[Music] good evening everybody I'd like to call the re reorganization meeting of the township Committee of the township of Vorhees to order could everybody please stand for the slute to flag I pledge allegiance to the flag unit States of America and to the for stands na indivisible Justice all at this time I would like to ask the clerk for a roll call please SE president Mr rabit here misso here this meeting is being held in accordance with the requirements of the open public meetings act due notice of this meeting has been published by the clerk in both the Courier Post and inquire newspapers as well as electronic notice as required by law also a copy of the annual meeting notice has been posted on the bulletin board outside the township clerk's office at this time I invite Steven mnon to swear in Michael mnon I'm Michael MN do Solly swear I'm Michael MCN do Solly swear I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the Saint and I will bear true faith and allegiance to the Saint and to the governments established and to the government established in the united states in the United States and in this state and in this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people I do further solemnly swear I do further solemnly swear that I will impartially and justly I will partially and justly perform all of the duties perform all the duties of the office of warhe Township Committee of the office of warhe Township commit congratulations thank [Applause] you at this time I invite Chris long to swear in Harry [Applause] plat I think clap I have FL to Solomon Square to Solomon Square I support the Constitution of the United States I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constition of the state of New Jersey and I will bear true Faith Fai and aliance to the Saints to and the government established government is established in the united states in the United States and in this state and in this state I'm the I further Solly swear further swear that I will impartially andly and perform all the duties all the position ofice the [Applause] best I just I never speak at these things but I just want to say that my wife's incredible thank God for [Laughter] her and and now I just won 10 bucks that's great thank thank you all everyone and thank to the committee and thank for residents of Vorhees I love this town and thank you very much uh for having me uh back to serve the township thank [Applause] you before we move on to the roll call I'd like to acknowledge some of our other elected esteemed guests uh assemblyman Lou Greenwald is [Applause] here mayor of Cherry Hill Dave fer is here and County surrogate Michelle gch who and commissioner Jeff Nash thank you guys for at this time I would ask the clerk for a roll call of the full committee please M present happily here Mr Rabbits here mrso here Mr B here at this time I'll open up the floor for nominations for the position of Mayor I'll make a motion for Michael Mana to continue as mayor of War Township second oh I guess you have to say all call in favor roll call roll call roll call okay yes Mr PL same answer I yes I Mr rabits yes misso yes Mr mcon yes I'm going to close nominations for mayor at this time can I have Steve MCA swear in Mayor Michael MCA I'm Michael m s I'm Michael MN you Solly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States I will support the Constitution of the unit States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and I will bear true faith and allegiance to the Saint and I will bear true faith and allegiance to the Saint and to the government established in the United States and to the government established in the United States and in this state and in this state under the authority of the people on the authority of the people I you further solemnly swear I you further Solly swear that I will impartially and justly that I will impartially and justly perform all of the duties perform all the duties of the office of May town at the office of Mayor Town according to the best myability [Applause] abil got the timer every set your timer well good evening everyone and um thank you so much for taking the time to be to be part of this this very special evening here in Vorhees Township I want to congratulate U my colleague Harry Platt on being elected once again the v t committee uh Harry and I run together every 3 years this was our eighth election together and uh we're eight for eight so I uh I hope that means that we're doing something good um I want to thank the residents of Wares for once again giving us an opportunity to serve another three years on Township committee we look forward to that I want to thank my colleagues on Township committee for once again uh giving me the honor and the privilege to serve as the mayor of this wonderful town it's it's something that um I have never taken for granted I will never take for granted and uh I will work hard to make not only them proud but the community proud so thank you very much for that um I've often said that really local government we're on the front line and local government is really providing uh the best quality of life that we can for our community I'm proud to say that in 2023 SJ magazine voted warhe a top town to live in in South Jersey and I hope that means that we're doing something right here and quality of life certainly starts with the safety of our community and our First Responders under the leadership of Chief Lou bardy and public safety director Jackie FB I believe we have the best police department in all of South Jersey they do their job with compassion they do it with with passion uh and they allow our families to S sleep soundly at night we continued with many of many of the initiatives they put into place before including a cop in every school all day every day for the protection of our kids the staff and the teachers we continue with our V he saved lives program 2000 rides for people home from vor's bars and restaurants to safely make it home cutting down the DUIs in our Township they actually in instituted three new initiatives this past year the first bring a partnership with the Volunteers of America with a grant from the uh Attorney General's office to have a police officer and an impact specialist available at the scene of an emergency to give immediate Social Services to people in need at the scene it's a great new program and I'm proud that we're one of the first one of the first towns to do it they've established what's called a special needs registry where people can in confidence um register with the with the police department advise them of special needs in the home special medications behavioral issues so that when a first responder goes to that particular house they know what they're getting into and they can better Serve the People in an emergency situation and they've also in partnership with Virtua opened the substation at Virtua hospital to help keep not only the patients but the staff safe there I've often said I'm proud of not only our police on duty but off duty in the community events that they hold another successful National Night Out our eth annual junior Police Academy that gives kids in our community a chance to see what life's like being a cop and our citizens Police Academy where adults get the same opportunity I'm proud of our fire of our fire department another important aspect of our quality of life under the leadership of Jim poen and public safety director Jackie Fey they do their jobs efficiently and effectively uh they're also very much involved in our community uh with our Fire Prevention Day Santa on a fire truck the ever popular thing uh cookies with Santa our parade and our tree lighting which uh was very interesting this year I have to share this quick story uh one of my nightmares every year is that uh when we do the tree lighting thousand people there kids are all excited Santa comes music's going we do a countdown and I have a nightmare that they're going to push the button and the tree is not going to light okay yeah so this year um about 30 seconds before we're supposed to do it Mario Dina comes up to me and says yo cuz got a little problem what's the problem he says tree is not lighting you're kidding he says no something wrong with the circuit something he goes you got to buy us some time thankfully the Eastern choir was there and they were willing to do a couple more holiday songs so we killed another uh another five five or six minutes and we're done and he comes over me he goes still not working I said what do you want me to do like a standup routine you know he says I don't know but you got to come up with some more time choir did a few more songs he says to me he gives uh the fire department came up with a fix they they're plugging the tree into the generator on one of the trucks and they they're pretty confident it's going to work I said pretty confident it's going to work okay so uh sure enough uh we finish up we do the countdown I'm holding my breath we push the button tree lights up thank God so thanks to our our fire department for saving saving the day great Joe Lalo's here under the direction of him our DPW which which sometimes is our un the unsung heroes of our Township just just serve the township so well because when I talk about quality of life that's quality of life if your trash isn't picked up and your leaves aren't picked up uh and your snow is not play out not that ever snows anymore um it directly affects you and your daily life so thank thanks to our DPW for all that they do and of course our town hall employees on under the leadership of administrator Steve stegi do just do such a great job our quality of life includes our very popular community events uh thousands flock to Conelly Park this year to for our summer concert series to see tributes to Santana and Elvis and spring team we had our first Jazz night this year uh our art commission and our citizens Foundation also sponsored once again where he's got talent where had several people um compete for the title and the final where the night of the holiday tree lighting and the ,000 prize went to militia showers a talented singer songwriter from Vorhees Township we had another successful International Day our our diversity committee uh had a dayong celebration of diversity music food songs it was a great day um as I say every year our our quality of life also includes the maintenance of what I like to call our infrastructure uh our SES our roads our Parks our Fields things that we often take for granted this year we repaved 22 Local Township roads as part of our 5-year Road program we expect to do the same next year in 20 or this year in 2024 we upgraded three pump stations with a DCA Grant we put a new basketball court a new tennis court and two new pickle ball Courts at myota complex cuz we keep hearing about pickle ball I actually got pickle ball from my my daughter this year so hopefully I'm going to join into that craze uh we added lights to the doublea field at the Rabinowitz baseball complex and we added lights to the basketball courts at Kirkwood Park which is the home of our very very popular summer Vorhees basketball league uh more and more are people are attending that we also started construction on a new salt Dome storage at the top of Connelly Park Connelly Park is actually pretty much in the center of town so this will allow our DPW to more efficiently throw salt down if it's Ever Needed I've always said that uh it's important as part of the quality of life that our local government be accessible uh and that it be transparent all of our meetings are televised on television uh our website is constantly being upgraded we have over 6,400 people on our Facebook page almost 1,700 on Instagram 1,000 on Twitter over 5,700 on our Township app and 8500 on our next door app quality of life includes a strong business climate right before our very eyes we've all watched Saddle Hill Winery evolve on the Stafford Farm it continues to evolve Bill Green has invested a lot of money there and it's going to be a destination site and I'm happy to say that he tells us that it's going to open in April so we're all looking forward to that uh it's important that our shopping centers be full Eagle Plaza and Echo Plaza are both at 98 98% capacity five belows come Eagle Plaza and an indoor pickleball facility speaking of pickle ball um we have two open cannabis uh retailers in Vorhees Township The Sweet Spot on White Horse Road just celebrated their one-year anniversary and Eastern Green opened up on Route 73 we have two more that have been approved that we hope will open this year in 2024 uh and that's important because just in the fourth quarter of 2023 Vorhees Township received received over $50,000 in tax revenue from one cannabis facility so we're anxious to get the Cannabis stores open uh the original hot dog Factory in the Ritz Plaza hosted the South Jersey business Forum because uh small businesses are the backbone of our economy and our shop Vorhees program continues to thrive over 3,000 homes 21 businesses and almost a half a million dollars in sales I'm happy to say that this very town Center is now under agreement to be sold from namdar who as I've said for a few years now has been less than a Cooperative partner with the township there is a redevelop Redevelopment plan with a re with a developer in place for a mixed use of commercial and residential uh there's much work to be done I know as recently as yesterday meetings were held uh to move forward on this plan and we can only hope that that this plan works out we're very excited about it I'm proud to say that in 2023 57 new businesses opened in warhe Township which is a good thing uh quality of life includes celebration of the Arts because as we know the Arts are alive and well in Vorhees uh our art gallery celebrated its fifth its fifth anniversary this year our Arts commission has just taken off uh with the programs that they do they sponsor the where he's got talent Healing Art for a hero's heart classics by candle light they do our GR uation mural every year and they're hosting on February 9th a Love Is in the Air teen dance party food drink and a chance for our teens to make friends um quality of life means means embracing the diversity of our Township embracing the diversity we have 15 different houses of worship here in Vorhees Township I was privileged to be part of thew with the Hindu community and Tanga at the Indian cultural center and go to the Islamic school School graduation at our mosque and hope Church's tree lighting and a walk of remembrance with our Jewish Community remembering the victims of the Holocaust the Cambodian New Year at the temple on 561 and the Philippine Independence Day celebration at Cooper River um some some quick personal memories of this year I was invited to to be a guest reader uh at at the fourth grade at Crescent school and um uh uh my little guy will didn't know I was coming so I walk in in my full mayor suit and uh the look on his face was a mix of fear and excitement uh and it was a really cool opportunity for me to read a book about Jackie Robinson and to have a discussion with fourth graders uh about diversity and acceptance and the coolest part was looking around that room and seeing the diversity uh in that fourth grade of our school that was kind of cool uh we typically celebrate uh athletic achievements for our high schools and our and our middle school but this year this Township committee actually honored the Eastern High School Marching Vikings who went undefeated in their band competition this year won the State title and actually won the Atlanta Coast Conference Championship so congratulations again to the marching Vikings it's always an honor for me to be part of uh the Kirkwood Memorial morial day ceremony and parade in this year was the 77th parade and ceremony thank you uh to the Vander family for all that they do I was also pleased to be part of a program started by our breakfast rotary called for the kids many of you probably haven't heard of that program but for the kids raises money to uh provide healthy snacks to kids who are what they call Food challenged I don't like the term food challenged the kids are hungry and those kids are at o school so through friends of mine and the rotary like Penny pagee and John Connor they've they've sponsored this program to make sure that those kids have healthy snacks given to them by their teachers it's a wonderful program and finally thanks to our diversity committee uh and Jackie FB um and the the we we hosted on November 13th a forum that brought together Community leaders from throughout Vorhees to have a productive and empathetic dialogue about issues in the Middle East um and it was it was a very moving evening uh there's several people that I'd like to thank uh first of all I want to thank our Township employees and our Professionals for doing the great job that they do um yes CL yes I want to thank our many volunteers on our boards committees and commissions because they give us their most valuable asset which is their time I want to thank my brother Steve Fair he is for swearing me in once again uh I appreciate it and I know my mom and dad are looking down I want to thank um the families of these people up here because it's their families that make the sacrifice that allow us to do what we do for warhe Township and sometimes that goes unnoticed so they do SA sacrifice their time uh they sacrificed time away from their loved ones to allow us to do what we do so I want to thank their families for what they do I want to thank my lovely Lady Katie for uh being my Confidant partner wonderful mom the will um more and more my caretaker unfortunately um we were talking the other night about um New Year's Eve New Year's resolutions and she said to me my resolution is to only do fancy things this year well this should be quite an interesting 2024 yes Walker ha is on repeat thank you to uh my oldest daughter Kelly uh who couldn't be here because she's in Nazareth PA um she uh keeps getting promotions in her HR job keeps bu keeps building new houses amazing wife and mother to my precious granddaughter Lucy to my son Matt who him and his wife Teresa welcome their second son Otis to uh to the world this year so we have a bow and an Otis in that family it's wonderful he is a high school teacher in moristown high school a football coach and now a wrestling coach and that's where he is tonight coaching the uh uh he has a wrestling match my beautiful daughter Marie the the marketing genius I call her uh thriving in her new home uh Aunt to Lucy um and B and Otis and a cherished big sister to Will which is very important to me um here I go and finally to will uh yeah we'll learn to play the piano this year among his other talents yeah so we had some uh we had some wonderful holiday music uh wonderful holiday music he continues to thrive in school and in sports I'm privileged to coach him and travel baseball the cool thing is I'm coaching with guys who I coached when they played so it's kind of cool I bring a whole another perspective to travel baseball now uh but the best thing about it is when we hear from his teachers and our friends uh that he's such a gentleman and that that's the most important thing so um so in 20124 is a year a year of Hope a year of optimism not only for Vorhees but I hope the entire world so happy New Year and thank you for coming take time you every year I think I won the over under this year our next section is a motion to nominate nominate Deputy Mayor I will nominate Michelle noo and Jason rabbits is there a second second I have a motion on a second or there any other nominations hearing none may we have a roll call vote please Mrs bedy yes Mr plat yes Mr rabits yes MTO yes mayor Bon yes um we will now have the swearing in of Deputy Mayor Michelle maso by Jacqueline fetboy Esquire Esquire you get the right one is hi Michelle do solemnly swear hi Michelle do soln swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States but I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and then I will bear true faith and I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and allegiance to the same and to the governments established in the United States into the governments established in the United States and in this state and in this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people have you further solemnly swear I do further solemnly swear that I will impartially and justly perform that I will impartially and justly perform all of the duties of the position of vhe Township Deputy Mayor all of the duties of the position May according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability so help me back so help [Applause] me we will now have the swearing in of Jason rabbits as Deputy Mayor by Donna seagull plat Esquire I st your name I Jason Roberts do solemnly swear do solemnly swear did I support the Constitution of the United States did I support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and I bear true faith and Allegiance I shall bear true Fai shall bear true faith and allegiance to S to S and to the governments of the United States of America and to the governments of the United States of America and to the governments of this state and to the governments of this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people and I do further solemnly swear and I do further solemnly swear that I shall Faithfully that I shall faithfully impartially impartially and justly and justly perform all the duties perform all the duties of deputy mayor of deputy mayor of Township of Wares of Township of waries to the best of your ability to the best of my abil so help me God so help me [Applause] God our next section is our public portion for Resolutions only if anyone from the public has any comments on any of our resolutions please come forward seeing no one moose public portion second all those in favor I oppos public portion for Resolutions is closed our resolutions this evening are resolution number 1-24 appointments by the mayor number 2-24 approving the 2024 temporary budget number 3-24 the appointment of Township solicitor Wade long wood and long LLC Christopher long number 4-24 the appointment of Township auditor Bowman and Company cpapc Daniel dangi resolution number 5-24 the appointment of Township engineer Consulting and minicipal engineers and Associates CME Douglas R number 6-24 the appointment of broker for Property and Casualty Insurance Conor strong Michael Abalone number 7-24 the appointment of broker for health insurance hrns Financial Services LLC Kurt strl resolution number 8-24 the appointment of specialized legal service issuance of bonds Parker McKay PA resolution 9-24 the appointment of prosecutor Donna seal plat Esquire number 10-24 the appointment of the township prosecutor as prosecutor of violations of the Township's zoning land use and building codes ordinances and regulations over which she has jurisdiction Donald Seagle plat Esquire resolution number 11-24 the appointment of public defender myy Cutler Esquire 12-24 the appointment of Township sewer engineer Churchill Engineers Inc Lewis I Garcia PE number 13-24 the appointment of special Co attorney the plat Law Group St plat number 14 -24 the appointment of architect of record Lan Associates number 15-24 the appointment of conflict attorney the plat Law Group stward plat resolution number 16-24 the appointment of Special Projects Engineers Churchill Consulting Engineers environmental Resolutions Inc and CME Associates number 17-24 the appointment of class one two and three members of the vhe township planning board class one Township mayor class two Mario dinel class three Jason rabits resolution number 18-24 the appointment of the mayor's design for boy East Township planning board Andrew Shen Hammer resolution number 19-24 the appointment of members of the warhe township planning board Anthony Nini Mark Kleinman Ron schwanky Moren Augustine Jacob Platt alternate number one and Ronda Branch alternate number two resolution number 20-24 the appointment of members to The V Township zoning board Neil Cooper Smith and nahal javar resolution number 21-24 the appointment of class 3 member members and staff to the vo's township environmental commission class three Jason rabbits Valerie Brown Edward hail CH chairperson Balu pondal zoning leaon Deborah Schwarz alternate number one and Jennifer Gaffney secretary resolution number 22-24 the appointment of members to the VES Township Business Development Committee Joseph perno Stella sitnik Michael chus and ni Sharma secretary resolution number 23-24 the appointment of members to the v's Township business improvement district Advisory Board David Witham Frank reri Maryann Morell Melinda Barlo Eric J Grimley and Stella sitnik secretary number 24-24 the appointment of liaison and members to the vhe township cultural and diversity committee Jacqueline fety Township committee liaison Rashi shyen Barbara Barkley and Anthony moressa resolution number 25-24 the appointment of members and liazon to the vo's township Arts Council Jackie FB Township committee liaison Kamal kadawala Natalie ilano and Jennifer Gaffney secretary and resolution number 26-24 the appointment of members liaison and Township representative to the VES Township Recreation Advisory Board Michelle Nito Township committee liaison Joseph lavalo non- voting Township representative and Kyle Keller do I have any motion for approval of those resolutions Mo second I have a motion and a second is there any discussion hearing none of those in favor please signif fire by saying I I opposed so carried next is our consent agenda which includes resolutions number 28-24 through number 41-24 which our Township committee members have had an opportunity to review do I have a motion to approve our consent agenda so second I have a motion and a second any discussion hearing none of those in favor please signify by saying I I opposed so carried our next resolutions are resolution number 42-24 adoption of the 2024 State contracts number 43-24 authorizing an agreement for Extraordinary unspecified services for dental insurance Guardian Insurance resolution number 44-24 authorizing an agreement for Extraordinary unspecified services for life insurance the presedential insurance company of America number 45-24 approval of the appointment of a crisis intervention team number 46-24 recognizing the asserts racist team as author as an authorized service SLV volunteer organization of the township of Wares number 47- 24 appointment of the Wares Township Safety Committee Stephanie Capone Maria wbank April Harrington Kathleen green Patty Moretti Steven stegi Joseph Lal chairman verl tyther secretary Jeffrey peer and James Poland resolution number 48-24 authorizing the tax collector to cancel small business balances number 49-24 setting the cost of mailing tax sale notices number 50-24 appointing appointment of Municipal Court Judge Carol fabietti Esquire resolution number 51-24 appointing Wendy flight to the position of assistant/ Deputy municipal clerk in the township clerk's office and resolution number 52-24 authorizing the publication of a notice of intent to award a contract under a New Jersey Cooperative pricing agreement for three for3 2024 Chevrolet tahos do I have a motion for approval of those motion second motion a second any discussion hearing none of those in favor please signify by saying I I opposed so carried we have another uh resolution number 53-24 authorizing an agreement for Extraordinary unspecified services for temporary disability insurance to the Hartford do I have a motion on that resolution second second motion and a second any discussion hearing none of those in favor please signify by saying I I opposed so carried uh next is comments from our committee any additional comments from our committee even just want to say congratulations Mike and Harry um it's been an honor and a privilege to work with both of you um and an honor and privilege to be your friends um Mike congratulations again um this town is lucky to have you serve as its mayor I always tease Mike and I ask him how many doppelgangers he has uh because I'm not sure where he gets the ability to be everywhere that he always is and I know that those in our community appreciate it I also want to congratulate my friends Michelle and Jason um who I did not know coming into this four years ago and am so very very grateful that I have had the opportunity to get to know them and to Now call them friends um the town is lucky to have you both as Deputy Mayors you are a great team as much as we like to tease you you are a great team and serve that well together so congratulations everyone thank you um I have I have a speech almost as long as yours um I wanted again Echo uh Jackie statements that uh I congratulate Mike and Harry um Harry I also agree your wife is pretty fabulous so I'm happy that you took the time to thank her too um I want to thank the mayor for his comments about um our families it is that was really something that I thought was special in your speech and I appreciate that you recognized that because you know for many of us it is you know taking time away from our families to be here and so uh I do appreciate that you recognize them you could tell my kids that that would be great um I also want to thank our professionals who support our Township initiatives and help us in our efforts to keep orhe is the best um place to raise a family or to live if even if you're living here or residing here you're not raising a family many of them are in the room tonight so um I see you know Jeremy I see um I saw Bowman here um I know that our Engineers Church show CME really appreciate all the work that you all do to keep us moving forward um kurk and and um Conor strong everyone just really um without you we wouldn't be able to do what we do so thank you um our employees Jo laalo um prosecutor Donna Platt Chief bardy um deputy chief Harrington um M Borton I see you silent there in the back um um Chief Poland Mario uh thank you so much for all you doing and putting up with us um Kathy our I know sorry Jason you want to finish good team we are a good team we share one brain see our new CFO Alex who's probably questioning everything in his life right now um our our Township administrator Stephen um you know new leadership is never easy but I think you're handling it uh amazingly you're helping us evolve and I appreciate that and of course our amazing clerk d none of these meetings happen without her and um we drive her crazy with our responsiveness our changes and some of us with our non-responsiveness talking for a friend um thank you to our Police Department who always does an amazing job um you know like everyone said our Police Department Jack Fe I'm I'm extremely proud of just the continued Evolution as they navigate all the challenges that we face today that are probably much different than you know when Chief B initially started his career um thank you to my colleagues um to the residents and also to the many Volunteers in our community um from our committees our Sports organizations our schools and other organized opportunities and groups in the town I can tell you that raising children here none of this would be possible without all of you so thank you and happy New Year here I I'll let know what Michelle said I think she covered pretty much all of it and um um welcome to Stephen and Alex and uh um I think we got pretty lucky um adding these two guys to the team here to make things go um because things aren't easy as everybody knows in pretty much any line of work to get uh people to work which is strange to say but uh I guess we're dealing with a new generation that a lot of us have kids and can relate to but um um congratulations to Mike and Harry thank and uh oh congrats to Chris law yeah thanks you got everyone but me that I I was praying that didn't happen so I could make fun of leave something Chris finally gets Chris gets this is Chris's gig now officially success session plan as long as we uh begged his father to to to to do his thing and let Chris deal with us so um congrats to Chris because you know what I know from my being in a family business when Dad doesn't show up for things like this it's a compliment to you and uh congratulations thank you I just want one more thing uh for many years we were privileged to have a wonderful Municipal Court Judge Michael diamond uh who unfortunately passed but I'm very excited about our new Municipal Court Judge who happens to be here this evening judge Kyle fabietti I know I've known uh judge fabietti for more than I want to admit and um she will do a wonderful job so welcome your honor thank you um our final portion is our public portion if anyone from the public has any comments please come forward seeing no one move to close public portion second those in favor I oppose public portion is closed and we are adjourned Happy New Year