##VIDEO ID:aznYoURWlNc## morning or afternoon excuse me and complies on the open public meeting law I wish to State on September 20th the notice of this meeting of the Upper Township committee is posted on the official Township bullon Board the Upper Township website email to Atlantic City Press the Ocean City senal Ledger The Herald times and F with the Township Clerk tonight's meeting is being video recorded up and until the Clos session portion of this meeting and will be available on the upper count website I hereby direct that this announcement be made a part of the minutes of this meeting would you please rise flag United States of America and to the for it stands one nation God indivisible andice for all please Mr Corson Mrs Hayes here Mr na here Panos here mayor Newman here all members are present okay um pleasure and the minutes move we approve the regular close session minutes from September 9th 2024 second Mr Corson yes Mrs Hayes Mr nappen yes Mr Panos yes may Newman yes motion carried okay once again I'm going to go um out of order than what I normally do because of a couple things that have happened over the past um couple of weeks and I just want to speak to them uh briefly um I know there'll be some other stuff in there as well uh number one uh as as everybody in this room probably knows uh our Township was stuck struck with a tragedy that occurred um almost uh 10 days ago now uh where one of our um uh upper count of Indian football players was um tragically killed in an accident in violent now what amazed me more than anything other than hearing about this kid's young uh 9-year-old wife and how great it was which he was and and is in his in his memory will continue to to do that to be be shown uh through his you know all the attributes that were made to him uh was the fact that the way this Township and this community came together unbelievably fast unbelievably quick and unbelievably appropriate um and that attributes to the fact that we have systems in place the proper people were notified and we let people do their job once again uh and that that particular instance and I'm trust me when I tell you that I am not taking credit for any of this anybody up here in this committee but I was rightfully notified by commit nappen um within 20 minutes of it happening um I immediately notified uh as many people as I could that I thought would affect that including Deputy Mayor Hayes and we got the appropriate help out there the vigil ended up happening on Sunday night is another example of how this community comes together with the um Fire EMS State Police Public Works whole n yards uh to make this to honor this child the way he should have been honored and a great um just a great way to do it and I'll turn it over to Deputy Mayor Hayes to add on to that and after me you're ready so there's there's no possible way to thank everybody who came out to support this family and our community as a whole but I just want to take a minute to recognize a few individuals and organizations that I had Direct dealings with that really were instrumental especially in those first few hours um first and foremost uh the Football Association board and their coaches you know these are just volunteers these when they sign up to coach you know their son or daughter's sports program they don't ever imagine that they're going to have to navigate a tragedy like this every one of them has stepped up to the challenge and you know I knew how fortunate we we were before to have the volunteers that we have in this community but it really is shown through in this instance um I also want to take a moment to thank Kate assist um Kate assist has no dealings with our Recreation Department for our fly assistance program 5 minutes after I got the news we reached out to them just to say like what do we do um they're executive director and two of their counselors dropped everything and met some of those boys and their families at the field that night and it was absolutely invaluable um try not to get too emotional but that was that was a really hard night for everyone there and having them there with their guidance their knowledge being able to just share resources on the spot with parents to give them some Direction when they're just grasping for for reasons and understanding absolutely invaluable um so thank you to them also the school board I know mayor n and I were both in touch with the president several members of the board just to sort of you know coordinate what was happening um also the superintendent Alison pesano uh she and I had some conversations about things that we had done Thursday night and what they could expect Friday morning um she absolutely again not something you deal with every day but she absolutely Ro to the challenge in providing support for the students the next day and through the following days um and I also just want to also to piig back off of the EMS and Fire coming coming through um I also want to recognize some of our Public Works employees who gave up the Sunday off to come in and help manage traffic patterns and and parking so we're all very appreciative of that as well the state police uh anybody want to add anything to this not that I want to put it away Vic do you have um yes everything that was just said um on the record I I want to put out my heartfelt condolences to the bicer family you couldn't meet a nicer mom and dad which is why Eon was such a great boy uh he was on my son's middle League Championship baseball team and also on the football team and um everything was everything was said so thank you uh to the township for stepping up anybody that donated this is just the beginning the team is going to be having all types of of ways to honor e moving forward throughout the season they dedicated the season to him and I hope some people from the township can can come out and attend some of those events in his honor thank you Mark I think it's a I think it's a testament to the the citizens of Upper Township how we you know we come together in times like this and uh you know it was it was heartwarming to see to see the community come together like that for this fin time it's a shame I do agree with like Mark said it was a testament to all people in football Association and everything worked out the way it should be it's a shame we have to have that it's good thing did I add one more thing too um the other fatality in my accident was a coach of the B football team he was a corrections officer who left behind four small children so they're also doing fundraising for him and his family um if you'd like to find out how to um donate you can reach out me to myself or our Recreation to to communities thanks War all for your support and thank for the residents of the township um the other incident that occurred over the past since the last meeting was there was uh obviously a report of a um uh threat to the school system in general I would assume and that was on first thing in the in the morning I think uh last was it last Thursday with last Thursday uh within um minutes the uh with seconds I'm assuming the the schools went into lock down um and then once the threat was cleared by the state police uh they brought um uh they they lowered the Threat Level to shelter in place as out of an abundance of caution and it just was once again the system which is in place in place for a reason was implemented for the safety of the children and the students that are in that school uh and and everybody has to kind understand that that is why that system is in place is a out it's it's there's a reason why things happen we were kept informed the best we can by the lieutenant I was on the phone with Lieutenant probably more times than have been in the past four years two or 3 years six or seven times that day um just keeping me updated uh and in turn we kept our uh through our uh through administrator and everything else we trying to keep everybody as formed as we can but rest assured this is a school and a State Police Issue and we're not going to issue any kind of information at all uh that it doesn't come from the state police or the school system because that's who was in charge uh so once again the system worked people came together did what we had to do and um and fortunately the situation uh worked itself out and uh arrests were made and that's according to news published reports and within 5 hours within 5 hours so pretty pretty uh State Police so um thank you guys and if you have anything add but you can do that right now if you'd like you know I you know so I just don't want to talk me we had mechanics in place for an incident that happens like that and uh it's thankful that everybody's patient um we try to get the information out as fast as possible just to not cause any overwhelming concern in the community and I think uh I spoke with the mayor multiple times that day just trying to keep everybody informed and in the loop not to rest assured the the situation was handled accordingly and then like I said uh within 5 hours we had somebody under ARR for for that accent okay very very good thank you so I'll continue on and then we'll move on with I got a couple things that are just a serious as serious in nature um not as serious as the first one but um so I would want to say about probably about week and a half ago uh myself and um uh I think Jan was on it too Gary were on conference call with the county health department regarding they found some um some wells that were contaminated in the be's Point area of the town uh and they outlined the um the this process which was going to move forward with regard to to how we're going to move for with this particular incident they're going to continue some testing uh and that through that testing they'll determine if there is an actual problem with this rest assur the township the the county is the Le Agency for the state of New Jersey the state of New Jersey has all the mineral rats they are responsible for fresh water in in the township just issued through the County Health Department uh they are the they are the agency for the uh for the New Jersey PP so uh they have added to that by in fact I got one of these letters in my mailbox uh which I'm fairly my house is fairly close to where this is that they are going to add um we could they recommend that we possibly get our wells tested and if we do find anything to let them know uh what will happen in the future if they find an area uh right now they're providing those families that have those Wells that have been tested uh positive with a bottle drinking water and they also are um moving forward with the next steps which would be a treatment system installed in the home with possibly adding the the water because the water majority American water pikes right there um it's very accessible uh this has happened in the past account person involved in that as I was my previous life and that um so that that ended up in water lines being extended and Wells being capped and that thing in any event just want every everybody to know that we're on top of it the County Health Department's on top of it and they're moving forward in an appropriate Manner and um if anything more comes out of it we'll let everybody know all the residents that have contaminated Wells are notified and they're notified of the uh the process U I think that's enough for me can you go next yes yes so just a couple quick announcements um on your new business tonight we have the application for the historical society's Apple fast at the Gandy Farm which will be held on Saturday October 5th um assuming it's approved I'm going to take a Gamble and say that we're probably going to approve that one um also the following day on Sunday we have our annual Fall Fest at Amanda's field which will be from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. um sort of the same ve as last year we'll be the show go car show craft fair food cups um be in Wine Garden and we're going to have a big screen streaming some things just um and then finally also have the health and wellness Fair which is on October 24th from 3 to 5 all I have uh uh just to Quick Animal Control there's a free rabies clinic coming up October 26 rain or shine 1: to 3 p.m. short veterinarian Animal Hospital 73 hope cor Road in seille please bring your previous vaccination records thank you mayor uh two quick things number 17 on the agenda uh how the works is moving forward with their um progressing forward upgrades for their equipment U this one's through the national Cooperative which is good uh part of that bond that we approved earlier at number 19 um is our hopefully our new employee uh from Pro provisional opport as a labor Rock so hopefully we get to welcome him on board tonight and also uh just want to let everybody know there's a free community paper shredding event Saturday November 2nd from 9 to 12 at Rich Asset Management on Rosel bouevard there one more uh up to five boxes you can BR sh the papers refer whatever you can and they're also accepting non perishable Food donation so rich Asset Management there is RO thank um September 15th was our last day of Gage beaches and uh we had a very very quiet uneventful summer I think the 14th out was a rescue at the inlet somebody was swimming in the inlet and they thought that was a safe place to swim going Northeast andg goti City got and actually St far got involved with a the guy up so it's a good thing um i' like to thank the public works department for helping transport equipment and cleaning up the beaches everything looks good everything Tu away for the winner so so slow the water was so cold I heard it was cold all year that usually helps out actually the water from what I understand the 14th and the 15th the war it was all year there we go yeah so it was cold water but they uh most win uh yeah I also forgot to announce at the beginning we're going to add something to the consent agenda tonight um concerning uh piece Township own property that we're going to uh put under an area of need of Rehabilitation this is something that we talked aboutum several previous sessions so uh this will be added to the consent agenda Gary thank you mayor uh we continue to work on the health benefits program for the C so I I know that we spoke about the increases through the state we are State Health F program the increase this year was another 17.3% Collective so 17.3% on top of 4% on top of 23% or 22% right and so you know someone has to absorb those costs and unfortunately uh the ultimate payer is the taxpayer so um we we've came up with u uh some some employee cont contribution programs uh increasing certain things decreasing certain things and the employee base has been very facilitative and understanding that the that healthc care has now become one of the larger components of of the of their appointment Barber and I were talking about it um the direct 10 plan that we had cost approximately $50,000 just for the plan for a family for a family plan so if you're hiring a $50,000 employee or already at 100,000 just to keep that employee so they so the employee base is very very uh facilitative cooperative and understanding and we continue to move towards open rollment in October 1st correct uh again just like the Troopers we're we're talking about the incident command is amazing uh the chain of command the communications uh these particular uh uh large scale events um have a lead agency and those lead agencies talk to the mayor the mayor talks to me and I talk to my administrator in the various school systems and together that information gets relayed promptly precisely and without inaccuracy and I do appreciate that you facilitating that you are police department um again the mayor was correct relative to myself and Joanne and the engineers talking about the the uh Mercury um location in some of the wells in the neighborhoods there is a spill fund for New Jersey they they did hand out poet systems right the poet system stands for point of entry water treatment for the for the two or three that have been identified already and they're going to expand and once they find where the anomaly stops that's when uh the D will then um take a little bit more aggressive action uh again on the bonding I just want to let the 14 so so engineering is going to talk about the athletic Court resurfacing and 16 is the new um Court Reporting System and so 50% will be paid by an outside fund and then 50% will be pay by our bond and that's kind of what the committee talked about each purchase has to come back to the to the board and they'll make a determination based on the collective input and that's how we come up with those numbers that's all I have your honor thank you move it along I'm not a judge yet but I did forget to bring up uh we passed a resolution fored on the state BPU regarding the U uh L electric um rate increases the DraStic rate increases that have affected everybody and in all honesty we just got the same problem fact that we expected that says that hey it's the BPU went they went through the Board of Public Utilities and got their increase just as required by law um however I don't know if anybody else has seen um their Microsoft and Exon are partnering to reopen my I address some of the energy crises you know that seems to be the problem is that we're not producing any energy so you know supply and demand the basics theice um just one thing the last day of register to vote for the general election is October 15th we have the registration forms on our website in the clerk's office or you can go to Kate May County votes and also download the form October 15th last day to register go to k May County votes and uh come here as well wherever you want to go you can you canister mono yeah one thing mayor um Gary and I re received a primer on uh cell towers from asley shustack at cers and the um configuration of the three carriers are going to be changed as a result of the bidding and the concern that we talked about early on was what impact it would have on the structural part of it and moving that equipment could create some structural stress um she came up with a way to relieve that by having all the cable wires run internally so we think if and and Verizon's already agreed to do that and if the other two agree that could all be accomplished without any cost to the township for structural modification so that's good news and hopefully that'll be all finished up by the end of the year thank you bar thank you thank you m um just a couple of things to go through tonight as Gary mentioned uh first one would be athletic Court resurfacing um re receive some good news there we'll be able to likely handle this all under Co-op contracts um with two separ cont contractors um so we're anticipating to have plans done and contracts signed hopefully by the end of October um next one would be the Reconstruction of putam a uh we are getting uh we have on the agenda tonight a resolution for an extension request with do um to push our uh bid deadline date to uh December of this year um so we'll have that one out to bid by December and then next one is a national flood insurance program for Community rating system uh we have our yearly recertification so over the next couple weeks I'll be finalizing all those items and resubmitting um hopefully to keep our current Community raing um which again helps with flood insurance throughout the township last one I know is kind of a hop on issue in the town is a route n project um um Mill and overlay work uh northbound lane has essentially the majority has been completed uh they were are moving on to the southbound lane tonight um and they will continue down really have the southbound completely Dawn by Wednesday is what they're anticipating all weather permitting um and then finish up Northbound on Wednesday into Thursday and then finally at the end of the week they'll be hitting the intersecting Street tiin um so with all that said they're anticipating to have really the mill and overlight portion of the project completed by mid next week and you did have a conversation with a contractor I had a conversation with aoak the contractor they will be calling in nightly updates on where they're going to be uh located uh to ensure there's no issues with emergency vehicles access and we did get the update today so we'll see what happens afterwards yes definitely keep me posted I can continue following up with with them to make sure they call in is the intersection work that you're going to be doing is that going to be nighttime work or daytime it's yeah all night time y so it's still the 8:00 p.m. to 6: a uh 6:00 a.m. hours I no we going to go back to a daytime schedule but no I think uh just a daytime work is the conduit work that they're doing during the daytime hours okay thank you very much for different topic but can you put on your notes to check County New Road Ro y years in the process I will followed okay Joan we can continue on okay we have a presentation honoring the of Foreign Wars of the United States on their 125th anniversary and designating SE September 29th as VFW day in Upper Township okay can I have uh you guys come on up here or whoever's going to receive this or be honored now um I hope everybody in here knows what BFW stand was not only the resolution but you know it it is it is a pretty important um part of our history and part of our culture to honor our Veterans of Foreign Wars and these are some of them and we are declaring this uh we declaring actually the September 29th BFW or Veterans of for war day uh in uh the township and I guess it's across the country for those of you who don't know or don't care to know I hope you all would these guys and millions of men like them are the reasons that we have the freedoms we have so we can uh we certainly appreciate your service we certainly appreciate the service you have you given to our country and that you continue to give to our community Through honoring the recog izing our veterans uh over the years we really really do appreciate it um we have um this has always been a veteran uh favorable Community we've done everything to we can to support you and done the same for us and we certainly appreciate it so one of the reasons we can have these Fair free and open meetings is because of the Gent that you see standing in front of you so you guys can go ahead and give them a big round of [Applause] so um take Cent state of course but and this is a resoltion that the township pass and sign obviously presid be of far worst of the United States BFW was founded in 1899 by a small group of veterans who returned for Campa campaigns in Cuba and and in the Philipp standed together to create V organization that will Advocate on beh of all vet whereas the V did you pay attention to this school what what was F whereas the BFW is a nonprofit veteran service organization comprised of eligible veterans and military service members from the active Guard Reserve forces and whereas the BFW V is ferad among United States veterans overseas conflicts to serve our vs the military and our communities and to Advocate on behalf of all that and whereas since its Inception the BFW has been instrumental in the establishment of the Veterans Administration that the national cemetery system I probably that and the creation of every National Veterans Memorial the BFW has for a b Ro virtue of every significant piece of veterans legislation passed in the 20th and 21st centuries to include honoring our P act the most significant expansions of veterans benefits in dist grou the VFW 25th anniversary to be OB observed on September 29th 2024 this date shall be officially known known asfw de Township committee on behalf of the citizens of Apper Township we hereby Proclaim 29th September as VFW day in honor of vfw's the vfw's valuable contributions to the community to the veteran community in the township ofer and around the world that we be resolved we hereby stand the VFW here to ensure veterans are respected for their service always receive their urge titl and are recognized for the sacrifices and their loved ones their Lov ones have made on beh of our great country congratulations God that's how I know you how many years okay okay thank you Bill okay uh now open uh up the meeting to the public anybody from the public like to comment make a comment to the township committee okay hearing none I'll close the public portion of the meeting and move on to um Mr okay under the consent agenda all consent agenda items listed below are routine in nature and will be enacted by one motion if the mayor or any Committee Member wishes a particular agenda item to be considered separately it will be removed from the consent agenda and acted on separately like to make a motion we approve the consent agend submitted add it add block 566 l 1 as an area need of Rehabilitation yes that was my motion please it's on there Mr Corson yes Mrs Hayes yes Mr napin yes and in my opening um I I was emotional I wanted to to say this too uh number 16 uh that $119,000 for the uh Court recording system $10,000 of that is going to be paid for by DWI funds so it's a yes for me Mr pancost yes mayor Newman yes motion carried under new business we have the historical preservation Society of Upper Township requests the use of Gandy Farm on Saturday October 5th for their annual Apple fest anybody want a second second please Mr Corson yes Mrs Hayes Mr nappen yes Mr Panos mayor Newman yes motion carried 21 South South Shore stitchers request the use of the Upper Township community center from Wednesday October 16th to Sunday October 20th for their biannual quilt show appr please Mr Corson yes Mr fa Mr Napp Mr Panos mayor Newman yes motion carried Shore Memorial Hospital auxiliary request to hold raffle ra5 581 and raffle ra 582 at the seille firehouse on November 2nd 2024 Mo we approve it R Please Mr Corson yes Mrs Hayes Mr nappin yes Mr Panos yes may Newman yes motion Carri 23 under the bridge Rowing Club request to hold raffle ra 583 at 371 dennisville Petersburg Road Petersburg on November 9th 2024 Please Mr Corson yes ha Mr napen yes Mr Panos yes may Newman yes motion carried PLS hereby move that all claims submitted for this meeting be approved and then Incorporated in full in the minutes of this meeting second please Mr Corson yes Mrs Hayes yes Mr nappen yes Mr Panos yes mayor Newman yes motion carried okay thank you Mr Mayor hereby move that a resolution be incorporated into the authorizing the town committee to act an executive session for the following matters puru the open public meetings act number one personnel number two contract negotiation substitute public defender number three contract negotiation affordable housing administrative Services number four contract negotiation Remington and Engineers number five contract negotiation shared services grants for municipal court services number six potential litigation Prescott Avenue I also include in my motion the estimated time and circumstances under which the discussion conducted in close session can be disclosed to the public as follows it is anticipated the matters discussed in close session and be disposed to the public Upon A determination of the cion committee that the public interest will no longer be served by such confidentiality respect to employment Personnel matters such discussion will be made public If no man formal action is taken when the individuals involved consent that it can be made public with respect to contract negotiations such matters were made public when negotiations haveed is no longer a reason for confidentiality with respect to litigation matters such discussion will be made public when litigation is complete and the applicable appeal period has expired second please Mr Corson yes Mrs Hayes Mr nappen yes Mr Panos mayman yes motion carried okay will take a couple minutes