##VIDEO ID:-QTQGUBSRrY## his first we want to start with corpal Steve Levy Monday was his 25th anniversary please go signs for corpal Steve Levy thank you also sadly we lost Tom spio Tom was a member of the planning board I didn't know Tom until I got on the board but I but from I'm hearing from all the people who knew Tom he was an amazing guy he will sadly be missed the planning board will not be the same without him he was just a phenomenal guy he was battling cancer and he was getting better I mean never came into a meeting never complained really a great guy so we could take a moment of silence please for Tom and the third uh unfortunately we lost Senator Madden lost his daughter everyone knows Senator Madden his daughter Moren Pepe passed away Senator Madden has devoted his life to to giving back and to Service uh we our hearts are broken here from our community so please let's let bow our heads for her as well thank you like I said I want call this morning the order this is a regular meeting of the township of Washington in accordance with requirements of New Jersey state statutes regarding open public meetings notice this meeting was legally advertised in the carrier Post in the South Jersey Times and posted on the bulton board in the municipal building fire exits are located through the double doors to your left and right please silence all mobile devices this meeting is being videotaped anyone who does not wish to be seen on television may be excused the meeting will be shown on on Comcast channel 99 every week Sunday from 9:00 p.m. Wednesday at 7: p.m. Friday at 10: p.m. and Saturday at 10 p.m. will continue until the next meeting this meeting is being live streamed on YouTube and can be found at WT Productions under the live stream agenda which is on the Township's official website you can see the link the link as well please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance Pledge of Allegiance the flag the United States of America to the stands Nation indivisible liberty and justice for all roll call please Mr Bennett here Mr Brown here Mr delpia here Mr jurus President Mr deell here mayor Burns here Mr Russo Mr Wright here okay now we're GNA move on to our our presentation portion so if the ti family could please come we also have assemblyman Cody Miller in the audience with us so everyone can please come up and we're going to start our present [Music] Pati you want to hold that good good evening everyone it is with great pride That We Gather here today to recognize an individual whose efforts have been a profound impact on the young minds in our community I'm honored to present this Proclamation recognizing Amy Tish for be being a beacan of inspiration for our youth Amy has established a student run store at CW Lewis creating an interactive and dynamic platform where children can develop essential life skills by providing Hands-On opportunity opportunities in financial literacy entrepreneur ship and responsibility Amy has not only enriched the school experience but has also empowered her students with skills that will guide them throughout their their lives this in initiative goes beyond simple academic learning it teaches the students how to manage inventory budget wisely serve customers and most importantly work together as a team these skills are crucial for their success both in school and Beyond Amy's Vision has created an environment where students can explore their creativity take ownership of their work and build their confidence they need to become Future Leaders and innovators Amy you have ignited a spark in your children that will continue to burn bright as they grow into adults you have demonstrated the incredible power of practical education and your leadership has set a standard for how we can all contribute to the betterment of our community Through Your Passion you've shown us that one person truly can make a difference in the lives of many on behalf of myself The Washing Township Council and the entire Community we offer our deepest gratitude and appreciation to to you you are not only a mentor to these young lead learners but also a true inspiration to all of us thank you for all that you do you have made us proud and we are excited to see the impact of your work continue for years to come I'd like to now turn the microphone over to someone who shares our passion for empowering Youth and supporting Educators like Amy please join me in welcome welcoming assembly Co assemblyman Cody Miller who would like to say a few words so so Amy I just want to say that um on behalf of myself and Senator Mori already and assemblyman Hutchinson we really appreciate the work that you do I know we had a brief conversation over there and I had actually seen um when Peter posted when the council president posted about your initiative Lewis's loot I saw it on social media and I said this is absolutely amazing that you do this as someone who works in education we see that sometimes students don't necessarily have the financial background to make the decisions that are in their best interest whether it be saving for college um purchasing their first vehicle being able to balance or manage a budget the work that you do in the school system is so important because you're giving students that Foundation to succeed so as they progress in life they make better financial decisions and they know that if they can balance more efficiently that they'll make better decisions going forward so on behalf of myself in our office and everyone here we just really want to say that we appreciate the work that you do education is challenging right now as I'm sure you are aware as an educator yourself and anything that the community can do to support you we will be there for you because you are educating the next generation of leaders so congratulations Amy we also have a proclamation um Congressman Donald Norcross couldn't be here tonight but his office prepared a proclamation to be presented to you as well and I'd like to now you're welcome I would like to now turn the microphone over to our council president Peter delello who has a little surprise for you first of all thank you everyone for being here tonight and Amy it when I met you inside a cafe Marino and you told me the story I had to see it for myself and and you have to if you get a chance I did post some pictures but but like the S said until you see it it was awesome I mean these kids faces what she's doing is really changing lives I was telling the story to Rich at Cafe Marino he's actually naming a sandwich after you the month they're over here now so you can get an Amy Tish from Cafe Marino right so this month only it's a very limited edition so make sure you please get one he sent some trades over here so make sure please that everyone has one it's amazing when you call Rich and tell him he'll he'll know what it is and he'll make that sandwich for you so thank you so much for all that you do appreciate you do front there for s oh we're holding that yeah we should have we should have a help please please anyone else wants anything please come come eat plenty that's a limited time though make sure everybody knows that so make sure they get over there because it's yeah it might be a permanent you know all right moving on now we're going to call Chief gersa please ladies please good evening everyone thank you tonight we have the honor of recognizing two outstanding members of the Washington Township community Mike yavon and his family and Ryan Van Le's the unwavering support of our police department and their dedication to our mission of community caretaking have made a lasting impact whether through par donations are volunteering their time and efforts they have Contin continuously stood stood by and helped Washington Township families in need and help to strengthen our Outreach efforts I've been the police chief for eight years and every year we do hand out Community caretaking Awards so so far over eight years our committee at work has handed out seven Awards so far so you guys will be the 8th and 9th on behalf of the entire department and the community we present these Community caretaker Awards as a token of our gratitude for all you have done your generosity and commitment to others truly make a difference thank you [Applause] you e sh e thank you menu next take take take take one of the trads with you please take the trays they're your trays we'll give some of them away but please take take the TR yeah please take the brand new one on yeah take that one make sure they know the name of them that's the most important thing thank you for all you do thank you and thank you for your service appreciate you all right moving on to the bill list can I get a motion to approve the bill list for October 23rd 2024 so moved roll call please Mr Yus yes Mr Bennett yes Mr Brown yes Mr Delia yes Mr deell yes moving on to minutes can I get a motion to approve the regular minutes for October 9th 2024 vote second roll call please Mr yes Mr Bennett yes Mr Brown yes Mr Delia yes Mr tabella yes moving on the ordinances this is ordinance 016-302 4 Bond ordinance providing for the acquisition of trash receptacles by the township of Washington in the county of Gloucester state of New Jersey appropriating 3 million there off authorizing the issuance of 2,857 1042 bonds or notes for the township to finance part of the cost thereof ordinance 01624 is up for adoption after public hearing can I get a motion to open to the public second all in favor I anyone in the audience wishing to speak about ordinance 16 seeing none can can I ple can I please uh get a motion to close the public second all in favor I all right can I get a motion to adopt ordinance 16-20 24 second roll call please MRIs yes Mr Bennet yes Brown yes yes yes moving on 0017 -24 ordinance amending the code of the the township of Washington Chapter 2 article article 9 Department of the law enforcement in chapter 80 article one fees ordinance 01724 is up for introduction only public hearing and adoption will be held on November 20th can I get a motion to introduce ordinance 00 17-24 motion second roll call please Mr yes Mr Benn yes Brown yes yes yes moving on to resolutions the following resolutions are by consent agenda only and only require vote for all listed each one is read by title if any member of the council wishes to have one removed or heard separately they need to indicate prior to the reading of the titles does anyone anything removed anyone have any questions seeing none Madam clerk can you please read the resolutions below resol resolu to approve appc for employment for the township washington5 resolution authorizing refund tax P6 resolution taxes for James resolutions services4 res9 ad2 re33 january12 okay are 274 the the widows in the audience and her husband proudly served our country so want to thank your husband for his service we truly appreciate that motion to approve resolutions r264 d24 to r274 d224 motion roll call please mrz yes Mr Bennett yes Mr Brown yes Mr Delia yes Mr yes now moving on Old business new business and reports we'll start with councilman Rich Bennett atast tiets a not councilman Don Brown I uh along with mayor and other members of council attended several openings and a fire department uh fire prevention over the weekend want to thank the fire department we're continuing the tradition of promoting fire prevention every October um it was a well attended event from what I understand uh some nice displays we spoke to several of the career and volunteer staff were there and thank them for their service and for coming out on that day to send a message about fire safety remember it's always change your clock change your battery make sure um you check all the smoke detector batteries in your house and change them twice a year normally when we change our clocks over in November in March um from the library they asked me to uh mention that the entire month of November um food for fines if you uh bring foods for mother's cupboard um fines will be forgiven in exchange for a Food donation one non-p perishable Food donation equals a dollar off your fines um so keep that in mind and help out a good cause by supporting and replenishing mother's cover all right Council vice president um I attended many events as well along with the council and mayor U we had a shred event this weekend which was a great success as always um it was great to see a lot of people come out there uh no x-rays so BR Bennett was happy um the open space and green team gave away uh trees at the park on Saturday morning uh that was a great event as well uh we attended two businesses open on Saturday uh beautifully You Salon which is in the park park in uh shopping center at sanoi in hot works which is in the Walmart shopping center uh I believe Council uh council president said it's the first time the Walmart shopping center has been filled since it's been built so um it's great to hear and it's a great business to be there um I do want to remind everybody Halloween's coming up so please like councilman Bennett said Slow Down watch the kids crossing the street it's going to be getting dark um just be careful if you get home a couple minutes earlier it's better than God forbid having an accident so please be uh very conscious of your kids and I just want to give out um my condolences to Ley sprio and Madden family so um they'll be in our prayers and our wishes are with our family so I thank you mayor no thank you wanted to remind everyone that Veterans Day is November 11th and the services will start at 11:00 a.m. it the memorial behind the police station on the lake it's a beautiful event and Veterans Day is when we celebrate and thank all veterans as present for their services and sacrifices that they make for this country um and it's always well attended we do uh encourage everyone please if you can give an Hour come out you'll see a lot of veterans there who are very proud of the services that they provided and shake their hand and say thank you uh at least these guys are here uh as opposed to the ones at Memorial Day when they are deceased so Memorial Day November 11th 11:00 a.m. I advise you to get their early parking is a premium especially for handicapped people if you're handicap I do advise you to Park right next to the police station it's easier it's less walk than if you park behind the CAC building or on the high school parking lot with that in mind we've had several inquiries as to what's going on next to the police station and there's a pole barn being erected uh next to the police station we just awarded a contract for that if the chief wants to address it but uh currently there's a lot of police equipment being stored at a facility on fish pond road that leaks um I think the next Windstorm it could blow down we have a lot of valuable equipment in there that the police use regularly think that we had the investment there we ought to invest a little bit more money to ensure that that investment doesn't get ruined or prematurely um sense of the junkyard so that's what's being erected there and uh next thing I was proud to attend a ceremony we had last week with the mayor and other council members um we received a check from the federal government for $696,000 to to redo the dams at Spring Lake and Ward Lake this is a long time coming I was told that many years ago about 1990 work was done to the dams the sewer line was installed and it's thought that possibly um some work wasn't done should have been done or maybe through storms work got ruined but one Lake W Lake seems to go down down um especially during a drought so we're very hopeful that this money once the project get started and finished that it solves the problem once and for all uh so very happy with that and with that turn it back over to you council president Peter thank you so much a couple announcements I have first Chief the memorial for Corporal ly that you do every year is is truly beautiful it really you had a lot of people there and I think you said you're the last officer to actually actually serve a corporate levy on the force so again our hearts do go out to to their family appreciate you for that couple other things I want to touch upon Red Bank this past Sunday had a great event so the county has really great Events first time I took the kids we had a great time so I try to post this stuff up there but the county does have great events so if you can get to some of these they really really are great a lot of people asking what is coming in 2025 we can't tell you uh but we do like all the guesses I know we got a lot of things that what is what it is but uh it has been a lot of fun and uh so we do we do like that we do have a big pumpkin contest out there please do not let anyone here influence your decision we don't like any election interference here in our town so please make sure you get those votes in for that Mother's matter has an event going on right now at Dollar Tree so if you can donate as little as do25 goes along way mothers matter does a lot of great things here in town so those little things that you donate do go go a long way and thing I want to touch about let's just you know a couple people ask me a couple times why like I go to events that are outside of our town I just want to give you kind of just a quick story so when when Council vice president and I were visiting the new floor and deccor we were talking to the gentleman who flew in and he's was telling us about they're building another one in pipany he said he was having some issues he couldn't get some things done he didn't know to speak to so by going to different events I actually had an event I one time met the one of the councilmen there in precip so I go to a lot of different events and a lot of times when I go to these events I meet so many great people and it's just I don't want to date myself but helps build that roll of deck so when people have questions let's be honest I don't have all the answers and and I like to point them to people like assembly you know assemblyman's office or or if a congressman's office or wherever they need to go so when you reach out to us those connections really help so I go to all those different events in different towns just so I can make those connections and I went to one uh for Dancing With the Stars and this girl Trinity that we met there C vice president I met had an event on two nights ago and she started what she did was she started this Foundation it's called we can't to to we can event and what she realized is she had a friend that there was no she reaches out to Disney and her friend is is disabled this child has disabilities and there was no characters that matched her right there was nothing out there so here's this girl at 14 years old that says you know what I'm going to create my own so she goes out she creates these characters and it's turned into this whole foundation and it's just amazing so when you go to these events you meet great people people that you really just wouldn't meet on an everyday course of life and and they're just lifechanging same thing with people like Amy Tish we were just just getting sandwiches we just started talking I'm one of those people that do like to talk but we just started talking and then here here you go you you meet somebody and these people are just like life-changing people so get out to some of these events meet great people get involved because we we really have so many great things happening within within our within our County that's all I have couple of announc we have um the trick or- treat hours are 400 P.M to 8:00 p.m. October 31st please drive with caution Daylight Savings Time ends on November 3rd please be sure to change your clocks in the batteries and your smoke detectors the general election will be next Tuesday uh I'm sorry it's next Tuesday November 5th hlls are open from 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. mail and ballots can be placed in the secure Dropbox outside the building located the entrance of Miss building until 8:00 P.M on Election Day early voting runs October 26th through November 3rd Monday and Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 P.M Sunday from 10:00 a.m. to 6 p.m. no appointment is necessary you can visit any of the following locations they're listed here we actually have a form right here on the table up here if anyone wants to take any of those now we're going to open up to the public please follow the public to Corum posted which has been attached to the public agenda and limit your comments to 5 minutes once you've completed your comments or questions please take a seat I'll ask if any member of the governing body or their designate wishes to address your comments and ask by by the person who just spoke can I get a motion to open to the public motion all in favor I is there anyone in public wish need speak please step forward oh yes just yep oh that's like a sin in here how'd that get in here I yeah I don't how' that get in here sorry hi Rich nardello um popup custom cars thank you very much Town Council mayor's office clerk's office for uh approving the November 9th event at Washington Lake Park lotj for the second annual um crush the cowboy car event to benefit um Cole Fitzgerald's Washington Township High School scholarship fund Cole Fitzgerald was a young man who uh passed away from cancer um just a couple of rumors that I have I've gotten messages from I am not smashing a car um this is the car and what happens is is that Washington Township Fire Department chief doas is bringing a ladder truck just like last year 110 foot ladder truck um and Lieutenant Adam seek drops pumpkins on this thing and smashes it to no end um we also have an egg throwing that the children are going to start off with we have the National Anthem being um uh sung by Washington Township High School award-winning singer vocalist Caleb Richardson we go off to the egg throwing we have uh this is a family event just so Eagles fans know just like last year is a family fun event um we have characters there we have Elsa coming from Frozen we have Spider-Man we've got my mask God Kenny kindness there we've got custom Volkswagen showing up Town businesses are showing up handy Tech uh Green With Envy card myard is putting the sign up just like last year on Washington Lake Park too so again um and one thing we're going to do is a f Charlotte finale just like the fireworks at the end and Adam seek is working up his muscles for this we're going to drop a few pumpkins we're going to ask uh the community to bring pumpkins there as well as the uh Township youth cheerleading associ a we bring a whole bunch of pumpkins I mean a lot we had a lot last year too and bombard this thing so it's going to be a fun time we have music there as well too so it should be a real fun time and uh welcome everybody in the community but thank you very much just want to clear stuff up I'm not smashing a car I'm not okay so just so you're not smashing a car right just want make sure we're not smashing a car and any of the pumpkins will be uh cleaned up by the uh volunteers that I have showing up and we may work with Parks and Rec Lisa to either put them in the composting community garden or also out in the park Woods for wildlife not sure just yet on that yeah rich thank you for everything you do appreciate you thank you very much if I get pulled over tonight with this thing in my car findes are double are double how you doing Ron luar 83 Bryant Road Turnersville um I know I only have five minutes here I'm going to start off by asking a rhetorical question in sense because I have to answer it there's no back and forth but um we pay taxes in Washington Township I've never been W to complain about tax increases or anything like that um however part of that major tax increase is um School related all right and they're a big portion of our taxes and uh the schools are very important to our community in terms of your the worth of your house I don't know too many people younger people that want to move into a community where the schools are rated in the bottom third the Washington Township Schools are rated in the bottom third of the state um rankings by more than just one one ranking system if you go to any ranking system you'll find that we're in the bottom third the last one I uh was sent by some guys that are a lot smarter than me they they analyze these things we were number 355 now I would venture to say and this is the question I have for you you can maybe answer it later that if you took our per capita income and put it up against the 410 schools or whatever we have in the state of New Jersey our per capita income would not be number 355 I don't know we we wouldn't be haddenfield okay but we wouldn't be 355 now let me just tell the audience out there because a lot of younger people I haven't been to a council meeting in 20 20 years there's people watching on TV uh I've been involved in the school system as a teacher for 40 years in fact before I was even going to come to this meeting tonight I was supposed to go to a a dinner in lanaster Pennsylvania for a guy by name of Pete horn who coached basketball here back in 1972 he was honored as a great coach he ironically left the school system he let me know he was leaving it my junior year he was there one more year he said I got to get out of here because of the politics I'm only staying because of you guys are senior coming up and he went on to lanster and became a pretty famous uh basketball coach if you go up in Pennsylvania you mention his name people know him all right and he left because of politics and I'm going to make a statement I think Washington Township Schools has always had a degree of politics internal by that I mean you know some administrators uh cousin gets a job that he doesn't or he shouldn't have whatever external people like yourselves getting involved in School Board elections all right directly involved in Schoolboard elections by pouring thousands of dollars into School Board elections which were never met meant for uh politicalization of the schools and both parties have been guilty over the years but over the last seven years I can guarantee you and I know all I was very involved with the schools not just as a teacher I was involved in community activities Mr gersc uh in fact you're bringing up Mr Levy uh Corporal Levy and we did a major fundraiser for him to raise money for a memorial for to finish the memorial that was not completed it at the time so I was involved in more than just going into my classroom and teaching the class which is fine but it got me an insight into you know some of the stuff that goes on the shenanigans all right in the last seven years the shenanigans are absolutely positively linked to the Democrat Party in this Township and I am a Democrat I'm a lifelong Democrat all right but uh you know that's where it is in fact I wouldn't even call them Democrats I would call them opportun crats all right the current co-chairperson of the Democrat Party U Mr milm I think he's still a co-chair he refuses to step down from what he understand is under indictment at the state level which you already I'm sure you already know all right he was also a main figure in a uh situation that's come about through thank God through this superintendent who happens to be honest so they can't stand them uh he uh investigated a situation and he found where make the long story short bid rigging may have occurred okay okay uh people number of people have already called up to the state for an investigation into this all right and uh these people have run for school board they don't post where they get their money for these Robo calls glossies that go throughout all the the TS I thought all candidates for anything anything over $300 had a post where they get their money you can look at one elect and you won't find it all right they've come under these names like children's first and the last time it was schools first uh and they run a slate right it's it's incredible the abuse and my opinion is when these politics infest the school system and I've supported people in the past who ran and then you know I Mis misjudged them they got involved in politics and it affected the schools they they weren't reacting to what makes these schools better they were reacting to who's getting the contract for the insurance who's getting the legal uh contract you know for the solicitor that's all they cared about and every everything else was secondary and that's what we have right now in the school system we're ranked number 355 and our per capita income is nowhere near that and it's a disgrace and the reason why we're rank number 355 is the schools are turning to shambles and what happens is these politics Trickle on down okay you're a principal of a school you got the job because you're you were friends with some political figure uh in the state politics I'm not going to mention any names you come into the school you have very little experience and you're a mess now the superintendent knows you're a mess this has actually happened and I was actually privy to this he knows you're a mess but he can't get rid of you because you know he you're somebody's friend and then you destroy an entire School the school that you are the principal of all that's just one thing you have C people in classes who teach the are teaching classes who don't belong there better people got uh were were qualified back in the day Ralph Ross who now is dreadfully the the the current president back when he was president before they actually had uh applications that would come on the desk of the vice principls Tom Fleming a former superintendent was a vice principal at the time and a good friend of mine at that time for sold out and he uh had these applications and he had a little sticky note on it it said hire but don't fire and he was throwing it down he was he was upset because he was being told who to hire hire but can fire these were little things today it's not uh like that but it is pretty much uh going on it's going on all right there there are I hear stories every day about the incompetence uh the of the school system and then of course you get a breakdown of discipline because people don't want to be uh you know they don't want to be SE as you know U sign uh step I'm losing my tra they don't want to be uh singled out as being bad teachers you know because they send kids down the office or whatever it cirles on right on down through the administration Vice principls whatever uh there's a reason we we're number 355 it's not the air it's not the pandemic the other schools had pandemics all right so it's uh you know obviously when you have um possible criminal activity in terms of bid ring going on in the school system that was outrageous you have uh a woman running for um School Board Julie kmle who is already under ethics charges there's a case still pending with her when she was on there before you get Ralph Ross who has a reputation for politics first right I mean we're in a sad situation so what I want to ask you is can This Town Council or the mayor I don't expect the mayor to do it so she's a Democrat and uh she's in uh as thick as thieves with these people but uh I would assume that there must be some Avenue to have an invest instigation into this school system number one the funding of these people in the past and maybe the present they haven't come out yet with their uh you know the signs all over the place number two the bid rigging incident number three uh these ethics charges which uh you know maybe we could bar these people from running for the board uh to at least get the public aware of what is going on in these schools and you know maybe you can't maybe you have no authority to do it I don't expect uh a Township prosecutor to do it because they're probably you know appointed by uh I don't if they're appointed by the mayor or by you guys but you know I don't expect it to be that close to home but maybe send a letter to the state asking for intervention here I mean you got a guy under indictment at the state level and now we get he's involved in something that happened a couple years back in relation to an insurance contract that probably shouldn't have been given to him and uh an insurance contract from what I understand for people know finan is better than me that is across the district an extra $400,000 School District all right uh that's money trust me I ran community service programs in this town with like $5,000 budgets and we made 50,000 with a hogi sale and 10,000 with a you know $400,000 you give me $400,000 I I could turn at least three of these schools around easy our best here's another here's an interesting statistic they I came out with another thing with the state uh test scores and all and they did it by percentile our best middle school in this Township right now it was Orchard Valley in terms of community service in terms of uh building good citizens it was tied probably with uh Bunker Hill but now Valley since they hired a Politico there a few years back she's gone now uh it went to went down to the tubes but uh bunker Hill's easily our best middle school at this point all right from all accounts and even with that we were rated in Bunker Hill was rated in the 32 I think 40 percentile meaning 60% of the schools in New Jersey were doing better than our best Middle School what your value was L on like 18 or 20 ches Ridge was like 28 that used to be our Academy back then right uh and our high school was was in the 30s as well and then they also did elementary schools which were we had one Elementary School that broke the 50% barrier I think I can't remember which one it was so is there any way that we could put a stop to this or at least the uh from your standpoint to make a resolution to stay out of the school board uh you know whoever gets the contract for the attorney the solicitor the the planner whatever they have there you know it's worth millions of dollars okay and uh they're going to get the the contract let's have them get the contract based on uh their ability to work within the schools just like we should have our teachers getting contracts and getting hired the same way and our principles and I just want to come in and say a word too about Dr Hibbs because there's been a lot of controvers about hibs I don't I don't know the guy you know I every says you're a hibs fan I'm not a hibs fan he hasn't had a chance to do anything yet we we can't judge this guy it's like taking a quarterback do you ever see these college teams Mr Dell where the quarterback comes in on first down and they run him around and he loses two or three yards and then they bring in the second quarterback because he's the throwing quarterback now he's got second and 15 and he you know he throws an interception or he gets sacked he stinks no wonder he stinks he's always put in a situation he can't can't win that's hibs okay I want to find out whether I hate hibs or not okay but I can't find out whether I hate him or not or whether I don't like him if he doesn't get a chance to do the job all right just recently the teachers union a bunch of leader so-called leaders of the teachers union uh accused them of basically hiding $700,000 they never came up and they brought in njaa and wtaa and this guy Spiller and you know who's also a politician running for governor I believe and they couldn't find the $700,000 and they never offered an apology and they still continue to say it no offense to all the Republicans up here but they're like Donald Trump they just say it and keep saying it all right so uh you know I'm not a hibs fan necessarily but I'm not going to chastise the guy I'm not going to say let's get rid of him if he hasn't had a chance we're paying this guy $215,000 we're not paying him $215,000 or whatever it is to be Ralph Ross's bagman so we can bring in uh the solic and the you know whatever the the insurance broker and all the other Contra who's the other one oh the uh Remington and verick right all right that's all I had to say so Mr lugarini I'll I'll try to respond to some of that and I know that councilman Brown wants to say some things first of all before we're councilmen we're we're we're parents right before and we're taxpayers so honestly anything going on in our schools is most important because I've said it way before you were here and and welcome back back after 20 years I think that it was all kind of pinned up after that 20 years we haven't seen you but thanks for for bringing all that but you know the first thing I always say on here is that the school board is the most important board in this town it's more important mayor council is the most important right it's the future of our town and and and our County and our state and our nation so it's it's most important I don't like what I'm saying I don't like what I'm hearing I've been to the meetings you know I've talked to Dr Hibbs I don't know Dr Hibbs it as much as anybody else knows when I'm in his presence I get the feeling that he's genuine that he truly cares about the kids truly wants to do what's right for the for the school district that's the feeling I get from him and I truly believe that I take people by their word it's what he said and that's what his action seemed to be showing me I don't like what I'm hearing I did send a letter out and I and I did say that that on behalf of residents let's be honest when something happens in our town the first person that gets blamed or the people that get blamed are the people up here we're the ones that get blamed for that whether it's it's right or wrong doesn't make a difference but we're the first ones when your taxes go up and and they go up a lot with the schools we're the first ones to get blamed so the letter was basically saying that I didn't like what I heard I didn't like what what what I was seeing I'm not making any accusations I do know the attorney general has been involved in this we're going to see where that where that goes so I'm not I'm not accusing anyone and and I know the people thought that was something political no one up here has ever done anything for politics right no one here has gotten a job because of politics and no one here is going to do that because we truly care we truly believe that Washington Township is a great place and and that we you know I want to see our test scores go up I have young children I have a 5-year-old I I have children that are that are two right they they they might be going through the school system so I want to have the best I want to have the best teachers and I want them to be there because they want to be there I want to have the best superintendent and I want people to come to our meetings unfortunately look at our meeting tonight we don't have many people come I would love for this meeting to be packed I I love when we honor people because that's what our town should be based on so with the things that you're saying I I totally I I totally agree that that we need to stop Politics on both sides let's be honest it's it's both sides that try to try to get their people in and try to get these contracts because what happens what happens at the end of the day you know what happens people need to get reelected and how do they get reelected they get the money from from the people that they got in it's not right and again it's on both sides it h it happens on both and I've always said that I truly believe that I'm not saying I disagree with that what I'm saying is that we do need to make changes we do need to make sure that our school system is the best it can possibly be we make make sure we have the best superintendent with the the best teachers and and and the students feel that right because it's so important so I I truly uh truly believe that that we do need to find out what happened here we do need answers we need answers as taxpayers we need answers as parents just as people right there's there's people that children are out of the schools but they need to know because it is their money is it $400,000 is it we don't we don't know but I again I'm not making any accusations I'd like to see what happens with the attorney general I'd like to see where that goes uh and I'm sure that that Dr hibs or anyone who has any information is always welcome to come here and speak and let us know because we're open-minded again we're not accusing anybody but I'd like to have answers and forget about being because I'm counsilman I want to do because I'm a parent because I'm a taxpayer I I want to know that our money is being spent I don't have a problem spending money well again as as we spend money here we're trying to invest back in our community we did have four business openings and one that want to say that actually Martino cardier saline open up too I forgot to say that but but again we want business I mean imagine this the first time since 1991 the first time in the history of our town we had the very first Walmart which we're very proud of that shopping center is full that's not because of just what we're doing that's because of people like you that are shopping local right that's because entrepreneurs are saying I want to open a business in Washington Township and the schools have a lot to do with that right you want young families to move and you want people to be here because they realize we have the best we and we offer the best we're competing with a lot of other great towns around us right there's a lot of other great towns we want those we want those families to be here with us we want them to live here grow here and continue to maybe open a business or or just shop local so I hope that you know and when you said that we don't answer this Council will always answer we not have all the answers but we'll find the answers I know Council Brown has something he wanted to say as well Mr lugarini I'm a graduate 1985 you were a teacher when I was attending the school I never had you as a teacher but I've known that you've been a outspoken with going to the school boards addressing issues and I applaud you for that um you inated us with many emails this earlier this year that I read digested and just really didn't know how to comment at that particular time but kept your context in the back of my mind and leading up to tonight's meeting I would say that thank you for being an advocate and bringing out some of these um deficiencies problems unfortunately Council doesn't have the author but we're concerned very concerned we're taxpayers parents my I had two daughters attend Washington Township graduating in 2016 and 2022 and the stories that they came back and told me prior to me being on the council concerned me um I proudly admit that I was a graduate and a lot of my classmates you know we still get together we talk about the old times and they're involved in either the school district or Township government I'm not going to disagree with you that politics is involved um what I'm concerned about is that we're two weeks away from an election and I think the average voter really needs to go out and research the candidates um and call them out councilman Bennett councilman delpia the mayor they've been walking the streets they've been talking to people um I did see those a YouTube uh Channel we meet the candidates I plan on watching that because I didn't haven't seen it yet um but people need to do their research that's how the change happens and we put some people in places where they shouldn't be so I would encourage everybody to do their research um as for this Council the mayor and everybody else I can speak for my fellow councilman that saying that I know when I stepped up took the oath of all office and walked up on this day is my Pol My Party politics went out the window I'm a councilman for the people and I think the mayor is too just by her actions you know and my interactions with her you may disagree with me and that's fine but I speak for my fellow councilman is that PO Party politics are out the window and I would hope that someday as councilman delpia we don't pour monies into an election that should be nonpolitical but time will tell how that happens again I'm concerned about the taxes the tax rate that's being spent for the schools is well above the municipal um spending and tax rate that um you know we're imposing on the residents you know you have the County Fire um and Library TA or sorry um the Schoolboard tax it's killing us but we struggle in the budget year when we have to put together a budget knowing that there is going to be most likely a significant increase as for Dr Hibbs he came into this situation and he now has to dig out of it there's no doubt about it he didn't create this he's walked into it and he unfortunately has to make some hard decisions and I applaud him for coming public with what he said but it's unfortunately at this point it's a marathon not a Sprint and hopefully the Attorney General's investigation will shed some light and hopefully correct some problems and again November um residents voters should do their research and make sure they pick the right candidate and hopefully change will be affected anyone else wishing to speak from the audience evening my name is Vince jackassy I live here in Washington Township I know that delc drive is a state road but the intersection of delce and Selena is totally out of hand now on October 10th I had to go to a uh banquet down at the ceron Country Club I pull up the intersection on Selena about four cars in front of me i' hadd wait about 5 minutes before they cleared and I was head out the opposing traffic was all the way down to that Golf Course where what is it hille road comes in or S Road SE Road excuse me I waited there for six minutes I couldn't get across the traffic just kept coming coming coming on dely drive and I thought is was there an accident on Route 55 and they closed it down or something but I was listening to KYW they didn't say anything about it so after sitting there for 6 minutes with nobody being able to cross I finally made a right-hand turn and then I made a left-and turn in a Service Automotive made a u-turn came back out on delce drive and then made a right on a Selena that was the only way I could get across I swear if I just sat there I'd have sat there for half an hour yeah before I'd have been able to cross so I know the money isn't going to be available till next year for them to put up a traffic light but something needs to be done in the meantime would it be feasible to put a traffic cop there or something at rush hour well I I think the chief would have to speak about that but so let me let me just kind of go into that obviously I know a lot about that right I'm your neighbor and I live on Selena Road and I'm here because of that reason that's the reason I ran in the first place was because of that that intersection but I can tell you this I know that every time I reach out to Chief gersick he's been in touch and he's continued to keep in touch we're being told that it's 2025 but it really depends on on on the F on the funding being there so again we're we're we're kind of in the dark Mark in the fact that it's really you know New Jersey decision where they they they have the funding to do that I agree it's a deadly intersection I I I've stated many times Chief has done things to try to to stop that and some of the things he's done actually have really worked but again we we believe a traffic light is really what is necessary there and and I'm with you you know you could sit there you know six seven 10 15 20 minutes and the problem is you're trying to figure out what too many people are trying to do right there's people coming this way there's people going this way they're going so high rate to speed there are a lot of accidents there and I for some reason I always just you know turn on my driveway and just go that way I mean I try to go different ways but sometimes you just don't think about it you got other things going on in the morning so again I I'll get back in touch with you some more information but I'm telling you the chief does chief you follow up with this pretty regularly s thank you yeah if if you can help with that and if you have some good contact with do some other issues we have we could talk about that at at a different time but yeah Vince we we agree with you we we know it's a problem and there's some you know intersections that also have issues so we we totally agree trust me people are working on it and if the assembly went once to get involed that'd be great too to try to fix this because it is an issue okay now if I'm at Selena Road and I want to make a left-hand turn to the rules of the road the opposing traffic has the right away before I can make left hand turn the traffic was always back to the golf course man if I wanted to make a left-hand turn forget it I'm going to be not happening no we totally agree it's that bad well I don't have to tell you yeah yeah yeah I know and again again it's something we have been working on it's something that again if someone wants to help us step up with that that'd be great to do that but uh but we'll keep you posted you know I have your information so I'll keep you posted as soon as we have some information I'll definitely reach back out to you and let you know where we're at with that but let's keep our fingers crossed at 2025 we will get that light cuz it is so NE Neary I really think it'll stop a lot of this because again I mean chief can tell you how many accents we have there it's quite significant but some of the things you've done Chief has has stopped some slowed some of that not say stop let's say slowed some of that down I no they put those signs up they seem yeah people people still speed through I mean unfortunately that that's just what happens sometimes but we we are I do think that's helped some so some of the acents have slowed down a little bit there one other question few months ago at one of these meetings and I suggested that the township take over Ronald Lane down at McDonald's at Five Points and approve it so it would be like a regular Street yeah has anything happened on that so I don't think anything right right now so usually what we do is we bring all the information in we take everything we go through we have a Tuesday meeting we sit down all of us are there not all I'm sorry not all of us some of us are there and we we kind of go through some of these things so I know that is on our agenda to go through so I'll keep again keep you up to date as as we go through those things sometimes what happens is during those meetings too we have residents we have people that are bringing new businesses you know in that meeting a lot of things come out of those meetings are really important that that we do and then some things push to the next agenda and push to the next agenda but we will get to it I I promise you that great right thank you appreciate you thank you anyone else looking to speak seeing none can I have a motion to close motion all in favor this m this meeting is now closed the next meeting will be scheduled for November 20th 2024 at 6 PM everyone have a great night be safe e