vote sorry yeah thank you did not vote okay moving on so we are going to vote on F yes resolution F first discussion who comment on F it Le from the was from the public any councilman want to discuss that resolution f call for a vote motion second motion was made by councilman lamb seconded byman councilman lman councilman lamb yes councilman lman yes councilman josi yes councilman ion yes councilman quinlisk uh just so you guys all know we did get a copy of a resume she seems highly qualified and experienced uh her compensation package seems adequate and uh the only Oddity about it is that she too got a car other than that I say yes and council president Coleman yes I had the pleasure of meeting this young lady during our agenda meeting um I also very feel very confident that she's going to definitely help us out and I'm I'm looking forward to working with her uh resolution G any comment move G second motion was made by councilman Lamb seconded by councilman lman councilman lamb yes councilman lman yes councilman josi yes councilman Iverson yes councilman quinis yes councilman uh council president colan yes resolution H any discussion move H second second by okay uh that was made by councilman uh Lamb seconded by councilman was it lman I'm sorry no me president Coleman okay councilman lamb yes councilman uh president Coleman yes councilman josi yes councilman lman yes councilman Iverson yes and I'd just like to say Mark mutter is probably the most qualified person for this position councilman quinis yes okay moving on resolution J discussion move j motion was made by councilman Lamb seconded by councilman lman councilman lamb yes councilman lman yes councilman josi yes councilman Iverson yes councilman quinis yes uh council president colan yesid resolution o discussion o Mr Jeffrey have any comments it is okay I just want I know all I know is that I was I I didn't get a chance to speak with you before the meeting but um I'll just offer my commentary really quick uh my recollection the last couple weeks was I I've been speaking with nv5 uh the design engineer and also with our new Township engineer and uh again the package for the streetcap program is with the dot I believe we need this to be able to release and move forward and and get rolling for the fall um hopefully earlier fall or later fall as we're approaching Labor Day so um roll call when we're ready motion councilman lamb question please um what about the million dooll Grant any updates on on that what million-dollar Grant would you like me to jump in there or sure I don't know I think the million dooll grant that you're referring to is the um is the one for the boardwalk right all right but but the streetscape is a separate project but a good amount of that is I think all of it is free I think the whole thing is free so all this they'll put in beautiful pavers lights and different things that that are supposed to give a town look to ortley beach it it was languishing there in the last Administration just picked up steam in the last five months so we're looking to move this thing quickly but uh we're going to be bidding it soon that grand a boardwalk uh Mr rodri is the um is that for repairs or extension or well we we we if I don't know if you're I guess we we we put put in for that many many years ago when you first got on Council I don't know if it was the first year or the second year but uh there's a there's a plan and it was done by tnm I believe this Council voted to approve the plan uh we got a grant for the plan right a million grant for the plan and in some future council meeting uh you may be voting on awarding but we're going to put it out to bid now very good and then but it's it's basically making the boardwalk more than double double size something like that maybe maybe triple I I forget but it's going to go all the way down in ortland Beach very good and one last thing is um the uh parking lot I was there the other day and it's overgrown the one across the street from the old uh Harrison C we'll take care of it Dave it's some growth I looked at it well as far as as far as just call me Dave just call me I'll help you or you call my well no honestly the the thing is is let's say Dave let's say you were to get a complaint from a resident that there the grass is high somewhere no there's no sidewalk on Sixth Avenue well hang on I can only I can only address one thing at a time if you get a complaint from a resident that let's say the grass is too high you you you could reach out to John you can reach out to me you can even reach directly out uh to to Mike mola and the road department and they'll get over there immediately to cut it you know sometimes it's a big town and they might miss a spot here or there and then they go back if if there's a complaint okay so you never know maybe the guy that did that was out or something like that that day did you just say we can reach out directly as an department head no I'm sorry I Mr salonish just corrected me and said no but uh which which you're very familiar with look I I you know that's why I want a clarification would I always follow the the protocol Jim was always to reach out to Drew with I apologize Mr solanus yes you're supposed to go through the beat is that correct Mr MC right you go through the ba you got to email the ba and then the ba will email uh Mr mola but in any event they're very quick occasionally they miss a spot uh again there are a lot of guys maybe somebody's absent but there's a you know they go out every week or two so I'm sure it'll get mowed but we we'll we'll speak to them immediately and as far as if I know there were some emails requesting if there were plans for that piece of property but there are no plans uh at all for that I I think we acquired that uh when we acquired the Surf Club correct Mr mcgucken I believe that's correct you know I I don't think there are any plans uh but I'm I'm certainly open to suggestions if you have any ideas motion motion was made by councilman lamb second and by I believe councilman lman councilman lamb yes councilman lman yes councilman josi yes councilman nerson yes councilman quinis yes council president call me yes okay moving on to I think it's Q I think we did do right W uh no Q we have q we have q resolution Q any discussion on resolution Q motion Q second motion was made by councilman lamb second and by I heard two voices I think it was um councilman josi councilman josi yes okay uh councilman lamb yes councilman josi again yes uh councilman lman yes councilman ion yes councilman quinas yes councilman uh Coleman yes Okay resolution R any discuss more or less a question until you may change when I get the answer but 171,000 that's exactly what we did with the mutual service agreement for Island Heights for sanitation this is the island Heights sanitation now we have to didn't we already vote on this no you have to vote to give them the money the money came in two separate operations yeah we we did all the work they get all the money okay it's a great deal for Island yeah oh it certainly is it's good you go time D too motion to approve motion to approve somebody I'll make a motion to approve it thanks Jim second second who um sorry Council ion councilman iers councilman quinis yes councilman Iverson yes councilman josy yes councilman lamb yes councilman lman yes uh councilman uh colan yes Okay resolution I'll explain W when we get to it resolution W any discussion I'll I'll explain this one councilman ion this is in relation to a uh multif family dwelling that's been contacting the Township for for multif family dwellings that qualify we have to either offer to pick up their trash their their waste uh disposal or we have to reimburse them for it this is to authorize the mayor um to enter into an agreement with multi uh multi-unit dwellings in order to be able to reimburse them for that okay my question was what qualifies them uh is this more for-profit apartment complex or a town townhouse complex regardless of whatever it is it's whatever is required by law so we didn't put this on we were told we have to put this on so it you know where it's it's associations too we do this with associations you have to reimburse them in some cases they're reimbursed for their fire hydrants or they're garbage uh this is required correct and to answer your question a multif family dwelling means any building or structure complex of buildings or structures in which five or more dwelling units are rented or leased or offered for rental or lease for residential purposes except hotels motels or other guest houses serving transient or seasonal guests uh this is something that's been done uh with prior administrations and actually with this particular one that we're entering into the agreement with the township is going to save about $1,000 for what it would cost the township to offer the services so that's why we're entering into the agreement thank you I make the motion motion was made by councilman lman second second by councilman lamb councilman lman yes councilman lamb yes councilman josi yes councilman Iverson yes councilman Quin yes councilman co uh president Coleman yes okay I believe that's all the separate resolutions correct moving on to item number 10 the reports move reports Mr President if I may do do we have the opportunity to make a uh uh make a motion to uh reinstate Silverton EMF in light of all the events have happened the last couple of weeks I don't I don't think so because right now it's in the uh prosecutor's office it's in the courts and I think we have to wait and see what that decision is there something actually in the prosecutor's office or just the threat of it excuse me I I'll jump in but uh this has been sent to the prosecutor's office um it's confirmed received uh if you would like more details I've already offered to you that we could discuss it um council president why can't we just do a temporary well because it's under investigation Council pres criminal in it's not something that could be done by motion Dave why not because because it was it was closed without a motion right but okay well well just so everyone knows we will all I don't know U it's listen we we can't we can't discuss this currently in litigation and we really we really cannot discuss it it's there's there's P there's going to be pending litigation and we can't council president motion 10 please I have a motion for 10 reports motion was made by councilman lamb I'll second that seconded by councilman Iverson councilman lamb yes councilman Iverson yes councilman josi yes councilman lman yes councilman quinlisk yes uh council president Coleman yes moving on to the approval of the bills move the bills motion was made by councilman lamb second second and by councilman lman councilman lamb just need to abstain from uh uh PO number 24-4 375 also abstained from all magistrate salaries yes to the balance councilman lman yes councilman josi yes councilman Iverson yes councilman quinis uh I have to abstain from all bills payable The Remnant Vernick uh I say no to the bills for Roma uh Roma Coughlin mitello amount of77 12328 and I say no I think to Western Industries for $4,100 $15 uh that is also known as AA Academy or whatever they're called for picking up animals uh and I I'm going to abstain for one for Frank Hughes music for $1,500 because uh I thought we already paid somebody for the Contra Series so I don't know what that one's about yes to the balance and council president Coleman yes elected officials comments all right uh councilwoman uh two left so um councilman josi could you start off please where would you like me to start at the beginning at the beginning okay all right um I what' you say wake up David yes okay all right okay thank you hey I have 20 years at least on on each one of you maybe more but when I pee I could still see something okay so if if if you really want to start with me with cheap Shots by all means by all means all right Dave can we get back on target here please I think I think your point was made Dave let's move on come on First Council president who do I dress and and who do I get the information from with all the lawsuits going on in this town I want to have a list who are they from what was settled what was carried over from the previous administration if any had been settled and I want a list of inhouse outside everything I want to know what the hell is going on in this town I think where do I get the list from I would and all the settlements Dave I'll respond by saying I would suggest coming in meet with legal and working that out you can come you can come in Dave I'll give you a list a lot of we have a lot coming in actually that originate from the prior Administration right and I said that well we could sit down and talk about that okay so what time when when are you whenever whenever I'm I'm planning on taking off Friday you were at the counil enjoy the long weekend Davey works for us he's our count you know you still see him see so what time 10:00 tomorrow sure you got it thank you and and then about the Silverton EMS I don't see why it could continue on a temporary basis until it's all settled in court if there's I don't know what discrepancies there are I don't even know if it's true if there's discrepancies what I I I haven't been informed on anything so I think at the next meeting it should be on the agenda and you can put them back in business month to month until it's settled in the courts what's the harm what is the harm thank [Applause] you councilman ion okay I think there's a little bit of there's some clouds in the air as far as the petition everybody knows the petition really wasn't to repeal the lease it was to reopen the shelter correct all right had we known it was going to go this way and there was you know some little typo or the way it was spelled out was just going to eliminate the lease agreement it would have been spelled out different is that am I following this correct so really it was 4,000 signatures to keep it open it wasn't to repeal the lease agreement with that said I did vote Yes to repeal the lease agreement you know I had I voted no it would have been that was a tough one you know where do you go with that you know I'm I'm for keeping it open so I guess we'll just have to wait and see maybe we can get a representative from the county to come down here and quell our fears I don't know see if he's going to rehire the staff um give us a timeline for reopening see if he does have plans is there any chance we could get someone from the county to come to one of our meetings last uh Tom uh just to start from the beginning we did talk and I did send via text what the ramifications of the petition were I I did explain that and I know what you want and I know you mean well and I know it's something that you want and I know we disagree on it right and I we we agree on so many things and I get it and I know what you want uh can we you know as wait hang on just want to by all means as I said to you we voted on a shared services agreement at the last meeting I did give everybody opportunity to go to a to talk about it it's it's well if we are going to share I I just can we get someone the person who we're going to be sharing it with to come and and speak I think at this point though do you want you want it open right of course right so they're they're going to open it so the question here is do we want to continue this we have a multi-million dollar facility sitting there empty you know it'll be really nice plenty of animals it'll be really nice when it's redone and I had said this to you guys I have the text messages you know I do I had said to you what would be the ramifications we had discussed it and I was always up front with you I'm still up front with you when the we're all ready to go here right but now we have a guy who just put an injunction in uh to stop the repeal which is only going to extend this out to if it were successful past November so open the shelter till it's solved uh just open it you have that power don't you no I I think I was clear on my reasons so I'll just repeat my reasons if you would like or you know again councilman lman said it right we had the doors locked Tom you and I were there together with your wife and we were getting rained on waiting for the doors to open right we were locked out and you know that to be true we know we we came up with a list of ways to improve it were we out we were out Outdoors we couldn't get into the shelter ourselves you're a councilman I'm not disputing that all right well well then you know that everything I've been saying I've been and I did this for the benefit of the dogs and the benefit of taxpayers I'm talking back and forth with councilman n Mr quinlisk if you have some questions I'd be more than welcome to have that discussion with you too but instead of creating chaos as you call it how about why won't you open the any time that you like we can discuss we are opening between the you are keeping if the county takes are keeping it closed it would have been open you you filed an injunction you started a petition it was going to be reopened you you and your friends you and your friends have kept it from reopening you closed the sh that's what's going on nobody else so what it's really about is a bunch of union jobs and your friends that's what that's about let's stop really we're be saving a million bucks and we're going to make could we please move on Beyond this we we're going to sa a million I add please please we discussed this we voted on it it'll have to be worked on by the courts and we'll have to see where this whole thing goes all right let's just move on from that Tom you're still on if you wish I just want to thank everybody for coming out you know people really care thank you councilman lman I said my piece before okay thank you all right Jim now you're on all right a couple quick things uh uh I'm I'm wondering if I can get some information on uh or or find out if we can possibly instate a catch and release program especially in light of all the the uh the cats that are out there now that are not going to get attended to because they're not domestic pets so the county doesn't take care of them uh uh as Strays as far as I understand I don't know don't quote me on it uh so but we can we can Institute a catch and release program so we can keep more cats from from populating the areas um so I'd like to see some action in that direction uh secondly we have a sensory trailer which from what I understand hasn't been used uh all you know throughout the course of the summer events that we've had and I'm wondering what we have to do to get that sentury trailer back on the road and if the town has no in Mr Ro this is this is kind of towards you this one I don't really ask ask you much but uh it what do we have to do to get the Century Trailer utilized and if you're not going to use the centry trailer can we donate it back or give it to the county or I don't think we had a request to open it did we I we did uh you and I saw the same hang on this is a question for administration cuz I don't I don't handle day-to-day operations you're you would know that if you participated tell me what I'm doing wrong again go ahead yeah well a lot but go ahead the police department is in possession of the trailer we have a new mayor's advisory Council on uh individuals with developmental disabilities they'll be in possession of the trailer and they'll be able to supply it for public events so when somebody needs it who do they call they'll be able to call The Advisory Council so until until that council's in place we a request we have not had a request otherwise we did as the administrator or the mayor one of you two I'll pull up the email if you'd like we did have a request to have it at mayor's fancy fireworks downtown last week uh and nobody responded to it they they emailed they emailed the town then they emailed me we that request Jim and you emailed me multiple times this week didn't bring it up I'll find you the emails just to reassure you but either way so you're telling me I called The Advisory Council and they can they can they can have the centy trailer out there The Advisory Council was just appointed they're having their first meeting soon and they'll be able to supply the trailer who's on the who's the president of the advisory Council uh seir popel okay thank you all right um and here's uh the big one sorry I'm not very good at this I don't often write a prepared speech most of the stuff is uh things that I come to me during the course of the day or the weeks leading up to this stressful day uh democracy is not a spectator sport we see this clearly in the writings first they came by Pastor or by a Lutheran Pastor uh Martin neom Moler which addresses the devastation during the 1930s and 40s in Germany at targeted political social and religious groups and especially the Jewish Community when the majority stayed silent we are clearly not on par with the horrors of the Holocaust sadly the wisdom of first they came has become relevant in the current state of Tom's River as the majority stays silent or blissfully ignorant to the changes that will negatively in Impact our town for years to come now I paraphrased the uh the uh poem by uh Neer first they come first they came for code enforcement and you did not speak out because your neighborhood was your uh your neighborhood still seemed nice then they came for the police Department captains and you did not speak out because you were told they were Des jobs they made too much money and everything seemed safe at least in your neighborhood then they came for the animal shelter and you did not speak out because your pets were home safely then they came for silon EMS and you did not speak out because your family did not need an ambulance that day then they came for the police chief and you did not speak out because you were not a police officer and had no understanding of the stability of the chain of command and you let the chief sacrifice himself then they came for just believe and you did not speak out because your family's home safe and sound then they came for what matters to you and there was no one left to speak out for you I'm not talking to a majority of the audience on some of these issues because you guys are active there's a lot more people that don't understand what's really going on in town all right now the last uh one more thing uh that I need an answer from is does anybody know what's going on with the VA clinic and why that hasn't opened up the VA Clinic got signed off our Administration signed off I think the fire department can't sign off at this moment in time because they can't verify Communications like they're you were firing they have to be able it it hasn't passed its fire inspections uh but we signed off so that they could get their financing in lie of that sort of like a temporary kind of thing but uh it's really between the fire department I think it's related to the communications um do we have an anticipated scheduled grand opening date that's not us it's the federal government you know I don't I don't I don't know what to tell you may mayor you you are correct it is a Communications problem I was in on that meeting and I I guess that still has not been resolved they have to get a fire inspection so good it's uh last thing I want to say is that uh um um cops are prepared for attacks from every angle except for from above the chief's walk out showed how much he cared about the town and his Police Department his speech was not about himself or his accomplishments it was about the others and their accomplishments in that Police [Applause] Department he was also so humbled that he uh asked other officers that recently retired to take that walk before him during his walk out uh which is truly admirable uh we lost a great man and a great leader um and then uh to give you guys some insight besides how good he was at the police as a police cap police chief um couple years ago we went for a ride from town hall to the head of a parade I don't know if it was the Memorial Day Parade or the Halloween parade and the chief picks us up and he's driving a 10-year-old Ford Expedition and I said why are you not driving a nicer car or a newer car at this time and he said because I'd rather the men have that money for the equipment that they need and I also noticed that he was using an iPhone that was so old I couldn't believe he could still use it so this guy is truly humble and we lost a tremendous asset in this town thank thank you all and have a great holiday weekend [Applause] councilman lamb thank you council president first I just want to touch Jim real quick on the McCoo um is that what you refer to as far as code enforcement no you why' you refer to code enforcement then your we got well you said they came for we came or who came for it we did or they did I I don't I understand the poem I'm trying to find a you don't have we know you don't have no I guess that's what you claim Jim but the McCoo we had we didn't a packed house I I'll answer Jim they came for it and they said they wanted the citizens want it repealed and we repealed it was the first action we took in January at that January meeting so it was a great um it was actually a great thing that we did there I don't know what you wereing I don't remember 4,000 people showing up I I packed the house actually Jim last October yeah I did with Realtors and sellers who were getting affected by that seller Co money grab it was bad for the taxpayer and we repealed it again you you were against that you wanted it you wanted you wanted to hurt every seller in this town that's what you wanted to do again but moving on that's okay moving on I want to protect every buyer one and no that's not what it said spee that's exactly he did moving on though um condolences to John Parker former mayor of lacy retired police officer he was the Ocean County mua chairman he was a force in Lacy if you knew him you'd hear him he was a small government Republican who I valued I listened to his advice I I wish Jim and some of you would would um because in times like this when when there's issues that are really heavy on the community especially issues that require uh commitment of a million dollars a year you have to look for other viable Solutions and that's what we're doing um I want to also take a moment to thank Ocean County Commissioner Frank sadegi who assisted me at the Ocean County mway property ortley Beach um there's some overgrowth we had a lot of rain early in the in the summer season and it was getting out of hand and he went the next day and took care of it so so David when you have an issue over there in ortley Beach feel free to call me or again reach out to the administration and they'll jump all over it um they're very good at that much better than they have in the past I could tell you that I want to also thank uh Drew shabo and uh Mike Bola our division manager with road supportment we had a problem on 8th Avenue with the one way there was a lot of wrong way on that one way there uh they were all over at the next day they they increased the signage and they did a good job so I want to thank both of them also Mike Bol and his crew we have issues in chowck Beach obviously the summer season over there is getting really uh it's getting busier and busier every year um issues with garbage and issues with just overall uh maintenance of our Parks they're all over it and they've done a good job and they had a issue last week and he took care of it quickly so I want to thank him um also I want to thank the ba John salonis for working with the resident on Jacobson Lane we had an issue over there with parking issues it's been kind of an issue for the past couple years um again he's working with that Resident we're going to hopefully resolve that shortly um I wish everyone has a safe and healthy Labor Day weekend and that's all um I really don't have any comments sorry sir um to say except I do hope you have a a happy and safe and healthy uh weekend also and don't forget what it's all about um mayor it's your turn I would just like to take this time to thank the council and congratulate uh Tony rivy and Lisa Contessa on her appointment to the environmental commission uh congratulate Mark mutter on his appointment as uh to the historical commission and uh welcome Dorothy Gallagher as our new CFO that's all I have okay at this time like to open the meeting for public comments come come right up get right in line got it member state your name and address please my name is Diane Oxley 1944 Marc Drive in Snug Harbor Tom's River I came here today because I heard that somebody brought up about the pool in Snug Harbor and I want to address that situation this year has been the best year that we have had with no incidents 2021 we came here asking the council to help us there were needles and in the parking lot there were diapers in the driveways people running across our our Lots we have a beautiful waterfront property our homes are beautiful we came here asking for help and we did get it and like I said it took up to now for it to become great I know that somebody brought it up as far as opening it up again to other people I hope we do not even consider it because this is what caused our problems in our community we have we pay our taxes we have beautiful homes and we do not want it to go back to that situation and I don't know what we were talking about Mr lamb as far as raising uh Comm the fees are lowering them I hope you were not talking about opening it up to the public because I never said that I I just discussed with the people afterwards I met with them and I said I'll discuss it with the council members and that's what I I'm my job is to hear from all constituents and and I understand that please do not let it get back to what it was I remember back then I remember I was you were part of it you were definitely and we cried out and we said our community was not safe and now it is it is where it should be and I don't want to see anybody else live in that type of situation not when we're turning around and doing the right thing okay so I just wanted to bring that up and thank the the council for doing the right thing thank [Music] you Dennis gante Tom rer I still can't comprehend the consent agenda resolution where the public can remove an item can't discuss it yet it's brought back up on the floor to you who didn't remove it and doesn't have a question about it what that that's idiocy that's idiotic what is the point of that Mr solanus you owe Mr stoi an apology you don't really okay I thought I heard you make a comment to him first I'm probably wrong you uh Mr SOS you're going to have a meeting with the attorney tomorrow can we all come to hear all about all the lawsuits and and well you shake your head but how are you going to have a meeting with a council person of of what are you going to show him tell him it's all privileged I mean I guess you can show him by title only is that correct he's he's he's on the governing body so he's entitled to know really I'm going to give him a list of our pending litigation yeah correct there's things that he would have to vote on in terms of possibly settling a case so yeah of course he's entitled to know person okay um cell phone use you have something in your Municipal Code that says that you shouldn't be using cell phones during the meeting I mean your video is is I I didn't make the last meeting but I watched the video I timestamped everything all the people that spoke how they were treated and in watching the cell phone use back and forth between you Mr lamb the mayor do you have anything in there that said you can or cannot do it I mean most bodies government bodies do it's disrespectful think so okay good um time clock where is it it's right back there oh okay I used to be over there when when I to see it how do you how do you in the beginning last meeting you stopped the comment after a certain period of time and I believe at the beginning of the meeting you need to make a statement of how long you're going to allow the public to comment I will do that I will do that well I don't know if that's because you haven't been can I comment please yeah I said um you're you're right but remember that after I said that I let two more people speak so even though I cut it off i' let more people speak that were still standing in line this last meeting you disallowed a person Mr deki I believe his name was he came up to the microphone there was other people that hadn't spoken yet and then you sent him back and then you stopped the time and you weren't going to allow and then when you did you only gave him one minute instead of his three that he deserved to get how can you that's not the person I'm talking about that's that's it's not the person I'm talking about Sir okay okay thank you [Applause] mayor and Council inquir name and address please sir I'm sorry and come closer to the mic please uh Matt from Matt's firewood 671 Clifton Avenue and Tom's River uh mayor council and firewood fans my name is Matt and I'm here representing my small business Matt's firewood speaker closer to the mic please is this good that's good okay my name is Matt and I'm here representing my business Matt's firewood I am a small local business and as my name suggests I firewood I have serviced many customers many of those from Tom's River and have received five star reviews from over 258 happy returning customers and that and that number continues to grow I currently live in Toms River with my fiance and our two dogs mayel and Cleo I am uled fulltime and sell wood part-time as a means to help those in need and also to make a few extra dollars to enjoy the time I find myself not working with my small family I have been building my small business quite literally from the ground up over over the last 3 years I started with one small rack at the corner of Clifton Avenue and Dave Maran road with an axe and mere grit and determination my goal was to build a business that was sustainable that was a means of exercise and that I could see myself building as large as I wanted I am a hard worker and this checked all the boxes for me sure it isn't the fastest way to get rich but I love what I do quickly I found that many people wanted to buy my firewood I needed to expand my Supply and fast so I bought a gas log splitter and with my father's Minivan and my little splitter I was able to gather enough logs and split a cord of wood in 2 days W was that an improvement with income from the two racks of wood I would sell out every weekend and my primary employment I invested a bit of money to increase my Supply again however I soon realized it didn't matter how much wood I could split I would never have enough to meet the demand coming from the residence of Tom's River and surrounding towns as my business exploded after I began advertising on Facebook and Google I was on Pace to sell over 150 cords of wood this year alone this is where I where I made my first mistake growing too quickly I outgrew the space I was using and found myself in trouble with the town although I believe I was unfairly targeted I respect the laws and the rules as they are in place for a reason and as such I will abide by the instructions given to me to Abate the situation so what is the reason of my visit I am here to ask the mayor and Council to consider allowing private residents to sell goods from their homes as a means to help those in need and to also increase their income to get by thank you for allowing me this [Applause] opportunity Pat claso ortley Beach um one of the things I want to point out is it's getting awfully horrible to sit and watch these meetings and the yelling back and forth in the first place it's disrespectful to Town Council president cuz he's banging the gravel and nobody's paying attention to him the other thing is when you throw out people give one warning throw them out don't be picky about who you're throwing out and if it's got to be council members throw them out too we're tired of it um let's see oh a couple meetings ago um Miss otou was making comments about how uh people are disrespectful and they're not being you know behaving the way they should 5 minutes later she was doing the same thing she was complaining about so you know what something's got to be done when the Town Council said recognizes you then you speak don't just keep shouting out stuff the meetings would end a lot earlier if we didn't have the bickering back and forth not only between residents and the Town Council but the Town Council Members themselves um prior to covid I came here Faithfully for approximately 10 years unless I had a school function F that evening I was here but after all this bickering started I can't do it anymore so I sit home and I watch it online but I'm at the point where I've had it I want to come back um so you're complaining about people don't come although tonight was a great showing I have to say tonight was a great great showing you've had counil people up here saying oh well nobody comes to these things well why are they going to come if they're going to be listening to the arguments they don't want to listen to that so let's get on the way the meetings are supposed to be held um and the complaints about from some of the council members saying nobody shows up here as I said I came for approximately 10 years and that's when we had two meetings a month prior to you guys getting elected I don't recall ever seeing any of you at any of the meetings so don't talk about the people that don't come CU I don't want to put up at this guard you weren't there and then my um last thing and this has to do with the letters that Dan is sending out now my neighbor on my right my neighbor on my left they get the letters I don't get the letters my taxes are paying for them so I want my letters so um after the third first and the third letter came out I called Dan's office I got a secretary I told her the situation I believe she asked me me for my address I gave it to her figuring I was going to get something in the mail I got nothing after the second letter I was at an OB VTA meeting I thought Dan was at I mean excuse me Justin was at and I mentioned it to him and as I mentioned it there were people in attendance at the meeting saying wait I don't get the meeting I don't get the letters either so I don't know how they're determining who gets the letter can you just give us the address I I just want you to understand that when the letters go out like that it's by a bulk carrier and um a lot of times people get bulk mail and don't get the bulk mail when they're supposed to get the bulk mail it happens uh if you sent your address it was sent to the carry to the uh guy who addresses everything and does that uh if you didn't get it again since you sent your address that would be an issue how about the one in the T you got your taxes right oh again I paid them well no I mean that that had the letter too right so that should have had the same letter in it I not sure about that should because I have a friend that that lives uh in Florida former Tom's over resident and I visited him he says oh by the way I got the the mayor's letter with my tax bill I know so so it depends look sometimes but that was one letter I'm talking three letters when you when the case when you put out mail to like 40,000 people that it happens and it just really does if you send us the address I'll add it on again but you know they have to also put that address through a system then it's barcoded it's delivered not based you know when it's sorted it literally gets sorted by a barcode nobody even actually looks at it so there's a lot of reasons that when you get bulk mail that you might not get your bulk mail but you should be getting it twice one you know well different letters but there letters come in two different ways one is in your tax bill and one is the other way inevitably there are residents who are not receiving tax bills cuz they rent or what have you they get a letter also so um I I don't know what to say other than this kind of thing happens if it keeps happening keep giving us the address we will keep Banning it on I promise you there's not a conspiracy to keep you from getting a letter it's not only me and it's not only residents that aren't getting it but people that it's their secondary home so their mail goes they get they they get the they won't be on a they'll get the tax letter they get the but the tax letter is only one letter you've sent out three Well here here's the thing it goes to an address right so sometimes it's a family right it's it's everybody should be getting the letter if you're not getting the letter please give us the address again did you you send it over tax records they should take it off the T did you send me the probably you have a problem because Seaside Heights and Tom and ortley Sh that's a whole other that's a whole other thing so just please send it did you send this to the address I told your secretary okay can you take care of that John so that has to go to the carrier and then it'll be updated you're you're you know I I don't know of any other complaint other than what you just yours so uh if I did I'd add you why wouldn't I want you to get the letter so I'm just pointing that out because I do pay a lot in taxes and I do realize where I live my taxes are going to be higher but still in all um you should get the letter so yeah just send me the address okay thank you Kevin McKenna from wtown um I'm here on behalf of uh just believe again um so I'm here just to uh reiterate what it is that we do for the community of Tom's River right as we all as everybody is aware the locks were changed on the building right now uh following the lock change there was a cease and toist letter that was sent um look I I'm not going to stand up here and believe that I know all the things that are in part or in play the one thing that I do know though is that the homeless in this community need our help right and we provide a service to Tom's River and when utilizing that building we do pay for that building we do pay to be there um past administration uh during the offseason still allowed us to use the building um and our contract uh from what I understand was there was a clause in there that it would it would uh be retroactive every year so it would reactivate every year um so I'm just here to pretty much implore you to keep us at Riverwood to allow us to do what we do for the homeless here in Tom's River now whatever issues there are political personal opinions whatever lay all that aside right because none of that really matters when you're dealing with the people that are less fortunate that are in a lower Pro they're in a very bad problem right now sir if I if I may um I believe the letter the ceas and toist letter that you were referring to came from myself it wasn't it wasn't really just for the purpose of uh as a cease and assist letter it was really just to point out that the agreement that the township had entered into with your organization uh the scope that you folks were using the building went Way Beyond what the agreement had contemplated can I jump in we we didn't even know so we we Chang these things to get keys to other people and you guys were not even supposed to be using it because you're supposed to be out of there in March actually I I remember having a conversation with Paul about the things being removed to make way for the radio club uh but then you guys came to a council meeting you're doing all this but your code blue is over in March so um it's was supposed to be a temporary warming shelter not an active not an active all yearlong homeless shelter that would require zoning approval it would require all kinds of things it's not a permanent shelter you know and we didn't like make a decision here we just changed the locks to give somebody keys and then we discovered that some people were trying to get into the building without a key uh which was took us back a little bit uh and uh our Township attorney believed that he had to send out that letter for that reason to remind you folks that even when you are using it you're supposed to uh it's got to be a code blue event you're supposed to contact the township within 24 hours of that this is not uh is not a place that you're supposed to be running a permanent shelter or or whatever you're running there and um you know still to this day uh rather than to engage Us in any kind of meeting you're coming to Council meetings all dressed in shirts saying that we shut down a shelter that was done in March the warming shelter was done in March so nobody shut anything down uh but you're here with shirts and and telling us that we should continue to keep you open this agreement for a warming shelter has been in place for very long time we made keys for another organization to use our facilities and you were supposed to be out of the facility at that time that's as simple as this goes if you want to discuss it further that's fine but that should be discussed uh over negotiations regarding your contract right I mean that's how that would be handled and what what position do you hold with the organization so I run the overnight operations do you have uh you have a particular title are you paid by uh yes I have I am you're on salary with the organization yes only in the winter okay and you speak you're speaking officially for the organization right now right now yes I am okay and I will tell you that year round that is not a shelter so I don't understand then past administrations have allowed us to keep our stuff in there because the facility is not being used the radio club uses the upstairs everything that we store is stored downstairs because that well you guys are all over social media saying that we closed your shelter never once did you like come in here and have a discussion with us we said publicly at the last meeting why we changed the keys I still haven't gotten a phone call or had anybody come to my office about it instead you're here again insisting that we close your shelter down when you're not supposed to have a shelter you're not supposed to have a shelter in Toms River in August if you want to open up a shelter you'd have to apply through the zoning board we didn't shut you down we created new keys for a different entity to use the building it is a public building it is not your building it's not your building so if you want to create a public or a political issue you know um that's something different but again if you're a 501c3 I don't think you're supposed to be engaged in politics are you we're not engaged in politics are we right well I'm up here at a council meeting I'm up here at a council meeting talking to you about the code blue shelter so let me let me no you you've never talked to me on the side and you you guys violated your release and you're accusing us of shutting something down that should have been shut down in I'm not accusing you I'm accusing you exactly right that's that's what I'm doing you're accusing me I'm shutting so let me ask you something before you change the locks did you reach out to us at all or did you reach out to us at all when you said why would I reach out to you you're notos in the building in March why would I think to reach out to you because when you're changing the locks on any supposed to be out of the meeting you're supposed to be out of the building why would we need to reach out to you with a the past administra you don't pay any money for it here's the thing the past administration was violating the law by allowing to you to use it as an office building without executing a lease agreement if that's what was going on is that what was going along were you using it all year long it's it's only there for storage for were you well even still it wouldn't be authorized right so you should next time maybe reach out but Asos to going all over social media saying I closed down a shelter it wasn't functioning there was no shelter there that yeah it's not it's not functioning currently but was months we're supposed to get running was it functioning well if if you're supposed to get running I just told you it's not fun I I I don't think you're behaving like somebody who's running a 501c3 that that that you're engaged in and you're definitely not behaving like a mayor of awn no I i' I don't need any more time there you go there you go and now he's uh cursing listen um I'm not going to answer any more questions about this you're not going to talk to us no you sir sir I just explained I just explained everything and you WR you were wrong what you're saying I want to explain I want to explain to you sir what you can do okay what you can do is make comments about the situation what I'm trying to do all right you're on I'm just trying to Sir address me okay okay thank you comments were name an address we operated shelter name address sir name an address my name is John Ryan from just B what's your address your address what is your address what is your address 200 Corporate Circle Tom's River Tom's River okay thank you go ahead the comment about our usage of the warming Center we're there from November to March as part of the agreement the things that they were talking about the other usage were three four times a year our um team gets together for our fundraising they hold the meeting there the last Administration which was the last Administration agreed gave us permission to do that the things that we store are all put in the closet downstairs the entire place is spotless as per my wife there every week cleaning okay the upstairs with the radio people we leave we give them their space we give them their time we make sure no one bothers with them what you did with the locks I don't know what you did why you did it are we back are we are we going to be there in November to serve the people that need us I just explained what the situation is with the locks and again you say I don't know what listen if if people are going to yell out there is this group of people that yell out it's not really helping anybody's cause no it's not all right so we were very specific as to why we changed the locks and rather than approach us your organization and its members are all over Facebook saying we shut down an animal shelter and now excuse me shut shut shut down a shelter a shelter that wasn't operating it wasn't a shelter it was a warming and as far as me saying whether you're operating or not operating it seems to me that you guys are indicating that you were operating I I didn't know whether you were operating or not we were holding meetings for our fundraising team that's it there was no homeless people there we weren't bringing anybody it was allowed by the last Administration now if you don't want us it's not even about that nobody right now you're raising this publicly and you would think that an organization that had a lease agreement with the municipality that wanted to maintain it would reach out to the municipality to discuss that but why would we have to do that if for that we've been doing this sir you're out of order what okay so I guess I guess I'm going to screamed that excuse me excuse me I'm really kind of done addressing this because I was very clear last meeting no but that's not I was very clear at the last meeting and now I'm being yelled at and cursed out by members MERS that we did not appro you talk about I know if youed to get a we're going to do this can I I I got a great idea I got a great idea mayor can I just get in here I got a great idea why don't you call and see if possibly we can find a space for you here to have your fundraising meeting ex but why are we not allowed to have our warming Center as we have no one said we weren't allowed but your your organization is here yelling and cursing accus shutting down no no but they're all here with shirts yelling and cursing at me the last guy who said he worked for you just dropped the f bomb and called me f an and we know that's not going to get us anywh well I don't understand this it's it's just I'm not really ready to answer any questions I think let's move on I think the organization is behaving a very unprofessional move on sir I was just trying to have a conversation wasn't yelling but let's move on I think I think I will I will just I just want to finish with one thing okay I like uh Jim over here I dig you all right I'm walking down Route 37 and I see a gentleman I've been doing this now this is only my third year in this t-shirt I'm walking down Route 37 I see a gentleman I can kind of know now that this is a guy that has no place to go okay this isn't about politics it's not about buildings it's not about you or Republicans Or democrats this guy is walking down Route 37 right he's got no place to go no home he has a phone in his pocket but there's no contacts he has no family he has no friends he has you're going home tonight to your wife and your pets and whatever else your kids your nice warm house it was 98° today this guy walking down Route 37 who has no one in his life imagine you don't there's no you you pick up your phone there's nobody to call you don't have a house you don't have ID you may have alcohol drug problems mental problems can you imagine what that must be to people what kind of life that is and our organization these people here I work 60 hours a week at my other job I put this t-shirt on when I leave my other job because these people need someone to help them my wife works 15 hours a day to help house the people you don't want on our streets okay they're human beings it's compassion it's not about anything else I'm sorry I don't know you Mr rodri I have nothing personally against you I'm just trying to help people who no one cares about I voted for your code blue shelter I voted for that uh me changing the locks to give keys to people who needed keys and your reaction or the organization's reaction was to go on social media and say we shut you down and to come here and curse at me I'm not cursing at you uh people were so I again if you wanted a homeless shelter this is obviously it's not a homeless shelter hang on hang on if you want a shelter which there are a lot of folks in Ocean County to advocate for this uh you're going to have to Advocate on for it and you're going to have to you're going to have to we it would it would have to go through it would have to go through a proper zoning process but certainly uh the Rea you mentioned we want a homeless shelter I'm asking you what do we do comes November comes November yeah that's when cold blue starts well I don't know we're going to have to discuss now right so they're closed no they're not closed they're not open it's December it's December and you're here cursing at me and put it on social media that I shut you down right despite the fact that I that I was very clear at the Le last meeting so i' like to talk to your Co and other than that I'm not saying anything any further we're going to move on we're going to start your time is more than extended will you consider sir your time is up I'm sorry [Applause] go ahead ma'am my name is Stacy labow and I'm the supervising case manager full-time address please uh 200 Corporate Circle corporate office in Toms River and I don't do this often battling others to explain what it is we do and why we do it it's we do it over social media to people people who rather assume the problem of homelessness doesn't exist or that they've done it to themselves for one neither of those statements are true and secondly I hope this group has a better grasp on how we are needed in this community when there's a situation an issue something is just not correct there is normally a solution found and luckily just believe Inc my CEO Paul myself my fellow employees and volunteers work endlessly to assist this community in getting the homeless housed I myself am an Outreach case worker you can find me sitting on the wet snowy ground getting to know one of our clients listening to the normally heartbreaking story as to what led them into this moment of embarrassment exhaustion desperation to this moment of homelessness during a few months out of the entire year this is a time when we get to offer these people in our community some type of peace and hope during this desperate and usually agonizing time our code blue is that starting in 2019 when there was 143 unduplicated UND duplicated guest through this past season where we saw almost 189 or the 2 2,711 people that walk through our door compared to the 2150 and 2019 these people trust us and they need our program but that this and that this situation is not getting better and that is due to the difficulty we face in not having a full-time shelter our warming Center and some of you in front of me not standing with us just believe have exploded that last year I've worked with this agency today marks one year we have begun to gain the trust and humility of those that need us most we not just house those we work on the client as a whole through the issue that started the problem and this means working as a diverse and I mean very diverse group of people working with these clients as every situation is different and what we are trying to accomplish housing the homeless is being obstructed by many people people who want this to go away but do not want the solution to be out doing the work we have currently housed 171 clients with Children and Families just this January to now but until there is no one looking for Hope for hope that they will not find themselves outside due to their situation our job is not done right now we have at least 2,4 people in this County that are homeless for various reasons and mostly it's because of job loss not mental health or drug abuse that have come through our agency alone via phone or Outreach and I'd hope you would allow us this opportunity to do our jobs in the entirety that we need them to be completed which is having our just believe code blue come November code blue is where we get to sit and work with these clients out of the elements where they are not in fight mode thank [Applause] you hi my name is Donna Roberts 200 Corporate Circle Tom drier I'm a case manager for just believe also we help the homeless and disenfranchise progress from members of progress to members of society beginning January 2024 we have housed 171 people so far I began volunteering at cobl two years ago um at the Riverwood Park uh C blue Center um blinded to just believes Mission and how they and how people are so misinformed on the public is so misinformed on the homelessness and how it happens it is most the biggest cause of homelessness is it losing your job and ask to leave a shared residents it's not due to drugs it's not due to Mental Illness but there's an enormous amount of that out there also um out of 21 counties in New Jersey we place number four in homelessness ocean county is number four of all 21 counties that's huge in Tom's River alone we have 140 people that live on the streets another 100 sleeping in their cars that is documented as my journey began with just believe I learned about people's struggles how every story every story from each person is unique and how what how it brought them to us I learned about kindness compassion and just basic human kindness to one another as I continued it was very therapeutic for me myself volunteer in there because I was going through my own struggles and problems with my family due to substance abuse with my children and it was a long struggle I pretty much lost myself for three years and this is what got me back on track with myself um I thought it could never happen to me don't anyone in this room think it can't happen to you or your children or your family because it can it it it it discriminates against no one um we're still right now trying to struggle to put the pieces back together of our life so before you judge people you should really take a step back and realize it can happen to you tomorrow it can happen to anyone so as a cobl we pick up at the co blue we pick up and transport the clients to our facility area restaurants donate and they donate food and they are served a hot meal snacks coffee dessert they can be relaxed in a warm safe environment tonight with friendly familiar faces some sometimes something we all take for granted they are able to get clothes toiletries from the closet twice weekly the YMC partners with us and we bring them for showers we offer case management and other services for provided come in other service providers come in for the client's needs whether it be mental health housing substance abuse social services doctor's appointments health insurance whatever whatever they need we will find a way to help them it doesn't matter what it is we will not stop until we do it um the secret to Our Success I believe is that we treat them no different than anyone else we listen to them we talk we laugh and we cry with them they tell us our stories and we sit with them no matter what they need we are there for them thank you your time is up ma'am thank you for your service by the way okay Jim I just like to point out something really quick uh somebody up here is rather humble about their service with uh just believe uh councilman Tom nion I believe through Silverton Farms donates a lot of food to that organization just I just have to clarify uh they have donors who actually put up money so they buy produce from us at a discounted rate but thank you Jim yes sir how you doing this evening uh John Wilson Tom's River and I am actually homeless um and it was divorce car accident lost my job depression went through my drug usage now last winter and you have now stated which was one of my questions was is that warming shelter going to be open and you said well now I don't know that that that was really wrong wrong way to answer that to be honest with you because last year I would be dead and my friends would be dead because we would have frozen to death so in reference to what you just said about you don't know will know that if people die because you don't that's on you man that's completely on you and this winter who knows maybe I'll be one of those frozen people because I don't have a warming Center so next time whether you are or aren't think about your answers to people's questions because you're flustered and upset that people are coming at you thank you enjoy your [Applause] evening hi I'm Marin Bennett I'm the executive director for the tomb business Improvement District 53 Main Street I just wanted to remind everyone about the fireworks this Friday um we'll go off at 9 9:30 you definitely after you go to downtown night out you can come down to huie park or mat Plaza to go see the fireworks so I hope everyone shops local and stays local thank you thank you thanks man yes sir Paul Jeffrey 1661 Bay Boulevard ortley Beach uh these issues seem trivial to those that have just been discussed but since I'm been standing line of this long I'll do it anyway so um so the first one is I still don't understand why the public can't speak during consent agenda because it would have cleared up a lot of that discussion but I want to thank you for voting on o but the real question is uh where what is the status of the streetscape project it was supposed to all be done with the with NJ doot and all the documents signed in May everything was supposed to go out to bid in June the materials are all supposed to be here by September October and the project was supposed to be uh shovel in the dirt by October November and frankly we have no idea I don't think there's any hope of that that's so it's just so frustrating this grant was given eight years ago eight years ago and we're still one little tiny step at a time right well it was eight years ago in the prior Administration there was an Administration change right so it takes some time prior Administration was extremely responsive they did everything they could and they Mr Jeff's being done what what do he I don't understand so you're saying eight years and now we're going to be two months Beyond and it's my fault you're not going to be two month this council's fault this is my come on question a season I think we're going to miss the whole season I talked to you about this I told you we spoke to nv5 in fact I spoke to other members you have other members that are involved in this committee is that correct of course right so I they're the point person it wasn't you as other point people correct it was probably Joan I spoke to Joan can I finish spoke to I spoke I spoke to nv5 yes and everything everything was done and handed in DJ do correctly it was all done on time everything was signed the package is off already forbid there's no issue here none so we're at the Finish Line can I can I interrupt we ask the question once more will this project just one second I might be able to get the answer for you just give me a break okay just one second our new engineer is here John Malloy and John would you mind commenting on this thank you so much we're just trying and trying to and I we're on top of it we always have been I don't know I talked to you about it nobody knows are wa minut true let the engineer discuss it all right thank you good glad to meet you good good uh yeah so I've been in Communications with nv5 and also the dot we're applying for the highway occupancy permit it's in process so that we're going to wait on that to get approved it's going to get streamlined these things are happening what they authorize tonight uh was one of the um last line items to get checked off so that we can proceed with giving the do the okay to proceed with this plan and it this Project's a fantastic one it's being funded by them it you know right we're getting reimbursed for the full amount so everyone is supportive of this project that's moving forward we're in good standing can I make a suggestion here gentlemen can I make a suggestion I answer it twice you will apply for your permit when you apply for the permit if you see the least bit of a delay please contact me at my number and I will make sure that it gets addressed by the dot immediately yep I've been all right I've been told by a number of people that they are very in in in uh they're very supportive of the project this is going to be their first uh Transportation Alternatives project that they're going to get done so this is their poster child they want to see this done as much as we do commissioner is a very good friend of mine I spent 35 years in that department uh I know everybody that's in the operation side of it where the permits would be given so if you have any delay and you think something's being held up for any amount of time please get my number from somebody at the town and give me a call and I'll take coun can I ask you a question sure would two or three months uh behind schedule be abnormal for the do right now or or for any Public Works project no it's not abnormal it could be as much as six months waiting for a permit that's why that's why I said to you if you feel like it's being delayed please call me because I can have some influence over there for sure we'll do thank you all right another quick item I see you changed the speed limit um on on one of these today a year ago now uh we asked for the speed limit change on Bay Boulevard I spoke to the mayor the other day Paul about that we just I spoke to the mayor two days days ago we have County approval I spoke to the ba back in May it's August I'm waiting for again he said we discuss it this week we get it going and we we'll change the speed limit we were we were anticipating there would be problems where the kayaks were going to be there was no problems this summer we had no issues no accents no issues with that speed has to come down to be equal to lavel it yep so it's just been a year and all it needed was one signature from Toms River well again it got held up prior to janary so the the last question I have is uh Lieutenant Ponsky has been coming to our association meetings for over 10 years the public loves it when he comes he gives us an update he's dedicated literally Saturdays for 10 years the past meeting he had to ask the administration for permission to come to the meeting he never got it he texted me that morning and said I'm sorry I can't come to your meeting the Administration has not given me the permission how could why do we have the administrator I was police if they can come and address us with public safety concerns I was I was never asked by the lieutenant to attend the meeting I don't uh I don't believe that's true if I Lieutenant Bon's retired he retired on September he has not retired he's retiring October 1st you you have this he's hoping to come next two meetings you have this tremendous amount of information so you you start you started with this whole thing about a project you started about this project that that that's eight years in the making and you're you're attacking us that it's two months behind you apparently have these communications lieutenants at the police department I don't understand where you dirt this fall if you don't do it this fall it will be another year because we're not years is that what you're talking about I'm sorry a year on top of the eight years that you've been waiting for is that what you're talking about on top of it I'm here for eight months and it's all like signed off on all right so yeah yeah but I know you had lots of Praise from ohill you used to get up here say wonderful things everybody was fantastic so I but it waited eight years be allowed to come to our next meeting why wouldn't he because he didn't get permission to come the ba just told you something completely different than that all right let's move on your point was made your time is up Sir rid sir I'm sorry your time is up I'm going to send you the emails where perion to come to the meeting s you send us our emails that's enough the time is over let's move on to the next speaker here don't forget your name and address please uh Sheena 489 par come closer to the microphone they can't hear you H my name is Sheena I live at 489 Parks side AV and Tom's River thank you um I'm a homeless case manager for just believe um I'm also a registered voter in Tom's river and I voted for you twice in the primaries and in in the mayor election I'm here due to the uncertainty of our agency continuing to operate a code blue shelter we have not got an answer if it'll be an operation in November our mission is to restore the hope in humanity in our community we have 140 Toms River residents sleeping on the street another hundred in their cars to effectively address the issue of homelessness and improve overall well-being of our community we need readly access homeless shelters just believe has been able to provide a crucial code blue shelter for the last seven years this last season was my first year working with the homeless code blue was open for 114 days this season and I was able to provide case work to clients SL people that felt dignified warm and had a full belly about 20 homeless people die every single day in the United States they die on the streets and Tents the cold the rain the heat they're young they're old they die alone Stark and nameless homelessness is not an annoyance it is not a choice it shouldn't be looked over as a burden or be politicized it is a failure in our part as a society when the covid-19 eviction freeze was lifted and immediately led to 4,000 evictions on Deck this is now putting an economical strain on our community and taxpayer money without a shelter they are more homeless in and out of hospitals involved in law enforcement and sometimes end up incarcerated our code blue Center is able to alleviate some of that economic strain money and statistics aside these are people citizens residents human beings that deserve to be treated as such I have been a case manager for the homeless for about eight months now case work is easier when code blue is open this past season I was able to meet with clients I'm trying to speak to the mayor no ma'am ma'am you have to speak to me you have to address me okay I wanted him to hear what I understand but you have to address me all right so case work is easier when uh code blue is open um I was able to meet with clients on almost daily basis the transformation I saw over time was very apparent people walked in unable to make eye contact because they've been treated like they're Outsiders for so long I watched those people start to feel safe and come out of their shell that led to housing Rehabilitation step meetings and employment sorry your time's up thank you and I qu thank [Applause] you yes sir uh Ken gin Fellowship court and Tom's River thank you uh so there's a couple things that kind of want to go over tonight um but I think just believe kind of set more of a precedent that I think that I also need to address and that is that we do have a large homeless population there are a lot of people out there who need help and there's a lot of politics there's always going to be politics however all of you on this Council Mr rodri represent the people and we have to do something this winter we need to find a place a new warming Center or reopen the Rec Rec Center I unfortunately do know a lot of people unfortunately uh who I went to high school with who didn't make it out on the streets so with that being said it's it's something that we do that needs to be something needs to be done about it and I think that this organization is great um the work that former coun Teran turnbach does for them is fantastic uh that's where I learned a lot of the information about them from and so I know there's a lot of bickering here tonight what else is new um I'm being honest um but listen to them and I think they're out there and I hate to say it but I don't see any of you guys out of there out there except for councilman Sosi and councilman quinl I don't see anybody else out there and so that's it for me for tonight thank [Applause] you Deber Martin 1921 Ocean Avenue ortley Beach I just want to tell you that I was actually on a vacation today today in Atlantic City and I came back just for this meeting um I have always supported you guys but one meeting was at 3 o'clock in the afternoon people who work can't get to a 3:00 meeting I don't like the 7 o'clock meeting because tomorrow morning I got to get up for work but along with it I feel that between the public you guys have to set the president for whatever but between the public and from what's being said up here I think Tom's River is probably becoming the laughing stock of New Jersey I'm totally frustrated with I just turned 70 years old for the first time in my life I'm thinking about moving because there's no cooperation there's like what I Echo what Pat cow said I used to come to a lot of meetings that get supp point I'm like why bother because people are screaming and yelling to each other including all of you I'm just very frustrated with the whole thing what Mr Jeffrey said said I don't understand what happened with Lieutenant Pony I don't like whatever is going on with the police department but Lieutenant Pony was an important information we gave him information he could brought back information we gave him our issues he brought them up and got things solved why he was suddenly not allowed to go to our meeting is beyond me but I am so frustrated with what I hear even not meetings I'm not here I'm listening live stream and I'm sitting at my house going we are a laughing stock whoever can read look at these meetings we are a laughing stock M Mr Choi I didn't hear what you said about 6th Avenue I didn't hear the whole thing in ortley Beach it had to do with the uh boardwalk and the um and the no but you were saying something about Sixth Avenue I thought I heard you say something about no sidewalks or something yeah on the corner there there's a there's a big gap in the sidewalk there I live there I don't notice um crosswalk gord's old house you know that gord's you know Gordo's old house across the street there on the corner no it's actually on the parking lot I know exactly what you're talking about Dave but I'm saying you said there's some overgrowth too and we'll take care of it he was complaining about some overgrowth say overgrowth please trust me I live right next door do you ever drive up and down Washington Street of course people should be ashamed of not along the growth along this road for a while there was police tape by somebody's house I mean you have people going to functions in in town or the golf course drive up and down Washington Street thank you your time your time is up ma'am all right time is up just saying we should all try to be nicer the public screaming yelling cursing is not going to get anything solved thank you but along with it you guys have to do it too thank you yes ma'am Tracy forier 15 North tunesbrook Drive Toms River um I'm the secretary of the Toms River mayor's advisory committee on developmental disabilities I just wanted to address some of the questions that you had Mr quinis our committee was started in 2003 um we've been meeting monthly ever since up until this year our committee chair who is Lee Simpson our vice chair who is Christine Mattis has been requesting just to know that we're going to be reinstated as a committee since January and we've not heard back so we've been holding our informal meetings but we've not had a meeting here in town hall since um part of what we do aside from pushing out information being a tremendous resource to the community is that we run the mobile sensory room um something of course Very near and dear to my heart I fundraised for it I purchased it I donated it to the town and now I manage the Staffing for that the trailer is used at uh all Township sponsored events we follow Township event calendar and uh we put out a guide book for that I've shared that with um the mayor and a few other people Mr solanis you've had that uh just recently I'm sorry last night I received an email asking for our member list so I'm hopeful that we're going to be able to get our committee reinstated did for this year and that we can continue to use the trailer the one thing that we need is some safety items in July I emailed asking for a few of those safety items so that we can safely operate the trailer and have not heard back on those I asked if we could access our annual budget um I also asked if we could access our oh we have a fundraising allocation trust or trust allocation rather if we could use that I offered to purchase those items myself if we could agree on a reimbursement um and you know I I could be wrong I don't know how long these things take but here we are almost in September and we've missed a few items so if you know hopefully if our committee gets reinstated then we can have those safety items I was providing them myself in the past but I've had to give them back to you know people in my family that I borrowed them from can you tell me the name of your committee again I'm sorry it's the Toms River mayor's advisory committee on developmental disabilities thank you we've got a page on the website I can actually if I included you in an email but it's possible you didn't see it I'd be happy to email regarding I'm sorry to interrupt you I just want okay just one second I'm um I just can't hear you if if I'm already talking I'm happy to share our guide book with all of you if that's helpful it really outlines our protocol for absolutely everything sure any emails that you had sent us regarding the trailer uh were addressed the safety issues were addressed the the trailer is ready for use um you served on mayor Mo Hill's uh committee on on individuals with developmental disabilities we formed a new committee as I stated the new uh committee will be meeting um in the near future I think they set a date for sometime in the next two weeks so that will be addressed they'll be in possession of the trailer we thank you for your service to individuals with disabilities and thank you for your time our committee typically meets on the last THS on the last Wednesday of each month at 6:30 p.m. right here in town hall so thank you sorry did I hear what you were saying correctly that she's probably not part of that committee is that what you kind of implied or did I misread that as of as of this minute we we are still forming that committee um the committee is going to meet soon they're going to send out uh invites to uh interested members but as you stated you served on mayor M Hill's committee on development of disabilities this is now mayor rodri and mayor rodri has formed his own committee so thank you many many many individuals involved with the prior committee will also be invo invited to join this committee and will still Supply the same Services if not more so Brian B2 Consulting Group and now so I have a couple things I want to say before I actually begin what I wanted to um for those of you that are not school teachers up there the actual definition of not open is closed uh and number two Mr um Mr attorney I forgot your last name you said before that the the last year the council and the administration was violating state law so what you're indicating that is that Mr mcgucken I think I said your name right sir did is advising the township to violate state law I don't know if he had anything to do with that he was the attorney last year so there there there are a lot of attorneys thank you I'm take my time back thank you so the other question I have is who advised who permitted within the town to authorize a Academy to who provide services to the town is there anybody it was tabled it was because I have it in here I can show you later so the issue is the town because they're providing the service and by the town the counsil are actually providing uh authorizing the bill to be paid the council and the administration is once again violating state law with regards to 419 15 16 yes they are how many animal cruelty animal title four related it's hard every every meeting you come here you act like you're some expert I'm going to take my time expert in Mr I'm going take my time back is that all right you're not an expert we actually give other people chance to talk we're talk we don't want your business here in town let them let him let them it's funny because I'm not here on behalf of the council I'm here on behalf of your residents no you're not we have other people want to speak about more pressing matters and I'm sure the AG will love to talk to you too we've had communication with the state as I'm still doing a talk thank you no i' like like speak the truth so you I'm still going to talk still my time you can talk afterwards let him finish we were in communication with the state they told us that we were in compliance so I'm not sure what you're stating but I can show you the emails you haven't been in I can show you the emails with the state well you're here on behalf of the state right I'm sorry you're acting as an agent on behalf of the Attorney General am I am I saying that I thought that's what you said at the last meeting I was here for his business I he's here to talk about his business so the other question I have for you is since the town is also authorizing a Academy to provide animal control services that the council has not authorized because they table that ordinance the town in retrospect is violating state law with interfering with an animal Cru with a animal control officer which is a disorderly person's offense within within the state of New Jersey Mr lman I'm sorry Mr lman Please Please Mr lamb just finish just you just talk and talk and you make no point and people I could show you the stat I could show you the stat serations when other people have to correct you when you say people the law because they're not and there's other people that are here to speak is my time being let him finish his three minutes pleas I appreciate it how much more time do I have got a minute and a half I appreciate that just let him finish so the question I have for you now and it's actually a simple question question is Comm is that's you don't have to answer I'd probably tell your attorney's probably going tell you to not answer you have a on your agenda bill today which Mr quinl brought up before is Western Industries North which is a Academy they're the parent company of a Academy why are you paying a company for services that the council has not authorized to act when the statute mandates that only the council can authorize them to act so you don't have to answer I'm just I'm just putting that out there for you so I I would just say that there's a lot more questions anything else that than anything and the other one thing I want to say because since Mr rodri's not here if Tom's River is going to be the only shelter in the state of New Jersey to not pay for animal control Animal Care Services out of shelter you would be the only shelter in the state of New Jersey to do that your current shared services agreement with Ocean County Health Department for animal shelter is paid service so so unless your new agreement that isn't out there is might be in the works but your current agreement is that you're paying for services and what you're saying with that million dollars that the cost of it I have all the expenses for shelters the only thing about you were close to a million dollars was last year everything else other than that for the last five years before that you were routinely at around 500,000 and that's including salaries okay your time up thank I'm just I just have one question sir sir one one question yes sir So currently we're still paying licensing fees for our pets our loved ones um in your opinion your residents are or no our pets the residents are paying the license fees yes yeah for our dogs for our pets now since we don't have an animal shelter anymore or I don't know where that money goes to fund should be going to your animal yeah should we still pay that so I mean the dog side of it is State mandate they have to have a dog license the cat licensing is up to each individual resident uh municipality if they want to have cat licensing dog licensing is a state requirement okay so that's the difference the cost to it is up to each town There's a minimum the state indicates even if the township doesn't use that money for that fund goes into the animal trust account or Tom D calls it the animal control trust fund okay all right thank you [Applause] yep Julie Adamec 69 Cedar Grove Road Toms River um first thing as far as the uh Silverton EMS being closed um I just want to remind everybody that with the uh retaco $6 million embezzlement uh with the Toms River school system just remember we didn't close the Toms River School System while that investigation was going on that's number one number number num number two with the uh Tomas River Animal Shelter issue if you open that shelter uh giving that shelter over to Ocean County the residents of Toms River are getting the short end of the stick we're paying down a mortgage we have no guarant at all that there's any Toms River Animal that's going to get into that shelter right now every animal that came into that shelter was a Tom's River Animal so we're residents are going to be spending their tax dollars paying down a mortgage no guarantee of Tom's River animals going to get in there and uh the county uh residents actually are the ones that are going to benefit because we're going to be subsidizing a County shelter so just think about that and the stupidity of of that and then uh as far as the animal shelter situation and the uh disaster that was caused by this Administration we need a TNR program in Tom's River um the third issue I want to talk about is with the council and the majority on this Council while you guys have been planning and wasting money on concerts and fireworks um and getting your jollies out of exerting pressure pressure and power over the residents and the employees and turning everything that you touch into coal we have a lot of pro public safety issues this um garage I don't know if you're aware or not but on the Water Street side of the G of the garage there is a big metal um railing or grade that is falling out of the building on the second floor uh there's another big wooden tie that's next to it that's going to fall and another big wooden a big metal uh piece of metal that's going to fall down now there's a sidewalk not too far away now you we're going to have a New York City incident one of these days is coming right down the pike when that thing falls down and you have somebody on that sidewalk and it falls on their head you're either going to have a death or a traumatic brain injury so wake up do your uh uh do do your research and pay attention forget about stupid fireworks concerts uh movies the residents need public safety issues to be addressed in this town not this [Applause] nonsense yes sir hello uh my name is Jimmy wear I'm from South serer uh 54 Double Trouble Road I just want to address a lot of issues in this town mainly you know I just want to be correct here um got to got to you know make it about the people um homelessness that's going on in this town that's got to be addressed um you know what I'm saying put aside your love for money because you know that's going that leads to the to the root of all evil um another thing at the end of the day what you do to the homeless you do to Jesus Christ you know if you're a Christian here anybody that's a Christian here what you do to Jesus Christ what you do to the homeless you do to Jesus Christ at the end of the day he came for the poor he did not come for the self-righteous you're not righteous you will go Before the Throne of God one day and you will give an account for everything that you've done to the poor at the end of the day you know we see what the country is going through there's a lot of there a lot of termal oil in the country we're in inflation we're in a lot of debt inflation and it's infecting this town it's affecting everywhere a lot you got to put you gotta you gotta put you got to put yourselves yourselves literally when I'm say yourselves put away yourselves and give time to the people our country was founded on on a republic this country is made for the People by the people nothing else doesn't get any more it doesn't get any more fashionable than this we have to do something if you're all Christians here you will give an account on Judgment Day I will land my plane with this that's all I had to say [Applause] yes siroun my name is Martin toret sir come a little closer to the mic please my name is Martin Taylor 1059 dub Street Tom River New Jersey I heard a lot of talk about animal shelters here but we don't have a a human shelter yet talk about code blue we do need code blue but we need a shelter code blue is really a bandid right now we're getting ready to come into the cold season and we're not just talking about human lives this is a human issue this is a health issue that we're coming into this is a Health crisis without a shelter a permanent shelter we have to take the time to discuss this truly everything that we're hearing here we're not determined to do anything we're determined to talk when are we going to actually take action we're talking about codes ordinates how long are we going to keep talking about this this placement did not happen happen overnight this placement is in our backyards when are we going to take the time to address it we get a million dollars for a home and shelter can we get a dollar for a shelter here a shelter not C blue a true shelter before we truly have a Health crisis on our hands and that's what we're looking at when are we going to address this thank you [Applause] um hello hi my name is Donna Evans I live in manah Hawkin but several years ago in 20 uh 20 late 2018 early 2019 I also was homeless at what point in time due to no fault of my own and I want to advocate for Paul holes and and just believe for all the hard work they done in code blue which saves many lives saved my life and gave me and opportunity to rebuild my life which I'm still doing five years later and I fully believe in the work that just believe does and I also the previous gentleman I believe his name is marquee I uh I also agree that you do need a permanent shelter here in Toms River and in Ocean County thank you have a good [Applause] day Phil brilliant 79 Holly Tree Lane um couple comments from tonight's meeting just believe I mean again what they do in this community um how they help people and it's interesting that the fault is on them whereas they were locked out of their building I think a call Courtesy changing no that's what they were actually you know what you're right I should address you because you're my w one representative I want to correct you it's our building not their building you represent Silverton by the way I do very Sil yeah your house I knocked door I'll talk to you then so again I think the common decency to talk to people and reach out which by the way we're still waiting we haven't received our Oprah back yet but it doesn't appear that the radio club has a lease either so that might look into it Phil address me so we okay Mr okay sorry that go ahead couple other things you know um on the bill list tonight there was an approval for an invoice for CMA Associates for the spray park design so about a month and a half ago you approved selling or buying the property for $1.8 million which is over the apprais value and within a month you already have an engineer working on a design whereas you've been talking about that you're not opening you're going to reopen the animal shelter it's going to be expanded there's all these things but there's never been a bill for a design on the work to be done at the animal shelter so I think that that's not real but I also wanted to say one more time because I got cut off last time that again yes I do have a lawsuit out there we're going to court next Friday um brief Rue by your Council on Wednesday if we want to sit down and talk and have an opportunity to possibly avoid going to C turn the to court I'm willing to do that reach out to me I will give you that opportunity till Friday because I got to write something and the other thing I wanted to talk about was there's been a lot of press about the build Grant and uh about that that's for development purposes if you look at the application for the 5.66 million okay that's called the downtown Toms River Loop I'm not going to read all of it you can definitely see it but it says aside from assigning you know re redoing the roadways the traffic flow and raising the elevations it is to act as an evacuation route to the Garden State Parkway in the event of a flood emergency that is what you have stopped in Tom's River you gave up $5.6 million to help a new evacuation route because of the flooding in downtown Toms River I voted no to it in the beginning I voted no way in the beginning build the way by the way the bill Grant devel May Rod voted yes the first time but didn't vote but voted no to hire the engineer we want no development downtown you're wrong oh you're reading a certain part of it oh you have to show me later I have the whole application if you like I'll show me later you're so on top of this Phil show me later I am thank you very much um couple of things I I noticed the other day when Chief little and somebody said it a great guy we're having we have a real loss in this town he acknowledged all those retirees 30 seconds no he now he acknowledged all those he acknowledged all the retire I just told him to go why are you on my case I just gave him 30 seconds Rel thank you very much council president he uh he acknowledged all the retirees and it came back in my mind that when officers before this Administration retired they came here for Resolutions and they were honored by this Council not by this Council but by the council we didn't do that at all this year for all these people who retired and even chief little we don't see him here tonight being honored okay and and no one's going to say basically because it's too late because not for nothing we know the agenda is not done until after he retired and we knew that was going to happen more than 30 seconds thank you very much council president leg just jump in real quick council president uh for the folks who are listening at home uh the build GL Grant is an acronym and it's about leveraging infrastructure for development so the entire purpose of the Grant and the only way you can get the money is for to to put in infrastructure specifically for high density development that's the purpose of the grant you could claim that it's for flood mitigation if you like but you wouldn't qualify for flood mitigation it's an acronym and it's for it's leveraging infrastructure for development and as far as the uh proclamations and such uh that was always brought forward by the chief so the chief would would make the determination as to who would get honored by the council uh not not not the council the chief knows when a when an officer does a great deed and makes that recommendation if he didn't make those recommendations in the last eight months I don't know what to say but I'm sure there were a lot of lot of great things that happened in the last eight months um I just don't know why it wasn't done but it would it wouldn't be me because I I don't know what the day-to-day operations are or when an officer does a great thing it's not I'm not privy to that you're not coming back to the mic you had your 3 minutes I'm just addressing your questions this is my time he's out of order it's like hi Donna Sergio Main Street Tom rer um I don't even know where to start I'm sorry um everybody's been talking today about uh just believe ma'am just make sure you talk directly to the microphone everybody's been talking a lot about just believe and I'm not real up on everything but listening to what was said today I can't help but Wonder as I think a lot of people are scratching their heads they're saying that they were locked out of a building in in the township and I understand they didn't have a lease I get all of that I was just curious why I mean I'm a real estate agent people get copies of keys why was it not possible to just make a key to the existing lock and give it to the new people who needed it why did we need to install a new lock for the new people then the old people couldn't access it it just seemed it seemed um a little ridiculous but okay thought anyway um as far as the code goes that we were talking about um the housing the code for the Co in Tom's River a lot of people hated it I'm a real estate agent I'm supposed to hate it honestly when it first came came out I was Furious but then when I read it and realized a lot of the things that I saw when I was going into homes I realized they may have overstepped a bit and I don't believe that the township should be telling people you can't sell your house unless the roof is up to par or you can't sell it if this isn't and some of the stuff was a little bit overstepping but I have to say I have gone into houses that had four illegal bedrooms in the basements I have gone into houses that had additions that were put on with no permits I went into one house it was not in Tom's River you had to go through to the garage up a staircase into a bedroom a fourth bedroom over the garage that you could only access by walking out of the house through the garage past the bicycles up into the garage and these are the types of things that the township can never get into into a house until it's being sold if you have some type of grounds for inspections people do things constantly illegally and a lot of them are downright dangerous so for that sake I was willing to accept that Co requirement it should not have been thrown out completely maybe it could have been revised a little bit I I agree 100% but I feel like throwing it out completely was it was it was dangerous because I see so many things when I going into houses I've gone to houses where there were pools that were a horrific danger to every child an animal in the neighborhood they were so poorly installed poorly maintained and somebody could sell that house with that pool the way it is and nobody says anything because the township has no Co you're shaking your head no but I see it happen I'll tell you I don't think it's the government is not in the business of of ensuring that it's up to the professionals as real estate agent as the real estate attorneys as inspection companies that are hired it's up to them to ensure that a safe a safe home is delivered at the closing much it is it's not on a government some government agent to come in and do it you can say that but you think that if I'm a if I'm a real estate agent I'm not I'm not an expert on a pool I'm not an expert on C I'm not yes you do how you're putting all the onus on everyone except the township this is the only way for the township to keep a grasp it's not up to an inspector big government I'm small I'm sorry but time is up thank you you're so wrong thank you hi I just wanted you to know I'm here and I'm not going away name name an address again please ma'am yeah so ma'am name an address again de KY 32 B Street Toms River New Jersey whose street by the way is still flooding you said they were going to look at it um anyway so um I'm not going away how about if we take the cars that you're giving to all of the people who left or you fired why don't you take away all the cars your car you probably have a car I don't want to answer I don't want to answer okay so um why don't you take all the cars away take all the other things away instead of trying to advance your political agenda you're Vendetta against Mo Hill who again I am not a member of his or any other gang um I just work and I just care about animals so um I'm just gonna ask you once again to open the Tom's River Animal Shelter you have more than enough support you have you have resources and you waste them you waste them you turn your back at people well-meaning educated experienced people and you just you had an agenda you came in here you were going to close it it was not up for discussion you ramrod things you shove things you you brutalize you're brutalizing this town you're brutalizing this town if I'm if I'm brutalizing this I really don't I don't want toar well you've already spoken like five times so you sure you're done I don't know R my third time um and and your puppet over here Justin he just watching you guys I'm going to I'm going to make a a motion that the and I know I'm not allowed to do that but I'm going to say it anyway when you're in school and you behave like children you have to put your cell phone here I think you're a teacher you know that why don't all of you put your cell phones here so you have to listen to the people you don't have you don't have your time is up I'm sorry time is up coun president all I will say is is we have the same group of people that come they Advocate that we spend more money on an animal shelter they Advocate that we spend more money on a lot of things it seems to me like we here this Council has been answering the will of the people and if you were correct on any of these issues if you had the majority behind you the last primary wouldn't have occurred as it did and you're going to see in the next general election you're going to see the Republican candidate Bill burn win by a landslide because the people of this town want these reforms they want lower taxes they want less development they they do not want to pay twice for an animal shelter they do not want people invasively inspecting their home before they sell it and jamming up their home sale the one thing that they saved their whole life for by six months or eight months everything that you are advocating here are liberal social issues that the general populace in times world does not agree with you on if you want those things move to a town where the Democrats were in the town they waste your money they'll they'll invasively tell you when and when not you can sell your home they'll do all those kind of things mayor can can I please call the next speaker i' like to get out of here please thank you go ahead uh my name is Crystal I live on Skylar again I couldn't hear you people can you let be quiet and this young lady speak please thank you my name is cryst and I live on Skylar Drive um I just want to set something straight that our shelter was not dirty um I've been in homes with three cats that smelt worse in our shelter um our staff and volunteers did a really hard and good job um keeping it clean and to take care of the animals and I just want to say that you're handing it over to the exact Department that covered up the mold for years um the mold is fixed and it was fixed in 2022 and the health department covered that up by clearing by by giving cleared grades or whatever they give for your I can't think right now because I'm nervous but it's just counterproductive and we could have done a really good job of giving the chances that we begged for for years volunteers and staff alike you can ask Maria maruka or whoever else has been in charge even Rich Barbosa they all knew we asked for years and nobody seen us nobody heard us and nobody cared to help or provide us with the tools that could have made us even better than we were um and that's just really all I have to say oh and um we only spend about like maybe $5 or so $10 per person on the animal shelter in taxes um so it's really not that much all this money we think we're wasting on it is don't be misled hey Co hey good evening good evening uh Paul Hol CEO of just believe 200 Corporate Circle second floor tom River tonight you guys got to see a display of compassion from my employees and my volunteers The Love and Desire they have to help our community of Tom's River maybe they cursed maybe they said bad words but they said it because they care about our community they care about the homeless they care about their jobs they spent eight hours today writing those letters to speak to you guys today they literally wrote it 10 times I watched Donna erase it and then do it again and then say Oh wait I got to get it down to three minutes I got to get it down to three minutes I really want them to hear my heart that's what they want to show you your heart it's all heart I'm that's why I didn't want to come up here because I'm emotional I love what I do I started just believe with no money nothing nothing it's what it is today because of all the people that sat up here that cared about the people that that's what it was about we lost that somewhere I don't I'm not political I care about the homeless homeless Dan you change you f i could do it right now I'm so emotional and nervous and I'm angry and I'm upset I have I'm like all over the place because of what I I do because I care about my job I slept nights I gave up my Thanksgiving Christmas New Years to be with the homeless every year at cold blue every year cuz I care look this is your phone number ready Paul you're here almost every day outside almost every day four every day you organized you organized dozens of people to come here and never came here to talk to me I did tooz of people right here right now yes or no 4 years within 4 years within four years we rais now $700,000 one of your people just said you brought $183 homeless people into this town when she just spoke she did not say that we brought him she said you brought 183 people in your never came to to me sir sir sir ,000 un professional $55,000 [Music] right now your people are cursing the ter is very gracious to you are when are you gracious the ter is very gracious to you and you are gracious seven months in a row Dan for people to help people in Tom's River to come here and I did did everything you asked of me when you sent me to cease in disis order I haven't been there no one sent me to CE I have it yeah you're political sent you said it to me dude no one sent seat dis order you a disorder a ceas and disorder you've had your say yeah I'm supposed to run a reasonable meeting and you're making it impossible s years I've been here seven years help this community this is how I'm getting treated understand ridiculous Paul listen to me I understand you're upset okay but yelling and screaming is not going to solve the immediate problem we have to get you we have to get you together let me know what I can get my stuff that's all I want let me know I get my stuff thank you [Applause] [Music] that German from the building he's been here too long okay go ahead ma'am uh Don Lazar fidella again 752 Jaclyn Court I'll be really quick here um based on the actions of this Administration over the last eight months it seems rather clear that the administration maybe some excluded but hate the natural beauty of Tom's River and are directly attacking our health safety security companionship and we're really lacking some true leadership um flat taxes are great but it really is not going to mean a whole lot if we don't have anything that I just mentioned that's being attended to just want to bring to attention I know I got involved in this all because initially because of the shelter but this community means a lot to me and a lot of people here and this community is crumbling under the current leadership and I think youall really need to think about that as election time approaches um because this is we're just not in a good place I mean we are a laughing stock in New Jersey as are some other towns that the same things are happening here but if yeah I'm sure it's okay um but when things fail in this town that rolls up to the leader just so you know so with regards to the shelter do you're going to do what you want to do anyways but you really should stop defaming the staff and volunteers that were at that shelter because that shelter was not a disgusting mess and the animals were well taken care of and that is why everyone is fighting for it so hard so just leave for thought there Bob kolan messenger Street Mr Coleman first to you um one of the people were up here speaking before and you said you told it that they had to talk to you right if they have to talk to you why does Mr rodri have to do all the Talking why can't they just talk directly to Mr Rod you know something here's the bottom line I'm a human being I've run a lot of meetings I was in education for 40 years and I okay and I'll tell you right now I'm not happy about what's going on either all right right up front but I'm doing my best but you know what when people get out of control unless I have a gun I'm not going to be able to stop everything that goes on well you can Mo and gr all you want people that's the TR I don't have control over everybody include all the counsilman too instead of always reprimanding the people that are talking I didn't reprimand anybody I did not reprimand a single person yeah because he was screaming at me because the may he was screaming yeah but not the mayor he was screaming at me the mayor incited him to scream and he wound up screaming at you so why didn't you throw him out okay anyway moving on here make your point Mr quinley I have a question for you back in February maybe March when the issue with the police department and EMTs came weren't there eight EMTs that were approved for correct okay so so it says right here in recent months we've hired 18 additional EMTs that's another so that's so no mayor let him finish please I'm begging you please let him finish anyhow okay I was going to go through these two letters that waste taxpayers money and go through all the issues all lies Mr R take my name off your list of ever wasting dopay money to send me the freaking Pap thank all right next yes ma'am come on let's go I think some people would like to get home sometime tonight Donna Serio Main Street Donna Serio Main Street there's so much to say here but I'm G to end on this I think a lot of people come here and there's there's not enough people here there's not enough people here and there are certain people who come to these meetings including all of you of course on a regular basis and a lot of other people like myself who try to catch meetings whenever I can I have a lot going on but every time I come here I leave so disheartened because so many of us feel that we go through getting petition signed and packing the room and bringing all our friends over and crying out on Facebook and then we come here and we plead we plead with the council we plead with the mayor and everybody up there seems to have their mind set in stone when they sit take their seat and it always seems to be two maybe three against the other five and nothing ever changes and you feel like I gave up dinner with my family to be here and nothing changes and the fire and the the EMS closes and the animal shelter closes and the police chief leaves I and not happily it it's it's disheartening for people and then when you do come up and speak you kind of get attacked a little bit because the mayor might not like what you say and it was only my opinion but I didn't realize that the mayor comments on the opinion we come and share our opinions with you to see if possibly you might sway a little I've come to meetings and changed my Minds about major things in our Township because I came here with an open mind and I listened I'm going to quote my late father-in-law who was a doll he passed away three years ago and this is what he had to say when a new priest came to his Catholic Church here in Tom's river and his main goal was to save the church money and he did and my father-in-law wrote him a letter and said you saved us money but you bankrupt our bankrupted our souls okay thank [Applause] you I'm GNA ask if the young lady from the uh name name an address I'm sorry Joe coko 161 Walnut Creek Lane in the township of Toms River so now you all know where I live uh the young lady that uh was with the sensory committee could you come forward please this might be some three minutes for her too I'm going to sneak in but I think um now the mayor is here there was a little misunderstanding from our business administrator with respect to this committee and I want to do say I want to thank all of you for what you did for the excuse me the Ada committee last month I think it was a great thing when I went back to the committee told them all about it showed it to them they were related and I mean they're ready to continue rolling on they were anyway but it was good and I want to thank everybody out here that spent the time to see that presentation listen to me again and and get it through but again I think um I think she she may need some time right now I don't I don't know that she was done Justice for representing that that committee and if she could present her concern again she'll have two minutes just like everybody else Joe I'm sorry what she'll have two minuts like everybody yeah but I mean not the mayor mayor is here okay because I will tell you Mr Coleman you were fantastic in working with the Committees you know I've done with the mayor and and Chief of Staff okay Mr solanis I got questions in that I've sent to him numerous times for the same situation of getting the committee to move but being me who I am I wrot roll on you know and and wait if I did something wrong I'll get scolded later on but you know we try to keep it going so Mr salonis there are outstanding questions that I've sent you for my committee so when I heard her speak about it these committees are volunteers they're they're critical to ass assisting all of you up there and and helping you know with the residents and you know the the the administration so the thing I'd like to recommend also now that could either be done as a committee through the council or a committee through the mayor is let's do a committee just like Ada okay just like sensory let's do a committee for the homeless because I I think the fact that Homeless is getting bigger and bigger in in this town it's this is not the time over 20 30 40 years ago so it is something but I think if we get a committee somebody share it some folks to you know discuss it maybe part of a a council member on on the committee whatever it be but just I I find if you've got a good working committee it it can work and then now maybe you have one voice that will come here and talk about the issues that's my three minutes thank you thank you good [Applause] time so Tracy for again North tunesbrook Drive um thank you so much like the Ada committee we serve as a liaison to the community from the community to the Council on various issues that residents are having needs they may have concerns they may have uh resources that they need things like that so we were established in 2003 I was appointed to the committee under mayor kaher and I've served ever since we meet monthly here we had up until this past year um downstairs in the LEL room we've not had a meeting officially here this year uh we're just kind of waiting to see if our committee is been reinstated we typically get a letter in January that you know you're you're back on the committee and whatnot um we manage the sensory trailer we put out monthly newsletters we have a Facebook page we our meetings are of course open and public um you know i' I've been made aware now that someone has been requesting the trailer to typically what happens is someone will reach out and email our committee and then we add that to our calendar our the trailer that we manage belongs to the township and we only use it for Township sponsored events it's not for public use it's not for private use I mean it is for public use but it's not for private entity rather um it is for Township sponsored events so it would have been awesome to have it in Shelter Cove at the concerts it would be awesome to have it at the fireworks these are perfect perfect events for that trailer um we have it at all the downtown street fairs we have it at Vesta cop we have it at the Halloween parade things like that so there's definitely a need we have families that come and they say now we can come to these events so it's a great way to make our community even more so inclusive but the trailer is not all that the committee does um it's like I said it's a great resource like the Ada committee it's a great resource to you so that you know what the community is looking for so thank you thank you she knows just one sec give me one second the people on line will be our last speakers for this evening okay thank [Music] you well then get in line all right okay I got you okay but you are the last speaker sir understand okay go ahead sir okay gonna be real quick uh Ken goer and fellowship court and Tom drier um just very quickly I've been coming to these for a few years now uh I had some disagreements with the previous administration um that I used to come here and debate with all the time and I never felt disrespected by them at all um in the audience never felt disrespected by any of their family members but I was surprised today uh while I was sitting in the back today a little peanut gallery back there decided to make uh some remarks and um just like everybody else in this town I'm a little poed right now about how things are going and don't know which one of you guys they were affiliated with but I was told to excuse my language go myself whoever said that probably she was hanging out with them so I got to say I've lived here 30 years never ever have I dealt with that get that smile off your face Dan there's no reason to scream yes there's no reason to scream this is a public meeting this is a public meeting so use the say what you have to say's no reason but meanwhile not talk no the family members are back there telling people to go themselves must have been something ins that why should don't scream here if they did something that's on them let let's just gentlemen finish so we can get finish why don't they come up here and address the entire room and tell that's the entire room of Voters in this room why just people they don't like why don't you come up Mr your time could you please complete yourself okay just saying it's disgraceful it's disgraceful it's disgraceful and so Mr Coleman or sorry Council council president Coleman as I said previously this never [Applause] mind Carlos Amur first and foremost I want to apologize for my behavior or my conduct the way I speak for the last meeting my mother she saw the meeting also with my niece so on that I have to take back I was going to address Mr Justin for calling me a low life because my mother was angry at that I was going to tell him since he got all the connection all the the favoritism and he could fix almost any problem in town can he help me enroll in Ocean County College so I could get maybe a speech class so I could be a better spokesman with you guys that's first and foremost now we're going to go down the road guys I actually got a photo because two days ago I was driving on Route N I saw a man Dro out of nowhere in the floor passed out actually did a crazy turn it was a h the guys passed out I called the cops we gave him water we asked him what's the problem overheat I got the photo right here sir so it's not just me I called the ambulance at 911 so we got to find a common ground to speak with just believe because I believe it was a miscommunication and it's miscommunication because the marriage doesn't have the support So Lena I'm not getting on your case but you need to be more middle ground with the people so this problem that we having with miscommunication we do not have it now with that said this is going to hurt me a lot president councilman uh president councilman with everything that is going on with you you're a great man since I met you I have respect for you when you speak to me I respect you 100% but I think it's best if you step away and let the mayor put somebody else in your seat because he he needs a strong bone in there that is going to back and forth with him and everybody else um our attorneys you guys are great people as well but we need to really guide Our Town guys I don't know what reputation you guys want to leave for your grandkids for your family and for your families um you know I'm cons I never thought I I go into politics until South Town TR did my family wrong and now I never thought it was going to happen in this town because I praised God before I was learning from you guys and unfortunately I'm not learning I can learn from from a Ganer from the street better than you guys because you guys not United and you guys not doing anything for for the people instead of uniting we are breaking each other apart because we don't don't know how to communicate we can't sit down and talk because the the person in the middle is not judging us for who we are they're judging it for our past or for the what other people have done we got to get together guys it's a whole year so I don't know man Dana tullen I rent a house on messenger Street just in case that matters to anybody other than Justin lamb who thinks that renters don't count um I wanted to answer a question that Mr Jeff had asked about uh Lieutenant Bon bonky not being able to go to meetings because I have a letter from John salonis the business administrator saying all department heads division leaders supervisors or any other employees who attend to speak at about Tom's River business at an HOA or Civic organization meeting in town must get in bold highlighted letters written on authorization from the business administrator before the meeting if this directive is not clear please contact me immediately Jonathan sanis this has been going on since before Mo Hill it's been going on that these people have been attending these meetings representing their departments or their jobs and now all of a sudden the rules are changing which kind of makes me believe that you're afraid that they might say something that you don't want them to hear because that's just the way this all runs the other thing is in regards to the police department and the petition that we did there and chief little being forced to retire because of threats from the administration he he has no respect for people who actually run a good Department who actually do good things who go out and put themselves on the line you got rid of police captains because you don't like Mitch little you got rid of Mitch little because you don't like Mitch little you got rid of silverin EMS because you don't like Kevin gagan you badmouth the shelter because you don't like Maria Maroa and now you're doing just believe because you are not ever going to be a quarter of the man that Terence turnbach is so you better just wise up [Applause] Sir Sher McCain I'm a resident 32 Cadillac Drive I'm a homeowner in Tom D um and I was born and raised in Tom drier um over on shy drive and my father was a school teacher for Tom drier um Regional Schools he used to take the eighth graders to Europe so I'm not sure if any of you guys went to Europe but that was my dad the one thing and I'm a republican I mean just just so you guys all know but I'm a republican but um and I grew up in a republican household but one thing my parents never really realized was like homelessness yeah they helped the poor they you know gave their money and stuff like that but um unfortunately my sister who's downstairs born and raised in Tom driver so the 184 she's one of them um but she's homeless she's born and raised in Tom driver my parents never really thought oh what's going to happen you know whatever they just figured there would be something to kind of help her could she reside in my house no I'm not going to do that we do need a shelter I would like a a homeless like board or whatever am I affiliated with just believe no I'm just a social worker Republican like on the wrong side of whatever I probably shouldn't be a social worker but um I just want you guys because just as my parents never thought when they were in their positions that they would have their own child be homeless just think of that like my parents were Republicans they were whatever but now my sister is homeless like in Tom Trevor and there's nothing for her I do help her she's downstairs texting me like oh I didn't know you were going to be downtown no like but just if you guys can put together a committee that's it like I would I have my masters in social work I can write grants I can help but I think the Tom D should look at that because a lot of the people who are home L are born and raised in Tom River and that's it I wasn't going to talk until the one person said whatever 184 she my sister wasn't brought to Tom dor she was born and raised here just like the other people were um so that's the only reason why I came up and [Applause] talk Dennis gany hes River um this meeting is like a like a tragic comedy I mean the lack of theor the lack of respect the disrespect when are you going to put the clock on the mayor you let him go on and on and on you Mr Coleman you're say you're human and you're doing the best you can Mr lman I've never heard so many derogatory disrespectful comments of what I saw and heard the last meeting when I watch watch it on the tape I've got so many quotes from many the few of you I should say that are just so disrespectful and then you you ask for respect I feel you violate you I feel that you show bias you show Prejudice you show discrimination okay you violate Administrative Code procedures decorum and on and on and on okay so when government bodies establish public comment periods they must adhere to fundamental First Amendment principles they cannot shut down the Silence of speakers simply because they offer a disfavorable Viewpoint or criticize government officials the essence of a free Society is that the members of the public have the ability to voice their opinions including ones critical of government officials now another thing is Viewpoint discrimination look it up find a definition of what it is because the violations of that from this Council from a few of you are incredible okay the most frequent one is cutting short a speaker whose comments are critical of the board or limiting those speakers to their allotted time while permitting others to Ramble On longer another form of viewpoint discrimination would be allowing board- friendly speakers to ask questions and receive answers from the deis while denying that opportunity to the board's critics I feel you violate all of this Mr lamb you're done I'm a Mal content you're done I'm proud of that thank you as is all the balens back here thank you and you thank you for your comments you're done you're done in order to be very quick about this my name was mentioned so I think I have an opportunity to respond to that anybody in this room would be able to attest to the fact that I'm probably the quietest guy at this council meeting most of the time the only time you'll ever hear me respond to somebody or be louder is because the attack is on me I don't ever start an argument in a meeting like this I only respond to the things that are said to me I've always been conscious of the people I volunteered for this position I was not elected I'm only going to be here until November and that's everybody can be happy about that somebody else will take the seat but I've never been disrespectful to anybody here and I've listened to the same comments over and over and over and I understand the comments that are being made but I agreed to take this position so that I would do two or three things that I said I would do when I first sat here I've listened to the explanations I've given reasons for what I've done and for what I voted on I have not changed my position because I truly believe in the things that I've said and voted for now everybody else can have an opinion I have an opinion my position is on this board to vote for the things that I said I would and that's what I'm here for I understand but anybody on in this room that's ever been in this room knows I don't initiate any kind of an argument or an altercation with anybody thank you I got a motion to close the public public comments second I'll second that motion was made by councilman lman seconding by President council president Coleman all in favor I motion all in favor I any opposed Dave too late now no do you oppose I'll