the notice of this meeting of the Upper Township committee was posted on the official Township bullet board the Upper Township website emailed to Atlantic City Press the city Ocean City sent a ledger the Herold times and fil with the Township Clerk tonight's meeting is being video recorded up until the Clos session portion of this meeting and will be available on the Upper Township website I hereby directed this announcement made a part of minutes this meeting would you please rise for the flag Al to the flag of the United States of America and to the it stands one nation God indivisible andice for all call the roll please Mr Corson pres Mrs Hayes she's not here Mr nappin present Mr Panos here Herman here uh your pleasure on the minut minutes like to make a motion we approved amendes from June 10th meeting and our close session second call the roll please Mr Corson yes Mr nappin yes Mr Panos mayor Newman yes motion carried okay uh before we get started report of governing body members I'm going to make a couple changes on the agenda number one presentation of the blue star banner to to Michael and an Wagner for their son Sergeant Michael John Wagner United States Army is being removed from the agenda they can't make it they'll be here next meeting uh July 22nd item number 36 is being removed from the agenda as well okay uh go ahead start with um thank you Victor VI good evening everybody thanks for uh coming out tonight we have a good crowd here in the building um I reported on this last meeting but since I have some people in here uh Animal Control responded to 41 calls a mon May everything from Blue Jays injured Blue Jays snakes apostles were all taking care of um I have a public work shout out there was a down tree in my neighborhood I just happened to be riding my bike and saw uh the those guys out there working hard my neighbor walked up to me the tree had fallen the night before and they were out there that quickly and so appreciate their hard work speaking of being on my bike I've seen a lot of things on social media people upset about ebikes in the township not about their existence but having safety concerns as a committee I'm not sure what we can do for that but I am a big proponent of bike safety making sure that kids are wearing helmets I have small children myself um I do enjoy riding my E Bike I have one I don't know if there's anything we as a committee could do maybe get some information out to people but it does seem to be something that people care about so I figured I would bring it up I think our state legis we at one point were introducing some legislation about ebikes and their you know lack of safety controls and all that and I think it got stolen in the assembly I'm not sure I don't know if there's anything we can do something about how they're classified if their speeds under a certain amount I think like most of the bikes that they sell they don't go above 20 M hour so Lieutenant do you have anything to add to that sorry yeah sure you you have any insight on the ebike on that now maybe just some general we could put out through our social media and channels just to make parents aware that you know kids are riding around and that we just want them to be safe enjoying that time especially with the beautiful weather and uh that's it that's all I have for tonight thank you you're welcome thank you um obviously July 4th is coming up soon and we have the parades in strap here at 10:30 on July 4th so if you plan on or enjoy parades it's a good old fashioned Hometown parade I think all offer emergency vehicles a lot of them yes sir it's a lot of Opp of children and it's a good time had by all so our peaches have been open we've had some vandalism last night for example we had a travel turn over on the beach four the potties and two LIF guard stands I believe so if uh people need to be we're back the kids again if it will be a little more Vigilant maybe and if you see something report it you can't do anything and please stay on the line L give the police all the information just don't tell them we hear something on the beach give them approximate address so they have a point to look we did have a situation a couple weeks ago where somebody called the pool Troopers situation at the beach didn't even give a call back number didn't give any information it was pretty bad around for about a half hour the next the next morning our guy a be week found evence of party so no invitation set up right yeah so if you're going to call to Polie give them a proper invitation that's all I have you guys going okay makeing sure um thank you it that's it sorry about that um couple things going on uh this this week obviously it really is kind of the start of the summer we had the uh our AMS people were uh had um a lot of um uh were very active this week um a lot of calls a lot of serious calls uh and once again which I always preach up here is that the EMS system worked um and the public safety system worked we were able to get a lot of ambulances out and rotate them around and prioritize calls which is really really good um as I said um number 36 off the agenda Curtis mentioned that the um uh parade there's fireworks works as well at a Manis field that night a celebration a festival that's going all the way down from uh uh start I forget what time that's there somewhere in the midafternoon and um they go we should have live music there and vendors and the like and if you ever had a chance to get out there it's pretty good pretty nice time long as the bugs aren't too bad can't do too much about that um we also have received word this this week that we received a grant from another one of the grants that we have received from the state of New Jersey for repairing and replacing the air conditioner at the senior center on Stage Coach Road um which has been giving us trouble for better part of two or three years right now and we've outdated it not only outdated equipment with technology bypass the equipment I think is what happened more than anything um in in that we've also talked about and and C talked about the increased activity uh in town we also have our um parking uh enforcement crew out we have several members on that crew parking enforcement and uh doing well apparently they have issued some summonses and some tickets uh and they were down uh attempting to uh put together some sort of semblance of order down at the be Point um uh Beach I saw that personally uh not that I was going out there looking I just happened to be driving down there uh also uh on my way back I was at the shop right and there's our parking guy there again uh parking at the both the AC and the shop rate in the fires and is is persistent uh where they shouldn't be and it is you're not supposed to park there and you will be issu the summons if if you're parking there and he comes in um we also had um we also had to start today Mark the start of kids camp um we've been doing this this is our third year highly successful camp that we put together through the Upper Township division of EMS uh Cape assist um I think there's some money coming in from um uh what's that the I think we're involved with Ocean City the uh with Mac yes Mac I'm sorry thanks with Mac theyve only been doing that for years Mac there's also some local donations that come in the fire company all the fire companies will be involved uh as well um on on a couple of the days and it just is a it's been a great program it challenges these kids uh to interact and get some going for the for the start of the year um and once again it's it's full up as far as I can tell it's free uh but it's full up uh with 30 kids in there 28 30 kids whatever the fullness is there's cooperation between the Board of Education we rent a bus from them uh they go out and do pirate ship rides it's and uh look at fire trucks they look at ambulances they're going to the beach tomorrow in strair it's just a it's a good good fun program um in addition to that I think we also got a grant did we get the grant for uh Amanda field too did that come in we did not the oh that's the one coming a second time yes the 8 gr was was not given yes so we're working on that as well well as and now Kim's not here would had a had a full list but we also are partnering with the United States Coast Guard as well as the Upper Township Public Safety team and the township itself and there's going to be I think it's called a walk for Dylan uh he he's the young man that was um that was seriously injured several weeks ago on a um uh Walmart accident and that is going to be July 27th uh I'm sure you'll see more stuff coming out it's on Township Facebook page there'll be all kinds of static displays there'll actually be a walk that you can raise money for dilling and as a show of support to to his family his family uh uh for the child was seriously injured but he is working on making a recovery um I see helicopters there yard I saw a couple emails for that going on so that's about what we have for that for now and if I'll turn it over to governing body members uh mayor I'll pick up what you left off so that uh we continue to work with the engineer closely uh there's several Grant applications that will be submitted Ryan will talk more in depth about those the one that that you had alluded to and we get confused is the amend steel skate point applicated from Over the space so we had to resubmit that had had some additional requirements and the engineer uh and myself are are retooling that for res submission so that's that's a brand separate by itself again the emergency that we had with the senior center the best course of action will close that building uh they are now staged at the community center and as in the Articles it reads those two centers are diametrically different right so Community Center is not a senior center Senior Center is not a community center but for the uh for the short term we are working closely with the county uh to make sure that the comfort and the programs continue so like in the article we provide the Box they provide the nclat and support that goes into that box so we are on the on the agenda tonight you'll see on number 34 which is the uh emergency appropriation to move forward with the U with the with the repair I want to let the governing body know that the price before is no different than the price after so the winning bid or the most efficient bid has not used any additional because it's an emergency so I'm sorry just to be clear it's not a bid it will be a quote correct that quote is the same I'm sorry did we get more than one quote at this point we're waiting for it but there is not the necessity to do that due to the emergency emergency um uh nature of this particular event I mean I'm certainly not against air conditioning for the seniors I think it's something that's needed but I think it's before we award a contract that we have at least two quotes on a job again those are two different processes so either it's an emergency or we wait consistently and go through the entire process of quotes well it's not a big process it's a quote it's a a quote we are getting quotes I just don't want to get confused with the two different processes I'm familiar with the process just just so you're aware I spoke with public works this afternoon uh we're waiting an additional quote on lday afternoon and um we are soliciting a third quot as well at least attempting to to solicit a third quot thank uh the the week was spent again uh putting forth the 2024 Capital Bond purchases I'm having trouble putting in the back up on the screen here but you're about 3.7 million in in in collectives which is Public Work recreation building and ground and Public Safety uh so we'll go through that a little in a little deeper uh but that encompasses um the about a million bucks worth of equipment for Public Works repairs to missal facilities uh some OEM and public safety equipment and some engineering uh continue on with the the grants and the uh the finishing of projects um we had a great meeting on number eight so number eight was the uh the uh turnike Authority they want us to resit we want the attorney solicitor was on this with us and we're going to again put all the paperwork again and send it to our the new contact up at the state level how many total did we get a running total on those resolutions 35 I 35 resolutions we sent them I believe that we should copy them everyone it's a large [Music] pack but we'll go through the Bond as as the process goes and that's all I Joan um just a reminder it's on the website and Facebook but trash and recycling will be collected on the 4th of July it's not a holiday for trash okay trash will be collected on 4th of July the reason for that is because the town is operating that day setting up for the 4th of July party right or no well no it's just because it needs to be people are making an issue it's one and not the other we we love America people we're not trying to put the guys out there and the fourth this year calls on a Thursday so if your trash is on Thursday it'll be on Thursday can before it falls on okay I feel like the public should understand that and that's us supporting our workers supporting the township wanting the township um to be clean not that we're choosing one holiday over the other for trash Mr mon I have nothing mayor bar I Ryan thank you Mr Mayor have uh just a couple things to talk through tonight uh the first one we have some great news with the pump project so the pumps are now completely installed and fully operational uh at putam and Webster Sumer we need one last tide valve at the original outfall piping to be installed and then we could turn those pump on uh that pump station on as well so right at the finish line puam and Webster are now operational and one last tide valve and we'll make the finish and now if it would just rain yeah exactly now yeah now we need some rain to test them out did uh the question back you know I looked at there today do that take care so I've been talking to Public Works um to fix that one um we'll be following up with them we got to make sure completely understand um the next one of as Gary mentioned the municipal aid grant applications um that are on the agenda tonight myself along with uh Remington and Vernick have been working on those Grant applications uh for roadway reconstruction bikeways and sidewalk near the elementary and middle schools those applications will be finalized uh by Friday this week and submitted the do uh for their review and that that's all I had for tonight thank you very much okay J okay we have 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 the content agenda and act it on separately okay uh I'll make the motion then that we uh approve the consent agenda from item number two through item number 35 on the list I will second it with the caveat and we wait till we get the other quotes award emergency yes call Mr Corson yes Mr nappen yes Mr Panos yes may Newman yes motion carried under ordinances we have the public hearing and final adoption of ordinance number 9 2024 an ordinance amending chapter 19 land subdivision site plan and land use Administration and chapter 20 zoning of the code of Upper Township Mr mono mayor this uh this ordinance follows the mandates of the uh Pine Lance commission which adopted amendments to the Pine Lance comp ensive management plan in December of 2023 based on uh amended regulations that were implemented by D earlier last year so this basically puts the Township in compliance with the D and Pinelands requirements for any development in Pine lands areas basically every couple years Pine lands comes down with a new set of regulations and requires individual municipalities to place that those regulations into their land use ordinance so this only deals with pine lands as it relates to and it's storm water management and storm water management in the same thing if I could add to that it's for any major development in the township based on the definitions provided by piland and D would be subject to these snowm motar regulations and the major update that came out with these new amendments included uh analyzing projected rainfall events So currently we have to analyze three storm events these these new amendments now have to analyze six rainfall events with three of those with higher rainfall rates uh for future projections okay I'll now open it up to the public for ordinance number nine of 2024 regarding the pine lands land use management anybody from the public want to comment on this particular ordinance hearing none I'll close the public portion of this and accept a motion to adopt ordinance number 9 of 2024 I'd like to make a motion we adopt ordinance number n of 2022 Please Mr Corson yes Mr nappin yes Mr panst May Newman yes motion carried number 38 we have the introduction and first reading of ordinance number 12 2024 Bond ordinance authorizing the completion of various Capital Improvements and the acquisition of various pieces of capital equipment in and for the township of upper County of State May New Jersey appropriating the sum of 3, 700,000 therefore authorizing the issuance of General obligation bonds or Bond anticipation note to the town for buer County of Kate May New Jersey in the aggregate principal amount of up to 3,51 15,000 making certain determinations and Covenants and authorizing certain related actions in connection with the forging when would we have the public hearing uh July 8th [Applause] I'd like to make a motion we introduce ordinance number 12 of 2024 with public Hearing in final adoption on July 8th second second you call the rooll Please Mr Corson yes Mr napen yes Mr pancro yes may Newman yes motion carried okay uh to there's obviously no public comment on that ordinance but what's that July 8 July July 8th orward yes July 8th will be that meeting before it's uh before it's adopted and just to and I know Gary was going to put up here what was on that I will go over it fairly quickly if you don't mind that one's working thats I can't see Michael give here yeah we got right now sir now you got picture okay say 2024 cap yes so the first first 1.3 milon 500,000 is for public work then I put it Recreation facilities so this is the resurfacing of and Fields security cameras skate park appr and this is what we were talking about the the open space so basically that would not be spent if we did not get the grant is just a giant everything has to go through the committee everything to bonding so there a process uh the next construction municipal buildings so we also have a hbac problem within Township this is what committee was talking about about the other process that we're going through it's open um numbers uh that is 55,000 for the township fall and then 80,000 if we didn't get the grant so we got 61,000 from the state so that 81 that extra 80,000 will be stationary in the grant not used and then if we have to pull some additional money out that's the second can be reappropriated uh audio systems for the courtroom we're looking at 50,000 improvements the public uh Department Public Works buildings we had some issues with the sheating and some fire escapes access that we got gig on that is not done so bu for that storage check hall for external S Storage 75 then we into public uh Public Safety radios I guess the public safety guys can give some that well I I can if if he couldn't what we have is we have u 1 two three four four or five repeater locations in pwn all those radios have extended their useful life and we're are liing along um and we're going to Hing to replace them and that goes with the the other Public Safety Equipment yes uh we have uh P power load stretchers which we have three of them uh they're quite expensive unfortunately but they also are injury reducers and lost time reducers and uh they should be installed in our ambulances and we've also placed another ambulance in there uh at $430,000 and the reason for that is um that we're on trying to get on a regular replacement program and right now we're running anywhere from 2 to 4 years from the ba sign a contract before anything comes in uh for fire trucks it's even worse so I'm going to pop back up engineering so engineering we we have some additional requirements on pum Avenue and the strair drainage improvements along with um The increased structural enforcements of the cell tower so we we' have now have ownership of that Tower getting the revenue from that Tower was some issues that they possibly might be structural and so this would repair that particular those an and then we have Bo mats for the beach right okay all right very good and this will be discussion obviously July 8th we approve this and then to spend the money it still has to come back to the committee is this is not just an open blank spending money it comes back to the committee Bud committee actually votes on each item it it's done by resolution so with Each Bond purchase the committee needs to approve it by resolution yes and that's one of our internal controls yes it's not it's you could go to a different municipality and it may not be required but here we do require to to give an example um I was here looking for things pertaining to my department I saw a courtroom and I said to myself wow $50,000 for audio that just seems like a lot maybe there's a modern fix to that and it was explained to me that doesn't mean we have to spend that doesn't mean we will spend that we can make smart decisions within those items to items that pertain to us so check one of the biggest concerns we have in here as you know is the the uh the audio system yeah you're constantly about and cost increases right so then if you don't over budget then you're on so then if you go to do something you don't have the capital to do it then that problem and that's one thing that happened with our last go around we had a bonded project probably 10 years ago never got on cost inre increased and then Co start not was the football lighting we wound up being two bonds to get the job done in 10 years y okay um anybody else commment okay uh continue on okay under new business we have the Stockton Coastal Research Center for quarter Beach survey this is something that we've we've done over the years and actually I think it was you J ask if we want to keep still keep it on the agenda or keep getting I think it's a good idea number one we have an engineer Beach and a managed Beach and we just spent millions of dollars to put sand on there we got to know and this yeah the fact that we use Coastal Stockton's Coastal Research Center to survey our beach and to give us the quarterly reports when we go for the beach replenishment it makes it that much easier stop is one of those credited places in the state of New Jersey allv stock state state college but in the state of New Jersey new arm cor Engineers actually recognizes all this and we certainly could serve it ourself for twice week back I think right has prepared us tell us about it's about a 16-page report that I I won't uh go into too much detail tonight but essentially ston University Coastal Research Center did survey strap near beaches on March 15th April 9th and April 10th um some notes from the report um as we've seen the weather patterns this uh winter or this last winter we experienced increased storm frequencies um including high wind storm events in January February and even into April um they concluded uh the northern P portion of strair obviously greatly benefited from the Army Corps of Engineers Beach renourishment project uh they surveyed about 47,000 cubic yards of sand was placed onto the beaches from that project um so definitely a large amount of sand was placed through that project and Coastal Research Center concluded that the project uh provided Upper Township with greater storm protection while ensuring Beach recreational spaces maintained um so essentially noted everything we wanted to come out of that beach nourishment project and I don't know if many of people have been to the beach but there's actually low TI there's a whole I guess a show you call there's a whole bunch of sand right offshore yeah that's seems to be creeping so we get the right weather it's creeping in we get the right weather pattern that's not a North Easter or ar we might actually build our beaches very good thank that's all I thank you Ryan that's fine that's what we need to yeah yeah that's what we need to hear uh pleasure on the bills I hereby move that all claims submitted for payment at this meeting be approved and then Incorporated in full in the minutes of this meeting second call rooll please Mr Corson yes Mr nappin yes Mr Panos yes may Newman yes motion carried okay now we'll open up to the public anybody from the public have a comment um we ask that you state your name and your address for the record so all you need is your name and your address uh for the record I I don't mean your uh specific street address just mean you live in Petersburg paho City wherever anybody my name is Bob Deo I live in the seille section of Upper Township in 2023 ches to the county from upper town SHP residents fell on deaf ears this is why we are here publicly asking the Attorney General's office to investigate the beasy point Redevelopment group oread and the Upper Township committee starting with this purchase in November of 2021 of the 350 Acre Site formerly known as the BL England Electric Plant Upper Township committee without public input or support entered into negotiations with orad when confronted by the community we were met with silence they refused to devot any information new facts that keep emerging along with information that has already been compiled will show the full Upper Township committee misled and betrayed the trust of the people they were elected to serve Upper Township committee being allowed to continue to write and pass ordinance will our community for years to come we are pleading with the state to intervene immediately on our behalf we will also provide the state with stes and a list of local County and state elected officials who were contacted but refused to intercede now is the time to join together as a community our future depends on it and one other thing the bondor is I sat for the meeting last year when you introduced it I asked at three separate meetings about the money and where it was going and never received one answer I also went to the county about this now tonight here it is more than a year later you're coming out and saying what this money is being spent for uh this is just one example of what your silence has done to this [Music] community thank you for my five minutes anybody else good evening Dr Michelle P I live on North P Drive um I'm here regarding the coastal Cove development pleasure of meeting Ryan in my backyard last week um on June 4th we noticed some new stakes in our backyard well not our backyard but behind our backyard um and so we came over to Township office and we reviewed the approved plans and at that time determined that those Stakes were probably set according to those plans on June 12th I had the opportunity to meet Ryan in my front yard as he was peering over the events after one of the neighbors complained about the trees that were being cleared in our kind of collective back property and again at that time it appeared that what was staked out was being followed and Ryan shared if we had any concerns give him a buzz the following week I woke up and thought golly those chainsaws sound really close and discovered that the stakes were gone and trees were being cleared on what the contractor called an imaginary line that didn't follow the actual line um I called Township call Brian wasn't in his office nobody answered so I came over and said somebody please help I was told we'll send someone later this week to which I responded okay well then the trees going be gone um I came home after being told okay well we'll send someone over they'll call you back to find my person and my neighbor frantically bargaining with the tree dye to please stopped cutting down trees along an imaginary line he agreed that the stakes had been removed um and he also agreed to stop clearing the property as I stand here today no one's called me back despite the fact they said that they would call me back um and because of us stopping kind of feel like The Lorax a little bit um the trees they kind of stopped cutting down trees when Ryan was over we expressed our concerns about the proposed um grading that's proposed for that and what that was going to mean for our backyard and so I guess I stand here tonight saying okay what's the plan to make sure that the Builder actually follows the plans that were approved because there are now almost no trees from my back deck you can now see clear through to tuo Road um what is the location is I'm 323 North so I'm on the North Bale side of that new Henry road development um so I just kind of wonder what is the plan to make sure that that Builder actually is on a daily basis following what he's doing because I can plant some trees right it'll take some time for them to grow but I really don't want to have a swamp in my backyard if he's not going to follow the grading plans so just kind of wanted to bring that to everybody's attention that there's concern certainly amongst myself and amongst my neighbors that those plans be followed so that we don't have kind of a mess in our backyard that particular developer I'm sure has a performance bond yeah yeah exactly um there is a bond and there is inspections that go along and if he doesn't comply then you know we we'll which has been done before at the township will go and not only make them comply we'll use that money from the bond to have him comply yeah I just don't want to sta like be in catching up like I'd rather be on it before it happens so thank you thank you anyone else good evening Barb eille section of Upper Township um I'm just I had reached out in October via email to committee and also and Gary um the Maro responded regarding the consent agenda about asking um for an opportunity for the public prior prior to the consent agenda being voted on that the public could ask questions um it's done at the Upper Township Board of Education meetings it's done in Middle it's done in Wildwood um and I was told that um committee was not going to allow questioning prior to because of um concern about gotcha moments not being able to answer the questions correctly or whatever so um I was told no um in light of this week's extensive consent agenda there was a lot of questions um and I don't think some of them will routine in nature so again I would ask the committee would allow the public to stand up prior to a vote and ask questions the only time that we can get clarification or speak is during public comment well after the vote so I would ask committee to go back and discuss just like the Upper Township Board of Education does allow the public to ask questions prior to the consent agenda being voted on thank you thank you thank you well that would be something we should consider and I personally wouldn't have a problem add a couple more minutes to a meeting we can do that need to consider it um anybody else from the public okay hear none I'll close the public portion of the meeting and entertain a resolution to go into Clos session of Mr well before we go there can we have a discussion on this is that something we want to do or can we put it on our agenda for next meeting for discussion sure let's put that on our agenda for next meeting for agenda discussion I hearby move that our resolution be incorporated into the minutes all in the council commit to enter into executive session for the following matters pursuing to the open public meetings act number one contract negotiation video recording Services number two Personnel I also include my motion the estimated time and the circumstances under which the discussion conducted in Clos session can be disclosed to the public as follow and to anticipate the matters discussed in Clos session may be disclosed to the public determination of the council committee that the public interest will no longer be served by such confidentiality B with respect to employment Personnel matters such discussions made public if and when formal action is taken for when individuals involved consent that it can be made public C with respect to contract negotiation such matters will made public when negotiations have ceased and there's no longer a reason for confidentiality second second call roll please Mr Corson yes Mr naen yes Mr pan Coast yes may nman yes motion carried okay we'll take five before we come back in here we have a little couple things to do um [Applause]